Lance Armstrong Paces The Indy 500

Lance Armstrong, The Chevrolet Corvette pace car, and the 2006 starting field for Sunday's Indianapolis 500 with bicycles. Image Credit: Dana Garrett

An American legend leads out the Indianapolis 500, an American institution. The world's toughest competitor and the world's most watched sporting event ... a match made in heven.

Now, Lady and Gentleman, start your bicycles!

This from IndyCar.Com -

Steady pace
Seven-time Tour winner Armstrong prepares to drive Indy 500 Pace Car
By Dave Lewandowski - indycar.com, Saturday, May 27, 2006

Lance Armstrong received his first bicycle at about the same age (7) as many IndyCar Series driver started racing go-karts. He wasn’t concerned that it was brown with yellow wheels. It had two wheels and he rode all across Plano, Texas.

Similarly, in his first competition, he wore a pink jacket on loan from his mother to combat the chilly morning New Mexico air. And when his hair fell out because of radiation treatments for cancer a decade ago, appearance didn’t concern Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France winner who will drive the Pace Car in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” fronted the field of 33 drivers who will compete May 28 – proud of his accomplishments in his grueling sport and proud of the foundation he started to aid cancer research and help those afflicted live strong. He might have retired from competitive cycling, but Armstrong is on another mission.

Each of the drivers straddled a sleek Trex bicycle bearing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wing & Wheel and 90th Indianapolis 500 event logos for a formal photograph on the frontstretch of the historic oval. Next, the bikes, bearing the signature of the driver, will auctioned with the proceeds benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

A brief question and answer session with Armstrong, 34, who will drive the 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Pace Car.


Q. Your name will now not only be connected to the Tour but connected to the Indy 500. That’s two very different world-class sporting events. How’s it feel to add another medal to the chest?

A. All I can say is that when we got the phone call to ask if I was interested in driving the Pace Car at Indy, it was a very short conversation. It was like: “Are you kidding? Of course.” It is a huge honor and something that I am very excited to do.”


Q. There are a lot of big names associated with the Indianapolis 500. Even Colin Powell was a Pace Car driver. What’s it like to be in that kind of company?

A. It is arguably one of the most famous sporting events in the world, and every year there can only be one guy to drive the Pace Car. For me to be selected and asked to come, it is a huge honor. To have the role and to come a year after a great man like Colin Powell is a big honor.


Q. What else do you think your positive thoughts will be besides being nervous?

A. It will be a rush driving around with 250,000 people there. In the opening laps is probably when they are the loudest they could be screaming for their favorite driver. You try to take all of that in. It will have been almost a year since I have heard that as a sportsman. It will be neat to get a little of that back.


Q. Talk about driving it (Corvette Z06) over. What are your initial impressions of the car?

A. It is always interesting the first time you get in a car. Obviously, the speed and the handling of it is different, and the different details of it. I mean, having the speedometer in the front windshield was something that I’ve never experienced before, and that took some getting used to. The power was there, and every red light was a temptation.


Q. Whether you’re going wheel to wheel for 500 miles in an IndyCar or going wheel to wheel in 12 stages of the Tour de France, there are certain components of an athlete that make them successful. What do you think those are?

A. I think when comparing cycling to other events like the Indy 500, sometimes in motorsports people don’t consider them to be athletes, but they are extremely fit. I know a lot of drivers that spend a lot of time on the bike and a lot of time in the gym, and I can tell you they are athletes.


Q. This is not only a great opportunity for you but for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Talk about how pleased you are to get additional exposure for your worldwide foundation.

A. You know, all of these opportunities are great for us. They are great for me as an athlete. They are great for me as a philanthropist; they’re great for the Foundation. It is just another opportunity to say, “Hey America, or to the world that cancer should be a national priority, a global priority.” It (cancer) is something that I think we’ve grown accustomed to and used to, and that has to change in this country. This is another chance for me to stand up as a cancer survivor and say: “I’m here; I won seven Tours. I’m driving the Pace Car at Indy, and oh, by the way, this country has to do more for the fight on cancer.”
Link Here>>

Waxing Bubba ... It's Really A Trend

"I'm asked to lie on my stomach while she administers the first phase of my treatment - a salt scrub." Image Credit: Photos.com

The grooming of Man begins at a very early age and continues throughout one's life. First, we are asked to comb our hair by Mom, floss our teeth by Auntie, wear cologne by Grammie ... when does it all end? - NEVER

Society is moving in with trends that are adding layers (or taking them off) to this whole process of "Male Grooming". You begin to know you are in trouble when a mainstream media business publication has a whole article about being "Metrosexual" and new ... almost required if you view yourself as socially acceptable ... trends in male grooming.

Excerpts from BusinessWeek (of all publications) -

Metrosexuals: A Well-Groomed Market?
A new generation of men thinks it's okay to spend money on personal grooming products and the companies that make them are happy to oblige
By Vivian Manning-Schaffel – BusinessWeek, Branding - MAY 24, 2006

Since the advent of metrosexuality, companies have realized that they have a new market to capitalize on — men who spend their money on grooming and appearance supplies. Walk through the aisles of any US drugstore, and you'll notice an abundance of male-targeted personal grooming products, such as anti-aging eye-creams, shower gels and formula facial cleansers, slowly monopolizing the shelves.

With so many brands clamoring for their slice of the pie, metrosexuals have out and out become their own market segment. And as sales figures roll in, there is clear evidence that the metrosexual market is indeed quite viable.

"With men becoming more involved with their grooming habits and the explosive growth in the men's segment (dollar volume +49% in 2005), we saw a huge opportunity to introduce the male consumer to a new proposition in skincare," says Carol J. Hamilton, president of the L'Oréal Paris division of L'Oréal USA, Inc., whose Men's Expert line was among the first to hit the mass market a few years ago.

According to L'Oréal Paris' 2005 annual report, men's skincare — with its 11% growth in sales — was L'Oréal Paris' fastest growing sector. And it's not just a US-based trend. There are numbers that quantify this as a global trend. The same report states only 4% of European men used a skincare product in 1990, compared to a whopping 20% in 2003.
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The numbers do not lie. Younger men are clearly more interested in taking care of themselves than their fathers or even their older brothers. But is it because metrosexuality has become more widely accepted by the masses or simply because of their generation's habits?

Edina Sultanik-Silver, owner of BrandPimps and Media Whores, a New York-based men's fashion public relations company, thinks metrosexual tendencies are a sign of the times.

"It's a generational thing. I think that Gen Y and millennial guys view all the creams and grooming preparations out there as OK and perfectly natural for them to use, rather than girly," says Sultanik-Silver. "The guys in these generations get their bodies waxed, work out, style their hair, go to tanning salons, etc., more than their predecessors. Possibly because they were raised on MTV, the Internet and reality shows, every minute of their lives is a photo-op, they always want to look like they're ready for their 15 minutes of fame, and don't think there's anything feminine about that."
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"It (this trend) was mostly media driven, I believe," says Sultanik-Silver. "Everyone wants a piece of 'the next big thing.' Our popular culture is driven by image and consumerism right now. Word on the street was that men were interested in dressing up more, spending more on clothes, moisturizers, etc. Men's fashion and style were the hot buzz segment of the youth market and as a result, more brands began targeting young men as more retailers begin catering to them. To me, this signals the mainstreamization of metrosexualism," says Sultanik-Silver. "And it's going to continue to grow."
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"Despite tremendous growth rates over the past several years, the men's treatment segment is still in its infancy," surmises Hamilton. "Today, less than 20% of men use a facial moisturizer. However, another 25% of men today say that they are interested in trying skincare treatments, but have not yet made the leap. On the whole, most men have moved away from any stigma associated with using what could be considered a more female product, but they are still not sure what to do and how to do it."

Young or old, metrosexuals apparently are here to stay. Eventually, the term "metrosexual" might even become dated. Then, metrosexuals simply would be known as men who enjoy their right to groom and shop for clothes.
Read All>>

Brazilian wax? ... Anyone?

Indy 500 Goes Organic For 2006 - With UPDATE

Team Ethanol driver Jeff Simmons practices at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year, Indy 500 racers will drive cars that run on an ethanol-blended fuel. Image Credit: MSNBC

"Gasoline Alley" will never be the same.

In a race from a place that exudes nothing but tradition, The Indianapolis 500, the open-wheel race cars will be running on "Cornfuel" (ethanol) this Memorial Day weekend for the first time in 95 years.

This change is now fueling speculation for a name change of the place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where all of the cars for the race are prepared.

Should "Gasoline Alley" now become Ethanol Avenue? ... Corn-fed Court?

So!, are we going to now change the nickname of the place from "The Brickyard" to "The Cornpatch"?

Excerpts from MSNBC with contributions from AP -

Ethanol boosters hoping for Indy 500 win
Race cars to use ethanol blend for first time, boosting corn fuel’s profile
By Roland Jones - Business editor, MSNBC - Updated: 3:03 p.m. PT May 25, 2006

Speed will be of the essence for drivers racing around the oval at Sunday’s 90th running of the Indianapolis 500, but it won’t just be the drivers hoping to win big.

For the first time in the race’s 95-year history, cars in the Indy 500 will burn a fuel that is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent methanol. It’s a fuel change that some in the ethanol industry hope will hasten the adoption of the alternative fuel among ordinary drivers.

Three big names in the ethanol industry are driving the fuel switch — ICM Inc., Broin Cos. and Fagen Inc. The companies, which engineer and build ethanol plants, have put up several million dollars as the prime sponsors of the No. 17 Team Ethanol Honda/Panoz/Firestone car to be driven by Jeff Simmons in the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Simmons replaces Paul Dana, who died in a practice accident March 26.

The aim is to promote the power, fuel-efficiency and safety of ethanol in front of the estimated 300 million people who will view the race, said Tom Slunecka, executive director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, which represents the three ethanol companies.
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The Indy Racing League said this year that its Indy Car series would switch from pure methanol — a fuel derived from natural gas that replaced gasoline in the 1970s because it is less likely to ignite — to the new 90-10 blend of methanol and corn-derived ethanol. In 2007, the league plans to switch permanently to 100 percent ethanol.
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“We could have put our name on the side of a car to promote ethanol, but instead we did it the hard way, so we arranged this fuel switch," said Slunecka. "It’s not marketing hype -- it’s true performance, and the IRL would never have agreed to this change if it lessened the performance of the vehicles in their races. We had to prove that these cars would perform just as well, and they’re already setting new records burning ethanol.”

Cars running on ethanol certainly pack a powerful punch. Pure ethanol — made from renewable plant sources like corn, wheat and sugarcane — has an octane rating of 113, compared with 107 for methanol and about 91 to 95 for gasoline. Several track records already have been set this season using the new fuel blend. In general the higher a fuel’s octane rating, the better the engine will perform.

The most common use of ethanol by American drivers is in E85 — a mixture of gasoline and ethanol with up to 85 percent ethanol by volume. E85, which is widely used in Brazil and Sweden, can be used in engines modified to accept higher concentrations of ethanol, which is corrosive and can damage ordinary engines.
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“This is also going to decrease the amount of fuel a car needs, so the weight of the cars will be reduced and they’ll be able to increase their speed,” he said. “From a safety perspective, if there’s an accident there’ll be less fuel to burn. And unlike methanol, which is difficult to see when it’s burning, ethanol gives off more color and smoke when it burns, so if there is an accident it will be much easier for people to see it."
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There are environmental advantages too. Ethanol burns more cleanly than gasoline or methanol, reducing emissions of carbon monoxide and particulate matter that can contribute to the greenhouse effect.

But not everyone is as excited about ethanol, which is doing little if anything to reduce fuel costs, currently above $3 a gallon in much of the nation.
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“[Ethanol] has some good features. It's less of a pollutant than gas, but the mileage is not as good and we have serious problems to work out," he said. "Ethanol is not pipeline-friendly, as it can be easily contaminated with water, and if we want to replace gasoline with it, we’d need to use 87 percent of our farmland, so it has practical limits. In the end I’d say ethanol has its niche, but it has lots of problems that politicians tend to gloss over."

Slunecka is more optimistic.

“There’s always going to be some question about this. After all, we produce 4.6 billion gallons annually, compared with the 130 billion gallons of gasoline Americans use each year,” said Slunecka. “But we have increased production by 20 percent annually for the last few years, so changes are coming about, and at a certain point Americans who want a better environment and want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil need to stand up; you need to stand up as a consumer and say you are making a difference.”
Read All>>

UPDATE - 5-26-2006, 7:00 PM PST:

This from USA TODAY -

Dana's memory continues on in ethanol crusade
By A.J. Perez, USA TODAY

INDIANAPOLIS — Paul Dana won't be remembered years from now for what he accomplished in his three IRL IndyCar Series starts before his death.

His legacy will be in what fuels the series he strove to compete in.

Through his efforts, Dana helped sway series officials enough on ethanol to fast-track the bio-friendly fuel's inclusion in the series.

"The best tribute to his legacy is to continue promoting ethanol through racing," David Vander Griend, president and CEO of ICM — one of the premier design/engineering firms for ethanol processing facilities in the world — said in a statement.

Ethanol, which is typically derived from corn in the USA, currently comprises 10% of the fuel blend for the IndyCar Series. Next year it will be 100%, ending the reign of methanol that has powered IndyCars for nearly four decades.

Dana, 32, was killed when his car — sponsored by an ethanol lobbying group, Ethanol Promotion & Information Council (EPIC) — ran into the back of Ed Carpenter's stalled Vision Racing entry during the final warm-up for the season-opening race March 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Jeff Simmons replaced Dana at Rahal Letterman Racing and also took Dana's role as an ethanol advocate.

"Having the ethanol consortium behind me is a cause that I can get behind," Simmons said. "It's something that everybody can believe in."
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Respect For Stolen Data And Its Application

Copies of President Bush's and first lady Laura Bush's 2005 tax returns provided by the White House are shown in Washington Friday, April 14, 2006 . Image Credit: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Stolen data and its use is becoming a real problem in our country.

We hear about stolen records from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the fear of the impending spread of "identity theft" of 26.5 million military veterans, on the one hand ... and then we hear about what our legislators actually plan to do about social security and the "feel good" problem of working illegal immigrants (felons) and their assimilation into our systems.

What in the HECK is happening with the standards in this country?

This from the Opinion section in the New York Post -

WHEN DATA THEFT IS OK
By Arnold Alhert

May 25, 2006 -- IS "data theft" a serious crime? Depends on who's doing the stealing.

The theft of personal data involving 26.5 million American veterans is "a scandal," says Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said "Twenty six million people deserve answers." That was this week.

Last week, the Senate voted 50-49 to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security based on past illegal employment, even if the job was obtained using forged - or stolen - documents.

If the thief who stole the vets' data is caught exploiting that information, there is little doubt he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law - unless, perhaps, that data is used by illegals to secure employment.

The moral? If you want to obtain stolen data, have an illegal alien steal it for you.
Link Here>> (free subscription)

Now take a look at Day By Day by Chris Muir (next post here) lest we think this is a partisan issue ... it just fits!

"Mr. Amnesty" - Day By Day

To Scan, Or Not To Scan? - That Is The Question

At the register, the contents of a customer's shopping cart are recorded and stored in a computer, giving the retailer a profile of the customer's purchases as well as help with inventory control, product placement and other strategic decisions. Photo Credit: JACOB LANGSTON/ORLANDO SENTINEL

If one stops to consider just how much information is floating around out there about themselves, one must get to the point that a modification in behavior is the only way to limit or protect ones identity information.

Truthfully, the Federal Government's NSA eavesdropping/wiretapping effort has nothing on you compared to the broader databases housed at retailing establishments.

This from the Orlando Sentinel -

Retailers gather data the same way spies do
'Data mining' provides valuable clues to customers' spending habits.
Chris Cobbs Sentinel Staff Writer Posted May 22, 2006

Using powerful search tools, computers can now sift through millions of electronic records to study patterns of behavior that could uncover terrorist plots -- or boost sales at the supermarket or drugstore.

"Data mining," as it's called, may have been used by the National Security Agency on millions of Americans' phone records in a quest to find planned acts of terrorism. Congress has expressed concern that such a secret data-gathering project, disclosed this month by USA Today, may violate citizens' privacy rights and civil liberties.

But the same methods are also widely used by retailers, who assemble computerized collections of customers' purchases along with their names, addresses, income levels and other tidbits, giving businesses clues to people's buying habits on a giant scale.

Although some experts contend that such data mining may be an invasion of privacy, others say it's actually more about spending than spying.
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"They have no interest in doing anything malicious with the data, because their interest is economic," he said. "They don't want to harm you -- they want you to come back to them and shop."

A common way to accumulate information is through discount or loyalty cards. When the card is used at the checkout register, details of what's in the customer's shopping cart are recorded and stored in a computer, giving the retailer a purchase profile of the customer as well as help with inventory control, product placement and other strategic decisions.
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The benefits to shoppers include targeted coupons for favorite products and in-store credits based on a percentage of purchases made the previous quarter.
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Among grocery chains, there is a split among Publix Super Markets and Albertsons on the use of the discount cards, a key element in data mining.

Publix tried them in the early 1990s but doesn't use them now because of concerns about privacy, spokesman Dwaine Stevens said.

"The privacy of our customers' shopping is a priority," he said. "We don't track individual buying habits. Information about individuals is not in our archives."

Publix doesn't need information obtained from a shopping database to track its inventory, Stevens added.
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Albertsons also puts a premium on privacy but says customers like the discounts they receive from the company's "targeted marketing" program, spokesman Shane McEntarffer said.

Newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel use data mining to help tailor their marketing efforts as they seek to increase subscribers, said Ashley Allen, spokeswoman for Orlando Sentinel Communications, which publishes the newspaper.
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Consumer advocates and privacy-rights groups raise concerns about the security of such shopping data, noting that the average American appears in as many as 50 commercial databases.

"All this personal information is a hot commodity that businesses are collecting, using and sharing," said Brad Ashwell, consumer and democracy advocate for Florida PIRG (Public Interest Research Group).

"The more information that's compiled, the easier it is for others to find, which contributes to ID theft. We want to see regulations and hard consequences."
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"In the private sector, it's driven by marketing, while in national security, the search is for dangerous individuals," he said. "But the larger issue is how much data is collected and how long it's stored. Consider that Google stores every search query that's ever been typed, and you get a feel for it."

However, those fears are unfounded, said Britt Beemer, the Orlando-based chairman of America's Research Group, a consumer-behavior research company.

"I work for some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies, and none of them rent or share information about customers," he said. "All the people in the consumer-interest groups see a bogeyman behind every tree."
Read All>>

To scan, or not to scan - that really IS the question!

Post republished at Symblogogy, the automatic identification & data capture weblog for all things AIDC.

What Is So Wrong About Reporting It All?

Just not enough ink to go around? Writer's cramp, maybe? Agenda, that's it ... Agenda!

This from Captain's Quarters -

What The AP Discarded
Posted by Ed Morrissey , AKA Captain Ed, at May 23, 2006 10:04 PM

The AP ran an earlier story on the Osama bin Laden tape that included an admission implicating two Gitmo detainees in the 9/11 attack. However, the the AP later ran "excerpts" of the Bin Laden tape, that admission curiously went unreported -- even though it would have a significant impact on the debate over the fate of Gitmo detainees.

This is what ran in the original piece by Maamoun Youssef, which I have also cached here:

The terror mastermind did indicate that two suspects had links to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon: "All the prisoners to date have no connection to the Sept. 11 events or knew anything about them, except for two of the brothers," bin Laden said [emphasis mine -- CE]. But he did not provide names or elaborate further and it wasn't possible to determine if or where they were held.

However, that passage cannot be found in the AP excerpts. It does, however, include this:

"And then I call to memory my brothers the prisoners in Guantanamo — may Allah free them all — and I state the fact, about which I also am certain, that all the prisoners of Guantanamo, who were captured in 2001 and the first half of 2002 and who number in the hundreds, have no connection whatsoever to the events of September 11th..."

Note the strategic appearance of the ellipses at the end of the quote in the later article. The AP wants to cut off Osama before he admits that Gitmo holds two accessories to the 9/11 attacks. One would think that a news organization might have found that somewhat, oh, newsworthy.
Link Here>>

Simply baffling.

UPDATE (May 24, 2006 - 7:11 AM PST):

I was just watching Andrea Mitchell report on the TODAY program on NBC about this issue and she repeated the information conveyed by the AP edited version - "Osama stated, that all the prisoners of Guantanamo, have no connection whatsoever to the events of September 11th" - PERIOD!

Good on ya' Andrea.

Oil & Water? - No!, It's Oil And Governments That Don't Mix

This from Johan Norberg -

In Dagens Industri today I continue to write on oil, today about how oil controlled by governments create authoritarianism, corruption and poverty. (See also Tom Friedman´s first law of petropolitics)

Let´s not forget that most OPEC-countries didn´t nationalise their oil until the early 1970s. Between 1950 and 1973 these countries got more than 4 percent richer every year, 1973-2003 they got almost 1 percent poorer every year.
Link Here>>

HT: Pajamas Media

Report Card On The Global War On Terror

Mailers Council Quarterly Report Card on Postal Productivity. Image Credit: Mailers Council

Self assessment is a good thing. It doesn't matter who does it or when. It is good to stop, take a breath, take account, and then move forward with a renewed confidence.

The problem lies in the fact that many functional segments in our society do not believe in the process of self assessment. The media and our political leaders may be the most egregious examples of those in our society who run and hide from this invigorating, eye opening, and cleansing process.

This opinion from the New York Post -

DEFEATING TERROR
DESPITE THE POLS, WE'RE WINNING
By Ralph Peters – Opinion, New York Post

May 23, 2006 -- WITH the formation of Iraq's new government, it's a good time to take stock of where we stand in our confrontation with Islamist terror. You wouldn't know it from the outrageously dishonest headlines, but we're winning.

We could do even better, if we put national security above partisan politics.

Our enemies are far from giving up, of course. But they realize now that Americans won't quit after suffering the first dozen casualties. That came as a shock after the cowardice of past presidential administrations.

Our enemies can still grab the tactical initiative by killing the innocent, but terrorists around the world have been shoved onto the strategic defensive. We tend to overlook that. So let's consider just how far we've come:

* The mainstream media said it couldn't be done, so the Iraqis did it: Under new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, they formed a permanent government based on free elections. (Those free elections were supposed to be impossible, too - remember?)

Yes, Iraq could still break into bloody bits. But it hasn't, despite ceaseless predictions of doom. Now the great danger isn't from terrorists but from a premature troop draw-down before our midterm elections. We could throw it all away over a few congressional seats.

* Headlines from Afghanistan always read "Five Soldiers Killed and Wounded," not "150 Taliban Killed." If today's journalists reported the Battle of Midway, we'd read "U.S. Aircraft Shot From Skies," with a brief mention of the destruction of the Japanese carrier fleet buried at the bottom.

The Taliban was decisively defeated. That doesn't mean it's gone. The religious madness the Taliban represents will remain at the edges of Afghan life - it's part of the cultural package, just as bigotry haunts the fringes of our society. But Afghanistan's a far less-menacing place than it was. In the real world, that's enough.

* Pakistan's a worsening problem - overshadowed by the less immediate issue of Iran. Taliban remnants and al Qaeda terrorists survive because the Pakistani military is afraid to go into the country's tribal areas to root out them out. Riddled with extremists, nuclear armed and incapable of controlling its own territory, Pakistan should have Washington in crisis mode.

* Al Qaeda has been broken. Yes, its remnants remain deadly. Yes, autonomous terror cells pose a growing threat. But the organization behind 9/11 has seen its surviving leaders driven into caves and remote villages where they live in constant fear. Islamist terror may have moved beyond al Qaeda, but our government and our military deserve credit for shattering the greatest international terror ring in history.

* The United States has taken this war to our enemies and to their homelands - without suffering another terrorist strike on our soil. While that long-awaited strike still seems only a matter of time, the greatest strategic surprise to this columnist has been the inability of our enemies to hit back to date. Kudos to the feds and the folks in uniform. In the Global War on Terror (or whatever it's called this week), the cardinal indicator of success is what doesn't happen.

* A fundamental reason why we've remained safe from further attacks on our homeland has been intelligence successes. While our intel system is far from all it could be, it's not nearly as incompetent as it's portrayed to be.

Poor intel has become an easy excuse for flawed decision-making. We need to be honest with ourselves: No matter how much we improve, we'll never have perfect intelligence. To pretend otherwise is to lie to the American people. Instead of blaming our institutions, leaders in both parties have to lead.

* Domestic politics hurt us in our struggle against terrorists. The phony claim that the government "spies on American citizens" is about party sympathies and the upcoming elections, not about threats to our freedom. To the chagrin of a biased media, a convincing majority of Americans believe it's just fine to listen in on terrorist phone calls.

If journalists really cared about our right to privacy, they'd be tackling online auction houses, corporate information-sharing and Internet spyware - not wartime efforts to prevent another 9/11.

* At least 40 times more Americans will die on our highways this year than will be lost in Iraq. More Americans will be murdered in Prince George's County outside of Washington, D.C., than are likely to die in Afghanistan. We're doing pretty well overseas; our crunch-time strategic problems are here at home: the inexcusable lack of a serious alternative-fuels policy; the need to face our immigration crisis with honesty, decency and respect for the rule of law - and, above all, a political system held captive by extremists on the left and right, corrupted by an irresponsible media culture.

Plenty remains to be done. We must see our Iraq mission through to the end - unless the Iraqis fail themselves. We must restore integrity and common sense to our foreign policy by ceasing to pretend that the Saudis are our friends and by living up to our rhetoric about support for democracy. And we need to take a very hard line on China's currency manipulation and cheating on trade.

Still, any fair-minded review of the last several years of American engagement abroad would conclude that, despite painful mistakes, we've changed the world for the better. The results have been imperfect, as such results always will be. But the bewildering sense of gloom and doom fostered my many in the media is as unjustified as it is corrosive.

Our global report card right now?
A for effort. B for results. C for consistency. D for media integrity. And F for domestic political responsibility.
Link Here>>

"Mr. Lordi" At Eurovision 2006 - Athens, Greece

Lordi's lead singer, Mr. Lordi, on the way to winning the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. Image Credit: The Advertiser Newspapers Pty Limited, Adelaide, Australia

Lordi!, Lordi! - It's A Hardrock Upset Over Europop

The group Lordi celebrate after their win in the Eurovision final at the Indoor Olympic stadium in Athens, early Sunday, May 21, 2006. Finland's Lordi took the first position of the Eurovision contest with the song ''Hard rock hallelujah''. Photo Credit: AP/Petros Giannakouris

With 5" platform boots, rubber facepart applique's, and a graveyard character look, Finnish 'horror-rock' group Lordi, wins against techno, and europop groups at this year's Eurovision contest held in Greece.

The cartoon-like metalheads with their spark-spewing instruments, fought off a strong challenge from the Russian heart-throb Dima Bilan to take the 51st annual music prize.

Excerpts from the Associated Press via Yahoo! -

Finns 'Turn the Amps Up,' Win Eurovision
By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer - Sat May 20, 11:01 PM ET

ATHENS, Greece - There's a giant stadium, highly toned participants, intense rivalry and flag-waving fans from many nations.

It's not the Olympics: It's the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual kitsch extravaganza, known for its bland dance music and bubble-gum pop, that sees acts from 24 countries face off before tens of millions of television viewers.

But in a stunning upset for the contest that launched the Swedish group ABBA, a Finnish metal band with monster masks and apocalyptic lyrics won the contest late Saturday.

The band Lordi scandalized some of their compatriots when their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was chosen to represent the nation. At a press conference, the band's frontman said his plan for the final was to "scream louder. And turn the amps up."

"This is a victory for rock music ... and also a victory for open-mindedness," the band's lead singer, Mr. Lordi, said after the win — Finland's first. "We are not Satanists. We are not devil-worshippers. This is entertainment."

Combining crunchy guitars, a catchy chorus and mock-demonic imagery, Lordi is reminiscent of U.S. '70s stars KISS — an acknowledged inspiration of Mr. Lordi.

Band members never appear without their elaborate masks and makeup, and do not reveal their true names.

Lordi beat an unusually eclectic 24-nation field, which ranged from the perky pop of Danish teenager Sidsel Ben Semmane and Malta's Fabrizio Faniello to the balladry of Ireland's
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Regarded by many as the contest good taste forgot, Eurovision is adored by fans of camp everywhere.

"You don't imagine something so bad could be so good," said Carmela Pellegrino, an Australian who traveled to Athens from London to watch rehearsal ahead of Saturday's finale.

Since 1956, it has pitted European nations against one another in pursuit of pop music glory. Previous winners include '60s chanteuse Lulu, ABBA — victors in 1974 with "Waterloo" — and Canada's Celine Dion, who won for Switzerland in 1988.

Saturday's showdown was broadcast live in 38 countries to a TV audience estimated at 100 million. Some 13,000 fans packed the indoor arena used during the 2004.
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Lordi received a trophy shaped like an ancient Greek column, and the show opened with a garish musical number inspired, organizers said, by Greece's rich history, mythology and sparkling seas. The hosts — Greek pop singer Sakis Rouvas and "Access Hollywood" correspondent Maria Menounous — made their entrance by "flying" onto the set, which resembled an ancient theater.

Some of the acts, like Switzerland's Six4One, stuck to the classic Eurovision formula of catchy tunes and blandly uplifting lyrics, singing, "If we all give a little, we can make this world a home for everyone."
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Yet Eurovision victory is no guarantee of fame.

Dion and ABBA went on to glory — as did Olivia Newton John, who lost to ABBA while competing for Britain in 1974. Other winners have sunk without trace, victims of the "curse of Eurovision."
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