Militant 'Mickey Mouse' pulled off air

From Yahoo News:

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse lookalike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday.

nformation Minister Mustafa Barghouti said the character — a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice — represented a "mistaken approach" to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.

He said that the program was pulled from Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV at his ministry's request and "placed under review."

The character, named "Farfour," or "butterfly," but unmistakably a copy of the Disney character, preached against the U.S. and Israel each Friday on the show called "Tomorrow's Pioneers."

Nuts!

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Alec Baldwin Gets Nasty with Daughter

Whoa! TMZ.com broke an ugly tirade from Alec Baldwin directed at his 11-year-old daughter. He's going through a seriously nasty divorce from Kim Bassinger and it looks like he's taking it out on his daughter.

From TMZ:

An enraged Alec Baldwin unleashed a volcanic tirade of threats and insults on his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, calling her a "thoughtless little pig," and bashing her mother Kim Basinger -- and TMZ has obtained the whole thing unfiltered and raw. And we've learned, a family law judge was so alarmed after hearing the tape, she has temporarily barred Baldwin from having any contact with his child.

After Ireland failed to answer her father's scheduled phone call from New York on April 11, Alec went berserk on her voice mail, saying "Once again, I have made an ass of myself trying to get to a phone," adding, "you have insulted me for the last time."

Switching his train of thought, Baldwin then exercised his incredible parenting skills and took a shot at his ex-wife, declaring, "I don't give a damn that you're 12-years-old or 11-years-old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do." The irate Baldwin went on to say, "You've made me feel like s**t" and threatened to "straighten your ass out."

"This crap you pull on me with this goddamn phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother," screamed Baldwin, "and you do it to me constantly over and over again."

Before hanging up, Baldwin warned the child, "You better be ready Friday the 20th to meet with me."

Listen to the mp3.

Nasty! I feel threatened, and he ain't talking to me.

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Who Was Seung-Hui Cho?

Today the tragic and senseless Virginia Tech massacre got even stranger. NBC news in New York received a package sent to them by the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, after the dorm shooting but before the engineering building shootings.

From the L.A. Times:

Shortly before Seung-hui Cho gunned down 30 people in Norris Hall, the Virginia Tech senior apparently mailed a large package to NBC News containing rambling messages about his anger at the wealthy and alluding to the slaughter that was about to take place.

"You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option," Cho said in one of the QuickTime videos included in the package, in which he compared himself to Jesus and the two shooters at Columbine High School.

NBC received the package today and broadcast excerpts of the videos this evening on "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams."

The package also contained more than two dozen photos of the Cho, including 11 of him aggressively thrusting pistols at the camera. Cho, 23, did not explain his exact motives for the killings, but expressed rage and resentment in an 1,800-word, profanity-laced diatribe that Williams described as a "multimedia manifesto."

This guy was totally in his own world. I'm still waiting to hear something from his family, or someone who actually grew up with him. There must've been somebody.

I also find it interesting that race hasn't been raised in this case except for NBC's Clint Van Zandt, who hinted (with no evidence) on MSNBC on Monday that Cho's shooting spree may have been an "honor killing" of some kind because he may have been spurned by a woman and "needed to save face." If an alienated black student had shot 32 people, I have no doubt that the massacre would've been painted as a bias incident, and not a mental health incident.

While we're on the mental health issue, I like how in Virginia when one fills out an application for a gun permit, they ask you if you've ever been diagnosed with a mental disorder and they take your word for it when you say no. That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard of.

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32 Killed in Massacre at Virginia Tech

The Waco Siege ended in April. The Oklahoma City bombing happened in April. Columbine happened in April. Now this.

What is it about April? Specifically the third week of April?

Unexpected Imus Fallout, Part II: WFAN in Deep Doo Doo

As mentioned in my Thursday post, Imus accounted for a whopping 25% of the revenue for radio station WFAN. In the wake of his firing by parent company CBS, it's an understatement to say that the station is in deep doo doo as they scramble to replace his spot. In the meantime, Mike & The Mad Dog are going to be on twice a day, for a total of something like 8 hours. How can they possibly keep that up?

From the New York Times:

Yesterday there was clearly no succession plan in place for Mr. Imus, but for the next two weeks, Mike Francesa and Christopher Russo, who are the co-hosts of the afternoon “Mike and Mad Dog” show on WFAN, will fill in, working from 6 to 10 a.m., tweaking their two-man act to have a slightly more national flavor. After the midday hosts, Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts, expand their show to 2 p.m., Mr. Francesa and Mr. Russo will return to the air for the afternoon drive shift, from 2 to 6, which will be cut temporarily from their usual 1 to 6:30 p.m. slot.

Mr. Russo also said the program would be heard on all the stations that received “Imus in the Morning,” except those in Boston and Washington. A Westwood spokeswoman said she could not verify that.

Mike Barnicle, a frequent guest of Mr. Imus and the host of a talk show in Boston, was considered as an interim replacement, “but it didn’t work out,” said Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio.

Mr. Francesa and Mr. Russo were first teamed at WFAN in 1989, two years after it pioneered the sports-radio format. Mr. Imus was never a sports aficionado, but sports were frequently discussed on his program.

He often tapped Mr. Francesa and Mr. Russo — whom he dubbed “Fatso and Fruit Loops” — for their sports knowledge. Ultimately, it was Mr. Imus’s toxic mix of sports and a racist comment that led to his stunningly abrupt fall.

“This place is reeling,” Mr. Russo said by telephone yesterday during a break in their program. Mr. Francesa, also during a break for commercials, added: “He was the rock upon which WFAN’s success and ‘Mike and the Mad Dog’s’ success were built. No ifs, ands or buts.”

Trouble. This is my favorite station. I'd hate to see the whole station go down because of one guy.

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Unexpected Imus Fallout, Part I: NJ Gov. Corzine Critically Injured

Unbelievable! New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was critically injured on the way to the Rutgers summit between Imus and the girls’ basketball team.

From the New York Times:

Months of painful rehabilitation could well limit Mr. Corzine’s physical and political stamina for tackling such an array of problems that would challenge the healthiest and most established of political figures.

The crash occurred about 6:15 p.m. Thursday in the northbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway, about five miles north of the Atlantic City Expressway. The governor’s Chevrolet Suburban swerved to avoid a Dodge Ram truck that had, in turn, turned to avoid a red pickup that was described by the police as driving erratically.

The Suburban slid into the end of a guardrail, which “penetrated the vehicle, and struck both Rasinski and Governor Corzine,” according to a police report.

Mr. Corzine’s left thigh bone, or femur, was fractured, and it punched two holes through his skin. He lost about half of the blood in his body, requiring seven units during surgery Thursday night, and broke six ribs on each side, along with his sternum, collarbone and a lower vertebra.

Doctors provided few details about the extent of internal injuries, the arc of Thursday night’s treatment, or the prognosis for recovery. Mr. Corzine remained unable to speak because of the breathing tube.

Wow. He’s really messed up, to put it mildly. Very, very scary.

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What's up...

What's up with this guy's head??

This is Dr. Joshua Perper, the medical examiner for Broward County, FL. He just released the autopsy report for Anna Nicole Smith today and told everyone what we already knew -- she overdosed.

I couldn't stop staring at his head. It looks like a horn!

Search Continues for James Kim

From ABC News:

After being stranded in the wilderness for more than a week, three members of a California family are doing remarkably well.

Kati Kim, her 4-year-old daughter, Penelope, and her 7-month-old daughter, Sabine, should soon be released from Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass, Ore.

But their ordeal isn't over. A search continues for Kati's husband, James Kim, who left his family two days ago to look for help.

On Monday afternoon, rescuers found three members of the Kim family on a rugged, snow-filled road where their Saab station wagon had been stuck for more than a week.

This story is very troubling. I remember James Kim from the technology reports he used to do on Tech TV (before they became G4 TV and started catering solely to teen video gamers). He used to go on and on about his wife and kids in a very mushy way that was a bit much, but seemed genuinely sincere. You’d think that someone so into his family would’ve been more careful about driving in unfamiliar territory (regardless of who was actually driving).

It’s also very sobering to think that there are still places where you can’t get cell phone coverage and if you get lost, you might not be found in time. The only good part of the story is that the mom was able to keep the two girls alive by breastfeeding them, though if it hadn’t have been for the 7-month-old, you’d have to assume the mom wouldn’t have been lactating and the 4-year-old might not have made it.

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Colorado not to charge Karr in JonBenet case

Colorado not to charge Karr in JonBenet case - Yahoo! News: BOULDER, Colo. (Reuters) - Colorado prosecutors said on Monday they would not charge schoolteacher John Mark Karr with the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey because tests showed his DNA did not match DNA found in her underwear.

Was anyone surprised by what went down yesterday? Not me. The sad part is, Karr got a free trip back to America and he's probably REALLY happy to have escaped whatever justice was waiting for him back in Thailand. He'll gladly face some child porn charges in California.

Back on the streets, teaching in your neighborhood in a couple of years.


Technorati tags: JonBenet Ramsey | John Mark Karr | pedophile

Penny Pinching Airlines

From Reuters:

Bankrupt Northwest this week unveiled a program called Coach Choice in which the carrier will save some preferred coach seating on the aisle or emergency-exit rows until check-in. Passengers can pay $15 per flight to sit in those seats, which may offer more room.

Actually, I have no problem with this. If I want an aisle seat, $15 more isn't much to pay. I'm certainly willing to pay for the convenience of a meal. The one thing that would bother me is paying for the weight of the luggage. That could add up to a lot.

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Hasta La Vista, “Tookie” Williams

Aren’t you glad you’re not the “govinator” today?

Convicted murderer Stanley “Tookie” Williams is scheduled to die in about 12 hours in California. Pressure is on for governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant him clemency and commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.

No matter how this goes down, everybody is screwed.

Tookie has been nominated six times for a Nobel Peace Prize. But does that make it okay for him to have killed four people?

Not if they were members of my family, it doesn’t!!

But if this man is put to death, we look like beasts. I think it’s safe to say that the person who did those crimes in 1979 isn’t the same person being put to death.

And if Charles Manson’s death sentence could be commuted, you can certainly do that for someone who has renounced violence. I mean, really. Why is Manson not dead?

Then there’s the fact that Arnold wants to be re-elected. He stands to lose votes either way. If he doesn't commute the sentence, he’ll be destroyed in the next election by his opponent. Think of the ads they can come up with. But if he does grant clemency, he's “soft on crime” and he “caved in to the radical left.”

Oh, and there’ll probably be a riot if Tookie dies, God knows.

**SIGH**

--

UPDATE: Arnold did not commute the sentence. Tookie will die tonight.

R.I.P. Rosa Parks

February 4, 1913 - October 24, 2005

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How Convenient!

From Reuters:

"A man who committed suicide after a traffic stop left a note and other evidence indicating he killed the husband and mother of a federal judge in Chicago."

Oh, come on. Does this sound fishy or what?

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