My suspicions of yoga confirmed, Taiwan disses American beef and Charles Rogers continues trending toward disaster

- I’ve always been suspicious of yoga, so hearing that a few disenchanted individuals are suing one yoga teacher/master/businessman and alleging that his operation is really a giant cult……let’s just say it doesn’t surprise me. The epicenter of this scene is Sedona, Arizona, where Ilchi Lee, a South Korean businessman and founder of a national chain of yoga and wellness centers called Dahn Yoga, does business. Dahn Yoga supposedly offers physical exercises that "can restore the vibrations of the body and brain to their original, healthy frequencies," according to a video on its Web site. That’s not the story that some former employees are selling in their lawsuit against the company. In the suit, the former employees allege that Dahn Yoga is "a totalistic, high-demand cult group" that demands large sums of money from its followers and positions Lee as an "absolute spiritual and temporal leader." The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Arizona, says that recruits – not clients or customers, but recruits - "are unknowingly subjected to an intensive program of psychological manipulation, indoctrination and various techniques of coercive thought reform designed to induce them to become Ilchi Lee's disciples and devote themselves to serving him and his 'vision.' " Now that is creepy and unnerving. That’s the sort of allegation that makes your stomach turn merely on the possibility that it might be true. Jade Harrelson is one of more than two dozen plaintiffs in the lawsuit and she paints a picture of Dahn leaders who "prey upon people like me who are ignorant about the way money works." The company’s response is exactly what you’d expect, namely that these plaintiffs are "disgruntled former employees." If there were two or three of them, I might buy that. But there are a couple dozen of these former employees who have banded together and I’m guessing that they aren’t all good friends who hatched up a plan to bilk their old company for money. But if they were doing that, Dahn Yoga would be a mighty fine target. The company set up its first shop in the United States in 1991, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and has grown to a total of 127 studios in the United States and more than 1,000 worldwide. The company’s net profits for 2009 were estimated at $34 million, so it’s a fairly large operation. Its teachings are undeniably kooky, specifically the belief that what it calls brain wave vibration can ease some of the debilitating symptoms of illnesses such as diabetes and arthritis. However, Harrelson and his fellow plaintiffs would counter that Dahn Yoga’s philosophy is founded upon to principle of coercing its employees into taking out student loans, then transferring the funds to the company. This alleged scam started with small payments that gradually escalated as fees for training and courses became more expensive. Harrelson said she eventually paid about $40,000 to Dahn. Clearly not one to save their fight for the courtroom, Dahn Yoga has already stepped up to rip the plaintiffs by saying that these people "have misinterpreted natural business cycles, natural business goals, as some type of undue pressure. We make no excuses and no apology for the fact that we are a business." To finish off that rant, a company spokesman labeled the plaintiffs as being “after one thing -- they are after money.” That’s all well and good, but I like the idea of your yoga chain being some sort of brain-warping cult that scams employees out of their money a lot more. It’s just a more compelling, much more interesting story and the possibility that Dahn Yoga is singling out potential recruits that it feels are easy marks and that Lee even sexually assaulted at least one of them (Harrelson) in Seoul, South Korea. Add to that the fact that Lee is something of a recluse who rarely makes public appearances and you have a great conspiracy theory that I can absolutely get with. Fight on, former Dahn Yoga employees, fight on………

- As someone who is not a huge fan of James Cameron's blockbuster "Avatar" and in general someone who isn't down with adult-oriented animated movies and television shows, just know that I have next to no interest in what I’m about to share with you. By now, many of you have probably seen the movie (as its earnings numbers would suggest) and one scene you may remember is the one in which Zoe Saldana's Neytiri, a Na’vi, and the avatar of Sam Worthington's character, Jake Sully, aliens spend a few intense minutes staring into one another’s eyes and sharing a dramatic kiss before the film jumps to the morning after. The scene is noteworthy because it’s the only semi-sexy scene in the movie and it was originally much more graphic. Cameron admitted in a recent group interview that "Avatar" did have a sex scene where the aforementioned scene now resides, but between but he cut it out in favor of a PG-13 rating. "That [scene] will be something for the special edition DVD, if you want to see how they have sex," Cameron said. Hmm, let me think. Two animated blue aliens getting it on…..I’ll pass. Not that it would have made the movie any more watchable, but I can see why Cameron axed the scene. Why cut down your potential audience significantly by saddling the movie with an R rating? Any animated movie is bound to draw in a sizeable number of kids and those kids wouldn’t be able to see an R-rated movie. Asked about the scene, Saldana gave a somewhat confusing and bizarre answer that might make more sense if I cared to delve into the world of “Avatar” more in-depth. “If you sync to your banshee and you're syncing to a tree, why not sync into a person? I almost feel like you'll have the most amazing orgasm, I guess," she said. “It was a very funny scene to shoot because there were so many technical things that sometimes you have to keep in mind that paying attention to all those might disrupt the fluidity of how a scene is supposed to take place. She added that because of the ratings concerns, she and Worthington they "couldn't move in certain directions. The motion would look a little too past the PG-13 rating standards. So it was really funny for Sam and me. We had a lot of giggles there." Glad to know you were amused, Z. Watching one of the more overrated movies in recent memory, I sure as heck wasn’t……….

- I don’t see things ending well for former Detroit Lions and Michigan State receiver Charles Rogers and as much as I’d love to be wrong on this one, it’s just not likely. Rogers, who drank and stoner-ed himself out of the NFL in 2006, has been sentenced to 93 days in jail for contempt of court after apparently drinking too much and passing out at a Mexican restaurant. Why was a guy ordered to serve 93 days in Oakland County Jail, with credit for 17 days served, just for getting hammered and passing out at a Mexican restaurant? Probably because he was under a sobriety court order imposed after Rogers pleaded guilty in September to impaired driving. He pleaded guilty and re-entered a sobriety court program, which involves intensive counseling and testing. And yes, I said he re-entered that sobriety program. This is a guy who has had substance-abuse issues before and admitted that he was a chronic user of the hippie lettuce during his time in the NFL. Booze and pot were the reason that he went from the No. 2 NFL draft pick in 2003 to a guy who never recorded a single 1,000-yard season before he was suspended by the Lions for substance abuse in 2005 and released the next year. The team is still after him to repay two-thirds of the $9.1 million bonus from his rookie contract, but the ways Rogers’ life is trending, I wouldn’t be expecting that check in the mail any time soon. He was found "non-responsive behind the wheel" of a vehicle that was still running in September 2008, not that long after he had served a 30-day jail sentence, with credit for 15 days, instead of staying in an intensive counseling program after violating probation in a domestic violence case. In other words, you’ve got an alcoholic stoner who has had repeated run-ins with the law and I’m guessing that he’s not exactly flush with cash at this point. Bearing all of that in mind, it was only a matter of time before police showed up to some Mexican restaurant at about 3:15 p.m. on a Tuesday, in this case a joint (poor choice of words given Rogers predilection for tree, perhaps) called On the Border, and found Rogers passed out with employees concerned that was unresponsive because he may have had a heart attack. No, concerned employees, he was just getting liquored up in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. No signs of impending disaster there. "He was showing signs of intoxication and was uncooperative, and at that point our officers determined that he had a warrant out for his arrest," Novi Deputy Police Chief Tom Lindberg said. Spending the night in the hospital to sober up was probably the best thing for Rogers, but going to jail for three months will be even better. District Court Judge Robert Bondy helped him out with that step, but I am not sure exactly what can be done to help Rogers out long-term. His addiction issues are obviously deep-rooted and he cannot shake his demons, even when legally ordered to do so. Like I said at the top, I don’t see this ending any way other than Rogers crashing and burning in spectacular fashion…………

- Wednesday’s big announcement at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas came from Toshiba, which unveiled a "smart" TV the company claims will convert 2-D signals into high-resolution 3-D programming. Sounds expensive, no? Especially when you consider that the ZX900 Series Cell TV models will be available in only 55-inch and 65-inch screens. That size screen and with a new, 3-D converter technology packed inside? prepare to pay through the nose, although pricing was not announced when the ZX900 Series Cell TV debuted Wednesday. The product will go on sale in the United States later this year and according to Toshiba, the LED TV will have the capability to take any 2-D content, including sports broadcasts, movies and video games, and convert it into 3-D in real time. "It's unlike anything that's out there," said vice president of marketing Scott Ramirez. "This is the new 'it' TV. It's the one everyone is going to be talking about." Talking about, yes. Buying, no. People may like talking about how the TV boasts a multimedia processing chip previously used in advanced PCs and high-end gaming consoles and will allegedly have 143 times the processing power available in current TV models, but most of them won't be able to afford it. Nor will they be able to afford the many and "connected" TVs at CES this week, televisions that will combine TV and the Internet into one giant serving of lazy, gluttonous entertainment goodness. Cell TV will incorporate some of those qualities as well, including allowing users to transfer media files from your PC onto the TV's hard drive so that you can display photos and home videos on its screen. Of course, Mac users can simply connect their computer to their current flat-screen via HDMI or USB and accomplish the same thing, but whatever. Cell TV’s Internet connection will offer access to streaming content from such providers as Netflix and Pandora. Lastly, the system will also work as a video phone, but with much higher picture quality than most simple webcams you would find on a laptop or desktop computer. "You're going to look crystal clear at 55 inches," said Ramirez. Honestly…….there are some people and some faces I don’t need to see in crystal-clear resolution at 55 inches, Scotty. But thanks to you and your Toshiba compadres for the new gadgets, I’m sure that a few people will happily overpay for them and be mildly to strongly disappointed within a few weeks…………

- Oh no, no you don’t, Taiwan. Do not come crawling back to the United States now, attempting to mend fences a day after overturning part of a deal to import U.S. beef products. If our beef was not good enough for you on Tuesday, then don’t bother calling us Wednesday. The trouble started when Taiwan’s parliament changed a food safety law to ban some U.S. beef imports. Considering that the United States is one of Taiwan’s best allies, it was a pretty freaking big slap in the face. The U.S. government was predictably outraged at Taiwan and said the move undermined Taiwan's credibility as a trading partner. Now this is just me thinking outside the box, but does anyone else see Oprah Winfrey’s grimy fingerprints on this one? Oprah has gone on record as being pissed at American beef before and Taiwan does an abrupt about-face just over two months after ending a six-year ban and reopening reopen markets to U.S. bone-in beef such as T-bone steaks as well as ground beef and offal, which includes parts such as cow brain? That decision occurred on October 22, but two-and-a-half months later, they’ve changed their minds? Sounds fishy to me. Nor do I like the idea that 24 hours after pulling the plug on American beef, Taiwan said on Wednesday it would seek to reopen talks with its biggest ally immediately. The Taiwanese also want to know from the U.S. government when it could renegotiate beef-related issues. As for the bill that set this debacle into motion, it was passed in parliament on Tuesday under the pressure of rampant mad cow disease fears. The legislation bans imports of ground beef and cow offal, which sucks even though offal does sound disgusting and I would never eat it. That being said, the Taiwanese should absolutely accept our offal exports. This is just an offensive display of economic incompetence and Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has to feel pretty embarrassed at the moment, as the beef issue is one of his biggest crises since he took office in 2008. When the U.S. government has said it "deeply regrets" a certain parliament's decision and that the move could hurt development of trade ties, that’s code for, “We’re pissed, we’d consider nuking you if there wasn’t a chance of sparking World War III with China and we’ll allow you to accept our beef imports again when we damn well feel like it.” The Obama administration wants the Taiwanese to live by the October 22 agreement and isn't exactly eager for any renegotiations of said agreement. So step your game up, honor the agreement you inked and let’s move forward, Taiwan…………