E: Chris Brown‘s manager, Tina Davis [pictured, below right], who was rumored to be the woman whose text message played a role in the Feb. 8 altercation between Brown and Rihanna, has flat-out denied, via her attorney, ever having had a romantic relationship with the R&B star. “The relationship between Ms. Davis and Mr. Brown is that of manager and client,” declared attorney Marshall B. Grossman in a written statement issued Wednesday. “There has never been any other relationship. The rumors in circulation are false. There are no emails between Ms. Davis and Mr. Brown of the type which have […]
HOT DOCUMENT: The Tenacity Of Nope
—–Original Message—– From: Hale, Ellen Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 2:03 PM To: Hale, Ellen Subject: AP and the Obama Hope Poster Wednesday, March 11, 2009 AP Staff: The Associated Press today filed a countersuit claiming misappropriation of the AP photo underlying the ubiquitous Obama Hope poster and other materials by graphic artist Shepard Fairey. The suit claims “blatant violation” of AP’s copyright of the photo and seeks damages, injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment stating that the photo was used without permission. This is an important case for us. Licensing of AP content sustains our newsgathering and other operations. […]
EXPLAINER: How We Got So F*cked
If you haven’t been following the Jon Stewart Vs. CNBC cage match, CLICK HERE and get yourself schooled. Huffington Post just unearthed this 2006 interview with the execrable Jim Cramer, now a shouting head on CNBC, bragging about all manner of unethical and illegal activity he conducted back when he was a hedge fund manager — just one more carelessly tossed stone of self-interest that has reduced the hall of mirrors that was our financial sector to the sad pile of broken glass it is today. Here is some of what he said back in 2006: -On manipulating the market: […]
LOUT RAMPAGE: Madoff, Murder & Mayhem
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: One wants him to rot in prison, another hopes he has to clean the penitentiary toilets and a few are praying Bernie Madoff meets up with jailhouse justice. Fuming victims of Madoff’s $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme said Tuesday’s news that the Wall Street scoundrel will be sent to prison for 150 years falls short of the punishment they desire. “He doesn’t have 150 years to live, but I hope his time in jail will be hell on Earth,” Joan Sinkin, 75, of Boynton Beach, Fla., said Tuesday. Madoff, 70, is expected to plead guilty Thursday to […]
HEMP FOR VICTORY: Twenty-Seven States Currently Considering The Legalization Of Medical Marijuana
Alabama – Alabama Legislature Considers Medical Marijuana Reform California – Tax and Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Connecticut – Connecticut Legislature Considers Medical Marijuana Reform Connecticut – Connecticut Legislature Considers Decriminalizing Marijuana Hawaii – Hawaii Legislature Considers Decriminalizing Marijuana Iowa – Iowa Legislature Considers Medical Marijuana Reform Illinois – Illinois Legislature Considers Medical Marijuana Reform Kentucky – Oppose Zero Tolerance ‘Drugged’ Driving Bill In Kentucky Maryland – Maryland Legislature Considers Medical Marijuana Task Force Maine – Maine Legislature Considers Expanding Decrim Law Minnesota – Minnesota Legislature Considers Medical Marijuana Reform Missouri – Missouri Legislature Considers Medical Marijuana Reform Montana – Montana […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
SOUND OPINIONS Van Morrison recorded and released his masterpiece Astral Weeks 41 years ago, and to celebrate he released a live version of the album. This gave Jim and Greg a perfect opportunity to look back at Astral Weeks with a Sound Opinions Classic Dissection. Astral Weeks didn’t produce huge hits, but as Jim and Greg explain, this record is unique from any other in Van Morrison’s collection, and in fact, in rock history. It melds rock, blues, folk and jazz in such a way that makes it hard to define. The jazz musicians who contributed to this sound were […]
CHANGE: Obama Lifts Federal Stem Cell Research Ban
EDITOR’S NOTE: We urge anybody that has some moral or ethical problem with stem cell research to tell it to this man. [Video: McCaskill for Missouri TV ad featuring actor Michael J. Fox talking about Claire McCaskill and stem cell research.] CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: As promised during the campaign, President Obama has lifted federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research put in place in 2001 by President Bush. In announcing the policy change Monday morning, achieved by executive order, the president also signed a memorandum aimed at shielding the federal government’s involvement in science from political influence. The dual moves […]
THIS JUST IN: Nutter Kills Trash Fee
INQUIRER: Mayor Nutter has canned a controversial but lucrative plan to charge Philadelphians for garbage service, saying there was too little time to enact the complex program before he presents his budget next week. By ditching the trash fee – which had evolved in recent weeks from a proposed $5 weekly charge to a per-bag fee – Nutter avoids alienating supporters who consider garbage removal a basic city service, and he escapes a tough fight with City Council, where many members had opposed the fee. But the decision will make it that much harder for him to close the city’s […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #12 The week that was in just five minutes, told by a stoned daisy with the obligatory voice of God. [cough, cough] And if you haven’t see it already, please check out Jon Stewart’s CNBC smackdown after the jump, it is quite possibly fake journalism’s finest hour eight minutes.
THE ECONOMIST: Stop The Madness
THE ECONOMIST: The failure of the drug war has led a few of its braver generals, especially from Europe and Latin America, to suggest shifting the focus from locking up people to public health and “harm reduction” (such as encouraging addicts to use clean needles). This approach would put more emphasis on public education and the treatment of addicts, and less on the harassment of peasants who grow coca and the punishment of consumers of “soft” drugs for personal use. That would be a step in the right direction. But it is unlikely to be adequately funded, and it does […]
STAY GOLDEN PONY BOY: New Polls Say Obama More Popular Than Ever, Republicans Not So Much
MSNBC: After Barack Obama’s first six weeks as president, the American public’s attitudes about the two political parties couldn’t be more different, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds. Despite the country’s struggling economy and vocal opposition to some of his policies, President Obama’s favorability rating is at an all-time high. Two-thirds feel hopeful about his leadership and six in 10 approve of the job he’s doing in the White House. “What is amazing here is how much political capital Obama has spent in the first six weeks,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with […]
WALTZ WITH AL-BASHIR: Sudan Defies War Crimes Arrest Warrant From The International Criminal Court
[Illustration by TAMER YOUSSEF] INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: One day after judges at the International Criminal Court ordered his arrest for atrocities committed in Darfur, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan offered a fiery and defiant response on Thursday, telling a crowd of thousands in his own country that “we are not succumbing, we are not bending” to outside pressure. Jabbing the air with a walking stick and flanked by aides and bodyguards, Bashir called the court’s decision a conspiracy designed to recolonize his country. “Sudan is raising its voice. It rejects the hegemony, the colonialists,” he declared. Referring to the […]
OPERATION RUSHBO: Culture Jamming The Right
POLITICO: Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House. The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans […]