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Bill Lucey: Ranking the NCAA in the Classroom as well as on the Court

2010-03-18T05:29:59Z

Have you finished filling out your brackets for the NCAA Tournament?

If you haven't, time is of the essence. Tip-off is Thursday, just a shade past noon (EST) when Florida takes on BYU in Oklahoma.

That's when all the madness begins. Will a No. 1 seed go down earlier than you expected, screwing up your bracket; do you have Duke going far enough or much too far?

Will President Obama repeat in picking the NCAA champion correctly? He was right in selecting North Carolina last year; this year, 44 likes Kansas, while predicting a first round upset for Siena over Purdue.

Whenever I feast my eyes on the tournament, and see the gripping athleticism alongside the cheerleaders and the students whooping it up and getting crazy--I often wonder how much actual school work gets done at these colleges and universities, especially the players? Are basketball players really expected to attend lectures for classes like British Lit or Bio & Man, when they're are out on the floor busting their behinds for their schools?

Well, yes, at least according Jim Marchiony, Associate Athletics Director of External Relations at the University of Kansas, who informs me most definitely the faculty [at Kansas] does not lower its standards come tournament time -- or any other time''. ``Faculty members'', Marchiony writes in an email, ``expect members of the basketball team to complete the same work they expect their classmates to complete.''

Marchiony additionally enlightened me that an academic advisor travels with the Jayhawks basketball team throughout the season, including the tournament, and regular study seasons are held. Fortuntatley for Kansas, like many of the participating schools, they are on spring break, which helps lighten the players load during the early rounds.

But the premium The University of Kansas places on academics has paid huge dividends. Inside Higher Education, as they have the previous four years, recently evaluated teams according to their academic progress rate and selected Kansas as the national champions, edging out Duke in the championship game.

***

To get ready for the tournament, what follows are some Cliff Notes (compliments of the NCAA press office) on the history of the tournament.

â¢ The first NCAA Tournament game was held on March 17, 1939, when Villanova defeated Brown, 42-30 in Philadelphia.

â¢ The first televised championship game came on March 26, 1946, when WCBS-TV in New York broadcast Oklahoma defeating North Carolina 43-40 with an estimated 500,000 tuning in. The first nationally televised championship game didn't come until 1954 for a broadcast fee of $7,500

â¢ Bob Kurland of Oklahoma State was the first player to dunk a basketball in a NCAA tournament on March 26, 1946

â¢ 1952 was the first year there were four regional sites.

â¢ On March 15, 1958, Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson scored 56 points against Arkansas, making him the first player to rack up more than 50 points in a tournament game.

â¢ Terry Baker of Oregon State (in 1963) was the first Heisman Trophy winner to play in the Final Four

â¢ The first to win the tournament in his first year as coach was Ed Jucker of Cincinnati in 1961.

â¢ Beginning in 1953, the bracket was expanded from 16 to 22 teams and fluctuated between 22 and 25 teams until 1974. The field was expanded to 32 teams beginning in 1975.

â¢ The first seeding process was adopted in 1978.

â¢ The brackets were expanded to 40 teams in 1979, then 48 teams in 1980

â¢ The first time none of the No. 1 seeds failed to advance to the Final Four was in 1980

â¢ In 1985, the brackets were expanded to 64 teams, eliminating first-round byes

â¢ Ed Chay of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland coined the term ``Final Four'' when it appeared for the first time on page five of a NCAA publication: ``The 1975 Official Collegiate Basketball ''

â¢ In 1994, Bill Clinton became the first sitting U.S. president to attend a tournament when he attended the Midwest regional championship game in Dallas, where he saw Arkansas win the title.

â¢ 1996: The NCAA created the first online computer page for the men's basketball championship.

â¢ 1999: NCAA signs an 11-year broadcasting agreement with CBS.

â¢ 2005: CBS arranges a deal with CSTV.com for exclusive Internet video streaming for out-of-market game coverage of the first 58 games of the tournament.

â¢ 2008: For the first time in tournament history, all four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.

â¢ 2009: Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to fill out a bracket on national television with ESPN's Andy Katz

-Bill Lucey
WPLucey@gmail.com

Source: NCAA

Shelly Palmer: Mafia Boss Busted Through Facebook

2010-03-18T05:10:49Z

Today's most interesting stories in technology, media and entertainment:

Police nabbed an infamous Italian mafia boss with the help of Facebook. Pasquale Manfredi had been logging into the social network for months under the name Scarface. Manfredi was on Facebook so often that the Police were eventually able to track his IP address and capture the boss, who had been on the run for months.

Google is set to enter the TV world. In partnering with intel and Sony, Google TV will make the Web easily accessible for viewing on television. The partnership hopes to make it as easy to update social networks, browse the web and stream online video content as it is to change the channel.

Sprint will reportedly unveil the first 4G phone next Wednesday. Dubbed the Supersonic, the HTC phone will operate on the soon to launch WiMax network. While WiMax has received a lot of criticism, Sprint may be ahead of Verizon by a year in unveiling a 4G phone, as Verizon doesn't expect to have an LTE offering available until the Spring of 2011.

Today's Video -- How To Make and Remember Good Passwords

If you are having trouble viewing our video player, view on YouTube.

Charles Warner: The Media Tragedy of the Commons

2010-03-18T05:00:30Z

The Tragedy of the Commons

In an article in Science magazine in 1968, Garrett Hardin described a situation in which people, each acting independently in their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest to destroy the value of that resource.

The idea of the commons refers to farmers sharing a common plot of land, on which they are each entitled to let their cows graze. It is in each farmer's interest to put more and more cows onto the land, even if the capacity of the common is exceeded and eventually there isn't enough grass to sustain everyone's herds. The farmer receives all of the benefits from an additional cow, while the damage to the common is shared by the entire group. If all farmers come to the same individually rational economic decision, the common will be destroyed to the detriment of all.

Newspapers Go Online

Beginning in 1996, major newspapers (Washington Post and The New York Times) decided to extend the reach of their content and began to offer free online versions of their papers. At the time this seemed like a good idea, a way to make a little extra money. You know, just as the farmers put more and more cows out to graze on the commons without thinking ahead about the long-term consequences of their actions. And eventually all newspapers and virtually all magazines followed the lead of these venerable newspapers and offered their content free online.

Of course, what they were doing is reinforcing the internet hacker's mantra that "information wants to be free" and training everyone that they could get the information and content they wanted online free. Why subscribe to The New York Times or Washington Post when you get the content free online? Plus, environmentally sensitive people realized they could not only get their news free but could also save trees and cut down on waste by reading their newspapers online. What a good, green deal.

Newspapers, magazines, and other news organizations created a tragedy of the commons of sorts by unthinkingly conditioning people not to pay for their trusted content.

The Current Tragedy

Just like the farmers in medieval times who took too much advantage of a good grazing thing and faced an overgrazed dust bowl, newspapers and other news content providers today face an ever diminishing amount of advertising dollars. It isn't merely pessimism; the glass really is half full, and it's getting less full each passing month.

And the recession isn't the problem. On March 15, the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual State of the News Media report which indicated that http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/overview_intro.php "in 2009 newspapers, including online, saw ad revenue fall 26 percent during the year, which brings the total loss over the last three years to 43 percent."

What's the Solution?

To solve the problem of overgrazing in earlier times, there were several solutions, one being government intervention in the form of passing laws or instituting regulations that punished offending overgrazers. But bureaucracy comes with government regulation, and we have plenty of bureaucrats and regulations, and both of them don't work much. So, no thanks.

Another way of handling the problem is with non-government sanctions, which require collaboration and cooperation among the majority. For example, in some communities that have common grazing land, farmers and herders agree to put up a fence and a gate and have someone man the gate at all times. They agree, for example, that three cows per family will keep the common viable and anyone who wants to graze more than three cows isn't allowed in the gate.

Modern media companies can't collaborate legally (it's called collusion) and agree that everyone has to charge for content and set a minimum price what they will charge (it's called price fixing).

But here's what they can do: The New York Times, the , the Wall Street Journal, all big city newspapers, the New Yorker, The Atlantic, the Weekly Standard, the Nation, Time, NewsWeek, BusinessWeek, and all quality news and information websites and blogs, such as ProPublica, and Talking Points Memo can form a Quality Publications Association (GPA) and charge fairly hefty dues based on circulation or web traffic.

Members of the QPA can't all agree to charge for their content or what to charge. However, they all have the future of their publications on their minds. They are all concerned about long-term survival. They know what's good for themselves.

Therefore, one of them that is not charging now has to bite the bullet and charge for content (the Wall Street Journal already does charge for some content) and the rest have to voluntarily fall into line and charge a similar amount. Once all the quality publications start charging, the dominoes will fall and the others in the association will start charging for content.

The QPA would merge with the National Newspaper Association and other similar associations and can then figure out cool bundles and discounts and loyalty programs. For example, I could pay The New York Times $200 a year or pay the QPA $600 and get access to all the QPA members content. I could also earn loyalty points for clicking on ads on QPA members' advertisers' content. Why not let The New York Times make some money when I click on an ad it carries rather than let Google make money when I click on one of its search-term ads? I'd rather see The Times make some money than for Google to get even richer.

The QPA could run a national ad campaign on all of its sites, newspapers, and magazines and on television, the theme of which would be "You get what you pay for." The campaign would make the point that just like with insurance or cars or fishing rods, with information to get quality stuff, you've got to pay for it. The purpose of the campaign would be to educate people that information theoretically may want to be free, but good information costs money to collect, so if people want reliable information, they will have to pay for it.

It's an education and pricing problem. Apple showed that most people would pay $.99 for a song rather than steal it if it were easy to do so. The QPA and its members would have to fuss around for a couple of years to find the right price points and bundles, but it could be done.

The education problem is stickier. But the QPA could run a commercial showing a rich-looking man with red suspenders, cuff-linked shirts, and a bow tie ranting about the need for national security and keeping the Army in Afghanistan and then calling his lawyer to set up an offshore tax shelter to avoid paying income taxes. The tag line would be "What's wrong with this picture? Remember, you get what you pay for. If you want good stuff you have to pay for it."

Carla Seaquist: Wall Street Paints a Target on Main Street's Back

2010-03-18T04:46:38Z

As if looting Main Street of its savings, pensions, and that precious thing called trust weren't enough, now Wall Street paints a target on our backs.

The unease begins with the title of the lead story in The New York Times: "Banks bet Greece defaults on debt they helped hide." [Read here.]

Uh-oh, my instinct for survival alerts me: Sounds like double-dealing, an invitation to retaliation. I hope American banks aren't involved. I read on and my fears of double-dealing and American involvement are soon confirmed: Banks---including notably the American mega-bank Goldman Sachs---that for the past decade helped Greece mask its spiraling debt with creative refinancing may now be pushing Greece "closer to the brink" by betting it will default. How? With credit default swaps, the instruments that "nearly toppled" AIG, the mega-insurance company. Why oh why, I wonder, aren't these ruinous 'instruments' outlawed or at least very tightly regulated? Straining to keep its prose grey, the Times writes that these swaps "effectively let banks and hedge funds wager on the financial equivalent of a four-alarm fire." Effectively? By now my hair effectively catches fire. The story goes on, "If Greece reneges on its debts, traders who own these swaps stand to profit."

But before I can ask myself again the question that never gets answered---How can Wall Streeters who do these things live with themselves?---a more urgent question intrudes:

Don't these traders---these American traders---also stand to trigger retaliation on the United States....?

If the stated motivation of those perpetrating September 11 was to strike at the heart of money Capitalism---New York City---as well as the symbolic seat of the superpower's power, Washington, D.C., this new proof of Capitalism's unsquenchable lust for money only multiplies that motivation and even justifies it. Given the universally acknowledged truth that Wall Street started the financial crisis now upending the globe, America needs to demonstrate a sincere commitment to reform its financial institutions, especially if it presumes to lead in reforming the international system.

But actions like Goldman Sachs' make it appear that, rather than reforming, Wall Street is doubling down on its usual double-dealing and, moreover, that Washington is helpless to stop it, or unwilling to and thus complicit.

The question becomes: How patient can we expect the world to be with America's continuing irresponsibility? When does patience jump the rails of protocol and give way to revenge and payback? Revenge and payback, moreover, targeted not only at New York but, like last Christmas' attempted bombing over Detroit, aimed at Main Street too?

For refreshing the bull's eye on our backs, I could be ironic and say, "Thanks, banksters," but why state the opposite of what I feel: unease?

What is especially unjust about this state is that, yet again, the responsible public is being set up by the irresponsible. Yet again, the responsible citizen---we who enjoy our rights but are also scrupulous about our responsibilities to community and nation---are treated with heedless contempt by the irresponsible, who by definition don't consider community or nation, who, in Wall Street's case, consider only profits---even to the point of imperiling us on Main Street. Much is made of the public's growing anger; I submit that, more than the Tea Partiers' anger at all things government, the anger of the responsible public at being literally held hostage to fortune by Wall Street and left unprotected by government is the anger that counts. (I blogged earlier about my fear for the nation if the responsible citizen should finally be forced to ask, Why be responsible, why be ethical?)

What is to be done? Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, has announced an investigation into Goldman Sachs' role in Greece's default crisis; if the bank is found at fault, he says, it would be "counter-productive." (Well, yes, it would.) Greece's new prime minister, George Papandreou, in Washington recently, acknowledged his country's fiscal laxness while calling for regulation of "unprincipled speculators." It remains to be seen if the financial reform bills cooking in Congress will close down Wall Street's casino and return it to utilities status. This week's bill introduced by Christopher Dodd, Senate Banking Committee chairman, holds the promise, among other substantive reforms, of imposing regulation on derivatives, including those ruinous credit-default swaps.

But: Of the national security dimension of Wall Street's irresponsibility and its capacity to trigger retaliation, there's been little discussion. Should not this be an agenda item for Congress' foreign affairs and national security committees? Here's the perfect opportunity for bipartisanship---Republicans, who constantly beat the drum about "keeping us safe," working with Democrats for the common defense.

Meanwhile, our culture must reform too. The cover of the current Vanity Fair trumpets "Greed is still good," with actor Michael Douglas still smirking as the monstrous Gordon Gekko of the 1987 movie, Wall Street. Time to push back, America: "No, greed is not good." A good neighbor policy, it's definitely not.

Finally, Wall Street itself, in its eternal acquisitional push, might acquire a sense of responsibility for the nation's welfare. Instead of pondering superfluous things like branding---instrumental in the Greece deal was the Goldman Sachs-backed outfit, iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index, a handle too hip by half---it might ponder deeper things, like how its operations impact the ultimate bottom line.

For, to expand on Shakespeare's famous soliloquy: "To be responsible or not to be responsible, that is the question." The question is not only the imperatives of equity and stability, but also---connecting finally all the dots between "over there" and Main Street---national security.

[For more on Goldman Sachs and Greece, see economist Simon Johnson here and here, the latter discussing a speech by Sen. Ted Kaufmann, D.-Del. and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Goldman Sachs' possible criminal fraud.]

Carla Seaquist's book, "Manufacturing Hope: Post-9/11 Notes on Politics, Culture, Torture, and the American Character," a collection of op-eds, essays, and dialogues, is now out. Also a playwright, she is working on a play titled "Prodigal" (www.carlaseaquist.com).

Donnie Fowler: Sarah Palin Blocked Me From Facebook

2010-03-18T04:19:35Z

Awww, man. On March 17, I friended Sarah Palin on facebook.

After expressing my opinion that President Obama is the emergency room surgeon who is getting blamed for the conservative Republican car wreck, she promptly blocked me. But I want to rejoin the real America, so will you help?

GO TO Sarah Palin's FACEBOOK PAGE. MAKE FRIENDS WITH HER. JOIN THE OTHER 1+ MILLION FOLKS WHO ARE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES.

Let me know what it's like to be included in the group with the cool kids and whether I can get a second chance ...

Karen Dalton-Beninato: Alternative Rock Icon Alex Chilton Dies in New Orleans

2010-03-18T04:14:10Z

Alex Chilton died today of an apparent heart attack, a great loss to the New Orleans music scene. He was witty and shy - probably more comfortable on stage than off like any former teen rock star. Chilton and The Boxtops scored a Number One hit with "The Letter" in 1967 when he was a 16 year old in Memphis. Boxtop hits that followed were "Cry Like a Baby" and "Soul Deep."

His subsequent band Big Star had indie hits including "September Gurls," and That '70s Show theme "In the Street," earning the band and Chilton a dedicated following. He inspired "The Replacements" song "Alex Chilton" for their 1987 album, and an entire MySpace group is dedicated to celebrating Alex Chilton's birthday every year.

Big Star was to perform tomorrow at South by Southwest indie music festival in Austin, Texas Jody Stephens, Chilton's longtime bandmate, told "The Commercial Appeal" of Memphis. He is survived by his wife, Laura, and son, Timothy. He was 59.

Chilton influenced R.E.M., Wilco and the dB's, a band my husband was in for a time. Jeff describes the time Chilton's band opened for the dB's in France. Already a cult hero there, he performed "Little GTO" and the crowd went wild. At the time Jeff kidded him that the gig may as well be over because he was too hard of an act to follow.

Alex Chilton will always be a hard act to follow.

Cross Posted at NewOrleans.com.

Michael Giltz: Idol: Judges Refuse To Save Lacey Brown; Top 11 Back Tuesday

2010-03-18T03:41:31Z

Lacey Brown was the first contestant to be dumped from the Top 12 on American Idol. Though her reviews for performing "Ruby Tuesday" on Rolling Stones night were okay, Lacey found herself in the bottom three, along with Paige Miles (who was still fighting laryngitis) and the pin up-able but lambasted Tim Urban. A stunned Urban was the first to be told he was safe. It came down to Paige and Lacey and Lacey was the one with the lowest vote total. If Urban can stay out of the bottom two with his universally derided reggae spin on "Under My Thumb," his looks should keep him safe for a few weeks.

Paige and Lacey were left to face off. The judges can use one "save" per season, giving the person with the lowest votes one more chance. (The following week, two people will be sent packing and the save is only good until the show reaches the Top 5.) Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson confirmed one of them was worth saving but apparently it was the under the weather Paige and not Lacey.

The show began with former Idol winner David Cook performing a solid version of "Jumping Jack Flash," talking up an album in the works and his upcoming trip to Africa for Idol Gives Back. Later performances included Orianthi doing her new single "According To You" (then delivering a thoroughly unremarkable anecdote about auditioning for Michael Jackson) and Ke$ha's Gaga-like "Blah Blah Blah."

Do you agree it was Lacey's time to go or should the judges have used their save?

Thanks for reading. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his weekly music radio show at Popsurfing and enjoy the weekly pop culture podcast he co-hosts at Showbiz Sandbox. Both available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.

Richard (RJ) Eskow: Too Big to Succeed: Dodd's Proposal Creates a Cumbersome Bureaucracy

2010-03-18T03:37:41Z

When President Obama asked a group of senior executives for suggestions on streamlining government, it's unlikely that any of them suggested layers of new bureaucracy, vague marching orders, or management by committee. Yet Sen. Dodd's 'compromise' financial reform proposal does all these things.

The likely result? Banks and other financial institutions will still be tightly-run aggressive organizations that can develop and sell complicated and risky new products in a heartbeat. But the agencies tasked with their oversight will be complicated and slow, encumbered by hard-to-follow rules and divided lines of authority. Guess who comes out ahead in that scenario?

Banks shouldn't be too big to fail, and bureaucracies shouldn't be too big to succeed.

As the New York Times notes in its headline, the Dodd bill "adds layers of oversight" to the reform process. Here's an example: Once upon a time (it seems so long ago now), it seemed as if our leaders understood that "too big to fail" meant "too big to exist." But there's no more talk of breaking up the big banks or subjecting them to the supervision of a "super regulator." Instead, oversight for them is given to a "Financial Stability Oversight Council" with nine members.

That's right. Instead of dismantling these threats to the world financial system, they'll be watched ... by a committee.

Financial institutions of different sizes would be regulated by different agencies under the Dodd bill, which doesn't make any sense. While large banks pose the greatest risk, smaller ones can provide warning signs for the economy. And we run the risk of having different sets of rules for the same kind of corporations, even as they offer the same kinds of products to the same kinds of consumers.

And, speaking of consumers, the agency dedicated to their protection is now downgraded to a "bureau" and subordinated within the Federal Reserve. How much lower is this thing going to go before the talking's through? Will it become an "office," or a "department"? Maybe "a guy or gal with a laptop and a part-time assistant"? It's not a hopeful sign. The decisions of the newly-renamed "bureau" are subject to a veto by the Financial Stability Oversight Board. It will have very little real enforcement power over abusive corporations who know they can "work the refs" if there's a real problem.

And how effectively will these agencies coordinate with one another? The Dodd bill doesn't inspire confidence. Pages 51 and 52, for example, contain this language: "The Council shall resolve a dispute among 2 or more member agencies ... (if) the Council determines that the disputing agencies cannot, after a demonstrated good faith effort, resolve the dispute without the intervention of the Council; and any of the member agencies involved in the dispute-- provides all other disputants prior notice of the intent to request dispute resolution by the Council; and requests in writing, not earlier than 18 days after providing the notice described in subparagraph (A), that the Council resolve the dispute." Etc. etc.

That's not exactly the design for a lean-and-mean fighting machine.

The Federal Reserve, so notoriously asleep at the switch as the last crisis brewed, will now be the regulator of choice for Goldman Sachs and other large financial companies. It's unclear whether it'll be required by law to stop these institutions from risky gambling with their own accounts, either. Its empowered to study the so-called "Volcker rule," but there's some serious betting going on that says it'll never come to pass. With confidence-building statements like this one, that may be a safe bet:

Mark Warner, a Democratic senator from Virginia, yesterday told the Financial Times: "I don't necessarily think (the rule) needs to be a mandate."

To be fair, the Dodd bill's byzantine structure is a slight improvement from today. As Steven Pearlstein notes, it reduces the number of Federal oversight agencies from four down to three. But Pearlstein's been channeling his inner "Mitch McConnell," with all the chagrin that would bring a reasonable person, by thinking the Senate should "scrap this sucker and start over."

Remember, we have a situation where banks and insurance companies created a number of new products over a short period of time. The bankers may be -- you'll pardon the expression -- dicks, but they're entrepreneurial and energetic dicks. They're likely to run rings around this new bureaucracy, with its vague rules and its governance-by-committee.

Consider this instantly-infamous quote regarding Lehman's $50 billion debacle from one of its former executives: ""When I read this, I giggle a little bit. Because $50 billion is a shitload of money, but in the grand scheme of things, $50 billion is a drop in the ocean."

Like I was saying: dicks.

In situations like Lehman's, new tools like "Repo 105" were used to hide the real financial state of the company from investors, regulators, and the public. Loans were disguised as purchases of Lehman assets. "Repo 105" allowed the company to temporarily "sell" its assets to ~~lenders~~ "buyers," so that it looked both smaller and financially healthier than it really was. Is this bill's cumbersome management structure really the way to go after creative tricksters like Lehman and its ~~co-conspirators~~ "business partners"?

We need a new, leaner approach to financial reform - one that combines the clear authority of a banking "super regulator" with the protection an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency can provide to American households. Instead, this bill provides an administrative structure so complicated that it's almost impossible to map it on paper. Who's going to draw the org chart for our new regulatory system: M. C. Escher?
_______________

Richard (RJ) Eskow, a consultant and writer, is a Senior Fellow with the Campaign for America's Future. This post was produced as part of the Curbing Wall Street project. Richard blogs at:

No Middle Class Health Tax
A Night Light

Website: Eskow and Associates

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Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee's Jesse James Affair Claim: Is Sandra Bullock's Husband Cheating?

2010-03-18T03:25:43Z

Did Sandra Bullock's husband cheat on her or is a tattoo model trying to drum up some publicity - or both?

Michelle "Bombshell" McGee claims she slept with Jesse James for about eleven months, and provides intimate details, which has landed the allegations on the cover of In Touch magazine. The magazine trumpets their exclusive, and the press release about the story is below. Some photos of her from her website are also below.

FROM IN TOUCH:
When Sandra Bullock thanked her bad-boy husband, Jesse James, as she accepted her best actress Oscar for The Blind Side, she may not have known that while she was away shooting the film, Jesse was carrying on a steamy affair with a tattoo model. While Jesse has had an 11-month affair, including five weeks of sex, with Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, she believed he and Sandra were no longer together. "I would never have hooked up with him if I thought he was a married man," Michelle tells In Touch in an exclusive interview. "He gave me the impression they were separated." For weeks, while Sandra was in Atlanta shooting The Blind Side, Michelle had sex at least once a week with the Monster Garage star. Far from a one-night stand, his relationship with Michelle was intimate and highly charged. Michelle even says she called Jesse, who didn't wear underwear or condoms, by a special pet name, Vanilla Gorilla, because he was so "well-endowed."

While Jesse was in Atlanta with Sandra when she started to film The Blind Side, Michelle sent West Coast Choppers a friend request because she hoped to snag a modeling gig there. She was surprised that it was actually Jesse who wrote back to her and told her to e-mail him at his personal e-mail. From the start, Jesse wanted to meet Michelle, and it was never about business: "He started saying, 'Do you want to hang out?'" So a week after he got in touch, Michelle drove two hours from her San Diego home to West Coast Choppers in LA. "I got there around 9 at night," remembers Michelle, who was starstruck at first. "I was like, 'Holy s**t. It's really Jesse James.'" After taking Michelle on a tour of his garage, Jesse brought her into his office and locked the door. "We ended up on the couch," she says. "He wanted to watch movies, but I asked him, 'What's going on with you and Sandra?'" Jesse was evasive. "He said, 'She doesn't live here. She has a house in Austin. She is filming, and I can't talk about it.'" Assuming he and Sandra were separated, Michelle continued talking to Jesse, she says, and then, "We had intimate relations." Michelle says she and Jesse had sex "two or three times," that night -- and began what she believed was a serious relationship, texting each other several times a day, and meeting up for sex at least twice a week for the next five weeks.

Michelle "Bombshell" McGee photos:

Sandra Bullock LEAVES Family Home

2010-03-18T03:18:18Z

Sandra Bullock has left the Los Angeles area house she shares with Jesse James amid a tabloid report of infidelity by her husband, a source tells PEOPLE.
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Studios Battle Over 3-D Screens: Are There Enough For 'Dragon,' 'Titans,' 'Alice?'

2010-03-18T03:13:28Z

Paramount Pictures is using high-pressure tactics against theaters to book DreamWorks Animation's upcoming big-budget 3-D film, "How to Train Your Dragon" onto scarce 3-D screens around the country, according to industry executives. "Dragon," opening March 26, will be going head to head against the swords-and-sandal 3-D picture "Clash of the Titans," from Warner Bros., which opens a week later, and Disney's 3-D "Alice in Wonderland," still drawing audiences and expected to remain in theaters for several more weeks.
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Marie Osmond Cancels Week Of Las Vegas Shows

2010-03-18T03:09:59Z

LAS VEGAS — Donny and Marie Osmond are canceling their shows this week at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel while she copes with the death of her son.

Marie Osmond's publicist Alan Nierob said Wednesday that it's been a difficult time for the Osmonds, and the performer felt like she needed to spend more with her family.

The Osmonds returned to the stage March 9 after funeral services for 18-year-old Michael Bryan.

Los Angeles police have said Bryan died Feb. 26 of an apparent suicide after jumping from the eighth floor of an apartment building. Autopsy and toxicology results are pending.

Nierob says the Osmonds will miss five shows before the Donny & Marie show resumes performances March 23. The show is dark Sundays and Mondays.

Stephanie Keller: SXSW: Great Austin Eats within Downtown Walking Distance

2010-03-18T02:56:25Z

Driving home from work tonight on my usual route through downtown Austin, I stopped at the light on Riverside and South First Street right in front of the bright orange Hooters marquee. As you may know, South by South West (SXSW) is in full swing down here, causing additional traffic jams but allowing me more time than usual to ponder my future. In those moments, I fast forwarded 24 hours and envisioned myself, a few Lone Stars deep, sitting at that Hooters because I was at a show downtown and could not wait more than 30 minutes to post up and eat something. It was not a pretty picture.

As traffic started to move, I had a moment of clarity and began to mentally map out all the restaurant options within walking distance of downtown that could prevent me from eating fried chicken and curly fries three days in a row. I also imagined that visitors to Austin might find themselves in the same situation and appreciate some suggestions from a local on where to eat. And although they are not the only game in town, I can assure you that any of the following are great even sober:

Casino El Camino (517 East 6th Street) is primarily a bar tucked away between other venues and souvenir shops on East 6th street but serves up some of the best burgers in Austin. G'Raj Mahal (91 Red River Street) is a new Indian food trailer right off of Rainey street and across from Clive Bar. Though it might sound sketchy, as one could wonder how there is decent Indian food in Texas much less on wheels, I assure you it's delicious. It's also open until 3am. Moonshine (303 Red River Street) is an old standby - nothing life-changing but a crowd pleaser and known for their weekend brunch buffet. Across the street and down the block is Iron Works (100 Red River Street) one of my absolute favorite BBQ spots in Austin, which I have professed my love for previously. Parkside (301 E 6th St.) is a more upscale place in the middle of East 6th street specializing in Oysters and featuring divine French fries. Chez Nous (510 Neches Street) is a great little French restaurant that qualifies as Austin's fine dining. Heading west to the other side of Congress is Frank (407 Colorado St), a restaurant serving hot dog-style fancy sausage, like rabbit and venison, and excellent cocktails that involve the likes of bacon infused Makers Mark and brandied cherries.

Just south across the river, for activity centered in the South Congress area, Perla's (1400 South Congress Avenue) has become one of my favorite seafood spots with excellent cocktails. Botticelli's (1400 South Congress Ave.) has very decent Italian and beer garden in the back.
And then for the ultimate Austin experience there is always the street of South Austin food trailers, including The Mighty Cone (1603 South Congress Avenue - brainchild of Hudson's on the Bend), BBQ, Crepes and Hey Cupcake (1600 South Congress Ave) for something sweet. Home Slice Pizza (1415 South Congress Avenue), with some of Austin's best pies, now has two adjacent stores: one a restaurant and the other a walk up window open until 3am. The Woodland (1716 South Congress Ave) is another spot that serves something for everyone: from mahi-mahi to chicken potpie, although the real star of the show is the cocktail. Enoteca Vespaio (1610 S Congress Ave), the more casual bistro offspring of Vespaio, has excellent thin crust pizza and pastas and South Congress CafÃ© (1600 South Congress Ave) is great for continental fare but usually has a wait even without the SXSW crowds.

Over by West 6th, near the original Whole Foods mothership, is Hut's slinging creative, delicious burgers and chicken sandwiches. Ranch 616 (616 Nueces Street) is a funky place right off West 6th that advertises frog's legs in paint on the side of the building but can satisfy even the less adventurous. Mulberry, (360 Nueces Street #20) over by the Austin Music Hall, is a superb little wine bar that never seems to be crowded and dishes up everything from cheese plates to sashimi to duck breast. Garridos (360 Nueces Street) down the block has excellent tacos and brunch.

In the end, you could be sustained on free tacos and Lone Star alone for the duration of SXSW...only time will tell. But at the end of the day if I have saved just one starving, tipsy or tired person from dining at PF Changs three days in a row because they didn't know where else to go, my work here is done.

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Adams County Democrats Turn Over Records For Investigation Into Treasurer

2010-03-18T02:50:45Z

DENVER (CBS4) â Administrators with the Adams County Democratic Party plan to turn over financial records to the Adams County sheriff later this week after a CBS4 Investigation revealed the party's former treasurer is suspected of using political donations for personal expenses.

"There were definitely questionable things done that I would not have allowed to happen if I knew," said Marty Wisniewski, the chairman of the Adams County Democratic Party, which he said takes in about $24,000 each year in contributions. "We're finding more and more."

Obama Fox News Interview: Bret Baier Interrupts Obama (VIDEO)

2010-03-18T02:45:58Z

Fox News' Bret Baier interrupted President Obama so many times during Wednesday's interview that Newsweek described the enounter as a "interrupt-a-thon."

Baier acknowledged his repeated interjections at the end of the interview, by interrupting the president once more to apologize. Baier told Obama "I apologize for interrupting you, sir. I tried to get the most for our buck here."

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell said that he could not recall a reporter ever questioning or interrupting an American president in such an aggressive way. Certainly, O'Donnell argued, Fox News never took that approach with former President George W. Bush.

The Associated Press reported just a few of Baier's interjections.:

Several times Obama chided Baier for breaking into his lengthy answers with follow-up questions.
"Bret, you've got to let me finish my answers," Obama told Baier, the news channel's White House correspondent during the Bush administration.

"Sir," Baier responded, "I know you don't like to filibuster, but ..."

"Well," Obama said in cutting him off again, "I'm trying to answer your question and you keep on interrupting."

The tone was set early. Baier first asked about the latest efforts in the House to pass the bill, which elicited Obama's standard talking points about the benefits of the overhaul effort. Baier tried to bring Obama back to the question.

"Bret, let me finish," Obama said.

An unhappy Obama completed his answer, repeating his familiar reasons why lawmakers should pass legislation that would deliver the White House a victory on its top domestic priority during an election year when Democrats face tough prospects.

"Let me insert this," Baier said, trying to regain control of the conversation

WATCH: Brett Baier interrupts President Obama (compilation)

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