The Steaks Are High in the Tour de France

While Lance seemed to have skated from any punishment because the federal allegations against him were dropped, Alberto Contador was not as lucky: He was found guilty of doping and has been banned from racing for two years.

Contador stopped racing between August 2010, when the positive test was announced, and last February, when the Spanish federation issued its decision. Thus, the suspension will end on August 5, shortly after this year’s Tour de France.

The panel also ordered that Contador, 29, of Spain, be stripped of his 2010 Tour title, which would go to the second-place finisher, Andy Schleck of Luxembourg. He will also lose all of his results from last season, including a second victory in the Giro d’Italia.

On the last rest day of the 2010 Tour, Contador tested positive for clenbuterol, a weight-loss and muscle-building drug that some riders illicitly use during the off-season to improve their performance on big climbs in the mountains. Contador said it came from tainted steaks that a friend had delivered from Spain to France.

Like boxer Roberto Duran in his "no mas" fight with Sugar Ray Leonard, Contador blames it all on the steaks.

Cycling has turned into as clean a sport as professional wrestling or roller derby. Despite all of the crackdowns, doping continues unabated.
_____

Etcetera

Take a look at the pictures of the world's tallest dog, a Great Dane named George.

He's careful around little dogs and even intimidated by some.
_____

Australian Cadel Evans has won this year's Tour de France.
_____

The so-called "Recovery" school district in New Orleans, established after Hurricane Katrina for the purpose of putting in mostly charter schools in the system, is an unabashed failure.

If you saw the video I posted yesterday, you will know one of Uncle Miltie's (Friedman) final wishes was to take advantage of the New Orleans tragedy to put in a privatized bunch of schools.

I'd piss on that fucker's grave if he hadn't been cremated and scattered.

News

Spain's Alberto Contador, who won the Tour de France last year, has taken the title again this year, edging out runner-up Andy Schleck by 39 seconds.

I watched the Tour off and on this year, and it was fairly exciting. I think when Schleck lost his chain in one of the stages, that did it for him. He was done despite making a good effort.

But the real news was the fact Lance Armstrong finished way back in the pack, finishing 23rd and some 40 minutes behind Contador. It is supposed to be his last time competing in the race. Armstrong is 38 years old.

The real excitement, however, will be off the bike when Armstrong must once again face those doping and fraud allegations, this time with federal prosecutors looking into them:

When he returns to the United States, Armstrong has something less pleasant to face. Federal prosecutors are looking into whether Armstrong and his associates were involved in systematic doping, fraud or various financial crimes while with the Postal Service team. A grand jury has been convened in the case.

During the Tour, those prosecutors served grand jury subpoenas in connection with a possible case, including handing one to 2004 Olympic gold medal winner Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton’s lawyer, Chris Manderson, told ESPN.com that Hamilton would cooperate with the investigation.

“I’m not worried at all,” said Armstrong of the investigation just days before he hired a criminal defense lawyer for the federal inquiry.

I'd like to think he competed clean, but I know better.

The Floyd Landis Nightline interview can be found here.

Miscellaneous News

As far as I'm concerned, women who are in polygamous "marriages" are women and children who have been sexually abused and exploited.

Why is this even debatable?
_____

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom got married again to just one bride, of course.
_____

Why hell's bells, why should this guy even be allowed to live at all, let alone live independently?
_____

Washington gubernatorial loser Dino Rossi is plotting a rematch against incumbent Christine Gregoire.
_____

Spaniard Carlos Sastre has won the Tour de France. He is the third cyclist in a row from Spain to win the event.
_____

Miscellaneous News

These passengers and crew were truly lucky.

More here.

I would never have held up as well as the passengers, I'm afraid.

Qantas is known for being one of the safest of all airlines.

An AP video is here. A passenger on the plane apparently videotaped some of it.

Apart from the oxygen masks, the flight seems fairly uneventful. There was applause upon the emergency landing.

Here is a video report with some passenger footage:



CNN interviewed the guy who recorded the video:




_____

How many more dopes will the Tour de France put up with before it is fully clean?
_____

Are racehorses today as hardy as those 30 or more years ago?
_____

A pair of National Enquirer "reporters" have filed a criminal complaint against the Beverly Hills Police Department about circumstances surrounding the John Edwards "affair."

More here in case you give a shit.
_____

Miscellaneous News

Was Rove out to get Patrick Fitzgerald?
_____

So much for Tour de France riders cleaning up their act.
_____

The Bush Labor Department is no friend of workers, which is no surprise at all.
_____

Former brothel owner and Joe Conforte relative David Burgess has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on child porn charges.

There was no way around that one.
_____

More Miscellaneous News

Greg LeMond is optimistic about the future of pro cycling.
_____

Are pets' mental health problems on the rise, and if so, are humans the cause?

Miscellaneous News. [Updated]

No matter the Tour de France has been marred by doping scandals in recent years, it will still go on as scheduled.

I almost typed in the word "usual."
_____

I remember well racing great Native Diver. He was frequently on television during the 1960s, especially the races covered by Gil Stratton and called by Harry Henson.

The Diver was foaled in 1959. He was about to be retired from racing when sadly he died of colic in 1967.
_____

It takes a con man to "know" an alleged one, especially one who is a known cyberstalker and fraud. One of Larry Sinclair's most persistent stalkers has been identified, and he is the (probably black sheep) son of a prominent Texas political family, Scott Covington.

Larry Sinclair posts he is going to be paying a visit to Houston, Texas, at the Harris County District Attorney's office and plans to have a personal visit with Scott's dad, Donald Covington. The elder Covington is an appointee of Texas governor Rick Perry.

A bio and picture of Donald O. Covington is in this report.

The story just gets stranger and stranger.
_____

Florida's Charlie Crist must be in the running for the McCain running mate sweepstakes. If so, there can't be whispers about Crist still being single.

The comments at the end of the article are pretty good. One example:

Now we'll see what he looks like with a beard.

_____

As the World Turns.

Thanks to doping allegations and the loss of sponsorship, Tour de France winner Alberto Contador's team has disbanded.
_____

It appears stem-cell research in Missouri has been aborted, despite voter approval.
_____

This asshole should suffer the way his dogs did.
_____

But. But. But.

If you take the dopers and other cheaters out of the Tour de France, it and other cycling events will become boring spectacles.

Then maybe pro cycling should go the way of the dodo.

After All

of the bad publicity in recent years of drug doping, including last year's scandal, you'd think riders of the Tour de France would know better than to flout the rules.

But no. They have to continue wrecking the sport of cycling.

As the World Turns II.

Floyd Landis claims he didn't cheat by doping himself up in last year's Tour de France or cheat any other way.

Call me a skeptic.
_____

Accused killer Darren Mack simply couldn't keep his mouth shut.
_____