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Cycling

Tour de France 2010: Contador Again, Schleck Close, Armstrong Retires

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Contador wins, Schleck comes within 39 seconds, and Armstrong retires, again. A summary of Stage 20, and the Tour, is available at Cyclingnews.com and Bicycling.com. See, July 25, Stage 20: Longjumeau – Paris 102.5km (Tres victorias de Francia para Contador!) and Contador Wins 2010 Tour de France.

Versus offered the Tour in HD, and like so many other viewers, it was the first time I saw it that way. These were twenty interesting stages, televised in a compelling, beautiful format.

Contador’s won the TdF three times, and may have other victories yet ahead.

Cycling, too, has other events ahead, in competition and (perhaps) in the courtroom. For American fans of Lance Armstrong, as for the fans who once stood by Floyd Landis, these are likely to be frustrating months. Armstrong has had, to be sure, a high-flying and controversial career. See, Armstrong Could Never Leave Well Enough Alone.

Allegations have been leveled against Armstrong many times, but the standard of review will be more exacting than previous claims against him. I’ve read David Walsh’s book, From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France, and it offers suspicions, but nothing like the sort of case that federal investigation would have to craft. By comparison with a federal investigation, Walsh’s book is just a piker.

(I’d guess that it will a hard to make a case against Armstrong, but that Jeff Novitzky of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will do all he can, and a judge will likely have to remind him of those things he can’t).

I’m opposed to doping in sports, because I think it excessively unnatural, but also because athletes agree not to dope, and so to do so is dishonest. I’d dislike a sport that allowed doping, but at least it would be a candid competition — athletes would simply admit what they took.

Cycling doesn’t, so athletes should refrain. To do otherwise is to cheat and lie.

By the way, although cycling has long been a European sport, I’m not the sort of fan who favors European athletes because it seem more ‘sophisticated’ or ‘genuine.’ I love America, and I know that we’re capable of producing great athletes who triumph without illegal drugs. (I’d also like to note that many of the worst doping scandals have been European ones.)

America is so capable, that we have a great cyclist who won the Tour de France three times.



He won honestly; we can win that way again.

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 7-18 to 7-24

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Greg LeMond: Bravo To The New Generation | Cyclingnews.com http://bit.ly/9cKDRK
about 6 hours ago

Our national debt would horrify the Founders | Washington Examiner http://bit.ly/9BCMSU
about 9 hours ago

Libertarian legal scholar handicaps whether Supreme Court will find ObamaCare’s insurance mandate constitutional http://bit.ly/d55xVT
about 18 hours ago

Floyd Landis Nightline Interview: ‘I Saw Lance Armstrong Using Drugs’ – ABC News http://bit.ly/aApY7n
about 18 hours ago

Selfish employees seek more while many are unemployed: UW System officials call for restoring raises http://bit.ly/bcRmc6
about 18 hours ago

Tour De France: Stage 19, Contador bests Schleck, remains in yellow | Cyclingnews.com http://bit.ly/cGbm9J
about 18 hours ago

Althouse: “I don’t think you can be a journalist and carry water for a politician, and that’s what they were doing”: http://bit.ly/dzrXtG
about 18 hours ago

RT @WiStateJournal: http://ow.ly/18evKx Candidate Ieshuh Griffin may be joker, but WI should allow her to run as ‘not the whiteman’s bitch’
4:14 PM Jul 21st

I’d like to see Schleck win TdF, but he’ll have to do more than talk tough to beat a ruthless competitor like Contador http://bit.ly/cbjOTI
4:03 PM Jul 21st

Temporarily – Contador and Schleck make up on French TV http://bit.ly/92IObj
3:22 PM Jul 20th

Advocacy doesn’t make something right or wrong; it merely suggests which of the two something already is
2:12 PM Jul 19th

Government cannot repeal human nature Local officials that declare themselves beyond normal are likely such only in self-promotion & lying
11:52 AM Jul 19th

One way to spot third-tier bureaucratic propaganda Over use of exclamation marks We’re working for you! Tax bills go out next week! Etc.
11:48 AM Jul 19th

When a city declares all’s happiness & light, behind the scenes it’s likely malaise & bullying
11:45 AM Jul 19th

Eleven Fifty-Nine

Eleven Fifty-Nine for 7-24-10 (When Bison Attack)

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From Fox, here’s a video of a bison attacking a tourist at Yellowstone Park:



I first found a shorter version of the video at the Huffington Post, and that website described the attack as a ‘summer bummer.’

Oh no — it’s a gift of amazing bragging rights. The tourist apparently survived with only bruises after being hit by a 2,000 pound animal. She’s got a story to tell at every party she attends for the rest of her life.

Her Yellowstone trip may turn out to be the best vacation she ever takes.

Meanwhile, at the Wall Street Journal, all the editors must be on vacation, because somehow the chimp-supporting, English troublemaker Jane Goodall got to publish an essay entitled, A Journey Through the Jungle. It’s packed with lies about chimpanzees, ignoring the truth about their human-hating inclinations. The English, especially nutty Englishwomen, are particularly given to this sort of dishonesty.

Goodall’s characteristically upside-down perspective is on display; she’s not even shrewd enough to hide it:

Today we try to keep a certain distance from the chimpanzees while observing them—their immune system is uncannily like our own and we know they can catch many of our infectious diseases.

No, no, no — that’s not why people should stay away. People should stay away from chimps so they don’t get their faces ripped off by the nasty creatures.

There are few animals more vicious than chimps, and all the so-called nature expeditions ever undertaken can do nothing to refute the real science that confirms chimpanzee savagery — to other chimps, to humans, and to all creation, most likely.

I’m more than happy to set the record straight —

See, Chimpanzees: Cuddly Primates or Vicious Killers? Vicious Killers!

Government Spending

Our National Debt Would Horrify the Founders | Washington Examiner

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Yes, it would.

In the period spanning the final year of George W. Bush’s second term in the White House and President Obama’s tenure to date, the national debt has exploded from $9.1 trillion to nearly $13.2 trillion, reaching 90 percent of the gross domestic product….

[Consider] Jefferson’s statement in an 1816 letter to John Taylor of Caroline: “The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

Indeed.

See, Our national debt would horrify the Founders | Washington Examiner. more >>

Government Spending

The YouCut Choices This Week: Why Not End Federal Funding of Foreign Political Campaigns?

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Here are this week’s YouCut proposals — spending cut proposals from among choices posted online. The most popular ideas go to a House vote. U.S. Representative Eric Cantor notes that “[o]ur nation’s debt grows by $4.9 billion every day.”

Here are the five cuts from which one can select a preference this week.

  • Bipartisan Proposal to Terminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit (Saves $1.1 billion over ten years)
  • Refocus the National Park Service on Administering Federal Parks (Saves $1.1 billion over ten years Note: I think this figure should be about 230 million, and may be a misprint on the YouCut website)
  • Terminate Funding for the DOD Innovative Readiness Training Program
    Saves $200 million over ten years (Saves $200 million over ten years)
  • Prohibit Taxpayer Funding for Campaigns in Foreign Countries and Recoup the Misspent Fund (Saves $23 million)
  • Eliminate Duplicative Federal Physical Education Program (Saves $790 million over ten years)

Descriptions of each of these proposed cuts are available at the YouCut website.

This week, I voted for eliminating federal funding for campaigns in foreign countries. “Tax dollars should not be used to run political campaigns in foreign countries or to attempt to directly influence the outcome of foreign democratic elections. This proposal would prohibit funding for such activities and recoup funds already spent by reducing the USAID administrative budget by an equal amount.”

Economy

The Economy Isn’t “On the Mend” (But an Acknowledgment that Tax Cuts Increase Economic Growth)

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There’s a story at the GazetteXtra.com about nearby Rock County’s unemployment rate, now at a staggering 10.8%. That’s up from 10.4%.

Rock County’s unemployment rate, a year ago, was 13.2%.

Here’s what Wisconsin’s chief economist had to say about the current, 10.8% rate:

“That’s to me … pretty good news,” said Dennis Winters, chief labor economist for the state. “Things are a bit on the mend. Would we like to see it go faster than it is? Sure. We think this recovery will continue at a slow but steady (pace).”

What a foolish thing to say. Unemployment in Rock County increased from last month, and remains at destructively high levels. Winters might think that Rock County’s condition is an example of “on the mend,” but that’s hardly what a sensible person would think.

If a man has a fever of 106, it drops to 102, and then increases again to 102.4, would you say he’s “on the mend.” Of course not — he’s still sick, and his condition just got a bit worse. He might get better, but with measurements like these, would you be sure when and how?

The national forecasts for unemployment are so terrible on cannot imagine that they’re numbers that describe the American economy. A headline from CNN describes succinctly our troubled condition: White House: Unemployment at 9% until 2012.

Two quick, significant additional points.

First, these unemployment forecasts from the White House, itself, assume growth of 4% in 2011. Even with growth at that level, the White House still expects unemployment to remain over 9% through 2012. Unemployment that high, for years yet to come, will ruin many people’s lives. Many more won;’t even show up in these figures, as they’ll be too discouraged even to seek work.

Second, let no one doubt the power of tax cuts to spur growth — even the White House believes it. Consider how the White House explains its 2011 estimate for 4% growth when the Congressional Budget Office see only 2.4% growth:

Romer explained why the White House’s GDP forecast for 2011 is higher than that of the Congressional Budget Office, which forecast 2.4% versus the administration’s 4%. The reason: The CBO forecast assumes all the Bush tax cuts will expire by Jan. 1, whereas the White House has proposed they be extended for the majority of Americans.

There you are: An acknowledgment from this federal administration that tax cuts, or the extension of tax cuts, can boost economic growth.

Of course they can, and will. Libertarians have been saying as much since there have been libertarians. We’ve said it because it’s true that keeping money in the hands of those who earned it is the best place that money could be, for people to spend and invest using their own, sound judgment. Individuals and society benefit from lower taxes and greater private opportunity.

And that way, by the way, is how an economy will be, truly, on the mend.

Politics

Update: Republicans Jump Too Quickly: “Baldwin Kept on Ballot After Board Nixes Complaint”

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One of the characteristics of life in my small town is that when government makes a mistake, it’s never acknowledged as a mistake. There can’t be mistakes, really, in a place in which noble public servants and visionary leaders, transform the community from a near-utopia to complete utopia. At least, that’s the impression of their work they’d like to leave.

Just a few days ago, the Dane County Young Republicans challenged the nomination papers of incumbent U.S. representative Tammy Baldwin of Madison. (I received a copy of their press release, announcing the challenge.) They did so under the contention that she listed her office address, but not a local address, on her paperwork.

She’s done this for years, with the approval of the Government Accountability Board, to as a consequence of threats she’s received. Anyone bothering to check past filings with the GAB would have seen as much. I wrote about the challenge in a topic entitled, Republicans Jump Too Quickly: “Baldwin Kept on Ballot After Board Nixes Complaint.”

The GAB dismissed the Young Republicans’ challenge. Afterward, I received a second press release from them, contending that the GAB’s dismissal was one of “politics over principle.”

That’s backwards– it’s politics that motivated the challenge, and it’s the principle of personal safety that informed the GAB’s continuing policy of allowing Baldwin to use an office address on her campaign filing.

Instead of acknowledging that they’d acted rashly without looking at the GAB’s past, or at least letting the matter drop, the YR’s want to contend that there’s still something amiss.

In one way, they’re right — there’s something amiss with a political group that does not study the reasons for an ongoing practice, and then refuses to acknowledge its own lack of study.

Comment Forum

Friday Open Comments Forum: Mad Men

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Here’s the Friday open comments post.

Today’s suggested topic is about the show Mad Men. What do you like about the show, now ready to begin its 4th season on AMC this Sunday?

Here’s a preview trailer from the show’s website:



Link:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid101546270001?bclid=82069251001&bctid=104611124001

The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings will be fine.

Although the comments template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.

I’ll keep the post open through Sunday afternoon. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 7-23-10

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Good morning,

Last evening was one of stormy weather, with a tornado touching down in nearby Cold Spring. Today’s forecast for Whitewater calls for a day of thunderstorms, with a high temperature of eighty-seven degrees.

Here’s a link to raw video of a funnel cloud near Whitewater.

Here’s a link to photos of the storm that came through Wisconsin yesterday, from WISN-tv.

There are no public meetings listed for the City of Whitewater today. Sensible, as we’ve exceeded any reasonable quota for inclement conditions.

Freedom of Speech, Law, Politics

Update: Let Ieshuh Griffin Run with Her Chosen Description on the Wisconsin Ballot

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I posted earlier today on the effort of a Milwaukee woman running as an independent candidate for the Wisconsin Assembly to use the words “NOT the whiteman’s bitch” as her statement of principle on the ballot. The Government Accountability Board denied her request, as she received a majority supporting her effort, but not the required four votes.

I wrote that she should be able to use those words, or any others, as long as they were not words threatening violence or a defamatory statement. See, Let Ieshuh Griffin Run with Her Chosen Description on the Wisconsin Ballot.

She’s now appealing the GAB decision to federal court. See, Candidate Takes Her Ballot Fight to Federal Court.

I’d guess that most people think that she shouldn’t be able to use these words. I’ve a few additional remarks:

I agree that the current state of the law favors the Government Accountability Board’s ability to restrict these words; I simply think that the law should not be so restrictive. She has an uphill climb.

Although there’s a general freedom of speech issue here, I’d agree that it’s not found in the current scope of law.

Griffin may be a fool, vulgar, and an embarrassment, but so what? If vulgarity were a crime, America’s prison population would quadruple.

There’s no reason to be so squeamish. The answer isn’t to stop her from having the words she wants, on a ballot for adults, and seen by adults.

Here’s a quick way to express one’s displeasure with her preferred statement of principle: vote for someone else.

She’s not likely to win, of course, but what if she did? I live in Whitewater, Wisconsin, not Milwaukee, so it’s not available to me to vote against her. That’s a choice for the voters of Griffin’s Milwaukee district. If they’re sensible (as they will prove to be), they’ll vote for someone else. If they’re foolish, they’ll vote for her.

If voters in that district want to make a foolish choice, let them do so.

They should be able to see and vote for Griffin (or other candidates) as those politicians wish to present themselves. Better that they should see her for what she is, than that the Government Accountability Board should sanitize and clean up her campaign, so to speak.

After seeing Ieshuh Griffin as she wishes to be seen, I’m sure that the voters of her district will make a sensible decision about her candidacy. But if not, and those voters choose foolishly, at least they won’t be able to say that they didn’t know what she professed, printed as it should be, right on the ballot.