Rivals Both Claim Victory in Iran's Election

From the AP: Iran's Interior Ministry claimed hard-line incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was heading for a landslide victory in the country's presidential elections. But his pro-reform rival countered that he was the clear victor. (June 13)

Lakers Win! Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson gain redemption

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After a long time without a ring, a seven year drought that saw a number of unfortunate events for LA Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant, he and "the zen master" , his coach Phil Jackson, who had to wonder if he's ever see the winning side of an NBA Finals contest, won the NBA Championship in fine fashion, defeating the Orlando Magic in five games, winning the last one tonight 99-86.    It's the Lakers' 15th NBA title, Jackson's 10th, and Bryant's fourth, and certainly the sweetest.

 

Kobe gets his ring!  

First, hats off to the Magic, who made it thrilling with two overtime games and heroic play down the stretch from center Dwight Howard, but in the end, the Lakers will was too much for the Magic to overcome.

The Lakers, and indeed, Bryant and Jackson, wanted to erase all of the bad feelings from the total beat-down the Boston Celtics gave to them last year and from the equally abusive talk aimed at Bryant from former teammate Shaq O'Neal, who left the Lakers and almost immediately won a title with the Miami Heat, then rubbed it in Bryant's face, almost on an annual basis.

No more.

Bryant played with a scowl on his face and something to prove.  And he did.  That he's a complete player.  A mature person.  A father.  A community leader.  And a nice person.  That he did it with Phil Jackson as his coach comes as no surprise, but for a time it seemed Jackson was to be religated to the "used to" bin, as in, "he used to be a great coach."   Hey, let's give credit to Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchek for the acquisition of Pau Gasol who filled in the missing piece as "enforcer" and for adding Derek Fisher, who's clutch "threes" were the difference in two finals games, but Jackson put them all together then stepped back and let them play.

Fisher said it best about Jackson after the last game on ABC: "He let's players play."   Jackson doesn't try to control his players, he treats them as men and as talented athletes.  He gives them an open canvas on which to paint, and his players created a masterpiece of a win.  It's for that reason Jackson's the greatest coach in NBA history.

The zen master is back.

UPDATE: on his (verified) Twitter account twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ, Shaq O'Neal was active to be sure. After the Lakers won he posted this:

 

O'Neal also tweeted that he's not leaving the Phoenix Suns for Cleveland and Le Bron James.

Iran Elections: Iranian Culture to blame for a rigged outcome

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Iran held its national election process to select its next president on Friday, June 12th. With all the televised demonstrations and Internet buzz it was logical to believe Iran's current leader, the not-well-liked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , would be beaten by his progressive challenger Mr. Hossein Mousavi. Indeed, late on Friday in America, some reports were that Mousavi was on pace to upset Ahmadinejad considering the vote count. But by Saturday that was not to be; the Iranian Elections Commission annouced that Ahmadinejad was the winner with 62.6 percent of the popular vote compared to 33.75 percent for Mousavi.

 

Did he really win?   

The outcome upset many who believed it was rigged and caused violent street protests that are still going on as of this writing on Sunday (Twitter is the best place to keep up with the developments). The belief that Ahmadinejad's victory may have been engineered is one commmunicated in modern fashion by text message and the Internet, but has its roots in a set of very real considerations borne of Iranian culture:

1) Any unbiased reporting of the election process is improbable because Iran punishes investigative journalists, as happened to Roxana Saberi, the woman who was recently held in detention for over three months for being a "spy" when all the student reporter had done was write about real life in Iran and Islam including pro-American groups, whereas the government sends videos of constant pockets of anti-American demonstrations. She was released on May 10th, just one month before election day. In Iran, journalists are imprisoned, threatened, and alledgedly killed.

2) Researcher Muhammad Sahimi looked at the election data from Iran's Interior Ministry and determined that there's a perfect linear relationship between the votes that Ahmadinejad received and those that Mousavi got, such that Mousavi's votes are perfectly one-half of Ahmadinejad's for the data set analyzed and the correlation coefficient is .9995 - almost one, which means almost perfect. That's weird, folks. There should be a non-linear vote count - in other words, one for you, two for me; one for you, none for me; and so on.

3) Juan Cole, a Mid East observer of the Global American Institute, holds that Mousavi is a Azeri from the Azerbajan province, of which Tabriz is the capital, yet Ahmadinejad won that city with 57 percent of the vote. In other words, Mousavi failed to carry his home region's capital city which many are questioning given the common election rule that a campaigner generally wins the vote in their home region, even in a loss.   (Cole and Sahimi did not share information as of this writing and I'm not even sure they know of each other.) 

4) Given Mousavi's reportedly poor relations with top Iranian leaders, Cole charges that the country's electoral commission was told to falsify the vote count.

All of this gurantees that the election was "rigged" to some degree. But just by how much is known only to those who did the rigging. The fact this idea is now commonly accepted by many, perhaps millions, should be of concern to President Ahmadinejad, who can't say he has a true mandate to run Iran as he sees fit. He has to "open the government" if only to quell future massive uprisings. He can't matain the practices he established entering the election; his true enemy, the Internet, will prevent that.

Still no plea deal: Burress lawyer says gun case to be delayed until Septembe

Still no plea deal: Burress lawyer says gun case to be delayed until September

By Associated Press
4:40 PM EDT, June 12, 2009
NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress will have to wait a while longer before he knows the legal consequences of accidentally shooting himself with an unlicensed pistol.

Defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman said Burress will appear in court Monday for a brief hearing. Brafman said Burress and prosecutors have yet to agree on a plea deal and the case will be adjourned until September.

Burress shot himself in the thigh on Nov. 29 in a Manhattan nightclub. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and faces up to 3½ years in prison. Burress has pleaded not guilty and is free on $100,000 bail.

Burress caught the game-winning touchdown for the Giants in the 2008 Super Bowl. He is a free agent after the team released him on April 3.

The Blog Report: Obama Inauguration Episode

David Letterman Kathy Griffin June 10th 2009

On Letterman's show, Kathy Griffin calls Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a "moron" and her husband "a tool" as Dave cringes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger answers Ellen DeGeneres

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Who's minding the Guv's tweets?

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the target of comedian Ellen DeGeneres Twitter and email-based campaign to stop his proposal to reduce the time animals are kept in shelters from six days to three days, answered DeGeneres on Twitter today:

1. @TheEllenShow We are eliminating funding but shelters determine time before euthanization.about 12 hours ago from web
   
       
2. @TheEllenShow We can only spend money we have and can't afford many programs, for example, health care for children.about 12 hours ago from web
   
       

Basically the Guv's claim is shelters themselves make the timing decision, but that's passing the buck, really. The bottom line is the reduced funding would almost certainly cause such a lowering of time, which is what outrages Ellen and many who've been informed of Schwarzenegger's proposal.

But what's got me really twinged is the popular pol's first tweet to Ellen that refers to cutting health care for kids! Kids. The focus of the tweet was kids. Why even mention kids?  Think about it.  That's going from the frying pan to the fire in one tweet; from defenseless animals to defenseless kids.  Is there a pattern here?

That's enough to start another Twitter campaign (follow me on Twitter!) so strong that "Tell Gov" becomes a trending topic yet again. The Guv bothered - heck, went out of his way - to mention cutting health care for kids. I mean take a look at this:

That's the actual screen shot of what appeared on the Guv's page at the time of this writing, in case someone out their thinks I'm writing fantasy.   Using "health care for children" as an example of programs the Governor claims the state can't afford was a bad idea.  I mean, is this really Arnold? It's certainly his official Twitter page!


I sometimes wonder who's writing the Guv's tweets, a staffer or Arnold himself? Something tells me Arnold would be less ham-handed in his tweets than what I've seen today. That's the kind of line I'd expect a young, conservative, childless, never-seen-much-of-urban-America intern to produce on Twitter, not Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This is getting more and more interesting.

As of this writing, no response from Ellen, but I'm putting this in her replies box, so stay tuned!

BTW, I've been sick, real sick, so my output is low; hopefully I didn't get that dang you-know-what flu! Grrrr!!!

Ellen DeGeneres Starts Twitter Campaign "Tell Gov. Arnold"

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In just less than an hour ago, comedian Ellen DeGeneres has started a Twitter / email campaign informing her 1.9 million Twitter followers to email California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger en masse in an effort to stop him from reducing the time animals are kept in shelters from six days to three days.

Important: Tell Gov. Arnold not to limit time animals are kept in shelters from 6 days to 3. Email him: http://www.gov.ca.gov Pass it on.  

In other words, what the Governor's proposing is that an animal that currently  just six days time in an animal shelter before it is sentenced to death by euthanasia  would have only three days time, which, as Franny Syufy informs us on her blog is...

barely time for owners to discover their cat missing, track him down to a local shelter, then arrange for his release.

Why the Governors' people decided to pick on defenseless animals is beyond me, but they did it and it's out in the open. So much so that several Internet petitions have been established and DeGeneres has employed her vast new media reach - including her Facebook page - to spread the word in the hopes of turning around the Governor's apparent position. So far the Guv's Twitter updates don't include any word on his personal view on the matter, but this online movement's just hit Twitter with full-force, thanks to Ellen.

Stay tuned.

NFL Insider: Philadelphia Eagles

From CBS: Are the Eagles and Donovan McNabb primed for another run through the playoffs? Jason Horowitz and NFL.com analyst Pat Kirwan take an in depth look at the Philadelphia Eagles.

David Letterman Top 10 Sarah Palin Highlights

What Palin fans are upset about is #2 where he says she's updating her slutty flight attendant look. Letterman's appologized for the other comments that were directed at Bristol Palin, but Palin's working this issue hard. Not over yet.

Parkway Theater: Pat Kernighan must lead now!

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The "Save The Parkway Theater" movement, once a seemingly happy collection of like-minded Oaklanders, has rapidly degenerated into the same kind of feckless factionalization that's doomed the effort to keep the Athletics baseball team in Oakland.

Yes, once again, we have groups that don't talk to each other and with different agendas and a common problem: a lack of leadership from the elected officials involved. In the case of the Athletics, it was Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums (until he began to really insert himself into the process and call for meetings) and now it's Oakland's District Two Councilmember Pat Kernighan.

(A bit of housecleaning: I like Pat; I really do. Always have. But I don't like the way she handles community controversy and this is an example.)

Four Factions

When the Parkway Speakeasy Theater closed after its last show on March 22nd 2009, a rag-tag group of neighbors, concerned Oaklanders, and even people outside Oakland, banded together to create the "Save The Parkway" movement. The first meeting of the "organization" was successful, and Councilmember Kernighan arrived to give her valued input.



But after that the wheels came off the wagon. Once a potential buyer of the theater was located, factions developed:

1) The Parkway Employees - This group of loyal former workers at the theater got notices that it was going to close just four days before it happened. They're rightly upset, but now, months later, they're trying to find jobs. The main "Save The Parkway" members worked to raise money to help them, but the former employees I talked to, while they appreciated their help, felt it was delivered in an over-zealous way, with "out of the blue" calls and contacts from people they didn't know.

2) Save The Parkway - Peter Prato is the spark plug behind this Internet-based organization that has marshalled support for reopening the theater. What's happpened here from my point of view, and the many calls and emails I've gotten, and a video I've not yet installed, is that once Kernighan went to work behind the scenes, it seemed they felt a bit "pushed out" of the proceedings. That's not from them; that's my read alone.

3) Catherine and Kyle Fisher - Once loved by everyone, now hated by some, and still loved by many, has seen their business collapse under the combined weight of the economy, the changing movie climate, declining revenues and rising business costs. No one of the other two groups talks to them or wants to, sadly. The Fisher's view on all of this is hard to determine for publication; they've gone almost completely underground.

4) Councilmember Pat Kernighan and Councilmember Jean Quan - Ok. Now, you're scratching your head on this one, right? What's Jean Quan got to do with this? That's what I was wondering when Quan showed up in the middle of the May 31st Parkway Community Meeting and presented herself as a concerned citizen (who happens to be running for Mayor of Oakland; my view interview with Quan will be installed Sunday June 14th). At first I wondered if Pat knew Jean was coming to the meeting and gave Quan her blessing as the Parkway's in Kernighan's district. All things considered it would be more appropriate for At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan to have attended the meeting or for Quan to be there with Kernighan. But frankly it looked weird to me.

There's a lot of drama from these factions but all of it can be taken away or at least lessened by one action: Councilmember Pat Kernighan calling what former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb would call an "all-hands" meeting, with everyone at the table. And I mean everyone Pat can think of regardless of her relationship with them. (Get the message, Pat?)

This is Councilmember Kernighan's time to shine. Right now, she's adding to the gossip mill (what Bobb calls "sniper fire") rather than rising above it. This community development problem is in her District and its rapidly spinning out of control.

It's Councilmember Kernighan's time to step up and lead.

Carrie Prejean is Fired as Miss California

From CelebTV on YouTube: Carrie Prejean loses her crown for violating her contract, and this time, even pageant boss Donald Trump wants her gone.