- Nothing screams innocence for a high-ranking political official accused of corruption quite like resigning one day after being implicated in a $3.5 billion scandal. Credit for this reputation-boosting move goes to the chief minister of Karnataka state, B. S. Yeddyurappa, who quit Thursday, one day after anticorruption investigators implicated him in a probe involving the illegal mining of iron ore. Karnataka is an important southern state in India, so its chief minister resigning in scandal is kind of a big deal. Yeddyurappa made the decision because he felt he had lost the support of his party, the Bhartiya Janata Party, which is the main opposition party at the federal level. That can often happen when an anticorruption panel releases a report accusing someone and their family of receiving $2 million in illicit payments from a mining company and selling a piece of land at an inflated price. The resignation is merely the latest in a string of them among members of the party in recent months as part of a series of corruption scandals involving government licensing, natural resources and public projects. Other senior members of the coalition government have already lost their jobs and are now awaiting trial. A party spokesman said Yeddyurappa was hoping to stay in office until Sunday, although it’s unclear what good an embattled, scandal-ridden lame-duck leader could do with a few extra days in office. That will probably be the message party leaders deliver when they meet with him on Friday to persuade him to leave earlier. Getting out now would probably be wise on Yeddyurappa’s part, as the sh*t might truly hit the fan in a few months after a newly approved ombudsman’s office to investigate corruption is up and running, a move the cabinet also approved Thursday. Even the creation of the office wasn’t enough to placate a group of activists who undertook a hunger strike for the expressed purpose of pushing authorities to create the office. Those activists dismissed the proposed measure as “toothless” because the office would not be able to investigate the prime minister and would not have enough independence. The BJP reversed field on Yeddyurappa after initially standing behind him and announced Thursday morning that it had “advised” the leader to resign after considering the panel’s report. But hey, it is a 25,000-page report and reading it would take a long time. Karnataka state ombudsman Santosh Hegde also accused other state leaders and corporations of wrongdoing, including illegally mining iron ore, indicating the corruption is much more widespread than a few dirty government officials. This sounds like a scandal that has the potential to deliver more interesting headlines for some time to come…………
- Actors who have made tens of millions of dollars over the course of careers spanning decades don’t have much need to sue anyone, right? Not if the actor in question is Joe Pesci and not if you drastically altered your appearance for a movie role only to have the movie’s producers then inform you that you’ve been downgraded into a lesser role with a smaller paycheck and that role does not necessitate you changing your appearance. Pesci is livid over the sleight and Pesci has filed a lawsuit against the producer of Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father, for $3 million. He was originally slated to play the role of Angelo Ruggiero in the drama about the son of Mafia boss John Gotti, Sr. As part of his preparation for the role, Pesci gained 30 pounds. His lawsuit claims that only after he gained that weight did producers offered him $1 million instead and a lesser role. Rather than play the part of Gotti’s right-hand man, he was to be relegated to some second-tier part. Not only was it a major blow to his ego (probably a large part of the lawsuit because losing the weight he gained would not be that difficult), but Pesci clearly saw it as a reason to fight. Marc Fiore, CEO of Fiore Films rejected the claims and said, “Before we had a deal, Mr. Pesci walked away.” That statement doesn’t tell anyone anything and now that a lawsuit has been filed, it’s safe to say that the studio won't be saying anything worth listening to for the remainder of the case. Despite the suit, the project is moving forward and a cast featuring John Travolta, Al Pacino and Kelly Preston will do their best to keep co-star Lindsay Lohan from going on a Jack-and-coke (the Colombian nose candy, not the soda) bender for the duration of the film. And yes, Lindsay Lohan is attached to a project and she’s not the one making the biggest waves………….
- When your new handheld video game system bombs out abysmally, you face some difficult decisions and if the failure is profound enough you just may have to slash the price by nearly one-third. Nintendo found that out the hard way with its latest handheld gaming system, the 3DS, which will now retail for $169.99 instead of the original sticker price of $249.99 after falling well short of matching the sales success of its predecessors -- the DS, DS Lite and DSi. Nintendo announced that the new price will go into effect Aug. 12 and the company hopes it will boost sagging 3DS sales in the United States. Thus far, the 3DS has sold just 830,000 units in the U.S. since its March 27 launch It’s primary drawing point, 3-D viewing without the need for 3-D glasses, hasn’t been that much of a draw so far. Those who have already purchased a 3DS may not like the idea of the price dropping $80 and for that reason, Nintendo is planning to give them something of a thank you gift. "These Nintendo 3DS owners represent some of Nintendo's most loyal customers, and Nintendo is rewarding them for getting in on the action early with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop," Nintendo said. That sounds great except…….these customers have to use "a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11" to get the free games, which Nintendo is terming its "Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program." However, those free games will be selected by Nintendo and not by users themselves. Half of the free games will be available in September and the remainder will be downloadable some time between then and year’s end. While admitting to the 3DS’ failure in the U.S., Nintendo tried to aid its case by point out that it has sold more than 4 million 3DS systems worldwide since the device launched in February in Japan. That’s awesome - except that last year, Nintendo sold more than 27 million DS consoles. "We feel the price change and several prominent software releases by the end of the year will definitely change the situation," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata proclaimed. That was an allusion to several high-profile titles for the 3DS set to launch this year, including new Super Mario and Mario Kart games. All of that sounds great, but probably not enough to pull Nintendo out of its full-fledged nosedive………….
- Major League Baseball seems to believe it is “doing the right thing” when it admits after the fact that an umpire has blown a call and altered the outcome of a game with the bad call. To be fair to MLB, other major professional sports leagues occasionally do the same thing and the gesture is equally hollow every time. Tuesday night’s (Wednesday morning, actually) blown call by home plate umpire Jerry Meals in Atlanta's 4-3, 19-inning win over Pittsburgh gave MLB a golden chance to issue one of its patented meaningless mea culpas and sure enough, Bud Selig and crew obliged. Meals conceded after the game that he missed the call when Atlanta's Scott Proctor hit a ground ball to third base, where Pittsburgh's Pedro Alvarez fielded it and threw home to catcher Michael McKenry, who seemed tag to baserunner Julio Lugo in plenty of time for the out. Meals inexplicably ruled Lugo safe, sparking a near-brawl between he and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle and his coaches, all of whom were understandably livid. Replays showed McKenry clearly tagging Lugo before Lugo reached the plate, but the backward-thinking brass in the commissioners office have an inexplicable vendetta against technology and are looking to keep it out of the sport as much as possible. The loss was especially tough to digest for the Pirates, who are looking to break an MLB-record streak of 18 straight seasons with a losing record and are unexpectedly contending in the National League Central. The team filed a formal complaint hours after the game and MLB executive vice president for baseball operations Joe Torre said it appeared Meals missed the call. Meals himself conceded as much after watching a replay of the play. "After coming into the locker room, I reviewed the incident through our videos that we have in here and after seeing a few of them, on one particular replay, I was able to see that Lugo's pant leg moved ever so slightly when the swipe tag was attempted by McKenry," Meals said. Meals’ admission should satisfy Hurdle, who had all but insisted on an apology from the 14-year umpiring veteran for the missed call. "I think that would be appropriate," Hurdle prior to Meals’ statement. "It would be professional. It would be respectful. And then we could all move on." Added to the growing list that includes umpire Jim Joyce’s blown call at first base last season in a Tigers-Indians game that cost Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game, this latest incident should be enough to push Selig, Torre and their crew to expand replay in baseball, but as always it won’t be………….
- Wednesday was not nearly as exciting as it should have been for residents of Grand Rapids, Mich. When a truck full of food falls from an overpass and that food cargo is spilled all over the road below, an all-out bonanza should ensue, especially when that food is an easily perishable item that spoils quickly in summer heat. Thus, when a semi-truck full of yogurt fell from a I-196 overpass in Grand Rapids, residents should have bum rushed the spot and after making sure they were not interfering with rescue workers extricating the trapped driver from his demolished truck, gone hog wild on the yogurt. Oh, and the driver was fine, so no worries there. Even though his truck his the guardrail and flew up and over, falling all the way to Garfield Avenue below, the driver was fine and after several minutes, emergency crews were able to cut him from the mangled cab of the truck, conscious and communicating. Fuel also spilled from the truck as it fell from the bridge and the area reeked of diesel fuel, but a hazardous materials team was able to clean up the spill before it filtered into a nearby storm sewer. Sadly, there was no a massive cleanup effort amongst the locals to scoop up armfuls of yogurt and either eat them or rush them to the nearest refrigerator for safe keeping. Had the spill been ice cream, doughnuts, Doritos or beer that was strewn across Garfield Avenue, one has to imagine that there would have been dozens of fistfights right there on the street amongst portly Americans looking for their free piece of some fatty, fried or otherwise unhealthy food items. Instead, the sight of bland, unexciting yogurt fired up next to no one and a great opportunity went largely unnoticed and missed. Next time the world marvels at how FAT we are collectively, America, just recall incidents like this one and the entire problem will be explained very succinctly…………
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