Al Sharpton was the guest host on WWE Raw last night and was also seen on the scene holding onto Lisa Raye tighter than a rat-tail comb. Pop the hood for the details.
Al made his debut on WWE last night as a guest host, which adds to his circus resume of recent appearances. Watch this:
As if that wasn’t enough, we also hear that Al has been gallivanting around town with Lisa Raye. Watch the two walking through the airport:
The two recently appeared at Roland Martin’s Congressional Black Caucus party in Washington D.C and were reportedly holding hands and coupled up something serious. As if the thought of those two together wasn’t bad enough, we hear that Al is Lisa’s spiritual adviser and aiding in helping her with her spirituality.
What spirituality would that consist of… chopping down tree backs?
Eight quarterbacks started in the NFC North a year ago. Seven had completion percentages below 60 percent. Six had losing records. Five threw as many or more interceptions as touchdown passes.
The quarterback with the best record in the division last year — the Vikings’ Gus Frerotte (8-3) — is out of football this year. Five others who started games in the division last year are now NFL backups.
Obviously, the NFC North was a division in need of an overhaul at quarterback. It got one via three distinctly different avenues during the offseason. The early results this fall are impressive and suggest the NFC North might just turn out to be the NFL’s best division in 2009.
All four teams won Sunday. Thanks to NFL.com and a Lions media guide that helped locate Detroit’s few-and-far-between victories, it was determined that Week 10 of the 2005 season was the last time that happened.
The combined record of the NFC North was a league-best 8-4 through Sunday. The NFC East was 7-4 before the Cowboys played the Panthers in Dallas on Monday night.
A year ago, the NFC North started 4-8. Of course, a year ago, it didn’t have Brett Favre, Jay Cutler and Matthew Stafford starting alongside Aaron Rodgers, who is back for his second season as a starter in Green Bay.
Rodgers, Cutler, Stafford and Favre represent the four best ways for an NFL team to get better at quarterback: 1, Draft and groom a first-round pick as a backup for three years (Rodgers/Packers); 2, Trade for a disgruntled Pro Bowler in his mid-20s (Cutler/Bears); 3, Be historically horrible and use the No. 1 overall draft pick on a kid with swagger (Stafford/Lions). 4, Beg a future Hall of Famer familiar with your system out of retirement (Favre/Vikings).
Those four paths intersect this week when Detroit visits Chicago on Sunday and the Packers face the Vikings at the Metrodome on Monday night in Favre’s first game against the team with which he spent 16 years building a legend.
"I think everybody in the country will be sitting in front of their TVs Monday night," Jets fullback Tony Richardson, the former Viking, said Monday during a phone interview for an unrelated story. "Brett and I were teammates last year. He’s a friend of mine. In fact, I just texted him (Monday) morning to congratulate him on Sunday’s win. First, he does that, and now it’s Brett Favre vs. the Packers on Monday Night Football. Who won’t be watching?"
Richardson’s congratulatory text referred to Favre’s game-winning 32-yard laser to Greg Lewis in the back of the end zone to beat the 49ers with two seconds left in Sunday’s game.
It was the 43rd fourth-quarter comeback of Favre’s career and his first with the Vikings. Later in the day, Cutler executed his second in two weeks with the Bears to help fans forget about that four-interception loss at Green Bay in Week 1. In the fourth quarter of the Bears’ victories over Pittsburgh and Seattle the past two weeks, Cutler is 12 of 13 for 135 yards and two touchdowns.
"I pride myself in that," Cutler told reporters after his 36-yard touchdown pass to Devin Hester with 1:52 left beat the Seahawks 25-19 in Seattle. "I want the ball in those situations."
Stafford doesn’t have a comeback victory. But he’s a Lions quarterback with a victory. That’s special enough for now.
Rodgers does have a fourth-quarter comeback this season. He opened the year by throwing a 50-yard touchdown to Greg Jennings with 1:11 left to beat the Bears.
He also hasn’t thrown an interception in 148 passes going back to last season. That ranks him third in franchise history behind Hall of Famer Bart Starr (294 in 1964-65) and — believe it or not — Favre (163 in 2001-02).
It’s possible Rodgers could move past Favre while playing against Favre. Asked about their upcoming meeting following Sunday’s victory in St. Louis, Rodgers quickly clammed up, clearly wanting no part of the public discussion about the game.
Today is National Coffee day... now that should wake you up, that is if you had a fresh cup this morning. Ahhh, waking up, now that is a blessing in itself! Every time we get the chance to wake up, we are also given the chance to start "fresh" again. Yes, life is a wonderful gift and we need to realize that fact. To be able to start "fresh" again, is also another gift that we should take advantage of! Hey not everything in life offers us a second chance, so when life gives you that opportunity, then we need to take action on that fact!
Now coffee, is an interesting fruit. Yes, the bean of the coffee is the "fruit" of the coffee plant. Coffee, depending on where you live in the world, varies some on how it is brewed and drank. In our country, the great USA, the coffee maker is probably the most widely used apparatus to make coffee. In other parts of the world, and one of the original ways to brew coffee was the "Turkish" method, using the "Ibrik". The Turkish method pulverizes the coffee bean and the coffee is then almost like a talcum powder... very fine.
Personally, the "French coffee press" is the method that I have used for over 20 years. This type of coffee maker is based on the "infusion" process, which produces a more full bodied flavor of coffee. It is quite easy to use and is a more pure way of drinking your favorite hot beverage.
In the past we have covered a cookie recipe, my "Maui Wowies", which has some "Hawaiian" coffee in the recipe. Then we covered another coffee treat, my "Maui Wowie cookie" ice cream sundae, which has two coffee treats... the cookie base and some coffee ice cream on top! Now that is tasty! Other recipes are created using coffee, too... everything from coffee infused b-b-q sauces, coffee crust beef recipes to just a bunch of good coffee drink recipes.
So spend some time exploring all of these great coffee links above and do so while enjoying your favorite coffee treat. Hey we have to thank "Starbucks" for bringing coffee to the masses, before Starbucks, instant coffee was the most popular coffee in the U.S.A.
O.K. it is Tuesday, you should be out of "take-off" mode and you should be reaching "cruising" altitude. Not that you just want to cruise through the week, but it is good to be "off of the ground"! We are the only ones in control of what happens to us. Sure, there are many obstacles or "challenges" that get in our way as we are traveling down the road of life, but it is how we react to those challenges that determines our outcomes! Remember that if you tackle one moment at a time and not worry about the past or the future, (well plan for the future) you will realize it is easier to work on the moment and not a bunch of moments all at once! The only real thing that we have control of... is this actual moment, right NOW!
So on that note, we will keep on truckin' and let's close with the words of Jerry Garcia... "Truckin' like the doo dah man"...
The pouty rebellious rocker teen of Ozzy Osbourne from that MTV reality show transformed herself into a lady – at least for “Dancing With the Stars.”
Kelly Osbourne (with her loving parents watching) actually did a respectably elegant Viennese Waltz. “That was the most fun I ever had,” she said. She will certainly be around awhile given her fan base and her surprising skill.
Quirky bird:Macy Gray. She is not much of a dancer and her goofy facial expressions are distracting. Yes she’s oddly fun to watch given how she embodies eccentricity.
Sexy bird: Mya. She may have not done a proper Viennese Waltz and peeved Len Berman (a three point discrepancy from the other judges, which almost never happens). But who cares? She can dance – and look hot doing so.
Lame bird: Kathy Ireland is a likely goner. She had zero hip action for the salsa. Her lack of athleticism really showed.
Not so magical bird: Melissa Joan Hart has some potential but she was fairly forgettable.
Who bird? No clue who Joanna Krupa is but she has some slinky skills. Debi Mazar is an actor with only a few minor bonafides and may also fall through the cracks if Ireland survives.
And how did “Centerfold” become a song to do a cha cha?
Principal filming for the made-in-Boston spy flick “Wichita,” starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Maggie Grace and Marc Blucas, kicked off on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the WorcesterRegionalAirport.
The film’s code name indicated by the yellow production signs plastered all over Worcester? Zephyr.
In preparation for the shoot, set designers transformed the locale to act as stand-in for the WichitaAirport. The film’s prop team received 40 copies of a Kansas paper, The Wichita Eagle, and 25 guides from the Wichita Convention & Visitors Bureau. Also, crews built a gift shop, a transportation security inspection area and a bar. The set will be torn down after the four-day shoot.
According to one tipster, security is extremely tight on set. “There’s a lot of activity at the base camp and the airport location,” says a Loaded Gun Boston reader in Worcester. “The airport police have the entrance to the airport closed and there are ‘no parking’ signs are up all along the road, so no one will park there.”
The source continues, “I’m also listening to the airport police on the radio and they’re turning around all spectators from the area.”
The soon-to-be-renamed “Wichita” follows Cruise as a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of single woman played by Diaz.
On Monday, Sept. 21, crews are filming all day in a desolate area of Somerville located on Windsor Street between South and Water seen here.
Meanwhile, production is hashing out an elaborate crash scene where a commercial 727 airliner skids into a Cumberland Farms cornfield near Curve Street in Bridgewater. Scheduled to shoot Thursday, Sept. 24 and Friday, Sept. 25, the scene depicts the aftermath of plane crash in a fictional Indiana locale.
Jordan Lloyd was hand out the USD 500,000 as big prize money on “Big Brother 11finale”
The beautiful Twenty Two years old waitress as of Matthews, N.C., had beaten NatalieMartinez, the wily Twenty Four years old new collage graduate on Big Brother season 11 finale of the reality show. Jordan Lloyd got 5 votes from the show’s 7 member jury, which incorporated viewer votes as the tie-breaking 7th pick for the 1st time in the Big Brother Season.
Jordan Lloyd, who exhausted most of the season allied with & lovingly linked to charming thirty one year old publicity salesman Jeff Schroeder, overcome Kevin Campbell, the cunning twenty nine year old explicit designer from Chula Vista, in the previous round of a 3-part Head of family circle competition, which allow her to choose Martinez to fight against for votes.
So what is she going away to do with the moolah.
“Put a downward payment on a house for me, my mom & my brother,” she said.
The live 2-hour finale also characteristic the jury’s grilling of the final 2 & a reunion of the “Big Brother” cast — apart from for Chima Simone, the thirty three year-old temporary journalist who was barred after throw a microphone into a whirlpool hot tub. Because Simone wasn’t part of the jury; audience cast the possibly tie-breaking 7 vote for Lloyd. We wish good luck for Jordan Lloyd. And feels that she is the right candidate to get this crown of Big Brother Season 11 Finale. Check out the winner announcement and interview with houseguest Jordan Lloyd from CBS Big Brother.
Top seed Roger Federer failed to prove his mettle in the US Open final and lost to Juan Del Potro. Federer's defeat shattered his dream to become the first man in modern history to win six straight trophies at the same event
Fulfilling his dream, 20-year-old Potro disturbed Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to pick up the US Open title on Monday.
Potro, the sixth seeded Argentine, stopped top seed Federer from claiming the trophy. Federer tried his best to keep Del Potro away from the title, but the Argentine failed all his tricks to comeback in the game and won the finals.
He thwarted Federer to become the first man in modern history to win six straight trophies at the same event.
Potro has become the first Argentine since Guillermo Vilas to win the coveted title.
With the Jackson family looking on from the audience, Janet Jackson kicked off the 2009 Video Music Awards with a tribute to her brother, Michael. Before Janet took the stage however, Madonna emerged on the darkened stage to reminisce about her experience knowing Michael, drawing comparisons between their difficult childhoods and the King of Pop’s everlasting impact on music.
“There is no question Michael Jackson was one of the greatest talents the world has ever known,” Madonna said to a standing ovation. “We allowed this magnificent creature that once set the world on fire to slip through the cracks… He was so unique, so original, so rare and there will never be anyone like him again. He was a king.”
After Madonna concluded her tribute, the MJ performance began with a pack of dancers streaming onto the stage to reenact the famed “Thriller” dance while the song’s classic video projected on the giant screen. According to reports, dancers, choreographers and Janet herself were involved in hours of intense rehearsals in preparation for the tribute to an artist who helped put MTV on the map. “Bad” and “Smooth Criminal” next featured in the dancers’ compilation of Michael’s most memorable moves, with the performers all donning some of Jackson’s trademark outfits.
Then, as the opening notes of Jackson’s collaboration with his sister “Scream” played over the speakers, Janet Jackson smashed through the set to recreate her duet with her brother. The performance was meticulously coordinated, with the siblings dancing in unison; Janet on the stage, Michael on the screen. Cris Judd, a.k.a. Jennifer Lopez’s ex-husband, and Tina Landon, Janet’s longtime choreographer, were among the dancers who joined Janet for the performance that was a moving moment and a fitting way to start the evening.
Q. To the best of your knowledge, what did you say to the lineswoman out there?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I said something that I guess they gave me a point penalty. Unfortunately it was on match point.
Q. What did you say?
SERENA WILLIAMS: What did I say? You didn't hear? Oh.
Q. What is your consideration of what the linesperson did? Obviously you had a problem with it.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, yeah. Clearly just ‑‑ in all year I don't ‑‑ I've never been foot faulted, and then suddenly in this tournament they keep calling foot faults.
I'm not saying I don't, but like ‑‑ I don't know. You know, I'm not going to sit here and make an excuse. If I foot fault, I did. It was what it was, and that's basically all it was.
Q. Do you think that the lineswoman had any reason to feel threatened? Apparently she says she felt threatened.
SERENA WILLIAMS: She says she felt threatened? She said this to you?
Q. I'm just repeating what has been said that she told the chair umpire.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I've never been in a fight in my whole life, so I don't know why she would have felt threatened.
Q. Is it your impression that the chair umpire called her to get her side of it, or did she volunteer her side of it to the chair umpire?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I think she volunteered and went over there and said some things. I don't know. I wasn't there. I was getting ready for the next point.
Q. How devastated are you that a match of this caliber had to end that way?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, you know, I'm just clearly not happy, but it was ‑‑ I don't know. Like, I mean, obviously I wanted to fight.
I always fight when I'm down and keep going. I planned on hitting a couple of aces, but I guess it didn't work out.
Q. Kim looked absolutely stricken, too.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I don't think she understood maybe. I don't think she actually understood it was a point penalty, which meant that I lost that point, which meant that I lost the match.
So that was kind of the whole thing. And I think maybe the umpire should have said something.
Q. Did you say something to the umpire to be misconstrued as a threat? Did you say something to the linesperson that could be construed as a threat?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I didn't threaten. I didn't say ‑‑ I don't remember anymore, to be honest. I was in the moment. And, you know, everyone's fighting for every point. It was a really crucial point, 15‑30, actually.
And, you know, at that point you just kind of keep going.
Q. Did you realize when the linesperson went to the net and went to the chair umpire that you already had the violation from the first set and that this could mean a point penalty in the end of the match?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I didn't think I would get a point penalty. I didn't think about it. So, you know, I've been more positive on the court lately.
You know, today was a tough day. I didn't play my best. I kind of felt like I had more errors today I think than all my matches combined.
And it was just ‑‑ it was just really tough for me out there.
Q. What degree do you think this taints defeat?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I don't think it does. I think that Kim played really well, and I think she came out with a really big plan. I think that, you know, the next time we play I'll know a little bit more about her game, what to expect, and, you know, what to do.
Q. Do you regret losing your temper though both after the first set and after the foot fault?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I haven't really thought about it to have any regrets. I try to ‑‑ I've done ‑‑ you know, I try not to live my life saying, I wish, I wish. But, you know, I was out there and I fought and I tried and I did my best.
Q. To what extent do you think maybe the weather and maybe uncertainty of the matches contributed to you maybe losing your temper?
SERENA WILLIAMS: What? That's like the craziest question I ever heard. Weather make you lose your temper? Usually if it's hot you lose your temper, not when it's cold. Come on.
Q. Did it affect your focus?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, it didn't necessarily affect my focus. I'm a really, really intense player, and I always have been. I mean, my idol is John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova, so ‑‑ and Monica Seles, actually. It's kind of a big mixture.
But I just am a really intense person, and I give 200% in everything I do, whether I'm playing tennis or whether I am doing something else. I just go for it.
Q. You've always prided yourself on being an extremely forthright player, and with us here in the press room. Could you tell us what you said on court, please?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think that's necessary for me to speak about that. I've let it go, and I'm trying to better ‑‑ to, you know, to get ‑‑ to move on.
Q. On court it was picked up where you said, I would never say such‑and‑such to you.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Because I think she said I would kill you, and I was like, What? I was like, Wait a minute.
But then I had misheard. She had never said that. So that was just something ‑‑ I was like, Whoa. Because I was like, Wait a minute. Let's not ‑‑ because I'm not that way. So.
She was like, No, I didn't say that. She said something else. I said, Oh, okay. I get it. And I was totally fine, because at that point I realized I got a point penalty and it was match point.
What can I do? I'm not going to complain. It was what it was.
Q. What did she say you said?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. Like I said, I wasn't there. I was actually at the baseline preparing my serve, and I think maybe she went to the umpire at that point. Actually I didn't even see her walk over to the umpire, so I have no idea what she did.
Q. Are you surprised what a high level Kim plays after being out of the game for two and a half years? You know her from before.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, no, I think that ‑‑ I mean, I wasn't surprised, because I saw her play I think in Cincinnati, and she played incredible. I thought, wow, you know, this is someone to watch out for.
I think it's really good to have her back on the tour. Maybe we can get together and have some calming lessons.
Q. Kim seemed not to want the match to end that way. What did she say to you when you went up to shake hands?
SERENA WILLIAMS: She said she was sorry, and I was like, it wasn't her fault. It was just a point penalty, just at a bad time, basically.
So I just said, Good luck.
Q. What did Venus have to say for you after the match?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, you know, I don't ‑‑ that was between me and V.
Q. Do you feel like others have been more angry in tennis matches and not lost them on a code violation?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Absolutely. You know, I'm not ‑‑ I feel like there's been ‑‑ you know, I was watching lots of matches just because of all the rain coverage. There have been a lot of things out there, a lot of arguments in the past. And, you know, they unfortunately ‑‑ well, fortunately didn't lose the match.
But, you know, I just ‑‑ like I said, you know, things always ‑‑ I don't know. It's fine. I'm moving on.
Q. How will you look back on this, Serena? How will you look back on this match and the way it ended?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Um, I haven't had a chance to think about it. I feel that I could have played better again. I feel that Kim played an incredible match, and, you know, she definitely came out with a plan. I'm glad I got a chance to play, because now I know what to expect and what to do and what to work on.
I think there's so many things that I can do on the court to actually do better, so that's why I can think about what I can do better and learn from it, which I think is actually exciting.
Q. Just to follow on this, how much of your body language on the court, you know, played a part in her thinking otherwise on what happened out there today?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Honestly, I don't understand your question, and I'm sorry. I just didn't... I couldn't relate to it.
Q. Let me ask the question like this: If you were to do anything different than what happened out on the court, what would you do?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I think I would come to the net a little bit more. I think I didn't play aggressive enough tennis, and I would try not to make any errors. I didn't ‑‑ I wasn't at my A game or B game today, so that's what I would do different.
Q. Your book talks so much about how you've learned from different experiences and really advanced your life. Aside from the X and is Os of strokes, what do you think you'll learn from this situation?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I think that I'll learn that, you know, it pays to always play your best and always be your best and always act your best no matter what.
And I think that I'm, you know, I'm young and I feel like in life everyone has to have experience that they take and that they learn from, and I think that's great that I have an opportunity to still be physically fit to go several more years and learn from the past.
I like to learn from the past, live in the present, and not make the same mistakes in the future.
Q. Who actually informed you? Was it the umpire who informed you of the point penalty?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, it was ‑‑ is it ‑‑ it was Brian Earley who said I had a point penalty. I was like, Okay, wait. That means the match. And so it was him that informed me.
Q. Do you think it was an unfair decision apart from when it happened?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Um, the system ‑‑ the system goes if you have a code violation, then I guess the next one ‑‑ well, usually goes warning, then ‑‑ I don't know. Whatever.
So I guess I was at the next stage, and I just think it was at a bad time.
Q. You seemed to let go very quickly right after the match. Being the last point, match point, does that have anything to do with if it wasn't the match point you still would have been able to let go of it so quickly? That was pretty impressive when you think about it.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Absolutely. And I appreciate you saying that. But if I ‑‑ you know, it was a situation where ‑‑ I lost my train of thought. Can you repeat that question?
Q. You were able to let go of the emotions. You're very calm now. It was, Hey, you know, you lost.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I try to be really professional. I think Kim played a wonderful match, and I think I played good, too. I think I could have played better, and I actually feel like I can go home and I can actually do better, which I'm really excited about.
There's someone out there that makes me want to go home and makes me want to work out and makes me want to run and do better. I can't wait to do that. I think that when I was down, you know, what was I ‑‑ I'm not the beggar, like, Please, please, let me have another chance, because it was the rules, and I play by the rules.
If I get hit, I say I got hit, you know. I play by the rules. That's what it was.
Q. How do you think Kim is playing in comparison to how she played before she retired?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I, um, live in the moment a little too much. I don't quite remember how she played before she retired, but I think now she's playing incredible. I remember her being a wonderful mover, and she's moving really well now, as well. So I think she's ‑‑ I don't know.
Q. Do you think the lineswoman deserves an apology?
SERENA WILLIAMS: An apology for?
Q. From you.
SERENA WILLIAMS: From me?
Q. For the yelling and what you said.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, how many people yell at lines people? So I think, you know, if you look at ‑‑ I don't know. All the people that, you know, kind of yell at lines people, I think it's ‑‑ kind of comes sometimes. Players, athletes get frustrated. I don't know how many times I've seen that happen.
Q. How does this compare to seeing the tiebreaker count get lost at Wimbledon?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, this is no comparison to that. That was completely absurd. It wasn't Venus at fault at all. This was a point where I had a point penalty just on match point.
Q. If you could say something now to that linesperson, what would you say now that you've calmed down and had a chance to think about what happened?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, yeah, I haven't quite thought about that yet, and, you know, maybe I'll see her.
Q. Have you ever had a point penalty before?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Um, I'm not quite sure. Have I, do you think?
I used to have a real temper, and I've gotten a lot better. So I know you don't believe me, but I used to be worse. Yes, yes, indeed.
Q. How many times were you called for a foot fault during this tournament?
SERENA WILLIAMS: A lot. I mean, compared to all year? A lot. I haven't been called for a foot fault all year until I got to New York, so maybe when I come to this tournament I have to step two feet back.
Q. Would you be interested to see if you actually foot faulted?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm pretty sure I did. If she called a foot fault, she must have seen a foot fault. I mean, she was doing her job. I'm not going to knock her for not doing her job.
Kim Clijsters is through to the final courtesy Serena Williams’ Foot-Fault. The Defending Champion Serena Williams’ Foot-Fault code violation blew her away that followed earlier unforced error whereby she smashed her racket violently.What a bizarre and weird exit is this for Serena Williams from an event like U.S. Open especially when she’s only a match point away from reaching yet another final. Serena should certainly have felt wasted when she earlier lost the first set for outburst of frustration in the shape of smashing racket. The under pressure Serena knew she was under deficit of a set already and Kim Clijsters was still ahead in the second set with 6-5, Williams received a call for a foot fault, while delivering second serve. Technically speaking it’s called a ‘Double Fault.’ What else then, it produced what at least her opponent didn’t ever expect at that point: ‘A Match Point for Kik Clijsters.’ The end result was 6-4 & 7-5 victory. The disaster followed afterwards when Serena walked over to the unidentified linesman (so far no details from the USGA about the female) angrily, posed her racket attackingly, pushed a ball in her direction and worst of all, showed indecent behavior by muttering abuses twice. Serena’s behavior spread dismay among her fans and all the viewers as well as USGA authorities who must have noticed it all. Instead of her outpour with linesman, the umpire would have been a best choice to consult who could reconsider the issue prior delivering his/her ultimate say. The call of foot-fault could be turned down had she shown some professional behavior where she had nothing to loose by then at least. The chair umpire Louise Engzell was involved then on linesman reporting what she heard Serena saying in her rage. Tournament referee Brian Earley had some talk with both the umpire and the linesman to finally impose a code violation; Unsportsmanlike Conduct. Serena underwent a point automatically which was a match point!
The South Carolina Republican apologizes afterward for his outburst during the president's address in the House chamber.
Reporting from Washington - When President Obama addressed Congress on Wednesday night, he got an unusual greeting: "You lie!"
The comment from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) could be heard throughout the House chamber in response to Obama's remark that his health insurance plan would not extend benefits to illegal immigrants.
"I've never seen anything like that before," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) "We do not invite the president of the United States into the House of Representatives and hurl insults."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the remark was "disrespectful" and called on Wilson to apologize.
"I let my emotions get the best of me," Wilson said in a statement after the speech. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."
According to Wilson's office, he called the White House after the speech to apologize to Obama, speaking with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
The 62-year-old Wilson, who was elected to the House in 2001, previously found himself in the spotlight for attacking 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry over his 1971 testimony criticizing the Vietnam War.
Wilson has four sons, all of whom serve in the U.S. military. Before being elected to Congress, he served 17 years in the South Carolina state Senate.
On his website, he describes himself as "committed to promoting peace through a strong national defense, decreasing taxes for all Americans and limiting the size of the federal government."
"Don't go down that rabbit hole." That's what the voice of reason inside Barack Obama's head should be shouting as pressure grows for the president to sharply increase American military forces in Afghanistan.
There are already 62,000 U.S. troops — and an even larger number of quasi-military contractors — in that war-torn country. And Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the American commander there, is expected to ask for 10,000 to 45,000 more troops.
He says they're needed to help stabilize Afghanistan's government and military. That's a nation-building subplot that diverts resources from what ought to be the Obama administration's primary mission: hunting down Osama bin Laden and destroying al-Qaeda.
That's the job President Bush set out to do. But it got bogged down trying to punish the Taliban, botching a mission that started as retaliation for al-Qaeda's attacks on 9/11.
Taliban leaders were chased from power shortly after U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001. In the years since, first Bush and now Obama have used U.S. military power to prop up the corrupt but pro-American government of Hamid Karzai.
Focus the mission
Keeping Karzai in power — and the Taliban at bay — has become an increasingly demanding job for American forces. This side mission has also clouded the judgment of a lot of people who have a hand in defining the role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Instead of committing this nation's military to a generational war against a religious sect over control of a distant land, Obama should give American forces in Afghanistan a single, clearly stated mission: Get bin Laden and his top aides and then come home.
This is an approach that most Americans would back, and it comports with the Powell Doctrine. That's the strategy — first articulated by soldier-turned-diplomat Colin Powell — of using overwhelming military force against a threat to our national security. Such a mission must also have popular support and a well-defined exit strategy.
Where are the good guys?
What Obama shouldn't do is commit more troops to what amounts to a fight to decide who will govern Afghanistan. That shouldn't be America's war because there simply aren't any good guys in that battle. Though the Taliban would reinstate a misogynistic rule upon the Afghan people, it does not differ dramatically from the current government.
Earlier this year, Karzai signed a bill into law that permits Shiite men to starve their wives if they refused to meet their husbands' sexual demands. Under this legislation, women must also get their husbands' permission to work outside the home and give guardianship rights of children exclusively to men in the family.
And then there's last month's "democratic" election. Karzai's supporters were widely reported to have made a mockery of the democracy that his government was supposed to have ushered into Afghanistan. According to various news reports, widespread ballot box stuffing plagued the presidential contest.
Some of the cases were so flagrant that the ballot boxes at one empty polling place reportedly were full of completed ballots just an hour after it opened.
This is the democracy that American troops are fighting for in Afghanistan, while bin Laden and his top advisers continue to elude capture. Obama should leave it to Afghanistan's warring factions to decide who will govern that forsaken land, and he should use the sizeable force of U.S. troops already in Afghanistan to wage a war of necessity — against Osama bin Laden.
Well, at noon ET today, President Obama is set to speak to them via television and webcam urging that they study hard, stay in school and take responsibility for getting an education.
Don't see anything sinister in the president of the United States inspiring children? Frankly, neither do we.
(First day of school: Divanni Mejia, 3, of Washington, D.C./By Jacquelyn Martin, AP)
But in today's political and media culture, where the loudest, least responsible or most partisan commentators get far more attention than they deserve, no one should be surprised that a few irresponsible zealots managed to turn this into a fight.
The uproar started when Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer warned that Obama was using the speech to spread his "socialist ideology" and "liberal lies."
The charge turned out to be baseless. The speech, which you can read below, has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with inspiring kids to learn. Coming from a man who is the embodiment in chief of how education can help a poor kid growing up with a single mother, it might actually change some young lives.
But Greer's fear-mongering was echoed by conservative bloggers, radio commentators and Fox News. Overwrought parents in several places soon complained to school officials, some threatening to keep kids home. Reason was gone; the fight was on.
It's true that the administration made one foolish misstep. In suggestions for lesson plans that teachers might link to the speech, the Department of Education included a recommendation that students write letters to themselves about how they could "help the president." Dumb, but easily excised, which the department did. Problem solved, except that it wasn't, because on the Internet and cable TV, conflict is king, and it's too often waged by people whose livelihood or political well-being is dependent on demonization. The health care debate is another example. Despite a raft of issues, the debate focused briefly this summer on fictitious death panels, thanks to the rants of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and others.
There is an antidote for this. It's called leadership, and a few prominent conservatives exercised it this weekend, arguing for reason on the school speech. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told Fox News Sunday the speech was a fine idea. "If I were a teacher, I'd take advantage of it," Alexander, a former education secretary, said.
That should happen more often on both sides of the aisle, lest kids be taught that the way to resolve differences is to call people names and shout them down, with lies if necessary.
Thursday's season-opening loss at Boise State was the worst possible scenario for Oregon in every way: The vaunted Duck offense was lethargic, ineffective, impotent and any other synonym you can imagine for "really bad," held to a meager eight points and 150 total yards in a deflating loss that could send the entire season careening off the tracks. And no Duck was more disappointing in the loss than LeGarrette Blount: The senior running back, last seen hurtling over and through Oklahoma State defenders in a breakout Holiday Bowl performance last December, finished with –5 yards on eight carries and was dropped in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter.
A frustrating night, for sure, especially for a guy who spent the week before the game leading the nation in trash talk. But "frustration" does not quite describe Blount's reaction after the game as well as "psychotic flip-out" directed at anyone and everyone in his general vicinity.
Blount has returned from one suspension already this year, an academic issue that kept him out of spring practice. But cold-cocking an opposing player, taking a swipe at a teammate and attempting to head into the stands after opposing fans is another animal entirely: Blount will certainly be suspended for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of his senior season, and could plausibly be hit with assault charges if Boise State or local authorities were feeling especially vindictive about it. At any rate, his very promising future at the next level is -- to use a technical, "insider" term -- kaput.
The hero of the fracas: Oregon assistant and former Nebraska star Scott Frost, the quick-reacting blonde dude who saved a Bronco fan from the fate of Byron Hout on the field. General rule of thumb: When your night ends with you being restrained by an ad hoc coalition of authority figures and security guards, you have had a very, very bad night. As a Duck, at least, Blount may not have many left.
