- How do you pick a side in a fight where both sides are
truly loathsome? Trick question. You don’t pick either side to root for and
instead, you simply cheer for chaos and for both sides to suffer as much as possible
before the drama is resolved. Such is life in Serbia, where the nation’s striking
lawyers are asking for European Union help to resolve a three-month old dispute
with the government that has brought the judiciary in the Balkan country to a
grinding halt. The timing couldn’t be worse, as Serbia is making its latest
push to join the EU, and the union probably isn't too eager to welcome in yet
another nation in turmoil where hundreds of angry people are staging rallies outside
the government headquarters vowing to persist in their demands for lower taxes
and changes to the newly-established notary service. Serbia's Bar Association
went on strike over its demands in mid-September, slamming the brakes on thousands
of cases in the already overburdened court system. The ramipercussions of the
strike have been immense, including inmates in pre-trial detention complaining
they were spending more time behind bars than necessary. As would be expected
with lawyers on one side of a debate and ass-hatted bureaucrats on the other
side, negotiations to end the impasse have made little progress and after the
most recent round of talks failed, the head of the Bar Association, Dragoljub
Djordjevich, announced plans to travel to Brussels to seek intervention from
the EU. Hope the flight is a pleasant one, D-squared, and make sure to enjoy a Belgian
waffle and some tasty frites because it’s not as if there is anything pressing
going on back home……….
- Scott Stapp is rusted and weathered….and apparently flat
broke. The sanctimonious frontman for tired and played arena rock band Creed
has become a punchline over the years because of his preachy ways combined with
a penchant for drugs and booze, plus the fact that the canned music his group
cranks out could scarcely suck more. Yet it wasn’t until this week that Stapp
reached rock bottom, or at least his lowest point to date. Stapp posted a video
on Facebook in which he appeared disheveled and said he was broke, had been
homeless in recent weeks and was trying to figure out where all of his money
want. In the video, labeled "Scott Stapp of Creed, Public Statement
#1," Stapp is disturbingly placid while talking almost nonstop and
smacking his lips for 16 interminable minutes. The name of the video is
exciting because it suggests there are more of these videos to come and
therefore, the implosion of a self-righteous rock star will be documented for
all of us to see. The video is in black and white and has a filter applied to
give it a grainy, amateurish appearance. In it, Stapp spins a wild theory in
which there is a "pretty vicious attack" aimed at ruining his
reputation with rumors he says are unfounded. He allegedly conducted his own
financial audit once rumors about him began to spread and has undergone weekly
blood and urine tests to prove he is "sober as can be." In Stapp’s
twisted world view, the campaign to discredit him started, after he discovered
"a lot of money was stolen from me, or royalties not paid, and that's when
all hell began to break loose, so I think you guys are smart enough to put two
and two together." Who are the chief suspects? Stapp blames unnamed
individuals, the IRS and his banks for his money problems. He goes on to muse
on his faith and how his children are being "embarrassed and
humiliated" by people who are "not their father." Sadly, they’re
also being embarrassed and humiliated by dear old dad too………
- Is America ready to tackle smog? Probably not, but that
didn’t stop the Obama administration from unveiling an ambitious plan this week, a plan
it claims would improve public health by slashing the ozone pollution that
causes smog. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy
laid out the plan, labeling it a ground-level ozone standard that was vital to
bring agency rules in line with the latest science to protect the nation’s most
vulnerable citizens from the multitude of respiratory illnesses brought on by
poor air conditions. “Bringing ozone pollution standards in line with the
latest science will clean up our air, improve access to crucial air quality
information, and protect those most at-risk,” McCarthy said in a statement. “It
empowers the American people with updated air quality information to protect
our loved ones — because whether we work or play outdoors — we deserve to know
the air we breathe is safe.” Amazingly, the proposal was quickly denounced by
critics as too costly and realizing that would be the case, the EPA had a ready
response. The agency countered that the proposal's costs, saying that many
other recent regulations, such as those on vehicle fuels, will reduce ozone and
help states meet the standards. That indirect answer doesn’t seem to actually
address the cost concerns, but it does leave America in a familiar place:
‘twixt the needed to stop polluting and the realization that doing so is a
costly pain in the ass that no one really wants to deal with. If the past is
any indication, the opposing sides of this debate will hurl ugly accusations at
each other and nothing will actually be done about it………
- The best and brightest minds in any sport or industry are
the ones who come up with the ideas and concepts necessary to move the world
forward. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark
Cuban has made a sh*t-ton of money in various businesses and achieved a fair
amount of success with his NBA team, so he clearly has plenty of those ideas.
If one of those ideas happens to be incredibly self-serving and designed to
help him chase his second NBA title in more favorable conditions, does that
necessarily make it a bad idea? Let’s take a closer look. Cuban, like everyone
else in and around the Association, sees the tremendous discrepancy between the
league’s two conferences. The Western Conference is stocked with some of the
league’s best teams and last season, the Mavericks were the West's eighth seed
with a 49-33 record last season. That would have earned them a No. 3 seed in
the East, along with a much easier road to the Finals. Instead, they were
dispatched in the first round and their owner was left to cook up a plan under
which they could score a sequel to their lone title in 2011. Now, Cuban has it.
He suggests a conference realignment that would result in a total of eight
teams, including the Mavs, switching conferences. The Cuban Plan calls for the
Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans to move
to the Eastern Conference, switching places with the Chicago Bulls, Indiana
Pacers, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks. Cuban admitted that he has selfish
reasons for the plan, but insists it would benefit the league. "It's not
like you're reducing competition," Cuban said. "You keep Cleveland,
Washington and other good teams in the East. It kind of shakes things up in terms
of not just interest but also in terms of how people rebuild.” The geography of
the names, given these proposed changes, would be questionable, but new
commissioner Adam Silver has been receptive to ideas that would address the
issue of the West much, much better than the East. This plan challenges that
willingness in a compelling way……….
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