via CBS BOSTON

BOSTON (CBS) – Former Red Sox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd admitted on Wednesday that two-thirds of the time he was on the mound, he was under the influence of cocaine.

“Oh yeah, at every ballpark. There wasn’t one ballpark that I probably didn’t stay up all night, until four or five in the morning, and the same thing is still in your system,” Boyd told WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Jonny Miller in Fort Myers, Fla. “It’s not like you have time to go do it while in the game, which I had done that.

“Some of the best games I’ve ever, ever pitched in the major leagues I stayed up all night; I’d say two-thirds of them,” said Boyd,  who spent eight of his 10 major league seasons with the Red Sox. “If I had went to bed, I would have won 150 ballgames in the time span that I played. I feel like my career was cut short for a lot of reasons, but I wasn’t doing anything that hundreds of ball players weren’t doing at the time; because that’s how I learned it.”

Despite that, Boyd said he has no regrets in his career that spanned from 1982 t0 1991.

“It was something that I had to deal with personally and I succumbed,” he said. “I lived through my life and I feel good about myself. I have no regrets about what I did or said about anything that I said or did. I’m a stand-up person and I came from a quality background of people.”

Boyd, who went 78-77 with 799 career strikeouts with the Red Sox, Expos and Rangers, said he received support from some teammates, but not all.

“All of them didn’t rally around me,” he explained. “All of them knew and the ones that cared came to me. The Dwight Evans and Bill Buckners… It was the veteran ball players. Some guys lived it… They knew what you were doing, and the only way they knew was they had to have tried it too.”

Boyd explained why he believes he got a worse reputation than some others.

“The reason I caught the deep end to it is because I’m black. The bottom line is the game carries a lot of bigotry, and that was an easy way for them to do it,” Boyd said. “If I wasn’t outspoken and a so-called a ‘proud black man,’ maybe I would have gotten the empathy and sympathy like other ballplayers got that I didn’t get; like Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Steve Howe. I can name 50 people that got third and fourth chances all because they weren’t outspoken black individuals.”

Boyd said he was never asked to take a drug test during his playing days.

“I never had a drug test as long as I played baseball,” he said. “I was told that, yeah, if you don’t stop doing this we’re going to put you into rehab, and I told them (expletive) that (expletive).  I’m going to do what I have to do, I have to win ball games. We’ll talk about that in the offseason, right now I have to win ball games.”

The retired Red Sox pitcher has been busy as of late. His autobiography, “They Call Me Oil Can,” is scheduled for publication in June. In May, he will be filming his role as pitcher Satchel Paige in a major motion picture about Jackie Robinson, starring Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, Richard Gere and Chadwick Boseman as Robinson.

Diamond Foods: audit committee investigation announces findings – will restate 2010 and 2011 financial statements; announces appointment of new CEO and CFO (36.66 -1.00)
Co announced that the Audit Committee of its Board of Directors has substantially completed its investigation of the Company’s accounting for certain crop payments to walnut growers. The Audit Committee has concluded that the Company’s financial statements for the fiscal years 2010 and 2011 will need to be restated. Over the course of the last three months, the Audit Committee has carefully reviewed the accounting treatment of certain payments to walnut growers. The Audit Committee has concluded that a “continuity” payment made to growers in August 2010 of approximately $20 million and a “momentum” payment made to growers in September 2011 of approximately $60 million were not accounted for in the correct periods, and the Audit Committee identified material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

The Board of Directors is taking a number of corrective actions including the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Effective immediately, the Board has appointed Director Rick Wolford to serve as Acting President and Chief Executive Officer and Michael Murphy, of Alix Partners, LLP, to serve as Acting Chief Financial Officer. The Company is commencing searches for permanent replacements for the CEO and CFO positions. The Board has also appointed Robert J. Zollars, who previously served as Lead Independent Director, to the position of Chairman of the Board. Michael J. Mendes and Steven M. Neil have been placed on administrative leave from the Company.

Diamond is working diligently to complete financial restatements for the affected periods and will file all required reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as soon as possible. While the timing of the restatement is difficult to predict at this time, the Company will endeavor to provide updates on timing and other material developments.

Rick Wolford previously served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of Del Monte Foods. Michael Murphy is currently a Managing Director at Alix Partners, a leading financial consulting firm.

Oh the stress

He’s absolutely right; it’s not fair anyone is forced to spend their taxes on a system that directly benefits this guy.

Read here:

A New Jersey teachers union chief whose salary tops $300,000 is under fire for saying in a recent interview that “life’s not always fair” while arguing against vouchers to send poor students to private schools.

New Jersey Education Association Executive Director Vincent Giordano made the comment on the local “New Jersey Capitol Report” program over the weekend. During the interview, he was challenged by the host on why low-income families should not have the same options as other families when their child is in a failing school.

“Those parents should have exactly the same options and they do. We don’t say that you can’t take your kid out of the public school. We would argue not and we would say ‘let’s work more closely and more harmoniously,'” Giordano said.

When told some families cannot afford to finance the shift to private school without government help, Giordano said: “Well, you know, life’s not always fair and I’m sorry about that.”

The interview clip swiftly spread on the web, along with reminders about Giordano’s healthy salary.

The Newark Star-Ledger reported in 2010 that his salary was nearly $422,000, and total compensation roughly $550,000 when deferred compensation and other benefits are counted.

NJEA spokesman Steve Baker, though, said those reports are not accurate. He said the director’s salary is “in the three-hundred thousands, and the low three-hundred thousands.”

The NJEA has since put out a lengthy statement clarifying the director’s remarks.

“While Mr. Giordano acknowledges that his choice of words may be open to misinterpretation, his intent was to make the point that providing vouchers to a select few students is not the way to address the challenges faced by urban school districts,” the statement said.

Giordano went on to say that the union’s “record of support for urban education and disadvantaged children is unimpeachable.”

He said the union does oppose vouchers, but only because “they will take resources from disadvantaged public schools and only exacerbate the challenges faced by students in those communities.”

Giordano said the NJEA supports better funding for urban schools.

via TMZ

Gary Busey — who’s starred in more than 70 movies — has less than $50,000 to his name … and more than $500,000 in various debts … this according to official documents obtained by TMZ.

67-year-old Busey filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in California yesterday. Busey checked the box showing he has less than $50,000 in assets … and somewhere between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in various debts.

In the docs, Busey indicates he might owe money to everyone from the IRS … to various lawyers … UCLA Medical Center … Wells Fargo … L.A. County Waterworks Districts … and a storage company.

He also notes that he might owe money to a woman named Carla Loeffler, who sued Busey for allegedly attacking her at a Tulsa airport back in May.

We called Gary for comment — so far, no response.

(via)

Managers at the Federal Air Marshal Service regularly made fun of blacks, Latinos and gays, took taxpayer-paid trips to visit families and vacation spots, and acted like a “bunch of school kid punks,” current and former air marshals tell ABC News.

One supervisor was even photographed in 2006 asleep on a flight, carrying a loaded pistol, the air marshals said.

In interviews to be broadcast tonight on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline,” the air marshals describe a culture of incompetence, bigotry and sexism on the part of senior managers at some offices that has endured for the last decade and raises questions about the professionalism and performance of the force entrusted with preventing acts of in-flight terrorism.

“Sooner or later, if you do not have people operating at their peak efficiency, then you take the risk that a terrorist is going to get away with his dirty deed,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D.-Florida, who asked for an inspector general’s investigation of the allegations made by current and former air marshals two years ago.

“The culture is, hate African Americans, hate females, go after gays and lesbians cause we don’t like the way they think,” said former air marshal Steve Theodoropoulos.

It was Theodoropoulos, working in the Orlando air marshal office, who provided a photograph to reporters in 2010 of a “distorted air marshal Jeopardy game board” with classifications that were racial slurs aimed at minority and gay air marshals.

“Category pickle smokers was directly aimed at gay males,” he said of the board, which he discovered in a training room at the air marshal office in Orlando. The air marshals say it was removed in 2009.

Other categories included “Our Gang” for African-Americans, “Geraldo Rivera” for Latinos, and “Ellen DeGeneres” for gay female air marshals.

One of the five women listed on the board later tried to commit suicide, according to Theodoropoulos and other air marshals familiar with the case.

Air marshals who were military veterans were listed as “Operators” because they were often called away for training and perceived to be shirking their flight assignments.

“Anybody that’s not like them, they’re against,” said Theodoropoulos. “I mean, how do you operate under those conditions?”

Sen. Nelson says the attitude calls into question the judgments and training of air marshals involved in the incident.

“This behavior went well over the line,” said Sen. Nelson. “This is unprofessional, this is unacceptable and it should have been corrected two years ago when I first reported it to the Inspector General.”

The Inspector General’s report is scheduled to be made public on Thursday, but according to an advance copy obtained by ABC News, the investigation found “a great deal of tension, mistrust and dislike between non-supervisory and supervisory personnel in field offices around the country.”

READ: Excerpts From DHS Inspector General’s Investigation Into Air Marshal Allegations (PDF)

The report, which was triggered by a CNN broadcast about the Jeopardy board in 2010, concludes that the allegations, perceived and real, “posed a difficult challenge for the agency” but, according to a survey of air marshals, “do not appear to have compromised the service’s mission.”

The survey found that 76 per cent of air marshals asked said “people they work with cooperate to get the job done.”

But the Inspector General also warned that”these allegations add unnecessary distraction at all levels at a time when mission tempo is high and many in the agency are becoming increasingly concerned about workforce burnout and fatigue.”

Security ‘Not Compromised’ By Air Marshals

John Pistole, who oversees the air marshals as head of the Transportation Security Administration, said security had not been compromised by the behavior of some air marshals. “Absolutely not,” Pistole told ABC News Tuesday. “The national security mission is always paramount.”

“TSA took a proactive approach to the issues raised and has developed and implemented solutions ahead of the conclusion of the investigation,” said the TSA in a statement to ABC News.

READ the full TSA statement.

But some members of Congress questioned the report’s conclusion that the mission was not compromised. The Inspector General’s report also failed to fully investigate many of the more damning allegations made against air marshal manager.

“Our review does not support a finding of widespread discrimination and retaliation” within the Federal Air Marshal Service, the report said.

Other air marshals, still working undercover on flights and unable to reveal their names publicly, alleged that managers regularly scheduled themselves on flights so they could visit family or vacation spots.

In one example, the air marshals provided a photograph of a manager who arranged to fly to Brussels at Christmas time, and then jumped a fence to sit next to the Baby Jesus in a nativity crèche in the city’s main square.

Former federal air marshal Theodoropoulos has had his own issues, stemming from an altercation with a bartender that led to his dismissal from the air marshals after a 20-year career in law enforcement.

He and his union say the government used a relatively minor incident as a way to get rid of a whistleblower and send a message to other air marshals to keep quiet.

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.

Off yesterday’s earnings the company is popping 15% pre-market….

I love rallies on speculation 

Read: Ritholtz schools El Rushbo.

via NY POST

Shut your pie hole!

That’s the message that notoriously press-averse Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has sent around Wall Street recently, telling Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and the other banks involved in his company’s $100 billion IPO to stop leaking juicy tidbits to the media and to stop talking up the stock offering to clients, The Post has learned.

Zuckerberg, 27, whose stake in the social network giant amounts, in round figures, to around $28 billion, wasn’t too happy that some aspects of the much-anticipated initial stock float — including the fact that its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission would take place on Feb. 1 — were disclosed. Facebook officials let the bankers know about it through phone calls and e-mails, sources said.

Facebook officials also appeared to also be irked about what appeared to be subtle sniping in the press between Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs centered on which firm would grab the coveted lead underwriting role on the IPO — the highest profile since Google went public with a $1.7 billion offering back 2004.

Zuckerberg’s warning appears to be working.

The powers that be at each bank, sources said, have reacted by warning employees not to discuss the filing.

“[Facebook] wants to be taken seriously and viewed as a blue-ship company,” said one bank official familiar with the listing, but not authorized to speak publicly.

Facebook and its team of underwriters are in a so-called quiet period since filing the paperwork, known as an S-1, with regulators.

Although the Facebook e-mails and calls contained no threats, running afoul of Zuckerberg could result in a bank getting dropped from the IPO. Just two years ago, UBS was dumped from the group of banks handling General Motors’ much-anticipated IPO.

For the banks, the Facebook IPO means more than just the $40 million it could earn from the deal. Indeed, landing the prestigious Facebook offering is likely to have a halo effect that could help a bank land future tech IPOs. Getting booted from the deal can have the same halo effect — in reverse.

At lead underwriter Morgan Stanley, the reaction to Facebook’s warning has been quick and unambiguous. Its private wealth advisers were admonished to stay mum on the upcoming IPO — a difficult task considering clients are clamoring to get in on the action.

The hush-hush mandate comes as the underwriters are gearing up in the coming week or two to hash over — with Zuckerberg, CFO David Ebersman and COO Sheryl Sandberg — the most appropriate valuation for the Menlo Park, Calif., company.

Despite the white-knuckle media frenzy surrounding Facebook, underwriters will be aiming to hit a sweet spot of offering the social media giant’s shares at a level that deep-pocketed institutional investors can wrap their head and their wallets around.

A $100 billion valuation for the IPO would peg Facebook at an eye-popping 100 times its profits of $1 billion in 2011.
Read more: http://trade.cc/ahyb

“The impact is not as big as some people may think,” said Yang, who recommends buying Qihoo 360’s shares. The company derives no revenue from offering mobile-phone applications at present, she said.

Carolyn Wu, a spokeswoman at Apple in Beijing, said she was trying to obtain more information about the removals.

Full Article

(via NY POST)

A Brooklyn teacher — fired for posting snarky online comments suggesting her unruly students should drown — can go back to the classroom, a judge says.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Barbara Jaffe last week overturned an administrative decision to boot Christine Rubino, who taught at PS 203 in Flatlands, for posting “repulsive” comments on Facebook.

A blow to the city Department of Education, the ruling underscores the grueling process to fire teachers accused of misconduct or incompetence. Even after lengthy administrative trials, judges can reverse decisions either way, and prolong a costly battle.

HELAYNE SEIDMAN

SHE’S A CRASS ACT: Kid-hating teacher Christine Rubino is getting her job back, thanks to a state judge.

“After today, I’m thinking the beach sounds like a wonderful idea for my 5th graders. I HATE THEIR GUTS! They are all the devils spawn!” Rubino wrote on Facebook on June 23, 2010.

She made the remarks one day after a 12-year-old Harlem girl, Nicole Suriel, drowned on a school trip to a Long Island beach.

When a Facebook friend asked, “oh you would let little Kwame float away!’’ Rubino posted in reply, “Yes, I wld not throw a life jacket in for a million!!”

While “offensive” and “repulsive,” the comments were posted outside the school building and after hours, Jaffe ruled.

The judge found no evidence that Rubino, frustrated by her students’ rowdy behavior, meant them actual harm or that the comments “affected her ability to teach.”

Jaffe even gave Rubino a pass for allegedly obstructing an investigation. A friend of Rubino admitted she lied when she claimed authorship of the ugly comments, but Rubino denied asking her to do so. Rubino’s “clumsy attempt at a cover-up reflects panic, not planning,” the judge wrote.

In firing Rubino last June, hearing officer Randi Lowitt said Facebook and other social media “are becoming embedded in society.” Lowitt chided, “People post without regard to the fact that what they post has a shelf life of forever.”

Jaffe differed. “Even though [Rubino] should have known that her postings could become public,” the judge wrote, it was “reasonable” to expect that only her Facebook adult friends would see them.

Citing Rubino’s “unblemished” 15-year teaching history, Jaffe voided the termination and sent her back to the department for a “lesser penalty.”

Rubino, who made $78,885 a year, won’t go back on the payroll so fast because the department may appeal.

Rubino’s lawyer, Bryan Glass, said, “A simple warning to Ms. Rubino about her mistake would have sufficed, and it would not have been repeated. Perhaps in this time of scarce resources, the substantial time and money on this case could be better allocated by the DOE supporting its teachers in the classroom rather than demonizing and punishing its staff.”

Read more: http://trade.cc/ahpe

Ear bitten off in fast food queue (click on link for source)

The attack happened at the KFC on Renfield Street in Glasgow

A man had part of his ear bitten off in a “violent” and “unprovoked” attack by two men in a Glasgow fast food outlet.

Police said the 28-year-old man and his friend were in KFC on Renfield Street when they were confronted by three men and a woman at 23:00 on Friday.

They decided to leave the shop without getting food but were attacked by two of the men as they made their way out.

The victim had the top half of his ear bitten off and was taken to the Royal Infirmary for treatment.

The two men responsible for the attack were last seen in Bath Lane.

One was described as white, about 18, of slim build, with dark hair and wearing a grey tracksuit with yellow writing.

The other was white, about 18 to 20, of slim build and wearing a dark jacket.

He had the name ‘Scott’ tattooed on the right side of his neck.

Det Con Kieron Frost said: “This would appear to a totally unprovoked attack on the 28-year-old man who had only gone into the shop with his friend to purchase something to eat prior to returning home.

“It was a particularly violent attack which resulted in the victim losing the top half of his ear which will now require surgery.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DPQKZd0XJMg

Shame.

Full article