R U Serious?

Chicago, which is affectionately known as the Second City, in large measure because it could never quite capture the sophistication, national acclaim, or global je-ne-sais-quoi of New York, has been enjoying a sort of North Star status of late. In basketball, the Chicago Bulls have the Number 1 selection in tomorrow’s NBA Draft, and there is a good chance Chicago native Derrick Rose will be the first player selected.

In baseball, the Chicago White Sox have the best record in the American League’s Central Division, while the Chicago Cubs have not only the best record in the League’s Central Division, but the also the best record in Major League Baseball. In the cult of personality sweepstakes, Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey calls Chicago home, but of late has had to share the stage with Democratic Party presidential nominee, Barack Obama.

The above is all well and good, but for the last month, Chi-Town as well as other parts of the nation, has been abuzz as Southside Chicago native Robert Sylvester Kelly, familiarly known as R. Kelly, or Kells, or The Pied Piper, or The King of R&B…or simply R., has gone to trial and subsequently been acquitted of soliciting a child for pornography charges. For his part, Kelly has always maintained his innocence. His claims were not taken seriously in some circles because of the singer’s past alleged involvement with under aged girls, including the late Aaliyah (Haughton), whom he introduced to the music world, and is rumored to have illegally married when she was 15.

Kelly was charged initially in June, 2002, with 21 counts of having sexual intercourse with a minor. After much skillful legal maneuvering, the original charges were reduced. More delays ensued; it was six years before the case went to trial. The final 14 charges included seven counts of videotaping the acts, and seven counts of producing child pornography. It is instructive to note the charges were downgraded after it was determined there was no sexual activity on the tapes! What? No sex.

To complicate further the case for the prosecution, the alleged victim, her parents, and other family members all denied that it was her in the video. Of course, that is in addition to Kelly’s denials. Consider that after six years, the pubescent teen in the video is now an adult woman. A point the defense made sure to capitalize upon by arguing, if the woman were sitting in the court room among them, they would not recognize her. By the way, neither she nor Kelly testified.

So what does one make of this expedition in judicial fishing? I noted at the outset of the trial, there would likely be ample opportunity to revisit this matter. This post-verdict synopsis seems like the appropriate time.

There will be numerous efforts to explain what some will deem inexplicable. There are those who will say, as they said of O.J. Simpson, sympathetic blacks acquitted a popular, but guilty black defendant. Others will posit, the D.A. had no case, and was exposed during the trial. Others still will argue Kelly benefited from the best legal assistance his considerable wealth could afford, and the civil servants were simply overmatched.

After reading several accounts, I am still blown away that after all the ink, attention, rumor, innuendo and the like associated with the case, in the final analysis, there was actually no sex involved. None of the post-trial statements by jurors referenced that point, but given the initial charges, and the level of effort required by the defense to get them reduced, I can imagine somewhere along the line, seeds of doubt about the prosecution’s motives were planted that were never eradicated during the trial. If they took that much liberty at the outset, it is certainly conceivable that there was an effort underfoot to take down another one; a case of racial and class (black entertainer) profiling at the highest level.

Leonard Cavise, a DePaul University law professor said, “the optimistic way to look at the verdict was that this is a victory for the concept of reasonable doubt. The jury is saying, ‘We weren’t totally sure it was the girl, we weren’t totally sure it was him.’”

At this point what I am totally sure of is, it is a good thing R. did not get caught torturing any dogs on video! I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-r-kelly-verdictjun14,0,31829484.story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Kelly

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/arts/music/14kell.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/chi-rkellyjun20,0,5124289.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/chi-ap-il-rkellytrial,0,4373825.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-vp0617lettersbriefs3jun17,0,7177151.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/chi-rkelly18jun18,0,5113964.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-r-kelly-sidebar_bd15jun15,0,909801.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0614edit1jun14,0,7073261.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-sam-adam-jr-16-jun16,0,591008.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass_bdjun15,0,6587185.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-kelly-underage_thinkjun15,0,4960555.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-r-kelly-bd15jun15,0,2975826.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/red-061608-eyecontact,0,4833804.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/red-061608-rkellyreaction-main,0,4800535.story

Perennial Winners' Big Week

What a week! Can Big Brown get a do-over? In a week in which fans of Tiger Woods, Tar Heel basketball, and the Boston Celtics celebrated glorious outcomes on and off the field of play, perhaps the big stallion may have run to a different fate.

Monday, Tiger completed a dramatic 19th Hole sudden death playoff victory over Rocco Mediate to win the US Open in San Diego, California. On the 91st hole of the Open, and the 19th of the day, Woods, who is rehabbing after surgery, watched as Mediate missed a putt for par, resulting in Tiger winning his 3rd US Open, his 9th USGA title, tying Bobby Jones for the most ever, and his 14th Major, leaving him four behind the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus.

Also Monday, after two suspense-filled months, Three University of North Carolina basketball players announced they would return to the University to continue pursuing their degrees, and to secure another shot at College Basketball’s Holy Grail, a trip to the Final Four, and a National Championship. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, the Heels’ starting backcourt, along with 6th Man, Danny Green, made a joint announcement Monday afternoon at 4:42 p.m.; a mere 18 minutes before the deadline to forgo their college eligibility.

With these three young men returning, Tar Heel fans across the Nation exulted. The Heels, who were rudely dismissed from this spring’s Final Four, are now set to return their top six scorers, their entire starting five, and the reigning consensus National Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough. In addition, three high school McDonald’s All-Americans, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, and Larry Drew, Jr., will matriculate this fall. In conventional parlance, the Heels will be loaded; not only favorites to return to the Final Four, but to win the Title.

Finally, in Act III of this 3-part (sports) Passion play, the Boston Celtics annihilated the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 to win game 6 of the NBA Finals, and their record 17th NBA Championship. The hapless Lakers, in a game in which they appeared even more overmatched than the Tar Heels did against Kansas last spring, fell behind quickly, and in an apparent collective team decision, chose to assume the position, and go quietly into that good night.

The Lakers are my favorite sports team…period. The Dodgers are my favorite baseball team, Carolina is my favorite college basketball team, and the Panthers are my football team of choice. But in all of sports, if I have to pick one team, and one team only…it is the Lakers, and there is no close second.

Given that admission, you know I am not a happy camper today. In what will go down as one of the more thorough thrashings in an NBA Finals deciding game, the Lakers were demolished by half-time, and had quit by the 3rd quarter. I congratulate the Celtics and Celtic’s fans everywhere, even those bandwagon types who piled on, ostensibly, in support of game 6 MVP Kevin Garnett, veteran Ray Allen, of course, Finals MVP Paul Pierce, and Head Coach Doc Rivers.

As I stand on the sidelines and solemnly observe their well-deserved celebration, I know the best team won. The Celtics established their superiority in game 1, and demonstrated it throughout the series. Yes, they lost a couple of games, but they never lost control of the Finals. There are those who say Kobe did not have enough help, and others who insist Lakers‘ Coach, Phil Jackson, was out maneuvered, while others cite the significant influence of European players as the reasons for the Lakers’ persistent difficulties.

While any or all these things may have been factors, I prefer to place the blame…or credit if you prefer, squarely where I believe it belongs…in Boston. The Celtics were simply better, and they proved it all year long. They had the best record in the NBA, they swept the Lakers during the regular season, and they used the Finals an opportunity to validate their season long superiority.

I salute Tiger Woods, the North Carolina Tar Heels, and the Boston Celtics, perennial winners, in this final week before the summer of ’08. Each wins with such regularity that many fans often root against them simply because they win so often. In some circles that phenomenon is called hateration, or more commonly hatin'. This is particularly common for people whose favorite teams are routinely defeated by a perennial individual or team winner. Suffice it to say, right now, I am a bona fide Celtics hater. for the record, the vaunted Celts have played the Lakers 12 times in the NBA Finals, winning 10. Yeah, I hate the Celtics.

Holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday.


http://www.usopen.com/en_US/news/articles/2008-06-16/200806161213660302613.html

http://www.usopen.com/en_US/news/articles/2008-06-15/200806151213588009248.html

http://www.charlotte.com/sports_breaking/story/673375.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/16/AR2008061602521.html?sub=AR

http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/galleries/gallery/674831.html

http://www.charlotte.com/hoops/story/672183.html

http://www.charlotte.com/507/story/673382.html

http://www.charlotte.com/sports/story/673374.html

http://northcarolina.scout.com/2/762652.html

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080617/NRSTAFF/806170308/-1/SPORTS

http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3449953

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3449934

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers18-2008jun18,0,4135517.story

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3449952&categoryId=2459788

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3449916&categoryId=2459788

How Long Before $5?

Five dollars per gallon at the gas pump, that is. The current trend suggests we will get there sooner than we think, and definitely before we care to shell out that kind of deniro. Months ago, analysts predicted gasoline would eclipse $4 per gallon by sometime this summer. Needless to say, those predictions were undersold. We surpassed $4 per gallon all over the country before Memorial Day, the symbolic kick-off of all things summer.

On one remote island in Hawaii, prices have already eclipsed $5 per gallon, and of course in Europe, the price for fuel has long exceeded costs here in the United States. In many cases, Europeans are already paying over $8 dollars per gallon.

The rising cost of fuel is one of the great examples of the Theory of Supply and Demand. Increased demand, without a concurrent increase in production leads to an increase in price. While Americans of virtually every stripe have preached striking some balance that results in less intense demand for fuel, increased fuel production, diversifying fuel sources, expanding the use of alternative fuel sources, elevating the miles per gallon of vehicles, and purchasing and operating more hybrids, and other low emissions vehicles.

These are all worthy objectives, but progress has been tediously slow. Part of the reason for this has been the high availability of relatively cheap gasoline here in the United States. Even now many Europeans pay almost twice as much as Americans.

Another reason Americans have not risen to the challenge of energy management and conservation is we have an on-going love affair with our automobiles. Spurred by what many referred to as rugged individualism, we retreat to our cars as the last real inner sanctum; a place where we can go to be with our thoughts, and our selves.

When besieged by the cares of the world, the automobile has been our trusted steed, our means of escape, a virtual Fortress of Solitude…no offense to Superman (who did not really need a car). Some of the great American cities are proverbial shrines to automobiles. None fits the bill more aptly than Los Angeles. With it’s plethora of interconnecting freeways, expressways, and super highways, LA screams its allegiance to cars. The bigger, the faster, the newer…the better, seems to frame it just about right.

In the final analysis, our good intentions are undone by our inner demons. Our need for speed gets in the way. Our addiction to big powerful engines trips us up. Our fondness for SUV’s dejour, ensures that our dreams of fuel consciousness are just that, ephemeral notions floating out there in the ether.

With all the certainty of knowing that a rising object, thrown up into the sky, is destined to fall back to Earth, we can rest assured that we are locked, loaded on a course sure to thrust us into a collision with $5 per gallon gasoline.

Bon voyage; happy trails; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060800574.html?hpid=topnews

http://www.4029tv.com/video/16418255/index.html

http://www.bankrate.com/natl/default_frame.asp?sitekey=fts&link_address=/natl/news/car-advice/20080606_premium_gas_a1.asp

http://ezinearticles.com/?Spiraling-Gas-Prices---What-Are-You-Going-To-Do?&id=1195437

http://www.dailymantra.com/2008/05/sick_of_spiraling_gas_prices_t.html

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/04/gas_prices_probably_to_hit_4_a.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/03/gas_prices132.html

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/livermore-ca/T9CUDAF3CF014Q6DE

http://www.mymobilehomespace.com/Blog_guestD.html?blog=5000000105&member=guest

http://www.gantdaily.com/news/35/ARTICLE/22396/2008-06-09.html

What Is Your Favorite Aria?

No matter what it is, the Fat Lady sang it last night, putting a bow on the national Primary Election Season. From Anchorage to Zebulon; from Honolulu to Hatteras Isle, after six months, we have reached the end of stage 1, and the onset of an historic American Presidential Election.

As the primaries end, the Country is set to elect, either the oldest president ever, McCain would be 71, or the first black, in Obama. It had been clear for months the first female or the first black nominee for a major political party would emerge from the Democratic Party’s primary process. Not to be left out the firsts’ Sweepstakes, Republicans field, in their candidate, the oldest candidate to ever be elected president, were he to win.

The three Finalists each took advantage of their last opportunity until the Conventions to spend 30 minutes of uninterrupted time speaking directly into the nation’s living rooms. Senator McCain kicked it off. Since he was without opposition, the networks scheduled him first. He outlined his message of national security, and painted Senator Obama as the owner of the most liberal voting record in the Senate.

Senator Clinton followed with her own victory speech, reminding her audience of the 18 million voters who supported her, and pledging to work to see that their concerns are heard, and they are respected. She committed to take the next several days to decide what her role should be. Earlier in the day, apparently in a truly generous mood, she indicated she would be open to considering serving as Senator Obama’s vice president.

Finally, Obama held down the anchor leg last night. In a speech in which he deflected his pivotal role in the heroic events of the evening, he thanked his family and staff, praised Senator Clinton effusively for several minutes, laid out the fundamental differences between John McCain and himself, and then proclaimed “This is Our Time!” He did his part to extend an Olive Branch to Senator Clinton and her supporters, while he simultaneously increased the focus and intensity on the race with Senator McCain for the White House.

As the CNN analysts synthesized the speeches, much of the time was spent assessing Senator Clinton’s speech, and it’s meaning and comparing it with the tone and texture of Senator Obama’s speech. Senator Clinton’s speech was frequently described as defiant, and clearly not relenting or conceding. Alternately, Senator Obama’s speech was characterized as respectful of Senator Clinton, healing for the Democratic Party, and taking the fight to Senator McCain. In contrast to both Democrats, Senator McCain’s speech was painted as distancing himself from president Bush, while underscoring his position on national security in general and the war in Iraq specifically.

As has been the case for much of the campaign season to date, more time and emphasis was placed on the Democrats than the Republicans. The contested nature of the race insured that distinction would continue last night. The next big question is what will become of Senator Clinton?

Does she really want to become Vice President? Does she have another post or position in mind? Is her true desire to obtain and exercise major influence as Obama’s positions on policy are conceived and developed? Moreover, how long will it take before all this is clear? Will she buy-in and support the winning team, as many of her supporters have suggested she would do, if she did not prevail? Or will she use feedback she solicited from her legion of supporters to justify carrying the fight to the Convention in Denver in August?

As you can see, there are still a number of key issues to resolve before the Democrats achieve an all’s clear, and a smooth sailing prediction. How do you think the answers to these questions will play out?

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday.

2,118 needed
A.P. Delegate Projections »
Delegates:
Won to date
Super-delegates
Total
Barack Obama
1,765
388
2,153
Hillary Rodham Clinton
1,633
282
1,915

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/03/election.democrats/index.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4987177&page=1

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/03/politics/main4148295.shtml

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24944453/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/primary_rdp

http://www.roadrunner.com/view/content/story.cfm?storyId=5145011&view=HOME&newsgroup=9000&sSect=HOM_1

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/03/networks_obama_secures_nominat.html

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10514247

http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9965fe76-a661-4e24-88d0-cc382d3f660f

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/19485059.html?location_refer=Homepage

http://www.nytimes.com/?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1212552989-nb0xKYJ+uBr2m6gC+varPQ

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/03/poll-obama-overtakes-mcca_n_104826.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/us/politics/03text-obama.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/us/politics/03text-clinton.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/us/politics/03text-mccain.html