2010年11月18日 星期四

People: Tony Parker's 'fling' never got beyond texting stage

The fling that many suspect deep-sixed basketball Tony Parker's marriage to Eva Longoria never got beyond the texting phase, reports said Thursday.Australia Ugg Boots

Longoria moved to end her three-year marriage to Parker after discovering he had been exchanging a barrage of personal text messages with Erin Barry, wife of his former teammate Brent Barry. But according to People.com and other websites, Parker never had a physical relationship with her.

Although Parker allegedly sent text messages to Erin Barry, a source close to the NBA star told People.com that the relationship never turned physical.

"They knew each other, sent each other messages," a source told People. "It was flirtatious, but he never did anything with her."

According to Celebuzz, Parker and Barry continued to exchange texts that involved the two leaning on each other for support as their respective marriages were crumbling.

The Parkers were reportedly good friends with the Barrys, and often socialized with them. They spent New Year's Eve together a couple of years ago at Longoria's Los Angeles restaurant, Beso, People reported.

Brent Barry filed for divorce Oct. 29, according to Access Hollywood, although his father, Golden State Warriors legend Rick Barry, told TMZ Erin initiated the split.

"I know (Erin) was moving out of the house soon and she was the one that filed for divorce," Rick ugg australia sale

Longoria, 35, filed for divorce Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The move reportedly caught Parker off guard.

"They were working out the details about who was going to file and when," a source told People magazine. "They didn't want it to become a messy divorce. Then Eva got a little revenge and didn't tell Tony she was filing and dropped the papers on him, catching him off balance for the media blitz."

STEP ASIDE AND LET A REAL PHILANDERER THROUGH: As if to remind Tony Parker how far he has to go in the marriage-wrecking department, Tiger Woods came in out of the rain this week with a Newsweek piece reflecting on how it was just a year go that his cavalcade of extramarital affairs came to light after he crashed his SUV.

"The physical pain from that car accident has long healed," he wrote. "But the pain in my soul is more complex and unsettling; it has been far more difficult to ease -- and to understand. But this much is obvious now: My life was out of balance, and my priorities were out of order. "... I hurt the people whom I loved the most. And even beyond accepting the consequences and responsibility, there is the ongoing struggle to learn from my failings."

Woods added that after much soul-searching, he has learned painful lessons.

"Golf is a self-centered game, in ways good and bad. So much depends on one's own abilities. But for me, that self-reliance made me think I could tackle the world by myself. It made me think that if I was successful in golf, then I was invincible. Now I know that, no matter how tough or strong we are, we all need to rely on others."

'IDOL' PLANS CHANGES, ANGRY MOBS ARE READY: "American Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe says that in addition to new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, other changes are coming to the show, which opens its 10th season Jan. 12.Australia sheep boots

For one thing, he's abandoning the Top 24 concept. "I didn't think (the top 24) were very good. I was bored with them by the time they got there," Lythgoe told TVGuide.com. So, the series will focus its advancement rounds starting with the best 12 singers. Also, theme weeks will focus on decades, rather than individual artists, Lythgoe said.

DOWNSIZING: In a move that might strike some as entirely unpatriotic, VH1 is retouching its promotional ads for the Dec. 5 "Divas Salute the Troops" special, to, um, add nuance to Katy Perry's breasts. The original photo shows the singer posed like a pinup girl and parachuting while wearing a form-fitted camouflage jumpsuit. But apparently Perry's own reps were unhappy with the image(s) and demanded the ads be redone to make her "vocal cords" less prominent.

TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, Nov. 19, the 323rd day of 2010. There are 42 days left in the year.
1831: The 20th president of the United States, James Garfield, was born in Orange Township, Ohio.
1863: President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania.
n 1919: The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 55 in favor, 39 against, short of the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.
1959: Ford Motor Co. announced it was halting production of the Edsel.
1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel.
1985: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva.
1990: The pop duo Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Grammy Award because other singers had lent their voices to the "Girl You Know It's True" album.
BIRTHDAYS
Actor Alan Young (91), talk show host Larry King (77), talk show host Dick Cavett (74), broadcasting and sports mogul Ted Turner (72), TV journalist Garrick Utley (71), fashion designer Calvin Klein (68), sportscaster Ahmad Rashad (61), actress Kathleen Quinlan (56), newscaster Ann Curry (54), former NASA astronaut Eileen Collins (54), actress Allison Janney (51), actress Meg Ryan (49), actress-director Jodie Foster (48), actor Jason Scott Lee (44), Olympic gold medal runner Gail Devers (44), dancer-choreographer Savion Glover (37), Olympic gold medal gymnast Kerri Strug (33).ugg outlet store

2010年11月16日 星期二

Is South Africa stuck with a one-party state?

Last Thursday, November 4, a brief report in NewsTime included a link to Professor Pierre De Vos’s website and suggested it was well worth reading his article on the ANC-Cosatu row: ‘Regime Change’? - No, it’s called democracy. It is indeed a fine article and, if you have not read it yet and would like to, click here to read it.nike air max on sale

I left a brief comment saying that an important reason the ANC is a threat to democracy is that the party’s viewpoint dominates - you might even say, dictates - our political conversations and thinking - meaning we take as our starting point that SA is a ‘democracy’, but that something has gone wrong with it. No wonder, then, we generally end in confusion - and Professor De Vos will forgive me, I hope, for having included a link to a recent article of mine where I argue this through (‘Why all South Africans - including ANC voters - need another government’).

This produced an excellent reply, from Mr Michael Osborne, that questioned my view and set out, as clearly as you could wish, the role played by the DA in South African politics. Regardless of personal opinions and loyalties, such exchanges seem much more the kind of ‘national debate’ SA should be having sixteen years into the new dispensation. Instead, the mainstream media’s perennial reluctance, or inability, to venture upon the crucial issue - the lack of alternative to the ANC - once again dogged coverage of the milestone Cosatu-Civil Society Conference and has helped important oppositional messages it might have carried to be lost.

Mr Osborne’s contribution to the discussion follows in full. For reasons of space, my reply to him will be published in this column next week.cheap gifts on sale

Neither the term 'one party state', nor 'monocracy', is quite the right term to describe contemporary SA. Note that Giliomee (1999), terms it a 'one- party dominant democracy'. (Admittedly, not a very elegant usage.)

I offer the following points:

1. SA is not a 'monocracy' in the sense of, for example, the DRC, or Museveni’s Uganda. That much is obvious; opposition parties are formally legal. But it is also not a monocracy in the sense that opposition parties exist only in formal, nominal terms. The DA is a relatively large, well organised and adequately funded entity. It controls one very important province and several cities or towns. And it has a non-trivial chance of taking power in one or two other provinces, and in many local governments.

2. DA punches above its weight, because it enjoys significant support in powerful parts of civil society. In fact, it is the DA that is dominant amongst the demographic groups that control large sectors of the economy.cheap toys on sale

3. Another reason DA is able to exercise more power than their numbers suggest is that ANC power in central govt is balanced by the strong and independent elements of civil society – the media, the professions, churches, labour, etc. Even to the extent that these actors do not support the DA as such, their countervailing weight opens up political space for the DA that would not otherwise exist. (The fact that the judiciary remains largely independent also countervails ANC power.)

4. On a more philosophical level, let me pose this question: Relative to what country is SA a 'monocracy'? Consider the U.S., as emblematic of the stable equilibrium that characterises most mature democracies. It is of course true that there is routine circulation of power between the two major parties – as recent events illustrate. But consider how relatively narrow is the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats, on most non-symbolic issues. (I refer to the establishment centre of each party, not the wacky left wing of the Democrats or the nutty right of the Republicans.) Consider also that third parties are completely marginalised in U.S. politics. buy cheap gifts

5. If you accept what I contend in the preceding paragraph, one might fairly say that the ideological diversity within the ranks of the ANC is greater than the aggregate variation within the two dominant parties in the U.S. taken together. Could we not conclude that the practical chance of significant changes in government policy is more likely in SA, by virtue of the jockeying for power within the ANC, than it is in the US?buy cheap toys

‘Racist’ posters a hoax: Sasco

The contentious student council elections posters at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology were not written or put up by the SA Students Congress (Sasco), the organisation said on Thursday. nike air max 95 on sale

“The poster is a hoax and does not represent the views of our organisation at all. None of our structures made that poster,” Sasco president Mbulelo Mandlana said in a statement.

“We are perturbed and disappointed that the AfriForum youth has the temerity to believe that a racist poster purporting to express the views of Sasco is real and part of our policy.”

Civil rights group AfriForum's youth body on Wednesday laid a charge of hate speech with Human Rights Commission against Sasco for the posters. They feature the words “One boer one bullet” and “Blacks only organisation (strictly South Africans)”. nike air max shoes for sale

“The poster is racist, xenophobic and inciting,” AfriForum Youth chairperson Ernst Roets said in a statement.

“Since the matter could not be resolved by talks, AfriForum Youth is left with no other option but to take it to the next level... to lodge a charge with the SA Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg.”

Mandlana said the poster was made by people who wanted to “de-campaign” Sasco. cheap nike air max shoes

“These things occur consistently in white campuses and usually produced by white racist students who want to portray Sasco as racist in order to mobilise anti-Sasco sentiment among students.”

Mandlana said such posters were put up “so often that we do not have the time to refute every hoax that is produced by racists in our name.

“We do not have proof that the so-called poster has actually not been produced by AfriForum members in order to later cry foul against our organisation and present us as racists and xenophobes.” cheap nike shoes

AfriForum said it had sent a letter to Mandlana after receiving complaints about the posters, to ask whether they reflected Sasco policy and, if not, to distance itself from the wording and take action against students involved.

Roets claimed Mandlana, in response, railed against AfriForum Youth during a media conference. Mandlana denied AfriForum had contacted him.

“If AfriForum youth intended for us to collectively deal with the issue of the hoax poster, they would have engaged with us directly.”

He challenged AfriForum to go ahead with its complaint.

“If AfriForum wants to take us to the Human Rights Commission for a hoax-poster, let them do so, they have time,” Mandlana said.cheap nike air max 90

2010年11月1日 星期一

Big Brother loser gets cheque from Mugabe

Munyaradzi Chidzonga just lost out to Nigeria's Uti Nwachukwu, who won the official 200,000-dollar prize from the show that locks contestants from around the continent in a house. uggs on sale

But on Wednesday, the 24-year-old received a 300,000-dollar cheque from President Robert Mugabe, state media said.

The money was collected through a campaign spearheaded by Harare businessman Phillip Chiyangwa, a relative and close ally of the veteran ruler, who reportedly thought the voting on the show was unfair.

It's not clear if 86-year-old Mugabe himself actually watched the show.

"I didn't think you would survive because you looked so young, perhaps the youngest of them all," Mugabe told Munyaradzi as he handed over the cheque.

"It was Nigeria versus Zimbabwe and Nigeria is a very big country, so you deferred to Nigeria. But both of you won and from our point of view, for us, you were the winner."

However, some people said the awarding of the money was a case of misplaced priorities in a country that struggles to pay teachers their meagre salaries of around 150 dollars a month. sale ugg boots

"Once again, we are the masters of misplaced priorities," one Shamba Shambamuto wrote in a letter to the privately owned News Day.

"If we can give this contestant a whopping 300,000 dollars, then surely we can do for our suffering masses who live in perpetual hunger, sickness and economic marginalisation."

US astronaut to share knowledge in SA
Nasa astronaut Jeff Hoffman will hold public lectures around South Africa next month, the science department said on Monday.

Besides increasing science awareness, the visit was also in support of Africa hosting the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope bid, spokesperson Tommy Makhode said.

“If Africa wins the bid to host the SKA this would mean an investment of about US15 billion in Africa over 50 years. cheap ugg boots

“The majority of the investment would go to South Africa. As part of the bid, South Africa is building the Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT), which will be a world class telescope in its own right.”

Hoffman became an astronaut with the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1979.

He went on shuttle space flight missions to repair the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) - one of the most successful telescopes ever built.

He is also one of the four space-walking astronauts for the first HST servicing mission in 1993, and last flew on the Shuttle Columbia. australia ugg boots

In his five space flights, Hoffman has logged more than 1211

hours in space and travelled more than 34.6-million kilometres.

He will be accompanied by Dr Robert Williams, President of the International Astronomical Union, and Professor Charles McGruder of Western Kentucky University.

Lectures will be given in Johannesburg, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Durban and Cape Town, from November 8 to 15. ugg australia sale

2010年10月15日 星期五

Dream by

1989 At the end, Christmas bell has not sounded, the snow cover has long been a paradise for Pennsylvania town of the eastern United States.

  messenger in the quiet farm, the postman brought a letter. "Messenger" editor opened it, is a manuscript, entitled "the story of a prodigal son", he was moved by the story, therefore, decided to make it available on the December of the "Messenger" Miscellaneous  on.

  read about it in this article that all atheists surprise - it involves a miracle.

  It is not a modern "Arabian Nights", but a true story. I read a story is five or six years later.

  1995 年 8 months of the day, I met in Los Angeles, the author of this article, and he accepted my interview.

  He is a dream of success were, however, "success" of the wheels had him crushed by the dream of finding a ┅ ┅

  "He put his weapons his gods, when his weapons win he is defeated himself." (Tagore)

  So, I decided to write the history of his dream.

2010年10月14日 星期四

Tidings of great joy

Friends:
Very pleased to have the opportunity to share with you a joyful message, this information is about a person - Jesus. The name we really too familiar. From small to large, each Christmas, we will hear the story of his birth. But you know the name meaning?
The name Jesus means "the people themselves saved from sin." (Matthew chapter 21), this is really a joyful message. But in the end he is the kind of person do?
By occupation, said he was a carpenter, but hath much more than the line, a carpenter, he had reached by ulceration in leprosy patients at the healed man. Some people have caught him in front of an adulteress, and said to kill her, but Jesus has forgiven her, excited the crowd, said: "Who is without sin among you, and can cast the first stone at her." He also has been called the blind see, the resurrection of the dead, and walked on the water.
He never wrote a book, but there are thousands of books of his life; he has never had a spectrum of music, but there are many poems to sing for Him. Until now, there are countless people, he kept the same treatment, pardon, I was one of them.
Jesus is not just a matter of fact, he even have a special status. The Bible says: "For God so loved the world that gave His only begotten Son, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John Chapter 16)
Jesus is the Son of God, He was with God in the later his people to be saved from sin, it turned into flesh, was born in a manger.
Jesus was both God and nature can do everything I said before, but more importantly, he's willing to choose the style, came to us in our relationship with God, played a very important role, because through Jesus, we can resume with God and good, are no longer isolated.
So, sincerely invite you to know Jesus and accept Him as your salvation ready to enjoy with God and good joy and peace.
May God's grace be with you at all, bless you.
Sincerely, your friend
If you prefer, you can pray like this: "Dear Jesus, I admit that in life made a lot of mistakes, many sins, I am willing to accept you as my Savior, in charge of my life, the name of Jesus, Amen." (Amen means sincere wish)

Victory and Defeat

Verse: enemies rise up against you, the Lord will bring them in front of you is you smote; them from one way to attack you, will escape from the seven road. ... ... The Lord shall make thee fall before the enemy, you go out one way against them, the road will run from July. You will be thrown in to all the nations of thee. (Deuteronomy Nianba section of Chapter 7,25)




When the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, God gave them a choice: pay attention to pay attention to His voice, follow His commands, and through successive victory; or away from God, do not follow His word, and again experienced a serious failure. This is an easy choice. The outcome of their outcome on the battlefield, to articulate what their options. Guarantee of victory does not mean that the Israelis do not need to beam on the armor, on the battlefield, it does not mean they can not pay any price to get the victory. Sometimes, they violently attack the enemy, the war over and over again and again raging. However, when the Israelis close walk with the Lord, they know their efforts will be the final victory. God gives us choices, and the same time the Israelis. If you walk with Him and follow His commands, He will be with us on the same side, can guarantee that we will overcome the challenges. We've got the face of war, as long as the line has been His will, God promised we will have victory. However, if we choose to act with God irrelevant, of course, would be difficult to crush. As the children of Israel, things will be clear that the outcome of our choices are. If each of the challenges you have experienced failure, your heart may have been away from God. To listen to God, to walk in Him to show you will. Regardless of experience is going to win you will get.