Isn’t the cycling world just full of news lately? First Albuterol Clenbutador scores a get-out-of-suspension-free card and now Big Tex has retired for a second time (just six more retirements and he’ll have the record).
Yesterday being one of my days off, I decided to pay no attention to the former and go for a two-hour road ride on my actual road bike, which I believe is a first for 2011.
Today I shall ignore the latter and do something similar involving a ’cross bike, just ’cause I can. We have a stretch of pretty nice weather going on and I need to remind my inner fat bastard who’s boss around here while I can still squeeze into a jersey and bibs.
Meanwhile, for your entertainment, I present the following:
- House Squeaker John Boehner (R-Tanning Bed) is full of shit.
- House Squeaker John Boehner (R-Tanning Bed) is doubly full of shit.
I think it’s time someone asked Pumpkinhead for his birth certificate, ’cause I’m pretty sure he’s not from this planet.
Mad Blog Media 
Pretty simple and rational plan in reality. The idea is to make things worse while sounding like you want to make things better. This way your “enemy” gets another shellacking at the polls in 2012 and you and your cronies get more power and are better able to make the rich folks richer. Standard playbook stuff for the Repuglicans. The only wrench in the works is keeping those noisy Tea Party folks from pointing out any hypocrisy in the plan…but they’re not so bright anyway, so that shouldn’t be too tough, should it? The wife’s sabbatical year is REALLY starting to look good, we’ll be living in Italy starting this fall and won’t come back until the late innings of the 2012 election season. Ol’ Sil could even be out of power over there soon — THERE’S some progress!
PS- got my own fat a__ out on the road bike for two hours myself yesterday — damn happy I used my winter bike with the fenders, as the snowmelt here is making for some seriously sloppy roads!
So Lance Favre has retired again, meh, haven’t really followed him since his days of modeling TeamUSA clothing for Performance mail order, but good luck to him, sure hope his decision was voluntary and not strategic….nahhhh. Since you old hens love to cluck about the weather–we in the State of Jefferson just got tagged with that white schtuff–sendin’ it right back at y’all. Cheers.
And to go further off-topic here… How is John Crandall doing these days Patrick? I haven’t talked to him ages and need to give him a call. Did I hear correctly from someone that he got back on a bike recently?
David, John C. is indeed back on the bike, though his range remains limited. I don’t know that he’s back to riding for pure pleasure, but he is riding to work a couple days a week, and I believe he’s still undergoing physical therapy.
I don’t believe he’s gotten back on his beloved motorcycle yet, though. These days when he chooses infernal combustion it’s an itty bitty Toyota Echo.
Thankfully the weather is improving. Gives us something to do besides fret about bad politics and professional cyclists involved with doping.
Jeez-
Relax, Big Tex is just setting up to return to cycling as a Spaniard…
Buenos dias, me llamo Lanza Armstrong y nunca he dado positivo.
Re: F-35
Normally I’m all in favor of wasteful military spending, having been paid handsomely for not a helluva lot for 20+ years thanks to the largess of Uncle Sugar.
And I realize that the moment you stop pushing the technological envelope, that’s when the Bad Guys sneak up on your with something you didn’t see coming.
But the one place we really don’t need to worry much any time soon is in the air superiority department. We could go out there in nothing but Flying Tigers and B-52s and still wax everyone who wishes us ill.
I’m not sure when the military leadership will ever grow a pair and stand up to Congress. I’m sick and tired of seeing guys that I know are really smart, tough, and usually self-confident sitting behind the mike and saying “yes sir, yes sir, whatever you want, sir.”
I’m going over in my head all of the junk we spent money on over the last 30 years or so. It’s not just the Sergeant Yorks, but even the things that folks mostly think were good purchases. There’s no question that the Abrams M1 main battle tank is the best tank on the market. But it didn’t stop 19 chuckleheads on Sept 11th, and it’s of little value anywhere we’re fighting these days.
Meanwhile, what has turned out to be money well spent? Commercial, off-the-shelf stuff that we picked up from South Africa or private security companies … stuff with zero R&D dollars, because we let someone else develop it.
The only way we should be spending a dime on the F-35 at this point is if we just fess up and say it’s a jobs program, and that most of the benefactors are Lockheed-Martin stockholders.
Steve, looks like the House agrees with you regarding the F-35. As do I, though as the offspring of a 30-year Blue Zoomie I also enjoyed the benefits of the military-industrial complex (socialized medicine, subsidized groceries/goodies, free housing, etc.).
As the son of a WWII vet I was naturally fascinated with military technology, but I also liked the basic idea behind the Green Beanies: unconventional warfare, as in cuddle up with the locals, win hearts and minds, kill bad guys. That sort of thing doesn’t exactly dollar up on the hoof for the defense contractors, though.
As another beneficiary of the “keep ’em scared and we will keep rolling in the dough” crowd, I can’t complain too loudly except to agree that we spend a lot of money on overly fancy shit meant to fight nonexistant last-century wars and not enough on actual national security. Of course, a huge part of national security involves not going broke, right?
I caught myself reading the comments under the article on Velonews.com about Retirement 2.0 of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Wow, some of those chamois sniffers can get nasty when you question the authenticity of their messiah. I guess everybody needs to believe in something or someone (I use my cat as my role model), but they could do a hell of a lot better than that walking definition of narcissism.
Meanwhile, speaking of the gullible, which makes me think of Tea Party types, if you go over to MotherJones.com you can read some genuine investigative journalism looking into the “non profiit” that is the Tea Party Patriots. Pretty much nothing but a ponzi scheme, so it appears. Which shouldn’t be surprising since it’s run by a guy who also works helps run Herbalife.
Up the cats, down the Teabaggers.
As for war stuff, I’ve said this before — a fleet of Toyota 4WD pickups full of guys totin’ cheap AK-47’s make a formidable army. Between the C-130’s and C-5’s (and who knows what other cargo planes we have?) we could deliver a strike force pretty much anywhere. But of course none of the dough spent on that would make any of OUR defense contractors a lot of cash, so they won’t paying to lobby John Boner and Co. unless our tax dollars are flowing into their off-shore accounts. What percentage of the total gummint money spent each year is for “defense” anyway? If we cut that back to just enough to destroy the entire world only once or twice I bet we could wipe out the deficit, pay for universal healthcare and build high-speed rail networks to rival anyone’s!
We’re kinda busy here in Wisconsin trying to get the attention of the legislature. 30,000 plus people at the Capitol today.
http://yfrog.com/h6wp5uvj
13,000 yesterday, biggest crowd expected Thursday. National guard on alert “in case they are needed to replace the prison guards”. Right.
Found a good vid too,
Enjoy. I’m stuck at work or I’d be hanging’ out by the Children’s Museum at the top of State Street, pounding coffee & waiting for Scott Walker to piss his pants.
Now that’s some fun shit to watch. I eyeballed a couple Wisconsin newspaper sites to see how they’re playing this (badly) then went to the NYT. Not much there, either. If this were happening in Saudi Arabia the sonsabitches would be all over it like a wet T-shirt.
You know for someone who was complaining about a lot of cold and white stuff that picture seems to indicate otherwise. Anyways, great to here you are out riding Patrick. I am laid up with a bum ankle (still) and the wet, cold ‘wintery’ weather hath returned to Cali. May springtime not be far away for all of us!
These princes and kings and rulers of the Middle East need to stop this contagen right now. I mean, who’s gonna be left to put on multi-million dollar golf tournaments in January? Who’s gonna buy up all the Bugatti Veyrons and Aston Martins? Who’s gonna build man-made islands in the shapes of weed? And then build houses on them? Who’s gonna buy 100 million dollar yachts? Christ, our global economy is just gonna go to shit.
At the risk of returning to one of the original topics, I just visited Velonews.com this morning and seven of the twelve headlines had the name “Armstrong” in it. This list included the “Lance Armstrong Pre-Comeback Timeline” that began with, and I kid you not, “Birth”.
Patrick, what’s with Velonews? They all got a man-crush on this guy? Are the folks running that site worried that all those eyeballs on either side of chamois sniffing noses are going to head somewhere else?
So he’s retired, good bye and good riddance. Now let’s start the new season and get back to being outraged by Contador’s get-out-of-jail-free card.
John: Yes. Thank you. And the VN Comments section needs to go away, a la Cyclingnews.com. The web flares from the chamois sniffers are just too much–and the comments from douchebags who hate on Patrick after a Rant are rubbish (no offense to douchebags and rubbish). VN is news, not a blog.
Well said John! BigTex is done and nothing he does (without using a bicycle anyway) should be of further interest to VeloNews. All the vitriolic commenting can stop now and things can go back to Contador and his “it’s a great step forward for the sport” baloney. Pretty much everyone who is not a Spaniard has called this decision a farce, but Il Pistolero’s spin on it is mind-blowing. This kid’s got a bright future — perhaps in the Repuglican Party, maybe John Boner ought to be letting him be the Speaker of the House!
Gents, Management decided long ago that the name “Armstrong” equals “money,” so there you have it. “Get it while you can” seems to be the guiding light here. I haven’t asked those In Authority whether anyone’s following this latest spate of knob-gobbling, I’m just happy I’m not having to contribute to it, my stints in the VeloBarrel being limited to Saturdays and Sundays.
As for the comments, I can do without those too. When I read the local cage-liner online I have to be careful not to scroll down too far or I stumble into a morass of idiocy, illiteracy and rage that makes me want to arm myself and go on a dummy hunt. Call me an elitist (because I am one), but I miss the days when an actual editor sifted through the garbage in search of a rare diamond worth affixing to the letters column.
Seriously! And to those of who don’t sniff other’s chamois (unless paid to do so): ol’ what’s his name was retired in my book in 2003. So this latest go-around is sort of like last month’s National Enquirer: old, trendy news.