Kim Feraday

Bob Stapleton must be one happy guy

After being dropped by Deutsche Telekom, you'd think that Bob Stapleton would have given up in despair. Despite, or rather because of, the strong anti-doping program the team put in place, a couple of Telekom riders who just didn't get, got caught and fired. Telekom couldn't stand the heat and so bailed after a long and storied run in professional cycling.

But Stapleton didn't give up. He assembled a team of young riders supported by some able veterans (including Mike Barry and George Hincapie) and put up the money himself to keep the team going. The result? So far High Road's have been spectacular, highlighted by a brace of wins this week at the Tour de Georgia and La Flèche Wallonne. I wonder if Telekom regret their decision. A team dedicated to racing clean, is cleaning up. That's justice.

Jeremiah Wright speech to NAACP -- political and American

I caught the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's address at the 53rd annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner held by the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The speech gave Wright an opportunity to respond to the criticism of him following the YouTube video. Generally I thought the speech was pretty thoughtful and should go at least some way to answering his critics.

What I didn't understand was his contention that he's not political. He was giving a speech about changing America at the NAACP. What could be more political than that? In the end it seems to me that Wright is really prototypically American. He is distrustful of the established political powers, and critical of current and past Administrations policy decisions that have harmed Americans at home and people in other nations. This sounds positively Jeffersonian to me. The rationale for the second amendment is so that citizens can protect themselves against the tyranny of government. Given that this distrust of government is woven into the the DNA of the American political culture, what could be more American that speaking out against the injustices of the government? So in many ways isn't Wright just being stereotypically American?

Liège -- race of attrition closes out Spring Classics season

It's sad to say that an the Spring classics season is coming to an end. There has been some great racing, and the teams rising to the top indicate that the fight against doping is winning. Let's see all the dopers in baseball and football provide such a great spectacle without the crap they put into their systems. Not much of a chance.

At 261 kilometres, and  with 12 côtes, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a race of attrition, favouring those with the strength to survive the distance and the short but steep climbs including the feared la Redoute and the final climb up the Côte de Saint-Nicolas only a few kilometres from the finish.

The favourites Damiano Cunego, Davide Rebellin, Alejandro Valverde, Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans and Kim Kirchen have all been having great weeks in the Ardennes. Cunego and Evans have both shown the quality to win at Liège. For me it's a toss-up between Cunego and Schleck. There's also some prospects for Canadian fans.  Ryder Hesjedal, who's riding for the Argyle Armada, made it to the finale at Flèche Wallonne (thanks to David Millar) before succumbing to a flat. I think he has the potential for top five here if everything goes well.

Final note: Good on the Symmetrics squad for their showing so far at the Tour de Georgia. They've been aggressive and have been a factor in the toughest stages so far. Another indication that doping may be on the ropes in professional cycling. Christian Meier is sitting at 18th overall and 2nd in the Best Young Rider classification.

Steve "The Punisher" Harper gets set to roll out another tough on crime bill

With Bill C-26 (calling for mandatory minimum sentences for selling even small amounts of marijuana) now before the house, it's time for the opposition parties to take some time to OPPOSE this incredibly stupid bill. There's a good article in today's Vancouver Sun ("Canada's drug crime bill brings calls for caution from U.S.") that should give them some good talking points. Basically the overwhelming evidence is that they don't work, which is why many state governments are rolling back mandatory sentences.

I can only think of three reasons why "The Punisher" is pushing ahead with another dumb piece of legislation: he was bullied alot as a kid; he's compensating; or he's so infatuated with Bush that he'll just do anything to impress him. I'm thinking maybe it's all three. Steve's performance at the Three Amigos meet 'n' greet this week sure confirms the latter. Maybe he could get some therapy instead.

The bill might also goes some way to explain why Monte Solberg decided that a homelessness program being implemented in Portland, Oregon wasn't for Canada. Solberg claimed that while the program was a terrific idea it wasn't a good idea because they don't know the number of homeless people so they can't set any targets.

I have another theory -- Solberg CAN'T COUNT! Is he joking?!? The reason for not providing housing for the homeless is because you can't precisely quantify them? I'll tell you what, Monty we'll enrol you in KINDERGARTEN so you can learn. A better answer might have been: "We don't need to build any housing because we're going to put them all in jail." That sounds more along the lines of what the Harperites are planning.

Is rice crisis a sign of the future?

The current crisis in the supply of rice has finally hit us here at home (From Wal-Mart quotas to a 'frenzy' in Vancouver, Asia's rice crisis goes global). The cause for the shortage includes increased demand from developing countries like India and Japan, rising input costs, limited growing areas and I imagine market speculation. But the factor that is most worrying is poor crop yields in countries like Australia that has also been a contributor to stocks hitting a 20 year low. If poor crop yields can be attributed to climate change -- and it's reasonable to assume that this is a possibility then this should be a clear signal that we need to act immediately to develop a plan to reduce GHG emissions AND develop mitigation strategies. Regional and local food independence is one strategy. Pursuing new food technologies including genetically modified foods should be another.

What we shouldn't do is discount this current crisis as a complete anomaly. That would be a recipe for disaster.

If it's Wednesday it's time for the Mur

Wednesday takes us to the middle of Ardennes week with La Flèche Wallonne. With 10 côtes and 3 trips up the Mur de Huy, including the finish, it's definitely a hard, hard race. It's also a tough race to call because some of the favourites will be reserving themselves for Liege. Rabobank might be a factor given their disappointment with their results at Amstel. Fabian Wegman is another consideration or one of the many strong riders on CSC. Karsten Kroon maybe? It's tough to call but I'm thinking that maybe Dekker will be recovered enough to steal this one.

Canada lagging in development of green jobs

The manufacturing sector has been gutted over the past five years, with more than 140,000 jobs being lost in Ontario alone. But, as Tyler Hamilton wrote in his blog today, there is a skill and labour crisis in the energy sector. Hamilton points out that the energy sector is facing a significant shortage of skilled workers who are able to build, manage and maintain green technologies because many current managers, engineers, scientists and skilled workers are quickly reaching retirement age.

This is as true of more "traditional" energy companies like natural gas and nuclear energy companies. But it is probably more true for new technologies like solar, wind power and geothermal. Hamilton rightly points out that one of the challenges will be to transfer and upgrade skills from other sectors. The United States has been facing much the same challenge, and they're responding in some innovative ways. Venture capitalists, particularly from the high tech sectors are starting funds aimed at developing new green technologies. And there are new programs like the Clean Energy Fellowship Program being run by the New England Clean Energy Council, to recruit and develop repeat entrepreneurs from other sectors such as telecom, IT and life sciences and help them transition into the clean energy sector. Canada needs to develop similar programs and encourage the development of more VC funds for the sector. The government should be playing a role in facilitating these initiatives. 

China overtakes U.S. as world's biggest carbon emitter

According to this BBC report, China is now the world's biggest emitter of green house gasses, producing 6.2 million tons of green house gasses in 2006. China is producing two new power stations every week, which means that they will increase their lead in absolute emissions and likely close the gap in per capita emissions (now 5 to 6 times less than America's).

Clearly any serious climate change plan that doesn't include China and India won't work. Which is why western nations, who have been responsible for most green house gasses over the past century need to rapidly escalate the development of green technologies and adopt climate programs that will drastically reduce our own emissions. Once this is done, western nations need to support the rapid adoption of these technologies by China and India and make it clear that failure to do so will impact trade relations.

The Classics head for the hills

This week the Spring Classics head away from the cobbles of Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris Roubaix and into the hills of the Limburg region of Holland. Tomorrow's edition of the Amstel Gold Race will also likely mean that the hard men who dominated those races (Boonen, Cancellara, Devolder, Ballan and Hincapie) will take a back seat to riders who can power their way over Amstel's leg breakers. You've got to like David Rebellin's chances. His form seems to be decent and he knows how to win these races (Amstel, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege). Amstel is also well suited to Damiano Cunego and his performance at Pais Vasco, taking Stage 6 on his way to an impressive fourth place overall, shows he has the form to win. Kim Kirchen might also be a factor after taking two stages and finishing seventh at Pais Vasco (and you've got to like anyone named Kim). My money's on Cunego to come up with the goods.

For race day coverage visit cyclingnews.com.

Obama -- guilty by (very remote) association

My wife and I were watching the Pope Benedict XVI on CNN last night. He was once again apologizing to the victims of sexual abuse by American priests -- this has become a theme for him during his first official visit to the United States. My wife couldn't help but take a mild shot at me, given that I am Catholic, albeit a somewhat lapse one. How could I associate with an institution that had been an active party in covering up these crimes for decades and has, until the Pope's very public confession, been reluctant to confess to it's many sins. Given that this pattern has been repeated in other countries, including here in Canada.

But even though I don't regularly attend church I still find that Catholicism remains very much a part of what defines me as a person. And so I find that I can't rebuke and dissociate myself even with the crimes and some of the values, such as its anti-gay stance (more than a bit ironic given the many gays who have been a part of the church over the decades).

In light of this it's frustrating to see Barack Obama to be attacked for his choice of church or his association with Bill Ayers, a member of the radical Weather Underground almost 40 years ago but now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. If I decided to run for office would I have to end my association with the Catholic church because of the many horrible things it has done over the centuries? Or research everyone who has connected to me no matter how remotely or insignificantly? If it is then Senators Clinton and McCain will likely have to hire an army of investigators to dig up any and all of those they have associated with. I suppose Clinton could start with the two members of the Weather Underground her husband pardoned.

Stephen Colbert hit the right tone when he managed to link Obama with Hitler (through Ted Kennedy, the Catholic church and Pope Benedict, who was a member of the Hitler Youth).