Its been 2 days since the election of 2012.  Barack Obama (CNN continues to say his name as one barackobama) almost like its one long name.  I have many friends who have asked me where I stand.  I suppose from some points I may be a little tough to read.  I dont talk politics with many people because my Dad told me many years ago that you cannot win.  I think my dad was right.  There is no way to win in politics because we are all different.  So I thought I would note what I am here.  So, here goes pretty much nothing.  At least you will know how confused I really am.

I am a white conservative male who believes:

Everyone should work for what they are given.  No free rides for anyone.  We can all be productive members of society unless we are in a coma.

All men are created equal.  A man should not be judged by the color of his skin but by his actions.  No one man is greater than the whole.

People who are down on their luck should be able to get help.....But that help should be limited.  Its not something you should depend on forever.   Think of it as a short term rental and not a permanent home....

I am a happily married man of 27 years.  I fully believe in the sanctity and Biblical Definition of marriage between a man and a woman....However, I am also not dumb enough to believe that there are people in this world that have different feelings and are made differently than I am.  So if 2 men or 2 women decide that they are meant for each other, then by all means we should allow that.  However, do me a favor and call it something other than marriage.  Call it a union, a joining, a partnership or a joyful occasion.  Don't call it marriage.  That word already has a definition.

For those of you who think God looks down on people who aren't like you and I...I love God and the God I know loved ALL men.  He also said all men are forgiven.  So stop reading YOUR interpretation of the Bible into politics.  If you dont know who God is, then I am sure he will take some time out when you get to the gates of heaven to introduce himself to you.

I believe that we have raped and destroyed this earth for too long and that the earth is trying to tell us to stop.  The weather is way different than it was when I was young.  The Super storms, hurricanes, Tornadoes  hail, wind, drought, floods etc. are signs we better start to fix this planet.  It may be too late to stop what has happened, but we can try to salvage what is left and maybe start to reverse.  I fully believe that if we do not, our grandkids will be living most days indoors.  If you don't believe the climate is changing, then you are either not paying attention or you are too stubborn to look.....

I believe that we have run up our national debt for the same reason we have run up our personal debt.  WE want everything NOW and have no patience to wait on it.  When I was young, my parents only bought 2 things on credit.  A car and a house.  Now almost everything is put on a credit card.   We have done the same thing with our countries finances.  We have ran up a silly amount of debt because we could not wait for things   We let the Government buy them for us on credit.  Some day soon, the debt will come due.  And we will be standing with our hands in our pockets wondering how we got in so far over our heads.

I think we need to be somewhat tolerant of other countries.    BUT BEAR IN MIND, most countries are not tolerant of us.  They hate us and all we stand for.  Therefore, I think we need to maintain our military to the standards we always have.  I hear folks say all the time that the cold war is over....Well the countries who hate us now are a lot scarier than the old Soviet Union.  At least they had some fear of us.

I voted for Mitt Romney on Tuesday.  I didnt like all he said nor did I think he was the best candidate out of the Republican side.  However, the economy and the debt were the things that scared me the most. I felt that Romney had a better idea of how to start eliminating some of that debt.  I also think he is a good man and a God Fearing man.  I do not think Barack Obama is a good man and I dont think anyone knows his core values.  I am not depressed or ready to jump off a building because my candidate did not win.  But I do think the country will get much worse before it gets better.  I just hope by the time my kids are my age, its back to being the country that was built on the values of our forefathers.....Sadly, I am not sure that can ever be.....

Last Post about Lance

So no one won the Tour de France from 1998 to 2005.  It wasn't even ran if you look at the record books 20 years from now.  No one entered it, rode it or even witnessed it according to the record books.  Lance Armstrong used to hold all of the records for those years but he was allegedly a Doper and Dopers cant be Tour de France winners.  Now I say allegedly because even though the case against Lance Armstrong is so overly airtight that Nike, Trek and Radio Shack have broken all ties with him, no one has ever found a test that shows he doped.....No one.  I never would have 100% believe that Lance doped until about 3 weeks ago when George Hincapie came out with his admission of guilt.  George was my all time favorite rider.  He was the guy who never got the attention but worked the hardest.  He was the offensive lineman who didnt get credited for making the all star quarterback look so good on the field.  He was the speechwriter that was in the background when the candidate is praised for being so eloquent.  He is the guy that was always in the eye of the storm but had that grin of determination on his face.  Lance would concentrate on the Tour.  George raced the Classics.  Lance got the accolades.  George received a pat on the back.  He raced 17 Tours and was on a winning team for many of those.  7 with Lance.  He kept quiet and did his job while Tyler, Frankie, Frankie's wife, Floyd and many others called foul on the Armstrong Empire.  He was the quintessential Lieutenant to Lance and kept a tight lip on things.....But finally he broke....and admitted that Yes he had doped too.  Then.......and only then did I know.......LA was fooling us all.   Lance is a Doper.  Thats hard for me to say or even fathom as reality....But I know its true now.

So what now?  Do I take all of this and process it to be anything other than it is?  Someone I thought to be a superior athlete is now a fraud?  A liar?  A charlatan?  A cheat????  Then I look around at what he did for others....People with Cancer.  People who were out of shape with no hope, no desire and no will power.  He transformed so many thousands of people through his Livestrong Foundation and just motivating them to get up off the couch and ride a bike.  He almost completely rejuvenated the cycling scene in North America. I was already a rider when Lance appeared but many folks I ride with were inspired by him.....Even other i know were inspired by the way he kicked Cancer's ass....Folks with no hope saw a reason to keep on fighting for life....."Hell if a guy can go on to win the Tour after having terminal cancer, then surely I can make it to go back to my family"......Yes he inspired SO MANY.  So was this whole thing a waste?

Today they announced that not only were all 7 tours being stripped but that Lance will have to give back his earnings for those tours.  This amounts to 2.5 million pounds which is substantial but if he had to pay it, I feel pretty sure he could cover it.  Most likely there will be suits and counter suits from the big corporations he represented that will cry foul and try to recoup money.  But for every dollar companies like Nike, Trek, Radio Shack, Nissan etc paid Lance, he brought them much more in return...He was the Golden Boy from 1998-2005.  Everything he touched turned to the proverbial Gold.  But more importantly, he was the Golden Boy for Cancer Survivors and their families.  The Good that Livestrong has done will never be erased in the minds or bodies of the people he helped see another day, or month, or even years.  Its easy for the pundits to crucify the man now that it seems the world was so enamored with they could not see being a cheater.  But instead of doing that, lets hope we can all remember that his foundation was the good thing that came out of all of this.

Last thing I will say is this:  Cycling is a dirty sport that must do many things to clean itself up.  I dont know if it can ever regain the purity of the sport it had in the early years of cycling.  The races and competition are so tough today I cant imagine being a competitive cyclist.  I believe that Lance was just leveling the playing field,  I think given his work ethic and attitude he would have kicked their asses for 7 or 8 years if they all were clean....We will never know because they cant pick a winner from 1998-2005.  Why?  because no one else was clean either.

WOW.  Been almost a year since I wrote anything in this post.  I am now the proud parent of a College Student.  Kyle entered USC (South Carolina) about 1 month ago.  We dont hear much from him but he seems to be enjoying himself immensely.  I suppose I was doing the same a few years back myself.  I changed jobs in December of last year.  I finally got away from the pain in the ass job I had and went back to filtration.  Its much more what I know how to do.  I still work the part time job at REI but its less and less hours.  Too busy traveling and all the other stuff.  Hannah is a Junior at Lake Norman and she is kind of happy being the only child for a while.  She has Kyle's old Honda and is pretty much self sufficient.  A good kid and no trouble at all.  I have been riding a lot this year but hardly any running. I am starting to think about getting back into running this fall/winter if my knees hold up.  We will see.  I am going on a backpack trip in October.  I went to Yosemite ofr a night or 2 in July with Kyle and Curtis.  It was a really special place.  We spent a week in CA and I love the whole state.  San Diego was great and San Francisco was even better.  Yosemite was the highlight for me but the boys liked the cities better.  I hope to get some pictures up soon of my trip but the blog just hasn't been a priority.  Maybe I will take more time in the near future.  We will see.

Adios