Wednesday, September 10th! Lance is back for another Tour! Yet another scam to watch out for that wants your name to sell for a mailing list! Plus the Sarah Palin Action-Figure! “BUZZ” Ellen shows her wedding videos and pics, and Anne Hathaway’s ex pleads guilty! “PHOTO GALLERY” (1984) Charlie huddles with the Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders!
Lance Armstrong is ready to swear off the chips and salsa, climb back on the bike and win an eighth Tour de France. Three years after retiring, the 36-year-old says he’ll return to competition and the Tour de France in 2009, giving up relaxed days of a few beers and Tex-Mex food for a self-described monk’s life of disciplined training and punishing races.
In a formal statement Armstrong called his comeback an attempt to raise global awareness in his fight against cancer. Just as likely, it’s also about his relentless desire to compete and win, especially at the Tour, the race he dominated with a record seven titles from 1999-2005.
Citing the slow pace of last year’s Tour and the rush from last month’s Leadville 100 race, Armstrong decided it was time to return.
“This kind of obscure bike race, totally kick-started my engine,” he told Vanity Fair in an exclusive interview, referring to the lung-searing 100-mile mountain bike race through the Colorado Rockies. “I’m going to try and win an eighth Tour de France.”
Armstrong’s riveting victories over cancer and opponents on the bike, his work for cancer awareness and his gossip-page romances have made him a modern-day American icon.
Professional cycling and particularly the Tour have missed Armstrong’s star power, even though skeptics refused to believe he could win without the help of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
This time, Armstrong’s determined to silence the doubters and try to prove he really is clean. He’s even hired a video crew to chronicle his training for 2009, as well as his drug tests, for a possible documentary.
Diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain, doctors gave Armstrong less than a 50 percent chance of survival. Surgery and brutal cycles of chemotherapy saved his life. From there, it was determination and powerful self-discipline that led him back to the bike and his stunning 1999 Tour win.
Armstrong’s goal every year was to win the Tour, and he dominated the Pyrenees and Alps like no other rider ever had. This time, he wants to win for his millions of supporters and more important, the 8 million who will die of cancer just this year.
Armstrong will be 37 next week. Only one rider older than 34 has ever won the Tour 36-year-old Firmin Lambot in 1922. And Armstrong wasn’t impressed by the crop of younger riders in the 2008 Tour. “It’s not a secret. I mean, the pace was slow,” he told Vanity Fair.
ANOTHER SCAM TO WATCH OUT FOR, UNDER THE GUISE OF A SURVEY!
So yesterday I received a letter from the Investor Protection Association for America. Notice than even “Baltimore” is misspelled on the postage-free return envelope they included for me. It began with, “Congress is making decisions that affect your financial future. Tell them what you think.”
Then there is a bunch of stuff about how skyrocketing energy prices can affect your financial future and how you need to fill out the page-two questionnaire in order to let the leadership “of both houses of Congress know your positions on these important issues.”
And of course, the questionnaire focused on oil and energy policy. And four of the nine “real” questions did. The tenth question wanted to know my age range.
Then, under the tenth question was a note that said, “Please note: It may be necessary to contact you regarding some aspects of this survey.” So I was supposed to give my day and home phone numbers before I returned the postage paid envelope.
Sadly, though the concept is noble, I suspect that the Investor Protection Association for America is nothing more that a lead generation business. It collects phone numbers it matches to addresses and then sells them for a profit. They actually have an online website you can google that shows you over a quarter of a million people have responded and you can buy their names and information.
My guess is the freshest of names are sold at a very expensive rate to people who sell stuff like oil and gas opportunities via the telephone. They probably have exclusive rights to those names for a month or so.
Then the names are marketed to people who do direct mail. Somewhere in between $135 and $150 buys you 1,000 names, but there is a 5,000-name minimum. One website lists the IPAA responders as having:
“The discretionary income to invest in stocks, bonds, annuities, commodities, mutual funds, oil and gas, and hedge funds as well as subscribe to publications, books and fundraising offers.”
In fact, the Investor Protection Association for America’s list broker reports that in March 2008 the following groups rented those names:
* Financial Institution
* Intelligent Investor Report
* Vector Vest
So after figuring out what they “really” wanted, I just sealed the envelope with nothing in it, and mailed it back on their dime, and let them pay for nothing since they tried to scam me in the first place.
HERE’S A GREAT GIFT FOR McCAIN SUPPORTERS! A SARAH PALIN ACTION FIGURE!
Sarah Palin has given a big jolt of energy to John McCain’s campaign. If you’re a fan — or just a collector of tacky knick-knacks, you might be interested in Herobuilder.com’s new Palin 12-inch plastic action figures.
The company offers John McCain and Barack Obama effigies in the classic 12-inch plastic format, as cuddly 8-inch plush dolls, and even as Pez candy dispensers.
So far, Palin is available only as a 12-incher, but she comes in three outfits: a conservative suit, a slightly sexed-up schoolgirl look, and as a gun-toting superhero clad in a black-leather trenchcoat.
LISTENER MICHELLE ANTHONY SENT ALONG THIS CUTE KID’S STORY!
Saw this and thought of all the things kids misunderstand:
One day my young daughter and I were listening to an old tune
by Simon and Garfunkel. When the song finished, she asked me,
“Well, did he?”
“Did he what?”
“Did Parsley save Rosemary in time?” she asked.
Michelle Anthony
Century 21 Berg Realty
(FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE SONG, TAKE A LOOK!)
