- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It’s back to Greece, where things are clearly still simmering in the nationwide conflict between angry young anarchists and police. On one hand, you have The Man (i.e. the Greek government) continuing to defend its response to the crisis that has exploded since the incident last week in which a teenager was fatally shot in a clash with the police. Greek political leaders are saying that they feel the violence will gradually fade out, returning the country to normal. “I think it’s going to fade out,” said Panos Livadas, general secretary of the Information Ministry. “I think reason will prevail. I also think we will keep on doing our best not to have a future risk of innocent life. No more innocent blood. It’s O.K. if we have to wait a day or two.” At the same time, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis was offering to compensate shopkeepers whose premises have been damaged in the riots. A nice gesture to be sure, but not nearly as nice as your police officers not wrongfully and fatally shooting teenager, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15, last weekend. Had you been able to pull that off, there wouldn’t still be clashes between police and rioters outside the Parliament building, with a vivid image of one rioter winding up to lob a Molotov cocktail at the cops. As is, you have to deal with several thousand demonstrators gathering outside the main Athens courthouse where two police officers involved in the shooting were testifying. But hey, if you had done things the right way, I wouldn’t have the joy of talking about hostile anarchists chucking rocks and gasoline bombs at riot police, who reacted by firing tear gas. Oh, and the attorney for the policemen saying that a Grigoropoulos was killed by a ricochet and not a direct shot isn’t going to help matters. That basically looks like you desperately reaching for an excuse to get your client off for murdering someone, counselor. But heck, even if it’s true, it doesn’t make the crime any less reprehensible; if anything, it makes it worse because now you’ve got a bunch of cops who can’t shoot straight, ricocheting bullets all over city streets and killing people by accident, not good. About the only upside here is that this senseless killing has stoked the fire of student anarchists, who had been relatively quiet in recent years but are now back in full force. Oh, and before we wrap this up, mad props to rioters in the port city of Patras who took thebold and ironic step of blocking the police station. Clearly I was mistaken in slotting Greek anarchists so low in my recent World Riot poll, these guys need to be right at the top and are a serious contender for the title of World’s Best Rioters for 2008……
- Beware of snowblowers, everyone. I shouldn’t have to make that warning, given the fact that hundreds of serious injuries occur every winter involving these dangerous metal monsters, but because of people like Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic, I am compelled to restate this warning one more time. Sakic, who was already sidelined by back problems and wasn’t expected to resume his NHL career until January anyhow, will now be out at least three more months because he broke three fingers in a snowblower accident at his home in Englewood, Colo. The Avalanche announced Sakic had surgery Tuesday night for the broken fingers and tendon damage, but even with that reality you have to think that Sakic is fortunate here. Far worse things can happen in snowblower accidents than broken fingers and tendon damage, so hopefully he is counting his blessings. Besides, he was already undergoing treatment for a herniated disc, so rehab was part of his daily routine prior to this anyhow. Not that professional hockey matters or is relevant in this country, but if it did matter at all to 99.9 percent of sports fans, there might actually be a lot of chatter about this. You just have to wonder if Sakic is at all regretting the decision to return for a 20th year after almost retiring during the offseason. Heck, he also missed a game this season with an infected tooth, so that’s three medical problems in however many months the hockey season has been going on (I don’t care enough to look it up), so maybe retirement was the better option after all……
- Look for several Iranian nuclear program employees to be brutally executed with little or no legal process in the next few days. Why? Because earlier this week, several Iranians working directly for the country's nuclear research program were arrested for funneling information about the program to foreign nations. Here in the United States, such arrests would lead to months of in-depth investigations, years of legal wrangling and maybe, a decade later, the execution of those individuals for treason. In Iran…..let’s just say, not such a forgiving place. I’m thinking Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t going to concern himself so much with building a case against these alleged traits for court, but rather on the most violent, painful and public way to execute them as an example to every Iranian. These arrests come after reports which claimed the United States and other Western intelligence agencies were trying to spy on Iran's nuclear program. But hey, if the Iranian nuclear program is for energy purposes only, as Iran contends, what’s the harm? If all you are doing is producing energy, why not share the knowledge with the world and make it a better place? On the other hand, if accusations from the U.S. and other Western nations that Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons are true, then I can see where spying might irk you. These alleged spies can likely get in the execution line right behind the three alleged spies arrested two weeks ago and accused of working for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. According to IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, those arrested included members of an Israeli spy network who collected and transferred information about Iran's nuclear and military centers. The Iranian government believes that this network has members who are trained to carry out bombing attacks and assassination plots in Iran. You never want to discount allegations of spying in incidences like this because there is so much going on in the world in terms of espionage and countries trying to gain intelligence on one another, but part of me thinks that maybe Iran is becoming a tad paranoid in its old age. Either way, I look forward to never actually seeing or hearing from those arrested in this recent crackdown and having to only imagine the brutal method by which they will be executed in the next week or so…..
- To quote George Costanza of “Seinfeld” fame, “Was that wrong?” George asked that question after his boss confronted him with allegations of having sex with the cleaning lady on his desk after hours, but Syracuse University basketball player Eric Devendorf might be asking the same thing after a university judicial hearing board ruled that Devendorf, a starting guard for the Orange, violated the Student Code of Conduct after allegedly hitting a female student in the face. For some odd reason, the board felt that a jab to the face of a female student is somehow wrong and cause to keep a star basketball player off the court…weird. Not only did the board recommend that Devendorf, a 6-foot-4 junior, miss upcoming games, it suggested that he be suspended for the remainder of the academic year. So what does Devendorf do? Appeal the suspension, of course. That means he can continue playing for now, as per athletic department and university rules. “Any player can still play while the case is under appeal,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said on Wednesday, adding he will allow Devendorf to continue playing for now. The coach also stated that the appeals process could take anywhere from 15 to 20 days, but assured all of us that Devendorf is “not going to be treated any differently” in the matter. I don’t know all the details of this case, but I do know that the female student Devendorf allegedly punched has hired an attorney, Richard Kesnig, so she appears to be taking this case very seriously and feels she has a case. Ideally, you would hope that this incident isn’t as severe as it appears and that Devendorf didn’t actually punch this girl with the intent of hurting her, because if that’s what he did, not only does he need to sit out the rest of this year, he needs serious counseling for his anger problems and issues with women. Should be interesting to see how this one plays out…..
- Where has Lionel Luthor been since his son threw him out a top-story window at LuthorCorp last season on Smallville? Well, if you’re a fan of ABC (which I can't imagine, unless it’s between January and April and Lost is in season), part of the answer is that Glover can be found on ABC's Brothers & Sisters for a short stint. But should you be interested in seeing Glover on a new show (for him anyhow) that doesn’t suck, be sure to tune in when Heroes returns from its midseason break. Glover will be doing a run as uber-villain Sylar’s father. That will make him TV dad to two of television’s most hated villains in recent memory, Lex Luthor and Sylar. Networks are cryptic and CIA-like when it comes to revealing details about new casting developments and where they might lead, but speculation is that Glover’s character will pose a lot of new challenges for Sylar, forcing the revitalized villain to make some difficult choices about his future. Sylar will reportedly find out that he and his newly discovered daddy have more in common than he might like, which isn’t going to be a good thing. This season has already been stellar on Heroes, so adding a capable, versatile actor like Glover to the mix should only improve the mix. Maybe, just maybe, Heroes will survive the earlier defection of two of its top writers and the doldrums that waylaid it in Season 2 and stay in the fine form that made it such a sensation in its first season….
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