September 15, 2008 • Vol. 14, No. 1
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Are you a right-thinking progressive appalled by the world George W. Bush has created? Are you tired of having Republican corporate pigs like AT&T profit from your text messages? Then try Credo Mobile!
That's the pitch Credo Mobile is making. Billing itself as a company that supports progressive values, Credo promises to donate 1 percent of your charges to progressive groups. In an email pitch they sent around this week, Credo takes after the other wireless companies--AT&T in particular--as being proponents of "Karl Rove's values."
One side note: Yesterday I stumbled on an event scheduled for Denver called Unconventional '08. It's an indie rock concert organized in partnership with the Obama-worship project Manifest Hope.
The concert is being sponsored by a number of organizations, including MoveOn.org. And AT&T.
Is there no end to the dastardly tricks these corporations will employ to confuse good-hearted progressives!
I'm surprised that residents of Quebec would let animal rights activists get the better of them on their 400th anniversary:
The Thetford Chicken Massacre is not as well-known as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but the controversial Quebec tradition in which participants place bets while decapitated chickens run around is coming to an end.
Organizers of the annual activity in the eastern Quebec town of Thetford Mines defended the pastime but caved in to pressure Tuesday and cancelled the event, which was deemed "barbaric" by animal rights groups.
The little-known event has been taking place for several years on Labour Day when about a hundred people gather to watch decapitated chickens and turkeys flop around on a grid painted on the ground.
Did supporters of the tradition refer to it as the "Thetford Chicken Massacre"? I imagine not, but who knows. Perhaps a good compromise would be allow the tradition to continue one last year, and instead of using chickens, Quebec residents could sacrifice the hybrid animal France gave to them in celebration of their 400th anniversary. Do recall Quebec residents were so unhappy with the animal that the Vachibou was forced into hiding. Why not honor both the Vachibou and Quebec with a hybrid hecatomb?
If the rumors are true, John Edward's former mistress is receiving $15,000 a month in child support/hush money from a former campaign aide. Edwards says he wasn't aware of the payments, and has nothing to do with them. The Enquirer says nonsense in the tabloid's most recent update. At $15,000 per month, Rielle Hunter is receiving a sum somewhere between what P-Diddy's baby mommas and Britney's baby daddy get.
• K-Fed is allegedly receiving $20,000 per month from Britney, but that breaks down to $10,000 per child. That's less than what Rielle Hunter is receiving.
• Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons pays $20,000 a month per child and must also buy or lease a car for his children, worth $60K or more, every two years. Not starting when their 16 years old and can drive. Starting now.
• P-Diddy pays $30,000 per month to the mother of his first child. The mother of his next three children requested $100,000 a month, averaging out to about the same.
Reading about such sums makes one wonder where this money is going, and how everyone else in the country manages to raise kids at a fraction of the cost.
Ted Kaczynski's cabin is on display now at the Newseum in Washington, DC, and he's none too pleased about it. Apparently an ad for the Unabomber exhibit found its way into his "supermax" federal prison in Colorado. He has sent a three page handwritten complaint to a U.S. Court of Appeals requesting relief -- on behalf of his victims and their families.
Kaczynski explains how he came upon the news: "I recently received a page from the Washington Post, June 19, 2008, page A9. This compromises a full-page, full-color advertisement that features my cabin, which is being exhibited publicly at something called a 'Newseum.'" He goes on to say that he's troubled that his victims must endure further publicity of his crimes, as they have objected in the past to the publication of his writings.
Although I question Kaczynski's sincerity, I do share his dismay with the Newseum. Andrew Ferguson had the definitive take-down in the WEEKLY STANDARD.
The ostentatious display of the First Amendment, as though it were a structural element of the building itself, is in keeping with the museum's theme: the subtle conflation of the American news business with the constitutional principle of a free press, as though the one were the inevitable, precious fruit of the other. The theme is hammered home inside the museum, too, though it sometimes gets lost in the conventions of modern museum design. "We wanted the most interactive museum in the world," Overby said, "the most technologically advanced museum in the world. We wanted more flat screens than anyone. In attracting people here to learn about a free press, we wanted to give the visitors a 'Wow' experience." The price of admission is $13 for children, $20 for adults. Wow.
The wow experience has now become mandatory in the design of modern museums. A museum visitor no longer just visits a museum and sees stuff: He is given a visitor experience--a sequence of sensations that can be packaged, advertised, and controlled by the curators. If the visitor experience is interactive, that's terrific; if it's immersive--well, you're going to have one wowed visitor on your hands. For the great enemy of the museum designer today is not ignorance but boredom.
So I guess the question is does the "hands on" experience of the Newseum allow visitors to handle the contents of Kaczynski's cabin? Do recall among his only possessions was an underlined copy of Al Gore's Earth in the Balance.
A guide to Canadian etiquette for President Bush and his staff:
When U.S. President George W. Bush visited Canada in 2004, members of his delegation were provided with a "protocol guide" to help them understand the language and customs of the foreigners.
Among the advice: How to decipher what Canadians mean when they put "eh?" at the end of a sentence. "Eh," the guide helpfully explained, is pronounced "ay." "Used mostly in rural areas," it states, the word roughly translates as "You know?" or "Isn't it?"
The guide, prepared by the U.S. office of the chief of protocol, also notes that "Canadians, for the most part, place importance on education, skill, modesty and politeness." In a section on "social customs and courtesies," designed to prevent members of the delegation from accidentally giving offence, the report advises that: "On being introduced, the customary greetings are: firm handshake, customary 'Hello,' or 'Bonjour' in Quebec."
Say hello and shake hands when greeting another person? What a novel idea! Something tells me the U.S. delegation might have been better prepared by watching episodes of South Park.
Paris Hilton's parents have contributed to the McCain campaign. Although Paris Hilton is refusing to take any formal stand -- brands don't belong to political parties, don't you know -- she refused to object to the McCain ad and some suggest she may be a closet McCain supporter.
Nonpartisan Paris Hilton -- as neutral as Switzerland -- refuses to be dragged into presidential politics.
On Saturday night, at a Bridgehampton mansion rented by MySpace founder Chris De Wolfe, the haughty hotel heiress told Page Six she wasn't distraught over being featured last week in a John McCain campaign ad which mockingly compared Barack Obama to Paris and Britney Spears.
Though her parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton, are backing McCain and donated $4,600 to the Republican's campaign, Paris said she isn't a member of any party and isn't endorsing any candidate. But, echoing the theme of the Obama campaign, Paris said, "I think we need a change."
Hilton was more interested in discussing her stalled singing career with Sony BMG honcho Charlie Walk as the two huddled in a lavishly decorated Moroccan tent in De Wolfe's back yard.
The Pope wears red shoes?
His Holiness has resumed the sporting of red Papal shoes, which have not been used since the early days of Pope John Paul II. Contrary to media speculation the shoes had been crafted by Prada, the Vatican has confirmed they were made by the Pope's personal cobbler. The Vatican said, in response: "The Pope, in summary, does not wear Prada, but Christ."
Perhaps his Holiness is a fan of the Wizard of Oz? As many questions are raised as answers given by this list of fun facts about Pope Benedict XVI. No surprise that his favorite brewery (Franziskaner Weissbier) is German, but let's hope to God he doesn't like their Hefe-Weisse Hell.
The new target of Salman Rushdie's affections is a 27-year-old Bollywood star. That puts her a full decade younger than his ex-wife Padma Lakshmi and more than three decades younger than the four-time married Rushdie who has pledged never to marry again.
Sir Salman Rushdie has struck up a close friendship with a glamorous young actress renowned for her risqué Bollywood roles. The 61-year-old author, whose novel Midnight’s Children was last week voted the best ever Booker prize-winning novel, has invited calendar pin-up Riya Sen, 27, to New York after meeting her in January.
Sir Salman, whose marriage to model Padma Lakshmi broke down last year, met Miss Sen through a mutual friend at a nightclub in Bombay. Since then, the pair are said to have been exchanging emails regularly, and friends of Miss Sen say that the author is ‘pursuing’ her. Miss Sen said: ‘We get on really well but we are just friends. I met him through a family friend.’
She confirmed she had been invited to New York but insisted: ‘No really, we are not an item.’ She added: ‘I have spoken to him a few times. I think when you are Salman Rushdie, you must get bored with people who always want to talk to you about literature. We didn’t talk about any of that.’
I would have guessed when you're Salman Rushdie, you must get bored talking to beautiful women less than half your age.
Amy Winehouse's friends are worried about her addiction to tanning. One unnamed source tells the Telegraph, "This is another addiction that puts her health in danger. Why can’t she take up squash or something?" Maybe the enablers in her life should be a little less preoccupied by her love of tanning and a little bit more preoccupied by her smoking crack. After all, if Winehouse lives long enough to get skin cancer, I think a lot of her fans will be very surprised.
From alien killer to alien worshiper, Will Smith is starting a new school to bring the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard to impressionistic young people. I'm sure parents will be eager to send their kids, because Smith is such a great judge of character and has said yes to aliens. As long as children are studying Battlefield Earth and not the Bible, no one in Hollywood should get too upset.
They're no longer biding their time. The peacock revolution has begun:
A group of peacocks which began attacking scores of cars after years of peaceful coexistence are to be rounded up to stop them damaging the vehicles any further.
"It's like having a crowd of locusts descend. As soon as the first colour began to show through on my begonias the peacocks came and ate the lot. I also planted a bed of parsley, but when my wife went out to pick some to go with fish for tea there were only a couple of battered sprigs left."
Hadley Tudor, who runs the local B&B, said: "The birds wake us up with a terrible din at 4.30am and have eaten all our runner beans and pansies. They would be better off in a stately home."
Jackie Collins, who works in the village shop, added: "They are really noisy, especially in the breeding season, and cause an awful lot of damage to vegetation. They also wander around in the road and are a hazard to themselves and drivers."
Further developments on the counting your chickens front:
Director Spike Lee, whose movies often cast a sharp eye on U.S. racial politics, predicted a presidential victory for black Democrat Barack Obama that would mark a "new day" for the United States.
"It's going to be before Obama, 'B.B.,' and after Obama -- 'A.B.' -- and some folks need to get used to this," Lee said. "And I'm going to be at the inauguration -- getting my hotel reservation now."
Jeffrey Ressner of the Politico reports that actress Scarlett Johansson has a crush on Senator Barack Obama. “My heart belongs to Barack,” she is quoted as saying. After the last ABC debate, the star of Lost in Translation emailed the candidate, praising him for his performance. Believe it or not, the candidate wrote her back:
His replies have been thoughtful, she says, more than a brief line or two; on the ABC debate, he responded that the questioning was “difficult” and he was being pounded on “one silly question after another.”
Johansson is somewhat shocked that he keeps up their back-and-forth correspondence. “You’d imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly traveling and constantly ‘on’--how can he return these personal e-mails?” she asks.
Other Things That Shock Scarlett Johansson:
Her personal trainer has time for hands-on demonstrations.
Her masseur cancels other appointments to prolong his massages free of charge.
Her cable installer shows up 30 minutes early and checks and double-checks the cable connections. In her bedroom.
Bartenders make her fancy cocktails on the house and they never skimp on the alcohol.
Air-conditioning repairman returns her call in minutes, offers same day service as well as dinner.
Auto mechanics offer to reupholster her carseats for free and keep the old ones for themselves.
Waiters are constantly bringing her free food and feeding her by hand because it’s “family-style.”
Readers of THE WEEKLY STANDARD might assume that Sex and the City: The Movie was just terrible. But finally, we have a man's man who recognizes the wit and charm of this wildly entertaining, if unrealistic, TV series and film: None other than Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. New York's Intelligencer reports:
When Sarah Jessica Parker finished an interview with Charlie Rose on May 29, she left the Bloomberg Building, where the show is taped, and stopped for a cigarette in the courtyard. The conservative Supreme Court justice emerged from a nearby Town Car and rushed over to praise the star. “He was absolutely gushing, telling her how much he loved her show and how excited he was to see the movie,” says a witness.
Now, a killjoy Supreme Court spokeswoman is trying to knock down the story, but Justice Scalia shouldn't be ashamed. After all, you don’t have to be socially liberal to enjoy this sharp and designer-shoe-filled guilty pleasure.
(H/T Above the Law)
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