Here is a Sweet outtake

In her post on June 18, Representative Carolyn Maloney pointed out an important lesson of disaster response: protecting the health of responders must be just as high a priority as reacting to the disaster itself.

The U.S. Government is doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of the response workers and residents on the Gulf Coast. And we're working with state and local governments to make sure that our monitoring and response efforts are comprehensive, effective, and based on the best science.

Here's an overview of what we're doing.

In the Gulf area today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are monitoring the air over water and land to detect potentially harmful levels of the chemicals associated with both oil and dispersants. But air monitoring represents only one way of determining if the health of responders or residents is threatened. That's why we're also conducting surveillance of health complaints and medical evaluation of symptoms and illnesses.

Every day, CDC is monitoring health symptoms, injuries, and illnesses that could be related to oil response work and ensuring that those reports are being evaluated by safety and health professionals, not just by BP. CDC is also going to conduct systematic reviews of health data to make sure we're doing everything we can to prevent harm. Already, CDC is conducting health surveillance at 60 poison control centers and 86 health care facilities, and is using data from the Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi state health departments to make sure workers and residents are safe.

To date, CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has also administered surveys to 15,000 workers so that we can compile a roster of individuals involved in the response. An accurate record of who's participating in the response is vital to establishing any links between health and work exposures. Through its Health Hazard Evaluation Program, NIOSH is also assessing exposures among responders working on vessels at the source of the spill and those involved in burning, booming, skimming, shoreline cleanup, wildlife cleaning, and waste oil management.

Our surveillance and health evaluation efforts are based on our expertise in disaster response. But as any scientist will tell you, any major disaster presents unique challenges. That's why Secretary Sebelius has asked the Institute of Medicine to convene outside experts and help determine the most effective methods for protecting responders and residents. I am here at the Institute of Medicine Workshop being held in New Orleans — and we're looking forward to the findings from the two-day meeting.

We know that in many ways this work is just beginning. But we also know this: the health and safety of Gulf Coast residents and responders must remain a top priority throughout the recovery effort. Working with health professionals, scientists, and our partners from across government, we're going to make sure that happens.

Gulf Coast law firms Levin Papantonio, Eastland Law and others have begun filing a series of civil RICO actions in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama to hold BP accountable for the false assurances it gave the American people that it could handle a worst-case scenario deepwater oil spill. The suits allege that BP committed mail fraud, wire fraud and potentially other RICO predicate act violations when the company sought permits from the federal government for deepwater offshore drilling, knowing that it did not possess the technical expertise or equipment necessary to respond to an emergency such as the ongoing Deepwater disaster.

This is the only RICO claim out of the more than 200 lawsuits filed so far against BP – and that doesn't even count claims against Transocean, Halliburton and other associated defendants. All the other legal cases filed so far against BP are based on negligence associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, violations of various environmental statutes, and other legal angles.

By choosing the RICO approach, the Gulf Coast attorneys hope to provide an avenue for all Americans impacted by the disaster to stand up to the oil companies and prosecute them in civil court for their unlawful conduct.

The RICO suits allege that BP and its CEO Tony Hayward engaged in a pattern of fraudulent misrepresentations when the company asserted in its regional oil spill and exploration oil spill emergency response plans that it had the equipment and technology to respond to a deepwater accident. BP claimed in some of the plans that it had the capacity and expertise to respond to a spill of as much as 250,000 barrels per day.

“BP was more interested in making billions of dollars from offshore drilling and cutting corners on oil spill response safeguards at the expense of protecting the Gulf ecosystem, the public and our plaintiffs in the Gulf region from environmental and economic disaster,” according to Hiram Eastland, principal attorney with Eastland Law Firm in Greenwood, Mississippi.

Eastland told me today:

“As we have heard from Congressional testimony in front of Senator Boxer's and Representative Markey's committees over the past few weeks, there is in fact a lot of evidence already presented about BP's illegal conduct. This is exactly the type of conduct that RICO provides a measure of accountability and justice for, and we intend to see to it that such a pattern of unlawful conduct is dealt with under the full due process of the law.”

The Justice Department launched civil and criminal investigations into BP's false statements about their oil spill response plans on June 1st. But the lawsuits brought by Levin Papantonio and the other law firms are civil claims based on the RICO statute, which enables a private individual harmed by the actions of a criminal enterprise to file a civil suit and, if successful, collect treble damages from the defendant.

Enacted into law in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was initially used by the government to prosecute Mafia kingpins. But it is an appropriate legal maneuver in the BP case as well, as Eastland explained to me:

“The civil RICO action that we recently filed in Florida, and the RICO actions we plan to file in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, are solidly based on unlawful conduct that is already apparent from testimony and other documents that have already played out on the national stage in the last several weeks.”

“BP's pattern of making false submissions to the government to get the permits that allowed it to make billions from offshore drilling constitutes a pattern of mail fraud, wire fraud and other unlawful RICO predicate act conduct that is tailor made for this RICO class action.”

The coalition of law firms bringing the suits anticipates uncovering further evidence of BP's shenanigans through the discovery process, and will likely add additional claims – and defendants – as a result.

According to Eastland:

“These claims are just the tip of the iceberg, and we fully anticipate adding additional claims and defendants as this civil litigation progresses. The public deserves to know the whole truth.”

“It's not just the people of the South, but people from all over the country who have come to love the Gulf of Mexico and our Gulf shores just as much as we do. They love our pristine seashores, our pelicans and sea gulls and sandpipers, our dolphins and our seafood and the whole way of life we enjoy on the Gulf Coast. And they passionately believe as we do that it's past time to get action, if not get medieval on BP's unlawful conduct and what they have done to our shared waters and our Coast.”

Ongoing investigations, as well as the discovery process, could turn up new evidence of wrongdoing, not just on BP's part, but across the entire offshore drilling industry. Given the revelations last week by Rep. Ed Markey's committee that the five major offshore drilling companies had each submitted nearly identical response plan documents, there are hefty implications for all the major oil companies engaged in offshore drilling, some or all of which might be added as defendants in these RICO suits.

Eastland elaborates:

“There are a number of issues in addition to the textbook mail and wire fraud RICO predicate acts involved in our civil complaints that fully warrant further investigation and potential additional claims. Just the fact that other big oil companies admitted before Congress that they submitted essentially identical emergency response plans to secure offshore drilling permits – plans these companies now acknowledge they were never capable of carrying out – raises serious questions as to whether there was an overall conspiracy by Big Oil. All of these companies made such representations and assurances in order to make billions on offshore drilling while ignoring the need for actual safeguards against environmental and economic catastrophe.”

Under the racketeering statute, a defendant may be guilty of a RICO conspiracy by merely agreeing to the “objective” of the conspiracy. That raises very serious questions about the fate of the entire industry, since all the major oil companies made the same misrepresentations in their response plans about their emergency capabilities. They led the public to believe they had it all covered, but as we see in the blackened Gulf today, not so much.

Eastland explains:

“They knew they were lying, yet they would rather go make the profits on dangerous offshore drilling and leave the American public at risk. They never should have been out there in the first place since they knew they couldn't respond to such a disaster. The exact cause of the disaster is irrelevant in this case. It wouldn't matter if it had been a meteorite that hit the rig. These companies falsely assured the public that they had a plan to handle such a spill, even though they knew all along they didn't. That's plainly illegal.”

“There's been a lot of people prodding the administration about the need to talk tough to the oil companies. But we don't need tough talk to address their egregious behavior. We already have tough laws on the books that address such selfish, greedy, unlawful conduct.”

“Big Oil's big lies are about to come home to roost,” Eastland predicts.

The initial RICO case filed in Florida, Rinke v. BP, is available here [PDF 1.6 MB].

www.google.com

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Look at this example of a long outtake

While Miami was celebrating the announcement LeBron James would be joining the Heat next season, Michael Beasley received news that he would not be playing with what looks to be a newly formed all-star cast in South Beach.

According to The Associated Press, the Heat agreed to trade Beasley to the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night. Miami will receive Minnesota's second round draft pick in 2011 and the two franchises will swap future first round picks.

Beasley, who averaged 14.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game during the 2009-10 NBA season, was reportedly traded to help clear cap room for the trio of James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, who was already with the franchise.

In Minneapolis, Beasley will join fellow power forwards Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. With an abundance of power forwards on roster, and recent contract signings with centers Darko Milicic and Nikola Pekovic, it is likely that Love or Jefferson will be traded, according to Timberwolves President David Kahn, who said no Minnesota player is untouchable.

Beasley was the second overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

We’re hearing that Facebook and Malaysian payments company MOL Global will be holding a press conference shortly to announce a significant new partnership around gaming and payments in Asia. MOL, you may recall, was in the news when it acquired Friendster earlier this year.

The press conference is being held in Kuala Lumpur and will begin shortly, we’re told. Update: Press release below:

MOL and Facebook Bring Facebook Credits to Retail Stores for the First Time

MOL Partners with Facebook to Become Payment Provider for Facebook Credits;
Facebook Credits to be Available through MOL’s 500,000 Outlets Across Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – July 8, 2010 – MOL Global today announced a strategic partnership with Facebook that will make it significantly easier and more convenient for millions of people across Asia to purchase virtual goods in online games and applications on Facebook.

Under the agreement, MOL Global’s wholly owned subsidiary MOL AccessPortal will become a payment provider for Facebook Credits. That will enable Facebook members to buy Credits using MOLPoints on Facebook and on MOL’s website, MOL.Com.

In the coming months, Facebook users will be able to obtain Facebook Credits using MOL points purchased through MOL’s network of more than 500,000 outlets, which are mainly in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to outlets such as 7-Eleven stores and cybercafes, customers will be able to purchase Credits through MOL’s network of online banks in these countries.

Facebook and MOL will also offer co-branded gift cards at outlets in Malaysia and Singapore that can be redeemed for Facebook Credits.

The partnership makes purchasing Facebook Credits significantly more convenient in Asia, a region where consumers rely heavily on offline prepaid cards rather than credit cards to purchase digital goods and services.

“The relationship with Facebook demonstrates MOL’s growing role as a leading payment provider for social networking sites in Asia, especially in our core countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and India,” said Ganesh Kumar Bangah, group chief executive officer for MOL Global. “Over the last few quarters, we have seen a double-digit increase in payment transactions and payment volume. This partnership continues MOL’s momentum to build the largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network in Asia.”

“Working with MOL means we can offer the benefits of Facebook Credits to millions of people in Asia using a payment system that is already widely used and trusted,” said Vaughan Smith, director of business and corporate development at Facebook. “We’re investing in the long-term future of Facebook Credits and we view this agreement as a major opportunity to broaden the availability of a simple, unified currency that can be used in games and applications across Facebook.”

Facebook Credits enable users to buy and spend virtual currency in more than 150 applications on Facebook from many leading developers, eliminating the frustration of having to enter payment details separately for each application. Every month, more than 70 percent of Facebook members engage with applications on Facebook Platform.

###

About MOL Global
MOL Global is one of South East Asia’s biggest internet companies and owns 100% of both payment service provider, MOL AccessPortal Berhad (MOL) and the world’s pioneer social network, Friendster Inc. (Friendster) with 115 million members worldwide.

MOL is a MSC Malaysia Status Company that operates and develops payment systems incorporated in 2000. MOL handles over 60 million transactions with an annual payment volume of USD200 million. MOL leverages on a network of more than 540,000 physical payment collection points across more than 75 countries. It is also linked online to 88 banks in 9 countries worldwide. MOL was recognized as one of Asia Pacific’s fastest growing technology companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards in 2005 and 2006, won a Merit Award for the Best of E-Commerce Applications in the MSC Asia Pacific ICT Awards and received the Member Excellence Award at the 2009 ICT Leadership Awards of the National ICT Association of Malaysia.

Through its ownership of MOL and Friendster, MOL Global is Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network, pairing MOL’s physical payment collection points and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.

www.google.com

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Here is a Informative outtake

While Miami was celebrating the announcement LeBron James would be joining the Heat next season, Michael Beasley received news that he would not be playing with what looks to be a newly formed all-star cast in South Beach.

According to The Associated Press, the Heat agreed to trade Beasley to the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night. Miami will receive Minnesota's second round draft pick in 2011 and the two franchises will swap future first round picks.

Beasley, who averaged 14.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game during the 2009-10 NBA season, was reportedly traded to help clear cap room for the trio of James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, who was already with the franchise.

In Minneapolis, Beasley will join fellow power forwards Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. With an abundance of power forwards on roster, and recent contract signings with centers Darko Milicic and Nikola Pekovic, it is likely that Love or Jefferson will be traded, according to Timberwolves President David Kahn, who said no Minnesota player is untouchable.

Beasley was the second overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

I just got the very exciting news from California that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed A.B. 1437, a bill backed by The Humane Society of the United States that requires that starting in 2015 all shell (whole) eggs sold in California must come from hens who were able to stand up, lie down, turn around, and fully extend their limbs without touching one another or the sides of an enclosure. In other words: California will become a cage-free state.

Proposition 2, approved by voters in November 2008, phases out the extreme confinement of laying hens in cages by 2015. A.B. 1437 applies the standards contained within Prop 2 to the sale of shell eggs. With 40 million consumers in California, it would be hard to overestimate the potential of this bill to change the way laying hens are treated throughout the United States.

This victory comes just days after The HSUS brokered a deal with Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and the state's largest agriculture groups to impose a moratorium on new battery cage facilities in Ohio, the nation's second largest egg production state.

Change for animals subjected to intensive confinement is coming, and the victories this week are plain evidence of that.

On the California legislation, many thanks go to bill author Assemblyman Jared Huffman, to all of the other lawmakers who supported the legislation, to Gov. Schwarzenegger, and, most importantly, to the thousands of HSUS supporters who took action and urged elected officials to support this bill.

This post originally appeared on Pacelle's blog, A Humane Nation.

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Proven Penis Enlargement

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE”

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our “motivation” to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown “chosen one” sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And “who” we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called “curse” on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day….

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue….

Dan Gilbert
Majority Owner
Cleveland Cavaliers

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I've been gone from Cleveland almost two years now, but it came as no surprise to me that basketball star LeBron James picked Miami in a quest for slam dunking fortune and fame. If I understood that he would eventually leave the Cavaliers – after living and working in the city for almost a decade – then the good folks who have never left should have understood it even better.

But what does surprise me is the status so many citizens of Cleveland have bestowed on their local hero now that he's departing. Shouldn't Cleveland be proud of more than an extremely gifted man-child athlete? Shouldn't the city seek celebration in something more meaningful to the daily welfare of its populace?

I guess not, given the reactions of spurned fans in Cleveland. The same fanatics who gleefully shelled out hard-earned money for expensive replica jerseys and WITNESS t-shirts set fire to their souvenirs on television cue after James announced he was taking his game to South Beach. No less than the diminutive team owner Dan Gilbert showed how really small and petty he is by posting a blistering letter on the team's website, accusing the object of his affection of “cowardly betrayal.” I wonder what Gilbert might have said if James had pledged to continue to make him and his team wealthy?

LeBron–one of those rarest of American celebrities known by one name–will still be the same person he is today as a future Miami resident. Nothing's changed since a parade of civic leaders from across northeast Ohio begged him to stay close to home. (Curiously, the video has been scrubbed from most Internet sites, suggesting the shame of the failed and humbling effort.) Perhaps the only difference is that some in the region can't lean on LeBron to make themselves feel better. That's the shame of it all.

For some in the Cleveland community to pin its civic pride and ambitions on the whims of one coddled and spoiled young athlete is sad–and dangerous. You don't have to be brilliant or a native to see what's real in Cleveland. Nation-leading levels of poverty. Racial tensions. Corrupt political leaders. Disrespect for the value of education. Resistance to egalitarian and progressive views. Xenophobia. I saw and wrote about it all as a newspaper columnist.

To be sure, a great many people across northeast Ohio are working their hardest to make positive improvements. I met and wrote about them too, the community activists, business leaders, philanthropists and private citizens doing amazing feats with little of the public attention that follows a three-point shot. Why not spend as much attention celebrating and cheering them on? Where are the 20,000 fans, like the ones who filled The Q last season for Cavalier home games, for sincere civic leadership?

The loud and obnoxious Cleveland sport fans who feign hurt feelings from LeBron's foolish spectacle on ESPN, which gave up any pretense of journalism in that hour-long infomercial, speaks more about misplaced priorities than it does about character of a 25-year-old who wears short pants to work. Let's face it, LeBron was never going to be a lifer in Cleveland and folks across the city should have known he wasn't staying any longer than necessary. His passion wasn't in the region; witness his wardrobe of New York Yankee caps and Dallas Cowboy paraphernalia.

What's more, Clevelanders knew–or should have known–he would seek out an opportunity to win an NBA title elsewhere because it seemed unlikely in his hometown. If the Cavs' season-best record didn't produce an NBA title last season, it wasn't going to happen.

I still have warm feelings toward what Cleveland could be. But for that to come to pass, many more residents must put the same level of passion into civic concerns as they do in their beloved, if hapless, sporting teams. I left Cleveland thinking that the people who claim to love the city most do the most damage to themselves by wallowing in prideful denial and taking comfort in palliatives such as sports heroes who eventually and sadly let them down.

So when LeBron decided in the glare of ESPN's klieg lights that the savior's job was too big for him to do alone–and decided to make himself happy by moving to Florida–the entire region felt its stomach sink to its toes. That's not only an unfair indictment of LeBron, it's a sign that folks in Cleveland need a firmer grip on their reality.

Sam Fulwood III is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress

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Exercise equipment and overall nutrition information is only the beginning of what a good Health & Fitness club can offer. A fitness club in Spokane can be the central part of your fitness regiment if you use the fitness club to your advantages.

Since you are most likely paying for membership into one of these fitness centers, you might as well make it an integral part of the path to reaching your personal fitness goals.

Perhaps the biggest mistake that an individual makes when investing their money into a fitness club is that they fail to realize the additional features of the center. Most people will obtain membership solely for the use of the fitness equipment. In reality, you should be doing more. A fitness club does offer fitness services beyond equipment.

For example, a fitness center may offer free dieting and nutrition planning to all of its members. Due to reasons like this, it is important that you realize that your fitness club is more than a building with expensive exercise equipment. In actuality, it should play a vital role in reaching your personal fitness goals.

Reaching Your Fitness Goals

The reason as to why you joined a fitness center that you wish to fulfill your individual fitness goals. Whether you want to lose 50 pounds or if you simply want to build some additional muscle, the fitness club will be the foundation to your success. Most people join without the knowledge of how helpful the club can be to the improvement of their health.

Exercise equipment is an important factor to reaching your fitness goals, yet there are additional things that will help you reach your goals more quickly. For example, many fitness centers are now offering in-house spa systems. A spa is a great way to refresh the body and mind after a fitness session.

Additionally, many offer a class along the lines of Pilates or Yoga that will allow the individual to improve their mental health and speed the process of physical health improvement.

Good Nutrition

Nutrition is perhaps the second most important aspect of a fitness club, behind the type of equipment that the club is stocked with. Your local fitness center can be a wealth of information on the subject of nutrition if you take the initiative to find out what they have to offer.

Obtaining nutrition information from a fitness center will allow you to benefit more from your personal workout sessions. For example, the local fitness center may recommend a special diet to an individual looking to lose weight on certain parts of the body.

This is not necessarily the fitness club that has the latest innovations in exercise equipment. The exercise equipment is only as effective as the overall fitness plan that the club can present to you.

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With the kids in the backseat buckled up tight, you're headed for grandma's house, an all-day drive. The great American family vacation road trip–a time for bonding and sharing each other's interests. A time for pulling your hair out one by one.

As long as Americans pile the kids in the car for a family vacation, they are doomed for the anxieties that come with the mind-numbing boredom of a very long road trip. After a short while into the trip, the fidgeting starts. The inevitable discussion about who hit whom first is under debate. Good feeling's gone.

As it happens, once the kids have seen a couple grazing cows and a horse pasture, they pretty much don't want to see it again. Rolling hills and scenic mountains served their purpose a great many miles back, but now, who really cares? And who really gives a hoot what they're growing in those widespread fields anyway!

So here you are, only a couple hours into the trip, with the whole day ahead of you, and the whining starts. “Are we there yet?”

Never fear! Remember those awesome car trip games we used to play as kids? The age-old “I Spy” game where the other player tries to guess your object. Then, of course, the license plate game options: See if you can spell all 50 states, make a phrase out of the plate letters or see who can add up the numbers correctly.

Car trip games are really terrific entertainment for the kids, but when 20 Questions suddenly turns into 20 reasons why you're bothering me, then it's time to move on before the scuffling accelerates.

Unlike past generations, today there is a simple solution. Put in a DVD movie. Just slide that little disc boldly into the slot, and suddenly the family road trip takes on new scenery–Shrek, Nemo, Woody and Buzz. The whining stops. Restless little bodies settle down, and the car mercifully becomes surrounded by contentment. Suddenly, the trip becomes much easier.

Okay, so now you're thinking enjoyment of the journey is lost. The family vacation is a bust. Relax, already! True, the countryside is becoming just a faint flicker in the background, but consider the fact that if you make the most of getting to your destination, you will bring home good memories of the entire trip. In reality, TV provides a welcome sanity for today's long road trips. So, let modern technology take over. Enjoy it!

If you're still having a hard time accepting defeat to the state-of-the art, consider days gone by when fidgety children were free to move around. Perhaps you can recall sitting in the back of the station wagon or hatchback playing board games or working on little paper projects. Can't do that today. For safety, the little ones are strapped into their special seats and the older ones are buckled up tight. Not much freedom there. The great American road trip has forever changed.

So next time you hit the road, throw in those DVD movies. Your sanity may depend on it.

A word of warning I must add. As parents come to rely on DVDs as their survival against hours of back-seat whining and clashing, DVD players won't solve all problems. There may be fewer “are we there yets,” but eventually new squabbles of “it's my turn to pick” or “I don't want to watch that” will erupt. Isn't modern technology great?

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Look at this example of a Great Blog

We’re hearing that Facebook and Malaysian payments company MOL Global will be holding a press conference shortly to announce a significant new partnership around gaming and payments in Asia. MOL, you may recall, was in the news when it acquired Friendster earlier this year.

The press conference is being held in Kuala Lumpur and will begin shortly, we’re told. Update: Press release below:

MOL and Facebook Bring Facebook Credits to Retail Stores for the First Time

MOL Partners with Facebook to Become Payment Provider for Facebook Credits;
Facebook Credits to be Available through MOL’s 500,000 Outlets Across Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – July 8, 2010 – MOL Global today announced a strategic partnership with Facebook that will make it significantly easier and more convenient for millions of people across Asia to purchase virtual goods in online games and applications on Facebook.

Under the agreement, MOL Global’s wholly owned subsidiary MOL AccessPortal will become a payment provider for Facebook Credits. That will enable Facebook members to buy Credits using MOLPoints on Facebook and on MOL’s website, MOL.Com.

In the coming months, Facebook users will be able to obtain Facebook Credits using MOL points purchased through MOL’s network of more than 500,000 outlets, which are mainly in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to outlets such as 7-Eleven stores and cybercafes, customers will be able to purchase Credits through MOL’s network of online banks in these countries.

Facebook and MOL will also offer co-branded gift cards at outlets in Malaysia and Singapore that can be redeemed for Facebook Credits.

The partnership makes purchasing Facebook Credits significantly more convenient in Asia, a region where consumers rely heavily on offline prepaid cards rather than credit cards to purchase digital goods and services.

“The relationship with Facebook demonstrates MOL’s growing role as a leading payment provider for social networking sites in Asia, especially in our core countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and India,” said Ganesh Kumar Bangah, group chief executive officer for MOL Global. “Over the last few quarters, we have seen a double-digit increase in payment transactions and payment volume. This partnership continues MOL’s momentum to build the largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network in Asia.”

“Working with MOL means we can offer the benefits of Facebook Credits to millions of people in Asia using a payment system that is already widely used and trusted,” said Vaughan Smith, director of business and corporate development at Facebook. “We’re investing in the long-term future of Facebook Credits and we view this agreement as a major opportunity to broaden the availability of a simple, unified currency that can be used in games and applications across Facebook.”

Facebook Credits enable users to buy and spend virtual currency in more than 150 applications on Facebook from many leading developers, eliminating the frustration of having to enter payment details separately for each application. Every month, more than 70 percent of Facebook members engage with applications on Facebook Platform.

###

About MOL Global
MOL Global is one of South East Asia’s biggest internet companies and owns 100% of both payment service provider, MOL AccessPortal Berhad (MOL) and the world’s pioneer social network, Friendster Inc. (Friendster) with 115 million members worldwide.

MOL is a MSC Malaysia Status Company that operates and develops payment systems incorporated in 2000. MOL handles over 60 million transactions with an annual payment volume of USD200 million. MOL leverages on a network of more than 540,000 physical payment collection points across more than 75 countries. It is also linked online to 88 banks in 9 countries worldwide. MOL was recognized as one of Asia Pacific’s fastest growing technology companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards in 2005 and 2006, won a Merit Award for the Best of E-Commerce Applications in the MSC Asia Pacific ICT Awards and received the Member Excellence Award at the 2009 ICT Leadership Awards of the National ICT Association of Malaysia.

Through its ownership of MOL and Friendster, MOL Global is Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network, pairing MOL’s physical payment collection points and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.

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Be sure that you check out this Contributor

LeBron has decided but questions remain.

by Adam Sweeney

The inmates have officially taken over the asylum and we handed them the keys.

Thursday night, LeBron James, a player whose talent level and hype seems to know no limits, took the term heartbreaker to a new level by making the announcement that he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to head to South Beach with the Miami Heat in a television special. With that decision comes hyperbole to no end, as ESPN has already stated the trio of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh is one of the great trios of all time before they even played as a team in an NBA game together. But if James has become an addict of celebrity, and it certainly appears that way, then we are the ultimate enablers. This isn’t a LeBron James hate article. If anything, we put the needle in his hand.

Anyone who needs proof that America can’t get enough of the summer LeBron-athon needs to look at the SLAMonline website. The top four features all involved LeBron James. No, the irony of this article in itself is not lost on me. I feed the beast just as much as the next fan. It’s a matter of supply and demand when it comes to sports coverage. We recognize what you want to see and then slam it down your throat until you pick another flavor. Now swallow your poison.

There is nothing wrong with LeBron James choosing to go for a ring. It’s common knowledge that you can’t win a title without two to three exceptional players. Jordan had Pippen. Kareem had Magic. Kobe had Shaq and Gasol. Now LeBron has his co-pilots. The black eye to James comes in how he conducted the entire process, right up to the ultimate “Decision.”

If LeBron wants to add another sponsor in his quest for world domination, maybe Gold Bond Medicated Powder would be happy to throw themselves at his feet. It is really the only practical choice, seeing as the poor guy must be chafing from how many teams and fans rode his jock so hard, as if James needs more money. The “selflessness” of James when it comes to taking less money is laughable. He still stands to make over $80-100 million in this contract if he wants. The big money comes from endorsements. Don’t forget that James, Bosh and Wade are all Nike guys. The real winners in this choice may be Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, and the Swoosh symbol. Let’s also not forget about the Don, Pat Riley, who pulled a great sell job to make this happen.

The Cleveland Cavaliers shouldn’t blame themselves. They did everything they could to help James get a championship. The sad truth is that you are who you are. Cleveland just isn’t a top-tier city or franchise. James was not selfless or naïve enough to think he could win a championship on his own. Had Chris Bosh wanted to play in C-Town there is no doubt James would have stayed. That wasn’t happening and so James was left with little choice but to leave. Cleveland lost their high school sweetheart and now gets to look at the love letters and highlight videos of the “LeBron years” in the aftermath. You can always break out the Mark Price and Shawn Kemp jerseys, Ohio. Cough. And please don’t feel bad for the New York Knicks or any team besides Cleveland that lost in the LeBron sweepstakes. They cut off their nose to spite their face. The results are to be expected. They are now a bloody and ugly mess.

Still, there is contradiction in The Chosen One’s pick. James stated that a team isn’t built around just three guys but his decision screams otherwise. Yes, Wade and Bosh are two of the 20 best players in the game but what else does Miami have? The best choice in terms of depth was Chicago, especially once they grabbed Carlos Boozer. Somebody strike while the iron is hot and print a picture of the aforementioned trio that says “Friends first” or “Miami Thrice.” (Props to my friend Nick for the latter nickname.) This is what James is saying with his pick. Going to Miami says that he thinks superstar egos can co-exist and winning matters but don’t say that he chose the best team scenario. It simply isn’t true.

It would be foolish to crown James a champion, though haven’t we all been doing that since he was a high school phenom? Expectations don’t always equate to reality. The Heat still have to fill their roster out around the new “Big Three.” Don’t forget about the Steve Kerrs, Michael Coopers and Robert Horrys of the world. Mike Miller, who now looks ready to come along, gives them a much needed shooter. Can Pat Riley lure other veterans in to the fray? The kneejerk answer is a definitive yes. But don’t underestimate the egos of NBA players. How many true impact players want to sit on the bench and play ten minutes at best a night? We will see.

What made James’ situation novel was the polarity involved. The most unique physical specimen in basketball came from the trenches of Ohio to carry the hopes and hearts of the most jaded sports city in America. We haven’t seen a hometown boy more hyped up since Anakin Skywalker rolled out of Tatooine in Star Wars. Now it’s James who has seemingly turned to the dark side.

The made-for-TV special could not have been any more audacious if they had carried James in to the room on a throne. Was it really necessary to title a press conference concerning an athlete’s deliberation over free agency “The Decision?” Harry S. Truman deliberating over dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima is a decision. This circus show should have been called “Just tell us already!”

James had to be aware of what he was doing to Cleveland by making his decision in to a spectacle. Offering up the show’s profits to the Boys & Girls Club smelled both of desperation and self-preservation. I kept waiting for LeBron to kiss a baby and say, “Don’t forget that I’m a good person, Cleveland.” The bleachers filled with children served as a false backdrop to a stage where James has now changed from hero to villain In the eyes of many. The Miami Heat have now become the Empire, an odd juxtaposition to the superpowers of teams with tradition like the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. Any rebellious team who takes down King James and his roundball table will be respected.

The never-ending conversation of who is the greatest of all time also has turned itself on its head. James has shown that rings overcome loyalty, which shows that he is aware of his place in history. Kobe Bryant’s last two titles have seemed to erase the memories of hoop fans everywhere. Anyone who says Bryant wouldn’t have dragged this situation out forget his temper tantrums thrown on sports radio and his infamous statement about Andrew Bynum in a mall. It’s funny how winning changes history.

In King James’ quest to grasp the Holy Grail of public opinion, he has also lowered his respective ceiling in the G.O.A.T. conversation. James can’t win in this situation. Critics will say LeBron can’t win it by himself without superstars around him if he wins in Miami. “He had to acquiesce to Dwyane Wade to do it,” they will say. If he fails to get a title with the Heat, which is a real possibility, he will move ahead of players like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone in terms of great players who couldn’t earn a ring. Is it an unfair paradox? Maybe, but LeBron has made his own bed by dragging teams along on a two-year courtship.

The true greats of the NBA stayed at home. Michael Jordan stuck in Chicago during the prime of his career. Magic Johnson did it. Paul Pierce is now a Boston hero because he held down the fort in the wake of despair. The consensus philosophy also lies in the fact that to be the best you beat the best. You don’t join them. James could have been a legend by staying in Cleveland or winning a title in New York because he would have done it alone. What this says about James’ legacy remains to be seen. Titles seem probable to come but the Association’s greatest? That’s a title that seems to be getting away from James.

LeBron James made the most fitting choice for who he has become now. He has brought a hurricane of controversy, urban legend and expectations to South Beach. Get ready, Miami. Change is coming. We have to wait and see if it will end with championship parties on the beach or a hangover even Mike Tyson couldn’t knock out. You know that we will be watching every overexposed step of the way.

LeBron James has made his decision and he chose the Miami Heat. Now in earnest the LeBron backlash can begin.

In the history of sports perhaps no athlete has destroyed their image in just eight days, barring being arrested. In just 24 hours no sports network has sold their soul to the devil quicker than ESPN for airing “The Decision”.

The backlash that will hit LeBron will also land on ESPN. Mainly, on ESPN for helping him drag out this decision and go on national television to rip the heart out of Cleveland and his home state of Ohio.

No athlete in the history of sports has enjoyed a love-fest from the media and fans, like LeBron has enjoyed for a player with no championship rings. Now that he has ripped the heart out of his home state and the team that drafted him, the love-fest will end.

For two years, James has more than likely known he was going to leave. He just strung the city of Cleveland along while he bid his time to free agency.

After being bounced in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009 and the second round of the NBA playoffs in 2010, the die was cast for LeBron to leave. LeBron’s last two seasons in Cleveland saw the Cavaliers with the best record in the East and James won two MVPs.

But Cleveland could not get past the Orlando Magic in 2009 and the Boston Celtics in 2010. The weight of those defeats fell on James; much like the finals defeat in 2007 fell on him as well.

That is the kind of heat (no pun intended) that superstars have to take. Much like Kobe and Shaq had to take the heat for their loss in the NBA finals to the Detroit Pistons.

Several questions come to the forefront since LeBron made his decision. The first question is that is James the great player we think he is if he cannot win a title without the help of Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh?

There is no question that Wade is a great player. He is the only player of this trio to have a NBA title.

Bosh on the other hand has not done much in his seven year NBA career. Before you go nuts, Bosh has only two playoff appearances and he led his former team the Toronto Raptors to one .500 season and one season with an above .500 record.

The media or fans cannot declare a player a superstar with a record like Bosh. Also Bosh has led his team to two playoff appearances but was bounced in the first round both times.

If LeBron wins a title with the Heat can he really call himself the “King” anymore? Most of the NBA’s greatest players won a championship with the team that drafted them.

Michael Jordan made the Chicago Bulls by winning six titles there, Larry Bird restored the Boston Celtics by winning three titles there, and Magic Johnson bought back the luster to Los Angeles winning five championships there. Well you get my point.

These players can truly call themselves “King” of their cities and during their playing days of the NBA. That is something LeBron will not be able to say.

Now the title of king must be bestowed on D-Wade. Because Wade, like a true king had LeBron and Bosh come to him and not the other way around.

Some credit, no matter how bad you hate LeBron; you will have to admit is that he did not go for the money. For once an athlete that said winning titles was their main goal did not go to the team that could pay them the most money.   

But in all fairness the NBA’s salary cap does not allow for that. The only way James would make the most money he could is by staying in Cleveland.

That being said there was a fair amount of a chance that LeBron could win a title in Cleveland if the team had been retooled. James might have been able to take the money and the titles if he stayed with the Cavaliers.

James actions and comments during his special “The Decision” when asked about fans in Cleveland burning his jersey, shows just how out of touch he is. How can LeBron not realize how much he hurt the fans in his home state?

Unless you are a Miami Heat fan, the LeBron-a-backlash will be on full force for the next couple of years. Media people and fans in New York, New Jersey, Chicago and most of all in Cleveland will rip LeBron.

Mainly he will get ripped for his arrogance and how he led everyone on for the last two years. James has brought this on himself and by proxy has lumped Bosh and Wade in with him.

Unlike the thinking of the ESPN talking heads, the Miami Heat has no other choice but to win the NBA title next season. There is no way that you can bring in the LeBron, Bosh and resign D-Wade and not win a championship.

There is no way that the lack of championship in year one of the El Tri cannot been seen as a complete failure. If LeBron could not handle the pressure of leading the Cavaliers to a title how will he handle the failure a huge not winning a title in year one with Wade and Bosh.

One thing is for certain, the NBA landscape has changed. The Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics, the last two teams to win the East, now face a major threat to their dominance of the East.

For all those thinking the cupboard is bare in Miami, if the Heat signs their draft picks they will have a nice roster in the making. The Heat drafted three college seniors in the second round of the draft.

In the second round Miami drafted Dexter Pittman out of Texas, Da’Sean Butler out of West Virginia, and Jarvis Varnado out of Mississippi State. Pittman became a dominate center in the Big-12 after dropping nearly 100 pounds of weight.

Butler will be battling back from an injury sustained in the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and will not be available in year one of El Tri. Varnado became the NCAA leader in shot-blocking and the only NCAA player to ever have 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 500 blocks in his senior year.

As long as the Magic have Dwight Howard and the Celtics have their big three they will not just roll over and let the Heat take the East. The Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of a threepeat and the fourth threepeat of Phil Jackson’s career.

The Heat could be the team to derail that goal but Kobe Bryant knows what it takes to win a championship. That is something only D-Wade knows in Miami.

LeBron better start winning rings or the backlash will not be confined to just a few. It will be a full blown epidemic from coast to coast.

Duke James has turned his back on his home and now turned off most of the country over the last eight days. It will be interesting to see if this backlash hits the companies LeBron endorsees.

James better win a championship quick or he and those companies just might find out. 

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Sports don’t build character. Sports reveal character.

This is as true of athletes as of those involved in the business of sports.

A lack of character compelled Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to rant like a petulant child after he lost superstar LeBron James to the Miami Heat and got nothing in return.

Now, Gilbert tells visitors to the Cavaliers website, the Associated Press, and anyone else willing to listen that LeBron is “cowardly,” “selfish” and “a quitter.”

If that’s how Gilbert honestly feels, then why did he offer LeBron $120 million to re-sign with the team?

Why did he not make it known through the NBA grapevine that the Cavs would do a sign-and-trade deal with any team that wants (and can afford) a “cowardly, selfish quitter?”

That way, the Cavs and their fans would have come away with something other than the usual pain and ennui associated with life in Cleveland.

And the Cavs would now have a realistic chance to back up Gilbert’s boast that Cleveland will win an NBA title before LeBron does. The unavoidable fact is, if you look at the Cavs’ roster today—sans LeBron—the team will not win 30 basketball games.

Gilbert must explain why he offered $120 million to a player he now says “quit” in Games Two, Four, Five, and Six of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Celtics?

“You can look at the tapes,” Gilbert whines.

Actually, there is no need to review the tapes of the four games Cleveland lost in that series. If you’re a basketball fan, you already know LeBron played in that series with an inflamed right elbow. 

Why did he do that? He was trying to win a championship on a one-man team. As LeBron knew throughout his seven years in Cleveland, if he didn’t do it, it was not going to get done.

Cavs management and ownership, which includes Gilbert first and foremost, never surrounded LeBron with the supporting players necessary to win a championship. There were no Pippens and Rodmans, no Odoms and Artests, no Gasols and Fishers.

After seven years, LeBron concluded that the Cavs had failed him. Thus, it was time to move on.

And being born in nearby Akron should not mean LeBron must die on his sword every spring, like some tragic Shakespearean character, in pursuit of an NBA crown.

Although I find LeBron as self-absorbed as any athlete I’ve seen, he is also smart and shrewd. I believe James sensed that with Gilbert as owner, the Cavs would never take a by-any-means-necessary approach to winning an NBA championship. From Gilbert, he would hear only rhetoric, not see substantive action.

Gilbert bought the Cavs from the respected Gund family, which had signed LeBron straight out of high school with the first overall pick in the 2003 draft.

But for all of Gilbert’s wealth—a substantial portion of which was generated from LeBron himself—the man has a serious character deficiency. And no clue about how to maintain a successful franchise.

Now, Cleveland has no LeBron and no new players from a sign-and-trade deal. Just a petty, bombastic owner. A corporate mistake by the lake.

As all of America now knows — Miami and Cleveland especially — superstar basketball player LeBron James is joining the Heat, effectively ending his longtime relationship with the Cavaliers. Needless to say, the people of Cleveland did not take the news well. Like a jaded ex, Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert publicly denounced James' decision and called his former player's choice “selfish,” “heartless” and “callous.” Ouch.

As heated reactions from Cavaliers fans continue to flow in, we here on the Movies Blog team can't help ourselves from viewing LeBron and Cleveland's breakup through a cinematic lens. After the jump, check out five on-screen breakups that LeBron's brutal Cleveland departure brings to mind!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
It's hard to say which party fits into which character in this breakup. On one hand, LeBron certainly left the Cavaliers naked and vulnerable like the titular Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) did to Peter Bretter (Jason Segal). But on the other hand, Gilbert's promise to win an NBA title before the “self-declared former King” reminds us of the infamous scene where the two character try to one up each other through sex. Either way, something tells us the LeBron-Cleveland breakup won't resolve itself with a Dracula puppet musical.

(500) Days of Summer
This movie surprisingly fits really, really well into this analogy. In the film, Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dates Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) for hundreds of days before Summer breaks up with Tom seemingly out of nowhere. The movie goes on to explore Tom's heartbreak, anger and depression over the next several hundred days before he moves on and finds someone else perfect for him. In other words, while “Summer” may have walked out on Cleveland, in the end, maybe the city will find their “Autumn” — just as long as “she” can shoot three-pointers blindfolded while spinning in circles.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Okay, so maybe things will never get better between LeBron and the Cavaliers. The Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet-starring “Eternal Sunshine” offers an interesting solution to the problem: simply erase their entire memory of their time together. While such a solution worked out in the end for Joel and Clementine, I think it would get a bit awkward when fans keep asking LeBron about his time with the Cavaliers and he realizes he can't remember the last seven years of his life.

War of the Roses
Here's the worst case scenario in the LeBron-Cleveland breakup: after a terrible divorce, Oliver (Michael Douglas) and Barbara (Kathleen Turner) spend the majority of “War of the Roses” attempting to destroy the other's life. It starts with simple humiliation before completely derailing into violence that eventually leads to both characters' deaths. So, yeah, let's hope that LeBron and the Cavaliers manage to avoid a similarly gruesome fate. That would be bad.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith
After John (Brad Pitt) and Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie) discover that they're both secretly spies working for competing agencies, the married couple proceed to kick the ever-loving tar out of each other. After nearly destroying the house with bullets, knives and fists, the two end up having hardcore makeup sex, which further damages the house but serves to repair their relationship. So, hey, maybe things will turn out alright for LeBron and Cleveland after all — they just need to kick each other around for a while then meet up in the future for a passionate one-night stand. Boom, problem solved!

Which breakup outcome are you hoping for regarding LeBron's split from Cleveland? You tell us in the comments section and on Twitter!

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SATIRE — So what will you be watching on TV Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET?

There are Major League Baseball games on various channels. On ESPN2, Major League Lacrosse’s All-Star Game will be winding down, followed by Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake at Chicago.

But who are we kidding! You’re going to be watching ESPN sell its journalistic soul to air The Decision, where LeBron James will announce which team he will play the next five to six years of his NBA career.

For those say they’re tired of the “Where will LeBron play?” saga, stop lying! You’ve been talking about this off and on for the past three years.

It seems sad to have a professional athlete, supposedly the best player in his sport, turn his free agent decision into an overly-produced, made-for-TV, media event.

Does LeBron really need 60 minutes of primetime to make a five second statement?

Of course, this also gives real sports journalists 24 hours to leak Lebron’s intentions and undercut the potential ratings bonanza. But the way Camp James has kept things pretty tight-lipped, I doubt that will happen.

So if the “King” and the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” are going through with this farce, at least they can make it the greatest farce in the history of sports.

I don’t want to see LeBron sitting at a table with five caps on the various teams in contention for his services—Cavaliers, Bulls, Heat, Knicks and Nets—and him placing one lid on his dome to signify the winner. Leave that for the high school kids heading to college.

I want an extravaganza fit not only for the super-sized egos of LeBron and ESPN, but also for the reality-TV, YouTube, Facebook, twitter culture that we live in.

I want Charles Barkley to host the one-hour special in front of a live studio audience. He’s the best, most outspoken sports analyst on TV and is hilarious when he’s spontaneous. So please, no script in the teleprompter or seven-second delay. Just let Chuck be Chuck.

I want to see LeBron sitting on that throne from the “This is Sportscenter” commercial with his business manager Maverick Carter dressed as an executioner and hanger-on/consigliere “World Wide Wes,” dressed as a court jester by his side.

I want to see ESPN’s John Skipper, executive vice president of content, and Vince Dora, senior vice president and director of news, clad in leather halter tops, miniskirts, fishnets and thigh-high hooker boots since they are prostituting the network’s journalistic credibility to air this travesty.

I want to see the five owners—Dan Gilbert (Cavs), Jerry Reinsdolf (Bulls), Mickey Arison (Heat), James Dolan (Knicks), and Mikhail Prokhorov (Nets)—make a final two-minute pitch/plea for LeBron to play on their team and the privilege to pay him $20 million per season.

I want to see cutaway reaction shots of tens of thousands of people watching The Decision in the downtown squares of Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, New York and Newark just like in the World Cup broadcasts.

I want to see fans vote on where LeBron they think should play, and the results constantly updated on the ticker.

I want to see LeBron eliminate owners one by one with his new signature catchphrase: “You are exiled from my kingdom.” Carter can lead each losing owner offstage as the audience chants “Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye!” Stuart Scott can interview them about being humiliated on national television.

After each castoff, I want to see Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon, Bill Simmons and Dan LeBatard conduct a brief roundtable discussion on what transpired.

I want to see flat screen monitors with twitter updates from NBA writers Chris Broussard, Ric Bucher, Stephen A. Smith, Chris Mannix and Chris Ballard predicting, then debunking, their own claims about where LeBron will play.

Finally, when there are only two teams left for consideration, LeBron should announce his pick with the class and dignity that moment calls for. I want to see Hannah Storm jumping out of cake wearing only an extra large LeBron James jersey of the chosen team and six-inch matching stilettos.

The crowd erupts as confetti and balloons rain down from the rafters. LeBron and the winning owner passionately embrace. After a quick interview and the contract signing, they dash away in a private jet.

Maybe it’s just the cynic in me, but I think this would be the perfect scenario for the arrogant arrangement between LeBron and ESPN. If they are going to whore themselves out for fame and money, make it the biggest orgy ever.

At first glance, LeBron James appears to be holding the basketball world in his massive hands as July 1, 2010 looms ominously just below the horizon.  A closer look reveals that the ball isn’t actually in LeBron’s court as he ponders his future.

No, it’s not up to Worldwide William Wesley or Maverick Carter.  It’s not up to LeBron’s family circle, his mom, or his girlfriend.

Instead, the destiny of LeBron’s legacy depends on a close comrade yet to be determined and a cast of characters yet to be identified.

Regardless of his incredible individual skill, world-renowned fame, and burgeoning wealth, LeBron won’t be able to succeed on the basketball court without a sidekick and a supporting cast.

Some would argue that success on the court isn’t LeBron’s priority, a dangerous assertion to make without tangible evidence. 

A horrible performance in Game Five of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Celtics provided at least some sort of evidence for Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski and a host of others, who subsequently began attacking LeBron for being a ego-maniacal tyrant concerned about fame and fortune instead of winning.

Lost in the debacle was the poor performance of his teammates and coaching staff, who played with an incredible amount of futility and coached with an alarming level of stupidity.

Amidst all the uncertainty, one thing is crystal clear: Wherever he ends up, LeBron James needs help, and lots of it.

Good help could be hard to find in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers appear to be finally zeroing in on a head coach in the form of Brian Shaw or Byron Scott.

Beyond that encouraging news, the franchise that stupidly gambled on a washed-up 20 million dollar center and took on Antawn Jamison’s two-year, 28 million dollar salary, has a roster in disarray.

Even if LeBron opts to stay home, the Cavaliers will risk being the third or fourth best team in the Eastern Conference.

A glance at the rosters and cap room of the three other possible destinations for LeBron James reveals potential for instant improvement and a long run of dominance.

The Heat have a boatload of cash and could surround Dwayne Wade with Amar’e Stoudemire and a handful of solid role players.  The Bulls are on the cusp of improved success, with or without LeBron.  The Nets already have a decent supporting cast and are a couple of very good players away from being a contender.

In the interest of avoiding an uphill battle alongside a supporting cast that has let him down before, LeBron could decide to go elsewhere.

Joining a young Chicago team is the most popular possibility.

Derrick Rose would provide a dynamic point guard able to find LeBron in transition and get him easier shots in the halfcourt.  Rose also possesses the ability to create his own shot and get to the rim, a luxury LeBron never had in Cleveland.

On paper, adding LeBron would make the Bulls the favorite to win the NBA Title.  It would also produce arguably the worst three-point shooting lineup in modern history.

The lack of a reliable inside presence is something the Bulls have been unable to overcome in recent years.  In Brook Lopez, the Nets have a go-to post scorer, a terrific rebounder, and a dependable defender. 

The Nets’ supporting cast could make life easier for LeBron.  Or, a fragile Devin Harris and an unproven threesome of Courtney Lee, Terrence Williams, and Derrick Favors could fail to develop.

If LeBron is smart, he won’t go anywhere unless he knows he will have plenty of help.

It starts with Chris Bosh.

The Cavaliers would be hard-pressed to add Bosh barring a sign-and-trade deal, a complicated yet somewhat reasonable scenario that could appeal to the Raptors.

The Bulls have plenty of cash to sign both Bosh and LeBron, and the Nets could make a pitch for Bosh depending on a number of factors.

But it doesn’t end there.

LeBron needs to be surrounded by a reliable cast of characters, players willing to take big shots and show up in crunch time.

History is full of unsung heroes that have enhanced the legacies of the greatest to ever play in the NBA, from John Paxson in Chicago to Derek Fisher in Los Angeles.

Without a reliable crew to ride with, LeBron’s legacy will never be complete.  He will unquestionably be remembered as one of the most transcendent athletes to ever play in the NBA, but he won’t be remembered as a winner unless he gets a lot of help.

Until he wins, his every move will be scrutinized.  His actions on and off the court will be trapped under a microscope.

Who will help LeBron lift the weight of the world off his broad shoulders?  That question won’t be answered until long after his free agency comes to a merciful end.

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