Friday, March 6, 2009

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Florida Home Sales Surge For Fifth Month Top
Florida's existing home sales rose in January, making it the fifth month in a row that sales activity showed increases in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR). More on Real Estate
 
Sudan Aid Ban: UN Investigating If Ban Is War Crime Top
GENEVA — The U.N. human rights office will examine whether Sudan's decision to expel aid groups constitutes a breach of basic human rights and possibly a war crime, a spokesman said Friday. Rupert Colville said the Sudanese decision to expel relief workers from 13 of the largest aid groups constitutes a "grievous dereliction" of duty, putting the lives of thousands at risk. The World Health Organization said the loss of the aid agencies would tear a hole in the body's disease monitoring efforts that could lead to outbreaks of infectious diseases going unchecked. The U.N. refugee agency said refugee camps in neighboring Chad were ill-prepared to deal with an influx of people crossing the border from Sudan in search of help. Sudan ordered the organizations out after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur conflict. It has accused the groups such as CARE and Save the Children of cooperating with the court and giving false testimony. The groups deny the accusations. "To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive is a deplorable act," said Colville, who speaks for U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay. "Humanitarian assistance has nothing to do with the ICC proceedings. To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government's duty to protect its own people." "This decision by the government could threaten the lives of thousands of civilians," living in camps in Darfur and elsewhere, he added. World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said the expelled aid groups had been carrying out surveillance of infectious diseases in the region. "If they are not helping us do this very vital work, we may see the emergence of infectious diseases," she said. There is currently an outbreak of meningitis in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, she said. One of the groups, Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland, was carrying out meningitis vaccinations in the area before it was expelled. On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sudan's decision will cause "irrevocable damage" to humanitarian operations in Darfur and called on the government to urgently reconsider its decision. At least 2.7 million people in the large, arid region of western Sudan have been driven from their homes in the war between Darfur rebels and the government since 2003. Ban said 4.7 million people in Darfur are receiving aid. The U.N. has identified the NGOs expelled as Oxfam GB, CARE International, MSF-Holland, MSF-France, Mercy Corps, Save the Children Fund-UK, Save the Children Fund-US, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre La Faim, Solidarites, CHF International and PADCO. Sudan's expulsion order removes 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur, roughly 6,500 national and international staff, said Catherine Bragg, the U.N.'s deputy emergency relief coordinator. She said at U.N. headquarters that 76 NGOs had been operating in Darfur along with all major U.N. agencies. The U.N. humanitarian coordination office says the global body will have a hard time making up for the loss of its aid partners. "The U.N. is looking into contingency planning to fill the gaps left by the expulsion, but it will be very, very challenging for both remaining humanitarian organizations and the government of Sudan to fill this gap," said spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs. "Some of us don't see how these gaps can be fully covered," she added. Christophe Fournier, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres's umbrella group, MSF International, said there was "absolutely no way" the remaining aid workers would be able to meet the needs of the population in Darfur. Fournier complained that his aid group was caught up in a battle between the government of Sudan and backers of the ICC indictment. "We are being held hostage _ we and the population of Darfur _ to judicial and political process," he told reporters in Geneva. ___ AP writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Eliane Engeler in Geneva contributed to this report. More on War Crimes
 
Jobless rate is expected to jump to 7.9 percent Top
WASHINGTON — The Labor Department will release a report today that is expected to show the unemployment rate rising to 7.9 percent and a loss of 648,000 jobs in February, making it an especially cruel month for America's workers. Cost-cutting employers are resorting to even bigger layoffs as they scramble to survive the recession, feeding insecurities among those who still have jobs and those who desperately want them. Employers likely slashed a net total of 648,000 jobs last month, according to economists' forecasts. If they are right, it would mark the worst month of job losses since the recession started in December 2007. It also would represent the single biggest month of job reductions since October 1949, when the country was just pulling out of a painful recession, although the labor force has grown significantly since then. "The pace of layoffs is fast and furious," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. "We're still in the teeth of this recession and the bite has not let up at all." With employers slashing payrolls, the nation's unemployment rate is expected to jump to 7.9 percent, from 7.6 percent in January. If that happens, it would mark the highest jobless rate since reaching 8 percent in January 1984, a time when the unemployment rate was still slowly moving down after having topped 10 percent during the early 1980s recession. Employers are shrinking their work forces at alarming clip and are turning to other ways to slash costs _ including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay _ because the recession has eaten into their sales and profits. Customers at home and abroad are cutting back as other countries cope with their own economic problems. A new wave of layoffs hit this week. General Dynamics Corp. said Thursday it will lay off 1,200 workers due partly to plummeting sales of business and personal jets that forced it to cut production. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., and Tyco Electronics Ltd., which makes electronic components, undersea telecommunications systems and wireless equipment, also are trimming payrolls. "This is basically cleaning house for a lot of firms," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia. "They are using the first quarter to cut back employment and figure out what they want." Disappearing jobs and evaporating wealth from tanking home values, 401(k)s and other investments have forced consumers to retrench, driving companies to lay off workers. It's a vicious cycle in which all the economy's negative problems feed on each other, worsening the downward spiral. "The economy is in a tailspin. Businesses are jettisoning jobs at an unprecedented pace," said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research. Some 3.6 million jobs have disappeared so far in a deepening recession, which is shaping up as the biggest job killer in the post-World War II period. The country is getting bloodied by fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises_ the worst since the 1930s. And there's no easy fix for a quick turnaround, economists said. President Barack Obama is counting on a multipronged assault to lift the country out of recession: a $787 billion stimulus package of increased federal spending and tax cuts; a revamped, multibillion-dollar bailout program for the nation's troubled banks; and a $75 billion effort to stem home foreclosures. Even in the best-case scenario that the relief efforts work and the recession ends later in 2009, the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing, hitting 9 percent or higher this year. In fact, the Federal Reserve thinks the unemployment rate will stay elevated into 2011. Economists say the job market may not get back to normal _ meaning a 5 percent unemployment rate _ until 2013. Businesses won't be inclined to ramp up hiring until they are sure any economic recovery has staying power. The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent in the final three months of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, and it will probably continue to shrink during the first six months of this year. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress earlier this week that recent economic barometers "show little sign of improvement" and suggest that "labor market conditions may have worsened further in recent weeks."
 
Allen Stanford Fraud Stymies Art Show Top
ARTIST Chris Burden - who had himself shot in the arm with a 22-caliber rifle in 1971 and then had himself crucified with his hands nailed to the roof of a Volkswagen - had to postpone tomorrow's opening of his show at the Gagosian Gallery in LA.
 
Dignitas Clinic: Couple Die Together In Suicide Pact Top
A wealthy British couple who both had terminal cancer have committed suicide together at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.
 
Senate Omnibus Appropriations Bill: Stopgap Spending Measure Needed To Avoid Govt Shutdown Top
WASHINGTON — The Senate, tied up in a fight over a huge omnibus appropriations bill, will have to pass a stopgap spending measure Friday in order to avoid a partial government shutdown. The Senate worked late on Thursday trying to pass the $410 billion appropriations bill, which was denounced by Republicans _ and a handful of Democrats _ who said it was bloated and filled with wasteful, pork-barrel spending projects. Democratic leaders were forced to postpone a final vote on the measure until Monday under pressure from GOP senators who complained that Democrats hadn't allowed them enough opportunities to offer amendments. With the vote postponed, senators need to pass a stopgap spending measure by midnight Friday to prevent a shutdown of most domestic agencies. Midnight is when a temporary law that keeps the government in business, mostly at 2008 levels, expires. Before canceling the vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was one vote short of the 60 needed to close debate and free the bill for President Barack Obama's signature. Democrats and their allies control 58 seats, though at least a handful of Democrats oppose the measure over its cost or changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba. That meant Democrats needed five or six Republican votes to advance the bill. None of the GOP's amendments is expected to pass, but votes on perhaps a dozen are now set for Monday night, Reid said. The huge, 1,132-page spending bill awards big increases to domestic programs and is stuffed with pet projects sought by lawmakers in both parties. The measure has an extraordinary reach, wrapping together nine spending bills to fund the annual operating budgets of every Cabinet department except for Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. The measure was written mostly over the course of last year, before projected deficits quadrupled and Obama's economic recovery bill left many of the same spending accounts swimming in cash. And, to the embarrassment of Obama _ who promised during last year's campaign to force Congress to curb its pork-barrel ways _ the bill contains 7,991 pet projects totaling $5.5 billion, according to calculations by the GOP staff of the House Appropriations Committee. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Obama's opponent in the presidential campaign, called the measure "a swollen, wasteful, egregious example of out-of-control spending" and again criticized Obama for pledging to sign the measure despite his earlier promises on such spending. "It doesn't sound like he's willing to use his veto pen to back up his vow," McCain said. The pet projects _ called earmarks _ run the gamut. They include $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo., $238,000 to fund a deep-sea voyaging program for native Hawaiian youth, agricultural research projects, and grants to local police departments, among many others. While earmarks have come under attack from conservative watchdog groups and cable television commentators, lawmakers in both parties seek them, arguing that they best know the needs of their states and home districts. Under a long-standing tradition, Republicans get about 40 percent of them since they are the minority party. Several lawmakers took to the floor during the week to defend their projects, including Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who backed $1.7 million for pig odor research. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., promised $3.8 million to preserve and redevelop part of old Tiger Stadium to help revitalize a distressed area of Detroit. By a 52-42 vote Thursday, Democrats cleared the way for the Obama administration to reverse a rule issued late in the Bush administration that says greenhouse gases may not be restricted in an effort to protect polar bears from global warming. Another Bush administration rule that reduced the input of federal scientists in endangered species decisions can also be quickly overturned without a lengthy rulemaking process. The big increases _ among them a 21 percent boost for a popular program that feeds infants and poor women and a 10 percent increase for housing vouchers for the poor _ represent a clear win for Democrats who spent most of the past decade battling with President George W. Bush over money for domestic programs. Generous above-inflation increases are spread throughout, including a $2.4 billion, 13 percent increase for the Agriculture Department and a 10 percent increase for the money-losing Amtrak passenger rail system. Congress also awarded itself a 10 percent increase in its own budget, bringing it to $4.4 billion. But the House inserted a provision denying lawmakers the automatic cost-of-living pay increase they are due next Jan. 1. ___ On the Net: Taxpayers for Common Sense: http://www.taxpayer.net House Appropriations Committee: http://appropriations.house.gov/
 
Burris Ally John Ruff Suggests Burris, Blagojevich Quid Pro Quo Top
On the same December day then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich named Roland Burris to fill President Obama's U.S. Senate vacancy, Burris' right-hand political man, Fred Lebed, phoned an associate and told him, "We'll have to do some things for the governor." That's the recollection of the associate, a health-care and political consultant named John Ruff, who went on to become one of Burris' co-plaintiffs on a January lawsuit that sought to help Burris claim his Senate seat. More on Rod Blagojevich
 
Amy Winehouse Charged With Assault For Hitting Fan Top
LONDON — Police and a spokesman say singer Amy Winehouse has been charged with hitting a fan at an end-of-summer ball in London last year. Spokesman Chris Goodman says the singer voluntarily went to a police station Thursday, where she was charged with assault. Dancer Sheren Flash had been quoted by tabloid newspapers as saying she was hit in the eye by the 25-year-old "Back to Black" singer after asking to take her picture at a ball on Sept. 26. Police said Friday that Winehouse was released and would be in court on March 17. The retro-soul singer's career has been marred by drug problems and a series of run-ins with the police. More on Amy Winehouse
 
Madoff's Ponzi Scheme: $50 Billion Figure May Be Fictitious Top
NEW YORK — Bernard Madoff and $50 billion. His name and that number have become inseparable in describing the enormity of what has been called the largest white-collar fraud in history. It's a figure that has helped demonize Madoff and relegate big-time money managers charged in subsequent securities schemes to mere "mini-Madoff" status. Investigators claim Madoff himself told them that he stole $50 billion, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the number may be as fictitious as the sprawling fraud that he allegedly ran. A growing number of people involved in the case and outside observers are saying that the actual loss to investors could be far less than the mind-boggling total often treated as fact. The actual number is not known at this point, but some believe it's less than $20 billion. "I'd be pulling a number out of the air," Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corp., told The Associated Press this week when asked how much money he thought was swindled. Harbeck said he believes the $50 billion estimate is unreliable because it "includes entirely fictitious profits" that Madoff said he brought investors over the years. Even the $17.1 billion that the SEC recorded last year as being held by Madoff Investment Securities LLC _ once thought to be the legitimate side of his operation _ "does not appear to reflect reality," he added. "I think it's somewhat misleading to say this was a $50 billion scheme because I believe that includes the fictitious profits," he said Thursday. "If that is the case, and I believe it to be the case, then the real dollars lost would be considerably lower." Madoff, 70, was arrested late last year, a day after meeting with his sons and telling them that his secretive investment advisory business was "basically a giant Ponzi scheme," a criminal complaint said. He "estimated the losses from this fraud to be at least $50 billion," the complaint said. The disgraced financier remains under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment while the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission and a court-appointed trustee labor to measure the true scope of the fraud. The Securities Investor Protection Corp., an industry-funded organization that steps in when a brokerage firm fails, has been helping process hundreds of claims by investors hoping to recoup losses. "It's an unprecedented Ponzi scheme, but the extent of it we'll know once the claims are filed," Harbeck said. It remains unclear how much burned investors will ultimately say they're owed. They have until July 2 to file claims with the trustee. A spokesman for a court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's operation said Thursday that so far only about $1 billion in assets have been recovered: $650 million from bank accounts and other financial institutions; $132.3 million securities that have been sold; and $161 million in securities still invested. In the weeks after Madoff's arrest, various news organizations and other groups began compiling a list of Madoff losses that totaled around $30 billion. Those estimates were based on a list of institutional and individual investors and how much they lost _ sometimes in the billions. But it's likely those estimates were based on monthly statements that investigators say were fabricated, said Alan E. Weiner, a partner in Holtz Rubenstein Reminick LLP, a Long Island accounting firm. The $50 billion "appears to be a number that (Madoff) just threw out," Weiner said. "It could be the total value on all the fallacious statements. I don't think it represents the cash that people put in." Former SEC head Harvey Pitt agreed that Madoff "probably inflated the amount of money he had under management." He predicted the actual loss would fall below $17 billion. "But there's no question the amounts are probably north of $10 billion and that's a lot of money by anyone's reckoning," he said at a recent forum on the case. Even $10 billion would eclipse other recent fraud cases. They include that of Florida hedge fund manager Arthur Nadel, accused of bilking investors out of up to $350 million, and Mark Dreier, a prominent lawyer charged with stealing $400 million in a hedge fund scam. Authorities believe Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford perpetrated an $8 billion investment fraud. The Nadel case demonstrated the ripple effect of the avalanche of publicity around the purported $50 billion scam: Investigators say Nadel's crimes were exposed when his partners, spooked by the Madoff case, asked for an independent audit of the defendant's business. Similarly, a New Jersey fund manager, James Nicholson, was arrested last week in yet another alleged scheme that fell apart after several leery investors tried to redeem their money. Prosecutors say his fraud could reach $900 million _ a size that might have dominated headlines, pre-Madoff. In Madoff's case, the portrayal of him as a monster-size fraudster has led to enough fears about his safety that it was his lawyers who first sought 24-hour protection for him while he remains under house arrest. Some of the heat has even fallen on his lawyer, Ira Sorkin, who said he has referred two death threats against himself to the FBI and has been subjected to more than a dozen vicious e-mails and phone calls. Ron Kuby, a lawyer who in the 1990s once represented a blind Egyptian sheik charged with trying to overthrow the U.S. government, said the threats come with the territory. "I'm sorry. I'm playing the world's smallest violin," he said. "I used to get hundreds of those. I got actual letters, hundreds of them, and phone calls saying lovely things like, 'I'm sorry Hitler missed you.'" More on Bernard Madoff
 
Tallulah Morehead: Survivor Tocantins: Sandy Wastes. Top
Taj Fat Butt must DIE! I'll explain why she has suddenly passed Ex-Coach Full-of-Himself on my Hate List at the end of this column, but she has crossed a line. I'm not normally a vengeful person, unless you cross me in some trivial manner, but Taj must die. Of course, her husband has a "Heisman Trophy," that award they give to murderers, so hopefully, he will earn his award and take her out. She is Evil. You'll learn why. My job of recapping Survivor: Tocantins has become a more important duty this week, because this evening Survivor was on opposite American Idol , which means I was the only person in America watching it. Even the survivors themselves, and their families and friends, were watching AI . So I had to view the show for all the Survivor fans, both of them (Hello daRlings), who passed on it for the joy of seeing Tatiana rejected again, and gazing in horror at Paula doing her impression of a drunken mosh-pit floozy in a leopard-print dress that made her look like Norma Desmond playing a whore. Not that I watched American Idol . No, no. I was stuck - I mean happy to be - watching Survivor . I just intuited that Paula would be dressed like Tarzan-the-Streetwalker through my mighty psychic powers. I was watching Survivor . Honest. But first an interesting bit of news that reached me this week about Coach. It turns out that this misogynistic creep, a dues-paying member of "Spanky McFarland's Wimmin-Haters Klub," coaches women's soccer! Yikes! And now the good news. Since shooting Survivor , he's been fired! He's now an ex -coach. And thus, henceforth he shall be known here as Ex-Coach Full-of-Himself. If anyone knows why he was fired (I can't think of more than 20 or 30 reasons), please share it with all of us in the comments below. (And thank you, dear readers and people who have this read aloud to them, for all the kind comments and emails.) We began with Timbira dragging themselves back to camp after their second consecutive Tribal Council, having just shown America that Timbira does not support our troops, by voting out Jerry Army Guy, veteran of a year in Afghanistan, where he risked his life everyday to make America a little safer, when they could have voted out Ex-Coach Full-of-Himself. I'd say they had a special place in Hell awaiting them, except that they seem to be spending 39 days there right now. "Well, it's a dark, sultry, sulky night" said Ex-Coach. What is a "Sulky Night"? A night that pouts when it doesn't get its way, like Ex-Coach? Even Snoopy wasn't so illiterate that he wrote "It was a dark and sulky night," and he's just a dog. Ex-Coach was having a sulky night, pissed because Erinn said Brendan Hot Pecs would make a better leader than he would, which is true, although Jerry was the one who first suggested Brendan. (And only a fool wants to be a Tribe Leader, as it always gets you targeted for eviction) However, Ex-Coach still has a blinding, unmotivated hatred of Erinn, who is a female after all. Once again he described her as "the cancer of the tribe." Well that's a malignant tumor calling a blemish melanoma. Next morning, Brendan, who is nobody's fool, called a pow-wow in which he immediately suggested Ex-Coach or Tyson the Nude Mormon for Tribe leader. He knew better than to take the job himself. Tyson told us "So I guess Brendan or [Ex] Coach is the leader? I don't know. It's - ah - I wasn't paying attention. I don't really care." The discussion wasn't about him, so Tyson got bored and his mind drifted. I assume visions of himself in man tiaras were dancing in his head. Ex-Coach told us, "If Brendan got voted off and I was the leader, I think this tribe would be better ..." Ex-Coach's opinion of himself knows no bounds, nor reality. "... but I don't want to vote Brendan off, because that's my M.O." It's more like his H.O. M.O. He went on, "If you look at me, you look at Brendan, who looks stronger? I do!" Why would I want to look at Ex-Coach, in his faux-Steven Seagal hair, when I could look at Brendan? "... and I think the difference is, I've been here, and they haven't." They've been right beside him the whole time. Ex-Coach is insane. Over at Jalapeno, Taj Evil Bitch must seduce Stephen into "The Exile Alliance," her plot with Brendan Hot Pecs to make a secret cross-tribe alliance with Sierra Walking Skeleton and Stephen City Nerd. She lured Stephen off and told him, "This is going to change your life..." Is she going to convert him, or chop off one of his limbs? "... Do you want to be a part of the biggest upset on Survivor History?" I believe that was several seasons back. The woman is given to overstating. Maybe she isn't a "Pop Star," but just a "Pop Supporting Player." As Stephen eloquently put it, "So I might have just stumbled ass-backwards into a huge alliance." Well, it's only four people, so it's not all that huge . Of course, he was talking about Taj; so maybe he meant to say, "I might have just stumbled backwards into her huge ass." Of course, the plan hinges on Taj recruiting Stephen, who was all for it, and Brendan recruiting Sierra, both before the next challenge, and oops, recruiting Sierra slipped Brendan's mind. But then, Brendan's faulty memory is a good news/bad news sort of thing, since he also forgot to wear a shirt to the challenge. Brendan's nipples turned out to be all that kept me from switching over to listen to Paula Abdul saying "You're beautiful. You know who you are. I like grapes." Reward Challenge : The challenge involved two men and one woman from each team holding poles across their shoulders, while the other team loaded sandbags onto them. Last team with a pole-holder still standing wins. Since it only required five members of each team to play, the others just sat out, and we got to watch people stand still, holding poles. Yawn! Mark Burnett, must I remind you that I only have to press this one little button on my remote, and I'll be watching American Idol . This is your idea of how to compete with the number one show on TV? People standing still, holding poles? I could be watching Simon Cowell insult teenagers. And the reward? The winning team gets to burglarize the losing team's camp, and steal stuff. So now criminal behavior is a "Reward". Again I remind you that this show's first season winner is in prison. For Jalapeno, the pole holders were Joe Adonis, JT Hick, and Taj Evil Bitch. Joe stupidly wore a shirt. It will be his downfall, as we shall soon see. For Timbira, we had Brendan Hot Pecs, sensibly shirtless, and Debbie Bad Nose job. Also Tyson the Nude Mormon is a pole holder. Oh boy, is he. Tyson, only hold your own pole please! They put the ten pound sandbags on, two at a time, on one person's pole each round. After the first couple bags (In Taj's case we had bags being held by a bag), we suddenly leapt way ahead in time, as though Mark Burnett had given the Time Wheel a shove, and then woken up in Tunesia. A wise decision, because people just standing there holding stuff is boring, and it only takes the tiniest bit of pressure on this button to replace it with hearing Randy Jackson tell some kid, "I wasn't really feelin' it, dawg. It just wasn't the right song for you for me for you for me. Know what I mean?" (No, Randy. I never know what you mean. Do you?) Brendan collapsed first, when holding 220 pounds. As it happens my ghost writer, Little Dougie, who is typing this up while I enjoy a cocktail and dictate it, weighs 220 himself, so should Dougie's dreams of Brendan come true, Brendan will have to be on top. Tyson the Very Skinny Nude Mormon dropped at 140 pounds. Wimp! That man tiara better be weightless. Put a good-sized diamond on it and his neck will snap like a twig. (I'd like to see that.) JT Hick makes it to 220 before dropping his load, so to speak. Why are the men dropping out before the women? Because they're not bothering to load the women up until the men are out. I don't know why. I can not see how it would make any difference at all. Jeff Probst called it "strategy," but wouldn't Tyson have collapsed at 140 even if he'd gotten that much sand after the women collapsed instead of before? There is no "strategy" to this challenge. It's just strength, of which Tyson has none. And notice that Ex-Coach wasn't even holding a pole. He is such an asset - to the other tribe! Joe Adonis dropped out at 140 also. Good heavens, what a hunky weakling. I could do better than that! But then, I've had to carry a lot of dead weight co-stars over the years, for entire feature films. You try carrying Joan Crawford for two hours! Joe's problem was his shirt. All that extra fabric weighed him down and finished him off. If he'd just had sense enough to compete half, or better still, totally naked, he's have lasted longer. So now it was down to Taj and Debbie. Well Taj had a clear advantage, since she's used to carrying her impressively gigantic boobs and her gi-normous butt around 24/7. Sure enough. She won, when Debbie fell under a mere 100 pounds. Taj holds up more than that just sleeping on her stomach. This was Timbira's fourth consecutive loss. Sierra got sent to Exile Dune with Taj, with Taj thinking she's in an alliance with Sierra that Sierra knows nothing about. Could be disastrous! Suspense! I notice that Sierra Walking Skeleton was wearing horizontal stripes, in an effort to create the illusion of her having width. That girl is so skinny, she only has two spatial dimensions. Timbira was worried that the Jalapeno camp raiders would steal both of their bean bags, leaving them with nothing to sit on. Joe Adonis and JT Hick arrived to raid Timbira. Tyson could not resist immediately hugging Joe, the hottest man on the show. How tasteful of him not to be fully naked for the occasion. Brendan asked "Can I get you a cocktail?" I knew I loved that man! (But which of them was he hoping to get drunk? A Joe/Brendan hook-up would certainly boost this show's appeal for me through the roof. My suggestion of it has just made it difficult for Dougie to reach his keyboard!) Tyson, whom you may recall last week rhapsodized over his love of seeing people cry when he crushed their dreams, further cemented his place as a role model for Good Mormons everywhere with this tidbit of Martha Stewart-style hospitality: "You want to be on good terms with them 'cause you're pro'a'ly going to be living with them in the future, but in the back of your mind you're like, I wanna punch these guys in the head." Lovely. Just this morning I read where the Mormon church, the taste of blood still fresh in their mouths from helping pass California's discriminatory, unconstitutional Proposition 8, is now encouraging its members to actively oppose gay civil unions in Illinois, as they continue to campaign against equal rights, writing their own bigotries into the law books of states across the country. Tyson's small-minded viciousness is in microcosm what his church is in the macrocosm. Bearing in mind that they could end up merging, or suffering a surprise tribal switch, JT and Joe decided to take only one of Timbira's two meager bags of food. This was smart. Arriving back in camp, Sandy Crazy Old Lady was furious at their leaving the other team any food at all. She was in favor of just letting Timbira starve. Sandy would make a good Mormon too. Sandy is nothing if not classy, by which I mean, she's nothing. She announced of the food haul: "They are fartin' beans." She'd know, as she is the tribe's resident old fart, to coin a phrase. And thus began the Mutual No-Admiration Society of Sandy Old Fart and Sydney Barbie Doll. I haven't mentioned Sydney much in these columns so far, as she has had minimal screen time, which means, she's never said or done anything interesting enough to make the edit of the show. She's exceptionally pretty for a girl with a man's name. She says she's a model, and she's just pretty enough and vacuous enough for it to be true. Sydney fired the first shot, announcing to us how annoying she finds Sandy. Can't blame her for that. Sandy is tremendously annoying. Her complaints about Sandy's meaningless babbling was illustrated with a funny clip of Sandy blathering on about nothing at all, without ever managing to finish a sentence or complete a thought before launching an attempt at another sentence, all the while letting her leathery octopus hands roam and slither all over Spencer Jail Bait, who at 19, is roughly 35 years younger than she is. Ew. You may recall her cuddling and groping the poor boy as he slept in last week's episode. If Spencer were just a year and a half younger, Chris Hanson would be showing up at camp saying, "What are you doing here, Sandy? I have your inappropriate treemails to Spencer. The police are waiting for you just outside the lean-to." Sandy for her part, heard Joe Adonis call Sydney the "hottest Survivor Chick this season," (She is, but Joe, when you come up to see me sometime, and please do, perhaps it's best if you don't speak.) and decided that she wants Sydney gone. I guess she sees her as her competition for the men, although her real rival is Death. Sandy's complaints about Sydney included: "She runs around in her boxers and then, you know, doesn't sleep in a bra at night ..." (Who does?) "... and she is like up against the boys 24/7. Trust me; she is playing this game hard. And oh, it's working. Oh, they love her to death." Sounds to me like it's the boys who are playing hard , so to speak. And you'll notice that everything she's accusing Sydney of is stuff she too is doing. In any event, the boys aren't complaining, whereas we heard Spencer threaten to "Smack" Sandy when she was getting handsy with him. Apparently Sandy's real complaint is that these men in their youthful prime prefer being flirted with and caressed by a beautiful girl their own age, rather than by a crazy leathery bat old enough to be their grandmother. I have the same problem. Fortunately, I'm rich enough to afford to rent. Sandy has a plan though: "If I can't outwit her with a body, I'll outwit her with a brain." Whose? Because Sandy has no brain whatever. Exile Dune : Taj gets the Hidden Immunity Idol Clue this time, which basically announces to her that it's in the tree-mail statue. Taj then said "I knew it was tree mail... It's exactly where I thought it would be." She knew? Then why didn't she find it herself last week? Brendan found the one at his camp last week. And now the suspense; would Taj thinking Sierra was in the alliance when Brendan hadn't mentioned it result in Sierra getting spooked, and betraying it? Nope. Nothing came of it. Taj invited her to join the alliance, and Sierra, desperate for a friend, was delighted. Another drama fizzle. As any reality competition fan knows, the secret to a successful alliance, is picking the right name for it. Over the course of this episode, this alliance was called The Exile Alliance, The Awesome Foursome, and Team Secret. Pick an alliance name and stick to it! You're confusing the hell out of the internet message boards. I vote for The Awesome Foursome. Or maybe The Don't-Watch Men. Normally I don't comment on the B-roll footage of assorted local fauna slithering about, but here they had a shot of a crocodile snapping up a fish that looked cool except that the large fish it attacked was lying on the sand beside the river, apparently sunbathing. This struck me as odd fish behavior. It was almost as though the crew had put the fish there themselves, just to get the shot. This is supposedly reality TV. Such blatantly faked shots just reminds you how fake the whole thing is. Next time, how about a croc attacking ex-Coach? Or would that constitute cruelty to crocodiles? For no reasons beyond bad taste
 
Dennis Quaid Takes Oprah To Hospital That OD'd His Babies Top
CHICAGO — For the first time since their twins were given an overdose of blood thinner, Dennis Quaid and his wife have returned to the Los Angeles hospital that administered the drug for an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Harpo Productions said in a release Thursday that Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, wanted to visit Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to see what steps have been taken to ensure a similar mistake won't happen again. The newborn twins were administered too much Heparin in November 2007. They recovered, and the Quaids settled with the hospital for $750,000 in December. Quaid was accompanied by Winfrey's cameras as he entered the hospital saying, "Being here brings back a lot of memories, not all of them good." The episode was filmed in February and will air Tuesday. More on Oprah
 
MJ Rosenberg: The Crusade To Defeat Obama Intelligence Pick Hurts All Jews Top
The effort to force President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Chas Freeman as chairman of the National Intelligence Council is getting creepy. Initially, it was just typically ugly. The forces that support the Likud line on Israel always try to block any appointment of anyone who opposes Israeli policies in the occupied territories. During the past eight years they got accustomed to having their people in virtually every foreign policy post. They were called neocons and one of that group's many successes was manipulating the intelligence that got us into Iraq (see Feith, Douglas). So it was natural that when President Obama apointed someone who was on the record as strongly opposing the occupation they would go ballistic -- and they did. Steve Rosen, the indicted former AIPAC official, organized a full-court attack on Freeman, enlisting all the usual suspects (the New Republic crowd, the Weekly Standard crowd, and their various and sundry camp followers). Journalists all over Washington were contacted not only by Rosen but by his former employers to take down Freeman. It was all about Israel, of course. Everyone involved in the anti-Freeman effort are staunch allies of the lobby. But focusing only on Israel did not look good. So the "get Freeman" bunch decided to feign interest in his alleged ties to Saudi Arabia (of course, that is all about Israel, too) and, get this, his supposed lack of sympathy to Chinese dissidents. The latest is that they are accusing him of taking Saudi money for his foundation and are demanding that this be investigated in the name of good government. But it's all about Israel. It's silly to pretend that it isn't when the people applying these strict standards to Freeman never applied them to anyone before. Would they oppose a nominee who had a few million dollars invested in Israel or was unnaturally close to the Israel lobby? Of course not. They would applaud the appointment. Employees of the lobby have gone directly from it to the highest levels of the State Department. Who protested? Certainly not these people. Here is the scary part. I'm a pro-Israel Jew, who has visited Israel 50 times in 40 years. But I am, like 99.9% of American Jews, first an American. The idea that the anti-Freeman crowd is running all over town demanding that anyone not close to Israel be banned from working in an American intelligence agency leaves me nauseated. How dare they? It has taken 20 years to get over the Pollard spy scandal. Good Jewish American kids cannot get jobs in various US government agencies because some people who provide (or withhold) clearances think that American Jews have divided loyalties. We don't. But crusades like this, not surprisingly, leave the impression that we do. This isn't about Freeman. It is about a group that has decided to go after him to warn the administration that only friends of the lobby are acceptable appointees. It is about a group that is so oblivious to Jewish history that it believes it can recklessly put their interests in Israel above everything else and not expect to build strong resentment in Washington (it was strong enough, even before this). How dare they? My children are first generation (their mom, my wife, was born in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany after her parents survived the Holocaust). We love this country and will be damned if we allow anyone to convey the impression that we take it for granted. For us, this is the "goldeneh medina" (the golden land), the best homeland Jews ever had. How dare they imply that for us it's only second best. This whole thing is creepy. And it hurts all Jews. It also hurts Israel, a country I love, which is being destroyed by policies these people have consistently supported. Why can't they just shut up? Haven't they done enough damage? More on Israel
 
Graham Hill: How a Green Premiere Aims to Kickstart The Countdown to Copenhagen Top
Documentary film maker Franny Armstrong (along with the UN and some climate scientists ) has a very keen sense that time is running out for us to turn the big climate ship around and head it in a low-carbon direction. Armstong's new movie Age of Stupid tells of an an old man alone in an archive in 2055 looking back and pondering why we didn't act when we could have to stabilize climate. The Age of Stupid: final trailer Feb 2009 from Age of Stupid on Vimeo . From the start, Armstrong wanted the new film (which had the working name Crude but is being released next week in the U.K. as Age of Stupid ) to be not just a blockbuster, but the spark set to ignite a new climate action movement. "We want to be part of the sea change in awareness which leads to the greatest ever public uprising which in turn forces the world's Governments to make a binding international agreement to cut global emissions so as to stabilize global temperatures below two degrees and keep the planet habitable for humans and other species," she said in Edinburgh Guide. To get the UK opening of Age of Stupid at 64 cinemas on March 15 into the Guinness Book of World Records for largest film premiere (16,000 film goers), Armstrong's dedicated band of activists has greened the event in every way they can think of and invited everyone to attend. There will be a re-used green carpet instead of the usual red one, a solar-powered projector and solar-powered tent, star Pete Postlethwaite arriving in a solar car and lots of other luminaries coming by bicycle rickshaw or hybrid electric cars. There will be a pedal-powered popcorn machine, no disposable cups or bottled water, and...no purchasing of carbon offsets. Of course there's a terrible irony in that to make a film with a climate action message you not only have to emit a bunch of carbon (Armstrong estimates about 94 tons for the movie itself). You also have to have a big gala premier in which lots of celebs fly in from far and wide to see your work, in the process emitting a bunch more carbon. If you are trying to make your movie's premiere a record-making event for number of bodies, you've just piled a bunch of icing on that ironic cake. Age of Stupid 's creators are aware of this. They are telling everyone coming not to fly, and inviting everyone (not just stars) to come to the film showing. But while they will eco-audit the event to see how green it really ends of up being, they won't buy offsets for the carbon the event may entail. They don't believe offsets are doing any good. Instead they'll launch Not Stupid, a campaign that hopes to give people concrete political actions to take from now until the climate talks in Copenhagen . Armstrong's goal for Age of Stupid is to turn 250 million viewers into 250 million activists. One little problem - the film doesn't have U.S. or other release dates or distribution...yet. So perhaps Armstrong's just a bit optimistic. Even so, it's great to see someone valiantly trying to remind us there are a number of climate clocks ticking. Read more on green films, climate change and Copenhagen on TreeHugger :: Earthwatching: Seen Any Good Green Movies Lately? :: Three Green-Themed Films Worth Seeing for Yourself :: Carbon Nation Pumps Up CO2 Reduction Solutions :: 5 Environmentally-Themed Blockbusters of 2008 and How They Rate :: It's a Long Road to Copenhagen: Here's What Obama Needs to Do :: EU Environment Ministers Hash Out Post-2012 Climate Plan :: Will China and the US Go Big on Climate Cooperation? More from Graham Hill on Huffington Post :: Goodbye, Global Warming. Hello, Salty Clouds and Glaciers in Blankets :: Times Are Tough, Can We Take Our Toilet Paper Rough? :: Spend Your Stimulus on a Bike - Or, 5 Ways Folding Bikes Can Save the Planet :: Watch Out Katie Couric, It's a Weatherize or Beware World :: Sexy and Sustainable - Especially When It's Delivered By Bike :: The Green Stimulus Plan is Growing Yellow-Bellied :: Denmark's Doing it Again: Seriously Investing in Renewable Infrastructure, That is :: Five Greener Stimulus Ideas :: 2009 - A Banner Bike Year, We Hope :: Grassroots Greening and the 'Mob :: Kiss of Death for Carbon Capture? :: Dispatch from the Electric Vehicle Revolution :: Black Friday Versus Green Retailing :: Designing for Nextopia :: Toronto's Great Coffee Cup Debate Heats Up More on Climate Change
 

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