NBey6's Blog

"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more."

- Anthony Robbins -

Midday 2-9-10 Evening

** until 2-12-10 **

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Midday 2-9-10 Evening

** until 2-13-10 **

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Rapper Lil Wayne to be sentenced in NYC gun case

BY Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press

Writer 22 mins ago

NEW YORK – Little more than a week ago, Lil Wayne was reinforcing his place in rap's pantheon with a commanding performance at the Grammy Awards ceremony. His latest album, "Rebirth," was officially released Feb. 2.

Now Lil Wayne, one of music's biggest sellers and rap's hottest stars, is poised to spend as much as the next year in a jail cell instead of a spotlight.

The Grammy-winning rapper was due to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon after pleading guilty in a gun possession case. His plea deal calls for a year in jail, though good behavior could shave that to as little as eight months.

"This is Lil Wayne going to jail. Nobody can tell me what that's like," the rapper told Rolling Stone magazine for its latest issue. "I just say I'm looking forward to it."

He's likely to start serving his sentence immediately, making him the latest in a string of rap stars to do time after topping the charts.

His plea deal calls for him to serve his sentence not in state prison but in the city jail system, where rapper Foxy Brown spent about eight months in 2007 and 2008 for a probation violation involving a fight she had with manicurists in a nail salon.

Rapper Remy Ma spent several months in a city jail in 2008 while awaiting sentencing for shooting a woman outside a nightclub. She's now serving an eight-year sentence in state prison.

City Department of Correction spokesman Stephen Morello wouldn't discuss any arrangements being made to house Lil Wayne among the roughly 13,500 inmates in the massive Rikers Island complex and other jails. Most inmates are awaiting trial.

Some inmates, including Foxy Brown, are separated from the general population because of their celebrity or other reasons, but "there's no special-inmates wing," Morello said.

Lil Wayne's attorney didn't return telephone calls seeking comment Monday.

Lil Wayne, 27, pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, admitting he illegally had a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus in July 2007. Police found the weapon when they stopped the bus after a Manhattan concert.

A rapper since he was a teenager, Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, became known for his voluminous output and collaborations with other artists.

His career has hit a peak in the last two years. His "Tha Carter III" led 2008 album sales with 2.8 million copies sold and featured such hits as the No. 1 smash "Lollipop." His Grammys include 2008's best rap solo performance award, for "A Milli."

Here's the info on the store that sold the $141M ticket. Let's see how long before NC drops this info. Good luck all!!

Asheville

260

158 Smokey Parkway Highway

28806

828-670-7188

Rep. John Murtha, Iraq war critic, dies at 77

By PETER JACKSON 
Associated Press Writer

Posted: 25 minutes ago
Updated: 17 minutes ago

HARRISBURG, PA. —  U.S. Rep. John Murtha, an influential critic of the Iraq War whose congressional career was shadowed by questions about his ethics, died Monday. He was 77.

The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., spokesman Matthew Mazonkey said.

In 1974 Murtha, then an officer in the Marine Reserves, became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress. One of Congress' most hawkish Democrats, he wielded considerable clout for two decades as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending.

Murtha voted in 2002 to authorize President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq, but Murtha's growing frustration over the administration's handling of the war prompted him in November 2005 to call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.

"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion," he said.

Murtha's opposition to the Iraq war rattled Washington, where the tall, gruff-mannered congressman enjoyed bipartisan respect for his work on military issues. On Capitol Hill, Murtha was seen as speaking for those in uniform when it came to military matters.

Born June 17, 1932, John Patrick Murtha delivered newspapers and worked at a gas station before graduating from Ramsay High School in Mount Pleasant.

Military service was in Murtha's blood. He said his great-grandfather served in the Civil War, his father and three uncles in World War II, and his brothers in the Marine Corps.

He left Washington and Jefferson College in 1952 to join the Marines, where he rose through the ranks to become a drill instructor at Parris Island, S.C., and later served in the 2nd Marine Division.

Murtha moved back to Johnstown and remained with the Marine Reserves until he volunteered to go to Vietnam. He served as an intelligence officer there from 1966 to 1967 and received a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.

After his discharge from the Marines, Murtha ran a small business in Johnstown. He went to the University of Pittsburgh on the GI Bill of rights, graduating in 1962 with a degree in economics.

He served in the Pennsylvania House in Harrisburg from 1969 until he was elected to Congress in a special election in 1974. In 1990, he retired from the Marine Reserves as a colonel.

"Ever since I was a young boy, I had two goals in life - I wanted to be a colonel in the Marine Corps and a member of Congress," Murtha wrote in his 2004 book, "From Vietnam to 9/11."

Murtha's criticism of the Iraq war intensified in 2006, when he accused Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" at Haditha, Iraq, after one Marine died and two were wounded by a roadside bomb.

Critics said Murtha unfairly held the Marines responsible before an investigation was concluded and fueled enemy retaliation. He said the war couldn't be won militarily and such incidents dimmed the prospect for a political solution.

"This is the kind of war you have to win the hearts and minds of the people," Murtha said. "And we're set back every time something like this happens."

In 2008, the Republican Party used Murtha's words against him in TV ads aired less than a month before the election. The ads cited his criticism of the Haditha incident as well as his comment about "racist" voting tendencies of many western Pennsylvania residents. Still, Murtha handily won his 18th full term.

Murtha was a perennial target of critics of so-called pay-to-play politics. He routinely drew the attention of ethical watchdogs with off-the-floor activities from his entanglement in the Abscam corruption probe three decades ago to the more recent scrutiny of the connection between special-interest spending known as earmarks and the raising of cash for campaigns.

Murtha defended the practice of earmarking. The money, he said, benefited his constituents.

Murtha became chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee in 1989. The same year Paul Magliocchetti, a former subcommittee staffer, left Capitol Hill to found the now-defunct PMA Group. The lobbying firm, which specialized in obtaining earmarks for defense contractors, was one Murtha's biggest sources of campaign cash.

In 2007 and 2008, Murtha and two fellow Democrats on the subcommittee directed $137 million to defense contractors who were paying PMA to get them government business. Between 1989 and 2009, Murtha collected more than $2.3 million in campaign contributions from PMA's lobbyists and corporate clients, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political money.

Shortly after the 2008 election, the FBI raided PMA's offices as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. In a separate development in January 2009, FBI agents raided the offices of a defense contractor from Murtha's district - Windber-based Kuchera Defense Systems Inc. - that had received millions of dollars in earmarks sponsored by Murtha while contributing tens of thousands to his campaigns.

A year later, Kuchera was suspended from bidding on government contracts because of allegations that it paid more than $200,000 in kickbacks to another defense contractor.

Around the same time, the House ethics committee was investigating the link between PMA-related campaign contributions and earmarks, but it had not named a subcommittee to look into possible violations by individual lawmakers.

Murtha's critics recall the Abscam corruption probe, in which the FBI caught him on videotape in a 1980 sting operation turning down a $50,000 bribe offer while holding out the possibility that he might take money in the future.

"We do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested and maybe I won't," Murtha said on the tape.

Six congressmen and one senator were convicted in that case. Murtha was not charged, but the government named him as an unindicted co-conspirator and he testified against two other congressmen.

Murtha's district encompasses all or parts of nine counties in southwestern Pennsylvania and embodies the region's stereotypes of coal mines, steel mills and blue-collar values.

Constituents credited Murtha with bringing jobs and health care to the region, delivering hundreds of millions of dollars for local industry, hospitals and tourism. Critics derisively nicknamed Murtha the "king of pork" and said he used his position on the defense subcommittee to win favors.

Murtha often delivered Democratic votes to Republican leaders in exchange for the funding of pet projects. He wasn't shy about such deals, once saying that "dealmaking is what Congress is all about."

In 2006, when the Democrats captured control of the House for the first time in 12 years, Rep. Nancy Pelosi endorsed Murtha to become majority leader. Pelosi, D-Calif., went on to be elected as the first female House speaker, but caucus members picked Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., as their leader.

Reports: Toyota plans to recall 300,000 Priuses

By KELLY OLSEN
AP Business Writer

Posted: Today at 10:13 a.m.
Updated: 27 minutes ago

TOKYO - Toyota plans to recall about 300,000 Prius hybrids worldwide over a brake problem and is likely to notify both the U.S. and Japanese governments Tuesday, news reports said, as a top executive will testify before U.S. lawmakers about defects that have tarnished its reputation for quality and safety.

The recall of the gas-electric Prius will cover the latest version of the cars that went on sale from May last year, Kyodo News agency reported late Monday.

Kyodo, which did not identify its sources for the information, said the automaker planned to notify authorities in Japan on Tuesday and probably also in the U.S. on the same day. The recall will cover about 270,000 of the hybrids sold in the two countries - 170,000 in Japan and 100,000 in the U.S., Kyodo said.

Japan's Nikkei business daily carried a similar report about Toyota's recall plans on its Web site, saying the automaker would notify authorities in Japan on Tuesday and was also likely to do so in the U.S. at about the same time.

Toyota Motor Corp. spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said no decision on a Prius recall has been made. Kenji Sugai, an official in Japan's Transport Ministry section in charge of recalls, said it had not been informed of any such plan by Toyota.

The automaker is still weighing its options on how to handle the Prius repairs in the U.S., but it intends to begin fixing them soon, according to a person briefed on the matter who asked not to be identified because the remedy hasn't been made public.

Toyota has said among its options are a service campaign in which owners would be notified to bring their cars in for repairs, or a full-fledged safety recall. Toyota is communicating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on how to handle the fix.

A service campaign wouldn't have the stigma of a safety recall, but regulators may press for the recall.

The reports follow others in Japanese media recently that the world's largest automaker has decided to announce a recall early this week as a way of regaining damaged consumer trust. Toyota has already recalled more than 7 million other cars for repairs in the U.S. and other countries over a sticky accelerator and floor mats that can get caught in the gas pedal.

The company has consistently only said it will soon announce plans to deal with the braking problem in the Prius.

At least 100 drivers of Prius cars in the U.S. have complained to Washington that their antilock brakes seemed to fail momentarily while driving on bumpy roads. The Japanese government has also received dozens of complaints. The U.S. says the problem is suspected in four crashes that caused two minor injuries.

Toyota says a software glitch is behind the problem. The company says it has already fixed vehicles that went on sale since last month. It has also said that the brakes will work if the driver keeps pushing the pedal.

The Prius is the world's top-selling gas-electric hybrid and its fuel efficiency has drawn intense interest amid concerns about global warming and dependence on fossil fuels.

Toyota has sold a little more than 300,000 of the vehicles in about 60 countries since May, according to the company - and any recall was likely to eventually affect most of those cars.

Kyodo also reported that recalls and other measures in other countries will follow those in Japan and the U.S.

Toyota sales expert Yoshimi Inaba will appear before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator David Strickland. The name of the hearing: "Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public at Risk?"

Inaba was hand-picked from semiretirement by Toyota President Akio Toyoda last year to head the North American operations and help steer Toyota through the company's biggest earnings slump in its 72-year history as global auto sales dived.

General Motors Co. said Monday it will start shipping parts to dealers this week to fix about 99,000 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibes equipped with the same sticky gas pedal systems as Toyota's. The Vibe is essentially the same car as a Toyota Matrix, built by a joint venture between the two automakers. The Vibe also is covered by the floor mat recall, and GM is urging customers to take out removable mats and put them in the trunk until a fix is ready.

Judge wants extra security for Edwards sex tape

Posted: Today at 11:15 a.m.
Updated: 46 minutes ago

A Superior Court judge has ordered that an independent security officer be present when a former aide to two-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards retrieves a videotape that purportedly shows the candidate having extramarital sex.

Judge Abraham Penn Jones said he filed the order at 10:35 p.m. Sunday to ensure the items covered in a court order he issued Friday were properly surrendered and that no copies remained outside of the court's custody.

Rielle Hunter, a campaign staffer who had an affair and a child with Edwards, sued Andrew and Cheri Young on Jan. 28, saying they had taken a video she described as "very private and personal," as well as two campaign videos she shot and eight pictures of her daughter.

Andrew Young was a top aide to Edwards during his two presidential campaigns, and he recently wrote a book, "The Politician," that provides a behind-the-scene look at the campaigns and Edwards' affair with Hunter.

Jones found the Youngs in contempt on Friday for not immediately surrendering the videos and photos but gave them until 2 p.m. Wednesday to turn them over.

In an affidavit filed with the court late Friday, Andrew Young said the original and a copy of the sex tape are in a safe deposit box in Atlanta. He said he turned over another copy of the tape to the FBI when he testified to a federal grand jury in Raleigh that has been investigating whether money from the Edwards' campaign was illegally used to cover up the affair.

Jones' order prevents Young from opening the safe deposit box unless an officer from RMA Security is present to take custody of the items. Also, another officer of the security management firm will be dispatched to the Youngs home to scrub their laptop of any images of Hunter or her child.

Hunter alleges in her lawsuit that the Youngs wanted the items to generate publicity for the book. She obtained a restraining order that prevents the couple from using the videos or photos.

The videos were in a box in a Chatham County house the Youngs rented for Hunter in 2007, while the photos were on her digital camera or laptop, she said.

The Youngs said last week that they kept the items only to back up details in the book and never intended to profit from them. Still, the contend in court filings that Hunter left the items in a box in their home for more than two years, so she no longer can asset ownership over them since they were abandoned.

Updated: February 7, 2010, 3:05 PM ET

Oudin, U.S. seal semis berth in Fed Cup

Associated Press

LIEVIN, France -- Teenager Melanie Oudin won her two singles matches to lead the United States to a 4-1 victory over France and secure a spot in the Fed Cup semifinals.

Oudin beat Julie Coin 7-6 (3), 6-4 in just over two hours Sunday to give the Americans an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

The U.S. will next face Russia on April 24-25.

"I was a little nervous in the beginning," Oudin said. "She definitely stepped up her game when she came out on court and served some really great service games. There wasn't much I could do in the beginning, besides staying in there with her."

Pauline Parmentier then beat Christina McHale of the United States 6-4, 6-4 before Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Stephanie Cohen-Aloro and Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-3 in the doubles.

The 18-year-old Oudin broke Coin in the fifth game of the second set and clinched the match when the Frenchwoman shanked a forehand.

Oudin had saved two break points at 5-5 in the first to force the tiebreaker, where she hit three straight winners to close out the set.

"I ended up playing a really good tiebreaker and, after 3-all, some of the best points of the match," Oudin said.

Oudin also beat Parmentier 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.

Cornet had been scheduled to face Oudin on Sunday but France captain Nicolas Escude decided to replace her with Coin after Cornet acknowledged she struggled with her nerves against Mattek-Sands in the opening singles Saturday. Mattek-Sands rallied from 5-2 down in the first to win in straight sets, giving Cornet her sixth loss in six Fed Cup singles matches.

Both teams were missing their best players. Serena and Venus Williams skipped the event, while France played without Marion Bartoli, Aravane Rezai and Virginie Razzano.

Four-time champion Russia won the decisive doubles match to edge Serbia 3-2.

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alisa Kleybanova beat Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-4.

Russia has won four of the last six Fed Cup titles. Earlier Sunday in the reverse singles, Kleybanova beat Ivanovic 6-2, 6-3 while Jankovic defeated Kuznetsova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

The Czech Republic reached its second consecutive Fed Cup semifinal after beating Germany in the decisive doubles match to secure a 3-2 victory.

Lucie Hradecka teamed up with veteran doubles specialist Kveta Peschke to defeat Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Tatjana Malek 6-1, 6-3.

The Czechs will face defending champion Italy in the April 24-25 semifinals.

Earlier Sunday, Groenefeld rallied to beat Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to draw Germany even at 2-2 after Hradecka beat Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-6 (5) in the first reverse singles.

Francesca Schiavone gave Italy an insurmountable 3-1 lead over Ukraine after rallying to beat Kateryna Bondarenko 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. Italy went on to win 4-1.

Schiavone struggled in the first set and was broken twice, but then raced out to a 5-0 lead in both the second and third.

Earlier Sunday, Flavia Pennetta beat Alona Bondarenko 7-5, 7-6 (3) to put Italy ahead 2-1.

Monday 2-8-10

265, 376, 487, 598, 609, 710, 821, 932, 043, 154

568, 679, 780, 891, 902, 013, 124, 235, 346, 457

470, 237, 129, 065, 925, 782, 674, 510, 446, 980

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

- Robert Heinlein -

Out of the commercials that they've shown Doritas is the winner, hands down, in my opinion!! The Bud Light w/T-Pain came in a very close second.

Midday & Evening

** until 2-11-10 **

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9140, 9141, 9142, 9143, 9144, 9145, 9146, 9147, 9148, 9149

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4690, 4691, 4692, 4693, 4694, 4695, 4696, 4697, 4698, 4699

Sunday, February 7, 2010
Sapp released from Florida jail

---

Associated Press

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Former NFL star Warren Sapp was released from jail Sunday on $1,500 bond, a day after being arrested for allegedly choking a woman in his hotel room.

 

Sapp was released at about 11 a.m. Sunday -- a time the NFL Network analyst would have been helping with Super Bowl coverage.

 

The network has pulled Sapp off the air until it investigates the matter.

 

Sapp

 

Police arrested Sapp on Saturday on one charge of misdemeanor domestic battery. An arrest affidavit says the incident happened around 5 a.m. Saturday in the former defensive tackle's hotel room at the Shore Club on Miami Beach.

 

Sapp's attorney said the former player is taking the matter seriously and will cooperate with authorities.

 

"He sincerely apologizes to the NFL family and fans for taking away any distraction from today's big game," Christopher Lyons said. "We ask that everyone reserve judgment on the matter until all the facts come out in a court of law."

 

The woman said she had been dating Sapp about two years. She told officers the two were partying with a large group of friends when she got tired and went to lay down.

 

Sapp entered hours later, pulled her out of bed and tried to get her out of the room, according to the complaint. The complaint says he yelled at the woman about men she had been hanging out with and men listed in her cell phone.

 

The woman told police Sapp choked her, threw her down on a couch, then picked her up by her shirt and neck and threw her down again -- injuring her leg.

 

The victim had a swollen knee and bruises on her neck, the affidavit says. She was taken to the hospital.

 

Sapp told investigators he let the woman stay in his room but asked her to leave a few hours later because he was expecting company. He told police the woman fell on her leg when he tried to help her get off a couch.

 

Sapp played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders during a 13-year NFL career. He also was once a contestant on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."