Long-serving National Coalition of Motorcyclists board member Glen Fengstad of ABATE of Montana (Co-Director, NCOM Region III) submitted the following news item from www.rt.com along with the observation that “I think it targets all of us to a tee”:
Are you suspicious of federal authority? How about really into individual liberty? Well according to a new study funded by the US Department of Homeland Security, you very well might be a terrorist. A report published earlier this year by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland has surfaced, and in their DHS-funded findings, Americans “reverent of individual liberty” and others adamant about protecting their personal freedoms are categorized as extreme right-wing terrorists.
In the paper, “Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970-2008”, researchers characterize what traits should be considered when describing right-wing terrorists, and identifies “groups that believe that one’s personal and/or national ‘way of life’ is under attack,” and those that are “suspicious of centralized federal authority” and “believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to personal liberty,” the report adds.
START was founded with the aid of a $12 million DHS grant, and their most recent report is described by its authors as the latest part in a series of studies sponsored by the Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division, Science and Technology Directorate and the US Department of Homeland Security in support of the Counter-IED Prevent/Deter program: “The goal of this program is to sponsor research that will aid the intelligence and law enforcement communities in identifying potential terrorist threats,” write the authors, which is done “using state-of-the-art theories, methods and data from the social and behavioral sciences to improve understanding of the origins, dynamics and social and psychological impacts of terrorism.”
Apparently, loving America is precisely one of those factors found out through the latest space-age understanding of the human mind.
Are you suspicious of federal authority? How about really into individual liberty? Well according to a new study funded by the US Department of Homeland Security, you very well might be a terrorist. A report published earlier this year by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland has surfaced, and in their DHS-funded findings, Americans “reverent of individual liberty” and others adamant about protecting their personal freedoms are categorized as extreme right-wing terrorists.
In the paper, “Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970-2008”, researchers characterize what traits should be considered when describing right-wing terrorists, and identifies “groups that believe that one’s personal and/or national ‘way of life’ is under attack,” and those that are “suspicious of centralized federal authority” and “believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to personal liberty,” the report adds.
START was founded with the aid of a $12 million DHS grant, and their most recent report is described by its authors as the latest part in a series of studies sponsored by the Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division, Science and Technology Directorate and the US Department of Homeland Security in support of the Counter-IED Prevent/Deter program: “The goal of this program is to sponsor research that will aid the intelligence and law enforcement communities in identifying potential terrorist threats,” write the authors, which is done “using state-of-the-art theories, methods and data from the social and behavioral sciences to improve understanding of the origins, dynamics and social and psychological impacts of terrorism.”
Apparently, loving America is precisely one of those factors found out through the latest space-age understanding of the human mind.
FEDERAL E-15 MINIMUM FUEL PURCHASE MANDATE
“However inconceivable it may seem, ethanol has managed to earn itself another enemy. To service-station owners, refiners, vintage-car collectors, economists and car manufacturers themselves, add motorcycle riders,” reported the New York Times in announcing a new EPA mandate that requires consumers to purchase a minimum of 4 gallons of E-15 gasoline.
At issue is E15, a gasoline blend consisting of 15% ethanol, rather than the typical 10% formulation E10. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has approved E15 for all cars from the 2001 model year and newer, but the E.P.A. has not approved its use for any motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles and its use could void manufacturers’ warranties.
To help keep E15 out of these and other unapproved nonroad engines, service stations offering E15 and E10 from the same pump station must agree to sell a minimum of 4 gallons of fuel per purchase in order to protect the engine of the next customer’s vehicle, as the fueling hose retains roughly a third of a gallon from the previous customer’s fill-up. But not all motorcycle fill-ups reach four gallons, as some motorcycles don’t have tanks with that volume, or their owners may want to merely top them off.
Exactly how a service station with pay-at-the-pump equipment could enforce the rule remains unclear, and the new EPA requirement announced in a response to an AMA inquiry is already generating ire on Capitol Hill where Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) told the Times; “The E.P.A. has no business mandating how much gasoline Americans have to buy when filling up at the pump. What if a rider doesn’t have a motorcycle with a four gallon tank,” he challenged. “Or if someone wants to fill a canister for their lawnmower or outboard boat engine, but it only holds two or three gallons? Or what if an American, struggling in this economy, just can’t afford four gallons of gas?”
At issue is E15, a gasoline blend consisting of 15% ethanol, rather than the typical 10% formulation E10. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has approved E15 for all cars from the 2001 model year and newer, but the E.P.A. has not approved its use for any motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles and its use could void manufacturers’ warranties.
To help keep E15 out of these and other unapproved nonroad engines, service stations offering E15 and E10 from the same pump station must agree to sell a minimum of 4 gallons of fuel per purchase in order to protect the engine of the next customer’s vehicle, as the fueling hose retains roughly a third of a gallon from the previous customer’s fill-up. But not all motorcycle fill-ups reach four gallons, as some motorcycles don’t have tanks with that volume, or their owners may want to merely top them off.
Exactly how a service station with pay-at-the-pump equipment could enforce the rule remains unclear, and the new EPA requirement announced in a response to an AMA inquiry is already generating ire on Capitol Hill where Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) told the Times; “The E.P.A. has no business mandating how much gasoline Americans have to buy when filling up at the pump. What if a rider doesn’t have a motorcycle with a four gallon tank,” he challenged. “Or if someone wants to fill a canister for their lawnmower or outboard boat engine, but it only holds two or three gallons? Or what if an American, struggling in this economy, just can’t afford four gallons of gas?”
