Team Astana controlled both days in the mountains (Saturday and Sunday), with Alberto Contador winning both. After Alejandro Valverde's boneheaded blunder on Thursday (he went back to his team car to get a jacket, but before he could get back up with the leaders, the peleton split -- and Valverde was caught in the wrong half, losing 3.5 minutes), everyone thought that he'd be fired up to show something before the race was over. On the first day, which ended with an ascent of the famed Angliru, with its 20-degree-plus climb at the top, Astana showed that its focus was victory for Contador (which would make him the fifth person and first Spaniard to win all 3 Grand Tours), because Astana sent the following roster of climbers to the front to lead the way up the Angliru:
First, Andreas Kloeden from Germany, 2004 & '06 runner-up in the Tour. When he tired,
Second, Sergio Paulinho from Portugal, 2004 silver medalist in the Olympic road race. When he tired,
Third, José Luis ("Chechu") Rubiera from Spain, climbing domestique extraordinaire since 2000. When he tired,
Fourth, Levi Leipheimer from the U.S., who was sitting in second place, 1 minute behind Egoi Martinez at the time.
No dispute as to the team leader between Leipheimer and Contador!
As it happened, the pace set by Astana (and especially Rubiera and Leipheimer) shook everyone except for Leipheimer, Contador, Valverde and his domestique Joaquin Rodriguez. Valverde and Rodriguez attacked with about 5 km (3 miles) of climb left -- but they couldn't beat Contador, who won the stage by 42 seconds over Valverde, 58 seconds over Rodriguez and 1:05 over Leipheimer, with Carlos Sastre 1:32 back in 5th.
The next day, Valverde's team, Caisse d'Epargne, drove the pace up the last climb -- but then, Ezequiel Mosquera from Xacobeo-Galicia took off, dragging Contador and Leipheimer with him and bonking Valverde. End result: Contador first by 2 seconds over Leipheimer and 4 seconds over Mosquera. Among the others: Sastre 20 seconds down; Valverde and Rodriguez 1 minute down.
After time bonuses, Contador has a 1:17 lead on Leipheimer. No more "real" action is expected until the time trial on Saturday, which is an unusual 17 km uphill time trial up a first-category climb ... which would probably favor Contador anyway. But it appears that Astana has its eyes on two places once again, the second time in three Grand Tour races that Contador and Leipheimer will have pulled such a double.
Check back Saturday.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Lying as usual, Sen. McCain's campaign said...
...that Sen. Obama called Gov. Palin a "pig"
But Obama clearly didn't. He clearly used that analogy to refer to Republicans in the White House: for the Republicans to claim to be the party of change after 8 years governing is like putting lipstick on a pig -- it's still a pig.
Just because Gov. Palin used lipstick to refer to herself during the RNC doesn't mean that any lipstick reference is about her.
This is going to be sickening before it's all over.
But Obama clearly didn't. He clearly used that analogy to refer to Republicans in the White House: for the Republicans to claim to be the party of change after 8 years governing is like putting lipstick on a pig -- it's still a pig.
Just because Gov. Palin used lipstick to refer to herself during the RNC doesn't mean that any lipstick reference is about her.
This is going to be sickening before it's all over.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Mixed messages in the MSM?
Which is it?
Obama Inspires Black Republicans to Switch Parties, St. Louis American, Sept. 8, 2008.
Obama Can't Sway the Black GOP Faithful, Gainesville Sun, Sept. 2, 2008.
Obama Inspires Black Republicans to Switch Parties, St. Louis American, Sept. 8, 2008.
Obama Can't Sway the Black GOP Faithful, Gainesville Sun, Sept. 2, 2008.
Curious spam
I just deleted a spam item from my mailbox with the headline, "Britney Spears in training to become lesbian."
I never knew there were training classes in that kind of thing. Did Lindsay Lohan take them too?
I never knew there were training classes in that kind of thing. Did Lindsay Lohan take them too?
Lying as usual, Sen. Obama said...
...that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a supporter of the "Bridge to Nowhere." As reported by ABC News, he said:
The problem with Obama's pretended honesty is simply that the Alaska Democratic Party agreed with Palin's claim, or at least it agreed before Obama and his media spin doctors got them to remove their description of the events from the Web yesterday.
Here is the description, from the now-deleted "Retire Ted" page of the Democratic Party's campaign against Sen. Ted Stevens:
But guess who DID support the Bridge to Nowhere? That's right, the same Sen. Obama, in return for support for his earmarks.
Ugly business, politics. I'm sure I'll have to make the same posts about McCain.
Update: If Obama wanted to say something true, he could say that Gov. Palin didn't turn down the money, because she didn't. She just used it for another project. But I don't think truth is high on his list of priorities.
Obama also mocked the new TV ad put out by the McCain campaign claiming that Gov. Sarah Palin "stopped the Bridge to Nowhere."
"I gotta admit these folks are shameless," Obama said, "because the record is indisputable," he said, describing how Palin had originally supported the project.
"I wouldn’t do that," Obama said. "I mean, I'm not perfect --"
"Yes, you are!" shouted a woman in the crowd.
"No, no, no, no," Obama said. "Talk to Michelle, she’ll tell you. But what I'm not going to do, I'm not going to describe in an ad that I did something that is opposite of what I did."
The problem with Obama's pretended honesty is simply that the Alaska Democratic Party agreed with Palin's claim, or at least it agreed before Obama and his media spin doctors got them to remove their description of the events from the Web yesterday.
Here is the description, from the now-deleted "Retire Ted" page of the Democratic Party's campaign against Sen. Ted Stevens:
The Gravina Island Bridge initially received $223 million in 2005 via earmarks by Alaska Senators Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski. The bridge would have connected Ketchikan, Alaska with its local airport on nearby Gravina Island (population 50). Congress stripped the earmark after a national uproar about it but appropriated the money anyway for unspecified transportation uses. Former Gov. Frank Murkowski’s administration set aside about $113 million of the appropriation for the Ketchikan bridge. However, Gov. Sarah Palin said the $398 million bridge was $329 million short of full funding, and only $36 million in federal funds were set aside for it. She said it was clear Congress had little interest in spending any more money for it and that the state had higher priorities.
But guess who DID support the Bridge to Nowhere? That's right, the same Sen. Obama, in return for support for his earmarks.
Ugly business, politics. I'm sure I'll have to make the same posts about McCain.
Update: If Obama wanted to say something true, he could say that Gov. Palin didn't turn down the money, because she didn't. She just used it for another project. But I don't think truth is high on his list of priorities.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Cycling today
The big story today in the world of cycling once again involves the Astana Team.
And it isn't Alberto Contador or Levi Leipheimer.
While Leipheimer and Contador relinquished the lead of the 2008 Vuelta (by 11 seconds) to Egoi Martinez of Euskatel, which is not a negative because it gives Euskatel the burden of leading the peleton in chasing down breaks for the next three mostly-flat stages (and Martinez is no long-term threat), Astana was making headlines with Lance Armstrong.
Accordong to a rumor in VeloNews, Armstrong has agreed to return for five races next year, including the Tour de France. He is doing this for no salary or bonuses, and he will post all of his doping tests online.
To an extent, this appears to be an effort by Armstrong to show that he was clean during his Tour wins, which has been a subject of intense debate among the French, in particular. When former Armstrong teammates Roberto Heras, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis and Manuel Beltran tested positive for doping after they left Johan Bruyneel's USPS/Discovery Channel team, a lot of aspersions were directed at Armstrong. This would be Armstrong's chance to show that he was clean all the time (or at least after 1999, which we'll discuss on another occasion) ... and now that Bruyneel runs Astana, Armstrong would have the best strategist in cycling on his side once again.
Since Astana will continue to have Contador and Leipheimer and probably Kloeden plus Armstrong, it should be able to be competitive in all three Grand Tours, which Bruyneel had already managed with USPS/Discovery Channel/Astana (winning 11 Grand Tours: 8 Tours, 2 Giros and 1 Vuelta (and counting)). The team has also added Dirk Demol, who was operations director of Discovery Channel when Bruyneel was director sportif there, for 2009 -- and the sponsorship from Astana has freed it from needing to bring young Americans up through the ranks of the team, since they have ended up on the U.S.-based teams Team Columbia or Team Garmin-Chipotle.
According to the VeloNews report, Armstrong's five races would be the Amgen Tour of California, which has become America's premier stage race, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphine-Libere and the Tour de France. In particular, this announcement (if confirmed) is viewed as a huge boon for the Tour de Georgia, which is without a title sponsor and may collapse without a huge boost like this.
Oh, and the Trek bicycle sponsorship followed Bruyneel, Contador and Leipheimer to Astana, so Armstrong won't have any conflict there.
More to come....
And it isn't Alberto Contador or Levi Leipheimer.
While Leipheimer and Contador relinquished the lead of the 2008 Vuelta (by 11 seconds) to Egoi Martinez of Euskatel, which is not a negative because it gives Euskatel the burden of leading the peleton in chasing down breaks for the next three mostly-flat stages (and Martinez is no long-term threat), Astana was making headlines with Lance Armstrong.
Accordong to a rumor in VeloNews, Armstrong has agreed to return for five races next year, including the Tour de France. He is doing this for no salary or bonuses, and he will post all of his doping tests online.
To an extent, this appears to be an effort by Armstrong to show that he was clean during his Tour wins, which has been a subject of intense debate among the French, in particular. When former Armstrong teammates Roberto Heras, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis and Manuel Beltran tested positive for doping after they left Johan Bruyneel's USPS/Discovery Channel team, a lot of aspersions were directed at Armstrong. This would be Armstrong's chance to show that he was clean all the time (or at least after 1999, which we'll discuss on another occasion) ... and now that Bruyneel runs Astana, Armstrong would have the best strategist in cycling on his side once again.
Since Astana will continue to have Contador and Leipheimer and probably Kloeden plus Armstrong, it should be able to be competitive in all three Grand Tours, which Bruyneel had already managed with USPS/Discovery Channel/Astana (winning 11 Grand Tours: 8 Tours, 2 Giros and 1 Vuelta (and counting)). The team has also added Dirk Demol, who was operations director of Discovery Channel when Bruyneel was director sportif there, for 2009 -- and the sponsorship from Astana has freed it from needing to bring young Americans up through the ranks of the team, since they have ended up on the U.S.-based teams Team Columbia or Team Garmin-Chipotle.
According to the VeloNews report, Armstrong's five races would be the Amgen Tour of California, which has become America's premier stage race, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphine-Libere and the Tour de France. In particular, this announcement (if confirmed) is viewed as a huge boon for the Tour de Georgia, which is without a title sponsor and may collapse without a huge boost like this.
Oh, and the Trek bicycle sponsorship followed Bruyneel, Contador and Leipheimer to Astana, so Armstrong won't have any conflict there.
More to come....
Olbermann demoted for poor ratings
Are there more people on the extreme right or the extreme left? MSNBC found out the hard way.
MSNBC's far-left "commentator" Keith Olbermann, along with Chris Matthews, who had moved left to keep the former ESPN jock-sniffer company on the Obama "bandwagon", were sacked as the anchors of MSNBC's political coverage today.
The move was apparently in response to MSNBC's flop in the ratings books at the conventions, as MSNBC trailed both Fox and CNN by a country mile, drawing slightly more than a quarter of the viewing audience of its competitors during the Republican convention and not doing much better during the Democratic convention, while Fox News secured the top rating.
The poor chemistry between Olbermann and Matthews led Comedy Central's Jon Stewart to compare the coverage to Lindsay Lohan's fractious family ("Does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?"). Meanwhile, the far-left tilt hurt the reputation for neutrality that MSNBC's parent network, NBC, had long cultivated in its news operation -- and MSNBC's decision to give a new show to Air America talking head Rachel Maddow only emphasized the network's decision to embrace "partisan journalism."
Although Fox News pioneered "partisan journalism" on TV, its anchors such as Brit Hume and Chris Wallace have carefully nurtured a reputation for neutrality. Unfortunately, MSNBC decided to disregard this when embracing its shift to the radical left.
Sports is the playpen of journalism, and few former sports anchors have survived outside of it. Olbermann proved to be NBC's true "not ready for prime time player."
MSNBC's far-left "commentator" Keith Olbermann, along with Chris Matthews, who had moved left to keep the former ESPN jock-sniffer company on the Obama "bandwagon", were sacked as the anchors of MSNBC's political coverage today.
The move was apparently in response to MSNBC's flop in the ratings books at the conventions, as MSNBC trailed both Fox and CNN by a country mile, drawing slightly more than a quarter of the viewing audience of its competitors during the Republican convention and not doing much better during the Democratic convention, while Fox News secured the top rating.
The poor chemistry between Olbermann and Matthews led Comedy Central's Jon Stewart to compare the coverage to Lindsay Lohan's fractious family ("Does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?"). Meanwhile, the far-left tilt hurt the reputation for neutrality that MSNBC's parent network, NBC, had long cultivated in its news operation -- and MSNBC's decision to give a new show to Air America talking head Rachel Maddow only emphasized the network's decision to embrace "partisan journalism."
Although Fox News pioneered "partisan journalism" on TV, its anchors such as Brit Hume and Chris Wallace have carefully nurtured a reputation for neutrality. Unfortunately, MSNBC decided to disregard this when embracing its shift to the radical left.
Sports is the playpen of journalism, and few former sports anchors have survived outside of it. Olbermann proved to be NBC's true "not ready for prime time player."
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Leipheimer leading Vuelta again
In the 2008 Vuelta, where 6 of the top 7 are Spanish, the leader once again is Levi Leipheimer, the only American in the race. In second is Leipheimer's teammate Alberto Contador, who edged Leipheimer in the Tour de France a year ago and then won the Giro d'Italia earlier this year.
Could Leipheimer-Contador turn into another Hinault-LeMond (except without the petty jealousy)?
Could Leipheimer-Contador turn into another Hinault-LeMond (except without the petty jealousy)?
Canadian elections forthcoming
A lot of very left-wing Canadians of my acquaintance are heavily invested in the Barack Obama Celebrity Sweepstakes. However, it looks like Canadian PM Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party wants to take advantage of their absence. Harper needs to pick up 28 seats to have a Conservative majority in Commons, and t now, while Russia is making the peace-niks look like the glassy-eyed but silly idealists that they are, may be an opportune chance for him to gain those seats.
Good luck to him.
Good luck to him.
More on Mushroom
An e-mailer asks if I lost money when Mushroom Records collapsed -- if not, why do I still seem to have it in for Ann and Nancy Wilson after all these years?
The answer is that no, I wasn't an investor, but I care because of the way that their selfishness affected the Canadian group Chilliwack. Let me explain...
Heart was a struggling Seattle, Washington band that moved to Vancouver to make a record. Heart ended up recording at Can-Base Studios in Vancouver, where head engineer Mike Flicker produced their debut album, "Dreamboat Annie". Another group recording at Can-Base was Chilliwack, a Vancouver-based group that had been on the verge of success for years, having released seven prior albums, two as the Collectors and five as Chilliwack, on four different U.S. labels (WB 2, Parrot 1, A&M 2 and Sire 2). But this time, Chilliwack came up with a winner: "Dreams Dreams Dreams". Both albums were released by an upstart Vancouver label, Mushroom Records, which was also affiliated with Can-Base ... and Can-Base changed its name to Mushroom Studios.
"Dreamboat Annie" was a smash success. "Dreams Dreams Dreams" was a modest hit, although it produced four singles. A young record-store manager in Columbus, Ohio pushed the heck out of "Dreams, Dreams, Dreams", and we managed to make it into a solid hit in Columbus, although still spotty elsewhere in the US.
But then came the dark side of the music business. Heart wanted its royalties raised, now that it had had a major hit. Mushroom refused. Word of the problems got to CBS Records, which found out (to its surprise) that Flicker, despite his affiliation with Can-Base/Mushroom Studios, actually had no affiliation with Mushroom Records. So CBS hired him, although he was in the middle of recording Heart's second album, "Magazine."
Here's where things get murky. Ann Wilson claims, in his effort to keep Heart from breaching its contract, that the head of Mushroom Records (Shelly Siegel) started a "whisper campaign" that Ann and her sister Nancy were lesbian lovers. Unlikely as this seems, one thing that is certain is that Heart did indeed breach their contract and sign with Flicker and CBS -- where they got their much-higher royalty rate, leaving Mushroom, still a start-up label, completely in the lurch.
Ann and Nancy wrote the song "Barracuda" about Siegel, including the lyric (related to the supposed "whisper campaign"): "If the real thing don't do the trick, you better make up something quick."
In the flurry of lawsuits that followed, the courts ended up permitting Heart to ditch Mushroom in pursuit of more money, although Mushroom was permitted to release "Magazine" -- but only after Flicker and the Wilsons finished it to their hearts' content -- meaning that Mushroom had to scrap about a half-million copies of the album that it had finished and shipped. Mushroom then had to hire guards to prevent the Wilsons and their bandmates from erasing the master tapes during recording, which the Wilsons had threatened to do if they actually had to live up to their contract.
Meanwhile, Chilliwack recorded another great album, "Lights from the Valley", but it didn't do as well in the US, because Mushroom was spending all its promotion money in the court fights with Heart. Then Chilliwack started on "Road to Paradise", but it ended up coming out as "Breakdown in Paradise" because Mushroom head Siegel died of a stroke ... at age 32, in January 1979.
Capitol Records bought the rights to the two Heart albums on Mushroom during the bankruptcy of the label. But the Chilliwack records on Mushroom are unavailable to this day, and have been unavailable for almost 30 years. All because Heart lived up to the motto of the Democratic Party: "We want ours; screw you."
The answer is that no, I wasn't an investor, but I care because of the way that their selfishness affected the Canadian group Chilliwack. Let me explain...
Heart was a struggling Seattle, Washington band that moved to Vancouver to make a record. Heart ended up recording at Can-Base Studios in Vancouver, where head engineer Mike Flicker produced their debut album, "Dreamboat Annie". Another group recording at Can-Base was Chilliwack, a Vancouver-based group that had been on the verge of success for years, having released seven prior albums, two as the Collectors and five as Chilliwack, on four different U.S. labels (WB 2, Parrot 1, A&M 2 and Sire 2). But this time, Chilliwack came up with a winner: "Dreams Dreams Dreams". Both albums were released by an upstart Vancouver label, Mushroom Records, which was also affiliated with Can-Base ... and Can-Base changed its name to Mushroom Studios.
"Dreamboat Annie" was a smash success. "Dreams Dreams Dreams" was a modest hit, although it produced four singles. A young record-store manager in Columbus, Ohio pushed the heck out of "Dreams, Dreams, Dreams", and we managed to make it into a solid hit in Columbus, although still spotty elsewhere in the US.
But then came the dark side of the music business. Heart wanted its royalties raised, now that it had had a major hit. Mushroom refused. Word of the problems got to CBS Records, which found out (to its surprise) that Flicker, despite his affiliation with Can-Base/Mushroom Studios, actually had no affiliation with Mushroom Records. So CBS hired him, although he was in the middle of recording Heart's second album, "Magazine."
Here's where things get murky. Ann Wilson claims, in his effort to keep Heart from breaching its contract, that the head of Mushroom Records (Shelly Siegel) started a "whisper campaign" that Ann and her sister Nancy were lesbian lovers. Unlikely as this seems, one thing that is certain is that Heart did indeed breach their contract and sign with Flicker and CBS -- where they got their much-higher royalty rate, leaving Mushroom, still a start-up label, completely in the lurch.
Ann and Nancy wrote the song "Barracuda" about Siegel, including the lyric (related to the supposed "whisper campaign"): "If the real thing don't do the trick, you better make up something quick."
In the flurry of lawsuits that followed, the courts ended up permitting Heart to ditch Mushroom in pursuit of more money, although Mushroom was permitted to release "Magazine" -- but only after Flicker and the Wilsons finished it to their hearts' content -- meaning that Mushroom had to scrap about a half-million copies of the album that it had finished and shipped. Mushroom then had to hire guards to prevent the Wilsons and their bandmates from erasing the master tapes during recording, which the Wilsons had threatened to do if they actually had to live up to their contract.
Meanwhile, Chilliwack recorded another great album, "Lights from the Valley", but it didn't do as well in the US, because Mushroom was spending all its promotion money in the court fights with Heart. Then Chilliwack started on "Road to Paradise", but it ended up coming out as "Breakdown in Paradise" because Mushroom head Siegel died of a stroke ... at age 32, in January 1979.
Capitol Records bought the rights to the two Heart albums on Mushroom during the bankruptcy of the label. But the Chilliwack records on Mushroom are unavailable to this day, and have been unavailable for almost 30 years. All because Heart lived up to the motto of the Democratic Party: "We want ours; screw you."
Friday, September 05, 2008
"Barracuda": Do the Wilson Sisters Have a Case?
The radical left is up in arms today because the Wilson sisters (Ann and Nancy), who were the leaders of the rock group Heart, are complaining that the McCain-Palin campaign used their 1978 hit song "Barracuda" without their permission.
Waaah! The poor coverage of the legal issue here by the mainstream media ("MSM") is another reason why the MSM is held in such disdain.
Basically, political campaigns buy a license from a performing-rights organization such as BMI or ASCAP for their campaigns, the same way that restaurants may buy such licenses to play music inside their premises. Such licenses entitle the campaign to use just about any song that it chooses as background music. As long as the campaign doesn't use the music in an adaptive use (for example, as backing to a commercial, as the McCain campaign earlier did with the Frankie Valli song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"), the campaign is free to use any of the songs licensed through the performing-rights organization.
So, when Heart sends out a press release to say that they have issued a "cease-and-desist" letter to the McCain campaign, as they did on Thursday morning, all that means is that they have embarked on a PR offensive. They actually have no right to cause either campaign to cease and desist from playing their songs, whether it's "Barracuda" (Sarah Palin's nickname), "Magic Man" (Barack Obama's self-image), "Heartless" or "Dog and Butterfly," as long as the campaign has secured the appropriate license -- unless the campaign somehow represents that use of the song constitutes an endorsement by the artist (not likely).
When the McCain-Palin campaign ignored the request and used the song Thursday night when Sarah Palin came on stage, Ann and Nancy Wilson made a scene reported by the MSM. Nancy claimed that she felt "completely fvcked over." I wonder if she'll turn down her next royalty check or withdraw her songs from pulic performance as a result.
Naah, didn't think so.
Nancy is married to the Oscar-winning writer/director Cameron Crowe, whose own donation record (all to Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer) reveals his leftist political viewpoint. No surprise that she doesn't really care about other people's legal rights.
I should add that I met Ann and Nancy Wilson in 1976, when Heart had just released its first album on Mushroom Records. They seemed nice. But shortly thereafter, in 1978, they decided to screw Mushroom Records and jump to CBS, right in the middle of recording their second album -- and they got away with it when Mushroom, desperate to release the second album despite Heart's breach of contract, filled it with two live covers of Led Zeppelin songs that Mushroom had previously agreed never to release. I was shocked at the time that Heart would do something so sleazy ... but this phony "cease-and-desist" controversy is consistent with it, although 30 years later.
Waaah! The poor coverage of the legal issue here by the mainstream media ("MSM") is another reason why the MSM is held in such disdain.
Basically, political campaigns buy a license from a performing-rights organization such as BMI or ASCAP for their campaigns, the same way that restaurants may buy such licenses to play music inside their premises. Such licenses entitle the campaign to use just about any song that it chooses as background music. As long as the campaign doesn't use the music in an adaptive use (for example, as backing to a commercial, as the McCain campaign earlier did with the Frankie Valli song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"), the campaign is free to use any of the songs licensed through the performing-rights organization.
So, when Heart sends out a press release to say that they have issued a "cease-and-desist" letter to the McCain campaign, as they did on Thursday morning, all that means is that they have embarked on a PR offensive. They actually have no right to cause either campaign to cease and desist from playing their songs, whether it's "Barracuda" (Sarah Palin's nickname), "Magic Man" (Barack Obama's self-image), "Heartless" or "Dog and Butterfly," as long as the campaign has secured the appropriate license -- unless the campaign somehow represents that use of the song constitutes an endorsement by the artist (not likely).
When the McCain-Palin campaign ignored the request and used the song Thursday night when Sarah Palin came on stage, Ann and Nancy Wilson made a scene reported by the MSM. Nancy claimed that she felt "completely fvcked over." I wonder if she'll turn down her next royalty check or withdraw her songs from pulic performance as a result.
Naah, didn't think so.
Nancy is married to the Oscar-winning writer/director Cameron Crowe, whose own donation record (all to Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer) reveals his leftist political viewpoint. No surprise that she doesn't really care about other people's legal rights.
I should add that I met Ann and Nancy Wilson in 1976, when Heart had just released its first album on Mushroom Records. They seemed nice. But shortly thereafter, in 1978, they decided to screw Mushroom Records and jump to CBS, right in the middle of recording their second album -- and they got away with it when Mushroom, desperate to release the second album despite Heart's breach of contract, filled it with two live covers of Led Zeppelin songs that Mushroom had previously agreed never to release. I was shocked at the time that Heart would do something so sleazy ... but this phony "cease-and-desist" controversy is consistent with it, although 30 years later.
Conventions
Other than establishing that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann is so partisan that he makes Faux News look fair and balanced by comparison, I'm not sure if the rest of us learned anything from the conventions.
Basically, we had four days of Democrat propaganda followed by four days of Republican propaganda, with a brief break for Hurricane Gustav. The media's intent to use the Palin VP pick as the means of impugning McCain's judgment backfired after her speech on Wednesday night, because McCain looked brilliant for picking her, and the negative newspaper articles and talking heads had to switch to a different tack.
I've explained on another site the rationale behind the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as Senator John McCain's vice presidential candidate, but I'll do it again here, so that it doesn;t get lost.
McCain faced severe problems with his VP pick. By picking Senator Joe Biden, Senator Barack Obama decided to make an attempt to shore up his foreign policy weakness. McCain's weakness was different. It seemed obvious that he wanted to pick a pro-choice VP candidate such as former Pa. governor Tom Ridge or Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. But, if he did so, he'd lose the support of the far right wing of the Republican Party -- and it was becoming clear that many far-right-wingers were taking the same view of McCain that far-left-wingers had taken of Hubert Humphrey in 1968: sit on their hands and hope he loses.
Yet the main candidates being touted on the right brought their own major weaknesses. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had been pro-choice, pro-gay rights and anti-Reagan-Bush ... until he had an epiphany in 2004 that most voters in Republican primaries held different positions than he did ... at which time he jettisoned everything he had previously stated that he believed. Yeah, imagine claiming to be on the "Straight Talk Express" when your running mate never met a view that he believed in past the next election. A Romney VP slot was the kiss of death for McCain.
Unfotunately, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty wasn't much better of a choice. He didn't bring as much baggage, but he's dull as dishwater as a speaker. And after all of Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's near-misses in Louisiana, he needed more than the few months he's spent as governor to change his national image. Meanwhile, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee remained poison to McCain's core supporters, Republican moderates, who weren't going to accept a creationist on the ticket, no way, no how.
Which left Palin. Ideologivally, she is far to the right. But she can so speak well, which is how she beat a sittling governor in the primary and an ex-governor in the genaral election.
Basically, we had four days of Democrat propaganda followed by four days of Republican propaganda, with a brief break for Hurricane Gustav. The media's intent to use the Palin VP pick as the means of impugning McCain's judgment backfired after her speech on Wednesday night, because McCain looked brilliant for picking her, and the negative newspaper articles and talking heads had to switch to a different tack.
I've explained on another site the rationale behind the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as Senator John McCain's vice presidential candidate, but I'll do it again here, so that it doesn;t get lost.
McCain faced severe problems with his VP pick. By picking Senator Joe Biden, Senator Barack Obama decided to make an attempt to shore up his foreign policy weakness. McCain's weakness was different. It seemed obvious that he wanted to pick a pro-choice VP candidate such as former Pa. governor Tom Ridge or Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. But, if he did so, he'd lose the support of the far right wing of the Republican Party -- and it was becoming clear that many far-right-wingers were taking the same view of McCain that far-left-wingers had taken of Hubert Humphrey in 1968: sit on their hands and hope he loses.
Yet the main candidates being touted on the right brought their own major weaknesses. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had been pro-choice, pro-gay rights and anti-Reagan-Bush ... until he had an epiphany in 2004 that most voters in Republican primaries held different positions than he did ... at which time he jettisoned everything he had previously stated that he believed. Yeah, imagine claiming to be on the "Straight Talk Express" when your running mate never met a view that he believed in past the next election. A Romney VP slot was the kiss of death for McCain.
Unfotunately, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty wasn't much better of a choice. He didn't bring as much baggage, but he's dull as dishwater as a speaker. And after all of Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's near-misses in Louisiana, he needed more than the few months he's spent as governor to change his national image. Meanwhile, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee remained poison to McCain's core supporters, Republican moderates, who weren't going to accept a creationist on the ticket, no way, no how.
Which left Palin. Ideologivally, she is far to the right. But she can so speak well, which is how she beat a sittling governor in the primary and an ex-governor in the genaral election.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Vuelta 2008
Only one American is riding in the Vuelta this year -- Levi Leipheimer, fresh off his Olympic bronze medal in the road time trial. Leipheimer hasn't ridden in the Vuelta since his third place in 2001. Like many of the other former members of the Discovery Channel cycling team, he ended up moving with director sportif Johan Bruyneel to Astana, the Kazakh cycling team that was torn apart by doping last year.
And what did Leipheimer do yesterday? He won the individual time trial and took over the overall lead in the race. Astana chose not to defend the lead today, because the race heads into the Pyrenees on Saturday and everyone needs to be at their freshest, but he's just 10 seconds back.
Leipheimer's victory makes him just the 5th American to win a stage in the race, along with Guido Trenti (2001), David Zabriskie (2004), Tom Danielson (2006) and Jason McCartney (2007), and only the second American to wear the leader's maillot oro (after Floyd Landis (2004), who was the leader of the U.S. Postal Service team that won the Team Time Trial that year).
But Americans don't get to see the Vuelta, because Versus, which owns the U.S. rights, chooses not to show it. Amazing.
And what did Leipheimer do yesterday? He won the individual time trial and took over the overall lead in the race. Astana chose not to defend the lead today, because the race heads into the Pyrenees on Saturday and everyone needs to be at their freshest, but he's just 10 seconds back.
Leipheimer's victory makes him just the 5th American to win a stage in the race, along with Guido Trenti (2001), David Zabriskie (2004), Tom Danielson (2006) and Jason McCartney (2007), and only the second American to wear the leader's maillot oro (after Floyd Landis (2004), who was the leader of the U.S. Postal Service team that won the Team Time Trial that year).
But Americans don't get to see the Vuelta, because Versus, which owns the U.S. rights, chooses not to show it. Amazing.
Name that party!
The crroked, perjuring mayor of Detroit, Kwama Kilpatrick, had to resign in a plea bargain that requires him to serve 120 days behind bars. Guess what party he's a member of!
The Detroit Free Press isn't going to tell you. The !NY Times at least includes it -- in the very last paragraph of its story, along with mitigating information that his opponents in Detroit City Council are also Democrats.
Must mean he's a Democrat, because the press can't wait to trumpet "Republican" in appropriate articles -- such as discussing the 17-year-old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, where the NY Post couldn't even get 10 words in without using "Republican" -- and the Post is supposed to lean to the right.
Over the next two months, you'll hear lots of Democrats whine that they are targeted unfairly as biased toward Democrats. Treat such whines the way that you would treat any other partisan BS.
I actually know a radical left-winger who complained to a sympathetic audience of lefties that the press was all Republican. When I challenged her to name more than a token Republican on any major paper, she named Thomas Friedman, the NY Times columnist that supported the start of the Iraq War -- but also supported Gore, Kerry and now Obama. When I challened this, her response was that he was so conservative that Democrats didn't want him.
So much for Democrat "inclusiveness."
The Detroit Free Press isn't going to tell you. The !NY Times at least includes it -- in the very last paragraph of its story, along with mitigating information that his opponents in Detroit City Council are also Democrats.
Must mean he's a Democrat, because the press can't wait to trumpet "Republican" in appropriate articles -- such as discussing the 17-year-old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, where the NY Post couldn't even get 10 words in without using "Republican" -- and the Post is supposed to lean to the right.
Over the next two months, you'll hear lots of Democrats whine that they are targeted unfairly as biased toward Democrats. Treat such whines the way that you would treat any other partisan BS.
I actually know a radical left-winger who complained to a sympathetic audience of lefties that the press was all Republican. When I challenged her to name more than a token Republican on any major paper, she named Thomas Friedman, the NY Times columnist that supported the start of the Iraq War -- but also supported Gore, Kerry and now Obama. When I challened this, her response was that he was so conservative that Democrats didn't want him.
So much for Democrat "inclusiveness."
Has Obama peaked? (Part 2)
Unfortunately, I never had a chance to come back and finish the "Has Obama peaked?" post. My basic theme was that Obama seemed visionary when he first came on the scene, but that was merely because he was a better actor than most politicians. When Hillary Clinton refused to just go away and cede the nomination to Obama, we learned that Obama was little more than a conventional politician -- and not a very accomplished one either. That's why he was repeatedly hammered in the primaries by Hillary -- but his big edge in the caucuses (the most conventional and undemocratic part of the primary process) won the nomination for him anyway. We'll come back to that theme soon...
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