Okay, for me one of the high points of the year is the Tour de France. I have been hooked on watching it for about ten years now and I'm a fanatic. So I've been looking forward to this year's Amgen Tour of California. I haven't had much of a chance to look at the race route for this year and I'd heard they were finishing in Pasadena. Already the signs have begun to go up about road closures around Highway 2, but somehow I didn't put it together. Today when I went to the web to see what the exact route was I found that it's actually going through the Angeles Forest very, very close to my house. The closest point will be up at Big Tujunga Canyon Road where it intersects with Angeles Forest Drive.

Holy Cow! Imagine! A mountain stage of a major race happening right behind my house (well, 5 miles away, but hey!). I can't wait. To actually see a mountain race and a finish of a Tour de France category race! It's like getting a free trip to the Tour de France. Ya-hoo! If I can get close to the intersection I will be able to see them climb the last climb of the race before they head on a long and winding downhill into Pasadena. Way, way, cool! (Can you tell I'm excited?)

Team CMC has take both the Prologue on Sunday and today's first stage. Fabian Cancellera took the race in Palo Alto. Along with him 9 world champions are riding in the race, including Levi Leipheimer, Geogre Hincape, Tom Bonnon, etc. Team Discovery has bitten the dust, to be replaced by Astana, a team which has been reconstituted with many of the riders from Discovery, including Hincape.

Today's stage went from Sausalito to Santa Rosa, 96.8 miles. Juan Jose ("JJ") Haedo sprinted to the win. I've only caught glimpses of it. I've only caught brief glimpses of it on the web and will watch the broadcast tonight on VS. Tomorrow's stage is from Santa Rosa to Sacramento. Tana's Dad Mike ought to have a front row seat for it. The day after the race goes from Modesto to Jaemon and Tana's former home of San Jose.

I'm totally stoked!

Here's the route: Route of Tour of California

Winter intersession is finished. Six intensive weeks of nonstop teaching and grading is done. It was a good semester, but it really screwed up my sleep schedule. I wouldn't get home each day until 10 or 10:30 pm, and then couldn't relax enough to go to sleep until 1 or 1:30 am. Monster, of course, would get me up promptly at 6 am. I could usually convince him to wait until 7 am, but that was the outer limit. So, besides grading this weekend I will try to catch up on my sleep this weekend and next week. Back to work next Friday, a week from today. Will turn grades for intersession in on Tuesday.

Liz sent me the following and I thought I'd repost it. I've been an Obama supporter since last November, finding him to be the most exciting democratic candidate in years. So what's posted below makes lots of sense to me, but I'm concerned that Obama is hedging his bets now on campaign financing, now that he's bringing in more than any other candidate. This morning's New York Times brought news that he's backing away from accepting the $85 mil public funding limit for the general election. That's a sign that in spite of what he says, he's still a politician. He hasn't said he won't do it, but unlike what he said before the super Tuesday primaries he's now saying they won't make that decision until after he gets the nomination. Makes me wonder if I'm right about the man.

I've been reminding myself this morning that he's still a politician and that, in fact, that's a good thing. I just want him to have as much integrity as I think he's saying he has.

Anyway, here's what Liz sent out:

Why This Older Woman Is For Obama

by Patricia Wald (dated 1/15/08)

I have spent more than 40 years of my near-80 in public service as a federal judge, international judge, public interest lawyer and government official.  A veteran of the woman’s movement since its infancy in the 1960’s, an ardent Democrat and an equally ardent supporter of women’s rights-to-choose, to work, to live as we see fit, and yes, one day to elect a woman President, I hail the advances in my lifetime that have resulted in Senator Clinton’s dynamic bid for the Presidency.

But women my age fought for the opportunity to be judged on our skills, talents and abilities, not on our gender, and that is the standard by which Senator Clinton’s candidacy should be judged.  Perhaps we were naïve, but legions of us believed that if we were allowed to enter the game alongside men, we would prove our worth.

Which is a prelude to why I now support Barack Obama and have recently spent 8 days on the icy streets of Cedar Rapids , Iowa campaigning for him.

As someone who cares mightily about restoration of our country to conditions under which my grandchildren live and flourish, I have carefully assayed the dueling claims of Senator Clinton and Senator Obama to lead the nation.  Senator Clinton proclaims a decisive advantage in experience that notably embraces her days as First Lady.  The Clinton Administration of the 1990s has much to be proud of, but bears responsibility for some damaging policies as well.  I mention here only a few that I encountered while on the bench.  It oversaw the largest incarceration boom in the nation’s history even as crime rates slowed.  The 1994 “tough on crime” legislation sponsored by the White House and which she lobbied for expanded the federal death penalty and gave fiscal incentives for states to legislate “trut! h in sentencing” laws.  The Administration also supported a federal “three strikes” law patterned after California ’s that overwhelmed prisons, and legislation that pushed youthful offenders into adult institutions.  The result of policies like these was a generation of young men and women, heavily tilted toward minorities, which suffered more severely than their crimes warranted.  Credible researchers and political leaders later repudiated these policies for their costliness, ineffectiveness in improving public safety, and devastating impact on families and minority communities.  Since then Senator Clinton has shown reluctance to support retroactive application of the sentencing reductions for those in prison for crack cocaine violations whose penalties have since been drastically cut by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Her Senate career reflects a cautious and expedient legislator; her ambivalent attitude toward the Iraq war – particularly her failure to read the critical intelligence report before voting to authorize military action – give pause when considering her claims to leadership and change.

I find that Senator Obama’s record is fully as impressive as hers.  His well documented years organizing and unifying poor communities in Chicago give him first-hand knowledge of conditions on the ground that a new President will surely need in tackling the still intractable issues of race and poverty.  He has been an unswerving supporter of women’s right to choose, despite the Clinton campaign’s repeated misstatements of his record.  He has played a leadership role in Illinois for children’s health insurance and tax credits for working class families.  As someone whose career has been in law enforcement I admire especially his unremitting honesty and his respect for the law and its processes.  This has been amply demonstrated in the face of false and misleading statements about his record in thi! s campaign.

His ethics reform legislation was labeled by the Washington Post as “the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet.”  His opposition to the Iraq War at a time when it was overwhelmingly supported by political leaders and the public is a testament to his sound judgment, even as others fell into lock-step behind a flawed and deceptive strategy.

To be old means to remember and that can be a blessing and a curse.  Much has been written about “hope” and “inspiration” that Senator Obama brings, particularly among the young.  For me these are not vague and amorphous qualities.  I recall a time during the 1960s and into the 1970s when many of us passionately believed in the power of Government and in ourselves to be forces for positive social change.  We sought out visionary leaders who could appeal to our inner angels.  When Robert Kennedy said in 1968, “I dream of things that never were and ask why not,” he voiced the deepest longings of our country as he called on us to find a way to go forward – together black, white, Latino, poor, rich, young, old, male, female – to challenge injustice and poverty.

We have not heard so soaring an appeal in 40 years.  We have suffered through spates of painful, ugly, and mean-spirited leadership.  Our sights have been blurred and misdirected, our youth dispirited and politically apathetic.  Now, Barack Obama tells us, “in the face of a politics that’s shut you out, that’s told you to settle, that’s divided us for too long . . . [we] can be one people, reaching for what’s possible.”

My ten grandchildren and their peers need not be seared by our failures and our mixed memories.  I want them to be moved by the same idealism that once moved us.  We should not deny them that chance.  For all Senator Clinton’s talents, skills, and accomplishments, Barack Obama provides the greater hope.

Patricia Wald served as judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for twenty years, including five years as its Chief Judge.  Retired from American judicial service, she later was a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia .  Judge Wald also recently served as a member of the Iraq Intelligence Commission (the President’s Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the U.S. Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction), an independent panel tasked with investigating U.S. intelligence surrounding the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.