Free Republic

Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor, champion cyclist and LIVESTRONG founder and chairman, issued the following statement: “For 15 years, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has served people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. We join Mayor Bloomberg and our partners in the philanthropic community today in their efforts to preserve access to cancer screening for women throughout the U.S. The Lance Armstrong Foundation will add an additional $100,000 to Mayor Bloomberg’s matching challenge for Planned Parenthood’s cancer services fund. As Dr. King said, “there is no greater injustice than inequality in health care.” Cancer, on the other hand,...

The left wing hypocrisy continues unabridged: Tennessee Democratic State Representative Joe Armstrong was informed by a student at the University of Tennessee that a book store there was selling a breath mint called “Disapoint-Mints” which featured an image of President Obama on the cover. Armstrong immediately went into hypocrite mode and demanded the product be removed as it was in poor taste, mocking the “sanctity” of the Presidency. Rep. Armstrong apparently didn’t have a problem with the same bookstore which sold similar products of political satire when George Bush was President. This brings up a larger issue for me: You’ve...

By Martin A. Armstrong Spending v Systemic Reform The primary reason we are doomed is because those in government by and large still do not see that they are the problem and that the theories and mantras spewed out in press sound bites portray a world that no longer exists. The whole theory of Marxist-Socialism is that we can raise taxes on the rich and corporations to pay for the programs of the poor. The implicit presumption is a closed economic system as if there were no outside world. It fails to account for the migration of capital and is...

thats as far as i got, you take it from here. slow night in our house, obviously

Lance Armstrong’s former teammate, Tyler Hamilton, says Armstrong and other team leaders encouraged, promoted and took part in a doping program in an effort to win the Tour de France in 1999 and beyond, according to a report aired Sunday night on “60 Minutes.” Hamilton said he saw Armstrong take performance-enhancing drugs, EPO and testosterone and also saw him receive a banned blood transfusion. “I feel bad that I had to go here and do this,” Hamilton said. “But I think at end of the day, like I said, long-term, the sport’s going to be better for it.” In the...

NEWBURGH, N.Y. – A suicidal mother who loaded her four children into a minivan and drove off a boat ramp into the frigid Hudson River changed her mind as the van sank and cried, "I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake," said her 10-year-old son, who survived by crawling out a window and swimming ashore.

When wondering how the US Postal Service could find itself in a $7 billion hole, perhaps decisions like this might explain it. Court documents in a fraud probe involving doping allegations in Lance Armstrong’s cycling team show that the USPS paid almost $32 million for a four-year sponsorship from 2001-2004: Even apart from the fraud allegations, the fact that USPS shelled out $32 million for this endorsement over four years seems like a good point on which to question the other decisions being made by USPS management. If Tailwind turns out to be utterly clean, they still managed to find...

Federal authorities have reportedly obtained an important piece of evidence linking Lance Armstrong to performance-enhancing drugs. Greg LeMond (pictured), a three-time Tour de France winner, secretly recorded a telephone call six years ago with a woman close to Lance Armstrong who was in Armstrong's hospital room in 1996 when he told cancer doctors about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, the Los Angeles Times reported. Armstrong, who won a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles, has repeatedly denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs or doping. The recording and a transcript of the telephone call are expected to be presented to a...

The Bombing of Sterling HallText and photos copyright © 2000 Leemark Communications The doors to the old part of Sterling Hall, as seen from Charter Street. Early on August 24th, 1970, a van loaded with six barrels of explosives blew up just outside the East Wing of Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison. The bombing was carried out by four men in protest of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The bombing was directed against the Mathematics Research Center, a U.S.-Army-funded facility, which was located in the East Wing of Sterling Hall along with the...

From Lunar Pioneer

A customs declaration form filled out by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong was allegedly stolen by a U.S. customs worker and his friend, who together attempted to sell it at auction, federal prosecutors announced July 20 — the 41st anniversary of the moonwalker's historic first "small step" on the lunar surface If found guilty of stealing and conveying an official record of the United States, the two men could each face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the United States Attorney's Office.

Seven-time Tour winner being investigated for possible fraud, doping NEW YORK - The Daily News is reporting Lance Armstrong has hired a criminal defense attorney to represent him in the federal investigation for possible fraud and doping violations by the seven-time Tour de France winner and his cycling teammates.

Contador puts time into Schleck setting up a showdown in the Pyrenees Team Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez took the victory in stage 12 with GC favorite Alberto Contador finishing comfortably on his wheel in second place. More importantly, Contador gained ten seconds on overall race leader Andy Schleck, cutting his lead to just 31 seconds and setting up a showdown in the Pyrenees. Schleck stays in yellow, however, if he’s not able to gain significant time in the Pyrenees, he has little hope of finishing atop the podium in Paris. Contador’s superior time trial skill will allow him to gain at...

As the Tour de France begins, Floyd Landis, once a teammate of 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, has issued new allegations against the cycling great. In fact, Landis called doping in cycling "systematic," in a Wall Street Journal report. Floryd Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France win over doping, then fought the allegation for four years. He even lied about his actions in his 2007 book, "Positively False," in which he also said he had no evidence that Lance Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). However, he has since changed his tune, and not only...

(CNSNews.com) -- Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D.-W.V.) says he is “a substantial skeptic of human spaceflight” and that not all outlets for American exploration are “glorious.” Rockefeller made his remarks during a hearing last week where astronauts Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, and Eugene Cernan, the last man on the moon, testified against President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget because it would cancel NASA’s Constellation manned space program.

Nearly four years after he began waging a costly, draining and ultimately losing battle to discredit his positive test for synthetic testosterone at the 2006 Tour de France, Floyd Landis told ESPN.com on Wednesday he used performance-enhancing drugs for most of his career as a professional road cyclist, including the race whose title he briefly held. In a lengthy telephone interview from California, Landis detailed extensive, consistent use of the red blood cell booster erythropoietin (commonly known as EPO), testosterone, human growth hormone and frequent blood transfusions, along with female hormones and a one-time experiment with insulin, during the years...

Visalia, Calif. (AP) -- Lance Armstrong crashed during the Tour of California on Thursday, sending him to the hospital for precautionary X-rays on the day he was accused of doping by former teammate Floyd Landis. The cyclists were on a two-lane road outside Visalia a few miles into the race when a rider in the main group skidded on some gravel and fell, causing others, including Armstrong, to crash. Armstrong resumed riding but had to quit the race because of his injuries. "I tried to give it a go but my eye was swollen so I couldn't see properly and...

Lance Armstrong has denied allegations made by disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis, who accused the seven-time Tour de France champion of doping. "It's our word against his word," Mr. Armstrong said in Visalia, Calif., before the fifth stage of the Tour of California. "I like our word. We like our credibility.''

<p>WASHINGTON (AFP) – Apollo 11 hero Neil Armstrong Tuesday lashed out at President Barack Obama's decision to axe NASA plans to return to the Moon, describing the move as "devastating" to the US space program.</p> <p>Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the lunar surface, was one of three former astronauts who signed an open letter to Obama ahead of his visit to Florida on Thursday where he will deliver a space policy speech.</p>

The first man to walk on the moon blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel NASA’s back-to-the-moon program on Tuesday, saying that the move is “devastating” to America’s space effort. Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong’s open letter was also signed by Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon; and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who is marking the 40th anniversary of his famous lunar non-landing this week.

French prosecutors have reportedly launched a preliminary investigation against the Astana cycling team to examine syringes belonging to the squad during this year's Tour de France. L'Equipe newspaper reported Tuesday on its Web site that prosecutors opened the case after "the discovery of several suspicious syringes in a container given by organizers to all the teams in order to collect the medical waste." Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and third-place finisher Lance Armstrong rode with Astana on this year's Tour. The Spaniard is still under contract with the Kazakh-funded team, but the Texan left to launch his own squad,...

Casablanca, Play it Sam...

Lance Armstrong can't remember the last time he raced 65 miles by himself. So strong was Armstrong on Saturday that he left the rest of the field in the mud just 35 miles into the lung-searing Leadville 100 mountain bike race, winning the nation's highest-altitude endurance test in record time. Despite racing through freezing rain... Armstrong was so safely in front of Wiens that he didn't worry when he heard a hissing in his back tire

This updated story corrects an earlier mistranslation of a key quote. - Editor Tour de France winner Alberto Contador on Monday launched a stinging attack on teammate Lance Armstrong, saying relations between the two were tense throughout the race. "My relationship with Lance is zero. He is a great champion and has done a great Tour, but on a personal level I have never had a great admiration for him and I never will," the Spaniard told a news conference in Madrid. Contador won the Tour on Sunday with a comfortable lead over his rivals. His Astana teammate Armstrong, a...

Today is the 40th anniversary of man’s first steps on the surface of the moon. On July 20, 1969, Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended from the lunar module Eagle, with Armstrong uttering these famous first words: “That’s one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind.” A short while later, Aldrin privately added some words to mark the occasion . . . from the Word. On his website author Eric Metaxas shares Aldrin’s little-known story of taking communion on the moon: “In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread...

One of the most stupendous days in the history of man! And a great day to be proud of what America and Americans can do! A short two minute video with the late Walter Cronkite bringing us the news: [video at site] Restored moonwalk video montage here.It was hard to believe that we were actually watching live television images from the moon: "One small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind." -- Neil Armstrong, July 20, 1969 from Tranquility Base Photo Tribute:It was only later, after the astronauts returned, that we saw these color images: The Apollo 11...

Forty years ago today the world watched as Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the moon. Science Fiction and reality had met and the result was mesmerizing. I was 9 years old as I sat on the floor in front of our old 25” console TV and watched anxiously as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon for the first time. I remember thinking, "What if he just blows up" or "evaporates"? Star Trek had been around for a couple of years by then. I know I heard Armstrong utter those words that are now carved...

Never-before seen photo shows Neil Armstrong's face as he first walks across the moon 19th July 2009 An amazing new photograph showing Neil Armstrong's face through his space suit visor has come to light. [Pics in URL] The image was shot by the movie camera mounted on the lunar lander famously called 'Eagle', but the frame lasts for only a fleeting moment. It shows Armstrong's face in clear view as he walks across the lunar surface. Face first: Neil Armstrong has been presented with a copy of the picture He was the first man to walk on the moon, taking...

Forty years ago this week, science fiction writers were media celebrities—at least for a few hours. When Neil Armstrong stepped on to the surface of the moon on July 21, 1969, his “giant leap for mankind” was not just a fulfillment of President Kennedy’s promise of a lunar expedition before decade’s end. It also validated the starry-eyed dreams of a legion of pulp fiction writers. Long before NASA was founded, the ABCs of sci-fi (Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke) and others of their profession had been chronicling the exploration of the universe in works of imaginative fiction. The moon landing was their...

Astronauts Launch New Pro-Life TV Commercial After CNN, NBC Reject Ads Washington, DC -- A pro-life group whose first two television commercials were rejected by NBC and CNN has unveiled a new ads that promote the potential of human life. The ads feature clips of astronaut Neil Armstrong and they have the support of top astronauts Dr. Joseph Kerwin and Gene Krantz. Full story and video of new pro-life ad at: http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5229.html

On Thursday, you can watch online in real time, 40 years later real time, the launch of Apollo 11 and the moonwalk by Michael Jackson....er, I mean Neil Armstrong. http://wechoosethemoon.org/

Today is day one! Armstrong riding. Astana is back! Predictions? Other comments? Does someone have the ping list from last year?

PARIS -- France's anti-doping agency said Friday it will not seek sanctions against cyclist Lance Armstrong over a dispute with a drug tester, ending speculation that he could be barred from the Tour de France. The AFLD agency said in a statement that it "decided to take into consideration the athlete's written explanations" and will not open disciplinary procedures. The anti-doping agency has said the American cyclist did not fully cooperate with a drug tester who showed up at Armstrong's home in France to collect blood, urine and hair samples on March 17. Armstrong had said he feared the agency...

Lance Armstrong will soon have four children to go along with his seven Tour de France titles. Armstrong, 37, and his girlfriend Anna Hansen, 28, have announced they’re expecting a child next year. "Anna and I are thrilled to confirm that we are expecting in June and our families are ecstatic and grateful," Armstrong said via a statement. "We are very much looking forward to what 2009 brings on many fronts. We appreciate respecting our privacy, as we are both eager to celebrate the holidays as a family." The expected child of Armstrong and his girlfriend is via natural pregnancy.

Over at McNamara's Blog, Patrick McNamara has found another surprising bit of Catholic trivia, about one of the great popular jazz artists of the 20th century: According to his own, cherished tradition, Louis Armstrong was an all-American jazz baby, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the Fourth of July 1900. He believed this to the end of his days, and so did everyone else, until a baptismal certificate confirming his actual birth date as August 4, 1901, surfaced and in the name of scholarship silenced one of the happiest legends in American popular music. Exactly three weeks after his birth,...

A website launched Friday with the backing of technology industry and Hollywood elite urges people worldwide to help craft a framework for harmony between all religions. The Charter for Compassion project on the Internet at www.charterforcompassion.org springs from a "wish" granted this year to religious scholar Karen Armstrong at a premier Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in California. "Tedizens" include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin along with other Internet icons as well as celebrities such as Forest Whittaker and Cameron Diaz. Wishes granted at TED envision ways to better the world and come with a promise that...

Lance Armstrong has confirmed that he will return to professional cycling next year and seek an eighth Tour de France win while promoting a global cancer awareness campaign. "I have decided to race my bicycle again," said Armstrong, 37, a survivor of testicular cancer, as he launched the Live Strong Global Awareness Campaign in New York. "With this campaign we feel that by racing the bicycle all over the world, beginning in Australia, ending in France at the global summit, it is the best way to promote this initiative, it's the best way to get the word out." Earlier, the...

South Texas political legend Anne Legendre Armstrong, 80, died of cancer in a Houston hospice early this morning, her office has confirmed. Armstrong, a former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain and sitting Kenedy County Commissioner, played a conquering role in Republican politics as a national leader of the party, serving as a cabinet-level adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and an adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush on foreign intelligence. As news of her death spread among close friends and political associates Wednesday morning, Vice President Dick Cheney, a regular visitor to the Armstrong Ranch...

Friendswood physician Robin Armstrong, a former medical missionary in Africa, recently was re-elected vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party, the only black person to serve in one of the state party's top two positions during the 20th and 21st centuries. Q: Affirmative action, what about that? A: I don't think it's a policy that's really necessary, and I think Barack Obama is a good example of that. People generally want to be helpful to minorities and want to see them succeed on their own. Sure, racism is out there, but I don't think that is the majority of people...

JERUSALEM - Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, answered questions from Israeli children Tuesday in his first visit to the Holy Land, showing animation and energy in discussing the feelings and justification for space travel. Armstrong was invited by a local investment company to lecture on the subject of motivation. In the morning, he visited the Space and Technology Museum in Haifa, where he talked to a group of children, museum spokeswoman Ahuva Kfir said. Armstrong, 77, was the first astronaut to walk on the surface of the moon, landing there on July 20, 1969. He has stayed...

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) -A tip for all potential arbitration witnesses out there: Never take the mike after Greg LeMond. The three-time Tour de France winner stole the show at the Floyd Landis hearing Thursday during a short, explosive bit of testimony filled with talk of sexual abuse, blackmail and backstabbing that led to the on-the-spot firing of Landis' business manager. It was Landis who asked for this hearing to be public, though he couldn't have expected a scene like this to break out. And though it's hard to know what impact these blockbusters had on the arbitrators, it will be...

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Floyd Landis claims the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's lead attorney approached his lawyer offering "the shortest suspension they'd ever given an athlete" if Landis provided information that implicated Lance Armstrong for doping. At a news conference Thursday to preview his upcoming arbitration hearing, Landis said he made the Armstrong allegations public not because he planned to use it as evidence when testimony begins Monday, but to show the lengths USADA will go to in prosecuting athletes. "It was offensive at best," Landis said. "It speaks to the character of the prosecution." The 2006 Tour de France champion...

DEAD MAN'S HOLE — When Lance Armstrong, the famous cancer-slayer and Tour de France champion, bought a 200-acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country several years ago, his neighbors didn't expect any trouble. Despite his fame, they figured they had something in common with the star cyclist, who was drawn to this countryside about 40 miles west of Austin for the same reasons they all were: the breathtaking landscape, the privacy of the hills and, above all, a shimmering emerald pool hidden deep in the embrace of a fern-draped limestone grotto. Armstrong was so taken with the pool, called Dead...

September 12, 2006 NEW YORK (AP) -- Two of Lance Armstrong's former teammates said they used a performance-enhancing drug when they were getting ready for the 1999 Tour de France, according to a newspaper report. Frankie Andreu, a 39-year-old former team captain, and another teammate who requested anonymity because he still works in cycling, told The New York Times they used EPO in preparation for the 1999 race, when Armstrong won the first of his seven titles in cycling's biggest race.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has misplaced the original recording of the first moon landing, including astronaut Neil Armstrong's famous "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," a NASA spokesman said on Monday.

Posted on Sat, Aug. 05, 2006 In Armstrong's cycling world, paranoia and fear reign The Dallas Morning News By Michael Grabell and Cathy Harasta DALLAS - Lance Armstrong rose to sporting power in a world where paranoia ruled. He had his meals delivered in a blue cooler during his final Tour de France for fear of sabotage. His team drove miles to dump its trash, knowing that the moment it threw something away, someone else would pick through it. And former cyclists still active in the sport were so worried about the power the seven-time tour winner wielded that they...

Tests performed on the cyclist Floyd Landis’s initial urine sample showed that some of the testosterone in his body had come from an external source and was not produced by his system, according to a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the results. That finding contradicts what Landis has claimed in his defense since the disclosure last week that he had tested positive for an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone during the Tour de France. During a news conference in Madrid on Friday, Landis said, “We will explain to the world why this is not a...

See for example this thread first. Floyd Landis won the maillot jaune What's more, he did it on his own Winning Stage seventeen The best comeback I've seen After Lance, you can still hear France moan

The first men on the Moon had to use a pen to fix a broken switch on their lunar module and return home to Earth, British newspaper the Daily Mirror reported Monday ahead of a new television documentary. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, and Buzz Aldrin, his fellow astronaut, accidentally snapped off the switch of a circuit breaker, and found they could not take off without it. Aldrin then jammed a ballpoint pen into the hole where the switch had been, allowing the astronauts' lunar module Eagle to leave the surface of the Moon. According to the...

NASA posted an interesting account from the 1st moon landing for the anniversary of this historic mission on 07/20/1969 + audio link