Oscar Sevilla still leads the Vuelta.

This is Oscar. Does he look 12 or 13 years-old?

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New York Times on 9/11 Fund (registration required)

I did not really like it when the U. S. established a victims compensation fund for the 9/11 attacks. There has never been a victim's fund set up similar to this before. There are over 6500 people a day who die. While certainly this terrorist attack was tragic, why do the people who died in it get compensation while people who got hit by a truck, or robbed and killed, get nothing? How about Oklahoma City victims, or the U. S. S. Cole victims?

So I remember, we set up the compensation fund to bail out the airlines. They cannot afford to operate their businesses, much less pay to defend themselves against lawsuits. American taxpayers are not only going to bail them out for having a horrible business plan, but we are also going to bail them out for letting lax security exist for years, when people in the FAA have been warning them about the consequences of such actions for years. Republicans complain about supporting people mired in poverty, saying that were not communists. Everybody must be able to support him or herself. Well, maybe except for huge corporations, with CEOs making millions of dollars a year. We will support them. But that is another entry all together.

Now we have a victim's fund established. I don't hear much in the way of thanks. I hear about people taking advantage of it. I hear about people complaining it is not enough. The people we are giving money think we are not doing enough. They forget to be grateful. If they sued, they would spend the rest of their lives trying to get money from bankrupt airlines. Many seem to not be happy. They forget that the families of the 6500 people who die a day in the U. S. are not happy, and they are not getting anything.

Now I read about the Cantor Fitzgerald company, who lost many employees in the terrorist attck.. They are unhappy about the distribution to high wage earners. This would be people who earn more than $230,000 a year. Kenneth Feinberg, the funds special master, has made it clear that while people earning $230,000 a year will get about $4.5 million dollars, he does not think that people earning more will get much more than that. Cantor Fitzgerald is not happy? With $4.5 million, most of their families will be living the American dream. I don't see them clipping coupons and sending their kids to trade school. Sure they would rather have their family member back, but so would the 6500 families who lose somebody everyday, but will not be receiving $4.5 million. Many of them will be clipping coupons and sending kids to trade schools.

Overlawyered.com had a good suggestion for such high wage earners:

We might add that if top-earning families want to feel secure in their living standards in case of disaster, the logical (and socially desirable) course is for them to make provision in advance through privately purchased insurance -- which we suspect most of the higher-ups at places like Cantor Fitzgerald did in fact have in place.

I have been thoroughly disgusted by the greed I have read about regarding the victim's fund. I think we have set a very bad precedent by setting it up. Losses of life will now be followed by requests for victim's funds. How can the government be expected to set up funds whenever a tragedy occurs? We can barely afford to bail out all private enterprises.

Where does the most greed exist? With the victim's families or the companies? We think the terrorists had a dark side?

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I was never this lucky!

I had teachers in school I would have begged to be kidnapped by! "Please take me out to Las Vegas, fill me with booze, and make me have wild sex with you!" C'mon Miss Hadden! Pleeeaaasssseee!!!"

The boy's mother said at the hearing that her family "went through hell," and that the teacher "violated him (the student) and you violated us"

The male student was at the back of the courtroom yelling, "Mom, shut up! It was really cool!"

Of course this is a double standard. If the teacher was male, he should be strung up. Since the teacher was a female and the student male what was the harm? The boy is better off for it.

The boy's father has volunteered to chaperone the teacher's and boy's next trip."

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Master's members keep quiet.

Members of the Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Master's, have almost all refused to comment on the issue of female members. They have all referred reporters to club spokesman Hootie Johnson. There may be a clause in their membership agreement instructing them to do just that.

While Martha Burke of the National Council of Women's Organizations cannot stand that, I have no problem with it. A private club with no public funding that pays taxes should be able choose their members. Co-ops in New York do it, so why not a private golf club?

Lou Holtz, recently invited to be a member, addressed the controversy this way:

"My wife has played there and so did a thousand other women last year. I don't know where the no-women policy is. . . . I don't want to hear 'no women,' because my wife has played there."

My question to Martha Burke would not be about why this issue is more important to women than spousal abuse, or women in Afghanistan being systematical repressed, or any other hundreds of topics that I would find more important. It would be, "How much in tax revenue will her little crusade cost the U. S. and the State of Georgia?" The Masters is a "for profit" golf tournament. It pays taxes on the revenue it generates. Since all sponsors have been dropped to keep them from being badly portrayed by Ms. Burke, is her organization willing to make up the lost tax revenue?

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Bob Hayes, dead at 59.

The only athlete to win an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring has died. Bob Hayes was once referred to as the "fastest human alive," but preferred to be called a football player instead of a sprinter.

His battles with drugs and alcohol, and a stint in prison have kept him out of the Football Hall of Fame, which left him feeling like an outsider. He has been inducted into the Track and Field Hall of Fame. Jerry Jones inducted him into the Cowboys Ring of Fame last year.

Hayes won the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the 100 meters with a time of 10.05 seconds. In the 400 meter relay he was clocked during his split at 8.6 seconds, with a running start. Many people consider that leg of the relay as the most explosive sprint they had ever seen.

Hayes died of Kidney failure, but has battled liver trouble and prostate cancer during his tumultuous life.

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Animal and children sanctuary damaged by fire.

Noah's Ark had a barn, trailer and feed refrigerators recently damaged by fire. No animals or children were hurt. There was almost $80,000 worth of damage, with the $20,000 in feed not covered by insurance. The fire was spontaneous combustion of newly cut hay. This is not a common occurrence, but sometimes happens. Large donations from area feed stores are helping feed the animals for now.

The sanctuary, which runs off donations, was started in 1978, and in 1994 moved to its current location in Locust Grove, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. It takes in injured, orphaned and illegally owned animals. It rehabilitates and cares for them. Most are released back into the wild and some are given a lifetime home. The children's home offers "unconditional love, food, clothing, and shelter" for neglected and abused children.

Please visit their website for information. Any donations would be greatly appreciated.

Scientists try to prove Cobb County has not evolved.

A group of parents in Cobb County, a large bedroom community of Atlanta, has been trying to get intelligent design taught in local schools. They have succeeded in have stickers applied to textbooks proclaiming that evolution is theory and not fact.

Scientists from The National Academy of Sciences are now jumping into the fray and encouraging the school board to drop its effort promoting alternate views of evolution. They maintain that intelligent design is just repackaged creationism. Their view is that "subjects are always open for discussion, but that does not mean any theory dreamed up by someone deserves equal time."

Parents and school board members from Cobb county insist they are not descended from unintelligent apes. They are still unintelligent apes.

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Thinking of being a bandit at a race? Think again.

USA Triathlon (USAT) is suing two individuals who sold and bought a race entry to the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. After the transaction, Charles Martin ended up racing under a false name. During the bike leg a car hit him, which was illegally on the course. USAT's event insurance did not cover Martin, since he was not a member and did not purchase a one-day membership. Now Martin has a lawsuit against the race organization, Tri-California Events, and the driver of the car.

This case is a worse case scenario of those types of transactions. Charles Martin was hurt physically, is being sued and may be kept from racing in a USAT sanctioned race for a long time. Dakin Ferris, who sold the entry, is being sued, and will probably be suspended by USAT, if he has not already. All USAT races will probably end up paying higher sanctioning fees, as the recently rising insurance rates will continue to go up. Triathletes everywhere will see increasing entry fees continue to go up also.

It is in everybody's interest to discourage bandits at any race, whether it is a triathlon, road race or any local event. Accidents can happen, and races can be financially hurt and perhaps cancelled. Just like shoplifting, it hurts us all.

For those who are wondering, yes I have run a race as a bandit. It was a non-USAT race. I was young and foolish. I did the run leg holding scissors. I made it through unharmed, and harmed no others. I would not do it now. I certainly would not sue if I were hurt while racing as a bandit. I would hope most triathletes would not either. This guy must not be a real triathlete, since he is not a member of USAT. However, he is a pinhead. I think it would be in everybodies best interest to let all suits be dropped. Somehow, I doubt that will happen.

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More on the Vuelta!

Cipollini has gone home to get ready for worlds. Heras of the U. S. Postal Team, and Lance's workhorse during the Tour, has struggled. The Spanish team Kelme holds places 1st and 2nd with Oscar Sevilla and Aitor Gonzalez respectively. They are only 1 second apart. Many have expected a heated race between the two, perhaps splitting the team, but his has not happened. The two are very happy to race together. Sevilla holds the Golden Jersey, but said he expected Gonzalez to take it during the time trial. Sevilla ended up keeping it by the one second margin. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. Can they hold the team together?

Pablo Lastras of iBanesto.com won today’s Stage 11. This was his second stage in 4 days. One of those was a rest day, and one a time trial. So this guy has won two mass start stages in a row! He has made both very exciting.

The Vuelta can be seen daily and nightly on OLN TV. The evening show is at 9 PM. In the morning the race can be tracked live on the net at Cyclingnews and Velonews.

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Customer service sucks, right?

Creative Loafing of Atlanta does a nice story on customer service. Do you suspect a company of purposely shuffling you around, hoping that you willhang up? Do they just bill your credit card and hope you do not notice it orfigure it is not worth the hours on the phone it will take to fix? Are you convinced they really do not care about your call? Do they play Barry Manilow hold music on purpose? Well, you may be right about all of those, and maybe even the Barry Manilow.

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Georgia Libertarians sue over being thrown off ballots

Georgia has very vague and convoluted third party ballot laws. Rarely have third parties ever even tried to get on ballots in the state. Now some Libertarians say they have proof they are being denied a chance to run.

Are you a male moving to Atlanta?

This is where you need to move! It is actually a great little area on top of the main reason.

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At the ATM today, I inserted my card and read the screen. I was asked to choose:

English / Ingles

Spanish / Espanol

If you read English, would you need "Ingles?"

If you read Spanish, do you need "Spanish?"

How about just "English" or "Espanol?"

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Why do the Republicans continue to whine about Bush's judicial nominations?

Is it another case of "Do as we say, not as we do?" Since 1994 Clinton's judicial nominees could not even get a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Republicans had the committee completely bottled up. The nominees sat in a purgatory, unable to do much of anything professionally as they waited years for their confirmation.

Now that the Democrats control the Senate Judiciary Committee, they are actually giving Bush's nominees hearings, and the Senate has been allowed to confirm the vast majority. Two nominees with a history of judicial activism, and a history of just being party hacks, have been refused a chance at confirmation. The Republicans now scream like children being denied ice cream on a hot summer day. Who else is thinking "hypocrites" here?

A very good story on immigration laws, and how they are unfairly applied.

Since the gay community is not allowed same-sex unions, or marriages, they face some serious issues with immigration. To stay with loved ones, they are being forced to leave their country. Straight couples can get a quick marriage and most immigration issues go away. Shouldn't this be available for same-sex couples as well?

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Montgomery Breaks 100 Meter World Record

On Saturday Tim Montgomery runs a 9.78 seconds in Paris at the end of a long season. World record holder until that race, Maurice Greene, watched from the stands. After the race Montgomery celebrated the win unaware of his new record. It was not until his coach chased him down that he knew he had a new record.

Uncharacteristically, Greene and Montgomery spoke well of each other after the race. There must have been goodwill, as well as a little speed, in the wind that day.

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Atlantan Carol Sharpless is the second female at the Duke Blue Devil Triathlon, an iron(man) distance event.

In a story book ending for this inagural triathlon, the first place male, David Glover, is a cancer survivor. Many of the other top finishers have some connection to cancer also. Did I mention that the race was a fundraiser for the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Hope Lodge for pediatric cancer patients?

More information on this amateur iron distance triathlon can be found at their website.

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Andrew Sullivan starts declaring how smart Bush is calling the U. N. on it's bluff.

Others have made the point that the Democrats blew it by forcing Bush to give his speech to the U. N. Other countries were now backing Bush, and saying that the U. N. had to get serious about Iraq. Only one thing could blow up Bush's plan for invasion. That one thing would be Iraq allowing inspectors back. Oops!

Bush supposedly had the Democrats cornered, and the war build up would be front page news through the elections in 60 days. Can Bush spin it so that he still looks good? Or has Saddam out maneuvered Bush? Will the media begin covering the deficits, court appointees, and the economy again? Will Bush just invade anyways? Will inspections actually be effective?

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What an exciting weekend of sports! No, I did not mean football, although I did see the horrible coaching job done by Reeves of the Falcons. I am talking bicycle racing!

The Vuelta Espana, or Tour of Spain if you will, has been incredible. This year the race organizers decided to shorten the length of the stages to see if it would lead to more exciting racing. The racing has been much faster. The stage Sunday was blown apart early by the speed, and some favorites were left in a chase group that lost 18 minutes. They must have felt as bad as the Falcon's kicker Feely, who missed two field goals yesterday.

The breakaways have been great. Luis Perez, of Team Coast, put his heart into an excellent solo breakaway at the end of Saturday's stage. Everybody thought he had it won, and then 15 meters from the finish line, he was caught. The last little hill did him in. On Sunday, Pablo Lastras held on to his solo break, taking a win by 13 seconds over a charging chase group. Seven seconds behind them was the peleton. Today is the individual time trial.

The San Francisco Grand Prix was also televised on Sunday. While all the talk was about Lance, who really is not one of the best single day race riders, 23 year-old Charles Dionne of 7 Up / Nutra Fig covered all the attacks at the end, and outsprinted everybody in the lead pack. Just watching him cover the attcking Lance and Ekimov of the U. S. Postal Team, you knew he was on form, and was planning to be there at the end. A great ride, and win, for him.

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The Blue Man Group has released a memorial to 9/11 titled Exhibit 13.

It is very well done with a catching and moving soundtrack. The Blue Man Group's is an example of how truly original and exciting music can be made regardless of what instruments are available. Most of their instruments are handmade out of very unmusical components. They do very unusual things with PVC, and I am not talking about anything that would be listed on The Reverse Cowgirl's Blog. Do check it out.

Georgia Quit Line Helps Smokers

Actually there are a number of local and national quit lines one can talk to. After smoking two packs a day for seventeen years, the last five trying to quit, I can relate to the difficulty in quitting. Anything that can help is great. This is funded by the tobacco companies settlement, so it has no costs for the government or taxpayers. It gives people two very important aids to quitting: knowledge and accountability.

The Quit Line gives knowledge of addiction and why nicotine addiction is so difficult to break. Along with that is information on what people trying to quit will most likely experience, and how to cope the feelings that will arise. This is crucial knowledge during the early stages when risk of relapse is the highest.

The accountability comes in with optional callbacks from counselors. People tend to honor commitments to non-family members, such as counselors, better than those to family members.

The counselors, who are trained in the clinical aspects of smoking, will be able to set up a custom quit plan with smokers. Smokers have nothing to lose, except maybe an unhealthy habit. 1-877-270-7867.

As a former smoker who has watched countless friends quit over the years, I can say that I have seen only one common denominator in the ways these people have quit. They only thing they did the same, was that they all kept trying, again and again, until they finally got it right. The Quit Line is another method to try.

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An article that refutes Bush's U. N. speech point-by-point.

Some of the points are radical left schlock, but most of the points are well made, and sheds light on Bush's lies.

Toby talks about The Big Lie used by the Nazis and now by Bush. Basically, if you repeat a lie enough times, people accept it as truth. Bush has constantly repeated the lie that he has evidence that Iraq is a threat to the U. S. Whenever he lets us peek at his evidence, we see it is not evidence of anything. Still, he continues to beat his drum and march on.

It amazes me that some peole will work themselves up to a rabid anger over Clinton not telling the truth about a little affair, but have nothing bad to say about a lie that may lead us to war, and kill an uncalculated number of Americans. I would much rather have a president that lies about getting a little on the side, than a president who lies in order to get us into a war that will kill American soldiers in order to avenge his father, save his political career and help his cronies in the oil business. Of course many of the people I have met who abhor Clinton's behavior do so because they are unable to get a little themselves.

 

Georgia may not be following "No Child Left Behind" guidlines.

Many parents are alleging that they have faced obstacles when trying to transfer students out of lower-performing schools. Parents say they were offered even lower performing schools, they were not allowed to see score information on offered schools, and they were discouraged from transferring.

Some counties gave parents only one school to transfer to, and other put prohibative deadlines in place. It also seems that some Georgia schools are still under court orders to desegregate, and so allowed no students to transfer. Seeing that Georgia has had problem following desegregation guidlines after all these years, one wonders how long it will take to follow the "No Child Left Behind" guidelines.

 

Trees are dying due to drought.

For the past three summers Atlantans have witnessed trees shedding their leaves in the middle of the summer, many months before the fall season. After many years, the stress is getting to many of the older trees, and they are dying. Younger tress in the city, like the ones planted for the 1996 Olympics, are in trouble also. The weakened trees are under assault from disease and pests, such as the Southern pine beetle. The rain we are experiencing this week is too late for many of the trees. Atlanta used to be known for its green space, but developers and drought are changing that.

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