Lawrence Taylor charged with rape post by Suzannah B. Troy

"Lawrence Taylor was blinded sided by Lawrence Taylor"

Before I write about Lawrence Taylor, let us talk about the true victim, a minor without a name, without economic power and any resources to prevent her from falling in to the slavery of an abusive alleged pimp that gave her a black eye for objecting to have sex with a "special customer". 

What of her?  What lead her to this living hell?  How can we prevent this from happening here and *anywhere on the globe?  What will happen to her now that this horror story has gained world wide attention?  Will she finally get the resources and tools to walk away from this life of hell?  The only reason we happen to know of her suffering --which too many young women, even girls, children endure, in some countries quite openly --is this nightmarish existence was exposed because it involved an alleged "John" who happens to be one of footballs' greats, Lawrence Taylor;  the catalyst, "the backstory" for the telling of the acclaimed book "The Blind Side" written by Michael Lewis.

When the Disney movie with the same title opens, we hear Oscar award winner, Sandra Bullock read Lewis's words explaining how Lawrence Taylor is the reason for the the 2nd highest paid salaries in the NFL for the men that protect the "blind side" of the highest paid football players -- the quarterbacks.

Now let us get to the "backstory" of Lawrence Taylor....Steve Serby has an editorial in The New York Post, "Grid demon is staring at a life in hell".  Serby co-authored a book with Taylor and clearly he admires, loves and is hoping Taylor is truly innocent.  Serby loves Taylor warts and all.  What are his warts... A head line from The New York Daily News sums them up like that 10 plagues listed during a Passover Seder..."Coke, crack, booze, women and jail".  "Women" falls under the really title of sex addiction.  Bad boys say it doesn't exist but it does if you are sexually consuming people like an over eater sucks down gallons of ice cream without stopping to taste the food and exhale. It becomes only about consumption.   These guys have no idea there is an actual human involved when it comes to sex addiction.   All they care about is the thrill, the next conquest, and like all addictions it leaves them lonelier and more empty than before if that is possible.   Many men secretly admire or openly admire the sex addict.  If asked the sex addict might admit it is a lonely habit that doesn't leave them feeling good about themselves and causes major destruction to their families and careers. Fall-out for Taylor has begun by Nutrisystem swiftly dropping him.

Lawrence Taylor doesn't do anything half way and the same for how people feel about him.  They either love him or hate him.  The folks that love him believe his story and say he was set up.

I am not a LT fan but I do I think he was set up.  Yes.  But I don't think he and any of his supporters have stopped for a minute to think about the underage woman being set up and the hell she was living that brought her to this place.

I have "petite fame" and I am an artist-citizen journalist muck raker and I already know from "little fame" the freaks that come out of the wood work even asking me to have their babies and these are not guys that you would bring home to your family and they also have no real income and they are looking for a meal ticket.   One is actually really old and gross and I know no NFL football player has had an elderly woman asking them to have their baby.  Well maybe they have. Celebrity breeds people wanting to use you.   That being said....

Lawrence Taylor was blinded sided by Lawrence Taylor.  He has been and  is his own worst enemy but there is no doubt that his fame makes him a target.  Do I hope he is innocent and that in fact he did not have sex with this young woman?  Yes.  Do I hope even more that he would have stepped up and protected this woman, helped her to break free of an alleged pimp that beat her rather than exploited the horrifying situation?  I hope he did not have sex with her.

I don't want him to go to jail.  I do not want him destroyed by his own worst enemy -- himself but my greater concern it the alleged pimp beater of women goes to jail for as long as possible and the true victim here, the underage woman gets the help and resources she needs.  I want her to have a safe place she calls home and income that allows her to not fall victim to monsters like this alleged pimp.

Were drugs involved?  Did the pimp use them as a form of bondage like invisible chains as well as threats of physical violence?  I don't know.

I do know The New York Daily News shows striking photos of a rapist laughing until he is sentenced to prison time for raping a prostitute.  Than he started to cry.  You see, he thought he would not go to jail for raping and terrorizing this woman because she was a prostitute.   He robbed her and raped her at gun point.  He thought he would never get caught because "nobody cared about" this woman.  You see he saw her as having no value.

So what if nothing is done to help this underage woman in the Lawrence Taylor case, the true victim here that has no celebrity, until being linked to LT?    She had no escape.  If nothing is done for her with her life...the cowardly "laughing rapist" is right, not about his victim but about the under age prostitute in the high profile LT disaster;  the newest one in way too many in Lawrence Taylor's life.  (I want to give the NYPD the highest praise for catching the rapist, the DA and judge  for making sure this coward goes to jail and proving this woman's life had and has value.)

I am repulsed by  Tiger Woods and I believe he doesn't have much remorse.  He put his family on the back burner yet again for sports and his massive ego but I look at the photos of Lawrence Taylor and I see what appears to be remorse, even shock.   In one photo he looks up possible to Heaven and maybe he is praying to God, for help and asking how did I get here?

Taylor changed the game of football for better or worse.  He inspired Michael Lewis to use him as the defining factor of the best seller "The Blind Side".  Sandra Bullock utters his name like a god in the opening minutes of the film.  Taylor even if he is innocent of not actually having sex with an underage prostitute has fallen again and fallen hard.  Unlike Tiger, I believe his remorse is sincere...even for just being at the wrong place, at the wrong time and allowing himself to be connected with a vile, low life thug, alleged violent pimp master and beater of women.  

Lawrence Taylor has to take a good long look at his life yet again and shape up finally, once and for all, never find himself in this or any kind of situation like this ever again.  Too many male star athletes find themselves on the front pages of newspapers and sharing headlines that might make people forget the mega disasters like the horrific oil spill off of the Gulf of Mexico or the massive budget catastrophe  right here in New York which has yet to but might bring us in to an economic depression.  We are seeing violent out breaks in Greece because of similar issues.

What Lawrence Taylor needs to do is plead his case.  If he is innocent plead innocent, if not plead guilty.  He needs to think long and hard about the real victim here, this underage woman, a teenage girl.  His fame brought her hellish existence to the front pages of major newspapers around the world and I am sure "Lawrence Taylor" are hot words in Google's search engine.  Can he use his fame to help to stop the exploitation of underage prostitution here and elsewhere.  It needs to be stopped and removed from this planet as far as I am concerned.  I also think prostitution should be legal as well to prevent violence towards women as well as other issues.

Time will tell how this actually plays out for LT.  For now he was sacked and if he is guilty the police did a good job.  The police have found a used condom in the hotel room.  Either way the police did good work and now I hope and pray a young woman's life will be saved and the alleged pimp goes to jail for a long time.   If Lawrence Taylor  is innocent or guilty it is up to LT to take this and some how turn it  into a positive.  He can use  his fame to help make a positive difference and one suggestion is to help fight child prostitution here in this country.

* Child prostitution happens all over the world including here.  I can't give you links to but here is more info.

Lawrence Taylor arrested: was Taylor set-up?

A 16-year-old runaway girl who was forced into prostitution and her pimp, a a 36-year-old parolee named Rasheed Davis, have claimed that NFL Legend and Dancing with The Stars star Lawrence Taylor raped and assaulted the girl in a suburban Suffern, NY hotel room.

It's sad news for a man who this blogger had just seen at the 2010 NFL Draft, when NFL Legend and 49ers Wide Receiver Jerry Rice joked to me that he'd "better go because LT is coming." LT wizzed by announcing that his golf game was "just fine."

That was two weeks ago.

Now, Lawrence Taylor isn't acting like he's in Dancing with The Stars or on the golf course; he's playing defense again. Defending himself in what reads to be a fishy story.

Reportedly, Taylor paid $300 to be with the girl Wednesday night. In turn, she was staying with Rasheed Davis, who was sending her out for paid sex. Prostitution. The girl reportedly said that she was beat up by Davis and then made to go to Taylor's hotel against her will.

On CNN's Larry King Live, Lawrence Taylor's wife planned to appear to publicly express her support for him. But, perhaps because she was advised not to do so, she cancelled almost at the last minute.

Through his lawyer, Lawrence Taylor claims he never had sex with the girl or "anyone" or assaulted her. He's vigorously fighting the charge. The best word for L.T. is if he's able to say he never even saw the girl or called a prostitute. He hasn't said that, which is a flag for concern.

Bail was set at $75,000. L.T. paid the bail and walked free today.

It just shows that anyone who has a name has to be careful who they keep in their orbit. The main question is did Taylor know or have any contact with these people at his hotel? I hope for his sake, he didn't. His lawyer says the case will be dismissed. I hope so.

It's OK to be a snob. There are people out there who are so screwed up they live for the downfall of others and that could have been what Rasheed Davis was trying to do - extort Taylor.

Rasheed Davis is in jail now, booked for being a pimp and for assault. The girl ran away from home and allowed herself to be in the company of Davis, a very bad man.

Stay tuned.

Jamarcus Russell: Oakland Raiders release poorly coached quarterback

JaMarcus Rusell

The Jamarcus Russell era may be over before it started. The Oakland Raiders released the poorly-coached young quarterback today, saving $6.45 million in base salary, making it easier to afford the $4.5 million hit from signing Jason Campbell away from the Washington Redskins.

But in releasing Russell, the Raiders gave up on what some are calling the biggest draft bust in history. That tag, however, is very unintelligent because Russell just came to the league in 2007. Let's look back.

In 2007, the Raiders Drafted Jamarcus Russell and before they selected him there was a big splash about his size and talent. The choice for the Oakland Raiders was between Russell and then-Notre Dame Quarterback Brady Quinn, who's stock had risen after a very good performance at the NFL Combine. At the 2007 NFL Draft Luncheon at Chelsea Piers, Russell said he'd heard "nothing" from the Raiders. The word around the NFL Draft was that the Raiders were set to take Quinn.

To everyone's surprise, the Raiders took JaMarcus Russell. I felt then and now that Russell was the better choice. JaMarcus has the rare combination of size and speed. He's the best talent to run a short passing game designed around his abilities.

Note, short passing game.

The Raiders under Lane Kiffin inserted Russell into an offense not designed for him and at that incredibly inept in it's function. On one particularly memorable play, the Kiffin-led Raiders asked Russell to call a weakside bootleg out of I-Formation against the Denver Broncos and while the Broncos had an obvious blitz called to that weakside.

Russell was slammed to the turf, and walked off the field with a "why did you do that to me?" look. The Offensive Coordinator? Greg Knapp.

Then the Raiders fired Lane Kiffin in a series of exchanges worthy of a TV movie, and Al Davis asked Tom Cable to take over and took Knapp's play calling duties away from him. Then in 2009, Ted Tollner and Paul Hackett were brought in to be Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach, respectively. But the Raiders, impatient with JaMarcus Russell, adopted the habit of pulling him from games in favor of Bruce Gradkowski, who faired only slightly better than Russell.

Then, this year, the Raiders hired Hue Jackson and brought in Jason Campbell. But with that, Russell was still participating in minicamps before being released, which means the action may very well be a cost-cutting move and not an effort to get rid of Russell.

But that does not cloud the fact that JaMarcus Russell has been the victim of poor and inconsistent coaching. Poor in the lack of a system of thinking about the passing game and a way of coaching it. Inconsistent because four men in three years have been responsible for the Raiders passing game, rather than just one, and if you count the head coaches, that's six men in three years. That's an outrage.

Yes, we've all heard the stories about Russell's alleged lack of interest in the game. People have called him lazy. And after blog post after blog post, even this space was fed up with what was coming out about J-Russ and his love for his "bling" and lashed out.

I got after Russell about being too caught up in earrings and minks; now I'm getting after the Oakland Raiders Organization for being just plain inept in how it handled Russell. This is what the Raiders should have done:

1) Sat down and on a clean sheet of paper developed a whole new offense specifically designed for Russell, then expanded that system. If I had done it, this is how that offense would have looked:

A) Philosophy - It's important to have an overarching idea of why we do, what we do. In this case, our view is that we use the offense to stretch the defense in such a way as to create holes to both run through and pass into. We will emphasize three, four and five-receiver sets, shifts and motion. We will use the pass to set up the run, not the other way around.

B) Formation Design - We will employ the most unusual sets ever in football: receiver clusters, "assymetric" formations where four receivers are on one side of the ball, and standard formations but with receiver in the backfield. We will use the shotgun most of the time.

C) Play Design - We will employ the "timed" way of passing that was developed by the late coach Bill Walsh, where steps, footwork and ball placement are at the center of how we teach the passing game. Our offense will consist of both running and passing plays out of the shotgun, but we will use standard formations more often in the red zone. 

The play calling language will be based on the standard terms used in the Bill Walsh / West Coast Offense, but using the passing number concept because it's easy to remember. Formations will be called by color names: red and green being the standard split back set; black and white being the standard shotgun sets. Running back hole numbers will be left is odd, right is even.

D) Passing Game design - The passing system will have up to three receivers in order of first, second, and third. Most of the time the receiver patterns will be grouped in a way such that the quarterback only has to read one side of the field, and not the whole field. Often, the primary receiver will run a deep pattern and the second receiver will be the one that goes behind or is caused to be open by the deep receiver. Many of our plays will be quick passes: one-step or three-steps if the quarterback is under center 

We will employ play-action off receiver reverses and that will be a primary part of our offense. The quarterback will run roll-out, sprint, and bootleg passes in addition to drop back passes.

Our intent is to design plays where the receiver is obviously open. This will call for a large number of plays of very unusual design, some will say we're a "trick play team" - so be it. We will not use the Wildcat, because it's not a logical part of our philosophy, but we will not rule out developing something that may look like it, but be more in tune with our passing-oriented system. Translation: receivers and running backs will throw.

E) Running Game Design - The running backs will be used to exploit holes created by our formations, shifts and motion.  We're not a "smash mouth" team; we emphasize speed in our running attack.  Quick pitches (seldom seen in the NFL), off-tackle runs, dives to take advantage of defenses where there's no middle linebacker, reverses using receivers, quarterback runs, and draw plays will be our standards. 

F) Performance Expectations - Our objective is to complete 65 percent of our passes, throw for 350 to 450 yards a game, and rush 20 times for 120 yards.  But we will use the pass to control the clock and lengthen the game if we're behind. We will expect but not allow or coach for one interception a game and actually have an offensive and defensive contingency plan for the turnover. We will work to score at minimum 24 points a game.

I could have written more and expanded this into a book, but you can see where I'm headed. What I described is a full offensive system. You know why we're doing what we're doing and what we're trying to accomplish on offense.

I'll bet the Oakland Raiders have had nothing like this. If they did, JaMarcus Russell would have been a more engaged and more successful quarterback. No one would be calling him an NFL Draft bust.

Stay tuned.

The mayor won't cut NYPD post by Suzannah B. Troy

The mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg, a man  many consider the developer's mayor, not the peoples', has come to his senses, in the dollar and sense nightmare of an economic meltdown and massive lay-offs and cuts to come and the NYPD are no longer on the chopping block.

Could you imagine if there was an APP on your phone to report suspicious packages, vehicles, etc. like the MTA ad campaign that the hero t-shirt vendor, Viet Nam Vet, Lance Orton actually quoted and followed to the T.  It would be faster than 911 and you can send photos or in the case of the car parked in time square even run you phone over the registration code in the window like traffic ticketing police do.  There is an APP for everything on state of the art phones these days, why not one for fighting terror attacks? 

That is good to hear but the bottom line is the NYPD is the smallest it has ever been in NYC's history policing the largest NYC population ever so we don't need cuts but we also need more NYPD and high tech equipment with the tech- training to accompany preventing further terrorist attacks here in NYC.

Last night Notify NYC, the text messaging program I signed up for reported, "Due to police activity the RFK/Tri-Boro Bridge is closed in both directions.  This morning I read in The New York Daily News that the police where investigating an abandoned u-haul.  Drivers reported seeing a man flee.  The Bomb Squad responded and X-rayed the u-haul and it was empty.

The NY Daily News has more background information on the Time Square Bomber and like the WTC bombers he had his share of disappointments and anger over U.S. policies in the middle east but as I recall the bombers that carried out suicide missions were upper middle to wealthy and had problems with women and spent their last night in a strip club.  Shahzad the Time Square Bomber never intended to blow himself up and it is clear he did not come from poverty but also comfort.  He is married and has a young daughter and The Daily News says they are possible in protective custody.

Everyone this time around is safe but this was a wake-up call and it is clear NYC needs more funding from Washington, D.C. if we are going to continue to try and stop attacks here in NYC.  Here is my YouTube I made yesterday The Time Square Bomber Sings & New York holds up tin cup to The White House for Federal Funding. 

'Los Suns' Cinco de Mayo protest a great idea

The NBA's Phoenix Suns, as sick to death of Arizona's racist illegal immigration law as the rest of us are (and anyone can make a rigged poll), have elected to take matters into their own hands and where a special jersey for tonights NBA Playoff Game against The San Antonio Spurs on Cinco de Mayo.

The jersey reads 'Los Suns' and is an obvious hat-tip to the plight of Phoenix Latino Community, which has to suffer with being singled out as a whole for the actions of a few, not to mention America's obvious love for Hot Irish Waitresses and Swedish Au-Pair Girls with expired VISAs.

Phoenix is a majority-minority city, with 41 percent of its population playing host to the same ethnic minority Arizona's racist illegal immigration law was really designed to target. It's not just a socially responsible act, but good business for the Phoenix Suns to take a stand against a racist law that hurts the people of its community.

Racist. A term that's thrown around a lot, and because some people use it in a weird attempt to stop others from pointing out racism. For example, the idea that a person's racist for recognizing a racist act or action. That's purely stupid, but it's the latest trick used by people who don't want to be forced to be introspective and realize that, even if it wasn't intentional, the act served to reject or cause a person to feel rejected because of the color of their skin, white, black or anything in between. That's racism.

Arizona' immigration law makes brown-skinned people feel rejected.

The Phoenix Suns are taking a grand stand to let Latino's know that they're not being rejected. Bravo. It's a move that shows what private business can do to turn this country in the right direction.

Oakland Local Gentrifying the web is the silliest idea

This isn't something that calls for the amount of time that Oakland Local's given to it, but there's someone in Oakland who has this silly idea that Oakland Local's going to "gentrify" the web. The idea is that Oakland Local will take traffic away from his website.

Well, there's one answer: make a better site.

The web is a wide open space. Not that there's room for everyone, but there's a lot of room. If the person who's concerned about losing traffic wants to have more of it, all they have to do is learn Search Engine Optimization.

And if they're concerned about Oakland Local, study how the site is designed and go from there.

But calling Oakland Local a name or saying that it's going to "gentrify" the World Wide Web is just plain silly.

Not something to Rock The Casbah about.

Faisal Shahzad: Times Square bomb suspect just an upset American

Faisal Shahzad: pissed off

It's funny how race-based thinking can cloud the view of people. In the case of Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square Bomb Suspect, his Pakistani origin and rumored but not confirmed story of going to Pakistan to learn bomb-making are perfect smoke-screens to cause any racist to go hunting for accomplices from Pakistan.

Who Faisal Shahzad really is can be summed up in one sentence: Faisal Shahzad is an unemployed, pissed off husband and father of two kids who's over $200,000 in debt and lost his home.

I realized this while watching CNN's complete account of Faisal Shahzad and feeling sorry for the other Faisal Shahzads who are on Facebook and who's photos were probably used by some overzealous media type looking to identify Faisal "ASAP." This whole thing was summed up when Anderson Cooper reported that Faisal Shahzad was laid off from his job and lost his house. Shahzad owned $200,000 on the home; so he and his family were kicked out of it.

That's the story, folks. It's not some Islamic terrorist group. It's not Osama Bin Laden. It's not even Shake-Your-Money, though Faisal Shahzad wished he had some money to shake. Shahzad wanted to just blow something up because his life was being blown up.

Somewhere along the way the stress of not being able to provide for his family just plain got to him. So, like Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS Building after a pattern of economic failures, job losses, and perceived overtaxation, Faisal Shazad just got fed up. He said he expected to be caught. He left a lot of clues. He's not a terrorist. He's a disgruntled American citizen.

So those of you who are frankly getting off on the idea that Faisal Shahzad is a terrorist who "abandoned his house" and is connected to some group are behaving in as psychotic a way as Faisal was before he realized he screwed up. The FBI needs to take off the racist blinders, stop trying to make connections that don't exist, and see the problem that's right in its face.

If Faisal Shazad had a job and was able to maintain his home and provide for his family, there would have been no Times Square bomb to talk about. Eventually, the FBI, you, and the rest of America will wake up and realize that I'm right about this guy.

Stay tuned.