Inspirations to get into politics, when your NBA team trades for an unpatriotic alcoholic stoner and "Lost" casting news

- Few things inspire Americans to become involved in politics. Unless they are outright provoked, the average resident of these United States will sit on his or her lazy ass and do nothing when it comes to getting involved in the running of the local community. Allow me to cite the example of Mary Wymer of Sunset Hills, Mo. as a prime representation of exactly what I am talking about. Wymer was prosecuted for honking her car horn and charged with disturbing the peace. Court records show that Wymer's criminal conduct was a prolonged horn honk of a few seconds. A week after she honked at neighbors walking in the street, Sunset Hills police came to her home and led her out in a pair of the silver bracelets. "Everybody, everyday, honks their horn," Wymer said. Her neighbors disagreed, which is surprising until you find out that Wymer lives in a very upper-class, uptight neighborhood, the type of place where people take themselves far too seriously, do things like form homeowners organizations telling their neighbors how high they can grow their grass and look down their noses at the rest of the world as if having money somehow makes them superior. Here’s how Wymer described the incidents in question: "One was with a stroller, one was with a dog. They were in the street. I came up behind them and I honked my horn once to get out of the way...I did it for safety purposes and there was a UPS guy coming on the other side. They had their backs turned to me. They did not see me.” They may not have seen you, M., but they heard you and for that, the city managed to exact a $500 fine after a prolonged court case that included two appeals. To Wymer’s credit, she made the process a Catch-22 for the city, as prosecuting the case cost them thousands of dollars in order to secure that $500 fine from her. Wymer, a neo-natal intensive care nurse and mother, has responded by running for mayor. "I just want to let the voters be aware of what kind of people are running this city and to let them know, now they have a choice...I want to bring integrity back to city hall," Mary Wymer said. That’s not true, by the way, because one place integrity has never resided is city hall in any city. Either way, the election is April 6th…………

- Not that coming back from the dead isn’t eventful and dramatic in and of itself, but Lost's Sayid (Naveen Andrews) may have some very difficult and panic-inducing moments ahead as not one, but two of his former lovers return to the show that seems to raise ten new questions for every existing question it answers. After being mortally wounded in last season’s finale and apparently dying in this season’s premiere, Sayid came back to life and before the show’s final season comes to a close, so will two of his former lady friends, both of whom have died during the course of the series. Shannon (Maggie Grace), his dead girlfriend from the island, and Nadia (Andrea Gabriel), his dead off-island wife, will both make appearances in Lost’s sixth and final campaign. Grace has been busy with multiple films and unable to return to the show to reprise her role as Shannon, stepsister of Ian Somerhalder’s Boone, who was killed by Ana Lucia in Season 2. "We're really excited about having her back on the show," executive producer Carlton Cuse said, "and we have a good story for her." In a trend for female friends of Sayid, Nadia also was murdered, run down in a hit-and-run car incident by one of Charles Widmore's assassins, as Sayid helplessly looked on. Network executives and Lost producers won't comment on when either woman will return or for what number of episodes, but they join a growing list of former cast members who died in previous seasons of the show but are slated to return this season. Libby (Cynthia Watros), Michael (Harold Perrineau), Charlotte (Rebecca Mader) and Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) will also be back this season as Lost looks to go out in style…………

- And the last stronghold has fallen. AT&T, flagship provider for the iPhone in America, has finally struck a deal to offer Android-based phones. AT&T Thursday set a March 7 release date for the Motorola Backflip, the first Android-powered smartphone to run on AT&T's 3G network. The Backflip is designed with a "flip-out" QWERTY keyboard that well-suited for texting and is designed to be opened more like a book than like a traditional slide-out keyboard. It will also feature Motorola's Motoblur overlay, which allows users to combine friends' status updates and uploaded pictures from sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace onto their home screens. The price point is actually not that ridiculous, weighing in at $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate. Oh, the Backflip will also be the first Android-powered phone to run on the HSPA 7.2 network that AT&T has been building up over the past year. It’s an upgraded version of the HSPA technology that AT&T has used in its GSM-based 3G network. AT&T hopes to have HSPA 7.2 cover 90% of its 3G network by the end of 2011. By that point, it will actually be preparing for its transition to Long Term Evolution 4G technology. Now that AT&T has agreed to carry Android-based smartphones, the carrier falls in line with its primary rivals, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. That trio all rolled out Android phones in 2008 and 2009, but perhaps having the iPhone as its leading smartphone offering dissuaded AT&T from following suit until now. The Android mobile operating system, which Google designed, is a Linux-based open platform for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and some key mobile applications. Google created the system purportedly to encourage the development of mobile applications that will give users the same experience surfing the Web on their smartphone as they would have on a computer. Not being a big smartphone guy myself, I can’t confirm whether Android succeeds in this endeavor, but for those whose lives are wrapped up in their phones, now you have all four major carriers from which to choose when looking for an Android-equipped phone…………

- Do not freaking encourage the National Enquirer, Pulitzer Prize. The second you let these bottom-dwelling, story-fabricating, no-soul-having scumbags believe that they are not the wretched filth of the Earth, then you’ve got a serious problem on your hands. I wish the folks who award the Pulitzer and I could have had this informative chat before they placed the Enquirer in the running to receive a Pulitzer Prize for its breaking coverage of the John Edwards scandal. The Enquirer is nominated in two categories: Investigative Reporting and National Reporting, but to be honest, once you nominate them in one, additional nominations become superfluous. I don’t think I need to remind all of you of the numerous absurdities (100-lb. babies, space aliens, deceased celebrities back from the dead, etc.) that the Enquirer and its tabloid compatriots have reported on over the years and that’s why it stuns me that the Pulitzer Prize commission would even think to nominate that rag for any award. Initial indications were that the Enquirer's submission packet would be tossed out because of a variety of technicalities, any of which would have been satisfactory in my opinion. One of them was a debate over whether or not the Enquirer is actually a newspaper or more of a magazine (neither, as it’s more of a glorified toilet paper). Prize rules stipulate that the Pulitzer can only be given to a newspaper or news site that is published at least on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, the fools entrusted with making the decision ultimately determined that the Enquirer is a newspaper, and therefore will be judged in the competition accordingly. Being nominated is bad enough and will embolden these fools all the more, but let’s not compound the mistake by actually giving them the award, Pulitzer peeps…………

- For Washington Wizards fans who are happy that their team acquired forward Josh Howard as part of a seven-player deal with the Dallas Mavericks, I would advise you to listen to what I’m about to say before you make your decision. Bear in mind that we already know that Howard is an avowed stoner (and yes, I still love stoners, some of the world’s most awesome people). We know that because he admitted in a radio interview during a playoff series in 2008 against the New Orleans Hornets that he occasionally smoked the hippie lettuce. We also know that he’s not a big fan of the national anthem, as he appeared in a 2008 video in which he mocked disparaging the anthem at a charity flag football game, with Howard saying, "I don't celebrate this sh*t. I'm black." We also know that he’s a big fan of street racing, having been was arrested in North Carolina for street racing. Oh, and while with the Mavs, he passed out flyers to his birthday party in the locker room right after a critical loss. That led to then-coach Avery Johnson canceling the next day's practice. All of those facts were already on record, but now that they’ve traded him away, the Mavericks are looked to heap additional dirt on his basketball grave by revealing, through unnamed sources of course, that while he was with them, Howard also missed a game because of a hangover. Multiple team sources confirmed that Howard missed the Mavericks' Jan. 20 win over the Washington Wizards because of a hangover after boozing it up the night before. Ironic that the game was against the Wizards, because I have o wonder if they would have been willing to complete the deal if they had known these allegations. Of course, Howard initially refused comment on the allegations, then doubled back and stated that he was "not responding to a lie.. My lawyers ar taking action... Thanks.. That's a response." To that, he added after his Washington debut that he intended to "stick it to the Mavs." No word on whether he needs to remain sober or un-stoned to do so, but probably not. All in all, this doesn’t bode well for a guy whose contract is expiring after this season and has only a team option for $11.8 million for next season. Something tells me the Wizards won't be picking up that option and no other team is likely to hand an eight-figure per-year deal to an alcoholic stoner who hates the national anthem, doesn’t give a damn about his team’s success and enjoys street racing in his free time. Enjoy your fate, J. Howard, because it’s of your own making. As for you, Wizards fans, still excited? Probably not…………