Saturday, July 07, 2012

A quality coup, high-speed trains in Cali and Buckeye football mayhem


- Urban Meyer isn't taking nearly as long as expected to re-create at Ohio State what he had at Florida before bailing on, er, um, deciding he didn’t like what college football had become and took a whole year off to make his point and/or spend time with his family. Since Meyer took over, the Buckeyes are racking up arrests at an impressive rate, with of starting tight end Jake Stoneburner and offensive tackle Jack Mewhort arrested in early June after an incident stemming from public urination and being suspended from the team before having their scholarships “taken away” even though they will be allowed to earn them back. Now, senior linebacker Storm Klein had one-upped those arrests with a single charge of domestic violence and one for assault, according to a Franklin County Municipal Court case summary. Although the specifics of Klein’s case are not yet known, domestic violence and felony assault sure sound like beating the sh*t our of a date or girlfriend. Klein was arraigned Saturday morning and the 6-foot-3, 240-pounder with blonde hair named in the police report as a domestic abused he is likely to face punishment from Meyer at some point. "We are aware, obviously, of the situation," a school spokesman said in a statement. "We are in the process of gathering more information. "At this point we won't have further comment until after we know and understand all the details." Like Mewhort and Stoneburner, Klein is a key player for the Buckeyes and started 10 games for the Buckeyes last season, posting 45 tackles with an interception, a sack, a forced fumble and a recovery. Now, he has as many criminal charges this offseason as he had forced turnovers last season. Urban Meyer’s brand of football is really taking root in Columbus………..


- America is one step closer to catching up with the rest of the world, at least when it comes to travel. While other global powers and even second-tier countries have long embraced the idea of high-speed rail travel, Americans have never quite gotten on board with the concept, pun intended. That will change in the years ahead for the only group of people in the United States who may actually have more of a superiority complex than New Yorkers: Californians. The largely plastic, pretty people by the Pacific Ocean are getting high-speed - rail, that is, California's Senate on Friday approved funding for the first chunk of a high-speed rail system that is expected to eventually link Los Angeles to San Francisco, securing $2.6 billion in bonds with their vote and assuring that while Washington will provide an additional $3.2 billion. The result was met with enthusiasm by those who support the project. "Not only will California be the first state in the nation to build a high-speed rail system to connect our urban centers, we will also modernize and improve rail systems at the local and regional level. This plan will improve mobility for commuters and travelers alike, reduce emissions, and put thousands of people to work while enhancing our economic competitiveness," said Dan Richard, chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, a state agency. By its completion, the project is projected to cost more than $68 billion and the gravity of that amount showed in a close 21-16 vote. With California Gov. Jerry Brown a dogged supporter of the bill, it will almost certainly be signed into law and the project’s The first phase is set to be built in the state's Central Valley. Farmers who will lose land to the project are predictably upset and probably still will be after their land is ripped from their hands and turned into a rail line……….


- Because there aren’t enough apps to help every absent-minded fool who loses their expensive new smartphome, AT&T has launched a new service Tuesday that will allegedly to make life fairly difficult for anyone who picks up the device you lost - especially if they were the one who it. A new AT&T stolen phone repository will allow customers to kill the voice, data, and text messaging on any device they've reported as stolen. Rather than going with the standard full SIM block or otherwise forcing a phone theft victim to cancel his or her account and subscribe anew, AT&T will simply add the device to alleged "block list." To do this, the company will need to use the phone's IMEI, or International Mobile Equipment Identity, to match the block with a unique device regardless of whatever SIM card gets used with the phone. If the forgetful owner discovers his or her missing iPhone or Droid, he or she will only need to contact AT&T to have the phone removed from the company's blocking service. The one main downside is that users will need to perform any remote-wipe features they might have on their phones (or installed via a third-party app) before contacting AT&T to issue the block. They will also have to suffer the ever-frustrating experience of having a conversation with to a customer service representative at AT&T to issue or release the stole phone blocking service. The end result won't be a centralized directory of "blocked" devices, but anything close to that would be dicey because it must fit fits the goals of the Federal Communications Commission's recently announced national stolen phone database. The FCC wants all LTE smartphones across all carriers to have the option for receive a system-wide block, if the device is reported as stolen, by late 2013. AT&T hopes to beat that deadline by several months…………


- It’s time for another political coup to oust an unwanted leader and today’s spin o’ the globe takes us to….Romania, where the country’s cabinet met on Saturday to prepare for a referendum that will decide whether President Traian Basescu is impeached, after parliament cleared the way for the crucial vote. Of Romania’s 432 lawmakers, of 256 voted on Friday in favour of impeaching the centre-right president, clearing the way for a national referendum to be held July 29. Both the country’s ombudsman its two speakers in parliament have warned that that the EU state's democracy is under threat, but clearly the parliament doesn’t care. Basescu is officially suspended from duty and Crin Antonescu of the ruling Liberal Social Union (USL), has been appointed acting president. The vote marks the latest chapter in a bitter feud between Basescu and his arch rival, centre-left Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who jubilantly told his cabinet after Friday’s vote that the government would now be able to act freely. "Now all of the obstacles that have got in the way since our government came to power are gone," he said. "We are going to have to prove that we can function well now that we don't have to worry about any objections to the decisions we take." One might even call the vote against Basecu a mutiny against the former sea captain who now faces impeachment over claims he improperly assumed the powers of the prime minister when he announced drastic austerity cuts in 2010. The cuts were required in order to receive for a multi-billion-dollar bailout from the European Union and IMF, but they were also immensely unpopular. Anger at the president at an all-time high and his second term of office, due to end in 2014, could end much, much sooner. Undeterred, Barescuo took to Twitter to fight back in 140 characters or less. "Armed with the truth and the constitution, let's have a referendum," he tweeted.  The fight is already on, as the government revealed plans to fire the parliamentary speakers and ombudsman, along with sack Constitutional Court judges. Various world powers expressed concern over the move……….

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