Sunday, April 14, 2013

Oh, Robin Van Persie! #20 gets #20





'via Blog this'

Monday, March 18, 2013

The poor..... criminals? Who is the victim? #Stuebenville

The media's coverage focused on the rapists' emotions, instead of the the victim's.

When the guilty verdict was announced in the Steubenville rape case on Sunday, journalists had to figure out how they would frame the story. Perhaps because of the lack of details about the unnamed 16-year-old “Jane Doe” victim, the collective media narrative became centered on her assailants.

Stories about the case relied far too heavily on the public details about the defendants, 17-year-old Trent Mays and 16-year-old Ma’lik Richmond, to set up a sympathetic portrayal of two bright young football stars whose lives have been ruined by the criminal justice system. By emphasizing the boys’ good grades and bright futures, as well as by describing the victim as “drunk” without clarifying that the defendants were also drinking, many mainstream media outlets became active participants in furthering victim-blaming rape culture:

1. CNN discusses how the boys were “promising students.” The cable channel came under fire on Sunday after focusing their coverage on the two defendants as “young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students” and emphasizing the emotional atmosphere in the courtroom when the boys were convicted and felt “their lives fall apart.” Anchor Candy Crowley even interviewed a legal expert about the lasting ramifications that being convicted of rape will have on the young, vulnerable boys — noting that registering as sex offenders will “haunt them for the rest of their lives.”

2. ABC News makes excuses for the rapist. ABC ran a profile of Ma’lik Richmond, one of the two assailants, leading up to the trial. Its portrayal was quite positive; it began with an array of excuses for Richmond’s behavior, including that “he was in a celebratory mood” the night of the assault, and talks extensively about Richmond’s promising football career. Another article opened by describing the criminal proceedings as “every parent’s nightmare and a cautionary tale for teenagers living in today’s digital world” — though the actual problem was the crime of rape, not that it was caught on video.

3. NBC News laments the boys’ “promising football careers.” Reporter Ron Allen opened up the NBC nightly news coverage of the Steubenville verdict by pointing out that the boys, “must now register as sex offenders.” It then went on to lament that “both boys had promising football careers, Mays a the quarterback, Richmond the receiver, on the beloved high school team and dreams of college. In court their lawyers and parents plead with the judge not to impose a harsh sentence.”

Watch it:

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Mancini starting to crack under the pressure... sounds like Rafa Benitez back in the Liverpool days!

http://bit.ly/15bzUM4 City manager Mancini's astonishing rant: United are so lucky to be 15 points clear ... #MailOnline

Sean Penn calls Chavez a "champion of the poor" (who amassed a $2 billion fortune while leading his 'socialist' revolution)

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You gotta love those 'socialists' who find time to become billionaires on the backs of those 'poor and oppressed' people they claim to represent.

"Penn, who has been a longtime supporter of Chavez, made a surprise appearance in Bolivia in December to attend a candlelight vigil for the health of the leader. Said Penn at the vigil: “He’s one of the most important forces we’ve had on this planet, and I’ll wish him nothing but that great strength he has shown over and over again. I do it in love, and I do it in gratitude."

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal insulted at only being No 26 on Forbes rich list. Money doesn't buy intelligence apparently...

Friday, March 1, 2013

Obama: 'I am not a dictator' -

"I am not a dictator," President Obama said Friday while defending his efforts to stop the sequester. "I'm the president."

Obama said there are limits to what he can do to get a deal on the sequester during a press conference in which he blamed Republicans for standing in the way of a deal.

The president was responding to a question about why he hadn't locked the leaders into a room to get a deal. "So ultimately if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, 'I have to catch a plane,' I can't have Secret Service block the doorway," he said.

Obama met with Republican leaders Sen. McConnell (Ky.) and Speaker Boehner (Ohio) before the press conference. He has been criticized by Republicans for not doing more to try to reach a deal. GOP leaders say he has been more interested in blaming Republicans for the $85 billion in automatic cuts set to be triggered on Friday than in crafting a deal.

But Obama on Friday characterized himself as the reasonable party in the talks and someone who couldn't force Republicans to make a deal.

"I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that's been floating around Washington that even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, that most people agree that I'm presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don't take it means that I should somehow do a Jedi mind-meld and convince them" to agree on a deal, Obama said.

Obama on Friday said the nation will survive the sequester, though he said it would be painful for many people.

“We will get through this. This is not going to be an apocalypse, I think as some people have said,” Obama said following the 52-minute meeting with Boehner, McConnell, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“It's just dumb. And it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt individual people and it's going to hurt the economy over all,” he said.

More from The Hill:
• Obama: $85 billion sequester cuts 'not going to be an apocalypse'
• Boehner says no new taxes after sequester meeting in White House
• IRS moves to collect billions in fees from healthcare law
• Senate GOP sees smoother ride for Brennan nomination


The sequester is set to begin on Friday and will cause across-the-board cuts to defense and domestic discretionary spending. Thousands of federal workers are expected to be furloughed, but not until April, so the pain from the cuts will be felt over time.

Lawmakers and Obama appeared to make no progress toward a resolution during the meeting.

Boehner told reporters the House has already voted twice on measure to replace the sequester, and “shouldn't have to pass a third bill.”

He also reiterated his position that Republicans will accept no new tax hikes to replace the sequester, something demanded by Obama and Democrats.

“The discussion about revenue is over,” Boehner said.

Inside the meeting, Boehner delivered a message personally to Obama and the other congressional leaders that he has given repeatedly to reporters and privately to the House Republican conference in recent days.

The Speaker urged Obama and Senate Democrats to present a plan to replace the sequester that could pass the Democratic-led Senate, according to a summary of the meeting provided by Boehner’s office. And in a sign the Speaker has little interest in trekking back-and-forth to the White House for high-level private negotiations, he “suggested the most productive way to resolve the sequester issue will be through regular order,” Boehner’s office said.

This story was updated at 1:10 p.m.

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Berbatov keeps calm and steals the show as Fulham join Harlem Shake craze | Mail Online

Friday, February 15, 2013

Manchester United forecasts record revenue of $542 million - ESPN FC #mufc

Manchester United news

Manchester United reports strong growth

February 14, 2013
By Associated Press

Press Pass: All-square at the Bernabeu
Gab Marcotti, Robbie Mustoe and Robbie Earle react to Real Madrid and Man United's draw.Tags: Uefa Champions League, Manchester United, Real Madrid
Valuable away goal for Man United
NEXT VIDEO video

LONDON -- Manchester United is running away with the English Premier League title, and achieving record success off the pitch as well.

The club on Thursday forecast record revenue this season of 350 million pounds ($542 million) to 360 million pounds ($558 million) as it released financial results for the last three months of a trophyless 2012.

United's revenue rose nine percent year-on-year in that period to a record 110 million pounds ($170 million), and pre-tax profit soared 48 percent to 28.4 million pounds ($44 million).

Alex Ferguson's side unexpectedly exited the Champions League in the group stage in the 2011-12 season but is thriving again in Europe, drawing 1-1 in the first leg of its last-16 match at Real Madrid on Wednesday.

And after losing out on the Premier League title last season to Manchester City on goal difference, United enjoys a 12-point lead over the second-place champions.

Due to the imminent expectation of silverware, protests against the owning Glazer family have virtually disappeared at Old Trafford.

Using the proceeds of its flotation on the New York Stock Exchange, the gross debt that has angered fans in the past has dropped 17 percent in a year to 366.6 million pounds ($567 million).

After a disappointing market debut in August at a discounted $14 a share, United was trading at $18.60 on Thursday afternoon.

Executive vice chairman Ed Woodward told investors the record revenue is being driven by "extremely strong growth, particularly in sponsorship."

United has been rapidly raising cash through innovative global sponsorship agreements, with six deals signed in the final three months of 2012 with companies in Japan, China, Indonesia and Turkey. Commercial revenue in the second quarter rose 29 percent year-on-year to 35.6 million pounds ($55 million).

United has bought out its sponsorship deal with express delivery and freight firm DHL early in a bid to secure more cash for the rights to its training kit. The record 19-time English champions announced Thursday that a new eight-year deal had been agreed with a company that is yet to be announced.

That revenue is helping United to maintain a competitive team, with salaries rising 14 percent to 44.2 million pounds between October and December.

In July and August, United spent 29.5 million pounds ($47 million) on players, including midfielders Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell, and the first of two payments to Arsenal for striker Robin van Persie.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Pretty sure this guy just punched his ticket to hell. #stupid

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And the tattoo says it all... only God will judge him.... he steals grandma's necklace just before they close the casket.

http://bit.ly/V4vgyS Man, 25, steals $5,000 gold necklace from his grandmother's neck moments before she was buried ... #MailOnline

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Man Utd become first $3bn club

Man Utd become first $3bn club

Jan 2013 09:58

Manchester United have become the first sports team in the world to be valued at more than US$3 billion (£1.9bn).

• City climb in Money League

According to American business magazine Forbes, United are comfortably ahead of the world's second-most-valuable sports team, the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, worth US$2.1bn (£1.4bn).

The magazine states: "Despite a drop in first quarter earnings because of a reduction in television revenue, the appetite for shares of the 19-time English champion has increased due to better earnings, new sponsorship deals with Japan's Kansai, and China Construction Bank, and the potential of much more lucrative English Premier League (Manchester United currently is in first place) and Champions League payouts this year."

Indeed, a surge in the club's shares - standing now at $17 each - has seen the overall value of United rise and a huge increase in the overall wealth of the Glazer family, who have a controlling interest in United, and billionaire investor George Soros - the 22nd richest person in the world - who bought a 7.5% stake in the club.

United sold 10% of shares in the club in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in August when the Glazers - their owners - hoped to achieve a price of $20 each, which could have valued the club at $3.3 billion (£2.06 billion).

But after underwriters initially propped the share price up, it fell as low as $12, which valued the club at just under $2 billion (£1.3bn).

However, United's commercial growth appears to be driving the share price up, with the club announcing several new sponsorship deals since August, qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages, and with the prospect of the new bumper Premier League television deals that are coming on stream from August.

Information from the Press Association was used in this report

Sunday, January 27, 2013

A Stephen King (worth $400 million) primer for those who think him capable of mature, respectable discourse...

At the risk of repeating myself, here’s what rich folks do when they get richer: they invest. A lot of those investments are overseas, thanks to the anti-American business policies of the last four administrations. Don’t think so? Check the tag on that T-shirt or gimme cap you’re wearing. If it says MADE IN AMERICA, I’ll … well, I won’t say I’ll eat your shorts, because some of that stuff is made here, but not much of it. And what does get made here doesn’t get made by America’s small cadre of pluted bloatocrats; it’s made, for the most part, in barely-gittin’-by factories in the Deep South, where the only unions people believe in are those solemnized at the altar of the local church (as long as they’re from different sexes, that is).

Stephen King is yet another one of the super rich liberals who assuage their guilt not by action, but by insulting those who disagree with them. And King can do it as well as any of them, with all the fresh vulgarity and maturity of the average high school sophomore. Calm down Stephen, pay more taxes if you want, but how about you stick to writing gory novels that glorify blood, guts and violence...we'll keep buying them, until you start to suck.

David Mamet on Gun Control...Stephen King, are you reading this? #guncontrol

The Founding Fathers, far from being ideologues, were not even politicians. They were an assortment of businessmen, writers, teachers, planters; men, in short, who knew something of the world, which is to say, of Human Nature. Their struggle to draft a set of rules acceptable to each other was based on the assumption that we human beings, in the mass, are no damned good—that we are biddable, easily confused, and that we may easily be motivated by a Politician, which is to say, a huckster, mounting a soapbox and inflaming our passions.

Untitled

FA Cup roundup

Oldham trips Liverpool in latest Cup upset

January 27, 2013
By Press Association
Liverpool knocked out of FA Cup
ESPN commentator Steve Nicol breaks down Oldham Athletic's 3-2 win over Liverpool.
Liverpool knocked out of FA Cup

Oldham produced another shock in the fourth round of the FA Cup Sunday by dumping out English Premier League side Liverpool 3-2.

Striker Matt Smith chose the perfect occasion to score his first goals at Boundary Park as his first-half double helped npower League One Oldham produce an FA Cup upset in beating Liverpool.

Following on from the efforts of MK Dons and Luton Saturday, the npower League One side overcame top-flight opposition thanks to two goals from Matt Smith at Boundary Park.

Smith scored the opener as early as the third minute, and although Luiz Suarez equalized 14 minutes later, the Latics striker grabbed his second on the stroke of halftime.

It was the first time Liverpool had been beaten away from home in the FA Cup by a team at least two divisions below them since defeat at non-league Worcester City in 1959.

Smith had given up on professional football after being released by Cheltenham aged 18 and went on to gain a degree in International Management with American Studies from the University of Manchester.

While studying he played for the likes of Redditch United, Droylsden and Solihull Moors -- where he was spotted by Oldham.

Prior to this game, he had scored only scored seven times in 60 appearances for the Latics but none will have been as enjoyable as his two in the first half against the seven-time FA Cup winners from the top flight division.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers' decision to alter three of the back four among six changes proved calamitous as infrequent starter Sebastian Coates had a game to forget.

Oldham, with only one win in their last nine games, had beaten progressively higher-ranked opposition in Kidderminster, Doncaster and Nottingham Forest to reach the fourth round for the first time in five years.

But it was not fate which got them through as the Latics' no-nonsense, battling approach deservedly put them ahead.

Smith gave indication of his threat in just the third minute with the sort of goal you associate with a player of his physical stature.

Youssouf M'Changama swung over a cross from the left and the 23-year-old used every inch of his tall stature to out-muscle Coates and head past Brad Jones.

The first half had an edge to it as Oldham, having taken one point from a possible 24 in the league, tried to close the gap of 56 places with endeavour and exuberance.

However, it was Liverpool youngster Raheem Sterling who was first to be booked for challenge on M'Changama which ultimately forced the Oldham midfielder off after just 10 minutes.

Robbie Simpson, a scorer at Anfield in Oldham's 5-1 third-round defeat last season, was also cautioned for going in on Jones after the goalkeeper had failed to hold the ball - which turned out to be a pre-cursor of what was to come.

Former Everton midfielder Jose Baxter did his best to make life difficult for the red half of Merseyside, twice shooting wide from distance, but it was Suarez who was next to feature and significantly so.

The Uruguay international, captaining the side, set off on a driving run from deep and looked to pass but got a lucky rebound off defender Cliff Byrne and reacted quickly to hammer the ball inside Dean Bouzanis' left-hand post.

It was his fifth goal in six FA Cup appearances and his eighth strike in as many games.

His touch to Jordan Henderson's inswinging free-kick then diverted the ball into the net only to be denied by an offside flag.

Sterling should have scored after Suarez's pass was backheeled into his path by Fabio Borini but he shot straight at the keeper.

But Oldham remained unbowed as they took great heart from the physical battles they were winning and were rewarded with a second goal moments before the interval.

Smith, who had already had a header tipped over by Jones in added time, converted the simplest of chances after a howler by the Liverpool goalkeeper who fumbled Wabara's cross to allow Simpson to square a pass for the striker to poke home.

Borini had the chance to equalize from Jack Robinson's cross with the second half less than a minute old but he side-footed over and it proved costly.

The visitors' defensive fallibility in the air was exposed again as Carl Winchester swung a cross to the far post and Wabara rose above Robinson to head over Jones into the far corner.

Monday, January 21, 2013

The first lady... so classy... typical

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http://bit.ly/XS3Fxx Michelle Obama is NOT impressed: First Lady rolls her eyes TWICE at political foe John Boehner as he ... #MailOnline

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Cleverly scores against West Ham: Fox Soccer

The Goal from RVP: "They just don't know when they are beaten."

Check out this website I found at msn.foxsports.com

Oh that Van Persie! RVP does it again in the 90th to save United and force a replay in FA Cup #mufc #vanpersie

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Everyone is running out of superlatives to describe the impact Robin Van Persie has had on United. If Rooney gets hot, this team will literally be unstoppable. RVP is quickly becoming a United legend in his first year.