- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Everyone’s favorite overview of social dissidence ‘round the world is back to prove that riots and uprisings are not just for nations ruled by oppressive despots who reign with terror and trample human rights with military might. Leave it to the good people of the Maldives, a small group of islands in the Indian Oceans southwest of Sri Lanka, to prove that point emphatically. Even though their leader is a democratically elected president, that didn’t stop angry Maldivians from rising up and clashing with police and the army to demand the ouster of President Mohamed Nasheed, a former human rights campaigner who defeated the nation's longtime ruler in the country's first multiparty election. Best of all, the riots worked. The first democratically elected president of the Maldives resigned Tuesday in the face of mounting public pressure over the arrest of a top judge. Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who previously worked as a top UNICEF official, was sworn in as the new Maldivian president within hours of Nasheed’s resignation. With the echoes of clashes between police, soldiers and protestors still ringing through the capital of Male, the will of the people prevailed. Nasheed, who spent a significant amount of time traveling the world to persuade governments to combat the climate change that could raise sea levels and wipe his island nation from the planet, presented his resignation in a nationally televised address Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want to hurt any Maldivian. I feel my staying on in power will only increase the problems, and it will hurt our citizens," Nasheed said. "So the best option available to me is to step down."One of the best sights of the day was police breaking ranks, joining with protestors and fighting against soldiers in the streets. Further adding to the chaos, some of the soldiers then defected to the police side. To cap the festivities, Maldivians waving flags poured into the streets to celebrate Nasheed's resignation. In his place for now is Hassan, a Stanford-educated scholar who was the first television anchor in Maldives history and the first person shown live when local TV went on the air in 1978. In the aftermath of the riots, the government moved quickly to dispel rumors that a coup had ousted Nasheed from power. "It was not a coup at all, it was the wish of the people," said Ahmed Thoufeeg, Hassan's secretary. The day’s events stemmed from Nasheed ordering the military to arrest Abdulla Mohamed, the chief judge of the Criminal Court, who had ordered the release of a government critic he said had been illegally detained. Of course, when an epic riot goes down that forces an elected official from power, the reasons why aren't so important………
- Running the New York Yankees is never a dull existence. However, the drama in Yankees general manager Brian Cashman usually comes from the Bronx Bombers pursuing a key free agent or losing a gut-wrenching series in the postseason and not from some mentally unhinged kook allegedly stalking him and attempting to extort money over an extramarital affair. With all of Major League Baseball’s marquee free agents already signed but spring training still nearly two weeks from opening, Cashman finds himself in the middle of some extremely intense personal theatrics. On Thursday, Louise Neathway was charged with harassing Cashman and threatening to ruin his reputation if he didn't give her thousands of dollars. Considering his position, asking for merely thousands of dollars was probably low-balling for Neathway. She now faces charges of stalking and extortion, but Neathway's lawyers deny it and say Cashman turned on her when their relationship ended badly. Clearly someone is telling at least part of the truth and someone else is lying outright, but Cashman’s estranged wife Mary isn't waiting around to find out. She filed divorce papers Friday, one day after prosecutors charged Neathway. Mary Cashman filed the paperwork Friday in Stamford, Conn., but neither she nor her husband responded to requests for comment. Sources close to the situation say Cashman and his wife have been separated and living apart for a year, which is probably a good thing because what wife wants to spend time with a husband who has a deranged stalker lurking at all times……….
- If there is one thread to weave every political party in the United States together, it is hypocrisy. Democrats, Republicans, Green Party members, Libertarians and members of every other peripheral party in the system know how to say one thing and within minutes, do the exact opposite if it’s in their self-preservational interests. Examples of this phenomenon would take up far too much space, so let’s stick with the most recent and coincidentally, the most prominent. Super PACs, a.k.a. political action committees on steroids, have been a major influence in the ongoing presidential race. Super PACs have become such a factor that Comedy Central late-night host Stephen Colbert formed one, staged a faux run for the Republican presidential primary in his native state of South Carolina and used the entire experience to illustrate the rampant absurdities of how Super PACs are able to raise money, support candidates and influence the political process. Because President Barack Obama doesn’t have to fend off any challengers for the Democratic nomination, he hasn’t been in the campaign spotlight as much as his infhgting Republican rivals. Oh, he also has that whole running a country to do as well, which cuts into his time. Bur according to several participants on a conference call with major bundlers late Monday night, the president’s stance on super PAC money has undergone a flip-flop that would make baseball equipment-named Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney proud. Those sources claim Obama’s re-election campaign encouraged donors to fundraise for a Democratic super PAC supporting the president, which is basically the exact opposite of Obama’s previous position toward outside spending groups. In fact, the president has been a vocal critic of current campaign financing laws, in particular a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the creation of super PACs. Obama had kept his distance from the group, Priorities USA Action, which seemed like the rare instance of a politician doing what he said he would do. That was before the revelation of the group's anemic fundraising, made public last week when all Super PACs were required to fully disclose financial information. To assist Priorities USA Action, campaign officials made it clear r that after donors contribute the maximum amount allowed to the Obama campaign, fundraisers should encourage donors to give to Priorities USA, according to a source who was on the call. Others who were on the call pointed to the massive amounts raised by Republican super PACs as a reason why Priorities USA Action intended to keep going instead of ceasing operations. Oh, and the group would be a damn good way for Democrats to attack whomever emerges from the Republican clusterf**k without Obama having to get his hands dirty. Seems like a logical reason to flip-flop…………
- If hip-hop cable music network BET is censoring an artist’s music video or refusing to air said video because it’s too raunchy, that should be a surefire sign that maybe it’s time to dial the filth and debauchery back a notch. Hack rapper Nicki Minaj has built her entire image on being as raunchy and controversial as possible and has crafted something of a manic vixen personality along with cashing in on her infamous backside to pull in fans as well. It’s the new music video for her song "Stupid H-e" that is generating controversy at the moment after BET announced it would not show the video on any of its shows because it is too offensive. The video, directed by Hype Williams, features Minaj in her signature cartoonish outfits repeating the song’s title along with other explicit words while writhing around in a cage and skanking it up as much as possible. One of the song’s lines says, "I'm Angelina, you Jennifer/ C'mon b--h, you see where Brad at." It’s a classy line to be sure, perfectly matched with the visual backdrop of a bare butt that accompanies it on the screen. That bare backside is clearly a tribute to Minaj’s own famed back porch and it flashes repeatedly on the screen. BET did not issue any explanation of its decision, choosing to allow the ban to speak for itself and for fans and media to draw their own conclusions. Those who view life through rose-tinted glasses will undoubtedly arrive at the conclusion that the reason for the ban is irrelevant because what really matters is people being spared from watching any more of the deplorable garbage Minaj tries to pass off as music……….
- Reason to hate smoking No. 14,887,644,701: Choking down cancer sticks is not only bad for the lungs and respiratory system as a whole, but it is also bad for the brain, especially in male smokers. A team of researchers led by Severine Sabia, a research associate in the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London, gave cognitive tests to 7,236 middle aged men and women three times between 1997-99 and 2007-09, when they were 44-69 years old, 50-74 years old and 55-80 years old. They learned that men who smoke tend to have a more rapid mental decline than men who do not smoke, a new study shows. The same results were not prevalent in female smokers, although that could simply be because women tend to smoke fewer cigarettes a day than men do and for fewer years. Study participants were given their first mental assessment at midlife, an average age of 56. Sabia’s team administered five tests of memory, vocabulary, and reasoning (verbal and math) skills. Participants were retested two more times (every five years) over a decade. They also examined volunteers' smoking habits over a 25-year period by looking at participants’ then-current smoking status and past history, including whether they had quit or relapsed. Men who had burned heaters recently tended to show, greater declines in "executive function," a term for more complex thinking skills, than men who never smoked. As if that were not enough of a reason to stop smoking, this might be: Men who had stopped smoking for a decade did not have greater mental decline than men who never took up tobacco. That led researchers to the conclusion that the negative effects of smoking on memory and thinking skills might wear off about 10 years after quitting. Of course, the horrifically damaging effects on a person’s blackened lungs, leathery skin and raspy smoker’s voice do not wear off or abate. Throw in smoking being a risk factor for dementia and increasing a person’s chances for heart disease and smoking sounds like a real party, no? "Our study illustrates the importance of examining risk factors for [mental] decline much earlier in the life course," the researchers in Sabia’s study wrote. The findings of the project were published in the Archives of General Psychiatry for anyone who needs another reminder of why smoking sucks……….
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