Not Such a Perfect day ....Lou Reed R.I.P.

BBC just broke the news that Lou Reed has died in New York
aged 71.
He underwent a liver transplant in May this year.

 

R.I.P

The man is/was the biggest inspiration and comfort in my life.

New Video Shows Motorcyclists Stomping SUV Driver Into Pavement

Two publicly available videos showing the altercation between a group of motorcyclists and the Washington Heights last month but have both omitted the actual assault. The first video ends just when a motorcyclist bashes in the driver's side window, and a second video starts just after the bikers finish kicking driver Alexian Lien into a bloody pulp in the street. ( I guess it is difficult to hold the phone whilst throwing punches lol !) Now, however, ABC 7 has obtained (disturbing  ?)video of the assault from another witness:

To tell ya the truth the video is pretty dire and unsteady so although the cops may have found it useful the media use of it is a waste of time ...judge for yourself http://gothamist.com/2013/10/22/new_video_shows_motorcyclists_stomp.php

ABC 7 reports that police have seen the video. Nine people have been arrested so far

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Clampdown Australian style

Apart from always being slightly bemused by the slightly comedic sounding use of the word Bikies  (as opposed to Bikers) by Australians, it is often interesting to take a look at the way bikers are portrayed and represented in the press down under.

It will come as no surprise that it appears to be just the same as everywhere else in the world. In a way it's reassuring.

Oh and hey in case anyone has got me wrong - i really don't give a rats ass what citizens and the press think of me or my kind, or how Hollywood twats represent or misrepresent us...............it just interests , amuses and amazes me that the same stereotypical shit is still pouring out.  I certainly believe that any attempt to explain to these nit wits gives their stupidity a value and the best way to deal with them is to carry on regardless.

Anyway  - Australia.............."Bikies"...........just like elsewhere  the generic term is so wide as to include Pizza bike riders, scooters,sports bikes riders, family tourers, 1%ers  and essentially anything on two wheels with an engine.

The scarey stories and negative representations are fairly standard and equally biased and embellished for dramatic effect.

The Australian Authorities have instigated a clamp down on "Bikies" and have brought in draconian laws to attempt to completely wipe out " bikies".- 25 years jail for membership and equally harsh and disproportionate treatment for association

Today (21st October) Police are reported as having made their first arrests under the tough new anti-bikie legislation when two 'Odin's Warriors' were arrested in Cairns

Just looking at todays papers/reports (Australian)

        ' Police warned to enforce Campbell Newman's new bikie
          laws or face being fired '

Queensland online news
     
         ' Australian Crime Commission finds BIKIES are running
          their illegal businesses while in jail sparking fears they may
          be paying off prison staff.'

The Courier Mail :
      
         ' Is former Bandidos member turned Hells Angel John Fahey
           the man who kickstarted events that led to bikie
           crackdown ? '

and rather embarrassingly for the cops !
         'Two police officers have been left red-faced after confusing
          a man's Sons of Anarchy T-shirt with a real bikie gang's patch
          in Queensland.'

Words - what are words worth and what do they mean ?

Police officer who was part of bike gang saw nothing !

  

Undercover internal affairs police officer who was part of bike gang that surrounded and attacked SUV driver says he didn’t even see the incident, ........must be the truth then .

• Officer Matthew Rodriguez, 28, was part of the team investigating the original road rage assault
• He has since admitted being a member of the gang, called Frontline Soldiers
• The cop said he was with the group on the day of the incident, but claims he left before the fight happened
• Several bikers have now been charged in connection with the brutal attack, including NYPD cop Wojciech Braszczok, 32

www.bykuz.com

Police make another arrest in biker attack on SUV driver during NYC rally

NEW YORK :[Fox News]

Another biker has been arrested in connection with a mob attack on an SUV driver during a motorcycle rally in New York City.

Kaliq Douglas was charged with gang assault. Police say the 28-year-old Brooklyn man was among a group of bikers who chased an SUV for miles after a Sept. 29 encounter on a Manhattan highway.
Amateur video shows the bikers forcing the SUV to halt then surrounding it on foot. The driver says he feared for his life and plowed through the crowd, running over and gravely injuring one motorcyclist.
Bikers gave chase, then pulled the driver from the vehicle and beat him.
Several riders have been arrested, including an off-duty police officer.
Douglas was in custody. It wasn't clear if he had a lawyer

Folk Devils and Moral Panics ? *

Is it not amazing ( and of concern  ?) that the sociological and behavioural observations and theories in relation to subcultures/mainstream culture, so well espoused in the 1970's academic study Folk Devils and Moral Panics - by Stanley Cohen are still so relevant today in the 21st Century,

Now that is just one press report but it is evident of the prevalent press slant on the events of that day.

similarly, The LA times reports

'Eighth person is charged in NYC motorcycle gang attack on SUV' 

- the copy still includes the required "slant" words but does at least mention injuries sustained by both the motorcyclist who was run over and the driver, from the beating shortly after in the same series of incidents.

[The SUV driver] ' Lien's injuries included two black eyes, multiple cuts to his face that required stitches, and injuries to his hands, back and right shoulder, according to criminal complaint '

And

[The motorcyclist] ' Mieses remains hospitalized with spinal and leg injuries. '

Perspectives ? - What came First Chicken or Egg ?

' It all began on Manhattan’s West Side Highway when a motorcyclist slowed down and made contact with Lien’s SUV. After the initial encounter, the bikers surrounded the black Range Rover but Lien -- whose wife and 2-year-old child were passengers in the car -- fled, running over biker Edwin “Jay” Mieses Jr.

Predictably, the newspaper takes as the initial provocative act of the whole series of events to be the motorcyclist pulling in front of the Range Rover and deliberately slowing down - resulting in a "nudge" to the motorcycle from the family SUV.

However, reports are now coming to light that this alleged act of unprovoked aggressive behaviour on the part of the Motorcycle rider was itself precipitated by the alleged throwing of a water bottle at the motorcyclists by the SUV driver.
This is an interesting case from many angles not just the facts. On a News level it has the shock horror , innocent family attacked by crazy biker mob appeal that sells Newspapers . On another level it derives it's momentum from the stereotyping that is still prevalent in both human nature and exploited by the sales hungry press.

The basic skeleton of the whole matter  is scarily simple when stripped of the emotional 'drivers' [yes of course Pun intended !]. From both side it is a case of  'they did this to us so we did that to them and they did that to us so we did that to them' ...................et al. Right or Wrong, that is human behaviour at it's basic level.

The factors that forge public attitude and opinion on such matters complex but include the way in which the press report, the use of language(Gang, Mob,Family man, etc ) combined with already deep set beliefs, needs, attitudes and opinions (some would even say indoctrinations), as well as learned behaviours and perspectives of the 'players' and observers involved.

Folk Devils and Moral Panics is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand this powerful and enduring phenomenon.
Professor Stanley Cohen is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics. He received the Sellin-Glueck Award of the American Society of Criminology (1985) and is on the Board of the International Council on Human Rights. He is a member of the British Academy

LA Times

Victim ? which one ? question of perspective !

Has anyone else noticed that the press seem to have re-focussed the reporting, and now focus heavily  on the injuries sustained by the  "Family guy" driver who precipitated the incident with his behaviour [allegedly throwing a water bottle at the bikers immediately prior to the incident] rather than the injuries he inflicted on the bikers. He then ran into, and over, several bikes/bikers in his attempt to avoid the consequences of his aggressive and stupid action which ignited the trouble.
Meanwhile one of the bikers injured, Mieses, of Lawrence, Mass., remains in critical condition after Lien plowed into him, breaking both his legs, fracturing his spine and paralyzing him from the waist down.
To be absolutely honest , I condone the bikers actions in such a situation having myself , as a biker seen idiots in cages driving aggressively and often deliberately acting provocatively towards myself or other 2 wheel road users.
I was watching a video last night on you tube. It appears to be somewhere in Europe. A fat prick in a shogun or some other outrageously fatty- SUV deliberately angles his vehicle and front wheels to inconvenience a motorcycle rider trying to make progress through the traffic. Stuff like this happens all the time when riding in London and it is just plain stupidity and inflammatory behaviour by some mindless car drivers.

 




I had the biggest laugh a few years ago when riding my old Iron Head Sportster. I was making my way to Falcon Road,SW11 to hook up with some brothers for an Ace Café run from the Battersea Power Station to  Brighton. As I waited to make a right turn into Falcon road from Lavender hill (at Clapham Junction) A driver in a new ford pulled round my left side ,intending also to make a right turn. Apart from the fact he was dangerously close to my bike I kinda guessed he wasn't paying attention to the Brewery truck unloading immediately ahead in the road into which I was turning.
As the lights changed and I made the turn he turned aggressively and panicked when he realised he couldn't clear the Brewery lorry and he just side swiped me , pushing me sideways quite a few feet.
luckily instinct rather than skill took over and I miraculously managed to keep upright and not swerve into the oncoming traffic. The main reason the bike didn't get pushed further or topple was also as it turned out a little bit of Kharma on the twat in the car.
He didn't pull over or even acknowledge his stupidity , presumably as he contemplated the 20 to 30 "oily" bikers waiting just ahead and watching in astonishment at his actions. Instead he accelerated and took a quick left across the estate.
His Kharma came in the form of the surprise he would get when he got home in his new ford. The footpeg (no forward controls on my ratted old ironhead ! ) on the Bike was like most of the old Harleys, almost "agricultural" grade heavy metal. After the bike dislodged itself after the sideways "push" It became clear that his actions had caused the footpeg to penetrate the door skin and as he continued his forward motion it ripped the door skin like a tin opener ! lol Kharma indeed.
I can imagine his feeling as he gets out of the shiny new car to find the side looks like the tin can it is  !                                       

The " Unprovoked attack " is (as usual) not quite so. ?

New York Biker, Clint Caldwell, 32, claims that the SUV driver Alexian Lien ignited the violence by throwing a water bottle at them as they rode.

Full Story

But Wait ! It gets better.........Cops "biker Gang" were amongst the "Gang" that day !

Ho Hum this story just gets better all the time.......  More here

Charges Dropped in NYC Motorcycle Attack !

Quite right !  BUT don't be fooled .......read the disclaimer in the final paragraph .....typical . and note the heavy slant of the story in favour of the "innocent" range rover driver.
Fact is the Range Rover Driver rear ends the rider in front before the whole incident kicks off  and before he ploughs thru bikers seriously injuring one .
'Prosecutors dropped charges Wednesday against one of the men arrested in connection with a motorcycle road rage incident in New York City over the weekend.
Allen Edwards, 42, had been charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and menacing due to his alleged participation in an attack on Alexian Lien. The businessman was driving his SUV with his wife and two-year-old daughter in the car Sunday when a swarm of motorcycles surrounded the vehicle. The altercation, which lasted several minutes and was caught on video, left one biker gravely injured and ended when Lien was dragged from his car and beaten on a New York City street.
The fact that charges have been dropped doesn’t prevent prosecutors from bringing future charges, “Prematurely charging individuals with low-level crimes does not further the goals of the investigation, and could weaken the cases we expect to bring against the perpetrators of serious crimes,” a prosecutor said in a statement.'


When all said and done the car driver got only a little of what he deserved. let's hope he learned some respect and that the little bubble in which he goes around feeling safe , indestructible, and oblivious to other road users is not impenetrable.

Monster Energy Party & Signings, from 7pm, Thursday 17th October

Ace Cafe 17th Oct

Monster Energy Party & Signings, from 7pm, Thursday 17th October.

it is what it is .

 

check it out !