Friday, June 30, 2006

Daily Peloton - Pro Cycling News

Daily Peloton - Pro Cycling News
Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Paco Mancebo, Oscar Sevilla - all out of the Tour de France. Just heartbreaking. I've been a Tour de France viewer since the days it appeared only on the weekend edition of Wide World of Sports. I've watched with amazement at the efforts of these men along with Lance Armstrong these many years. I remember seeing Lance Armstrong crashing off his bike and watching as Jan Ullrich and the other leaders waited for him. The amount of sportsmanship and mental ability to keep riding despite the pain of racing is extrordinary to watch and so I am entertained and engrossed by the daily grind of the Tour. To open up the cycling news today and to find that Ullrich won't get that chance to win his second Tour or that Basso won't get a chance either to ride out of the shadow of Lance Armstrong is just disappointing. And after years of the evil French chasing after Lance Armstrong and never catching him now they've taken a big knife and cut off their own nose. Any attempt by these cycling officials and tour organizers now to say how beautiful things are is made a lie by the blood dripping down their faces. A sad state of affairs indeed.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia

The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia: "The Supreme Court today delivered a sweeping rebuke to the Bush administration, ruling that the military tribunals it created to try terror suspects violate both American military law and the Geneva Conventions."

Thank god. The Constitution still has a heartbeat. Barely after Kelo and other decisions of that ilk but at least the Supremes stood up a small bit. I wasn't going to be surprised if they went for another Koramatsu type decision. Of course as we see here, the majority justices are an old lot. Stevens isn't long for the court, Ginsburg has been not well. Hopefully there will be no more turnover as long as the Bush group is in the White House. The balance in favor of the Constitution as it is written and intended is about gone otherwise.