JOUR 3101 Blog: If you don't read the news; you lose

CNN reports that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is prepared to sue CNN regarding their mishap this week. The network ran a picture of the 53-year-old Chavez on Tuesday with a caption below it reading "Who killed him?" The caption was meant to be run with a picture of murdered Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor, who has also been in the news all week, and it was certainly irresponsible broadcasting journalism. Despite the error, Chavez has been in the news frequently about his turning Venezuela into a socialist regime. What I find more concerning in this article than the fact that Chavez is threatening to cut CNN affiliate Globovision from the air is that the report says that Venezuela is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the U.S. This number is very alarming as Venezuela has some leverage with their resource and the U.S.'s dependency on foreign oil continues despite the fact that it could lead us to some serious international disputes in the near future.

Posted by George Fiddler at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Romanian film "4 month, 3 weeks and 2 days" won the top prize at the 18th Stockholm International Film Festival Saturday, according to the news site, China view. The film, which also won the top prize at the 60th Cannes International Film Festival earlier this year, was awarded the Bronze Horse for Best Film 2007 at this year's 10-day Stockholm film festival which ended Sunday. The film is about illegal abortion, with commentary on the Roe vs. Wade case, and involves young Romanian characters. The film critic at IMDB describes the film as being "as uncompromising as any film I have seen in recent memory," a critique that certainly stirs up anticipation in a film buff like myself. The film was directed by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu. The information that I sought in the article at China view was of confirmation that the festival is indeed a credible festival, worthy of giving such praise to a film. I then ran across how the festival awarded "Requiem for a Dream" in the past, a film I consider compelling, and it also said that the festival is considered one of the 10 biggest film festivals of the year, but I wonder when they say that, who is the "they." The fact that they mentioned it as linked to Cannes film festival gave it all the credibility I needed.

Posted by George Fiddler at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phil Mickelson, the world's number two golfer, behind Tiger "do you even have to write my name because people know I'm numero uno" Woods, survived another near collapse to win Asia's richest golf tournament, according to Reuters website. Mickelson, aka Lefty, lost his five stroke lead and was forced to play a playoff with Lee Westwood and Ross Fischer, but prevailed after sinking a two-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole. The golfer, who is infamously known for his collapse at the 2006 US Open, when he blew a two stroke lead on the last hole and said, "I’m such an idiot," won for the first time in Asia.

Posted by George Fiddler at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Italian soccer star Francesco Totti had been accused of doping, news that shocked the soccer community, but the case was dropped by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) on Friday. Soccer Net reported this news as it was released on Friday, after months of rumors and bad publicity for the AS Roma striker. The report gave no details of the possible offence committed by Totti but Italy's ANSA news service said the 31-year-old had been late for a routine doping test on May 13. Totti said that his son was born on that day and that it was the reason he was late.
For people that don't understand how big soccer is internationally or how big a star Totti is, lets just say that it blew Barry Bonds out of the water, and it would be a way bigger deal to Italy if Totti was convicted than if Bonds was convicted in America. Doping has been a consistently negative, yet frequent topic in sports for the last few years or so. people have differing opinions on the topic. For example, Dr. Fost, of Milwaukee says "I think athletes should be allowed to use them if they want‚ preferably under medical supervision," yet the overwhelming thought towards them is undeniably bad.

The sources are expert human person and online authority.

Posted by George Fiddler at 4:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the first game of the newly implemented NBA Europe Live tour, the MInnesota Timberwolves defeated Istanbul club Efes Pilsen 84-81 Saturday. The tour, which is a good idea from the marketing side of things in the NBA's attempt to globalize the sport's popularity, should help increase awareness of the league in countries that wouldn't have typically tuned in to the sport. The Star Tribune reported that the team also took part in some community service involvement on the trip. They helped dedicate a new basketball court and community center at a local school and distributed 1,00 hearing aids to needy children. It certainly must have been a thrill for the children to meet these giants of athletes, which is nice.

In other attempts to familiarize the world with the league, besides having drafted Chinese mega star Yao Ming, the NBA has also started a foundation, Basketball without Borders, which is meant to influence positive social change around the globe and features dozens of current and former NBA players and team personnel as camp coaches. More on the foundation can be read at the NBA website.

Posted by George Fiddler at 12:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After seizing 250 endangered parrots and 300 parakeets Mexico City highway police arrested two men in the car on suspicion of animal trafficking. The birds were apparently stuffed into 11 cages in the car, and teh men failed to provide permits for any of the animals. The birds confiscated were Lilac-crowned parrots and orange-fronted parakeets, the parrots are considered from the area and endangered species, making them possibly more valuable for the men.

With the high number of animals on the endangered species list in the world, many animals are soon to be extinct, and men depriving the species of the chance to have offspring and allow the rest of the world to enjoy their presence is wrong.
Story @: 1. http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=71233
2. http://www.startribune.com/722/story/1439688.html

Posted by George Fiddler at 6:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A flight traveling from Bangkok to Phuket, Thailand crashed while trying to land during stormy weather conditions Sunday morning. The plane was of One-Two-Go Airlines and was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members. The plane failed to land properly during the emergency and it skidded off the runway while driving in hard wind and rain, after skidding of the runway the plane ran through a low retaining wall and split in two. The passengers who were able to get away amid the smoke and fire had to kick out windows to escape. 55 of the deceased were foreign tourists.

Story @:http://www.startribune.com/722/story/1425866.html

Posted by George Fiddler at 5:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)