- Uh-oh. My hopes for seeing ‘roid-using, check that, female fertility drug-using slugger Manny Ramirez in the Major League Baseball All-Star game are fading fast. While he sits on the sidelines, serving a 50-game penalty for violating baseball's drug policy, ManRam seems to be dropping from the consciousness of baseball fans and is beginning to lag behind in the voting. He had been as high as fourth during his suspension (the top three outfielders are selected as starters for the game), but in voting results released this week, ManRam has dropped to sixth among NL outfielders. Yes, he is eligible to return July 3 and the All-Star Game is 11 days later in St. Louis, but I fear that won't be enough. Voting closes several days prior to the game and there is just no way that ManRam, sixth with 999,800 votes, will catch Philadelphia's Raul Ibanez (1,897,905), Milwaukee's Ryan Braun (1,667,029), or the Mets' Carlos Beltran (1,367,412) for one of those top three spots. He may not even be able to pass the Cubs' Alfonso Soriano (1,340,669) and Philadelphia's Shane Victorino (1,116,524), not if the fans don’t pick it up and vote for a confirmed cheater who recently justified his actions by saying that ‘roiding up was no big deal because it’s not like he killed or raped anyone. Solid reasoning there, ManRam. I don’t care if you only have six home runs and 20 RBIs in 27 games before being suspended May 7, I am voting early and often for you. MLB.com may only allow people to vote 25 times each, but don’t think for a second that I’m not organizing a killer campaign to vault ManRam right past all of those other suckers who didn’t cheat (at least I don’t think so) and have been out there on the field the past few weeks trying to help their team win. Fear not, ManRam, because if there is any way to get you out on that field in St. Louis on July 11, I’ll make it happen……
- The Mexican military really needs to knock it off. And by “it,” I mean trying to enforce laws against the production, distribution, sale and use of illegal narcotics. Quit being so selfish and start thinking of all the solid, upstanding, hard-working drug addicts that your obsession with law and order is hurting. Take for example the Mexican military, which arrested a suspect identified as the head of a drug cartel in the Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday. These tools seem to believe that apprehending Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza, known as El Puma and El R, is a good idea. Why? Because they clearly don’t care about the tough economic times we’re in. Your average drug user can't afford an increase in the price of the coke, weed or ice that they are buying and when the leaders of cartels are getting pinched, that’s going to drive up prices. The remaining members of the cartel will feel the need to increase security, they may lose some product when the authorities apprehend their leader (if he is traveling with any sort of stash) and that’s not good for Joe Crackhead. Jurado was in charge of the Cardenas Guillen cartel operations in Cancun, which is also going to negatively impact all of the spring breakers who hit the city and are looking to score some high-quality blow. Sure, you can buy into the allegations that Jurado was involved in the killing of retired army Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñones in February, if you want to be cynical. And yes, perhaps it is a bit suspicious that Tello was shot 11 times just 24 hours after taking over as head of Cancun's anti-drug force. The bottom line is that by arresting Jurado and confiscating nine large-caliber weapons, 10 small-caliber firearms, ammunition, 16 kilograms (35 pounds) of cocaine, 45 kilograms (95 pounds) of marijuana, 2,500 doses of crack cocaine and four vehicles, the Mexican military is seriously sticking it to the average drug user. But do they consider any of that? No, they’re just pumped to make an arrest and take a supposedly dangerous man off the streets. Thanks for being selfish, Mexican military………
- I’ve been asking myself lately how the fall schedule will look for a network that I will watch exactly one show on and now I have the answer. As the CW kills off its good shows and replaces them with repugnant crap, almost certainly a show about rich, spoiled, party-loving teenagers in New York or Southern California, the amount of time I spend on the bastard offspring of the WB and UPN continues to decrease. As I look at the CW’s fall schedule, I see a whole lot of crap and unless I’m looking for something to openly mock, I won't be watching any of these shows outside of Friday night at 8 p.m. That’s when Smallville will air, moving from Thursday to Friday and premiering Friday, Sept. 25. The network will kick off with the season premiere of one of the aforementioned shows about rich, spoiled, party-loving teenagers in New York or Southern California - 90210. The show will kick off its season Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m., to be followed the premiere of the new Melrose Place - yet another show about rich, spoiled, party-loving teenagers in New York or Southern California. On Monday nights, the Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton-less One Tree Hill will move up one hour to 8 p.m., to be followed by another show about rich, spoiled, party-loving teenagers in New York or Southern California, Gossip Girl. Smallville will actually be the last CW show to premiere, preceded by America's Next Top Runway Bimbo Wednesday, Sept. 9
at 8 p.m., new and soon-to-be-canceled The Vampire Diaries and returner Supernatural on Thursday, Sept. 10. All in all, this just might be the CW’s worst, least-inspiring, most missable lineup of shows to date, which is saying something for what is clearly the worst over-air network on TV. Big ups to Dawn Ostroff and Co. for continuing the strip their network of its good shows one by one and turn the CW into a network that truly matches the “Crappy Watching” moniker I bestowed on it……
- If I’m writing about auto racing, you know I’m writing about everyone’s favorite meth head NASCAR driver, one Jeremy Mayfield. I have no interest in auto racing itself or what happens on the track, but I do have an interest in J. Mayfield peaking on meth, testing positive and getting suspended from driving his car around in circles really fast along with the other drivers. You might recall that when mounting his defense for being a meth head, er, for testing positive for methamphetamines, Mayfield called several expert medical witnesses to claim that his positive test had been a false positive triggered by the combination of two over-the-counter medicines he was taking. The explanation seemed implausible at the time and now seems much more so based on the fact that an alleged expert witness for Mayfield does not have the medical degrees or certifications he listed in his qualifications. That could be a problem, assuming that what NASCAR alleges in a motion filed in U.S. District Court is true. In the motion, NASCAR requests that Dr. Harvey MacFenerstein's sworn affidavit be dismissed from Mayfield's lawsuit because the expert falsely represented himself on six counts. What’s not in doubt is that MacFenerstein is the president of Analytical Toxicology Corp., a drug-testing laboratory in San Antonio, Texas. What is in doubt is MacFenerstein's listed qualifications in the affidavit. Mayfield’s attorneys claim that he has a 1975 bachelor of science degree in medical technology from "Mid Western State University of Texas"; that he obtained a medical doctor degree in clinical pathology from CETED University in Mexico; that he is certified as a medical review officer; and that he has membership and certification from two clinical agencies. NASCAR is disputing all of those qualifications and their claims would seem to have some merit. According to Darla Inglish, university registrar for Midwestern State since 1993, a search of school records failed to find any documentation that MacFenerstein received a degree from the university. He did “briefly attend” some classes in 1976, but allegedly never received any sort of degree. Other sources from as far away as Mexico have come forward to dispute parts of MacFenerstein’s claims, so this is getting very interesting. Whether Mayfield’s attorneys knew about these alleged discrepancies in the doctor’s record or not, it doesn’t say good things about them. Either they didn’t do their homework on a key witness or they knew and tried to pass off a bogus expert. Either one is bad news for Mayfield, who now comes off not only as a possible meth head but also someone whose legal team is either very incompetent or very dishonest. Then again, he is an (alleged) meth head, so how much can you really expect from the guy…….
- Who knew there was such a thing as an asbestos emergency? I certainly didn’t, not until I heard the tale of Libby, Montana. Libby is a small town in northwest Montana town where asbestos contamination has killed more than 200 people. With a serious problem on its hands, the town will receive more than $130 million in cleanup and medical assistance from the Obama administration, which is probably several times more than the entire town is worth…..but I digress. The decision to hand out the $130 million in financial aid was announced by the Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday. It’s actually quite historic, as this is the first such declaration issued by the agency. The sad saga in Libby has been going on since 1999, with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson labeling it a "toxic legacy" of a mine gone wrong outside Libby. The problems in Libby result from a heavy contamination of the town with asbestos-laced dust. Federal prosecutors say the dust has resulted in more than 200 deaths and 1,000 illnesses. For decades, the disease and death rate from asbestosis in the Libby area was staggeringly high -- much higher than the national average," Jackson explained. The problem was compounded by the fact that not only did dust from the mine spread all over Libby and the neighboring town of Troy for decades, but tailings from the facility also were used as fill for driveways, gardens and playgrounds, she said. In other words, this terrible substance was in the face of residents everywhere they turned and that exposure has had horrific consequences. Of the $130 million being handed out, EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said $6 million from the Department of Health and Human Services will go to local health care providers to screen, diagnose and treat asbestos-related illnesses, while $125 million will go toward cleaning up contaminated areas. That money will bring the total amount the EPA has designated for the Libby area to $333 million and that may not be the end of it. The EPA admits that it still must do significant research to determine how many properties in Libby are affected and need to be treated. Montana Sen. Max Baucus, the former chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has been leading the charge on this issue and rightly so. For once, a politician is actually seeking ginormous wads of federal cash for his state and he’s right to do so. Maybe if someone had done this years ago, the problem wouldn’t have gotten so out of control. After all, the Libby mining operation began operations in 1919 and almost immediately, dust from the plant covered lawns around town and polluted the air. Being that it was 1919 and the Great Depression was taking root, plus it being a time where so little was known about the health effects of pollution, no one worried too much about it. However, that didn’t change the fact that the product produced by the mine was contaminated with tremolite asbestos, a particularly toxic substance that has been linked to mesothelioma, a cancer that can attack the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart. Now, the government is finally making a sincere effort to address the situation and perhaps some good can still be done in Libby…….
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