GOP Congressman Kline dodges veterans

Congressman John Kline (R-MN) was conspicuously absent from the Goodhue County United Veterans Organizations "Candidate's Forum" in his district last night. The forum was not far from where Kline has made his home since relocating from Texas. Do you suppose he didn't want to have to explain the disconnect between his rhetoric and his votes?

Why would a former Marine officer serving in Congress not vote to support funding for Veterans Affairs?  I don't know; since action speaks louder than words maybe vets and other voters just learned how little Kline cares for the honest, working Minnesotans in his adopted District.

Former MN Representative Shelley Madore: Cannon Falls VFW
Goodhue county United Veterans Organization Candidate Forum

Kline's opponent, former State Rep. Shelley Madore was certainly there, joining candidates at all levels from Governor through county offices to meet with vets and their families and talk about needs and priorities.  Madore's record in the Minnesota House shows a dedication to Veterans that you might expect Kline to want to counter in front of a receptive audience. Considering his startling anti-veteran votes on spending for Veterans Affairs he'd better find some friendly audience or Madore's "35 Cent Tour," which is gaining traction with the media and the voters, will become the story of the election.

Republicans, following President Bush's lead, led this country into an economic quagmire pursuing wars of choice while protecting big banks and special interests, but that's no reason for Kline to dodge his military family constituents.  Leaders get out and talk to voters, and if necessary explain why they made bad decisions, but Kline evidently lacks the commitment to the veterans in the district to face those tough questions.

True leaders don't sit back and spout ideology when the chips are down, they roll up their sleeves and take ownership of the challenges and problems.  They lead by example, not by talking points.  The men and women who put on this country's uniform deserve the respect of all of us, but a former officer couldn't be bothered to attend their forum?

The November election across the Twin Cities metro from the Bachmann-Clark contest will be a choice between a former marine officer who voted against defense department funding and now deliberately dodges veterans and a former legislator who's visiting every community in the district at every opportunity to make sure her constituents know how hard she works.

Ask the folks who went to Farmfest if their current Representative cares about farmers. Kline ignored that invitation, too, while Shelley Madore, who grew up on a farm and may already know more about the challenges than he does, made the trip and talked to farmers.  It's beginning to look like a pattern, with Kline avoiding any unscripted appearances while Madore shows she knows how to reach voters and has the courage to talk to them face to face.

The choice for voters is increasingly clear: Kline's content to sit at home, while Shelly Madore continues to show she'll work harder and do more.

Thomas Hayes is a political strategist currently managing the Madore for Congress campaign, entrepreneur, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Bumper Sticker targets Ocean Beach bums

A bumper sticker that targets Ocean Beach bums and aggressive panhandlers, has pitted a head shop against a local blogger in Ocean Beach (San Diego County). The sticker is similar to one from Mammoth Mountain that warns people not to feed bears, but OB's depicts the silhouette of a hobo carrying a bindle on a stick while walking a dog and reads "Welcome to Ocean Beach/Please don't feed our bums.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that an employee from The Black smoke shop, Ken Anderson and a friend came up with the idea a few months ago. The Black began selling bumper stickers and t-shirts with the message in June.

Frank Gormlie, who runs the "OB Rag" blog, says the stickers send the wrong message about Ocean Beach, which he describes as a "place of laid-back tolerance. The stickers carry a message of hate," Gormlie told the newspaper.

The 62-year-old wants a boycott of The Black, and is offering a free T-shirt to the person who removes the most stickers from public signs around town.

Dozens of opponents of the campaign, protested in front of the smoke shop on Newport Avenue, several times over the past few months, encouraging the public not to patronize the business. Opponents of the sticker say that it paints all homeless people with a broad brush, and spreads a message of hate and intolerance in a community known for being open-minded and inclusive.

Several counter-protestors, who support the bumper sticker, say that the campaign is directed at young, able-bodied transients who aggressively panhandle, urinate on the streets and sidewalks, and threaten residents who do not give them money.

Employees at the Black say they have sold out of the $2.50 sticker, but are ordering more and will continue to sell them.

Doesn't this just beat all? It is bad enough that millions of hard working Americans are being forced into homelessness by the worst unemployment problem in the history of our country but now when we have no place to go, the Non-homeless community wants us to starve as well. This "not in my community" mentality by those who have a place to live is heartless, void of compassion and beneath the America I know and love.

Is it really any wonder with the country's leaders in Washington calling the unemployed 'Bums and Hobos' and calling us spoiled simply because we want a fighting chance to survive, why communities are following that example? What is happening to America when it's children feel that beating up the homeless is some sort of spectator sport to be video taped and uploaded to the internet?

A new sticker has surfaced in Ocean Beach, but this time it has a gentler message about the homeless population.

The San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless created a new sticker with the image of a man in board shorts and flip-flops shaking the hand of someone with a sign that says “Will work for food.” Above and below the two men shaking hands, the sticker states “Welcome to O.B. Together We End Homelessness” Surrounding the image of the two men are the words generosity, caring, empathy, tolerance -- words some said better describe the feelings of those who live in Ocean Beach.

"Well, it's a wonderful sticker," said one resident.

To the "haves" Nation: it could very easily be you next on the streets. Try asking yourselves how you would want others to treat you if/when that happens.

The recession is 190 weeks old and the maximum unemployment benefits you can receive (in less than half the states) is 99 weeks. We have a net deficit of 10.5 million jobs over the past 3.5 years and it will take another 5 years at least to get these jobs back, if ever.

With no benefits and no jobs out there to take, in order to support our families, what are we supposed to do? It is a sad, true fact "Desperate people do desperate things." If you have not the heart to help your fellow man during these extraordinary hard times and you create even more desperation in those befallen by hard times, then God help you - as you may well get what you deserve and eventually be victimized by your own lack of humanity.

Infighting, divisiveness may kill the 99er movement

Infighting and divisiveness may kill the 99er movement before Washington indifference starves them all. There is a disturbing trend within the 99er community that may be even more destructive than Washington withholding a Tier 5. Certain groups on Facebook and other sites designed to unite the millions of 99ers in America, are actually banning people who post informative articles about the cause and attacking those who have lead the charge over the past 12 months.

Useless bickering about how many 99ers there really are in America and trivial infighting over who speaks for them is more the clash of petty egos and small-minded megalomaniacs seeking more attention than they themselves have been able to generate for the cause. Jealousy is a vicious, unproductive trait.

Results speak for themselves. The 99er Nation needs to remember who it was that helped them break into the mainstream media, who successfully delivered the 99er letter into the hands of President Obama, who organized the fax-email-call campaigns that forced Washington to finally write/introduce two Tier 5 bills this month and put the 99er cause on the map across America.

It has been the relentles s work of 99er Media (Rob C.), Cindy Paoletti (who wrote the Obama letter), the weekly BlogTalkRadio shows like Mr. G’s Unemployment Roundtable, Paladinette’s Jobless Talk, Monica Ross-Williams’ Reach Out Job Search, the highly organized leadership of U-Cubed, the dedicated members of PalTalk’s Tier 5 to Survive-unemployed unite plus the daily reporting on our movement by a handful of reporters from MSNBC (Ed Schultz), PBS, ABC, RTTV, Huffington Post (Arthur Delaney, Arianna Huffington) and Examiner.com reporters Detroit Job Search Examiner-Monica Ross-Williams and Rochester Unemployment Examiner-Michael Thornton (to name a few) that have placed us upon the precipice of realizing our Tier 5 unemployment insurance benefits.

The 99er community is not as few as 1.4 million strong, like the DOL would have you believe. The San Diego Unemployment Examiner called the DOL using credentials of Examiner.com and asked them point blank how many Americans have exhausted all UI benefits. They said (back when nobody knew who the 99ers where) that they do not keep data on "UI Exhaustees". Now, when everybody knows about our movement, the DOL releases that bogus 1.4 million number? It simply does not pass the laugh test.

The figure quoted of 1.4 million workers is NOT accurate. Even NELP said earlier last month that of the 15 million people on UI benefits 56% of them have been unemployed longer than 6 months. If you believe the figure that 2.5 million of those were cut off by Congress' failure to extend UI benefits for those who would otherwise be eligible (in June), that still leaves 5.9 million unaccounted for before Congress passed the latest extension.

If you do the math, you see that 3.8 to 4 million 99ers is a very conservative number, especially when we are growing by 50,000 per day. The new extension, being back dated to June 2nd has created many more 99ers just in the past month, as those who were prevented from advancing to tier 4 (only 6 weeks long) have been sent their final retro money for the 6 weeks and are now done with all tiers. Those who only qualify for the Tier 3 will join the ranks of the exhaustees by the end of this month.

Last September, when Congress was working to pass Tiers 3 & 4, they openly debated on the House and Senate floors using the phrase "over 3 million people would be helped" by that legislation. (That has to be available somewhere in those transcripts) This was 11 months ago. Most of the original UI exhaustees who fought for tiers 3 & 4 last fall, ran out of benefits in Feb/March this year. Every month since, this number snowballs.

There is a counter on the Jobless Unite website that does not include the 50,000 new 99ers per day. The counter has been up for several weeks and if that 50K daily number is correct (which also came from the DOL), we are now well over 5 million. Though the counter says 4.3 million at present.

I am not a statistician, but anyway you look at that 1.4 number, it makes about as much sense as the 9.5% US unemployment rate. It doesn't pass muster.

It is far less significant quibbling over the exact number of 99ers and far more important that every UI “exhaustee” unite in one loud voice to force Washington to pass the Tier 5 legislation for all states as soon as Congress reconvenes in mid-September.

If you or any victim of unemployment should be banned from the blogs and Facebook groups without cause, or if you are just sick and tired of the negative garbage some of these groups allow on their sites, you are welcome to join good, positive groups that post important information and filter the petty bickering or Troll activity that only detracts from our plight. Here are a few good ones:

EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Now: JOBLESS / Next: HOMELESS

New York State Department of Labor page on Facebook

Tier Five Or Die

UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS

TWITTER MARCH for the UNEMPLOYED

Sandra Bullock Is Not A Search Trend: TV's Internet Impact Drops

This comes under the heading of "when will they ever learn." As much as the beautiful and popular Academy Award-winning Actress Sandra Bullock wants to talk about the all-important subject of New Orleans, here's some bad new for her, NBC, HLN, and The Hearst Corporation, of which The San Francisco Chronicle and The Seattle P.I.Com are a part: on August 31st 2010 Sandra Bullock ia not a search trend.

Oh, but we at least have to see Sandra on The Today Show:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock's not a trend? That's right. Ms. Sandra Bullock doesn't show up on Google Trends or Yahoo Buzz, and her ex-husband Jesse James is no where to be seen. What does? Well, as of this writing or blogging here's the list for Google Trends: mark ingram, the blaze glenn beck (I rule this guy), dancing with the stars season 11, real housewives of new jersey reunion (man, that's a doozy), hurricane earl path, troy polamalu hair, brandon spikes, zsa zsa gabor dead, meghan mccain, national hurricane center tracking,mike wise,kronos gyros,dwts cast, allentown fair, teresa giudice nephew, melora hardin, eataly nyc, la barbie captured, wells fargo rewards, nfaas.

And on Yahoo Buzz, Facebook and YouTube are 1 and 2.

What this proves is daytime television no longer drives the Internet. Sandra Bullock would have been better off giving some kind of evening-oriented presentation, but even then, no. Sandra's problem is we've had too much Sandra Bullock in a short period of time.

Not to say we in America are not interested in her - we are. Sandra's rating on Google Insight for Search is at 86 as out of 100 as of this writing - but that's for America, not the rest of the World. she's not driving the Worldwide trend for the day.

That wasn't the case during her issues with Jesse James or after her Oscar win - then Ms. B was the trend setter. Her name at the top of a blog title was like striking a match. But consider that time versus today; overall search interest in Sandra Bullock ranks at a 20, whereas just after she won her first Oscar it was at 100.  It has slowly declined over that time and save for two actions: her filing for divorce, and then her Scarlett Johansson smooch at the MTV Movie Awards.

The point is Sandra Bullock has to do something to generate buzz; she can't just appear on The Today Show and talk. Now if she were to do something interesting on The Today Show, that would be a different story.

See?

A little lesson for the Old Media types out there who still don't get it and cry and whine about New Media, bloggers, Foursquare, mobile apps, TMZ.com, and Perez Hilton.

Jobless 99ers vent on BlogTalk/PalTalk

Frustrated Jobless 99ers need to vent? Here is your chance on Blog Talk Radio and Pal-Talk Chat forums. There is a great deal of chatter on unemployment these days. The economy may be on life support and slowly recovering but the unemployment situation is untenable. Washington’s lack of significant response to this issue is inexcusable.

The long term unemployed are facing a host of difficult challenges these days that can lead to despair. Something you can do that is free of charge is chat/blog about your frustrations with those who understand. It is a proven physiological principle that giving your frustrations, fears and woes a VOICE can be extremely therapeutic and quite healthy.

There are some new venues for just such discussions recently created specifically for the frustrated and desperate long term unemployed.

Mr. G’s Radio show Unemployment Roundtable
Mr. G has launched his own BlogTalkRadio radio show: Unemployment Roundtable which airs every Friday, 4PM EST. Please join him and be heard. You can chat in the room for free but depending upon where you live the call to speak with him on air may be long distance. Every show is also available on podcast for listening at your own convenience.

"G" as he is known on his website www.tier5.webs.com has become known, like hundreds of thousands of other victims of today's economic environment as one of the more active, visible of "The Long Term Unemployed".

"The goal of this show is a simple one, to educate, unite, and keep alive the faith in all of those 'long term unemployed' that we shall make it through these challenging times, but only with the creation of a tier 5 unemployment benefits' extension".

Jobless-Talk
The first of the Blog Talk shows for the unemployed was ‘Jobless Talk’ which I began on April 7th, 2010. Jobless Talk airs every Friday, Noon PST and is hosted by Paladinette. This is my show but the stars of the show are all the callers who share their own stories with our listeners. It takes great courage to speak out when you face the type of dire circumstances the unemployed are now facing - life with no job and no benefits.

Reach Out Job Search
Monica Ross-Williams is the host of Reach Out Job Search which airs Thursdays, 4PM Central time. She also schedules impromptu shows as needed throughout the week.

Monica Ross-Williams is the owner of Michigan Cellular Store.com, a forum moderator for Merchant Circle.com and is a lifelong resident of the state of Michigan. She writes as the Detroit Job Search Examiner.

Today will be the first broadcast of a new Blog Talk show by Unemployed States of America. Their show What are they thinking, will air live today at 6PM EST. "Our first show will discuss the web site unemployedstatesofamerica.webs.com with some of the founding members of the site, how they got started, and what they are trying to accomplish."
If you cannot catch the live broadcast, you can use the link to listen to the podcast after the show.

PALTALK- live chat for Tier 5 to Survive group
Chat live about Tier 5 to Survive in the Paltalk chat room Tier 5 to Survive created by Scott Mathewson. Come share ideas and plan ways to successfully lobby Washington for our badly needed benefits! Here is how:
PCs http://register.paltalk.com/reg/landing_pagc128.jsp?advc=105&refc=1105&sissr=1
MACs http://www.paltalk.com/express/

Scott A.K.A. ‘Tier 5 to survive’ (screen name in the room) says “my story is simple. I was laid off 2 years years ago when the economy started to tank. I am a union electrician. so for me it has not been so bad. My wife was laid off one week before I was. I started this Paltalk chat room as a way to organize people in real time so because I believe this works. “

With all the depression and recession related suicides and lack of the ability to afford health care, often the long term feel alone and hopeless. If you are feeling despair, please reach out for help before it is too late. Suicide is NOT an OPTION.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

As always, keep informed on all the important information concerning our fight for jobs and additional benefits for all who need them on my 14 page website Jobless Unite.

IPhone 4 Glass Crash design flaw? by Suzannah B. Troy

glass crash IPhone 4 nightmare part 1

Is it just me that is finding that dropping an IPhone 4 can mean broken glass?  I am a huge Apple Lover, but is there another fatal flaw with the IPhone 4 besides the antenna?  I am talking about the glass screen with the slender new box like shape being a possible flaw because I keep having mine shatter.   The picture you see here is a tiny glass break but click here to see the previous IPhone 4 where I show you the major broken glass and other catastrophes in my Apple world.

Suzannah w/ small glass break part 2

Apple, I believe will replace your phone if you bought it from them for $199.00 if you have Apple Care but double check with Apple.  Apple is not selling cases right now and I am waiting for my delivery from Otter Box.  I bought The Defender to protect against things like this happening but they are hugely popular and in demand so I did not get the delivery soon enough sad to say.  Here is a video and the bummer is I just get exhausted just watching the video that instructions....

All I can say is getting something like The Defender for your Iphone 4 is like a condom with a superb lover...it is a must even if you don't want to wear protection, it is the wisest move you can make.

I converted to Apple 3 years ago and I feel hard.  They customer service is outstanding, their design flaws forgivable because they are so outstanding for so many reasons.  I do have suspicions about design flaws for IPhone 4 including the glass but I love this phone the best.  It is not as beautiful design wise as the 3GS but it's camera and video is so much better.   I love Apple.

The Blaze v. Zennie62.com: Glenn Beck's Blog vs. Zennie Abraham's Blog

Glenn.  Sorry, pal.  You'll learn.

The Blaze - click here to see The Blaze!

When this Zennie62.com blogger first saw the listing at the top of Google Trends for "The blaze," the thinking was there was a fire or something, somewhere in the World. Well, actually, there were two of them.

In fact, the results for "The Blaze" were so scattered it was hard to tell that Glenn Beck or The Blaze as a blog site had anything to do with what was presented at Google Trends. Only five of the seven results concerned The Blaze as in Glenn Beck's blogsite, or news website, or whatever the heck its supposed to be.

Plus, when I Google The Blaze, I get information about, well, fires.  You know?

So, using Zennie62.com, this blogger, Zennie Abraham, decided to have some fun with Glenn Beck.

An aside: Glenn Beck's not mentioned much at all here. In fact, I figured Glen was one of those White Nationalists that President Jimmy Carter said was trying to take over the GOP. I talked about that...



...I'm pretty sure Carter's still right about that.

Here's why Zennie62.com is better than The Blaze, and by that, Glen Beck's blog.

Glenn Beck's The Blaze Is About Glenn Beck

When visiting The Blaze, the first graphic that hit this blogger said for me to invest in Gold. No kidding. That was the first sign that the blog was 1), Conservative, because some of those guys are convinced that the World's going to hell, so Gold's the best investment, and 2) awful, because a good blog has normal, mainstream advertisements, as is true for Zennie62.com. No silly ads telling you to invest in Gold at Zennie62.com.

Well, but Zennie62 is Gold, you know.

The problem with Glen Beck's site is that it's a giant PR time-waster about who-said-what about Glen Beck. Hell, you don't have to go to The Blaze to learn that; you can do a search for him at Zennie62.com and find out what silly thing he was up to.

The other problem is it's not clear who else is writing or blogging on The Blaze other than Glen Beck himself, and I can't tell if he's around either. Zennie62.com has bloggers like Nikki Raney and Suzannah Troy, La Dona King, and Tom Hayes. Maybe you haven't heard of them, but you have now.

Plus, we're adding new bloggers and under a revolutionarily simple way for bloggers to be paid. No one's gotten rich. (Yet. Hey stuff happens!) But it's not The Huffington Post, where unpaid bloggers beg and toil for recognition.

Not at Zennie62.com. We'll make you a star; no begging required. That's something Glen Beck will not do for you at The Blaze. So, if there are no bloggers on fire, why call it The Blaze? It's not blazing?

Zennie Abraham's blog is the blaze. We've got commentary, news, and videos. It's not all about me or my take, and we have different views on the issues of the day or week. Plus, we love pop culture, sports, music, and the movies. We've got Megan Fox and Megan Avalon. Sylvester Stallone's not far from Miley Cyrus. If you want to see the trailer for The Prince of Broadway or learn about Hatchet 2, visit Zennie62.com.

And, as of this writing, when you Google The Blaze, you learn about Zennie62.com (and SFGate.com and SeattlePI.com). And that's all Glenn Beck's fault. That's what he gets for walking into the Internet space without knowing what he's doing.

Welcome to The Internet Glen!

Isidore Philip Tisson Soccer Star murdered by Suzannah B. Troy

Isidore Philip Tisson lead his team, St. Lucia to Caribbean Cup finals  victory only to be murdered on the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York.  You can read heart breaking details of the murder here from The New York Daily News.   His murder leaves many grieving including his small child.

Was it an act of jealous? What ever the motive it was senseless and stupid.

Supposedly humans are higher evolved than "animals" but in NYC people are murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time or because they said someone to someone so "fragile", the fragile New Yorker has to murder them over a perceived insult  or murder for gang initiation -- what ever the reason it is a illness, an act of people lacking a soul.

One must be missing a soul to get a gun and shot someone and for some reason New York City has to many of these types.

I don't know if it takes daily protests in neighborhoods through out NYC to bring peace to the streets, rap stars to do front line community outreach as well daily to raise awareness but we need to bring peace to the streets!

Isidore Philip was a soccer star that was murdered on the streets of NYC but we have had so many people of all ages and background murdered including a grandmother sitting on her couch watching TV. Same for children being in the wrong place at the wrong time and that can mean one's home.

Stop the violence, bring peace to the streets.

Mike Bloomberg running for President? by Suzannah B. Troy

Is Mike Bloomberg running for President?  As of right now, king Mike Bloomberg says, "no" he is not running for president.  I do not believe him because he also said he believed in  having term limits and went against his word.  Bloomberg with the help of Christine Quinn denied us a referendum.  What few people have been paying attention to is Mike Bloomberg appointed his people to the Charter Commission and this year, right now in fact they have extended term limits for city council members without our say (the people of NYC) again!  That makes two years in a row king Mike has flushed democracy down the toilet.   Bloomberg has thrown democracy to the wind for his gains and than he uses the word democracy when touting the mosque by the WTC.

I have been blogging about this a lot of my blog but today Clyde Haberman,  I am sure a nice guy but my least favorite writer at The New York Times wrote a piece on this debacle and all I can say is thank goodness and why isn't this making the news?

I do not believe we can count king Mike out of the running for President of the U.S.A.  King Mike hired his campaign people City Hall post the most expensive and humiliating win in NYC history to the tune of an estimated $2 million in the midst of a massive budget crisis.  Why?  My theory is he is having them do statistical research on if he can win and he will be having them do so up until he has to come face to face with the reality he will not achieve his dream to become President.

If he was hoping to run on the Republican ticket he burned that bridge over his support of the Mosque which one might compare to the war in Iraq and oil, if he did not have financial dealings in Dubai for instance he might be treating this issue the way he is treating the Seneca Indians and the middle class and the poor and that is not with sensitivity

Bloomberg forced through a third term which many of us feel is tainted because he denied us a referendum and certain city council members that voted to extend term limits may be going to jail and one Miguel Martinez already is in jail for stealing tax payer money.  To add insult to injury Bloomberg's hand picked Charter Commission have extended city council members terms to 3 again circumventing the people of NY.

Way before any media company would report the news they were forced to report the night of the election I made YouTubes warning people Mike Bloomberg might now win, do not believe the press, the voters are angry.  Here is one from May 4, 2009.

I am not a palm reader or fortune teller but I can tell you if Mike Bloomberg runs for President he cannot win.  Why we have to pay his campaign staff 6 figure salaries he can easily pay out of his own pocket is confounding especially considering harsh budget cuts to come.

Bloomberg as a business man did not help the people of New York but anyone doing major real estate dealings benefited and an end result is mass displacement.   Rumor has it that king Mike wants to put Christine Quinn in place and if he can't be President he will run NYC for a 4th term from the golf course. He is rumored to have made a back room deal with Christine Quinn.  If she supported his push through of a 3rd term denying us a referendum and supporting his run than he would support hers.

Folks blogger mysteriously cut me off and I lost the last few paragraphs so here goes.

Mike Bloomberg is burning bridges like he is an emotional pyromaniac.  He has zero chance of becoming President.  Do I think he has his campaign people situated at City Hall, all with 6 figure salaries checking polls and stats on the possibility of Mike as President.  Yes and he will continue to do so but there is no way Mike Bloomberg will ever be President of the United States.

Blogger locked me out and in a sense robbed me of my writing because I did not have a chance to hit "save now".  It was a better piece but you get the jist.   We voted for him thinking he was a business man but that became his worst attribute as he displaced so many New Yorkers and crushed the middle class all for developer's deals on "old NY's infrastructure.

The Haggerty trial may be Mike Bloomberg's Watergate.  The sentence before has a link to a Wall Street Journal and here is my unusual response to that article.

Mike Bloomberg ambition was his undoing and if he had left after his 2nd term as mayor he would have been making a very smart move.

ESPN's "Around The Horn" Jay Mariotti Talk Classless

Yesterday, ESPN's Around The Horn TV Show took up the "awkward" subject of the problems of one of its own, ESPN Personality Jay Mariotti.

As sports fans know, Jay Mariotti was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault against a woman said to be his girlfriend.

Jay Mariotti was known for flaming athletes accused of domestic assault, so its weird still that he's accused of doing the same thing.

And while Jay's being raked over the coals for all of that in the media, and he should be, it just seems totally classless for his own show to talk about it. Here's the video:



That should be the one place where they at least take a wait-and-see out of respect for Jay. It's like this: Jay cracks on athletes for domestic abuse problems, Jay gets cracked on for his domestic abuse problems, Jay's own show cracks on him about same problems. So what"s next?

Maybe they don't have respect for Jay?

The logical next step is for someone else at ESPN's Around The Horn to get into the same trouble so they and we can talk about that person.

Does it ever end?

ESPN's Jay Mariotti Done At "Around The Horn?" Photo Of Girlfriend Posted

Jay Mariotti and Girlfriend (?) (Deadspin.com)

UPDATE: Mariotti gets deal, avoids jail.

UPDATE: Court date pushed back to October 1st.

ESPN's Personality Jay Mariotti of Around The Horn was arrested on Saturday, August 21st on suspicion of domestic abuse after an altercation with a woman described as his girlfriend that with an argument at a club in Santa Monica, California and then ended with Jay's reportedly violent confrontation at her Venice Beach apartment.

Mariotti posted bail and was immediately tossed into the court of public opinion as being a hypocrite for allegedly doing to his lady friend what he used ESPN and print publications to take time to flame some male athletes for doing: hitting a woman.

In the wake of that event, Jay Mariotti was suspended from his duties as a columnist at AOL Fanhouse, and now it appears he finally may be done on Around The Horn, according to sports radio personality Ben Maller.

On top of that the blog Deadspin.com published a photo of the woman that is claimed to be his girlfriend and a text of an eyewitness account that, if true, could be permanently damaging to Mariotti.

ESPN's Jay Mariotti Done At Around The Horn?

Ben Maller, who at one point was an ESPN radio personality, and so has connections at the place Dan Patrick refers to as "The Mothership," says that a source told him Mariotti is "done" on Around The Horn. Maller says ESPN has not confirmed or denied the rumor. Also, he reports that few if anyone anything good to say about him on or off the record. It's not clear if he is referring to ESPN to around the sports media industry.

Photo of Jay Mariotti And Girlfriend Posted

Deadspin posted this photo of Jay Mariotti and his alleged Girlfriend that was taken by an alleged eyewitness who reportedly called the police to report the incident. What's interesting is that someone actually took the photo at that time. In other words, of all of the occasions to take a photo of Jay and his girlfriend, why at that time?

Deadspin also has a rather chilling account by the same eyewitness of the events leading up to Jay's eventual arrest. Now, it's not clear if he was the person who also took the photo of Jay and his Girlfriend. The Eyewitness said that he was parked to pick up his girlfriend at The Air Apartment Complex, at the corner of Rose Avenue and Ocean Front Walk. He called the police at 3:13 AM Saturday, August 21st. This is what he told Deadspin.com:

I was down there, outside across the street in my car picking up a girl at the end of the night. While i waited i saw a couple having an argument. I first thought it was a bad blind date that was having a kiss goodbye stalemate...but as i watched it unfold I could tell something bad was going to go down. It got heated fast. He was boxing her out every time she tried to get around him. He was d-ing her up like Gary Payton. He mirrored every side step she made. When my girl got in the car i told her we had to wait to make sure he didn't do anything to the woman. I honked my horn at one point as to say "Hey someone is here watching you" as an escalation deterrent and once that didn't work i was pretty sure the cops were going to be needed.

"She punched her code to get into the lobby of her building...and when she did that he fired the door open and followed her in..and that's when it began. Lucky for me her lobby was a giant glass one so i could continue to see everything that was going on when they went inside.

She sat on a couch and he grabbed her by the hair and whipped her around a bit — ripped something out of her ear and shoved her around. With those actions I told my girl to call the cops and i went to the trunk of my cart to get my black wiffle ball bat to try and put the fear of god in him...but before i could do so he fired her into the elevator and they disappeared. Being the resourceful guy I am, I went up to the door and found out what floor they stopped at so i could relay that info to the cops. I'll tell you this much. the guy has a serious rage problem...[H]e was ripping stuff off the walls and firing it in the lobby too. some papers or something. i guess to show how macho he was.

That, if even a little true, is damaging to Mariotti and could figure prominently in his court case.

ESPN's Around The Horn talks about Jay Mariotti

On Monday, ESPN's Around The Horn personalities used ay Mariotti's situation to build up some buzz about the show. Here's the video from that television event called "It's Out Of Bounds":



While not one of them was willing to throw Jay under the bus entirely, they did express regret that the situation happened to him. Woody Paige said it best: we all live in glass houses.  But talk about eating one of your own!  ESPN waisted little time in using Jay's issue as a buzz generator for the show he was on!  I don't know what to call it, but the term classless does enter my thoughts.

Stay tuned.

Roger Clemens A Wake-Up Call? by Suzannah B. Troy

Roger Clemens in his most natural pure state is a great athlete who needed no extra boosts although he convinced himself he did. His mental strength on the pitching mound can be seen in the court house as described in a well written piece by Mike Vaccaro in The New York Post. I point this out because in The New York Daily News there is a piece with the words "voluminous evidence".  Actually the title is, "Ex-Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens  pleads not guilty to perjury but Feds have 'voluminous evidence' and sums up the entire story.

Roger Clemens needs to make a very long list of all the good deeds he has done and I am sure there are many and throw himself at the mercy the powers that be.  Clemens needs a wake-up, a reality check but all the tools that helped me to be a great pitcher like steely calm on the mound and mental toughness are helping him to dig a hole so deep he won't be able to wiggle out of.  I wrote in my Naomi Campbell post on the Blood Diamonds, super models don't go to jail.  Roger Clemens does not have have the Naomi Campbell luck and at the rate she is going she is going to run out of luck.

When celebrity believe their own celebrity and that they are above the law at some point they are in for a harsh awakening and Roger Clemens has clearly not hit that point yet.

Babe Ruth, Thurmon Munson are among my favorite Yankees and I can't imagine either of them doing anything foolish to have a competitive edge.  In fact Babe Ruth seemed to do just the opposite.  His Yankee coaches had to ask him to stop eating in the dug-out as I recall reading a biography.  Babe Ruth hardly ate the breakfast of champions, trained like an obsessed athlete trying to break records at the Olympics.

I do think that baseball statistics will have to be reported differently with an "S" after any athlete that has been proven to have used steroids any other letters to indicate any other enhancing edge that was not kosher.   Looking around at a lot of professional athletes and Hollywood actors it appears to me that they are using illegal substances to make their bodies look and perform beyond Mother Nature's gifts and for me it is creepy.

I have even greater admirations for athletes male and female who achieved their goals naturally and honestly and did not crack to the pressure of wanting to win so badly they would cheat.

Getting back to Clemens....he hold hard and fast to his "not guilty" plea to perjury and this is the worse pitch of his life.