Mike’s Blog: What’s Not To Like?

In the news today… President-Elect Barack Obama gave a wide ranging interview that included:

Barack Obama says his presidency is an opportunity for the U.S. to renovate its relations with the Muslim world, starting the day of his inauguration and continuing with a speech he plans to deliver in an Islamic capital.

And when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20, he plans to be sworn in like every other president, using his full name: Barack Hussein Obama.

“I think we’ve got a unique opportunity to reboot America’s image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,” Obama said Tuesday, promising an “unrelenting” desire to “create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership in countries and with peoples of good will who want their citizens and ours to prosper together.”

The world, he said, “is ready for that message.”

This world of ours needs so much healing, more understanding and tolerance, it’s good to see the incoming administration recognizes this and is willing to reach out. Now that is change I can believe in!

The Mirage once again set the standard for Strip-front attractions today as its redesigned signature Volcano premiered to the world. When The Mirage first unveiled The Volcano in 1989 the landscape of Las Vegas was forever altered. This all-new audio/visual spectacle again raises the bar with never-before-seen fire effects and an exclusive soundtrack composed by Grateful Dead drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Mickey Hart, and Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain.

Tasked with bringing the latest innovations to the project, WET forged a primal volcanic environment of sound, light, music and heat. WET’s choreographed FireShooters - which send massive fireballs more than 12 feet into the air – were designed specifically for The Mirage using the latest developments in flame-expression technology. The FireShooters punctuate the performances with eruptions of fiery “lava” that flow down the mountain’s fissures in a series of lively flames. As the eruption ignites the surrounding lagoon, the FireShooters bring Las Vegas’ signature blast within feet of spectators.

With the tragic events surrounding the senseless killings of Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother, and now 7-year old nephew ringing through the airwaves, I am called to wonder once again why the hell does anyone need a gun?

True that in a desperate domestic situation, the perpetrator could use any number of weapons to carry out their crimes of passion.  Gun availability made that situation go from bad to worse, ending in a triple murder.  As the father of a 5yr old, it breaks my heart to hear of the violence that ended the life of Hudson’s nephew. Why on God’s green earth do any among us outside of law enforcement need to have guns? I will never understand that Second Amendment argument given the reality of today’s society.  Sure, in the 1700’s or even 1800’s one certainly needed to defend themselves, defend this country at a moments notice and in some cases hunt for their food each day.  But today we have an organized police department, a trained army, and Jewel Foods to serve those needs. 

Now I see this article and my head spins trying to imagine what people can possibly be thinking. This story is the result of a negligent parent, irresponsibly allowing an 8-yr old - eight year old- to fire an automatic weapon. This kind of stupidity is inconceivable to me. The article says the guy is a certified instructor.  Who certified him to allow an 8yr old fire a weapon, any weapon, let alone an Uzi submachine gun? 

Boy, 8, fatally shoots self in head while trying out Uzi submachine gun at Mass. gun club show

By Associated Press
1:55 PM CDT, October 27, 2008

WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) _ An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision at a gun fair.

The boy lost control of the weapon while firing it Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, police Lt. Lawrence Vallierpratte said.

Police said the boy, Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., was with a certified instructor and called the death a “self-inflicted accidental shooting.”

As the boy fired the Uzi, “the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head,” police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. The boy died at a hospital.

Norm Clarke writes the gossip column for the Las Vegas Review Journal.  He with his trademark eye patch is the “Kup” of Vegas. I introduced myself to him (and in fact Robyn Leach) at a private screening of the next-to-final eposide of HBO’s The Sopranos series, hosted by Elaine Bracco at the Planet Hollywood resort in LV over my birthday weekend in 2007.  What a specatular experience that was!  I digress.

Norm writes today that the once booming Vegas nightclub & strip club scene is feeling the heat of the Wall Street meltdown:

“Business was down 10 percent before the crash. Now it’s 20 to 25 percent,” said a veteran club operator. Clubs that routinely paid six figures for celebrity hosts during a free-spending three-year run have dramatically cut back, said a club entertainment executive. Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Jessica Simpson will still get $100,000-plus, the source said.

The stripper industry is taking a hit as well, a source said. “Strippers were making five grand a night. Now you’re hearing horror stories from the top clubs. They’re used to making a minimum of $1,000 a night. They’re not seeing as many high rollers coming in.”

http://www.lvrj.com/news/30998104.html

Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, the inspiration for the character played by DeNiro in the movie “Casino” has died at age 79.

Rosenthal was a Stardust casino executive before it was seized by the FBI. He was a legendary bookmaker that was banned from Nevada casinos as a member of the ‘Black Book’.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/30982809.html

Rosenthal maintaned a website right up until his death:

http://frankrosenthal.com/ 

An article run by the BBC claims that tests show that playing drums for a rock band requires similar stamina to that of a professional athlete.

Blondie drummer Clem Burke was tested during a 90 minute drum session (the length of an average Blondie set), where his heart rate reached up to 190 beats per minute, or BPM, as we say in the industry. That’s getting into Slayer territory — and this is Blondie. We’ll say that the average Blondie song is a moderate rock tempo — 120 BPM. This means that Slayer (whose songs often reach a skull-mashing 240 BPM) drummer Dave Lombardo’s heart can attain almost 400 BPM.

Dr. Marcus Smith from Chichester University (sounds made up, but surprisingly it isn’t!) claims that drumming in concert burns between 40 and 600 calories an hour. Drummer Clem Burke took part in this eight-year study, and the results are promising for outreach programs for overweight children looking for an option outside of sports.

The study, conducted by the University of Gloucestershire and the University of Chichester measured Burke’s heart rate, oxygen uptake and lactic acid levels. As a result, the Gloucester campus will be seeing the world’s first “drumming laboratory” in the near future, and they plan on continuing tests on other professional drummers.

This guy was to the movie industry what Ernie Anderson was to ABC TV and John Facenda was to NFL Films…

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A well known voice in Hollywood has been silenced. Don LaFontaine, best known for his appearance in the Geico commercials, died Monday.

He was known as the “King of Voiceovers” and made famous through thousands of movie trailers. He is most famous for the line, “In a world…”.

The cause of death is not official yet, but his agent says he died from a collapsed lung.

He recorded almost 5,000 movie trailers and nearly 350,000 commercials, programs, files, and other presentations. His most recent work included Geico Insurance commercials where he was referred to as “that announcer guy”.

He is survived by his wife, singer/actress Nita Whitaker, and three children.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

From WatcherOfTheSkies:

Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown reports: At a press avail in Monroe, Mich., Barack Obama on Palin: “Back off these kinds of stories.”

“I have said before and I will repeat again: People’s families are off limits,” Obama said. “And people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18 and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics.”

On charges that his campaign has stoked the story via liberal blogs:

“I am offended by that statement. There is no evidence at all that any of this involved us,” he said. “Our people were not involved in any way in this, and they will not be. And if I thought there was somebody in my campaign who was involved in something like that, they would be fired.”

Yes, brilliance from a brilliant man and my preferred Presidential candidate. Rise above the fray, take the high road.  Still, the devil in me enjoys the irony of Sarah Palin’s Republican “Family Values” beliefs coming home to roost.  Karma train comin’ through!

I heard a couple stories on the radio this week that amazed me:

Story #1: A fundraiser was held in Chicago to benefit starving children of Darfur.  It was an all you can eat buffet dinner.

Story #2:  GM announces XFE series of fuel efficient trucks …better mileage by 1 single MPG. Here’s the AP story:

GM offers more fuel-efficient pickup trucks, SUVs

By DEE-ANN DURBIN – 20 hours ago

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. is releasing new, more fuel-efficient versions of its full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles later this fall.

The XFE — or extra fuel economy — versions of the 2009 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks and Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs will get one mile per gallon more in both city and highway fuel economy than non-XFE versions. The boost will give them a total of 15 miles per gallon in the city and 21 on the highway.

Are they kidding?  These behemoths that they claim chug only 15mpg are being pitched as fuel efficient?  Are these people crazy? I can’t believe anyone in their right mind could justify this as any sort of effort at conservation.  

The SunTimes has a good section devoted to the Chicago Outfit. Writer Steve Warmbir’s mob blog is not nearly as detailed or updated as it could be, but it is the only news outlet in town that to my knowledge has such a blog.  During the recent Family Secrets trial the daily updates were brief, but I read every word.  Now today, the final defendant in the trial is literally late for his own funeral:

FAMILY UPSET | Body taken from funeral home and sent to medical examiner

July 30, 2008

BY MICHAEL SNEED AND STEVE WARMBIR Staff Reporters

The late reputed mob hit man Frank “The German” Schweihs was known for making people disappear.

But this week, it was Schweihs’ body that was not to be found at his funeral service.

Schweihs’ family and friends were ready to attend the service, when authorities ordered Salerno’s Galewood Chapel to immediately transport Schweihs’ remains to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, leaving the family distraught.

“It wasn’t a pleasant situation for them, that’s for sure,” said one of Schweihs’ attorneys, Paul Brayman.

The move sparked speculation that federal investigators wanted to get some DNA off Schweihs’ remains before the alleged hit man himself took a dirt nap. Schweihs had a reputation on the street as prolific hit man for the mob and inspired fear among the toughest Outfit thugs.

But the truth was far more pedestrian.

The medical examiner’s office was not properly notified when Schweihs died Wednesday at Thorek Memorial Hospital under guard. By law, anyone who dies in custody has to undergo an examination at the medical examiner’s office, a source there said. A medical examiner’s investigator learned Schweihs had died and called the funeral home Monday, demanding the remains.

For the record, Schweihs, 77, died of complications from cancer. He had suffered from lung cancer and a brain tumor and was to go to trial in October. His body was released by the medical examiner’s office to the funeral home Tuesday. The funeral director could not be reached for comment.

Schweihs’ family was already upset because they were not at his side when he died. Authorities at the U.S. Marshals Service were trying to arrange for a visit, but Schweihs’ condition deteriorated so quickly, he died before that could happen, sources said.

“The family is devastated,” said a source close to the Schweihs family. “He may not have been liked by a lot of people, but he was loved by some, and they were the ones who wanted to be with him in his final hours.”

Some family members of Schweihs’ alleged victims have said they believed that cancer was too good a death for Schweihs — after his reign of terror for decades — and were satisfied to hear he died without his family.

Schweihs had been charged with racketeering in the Family Secrets case and accused of taking part in two Outfit murders — although authorities believed he was involved in many more. He was too sick to be tried with five other defendants in the case last year.

Schweihs had looked forward to going to trial, Brayman said.

On Monday, a federal judge dismissed the indictment against him.