RIP Joe Gold

Joe Gold founder of Gold's Gym and World Gym passed away today. This great brother at arms even got a mention on the front page of the WSJ. Here is Ron Harris' take on Joe from a daily email that I receive. Joe seemed like one tough SOB who also got stuff done.

Born in Los Angeles in 1922, Joe Gold was a true bodybuilder whose love of the sport led him to create the modern gym chain operation, which included Gold's Gym and World's Gym. Gold joined the Navy during World War II and was injured during the Battle of Leyte, which took place in the Philippines in 1944. After the war, he joined the merchant marines and sailed around the world for the next 30 years. With every voyage he took a set of weights with him and built a great physique. In 1965, he opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, welding most of the equipment himself and designing unique machines that were beneficial to the serious competitive bodybuilder. He called it "the first gym made specifically for bodybuilders." Joe sold Gold's Gym in 1970 and resumed his career as a merchant marine. In 1977 Joe decided to open a new gym and so World's Gym was established. Today it is a global franchise, famous throughout the world, and even toward the end of his life, Joe could still be found at the front desk of the Marina Del Rey headquarters.

The Myth of Republican Conservatism by Laurence M. Vance

The New American offers up their Conservative Index (aka Liberty Index) for 2004 and Vance conveys what these results mean. Ron Paul scored 100 out of 100 after that it gets very ugly.

So how does this index refute the myth that Republican Party is the party of "conservatism"? Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the only member of the House of Representatives who admits to being a socialist, scored a 47 – about average. Former Republican Jim Jeffords (I-VT) scored an even 50. But 174 Republicans in the House (76 %) and 23 Republicans in the Senate (45 %) scored less than Sanders. Twenty-one Republicans in the Senate scored the same as or less than the 40 of Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. None of the Republican leadership in the House or the Senate managed to score over 50. House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) scored a 50. Senate president pro tempore Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) each scored a 40 – tying Senate Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD).

Okayplayer.com - Giving You True Sites Since 1999

Okayplayer.com is ready for the release of the Tipping Point, the new ablum by The Roots. Make sure to go to the store to cop a copy tomorrow and support the best group in the world.

Shaq to the Heat....got to love the Laker show destroying any hopes of winning another championship. Don't get me wrong, Lamar Odom is nasty when he isn't suspended for smoking the weed out or hurt, but the big guy is the hardest player to defend in the NBA (notice I didn't say the best---that would be Timmy D or Kevin G). Kobe and Lamar will be a semi-final team at best and will get smoked by the Spurs, Wolves and Rockets not to mention the Nuggets (if they get Martin), Jazz and Kings. Good luck Kobe (if you don't go to jail that is).

ESPN.com: Page 2 - Links of the week

More goodness from the Sports Guy. Now that he quit working for the Jimmy Kimmel show he blogs almost daily and added a links of the week.