I've been thinking about this Iran thing a little. We seem to be in a bit of a quandry although I'm not sure I'm as terrified about a nuclear Iran as most (but that's another discussion). We can't just bomb them or start a ground war - not enough support internally or from other countries. We are not just going to sit back and say "okay Iran, go ahead. We won't try to stop you." - although that solution may just make it easier for us to deal with (i.e. get it out of the headlines and nullify the effect of the saber rattling of the mad mullahs). I actually have another, much more plausible solution:

Pull a good ol' U.S. of A. "MSM" on them.

What's that you ask? Well, I'll tell you. The MSM strives to create division and even news by blowing out of proportion all dissent as it relates to the Iraq and the War on Terror (and everything else for that matter). So much so, that I believe they are truly responsible for making us - America - look worse in the eyes of the rest of the world than we deserve and perhaps even impact our ability to defeat terrorism and make Iraq a success. We need to highlight the dissent within Iran in the same way the MSM does it here.

Think about it! Where are the Iranian bloggers that think their leaders are nut cases - you know they are out there. Where are the rational Iranian politicians, military generals and journalists - current and past - that are surely saying that Iran is "headed in the wrong direction", that they have made "mistakes" in executing their nuclear ambitions, that dissidents are being "systematically tortured"? We need Gallup to head over there and start taking polls that show how Ahmadinejad's approval rating is "at an all time low".

You think I'm joking, but I'm not (okay a little, 'cuz I know it won't happen). We don't need the Iranian press to do this - this can happen in the American press and alternative media. By the time the MSM juggernaut gets rolling, hell, even Russia will think Iran is bad. Headlines every day touting the "bad news" in Iran for president Ahmadinejad. We could send Helen Thomas over for an interview - scratch that, she'll probably praise him for his brave stance in the face of such dissent.

It's a little bit like the Chicken or the egg controversy isnt' it.

First, I see this headline on yahoo news Generals want Rumsfeld to resign. If we stop there, which most people do, you think "wow, there must be a lot of important people in the military that think Rumsfeld is doing a poor job." But you need only read the first line to learn that these Generals are retired, not active. Already losing some oomph. Then you go further (at least about 1% of us do) to find that it is a total of about 6 or 7 generals out of THOUSANDS that are saying this. Well, hell, I'd be willing to bet there are at least 100 more that think worse of Rumsfeld, but so what. (read Big Lizards with much more behind this slanted article)

Every leader - EVERY LAST ONE - has plenty of detractors so why is this news? Well, because public opinion on the war is low.

And why is that?

Well, because from the news that we hear, things in Iraq are going awful and we shouldn't be there in the first place and so on and so forth. And now our opinion of the war and the administration is even lower because we hear from Yahoo that in general, Generals think Rumsfeld messed up so bad that he should resign. hmmmm.

Chicken or Egg?

The problem is, this is not the only story. I review Yahoo news on my PDA several times a day and I can tell you that it typically makes Iraq look like a loser. It could be accurate, but who knows. When I read an article like this, I begin to question. Then I hear of a recent comment on Good Morning America via Powerline:

"They'd found a couple trailers that he said actually were the mobile biological laboratories that he said showed that they were indeed developing WMD, and The Washington Post has a story today that says the President knew at the time that was not true."

As it turns out, that is NOT at all what the Post said:

"even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true."

So, it is clear that he had some evidence that it might not be true, but what the rest of the story (apologies to Paul Harvey) doesn't say is that evidence is that 1 of 3 teams said it is not a Mobile bio-terror lab while the other 2 supported the claim that it was. Read the rest of the Powerline post to get the relevant links and critique of the Post's own bias.

So now, a million people have seen the ABC misstatement that Bush lied. Even though ABC said they posted a "clarification" on their web site, how many people do you think saw that? If you were to poll people today on whether or not Bush lied about the mobile bio-labs specifically, what do you think it would say? And then we'd have to report more "damning" evidence from expert A that they couldn't have possibly been weapons labs because of B, C and D. Thus further justifying "opinion and concern" about Bush lying.

Propaganda or Opinion? Which came first?

UPDATE 4/15/05...

I'm reviewing other headlines this morning. I SWEAR this must be scripted in advance as one story justifies the next. Other headlines since "General Want Rumsfeld to Resign"

• Bush supports embattled Rumsfeld - "embattled"???? Yes, because Yahoo and AP decide that 6 or 7 retired generals opinions makes him embattled.
• Rumsfeld rejects calls to quit - "calls" to quit - BY EX - as in retired - generals. That's like me calling on the CEO of Delta Air Lines to step down because as a former employee I think he is doing a horrible job - and then the AP WRITING A STORY ABOUT IT. Woohoo, I'm waiting for calls from reports now!!
• Report says Rumsfeld allowed Guantanamo abuse - well, we have to find other bad things about Rumsfeld now so that we can increase the public's furor over Rumsfeld poor and immoral job performance thus substantiating futher calls for his head.

I just wonder how much more the media can pile on in its attempt to get someone ousted. What's sad is that this passes for news at all. I guess bombs are getting boring, so let's manufacture some news.

I'm sure you've heard phrases similar to "if you don't like it, then leave" as it relates to people who are visiting our country that like to bitch about how it's "better" where they came from. I have a few friends from Canada who like to bitch about Bush or non-political things that annoy them about our country.

Sometimes, I'll fire back that "it may not be perfect here, but it's better than XYZ in your country." The point being that you can bitch all you want, but there are trade-offs that you make. America is a GREAT country, but that doesn't mean it's perfect (in fact, my next post will be a bitch session about the IRS). Frankly, as a citizen we get to bitch about our country just like as a nephew I get to bitch about my crazy uncle. But when you are an outsider, you only get to bitch privately and not to those of us that are NOT visitors, but citizens. It's as if someone outside of my family criticized my uncle in front of me. "Well F you and the horse you rode in on you low-life piece of shit" is pretty much what I'm thinking if not saying out loud.

So, that got me to thinking. It's not realistic to tell people to just leave. Maybe they can't afford it. Maybe they have a good job. Maybe they like it here, but don't know how to say anything nice. Ok then, perhaps we should start sending people to whereever the hell they think it's better. Why not? I bet it would be cheaper to do that than to have to deal with them staying here. Some examples:

Illegal Immigrants: If you come here illegally, but you are willing to now pay a fine and start pursuing citizenship and promise to try to learn english and accept our laws, then fine, you can stay. If you think our rules don't apply to you because you are not American and never will be - or you get put in jail for committing another crime in addition to sneaking across the border - then we'll send you back free of charge. And if we catch you sneaking in again, we'll send you somewhere else that would require crossing 3,000 miles of water plus another 3,000 miles of either ice or desert to get back here. AND STAY OUT.

Anyone offended by Christmas, God in the pledge of allegiance, use of the word Terrorist to describe "Militant Islamists": Our country is 90% Christian and we have no interest in making it a) 90% non-Christian or b) a theocracy. So, if you don't like that stores have Christmas Trees and that our country was founded in part on the idea that our rights are GOD given  and only to be PROTECTED by our government and that despite being a mostly Christian country that we allow such lude things as pornography and strippers and women that don't have to wear burkas, then GO SOMEWHERE ELSE where that country's moral and religious tenets are more in line with yours. Please, we'll pay the airfare, just tell us to where. (Australia's treasurer, Peter Costello said it best: "There are countries that apply religious or sharia law — Saudi Arabia and Iran come to mind. If a person wants to live under sharia law, these are countries where they might feel at ease. But not Australia." - or the U.S., Get it?)

Any and all athletic superstars and hollywood actors from Canada that say even just 1 negative word about this country: You make millions in our country that if it didn't exist you would likely be a) speaking French, b) poor c) living in a dictatorship since we were'nt here to defend your sorry asses. This includes any "famous" Americans that said they were going to move to Canada if Bush won in '04 - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE GOOOOOO; and even though you don't need the money, we'll pay for your trip too.

And finally, the most politically incorrect of all, if you are African-American AND you think you deserve reparations from slavery, blame all of your troubles on racism and/or think that Bush's response to Katrina was all about race then you can take the first plane to where ever (and no, not Africa - who the hell would WANT to go there from here?). You can go to Cuba, Jamacia or some other great destination that you think will suddenly solve all of your problems for you. Seriously, all expenses paid trip to somewhere else where you will suddenly be successful because the people there, unlike in America, will not hold you down due to your race and if per chance you don't become successful despite the lack of racism they will pay you more than our paultry welfare system does - maybe try the French Riviera!

I'm sure there are more people that I'd like to send packin' but that's all I can think of for now. Don't go callin' me racist either just because I even suggested that some blacks or Mexicans be sent away (you'll notice I mentioned Canadians so I must be racist against white people too) because if you do, you belong in one of the above categories.

BTW, if you are American and a liberal that thinks I'm an asshole, you can stay if you want as this is a free country and so long as you belong here and don't break laws I don't care what you do. But, please don't try to sell me any of "tolerance" bullshit. We're half-way to "tolerance-ing" ourselves into oblivion at which point I'LL MOVE - but to where I don't know 'cuz there is NO COUNTRY better than this one.

haven't posted in a while, but have been listening, reading and thinking about a few things...

Illegal Immigration. It's illegal. As in "Against the Law". I've heard some of the lamest quotes from these so-called immigrants that it makes me want to puke. One protester complained that these undocumented workers needed legal channels so they wouldn't have to come here illegally. May I remind him that we had over a million LEGAL immigrants to the U.S. in a recent year (2002) of which over 200,000 were Mexican. While the figure 11 million is often cited as the total number of illegals living in this country, a CNN report estimates that about 300,000 illegals per year entered the U.S. of which about 200,000 were Mexican. So there are legal channels and perhaps those channels should be even easier, but it's not as if we don't allow people from Mexico into this country legally.

John Kerry, someone I could vote for? Just channel surfing and saw a discussion of helping India with civil nuclear power. It appeared to be an opportunity for a senate committee to speak with the administration - Condi Rice in this case - before any bills were presented for a vote. Kerry seemed to be well informed, confident, fair and reasonable in his questions towards Rice. Of course, I would disagree with a lot of what Kerry proposes, but if this were the only issue and this was all I had ever seen of Kerry, I could have at least considered it! Scary.

Hello Out There. The economy is ROCKIN'! I saw a poll within the last few days that suggests that MOST Americans believe that the Democrats would do a better job with the economy. That may or may not be true - I happen to believe not - but you would just think that in a time where the economy is as robust as it has been for a couple of years now that there would be some faith put into the party in leadership (although I will admit I think the gov't gets too much credit for a good economy). I mean the GDP has been growing at somewhere between 3 to 5% for 11 or 12 consecutive quarters, unemployment is 4.7%, real wages are starting to go up, the markets are looking strong, inflation seems to be at bay and interest rates continue to stay low. Perhaps those polled just hadn't gotten the memo yet: ECONOMY = GROWING! The only thing I can see as a negative is the price of gas - but then, I ride my bike to work.

Iraq - a fair and balanced view? Again on C-Span, I saw an interview of an embedded journalist by another journalist. This guy used to work for the LA Times and left because he was basically having to report news based on what "stringers" told him. He wanted to report on things he could see and experience with his own eyes and ears so he took a job with Stars & Stripes. I think he had a really well balance and fair view of what was happening. He suggested that some days he sees real progress and feels pretty good about where things are going and there are other periods where bombs are going off, soldiers get killed and it looks like it's all going to hell. He is surprised by the resolve of the troops wanting to see a democratic, free and stable Iraq. He recognizes that it is a dangerous place and progress is slow. It was good to hear someone that at least sounded unbiased - it's neither as bad as the MSM put it nor as good as the administration would like you to think. But we all knew that already. Sometimes it's just good to hear a straight story rather than having to average 2 really unbalanced stories.

Well, I did it! It was an awesome day and an awesome ride! Below is my Polar HR Graph.

The red line that hovers near the top is my HR over the course of the 3 and a half hours. The dotted red line running through the middle of that is my average HR (155). The bottom blue line is my speed. And, the red line that you see going from bottom to top is the altimeter. That one huge hill was about 5 miles long starting at around 1950 ft and ending at about 3350 ft and took me about 35 minutes with the last 15 being sheer suffering - Wolf Pen Gap. It was all I could do to not get off my bike and just fall over, but stopping is the death nell - you just can't do it and then expect to get back on and finish. You can see that my HR went up to about 175 and stayed there until I crested. Same with my speed bottoming out at about 7mph for the duration.

But before the hill, it was a beautiful and easy ride. It started with a really long descent followed by rolling hills with a few longer uphill climbs. We were all rolling kind of easy as we all knew what lay ahead. I had not made up my mind yet as to whether or not to do the 62 mile option or just do the 50. I figured I'd decide at the turn which was about 40 miles into the ride. The problem of course is that I couldn't know how the extra miles would affect my ability to get up Wolf Pen Gap. Just prior to the turn off, a friend of mine from years past happened to come by and we chatted. He was going to go the long way and I was feeling pretty good so off we went. Early in the ride, we were riding in pretty big groups, but by this time, the groups were so split that I had ridden quite a few miles by myself with only rare sitings of other bikers well in front or far behind. To find my buddy Jeff at the turn was a good thing. We caught up and helped each other through the next 10 miles and actually started the gap portion together. Once it got steeper, he moved ahead and I let him go knowing that if I tried to keep up that early I would not have made it to the top. Of course, I probably outweigh him by 40 pounds - that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it.

The rest of the hill was pain, pain, pain - I loved it. I had expected the hill to go on forever so I didn't expect anything but uphill going through each switchback. Those were the only relief and they weren't much. When I saw the sign for the gap at the top, I couldn't believe it. I had been so close to stopping so many times, but seeing that sign made it all worth it. Of course, I assumed it would be downhill all the way in, but I was wrong and that was a bit painful too. The euphoria of completing the gap was enough to get me in though, despite a bit of cramping in the last few miles. Anyway, I was able to finish and astonishingly averaged 17mph (my ride stats are on the bottom of the graph).

In the end, I was glad I went the extra distance. It's been a long time since I went 60+ and I really feel like I'm getting some old form back. Can't wait until next year!

Tour de France frame of reference:

On a particularly tough day for Lance in the Tour de France, stage 16 had 4 major climbs:

1. Category 4: 1.6 miles, 5.2% grade
2. Category 3: 2.7 miles, 6.2% grade
3. Category 1: 5.8 miles, 7.7% grade
4. No Category: 10.3 miles, 7% grade

Muscle Mountain Mania basically had the one climb that would be categorized and I suspect it would have been a category 2 or maybe an easy cat 1:

Wolf Pen Gap: 5.9 miles, 4.5% grade (the last 3.3 miles was 6.3%).

I'm not sure how the TDF climbs are measured, but I think Wolf Pen measures up with some of the big climbs, but not the biggest, in the Tour. Woo hoo.