Motorcycle noise
As a motorcycle enthusiast, I appreciate that you noticed that loud pipes save lives. Every year, the state compiles the number of motor vehicle accidents of all types on our state roads. The numbers for 2011 won't be issued until the middle of this year, but for 2010 there were 376 motorcyclists killed in Florida. Among motorcycle passengers, there were 26 deaths in 2010.
How do "motorcycles get away with not having mufflers since you can't drive a car without a muffler?" A motorcycle's exhaust muffler relies on a special device comprising a series of chambers or tubes to neutralize the roar of spent exhaust gases as they exit the motor. This device is called a baffle and is generally found in one of two forms: chambered baffles and absorption baffles.
Many exhaust systems provided as original equipment for a modern motorcycle are designed with a chamber-style baffle. Aftermarket performance systems typically use an absorption-type baffle. A baffle's primary role is to reduce the intensity of the motorcycle's exhaust note, the sound waves generated by the combustion within the motor.
Without a baffle in place, the exhaust note of a motorcycle can be very loud, loud enough for you to hear us. Especially when the driver of an automobile cannot see a motorcycle due to a blind spot, or because the driver is busy talking on their cell phone, or because they're texting, or the car stereo is so loud you can't even hear yourself think let alone hear a quiet bike or because of a million other reasons for being distracted.
So again, I thank you for being able to "hear those bikes coming a half mile away and a mile after they pass." Just think how many lives you may have already saved because you could hear us.
Protest the closing
I felt the need to write about the closing of Albertson's. I was devastated because I think the store is clean with very friendly employees and it is always busy. We are looking at many people being laid off due to the economy. I wonder who is to blame for this? I suggest the people put up a sign and protest the closing.
Stop junk mail
What I have been doing with my junk mail that has a prepaid mailing envelope is load it up with other junk mail I receive so that it is overweight and thick, which results in the increase of cost of postage for whoever sent the mail. I do include my addressed mail that I receive so that they may take me off their list. I write on the inside and outside of envelope, "please no more junk mail."
If they feel they want to give my address to other junk mail sites, so be it, but the results of their actions, again, would help the Post Office by increasing the mail usage.
Listen to all sides
There are three sides to every story, your side, my side and the truth. I wasn't there, so I don't know the truth. The way I understand it is George Zimmerman got out of his car and he followed this young male wearing a hoodie. This resulted in deadly contact.
If Zimmerman had listened to the 911 operator, he would have remained in his car and not had an altercation, which ended up with Zimmerman firing his gun and ending this young man's life.
Now a normal person who was walking down the street that had someone following him would turn around and ask why he was being followed or he would perhaps run. A normal person would do it with the intent of avoiding a conflict. If he didn't see it that way, so be it.
One thing for sure is this was unavoidable. A man made a horrible decision and now a young man is dead. I am not sure race played a part in this, but I do know the media is playing that card. We do not have all the facts. We have to let the detectives collect all the facts and with all their wisdom, charge someone accordingly. We all know how good they are at that.
I support the right to carry a weapon for self-defense. The no retreat law is awesome, but how can it be used if the shooter got out of his car, followed the man then shot this man? The law should not be considered in this case. The no retreat law does not apply here. We cannot allow the anti-gun nuts and the media to turn this into something it is clearly not. They will try and use this to restrict our right to bear arms. Remember this: The criminals and police support stricter gun laws for one very simply reason. Such restrictions prevent law-abiding citizens' ability to own weapons to defend themselves against crimes attempted on them by criminals.
Take the weapons out of the hand of law-abiding citizens and who do you think will have the weapon? Criminals and the police will always have weapons. Criminals will have weapons whether they are legal or not. The last time I checked, criminals do not obey the law.
Stop socialism
Many American people are being led down the path to socialism in the U.S. and either a) don't realize it or b) think it is all right. Socialism does not work!
Are you watching or reading the world news? Greece, Spain, Italy and France are all suffering from, yes, rampant socialism. I do not understand why some Americans think it will work in our country. It fails over and over.
Please, Americans, try to pull away from your reality TV shows and wake up.
JFK's speech
I remember JFK stating in his inauguration speech, "We will pay any price. There will be no more 'conquering.'"
Was this the beginning of all this liberalism? LBJ declared a war on poverty. Nixon declared war on cancer. Which one of these declarations got the money?
Carter gave back the Panama Canal, which America built and engineered. How many countries and/or provinces has the UK been forced to give back? The UK civilized and educated most of those lands and look what has happened to them? The Department of Energy was instituted on Aug. 4, 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. (That was pretty efficient, huh)? Thirty-five years later the budget for this necessary department is at $24.2 billion a year. It has 16,000 federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees. The good old Democratic way of building bureaucracy. Now they are trying to turn the banking system, health care and the auto industry over to government in the name of change?
We must get these liberal Democrats out of business. The president is still giving money (our) money to other countries, without our consent. How can this be when we owe to China and import everything Americans need from them?
America is the bread basket of the world. Why and who is approving the importing of even food from China? I don't want their food on my table, neither do I want their goods shipped into our ports on rat and tick ridden boats.
Ships entering Massachusetts ports are tick ridden making people sick and killing beautiful elm trees there. Apathy in this country is rampant. Lots of Americans need to wake up and smell the coffee.
Editor's note: Here is what John F. Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
As of 2008 the Department of Energy employed slightly more than 93,000 contract workers.
We could not find any support there is an outbreak of ticks in Massachusetts or that there's an increase in Dutch elm trees dying there.