The L.A. City Attorney has just charged ” American Pie ” actor Chris Klein with 2 misdemeanor counts of DUI stemming from his June 16 arrest … and TMZ has learned his blood alcohol level was THREE TIMES the legal limit. Officials tell us Klein was… Read more
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Chris Klein — THREE Times Too Drunk to Drive
Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hot Stuff
Tagged alcohol-level, attorney, bennyhollywood, blood, chris klein, DUI, his-blood, klein, t m z, the-legal, times, times-the-legal, TMZ
Teehee. Of course not. If Alicia Keys’s tribute medley to herself didn’t freeze your face into a wince during last night’s BET Awards, Chris Brown achieved the task with his uber-tearful Michael Jackson homage. Oh, the passion! Did you know that “Man in the Mirror” is about Chris Brown’s plea for you to like him? Just ask Quincy Jones. Did you know “Billie Jean” is just a metaphor for whatever Chris Brown did to Rihanna? No? It’s time to join the times, simpletons. Because these songs may just be tainted forever.
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Did Chris Brown’s Weepy BET Michael Jackson Tribute Redeem Him?
Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News
Tagged awards, barber, bet awards, celeb news, Hollywood, last-night, Michael Jackson, New Movie, rihanna, these-songs, times, tvline
Violent protesters set fire to police cars and shattered store-front windows at the Group of 20 economic summit in Toronto this weekend. How did the New York Times, so skittish about the hypothetical threat of non-existent Tea Party violence from the right, react to actual violence committed by political protesters by the left-wing and anarchist groups? With more snort-worthy apologias for left-wing protesters being overwhelmingly “peaceful” in numerical terms Reporter Randal Archibold made a similar claim in his April 24 story from Phoenix at a protest against Arizona’s anti-immigration law, claiming that “hundreds of demonstrators massed, mostly peacefully, at the capitol plaza.” Local news in Phoenix reported three people were arrested during the immigration rally, including two seen throwing water bottles at police, and videos showed more lawlessness on display. The same defensive tone is present in Monday’s Business section story from Toronto, with the ludicrous headline ” Police in Toronto Criticized for Treatment of Protesters, Many Peaceful ,” by Ian Austen. Austen’s story is illustrated with a photo from the European Pressphoto Agency showing two policemen arresting a woman, but not photos shown elsewhere of burning cars, like the Associated Press photo by Frank Gunn above. Austen managed to fault the police both for initial passivity and subsequent overreaction: An escalation of aggressive police tactics toward even apparently peaceful protests at the Group of 20 summit meeting led to calls for a review of security activities . After allowing a small group of people to burn police cars and smash windows unimpeded on Saturday afternoon, many of the 20,000 police officers deployed in Toronto changed tactics that evening and during the last day of the gathering. There was a notable increase in both the numbers of police officers who surrounded demonstrations as well as more use of tear gas and rubber or plastic bullets. At the same time, there was a visible drop in the number of demonstrators in the city streets. As a result, the violence by some demonstrators that marred the opening of the Group of 20 meeting did not reappear on Sunday, and more than 600 people were arrested Saturday and Sunday. The Times seemed to miss the obvious connection: More police and more arrests = less crime. It’s one the Times has missed before, most notoriously in this headline from September 28, 1997: ” Crime Keeps On Falling; but Prisons Keep On Filling .” Unlike Archibold’s Arizona coverage, Austen didn’t ignore the violence on display in Toronto, though he did offer the same ludicrous apologia to this group of left-wing protesters that Archibold did to the ones in Arizona, writing that ” the overwhelming majority…were peaceful .” The violence was not exceptional compared with problems at previous international meetings, like the World Trade Organization’s gathering in Seattle in 1999 . Toronto’s shopping district sustained the greatest damage but quickly became something of a tourist attraction. But it was nevertheless extraordinary for Toronto, a city with little history of violent protests. David Miller, the city’s mayor, was among the many who swiftly condemned it. “Does today send signals about Toronto that I wish weren’t sent?” he said on Saturday evening. “Absolutely.” …. William Blair, the city’s police chief, did not respond directly to the widespread criticism over the lack of police response during the period of violence. But at a news conference, he suggested that officers were deliberately held back. The protesters, the overwhelming majority of whom were peaceful , promoted a variety of causes. Many were challenging the legitimacy of the Group of 20 and proposing that governments work through the United Nations. Others championed specific issues, particularly in relation to human rights and the environment.
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Once Again, ‘Many Peaceful’ = ‘Some Violent’ When It Comes to Leftist Protesters in the NY Times
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Tagged arizona law, business, city, double standards, environment, Hollywood, News, numbers, overwhelming, Phoenix, reporter-randal, saturday, seattle, times, violence
Fresh off his Tea Party cover story in the June 24 Weekly Standard , CNBC’s Rick Santelli foresees what could be classified as an economic black hole for the United States of America. On the network’s June 24 broadcast of “Strategy Session,” the CME Group reporter explained how the country could be headed down the same path and face the economic calamity the Japanese faced in what is known as the “lost decade.” That period, from 1991-2000, was one which the Asian nation failed to grow economically despite countless efforts by the government to intervene. But as Santelli explained – the U.S. version of Japanese economic policies could result in Greek-style austerity measures. “The notion that we are turning into Japan has been something talked about on this floor for probably a year and a half,” Santelli said. “What changes though, is that it is now a toss up between Japan and Greece and trust me the eventual solutions or recommendations for avoiding the pitfalls of either are completely different strategies. A lot of Japanese say, ‘More Keynesian, more stimulus, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend.’ And the other side of the equation says, ‘Well then, you are going turn into Greece.’ Where does the truth lie? One thing I can tell you is, is that demographics are a big issue in this story as well. The Japanese have a demographic time bomb similar to the U.S. in terms of underfunded pensions and liabilities.” But according to “Strategy Session” anchor David Faber, the United States doesn’t face the same demographic obstacles as Japan, which has an aging population. “They also have a much older population,” Faber said. “I mean the fact is with our immigration patterns, with our birth patterns – we’re at a much better demographic point than they are, Rick – to be fair. You know, I hate to even use this but it’s true – they sell more adult diapers in that country than they do baby diapers. We don’t have that problem, thankfully.” However, as far monetary policy is concerned, the United States is positioned much differently than Japan because the world uses the dollar as a reserve currency. And that makes financing government debt much easier – but it also puts the United States in a potentially much more untenable position as well. “We could end up worse than Japan and I’ll tell you why,” Santelli said. “When Japan had their horrible decade and they were doing the sterilization and trying to print Yen, they were also issuing a pretty significant amount of debt but who was buying the Japanese debt? The Japanese. Now we have a reserve currency, so who’s buying our debt? Well, pretty much the rest of the world. People might say, ‘Well that’s a great thing, we could monetize it.’ And that’s where the trouble lies. Go to what Steve said – our government is a free-for-all of dumb ideas. And the fact is, if you have interest rates this low and a reserve currency, in a world that keeps wanting to eat in what turns out to be a cruddy cake – where does that leave us when we finally figure it out?
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CNBC’s Santelli Warns U.S. ‘Could End Up Worse than Japan’ Facing a Lost Decade
Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News
Tagged bailouts, country, david faber, french, Hollywood, language, party, politics, steven erlanger, times, unemployment, video
For the second day in a row, French President Nicolas Sarkozy shared the blame for France’s surprising loss in the opening round of soccer’s World Cup — in a story in the New York Times’s news section. Jere Longman’s Wednesday front-page story transmitted rants from Socialist Party opponents of the right-leaning, Bush-supporting Sarkozy, accusing him of being “President Bling Bling” and promoting a national “selfishness” that seeped into the players’ psyches. On Thursday, reporter Steven Erlanger handled sticky issues of race, patriotism and football failure in ” Racial Undertones Emerge in Reactions to France’s Exit From the World Cup, ” and also relayed criticism of Sarkozy, just the way the Times did during Sarkozy’s successful 2007 presidential campaign. While most politicians have talked carefully of values and patriotism, rather than immigration and race, some legislators blasted the players as “scum,” “little troublemakers” and “guys with chickpeas in their heads instead of a brain,” according to news reports. Fadela Amara, the junior minister for the racially charged suburbs who was born to Algerian parents, warned on Tuesday that the reaction to the team’s loss had become racially charged. “There is a tendency to ethnicize what has happened,” she told a gathering of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing party, according to news reports. “Everyone condemns the lower-class neighborhoods. People doubt that those of immigrant backgrounds are capable of respecting the nation.” She criticized Mr. Sarkozy’s handling of a debate on “national identity,” warning that “all democrats and all republicans will be lost” in this ethnically tinged criticism about Les Bleus, the French team. “We’re building a highway for the National Front,” she said, in a reference to the far-right, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim party founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Erlanger linked Sarkozy to the French “far right,” including the controvesrial, nationalist Le Pen family: The racial makeup of the French team has long been an issue on the far right, even in a country where all the French are “citizens” and are supposed to have equal rights. Of the 22-man squad, 13 are men of color, with two born in French territories. …. On Tuesday, Mr. Le Pen said that “the myth of antiracism is a sacred myth in France.” He added, apparently with no irony, that he hated politicians who turned the national soccer team into “a flag of antiracism instead of sport.” Now, the language of Mr. Chatel, the education minister, resonates with the themes of the Le Pens. That reflects, critics say, the general effort of Mr. Sarkozy and his party, over the last few years, to weaken the far right by playing on the same themes of patriotism, nationhood and identity. Elaine Sciolino’s “reporting” on Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign remains some of the most obnoxiously biased to ever appear in the Times, including this bitter reaction to a Sarkozy campaign speech: “In this election, authority apparently is deemed to be more important than compassion.”
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For Second Day in Row, NY Times Blames Right-Leaning French Prez for Soccer Team’s Travails
Image from the Times The plight of the bumblebee is a matter of great concern. Their numbers are declining, some species are on the brink of extinction and colony collapse disorder has spread in the U.S. Albert Einstein may (or may not) have said that “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.” The City of London is celebrating bees by putting hives on the roof of 8 different build… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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City Bees Go to Church in London and Get Saved
Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News
Tagged albert-einstein, beekeeping, bennyhollywood, botanical, brink, discovery, London, putting-hives, some-species, surface, times
A popular New York Times Square performer known as The Naked Cowboy is facing off against another performer who styles herself The Naked Cowgirl, claiming the woman is stealing his act. added by: GossipandGab
Posted in Celebrities, Hot Stuff
Tagged claiming-the-woman, current, Gossip, Hollywood, Naked, naked-cowboy, naked-cowgirl, News, performer, performer-known, stars, styles-herself, times, woman
On Sunday, New York Times reporter Randal Archibold offered up more of his slanted reporting on Arizona’s pending new immigration enforcement law, suggesting that supporters of tough immigration enforcement are fostering fear by exaggerating the problem of violent crime on the border with Mexico: ” On Border Violence, Truth Pales Compared to Ideas .” But does his evidence stand up? Two conservative writers say no, pointing to FBI statistics that show crime in towns outside major metropolitan areas and rural counties crime has increased substantially. When Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, announced that the Obama administration would send as many as 1,200 additional National Guard troops to bolster security at the Mexican border, she held up a photograph of Robert Krentz, a mild-mannered rancher who was shot to death this year on his vast property. The authorities suspected that the culprit was linked to smuggling. “Robert Krentz really is the face behind the violence at the U.S.-Mexico border,” Ms. Giffords said. It is a connection that those who support stronger enforcement of immigration laws and tighter borders often make: rising crime at the border necessitates tougher enforcement. But the rate of violent crime at the border, and indeed across Arizona, has been declining, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as has illegal immigration, according to the Border Patrol . While thousands have been killed in Mexico’s drug wars, raising anxiety that the violence will spread to the United States, F.B.I. statistics show that Arizona is relatively safe. That Mr. Krentz’s death nevertheless churned the emotionally charged immigration debate points to a fundamental truth: perception often trumps reality, sometimes affecting laws and society in the process . Archibold again pompously implied fear-mongering on the part of supporters of immigration enforcement: Moreover, crime statistics, however rosy, are abstract. It takes only one well-publicized crime, like Mr. Krentz’s shooting, to drive up fear. …. Crime figures, in fact, present a more mixed picture, with the likes of Russell Pearce, the Republican state senator behind the immigration enforcement law, playing up the darkest side while immigrant advocacy groups like Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Coalition), based in Tucson, circulate news reports and studies showing that crime is not as bad as it may seem. For instance, statistics show that even as Arizona’s population swelled, buoyed in part by illegal immigrants funneling across the border, violent crime rates declined, to 447 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2008, the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available from the F.B.I. In 2000, the rate was 532 incidents per 100,000. Nationally, the crime rate declined to 455 incidents per 100,000 people, from 507 in 2000. Reporter Jennifer Steinhauer seconded Archibold’s assertion about crime dropping on the Arizona border in her Tuesday front-page profile of Sen. John McCain on the campaign trail in Arizona: While border crime has decreased in this state in recent years , the killing of a prominent rancher in the south by what the police suspect was an illegal immigrant set off rage across the state, and helped fuel a tough new state law directed at immigrants. But Tom Maguire researched the actual FBI statistics and came away with the opposite result, though his results are not definitive: …the stats reprinted below tell a different story — measured by violent crimes per 100,000, the non-MSA portion of Arizona has seen a dramatic increase in crime….these numbers do not support the case that the rural and border areas of Arizona are getting safer. Quite the contrary, actually. Maybe the Times can turn a reporter loose on that. Taking off from Maguire’s spadework, Mark Hemingway at the Washington Examiner explained: …essentially, the FBI crime stats are broken down by region and while crime has fallen 20 percent in cities from 2000 to 2008, in towns outside major metropolitan areas and rural counties crime is up 39 and 45 percent, respectively. In other words, it sure looks like crime is way up in the border regions of Arizona.
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Is Illegal Immigration Raising Arizona’s Crime Rate? NY Times Says No; Relevant Figures Say Yes
On June 6th, Wired.com published a report that military intelligence analyst Bradley Manning had been arrested for allegedly leaking the famous 2007 Apache helicopter attack video to Wikileaks. Now Wikileaks and others are questioning Wired’s involvement in the story. More
Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hot Stuff, TV
Tagged adrian lamo, amanda, bennyhollywood, complex, famous-2007, Gawker, hacker, hacking, kevin poulsen, scoring-sunday, serendipitous, times
Life is hard, but sometimes everything works out. Couples in today’s New York Times weddings announcements have been blessed by something (God? Randomness? Aliens?) Resident Gawker weddings expert Phyllis Nefler parses their serendipitous stories. More
Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hot Stuff, TV
Tagged amanda, celeb news, Gawker, nastiest, phyllis-nefler, scoring-sunday, serendipitous, times
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