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…………