Mr. Grumpy

Perhaps I am a little irritable these days. Maybe just getting old, and a little grumpy-Mr. Grumpy as my wife sometimes refers to me. And yet, there are so many things that just seem so wrong to me, so wrong to my midwestern born sense of right and wrong. Here are a few:

1. Politics: Must we endure another two years of a presidential race knowing that it will change nothing. Yes, some of the faces have changed, but not the basic makeup of who these people are. They are wealthy criminals. How can they represent "we the people?" They cannot, in fact, we the people are an obstacle to their success. Most importantly, how can we believe they can, or would even want to represent us.

2. Wars: It seems as though the major players in world politics-those very same wealthy criminals (and yes I get that these are simply very high paid cerfs for the elite wealthy)-continuosly try, out of desperation, to strike up a war here or there or anywhere, shuffling pieces on the board, black versus white, west versus Muslims, US versus Russia; all pawns willing to march off to their death. And out of desperation it is for with each passing day "we the people" are a little more aware of their greedy schemes.

3. Weather: There is probably nothing more useless than a Meteorologist. What happened to the rain forecast for Oregon this past two weeks? Now it appears that it has turned to a forecast of lightning that will trigger more fires, much the same way that world governments (corporations) trigger wars. Are we beginning to make a connection? Weather warfare has been a reality since 1968-Viet Nam, and "conspiracy theory is simply a blind defense from those who would prefer to sleep through their lives.

4. Chris Horner: He is a 43 year old, Oregon born cyclist, and winner of the 2013 Vuelta Espana, a major professional Grand Tour. He suggests, and so it appears, that he is still able to ride with the best but for severe asthma that cripples his chances in each race. He has been denied a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for medication that would help by the UCI, the governing body of cycling. This is the same organization that supported Lance Armstrong, and likely covered up his positive doping tests. They are also the body that allowed a TUE for Chris Froome, a two time Tour de France winner who was suffering from severe asthma at the Tour of Romandie even though he did not follow their procedures. Is the UCI political? Are it's leaders politicians? Of course! This is all politics. Lance was a big story. Big money. Chris Froome and Britain's Team Sky (Rupert Murdoch's Sky network) are big money. Chris Horner, though a cyclist's cyclist, is not. Admittedly there has been some suspicion about Chis Horner and the use of performing enhancing drugs-look it up yourself. There has not been a positive test. Unless he is caught doping you cannot punish him for suspicion. Allow him to ride healthy.

5. Medicine: A recent article in VeloNews now suggests that endurance sports may be, long-term, hard on your heart. It is still a small percentage, and related to the electrical aspect, not the muscle itself, but is medicine ever going to get things right, or are we again talking politics and the greed of Big Pharma.

Maybe I have reasons for being Mr. Grumpy.