Things that need to be said....
Heavy Vehicle Permits For SUV and Large Automobile Owners and Operators
People who drive giant vehicles should be specially licensed to do so.
You need a special permit to buy a handgun, you need to take a special test and prove you know how to operate it safely.
In 2001 there were about 29,000 deaths by firearms 63% of which were suicide. This means that 18,200 people died due to ALL firearms opeated by other people in the United States right?
In 2001, 42,116 people died in traffic accidents, none of which were attributed to suicide.
Therefore it is clear that over twice as many people die from the misuse and accidents in automobiles than from the misuse or accidents caused by guns. Any questions? Keep in mind that the 99.8% of gun deaths were done intentionally.
OK, so 24% of firearms manufactured in the United States are Handguns and 27% of the vehicles sold are SUV's and Light Trucks weighing over 4000 lbs. Still doing your math? It's still quite clear that large vehicles are over twice as dangerous than handguns. Yet still, you have to prove you know how to operate a handgun safely and not a large vehicle. Once again, I reitterate, almost all gun deaths are intentional. There are no statistics as to intentional traffic fatalities, but I'm certain that they are considerably lower. A heavy vehicle would; however, be considerably more effective if applied intentionally to assault another person.
If you are kill another person with a gun, they throw you in jail and take away your right to operate one forever even if it is an accident. Kill someone with an SUV and your insurance company will fix the one you have or buy you another one. Whether it be on purpose or accidental, you will resume your driving privalage regardless.
My proposed solution: Apply a special operators permit for ALL vehicles weighing over 4000lbs. You must take a certification test to obtain this permit. You must posess this permit to purchase, insure or operate such a vehicle. If you are convicted of driving under the influence, you forfeit the permit, no matter what vehicle you are driving at the time of the citation. Simple, effective and dare I say necessary?
Kids:
I believe that kids need to return to competition. I hear the bleeding hearts whining that it's bad for thier self esteem to loose. But what has all the praise for mediocrity gotten us? Have you bought anything in the stores lately? This is where the mistake is most evident. This is where the praised generation is currently employed. You've seen them, they won't take you to the products or give you any advice about what's good and what's hot. There's a simple cause behind this. They don't know! They don't know because they don't care. They don't want to be the manager or own their own store. They don't think of ways of doing it better. It's simple folks, it's because for thier entire school career they have been made to believe that whateveer they contributed was good enough, even if they contributed nothing more than the minimum. We've been hood winked by lazy teacher's unions who made this crap up to make their nine month a year job even easier. Hey, if the kid's going to have a great self image with a minimal effort, he's not going to be asking for help to improve himself. No extra help, no extra work for the teacher. Self esteem is an issue that needs to be dealt with at home. School and sports, like in the job force, should reward those who perform best and deny those who perform less. We are Americans, our entire economy is based on competition. Do you really want that to be a surprise to your child when they grow up? Give it to them young, hold them back a grade if they don't cut the mustard. Believe me, it will only benefit those who can move on. The higher achievers will learn more and the lower achievers will have a better reason to study and move up. Open your eyes people, we are teaching the children that it is OK to work for the same paycheck as long as it requires less effort. Self esteem comes from inside, family and pride, it cannot be handed to you by someone who is pleased with their own mediocrity. Someone who's union will protect them regardless of performance. Would you believe that many teacher's union contracts do not allow thier student's standardized test scores to be used as a point of evaluation? That's the same thing as saying that they should keep their jobs regardless of thier performance! It's counter productive and quite indicative of the attitude that would have our children promoted from grade to grade with less than adequate performance. Keep it up, and they'll all be voting for the guy who promises the best welfare benefits, mark my word. This is the core of the decline of American pride, we've been doing it since the seventies, which seguays into my next rant.
The American Product:
Forty years ago we were the best country in the world at making cars. We made them simple, we made them tough and we made them to be tinkered with by those who believed they could make it better, faster and look better. The rise of oversees automotive manufacturers is simply due to the fact that they make better cars. They aren't interested in selling you a new car every 100,000 miles. They're more interested in making your car worth the money, simply so they can sell you your next car. American manufacturers seem to believe that it's "good enough" to go on the guise that you should "Buy American" because it's somehow better on the economy. Let's face it folks, it's actually profitable to simply sell foriegn cars. It hasn't been profitable to manufacture cars in the United States in quite some time. Have you asked yourself why the Ford Motor Company has not posted a profit in over ten years? It's because they make an inferior product. Every American automobile (and American motorcycle) manufacterer has lost billions in the past decade. Ford leading the way in an astounding $110 billion in losses. In total there were over one million jobs cut due to these losses. But it's OK, because all those people can make a living selling foreign vehicles or otherwise supporting the foreign automotive industry. WE ARE SMARTER THAN THAT! We can make a better vehicle, more attractive and certainly more durable. Year after year we make leaps and bounds in technology here in the U.S. We are more innovative, we have better designers and clearly better exposure world wide. There's been a problem with American made transmissions for thirty years now folks. They break like clockwork at 70,000 miles. An American motor, expect about 100,000 and the same for the chassis. Fix the problem, don't accept it as a means for profit. The American consumer is sick of it, and despite the higher prices, Toyota is now number one. I don't own one American car or motorcycle any more. I've owned them, and none of them has lived up to my expectations. They don't cost any less yet in order to convnce myself it's worth it, I have to lower my expectations, see the paragraph on Kids to explain what's happening. American motorcycle manufacturer Buell are the simplest example of what's happening. I've been a sportbike enthusiast, and I've looked closely at the Buell for years now. They have the most innovative, tehnologically advanced and stylish frame and suspension system that money can buy, and this includes the Italians. So what do they do with this remarkable foundation? They stick a 1200cc Air Cooled, push rod valve train, 45 degree, 108 horse power motor that was initially designed 80 years ago. Give it up already! For the same money, I can get a Japanese bike that's four times as reliable, and wieghs less with me and fuel than the Buell wieghs in the back of the pickup that tows it home. But there is hope for Buell, as they finally put it together with a better engine design, but the motor was developed in Austria. It does look like they have a superior design thanks to American Buell. We'll just have to see how the bike holds up.