Saturday, November 20, 2010

Joe Scarborough Suspended by MSNBC




Keith Olbermann was recently suspended from MSNBC for donating to political campaigns, and now Joe Scarborough of MSNBC is also being suspended for campaign donations reports Politico.

Friday, November 19, 2010 is when MSNBC decided to suspend the "Morning Joe" co-host after he acknowledged giving eight $500 contributions to his friends and family members running for state and local offices during his tenure at the network. Political contributions by employees is a violation of NBC's ban.

Although Olbermann's suspension was said to be "indefinite," the network reduced the suspension to two days - which is the same amount of time that Scarborough will be suspended for.

The Washington Post's article is titled "'Morning Joe' can sleep in: MSNBC host gets two-day suspension" which is quite a witty title. The Post recognizes that:

"The MSNBC suspensions and NPR's recent firing of commentator Juan Williams last month highlight the increasing complexity of defining and policing journalistic independence in an age in which opinion and reporting are becoming intermingled and sometimes indistinguishable."


The Post's article is very detailed and informative for those who are interested in finding out more about this.

Darvocet Pulled From Shelves



Propoxyphene, better known by the names Darvocet or Darvon will no longer be available as a painkiller, according to The New York Times.

SmartAboutHealth.com reports that the main reason the drug is no longer available is for the serious side effect that includes heart rhythm problems that could prove to be fatal if the body reacts to it negatively.

The site also states that the FDA advisory panel recently voted in favor of the drug being taken off the markets due to the belief that there are other drugs out there that can help patients in the same way without the harmful side effects.

Oakland News: Oakland Baseball Stadium Cost Is $600 Million

Oakland News goes baseball. The Oakland Planning Commission unveiled it's the City of Oakland's plan for a new baseball stadium at a location called "Victory Court." (And replacing the "baseball-use" part of the Oakland Coliseum - in photo.)

 But the plan, with 39,000 seats, 700 units of housing, and 186,000 square feet of retail, comes out to around $600 million to build according to my Oakland Baseball Simworld runs.

The Oakland Baseball Simworld is a simulation i originally created for the purpose of evaluating the fiscal behavior of the Oakland A's after then-Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris dispatched me to find buyer teams for the organization in 1997. After I left the City of Oakland, I turned what was a 47-equation model into one with 2,600 variables in 956 equation sets.

The Oakland Baseball Simworld is currently used in five colleges nationwide.

The problem for the City of Oakland is in how to finance the ballpark. In the sim, the most effective solution involves the baseball team contributing $150 million. The problem for the team is such a contribution cuts into its ability to land star players, but the San Francisco Giants' World Series success proves it's still possible to build a champion with such financial constraints.

The other problem is that the City must use redevelopment money to build the stadium, but the stadium itself must be 51 percent owned by the private sector. Otherwise, the deal will not work; the City Council will not go for it. The housing units, alone, add a large cost to the development. 400 units is more affordable that 700 units.

So, you may ask, why did the City of Oakland know about this? Hubris. This effort to build a new stadium is led by Senator Barbara Boxer's son Doug Boxer, who's on the Oakland Planning Commission. The problem with Doug is, and I state this publicly, one of ego. His less-than-desirable behavior in not bringing all of the parties together when we had four different groups meeting about the A's issue at once, including Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums sports task force, that I was on, and Dellums lack of interest in solving the problem, is the reason why Oakland's taken so long to get to this point.

Oakland, the City of Oakland, is personality-driven, and lacking an organization that the public can identify that is out there leading the charge to get a stadium built. Like a sports commission, for example. Instead, what we get are people who think they know what they're doing, refusing to listen to those who do because of experience, and making a ton of mistakes along the way.

That's why Oakland's government fails. And unless this Oakland stadium issue stops being a one - person show, it will fail too. I can tell you from personal experience, one - person - shows don't work in Oakland unless it becomes a real team of people open to the public.

Erin Barry Broke NBA Wife Code Says Jennifer Williams

Did Erin Barry (photo at left), the soon-to-be ex-wife of former NBA San Antonio Spurs star Brent Barry, break the NBA Wife? NBA wife Jennifer Williams, married to former San Antonio Spurs Tony Parker teammate Eric Williams (2006-2007), thinks so.

Williams is quoted in Hollywood Life - interesting in that it's not a Hollywood-based story - as saying this:


"When you hear that it’s another wife that is the cause of a divorce, it surprises me. I know that Eva and Erin, I don’t want to say [had] a close relationship, but Brent and Tony were on the team for a while together, so they were pretty friendly. So when you hear something like that, it’s definitely shocking!"

"[NBA Wives] stick together. It's just something that’s not really spoken, but it's understood that we have this sisterhood of women. When you’re on a team with these players and you become close with the wives, you can call them up for whatever. We're all in the same situation, so everyone understands we have a common bond."


No word from Erin Barry on this, or the allegations that she cheated on Brent Barry with Tony Parker. Indeed, one People Magazine source claims there was nothing physical, but does that make it OK?

Davey D's Hip Hop Corner

Davey D's Hip Hop Corner


5 Reasons why the Mighty Cal Bears will beat Stanford Again

Posted: 19 Nov 2010 11:32 AM PST

Tomorrow the Might Cal Bears.. aka UC Berekely aka my alma mater play the silver spoon kids from Stanfurd University in our annual Big Game. It will be the 113th time these two teams meet and...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Breakdown FM on All day Play #38-Music for a Rainy Day/ 5 Videos to Remind U..

Posted: 19 Nov 2010 10:33 AM PST

This week we came with heat by digging in the crates and unearthing a series of ragga-muffin songs from the 90s..  Cuts by artists like Burro Banton, Cutty Ranks, Sluggy Ranks and Bounty Killer were...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Fire the TSA? Here’s the Super Shady Story Behind ‘Public Outrage’ at Airports

Posted: 19 Nov 2010 08:54 AM PST

With each day the drama around TSA body scans takes on new twists and turns. Earlier this week I penned an article pointing out the hypocrisy displayed by many who are seemingly up in arms about...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Erin Barry, Eva Longoria's Friend, Just Flirted With Tony Parker?


Erin Barry, Eva Longoria's friend, just flirted with Tony Parker? That's all?

Apparently, Eva Longoria made too much of the text messages sent between Erin and Tony, the San Antonio Spurs basketball star, thinking there was more going on.

But People Magazine is quoting a source that says there was nothing going on. Who the source is, is not known.

Eva Longoria filed for divorce, apparently without really checking out the story. Perhaps there was something more to her efforts? Maybe she was't as relaxed about the relationship as she should have been?

Whatever the case, People Magazine's standing by its source and the story, claiming that Erin Barry, the former wife of former San Antonio Spurs teammate Rick Barry, did not have sex with Tony Parker.

Colt Brennan: Ex-Raiders and Hawaii QB In Car Accident

Colt Brennan, the former Hawaii QB once considered the most dangerous quarterback in college football with his mastery of the Run-And-Shoot Office, was in a car accident, a two-car-crash on the big island of Hawaii. Colt is in serious condition.

According to Brennan's agent Ryan Tollner via the San Francisco Chronicle, Colt Brennan was transported to Honolulu for more medical treatment after he was placed at Kona Community Hospital on Friday. He was a passenger in an SUV.

While at Hawaii, Colt Brennan became the NCAA leader in touchdowns with 131. Brennan seemed unstoppable until a 2007 Sugar Bowl date with Georgia made the Colt and his team look mortal.

Colt Brennan never quite hit his stride in the NFL, mainly because teams didn't use the Run-And-Shoot or offenses with elements of that system built it. He played one preseason with the Oakland Raiders and was drafted by the Washington Redskins, but waved this year.