A big day for the Supreme Court, a gift from one fascist dictator to another and "One Tree Hill" given new life

- Monday was a big day for the Supreme Court, what with handing down on rulings on three separate cases of great societal importance. The first case focused on continuing to hold sex offenders in prison after their sentence; the second was how much power the federal courts have to intervene when child custody battles cross borders and countries and the third one was the most controversial of the three, centering on whether life in prison without parole is appropriate for juveniles. The ramipercussions of that third case obviously will be felt by hundreds - possibly even thousands - of teens who commit violent offenses that previously could have earned them a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The specific case before the court was that of Terrance Graham, who was 16 and 17 when he took part in a series of violent home-invasion robberies while on parole for another felony. His appeal asked the court to overturn a sentence of life without parole on the grounds that it is "cruel and unusual" punishment, as prohibited by the Bill of Rights. The court agreed with Graham’s argument that such sentences are excessive for teens, especially when their crime is not murder. By a 6-3 vote, the justices found such the sentence for Graham unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for majority, expressed the opinion that a state must not sentence teens whose crimes fall short of murder to life sentences because they may lack full "culpability" for their actions, because of their ages. "A state need not guarantee the offender eventual release, but if it imposes a sentence of life it must provide him or her with some realistic opportunity to obtain release before the end of that term," wrote Justice Kennedy. In explaining its decision, the high court went back to its own 2005 decision that juvenile murderers cannot be executed. Kennedy applied the same standards in this case, saying a "national consensus" had developed against life without parole sentences for those under 18 at the time of their crimes. In other words, make sure that if you are going to commit a violent, non-murder crime, do it before you turn 18 and you’ll get at least somewhat of a break…………

- Aww, isn’t this nice? The highest-paid mop-up bullpen pitcher in baseball could be on his way back to the starting rotation that his team is currently paying him $19 million a season not to be a part of. After being demoted to the bullpen from the rotation on April 24, Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano has toiled in relief and pitched in eight games with a 6.23 ERA. Now, the man also known as Big Z believes he could be working his way back to the Cubs' starting rotation. Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Zambrano would be "stretched out" in order to move from short to long relief (because a $19 million short reliever is ridiculous but a $19 million long reliever makes sense). The obvious question is whether the change signals the beginning of Zambrano’s journey back to the rotation. "[Piniella] told me today there may be a chance I'll go back to the rotation," Zambrano said. "We'll see how everything works out in the next few days for me." Pinella didn’t exactly give a resounding yes when that question was posed to him. “Probably down the road if need be," Pinella said of a move back to the rotation. "We thought the outcome would be a little different. He's not comfortable in the bullpen pitching short. We're going to use him in a different role, build up some stamina, build up his arm. That's what we're going to do." Zambrano’s new gig as a long reliever commenced with today’s game against the Colorado Rockies and at least publicly, he is accepting the switch with dignity. "Tomorrow will be a big day in the bullpen for me. I might throw 40 or 45 pitches. A lot of it will depend on how [starter Carlos] Silva pitches tomorrow. If he throws eight innings tomorrow, there is nothing I can do. That's his job. I'll have to back it up for the next day in Philadelphia," Zambrano explained. Oh, and by the way, I don’t believe a word Big Z is saying about all of this. He may be putting on a good face publicly, but inside you know he’s seething, bitter and looking for a fight. Being demoted to the bullpen is a huge slap in the face for a former All-Star and any pitcher worth a cent would be livid if they were in his position. They may well deserve the demotion, but that doesn’t mean they think so. I guarantee you that if he were 100 percent honest, Zambrano would say he should still be in the rotation and won't be completely happy until he is………..

- Rarely has a gift from one fascist dictator to another sparked such a controversy. The gift-giving fascist dictators in question are Kim Jong Il of North Korea and my main man Bob Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Mugabe is the one doing the giving, planning to ship a “Noah’s Ark” of wildlife, including two young elephants, to North Korea. News reports surfaced last week, saying that two of every species in Zimbabwe’s 14,600-square-kilometer Hwange National Park are to be a gift from Mugabe to K.J. Il. The gesture has sparked a massive public outcry from environmental and animal-rights groups. “We can see no conservation benefit to these plans, and are concerned about the substantial threat to the welfare of the individual animals involved,” animal-rights group Born Free said in a statement on its website. The group is angry because it believes the 18-month-old elephants are unlikely to fare well during the approximate 7,000 mile trip and afterward when they get to North Korea. “Baby elephants normally continue to suckle from their mothers for 4 years, so removal at this young age could have a severe physical impact in terms of nutrition, immunity and other developmental issues. It is also certain to have a huge impact on the emotional and social development of the young animals,” the group’s statement said. Also on board for the trip will be black and white rhinos, cheetahs, lions, leopards, giraffes and zebras. It is indeed a veritable cornucopia of furry friends and Mugabe has teams of trappers working in the Hwange park around the clock to fulfill the order. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force is among those attempting to enlist international influence to block the transfer. The ZCTF belives that North Korea’s zoos do not meet international standards and international groups like Born Free agree. “Our fear is that the facilities in North Korea would fall far short of even the most basic requirements for the physical and psychological well-being of the animals,” the organization said. As a quick aside, I do feel compelled to warn these two groups and any who align with them that standing in the way of this gift to my boy K.J. Il is all but guaranteed to move you up his “first to nuke” list quickly, so be aware. Besides, Zimbabwean parks chief Vitalis Chadenga said Zimbabwe is sending experts to North Korea to be sure the animals are properly cared for, so I’m sure it will all turn out just fine…………

- I wish I could say that I’m surprised by the CW’s decision to bring back both One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected next season, but I think we all know better. This is, after all, the network that makes a habit of axing good shows (see Everwood, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars) and keeping crappy, lifeless ones (7th Heaven for a 10th season, Gossip Girl), so bringing back OTH for an eighth season is no surprise. The show bought itself some life a couple seasons ago by skipping characters right past the disastrous four-year college time frame that inevitably wrecks successful shows whose characters grow up and graduate from high school (see Creek, Dawson’s) and fast-forwarding from graduation right into adulthood. That extended the show’s run by a season, but the truth is that it probably should have been killed off (as so many of its characters have been) after Season 6. Instead, it will be back for an eighth run and I can only imagine how over-the-top, soap-operatic that eighth season will be. As this point, what other stories are left to tell? Key cast members Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton) are long gone and their characters’ exits were never adequately explained and every conceivable angle has been worked. Observers put the possible season length for both OTH AND Life Unexpected at a minimum of 12 episodes apiece. In announcing its sure-to-be-craptacular fall schedule, the CW also announced its pickup of the Tom Welling-produced cheerleading drama Hellcats and its revival of Nikita. Also, the Welling-led Smallville will be back for its tenth season, once again making it the lone quality show on the entire freaking network…………

- Could the anger against Facebook finally be boiling over? For one angry group of people who enjoy bitching about a free social networking site that they use at their leisure, the answer is yes. This group, consisting of disgruntled Facebook users, has set up a site to front its efforts and declared May 31 to be Quit Facebook day because of growing concerns about the site’s privacy issues. The Quit Facebook Day site asks, "Sick of Facebook's lack of respect for your data?" and calls on users to quit the site all at once on May 31. In truly ironic fashion, the group is using the very site it so detests to help organize it’s little walkout and 1,090 people had "liked" the site's Quit Facebook Day page as of Monday morning. Approximately 2,700 people had pledged to quit Facebook on the group's website and the group is urging all Facebook users to delete their accounts en masse on May 31. Unfortunately for these kooks, more people are fans of things like silly string and potatoes than their campaign. I’m not completely dismissing their concerns that the social-networking juggernaut is diminishing users' privacy with its "open graph" model that adds Facebook connections on other sites across the internet, but I also realize the futility of their protest. Yes, a few glitches during the rollout of the changes have, in fact, put some personal info at risk, but to throw a fit over it is just disingenuous and bogus. If you want to quit, then quit. There are too many tools on Facebook anyhow, people who are not nearly intelligent or interesting enough to need a page on a social networking site. Strictly based on percentages, at least some of those people should be among the 2,700 vowing to delete their accounts. However, the campaign hasn’t even registered as a blip on the online radars of most Facebookers who comprise the site’s 400 million-plus users. I have a sneaking suspicion that these Quit Facebook Day fools are going to end up a lot like Frank the Tank in Old School when he attempted to get everyone at the house party to join him in streaking up through the quad and to the gymnasium….in other words, cold, exposed and all by themselves in the middle of a public street as everyone else looks on and mocks them………