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Completed the climb up Emigration Canyon for the second time this season … felt pretty good, although my asthma definitely kicked my butt on the early parts of the climb before my lungs settled down. Had to take it easy the rest of the way of the climb, but managed to make it.

Unfortunately, my ride home ended in a minor tragedy on 27th South near 23rd East, when somehow a piece of bubble gum managed to destroy my rear derailleur … and my discount code for Backcountry.com doesn’t work for the one Record derailleur they have in stock.

They're not supposed to look like this, are they?

Obligatory “at-speed” blurry shot of T-Bird on the finishing climb of Stage 4 of the Tour of Utah.

Tyler Hamilton

Tyler Hamilton, a little closer.

I had to step back after this last shot, afraid of pulling a bonehead move like the guy who knocked down Giuspeppe Guerini on l’Alpe d’Huez several years ago. Funny thing, while the other riders in Tyler’s group followed the curve of the road right towards the finish line, Tyler just kept coming straight at me.

Maybe there was something about me that just screamed “Flahute”, and he was thinking “I’m gonna get that bastard that keeps knocking my team …”

I may have to change at least some of my feelings on the Rock Racing team … while I was wandering around the finish area after the race, the Rock Racing area was completely mobbed by people, and everyone seemed to be handling it with a lot of grace; posing for photos, signing autographs … the whole 9 yards.

Listening to Michael Ball talk to some of the people around, he came across as a lot more humble than he does in print.

And Tyler is still one of the nicest guys in cycling; and he’s certainly a human rider again … although those are some of the ugliest sunglasses I have ever seen. They’re even worse than the Oakleys that George Hincapie wore for the past few years.

T-Bird was in the middle of an interview … kicking back in a lawn chair and relaxing. Right now, he’s sitting in 4th place overall, about 1:07 behind Louder.

More of my photos of the Tour of Utah can be found on Flickr.

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time

“If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the Republican Party,” Dean said Friday in an appearance on NPR’s “Tell Me More” program.

Unreal.

I’m a 42-year-old white man, lifelong Democrat, raised in the South, lived most of my adult life in Northern California, and now live in the Republican bastion of Salt Lake City, Utah.

I cannot believe that Howard Dean (whom I supported in the 2004 campaign) would stoop to this level. I am offended and ashamed that a member of my Party would utter such a snarky, racially-motivated comment to denigrate our opponents.

It’s the 21st Century! Race should play a very small role (if it should play any role at all) in modern politics.

Another frightening thing is the recent mom-spam I received, entitled “Proud to Be White”, which I won’t dignify by quoting here, but if you really want to read it, just do a Google search for “proud to be white” (in quotes), and you’ll get an ample number of results. This from my mother, who is also a life-long Democrat, and who taught me to be colorblind.

Here was my response:

Perhaps if white people hadn’t treated everyone else in North America like complete shit for the past 400 years, there’d be no need for any of those groups that Mr. White Pride listed in his diatribe.

We don’t need an NAAWP, because white people already control the United States; whites don’t need to be advanced, because we are already “on top”; and anyone who doesn’t see that is a complete and utter idiot.

The NAACP and other similar groups are not about advancing their demographic at the detriment of white people; it’s not about blacks or Hispanics or Asians on top while white people get pushed down the ladder to some sort of second-class status.

White students are not prevented from attending historically black colleges; however, blacks were excluded from attending many universities for many, many years.

It’s about equality.

Think of it this way. Who is more likely to agree with this tripe? Someone who thinks like me? Or someone whose views tend to coincide with those of David Duke and Tom Metzger?

Whose company would you rather keep?

I’m not proud of being white. Sometimes I’m guilty about it. What I am proud of is being an American; an American who can think for himself, and who accepts or rejects people based on their actions and not their skin color.

I don’t know … perhaps similar feelings were what Howard Dean had in mind when he made his rather idiotic comments about the Republican Party, but there’s no reason to put a label on it … it’s just as bad as labeling people of color with any of the various epithets they’ve had to deal with for the past 4 centuries.

Rock Racing & Simple Living riders in an early break.

Garmin-Chipotle pulling the field to chase down the breakaway riders.

Almost 200 photos taken altogether … these were the only two of the actual race worth keeping. I’ve got a lot of work to do on action shots.

Went to the downtown criterium stage 3 of the Tour of Utah this evening. Took shitloads of pictures, and only 2 of the actual race even remotely came out … need to do some tweaking in Photoshop, and will post in the morning.

Went to dinner with Chippo, Melissa, Ryan K. (from Revolution), and a few others at Squatters. Much to my detriment and surprise, I’m terribly out of practice pouring beer from a pitcher. I guess there’s a reason why I generally drink straight from the bottle.

Now home, and after a short digestive period, it’s off to bed, so I can head up to Snowbird tomorrow for Stage 4.

For a dear and beloved friend in San Francisco, who was ordained into the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi on August 10 of this year.

WRITTEN ON THE WALL AT CHANG’S HERMITAGE

1.

It is spring in the mountains.
I come alone seeking you.
The sound of chopping wood echoes
Between the silent peaks.
The streams are still icy.
There is snow on the trail.
At sunset I reach your grove
In the stormy mountain pass.
You want nothing, although at night
You can see the aura of gold
And silver ore all around you.
You have learned to be gentle
As the mountain deer you have tamed.
The way back forgotten, hidden
Away, I become like you,
An empty boat, floating, adrift.

2.

In spring mountains, alone, I set out to find you.
Axe strokes crack—crack and quit. Silence doubles

I pass snow and ice lingering along cold streams,
then, at Stone-Gate in late light, enter these woods.

You harm nothing: deer roam here each morning;
want nothing: auras gold and silver grace nights.

Facing you on a whim in bottomless dark, the way
here lost—I feel it drifting, this whole empty boat.

  — Tu Fu (712 - 770), Chinese Poet of the Tang Dynasty.
  — Translations by Kenneth Rexroth (1) & David Hinton (2).

HHS Moves to Define Contraception as Abortion | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org

In a spectacular act of complicity with the religious right, the Department of Health and Human Services Monday [July 14, 2008] released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman’s access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception, the birth control 40% of Americans use, as abortion. Doing so protects extremists under the Weldon and Church amendments. Those laws prohibit federal grant recipients from requiring employees to help provide or refer for abortion services. The “Definitions” section of the HHS proposal states:

• Abortion: An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. There are two commonly held views on the question of when a pregnancy begins. Some consider a pregnancy to begin at conception (that is, the fertilization of the egg by the sperm), while others consider it to begin with implantation (when the embryo implants in the lining of the uterus). A 2001 Zogby International American Values poll revealed that 49% of Americans believe that human life begins at conception.

  Presumably many who hold this belief think that any action that destroys human life after conception is the termination of a pregnancy, and so would be included in their definition of the term “abortion.” Those who believe pregnancy begins at implantation believe the term “abortion” only includes the destruction of a human being after it has implanted in the lining of the uterus.

The proposal continues,

• Both definitions of pregnancy inform medical practice. Some medical authorities, like the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association, have defined the term “established pregnancy” as occurring after implantation.

  Other medical authorities present different definitions. Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, for example, defines pregnancy as “[the] state of a female after conception and until the termination of the gestation.” Dorland’s Medical Dictionary defines pregnancy, in relevant part, as “the condition of having a developing embryo or fetus in the body, after union of an oocyte and spermatozoon.”

Up until now, the federal government followed the definition of pregnancy accepted by the American Medical Association and our nation’s pregnancy experts, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is: pregnancy begins at implantation. With this proposal, however, HHS is dismissing medical experts and opting instead to accept a definition of pregnancy based on polling data. It now claims that pregnancy begins at some biologically unknowable moment (there’s no test to determine if a woman’s egg has been fertilized). Under these new standards there would be no way for a woman to prove she’s not pregnant. Thus, any woman could be denied contraception under HHS’ new science.

Until 1918, contraceptive devices were illegal in the United States … while they existed, they were often sold as “feminine hygiene” products …

It’s one thing for the Bush Administration to try to outlaw abortion, which is a touchy subject no matter how you look at it.

My personal belief? It’s possible to be both pro-choice and pro-life at the same time … I would prefer that people choose to prevent unwanted pregnancies by whatever means works best for them. If a woman does become pregnant, I would prefer that she choose an option other than abortion.

However, a woman’s decision whether or not to have an abortion is should be made by her, in concert with her doctor, her partner, and her conscience. It is not society’s place to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her body.

Personally, I abhor the concept of abortion. However, I will NEVER tell a woman that she does not have the right to choose that option; not even my own partner/lover/girlfriend/wife, and I will certainly never support any candidate for political office that wants to restrict a woman’s right to choose.

But now, by trying to change the definitions, the Bush Administration is even trying to remove (or severely limit) a woman’s ability to prevent an unwanted pregnancy; and take us back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries in terms of reproductive rights and health.

Go read the proposed rule changes. Then read further analysis at RH Reality Check.

Then go sign the petitions, sponsored by MoveOn.org.