McCain’s Scapegoat - WSJ.com.

John McCain has made it clear this week he doesn’t understand what’s happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does. But on Thursday, he took his populist riffing up a notch and found his scapegoat for financial panic — Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

To give readers a flavor of Mr. McCain untethered, we’ll quote at length:

“Mismanagement and greed became the operating standard while regulators were asleep at the switch. The primary regulator of Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino. They allowed naked short selling — which simply means that you can sell stock without ever owning it. They eliminated last year the uptick rule that has protected investors for 70 years. Speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground.

“The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the President and has betrayed the public’s trust. If I were President today, I would fire him.”

Wow. “Betrayed the public’s trust.” Was Mr. Cox dishonest? No. He merely changed some minor rules, and didn’t change others, on short-selling. String him up Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It’s also un-Presidential.

And further:

In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution. He’ll never beat Mr. Obama by running as an angry populist …

When the Wall Street Journal calls a Republican candidate un-Presidential, maybe it’s time for his supporters to start looking at the other candidate.

Another crack in (Crack) Rock Racing’s armor? Or just Cipollini being Cipollini?

VeloNews | No more Rock, no more rolling for Cipollini

Mario Cipollini’s relationship with the American team Rock Racing has ended, and the Italian is quashing rumors that he might jump into this weekend’s Milan-San Remo for a different team.

“Unfortunately I’ve had to end my relationship with the American Rock Racing team that started a few months ago,” the former world champion said Tuesday.

European papers had speculated that Cipollini would join the Tinkoff Credit Systems team for Milan-San Remo, but he said he was only interested in joining a team if he could be involved with its management and development.

“The idea of riding Milan-San Remo made sense if it was linked to a wider project of building and managing a new team and my return to racing was part of the project to create a dream team. Despite a contract, this hasn’t happened for reasons out of my control.”

Only 33 days until the Tour de Georgia starts … wonder if that race’s promoters will let Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero, and/or Oscar Sevilla race, or if they’re going to be stuck on the sidelines again. I’m still predicting a team implosion …

From cyclingnews.com comes word that “Cipollini and Ball’s relationship on the rocks”:

The relationship that was started last fall in a Las Vegas discotheque could come to an end if Mario Cipollini does not get his say in the management of Rock Racing. The Italian, who came out of retirement at the age of 40 to race in the Tour of California last week, and his lawyer met with the owner of the team, Mike Ball, yesterday to discuss the coming season.

“We need to sit at the table and make clear who is in command,” said Mario Cipollini in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Luigi Perna. The Italian from Lucca and lawyer Giuseppe Napoleone were scheduled to meet with Ball later in the day.

“The boss is Ball, but after him it is me. Therefore I want to manage the squad starting now. I can organise the participation in [Milano-] San Remo. To find men to race is not a problem. … If Ball does well it will continue, otherwise goodbye. I now understand that the name Cipollini still has value, in the United States and elsewhere.”

Cipollini was happy with his return, but not with the fiasco surrounding the team and Ball’s backing of Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla and Santiago Botero. The riders, all allegedly linked with Operación Puerto, were barred from racing by the organiser, but continued along daily by riding behind the race caravan and signing autographs for fans at the stage villages.

“For a week I had an infinite amount of patience … Maybe it was my great desire to return to racing with an important project. However, we can’t go forward like this. We are not able to continue to pull along this heavy weight that ruins our image, and now Ball also understands this. It is not enough to advertise and show off models.”

So, first Sevilla, Botero, and Hamilton are prevented from riding the Amgen Tour of California … and now, Cipo is threatening to bolt from the team unless he takes a more active role in how the team is run … somehow, I don’t see Michael Ball giving up any control of the team unless/until the team starts to disintegrate, and by that time it will be too late.

I’m still calling for an implosion before the end of the Tour of Georgia.

We’ll see.

I’m sure everyone has their own set of pet peeves … here are some of mine, rearing their ugly little heads today:

• People who ask for my help, but then tell me I’m wrong. If you know the answer, don’t ask me!
• People who don’t listen.
• People who drive 10 mph slower than the speed limit in the fast lane.
• People who don’t turn off their cell phones in a restaurant. Unless you’re a doctor on-call who may need to leave at a minute’s notice, the person you’re with should be your primary focus.
• People who print novels on the department printer, but never pick-up the print-out wasting time and paper.
• People who get hired into management roles, without understanding the jobs or responsibilities of the staff they are supposed to be managing.

I’m sure I’ll come up with more later …

Recently received this open letter to all USA Cycling license holders from Steve Johnson, acting CEO of USA Cycling:

In light of the recent change in management at USA Cycling, I would like to assure all of you that we intend to stay the course with our current programs and will continue to work on many new, exciting programs and member benefits. The real strength of USA Cycling comes from you, our members, working together with your Local Associations and promoters, along with our dedicated staff, to grow and improve American cycling. In fact, many of the recent improvements, from the Local Association and NORBA promoter incentive programs to the enhancements of the website to the creation of effective new athlete programs, have been staff-driven initiatives. Over the past few years, USA Cycling has augmented the staff, encouraged their creativity and supported their ideas in order to serve you better.

As someone who has been intimately involved in all of the changes you have seen over the past several years, I can assure you that I am absolutely committed to supporting you - the members of USA Cycling - and expanding all of the great programs you have come to know and appreciate. I firmly believe the management of local cycling belongs and should remain with the local cycling community working with your Local Associations and Promoter Groups; that continuing to seed and support the grassroots and lowering the barriers to participation in our sport is essential to our continued success; that the success of American athletes at the top-levels of International cycling across all disciplines fuels excitement in our sport and drives participation at every level; that Collegiate Cycling is a tremendously important and untapped opportunity to identify the next generation of cycling champions while creating thousands of life-long participants; and that the continued development of our programs for women, juniors, masters, officials, coaches and mechanics will be critical to the growth of American cycling.

I also happen to believe that cycling is the greatest sport in the world. I have been a cycling competitor, enthusiast and consumer for over 30 years and have participated in virtually every aspect of our sport. I would like you to know that I will do everything that I can to ensure that American cycling continues to thrive and grow; and it is to that end that I pledge my absolute commitment.

In the days ahead, I look forward to working together with you to grow this, the world’s greatest sport!

Steve Johnson, Acting CEO

With the knowledge that Steve Johnson is one of the many cronies put into place by Thom Weisel, I have problems believing anything coming out of his mouth (or fingertips, in this case).

I don’t have as much direct experience with Johnson that many others in the cycling world do, but when the news came out last summer in L’Équipe about Lance Armstrong’s “positive” tests for EPO during retroactive testing, I would have preferred to see Johnson say something along the lines of “these are very serious charges, and we will investigate them thoroughly,” rather than “This is just a publication in a French tabloid newspaper. That’s our perspective. … frankly I don’t care what they think. This whole thing isn’t a big deal for Americans.”

You’d think that with all the news about steroids in baseball (Barry Bonds, anyone?), cycling’s bad reputation in general, Zach Lund’s being dropped from the US Olympic skeleton team at the last minute because he tested positive for a disclosed hair-replacement product, amongst many other incidences, that Johnson would know that the idea of Armstrong doping is a big deal.

But hey, as long as Armstrong, Ochowicz, Weisel and Johnson are making money, who cares, right?