26 March 2008

Haven't posted in awhile...

Things have been sort of busy, but yeah, I know, this is not really an excuse. OK, the real reason, haven't felt like it much, that's all. A few things on my mind.

Thing the first: Bike racing.

This past weekend was Milan - San Remo, which to me is the real opening of the Spring race season. Sure, there is Het Volk, KBK, and a few other miniscule races going on (Paris - Nice, but then again, I don't much like stage racing all that much), but MSR is the big one. La Primavera. It's the race that just about everyone, especially corn rowed Italians (I'm looking at you Pozzatto) want to win. It's a dream for many, and many lose that dream somewhere out there on the 300 km jaunt made in this race. It's a race for the sprinters normally, as the hills that come late in the race, Poggio and the Cipressa, don't seem to really slow anyone down much these days, or split the pack as they were meant to do, and make it a hard man's race, instead of a sprinter's race. Ah well. 

This edition though was slightly different, in that we saw one Fabian Cancellara make a move with 2k to go, and held the rest of the pack off. What happened was, he attacked, shot away, and all of the rest of the small break that he was with (16 or so guys) all sat around looking at each other with their dick's in their hands wondering who was going to go after him. Sprinters being what they are, not wanting to chase anyone kind of people, they all sat there, and watched victory go on up the road. Don't get me wrong, I love me a sprint (since I sort of am a sprinter, or was, or something along those lines), but watching Cancellara drill it, and watch as nobody can bring him back, made my heart jump a little. He did the same thing last year when he was wearing the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, and that allowed him to keep the jersey for a few additional days. Anyway, look, guys, I'm not master tactician about bike racing, but I do know a thing or 2 about a thing or 2. Here's the deal. When the WORLD CHAMPION in the TIME TRIAL gets a good sized gap towards the end of a race, you CHASE HIM DOWN, unless of course you want him to win. I've got to say, Fabian is on some smoking form. I hope he can kill it a few more times in the following weeks, and then take some downtime for le Tour in July. He's got Flanders, Paris Roubaix, and a few other races where he could possibly win, and coming off of this win, if his form holds, he's got to rank up at the top of the list for another monument win sometime this Spring. He's already won PR once, can he do it again? Possibly so, possibly. He's got the team to support him, CSC, and they also have other options in there should be not be feeling so well, such as last year's winner, Stuey O' Grady, so we'll see. Could be another interesting Spring Classics year. 

I do know one thing though for sure. If Quick Step gets shut out again, there's going to be Hell to pay in Belgium. 

Thing the second: The Obama - Wright "thing".

I frequent a few political boards here and there, and have seen how most of the right wing type people are falling all over themselves to paint Obama as some sort of black separatist / America hater because his pastor had a sermon or 2 that was, well, fairly high energy, and fiery. I would tell these same folks that apparently, they have never been to a black church, anywhere, and don't realize that in a lot of black churches around the country, this is how preaching is done. Then they will counter with how "racist" and how "anti American" he is and of course, he must be a bigot as well. I ask for examples of his racism, which they can't show to me. I ask for examples of his anti-Americanism (bear in mind, Pastor Wright served as a US Marine for a fair number of years), and they can't provide those. I ask for examples of his bigot speech, and one last time, they've got nothing. Of course, people on the right are harping on and on about what he said, but they didn't really break it down much, and or actually heard what he said, because in his sermon that has been playing endlessly for weeks now, there was no racism. There was no anti-Americanism, and there was no bigotry. Someone once told me that race plus power = racism. Where, or what power does Wright have? Is he part of the power structure of this country? Was he calling out white people just because of the color of their skin? No. He was calling them out because of the things that they have done to black folks over the years. And of course, we keep hearing that this must be the tip of the iceberg. This man must be this unhinged all of the time, and shame on Obama for attending his church for 20+ years and exposing his children to this awful man. 

Of course, on the other side of the aisle, you have republicans who regularly attend churches that bash homosexuals, not for any particular reason, other than who they are attracted to. They bash atheists, and call them Satan worshippers (which is funny, since atheists don't worship, well, anything). They rail on about how America needs to be a theocratic country, and that if America doesn't take steps to make it a Christian nation immediately, that Christian soldiers should rise up, and overthrow the government. I'm pretty sure that last example is about as ANTI-American as it can get, and yet, nobody calls out politicians associated with these jerks for their association with them. No. What do we do? We hold the people who SPOKE those words accountable, and speak out against them. This guilt by association bullshit is just that. Bullshit. But of course, I don't expect right wing whack jobs to think this way. Oh no. Even though they've been trying to paint liberals as anti Christian jihadists, now all of a sudden Obama is under the spell of his Christian pastor? Come on people. If all you guys have is one sermon where Wright talked about the ills perpetrated on the black race by white Americans, I'm feeling pretty confident about the democratic chances in November. 

It's also kind of pathetic, because what they're really doing is being incredibly racist. They show this man preaching from the pulpit, and he appears angry. He SOUNDS angry. It's more of the old timey "lock up your children there's an angry black man coming for them" that permeated this nation for far too long, and still does to this day. The people railing against Wright, want people to fear him. Not for his views, which were mostly in the right, but because he's fire and brimstone, and because he's black. That's what it really boils down to. And if you elect Obama, this is what you're going to get.

OK, I don't think I have a part the third, and aside from that, this little tirade has gone on long enough. Also, I need to eat some breakfast so I can go and ride my bike in the sun.

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