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Source:Associated Press
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LOS ANGELES — Danilo Gallinari scored 22 points, Kenyon Martin scored six of his 18 in the final 3:24, and the Denver Nuggets hung on for their sixth straight win, 95-90 over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.Kobe Bryant scored 28 points for the Lakers, who snapped a nine-game winning streak to fall 2 1/2 games behind San Antonio in the Western Conference. The NBA-leading Spurs beat Phoenix 114-97 earlier Sunday to end a six-game slide.Los Angeles has six games left to try and overtake the Spurs and earn homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. The Lakers face the Spurs for the fourth and final time this season on April 12 in their next-to-last regular-season game.
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For more news, notes and analysis of the Lakers, check out the Land O’ Lakers blog from the Kamenetzky Brothers. Blog
The Lakers need five more wins to reach 60 for the 12th time and third under coach Phil Jackson. All seven of Jackson’s teams to reach 60 victories won the NBA title, including five times with Chicago.The Lakers went into the All-Star break 8 1/2 games behind the Spurs following a three-game skid capped by an embarrassing 104-99 road loss to league-worst Cleveland.Pau Gasol had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, and reserve Lamar Odom chipped in with 17 points and seven boards. Andrew Bynum had 16 rebounds and reserve forward Matt Barnes returned from a one-game suspension with five points in 18 minutes.The Lakers were leading 49-46 when Gasol was fouled by Nene on a dunk and crashed to the floor holding his right knee with 9:17 left in the third quarter.Gasol flexed his leg several times at the scorer’s table after the ensuing timeout before play resumed, and he played another 60 seconds before going to the dressing room. The four-time All-Star was back on the bench moments later and reported back in with 4:11 left in the third.Bryant missed seven of his first nine shots, but still led the Lakers to a 47-40 halftime lead — offsetting Gallinari’s 18 first-half points.Nuggets sixth man J.R. Smith picked up three fouls in less than 5 minutes after reporting into the game. He played 16 minutes and finished with only four points.Both teams got off to cold-shooting starts, with Los Angeles starting out 6-for-21 and Denver going 5-for-17.Referee Ron Garretson handed out technical fouls to Nuggets coach George Karl and Bryant during the second quarter.Jackson-coached teams are 38-21 against teams coached by George Karl during their off-and-on 17-year rivalry — including a 12-4 mark in the postseason. Jackson’s Bulls beat Karl’s Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals, and the Lakers eliminated the Nuggets from the playoffs in 2008 and 2009.Game notes Bryant needs to play 58 more minutes to become the 24th player in NBA history with at least 40,000 in the regular season … Former Lakers assistant coach Tex Winter, whose innovative triangle offense served as a blueprint for Jackson’s NBA-record 11 championships in Chicago and Los Angeles, will formally be announced as one of the newest members of the Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday prior to the NCAA championship game at Houston — the city where he spent his only two seasons as an NBA head coach with the Rockets in the early 1970s.
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Decrying years of unethical behavior in government, President Obama promised a more forceful emphasis on ethics. During his first week in office, he ordered tightened restrictions on lobbying, a salary freeze for key White House staff, and increased transparency in government. Two years later, it seems to most Americans not quite enough.
Barely a quarter of Americans (25 percent) say they can trust the government in Washington “to do the right thing most or almost all of the time” (CNN/Opinion Research Corporation

Algeria embraced the popular overthrow of Benali and Mubarak with happiness and pride. More onerously, however, these developments are a sobering reminder of Algeria’s recent history.
Far from being unprecedented in modern North African history, these recent events were long-preceded: in October 1988, a spontaneous and massive Algerian demonstration filled the streets, protesting shortages and calling for the democratization of a corrupt, autocratic, and inward-looking regime. Demonstrators wielded a plethora of slogans and banners (“We are human beings!” announced one) and the army opened fire, killing some 500 to 800 people. Ultimately, however, the demonstration proved effective in spite of this violent oppression: it marked the end of the one-party system and the brief rise of political pluralism.
Democracy was tragically

Minimal Impact to the Global Supply Chain?
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it has become fashionable for some in the global business community to believe that the economic impact of Japan’s earthquake will be minimal. No one can truly know the ultimate impact because the world has never experienced such a severe natural disaster in an economy so critical to the global supply chain: This is not Indonesia, New Zealand, Chile or Pakistan — which have also experienced recent severe earthquakes — this is Japan.
For the past three weeks, the world’s third largest economy has been plagued by chronic power shortages and supply chain disruptions — the ‘new normal,’ which is likely to continue for years. Although much of Japan’s heaviest manufacturing occurs in its south, which was largely undamaged as a result of the quake and tsunami, the ability to ship components to these facilities has in some cases been severely impacted, and ongoing power supply disruptions threaten to introduce long-term interruption into the production process.
Japan produces approximately 60% of the world’s silicon, used to produce semiconductor

It’s become a bad joke.
Ever since 1973, when OPEC first imposed a crippling oil boycott, one president after another has promised to wean us off our dependence on unstable sources of oil.
With great solemnity, our leaders have spoken of the dangers of our vulnerability, while pledging to usher in a new energy era.
Yet, nearly four decades after the first oil shock, startlingly, our dependence on imported oil has jumped from one-third of total consumption to nearly two-thirds.
So much for pledges and promises.
Meanwhile, take a country like Brazil, nearly the size of our own.
In 1973, it imported approximately 80 percent of its oil needs. Today, by contrast, the country is self-sufficient.
The difference between the United States and Brazil? Above all, national will.
Brazil’s leaders didn’t just talk up a good game. They acted with determination.
They shifted vehicles to flex fuel, drawing on domestically-grown sugar cane to produce

The advertising is unabashed: “Be the first to declare intergalactic war.”
If you somehow feel this is a worthy use of your time, you might wish to buy the Space Gift Box, a geeky item available for about $30 from internet retailers. It includes a small sheet of paper vaguely like a telegraph form on which to scribe your brief message. The promise is that your text will be digitally encoded and shot into the cosmos using a “laser telescope,” whatever that is.
Sending greeting cards to aliens is hardly a new

Fascinating and heartbreaking how the Japanese civilian population, once again, has been called upon to teach us a harsh lesson about nuclear energy.
In the past few decades, more details have emerged about the development and deployment of the nuclear weapons dropped on Japan during World War II. Best-selling books report about how some government officials and scientists involved with the project urged Leslie Groves and the military to drop the bomb over the ocean, just off the coast of Japan, as perhaps this measure would scare the enemy into surrendering.
Groves and other military leaders asserted that there were only three finished weapons and that if the “demonstration blast” did not produce the desired effect, the US would have squandered a rare (at that time) and expensive opportunity. Also, some believed that the dropping of the two bombs served some grim purpose as a medical experiment. What would the bomb actually do to a city, its infrastructure and its population?
Who would argue that the results of those two bombs have kept that option at bay since 1945?
In the wake of the recent Japanese nuclear disaster, Kenzaburo Oe writes in The New Yorker about Hiroshima:
I had written two pieces deconstructing the bizarre claims of the nuclear power

With this essay, I issue a challenge to LGBT Americans across the country regarding one of the most important priorities for our community at this moment: the urgent need to contribute our voices, our efforts and our resources to the existential struggle that the labor movement is currently waging against the Republican forces seeking to cripple the right of workers to collectively bargain and roll back workplace protections. I believe that our national organizations need to be putting feet on the streets and money on the table to support labor. I believe that we, as individuals, need to show up to support and defend workers. I do not suggest that this work should happen to the exclusion of our continued advocacy on traditional LGBT issues, but I do suggest that it should be a major commitment of the LGBT community right now, not just a symbolic statement of

Steve Biodrowski and Dan Persons narrowly avoid a sucker punch to the solar plexus as they dodge and feint their way through an examination of Zack Snyder’s new CGI-laced fantasy action pic.

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As expected, Universal scored another solid animated win for the weekend, as Hop opened with $38.1 million. At the moment, that number puts it just ahead of the $38.07 million scored by Rango a month ago. So, until tomorrow’s final numbers are released, Hop does have the top opening weekend of 2011. Regardless, this is a solid win for the occasionally beleaguered Universal, as the live-action/animation Easter comedy cost just $63

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Holed Southwest Airlines plane 'had metal fatigue'

Recently I came across a news report about one Alexandra Wallace. If you have not already heard, Ms. Wallace was a student at UCLA who authored a video that she then posted on the Internet. This video was what can only be called a diatribe against Asian students who annoyed

My experience with animals has been rich, and it has come in all shapes and forms. At one time I owned a large all-breed stallion station and racing stable complete with a tack and feed store. We had some cattle, dogs, cats and other farm animals, including our mother goats who would adopt orphaned foals. I share many stories in my book “What Does That Mean” about my animal friends and what they have taught me about life, spirituality and

One of the most complicated relationships some people have in their lives has nothing to do with another person, yet it embodies most of the emotions that occur in personal relationships. It is a relationship that they find both comforting and frightening, frustrating and loving. It defines them, yet it can limit how they live. It enhances or hinders their feelings of self-worth, and it is something that they cannot avoid having in their lives on a daily

On March 11, Japan was hit with an immense earthquake, followed by a catastrophic tsunami that reached the shore just minutes later. The damage from both has left thousands dead, missing or injured, has left millions without water, electricity and transportation and has caused concern over nuclear energy. For many, the world as we knew it has forever changed.
We’ve watched innumerable photos and videos of the devastation, horrified, shocked and determined to reach out and help where we can. What has come from this tragedy is a global outpouring of love and support not only for the people of Japan, but also for those in need

Is knitting news?! How could it be; knitting is so boring. Maybe, but then again, maybe not.
In this ongoing foray into Forgotten Women, sometimes a single, and singular, woman, such as Madame C.J. Walker, gets the focus; sometimes it’s a group, like the women of the MCNY Notorious & Notable exhibition; and sometimes it’s an amorphous group that (excuse the pun) knits us all together in our shared humanity. In this case, that would be women who knit.
Knitting has in fact made news lately: The National Women’s Hall of Fame announced its list of 11 new inductees on March 8, making up 247 women whose stories will soon be told in their new home, the Seneca Knitting

Daffodils in spring always make me think of my grandmother. Every year, the trumpet-like blossoms grew by the barbed-wire fence that ran along the front of her farmhouse in rural Alabama and curved around to the barn. Because the road turned as it approached her place, the stand of yellow flowers took drivers by surprise. The jonquils, as she called them, heralded the coming of

This week brought a slew of April Fools’ jokes from our media brethren. Hulu remade its page to look like it was 1996 — ancient history in Internet terms. Google introduced “Gmail motion,” a tool that allows users to send emails by using their body. YouTube offered the top 5 viral videos of

Source:Associated Press
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CHICAGO — Derrick Rose remembered the celebration the last time the Chicago Bulls met Toronto. He wasn’t about to let the Raptors yuck it up this time.Rose had 36 points and 10 assists, and Chicago took another step toward the top seed in the Eastern Conference with its 15th victory in 17 games, hanging on to beat the short-handed Raptors 113-106 on Saturday night.
ESPNChicago.com Bulls blog
The latest news from Bulls reporter Nick Friedell. Blog
The Bulls lead Miami by three games and Boston by 3 1/2. They also are within one of San Antonio for the NBA’s best record after squeezing by one of the league’s weakest teams.Rose scored at least 30 for the third time in five games and got a measure of revenge for a perceived slight in a loss at Toronto in late February.”I just remember them celebrating after they won back in Toronto,” he said.To Rose, it was embarassing.”When you see people celebrating when they normally don’t do that if you watch other games after they win, it kind of gets to you, especially being the person that I am,” he said. “I just try to feed off of anything, where by nature I’m just a quiet guy trying to get along with a lot of people.”Jerryd Bayless, charged with the unenviable task of guarding Rose, had nothing but praise for him.”That’s what an MVP is I guess,” Bayless said. “I think he should be it. I can’t speak highly enough about him.”Thanks in part to his star, Tom Thibodeau broke Phil Jackson’s club record for wins by a first-year coach as the Bulls improved to 56-20, but Rose was hardly alone.D-Rose Pedaling Up to His AirnessDerrick Rose’s six games with at least 30 points and 10 assists are the second most in a single season by a Bulls player in the past 25 seasons. Michael Jordan had 14 such games in 1988-89.Most Games With 30 Points, 10 Assists
Games
Season
Michael Jordan
14
1988-89
Derrick Rose
6
2010-11*
Michael Jordan
5
1989-90
Michael Jordan
4
1991-92
Michael Jordan
4
1987-88
*T-Most in NBA with Russell Westbrook
powered by Carlos Boozer added 18 points and 10 rebounds despite early foul trouble, Luol Deng scored 17 points and Taj Gibson had 15 points and nine rebounds. Kyle Korver came up big down the stretch to finish with 10 points, and Chicago won despite some shaky stretches on defense, with Toronto shooting just over 50 percent.It helped that the Bulls outrebounded the Raptors 43-33 even though Joakim Noah missed his third straight game because of a sprained right ankle. The Raptors were no picture of health, either.With leading scorer Andrea Bargnani sidelined by a sore right ankle and guard Jose Calderon staying home because of a sore left hamstring, the Raptors dropped their sixth straight.Bayless, filling in for Calderon, and DeMar DeRozan each scored 26 points for Toronto. Leandro Barbosa added 18 points, and Ed Davis had 17 points and 11 rebounds in Bargnani’s place.”We kept the momentum at our pace,” DeRozan said. “They just executed well and we made a few mistakes at the end of the game.”The Bulls led by as much as 13 in the first half and were up 53-43 at the break, but the Raptors wiped that out in the third, tying it at 74 at one point before Chicago regained the lead. The Bulls got it back up to 11 in the fourth quarter and hung on after seeing it shrink to four several times.It was 102-98 after DeRozan drove for a layup with 2:30 left, but Kyle Korver buried a 3 from the right corner with 1:40 remaining.Then, after Bayless banked in a runner, Korver nailed a jumper at the shot-clock buzzer to make it 107-100 with just over a minute left.The Raptors weren’t quite finished as Barbosa banked in a runner.Rose answered by nailing a floater with 26.3 seconds left to boost the lead back up to seven — 109-102 — and give the Bulls some breathing room, although he followed that with a poor defensive play. He flew out at Bayless and fouled him as he attempted a corner jumper with 20.3 seconds left.Bayless hit both free throws after the shot was downgraded from a 3, but Korver hit two from the line and the Bulls hung on.”You have to win different ways,” Thibodeau said. “The bottom line is getting the win. They were short-handed. They played extremely well. They played hard, they played smart, they played unselfishly. They put a lot of pressure on us, and in the end, I thought we did the things that we needed to do.”Game notes The Bulls hope to have Noah back Tuesday night against Phoenix. “He’s almost there,” Thibodeau said. “We’re going to wait one more day. He’s good straight ahead and not quite there laterally yet.” … Rose said he was fine after hurting his left ankle in the second half Friday night at Detroit. “Right now, it’s good,” he said before the game.
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In a post this week, Taylor Burton-Edwards, Director of Worship Resources of the General Board of Discipleship — a national organization of the United Methodist Church charged with helping local churches by “equipping world changing disciples” — asked what “missional Methodists” should do in the face of our church’s newest digital report card toy — dashboards.
To see an example of this nifty gadget click here.
Notice you can find out weekly information about churches that have the biggest gain or loss in membership and attendance, baptisms and professions of faith (you can even click on a link to those naughty churches that have not turned in their weekly numbers yet … tisk, tisk).
In the end, Burton-Edwards, although he criticizes this form of documenting “maintenance discipleship”, advises pastors to fill out the forms and then go beyond them

Duke University sociologist Mark Chaves’ working title for his new book on trends in U.S. religion was “Continuity and Change in American Religion.”
But the folks on the Princeton University Press marketing team suggested he could attract more attention with the bolder title: The Decline of American Religion.
Chaves, director of the National Congregations Study, took another look at research showing indicators of traditional beliefs and practices are either stable or falling in a nation that is a symbol of the staying power of religion in the West.
His conclusion: “The burden of proof has shifted to those who want to claim that American religiosity is not declining.”
Chaves shared his perspective in a paper on “The Decline of American Religion?” for the Association of Religion Data

Having recently returned from the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, which I have attended on behalf of my clients for the past 30 years, there is an issue I feel compelled to address, one completely avoided by most Christians.
It has bothered me since the first time I entered the large atrium at the Washington Sheraton, where the convention used to be held in the 80s and early-90s. When I walked into the atrium in 1983 — new to the industry — I had no idea about what to expect, but I was shocked and ill prepared by what I witnessed, nonetheless. Within a few minutes of my entrance, the Jim & Tammie Faye Bakker Show commenced live from the atrium, complete with orchestra, singers and complementing cast. It was a performance worthy of a Las Vegas or New York production: polished, professional, well-choreographed and upbeat, as well as disingenuous, pretentious and slick.
At the center of attention, amid all of the acclaim, were Jim and Tammy Faye, both exquisitely dressed, well-manicured and perfectly

Near the end of Ben Hur, as Judah Ben-Hur and Balthasar stand broken and weary at the feet of the crucified Jesus, Balthasar explains how in this act of self-sacrifice Jesus took upon himself the sins of all mankind. This may have been powerful moviemaking but it was terrible history. Okay, he was a wise man, but how exactly he worked out over two centuries of Christian theology in just two minutes was never adequately explained. But given the context of the times, maybe William Wyler didn’t have to do much explaining; that Jesus died for our sins was a social given in