Twins Baseball Pitcher Sidney Ponson … “he stayed away from his biggest problem, Aruba.”

So what does Sidney Ponson know that the rest of of us should? Aruba is his biggest problem. This is hardly an endorsement for the ATA. We have never seen this quote on all the Aruban travel brochures. How can an island relatively so small be such a distraction and problem? A rather telling comment indeed.

(Ponson Freed from Aruban Jail: WAPO)

Sidney Ponson stated that this off season he stayed away from his biggest problem, Aruba. What he meant is that in Aruba he knows many people and the lifestyle he lives by in Aruba is not the best for a Major League pitcher trying to revive his career. (Aruba Zone)

Sidney Ponson time line

Sidney Ponson according to all accounts has been given one last shot to make the best of a once promising career. Ponson has decided to give up his past destructive life style. Its a make it or break it year. The destructive life style Ponson refers to … Aruba?

He’s fresh off an offseason in which he lost weight, had minor elbow surgery, got engaged and, most important, decided to ditch the destructive lifestyle that derailed his once-promising career.

“As soon as the offseason came, I put it behind me,” Ponson said. “You have to leave the bad habits in the past. It’s a clean slate. My personal life is (in order). You guys know what happened in the past, and I’m not going to do that again. I’m not going to put my mom and family and friends through that, and especially the organization.”

It’s worth noting that Ponson has made similar promises before, only to backslide into his bad habits. For instance, Ponson said he was a changed man after spending 11 days in jail in his native Aruba stemming from a Christmas Day 2004 altercation with a judge on a beach. But Ponson’s life went into a tailspin after that. (Pioneer Press)

This is the effect that Aruba has on an individual?

Swearing to never embarrass his friends, family or employer again, Ponson spent only three weeks in tiny Aruba – where he is a knight and a national celebrity – this winter instead of his usual six. He got engaged. And he tried to stay out of trouble by hanging out at his home in Fort Lauderdale. (West Central Tribune)

 

Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” Meets an Inconvenient Snow Storm

As tonights  Oscar countdown is upon us where Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth“ is up and favored to win  for “Best Documentary;” the Midwest was hit with a massive snow storm.

“An Inconvenient Truth,” the 100-minute movie that is essentially Gore giving a slide show about global warming, is the third-highest-grossing documentary ever, with a worldwide box office of $45 million, right behind blockbusters “Fahrenheit 9/11″ and “March of the Penguins.”

In the year since his film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, to a standing ovation, Gore has gone from failed presidential contender — and a politician who at times gave new meaning to the word cardboard — to the most unlikely of global celebrities.

However, at the same moment in time a  ”Snowstorm Heads East After Blasting West“. This snow storm coming on the record snow fall limits in New York state and the East Coast.

DETROIT (AP) — A huge winter storm barreled toward the East Coast on Sunday after dumping more than a foot of snow on the Upper Midwest, grounding hundreds of airline flights and closing major highways on the Plains.

Seven traffic deaths in Wisconsin were blamed on the storm.

Parts of Wisconsin could get up to 24 inches of snow, said Tom Zajdel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Wis.

What is most unusual is the idea that Al Gore puts forth that some how winning   an Oscar gives his message of global warming credibility. It does? Really? If that is the case and global warming is such a viable issue and Al Gore has been at the forefront of this issues then why is he nor running for President? One would think that this would be the perfect PR platform and vehicle to run in 2008. How come he is not?

Other with opinions on this celebrity ex-Presidential candidate

• The NewsBuster, “No, this wasn’t the National Enquirer or some other cheesy tabloid that you try to ignore when you’re at a supermarket checkout counter.”

Hillary Clinton 2008 Presidential Run … “Thou shalt not mention anything related to Bill Clinton’s Impeachment”

Hillary Clinton’s run for the 2008 Presidential election will be done with her greatest efforts not to have anyone bring up her husbands 1998 impeachment. Funny, she claims that Bill Clinton is an asset to her campaign. Then why are certain parts of his presidency off limits? Far be it from political opportunist Hillary Clinton to only take the good and not the bad; how unlike her.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new commandment for the 2008 presidential field: Thou shalt not mention anything related to the impeachment of her husband.

“In the end, voters will decide what’s off-limits, but I can’t imagine that the public will reward the politics of personal destruction,” senior Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson said Friday, when asked whether the impeachment is fair game for Clinton’s opponents. Earlier in the week, Wolfson dismissed references to President Bill Clinton’s conduct as “under the belt.” (Washington Post)

Hillary Clinton is going to learn for the first time as she runs for  the presidency that all things are fair or unfair in politics.  Its an open field field for the 2008 presidency and the fur should be flying.  In addition the  Captain’s Quarters states, “wonder how she can justify that while trotting Bill onto the hustings”.

I’m of two minds on this subject. If Hillary distanced herself from her husband and refrained from having him politick on her behalf, a case could be made that the impeachment isn’t germane to her own candidacy. After all, we rarely allow attacks on candidates’ spouses to pass without scolding the attacker for aiming below the belt, as it were.

Paradise Lost: 70 Year Old American Tourist Kills Mugger with Bare Hands in Costa Rica

The AARP should be singing the praises of the 70 something year old American tourist from Ohio who wished to remain anonymous for his heroic actions in Costa Rica. When will people from other countries learn, don’t mess with those in our armed forces, present or retired?

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica · An American tourist who watched as a U.S. military veteran in his 70s used his bare hands to kill an armed assailant in Costa Rica said she thought the attempted robbery was a joke — until the masked attacker held a gun to her head.

“I thought it was a skit. But then he pointed the gun at my head and grabbed me by the throat and I thought I was going to die,” Clova Adams, 54, told The Associated Press by telephone Friday from the Carnival cruise ship Liberty.

The crime continues to occur throughout the Caribbean against tourists. I guess this is one way to permanently put an end to the problem. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

The assault occurred during a ship stopover Wednesday in Limon, 80 miles east of San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital.

They were climbing out of the van at a beach when three men wearing ski masks ran toward them, Adams said. One held a gun to her head, while the other two pulled out knives.

One of the tourists, a U.S. military veteran trained in self-defense, jumped out of the van and put the gunman in a headlock, Hernandez said.

Hernandez said the American, whom he refused to identify, struggled with the robber, breaking his collarbone and eventually killing him. Police identified the dead man as Warner Segura, 20. The other assailants fled. (Sun Sentinel)

American Cruise Passenger Kills Beach Mugger

The U.S. State Department provides updated information on threats to American travelers.

For Costa Rica, it advises that theft is common.

In the Bahamas, a popular cruise ship destination, visitors are instructed that “crime and violence has moved into more upscale tourist and residential areas.”

According to the State Department, Bermuda “has a moderate but growing crime rate.” (ABC News)

Rasmussen Poll: Rudy Giuliani (R) leads New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) 52% to 43%.

There are very few polls that I   would  follow this far ahead of the 2008  Presidential election; however, Rasmussen is the most credible. Rudy leads Hillary 52-43 in the latest polling. That’s up considerably from December. What is remarkable is the favorable rating that Rudy Giuliani gets as compared to the rest of the Republican candidates.

The Democratic Presidential primary candidates are still a three horse race, Clinton 28% Obama 24% Edwards 11%. However, as Rudy’s favorable/unfavorable (70/27)  are off the charts, Hillary is mired with a 48% unfavorable rating. The question is will the baggage that Hillary carries be too much and turn off Democratic primary voters? Is it as David Geffen stated Hillary is too divisive to be elected, “I don’t think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is – and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton?

Rudy is in the lead of a race that should have occurred during Hillary’s first NY Senate run. A race that Giuliani would have won then. Since that race that Rudy bowed out of he has become, “America’s Mayor“. The question is how does Rudy win over conservatives and the South? The answer is yet  to be seen.