Levi

Levi Leipheimer, famous for podium finishes at the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, has won the Leadville 100, one of the premier mountain bike races in the United States. Once again, I'm going to make an appeal for a multi discipline bike race.
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This is what I'd like to see. Day 1, a road time trial in the 20 to 25 mile range. Day 2, cyclo-cross. Day 3, a mountain bike stage. Day 4, a road stage in the 100 to 150 mile range. Day 5, a criterium. And while we're on the subject, both women and men's races.
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There are a lot of riders who already ride in multiple disciplines, so it shouldn't be too hard to put together a competitive race.

Spouses

This should not be read as a defence of Rep. Maxine Waters in her upcoming ethics trail in the house. At this point, what we know is that she may or may not have set up a meeting with federal regulators that may or may not have benefited a bank in which her husband owns stock.
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When I was a child, almost every politician in the United States was a man, and almost all of them were married. The wives of those politicians almost all had the same profession; political wife and help mate. That's no longer true. During the Clinton administration, Repugs liked to attack Bill Clinton by smearing Hilary. It was noted that as a lawyer, her firm often represented their clients before the state of Arkansas when Bill was governor. A conflict of interest, and a possible opportunity for corruption. Well, Hilary was a lawyer who worked for the biggest law firm in the state , and her firm's clients often did business with the state. Was she required to give up her career so that Bill could be in politics? Or perhaps, Bill should have resigned the governorship so that Hilary could make money at the Rose Law Firm? Like it or not, politicians are no longer, mostly male, and politicians of both sexes have spouses with careers and ambitions of their own. And, since ambitious people often marry other ambitious people, there is a high level of certainty that there will be some overlap in their public lives.
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Maxine Waters, as a politician, has a long history of representing, not just her district, but minority interests in general. Should her husband not have a right to pursue a career in banking because of that? Should Maxine Waters give up her advocacy of minority interests because her husband's banking interests may come in conflict with her position in the House? The meeting that Rep. Waters supposedly set up was to aid a number of minority owned banks. Does her husband have an obligation to let the bank that he represents go under because a government bail out may overlap with his wife's career? If Goldman, Wells Fargo, B of A, and the rest of the major financial institutions were to be denied government bail outs because so many former, and future employees pass through congress, than Waters' bank should have been allowed to fail as well. But that didn't happen. All the mega-banks that got government hand outs are alive and well. I don't see any reason why the bank that Maxine Waters' husband is involved with shouldn't have been bailed out as well.

In Old Arizona

Arizona got it wrong. If that state really wants to do something about illegal immigration, then it needs to repeal its right to work laws and encourage union membership. Union members make more money, therefore they spend more money. When the general population spends more, more jobs are created. If more jobs are created, eventually there will be labor shortages, which create higher wages for all.

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Of course, Arizona can't do it one its own. When John McCain, John Kyle, and the Arizona house delegation move to repeal Taft Hartley, and pass card check, they will need the support of the other 49 states. These brave Arizonans will face an up hill battle to, once again, make the United States a union friendly country. But when jobs are plentiful, when we once again embrace classic economic theory, rather than the trickle down/Chicago School of Economics foolishness, a bright day for the American worker will dawn. When John McCain stands on the steps of the capitol and shouts, "Unions now, unions forever," we'll all regret having voted Democratic. Yes, nationwide labor shortages will make us all prosperous again.

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So what does this have to do with illegal immigration? It's simple, we only care about the undocumented when times are hard. Bring back universal prosperity, and no on will care. (Except, of course, those who hate anyone who doesn't have white skin.)

Question?

Did Dick Cheney pay for his own heart surgery? I'm just saying, that a man who is against government shouldn't be taking government money for medical expenses.

Neverland Ranch State Park, Huh?

When I first heard that state assemblyman, Mike Davis had proposed that Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch be turned into California's newest state park, I thought it a joke. I know that I'm in a vocal minority that thinks Michael Jackson will be a forgotten figure in 30 years, (Remember Eva Tanquay? Fame is fleeting. Look her up, she's a great story.) but shouldn't we wait awhile to see if I'm wrong. Too, while Michael Jackson's supporters seem to attribute a god like quality to the man, the taint of possible child molestation can stink up the place.
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But, then I began to give the idea some thought. The first thing I did was look up Neverland Ranch. Its 2, 676 acres is a significant piece of open space in a state that has a habit of putting real estate development on a sacred plane. Turn the house into a Michael Jackson Museum and restore the remaining 2, 670 acres to it's natural state. Hiking, bridal, and perhaps some bike paths, crossing a near natural bit of the Santa Ynez Valley sounds like a pretty good thing to me. Paying to buy the land could be problematic, but not impossible. Rather than pass a bond initiative, take out a bank loan, slap a $10 admission fee to the museum, and tell the bank all the money is theirs until the loan plus a reasonable amount of interest is paid. I would be surprised if initial visitation was under a million visitors a year. I'm willing to put up with crying Michael Jackson idolaters in the parking lot if I can walk away and into a piece of old California landscape in 10 minutes.

Mad Mel!

We know that Mel Gibson's father is a holocaust denier and an extreme anti-Semite. We know that such people usually have a whole host of such prejudices. We know that the man embraces a very conservative Catholicism that divides women into three categories: saintly virgin, wife and mother, and whore, bent on corrupting righteous men.
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It's very possible that Mel Gibson is at war with himself. One side is rational Mel, who knows that the holocaust did happen, that Jews aren't responsible for the Crucifixion of Christ, and that other minorities are not inferior sub humans. And one the other side, emotional Mel is ruled by the prejudices pounded into him by his father. Or then again, Mel Gibson may just be a major league jack-ass.
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Is it just me, or are there others out there wondering why Mel's use of certain racial slurs is a much bigger story than the domestic violence?

Roman Polanski 2

Well, I'm not really all that surprised. Roman Polanski is a free man, at least if he never ventures out of France or Switzerland. I always thought it unlikely that the Swiss would extradite Polanski to Los Angles to face sentencing for his rape (Plea bargained down to unlawful sex with a minor.) of a 13 year old girl.
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What has always bothered me is the large number of people, who should know better, that seemed to just brush off what Polanski had done as some sort of right for those creative enough to have directed Chinatown. Let's be clear about what happened. Roman Polanski had forcible sex with a thirteen year old after giving her drugs and alcohol. He admitted this. He also admitted that he knew she was thirteen and that it was against the law for a man in his forties to have sex with a minor. In her initial interviews with the police, the victim claimed that she said no. Even if she was lying, it is still against the law. If she was telling the truth, she was forcibly raped by Polanski. Some of Polanski's supporters claim that the victims mother, basically, pimped out the girl to Polanski. There is no proof of this, but even if it were true, it is not legal to have sex with a thirteen year old, even if the mother consents. Many of Polanski's supporters point out that the victim, now a mother in her own right, would prefer that this all go away and that any prosecution of Polanski end. In the United states one does not commit a crime against a person, but rather against the laws of the state. It is irrelevant what the victim thinks. Many of Polanski's supporters argue that he was unjustly made an example of for his crimes, and was receiving unusually harsh treatment. In fact, in being allowed to plea bargain down to statutory rape from forcible rape, he was treated with a great deal of leniency. Polanski fled the jurisdiction when he learned that the plea bargain negotiated by his lawyers and the DA's office might not be honored by the judge. Plea bargains only go into effect when the judge signs off, and Polanski was informed of that possibility ahead of time.
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For those who would argue that there was a lynch mob mentality in the United States surrounding Polanski's case, I would refer them to the death of Emmit Till. A request for extradition is far from being a lynching. For those who would argue that what Polanski did was not "rape rape," whatever that means, I would ask them to refer to the facts of the case. For those who would argue that Polanski has been punished enough I would ask them where in the law does it say that someone who has suffered in life is exempt from rape laws. For those would argue that his film career justifies his actions, I would ask what are the limits of the creative exemption to the law. Is is battery, robbery, rape, murder?
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Roman Polanski is a great director. I have another blog that I've made up, primarily for my movie buff friends http://www.greatmovieslist.blogspot.com/, and sooner or latter I'll add Chinatown, Knife in the Water and Rosemary's Baby to the list. But even though I admire his movies, that doesn't mean I think he should get away with rape and fleeing the jurisdiction to avoid jail time.
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Is it just me, or are there others out there that find the Swiss claim that national interests were involved in denying the extradition request a little weird?