- George Clooney, your help is needed in Kansas. Clooney, quite possibly the world’s most famous pot-bellied pig owner, might be able to offer assistance to Lawrence, Kan. resident Ehren Penix. Penix has been willfully living in defiance of the city’s animal ordinances that forbid citizens from having pigs as pets, among other farm animals. His argument is that that the city has changed the code before, making it legal for people to have animals like hedgehogs and chickens, so officials should make an exception for his 70-pound pot-bellied pig as well. His pig, Starky, is apparently Penix’s best friend and Penix describes the oinker as smart, fun to be around and a pig who loves to cuddle. Yes, this sounds pathetic, desperate and sad on many levels and yes, Penix is light years away from having a girlfriend if he insists on keeping Starky. However, Clooney has done fairly well for himself with the ladies while keeping his pot-bellied pig Max in his life, so maybe there’s hope here too. For the time being, Penix remains hopeful that the city will change its mind and alter its code to make it legal to keep a pot-bellied pig as a pet. He will present his case at the city commission’s next meeting and await their decision. In the meantime, a pig’s fate hangs in the balance and a call from a certain good-looking veteran actor might do a little something to sway the commission’s decision………..
- It’s been a year and Sidney Crosby still isn't right. Since suffering a concussion in January 2011, the Pittsburgh Penguins star has struggled to get back on the ice and missed the remainder of the 2010-11 season after the injury. His symptoms lingered into the summer and even into training camp this fall. He was ultimately able to return to the ice early this season, but once again suffered post-concussion symptoms and hasn't played since Dec. 5. His inability to shake the after-effects of the concussion have cast doubt on whether he will ever return to the ice and stay. He was great spectacular in his season debut on Nov. 21, scoring two goals against the New York Islanders and had 12 points in eight games before being sidelined. Even after skating skated with his teammates for the first time in more than a month last Friday, he is still scheduled to meet with chiropractic neurologist Dr. Ted Carrick to address his lingering symptoms and determine the next step in the process. Headaches and dizziness are still a regular part of his day-to-day existence and doctors have not cleared him to exert himself at a high level. "The motion stuff is still a little bit iffy," Crosby said. "I want to make sure I give it a fair shot, but at the same time I know it's something I can improve." Carrick treated Crosby last summer and said in September that the superstar would have a "very good outcome" following his rehab. That good outcome has yet to fully materialize and Crosby has been MIA since getting jostled around in a loss to Boston on Dec. 5 and is unsure when he’ll return to the ice. "It's a tough injury," Crosby said. "It's not always clear-cut all of the time. Now I feel like I know a lot more about what I'm feeling and how to improve it. I think being more familiar helps a bit." Without him, the Penguins have slipped from being a top contender in the Eastern Conference to the eighth spot in the standings and they still don’t know if or when help is on the way…………
- Way to be, Iraq. You need to have a little diplomatic swagger if your new government is going to stand on its own and command respect from the international community. Summoning Turkey's ambassador to Baghdad on Monday to protest Ankara’s perceived Ankara's meddling in Iraqi politics is a solid first step. Sure, it could be characterized as another sign of a growing rift between Sunni Turkey and its Shiite neighbors, but that’s overly pessimistic. Turkey has showed immense disrespect of late by lecturing Iraqi leaders about how its Sunni-Shiite tensions could engulf the entire Islamic world. Turkey took its meddling a step further by publicly expressing support for a Sunni rival to Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. "Turkey interferes by backing certain political figures and blocs" in Iraq,” al-Maliki fumed last month. I believe Turkey is unqualified to intervene in the region's flash points. Unfortunately, Turkey is playing a role that could lead to a catastrophe or civil war in the region.” With of the U.S. drawdown from Iraq and of the Arab Spring shifting Iraq’s political landscape significantly, the Iraqi government is facing an immense burden to maintain control and the perception that an outside entity is involving itself in the process is understandably infuriating. Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hinted at a looming problem earlier this month when he warned of a "Cold War" developing between Shiites and Sunnis across the Middle East. Turkey insists its efforts are purely humanitarian and in no way designed to exert influence on Iraq’s political system. Iraq isn't buying that explanation and even at a time when Turkey’s cooperation with the United States is at an all-time high, the Iraqi government is increasingly angry with its Middle East neighbors. Summoning the Turkish ambassador to face difficult questions and be told in no uncertain terms to f*ck off probably won't calm those tensions…………
- Wikipedia is going dark for 24 hours, parties on both sides of the issue are making apocalyptic proclamations about what will happen if the proposal is approved/rejected and the fate of the Internet as we know it hangs in the balance. That’s the general consensus as the House and Senate weigh two similar bills that would crack down on the sale of pirated American movies, music and other goods on foreign-based websites. Both bills would require Internet companies to severely restrict access to foreign pirate websites, bar search engines from linking to them and prevent U.S. companies from placing ads on them. Supporters of the bill were dealt a significant setback over the weekend momentum after the White House sided with irate Internet companies and users and said that the proposal could hurt innocent companies and undermine cybersecurity. The White House spelled out its opposition to the bills in no uncertain terms. "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," three White House advisers said in a statement released Saturday. Prior to that statement, the bills seemed to be headed for passage by a wide margin. The Senate is still scheduled to hold a procedural vote on the legislation on Jan. 24, but House backers haven't announced any plans to advance the legislation. "I am committed to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that protects free speech, the Internet and America's intellectual property," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R., Texas) said response to the White House announcement. With the fate of the Stop Online Piracy Act uncertain, those who complain that piracy is ripping billions of dollars a year from their flush-with-cash pockets are undoubtedly furious. "It's very difficult to compete with free," said Rick Cotton, general counsel of Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal. "New business models and new offerings are going to get stifled in the crib if there's an unlimited tidal wave of stolen content on the Internet." Fox media mogul Rupert Murdoch ripped the Obama administration on Twitter for not supporting the bills, which are undoubtedly subverting his ability to buy the finest caviar and that essential 15th Rolls Royce Phantom for his garage…………
- I got 99 problems but a disagreeable lady ain’t one? If that lyric sounds funny to you, then you may not like the new Jay-Z. As anyone with Internet access, a smartphone or a TV knows, Jay-Z and wife Beyoncé recently became parents and with the birth of daughter Blue Ivy Carter, the dude known as H.O.V.A. is a changed man - or so he says. Just eight days after his daughter’s birth, Jay-Z released a poem to her in which he vowed to change one of the very characteristics of his game as a hip-hop artist. The guy who once rapped, “I got 99 problems but a b*tch ain’t one” promised in the poem to his daughter that, "No man will degrade her, or call her names. I'm so focused on your future, the degradation has passed. I wish you wealth, health and insight. Forever young you may pass. Blue Ivy Carter, my angel." In other words, no more calling anyone a b’otch in his lyrics. "Before I got in the game, made a change, and got rich/I didn’t think hard about using the word b---h," he wrote. "I rapped, I flipped it, I sold it, I lived it/Now with my daughter in this world I curse those that give it," the poem continued. Whether he abides by that promise or not remains to be seen, but rhyming is going to become much more difficult if he does. Eliminating one of your go-to words from the mix has to complicate the songwriting process. The poem came just one week after Jay-Z released a lullaby titled "Glory, featuring B.I.C." that included sounds of Blue Ivy crying. The song debuted at No. 74 on Billboard's R&B/hip-hop hit list four days later, making the infant the youngest artist to ever make the chart. Now Blue Ivy’s father has 99 problems and not using the word b*tch is one…………
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