- Thanks for getting around to this, Reggie Bush. After USC had its name dragged through the mud because of the illegal perks and benefits you took as a member of the Trojan football program, found itself on the reciving end of extremely harsh NCAA sanctions and fired its athletic director in large part because of his role in not running a tighter ship without the very sort of behavior you engaged in, you take a few weeks before you make an apology? At first, you criticize the strained relationship and lament the sad state of things, but it takes a couple more weeks before you call up new Southern Cal athletic director Pat Haden to offer up a mea culpa? "He's really contrite," Haden said. "He knows he made a series of mistakes. It wasn't just one mistake. It was a series of mistakes." Oh, and Bush also spoke to Haden about his now-tarnished Heisman Trophy, won in 2005. "He told me, 'If I could turn the clock back, I would. If I could give the Heisman Trophy back, I would,' " Haden recalled. Wait, is there something preventing Bush from returning the Heisman that I don’t know about? Unless someone stole the trophy or he pawned it, Bush can absolutely buy a ticket on the next plane to New York, take a cab to the Downtown Athletic Club and hand that hardware back in person. Just use one of your off days from training camp, tell Sean Payton that you have some personal business to take care of and own it. I know that’s a novel approach for Bush, but perhaps it’s time for him to start manning up and acting with integrity for once. My favorite part of this story, however, has to be the fact that Bush is apparently barred from visiting the school. Seriously, like the university was granted a restraining order against him. I’ve been on the campus of quite a few colleges and universities in my time, but I don’t ever recall border guards on the perimeter, keeping unapproved visitors out. "I wish I could ask Reggie to come talk to our football team. I can't," said Haden. "He's not allowed on the campus. But I think he would tell them what a big mistake he made and how sorry he is." Quite a mess you’ve created, Reggie. But I guess that’s what you get when you go through life with your hand out, looking for anything you can get whether it’s legal or not………
- This is a partnership that can't end in anything but sheer and utter disaster….for the rest of the world. Russia has announced that it will start loading a nuclear reactor in Iran with fuel next week, inching the project that much closer to completion. The fuel is slated to arrive at the Iranian facility on August 21, providing Iran with what it needs to a) create nuclear energy or b) move perilously close to creating a nuclear bomb to blow Israel of the freaking map. Which of those two outcomes you expect depends on whose story you believe. Iran has argued that the first outcome is the one it's after, whereas the rest of the world (other than Russia, Brazil and Turkey) believes that the second outcome is the one we're headed for. All along, Iran has insisted that its sole intent is to create atomic energy, but other nations fear could be used for nuclear weapons. "This event will symbolize that the period of testing is over and the stage of physical start-up has begun," said, Sergei Novikov, spokesman for the Russian Atomic Agency. It's important to note that Russia's state-sponsored nuclear corporation has been under contract for several years to help Iran build the Bushehr reactor site, so this isn't something that has just developed and flies in the face of the rest of the world's concerns. Well, it does actually do that, but it's important to have a full perspective. Novikov was quick to point out that even with the fuel set to arrive, it will still be six months before the plant is able to produce material for a nuclear bomb, er, um, energy. The United States has pleaded with Russia to wait for additional evidence that Iran won't use the fuel for nuclear weapons, but Russia is content based on the assurance that the fuel's arrival and loading into the plant will be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. "The IAEA inspectors will remove seals from containers with nuclear fuel, examine it," Novikov said. "The fuel will be then transferred into a special storage facility. And when the Iranian nuclear watchdog agency gives its permission, the fuel will be loaded into the reactor." All of this comes even as the United States and its allies extended sanctions against Iran a few weeks ago, saying targeting Iranian businesses and groups accused of helping radical organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Taliban. Those sanctions came on the heels of June's announcement by the U.S. Treasury Department of sanctions targeting the Iran's nuclear and missile programs by zeroing in on more than 20 companies and several individuals allegedly involved with those programs. Ultimately, it's an explosive situation in more ways than one and rest assured, this isn't going to end well on any level……..
- My belief in life is that any fate befalling a current, past or future American Karaoke karaoke-er is always deserved and necessary, no matter how ugly or cruel is may be. If that karaoke-er has a building collapse on them, so be it. If their favorite dogs runs away and never comes back, they had it coming. Should someone steal their identity and ruin their credit, oh well. That's because….well, because I have this thing about crappy karaoke pop music and those who perpetuate its existence. Any American Karaoke-er is doing exactly that and so I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. That goes for former AK-er Fantasia Barrino, who was recently hospitalized after allegedly overdosing on a combo platter of aspirin and a sleep aid and was released from the hospital only to be greeted with a lawsuit from a woman whose marriage Barrino allegedly wrecked by having an affair with the plaintiff's husband. "[Paula Cook] has threatened via her lawyers to me to sue Fantasia," the singer's lawyer, Gena Morris, stated. The lawsuit has merit because North Carolina is one of seven states with a law that allows a party to sue a "home wrecker" for alienation of affection and criminal conversation. Morris labeled the lawsuit a comical irony," but I'm guessing Barrino isn't laughing even if her attorney insists that she's "doing remarkably well" after her hospitalization. Morris went so far as to mock the laws "because they arrive out of laws when women were property of men." Legal semantics or not, the lawsuit will either rise or fall on one main fact: when the couple separated. If Antwaun Cook split with his wife in the summer of 2009, as he told Barrino, then the lawsuit is dead in the water. however, Paula Cook claimed in a court filing that the split didn't occur until June 16, 2010. "If there is a relationship with a married person after they are separated, there is no cause of action for alienation," Morris explains. Oh, and there is also the matter of the alleged sex tape that Barrino and Antwaun Cook made, but I'm bot sure where that fits into the equation. Ultimately, dating a (possibly) married guy "off and on" for 11 months could end up making big trouble for Barrino, but again I would argue, she had it coming even if the Cooks split 10 years ago………
- If I've heard this story once, I've heard it a million times. A building is used as a bar for years and years, serves up beers on tap, Jager bombs, Irish car bombs, screwdrivers, rum and cokes and more, then closes down and ends up with a second life as a church. That story is playing out once again, this time in Middletown, Ohio, where a former bar has become a church that ministers to those in need. The Mission of Hope was recently evicted from its Central Avenue facility, leaving its leaders with the challenge of finding a new place to do God's work. That place ended up being a former bar that they have converted into a place of worships that also uses donations to provide free breakfast and lunch to those in need. The church officially opened Saturday with nary a trace of the bar that once occupied the same space. "Now that we got the paint on here and lightened it up, no, it looks like it's for the Lord," said Bill Preston, pastor of Mission of Hope. The church's practice is to turn away no one and Preston stated that his organization was able to help an average of 1,000 people per month in 2009. So far this year, that number has tripled. "A lot of them have no food, they have nothing to eat, they have no place to go – especially when you have temperatures such as out today," said Jody Tallent, a Mission of Hope minister. The mission helps men like George Scott and Gerry Bobar, who were able to escape the sweltering heat outside Wednesday afternoon by hanging out at the mission. "If this wasn't here, like he said, we'd be out on the streets," Scott said. "The fact that I've got asthma and stuff, it's not really nice to be outside and that." Adding a personal touch to the mission's work is the fact that Preston himself was once homeless. "I've been down this road, (and) I know what it's like to be hungry," Preston said. The final touch in turning the bar into a full-fledged church and mission will be taking down one last sign advertising the bar. Just goes to show that change can be a good thing……..
- Dell Inc., you now stand accused of giving the American judicial system a giant middle finger. Now, some people or companies do this and get away with it, but it doesn't appear that you will. Advanced Internet Technologies has accused Dell in a Thursday filing in U.S. district court in North Carolina of continuing to withhold documents and internal e-mail transactions revealing that the company knew there were problems with its OptiPlex computers. In other words, Dell royally dicked over AIT and now won't be honest about just how royally. The ongoing dispute over allegedly faulty computers has escalated quickly and now that AIT has accused Dell of refusing to comply with court orders to reveal secret documents. To support its case, AIT claims in its filing that it "is in possession of at least one document showing that Dell senior executives were involved in the development of 'talking points' designed to minimize to Dell's customers and shareholders the full extent of capacitor failures in the OptiPlex computers." Yikes, them are some serious accusations. Of course, Dell has given the requisite denial of the allegations and is prepared to fight to the death in court, as always. "We disagree with AIT's contention that we violated the discover order and will be filing our response with the court soon," a company spokesman stated. "We take all court orders and our obligations to comply with them very seriously." This showdown actually has its roots in a three-year period from 2003 to 2005, when Dell sold computers with faulty capacitors that allegedly caused most motherboards on two OptiPlex models to break. AIT became entangled in the middle of the mess because it had leased nearly 2,000 OptiPlex systems to its clients and claims to have lost nearly $16 million from cancelled contracts and $22 million on discounts it offered to hold onto angry customers. To recoup those losses, the company is in the process of suing Dell and that's where the reluctance to turn over the secret documents comes in. "AIT has sought documents on this issue from the outset of discovery, but Dell has consistently resisted providing documents relating to its decision to withhold, withdraw, or purge OptiPlex computer[s] containing defective capacitors," Advanced Internet Technologies said in the filing. So own your responsibilities, turn over the documents and don't make us come over there and take them ourselves, Dell……..
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