Booker Fired From Q-102, Phawker Trying To Give A Damn…Still Trying
Chris Booker is out as morning host at Q102 as the Clear Channel station moves to a show that’s more music-intensive. The station also confirmed that producer Blaire Galaton and sidekick Angi Taylor also were let go. Sidekick Diego Ramos will remain at the station, but the show will not carry his name. Booker this morning said he was “surprised. Very, very surprised. It’s very successful show. I’ve been fired before for low ratings, but never for being No. 1.” It’s been a weird year for Booker, who was with anchor-girlfriend Alycia Lane in December when she was arrested after an encounter with New York police. She was fired from CBS3, though she was cleared of charges. Booker, who joined the station two years and has a year left on his contract, was informed after today’s show. [via INQLINGS]
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THANK GOD: McCain Throws Crazy Pastors Under A Bus With His Bare Hands
STOCKTON, Calif. — Republican John McCain on Thursday rejected endorsements from two influential but controversial televangelists, saying there is no place for their incendiary criticisms of other faiths. McCain rejected the months-old endorsement of Texas preacher John Hagee after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land. McCain called the comment “crazy and unacceptable.” He later repudiated the support of Rod Parsley, an Ohio preacher who has sharply criticized Islam and called the religion inherently violent. McCain issued a statement Thursday afternoon announcing his decision about Hagee. “Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,” he said. Later, in Stockton, he told reporters: “I just think that the statement is crazy and unacceptable.” [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]
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Texas Appeals Court Says Victims Children Should Be Returned To Abusers Cult
SAN ANGELO, Texas – In a ruling that could torpedo the case against the West Texas polygamist sect, a state appeals court Thursday said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group’s compound last month. The Third Court of Appeals in Austin said the state failed to show the youngsters were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court action. It was not clear when the children — now scattered in foster homes across the state — might be returned to their parents. The ruling gave a lower-court judge 10 days to release the youngsters from custody, but the state could appeal to the Texas Supreme Court and block that. The decision in one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history was a humiliating defeat for the state Child Protective Services agency. It was hailed as vindication by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who claimed they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs. [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]