- For the one millionth time over Smallville’s eight-plus seasons, Clark Kent was in danger of someone figuring out his true identity. This time, it was Lois Lane. With someone running around Metropolis trying to emulate the Blur, saving others and fighting crime, Clark finds himself in an impossible position. When the would-be heroes, a brother-sister duo calling themselves Z and J, respectively. Their first hero attempt is to catch a bunch of supposed drug dealers and deliver them in a shipping crate to the Daily Planet, where Clark and Lois end up signing for the package and opening it. Inside, they find the alleged drug dealers, who turn out to be undercover cops. The Blur’s symbol is etched onto a nearby building, leading to the obvious conclusion that he was responsible. Lois is assigned to the story and thinks she’s making headway. Meanwhile, the Z&J duo is pulling another attempted heroic act, stopping a would-be drug deal in an alley using their super powers. The sister half of the duo is able to turn into any animal she wants, while the brother half of the duo can turn himself into ice, fog, etc. They manage to crash the limo, which is then crushed by a falling electrical pole. The resulting power outage cripples the city, but the Blur is able to fix the power grid and get the city back up and running. While on the scene of the alley incident, Clark finds Z’s cell phone and uses it to track down his impersonators. He steps in right as they are trying to bump fists to activate their powers, knocking them both out. He then takes the duo to Chloe’s Watchtower post, leaving them with her to go out and fix the power outage. Once it’s fixed, he calls Lois to explain the situation with his impersonators. Chloe returns to Watchtower to deal with Z&J and warns them to stop making Twitter and Facebook posts as the Blur and trying to be him. The message seems to get through, but J creates a new problem by messing with one of Chloe’s tech gadgets that disguises Clark’s voice any time he makes a phone call to Lois as the Blur. Right at the end of the call, Clark’s voice masking is ripped away and Lois recognizes his voice. The revelation becomes the topic of her next therapy session, as she is now seeing a psychologist. Her psychologist tries to get to the bottom of her obsession with her mystery caller, the Blur, and how it relates to Clark. When Lois decides what she can do to help Clark as he tries to balance both of his identities, she rushes out of the office on a mission. Her mission involves the press conference called by Metropolis District Attorney Raymond Sacks, a corrupt DA involved with organized crime who has challenged the Blur to come forward, reveal himself and work with Metropolis’ law enforcement. Clark attends the press conference and is debating stepping forward, despite Chloe’s objections, but Lois steps in, takes to the mic and explains why it’s important for the Blur to remain anonymous. She admits to knowing the Blur, which ironically puts her right in Sacks’ crosshairs. When Lois returns to the Planet, she finds a single red rose and a note on her desk thanking her for her speech and saying, “Meet me on the roof.” When Lois ascends to the roof and finds who’s waiting, she’s stunned. It’s Sacks, demanding that she tell him who the Blur is. When Lois refuses, Sacks reveals a plan to murder Lois and frame the Blur. He’s painted the Blur’s symbol on the roof and has two of his goons to toss Lois over the edge to her death. He has the Blur framed with the perfect motive: Lois’ own public admission that she alone knows who he is. But the plan is foiled when Lois grabs ahold of a flag pole extending from the side of the building and hangs on for dear life. A crowd gathers in the street below to see her dangle, while Clark rushes to the roof to save her. Clark inches closer to the ledge to reach Lois, but they can’t bridge the gap. In the moments before she falls, Lois informs Clark that she knows he’s the Blur but that he can’t save her because he can’t reveal his true identity to the world. When her grip gives out, Lois falls, but she’s not going to die – of course. Z&J, having learned of her plight when Z was lurking around the city as a bug, of all things, rush to the scene. J turns into fog, engulfing the street and allowing Clark to super speed to the street and save Lois without being seen. When she comes to, she’s lying on the street, unharmed and in the fog. Clark walks over and tells her he’s glad she’s alive, but she’s convinced he’s the one who saved her. However, a phone call to the nearby payphone from the Blur to tell Lois that “he” is glad she’s okay convinces her otherwise. The call is actually from Chloe, using voice automation softwate to mimic the Blur, but it does the trick. Lois is off Clark’s trail and confesses as much to her shrink. As for Sacks, he hops into his limo to flee the scene of Lois’ near-deth experience and is face-to-snout with an angry Rottweiler – Z in disguise. Sacks is unable to flee and soon arrested. Following the excitement, Clark visits Chloe and although he’s thankful for her help, he chastises her for setting up phone taps and surveillance around the city to monitor his activities, including private phone calls with Lois. She reminds him that if not for her help, Lois would still think he was the Blur. Next, Clark visits Z&J to thank them for their help, but also to warn them that in trying to be heroes, they need to not make so many mistakes. With that accomplished, Clark goes back to the Planet and summons Lois for a meeting in the file room. He admits that he has a secret to tell her, but the secret turns out to be lying and saying he is near-sighted and needs the now-famous Clark Kent glasses. She states that she believes that at times she sees a different side – an heroic side – of him that no one else sees. She’s about to leave the room when she turns, rushes over and plants a kiss on Clark. It’s a good kiss, but mid-kiss, Lois blacks out and has another of her dreams of an apocalyptic future in which Zod rules the Earth, Clark is powerless and Chloe is dead. That’s how the episode ends, setting up an interesting show next week, when Tess kidnaps Lois and forces L. Lane to reveal what she learned during her three-week disappearance/trip to the future at the end of last season and the start of this one. Tune in then……….
- Blaxploitation lives in Philadelphia…..assuming you believe the claims of an organization of African American firefighters who filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing the Philadelphia firefighters union of being "racially harassing and abusive" to blacks. According to the lawsuit, union leadership was dominated by members of a predominantly white firefighters organization dedicated to ending a 25-year-old federal consent decree that paved the way for the hiring of many black firefighters. That’s a lot to swallow, I know, but bear with me. These white firefighters have apparently formed a group of their own, the Concerned American Fire Fighters Association (CAFFA), and the lawsuit accuses them of pushing their agenda at the union. The tipping point for the black firefighters appears to have been the union's December bargaining proposal to the city included the request that "any and all quota-based hiring practices" be eliminated. "They're using my union dues to do it," said Kenneth Greene, president of Club Valiants, the black firefighters group. "It's a slap in the face." I’m sorry, you’re angry because the union wants firefighters to not be hired, qualified or not, simply because of the color of their skin or nationality? Inherent in that attitude is the assumption that those doing the hiring are racist and would not hire qualified black firefighters if not required to by some stupid quota. I’m not saying I disagree with everything in the lawsuit, but this particular point is a load of crap. Other allegations in the suit include: that the Philadelphia Fire Fighters' Union, Local 22, has no black officers and only one black employee - a janitor and that union meetings have become so divisive that black firefighters no longer attend. "African Americans have no voice in the union," the suit said. There are also references to posts from the union's private, Internet message board that mock black firefighters as lazy and stupid, and use "ebonics" to denigrate blacks. If those things are true, then they absolutely need to be dealt with and are legitimate beefs. So what do the black firefighters want from all of this? For starters, they want a federal judge to appoint a civil-rights monitor to oversee the local until it is no longer "a racially hostile union." They would also like class-action status for the more than 500 black Philadelphia firefighters. The basis of the case is the philosophical battle over the 1984 federal consent decree, which mandated the hiring of more black firefighters and replaced an entrance exam deemed to discriminate against black applicants. The consent degree was actually expanded by a federal court in 1999, leading to white firefighters pushing back because they feel the focus on hiring black firefighters has gone overboard and is now working against qualified white candidates. It’s a messy issue, no doubt. As always, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle and no one is completely right or wrong. Everyone will have to accept a solution that they disagree with in some way and we can all move along………
- Their play on the field was already indicating as much, but Lane Kiffin’s boys are on the way back to being an elite college football program. Sure, winning games and possibly making it to a bowl game are steps in the right direction, but nothing screams “elite national program” quite like having not one, not two, but three of your guys picked up for armed robbery. Rather than getting ready for Saturday’s big game against Ole Miss, safety Janzen Jackson, receiver Nu'Keese Richardson and defensive back Mike Edwards were getting busted early Thursday morning in Knoxville on charges of attempted armed robbery. According to a Knoxville City Police report, these three idiots attempted a robbery outside a convenience store near campus. I don’t know how close they were to actually getting away with this nonsense, but the fact that at least one of the players arrested was wearing some type of Tennessee gear during the attempted robbery couldn’t have helped. Well done, geniuses. Oh, and I should also mention that their weapon of choice for the alleged robbery was a powered pellet gun, later recovered in the players' car after they were stopped by police. "At this time we are currently evaluating the circumstances surrounding an incident involving Mike Edwards, Janzen Jackson and Nu'Keese Richardson," Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said in a prepared statement. "Any decisions or comments regarding their status will not be made until the evaluations are complete." That comment came Thursday, but by the end of the business day on Friday, it was announced that the three players would all be suspended for the Ole Miss game. The timing on this could not be worse for Kiffin, who on Wednesday praised his team for not having any off-the-field problems during his tenure while speaking during the SEC coaches teleconference. Think he’d like to have that one back? Jackson and Richardson were two of the prized freshmen for this year’s team and Jackson had started in all but two games this season for the Vols this season and emerged as one of the better freshman in the SEC. Of course, one of those two games he didn’t start was last week’s blowout of Memphis, when he was suspended for what Kiffin termed a violation of team rules. What Kiffin didn’t say then but is now being reported is that the suspension stemmed from a failed drug test. No better way to follow up a failed drug test than by piling into a car with a couple of your boys, lurking outside of a convenience store, parking next to a Toyota Prius and approaching the Prius brandishing a gun and demanding that the driver, "Give me everything you have." Following that up with a second member of your crew sidling up on the passenger’s side of the car, opening the door and saying, "give us everything you've got," that’s great too. The only problem? Neither of the intended victims had anything in their wallets. At that point, the trio of idiots fled and were soon stopped by police. As a quick capper to this story, it’s worth noting that Corey Zickefoose, the victim of the alleged robbery and the man who identified the three UT players as the men who robbed him, has gone on the record as saying that he hopes they are not suspended and are allowed to remain on the team. He stated that “these things happen” and it’s “just the way things are in Tennessee.” In other words, my man C. Zickefoose is a huge Tennessee fan and he doesn’t give a crap if these guys stole his car, pillaged his bank account and set his lawn on fire. What matters most to Zickefoose is that his beloved team wins. Way to send the right message to these players, Corey. Nothing builds a sense of entitlement and being above the law quicker than being above the law and treated differently because you are a UT football player. Suspension or not, the bottom line here is that with (alleged) felons like Richardson, Jackson and Edwards on the roster, the Tennessee Volunteers are on their way back to the elite level of college football………
- How about this deal if you are a persecuted indigenous person looking to stay on the land you and your ancestors have occupied for centuries: Leave or we’re going to spray you with toxic pesticides? That’s what allegedly happened to more than 200 indigenous people who refused to vacate their land in eastern Paraguay late last week. The 217 members of the Ava Guarani community in the Itakyry district were allegedly sprayed with pesticides because they wouldn’t leave their land and now they are suffering vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and nausea. The incident took place near the border with Brazil in a region where local soy growers believe that the land belongs to them and not to the indigenous people. The national government, which ironically is not the one persecuting the people (always a nice chage of pace) condemned the attacks, which came after an eviction order against the indigenous people was supposed to be carried out but was canceled by a district prosecutor right before it was to be executed. Amnesty International is also interjecting itself into the mix, condemning “the use of apparently toxic pesticides to intimidate an indigenous community after they resisted being forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands." AI is not shying away from criticizing what it believes is a failure by the Paraguayan government to adequately protect the indigenous peoples in its country. "Indigenous peoples' lives are being put in jeopardy by those who should protect them," said Louise Finer, Paraguay researcher at Amnesty International. "The risk faced by the Itakyry communities was predictable. Insufficient action was taken to protect them from the threats they faced from this renewed attempt to evict them from their ancestral lands." The failed attempt involved a bunch of goons/soy farmers piling into trucks, driving to the land and attacking the Ava Guarani. The Ava Guarani fought back against the 50 men who tried to evict them with bows and arrows as police looked on and did just enough to keep things from getting out of hand. After the battle is when the pesticides came into play; airplanes flew over fields and orchards where the Ava Guarani were working, spraying liquid pesticides. The Ava Guarani are a member of one of the five linguistic groups that the country’s 17 ethnic communities are divided into: the Mascoi, Mataco, Zamuco, Guarani and the Guaykuru. All of these communities exist along the Paraguayan River in the sparsely populated Chaco region to the west, and along the Brazilian border to the east. The indigenous peoples were supposedly protected by the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute, the state body that advises on protecting indigenous peoples' rights, back in 1996 and 1997. The institute acquired 6,518 acres of land of the indigenous communities' ancestral land on their behalf, but those claims have come under attack of late and not much is being done to help the natives. It’s an ugly situation and one that can hopefully be reversed in a hurry before the indigenous peoples are subjected to the same ugly fate that the original inhabitants of what is now the United States met…………
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