I don’t think you’re acting right
You don’t think it’s showing…
Author: JT
Was Gene Rodenberry On Drugs?
Gene Rodenberry, George Takai, Howard Stern, Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek, William ShatnerBroadway Brett Favre Becomes a New York Jet
Brett Favre, Broadcatching, Favre_Jets, Green Bay Packers, New York Herald Sun, New York Jets, NFL, Tullycasts, Wasington Redskins
The Jets, once the team of one of football’s most charismatic quarterbacks, now have another one. They acquired Brett Favre from the Green Bay Packers in a deal late Wednesday night that the Jets hope will ignite excitement for a team that struggles to remain in the headlines in the same city with the Giants and struggles for competitiveness in the same division as the New England Patriots.
“We just felt this was an opportunity to go get somebody of Brett’s stature and what he’s accomplished,” said Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum.
The terms of the trade were not announced, although it was believed to be for a fourth-round pick that, depending on Favre’s performance and the team’s results, could increase in value, all the way up to a first-round selection. The trade was first reported Wednesday night by FoxSports.com.
Quarterback Chad Pennington, a former first round draft pick, is loved and respected in the Jets’ locker room, but Tannenbaum said early Thursday morning that the Jets will part ways with him now that Favre is on board.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for us,” Tannenbaum said. “I have all the respect in the world for Chad as a person and as a player. He gave his heart and soul to this organization for a long, long time.”
Tannenbaum said that Favre had to be convinced to consider the Jets and that Favre talked directly to the Jets only in the last two days. Favre and his family favored the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where Favre knew Coach Jon Gruden and his offense, all the way up to the moment when the Jets made the deal. The extent of Favre’s commitment to the Jets remains a question.
“We’re going to take things one year at a time,” Tannenbaum said. “We’re excited to have Brett on the team for this year. This was a situation we were monitoring, and when we felt there was an opportunity, we felt it was the right thing to do to go after Brett.”
“Obviously there were some concerns,” Tannenbaum said. “He’s coming to a new city, he’s been in one system for 16 years, there’s not a lot of connection with Brett and our coaching staff. We were able to talk through moving to the northeast. We felt really good about it, and we’re excited that he’s with us.”
For Favre, the trade ends a protracted divorce from the Packers that captivated the N.F.L. and set Favre free from the team that he led to a Super Bowl title and for whom he had become an icon. Favre also won three Most Valuable Player awards in Green Bay, but when the Packers did not welcome him back after he reversed course on his retirement, Favre became the unexpected object of the Jets’ ardor. For weeks, the Jets were on the periphery of trade talks as Favre’s drama droned on. But Favre changes the image of a team that is often overlooked, bringing with him a glamour that has been absent from the franchise at least since Bill Parcells left after the 2000 season and star power that has not been present since Joe Namath took his fur coats and bad knees and went to Los Angeles in 1977 to finish his career. The Jets’ meeting against the Patriots in Week 2 instantly becomes more interesting.
“Brett has had a long and storied career in Green Bay, and the Packers owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for everything he accomplished on the field and for the impact he made in the state,” Ted Thompson, the Packers’ general manager, and Mark Murphy, the team’s president, said in a joint statement. “It is with some sadness that we make this announcement, but also with the desire for certainty that will allow us to move the team and organization forward in the most positive way possible.”
The Jets underwent a $100 million makeover during the off-season, augmenting their offensive line and remaking their defense. But they had been conducting a quarterback competition in training camp between Pennington and Kellen Clemens, two options that last season produced just four victories.
But the appeal of Favre is obvious: he had a turn-back-the-clock season last year, completing 66 percent of his passes and leading the Packers to the National Football Conference Championship game. With his arrival he likely makes the Jets a viable American Football Conference wild-card team. Even at 38, he is remarkably durable, having started 253 consecutive games, and he holds almost every major N.F.L. career passing record. And his marketing potential in New York is enormous, which was surely part of the Jets’ pitch to Favre.
He will be a huge draw for the Jets, who will move to their new training complex in New Jersey at the end of training camp, and he gives the franchise a famous face as they begin a campaign centered around the 2010 opening of the stadium they will share with the Giants. Favre has no previous relationship with Coach Eric Mangini and the offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, and he will be forced to learn an unfamiliar offense on the fly. Favre’s style has always had a seat-of-his-pants element, and that has led to a striking propensity to throw interceptions. That problem could hamper him with the Jets, particularly early in the season as he tries to find his comfort zone with new receivers. But as he left Green Bay Wednesday morning, Favre expressed weariness at his predicament — the falling out with the Packers had taken a toll on him and his family — and a desire to merely join a team.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to do it quicker than later,” Favre told The Hattiesburg American. “I won’t say we’re running out of time, but I need to get into a camp somewhere.”
And now, surprisingly, he will be in camp for the Jets, a quick flirtation turning into a franchise-changing decision in just 24 hours.
“My gut feeling for a long time was I just didn’t think this would come to fruition,” Tannenbaum said. “We had a cursory monitoring situation going on for a number of days. We put an oar in the water and things heated up at the end.”
Yankee Slugger Bobby Murcer's Life Celebrated in Oklahoma
StoriesEDMOND – “Celebrating the Life of Bobby Murcer,” a memorial service for the late New York Yankees slugger from Oklahoma City, was a celebration of one man’s goodness, graciousness and kindness. And a little bit about what a ballplayer he was as well.
The service at the Memorial Road Church of Christ, subtitled “Yankee for Life, Oklahoman at Heart,” flew by in what seemed like a lot less than the actual one hour and 45 minutes.
The Yankees chartered a flight to Oklahoma City from the Dallas area, where they are playing a series with the Texas Rangers. Among the some 2,000 attending Wednesday’s memorial were Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Yankees manager Joe Girardi.
“I can see my father right now, up in heaven, in his rocking chair, shaking his head in amazement that we are all here today just for him,” Todd Murcer said.
With his voice beginning to break, Todd Murcer later added: “My father understood what was important. He often told me, ‘Treat people with respect, encourage those around you, make the most of every day.’ Watching him live by those words proved to be the greatest lesson of all.”
Kent Allen, former minister at Memorial Road, pointed out that Wednesday’s memorial was 29 years ago, to the day, since Murcer gave a eulogy at Thurman Munson’s funeral. And that night Murcer had a three-run home run and, in the bottom of the ninth, a two-run single, driving in all of the Yankees’ runs in a 5-4 win against Baltimore.
“What a game, what a life, what a man,” Allen said, adding that Munson’s widow, Diana, was at Wednesday’s service.
Former Yankees publicist Marty Appel apologized for unfairly plugging Murcer as the next Mickey Mantle when he replaced The Mick in center field.
“He connected with the fans from day one,” Appel said. “He had an easy, Oklahoma politeness and a modesty that isn’t normally associated with elite athletes. He was a fans’ player and he was a players’ player.
“He was just terrific kid who was handed an oversized assignment and he handled it with grace and honesty and dignity, as he did everything until the very end… He made you a better person just to know him. No man ever wore the New York Yankee uniform better, and in this measure he is, in fact, right there with Babe and Lou and Joe and Mickey. He had Yankee DNA. A Yankee for life. The most beloved Yankee of his time.”
Murcer’s former pastor at Quail Springs Church of Christ, Ronnie White, noted that today is the 25th anniversary of Bobby Murcer Day at Yankee Stadium. The minister also noted how important family was to the Yankees star.
“If you didn’t know Bobby very well you would think that baseball was it for Bobby,” White said. “Not even close. Family was it for Bobby. He was a family man from start to finish…. Baseball was what Bobby did, but it wasn’t who he was.”
A NASA astronaut, Army Col. Doug Wheelock, traveled all the way from Russia to speak at the Murcer memorial. He had traveled much further with one of Murcer’s Yankee jerseys – about 6.24 million miles – while aboard the Discovery space shuttle in October and November of last year, and on a Mount Everest trek last May. Murcer was Wheelock’s boyhood idol, and they became friends last year.
“The way he lived his life was just magical,” said Wheelock, who presented Kay Murcer with the jersey that went into space, and baseball cards he had also taken along to the Murcer’s children, Todd and Tori.
Michael Kay, who was Murcer’s broadcast partner, said he grew up as a Yankees fan, and especially a Murcer fan.
“If I could draw up a prototype of what I wanted my idol to be,” Kay said, “Bobby Murcer lived up to being that person… Bobby Murcer was the most genuine famous person that I have ever met.”
Aaron Gaberman, a 13-year-old Yankees fan who met Murcer as both were being treated for brain cancer, said he continues to play and love baseball.
“But now I have a greater purpose in playing baseball,” Gaberman said. “I’m playing for Bobby now… Bobby is now my guardian angel.”
Murcer’s agent, Steve Lefkowitz, mentioned one time when the slugger stopped to sign some autographs — after police had kept some kids from getting signatures.
“About a block from the stadium a car stopped and out stepped Bobby Murcer,” Lefkowitz said. “He said, ‘Hey, guys, want an autograph?’
“Bobby knew his place on earth was special, because that’s the way he carried himself. Not a trace of arrogance, just enjoying what he did and trying to make people feel as good as he did all the time.”
Artie Lange Checks Into "Intensive" Rehab
Artie Lange, Eric the Midget, Fred Norris, Gary Dell'Abate, Greg Fitzsimmons, Howard Stern, Nick DePaulo, Robin Quivers, Ronnie the Limo Driver, Sal Governale, Scott Baio, Tim Sabean
Howard Stern‘s sidekick is finally in rehab. Artie Lange, who’s long overindulged with drugs and drink, was scheduled to attend close pal Bob Saget‘s Comedy Central roast on Sunday night, but never made it to LA. Instead, he checked himself into an intensive outpatient rehab program. A source said Lange “felt awful for not being there for Bob, but needed to make his health a priority.” Lange also canceled his stand-up shows this weekend, but plans to return to his regular gig on Stern’s Sirius radio show when it returns from hiatus. Lange’s rep, Lewis Kay, confirmed the news.
Get well buddy; we all love you-JT
Greyhound Scraps Ads After Canada Bus Beheading
Stories
By ROB GILLIES
Associated Press Writer
TORONTO (AP) – Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler.
The ad’s tag line was “There’s a reason you’ve never heard of ‘bus rage.”’
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said Wednesday a billboard and some tunnel posters near a bus terminal in Toronto are still up and would be removed later in the day.
“Greyhound knows how important it is to get these removed and we are doing everything possible,” Wambaugh said. “This is something that we immediately asked to be done last week, realizing that these could be offensive.”
Vince Weiguang Li, who immigrated to Canada from China in 2004, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean. He has yet to enter a plea.
Thirty-seven passengers were aboard the Greyhound from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, as it traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked, stabbing him dozens of times.
As horrified passengers fled the bus, Li severed McLean’s head, displaying it to some of the passengers outside the bus, witnesses said.
A police officer at the scene reported seeing the attacker hacking off pieces of the victim’s body and eating them, according to a police report.
Wambaugh said the ads only appeared in Canada and that some in Ontario and western Canada have already been removed. About 20,000 inserts of the Greyhound ads were scheduled to be put into an Alberta Summer Games handbook but they stopped the presses.
Karl Rove’s Media Birds Chirp About Obama’s ‘Arrogance’
Dana Milbank, David Ignatitus, Eric Alterman, Karl Rove, McCain, Obama, The New York TimesThursday, July 31, 2008 by Salon.com
Glenn Greenwald
Displaying the startling prescience and unconventional insights that have long been the hallmark of his magazine, The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait wrote on June 30:
The best aspect of a McCain presidency is that, while it would probably follow the policies of George W. Bush, it would put an end to the politics of Karl Rove . . . . In Bush’s Washington, critics are enemies to be dismissed rather than engaged. A McCain presidency would promise to dismantle the whole Rovian method that has torn open such a deep wound in the national psyche.
From The New York Times Editorial Page, yesterday:
On July 3, news reports said Senator John McCain, worried that he might lose the election before it truly started, opened his doors to disciples of Karl Rove from the 2004 campaign and the Bush White House. Less than a month later, the results are on full display. The candidate who started out talking about high-minded, civil debate has wholeheartedly adopted Mr. Rove’s low-minded and uncivil playbook.
From The New York Times today:
After spending much of the summer searching for an effective line of attack against Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain is beginning a newly aggressive campaign to define Mr. Obama as arrogant, out of touch and unprepared for the presidency. . . .
Mr. McCain’s campaign is now under the leadership of members of President Bush’s re-election campaign, including Steve Schmidt, the czar of the Bush war room that relentlessly painted his opponent, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, as effete, elite, and equivocal through a daily blitz of sound bites and Web videos that were carefully coordinated with Mr. Bush’s television advertisements.The run of attacks against Mr. Obama over the last couple of weeks have been strikingly reminiscent of that drive, including the Bush team’s tactics of seeking to make campaigns referendums on its opponents — not a choice between two candidates — and attacking the opponent’s perceived strengths head-on.
There’s obviously nothing surprising about the McCain campaign’s reliance on the standard, personality-based attacks that the GOP uses every election year. It’s long been obvious to everyone outside of The TNR Circle that McCain’s only prospect for winning would be to move the election away from debates over issues (where his positions are widely rejected by the public) and instead demonize Barack Obama as an effete, elitist, effeminate, far Leftist, terrorist-loving radical, and it was equally obvious that McCain — “drooling for power like a fruit bat with rabies,” as Matt Taibbi put it in November, 2006 — would eagerly employ those Rovian tactics. That may be a surprise to long-time Beltway McCain worshipers such as Chait and The Washington Post’s David Ignatitus (who today longed for McCain’s “healing gift,” “this fiercely independent man,” and “not the heroism but the humility”), but not to anyone else.
What is far more notable than McCain’s now almost-complete reliance on Rovian demonization themes is how obediently the establishment media has been spouting and disseminating them. Five weeks ago, on June 23, Karl Rove appeared at a breakfast with Republican insiders at the Capitol Hill Club, mocked Obamacooly arrogant.” Ever since, that Obama is “arrogant” — and the related sin: “presumptuous” — has become standard, mandated media script. as “the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by,” and labeled him “
It’s now literally difficult to find a discussion of Obama in the establishment press that isn’t based on this personality-based theme — with media stars either expressing the opinion themselves or repeating it as a McCain talking point. Last night, CNN’s Campbell Brown, hosting Anderson Cooper’s show, framed the show this way:
But is Obama vulnerable? Is he arrogant? . . . David, the McCain campaign, Republicans, they are consistently playing up this notion that Obama is presumptuous, arrogant. Can they stick him with this label?
Here’s the front page of Politico today:
This is exactly what happens every single election cycle. The Right spews some petty, personality-based attack, and the chirping media birds then mindlessly repeat it until it’s lodged into our discourse as accepted fact. That’s the media strategy on which the Right is relying to win the election this year again — dictating the songs sung by the vapid, chirping press birds — even as they petulantly and incessantly complain that the same media stars who serve this strategy are stacked against them. Yesterday’s, National Review’s Rich Lowry posted what he called “musings from a shrewd friend” about a Dana Milbank column in yesterday’s Washington Post that repeated every last “Obama-is-arrogant” cliché (”there are signs that the Obama campaign’s arrogance has begun to anger reporters”). Lowry’s “shrewd” friend:
[Obama’s] showing hubris and contempt for the rest of us in how he considers America fundamentally broken and he’s the solution. Messianism is usually a quality you don’t want in a president. This was always the soft underbelly of his candidacy. They’ve gotten too caught up in their own story. What always does in a celebrity? Overexposure. The question now is whether Dana Milbank is the bird leaving the wire and every other bird in the press follows him or not. If this narrative sets in, Obama might have to move up his VP announcement to change the story.
The War Between the United States and Iran Has Already Begun
Stories
America Is Already Committing Acts of War Against Iran
By Scott Ritter, Truthdig
July 30, 2008,
The war between the United States and Iran is on. American taxpayer dollars are being used, with the permission of Congress, to fund activities that result in Iranians being killed and wounded, and Iranian property destroyed.
This wanton violation of a nation’s sovereignty would not be tolerated if the tables were turned and Americans were being subjected to Iranian-funded covert actions that took the lives of Americans, on American soil, and destroyed American property and livelihood. Many Americans remain unaware of what is transpiring abroad in their name.
Many of those who are cognizant of these activities are supportive of them, an outgrowth of misguided sentiment which holds Iran accountable for a list of grievances used by the U.S. government to justify the ongoing global war on terror. Iran, we are told, is not just a nation pursuing nuclear weapons, but is the largest state sponsor of terror in the world today.
Much of the information behind this is being promulgated by Israel, which has a vested interest in seeing Iran neutralized as a potential threat. But Israel is joined by another source, even more puzzling in terms of its broad-based acceptance in the world of American journalism: the Mujahadeen-e Khalk, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group sworn to overthrow the theocracy in Tehran. The CIA today provides material support to the actions of the MEK inside Iran. The recent spate of explosions in Iran, including a particularly devastating “accident” involving a military convoy transporting ammunition in downtown Tehran, appears to be linked to an MEK operation; its agents working inside munitions manufacturing plants deliberately are committing acts of sabotage which lead to such explosions. If CIA money and planning support are behind these actions, the agency’s backing constitutes nothing less than an act of war on the part of the United States against Iran.
Another Record Profit for Exxon
Stories
Oil giant Exxon Mobil made a profit of $11.68bn between April and June, breaking its own record for the highest quarterly profit by a US company.
The 14% rise in profit was thanks to the surge in crude oil prices, which were almost double the price they were in the same period a year earlier.
But profits disappointed investors, who sent Exxon’s share price down 3%.
Profit growth was dented by declines in production, reduced demand for petrol and lower margins on refining.
Sales of petrol and related products fell from the year before because of lower demand, the firm said.
Production disruption
Crude production declined 8% in the quarter, partly due to disruption in Venezuela and Nigeria.
“They are spending $25bn a year on exploration4, and they are not even breaking even now in terms of production growth,” said Gene Pisasale of PNC Capital Advisors.
During the quarter, Exxon also took a charge of $290m related to a penalty imposed on the firm for its role in Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster.
Last month, the US Supreme Court ruled that the $2.5bn (£1.25bn) fine initially imposed would be cut to $500m.
Exxon Mobil won the right to appeal against the damages bill for the 1989 Alaskan oil spill after arguing the initial penalty was excessive.
Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre Spotted in Venice Beach Drinking Wheatgrass Shots at Herer's Hemp Stand
Boston Red Sox, Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny RamirezManny Ramirez brings bat and baggage to Los Angeles Dodgers
In the biggest late-season acquisition in club history, the Dodgers acquire power-hitting left fielder from the Boston Red Sox. They’re counting on him to carry them into October.
Bill Plaschke
August 1, 2008
He will arrive at Dodger Stadium today lugging 510 career home runs inside 510 pounds of baggage.
He will take his place in the middle of the Dodger batting order tonight as one of baseball’s biggest hitters and most baffling headaches.
In the biggest late-season acquisition in club history, the Dodgers acquired left fielder Manny Ramirez on Thursday from the Boston Red Sox and Mars.
They are counting on him to carry them into October and beyond.
Just as soon as they can find him.
Three hours after the trade, Ned Colletti, Dodger general manager, was asked whether he had spoken to Ramirez.
“I left him a message,” said Colletti.
Four hours after the trade, Dodger Manager Joe Torre was asked whether he had spoken to Ramirez.
“I left him a message,” said Torre.
Days after the Angels grabbed the national sports spotlight by trading for quiet slugger Mark Teixeira, the Dodgers have thrown a massive counterpunch by acquiring a guy who is part Hollywood and part Dagwood.
A guy who occasionally swings like Babe Ruth and is consistently as nutty as a Baby Ruth.
The only thing that flops around more than his trademark dreadlocks are his moods.
Nobody in baseball history has hit more postseason homers — 24 — yet when the 2007 world champion Red Sox visited the White House, Ramirez didn’t show up.
“I guess his grandmother died again,” President Bush said at the time. “Just kidding.”
Perhaps nobody in baseball history has performed better in a more pressure-filled World Series, as he was the MVP of the 2004 Series that broke the Red Sox’s 86-year title drought.
Yet a couple of weeks ago, during a sixth-inning pitching change at Fenway Park, he momentarily departed left field to make a cellphone call.
The Red Sox have long shrugged off such behavior as “Manny being Manny.”
But recently, with Ramirez ripping club executives in preparation for his probable departure as a free agent this winter, the Red Sox finally decided Manny could be Manny somewhere else.
Officially, the Dodgers acquired Ramirez in a three-team trade that cost them third-base prospect Andy LaRoche and pitcher Bryan Morris, who worked in class-A.
Unofficially, it doesn’t take a Laker fan to understand that they were given a gift the size of Pau Gasol.
Neither Dodger kid was considered a top prospect,
and the Red Sox agreed to pay the remainder of Ramirez’s $21-million annual salary, about $7 million.
“It’s crazy,” said Torre. “This is a huge ‘get’ for us.”
It is actually two “gets” for the price of none.
They do not have to pay someone who immediately becomes their best hitter. And, because of his impending free agency, they are not obligated to tolerate his nutty behavior beyond this season.
He is probably here only for two months, but with a swing that is as unshakable as his smile, he is capable of carrying the Dodgers every day of those two months.
“Three months,” corrected Dodger owner Frank McCourt, adding a month for the playoffs and World Series. “We’re going to have a great three months of baseball.”
It was Boston native McCourt who pushed for this deal Thursday morning, just hours before the trading deadline, when he realized that the Red Sox were truly serious about dealing their recurring headache.
In the weak National League West, one hitter could elevate his pitching-rich team to the top. And amid the inexperienced National League teams that will make the playoffs, one hitter could provide the postseason difference.
Ramirez, even at age 36, is still clearly that hitter, leading the Red Sox with 20 home runs and ranking second with 68 RBIs at the time of the trade.
“This team has hung in there all season with all these injuries. This is about giving them a chance to go for it,” said McCourt. “This is about paying back our loyal fans and rewarding our hard-working team.”
The fans will get it, and were already loudly cheering just the scoreboard announcement of the trade Thursday night.
The clubhouse may be a more difficult sell, particularly because Ramirez not only creates distractions, but a total of five potential starting outfielders.
“This is why we have a guy like Joe Torre as manager,” said McCourt.
Indeed, other than the Red Sox’s Terry Francona, probably the only other current major league manager who can handle Ramirez is Torre, who constantly dealt with wacky late-season acquisitions with the New York Yankees.
Torre, who was constantly haunted by Ramirez during the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry, said, “It’s funny, but I did everything I could not to have to see him again, and all of a sudden he’s showing up in the uniform I’m wearing.”
He smiled. “It’s pretty special.”
Pretty strange. Pretty, yeah, pretty special.
Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.
The New York Herald Sun 