As I stated in yesterday’s article, I had only one complaint about my experience at bike week. Actually I thought of another one . . . go figure. I brought four bags of microwave popcorn with me and my hotel room did not have a microwave. Situation critical. They even had popcorn in the vending machine but no way to pop it. WTF!

Seriously my main complaint — and I am not alone with this — is that at the border of Georgia and South Carolina on I95 the state patrol had a motorcycle roadblock set up just inside the Georgia line. If you didn’t pull into the parking lot they chased you down like a criminal. All in the name of safety. Is it just me or is this not a blatant form of profiling? You’re damn right it is. Why don’t they have a roadblock for golfers entering Georgia? Hell, they might have an illegal club in their bag . . . food for thought.

Let me explain. The Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS) has received a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to collect data over the next two years to improve motorcycle safety. The $70,000 grant will be used to conduct six, one-day safety checkpoints between March 1 of this year and December 31, 2012. By the way, the Supreme Court has deemed checkpoints as being unconstitutional. And don’t blame the patrolmen; they are just doing their job. Blame the state government. If you ask me it’s a fundraiser for the state of Georgia with the police departments being the tax collectors. Again the middle class is being singled out to put cash in the pockets of the state, while the word “tax” is a dirty little scam for the top 2%.

Fortunately in early March, Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced legislation, H.R. 904, a bill to prohibit the United States Department of Transportation funding for motorcycle-only roadside checkpoints. Representatives Tom Petri (R-W) and Paul Ryan (R-W) are the original co-sponsors. Unfortunately, this law if passed will not stop the state of Georgia checkpoints but it will stop future funding.

I don’t know about you but I have totally given up on our politicians. One party wants the middle class to pay the bills and make the rich richer, and the other party wants the middle class to pay for the poor and that’s right bucko, make the rich richer. Do you see a common denominator here?

I have got to stop writing any more about this ‘cuz I’m getting pissed all over again. I can tell you one thing: I won’t be spending any time or money in the police state of Georgia any time soon.