Wednesday, August 25, 2010

CNN Gives Home To Racists - Turn To MSNBC or FOX News

As pointed out over at The Daily Kos, CNN gave airtime to Mark Williams, a person who was kicked out of the Tea Party Movement for an awful and awfully racist blog post and set of communications involving blacks and the NACCP earlier this year.

In this case, CNN, for some reason, asked Williams to come on and give his take on Park51, so he said this to CNN's Jeff Simon (who's also at fault for having this person on):


In an interview with CNN's Jeff Simon, [former Tea Party Express spokesman Mark] Williams said he's on a new mission when it comes to the Cordoba House -- he told Simon he will "personally commit myself to coming up with funding" for what he called a "mirror image" of Cordoba built in Mecca "that would be dedicated to showcasing American values."

"How about we reinforce the peaceful, moderate nature that Islam claims to be and how about we have an Uncle Sam center to introduce people to the understanding of human rights?" Williams told CNN.

The right to build such a building would be all it takes for Williams to "drop his opposition to Park51," he told the network.


Now, I echo Barbara Morrill of Daily Kos here. Who gives a big rats butt what Williams thinks?

 CNN's giving air time to people others view as racists, like Mark Williams and Erick Erickson, and is why I've been driven to turn the TV channel to MSNBC or FOX Business.

Yeah, it's to the point where FOX News is more tolerable than some of CNN's shows. And what's more disturbing is I like the people at CNN a lot. But I can't watch this train wreck unfold in slow motion.

CNN President John Klein needs to knock this crap off before he wrecks Ted Turner's baby.  This is costing CNN ratings points and money.  No one wants to see this, and given CNN's performance, one has to ask what the hell Klein's up to?

The answer for CNN is to expand the CNN iReport - a lot. This has been said again and again in this space. John Klein needs to wake up.  Fast.  Before he finds himself out of a job.

I'm just saying.

People talk.

Twitter Hashtag Art - Add Your Tweet

Someone spotted my Twitter Tweet of my Zennie62.com blog post on Jeff Pulver and the roving 140 Conference that's called RoadTrip Tweetup, and elected to add this blogger to something called the Twitter Hashtag Art site.

Now, even if they were just being an obnoxious ass, it's a cool end result. Twitter Hashtag Art takes your tweets and puts them into some kind of work of art.

Give it a try yourself at http://hashtagArt.com

Road Trip Tweetup : Jeff Pulver Talks Social Media in Cincinnati


Cincinnati Represents on Road Trip, originally uploaded by prblog.


If you don't know who Jeff Pulver is (who's head is in the foreground) you should. He's the founder of the Twitter Convention called The 140 Conference and is as this is written completing the Road Trip Tweetup.

What he's doing is traveling from city to city, bringing social media advocates and addicts together. In the process he's helping businesses learn the value of social media.

Right now, in this photo I mean, he's at the Cadillac Ranch, a restaurant and bar in Cincinnati (there was once one in San Francisco on Minna Street), and..

"The final stop on Day One of the Road Trip Tweetup found @jeffpulver and team in Cincinnati.

Here Jeff talks about the background behind #140conf and its focus on studying the impact of real-time communications on business.
140conf.com/"

...Yeah. That's it.

Road Trip Tweetup : Krista Neher and Jeff Pulver


Krista Neher and Jeff Pulver, originally uploaded by prblog.

Don't ever let it be said that 140 Conference Founder Jeff Pulver doesn't have an eye for the ladies. Traveling as part of the Road Trip Tweetup, Jeff stopped to take a photo with Social Media Expert Krista Neher at The Cadillac Ranch.

Both are in Cincinnati on the final stop of the Road Trip Tweetup

What Is The Road Trip Tweetup?

Road Trip Tweetup is a tour from city to city, taking the #140conf idea on the road and helping people connect via wha Jeff calls exploring the state of now.

You can follow the events and actions past and present at 140 Conf Daily.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Lady Gaga Meets KISS Paul Stanley In A Bikini And His Boots (update)



Lady Gaga and KISS in New Jersey
On Friday, August 20th pop culture history was made when, at the request of the legendary KISS, Lady Gaga went back stage to meet the band, and was wearing KISS Lead Singer Paul Stanley' boots. The result was this iconic photo signaling the mating of two generations of music royalty.

KISS, in Holmdel, New Jersey at PNC Bank Arts Center, for KISS' current "The Hottest Show on Earth" tour performance, surrounds and embraces Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga's with (from left to right) Gene Simmons, Eric Singer, Lady Gaga, KISS Lead Singer Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer.


And obviously, Paul Stanley getting the best of the deal in the middle with The Queen of Twitter.

Meanwhile, could Lady Gaga look any hotter than in that black bikini? And to top it off, the boots she's wearing belong to Paul Stanley.

Lady Gaga Rocks Out To KISS

YouTuber NewGagaMusicTV managed to get Lady Gaga in the act of rocking out to KISS. Here's the cool video:



And this is what she was enjoying from KISS:



The Queen of Twitter

That August 20th was the same day Lady Gaga officially became the most followed artist on Twitter, surpassing Britney Spears. Lady Gaga is The Queen of Twitter.

As of this writing, Lady Gaga has 5.8 million Twitter followers. To celebrate the milestone, she made this video for her fans:



Lady Gaga's clearly enjoying her fame.  But what's even cooler is she was in with the fans, and not down in front away from everyone.

She was one of the people!

Sexy Lady Gaga Meets KISS In A Bikini And Boots - We Have Photos!



YouTube, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv and Viddler

Iconic: Lady Gaga and KISS in New Jersey
When you think of Lady Gaga and KISS, undoubtedly what comes to mind are these words: wild, unconventional, thought-provolking, entertaining, and cutting edge.

So what happens when you get them together in one photograph? You get the mating of two American and World Cultural Icons in one unforgettable place and time.

The place, was Friday, August 20th in Holmdel, New Jersey at PNC Bank Arts Center, for KISS' current "The Hottest Show on Earth" tour performance. Lady Gaga was asked by KISS to come back stage and was only happy to oblige. The result was a now famous tweet from her Twitter account (as she's the new Queen of Twitter):




http://twitpic.com/2gm70f - KISS the Queen. #GagaTwitterQueen


Lady Gaga wear's Paul's boots
And an amazing photo of a sexy, bikini clad Lady Gaga together with (from left to right) Gene Simmons, Eric Singer, Lady Gaga, KISS Lead Singer Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer. That's two generations of music royalty in one place, time, and magic moment.

What's more, Lady Gaga was wearing Paul Stanley's boots for the entire performance and - no offense to Mr. Paul Stanley - took the already futuristically over the top style to a whole other level.

It would be hard to find a woman who so completes Paul Stanley's boots as Lady Gaga!

Erica Blasberg: LPGA's Stars Death Ruled A Suicide; Arrest Warrant for Doctor

Erica Blasberg (tees2greens.com)

On May 11th Mel Blasberg, the father of LPGA Pro Golfer Erica Blasberg was shocked over his daughters death and waited for an answer.

Four months later,  ABC News reports the shocking conclusion advanced by Clark County Nevada Corner's Office is she committed suicide, yet her doctor, Dr. Thomas Hess, who was reported to be the last person seen with her, has a warrant out for his arrest.

UPDATE: According to SportsbyBrooks, Dr. Hess turned himself in, was booked, then posted bail and was released.

This space finds that news unbelievable given Internet reports of her personality and her father's own statements, but that is the reported finding as of this writing.

To recap from the May 11th post at Zennie62.com, Erica Blasberg was an Orange County born, two-time All-American, 2003 NCAA Freshman of the Year and 2003 Pacific-10 Player of the Year from The University of Arizona who turned pro in 2004. Chase Callahan, Blasberg's agent, released this statement at the time:



We are devastated to learn of the passing of Erica Blasberg. To most of the world, Erica was known as a professional golfer, but she was more than that. She was a loving daughter to her parents and a compassionate and loyal friend. Erica had a good heart, was extremely kind and very thankful for what she had in her life.


As blogged earlier in May here, Erica Blasberg took great pains to keep her private life off of the Internet. But in the previous blog post we got glimpses of who she was via her friendship with Shane Bacon of FanHouse, and who once served as her caddy.

911 Caller Was Dr. Thomas Hess

Amazingly, the identity of the then unknown 911 caller is now known; it's Dr. Hess. Dr. Thomas Hess is the subject of an arrest warrant for obstruction of justice. Police claim Dr. Hess took items from the crime scene that were important elements in the case.

Did Hess Date Erica Blasberg?

Over at the forum for The Golf Channel, this post is worth considering:



There is a story not being told, that of an unmarried young golfer involved romantically with a married, older professional.

Not hard to believe he was trying to break things off and she was unstable. No reader has connected the dots that what he did was not directly cause her death. He altered the scene and removed the note because likely it was to or about him. He wanted to keep this relationship from being public or known to his family.

I don't know either person but logic states this is the story not being told


Here's the 911 Call that Dr. Hess made:



In the call, Dr. Hess describes himself not as her doctor, but as a guy she knows at the golf club.  Then he seems to confuse his story between what time they were hanging out the night before and when he went back to see her  to "see how she was doing," as he said.

For some reason, I don't think Dr. Hess ever left Erica's place.  For this blogger, Dr. Hess would have to show in some kind of way that he went home that night, even if it was something like checking email messages or using his cell phone to call her that night or that morning, which would back his claim that he left and then came back.  (If he were there, he would not have to call her.)

Story's not over; more later.