When Elites Attack (Each Other): Rupert, Tom, Cher and more

@rupertmurdoch I can't believe the biggest newspaper tycoons in the world have been reduced to sniping on Twitter about #Scientology...

— Charles Foster Kane (@KaneCitizen) July 3, 2012

Murdoch Hits Scientology After Celebrity Breakup
from ibnlive.com: News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch took a swipe at Tom Cruise on Sunday in a series of tweets that labeled the Hollywood star a No. 2 or No. 3 person in the hierarchy of Scientologists, a group the media mogul called 'creepy.'

Cher Refuses To Back Down From Anti-Mormon Slur
from abc4.com: Cher is refusing to back down from a Twitter comment she posted on Friday that is considered a slur against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... Cher's tweet said: "I Feel if he doesn't get all his DUCKS IN A ROW we'll b forced 2 listen 2Uncaring Richy Rich! The whitest man in MAGIC UNDERWEAR in the WH" Some news agencies reported that LDS leaders were upset over the reference to the garment won by faithful adult members of the church to remind them of sacred temple ordinances.

Media/Memes: Summer Bleakbusters, Concert Collapse and more

"This Is the Way the World Ends":
‘Seeking a Friend for the End of the World’ and Other Apocalyptic Movies*
'Gremlins 2: The New Batch' on Blu-Ray - "still disturbingly topical"*
Experience the untold story of ‪Maleficent‬, starring Angelina Jolie. In theaters 2014*
'The Master' Gets Its Scientology On In Second Trailer*
Supreme Court Refuses to Say S*** About Legality of Cursing on TV*
Former 'Goodfellas' gangster Henry Hill dies in LA*
Radiohead stage collapse: One dead*
Video: 1 Dead in Toronto Stage Collapse*

media/memes: film future, deliverance, drift away

around the world in one movie - film financing's global future*
peter jackson, damien echols complete new 'west memphis three' documentary*
jonny greenwood to score paul thomas anderson's scientology movie 'the master'*
alan moore contributes to occupy comics anthology*
bill mckinney, character actor, 'deliverance' mountain man, dies at 80*
actor harry morgan of 'dragnet', 'm*a*s*h' dies at 96*
alan sues, 'laugh-in' regular as uncle al, dies at 85*
blues legend hubert sumlin dies at 80*
roy orbison's wife dies exactly 23yrs after roy's death*
soul singer dobie gray, of 'the in crowd' & 'drift away', dead at 71*

peace revolution: episode038 - the high cabal

thanks to @tragedyandhope ... subscribe to peace revolution!
Episode038 notes/references\links

1.     Use the "Donate" buttons at the bottom of these notes, or on the side bar of this site, or the T&H Community, or the T&H dot com site, for “The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend with John Taylor Gatto” multi-DVD interview project, currently in post-production. With over 5 hours of interview footage, this is a collection of education which is invaluable.
     a. If you donate $50 or more towards the completion of this project, you will receive the entire DVD set; as our way of saying Thanks!

uk & canadian troops investigated over heroin trafficking claims

video: military running heroin smuggling operation
from guardian: Military police are investigating claims that British soldiers have been involved in heroin trafficking in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Defence said it was aware of "unsubstantiated" claims that troops were buying the drug from dealers and shipping it out of the country in military aircraft. An inquiry is focusing on British and Canadian personnel at airports in Camp Bastion and Kandahar. Security has been tightened, with additional sniffer dogs being used. Afghanistan is the source of 90% of the world's opium. Some drug bosses in the country have implicated soldiers in the trade. Last year the Sunday Times spoke to one dealer who said members of the military were the second largest buyers of heroin after foreign drug lords. The newspaper was told: "The soldiers whose term of duty is about to finish, they give an order to our boss." A team of detectives from the Ministry of Defence's special investigations branch is believed to be heading the investigation into the claims.

related drugwar updates:
aussie anti-drug push has 'worrying' link to scientology*
US agents in 'firefight' with mexican gang*
hempstalk festival kicks off in portland*

9/2 newspurge: oh, the chaos is everywhere

9/11 updates:
'intl center for 9/11 studies' secures release
of 1000s of photos & videos from nist*
911datasets.org to host huge data load*
did nist edit wtc7 footage?*
video: US tries to extradite 9/11 fema videographer from argentina*
report calls for 'infiltration' of 9/11 sites*
ground zero mosque funding leads to cfr*
video: the real story on pre-9/11 history*



biowars/envirohealth:
offshore oil rig explodes in gulf of mexico*
no bp investigation, the senate blocked it*
tests find sickened family has 50.3 ppm of corexit’s 2-butoxyethanol in swimming pool*
golfer starts california wild fire*
urine-powered fuel cells to offer pee power to people*
US birth rate lowest in history*
idf to release updated chemical attack treatment handbook*
ny legislators want chickens vaccinated*
rockefeller depop plans exposed*
in addition to vaccines, rockefeller foundation presents anti-fertility gm food for 'widespread use'*
video: 'vaccine zombie' from natural news*

econocrash:
meet the only new bank to open this year*

8/26 newspurge: do you know the score?

9/11 updates:
ground zero mosque imam is globalist cfr stooge*
fox news co-owner funded mosque imam*
rauf's wife injects more religious fervor into ground zero debate*
religious leaders speak out against 'international burn a quran day'*
florida mosque bombed; fbi calls for help; national media mute*
video: black construction worker chased away from ground zero by crazed mob*
taxi driver stabbed after passenger asks if he's muslim*
video: grayson slams mosque 'distraction':
talk about admin that let 9/11 happen instead*
missing the truth: nytimes 'covers' a 9/11 truth gathering*
video: 'building what?' campaign hits nyc tv*

biowars/envirohealth:
chemist says mercs applying corexit at night*
portions of gulf so toxic that animals are 'trying to crawl out of the water'*
1000s of dead fish surface at mouth of mississippi river*
plastic pollution in the atlantic ocean*
uninsured slow to sign up for coverage; 2 sign up in nj*
US postal service tests bioterror response*
artificial plant harvests kinetic energy*
brazil witnesses 'fire tornado'*

drugwar:
cannabis electric car to be made in canada*

33 'conspiracy theories' that turned out to be true

from jonathan elinoff: Most people can't resist getting the details on the latest conspiracy theories, no matter how far-fetched they may seem. At the same time, many people quickly denounce any conspiracy theory as untrue ... and sometimes as unpatriotic or just plain ridiculous. Lets not forget all of the thousands of conspiracies out of Wall Street like Bernie Madoff and many others to commit fraud and extortion, among many crimes of conspiracy ... "Conspiracy theory is a term that originally was a neutral descriptor for any claim of civil, criminal or political conspiracy. However, it has come almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by conspirators of almost superhuman power and cunning."

1.Dreyfus Affair (video)

2.Mafia (video)

3.MK-ULTRA (video)

4.Operation Mockingbird (video)

5.Manhattan Project (video)

6.Asbestos (video)

7.Watergate (video)

8.Tuskegee Syphilis Study (video)

9.Operation Northwoods (video)

10.1990 Testimony of Nayirah (video)

11.COINTELPRO (video)

12.Iran-Contra Affair (video)

13.BCCI Scandal (video)

14.CIA Drug Running in LA (video)

15.Gulf of Tonkin Incident (video)

16.Business Plot (video)

17.Conspiracy to Assassinate Hitler (video)

18.Operation Ajax (video)

19.Operation Snow White (video)

20.Operation Gladio (video)

21.Church Committee (video)

22.New World Order (video)

23.Kennedy Assassination & the HSCA (video)

24.1919 World Series Conspiracy (video)

25.Karen Silkwood (video)

26.CIA Drug Smuggling in Mena, Arkansas (video)

27.Bohemian Grove (video)

28.Operation Paperclip (video)

29.Round Table (video)

30.Illuminati (video)

31.Trilateral Commission (video)

32.Big Brother/Shadow Government (video)

33.Federal Reserve (video)

media/memes: obamavision, tv twilight & the end of the road

abc announces oprah-obama christmas special*
nbc's obamavision: '30 rock' offers up more gore*
washington post shutters all US bureaus outside capital*
vatican sinks teeth into vampire film 'twilight'*
mpaa says copyright-treaty critics hate hollywood*
gang was killing people for fat, attempting to sell it to cosmetic companies*
study: many day cares showing tv to tots*
rihanna's 'russian roulette': or, what's wrong with the entertainment industry*
celebrities lead charge against scientology*
'the road': bleak & unforgettable*
godless 'road' offers bleak worldview*
jim corr is better suited to celtic crooning than new world order conspiracy theories*

previous media/memes post:
content is king & corporate schemes

geopolitiks: bilderberg, false flags & warcrimes

video: italian mp denounces bilderberg influence on eu*
order out of chaos: cia, blackwater responsible for bombings, assassinations in pakistan*
usaid officer arrested with terrorists in islamabad*
australia mulls scientology probe*
video: US moves to seize properties tied to iran*
2 arrested in chicago may have links to mumbai attack*
video: i am israel*


11/20 update:
bilderberger/belgian pm van rompuy named new eu president

geopolitiks: inside bombs, payrolls & the daily show of force

video: largest iraq bombing in 2yrs may have been inside job*
twin suicide car bombs in baghdad kill 136*
car bomb kills 90 in pakistan as hillary visits*
car bomb kills 100 in pakistani city of peshawar*
pakistan bomb kills 92 as clinton visits*
pakistan moves for maritime body to prevent terror attacks*
ex-cia agent robert baer confirms US ties with jundullah*
israel wants free warships from germany*
amnesty intl says israel 'cuts palestinian water'*
in israel, a key test of obama’s retooled missile shield*
rothschild zionist bolton: israel has a right to pre-emptively strike iran *
video: daily show under fire for covering israeli-palestinian conflict*
israelis at center of ecstasy drug trade*
mystery of the missing iranian scientist*
afghan police open fire at demonstration*
karzai's brother said to be on cia payroll: report*
afghan opium kingpin on cia payroll*
video: author on karzai’s brother: ‘the generals dropped the dime on the spooks’*
new US bases on the black sea*
czech pres klaus still holding out over lisbon treaty*
new US/eu energy council to be set up early november*
brown to 'buy off' germany & france to get president blair*
blow to blair's hopes of eu job*
US & eu ink extradition pact*
church of scientology convicted of fraud in france*
alleged intel adviser makes lurid claims about prince albert of monacco*
japan shoots down missile in test off hawaii*
china says two executed for tibet riots*
soros: china will lead new world order*

media/memes: cbs $ex, mj, tv rituals & scientology

video: letterman blackmailed, admits affairs*
will letterman's stupid human tricks turn off his fans?*
pre-dawn note launched letterman extortion case*
insiders baffled by alleged letterman extortionist, robert joel halderman*
cbsnews producer arrested in $2m letterman extortion plot*
michael jackson was healthy before his death: autopsy*
washington times & the bushes hail reverend moon*
mtv's video music awards 2009: the occult mega-ritual*
how to enrage the church of scientology*

more ex-scientologists come forward with accounts of abuse

flashback: st petersburg times delivers brutal exposé:
scientology leadership rife with physical violence, report says*
from st petersburg times: They are stepping forward — from Dallas and Denver, Portland, Las Vegas, Montana — talking about what happened, to them and their friends, during their years in the Church of Scientology... These and other former Scientology staffers are talking now, inspired and emboldened by the raw revelations of four defectors from the church's executive ranks who broke years of silence in stories published recently by the St. Petersburg Times. Those behind-the-scenes accounts from Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the highest officials ever to leave Scientology, were buttressed by detailed revelations of highly placed former managers Amy Scobee and Tom De Vocht. Now their stories have prompted other former Scientology veterans to go public about physical and mental abuses they say they witnessed and endured.

update: secret mission to expose hubbard as a fake*

st petersburg times delivers brutal exposé on scientology

scientology leadership rife with physical violence, report says
from latimes: The leader of the Church of Scientology struck subordinates numerous times and set an example for physical violence among the tightly controlled religion's management team, four former high-ranking executives told a newspaper for a story published Sunday.

The executives, who have since left the organization, told the St. Petersburg Times that they witnessed David Miscavige, chairman of the board that oversees the church, hit staff members dozens of times. "It was random and whimsical. It could be the look on your face. Or not answering a question quickly. But it always was a punishment," said Mike Rinder, who oversaw the church's legal and media relations operations. Rinder said that he was struck many times by Miscavige and that he also hit others before leaving in 2007.

In a response to the paper, the church denied the allegations, saying that the four former executives' statements were "absolute and total lies." It called the claims an effort to tarnish Miscavige, who has led the church for more than two decades. A spokesman said Sunday that the church had provided documentation that the claims were false...

Sunday's report was the first of a three-part series on the church.

The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. It claims 10 million members worldwide, including celebrities Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Devotees converge on Clearwater for the highest levels of the church's training.


flashbacks: worldwide protest of scientology churches &
bbc scientology documentary airs to huge ratings

newspurge

9/11 updates
cousin of alleged 9/11 hijacker exposed as israeli spy*
unlikely place for a hit piece:
marie claire's desperately seeking approval from 9/11 truther*
cnn: new nuclear plants to protect against jet strikes*
scientology blames psychiatry for pearl harbor & 9/11*
nov7 groundbreaking set for flight 93 memorial*
william rodriguez vindicated by newly released 9/11 commission notes*
house passes $70m for 9/11 health care*

police state int'l
mississippi passes law protecting gun owners during martial law*
drug busts target san diego military housing*
army suicides in january outnumbered combat deaths*
scientology project raises questions & ire in wyoming*
new rcmp policy says tasers can kill, restricts use*
hey kids, wanna play security checkpoint*
army to work with 10 new york area schools*
audio: source reveals fema/dhs preparing for mass graves & martial law near chicago*
blackwater hides behind new, inscrutable & opaque name: xe*
ex-spy chief says uk turned into police state*
govt accused of exploiting terrorism fear*
bad news from america’s top spy*
federal agency aided maryland spying*
symposium planned to discuss implementation of nationwide mileage-based taxing system*
new navy-funded report warns of war robots going 'terminator'*
student arrested for texting*
boy scouts 'partner' with homeland stupidity*
pubs must install cctv or risk losing licenses*
wikileaks forced to leak its own secret info*
wikileaks has docs, needs cash*
video: ron paul says congress has lost control to outside interests*
warning against adverse health effects from the operation of digital broadcast television*
bill proposes isp's keep logs for police*
US northern command, fearmonger?*
texans unknowingly donate children’s blood to research*
saic awarded $115m to support tactical biometrics systems*
US army to buy $6m worth of riot equipment*
tennessee sovereignty resolution*
democrats introduce public national service bills*

envirohealth
splenda study shows shocking info about potential harmful effects*
video: parents in oregon town refuse to immunize kids*
more parents refusing vaccines for kids*
climate study: bleak outlook for pacific northwest*
video: oregon rep asks peanut execs to eat their own products*
monsanto is putting normal seeds out of reach*
doomsday seed vault's stores are growing*
iraq vets blame kbr for illnesses*
former astronaut speaks out on global warming*
video: false miracles, signs & wonders in russia: bluebeam/haarp?*
video: ground-breaking cancer researcher found murdered*

media/memes
'baader meinhof': action hit, oscar hopeful*
documentary sheds light on ‘elgin 17'*
robert parry: US media & democracy in crisis*
global elite consider tv network to 'tell us who we are'*

history/mystery
queen escaped australian train assassination plot, says cop*
the very 1st cia assassination*
nazis developed thalidomide & tested it on concentration camp prisoners*
the many layers of leonard peltier's case*
alfred p sloan, nazi collaborator*

geopolitiks
un moves to charge israel with war crimes*
towards fascist rule in israel*
kyrgyz prez: money behind manas closing*
latvia's government collapses*
drone war escalates; 30 more dead in pakistan*
destabilizing pakistan, america plays with fire*
feinstein: US launches drone war on pakistan, from pakistan*
pakistan partners with US on killer drone strikes*
google earth shows US drones at pakistani base?*
ahmadinejad calls for new world order*
video: ucla professor thinks he’s found osama*
ucla professor explains why he thinks he's found osama*
religion under a 'false flag'*
audio: norway returns to pillage-based economy*

media/memes: simpsontology, propaganalog & dtv

bart simpson used to promote scientology
from wikinews: Nancy Cartwright, 51, who is a long time member of the Church of Scientology, has created a recording using her voice of Bart Simpson as part of a robocall promotion. The message surfaced early Wednesday morning on YouTube. During the message, Cartwright states that "This is a special message" and announces a Scientology conference this coming weekend at the grand ballroom of the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles where she has a speaking engagement. The message ends with a toll free number to call to RSVP... The Simpsons executives did not authorize this usage of intellectual property in this manner. Executive producer Al Jean told The Hollywood Reporter, "This is not authorized by us. The Simpsons does not, and never has, endorsed any religion, philosophy or system of beliefs any more profound than Butterfinger bars," referencing the advertisements featuring the Simpsons for the Butterfinger candy bar.

lights, camera… covert action: deep politics of hollywood
from global research: Here we build a prima facae case supporting the idea that Hollywood continues to be a target for infiltration and subversion by a variety of state agencies, in particular the CIA. Academic debates on cinematic propaganda are almost entirely retrospective, and whilst a number of commentators have drawn attention to Hollywood’s longstanding and open relationship with the Pentagon, little of substance has been written about the more clandestine influences working through Hollywood in the post-9/11 world. As such, our work delves into the field of what Peter Dale Scott calls "deep politics"; namely, activities which cannot currently be fully understood due to the covert influence of shadowy power players... Many would recoil at the thought of modern Hollywood cinema being used as a propagandist tool, but the facts seem to speak for themselves. Do agencies such as the CIA have the power, like the Pentagon, to affect movie content by providing much-sought-after expertise, locations and other benefits? Or are they able to affect script changes through simple persuasion, or even coercion? Do they continue to carry out covert actions in Hollywood as they did so extensively in the 1950s, and, beyond cinema, might covert government influence play some part in the creation of national security messages in TV series such as 24 and Alias (the star of the latter, Jennifer Garner, even made an unpaid recruitment video for the CIA)? The notion that covert agencies aspire to be more open is hard to take seriously when they provide such scant information about their role within the media, even regarding activities from decades past. The spy may have come in from the cold, but he continues to shelter in the shadows of the movie theatre.

profiles of america's beloved tv celebrities part32 - bill moyers: cia 'liberal' & nazi joseph campbell

carlos slim stake a danger to ny times
from editor & publisher: Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu's $250 million loan to The New York Times Co. is "an ominous move" by a "capitalist with loyalties to a foreign state," The Seattle Times said in an unsigned editorial Tuesday. "Major media companies should not be in the hands of a capitalist with loyalties to a foreign state," the editorial declared... Tuesday's editorial states the paper's principle right in the headline: "Newspaper ownership matters in American democracy." Slim has said he has no intention of using the loan - and an earlier purchase of a 6.4% stake in Times Co. - to influence the paper's coverage or editorializing.

'star trek' creator gene roddenberry to spend eternity in space

digital conversion deadline looms as the psyop grows
from usa today: Two weeks from today, an estimated 7 million households that rely on analog television sets - ones that work off antennas - could see their screens go blank. The temptation is to say, too bad. People had plenty of warning about the impending nationwide switch to digital TV, and an opportunity to apply for $40 coupons toward the cost of converter boxes. Unfortunately, the federal government has so fouled up the changeover that a delay in the Feb. 17 deadline is the least bad alternative.


update: house approves digital tv transition delay
from pcmag: Get ready for a summertime DTV transition. The House on Wednesday approved a bill to move the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12, by a vote of 264 to 158. The Senate approved the measure last week, so it now moves to President Obama, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

fbi didn't keep tabs on 'alleged comedian' carlin's 7 words
from ap: Talk about irony. George Carlin spent decades pushing the bounds of free speech by saying the seven words you can never say on television, but not one of them made it into an FBI file on him. Among the 12 pages in a file recently released by Carlin's family are a couple of letters from outraged citizens who complained that the comedian had made fun of the FBI and its director, J. Edgar Hoover, during TV appearances in 1969 and 1970. There's also a letter from Hoover himself thanking one of Carlin's critics for defending his honor, and an internal FBI memo that quotes the director as asking: "What do we know of Carlin?" Not much, as it turned out. The memo notes the FBI has "no data concerning Carlin" other than the two letters from his critics. "Which kind of disappoints me," laughed Carlin's daughter, Kelly Carlin McCall, who provided the file to The Associated Press. "It doesn't really cover any of his more radical 1970s stuff."

media/memes: travolta, groucho, oregon art & world events

scientologist john travolta's son dies strangely from a 'medical episode' while on vacation in the bahamas
from ap: John Travolta's teenage son, Jett, died in the Bahamas after falling ill and hitting his head at his family's vacation home, police said Friday [jan2]. A house caretaker found Jett, 16, unconscious in a bathroom late Friday morning. He was taken by ambulance to a Freeport hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement from chief police superintendent Basil Rahming. The teenager had last been seen going into the bathroom on Thursday and had a history of seizures, according to the statement. Police said they are planning an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Another police spokeswoman, Loretta Mackey, said Jett apparently hit his head on the bathtub. A spokeswoman for Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport said she could not release any information because of privacy concerns.

updates:
2 experts to autopsy travolta’s teenager*
travolta's son died of seizure disorder*
wecht weighs in on death of john travolta's son*
wecht: unanswered questions in travolta death*
jett travolta secretly cremated*
travolta & preston return to florida with son's ashes*

dianetics, drugs & the death of a young travolta
from national post: The news last night [jan2] that 16-year-old Jett Travolta’s death certificate now lists “seizure disorder” as the cause of his death in the Bahamas last week may have had the unusual effect of raising more questions than it answers. Given that seizures derive from brain malfunctions, and that the Church of Scientology, of which the Travoltas are devout members of the highest stratum, frequently rejects brain-related diagnoses, many of the questions are being pointed at the grieving parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, and whether their quirky beliefs may have contributed to their son’s death. That’s sparked interest in this case not only from the typical supermarket-line celeb-watchers, but from Scientology’s numerous critics as well...

Questioning someone’s personal beliefs amidst such a profound tragedy is tricky business. But the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews and Catholics have had their faith around preventing death publicly debated, and even if the Church of Scientology’s skepticism toward modern medicine isn’t exactly unique, its strange culture of secrecy has a way of inviting special scrutiny. Already, stories on mainstream media outlets (like this one, as well as here, here and here) are asking aggressively about how his Church’s pharmaceuticalphobia (deliciously ironic, given founder L. Ron's own alleged pill-popping obsession) might have been part of the short, sad story of Jett Travolta, and tales from former Scientologists who had experience with untreated illnesses themselves—sometimes with equally terrible consequences—are getting much more attention today. One Church official defended Scientology today to MSNBC, explaining that the group does not reject "conventional medical treatment for medical conditions . . . when physically ill," it will only disregard a "psychological diagnosis." But given the blurry line between the two when it comes to matters of grey matter, the most likely explanation may turn out that no one knew exactly what Jett was suffering from since his reported brain disfunctions may never have had a proper medical diagnosis. Whatever happens, more than the Travoltas, the Church of Scientology’s top-notch public relations arm finds itself being tested yet again with another scandal, while the world’s concern for Baby Suri’s safety only deepens.

making 'duck soup' out of today
from bill moyers: Life imitates satire – and vice versa. Which brings us to our other unusual list. The best movies of… 1933. Naturally, the original "King Kong" is on our list. So are "The Invisible Man" and "42nd Street." But our number one choice: The Marx Brothers’ "Duck Soup." Why? Because as we enter this final month of the Bush years, the parallels are remarkable. Sometimes it feels as if we live not only in the United States but also in the side-splitting state of Freedonia, the imaginary country in which "Duck Soup" takes place. In 1933, a time much like now of calamity, fraud and peril, the Great Depression gripped America. Franklin D. Roosevelt had just become President and declared a New Deal, while in Germany, Adolph Hitler was named chancellor, the beginning of the Third Reich. As all of this was taking place, the Marx Brothers – there were four of them then; Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo – shot "Duck Soup," a comedy that almost inadvertently transcended slapstick, becoming a trenchant send-up of power and vanity and the disastrous consequences of both. Freedonia is bankrupt and asking for a bailout – sound familiar? The wealthy Mrs. Teasdale, played by the redoubtable Margaret Dumont, says the only way she’ll come up with the money is if the country appoints as its new leader Rufus T. Firefly – played by Groucho, as only a true clown can play a charlatan. He sings, “The last man nearly ruined this place, he didn’t know what to do with it. If you think this country’s bad off now, just wait ‘til I get through with it.”

video: oregon art gallery hosts bush shoe toss
from ashland daily tidings: Ashland City Councilor Eric Navickas and his partner Amy Godard opened their co-owned MAda Shell Gallery on Jan. 2, 2009 with a carnival attraction. Visitors were given an opportunity to ‘Shoe Bush’ through the use of a slingshot that launched a shoe attached to a wooden stick at a large face of President Bush. The soles of the shoes were painted to provide a splattering effect … and perhaps art.


world events fall through the cracks in US media
from upi: The much criticized - and usually with good reason - U.S. news media missed or underreported a lot of big stories in 2008. Half of the stories that United Press International lists as the most neglected or "lost" of 2008 were in Latin America and Africa, vast regions that have dropped off the map as far as the national U.S. media are concerned.

First, just across the U.S. border, the Mexican state reeled from the growing power of the drug lords who ran virtual fiefdoms in some of its northern states...

Second, the U.S. media and national political leaders were asleep at the growing power of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez...

Third, the U.S. media virtually ignored the slide toward anarchy and civil war in the most populous nation in Africa - Nigeria...

Fourth, the U.S. media shockingly neglected the three worst human rights violation stories in the world - and all three of them were in Africa, too...

Fifth, it took Al Jazeera to report that in 2008 at least 6 million African Muslims converted to Christianity: This was a trend of enormous importance and vast scale, yet you found it nowhere in the U.S. electronic or print news media.

Sixth, in August, Russia's blitzkrieg conquest of one-third of the former Soviet republic of Georgia made headlines around the world. But the far more significant renewal and expansion of Russian strategic nuclear forces that occurred in 2008 was virtually ignored in the U.S. and Western European media, apart from UPI, which covered it closely...

Seventh, most of the Arab world was remarkably stable in 2008, though you wouldn't have known it from the op-ed pages and regular pundits of the U.S. media...

Eighth, coverage of the U.S. and then global economic crisis that erupted in September with the fall of the Lehman Brothers investment house in New York focused on developments in the United States, China, Russia and Western Europe. But the collapse of Japan's enormous industrial export trade with the United States got far too little coverage and analysis...

Ninth, most Americans took it for granted that India was a strong ally of the United States - if they thought about the issue at all. In fact, U.S. defense companies remained frozen out of the Indian arms market in 2008, and the Indian armed forces continued to buy big for their combat aircraft, aircraft carriers and frigates, main battle tanks, heavy military air transports and even co-produced BrahMos cruise missiles from Russia.

Finally, plenty of news came out of Afghanistan, but the analysis to put it into context was woefully lacking. UPI Editor Emeritus Arnaud De Borchgrave and Mr. Lind provided that context when almost no one else did. They warned how U.S. neoconservative and liberal passions for democracy, nation building, women's rights and wars on drugs had alienated millions of ordinary Afghans and played into the hands of the resurgent Taliban, who increased their power by giant strides, defying NATO's undermanned and ham-handed efforts to stop them.

Of course, none of this mattered compared with the fun and games of Jen, Brad and Britney.

how to stop the new world order
from theopoulagr: And so it begins... You Have The Right To Remain Silent. But We Hope You Won't.

media memes: nixon, cruise, stone, lennon, vhs & hi-def

'frost/nixon': meant for each other
from washington post: Neither the title nor the subject matter prepares you for the pure fun of "Frost/Nixon." Ron Howard's movie is based on Peter Morgan's play, which was based on the 1977 television interviews between British journalist David Frost and the disgraced former president Richard Nixon. You expect something dry, historical and probably contrived. But you get a delicious contest of wits, brilliant acting and a surprisingly gripping narrative - no less dramatic even though the results are a foregone conclusion.

pentagon & hollywood pair up for transformers sequel
from danger room: Hollywood action director Michael Bay enlisted the U.S. military to provide realistic props for his 2007 giant-robot epic Transformers. After the Pentagon helped rewrite the script, Bay got access to helicopters, warships and - for just $25,000 an hour - F-22 stealth fighters. As we speak, Bay is shooting a sequel that has even more U.S. military hardware on display, according to USA Today. The director set up shop at White Sands, a test range in New Mexico, standing in for Egypt, where the new movie's climactic battle takes place. "As far as I know, this is the biggest joint military operation movie ever made," said Bay's liaison officer from the Army.

stone unturned: oliver on obama

tom cruise, scientology & holocaust revisionism
from indybay: Tom Cruise is asking for your Valkyrie movie ticket dollars, but spends his money to fund a cult with a similar attitude towards lesser races and global domination. Should the actor be separated from his actions? As a producer of the movie, he earns money from every ticket. Should you care where that money is going? ... Tom Cruise is one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, even with his anti-Semitic portrayal of a Hollywood producer (complete with gold star necklace) in Tropic Thunder. Is having his money go toward funding studies linking the Holocaust to modern medicine worth the price of your movie ticket?

mind control through the hi-def boxes

john lennon digitally inserted into television commercial
from raw story: With the approval of widow Yoko Ono, former Beatle and peace activist John Lennon, who was killed 28 years ago, appeared digitally in a 30-second television ad in support of the "One Laptop per Child" campaign. The spot was launched on Thursday and will play in donated broadcast and cable time slots. The voice of Lennon says: "Imagine every child, no matter where in the world they were, could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want. I tried to do it through my music, but now you can do it in a very different way. You can give a child a laptop and, more than imagine, you can change the world."

long, winding road hits a dead end at last for vhs
from latimes: Pop culture is hitting the eject button on the VHS tape, the once ubiquitous home video format that will finish this month as a creaky ghost of Christmas past. After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes. "It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Southern California businessman. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away." ... But Kugler, with a sly smile, offered a warning to consumers: "The days of the DVD are numbered... And that is good news for me."