USC's Reggie Bush cleansing, Facebook hits 500 million users and a cop fired for pic with a midget porn star

- USC may have returned its copy of Reggie Bush’s 2005 Heisman Trophy in light of Bush’s revelation as a greedy scumbag who made himself ineligible and cost his team wins, money and reputation by breaking NCAA rules on improper gifts and benefits, but as of now, Bush is still the official Heisman winner for the year. The decision on ripping that honor from Bush, now a member of the New Orleans Saints, rests with the Heisman Trophy Trust. The trust says it will "consider the issues" raised surrounding USC's decision to return its copy of the Heisman Trophy and determine whether or not it might strip Bush of the award all together. The group skipped will hold a previously scheduled meeting next Tuesday, but in advance of that meeting released a statement that did not address what action it might or might not take with regard to Bush's copy of the award. Previously, members of the trust stated that they may review Bush’s status only if he were ruled ineligible by the NCAA. "The Trust will be considering the issues raised in the USC/Reggie Bush matter, and after reaching a decision will publish it, but due to the complex issues involved and the Trust's desire to reach an appropriate decision, no definitive timetable has been established," the trust said. "Until the matter has been fully considered and a decision is reached, the Trust has no further comment." For its part in the matter, you can see where USC would want to be rid of its copy of the award. The school wants no indication anywhere on campus that Bush ever attended there or played football for the Trojans. Murals at Heritage Hall featuring images of Bush have been taken down, references to him in the media guide will be removed and now the Heisman is gone as well. Of course, no one wants reminders of the guy who was primarily responsible for their program being hit with four years' probation, a two-year bowl ban and severe football scholarship restrictions. Sure, the men’s basketball program was just as corrupt around the same time and O.J. Mayo of the basketball team rivaled Bush in his greed and lack of integrity, but the basketball program didn’t win a national championship or have one of its players named the best in all of the sport during the time period in question. USC will now attempt to rebuild its tarnished reputation under the leadership of new athletic director Pat Haden, who said the school's plan to get rid of nearly all references to Bush and Mayo are all part of the NCAA's directive to disassociate the school from the athletes. If I’m Bush right about now, I’m shipping that Heisman off to a safety deposit box in the Grand Caymans right about now because it would seem to be only a matter of time before the Heisman Trust comes knocking on his door looking to repossess it………..

- And the unseemly growth of Facebook keeps on rising, now reaching the point where its “population” is larger than that of the U.S., Mexico and France combined. Long entrenched as the world largest social networking site, Mark Zuckerberg’s creation is kicking the cyber-crap out of pedophile haven MySpace and other competitors and announced Wednesday that it has reached a widely anticipated milestone, signing up its 500 millionth user. Zuckerberg made the announcement in a blog post and admitted he "could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started 6 years ago." As a quick aside, Facebook was a lot better before the site opened up to anyone and everyone with an email account. When you had to have a college .edu email address to sign up and soccer moms and accountants in their mid-40s with three kids and a mortgage, grandparents and fifth graders couldn’t sign up for an account, Facebook was a lot cooler and a lot more fun of a place to be. Now it’s basically MySpace without the personalized page designs. Still, the site’s popularity is steadily rising and to thank all of the users who made the 500 million mark possible, Zuckerberg thanked Facebookers in a video message, telling them "you really have created a worldwide movement." To mark the occasion and the international popularity that made it possible, Facebook launched a new application Wednesday called Facebook Stories, an app lets users share their own stories and read others' posts, filtered by theme and geographic location. To illustrate how quickly the site is growing at this point, understand that it took Facebook nearly four years to add its first 100 million users, but only five months to add its most recent group of 100 million. For those who think it’s an American phenomenon first and foremost, know that 70 percent of the current user base comes from outside the U.S. But however you slice it, there’s no denying that Facebook is gradually taking over the social networking world………

- It’s a story that’s too good to make up. A police officer loses his job after abandoning his patrol to go see a midget porn star at a strip club appearance. Even if you wanted to craft an absurd plot for the next Judd Apatow film, this one would seem too absurd to consider. Richard Bennett of Stoughton, Mass. is the officer in question and Bennett has resigned after he was accused of deserting his patrol to have his picture taken with 3’9 porn stat "Bridget the Midget." After being confronted with allegations that he left his patrol to have a picture taken with Bridget, Bennett tendered his resignation even though police chief Paul Shastany admitted the officer’s actions didn’t break any laws. “There was information that just by nature of her stature that he wanted to see her,” said Shastany. Clearly, the allure of a little person appearing at the gentleman's club Alex's was just too much to resist. “He went and had a photograph taken with himself and this performer while he was in uniform. He didn’t enter the club, but what that did is it portrayed the police department in a very poor position,” Shastany stated. Bennett was sold out by some of his fellow officers and allegedly lied to internal investigators when he was confronted on the incident. “He attended a resignation and admitted there was some fabrications and lies, it was a severe case of bad judgment,” Shastany explained. Oh, how I would have loved to be inside this guy’s head when he was making this decision. “Gosh, I know I’m supposed to be serving and protecting the community, stopping crime and protecting the good citizens of Stoughton, but dammit, Bridget the Midget is going on stage soon at Alex’s and this might be my only chance to get a picture with her. Should I go or not? Ah, screw it. I’m going, it’ll be worth it!” As it turns out, that picture with a pint-sized porn star is all Bennett has to show for his two years with the police department. Sure, prior to this incident, Bennett had been given special recognition for his work on a murder case, but this black mark on his record and another reprimand for altering his weapon will overshadow any good he has done going forward. Even though residents describe him as a friendly officer and a good family man, those kind words won't pay the bills. The only solace for Bennett? He’ll now have more free time on his hands to go see Bridget the Midget when she returns to Alex’s next month………

- And the hits just keep on coming for the French national soccer team. After crashing and burning in the World Cup, going winless and failing to advance out of the group stage of soccer’s biggest event, turning out their coach and refusing to practice before their final match, come to find out that losing soccer games might have been the most positive thing a few of their players have done of late. Players Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema and Ribery's brother-in-law have been formally accused by police of soliciting an underage prostitute. None of the three men have been charged or arrested just yet and Ribery’s attorney argued Wednesday that there is "no evidence" her client ever knew that the hooker was underage. That hasn’t stopped police from opening and investigation into the matter, which began earlier this year after police raided a night club near the Champs Elysees in central Paris and detained 18 girls on suspicion of prostitution. One of the girls they detained, Zahia Dehar, appeared on the cover of Paris Match in April and claimed that she turned tricks with several players on the national team, including Ribery, whom she had met at the club. She admitted that she did not tell the players that she was younger than 18 when they had sex and in an initial court hearing on the case, Ribery admitted he had sex with Dehar. “He is innocent until proven guilty," Ribery's lawyer, Sophie Bottai, said Wednesday. "I am sure the investigation will prove that Ribery was never aware of her age." However, there is the matter of that plane ticket that Ribery allegedly bought for Dehar. Buying the ticket could have provided Ribery with a chance to view her passport and learn her real age, but Bottai said he did not personally book the ticket and never saw her passport. "There is no evidence that he was ever aware of her age," Bottai said. "She told him she was 20 years old." Ah, the old “hooker lied to me about her age” defense. The same vaunted legal strategy currently being employed by the legal team for disgraced NFL legend Lawrence Taylor. Not that most French soccer fans take as much offense to this case as they do their team’s World Cup performance, but it is another black eye for a team that was in the World Cup final just four short years ago. French team director Jean-Louis Valentin may have publicly announced his resignation and French President Nicolas Sarkozy may have launched an investigation into the World Cup debacle, but I tend to believe that players screwing an underage prostitute can take any situation to a sickening new low………

- No longer satisfied with the shallow, ignorant and inane chatter offered up each weekday by the ladies of ABC’s “The View?” If it’s alternative you’re looking for, look no further than CBS, which has announced it has ordered a new daytime talk show co-hosted by Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini, and Marissa Jaret Winokur for the upcoming fall season. That sounds like an most bizarre and potentially horrible mix of personalities possible, so maybe it will bear watching for the three or four weeks it will be on the air before its inevitable cancellation. You have the unstable wife of one of the most drugged-out rock legends of all time, the host of one of the worst reality shows on television (“Big Brother,” in which a dozen or so strangers live in a house erected on a sound stage and compete in challenges known to involve oversized croquet mallets and golf clubs or flying food), an actress from one of CBS’ numerous, horrible half-hour sitcoms and two actresses from long-forgotten sitcoms of decades past who are no longer relevant or interesting. The format of the show is designed to mirror that of “The View,” with the co-hosts discussing various current events. The hook is that the women, who all have children, will be discussing the issues from a motherhood point of view, CBS says. The show will also have the added burden of angry soap opera fans who want to see it fail because it’s taking the spot of outgoing soap “As the World Turns.” In addition to the chatty ladies debating the issues, the show will also feature interviews with big-name entertainers and newsmakers. Gilbert will not only be a host for the show, she will also be its executive producer. “Daytime is an evolving daypart with more variety now among soap operas, game and talk shows,” said Barbara Bloom, CBS’ Senior Vice President of Daytime, said in a statement. “We were looking for a new format that would speak to the core audience but also have the topical and entertainment value to go even broader. This panel is not a bashful bunch; they are outspoken on any issue you put on the table. It promises to be an hour of television with timely discussions, unfiltered opinions and a lot of personality.” Well, if nothing else, at least this is a better option than the show CBS recently rejected that was a pilot featuring Kate Gosselin and Food Network star Paula Deen………..