My grandfather always said, “Don’t do no plantin’ ‘til Good Friday or else you waste all your seeds.” By the time you read this, Good Friday has come and gone. You may think this has nothing to with motorcycles, but Good Friday always makes me think of “Papa” and that led me to thinking about all this global warming hoopla. If there is such a thing as global warming, then I guess my grandfather’s old adage will become useless, and I hate to think that anything that I ever learned from him would become useless.
             For the most part, the general public believes that global warming is real. Why not? After all, Al Gore said so and got lots of awards (including an Oscar) for it. Shoot, the United Nations held its Climate Change Conference in Bali, with over 10,000 participants representing 180 countries and all these government held entities said it was for real too. They are doing it again in Bangkok, March 31–April 4, 2008, to further “prove” to the world that it is happening.
            Keep in mind, these are government agencies, government funded scientists or research projects funded by government grants. According to all of these, the debate of whether warming exist or not is over. In spite of the fact that most of these scientists themselves, as well as a “concensus” of the scientific community, recognize that the questions are so complex, they cannot come up with conclusive answers. There are way too many variables, but one that is questioned the most is the accuracy of the computer models and forecasts that are the basis for most of the government agencies’ conclusions.
            An independent group, although labeled “skeptics” by the government cronies, met in New York recently to open up the topic to worldwide scholars. Even though they have been treated as Columbus or Galileo were in their day, “these scholars dissent from a false “consensus” put forward by a small but politically powerful clique of government scientists and political allies.” Their voices have been drowned out by the government-funded bureaucracy, whose only agenda is to promote the fear of man-made global warming. Fortunately, the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, sponsored by the Heartland Group, has given these folks a platform on which they can be heard. In a lot of cases though, is it too late?
            Billions of government dollars are being budgeted to figure out how to fight this warming beast. But even worse, regulations are being passed through agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency that never have to go through the legislative process. (See, there is a point to where I’m going with this.) These include the regulations that created the issues we are going through with the State of GA and custom motorcycles.
            I received an email this week that said, “Stay out of personal politics; motorcycle issues are OK.” Motorcycle issues are politics. How can I ignore one and help the other? I can’t and I won’t. If you’re offended by that, I’m sorry, but these issues are intertwined. I’ll maintain my stubborn stance. I will call and write my Representatives monthly and I’ll continue to ask you to do the same. I’ll keep encouraging you to join ABATE and the MRF. We don’t have to settle for government bureaucracy. We already have a platform where we can be heard, and through Full Throttle, the motorcycle community will be heard.
            Now excuse me; now that I’ve planted these seeds, I’ve got some that need to go in the garden.