MADAME MIRIAM, CALIFORNIA JAILS ARE MORE 'CRUEL'

BY ALEX P. VIDAL

NEWPORT BEACH, California – Which would you prefer, a pigsty-like jail in the Philippines or overcrowded prisons in California, the ones the Supreme Court described on May 23 as “so bad that they violate the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment?” 

This choice may be crucial to authorities concerned as Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s proposed bill to create a Beverly Hills-style “pay-per-stay” program for affluent inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes coincided with the Higher Court’s 5-4 ruling here that ordered the California state to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates.

How can we make the prison system in Beverly Hills, California as model in the proposed new Philippine law when no less than the highest court in the United States has given the prison system here a failing mark and severe tongue-lashing to boot? 

Under Santiago’s proposed bill, rich inmates will be allowed to be housed separately from other inmates, “provided that they pay hotel rates.”

Minimum security convicts found sentenced for nonviolent crimes should be allowed to finish their sentences under the “pay-to-stay” program, which is similar to the one implemented in Beverly Hills, California, according to the one-time presidential candidate from La Paz, Iloilo City.

SEPARATE

She said in a statement: “We need to change existing laws, to separate maximum security from minimum security prisoners.  Minimum security prisoners should be allowed to apply for a ‘pay-to-stay’ program, if they are willing to pay hotel rates.”

The lady senator stressed that under the American program, prisoners are allowed private cells, work release programs, Ipods, mobile phones, and computers. When an American is arrested for non-violent crime in any county or state, he can ask the judge for permission to complete the jail sentence in a “pay-to-stay” program.

Reports quoted Santiago saying her proposed law will not apply to his former political ally, Antonio Leviste, because he was convicted of the violent crime of homicide.

Santiago claimed that “the new law will disqualify any prisoner who has a history of violence, is a sex, drug, or arson registrant, or has a situation or condition that may endanger the health, safety, or welfare of the other ‘pay-to-stay’ inmates, or the jail staff.”

PUBLIC INTEREST

She said the proposed law should apply only to nonviolent crimes such as crimes against public interest, which include fraud, forgery, and falsification; crimes against public morals, including gambling and betting; and nonviolent crimes against property, such as theft and bouncing checks.

Santiago cited that the Beverly Hills jail in California has three different programs: straight time, weekenders, and the work furlough program.

Under the straight time program, the prisoner just stays in jail until he serves out his sentence.

Under the weekender program, the prisoner checks in on Saturday morning and checks out on Monday morning, until the sentence is served.

Under the work furlough program, professionals can go to work in the morning for eight hours, but have to be back in jail for the night.

‘SUFFERING AND DEATH’

Writing for the majority in a 5 to 4 verdict that broke along ideological lines, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy described a prison system that failed to deliver minimal care to prisoners with serious medical and mental problems and produced “needless suffering and death.”

The majority opinion included photographs of inmates crowded into open gymnasium-style rooms and what Justice Kennedy described as “telephone-booth-sized cages without toilets” used to house suicidal inmates. 

It was reported that suicide rates in California’s prisons, have been 80 percent higher than the average for inmates nationwide. A lower court in the case said it was “an uncontested fact” that “an inmate in one of California’s prisons needlessly dies every six or seven days due to constitutional deficiencies.”

LANCE ARMSTRONG AND OSCAR DE LA HOYA: SPORTS' BIGGEST 'FALLING STARS'

BY ALEX P. VIDAL

NEWPORT BEACH, California -- Hardly had the sex scandal involving Dominique Strauss-Khan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Catholic priests (the latest report) and Sugar Ray Leonard simmered down, two more prominent characters in sports fell in disgrace over doping allegations.

News of Oscar De La Hoya's seeking treatment for a substance abuse problem and checking into a California-area facility within the last few weeks came in the heels of reports that cycling legend Lance Armstrong took performance enhancing drugs during a checkered career that remained unsurpassed until his retirement.

The Golden Boy, USA's lone gold medalist in the ill-fated USA boxing crew in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, has posted a flurry of very introspective tweets in the past few days, including, "Take a deep breathe and let out all that anger that makes you hate. it really is going to be o.k."  and "Stop finding excuses not to live. life is controlled by what you make of it and not of what it makes of you."

The CEO of Golden Boy Promotions had a career record of 39-6, his last a retirement TKO loss against Manny Pacquiao, held several championship titles in different divisions.

De La Hoya began drinking and using cocaine, which then caused him to have infidelity problems in his marriage sources connected with the former boxing champ claimed.

De La Hoya has told friends he does not believe he hit bottom, but checked himself into rehab before things got totally out of control.  

He has had fidelity issues and it seems to correlate with substance abuse and that's a matter he's dealing with in rehab, according to reports.

Armstrong's alleged substance abuse had been revealed by a colleague in "60 Minutes" interview. New York-based John Nestor, an AHN Sports Correspondent, reported that Tyler Hamilton has spoken out about doping in the world of cycling and implicating Lance Armstrong while doing it.

In an interview that aired on “60 Minutes,” May 22, Hamilton said Armstrong took performance enhancing drugs during a career that saw him win the Tour de France seven times and become the greatest rider the sport has ever known.

Hamilton went on to say that Armstrong also spoke to other riders on the U.S. Postal team, encouraging them to cheat as well. “”He obviously was the biggest rider in the team and he helped to call the shots,” Hamilton said. “He doped himself, you know, like everybody else, but he was just being part of the culture of the sport.”

Armstrong has repeatedly denied doping allegations, pointing to a record of over 500 tests without ever testing positive.

Mark Fabiani, Armstrong’s attorney, released a statement responding to the “60 Minutes” interview.

“We have already responded in great detail at www. facts4lance.com," Fabiani said. “Throughout this entire process, CBS has demonstrated a serious lack of journalistic fairness and has elevated sensationalism over responsibility. CBS chose to rely on dubious sources while completely ignoring Lance’s nearly 500 clean tests and the hundreds of former teammates and competitors who would have spoken about his work ethic and talent.”

According to unidentified sources,”60 Minutes” reported that George Hincapie, a former teammate and friend of Armstorng’s, testified to a grand jury that he and Armstrong supplied each other with EPO.

Armstrong responded to that allegation with a website post.

“We are confident that the statements attributed to Hincapie are inaccurate and that the reports of his testimony are unreliable.” Hincapie released a statement May 20, through his lawyer, saying he did not speak with “60 Minutes” and was unaware of how or where the show got its information.

Sports always has its own twists and turns and revelation of subtance abuse of some celebrity athletes is only one of them.

WAS OLYMPIC MARATHON CHAMP SAMMY WANJIRU A VICTIM OF MURDER?

BY ALEX P. VIDAL

NEWPORT BEACH, California -- First, Sammy Wanjiru was charged with threatening to kill his wife and with illegal possession of an AK-47 assault rifle five months ago. 

On May 15, the 24-year-old Beijing Olympic marathon champion, was found dead in his home with internal injuries.

Probers in Nyathururu, Kenya where his body was discovered reported that Wanjiru died from a fall after jumping from a balcony in a possible suicide.

Nyahururu, a town in the Rift Valley, about 150 kilometres or 93 miles north-west of the capital, Nairobi. Wanjiru appeared to have suffered internal injuries after the fall and was confirmed dead by doctors at a nearby hospital after attempts to revive him failed.

Police said Wanjiru's wife, Triza Njeri, had come home to find him in bed with another woman. She locked the couple in the bedroom and ran outside. Wanjiru then reportedly leapt from the balcony.

Police are unsure if Wanjiru actually intended suicide or jumped out of rage, and are investigating the set of circumstances involving Njeri and his female companion that led to his death.

But recent reports said investigators were still trying to determine why Wanjiru, had jumped as initially reported. They could not yet officially declare if his death was suicide or accident. They are also eyeing a possible foul play after it was learned that he was scheduled to appear to appear in court later this month on the firearms charge.

Triza Njeri had already reportedly withdrawn the attempted-murder charge against her husband explaining they had reconciled.

DOMINANCE

No Kenyan had won the Olympic marathon until Wanjiru in Beijing in 2008, for all of Kenya's dominance in long-distance running. Wanjiru's shocking death was first reported by the International Association of Athletics Federartions, track and field's world governing body. 

After conquering the Beijing Olympics att 23, Wanjiru became the youngest runner to win four major marathons all over the world -- 2009 Chicago Marathon, 2009 and 2010 London Marathon.

He was named by the Association of International Marathon and Distance Races as the world "Athlete of theYear" before ruling the World Marathon Majors in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, a competition based on combined performance in the world's major marathon.

Wanjiru was called as one of Kenya's "sure bets for gold" at the 2012 London Olympics by the country's Prime Minister Raila Odinga who sobbed: "Wanjiru's death is therefore a big blow to our dreams."

Wanjiru began his running career at the age of 15. He went to Japan in 2002 and enrolled at Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in Sendai. He had success on the Japanese cross country circuit, where he won the Fukuoka International Cross Country at sixteen years old in 2003. 

Yukio Katsumata, Wanjiru's guardian, described the talented Kenyan as "always alert and a little (bit) naughty." He did not elaborate during our meeting in 2003. 

Wanjiru added both the Fukuoka and at the Chiba International Cross Country to his collections of glories consecutively in 2004 and 2005. After graduating in 2005, he joined the Toyota Kyūshū athletics team, coached by 1992 Olympic marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita.

HALF MARATHON

Wanjiru had a 5000 metres best of 13:12.40, run as a 17 year old in April 2004 in Hiroshima, Japan. At the age of only 18, Wanjiru broke the half marathon world record on September 11, 2005 in the Rotterdam Half Marathon with a time of 59:16 minutes, officially beating Paul Tergat's half-marathon record of 59:17 minutes. This was preceded two weeks earlier by a bettering of the 10,000 meter world junior record by a margin of almost 23 seconds in the IAAF Golden League Van Damme Memorial Race on August 26. His WJR time of 26:41.75 was good enough for third place in the race behind Kenenisa Bekele's world record of 26:17.53 and Boniface Kiprop's 26:39.77. It was Kiprop who held the previous world junior mark (27:04.00 minutes), set at the same meeting the previous year.

Wanjiru took back the half marathon world record, which Haile Gebrselassie broke in early 2006, with 58:53 minutes on February 9, 2007 at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathonand improved it to 58:33 on March 17, 2007 in the City-Pier-City Loop in The Hague, The Netherlands. While improving his own record, he recorded an unofficial time of 55:31 for 20 kilometers or 12 miles, which was faster than Haile Gebrselassie's world record but was never ratified due to the timing methods in the race.

HOBNOBBING WITH MASK-DONNING BASEBALL FANS AS THEY BREAK WORLD RECORD

BY ALEX P. VIDAL

ANAHEIM, California -- Arriving in California from Las Vegas, Nevada together with fellow journalists Eddie Alinea and Robbie Pangilinan May 9 evening, I immediately hied off  to the Orange County from Baldwin Park, California the following day as baseball fans at the Angel Stadium here set a new Guinness World Record in the "largest gathering of people wearing costume mask"  by donning the masks for 10 consecutive minutes.

Almost everybody in the crowd of 40,128 that cheered for the Angels' 6-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox had been given glittery, red, Lucha Libre-inspired wrestling masks bearing a white haloed "A" logo to have a chance to join in smackdown history.

As the countdown clock reached its final 10 seconds, thousands of fans raised and participated in "ten, nine..." Just as the clock striked "0:00" and masked fans cheered, they cheered wildly, doubly because the Angels' Howie Kendrick drilled a double into left field, scoring Hunter for the host team's 6-1 lead.

The Angels established the world record in the top of the fifth inning by rallying fans to become part of the record-breaking avalanche witnessed by Guinness World Record adjudicator Amanda Mochan, who had been flown in by the Angels from New York.

Mochan made the record official and gave a plaque to a masked Angels chairman Dennis Kuhl in a quick ceremony in the Diamond Club. "This was one of the more entertaining records, and yes, I did laugh," remarked Mochan.

Fellow journalist Marcia Smith, who also donned a mask, said it took about 10 seconds for most fans to tear open the plastic bag stamped "Made in China" and remove the giveaway mask. 

"I couldn't resist trying mine on and going under cover," she said. "After a brief contact high and chemically loaded whiff of the synthetic fabric, I pulled and tugged the one-size-fits-all mask into place. Sort of.

"I felt ready to pull off a bank heist -- or challenge Lesley Ross, the psychiatrist sitting next to me, to a table match. But I feared being put in a straitjacket. On either count."

 According to Smith, "most of the crowd that had resisted putting on the mask threw on the throw-down apparel when the giant videoboard over right field featured a clip from 'Nacho Libre' and instructions, 'Put on your masks!'"

The crowd roared and it wore, added Smith. Corners of the board devoted to ads and extra statistics became home to the Guinness World Record 10-minute countdown clock. Ushers moved through their sections counting the few fans who abstained from looking like an extra from "Nacho Libre." 

DALLAS MAVERICKS' CUBAN ECSTATIC OVER DODGERS BUY OUT YARN

BY ALEX P. VIDAL

ANAHEIM, California -- Although he had earlier expressed an interest in the Pittsburg Pirates, the grapevine here has been buzzing that Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, will soon acquire the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cuban, ranked number 459th richest person in the world according to Forbes, had failed to get the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, and is now reportedly inching his way to become new owner of Dodgers.

He has all the reason to be ecstatic nowadays after Dallas Mavericks ousted in the playoff LA Lakers, the NBA defending champion, in a stunning fashion: 4-0!

"When I become owner of the Dodgers, fans will never again have to worry about the Dodgers having enough money to sign the best players,'' Cuban recently told T.J. Simmers.

Cuban said: "I will spend so much money, Bud will consider fining me. As you know I've racked up something like $1.665 million in NBA fines, so if that's what it takes to have the best team in Los Angeles, bring it on, Buddy boy.

"I matched every dollar that I was fined and donated it to charity. I do believe in community, and have the check stubs to prove it.

"Now I don't want to brag, but before I bought the Mavericks, Dallas won 40% of its games the previous 20 years. We're winning at a 69% clip ever since I took over in 2000. I'm a happily married man, and you have to love that.

"I will lower the price to park, because how can I expect anyone to come to Dodger Stadium with the left fielders this team has employed? I will stand up and boo Jonathan Broxton like most of you."

"I know how to tweet, and we'll have people so excited about the Dodgers again no one will notice Jeanie's boy toy is back in Montana. Good riddance, by the way, and how about letting another team win the NBA title for a change?

"That way I can get everyone watching the Dodgers again. I know Bloomberg has reported I'm selling all my Landmark Theatres and Magnolia Pictures so I can pay cash for the Dodgers. But I have plenty of cash. Cash will never be a problem, and when was the last time a Dodgers owner could tell you that?''

According to Mark Miller, ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers has been a thorny issue in recent years. 

First there was the extremely public divorce case between Frank and Jamie McCourt in which both claimed to be owners. And now there is Major League Baseball investigating the team's recent troubling financial history as a precursor to possibly taking over the franchise.

Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting that "Major League Baseball is preparing for the possibility that Frank McCourt might take the Dodgers into bankruptcy court before the league could strip him of the team.

Experts told the Times that bankruptcy could give McCourt "the authority and funding to remain in control of the Dodgers, at least in the short term.

The paper also notes that the league would likely oppose McCourt taking the team into bankruptcy and is "looking hard" at that possibility. McCourt may also get some push-back from his former wife who "would argue that ex-husband Frank has no right to take the team into bankruptcy without her approval, since she claims half-ownership of the team," a "person familiar with her thinking" told the Times.

SEPP BLATTER SHOULD RESIGN!

By Alex P. Vidal

ANAHEIM, California -- It's a big disgrace. 

With six of FIFA top officials accused of being in cahoots in a bribery scandal related to bids for the 2018 and the 2022 World Cups, FIFA president Sepp Blatter still refused to step down for command responsibility.

Blatter has no delicadeza. When the bribery scandal erupted last year, he nixed suggestions to quit as calls for his immediate resignation reverberated all over the soccer world.  

If Blatter were Japanese or Filipino, he would have vacated FIFA's top post when the scandal first broke out last year. 

The late Filipino Florencio Campomanes had refused to reclaim his post as FIDE president when he and his subalterns who hosted the 1992 Manila Chess Olympiad were charged with plunder.  He was cleared several years later. 

Pocamps, as what his friends called him, was reported to be eyeing another term in the chess' world governing body but opted not to participate in the FIDE election because of the controversy thus FIDE was sparred from the corruption heat that emanated from the Manila Olympiad.  

New York Times reported that soccer’s world governing body, which has little international oversight and has long faced charges of corruption, found itself embattled again and "the news was particularly embarrassing and perhaps threatening for FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter". 

Though not accused of corruption himself, Blatter faces re-election next month as his reputation continues to suffer and the organization he runs continues to be plagued with accusations of illicit behavior, says the report.

The latest charges surfaced May 11 in a British parliamentary inquiry and were made by a London newspaper, The Sunday Times, and a former chief of England’s failed bid to secure the 2018 World Cup.

According to information given to a House of Commons committee by The Sunday Times, two African delegates on FIFA’s executive committee, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast, were each reportedly paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar, which ultimately won the 2022 World Cup over the United States in a vote last November. Qatari officials called the accusations baseless. Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States soccer federation, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Meanwhile, according to a former head of England’s 2018 bid, four other FIFA executive members — Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, Nicolás Leoz of Paraguay, Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil and Worawi Makudi of Thailand — behaved in an “improper and unethical” manner ahead of the 2018 vote, which was won by Russia.

David Triesman, a former chairman of England’s soccer federation and a former chief of its 2018 World Cup bid, said that Warner suggested that $4 million be paid to finance an education center in Trinidad and asked for more than $800,000 to buy Haiti’s World Cup television rights. Warner, who is the powerful president of FIFA’s North American, Central American and Caribbean region, denied making any such requests.

According to Triesman, Leoz asked for an honorary knighthood, Makudi wanted money from British television to approve an exhibition between England and Thailand, and Teixeira asked “to come and tell me what you have got for me.” None of those three could be reached for comment.

“I cannot say they are all angels or they are all devils,” Blatter told The Associated Press in Zurich, where FIFA is headquartered. “We must have the evidence and then we will act immediately against all those” who violated the organization’s ethical rules.

Given his re-election bid June 1, Blatter may feel pressure to act swiftly and harshly to deal with the new allegations. He has enriched FIFA’s coffers, but his reputation has suffered considerably since he became its president in 1998. So much so that Grant Wahl, a soccer reporter for Sports Illustrated, attempted to unseat Blatter.

Wahl received much international attention but ultimately could not persuade any of the world’s national soccer federations to nominate him. Instead, Blatter will face Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, the president of FIFA’s Asian confederation, who is running as a reform candidate. Blatter told The A.P. on Tuesday, “I’m fighting to clean FIFA.”

After championing a widely successful World Cup in South Africa last summer, Blatter had celebrated the 2018 and 2022 votes as further opportunities to bring the world’s largest and most popular sporting event to places where it had never been held — Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

But the legitimacy of both votes was cast into doubt even before they occurred. Reporters from The Sunday Times, posing undercover as businessmen, reported before the November votes that two FIFA executives, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, had offered to sell their votes. Both were barred from participating in the balloting.

Accusations that two other African delegates — Hayatou and Anouma — had accepted bribes to be paid to their respective soccer federations were not published last year for legal reasons, the paper said.

Instead, The Sunday Times sent a letter to the parliamentary inquiry, saying that such accusations had been made by a whistleblower who had worked for Qatar’s 2018 bid. (Adamu had reportedly made a similar arrangement but was not allowed to vote after The Times’s article appeared last October, two of the newspaper’s investigative reporters told the parliamentary inquiry.)

“The whistleblower’s allegations raise questions about the validity of Qatar’s winning bid,” the Times reporters wrote to inquiry officials.

The Qatar soccer federation said the allegations were “evidently wholly unreliable,” and added, “We have nothing to hide.”

'Give me Pacquiao or give me retirement benefits'

By ALEX P. VIDAL LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Fighting Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) is the ultimate goal of Sugar Shane Mosley before he concludes his fistic career that romped off 18 years ago with a 5th round knockout win over Greg Puente on February 11, 1993 in Hollywood, California. "My ultimate goal is to fight (Manny) Pacquiao before I retire," declared the 39-year-old veteran of 53 professional fights (46 wins, six losses, one draw with 39 disposals). After disposing of  Antonio Margarito in the 9th round last January 24, 2009, Mosley, who is three inches taller than Pacquiao, announced,"Give me Pacquiao or give me my retirement benefits." Golden Boy, his former promoter, gave him Floyd Mayweather Jr. and on May 1, 2010 the duo created ripples in the ring with a see-saw duel that resulted in Mosley's sixth defeat via 12-round unanimous decision. JUMP SHIP After securing a 12-round split draw against Sergio Mora in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 2010, Mosley, who boasts of 72.22 knockout percentage, decided to jump ship and landed on the lap of Bob Arum's Top Rank.  He finally secured the imprimatur to challenge the 32-year-old Filipino lefty who is fresh from a 12-round unanimous decision win against Margarito in Arlington, Texas.   On May 7, Mosley, who first hit paydirt by dethroning IBF lightweight champion Philip Holiday by 12-round unanimous decision on August 2, 1997, vowed to make history when he goes for this fourth world title against the heavily favored Pacquiao for the WBO 147-lb bauble at the MGM Grand. An 8-1 underdog, the world lightweight-turn-world welterweight champion, quipped: “People see my power and they know it will be an exciting fight. When opponents get past the power they think they can win. The fans choose to see knockouts."  RISKY FIGHT "This fight is very risky for Pacquiao to fight someone with power in both hands like myself. People want to see who’s going to get knocked out in this one. The unpredictability in the fight is what gets a rise out of people around the world, anything can happen.” Mosley said, "I look at the Margarito fight and he landed the most punches ever on Pacquiao but Margarito couldn’t land those punches on me. If Margarito could hit Pacquiao, then I know that Pacquiao isn’t too fast for me.” He said he never entertained negative comments from supporters of his opponents. “They said Margarito was going to kill me. People said they were scared for my health and all that crap. I had about three different things going on in my life including the divorce. But I just listened to myself and came out with the victory,” he concluded.

Pacquiao ‘excited’ to knock out Mosley

By ALEX P. VIDAL/May 3, 2011

LOS ANGELES, California – Manny Pacquiao admitted he and his coaching staff composed of trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning adviser Alex Ariza “are not really focused on the knockout” but admitted that “I would be excited about the knockout if it comes.”

“We have prepared ourselves to fight 12 rounds,” said Pacquiao, who packed up for a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada May 2 for his 12-round WBO 147-lb joust with Sugar Shane Mosley on May 7. “We work hard and if it (KO) comes, it comes.”

Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) acknowledged that “Mosley moves fast and has great foot speed and power also. He throws a lot of punches and that’s good for us to give the fans a good fight.”

The Filipino celebrity said his championship tussle with Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) will be “a kind of fight that’s better than (Antonio) Margarito”, who was a bit slower despite his reach and height advantage.

DENOMINATOR

Margarito lost to both Mosley (TKO8) and Pacquiao (12 UD) and is the common denominator in analyses of oddsmakers who predicted a bloody brawl between two hard-hitting welterweights on May 7 at the MGM Grand.

Pacquiao took a time out from his training camp in Wild Card Gym over the weekend by promoting his cologne, “MP8 Scent of The Champion”, in a big mall here.

He had also guested at Jimmy Kimmel Show in Hollywood where he promoted his newly released CD album "Sometimes when we touch" and confirmed he personally invited Pres. Barack Obama during his visit to White House last December to watch his fight against Mosley at ringside.

Pacquiao disclosed his Washington visit had been facilitated by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid (D).