Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Oh, God, we are afflicted with a leadership of idiots
They are praying to kill health reform. Andrew Tobias writes, "Understand, they are not praying to help the 47 million uninsured or heal the 45,000 people estimated to die each year for lack of coverage, these Senators are praying to keep the status quo."
RICHARD ROEPER: Race-baiting Rush politicizes Haitian tragedy
Leave it to Rush Limbaugh to engage in race-baiting as he instantly politicized the devastating earthquake in Haiti: ...
Bill Press: Harry Reid is No Trent Lott (dailypress.com)
There's no such thing as an "off-the-record" comment. That's usually one of the first lessons any politician learns. But poor Harry Reid had to learn it the hard way.
National Resources Defense Council: An Assessment of the Obama Administration's First-Year Environmental Record pdf file
In his first year in office, President Barack Obama and his administration have taken a remarkable number of actions to address a wide variety of environmental challenges.
Randi Kaye: Fake scent-tracking dog sends man to prison for 26 years (cnn.com)
A Florida man who was convicted of murder in part because of the work of an allegedly infallible scent-tracking dog, was freed from jail eight months ago because DNA testing confirmed that the dog and the dog's owner were a fraud. Unfortunately for Bill Dillon he had to spend 26 years in prison before the error in his case was rectified.
Teddy Pendergrass: singer (timesonline.co.uk)
Teddy Pendergrass epitomised the "lover man" school of black American soul singing. Like Barry White, he was known as "a bard of the boudoir", and at the height of his fame in the 1970s he frequently held "ladies only" concerts at which his romantic ballads and songs of seduction produced an extraordinary reaction in his swooning audience.
Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass dies at 59 (Associated Press)
He became the reigning sex symbol of R&B in the 1970s and '80s and then an inspirational figure after a car accident left him paralyzed.
Jason King: "An appreciation: Teddy Pendergrass, R&B's smooth, sensual stylist"
Perhaps it's fitting that music critics often characterized the fervid baritone of soul music icon Teddy Pendergrass, who died from colon cancer on Wednesday at 59, as having the metaphoric power of an earthquake -- rumbling, potent, vital.
Sean Michaels: Garage rocker Jay Reatard dies, aged 29 (guardian.co.uk)
Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr, aka Jay Reatard, one of the most prolific and celebrated artists in the US punk-rock scene, has been found dead at his home in Memphis.
Dennis McLellan: "Dom DeLuise dies at 75; actor was a 'naturally funny man'" (from May 6, 2009; latimes.com)
The Brooklyn-born entertainer was a regular on TV variety shows in the 1960s and provided comedic support in movies for actors such as Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds.
Aditya Chakrabortty: "Brain food: how to stick to your New Year resolutions" (guardian.co.uk)
What's the best incentive to hang in there with that diet? Humiliation.
Scott Burns: The Investment Value of Generic Drugs (assetbuilder.com)
Have you noticed that things aren't working quite as you hoped? I have, and it has made me want to hit back.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'What ever happened to... Where are they now?' Edition
Every now and again, an article appears about what a former 'Celebrity', e.g. an actor/actress, politician, author, musician or sports star, is now doing in their present state of obscurity and where they're doing it.
Is there a former 'Celebrity' that you'd be interested in knowing where they are and what they're doing?
Send your response to
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
Dumped By PBS
Bill Moyers Journal
Two of the hardest-hitting shows on public television--Now and the Bill Moyers Journal--will be going off the air in April, as FAIR reported last month (Action Alert, 12/15/09). The two shows stand out as examples of what PBS public affairs programs should be: unflinching independent journalism and analysis. The shows have covered poverty, war and media consolidation--not to mention serious discussions of subjects taboo elsewhere, like the case for impeaching George W. Bush.
PBS has offered very little explanation of what will replace these shows, saying only that they will announce changes sometime this month. But one line-up change many PBS viewers will see this February is the addition of Ideas in Action--a show produced by the George W. Bush Institute, part of the new presidential library in Dallas.
Such conservative, corporate-friendly programming is hardly new on PBS, which has long aired shows hosted by conservatives (McLaughlin Group, Think Tank With Ben Wattenberg, Tony Brown's Journal) as well as corporate-oriented programs (Nightly Business Report, CEO Exchange, Wall Street Week With Fortune). Under Bush CPB chair Ken Tomlinson, PBS launched the Journal Editorial Report, a program that featured the Wall Street Journal's right-wing editorial board and was supposed to be a "balance" to Now--although unlike the Editorial Report, Now frequently had guests whose views differed from those of the show's producers.
With Now and the Moyers Journal going off the air, and at least one new public television offering produced by the Bush Institute, what will PBS offer viewers in the way of new, hard-hitting programming?
Bill Moyers Journal
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PBS will broadcast a one-hour public affairs program called "Need to Know," to be produced by New York's WNET.org, on Friday nights beginning May 7, the organizations plan to announce on Wednesday. The new show, to originate from WNET's soon-to-be-opened studio at Lincoln Center, will blend field reports, features and interviews on topics including the economy, the environment, health, security and culture, and will make extensive use of public input generated online. No anchor or reporters have been announced. "Need to Know" will replace the public affairs programs "Bill Moyers Journal" and "Now," which end in April. As part of the remake of PBS's news and public affairs lineup, John Wilson, who oversees TV programming, said that PBS also planned to open a Web portal in May that would aggregate all of its news and public affairs content, as well as journalism from local public stations.
PBS Sets New Shows - NYTimes.com
Celebrity Relief
Haiti
Sandra Bullock said Friday she donated $1 million toward Haitian earthquake relief, and Madonna announced she gave $250,000 toward the effort as celebrity aid continued to pour into the devestated country.
Bullock's contribution went to Doctors Without Borders' emergency operations in Port-Au-Prince, where three of the organization's existing facilities were damaged by the magnitude 7.0 quake.
Madonna's gift was to Partners In Health, a longtime medical provider in Haiti.
Earlier Friday, Not On Our Watch, an advocacy and grantmaking group founded by George Clooney, Brad Pitt and others, donated $1 million to Partners in Health.
Haiti
Ratings Soaring
Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien's ratings are soaring as he nears a bitter exit from NBC's "Tonight" show, his ridicule of his network executives apparently resonating in a country filled with the unemployed.
His ratings Friday were 50 percent higher than they've been this season, and he beat CBS' David Letterman, according to a preliminary Nielsen Co. estimate based on large markets. In the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that NBC relies on to set advertising prices, O'Brien even beat Jay Leno's prime-time show.
O'Brien's ratings have been rising through the week, which was an extraordinary one in late-night television and saw O'Brien and Letterman hurling barbed remarks at Leno, and Leno firing back.
O'Brien's team sees the ratings as vindication. His manager, Gavin Polone, on Saturday compared it to when Leno, trailing Letterman in the ratings in the mid-1990s, drew attention for the memorable appearance of Hugh Grant after his arrest. Leno passed Letterman in popularity and never looked back.
Conan O'Brien
New Strategy
USA Network
Cable television's top-rated network, USA, is shaking things up a bit.
Starting this week, USA will no longer air any of its original dramas on Friday nights but will start putting new shows at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday and Wednesday, nights that had previously been reserved for reruns of network shows like "NCIS."
The season premiere of "White Collar" on Tuesday starts the new schedule. "Psych" will start on Wednesdays on Jan. 27.
USA will be trading away a signature Friday night where shows like "Monk" thrived for several years, in favor of two nights when more people generally are watching television.
USA Network
Made Of Chocolate
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall never looked so tasty: a team of Chinese confectioners have built a 10 meter (33 ft) long replica of the structure entirely out of chocolate in a bid to entice Chinese to eat more of the sweet stuff.
The chocolate wall is made from solid dark chocolate bricks stuck together with white chocolate and is one of the attractions at the World Chocolate Wonderland exhibition and trade show which will open to the public later this month.
Chocolatier Wang Qilu said his version of the ancient wall was a feat of engineering in itself, with a carefully constructed crumbling section at one end to resemble the real thing. He also had to make sure his materials did not melt.
Up to 80 tons of chocolate were used in making the displays, which include a mini-army of 560 chocolate replicas of the famous Terracotta Warriors standing to attention on a layer of chocolate flakes.
Great Wall of China
Giving Way To Streaming
Music Downloads
Apple remains the world's dominant digital music retailer, but it's a distinction that might be of decreasing significance as the digital market transforms from a model based on a la carte downloads to one of streaming access. Indeed, Apple's late-year acquisition of streaming music provider Lala points to the company's own expected shift in that direction.
The migration from downloads to streams is driven by several factors. First is the realization that the digital download market is beginning to level off.
While digital downloads account for the vast majority of digital music revenue, they aren't even close to making up for the lost revenue from falling CD sales. That's why labels and digital music services are turning more attention to streaming music access services that carry either a monthly fee or provide opportunities to "upsell" to other products.
The download-to-own model has trumped streaming in part because only downloads give music fans the kind of control over their music that they want. Want to listen to downloads on a PC and a hand-held media player? Until recently, the only way for most consumers to do so was to buy a download.
Music Downloads
Courts To Rule On
Fan-Created Music Videos
More than a decade after the launch of Napster, the recording industry's complicated legal relationship with Web-savvy music fans seems no closer to resolution. But a number of cases winding their way through the courts may bring a bit of clarity in 2010 to one particularly fuzzy area of the law: fan-created online videos that contain music.
The major labels have all worked out deals with YouTube to split ad revenue with the site after a user uploads a music video. But considering that labels don't issue explicit licenses to users and YouTube continues to warn against uploading copyrighted material, it isn't clear whether the labels actually want fans to upload their music in the first place. Meanwhile, other copyright owners who don't have deals with YouTube, such as Viacom and music publisher Bourne, are still pursuing copyright infringement suits against the video-sharing giant.
The latest action taken by a major label against a video-sharing site -- and a key case to watch in the new year -- were suits filed in December by EMI Music imprints Capitol, Caroline and Virgin and EMI Music Publishing against Vimeo.com, a division of online media conglomerate IAC. EMI charges that the site infringes on its copyrights by allegedly encouraging users to upload videos containing professionally produced music. The EMI suit also focuses on "lip dubs" (a phrase EMI says was coined by Vimeo), homemade videos that feature fans lip-synching to professional recordings, including many from the major labels.
Fan-Created Music Videos
FBI Borrows Face
Gaspar Llamazares
A Spanish lawmaker was horrified to learn that the FBI used an online photograph of him to create an image showing what Osama bin Laden might look like today.
The image using Gaspar Llamazares' photo appeared on a wanted poster updating the U.S. government's 1998 photo of the al-Qaida leader.
FBI spokesman Ken Hoffman acknowledged to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that the agency used a picture of Llamazares taken from Google Images.
In a statement Saturday, the agency would say only that it was aware of similarities between their age-progressed image "and that of an existing photograph of a Spanish public official."
Gaspar Llamazares
Governor In Hot Water
Northern Mariana Islands
The governor of the US-administered Northern Mariana Islands is feeling the heat after ordering the temporary release of a jailed suspect to give him a massage.
Benigno R. Fitial, the most senior politician in the western Pacific territory, demanded Chinese masseuse, Qing Mei Cheng, be set free on January 8 to treat him for back pain.
The masseuse was taken from the local prison, where she was being held on people smuggling charges, to the governor's mansion before being returned to jail.
Fitial, who won re-election for a second term in a run-off election in November, made headlines late last year when he had to drive himself around after his driver was convicted of dealing drugs from the official car.
Northern Mariana Islands
New Tour
Los Angeles Gangland
Only miles from the scenic vistas and celebrity mansions that draw sightseers from around the globe - but a world away from the glitz and glamour - a bus tour is rolling through the dark side of the city's gang turf.
Passengers paying $65 a head Saturday signed waivers acknowledging they could be crime victims and put their fate in the hands of tattooed ex-gang members who say they have negotiated a cease-fire among rivals in the most violent gangland in America.
If that sounds daunting, consider the challenge facing organizers of LA Gang Tours: trying to build a thriving venture that provides a glimpse into gang life while also trying to convince people that gang-plagued communities are not as hopeless as movies depict.
"There's a fascination with gangs," said founder Alfred Lomas, a former member of the Florencia 13 gang. "We can either address the issue head-on, create awareness and discuss the positive things that go on in these communities, or we can try to sweep it under the carpet."
Los Angeles Gangland
Tax Dollars At Work
Senate
Shhhhhhh. The perks of Senate membership just got sweeter.
For the first time, all 100 members of the chamber will have their own cloistered hideaways in the U.S. Capitol, traditionally a coveted mark of seniority and clout that lowly freshmen could only dream about.
This year, even junior senators will get their own private, unmarked offices that are a convenient few steps from the Senate chamber.
The addition of a dozen or so newly renovated rooms in the bowels of the Capitol represents a cultural shift in the custom-bound institution, made possible by moving a Capitol Police facility from the building's basement into the new, $621 million Capitol Visitor Center. The vacated space inside the Capitol's West Front made room for even shunned members of the Senate - Illinois Democrat Roland Burris, for example - and freshmen minority Republicans to move in.
While both parties make claims and counterclaims about openness in government, some things never change. The first rule of Senate hideaways: Only senators talk about them. And then, selectively and only about their own.
Senate
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