Power. n. “The energy or motive force by which a physical system or machine is operated;” or “A person, group, or nation having great influence or control over others.” In 1887 the English Catholic historian Lord Acton said, ““Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” I wonder if Senator Frank Lautenberg, has ever heard of Lord Acton. By all measure, Senator Lautenberg is a great man. Serving in his 5th term in the US Senate, he is firmly entrenched in the D.C. power base. I don’t know the distinguished Gentleman from New Jersey. Aside from his relentless attack on personal liberty and individual choice, I know very little about his politics in general. However on December 12, 2011 Sen. Lautenberg used his position and influence in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to introduce legislation which (if successful) will eventually allow the Federal government to mandate motorcycle safety gear and punish the states who do not comply. All in the name of “The government knows what’s best for you.” Politicians such as Lautenberg believe people do not own themselves. They believe that people, in whole or in part, are the property of the U.S. Congress, or owned by God, who has given divine power to the U.S. Congress to manage them. They believe an election affirmed their moral and mental superiority above the ordinary men and women who elected them. The great irony is even as they Lord over us, they go to great lengths to highlight their humble beginnings and lowly economic childhood, constantly polishing it as a beauty queen would her crown. Sen. Lautenberg, whose parents came through Ellis Island as immigrants, and who after high school, served in the Army, finished college on the GI Bill and became mega wealthy after a successful business startup, is a bona-fide rags to riches success story. I’m not diminishing his accomplishments. What’s got my drawers in a wad is how easily Sen. Lautenberg brushes aside the Constitution and it’s fragile guarantees of individual and personal liberty. Since I’m a trusting person, I’m going to assume that Lautenberg believes that what he’s doing is the best thing for me. I’m going to assume that he has the best of intentions. But someone should remind the Senator that the road to Hell is paved with “good intentions.” I suggest he re-read the Senate Oath. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.” I don’t read any exceptions for “good intentions.” On his Senate website Lautenberg is described this way, “In a place that is often plagued with gridlock and inertia, Senator Lautenberg has always been someone who bucked the rules, stood up for what he believed, and persisted in making a difference.” That may be true Senator, but I’d like to challenge you to take a step back, put aside your personal beliefs, and play this one by the rules. The rules as written by our Founding Fathers, the ones you took an oath to defend. Tell us what you think

A bunch of New Yawkers owning the rights to “Daytona Beach Bike Week?” Fugetaboutit! When a New York-based holding company operating under the umbrella of Mettemp Inc. and Consolidated Distributors, Inc. started contacting Daytona Beach businesses threatening to take legal action for selling products printed with the words “Daytona Beach Bike Week,” the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce cried foul and stepped up to intervene on behalf of local businesses, hiring the law firm of Cobb Cole to represent them. You see, the Chamber had already been acting as managers of Daytona Beach Bike Week since 1988, and has established a Bike Week Festival Task Force made up of over 30 locals from public and private sectors who act as stewards of the event. On the flip side, Mettemp Inc.’s local affiliate out of Holly Hill, Joe Cool Inc., was claiming it had trademark rights because it had been producing t-shirts and other merchandise with the Daytona Beach Bike Week logo since 1987, and the fight was on. This week, United States District Court Judge Mary Scriven resolved the conflict when she issued an order denying Mettemp Inc. exclusive ownership of the term “Daytona Beach Bike Week.” In the ruling, the Court stated “Daytona Beach Bike Week and its functional equivalents are generic and cannot receive trademark protection.” In a nut shell, the term belongs to the community and not any one person or entity. The Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce press release states “The Chamber and co-plaintiffs Good Sports Daytona, Inc., were awarded a final judgment cancelling the Defendants attempt to trademark the term “Daytona Beach Bike Week” finding that the Defendant’s registration of the term as a trademark was “fraudulently obtained or, alternatively, was improperly granted.” In the press release, Daytona Regional Chamber Chairman of the Board Thomas J. Leek said, “In our minds this was always a fight to protect our business community, our city, and the greater community at large, and specifically to fight off the Defendant’s attempt to take something that wasn’t theirs… and then charge people for using it. This ruling ensures the mark will remain the property of the City of Daytona Beach and the community at large, for all local businesses and distributors to use in perpetuity. This is a significant milestone in that I will live as a warning to future trademark squatters, and provide protection for all to continue to enjoy the use of the mark.” Conflicts over trademarks and motorcycle rallies came in to play at Sturgis as well this past year when a group called Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Inc. (SMRI) obtained a federal trademark for the word mark Sturgis as it pertained to rally goods and services. SMRI established official licensees who were charged a fee to use the mark and threatened to take action against vendors who weren’t in compliance. The dispute resulted in a lawsuit between SMRI and a local company out of Rapid City, Rushmore Photo & Gifts, which had been in business in the area since 1937 and claimed it had been selling Sturgis-related merchandise since 1987. One of the big differences, though, is that SMRI is a non-profit entity run by a board of local volunteers comprised of various community members, from a Sturgis Chamber of Commerce associate to business owners like Hot Leathers Jerry Berkowitz and Black Hills Harley owner Jim Burgess. SMRI also just donated $50,000 to the Sturgis Rally Charities Foundation from money generated from the licensing of the trademarks. With the lawsuit out of the way, the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce can now focus on the next task at hand, organizing and promoting the 71st annual Daytona Beach Bike Week which will be held from March 9-18, a week later than its traditional date during the first week of March. The move was done in part to accommodate NASCAR’s decision to push the date of the 2012 Daytona 500 back one week. Daytona International Speedway requires two weeks to make the conversion from car to motorcycle racing, including building a Supercross track on the infield of the Speedway.

Most people who know what the first motorcycles looked like have only a vague image in mind.  Fewer are those who know the brands, models, and vintage of the bikes, and those few are becoming even rarer.  As each new generation is further removed from true classic motorcycles, it takes their fathers, their grandfathers (or grandmothers), and friends to show them how it all began. 2011 marks the year that power sports brand Polaris takes the reins of the Indian motorcycle brand.  The renewal of a name so instrumental in development of the motorcycle helps us remember where the two-wheeled metal beast came from.  Though the Indian motorcycle was not the first, it was close.  When the initial Indian model rolled out of the shop in 1901, it looked much like a bicycle with a motor on it.  A far cry indeed from the cruisers and rockets we know today.  With Harley-Davidson releasing its first model two years later, both companies found serious competition in each other.

Thousands of learner motorcyclists could have to take a controversial riding test twice despite passing the first time, riding instructors have warned. They are also likely to be charged twice as a result of changes to the motorcycle test. At the moment the practical riding test consists of two exams, one off-road and one on. But from 2013 the two are due to be combined into a single on-road test, including the exercises currently in the off-road exam. When that happens, learners who have passed only the off-road test will effectively have to take it again as part of their on-road exam. They are likely to be charged a new higher price for the on-road test reflecting the extra exercises, even though they have already paid for and passed them. Bernard Adams, MD of Cam Rider training, said up to 6000 learners could be affected because many learners take the off-road test and then leave a gap before doing the on-road part. He said: "You could be looking at 10% of annual tests. That’s 4000-6000 people possibly.” A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport denied a significant number of learners would have to perform the exercises twice. She said: “We don’t have any evidence of vast numbers of people waiting before doing the second part of their test. “We will take every reasonable step to let people know the new test is coming in, so that if they have a Module One pass they will know they have to take Module Two before a certain date.” She said the test was due to change in early 2013. Adams said: “My concern is that at every step of the way, more costs are getting placed on the learner rider and obviously that’s going to have a knock-on effect on motorcycling itself.”

MILWAUKEE - A report says that Harley-Davidson's stock price is rising amid rumors that the company could be the ambition of a person or group desiring to make a leveraged buyout of the longtime Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker. "The shares were up and calls are very active on unconfirmed talk that Harley-Davidson might be the subject of a leveraged buyout," said What'sTrading.com options strategist Frederick Ruffy to Reuters. Harley-Davidson officials refused to comment to Reuters on the report.