Within The Law

California Chrome has a bruised foot and will not race at Royal Ascot tomorrow.  This was to be his first race since finishing second in the Dubai World Cup.  Will he stay in England to race?  Or will he be shipped back to the United States?
  Ahmed Zayat has said that American Pharoah will now be training for the Breeders Cup races at the end of October.  Hopefully the Triple Crown champion will get in at least three more races before his retirement to stud duty in January 2016.
   I have been watching the slow dismissal of jurors in the trial of the Aurora Theater shootings with interest.  Why do people believe that societal rules and a judge's orders do not apply to them alone?  It's like watching traffic in Boulder -  many pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers of vehicles simply do not believe that traffic laws are meant to be followed by their privileged selves.  As I was driving on a four-lane road, with 4-foot-wide bike lanes on either side, I had to pass a bicyclist "in" the bike lane.  I was in the right hand lane, with the bicyclist to my right. Another vehicle was staying beside me in the inside lane, so I couldn't move to the left.  The bicyclist was riding hands-free, on the white line that divides the bike lane from the traffic lane.  I slowed down and crept as far to the left as I could, however the car to my left was driving on the centerline, and I had another vehicle trying to drive up my tail-pipe - so I could not give the bicyclist the 3-foot clearance decreed by the law.  I passed much closer to the bicyclist, praying the whole time, that he wouldn't hit a rock or pebble, and crash into the car I was driving.  He didn't fall or weave any closer, but he did yell at me, and pound his fist along the side of the car as we/it passed him.  He had a clear, clean recently swept 4-foot-wide bike lane to make full use of.  There were no other bikes in sight.  So why ride on the painted dividing line?  Why ride, in traffic, without either (or both) hands on the handlebars?  (When I ride my bike, I ride as close to the cement curb and pavement join as possible to avoid being close to vehicular traffic, and I actually stop at Stop signs.  -  Am I really that strange?)
  I readily admit that when I'm on the highway I "go with the flow" and sometimes find myself flying along at 10 or more miles per hour above the speed limit.  I have jay walked across a street during low traffic times.  If there is absolutely no one in sight, I might slow down and roll through an intersection while on my bike.  I always yield to pedestrians.  I stop at all zebra crossings and blinking lights, if pedestrians or bicycles are present.  I believe that speed limits are posted for a good reason - traffic usage, intersections, hills and curves, and road access.
  I just can't understand deciding that rules and regulations that were designed to protect us should be totally ignored - other than an occasional red light traffic stop.  Does that mean I'm stuffy and always think within the box?  Does it mean that I believe that societal rules are good for all? Does it mean that I agree with all rules and regulations that we live with in today's world?  NO.  But I do believe that certain rules and regulations were developed and set into place to save us from ourselves, and to save us from others.  Maybe my parents were extremely good explaining things when I was a child; maybe I have a well-developed since of logical progression;  maybe I'm just a hide-bound fool.  What ever drives me, I know that I like to be within the law....