Libertie, Egalitie, Fraternitie

Citizens of France,
I urge you to vote OUI in this Sunday's referendum on the European Union Constitution.

Lee Labrada's new book:

Ron Avidan over at GetBig has reported that Houston Bodybuilding Icon Lee Labrada's new book is scheduled for release June 14,2005

The Lean Body Promise is available for pre-order on Amazon.com at a great price.

If you are looking to expand your fitness library, I advise you check this book out. Labrada is a bodybuilding great and his fitness ideas are sound.

Steroid Legislation is on the way...

Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Henry Waxman are drafting steroid legislation that would impose stiff testing standards and penalties for use on the Big Four Sports Leagues in a move designed to bring America closer to Socialized Athletics.

Due to the exclusionary nature of this law, the prediction is that it will be struck down as Unconstitutinal by the courts, clearing the way for more sweeping legislation that will include ALL SPORTING GROUPS, including the IFBB (for contests in America)

Earlier in the year I wrote a letter to the IFBB, urging them to take the lead in fighting some of the negative press that bodybuilding is receiving in America. The official response from Ben Weider was that the IFBB has over 117 member nations, 116 of which could care less about the state of Bodybuilding in America.

Then and now my mantra is the same: By ignoring the realities in the United States, the IFBB is effectively killing bodybuilding as a viable industry. Most competitions are held in this Country, most of the top athletes in bodybuilding come from here, and most sponsorship money is realized from American Companies.

Sticking our heads in the sand and hoping this problem goes away will not serve to protect the financial viability of bodybuilding in the future. There needs to be a clarion voice calling out to the public, identifying the POSITIVE aspects of the bodybuilding lifestyle. We do not deny that steroids are a integral part of our Sport, just as they are an integral part of ANY sport, what we reject is the notion that bodybuilding is ENTIRELY predicated on the use and abuse of performance enhancing substances. Without work and effort bodybuilder's cannot succeed.

Such has it always been, and it will always be that way.

We have to get out to the public and make our case known.

You're witnessing the rebirth of luridtransom

luridtransom is now a Tara Reid tribute blog. To wit:

Tara Reid caused quite a scene when she crashed an exclusive Kentucky Derby bash.

The actress showed up at the famed Barnstable Brown party Friday night and tried to get in, even though she wasn’t invited. “A security guard kept her out, and she did the whole, ‘Don’t you know who I am’ thing, and then a whole crowd outside started chanting, ‘Let Tara In! Let Tara In!’” reports an eyewitness. “So they went ahead and let her in.”

Once inside, reports the source, Reid was an aggressive partier and was downing Grey Goose martinis.

Reid showed up at the Derby itself in a dirty dress “that looked like she’d been rolling around on the ground.” She went into a VIP room and knocked a woman over and — apparently not realizing her mistake — walked on. When she was informed what happened, she offered to give the woman an autograph.

(Courtesy of MSNBC. Thanks, MSNBC.)

Let Tara in! Amen to that. I've got to become a more aggressive partier.

Ed Rooney's Genius

Quote of the Day, courtesy of Dean Edward R. Rooney: "Wake up and smell the coffee, Mrs. Bueller. It's a fool's paradise. He is just leading you down the primrose path."

Grass Roots Social Activism

Paraphrasing an AP story: Real estate developers in South Florida are mounting a campaign to allow development on lands currently off limits to large-scale development. Plans by major developers such as Lennar Corp. and D.R. Horton call for more than 16,000 homes to be built in high-density neighborhoods on land that is now outside the the urban development boundary. The urban development boundary was created more than two decades ago to protect the fragile Everglades ecosystem. (End Paraphrase.)

Hmmm...Everglades? Starbucks? Everglades? Starbucks?

Honestly, these people should be fed to alligators.

Open Letter to Cafe Express

Dear Wendy’s/Café Express:

I eat lunch quite frequently at Café Express on Main Street in downtown Houston. As you are aware, all customers must queue up to order at the counter. For some unknown reason, smoking is allowed in the “bar” adjacent to the ordering area. (I use quotation marks because it’s nothing like an actual bar. Nobody’s sitting in there drinking at lunch – it’s a Café Express for crying out loud.)

In any event, cigarette smoke from the “bar” drifts into the area where customers line up to order food. And back into the kitchen at that, no doubt. This is ridiculous. You shouldn’t allow smoking in an area that will, by design, subject every single customer who eats at your restaurant to cigarette smoke. It is poorly, if at all, thought out. Truthfully, it’s downright stupid. You should ban smoking in the “bar” effective immediately. In fact, I believe your policy must be changed in September due to the new City Council ordinances. So go ahead and change it now.

I am not a holier-than-thou antismoking crusader. But it makes absolutely no sense to situate a smoking section right next to the area where each and every customer must line up to order his food. I don’t want to eat lunch at Café Express and return to my office smelling like an ashtray. And I won’t. I’m not going back to Café Express until you ban smoking in the entire indoor portion of your restaurant. I know the dollars I won’t spend aren’t going to put your operation into bankruptcy, but I hope you’ll put some thought into the matter and realize the smoking section at your restaurant really sucks.

Regards,
Oschlor

Say It Ain't So

Not only is Mena Suvari getting divorced, but it turns out that Enron Nigerian barge deal was nothing but a scam.

Maximalist Integrity?

What happened to Sandwiches? Where? Here! ? It used to be one of the hippest, freshest blogs around. Must have sold out to Corporate America. Not surprising, really.

Zoroaster's Vision

Why such a fuss over Iran's nuclear program? Honestly, what's the worst that could happen?

Bayou City: Point/Counter-point

Since 1992, Houston's "rush hour" has expanded from 6.4 to 7.8 hours a day.



Maybe so, but we've still got the Rockets, horrendous air quality, and more nail salons per capita than any other city in the nation.

It's easy to grin when your ship comes in

I need a metier that involves people paying me large sums of money then remarking, "What a racket!" Those who smirk didn't read my first sentence carefully enough.

Victory Gin

The username RustyShakelford is already taken on every single website in existence.

Impatient Shareholders

If y'all don't start clicking on more banner ads, I'll have no choice but to make this a pay site.