Another day at the Gila

Zack just finished with bike check

Jon ready to race

More Jon

Joan lined up

Off she goes

Out to Tyrone to watch the time trials. Very extensive bike check this year including measuring the bike, measuring the bike with the rider on it, and weighing the bike. The time to do this caused something of a clog and made some almost late to the start. A few were sent back to fix their bikes. One guy had to just go get his road bike when his TT bike did not pass.
Jon had been having trouble with his TT bike and it gave him some trouble on the course as he finished much slower than he should have. The rest of the team did about as they expected.
Greg Krause came in second in the cat 2 group and was notified today that he just has to fill out an on line form to get his cat 1. Congratulations to Greg.
Joan did her first ever time trial as a cat 4 with the cat 3/4s and did great. She came in 15th. Congratulations Joan.
The boys wanted an early dinner, so we hit Jalisco's at 5. The waitress took Jon's order wrong so his meal was comped along with 4 orders of sopapillas. Wm enjoyed chatting with their host, Rich, who provided their housing.
5 was a good time to go out as many other teams came later and had to wait a long time. I think Axel Merkx, such a tall guy, and his entire Trek-Livestrong team, including Taylor Phinney had to wait at least 1/2 hour. That team included today's stage winner Jesse Sergent. They were still waiting when we left, but I got the impression that they cleared our table of 8 in about 1/2 a minute and then seated them.

Hard Day at the Gila

We were packed up and waiting at the street for our lift to Fort Bayard at 815. Our ride came up at 835. Not much gas. Should we get gas now or hurry on to the Fort. Greg Kraus sat in the back and changed and used some of my sun screen.
By the time we found the boys at the Fort and loaded up their bags and chairs, it was 5 minutes to the start of the Pro 1 race.
Rush off back toward town and there is a Walmart gas station. We'll do this like a Nascar fill up. I was running the card, but Wm forgot where the gas cap button was. So I reached back in and got that. I got the nozzle and pushed mid grade. Wm got the inner cap and started pumping gas. We agreed on about $30 worth. I said don't bother about a receipt and went to get back in the car. BUT THE DOOR IS LOCKED!
WTF!!! In trying to find the gas cap release, Wm had hit the door lock and the keys are in the car. I ran over to the pay window and yelled that we are locked out and need help to unlock the car. The attendant had a slimjim and a skinhead dressed in camo came up and I asked him to help. He said he had gotten into cars before.
But a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid is a little hard and it took him about 15 minutes. I went to the other side of the car and cried, knowing we were missing the first feed zone.
We tried a short cut, but we were behind the peloton. We had to go to Pinos Altos anyway to get Joan's car, cat 3 girlfriend of Zack Davies, to bring it to Fort Bayard. No problem for me to drive her little Honda Civic stick with 218,000 miles on it. Parked near the finish line at Fort Bayard and then headed out to Feed Zone 2. Jon did miss us at Feed Zone 1 and had to go back and get some water for them from another team car as there was no neutral feed at 1.
Passed 2 bottle musettes to each of our 4 cat 1 riders at Feed Zone 2. Jon and Zack were in the front group and Chuck Coyle and Joe Lewis were in a following gruppetto. We took off and took a short cut to get in front of the peloton back to Fort Bayard.
I yelled when I saw Jon coming in with the front group. But then Zack came in at the end of that group that had strung out and where was Jon? Then finally he walks over to the car with bandages on. He was on fifth wheel with a good chance at third when he got edged into the dirt and took a tumble. He jumped back up and was passing people and was still in that front group and in front of Lance, but not where he could have been.
Back in the car and waiting out of the horrid wind, 40 mph and gusting to 60mph, when Chuck says he thinks Greg Kraus our cat 2 rider will win his race. And then Greg comes in, the solo winner. Happy Day!

Pfizer on the loose

From Sally Kohn
In 2009, the pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer was ordered to pay the largest criminal fine in U.S. history — $1.19 billion — for illegally marketing the painkiller Bextra, a drug the FDA approved only in low-doses for the relief of arthritis and menstrual discomfort. Pfizer nonetheless pushed Bextra as an all-purpose pain killer in high doses for acute, post-surgical pain — despite the FDA’s finding that in such uses, Bextra would significantly increase risks of heart attack and stroke.

The criminal conviction for illegal marketing of Bextra would have barred Pfizer from participating in federal Medicare and Medicaid drug programs. So, with the consent of federal prosecutors, Pfizer created a “shell company” — Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. — to take the fall. According to a CNN Special Investigation:

“…the subsidiary is nothing more than a shell company whose only function is to plead guilty. According to court documents, Pfizer Inc. owns (a) Pharmacia Corp., which owns (b) Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, which owns (c) Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. LLC, which in turn owns (d) Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc. It is the great-great-grandson of the parent company.”

Parmacia & Upjohn Co. is barred from doing business with federally-funded health programs, while Pfizer continues to reap profits from our tax payer dollars. This isn’t the only trouble Pfizer has caused in the last few weeks but while as a country we keep pushing for tougher law-and-order treatment of individual crimes, massive and monstrous corporate crimes are routinely overlooked by our political system (which is now officially a wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate America).

All the rage

All the rage

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SEC to do something?

SEC thinking about enforcing Sarbox???? read more

Libertarians should sign this pledge also

The Tea Party Socialist-Free Purity Pledge

I do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a
socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:

I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.

I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.

I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:

Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
US Postal Service
Roads and Highways
Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
The US Railway System
Public Subways and Metro Systems
Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
Rest Areas on Highways
Sidewalks
All Government-Funded Local/State Projects
Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
Public and State Universities and Colleges
Public Primary and Secondary Schools
Public Museums
Libraries
Public Parks and Beaches
State and National Parks
Public Zoos
Unemployment Insurance
Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government
Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies
Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care

I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C. I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:

Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
The government-operated Statue of Liberty
The Grand Canyon
The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC

I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.

I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.

I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.

I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.

Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.

Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.

SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF IN THE YEAR

Signed Printed Name/Town and State

Fix Social Security and Unemployment

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natale-zimmer/two-birds-with-one-stone_b_518434.html

Insurance Companies

Insurance Companies plan to get out of insuring children with pre-existing conditions by saying that nothing in the law says that they actually have to sell them insurance--just cover them-- and if they have to cover them they can increase the cost of the policy.

Harris Interactive I Newsroom I Harris Polls

24% of Republicans believe Obama is the AntiChrist!!!
Harris Interactive I Newsroom I Harris Polls

Bad for Morale

Ha Ha Gays in the military is bad for morale, but an 11% increase in sexual assault on female soldiers is reason for the military brass to congratulate themselves. What???
Bad for Morale

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Meg Whitman

Meg Whitman is no good for California because as a CEO she is used to fixing things by firing people, but you can't fire people out of California.

START

Yeah to arms limitations. I have been for this since I used to write letters about the SALT ratifications to Biz Johnson back in the sixties.

Not a Christian

Glenn Beck is not a Christian. He is not even a good Mormon. Social Justice is a foundation principle of Christianity. more here from Jim Wallis

CCC

CCC the new KKK

Council of Conservative Citizens

Rep Paul Ryan

Rep Paul Ryan has become the GOP go to person on numbers. They claim all sorts of benefits with his budget plan. It will privatize Social Security, give seniors vouchers indexed to overall inflation to buy their own health insurance, make Bush tax cuts permanent, repeal all estate taxes, lower capital gains taxes, and they have the audacity to state that this plan would lower the deficit. LOL The rich would get richer and the middle class and poor poorer and seniors without adequate health care would just die as they used to--prior to 65. The wealthy elite would live forever--think Mr Burns.

George Washington was a socialist

So George Washington was a socialist, too!
If the individual mandate is unconstitutional, how could our first president require every citizen to buy a gun?
By Joe Conason
Salon

It is an annoying habit of politicians and activists on the right to loudly denounce almost anything they don't like as "unconstitutional" -- including progressive taxes, civil rights statutes, environmental protections, and now healthcare reform. So Republican lawyers and attorneys general around the country are preparing challenges to the healthcare reform bill on constitutional grounds, perhaps hoping that a Supreme Court majority will strike down the legislation with the same flagrant disdain for legal precedent and democratic order displayed in Bush v. Gore.

Along those lines, one of the favorite complaints against the healthcare reform bill is that the founding document doesn't permit the federal government to order anyone to buy a product or service. That supposedly renders illegitimate the individual insurance mandate that is part of the bill.

As every fervent advocate of gun rights ought to know, however, that argument suffers from a glaring historical flaw. Only a few years after the nation's Founding Fathers ratified the Constitution, Congress approved the Militia Act of 1792, which was duly signed by George Washington, then the president and commander in chief.

Establishing state militias and a national standard for their operation, the Militia Act explicitly required every "free able-bodied white male citizen" between the ages of 18 and 45, with a few occupational exceptions, to "provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch with a box therein to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch and powder horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder.."

Within six months, every citizen enrolled and notified of his required militia service had to equip himself as specified above. There was spirited debate in Congress as to whether the state ought to subsidize the purchase of arms for men too poor to afford their own, so that everyone could serve his country. Subsidized or not, however, the founders saw no constitutional barrier to a law ordering every citizen to buy a gun and ammo.

Quotations and facsimiles of the Militia Act can be found on hundreds of right-wing blogs, of course, where it is often cited to demonstrate that the founders would have despised gun control. Few if any of these Second Amendment zealots seem to have realized yet how ironic it is for them to quote this venerable statute alongside their anguished protests against the constitutional validity of any federal mandate.

Or maybe Washington was a socialist, too.

History of White People

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/03/22/history_of_white_people_nell_irvin_painter?source=newsletter

How long will it take for Supreme Court Repeal

Court cases such as the one begun by Virginia will proceed and despite setbacks will reach the Supreme Court. There whether or not the arguments have merit The Patient Protection Act will be repealed, 5 to 4.

Deficit Hawks

GOP deficit hawks are on the march to default on government debt to cut Social Security benefits.

Traveling Home from Mexico

12/2/09
Waiting in the Puerto Vallarta airport. The flight will be about 1 1/2 hours late, so far. Spent the last 150 pesos on 2 bits of hand embroidery of a rooster and a wild red bunny. Bought here in the airport at a pretty art shop near where we are sitting. I think I will sew them on 2 small pillows for 2 grandchildren.
Going home with the hair braids. Wm thought I should wear them home. They are growing out a bit. I will have to make a hairdresser appointment to have them taken out as I sure can't.
Sounded like Jasmine was glad to get home. I think she missed her friends a lot. Even with the 2 hours of conversation on the international Skype Richard bought for her phone.
Overall I think the trip was a success. Parties were good and children played nice together. But I agree with Frank that the 10th anniversary should be closer. I am sure he would be agreeable to have it in Redding or Nevada City. That would be 2014. Just before our 50th in 2015. Hopefully a Caribbean cruise with family and friends.
Wondering if Ben is missing me. He was getting into a habit of wanting to see me as soon as he got up. I did enjoy playing with him. He is so eager to learn everything. I hope it will work out for us to show up at Palo Duro in April with the RV to join the children's campout.
Part of my carry on is a painting I bought today. I will group this chicken painting with the 2 prints I already planned to put on the east kitchen wall.
We did get to Vitae for lunch. It was excellent. They even make whatever flavor of agua fresca you want. So since I liked the agua fresca at Maria Gallo's so well I had carrot orange. William had the special grilled tuna sandwich. Thankfully he shared a bit with me. I had the spinach quiche that was also very good. I agree with Robbin about the bread spread. We also had lovely salmon rolls for an appetizer. The people at the next table said they had already been there 4 times this week. They were asking for recipes also.
An airplane has arrived at gate B6. Now for unloading and plane cleaning. Boarding now in 10 minutes. So I will sign off.
Pretty uneventful flight except for the plethora of crying babies. Thanks to Jon for the music and William for the ear buds. Since the plane was late the meal was late. I touched William to ask him when he thought they would serve dinner. He startled and hastily pulled out his earbud and it came detached and the earbud stuck in his ear. He was mad at me and considered it my fault that the earbud got stuck and it took him about 20 minutes he says to get it out and made his ear hurt. I think most of the 20 minutes was spent glaring at me. The real problem was that he had chosen window seats for both of us and I was seated at his request behind him. I told him I was sorry about his ear later, but I did not try to talk to him again on the plane as it was noisy.
Then at immigration we were shuttled to a special area in immigration and waited for about 1/2 hour to be told that there is a William Allen Baker on the watch list--just with a different birthday. When we went in the special room they said “what have we here? Two Americans?” William was very mad about the delay and told the security people off.
Then at CitiGarden they tried to stiff us on the parking. We had stayed one night on the 12th for 14 days of parking and then tonight for 7 days of parking and have only used 19 of the 21 days.
So maybe there were some problems getting home and we are not home yet.
12/4/09 Arrived home and I want these braids out. Took me two days to get them all out and it looks like there is a small gray animal in my bathroom trash can with all the hair I shed.