A Chinese high court recently upheld a death sentence of Wu Ying, a 31 year old tycoon accused of running a 380 million yuan ($60 million) Ponzi-scheme.  Once ranked as China's 6th richest woman, Wu Ying was found guilty of what is technically known as "fraudulent fundraising" for Behnse Holding Group which she headed.  Wu Ying allegedly collected 770 million yuan from investors with promises of 80% returns.  The capital was supposed to have been invested in trading companies, hotels and real estate developments but instead she used it to pay off debts on her personal assets, including cars and personal real estate holdings.  In her defense, Wu Ying's lawyers claims that the funds were provided her personal friends and not the general public.  The public has also complained that Wu Ying's true crime is not in bilking the public but in implicating corrupt government officials during the investigation.  The public has also claimed a double standard in how government officials are treated under the law versus average citizens and that she is being used as a scapegoat.  According to the Wall Street Journal, "At the heart of the issue is a feature of China's death penalty system that allows for sentences to be reduced to life in prison if convicts go two years without committing another crime.  Nearly three quarters of officials condemned to die get their sentences reduced, compared to just 20 to 30 percent of ordinary prisoners" (http://on.wsj.com/wzyoIg).   

After getting stretched out by Saints Pierre Thomas, Donte Whitner begs his teammates "Please don't let my mama come out on this field!"

In a touch football game amongst NBA players, Lebron takes an interception to the house and does his version of the Stevie Johnson TD celebration mocking Plaxico Burress' shooting incident.  One good turn deserves another . . . Plaxico could mock Lebron by not playing in the fourth quarter.

In Sunday's game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets, Bill wide receiver Stevie Johnson does his Plaxico "gunshot wound" impersonation.  The media went H.A.M. on Johnson for his tasteless, selfish act.  However, that same media was oddly silent when Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to profit politically from Plaxico's mishap two years ago.

CNBC's Darren Rovell took to Twitter to explain how (i) victims of sexual assault do not always come forward, but sometimes would rather put the past behind them and (ii) how if the 2002 victim had not come forward Sandusky / PSU could have survived the recent scandal.  That could only mean one thing --- the victims of Sandusky's sexual assault must be black and poor.  If the victims had been the kids of his colleagues at CNBC no way in the world would Rovell have contemplated how Sandusky / PSU could have gotten off.  After all, Sandusky chose his victims for a reason --- he never thought they would come forward.  Below is Rovell's Twitter message.

Last season all you heard from the Washington Redskins camp was "Albert Haynesworth did this.  Albert Haynesworth did that."  I am a huge Skins fan and told people that Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb were the only playmakers the Skins had.  Instead of embracing them, new coach Mike Shanahan did everything in his power to alienate them.  Instead of designing a defense around Haynesworth and letting him "do what he do" and beat his man to the ball carrier / quarterback, knucklehead goes with a 3-4 defense where he proposed that Haynesworth clog up the middle.  Every week Shanahan was seemingly throwing Haynesworth under the bus and using him as a smokescreen for the Skins woeful performance and his inability to coach.  Never missing an opportunity to demonize an black man in order to get ratings and website hits, the media rode Haynesworth mercilessly while co-signing Shanahan.  After starting the season 3-1, the Haynesworth-less Skins have since lossed five in a row, including a trouncing by the hapless Dolphins.  This all begs the question  --- "WHAT DID HAYNESWORTH DO THIS TIME?" 

Playing both sides?

It appears that President Obama has borrowed a page from Thompson.  A few weeks ago he visited New York in the hopes of raising campaign funds from Wall Street firms.  However, many of the firms that received bail out money from the Bush and Obama administrations three years ago did not show up.  Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway was the only Wall Street representative of note to back the president.  A few weeks later at an East Room news conference, President Obama praised the Occupy Wall Street protests with the following statement: