Steroids have been in circulation in the sporting world for decades. The recent news relating to steroids and professional wrestling have me in a conflict of interest. This debate is nearly tired, but my perspective requires clarification. Being somewhat libertarian, I am of the opinion that whatever you put in your body is your business. However, as a competitive athlete, I do believe that the integrity of competition is severely compromised by the use of steroids.

There has been testing in certain competitive sports for a long time; but those in charge of certain sporting institutions have often allowed their use to go untested or barely punished, if at all. The baseball and cycling controversies have sparked a renewed interest in this subject, provoking congressional investigations and reforms. Recently, shocking headlines announced that a popular professional wrestler, Chris Benoit, murdered his wife and offspring, then hanged himself. His body was tested, discovering 10x the amount of Testosterone levels, due to a synthetic testosterone considered an anabolic steroid, but not illegal under the sport’s testing policy. WOW.  It seems to me that if this incident was indeed related to the drug he was taking, it could have been prevented. I am not a wrestling fan, although I had watched the occasional match perhaps 10 years ago. Even then, as a youth, I was aware of rumors that most of them were jacked up on steroids. It’s pretty obvious if you’ve ever seen one of these guys, excepting the smaller Latin Americans. When the baseball, cycling, and football incidents were happening, I began to wonder when the spotlight would be turned toward the wrestling entertainment industry. However, as far as I know this did not happen until after the horrific incident mentioned above. But today

The compelling photographs of Miwa Yanagi explore themes depicting the role of women in the context of Japanese society, yet reflect the archetypal concerns of many women across cultures. Mixing both the imaginary and the real, Yanagi conjures compelling visions using theatrical set-ups and mesmerizing color. Elevator Girls, started in 1993, first gained international attention for the artist, and My Grandmothers, begun in 1999, is based directly on conversations with the women who apply to be her models. The most recent Fairy Tale series, mainly shot in black and white, further examine female roles as they are mythologized in fairy tales specifically by the ancient Greeks, Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. She is currently on exhibition at the Chelsea Art Museum.

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“Let’s get one thing straight. You are behind the counter because you have to work for minimum wage. I’m on this side asking to see the good jewelry because I make considerably more.”

- Condoleeza Rice to a jewelry store employee

Rut-roh, Wesley Clark spilled the beans on the white House’s effort to ‘mold’ the Middle East:

About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, “Sir, you’ve got to come in and talk to me a second.” I said, “Well, you’re too busy.” He said, “No, no.” He says, “We’ve made the decision we’re going to war with Iraq.” This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, “We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?” He said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I guess they don’t know what else to do.” So I said, “Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?” He said, “No, no.” He says, “There’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq.” He said, “I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but we’ve got a good military and we can take down governments.” And he said, “I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail.”

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