Are the Orlando Magic Overlooked?

Are the Orlando Magic the most underrated team in the NBA? Many people forget that they were the team, not Cleveland or Boston, the represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA finals last year against the Lakers. On top of that, they haven't lost a game in a month including 6 straight playoff wins. They have a MVP candidate in Dwight Howard and an excellent #2 in Vince Carter. With the Cavs looking very beatable and having beaten the Celtics in the playoffs last year, it is not hard to believe that the Magic could very well be the team that represents the East in NBA finals again this year.

Its the little things...

Suns to protest Arizona immigration law

Is it in the best tradition of Free Speech, or the worst tradition of marketing and pandering? The Phoenix Suns have decided to wear their "Los Suns" game jerseys during their nationally-televised semifinal game to protest Arizona's new law targeting illegal immigrants. The action is proceeding with the approval of both the NBA and the players union.

Robert Sarver decided - with unanimous support from his players - that the Suns would wear their "Los Suns" jerseys for Game 2 tonight on Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday.

The gesture, which came with the blessing of the NBA and the league's players union, reflects Sarver's belief that passing Senate Bill 1070 was not "the right way to handle the immigration problem, Number 1," he said. "Number 2, as I read through the bill, it felt to me a little bit like it was mean-spirited, and I personally just don't agree with it."

Arizona sports teams and events have become targets for protests and calls for boycotts since SB 1070 was signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer on April 23.

The law makes it a state crime to be in Arizona without proper documents and requires local police to check the legal status of suspected undocumented immigrants.

Star Wars The Force Unleashed II Coming Out October 26th

British anti-hooligan law used to prosecute Preacher

There is a reason that the American Founding Fathers were afraid of an overbearing government, and put in a Bill of Rights to protect freedoms. Especially Free Speech. It is because human nature will inevitably use its power to suppress any opinion it considers offensive. Even opinions considered orthodox for thousands of years.

Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.

The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.

Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.

This incident happened in Britain, not America. But it shows that even a society close to ours historically and philosophically can easily turn to abuse of power over controversial opinions.

Pittsburgh is target #2 of Weekend Terror

Last night's attempted bombing of Times Square was scary, but we all hoped it was an isolated incident. But it appears that it may not be the case as a pipe bomb was found at the finish line of the Pittsburgh Marathon. But again, it was disposed of before anyone was hurt.

One officer at the scene said that the device was a microwave with a pipe bomb inside. The microwave was in a white box near the entrance of the building.

However, Police Chief Nate Harper would only confirm that there were suspicious contents inside the microwave.

The device was detonated and Liberty Avenue and Grant Street had been blocked off.

It is scary to see so many attempted attacks, but reassuring that so far we have been spared from the potential disaster.

NYC spared from car bomb attack in Times Square

It took two tries for terrorists to take down the Twin Towers, so it should be no shock to learn they are not yet done terrorizing the city that never sleeps. Overnight, a car bomb was found in an SUV in Times Square. Due to the vigilance of a Vietnam War veteran and the NYPD, the bomb was found and defused before anyone was hurt. It is a grim reminder that the War On Terror is not over, as much as we'd like it to be.

Inside the vehicle, police found three propane tanks, two filled five-gallon gas containers, two clocks with batteries, consumer-grade fireworks and a locked metal box that resembled a gun locker.
The wiring around the device "was nothing that looked amateurish," Bloomberg said...The shutdown began Saturday when the T-shirt vendor, a Vietnam veteran, saw smoke coming from a box inside a vehicle with Connecticut plates on 45th Street near 7th Avenue. The vendor notified a New York police officer on horseback, who smelled gunpowder from the vehicle.

There are many who argue with the victory in Iraq, that we should declare the War On Terror won and go back to the way things were on 9/10/2001. But the fact is that no war is over until both sides agree it is. And the terrorists are nowhere near ready to surrender or walk away.