Deez Washington Blog BOG

Smith said, "I pray daily for Ms. Johnston. I also pray other officers in Atlanta will have the moral fortitude I didn't have,"

2009-02-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

My youth program's FIRST "Word of the Day" was FORTITUDE. Here is a perfect examle of someone using that word in a sentence....

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Three former Atlanta police officers were sentenced Tuesday to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years for covering up a botched drug raid in which a 92-year-old woman was killed.

Kathryn Johnston was shot five times in a botched drug raid on her Atlanta home two years ago.
Jason Smith was sentenced to 10 years in the November 2006 raid that left Kathryn Johnston dead in a hail of bullets. Former officers Greg Junnier and Arthur Tesler were sentenced to six and five years, respectively, said Patrick Crosby, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Georgia.

Investigators determined the raid at Johnston's home was based on falsified paperwork stating that illegal drugs were present. The incident prompted a major overhaul of the Atlanta Police Department's drug unit.

"Officers who think, as these defendants once did, that the ends justify the means or that 'taking shortcuts' and telling lies will not be discovered and punished should realize that they are risking their careers and their liberty." U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said in a written statement.

"Officers who try to obstruct justice when their misconduct faces exposure, rather than cooperating in the investigation, should realize that they will face even more severe punishment."

All three men pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death. Smith and Junnier also pleaded guilty to state charges of voluntary manslaughter and making false statements, and Smith admitted to planting bags of marijuana in Johnston's home after her death.

U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes ordered all three men to serve three years of supervised release after their prison terms, and to split Johnston's funeral costs, which totaled $8,180, authorities said.

On Monday, Junnier broke down on the witness stand during a sentencing hearing, WXIA reported, saying, "I used to think I was a good person."

Smith said, "I pray daily for Ms. Johnston. I also pray other officers in Atlanta will have the moral fortitude I didn't have," according to WXIA.

Tesler was convicted on one state count of making false statements after filling out an affidavit saying that an informant had purchased crack cocaine at Johnston's home in a crime-plagued neighborhood near downtown Atlanta.

The informant, however, denied ever having been to Johnston's home, leading to probes by local and federal authorities as well as the breakup and reorganization of the Atlanta police narcotics unit.

The raid occurred as police were executing a so-called "no-knock" search warrant based on the faulty information. Police said Johnston fired at them with an old pistol during the raid, and they returned fire in self-defense. Johnston's one shot went through her front door and over the officers' heads; they responded with 39 shots, hitting the elderly woman five times.

Tesler's state conviction was reversed on appeal, but he pleaded guilty to the federal charge. Junnier and Smith face sentencing March 5 on state charges including voluntary manslaughter, but according to their plea agreement, their sentence will be served at the same time as the federal sentence, authorities said.

Shortly after the federal probe began, however, Junnier began cooperating with authorities, providing "valuable assistance in the investigation and prosecution of Smith and Tesler," according to the statement issued by Nahmias' office. Smith also cooperated "to a more limited extent," the statement said, adding that both Junnier and Smith's sentences were reduced because of their cooperation.

Prosecutors have said that the officers regularly presented false information to obtain warrants and that they cut corners to make more time for lucrative side jobs providing additional security to businesses, often while on duty, and receiving cash payments.

"As Atlanta police narcotics officers, these three defendants repeatedly failed to follow proper procedures and then lied under oath to obtain search warrants," Nahmias said. "Their routine violations of the Fourth Amendment led to the death of an innocent citizen."

The investigation into the raid at Johnston's home also led to guilty pleas from the police sergeant in charge of the narcotics unit and another officer who admitted to extortion, prosecutors said.

Kanye West's 808 & Heartbreak

2008-12-16T19:08:00.001-08:00

2008-11-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

I LOVE KANYE's NEW CD

808's & Heartbreak

What a WEEK! An outstanding performance at the AMA's on Sunday, Monday night he gives a performance equal to the VMA's of Love Lockdown, then Tuesday 808 goes to #1 on iTunes the FIRST DAY it's released (11-25-08.)

You have GOT TO CHECK OUT Kanye's New Song ~ HEARTLESS

2008-10-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

http://kanyewest.s3.amazonaws.com/media/audio/HeartlessMainPass.mp3

Jami Floyd IN SESSION: Does she think OJ Shouldn't have been Charged???

2008-10-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

September 30, 2008
What Have We Learned?
Posted: 01:40 PM ET
NEW YORK–The prosecution has rested its case-in-chief and what have we learned?
Well, we’ve learned that O.J. Simpson keeps lousy company. We’ve learned that the sports memorabilia business attracts some sketchy characters. And we’ve learned that O.J. Simpson sure has some good lawyers.
But here’s what we haven’t learned: Whether O.J. Simpson knew there would be guns there that night. Oh sure, some of these characters have said he knew. But they’re hardly going to win any credibility contests. And now, McClinton admitted on cross that Simpson never even said the word “gun.”
And that matters. The guns matter, because this is an armed robbery case, not a simple robbery case. And without a single credible witness who can put a gun in O.J.’s hand, or on his mind, the proof just isn’t there.
And that’s the Last Word.
–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

MY POST ON "THAT" LAST WORD:
Jami, what’s the deal? Do you have OJ envy? Your usual, go-get-em style has been lost on this THUG!
You have, time-after-time now, in your Last Word, left us to believe that you think NO CHARGES should have been filed. Even though the lesser players have gotten deals, that’s the way it goes. He planned it. TOO BAD! Nicole or not, this was a robbery. He did it the WRONG WAY, and he is the MAIN CONSPIRITOR!!!!!
I don’t care about the NOT GUILTY verdict, I believe that he WAS guilty of killing Nicole and Ron, BUT I also believe that jury came to the correct verdict given what they had put before them. Mark Firman, YUK!
This is a DIFFERENT case, and the prosecutors have filed the CORRECT CHARGES… I hope they CONVICT him this time.

Jaguars' Collier Paralyzed and had Leg Amputated (Shot 14 times in early Sept)

2008-09-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

Posted: Monday September 29, 2008 4:19PM; Updated: Monday September 29, 2008 5:22PM
Doctors: Jaguars tackle Collier is paralyzed and had leg amputated
Story Highlights
Richard Collier was shot 14 times earlier this month Collier is paralyzed below the waist and had left leg amputated Police believe Collier was targeted in the attack

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier, shot earlier this month, is paralyzed below the waist and had his left leg amputated.

Dr. Andy Kerwin, a surgeon for the University of Florida at Shands Jacksonville hospital, said Collier, who had 14 bullet wounds, is now in good condition after being previously listed in critical condition.

Kerwin said Collier had bullet wounds to the back, left groin, left legs and right buttock. In addition, a bullet severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down. The amputation was the result of damage to his left leg and groin, which had blood clots.

The 26-year-old Collier had five bullets removed from his urinary bladder and suffered bouts of pneumonia, infections and renal failure.

The player will undergo physical therapy to learn to get from his bed to a wheelchair. He will never walk again, the doctor said.

Collier was on a ventilator for about three weeks and has no memory of the shooting, Kerwin said.

"His overall condition has improved greatly," Kerwin said. "We expect him to be discharged soon."

Collier's agent Jeff Jankovich said the player's family wanted to make sure Collier understood what had happened to him before releasing it to the public. He said they even kept the Jaguars in the dark.

"He has extreme grief for a lifetime of dreams he won't be able to fulfill," the agent said.

Jankovich refused to say when Collier would be released, citing security concerns.

Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio and several players attended the news conference.

"It's a tragedy this young man was caught up in this violence," Del Rio said. "It's a great tragedy for a young man who had such a promising future."

Offensive tackle Tony Pashos said, "It has been difficult. I think about him a lot."

Collier and former teammate Kenneth Pettway were waiting for two women outside an apartment complex early Sept. 2 when a gunman fired into the vehicle, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Pettway was not injured.

The motive behind the attack on Collier is unknown, but investigators said earlier he appeared to be targeted. Police have made no arrests in the shooting.

Collier was in his third year with the NFL after graduating from Valdosta State.

Collier was the third NFL player shot in the past 18 months. Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor was fatally shot during what police said was a botched burglary attempt at his Miami-area home in November. Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed when his rented limousine was sprayed with bullets minutes after leaving a New Year's party at a club in 2007.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: SI

LOVE LOCKDOWN Goes NUMBER 1 on iTunes

2008-09-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Kanye posts on his BLOG that LL went number one at 7:45 EST Sept 19, 2008.

Top Songs of the Week:

Kanye Posts Underground Advertising.... Way to go guys!

2008-09-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

So, here it is:

GO GET IT on iTUNES it's R or maybe X rated!

Kanye Posts New Version of Love Lockdown on his UniverseCity BLOG

2008-09-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=206428_-1__0_~0_-1_5_2008_0_0&em3161=&em3281=Then I found this version of another of Ye's NEW SONGS performed and taped by an audience member. Not good quality, but here is HEARTLESS (that's what it said on YouTUBE).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gofJgoNQhZE

Besides Keeping up on Hurricane IKE I'm weighin' in on the KANYE issue and PAPS Legislation

2008-09-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to AGAIN post about Kanye's MTV VMA Performance.

I have it recorded on my DVR, THANK GOODNESS! I played it OVER-and-OVER on Monday, and at least once per day through-out the week. BUSY, you know.

NEW GREAT NEWS, !!!!! WE CANNOT BE HAPPIER!!!
my son, his dad, who was killed in 2004, by a drunk driver. More on this issue later.) Grandson, Ernie Ivery the 4th, age 3 yrs 11 months, who is SO....... cute & SWEET and just LOVES me & my youngest son, UNCLE NELS, and looks JUST LIKE

But, along with Kanye, who's week was busy getting back with his ex (fiance), Alexis, then on Wed, getting arrested for felony vandalism at LAX for SMASHING *and he did do that, I saw it on the TMZ tape* a paps camera, that's after he WRESTLED IT AWAY from him at the American Airlines customer counter waiting line. Yes, and on SEPTEMBER 11, to make matters worse!

EVEN ME, one of his BIGGEST FANS and SUPPORTERS say, that was not one of his best moments.

Now, in defense of Kanye, I believe that guy probably SAID something to set him off, and was WAY to CLOSE in the first place. There needs to be LEGISLATION to set across-the-board standards on HOW CLOSE the paps can get to OUR STARS & HEROS. I mean, they should be able to have a life; board a plane, buy groceries, etc., without having a camera shoved in their face. Say, within 25 feet. That's just a guess on my part. They have telephoto lenses, for gosh sake, they DO NOT NEED TO BE all up in their faces, talking to them, upsetting their days.

I say, the Red Carpet is when they put themselves out there TO BE LOOKED AT, and if they get a DUI, well WE CAN HAVE AT THEM!!! But, to follow them down the "pregnancy test isle", and all up CLOSE AND PERSONAL at the airport, ETC., THAT'S GOING TOO FAR, in my mind, and in MY OPINION.

What do you think? Should the USA adopt legislation to stop the paparazzi from getting all "UP CLOSE & PERSONAL" with our HERO & STARS outside of the RED CARPET.
Paris or FRANCE has some pretty strict paps laws, and I'm going to look into what they/the laws are.

Winds STILL pounding Texas, and probably Mexico & Louisiana (I mean that sucker was HUGE!)

2008-09-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Broken Windows in Houston DownTown HighRise & Distruction in Historic Galveston IKE has HIT

2008-09-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

I watched almost all day yesterday, CNN OF COURSE. I even put a DVD in the recorder to record it for historic purposes. You know, show your grandchildren in a few years.

A few weeks ago when Gustav was coming Victor saw the wind almost blowing over one of the reporters, as I was trying to show him and his sister how important these sorts of things are to the people in the storms path is, and he said, "OH MY GOSH!" Just like I did with Ernie & Nels when they were little. WE WATCHED THE NEWS EVERY DAY!

I remember when the earthquake in Mexico City occurred, must have been in the late 80's, and we didn't have cable for 3 weeks, waiting them them to hook it up after we moved on Littlerock Rd, down by Isreal Rd. We didn't find out for four days, and the boys wanted to collect cans of food for the people there.

We were ALWAYS a news oriented family. I remember watching the news and weather with my Grandpa Peter when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I'd also watch boxing with him, and my parents were Univ of Washington alumni and had season tickets to the Husky football games. My mom was sick A LOT so "I" got to go with my dad!!!!

Back to storms & hurricanes. My parents went to a Husky game in Portland with their friends Jerry Farrell, a Seattle Police Lt, and Veretta in their convertible when I was about 3rd grade, I'd say, and they kept calling my Grandpa Peter & Grandma Edith's were we were; Mark, my 2 1/2 yr younger brother, and me & Grandma & Grandpa and m y mom kept telling us to stay in the basement away from the windows. YEAH, and she's driving to a football game in a convertible! I remember HUGE HUGE trees along Lake Washington Boulevard blown down. I know one of the BIG hurricanes I lived threw was referred to as the Columbus Day Storm. I don't think this was that one though, cause this one was in Nov., and Columbus Day is in April, or Spring at least, I think.

I'm still praying for EVERYONE in the storm's path. Having lost my son four years ago, I KNOW that grieving for someone THAT CLOSE goes on forever.

"Please God, give strength to those in harm's way, put your arms around them and get them through this. Please God, give strength to those giving assistance to those in harm's way and keep them safe. ERNIE you are a STRONG PERSON/ANGEL help them all for mom!

In God's name I pray, AMEN."

TOO Late to Get OUT...

2008-09-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

All we can do 'till tomorrow

IS PRAY!!!

Hurricane IKE

2008-09-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

OMGosh! This is a HUGE storm, 900 miles across! Everyone in Galvaston Texas, a long spit of an island, before the storm roars into Houston, will probably be completely covered with water.

A 20-foot "WALL" of water is being predicted.

"MONSTER" is what IKE is being referred to.
GET OUT! Death is what is "assured" if you don't GET OUT!

They are predicting 12 HOURS of 100 MPH winds. OMG! If you are not OUT!

PLEASE GET OUT!

A night-time land-fall, to boot... not good...

God BLESSandPRAYERS toEveryone inIKE's Path...

My Posts on Kanye's MESSAGE BOARDS TODAY after his ARREST at LAX (smashed PAP's camera) OH WELL THEM & their "In Your Face" and SPACE MO...

2008-09-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

DeeWA2007

**Fan Club Member**
Group: Street Teamer
Joined: 09/12/2007
Posts: 6
I've heard there's NEW LEGISLATION in the works. I am hoping with Kanye's EARLY MORNING ordeal, and his stature in the INDUSTRY, and CLOUT, MAYBE - JUST MAYBE we can now get something done to put a stop to IN YOUR FACE PAPs.

To not be able to catch a flight, go to the store, etc., without having a boundry or as I put it, "You are in my PERSONAL SPACE," guidelines for them/the paps, there will soon be a DEATH!

Brit Brit running over feet, to smashed camera, JT, Ye, Tommy, NOW, maybe the US will follow suit with France and their PAP laws.

Help me help Kanye and our other HEROS - sports, music, et al be able to live their lives outside the RED CARPET!

FREE KANYE.... (Actually, I'm sure he's already FREE - My thing now is that they DROP THE CHARGES!)

Won/One
D

report post

Posted: Sep 11 2008, 12:38 PM

bully

Group: Message Boarder
Joined: 07/08/2008
Posts: 139
i agree m'am : Free Kanye, drop the charges.

report post

LOVE LOCKDOWN

2008-09-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

OMGosh! Kanye was INCREDIBLE last night at the 25th Annual MTV Video Music Awards (VMA's).

I got in late, my next entry gets into my GREAT NEWS! My Grandson, Ernest Lee Ivery IV, Ernie's son, born 3 months after the crash, and I MET last Wednesday at my youngest son's work for dinner and on Saturday he came over around noon. He ended up spending the night. We went to Church on Sunday, and everyone was like, "He looks just like one of your boys," "Yes, he's Ernie's son," or, "Well, you can tell you're related."

We hadn't seen him since he was 8 months old. LONG messy story that I am glad is OVER!!! YEAH! He is SO........... cute and SWEET. BUT, right now is KANYE's post.

Kanye was the last performance of the night. I wasn't into the host, some nut who told "ME" I should vote for Obama. Some NUT from the British Isles. I may, but it surely won't be because he tells me to. SO.. I turned off the taped one and went straight to the MTV channel and got there just in time to see Kanye live.

He was FABULOUS! INSPIRATIONAL! OUTSTANDING! You name it, he was it. The production couldn't of been thought out and put together any better, from the clean cut grey suit, 4" flashing-beating heart over his heart with the lights all out so it would stand out perfectly, then the smoky effect from the side, the HUGE sky in the background changing colors throughout, him standing all alone up with the BIG SKY background, front lighting with 20 ft shadow effect of Ye, the African type drummers across the stage, ON-AND-ON! AND, the SONG - STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART ... I'll bet that one too. It was so good, I'll bet that song is going straight to #1. Another HIT for Kanye. BIG TIME!!!!

That whole storyboard was probably put together for the camera crew BY KANYE. I'd be willing to bet. It was just breath-taking. I cannot say enough.

I am putting the MTV link: I hope it continues to work for you.. Here's how to get to the MTV page where it's at.

If the link doesn't work *Pink's video keeps pasting in, instead of LOVE LOCKDOWN's performance. On Purpose MTV???? ~GO to the page on your own: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1518072&vid=272698

http://www.mtv.com/player/embed/" width="423" height="318" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" FlashVars="CONFIG_URL=http://www.mtv.com/player/embed/configuration.jhtml%3Fid%3D1518072%26vid%3D266933&allowFullScreen=true" allowFullScreen="true" base="." allowScriptAccess="always" >

http://www.mtv.com/sitewide/images/u/arrow-links.gif) 2px 2px no-repeat;" href="http://www.mtv.com/" onmouseover="this.style.textDecoration='underline'"onmouseout="this.style.textDecoration='none'" target="_blank">MTV
http://www.mtv.com/sitewide/images/u/arrow-links.gif) 2px 2px no-repeat;" href="http://www.mtv.com/music/video/index.jhtml" onmouseover="this.style.textDecoration='underline'"onmouseout="this.style.textDecoration='none'" target="_blank">Music Videos
http://www.mtv.com/sitewide/images/u/arrow-links.gif) 2px 2px no-repeat;" href="http://www.mtv.com/ontv/" onmouseover="this.style.textDecoration='underline'"onmouseout="this.style.textDecoration='none'" target="_blank">MTV Shows
http://www.mtv.com/sitewide/images/u/arrow-links.gif) 2px 2px no-repeat;" href="http://www.mtv.com/news/" onmouseover="this.style.textDecoration='underline'"onmouseout="this.style.textDecoration='none'" target="_blank">Entertainment News

Pictures of the performance are on Kanye's Kanye UniverseCITY BLOG at:
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=205666_-1__0_~0_-1_9_2008_0_0&em3281=&em3161=

Kanye West's LOVE LOCKDOWN at MTV's VMA's

2008-09-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

OMGosh!!! That SONG WAS AMAZING ~ FABULOUS ~ You name, it was it!!! I am 54, my son turned me onto Ye just before he was killed by a drunk driver in 2004. We played Jesus Walks over-and-over while his friends passed the casket (it took over an hour). Of course, Kanye has been a fav of mine ever since. I’m pretty hip anyway, having founded a program for high-risk youth, providing positive activities & educational assistance and housing to teen moms too.
I went to Glow in the Dark TWICE, once in the 6th row! AMAZING….. Since my son was a rapper & producer and told me BEFORE Jesus Walks was released, “This Kanye is going places Mom!” and MADE us all go upstairs to the office to listen to EVERY WORD of Jesus Walks and put it on his cell the DAY B4 THE CRASH!
I was tired as heck and sat down to watch the VMA’s and wasn’t so into the host so I fast-forwarded to the end to see YE. My mouth was hanging open. It was an awe-inspiring performance! Out of the BOX. His SUIT, the Beating Heart, the stunning background, DRUMS, it was ALL just an amazing production and I was SHOCKED and dang near brought to tears.
Kanye has another #1 HIT on his hands if you ask me!!!

I'm sure letting EVERY kid I know see this one!

2008-08-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Puyallup Girl Sentenced In Drug Overdose Death

POSTED: 11:54 am PDT August 26, 2008

EVERETT, Wash. -- A 19-year-old Puyallup woman was sentenced to nearly two years in juvenile detention for providing the drug Ecstasy to a 16-year-old friend who died of an overdose.

The woman, Donalydia Huertas, was 17 years old when she gave the drug to Danielle McCarthy of Puyallup during a New Year's Eve party.

Huertas failed to seek medical attention after McCarthy became ill.

She was eventually taken to Stevens Hospital in Edmonds where she was pronounced dead on Jan. 1, 2007.

Huertas was found guilty last June of controlled substance homicide and second-degree manslaughter. She was sentenced Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court to remain in custody until she is 21.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. (I hope I'm not in trouble for re-publishing this, or whatever it is I've done....:) I'm only trying to help.. OK?
SOURCE: KIROTV.com

Hillary Speech a GRAND SLAM at Convention

2008-08-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

I wasn't feeling well the past couple of days and ended up SLEEPING through the speech, darn it! And, although I haven't been able to hear it in it's entirety YET, based on the pundits, CNN.com, etc., it seems she hit a HOME RUN!

I knew she would...............

TaRon & Grandma's Summer Vacation ~ WHEW!!

2008-08-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Catching up on my zzz....'s since my 9 yr old Grandson left for home/Oklahoma City last Saturday at 5:40 am. He was here for SIX-WEEKS!!! Yeah...........

We did SO........ much stuff. First we had the July 3 & 4, activities, then the planning and packing all the stuff for the 4th annual Ernie BBQ, that was going to be down at the beach this year. We rented a U-Haul so we wouldn't have to bother people about haul this, haul that. One trip there and one trip back and it's all done.

Then we had Lakefair week and going downtown everyday for Demo Burgers. Friday he and I dropped off Uncle Nels and he got a $22 wristband to ride as many rides as he wanted for 3 hours. He had a BLAST. Then Olie and Alex came over and we had a bonfire in the backyard for hotdogs & smores.

Saturday we went downtown at 1:30pm and roped put out our chairs for the Lakefair Parade at 5pm, a great spot right by a speaker, a couple blocks past Union with the sun behind us.

Then on Sunday, the 19th, Olie, Alex, TaRon & I went downtown across from Hannah's with our chairs in a parking lot to watch the fireworks . (I thought the Lacey fireworks on July 3, were MUCH BETTER! )

They went home Monday afternoon and he had a couple days of quite, then Lucinda and Victor came back over to go to the SeaFair TorchLight Parade in Seattle on Sat. July 26. They had a GREAT time, PIRATES!, CLOWNS!, Lots of Floats, Bands, Horses, etc. Lucinda waved at EVERY thing in that parade. Her arm MUST have been tired!

Wed Dark Knight/Batman a surprise with me and Uncle Nels
Thurs - Lucinda & Victor spend night to leave in the morning
Friday - Seattle to see Blue Angles (got stuck in traffic for two plus hours coming home) had goodbye party planned at 5:30 with all TaRon's neighborhood Friends. We got here at 5:30. It all worked out, his friends got here around 6, and it turned out perfect. They all stayed until 10:30. I cut out the NOISY running around the yard at 8:30 and said if they wanted to stay we'd have quiet time and watch a movie. 'Call your parents and see if you can stay till the end. I'll drive or follow you home on your bike when the movie's over.' They watched Mark Walberg in Planet of the Apes. Must be from about 2000.

TaRon and I only had 3 hours to rest before we had to get up. We got home at 11:00pm and had to be up by 2:00 am to get to SeaTac for his 5:40 am departure for home. You have to get to the airport 90 minutes before your flight leaves to check in, and get through security. Plus, we had the one hour (at least) drive to Sea Tac to begin with.

Needless to say, THAT was a week that I KNEW was going to be TOO much for me especially that last day, and getting stuck on the freeway, leaving me NO TIME to prepare for the SURPRISE PARTY (it wasn't as much of a surprise as I had hoped), plus just the stress of stop and go, stop and go for TWO STRAIGHT HOURS -- STRESSFUL!!!

But, he got off and home in one piece with a GREAT summer under his belt.

No alcoholic issues, no drug issues, no drama or fights, just fun, fun, fun. Parades (3), He was in the Beach Crest (our neighborhood) 4th of July Parade, Lakefair/Olympia, Seafair Torchlight/Seattle, Blue Angels, Hydroplanes, swimming pool, slip-and-slide, bike riding, skate-boarding, Memorial Gathering Beach BBQ for Ernie, playing on the beach, going to his neighborhood friends' houses. Just a very stress-free summer!

He also helped me with my garden and can tell you the name of almost every one of my plants.

NOW, I'm resting. For the past week I have worked around the house and garden in the morning, then napped in the afternoons and evenings.

OH MY GOSH, Brett's a Jet....

2008-08-07T04:24:00.000-07:00

Well... That is going to be the STRANGEST thing ever. Green Bay with no Brett. NYJ with! It's been an ugly mess this Farve retire/unretire thing. McCarthy must have really insulted Brett cause he just was NOT going back there, even when it was pretty much a given he'd get his job back. Next thing you know, he's a JET. At least he gets to still wear green :).

100 Arrested in Kent Street Racing STING!!

2008-07-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

I say, "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!"

These kids have NO IDEA the chances they are taking. Mortality doesn't kick in until you're about 25, sometimes 30. Death is something that happens to someone ELSE.

Well, my son was KILLED by a drunk driver who thought he was going to follow in his father's footsteps of being a race car driver. One of HIS friends said, "Oh, David Butterton, his THING is going around corners sideways." Well he went around the MARKED 25 mph HARD LEFT CURVE on Union Mills Rd SIDEWAYS right into a TREE, killing my BEAUTIFUL son INSTANTLY.

Then had the nerve to go around town telling people he didn't think would tell, "Oh I'm going to walk I didn't blow very high." IS HE NUTS? Well he just got out of 3 1/2 years in prison for killing my boy. TWO YEARS EARLY for good time. Not much for murder in my mind. I think when you drive 80 mph ON PURPOSE you should get charged with MURDER! Not just vehicular homicide, that carries a 3 yr sentence. He did get an extra 24 months tagged on for having a previous DUI, *two years prior that he'd done nothing the court told him to do when he killed my boy.*

He was waiting on a probabtion violation hearing that had been postponed by his attorney Rick Cordes, several times. Then when he does show up for his hearing less than a month after THE CRASH, he walks in to court and low and behold my son and I are sitting there. What does he do? He looks over and says, "Hey." HEY?????? to the family of the kid you just killed. I thought my son was going to burst. I walked into the probation office and asked, "Why is that guy here? He killed my son and I want to know why he's here. Is he here about my son's death?" We had NO IDEA he had been on probation at the time of the crash until that day. Until that day I had really thought THE CRASH was just a horrible ACCIDENT. The blood work wasn't back yet, and we had NO IDEA about his history. Almost killed himself AND others in '95 in a freeway crash.

His sister was killed in a DUI crash in the early 90's, that people have said his other sister caused. Drunk driving home from the Evergreen Ballroom acting out and bumped the car from behind. She went home hid the car and went back to the scene to find her sister DEAD. She got away with it. The FAMILY told us this. NOW, this is hearsay, so I'm just repeating what was told to me. BUT it was told to me by about 30 people AND FAMILY MEMBERS! That's the sort of family he comes from.

So, there you have it. My commentary on drunk driving and these kids who think this racing is COOL. DEAD COOL!

I've been GONE but I'll be back SOON......

2008-07-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well, as ya'll have noticed and complained..... I am on summer/Grandson sabbatical.

My Ernie's son, he's 9, is here for 6-weeks. June 14 - Aug 2.

I have not had ONE MINUTE to sit down and post to my BLOG. Swimming, fishing, fairs, parades (local & Seattle's BIG evening Torchlight Parade last Saturday), lots of kids over (sometimes 3 or more for days on end.)

I just LOVE kids, so this is/has been like HEAVEN to me.

Well, of course I love kids, that's why I founded THE MOMS' HOUSE and YUP! (Youth Unlimited Partnership) back in '96. To assist disadvantaged youth, young mothers and everyone else along the way to FINISH SCHOOL, negotiate bureaucracy, and prepare for a PRODUCTIVE adulthood!

WELL............ I should be back to my BLOGGING by next week. My little guy leaves Saturday morning (have to have him at Sea Tac at 3:30 am Sat.)

See ya'll soon.....

US OPEN ~ Holy Moly, You See That Shot At The 18th???

2008-06-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Now, there's going to be an 18-hole playoff round on Monday with Tiger (ranked #1) and Rocco Mediate (ranked #158) . This guy Rocco must be thinking,

'What a THRILL! What if I WIN? I COULD WIN.?.? I COULD?.? Maybe Tiger's knee will give out, he must be REAL tired. But then it's Tiger. I saw that shot, he sure didn't look tired or in pain to me or ANYONE ... Tiger's going to pull out EVERYTHING to win. I've got to calm myself and not let all these THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE bother me and do my best.'

Sometimes Tiger really does outdo himself, and makes you WANT TO ROOT for him. Sometimes I'm like, "Let the other guys have a chance, but when he COMES CHARGING BACK like that and shows off his BIG TIME SKILLS coming from behind THEN I have to give him his props and root for him. BUT when he leads from start to finish, I'm like, "Pooy, I could care less."

So, for GOOD ratings, tell Tiger to lag behind then do his come from behind thing. Us fans, we love it!! And, not just Tiger, any player. Most folks LOVE THE UNDERDOG, I know I do.

That's it for me. Gotta post about my Celts!! Who let LAL win last night so they could win the Championship at home.....

(OK, I know they didn't LET them win)

I LOVE These Guys!

2008-06-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

Tim Russert YOU WERE A GREAT MAN

2008-06-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

I HOPE YOU REST IN PEACE, and GOD BLESS YOUR FAMILY.
I HOPE THAT SOMEHOW GOD GIVE THEM STRENGTH
ALL THE KIND WORD COMING FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBEMUST BRING YOU COMFORT...

Mr. Russert, you were the PERFECT host for MEET THE PRESS. I am a pretty hip, but EVERY involved 54 yr old MOM, GRANDMA, AUNTIE DeeDee, FRIEND to MANY, community activist, mentor, honest, funny, politically involved citizen of a relatively small county (about 130,000) in the Pacific NW.

I have watched MTP for YEARS, but more the last few years and a lot more since your book came out. It really humanized you. Plus, I've been disabled since 2003, so I get to watch a lot more TV than I used to. Never had the free time on my hands that I do now (and it's not something I like, but my health is awful- pain, breathing, no energy YUK!!!) Now, I spend a lot of time on the couch watching CNN, and Sunday mornings are almost always tuned to MTP. If it's not there that I see you, I see you as a Special CNN Correspondent. You have turned into quite the IN-TER-VIEW-ER!!!

WELL, like Kanye says: JESUS WALKS.....

Say hello to my boy.. PLEASE. I miss him SO................................... MUCH!!! I am getting ready for his 4th Annual Memorial Gathering, Wednesday, July 9. It's been four years since THE CRASH. Doesn't seem possible that it's been four years since I've seen my beautiful, beautiful boy. My BEST BEST FRIEND. I miss his phone calls. Every day when he'd wake up, if I wasn't home, he'd call, "Where ya at? When ya gonna be home? What's up for dinner? Hey did you see that such and such got arrested???" :) We sure kept up on the police reports and the sports pages together.

Like Tim, his father, and son and his wife of course, and how close they were, I was to my boy, so I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE GOING THROUGH RIGHT NOW.... A shocking, unexpected passing like this hits you like a ton of bricks. I got through it OK and helped everyone else, then about two or three weeks after I fell apart. It's really taken me about three plus years and I'm finally trying to get back involved in some community activities, as best I can. But, I'm not well, so that has made it more difficult for me, and other hurtful extenuating circumstances.

MY PRAYERS ARE WITH TIM'S FAMILY, FRIENDS, all of his COLLEGUES, AND ADMIRERS AROUND THE WORLD. We have lost a great man this Tim Russert!

Tim I salute you!

What a CUTIE!!

2008-06-13T06:22:00.000-07:00

Rajon Rondo #9 PG
2007-08 STATS
PPG - 10.6
APG - 5.1
SPG - 1.7
Birth Date February 22, 1986
Birth Place Louisville, KY
Height 6-1
Weight 171 lbs.
Age 22
Position PG
College Kentucky
Salary 2008: $1,229,280

Guess I Wished Hard ENOUGH!!!

2008-06-12T22:16:00.001-07:00

WHEW!!!!!

I LOVE IT.............. We are up 3-1, who'd a thunk??? Not me, that's for sure. I HAD to give the Lakers their PROPS. I was sure they were going to give the Celts a run for it. ALTHOUGH.... that last game the Celts played against Cleveland, and they did SO well in Boston.

It's going to be AWFULLY HARD for LA to win now. IN FACT, no other team has won the finals after being down 3 games to 1.

BUT, you can't look at like that, at least not the Celts. They have to go into the game on Sunday like they're down 1-3.

If the Celts let up even ONE IOTA Mr. MVP, Mr. 40 PPG, you get the gist, will get to work AND ... KILL 'EM!!!

You know it, I know it, and EVERYBODY WHO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BASKETBALL KNOWS IT!

With all that said here's some artwork to wet your appitite for eye candy...

Notice I didn't BRAG when the Celts WON those first TWO games?

2008-06-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

Cause I KNOW it ain't over till that ol' FAT LADY SINGS! But ain't this some comeback my Celts have made in the 4th quarter of game 4? Win or lose, they were down 24 and they and scratched and dug and made their way back.

If we could ONLY WIN THIS GAME.... WISH WISH WISH... I don't pray for these sorts of things.

I don't think you should call on GOD for sports, I guess unless you are on the team and then you can pray to play your best.

MTV: Buzzworthy Artist of the Week NER*D

2008-06-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

Now, I have seen N*E*R*D, in person, twice now in the past two months, or is it three. April 16, in Seattle and June 3, in Portland. Both times with Kanye's GLOW IN THE DARK tour as one of the three opening acts. Lupe Fiasco, N*E*R*D and Rihanna. I have always had great respect for Pharrell, with all his production skills with EVERYONE it seems. Madonna, Britney, Sade (most recently), and Kanye (of course). The list goes on-and-on. AND he's a clean and sober guy. Has been! Doesn't smoke, you know, nor does he drink (not 100% on that one, but I'm pretty sure.) My boy met him in Seattle at KUBE before he passed and went on-and-on about it when he got home. "I met one of the Neptunes today." I guess he TRIED to smoke with him, but found out he didn't smoke! I think it was around that time that he himself quit. Maybe P had something to do with that, ya think?

CLEAR & CLEAN MINDS HAVE TIME

FOR ALL KINDS OF CREATIVITY!!!!

So, with all that commentary, here's the article from MTV Buzzworthy:

Check your iPod. If you don’t have any N.E.R.D. tracks (and if that’s true, then you need to get on it, so read on to avoid further pitying), then dollars to donuts, you’ve got something they’ve applied their Midas touch to as the Neptunes — their production operation. Madonna and Britney, Ludacris, Snoop, and Kanye — they’re currently backing him on his much-lauded Glow In the Dark tour. Hell, they’ve even remixed Sade.
Or, put another way: open up the Billboard charts, close your eyes and randomly point to an artist. Now open them. There’s an excellent chance the brain trust behind N.E.R.D. produced, remixed or will remix and/or produce that artist, taking already solid material to a new dimension you didn’t know existed but suddenly need a whole lot more of — the flavor of dream you’re not sure is the good or bad type, but you know it tastes better than being awake.
N.E.R.D. is Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shae Haley. Like a giant squid fused with a set of conjoined octopus twins, the end result of N.E.R.D.’s time spent behind the controls sounds like they’ve got a lot more than just six hands and 30 fingers on deck. And the tracks snap, crackle and pop with the hyperstimulated sizzle of sticking all 30 into 30 different electrical sockets.
“With the Neptunes,” N.E.R.D.’s Chad Hugo told Hamptonroads.com, “we have that ability to collaborate with artists, and they have their vision and we’re there to paint different scenarios. As N.E.R.D., what we put out is directly from our brains to the stage. We’re in our own shoes. We have the ability to be ourselves.” Right. Which is why they’re about to drop their third N.E.R.D. album, Seeing Sounds, (out tomorrow), named for the neurological phenomenon synesthesia, where your senses basically swap shoes for the day. The album’s a celebration of their genre-resistant, chopped-and-screwed, tilted-and-twisted sound, complete with that hypnotic sawtooth bass swagger, dirty-ass drumming, superfunked, sexed-up, spaced-out blips, beeps and bumps.

We always suspected these guys saw things we don’t. Turns out they see everything we don’t. And with N.E.R.D. — forever the sickest and coolest kids you know — piloting their musical spacecraft into complete sensory overload, we get to explore a whole new galaxy of songs, sounds and sights we’d never otherwise hear… or taste.

Watch N.E.R.D.’s new video, “Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing In Line for the Bathroom),” plus a few all-time N.E.R.D. classics, check out their MTV.com live peformances, watch an exclusive Buzzworthy interview with the Va Bee three, watch their exclusive Artist of the Week videos — including performance clips shot at Special Sauce in Bayshore, New York — and road trip clips, featuring Donnell Rawlings (Ashy Larry of Chappelle’s Show.)
SOURCE: MTVBuzzWorthy

This is SO.......... CUTE!!!

2008-06-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

La petite mon ami... (I remember a tiny bit from Jr High French) J'entre don le salle de class. Uu, du, twa, cat, sank, seese, set, veet, nuf, deese. Obviously, I DO NOT remember the French spelling of one through ten, but I sorta remember how it sounds.

,
"Too much candy" II-The bonus scenes ! from Capucha on Vimeo.

Kanye West NYC 5.15 - Can’t Tell Me Nothing

2008-06-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

G-SHOCK EVENT Kanye does Can't Tell Me Nothing

You GOTTA see this! Check out the topless dancers with the space helmets, or whatever you call them. Pretty cool.....

SOURCE: ClickHere: KanyeLive.com

What is NER*D ?? I KNOW ~ Nels & I saw them in Portland w/Kanye on his GLOW IN THE DARK tour (6th row, right in the middle)

2008-06-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

N*E*R*D was formed in 2001 by BAND MEMBERS Pharrell (Williams), Chad Hugo, & Shay Haley. N*E*R*D (pronounced ‘en ee are dee’, often referred to incorrectly as simply ‘nerd’) is the name of a group consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and their friend Shay Haley. It is hard to pigeon-hole the band into one genre; they are loosely a blend of rock, hip-hop, and R&B.

Pharrell explains; “What is a N*E*R*D? N*E*R*D stands for No one Ever Really Dies. The Neptunes are who we are and N*E*R*D is what we do. It’s our life. N*E*R*D is just a basic belief, man. People’s energies are made of their souls. When you die, that energy may disperse but it isn’t destroyed.”

Williams and Hugo originally recorded the band’s debut album, In Search Of…, for European release in 2001 using similar digital production techniques used on Neptunes-produced records. However, they decided that if N*E*R*D was to be different from the Neptunes, it should sound different. This led to them re-recording the album (still titled In Search Of…) with the power pop band Spymob for worldwide release in 2002.In Search Of… achieved moderate success in the U.S.: the album reached number 59 on the Billboard 200; its first single, Lapdance, reached the top 40 on the modern rap charts; and its second single, Rock Star, reached the top 40 of the modern rock charts in the US. “Lapdance” also went top 40 in the Netherlands and its music video received heavy airplay on American MTV2. The album was well-received by critics even though it was not as successful as many of the Neptunes’ previous productions.The album won the second annual Shortlist Music Prize, awarded (by a group of musicians, journalists, and other music professionals) to the best album of the year which had sold less than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination. The band performed at the show, bragging that the week prior to the ceremony, the album had, in fact, achieved gold status by selling over 500,000 units.A 6.1 surround mix of this album was released by DTS Entertainment on a DVD-Audio disk in 2005 under catalog number 7243 8 11521 9 5.Fly or DieThe band recorded its second album Fly or Die during 2003. The band actually learned to play the tunes live, as Chad Hugo told MTV News on December 9, 2003: “We’re the ones playing the instruments live this time. “I just started playing guitar last year so I’m learning as we go. Pharrell’s playing drums. [Last time] we didn’t have time to learn certain instruments so we got Spymob to help us out.”The band also recruited some assistance to record the album with Lenny Kravitz playing on the track

Maybe (which has been featured in ads for XM Satellite Radio) and Joel Madden and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte playing on the track Jump. Several of the tracks discuss issues of particular concern to adolescents, for example Thrasher, which is about bullies; Drill Sergeant, about rebellion; and Backseat Love, which talks about first love.Fly or Die went on sale on March 22, 2004. The album has so far gone top 10 in the USA, while the lead-off single, She Wants To Move, has gone top 5 in the UK, top 20 in Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, and top 40 in Australia and the Netherlands. The music videos for “She Wants To Move” and its followup single, “Maybe”, have received strong support from the digital cable network VH1 Soul in America.‘Break Up’In March 2005, Williams told BBC Radio 1 that he was unhappy with the band’s direction under management at Virgin Records and therefore the group had “expired”. He later issued a statement through the group’s manager retracting his previous comments saying the band had not broken up.Upcoming albumIn an interview with Billboard.com in July 2006, Williams said that they will be heading back to the studio later in the year to begin recording a third N*E*R*D album.

TODAY IS THE DAY

2008-06-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've kept quiet, just in case my son checked in here, but TODAY he and I are driving 110 miles to Portland to see Kanye and the Glow in the Dark concert with Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D., Rhianna and Kanye's unbelievable GLOW IN THE DARK lost-in-space one-man performance.

My son still has NO IDEA where we are going. In fact, even though I've been telling him for weeks we had something to do today, and again on Sunday not to go out and get drunk and have a hangover today (he's 26). When he went to bed at 4 am, (I was sleeping on the couch, and he woke me up,) I said, "You have to get up at 11 to get ready, we're leaving at noon," he said, "WHAT????" "I told you, we've got something to do today," and he trucked off with the dog to go to sleep. I had told him on Sunday we'd be leaving at noon, so he couldn't say ANYTHING! He'd had PLENTY of warning!

I was at the tour's first show in Seattle on April 16, with my step-daughter WAY up on the side of the stage. We really couldn't see the light show very well, so THIS TIME, I got 4-star seats in the first 20 rows. You don't find out where your seats are until you pick them up the day of the show.

SO, I'm hoping N.E.R.D. plays Everybody Nose. I just LOVE that song. I bounce around the house doing my chores to it. My E met Pharrell up at KUBE radio in Seattle back in 2003 I think. Could have been 2002. He was up there with Matt who did commercials for them.

Well, doubt I'll have time for any other posts today. GOT TO GET READY TO GO! It's raining and I don't even know what to wear....

My Celts Pulled it Off Friday Evening....

2008-06-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

I've been SO.... busy (best friend over for dinner, then her daughter, 8 yr old, spent the weekend with Auntie) so haven't had time for posting.

I was, for the first time EVER, the first one to GRAB a plate on Friday to get in the living room to watch the game. Usually, when I'm entertaining I don't eat. BUT, dinner was SO.........good I HAD to get a plate. I barbecued salmon on the grill outside, had chili rellenos, ceasar salad, and fried rice. YUMMEEEE!!!

SO.. it will be the BOSTON Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers I AM SO.... EXCITED!!!

I will be rooting for the Celts. I know that may not be the favorite, but that's my choice, not because I'm sure they'll win, but because I'm a die hard FAN!

My Spurs got the Shaft the other night, but the Celts are DOING IT!!

2008-05-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

ALTHOUGH, the Pistons did their darnedest (is that a word??) with a, not so much run, but what do you say, picking away at their lead until there was NO LEAD at the end of the game. It was Garnett's two free throws with 3.2 to go that REALLY clinched it.... What was that? The Celts were WAY up and totally dominated the third quarter.

The BEST game I've ever been to was a Sunday Sonics v Suns (Sir Charles was playing then) and they (the Suns were up by 17 at the start of the fourth quarter). The Sonics whittled and whittled and whittled and WE SCREAMED AND SCREAMED AND SCREAMED until I, at least, had no voice (for two days following) and we WON THE GAME.

I think that was the year that Denver took us out in the first round, I could NOT watch the playoffs that year (literally made me ill) and I still have visions of Dikembe Mutombo lying on the floor holding the ball in jubilation. Pretty much the greatest upset in NBA playoff history.

Like I say, "IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS!!!"

REGGIE REGGIE REGGIE

That's all I gotta say!

YUP! I think Kanye's Pretty Darn COOL....

2008-05-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

I found this 'crusin''.....

Ever Notice that I Don't Talk About My Home Teams...

2008-05-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

Another one slips away
Silva questions Mariners’ effort after fifth straight loss
RYAN DIVISH; ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
Published: May 25th, 2008 01:00 AM
NEW YORK – On a day when the general manager questioned the lack of leadership and accountability of the players, the Seattle Mariners showed hints of both – well, at least one player did.
It doesn’t change the fact the Mariners lost, 12-6, to the New York Yankees on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, and have dropped all five games they’ve played on this road trip and 12 of their past 17 to fall to 18-32.
But the fact starter Carlos Silva stood up and questioned the team’s recent efforts shows that impatience isn’t limited to fans and front-office personnel.
“If people played hard no matter what, you’re going to see a different game,” said Silva, who took the loss Saturday after giving up seven runs and 11 hits. “If you strike out or miss a play and you keep playing the game, you’re going to see a different game.”
Without naming names, Silva asked for some accountability from players.
“I hope they have that in mind – play hard no matter what,” he said. “If you have a bad at-bat, go out and play hard in the field. Some guys do and some guys don’t.”
There’s a level of acceptance on the team he finds troubling.
“It’s like guys in here have a bad game or whatever, and it’s great that you stay positive and stay with good attitude, but man, feel embarrassed, too,” he said. “I’d feel embarrassed. If you don’t feel embarrassed in this game when you’re struggling bad like this, it’s because you don’t care about it.”
Silva pointed to his last outing, a loss at Detroit in which he was rocked by the Tigers. He was ashamed to look his teammates in the eye the next day.
“The other day when I pitched against Detroit, I felt embarrassed,” he said. “I walked through clubhouse with no smile on my face. How could I smile in front of my teammates after that?”
Silva managed to go six innings Saturday, despite a marathon second inning. No other Mariners starter has lasted as long on this trip.
It’s a minor victory, to be sure, but that’s about the only kind the Mariners can find right now.
“After that inning, I said this isn’t going to get me out of the game. I kept fighting and kept battling and it was good,” Silva said. “And after that I had some success.”
And it allowed the Mariners to crawl back into the game. Seattle tied the score an inning later as Jose Vidro hit a three-run homer to right field and Adrian Beltre hit a sole homer to left.
“We got those runs back and we showed some life with our bats,” manager John McLaren said, clearly searching for positives.
The Yankees (24-25) regained the lead in the bottom of third when Melky Cabrera dropped in an RBI single to make it 5-4. But Silva held the Yankees in check until the sixth.
With two outs and nobody on, second baseman Jose Lopez booted a routine ground ball off the bat of Derek Jeter. Three pitches later, Bobby Abreu knocked Silva’s high change-up over the wall in left for a two-run homer.
Silva flashed his nasty side, stomping around the mound and wearing the look of crazed man. He wasn’t angry at Lopez; he was upset at himself.
“I didn’t pick my team up,” Silva said. “I got mad because I should have got out of that inning no matter what. …
“And I gave up the homer, he comes to me and says, ‘My bad.’ That’s why you always want to pick up your teammates.”
Silva finished off the inning, and his day was done.
“I said to myself today, no matter what happens, I’m going to fight today,” Silva said. “I wish that everybody had that in mind, too.”
McLaren appreciated the effort.
“That’s Silva,” McLaren said. “He battles and gives it everything he’s got.”
Not that it mattered. The game got out of hand as the Yankees tacked on five runs in the seventh, rendering Richie Sexson’s two-run homer in the eighth meaningless.
“It’s a very, very difficult, trying time,” Raul Ibañez said. “This is when you find out what you’re made of. This is a time when you dig deep and find out what the hell you’re made of.”
blogs.thenewstribune.com/mariners
SOURCE: The Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE

Celts Had it From the Opening Bell

2008-05-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

It was 11-0 to start the game. Now, I didn't get TOO excited, but you knew from the start the Celts had one thing on their minds, WINNING.

This monkey on their backs, going winless on the road in the playoff up until now, with 6 losses, didn't seem to have gottne in their heads one bit.

I'm down for a SPURS v CELTICS (although it's looking like I'm going to have to settle for LAL) finals. WE'LL SEE.....

My motto is:

IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS.

Anything can happen on any given Sunday. (You know what I mean!)

Tornado Destroys PIG FARM in Oklahoma

2008-05-25T06:29:00.000-07:00

I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE PIGS ARE??????

I just watched the video on TV....

I'm just sitting here wondering -

Were those PIGS flying all over kingdom come?

OMGosh

China's 7.9 Quake Has Some REALLY BAD Aftershocks AND Devastating Structural Issues

2008-05-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: CNN.com

Baseball Players Ratify Tougher Drug Policy (IT'S ABOUT TIME)

2008-05-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN.com
NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball players approved a toughened drug agreement Friday -- the last possible day for ratification.
The sides announced the agreement April 11 and owners ratified it on May 14. The deal increases the frequency of tests and the authority of the program's independent administrator, among the recommendations made in December by baseball drug investigator George Mitchell.
The new rules -- which mark the third major overhaul since the joint drug program began in 2002 -- went into force immediately upon ratification.
As part of the deal, 15-day suspensions assessed against Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were rescinded and commissioner Bud Selig agreed not to discipline players implicated in December's Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

THANK GOODNESS!!!

Diamondbacks' Doug Davis Pitches 7 innings in First Start After Thyroid Surgery

2008-05-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

With his parents in the stands Davis pitched great and had PLENTY of help from his pals, who scored 11 runs last night, winning 11-1.

For all the cancer patients out there, this is GREAT to see.

Myanmar is FINALLY accepting aid.

2008-05-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

For GOODNESS SAKE... Relief workers have been waiting holed up just six hundred, if not closer, miles away with tons of supplies; medicines, WATER.

It's said that 180,000 have DIED, and 2 million are homeless. CAN YOU EVEN FATHOM????

Having been a relief worker of sorts, for over 10 years, I know how it can be gearing up to go do what you gotta do. OF COURSE I never had ANYTHING like that, but I had friends who worked for FEMA who have been to some of the hurricanes.

Mine was going and putting out forest fires and "I" stayed in base camp taking care of the finances, like making sure all the fire fighters, trucks, low-boys, helicopers, sanicans, etc., got paid for. Time-on, time-off, Sign 'em in, then sign 'em out and code everything everyday dependent opon whether or not the fire was under control and whether or not the person, or equipment was in route there to back home, it WAS NOT EASY!!! that's for sure. AND, if it was DECLARED a disaster, MORE CODING!!!!!! Go back and CHANGE the coding for 1,000 fire-fighters and all the private's their equipment.

Now, let me tell you, what I did out there was totally ruffing it. Sleep in a tent for 7 -21 days, eat at chest high tables standing up outside under tents. Use sani-cans, work in a HOT HOT trailer. Get bit by mosquitos up the ying yang. YES it was plenty fun... Oh and did I mention we'd start at about 4:30 am, and go to bed about 10:30 at night. Somewhere during the day, after the say, third day, you get a break in the afternoon for an hour or so to take a shower. Now that shower could be in a shower trailer. And it may not be hot or even warm.

Now, the onw good thing about going out on fires is the PEOPLE. The friends I made over the 19 years of being on the same team. Plus, it would be like old home week, every time I'd go out. Plus, in order to get through something like that, 16 hours a day working for up to 10 days straight before they'd try to get you an R & R day at a motel near by, is to have FUN with your co-workers. They are great people or they wouldn't get in this fire business. TOO HARD of work.

Oh yes, the other good thing is the FOOD. Hot breakfast cooked by the inmate forestry camp kitchen that's assigned to your team. Sack lunches bought from a company that're delivered to the fire base camp by refrigerator truck, then a REALLY GOOD dinner cooked by the inmate crew. Usually it would be steak, salad, potatoes, vegetables, cake. I mean the it would be EXCELLENT.

OK, I've got to go shopping so I"m done with all that for now. I've got a picture of the Myanmar government officials.

SHAME OF THEM FOR TAKING SO LONG AND

LETTING THEIR POOR CITIZENS SUFFER!!

Pistons best the Celts at home! FIRST loss at home for the Celtics in...

2008-05-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

GAME TWO oh boy....

SOURCE: Sports Illustrated.com

KG and the Celtics Win Game One

2008-05-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Senator Kennedy is Being Released from Hospital

2008-05-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

He has a malignant tumor that is most certainly fatal. He wants to go home and go sailing. He could have up to a couple of years. But, who knows.

This is very SAD for me. All I can do a sign....

Opening Statements - I'm hoping it's the Beginning of the END...

2008-05-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Ain't this a B ~ Spurs end up having to sleep on the plane

2008-05-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

The San Antonio Spurs, fresh off a Game 7 win over the New Orleans Hornets, were planning a quick getaway to Los Angeles to prepare to face the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
Instead, they spent the night in their grounded plane in New Orleans.
The Spurs' departure from New Orleans after eliminating the Hornets 91-82 in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals was delayed several hours after their plane had mechanical problems, the team said Tuesday.
The team could not find hotel rooms in the city, so the players had to sleep on the plane, team spokesman Cliff Puchalski said.
"We slept on the plane -- as much as you can sleep," Puchalski said. "We tried to keep some normal semblance of order."
Puchalski said the team slept on the plane with the mechanical problems before boarding another plane that was brought in from Minneapolis. The team took off about 6:30 a.m. Central time, Puchalski said, and landed in Los Angeles about four hours later.
San Antonio uses the charter company Champion Air, which has announced it is ceasing all operations at the end of May.

I feel certain my son read this article. It really upset him that the Hip Hop Community stuck by R Kelly telling me "He's ruined those girls' lives."

2008-05-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is LONG and I'm sorry. It's a June 9, 2002 story from the Chicago Sun Times.
R. Kelly: Inspirational singer or perverted swinger?
Discovered at a barbecue, he hit it big — but some saw dark cloud over R. Kelly
June 9, 2002

BY JIM DeROGATIS and ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporters
Who is the real R. Kelly?
Is the R&B superstar the inspiring gospel preacher behind uplifting anthems such as "I Believe I Can Fly," "I Wish" and "The World's Greatest"?
Or is the South Sider the self-professed "sexual super freak" of raunchy bedroom shakers like "Bump N' Grind," "I Like the Crotch on You" and "Feelin' On Yo Booty"?
The answer is that 35-year-old Robert Sylvester Kelly is both, as well as a private, tormented individual who has been urged repeatedly over the last decade by friends and associates to seek help for what they call a "compulsion" to pursue underage girls, these sources have told the Sun-Times.
Since launching his career in 1992, Kelly has sold more than 23 million albums. If not a household name, he has nonetheless been hailed as the most important R&B singer, producer and songwriter of his generation — a familiar icon dressed in foreboding black leather and shades or a resplendent white suit with bowler hat and cane.
Last week, fans saw the 6-foot-3 Kelly looking small in a prison-issue orange jumpsuit, holding back tears as he appeared before a judge to pay the $750,000 bail that was set after he was indicted Wednesday on 21 counts of child pornography.
Law enforcement officials said the investigation is ongoing and more charges may follow. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also has launched a probe into the family of the girl in the alleged child-porn tape. Whatever the coming weeks bring, one thing is certain: The sexual super freak and the gospel preacher have experienced a tragic fall from grace.
'I knew I had something'
The third of four children, Kelly was born in the South on Jan. 8, 1967. His family moved to Chicago when he was a toddler. His mother, Joann, was a teacher and a devout Baptist. Little is known about his father, who was missing through most of his youth.
The family lived for a time in the projects on 63rd Street, and later in a small house at 107th and Parnell. Kelly would return to this home some 25 years later, using the front porch as the setting in the video for "I Wish."
A shy, introspective and somewhat effeminate boy, Kelly often turned to his mother for protection when his two brothers teased and picked on him. He told Vibe magazine that he enjoyed eavesdropping on his mother, aunt and sister as they gossiped at the kitchen table as much as he enjoyed playing basketball with his brothers on the playground.
Former associates and family members say that he was abused as a child by an older man in the neighborhood, and this pushed his withdrawal from his male peers.
Kelly has often told the press that he was shot at age 13 when some thugs tried to steal his Huffy bicycle. But his mother told a former associate on her deathbed that her son had in fact invented the story to cover a suicide attempt. He reportedly still carries the bullet in his shoulder.
Music entered Kelly's life through his mother, who introduced him to the albums of her favorite soul singer, Donny Hathaway. "He had a sexual texture in his voice that I always wanted in mine," Kelly told the Sun-Times' Dave Hoekstra in 1994. "He had smooth, soulful tones, but he was spiritual at the same time."
In 1979, Hathaway committed suicide at age 33 by jumping off the 15th floor of the Essex House Hotel in New York. "I cried like a baby when I found out he passed away," Kelly said.
Aware of his sensitive nature, Joann worked hard to win Robert admittance to Hyde Park's prestigious Kenwood Academy. As a freshman there, he met the second woman who would became a major influence in his life, music teacher Lena McLin. The niece of gospel great Thomas A. Dorsey, McLin's other celebrated pupils include Chaka Khan and Da Brat.
McLin taught her students bel canto, a style of operatic singing that stresses vocal precision and evenness of tone. In the second week, she called on Kelly to sing at the front of the class. He did so reluctantly, but she recognized his talent instantly. "If they were ashamed of themselves, I'd make them stand in front of the mirror," she told Vibe. "I asked them, 'Do you think God made a mistake? He could've made you a roach!' "
McLin talked Kelly into wearing dark glasses and singing Stevie Wonder's 1982 hit "Ribbon in the Sky" at a high school talent show.
"That night it was like Spider-Man being bit," Kelly told Hoekstra. "I discovered this power. I knew I had something then."
'The eye of the tiger'
Kelly got poor grades at Kenwood, and he never graduated. Friends and former associates say he can barely read or do basic math, and he is extremely insecure about these shortcomings. But his innate musical talents provided the route out of poverty.
Accompanying himself on a portable Casio keyboard, Kelly performed for spare change on L platforms. One day he collected $400. He was singing at a backyard barbecue in Pill Hill when he was discovered by Wayne Williams, who ran the Midwest regional office of Jive Records.
"I was inside the house and Robert was performing outside," Williams recalled. "I saw this guy who had all the steps down, real choreographed. You could tell he put a lot into it, which is something you usually don't see, especially at a backyard barbecue. It was the eye of the tiger."
Kelly already had a manager, Eric Payton, but it was time for more powerful representation. Payton was bought out by Barry Hankerson, a major player in the black music world who has been married to Gladys Knight, produced shows on Broadway and continues to manage Toni Braxton, among others.
After revelations about the videotape prosecutors call child porn, Kelly said that "former managers" were trying to ruin him with damaging revelations. He refused to name his alleged enemies, saying that his lawyers have advised against it. Both Payton and Hankerson declined to be interviewed for this story.
In 1991, Kelly struck a deal with Jive, the label that would become home to 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. At the time, new jack swing and vocal groups such as Boyz II Men still ruled the R&B world, and it was decided that Kelly should be introduced to the public as part of a band.
His first album, "Born into the '90s," was credited to R. Kelly and Public Announcement — though he was front and center in the photos, produced the disc and took credit for all the lead vocals. By January 1993, a year after its release, the disc had sold a million copies.
"I thank my mother for her guidance and for being there for me through the good times and the bad," Kelly wrote in the liner notes. He also thanked "my music teacher and pastor," McLin, though he misspelled her name.
Kelly split from Public Announcement a short time later, and it was with his first solo album in November 1993 that he broke wide open. Propelled by the down and dirty single "Bump N' Grind," "12 Play" sold more than five million copies.
R. Kelly had arrived, but even before he officially became a millionaire, he was allegedly abusing the privileges of fame.
Chicagoan Tiffany Hawkins said in a lawsuit that she began having sex with Kelly in 1991, when she was 15, sometimes as part of group scenes involving other minors. The terms of the settlement forbid Hawkins from talking, but a friend who says she participated in group sex with Kelly and Hawkins when she was 16 (and who was prepared to testify about this at trial) said the star met the two girls for the first time when he returned to Kenwood to speak to McLin's choir class.
Sources say teachers at Kenwood warned students that Kelly often returned to "cruise" young girls. Asked about the Hawkins lawsuit in December 2000, McLin said, "I don't know what he did outside of school. But in the school, there was no hanky panky. If they were involved in that, the sad thing is, it takes two to tango."
Kelly's relationship with Hawkins ended in 1994, when she turned 18, according to her suit. She charged that Kelly had promised to help her career as a singer, and he never did. The split left her so devastated that she attempted suicide, she said.
Hawkins filed her suit on Christmas Eve 1996. Her attorney, Susan Loggans, had warned Kelly the suit was coming. In a preemptive strike, Kelly sued Hawkins first, charging that she was trying to blackmail him on paternity charges.
No evidence was ever presented for that claim. Hawkins' court papers never mentioned a paternity charge, and Kelly's claim was eventually dismissed. But Kelly's publicist leaked his side of the story to gossip columnists at the Sun-Times and the New York Daily News.
Hawkins was effectively discredited as a gold digger, and the damning allegations in her lawsuit were never reported anywhere in the press until a December 2000 story in the Sun-Times.
In 1996, a Kelly spokesman told the Daily News that the star would fight Hawkins' suit. "Many celebrities are constantly being harassed and sued, and more often than not, they decide to settle," he said. "Kelly has decided, 'No way.' "
But sources say Kelly reconsidered that hard-line position and paid Hawkins a quarter of a million dollars Jan. 23, 1998, just four days after she gave a 71/2-hour deposition about the singer's sexual proclivities. A party privy to that deposition (which has been sealed by the court) said the charges were "hair-raising."
"It all started to go wrong for Robert with that Hawkins case," said a friend of Hawkins' who worked as one of Kelly's dancers. "The brother's got problems, and he should have learned from the Hawkins case and got help for them."
'Nothing but a number'
Kelly met Aaliyah D. Haughton, a talented Detroit native and Hankerson's niece, when she was 12. In June 1994, when she was 15, she released her multiplatinum debut, which had been produced by Kelly.
In the title track, which Kelly wrote, Aaliyah sang, "Age ain't nothing but a number/Throwing down ain't nothing but a thang/This something I have for you, it'll never change."
Sources say that Kelly and Aaliyah had been having an intimate relationship for several months at that point, and that after his mother and McLin, Aaliyah was the only woman he has ever truly loved. "If he never loved anybody, he loved her," a former associate said. "If nothing else was genuine about him, his love for that young lady was, and I don't think her age had anything to do with it."
In a December 1994 interview, Aaliyah told the Sun-Times she never had a romantic relationship with Kelly. Kelly has always avoided discussing Aaliyah, but in December 2000, his spokeswoman, Regina Daniels, said, "Rob did date Aaliyah, yes he did, and he did have a relationship with Aaliyah, yes he did, and past that, unfortunately, it didn't work out."
On Aug. 31, 1994, Kelly surprised Aaliyah by taking her to a room at the Sheraton Gateway Suites in Rosemont. Waiting there were a minister, the Rev. Nathan J. Edmond, and a falsified marriage certificate listing Aaliyah's age as 18. It had been secured with fake I.D. by one of Kelly's assistants, sources said. Kelly was 27.
Edmond has refused to speak about that day, but a certificate on file with the Cook County clerk says that he pronounced the star and his young protege man and wife. Family members say Aaliyah thought it was all an elaborate "game," and she just went along with it. Within hours, she realized what had happened, and she went to her family and sought their help.
The family separated the couple, and Aaliyah never saw Kelly again. The marriage was annulled a few weeks later in Detroit, where records have been sealed.
Revelations of the marriage caused a public scandal in 1994, and several publications printed the marriage certificate. But while Illinois law makes it illegal for adult men to have sex with girls under 17, police and prosecutors never investigated.
Aaliyah went on to work with other producers, including Timbaland, and to launch a successful career as an actress. She died in a plane crash Aug. 25, 2001.
"Aaliyah's gone. and I have a lot of respect for Aaliyah and her parents," Kelly said in an interview with BET last month. "I really don't think it's fair to say anything doing with Aaliyah, because I really don't think Aaliyah deserves that."
'Like a real freak'
The Aaliyah scandal did not hurt Kelly's career. In September 1995, the single he produced for Michael Jackson, "You Are Not Alone," became the first No. 1 hit for the King of Pop since his own well-publicized sex scandal. (Jackson paid a reported $15 million to the family of a 13-year-old boy with whom he'd allegedly had sexual relations.)
Kelly also produced hits for Celine Dion (the No. 1 smash "I'm Your Angel") and Toni Braxton ("I Don't Want To"). In November 1996, he released his third album, titled simply "R. Kelly." The next month, he scored his biggest hit.
"I Believe I Can Fly" was included on the soundtrack of "Space Jam," the children's film co-starring a live-action Michael Jordan and an animated Bugs Bunny. Kelly has claimed to be a personal friend of Jordan's, but a former associate says they were never close. "Michael would not ever show up to where he told Robert he would be," the associate said. "I don't think they ever got in each other's presence but once or twice."
An uplifting anthem driven by a gospel choir, "I Believe I Can Fly" offers the inspiring message that with faith in oneself, any obstacle can be overcome. "See I was on the verge of breaking down/Sometimes silence can seem so loud/There are miracles in life I must achieve/But first I know it starts inside of me," Kelly sang.
The tune hit No. 2 on the pop charts, won three Grammys, and became a staple at weddings, high school proms and church services.
"Sex is not the most important thing in my life — I get as much satisfaction from preaching to kids as anything else," Kelly told the Voice. But he continued to sing about earthier concerns as well.
"Get in the club 'bout twelvish/Me and my homies hoochie huntin'," he sang on "Hump Bounce." Onstage, he would feign intercourse with his dancers during "Like A Real Freak." Then, moments later, he'd introduce "I Wish," dropping to his knees to offer a tearful prayer to his mother, who died from cancer in 1993.
Many fans found these abrupt shifts between the transcendent and the venal, the inspirational and the X-rated jarring. And friends and associates say Kelly's devotion to his family was largely an act.
When Joann Kelly was dying, she had to check into the hospital under an assumed name because she could not pay her medical bills, two Kelly associates said. They added that long after her son had become a millionaire, his mother drove an old beater that she had to hot-wire to start.
Kelly has been estranged from his brothers for years. In a recent interview with Chicago radio personality Doug Banks, one brother, Keri Kelly, said he had never been to the house in Lake View where Robert lived for six years. (Kelly sold the George Street home, the alleged scene of the child-porn tape, for $2.25 million in April, several weeks after the existence of the tape was reported by the Sun-Times.)
While the singer portrayed his sister as lovingly braiding his hair in the video for "I Wish," associates say she worked as his housekeeper for several years, earning $400 a week.
Onstage, some of Kelly's handlers tried to remake him "Pygmalion"-style into a smooth and suave soul man like his hero, Hathaway. But the image he liked to project was that of the "R&B Thug" (to borrow the title of another of his songs), bringing the streetwise persona of the gangsta rapper into the more polite world of R&B.
Kelly was never as tough as he pretended to be. In July 1996, he and members of his entourage were involved in a fight with three men on a basketball court in Lafayette, La. The star spent several hours in jail, and associates say the experience left him a mental and physical wreck.
He vowed that he would never again do time behind bars.
The singer's personal habits are crude. He often goes days without showering, friends and associates say. He told Vibe magazine he often wears the same pair of pants three days in a row. But his magnetism and fame are such that countless women are drawn to him.
"He is a master manipulator," said one woman who had a relationship with Kelly when she was 17. (She asked that she not be identified.) This woman and three former Kelly associates said the star was adept at making young women think they were the center of his universe, and he often alienated them from friends and family members.
"He will sit at the piano and write a song for you right there on the spot, and women will just melt for him," said a former personal assistant.
In 1996, Kelly married the former Andrea Lee, a 22-year-old dancer from his touring troupe. The couple now have two daughters and a son, Robert Jr., who was born just a few weeks ago.
People in the singer's camp reportedly call Lee "Puppydog," and Kelly associates say she is required to knock before entering a room in their house if he is at home hanging out with friends.
Kelly's sexual pursuits did not come to a halt after the marriage.
One of Kelly's former personal assistants, who spoke to the Sun-Times on the condition that he not be named, said that he split with the star in the mid-'90s because of the Aaliyah incident, and because Kelly continued to seek out underage girls, some as young as 14.
Kelly's approach (which several sources said was typical) was described by a Los Angeles woman he seduced in 1999, when she was 17.
She had visited the set of the video shoot for "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time," and one of Kelly's assistants pressed something into the palm of her hand.
The singer had written his cell phone number on a tiny balled-up piece of paper. She called, and a relationship began.
Despite the scandal involving his niece, Hankerson remained as Kelly's manager for several years, but they split in 1998. Sources said Hankerson could not abide by his client's behavior, and that he agreed to waive money owed him if Kelly sought psychiatric help. The star refused.
Two other former associates say they also urged Kelly to get help for what they called "an ongoing compulsion." But when they approached the star with these concerns, he refused to listen to them. Both eventually split from Kelly.
Kelly's label, Jive Records, was named as a party in the Hawkins lawsuit in 1996, and Kelly associates reportedly warned label head Clive Calder about Kelly's behavior in 1998. Calder was traveling in Europe last week and could not be reached. Jive issued this statement: "R. Kelly has been with Jive Records for 11 years and we fully support him and his music."
Damning video evidence
Kelly's fifth album, "TP-2.com," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart in November 2000. That same month, the star was honored by the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, receiving one of its first Legacy Awards for philanthropic efforts on behalf of the community. Kelly has given generously to numerous charities, though the Rev. James Meeks, his spiritual adviser, says the star has never donated to Meeks' Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
A few weeks later, in December 2000, the Sun-Times first exposed Kelly's pattern of pursuing underage girls. At the time, the Special Investigations Unit of the Chicago Police had been probing the singer's behavior for two years.
Kelly apparently continued to cavort with minors even after the Sun-Times story, court papers allege. In the second of three civil suits filed against the star by Loggans, Tracy Sampson, a 17-year-old intern at Epic Records and a student at Columbia College, said Kelly promised to help her career as a rapper and coerced her into a sexual relationship that began in April 2000 and continued through March 2001.
As he had with Hawkins, Kelly settled this suit, paying Sampson an undisclosed sum of money. The star also settled with a third girl represented by Loggans. In that case, the payment was made even before the lawsuit was filed. The settlement agreement prohibits Loggans from revealing any details about the case, but the plaintiff was an underage girl from Minneapolis, sources said.
In early 2001, several weeks after the first expose, the Sun-Times received an anonymous videotape that appears to depict Kelly and a young light-skinned black girl having sexual relations in a wood-paneled sauna room. Sources said Kelly had two identical rooms in his houses on George Street and in Olympia Fields. The tape was given to police, who have yet to determine the girl's age and identity.
A second, far more damning tape surfaced a year later, in February 2002.
This second videotape, which was also sent anonymously to the Sun-Times, was 26 minutes and 39 seconds long. It depicts a man, apparently Kelly, engaging in numerous sexual activities including urination with a 14-year-old girl, who was identified for the Sun-Times by her aunt.
Hours after receiving the tape, the Sun-Times turned it over to police, who promptly began investigating.
Last Wednesday, based on this second video, Kelly was indicted on 21 counts of videotaping and producing child pornography and enticing a minor to participate in child pornography.
In an interview with BET on May 8, Kelly said he is not the man in the tape. Last week, his criminal defense attorney, Ed Genson, declined to say whether the man is Kelly. Instead, he said he would prove in court that the girl in the tape was over 18.
Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said the tape was authenticated by the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, Va., and experts there said it is not a forgery. The quality of the original tape is crystal-clear, and the man who appears to be Kelly pauses several times in the action to adjust the camera angle.
The girl and her parents told the grand jury that she is not the girl in the tape. But the jurors heard from about 50 witnesses, including the girl's aunt, who identified Kelly, the girl, or both.
Months before the grand jury was impaneled, the girl's aunt said she thinks Kelly paid a cash settlement to the girl and her parents. Genson said no such settlement has been made. DCFS said Friday that it has reopened a probe of the girl and her family.
Kelly's world crumbles
Kelly will appear in court June 26 to face child pornography charges. Meanwhile, police and prosecutors say the investigation continues. Charges of sex with a minor are also being considered, and new evidence is being examined. Kelly also faces two ongoing civil suits.
For weeks before the indictment, several variations of a bootleg R. Kelly sex tape were available on street corners across America, as well as on the Internet — $10 for VHS, $15 for DVD.
Most of these tapes compile three scenes: the first tape sent to the Sun-Times with the girl who remains unidentified; a second scene with Martina Woods, an adult dancer who tours with Kelly friend and collaborator Ronald Isley, and the third, 26-minute videotape described in the indictment.
Police Supt. Terry Hillard warned Wednesday that anyone owning or selling one of these tapes has child pornography, and is subject to prosecution.
Two weeks ago, Woods sued Kelly for $50,000, saying she was unaware that she was being videotaped when she had sex with the singer at Chicago Trax Recording Studio.
A fourth woman represented by Loggans, Patrice Jones, also filed suit in late April alleging that she had sex with Kelly between 20 and 30 times before her 17th birthday. Kelly has vowed not to settle this case. "The ATM is closed," his longtime civil attorney Gerald Margolis said.
Loggans is representing a fifth woman with allegations against Kelly, and yet another lawsuit is pending.
Even before the indictment was announced last week, Kelly's peers in the music world had begun to distance themselves, with artists such as Dr. Dre, Nas, Sisqo and P. Diddy speaking against him. Kelly's last album, a joint effort with chart-topping rapper Jay-Z, was a commercial flop because Jay-Z refused to tour, make a video, or do any interviews with Kelly after revelations about the videotape.
After the child pornography charges surfaced, several radio stations across the country pulled Kelly's music from their play lists.
Kelly said Friday he eagerly awaits his day in court. But none of the associates who broke from his camp in the last few years are optimistic about the outcome.
Said one of Kelly's former personal assistants: "I really don't want to see him go to jail; I really don't. He should have confessed all of this when he had the chance and gotten some help."
The former dancer said: "I don't want him to go to jail, but there has got to come a point when you take responsibility for your actions, and that time has come."In the song "I Wish" from his last solo album, the gospel preacher seemed to predict the day that has now arrived for the sexual super freak. "And now you hear my songs the radio is playin'," Kelly sang. "Oh I can't believe my ears and what everybody's sayin'/Boy, I tell you folks don't know the half.

I AM SO................. Upset and SAD

2008-05-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Senator Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with brain cancer.

OMGosh, I could go on-and-on about the Kennedy's. I personally watched little John-John salute at his father's casket as it passed the US Capitol building on November 26, 1963. I was in the 3rd grade.

I sat and watched Teddy's speak at the 1980 Democratic Convention, one of the three best speeches I have EVER heard. It was a concession speech. Chappaquidic had done him in. I remember that too. Jimmy Carter went on to become the nominee.

I am VERY MUCH a Kennedy follower and fan. They were the ones who made my life.

"Ask NOT what your Country can do for you.

Ask what you can do for your Country."

It turned me into a GIVER. Are you a Giver or a Taker?

How many of us "baby boomers" will remember that?
What is a baby boomer anyway?

Livesteez.com's article about Diddy's Video Post re: GLOW

2008-05-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: LIVESTEEZ.com

Much to the rap star's dismay, the music critic at Entertainment Weekly was not blown away by Kanye West's "Glow in the Dark" tour show, calling it "the ultimate ego-trip." A couple weeks after the less-than-flattering review and the subsequent trademark Kanye hissy, another rapper/producer has come forward and praised West's work and the tour specifically: Sean "Diddy" Combs credits the show for reigniting his love for hip-hop.In a recent video blog, Combs recounts the 1986 Run DMC concert that inspired him to pursue a life in entertainment. The mogul goes on to admit to being unimpressed by the bulk of hip-hop's current output, which has caused his love for the genre to dwindle. Diddy hen calls Kanye out as an exception, praising his fellow artis in what he calls a "keep-it-real moment." "I want to say thank you, Kanye, for giving me that," he says. "I'm back in love with Hip-Hop - thanks to my man," Diddy says, closing the video blog.West is currently headlining the U.S. leg of his tour with support from N.E.R.D., Lupe Fiasco and Rihanna. The tour has attracted a huge celebrity following with stars including Ryan Phillippe and Jamie Foxx, newlyweds Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz and Gwen Stefani with husband Gavin Rossdale, who were all spotted in attendance at the Los Angeles concert last month.Kanye was named MTV's Hottest MC in the Game recently. The top 10 list is as follows:1. Kanye West2. Jay-Z3. Lil Wayne4. Rick Ross5. Snoop Dogg6. 50 Cent7. Lupe Fiasco8. Young Jeezy9. Andre 300010. T.I

The quote I just heard about Red Sox Jon Lester - No Hit Hurdler

2008-05-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

He's not just amazing, he's INSPIRING....

The Fires in Florida are REALLY BAD

2008-05-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm going to check it all out, but I heard that they're even haveing to move prisoners somewhere around Miami. The news video I saw was really scary, looked like wind blown grass fires in a night-shot. SCARY!

Having been in the fire business for 10-years I know how dangerous fighting these fires can be, and how much manpower, in all areas it takes to put these things out.

When a fire would be declared a "PROJECT" we'd go. We would basically set up a tiny TOWN in a matter of hours. An inmate forestry camp would be called out as our "KITCHEN" and they would prepare all the meals, and many teams of inmates would also come out to FIGHT the fire. Each team would be comprised of about 10 inmates and their DOC supervisor and a DNR (Washington State Dept of Natural Resources [my agency]) would direct their work on the fire line. They'd have there own little red truck, that DNR would keep running with our former COMPOUND (an old Korean War compound where truck were maintained, fabricated, painted, fire supplies kept and distributed, stuff like that) I went to MANY a fire from there. It's now were I go to Costco almost every day.

My division and boss was the overseer of that Compound, so not only did I utilize the compound I was also responsible for making sure the place ran smooth and that all the EMPLOYEES WERE HAPPY for about eight years. My boss was a retired 30 yr Colonel from the Army Corps of Engineers. A GREAT GREAT guy. A VERY DETAILED boss, and a GREAT person to teach me everything I needed to know to start and run a nonprofit. I was his right-hand "man/woman", Oh gosh, don't get me going on THAT ISSUE...

Hey, I sleep in a 10-man tent. Give me a BREAK!! I hate it when people get all dumb about the man/woman/person thing. You're not a fishermen, you're a fisher. Sounds like a pimple. WHO CARES! Do you girls get mad if a person walks in the room and says, "Hey you guys, what's up?"

Red Sox Jon Lester (a lefty) Throws a NO-HITTER

2008-05-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

Just Do It!

AND, Jon is from Tacoma. Graduated from Bellermine Prep!

San Antonio is up by 6 with 3:10 to go ~ 81-75

2008-05-19T19:51:00.001-07:00

New Orleans just fouled Tony (Eva Longoria) Parker.

Chris Paul is looking like, who me.

OMGosh....

I'm rooting for SA... I like Timmmmmmmyyyyy. I have followed his career, since the Admiral had him shooting hoops in his driveway back in the day. The "day" being when Tim Duncan was a rookie.

OHHH, vous petite Tony.... He just hit a 2 to put the Spurs up by 5 with about 30 seconds to go.

It's basically over, I'd say. 89-82 with 25 seconds. But, it's sad to lose in 7 at home, "all on the shoulders of Chris Paul," they just said on TV. His BIG BEAUTIFUL BROWN eyes looked like they were going to well. :(

Congratulations to San Antonio... Onward to LAL..

2008-05-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

So.... it's going to be the Detroit and Boston!

I loved KG at the Press Conference when they asked him what the game plan was. He's just sitting there with his head down as question after question goes to Paul DUH...Paul Pierce only scored 41 points out there today. GAME SEVEN, DO-OR-DIE, WIN or clean your locker and GO HOME....

KG said, "You saw the game plan, get the ball to Paul and get outta the way. No really, get the ball to Paul and get outta the way."

That's One Happy CELTIC!

Boston's up 67 to 59... LeBron and Cleveland are not going home without a FIGHT I'm sure

2008-05-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well, this is IT. Game SEVEN...

Fourth quarter coming up here in 1:55. KG's at the line and it's now 69-61 Celtics. EI YI YI...

What a series. I did all my yard work this morning so I'd be ready by 1:00 to watch this game.

Now, it's a 4 point game.

I'm OUTTA HERE. Too much stress, and I need food! I'll post the cool pics later.

OOOPPPSSS!!! to WHAT's UP at MY HOUSE.....

2008-05-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

That was Sue Simmons, NBC News Anchor, just so you know. Insiders say she has a "drinkie drinkie" issue between on-air shows, going down to a local eatery. An employee said, "She comes in between shows. She doesn't get sloshed sloshed, just HAPPY." The one article I read said her drinking is noticed by the other staff.

I'll tell you what. If I worked with someone who talked to ANYONE like that, and I found out they were drinking during the day/on the J.O.B., THEY'D BE GONE TO TREATMENT RIGHT NOW!

Now, besides the substance abuse issue, I AWAYS say.... "You have to know when and where to cuss." I told my boys when they were little, "If you guys cuss outside with your little friends that's one thing, BUT if I EVER hear a bad word out of your mouth, or if you EVER say a bad word in front of one of my friends you little rear ends will be mine!"

I now think that was a really good way to do it. It gave them freedom to make choices. To figure out for themselves when it was appropriate. And, they really followed it, surprisingly, because I had quite the potty mouth. MAN be around me during a football or basketball game and HOLY COW, "GET THAT M****F***"

Now, I think Ernie got two bad spankings in his whole life. Once for stealing a $5 bill out of my purse to go to summer camp in the 1st grade, (I pulled the car over on E Bay Drive and gave him a whoppin' right then and there,) and once for standing in a mud puddle up to his shins in his brand new $30 tennis shoes in about the 2nd grade. (I was barely making ends meet back then and that was probably the first pair of relatively expensive shoes I'd bought him and the next day I drive home from work and there he is standing in a mud puddle, I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I LOST IT, SPANKED HIS BUTT!)

Of course I did an occasional paddle on the butt when they were little, but I WAS NOT a spanker. The way I parent, I just don't find it necessary. I got into a battle with one of my grandson's mother's last year about her beating my 5 year old grandson with a belt. I told her I would call the police on her if she did it again.

I HAVE THE TIME OUT CHAIR! (AND, I rarely have to use it!!!) One minute per year. If they're 3-yrs old, then three minutes on the chair. It's real cute. A little chair that sits in my extra bathroom, it has a little boy painted on it with a band aid on his face. He just looks like a little bada**.

I take care of A LOT of kids. Kids from my Moms' House & YUP! programs. My friends' kids come hang out with me. I babysit. My whole house is a house for kids. Kids of ALL AGES, from infant to 20's. PlayStation to playpens and highchairs. A pop-up book collection, huge choices of arts & crafts, coloring books to computers with accounts paid to download unlimited music, MP3 players and CD, DVD burners to take home 10-20 new CDs with all the NEWEST "joints".

Moral of THIS story..... Don't USE alcohol or drugs at WORK!!!!!!! You want to be in your BEST FRAME OF MIND when you are at work, ALWAYS. People depend on you!!!!

2) Try not to cuss at all, but if you do you HAVE to KNOW when it's appropriate and WHEN IT'S NOT! (And, if you are sober it's easier to differentiate!)

BIG Brown Wins Preakness ~ Onward to the Belmont

2008-05-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

Affirmed was the last Triple Crown winner in 1979. I remember Seattle Slew, I think I may have even gone to see Seattle Slew at Longacres. Longacres is Long Gone. Now, it's Emerald Downs. Down the road a bit. (Southbound SR 167 from Renton heading toward Puyallup)

Emerald Downs is near Auburn. It's the Seattle area's new (like 10 years new [geez time flyz]) horse racing facility. It really is BEAUTIFUL, but it's probably been 20 years since I've been to the track.

I used to go to Longacres with my first husband, back in my "TEENS", yes I was married in my "TEENS", crazy to think about now. My mom's boyfriend hung out at the "TRACK" he was "ITALIAN" and "rich" I guess. So, we'd all go to the track quite often. I'd also go to the TOP FUEL/DRAG Races. My mom's secretary's husband was on a top fuel crew and her sister was the girlfriend of JERRY RUTH. Crazy thinkin' 'bout all that...

Jerry Ruth was a top fuel driver, and one of the best. It was SO COOL getting to be in the pits with all the drivers and COOL people, geez I was barely 13, 14 years old. Robin & Lenore (the two sisters) both had kids and they had their kids in my swimming classes for years. (I started teaching swimming when I was just starting seventh grade, and continued for a total of eight years.) BLAH BLAH BLAH.....

Congratulations BIG BROWN!!!

There I go reminiscing..

I'll be watching in 3 weeks at The Belmont. Maybe we'll have a NEW Triple Crown WINNER!!

I have been SO.... busy today BUT I am SO... EXCITED for KANYE

2008-05-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

I really think this is a BIG deal for him. Jay-Z has always had the, you know, clout. But, here Kanye finally gets his dues.

GOOD FOR HIM. I went to the Glow in the Dark concert. I hadn't been up on all he was putting into it, and IF I HAD, I of MADE SURE I HAD TICKETS. As it was, I only got mine a week before the concert.

Getting my tickets was a nightmare really. I had joined his Fan Club for the $25 way back in March, I think, so I could get my code to get preferential treatment in the ticketing but, because I'd joined last year when I got my Graduation CD, but didn't pay the fee I had a membership name. But when I paid, I couldn't log in and couldn't get my CODE to get my tickets the day they came out. IF I COULDN'T GET GOOD SEATS I WASN'T GOING TO GO. I'm short, 5'2" so I cannot be on the floor even back 10 rows is too far when people stand up I CAN'T SEE!!!

I like to be about one section back from the stage and about 15-20 rows up. (I had a friend who worked at the Tacoma Dome and got me ALL my tickets for YEARS, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, about 4 times, The Who, George Micheal (3rd row that time), we even had 4th row for Michael Jackson but he cancelled that must have been about 1988 or something. Seems like it was for my Ernie's 10th or 11th birthday present. I think I'll look it up on the internet and see when it was he cancelled out on Seattle. We got our money back, but boy was Ernie looking forward to seeing Michael back then....

GOSH, I got off track.
Then I got an e-mail I week before the concert that there were more tickets on sale. I got 'em, and called Carnella and told her I had something for her to do the following Wednesday. I TOLD HER TO DRESS UP, HIP LIKE. GET HER NAILS AND HAIR DONE. I TOLD HER. BUT DID SHE DO IT??? NO!!!!!!!!!!! She was SO..................... excited!! I'm going to put the pictures on here again. Her doing the, "I'm going to Kanye," dance, and Joan reading the e-mail from Ticketmaster. AND the Glow in the Dark was unbelieveable and I didn't even get the full effect. AN UNBELIEVABLE ONE MAN SHOW!
Kanye, CONGRATULATIONS.......................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kanye IS (according to MTV and KANYE. and even ME I've been to GLOW in the DARK) the HOTTEST MC IN THE GAME

2008-05-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

'Hottest MCs In The Game':

At Last, We

Agree With Kanye West

--He Is #1
Graduation's artistry, a dazzling live

show and slew of fresh guest spots

put 'Ye where he always said he

belonged.
By Shaheem Reid
In summer 2007, the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust sat down and had another controversial roundtable debate. Unlike previous discussions, the trustees devised a list of not the greatest ever, but the Hottest MCs in the Game right then. The rankings were based on lyrics, flow, impact on the game, success and swagger. The roundtable recently reconvened and came up with a brand-new list of Hottest MCs. Our experts used the same criteria, but only judged on the past year of hip-hop.
Check out the full "Hottest MCs in the Game" list, and the full show!
Flame Thrower: Kanye West

Why He's Hot
With all due respect to the Diddys and Busta Rhymeses of the world, Kanye West has surpassed everyone as the best live performer in hip-hop. Grooming himself on stadium tours with Jay-Z, U2 and the Rolling Stones over the years has done him good. Even if West didn't release another rap this year, he'd still be the hottest for his Glow in the Dark Tour alone. Without exaggeration, it's the greatest one-man show put on by a hip-hop artist, possibly ever. Pure expression, no irony, just an irrefutable avowal that he is the game's most imaginative visionary right now. 'Ye's sold-out set is an orgy of lights, classic songs and conceptual genius. You've never seen anything like it.
rest of article at MTV.com

Mom indicted in deadly MySpace hoax

2008-05-16T19:07:00.001-07:00

SOURCE: CNN.com YEAH, I SAY!!!
Story Highlights
Indictment says woman posed as a teen boy, feigned romantic interest in girl
Prosecutors: She used false data to create account to "harass, abuse or harm" girl
Authorities have said she set up account to find out what girl said about her daughter
Megan Meier, 13, hanged herself after hoax

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A Missouri mom was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in the death of a teen who killed herself over a failed Internet romance that turned out to be a hoax.

Megan Meier, 13, hanged herself in her bedroom after being targeted in a MySpace hoax.

A federal indictment accuses Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Missouri, of using the social networking Web site MySpace.com to pose as a 16-year-old boy and feign romantic interest in the girl.
The girl, Megan Meier, committed suicide after her online love interest spurned her, according to prosecutors, telling her the world would be a better place without her.

Drew faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers to obtain information to inflict emotional distress.

The indictment, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, accuses Drew and others of registering on MySpace as "Josh Evans" and using the account to lure Meier into an an online romance.

Authorities have previously said that Drew set up the account to find out what Meier, who lived in her neighborhood, was saying about her daughter.

Prosecutors allege that Drew and the others violated MySpace's terms of service by using false information to create the account so they could "harass, abuse or harm" Meier, according to the indictment.

go to cnn.com for rest of article...

MY POINT IN POSTING THIS, is to show EVERYONE,

how DEADLY this kind of behavior can be.

I am SO HAPPY our government,

yes it was a FEDERAL INDICTMENT

that FINALLY charged

this NOSEY, MEAN,

NOW: GOING TO PRISON

mother for what she did.

LESSON!!!! LESSON!!!! LESSON!!!!

Are you into Baseball? Check out Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb

2008-05-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN.com
PHOENIX (AP) -- Mr. Automatic was at it again. Backed by Stephen Drew's career-high four hits, Brandon Webb became the major leagues' first nine-game winner when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Thursday night.
Webb (9-0) has won his first nine starts, the most since San Diego's Andy Hawkins won his first 10 in 1985, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Webb has won 11 straight starts dating to last September.
Ace Brandon Webb has opened the season with nine straight wins, the best start to open a season since 1985. He's also 12-0 in his last 13 starts dating back to last season.

"It's pretty amazing," Webb said. "It's getting to be amazing. Things are just happening."

Pretty COOL, I say! I love it when the kids (anyone younger than me is a kid, OK?) come outta nowhere and all the sudden we have a new SUPERSTAR...

I sorta watch the Diamondbacks, anyway. They took OUR "UNIT". I have pictures of Randy at "THE DOME", me Ernie & Nels when he got his 3,000 strike out. The screen was going crazy. It's COOL he's still going too. Just back from elbow surgery, I think.

How 'bout them SPURS

2008-05-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Ernie was SO..... Mad at Howard Schultz (former Sonics owner) for Trading Gary Peyton for Ray Allen, but LOOK at RAY ALLEN NOW... Good for Him

2008-05-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

First the Celtics somehow get us (the Sonics) to get up off of RAY ALLEN, then Kevin McKale the GP, I think that's his J.O.B. they manage the deal of the CENTURY and bring in KG (Kevin Garrnett) and now Paul Pierce has some back up for his I can do ANYTHING attitutde and worksmanship on the floor. Oh yeah, can't forget PJ Brown, I still remember him from the '93 Finals with the Bulls he was SO young then, anyway there I go....

Today it looks like it's going to be one of Ray's great days.

And, that rebound Ray just made giving the Celtics a new shot clock, and now with 15.6 seconds to go Paul Pierce is at the line AND just put the Celts up 93 - 87, MAY WELL HAVE BEEN THE PLAY/REBOUND OF THE GAME.

The game is now over 89-96. The Celtics go up 3 games to 2.

Justine Henin Retires Effective IMMEDIATELY ~ ON TOP!

2008-05-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, she's the 3-YEAR IN A ROW reining champ at the French Open which is getting ready to start. She's in a 6-month slump, now's the time to get out, if you're thinkin' about it, that's for sure.

Walk in to the FRENCH OPEN a QUEEN, having just retired at NUMBER ONE!

Way to GO GIRL JUSTINE!!!!

SOURCE: ESPN.com
World No. 1 Justine Henin is retiring, effective immediately, her agent Ken Meyerson confirmed Wednesday morning.

Henin, who has been in a slump all spring, made the announcement official at a news conference later Wednesday in her native Belgium.

"It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time," she said at the news conference.

Meyerson said Henin called him Sunday evening and, in what he described as a "warm" conversation, said, "I've won everything I need to win, I have more money than I can use in three lifetimes, and I don't have the will to play one day more."

Henin told Meyerson she had been thinking about the decision for five or six months. Her play over that period has been flat, partly because of a troublesome knee that required cortisone treatment, but Meyerson said the reasoning behind her retirement is all emotional.
"She's simply burned out and has no more juice to go on," he said.

"I was surprised at the urgency of the decision. We, as agents, like long farewells. I'm really sad," Meyerson said. "She did so much for the game, and we need her in the women's game. Pound-for-pound, she was one of the best tennis players in history. She was an underdog. She was someone we could relate to."

Feds Charge Bonds With 14 Counts Of Perjury

2008-05-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: KUTV 2 News ~ Complete Bay Area News Coverage

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors Tuesday re-filed an indictment against former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, charging him with 14 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice surrounding his testimony in the BALCO Steroid Case.

The new indictment broke down every individual statement prosecutors claim was falsely made during his days testifying before the grand jury, increasingly the number in the original perjury indictment from four to 14.

A June 6th hearing was scheduled at which time Bonds would be required to enter a plea.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston had told prosecutors on Feb. 29 to fix their original indictment because it lumped multiple allegations into too few counts.

Illston said that prosecutors needed to drop some of the allegations from the indictment or add more charges.

Nine people connected to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, have pleaded guilty or been convicted of drug charges or perjury, including track legend Marion Jones who admitted lying to investigators about using steroids.

Tammy Thomas, an elite cyclist, was convicted about three weeks ago of three counts perjury and one count of obstruction. She is scheduled to be sentenced July 18.

Bonds was indicted in November on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, charges stemming from 2003 grand-jury testimony in which he denied knowingly taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds was let go by the San Francisco Giants. The 43-year-old outfielder remains a free agent and wants to play this year.

"I'm not going to retire. I don't think that's going to happen," he told MLB.com. "I'm working out. I'm training. If my phone rings, it rings. If it don't, it don't. I have a cell phone."

"I have a Blackberry. They work. If something comes up, I'm sure they'll let me know. I'll come back in July if I have to. It depends on the circumstances."

Hawks' Horford, Sonics' Durant headline NBA's all-rookie team

2008-05-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- Al Horford (ONE OF MY FLORIDA GATORS from the 2007 National Championship Team - GO AL!) and Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant headlined the NBA All-Rookie team announced Tuesday.

Atlanta's Horford was the only unanimous choice with 58 votes, followed by Seattle's Durant with 57 in balloting by the league's head coaches.

Houston's Luis Scola (53), Los Angeles Clippers forward Al Thornton (48) and Seattle's Jeff Green (43) also made the first team.

Horford ranked first among rookies in double-doubles (25) and rebounds (9.7), helping the Hawks end the league's longest postseason drought with their first playoff berth since 1999.
The 6-foot-9 Durant led the SuperSonics with 20.3 points per game, 7.6 more than any other rookie. He was the only first-year player to lead his team in five categories -- points, blocks, steals, free throws made and free throw percentage. Durant blocked more shots than any other guard in the league (75).

The All-Rookie second team was Toronto's Jamario Moon, Memphis' Juan Carlos Navarro, Philadelphia's Thaddeus Young, Detroit's Rodney Stuckey and Houston's Carl Landry.

Whitney Performs in London with daughter Bobbi Kristina.... HUM....

2008-05-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

I found this tidbit VERY IN-TER-EST-TING
DIVA MOMENT
Whitney Houston (in a Bodyamr gown) commands the stage during a performance at the Caudwell Children's Legend Ball at London’s Battersea Park on Thursday. The singer performed a selection of her hits and treated the audience to a duet of "My Love is Your Love" with 15-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina. And good news for Whitney fans: She told the crowd she’s in the studio working on tracks for a new album

SOURCE: PEOPLE.COM

Florida Fighting 102 Wildfires

2008-05-13T08:06:00.001-07:00

I haven't mentioned it before, but from 1989 to 1998 I was a member of our state's elite State Fire Team (Team 4).

If a fire in a region got too big for that region to contain it, it would be declared a PROJECT FIRE, and we, the STATE TEAM, would get called in. We would come from far and wide, some of us lived in Olympia and some in Okanagan, some would drive and some would get flown in on the agency 7-person plane (I got that "fun" task assigned to me TWICE [scary, it was through a lightening storm])

In addition to a whole lot of smaller fires I worked at Washington's HUGE 1991 Fire Storm in the Spokane area, 1992 Golendale fire down near the Columbia River, 1994's HUGE second Fire Storm again MANY MANY fires all over the east side of Washington state (end of summer dryness, lightening & wind), this time I was the first team to get sent out, initially to a fire near Tonasket where we were set up at the Ferry County Fairgrounds. (I got over one hundred horse fly and mosquito bites on each foot, not to mention how many I got EVERYWHERE ELSE.)
It was a very painful fire for me.

Then after THAT fire was out, since there were SO MANY fires burning around the east side of the state, we were held at base camp, not demobbed home, and after a day we were sent to another fire. We carravanned to Cashmere Washington to set up ANOTHER base camp up at the Chelan County Fairgrounds. That was the Rat Creek Fire and that took another 10 days to put out and mop up. I think I was gone for about 21 days that time.

Going out on fires those 10-years was a great experience for me. I was a single mom, and it was a win-win. I was around a lot a GREAT people, doing a GREAT thing, helping in an EMERGENCY!

Second - I made a lot of over-time money and that helped with school clothes every summer for the boys. AND, I usually made enough to pay off a few bills too.

AND, the boys had Larry to stay with while I was gone. He and his parents were GREAT!!! Thank you to Larry! The boys loved you SO MUCH!!!!!

Yi YI YI The Myanmar Military is Keeping all the Good Stuff for Itself

2008-05-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

See the story at CNN.COM
Story Highlights
NEW: CARE agency says the Myanmar junta is handing out rotting food
NEW: Former Yangon resident says military is holding back best supplies
United States flies in two more aid shipments, promises to contribute more
U.N. estimates death toll from Cyclone Nargis is 63,000 to 100,000

OK Here we Go... Game 4 Boston at Cleveland!

2008-05-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

Cleveland is up 2games to 1.

Boston has not won once on the road in these playoffs. LeBron is off his game in these playoffs. KG scored 23 in game 2 really winning the game for the Celtics.

I guess I'm rooting for Boston, been a fan since I was about 6. (My favorite color was GREEN, thus, Celtics, Notre Dame, Green Bay Packers [plus Bart Starr spelled his name like Ringo Starr] AND I'm a 33 Larry Bird fan!)

It's Boston 6, Cleveland 9. See ya'll LATER....
WON/ONE
D

OMGosh.... Look How GREAT these Guy Look

2008-05-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

SOURC: www.KanyeUniversecity.com/blogThese are our rappers of TODAY. They are not THUGS. They are up and coming young men, who are leaders of our next generation. "I wish Lauren Hill was still into rhymin' Who your kids gonna listen to? "

Quake upgraded to 7.9 - Thousands killed

2008-05-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

Pictures from CNN.com

HOV's Kingdom Come review from Nov 25, 2006 (Jay-Z)

2008-05-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

(Jay & Mary J are on the Heart of the City tour as we speak)

Welcome Back, Hov: The Mike Jordan of Recording Just Couldn't Stay Away (November 25, 2006)

I’m kind of bored with the Michael Jordan analogies, so I’ll say this - Jay-Z is as close to rap’s very own Sugar Ray Leonard as anyone will ever get. The only difference is that he did not retire five times, but once. Does anyone remember him stating he wanted to retire right after his classic 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt? Or when he said that his 1998 commercial breakthrough, Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life was going to his last album? Well, he did finally have the liver to quit with a suitable goodbye album in 2003’s Black Album. But come on, rap without Jay-Z? Even he couldn’t deal with it, to the point that he was referring to Michael Jordan’s comeback to basketball in “Encore” – remember, the now-famous “come back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5” line? No, it wasn’t over – not even after he’s already established his legacy as a pop culture icon, a savvy entrepreneur, a music industry executive and one of the greatest rappers of all time. Oh no, President Carter wanted to come back for more. And he has – with Kingdom Come.

If you want to read the whole review go here: SOURCE: Epinions.com

And so it is that with Kingdom Come Jay-Z has managed to accomplish what so many rap legends, most notably LL Cool J, have failed to do – age gracefully on the mic. With a nice balance of introspection, socio-political consciousness and braggadocio, this is one of Jay-Z’s better efforts, in the second-tier alongside The Black Album. Who knows, once he gets rid of that rust and hits his stride, he just might deliver another album that equals the quality of Reasonable Doubt or The Blueprint. But even for now, it is safe to say that – with the balance of commercial appeal and lyrical substance – Kingdom Come affirms Jay-Z as the king of Hip-Hop. Yep, couldn't leave rap alone; the game needs him. Welcome back, Hov!

OMG - 7.8 Earthquake in China

2008-05-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

What is going on in China??? First the cyclone, then the HFMD, NOW A 7.8 magnatude earthquake!!! All in one week!

I will keep you posted...

We All need to get STRONGER ~ video by Kanye

2008-05-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

BOW IN PRESENSE OF GREATNESS !!!!

TAKE THIS....

HATERS!!!

The Only Way To Put It.... BOSTON GOT WHHHOOPPPEEDD

2008-05-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SportsIllustrated.com

Chicago Sun Times Follows R Kelly Trial

2008-05-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

NBA PLAYOFFS ~ YEAH!!!

2008-05-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

OK, Boston is UP 2 games to 0 (ZERO). They have gone to Cleveland. KG against the BIG youngster Lebron. Yeeeaaaa BOYYYYYEEE. This is gonna be a GOOD game and LeBron just slammed one and it's 12 - 4 Cleveland. It's been an offensive STRUGGLE for LeBron so far, to put it mildly, so we'll see how things go now that they're home.

When KG first came into the league at like 12, he played in Vancouver for the Timberwolves, not far from here, so he was naturally a rival, and I don't know he just rubbed me the wrong way. BUT, the Celtics have ALWAYS been one of MY favorite teams (GREEN) and AGAIN, I don't really know why, but for some reason I am really starting to like ol' KG. He has matured and I am starting to have RESPECT for him.

Boston's assistant coach Doc Rivers just got a T. Boston needs to call a TimeOut, Cleveland is up 22-8. I think they just did, YUP. My goodness, I need to be coaching this game.

Well, I'm outta here. I'm not routing for anyone here. Just want a GOOD GAME.

Oh..... DMX DMX DMX Yes, it's time to go to jail...

2008-05-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

It's true — rapper DMX was arrested twice this week.
DMX's first arrest happened on Tuesday for wreckless speeding (he was going 114 MPH on a suburban Phoenix, AZ freeway).

And then early Friday morning, he was arrested AGAIN after authorities conducted a pre-dawn raid at his Phoenix home. Law enforcement serving a search warrant at the rapper's home found drugs and fire arms stashed away.

The popo had been investigating DMX for about 7 months — they had received a number of complaints about DMX's mistreatment of animals.

In addition to the fire arms and drugs, authorities found 5 pit bull mix puppies, which were taken from the home to an Arizona jail where they'll be cared for by female inmates.

During the search, officers report that the rapper attempted to barricade himself inside his bedroom. DMX eventually came out with no further resistance.

This part SOURCE: PerezHilton.com

May 9, 2008 Mug Shot

Time for him to go to jail!!!!!!

TWO DAYS PRIOR:

Rapper DMX (real name: Earl Simmons) was arrested by Arizona Department of Public Safety officers on May 6, 2008 and charged with reckless driving, public endangerment, criminal speeding, and driving with a suspended license after cameras recorded him in January driving his 1966 Chevy Nova at speeds up to 114 mph on a Scottsdale highway (the posted speed limit is 65 mph). Simmons, 37, was booked into the Scottsdale City Jail where he posed for the below mug shot before posting bond and being released.

Here's the MUG SHOT for THAT case:

May 6, 2008

Go Speed Racer Go!!

Mug Shots SOURCE: TheSmokingGun.com

TIME's 10 Best Moms EVER ~ Here's one I liked

2008-05-09T05:43:00.000-07:00

Dumbo's Mom
By CARYN BROOKS

Mrs. Jumbo loves her baby elephant boy with all of her heart. She doesn't care that his ears are growing to gigantic proportions, but seemingly everyone else does. Mama Jumbo does what she can to shield Dumbo from the taunts of other elephants and circus visitors, but when some mischievous boys tug at his ears, she goes into an elephantine rage.

The circus workers think that Mrs. Jumbo has gone crazy and lock her up lest she injure anyone else. Dumbo is separated from his mother and left unshielded from the unrelenting attacks. But, showing the fortifying effects of a mother's strong love in his heart, he turns what others see as his greatest weakness into his greatest strength and uses his ears to fly.

The metaphor is apt:

a supportive mother can give her child wings.

DON'T FORGET MOTHER'S DAY IS SUNDAY!

MYANMAR UPDATE

2008-05-08T18:41:00.000-07:00

1 million homeless in Myanmar tonight.

Their Military Government still has the borders closed, and will not accept any assistance from the US.

World Vision is on standby with water, doctors, medicines and first-aide, and they're ONLY 600 miles away in Bangkok Thailand, waiting for Visa's to get approved and borders to open.

It's being reported that Malaria and diaheaa may kill more than the original cyclone in the end.

I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON THIS ONE.

R Kelly FINALLY going to Trial on Pornography Charges

2008-05-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

Kelly, 41, faces child pornography charges for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. He has pleaded not guilty. Jury selection is set to start Friday.

This case has been a case since way before THE CRASH. Ernie has flows about it. He really had issues with the hip-hop community standing by R Kelly. I guess because of me, but he was very VERBAL about the whole hthing, and even though the girls were willing participants he said, "He has wrecked those girls lives." Mr. Kelly (supposedly) MARRIED Aaliyah when she was 15, but it was annaulled.

The newest info from the trial is that another female (who was then also a minor) who had a threesome with Kelly and the alleged female in the video will testify.

One of the things that pedophiles do is they prep their victims and the victims really think they're "liked/loved." It really can, in both the short and long run, mess with your head.

It's basically what Mr. Kelly is accused of by his publicist of 14 years, Regina Danials, and her husband George who were basically family with "Rob". Kelly had known their daughter Maxine since she was 7 years old. Regina quit her job when she found about the two who is of (barely) legal age. In a radio interview I listened to the other day, the parents said Kelly had bought their daughter a car, she had quit college to be near him, all the while both were lying about the relationship. They reported putting an end to it.

Seems Mr. Kelly has a proclivity to YOUNGER women! That's for sure!

Here's a quote from Ms. Danials, "I am 21, smart and will be graduating from college this year, but I admit that I was swept up by his charming and generous ways, which I truly regret and have learned from. My brief relationship with Kelly last year ended because my parents were starting to hear rumors that we were together, and I was beginning to feel like it wasn't a healthy situation, especially with the pain it was causing me and my family," Maxine said. "I felt that it just wasn't right. Also, in reference to my birthday party, which was held last spring, Regina did not push Rob to host the party. We both asked him ... and he readily agreed."

One of Ernie's flows says something like "I'm not into that R Kelly sh**. If those was my kids..... I wouldn't care about your security..."

I'm just wishin' truTV would cover it, but so far I haven't seen it. NOW, I am not saying FOR SURE THAT he's guilty. Of course we'll have to see ALL the evidence, but it does seem that way so far. AND, in that video it sure did look like him. (I did take a QUICK peek....)

NBA Announces FIRST TEAM

2008-05-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

MVP Bryant heads all-NBA first team

Los Angeles (dpa) - Less than 48 hours after winning his first NBA most valuable player trophy, Kobe Bryant was awarded yet another piece of prized hardware to round out an unforgettable week. Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers was the lone unanimous selection to headline the all-NBA first team, the league announced Thursday. Bryant made the first team for the third straight season and fifth overall in his sparkling, 12-year NBA career. He averaged 28.3 points along with 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game en route to carrying the Lakers (57-22) to the best regular-season record in the Western Conference.

The Lakers' superstar is joined by NBA defensive player of the year Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, NBA scoring champ LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and first-timers Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. SOURCE: rest of article

GO Speed Racer GO - DMX Arrested for Doing 114 MPH

2008-05-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Rapper DMX was arrested in Arizona yesterday for driving at speeds ranging form 100 to 114 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour stretch of highway. Born Earl Simmons, the entertainer was also driving with a suspended license.The occasional actor was photographed by three different speed patrol cameras driving his 1966 Chevy Nova II on the Loop 101, a local highway notorious for racers and speed seekers.

Police arrested DMX at his home in Cave Creek, AZ and charged the rapper with racing on a highway, reckless driving, two counts of endangerment, three counts of criminal speed and driving with a suspended license.

“This is an important arrest,” Roger Vanderpool Director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety told AllHipHop in a statement. “Criminal speeding endangers the lives of everyone on the road. Mr. Simmons wasn’t signaled out because of his notoriety, we have made several arrests in the last few months of those people who flagrantly violate the speed limit and therefore endanger the lives of everyone else on the road. The photo enforcement program on the Loop 101 is making a difference with safety out on the highway.”

DMX was booked into the Scottsdale County Jail and released earlier today.

In related news, the rapper is still under investigation for animal cruelty charges in Phoenix, AZ. The so-called “toughest Sheriff in America,” otherwise known as Sheriff Joe Arpaio, stated in a recent press conference that investigation "is in full progress."

"Very soon, I will announce a resolution to that case,” he said.

DMX was accused of animal cruelty last August, after officials found 12 undernourished dogs and three buried dogs at the rapper’s home.
SOURCE: LiveSteez.com

A little less Serious, My "BUDDY" Roger accused of YEARS long AFFAIR

2008-05-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK -- Saying "all is fair game," lawyers for Roger Clemens' former personal trainer Brian McNamee say they intend to capitalize on allegations of an extramarital affair involving Clemens and a country music singer in defending a defamation suit Clemens filed against McNamee. SOURCE/whole article: MLB

AND
ROGER ISN'T WANTED FOR OLYMPIC TEAM -
GO FIGURE!
NEW YORK -- Roger Clemens isn't welcome on the U.S. Olympic baseball team.
U.S. general manager Bob Watson said Wednesday that he isn't considering the 45-year-old right-hander for his roster for the Beijing Games.
"From my standpoint, we don't need that type of distraction," Watson said.
In addition to his duties as vice president of on-field operations for Major League Baseball, Watson is general manager of professional baseball operations for USA Baseball and works to select manager Davey Johnson's roster.
A former GM of the Houston Astros and New York Yankees, Watson said he didn't anticipate being overruled by higher-ups.
"I have not talked to the commissioner. I have not talked to [MLB chief operating officer] Bob DuPuy, nor have I talked to his agent, but I just think the distraction that he's carrying right now, from my standpoint, we don't need that," Watson said. SOURCE/whole article: ESPN

Myanmar Crisis Grows

2008-05-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

Corpses piling up as Myanmar misery deepens
Myanmar's cyclone survivors do not have enough fuel to burn the rotting corpses of the dead as the country's military junta continues to drag its feet over access for aid groups.

That's the CNN Headline. Just makes me shiver thinking about it. I watched Dr. Sanjay Gupta via video today saying that all these people and organization are trying to get into the country to help and relay news, and their VISA's are not being approved. In fact they're hitting a WALL. No one will even talk to them. I guess this has occur ed in the past.

Dr. Gupta said it was very different from when the tsunami occurred when they got their visa's pretty much immediately.

Can you imagine, they don't have the FUEL to burn all the bodies!

And, the diseases that come from rotting bodies and bad water......

YOU JUST CANNOT IMAGINE THE HORROR THESE FOLKS ARE GOING THROUGH.

The ONLY thing we can do for them right now is PRAY!

Horrible Crisis n Myanmar - The death toll in Myanmar may reach 100,000 according to a U.S. diplomat.

2008-05-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

Cyclone deaths could exceed 100,000 according to a top US diplomat in Yangon. Photos found at Time.com

Court TV is Following Seattle case (oops truTV)

2008-05-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

I know it's not Court TV anymore. Since I'm stuck on the couch on occasion, my ailments, I sometimes get into the cases they follow on the NOW truTV.

Phil Spector, OJ, you catch my drift. In fact, I CAN'T WAIT for the Phil Spector re-trial. That was/should be a GOOD ONE. And OJ, that should be VERY INTEREST.... (remember Laugh-In)

Right now they're following a shooting that occured in Seattle. Naveed Haq is on trial for forcing his way into the federation offices by holding a gun to a 14 year old girl's head, then fatally shooting employee Pamela Waechter and wounding five other women on July 28, 2006.

Haq, 32, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to one count of aggravated first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and numerous other charges, including malicious harassment — the state's hate-crime law.

If convicted of the murder charge, Haq faces life in prison without parole.

They're saying he was thinking he could bring peace in the Middle East. AND that obvisously he was dilusional. Quite the dilema for the jury.

TODAYS OPEN COURT QUESTION: DO you think mental illness prevented Haq from understanding the nature and consequences of his actions?

I LOVE TMZ and I LOVE JOHN MAYER what a SPORT

2008-05-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

TMZ and John Mayer are always messing around, and TMZ "sort" of, you know, "disses" on him sometimes (you know the DOUCEBAG handle for instance (even I don't agree with that one.) You have to admit John has really come up with some good ones. The "cream" that was GREAT. You HAVE to be a TMZ fan to get that one, anyway (my favorite word huh?) check this out at TMZ:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid285859616/bclid294430730/bctid1541020024

Barry and Roger out of work

2008-05-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

OH SO SAD... MLB is looking into possible "collusion" with regard to Barry Bonds not getting a NEW JOB. Seems nobody wants to hire the pap magnet, disruptive to team, and probable cheater, just to name a few.

It also seems that there are several other free agents (Roger included) who are also looking for work.

Barry Bonds isn't the only big-name player/free agent who hasn't found a home yet this year. Wonder what the message is here?? HUM....

Here are some others:
Player Pos. LastTeam
Barry Bonds OF SF

Roger Clemens RHP NYY

Kenny Lofton OF TEX

Jose Mesa RHP PHI

Mike Piazza C OAK

Sammy Sosa OF TEX

David Wells LHP SD

Daddy, opps I mean KOBE is MVP

2008-05-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Remember his daughters holding up signs a few weeks ago that said, DADDY FOR MVP? Kobe becomes the fourth Laker to earn the MVP award joining Kareem, Magic and former teammate Shaq. Here's the following articles from ESPN.com.

LOS ANGELES -- Finally, an MVP award for Kobe Bryant.

Regarded as the NBA's best player for several years but never its most valuable, Bryant earned the honor at last on Tuesday after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference.

He called the award a blessing and an honor and emphasized that he wants another trophy this year.

"It's Hollywood, it's a movie script. The perfect ending would be for us to hold a championship trophy at the end of it," Bryant said at a news conference attended by his teammates, club officials, his wife and two daughters.

"This is an award I couldn't have won on my own. I can't thank these guys [his teammates] enough. These are my guys, these are my brothers. Let's get ready for tomorrow."

The Lakers try to take a 2-0 lead against Utah in their conference semifinal on Wednesday night. Bryant will receive the MVP trophy from commissioner David Stern before the game.
Bryant entered the season as the league's two-time defending scoring champion. He had finished as high as third in the MVP voting twice -- after the 2002-03 season, when he averaged 30 points for the first time, and last year when Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki won.

"I don't know anybody who's ever deserved this trophy more. I don't know anybody who's ever worked as hard to accomplish what he's accomplished," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who had five-time MVP Michael Jordan with Chicago and was at the Lakers' helm when Shaquille O'Neal won the award in 2000.

Bryant received 82-first-place votes and 1,105 points in the media vote. He was followed by New Orleans' Chris Paul (28 and 889), Boston's Kevin Garnett (15 and 670) and Cleveland's LeBron James (1 and 438).

"I've said since two, three years ago that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the league," James said before the Cavaliers faced the Celtics in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. "He's been the best player the last five, six years. I'm glad he won it. His team had a great year, finishing first in the West."

This season there was no denying the Lakers' 6-foot-6 star. Los Angeles rose to the top of the West despite key injuries and following Bryant's trade demands last spring when his team was eliminated in the first round by Phoenix for the second straight year.

Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.84 steals while playing all 82 games despite tearing a ligament in his right pinkie in February. He put off surgery until after the Olympics.

The knock on the 29-year-old Bryant had been that he didn't make those around him better -- not anymore.

"He's deserving in this particular season with all of the question marks and everything going on coming into the season and the uncertainty," teammate Derek Fisher said. "Not only did he statistically have an MVP type of season, everybody can reasonably say they were better this year because of what he did. He met the so-called criteria, elevating his teammates' games."
Word leaked last Friday night that Bryant had won the award.

Bryant, second in the NBA in scoring behind James, is the first Laker to win the MVP award since O'Neal. Other Lakers to win since the award was first presented in 1956 were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson -- each times. Abdul-Jabbar also won three with Milwaukee.
"I didn't expect this award would come to me," Bryant said. "I'm surprised. I've played pretty well in other seasons. Our team hasn't been as good. Things just fell into place."

Bryant and O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive championships, from 2000-02, and a berth in the finals in 2004. The Lakers hadn't won a playoff series since until sweeping Denver in the first round last month.

Bryant and O'Neal were often at odds during their eight years together. Assistant coach Brian Shaw, who played for the Lakers from 1999-03, has noticed a big difference in Bryant.
"He's a much better teammate now than he was in the championship days. That's a credit to his maturation. There were definitely times when he was not a good teammate. No one worked harder than he did. The same is true today," Shaw said.

"In terms of connecting with his teammates off the court, he didn't do that very much. Now, from what I hear, he goes out to dinner with them all the time. Who knows? Maybe he likes these teammates better than us," Shaw added with a laugh.

Bryant has said this was his best regular season and his most enjoyable -- very different from his feelings last spring. First, he challenged the Lakers to upgrade their roster, then demanded a trade.

Things quieted down and Bryant said all the right things during training camp until Lakers owner Jerry Buss said he would listen to trade offers. That upset Bryant again, but he promised he would focus on basketball once the season began.

And so he did.

After a 9-8 start, the Lakers put it together. The most obvious upgrades were Fisher and Pau Gasol, acquired Feb. 1 from Memphis. The Lakers already had Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic -- all former first-round draft choices -- when Bryant had his tirade last spring. All three, especially the 20-year-old Bynum, showed great improvement, but the 7-footer hasn't played since injuring his left knee Jan. 13.

Another talented newcomer, Trevor Ariza, has been sidelined since breaking his right foot Jan. 20. Gasol missed nine games late in the season because of a sprained ankle.

Through it all, led by their MVP, the Lakers kept winning. And now they appear to have as good a chance as any team to win another NBA championship. (SOURCE)

MAN - China is having a HECK of a time.

2008-05-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

Cyclone death toll jumps to 22,000
A Myanmar government radio station said today that more than 22,000 people are dead and 41,000 missing after the catastrophic cyclone that battered the country. China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports 10,000 dead in one town, the township of Bogalay.

HOLY FRIGGIN COW!!! Check out Ginele! She's from my YUP! Program.

2008-05-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

One of "MY" girls who participated in my YUP! program for YEARS back in the late '90's, AND has become a part of my FAMILY (comes for HOLIDAYS and is basically like a daughter to me, and she read Ernie's Obituary at his Funeral) is making good, BIG TIME.

I talked to her in Japan the day before this fight.
SHE WON!!

CONGRATS Ginele!!!
YOU GO GIRL.....

Princess Diana's son, Prince Harry Comes Home From War

2008-05-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Even though Harry had to come home from Afghanistan early (he got outed so to speak, and had to get the heck outta dodge in a quick hurry for HIS safety and his fellow Army comrades.)

They all are home now and got their medals from Harry's Aunt Princess Anne (his Dad's only sister.) With girlfriend Chelsy Davy, brother--Prince William, and Dad- Prince Charles looking on, Harry gets his first Army campaign medal, and all 170 members of the Household Cavalry Regiment were decorated for their service in Afghanistan.

Side note: I stayed up 'till 3:00a.m. to watch Princess Diana marry ol' Prince Charles in 1981. Well, one thing they ended up in common with was two handsome sons. Check out Harry here. He has turned into quite the HUNK!

Here he is with his "girlfriend" Chelsy Davy. They make a very cute couple, and her attending the Ceremony with Prince William and dad, Prince Charles was quite the showing.

11,905 Chinese get Virus, 26 Die - ALL CHILDREN (THE OLYMPICS are in CHINA this SUMMER!!!)

2008-05-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

CNN reports:
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Hand-foot-mouth disease has struck 11,905 people and has proved fatal in 26 cases, all of them children, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported Monday.
The official count has increased dramatically in recent days, the result of an order issued Friday by the Ministry of Health mandating that all cases be reported, said Tang Xiaoping, deputy head of the health bureau of Guangzhou.

Chinese health authorities have been dispatched to the worst-hit province, Anhui, in rural eastern China, where 22 of the fatalities have occurred, all of them blamed on enterovirus 71, or EV-71, one of the most common causes of HFMD.

The provincial health administration said all of the deaths in Anhui occurred in Fuyang City and that 1,314 of the 4,496 children infected in the city were hospitalized, Xinhua reported.

Of the total 5,840 child infections reported in the province, 689 were registered Sunday, it said.
The provincial government has quarantined people exposed to the virus and limited movement into and out of Fuyang, where the outbreak was first reported in mid-March.
Public health officials expect the number of cases to peak in June or July, since the disease thrives in warm weather.

It goes on, and you can read the whole article at: Whole article

The virus is a concern for Chinese officials as the nation prepares to host the Summer Olympic Games starting August 8.

On Saturday, China's Ministry of Health issued a pamphlet urging health bureaus to step up prevention and control efforts, Xinhua reported.

A large outbreak of HFMD occurred in Taiwan in 1998 with 78 deaths, and smaller outbreaks recurred there in 2000 and 2001, according to the CDC.

HOLY COW ~ SMOG and HFMD. I'd say, "I'm not going!"

Rihanna New Vid - TAKE A BOW ~ "PLEASE!" (wish I could relay the PLEASE with the "ATTITUDE" she does in the song :)

2008-05-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

"I know you're only sorry you got caught. " MAN, been there, done that!!!
I LOVE THIS SONG!
You know Rihanna, she had the cute little Umbrella number this past year. EVEN got a GRAMMY with HOV (Jay-Z) for it. Well, I saw her at the Glow (Kanye concert) and I really am turning into a fan. I found this video cruisin' and doing some STREET TEAM work for Kanye.
I LOVE IT!!!! Sort of reminds me of Beyounce's TO THE LEFT - TO THE LEFT.... in theme.
Here you go, especially you girls. You're the ones who'll appreciate this song.

YOU GO GIRL!

OMGosh - I wish I could have been at this one!!!!!

2008-05-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

Beyonce Joins Jay-Z Onstage
At NYC Heart Of The City Show
B takes the stage after Jay jokingly disses
'Crazy in Love.'

JayBey are inseparable, so naturally, Beyonce made a surprise appearance at Jay-Z’s & Mary J’s Heart of the City Tour: “During Jay-Z’s solo set, he has a part where he shows off. Jay literally sits in the DJ booth and pushes buttons to cue up instrumentals of classics like ‘Money Ain’t a Thang,’ ‘Who You Wit’ and ‘Hard Knock Life.’ ‘F— that,’ Jay yelled every time he played a song, cutting it off within seconds of bringing it up. Humorously, he started ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ and just like before, he stopped it after a second. ‘F— that,’ he said with a grin. Then Hov pulled up Beyoncé’s ‘Crazy in Love’ and, you guessed it, said, ‘F— that too. … No disrespect.

Almost immediately, Beyoncé came onstage, walking with a sassy ‘how dare you’ strut. Jay started ‘Crazy in Love’ again, and B did her crowd-pleasing ‘uh oh’ dance. She walked over to Jay, did a spin, smiled and went backstage. Jay doubled over laughing.”

(SOURCE)