RAVE: Lancing the Armstrong Myths

I came across an excellent article today on Yahoo! Sports' ThePostGame. Written by Lisa Hoehn of the Active Times, and entitled "Lance Armstrong Myths Debunked," it provides very believable evidence of just how many myths have surrounded the entire Lance Armstrong doping scandal.




Courtesy of The Observer

Many of these myths were created and brandished by Armstrong and his handlers, of course.

The five myths debunked included:

1. Armstrong took up to 600 drug tests. False. He barely took over 200
2. And he passed all his drug tests. False. He failed at least two - read the article for more
3. Drug tests would have found PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) in his body. False. And it's not that difficult to pass one, so it appears
4. Lance was still a winner amongst a field where everyone was doing it anyway. False. There were cyclists speaking out against all the doping. And is that really the point anyway?!
5. He founded and is the heartbeat of Livestrong, a basically terrific charity for cancer patients and cancer research. Mostly false. Especially when one reads what journalist Bill Gifford has to say (read here) about the organisation and its (in)famous poster boy. And Livestrong, for all its good, hasn't donated to cancer research in years.

Boy, how all the you-know-what is flooding and stinking up all over the place since he was forced to show some contrition and confess all to Oprah Winfrey this past week. He basically had no choice, of course, and those endorsements were hemorrhaging big time. 

Never mind the mounting lawsuits against ol' Lance - every single one of them very deserved and a classic case of poetic justice.

I have no patience or a shred of sympathy for Lance Armstrong. He's a sporting fraudster and a moral charlatan, who smugly rode the high waves of celebrity and mega endorsements for many years, only to come crashing down on the rocky shores of his monumental ego and neverending lies.

He knowingly destroyed careers and played the moral high ground, even though he was the biggest liar and cheat of all. He is nothing more than a contemptible asshole.

I wish upon Lance Armstrong an endless tide of legal writs, financial ruin and ever diminishing returns on his so-called 'legacy' and undeserved celebrity. He deserves nothing less.

Do you get my point?

RAVE: Viva Hugo

It's not difficult to have a soft spot for Hugo Chavez. He may have his democratic flaws and some of his demagogy may make some uncomfortable at times, but there's no denying that the President of Venezuela is a wily politico and a man with impeccable timing at times. 

Take what he had to say in the aftermath of Obama's victory in the US Presidential election two weeks ago, as quoted by the excellent progressive site Common Dreams: 

"Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on [the Thursday after Obama's victory] urged newly re-elected President Obama to "stop invading" other countries and "think about his own country" which suffers from social and economic problems. Chavez made the comments during a cabinet council meeting broadcast on the state channel, VTV.

"President Obama has been reelected.  Hopefully he and his government reflect, first about their country, which, unfortunately, has plenty of economic and social problems," said Chavez. "It is a divided country... [It has] poverty that grows every day, misery and an elite, a superelite, that exploits the country and society, and even poisons it, tricks it and manipulates it through a media war," he added."

The article continues by quoting Chavez as saying that Obama should rather, "dedicate himself to governing his own country and stop invading and destabilizing countries." 


Photos courtesy of The Prisma, a UK-based online newspaper.

I, for one, think it's superb rhetoric by the most despised Latin American leader in Washington D.C. Chavez himself was convincingly re-elected as President of Venezuela for a fourth term in October.

And I revel in his sheer audacity and even his sense of self-righteousness. Because, whatever anyone may say, I don't believe Venezuela is involved in any foreign wars at this time of writing this post, which is more than can be said about the uber-bellic, highly destructive (and very dangerous to all) current foreign policy of the United States. 

Chavez has deeply divided his country, no doubt about it, but his focus has been primarily on the economy and the socio-economic upliftment of many his people, warts and all, mistakes and all. 

Can Obama say that he has done the same for his people?

Yes, Obama should focus instead on alleviating the growing poverty and hugely eroded middle class of America today. It is an America decimated by the unbridled avarice and gangster tactics of a banking and elite super-class that is the very antithesis of what is really American and what was once good about that country.

But will Obama do so in the face of the military-industrial complex juggernaut that rules him and his foreign policy? Of course not. That would take courage of conviction and huge moral resolve by Obama, something he has sorely lacked in his entire tenure as President. And which I never believed he had in the first place, by the way.

And that is why Chavez can afford to give lessons on leadership and doing the right thing to the likes of Obama.

Do you get my point?