Diet Cola vs. Stiff Vodka

Miscellaneous As some of you know, I am an avid cycling fan and being a cycling fan in the US was not easy until the Internet brought us websites. I found this interesting excerpt in an article about Lance Armstrong. The interviewer eludes to past rumors about his or other people's desires for him to enter into the world of politics. Check out his response which I highlight below.

Armstrong is still in regular contact with his former mentor and manager of the Discovery Team Johan Bruyneel, and he keeps up to date with the news. As for his future, besides being a good father to his kids, he isn't sure. The Governor of Texas option is probably out of the question, at least for the foreseeable future. "Hmm, you can never say never. I don't know if it's beyond me. If you choose for a party in politics, you know that the rest will shoot at you. You have to endure a lot of criticism. The bullshit from L'Equipe is just a diet cola compared to a stiff vodka that I would get by choosing a political career. People will be against you for the political decisions that you have to make. In my fight against cancer, I want to be there for everyone. So, my ambitions probably lie elsewhere. But I might think about differently in 10 years."

As he states, he has been abused by the French media and they are willing to print event the slightest allegation or rumor about him cheating with drugs, but he claims this is nothing to politics. I also found it interesting how he says "If you choose for a party". I wonder what party he would choose? Evidence and gut feeling point towards Democrat, however I suspect he would lean more towards the right than most in the party. A Lance for Governor campaign would be interesting and I would put my money on him to win. Beyond the name recognition, he is a proven winner and also knows how to surround himself with people that help him win.

January Republican Roundtable

Richfield, Minneapolis, Bloomington I just received this email today.

NEWS RELEASE Pat Anderson, Minnesota State Auditor, will appear on the "Republican Roundtable" in January. She discusses some of the issues facing local governmental units in Minnesota(e.g. taxes, pension funds, and mandated spending). A public service program on cable access television, "Republican Roundtable" is producedby the Senate District 63 Republicans. It is hosted by Tim Erlander and Marc Sullivan. The show airs on the following channels and dates:

• In Richfield, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka and Hopkins - Channel 15, Saturdays at12:30 p.m. and Mondays at 7:30 p.m.
• In Bloomington - Channel 16 on the first and third Mondays and Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m.and on the first and third Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
• In Minneapolis - Channel 17, Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m.

Visit our website: www.sd63.org

Personal Post Verdict

Polls I felt it was time to close the poll regarding "personal posts". So here are the results. It appears I will be annoying two people because I will continue to do a limited amount of personal posts if the local politics news is light.

Christ is Born!

Merry Christmas!

"The Tide is Turning"

World H/T to Dugan for finding this article. There are many interesting points to the article which Duggan points out, but I found the following the most interesting.

Commanders in the 101st said knowing that an Iraqi tipped them off to the buried weapons could mean that residents in this largely Sunni Arab region about 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Baghdad are beginning to warm up to coalition forces. "The tide is turning," Vardaro said. "It's better to work with Americans than against us." Army officials would not say who had informed them of the weapons caches or whether national security forces including Iraqi Army and police had helped. "A good Samaritan told us about it," he said, reports AP.

I certainly hope the 2nd Lt. Patrick Vardaro is correct.

Attack by Lake Harriet

Minneapolis I am a bit slow on this one, but a fellow blogger Rambix is all over the increasing crime problems for Minneapolis. Rambix has a target directly on the Red Star, but in this post he aims at the Southwest Journal too. After reading the piece in the SW Journal, I found this part to be interesting.

Those who attended the Nov. 28 community meeting, however, had a different take. Several spoke up with concerns that the city has taken a piecemeal approach to crime prevention and neglected Southwest neighborhoods.

RT and Betsy have some time to find ways to address these fears because I suspect the thugs that attacked this man have moved indoors for the winter. Most likely they are loitering and preying on someone in the uptown or downtown areas where they can step inside to warm up between attacks.

Perfect Match

Personal I received an email today from a friend that told me someone I know, Brian, was in the group of firefighters who blew up yesterday, 12/19.

This email linked me to ochuk's blog, run by Brian's roommate.

Ryan, who is also on in the MFD and also a former roommate of mine, called me and told me the story. According to Ryan, Brian called him to let him know he was okay and said that “he was pretty excited” about what happened. Many of my other friends called to find out if he was shaken up. I said, “Not thrill-seeker Bri, that guy’s scared of nothing!”

And I was right.

Brian was the one Fire Fighter who was released from the hospital yesterday and came home late that evening. With his burnt hair and marked up nose shining from the oily medicine, he regaled me with the story and concluded, “After I walked out of their, I said to myself, ‘This is the coolest job in the world. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.’”

I really like that part of the post and I am not shocked in the least to Brian's reaction. I have been mountain biking with him more than once and he is crazy. No one in our large group would fly down the rock covered hills of Lutsen Ski Area faster than Brian. In a post 9/11 world, most of us understand firemen are a unique group. They are not all the same, but they all have something special about them that makes them WANT a job like that. As a son of a fireman, I sometimes wish I had pursued that career, but I think a career change now just is not going to happen. Anyway, if my house is on fire I am glad guys like Brian will do what they do. Brian and firefighter are a perfect match. (See Brian on the news last night.)

Spell Checking 101

North Star Politics stumbled on to SD63 the last day or so and then tries to correct my spelling. Tragically, he assumed he knew how to spell without checking the dictionary. You see, when I did this post, I actually was unsure of the spelling of the word "protestor". So I did this crazy little thing called "spell check" and I also checked M-W to make sure. If you look at the Merriam-Webster link, you will see that both spellings are accepted as correct and if you try spell check it also accepts both versions.

Well Said Betty!

World The words of Betty Dawisha while voting in Texas I believe. (I have the WMV file of it from Fox News. If you want a copy, email me.)

"Anybody who doesn't appreciate what America had [sic] done and the President Bush, let them go to hell!"

It seems that Betty is telling Rep. John Murtha, Howard Dean, et alia to go to hell, well said. UPDATE: You can download the file here.

Poor Results for Anti-Bush Protesters

2006 Elections, Media As noted on other blogs, there was a big push to hold a large protest outside the Hilton yesterday for President Bush's visit. I was noted that Senate candidate Wetterling was even going to join them until some intelligent person changed her mind. I think one of the main goals of a protest is to get some good media coverage. If that is true, the protest outside the Hilton could be classified as a failure. Why? Because I was very busy yesterday so I thought I'd just catch up with the days events downtown (just blocks from WCCO) by watching the 10 o'clock news. I was expecting the Bush visit and protest to be the lead, but if my memory is right it didn't even come on until right before or right after the first break. And then, there was not one word about the protest. Of course the Red Star did not disappoint the protesters, but they only received 219 words embedded in the larger article about the Bush visit. H/T MDE: Not all protestors are too intelligent.

Bigger Fish?

The conservative Christians are in uproar over a Christmas card, but is it wasted effort? Most people would consider me one of these conservative Christians, so I guess I may be an exception to the group, or am I. Maybe the people with loudest voices are the only ones upset?

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it."

What's worse, saying "Happy Holidays" or the commercialization of Christmas itself. Some of these same people probably were complaining about how commercialized Christmas has become, but now they are suddenly all concerned about what Wal-Mart and other put on their stupid advertising. I thought Christmas is about your own heart, and how your family observes it. Are there not more important things than worrying about? Oh yeah, I keep my card from the President and the First Lady.

Klobuchar's Connection to the Machine

2006 Elections, Federal

Go check out KvM's post about Klobuchar and her apparent connections with the radical left-wing of the Democratic machine.

They Didn't Want to Be a Number Either

Miscellaneous Before his execution Kenneth Boyd was lamenting about being a number.

"I'd hate to be remembered as that," Boyd told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number."

I feel so sorry for this man, really I do. Just think, now whenever someone says Kenneth Boyd they'll say, "Oh yeah, he was #1000." How terrible! Of course there is the flip side to the issue. Julie Curry Boyd probably would have preferred not to be remembered by the number 36, the age when she was gunned down in cold blood by Mr. Boyd. She probably would have preferred to not be remembered as the nth murder in her particular city or town back in 1988.

Boyd, 57, did not deny killing Julie Curry Boyd, 36....

That not bad enough? How about the number 57? That is the age of Thomas Dillard Curry, Julie's father. Let's not for get about the Christopher Boyd. I do not have a number for him, but do you want to guess the number of nightmares and counseling sessions he has had to endure because he was pinned under his mother's bleeding and dying body as his father unloaded a 357 Magnum into her body. Luckily he slid out from her under the bed, otherwise we might a number for him.

... and her father, 57-year-old Thomas Dillard Curry. But he said he thought he should be sentenced to life in prison, and he didn't like the milestone his death would mark.

I believe in redemption of the soul (then he is a much better place now) and I believe it is possible Mr. Boyd is a much different man, however I find his statements about the number to be unimportant. When you kill two people in cold blood and psychologically destroy a young child in the process, you do not get the privilege to whine about how you will be remembered. So how about I spare Mr. Boyd the tragedy of being remembered as #1000. Instead, I will just remember him as a cold-blooded murderer.