Lille winger Eden Hazard's late goal inflicted Liverpool's first defeat on French soil in six visits and left Rafael Benitez's side with an uphill battle to make the quarter-finals of the Europa League following a 1-0 loss.

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews is a musician's musician. The prodigy started playing music at age 3 and got his big break at age 4 sharing the stage with Bo Diddley.

"It was so long ago I can't remember," said Andrews, now 24. "I remember my mom saying I was playing (trombone) and some people crowd-surfed me to the stage, and they put me on the stage, and that was it."

He earned his name because he could play a trombone before even being as tall as the horn.

Sunday night, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue will play their high-energy set at Harlow's. Opening will be The Nibblers, a seven-piece rock band led by local singer Hans Eberbach and Mumbo Gumbo members Lynn Michael Palmer, Jon Wood and Reggie Marks.

Andrews grew up listening to jazz and other sounds in the musical Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, the same neighborhood that jazz forefather Louis Armstrong called home. Both his mother and his brother, trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews, inspired him to embrace music.

He attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, a high school that produced other talented artists like Harry Connick Jr., Nicholas Payton and Wynton and Branford Marsalis. After graduating, Andrews quickly received an invitation to tour in Lenny Kravitz's band at the age of 18, which allowed him to see the world and grow as a musician.

Around the same time, he began releasing albums with his brother, a quintet, and his current band, Orleans Avenue, a project that mixes funk, hip-hop and pop. In 2006, Andrews had the opportunity to perform with U2 and Green Day for the reopening of the New Orleans Superdome.

He also shared the stage at the New Orleans House of Blues with Wynton Marsalis, who said of Andrews, "Shorty possesses the rarest combination of talent, technical capability and down-home soul," adding, "I'm his biggest fan."

Though Andrews is known first and foremost as a virtuoso trumpet and trombone player, he recently started singing.

"My brother James is a singer, and my grandfather was an R&B singer," Andrews said. "I was listening to some of (my grandfather's) music, and it inspired me, and (so did) Lenny Kravitz. Everyone in New Orleans sings, (including, for example,) Louis Armstrong."

Voice, trumpet and trombone all represent part of his character, but Andrews said the two horns best convey who he is. As for his band's sound, he described it as "supafunkrock."

"Supafunkrock to me is just rock, hip-hop and funk from New Orleans," he said. "We just put it in a gumbo bowl, and that's what it is: high-energy funk-rock dance with elements of different things."

Andrews is not just steeped in the culture of New Orleans - it's his passion. His new album Backatown, which will be released April 20, is a personal record about growing up in New Orleans and reaching where he is today.

He explained that Backatown is New Orleans slang for "the next neighborhood over." So "backatown" for the Tremé would mean the Seventh Ward, the French Quarter or even Bayou St. John, he explained.

The album has a number of modern, gritty elements including hip-hop rhythms, according to Andrews. Guests on the album include Kravitz, Marc Broussard and Allen Toussaint, who plays piano on a cover of his own song, "On Your Way Down," the album's only non-original song.

"People in Sactown know how to get down," added Andrews, who played at Sacramento's now-closed Hard Rock Café in May. "The energy I get from the audience and fans, it makes my energy go higher than normal. It's a wonderful feeling to get that energy, and I give it back."

Tickets cost $17.50 in advance and $20 on day of the show. Tickets can be purchased online (here) and at R5 Records, located at 2500 16th St. Harlow's is located at 2708 J Street. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Photographs 1 and 2 credit Jane Richey.

Photograph 3 credit Kirk Edwards.

There is terrorism and there is Islamophobia.

Of these two the latter is apparently the more serious misdemeanor. Europe is introducing draconian measures to monitor the internet for so-called “racism,” but at the same time the European Parliament has decided to deny America access to servers with international banking data that relate to terrorist organizations.

Last January, the French Inter-ministerial Committee on Racism and Anti-Semitism met to discuss measures to ban from the Internet those websites deemed by public moralists to be “racist.” The French government is acting in accordance with resolutions of the European Parliament that urge the member states of the European Union to “combat racism and xenophobia.” The French authorities are currently working on “a plan of action at the national and international levels, mobilizing public authorities, Internet operators and special-interest groups” to combat “the expression of racist commentary on the Internet.”

A report presented to the French government on 21 January recommends “an increased action from the Central Office for the Fight against Crime in the Information Technology and Communications Sectors (French acronym OCLCTIC)…

…The report notes that “the international dimensions of the Internet and the different laws and cultures on the question of racism are used by some to escape their responsibilities.” Hence, it proposes that the French and American public authorities work out a plan to combat Internet racism. This plan must also “allow for the participation of national and international NGOs involved in the fight against racism on the Internet.” In the fight against “racism,” civil-liberties and privacy concerns are only of secondary importance.

One of these NGOs is the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples (French acronym MRAP), that monitors “racism” in France. Last January, the MRAP presented a 154-page report [pdf], listing more than 2,000 URLs (including 1,000 blogs) deemed to be “racist”, “racialist”, “ethno-differentialist”, “extreme-right”, “anti-Semitic,” “Islamophobic,” “homophobic,” “ultra-Zionist,” etc. The website of the American scholar Daniel Pipes is listed on page 129 as a “neoconservative” site which “develops Islamophobic themes.”

While Europe hopes that America will assist it in its crack-down on “racist” websites and blogs, it is less keen to assist America in its battle against terrorism. In this context, civil-liberties and privacy concerns are invoked to deny the U.S. continued access to financial information from SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), an international banking consortium, headquartered in Brussels, which processes inter-bank data. SWIFT processes millions of transactions daily between banks and other financial institutions worldwide. It holds the data of some 8,000 banks and operates in 200 countries.

The supposed strength of the Spanish league was shown up again last night as Spanish league leaders Real Madrid could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Lyon and failed to make the quarter finals for the sixth season ina row. Meanwhile Manure showed up the Italian league yet again as they thumped AC Milan 4-0 to progress to the last eight. It means that Inter are the only Italian team with a chance of making the quarter finals after Fiorentina lost to a Robben inspired Bayern Munich on Tuesday night. Personally I don't fancy Inter's chances as I thought they were very lucky to win 2-1 at home.

I am assuming that Barcelona will progress and it will again leave 3 English teams in the last eight but no Italian teams. If Sevilla can win through against CSKA Moscow there will be a second Spanish team as well but it looks like there will also be 2 French teams which is a bit of a turn up for the books. With Lyon not running away with their domestic league this season it looks like French club football could be making a comeback. I wonder is it to do with the lack of transfer activity by Europe's bigger clubs as the French clubs hold on to their star players for just a little longer.Whatever the cause is I'm happy to see a more diverse range of clubs in the last eight and long may it continue.

It would appear that our injury problems are mounting again as Cesc now looks very doubtful for the trip to Hull on Saturday and Rosicky, Campbell and Sagna are also doubtful. With Gallas still injured it gives us very few options in defence and it looks like everybody's favourite player, Silvestre, will be playing again. Speaking of Gallas - there were a lot of stories around yesterday about Roma having someone over in London to discuss his proposed move to them this summer. With his contract up and no new deal agreed upon it does look like we will have seen the last of Gallas in an Arsenal shirt by the end of this season. 

In all this injury talk there is no mention of Vela so I can only assume that he is available for selection but the boss is choosing not to include him in the match day squad at the moment. He certainly wasn't in the squad on Tuesday night but hopefully he will be on the bench on Saturday. With Hull struggling for survival and our player pool seemingly shrinking by the hour we are going to need every player we have available to fight for the three points we desire.

It's a game where we could(as I said on Twitter yesterday) score our 100th goal of the season in all competitions. At the moment we stand on 99 and Hull's defence isn't exactly solid so I think goal number 100 is immenent. Personally, after Tuesday's hat trick I'm backing Bendtner to score it. That's it for today as I have a busy day in work and it's taken me 5 hours in bursts of a minute or two to do this.

Here's a little bit of what Gallas can do.

And to finishtoday's title track from The Human League. I'm sure this is what Gallas is thinking about Arsenal's desire to only sign him for one season.

See You Tomorrow.

After reinvesting imaginatively, Lyon are looking to break new ground and get past the quarter-finals in the Champions League

Matchday morning in Madrid. The Lyon players are in their team hotel, resting their bodies and preparing their minds for a European adventure that teeters over the precipice. Bernard Lacombe, the club's former striker and modern cheerleader, notices that the players are unusually quiet over their croissants. "As early as breakfast time I felt that they were focused. They were not saying very much. It's not often that they are like this."

A few hours later Lyon's focus was even more extraordinary. Their moment of Champions League deliverance in front of a flabbergasted audience at the Bernabéu was a consequence of an extremely well-executed 180 minutes. Lyon did just about everything right in the first leg – squeezing the flair our of their opponents, guarding a clean sheet and earning a win advantage to carry over to Spain.

But it is what happened at half-time in Madrid that really showed the mettle of Claude Puel's squad. They knew they had been through a storm in the first-half but when they surveyed the damage and saw that there was nothing worse than Cristiano Ronaldo's goal, they were ready to grip the steering wheel and power through the gears. They made two half-time changes – forced by knocks but risky business all the same – pushed 10 yards up the pitch and pressed as boldly as they have ever pressed before. They were tigerish in the tackle and audacious in the attack and put in what L'Equipe could not resist describing as a "galactic" performance.

This what not what Real expected. It was not really what Lyon expected, either. Last year they faced Barcelona at the same stage, drew 1-1 at the Stade Gerland and travelled with a modicum of hope. They were thumped 5‑2 at Camp Nou.

Miralem Pjanic's goal brought one of those moments where real time lurches into slow motion. Can it be? Is this happening? Those feelings were even sharper because of the suspicion that Real would do exactly what they did: throw discipline out of the window, dive preposterously in search of a penalty and kick petulantly because their story had been hijacked. Fifteen minutes is plenty of time for a great side to score twice at home. But hey, maybe this £240m collection is not such a great side.

It is easy to bill the result as a victory for the paupers. In fairness, all clubs look underprivileged compared with Real. But although Lyon have cashed in handsomely on players they developed throughout their period of domestic dominance – Madrid bought two of them in Mahamadou Diarra and Karim Benzema for €26m (£17m) and €30m (£20m) respectively – they are decent spenders by Champions League standards.

In the past couple of years Lyon have spent heartily on Lisandro López (€24m), Michel Bastos (€18m), Aly Cissokho (€15m), César Delgado (€11m). They sell very well, then re-invest imaginatively and the cycle continues. It is a policy that serves them well and an unbeaten period since they returned from their winter break now puts them in position to try to regain the French title as well as break new ground in the Champions League. They have never before been beyond the quarter-finals. As Puel said proudly: "This team is writing its own story."

Little wonder Jean-Michel Aulas, the Lyon president who oversees his project with infinitely more hard-nosed business nous than Florentino Pérez, felt emotional in the Bernabéu. "I shouldn't say so but I did shed a little tear," he confessed. "Now we have crazy dreams in our heads and one is to come back here for the final."

The €8m they spent on Pjanic, the hero of the Bernabéu, already looks like good value. The Bosnian midfielder is only 19 and despite the unenviable task of filling the boots of Lyon's former talisman Juninho Pernambucano, he is doing well enough to suggest he might be involved in another mega-sale in a few years' time. "It was a magic night," said Panjic. "It's enormous."

It is notable that all of the teams through to the last eight so far benefited from away goals. Manchester United gave themselves the platform to rout Milan with three in Italy. Arsenal felt able to overturn their errors in Porto without too much anxiety settling in because they had an away goal of their own from the Estádio do Dragão. Bayern's rally, which was crowned by Arjen Robben's miraculous goal in Florence, proved decisive.

How harsh this exit feels for Fiorentina, the only team knocked out who did score an away goal, and they have the frustration of an illegal goal awarded to Bayern by the referee Tom Henning Ovrebo just to make them feel even worse.

Despite the best efforts of Bayern Munich to win this week's Champions League Oscar for best action, the workaholics from Lyon deservedly stole the show. And that left Real Madrid stuck with the role of drama queens.

Tears of admiration for Haiti's beaten keeper

The courageous tale of the Haiti Under-17s women reached a milestone this week when they became the first sports team from the island to take part in international competition since the earthquake. Against all probability, they took the field in Costa Rica in the opening match of the Concacaf championships for their age-group. Pitted against the USA they lost 9‑0, and at the end of the game their goalkeeper, Alexandra Coby, burst into tears.

The USA keeper, Bryane Heaberlin, ran towards her and embraced her in a tight hug, soon to be followed by all of the opposition team who surrounded Coby in a group hug that lasted almost two minutes. When it broke up, girls from both teams wept.

"I saw her crying and that was pretty hard for me to see," said Heaberlin. "She's a keeper and we have that bond. I knew that she had probably lost people close to her, and when she goes home she might not have anywhere to go. I gave her a big hug and told her she did great. She came to compete in this tournament despite all that she's been through and I have tremendous respect for her."

By: Brentin Mock

If you were around New Orleans for its spectacular February, in which it ceremoniously elected a new mayor, its NFL team won the Super Bowl and a record-dense Mardi Gras, you were sure to spot a certain award-winning filmmaker about town, taking it all in, camera crew in tow.

Ever since Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed documentary, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, aired on HBO on August 29, 2006, the first anniversary of Katrina, the director had vowed to return to the Crescent City for an update on its progress. His new documentary, If God Is Willing And The Creek Don’t Rise—the product of all those Lee sightings—will premiere on HBO on the fifth anniversary of the hurricane.

We caught up with Lee at his temporary studio offices in the city’s French Quarter, where he held court, decked out in a blue Nike suit, purple Jordans and his signature tortoise-shell glasses. In this first installment of Lee’s exclusive interview with The Root, the director discusses the closing of city’s Charity Hospital building, the significance of the Super Bowl win and his filmic forays into Mississippi and Texas, which were also both impacted by Katrina.

The Root: So what have you learned from your interviews this time around?

Spike Lee: People are ecstatic about the Saints, but people are still hurting. Everybody is talking about the closing of Charity Hospital. The other day, there was the whole Danziger Bridge thing, the knocking down of public housing. People are up in arms about education, about health care. People have no confidence in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

So, the Saints—you can’t underestimate what the Saints did for the soul of the people in the Gulf region. And I’m happy for them. I wanted the Saints to beat the Colts. But that was coupled with Mardi Gras and every day that goes by is a day away from the Super Bowl win and Mardi Gras. So people are still floating, but every day the people’s feet are coming back to the earth, and pretty soon both feet will be back on earth, and back on earth here in New Orleans. The ills and issues they faced pre-Super Bowl, pre-playoffs, pre-Mardi Gras are a stark reality.

TR: What major impacts did you see from your first Katrina film?

Lee: I know that the whole Donnell Herrington shooting investigation was sparked by the first one. That was the young brother shot in Algiers. The FBI didn’t even know about it until they saw the movie. But I don’t really think that’s the way to quantify impact. I think the impact is that the people of New Orleans were given the chance to tell the world about how they felt. People all over the world who watched these images of people drowning, and people on top of houses holding “Help” signs—When the Levees Broke gave those people the chance to tell the world what they were going through, what they were thinking.

TR: What was HBO’s reaction when you first proposed the idea of doing a sequel?

Lee: It’s always been in discussion; it was just a matter of when. We knew it wasn’t going to be a one-and-done thing. The people care about what’s happening here, so we wanted to follow it. We didn’t want to do it too soon because you have to have some distance and let things get in place with the rebuilding. We thought it was natural that we should do it for the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the breaching of the levees.

TR: Was there any pushback from HBO?

Lee: Nah, they were 100 percent behind it. There was no pushback. They’ve been champions of this from the very beginning. From the inception, it was only supposed to be two hours and one of my co-producers said, “No way we can tell this story in two hours.” We went back to HBO, and they gave us more money, so money wasn’t even a problem. The problem was trying to fit it into the broadcast schedule. So they’ve been champions of this since the beginning, no pushback, no nothing. It’s been nothing but love, and nothing but support.

TR: You said earlier that the people’s feet were coming closer to the ground, but how do you feel about the task of the incoming government?

Lee: I know Mitch [Landrieu, mayor-elect] a little bit. I think he can do better than what Nagin has done. But he’s going to need a whole lot of help. He’s the mayor, but you have a governor who doesn’t look favorably on New Orleans. The federal money has to go to the state first, and the state then disburses it. Just because Mitch is mayor doesn’t mean presto change-o [snaps fingers] overnight. But it will be a welcome change for the people here, and I think that was reflected in the way the voting went.

TR: You went to Mississippi and Texas this time around. Tell us about what you discovered there.

Lee: We went … and talked to some of the displaced people. Actually, I don’t know if you would call them displaced. A lot of them made the decision to stay in Houston. It’s going on five years. They’ve found better jobs, better housing and better education for their children. We interviewed one lady whose son is autistic, and she can’t move back to New Orleans because there are no schools open that deal with autistic children, which really is against federal law.

TR: It has been reported that there are schools in New Orleans that are not taking in their fair share of students with special needs, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say that no schools take these students.

Lee: Well, from what I’ve heard, it’s not happening, and federal law states cities must provide a public education for students with special needs. And that’s the reason why she can’t move back to New Orleans because those services are not here, but they are available where she is in Texas. I can only go by what she told me. She is a single mother and has to care for an autistic child, so if she tells me she can’t move back to New Orleans because there is no place, no school that can fulfill her child’s needs, then I’m going to believe her. She doesn’t want to live in Texas. Her family is here. But she’s doing that for her child.

TR: The recovery here has meant different things to different people: For some, it’s making government more open and transparent. For others, it means preserving culture. There are intersections between the two, but where do you fall in that?

Lee: I don’t think it’s an either-or thing. If New Orleans wants to be the great city it should be, it should work on government corruption, public housing, getting a great education system, stepping up health care—and really mental health care. The closing of Charity Hospital has put a strain on mental health care. They don’t have the beds they had before. They have a lot of stuff to do. And Mitch, he’s in a tough spot. There’s so much he has to do, and a lot of the money has been spent already. It’s going on five years and the bulk of that money is gone. Five years ago the U.S. was not—the world was not in the financial shape it’s in. But budgets are being cut and historically people already looked at Louisiana like a bald-headed stepchild, and it will continue to be like that.

Read Part 2 of The Root’s exclusive interview with Lee on Friday.

Brentin Mock is a reporter for the New Orleans investigative reporting news Web site The Lens.

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Only by the recognition of every victim of the war in the former Yugoslavia, as individuals, can interethnic wounds be healed

Three coinciding events – Radovan Karadzic's opening statement before the international tribunal, the arrest of Ejup Ganic in London and Bernard Kouchner's mocking remarks to a journalist's question regarding human organ trafficking allegations in Kosovo – have once again illustrated the persistent tensions between the need to recognise all crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, on the one hand, and perceptions of crimes being relativised, on the other.

Neither theory nor practice provides a clear-cut solution for overcoming such dilemmas, but conflict transformation requires that the collectivisation of guilt be diluted in order to vanquish inter-ethnic paralysis and prevent individual victims from being denied justice purely because of their ethno-national identity.

Ganic, a war-time member of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was arrested on an extradition warrant from Serbia for alleged war crimes relating to the murder of 42 soldiers during an attack on a UN-led convoy containing a Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) column withdrawing from Sarajevo. Ganic's detention has sparked a furious response from various quarters.

Haris Silajdzic, the Bosniak member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, was quick to remark that "this is not the first attempt to relativise and set equal blame", while Christian Schwarz-Schilling, a former high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, described the move as "an attempt to manipulate history … [that] also reflects Serbia's continuous attempt to avert the blame for atrocities committed during the war and allocate some of the responsibility to other former Yugoslav republics".

Such statements essentially argue that to seek recognition for crimes committed against one party to the conflict in some way serves to relativise those crimes perpetuated by that very same party. The commonly employed dichotomies of war – of "defenders" versus "aggressors", of forces of "good" versus those of "evil" – are, however, always far too simplistic to capture and comprehend the inherent complexities, particularly of a civil war such as that fought in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Overcoming these dichotomies requires that individual crimes and individual victims be recognised regardless of their ethno-national identity. The failure to do so only serves to reinforce the collectivisation of guilt and the perpetuation of divisions on ethnic lines. The potential costs of "dragging up the past" by no means outweigh the benefits to post-conflict societies of compelling all parties to explore their respective historical roles and responsibilities – not only during the early 1990s, but deeper into the past – in order to challenge the forces of historical revisionism.

The same point also applies to members of the international community, whose involvement in the Balkans has not been without consequence. During a recent visit to the Serb enclave of Gracanica, Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister and former head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, responded to a question about human organ trafficking – allegations that first surfaced in a book by Carla Del Ponte, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia's former chief prosecutor, and which are currently being investigated by the Council of Europe – with a heated diatribe, insisting that "there was no yellow house, there was no organ trade. People who talk about things like that are bums and murderers".

Kouchner's crass remarks are those of a man who believes himself to be simultaneously judge, jury and executioner, not those of a man who should be re-emphasising the need for a full and transparent investigation into the claims.

By individualising responsibility and punishment for war crimes, the international tribunal was intended to facilitate conflict transformation by preventing the collectivisation of guilt. As is often the case in the Balkans, however, practice has fallen short of intention; justice has not remained blind, particularly to ethno-national identities, and many individual victims have become invisible. Only through the mutual recognition of each and every victim of the wars of the former Yugoslavia, regardless of their identity, can the foundations be laid to help transcend and transform hardening inter-ethnic divisions.

The persistent tension between recognition and relativisation – as highlighted by the Ganic case – demonstrates the challenges faced by those working to ensure that all crimes and victims are treated equally.

EU's foreign policy chief accused of being 'handmaiden' for integration after promising to review calls for Brussels office

Britain's EU foreign and security policy chief today risked reviving a bitter UK-French feud over European defence when she promised to review calls for a permanent EU military planning headquarters in Brussels.

The British are strongly opposed to such an HQ, believing it would undermine Nato and dilute the Atlantic alliance, while the French have lobbied for a new Brussels office as a means of boosting independent European defence capacities.

Appearing before the European parliament in Strasbourg, Lady Ashton said the permanent HQ question was "a serious issue that deserves serious debate … The question is whether we need something else."

The decision to reopen the divisive subject followed talks in Paris last Friday with Hervé Morin, the French defence minister and a trenchant critic of Ashton's performance as EU foreign policy head.

Following today's remarks, Ashton was accused of being "a handmaiden" for European military and political integration.

Geoffrey Van Orden, the Conservative MEP who focuses on defence policy, alleged she was plotting a shift that would "ratchet up" EU military integration at the expense of Nato.

Ashton denied the charge – in January she said she was "unconvinced" of the need for a new HQ – and insisted she had no fixed view on whether the EU should establish the defence planning headquarters. The EU currently uses Nato's Shape HQ and national centres for planning and co-ordinating military missions abroad.

Ashton and Morin discussed the permanent headquarters in Paris on Friday.

A Brussels-based dedicated HQ, said the French defence ministry afterwards, would be a "capacity, desired by a majority of member states, [and] would improve the EU's responsiveness in the launch of operations and would also be a factor for making cost savings". Ashton said yesterday that the need for an HQ was obvious and widely agreed.

"The question is whether the current system … is the most efficient way or whether we need something else," she said. "People often approach this question in terms of structures. I think we should first analyse what functions need to be performed. From that, decisions on structures should flow."

Sources said that Ashton was keeping her options open on the defence planning HQ, and was also keen to avoid perceptions that she was doing Britain's bidding.

In a further nod to the French, Ashton also raised the status of meetings of EU defence ministers following criticism that she was ignoring European security at the expense of foreign policy.

Heavily criticised on several fronts since winning the new post in November, Ashton used today's speech to answer back.

She had not yet mastered the art of "time travel", she quipped in response to complaints about her schedule and meetings she has missed.

She spoke a sentence each in French and German in an attempt to assuage those unhappy with her lack of foreign language skills.

And she brushed aside taunts that her private office is top-heavy with British officials.

"I will appoint on merit – nothing else," she declared. "There are no favourites here."

Ashton is charged with building a new European diplomatic machine, the External Action Service, over the next few months. The service, the EU's most ambitious new structure in many years, is currently the focus of an intense power struggle in Brussels being waged between the European commission and European governments.

While Ashton is seeking to tip the balance of power towards the governments, senior players in the parliament yesterday supported José Manuel Barroso, the commission president.

Ashton described the new service as "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build something that finally brings together all the instruments of our engagement in support of a single political strategy. If we pull together, we can safeguard our interests. If not, others will make decisions for us. It really is that simple."

Arsenal came into their second leg Champions League fourth round encounter with Porto down 2-1 and needed a goal to ensure the Portuguese champions didn't proceed. Arsenal were hungry to progress to the next round, and it was immediately clear that Arsenal came to play.

Right from the first blow of the whistle an Arsenal outfit, lacking their fearless leader Cesc Fabregas, attacked with Samir Nasri spearheading the attack. As soon as Arsenal netted the first goal early on, it was clear that Porto were going to struggle and that Arsenal were going to score a host of goals.

That they did, with the much criticized Nicklas Bendtner grabbing a neat hattrick. Arsenal now progress to the quarterfinals and will be seriously backing their chances.

Player Ratings

Manuel Almunia:7: The fastly improving Spaniard had a relatively quiet evening but was reliable when called upon.

Bacary Sagna:7: The usual solid defending from the reliable Frenchman and contributed nicely in attack, providing good width and crosses.

Sol Campbell:7: A few rash passes and clearances, but all up the veteran Englishman was an able deputy for William Gallas.

Thomas Vermaelen:8: Strong and imposing at the back and always tempted to go in hard. 

Gael Clichy:7: Hulk caused the Frenchman the odd headache, but overall Clichy was solid at the back and useful in attack.

Alexandre Song:8: Control the middle with ease and dealt with the Porto attack superbly. 

Samir Nasri:9.5:  Cesc Fabrewho? The French dynamo had a superb night. Playing in Fabregas's role, Nasri stepped up sensationally, providing passing and creativity. He set up the first goal, and then a beautiful solo effort ensured Arsenal got a third.

Abou Diaby:8: Controlling and strong. Passed and moved well and helped sharpen up the Arsenal attack.

Tomas Rosicky:7: A strong effort. Some quick passing and moving helped create havoc through the middle and on the flanks. Shame to see him substituted with a suspected injury.

Andrei Arshavin:9: A huge threat down the left. His speed and balance plus such strength. A hand in three goals and unlucky not to find the net himself. 

Nicklas Bendtner:9.5: On Saturday he was rubbish, but today he is a hero. His first Arsenal hat trick. Three impressive goals and suddenly Nicklas Bendtner is as good as he said he is.

Substitutes

Emmanuel Eboue:8: Came on early in the second and immediately sparked things and finished with a fine team goal.

Denilson:7: Read the game well and contributed nicely.

Theo Walcott:7: Picked up on where he left off against Burnley. Unlucky not to score too.

Fashion waited with baited breath yesterday as the final collection from the late legend Alexander McQueen was unveiled at a private presentation in Paris.Just 16 pieces of the A/W10 line were showcased at the luxury French salon – the headquarters of parent company PPR – all of which were cut on stand by the designer [...]

0 comments Source: www.myfashionlife.com

This is undeniably our most important game this season. More important than anything, and I can imagine how nervous everyone is. There is a lot of pressure from the management, the media and the fans on the team. We haven't reached the quarter-finals for five consecutive years, but jinx are made to be broken.

I don't have a lot to say about the game, but I'd like to mention a few things.

• No french team has ever beaten us at the Bernabeu and we haven't lost at home since the AC Milan game.
• Missing Alonso shouldn't hurt us. We never lost when we missed him and we have a deep squad with players capable of replacing him. I'd like Guti to take his place and partner Lassana Diarra in the midfield.
• Higuaìn never impressed in the Champions League, but he has been in a fine form and I have a feeling he'll play well tonight. If Pellegrini goes for Van der vaart to replace the suspended Marcelo, then we should see the Argentine striker with Ronaldo upfront. Otherwise, I expect him to partner up with Raùl, but I'm not sure If the two would link up together very well.
• Casillas has to be focused 100% all the time. We can't afford to make even the slightest mistakes. In the first leg and in the game against Sevilla, his dives were not accurate.
• The defense has been pretty good. With Ramos on the right, Albiol and Garay as center-backs and Arbeloa on the left, we should be able to prevent them from scoring. One thing to remember is not to give him the chance to strike because they have pretty good players who can shoot from outside the area.
• The key to winning the game is in holding possession and being effective in front of goal. Guti and Lass will have a lot of work to do, especially the later as he'll have to be fast and his tackles will have to be accurate. We need him to stop Lyon.
• Guti's role will be in passing the ball forward and creating chances. He is coming off an injury but looked in a good shape on Saturday. His problem is, he is unable to perform well when he is not given much spaces, and I don't think Lyon will give him a lot of freedom to move, so he has to figure this out.

It is not an impossible thing to do, but the media and the majority of fans make it look like that it was over after the first leg. Luckily though, the team and the coach are confident of going through to the quarter-finals and I have a good feeling about it this time.

My prediction is a 2-0 win for Real. I'm not sure how Pellegrini's line up will be, but I want the following players to start:

Casillas, Ramos, Albiol, Garay, Arbeloa, Lass, Guti, Kaka, Van der vaart, Ronaldo, Higuaìn.

Hala Madrid!

Insight Communications : Kentuckyo [Video]

In breaking TV, radio, print and direct mail advertising, midwest cable communications provider Insight combines bits and pieces of business conversation into a comprehensive brand campaign to announce the launch of its high-speed dedicated fiber network, serving Ky., Ind., and Ohio. The campaign is the first work by Darling Agency, New York, for its new client. The television commercials cut quickly from one to another of the voices of Kentucky business (or in the case of “Kentuckyo,” the international voices doing business in Kentucky). The speakers are intended to sound serious, smart, business-y, worldly, and, to a degree, funny, as when nine businessmen’s and -women’s competitve instincts have them describing their data needs in ever-larger units. Corporate viewers (and also residential cable customers) may come away with a new appreciation for the area’s fast-paced and cosmopolitan business environment, and also for the high-tech Insight services on which the community’s data needs rely. The commercials, starting in March, will run on the ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and CW broadcast networks, and on cable channels including CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FoxNews, ESPN, PBS, Food Channel, Discovery, AMC. In April, supporting radio :60s will air on 16 AM and FM stations, and print full pages will run in local business journals and magazines. Media is handled by Sheehy + Associates, Louisville, Ky. Insight Communications, headquartered in New York, is the 9th largest cable operator in the U.S., with 750,000 customer relationships across Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, for its bundled, analog and digital video, broadband Internet, and voice telephone services. insightbusiness.com Darling Agency is a recently established, independent advertising agency headquartered in New York. Clients include Insight Communications, Best Cheese, Mt. Kisco, N.Y.; Hamilton Beach, Richmond, Va.; TJX Corp. (off-price retail), Framingham, Mass.; Leroy Selmon’s (sports restaurants), Tampa; Yeshiva University, New York; and Somerset Partners (real estate), New York. darlingagency.com Client: Insight Communications, Inc., New York, insightbusiness.com cable communications (digital video/TV, broadband, phone) Agency/Prod’n. Co.: Darling Agency, New York, darlingagency.com First work for new client. Brief: Announce launch of dedicated fiber network in Ky., Ind., Ohio. Lend business service’s high-tech halo to residential cable service. Intended voice: Serious, smart, business-y, worldly. Spots: Intro :60, “Yadabytes.” Nine businesspeople compete at who-sends-the-most-data. :30, “Kentuckyo.” No video conference gets underway without some miscues. Especially not between Kentuckians, Japanese, Russians and French. Plus two other :30s, not sent. One hospital-related, one university-. Tag (new): “The fiber of business.” Media: Cable including CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FoxNews, ESPN, PBS, Food Channel, Discovery, AMC, others Broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW Supporting radio :60s on 16 AM and FM stations Supporting print full pages in local business journals, magazines Market: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio

CW/Dir.: Jeroen Bours  AD: Tore Claesson CW: George Tannenbaum  Breaks: March (TV) April (print, radio)

$400 of $625 raised.

Started raising funds on Mar 10, 2010

Adjo Akagla is a 60-year old woman who is married and has two children. She lives in Kpalimé, a very busy town where FECECAV has its headquarters. She is a retailer of fruits and has carried out this activity for several years in her company. With the loan from Kiva, she would like to pay the school fees for her child who is at the university in Lomé. In the future she would like her children to become executives.

Translated from French by Alison Le Bras, Kiva Volunteer

Insight Communications : Yadabytes [Video]

In breaking TV, radio, print and direct mail advertising, midwest cable communications provider Insight combines bits and pieces of business conversation into a comprehensive brand campaign to announce the launch of its high-speed dedicated fiber network, serving Ky., Ind., and Ohio. The campaign is the first work by Darling Agency, New York, for its new client. The television commercials cut quickly from one to another of the voices of Kentucky business (or in the case of “Kentuckyo,” the international voices doing business in Kentucky). The speakers are intended to sound serious, smart, business-y, worldly, and, to a degree, funny, as when nine businessmen’s and -women’s competitve instincts have them describing their data needs in ever-larger units. Corporate viewers (and also residential cable customers) may come away with a new appreciation for the area’s fast-paced and cosmopolitan business environment, and also for the high-tech Insight services on which the community’s data needs rely. The commercials, starting in March, will run on the ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and CW broadcast networks, and on cable channels including CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FoxNews, ESPN, PBS, Food Channel, Discovery, AMC. In April, supporting radio :60s will air on 16 AM and FM stations, and print full pages will run in local business journals and magazines. Media is handled by Sheehy + Associates, Louisville, Ky. Insight Communications, headquartered in New York, is the 9th largest cable operator in the U.S., with 750,000 customer relationships across Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, for its bundled, analog and digital video, broadband Internet, and voice telephone services. insightbusiness.com Darling Agency is a recently established, independent advertising agency headquartered in New York. Clients include Insight Communications, Best Cheese, Mt. Kisco, N.Y.; Hamilton Beach, Richmond, Va.; TJX Corp. (off-price retail), Framingham, Mass.; Leroy Selmon’s (sports restaurants), Tampa; Yeshiva University, New York; and Somerset Partners (real estate), New York. darlingagency.com Client: Insight Communications, Inc., New York, insightbusiness.com cable communications (digital video/TV, broadband, phone) Agency/Prod’n. Co.: Darling Agency, New York, darlingagency.com First work for new client. Brief: Announce launch of dedicated fiber network in Ky., Ind., Ohio. Lend business service’s high-tech halo to residential cable service. Intended voice: Serious, smart, business-y, worldly. Spots: Intro :60, “Yadabytes.” Nine businesspeople compete at who-sends-the-most-data. :30, “Kentuckyo.” No video conference gets underway without some miscues. Especially not between Kentuckians, Japanese, Russians and French. Plus two other :30s, not sent. One hospital-related, one university-. Tag (new): “The fiber of business.” Media: Cable including CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FoxNews, ESPN, PBS, Food Channel, Discovery, AMC, others Broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW Supporting radio :60s on 16 AM and FM stations Supporting print full pages in local business journals, magazines Market: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio

CW/Dir.: Jeroen Bours  AD: Tore Claesson CW: George Tannenbaum  Breaks: March (TV) April (print, radio)

More photos » Rick Bowmer - AP

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This is a game of runs. Portland had runs of 12-2 (to open the game), 9-0, 10-1, 7-0, 5-0 and 14-4 (in the fourth quarter). That's 57 of Portland's 88 points right there in a series of imbalanced runs. For their part, the Kings had runs of 18-2 (in the first quarter), 14-4 and 12-1 (in the fourth, known forevermore as the "Sean May Run"). The Blazers would go on a run and take a fat lead ... and the Kings would storm back to get a lead of their own. Repeat. Repeat. But the Kings ran out of time, and the Blazers' final run stood.

But there was encouragement. Carl Landry was again effective (no surprise there), and the interior defense and defensive rebounding were surprisingly effective. Landry (with help from Jason Thompson) limited LaMarcus Aldridge to 6-15 shooting, just one free throw, and just two offensive rebounds. Marcus Camby hit a few shots, and Juwan Howard got by Spencer Hawes twice, but all in all, the big men did their job. Portland, the No. 8 offensive rebounding team in the league (a bit misleading, though, due to the absence of Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla), was held to nine offensive rebounds in 39 attempts, given Sacramento a defensive rebounding percentage of 77 percent. Progress.

The guard play was uneven throughout, however. Tyreke Evans had some stunning moves (per usual), and somehow ended up with six assists. But the offense was stagnant. Blame Beno Udrih too, as the offense didn't improve the ball in Slovenian hands. When there was urgency, it was too frantic, too rushed. When there was no urgency, it looked like a serene Lake Tahoe out there.

Donte Greene had a tough shooting night (1-7), but was actually pretty damn good out there, with six rebounds in 18 minutes, two blocks, two steals, three assists and just one turnover. And, if I may, this is why young players don't buy into coaches' mandate for tough defense over high-octane offense. Greene took one bad shot, and had the bad turnover. But he played superlative defense, crashed the boards, and moved the ball. And he gets just 18 minutes as the starter, benched to start the second half? Other than those two plays, Greene did what the coaching staff has publicly requested of him. And he got benched, because he wasn't hitting his shots.

Just a data point in the quest for understanding young players, I suppose.

***

Sean May, man. Let the record show one of his two makes was a 21-footer, the other a turn-around fade-away from 14. Let the record show his one rebound looked like something Dwight Howard would do. Man, Sean May. Man.

***

Landry and Thompson didn't play together much in this one. Let the record show that when they did, the Blazers got several offensive rebounds. If time allows, we'll compile more big man rebounding numbers this week.

***

Nicolas Batum is my favorite French basketball player and it's not even close. I used to be down with Mickael Pietrus (technically a Guadeloupean), and I still dig Mikey, but man, Nico is like the smoothest beast ever invented. Some day, I will play NBA Jam Wii, and I will find a bug which will allow me to put Batum and The Show on the same team, and it will be a glorious day.

***

From Blazersedge:

Even more exasperating than [Marcus] Camby's careless turnovers were Rudy Fernandez's running, rolling, frolicking shot attempts.  I'm calling for an intervention: friends don't let friends teardrop and fail.  Any time you go to the teardrop/finger roll 3 times in 3 minutes and come up empty every time, it's a signal that you should put the tool back in the toolbox, lock the toolbox in your backyard shed, douse your shed in kerosene and then strike a match. In Rudy's case, because of the hair product, it would probably be a good idea to take an extra step backwards before striking the match.

Ouch.

• Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com: "I've seen a lot of press releases in my career. What the Clippers sent late Tuesday afternoon -- a sharp-tongued, 230-word document titled 'CLIPPERS, DUNLEAVY SEVER TIES' -- was not a press release. It was a mission statement and something of an apology to season-ticket holders who paid good money to watch one of the most frustrating teams in the NBA the past couple of seasons. Trust me, team president Andy Roeser saw each of those 'Fire Dunleavy' signs floating around Staples Center as the team won 19 games last season and stumbled through this one. Although the powers that be had good intentions, allowing Mike Dunleavy to step down as coach and keep his job as general manager on Feb. 4 wasn't enough of a bloodletting. When a fan base is as frustrated as Clipper Nation has become, someone's head has to roll. ... Generally, even in the worst professional breakup, people pretend to like each other. They use phrases like 'go in a different direction' and 'We thank Coach So-and-so for his efforts and commitment to the franchise.' In this case, the Clippers wanted it known that this was not a clean break."
• Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: "Control of the Clippers is now there for the taking. An organization with the most underutilized potential in all of sports is now open for shaping. The office is empty for the strongest of general managers. The bench is available for the best of head coaches. The building is even unlocked for someone who can do both. Now introducing Clippers general manager, coach and forward LeBron James. Crazy, sure, but you have to wonder whether the Clippers didn't suddenly ax Dunleavy because they received word that there's somebody out there who could deliver them potential free-agent James. Now introducing, Clippers forward LeBron James and two of his high school chums as general manager and coach. Crazy, too, but that's the thing about what happened Tuesday. The Clippers didn't lose a general manager, they gained a world of possibilities."
• Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times: "The big question to analyze: Why now, and not a clean sweep in February? Team President Andy Roeser was not available to answer that specific question, but did provide insight into the decision making. 'With all due respect to Mike, we arrived at the realization that we weren't going to be able to move forward together in the long term, and we felt that, in order to give us the most flexibility as we approach this opportunity-filled off-season, making a clean break was our best option at this time,' Roeser said in an e-mail to The Times. 'We think Neil Olshey is well prepared to meet the mandate to lead us to a 'win-now' mentality, and to take advantage of the many opportunities that lie ahead.' (Subtext: Let's get everything in order before LeBron James comes to visit this summer.) Olshey has been with the Clippers since the 2003-04 season and was considered a Dunleavy protege."
• Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: "Not that the suddenly overtaxed Lakers need the reminder, but their top player is spending a lot more time on the court. Kobe Bryant is averaging 38.8 minutes a game after averaging only 36.1 last season, a relatively large jump that makes him and 22-year-old Andrew Bynum the only Lakers starters logging more minutes this season. 'It shows maybe the need, the desire to have him on the floor, something along the lines that we need him out there to win games,' Coach Phil Jackson said. Jackson said he was surprised by the size of the increase in playing time but not troubled by it, perhaps because Bryant took an 18-day break last month while sidelined by an ankle injury for five games."
• Chris Iott of Booth Newspapers: "All of Rodney Stuckey’s tests there came back negative, and it’s a good bet those tests are being repeated now that Stuckey is back in Detroit. If there is even an inkling that his collapse had anything to do with his heart, he will not be back on the court anytime soon. No one involved in the NBA has forgotten about Reggie Lewis. No one wants that tragedy to repeat itself. Pistons coach John Kuester won’t discuss a timetable for Stuckey’s return, but he sounds like a guy who expects to see his starting point guard back on the court. ... Of course, in the end, the decision about when -- or if -- Stuckey comes back is up to one person: Stuckey. It really is none of our business. But whether or not doctors find something wrong with Stuckey, he has only two options when it comes to basketball: Quit or play. No one would blame Stuckey for taking option No. 1. It is his life. But if he chooses option No. 2, there’s no reason to wait until fall. Either Stuckey is healthy enough to return to his career as an NBA player, or he’s not. If he is, he should come back whenever he feels like it. Waiting until October won’t change a thing."
• Tom Enlund of the Journal Journal: "The NBA's time machine has to be dialed back to 1987 to find the last time that the Milwaukee Bucks clashed with the Boston Celtics in a playoff series. The Celtics won that Eastern Conference semifinal series in seven games in what was the conclusion to an almost annual playoff rivalry between Milwaukee and Boston in the mid-'80s. Boston coach Doc Rivers recalls some of those classic Bucks-Celtics playoff tussles. At the time he was a big man on campus at Marquette University. 'Those were great series,' said Rivers Tuesday. 'It was just that the Bucks couldn't win them (except for 1983). They were so close. We were talking about that a couple weeks ago, how people forget how good the Bucks were back then because the Sixers and the Celtics won every year (in the East). But the team that was always nipping on their heels was the Bucks. They just had the misfortune of being in the wrong conference. You could make the case if they were in the other conference, they might have made some of those Finals.' The Celtics defeated the Bucks in seven games in the 1974 NBA Finals. There is still a long way to go before this season's first-round playoff matchups are determined, but the way things are going now, there is a chance Milwaukee and Boston could meet."
• Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman: "Kevin Durant is surprised people like Magic Johnson, who recently interviewed him, is shocked he’s comfortable with small-market Oklahoma City instead of playing in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. 'I was watching the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson documentary the other day,' Durant said. 'I’m similar to Bird. I like being at home. I like staying at my mom’s house and her cooking. That’s the kind of person I am. I’m not into the big city lights and the paparazzi, that type of stuff. I just love playing basketball and chillin’ out.' In the HBO documentary Durant referred to, Bird was comfortable in French Lick, Ind., while Johnson preferred the constant entertainment in Hollywood. 'I can relate to both of those guys -- Magic Johnson for how much he loves the game and his enthusiasm for the game and Larry Bird for how laid back and relaxed he is,' Durant said. 'That’s the kind of guy I am off the court. I’m good in Oklahoma City. I love it here. I like going outside and seeing the neighbors and they say, ‘Hello.’ They make me cookies and give me Skittles. There are cities you may not get that.' "
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: "Donnie Walsh is skipping the Big East Tournament to keep a trained eye on the Big Wreck that is his basketball team. The Knicks' president was expected to accompany the club on its five-game trip with the growing sense within the organization that the entire basketball staff is on high alert. The Knicks (22-41) enter Wednesday's game against the Spurs on pace to lose 50 games for the second straight season. The roster will be overhauled, especially with Walsh having enough salary-cap space to sign two 'max' free agents. Walsh is still deliberating which Knicks to re-sign, including David Lee, and he may also be contemplating changes to the support staff, particularly since the team has struggled defensively. In typical Walsh fashion, he's downplaying his presence on the trip, saying, 'This gives me a chance to be around the team. It's really the last chance this season for me to do this.' Still, Walsh's scheduling change comes days after an ugly home loss to the Nets and after he accepted responsibility for the Knicks' wretched season and deflected blame from his head coach, Mike D'Antoni."
• Mary Schmitt of The Plain Dealer: "Well, what did you expect? Naming Michael Jordan as the Cavaliers' top antagonist of all-time was almost as easy as selecting LeBron James as the top Cavs player of all-time. For all the cumulative damage Jordan did throughout his career, nothing crushed the franchise like The Shot -- over an outstretched Craig Ehlo -- that gave the Chicago Bulls a 101-100 victory in the deciding Game 5 of the first-round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on May 7, 1989. That shot, and the game, propelled Jordan and the Bulls into the stratosphere. Neither they, nor the Cavs, were ever the same again. It was Cleveland's misfortune to field some of its best teams as Jordan was at his greatest. 'You look at the top 10 players on our team and then compare them to the their top 10 and we were the better team,' Wayne Embry, the Cavs' general manager from 1986-96, recently told The Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto. 'But they had greatness. It's just so hard to beat greatness.' "
• Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald: "Utah coach Jerry Sloan delivered several good lines while meeting with reporters before Tuesday's game against the Bulls. Sloan was asked how he's lasted 22 years with the Jazz when most other NBA coaches seem to lose touch with their players within a few seasons. 'I tell our players, 'I'm going to be here and you may not,' ' he said. 'I've been real fortunate that our owner gave me the opportunity to say that when he first started out. Coaches are going to be here and players are expendable. -- If you don't have support, you don't have a fighting chance.' Someone asked Sloan what he thought about his 1970s-era photo on a mural honoring Bulls legends that went up outside the locker room this year. He hadn't seen it. 'I don't think it affects me in any way,' Sloan said. 'Like my friend said, 'I'll still eat hamburgers.' ' When it was pointed out that Jazz rookie Othyus Jeffers, a West Side native, requested 150 tickets for Tuesday's game, Sloan responded, 'I couldn't afford to buy tickets when I played. These young guys make a lot more money.' "
• Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News: "Isn't it strange that Jonas Jerebko could be playing better in the NBA this season than he ever did in Europe? Jerebko thinks there might be a reason why. In Europe, said Jerebko, 'The game is so much more compact. It's more wide (open) here and you can do a lot more. I've grown in every aspect of the game (here).' Jerebko said 7-footers stay in the lane in Europe, waiting for opponents to drive to the basket. The NBA game is more open. 'You have to be on the move, it's an up-and-down game, and that shows my skills,' he said."
• Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: "Generally, when Johan Petro has been called upon to fill in, he's played well. Last season, when Chris Andersen was unexpectedly out of the lineup for the Nuggets' game at Orlando in February, Petro answered the bell with two points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal. A reserve the majority of his career, Petro understands having to stay ready. But it didn't make waiting this season any easier. 'It was super hard,' Petro said. 'I had some ups and downs. Sometimes I didn't feel like coming (to practice). I felt like quitting, a little bit. But I always found a way to keep myself going. The league is about opportunities, and you never know when your number will be called. So you want to be ready for it, and I think that's what I've been trying to do here. 'I'm probably going to be more focused because I definitely have a lot to prove.' Petro started Sunday and may get that chance again tonight against Minnesota, but expect him to be used in a mix-and-match strategy going forward with Malik Allen and Joey Graham."
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "On the way out of the Verizon Center visitor's locker room, I passed Luis Scola and thought I'd make a modest suggestion, perhaps overstepping my position as a guest there, but still seeming on safe ground. 'Take tomorrow off,' I told him, knowing that the Rockets were not practicing and that he had been carrying such a heavy load. 'Oh, he won't,' said Wizards center Fabricio Oberto and Scola's former teammate with Argentina's national team. 'I can't,' Scola said. 'I took yesterday off.' The guy played an average of 42.5 minutes on the three-game road trip. He has had double-doubles in four-consecutive games, averaging 21.8 points and 16 rebounds. Scola has played 1,949 minutes this season and in three NBA seasons has still never missed a game. But he will be at Toyota Center on Wednesday, along with guys that rarely play, taking free throws and pushing through drills. 'That's his mentality,' Rockets assistant strength and conditioning coach Dave Macha said. "He'll shoot, work on his footwork, agility stuff. That's how he gets ready. With him, if he feels like he's prepared, he'll play a lot more aggressively, more confidently. Confidence breeds success. 'That's him. He's got to get ready, make sure he outworks the next guy.' "
• Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star: "That Hedo Turkoglu is at the point of having to salvage a much-hyped season is disappointing for Raptors fans, of course. Turkoglu's improbable off-season acquisition was a joyous moment for a franchise whose depth chart could have been far shallower if not for some nifty navigation of the NBA's salary-cap regulations. But after playing at a high level in a contract year for the NBA finalist Orlando Magic last season, Turkoglu has clearly slacked off for parts of this season. The team gave him time off for fatigue to open training camp. He since has been plagued by poor conditioning and nagging injuries. And though his numbers aren't abhorrent – he is slightly below his career averages in most major statistical categories – there is a sense he has under-delivered. He has blamed his role instead of adapting to it, publicly stated his wish to have the ball more often on a team that sometimes plays point guards Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon simultaneously. But those arguments are old now. And a lot will be forgotten if, as the Raptors steer themselves into the final quarter of the regular season, Turkoglu finds his form."
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Michael Jordan, Charlotte’s impending majority owner, not only is becoming more of a fixture at Bobcats games, but now sits at the end of the team’s bench. Somehow, we couldn’t envision Pat Riley sharing fist pumps with Yakhouba Diawara."
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "Don't get nervous about the Pacers beating the 76ers. The Pacers will have plenty of opportunities to lose games down the stretch. They've got to go to Cleveland twice, along with games against Boston, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Utah, Atlanta, Miami, Houston and Orlando. You should probably get nervous if they win in Boston and Milwaukee this weekend."
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "The Kings are ramping up the rhetoric and festivities because, frankly, Tyreke Evans hints at a future beyond furloughs and foreclosures. How long has it been? How many years now? Accordingly, for tonight's game against the Toronto Raptors, the first 10,000 fans will receive a commemorative 'Rally for RekeROY' T-shirt. Another 5,000 can poke around with an Evans 'Face on a Stick.' There will be a highlight video during introductions, testimonials from fans and, for those who have forgotten what spontaneous applause is , cheat sheets will explain when to start and stop the R-O-Y chant. Small town? Small time? For sure. But as that English chap wrote, 'To thine own self be true.' (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene III). This is exactly the type of boosterism and corny behavior that plays well in Salt Lake City, Orlando, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Memphis and Indianapolis, and would be absolutely ridiculed in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and even Bay Area. The Warriors, for instance, are shuttling ROY candidate Stephen Curry between sports talk shows and media gatherings, and otherwise leaving the theatrics to others. Others, say, like Sacramento."
• Jerry Briggs of the San Antonio Express-News: "San Marcos resident Charles Austin is known by one member of the New York Knicks as a former Olympian, a gold-medal winning champion and 'basically, the highest-jumping person in the United States.' Austin is also credited as a man who showed 29-year-old Knicks forward Jonathan Bender the way back to the NBA. 'I give him a lot of credit,' Bender said. 'When you're working out on your own, you can only go to a certain level. When you have someone who can come in and help you get there, it's a little different.' A personal trainer and owner of So High Sports and Fitness in San Marcos, Austin told Bender in November 2008 that he could assist the former No. 5 overall NBA draft pick if he wanted to return to basketball. The dream came true for Bender in December 2009 when he signed as a free agent with the Knicks."

Will the special EU-unit be deployed in Greece?

by Udo Ulfkotte

The economic crisis and the resulting growing unrest offer the EU government in Brussels a welcome opportunity to quietly test the deployment of a ‘secret’ EU force, which was established to put down uprisings in the EU. This secret unit is called EUROGENDFOR, has its headquarters in northern Italy, and is now preparing to leave for Greece, to be deployed against the population of an EU country.

There is something brewing in Greece. The protests of the citizens in the urban areas are becoming more violent. While the Germans advise the Greeks to get up earlier and work harder, anger rises in the Greek streets. In Brussels, all preparations are being made to for the first time employ the ‘secret’ EU force to crack down on uprisings. Most Europeans have never heard of this ‘secret’ unit.

Brussels’ paramilitary gendarmerie

The staff of the European task force of 3,000 troops has its headquarters In the Italian town of Vicenza [in the “Generale Chinotto” barracks], and is called “EUROGENDFOR”. It was initiated by the former French Defense Minister Alliot-Marie after the French had to deal more and more frequently with internal uprisings of Muslim immigrant youth with street battles and looting. With the powers of the secret service, the equipped unit must in close cooperation with the European military guarantee the ‘security in European foci of crises’. It is its duty as a police force to crush rebellions. More and more EU countries are joining EUROGENDFOR.

Full Members: Gendarmerie — National Gendarmerie (France); Carabinieri — Carabinieri (Italy); Royal Marechaussee — Royal Marechaussee (The Netherlands); National Republican Guard — National Republican Guard (Portugal); Gendarmerie — Gendarmerie (Romania); Civil Guard — Civil Guard (Spain). Partners: Polish Military Gendarmerie — Military Gendarmerie (Poland).

From the Eurogendfor website: “…the EGF HQ is now developing a comprehensive and coherent operational system, which will permit to be ready in case of prompt deployment to crisis areas. EGF goal is to provide the International Community with a valid and operational instrument for crisis management, first and foremost at disposal of EU, but also of other International Organizations, as NATO, UN and OSCE, and ad hoc coalitions.”

Note: Turkey joins the European Gendarmerie force as Observer. “Furthermore,” Furthermore EGF states: “…it is excellently suitable for deployment parallel with or immediately after a military operation to maintain public order and safety as well as in situations where local police services are not (sufficiently) deployed. Since January 2007, the EU has in theory always had two battlegroups on call, each comprising at least 1500 combat soldiers.”

EUROGENDFOR is nothing else but a paramilitary police unit which in times of crisis can be deployed instead of the regularly army, so as not to raise the impression that an army of the country itself would fire on its own citizens. To that purpose the secret unit EUROGENDFOR exists. The European Gendarmerie Force could theoretically be deployed anywhere the EU sees a crisis — for example, when an EU country does not ratify the Lisbon Treaty, or against the will of the central government in Brussels wants to leave the EU. It’s in the Lisbon Treaty, which regulates the deployment of EUROGENDFOR.

The cross-shaped sword in the arms of EUROGENDFOR symbolizes the unity, the bay leaf victory, and the flaming grenade the common military roots of the police unit. The motto “Lex Paciferat” means “The law brings peace” [or “The law pacifies”] and stresses “the principle of strict relationship between the continuation of the fundamental legal principles and the restoration of a safe and secure environment”.

Deciding on the strategy of deployment is a “war council” in the form of a ministerial committee, composed of the Ministers of Defense of the participating Member States. The unit may on request, or after a decision by the EU, be deployed. In Article 4 of the establishing treaty, the duties of the unit are described as follows: “Protecting the population and property and maintaining the public order during activities of public unrest”.

During deployment, the troops of this paramilitary EU unit must indeed commit to the laws of the state in which they are stationed and deployed, but: all premises and terrain that are seized by the troops are immune even to authority of the state for which the troops operate, and not accessible. Accordingly, the EU juggernaut also suspends national law to combat uprisings. Whether or not the citizens want that.

Rebellions and protests

EUROGENDFOR is a rapid deployment paramilitary police force with the powers of a secret service. It combines all military, policing and intelligence powers and all resources which it may exercise after given the mandate of a ministerial crisis-staff in any theatre to combat any disturbances, riots and major political demonstrations in cooperation with national police and army troops.

The German Ministry of Defense praises EUROGENDFOR on its Internet site with the words: “Police and army: a European gendarmerie promises the solution.” Nevertheless, Germany does not yet participate in this unit with its own troops, but the Ministry of Defense has already stated that with the Feldjäger (military police) they will still have a good military police. Also the German government expects serious internal uprisings — namely when the economic crisis comes back, the naïve promises of politicians have blown away, and the funds to alleviate the suffering of the people are empty.

1. Links to articles

From Euro-med.dk:

Lisbon Treaty II. The Face of Dictatorship: EU Preparing for Armed Gendarmerie Against Treaty-disobedient Populations [in English]

“Ad omnia paratus? (Motto of Northern EU rapid reaction force, meaning: ready for everything) The coat of arms of the Nordic EU battlegroup is since 2007 depicted as a castrated lion at the request of female Swedish soldiers. The Times: Coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown.”

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS 8 Sept. 2009 — The Swedish EU presidency wants defence ministers to have a closer look at the bloc’s quick response forces, which so far have never been deployed due to a lack of consensus among member states. “The concept of EU battlegroups is good, but they have not been used until now. We want to have a political discussion on why this is the case,” Olof Skoog, a diplomat representing the Swedish EU presidency told members of the security and defence committee in the European Parliament on 7 September.” Last year, Stockholm co-ordinated the set-up of the Nordic battle group, comprising 2,800 soldiers mostly from Sweden and also from Finland, Norway, Ireland and Estonia. The endeavour cost Sweden more than €100 million. “We made the investment in order for the battlegroup to be used.”

From Wise Up Journal: “EU’s International Military Police Force (EGF) Can Squash Public Disobedience”

From Euro-police: Carabinieri: Eurogendfor-Jahrespräsidentschaft an Italien

2. A few notes:

Parallel to the Lisbon Treaty, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain founded an armed “gendarmerie”, a Military police force (EGF, ratified in Noordwijk, the Netherlands in 2004, operational since 2006) aimed at crisis control: “its purpose is the creation of a European intervention force, which will militarize police (a.k.a. gendarmerie) functions and specialize in crisis management.”

“EGF responds to the need to rapidly conduct all the spectrum of civil security actions, either on its own or in parallel with the military intervention, by providing a multinational and effective tool. The EGF will facilitate the handling of crisis that require management by police forces, usually in a critical situation, also taking advantage from the experience already gained in the relevant peace-keeping missions.”

The Netherlands further takes part in the EU rapid response force of EU Battle Groups with a mission that is similar to the EGF (crisis). The EU UK-Dutch Battle Group (this spring stand-by) and EU Battle Group 107 (stand-by this autumn).

“The EGF responds to the need to rapidly conduct all the spectrum of civil security actions, either on its own or in parallel with the military intervention. Based in Vicenza. EGF’s goal is to provide the International Community with a valid and operational instrument for crisis management, first and foremost at the disposal of EU, but also of other International Organizations, as NATO, UN and OSCE, and ad hoc coalitions. Turkey joins the European Gendarmerie force as Observer.“

Quote May 14, 2009: “In a written statement released on Tuesday, the Italian Embassy in Ankara expressed pleasure over the fact that Turkey would for the first time participate in an executive committee meeting of the EGF which was scheduled to be held in Paris yesterday. “On the occasion of the previously mentioned meeting, Turkey’s entrance into the EGF with the title of observer will be registered. Italy has always pointed out the importance of having Turkey included in the EGF. The aforementioned development is once more proving the importance of the role played by Turkey in strengthening the European security system,” the statement said.”

Furthermore, it is excellently suitable for deployment parallel with or immediately after a military operation to maintain public order and safety as well as in situations where local police services are not (sufficiently) deployed. Since January 2007, the EU has in theory always had two battlegroups on call, each comprising at least 1500 combat soldiers.”.

“Furthermore, it is excellently suitable for deployment parallel with or immediately after a military operation to maintain public order and safety as well as in situations where local police services are not (sufficiently) deployed. Since January 2007, the EU has in theory always had two battlegroups on call, each comprising at least 1500 combat soldiers.”.

Well, most continental countries have armed, paramilitary bodies of riot-police, whose job is to ensure that an unruly populace does what it is told. This is the ultimate tool of government in countries that were invaded by Napoleon and/or had fascist or communist dictatorships (practically all of them). So the EU, in its wisdom, has already created its very own body of armed paramilitary riot-police — the European Gendarmerie Force (EGF). Have you never heard of it? Do you think this is just a Europhobe’s wild imagining? Well, go and see their own official website: www.eurogendfor.eu. You’ll see that their nucleus has been drilling and training in Vicenza, Italy, for several years now. They have been in Kosovo, they have sent a contingent to Haiti. There is a treaty, the Treaty of Velsen, to give it a legal basis. The EGF is now officially in the service of the EU. So far there are six participating EU countries, but it can be deployed in a non-participating country with the “agreement” of that country, ie of its government. By the way, our own government was asked in Parliament (by UKIP) for an assurance that it would never grant that agreement, and the assurance was refused. Think what that tells us about our own government’s intentions.

So if Germany, via the EU, tells Greece to apply harsh austerity measures against its own people, it will have the means to make sure that its orders are obeyed.

It will be called “European governance”.

The Greeks as stated can simply refuse the EGF entry. OK lets assume they are pressurised in to letting them in then what do they do? They will be met with violence by the Greek protesters then what do they do? Every busted head will be caught live on video and be on UTube within the hour. A death will mean the end of the EGF for good and it might just take the whole bonkers EU project with it.

Do you think even the insane bureaucrats in Brussels will play for those stakes?

This is undeniably our most important game this season. More important than anything, and I can imagine how nervous everyone is. There is a lot of pressure from the management, the media and the fans on the team. We haven't reached the quarter-finals for five consecutive years, but jinx are made to be broken.

I don't have a lot to say about the game, but I'd like to mention a few things.

• No french team has ever beaten us at the Bernabeu and we haven't lost at home since the AC Milan game.
• Missing Alonso shouldn't hurt us. We never lost when we missed him and we have a deep squad with players capable of replacing him. I'd like Guti to take his place and partner Lassana Diarra in the midfield.
• Higuaìn never impressed in the Champions League, but he has been in a fine form and I have a feeling he'll play well tonight. If Pellegrini goes for Van der vaart to replace the suspended Marcelo, then we should see the Argentine striker with Ronaldo upfront. Otherwise, I expect him to partner up with Raùl, but I'm not sure If the two would link up together very well.
• Casillas has to be focused 100% all the time. We can't afford to make even the slightest mistakes. In the first leg and in the game against Sevilla, his dives were not accurate.
• The defense has been pretty good. With Ramos on the right, Albiol and Garay as center-backs and Arbeloa on the left, we should be able to prevent them from scoring. One thing to remember is not to give him the chance to strike because they have pretty good players who can shoot from outside the area.
• The key to winning the game is in holding possession and being effective in front of goal. Guti and Lass will have a lot of work to do, especially the later as he'll have to be fast and his tackles will have to be accurate. We need him to stop Lyon.
• Guti's role will be in passing the ball forward and creating chances. He is coming off an injury but looked in a good shape on Saturday. His problem is, he is unable to perform well when he is not given much spaces, and I don't think Lyon will give him a lot of freedom to move, so he has to figure this out.

It is not an impossible thing to do, but the media and the majority of fans make it look like that it was over after the first leg. Luckily though, the team and the coach are confident of going through to the quarter-finals and I have a good feeling about it this time.

My prediction is a 2-0 win for Real. I'm not sure how Pellegrini's line up will be, but I want the following players to start:

Casillas, Ramos, Albiol, Garay, Arbeloa, Lass, Guti, Kaka, Van der vaart, Ronaldo, Higuaìn.

Hala Madrid!

• Arsenal manager would welcome all-Premier League semi-final
• 'It would be a good chance to show we can do it against them'

Arsène Wenger said he would welcome the chance to face Manchester United or Chelsea in the Champions League quarter‑finals, after he watched his Arsenal team book their place in the last eight with a dismantling of Porto. They won 5-0 on the night for a 6-2 aggregate victory, thanks to a hat-trick from Nicklas Bendtner and outstanding contributions from Samir Nasri and Andrey Arshavin.

Arsenal have suffered at the hands of United and Chelsea in the Premier League this season, losing home and away to both. The home defeats were particularly demoralising and led to them seeing their title chances widely written off. Wenger has even suggested that his team have had a mental block against their principal rivals this season, which might have started when United knocked them out of the Champions League semi‑finals at the end of the last campaign. Yet he was keen to show that he would have no fear of either club were Arsenal to draw them in Europe's elite competition.

"I have a funny feeling that maybe it's good for us to play an English team," he said. "We have not done well against Chelsea and Man United this year and it would be a good chance to show we can do it against them."

When pressed on the issue, Wenger softened his stance, as though to guard against the "Bring on United and Chelsea" headlines. The Frenchman said: "What I want to say is that we do not choose Manchester United or Chelsea and maybe if I say, for example, we absolutely do not want to play an English team, I put ourselves already in an inferior position. I believe that maybe it's a good opportunity, if we do get them, to show that we can do well.

"First of all, I don't have the choice about who we draw. If I have the choice, I would say 'Yes' but I don't have the choice. If we do get them, we cannot do worse than we did in the championship. We can only do better.

"We will take the draw that we get. We do not have to make an obsession … for example, what I do not want is that we make a negative obsession of not playing against Chelsea or not playing against Manchester United. That's all."

Wenger could enjoy himself here at Emirates, after Bendtner proved his worth just three days after his horror show against Burnley in the Premier League, and his other attacking players turned on the style. "If I don't smile tonight, I will never smile," he said. "We controlled the game, we played our fluent football and our positive start with the early goals gave us the needed belief.

"Over the 90 minutes, we controlled 80. For the 10 that we didn't control, we suffered. They had a few chances at the start of the second half. But overall, we controlled the game, scored some great goals and we were good to watch. We did what we like to do. We won with style and we always went forward in a convincing way.

"At the start of the season, no one expected us to be where we are at the moment. We have mental strength, good desire and good quality but it's important that we continue to improve. There were still some weak moments that we can deal with better during the game. Before we speak about beating United or Barcelona, we have to improve. But we have a chance."

Although Bendtner took the plaudits, Wenger also praised Nasri and Arshavin. "Nasri is developing very well," the Frenchman said. "He has talent and he is starting to be efficient now. He made a great pass to Arshavin for the first goal [which Bendtner scored] and he scored a great goal himself.

"He can play in central midfield but when Cesc Fábregas is back, he will play wide. I like Arshavin, too. When he is one versus one with a player, you know that he will pass him. You need to be special to do that."

-Mullen was inspired by Crank Yankers when creating this new Zappos ad. link

-A tribe in eastern India takes out an ad in Variety asking for James Cameron's help with their own Avatar-like plight. link

-The One Club announced the third quarter finalists for the 2010 One Show Interactive. link

-This contextual targeting flub will surely mend fences between Yankees and Red Sox fans. link

-Digital ad spending will outdo print in 2010. link

-New York-based firm appsavvy promoted Calvin Wong to COO. link

-The New York Times gives Gothamist a taste of its own medicine. link

-French fashion designer Thierry Mugler is attempting a comeback with a female-friendly website and the help of NYC agency Johannes Leonardo. link

-New York's Darling Agency launched a new campaign for Insight Communications. link

-Seth Godin will be a keynote speaker at the PMA conference in Chicago. link

More: "Monday Odds and Ends"

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TENNIS CHANNEL TO CARRY 90 HOURS OF LIVE MATCHES

AT 2010 BNP PARIBAS OPEN

Nine Straight Days of Network Coverage on Tap from Indian Wells, Calif., Including Live Men’s and Women’s Singles Finals, 12-Hour Days and 70 Hours of Encore Competition

Telecast Begins Friday with “Hit For Haiti” Relief Exhibition that Features

Agassi, Sampras, Navratilova, Federer, Nadal, Graf, Davenport and Henin

LOS ANGELES, March 9, 2010 – Tennis Channel will essentially become the 2010 BNP Paribas Open network during the next two weeks, adjusting its programming schedule for the Indian Wells, Calif.-based men’s and women’s tournament, one of the most celebrated events of the year.  The channel plans 90 hours of live coverage over the 12-day competition, including the men’s and women’s singles finals, a tennis-legends “Hit For Haiti” exhibition, and seven consecutive days of close to 12 hours of back-to-back matches.

Tournament coverage begins with “Hit For Haiti presented by Oracle” Friday, March 12, at 10:30 p.m. ET.  The exhibition will feature a lineup of Grand Slam champions that includes Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Lindsay Davenport, Steffi Graf, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin.  Proceeds from ticket sales and viewer contributions will support American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.  Tennis Channel will run an on-screen crawl with donation information for viewers and an encore replay of the event immediately following its conclusion.  The network’s Web site, www.tennischannel.com, will also stream the event live and provide a link for visitors who want to contribute to Haiti relief.  The exhibition will be accessible online via on-demand throughout the tournament, as will the donation link.

Tennis Channel’s first tournament-match coverage begins Saturday, March 13, at 2 p.m. ET.  The network will keep cameras on the courts until 2 a.m. ET. Sunday, March 14, and repeat the process that afternoon.  After the weekend’s play the on-air schedule begins at 3 p.m. ET daily, from Monday, March 15 through Sunday, March 21, when the women’s and men’s singles finals take place.  In addition to 90 hours of live matches, Tennis Channel will offer 70 hours of “instant encore” matches.  These replay blocks of the previous evening’s competitions begin at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. ET and run up to the afternoon’s live coverage.

The network will bring Hall of Famer Tracy Austin to the booth during women’s matches, alongside sportscaster Brett Haber and field reporter Cari Champion. ATP Media’s Jason Goodall, Doug Adler and Robbie Koenig will handle Tennis Channel’s coverage of the men’s

More…

Page 2/Tennis Channel 2010 BNP Paribas Open Schedule Release

matches in Indian Wells, with the Emmy Award-winning Brian Webber providing off-camera hosting assistance.

Beyond its online activity for “Hit For Haiti,” www.tennischannel.com will go behind the scenes via Tennischannel.com Grounds Pass video updates, and post the network’s Court Report on-air and online news segments, produced from Indian Wells during the tournament.  The network’s Web site will also host its popular Racquet Bracket tournament-prediction game.

Tennis Channel’s Live BNP Paribas Open Match Schedule

Date                                        Time (ET)                   Event                                     

Saturday, March 13                  2 p.m.-2 a.m.               Second-Round

Sunday, March 14                    2 p.m.-2 a.m.               Second-Round, Third-Round

Monday, March 15                  3 p.m.-2:30 a.m.           Third-Round

Tuesday, March 16                  3 p.m.-2:30 a.m.           Third-Round, Round of 16

Wednesday, March 17             3 p.m.-2:30 a.m.           Round of 16, Women’s Quarterfinals

Thursday, March 18                 3 p.m.-midnight            Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals

Friday, March 19                     3 p.m.-midnight            Men’s Quarterfinals, Women’s Semifinals

Saturday, March 20                  3 p.m.-11 p.m.             Men’s Semifinals, Doubles Final

Sunday, March 21                    3 p.m.-7:30 p.m.          Women’s Final, Men’s Final

Tennis Channel (www.tennischannel.com) is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle.  A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community.  It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Olympus US Open Series, ATP Masters Series, top-tier Sony Ericsson WTA Tour championship competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hyundai Hopman Cup.  Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 MSOs, Verizon FiOS TV, and has a national footprint via DIRECTV and DISH Network.

Mark Krikorian is fighting back against Census form race politics and urging you to do the same:

Fully one-quarter of the space on this year’s form is taken up with questions of race and ethnicity, which are clearly illegitimate and none of the government’s business (despite the New York Times’ assurances to the contrary on today’s editorial page). So until we succeed in building the needed wall of separation between race and state, I have a proposal. Question 9 on the census form asks “What is Person 1’s race?” (and so on, for other members of the household). My initial impulse was simply to misidentify my race so as to throw a monkey wrench into the statistics; I had fun doing this on the personal-information form my college required every semester, where I was a Puerto Rican Muslim one semester, and a Samoan Buddhist the next. But lying in this constitutionally mandated process is wrong. Really — don’t do it.

Instead, we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — “Some other race” — and writing in “American.” It’s a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, “American” was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties.

So remember: Question 9 — “Some other race” — “American”. Pass it on.

Ditto that!

Scott Johnson at Power Line reminds us of De Crevecoeur’s Letter from an American Farmer:

In Letter III of his Letters From an America Farmer (1782), J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur famously asked: “What then is the American, this new man?” He answered: “He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He has become an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all races are melted into a new race of man, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. Americans are the western pilgrims.” (More on De Crevecoeur here.)

I’ll add Teddy Roosevelt’s famous passage about hyphenated Americanism:

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all… The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic… There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.

Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your FrankenBerry.  

Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle: "Warriors coach Don Nelson couldn't help but deviate from his usual light and humorous interview before Monday night's 135-131 loss to New Orleans. The injury woes have gotten to the point that they're simply not funny anymore. 'If it wasn't for the tears,' Nelson said, 'I guess it would be funny.' That comment came following the Warriors' announcement that Andris Biedrins(notes) will have surgery to repair a tear in an abdominal muscle today, a procedure that will likely cost the center the rest of the season. The Warriors have already lost Kelenna Azubuike(notes) (knee) and Brandan Wright(notes) (shoulder) for the season. Biedrins, who is expected to miss four to six weeks, joins a group - Raja Bell(notes) (wrist), Vladimir Radmanovic(notes) (Achilles tendon) and Anthony Randolph(notes) (ankle) - that might be holding on to lost hope for a return."

Mike Wells, Indy Star: "The trash talking started inside the Indiana Pacers' locker room shortly after college basketball began with Midnight Madness practices in October. The back-and-forth has continued all season and won't stop until somebody cuts down the nets at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 5. Brandon Rush(notes) thinks his Kansas Jayhawks will be hoisting the NCAA trophy for the second time in three seasons. Mike Dunleavy likes his Duke Blue Devils. And Danny Granger(notes) is pulling for his New Mexico Lobos. Tyler Hansbrough(notes) led North Carolina to the championship last season, but his Tar Heels have little hope of returning to defend their crown this year. 'The talking has been nonstop,' said point guard A.J. Price(notes), a rookie from Connecticut. 'Guys will let you know if they think your school is garbage. We've got a lot of guys that have played in the (NCAA) Tournament and reached the Final Four.' Ten Pacers reached at least the Sweet Sixteen. Seven made the Final Four and three cut down the nets."

Chris Tomasson, FanHouse: "Brandon Roy is still thinking he could be a 2012 Olympian. So is his coach, and Portland's Nate McMillan just happens to be a USA Basketball assistant. Wanting to rest a surgically repaired left knee, Roy declined an offer last month to be on Team USA's roster, of which 27 players are in a pool to be selected for this year's World Championships in Turkey and the 2012 Olympics in London. But the Trail Blazers star said in an interview with FanHouse before Sunday's game against Denver he might welcome being a candidate for the 2012 Games if Team USA then needs a shooting guard. 'I still hope so,' Roy said of playing in the London Olympics. "Besides winning the NBA championship, that also has been a dream of mine to have a gold medal. But I kind of had to choose right now (whether or not be on the roster). 'If there's a chance, I'm healthy and playing well and somebody can't play that year, you never know what happens. I would love to try to play. If they are looking for a reserve, I would raise my hand and say, "Here I am." I would love to try then if the opportunity presents itself.'"

Eddie Sefko, Dallas Morning News: "The play of Roddy Beaubois this season and particularly of late has perked up the ears of the French Federation, which runs the French national basketball team that will compete in the World Championships this summer. Beaubois is from Guadeloupe, a French holding in the Caribbean, which makes him eligible for the French team, which already has five NBA players on it. However, San Antonio's Tony Parker(notes), out with a hand injury, has said he won't play this year. Could that open up a point guard spot for Beaubois? 'I got a call a few days ago, and they talked about coming here to talk about it,' he said Monday. 'We'll see when they come. But until then, I just try to focus on the season. If they come, we'll talk, and I will think about it.' Beaubois added that it would be 'an honor, for sure' to represent his country."

Bob Young, Arizona Republic: "Leandro Barbosa, who had surgery on his right wrist six weeks ago, returned to practice, and Gentry hopes he'll be available to play against the Lakers. 'I'll speak with the trainers, but he'll do a little more contact stuff (today) and practice Thursday, and if everything is OK he should be ready to go, I would think.' Barbosa said his right arm is still 'a little weak' and there is some swelling, but he added that if he feels comfortable Thursday he likely will play Friday. 'I'm very hungry to come back and help my teammates,' he said. 'We'll see what happens.'"

Benjamin Hochman, Denver Post: "The pain in Kenyon Martin's(notes) left knee was so bad Saturday, he couldn't play golf - 'that's my plant leg' - so the Nuggets forward spent the sunny day indoors, instead golfing on a Nintendo Wii video game. The pain has persisted, and now Martin will miss an undetermined amount of time while undergoing platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy. He plans to return this season, although perhaps not until the NBA playoffs, the team announced Monday. Martin began the PRP therapy Monday. It's definitely a good news-bad news situation for the Nuggets (42-21), who rank third in the Western Conference. The good news is Martin won't require surgery on the knee, which is suffering from patella tendinitis. The bad news is the race in the West is tight and without Martin, the Nuggets will be without their 'defensive quarterback,' as coach George Karl calls him."

Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News: "Further examination of Tony Parker's injured shooting hand Monday revealed both the diagnosis and prognosis the Spurs had feared. Parker indeed has a non-displaced fracture of his fourth metacarpal and is expected to miss the next six weeks. Surgery will not be required. If he were to stick to that timeline precisely, Parker might return for the final three games of the regular season. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, however, indicated the timeline might be fluid, depending upon how Parker's body responds. 'It might mean four to eight weeks,' Popovich said before Monday's 97-95 loss to the Cavaliers."

Chris Perkins, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Former Heat guard Mike James(notes), who last month had his contract bought out and was then released by the Washington Wizards, said he would like to re-join the Heat. James, who played 93 games for the Heat over two seasons, from 2001 to 2003, is at home in Houston working out and hoping to be signed. James, who would be eligible for the playoff roster, said he would especially love to be in a playoff race. 'I want to get thrown in the fire, please,' he said Monday. 'Give me only three plays and if I don't do anything from there, if that's my only chance, I'll take that. Let me run with that right there.'"

ESPN.com: "Minnesota Timberwolves forward Ryan Hollins(notes) was ejected from the game against Dallas in the fourth quarter on Monday night after delivering a forearm to Dirk Nowitzki's(notes) head. After Nowitzki grabbed a rebound on the defensive end, Hollins threw his left forearm at Nowitzki's head, landing a glancing shot. Officials reviewed the play and assessed a Flagrant 2 foul, which brought the ejection."

AP: "Cavaliers forward Antawn Jamison(notes) [left] Cleveland's [Monday night] game against San Antonio in the third quarter with stiffness behind his left knee. The Cavaliers provided a vague update on Jamison, who was recently acquired in a trade with Washington. Jamison did not appear to injure himself but walked gingerly to the locker room before being evaluated by Cleveland's medical staff."

RealGM: "The Memphis Grizzlies recalled center Hasheem Thabeet(notes) from the Dakota Wizards, the team's NBA Development League's affiliate, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today."

A Friend Stopped By | Today 3:00 am

Founded in 2002, Big Fish Games is a multi-platform developer, publisher and distributor of casual games, including downloadable, flash, social, MMO, console and mobile games. Renowned for offering A New Game Every Day!®, Big Fish Games distributes more than 1.5 million games per day worldwide. With headquarters in Seattle and offices in Vancouver, Canada, and Cork, Ireland, Big Fish Games partners with 500+ game developers and develops and publishes some of the industry's leading brands, including Mystery Case Files®, Hidden Expedition®, Drawn™, Fairway Solitaire™, My Tribe™ and Faunasphere™. For more information about Big Fish Games, visit www.bigfishgames.com.

We currently have an opportunity for a self-motivated French Language Editor join the Game QA team. Big Fish Games is responsible for producing both internally developed and third party games for our online gaming portals as well as larger titles for sale directly to the consumer.

As a French Language Editor, you will be responsible for working directly with other Language Editors and the Site Coordinator in a rapidly changing environment to ensure the linguistic quality of a large volume of new PC titles for our French web portal www.bigfishgames.fr. We’re looking for someone who shares a deep interest in languages and Big Fish Games products. If you enjoy taking on new challenges and are eager to join an agile, fun, and culturally diverse team on the forefront of casual games, we’d like to hear from you!

• Work in a fun, fast paced environment
• Perform language editing and localization testing on a variety of games

• Associates degree required, and Bachelor’s in Business or language/linguistic field degree preferred
• Fluency in English and French (Native Tongue strongly preferred)
• 6 month to 1 year game testing
• Ability to maintain multiple projects at once with short release cycles
• Basic understanding of the development cycle of a game project
• Basic knowledge of the casual games market
• Strong customer orientation, both internally and externally
• Strong communication skills
• Must be able to work independently at times
• Excellent computer skills and MS Office knowledge
• Team player
• Positive attitude

Come be the next Big Fish in the pond!

This is a contract position to start with the possibility for extension or full-time employment if you come in and rock our socks off!!

To apply for this position, please visit our careers page at www.bigfishgames.com/careers and complete your online profile to upload your resume.

• founded 1999
• 84 consecutive months of robust profitability, 28 consecutive profitable quarters
• 2003: fastest growing private company in Silicon Valley, 7th fastest in the US (by revenue, SF Business Times, Oct'03)
• 2003: fastest growing number of unique visitors for a shopping site (by a factor of two, Nielsen NetRatings)
• 2004: 2nd fastest growing private company in Silicon Valley (despite the difficulty of growing a large number exponentially: SF Business Times, Oct’04
• 2005: selected by Red Herring as a Top 100 Private Company
• 2005: named among the top fastest growing companies in 2005 http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/about/pr/2005-10-20.jsp
• 2005: named one of the largest online advertisers (Nielsen Netratings Ad Relevance Top 10)
• 2006: ranked the #1 shopping site by SmartMoney.com http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20060426
• 2008: named one of the 50 Best Websites 2008 by Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1809858_1809955_1811450,00.html
• 2009: named one of the Top 10 Comparison Shopping Sites (2nd place after Google) by CPC Strategy http://blog.cpcstrategy.com/the-top-ten-comparison-shopping-engines-compared/

• Responsible for deploying, monitoring, analyzing and optimizing online banner advertising campaigns
• Proactively identify and evaluate new campaign opportunities and make recommendations to management
• Identify, prospect, and negotiate media buys and strategic relationships with publishers, advertising networks, online agencies, email marketing providers, and other contextually-relevant websites to maximize profitable distribution relationships
• Maintain and cultivate relationships with major online publishers such as MSN, Yahoo, MySpace, etc
• Proactively monitor campaigns, unit, and banner ad performance to foresee and resolve issues before they occur
• Collaborate actively with engineering, legal, sales and operations functions to ensure resolution of day to day issues
• Participate in departmental or cross-team meetings to communicate results and issues
• Drive the product delivery process including banner ad specification, quality assurance, rollout, and optimization
• Conduct competitive benchmarking

• Positive, persistent and “can-do” attitude
• 5+ years of direct-response marketing, media buying, investment banking, or product management experience
• Ability to manage and grow on-going relationships with major portals, ad networks, agencies and other publishers and understand explicitly how to achieve successful campaigns
• Superior oral and written communication skills, contract negotiation skills a must
• Strong logical thinking and problem solving skills
• Strong track record of setting and achieving goals
• Extremely well organized and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Desire to learn the technical specifics of how a high traffic website operates
• BA/BS/MS/MBA from a top university with proven quantitative and analytical skills
• Familiar with Statistical modeling and SAS a plus but not required
• Bilingual in one of the following languages a plus: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese

Let's say you're observing Lent, but have a hankering for a hot dog. Well, observant Christians, you know that eating meat is a big no-no on Fridays through Lent. So what to do if you want to say, "TGIF," by hitting up a Wienerschnitzel?Let's say you're observing Lent, but have a hankering for a hot dog. Well, observant Christians, you know that eating meat is a big no-no on Fridays through Lent. So what to do if you want to say, "TGIF," by hitting up a Wienerschnitzel?

This veritable hot dog emporium has an answer for this Lent quandary. Wienerschnitzel recently added a fish focused "Un-DER the Sea Trio" to its fast-food menu. You might have to save the chili dog for another day, but here's what you can have at Wienerschnitzel that won't prompt a trip to the confession booth: the Sea Dog, Fish Wrap and Fish n' Chips.

Holy mackerel!

According to a press release from Wienerschnitzel's hot doggin' headquarters, here's what you can expect:

"Each of the three new fish items features flaky, white Alaskan Pollock. The Sea Dog includes an Alaskan Pollock fish fillet, crunchy lettuce and a zing of tartar sauce, served on a 6" bun. The Fish Wrap consists of an Alaskan Pollock fillet topped with a unique combination of salsa and mayonnaise and wrapped in a steamed flour tortilla. The Fish N' Chips includes two perfectly deep-fried fish fillets laid atop a generous portion of Wienerschnitzel's famous hot, crispy French fries."

See you at church ... and the drive-thru window!