It has been a few busy years since I posted anything here, but, as no one reads it, and as I've some observations, questions to explore, and rage to vent - and it won't necessarily fit in my facebook status window, I thought I might start up again.

Let's begin with this:

And this:

REM End of the world

Breaking - Update:

News of the Day:

Lohan Busted

Vino Busted:

Updated: Vino Responds:

Oh, and Gonzo Busted

I'm going to ride my bike.

Interesting. Who'd have thought that the doping problem in cycling is actually a mental health issue?

Nope. Can't be. These guys are jsut weak minded, unchristian, dopers that deserve Guantanamo detention just like the gays, the Muslims, those damn brown people. Hell, they've just gotta be iberal too. Just say no!

The irony here is too rich to ignore.

Nick Ut, the AP photographer who has become famous for taking this:

Is also the AP photographer who became famous for taking this:

Compare these two images of distraught young women that galvinized a nation to action in the service of righteousness.

I honestly can't say anything about this that British graffiti artist Banksy didn't say better here:

"Screaming Paris Hilton Sent Back to Jail"

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't pee on Paris if she was on fire, but this is ridiculous. Although I know this because of my personal obsession with the news, I also know that Alberto Gonzales will face a vote of no confidence in the congress on Monday, that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs has resigned (suddenly), and that the Iraqi parliment has voted to allow the Iraqi government to reject continued UN mandated troop presence in that country. I doubt that most of the passive receptors of what passes for news in this country are similarly aware.

Today though, my rant is not necessarily about the fact that the various news media is overly concerned with tabloid bullshit instead of real news. Instead, I find it utterly terrifying that Paris Hilton's ordeal has more to do with the coverage by CNN and MSNBC than with justice, the law or the merits of her case.

This works both ways of course. Paris gets the cavity search her Kharma might warrant, but her criminal behavior probably doesn't, yet pederast congressmen and pastors are excused when they check in to rehab.

First she's in jail. Then she's out. Now she's in again. As I mentioned, I don't care, and that's my point. The criminal justice system (which shouldn't care either) seems completely unable to function objectively with this kind of media focus.

I have been following the Landis arbitration hearing closely and was as dismayed and disappointed by the testimony of Greg LeMond and the circumstances surrounding it as everyone. O'Grady's rant pretty well summed up my feelings on the matter until I thought about it a bit. I'm still disgusted. But my feelings about that testimony have changed.
My disgust is not with LeMond or his motivations (honorable, or as some have suggested, not). It's not even with Landis' loser friends, degenerates that they might be. It isn't even with Landis' alleged doping in the 2006 Tour de France. I'm still not sure he's guilty. In fact, What really disgusts me is that LeMond's testimony didn't really serve any purpose except to inspire the righteous indignation of those of us (like O'Grady) that are sick of the sullying of our favorite sport.
What is apparent to me, after seeing and reading about most of the hearing as a whole, is that the USADA (and by extension WADA and the UCI) hasn't got much science or objective evidence to support their case. For example, besides LeMond, their "experts" have a) seemed ignorant or uninterested in the work they are doing b) compromised by significant ($1.3 million) amounts of grant money or c) been forbidden to testify on behalf of an athlete by specific provision in the WADA Code (even if while in search of the "truth"). Even Papp's seemingly damaging testimony was purely anecdotal and functionally irrelevant.
All they seem to have left is an emotional appeal to our anger and frustration at the whole circus. It worked on O'Grady just like they wanted it to. I hope the three arbitrators are a bit more circumspect.
I haven't decided whether or not I think Landis is guilty of doping. The "LeMond Affair" didn't sway me in the end. What I have decided, though, is that in their current form, the national and world anti-doping institutions are at best disfunctional and at worst unethical to the point of being ineffectual.
And the dopers know it.

At long last.
Tuesday, June 27 2006. The senate f the United States narrowly defeated a bill calling for the amendment of the Constitution of the United States to allow the congress the power to punish those who desecrate the nation's flag. Though what that punishment might be no one knows and what qualifies as desecration apparently would have been determined by the congress.

In fact, the first amendment protects our right to express ourselves freely. That expression may be repugnant. That expression may be offensive or embarrassing (hell, listen to Ken Salazar, D, Colorado, who thinks the constitution is just as important as the flag itself...Asshole). But the simplest fact is that these idiots are not able to, qualified to, responsible for, nor charged with deciding what qualifies as appropriate political expression.