LF: Thousands of bikers gather in Washington to honor vets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One week after a gathering of biker gangs in Texas that resulted in nine deaths and 170 arrests, thousands of motorcycle riders roared into the nation's capital Sunday to honor military veterans, prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.

Rolling Thunder, an annual event that has been bringing motorcyclists and spectators to the National Mall in downtown Washington since 1988, started the "Ride for Freedom" at the Pentagon in Virginia, crossed the Potomac River over the Memorial Bridge and circled the Mall.

Organizers estimated that more than a million bikers and spectators attended, making it the largest one-day motorcycle gathering in the world, Rolling Thunder spokeswoman Nancy Regg said.

"They're not here to party and get drunk," she said of Rolling Thunder, named after a 1965 bombing campaign against North Vietnam. "No fights. No attitudes."

Last Sunday, 170 people were arrested in connection with the shootout among rival bikers that left nine dead and 18 wounded and turned a Waco, Texas restaurant into a blood-soaked crime scene.

Bikers, not the police, it is the bikers who protect vet funerals, not the police, it is bikers who ride for peace, not the police.

I know one of those guys that lives locally. He walks around all the time in a leather Harley vest with an American flag on the back,and all the pins in the world.

I asked him out of curiosity one day what kind of Harley he owns because I never see him riding one. He told me he doesn't own one,he just rents one for the runs. He rents the Heritage model because it can fly two American flags,and the implication I got from that was it made him twice as patriotic as the guys that only flew one flag.

Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)

Back a few years back there was a young Marine being buried in Oxford County, Maine. There were rumors that a bunch from Westboro Baptist church were going to come and protest.

Pete, Rolling Thunder put about 150 men and bikes between the protestors and the family. Whether all served, I don't know, whether all owned bikes that too i don't know, but this I do know, that day they, not the police, not the Sheriffs office, not the State police, but Rolling Thunder did a wonderful service to the family of that fallen Marine.

Insane attention whores,all of them. That preacher wants to be the White Jesse Jackson.

Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)

â€œPolitical correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.â€

Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)

Yes, but the point is, it was bikers that helped, not the police. Made no difference that some of the bikes were rented and that some of the riders had never served. They, not g0vt stopped westboro dead in their tracks and made the day safe for the family of the slain Marine.