Lance Armstrong concedes 7 Tour victories in doping scandal

The evidence against Armstrong must have been significant for him to not even fight. Armstrong was called a lot of things but quitter would not have been on the list. Of course, a doper wasn't on the list for many worshipers either but that now appears to be the case following his lack of response to the US Anti-Doping Agency. Whether the US Anti-Doping Agency can actually take away any victories or money is up for debate, but failing to even provide a response speaks volumes.

Armstrong will no doubt continue to have his supporters at home, who somehow believe that because he passed doping tests, he is innocent. He will still help sell plenty of yellow jerseys and cycling gear that raises money for a good cause. Some supporters will even defend him by saying that "everyone does it in cycling" which isn't incorrect. The podium (top three in the Tour de France) was littered with cheaters during the Armstrong years, with Armstrong being one of the only cyclists to either not get caught or admit to doping.

NY Times:

Armstrong’s decision, according to the World Anti-Doping Code, means he will be stripped of his seven Tour titles, the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Olympics and all other titles, awards and money he won from August 1998 forward.

It also means he will be barred for life from competing, coaching or having any official role with any Olympic sport or other sport that follows the World Anti-Doping Code. “It’s a sad day for all of us who love sport and our athletic heroes,” Travis Tygart, chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, said. “It’s yet another heartbreaking example of how the win-at-all-costs culture, if left unchecked, will overtake fair, safe and honest competition.”

As in many other high-profile doping cases — including that of the Olympic sprinter Marion Jones and other athletes involved in the sprawling Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative case, known as Balco — Tygart and the antidoping agency were basing their case not on a positive drug test but rather on other supporting evidence. Armstrong seized on that in his statement.

Many dopers have had the money and resources to stay ahead of the testing system. There was certainly one glaring example from the recent Olympics in London where an athlete rose out of nowhere to crush a record yet still passed the drug tests.

If Armstrong honestly felt that strongly about his own "clean" record, he would have continued the fight, but he didn't. In the face of ten eyewitnesses and a list of former teammates who were prepared to speak about his doping, he backed down. He sounds like a lawyer when he continues to blather on about his tests because anyone who follows sports knows how bad the testing system is. Armstrong can continue to go on about his clean tests but it now looks like even more of a pathetic joke than it did when he started that defense years ago. Read the rest of this post...

Limbaugh: Romney was 'test-driving' birther attack

Barely three hours after he spoke,  Mitt Romney's birther quip was the top campaign story on Google News with over 3,500 articles.

Rather than trying to walk back the comment, RNC communications director Sean Spicer went on the attack in an MSNBC interview: "Look, it's -- I mean, it's a light-hearted moment, he was stating a fact."

Lets take another look at what Romney said:

"No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate, they know that this is the place where both of us were born and raised."

What the RNC's Spicer said is literally true. Romney was stating a fact -- but he was not just stating a fact. He was also reminding his audience of the racist birther canard.

Rush Limbaugh believes that this is part of the Romney-Ryan game plan:

LIMBAUGH: Stay focused. Romney and Ryan in Michigan. Big, big crowd. And here is Romney, I'm convinced, test-driving something. I think this line is a test drive. 

So Ryan's out there talking about Obama and his bitter clinger quote. And Romney gets up to the microphone. It's his turn to speak, and he test-drives that line about nobody's ever had to ask to see his birth certificate.

I'm going to tell you what. You know, I'm gonna make a prediction for you. It's going to be fascinating to watch. The Obama-bashing at the Republican convention is going to be delicious. It's going to be five-star-restaurant type stuff. I mean, you're going to love it.

So according to Limbaugh, the GOP conference strategy is to spend the week calling Obama names and reminding everyone that he's black, and they're not supposed to like blacks. So much for wanting to get away from negative campaigning to have a real debate on the issues.

People can make the case for this being a clever, planned move on Romney's part, but I think they are wrong. The footage of the rally looks to me as if Romney got jealous watching Ryan getting a big reaction by throwing red meat to a willing crowd, so Romney decided to get some of that applause for himself.  And in so doing, Romney threw away the chance to set the media agenda the weekend before his convention -- rather than talking about the economy, which is supposedly a plus for Romney, everyone is talking about whether Romney intended his comments to be racist.

Romney really isn't a team player, he is a CEO who has to be the only star.

Before this story broke I was working on a post that began, "There is a large, dangerous mass of wind headed for the Republican nominating convention in Tampa. Unless tropical storm Issac forces the convention to be cancelled of course, in which case Donald Trump will have to make other plans."

Romney's gaffe probably means that Trump, the high priest of birtherism, will be making different plans for the convention next week. Assuming Romney realizes the errors of his ways, and understands that his birther joke wasn't a gotcha, it was a gaffe, we might be spared the 'hilarious' surprise video where Donald Trump fires an Obama impersonator.

Unless that is, Romney wants to double down on and go full birther. Read the rest of this post...

"No one's ever asked to see my tax returns" - what Obama should tell Romney

Carmine Bello on Twitter nailed what Obama should say in response to Romney's comment today that, "No one's every asked to see my birth certificate":

"No one's ever asked to see my tax returns."

Read the rest of this post...

Is Romney going to the NRA "Shoot Out" at GOP convention next week?

Would make a great photo opp, the GOP candidate having a ball at a "shoot out" only four days after a shoot out.  Someone should ask Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan if they're attending the NRA-sponsored "Shoot Out" - they actually called it that - at the GOP convention on Tuesday.

Read the rest of this post...

Fox News outs Navy SEAL who led bin Laden raid, endangering him and his family

So Fox News has decided to name the anonymous Navy SEAL who authored an upcoming book about the rain on OBL.  Up until now the names have been kept secret out of fear for the lives of those SEALs.  They and their families would make perfect Al Qaeda targets now and in the future.  And now they are, thanks to Fox.

This of course is not long after Fox News - the same journalist who outed the SEAL, in fact - blasted President Obama for discussing the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden - Fox claimed at the time that leaking details of the raid like, oh I don't know, maybe the names of the guys who did the raid, might endanger their lives (Obama did not release their names).

Fox News is like the Republican Party (like?) who will say anything on any day as long as it's the opposite of what a Democrat said.  And this situation is very much like the Valerie Plame situation in which the Bush White House outed an undercover CIA agent, ruining her career and harming national security, in order to seek political retribution against anyone not buttressing GOP talking points, like the Navy SEAL whose story could undercut GOP talking points that America shouldn't not be proud of having killed Osama bin Laden.  So they outed him, broadcast his name to the world, including Al Qaeda, in order to silence him, permanently in the case of how Al Qaeda handles such things.

So the question today is why does Fox News want to risk endangering the life of a Navy SEAL who risked his life for his country?

Maybe because Rupert Murdoch did not grow up in the US, so he doesn't understand our traditions, or care about the safety of military personal?  We've seen his birth certificate, and it's not red, white and blue.

While most other media outlets chose not to out the author of the new book about the mission against bin Laden, Fox decided to publish his details and put him at risk.

More from ThinkProgress:

Fox News today published the name of a U.S. Navy SEAL who led the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan last year that ended up in the al-Qaeda leader’s death. The SEAL under the pseudonym Mark Owen is the author of a book set to be released on Sept. 11 detailing the events of the raid. The book’s publisher says Owen “was one of the first men through the door on the third floor of the terrorist leader’s hideout and was present at his death.”

Fox News said that “multiple sources” told the news outlet Owen’s real name but Fox did not provide any details about its decision to publish it. The book seemingly provides some clues as to the SEAL’s real identity as, according to the New York Times, Owen “recalls his childhood in Alaska.”

And here's Fox last year discussing how dastardly it is to put our servicemembers at risk by discussing the raid:

Members of Navy SEAL team 6, the Special Operations unit responsible for killing Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden in Pakistan last Sunday, have expressed concerns about their safety and the safety of their families now that details of the mission have been made public.

Read the rest of this post...

Romney questions Obama's birth certificate at campaign event moments ago

"No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate, they know this is the place we were born and raised." - Romney at campaign event moments ago, via MSNBC.

UPDATE: Obama campaign reacts:

“Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them. It’s one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio, and Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.”

Ben LaBolt
National Press Secretary

They have asked, however, for your tax returns that every other presidential candidate for years has released but you odd continue to hide.

What are we supposed to do with this? Are we supposed to be as vulgar as Romney and take the bait and talk about a lot of Americans believing the Mormons are a cult, since Romney now wants this campaign to be about slurs (and racist ones at that)?

How low will Mitt Romney go in order to avoid talking about Todd Akin's anti-abortion nuttery that Paul Ryan agree with, and in order to avoid talking about the fact that he may not have paid taxes for ten years and that's why he's hiding his tax returns?

Sorry Mitt, we're sticking to the issues. Why do you continue to hide your tax returns from the American people? Is it because you haven't paid a dime in taxes in ten years?

Romney must be awfully scared about how his campaign is going if he's making birther comments at campaign events. This kind of negative campaigning is what you do when you're losing badly. Read the rest of this post...

GOP is a party of WASPs led by 70-year-old impotent white guys

More on the Ryan-Akin plan for women, plus a bonus point about the hostile takeover of the Republican Party.

Mike Papantonio, co-host of Ring of Fire Radio, gets what Rachel Maddow gets, that the Ryan-Akin understanding of the female body is either cynical and dishonest or dreadfully "dumb."

But he gets something more — there's a lot that's purely personal in the war on woman, especially when it's coming from power-crazed, wealthy, hyper-entitled males who now need Viagra and Cialis to "look good" for the ladies.

Think about that in human terms — power-crazed and impotent, the white-shoes Cialis crowd. Among people for whom power is a fetish, this is deeply shameful. That must be driving them nuts.

This explains the leaders, as Papantonio points out below (starting 2:00 in the clip). Now add "stupid" (Papantonio says "dumbed-down") and you see why their high-level water-boys, the Todd Akins of the party, act and sound like they do. It's stupid doing the bidding of the impotent.

The Paul Ryan part starts at 5:00. Be sure not to miss (at 7:20 and following) Papantonio's claim that it was the "ten billionaires" who decided that "Paul Ryan should be the VP," not the rest of the party.

I've heard Papantonio make this claim before — that the Koch crowd forced Paul Ryan on Romney when all the party regulars wanted someone who could actually help them win. I'll have more on that point below.

Watch the clip; it's both an excellent analysis and a righteous rant.



Back to that point about the billionaire takeover of the Republican Party. You're watching history, folks. Papantonio said it one way on his Ring of Fire radio show (sorry, no public link, but the show was this one if you're a subscriber).

Mike goes less far than I do. This is entirely my own:

• The Koch-like billionaires are running a coup on the Republican Party, taking control away from party regulars. "Tea Party"–branded politicians are their heavily financed foot soldiers.
  
  Yes, there are Tea Party citizens in the world, with actual tea-bag beliefs.
  
  But "Tea Party" politicians are a Koch Bros Joint, running a hostile takeover against the Boehners and McConnells, the Romneys and McCains.
  
  No party regular who just "wants to win the next election" will have a place in the new Republican Party. They have to serve daddy first, the party second.

In other words, "Daddy" has plans. Those "ten billionaires" are playing the long game, not the short one.

Why did the Koch crowd not care that they lost the Senate in 2010 by running Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnell? Why do they not care what Paul Ryan does to Mitt Romney's chances this year?

Because for now, the government isn't the prize. The Republican Party is. It sure looks like they're taking it step by step, consolidating each territory first before invading the next.

They'll take the government (Bob Rubin, watch out; your Midwest billionaire brothers are acing you out of the game). But not quite yet; they're getting their pieces in place, their ducks in a row.

This is exactly like their recent takeover of the already-slavish Cato Institute. The illusion of independence is meaningless to them — they now want direct control.

Which means they're preparing for a bigger move down the road. Trust me.

As to their "Tea Party" soldiers — these men are not just operatives; they're cruel human beings. Hate-the-ladies cruel. Alan Simpson cruel.

As operatives, they feel strong and effective, so long as they do daddy's bidding. As humans though, they're an angry, powerless lot. An irony on both fronts if you think about it.

GP

To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius Read the rest of this post...

GOP Convention to hold NRA "Shoot-Out" event days after shoot-out at Empire State Building

Via NYPD presser: 9:03 this morning... disgruntled employee, in front of office, shot and killed former coworker, shooter aged 53 fled east on w 33rd to 5th aven, went north with 45 caliber handgun in black bag under arm. Construction worker followed him, alerted two cops, who were at Empire State. As cops approached shooter he pulled gun and fired on them, who retired fire and killed him. An additional 9 people were wounded during exchange. No children were shot (because in America, that's kind of expected).

UPDATE: GOP Convention to hold incredibly inappropriately named NRA-sponsored "shoot-out" event days after shoot-out at Empire State Building, week after shoot-out at Family Research Council, one month after Aurora shooting. "Stars and Stripes Republican Convention Shoot-Out" - seriously?  A shoot-out is when multiple people pick up guns and kill each other in a mass spray of bullets.  What a creepy idea for an event in the middle of all these mass shootings, and what a creepy name - it sounds like a terrorist attack against the convention, how inappropriate can you be? (Source: I have the entire GOP convention schedule, and copied this from it.)

If I were a member of Congress I wouldn't want to be caught at this event if yet another "shoot out" happens somewhere in America next week. And at the rate we're going, about one a week lately, odds are high.
_______________

It's time to bump Chris Andoe's post about how important it is that we not take political advantage of [insert shooting here]:

It's time to have a somber national discussion about the [insert shooting tragedy here] tragedy.

Before we get started, let's go over a few basic ground rules.

1. In the wake of the __________ tragedy it's time for us all to come together as a nation and not assign blame. This is not the time, for example, to talk about how it's easier to purchase a gun in America than it is to vote (or buy French cheese).

2. And we won't tolerate any second guessing of the Second Amendment right to carry assault weapons, or questions about how the Framers could have possibly envisaged an assault rifle over 200 years ago, or why a "hunter" needs six thousand rounds of ammunition, or kevlar, or smoke grenades to kill a pheasant.

Up to five people were reportedly shot. Info just coming in. Stay tuned.

Details coming in. Gunman randomly opened fire on pedestrians.

ABC says it was a workplace dispute that spilled out on to the street.

CNN: Ten shot, several killed including shooter. Read the rest of this post...

Two TV stations say Romney told them no Akin questions

When the story first broke, the Romney folks tried to say it was an aberration. Now we know that this happened twice - two different times the Romney people told reporters they weren't permitted to ask Romney about the Akin abortion controversy.

The WHIO interview was one of four satellite appearances Romney made on local TV stations Thursday. Per common practice, campaign officials fished around for topics and questions that might come up prior to the taping. In at least two of those interviews, the Romney campaign tried to shut down questions about Akin, whose continuing Senate campaign in Missouri is ensuring that abortion stays at the center of the presidential campaign narrative.

Romney sure seems to plead the 5th a lot for a guy who claims to be innocent of any wrongdoing. He refuses to release his taxes like other presidential candidates, and now is trying to dictate to reporters what they can and can't ask him.

This suggests a few things:

1. Romney's staff doesn't trust what their boss might say to reporters, so better to cut any questions off before they get asked.
2. The Akin controversy has hurt Romney.
3. Arrogance. Romney has an unhealthy does of Sarah Palin in him; a sense that he will decide what information the public is entitled to, and no one else. It smacks of arrogance. But it also smacks of insecurity. For someone who shows little emotion, Romney sure seems awfully afraid of something.

What is he hiding? Read the rest of this post...

UK's QE program benefits go to the rich

Whether it's in the UK or the US or anywhere else, the quantitative easing programs are more about helping the rich - welfare for bankers, you might say - than anything else. There's always talk about benefits for everyone but somehow those benefits never trickle down, do they?

The Bank of England's recent report promotes the idea of spreading the wealth for everyone though it also admits that it primarily benefits the top 10% of the population. The Independent:

In its report on the effectiveness of its controversial quantitative easing (QE) programme, the Bank said it successfully pushed up share prices and other asset values, delivering an overall boost to the net financial worth of UK households of around £600bn. The Bank said this worked out at an average benefit of around £10,000 per person.

However, financial assets are unevenly distributed around the population, meaning that the benefit was highly unequal. And an analysis by The Independent reveals that the wealthiest 10 per cent of households would have benefited from QE more than 240 times as much as the poorest 10 per cent.

The Bank's researchers suggested that the £325bn of sovereign-bond purchases enacted by the Monetary Policy Committee since March 2009 boosted asset prices across the economy by around 28 per cent. The most recent research on levels of wealth by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in July showed that the wealthiest 10 per cent of British households held £2.5 trillion in pension wealth at the end of 2010, while the poorest 10 per cent held just £2bn.

If governments are going to use tax money to pump up the system, why should most of the benefits go to the select few? Even from a practical perspective, it's wasteful because the rich do not spend extra money but the middle class and poor will spend it. Read the rest of this post...

Federal appeals court to let Texas cut off Planned Parenthood funding

The Republican war on women continues.

A federal appeals court ruled late Tuesday that Texas can cut off funding for Planned Parenthood clinics that provide health services to low-income women before a trial over a new law that bans state money from going to organizations tied to abortion providers.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans lifted a federal judge's temporary injunction that called for the funding to continue pending an October trial on Planned Parenthood's challenge to the law.

State officials sought to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood clinics that provide family planning and health services to poor women as part of the Texas Women's Health Program after the state's Republican-led Legislature passed a law banning funds to organizations linked to abortion providers. No state money goes to pay for abortions.

Read the rest of this post...