So many things to talk about, I thought I'd just put them in one post:

   - First and foremost, all condolences to the family of wrestler Chris Candido.  Formerly "Skip" of the BodyDonnas, Candido at one time was one of the best mat wrestlers in the world.  He was a natural in the ring, and it was good that he got rid of some of the demons that had been plaguing him before he died.

Candido died Thursday of a freak condition; a blood clot after having surgery on his leg which had been broken in a match last Sunday.  Even after he broke it he showed up at TNA Impact in a wheelchair, which shows how much he loved just being around the guys even when he couldn't work.  I hope Sonny Siaki isn't taking this too hard (he came down wrong on Candido's leg, which caused the break), and he's able to continue his career as well.

   - In boxing last night, James Toney captured one of the alphabet heavyweight titles with a unaminous decision over John Ruiz.  Toney is not only the fourth oldest person to ever win a heavyweight title, but the third to win it after winning the middleweight title.  He won that title 14 years and 73 pounds ago.

I would say he's one of the flabbiest champions ever, but I'm sure someone can find one that was in worse shape than he was.  Nevertheless, James Toney is 36 years old, overweight (he weighed in at 233; he probably weighed more when he actually got into the ring), and he is a smoker.  Not only did he outpoint a "heavyweight champion" (Ruiz has always been a joke), but he won the last six rounds of the fight.

Makes you feel good about the future of the sport, doesn't it?  And people call MMA (mixed martial arts) fighters barbaric and undisciplined?  Not even in the early 1980's did it ever get this bad.

   - In the first episode of the Eagles soap opera, we found out T.O. didn't show up for mini-camp, which means he's officially holding out for another contract.  Donovan also took the time to check T.O. for some comments he made about him a few weeks back.

Well, T.O. got slapped in the mouth again, this time by the Eagles front office.  They said he is in breech of contract for not showing up to minicamp, which means he could forfeit $1.8 million of his signing bonus.

Ha.  If T.O. keeps on, he'll be lucky to get a new pair of cleats.  Although the Eagles haven't decided if they are going to collect or not, the longer he holds out, the more likely he'll have to come out of pocket.  Talk about irony.

- Also in this episode, Andy Reid told the press that he told Mitchell not to show up.  I don't think we need any more of a guarantee that he will be waived or part of a trade deal.

- I'm sure none of you pay attention to college baseball, and well...I can't blame ya.  Hell; it's hard enough to stay interested in Major League Baseball.

However, here's something that might get your attention.  Here's what Oklahoma baseball coach, Larry Cochell, said as a compliment about one of his players to ESPN off camera on Tuesday:



How nice.  I'm sure Dunigan felt great after hearing those comments.

As for Oklahoma officials?  They didn't suspend him, but he isn't in the dugout and has been replaced by one of the coaches.  Oklahoma is conducting their own investigation into what happened, although the coach admitted to the comments and apologized.

It reminds me of the Robert Byrd incident on Fox News a few years back.  I was actually watching that live at the time that went down.  I wonder if Cochell will get off the hook like Byrd did?  Cochell better hope he's a registered Democrat; he'll be fine then.

   - In MLB, suspensions have been levied against players as well as the managers of both the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the defending world champion Boston Red Sox.

I support the decision, particularly when a manager orders a pitcher or a pitcher takes it upon himself to throw a beanball in retaliation.  Yeah; it's an old unwritten rule, but it's a stupid rule.  Baseball should fine and suspend any pitcher that throws one.

   - Speaking of suspensions, Bud Selig went to his own nuclear option after criticism of his new steroid policy.  Implementing a "three strikes and you're out" rule, the first offense is 50 games, the second offense is 100 games, and the third bans you from the league completely.

I'm not sure about this.  I understand MLB wants to show they will be tough after being trashed Congress and later the sports media during the steroid hearings, but going from one extreme to another isn't going to help. 

It all depends on what level of testocerone will the drug test detect?  If it's a sensitive test that can trace a change from over-the-counter drugs, then I think it's too heavy handed.  But if it's like the NFL policy, where you have to look like Captain Caveman (you had to have six times the normal level to be caught) in order for it to catch you, then I might be inclined to agree.

That's all I have.  Watch Miami/New Jersey today on ABC.  I will.  I think Miami will close this one out.

More news out of Georgia this morning, as Gwinnett investigators released a tape of a subdued inmate, Frederick Williams, being tasered in the chest five times at a county jail outside of Atlanta last year.

Williams had been arrested on domestic violence charges, as his wife said he didn't take his medicine for epilpsy and had gotten violent.  They took him to Gwinnett County Jail with shackles on his feet and handcuffed.  At the beginning of the video, you can hear him yelling, "Don't kill me man!" as he was being led into what would be the last room he'd live in.  Once he was there, eleven officers tried to force Williams into a restraining chair.  When he resisted, he was tasered in the chest not once, but five times.  In between taser shots, you can hear the officer say, "You want it again?"  After the fifth shock, Williams fell unconscious and eventually died.

Take a look at the video, courtesy of 11 Alive News in Atlanta.

I don't have a problem with the use of the taser, in and of itself.  But when you have eleven cops in a room restraining one man, yet they still feel the need to taser a man that's already overpowered, I have a serious problem with that.  Tasers and other devices are to be used when the officers are undermanned, and having trouble subduing the assailant.  Show me eleven cops that can't restrain one man, and I'll show you eleven cops that should be fired, because they can't do their job effectively.

In spite of this, a Gwinnett County grand jury declined to press charges (they never looked at the video), the sheriff's department stated the officers acted appropriately and a police investigation cleared them of criminal wrongdoing.  I find this very hard to believe.  If this isn't considered excessive force, then what would?  41 shots?

(via Wizbang's Kevin Aylward)

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UPDATE:  A former friend of the family and lawyer Melvin Johnson gives a full account of the events of that night on Wizbang's comments section:

(5) At the jail, while still hog-tied and securely bound, Mr. Williams is tasered at least 5 times according to the autopsy reports. I say at least 5 time because not every taser attack results in an identifiable burn mark. There are mounted cameras at the jail and an officer reportedly had a hand held camcorded to record the entire ordeal. Of course, at this point, Gwinnett has refused to provide either of these recordings. Gwinnett County justifies the tasering under these conditions because according to another written report by a senior officer at the jail, Mr. Williams was reportedly thrashing and jerking his body upon arrival at the jail. Nowhere in this second report does the senior officer indicate that Mr. Williams attacks any of the officers, throws a punch, kick, bite, or anything; nonetheless, Gwinnett County officials, in the media, justifies the MURDER of this young father, husband, only child, deacon, friend, etc., because his apparent thrashing and jerking was "combative" while he is still hog-tied and securely bound. In fact, the senior officer records in his report that Mr. Williams is conscious at least for a moment, and utters his last and only words "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME." Upon arrival of Mr. Williams' body at the hospital, Doctors record that there were plastic instruments that were apparently used to hog-tied Mr. Williams at his house. Doctors' examinations revealed acute with suspicion of chronic renal failure, negligible brain activity, negligible pulse, and negligible blood pressure. His hands and feet were cold and capillary refill was poor. He had no eye movements, no muscular movements and his entire body was flaccid. His pupils were dilated 6 mm and fixed. Doctors' impression were that there was cardiac arrest, brain hemorrhage, pulmonary embolus and/or seizure. Mr. Williams reportedly lost all pulses at about 1948 hours. He had no gag response.

As you can tell by the numerial at the top of the quote, there is much more to this story, including what happened at the home, an alleged quote by one of the officers, and Williams's family telling both the dispatchers and the officers several times that Williams is a epilepsy patient.

There is a Yahoo group created by the Ed Kramer Legal Defense Fund, where they are collecting funds for a man who is in jail in Gwinnett County.  They are monitoring the Williams case as well.

The Georgia woman that had been missing since Tuesday and was supposed to be married today, Jennifer Wilbanks, showed up alive in New Mexico on Friday.

At first she told her family that she had been abducted, but after being questioned by the police, she recanted her story and admitted she got cold feet because of such a large wedding. According to the Associated Press, they had invited over 600 people to the wedding.

I think Neal Boortz and I will agree on this one.  Wilbanks should be forced to pay back the money and resources used to search for her.  The cold feet was her own problem, and she should have come forth and admitted this from the beginning.  Instead, she decided to start a nationwide manhunt and then lied about being kidnapped.

After the flap last month about the hiring of new agent Drew Rosenhaus, Terrell Owens denied he was trying to strongarm the Eagles.  Everyone called his bluff.

Well, today Owens no showed the Eagles minicamp.  I think this guarantees that Owens will hold out for more money.  The question is whether this will carry on until August training camp.  I believe the Eagles will end up adjusting Owen's contract and paying him more.

And note, he isn't the only one that didn't show up.  Running back Brian Westbrook is trying to get a long term deal, and after finding out the Eagles only offered him a one-year deal for only $1.43 million, I don't blame him.  That's a total insult considering that he was one of the key factors for the Eagles last season.  I'm not saying he should be paid like a franchise player, but he deserves more than that. 

Corey Simon is holding out too.  Out of all of them, Simon has the best chance of getting traded.

Lastly Freddie Mitchell, of ALL people, is a no-show.  I expect the waiver papers will be ready for him sometime next week.  It's one thing to be a pain in the behind during the playoffs and the Super Bowl, but then to complain about not having a bigger role in the offense?  You're done, dude.  This little squeezeplay you're trying to pull on the Eagles while T.O. is running game isn't going to work.

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UPDATE:  You may recall a few weeks ago, T.O. took a hidden jab obviously intended for Donovan McNabb:

"I played every snap they allowed me to play," Owens told ESPN.com. "I wasn't even running until, like, two weeks before the game. But I made sure I was in the best shape possible. I wasn't the guy who got tired in the Super Bowl."

At first, McNabb declined to comment on it.   Today was a different story:

"I don't play games in the media," McNabb said. "I'm not going to sit here and try to have a war of words. I'm a man at what I do. If there's a problem with anyone, and they feel the need to lash out, they know how to get in touch with me and we can handle it like men."

and this:

"If you say I was winded, if you say the (offensive) line was winded, if you say the defense was winded, that's fine," McNabb said. "But to be tired and dropping to a knee, that didn't happen."

Without mentioning Owens, McNabb had strong advice for his most loquacious teammate.

"Just keep my name out of your mouth," McNabb said. "Don't try to throw names or guys under the bus to better yourself. You never heard me say any names in any situation. You never heard me talk about any given players. I'm the guy to be professional and be a man about things."

McNabb said he hasn't spoken to Owens since hearing the inflammatory comments.

"If a comment was made about me, it would take that person to call me," he said. "I don't have to reach out to anyone."

Quite a few people, including myself, said Owens was a cancer to the Eagles, much like Bill Clinton has become one to the Democratic Party.  Sure, it seems benign, maybe even cute, but sooner or later it's going to grow, and it's going to harm more than it helps.  I never thought it would happen less than three months removed from the Super Bowl, though.

McNabb and Owens will kiss and make up, but only after the Eagles show T.O. the money.

Today Chinese President Hu Jintao and Taiwan's Opposition (Minority) Leader Lien Chan met in Beijing in order to discuss the long-standing Taiwan/China conflict.

I didn't think China would take over Taiwan until I read this tonight.  Despite the opposition of many Taiwanese, China will be there.  The question is will it happen with or without bloodshed.  Regardless of what Jintao and the Communists say, Taiwan is an independent country.  How long they will keep their independence is another story.

This isn't to reduce tension.  China is starting to get their ducks in a row in order to regain full control of the island.  If there are other minority party leaders, expect Jintao to meet with them as well, if he hasn't already.  If China does move on Taiwan, they'll make the excuse that the people wanted it, which will be an outright lie.

The only thing that has stopped China from doing so anytime during the last 50 years has been the United States.  If China calls our bluff, will we blink?  Considering our problems in the Middle East and with Chinese cooperation with North Korea, it's difficult to say we will risk world war by standing with Taiwan.  China is the last major communist stronghold, and more than likely it will be the last one.  Is a conflict worth risking in this day and age?

When I first woke up to the radio reports of the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center on September 11th, my first guess at the culprits wasn't Islamic terrorists.  It was the Chinese Government.  As the Chinese government continues to move forward with its plans to take control of Taiwan, will I be correct the next time America is attacked?

I think any hope of a privatized Social Security plan is pretty much DOA.

Bush completely screwed up with the idea that Social Security reform should be means tested, and I wouldn't blame conservatives from both the House and the Senate to kill the plan.  This isn't about a plan that seems bipartisan; it's about coming up with a plan that works.  And I am tired of politicans half-stepping on initiatives that would provide a real solution, rather than a problem that resurfaces every 20 years or so.

There wasn't a viable solution in anything Bush touched on tonight.  People criticize Bush on not having more press conferences, but I say he should have even less if they're going to be that boring and ordinary.  I found myself flipping between Smackdown and the Heat/Nets game more than I did the press conference.  This was a complete waste of time.

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UPDATE:  Drudge is reporting that CBS, Fox, and NBC dropped coverage at 9:00, leaving Bush at mid-sentence for their network programming.  CBS had Survivor (they moved it to 9, and put CSI on at 10), Fox had The Simple Life, and NBC had The Apprentice.  I was watching CNN (Forgive me; I don't have Fox) so I wasn't aware of it.

That doesn't surprise me.  I think the networks said "screw you" to politics and important events in place of ratings long ago.  I don't watch any of those shows, and I think they're all stupid.  But, sluts in reality shows trump the president every time.

In sports, we got the Heat/Nets game that's on TNT right now.  NBATV has Boston/Indiana, which is turning out to be a great series, at 8:30.  At the conclusion of Heat/Nets, TNT has Dallas/Houston with the tipoff at 10:00.  On top of that,  I watch WWE Smackdown (Don't give me any lip about pro wrestling.  I've loved it since I was little.).

I decided to check out the WSJ's OpinionJournal website, since blog-worthy news is quite slow today, and ran up on a piece by Jill Stewart featuring Ted Hayes, a social activist who's a member of the Republican Party in Los Angeles.  According to Stewart, Hayes is well known within the inner city, and is helping to clean up the streets and provide an alternative to gang life and drugs.

Usually Ambra is better at featuring people than I am, so I'll just let you read the column about some of the things Hayes has done for Los Angeles.  However,  I will say if inroads are to be made within the black community as well as the electorate that tends to vote leftward, conservatives should look for people who actually look like everyday people. 

That's not to shrug off the Ivy League scholars and the silver spooners, but the main reason why so many blacks cast their votes for the Left - whether it's Green or Democrat - is due to the fact that they know other blacks who vote the same way.  Say what you want about Cynthia McKinney or Barbara Lee (and there's plenty to say), but they do come across as more in-tuned to the voices of black people.

I really don't think conservatives realize that they are often considered out of touch and elitist.  It's ironic because I'm reading South Park Conservatives by City Journal editor Brian Anderson, and he mentions how Fox News journalists and anchors don't come off as elitist.  That may be true to a considerable amount of the population, but sometimes they don't realize that they look like a clique themselves.

I'm reminded of this quote:

Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity.”  - Eric Hoffer

It's a regular thing for high-profile conservatives to deride the "mainstream" media, although oftentimes they have more readers and viewers than the people they criticize.  They might not see this as being "mainstream", but others do.  I guarantee you people see Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and others not only as "mainstream", but elitist.

Ted Hayes and others give credit to conservatives being people of all fabrics and all colors.  Those are the people we truly need if conservative principles are to survive this century.

Let's be honest; we knew from the minute former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume announced he was running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland that he'd had a snowball's chance in hell of winning the primary, much less the seat itself.

Well today won't help matters, as the Washington Post found out about a confidential NAACP document detailing the accusations of a former female employee, Michelle Speaks, who says he showed favortism toward women in the organization whom he had "close personal relationships" with. 

According to the Post, this was a very sensitive document; once the members of the executive committee had time to read it at a meeting, the copies were taken back up before they left.  However, the Post was able to get a hold of some memos written by Marcia Goodman, a lawyer the NAACP hired to analyze Speaks's claims.  Speaks requested $140,000 - two years' salary - or threatened to file a complaint to the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission and possibly a civil lawsuit.

The NAACP being reported to the EEOC.  How ironic.

The Post also obtained a separate memo detailing some of Mfume's transgressions:

In 1999, staff lawyers conducted an inquiry after two women got into a loud verbal altercation, allegedly over his attentions. One woman was disciplined; the other was promoted several months later, according to one document.

The altercation is described in a May 24, 1999, internal memo that lawyers for the NAACP wrote to Bond. "There appeared to be a widespread belief in the organization that President Mfume had displayed preferential treatment" to one of the women "based on a possible dating relationship," the memo says.

The lawyers then questioned whether Mfume "interfered with this inquiry by exerting improper influence on two key witnesses." Also, according to the memo, Mfume refused to answer questions in the inquiry.

So you have two women in the nation's oldest civil rights organization catfighting over the President.  That sounds like a story from the White House in the 90's.  I would say the early sixties too, but JFK kept his women in check.

But this is the part that takes the cake:

Mfume acknowledged yesterday that he dated one of the women in that altercation, a female NAACP employee, for "three months" and later adopted her 4-year-old son. The boy is now 15, he said. The woman now works for the Maryland Department of Transportation.

"It was for a very brief moment," he said of the relationship. "And I fell in love with this kid who was fatherless and was very withdrawn. He's [become] an unbelievably impressive young man."

I'll tell you what playa (© J. Anthony Brown), women will do it to you EVERY TIME.

Is the foster child the same child that, according to the Post, Mfume claimed to have wanted to spend more time with when he resigned?  Christopher, the son he said he wanted to spend more time with, and the foster child are both 15.

Something's gone terribly wrong when a public official's life sounds like a soap opera.

Here's probably the most damning evidence that Speaks has:

To bolster her analysis, Goodman details salary information for several women who worked at the NAACP's national headquarters in Baltimore and states that those rumored to have close relationships with Mfume, or with his son, have fared better than those who did not.

If Speaks could adequately show a considerable gap between women rumored to have dated Mfume and ones who didn't, the NAACP is toast.  Goodman and the other lawyers who've analyzed the case can believe what they want, but the case is won and lost in court.  That's really all that matters.  Based on the information given, I'd be surprised if Bond and the executive committee hasn't settled with Speaks already.

The fault lies directly at Mfume's feet, no matter whether he truly was guilty of favortism or not.  The information given shows a pattern of sexual dalliances with employees, which could used against you later on.  If it was only one employee, it would be different, but ten?  Who's to say he won't do the same thing if the people of Maryland lose their minds and elect him Senator?

In an interview with the Post yesterday, Mfume said he doesn't engage in "inappropriate behavior".  I would definitely hate to see what he considers inappropriate.  No workplace I know of tolerates this kind of thing (well, actually the WWE does, but I don't think that's the standard Mfume or the NAACP wants to emulate).

I hope to have more on this later.

Over the last few months, Democrats have stepped up their attacks on controversial Senate Majority Leader Tom DeLay.  They're still sore about the redistricting plan in Texas that saw them lose several seats in the House of Representatives, which gave them a net loss in Election 04 (nevermind the fact that Democrats have been doing those same redistricting tricks in the South for decades).

Note that Democrats haven't been accusing DeLay of anything illegal, only "unethical".  "Ethics" is a relative term, especially when you add in the fact that many Congressmen across the aisle have been guilty of the same things the Democrats, the media, and the left wing orgs have been accusing DeLay of.

Here's a great example.  Click on the map.

The Democrats don't want DeLay to actually defend the charges, because then there's a possibly he could be cleared of them, and thus they can't use it as propaganda anymore.  They expect the American people to stay stupid, and believe these charges are exclusive to the every-day activities of Washington politicians.  I don't mind these practices being ended, but I won't support a hatchet job being executed on someone by insulting the intelligence of the electorate.

Thus, I'm glad the Republicans did decide to return the rules to normal in order to expedite this ethics process and bring closure to these charges.  The AP and other media entities are characterizing this as a Republican "retreat", but if you've been paying attention to both DeLay and Speaker Hastert's comments, they are the ones that are calling for this so they can clear DeLay's name and finally eliminate this from the Democratic Party talking points.