9 August 2011 pm

Swimming: this is interesting:

Sunday’s Nautica New York City Triathlon resulted in two deaths, both from cardiac events that arose during the event’s initial swimming leg. A 64-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman were pulled from the Hudson River before they could complete the 1.5-kilometer swim from a wharf near Manhattan’s 96th Street down to the West 79th Street Boat Basin. Both athletes were taken to a nearby hospital in cardiac arrest. Police said 26 others were removed from the water needing assistance for minor injuries or pains that arose during the swim portion of the competition.

The man, identified as Michael Kudryk of Freehold, N.J., was competing as part of a three-person relay team but lost consciousness halfway through the swim. Rescuers managed to get Kudryk to one of the four New York City Fire Department boats stationed in the river, but he later died at Saint Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Kudryk was registered for another triathlon next month in Long Branch, N.J., the New York Daily News reported. Amy Martich, of Elmhurst, Ill., died Monday morning at Saint Luke’s.

Triathlons are categorized by distance. Sprint triathlons typically require a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and five-kilometer run. Olympic triathlons (including the NYC Triathlon) involve a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike ride and 10-kilometer run. In “Iron Man” triathlons, the swimming portion can be as long as 3.9 kilometers, followed by up to a 180-kilometer bike ride and a 42.2-kilometer run (the same distance as a marathon).

Despite being the first leg and covering the shortest distance in any triathlon, swimming has proved to be the most deadly. Minneapolis Heart Institute cardiologist Kevin Harris last year published a study in JAMA: The Journal of American Medical Association analyzing the results of 2,971 USA Triathlon-sanctioned events held between January 2006 and September 2008, during which 14 participants died—13 of them while swimming and one while biking. Swimmers who died were between 28 and 65 years old; 11 were men (although it is worth noting that more men compete in triathlons than women).

I wonder what is going on; part of it might be the stress from the cold, stress from other competitors, disrupted breathing rhythms and perhaps fear of drowning? I’ve done some large open water 5K swims, but then again, I love open water.

Come on Mr. Huckabee: you should be classier than this:

Apparently Mike Huckabee wasn’t done making a fool out of himself this weekend after his appearance on Fox & Friends touting Donald Trump for Treasury Secretary. Heaven forbid he could make it through the day without throwing a little racism in to boot as well.

After slamming President Obama for the fundraiser held on his birthday that Fox Nation attacked as “Obama’s Hip-Hop BBQ” which our friends at Media Matters wrote about here — Fox Nation: Obama’s Hip-Hop BBQ Didn’t Create Jobs — Huckabee took a page right out of their playbook on his show this past Saturday night.

HUCKABEE: I’m glad that the President had such a large time with his friends. And by the way, they think that they all ought to pay more in taxes. So hopefully while they were gathered, they passed one of those great old big hats that one of the hip-hop pals wore, so that way everyone could empty their pockets and open their checkbooks, so they could give more to our ever responsible Federal government, so the fine folks at the party can bail out, our government. Well, I’m sure that happened.

So, let’s give back Jack. Let’s cut the Prez some slack. His birthday gig might just bring our economy back.

As Media Matters has documented and we have as well, but not to the extent that they have, this sort of race baiting is all too common over at Fox and at their blog, Fox Nation — Fox’s Race-Baiting “Nation”.

But that is the real crux of the Republican personality attack: WE are the REAL AMERICANS and THEY aren’t. Remember this gem from the past:

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Wednesday that President Obama has “a different worldview” that is in part “molded out of a very different experience.”

“Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas,” Huckabee added.

Huckabee, who is promoting a book, made the comments on the talk radio program “Focal Point,” hosted by American Family Radio’s Bryan Fischer. They came two days after Huckabee inaccurately suggested that Mr. Obama grew up in Kenya.

Huckabee said he misspoke about the president’s childhood and had meant to reference Mr. Obama’s four-year stint in Indonesia. But the explanation was not sufficient for many critics, who noted that Huckabee suggested that the president’s views were shaped by growing up in Kenya with a father who sent the message “that the British were a bunch of imperialists.” Mr. Obama barely knew his father as a child.

But I will say this: I have far more in common with Mr. Obama than I do with Mr. Hukabee, and that is a good thing.

Republican Candidates
No, the Michelle Bachmann cover on Newsweek is not sexist, even if The Nation says that it might be. If you want to say that blindly lumping Ms. Bachmann with Sarah Palin together is sexist, I might listen to your argument. Sure, both are tea-party favorites and both are dumb, but the resemblance ends there. Ms. Palin goes more on personality (That spunky Hockey Mom!) whereas Ms. Bachmann seems to be more driven by ideas (albeit crazy ones). Also, Ms. Bachmann finished her term and got reelected; she seems to be far harder working and more interested in governing. She is worthy of more political respect than Ms. Palin, though I find no merit in her ideas.

But this article drives home two things for me:
1. I tend to get very tired of The Nation very quickly; some of their articles are good. Others are shallowly argued crap (e. g., their articles denying climate change …in fact, denying that CO2 could even act as a greenhouse gas!)

2. Our side is not good at politics. She is the political enemy so don’t go attacking articles that correctly characterize her as, well, crazy. Could you imagine National Review taking Newsweek to task over an Obama cover?

Tim Pawlenty
No, he isn’t Sarah Palin in a suit:

1. He actually finished TWO terms as governor of a largish state; not one HALF term as a governor of a state with a small population.
2. He hasn’t been blessed by a pastor who hunts witches.

So while his IQ is probably is within, say 5 points of Ms. Palin’s, he has a much stronger work ethic.

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