I am not a professional sports fan or expert in professional sports regulation but it is obvious the professional sports teams are all owned by a small number of astoundingly rich and powerful global cut-throats - in many or most cases monopolists in extremely socially repugnant fields like banking, ticketmaster, cable, loans, waste management, and cruising - and they each always get their way, one way or the other. They control a select set of GLOBAL monopoly franchise, licensing and ticketing system that restrict all free trade in their industry to the point of making both players and fans slaves to the owners collective, greedy, collusive antitrustful whims.

When my daughter Grace arrived from Austin Texas for a visit to Cleveland this Summer, her first request was for Hot Sauce Williams BBQ ... her second request was to eat at Melt Bar and Grilled.

Though Grace lives in what many people (including myself) consider the BBQ capital of the world, Grace still considers Hot Sauce Williams the best BBQ on Earth.

And, word on the street in Valley City, where Grace hangs with friends, is that Melt is the best thing in Cleveland since sliced bread...

One thing is for sure - Hot Sauce Williams and Melt are as real NEO as food may be.

Seems the Travel Network's Man vs. Food agrees, as host Adam Richman featured Hot Sauce Williams and Melt on a recent episode filmed in Cleveland.... airing tomorrow, July 9, at 8 PM E/P.

"I wrote this song following Hurricane Katrina. The question is timeless." Charlie Mosbrook

"Who Here Will Lead Us"

I was out documenting the air pollution from the Mittal Cleveland Works steel mill today, around sunset, and the lovely couple that lives in Mittal's backyard came over to join me, and enjoy their supper overlooking the beautiful Cuyahoga River Valley, in their backyard.

'The flame is pretty", the young man said, "but it sure pollutes".

Growing up before cable TV and the Internet brought global media to Cleveland, my earliest exposure to foreign TV programming was watching Britain's 1969-74 comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus, which repeated for years at off-hours on local television, and fascinated me for its absurdity. I certainly considered those who came up with that programming and provided a home market for it equally absurd, and I have always had concerns about the sanity of British leadership and the citizens raised in that culture, as a result.

My worst fears about the Flying Circus effect have been validated since the British Petroleum Deepwater Disaster has brought crisis and shame to America and Britain, and is currently destroying our global environment... BP leadership has been Dickensian in its blackness... Pythonesque in dimwittedness... BP has done little more than throw bricks at the crisis, and offers only spam as food for thought.

Pro-marijuana activists, backed by the director of the `Cocaine Cowboys' documentaries, are pushing to decriminalize marijuana in Miami Beach

BY DAVID SMILEY dsmiley [at] MiamiHerald [dot] com

Tip of the Hat and Props to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Michael McIntyre, and his Tipoff column today - First Reporter to Recognize "A new cash crop" for Ohio.

I look forward to discussing this initiative in detail with Michael and others in the media and public, as it is important to educate the community on the economic benefits we will receive from "Growing a Bright Green NEO PAC for Legalization & Commercialization of Cannabis Crops, Products & Services".

Here is Michael McIntyre's correct and intelligent impression of our initiative to make Northeast Ohio the Open Source Capital of the Brightest Greenest State of Earth:

A new cash crop

Some Northeast Ohio boosters are pushing for a new product to revive the local economy: Marijuana. And, no, stoners, they're not talking about boosting sales of Doritos.

Norm Roulet of the RealNEO blog announced last week that a political action committee, Real Green NEO PAC, was formed to push for a November ballot issue for "enlightened legalization of cannabis crops."

Dear Friend,

Two days on the Louisiana Gulf Coast last week changed me in profound and gut wrenching ways.

My throat burned and my head foggy and dizzy from the Gulf's toxic fumes, I returned home and shared my pictures and my flip-camera video with my wife, Fran, and 13-year-old daughter, Nicole.

Geneva, May 21, 2010 - PR/2010/643

On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) on May 22, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry underlined the Organization’s commitment to ensuring that the intellectual property (IP) system plays a positive role in safeguarding biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. 

I’m writing to invite you all to the opening of an exhibit by three Cleveland photographers about three refugee families from Burundi, Burma and Nepal/Bhutan who are living in our area. The same night, you can also enjoy the premiere of a video about the families.

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Question of the Day: What is Coming Out of this House at Farmington and Forest Hills in East Cleveland? I won't try to explain, as I can't.

Friends of Charlie Mosbrook (seems nearly everyone in Cleveland) have been concerned for his sudden health issues this year, and gladdened to see him back up, around, and performing stronger than ever. Featured above is a video from Charlie's website - inspiring, as is all his work - and he has many events upcoming - two in Lakewood may interested realNEO readers (we have lots of traffic in Lakewood)...

While I have never considered Issue 1 - the Third Frontier - offered me direct opportunity, as an Information Technology entrepreneur I do recognize this relatively low-burden, low-exposure state funding offers great opportunities for many other important technology initiatives across Ohio. The results are well documented by the well organized supporters of Issue 1 - see their message posted below - and I certainly expect this will pass by a large majority (if not, I will be shocked). Assuming this passes, I'd like to see changes in the processes for how Third Frontier money is used in the future, as I believe all our processes in the state and region must become brighter and greener. But we can't try to accomplish that without this funding being available for the technology sector. I'll vote for Issue 1, and then become active making sure the money has as great an impact as possible - results so far provide a good foundation. I recommend you do the same... see the official story below:

I've been asked what our traffic looks like over time, so I pulled a few quick charts of the number of visitors to realneo since we started using Google Analytics, and what they have visited, to measure performance of this site - and we've grown by pretty much all counts I've considered important by 30-100% since then - in some cases by 1,000s% - in less than a year-and-a-half.

Looking forward to the latest work of David Thomas and Ubu Projex - new releases from Rocket From The Tombs - look back 20+ years... then 30+ years... and see real NEOans have always had the technology, and why it is like a cup, at its best...

I have lived in Northeast Ohio most of my life... have founded the amazing realNEO... have done lots of other important work here and worldwide... have proposed the most innovative economic development platform in the region...

A great movie about Cleveland leaders and justice?!?!

I was pleased to see posted on Secretary of State Brunner's campaign for U.S. Senator blog a video provided by the Cleveland Plain Dealer of her opening remarks at the City Club debate, this week. This was the highlight of the entire debate... watch to the end, as she differentiates herself from Fisher - nice to see the PD make this available, including allowing it to be embedded in other sites.

Come to watch films, network, socialize and eat some great Chinese food (not mandatory)!

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Psychic Hearts is a solo album by Sonic Youth member Thurston Moore. The album was released in 1995 through Geffen Records.