Tullycast

Comedian Bernie Mack is Dead at Age 50

Stories
August 9, 2008
The NEW YORK TIMES

Bernie Mac Is Dead, Publicist Says

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:28 a.m. ET

CHICAGO (AP) — A publicist says Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor and comedian Bernie Mac has died at age 50.

Publicist Danica Smith says Bernie Mac died early Saturday at a hospital in the Chicago area of complications due to pneumonia.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, but he had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently had been hospitalized and treated for pneumonia.

Mac had starring roles in “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Bad Santa,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “Transformers.”

The comedian drew critical and popular acclaim with his Fox television series “The Bernie Mac Show,” which aired more than 100 episodes from 2001 to 2006.

Citicorp and Merrill Lynch Buy Back $17 Billion in Bunk Securities

Stories
August 7, 2008

2 Banks Will Buy Back $17 Billion in Securities

By ERIC DASH
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Two Wall Street giants agreed on Thursday to buy back more than $17 billion of auction-rate securities that were improperly sold to retail customers, likely paving the way for other banks and brokerage firms to take similar actions.

Citigroup reached a settlement Thursday morning with state and federal regulators, agreeing to buy back about $7.3 billion of auction-rate securities that it sold to retail customers and pay a $100 million fine for its conduct.

Merrill Lynch said it would buy back about $10 billion in auction-rate investments that it sold to retail investors, a move that gets ahead of regulators investigating the company.

Neither firm agreed to reimburse institutional investors, though both said they were trying to resolve similar problems with those customers.

Regulators have been investigating at least a dozen Wall Street firms for their role in the sales and marketing of so-called auction-rate investments, and analysts expect a wave of settlements in the next few months.

Bank of America, the largest retail bank, said Thursday that it had also received subpoenas from federal and state regulators related to sales of auction-rate securities. The investments are preferred shares or debt instruments with rates that reset regularly, usually every week, in auctions overseen by the brokerage firms that originally sold them.

The $300 billion market for the investments collapsed in February, trapping investors who had been told that the securities were safe and easy to cash in.

Citigroup’s settlement with state and federal regulators included a fine of as much as $100 million.

In a statement, the New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo said that Citigroup would buy back, by Nov. 5. auction-rate securities from individual investors, charities and small- and mid-sized businesses. These customers, about 40,000 nationwide, have been unable to sell their securities since Feb. 12, the statement said.

In a similar case in Massachusetts, Morgan Stanley reached an agreement with the attorney’s general office on Thursday to reimburse the cities of New Bedford and Hopkinton $1.5 million for the investments in the securities, the Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley said in a statement.

As part of the settlement, Citigroup agreed to a public arbitration process to resolve claims of consequential damages suffered by retail investors.

The bank, one of Wall Street’s biggest auction-rate securities dealers, will pay the $100 million to the New York attorney general’s office and a task force of 12 state regulators, led by the Texas State Securities Board. Each group would exact a $50 million penalty.

The federal Securities and Exchange Commission also participated in the settlement talks but elected not to exact a penalty, pending its own investigation.

The settlement follows several days of meetings between Citigroup and the state and federal regulators, and reflects Citigroup’s desire to put its auction-rate securities troubles behind it.

Thursday’s settlement has implications for other Wall Street firms, with the Citigroup deal serving as a benchmark for the industry. Two other banks, UBS and Merrill Lynch, are under investigation by several groups of regulators. But unlike Citigroup, UBS faces additional accusations that at least one of its executives engaged in insider trading.

Citigroup shares were down about 3.5 percent Thursday; Morgan Stanley shares were down less than one percent.

Jenny Anderson contributed reporting.

Hail To The Redskins at the Pro Football Hall Of Fame

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“Hail To The Redskins- Hail Victory….

Braves On The Warpath- Fight For Old D.C.!“

A Class Reunion in Canton

Partisan Crowd Cheers Monk, Green On Induction Day

By Mike Wise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 3, 2008; D01

CANTON, Ohio, Aug. 2 — They came from the District and beyond to see them. Way beyond. Some of the pilgrimages began in Orange County, Calif., and others in Murphy, N.C., where a white-haired couple began driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains some nine hours earlier.

“After all the memories, we had to see them go in,” Bill Garrod said as his wife, Nancy, nodded in agreement, hours before Art Monk and Darrell Green were to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.

And the moment the last Class of 2008 inductee took the stage, their patience was rewarded for those $4 gallons of gas and hours on sweltering freeways — just as Monk’s patience the past eight years was rewarded.

For 4 minutes 4 seconds before Monk spoke — an applause lasting nearly three times as long as that for any other honoree — the steadiest and most reliable wide receiver to play pro football in Washington took in the chants, smiles and unconditional love heaped upon him.

“Thank you, thank you,” Monk kept saying, happily unable to quiet the applause from the announced crowd of 16,654 at Fawcett Stadium, about 15,000 of whom wore burgundy and gold.

Green had spoken nearly an hour earlier, drawing a monstrous ovation as fireworks cascaded behind him. He was the third inductee to be honored and the first Redskin introduced.

Bill Garrod wore one of those Super Bowl T-shirts with the caricatured mugs of Redskins players from another era. There was Charles Mann, Earnest Byner, Ricky Sanders and, of course, the ebullient and grinning Green. Bill spoke of seeing Eddie LeBaron play at Griffith Stadium in the 1950s the way others spoke of the magic and majesty of RFK in the 1980s and early 1990s.

They overwhelmed this lush, northeastern Ohio town about an hour south of Cleveland with numbers and passion, thousands of fans clad in burgundy and gold hats, jerseys, assorted paraphernalia and, yes, Halloween masks. They dwarfed other Hall of Fame inductees’ fans, transforming Canton into a rollicking yet respectful RFK tailgate.

Soon after the national anthem, 2007 inductee Michael Irvin took the podium and was booed long and lustily, as if the former Dallas Cowboys wideout were still standing across the line of scrimmage from Green. According to NFL broadcaster and former coach Steve Mariucci, the crowd was “95 percent Washington Redskin jerseys!”

The fans’ journey to the cradle of professional football to pay homage to Monk and Green began less in a place than a time, when the Redskins were frequently atop the NFL, led by groups of men nicknamed the Fun Bunch and the Hogs. Among the most skilled were Green, the loquacious, lightning-quick cornerback who played longer for the Redskins than any player, and Monk, the sure-handed wide receiver who let his solid play speak for him.

Monk and Green were enshrined with former New England Patriots linebacker Andre Tippett; Gary Zimmerman, an offensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos; Fred Dean, the pass-rushing demon of the San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers; and Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Emmitt Thomas, who also mentored Green and Monk for eight seasons as a Redskins assistant.

Monk’s selection in February to Canton was the culmination of a rejection process that went on for almost a decade, as other, more showy wide receivers and less-accomplished players received enough votes for enshrinement. Monk resigned himself to being known as the durable yet often unspectacular pro, the guy who did not have enough go-long highlights to impress a suddenly pass-happy league.

Never mind Monk held the NFL’s career record for receptions for two years, had five seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards and that he caught seven passes for 113 yards in Super Bowl XXVI. For seven years, it didn’t matter.

“I think the first year was probably the worst, because there was so much anticipation from my community, all the fans, just saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got it made, you’re a shoo-in,’ ” Monk said Friday during an interview session. “And when you start hearing that and you start believing it and when it didn’t happen, it was a disappointment.”

“It’s taken eight years,” Monk added. “But regardless of how long it’s taken, it’s good to be here.”

Green’s induction came almost as quickly as the blinding speed of the player four times named the NFL’s fastest man. He was enshrined the first year he was eligible.

Before every split time was news at an NFL combine and every team had an army of strength and speed coaches, Green once ran a 40-yard dash in an unheard-of time of 4.17 seconds.

He played 20 years with the Redskins, an NFL record for years spent with one team equaled only by former Rams offensive lineman Jackie Slater. Monk’s 295 games with Washington remains a milestone for a player with one team in one city. His seven Pro Bowl selections were buttressed by 54 career interceptions.

The fans who invaded Canton this weekend all had their favorite Green and Monk moments, ranging from Green’s spectacular punt return against the Chicago Bears in a 1988 playoff game — he winced in pain from a rib injury as he crossed the goal line — to Monk’s record-setting reception against the Denver Broncos at RFK Stadium on “Monday Night Football” in 1992, after which Monk’s teammates interrupted the game to carry him on their shoulders.

“So I guess that would be the most memorable for me,” Monk said.

A Los Angeles Rams fan, standing near Redskins fans, volunteered he had never imagined Eric Dickerson being caught from behind by any player in his prime, but that he remembered Green tracking down the tailback and dragging him to the ground.

Dan Bee, who came from Orange County, Calif., with his wife, Stephanie, said the play that sticks in his mind is Green knocking away a pass against the Minnesota Vikings on fourth down near the goal line at the end of a playoff game, sending the Redskins to Super Bowl XXII in 1988.

Keith McCoy and David Sutherland, both 24 and best friends growing up in Northern Virginia, simply remember attending Monk’s camp four straight summers, how gracious the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver was to impressionable youths like themselves. “He signed autographs, took pictures, talked to us, everything,” McCoy said.

Monk was presented by his son, James Arthur Monk Jr. Green’s presenter was also his son, Jared, whom he and his wife were going to name Darrell Green Jr. before changing their minds a month before he was born.

“I’m so grateful because he’s his own man,” Green said. “I’m more proud of my son being my son than I am being in the Hall of Fame.”

Inside the Hall of Fame, through the maze of exhibits and grainy NFL Films, thousands more burgundy-and-gold-clad people made their way to the bronzed-bust room, where they snapped photos of Joe Gibbs’s likeness. This, too, was part of the journey to pro football’s Mecca. For this day, they wouldn’t be anywhere else.

I Don’t Think You’re Acting Right You Don’t Think It’s Showing…

Stories

I don’t think you’re acting right

You don’t think it’s showing…

Joseph Walsh Kicking Rear-End

Yankee Slugger Bobby Murcer's Life Celebrated in Oklahoma

Stories
By Bob Hersom
Staff Writer
NEWS OK DOT COM

EDMOND – “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.”

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.

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.

Continue reading →

Another Record Profit for Exxon

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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.

After Eighteen Months, The F.C.C. Approves Sirius/XM Merger

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CNET

Posted by Steven Musil

Updated at 4:45 p.m. PDT to clarify that portable receivers are capable of receiving live program signals.

The marriage of satellite radio providers Sirius and XM has finally received the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission on Friday. Now we can all finally get the game we want.

For many prospective customers, a key sticking point was the different selections of sports programming offered exclusively by each provider. A few years back, I wanted to make a present of a Sirius subscription to a friend who spends a lot of time driving around Northern California, especially in places that don’t get AM/FM signals. After sampling XM and Sirius’ music selections, I knew that she would enjoy the Sirius offerings over the XM offerings. But XM broadcasts more games of the sports she enjoyed–just not all of them. There really wasn’t a clear winner. So, to keep from saddling her with the wrong or incomplete service, I opted against the gift. Basically, the lack of a comprehensive offering cost the industry a customer.

I suspect that this was a dilemma faced by many listeners who were in search of more than their local radio stations could offer. But the merger means that listeners will be able to choose from a menu to add programming a la carte. For subscribers, this is a big win in programming. You can also bet that the prospect of replacing existing receivers will irritate early adopters.

Critics, however, will tell you that the merger will result in a monopoly. While the elimination of immediate industry competition will create a de facto monopoly, satellite radio is not the only source of music, talk, or sports broadcasting available to consumers. People are getting their music from many sources today. Besides satellite radio, people are finding their favorite tunes on Internet radio, MP3 players, music-playing cell phones and even traditional terrestrial radio.

To tell the truth, I don’t listen to terrestrial radio, or traditional free radio, much anymore, unless there is a game I can’t get on television. Indeed, “free radio” offers one of the more exciting and attractive music options in the form of HD radio. Unfortunately, some four years after HD radio hit airwaves, consumers have not embraced the new format, which ultimately suffers in comparison with satellite radio because of its limited range. If I weren’t so pleased with Sirius’ music programming and the fact that it’s offered as part of my Dish subscription, I would probably spring for an HD receiver to plug into my A/V home receiver. But I keep waiting for an affordable A/V receiver to come on the market that has HD radio built in as part of the tuner. When that happens, expect home satellite subscriptions to wane a little.

(Disclosure: I listen to music-only Sirius at home via Dish Network and a complete subscription in my wife’s car. The only financial interest I have in either company comes in the form of monthly subscription bills.)

You might think that the satellite industry has the upper hand in broadcasting. But while we’re on the topic of things we’re waiting for, let’s look at some of the things the satellite industry can improve. While Sirius now touts portable units as being capable of receiving live signals, many users complain of spotty or poor reception while on the go. Also, while traffic and weather reports for a few metropolitan areas is great, satellite radio can’t provide the same content as local news radio stations, so it would be nice have a portable unit that also gets AM/FM radio stations.

As a prerequisite for FCC approval, the companies agreed to freeze subscription rates for three years. If they try to jack the prices on consumers, expect consumers to change the dial, especially with the wide variety of options that are available to consumers today.

Scrabble-Scrabulous Feud Heats Up

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By Tom Magrino, GameSpot, News.com
Posted on ZDNet News: Jul 25, 2008 5:38:47 AM

It was only a matter of time before the Scrabble-Scrabulous feud came to a head, and that breaking point has now been reached. Hasbro said today that it has filed suit in the Southern District of New York against Rajat Agarwalla, Jayant Agarwalla, and RJ Softwares, better known as the creators of the popular Facebook application Scrabulous. As part of the suit, Hasbro said that it has served Facebook with yet another take-down notice for the application due to copyright infringement.

Though the application has been available since 2006, Hasbro began its crusade to have Scrabulous removed from Facebook earlier this year. The reason for the gamemaker’s sudden ire toward the application, which draws more than 500,000 daily average users, can be attributed to the launch of the official Scrabble online game through EA’s Pogo.com and Facebook this month. Currently, the official Scrabble Facebook application logs just under 20,000 users globally.

“Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties,” commented Hasbro general counsel Barry Nagler. “We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our Scrabble intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the Scrabble brand.”

Hasbro, which signed an exclusive licensing agreement with publishing powerhouse Electronic Arts in August 2007, has begun migrating a number of its prized casual-game properties to the digital gaming sector. Most recently, EA announced this week that Operation Mania–a spin-off of the surgeon-in-training precision puzzle game–will be available through Pogo.com and at retail for the PC beginning in August for $19.95.