Is it coming to a close? Yet???

This week in Colorado, the CAS (Court for Arbitration of Sport) is meeting to possibly once and for all, to decide to fate of one Tyler Hamilton. If you don't know Tyler, that's OK, most Americans don't for the most part. Most people reading this blog will probably know him, as I would believe that a lot of people that I know are bike racers, or just ride bikes in general, and that's what Hamilton was/is. Well, unless you count the last year and some months since he's been suspended for blood doping. Yes, he allegedly took someone else's blood, froze it, and then re-injected it into himself to gain an edge in performance during bike races. There are a lot of people out there that believe Hamilton didn't do this, mostly because he was supposed to be, "The good guy" of the sport. He was the ying to Armstrong's yang, and all of that good shit. Personally, I think he's guilty as hell, should be shunned from the sport and sent away from it for a long time. Hell, it's been over a year now as it is, what's one more year. The man has been spending his life savings no doubt fighting this battle. If he's innocent and gets off, I'll give him a slap on the back, and say good job old man, get back on the bike and race. If he's found guilty, again, then, well, he'll have burned his last match really. He's already appealed the original ruling several times, and every time that he has appealed it, he's been turned down, and pronounced guilty. I think this has happened 2 times already. Maybe he should just move on I guess. On the other hand though, if he is innocent, well, I think I would be doing the same thing he is, and trying to promote my innocence as much as possible. I'm not going to re-hash all of the dirty details here, but let's just say his teammate was also busted for the same thing. Sounds fishy no? Several of his teammates, current (when he was with the Phonak team) and present (when he hasn't been with the team) have been found to be dopers. There appears to be a culture of doping, not just on his team mind you, but in cycling in general. Here is a link to the latest story relating the saga that has become Tyler Hamilton's life:

Hamilton Doping Story - The latest

Believe me, the man did amazing things on the bike that doping never could have accomplished, but those things have been tainted in my view, even if he did do them without assistance. He currently has a gold medal from the 2004 Olympics that he probably shouldn't have, and a few other things. I don't wish him bad, no, but I think if he did do it, he deserves everything that he isn't going to get from cycling. Such as contracts, jobs, and things like that. The sad thing is, is that if he does serve his entire suspension, there is a good chance he'll get another pro contract, come back, and still make good money and race for a couple of years after his suspension, even though he'll be 36 after his 2 years are up. He could still do it I think, and that would be too bad. Really, the only real way to completely stop doping in cycling would be to offer up a lifetime ban. Cycling and the UCI already has one of the toughest anti-doping stances in all of professional sport, but why not take it a step further. Give them the old one strike and you're out deal. Kick a few people out of the sport for the rest of their lives, and see what kind of reaction you get. I'm betting teams and individuals would most definitely take notice of that. Do it. Ban people for life. Show them that you mean business. 2 years is pretty bad, but, lifetime. Now that would be something. Screw the dopers that make the sport look bad for the rest of us.

Georgie boy is at it again giving speeches to specially selected audiences. This time, this stop, Lousiville, Kentucky. What was the topic of discussion? Iraq of course, and the point that he has to keep making that his will, his resolve will not be shaken no matter what happens over there. I'm sorry, but what an arrogant asshole this guy is. Arrogant to the point of having no idea what is going on in the war, and in the world around him. Here is a funny quote I found from this asshat from his speech today, "But he did urge that the tone of the political debate in the upcoming midterm elections be "respectful," a point he also made Tuesday before the VFW group, where he warned about "irresponsible" political debate in the midterm elections." Now, don't get me wrong here, but who is he to decide and to warn about irresponsible political debate in the midterm elections. What he wanted to say here was, any debate is OK, as long as they don't call me out. And again, who is he to mention civil campaigns, when the reason he is sitting in the front office right now is because his guy Karl Rove was the downright nastiest son of a bitch to ever pull on the political hack hat. George W. Bush ran the dirtiest, and most slime ball Presidential campaigns that this nation has ever seen. What gall for him to now pronounce, hey, everybody should be nice. If the terrorists see us having at each other, they're going to think that they've won. You can get the full story with the link below.

Bush on Iraq - Not Changing Anything

And of course we have the side show that is the confirmation process of a Supreme Court nominee this week. He's been doing well, doing the dance, answering, but not really answering questions, you know brushing off the really tough ones. Alito appears to be one smart cookie, and as I was reading on a newsgroup I frequent, the guys on there noted that for the most part, the guys in the judiciary branch of the government are probably the smartest people in government, and I do agree with them. Roberts before Aliot, and now Alito, they're both smart. Maybe too smart. Like when one Senator pinned him down about this little club that he was in, what was? The Concerned Alumni of Princeton. It appears that this little group that he was involved with tends to look down on things such as letting women into the school, and minorities. Now here is a smart guy, a very smart guy who I doubt forgets very much at all, and yet he can't remember joining a club of which he was a member in the 1980's? Is it that the man just doesn't remember, or that he DOESN'T REMEMBER, you know, mid 80's, he's definitely a yuppy lawyer running around town, and probably got big fat job right out of law school no doubt. What does a young yuppy kid in the 1980's do with some extra cash aside from buy his first BMW? Yes, he snorts coke, it's the cool thing. Now I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that (although there is plenty wrong with that), and I'm not saying that he did do that, but it just appears weird that there are spots in this brilliant man's mind that he can't remember. Hell, old wrinkled and on the warpath Ted Kennedy gets is, "It's extraordinary to me that this nominee can remember all 67 of his dissents in great detail ... and he still is mystified about his association with a CAP organization that he used as a job reference," he said." You go Ted, you do New England proud. You've done some bad and morally reprehensible things in your day, but keep up the good fight. The man doesn't believe the Roe is settled law even after repeated attempts to bring it down (39 I believe at last count), but then in the next sentence says that he firmly believes in precedent and that they should be upheld. He has more waffles than bucking leggy if you ask me. I would love to see the deems bring down a filibuster on his ass during this year of mid-term elections. Flex what little muscle that we have left, and then burn them in November when their scandals come home to roost (Delay, Abramoff, Scooter, and hopefully a Presidential impeachment hearing). I hope that the republicans liked their 10 years in power in Congress, because that shit will be coming to an end in about 10 months I hope and pray.

Let's look at the club that Alito was a part of shall we. From one of my favorite sites, Wikipedia we have the following:

The Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) was a group of politically conservative former Princeton University students that existed between 1972 and 1986. Its initial purpose was to protest Princeton's position prohibiting recruitment by the ROTC after the ROTC building had been burnt down by anti-war radicals. CAP also opposed affirmative action designed to increase minority attendance at the Ivy League institution. CAP also exhibited strong support for Princeton's eating clubs.
The existence of the organization attracted wide notice during the nomination of former CAP member Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States, as Alito included his membership in the organization on a job application to work in the Reagan administration in 1985[1]. Former Senator Bill Bradley, a Democrat, was a member until 1973, when he resigned because of the tone of the organization's magazine, Prospect. Republican Senator Bill Frist, at the time a recent Princeton alumnus, contributed to a report that labeled the organization as far-right and extremist.

CAP Alito's Facist Friends

Just him being a member of this group at one point in time, not so long ago, when he was looking for a job in government brings up an entire host of questions doesn't it? Such as the following that I can think of off the top of my head:

1.) Will he be fair to women when making rulings?
2.) Will he be fair to minorities when making rulings?

Just those 2 items should make people think. He wanted to exclude these 2 groups of people from his alma mater, and yet, he's supposed to sit down with 8 other associate justices and decide cases that will include both of those groups. I think there is a very good chance that at one time, he was a vile and rampant bigot, I'm not saying that it's not possible that he's changed, but at one point in time, he held these views, at a time long past the time he should have had these views. What other views is he holding onto that we don't know about yet? This is a damn lifetime appointment, and we need to be sure that this is the right guy. That he can judge and rule fairly for the life of his appointment. Either that, or we're going to have to pull the filibuster lever. I'd hate to have the democrats in the Senate do that, but if a vast majority of the democractic senators decide that this is what they need to do (good chance getting them to decide), then they need to throw the switch, and send the bum back to his lower court never to be heard from again. This guy loves the executive branch, sees how they can have expansive powers, break laws that Congress has passed, and so on. I think he's a scary candidate. His record shows clearly that he's pro big business, and doesn't have much use for the little man, which makes sense, him being a big Princeton man and all. Why would he have use for the "little" man, except maybe for someone to cut his grass and clean his yard, as I'm sure that is how he looks at it. He also, doesn't appear to have much use for the rights of women in this country, especially when it comes to abortion. I do believe if confirmed, he will do everything that he possibly could to take down Roe v. Wade, and to make it illegal again. Which as we all know doesn't actually decrease the amount of abortions performed, but then makes them increasingly dangerous, well, not for the rich folks who can fly their teenage daughters to Canada, and have the Canadian people pay for them, but once again for the cut and rank on the ground in the US, they'll be toughing it out in back alleys if this comes to pass. Once again, it would be a sad day. Of course at the end of the day, unless something super revelatory gets trotted out, this newest Bush crony appointee is going to get his seat on the court, and then we can really start to watch our civil liberties and rights start to get flushed down the toilet.