Riding with Bad Drivers (Rant)

Yesterday on the ride home from work, a car pulled over into the lane to their right - colliding with the vehicle that was beside them.  Well, they collided with the trailer the truck was towing - and if they didn't collide (as both just kept on rolling down the interstate) then they came very, very, remarkably close.

Today, on the ride in to work, things have been much more annoying!

First, on a street in Brandon, this car stops in the road with his right turn signal on.  I'm fairly close behind him, but nobody is behind me.  As I come to a complete stop, I realize that they have stopped to 'courteously' allow the person sitting at the stop sign to pull out into non-existent traffic.  This jerk has delayed everyone in order to ignore traffic laws and make themselves feel 'nice.'  What an asshole.

Then, on the same street, a car pulls out in front of me, forcing me to apply my brakes firmly and downshift.  Still nobody behind me.  They proceed to slowly go up one block and turn left.

Both of those drivers got a 'you're number one' signal from me.  Although I'm sure neither one comprehended what they had done to deserve it.

On the interstate, this car pulls into my lane in front of me, going slower that I was.  I get into the left lane (of three lanes) and get up to where my front wheel is aligned with their front door - and they take off.  So, I move back over into the middle lane.  I "catch up" to this vehicle three more times before my exit.

Closer to my exit, I run into the worst event on the interstate - all three lanes at least three vehicles deep, all going almost the exact same speed.  Come on, people!!  If the car to your right is going almost the same speed as you are - SPEED UP!  If the car to your left is going almost the same speed as you are - SLOW DOWN!  When you are past them, if you want to go the speed you were going, get behind or in front of them and THEN match speeds, but DO NOT get beside someone on the interstate and match their speed.  If you are not past them in under 30 seconds, you are blocking traffic.  MOVE.

At my exit - a two lane exit only that merges to one lane into a big curve - there is a sporty blue car with LED turn signals that do a progression in the direction of the turn... six or seven lights that go on one at at time to simulate motion... with the tag JON4FUN driving slow in the right lane.  Half of a car length behind him, but in the left lane, is an SUV from Louisiana driving the SAME SPEED as the blue car, but not moving over,  preventing me from passing either one.  Normally, I shift down to fifth gear to go into the curve and speed up to around fifty five or sixty in the curve.  These jerks are going much slower than the usual slow traffic.  I have to shift down to fourth gear and go around forty miles per hour through the curve.  If the car in the right lane in front of you is going the same speed you are, you are blocking traffic - MOVE OVER into that lane!

In good travel news, the city of Jackson had a crew paint a white line through an intersection with two turn lanes where people in the left hand lane were very often turning into the right hand lane.  I'm sure there were accidents and I know there were lots of close calls.  I've had at least four close calls there myself in the last couple years where people in the left lane just came over into my lane in the turn.  I'm not sure what they were thinking.  There are two lanes to turn, two green arrow turn signals, two lanes going into the tunnel, but somehow they just don't comprehend why they couldn't turn from the left lane and get into the right lane in the turn.  I even have a video where a guy cuts me off in that turn.

UPDATE:  This morning, I thought that I would set up my video camera to document the ride in to work - so I did.  It is not very good quality as I don't think it was ever meant to work on a motorcycle at 70mph.  Still, it takes video.  The ride in this morning was astonishingly easy and trouble free.  No bad drivers at all, just some average drivers and maybe a couple below average.  I even made all the traffic lights - all green or turned as soon as I stopped.  It was amazing!  Boring video, but great trip to work!

Conspiracy in our Government (or, The Promise of the USA)

#PromiseoftheUSA


The Government of the United States of America, The USA - because "America" is a group of two (2) continents and thirty six (36) different nations - is set up as a Constitutional Democratic Republic.  This means that a governing group of representatives (republic) is elected by the people in a democratic process.  Our government is set up to protect individual rights from the majority, from the powerful and from the elected representatives.

To do away with government, or reduce it in size so that it is small enough to drown in the kitchen sink, would be to invite a tyrannical rule of a few, powerful, entities.  This is also known as the Libertarian Utopia - rule by the strongest, usually most violent and oppressive.  Well, they don't see it like that - they imagine that the strongest will just let everyone else go about their business in peace or that individuals will be able to 'fight' for their rights against a more powerful, well armed group.

The Republicans want to eliminate the Democratic process and just appoint whomever they want to the congress and presidency.  They would rule by whatever their corporate masters tell them to do - consequences borne by The People be damned.

The Democrats want everyone to vote, everyone to have the same opportunities to start off with and everyone to be safe and cared for, whether they like it or not.

There is no doubt that Private Interests have bought into and corrupted our form of government to suit their needs.  The Federal Government has expanded beyond it's intended scope.  We have a standing military, which the Founders never intended.  The Federal Government sets State level policies - usually by withholding funds from States that don't comply by passing laws encouraged by the Federal Government - investigate Seat Belt laws to find out more.  Our police forces are becoming more like occupying armies.  Our government has been hijacked by Insurance Companies, Big Banking, Big Agriculture, Big Pharmaceutical and Military Supply Companies.  Each private interest exploiting and weakening We, The People, for their own benefit.

Insurance Companies get laws passed requiring citizens to buy their protection scams.  They get laws passed that reduce their exposure to liability for paying out on their promised protections.  They work huge loopholes that allow them to not pay out for most frequent damages.  They create complicated paperwork that will allow them to cancel your coverage or refuse payment based on flimsy grounds - but you can't get your money back because of it.

Big Banking - private entities - control the issue of our currency.  They gamble and risk our money and then suffer no consequences when they lose it - or more accurately, they profit from our losses they instigated.  They reward the rich with lower interest rates on borrowing, higher interest rates on savings and investments while punishing the poor with high interest rates on borrowing, lower interest rates on savings and investments.  This is by design to keep the 'worker' class from becoming financially independent, paying off their debts and living free.  This is the new version of a Sharecropper or Indentured Servant.  They create debt for us to be forced to pay off - then make sure we will never pay off that debt.

Big Agriculture takes our tax money as subsidies, poisons our food, exploits workers and turns our food supply into large scale genetic experiments.  Probably seeing if they can breed a more docile worker.

Big Pharmaceutical gets laws passed to make cures illegal, addictive substances legal and make profits off of treatments that make other problems worse.  They don't want cures - because that would end the profit stream. 

Military supply companies lobby for increased military spending, urge covert agencies to create more conflict and start more foreign wars - so they can supply the perpetual war machine with more equipment with a built in end of life.

All Private Interests have one goal in mind - keep the majority of people oppressed and happy with it.  They funnel profits from the most people into the hands of the few.

Our food is poisoned, our water is poisoned, the very air we breathe is poisoned - and we are forced to pay the very people who have poisoned us to treat the most obvious and adverse symptoms.  They will never provide a cure or stop the poison because that would decrease profits.

They keep us distracted with religion, movie stars, game shows, fake wars and false news and political controversies.

Our government is set up to protect us, the citizens, from the corrupting influence of all of those private interests.  It has been infiltrated and corrupted.  I believe the balance tipped in favor of the corruption in the 1950's, when congress destroyed part of the constitutional protections by putting "Under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance (1953) and making "In God We Trust" our official motto (1956).  It is impressive that it took the corrupting influences a full one hundred and seventy something years to tip the balance.

The Promise of America has always been individual freedom and liberty to pursue our own happiness.  Our government is still the best there is to ensure such freedom, but we need to clean the corruption out of it.  We need to get back to having a Federal Government of representatives, freely elected without undue influence from the rich and powerful, beholden only to the will of the people, whose powers are limited to securing individual liberty, providing for the common defense and promoting the general welfare of all Citizens.

Some first steps would be :

1. Dismantling of the entrenched two-party system to allow more fair elections.
2. Federal or State funding of election campaigns, barring or limiting any private or corporate contributions.
3. Get "God" out of Government.  Our laws should be based on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Liberties, not any religion.  If something legal is against your religion, you don't have to do it, but you can not actively prevent others from having the opportunity to do it if they so choose.
4. Do away with the legal fiction that corporations are people.  Corporations are limited legal constructs for the purposes of doing business - not influencing politics.
5. Tie Representative pay to the median income of the state they represent and require a 40 hour work week, each and every week.  No work, No Pay.

Eventually, we need to completely revamp the medical profession.  Profit should be eliminated as a motive for any medical professional, from the researcher and drug manufacturer to doctors and nurses (though they should be paid well for their efforts).  Cures and total recovery from injury or illness should be the only goals in medicine.  Our Drug and Alcohol policies need to be completely revamped to include more liberty and less monopolistic profit goals.  We need to make the safety and health of our environment a higher priority than short term profit.

In the end, we need to make sure that the Promise of the United States of America is secured for our posterity and the future of all.

#PromiseoftheUSA