Quite pathetic I think. I used to know a few blokes in the local 'chapter', and they were all lovely blokes, do anything for you, the grizzled biker nutter look was a pure sham. Most of 'em didn't even own a bike. Nowadays another 'chapter' meets once a month at my favourite pub, half of them are retired and the other half are city bankers. They look ridiculous.
Harley riders can't help riding round in gangs because every other form of motorised transport buggers off and leaves them for dead. So you get clusters of bad tempered fat blokes stuck on the inside lane bouncing along on bikes that make farty noises.
Sums it up for me from another forum Humans are gregarious by nature and most have a need to belong to some kind of group. To be part of some sort of collective belief structure be it religion or gangs or the DOC must be a wonderful thing for those who actually need it. The need to feel a part of something is deeply imprinted in the human psyche in most human beings (but not all). Thankfully some folk are free spirits, they do not have the need for the collective beliefs of others, they simply make their own way in life without the need for identification or affiliation, freely sampling all the flowers in the garden as they go about their life."
Waco - clue is in the name. Also the home of the mad Davidian cult - and we know how that ended. And it's in Texas. When you look at it, you'd be surprised if there wasn't a biker shoot out in Waco over a parking space. Only disappointing thing was that they should all have roared out of town and then been headed off at the pass by the sheriff and a posse of townsfolk.
Heroic getaways don't work on Harleys. You have to pull over after 20 miles for fuel, repairs and doughnuts.
Waco “Twin Peaks” Shooting Updates: 14 Police Officers Fired “thousands of rounds” on 200 Bikers Killing 9, Wounding 18 – Two Thirds Of Those Arrested Had No Prior Criminal History… | The Last Refuge 'They're Not Gang Members': Bikers Protest Mass Arrests In Waco : NPR Waco shooting: Purple Heart recipient among nine bikers killed | US news | The Guardian "Biker gang" violence - or massive over-reaction from the police and FBI ?
Given that some of the "gangs" present were the Christian Motorcycle Association, Veterans' bike clubs and the like, I think I'm going to go with "massive over-reaction"... The FBI and local police certainly don't come out of this looking very good. And they seem to have adopted the standard police procedure after the event - lie, try to discredit those involved and hide all the evidence. Call me cynical...
The way justice seems to work in the US: Shoot first, ask questions later. When you have asked the questions, lock them up. Make sure you will be able to lock them up by having a plea bargaining system: go down for a bit, or risk going down for a lot longer just to have a trial where your case is put.
Hey, if the police shot you, it's because you were guilty of something. The cops may not know what you've done wrong ... but you know, and that's what really matters.
