No matter how you feel about 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, he has never tested positive for drugs. But now, a second admitted liar/cheater/whiner/doper is seeking a book deal, and is (again and again and again) accusing Lance of getting away with doping.
A few years back, Floyd Landis claimed Armstrong doped. The same Floyd who “won” the Tour but was stripped of his title for drugs. (And thus denied the rightful winner all the appropriate acclaim.) Floyd wrote a book (wonderfully titled “Positively False”) protesting his innocence. Then – finally – he admits he’s a doper, a cheat, and a liar. But he still accuses Lance.
Now Tyler Hamilton, too, claims Armstrong doped. The same Tyler who has twice tested positive and who received an 8-year ban from the sport. The same Tyler who “wins” an Olympic gold medal (and thus denies… oh, you get the idea), but now admits his cheating, lying, and doping.
I’ve never been a Lance “fan,” even during my (admittedly low-level) bike racing days. (And I have criticized Lance’s charity previously on this blog.) But I will continue to give the man the benefit of the doubt. Re-read the first sentence in this post. Lance has performed as no other cyclist ever has – and over a phenomenally long timeframe. Draw your own conclusions, but never forget the phrase, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Floyd and Tyler are proven liars and cheats. Who would you prefer to believe?
Here’s the BBC’s article about the controversy, reporting on Tyler’s accusation against the UCI (cycling’s governing body) for aiding and abetting Lance. Nothing would be better if Floyd and Tyler disappeared quickly and quietly.
23 May 2011
05 May 2011
Obama 1 Osama 0
As would be expected, there’s a tremendous amount of CRAP being spewed about the killing of Osama bin Laden. It’s a conspiracy. It was an assassination/murder. The Muslims will deify bin Laden and make him a martyr. His grave will become a shrine. The U.S. simply screwed up and is issuing massively conflicting accounts of the operation.
So what?
A mass murderer has been eliminated. No matter how it occurred, the Muslims would whine, threaten, and protest. Maybe the ones who are congregating on the beaches of the Arabian Sea (which they’re already apparently calling the Martyr’s Sea) will just keep walking until their turbans float.
This operation was meant to be a find-and-kill mission. It’s a mystery why the U.S. administration didn’t come out and say so. (Oh, wait, that’s politics.) Who cares about offending Muslim sensibilities? When I was involved with wilderness search-and-rescue work, we always had a focus (of course, on saving lives) and a plan, and the Seals who performed this mission were supremely trained professionals with a specific focus. Kill bin Laden. I just wish our so-often wishy-washy government could have come out and said so. I doubt – despite administration PR hokum – that there was ever the slightest intent to “capture” bin Laden alive. None.
Nonetheless, one less Muslim terrorist is alive on this planet. My hope is that the word gets around – the word to the terrorists is that someday, somehow, somewhere, we’re (U.S. commandos) going to get you. We need to create a feeling among the radical Muslims that our zeal for vengeance will be unlimited. That it will match the Muslim zeal for killing innocent civilians in retaliation for drawing cartoons or burning a book. Maybe the Muslims won’t (at first) completely get it, but if a few more Muslims eventually start to believe that there is no quarter, no sorrow on our part – well, maybe we can eliminate even more terrorists. Maybe we can make our world a slightly safer place.
Every time we have another MGB (Mohammed Go Boom), we wring our hands and worry about Muslim sensibilities. We (western civilization) need to get over it. Until the Muslim world decides it’s somehow worthwhile to leave the 7th century and enter the 21st, there will be no solution. Until the Muslim world begins to treat women with respect (bravo to France for the law against the burqa), until that Muslim world itself begins to denounce suicide bombers and civilian murders and stoning women to death, our best response is “the bin Laden doctrine” – if you’re a terrorist and we find you, you’re dead. No fucking Guantanamo trials, no questions, no arrests. Just goodbye.
So what?
A mass murderer has been eliminated. No matter how it occurred, the Muslims would whine, threaten, and protest. Maybe the ones who are congregating on the beaches of the Arabian Sea (which they’re already apparently calling the Martyr’s Sea) will just keep walking until their turbans float.
This operation was meant to be a find-and-kill mission. It’s a mystery why the U.S. administration didn’t come out and say so. (Oh, wait, that’s politics.) Who cares about offending Muslim sensibilities? When I was involved with wilderness search-and-rescue work, we always had a focus (of course, on saving lives) and a plan, and the Seals who performed this mission were supremely trained professionals with a specific focus. Kill bin Laden. I just wish our so-often wishy-washy government could have come out and said so. I doubt – despite administration PR hokum – that there was ever the slightest intent to “capture” bin Laden alive. None.
Nonetheless, one less Muslim terrorist is alive on this planet. My hope is that the word gets around – the word to the terrorists is that someday, somehow, somewhere, we’re (U.S. commandos) going to get you. We need to create a feeling among the radical Muslims that our zeal for vengeance will be unlimited. That it will match the Muslim zeal for killing innocent civilians in retaliation for drawing cartoons or burning a book. Maybe the Muslims won’t (at first) completely get it, but if a few more Muslims eventually start to believe that there is no quarter, no sorrow on our part – well, maybe we can eliminate even more terrorists. Maybe we can make our world a slightly safer place.
Every time we have another MGB (Mohammed Go Boom), we wring our hands and worry about Muslim sensibilities. We (western civilization) need to get over it. Until the Muslim world decides it’s somehow worthwhile to leave the 7th century and enter the 21st, there will be no solution. Until the Muslim world begins to treat women with respect (bravo to France for the law against the burqa), until that Muslim world itself begins to denounce suicide bombers and civilian murders and stoning women to death, our best response is “the bin Laden doctrine” – if you’re a terrorist and we find you, you’re dead. No fucking Guantanamo trials, no questions, no arrests. Just goodbye.
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