Cities with dirty air, Riot Watch! in Albania and hated teams in baseball

- Not that we’re breaking any new ground here, but it is at least reassuring to know that major metropolitan areas in California still have some of the dirtiest air in the nation. Yes, the plastic people of Cali have made major efforts over the past decade to reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants, but seemingly to no avail. A new report by the American Lung Association pokes holes in those efforts and reveals that the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside area has the worst ozone levels, measures third dirtiest in terms of year-round particle pollution, and fourth worst in short-term pollution. Those factoids come from the ALA’s 2010 State of the Air report. The report is based on data collected from 2006 to 2008. The report breaks down the 10 metro areas with the worst ozone levels thusly:

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.

2. Bakersfield, Calif.

3. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.

4. Fresno-Madero, Calif.

5. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, Calif.-Nevada

6. Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.

7. Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, Texas

8. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.

9. San Lois Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.

10. Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, N.C.

But perhaps worse for the general public is that, according to the ASA, nearly six in 10 Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution. Other portions of the report break down year-round particle pollution, worst particle pollution over a 24-hour period, efforts to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants and the transition to cleaner diesel fuels and engines. The results were particularly condemning for L.A., which had slightly worse average levels than in the American Lung Association's 2009 report. The one positive note for the Los Angeles metro area is that it recorded its second lowest ozone levels since the association's first report in 2000. Also according to the ASA, cities in the East and Midwest, such as Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area, have greatly benefited from clean-air efforts and have seen their air quality make significant progress in the past few years. As for you Cali, step your game up…………

- I quite frankly don’t care what The Nielsen Company says, I still hate the New York Yankees more than any other team in baseball - narrowly edging out Boston. According to research done by Nielsen, the team that fans love to hate more than any other is the freaking Cleveland Indians, a middle-market team that hasn’t work a World Series since 1954 and nearly lost 100 games last season. Nielsen pegs the Indaians as the No. 1 most-disliked team in baseball, according to a formula that helps determine whether consumers have positive, negative or neutral reactions to brands in their online messages. The "Sentiment Rankings" range from 5 to minus-5 and the Indians had the lowest number. In second place was those darned Boston Red Sox, a team that actually belongs near the top of the rankings. The Red Sox are the only team with a payroll nearly as ridiculous as the Yankees and a matching propensity to attempt to buy a championship every season. What doesn’t make sense is the rest of the top six, which includes an obvious choice (the Yankees at No. 5), but also the Cincinnati Reds (No. 3) and Houston Astros (No. 4) ahead of the Yanks and the Washington Nationals (No. 6) right behind them. The Reds, Astros and Nats all suck and do so on an annual basis, so why the outrage? Unless the survey solely counts people who consider themselves fans of those teams they espoused negative perceptions of, I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t fans of other teams love the Indians, Nats or Reds? Playing those teams is almost an automatic win, which is good for the team you root for. Using the Nielsen formula, only six teams scored a rating of less than 2 and none managed a negative rating. I guess that palpable arrogance, a classic rich guy complex and 27 World Series championships are no longer enough to make a team truly hated. Also cracking the top 10 were: Chicago White Sox (No. 7), Baltimore Orioles (No. 8), New York Mets (No. 9) and Los Angeles Dodgers (No. 10). Surprisingly, the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics were the most popular teams among fans, according to Nielsen's study. Why these teams are so well-liked, I have no idea. Both are typically competitive and pose a real threat to other teams’ postseason chances on a regular basis. In other words, you all are not making sense, baseball fans……….

- Quite the balls play by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, announcing Thursday that he will run for the United States Senate as an independent rather than a Republican. Crist attempted to paint his move as one wrought from his abiding loyalty to the people of his state, but something (the fact that he’s a politician?) tells me that there might be more to the story. Either way, Crist’s decision sets up the possibility of a three-way…….Senate race, that is. Crist seems confident that he can win a seat in the Senate without the formal backing of a political party. "I could have chosen to stay in the [Republican] primary, but frankly for me, this is your decision," he told a crowd of about 300 supporters and campaign volunteers. "It's not one club's decision or another." Oh, and as for that something more……as it turns out, pretty much every poll that was done over the past few weeks has pointed strongly to the fact that he stood no chance of winning the GOP nomination over his chief rival, former House Speaker Marco Rubio. Rather than continue to run the race as a Republican, he elected to hit the eject button with a sledgehammer and try to spin his decision as a vote for his belief in and loyalty to the people of his state. Asked if he could raise the kind of money needed to run a legitimate campaign, Crist responded: "I already have." He went on to ratchet up the brown-nosing with constituents, saying that if elected, he will "caucus with the people." As much as I am not a huge fan of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, he seemed to hit things right on the nose in assessing Crist’s decision to jump ship. "This decision is not about policy or principles. It is about what he believes is in his political self-interest," Bush sniped. The decision isn’t playing well with Republican Senate leadership, which said it will ask Crist to refund all of its campaign donations and called on the governor to also return money to the "thousands of Republican donors" who have supported his campaign. Those same leaders - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn - also plan to support Rubio, one of their party’s “emerging stars." To top off Crist’s GOP defection, he also lost his Republican polling firm, Public Opinion Strategies. "It has been an honor to work for Gov. Crist, and I wish him all of the best," said Communications Director Andrea Saul, who resigned within moments of the announcement. Crist did have his supporters in the decision, but methinks he may have just postponed the inevitable by staying in a race he cannot win no matter what party he represents……….

- Count another one of Apple’s competitors in the world of online music out of the fight. After Apple purchased cloud-streaming music site Lala back in December, few expected the site to have much of a shelf life and sure enough, customers received an email today informing them that the service will be discontinued as of May 31. The email explained that subscribers will receive a credit to the iTunes store for the amount of their ten-cent Lala streaming-song purchases and/or remaining balance, or refunds upon request. The lone positive is that all downloaded songs will continue to play in their owners’ music libraries. Those who follow Apple and/or the world of technology with any regularity rightly anticipated that when Apple purchased Lala, the primary goal was to absorb the Lala technology and use it to make Apple’s own products and services better. Lala’s structure houses users’ music libraries in a “cloud” (remote server), rather than on any one device, and speculation is that Apple intends to launch a cloud-based version of iTunes. As some with a ginormous……iTunes library, I can’t say as I am enthusiastic about that concept. I likes my iTunes collection on my hard drive (along with external hard drive and iPod) and as much as tech giants promise that cloud computing is safe and data stored in clouds is secure, I still feel much better knowing my data has a physical location of which I am in control…………

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It has been far too long since everyone’s favorite overview of social dissidence ‘round the world visited our friends in Albania and for that reason alone, I couldn’t be prouder of my peeps in Tirana, Albaniam as literally tens of thousands of them took it to the streets in the main square of the Albanian capital Friday, vowing to stay until the government conducts a partial recount of an election the opposition claims involved vote-rigging. And yes, allegations of vote-rigging have become so commonplace that they are almost clichéd at this point, but I’ll allow it here because those claims have sparked a massive and very angry uprising against Prime Minister Sali Berisha, whose conservatives narrowly won the June 28 general election. No sooner than the results were announced, opposition Socialists began boycotting parliament, demanding the recount of ballots in several districts. Those boycotts continue and now they are accompanied by huge protests in the capital city even as the government insists that the demand for a recount is illegal. And heck, why allow a recount if you and your allies control 75 of parliament's 140 seats? Choke out the will of the people, continue to oppress them and make them react. What I don’t like about all of this is Socialist leader Edi Rama urging the demonstrators to show "peaceful resistance" with a campaign of disobedience against the government until the recount demand is met. "We must all tell the government that its fate begins and ends with our call: Open the ballot boxes or leave," said Rama. No E., “peaceful resistance” are not what you need. Burning police cars, looted storefronts, dumpsters set ablaze, rocks thrown and plumes of black smoke rising to the sky are what you need. Nothing says, “Give us our damn recount, you filthy animals,” quite like threatening to burn your capital city to the ground unless you get what you want and then backing that threat up. Tossing added blame on the government for economic hardships in the impoverished nation is a good move, but it’s not enough. The international community has urged Albania, a new member of NATO, to resolve the election issue but those demands haven’t been met, not be a long shot. In short, I like the direction this is heading but I am going to need to see a lot more violence and angry clashes with police and security forces in order to upgrade this to a top-notch riot/protest…………

Indifference to MLB'S all-star changes, Tech Takeover Time! and hypocrisy in China

- Is it bad that I don’t give a rat’s ass about Bud Selig making changes to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game? Ever since the infamous 7-7, 11-inning tie in Milwaukee in 2002, when both teams ran out of pitchers, I haven’t been able to muster much enthusiasm for the mid-summer classic. That didn’t change when Selig made the lame-tastic decision to award World Series home-field advantage to the team that won the game. That decision was supposed to “make it count,” but in reality is just pissed a lot of people off because a bunch of scrub all-stars from teams with no hope to make the postseason were likely to decide home field in the World Series in the late innings of an all-star game after all of the players from good teams were out of the contest. As such, I just don’t care one way or the other that All-Star rosters will be expanded again by Selig's special committee for on-field matters, with each team bringing 34 players to the July 13 game in Anaheim, Calif. Rosters expanded to 32 players, including 12 pitchers, in 2003. Last summer, that number went up to 33, including 13 pitchers per league. The obvious hope was that teams wouldn’t run out of pitchers late in the game and thus no more ties or the potential for positions players to take the mound in an über-long game and blow out their arm. The choice to expand the rosters to 34 was explained by noted drunk and committee member Tony LaRussa, who expounded on the idea thusly: "I think they're serious about it being a true competition. To do that, if the game goes extra innings you have to be able to compete. This way you've got an extra guy you can protect." Whatever you say, T. Make the rosters 50 guys for all I care; it doesn’t matter. Make it just like feel-good youth sports leagues where everyone gets a medal or trophy, no one is ever left out and no score it kept. Give every team two all-stars so no one will have to travel to the game alone for all I care. Nor do I give a crap that the committee has implemented a new rule stating that a designated hitter will be used in the All-Star Game every year, including in NL cities. The DH has been used since 1989 when the All-Star Game was played in AL ballparks, but in NL parks, the prevailing rule that pitchers bat as in NL games has been enforced. "I think that's a great idea," La Russa said. "You go through a lot of needless scorecard work, it's unnecessary." Again….whatev. Oh, and that rule that each manager may designate a position player who will be eligible for re-entry to the game if the final position player -- at any position -- is injured, yeah, I think you know my response to that one too………..

- Tech Takeover Time! Tech Takeover Time! Dammit, it just doesn’t have the same cache as Riot Watch!, does it? Oh well, can’t say I didn’t give it a shot. Either way, the reality is that Hewlett-Packard announced Wednesday that it would purchase faltering smart phone maker Palm for $1.2 billion. HP is generally known for subpar, crappy computers and quality printers, but now wants to move into the smartphone business and will do so by snapping up Palm for $5.70 a share in cash, a 23-percent premium over Palm's closing price of $4.64 on Wednesday. After the deal was announced, shares of Palm rose 28 percent, while shares of HP fell less than 1 percent." Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices," Todd Bradley, vice president of HP, wrote in a prepared statement HP is looking to increase its market share in the smartphone market and that the deal represents a "significant opportunity for profitable growth." For Palm, the takeover was a long time coming. Rumors had been swirling for months about who would buy it and HP finally stepped up to the plate. Sales of Palm’s Pre and Pixi smart phones have sagged lately and hopes were not high that the company could turn things around. The frontrunner in the buying war had been Taiwan's HTC had been a rumored favorite to take over the company, largely because Palm's patents could have aided HTC in its legal throwdown with Apple. However, HTC went out of its way to say repeatedly last week that it had not interest in buying palm. Being bought by HP is the final chapter in a sad fall for Palm, which debuted its Pre smart phone in January 2009 as projected challengers for Apple's iPhone. However, a terrible marketing campaign and a n exclusive contract with lower-profile wireless carrier Sprint torpedoed those hopes and with a scarcity of apps and the success of new competitors like Google's Android mobile platform knocked Palm down even further on the smartphone totem pole. Even bringing the Pre and its smaller cousin, the Pixi, to No. 1 mobile carrier Verizon Wireless, wasn’t enough to save Palm. Palm Chief Executive Jon Rubinstein admitted that 2010 sales would be "well below" forecasts and investors responded by slashing the stock's value by half in less than a month. Now that it has Palm, the questions are many for HP. See, most HP smart phones run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, and the company is already committed to launching phones in the fall with the new Windows Phone 7 OS. What will become of Palm's WebOS operating system? HP said it plans to use the operating system in non-smart phone devices, like tablets and perhaps television sets, but its run on Palm smartphones is likely over. Will HP be able to salvage the brand and turn a profit? If the partnership matches the quality level of HP computers, the answer is a definitive “no.” If it can approximate the level of HP printers, scanners and copiers, I give it a hearty “maybe”……………

- Let it be known that Burger King will stop at nothing to expand its fast-food empire and no, I’m not referring to those commercials where the Burger King king breaks into McDonald’s headquarters to steal the recipe for the Egg McMuffin, although this announcement does have loose ties to those spots. No, I’m actually talking about the fast-food chain’s new test run for brunch fare in Massachusetts and Florida. Depending on how things go in those two locales, the concept may then be rolled out nationally. The brunch menu will feature a breakfast sandwich of eggs, cheese, tomato, ham, bacon and smoky tomato sauce served on Ciabatta bread, Whoppers (not usually available in the morning) and the BK Mimosa -- a nonalcoholic take of the classic cocktail with Sprite standing in for champagne. Sadly, an actual mimosa with real alcohol probably would have put the idea over the top, but way to go BK execs, playing it conservative. Basically, this brunch push is a stab at reinventing Burger King's breakfast menu, which looks to be a major competitor in the early-morning junk-food race with McDonald's. John Schaufelberger, Burger King's senior vice president of global product marketing and innovation, explained the thinking behind BK ‘s brunch. "[This initiative] allows us to meet strong consumer demand," Schaufelberger said. "The idea of Mimosas and brunch go hand in hand, and we thought it would be a clever and unique way to enhance our morning beverage offerings." Predictably, worrywart groups such as Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Marin Institute are cranky about the mimosa part of things, but these teetotalers need to shut their yaps and get on board with the idea because my hope (and I think the hope of many Americans) is that this concept will eventually expand to the point that kegs and eggs are on the menu at everyone’s local Burger King…………

- Hypocrisy runs deep in China, where Communism rules and a country with 17 of the world’s 20 most-polluted cities in terms of air quality is hosting an exposition trying to promote the concept of green technology and construction throughout China. The Shanghai World Expo, opening this weekend, has a theme “Better Cities, Better Life,” but the actual practices and execution of those ideals within China certainly do not match the catchy slogan. Claiming to aspire to sustainable urban development practices with state-of-the-art energy and water saving features is swell, but unless and until those promises are realized, it’s all just talk. Anyone can host a huge international event that will go on for six months, but erecting nearly 200 booths and buildings just for that six-month run doesn’t exactly scream environmental responsibility, does it? Heck, rather than spend $164 million to construct a massive national/corporate pavilion, as Saudi Arabia has done for the event, why not pour that money into, I don’t know, actual projects to benefit the environment directly? Yes, there are good stories like the ZED Pavilion, which hailed as China’s first “zero carbon emissions” building. Critics point to the fact that with the exception of just a few Chinese pavilions, all of the structures built for the expo are slated for removal or demolition after it closes on Oct. 31. Worse still, China has known it would host the show for 10 years and this is the best plan it could come up with. I don’t know if there will be massive scrambling to put a happy face on China’s horrific environmental landscape prior to the event as there was before the 2008 Olympic Games, but I would expect no less from China. Perhaps a few of the projects undertaken for the expo will provide long-term benefits - new roads, tunnels and bridges and a major expansion of the city’s public transit systems - and that’s great, but I wonder if these projects were done using green building techniques. But hey, maybe I’m just being too negative here. After all, an in-depth 2009 environmental assessment of the Expo by the United Nations Environment Program was mostly positive about the progress made ahead of the Expo opening, including “the success of Shanghai in decoupling growth with worsening pollution.” So maybe this will all turn out for the best, but something tells me it’s going to have little to no impact at all…………

- What to do when your once-red-hot band has suddenly become passé on the alternative rock scene and people have grown tired of your act? For Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of Las Vegas-based band The Killers, the obvious answer is to release your first solo album. Flowers will do just that later this year, with the announcement coming by a Killers fan site on a Twitter post. The Tweet directs followers to the band's official website, thekillersmusic.com, where the site’s opening page reveals the title of the solo album, "Flamingo." Fans can sign up for email updates and one is left to assume that similar information will be available on the companion site brandonflowersmusic.com, which has also been created. The band as a whole appears to be behind the project, as they themselves hinted at the solo album a few days ago in a Twitter post, telling followers to check their website for "big updates." Beyond the name and existence of the project, the band and its representation weren’t willing to give up any other details. No release date has been set and there is no word on whether the style and vibe of the album will be similar to Flowers’ work with The Killers or if it will represent a departure in which he explores his own musical vision, the one all band members have yet aren’t able to fully embrace in order to work within the framework of the band and achieve common success. It’s been a tough few months both for Flowers and the band as they called off multiple tour dates in Australia and Asia in January and February due to the death of Flowers' mother. The band used that opening to announce that they were taking a break from touring. They were adamant that the band was not breaking up and that fans could expect to see them back on the road sooner rather than later. As for whether the solo album soars or sinks…….hard to say, but the band as a unit hasn’t exactly been churning out musical gold its past two albums, so I’m not holding out a ton of hope…………

Don't mess with TRT, Congress wants Facebook to step its game up and and the Denver Nuggets self-destructing

- Let this be a lesson to one and all: Do NOT mess with Timothy Richard Tebow. My man Timmy is not to be trifled with, either by draft pundits who pan him as a third-round pick or by idiot sports talk radio hosts who want to liken he and his family to one of the most heinous groups in the history of mankind. TRT proved the latter group wrong when he bucked the predictions of draft-day sliding by getting picked 25th overall in the first round by the Denver Broncos. He proved triumphant over the latter after idiot Boston sports talk radio host “Toucher” Toettcher, who co-hosts the morning-drive program “Toucher & Rich” on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Beantown. Whereas most of us watched the draft and were stunned to see Tebow drafted in the first round, Toettcher decided that what he should do first and foremost was not analyze where Tebow was drafted or project where he might fit with the Broncos, but rather search for a horribly inappropriate analogy to describe what he saw in the ESPN shots of Tebow at his family’s home, watching the draft and celebrating with his loved ones as his NFL dreams came true. You and I may have seen an ecstatic, overjoyed guy who was thrilled that he was going to become filthy rich doing what he loves to do. Toettcher saw something different. More specifically, he saw what looked to him like a “Nazi rally.” His exact words were: “It looked like some kind of Nazi rally. . . . So lily-white is what I’m trying to say. Yeah, Stepford Wives.” Wowsers. That’s so far beyond in appropriate that it can't even spot inappropriate with a high-powered telescope. For some odd reason, people didn’t take kindly to Toettcher invoking the name of Adolf Hitler’s infamous party that committed the atrocity of murdering six million Jews during World War II and the radio station heard plenty of negative feedback. That led to Toettcher making the perfunctory apology and attempt to pretend that he didn’t intend to do exactly what he did. “I truly, truly can tell you that was not my intention. I apologize to you that were offended,” Toettcher said at the end of his four-hour show Monday. “I just apologize, and I regret what I said.” Ironically, this tool recently inked a multiyear deal to stay at the sports radio station, which debuted in August. Wonder if the station is regretting that decision right about now…………

- Racism and bigotry: they’re not just an American thing. No, people from other cultures can be equally bigoted and for proof of that, look no further than a shipyard at Drydocks World in Batam, Indonesia and an incident that took place there late last week. A near-riot broke out after an Indian manager yelled an alleged racial slur at an Indonesian worker. The resulting upheaval left at least nine people injured and 12 cars burned. So I take it back - that wasn’t a near-riot, it was a riot. Security personnel were called to the scene to quell the right and a representative of the national police force explained afterward what went down. "It started when an Indian manager yelled 'stupid Indonesian' to an Indonesian worker," said national police representative Zainuri Lubis said. "Word caught on and it sparked the anger of around 5,000 other workers. They then attacked their employers and destroyed the buildings and cars." Honestly….that might be the most awesome thing I have heard all week. One guy is insulted and immediately, there is an uprising of 5,000 of his pals against The Man. I love stickin’ it to The Man and wholeheartedly disagree with Denis Welch, chief executive of Drydocks World Southeast Asia, who said "what happened was criminal and we very much regret that it happened in one of our shipyards. We will work closely with the police and unions to investigate the circumstances and will take appropriate action when we understand the full extent of what happened and why." No need to investigate, D. What happened is clear: One of your managers crossed the line, the workers rose up against him and they unleashed a freaking awesome riot in retaliation. No investigation necessary, perhaps just a party to honor these workers for their efforts………

- It’s never a good sign when Congress wants to get involved in your business. That’s the position Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finds himself in after four Democratic senators called on him Tuesday to reconsider changes in the site’s privacy settings and asked the Federal Trade Commission to streamline guidelines regarding privacy on all social networks. "Now, users have less control over private information, and it was done without the users' permission," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said. Schumer and fellow Senate pals Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Begich of Alaska and Al Franken of Minnesota sent a letter to Zuckerberg about Facebook's decision to green-light third-party sharing of users' information. "We are writing to express our concern regarding recent changes to the Facebook privacy policy and the use of personal data on third party websites," the senators wrote (well, their legislative aids typed, but you get the idea). "The expansion of Facebook -- both in the number of users and applications -- raises new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information." In case you are like most Facebook users and have no clue about any of this even though it’s your personal information being shared, last week, Facebook began a "small pilot program" with Microsoft Docs.com, Pandora and Yelp to offer personalized experiences when visiting those sites. "These partners have been given access to public information on Facebook -- such as names, friend lists and interests and likes -- to personalize your experience when you're logged into Facebook and visit their sites," Austin Haugen, a Facebook product manager, wrote on the site’s blog. At the center of the senators’ gripes is the requirement that users "opt out" if they do not want to share any information. "The way to go is opt-in," Schumer said. "The default position should be that the information is not shared, not that the information is shared." Agreed and agreed, by the way. Facebook should not assume it has the green light to share your personal information and declare that if you don’t want that to happen, you need to make the effort to opt out. Schumer rightly points out that the burden for this decision should fall on Facebook to get approval, not the user to deny approval. Of course, Facebook intends to keep its head squarely up its backside and refuse to admit any wrongdoing, defending its privacy policies in a letter to Schumer before Tuesday's news conference. The site continues to tout the benefits of its new developments while ignoring the fundamental privacy violations inherent in them. "Facebook is designed to give people the tools to control their information online and our highest priority is to keep and build the trust of the more than 400 million people who use our service," the company wrote in the letter. "These goals were central in the development of the new products we announced last week. Specifically, these new products and features are designed to enhance personalization and promote social activity across the Internet while continuing to give users unprecedented control over what information they share, when they want to share it, and with whom. All of Facebook's partner sites interact with a user's consent." Wrong-O, Facebook. You might want to share that information and doing so without expressed consent of the person it belongs to may benefit the business partners you are now teaming up with, but you need to check yourself, realize that you are jerking with the very people who are your site’s life blood and change your policy………..

- With their season hanging in the balance, you’d like to think the Denver Nuggets would unite behind their common cause and goals in order to keep their dreams of an NBA championship alive. What you would not hope for it that they would be in-fighting and accusing one antoehr of being selfish through press-conference statements and Tweets. However, when your star player kicks off the name-calling by accusing his teammates of not doing their part to help the team win, that sets a bad precedent. But just a day after saying he couldn't beat the Utah Jazz all by himself, Carmelo Anthony tried to hide behind the tried-and-true athlete excuse of being misunderstood and say that he was not, in fact, singling out his teammates for their poor play. "A lot of people took what I said when I said I needed help the wrong way. But I talked to my teammates. They know what I meant," Anthony said after Tuesday's practice. "We talk basketball every day, so they know I'm not pointing nobody out individually. "I'm not saying I'm playing the best I can play. I'm in there with them. We're all losing together.” Nice try, C. We all know what you meant and you know what you meant, even if you don’t like how it sounded or how it made you look. But your apology came a day too late because teammate J.R. Smith chimed in by Tweeting that the Nuggets were selfish. And just like Anthony, Smith tried to double back and shift focus to tonight’s Game 5 in Denver. by mid-day Tuesday, we was banging out more benign messages Tuesday like: "cant stop thinking bout this game coming up!" Oh, and the man dealing with this mutiny is acting head coach Adrian Dantley, who called out Anthony for his nine turnovers despite a 39-point performance in Denver's Game 4 loss.” Dantley is filling in for George Karl, who is still at home recovering from treatment and surgery for throat cancer. Without their regular leader and with teammates arguing on the bench and making snide, veiled remarks about one another in Tweets and press conferences, the Nuggets don’t exactly appear to be poised and ready to win Game 5, do they? But Anthony insists that all is well and that no one is angry at any teammates. "The locker room is fine," Anthony said. "We had a great practice today. Everybody seemed to be on the same page as of right now. And tomorrow, we're going to go out there and battle." You had better be ready for battle because there is no way you are going to win three straight games and rally to win this series unless all of you loose cannons are on the same page………….

- We all pass them on a near-daily basis. They are on street corners, at the top of freeway exit ramps and along the sidewalks in cities around the country. However, most of us never give a second thought to homeless people we encounter and their plight. Maybe encountering them makes you feel uncomfortable, guilty or just plan indifferent, but taking even a moment to consider their struggles would change the way you view them. That’s the idea behind a very unique idea from Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a non-profit organization in Austin, Tex. that launched a billboard campaign along I-35 in south Austin Tuesday. The idea behind the campaign is to get people to think about the homeless and at first glance, the billboard seems much like any other billboard. But look closer and you’ll see that this particular billboard is unique because it doubles as a temporary home for a man named Danny Silver, who is a great spokesman for Mobile Loaves & Fishes because he is homeless. He explained that he receives a wide range of reactions from people who encounter him on the street, ranging from indifference to those who offer him money, food or even a place to stay. “There are some really great people here in Austin,” he recalled. Then there are those that spit at him, shout obscenities or tell him to get a job. “When you first become homeless it hits you pretty hard,” he said. If those words don’t break your heart, I don’t know what to tell you other than there is something wrong with that heart. Hearing Silver feel compelled to say, “I'm not a bad person just because I'm homeless. It’s just embarrassing,” that’s just a huge eye-opener. This is a former construction worker who’s had a difficult time finding work because of the time he spends taking care of his wife Maggie, who is wheelchair-bound. “She’s in a wheelchair. I can’t just leave her out in the woods and go out and get a job,” he said. So really, there is no better spokesman for Mobile Loaves & Fishes than Silver and if he is able to raise the visibility of Austin’s homeless population and hopefully raise some money for Mobile Loaves & Fishes by taking up residence on that billboard as part of the “I am Here” campaign, so much the better. Too often, people ignore those in need and perhaps by putting the problem literally on a billboard, the issue will be elevated in the public consciousness. The goal of the campaign is to get Danny off the billboard and place he and Maggie in their own home. To accomplish this goal, the members of the public can make an instant $10 donation that will provide Danny and others like him with a home through MLF’s Habitat on Wheels program by texting “Danny” to 20222. And anytime you text “MLF” to 20222, you donate $5 to support MLF’s catering trucks that provide much-needed food and clothing for the homeless every night in six cities around the U.S. With 1,200 of the $10 texts to MLF, the organization will be able to provide Danny and Maggie with a home and officials for MLF are hoping to go above and beyond that goal. Silver is happy to be a part of the solution instead of the problem and hopes that his presence on the billboard will make drivers realize there is a story behind each homeless person and not all of them choose to live under bridges or in boxes or tents. “You never know you may be one paycheck away from being on the street yourself depending on what might happen to you," he said. Oh, and props to Reagan Outdoor Advertising for donating the billboard, which it will remain up for a while. Whether you live in the Austin area or not, do your part to step up and help someone who clearly needs it……………

Israel drops its iPad ban, Ukrainian lawmakers brawl and a great day for grenade fishing

- And another corner of the world opens its doors to the iPad. Israel, which has dropped a vindictive ban on Apple's tablet computer, has reversed field and decided that travelers can bring in the device without worrying that customs officials will seize it. Following "intensive technical scrutiny" of the device, the country's communications ministry gave the iPad the all-clear. "The scrutiny conducted by the ministry technical team vis-a-vis Apple's team, International laboratory counterparts confirmed that the device which could be operated in various standards will be operated in Israel in accordance to the local standards," the communications ministry said. For the past two weeks, anyone entering Israel at Ben Gurion Airport - Israelis and tourists alike - have had their iPads taken by customs officials because the device's Wi-Fi standard does not match Israel's standard. Why that means an iPad needs to be ripped from its owner, I don’t know. So the computer doesn’t meet your lofty Wi-Fi standards, so what? Making matters worse, Yechiel Shavi, spokesman for the ministry, said the ban only applied to iPads built for the American standard. In case you aren’t aware, Israelis have a reputation for being fairly tech-savvy and being early adopters for the latest high-tech consumer goods, including Apple's iPhone, which took off in a big way when it was released in Israel last year. The overturning of the iPad ban can largely on the efforts of Israeli computer users, who spoke out vocally against the ban and convinced government officials to do the same. Now, the ban is history and if you are one of the suckers, er, early adopters who forked over several hundred dollars for a glorified iPod touch/iPad, you can take a trip to Israel without worrying about having to part with your iPad…………

- This next story is one I am thrilled to see. With all of the industries suffering in our sagging economy, the grenade fishing business has taken some of the hardest hits. Grenade fisherman have suffered as much or more than anyone and hearing that workers at the Fair Tide Shellfish plant in New Bedford, Mass. found 126 World War II era grenades as they began to process a load of clams that had been dredged up off Long Island and shipped to New Bedford for processing on Friday, that warmed my heart. Sure, it’s fairly common for East Coast fishermen to find grenades and other old munitions in their traps, but a haul of this size is remarkable. Better still, some of the vintage grenades even had pins still in them and all were viable enough to be considered potentially dangerous. "Come to find out, based on what the Navy said, they were live. They were loaded for bear so to speak," said employee Tom Slaughter of Fair Tide Shellfish. Even more amazing, workers found entire cases of grenades still intact in their original wooden crates, covered in thick debris from decades spent in deep waters. "We thought they were like big chunks of black coal, the kind used in old ships. When one broke open, we found all the grenades inside. The cases were encompassed in black coal-like marine life," Slaughter said. And sure, the plant had to be evacuated and the bomb squad and U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team had to come in, but a find like this could stimulate the entire grenade fishing industry up and down the eastern seaboard. You could well see harbors chock full of ships heading out to look for grenade crops and grenade processing plants spring back to life all along the coast. The explosives from this particular find were transported from the processing plant in a dump truck full of sand, taken to a nearby jetty and detonated by experts in a controlled setting. The blast was felt more than a mile away, a nice seismic reminder of the vital part that grenade fishing plays in the American economy…………

- What do WNBA players and your average roadside billboard have in common? For one, nobody pays any attention to either one of them. But secondly, both are sporting a healthy dose of advertising as their sole means of sustaining their sad existence. Whereas a highway billboard might sport a faded, peeling ad for a political candidate in a past election or for an ambulance-chasing attorney looking to make a quick buck off of your suffering, WNBA teams are increasingly turning their players into human NASCAR vehicles, adorning their uniforms with ads in the hopes of offsetting the fact that the league costs a lot of money to operate, makes nothing resembling a profit and is basically kept alive as a misguided charity project of NBA commissioner David Stern. The WNBA's Seattle Storm became the latest team to embrace the uniforms-as-billboards concept, teaming with Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp.'s search engine Bing in a partnership announced Wednesday. The two announced a multiyear partnership that will put the Bing logo front and center on Storm game jerseys beginning this season. Players like……well….um…..whoever plays for the Storm will find their jerseys with a nice, colorful addition that in no way says, “My league is irrelevant, ignored and unimportant in the eyes of American sports fans and needs ads on uniforms to keep itself afloat.” The Storm become the third WNBA team to have a primary corporate sponsor on its jerseys, joining the Phoenix Mercury (with corporate sponsor LifeLock) and the Los Angeles Sparks (with Farmers Insurance). Both Storm CEO Karen Bryant and Bing general manager Danielle Tiedt declined to provide specifics of the deal, but Bryant did confirm in an interview that it is the richest financial partnership in the team's 11-year history. While that isn’t saying much, it must be quite a proud day for Storm fans…..both of them………..

- If you’re like me, seeing a massive fire at a federal prison inspires you to ask some questions, questions like, “How the heck to inmates find the tools and fuel to start a massive fire at a federal prison?” That was exactly what I asked myself in the wake of a fire at the Atlanta Federal Prison last year and at long last, we have an answer as to what caused that fire. Rest assured, it is a freaking awesome explanation and one that makes the story that much better. It seems that prisoners trying to make illegal alcohol started the blaze, according to a report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The report shows the December 13, 2009 fire at the prison caused $200,000 in damages and all of that damage came because some intrepid inmates needed to get their buzz on and tried to make some hooch. The report states that “the residents of cell block B are known for using clothing containers to make hooch (alcohol)” and that the prisoners attempted to ignite combustible materials inside a second-floor shower cell. Now I think we all know that second-floor shower cell hooch is the best sh*t you can get, so I can see where these inmates might feel that starting a fire that has been classified as “incendiary" was a worthwhile risk to take in the pursuit of getting hammered. The fire forced the evacuation of inmates in cell block B, but no one was injured. In other words, it’s a win-win because we get a great story to laugh and marvel at, yet no one is harmed in the process. Good times………….

- Did you catch the scene in the Ukrainian parliament Tuesday? Allow me to throw out a few key words and paint a beautiful picture for you: punches thrown, eggs hurled, smoke bomb set off. Those were some of the amazing antics that took place as lawmakers in Ukraine brawled with each other, looking to cave in faces and pelt people with eggs as parliament met to ratify a treaty with Russia that extends the Russia’s navy presence in the Ukraine's Crimean peninsula until 2042. Following massive protests over the weekend by opposition groups outside parliament, it was sweet to see lawmakers truly embrace the spirit and wishes of their constituents by adopting their angry, fist-throwing tactics. Images of a smoke-filled lesiglative chamber were some of the most awesome scenes I have ever seen and even though the ruling Regions party eventually ratified the treaty, it wasn’t without a fight. Big ups to whoever was able to set off a smoke bomb inside the building, because that really took things to another level. Watching Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn duck and cover behind an umbrella as he was pelted with eggs was also a cool sight. However, it is important to thank all who heeded the call of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who said at Saturday’s rally that the ratification must be prevented at all costs. I didn’t expect the lawmakers to take it so literally, but I’m thrilled that they did. Regardless of where you come down on the issue of Ukraine hosting foreign military bases after 2017 and agreeing to work around that mandate in exchange for a 30-percent cut in the price of natural gas that Russia sells to Ukraine, I think we can all agree that anything that causes massive protests and legislative brawls with smoke bombs and thrown eggs is a good thing. Thank you to each and every great Ukrainian who took part in these festivities and even if your side wasn’t able to achieve the result it was aiming for, just know that you may soon be called upon again to riot, protest, fight, throw eggs, set off smoke bombs or look to throw hands with fellow lawmakers and we all need you to be ready when that day comes so we can see another great show…………

Riot Watch! leaves Thailand, Raiders fans see the end of an era and where to find a quality moron

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! There is nothing better than kicking off the week with some good social dissidence and for the first time in a while, we won't be heading to Thailand for that joy. Today, journey with me to Kiev, Ukraine where thousands of opposition demonstrators took it to the streets and marched in front of the parliament building to protest a deal reached earlier this week to extend Russia's military presence in the former Soviet Republic. They were spurred on by parliamentary opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister who lost to Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential election run-off in February, who proclaimed that the ratification of the treaty must be prevented at all costs. She used some classic inflammatory speech phrases, saying that Yanukovych is "selling out" Ukraine, has "openly embarked on the path of destruction of [Ukraine's] national interests, and has actually begun the process of eliminating the state's sovereignty." It certainly didn’t take long for the opposition to organize against the deal, as it was signed Wednesday by Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the mass protests rose up less than 72 hours later. Tymoshenko insisted that it violated part of the Ukrainian Constitution, which forbids the country from hosting foreign military bases after 2017. I love the angry anti-government rhetoric thrown around by protestors, saying that the agreement is an "unprecedented act of national treason and disgrace." Treason and disgrace, those are quality buzz words. Those who assembled also called on all opposition groups to unite against the agreement. Depending on whose figures you believe, somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people were on hand for the protest. So what exactly are they protesting? In short, a deal extending Russia's lease of a major naval base in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Ukraine, for an additional 25 years. In exchange, the Communists will afford Ukraine a 30-percent reduction in the price of natural gas sold to the former Soviet republic. The two sides have been haggling over natural gas prices for years like two old women bargaining the price of a used monkey lamp at a garage sale, so in that sense the deal does bring some relief. The situation became so bad that Russia turning off the gas pipeline to Ukraine. Now that Ukraine had something that the Russians wanted - an extended lease on the base in Sevastopol - the two sides were able to hammer out an agreement. The Russian military lease there was scheduled to expire in 2017, so the deal is viewed from a very positive light in Commie-land. That’s not so much true in Ukraine, where Yuschenko's "Our Ukraine" party said the treaty would lead to the "Russification" of Ukraine. As a quick aside, very nice place on words there, Russification to Wussification, a nice parallel. No matter what the end result of this ordeal, I thank all involved for some quality protest action that made my day that much better…………

- What a sad day it must have been for you on Saturday, Oakland Raiders fans. It was the unofficial end to one of the most legendary eras for any franchise in the history of pro sports: the JaMarcus Russell era. If you listened closely, you could hear a dull thud followed by a massive rustling of some sort of paper or plastic food wrappers. That would have been Russell being knocked on his FAT backside by the news that the Raiders had traded for Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell followed by the familiar sounds of Russell plowing through In-N-Out burgers, Doritos, doughnuts and any other unhealthy food product in his immediate vicinity. By trading for Campbell, Al Davis and Co. are finally signaling that they are ready to give up on Russell. But hey, how do you give up on a guy who completed 48.8 percent of his passes last season, with three touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 50.0 passer rating that was the lowest in the league in 11 years? When you’ve handed a guy more than $36 million since drafting him in 2007 and will have to pay him $9.45 million if he makes the team next season, what right do you have to expect him to act like a professional, make a reasonable effort to stay in shape and at least attempt to learn the playbook? Perhaps having Campbell come in to rip his starting gig will motive Russell to finally give a crap, but then again, he did lose his starting job to both Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye last season and that didn’t exactly light a fire under the big fella. Both of those players are still on the roster, as is former Rams and Ravens quarterback Kyle Boller. That gives Oakland five signal callers on its roster and if that isn’t a clear indictment of Russell, there will never be one. Campbell can obviously read a roster and based on what he sees on the depth chart in Oakland, dude is coming to town expecting to land the starting job. "I look at this as getting to start over," Campbell said. “I'm going to work hard to make sure that (starting) happens.” That chance to start was obviously gone in Washington, where the Redskins acquired Donovan McNabb from the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this month. Going to Oakland is never a preferred option for any NFL player (ask Richard Seymour), but when contrasted with standing on the sidelines holding a clipboard, even the starting QB slot for the Raiders is a (slightly) better option. Campbell hasn’t exactly been blessed with consistency in the coaching he has received thus far, having played for nine different offensive coordinators and eight different offensive systems since entering college. In spite of that, he has thrown for 55 touchdowns, 38 interceptions and has a career passer rating of 82.3 thus far in his career. Will entering the football black hole that is Oakland be the right spot to turn things around? Only if he can outduel the immortal JaMarcus Russell for the starting job…………

- Good to know that in a world of change, there are still reliable places to go if you need to find something specific. For instance, need to find a pedophile? Hop on MySpace and your problem is solved several (thousand) times over. Need to track down suckers to bilk out of their life savings? Start your own Ponzi scheme and they will come a flockin’. Well, if you need to find a) online hookers, b) potential serial killers or c) morons, then Craiglist is the place to be. There, you can meet individuals like Joshua Stagnitto of Brockport, N.Y. Seems that Mr. Stagnitto decided that it was a solid idea to list his children for sale on Craigslist. He made the post earlier this month and a member of the public called child protective services after seeing the post. Authorities investigated the matter and even though the premise of selling kids on Craigslist was absurd (eBay, sure, but not Craigslist). They needed to "make sure that if there are two kids for sale, that they be tracked down and nothing happened to them," investigator Bryan R. Blum of New York State Police said. They tracked Stagnitto down and he admitted to police that he put the posting on Craigslist. Since then, the children have remained with Stagnitto and their mother, whom Blum described as Stagnitto's "significant other." Well, they were with those two people until Stagnitto got transportation to go to the police station, where he turned himself in and was arrested on one count of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree. Blum explained that the charge against Stagnitto stems from the fact "that he indicated a baseless allegation of a crime which caused public alarm" and triggered an investigation. Police insist that they don’t believe the children are in any danger, but that doesn’t mean Stagnitto couldn’t still be convicted of the misdemeanor charge and face up to a year in jail or a fine of up to $1,000. Finally, someone charged with a crime for being a moron…………

- Putting two legendary and iconic recording artists together on stage is a rare feat, especially when it’s not for some cheesy awards show collaboration that inevitably sucks. That makes what happened Saturday night at Tipitina's, a club in New Orleans, so rare and cool. After speaking Thursday at the New Orleans Museum of Art about a collection of photographs that she recently donated and with R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe in the audience, iconic rocker and poetess Patti Smith performed with her band at Tiptina’s, where Stipe and other members of R.E.M. joined her onstage for a jam session. Smith opened her set with the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," performed a cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" and tore through much of her early work. She was then joined by guitarist Lenny Kaye and Peter Buck and later in the set, Buck returned and R.E.M. sideman Scott McCaughey sat down at the piano. It was then Smith waved Stipe over to the mike and he led the band through "Wichita Lineman." In a funny moment, Smith tried to hand him a lyric sheet, but he instead sang while reading the words from his iPhone. Stipe’s porno ‘stache and hipster chic jacket with "Time Is Money" stitched on the back added to the moment and later, he danced and sang backing vocals when Smith led the combined band through set closer "People Got the Power." R.E.M. are in New Orleans because they have been spending a lot of time there working on a new album, the follow-up to 2008's Accelerate. Efforts on the album commenced last November at the Music Shed. Since then, Stipe and Co. have been recording demos and working with local musicians, including Shamarr Allen, Leroy Jones, and Bonerama's Mark Mullins, Craig Klein and Greg Hicks. I am anxious to see the end result, especially if Stipe’s sweet ‘stache makes it onto the album cover…………

- Alternative-fuel vehicles are catching on one car manufacturer at a time and Nissan is seeing immediate results with its first foray into the world of electric cars. Early demand for the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle is strong, with 6,635 people placing orders for the car in just three days. The automaker plans to build about 65,000 for the initial offering of the Leaf, for which Nissan started taking reservations on Tuesday afternoon. The four-door, five-passenger EV will hit showrooms in December. Before the ordering process even began, 117,000 people registered at the Leaf website to get a place in line once the reservation system opened. They were volunteering to fork over $25,280 (after the $7,500 federal EV tax credit) for a new car, which would indicate that maybe Americans aren’t suffering quite as much as we all believed during these tough economic times. "We had 2,700 reservations in the first three hours," said Dave Mingle, Nissan's senior director for customer management and business strategy. "It exceeded what we expected, though we knew from what the hand-raisers were telling us this is an exceptionally passionate crowd." To even make a reservation and get their name on the list when the Nissan Leaf starts appearing at dealerships, customers had to pay a $99 fee. According to Nissan, the strongest interest in the Leaf has come from states on the East and West coasts and the South. Initially, the Leaf will only be available only in California, Oregon, Seattle, Phoenix-Tucson and east-central Tennessee, but Nissan plans to roll it out nationally by the end of 2011. Cars will be delivered as they become available and some customers may have to wait a few months for theirs. Nissan has the capacity to build 50,000 Leafs in the first year, but they must then be shipped from Japan to the United States. Some 3,700 people in Japan have reserved Leafs, so about 20 percent of the first year's production is already taken. The car’s price makes it relatively comparable to the Honda Civic and Toyota Prius, which means that most people won't be able to afford it and wouldn’t have the car long enough to see enough savings on gas to make up for the added cost of the car anyhow…………

The porn industry embraces new technology again, more (unnecessary) NCAA bowl games added and Riot Watch! in Thailand

- Leave it to the porn industry to be the first to find new, sleazy and devious ways to use new technology. Not that this is the first time we’ve seen this trend, but the release of the iPad has shown once again that the freaks, pervs and deviants of the adult entertainment industry will always be leading the way when it comes to using new gadgets to sell and distribute their dirty, pervy product. Within days of the iPad’s release, Private Media Group, one of the world's largest porn companies, claimed it had created a way to stream its videos onto the device, bypassing the Apple store and its restrictions on offensive content. Whereas mainstream, non-porn sectors of the entertainment industry can be slow to adopt new technology for fear that it will alter the way they do business, the greasy scumbags who populate the world of porn are typically the first to adopt new content platforms. Perhaps that’s because the mainstream world wants nothing to do with a business where losers and degenerates take off their clothes and get after it on film with strangers for money, but either way, the porn industry loves new technology. "It's not necessarily that the porn industry comes up with the ideas, but there's a huge difference in any technology between the idea and the successful application," said Jonathan Coopersmith, a professor at Texas A&M University who teaches the history of technology. "They're kind of the shock troops, and one of the nice things for them is that they can claim, 'Hey, I'm advancing technology.'" If you know anything about technology, you realize that an overwhelming majority of Internet sites are porn-related and you also know that it's generally acknowledged that porn was the first product to make money on the Internet. The industry still makes upwards of $1 billion annually online. This trend reaches back as far as the VCR, which Hollywood was leery of because the big studios feared piracy. By contrast, the porn industry viewed the VCR as a new source of revenue and began cashing in immediately. Many online innovations and developments can be traced back to people looking for new and diverse ways to distribute porn. Heck, even the 3-D revolution on movies that has seen films like Avatar, Clash of the Titans and How to Train Your Dragon rake in massive profits thanks to bloated 3-D theater ticket prices has not gone unnoticed by the porn industry. Hong Kong-based producer Stephen Shiu Jr. is crafting what will undoubtedly be another fine piece of filth with his 3-D movie 3D Zen and Sex, which is set to begin filming this month with a budget of nearly $4 million. Private Media Group CEO Ilan Bunimovitz is the CEO was the one to announce the iPad porn offering, which uses cloud computing to store a customer's videos. He said his company was already working on ways to use the iPad for porn on the day it was announced in January. Maybe this is just me, but this story makes me feel like I need a shower, so let’s just keep moving before it feels any dirtier………

- Great, just what we all needed: the NCAA has approved 35 bowl games for the next four years, adding two new games to the mix. The Dallas Football Classic and the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in New York will join 33 other postseason games on the already bloated bowl schedule, undoubtedly providing more fuel for the fire of those who mock the plethora of bowl games already on tap because they offer teams with a .500 record a chance to play in the postseason. There are already games in Boise, Albuquerque, San Francisco and Mobile, so to say there is a pressing need for additional bowl games would be a lie. When 6-6 teams from mid-major conferences are needed just to fill out the open bowl spots, it’s clearly time to get rid of bowl games, not add them. I thought we were headed in the right direction earlier this spring when the four-year run of the International Bowl in Toronto came to an end, but rather than accept that gift, the NCAA made its usual blatant cash grab by adding two more. The decision was made Friday, with the NCAA stating that the bowls were licensed on a four-year cycle for the first time, though they will be reviewed each year. The first Pinstripe Bowl will be played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Dec. 30, while the inaugural Dallas Football Classic at the Cotton Bowl is planned for New Year's Day 2011. The Pinstripe Bowl will pit the No. 3 team in the Big East against the No. 6 school in the Big 12, sure to be a barn-burner. But at least it should be better than the Dallas Football Classic, which will truly scrape the bottom of the barrel in matching the seventh-ranked team from the Big 12 against the sixth-ranked team from the Big Ten. However, the NCAA did manage to show some restraint in turning down bowl applications for the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla., and the Christmas Bowl in Los Angeles. Way to dig in your heels, fellas, because 37 bowl games would just be ridiculous…………

- Arizona has become a serious battleground for immigration thanks to a new bill signed Friday by Gov. Jan Brewer. The bill requires police in the state to determine whether a person is in the United States legally. Obviously, being a border state means that immigration - legal and illegal - is always a topic at the forefront of politics in Arizona, but this bill exacerbates that issue because critics fear it will foster racial profiling. Supporters say it will address the growing crisis of illegal immigration, but as usual, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. The most cogent point of the law is that immigrants will be required to carry their alien registration documents at all times and police must question people if there is reason to suspect that they're in the United States illegally. The obvious concern is what basis will be used to determine whether someone is suspicious or not. Also addressed by the bill are those who hire illegal immigrant day laborers or knowingly transport them. Brewer, a Republican, tagged the bill with an executive order that requires additional training for local officers on how to implement the law without engaging in racial profiling or discrimination. "This training will include what does and does not constitute reasonable suspicion that a person is not legally present in the United States," Brewer said after signing the bill. "Racial profiling is illegal. It is illegal in America, and it's certainly illegal in Arizona.” The specific rules for how to identify those to be stopped and question by police will be established in by the Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board and are due back to Brewer in May. The official start date for the law is 90 days after the close of the legislative session, which has not been determined. Under the old law, officers could only check a person’s immigration status if that person was suspected of another crime. In attaching the executive order to the bill, Brewer was attempting to refute critics who claim that the bill will result in racial profiling by police. "As committed as I am to protecting our state from crime associated with illegal immigration, I am equally committed to holding law enforcement accountable should this stature ever be misused to violate an individual's rights," Brewer said. Before it even goes into effect, the bill is widely considered one of the toughest immigration measures in the nation. Ironically, the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police had opposed the measure, while the state's largest police union, the Arizona Police Association, is in favor of the law. In Washington, President Obama spoke out against the law, as did Brewer's counterpart in neighboring New Mexico, Gov. Bill Richardson, who called the new law "a terrible piece of legislation." Expect the law to be challenged in court as soon as possible and for it to eventually wind up before the Supreme Court down the road…………

- Everyone is making a 3-D movie these days, with films such as "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland" turning in huge profits thanks in large part to 3-D success this year. Heck, even Martin Scorsese recently announced plans to direct a 3-D film later this year. But 3-D isn’t just on movie screens; Nintendo has announced plans for a 3-D gaming console, the 3DS. There are 3-D televisions as well as more and more networks begin to offer up 3-D programming. For example, Comcast's 3-D channel aired the Masters Golf Tournament earlier this month, and ESPN plans to launch a 3-D sports network this year. With all of these 3-D entertainment options, a growing number of doctors are wondering whether so much programming that literally jumps off the screen is actually harmful to viewers. These critics warn that potential dangers include include disorientation and, in rare cases, seizures. And in fact, the Samsung 3D LED TV comes with a stern health warning, cautioning consumers that certain flashing images or lights could induce epileptic seizure or stroke, and that "motion sickness, perceptual aftereffects, disorientation, eye strain and decreased postural stability" may result. Sounds like a good time to me, no? There is not a huge cause for concern in that the percentage of people who need to worry about significant adverse effects is small, especially the possibility of seizure. More common effects would be dizziness or other discomfort after watching something in 3-D, including a feature film. As someone who can’t watch IMAX or 3-D movies with dizziness and headaches, I can attest to that. If you aren’t familiar with how 3-D technology works, here are the basics: The 3-D footage presents two slightly different perspectives of the same scene, superimposed but separated by a specific degree. Viewers wear 3-D glasses with a polarized filter that separates those images, with each eye seeing one of the two. The speed is such that you don’t even pick up the transitions between images and your brain then melds the two of them together into a single picture, thus creating the illusion of depth. Your eyes make an innate effort to align the two images because the object is not actually moving toward you. In actuality, those most in danger from 3-D health effects are those with underlying conditions. People whose eyes are not perfectly aligned, or who have a weak eye muscle, will also not be able to see in 3-D. Most doctors put the percentage of those who will suffer any adverse effects or be unable to see in 3-D at all in the range of 20 percent. Just figures that I would be among that small sliver of the populace that has issues with 3-D…………

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Okay, so technically things have simmered down in Thailand, but a riot-lover can hold out hope for a revival of widespread unrest and violence. Unfortunately, the situation in Thailand seems to be heading toward the place where social dissidence goes to die: the negotiating table. Sure, every good anti-establishment movement needs a goal to accomplish and to reach that goal, eventually the movement has to end and the riots with it. However, I choose to hang on to and cherish those riots as long as possible and accept a negotiated end to the hostilities only as a last resort. That may or may not come in Thailand, where the leaders of anti-government protesters in offered Friday to return to the negotiating table only if the government meets certain demands. If the Thai government lifts a state of emergency and other measures and admits responsibility for the deaths of protesters on two days this month, then protest leaders will resume negotiations as they continue to demand new elections for a government they view as illegitimate. Weng Tojirakarn, a co-leader of the anti-government Red Shirt protesters, laid out the conditions even as tension remains high on the streets of Bangkok. For several weeks now, the Red Shirts have been sticking it to The Man and battling with the Thai military in a Bangkok area that serves as a financial hub for the city. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is the primary target for the outrage of the Red Shirts and he met with the chiefs of the country's armed forces early Friday following a string of grenade attacks. Through Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, the government claimed that the grenades were launched from the area where the Red Shirts have been encamped for weeks. In turn, the protesters denied any responsibility for the attacks. What I love about the Red Shirts - aside from their unbridled hatred of the government and an abiding love for rioting - is that they are also finding time to keep things light and fun when they are not out stickin’ it to The Man. Behind the barricades of their home base, they can be seen playing music and doing their best to maintain a festive atmosphere. Whatever you all need to do in order to keep yourselves at your rioting, brawling and fire-breathing best, Red Shirts…………

Microsoft finds more trouble, the U.S. Navy goes green and Big Chief Triangle gets indignant

- Shocker! Software designed to help protect Microsoft’s feeble, flawed operating systems from viruses has malfunctioned. This time, it was McAfee's popular antivirus software that crashed and burned in spectacular fashion, causing tens of thousands of Windows XP computers to crash or repeatedly reboot. Ironically, it was a buggy update that the company released early Wednesday that turned the software's defenses against malicious software inward. Instead of keeping out threats, the update prompted the program to attack a vital component of Microsoft Windows. The update was first made available for business customers for about four hours before distribution was halted, but the damage was widespread. At the University of Michigan's medical school, a reported 8,000 of 25,000 computers crashed. The same was true for police in Lexington, Ky., had to go old school, hand-writing reports and turning off their patrol car terminals. Rhode Island hospitals turned away non-trauma patients at emergency rooms and postponed some elective surgeries. Nothing like a program designed to cover Microsoft’s faulty OS taking less than four hours to wreck the defense systems of PC’s nationwide. The malady caused the system to attack a legitimate operating system component known as SVCHOST.EXE. McAfee's application confused it with malware known as the W32/Wecorl.a virus and attacked. The problem seemed to affect primarily Windows XP computers running Microsoft's Service Pack 3, but Microsoft did what it does best, namely sticking its head in the sand. "We are not aware of significant impact on consumers," the company said in a statement. That non-apology didn’t sit well with computer systems administrators around the country who had to spend the entire day fixing every single computer in their company. So many people logged on to a McAfee message board to seek help with their problem that the site crashed and returned with only an error message. As always, thanks to Microsoft and its partners for proving on their own why Mac’s are always the superior choice when you’re looking to purchase a computer…………

- Even the U.S. Navy is getting in on the push to go green and be environmentally conscious and the result is a new prototype fighter jet that burns a 50-percent biofuel blend derived from seeds of the camelina sativa plant, which is in the mustard family. The jet, which can perform all of the same maneuvers and meet all of the necessary standards for combat, is an F/A-18 Super Hornet dubbed the "Green Hornet" by the Navy. An early prototype of the plane went up for an Earth Day test flight Thursday at Patuxtent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. As a finished product becomes more of a reality, the Navy says it expects to see no difference between the Green Hornet's performance and fighters burning jet fuel. The plane is a key part of a program aimed at creating a "Great Green Fleet" composed of nuclear, hybrid and biofuel-powered ships and aircraft by 2016. That’s a lofty goal but if our military can keep its same high level of serving and protecting while also doing less damage to the environment, that is something that all Americans should be able to get behind as we look to do our part in ceasing the destruction of the world’s ecosystems………….

- Maybe it’s just my inner enviro-dork speaking out, but I always enjoy the heck out of the World Wildlife Fund’s announcements that it has discovered new animals and species. The latest announcement, made this week, includes 123 new species of animals, insects and plants on the South East Asian island of Borneo. The new species include color-changing frogs, the world's longest stick insect and a slug that shoots "love darts." Scientists unearthed the new speices in the lush green environment of Borneo thanks to the willingness of the three governments that control the land signing an agreement to safeguard its future in 2007. The official land was released by the WWF to celebrate Earth Day and to raise awareness of the need to protecting areas rich in biodiversity. "You have some iconic small species which are very interesting to talk about but perhaps it's the plants that are tremendously important in terms of potential future cures," said David Norman, director of campaigns for the WWF. "About half of all synthetic drugs have a natural origin -- these are commercial drugs based on plants and sometimes animals. So we can't afford to lose species." Impressive among the number of new species found is the quantity of new plant species, which in the last three years outnumbers all the other categories combined. A whopping 67 new plants have been found, along with 29 invertebrates, 17 new species of fish, one bird, five amphibians and five reptiles. The WWF calls the region a "global treasure teeming with unique and extraordinary life." The color-changing frogs found on the island are also able to fly and the species (Rhacophorus penanorum) are just only about four inches long. They are found living in trees in the Tapin Valley within the Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak. With webbed feet, they can soar nearly 45 feet through the air from tree to tree. The world's longest-stick insect (Phobaeticus chani) is nearly 20 inches long and resides far above the rainforest floor. "Only three specimens have ever been discovered. It's quite extraordinary that it's been there for so long -- you wouldn't miss it if it landed on you," Norman said. None of these finds would have been possible with out the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, which signed an agreement to conserve the area. All three were needed because the agreement the signed covers a tract of land that straddles all three countries, an area known as the Heart of Borneo. Its purpose has been to conserve the environment by pressuring governments, developers and industry to scale back their development plans to minimize their impact on the land. A previous plan had called for the destruction of two million hectares of rainforest to create the world's largest palm oil plantation. Road-building plans have also been shelved, so clearly this pact has had its desired impact and will hopefully continue to do so moving forward…………

- Phil Jackson is the best. And no, I’m not referring to the fact that Big Chief Triangle has won more NBA championships as a coach (10) than anyone else. What I like even more than 10 titles is the fact that BCT thinks he is smarter, savvier and just plain better than the rest of us. He showcased this trait once again Thursday after hearing that NBA commissioner David Stern publicly chastised him (and other players and coaches) for speaking out against NBA referees in a critical manner, Jackson not only refused to back down, but seemed to bristle at the notion that Stern would dare criticize him. Stern, who was on hand at the Ford Center to attend the first NBA playoff game in the history of Oklahoma, was asked before the game about the two $35,000 fines Jackson has received in the past two weeks. "I wish I had it to do all over again, and starting 20 years ago, I'd be suspending Phil and Pat Riley for all the games they play in the media, because you guys know that our referees go out there and they knock themselves out and do the best job they can. We have coaches who will do whatever it takes to try to work them publicly," Stern said. "What that does is erode fan confidence, and then we get some of the situations that we have. So, our coaches should be quiet because this is a good business that makes them good livings and supports a lot of families, and if they don't like, they should go get a job someplace else." That scathing commentary came in response to Jackson whining publicly before the playoffs about the Thunder's Kevin Durant prior to the series getting supposed preferential treatment from the referees. "I think a lot of the referees are treating him like a superstar; he gets to the line easy and often," BCT said. His comments were led the playoff parade of ripping the men in stripes, but Jackson has since been joined by Boston Celtics forward Rasheed Wallace, Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy and Magic forward Matt Barnes, all of whom have been hit with matching $35,000 fines. "It's corrosive," Stern said. "It's corrosive, and because of the pressure cooker that is the NBA playoffs, over the years I've let it go, but when you hear a Chicago coach say, 'Oh, they're doing it because' ... or, 'This game was lost because NBC wants an extra game,' and you hear a New York coach say, 'Well, what are you going to do? [Michael] Jordan gets all the calls.' "Or you hear a Stan Van Gundy do what he wants to say and then the players join in. We know, inside the community, what it's meant to do, so, 'OK, it's playoff time, everyone's crazy so back off,' but, if I had to do it again, I would stop it and the price wouldn't be a modest $35,000 fine. It would be whatever a day's pay is and then two days pay and then a week's pay.” In response, BCT fired back with terse remarks of his own, saying, “I think when you start throwing one- and two-game suspensions in the threats, I think that means a lot to both ball clubs and coaches. It seems awful heavy-handed to me, but David is one who isn't shy about being heavy-handed. There's a certain gamesmanship that goes on that obviously he feels cheapens the game. It never was explained to us until it suddenly came down in this last week that arbitrarily they were going to do this. I missed the coaches meeting last September. Maybe they explained it in the coaches meeting last year because they said there was a couple instances last year when I think it was [Stan] Van Gundy and [Rick] Adelman were fined during the playoffs for statements that led to manipulating the press, I guess is the best way I can say it. " Classic Phil Jackson, to put it mildly. Arrogance personified and miffed at the idea that anyone would dare question or challenge his mighty self…………

- I may not listen to the music of Grace Jones and I may have little or no idea who she is, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love her. I have everything I need to love the 61-year-old cultural icon after hearing that she shares my mutual hatred of the musical hack-job artist known as Lady Gaga. “I've seen some things she's worn that I've worn, and that does kind of piss me off,” Jones said, but she added, “I really don’t think of her at all. I go about my business." In other words, Jones believes that L. Gaga is looking to rip off her shtick and she doesn’t take too kindly to it. When Lady Gaga and her fashion freakery asked to collaborate with Jones, Jones turned her down because she’d “just prefer to work with someone who is more original and someone who is not copying me, actually.” What’s funny is that Grace Jones is far from the first artist to label Lady Gaga a rip-off, as M.I.A. tore the bizarre one a new one in music magazine N.M.E.’s April 7 issue, took saying Lady Gaga sounds like her than she does herself. “People say we’re similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same,” M.I.A. said. “None of her music’s reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is.” I also love how M.I.A. characterized Lady Gaga’s act over all, saying her “music sounds like 20 year-old disco. She's not progressive, but she's a good mimic.” Should any other artists out there want to jump on the Gaga-bashing/hating wagon, just know that there will always be room for more and the party will never be too full to welcome you inside………

Big Ben learns his fate, "South Park" makes powerful enemies and a much-needed ban on Kelly Clarkson

- Days of waiting have finally produced the result we all knew was coming: Ben Roethlisberger finding himself on the business end of commissioner Roger Goodell’s disciplinary hammer. Big Ben has been benched for the first six games of the upcoming season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, the league announced Wednesday. Goodell issued the punishment a week after prosecutors decided not to charge Roethlisberger with rape or sexual assault even though everyone is almost completely certain that he a) bought rounds of shots for underage girls, b) exposed himself to one of the girls at the bar, c) had his hired muscle drag her to a bathroom where he then had sex with her despite repeated protestations on her part that his actions were not okay with her. The allege victim was too drunk to provide credible support in building a case and got cold feet somewhere along the way, so Ocmulgee County District Attorney Fred Bright had to dismiss the case. The NFL disciple includes certain clauses that could either lengthen or shorten the suspension, depending on how Roethlisberger reacts to the discipline Goodell is attempting to administer. He must undergo a comprehensive behavioral evaluation and the commissioner will evaluate Roethlisberger's progress before the season. At that point, Goodell may consider reducing the suspension to four games. However, if Roethlisberger doesn’t abide by Goodell’s mandates, the suspension could be lengthened indefinitely. Given that dude would have been not just unable to play but also in jail for a long time if what he (allegedly) did could have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, you’ll have to excuse me if I am rooting for the latter of those two outcomes. Roethlisberger is barred from attending any Steelers offseason activity after Wednesday until he completes the evaluation, but he can participate in training camp and preseason games this summer as long as he is cleared by the evaluators and Goodell. As you would expect from their stance throughout this saga, the Pittsburgh Steelers are supporting the suspension and not rushing to have their franchise quarterback’s back on this issue. "I agree and support the decision the commissioner made today," Steelers president Art Rooney II said Wednesday in a conference call. In fact, the Steelers are reportedly calling up teams with top 10 picks in today’s NFL draft, trying to see if they are willing to deal their pick for Roethlisberger. The financial toll of the suspension will impact not just Roethlisberger, but also the Steelers. He would lose an estimated $2.8 million by sitting out all six games, while the team must remit a portion of Roethlisberger's salary to the NFL for having two players suspended for violations of the league's personal conduct or drug policies. On the heels of now-former Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes being suspended for four games before being traded to the New York Jets this month, Roethlisberger’s misdeeds put the team over the limit of d-bags on a roster. The hits just keep on coming in this one and something tells me we haven’t heard the last of Ben doing something stupid and finding himself in deep trouble with the league office…………

- I don’t need to be a follower of Islam to be on board with a brilliant decision made by an Indonesian Islamic organization to ban an upcoming concert by Kelly Clarkson in Jakarta. Now, the reason for banning the concert isn’t the same one I would use, but a ban is a ban. In actuality, the ban is supposedly under Islamic law because the concert is being sponsored by a tobacco company. Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic organization in the world’s most populous Muslim country, has gone on record as declaring all smoking forbidden under Islam. The head of the organization’s fatwa, or religious edict, department (yes, even hard-line Muslim organizations have departments, department heads and probably productivity meetings) said in an interview that the no-smoking fatwa applied to Clarkson’s concert. “We do not need to put another fatwa on a thing that is already clear,” Yanuar Ilyas stated. Muhammadiyah isn’t the only group that has a problem with L.A. Lights cigarettes sponsoring Clarkson’s concert. The U.S.-based campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has also raised objections to the Clarkson’s Jakarta concert, scheduled for April 29. Now, Tobacco-Free Kids isn’t dropping a ban on the event because it’s not their country to make that decision for. No, the organization is merely looking to shame Clarkson into dissolving the partnership with L.A. Lights on the grounds that by taking the stage, she is basically becoming a spokesperson for the entire cancer stick industry. "If Kelly Clarkson goes ahead with this concert, she is choosing to be a spokesperson for the tobacco industry and helping them to market cigarettes to children," said the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Matthew L. Myers. "If she rejects tobacco industry sponsorship, she can send a powerful message to children in Indonesia and around the world that they, too, should reject the tobacco industry's deadly products and marketing." As I always say……whatever you need to do to ban or oppose a former American Karaoke star’s live shows, you do it. Whereas I would do so under the heading of their music absolutely sucking and them being part of the single biggest abomination in the history of the music business, I have no beef with people opposing a concert by an AK alum on religious grounds. Curiously, Clarkson’s fans have hit up her Facebook fan page in large numbers, urging her to drop the tobacco sponsor. Clarkson doesn’t seem inclined to do so, at least according to a post she put up on her blog Wednesday afternoon. She claims her only option would be to drop the tour date, something she cannot do without disappointing her Jakarta fans. “This is a lose-lose situation for me and I am not happy about it but the damage has been done and I refuse to cancel on my fans,” says the posting titled “Jakarta Mishap” and signed “Kelly.” It may be a lose-lose situation for you, K., but for those of us who hate crappy music and hate seeing people subjected to it, it’s a win-win-win……………

- What is "South Park" if not irreverent, disrespectful and looking to get under people’s skin? That’s where show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone live and that’s what they do. Creating controversy keeps their show on the radar and let’s face it, without controversy there’s just not much worth talking about in regards to an adult-themed cartoon. As such, the show is no stranger to the censor’s bleep and black-out. However, “South Park” may have picked a fight with someone you just don’t want to pick fights with: radical Islamic groups. On Wednesday, the conclusion of a controversial two-part story involving the prophet Mohammed was shown amidst a tremendous amount of controversy. The scene that sparked the most uproar was Mohammed appearing in a bear mascot costume, which obviously didn’t sit well with Muslim extremists and led to posts on these groups’ message boards warning of potential harm coming to Parker and Stone. As the controversy swirled, Comedy Central was forced to make a decision on editing or censoring the show in order to prevent the sh*t from truly hitting the fan. The end result was the second part of the episode airing Wednesday night with a number of audio spots covered by bleeps and images hidden by a block reading "CENSORED." Ironically, part one of the Mohammed story involved free speech issues. "Comedy Central was responsible for the bleeps and not showing Mohammed in last night’s episode," a spokesperson for the network stated. Whether that’s enough to avert another protest from the Islamic group, Revolution Muslim, I don’t know. Revolution Muslim is the group that went ape sh*t after the first part of the episode aired April 14, attracted and posted an entry on its website that included a warning to Parker and Stone that they risked violent retribution. Those behind the post insist that it was meant as a warning and not a call to violence, but let’s just say these groups aren’t typically known for their rational thought and truthfulness. Either way, the network wasn’t taking a chance and I can't say I blame them…………

- If anyone is going to speak out when there are allegations that a major New York crime family ran an underage prostitution ring, it had better be a former mob guy. Organized crime is still real enough in this country that you don’t want to go aimlessly bumping your gums about the world of the mob. Former Lucchese crime family is a guy who can speak credibly about that life and Hill says he isn't surprised by what has happened this week . "Wherever there's a buck to be made without them guys busting their hump and breaking their backs, they're gonna prey off the weak," said Hill. Hill, of course, is the former mobster-turned government informant whose story was told in the Nicholas Pileggi book, "Wiseguys." He was commenting on a 23-count federal indictment unsealed this week that accused members and associates of New York's Gambino family of crimes ranging from murder to racketeering to drug trafficking. Those allegations are nothing new, but what it a new “scraping the bottom of the barrel” moment for even the mob, authorities are also alleging that the crew ran an interstate prostitution ring that offered at least one girl as young as 15 to johns in parts of New York and New Jersey. In an expected move, 13 of the 14 defendants pleaded not guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. The only reason it wasn’t 14-of-14 is that one of the defendants, Steve Maiurro, remains at large. What a scene it was as this baker’s dozen of buffoons was led into the courtroom Wednesday in shackles. According to Hill, the underage pimping is something the mob has been involved in before. "There is no line that they draw, as far as luring underage girls, teen prostitution," Hill said in an interview Wednesday. "Most of those guys do not have consciences; they'll do anything, and they'll go to any length to make an illegal dollar as long as they don't have to use the sweat of their brow." If you don’t know Hill’s story, he began running errands for Lucchese family boss Paul Vario as a teen in the 1950s and soon became involved in gang activities. However, he is not a full-blooded Italian and so he never became a "made" member of the family, meaning he was officially inducted into the Mafia. However, he was able to ascend the ranks of the Lucchese family and gain the trust of high-ranking members - right up to the point he flipped and became a government informant after an arrest on drug charges. He claims that during his time in the mob, child prostitution was off limits for the Lucchese family, but it still took place. "There's a lot of people in organized crime, a lot of bosses, families, that don't condone it. But some do, and they don't care what they have to do to make a buck," he said. Ironically, there is a woman among those indicted in this case: Suzanne Porcelli, who is accused of four counts, including sex trafficking and sex trafficking of a minor. She is accused of answering the phone and scheduling appointments for services advertised on Craigslist and other websites. As always good to see women breaking through yet another glass ceiling…………