BartCop Entertainment Archives - Tuesday, 21 June, 2005

Tuesday

21 June, 2005

big hammer - bigger hammer

(Updated Daily)

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Issue #157

Disinfotainment Today

By Michael Dare

 


Issue #157
is brought to you by
The New National Sex Alert Identification System
Code 3
"Be on the Lookout for This Man!"

 
Musical News
All the News that's Fit to Sing
AFI George Lucas Tribute
 
Carrie Fisher's Lament
 
He made horney boys lust after me all my life
Now I carry an Uzi, a pistol, a knife
I won't let them come near me
I want them to fear me
I won't be a companion or even a wife, cause...
 
    Everybody goes to bed with Leia
    Everybody goes to bed with Leia
    Everybody goes to bed with Leia
    Then everybody wakes up with me
 
Who knows if they love me
for what I truly am
Below or above me
It feels like a sham
 
And I blame George Lucas
For giving me that part
It made me a star
but it's broken my heart
 
Sing it with me, boys...
 
    Everybody goes to bed with Leia
    Everybody goes to bed with Leia
    Everybody goes to bed with Leia
    Then everybody wakes up with me
 
Scientists Isolate "Greed" Glitch in Human DNA
 
    Scientists in Arkansas have isolated the gene that causes greed, a gene that wasn't previously known to exist.
    "Most people are generous and kind," said professor Charles Osgood at the Arkansas Center for Genetic Research. "They care about their fellow man," he continued, "they wouldn't harm a fly, and it's all part of the human DNA. We're bred to be that way, it's part of our heritage."
    Osgood claims that every once in a while there's a genetic mutation that causes individuals to care about nothing but themselves. "It doesn't make any difference to these mutants how much suffering they cause as long as it's good for them," he explained. "Can you imagine owning a business that personally made you over $100 billion and still refusing to give your employees health care? It isn't natural, to have so much and still let people suffer. And, of course, the poorer the employees, the less likely they are to be able to afford to shop anywhere else, so the Waltons get the money back anyway."
    It was Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, who inspired Dr. Osgood to go on his quest. Walton's hairdresser turned out to be vital to the solving of the mystery.
    "So this guy offered me a hundred bucks for a clump of Alice's black roots," said Miles Fromnowhere, owner of the Mein Hair Salon in Bentonville, Arkansas, which houses the headquarters of Wal-Mart.
    Armed with a sample of Walton DNA, Dr. Osgood was able to isolate the scruple sample.
    "There's nothing we can do for poor Alice or any of the living Waltons, who will have to spend the rest of their lives as self-centered monsters," said Osgood, "but thanks to the wonders of gene splicing, future generations of Waltons might actually be able to differentiate between right and wrong."
    Economist Ira Zentit agrees that gene splicing is the only answer. "We've discovered that all those in possession of this errant gene seem to actually believe that money trickles down instead of up, that giving money to rich people helps the economy despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary," he explained. "Give a poor person some money and they'll spend it on something they need, a pair of socks, a meal. It stays in the economy by being passed around. Give a rich person some money and they throw it in the pile with the rest. They don't spend it immediately because all their needs are already met. It doesn't go back into the economy.  It's clear that short term economic growth is entirely dependent upon giving the poor more money."
    Science now shows that once they've amassed more than $100 billion in personal profits, most people would lift the restriction on their employees to working no more than 28 hours per week so they won't qualify for employee benefits like health or unemployment.
    Zentit considers the Waltons to actually be dangerous to society. John Walton, who is worth more than $20 billion himself, was the largest single individual contributor to Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2002 Florida gubernatorial race. "That's their version of helping the economy," says Zentit, "rich people giving money to other rich people."
    We wrote a letter to Wal-Mart spokesman Noah Veil for his comments on this issue, but it was to no avail.
    "Once your needs are met, you're supposed to leave the rest for everyone else," says the report from the institute. "We're hard wired to be that way. Look at the rest of nature. Once any animal has his fill - he walks away and all the other animals get to pick at it. Ants gather enough food for the colony. Animals are seldom deliberately cruel to other animals. When a lion kills an antelope, he doesn't enjoy watching it die slowly, and he leaves the carcass for the jackals."
    That's where science comes in. Thanks to advances in gene-splicing, the day may come soon when all workers have health care.
 
I Feel So Much Safer Now
 
The copyright cops are stopping bakeries from putting Thomas the Tank Engine and Nemo the fish on birthday cakes..
 
Autopsy results show they should have let Terri Schiavo die fifteen years ago.
 
    "The U.S. Delegation to Codex has just issued a formal written statement to the Codex Alimentarius Commission that the United States, during the July 4-9, 2005, meeting in Rome, will support compulsory rules created by this international organization directly overruling U.S. law regarding access to vitamins.
    "The U.S. law that is about to be vanquished is the Dietary Supplement, Health and Education Act of 1994. Codex is a joint venture between the United Nations World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization. (WHO/FAO) The World Trade Organization (WTO) has already stated that it will enforce Codex guidelines as the world standard for trade in dietary supplements. This will mean that gradually, pill-by-pill, our access to the dietary supplements we depend on will disappear."
- Dr. Carolyn Dean: Kiss Your Vitamins Goodbye! -
 
Stupid Answers of the Week
 
Last week's question...
 
I wish to be canonized. Won't you make up a miracle you can blame on me and tell the Catholic Church about it?
 
Dear Dis,
Careful there - the one smart thing the Catholics did was that in order to be a saint, the first qualification is that you have to be dead! The reason for this is obvious; saints are a royal pain in the ass to live with! Also note that The True Church, as well as it's many sects, have spent centuries canonizing hordes of people they had no intention of making saints, just dead! Besides, if you do get to be a saint, they'll chop you into bits, stick each bit in a reliquary, and sell them to churches that want to be named St. Whatsis, so their parishioners can come kiss it and thus, in the name of Christian Sharing, cast their various germs and viruses upon the sea of humanity, with you as their vector. How's that for a legacy? Just think this saint thing through.
Your faithful reader,
- Jed Closson
 
I didn't have enough money to buy Christmas presents for all my friends. I forwarded Disinfotainment Today to all on my address book because it contained fascinating political news. I forgot it was also the issue containing the thread stating God likes watching monkeys fucking. Miraculously I could afford to buy Christmas presents for my friend.
- Locke
 
Though in very high desperation, I am also very delighted to be writing this mail to you, which I believe you would keep between you and I to avoid a situation where I would be sought after.
- Captain Anumou Yahk, a very trusted aid of late GNASINGMA EYADEMA; former president of Togo, who died in office on his way to London for medical attention. -
 
Stupid Question of the Week
 
If George W. Bush is impeached, Dick Cheney will become president. Please explain why this is a good idea.
 
Send your answers here.
 
Help, I've Superglued My Fingers to my Nose!
 
Obscure Download of the Week
 
Okay, if you want the word "asshole" redefined for the rest of your life, I'm afraid I must insist you listen to Paul Anka's backstage tirade. "That's just the fuckin' way it is." (From Noisetank, and the whole site is worth exploring.)
 
Chart of the Week
 
John Conyers is nothing like George W. Bush
 
Action                                                             Conyers               Bush

For the war but against the reasoning         Yes                       No
 
For the war and for the reasoning                No                        Yes
 
That Pesky Old Constitution
 
"Republicans have officially started the campaign to amend the Constitution by repealing the 22nd Amendment - the one that confines the President to two terms. If the Republicans hold their current strength, or increase it, in the 2006 Congressional elections, expect this measure to pass allowing Bush to remain President... 
 
    "JOINT RESOLUTION: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution. 
    "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification.
 
Coming Soon on eBay
 
Michael Jackson is demanding the return of pictures of his penis now that his courtroom drama is over. Jackson is terrified prosecutor Tom Sneddon will leak the photographs out of spite. Sneddon asked Jackson's first accuser Jordy Chandler to draw a picture of the 46-year-old's genitals in 1993, because Chandler claimed the singer had a unique blemish on his member.
 
Crop Circle of the Week
 
Satan Doesn't Want You to Know
 
Ever heard that any salad or sandwich containing mayonnaise wasn't safe for a picnic? Actually, just the opposite is true! Though the most important food safety issue for picnics is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, mayonnaise, an ingredient in many chicken salad recipes, actually helps food from spoiling as quickly. That's because of the acid present in commercial mayonnaise.
 
Don't Take My Word For It
 
"What I mean is that I cannot countenance the traditional belief that postulates a natural dichotomy between the objectivity of the scientist and the subjectivity of the writer, as if the former were endowed with a 'freedom' and the latter a 'vocation' equally suitable for spiriting away or sublimating the actual limitations of their situation. What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which may well make sarcasm the condition of truth."
- Roland Barthes: Mythologies -
 
"Fear not the path of truth for lack of people walking on it."
- Arabic Proverb -
 
"Downing Street Memo...what's that?"
- Bill Clinton on David Letterman -
 
    "Four decades after the 1965 signing of the National Voting Rights Act, and nearly fourteen decades after 1869 passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guaranteeing freed slaves the right to vote, millions of Americans and citizens worldwide believe that our electoral process is still vulnerable to manipulation, fraud and theft. 
    "We believe the documents in this book form the most complete record so far of what really happened in Ohio and elsewhere immediately before, during and after the election of 2004. Some have been edited to avoid excessive repetition. All are accompanied by citations meant to guide you to original documents in their entirety, as well as to other sources providing a variety of perspectives. 
    "Many who are discontent with how this election was conducted now argue for federal standards to apply to all future elections. There are a wide range of additional reforms being proposed on all sides of the political spectrum. 
    "But few would disagree with the proposition put forth by Thomas Jefferson that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. And that free elections demand aggressive, informed, relentless protection."
- Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman: Introduction: Did George W. Bush steal America's 2004 election? -
 
    "Here's some exciting medical news from the Chinese government: Smoking is great for your health. Cigarettes, according to China's tobacco authorities, are an excellent way to prevent ulcers. They also reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease, relieve schizophrenia, boost your brain cells, speed up your thinking, improve your reactions and increase your working efficiency. And all those warnings about lung cancer? Nonsense. You're more likely to get cancer from cooking smoke than from your cigarette habit. Welcome to the bizarre parallel universe of China's state-owned tobacco monopoly, the world's most successful cigarette-marketing agency. With annual sales of 1.8 trillion cigarettes, the Chinese monopoly is responsible for almost one-third of all cigarettes smoked on the planet today."
- Geoffrey York: In China, cigarettes are a kind of miracle drug -
 
"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too."
- Mitch Hedberg -
 
"States receive federal subsidies to ticket drivers if they or their passengers are not buckled up. Some states, such as Maryland, are so eager that they've equipped their officers with night vision goggles, similar to those used by our servicemen in Iraq. Maryland state troopers bagged 44 drivers traveling unbuckled under the cover of darkness."
- Walter E. Williams: Click it or Ticket -
 
"Where a government has come into power through some form of popular vote, fraudulent or not, and maintains at least an appearance of constitutional legality, the guerrilla outbreak cannot be promoted, since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not yet been exhausted."
- Che Guevara -
 
"There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted."
- James Branch Cabell -
 
"I can't bring myself to say, 'Well, I guess I'll be toddling along.' It isn't that I can't toddle. It's just that I can't guess I'll toddle."
- Robert Benchley -
 
"Food is an important part of a balanced diet."
- Fran Lebowitz -
 
"Pay no attention to what the critics say... Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic!"
- Jean Sibelius -
 
"The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people - that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature."
- James Thurber -
 
"What's done to children, they will do to society."
- Karl A. Menninger -
 
"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."
- Rita Rudner -
 
"I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way."
- Franklin P. Adams -
 
"All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance."
- Edward Gibbon -
 
"I am the spirit that always dissents."
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe -
 
    "Why did the Greek words presbytery (the elderly), apostle (envoy or sent one), and deacon (servant) remain un-translated into their Anglicized form? Why was the Greek word presbuteros (older or elderly) translated priest? Why indeed! There is little doubt that these words remained un-translated so the clergy could redefine them, interpreting them with the strongest institutional and hierarchical connotations. Was this mere ignorance, or a means of creating a ruling class of super saints? It is clear to us that down through the years the scriptures have been subjected to papal tampering. There even remains evidence that some of the early manuscripts were altered...
    "We believe in the inspiration and accuracy of the koine Greek texts of the New Testament. However the translations that have followed are not as reliable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is ecclesiastical ambition. Historically, this love letter from God that we call the Bible was shaped into a scepter of power in the hands of popes, kings and would-be kings to further consolidate their power over the masses. Undoubtedly this very ambition has tainted the translations from Jerome onward. This reached new heights at a time when bishops sought the approval of kings to authorize translations that had been purposefully skewed toward their ecclesiastical paradigm."
- George Davis, Michael Clark & Kirk Pearson: The Great Ecclesiastical Conspiracy -
 
    "A Bush-watcher website identified as TBRNews.org is reporting under the byline of 'domestic intelligence reporter' Brian Harring that the Department of Defense is using a cynical tactic to mislead the public regarding the true death toll for American military personnel in Iraq. Harring claims he has an internal pdf. file from the D.O.D. which establishes that nearly 9000 Americans have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but that the official number has been held to 1713 by designating as Iraq deaths only those who perish on Iraqi soil. The remainder, he says, are military personnel who have died en route to Germany or in German hospitals-- casualties of the war, but not listed in the official death toll.
    "If this is true it would explain the apparent statistical discrepancy between dead and wounded. A combat action which produces nearly eight times as many officially wounded-- 13000 plus-- as officially dead...well, it's not the norm. It goes without saying it would also further jolt a public majority already disturbed by the war's 'progress' and eager to see the troops come home."
- Jim Lampley: The Ultimate Deception? -
 
    "We elect our prosecutors. There are 254 counties in Texas, nearly every one with its own elected district attorney. The way to get elected is to be 'Tuff on Crime.' The way to lose is to be 'Soft on Crime.' In the big cities Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, among the 10 largest in the nation we get the usual plead-out mill: perp's public defender advises him to cop to reduced charges, anything to avoid a trial.
    "But in the small towns and rural areas where heavy crime is rare, a D.A. has to whup on whoever gets caught. Sometime in the '80s, a guy in Lubbock stole 12 frozen turkeys. They were recovered, still frozen. Not only no damage, but no defrost. The guy bought 75 years, which works out to 6.3 years per bird. Don't steal a turkey in Lubbock."
 
"Every man has his price. This is not true. But for every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing."
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche -
 
"I do not believe that a man should be restrained in his daily actions by being afraid of punishment after death or that he should do things only because in this way he will be rewarded after he dies."
- Albert Einstein -
 
"He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king."
- Saint Augustine of Hippo -
 
"A man's respect for law and order exists in precise relationship to the size of his paycheck."
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr.: Keep the Faith, Baby! -
 
"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."
- Buddha -
 
"Editor: a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed."
- Elbert Hubbard -
 
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that!"
- Tom Lehrer -
 
"I thank fate for having made me born poor. Poverty taught me the true value of the gifts useful to life."
- Anatole France -
 
"Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money."
- Arthur Miller -
 
"When we are unable to find tranquillity within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere."
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld -
 
    "January 2001: From the moment he took office, Bush made noises about 'finishing the job his father started.' (Time Magazine)
    "George Bush's former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill asserts that Bush took office in January 2001 fully intending to invade Iraq and desperate to find an excuse for pre-emptive war against Saddam Hussein. 'From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go,' O'Neill said. 'For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the US has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a really huge leap.' (Sunday Herald)
    "Testifying at his Senate confirmation hearing former General Colin Powell, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War, said 'Bush wanted to re-energize the sanctions regime and increase support to Iraqi groups trying to overthrow Hussein.' Powell also said 'Hussein, is not going to be around in a few years time.' (Air Force Magazine Online)
    "Vice President Dick Cheney, who was defense secretary during the war against Iraq, has also suggested a Bush administration might 'have to take military action to forcibly remove Saddam from power,' as has current Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. (Cato Institute)"
- Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane: The Path of War Timeline -
 
"I have wondered specifically about the Supreme Court in the case of Bush v. Gore where, astonishingly, I believe that the majority - five out of nine justices - were engaged in an evil act. And I wonder how that could happen without Satan hanging around."
 
"We're seeing unfold a contemporary example of the age-old ambition of power and ideology to squelch and punish journalists who tell the stories that make princes and priests uncomfortable... One reason I'm in hot water is because my colleagues and I at NOW didn't play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if, instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news."
- Bill Moyers -
 
"The success of the Christian Right in dismantling all existing institutions and re-shaping them to their exact specifications depends on the ability of its leaders to provoke an exalted state of outraged-tinged euphoria within its rank and file members - the Hannitized hordes who feel a raw emotional need to feel part of an enterprise engaged in exercising supreme power over a despised enemy. This can only be achieved by the full cooperation of the media, who fear their own irrelevance in a highly volatile political atmosphere even more than those who create these conditions in the first place."
- Leilla Matsui and Stella La Chance: Christ Inc. - Faith-Based Fascism -
 
     "Lets recap: Mark Felt told Woodward that all the intelligence agencies were involved in a covert project that was incredible, or fantastic, as Woodward later put it. Felt said the Watergate cover-up had little to do with Watergate, more to do with protecting the covert project.
    "Why does Woodward think that when we learn that Deep Throat was an FBI chief, well begin to discern the nature of that incredible covert project? Apparently, the covert project was so large and controversial that it impinged on Felts role in law enforcement."
 
"The ribbons say 'Support the Troops,' not 'I Support the Troops.' Isn't it odd that the message being communicated is a directive and not a declarative? It's a command to random strangers to do something and not a statement that the individual displaying the ribbon has actually done something. These are the same people who think a tax cut during war time is fiscally smart and probably wouldn't cross the street to piss on a man on fire. As long as the focus is on telling others what they should be doing, there's no need for personal sacrifice? The ones that have 'made in China' printed on them are the bestest!!"
 
"I have seen the impact of this new poison [Depleted Uranium] when I visited wards for young children in Iraq. Amidst the overwhelming horrors of the bombings and the starvation caused by sanctions, the doctors at first did not notice the huge rise in the numbers of childhood cancers, such as leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and lymphomas ... The United States and Britain used so much DU in weapons during the Gulf War that 350 tons of residue permeate the ground and water, and will contaminate the entire region for generations."
- Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General -
 
    "A report released June 9 by the FBI's Office of the Inspector General raises new questions about the role of the US government in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The internal FBI study provides several important revelations about how US intelligence agencies ignored and even suppressed warnings in the period leading up to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people.
    "Press accounts published within hours of the reports release gave a very distorted picture of the document, which runs to more than 400 pages. No follow-up reports, based on a thorough study of the text, have yet appeared in the mass media."
- Patrick Martin: FBI inspector general's report: more evidence of government complicity in 9/11 attacks -
 
    "While left-wing bloggers tried to play up the memo and the right wing bloggers heaped scorn on their opponents, it failed to warrant much mention in the American mainstream media. 
    "'While the European media have covered the memo extensively, it has received scant attention by the mainstream media in America,' wrote Terry Neal of the Washington Post this week. 
    "As blogger Juan Cole points out, the Times published the story on 1 May, and the first story in the Washington Post didn't appear until 13 May. 
    "And it was only last week during a joint press conference with Tony Blair that President Bush was asked and answered a question about the memo."
- Kevin Anderson: Bloggers' 'victory' over Iraq war memos -
 
"I have this incredible dream that one day, one minute, the whole world, at the same time, will decide it's time for peace and love. So I just do my part. And I think that's all you can do. I'm not telling anyone else what to do. I do this, and that's the end of my story."
- Ringo Starr -
 
"I write to express my profound disappointment with Dana Milbank's June 17 report, 'Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War,' which purports to describe a Democratic hearing I chaired in the Capitol yesterday. In sum, the piece cherry-picks some facts, manufactures others out of whole cloth, and does a disservice to some 30 members of Congress [not to mention the unprecedented 561,000 American citizens who signed the petition] who persevered under difficult circumstances, not of our own making, to examine a very serious subject: whether the American people were deliberately misled in the lead up to war."
- Congressman John Conyers -
 
"More than 1,200 military personnel who received the anthrax vaccine before going to Iraq have developed serious illnesses, according to an Army report released last month, though local military officials contend the shots still are safe and necessary."
- Jeff Donaldson: 1,200 Who Had Anthrax Vaccine Now 'Seriously' Ill -
 
    "Mr. Ingram admitted to the Labour MP Harry Cohen in a private letter obtained by The Independent that he had inadvertently misled Parliament because he had been misinformed by the US. 'The US confirmed to my officials that they had not used MK77s in Iraq at any time and this was the basis of my response to you,' he told Mr Cohen. 'I regret to say that I have since discovered that this is not the case and must now correct the position.'
    "Mr. Ingram said 30 MK77 firebombs were used by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in the invasion of Iraq between 31 March and 2 April 2003. They were used against military targets 'away from civilian targets', he said. This avoids breaching the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which permits their use only against military targets."
- Colin Brown: US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war -
 
"In May the Bush economy eked out a paltry 73,000 private sector jobs: 20,000 jobs in construction (primarily for Mexican immigrants), 21,000 jobs in wholesale and retail trade, and 32,500 jobs in health care and social assistance. Local government added 5,000 for a grand total of 78,000. Not a single one of these jobs produces an exportable good or service."
- Paul Craig: The US Labor Force - One Foot In The Third World -
 
"When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been 'no' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
- Steve Jobs: Stanford Commencement Address -
 
    "Historically, the criminalization of drugs was a revenue-producing public policy. It was, 'If we're going to make money off these drugs, we've got to regulate them.' It began as taxation, and then we started moralizing the behavior -- attaching moral judgments to the use of drugs, and demonizing the drug users. If we were an honest nation, consistent and with any integrity, we would do the same thing with caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, but we don't.
    "While there are restrictions, certainly, on the use of nicotine and alcohol, both of those substances and the behaviors around them are perfectly legal for adults, yet we know that cigarette addiction is the most egregious form of addiction.
    "But we're fundamentally dishonest, and in demonizing illicit drug users, we deny medical attention for those who choose to get off drugs. We under-invest in smart education and prevention programs; we deny IV drug users clean syringes in many, many cities. We deny them methadone when it has been clearly established that that's a healthier alternative to heroin.
    "You have to start with the premise that if tobacco and alcohol, with all of their harms and enormous social and financial costs, are lawful substances, then how can we, in good conscience, deny somebody the right to smoke a joint -- or to snort coke or shoot heroin? I don't do those things, but I believe I ought to have a right to do those things.
    "From very early on, we teach children that the people who use drugs are monsters and fiends. Well, excuse me, but they're not. Some of them manage to handle it successfully, and many do not. Many abuse the drugs and wind up very ill psychologically, physiologically, mentally, emotionally. But rather than demonizing them, we ought to be reaching out to help them. If we spent far less money on the supply side of the supply/demand equation, we'd be able to spend much more money on prevention, education, medication and rehabilitation and the like."
- Former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper in Seattle Confidential by Laura Barcella -
 
"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creative."
- Charles Mingus -
 
"Only those who will risk going too far
Can possibly find out how far one can go.
- T.S. Eliot -
 
    "Porter Goss, Bush's 'Intelligence Czar' says he knows where Osama bin Laden is, but he's not saying right now. I know where he's hiding. Or should I say I know where Porter Goss thinks he's is hiding. It's hardly a secret when you know how the Bush Cult thinks.
    "Porter Goss thinks bin Laden is hiding in Iran.
    "Why? How do I know this?
    "It's simple. Bush is in the process of putting together an invasion of Iran for the 2006 mid term elections (wag the dog) to distract the people again from the gutting of America by the Corporate/Dominion alliance. So in order to help justify this coming war they will need to put bin Laden in Iran. So that's where he is.
    "The way the intelligence community works in this administration is that the President tells them what he wants reality to be and then they go out and fabricate the story that supports the president's fiction.
    "Porter Goss is under orders from Bush to find bin Laden in Iran, so that's where he will be. By the time next summer rolls around, Osama bin Laden will have been discovered to be secretly in control of Iran and in control of their nuclear arsenal. And like Iraq, we will be required to go to war over it. I feel a draft coming."
Marc Perkel -
 
"The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth, for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth and set upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called gods."
- King James -
 
"Though war may seem a bloody curse
It is a blessing in reverse
When canon roar
Both rich and poor
By danger are united!
(Till every wrong is righted!)
Philosophers make evident
The point that I have cited
'Tis war makes equal - as it were -
The noble and the commoner
Thus war improves relations!"
- Dr. Pangloss in Candide -
 
Everything Else
 
I want a Pulitzer Prize (actually just the ten thousand bucks). Won't you nominate me?
 
File too big for email? Try Yousendit.
 
 
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Contact George W. Bush - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact the Freemasons - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact Skull and Bones - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact the Carlyle Group - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact the Illuminati - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact Satan - satan@whitehouse.gov
Contact both houses of Congress - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact the Supreme Court - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact Dick Cheney - vice.president@whitehouse.gov
Contact Halliburton - vice.president@whitehouse.gov
Contact Saddam Hussein - tightywhities@whitehouse.gov
Contact Osama bin Laden - deepthroat@whitehouse.gov
Contact Jeb Bush - jeb.bush@myflorida.com
Contact Fidel Castro - jeb.bush@myflorida.com
Contact Kim Jong Il -
eng-info@kcna.co.jp
Contact Jacques Chirac - france-presse@un.int
Contact the new Pope - accreditamenti@pressva.va
 
 
Link to Disinfotainment Today with one of these tasteful banners.

dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY archives are here.
 

Boo hoo.
Life stinks.
Make it a little better.
 


Acknowledgment

dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY is free and may be reproduced in any form, preferably parchment. It consists of information from dozens of sources, cut up, thrown in the air, and recycled randomly. It is sent all over the place, so I apologize if you're seeing the same thing twice. If you see a joke, graphic, or news item that came from or through you, thanks, send more, and please accept the fact that much of dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY is unacknowledgeable, and if I sought permission from everyone whose bastardized material showed up here, I'd never get anything else done. Please note that I don't even put my own name on it. If you're still pissed off, hey, it's either satire or fair use.

Thanks,
 
Oliver Clothesoff
 
 
 

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'Best of TBH Politoons'

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Thanks, again, Tim!

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Erin Hart Show Links


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DANDELION SEEDS

CAN ANSWER ALL YOUR PRAYERS

MAKE A WISH - BLOW ME


Zen Man
(at Blue Lakes on the summer equinox)

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Recommended Reading

from Bruce

Greg Mitchell: Bush's WMD 'Joke': Is the Media Still Laughing? (www.editorandpublisher.com)
A brief comment at a forum in Washington this week resurrects one of the most shameful episodes in recent media history: The night a roomful of journalists laughed along with a president making fun of the bogus threat that led to a costly war.


The Salvadorization of Iraq?: The New York Times Magazine May 01, 2005
The counterinsurgency is increasingly being waged by former elite troops of Saddam Hussein's army, with guidance from a U.S. adviser who in the 80's commanded the Special Forces in El Salvador. It's not a pretty campaign.


Randy Hall: Anti-War Activists Want to 'Bring This President Down' (www.crosswalk.com)
The mother of a soldier who was killed in combat in Iraq told an anti-war rally near the White House on Thursday that President George Bush "doesn't deserve our allegiance."


John Conyers: American Hero
"We realize that this document contains too many pages for the President, so we placed nude photos of Jeff Gannon on every other page to keep him interested."


Bush's Speechwriter: Highly Recommended Video


The Real George Bush

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Diplomats Against Bolton: Signers

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Purple Gene Reviews

'In a Lonely Place'



Purple Genes' review of the movie "In a Lonely Place" (1950) Directed by Nicholas Ray:

Fathers' Day has just passed and so has the First Day of Summer….and it's been raining here in California! So I'm feeling a little gray and gloomy… just a shade SAD ! I wanna wallow in Black and White… I need a bit of gritty Bogart !!!!! Guess what's on Turner Classic Cinema tonight????? "In a Lonely Place"….PERFECT !!

Dix Steele (Humphrey Bogart - "A Devil with Women" - "The Barefoot Contessa" - "African Queen") is an alcoholic asshole and a Hollywood screen writer who just seems to rub everyone the wrong way…of course he needs rent money and the Studio wants him to script a sleazy best selling novel….Well Dix refuses to read the trash but he talks the hotel hat-check girl, Mildred (Martha Stewart (not the modern felon) - "Doll Face" - "Surf Party" - "Convicted") into coming over to his apartment and reciting the novel to him. Mildred is overly perky and extremely annoying and can't help but get on Dix's already fried nerves.

In the midst of all this, Dix bumps into his new next door neighbor named Laurel (Gloria Grahame - "Blonde Fever" - "It's a Wonderful Life" - "Mama's Dirty Girls") who is smoldering and sexy and interested…….Soooooooooo Dix boots Mildred and cozies up.

OH OH…the next morning Mildred is found DEAD….and the cops come knocking on Dix's door…..It looks bad for Dix but Laurel fabricates an alibi for him and the investigation begins and so does their ill-fated romance. Ya see, Dix falls hard for the Laurel and he puts the moves on her……"I've never met anyone like you before"!!!..."I've just got to have you"!!!...."Here's a ring"!!!...."Let's get married tonight"!!!!! Needless to say, Laurel's initial infatuation with Dix turns to outright fear for her life as Dix becomes suspicious and jealous and manic-depressive…….Laurel is thinking "Maybe he did kill Mildred….maybe he's going to kill me" !!!!!

SPOILER ALERT:

When Dix realizes that Laurel is packing her things to get away from him and not for a honeymoon…he CRACKS….all this pressure….finish the script….face the cops…He confronts Laurel and ends up hitting her just as the phone rings….it's the seargeant calling from down at the station….."Dix….I just wanted you to know that we found who killed Mildred…..you're in the clear"!!!!!! The scene at the end of this movie, with Dix realizing he was innocent of murder but guilty of being a drunken abusive fool….is devastating….Laurel leaves and Dix is on the edge of the disheveled bed with a 2 day beard, a torn open shirt and his head way way down…this ain't no Hollywood ending !!!

Purple Gene gives "In a Lonely Place" 10 crushed cigarette butts out of 10 for being sad and gritty and pretty damn REAL for 1950 !!!

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Selected Readings

from that Mad Cat, JD

THE FIX

OPERATION YELLOW ELEPHANT

SUPPORT THE CULTURE OF LIFE

FUCK "BATMAN" GO SEE THIS ONE

JACK OFF

BOLTHEAD HAS A SCREW LOOSE

JUST THE FACT MA'AM, JUST THE FACTS

"...THAT DAMNED ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL"

FROM "SHOCK AND AWE" TO SHUCK AND JIVE

NO MORE YEARS

FRIEDMAN SUCKS

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The Downing Street Memo :: Click Here

The Downing Street Memo

After Downing Street Dot Org


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In The Chaos Household

Last Night

No lovely overcast morning - summer (& the heat) is here.

Anybody else hear Dennis Miller's new commercials for L'Oreal for Men? Ick.



Tonight, Tuesday:

CBS fills the night with the FRESH 'AFIs 100 Years - 100 Movie Quotes'.
Scheduled on a FRESH David Letterman are Lindsay Lohan and Chris Russo.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craig are Peter Krause, David LaChappelle, and Tracy Bonham.

NBC starts the night with a FRESH 'Katie Couric Special', followed by the SERIES PREMIERE 'I Want To Be A Skank Hilton', then a RERUN 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Leno are Sinbad and Krump dancers from the movie "Rize".
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Tom Brokaw, Roger Bart, and John Pizzarelli.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are John Waters, Mario Batali, and the Raveonettes.

ABC has LIVE 'NBA Basketball Finals', followed by a bonus RERUN 'My Wife & Kids' for the left coast.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel is Reggie Miller.

The WB offers a RERUN 'Gilmore Girls', followed by a RERUN 'One Tree Hill'.

Faux has a RERUN 'Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Wife', followed by a RERUN 'House'.

UPN has a RERUN 'All Of Us', followed by a RERUN 'Half & Half', then a RERUN 'Girlfriends', followed by a FRESH 'The Bad Girl's Guide'.

Check local PBS listings for a FRESH 'Frontline' - 'Private Warriors'.

A&E has 'American Justice', 'Cold Case Files', 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', another 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', and 'Knievel's Wild Ride'.

AMC offers the movie '48 HRS', followed by a regurgitated 'Celebrity Charades', then the movie '48 HRS', again.

BBC  -   
 [2pm]    'As Time Goes By' - Episode 7;
 [2:40pm]    'Are You Being Served?' - Founder's Day;
 [3:20pm]    'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 2;
 [4pm]    'Prime Suspect' - Episode 1;
 [6pm]    'BBC World News';
 [6:30pm]    'Cash in the Attic' - Mitchell;
 [7pm]    'The Benny Hill Show,' - Episode 7;
 [8pm]    'Cash in the Attic' - Burrington-Wheatley;
 [9pm]    'Ground Force' - Nantwich;
 [9:30pm]    'Changing Rooms' - Mottingham;
 [10pm    'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited' - Episode 1;
 [12:00 am    'Ground Force' - Nantwich;
 [12:30am]    'Changing Rooms' - Chinnor;
 [1am]    'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited' - Episode 1;
 [2am]    'Cash in the Attic' - Burrington-Wheatley;
 [3am]    'Ground Force' - Nantwich;
 [3:30am]    'Changing Rooms' - Mottingham;
 [4am]    'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited' - Episode 1;
 [5am]    'Cash in the Attic' - Burrington-Wheatley;
 [6am]    'BBC World News'.    (ALL TIMES EDT)

Bravo has 'West Wing', 'Blow Out', followed by a FRESH 'Blow Out', and 'Queer Eye'.

Comedy Central has 'Comedy Central Presents' (Jack Coen), 'Reno 9111', last night's 'Jon Stewart', another 'Comedy Central Presents' (Clinton Jackson), still another 'Comedy Central Presents' (Vince Morris), 'South Park', followed by a FRESH 'Reno 911!', then the same 'Reno 911!', again.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Dwight Yoakam.

History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Wild West Tech', 'Breaking Vegas', and another 'Modern Marvels'.

IFC  -   
 [6AM]    'Personal Velocity' (2002);
 [7:30AM]    'IFC in Theaters' (2005);
 [7:45AM]    'Home Movie' (2002);
 [9AM]    'IFC June Short Film Showcase' (2005);
 [10AM]    'Dinner Rush' (2000);
 [11:45AM]    'East/West' (1999);
 [2PM]    'Home Movie' (2002);
 [3:15PM]    'IFC June Short Film Collection II' (2005);
 [5:15PM]    'Film School #10' (2004);
 [5:45PM]    'IFC in Theaters' (2005);
 [6PM]    'East/West' (1999);
 [8:15PM]    'Curse Of The Starving Class' (1994);
 [10PM]    'Dinner For Five #49' (2005);
 [10:30PM]    'Film School #10' (2004);
 [11PM]    'Birthday Girl' (2003);
 [12:35AM]    'At The IFC Center' (2005);
 [1AM]    'Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession' (2005);
 [3AM]    'Birthday Girl' (2003);
 [4:35AM]    'Witchcraft Through The Ages' (1922).    (ALL TIMES EDT)

NIK celebrates '20 Years Of Nick At Night'.

SciFi has the movie 'Jason X', followed by the movie 'Final Destination'.

Sundance  -   
 [6AM]    'Hofmann's Potion';
 [7AM]    'The Al Franken Show:' (06/20/05);
 [8AM]    'Within a Play';
 [9:30AM]    'Anatomy of a Scene: Garden State';
 [10AM]    'Pripyat';
 [11:45AM]    'The Business of Fancydancing';
 [1:30PM]    'Anatomy of a Scene: The Singing Detective';
 [2PM]    'Monster Road';
 [3:25PM]    'Evenhand';
 [5PM]    'Tyler Brule: My Life';
 [6PM]    'New Waterford Girl';
 [7:40PM]    'Morning Breath: A Brooklyn Love Story';
 [8PM]    'Prey for Rock & Roll';
 [9:45PM]    'D.E.B.S.';
 [10PM]    'Garden';
 [11:30PM]    'The Al Franken Show': (06/21/05);
 [12:30AM]    'The Beat';
 [2AM]    'Anatomy of a Scene: The Singing Detective';
 [2:30AM]    'The Al Franken Show': (06/21/05);
 [3:30AM]    'Mutant Aliens';
 [5AM]    'New Waterford Girl'.    (ALL TIMES EDT)

TCM spends most of the day paying tribute to an aerodynamically enhanced Jane Russell (today is her 84th birthday), then features science fiction most of the night.
 [7am]    'Private Screenings: Mitchum/Russell' (1996);
 [7:45am]    'Gentlemen Marry Brunettes' (1955);
 [9:30am]    'The French Line' (1954);
 [11:15am]    'The Las Vegas Story' (1952);
 [12:45pm]    'Montana Belle' (1952);
 [2:15pm]    'His Kind Of Woman' (1951);
 [4:30pm]    'Double Dynamite' (1951);
 [6pm]    'The Outlaw' (1943);

 [8pm]    'Soylent Green' (1973);
 [9:45pm]    'Westworld' (1973);
 [11:30pm]    '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)     [View Trailer];
 [2:15am]    'Logan's Run' (1976)     [View Trailer];
 [4:15am]    'No Blade Of Grass' (1970).
    (ALL TIMES EDT)


Wednesday  -  06/22

TCM:
 [6am]    'Night Court' (1932);
 [7:45am]    'Ann Vickers' (1933);
 [9:15am]    'Let's Try Again' (1934);
 [10:30am]    'I Found Stella Parish' (1935);
 [12pm]    'Stella Dallas' (1937);
 [2pm]    'In Name Only' (1939);
 [3:45pm]    'Panama Lady' (1939);
 [5pm]    'Stronger Than Desire' (1939);
 [6:30pm]    'Dust Be My Destiny' (1939);
 [8pm]    'Sounder' (1972);
 [10pm]    'Fried Green Tomatoes' (1991)     [View Trailer];
 [12:30am]    'A Hero Ain't Nothin' But A Sandwich' (1977);
 [2:30am]    'Odds Against Tomorrow' (1959);
 [4:15am]    'The World, The Flesh, And The Devil' (1959).    (ALL TIMES EDT)



Any opinions?

Or reviews?



(See below for addresses)

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Actress and International Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Mary Tyler Moore, right, meets with, from left; Maya Wiess, 13, of Israel, Josh Brown, 14, of Australia, Maria Sykiotou, 17 of Greece and Zach McCaskill, 15, of Canada, on Capitol Hill Monday, June 20, 2005 as 150 children representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia and an honorary international delegation of seven who came together for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to testify before Congress tomorrow.
Photo by Linda Spillers
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Click Here!

Moose & Squirrel - The Blog

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Hosting Comedy Central Show

David Spade

"Saturday Night Live" alumnus and former "Just Shoot Me" star David Spade is coming to Comedy Central as host of a new series spoofing Hollywood, celebrities and the people who cover them, the cable network said on Monday.

"It will do for Hollywood and the entertainment media what 'The Daily Show' does for news and politics," Comedy Central spokesman Steve Albani said, referring to the network's popular newscast satire hosted by comedian Jon Stewart.

The new half-hour series aims to skewer the inflated egos, shameless self-promotion and mediocrity of Hollywood with a mix of on-location field pieces, actual footage, celebrity guests and a cast of faux critics and correspondents, the network said.

David Spade

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British actress Juliet Mills, who plays the witch, Tabitha Lenox, on NBC's daytime soap, 'Passions,' poses for a photo June 8, 2005, on the set of the show in Los Angeles. From 1970-72 Mills played Phoebe Figalilly, whose magical touch brightened the lives of a single dad and his kids in the sitcom 'Nanny and the Professor.'
Photo by Reed Saxon
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Memorabilia to Be Auctioned

John Lennon

A major collection of John Lennon memorabilia, including an oil painting from his student days and a handwritten "All You Need Is Love" manuscript, will go on sale next month.

The July 28 auction also will include a table from the home Lennon shared with his first wife, Cynthia; a tunic thought to have inspired the costumes on the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover; and a bedspread from Lennon's "bed-in" for peace in Montreal with Yoko Ono, Cooper Owen auction house announced Monday.

John Lennon

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Back For MTV2

'Deathmatch'

MTV2 is getting back in the ring with "Celebrity Deathmatch," the former hit MTV series that rendered celebrities as fighting Claymation figures.

"Deathmatch" aired from 1998-2002, lampooning the likes of Hillary Clinton, Howard Stern and the Spice Girls. Eight new episodes will be premiering in November; which celebrities will be depicted hasn't been determined. Eric Fogel created the original "Deathmatch" but will not be working on its revival.

New programing also includes the recently greenlighted series "The Chico & Guapo Show," an animated series co-created by Orlando Jones ("The Evidence"). Eight half-hour episodes will premiere in November, based on the misadventures of two janitors trying to get ahead in the music business.

'Deathmatch'

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bartcook

In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends

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Plan to Take Private

Cablevision

The family that controls Cablevision Systems Corp. has proposed taking the cable TV operator private while spinning off its entertainment assets, which include the New York Knicks and Rangers, Madison Square Garden and cable channels like American Movie Classics into a separate publicly traded company.

The $7.9 billion deal would give Cablevision stockholders $21 in cash for each share they currently own, plus shares in the new company, Rainbow Media Holdings. Rainbow also would include Cablevision's regional sports networks, Radio City Music Hall and Clearview Cinemas.

In a letter sent Sunday to Cablevision's board, Charles Dolan, the company's chairman and James Dolan, his son and chief executive, said it was necessary to remove the company from the public market's scrutiny to meet the challenges of new technologies and competitors.

Cablevision

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A monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is seen on a flower at the butterfly garden of the Metropolitan Zoo and Botanical Garden in Budapest, Friday, June 17, 2005. There are about 500 specimens of 56 species in the garden that are seen during the summer time.
Photo by Tamas Kovacs
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Sears Break Room Makeover

Extreme Makeover

There are no old chairs, linoleum or nasty green walls in this store's break room. Think brown leather couch with bright cushions, flat-screen TV, bar, and photographs hanging on walls of burnt orange and grey-blue.

Call it an Extreme Breakover: It's a break room restyled by Ty Pennington of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." A Sears store in Alexandria won the honor for its outstanding customer service.

Pennington and his police escort showed up about 7:45 a.m. Saturday for a brief ceremony to show it off.

"This is big for central Louisiana," said Clarence Fields, mayor of nearby Pineville. He and Alexandria Mayor Ned Randolph gave Pennington the keys to the city.

Extreme Makeover

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I'm Pissed
(formerly 'The Vidiot')

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Charge To Be Dropped

Cody Kasch

Marijuana possession charges against "Desperate Housewives" teen actor Cody Kasch will be dropped a year from now as long as he doesn't get into any additional trouble, a judge decided Monday.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Evelyn Laporte ordered Kasch to come back to court on June 20, 2006, at which time the fifth-degree drug possession charge will be dismissed if he has not had any further arrests.

Cody Kasch

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Undated Bonhams handout photo of a painting by Congo the Chimp. Paintings by the chimpanzee netted more than 14,000 (US$25,620; 20,917) after going under the hammer alongside works by Renoir and Andy Warhol on Monday June 20, 2005. The three abstract pieces up for auction at Bonhams in London were painted by Congo in 1957 and were estimated to fetch between 600, (US$1,000, 813) and 800 (US$1,500, 1,220). An American bidder named Howard Hong, who described himself as an 'enthusiast of modern and contemporary painting,' purchased the lot of paintings.
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Experts Search for Painting

Da Vinci

"Cerca, trova" - seek and you shall find - says a tantalizing five-century-old message painted on a fresco in the council hall of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio.

Researchers now believe these cryptic words could be a clue to the location of a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting and are pressing local authorities to allow them to search for the masterpiece of Renaissance art.

Radar and X-ray scans conducted between 2002 and 2003 have detected a cavity behind the section of wall the message was painted on, which Seracini believes may conceal Leonardo's unfinished mural painting, the "Battle of Anghiari."

Considered one of Leonardo's greatest works, the mural is known today through the Tuscan master's preparatory studies and copies made by other artists.

Da Vinci

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The Brazilian Navy's Marcial marching band forms a word 'Paris' during their practice for their participation in the upcoming Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, at the First Naval District base in Rio de Janeiro, June 20, 2005. The band is part of the contingent of Brazilian soldiers from different branches of the Armed Forces invited to take part in the July 14th Bastille Day parade in Paris, as part of the celebration of Brazil Year in France.
Photo by Sergio Moraes
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Cologne's Maligned Resistance

Edelweiss Pirates

Jean Jülich (right, with guitar) and his fellow Edelweiss Pirates

They wore their hair long, sang songs by banned Jewish composers and fought the Nazi regime. But history has so far remembered Cologne's Edelweiss Pirates as criminals rather than resistance fighters...until now.

On November 10th 1944, the Gestapo hanged 13 people in a residential street in Cologne without trial. Six of those killed were teenagers, members of an underground group called the Edelweiss Pirates. An alternative movement to the Hitler Youth, the Edelweiss Pirates grew their hair long and risked arrest, torture and their lives to carry out small acts of sabotage against the Nazi regime.

Sixty years later they are still officially listed as petty thieves and criminals. Their acts of resistance -- while having been recognized by the state of Israel -- have not yet been officially acknowledged here in Germany. That's about to change with a new initiative by the District President of Cologne Jürgen Peters who wants to rehabilitate the Edelweiss Pirates.

While the city of Cologne debates the acknowledgement of the Pirates' war efforts, Jean Jülich, a surviving member of the group, has published his memoirs and is supporting an upcoming film about the Pirates, due for release on the 60th anniversary of his friends' execution.

For a great read - Edelweiss Pirates

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'Rain Queen' Laid To Rest

Makobo Modjadji

South African rain queen Makobo Modjadji was laid to rest as tensions in the royal Balobedu household following her death rose further over a fire that broke out in the house where her coffin was placed.

The fire at the royal complex was the latest twist in the tumultuous aftermath of the 27-year-old rain queen's death in hospital on June 12 from an undisclosed illness, possibly meningitis.

Makobo Modjadji became the Balobedu people's youngest rain queen at 25 but she ruled only for two years, taking over from a regent who had been temporarily named to allow her to complete her high school studies.

The first educated queen of the Balobedu, Modjadji was also the first ruler to throw convention to the winds by falling in love with a married man, creating a split in the royal council.

The couple have a five-month-old daughter, who is now technically heir to the throne.

Makobo Modjadji

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In Memory

Larry Collins

The American author Larry Collins, who formed a team with the Frenchman Dominique Lapierre to write best-sellers including "O Jerusalem" and "Is Paris burning?", died Monday in the south of France at the age of 75, Lapierre said.

"A whole chapter of my life has gone," Lapierre said.

Born in Connecticut in 1929, Collins came to France in 1954 to do his military service at the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE), then based outside Paris, where he met Lapierre at the canteen.

Two years later he joined the Paris bureau of United Press International (UPI) and afterwards joined Newsweek magazine. Lapierre was a journalist at Paris-Match magazine.

The pair specialised in highly-researched dramatisations of historical events such as the creation of Israel ("O Jerusalem"), Indian independence ("Freedom at midnight"), and -- for their first book in 1964 -- the end of the German occupation of Paris ("Is Paris burning?").

Their success lay in their complementarity. Lapierre had contacts in the French intelligence services and Collins with the CIA. Lapierre wrote in French and Collins in English, and each then translated the other's work.

The author, who had two sons, will be cremated after a funeral Thursday at the town of Ramatuelle where he lived from 1976, Lapierre said.

Larry Collins

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Three-day-old female Asian baby elephant Shaina Pali stands beside her mother Pang Pha during her first public appearance at Berlin Zoo June 17, 2005.
Photo by Arnd Wiegmann
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Welcome !


You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
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