Taylor Swift spooked by Ellen DeGenerese; no official apology for that thing...

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Taylor Swift was the surprised recipient of a bathroom scare by Ellen DeGeneres and is rumored to be dating Taylor Lautner of the upcoming Twightlight: New Moon movie, a report that was rejected a few days ago.

And about eight hours ago from this writing Taylor Swift tweeted that she's preparing to host Saturday Night Live:

Starting the SNL process. I kinda feel like I might have a heart attack or pass out in the pitch meeting. I'm that excited. about 8 hours ago from Echofon

Indeed, Taylor Swift's getting a lot of good pr, but it could be so much the better if she just even tweeted an apology for the whole Swastika photo episode.

What's really weird about this is how folks are willing to give her a benefit-of-the-doubt that I've not seen offered to any other celebrity who made such a mistake.

Even Mel Gibson was publicly raked over the coals for making anti-Semetic statements while he was being arrested during a DUI stop a few years back. But today, in this specific window of time, I see a pattern emerging of permissiveness in allowing anti-Jewish statements and symbols to be expressed and seen without complaint or criticism.

Deadspin pointed to this, today in the case of the really weird anti-Jewish comments of New York radio show host Mike Francesa, but that was direct and ugly. Is that how far it has to go before we say something?

Look, I don't care if I'm the only blogger out there making noise about this. It's important not to allow America to lose its moral moorings on these issues.

I also feel that Taylor Swift is being given a pass she would not receive if she were, say black and male. Now, if at this point you think I'm "playing the race card" first, I pay zero mind to such claims because people who issue them are trying to explain away what, when one drills down, more often than not are institutionally racist thoughts and ideas they have.

In other words, so ingrained that the person thinks they're harmless; not so.

Again, Taylor Swift just has to apologize, unless of course she thought the photo was cool.

In that case, I'll mourn and never be a fan at all.

World Series Game 5 features Chase Utley's record home run performance

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Just went the New York Yankees were ready to call it a championship and the New York Post was calling Kate Hudson A-Rod's lucky charm, the defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies reminded everyone why they are defending champs as Chase Utley slammed a record-tying first inning blast of a home run to give them the lead and they outlasted the NYYs, 8 to 6 to bring the game back to New York on Wednesday.



The series now stands 3 games to two, so Wednesday's contest will either see the Yankees clinch it, or the Phillies tie it.

Michael Jackson 'This Is It' Movie focus of Oscar Buzz; Sony needs to do work

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Michael Jackson's This is It movie sang up $101 million at the movie box office, but equally large is the sudden Oscar Buzz generated for the picture about Michael Jackson's practice for his ill-fated concert tour called "This Is It."

The film's out too late for documentary consideration, but could land a best picture nomination. But that written, there are a lot of steps that have to be taken now if the film's executive producer, Sony, wants to have the film be in contention for Oscar nomination.

Aside from the run time requirements of having to screen the film in Los Angeles County for over a seven day period (which will be met), all of the application paperwork needs to get in to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by December 1st, 2009, according to information provide by the AMPAS Communications Department today.

A visit to the "rules" section of the Academy website (http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/index.html) answers many of these questions. The specfic document due December 1st is called the "Official Screen Credits" form, which must contain the name of the theaters in LA the movie played, and the dates of the Los Angeles run.

But after that deadline's met, the movie's Oscar process is not done as it goes into the "campaigning" period and there are strict rules there, too.

Here's an example from the Oscar rules website:

Receptions, lunches, dinners or other events to which Academy members are invited that are specifically designed to promote a film or achievement for Academy Awards consideration are expressly forbidden.

Or...

Third-Party Distribution.

Film companies are prohibited from doing indirectly or through a third party anything that these regulations prohibit them from doing directly. They are prohibited from using subscriber-based publications to distribute promotional materials to an Academy member unless the member is a subscriber to those publications. The Academy defines “subscriber” as a member who has taken the intentional step of requesting that a publication be sent to him or her on a regular basis. The member does not necessarily have to pay for that subscription. Any Academy member who has not made such a request, however, will not be considered a subscriber, and any company that uses a publication to send the promotional materials anticipated by this regulation to such a member will be in violation of the regulation.

And once all of that is done, the film has to be nominated. The question is, did Sony place a segment for "Oscar Marketing" in the budget for This Is it?

Black Friday Deals 2009 - bad economy pushes "Black Friday" up

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Traditionally "Black Friday" was the day after Thanksgiving - man, I can taste the Turkey now - and the first sales day of the Christmas season.

But with the longest recession in American history now just ending and the economy having contracted so much that we have double-digit unemployment as the norm, Black Friday sales pushes have been moved up to this week in what some are calling "Christmas Creep".

But how deep will the deal discounts be?

Well if you want to shop online, Amazon.com has already listed their Black Friday deals and feature women's shoes at over half off. So Black Friday, with the help of the Internet, has extended beyond Friday, November 27th to today, Monday, November 2nd.

Offline, or in the terra firma World, Sears started offering Black Friday deals last week Friday before Halloween. If you want to take advantage of "Sears Black Friday" in the San Francisco Bay Area, there's a Sears store in Oakland at Telegraph and 20th Street, right off 19th Street BART Station.

Somali Pirates demand $7 milllion in ransom for British couple

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If you thought Somali Pirates were out of the news focus and the World was safe from them, you're wrong.

A British couple named Paul and Rachel Chandler were the latest victims of Somali gun gangs who were kidnapped on October 23rd.

The Somali Robin Hoods wanted $7 million or about £4 million (4 million pounds) for the couple, but, informed they were not at all wealthy, the Somali Pirates dropped their "ask" to £100,000 (100,000 pounds).

If you remember the first American brush with the Somali Pirate problem led to a killing of the thugs who kidnapped Americans that was ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama in one of the boldest decisions of his young presidency.

I still say that such events point to the need for more Somali aid:

Bay Bridge open today - BART 24-hour service a success

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The Bay Bridge has reopened this morning and in phases since 9 AM. I frankly hold out hope the repairs hold and this wasn't a rush to place a band-aid on an already damaged structure.

And CalTrans calls the eyebar repairs "enhanced" - let's hope that's not a cute trick at using the right marketing term and it really is stronger than before. One thing is for certain: BART's 24-hour train service was a success and proves that BART can extend train service with the right level of funding.

Remember in my second blog post on this subject, BART's Linton Johnson said that economic and maintenance factors combined to make 24-hour service an impossibility unless CalTrans provided the money for it.

Well that happened and the 24-hour service, provided Friday night and Saturday night, worked like a charm.

In fact, it worked so well I think BART and CalTrans should do this every weekend. Moreover, funding for this should come not just from CalTrans but the Federal Government in some fashion under the rationale of keeping drunk drivers off the road and money out of the pockets of lawyers like Former Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who once hilariously said to party goers including California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, "Drink. Drink. And drive, so I can represent you!



(Love ya Willie!)

BART's a fun, social vehicle to use in getting too and fro, especially at night after a play or a party. Why create an environment where people who have been out even having a "little drink" can't see an alternative to driving from San Francisco to Oakland?

Yes, AC Transit has great 24 hour service but it's not enough to handle the volume of people who need it on the weekend. I've heard the argument before that there's not enough ridership at night, but that's only because people are conditioned not to use the service as much because it's not available.

BART's trains were packed during the weekend, yes, because of Halloween, but I contend 24-hour service, if it were standard on the weekends, would alter the economy of San Francisco and Oakland. More establishments would stay open longer past the 2 AM bar close deadline and because more people are out and about, its safer to be out and about.

World-class cities have such service. It's about time we got serious and acted like a World-class region; make 24-hour service permanent on the weekends.

Stay tuned.

BCS Standings - Cal Golden Bears at 20, TCU over Boise State, USC at 12

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BCS Standings for this week has this: after Saturday's amazing 47 to 20 blowout by the Oregon Ducks, the USC Trojans have fallen from number 5 in the BCS race to number 12, while Oregon moves to number 8.

(That USC is number 12, and the only team with two losses ranked so high is questionable. More on this later.)

As I said that game would shake up the BCS and it did but not in the way Boise State fans wanted. After all their anticipation of overtaking TCU because of Oregon's win, they find themselves literally on that tush of the Horned Frogs, rated sixth and seventh respectively.

Florida remains at number one, while Texas moves ahead of Alabama (which did not play this week) for the number two spot.

The Cal Golden Bears move up to 20 from 24 after beating Arizona State while Notre Dame goes to 22 after clobbering Washington State.

Here's the Top 25 BCS list for week three:


Florida

Texas

Alabama

Iowa

Cincinnati

TCU

Boise State

Oregon

LSU

Georgia Tech

Penn State

USC

Pittsburgh

Utah

Houston

Ohio State

Miami (FL)

Arizona

Oklahoma State

California

Wisconsin

Notre Dame

Virginia Tech

Oklahoma

South Florida

NY Yankees one game from World Series champion - Kate Hudson A-Rod's lucky charm

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Kate Hudson

After a 7 to 4 World Series game victory  against the Philadelphia Phillies in that city Sunday night, the New York Yankees are one win away from a World Series Championship, and the NY Post has called actress Kate Hudson A-Rod's lucky charm after he hit the go-ahead run in the ninth inning. Which I guess makes Kate Hudson the Yankees' lucky charm.

To me, the Yankees are still proof that payroll money buys wins in baseball. Moneyball's dead. At least for now.

Hamid Karzai declared Afghanistan president; we can't trust him

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Hamid Karzai was declared Afghanistan president, according to a CNN email new release. And I have to admit I'm disappointed because I don't think we have a totally honest elected official we're dealing with in Karzai, but we have no choice as his rival Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the presidential election.

President Hamid Karzai

Abdullah Abdullah put up a good fight against amazing odds; few believed he could win an election against Karzai.

But the reason quit was because he believed he would not win a runoff because of he same fraud issues that plagued the country's election to start with.

The basic question is what does he know about the location of Osama Bin Ladin and is he also working with terrorists at the same time he's work with the United States? Morever, Karzai's own people don't take his presidency seriously and he asked for our military presence, so it's as if we're propping him up.

We can't do that.

Rather than committing more troops, we should use more drones in this case. Fight the war from space and really go after specific targets. This deal's a real mess and I can't see a conventional path to success.

Stay tuned.

Taylor Swift and A Swastika? Still no official apology from Swift

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Two weekends ago, Taylor Swift attended Katy Perry's party and posed with A.J. English, a Hollywood model who for some still not well explained reason happened to have a t-shirt on that sported a big, fat Swastika on it.

Taylor Swift and AJ English

While Taylor Swift's publicist has issued a "Swift didn't know what she was doing" statemwent and English has publicly appologized and said he's not a Nazi, Swift herself has not gave one statement explaining that she's sorry, shocked, or even actually cares that she was in a photo with a guy wearing a t-shirt with a Swatika!

Moreover, Internet reaction seems to be "Oh, she's just this cute girl who didn't know any better. It's ok."

Like heck it is. There's an old saying that if we don't pay attention to history, we're doomed to repeat it. I've come to the conclusion that we just don't seem to care at all about establishing standards of engagement that prove we've advanced beyond the hatred of yesterday.

If we had, there would be incredible pressure for Taylor Swift to say something, just as their has been for Kansas City Chiefs Running Back Larry Johnson, who was suspended by the team for homophobic comments.

Is it OK to let her go because she's 19, white, pretty, and blonde? How far do we allow this to go before we have another girl group like Prussian Blue, who compared themselves to the Olsen sisters but said "We're proud of being white, we want to keep being white. We want our people to stay white"?

Taylor Swift can go a long way toward righting a wrong just by submitting a statement. Why she's not done so is really surprising to me but maybe we're just becoming desensitized to hate because we're exposed to it so much online and on television that we're becoming too permissive.

We have a so-called Louisiana "judge" Keith Bardwell, who openly expresses his dislike for interracial marriage and is still (as of this writing) practicing in Tangipahoa Parish outside New Orleans. Sure, I'm all for free-speech, but I'm not for someone in a governmental, legal position using his power to carry out racism and deliver a racist message.

Then we have couch potato conservatives like Michelle Malkin speaking out against diversity - and she's Asian!

Think about this folks: here's a woman of color basically saying she likes that the GOP's mostly white rather than a gathering of different-looking kinds of people share the same ideas. In other words, the GOP should not work to have anyone of color in it.

Malkin's attacked Asian activists in the pages of the website VDARE, an online place noted for White Supremacists views.

By her silence, Swift runs the risk of being thrown into the same public perception box as Malkin. Well it's a risk because as I stated, quite a few people seem to want to give her a break without asking for a statement of apology or at least a freaking tweet!

I would think enough's, enough, but maybe I'm in the minority in more ways than one, , liberals are more wimps than I thought, and America in general's prone to make the same errors of racism as in the past. Whatever the case, that we don't as a society take a harder line against even the appearance of a Swastika in a photo of a major celebrity is shameful.

Shame on you, Taylor Swift. Shame on you. And to think I came to your defense in the Kanye West issue.

I'm almost sorry I did.

Meb Keflezighi is first American winner of NY Marathon

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In an era that's seen African runners literally dominate the global running competition, an American finally won a marathon.

Meb Keflezighi is the victorious athlete in this year's New York City Marathon.

Who's Meb Keflezighi?

Meb Keflezighi is 34 years old and hails from Mammoth Lakes, California. According to his website, Meb's married to Yordanos Asgedom and the couple has one child. Meb Keflezighi's the first American man since Alberto Salazar to win the Big Apple Marathon; Salazar won in 1982.

San Francisco 49ers - Niners play well, lose to Colts, 18 to 14

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The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Indianapolis Colts 18 to 14 in a game that can be defined by one play: a halfback option pass from Colts running back Joseph Addai to Wide Receiver Reggie Wayne in the fourth quarter.



The play exemplified how well the Niners defense played, as they shut down the Colts running game and controlled the Peyton Manning-led passing game for much of the contest, leading 14 to 9 to the half and holding their opponents away from the end zone. Trickery was one answer to overcome the excellent performance of the squad for much of the game.

I give 49ers Defensive Coordinator Greg Manusky credit for crafting a very creative game plan. The Niners used two-down lineman formations, sets with all the defenders standing up, standard three-down lineman alignments, and four and five man fronts. In short, they threw the "kitchen sink" at the Colts.

But give Peyton Manning, who is now the most successful active quarterback according to CBS sports, credit for studying what the 49ers were doing and finding a weakness. The Colts strategy was evident in one play in the third quarter when Manning baited the Niners cornerbacks into press coverage with a fake audible call, then successfully threw a fade pattern to Pierre Garcon.

Manning worked to force the Niners to play man coverage, thus pitting the secondary against their fleet set of rookie wideouts.

Manning finished the game with 347 yards and in the process went over 4,000 completions for his career.

Niners QB Alex Smith played well, throwing 32 times and completing 19 passes for 198 yards. First round rookie Michael Crabtree showed that he's again better than many believed, with six receptions for 81 yards. In just two games he has more catches than his Oakland Raiders rookie rival Darrius Hayward-Bey who had just 4 coming into the San Diego Chargers game today, and caught just one more pass; Crabtree has 11 receptions in two straight games.

The San Francisco 49ers now have a three game losing streak but seem to have found an identity: Alex Smith allows the offensive to call a wider variety of passes and out of more formations. He's a textbook, fearless thrower.

But the problem offensively is the "run-to-set-up-the-pass" approach. It's backward.

With a defense as talented as the Niners have, and Smith's adept passing talent, the organization should use the pass to set up the run and work to establish a big lead, then use Running Back Frank Gore to eat yardage and run out the clock.

But to do that, the Gold and Scarlet needs a more diverse passing attack.

More on that later this week.