After a horrible start to the season, the Cavs put together some nice games and won 5 in a row over the past 2 weeks. The offense seems to be coming together, for the most part, and the team has shown some signs of life. Certainly there’s no reason to panic and the Cavaliers currently sit at 4th in the Eastern Conference. This is all positive.

On the negative side, we’re already seeing some injuries start to pile up, in addition to the ongoing drama surrounding Delonte West. Even when Delonte has been on the floor, he’s not the same guy he was last year. I’ve seen an occasional defensive resurgence from him, but his offense is mostly atrocious and he looks consistently angry/frustrated and out of place. I honestly don’t know if he’ll make it back and he might be more trouble than he’s worth at this point. It pains me to say that because I loved Delonte last year. The good news is that bipolar disorder can “cycle” the other way from depressed to manic at random. In theory, Delonte could flip it around tomorrow. However, I think the uncertainty is a bit of a problem for the Cavs right now.

At the same time that Steven Tyler has decided to take a break from the band Aerosmith, his bandmates are expressing concerns over the aging rocker's well-being. Specifically, they believe that he may again be abusing illegal drugs.

Drummer Joey Kramer said:

"I think that he needs help and that attention needs to be put to his health."

And by that Kramer isn't referring to the broken shoulder that Tyler suffered in August when he fell off a stage during a concert.

Tyler has battled an addiction to drugs in the past. Just last year in May 2008, Tyler checked himself into rehab. At the time, his turbulent relationship with his girlfriend was said to be part of the reason. She was quite the party girl and their relationship was on-again-off-again for more than two years. Others, however, suggested at the time that his relapse might also be connected to Tyler's various health issues in recent years, leading to a dependence on pain killers.

Back in May 2008, one of his friends commented:

GOP Base Believes ACORN Helped Him Steal the Election

According to a new national poll from Public Policy Polling, a majority of Republicans do not believe that Barack Obama actually won the 2008 election. Instead, they believe that ACORN stole it.

The poll posed the question, "Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?" Overall, 62% of Americans believe he won legitimately and 26% believe ACORN stole it.

Amongst Republicans, however, a mere 27% believe that Obama actually won. A 52% majority of Republicans believe that ACORN stole it. 22% were undecided.

In comparision, Independents came in with 72% believing Obama won, 18% believing that ACORN stole the election, and 10% undecided. Democrats came in at 86%, 9% and 4% respectively.

One of the obvious comparisions that could be made here is that many Democrats felt that George W. Bush did not legitimately win the 2000 election. There are, however, some pretty big differences. The first being that Al Gore actually won the popular vote, but lost in a disputed recount process in Florida. In comparison, John McCain lost in 2008 by a 53% to 46% margin.

A tour bus carrying the lighting crew for Miley Cyrus flipped over early Friday morning on a rain-slicked Virginia highway. One person was killed in the tragic accident.

Cyrus was not aboard the bus when it overturned at 8:15am on Interstate 85. The lone fatality was the bus driver, and one of the nine people on the bus also suffered minor injuries.

The bus ended up lying on its side on a grassy slope just off the highway. The bus was a part of a four vehicle caravan associated with Miley's on-going tour.

Miley is due to next perform on Sunday in Greensboro, NC.

If you are the slightest bit pudgy, you may want to reconsider that trip to Peru. Peruvian police have captured several members of a remote jungle gang that kills people for their fat. The fat is then reportedly sold on the black market for use in cosmetics.

One of the suspects revealed that the killers would cut off their victims' heads and limbs, remove the organs, and then suspend the torsos from hooks over candles to melt fat from the bodies.

Three suspects have confessed to killing five people for their fat. Two suspects were arrested carrying bottles of liquid fat and revealed to police that it was worth $60,000 per gallon. Police seized two bottles of amber colored fluid from the suspects, and testing later proved it was human fat.

The suspects said that the fat was sold to intermediaries in Lima. Officials suspect that the fat was sold to cosmetic companies in Europe.

Police refer to the jungle gang as the "Pishtacos" after a Peruvian myth of Incas who killed to extract human fat, quartering their victims with machetes.

Six gang members, including the leader, Hilario Cudena, 56, have thus far eluded capture. Cudena has been said to have been killing to extract fat from victims for more than three decades.

The future is now. Cleveland State seniors gave Norris Cole the nickname "The Future" last year as they could see that then sophomore would be the leader of the young Vikings in the coming years. Cole showed what they were talking about this evening leading the Vikings with 38 points in a 78-64 win over Florida A&M this evening. It was the most points that the Dayton Dunbar product has scored at any level. Cole said after the game:

"I took it as it came. I wanted to have the offense under control and take what the defense gave me. The shot was falling today and my teammates were coming to me and the shots were falling tonight."

Head coach Gary Waters noted:

"Norris' play today was tremendous. He controlled the offense and he scored some points and that shows that good things are ahead for him if he can continue to do those two things. He took control of the game out there and played the best that I have ever seen him play this year. Not only did he play well offensively, but he defended against their best player. But we can't win against the big boys with Norris scoring 38."

An Ohio school was asked by the American Civil Liberties Union to put an end to punishing a student refusing to stand and receive the Pledge of Allegiance. Roxanne Westover, 17, says that she is an atheist and considers the pledge to be more religious than patriotic.

Because Westover refused to participate in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, she says she was sent to the principal's office at Hubbard High School several times.

On Tuesday, the ACLU wrote to school district officials arguing that students have right not to say the pledge as a matter of free speech.

Superintendent Richard Buchenic says that he told the ACLU that the matter has been "dealt with."

Carrie Davis, ACLU of Ohio staff counsel, says that Hubbard High School intends to follow a district policy that states students are not required to recite the pledge.

Cuyahoga County has paid MMPI another $1,240,799 in addition to the monthly fees of $333,333.33, according to figures from the County Auditor’s department.

The monthly fees have cost County taxpayers some $2.3 million to MMPI. As I noted earlier, MMPI collects this each month as a fee and give no details of spending for the monthly check. The added $1.2 million went for other tasks performed for or by MMPI.

In addition, the County itself has spent $611,801 of the sales tax monies collected since January 2008. The total collected as of the end of October was $74,454,985.70.

The breakdown of the County’s expenditures is $61,517 in salary, $9,839 in benefits and $540,365 in contracts associated with the Medical Mart and Convention Center project. I am seeking a breakdown of the $540,000 payments.

The three payments made to MMPI, the Chicago firm contracted with to build and operate the Med Mart and Convention Center by County Commissioners Tim Hagan, Jimmy Dimora and Peter Lawson Jones, were in the amounts of $125,185, $385,129 and $730,485, according to the County Auditor.

To enliven debates, here are the official lines on this weekend’s playoff games. Heaviest favorites are Mooney (25), Kettering Alter (21), Delphos St. John (19) and Glenville (17½). Here we go. Good luck to all the teams. Favorites on the left. Spread, Over/Under.

DIVISION I
Glenville 17½ 39 Solon
Canton McKinley 5½ 48 Massillon
Dublin Coffman 1 31 Hilliard Davidson
Cincinnati Elder 8 50 Cin. Anderson

DIVISION II
Lake Catholic 8 52 Ashland
Maple Hts. 2 43 Toledo St. Francis
Marion-Franklin Pick 45 Brookhaven
Cin. Winton Woods 9 55 Trotwood-Madison

DIVISION III
Cardinal Mooney 25 49 Poland Seminary
Col. DeSales 11 35 Col. Watterson
Steubenville 10½ 45 Dover
Wyoming 2½ 54 Springfield Shawnee

DIVISION IV
Chagrin Falls 8½ 51 Woodridge
Orrville 3½ 48 Ottawa-Glandorf
Ironton 7 35 Coshocton
Kettering Alter 21 47 Clinton-Massie

DIVISION V
Youngstown Ursuline 13½ 41 Cuyahoga Hts.
Hamler Patrick Henry 12 ½ 52 Defiance Timora
Fredericktown 1 50 West Lafayette Ridgewood
Coldwater 11 38 St. Henry

Local Blog-artist The Chef's Widow is providing a giveaway for Clevelanders, urging citizens to shop locally for the holiday season. The contest is derived of an interesting concept called the "3/50 Project".

The idea is simple: over the span of 3 months, try to spend at least $50 of your everyday shopping at a local, independently-owned merchants in the Cleveland area. Sounds simple enough, but the statistics regarding the positive effect it has on our city is quite surprising.

As explained at the Project's main website, "If half the employed population spent $50 each month in locally owned independent business, it would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue [per the U.S. Labor Department as of 2/6/09]".

It continues, "For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures".

As a Cleveland-based independent news source, it seems only fitting that Cleveland Leader gets behind such an interesting idea and help spread the word. To participate in the Chef Widow's contest, all the details can be found on her blog which features some great prizes just in time for the Holiday season.