Hypocrites are Everywhere

A quick recap of October's weather; according to the National Weather Service the weather in October was even crappier than September's. Temperatures were again below normal (almost 5 degrees below average). We had 32.5% more rain than normal. And the wind averaged 9.9 mph, meaning that during the daylight (windier) hours we had winds of about 14 mph, all day, every day. Out of 31 days in October we had 8, that's 8 days of fair weather. Have you read anything about global warming recently? I didn't think so. But worry not dear readers, the fear mongers will rear their ugly heads as soon as spring and summer arrive. They need the warm weather for cover.

Mile 9274 - Clark Lake

An update on Elvis' 10,000 mile goal; had a good week of riding last week. Started out the week riding outside in shorts and 70 degrees and ended up riding inside on rollers instead of fighting 34 degrees and 25 mph winds at the end of the week. Last week's mileage; 36-26-15-30-20-35-30, 192 total. Guess which day I travelled. Currently the 2006 total is 9393. I'm already sick of riding indoors. Why is it that I can sit on my arse for 6 hours on any given Sunday watching football and it goes by in a flash, but 45 minutes on the trainer (even while watching football) seems like an eternity?

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Are you as fed up with doping as much as I am? You can't peruse any cycling sites without being bombarded with stories about doping and dopers. And it will only get worse. Since the Italian cycling federation refused to prosecute any Italian cyclists involved in the Operation Puerto affair (and no, I'm not going to italicize "Operation Puerto" like the other sites erroneously do) the entire case has dissolved. Showing the world that once again, the pro cycling community continues to turn a blind eye on the problem. You'd think that after the top cyclists were kicked out of this year's Tour for doping, and the eventual winner was shown to have doped - the pro cycling community would have made some major changes. Sure, they talked tough all late Summer and Fall but now that contract signings and training camps are underway it's back to business as usual. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Doper Ivan Basso goes to the hive of high-tech doping; Discovery Cycling Team. Wasn't it just a few months ago that Discovery manager Johan Bruyneel was mouthing off about his and the team's anti-doping stance? And now, against the understanding by pro teams not to sign dopers, and hiding behind the lawyers who say that nothing can legally stop him from signing a doper, he hires one anyway. Read HERE. Apparently Bruyneel is against doping if it helps the other guys but is for it if it helps his guys.

Doper Ullrich has been invited to numerous races. Doper Francisco Mancebo has signed a pro contract. Even ultra-doper Tyler Hamilton has signed on with a pro team. See, the industry just does not care.

But this is my favorite doping story of the week. Team CSC, home of numerous riders who have failed drug tests (hey, both Hamilton and Basso, mentioned above rode for CSC - go figure), is now claiming that they have established a set of testing protocols whereby riders will be "constantly monitored" for drugs. Sounds great, doesn't it? Not when you factor in that this is just a silly measure to circumvent the DNA testing which was suggested a few weeks ago. This is simply an effort by the team to look like they're taking drug misuse seriously all while hiding from effective testing. Further, since the team is doing the monitoring it will be the fox guarding the henhouse. No surprise, of course, the team is run by Bjarne Riis. Known during his cycling days as Mr. 60%, a reference to his drug induced high hemocrit levels when he won the Tour in 1996 (ahead of Richard Virenque, who later admitted that he doped during the 1996 Tour), Riis has said this about doping, "Nobody should worry about anything, as long the riders were not harmed. Furthermore that all professional athletes - who have the goal of winning - should be free to do whatever they want to do. It's in the nature of the game". Article HERE. Yes, we should trust this guy when he says that his team will actively monitor drug use by riders.

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Harry Reid: An average millionaire, just like you and me

“The middle class is being squeezed,” Mr. Reid said. “Squeezed. The rich are getting richer; the poor are getting poorer. We must do something about education. We must do something to relieve the tax burden on the middle class.” That's multi-millionaire Senate majority leader Harry Reid quoted in a NY Times article HERE. I suspect that most Elvis Kennedy readers would fall into the middle class. I don't know many 'really' rich people (OK, a few physicians), nor do I know many 'really' poor folks (OK, Buster). So Reid will be helping us out, eh? I'm only including this paragraph for future reference. Future, as in when the democrats reduce or eliminate the child and married couple tax credits. You know, the taxes that affect all of us here in the middle class. Mr. Reid likes that phrase, "the rich are getting richer". At least he knows something about that, read HERE and HERE to learn how he made millions in unethical real estate deals where he abused his position in government authority and lied about it. Does the liberal press care? Obviously not since although you made have heard some minor reference to the story it sure got buried in a hurry. For more on the press' failure to cover it go HERE.

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Bono: Do as I say, not as I do

Hypocrite of the Week:

Bono. Yes, Bono, the band U2 front man, colored lens wearing (he's an artiste) knuckle-head. He's always shooting off his mouth about how governments and private people (, i.e., you and me) should devote lots of time and energy and give gobs of money to those causes he holds so dear. AIDS, poverty, bla, bla, bla. I've always thought he was hypocritical because instead of asking for my dime he could single-handedly have a major impact on his little pet causes if he would donate just 30% of his wealth (estimated at over $286 million). And now we learn that he moved his business interests from Ireland (where his tax dollars could impact a relatively poor country still trying to recover from decades of internal strife) to the Netherlands, where he can avoid taxes. While asking Ireland to send more resources to Africa he cuts off their tax revenue. What a dick. Details HERE. Don't misunderstand my position - I'm all for avoiding taxes where possible. But I'm not flying around in my private jet whining about poverty. That's what makes Bono the Hypocrite of the Week. Beating out the likes of Johan Bruyneel and Harry Reid.