Since the time when NHL opted for a best-of-seven playoff (almost 70 years ago), the New York Islanders and Maple Leafs, rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. No team wants to stoop down to a 3-0 but that’s where the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings were, during the last week.

Currently, the Red Wings face elimination after blowing a 3-1 lead to the San Jose Sharks in Game 3 to lose 4-3. Maybe the Wings’ loss in Game 1 was due to the fatigue factor after facing the Sharks only two days since the recent match against the Phoenix Coyotes.

And as for Game 3, the Wings are only blaming themselves for losing it. They failed to maintain a 2 goal lead when the victory was almost in their hands. Wings are not hiding behind any stones or excuses, and this goes to their credit but that’s not enough for the managers and the diehard fans.

History seems to be repeating itself against the Red Wings and Flyers and this is definitely going to take a psychological toll on certain aspects of both teams. They won’t admit defeat and are barely willing to acknowledge the major challenges facing them and they are good for the talking part. But when it comes to taking down one game at a time, well, they can do a lot better I suppose.

The recent NPT (Non Proliferation Treaty) had five signatories, namely; US, Russia, China, Britain and France. Noticeably, among all five of them, the U.S. and Russia are the main sources of nuclear warheads because of the vast majority of weapons they have.

On the other side of the picture, we have three countries – Pakistan, India and Israel, who didn’t sign up for the NPT and that is why no one from their side showed up to represent them. Plus, these countries are known for secretly developing nuclear weapons and most of the times, they get by with a small slap on the wrist.

Iran is a unique case because it lies at the core of the entire NPT conference and yet again, the Iranian President (Ahmadinejad) is going to take part further discussions on nuclear power, until May 28th – New York. At one point, Iran openly admits the possession of nuclear warheads but they also openly deny those “requests” that are made through negotiations, pertaining to calling it quits with their nuclear weapons program.

Israel and Pakistan are not members of the NPT, but they’re both strengthening their nuclear assets so that potential threats can be held back. Pakistan is threatened by the Sunni Militants and Israel is under pressure/threat by Syrians and some Muslim parties. This phenomenon is known as; being prepared for the unexpected, according to one’s own fears.

The last 2005 NPT conference ended without any final decisions and this time, some countries have high hopes that they’re all going to hit a proper solution or some sort of decision. Let us wait, till May 28th and see what unfolds in the coming days.

Faisal Shahzad – A Pakistani born U.S. citizen was accused of trying to set off a bomb in the heart of Manhattan on last Saturday night. If convicted (which he probably will be), he is going to be subject to a life imprisonment sentence by the court of law.

Being a son of a former Pakistani vice air marshal, it was pretty unimaginable of Shahzad to be capable of such crime, because he belonged to a decent family with a humble background. However, something must have happened in his past (we are not so sure about that), because on Saturday night, Shahzad drove a raw homemade bomb of gasoline, propane gas and fertilizer, into the Times Square field.

The bomb didn’t go off as it was intended to and two locals on the spot, heard some pops and crackles and saw a lot of smoke coming out of the SUV. Security was alerted instantly and soon the bomb was successfully defused. The investigating authorities say that this bomb was capable of taking hundreds of innocent life but luckily it didn’t set off for some reason.

Shahzad was already half way across the country but still, American authorities managed to catch him dramatically by calling the Emirates airliner back to the air base. The plane was evacuated and later on, security officers captured Shahzad on the spot.

Pakistani foreign minister – Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that this recent terrorist attempt was an answer to the previously failed New York subway bombing incident. The Taliban are teaming up once again in order to retaliate against the United States of America.

In hopes of preventing future terrorist attacks, the U.S. and Pakistani security officials are working as a team and they’re investigating this matter thoroughly, by inquiring Shahzad about his training tenure in Pakistan and his affiliation with the Taliban.

The suspect belongs to a highly literate family and holds an MBA degree, that’s why; officials are trying to probe deeper and to get to know the whole story behind this alleged terrorism attempt.

Investors are in a grumpy shade these days because they trimmed the sails of corporate insiders in accordance to votes from two major banks. These “victories” were unusual because they emerged despite of the opposition from company’s board of directors.

Share holders just passed a resolution at Bank of America that is going to give shareholders to call a meeting as long as owners are going to vote in favor of it. But there’s a small catch to it as well, the meeting can only be called if owners of 10% of the shares are willing to unite. Initially the limit was set to a 25% but Ray Chevedden (Los Angeles) made some last minute changes to this proposal, he himself, owns over 200 shares.

Shareholders will be able to take part in the nomination of new directors, make suggestion in important matters and take part in decision making through the new resolution. BofA has tried to convince shareholders to vote against the proposal from Ray Chevedden because it is believed that the current 10% to 25% limit is only going to represent a balance between the ability of shareholders to call one of those special meetings, while the interest of our company and its stockholders is going to be ignored to some extent.

One similar proposal was also motioned last year at Bank of New York Mellon and it got a big mainstream support from different people. Although, the mainstream doesn’t always constitute of high ranking officials like; bank directors, but still, it does hold a major number of influential people.

In related news (previous bombing plans in America), two top Al-Qaeda leaders were identified in regards to ordering a massive terrorist attack on New York subway system. The U.S. authorities call it as – “one of the deadliest terrorist plans”, since the fateful incident of Sept. 11, 2001.

Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay were found guilty of planning this terrifying act in the Brooklyn courtroom. Ahmedzay (New York City Taxi Driver) confessed in the courtroom that he plotted this suicide attack in the month of Ramadan, with Zazi and some other foreign aides.

Both Zazi and Ahmedzay met on the borders of Pakistan-Afghanistan, amidst the company of some other Al-Qaeda leaders, who instructed them to go back to America and carry on with this mission. From then on, a proper plan was planned, towards the detonation of explosives in the New York subway system.

Ahmedzay and Zazi are facing several other charges of planning terrorist activities and after the accusations are proved (which will be eventually), they’re going to face the prison, on a life sentence basis. Ahmedzay and Zazi would have been lucky if their request for staying in Afghanistan and fighting the sacred fight was accepted, but the Al-Qaeda leaders decided on letting them move back to America and execute the plan.

A third man, Adis Medunjanin was also caught during the investigations but this lucky fella has been found “not guilty”. Unfortunately it’s another ‘0’ for the terrorists and ‘1’ for the FBI. Let’s see how Obama Administration is going to counter the upcoming terrorist threats, plans and deadly plots.

In the news today, President Obama has tied the nation’s recession towards unending taxes and job losses, to the loose and malfunctioned oversight of the Wall Street executives. He emphasized on the essentiality of learning lessons from the past and not repeating them. This sort of lifestyle isn’t acceptable to me, and to all the American people – said President Obama.

Don’t get carried away by the breezy speech by President Obama because the Americans had it coming, after the announcement of a bill to curb the financial turmoil. The failure of financial institutions is going to jeopardize America’s economy and that is why the financial reform bill was passed.

Seeing that the Republicans were all up for a big “NO” against the financial reform bill, Sen. Chuck Schumer (Democrats – N. Y), found it really hard to believe. He was assuming that both parties will be working together for the betterment of the country and its people, because it was a big cause.

In his speech, President Obama spoke to an audience of 700 people. Some of the Chief Guests included;

* New York Gov. David Paterson
* New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
* Former Federal Reserve Chairman – Paul Volcker

President Obama spoke as if he had the audience full of Wall Street executives and at one point, when he did mention something about Wall Street, there were significant “Boos” to be heard. But he did say this out loud that a selfish and cold hearted pursuit for profits is only going to roughen up the economy.

Roger Goodell is an NFL commissioner and also a son of a New York politician. His father – Charles Goodell spent some of his time, serving the House of Representatives in 1968, and got appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, as a replacement for the Senate seat of Robert F. Kennedy (who was assassinated in June of 1968).

Charles Goodell was one of the very few men who spoke up against the Vietnam War, despite of being a Republican at that time in America. It all happened at the end of 60’s while Richard Nixon was in his office and Charles Goodell didn’t fear anything and spoke up for something, which he believed to be right.

Hence, like father – like son, because Roger Goodell learned about standing out and speaking up at a very young age. Being a strict NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell handed out a short time ban to Ben Roethlisberger. On Wednesday morning, Goodell spoke from his office and his words reflected all the things he had been contemplating recently;

* Why is it so hard to prevent people from committing mistakes? Why do we have to wait around for mistakes to take place and then later on, act wisely? (he was referring to Ben Roethlisberger)

Some people asked Goodell about the “personal code and conduct policy” of the League. They believe that those policies are not really working because Goodell has been using them too much, which shows that, people are not paying attention.

But Goodell humbly responded by saying that we are always going to have one incident or another, with over 2,000 young men. We are still trying to make a difference here and it is going to take some time, but we cant hold everyone accountable for someone else’s fault.

Call it an “Eric Massa-cre” inquiry or anything you want, but the House Ethics Committee has laid down the votes for carrying on with a formal investigation on former Republican Eric Massa, for ‘inappropriate” (read Homosexual) and or “offensive” (read Homophobic) behavior.

I appreciate Eric’s sense of honesty and truthfulness before his resignation, as he did agree towards harassing his male staff members. But what’s the whole point? What’s the point of denying allegations and then “admitting” them finally when you don’t have any choice left? This is how the whole process started in the first place;

-          March 5^th, 2010 initiated with the resignation from Eric Massa, based on the health and sickness related excuses.

-          Then Massa said that he is being bothered by his fellow congressmen and they are railroading him because of his stances on healthcare.

-          Then he blamed the “Toxic Atmosphere” of Washington DC (seemed more of a Catch-On, Catch off excuse to me).

-          And finally, this is where he admitted to groping and tickling his male aides. It later on turned out to be one of Eric Massa’s off time games.

The New York Democrat said that he had served in Navy with over 10,000 men, as his colleagues and they could ask any one of them, about their work experience with Erica Massa.  Our sources only asked a handful of Massa’s former shipmates in the navy and they all agreed that Massa had been sexually harassing his co-workers.

All we are saying is that this story has a lot more to it so stay tuned for more updates and let’s see how it all unfolds in near future.

New York – “Guru”, the mighty rapper, known for his vast talent pool, finally succumbed to a long battle against cancer. The guy was practically a genius when it came to rap music and the way he;

-          Was known for his music

-          Unique intellectual themes

-          Monotone delivery

-          Combination of rap/ hip-hop music and jazz

It was all so breath taking and awe inspiring for millions of fans out there. Like Michael Jackson, the world has again lost an invaluable asset. Surely, we’ll miss this Hip-Hop icon for ages to come because people like “Guru” are born every hundred years.

Guru also had a nonprofit cancer organization by the name of, “Each One Counts”. In his last letter, he thanked his friends for being there for him, the nonprofit organization and also talked about his beloved son KC.

His real name was Keith Elam and he was born near Boston. After moving to New York, Guru/Keith Elam released his first album – “No More Mr. Nice Guy” in 1989. However, 1998 was a truly colorful year for “Guru” because his album, “Moment of Truth” – hit the top charts.

Later on, Guru made his name as a solo artist in some part of his career. Throughout his life, he had the experience of working with various artists and music directors. He thanked all of them in his “farewell” letter and expressed his gratitude towards different notable people, with whom he had the honor of having their company.

According to Bill Clinton, it is necessary to consider someone for the Supreme Court who has never been a judge.

It turned out that President Barack Obama uses just the same model that was followed by Clinton. At that time the former president was trying to persuade Mario Cuomo, New York Gov. along with George Mitchell, Senate Majority Leader, to become a nominee for the high court. But in fact, the trial was unsuccessful.

Justice John Paul Stevens recently announced his decision to retire which gives Obama another chance to elaborate the court’s composition.

During the first years in office, Bill Clinton had two court vacancies. As a result, two federal appeals court judges were nominated, i.e. 60 year-old Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader who was in his early 50s.

Obama was urged by the former president to choose someone who is around 50 years old.

According to the democratic predecessor of Obama in the White House, Mitchell, who was a judge before serving in the Senate, and Cuomo could made good justices, but both refused. Clinton expressed his hopes that Obama would choose a person who had never been a judge.

Elena Kagan, Solicitor General, who is 49 years old, has never been a judge. She is also under consideration. Among others who can match the description, one can name 52-years-old Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, Deval Patrick, 53, Massachusetts Gov. and Gov. Jennifer Granholm, 51.

Last year Sonia Sotomayor was considered as a federal appellate judge.