- Fasting and hunger strikes are generally a huge disappointment. They start off well, with promises and threats of not eating until the target of the strike does or stops doing what the hunger striker wants. Inevitably, the strike fizzles out because the public loses interest, the cause becomes a moot point or the hunger striker caves in. We’ll have to wait and see if the same thing happens to swami Baba Ramdev, one of India's most popular yoga gurus, as he leads his followers in what is being called a fast to the death as part of a populist campaign to fight corruption. Ramdev kicked off his fast in front of thousands of supporters in New Delhi Saturday and from the start, he was talking a big game and promising India would be saved. With soaring rhetoric, he told them "nothing is impossible" and vowed they would not be defeated. Among the swami’s demands are a return of so-called black money, cash stashed in foreign bank accounts and used to pay bribes, and the execution of corrupt government officials. It seems decidedly un-swami-like to demand anyone’s execution, but that’s not Ramdev’s only problem. His critics claim he has ties to right-wing Hindu groups and question his sincerity. They allege he lives a lavish lifestyle with money from his multi-million dollar business ventures and might not be the most qualified person to criticize anyone else for their financial dealings and habits. Yet his claims and pleas to end rampant corruption seem to be resonating in a country still reeling from a $39 billion telecom scandal and a scandal-plagued Commonwealth Games event that led to some of the country’s ministers going to jail. Perhaps lending credence to just how much influence Ramdev wields amongst the Indian people, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent four government ministers to meet with Ramdev Saturday in an attempt to stop his protest. Ramdev refused to divulge what was said during the meeting but reassured his supporters he would not be deterred. Many of his supporters joined in mass fasting Saturday in Mumbai and other states across India. Now, to wait and see how long all of this will last…………
- While his focus may be slightly off, XL Recordings boss Richard Russell is at least attacking the right target - sort of. Russell is angry over what he has labeled the rise of "faux porn" in the promotion of female artists in pop music. In a perfect world, we would all be fighting against the menace of mainstream pop, but I’ll settle for a major label executive blasting the manner in which the thin-voiced, musically clueless, lyrically deficient female pop stars like Britney Spears and her ilk are promoted. Russell went so far as to say the idea a new female pop star could be successful without being over-sexualized in promoting her work was "unbelievable" and that this problem had led to music that "boring, crass and unoriginal." On that last point, he could not be more spot-on. Pop music is boring, it is crass and it is unoriginal. It has much to do with labels wanting to crank out identical-sounding pop garbage they know will sell to a musically clueless public that can be swayed be well-produced music videos, pretty packaging and skanked-up songstresses auto-tuned to sound passable on the radio. No one wants anything too far outside that box because there is no guarantee that the musically oblivious masses will recognize something that is good while also being drastically different than anything they’ve heard before. But according to Russell, this problem extends "way beyond" the music industry. He cited an MTV show he watched recently featuring the top ten hits from female pop stars and said he was shocked at "the faux porn imagery." That part of his argument falls flat and is completely implausible for one simple reason: Everyone knows MTV doesn’t show air any actual music. Their forte is tacky reality shows about GTL-ing losers, teen moms and hot college kids living in tricked-out houses having their lives filmed for a couple months. Music no longer has anything to do with Music Television, for better or worse. Still, Russell has some solid points…………
- Why so picky, Microsoft? You do understand that you make the world’s worst operating system, right? Until you step your game up, maybe you should back off demands that chipmakers that want to use the next version of Windows for tablets work with no more than one computer manufacturer. Multiple sources have confirmed the request and also that chipmakers and computer makers that agree to the terms will get incentives from Microsoft in exchange for accepting the restrictions. In other words, buying people off to get what you want. The new arrangement hasn’t officially been made public, but that doesn’t change the reality that Steve Ballmer and Co. are looking to restrict a single chipmaker to one tablet design. The reasoning behind the decision is expediting the delivery of new Windows tablets by keeping tighter control over partners and accelerating development and testing. The fact that any desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone running a Windows-based system is going to suck abysmally seems to be left out of this line of thinking, so maybe Microsoft needs to be reminded. Ultimately, the program isn’t mandatory. Still, the restrictions may impede chip- and computer makers from building a more diverse collection of Windows-based models to compete with Apple’s iPad. Previously, chipmakers working with Windows software were allowed to partner with multiple computer manufacturers. Asked about the rumored arrangement of restriction, Microsoft gave the typical corporate-speak response. “Microsoft is still in the development process on the next version of Windows, continuing the engineering work with our silicon partners as part of the technology preview we talked about in January,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “We continue to talk regularly with hardware partners around the world as part of our development process.” Blah, blah, blah…………
- The NFL and NBA are both locked into intense labor battles right now, with the NFL in the midst of a long lockout and the NBA apparently headed that way by the end of the month, but Major League Baseball is having plenty of its own economic issues. MLB’s own labor agreement is set to expire at the end of the year and if a report published in the Los Angeles Times is true, major financial woes for as many as nine teams should provide a colorful backdrop for labor negotiations. The struggles of the Los Angeles Dodgers - frantically borrowing money from sponsors just to meet payroll every two weeks - and the New York Mets - hemorrhaging money and seeking ways to pay the $1 billion being sought from them by a bankruptcy trustee representing Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme victims - are well-documented. But according to this new report, as many as seven other major league teams, including the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, are not in compliance with MLB rules regarding debt. Anonymous sources confirmed the matter was discussed during a briefing presented at last month's owners meetings and that the teams are in violation of a rule concerning debt-service rules intended to limit a club's debt to 10 times its annual revenue. Other teams named in the owners' briefing were the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals. Like the NFL, which is struggling with its players on how to split $9 billion in annual revenues, MLB is having its own issues even though the league rakes in a combined $7 billion annually, a revenue stream that has doubled in eight years. Commissioner Bud Selig has frequently referred to the sport’s current era as a "golden age," which makes any thoughtful observer question how so many teams, in both large and small markets, can be struggling so mightily. "I have no concerns, nor does anybody in baseball and all the financial people [we deal with]," Selig said. "Nor, for that matter, am I concerned with the overall health of the industry. It is in very good shape. You can't judge anything by looking at this snapshot in time.” So by looking at the facts of a situation, one isn't able to judge anything? Couldn’t that be the very sort of logic that has baseball in such a precarious position in the first place? With so many gray areas in the way teams' finances are reported, sketchy financial behavior is bound to abound. One team could account for its facility debt one way, while another club may file it under a completely different financial accounting category. Baseball’s debt rules are far too unspecific in regards to how the commissioner's office should enforce them, with possible options including ordering a team to raise equity, requiring expenditures to be approved by MLB in advance and suspending a team's owner. MLB officials predictably refused comment on the report, but remaining in denial and fixing your problems tend to be mutually exclusive entities………….
- World, beware! Rabid beavers are once again on the attack and we all need to be alert and focused. One especially belligerent beaver attacked three people this week in a park in northeast Philadelphia. Yes, you read that right: urban attack beavers. The beaver was later killed and tested positive for rabies, according to results released by the Pennsylvania Game Commission on Friday afternoon. All three attacks occurred during a 48-hour period on June 1 and June 2 in the Pennypack Creek area. The attacks led the PGC to warn park visitors to stay away from the Pennypack Creek waterfront area between Bustleton Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard in northeast Philadelphia until further notice. Here is the PGC’s account of the attacks: “On June 1, a husband and wife were fishing in the Bustleton Avenue area when a large beaver bit the woman’s leg. As her husband attempted to assist her, the beaver turned and bit him in both arms and chest area. (Wildlife Commission Officer Jerry) Czech responded to the hospital and interviewed the two victims.
On June 2, in the area of Roosevelt Boulevard, a small child was bitten by a beaver. While at the hospital to interview the victim’s family, WCO Czech received word that a Fairmount Park Ranger had captured a beaver 500 yards from where the child was bitten. WCO Czech responded to the scene and put the animal down." Taken by themselves, these attacks may not be alarming enough to spur the average person to action. However, couple them with an unprovoked attack on a local fisherman by a beaver in late April in the White Clay Creek area of Chester County and the picture becomes clearer. In that incident, the fisherman heard a splash behind him and turned to see a beaver swimming toward him. The cantankerous critter bit him on the back of his leg and came back for more when the fisherman responded and was able to drown the animal despite sustaining another bite on his hand. That beaver was also tested positive for rabies and now, PGC officials are encouraging residents seeing beavers or other mammals acting in a suspicious manner to report that information to the agency’s Southeast Region Office or local law enforcement. Just because the last human rabies fatality in Pennsylvania was a 12‑year‑old Lycoming County boy who died in 1984 doesn’t mean the problem isn't real. Beware, Pennsylvania residents…………
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