File under jankowskiboystalkaboutcyclingforamonth.com
OLN is running all Armstrong tonight. Wow. Beautiful. I’m going to bed early, and trying to do the Tour de Jamestown Island before work.
In any case, it’s the 2000 tour right now. What a waste of human capital on display there. David Millar, confessed EPO user, winning the Prologue. The classic battle between Armstrong and Pantani (RIP) up le Ventoux. Armstrong sticking it Ullrich in the last time trial, in Germany, setting the TdF ITT speed record. And lastly, a beaming Lance, Luke, and Kristen on the podium in Paris.
Wow.
2001 – happy, happy story. Wow. “I’d like to continue winning the Tour de France.”
My first reading experience with David Sedaris was Me Talk Pretty One Day and I only read a little way into before boredom set in. It wasn’t until his readings for David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall on NPR that I decided I should give it another try. If you’ve followed these links, you realize I still haven’t read a page of DS, it’s all been on audio book. His gritty quiet lisp fills the gap I was feeling seperate his writing from a personal experience.
I’m more than two-thirds done with David Sedaris’s latest collection of essays, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and it is his best writing, yet. Don’t rush out and get it, though, because you need a few warnings first. It is not light reading. He still makes me laugh almost continuously, but several stories in this collection deal with his family and personal life in a more intimate fashion — bearing the kind of weight that only reality can bring. Also, he has brought more details about his life as a homosexual, both as an adult and a child, and anyone suffering from the slightest homophobia will have their mettle tested. Some of it is brutal enough to warrant a comparison to some of Todd Solondz’s work. Better would be to say that if Solondz was able to achieve a measure of balance in his work (instead of outright shock) he might achieve something as wonderfully nuanced as Sedaris’s work.
Buy it at:
An old friend with whom I’d recently caught up again, unexpectedly, split for home. She’s up with a new blog. I read her comments about not being able to go home again, and wished I could have written something similar when departing Texas to head back to Connecticut.
Best of wishes to her.
Since I am always quick to criticize my second-least-favorite justice, I thought that I should be just as quick to praise him when he gets one right (especially when the rest of the court is trying to pussy-foot around the issue).
In the Hamdi decision that came out this morning, Scales stated the obvious; you cannot hold American citizens indefinitely without trial, no matter what crime you think they are contemplating. Furthermore, unless Congress suspends habeus corpus, even in wartime you have to either (i) charge a person of a crime and commence criminal proceedings, or (ii) let him walk.
The most compelling thing that Tony said was the simplest, and the one thing that justice department lawyers should have realized years ago. If you think a US citizen is conspiring with foreign adversaries to do harm to the US (which could be called sabotage as easily as it is called terrorism), you cannot call him an enemy combatant and try to lock him away forever without a trial.
You can, however (and I would argue that you must), try that person for treason.
At least someone on the court is willing to stand up for civil liberties and constitutional protections.
In an effort to lighten the political mood (and after the #1 movie of the weekend, I think we need it) without letting up on the pressure ;o), I present for your listening entertainment The George W Bush Singers.
The statements of the President of the United States of America should be sung with great ardor!
The eloquence of our Chief Executive deserves to be honored and commemorated!
So that we might demonstrate our respect, admiration & reverence, we present to you this unbreakable record — in Sterorigic Sound — devoted solely to making a joyful noise and celebrating the words of our 43rd President.
Allow us to introduce ourselves and please sing along!
Dale Dudley (the local morning DJ) has been slipping in tracks from this soon-to-be-released album and it’s cracking me up. I can’t decide if my favorite is In Tennessee or 4000 Hours.
Today’s reason: still squashing science.
Doing their best to deny science an opportunity to operate over fevered policy, the Bush administration through the Health and Human Services Department is regulating which scientists can speak officially to the World Health Organization.
“This policy is unprecedented. For the first time political appointees will routinely be able to keep the top experts in their field from responding to WHO requests for guidance on international health issues,” the California Democrat wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson.
“This is a raw attempt to exert political control over scientists and scientific evidence in the area of international health,” Waxman wrote.
…
Waxman also complained that HHS had cut back a list of scientists planning to attend the International AIDS Society conference in Bangkok, Thailand, next month. The conference is considered the premiere meeting for AIDS experts.
Waxman said that 40 presentations scheduled for the conference were withdrawn after HHS decided that only 50 U.S. scientists could attend.
This reminds me of an interview I heard with Ron Reagan this weekend. He pointed out the hypocrisy of this adminstration’s restrictions on stem cell research while they allow in vitro fertilization to continue. Both have the same waste product in great amounts.