BEST. PERIOD: NEON INDIAN
Backed by a rubbery live band, Neon Indian mastermind Alan Palomo played a set of rinky-dink synth pop that built a pastel pleasuredome out of squiggly synth lines, chintzy keyboard, brittle guitar, and a charmingly stiff beat. Songs like the aptly-titled "Terminally Chill" give off a sense of woozy childlike glee, as if they were composed by a nerdy nine-year old who loves 1999-era Prince, doing the robot, and the occasional acid trip. -- DAVID MARCHESE

BEST THROWBACK: DEMOLISHED THOUGHTS
If the band names Gang Green and SS Decontrol mean anything to you, you likely would have gotten a kick (in the head) out of this apparently ad hoc supergroup of sorts, featuring lead screamer Thurston Moore, guitarists J Mascis and Don Fleming, and a Fucked Up guitarist on bass. Perversely, their singular focus was on covering now-obscure early '80s hardcore, with Moore -- who still looks like a gawky 19-year-old -- reciting the lyrics from a cheat sheet before shouting them when the band butted in. Inspiring a swirling pit and frantic stage dives, it was a great reminder of the sweaty hardcore matinees of my youth and no doubt thrilled a certain record-collector mindset. In fact, before the set Fucked Up frontman Pink Eye proudly showed me the 13-inch -- yes 13-inch -- vinyl he had just picked up from Jack White's pop-up store. This show must have sent him to heaven. -- DOUG BROD

BEST FREAK NASTY REPLACEMENT FOR KE$HA: UFFIE
Pop problem child Ke$ha's stories of hard partying, Hollywood boys, and brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack not freak nasty enough? Meet Parisian rapper Uffie, signed to Ed Banger Records, the same label home of Justice -- and one of Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus' fave new artists. She's a self-described "bad ass bitch" and at Mohawk she played the role, strutting onstage in her short blonde bob and revealing black lace top, dropping XXX-rated rhymes on "Pop a Glock" -- "When I rock the party, you bust a nut." On "Brand New Car," which, like all her songs, features electro beats and deep bass, like a harder version of Ke$ha's "Tik Tok," she admitted her love of shoes -- and aspirations of pop chart domination. Uffie's not there just yet; she's still a bit unpolished. But look out -- with the proper producer, her club-kid shtick could be transformed into pop gold. -- WILLIAM GOODMAN

BEST STATESIDE DEBUT: CHATMONCHY
Chatmonchy are three bubbly Japanese girls who play crunching, hook-filled power-pop that sounds like Weezer rendered in anime. For all I know the band's lyrics are about herpetology and needlepoint, but the trio, which made its American debut on Friday night, played with such infectious enthusiasm and its songs, especially the fizzy "Daidai," are such ingeniously constructed marvels of tension and release that the language barrier easily came crashing down. If Chatmonchy aren't already big in Japan, they should be. Here too -- and everywhere else. -- DM

BEST BUZZ BAND: BEST COAST
When L.A. lo-fi surf trio Best Coast closed out Gorilla Vs. Bear's day party at Klub Krucial, the venue hit capacity and a line trailed down 6th Street -- for good reason. Though frontwoman Bethany Consentino and her two long-haired male bandmates may look like California uber-hippies onstage -- and song titles like "Sun Was High (So Was I)" fuel that assumption -- their fuzzy hooks and 1950s-inspired pop have become the epitome of blog cool since 2009. Named one of SPIN's Must-Hear SXSW acts, Best Coast's solid live performance -- less fuzzy than their reverb-y recordings -- proves they deserve the buzz, which should only grow as they near the release of their debut record later this year. -- JENN PELLY

WORST BUZZ BAND: MEMORY TAPES
Sometimes hype is more than slightly overblown. Case in point: New Jersey's Memory Tapes, the dreamy, dance-y electro project of 28-year-old guitarist/vocalist/programmer Dayve Hawk (who has also recorded as Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes). Like a bubblier Helio Sequence with loops of wistful organ synths, lo-fi digi beats, and a headphones-sporting live drummer adding rhythmic umph, Hawk sang lyrics of heartbreak and despair on tracks like "Green Knight," off his 2009 release Seek Magic: "I want to give you my love / I want to call your name." The sound is part of a new genre called glo-fi or chillwave, the best of which is SPIN's Big in 2010 pick Neon Indian. Live, the smooth, opiate-dream sound is more disjointed -- and Hawk's watery, androgynous vocals sound gruff and choppy. Memory Tapes album isn't bad, but in a live setting its better qualities are compromised. -- WG

BEST SINGALONG: THEOPHILUS LONDON
There were other samples in his totally dance-tastic set that you'd recognize, but when this Brooklyn beatmaster dropped Whitney Houston's glass-shattering Bodyguard soundtrack jam "I Will Always Love You," droves of hipsters at Club de Ville shed any remaining stoicism and sang along. Loudly. As the beats returned, we wondered aloud whether Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" could be used similarly. The answer: a resounding "no." -- PETER GASTON

BEST ALTERNATIVE TO M.I.A.: MALUCA<</span>!> If M.I.A. were a sassy Latin mami, her globe-trotting hip-hop sound rooted in spicy dancehall instead of electro Bollywood, she'd be 28-year-old Maluca (a.k.a. Natalie Yepez). Raised in New York's Dominican community, Maluca mashes hard-hitting, lo-fi drum machine beats with mambo flourishes and the distress-call horns, deep bass, and fast sing-raps of Spanish youth music. The M.I.A. comparisons are more than sonic: Diplo, M.I.A.'s onetime producer/DJ, discovered Maluca as she sang karaoke and helped launch her career, signing her to his to Mad Decent label. She was initially hesitant to perform due to intense stage fright -- but that's now clearly gone. With two dancers at her side, Maluca jived and moved in black tights, a black ballcap, and a gold robe, opening it occasionally to flaunt her sexy curves. --
WG

BEST SONIC AIR-CONDITIONING: REAL ESTATE 6th Street's Klub Krucial has a serious heat problem -- it's a friggin' Texas sweatbox. But luckily Ridgewood, New Jersey's psychedelic surf-pop quartet Real Estate had a solution: reverb-drenched guitar jangles and lyrics about breezy summers in suburbia, with plenty of references to beaches, lakes, and pools courtesy of frontman Martin Courtney. Their sound is pretty and freeform -- think the meandering guitars of Built to Spill but with a fixation for good vibes. The boys looked a little tired, but they charged on with songs off their self-titled debut, their best -- "Beach Comber" and "Suburban Beverage" -- exploding in a cool tangle of guitars and bass. Like ice water to the face. --
WG

BEST ANGEL FLYING TOO CLOSE TO THE GROUND: HOLLY MIRANDA<</span>!>There's something spooky beautiful about spending Friday night in a darkened church, especially if Holly Miranda's implausibly angelic voice is reverberating up to the 60-foot cathedral ceiling and back down to the stiff-backed pews where you sit in wonder and SXSW exhaustion. During her Central Presbyterian Church set, the Brooklyn transplant's tunes about gay marriage and troubled relationships often relied on the start-stop dynamic of her smoky voice, a capella or backed by a single guitar, suddenly punctuated by the Sonic Youth-like clatter of her backing band. It's a pleasing combination; it shakes the cobwebs out of the traditional singer-songwriter formula. But in the end, it was Miranda's vocals – notable for their searching, ascetic purity – that elevated the night and turned the rapt audience into a congregation of believers. -- MARK BAUTZ

BEST CHOICE OF VENUE: THE XX

The Central Presbyterian Church also provided emerging Brit trio the xx a perfect setting for their austere music. In the huge but hushed catherdral, the subtle interplay between guitar, bass, and processed sounds echoed fully – as did Romy Madley's Bjork-like whisper. The group's lack of physical movement or concern for performing, which can be a drawback in a noisy club, suddenly seemed like a moral virtue. Their songs hold mysteries that were deepened by the solemn space -- and absorbing them felt like SXSW's version of accepting grace. -- MB

BEST NON-COMEBACK: RA RA RIOT

With their second album due later this year, we expected Ra Ra Riot to pull the tarps off some brand new songs during their set at the Green Label Sound showcase. But with the crowd well lubricated after a genre-defying, body movin' set from Theophilus London, the clock approaching 1 A.M., and the alcohol flowing copiously, the Syracuse sextet -- playing their fourth consecutive SXSW -- blazed through airtight versions of songs from their 2008 debut, The Rhumb Line
. And while they did play two new songs, frontman Wes Miles didn't even acknowledge them, instead feeding off the frenzied enthusiasm that surged when his band powered through their catchiest song, "Dying Is Fine." -- PG

BEST MARRIANGE OF TWO DUDES FROM MODESTO: ADMIRAL RADLEY:

They're longtime friends from the same hometown who sport respected indie resumes. And now Jason Lytle and Aaron Espinoza are collaborating in Admiral Radley, which includes Lytle's ex-Grandaddy drummer Aaron Burtch and Espinoza's bandmate in Earlimart, Ariana Murray. If Friday's uneven set at the Galaxy Room was any indication, Ad Rad's (yes, they already have a nickname) forthcoming album will satiate fans in both camps — finely honed, intricately layered songs with loopy effects, whimsical themes ("I [Heart] California&quot;) and, satisfyingly, the verve of two old buds just having a good time. -- KEVIN BRONSON
.

BEST BACKPEDALING: INTERNATIONAL HIP-HOP SHOWCASE

The beauty of SXSW is stumbling upon a new artist as you peruse the chaos, drawn in by a snippet of music wafting out to the sidewalk. My quirkiest discovery yet: the International Hip-Hop showcase, presented by Nomadic Wax. Swede rap duo Timbuktu &amp; Chords dropped rhymes in both English and their native tongue over an international pu pu platter of laptop-generated beats -- reggae dub, African drums, and funky smooth soul. Luckily, two messages seem to translate worldwide: dancing and drugs. "Shake your little asses," the tall, blonde Chords instructed, before diving into another old school track with a simple instruction: "Get high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high.
-- WG

BEST UNEXPECTED COLLEGE HOUSE PARTY: SHELLSHAG

Tack more grit to Liz Phair's 1994 indie rock debut and you've got Brooklyn's Shellshag, a guitar/drum duo who show their love for all things punk and grunge with their recent album Rumors in Disguise
. At midnight a crowd of 50 packed into a messy kitchen at a University of Texas student party, where guitarist Johnny Shell and drummer Jen Shag tore through a raucous set. Shag attached bells and shakers to a her sequined belt and clunky combat boots for additional percussion, and more came from the crowd, who hit her drum while hollering along to Rumors gem "Resilient Bastard." -- JP

BEST BAND VAGUELY CONNECTED TO J. MASCIS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sub Pop newbies Happy Birthday have a spunk that set them apart from other lo-fi noise poppers -- and it only takes one listen of the Vermont trio's mega-catchy, cleverly harmonized song "Girls FM" to get it. Playing an 8:30 P.M. outdoor set at Cheer Up Charlie's parking lot-turned-performance-space, they sped through 30 minutes of tunes from their recent self-titled debut -- upbeat pop with unusual guitar tunings, group vocals, and psychedelic touches. Warm, intricate guitar work came courtesy of frontman Kyle Thomas, who also rocks alongside Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis in the stoner metal four-piece Witch. -- JP

IN BRIEF:

Whoever was DJ-ing at the Friendly Fire showcase at Club de Ville was on fire Friday night. At one point, I said to the friend I was with, "Neon Indian sounds amazing." My friend gently explained that the band wasn't on yet. Both Neon Indian and the DJ should take that as a compliment. --

DMEntourage

star -- and Honey Brothers drummer -- Adrian Grenier dined with a posse of pals in the private patio dining area Moonshine, getting properly pre-gamed for a night of rock'n'roll. -- PG There's no lack of dedication to Keeping Austin Weird. One transient sipping a paper-bagged beer belted a craggy version of the Beatles' "Lady Madonna," and later joined a dance act on 6th Street, attempting -- and failing -- to execute their dexterous moves. She gets an "A&quot; for effort. –

WG

Fresh from guesting with Stone Temple Pilots the night before, former

Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger

caught the action at Muse's sold-out Stubb's show. -- DM

Variety

Goodspeed to Premiere BAND GEEKS!, REBECCA...SUNNYBROOK FARM & RADIO GIRL in 2010 Broadway World The darling Radio Girl, based on the much loved classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, will charm audiences July 29 through August 22. The third new musical, ... Goodspeed Will Present Krieger & Birkenhead's Radio Girl and Band Geeks!Playbill.com "Radio Girls" Joins "Band Geeks" at Goodspeed's Norma Terris TheatreHartford Courant (blog) all 5 news articles »

When Lorenzo Fertitta hit Washington D.C. in December, it was a hint that the UFC was serious about protecting its pay-per-views. The promotion went after a New England bar for showing illegal broadcasts. Now it's attacking web pirates.

Las Vegas-based Zuffa LLC, owner of the UFC, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Friday against the Web sites www.watchufc111.com and www.watchufc111free.com.

Attorneys for Zuffa, Michael Feder and John Krieger of the Las Vegas office of the law firm Lewis and Roca LLP, charge in the complaint that an individual in Framlingham, Suffolk, United Kingdom, registered the watchufc111 name and an individual in Jacksonville, Fla., registered the watchufc111free name.

According to the Las Vegas Sun story, UFC also filed suit against a Stafford, Va., man, Moazzam Gandu, back on Feb 18. Gandu's site rage-streams.net was selling unauthorized UFC broadcasts for $6.95.

DaveKrieger: Restart? Yes. Rising from the dead? A tad strong. @Carlos_Herrera_ he might be 25 but he was employed to the Browns... yes it's a...

It has been so easy, turning Brandon Marshall into a caricature. Bad guy. Bad teammate. Hothead. Diva.

0 comments Source: www.denverpost.com

Andy Bostom has published a useful analysis of Muammar Qaddafi’s recent declaration of a jihad against Switzerland, and how it relates to Geert Wilders and the Islamization of Europe:

Qaddafi, Wilders, and the Jihad Against Switzerland
by Andrew G. Bostom

Qaddafi’s declaration of jihad against Switzerland is an action with centuries of precedence within Islam.

Ever since the triumphs of Islam’s prophet became the ultimate inspiration for jihadism almost 14 centuries ago, Muslims have especially revered the bellicose, conquering Muhammad of Medina. (For a pious contemporary example, see Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s “The Prophet Muhammad as a Jihad Model.”) According to a canonical hadith (Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0272), Islam in essence belongs to Medina, as a serpent to its lair, the specific words being, “Verily the faith [i.e., Islam] would recede to Medina just as the serpent crawls back into its hole.”

Consistent with the accepted virtues of predatory Medinan Islam and the sacralized jihadism of Muhammad, Libyan despot Muammar Qaddafi recently marked the Muslim prophet’s birthday by declaring a jihad against Switzerland “with all means,” including violent jihad. This was ostensibly in response to the Swiss referendum banning construction of minarets:

We will not give up Jihad, because it is a religious duty. Jihad constitutes a religious duty and self-defense. It is the defense of the religion, fighting for the sake of Allah, defense of the Prophet Muhammad, of the Koran, of the mosques. … Whoever destroys the mosques of Allah before the eyes of the Muslims is worthy of having Jihad launched against him. If Switzerland were situated on our border, we would fight it, for destroying the mosques of Allah. Jihad against those who destroy the mosques of Allah and their minarets is [true] Jihad, and not terrorism. … Switzerland is an infidel and sinful country which destroys mosques. Jihad, with all possible means, should be declared against it.

He decried as “infidels” all Muslims who continued dealings with Switzerland, or the European publishers of the banal Muhammad caricatures which originally appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten:

Any Muslim who buys Swiss products is an infidel. Let Muslims all over the world know this. There are people here from all over the Islamic world. Any Muslim anywhere in the world who deals with Switzerland is an infidel against Islam, Muhammad, Allah, and the Koran. If you continue to have dealings with Switzerland, and the people who portrayed the Prophet Muhammad in the most abominable way in their newspapers. … If you continue to have dealings with them, to buy their products, to support them, to accept their tourists, to accept their planes, to accept their ships, and to host their embassies — you are not Muslims. Any Muslim must boycott them.

Qaddafi’s statement exhorted the global Muslim community:

Boycott Switzerland, its products, its planes, its ships, and its embassies. Boycott this sinful infidel community, which attacks the mosques of Allah. The Muslim masses must head towards all the airports in the Islamic world, and prevent any Swiss plane from landing. They should head to the ports, and prevent any Swiss ship from coming in. They should comb the shops and markets and remove the Swiss products. Allah said: “Let them find harshness in you.”

Libya’s own example indicates these are not idle threats. Over the past two months, Qaddafi’s government has cut its oil supplies to Switzerland, withdrawn Libyan capital from Swiss banks, and moved to close all Swiss companies active in Libya — Swiss Air having already been shut down. And within a week, by Thursday, March 4, Qaddafi’s call for jihad against Switzerland — manifested as economic jihad, for now — was endorsed by Arab League ministers meeting in Cairo. Ministers from Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Djibouti, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, theUAE, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Tunisia each signed a document in support of Libya’s actions, which also denounced Switzerland as “racist.”

Qaddafi’s jihad-sanctioning diatribe and its endorsement by the Arab League ignores the Swiss electorate’s legitimate concerns expressed through their political leadership, notably the Swiss People’s Party (SVP). These actions towards the Swiss and Western Europe in general by Qaddafi, his Arab League supporters, and other Muslim political and religious leaders illustrate simultaneous denial and imperialistic threat — archetypal Islamic behaviors toward infidel civilizations.

For example, the brutal Arab jihad conquest, colonization, and Sharia-based rule of a swath of Western Europe for eight centuries (the 8th through the 15th), although centralized in the Iberian peninsula of mythically tolerant Muslim Spain, included jihadist ravages that beset what is now modern Switzerland.

Charles Emmanuel Dufourcq, the pre-eminent historian of the Arab Muslim jihad campaigns in Medieval Western Europe, has described how Muslim invaders reached Switzerland from their well-established bastion in Provence. Penetrating toward the north, the east, and the northeast:

- - - - - - - - -

They reached Gap [~ 100 miles northeast of Marseille] and Grenoble (which they would seize for almost twenty years in the middle of the tenth century), advanced as far as the mountain passes in the Alps, which they controlled, making everyone who traveled through them pay a tax, in particular at the Grand-Saint-Bernard [between Italy and Switzerland]. … They arrived in LeValais [a Swiss canton], up to the Abbey of Saint Gall [presently in the Swiss city of St. Gallen], becoming … “the masters of Switzerland” for a decade or so (during the late 9th century).

Major contemporary Muslim clerics and leaders such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (“spiritual” leader of the Muslim Brotherhood), former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, and Qaddafi himself have openly extolled this imperialist past as a prologue to modern efforts seeking Europe’s Islamization. Qaradawi’s public fatwa<</span>!> issued December 2, 2002 urged Muslims to conquer Europe, stating: “Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and a victor after being expelled from it twice — once from the south, from Andalusia, and a second time, from the east, when it knocked several times on the doors of Athens.”Sheikh Qaradawi ruled, in addition, that Muslims should reconquer “former Islamic colonies to Andalus (Spain), southern Italy, Sicily, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean islands.”
Such sentiments were reiterated with equal stridency by European Muslim leaders at a conference entitled “Islam in Europe” that accompanied the July 10, 2003 opening of
the new Granada Mosque. The keynote speaker at this putatively “ecumenical” conference, Umar Ibrahim Vadillo, a Spanish Muslim leader, implored Muslims to cause an economic collapse of Western economies (by switching to gold dinars, and ceasing to use Western currencies), while the German Muslim leader Abu Bakr Rieger told attendees not to adapt their Islamic religious practices to accommodate European (i.e., Western Enlightenment?) values.
These blatant, repeated exhortations for the Islamic subjugation of Europe — a context ignored by mainstream media “analyses” — motivated the Swiss Freedom Party’s (SVP’s)
successful referendum to ban minarets.
The
SVP has referred to minarets as both an accessory to worship, i.e., an instrument for the Muslim call to prayer (or “adhan“), and “a sign of domination.” Does this claim have merit? Indeed it does, according to the official entry on minarets from the venerable Encyclopedia of Islam. Ottoman minarets, in particular, epitomized their dual role “as a sign of power, and as an instrument for the adhan.” Despite orthodox Islamic views that minarets were garish and unnecessary — most notably, by the convenient bogeymen for “radical Islam” in our era, the Wahhabis — the Ottomans built:

… gigantic, needle-sharp lances clustered protectively, like a guard of honor, around the royal dome, have a distinctly aggressive and ceremonial impact, largely dependent on their almost unprecedented proportions; the pair of minarets flanking the Süleymaniye dome are each some 70m high.Thus objective historical reality supports SVP’s
claim that “Islam makes no distinction between Church and State, such that minarets become the expression of influence not only religious, but political, in nature. This conception is incompatible with Western secular tradition.”
SVP Parliamentarian Oskar Freysinger further rejects any anti-Muslim bias, but
re-asserts:

We don’t want minarets … The minaret is a symbol of a political and aggressive Islam; it’s a symbol of Islamic law. The minute you have minarets in Europe, it means Islam will have taken over.These SVP arguments are bolstered by the brazen speech of then Istanbul mayor and current Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, who declared in
1997: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes are our helmets, the minarets are our bayonets and the faithful are our army.”
On Wednesday,
March 3, 2010, Dutch voters delivered an even stronger democratic message rejecting Europe’s Islamization, ironically just hours before Qaddafi’s declaration of jihad against Switzerland was joined by his co-religionists in the Arab League. Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV), participating for the first time in local municipal elections, won handily in Almere, a city of 200,000. The PVV also became the second biggest party in The Hague, the country’s third largest city. Polling data<</span>!> now indicate that the PVV could become the Netherlands’ largest political party after June’s national parliamentary elections.Wilders celebrated these local electoral gains and optimistic national prospects during a
remarkable address
given in London at the British Parliament’s House of Lords on Friday, March 5. He invoked Winston Churchill’s 1899 commentary on Islam from “The River War” — a first hand narrative of the great British prime minister’s encounters with jihadism in The Sudan as a young military officer:
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science — the science against which it had vainly struggled — the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

Wilders agreed with Churchill’s historical assessment, and then

provided
an accurate doctrinal rationale for Islam’s bellicose nature and its contemporary relevance to Europe, which fittingly referred to Qaddafi’s statements from 2006:
I don’t have a problem and my party does not have a problem with Muslims as such. There are many moderate Muslims. The majority of Muslims are law-abiding citizens and want to live a peaceful life as you and I do. I know that. That is why I always make a clear distinction between the people, the Muslims, and the ideology, between Islam and Muslims. There are many moderate Muslims, but there is no such thing as a moderate Islam. Islam strives for world domination. The Quran commands Muslims to exercise jihad. The Quran commands Muslims to establish Shariah law. The Quran commands Muslims to impose Islam on the entire world … Islam is merely not a religion, it is mainly a totalitarian ideology. Islam wants to dominate all aspects of life, from the cradle to the grave. Shariah law is a law that controls every detail of life in a Islamic society. From civic and family law to criminal law. It determines how one should eat, dress, and even use the toilet. Oppression of women is good, drinking alcohol is bad. I believe that Islam is not compatible with our Western way of life. Islam is a threat to Western values. The equality of men and women, the equality of homosexuals and heterosexuals, the separation of church and state, freedom of speech, they are all under pressure because of Islamization. Islam and freedom, Islam and democracy are not compatible.

As former Turkish Prime Minister Erbakan said: “The whole of Europe will become Islamic. We will conquer Rome.” Libyan dictator Qaddafi said: “There are tens of millions of Muslims in the European continent today and their number is on the increase. This is the clear indication that the European continent will be converted into Islam. Europe will one day soon be a Muslim continent.” Indeed, for once in his life, Qaddafi was telling the truth.

Wilders’ keen, if blunt, conceptions articulate contemporary realities while restating seminal insights on Islam observed by great scholars whose works antedate the present day morbid affliction of cultural relativism.

Jacob Burckhardt
(d. 1897), an iconic figure in the annals of Western historiography, believed it was the solemn duty of Western civilization’s heirs to study and acknowledge their own unique cultural inheritance — starting with the culture and heritage of classical Athens. Burckhardt emphasized how the Western conception of freedom was engendered in Athens, where its flowering was accompanied by the production of some of history’s most sublime literary and artistic works. Moreover, while Burckhardt affirmed the irreducible nature of freedom, and upheld equality before the law, he decried the notion — a pervasive, rigidly enforced dogma at present — that all ways of life, opinions, and beliefs were of equal value. Burckhardt argued that this conceptual reductio ad absurdum would destroy Western culture, heralding a return to barbarism. And contra the Western legacy of Athens — epitomized by freedom —Burckhardt referred to Islam as a despotic, totalitarian ideology:
All religions are exclusive, but Islam is quite notably so, and immediately it developed into a state which seemed to be all of a piece with the religion. The Koran is its spiritual and secular book of law. Its statutes embrace all areas of life … and remain set and rigid; … [imposing] this nature on many nationalities and thus [remolding] them for all time (a profound, extensive spiritual bondage!). This is the power of Islam in itself. At the same time, the form of the world empire as well as of the states gradually detaching themselves from it cannot be anything but a despotic monarchy. The very reason and excuse for existence, the holy war, and the possible world conquest, do not brook any other form.

The strongest proof of real, extremely despotic power in Islam is the fact that it has been able to invalidate, in such large measure, the entire history (customs, religion, previous way of looking at things, earlier imagination) of the peoples converted to it. It accomplished this only by instilling into them a new religious arrogance which was stronger than everything and induced them to be ashamed of their past.

G.H. Bousquet
(d. 1978), one of the foremost 20 century scholars of Islamic Law, explained how Islam’s unique institution of jihad war and its eternal quest to impose the Shari’a on all of humanity represented the quintessence of Islamic totalitarianism. Writing in 1950, Bousquet (p. 104) further warned that these ancient Muslim doctrines remained alive, and relevant to the modern era:
Islam first came before the world as a doubly totalitarian system. It claimed to impose itself on the whole world and it claimed also, by the divinely appointed Muhammadan law, by the principles of fiqh, to regulate down to the smallest details the whole life of the Islamic community and of every individual believer … Viewed from this angle, the study of Muhammadan Law (dry and forbidding though it may appear to be to those who confine themselves to the indispensable study of the fiqh), is of great importance to the world of today.

Geert Wilders’ appropriate perspective on Islamic totalitarianism leads him to formulate equally direct positions — ideological and political — which he also enumerated in the

March 5 speech
to the House of Lords:
First, we will have to defend freedom of speech. It is the most important of our liberties. In Europe and certainly in the Netherlands, we need something like the American First Amendment. Second, we will have to end and get rid of cultural relativism. To the cultural relativists, the Shariah socialists, I proudly say: our Western culture is far superior to the Islamic culture. Don’t be afraid to say it. You are not a racist when you say that our own culture is better. Third, we will have to stop mass immigration from Islamic countries. Because more Islam means less freedom. Fourth, we will have to expel criminal immigrants and, following denaturalization, we will have to expel criminals with a dual nationality. And there are many of them in my country. Fifth, we will have to forbid the construction of new mosques. There is enough Islam in Europe. Especially since Christians in Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia are mistreated, there should be a mosque building-stop in the West.

In

1978, Dufourcq
was concerned (even then) that historical and cultural revisionism might precipitate a recurrence of:
… the upheaval carried out on our continent (i.e., Europe) by Islamic penetration more than a thousand years ago … with other methods.

By the early 1990s,

Bat Ye’or had already observed that European Islam
[pdf] was adhering to its traditional supremacist orthodoxy, making no effort to eliminate doctrines incompatible with true ecumenism and core Western Enlightenment values:
I do not see serious signs of a Europeanization of Islam anywhere, a move that would be expressed in … a self-critical view of the history of Islamic imperialism … we are light years away from such a development … On the contrary, I think that we are participating in the Islamization of Europe, reflected both in daily occurrences and in our way of thinking … All the racist fanaticism that permeates the Arab countries and Iran has been manifested in Europe in recent years.

Muammar Qaddafi embodies such quintessential Islamic supremacism and belligerence — witness his call for jihad against Switzerland being validated by

representatives of the entire Arab Muslim umma<</span>!>. Tangential, bizarre aspects of his behavior —
obsessively highlighted by mainstream media<</span>!> and so-called analytical publications, alike — are conflated with this disturbing reality as a willful distraction from the jihadist threat Qaddafi’s Libyan regime has posed continuously for over four decades. Geert Wilders’ portrayal by the same chattering classes and analysts is an equally deliberate simulacrum of reality constructed with the opposite intent. The transparent agenda in characterizations of Wilders is to demonize Western Europe’s most informed and courageous politician resisting the actual jihadism Qaddafi represents, independent of Qaddafi’s mere odd behaviors. But the Swiss minaret referendum, and even more emphatically, burgeoning Dutch support for Wilders and his PVV, indicate that ordinary Europeans reject the capitulation to Islamic supremacism their cultural relativist media and political elites deliberately abet.

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Cousin Bette, Love Bites and A Torrid Affaire THE 31ST ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDSNEW REVIEW GO INFLUENCE Photo by Ed Krieger​The br...

Close March 2, 2010, 5:53 PM ET By Sari Krieger El Salvador business magnate Adolfo Salume has created a new company to help clean technology start-ups distribute their products in Latin America.

Filed under: Fashion, Celebrity, News, Designers &amp; Brands

Like Barbie needs Ken, the Halston woman needs her Halston man.

So, the fashion house is relaunching menswear at two levels: Halston Collection, tailored clothing and sportswear, and the lower- priced Halston Heritage, which will consist of more trend-driven sportswear pieces.

These collections mirror the women's Halston offerings: The Collection, designed by Marios Schwab, and Halston Heritage, helmed by new creative director Sarah Jessica Parker.

The menswear collections will not be designed by name designers, but will instead be assigned to Studio Mauro Ravizza Krieger, an Italian company that has done work for Loro Piana<</span>!>.
Collection suits will sell for around $2,000 with shirts and ties retailing for $400 and $150 respectively. Halston Heritage suits will cost no more than $1,100 and sweaters will go for $195-$450.

The company said the relaunch of the
men's lines, which haven't been sold since the early '90s, is the direct result of the success of the women's collections.
And we definitely expect to see SJP's husband, actor Matthew Broderick, sporting the new duds.

"The brand is in a good place under the current management. Retailers are recognizing it as a luxury player, and the launch of the women's Heritage line has been a resounding success, not to mention the addition of
Sarah Jessica Parker has been brilliant," Jim Ameen, owner of Neema Clothing, the licensee the Halston men's labels, and a stakeholder in Halston, told WWD.
"We always planned to have the women's lines up and running before we launched the men's. Now it's time to plan for the future of men's."

Halston Relaunching Menswear. Matthew Broderick Must Be Psyched originally appeared on StyleList on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Simon Cowell admits he’s ‘absolutely appalled’ at the way he has treated some contestants

“There’s many, many times where I’ve watched the show back and I’m absolutely appalled,” Cowell, 50, says during an upcoming interview on “Piers Morgan’s Life Stories.” “You do the show, you’re not aware of what’s happening in the room outside. You know, somebody just said, ‘My dog Lassie died yesterday,’ I’m in a bad mood and, you know, awful, and you see it in that context, it’s very, very difficult to watch.”

NY Daily News

More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…

Ellen DeGeneres needs to bring her A-game to ‘American Idol’

In other words, for all her chirpy “I’m just a gal who’s happy to be here” persona, DeGeneres is a force to be reckoned with, a woman with as much ambition and chutzpah as Harvey Weinstein or, for that matter, Simon Cowell.

So what’s with the shrinking violet act on “American Idol”?

LA Times

Hinder singer on Lee DeWyze: ‘A front-runner with a great voice’

Last night, “American Idol” Top 24 contender Lee DeWyze proved his vocal might when he took on Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel.” Though the judges pointed out some minor pitch problems and a terrified look on his face, for the most part, their reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Kara DioGuardi told the 23-year-old Mount Prospect, Ill., native that his voice was a good fit for “radio right now,” Ellen DeGeneres called his performance “great,” while Simon Cowell declared that Lee was “head and shoulders above everyone else” and “may be the one to beat.”

LA Times

Adam Lambert: Sydney Stud

Enjoying some time down under, Adam Lambert was spotted hamming it up at the media call for Sydney, Australia’s Mardi Gras Party today (March 4).

The “American Idol” alum looked handsome in a black zip-up vest over a shiny black shirt with black jeans and black boots.

celebrity-gossip

American Idol’s Adam Lambert explains how he wants to be a positive role model

IT STARTED with a kiss.

Unfortunately for homophobic America, it was a kiss between gay singer Adam Lambert and a male bandmate on live TV as part of the American Music Awards last November.

The kiss lasted seconds but the fallout lingered.

Overnight, Good Morning America axed a planned Lambert performance citing the AMA “controversy” that received 1500 complaints.

Heraldsun.com

‘American Idol’: Katharine McPhee’s advice to the top 20: ‘Pick a direction’

Katharine McPhee hasn’t caught a lot of “American Idol” this season, but she can still feel the show’s impact.

Granted, the season 5 runner-up has had a few things on her plate. In addition to touring in support of her album “Unbroken,” she has a guest-starring role on NBC’s “Community” next week and was just cast in an NBC comedy pilot called “The Pink House.”

Zap2it.com

Syesha Mercado and the original Dreamgirls celebrate opening night at the Ahmanson

“Tonight was really scary,” “American Idol” alum Syesha Mercado said after “Dreamgirls” opened Tuesday night at the Ahmanson Theatre. Season 7’s second runner-up had just arrived at the after-party at downtown L.A.’s J Restaurant and Lounge shortly before the divalicious hour of 1 a.m.

“I’m having a little trouble breathing,” she said. “I was backstage hyperventilating, so during the second act, they had to bring an oxygen tank backstage. It was amazing just to get through tonight. With everybody who was out there, it was very nerve-wracking.”

“Everybody” also included Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance, “High School Musical 3’s” Monique Coleman, Nia Long, “Paranormal Activity’s” Ashley Palmer, “Lincoln Heights’” Eric Hubbard and America&#8217;s newest “it” girl, Betty White. Of course, Mercado had her “Idol” peeps in the audience too – David Hernandez and Jordin Sparks, who tweeted, “Syesha killed it as Deena Jones. Amazing job, girl!”

LA Times

Theater review: ‘Dreamgirls’ at the Ahmanson Theatre

Powerhouse singing is hardly in short supply in the bluntly entertaining touring production of “Dreamgirls,” Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger’s groundbreaking 1981 musical loosely based on the career of the “Supremes,” which opened Tuesday at the Ahmanson Theatre.

Residents of downtown Los Angeles may have heard the sonic boom that nearly short-circuited a swath of the city when Moya Angela delivered the first act finale, “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” — Effie White’s anthem of heartbreak denial that turned two Jennifers, Holliday and Hudson, into instant national treasures.

LA Times

Just Jason

The first thing you notice about Jason Castro is that he’s totally real. But when he opens his mouth to sing, it’s like watching a different person. “I really think music is an extension of one’s self,” he says. ”One can’t go without the other, so my personality and character are a huge part of the music and that’s what people have told me they love about it – just the realness and that they can feel my heart and the emotion in the songs when I perform them.”

Kidzworld.com

inPhotos: Lil Mo, Williams Record ‘Song’ For Haiti

Lil’ Mo, Michelle Williams and Tye Tribbett were all on hand for the recording of “Prayer Song,” a record benefiting “Hope For Haiti” Tuesday.

Also featuring Krishnar Lewis, Anwar Robinson, Nikki Ross and more, the recording went down at MSR Studios in Time Square (NY). At this point there is no word as to when the single will be released.

Both Michelle Williams and Lil’ Mo tweeted from the event, writing:

Singersroom

‘Dancing with the Stars’ Casting Secrets Revealed

Can you imagine Bill Clinton on “Dancing with the Stars”? How about Jennifer Aniston? Both celebrities would be dream “gets” for Deena Katz, the senior producer on ABC’s hit show.

“I would kill to have Bill Clinton,” Deena tells ET. “I’d love Jennifer Aniston….There’s always the fun Sarah Palins of the world…”

But assembling the celebrity cast for the dance competition is not as easy as it looks. You can’t just say yes to everyone who wants to participate.

“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle — they have to fit in with whatever the cast is,” says Deena.

ETOnline

In 1955, Austria signed a treaty with the United States promising to give back all of the property it stole from Jews during the period of Nazi "occupation" of Austria.   Ever since, Austria has treated this obligation largely as a joke, thumbing its nose at Jews who attempted to get their property back.  Only in the 1990's through a combination of class action lawsuits and the actions of the Clinton Administration spearheaded by Amb. Stuart Eizenstat, did Austria instead agree to pay pittances to Jewish persecutees in lieu of giving them their property back.   The sad tale is well told in Eizenstat's book Imperfect Justice.

But the class action settlements did not cover stolen artworks in Austria.  In 1998, in reaction to D.A. Morgenthau's seizure of Egon Schiele's Portrait of Wally and Dead City (Dead City belonged to Fritz Grunbaum), Austria passed an Art Restitution Law that permitted claims to be made against artworks in Austria's federal museum collections.  On April 13, 1999, the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum made claims to the following works by Egon Schiele that were stolen from Grunbaum while he was in the Dachau Concentration Camp:


Egon Schiele, Female Nude Seated on Red Drape, Back View
Sitzender weiblicher Rückenakt mit rotem Rock

Jane Kallir: Egon Schiele, The Complete Works 1998, New York №:1504
Gouache, watercolor, and pencil. Signed and dated, lower right. (48.2 x 31.8 cm).
Gutekunst &amp; Klipstein, Nov. 24, 1955, lot 107 1

Exhibitions: London, 1964, no. 67, ill.; Hamburg, 1981, no. 214, ill.
Inventorylist Albertina: 39.931




Jane Kallier: Egon Schiele, The Complete Works 1998, New York №:1797: Heinrich Rieger; Gutekunst &amp; Klipstein, Bern; Galerie St. Etienne, New York; Rudolf Leopold;

Provenance as per Catalog: "Egon Schiele" Würthle Gallery, Vienna 1925:
"Mutter und Kind", sign Egon Schiele 1915 Sammlung Fritz Grünbaum
Austria never responded to the claims of Fritz Grunbaum's heirs.  From 2000 through 2009, Austria claimed that it was "investigating" the status of the works.  In 2006, Mag. Eva Blimlinger was called in to oversee the investigation together with Mag. Annaliese Schallmeiner.


 Blimlinger is a respected Austrian historian and oversaw the Austrian Historian Commission's report found at http://www.provenienzforschung.gv.at/    The Blimlinger and Schallmeiner Report, which was supposed to have issued in the fall of 2009, never has seen the light of day, apparently the victim of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.   Why was that report killed and what did it say?
 
In the summer of 2009, at the Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets, Minister Claudia Schmid promised Congressman Wexler that she would investigate the status of the Grunbaum works at the Albertina.  I spoke to Dr. Christophe Bazil and Dr. Thomas Baier, who reassured me that they would investigate the issue and be in contact.   I wrote to them and never got any response.
 
In February, a client alerted me to a forum to take place in New York on Austrian Restitution.  The program is here.    I was rather shocked that the very Austrian officials who had promised to look into the Grunbaum affair and who did not have the time to answer my communications were to be speaking in New York City.
 
By failing to return property belonging to Jews, Austria has breached its obligations under the Austrian State Treaty of 1955.  This treaty was a condition of Austria's existence, like our Constitution.  The Allies - Russians, French, British and Americans - pulled out of Austria on the promise that all property would be returned to Jews.   Instead, Austrians continue to live in homes stolen from Jews, operate businesses stolen from Jews, and to buy, sell and enjoy art stolen from Jews.
 
Since the Allies left Austria, Austria has enacted successively a&nbsp;system of inadequate and insulting postwar laws that failed to restore property to Jews.   To understand Austria's obligations clearly (the treaty is written in plain English), we look to the actual writing. Article 26 of the 1955 Austrian State Treaty states as follows:

PROPERTY, RIGHTS AND INTERESTS OF MINORITY GROUPS IN AUSTRIA<</span>!>

1. In so far as such action has not already been taken, Austria undertakes that, in all cases where property, legal rights or interests in Austria have since 13th March, 1938, been subject of forced transfer or measures of sequestration, confiscation or control on account of the racial origin or religion of the owner, the said property shall be returned and the said legal rights and interests shall be restored together with their accessories. Where return or restoration is impossible, compensation shall be granted for losses incurred by reason of such measures to the same extent as is, or may be, given to Austrian nationals generally in respect of war damage.
The full text of the Austria is found
here, courtesy Wikipedia.  You will see that there are no "if's" ands or "buts" in the Treaty.  Its language is unconditional and does not depend on enabling legislation.  Indeed, any enabling legislation that fell short of the absolute terms of the Treaty would be unconstitutional in Austria.
It is to be hoped that the U.S. State Department will assist the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum in obtaining a copy of the Blimlinger/Schallmeiner Report and in facilitating conversations through the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, consistent with the
Washington Principles on Holocaust-Era Assets.   It is to be hoped that President Obama's Ambassador to Austria, Amb. William Eacho will take a personal interest in the plight of Jews dispossessed in the Holocaust.Copyright Litigation Handbook (West 4th Ed. 2009) by Raymond J. Dowd

The Onion’s AV Club recently asked its writers about art they discovered too late – stuff that could have been life-changing at 17, but meant zilch at 27. A few contributors mentioned video games and Star Wars. Another, Harry Potter. One woman claimed Bob Dylan did nothing for her, having been subjected to so many bad impressions before hearing the actual thing.

It was kind of a bummer, honestly. (A life without Star Wars is a life without joy.) But it got me thinking about things I waited too long to try, and how that timeframe affected my appreciation for them.

Let’s see. Emo music is definitely one. What I might have found romantic and charmingly melancholy at 20 sounded like self-indulgent whining at 25. Same goes for everything on Cartoon Network. In 2000, it could have been revelatory. In 2010, I just want Tim &amp; Eric to get to the point already.

The big tuna: I read On the Road when I was 27, about ten years after I should have. It came highly recommended, and the prose was all it was cracked up to be – weird and gorgeous, evocative and elusive.

The problem came with the message. Instead of, “Let’s hop in a Chevy, ditch this town, and fill our time with freedom, just like Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity!” I thought, “What irresponsible jags, leaving their families and responsibilities for such silliness. Those beatniks need some damn jobs.” Harsh, man. Harsh.

The experience made me happy I caught One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest my sophomore year of college, and Catcher in the Rye in 9th grade. They’ll always be two of my favorite novels, probably because all teenagers relate to alienation. Sometimes I wonder if I would find them foolish now, if I had just picked them up for the first time. How sad.

It’s such a relief, then, that the opposite happened with food and cooking. They meant nothing to me as a kid; they were means to an end. The less time they took, the better. But age has made me appreciate vegetables and cast iron pans, spices and the pleasures of a good roast chicken.

There’s no easy way to segue into a White Bean Dip here, so I’ll just awkwardly cut to the chase: this recipe is tasty, fantastically easy, and dang addictive. It’s barely even cooking, actually – more like alchemy. Just a few ingredients thrown together to create manna.

That aside, what about you, readers? What did you discover too late? How do they differ from the things you found later, but appreciated immediately? What do you look forward to getting into? It's all about possibilities, isn't it? And if something doesn't connect, that's okay. But what a thrill when it does.

~~~
If you like this recipe, you might also appreciate:

• Baba Ghanouj
• Lemony Hummus
• Roasted Eggplant Spread

~~~

White Bean Dip
Makes 6 servings of 1/4 cup each.
Adapted from Ellie Krieger.
(This is actually a picture of CHG's hummus, because ... uh, technical malfunction? They look pretty much the same, though.)


1 19-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Puree. Taste and see if you like the results. If not, add more of what’s missing. Serve.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
115 calories, 4.5 g fat, 4 g fiber, $0.28

Calculations
1 19-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained: 440 calories, 0 g fat, 24 g fiber, $0.99
1 clove garlic: 4 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.05
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil: 239 calories, 27 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.23
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice: 8 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.40
Kosher salt: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
Freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
TOTAL: 691 calories, 27.1 g fat, 24.2 g fiber, $1.69
PER SERVING (TOTAL/6): 115 calories, 4.5 g fat, 4 g fiber, $0.28

Good Morning Broncos Country!  I want to start thins morning by giving some Kudos to E.J. Ruiz and the Live Mock Draft Crew.  For those of you that don't visit the site during the weekend, E.J. hosted a Live Mock Draft yesterday - 3 Rounds - eclipsing 8 hours and nearly 2000 comments.  It was a huge undertaking, yet E.J., with help from Jeremy and others, pulled it off without a hitch.  A MHR Salute to E.J. and all those involved in the Mock Draft for really showing the true meaning of the MHR Community!

2010 Draft Combine - Sounds from Day 3
Quarterback prospects Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy talk to the media during the 2010 Scouting Combine.

2010 Draft Combine - Sounds from Day 4
Some of the NFL draft's top defensive back prospects talk to the media during the 2010 Scouting Combine.

Big linemen take priority on wish lists - The Denver Post
The camera-flash setting is alive and well at the NFL's scouting combine.

Krieger: With death of Broncos' Darrent Williams, what might have happened if not for lost chain? - The Denver Post
Musings for a Monday morning from the Darrent Williams murder trial as it enters its second week . . .

No NFL salary cap means virtually no trade talk - The Denver Post
At this point, don't expect the Broncos to trade receiver Brandon Marshall or tight end Tony Scheffler anytime soon after the free agent/trading period opens at 10:01 p.m. MST on Thursday.

McDaniels meets the college kids | All Things Broncos
Just had some coffee talk with Broncos coach Josh McDaniels and his trusted assistant Mark Thewes.

Easy to see CU's struggles at the NFL combine | All Things Broncos
It is just small snapshot, but look at the NFL’s scouting combine and it’s fairly easy to see CU’s uphill battle in the Big 12 these days.

Around the Combine: Day Three
The nightmarish collapses which Broncos head coach josh McDaniels experienced in his first year at the helm was well documented. There was the 6-0 start, followed by the 2-8 finish. There were the personality clashes with WR Brandon Marshall and the benching of other starters. Then, there was also the 44-24 whipping that Jamaal Charles and the Chiefs put on the Donkey’s to close out the season at INVESCO. (Editor's Note - Even the Chiefs website is the definition of class...really, 'Donkeys'???)

Combine's weekend standouts | National Football Post
The National Football Post takes a look back at the weekend and breaks down prospects who stood out.

Wilson: Jeff Owens benches 44 reps | National Football Post
University of Georgia strongman defensive tackle Jeff Owens put on a show at the NFL scouting combine today, hoisting 225 pounds 44 times.

Wilson: C.J. Spiller dashes away from pack | National Football Post
Clemson running back C.J. Spiller accelerated out of his stance, bolting upfield at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Biggs: Vikings re-sign WR Lewis | National Football Post
The Minnesota Vikings are bringing back one of their potential free agents.

Report: Skins working to bring Daniels back | National Football Post
The Washington Redskins may be switching to a 3-4 defense, but they figure Phillip Daniels can be just as effective as a defensive end for them in their new scheme, reports Jason Reid of the Washington Post.

Myron Rolle: | National Football Post
After a year studying abroad at Oxford University, the most common question for Florida State safety Myron Rolle is pretty simple.

Biggs: Wade likes 5th preseason game | National Football Post
You will not find an NFL coach that wouldn’t do just about anything for an extra week of training camp.

Report: Rolle will be cut loose this week | National Football Post
Antrel Rolle will reach the open market this week in advance of the opening of free agency at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

Biggs: Manumaleuna will be targeted in free agency | National Football Post
Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo made it clear when Mike Martz was hired as offensive coordinator that he believed the roster was set for the newcomer to install his system around quarterback Jay Cutler.

Wilson: Golden Tate has strong combine | National Football Post
Notre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate registered some fast times today at the NFL scouting combine.

Wilson: Chargers to assign high tender to McNeill | National Football Post
The San Diego Chargers have already indicated that they intend to secure restricted free agents Shawne Merriman, Vincent Jackson and Malcom Floyd with the high tender.

Chargers, Lions discussing trade to send Cromartie to Detroit
The Detroit Lions have been in discussions with the San Diego Chargers about acquiring cornerback Antonio Cromartie in a trade, a league source said Sunday.

Don't tread on Tebow: QB defends Meyer against coaching criticism
Anyone criticizing Urban Meyer evidently must go through Tim Tebow. The Florida quarterback vigorously defended his college coach Sunday at the NFL Scouting Combine amid rumblings that Meyer chose winning over adjusting Tebow's throwing motion to make it NFL-ready.

Ford’s speed, drill work is the morning’s hot topic - NFL.com
Something can be taken from every workout and drill at the NFL Scouting Combine. To those who watched the first group of quarterbacks and wide receivers Sunday morning, Clemson’s Jacoby Ford is the player who caught the most attention.

Cable says he was confident in his Raiders future - NFL.com
Tom Cable told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Sunday that he never believed he wouldn’t be back as the Raiders’ coach &mdash; the team never made a statement saying he definitely would return &mdash; and he’s preparing for the 2010 season.

Bryant can’t do drills, permitted to leave combine - NFL.com
With his interviews and physicals complete, Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant sought permission from NFL Scouting Combine officials and left the event Sunday morning, according to NFL.com’s Gil Brandt.

‘Pacman’ schedules March 19 workout for teams - NFL.com
Adam "Pacman" Jones will work out for NFL scouts March 19, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Expect Oklahoma's Bradford to push his way to top of draft
I spent most of the morning on Day 2 at the NFL Scouting Combine workouts sitting with coaches and personnel types discussing what this event meant to them, as well as how they self-evaluated their programs. The afternoon was spent talking with some of the outstanding prospects in Indianapolis. It was a full day of football and I want to share it with you.

With trend of going young in backfield, combine offers possibilities
Just as the fresh crop of running backs prepare to audition for teams at the NFL Scouting Combine on Sunday, vacancies have been created for them with recent moves around the league.

Talent unquestionable, but injuries, character make WR class tricky
Assessing the wide receivers in the 2010 NFL Draft is tricky because, although the position is unquestionably deep, there are some nagging concerns about its highest-rated players

Mark Krieger submits:Since my last update in late November, the Basic Food fund or “BFF” has turned in a solid performance, rising 6.4% from $214.13 to $227.91, versus a 1.2% drop in the DJIA. The fact that the BFF index did 760 basis points better than the overall market, cements the theory that low PE dividend stocks, in vital industries provide superior returns. Component highlights: CKE Restaurants (CKR): They are currently in the process of being acquired by the private equity firmThomas Lee Partners. The shares could still go 20% higher if a bidding war develops. Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (GAP): This one was the biggest loser of the group, prompted by a horrible earnings report. All is not lost as the company hired veteran grocery CEO Ron Marshall to tap into his extensive turnaround experience. BMO Capital issued an upgrade as a consequence, saying any change is a good change at this point . Action: Hold off buying, but consider the company’s GAJ senior bonds, yielding over 10%. Winn-Dixie (WINN): The iconic supermarket chain delivered better than expected second quarter results with earnings ...

• John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News: "This is a delicate situation, because Allen Iverson is doing the right thing. Family is family, and if he feels he needs to be with his 4-year-old daughter, Messiah, during her ongoing illness, that's exactly where he should be. I applaud the 76ers for looking at Iverson as a man and father instead of only a basketball player. They provided him the leeway to leave the team and take care of what's truly important. That said, the Sixers have another decision to make, now that Iverson has been granted an 'indefinite' leave only three games after he returned from missing five games. This one isn't about the man, and it must be made with the hard-line reasoning of what is best for the team. Shut Iverson down for the rest of the season. Sure, the timing would seem cold, but basketball doesn't stop, and difficult decisions still must be made. So the Sixers should give Iverson their blessings and full support but tell him it's best for both sides if the team moves on without him."
• Stephen A. Smith of The Philadelphia Inquirer: "It's over. The tears. The jogging out to midcourt at the Wachovia Center to kiss the floor to raucous, rabid applause. The crackling voice, filled with gratitude and appreciation for an organization that said, 'You can come home again.' It all ended for Allen Iverson yesterday afternoon when the 76ers announced that, arguably, the greatest player in franchise history would be out 'indefinitely' because of his daughter's illness - undoubtedly ending The Answer's career in Philadelphia. It wasn't supposed to end this way, of course. Not in Philadelphia. Not for Iverson, and not in the way he is departing. We can listen to Ed Stefanski, the Sixers' president and general manager, tell us that Iverson's departure is in the best interest of the team to allow him time to 'deal with his family with this very serious issue.' But a cricket fan from England wouldn't have a hard time deciphering what's going on here. Iverson isn't what he use to be. Iverson wasn't what he was supposed to be, either. Because of injury, fatigue, his miniature size and the reckless abandonment of his body, the Iverson who spent a decade mesmerizing the basketball world is a mere shell of himself. The Iverson we once knew is no more."
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: "There have been few moments in N.B.A. history as inspirational, or as legendary, as Willis Reed’s painful stroll to the court before Game 7 of the 1970 finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Knicks won the championship that night, and Reed became the standard by which all athletes playing through pain are judged. The moment and the achievement were honored Monday night at the Garden as the Knicks celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first championship, and honored a team that has become synonymous with selfless play. 'As I stand here tonight, the memories abound and astound,' Walt Frazier, the Hall of Fame guard, said during the ceremony, which was held at halftime of the Knicks’ 83-67 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. It was the Knicks’ lowest-scoring game of the season, and one of their most disappointing, given the evening’s events."
• Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman: "Ten-game win streaks aren’t rare in the NBA. But they can sure make a team, especially a young team such as the Thunder, feel pretty good. If Oklahoma City beats Phoenix tonight in the Ford Center, it will be the franchise’s longest win streak in nearly 14 years. 'It makes all the difference in the world just how you feel every day,' said veteran forward Nick Collison. 'Morale is so much higher. It’s a lot more fun to come to the gym and the arena, knowing you’ve got a good chance to win.' Ten-game win streaks have occurred about five times a season the past three years. Three teams have had streaks of 10 games or longer this season. OKC can become the fourth with a win tonight over the Suns, who will rest star Steve Nash. A victory would mark the franchise’s longest win streak since the George Karl-coached Sonics won 11 straight early in the 1996-97 season."
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: "The Orlando Magic are a long shot to catch the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference standings and thereby on the postseason seeding chart. But that's nothing compared to the intrigue and possible league-wide repercussions that await. The Magic could do something far more devastating to Cleveland if they catch up with the Cavs in the playoffs again. They could run LeBron James out of town. Cleveland sports fans are all nervous wrecks wondering if the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets or Miami Heat might be the team that steals their BeLoved LeBron this summer. The team they ought to be worried about having the most impact on LeBron? The Magic. Magic point guard Jameer Nelson says the NBA and its marketing machine might want LeBron's Cavs and Kobe's Lakers in The Finals, but he said Orlando looks to 'spoil' those plans. How compelling would it be if James' free-agent future rested on the outcome of a Magic-Cavs playoff series?"
• Peter Vecsey of the New York Post: "As long as Sunday's educated speculation in this space regarding rising free agents Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson is still alive, let's advance it a bit. Say Lakers owner Jerry Buss decides to impeach his Hall of Fame nomination credibility by lowballing the NBA's record 10-time coaching champ, or, worse, not making a pitch at all. To what extent would Clippers owner Donald Sterling spread-eagle to persuade the Zen Hen -- with Maxamillion Bryant in tow -- to switch arena locker rooms? So much so, Jeanie Buss would refer to him as 'Daddy.' Not that long ago, Bryant seriously considered switching allegiance from L.A. Lore to my Paper Clips. Should his Lakers' lingering extension negotiation founder, for whatever motivation, Staples Center's stepchild has a whole lot more real (Chris Kaman, Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin) and imagined (Minnesota's unprotected 2012 No. 1 pick) assets going for it today than three summers ago. Remaining in Los Angeles was a peak priority in 2007. Should the Knicks never show up on Bryant's radar, it stands to reason the Clippers automatically will become a favored destination. All it takes to end the above speculation, of course, is for Bryant to autograph a brand new Lakers contract. Well, half of it, anyway. Clearly, Jackson's future with the team is far more uncertain."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: "The once-maligned trade that moved Pau Gasol from Memphis to the Los Angeles Lakers two years ago this month looks a lot different these days. What initially was greeted with great cynicism, laughter and disgust -- a lopsided transaction in the Lakers' favor -- is looking more like a win-win for both teams. Cap space and flexibility are no longer punch lines in Memphis. The Griz, given time to connect the dots of the deal, have stockpiled useful players. Of the 15 players on the Grizzlies' roster, nine came as a result of the extra money and draft picks generated by Gasol's 2008 departure. And they still have more to gain from the transaction. The Lakers visit FedExForum tonight as the NBA's defending champions in large part due to Gasol. The Grizzlies are better off, too, having positioned themselves as one of the Western Conference's up-and-coming young teams. 'I've said all along that I've never lost any sleep over the deal,' Chris Wallace said. 'As difficult as it was to trade a player like Pau Gasol -- and he's gone on to be the impetus for L.A. winning a championship -- that wasn't going to happen here in our situation. We could not get a Kobe Bryant or a LeBron James to put around him. It wasn't going anywhere. Changes had to be made. The deal allowed us to get tremendous flexibility. We got back a wide variety of assets and many of them are paying dividends right now.' "
• Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer: "Are the Cavs in trouble? No, they are on a three-game losing streak. They remain a team with the NBA's best record at 43-14. They have the league's MVP in LeBron James. They have three other players who have been All-Stars within the last two years -- Antawn Jamison, Shaquille O'Neal and Mo Williams. This is the only team that has survived the first round of the playoffs in each of the last four years. All that's missing is a championship, and that's where Mike Brown comes in. Whenever a team makes a trade such as Zydrunas Ilgauskas to Washington for Jamison, it means the coach must adjust. Brown now needs to ask, 'Who are my best players?' A quick list of eight would be: James, O'Neal, Jamison, Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao, Delonte West, J.J. Hickson and Anthony Parker. Why eight? Because that's the usual playoff rotation."
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: "Traditionally, the Spurs use their annual rodeo trip to answer remaining questions about themselves. They return from this year’s rendition having gone a fitting 4-4, the same inconsistent ball of problems that left for Sacramento on Feb. 2. At 31-23, the Spurs are seventh in the Western Conference, a game ahead of Portland, two ahead of ninth-place New Orleans and facing an upcoming schedule not exactly conducive to making an upward push. For the first time in the Tim Duncan era, the Spurs are being forced to contemplate the postseason in terms of 'if' and not 'when.' 'It’s really hard to imagine us not being in the playoffs,' Manu Ginobili said. 'But we can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to take care of business when we have the opportunity.' "
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Michael Beasley’s heart and pride are in the right place. But the reality is he is in a different place than he was at Kansas State and all those other places where he was the featured scorer. With the Heat, he is a Tito Jackson, a supporting player. Just like Scottie Pippen was in Chicago. And Kevin McHale was in Boston. And James Worthy was in Los Angeles. That doesn’t mean he can’t be great, an All-Star, even dream about being a Hall of Famer. But in the NBA, it’s about one player leading. Just as it was with Jordan and Bird and Magic. Just as it is with Dwyane Wade. While others might take the humorous approach, such as Charles Barkley, there is nothing wrong with being a complementary player in the NBA. Those players get complimented plenty."
• Dave Krieger of The Denver Post: "Carmelo Anthony is their headliner, an all-star, a member of Team USA. Chauncey Billups is their quarterback, an all-star, a member of Team USA. And yet, by the numbers, neither is the Nuggets' most indispensable player. That would be power forward Kenyon Martin. 'Every team has a guy that holds it together, what I call a glue guy,' Nuggets coach George Karl said Monday. 'Around the league, he'd definitely be in that race as one of the top guys who make it function, make it work.' In the 13 games Anthony has missed due to injury, the Nuggets are 8-5, pretty close to their winning percentage with him. In the nine games Billups has missed, they're 3-6, suggesting they do a better job replacing Anthony's scoring than Billups' leadership. 'When Melo was missing, (Martin) elevated his game offensively,' said assistant coach Adrian Dantley, a Hall of Fame power forward. 'And now we've got to get that with everybody healthy. We've got to get him still scoring at the rate he's been doing.' Maybe, but the beauty of Martin's game this season is that he defers to the all-stars when they're there and he takes up the slack when they're not. He averaged nearly 17 points a game with Anthony out, compared to just over 12 for the season. Of his 21 double- doubles this season, 10 came with Anthony in street clothes. But when it's Martin who is missing, the Nuggets are 1-4. He's the player who is hardest to replace. Nobody else on the roster does what he does. It's not just that he's their best defensive player, their best rebounder, their toughest, most physical player, their intimidator. It's also what he does at the defensive end what Billups does at the offensive end."
• John DeShazier of The Times-Picayune: "James Lang. J.R. Smith. Tim Pickett. Brandon Bass. Hilton Armstrong. Cedric Simmons. Marcus Vinicius. Julian Wright. Adam Haluska. Darrell Arthur. The reason so much time and so many words have been spent bashing the Hornets over the team's draft picks since the team relocated to New Orleans in 2003 is because the franchise consistently has been so abysmal at the art form. Re-read the list. That roll call isn't an ode to precision or a flattering testament to player evaluation. Among that crew only Wright remains with New Orleans and if he and the franchise had their druthers, he'd be gone; he all but requested a move this season as the trade deadline neared and, undoubtedly, the Hornets gleefully would've shipped him if they could've found a sucker ... er, taker. But that batting average of 2 for 12 -- the two hits being a couple of homers in David West (2003) and Chris Paul (2005) -- significantly jumped this season. If we're going to call the team's evaluators everything including the devil for the pool of rookie selections from 2003 to '08, then the devils have to be given their due for what happened on June 25, 2009. That night, New Orleans took point guard Darren Collison with its first-round pick, No. 21 overall. And in the second round it swung a trade with Miami -- shooting guard Marcus Thornton, the No. 43 overall pick, came to New Orleans in exchange for a couple of future second-round picks. So far, so good. Very, very good."
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: "The Toronto Raptors organization owes Rasho Nesterovic a bonus on his pay cheque. Well, maybe not a bonus, but something for removing a blight from their team history. Since Oliver Miller left the Raptors for good back on Feb. 1, 1999, his name has been in the Raptors record books alongside the likes of, dare we say, more deserving Raptors such as Damon Stoudamire, Morris Peterson, Doug Christie, Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon to name a few. Nesterovic took care of that Saturday when he went five-for-seven from the field to surpass the 1,000 field goal attempts as a Raptor and thereby qualify for standing in the all-time franchise leader in field goal percentage. Nesterovic’s mark of .545 easily surpassed Miller’s mark of .509 knocking the Big O off the perch he has held for far too long. 'I’ve got no comment on that,' Nesterovic said laughing following practice on Monday."
• Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee: "Maybe it was done to expedite the process of removing Kevin Martin's likeness from anything Kings-related, or perhaps it was a way of making Francisco García feel better after he didn't play in Phoenix on Sunday. Whatever the motive, the Kings wasted no time moving past Martin on Monday. The mural above the Arco Arena security door, which just a few days ago featured Martin, now features García. This is just one of many changes the Kings will have to make. Martin's face is on billboards all over town after they tapped into the local artists earlier this season."
• Lynn Henning of The Detroit News: "Tom Wilson's long ride as Pistons CEO could be of timely value to Mike Ilitch, the Red Wings owner who's been seeking to build a new hockey arena in downtown Detroit. It was reported Monday by WXYZ-TV that Wilson is joining Ilitch Holdings, Inc., which owns the Red Wings and Tigers, in addition to its flagship companies: Little Caesars Pizza, Motor City Casino, and Olympia Entertainment. Tom Pyden, vice president for Ilitch Holdings, issued a statement Monday that said Wilson 'would be a terrific addition to any organization.' But the statement neither confirmed nor denied that Ilitch Holdings would be bringing Wilson aboard. Wilson spent 32 years with the Pistons as a fast-lane executive who ultimately became head of the Pistons and Palace Sports and Entertainment. It was rumored Monday night Wilson might be given oversight of the Tigers and Red Wings. How any such responsibilities would mesh with the teams' existing command is uncertain."

Good Morning Broncos Fans.  There was a story that was published yesterday regarding Brandon Marshall and his continuing guilt over the death of Darrent Williams.  Mike Klis at the Denver Post reported that it was the real underlying reason that Marshall wanted out of Denver - with much of the proof being a drunken tirade after Marshall was pulled over by Denver Police a while back.  Several people asked me if I thought it was the reason.  Personally, I don;t think any of us know how we would react in a situation like that.  The same holds true for Javon Walker, who after watching Williams die in his arms, became a basket case - never really recovering from it.  Sometimes tragic events have a way of bringing people closer together.  Sometimes not.  For the Broncos, have they really been the same organization, on or off the field, since Williams death - and the death of EB Damien Nash a few months later?  We know Marshall is an emotional guy.  I don't think it is a stretch to say that he was deeply impacted by Williams' death.  We know money is a part of it, but I've always said there was something deeper - more than Josh McDaniels or any of that nonsense.  Perhaps Williams death is that something.  If that's the case, it will be hard for Marshall - or the team - to get past it.

VIDEO - Visit from Bailey boosts donations - DB.com
Cornerback Champ Bailey congratulates Thornton's Horizon High School for winning the "Front Range Change" campaign.

Time takes toll on Broncos' connections to slain player - The Denver Post
In the three full NFL seasons that have passed since Darrent Williams' death, plenty has changed at the Denver Broncos' Dove Valley headquarters.

Darrent Williams murder trial to reflect clash of cultures - The Denver Post
In one part of the The Shelter nightclub on Denver's Broadway, a group of men described by police as crack-cocaine-dealing gangsters was celebrating the new year at "Safari" night.

Krieger: Gang problem still prevalent - The Denver Post
A little more than three years ago, the murder of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams produced a sudden surge of interest in the metro area's gang problem.

Broncos won't commit to Orton beyond 2010 - ProFootballWeekly.com
The Broncos struck down reports that they are one of a few teams interested in trading for Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, but that doesn't mean they are committed to Kyle Orton as their long-term answer at quarterback, we hear.

Should Seahawks be interested in Brandon Marshall?
Given the persistent rumblings that disgruntled Denver Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall might be a fit for the Seattle Seahawks, there's a must-read story today in the Denver Post for anyone interested in understanding more about the controversial star.

Boldin heads list of high-profile players on trading block - Sporting News
ree agency begins on March 5 and the draft &mdash; expanded to three days this year &mdash; starts on April 22, but there could be plenty of player movement before either of those dates.

Following 'The Code' - Boston.com
My old Dallas Morning News colleague Todd Archer had a very interesting nugget in a column he penned on star receiver Miles Austin's pending RFA status the other day

Five assistant coaches who will impact their new teams - CBSSports.com
It's not just free-agent players who can make a difference in the NFL. Free-agent coaches can, too, and I offer Mike Nolan as evidence. Tell me the Broncos would have been 8-8 without Nolan calling their defenses. They wouldn't, and you get to find out how much they miss him now that he's gone.

Wilson: Moss unconcerned with Patriots' lack of an offensive coordinator | National Football Post
Randy Moss spoke his mind Saturday, holding court about multiple issues, including his belief that this will be his final season playing wide receiver for the New England Patriots.

Wilson: Bengals need to upgrade passing game | National Football Post
The Cincinnati Bengals' passing game is clearly in need of an upgrade.

Report: LeFevour will not throw at combine | National Football Post
Sam Bradford will not be ready to throw at the scouting combine. Jimmy Clausen isn’t prepared to work out for teams. Now, Dan LeFevour has announced he will not throw in Indianapolis.

Wilson: Browns not placing a hard limit on free agent spending | National Football Post
The Cleveland Browns don't plan to follow in the footsteps of AFC North rivals as far as approaching free agency with a self-imposed salary cap.

Wilson: Should teams break the bank for Peppers? | National Football Post
Without a doubt, Carolina Panthers star defensive end Julius Peppers is regarded as the top prize available in a thin free agent market.

NFL Combine: To run or not to run? | National Football Post
Every year at this time, a group of draft prospects makes a decision not to participate in the NFL Combine drills. For most of them, it sends the wrong message to decision-makers.

Colts, Brackett discussing new deal to keep linebacker in Indy
Indianapolis Colts linebacker Gary Brackett has been in talks with the team about a new contract, reports NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora. The pending unrestricted free agent is considered a priority for the organization, and the sides could get something done before Brackett is scheduled to hit the open market on March 5.

Dolphins cornerback Will Allen charged with DUI in Florida<</span>!>
Miami Dolphins cornerback Will Allen has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Miami Beach.

Time for GMs to make some tough calls on QB issuesAs the calendar reaches the middle of February, front-office executives from several teams are furiously putting together plans to deal with their quarterback quandaries.

How Eagles handle quarterback situation could affect entire leagueBy quarterbacking place, we're talking about the Eagles having such exceptional depth at the position, something the Colts,
Saints, Patriots, and pretty much every other team in the league don't have. They're positioned to potentially impact the quarterback futures of multiple clubs, beginning with their own.

Free-agency restrictions will apply in an uncapped yearWith a labor stalemate between the NFL and NFLPA likely triggering an uncapped 2010 season, I'd like to address how some of the rule changes that will come into play could directly affect your team. So let's take a look at some of the issues that could make this a vastly different offseason than we're used to.

NFL requires reimbursement for absent McKinnie - Yahoo! Sports
Minnesota Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie(notes) must pay back the NFL for his non-participation in the Pro Bowl.

Johnson driven after near-death experience - Yahoo! SportsAs tempting as it is to reduce University of Southern California running back Stafon Johnson’s future to simply getting back on that horse, the situation is decidedly more twisted than that.

Krieger: Gang problem still prevalent By Dave Krieger The Denver Post POSTED: 02/21/2010 01:00:00 AM MST UPDATED: 02/21/2010 01:00:56 AM MST A...

DaveKrieger: No idea. He had surgery for prostate cancer in 2005. @doranka Any idea what health problems he's having? More......

Simon Cowell`s charity single for Haiti reaches number one in UK

Simon Cowell’s charity single for Haiti has reached number one in the UK after selling 500,000 copies in one week.

Cowell, 50, helped put the track together with stars such as Susan Boyle, Robbie Williams and Jon Bon Jovi providing their vocals.

X Factor 2008 winner Alexandra Burke, who also sang on the track, told UK newspaper The Sun: ‘It’s fantastic the single is at No1 and that helping Haiti is on everyone’s agenda.’

Monsters and Critics

More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…

Kelly Clarkson talks to the Echo ahead of her BIC gig

IT’S almost midday in Texas, and Kelly Clarkson has already been awake for six hours. “The jetlag has really set in,” she says.

“I got back at midnight from a cruise holiday with my family around Spain and North Africa, and by 6am I was wide awake again.

“There were a lot of 80-year-olds on the ship – we played bingo with them all.”

Daily Echo

American Idol 9th Season Odds to be Published This Week

Gambling911.com widely anticipates the start of the new American Idol betting season to begin this week as the final 24 are determined.

Emphasis is on the word “anticipates” as more and more online gambling sites have waited a few weeks to begin posting odds on individual contestants.

“We generally see them waiting until the field narrows down to 12,” says Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website.

Gambling 911

‘Dreamgirls’ hit Ohio

COLUMBUS — Fans’ wishes have come true: “Dreamgirls” is coming to Columbus for a run at the Palace Theatre.

The Henry Krieger-Tom Eyen musical follows the young women in an R&B trio called “The Dreams.” They traverse the ups and downs of the music industry in the 1960s. The show made household names of Jennifer Holiday and Jennifer Hudson (both played Effie White; Holiday in the original 1981 stage play and Hudson in the 2006 film).

Mansfield Journal

DaveKrieger: RT @lancearmstrong: Sad to see that former congressman Charlie Wilson died today. If you haven't seen Charlie Wilson's War then do so. A...

Former Ultimate Fighter and pill-popping attention monger Junie Browning was back in action on the main card of Wild Bill's "Fight Night 25" from Duluth, Georgia, on Friday, Feb. 5.

"The Lunatik" was up to his old antics, missing weight and threatening to withdraw from the event. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Browning was coaxed back into action, where he met Cage Kings veteran Aaron Hall in the featured fight of the night.

After one round of action, Browning was unable to continue due to an alleged groin injury, bring an end to the bout and awarding "Hog Life" the technical knockout win.

Browning falls to 4-2 in is first defeat since getting booted from the UFC back in 2009.

Here are the complete results for Wild Bill's 'Fight Night 25' courtesy of Michele Mabie at UltMMA.com:

Wesley Barnes def. Michael Kimbrell by submission armbar 2:06 R2

Allen Little def. Ulli Pohl by unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-27

Jesse Wabie def. Mikey Poling unanimous decision 29-28, 29-28, 29-28

Travis Knight def. Andrew Higgins by unanimous decsion 30-27, 30-27, 30-27

Scott Farhat def. Nate Ford by TKO 2:41 R1

Joe Elmore def. John Cofer by TKO 1:52 R2

Eric Kriegermeier def. Andy Robert by submission 3:22 rear naked choke R1

Will Kuhn def. Brian Keler by TKO 0:31 R1

Tim Gawenda def. Dustin Chovanic by unanimous decsion 30-27, 30-27, 30-27
(Fight of the Night)

Aaron Hall def. Junie Browning by TKO 5:00 R1