- Never has the Indian government sucked quite as much as it does at this particular moment - at least not that I can remember. I can say that with certainty any time a government - any government - is taking back land from its poorest citizens, rolling in bulldozers to level the place, leaving behind a ginormous pile of rubble and hundreds of people with nowhere to live. Such was the scene recently in New Delhi, where bulldozers razed hundreds of makeshift homes in order to pave the way for New Delhi to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games. And when I say pave, I literally mean pave, as officials claim the land is for a road and the demolitions are part of a master plan to clean up the city and move slum-dwellers to proper housing. Uh huh, sure. Sounds nice until you learn that for many families booted from their homes, there will be no relocation because they “do not meet relocation requirements.” The argument made by the government is that these individuals are squatting too close to the road, and are located in a major development zone. “You see they have encroached on the specific project lengths -- there will be no notice, no relocation projects for them," said New Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra. But fear not, because the mayor says the she and her administration are in fact concerned about these homeless individuals. Sure you are, Ms. Mayor, sure you are. But the fact remains that nearly 3 million people live in New Delhi's slums, and New Delhi is slated to build just 100,000 new apartments, with only 6,800 are under construction at this point. Advocacy groups for those less fortunate in the area claim that demolishing housing is harming those who can least afford it. "They'll be pushed to the brink," said A.K. Roy of the Hazards Centre Sanchal Foundation, a non-governmental organization. "Eventually I think what the planners are doing, they are not realizing they'll be building up a pool of violence." Ironically, many of the people who live in New Delhi's slums are the ones who provide some of the city’s most essential services: maids, drivers, street vendors and day laborers. With such a compassionate government having their back, hard to see why these people are so concerned…..
- Great, something else China can use to vilify Western culture and point at us for when they talk about our influence corrupting their society. Materialism and a decline in morals already on that list, now you can add an increase in violence on the court and in the stands at Chinese basketball games to the ledger. Because the country’s basketball federation felt that the lack of physical play was hampering their national team on the world stage, as evidenced by the national team bowing out of the Beijing Olympics in the quarterfinals in August, China has made a concerted effort to bring more contact into the domestic game. After that sad display, Chinese Basketball Association teams and players were instructed to get more physical this season. "After the Olympics, we realized that unless we strengthened our physical presence, Chinese basketball would not be able to compete with the world's best," CBA chief Liu Xiaonong said. However, those changes have produced significant growing pains in the form of violence on court and a rise in crowd disorder. "Some [teams] have been punished for their misbehaving fans, who were outraged partly because they did not understand the new standards the referees must enforce," Liu added. "The league has not done a good enough job in getting the message about physicality out." Possibly not, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing a record $140,500 (960,000 yuan) in fines assessed so far this season. I’m thinking that this may not have been what Houston Rockets center and Chinese national team star Yao Ming had in mind when he complained that the non-contact style prevalent in the China Basketball Association was leading to players not tough enough for the international game. A large part of the problem seems to be the lack of understanding and capability from the officials working the games, as this new standard has led to a series of controversial decisions particularly in calling fouls where there has been contact between players. In an attempt to address the problems, Liu announced the formation of a working group to improve standards and plans on inviting NBA officials to instruct Chinese referees. Nice to know that producing toxic toys, food products and dental products isn’t the only area where you can screw things up, China…..
- Color me disagreeable, but it seems more than a little excessive to bring pornography charges against six high school students, three female students who sent nude or semi-nude photographs of themselves via their cell phones and three male students who received the photos. That’s the plight of six Greensburg (Pa.) Salem students after Greensburg police filed petitions with Westmoreland County juvenile authorities charging the three high school girls with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography. Additionally, the three high school boys found with the photos on their cell phones are charged with possession of child pornography. Honestly, it’s ridiculous. Is it something anyone would like to find their teen doing? No. Is it some vile criminal act? Again, no. It’s some kids goofing around, crossing a line or two and doing something that shows bad judgment but shouldn’t be classified as criminal. The girls took the pics of their own free will and sent them, probably to their boyfriends. Yeah, but that’s a reason to hit them up with criminal charges. And what, you expect teenage guys to turn down nude pics of girls they like? Not happening. Heck, the police are swinging for the fences here and saying that even more charges are possible because they believe the photos may have gone to others. Honestly, if they’re looking to stop the practice of "sexting,” it’s just not happening now or ever. This all started in mid-November when former high school principal Lisa Rullo, , became aware of a photo after a student used a cell phone during school hours and the phone was confiscated. Because this one tool couldn’t control himself during school hours, police were called in and other cell phones were seized. However, Rullo herself admits that “these pictures were not taken at school," yet there the district is right in the middle of this. Again, these girls made the choice to stand in front of the mirror and take their own pictures. Nothing like being 14 or 15 years old and possibly having criminal charges on your record because you took a picture of your own free will and sent it to a friend, also of your own free will. I understand that this is some pretty unsavory business and not something you really want to get behind and support, but it’s also not something that warrants this blatant and excessive overreaction by the cops……
- Just vote no. Not a tough call for Venezuelan voters now that they will definitely be faced with the task of voting on a constitutional amendment that would allow President Hugo Chavez to run for a third consecutive six-year term in 2012. After the tools in the Venezuelan National Assembly approved a referendum on the matter, the decision now goes to voters as soon as February 15. Here’s what I love about this story: narrowly rejected a similar measure in a December 2007 referendum, but the national assembly and Chavez keep trying to cram it down their throats. Nothing like not respecting the will of the people and continuing to manipulate and intimidate, er, attempt to persuade them until you get the result you want. This isn’t a freaking magic eight ball where you just keep shaking and shaking until it tells you what you want to hear. The people voted on this before, they said no, so tough luck, Dictator Chavez. This is actually quite a whopper of a constitutional amendment, as it would change five constitutional articles and allow indefinite re-election not only of the president, but also governors, mayors and national and regional legislators. Nice, throw in other politicians as a smoke screen so it doesn’t appear that you’re doing this only so a dictatorial despot can stay in office for the rest of his life. The National Assembly notified the National Electoral Council formally on Friday and now the electoral council then has 30 days to set up a vote. Thankfully my peeps, thousands of university students throughout Venezuela, knew how to react to this crap. They have previously stood loud and proud against unlimited terms and they were out in force to protest the decision. They’re also looking ahead to the upcoming vote, demanding that voter registration be reopened so about 300,000 newly eligible voters can cast ballots in the referendum. You need that kind of effort to take down an opportunistic despot like Chavez, who waited to call for the referendum until November, one week after Chavez-backed candidates won a majority of the seats in local elections that were seen as a test of his influence. Venezuela has been saddled with this knob as its leader since 1999 and the National Assembly did them no favors when it drafted a new constitution in 2000 giving the president a six-year term. Show up in force and vote no in February, Venezuelans, or you’re stuck with this ass hat for the rest of his life……
- Sad to say, the dream run of the Detroit Lions may not continue in 2009. The team that made my dreams come true by going 0-16 this season fired its head coach, hired a new general manager and has now brought in the man it hopes will be the right coach to turn things around, former Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. For the past eight seasons, Schwartz has been a defensive wizard for the Titans and turned them into one of the league’s top defenses. He should bring some of that winning magic to the Lions, which is why I say that the 17-game losing streak they’re rocking may be in danger. Of course, when Rod Marinelli was hired three years ago, you’d have said the same thing about him. He too was a standout defensive coordinator for a successful team and came in preaching discipline and defense, yet failed miserably on both accounts. So maybe there’s hope that Schwartz will do the same, but I’m not holding my breath. Lions president Tom Lewand doesn’t seem to think so, not based on what he said about the hiring. "After an extensive search that included several highly qualified coaches, we are thrilled that Jim Schwartz will become our team's head coach," Lewand said in a statement. "Martin [Mayhew, Lions general manager] and I believe that Jim's qualifications and vision will lead this organization on the field toward our goal of becoming a championship football team." A championship team? How about winning a freaking game? How about finding a way to give up less than 500 points in a season as opposed to the 517 you allowed this year? Bottom line here is that it took so much good fortune and good breaks to go 0-16, doing it again is a freaking pipe dream and I’m not going to get my hopes up. Then again, you shouldn’t either Lions fans. No way that you mirror what Miami did in 2008, going 11-5 and making the playoffs one season after nearly going winless and finishing 1-15. But hey, we’ll always have 2008, 0-16 lives!...........
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