Welcome to the future: overfed lawmakers stiffing underfed kids.
I’d like to see a few of these empty suits lining up at their local food banks for a small box of whatever. Looks like the Durango Herald picked the right time to run this piece.
It will be interesting to see which measures manage to win the approval of the steely-eyed budget cutters at the state Capitol. Is it unreasonable of me to expect that the rich might continue to get richer?
Meanwhile, there’s a fresh rant up at VeloNews.com. It has a relatively low venom content and is comparatively foam-free.
Mad Blog Media 
One thing is without argument here, the fans of BigTex just don’t want to be confused with any facts, they like their man and all he stands for and that’s THAT! Kinda like the “Gawd said it, I believe it…” response when you challenge these folks to think for themselves. I’d love to hear how much dough was ponied up by naive individuals towards the “Floyd Fairness Fund” compared to the big wads of cash and free lawyering put into the deal by the lawyers trying to destroy the sport’s sanctioning system? My guess is it’s a pittance. If Landis’ claims serve to take down BigTex (meaning they’re proven in a court of law) and
Tex ends up broke and/or in jail, ol’ Floyd will have served a larger purpose in making others realize even the biggest fish of them all can be caught. Meanwhile, between this and Contador’s bogus beef fiasco, pro cycling’s looking more like pro wrestling every day — and Pat McQuaid’s not helping much.
“I’d like to see a few of these empty suits lining up at their local food banks for a small box of whatever.”
I, for one, would be happy to see them drop by the local food bank with a donation of food or cash, but I can’t ever recall having seen that either.
With respect to your rant, Patrick, you ask what the rest of us would do if given the choice, as Floyd was apparently faced with, of “cheat or go home”. I’m not sure how fair a comparison this is. I mean, you can write and draw, and you presumably have enough of an education to find something somewhere. I even somehow swindled a degree in…something, can’t really recall what…along the way. But what did Floyd have to fall back on?
Seriously, that’s not a rhetorical question. Did he have any other avenues open to him that would provide him with financial support? He came from a Mennonite background, but I doubt there’s much demand for “barn raisers”. From what I hear, being good on a bike demands total commitment (which explains why I suck on hills so bad), which doesn’t leave much time for studying welding at the local vo-tech school. The question I ask is: was Floyd’s choice between cheat or live out of a shopping cart?
Y’know I’d actually have sympathy for the guy if he hadn’t appealed to all his fans and supporters to send him cash. I didn’t, I’m far too cheap, but I suppose all those who did feel like Floyd made a fool out of them. I often wonder how Arnie Baker feels about it all too? (Arnie Baker yelled at me once on a bike ride, so I consider this karma.)
How one handles themself at the proverbial fork in the road will change their life forever. I believe in redemption and maybe Floyd will find a way to make sense of the path he has been on and where he goes from here. We all make choices each and every day and see people who take shortcuts succeed even in our our everyday lives. Does the ordinary person rationalize decisions to help their own situation. I don’t think most do. But I do believe in redemption and that he can still make a significant contribution – but his choice. Money is not everything. If you can’t sleep at night, it means nothing.
too bad there were not a few pictures of the members of the jbc. based on the sampling of the legislators here (nh) they could skip breakfast and pony up the savings from their household budget for the program. but then we might be stuck with healthier and longer lived representatives.
Where are you finding these wingnuts in Colorado? I grew up there and even Joe “starve the cons” Shoemaker wouldn’t have dicked this vote. And he was Jeffco neo nazi for it was cool to be one. Patrick keep the guns loaded and locked. God I have to see my my mom soon in the burg. May ship something down to fend off the fools. Jesus know the elefinks they piss off 125,000 grand at the brown palace to get over a lobbyist.
I think Patrick has put his finger on it. We’ve all chosen the dark side at one time or another in our lives. Some of us have embraced it and others have seen what it did to them and crossed back over. Its not always easy to see the line, and I for one have more than once only seen the line when I looked back over my shoulder well after crossing it.
Floyd has made the effort to cross back over. Are we to judge? Me? I haven’t even met the guy, and my total involvement is as a fan. And god knows I’ve pulled some boners myself, which thankfully haven’t been in the public eye like Floyd’s. I don’t know what I would have done in his shoes, and I am glad I haven’t been faced with that kind of choice.
Now, that Lambert guy, however. His idea of public policy seems to be to push public health responsibility off onto to churches. Reminds me of the Marie Antoinette comment about letting them eat cake instead, a high water mark for cluelessness. Think he’ll ever look back over his shoulder and see where he’s taken himself?
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
“Kid, here’s the thing: We don’t really attend all those dreary governmental meetings, fact-check what people tell us or strive for balance in our coverage. What we do is make it all up. Lie like a rug and the sky’s the limit.” — CEO, FAUX News
Damn. Watching Landis self-destruct has been painful but I lost a certain amount of sympathy for him when he tried to lie to stay on the Dark Side rather than ‘fess up. Once convicted, was the clueless rube caught in the wringer of dirty cycling’s not very well kept secret and didn’t know enough to take his medicine in silence. My Sicilian ancestors called it Omerta. Which Landis should we feel sorry for, the loyal soldier or the washed up whistleblower?
Of course the top levels of the sport was/is as legal a Mafia numbers racket. There are national rules and there are the Mob’s rules. But we all know what happens to folks who rat out the Mob. Either you take down a bigshot and get into Witness Protection, or you wear the cement overshoes. This is cycling’s equivalent of those heavy-soled shoes.
Pro wrestling indeed. I’m just going to ride my bike.