Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Susan Boyle Walks Off America's Got Talent Due To Lou Reed's Meaness

TMZ.com reports that British singing sensation Susan Boyle - to whom Britain's Got Talent's Piers Morgan should thank for his own increase in publicity that led to his new gig as the replacement for CNN's Larry King - walked away from being a guest singer on America's Got Talent because she was snubbed by "Walk On The Wild Side" singer / songwriter Lou Reed.

Lou Reed comes off as a meanie here. He reportedly is no fan of the very sensitive Ms. Boyle. So when he was approached for permission for Susan to sing one of his songs, he surprisingly said no.

When you think about it, since he gets paid for that, Lou Reed just took money out of his own pocket.

That's the height of meanness, when you dislike someone so much, you don't even give them permission to make money for you.

TMZ reports Susan Boyle went to LAX in tears. That's really sad for her and for Lou Reed. If Lou Reed's any kind of man, he'll apologize to Ms. Boyle.

I'm waiting...

Truck Loses Breaks, Car Accident In Oakland, California



Oakland, CA - This evening at about 4:55 PDT, and as this blogger was walking to Grand Avenue, there was far more than the usual level of traffic on Mac Arthur Blvd off the I-580 Freeway toward Grand Avenue.

It wasn't exactly clear what happened until, as I walked closer, it was obvious a large truck with a reddish brown bed was at the center of what appeared to be a giant four-car pile up.

What happened, according to the California Highway Patrol Officer I talked to, was that the truck's breaks went out and it slammed into what appeared to be a silver Honda. Apparently, the Honda was stopped, waiting for the light to change at the intersection of Mac Arthur and Grand near Lake Merritt. When the truck hit the car, it caused a chain reaction vehicle accident, with four cars slammed into each other.

Thankfully, though there were several injuries, no one was killed. Moreover, the car in front of the rest of the group was pushed to the side on impact, and not into Grand Avenue. Had that happened, even more cars may have been hit.

Vanity Fair Targets Piers Morgan With "Scandal List"

Piers Morgan: Scandalous?

Piers Morgan, who's CNN's choice to take over for the retiring Larry King, and who will be on On The Air With Ryan Seacrest Thursday, is considered the mistake choice by some, and now is the focus of a stinging Vanity Fair blog post outlining six scandals that Morgan was reported to have been involved in.

Some of the accounts VF listed are fair game, but others are a bit of a reach. Still, Morgan's led an interesting life.

Vanity Fair's Juli Weiner blogs that as editor of The Mirror's business column, bought shares of stock in an electronics firm, then suggested its readers do so as well. Morgan, who was the boss of the writers of the column, also did so, but claimed he didn't know about the content of the column.

Then Morgan got into an on air brawl with Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, as both were guests on The BBC Show , Have I Got News For You. reportedly, the two don't like each other. Here's the video, where one YouTube commentator described Piers as a "twat of epic proportions:"



The Piers Morgan wrote a book that Weiner claims was a "scandalous" romp through his decade. It's called The Insider. But if Weiner checked, it was based on his column of the same name in The Daily Mail, and was more about celebrity encounters than anything Morgan allegedly did.

The rest of the Vanity Fair scadal list for Piers Morgan is little more than small accounts of conveluted assumptions of Morgan's alleged desire to get dirt on the guy he brawled with, Ian Hisop.

I'll save you the trip to Vanity Fair, as Juli blogs...

Moon-faced little midget: The Mirror, under Morgan’s stewardship, offered financial gains to anyone who would dish on “that moon-faced little midget,” an epithet for Hislop.

Tangerines, an obsession with: “The Hislop campaign has been going well, with all sorts of accusations ranging from a weird obsession with tangerines to a chronic piles problem that needed lasering ... I’m just doing it for fun. He is, after all, the editor of a piss-taking magazine and the presenter of a piss-taking TV show. Yet nobody dares take the piss out of him”—so read a 2002 entry in The Insider.

Tangerines, an apparently healthy relationship toward: The Telegraph reports that despite Morgan’s promises of rewards in exchange for information, he “couldn’t find any” scandalous rumors—fruit-related or otherwise—pertaining to Hislop.

Was all of that worth it? Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter must have it in for Piers, because all that stuff's a major reach at best.

Well, except for the brawl and the stocks.

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CNN's Piers Morgan Choice Considered A Mistake By Some

Piers Morgan 
Is Piers Morgan (who will be on On Air With Ryan Seacrest Thursday) the right choice to replace Larry King?

While this blogger believed Ryan Seacrest was a better fit, having hosted the Larry King Show many times before, CNN's President John Klein's fallen in love with Morgan's performance...in Britain.

It turns out a number of blogs and websites are asking the same question about Piers Morgan: is he the right choice? MovieLine's Louis Virtel compared the selection of Piers Morgan to the hiring of Ellen Degeneres to be a judge on American Idol. The explanation was somewhat harsh:



Comparisons to Ellen DeGeneres’s cataclysmic American Idol stint come easy: Just as DeGeneres’s plucky diplomacy felt out of place on a cutthroat competition series, Morgan’s stuffy displeasure is a bad fit for a softball talk show. If we’re going to mix and match loose cannons and stodgy chatfests, I’d rather Wendy Williams join The McLaughlin Group or Courtney Love join the upcoming The Talk — then we’d get fireworks.


But Virtel's correct in observing that the style of The Larry King Show was more softball than hardball. If CNN's Klein wants more hardball, he may be messing with a formula that worked, even as it seems everything else at CNN was a ratings failure.

On that note, Babble.com asks if you will even watch Piers Morgan? And Ryan Christopher DeVault asked if it was a mistake.

I will leave out the idea that Klein may have got it right, but that's a strong may. The simple fact is Ryan Seacrest has greater name recognition in America than Piers Morgan does. That some people may not like his popcorn style is meaningless; Seacrest gets the interviews people want to hear and see.

Can Piers Morgan match Seacrest? We shall see.

Piers Morgan Talks To Ryan Seacrest About CNN Gig Thursday

Perhaps Piers can explain this photo? 
Piers Morgan of America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent, who really became famous with the discovery of Susan Boyle on BOT, and his dinner date with Boyle, is the replacement for the retired Larry King on CNN.

On Twitter, American Idol Host Ryan Seacrest announced that he will talk with Piers for On Air With Ryan Seacrest that morning. Ryan tweeted:

I'll have Piers Morgan in studio tmrrw to talk about the new gig. First order of business? Getting him on Twitter! http://bit.ly/PiersCNN
about 3 hours ago via ÃœberTwitter

Piers Morgan doesn't start his new CNN gig until January, which gives him enough time to build Twitter followers, and dump tweets that send bloggers to their keyboards.

I have to admit, I'm really surprised Ryan Seacrest isn't the replacement for Larry King. He seems more the natural choice than Morgan, no offense to Piers. But, as CNN President John Klein said, "Piers has made his name posing tough questions to public figures, holding them accountable for their words and deeds," but in Britain.

Meanwhile, for the present, On Air With Ryan Seacrest is on the radio Thursday morning, but the times and stations vary, so visit the website with a click here for your location.

Academy News: AMPAS Has “Ingmar Bergman: Truth and Lies" Exhibit

Ingmar Bergman
Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has announced the upcoming public exhibit called “Ingmar Bergman: Truth and Lies" for Thursday, February 16th at the AMPAS headquarters and run through December 12th and admission is free.

Organized by the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen, Berlin, in association with the Academy, the exhibition is a study in the career and personal life of the legendary Swedish director. Bergman received nine Oscar nominations and was presented with the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1970.

Bergman was famous for such films as 1982's Fanny and Alexander, which, along with his films The Virgin Spring, and Through a Glass Darkly, won Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film.

For the first major exhibit since Bergman's death in 2007, The Bergman Foundation has given "unprecedented access" to Bergman's personal papers. Now, we can see the the basis for the directors creative sprit. The Academy reports:



“Truth and Lies” will provide unique insights into Bergman’s film, theater work and personal life, with sections devoted to his early creative efforts, his ascent as an artist and his struggles with faith. The exhibition’s film projections and specially created montages will allow the visitor to delve into the full range of his work, from his earliest films to his major international successes. Original scripts, notebooks, film schedules, sketches, posters, photographs and other paper materials will be accompanied by items such as set models and costumes.


To go with the exhibit, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art Film Department and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles are each presenting special film screening series. For tickets to LACMA screenings, visit http://www.lacma.org.

For tickets to Goethe-Institut screenings, visit http://www.goethe.de/losangeles or call the Goethe-Institut at (323) 525-3388.

Finally, and our standard note in this space, The Academy’s Fourth Floor Gallery is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills and is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The gallery will be closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend (November 25 through 28).

For more information call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.

Jobs with Justice Rally September 15, 2010


The Chicago chapter of Jobs with Justice will hold a huge Rally September 15, 2010.

The mission of Chicago Jobs With Justice is to improve working people’s standards of living, fight for job security, and stand up for workers’ right to organize. JWJ’s core belief is that in order to be successful, workers’ rights struggles have to be part of a larger campaign for economic and social justice. To that end, JWJ has formed a local coalition of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations to work together on workplace and community social justice campaigns.

Jobs with Justice engages workers and allies in campaigns to win justice in workplaces and in communities nationally, where working families live. JwJ was founded in 1987 with the vision of lifting up workers’ rights struggles as part of a larger campaign for economic and social justice. JWJ believes in long-term multi-issue coalition building , grassroots base-building and organizing and strategic militant action as the foundation for building a grassroots movement, and believe that by engaging a broad community of allies, they can win bigger victories. JWJ reaches working people through the organizations that represent them—unions, congregations, community organizations—and directly as JwJ activists. Nearly 100,000 people have signed the Jobs with Justice pledge to Be There at least five times a year for someone else’s struggle as well as their own.

The Emergency Campaign for Jobs!
Chicago Jobs with Justice is organizing the Emergency Campaign for Jobs in conjunction with our national JwJ network and the AFL-CIO. Here's what they are demanding:
  1. Immediate extension and expansion of access to jobless benefits for the duration of this unemployment crisis (including COBRA or Medicaid and food assistance.)
  2. Immediate federal financial assistance to states like Illinois to prevent further layoffs and service cuts, precisely when the need is the greatest in our communities.
  3. Federal spending on direct job creation for improving and enhancing our public infrastructure: mass transit, schools, roads and more.
  4. Federal investment in green technology, manufacturing and energy conservation.
  5. Paying for it all by taxing the individuals and practices on Wall Street that created this recession so we can begin to balance the books, place the tax burden where it belongs and discourage reckless and excessive speculation.
Over the next few months, they will be promoting actions that highlight the need for massive job creation as quickly as possible. What's next? They need your help to organize our brothers and sisters who are unemployed!

Sound interesting? Give them a call at (312) 738-6161 or send an email to susanh@jwj.org! Or visit their contact page to get in touch! http://www.chicagojwj.org/contact

Here is information on the Chicago event taking place September 15, 2010:

Rally in Chicago - JwJ Unemployed Workers Council: Join JWJ for the next in their series of actions for a federal jobs program. The double-dip seems headed our way unless Congress takes immediate action to put America to work doing the work America needs done. That's the only way to turn our economy around before the suffering worsens!

JWJ Rally Wednesday September 15th
Meeting up for a press conference and rally at GOP HQ at Randolph and Wells at 4 pm to call the GOP out on their votes and misleading and mean-spirited comments about the unemployed!

Our demands are the same
Jobs for the Nation
!
Federal Jobs Program
Local Jobs Act HR 4812/S3500
Extension of the TANF Jobs Program that expires on Sept 30 and will result in 350,000 people out of work, 30,000 in Illinois

Benefits for the Duration
Extend Tier V benefits immediately to all states with unemployment higher than 5%
State aid
Food aid and health insurance subsidies
Unemployment benefits until unemployment reaches 5%

Tax Wall Street Speculation
Make Wall Street Pay with tax on financial speculation

Quran Burnings & Terry Jones: Why So Much Media Exposure? - by Davey D



Quran Burnings & Terry Jones: Why So Much Media Exposure?

So called Pastor Terry Jones is determined to burn copies of the Quran this Saturday, September 11th in Gainesville, Florida at his Dove Outreach Church. He’s doing this in spite receiving strong condemnations from some very power people like: Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton White House senior advisor David Axelrod and General David Petraeus who says such an act would put our troops in grave danger.

This is all probably true. Such an act would undoubtedly fuel the flames in War on Terror and further embolden outfits like Al Qaueda who would use Terry Jone’s action as a recruiting tool.
With all that being said, let’s be honest and let’s be clear:  Terry Jones is a small fry in all this. Nobody in their right mind cares about a two-bit preacher who has a congregation of 50 people. They could be the most fundamental amongst hardcore fundamentalist and Terry Jones would not be on their radar except for one small detail, he and his proposed actions are and will not be viewed in a vacuum.
Far too many of us here in the US sees things from the lens of individualism. For many of us we have long written Terry Jones off as just one ‘nutcase’ from Florida. However, the rest of the world sees him as the tip of the iceberg of loud and raucous protests against buildings a Mosque near Ground Zero.

The rest of the world sees Terry Jones alongside sitting Senators like Harry Reid and sitting Congressman like Peter King who have all but told Muslim-Americans that the constitutional amendment that grants freedom of religion really doesn’t apply to them.
While many Americans see Terry Jones a lone wolf, the rest of the world sees him as part of the loud chorus of American citizens to the tune of 20% who mistakenly believe that President Obama is a Muslim us collectively saying there’s something wrong if he was.

Why has Pastor Terry Jones has been granted a world wide audience by mainstream media to spew his hatred for Islam
Terry Jones epitomizes the strong anti-muslim sentiment that has been allowed to be seen and heard all over the world, coming from loud, cantankerous anti-muslim pundits who are backed by large media conglomerates and given a global platform to speak hate and intolerance in our name.
Terry Jones is a problem only because mainstream news outlets decided to give him air time and blow him up. They made him the problem. They decided to show him acting a fool versus showing the thousands of instances where American Christians and American muslims, work, eat, play and build with each other everyday. Unfortunately us getting along is a boring narrative as far as mainstream media is concerned.
In spite dwindling resources and shrinking budgets, many news outlets have already found ways to fly reporters down to Florida, pay for hotels and equipment and have folks staked out to watch Doves Outreach Church like hawks. From Matt Lauer of theToday Show on down to the right-wing agitators at Fox News, all of them have been gleeful as they wait for the first Quran to burn..Thats when it’ll be on. That’s when the TV ratings are anticipated to rise..

For those who don’t know, our news media seems to thrive on crisis and chaos. So if our troops suffer any harmful repercussions because a knucklehead Pastor in Florida burns a Quran, don’t just blame him, blame the mainstream outlets for making him a story too big to ignore and showing his foolishness sans true balance and countering images.
I recall the painful days and weeks after 9-11, when those of us in media, if we dared not carry the party line advocated by former President George Bush and spoke out against his call to fight a War on Terror, you paid a price. Many of us including myself and TV host Bill Maher lost our jobs. Others got death threats. For the most part much of the media fell in line and didn’t vary to far from the script that eventually led us into war.
During the weeks after 9-11, I recall watching a TV show called Like It Is which airs in NY where host Gil Noble had some Black preachers on who talked about their 9-11 experiences and thoughts. It was refreshing and counter to the constant arguments justifying our aggressive behavior. It was noted that their voices had been shut out and that many did not believe we should go to war.
A local preacher and former San Francisco supervisor here in the Bay Area namedAmos Brown was vilified and shut down when he asked the question publicly, ‘What is it about our foreign policy that we need to look at and perhaps change that led to the 9-11 attacks’?
Brown had his name drugged through the coals. They said he was being insensitive and stirring up a hornets nest and even inviting more attacks.
I recall hearing him go on a local ABC affiliate KGO to explain his remarks to host Ron Owens . Brown was not allowed to elaborate on any of the answers he gave to Owen’s one-sided questions. If i recall Owens actually said it was against his better judgement to bring Brown on the air and that he would not allow his radio show to be used as a platform to spew remarks he considered insensitive and divisive. Owens went on and on about how America had come together in the wake of 9-11 and there was no room for remarks like Brown's.
The former supervisor tried in vain to explain that as a Baptist Preacher the tradition is to always ask what you could learn from and what role you may have played in any mishap. Owens kept cutting him off and finally let him go. Brown was not allowed to fully explain himself as he bore the full brunt of a media shut down. Where’s the media shut down with this so-called Pastor Terry Jones? Brown made remarks at a funeral.. Jones wants to burn Qurans even though we had Muslim victims on 9-11..

Rev Jesse Jackson was shut down by both the government and our media when he attempted to broker peace around 9-11. Why is Pastor Jones allowed a platform to broker war? ..photo credit: Eric Guo
I recall doing an interview with Jesse Jackson a few days before we launched our attack on the Taliban when he got a phone call from when then Secretary of State Colin Powell. It happened right in the middle of our interview. Jesse had to drop our call to talk to Powell.

When we resumed, Jesse noted that he was asked to fall back with his anti-war remarks and abandon his proposed actions. Jesse wanted to do something dramatic that would bring attention and hopefully result in Peace and Healing. If memory serves me correctly I think he actually wanted to go and speak with the heads of the Taliban.

The Bush administration wasn’t trying to hear that and Jesse was shut down cut off from most of the media.
Pastor Jones is teaching us a lot in the days leading up to his protest. He’s exposing the blatant hypocrisy within many sectors of our media. He’s also exposing the timidness within many sectors of our government.

Of course a guy like Pastor Terry should be condemned, but where’s the chin checking of all those news outlets who time and time again with sensational, over-the-top coverage have painted America as being this intolerant country when it comes to Muslims?
If Bush could ban media pictures of dead coffins returning because it would be harmful in demoralizing the troops, maybe we should ban media outlets from showing any Qurans burning. After all aren’t we trying to protect our troops? Is this not about national security? This question is being asked not to have a fast and hard policy where the government comes in enacts censorship but instead to make sure we are not giving lip service to the brave men and women we say on the battle field who we say we wanna protect.. Are we trying to unite or trying to divide?
Something to ponder
written by Davey D

U-Cubed bites back for Unemployed Americans






U-Cubed (Union for the Unemployed) bites back for Unemployed Americans, with a new YouTube video encouraging Americans to VOTE. Union for the Unemployed (U-Cubed) was launched this past spring and has over 3,000 listed members. It is free to join and membership is growing daily.

This June, in testimony submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, the Union of Unemployed urged representatives to examine a jobs program that was created by the unemployed themselves.

U-Cubed 21-step emergency action plan for reversing the U.S. jobs crisis
Their plan is called Hire US, America and is based on the fundamental principal that the only real solution to addressing the long-term unemployment issue is for the government to do what the private sector cannot: put millions of Americans back to work immediately.

"U-Cubed leaders and jobs activists participated in an online survey where they submitted, vetted and revised various policy suggestions for helping to address the long-term unemployment issue," said Rick Sloan.  "Their insights deserve our respect and their ideas deserve our attention."

Rick Sloan is the Acting Executive Director of U-Cubed, Union of Unemployed, and has been the IAM Communications Director since 2000. Before joining the Machinists Union, he ran Challenge America, Inc., a union-focused public affairs firm, for fifteen years. 

Sloan has served as the Administrative Assistant to Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI) and the late Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-OH). His book, The Gift of Strategy, and his blogs on Huffington Post have prodded Democrats to fight harder for blue collar worker and the unemployed.

Tell your personal story:
U-Cubed is also giving members an opportunity to share their stories about what it’s like trying to get by in the midst of the toughest economic recession in more than 70 years. Members can share their stories http://www.unionofunemployed.com/tell-your-story/

You can join U-Cubed free here http://www.unionofunemployed.com/

Follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/U_Cubed

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ucubed

Mos Def: Hip Hop's Renaissance Man - by Davey D






If there was ever a Renaissance man within Hip Hop it would no doubt be Mos Def. Here’s a man who does it all. He’s an incredible rapper, one of the best to come along in the past 10-15 years. He’s a talented singer who’s left his mark with songs ‘Umi Says’ off the ‘Black on Both Sides’ album which pays homage to his mother and ‘Kalifornia’ off the Torque soundtrack.

Mos Def is an Emmy nominated, award winning talented actor who has done a stellar job in flicks like ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘The Woodsman’ and ‘Something the Lord Made’. He set to star opposite Don Cheadle and Wesly Snipes in the movie Toussaint which is a film about the Haitian revolution.

You name it Mos Def does it…We wont even talk about his activism and the numerous causes he’s shown support and been involved in. His most recent venture occurred this past Labor Day weekend, when he teamed up with NASA and the ISIS (Instituting Science in Schools) education project and astronaut Leland Melvin to promote the importance of science, engineering, technology and the importance of exploration.

200o people came out to Oakland's Chabot Space Center to see Mos Def & astronaught Leland Melvin in a 3 D Hologram
Mos and Leland Melvin using a new 3D hologram projection appeared at science festivals in both Oakland, California and Orlando, Florida where they stood side by side and delivered their inspiring messages. More than 2000 people showed up at Chabot Observatory in Oakland to peep Mos Def in 3D. Judging from the loud applause and brief conversations with many of the young attendees, he did not disappoint.
Such accomplishments have only added to Mos Def’s appeal and underscored why he can come to a place like the Bay Area stay an an entire week, do sold out shows in both big and small venues. He did this the other night at Oakland’s New Parrish when he and his partner Talib Kweli resurrected their landmark group Black Star and rocked two shows along with comedian Dave Chappelle.
Two nights later Mos Def showed up as a solo act at San Francisco’s Independent nightclub on 628 Divisadero. And just like the New Parrish this venue sold out with less than a day’s notice.

Mos Def kicked off his set at SF Independent w/ the song 'Kalifornia'
Always a man for the people Mos Def who’s government name Dante Terrell Smith took the crowd to new heights when he brought out surprise guest Talib Kweli. Dave Chappelle was backstage chilling and watching the show. The fact that a man of his stature was there to enjoy the performance and was under no pressure to come on stage and ‘cheese’ for the audience, went to show you just how dope and respected is the man we call Mos Def.
What I like most about Mos is his willingness to give a full 100% in anything he does. A lot of artist should take a page from his book. When you come to town, park yourself there for minute and make yourself accessible to the fans. Do more than one show. Record a few tracks with the local artists and like Mos, give a different performance with each show. Give the audience what they’ve come to know and like you for, but at the same time you push the musical boundaries and give them something new.

Happy Rosh Hashanah : President Obama's Wish, Stephen Hawking's Error

President Obama is joined by this blogger in wishing you a Happy Rosh Hashanah. Here's Obama's video from yesterday:



Prof. Stephen Hawking

Come to think of it, since Stephen Hawking elected to introduce his book The Grand Design and declare that God did not create the Universe, it's fair to say that for him, Rosh Hashanah's not good, eh?

You'd think Hawking would show some respect for Jews by not releasing his book just a day before Rosh Hashanah, right? Talk about flunking his performance review. Geesh.

This blogger still can't understand why Stephen Hawking would write a book trying to debunk the existence of God, but not The Devil. Makes you wonder if his book itself's the Work of The Devil.

From this vantage point, Stephen Hawking looks just like the religious zealots he and his fans rightly criticize. Two sides of the same coin.

I prefer the edge. It rolls, if you know what I mean.

Happy Rosh Hashanah