- Way to stay classy. Venezuela. Your presidente may be a vitriolic, arrogant, oppressive and fascist dictator, and you continue blasting your neighbors in Peru for granting of political asylum to Venezuelan politician Manuel Rosales, who is wanted on corruption charges. “Despite the amount of evidence, the Peruvian government decided to grant political asylum," Venezuela's government said in a statement Monday. "It's a decision that thwarts international law, inflicts a blow to the fight against corruption and is an affront to the people of Venezuela.” Either that or they’ve decided to honor their own laws and give asylum to a man who is likely the target of a witch hunt/lynch mob fueled by fabricated, trumped-up evidence. Only you would rip a country for granting political asylum on humanitarian grounds, Venezuela. As for Rosales, he is the mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela and a leading political opponent who lost the 2006 Venezuelan presidential race to Hugo Chavez. He faces charges of illegally enriching himself while governor of Zulia state, but fled to Peru on the very day he was to turn himself in. He denies the corruption allegations against him and says Chavez is persecuting him. “Since they haven't been able to take me off the political map by the electoral route, no Rosales' claims seem much more believable in light of the fact that Chavez said publicly in October 2008, before Rosales was charged, that he wanted the mayor in prison. The impetus for Rosales’ flight from Venezuela was a 26-count complaint filed last month by Katiuska Plaza, district attorney for Zulia state, claiming that Rosales illegally enriched himself in 2002 and 2004. Funny how another prominent Chavez opponent, former Venezuelan Defense Minister Raul Baduel was arrested this month on corruption charges, too. It’s just bizarre how everyone who opposes ol’ Hugo is suddenly corrupt, eh? Baduel played a key role in turning back a coup attempt against Chavez in 2002 but broke with him in November 2007 over constitutional changes Chavez was proposing. He’s been an outspoken critic of Chavez since then and for those efforts, Baduel was arrested at gunpoint in front of his wife April 2 on charges that he stole $14 million from the armed forces. But don’t worry, getting arrested on falsified charges isn’t your only option as an opponent of Hugo Chavez. You could also find your political powers as, say, the mayor of Caracas being gradually eroded. That is what’s happening to Antonio Ledezma, an opposition figure who is mayor of Caracas. Last week, the pro-Chavez National Assembly shifted many of his powers to the federal government and Ledezma has accused Chavez of orchestrating protests against him. Honestly, just a very proud time for all Venezuelans………
- You’re not helping your school’s reputation Florida State receiver Cameron Wade, you’re hurting it, and you shouldn’t be failing to appear in court for pre-trial conferences in your misdemeanor battery case, man. There’s a good reason why people call your school’s teams the Florida State Crimi-noles and you’re reinforcing those reasons. Whether it’s football players stealing clothes from department stores, athletes from multiple sports engaging in a massive academic cheating scandal or five football players brawling with fellow students at the student union, there are always reasons aplenty to mock the Crimi-noles. Because of that, no one was surprised when Wade failed to appear in court Wednesday and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Judges are likely to notice when defendants don’t show up, especially when those defendants are 6-foot-6, 209-pound football players. Now I’m no legal expert, but ditching a pre-trial conference seems like a bad way to start off a case. The judge is going to have a big say in your fate, so you’ll want to do everything possible to stay on his or her good side. Of course, not getting into a fight on campus with fellow students in which you are alleged to have thrown the first punch would also help, but no use dwelling on the past. For the record, Wade was arrested along with receiver Bert Reed last November after a campus fight near the student union that involved five FSU receivers and the probable cause affidavit states Wade threw the first punch, allegedly because he thought one of the fraternity brothers was raising a hand to strike one of his teammates. Cameron Wade needs to remember that he’s Cameron Wade, he of the three catches for 59 yards last season. If he were a star player, a 1,000-yard receiver with double-digit touchdowns, this crap might fly and he could skate on the charges. However, when you’re Cameron Wade and average a solid 0.25 catches per game, that’s not going to happen. Wade would do well to consider setting a new example for the FSU receiving corps, given the following: 1) Earlier this month, receiver Rod Owens was suspended indefinitely after he was charged with DUI, and the NCAA denied Corey Surrency another year of eligibility, 2) former Florida State receiver Preston Parker was dismissed from the team earlier this year after his third arrest since 2006 and 3) Reed was suspended last year for missing class and ultimately was suspended three times in a one-month period and 4) receiver Taiwan Easterling was sidelined this spring with a ruptured Achilles. Guess Bobby Bowden needs to figure out ways to design pass plays around guys having to run them while wearing their court-ordered monitoring devices on their ankles and with the parole officers in tow…….
- F^%!&^%%@^&! D^*%!^%&!%%*^! This is f&*^!*^(ing b*(@^*(! I cannot f^&*@^&^*%!ing believe that the f8&&*!^(ing Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday federal regulators have the authority to clamp down on the broadcast TV networks that air isolated cases of profanity, known as "fleeting expletives." In a narrow 5-4 vote, the court showed it still is suffering from a W.-era hangover. This decision would have been right at home during the administration of that colossal ass hat, when officials openly pushed fines and sanctions when racy images and language reached the airwaves. The topic of controversial words in both scripted and unscripted programming on all the major over-the-air networks have been a major issue over the past six years -- dating back to when the Federal Communications Commission began considering a stronger, no-tolerance policy. “It suffices the new policy is permissible under the statute, there are good reasons for it, and the agency believes it to be better,” said Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the conservative majority. About the only plus to come from this debacle is that the high court refused to decide whether the commission's policy violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, only the agency's enforcement power. The justices then ordered the free-speech aspect to be reviewed again by a federal appeals court. The specific case that the Supreme Court heard involved ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Unfortunately, the FCC couldn’t just man up and accept it when a federal appeals court in New York had ruled in the networks’ favor, calling the commission's policy "arbitrary and capricious." Like your typical weasel-y, whiny government agency, the FCC appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking restoration of its power to penalize the networks airing "indecent" speech, even if it is broadcast only one time, and even if it does not describe a specific sex act. Leave it to good ol’ Tony Scalia and Co. to inexplicably f^&$%$^%%!ing agree with the FCC. “Even when used as an expletive, the F-word's power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning,” wrote Scalia. Go ahead and direct your expletive-filled hate mail to the FCC's acting chairman, Michael Copps, who had the audacity to call Tuesday's ruling a "a big win for America's families." Maybe your f&^%%*’d up family, Mike, but not the rest of us. All of this debate stems from the commission’s decision to formally reverse its policy in March 2004 to declare even a single use of an expletive could be illegal. The changes have become known as the "Golden Globes Rule," for singer Bono's 2003 acceptance speech at the awards show on NBC, where he uttered the phrase "really, really, f---ing brilliant." Yes, these a-holes are persecuting Bono as well, well done. Would you like to attack Steven Tyler next, perhaps Mick Jagger, Billy Joe from Green Day and other music icons? What also galls me is that the complaint against ABC involved NYPD Blue, a now-canceled scripted police drama. The show doesn’t even exist anymore, yet you’re pressing a case against it. Props to Justice John Paul Stevens for writing in dissent that "customs of speech" and context made the Federal Communications Commission's position unworkable. “As any golfer who has watched his partner shank a short approach knows, it would be absurd to accept the suggestion that the resultant four-letter word uttered on the golf course describes sex or excrement and is therefore indecent,” he wrote. "But that is the absurdity the FCC has embraced in its new approach to indecency.” Well said, Justice Stevens, well said. Too bad five or your counterparts weren’t smart enough to agree……..
- Gotta say, not the biggest fan of Chloe Sullivan right now. One of Smallville’s central characters since Season 1 is really pissing me off with her dogged devotion to Davis Bloome. This week’s episode kicked off with Chloe waking in the middle of the night after a dream in which she is awakened in the middle of the night by a call from Davis in the Talon basement and he asks her to come down to see him. In the basement, Davis has laid out rose petals everywhere and set up a romantic night for he and Chloe. She initially protests, but eventually gives in and makes out with him - until a trail of blood on the floor nearby catches her attention. Chloe follows the blood and finds half of a body hanging from the ceiling, another victim of Doomsday. At that point, she wakes up and realizes it was all just a bad dream. In the morning, she tries to shake the bad vibes with a cappuccino but is greeted by more stress when Clark shows up and hands her a copy of the day’s Daily Planet in which Tess Mercer has launched an all-out war to brand Davis as the “Cornfield Killer.” Chloe insists that the new murders aren’t linked to Davis because he’s dead, a lie that Clark has his doubts about. He wonders if Davis is still alive and continues pursuing that theory, soon finding proof when the grave where Davis is supposedly buried is empty and appears to have been “clawed” out of by someone on the inside. Clark stops by LuthorCorp to talk with Oliver Queen about a solution to the problem, a solution he believes can be found at the Fortress of Solitude. Clark asks Oliver to find Chloe and get her to safety while he goes to the Fortress. Oliver actually has more than one problem on his hands, mostly because of Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy, now a raging druggie, interrupts Oliver’s business meeting at the Ace of Clubs to ask him for money to allegedly repair Jimmy’s car. Oliver takes one look at Jimmy’s condition and surmises that he’s high and actually asking for drug money. When he offers to pay for Jimmy to go to a very posh, private rehab program, Jimmy declines. The two men meet up again a few hours later when Oliver follows through on Clark’s plan and goes to the Talon to find Chloe. Instead, he finds Jimmy rifling through her apartment to steal money for drugs. A confrontation ensues, but before things can go to far, doom encroaches on Oliver and Jimmy both. More specifically, it’s Doomsday. Davis hears the commotion upstairs from his basement home, figures Chloe might be in danger and rushes to the apartment. He clobbers both men with a shovel, drags them to the basement and ties them up. Together, they wait for Chloe to arrive back at the Talon so she and Davis can launch their plan to flee Smallville together for a fresh start. Because Chloe’s presence is the only thing than can keep the beast in Davis in check and prevent him from turning into Doomsday, he refuses to be away from her and leaving town is the only way to make that happen. The police are now searching for Davis, so he needs to go. But while waiting for Chloe, Jimmy does his best to antagonize Davis and spur him to turn into Doomsday. “You’re already taken everything else from me,” he snarls at Davis after Davis admits that if Chloe doesn’t come back soon, killing either Oliver or Jimmy is the only way he can keep from turning into Doomsday. However, it’s Clark who arrives on the scene first. He speeds into the Talon as Davis is attempting to choke the life out of Oliver. Clark stops the attack, pulls Davis off Oliver and rushes away with Davis firmly in his grasp. The next stop is the Fortress, where Clark reveals to Davis that this is a piece of Krypton on Earth. He then tells Davis that he can send him to a place where he will never be able to hurt anyone. That place is the Phantom Zone, where Clark himself has made a couple of stops. When CK voiced this plan to Chloe, she was vehemently against it. This is where I really began to get irritated with her, because she wouldn’t just let Clark send the being sent to destroy the Earth off to a place where he can’t escape or hurt anyone? She feels there just has to be a way to redeem him and make him a good person? For much of the episode, Chloe has been consulting with a scientist to whom she gave a sample of Davis’ DNA in the hopes of finding a cure for his condition. That scientist informs her that there is no cure and that he wants nothing to do with Davis because he’s so dangerous. Yet just as Clark jams a crystal into the Fortress’ console to open up a portal to the Phantom Zone, there’s Chloe. She uses the metallic, Kryptonian disc that has been used throughout the show’s history for transportation from Smallville to the Fortress and shows up just in time to remove the crystal and close the portal. She then has the gall to chastise Clark for being willing to send Davis to the Zone and leaves with Davis in tow. Clark returns to Smallville to find Chloe and Davis gone, fallen off the grid. Oliver is unhappy with Clark for not killing Davis when he had the chance, but now Clark vows to hunt him down and save Chloe no matter what. Oliver then makes a curious decision: hiring Jimmy Olsen to be a member of his staff. The position is somewhat ambiguous, but Oliver cites Jimmy’s ability to see the killer inside Davis before anyone else and his willingness to do battle with him as admirable qualities. Jimmy accepts the offer, so what will he be up to? The episode ends with Chloe calling Clark from a gas station on Route 7 as she and Davis stop to refuel before heading for the border - not sure if that means Canada or Mexico. Chloe tells Clark she’s doing what she’s doing to save him, to keep Davis away from him and from turning into Doomsday because Doomsday’s avowed mission is to destroy Clark. Clark begs her not to be the hero, but she won't listen. She hangs up and gets back on the road with Davis after wiping the tears from her eyes. This was an OK episode, but you do have to be frustrated with the sporadic screen time of Lois, who wasn’t in this episode at all. Two more weeks to go until the finale, so plenty of drama left to unfold…..
- Only in Vermont….and possibly Maine, maybe Alaska. But you have to admit that there aren’t many states where a wayward moose could disrupt the flow of traffic by wandering out onto a major interstate. A young moose (isn’t it always the young moose causing the problem?) meandered across southbound lane of Interstate 89 Wednesday afternoon and became trapped by fencing between the northbound lane and Route 2 in the town of Bolton, near an area known to locals as the "Bolton Flats.” The governor's Vermont State Police security detail (without governor inside) saw the moose and pulled over. Members of the detail attempted to keep the moose on the grassy shoulder, away from speeding cars and trucks. Soon thereafter, a cruiser arrived, then a game warden. With all of these brilliant law enforcement minds gathered in one place and needing to outsmart a moose, the group decided it had two options. According to game warden Chad Barrett, officials realized could either get the moose to safety or shoot it. The moose appeared to be an orphan, about 1 year old, and did not appear to be sick, so the decision was made to try and get it over the fence and back into the woods. The Vt. Fish and Wildlife Dept. does not have tranquilizer guns available, so the officers and wildlife officials would have to work with the moose to make that happen. Barrett coaxed it to keep walking, slowly, along the fence line for one full mile to an opening in the fence used for emergency vehicles. Bolton officials came with the key to the padlock and opened the gate while Barrett did everything in his power to keep the animal calm and headed away from traffic. “This is time of year when moose come out of mountains to the valleys -- and tend to cross roads -- that section of interstate is hot section for moose crossings in recent years" Barrett said. "It all worked out well.” Once through the gate, Barrett got the moose across Route 2 and into the woods to safety. Just one of the many perks - mostly maple syrup-related - to living in Vermont…..
No comments:
Post a Comment