- Wise move, St. Louis Rams. The Rams, the worst team in the NFL last season, were one of two team reportedly close to signing temperamental wide receiver Terrell Owens to a contract. Along with the Cincinnati Bengals, the Rams were the only team actively pursuing Owens (despite what self-centered agent Drew Rosenhaus claims) as training camps begin opening up and no one could figure out how an Owens-Rams marriage was a good fit for either side. The Rams are a crappy team poised to start a rookie quarterback (assuming Sam Bradford signs the bloated contract he doesn’t actually deserve) and will be terrible again this season and Owens is…..well, T.O. He’s the guy who calls All-Pro quarterbacks gay, alleges secret locker room meetings by the offensive coordinator, Pro Bowl quarterback and Pro Bowl tight end to scheme up ways to squeeze him out of the offenses. In short, he could ruin Bradford before the poor guy’s career even gets going and do it for a team that won't win more than four games this season. Neither side gets much out of that deal and while the Bengals are stacked at receiver and have plenty of young players at the position who need playing time, Owens could easily slide into their lineup as a third receiver and be a part of a contender with legitimate postseason aspirations. Sure, being the third or fourth option for an offense would be tough to swallow, but if Owens really is the changed man he professes himself to be, he’ll swallow his pride and accept the one and only offer currently on the table. The Rams have elected to pass on signing Owens and affirmed as much today, leaving Cincinnati as the only team in this race. It’s the right choice for the Rams and they’ll be better for it in the long run, while the Bengals…..if they’re fortunate, signing Owens won't blow up in their faces and he won't derail what could otherwise be a very successful season with a strong, balanced offense……….
- Do it, Newt Gingrich. I may think you’re an ignorant toad who was a ridiculous failure as House Speaker, but I now want you to run for president in 2012 for one simple reason: Howard Freaking Dean. That’s right, the man who gave us the most memorable rant in the history of American politics (WE’RE GOING TO NORTH DAKTOKA…..AND OREGON……THEN WE’RE GOING TO MICHIGAN……AND THEN WE’RE GOING TO WASHINGTON AND WE’RE GONNA TAKE BACK THE WHITE HOUSE….YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!) is an active participant on the American political scene and as such, he has endorsed a possible White House bid in 2012 by Gingrich. The former speaker won't yet say if he's running for president in 2012, but he picked up Dean’s endorsement as a man with "a ton of ideas to move the country forward." Dean, a past chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the former governor of Vermont, spoke about Gingrich and surprisingly threw his weight behind a man with whom he would seem to share little or no political ideologies. "There are no ideas in the Republican Party right now in the Congress," Dean said. "They're the party of 'no.' They desperately need some intellectual leadership. And whatever you think of Newt Gingrich, he can supply intellectual leadership. So I hope he does run." Now if that’s me and Dean is getting behind my candidacy, I’m announcing my plans to run yesterday. But for some reason, Gingrich isn’t jumping into action and actually joked that Dean's backing could doom his candidacy if he runs. "Here's my opponent's clip in the primaries," Gingrich said of Dean’s kind words while appearing on "Fox News Sunday." Stop the joking, accept the endorsement and make a way for my main man H. Dean to once again be a voice in this nation’s political system, Newt…………
- Too few international political gatherings have outright brawls nowadays. Political figures are too concerned with being politically correct, representing their country well and not throwing down with the delegations from other countries. Thankfully, there are still groups and leaders out there like Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi and his presidential guard. Gadhafi’s security forces and Ugandan security personnel have twice thrown hands at the African Union summit on the shores of Lake Victoria, officials confirmed. "Fights are always a result of the lack of respect by the Libyans to their hosts," said Ejison Kwesiga, spokesman for Uganda's presidential brigade. "Host authorities are responsible for any dangers that could arise. It is the host country's authorities who must take care of all visiting heads of state, but the Libyans never want them to do their job." Wrong and wrong, Ejison Fights are not a lack of respect, they are sign of intensity, passion and a willingness to step to when someone pulls your punk card. No one is going to mess with a delegation that they know will cave their face in at today’s luncheon in between the salad and the poached salmon. In a scene I desperately wish I had been on hand to witness, Libyan guards exchanged kicks and blows with Ugandan security on Sunday, the first day of the summit, as they approached the entrance marquee for the opening ceremony. Again, this took place before the opening ceremony. The Libyans came looking for a fight and that’s exactly the attitude I want my international political contingents to show up with. Too much demure, deferential bullsh*t goes on at these events and if the Libyans are ready to go the instant they arrive, so much the better. Now, only heads of state were allowed inside the ceremony and an argument erupted when Ugandan authorities attempted to escort Gadhafi through the entrance, so the Libyans obviously had plenty of reasons to be pissed. The Ugandans clearly didn’t learn anything from Round 1 because the same freaking thing happened Monday when Gadhafi and his security team were walking to the main conference hall. Security was in the process of moving heads of state to another room and a second fight broke out when Ugandan authorities attempted to escort Gadhafi there. The situation became to heated that Gadhafi reportedly slapped three of his own personnel. If only all international political gatherings were this interesting……….
- Tech-savvy iPhone users, you can now legally hack your phones to download applications that aren't in Apple's App Store. Thanks to a decision by the U.S. Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress, users have access to several new authorized exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), one of which will allow mobile phone users to "jailbreak" -- or hack into -- their devices to use apps not authorized by the phone's manufacturer. All of the rules and details will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register, clarifying what had been a legal gray area. Apple technically had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for damages every time a user violated the law that bans "circumvention of technological measures" controlling access to copyrighted works, although Apple never actually requested that a fine be levied on an iPhone customer for circumventing its iPhone's iOS software. Ironically, the company fought hard to keep a right it never used, filing an objection last year to the rule the Copyright Office has now adopted. Because of the Copyright Office's decision, jailbreakers will not face legal sanctions, but phone makers are still free enact technological blocks against the process. Apple’s general practice is to void the warranty on iPhones that owners have hacked, claiming that tampering with the iPhone can introduce bugs and glitches. "Apple's goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone, and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience," a company spokeswoman said in response to the ruling. "The vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones." That last statement is true, as jailbreaking a phone isn’t something your average smartphone user is capable of. In announcing its decision, the Copyright Office also renewed and expanded its 2006 decision allowing mobile phone users to jailbreak their phones in order to switch carriers. What this means for iPhone users is that they can now legally download software that will enable their phones to join a non-AT&T network. Apple’s failure to offer a second carrier for the iPhone has been a frequent lament of even its most devoted followers, so this decision opens some significant doors. The decision comes as the Copyright Office conducts its tri-annual review of its own rulemaking process to determine what exemptions should be granted to the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions. This particular decision has certainly garnered more attention that the average verdict handed down from the office, so where we go from here is up to you, iPhone users………
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