What connects Congress and college football?

Football (American style) is a bedrock of our nation. From peewee leagues up to the pros in the NFL, America loves the sport.

On the other side of things, Americans have never had much love for Congress. In my 40+ years of life I have heard multiple generations decry how miserable Congress is at doing ANYTHING. The most recent iteration of Congress is arguably at least as bad as average, if not worse.

Now the question you might have is what do the 2 have to do with each other?

Congress is now debating on being involved in college football. Yes, while there is 10% unemployment in the nation, while President Obama is seeking to create another stimulus to do what the first did not, while American troops are under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress is debating football.

The shock I have on this is beyond that I had for the claims of creating or "saving" jobs while unemployment levels rose for months in a row. I was more amazed than when Congress claimed they could create a program that does not spend more than it costs (ie Health Care Reform). This is about the worst idea, and timing yet.

Can you imagine this? The Government, particularly Congress, can't balance a budget, can't manage anything, can't even read laws they are enacting yet they want to be involved in college football? Can you imagine how convoluted college football will become once Congress gets their hands on this.

Texas Representative Joe Barton is the one behind this disaster waiting to happen. Considering all the things in front of the House of Representatives right now, I would think that his constituents in Texas would want him focused on many other things beside college Bowl match-ups.

HR 390 - The College Football Playoffs Act - is the bill in question. If you are represented by Rep. Barton in Texas I suggest you go to his contact page - found at this link - and tell him to forget about a Government controlled college football and focus on jobs, the economy, health care reform, the deficit, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of a dozen other far more serious and responsible issues.

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Texas police runover suspect

So did you see the news earlier today? Down in Houston, Texas there was a car chase, which lasted some 45 minutes. Local police and county officers were all involved in the chase – which at times was well over the speed limit when on the interstate, and almost obeying the law in community areas. But in the end the driver hit a car and jumped out to run away.

It was at that moment on live television that the man was hit by a county police car. Let me correct that, he was run over. The man flipped over, his head smashing into the windsheild and a shoe flying some 30 feet into the air from the impact.

The police then swarmed on top of the criminal. The man was then stood up and walked away – obviously dazed at the least. No ambulance was called, nor any first aid done.

When I described this to a friend of mine at 6pm, The conversation went like this:

“Was the guy Black or White? Why did they move him?”

I responded with “What do yuou think. And they had to move him, there were cameras all over the place. They just ran him over and had to show that he was ok. You know one of them had to know that there were news cameras above them.”

And my friend then went on to say

“Well you know that the on-board camera won’t be working. They’ll come up with a piece of paper that says the think was broken a week ago. ‘Why does it look like a billyclub smashed it?’ Dunno but the CD player doesn’t work either’”

“Yeah, and the dog pissed on the camera. Yeah that’s the ticket.”

“No it was the fuse that burned out. The officer was trying to put out the flames from the fuses with his foot, which is why he ran the guy over.”

Now all levity aside, one thing seems obvious to me. The man, who was Black, was visible to me watching the television that had the feed from a helicopter above and partially obscurred by overhanging trees. The county police officer that ran the guy down at around 30 miles per hour had a full unobstructed view. He hit the guy on purpose.

I may not be familiar with police procedures in Houston, but I imagine that running over suspects is not in the manual. I also doubt that failing to provide medical aide for someone they have run over is also outside the books.

Is this going to be a lawsuit? Oh yeah. This guy will gop to jail, he is a criminal after all, but he’s going to get paid for his time. And deservedly so. There were about a half dozen or more officers a couple of seconds behind this guy, with a police helicopter among others above him. He wasn’t going anywhere. And a 1 ½ ton vehicle at 30 miles an hour is excessive in virtually any circumstance.

But the question I want to pose to you is this. When you were reading this post, at what point were you sure the man was Black – before I mentioned it. Was it because of the crime, or the punishment?

If it was the crime, why did you assume he had to be Black? And if it was the punishment why would such excessive force make you sure? Doesn’t that mean that the police are racially biased, and therefore the legal system in America is screwed up? And if that is true as well, why aren’t we fixing it?

Thought for the new motorcycle converts

With the warmer weather hitting the nation, the seasonal flux of new and occasional motorcycle riders is in stride. But in this year a new trend is also coming to fore. New motorcycle riders that converted from cars, trucks and SUV’s due to the increased cost of gas. Already record numbers of motorcycles are hitting the roads.

“Motorcycle registrations in Minnesota are at an all time high, up 89% in the last 10 years. Local instructors have had to double motorcycle training courses to accommodate the increase.”

This says nothing of places like California, Texas, the mid-west, and other locations around the nation with pleasant weather conditions and good roads. Considering that gasoline will continue higher, with some pundits targeting a top price of $7 per gallon by next year, converts to motorcycles may become a trend of unforeseen levels.

But that isn’t entirely a good thing.

As a former rider myself, one thing is consistent in every state of the nation. Drivers in cars and other 4-wheel vehicles are as much, if not more, dangerous to those on 2 wheels as every other issue combined. So for all those new motorcycle riders I want to mention a couple of things to keep in mind.

Car drivers tend to change lanes and make turns without ever using blinkers or hand signals. It’s one of the bigger problems. They just turn and assume everyone will know what they are doing. They don’t take into account the stopping distance of a motorcycle, nor the potential danger in having to serve out of the way.

Car drivers don’t look for or recognize motorcycles. It’s almost like you are invisible. I can recall a couple of times when a guy with his wife and kids drove up along side me on a highway in the same lane. I was on the left side of the lane to avoid the oil on the highway, and to allow drivers ahead of me the ability to see me in their mirror. I wasn’t turning or swerving in the lane. So he thought the extra space was just meant for him to drive along side me, maybe a foot way. My comments changed his mind, thankfully, but had anything had caused my bike to move over I’d have been the one hurt.

Infrequent rain in some areas brings up lots of oil on the road. This happens a lot in California, especially in the Los Angeles area. The first rains of the spring/summer season brings up lots of oil from the traffic and makes for slicker roads, especially if you are in the center of the lane.

Car drivers invariably never get your speed right. As such they will turn or cross in front of you, or pull out, just in time to hit you or cause you to swerve. See the change lanes section above.

So if you are a new motorcycle driver I would suggest getting lessons. Take a defensive driving course. Wear bright reflective clothing. Keep an eye out on what cars ahead of you are doing, not just the one in front of you but 2 or 3 cars up.

Given these things I’m sure you will love the freedom and virtual feeling of flying that a motorcycle provides even more than the gas you will save. Just drive safe and please don’t try to impress anyone on the road.

As I was once told by an older biker named Preacher out by Fallbrook California,

“No need to impress them. They are in the car looking up and out at us. They want to be us. So why drive faster or crazy?”

And I’m sure other experienced motorcyclists out there have a few thoughts and tips for new drivers as well. Please leave a comment to help the newbies out. It’s one road out there and we all can enjoy it together.