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| WEDNESDAY • MARCH 10, 2010 |
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ROBERTS ‘TROUBLED’ BY STATE OF THE UNION: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts can tell when he’s unwelcome: Roberts criticized the atmosphere of the president’s annual State of the Union address to Congress, calling it a “political pep rally.” Speaking to University of Alabama law students, Roberts said Obama’s speech in January was “very troubling” because the president knocked the court for its overturning of limits on corporate spending on campaign ads. “To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I’m not sure why we’re there,” Roberts said. Though anyone is free to criticize the Court, “there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court—according the requirements of protocol—has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling.” He also said senators ask inappropriately political questions, which they know nominees can’t answer, at confirmation hearings. Obama’s press secretary defended the speech by further criticizing the decision in question.
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 SOMALIA FOOD AID BYPASSES NEEDY, U.N. STUDY SAYS: As much as half the food aid sent to Somalia is diverted from needy people to a web of corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local United Nations staff members, according to a new Security Council report. The report, which has not yet been made public but was shown to The New York Times by diplomats, outlines a host of problems so grave that it recommends that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon open an independent investigation into the World Food Program’s Somalia operations. It suggests that the program rebuild the food distribution system — which serves at least 2.5 million people and whose aid was worth about $485 million in 2009 — from scratch to break what it describes as a corrupt cartel of Somali distributors.
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 ISRAEL APOLOGIZES TO BIDEN: Israel apologized for embarrassing Vice President Joe Biden by announcing it had approved 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem while Biden was engaged in talks with Palestinian leaders. Israel is not going to rescind the decision, however. The announcement was sharply criticized by Biden and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. “The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now,” Biden said.
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 COREY HAIM DRUG O.D. DEATH: Eighties teen idol Corey Haim dead at 38 as result of an accidental drug overdose at his Hollywood home. According to KTLA-TV, Haim was found unresponsive at his Oakwood apartment. His mother was at the apartment at the time of his death. When First Responders arrived, Haim was still alive, new reports say, but weak with flu-like symptoms. Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson said Haim was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, California early Wednesday morning. The coroner’s office said TOD (time of death) was 2:15 AM.
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 LBN-THE “INSIDE” STORY: The Roman Catholic Church is being plunged into a renewed crisis over how it has dealt with the sexual abuse of children by its clergy after it emerged that the brother of Pope Benedict XVI, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger (pair pictured above), ran a renowned choir at the centre of child abuse claims. Reports of systematic historical abuse by pedophile Roman Catholic clergy have surfaced at 3 schools in the Regensburg diocese in Bavaria. One of them is the much-heralded Regensburger Domspatzen, a 1000 year-old male choir and boarding school, whose choral master for 30 years was the Pope’s older brother, Georg Ratzinger. Monsignor Ratzinger has agreed to testify in any eventual prosecutions – but says that he knew of no abuse. The German Justice Minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, has joined a growing chorus of politicians in Berlin to criticize the church over its attitude to the investigation, accusing Roman Catholic institutions of a policy of secrecy.
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WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? 12 members of the White House staff along with over 317,000 other “influencers”.
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HOUSE TO MISS OBAMA’S DEADLINE?: Once upon a time, health care was supposed to be President Obama’s Christmas gift to America; now, it’s possible it may not even be ready for Easter. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer cast doubt that the House could pass health-care reform by the March 18 deadline set by President Obama. “None of us have mentioned the 18th other than [Press Secretary Robert] Gibbs,” Hoyer said “We are trying to do this as soon as possible.
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BOFA TO END DEBIT OVERDRAFT FEES: Bank of America announced it will end overdraft fees on debit cards this summer, a move that will cost the bank a large amount of revenue and pressure others to follow suit. Customers who don’t have enough cash in their accounts to make a purchase will simply be declined. More than 60 percent of overdraft fees charged by Bank of America come from debit cards. A new federal law is forcing banks to get permission from customers before allowing overdrafts on debit purchases and ATM withdrawals, fees that earned banks $20 billion last year.
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FORMER AG MUKASEY SLAMS LIZ CHENEY: Former Attorney General Mike Mukasey may have served in the Bush administration with Dick Cheney, but he has a bone to pick with Cheney’s daughter Liz. In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Mukasey calls the efforts of Cheney and others to smear Justice Department lawyers who have represented terrorists as “shoddy and dangerous.” He then states the should-be obvious: “A lawyer who represents a party in a contested matter has an ethical obligation to make any and all tenable legal arguments that will help that party.”
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***With the Oscars fading into memory, it’s time to look forward to the industry’s next big glitzy affair: The Cannes Film Festival, where, Wiretap is hearing, a band of merry men may be making their way up the red carpet on opening night. According to information we’ve received, Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” is tipped to open the festival. Further, it’s also been whispered that French passport holder, Oliver Stone, will screen his “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” out of competition. ***In a step that is unusual even for litigation-heavy Hollywood, the maker of “Iron Cross,” a small independent film that has yet to find a distributor, charged in a complaint filed on Tuesday that the trade paper Variety had damaged the movie. The suit says that the paper lured the film’s producer into last year’s awards race with the offer of an expensive promotional package, then savaged the film in a review. The suit against Variety, which is a unit of the media giant Reed Elsevier, was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by Calibra Pictures, the producer of “Iron Cross,” which included the last performance by Roy Scheider, who died in 2008. ***Actor John Krasinski, better known as Jim from The Office, is the “main focus” of Marvel’s search for an actor to play Captain America, says Fox News. “John has read four times and is doing screen tests,” a source says. “He has screen tested 2 times so far. It’s very likely that he will be the new Captain America. He is a favorite among the key decision makers and has been asked to come back for more this week.” ***Fresh off Disney’s massive success with Tim Burton’s updating of “Alice in Wonderland,” Warner Bros. is looking into a remake of another childhood classic. A possible new film treatment of “The Wizard of Oz” would refurbish the property with special effects and 3-D. ***Verve Literary Agency signed Rob Edwards, Alex Litvak, Trevor Munson, David Silverman and Rich Wilkes. ***Seann William Scott has left CAA for IMC.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***Steve Tisch at the Beverly Hills Grill telling some Kansas City girls he’d just met that he once visited the famous Outhouse strip club there. ***Ethan Hawke was lunching al fresco with Sam Mendes and his dog at the Maritime Hotel in NYC. ***Former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and his psychotherapist girlfriend, Sharon Elghanayan, sitting in Central Park in NYC near the Alice in Wonderland sculpture reading a newspaper. ***Comedian Wendy Liebman having dinner last night at Chin-Chin at the Sunset Plaza. ***Seamus Lyte with Andrew Wishart, KidsCo Marketing Manager, and Lyn Rothman at The Oscar Academy Dinner in Londons RAC club watching the proceedings from Los Angeles on behalf of Seamus Lyte Management Ltd. ***Brooke Shields attends the Giambattista Valli Ready to Wear show as part of the Paris Womenswear Fashion Week Fall Winter 2011 at Place Vendome. ***LA Business Journal editor Charlie Crumpley having lunch at the Ivy on Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills. ***Paul McCartney walks in Paris to attend a fashion show during the Paris Fashion Week. ***Sandra Bullock smiles away as she leave the Oprah Winfrey show in Los Angeles. ***Rob Lowe gets into his Mercedes after having lunch with friends at the famous Ivy restaurant on Robertson Blvd in West Hollywood. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT- Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@Timewire.net.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Newsweek editor Jonathan Meacham is in talks to host a weekly program on PBS. The Friday night public-affairs program is called Need to Know. It will be co-anchored by Alison Stewart and debut on May 7 at 8:30. Meacham, in addition to editing Newsweek, won a Pulitzer last year for his biography of Andrew Jackson. ***Bob Christie, the longtime spokesperson for the Wall Street Journal, is jumping to the New York Times. Christie is described as a PR rep who “doesn’t try to pretend that bad news doesn’t exist.” With Christie, the Times “might try to tell its own story in a more active way.” ***The Los Angeles Press Club is giving its highest honors this year to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Dave Bryan and NPR Senior Foreign Correspondent Anne Garrels.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the minimum wage was originally 25 cents per hour on Oct. 24, 1938.
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 LBN-SNAP:Jennifer Aniston.
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WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? Over 100 winners of the Academy Award along with over 317,000 other “influencers”.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***New York Post reporter Maureen Callahan’s POKER FACE: The Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga, a biography of singer, composer, songwriter, designer, performance artist, and general phenomenon Lady Gaga, sold to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at Hyperion, for publication in September 2010, by David Kuhn of Kuhn Projects (world). ***Former executive vice president of Apple Computer Jay Elliot’s iLEADERSHIP THE STEVE JOBS WAY: Courage, Charisma, Credibility and Being Way Cool, an insider’s revelation of the ‘real’ Steve Jobs, the mysteries of his innovative management style and the risks, rewards and failures Jobs experienced, as told by a participant in those adventures, written with William L. Simon, co-author of the NYT best-selling Steve Jobs biography iCON, sold to Roger Cooper at Vanguard Press, by Bill Gladstone at Waterside Productions (NA). ***Sarah Palin’s next book, “Celebration of American Virtues & Strengths,” in which she “will reflect on the key values [in her life] — both national and spiritual,” including selections from classic and contemporary readings that have inspired her, as well as portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires, again sold to Jonathan Burnham at Harper, with no publication date announced, by Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly. ***Author and talk-radio host Laura Ingraham’s WON BY ONE, a satirical takedown of the Obama Administration and its plans to “remake America,” building case against Team Obama using their own words and actions, sold to Anthony Ziccardi at Threshold, for publication in September 2010 (world).
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Wal-Mart is under fire for a picture posted to a blog showing two Barbies—identical except for skin color—on sale for different prices, with the black doll listed on sale at half the price of the white one. The photo was first posted to FunnyJunk.com, a humor site, and then Guanabee.com, a Latino site that says the person who offered the photo said it was taken at a Louisiana store. Wal-Mart officials say items are routinely put on sale to move inventory and make room for spring merchandise. But critics say the corporate giant should have been more sensitive, absorbing losses from not selling the black dolls instead of putting them on clearance. A sociologist-blogger said the retailer should avoid sending “a message that we value blackness less than whiteness.” ***LBN means business. Leading executives from Starbucks, Mattel, Intel, Home Depot, Ford Motor Company, Exxon, Sears all read the LBN E-Lert.
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 “W. BASHING” AND THE CULTURE OF THE LAST ADMINISTRATION:
Yesterday on the Fresh Air program on National Public Radio(NPR), host Terry Gross welcomed as a guest David M. Walker, former comptroller general of the United States. What ensued during that interview was an indictment of the George W. Bush administration, an administration Walker was paid quite well to work for. Why the change of heart? Walker now has a book out, of course, and he was on the radio pandering to partisan-bashing detractors to sell more copies of his novel. While Walker is perfectly within his entrepreneurial rights to do so, Herald de Paris publisher Jes Alexander took a contrary position, and offered this “Soapbox” rant on Le Morning Show, this morning.
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WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? Over 300 winners of the Grammy Awards along with over 317,000 other “influencers”.
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LAST CALL: This Saturday March 13th, 2010 there will be a “Secrets of Success” workshop hosted by best-selling author Michael Levine in Beverly Hills from 1-4pm. Only 20 people can attend and there are only a couple of seats left. For additional information click here.
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 LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***The L.A. Clippers and general manager Mike Dunleavy are parting ways, just weeks after he stepped down as coach to focus on being GM. “The team has simply not made sufficient progress during Dunleavy’s seven-year tenure,” says the statement. “The Clippers want to win now.” ***Willie Davis, the L.A. Dodgers centerfielder through most of the 1960s who came out of Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights, was found dead today at home in Burbank.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By BEN BRANTLEY: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s belated sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera” feels as eager to be walloped as a clown in a carnival dunking booth.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: I was tempted to turn my abaya into a black masquerade cloak and sneak into Mecca, just hop over the Tropic of Cancer to the Red Sea and crash the ultimate heaven’s gate. Sir Richard Burton, the 19th-century British adventurer, translator of “The Arabian Nights” and the “Kama Sutra” and self-described “amateur barbarian,” was an illicit pilgrim to the sacred black granite cube. He wore Arab garb and infiltrated the holiest place in Islam, the Kaaba, the “center of the Earth,” as he called it, in the Saudi city where the Prophet Muhammad was born. But in the end, it seemed disrespectful, not to mention dangerous. So on my odyssey to Saudi Arabia, I tried to learn about the religion that smashed into the American consciousness on 9/11 in a less sneaky way. And that’s when the paradox sunk in: It was nearly impossible for me to experience Islam in the cradle of Islam.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: Of all the pictures I saw from the Iraqi elections last weekend, my favorite was on nytimes.com: an Iraqi mother holding up her son to let him stuff her ballot into the box. I loved that picture. Being able to freely cast a ballot for the candidate of your choice is still unusual for Iraqis and for that entire region. That mother seemed to be saying: When I was a child, I never got to vote. I want to live in a world where my child will always be able to. God bless her. This was a very good day for Iraq.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By KATHY FRESTON (Author, Health and Wellness Expert): It’s resoundingly clear in that a plant-based diet is both preventative and healing, whereas a diet high in animal protein is destructive to our health. High protein diets not only make us sick, but also fat.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By RICHARD J. ABLIN (Research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine): Each year some 30 million American men undergo testing for prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme made by the prostate. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the P.S.A. test is the most commonly used tool for detecting prostate cancer. The test’s popularity has led to a hugely expensive public health disaster. It’s an issue I am painfully familiar with — I discovered P.S.A. in 1970. As Congress searches for ways to cut costs in our health care system, a significant savings could come from changing the way the antigen is used to screen for prostate cancer. Americans spend an enormous amount testing for prostate cancer. The annual bill for P.S.A. screening is at least $3 billion, with much of it paid for by Medicare and the Veterans Administration.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By JOHN STOSSEL: The people of Louisiana must sleep soundly knowing that their state protects them from unlicensed florists.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By PYTHAGORAS: It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Charlie Sheen is expected to return to work on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men” on Tuesday, according to his publicist. The actor is said to be in the process of exiting the rehab facility he checked into Feb. 23. ***A French leader with a mistress? Say it ain’t so! European news outlets are buzzing with rumors that, in decades past, would have been shrugged at: Both President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are allegedly having affairs. The French paper Journal Du Dimanche and website suchablog.com both claim that Sarkozy has been seeing Chantal Jouanno on the side and that Bruni is “unofficially living with” the musician Benjamin Biolay in Paris. Sarkozy’s spokesman says he has “absolutely no comment” on the rumors. ***A top CBS News producer yesterday admitted trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman — but finagled a sweetheart deal after promising to keep his mouth shut about the “Late Show” star’s office shenanigans. Robert Joseph Halderman will be sentenced to six months on Rikers Island — but likely serve just four — in exchange for copping the plea in Manhattan Supreme Court. The disgraced “48 Hours” producer also must perform 1,000 hours of community service and spend 4½ years on probation. ***Demi Moore gave daughter Rumer Willis a pole-dancing lesson at a party at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood. A partygoer told Life & Style that the “Striptease” star “even spun around the pole upside down.” Then Rumer gave it a whirl as Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Aniston and Leonardo DiCaprio cheered her on at the recent bash. “Everyone was cheering, and Leo gave Ashton a high-five,” the source added. ***Christian Bale hasn’t spoken to his mother since he screamed at her for 10 minutes and threw her and her sisters out of his London hotel suite on the eve of the premiere of “The Dark Knight” two years ago. ***Lisa Marie Presley’s weight has recently ballooned to 165 pounds, friends believe, and they fear new binge eating could be endangering her health.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***All coffee is grown within 1,000 miles of the equator. ***All major league baseball umpires must wear black underwear while on the job! ***All the swans in England are property of the Queen. ***Aluminum used to be more valuable than gold. ***America once issued a 5-cent bill.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Weighing the risks against the rewards, I thought this was an opportunity to make the best of a bad mess.”-GERALD L. SHARGEL, the lawyer representing Robert Joel Halderman, who pleaded guilty to trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 10, 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at age 73. His death was announced on March 11th. Politburo member Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed him.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| TUESDAY • MARCH 9, 2010 |
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A SIMPLE QUESTION? Do you have the GUTS to forward this LBN E-Lert to your friends and family? Do you? Do you?
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REP. ERIC MASSA: A NEW REPUBLICAN HERO?: The Eric Massa show is quickly turning into a field day for Republicans, as the disgraced Democratic congressman continues to take pot shots at his own party. Over the weekend, he slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, whom he called “son of the devil’s spawn.” But Massa isn’t done yet. Glenn Beck has him booked for the full hour on Tuesday because, Beck tweeted, “all Americans need to hear him.” Rush Limbaugh has also promised to make a “national story” out of Massa’s claim that he was set up by his own party.
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ABORTION DEAL IN THE WORKS?: Is a deal in the works to placate House Democrats who oppose health-care reform without strict abortion-coverage provisions? On Monday night, Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, the leader of the anti-abortion charge, said, “I’m more optimistic than I was a week ago. The president says he doesn’t want to expand or restrict current law.
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 HOUSE DEMOCRATS MAY BAN EARMARKS: In a possible strategic move to regain the “ethical high ground,” House Democratic leaders are floating the idea of a party-wide ban on earmarks for the remainder of the year. The idea was mentioned by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but would most likely face resistance from those who use earmarks as a way to send placating pork back home in a tough year for incumbents.
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.jpg) UNION PENSION SUES GOLDMAN SACHS: A large union pension fund has figured out a way to do more than just criticize investment banks for overpaying its executives. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers pension fund filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Monday, trying to prevent the Wall Street giant from allocating around 47 percent of 2009 net revenue as compensation.
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U.S. DENIES ISRAEL BROKE AGREEMENT: Vice President Joe Biden has touched down in Israel as a special envoy announced that Israelis and Palestinians are ready to open an indirect dialogue. One potential wrinkle: A State Department spokesman said Monday that a new Israeli settlement in the West Bank does not violate the recently announced 10-month ban on building there, which experts say may imperil the U.S.’s role in getting both sides to talk directly.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Betty White will appear on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in the near future, the 88-year-old actress confirms, following a campaign on Facebook that attracted half a million fans. White inspired the effort after her popular comic turn in a Snickers commercial during the Super Bowl. ***”I really don’t know when I started, early ‘95 I think,” writes Craigslist founder Craig Newmark on his personal blog about the launch of his online classified advertising service. Newmark quotes a memo on Craigslist’s origins: “The approach is as minimalist as I could make.”
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 ACADEMY SNUBS FARRAH FAWCETT: Don’t blame Oscar’s co-producer Adam Shankman for the snub of Farrah Fawcett, who was coldly left out of the segment memorializing Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy, Army Archerd, Karl Malden and others. It was the academy’s decision. When Fawcett succumbed to anal cancer last June, Shankman tearfully tweeted: “Farewell Farrah. Forever you will be an angel here on Earth, and now in heaven.” Fawcett appeared in 16 films — including “The Cannonball Run,” “Extremities,” “Dr. T and the Women” and “The Apostle,” for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award — but Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, told reporters: “I would not say that it was an oversight. Not everybody who passed during the year can be included. That’s the unfortunate reality.”
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VARIETY LAYS OFF FILM CRITIC: In his first post-Oscars column, legendary film critic Roger Ebert uses his space in the Chicago Sun-Times to lambast Hollywood trade paper Variety for firing Todd McCarthy, a film critic there for the last 31 years. He was dismissed Monday as the industry publication announced that it would switch its policy to only publish movie reviews on a freelance basis as a cost-cutting measure. Ebert argues that as the chief critic for Variety and its longest-tenured staffer, McCarthy became “the bellwether of a film’s future.” Ebert also writes that Variety could be signaling the end of an era for film commentary: “The glory days of the famous Variety critics are finished.”
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 WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT?: Outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understand that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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JAMAICA: VISIT OUR JEWS: Come for the beaches, stay for the Jews? Jamaica is embracing its Jewish history in hopes of attracting new tourists—this, in spite of the fact that the island currently has one synagogue, no rabbis, and only 200 or so Jews. Still, the island claims to have once harbored a Jewish pirate named Moses, and Jews began arriving on the island in the 17th century during the Inquisition. By the end of the 19th century, Jamaica had six synagogues and over 2,000 Jews. A recent conference on Judeo-Caribbean history included stops at Kingston’s Hillel School, 20 of whose 750 students are Jewish, and a visit to a resort owned by Chris Blackwell, a music-label founder whose mother was Jewish.
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OHIO STATE SHOOTING: A gunman apparently angry over a poor evaluation entered an Ohio State University maintenance building today, killing a manager and then himself. The gunman was identified as 51 year old Nathaniel Brown. “Classes will be held and normal work schedules are in effect,” University Web site says.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Actress Betty White and Victoria Beckham attend the 18th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party at Pacific Design Center on March 7, 2010 in West Hollywood, California. ***Supermodel Kate Moss heads home after eating lunch at Inaho restaurant in London. ***A grieving Marie Osmond attends the memorial service for son Michael Bryan at a chapel near the Provo temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. ***Jeremy Renner drives away from Sunset Tower hotel. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT- Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@Timewire.net.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS: “Act from the Inside Out” (Powerful Acting Tools to Transform Your Real Life) by Shelene Atanacio. Order your copy today and receive a bonus gift: www.actnowbook.com.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By PASTOR BOB (Pastor Bob is the Founder of the First Fundamental Church of the Bible): ***Want to know what the real “Hurt Locker” is? I’ll tell you: It’s spending an eternity in Hell. Don’t let it happen to you. Believe in the Lord. ***The Bible is clear that sex addicts (even U.S. Presidents, even famous athletes) will not inherit the Kingdom of God. ***Our nation is on the fast track to destruction. And the internet is only adding fuel to the fire. ***When people say, “If Jesus were alive today he would… “They are forgetting a little somethin’. The Lord IS alive you, knucklehead. He rose from the grave. Buddha couldn’t do that. Neither could Muhammad. ***God loves you. But that doesn’t mean He’ll put up with your crap. ***At my church we encourage the men to wear men’s clothing and women to wear women’s clothing. We don’t mix that up. ***I don’t share my political opinions much, but here’s one: The way I see it, if Obama passes this health care bill, he loses. If he doesn’t pass it, he still loses. ***Do you feel like a loser today, friend? Well…I’m praying for losers, and I’m praying for you. ***To reply directly to Pastor Bob e-mail: LBNElert@TimeWire.net. (Please Note: The Opinions expressed by Pastor Bob are those of his alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the LBN E-Lert or its Staff.)
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By KATHRYN BIGELOW: In the winter of 2004, when Baghdad was one of the most dangerous places on the planet—a site of daily explosions, gunfights, and kidnappings—the city was, for the few Western journalists working there, an absolutely lethal place to work. So it was with considerable trepidation that I wished luck to my friend, reporter and screenwriter Mark Boal, when he told me that he had decided to go to Iraq to cover the war firsthand. As a passionate investigative reporter, Mark had his eye on a little-known unit in the Army, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD), aka the bomb squad, which was then playing a pivotal part in the military’s attempt to contain the growing threat of roadside bombs, the so-called Improvised Explosive Devices. Such was the nature of his choice to cover this high-risk unit that minutes after landing in Iraq, he was asked by Army officials to sign a “Hold Harmless” contract and provide his blood type and religious preference for a funeral.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By CHUCK NORRIS: I am no pinnacle of humility, and I’ve learned my fair share of hard lessons from the camps of conceit. But I’m not sure the former Chicago politician occupying the White House ever has been schooled with a primer on the perils of pride.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By JEFF WALD (President of OPUS Media Group): Is it true that Santa Claus is not real? When did people find this out? Nobody told me. All those times I left him cookies and milk. I am devastated I can’t write anymore until I compose myself.
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LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Maybe she also deserves Lindsey Vonn’s gold medal? Lindsay Lohan is suing the website E-Trade for $100 million because she says an ad featuring a baby named “Lindsay” who is a “milkaholic” and steals another baby’s boyfriend must be based on her. “Many celebrities are known by one name only, and E-Trade is using that knowledge to profit,” said Lohan’s lawyer. “They used the name Lindsay. They’re using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn’t they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody’s talking about it and saying it’s Lindsay Lohan.” ***“Precious” star Gabourey Sidibe was the toast of Sunday night’s Vanity Fair Oscar party — despite the uproar over her omission from the magazine’s Young Hollywood cover. Sidibe was feted by host Graydon Carter at Hollywood’s Sunset Towers Hotel, along with Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Hilary Swank, Colin Firth, Jane Fonda, Christoph Waltz, Kathryn Bigelow, Lauren Bacall and Morgan Freeman. The controversial March VF cover featured Carey Mulligan, Kristen Stewart, Amanda Seyfried and several other svelte, white starlets, while stocky Sidibe was shunted to an interview inside.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Even Antarctica has an area code. It’s 672. ***Fifteen people are known to have been crushed to death tilting vending machines towards them in the hope of a free can of soda. ***First-cousin marriages are legal in Utah, so long as both parties are 65 or older! ***For every ‘’normal'’ webpage, there are five porn pages. ***For every gallon of sea water, you get more than a quarter pound of salt.
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LBN-QUOTE: “You can fake an orgasm, but you can’t fake laughter.”-Bob Dylan.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 9, 1997 Gangster rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| TUESDAY • MARCH 9, 2010 |
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A SIMPLE QUESTION? Do you have the GUTS to forward this LBN E-Lert to your friends and family? Do you? Do you?
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REP. ERIC MASSA: A NEW REPUBLICAN HERO?: The Eric Massa show is quickly turning into a field day for Republicans, as the disgraced Democratic congressman continues to take pot shots at his own party. Over the weekend, he slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, whom he called “son of the devil’s spawn.” But Massa isn’t done yet. Glenn Beck has him booked for the full hour on Tuesday because, Beck tweeted, “all Americans need to hear him.” Rush Limbaugh has also promised to make a “national story” out of Massa’s claim that he was set up by his own party.
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ABORTION DEAL IN THE WORKS?: Is a deal in the works to placate House Democrats who oppose health-care reform without strict abortion-coverage provisions? On Monday night, Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, the leader of the anti-abortion charge, said, “I’m more optimistic than I was a week ago. The president says he doesn’t want to expand or restrict current law.
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HOUSE DEMOCRATS MAY BAN EARMARKS: In a possible strategic move to regain the “ethical high ground,” House Democratic leaders are floating the idea of a party-wide ban on earmarks for the remainder of the year. The idea was mentioned by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but would most likely face resistance from those who use earmarks as a way to send placating pork back home in a tough year for incumbents.
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UNION PENSION SUES GOLDMAN SACHS: A large union pension fund has figured out a way to do more than just criticize investment banks for overpaying its executives. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers pension fund filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Monday, trying to prevent the Wall Street giant from allocating around 47 percent of 2009 net revenue as compensation.
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U.S. DENIES ISRAEL BROKE AGREEMENT: Vice President Joe Biden has touched down in Israel as a special envoy announced that Israelis and Palestinians are ready to open an indirect dialogue. One potential wrinkle: A State Department spokesman said Monday that a new Israeli settlement in the West Bank does not violate the recently announced 10-month ban on building there, which experts say may imperil the U.S.’s role in getting both sides to talk directly.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Betty White will appear on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in the near future, the 88-year-old actress confirms, following a campaign on Facebook that attracted half a million fans. White inspired the effort after her popular comic turn in a Snickers commercial during the Super Bowl. ***”I really don’t know when I started, early ‘95 I think,” writes Craigslist founder Craig Newmark on his personal blog about the launch of his online classified advertising service. Newmark quotes a memo on Craigslist’s origins: “The approach is as minimalist as I could make.”
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ACADEMY SNUBS FARRAH FAWCETT: Don’t blame Oscar’s co-producer Adam Shankman for the snub of Farrah Fawcett, who was coldly left out of the segment memorializing Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy, Army Archerd, Karl Malden and others. It was the academy’s decision. When Fawcett succumbed to anal cancer last June, Shankman tearfully tweeted: “Farewell Farrah. Forever you will be an angel here on Earth, and now in heaven.” Fawcett appeared in 16 films — including “The Cannonball Run,” “Extremities,” “Dr. T and the Women” and “The Apostle,” for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award — but Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, told reporters: “I would not say that it was an oversight. Not everybody who passed during the year can be included. That’s the unfortunate reality.”
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VARIETY LAYS OFF FILM CRITIC: In his first post-Oscars column, legendary film critic Roger Ebert uses his space in the Chicago Sun-Times to lambast Hollywood trade paper Variety for firing Todd McCarthy, a film critic there for the last 31 years. He was dismissed Monday as the industry publication announced that it would switch its policy to only publish movie reviews on a freelance basis as a cost-cutting measure. Ebert argues that as the chief critic for Variety and its longest-tenured staffer, McCarthy became “the bellwether of a film’s future.” Ebert also writes that Variety could be signaling the end of an era for film commentary: “The glory days of the famous Variety critics are finished.”
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WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT?: Outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understand that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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JAMAICA: VISIT OUR JEWS: Come for the beaches, stay for the Jews? Jamaica is embracing its Jewish history in hopes of attracting new tourists—this, in spite of the fact that the island currently has one synagogue, no rabbis, and only 200 or so Jews. Still, the island claims to have once harbored a Jewish pirate named Moses, and Jews began arriving on the island in the 17th century during the Inquisition. By the end of the 19th century, Jamaica had six synagogues and over 2,000 Jews. A recent conference on Judeo-Caribbean history included stops at Kingston’s Hillel School, 20 of whose 750 students are Jewish, and a visit to a resort owned by Chris Blackwell, a music-label founder whose mother was Jewish.
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OHIO STATE SHOOTING: A gunman apparently angry over a poor evaluation entered an Ohio State University maintenance building today, killing a manager and then himself. The gunman was identified as 51 year old Nathaniel Brown. “Classes will be held and normal work schedules are in effect,” University Web site says.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Actress Betty White and Victoria Beckham attend the 18th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party at Pacific Design Center on March 7, 2010 in West Hollywood, California. ***Supermodel Kate Moss heads home after eating lunch at Inaho restaurant in London. ***A grieving Marie Osmond attends the memorial service for son Michael Bryan at a chapel near the Provo temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. ***Jeremy Renner drives away from Sunset Tower hotel. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT- Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@Timewire.net.
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LBN-RECOMMENDS: “Act from the Inside Out” (Powerful Acting Tools to Transform Your Real Life) by Shelene Atanacio. Order your copy today and receive a bonus gift: www.actnowbook.com.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PASTOR BOB (Pastor Bob is the Founder of the First Fundamental Church of the Bible): ***Want to know what the real “Hurt Locker” is? I’ll tell you: It’s spending an eternity in Hell. Don’t let it happen to you. Believe in the Lord. ***The Bible is clear that sex addicts (even U.S. Presidents, even famous athletes) will not inherit the Kingdom of God. ***Our nation is on the fast track to destruction. And the internet is only adding fuel to the fire. ***When people say, “If Jesus were alive today he would… “They are forgetting a little somethin’. The Lord IS alive you, knucklehead. He rose from the grave. Buddha couldn’t do that. Neither could Muhammad. ***God loves you. But that doesn’t mean He’ll put up with your crap. ***At my church we encourage the men to wear men’s clothing and women to wear women’s clothing. We don’t mix that up. ***I don’t share my political opinions much, but here’s one: The way I see it, if Obama passes this health care bill, he loses. If he doesn’t pass it, he still loses. ***Do you feel like a loser today, friend? Well…I’m praying for losers, and I’m praying for you. ***To reply directly to Pastor Bob e-mail: LBNElert@TimeWire.net. (Please Note: The Opinions expressed by Pastor Bob are those of his alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the LBN E-Lert or its Staff.)
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LBN-COMMENTARY By KATHRYN BIGELOW: In the winter of 2004, when Baghdad was one of the most dangerous places on the planet—a site of daily explosions, gunfights, and kidnappings—the city was, for the few Western journalists working there, an absolutely lethal place to work. So it was with considerable trepidation that I wished luck to my friend, reporter and screenwriter Mark Boal, when he told me that he had decided to go to Iraq to cover the war firsthand. As a passionate investigative reporter, Mark had his eye on a little-known unit in the Army, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD), aka the bomb squad, which was then playing a pivotal part in the military’s attempt to contain the growing threat of roadside bombs, the so-called Improvised Explosive Devices. Such was the nature of his choice to cover this high-risk unit that minutes after landing in Iraq, he was asked by Army officials to sign a “Hold Harmless” contract and provide his blood type and religious preference for a funeral.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By CHUCK NORRIS: I am no pinnacle of humility, and I’ve learned my fair share of hard lessons from the camps of conceit. But I’m not sure the former Chicago politician occupying the White House ever has been schooled with a primer on the perils of pride.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By JEFF WALD (President of OPUS Media Group): Is it true that Santa Claus is not real? When did people find this out? Nobody told me. All those times I left him cookies and milk. I am devastated I can’t write anymore until I compose myself.
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LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL: What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.
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LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Maybe she also deserves Lindsey Vonn’s gold medal? Lindsay Lohan is suing the website E-Trade for $100 million because she says an ad featuring a baby named “Lindsay” who is a “milkaholic” and steals another baby’s boyfriend must be based on her. “Many celebrities are known by one name only, and E-Trade is using that knowledge to profit,” said Lohan’s lawyer. “They used the name Lindsay. They’re using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn’t they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody’s talking about it and saying it’s Lindsay Lohan.” ***“Precious” star Gabourey Sidibe was the toast of Sunday night’s Vanity Fair Oscar party — despite the uproar over her omission from the magazine’s Young Hollywood cover. Sidibe was feted by host Graydon Carter at Hollywood’s Sunset Towers Hotel, along with Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Hilary Swank, Colin Firth, Jane Fonda, Christoph Waltz, Kathryn Bigelow, Lauren Bacall and Morgan Freeman. The controversial March VF cover featured Carey Mulligan, Kristen Stewart, Amanda Seyfried and several other svelte, white starlets, while stocky Sidibe was shunted to an interview inside.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Even Antarctica has an area code. It’s 672. ***Fifteen people are known to have been crushed to death tilting vending machines towards them in the hope of a free can of soda. ***First-cousin marriages are legal in Utah, so long as both parties are 65 or older! ***For every ‘’normal'’ webpage, there are five porn pages. ***For every gallon of sea water, you get more than a quarter pound of salt.
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LBN-QUOTE: “You can fake an orgasm, but you can’t fake laughter.”-Bob Dylan.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 9, 1997 Gangster rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| MONDAY • MARCH 8, 2010 |
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 HURT LOCKER’S HISTORIC WIN AND MORE OSCAR MOMENTS: It may have been a battle of the exes, but The Hurt Locker beat out Avatar to sweep the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The film won Best Picture, and Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker—the first woman ever to do so. She called her win “the moment of a lifetime,” and dedicated her award to “the men and women of the military who risk their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan—and may they come home safe.” Sandra Bullock won the award for Best Actress, and Jeff Bridges took home the award for Best Actor. “Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?” a stunned Sandra Bullock asked the audience as she accepted the Oscar. She dedicated the award to “moms who take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from.” Precious made its mark when Mo’Nique, as expected, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress just after Precious writer Geoffrey Fletcher upset Up in the Air, taking home the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The ceremony kicked off at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theater with three expected awards—Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor in Inglorious Basterds, Up for Best Animated Feature Film, and Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett for Best Song from a Feature Film for “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart. Watch our video of the 22 best Oscar moments, from the winners’ speeches to awkward red carpet exchanges.
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 IRAQIS BRAVE BOMBS TO VOTE: Iraqi women waited for poll workers to check their documents in the city of Fallujah, where at least 20 explosions struck Sunday Nearly 100 explosions went off in Baghdad in the hours before polls opened for Iraqis to choose a full-term parliament for just the second time since the American invasion, but turnout was still higher than expected. It could be a sign that insurgents are losing the grip they once had over the population. Sunnis did not boycott as they did in 2005, and there were few reports of voting irregularities. The election was a cliffhanger, but as polls closed, party leaders said that it looked like the parties of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki and former Prime Minister Ayad Alawi had performed well, though neither likely captured an all-out majority. Al Maliki had campaigned on increasing security, Alawi on crossing sectarian lines. President Obama praised Iraqis for voting despite the violence.
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OPPS-WRONG TERRORIST: Each year, nearly 100 young athletes in the US die, often in the midst of competition, of sudden cardiac death. The results of two independent US studies suggest that screening high school and college athletes for heart abnormalities with an electrocardiogram may be a cost-effective way to identify at-risk youth and save lives. Italy instituted mandatory screening of all young athletes in the early 1980s, and since then such deaths have dropped ten-fold.
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FED TO KEEP BIG-BANK OVERSIGHT: After the Federal Reserve failed us last financial crisis, it looks like we will soon learn if it learned its lesson: Senator Chris Dodd will propose this week that the Federal Reserve retain regulatory control over the 23 banks with more than $100 billion in assets, says the Financial Times. Now, hundreds of state-chartered institutions are saying “me too!”.
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 BIGELOW HURTS SOOO GOOD: Kathryn Bigelow’s historic win as first woman director ever to nab both Directing and Best picture Oscars for The Hurt Locker — trumping ex hubby’s James Cameron’s Avatar. Backstage with six wins under her belt the cinematic field commander took questions from the war zone of reporters. Ultimately, after being besieged about her ex and how she would’ve reacted is he had won with Avatar, Bigelow tactfully just shrugged her Oscars and said “You leave me speechless!”
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HOW LIZ CHENEY DEFENDS HER DAD: Restoring Dick Cheney’s image may seem like a thankless task—his approval rating was 13 percent when he left office in 2009. But his daughter Liz has thrown herself at it enthusiastically. New York Magazine says that Cheney’s attacks on President Obama have been encouraged by Liz, who’s even more aggressive and hawkish than he is. Bush aides were stunned by the former veep’s step back into the national debate just two weeks after Obama was inaugurated. But Liz Cheney’s tireless defense of dear ole dad has already helped change the public perception of him. She’s defended the Cheney legacy on TV some 40 times this year, and pushed her father into writing his memoirs. She sat for 30 to 40 hours of interviews with her dad’s official biographer, Stephen Hayes, and has been dedicated to defending his record.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***Last night marked celebrity publicist Michael Levine’s tenth attendance at the Oscars in his long career in Hollywood. After the awards, he spent the night at the Governor’s Ball talking with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his girlfriend Lu Parker, Hollywood Reporter Editor Elizabeth Guider, comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, Paramount head Brad Grey, Celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck, Lions gate head Jon Feltheimer, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, actor Macaulay Culkin, Academy President Tom Sherak, Oscar host Alec Baldwin. He ended the evening by congratulating Sandra Bullock on her Oscar win. ***Tiger Woods’ porn-star mistress Joslyn James was the toast of a celebrity viewing party where she mingled with stars including Gary Busey, Tom Sizemore, John Heard, Domenico Vacca John Corbett and Bo Derek — plus 55 Playboy playmates at Norby Walters’ Night of 100 Stars Oscar Viewing Gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel. ***Before “Crazy Heart” star Jeff Bridges won his Best Actor Oscar, he celebrated his best actor win at the Film Independent Spirit Awards by playing the piano impromptu to a delighted crowd of partygoers in the backstage bar area at the downtown LA Live venue. A spy said, “He was in a pretty good mood. He and Andy Garcia were playing the piano and celebrating. Other guests in the bar couldn’t believe their luck.” ***Salma Hayek was spotted at the 18th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. ***Natalie Portman was spotted at the 2010 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Hollywood last night. ***Hilary Swank was spotted at the Vanity Fair shindig at Sunset Tower in West Hollywood on Sunday. ***Renee Zellweger goes for brunch with a friend at Axe restaurant in Venice. ***Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were spotted arriving in Sydney, Australia with their daughter Sunday Rose on Monday. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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57 DEAD IN TURKEY QUAKE: Following the devastation in Haiti and Chile, another earthquake rattled six villages in eastern Turkey, killing at least 57 people, officials say. The preliminary magnitude was 6.0. Stone and mud-brick homes collapsed, as did the minarets of mosques. At least 100 were injured. The quake’s center was about 340 miles east of Ankara, and the village of Okcular looked to be the worst hit, with 17 dead and many homes toppled.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***ABC News, still searching for a permanent host for “This Week,” is said to be in talks with CNN foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour. She is among the candidates ABC is eyeing to replace George Stephanopoulos, who left for “Good Morning America” in December. ***CNN is announcing that chief national correspondent John King’s new weeknight political show will be called “John King, USA,” a nod to the journalist’s plan to expand his focus beyond Washington, D.C. King is taking over the time slot once occupied by Lou Dobbs. ***The death of Michael Jackson resulted in top-selling magazine cover stories in 2009 for many titles, including Newsweek, Time, People, and Entertainment Weekly. Among the year’s worst-selling covers: Time magazine’s Sept. 14 story: “Jay Leno is the Future of TV.” ***Reader’s Digest Association is launching a user-generated Web site called Man Tested Recipes, which will serve up more than 2,500 recipes from male visitors to the publisher’s All recipes site. Men “approach cooking differently from the way women do.” ***The companies’ feud, most recently exemplified by a Disney move that temporarily prevented Cablevision customers from viewing the Academy Awards, promises to spread across the country to other cable providers and stations. ***As The National Enquirer chased reports of an affair involving John Edwards, it strung together a series of scoops and earned a little respect along the way.
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 WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT: Over 100 winners of the Academy Award along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understands that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power tool.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: The Constitution of Louisiana is the 2nd longest constitution in the world.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Guy Pearce feeds Cameron Diaz an In N Out burger.
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OSCAR RATINGS ON THE RISE: Oscar appears to have driven the “Avatar” express to strong numbers Sunday, with preliminary local-market scores suggesting ratings for the Academy Awards on ABC will come in up by double-digit percentages vs. last year. As a result, the show figures to have moved north of 40 million viewers for just the second time in five years.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***Each year, nearly 100 young athletes in the US die, often in the midst of competition, of sudden cardiac death. The results of two independent US studies suggest that screening high school and college athletes for heart abnormalities with an electrocardiogram may be a cost-effective way to identify at-risk youth and save lives. Italy instituted mandatory screening of all young athletes in the early 1980s, and since then such deaths have dropped ten-fold.
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LBN READER NOTE: We ask every reader of the LBN E-Lert to support it by simply CLICKING on all of the Sponsor Links. Support our advertisers.
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HOW GEITHNER’S PLAN WORKED: The unpopularity of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner makes it easy to overlook a simple fact: His plan to rescue the U.S. economy worked. “My basic view is that we did a pretty successful job of putting out a severe financial crisis and avoiding a Great Depression or Great Deflation type of thing,” he tells The New Yorker’s John Cassidy, who was skeptical of the plan to subject banks to “stress tests” and take toxic assets off their hands. “We saved the economy, but we kind of lost the public doing it.” At the time, many critics wanted the Obama administration to nationalize banks, and Geithner now defends the decision not to. “That would have been a deeply transforming policy mistake,” Geithner says.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Although he was banned from attending the Academy Award ceremony, “Hurt Locker” producer Nicolas Chertier was feted at a viewing party during the show. According to IndieWire, Chartier, in an impromptu Oscar acceptance speech at the Malibu soiree, thanked his colleagues from the film and encouraged attendees to keep making movies. “Keep fighting,” he said.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By PETER BEINART: This weekend’s Iraqi elections were inspiring—a testament to the fortitude of the Iraqi people, the weakness of al Qaeda, the adaptability of the American military, and yes, the troop surge pushed through by George W. Bush. But we may never see their like again. Sure, America has midwifed a democracy in Iraq. Yet when British troops left their African, Middle Eastern, and Asian dominions, they left behind many embryonic democracies, too. Most soon collapsed. The crucial statistic about the future of Iraqi democracy is this: On Election Day 2010, Iraq hosted 90,000 American troops. By law, the next time Iraqis hold a national election that number will be zero.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By DICK MORRIS: All aspects of President Obama’s Chicago-style tactics are on display as he cajoles, bullies and bribes the House to pass his health care proposals despite the overwhelming public rejection with which they have been met.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By ROSS DOUTHAT: Mysticism is dying, and taking true religion with it. Monasteries have dwindled. Contemplative orders have declined. Our religious leaders no longer preach the renunciation of the world; our culture scoffs at the idea. The closest most Americans come to real asceticism is giving up chocolate, cappuccinos, or (in my own not-quite-Francis-of-Assisi case) meat for lunch for Lent. This, at least, is the stern message of Luke Timothy Johnson, writing in the latest issue of the Catholic journal Commonweal. As society has become steadily more materialistic, Johnson declares, our churches have followed suit, giving up on the ascetic and ecstatic aspects of religion and emphasizing only the more worldly expressions of faith. Conservative believers fixate on the culture wars, religious liberals preach social justice, and neither leaves room for what should be a central focus of religion — the quest for the numinous, the pursuit of the unnamable, the tremor of bliss and the dark night of the soul.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW: From last night, Julie & Julia co-stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Security was so ultra-tight at last night’s Vanity Fair post-Oscars party at the Sunset Towers Hotel in Hollywood, rumors were buzzing through the celebrity ranks that undercover CIA agents had been placed among the staff. ***Bad enough her death is trumped by Michael Jackson’s This is IT drop dead scenario but now Farrah Fawcett has been ignored by the Oscars as stars - and her legion of fans - are infuriated! The snub sparked speculation Farrah was omitted because of her predominantly TV career with online critics slamming the AMPAS for not adding her to the memorial montage clip fest. Jane Fonda Tweeted “Where was Farrah Fawcett? She should have been included.” Newly vocal critic Roger Ebert raged “No Farrah in the memorial. They have a whole lot of ’splaining to do.” ***Tom Cruise crashes motorcycle when a fender bender as he avoiding colliding with a car when astride his bike. As the an SUV ran a stop sign car approached Tom suddenly veered, whipping his Red Ducati into a spin out, witnesses reported. As Tom rose to his feet, he appeared to be limping slightly as several fans rushed to his aid. Cruise made two phone calls, waiting patiently outside KOI restaurant in L.A. for paramedics to arrive. ***Even though he’s facing a devastating financial crisis, legendary performer Wayne Newton canceled his concerts and risks losing his beloved Las Vegas ranch to be by his gravely ill daughter’s bedside. The entertainer, 67, was in St. Louis on Feb. 25 with his adopted daughter Erin as she lay near death in a coma.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Forensic scientists can determine a person’s sex, age, and race by examining a single strand of hair. ***Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung! ***Forty percent of Americans have never visited a dentist. ***From a complete stop, a human is capable of outrunning a Formula One Racecar for about 30 feet! ***Goat’s milk is used more widely throughout the world than cow’s milk.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Normally the beautiful days in life come after fatigue and difficulties. The difficult labor produces a more beloved result.”-PRIME MINISTER NURI KAMAL AL-MALIKI of Iraq, after voting on a day with high turnout despite a wave of bombings.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 8, 1917, Russia’s February Revolution (so called because of the Old Style calendar used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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Posted in Archive | Comments Off
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| SUNDAY • MARCH 7, 2010 |
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OSCARS LACK STAR POWER: Tonight’s Oscars are full of films with great storylines, however, the show may lack the one thing that draws in even more viewers: movie stars. Only three out of the 10 films nominated for best picture have A-list leads. Except for Sigourney Weaver in Avatar, neither the sci-fi blockbuster nor The Hurt Locker has major names. George Clooney, nominated for Up in the Air, Brad Pitt for Inglourious Basterds, and Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side are the only household names in the bunch. The 2010 Oscars support a major trend in Hollywood away from “the old model of tying a movie’s commercial fortunes to an actor” and banking on that big name to carry the film. Recession-conscious producers have become increasingly wary of dropping the film’s first $15m-$20m on a single star.
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 U.S. ENRICHES COMPANIES DEFYING ITS POLICY ON IRAN: The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there, records show. That includes nearly $15 billion paid to companies that defied American sanctions law by making large investments that helped Iran develop its vast oil and gas reserves.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Proportionally, hash browns have more fat and calories than a cheeseburger or Big Mac.
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FORGET RAHM, AXELROD IN HOT SEAT: Last week, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was the focus of Washington soothsayers, as critics questioned whether he has failed to deliver on the president’s agenda. Now, however, a profile in The New York Times suggests that this week’s finger-pointing may be aimed at Obama’s political adviser David Axelrod, as people wonder whether he has blundered in honing his boss’s message.
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BIDEN TO THE RESCUE IN MIDEAST: President Barack Obama is sending his vice president to meet several Middle East leaders on a public diplomacy mission. Biden’s visit will begin on Monday and he plans to make stops with Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and Jordanian leaders. The trip should reassure Israelis over Obama’s commitment to their security after the U.S.-Israeli relationship was strained by Obama’s push for a “complete Jewish settlement freeze” and his recent outreach to the Muslim world with high-profile visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Louise’s Trattoria (www.Louises.com) awarded the prestigious “5 W Report” (www.5WReport.com) award as the best caterer (moderate price) of 2010. ***General Electric Chief Jeffrey Immelt decided to forego a bonus in 2009—the second year in a row he’s skipped out on the extra pay. Other execs at the conglomerate, however, are taking in a total of $11 million in bonuses. The payday comes as GE seeks to move away from investment into financial services and return to its core products. “GE must be an industrial company first,” Immelt wrote in a letter to shareholders Friday. ***Despite publicly discouraging companies from investing in Iran, the U.S. government has awarded more than $107 billion to companies doing business in the country since 2000, The New York Times reports. In fact, nearly $15 billion has been given to businesses who made large investments in Iran’s oil sector, in defiance of U.S. laws that prohibit doing business with the energy industry. ***As Toyota stumbles through its recall ordeal, G.M. and Ford have been handed a big chance to make their argument on quality to American consumers’ notes media expert and author Michael Levine.
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ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: In addition to being read in all 50 states of the United States, this LBN E-Lert is read daily in 24 foreign countries including : Japan, China, India, England, Greece, Iraq, Sweden, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Norway, Korea and Israel among others.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***You might want to rethink your Oscar party plans. Just after midnight in the middle of a repeat episode of Lost, ABC went dark for Cablevision customers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut after the Walt Disney Company and cable provider failed to reach a deal over a new contract. A white screen appeared with the message, “Cablevision has betrayed you again. First HGTV and Food Network, now you lost ABC-7. Enough is enough! Go to save ABC7.com to switch your service now.” ABC-7 and Cablevision have been in negotiations for two years. Cablevision says Disney wants to raise its retransmission fees by an additional $40 million a year above the $200 million a year, while Disney says Cablevision charges $18 per month for its basic package but doesn’t share any of its profits with the program provider. ABC-7 currently remains black, leaving film fans scrambling to find a place to watch tonight’s awards show.
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ARMED HEIST HITS BERLIN POKER GAME: Four robbers dressed as employees and carrying guns crashed a poker tournament at a Berlin luxury hotel and walked away with the jackpot of $1.36 million. One account said the thieves carried machetes and hand grenades in addition to automatic weapons. Around 400 people were competing in the five-day affair organized by the European Poker Tour.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***A small, underfunded hospital in Arizona, with about 500 births a year, is outperforming richer institutions when it comes to keeping Caesarean rates down.
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 MELINDA DENNEHY’S NAKED PICTURES POPULAR WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, NOT WITH POLICE: Perhaps New Hampshire high school teacher Melinda Dennehy missed the orientation session when they explained that sending your naked photos to a student is sort of a bad idea. Police say the 41-year-old English teacher sent four sexy shots of herself to a 15-year-old male student at Londonderry High School. The student, it seems, thought that was pretty nifty. Police say he forwarded the images to his friends.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***Jamie Foxx spent the night flirting with gorgeous Olivia Munn at the Hollywood Domino Gala the other night. ***”Crazy Heart” star Maggie Gyllenhaal doesn’t have much chance to win for Best Supporting Actress tonight, but it didn’t stop her from celebrating her nomination Thursday with friends and family at Asia de Cuba in West Hollywood. Guests included her husband, Peter Sarsgaard, and T-Bone Burnett. ***Susan Sarandon tried to keep rumors of a romance with business partner Jonathan Bricklin at bay by bringing her daughter, Eva Amurri, to an LA party for her ping-pong club SPiN the other night. ***There was a near riot at the Judith Leiber store on Rodeo Drive when bags which normally sell for $2,000-plus were sold off for just $100. Guests at the Friday event to benefit Healthy Child Healthy World included host Jessica Capshaw, firm fashion director Lucy Sykes Rellie, actress Amy Brenneman and P.R. maven Peggy Siegal. A spy said, “Guests were limited to buying one bag, but some begged to buy more.” Shop employees were working around the clock to supply stars including Diane Lane, Queen Latifah, Paula Patton and Hilary Swank with bags for Oscar night. ***Rigel CEO having lunch at Sparks Woodfire Grill on Pico Blvd in L.A. ***Lenny Kravitz and Dave Grohl in the audience at the 25th Film Independent’s Spirit Awards held at Nokia Event Deck at L.A. Live on March 5, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. ***Oscar nominee Avatar’s James Cameron, downtown LA partying at The Edison. ***Sarah Palin lurking off camera/hidden on side at the Fox station American Idol last week. ***Eva Longoria Parker poses on the red carpet at a pre-Oscar bash hosted by The Hollywood Reporter and the LA mayor in LA. *** Actor and director Jean-Claude Van Damme in Kiev, Ukraine shooting his upcoming film, “Tower.” ***”Up in the Air” star Vera Farmiga attends a press event for “The Boy In The Striped Pajamas” during the San Sebastian International Film Festival in San Sebastian, Spain. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: White House Senior Advisor David Alexrod along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understand the information is power and the LBN E-lert is a power-tool.
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 SURVIVAL DIFFERENCES ON SINKING SHIPS: A comparison of the survivors of two of the worst ship sinking in history–both of which involved similar vessels, passenger populations, and death tolls–has given researchers new insight into human selfishness and altruism. While survivors of the Lusitania were generally young, fit people age 16 to 35 who could rush to the lifeboats, survivors of the Titanic disaster were more often women, children, and those accompanying a child. Researchers say that since the Lusitania went down in just 18 minutes, survival instincts led people to behave selfishly. The Titanic, on the other hand, slowly sank over the course of nearly three hours, allowing for the emergence of social norms and selfless behaviors.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Actress Ellen Barkin, Yesterday and Today.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Mariah Carey was her usual fabulous diva self backstage at the Film Independent Spirit Awards — tottering around on skyscraper heels so high she couldn’t walk and having security prop her up all night. The star, upstaging other actresses in a tight black dress showing off her famous curves, was celebrating her cast mates from “Precious,” which swept the board at Friday night’s awards at the LA Live arena — seen as a more relaxed precursor to the Oscars.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By GIA KOURLAS: Though Twyla Tharp’s Broadway show “Come Fly Away” as a whole is new, certain dances have long been a part of Ms. Tharp’s Sinatra repertory.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: With two little words, Barack Hussein Obama thrilled the Muslim world. “Salaam aleikum,” he said, offering the traditional Arabic greeting “Peace be upon you” at the start of his Cairo speech last year. The address of the first American president with Muslim roots was a bravura attempt to leech out the poison between the Islamic and Western worlds, and revive the moribund Middle East peace talks. But now, many disillusioned Muslims are echoing the all-talk, no-action refrain first popularized by the woman who became secretary of state. “He said all the right words in his speech,” said Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister. “But the implementation took traditional roads.”
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LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: The thing I love most about America is that there’s always somebody who doesn’t get the word — somebody who doesn’t understand that in a Great Recession you’re supposed to hunker down, downsize and just hold on for dear life. I have a couple of friends who fit that bill, who think a recession is a dandy time to try to discover better and cheaper ways to do things. They both happen to be Indian-Americans — one a son of the Himalayas, who came to America on a scholarship and went to work for NASA to try to find a way to Mars; the other a son of New Delhi, who came here and found the Sun, Sun Microsystems. Both are serial innovators. Both are now shepherding clean-tech start-ups that have the potential to be disruptive game changers. They don’t know from hunkering down. They just didn’t get the word. As a result, one has produced a fuel cell that can turn natural gas or natural grass into electricity; the other has a technology that might make coal the cleanest, cheapest energy source by turning its carbon-dioxide emissions into bricks to build your next house. Though our country may be flagging, it’s because of innovators like these that you should never — ever — write us off.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MICHAEL LEVINE (Hollywood media expert and author): It confuses some when the Oscar goes to a director that didn’t make the best picture of the year. Tonight I predict that Kathryn Bigelow wins as “Best Director” largely because the Academy members believe that female victory is long overdue.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By GEORGE WILL: It is said, more frequently than precisely, that the reasons the supreme court gives for doing whatever it does are as important as what it does.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By CONFUCIUS: The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Academy Awards bosses deleted a series of rude Tiger Woods jokes from the script. A well-placed source tells us writers penned cracks about the golfer’s cheating scandal for hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to deliver. But the lines have been nixed by producers. The source said, “Some of the Tiger jokes were deemed too rude.” ***Madonna sparked rumors of a cooling off between her and boy toy Jesus Luz by making the Oscar-party rounds in LA with handsome “The City” star Adam Senn, who’s also a fellow Dolce & Gabanna model.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***A snail can sleep for three years. ***A species of earthworm in Australia grows up to 10 feet in length. ***A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second. ***About 1 in 30 people in the U.S. are in jail, on probation, or on parole. ***According to Gaming Law, casinos have to stock enough cash to cover all the chips on the ‘floor’.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.” - Gertrude Stein.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 7, 1965, a march by civil rights demonstrators was broken up in Selma, Ala., by state troopers and a sheriff’s posse.
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 LBN-FACESPACE:
1. Name: Elaine Wilkes, Ph.D., N.C., M.A., LEED.
2. What’s your occupation? Hay House author of the book “Nature’s Secret Messages: Hidden in Plain Sight”, Speaker, LEED Teacher, Wellness Coach.
3. What are your addictions? I’m a recovering learning addict. I used to hang out bleary-eyed at the local library until closing time wanting “one more book for the road.”
4. Who are your heroes in life? Mother Nature is an astonishing teacher. With over four billion years experience, she’s more than just a pretty space. She’s also a natural relaxer, rejuvenator, and free!
5. What have you learned in life? Life’s answers are right there—hidden in plain sight—if you’re present to them. My kindergarten teacher taught me to stop, look, and listen. Who knew she was so profound!
6. Email, Website: Elaine@ElaineWilkes.com, http://www.elainewilkes.com/, Book link (awarded rare red star recommendation from Publisher’s Weekly): http://tiny.cc/cHzqu
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan.
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano,.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| SATURDAY • MARCH 6, 2010 |
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OBAMA TAKES ON INSURERS: Following a meeting Friday with the chief executives of the country’s four largest health insurance companies, President Obama took to the airwaves Saturday morning to attack the group’s latest rate hikes. “They couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums—by as much as 60 percent in states like Illinois,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. “If we do not act, they will continue to do this.” The President repeated his call to Congress to finish health-care legislation, which the House and Senate are working to pass within weeks. “I know it has been a long and hard road to this point,” Obama said. “And we are not finished with our journey just yet. But we are close. We are very close. And so I ask Congress to finish its work.”
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 ALL EYES ON IRAQ ELECTIONS: Iraqis will go to the polls Sunday to elect a new government, a crucial vote that could determine whether America can smoothly withdraw from the country as planned without facing further chaos. Iraq’s first election, while a rare and inspiring event in the Middle East, precipitated a civil war and sectarian tensions have been on the rise in recent months. If the election is viewed as illegitimate, if divisive candidates take office, or if new leaders prove more authoritarian, the results could be disastrous. “This is a very important election,” Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told The Washington Post in an interview. “It will decide the future of the democratic process in Iraq. It will be developed or stopped”. Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister, is staging a surprising political comeback by pushing a secular and nationalist agenda and drawing support from Sunnis.
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 JOBLESS RATE HOLDS STEADY, RAISING HOPES OF RECOVERY: The American economy lost fewer jobs than expected last month, bolstering hopes that the worst may finally be over in the wrenching event known as the Great Recession. The monthly snapshot of the job market released by the Labor Department on Friday was hardly cause for celebration: about 36,000 jobs disappeared from the economy in February, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7 percent.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Despite reports of unintended accelerations, Toyota denied the problems existed in Japan, where a pro-business culture undermines consumer protections. ***Apple announced the date when the Wi-Fi only version of the iPad will arrive in United States stores. The 3G version of the device will be coming later in April. ***The L.A City Council reclassified internet businesses for tax purposes, responding to concerns that they were going to be leaving town.
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DO YOU? Do you have the GUTS to forward this LBN E-Lert to your friends and family? Do you? Do you?
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AMERICA’S HIDDEN WAR IN SOMALIA: Afghanistan and Iraq aren’t the only fronts commanding America’s military attention. Afraid of allowing al Qaeda a safe haven in Africa, the U.S. is supplying crucial assistance to the remnants of Somalia’s government in a planned offensive to retake the country’s capital. Surveillance planes have been sighted in the area and American advisers have helped train Somali forces for the past several months, The New York Times reports.
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WHITE HOUSE EYES IMMIGRATION FIX: Health-care legislation has fueled a brutal partisan battle over the last year, but President Obama’s next legislative skirmish may touch on an even more explosive issue: immigration. Obama has scheduled a meeting next week to discuss an immigration bill being put together by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). It is the first meeting since Schumer and Graham began work on the bill, and immigration advocates frustrated with a lack of action from the White House have planned a news conference for Monday as well as a larger upcoming demonstration.
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TELETHON HELPS CHILE RECOVERY: Chile is getting a boost from aid at home and abroad following last week’s massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake: TV Chile began a telethon Friday with a goal of $27 million in donations from nearly 20 countries to help clean up damage caused by the quake and subsequent tsunamis. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has also promised $10 million in aid.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: In 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest point in the Great Depression; its value had dropped nearly 90% since Sept. 1929.
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PRECIOUS SWEEPS INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS: Precious scored some nice momentum heading into the Academy Awards Sunday. The film won big at Friday’s Independent Spirit Awards, taking home statuettes for Best Feature, Best Director for Lee Daniels, Best Screenplay, and Best Female Lead for Gabourey Sidibe, and Best Supporting Female for Mo’Nique. Daniels threw an elbow at other nominees in his acceptance speech, saying, “[Hurt Locker Director] Kathryn Bigelow’s not here tonight. I am.” Mo’Nique’s acceptance speech was more subdued than for past wins, but she did address Sidibe from the podium, saying, “You are a special gift to the universe, baby.” Other big winners included Jeff Bridges for Best Male Lead in Crazy Heart and An Education for Best Foreign Film.
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ON THE STREETS: L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca said budget cuts forced him to release 200 non-violent inmates from county jails.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***Maternal mortality is often associated with bygone eras and Third World countries, but some experts say more new mothers in the U.S. are dying within 42 days of childbirth. A new report says the number of women who died in California shortly after giving birth has nearly tripled in the past decade, counting 16.9 per 100,000 births in 2006. A source who worked on the study said most women died from hemorrhage, blood clots, or underlying cardiac disease. But California is not alone—the Joint Commission issued an alert in January that maternal mortality rates could be increasing nationwide.
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 LBN-SNAP: Ian Schrager.
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REPORT: ZUCKERBERG HACKED EMAILS: Long before Facebook was the international phenomenon it is today, founder Mark Zuckerberg was plotting to delay the launch of a competing project he was hired to help, according to Business Insider. And in 2004, when Zuckerberg was a Harvard sophomore trying to launch TheFacebook.com, the college’s newspaper was close to writing a story that aired the grievances of the competing site. Zuckerberg was rattled enough to use his fledgling site to find the personal passwords of the paper’s reporters and editors and log into their email accounts, according to Business Insider. This isn’t the first time that he has been accused of less than sterling behavior, especially during Facebook’s youth. The company is refusing to discuss the claims. “We’re not going to debate the disgruntled litigants and anonymous sources who seek to rewrite Facebook’s early history or embarrass Mark Zuckerberg with dated allegations,” a spokesperson said.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Billy Corgan, of the Smashing Pumpkins, worked with Courtney Love on songs for her new album, but now he wants nothing to do with her, he tells Rolling Stone. And if she releases the songs, as it appears she will, “it would be a real big problem, because I haven’t given my permission,” Corgan says. “I have no interest in supporting her in any way, shape or form. You can’t throw enough things down the abyss with a person like that.” As for ex-flame Jessica Simpson, “if people knew her like I knew her, they would love her like I do. It’s really simple.”
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 WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? Joe Manchin III, State Governor of West Virginia along with over 317,000 other “influencers” in all 50 of the United States and 24 foreign countries.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Prominent entertainment P.R. firm LCO (www.LCOonline.com) holds it’s first “Creativity Event” for staff and interns at the Paint Lab in Santa Monica. Staff will each paint their own original work on a canvas. ***Bonnie Eskenazi of the law firm Greenberg Glusker has been name California’s Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by The Recorder, the San Francisco-based legal publication. Eskenazi was recognized for representing the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien in a landmark profit participation case against New Line Cinema.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***TV hostess and broadcast instructor Suzanne Sena having drinks last night at The Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills. ***Shaquille O’Neal wielding his fork left-handed at Lure Fishbar in NYC after surgery on his right. ***Ellen Barkin minus makeup, but with her perfect blond bob, getting on the elevator on the sixth floor of a medical building on East 34th Street in NYC. ***Roberta Flack relaxing by the pool at Acqualina Resort & Spa in Miami. ***Jamie Foxx at Skybar in L.A. ***Media personality Mark Joseph having lunch with Entertainment Tonight producer Alicia Ulrich at Ingrid’s in Beverly Hills. ***Bob Saget at Jones Lounge in West Hollywood. ***Actor Tom Cruise attends the 5th Annual ‘Oscar Wilde: Honoring the Irish in Film’ held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on March 4. ***LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault and Charlize Theron keep their eyes on the catwalk at Christian Dior’s runway show during Paris Fashion Week. ***Avatar star Zoe Saldana is photographed out in Beverly Hills at the Hilton. ***Serena Williams texts and browses during the Louis Vuitton store party in Beverly Hills. ***Halle Berry was busy playing with her daughter, Nahla Aubrey, at Coldwater Park in Beverly Hills, California on Friday afternoon. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 LBN-TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: Michelangelo (1475). Among the world’s most celebrated artists, Michelangelo was one of the foremost figures of the Renaissance. The marble David, which he completed before his 30th birthday, set a new standard in nude sculpture, and his paintings in the Sistine Chapel are among the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art. A true “Renaissance man,” he also was an architect and poet and wrote more than 300 sonnets.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Variety has restored the missing “Iron Cross” review to its website and says it was only down for factual vetting in response to a legal threat, not because of pressure from an advertiser. ***Joel Grover’s team at Channel 4 in L.A. turned their hidden cameras on abuse of disabled parking placards by able-bodied drivers, finding among other things that “in some neighborhoods, almost every parked car is displaying a disabled placard, leaving no place for the rest of us to park our cars. We found this in sections of downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Westwood.
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CORRECTED LBN-COMMENTARY By PETER HANKOFF: Going to visit the captive dolphins and whales is like going to death row to play with the inmates. Their deceptive smiles and friendly performances belie the bigger issues: where did these creatures come from, where are they going, and how long do they live? Is this really any less barbaric than applauding dancing bears or the other now-outlawed animal acts of the 19th century? The simplest way to show the dolphins how intelligent we are is by how we choose to spend our discretionary income. LBN editor’s note: Peter is working on a project with Ric and Lincoln O’Barry.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MARTHA ZOLLER (Syndicated Talk Radio Host): If the election were held today, President Obama would not be re-elected. The two major promises that appealed to independents, who decide every election, were tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans and transparency. He’s gone after health care reform with a vengeance at a time when we need job creation. Independents are breaking right, now. So in 2012, I’m not sure, but if the election were held today, he would not be re-elected. The key is what happens in the mid-terms.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BILL O’REILLY: This month in Chicago, an event will honor three men as “living legends.” The men are Minister Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of Barack Obama’s church, and Father Michael Pfleger, a radical-left Catholic priest. The men will stand together, and thousands of spectators will pay to see them.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By DANIELLE PERGAMENT: With few tourists, the dead of winter is the time to visit Tuscany, when the landscape is bright green, locals fill the cafes, and the cuisine is at its best.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By LEE SIEGAL: Sarah Palin and reality-TV titan Mark Burnett are about to collaborate on a “docudrama” about Alaska? Ha! A pundit on Fox, a comedian on Leno, and now a producer and most likely star of her own TV show—surely, by cheapening herself and making herself look ludicrous as an entertainer, Sarah Palin is destroying (thank heavens) her political ambitions. Surely, especially at a critical historical moment like this, even the most disaffected Americans will reject a political aspirant who has turned herself into a TV buffoon.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By MICHAEL MOORE (Oscar and Emmy-winning director): President Obama, I don’t know what your team has been up to, but they haven’t served you well. And Rahm, poor Rahm, has turned into a fighter — not of Republicans, but of the left.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By MARK PENN (CEO, Burson-Marsteller): Reduce costs, improve the system, and then expand coverage. Going one round at a time in health care reform, hand in hand with economic recovery, would be a strategic win for the administration.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By RACHEL WOLFF: For many of us—art nerds and tourists alike—seeing a Monet just isn’t what it used to be. What was once so airy and magical loses its allure when we come to realize just how prolific the man was. Every major museum seems to have some water lilies, the bridge at Giverny, and haystacks—and most of them are great. But over the years, I’ve tended to approach Monets with a sort of “seen three, seen ‘em all” mentality.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE: Judgments, value judgments concerning life, for or against, can in the last resort never be true: they possess value only as symptoms, they come into consideration only as symptoms - in themselves such judgments are stupidities.
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Dr. Drew Pinsky’s alleged stalker Charles Pearson just pled not guilty to six felonies — one count stalking and five counts of criminal threats. During Pearson’s arraignment, which took place moments ago in Pasadena, CA, his bail was upped to $400,000. ***Mickey Rourke has had his share of women, but who knew he had 14 of them in one night. “Forget Ashley Cole, his behavior has nothing on a film star,” he told British TV host Lizzie Cundy, according to UK’s Sun. “WAGs [wives and girlfriends of soccer stars] get an easy time - they should try living with Hollywood hellraisers.” Ashley Cole is a UK soccer star at the center of several sex scandals including a gay orgy. “I once spent a weekend in the UK and had 14 women in one night,” Rourke said.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat so you can eat your plate. ***A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime. ***A lot of lovemaking can unblock a stuffy nose. Sex is a natural antihistamine. It can help combat asthma and hay fever. ***A queen bee uses her stinger only to sting another queen bee. ***A small airplane can fly backwards.
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LBN-QUOTE: “The one common experience of all humanity is the challenge of problems.” - R. Buckminster Fuller.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 6, 1857, in its Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court held that Scott, a slave, could not sue for his freedom in a federal court.
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 LBN-FACESPACE:
1. Name: Tara Romanella.
2. Which living person do you most despise? Despise, that’s strong. I guess there are one or two people but being that I despise them I don’t feel it is necessary to mention or even think of their names.
3. When and where were you happiest? Before my parents’ divorce, when we lived in Toronto. It happened when I was 14 and it is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever gone through. But before that when I was younger, I remember traveling with my parents to Europe and seeing so many amazing things. I was a very lucky child and can look back now and thank God that I was so fortunate to experience the things that I did.
4. What is your profession? I am currently an apprentice at LCO working on New Business. I also work at Banana Republic at The Grove.
5. Which talent would you most like to have? I wish I were trilingual, bilingual at least. I’d also like to fly!
6. If you could be any fictional character, which one would you be and why? Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” She had such a big heart to love something that everyone else was so scared of and hey, it paid off in the end.
7. What is your greatest regret? Not moving to Los Angeles after high school and attending university out here. I’m here now though and that is what counts.
8. What are your favorite names? I like names that are different, uncommon. I think Tristan is beautiful for a boy and I love the name Vivien.
9. What one occasion do you lie? When I’m in trouble, ha! I am actually pretty against lying; I find it to be a huge character flaw.
10. Email: tmromane@gmail.com
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan.
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| FRIDAY • MARCH 5, 2010 |
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: A middle-income American family with a child born in 2008 can expect to spend about $221,190 ($291,570 when adjusted for inflation) for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next seventeen years. In 1960, a middle-income family could have expected to spend $25,230 ($183,509 in 2008 dollars) to raise a child through age seventeen.
A middle-income American family with a child born in 2008 can expect to spend about $221,190 ($291,570 when adjusted for inflation) for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next seventeen years. In 1960, a middle-income family could have expected to spend $25,230 ($183,509 in 2008 dollars) to raise a child through age seventeen.
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 JOBLESS RATE HOLDS STEADY AT 9.7%; 36,000 JOBS LOST IN FEBRUARY: The American economy shed 36,000 nonfarm jobs in February as the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, a more positive report than expected given the series of winter storms that shut down much of the East Coast. The report interrupted a trend of easing in the recession-bleakened job market in recent months. But economists, whose forecasts for Friday’s report had varied more widely than usual, said the February data may be substantially revised in the next few months’ reports.
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TERROR TRIALS MAY MOVE TO TRIBUNAL: In what would be a major reversal for President Obama, White House advisers are close to announcing a new policy regarding terror detainees that would see Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected 9/11 plotter, tried in a military court. Obama’s decision to try Mohammed in civilian court in New York created endless political headaches from both sides of the aisle and the Washington Post reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is offering to help with bipartisan support for closing Guantanamo Bay if the decision is reversed.
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 10 BILLION TWEETS SERVED: The Internet’s premier hub for bite-sized conversation has reached a major milestone: according to tweet ID numbers, the site’s users have surpassed 10 billion tweets. Only four months ago Twitter passed the 5 billion mark on the 140-character updates, used by everyone from publicity-hungry celebrities to protestors in Iran. The contents of tweet #10,000,000,000 are unknown, as the user has protected their updates, but #999,999,999 (a link to an gallery of urban photography) and #10,000,000,0001 (a simple phrase: “DON’T U EVER”) are viewable online.
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 TOYOTA OBFUSCATING INFORMATION?: Only adding to public distrust in Toyota, the car company has been found to be keeping information that could help explain safety issues due to sudden unintended acceleration confidential. Similar to airline “black boxes,” cars are equipped with event data recorders, or EDRs, but, in statements made to the Associated Press, Toyota gave contradicting and ambiguous information about what the EDRs actually recorded.
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PRISONER ARRESTS: Complaints and new arrests have prompted some states to reconsider giving prisoners’ time off for good behavior.
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WAS THE PENTAGON SHOOTER A WINGNUT?: Two officers were wounded when a man walked up to them outside of the Pentagon Metro station and opened fire. The gunman was later fatally shot by police in a shootout. John Patrick Bedell is the man believed responsible for shooting 2 officers at the Pentagon Thursday evening, he has been linked to postings about 9/11 conspiracies.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***China is in the middle of a spectacular real estate boom. But the question is whether it is in the middle of a bubble — one that might threaten the global economy. ***A vast project in Florida will be the world’s second-largest solar plant, attached to the nation’s largest fossil-fuel power plant.
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Nationally syndicated talk radio host and publishing legend Judith Regan along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understands that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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UNEMPLOYED APPLICANTS SWARM THEME PARKS: If you see a long line outside Disneyland, don’t worry—it’s probably for job applicants, not Space Mountain. A job fair at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, drew 1,600 people—in the rain. Universal Studios received more than 1,100 job applications in one day last month, and Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm have received so many applications they are postponing their job fairs. Applications are coming from everyone from unemployed mortgage agents to sales clerks to construction workers looking for temporary positions. With the unemployment rate in California at 12.4 percent, those theme-park jobs are no longer just for teenagers seeking their first jobs. “We are getting a lot of people who, in a normal economy, would be considered overqualified,” said a manager at Universal Studios Hollywood.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***As NBC patches together a new lineup for the 10 p.m. hour to fill the hole left by the former “Jay Leno Show,” the network is calling on “Dateline” to fill in the gap on Fridays by stretching the news magazine to two hours. “Dateline” will face a familiar foe: ABC’s “20/20.” ***Facebook is worth almost 10 times as much as Twitter, according to media expert and author Michael Levine. Index pegs Facebook’s worth at $11.5 billion, while Twitter’s value is said to be $1.44 billion. Other companies with values estimated at more than $1 billion include LinkedIn. ***Newsweek, a subsidiary of the Washington Post Co., plans to launch an edition in Pakistan, marking the first such move by a Western magazine in the country. Newsweek Pakistan will be published under a licensing deal with local publisher AG Publications. ***Time Inc.’s Entertainment Weekly is marking its 20th anniversary with three special issues this year. The magazine is also expanding its coverage to include apps, games and Web sites, says managing editor Jess Cagle. “We’re going to keep expanding the stuff we cover.” ***The Huffington Post attracted a staggering 40 million unique visitors in the last month, according to the news and opinion sites own numbers. Verticals are driving growth, says cofounder Arianna Huffington. The new tech and sports sections already account for 10% of traffic. ***Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert may have lost his voice, but he found it again on the Web. Ebert aims to monetize his blog by starting “The Ebert Club.” An annual fee of $5 will offer Ebert fans a variety of content, including advance notice of ticket sales to Ebertfest.
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 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: Israel is just one of the 24 foreign countries with daily LBN E-Lert readers.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Maybe this ’80s nostalgia kick is going a bit too far. After seven films in its original ten-year run, New Line is planning on reviving its Police Academy series, which grossed $240 million worldwide and spawned a pair of TV spin-offs. The slapstick comedy will be helmed by original producer Paul Maslansky. “It’s going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV,” Maslansky told the Hollywood Reporter. “It’s going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It’ll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we’ll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme.” ***Tonight at Getty House, L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa is hosting a pre-Oscars reception for Academy Awards nominees. The mayor’s office says it’s being paid for by Microsoft Bing and L’Oreal Paris, but the Coalition of L.A. City Unions says it plans to protest with a “mock red carpet” as close as the LAPD lets them get. ***P.R. firm 42West has appointed veteran music publicist Dvora Vener Englefield to head their newly created music department.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Samuel L. Jackson at the Mann Chinese Theatre in Hollywood last night for the 2010 Italian Film Festival. ***Eva Longoria was spotted at the Hollywood Reporters Nominees Night in Los Angeles last night. ***Diane Lane and Gerard Butler attend the star-studded Artists for Peace & Justice Fundraiser in Beverly Hills. *** “Avatar” director James Cameron and wife Suzy Amis arrive at the Global Green USA annual pre-Oscar party in Hollywood. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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LBN-LINK: Watch the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan Click here - www.CostOfWar.com.
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 LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Sarah Palin is entering a deal to write a new book for News Corp. unit HarperCollins. Palin’s yet-to-be-titled book will be “a celebration of American virtues and strength.” Palin is the author of the 2009 bestseller “Going Rogue,” also published by HarperCollins. ***Journalist Richard Rushfield’s AMERICAN IDOL, a look behind the scenes at the tumultuous ten year history of America’s most popular television show, sold to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at Hyperion, with Brenda Copeland editing, for publication in January 2011, by Daniel Greenberg at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (world).
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GAY SEX SCANDAL AT THE VATICAN: The Vatican is dealing with fallout from a corruption scandal within its ranks that took a salacious turn Thursday with the news that one of the Pope’s aides was soliciting gay prostitutes. According to The Guardian, Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, or staffer who attended to the Pope, was caught on a police wiretap allegedly negotiating the procurement of a male prostitute with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a Vatican chorister. “I saw your call when I was in the Vatican, because I was doing rehearsals in the choir in St Peter’s,” Ehiem says in one conversation, the Guardian reports. He then suggests Balducci meet a man “two metres tall 97 kilos aged 33, completely active.” Balducci was arrested last month on suspicion of corruption over public-works contracts, but the investigation also revealed his suspected involvement in prostitution.
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SHOW SOME COURAGE: Have some guts for once in your life and forward this LBN E-Lert to your friends, family and associates. They will thank you.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: So the yearlong production, set to close after Massachusetts’ devastatingly negative Jan. 19 review, saw the curtain raised one last time. Obama care lives.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BARBIE LATZA NADEAU: Amanda Knox was not convicted of murdering Meredith Kercher because she did cartwheels in the police station or owned a vibrator, as her supporters suggest. Knox, 22, along with her 25-year-old former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, were found guilty by a jury in Perugia, Italy, based on hard forensic evidence, according to the sentencing judge’s 427-page reasoning, which was issued Thursday and obtained by The Daily Beast. The two judges and six jury members for the 11-month trial agreed with the prosecution’s case, calling it a “comprehensive and complete picture without gaps and inconsistencies.”
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By PEGGY NOONAN: It is now exactly a year since President Obama unveiled his health-care push and his decision to devote his inaugural year to it—his branding year, his first, vivid year. What a disaster it has been. At best it was wastes of history’s time, a struggle that will not in the end yield something big and helpful but will in fact make future progress more difficult. At worst it may prove to have fatally undermined a new presidency at a time when America desperately needs a successful one.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MELENA RYZIK: This awards season has had as much narrative sweep as a made-for-television mini-series.
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FILM REVIEW By MANOHLA DARGIS: Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” is busy, garish and periodically amusing.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: Democratic and Republican debates over unemployment benefits and health care show that the parties currently live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PETER HANKOFF (Documentary Filmmaker): Going to visit the captive dolphins and whales is like going to death row to play with the inmates. Their deceptive smiles and friendly performances belie the bigger issues: where did these creatures come from, where are they going, and how long do they live? Is this really any less barbaric than applauding dancing bears or the other now-outlawed animal acts of the 19th century? The simplest way to show the dolphins how intelligent we are is by how we choose to spend our discretionary income.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By ASRA Q. NOMANI: When Marine Jake Scully drapes his sinewy blue body around his Na’vi bride, Neytiri, the heroine of James Cameron’s Oscar-nominated epic Avatar, his neural tendrils fuse with hers in one of the most unusual sex scenes ever produced on film. Critics and commentators have been dissecting the themes of the Hollywood mega-blockbuster, from its just-war doctrine and environmental ethics. But there’s a philosophical dimension that this otherworldly sex scene captures that most folks have overlooked: the Tantra of Avatar.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By LOUIS PASTEUR: The universe is asymmetric and I am persuaded that life, as it is known to us, is a direct result of the asymmetry of the universe or of its indirect consequences. The universe is asymmetric.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***The cab driver who accused Naomi Campbell of assaulting him earlier this week has apologized to the supermodel, saying in a statement from his lawyer that he “got angry and overreacted This whole thing has been blown out of proportion and I apologize to Ms. Campbell for causing that to happen.” In spite of a history of violent outbursts Campbell has insisted that this time around she’s in the clear. “I have worked very hard on correcting my previous wrongdoings and I will not be held hostage to my past,” she said. “I try to treat everyone with respect and I am pleased the driver has apologized.” ***Mick Jagger and Angelina Jolie got satisfaction and spent more than one night together during a torrid affair, according to a bombshell new book. The puffy-lipped rocker and actress, who’s 32 years younger than Mick, first hooked up in 1997 when Jolie appeared in the Rolling Stones video “Anybody Seen My Baby,” author Jenny Paul claims in her tell-all, “Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie: The True Story.” ***While most stars were loading up on swag from the Oscar gifting suites, Sarah Palin left one of them with less than when she arrived. The former vice-presidential candidate made a $1,700 donation to the Red Cross for Haiti and Chile at a swag suite at LA’s Interior Illusion store Wednesday.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***10 percent of the Russian government’s income comes from the sale of vodka. ***15 percent of Americans secretly bite their toes. ***160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the world’s widest road. ***68 percent of a Hostess Twinkie is air! ***A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball made of rubber.
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LBN-QUOTE: “You know, do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer, yeah” -Sean Penn on the cynics who question his Haiti relief efforts.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| THURSDAY • MARCH 4, 2010 |
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 MARIE OSMOND PUT ON SUICIDE WATCH - FRIENDS FEAR:
“My baby’s gone. How can I go on? That was Marie Osmond’s heartbroken cry after learning her tormented 18-year-old son Michael had committed suicide - and now worried family members have put the devastated star on a suicide watch. Family friends have told sources that despite his devoted mom’s efforts to help, Michael’s lifelong battle with depression and issues with his sexuality drove him to jump to his death from the eighth floor of his apartment building in downtown Los Angeles on Feb. 26. “I think Michael was distraught because he was conflicted over his sexuality and didn’t believe he could ever come out as a gay man to his religious strict Mormon family,” said a family insider.
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POLLS OPEN WITH BLAST IN IRAQ: Five people were killed and 22 wounded by an explosion near an empty polling station in Baghdad as police and others qualified to vote early take part in Iraq’s second national election for a full-term parliament. Reports conflicted over whether the cause was a roadside bomb or a rocket. The election poses a major test of Iraq’s security forces, but the Pentagon said Wednesday that conditions there would have to be “extraordinarily dire” for the U.S. to reconsider the plan to pull all 96,000 combat troops out by August, and all forces out by the end of the year.
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 OBAMA CALLS FOR HEALTH-CARE VOTE: President Obama urged Congress Wednesday that it was time to “finish its work” on health care and suggested that he was in favor of using reconciliation, the controversial legislative maneuver which would avoid a Republican filibuster in the Senate, to do it. The Republicans are likely to respond with weeks of legislative jujitsu.
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ALL OVER THE WORLD: In addition to being read in all 50 of the United States, the LBN E-Lert is read daily in 24 foreign countries in 11 separate time zones.
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SECRET GOP MEMO LEAKS FEAR-MONGERING STRATEGY: From the department of “no one was supposed to see this” comes the Republican National Committee’s internal pitch to its fundraisers. A PowerPoint presentation, obtained by Politico, makes it clear that the committee’s strategy for raising money this election cycle will be fear-mongering. The committee says its campaign should focus on a promise to “save the country from trending toward socialism.” Helpful advice included is that wealthy “ego-driven” donors can be seduced by offers of access and, what they termed “tchochkes.” Another gem from the presentation is the page headed “The Evil Empire.” On it, President Obama is made to look like the Joker from Batman, Nancy Pelosi is depicted as Cruella DeVille, and Harry Reid as Scooby-Doo. RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s office has already distanced itself from the pitch. “Obviously, the chairman disagrees with the language and finds the use of such imagery to be unacceptable,” committee communications director Doug Heye told Politico.
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WHITE HOUSE PUSHES VOLCKER RULE: The Obama administration is strongly backing the so-called Volcker Rule, which limits the size of financial institutions and prevents commercial banks from making high-risk trades, as Congress continues to debate financial reform. The Senate is debating a consumer-protection agency, and Republicans say they could reach a deal with Democrats within the week. With the 2008 financial crisis in mind, many wish to see the end of banks that are “too big to fail.”
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SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Literary agent Mitchell Kaplan along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understands that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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PALIN PITCHING TV SHOW ABOUT ALASKA: Sarah Palin could be yet again reinventing herself to reap the benefits of her 15 months of fame. After sportscaster, governor, vice-presidential candidate, pundit, and public speaker, she may be trying her hand as a television producer. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that she and reality-TV show producer Mark Burnett have been holding meetings with network executives to pitch a docudrama about Alaska and The Live Feed says the Palin family would appear on-camera. One source described the potential show a “Planet Earth-type look” at the state she once ran.
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 LBN-HOW FAIRY TALES REALLY END: Beauty & The Beast.
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GEITHNER’S PAL LEAVING TREASURY: Lee Sachs, a close adviser to Tim Geithner at the Treasury Department, announced his plans to leave the public sector “in the next couple of months.” The move signals a shift in the Obama administration’s focus as it moves out of a period focused on emergency economic response, according to Bloomberg. Sachs was a managing director at Bear Stearns before he was brought aboard by Geithner. Sachs and Geithner do triathlons together. Sachs says Geithner is fast.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***The “executive dashboard” that MySpace execs use internally to track the social network’s performance shows that the number of active users is considerably smaller than the 100 million-plus cited publicly. Also, the rate of user decline appears to be accelerating. ***President Obama will help Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” celebrate its 1,000th episode Saturday by agreeing to be interviewed by host John Walsh. Obama will discuss the show’s impact in its 22 years as well as his administration’s anti-crime initiatives. ***The Paley Center for Media, the television industry think tank, is exploring the possibility of creating its own awards show that could end up competing with Emmy Awards. An awards show could create a much-needed new revenue stream for the nonprofit Paley Center. ***Peter Lauria, the media beat reporter for the New York Post, is jumping to the Daily Beast, where he will also cover the media business. Instead of working for Rupert Murdoch, Lauria will be working for Barry Diller, whose IAC/InterActiveCorp funds the Tina Brown-edited site.
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 DALAI LAMA STARTS TWEETING: Are you one of the Dalai Lama’s more than 100,000 Twitter follows yet? His Holiness has been using the social networking site since he arrived in Los Angeles last week. According to The Times of London, the Tibetan leader is the “most senior world religious leader” to take to the 140-character messaging site. In a move that may not bode well for his karma, the Dalai Lama has yet to follow anyone here.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Advertisers on Facebook are a motley bunch. Some are Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble. Others are “not only creepy but off-putting,” says a media consultant. ***Fans who cannot watch enough of “Project Runway” can now get their fashion fix on a new video-game version, released for the Wii system. ***The number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in January, a sign that demand for housing is sinking this winter, especially after stormy weather hit much of the country. The National Association of Realtors says its seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements fell 7.6 percent from December to a January reading of 90.4. It was the lowest reading since last April.
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WILL REAGAN LAND ON $50 BILL?: Would the Gipper look good on the $50 dollar bill? Fourteen Republicans in Congress say that its time to dump Civil War general and 18th president Ulysses S. Grant from the note and replace him with Ronald Reagan. “One decade into the 21st century, it’s time to honor the last great president of the 20th and give President Reagan a place beside Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy,” Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina who is leading the money change effort, said in statement Wednesday. In past, Reagan fans have tried to get the 40th president on the $20 note and the dime.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Ninety-one percent of Americans live in places at moderate-to-high risk of earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, high-wind damage or terrorism.
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 WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WORK FOR ZUCKERBERG: The Wall Street Journal profiles the working habits and aspirations of one of Silicon Valley’s most-watched men in Thursday’s paper: 25-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. One of the games he likes to play is to imagine what he would do if he had $1 trillion dollars to work with. He says he is in no hurry to turn his social networking behemoth into a public company. Don’t expect much praise, if you work for him. But do expect movie quotes: Zuckerberg is particularly fond of Troy, which he screened for employees once. He even delivered a gong to the office so workers could announce new developments with added authority.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: A common weed killer known as atrazine causes chemical castration in frogs and can even turn some into females. Researchers found that long-term exposure to low levels of atrazine emasculated three-quarters of male laboratory frogs, while ninety percent of the study subjects exhibited low testosterone levels, decreased breeding gland size, feminized laryngeal development, suppressed mating behavior, reduced sperm production, and decreased fertility. Furthermore, the remaining 10 percent actually turned into females that were able to copulate with males and produce eggs.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Joan Rivers was in a feisty mood hosting Michael Musto’s party at 230 Fifth in NYC to celebrate his 25 years at the Village Voice. While being introduced by gender-bending comic Murray Hill, who joked that “he” was the only straight guy in the room, Rivers grabbed the mike and declared, “I’ll do my own [expletive] introduction!” She then proceeded to announce to the crowd, “I am John Rivers.” Also at the party were “Ugly Betty” stars Michael Urie, “Real Housewives” star Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, and every drag queen in town. ***The love affair between Hollywood and Bill Clinton continues. The former president was feted Monday at the Peninsula Hotel in LA at an event hosted by Bosnian refugee Diane Jenkins and hotheaded actor Sean Penn, partners in a Haiti relief effort. Among those who had cocktails, dinner and a Q&A with Clinton that lasted until midnight: Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson, Salma Hayek, Matthew McConaughey, and Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two journalists Clinton freed from North Korean imprisonment. ***Prominent gift company owner Wally August having a busy meeting yesterday at Factor’s Deli on Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. ***LCO staff members - Natgeda Remy, Gia Ghadimian and Shannon Donnelly having a bonding dinner last night at Canter’s Deli on Fairfax in Los Angeles. ***Signorney Weaver at The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. ***Brooke Shields in 8th row center at Lyceum Theater in NYC watching Valerie Harper doing Tallulah in Looped. Lady behind her complained constantly that the girl (Brooke) was too tall and blocked her view and she should move to the rear of the theater. ***Paula Abdul was spotted making her way around Beverly Hills on Wednesday. ***Anna Kournikova was spotted hitting up Barneys New York in Beverly Hills yesterday. ***Reese Witherspoon and Renee Zellweger pose together at fashion designer to the stars Vera Wang’s store opening in LA. ***Robert Downey Jr. sports a trucker hat at the Los Angeles Lakers game as they take on the Indiana Pacers in LA. ***Shakira was spotted at the 80th International Geneva Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Robert De Niro will join Bradley Cooper in Relativity Media’s suspense thriller “The Dark Fields.” The project starts shooting in Philadelphia in May and is, notes Variety, the first big screen deal the actor has made since he switched from WME to CAA in January. ***Stars who not long ago vied for as much as $25 million a picture have seen their upfront salaries shrink. ***Woody Allen has signed Marion Cotillard to play the “Muse” and satr opposite Owen Wilson in his next untitled he is shooting this summer in Paris.
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 LBN-VIDEO LINK: Roger Ebert Debuts New Voice on Oprah Film critic Roger Ebert hasn’t spoken publicly since mid-2006, when he experienced post-surgical complications related to thyroid cancer. This week, he made an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show to present his new voice technology while making his Oscar predictions.
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WALTERS: ‘BEEN THERE, DONE THAT’: After a while you get used to certain things: one of them is Barbara Walters cajoling the nominees on an Oscar night pre-show. This year will be her last. She began interviewing the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Warren Beatty in 1981. Now 80, Walters told The New York Times, “I just feel, ‘Been there, done that.’” About that Beatty, he was no fun. “Warren Beatty was the worst,” Walters said. She was most charmed by Lauren Bacall, George Clooney, and Anthony Hopkins. This year’s guests include Sandra Bullock and Mo’Nique.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By MURRAY HILL(COMEDIAN): I’m reading Tracy Morgan’s autobiography I Am the New Black right now and am loving it. I plowed through like 100 pages last night. I gotta tell you, I wasn’t a fan of his comedy on Saturday Night Live, but I heard an interview on NPR with him and I was like this guy is a lot deeper than you would think. He talked about having a persona and coming from the streets, and on Saturday Night Live he was just a stereotype, all the material was pigeonholed. And in the book he talks about how Saturday Night Live wanted him to fit in that role.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By SUSAN ESTRICH (Attorney): It was a great car. A 1981 Toyota Corolla, white with blue interior, and no extras. Exactly $5,000 — $1,000 down, the rest financed. To be honest, I really wanted a Honda Accord. My mother had one, and what a dream that car was. But it was also $1,000 more, and while that might not sound like so much, believe me, it was. So I “settled” for the Toyota. After nine years behind the wheel of a 1972 yellow Ford Maverick, it seemed like a very significant step up. And it was. I don’t remember that car breaking down in the seven years I drove it. Not once. My goddaughter nicknamed the Maverick “clunker” for obvious reasons. Not the Toyota.
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LBN-COMMENTARY BY GEORGE MICHAEL: Amy Winehouse is one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge in Britain in the last few years. And Lady Gaga has my full attention. She’s a unique songwriter with an original overall package. And Bjork - she just gets better. Her voice is amazing.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By KIM ELSESSER: The Academy Awards should allow men and women to compete for one Oscar for best actor.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By REBECCA DANA: Oprah Winfrey gets a lot of credit for being the Queen of Daytime TV, but it’s actually a brash 67-year-old grandmother who owns the afternoon airwaves. More weeks than not, Judith Sheindlin, beloved or feared by much of America as television’s Judge Judy, bests Winfrey in the Nielsen ratings. She may not have her own magazine or a cable channel in the works. She may not give away cars or questionable recommendations for books and sweat lodges. But for 14 years (and much longer if you count her pre-television career), Judge Judy has been winning audiences’ hearts by not taking anyone’s crap.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By GALILEO GALILEI: Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Laura Dern found out the hard way — and so did Jennifer Aniston. But Johnny Depp’s longtime gal pal has no intention of joining the trail of broken-hearted Hollywood ladies left crying to Oprah Winfrey after Angelina Jolie stole their men. So when Vanessa Paradis found out her “Pirates of the Caribbean” stud and Jolie were to shoot a passionate love scene in their new movie “The Tourist,” she ordered Depp to find another gig, a source said. But by all appearances, Depp has not been able to cut himself out of the shoot. Filming started last month and Depp and Jolie were spied sharing a laugh on set at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice on Tuesday. ***A terrified Burt Reynolds was rushed to the hospital for emergency, lifesaving heart surgery that left him in such agony he pleaded for additional painkillers.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***The most dangerous job in the United States is that of an Alaskan Crab Fisherman. ***The WD in WD-40 stands for Water Displacer. ***There are 365 steps on the front of the U.S. Capitol Building - one for every day of the year. ***There is a giant mushroom in Oregon that is over 2,400 years old, covers 3.4 square miles of land, and is still growing! ***Warner Chappell Music owns the copyright to the song ‘’Happy Birthday'’. They make over $1 million in royalties every year from the commercial use of the song.
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LBN-QUOTE: “The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.” - Aldous Huxley.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 4, 1933, the start of President Roosevelt’s first administration brought with it the first woman to serve in the Cabinet: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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| WEDNESDAY • MARCH 3, 2010 |
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 OBAMA UNVEILS FINAL HEALTH-CARE BILL: Another day, another health-care announcement: President Obama officially unveils his final health-care package today, a day after he announced he would incorporate four Republican ideas into the final package. Jake Tapper says Obama will endorse the use of reconciliation in the Senate if Republicans deny the chamber an up-or-down vote.
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 REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES B. RANGEL SAYS HE IS STEPPING DOWN TEMPORARILY AS HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN:Caught in a swirl of ethics inquiries, Representative Charles B. Rangel said on Wednesday that he would temporarily step aside as leader of the House Ways and Means Committee.
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 BUNNING ENDS FILIBUSTER: Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) accepted a deal to end his filibuster of a bill that would extend unemployment and COBRA benefits after pressure from both parties. Bunning had protested that “pay-go”—a rule that calls for each spending increase to be offset by a cut elsewhere—was not being applied to the bill, which would cost $10 billion to extend benefits an extra 30 days.
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GRAND JURY MAY INDICT EDWARDS: The ultimate fall from grace, sources say a Federal grand jury is about to indict John Edwards. In another shocker, close sources say Edwards’ estranged wife Elizabeth could help send the former presidential candidate to jail! Edwards, the disgraced two-time Presidential loser, is being investigated by the feds, including the FBI and IR, for possible campaign violations related to paying his mistress Rielle Hunter.
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CLIMATE DEBATE: Grudgingly, many climate scientists are beginning to engage critics, admit mistakes and open up their data.
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 THE 20TH ANNUAL NIGHT OF 100 STARS BLACK TIE DINNER VIEWING GALA: Norby Walters, veteran music agent, reprises his role as Producer and Dinner Chairman. The formal sit-down dinner viewing party has always included past Oscar winners and nominees who will return to pay tribute to this year’s favorite Award nominees. Stars and their guests will be dressed to the nines in Formal fashions represented by the nations finest design houses. The media has always rated the Night of 100 Stars as one of the top Award parties. The Daily News rated this party as “the number one Oscar party, just for the sheer number of celebrities attending”. ABC’s Good Morning America covers this party from inside and said. “Voting Academy members flock to the Night of 100 Stars and we are here tonight with last year’s winners Peter Fonda and Martin Landau along with Tom Arnold, Anna Nicole Smith, and the cast of the West Wing. Is this an Oscar party or the Golden Globes?” The Jimmy Kimmel Show tapes segments for the show and said, “A wild party with mostly celebrities and they are everywhere you look”. The Hollywood Reporter says, “Numerous former Academy Award winners and nominees turned out Sunday during the Night of 100 Stars Oscar Gala including (150 stars) Richard Dreyfuss, Martin Landau, Fred Willard, James Cromwell.”
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 LBN-HOW FAIRY TALES REALLY END: - Snow White.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Prominent business news radio anchor Frank Mottek having dinner last night with this longtime girlfriend Julia Alexander at Morton’s Steakhouse on La Cienega in Beverly Hills. ***Jennifer Garner getting her eyebrows shaped at Anastasia Beverly Hills. ***Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Ana Ivanovic lunching at Marea in NYC for a meet-and-greet with a handful of magazine and newspaper editors. ***Derek Jeter chatting with Self’s Lucy Danziger in the middle of his lunch with CC Sabathia at the Lime in Tampa. ***Patricia Field drinking vodka on the rocks out of a wine glass while waiting for a friend at the Brasserie Cognac bar in NYC. ***Pierce Brosnan and wife Keely celebrating their son Paris’ ninth birthday with another couple at Nello in NYC. ***Award-winning playwright, author and actress Shelene Atanacio spotted lunching at Kate Mantilini yesterday. ***At the opening party for The Four Seasons Hotel Beverly Hills new restaurant Culina, Modern Italian last night, celebs Morgan Freeman, Ryan Seacrest paling around with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Top Chef’s Stefan Richter all enjoyed passed apps like crudo, ravioli, and veal. ***Charlize Theron was spotted on Wednesday afternoon walking out of the Four Seasons Hotel in Paris, France. ***Salma Hayek attended the Dora The Explorer 10th Anniversary Celebration at Nickelodeon Animation Studio on Tuesday. ***Actor Matt Damon attends a photocall to promote the new movie ‘Green Zone’ at the Adlon Hotel on in Berlin, Germany. ***Adrien Brody and Robert Duvall pose together at The Wrap’s pre-Oscar party in Beverly Hills. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT Send your celebrity sightings to: LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Nicolas Chartier, the “Hurt Locker” producer who ran afoul of AMPAS campaign regulations by sending emails disparaging “Avatar,” has been denied attendance at the 82nd Oscar ceremony by the Academy. Chartier, a financier who raised the money for the film and would have not been included as a nominee had the Academy not made an exception to its rules, sent emails suggesting that voters choose his movie over “the $500M film.” ***The Michael Russell Group is walking away from its gig doing publicity and promotion for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, ending a relationship that stretches back 17 years. MRG president Michael Russell told The Wrap that its contract with the HFPA had expired late last year, and the amount of work to maintain the account had outpaced the fees it was collecting. ***How fearful is the Academy of James Cameron? According to New York Magazine, Bill Mechanic, who is producing the Oscar telecast, has yanked a Sacha Baron Cohen sketch over fears that the Avatar director might get so angry that he’d walk out of the ceremony. An unnamed insider said that Baron Cohen intended to appear onstage as a female Na’vi, whose statements would be translated by Ben Stiller. As the sketch progressed, Baron Cohen would become increasingly angry with Stiller’s obviously false translations, then reveal that “she” was pregnant with James Cameron’s love child before confronting the director Jerry Springer style. The sketch was cut, as another unnamed insider put it, because “Cameron isn’t known to be, shall we say, ’self-deprecating.’” ***Justin Timberlake has signed on to star opposite his former girlfriend, Cameron Diaz, in Columbia Pictures’ romantic comedy “Bad Teacher.” Eric Stonestreet and Molly Shannon have also boarded the project, which co-stars Jason Segel and Lucy Punch. ***The Tribeca Film Festival is set to become associated with a new venture to distribute films digitally and in theaters under the Tribeca name. ***Archie Comics has left CAA and signed with WME.
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 BLACKWATER INVESTIGATION TAINTED?: When Blackwater security guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, everyone blamed the company, but the State Department’s hands may be dirty too, The New York Times reports. In testimony made public on Tuesday, Kenneth Kohl, the lead prosecutor in the case against Blackwater, said he had evidence that the inquiry into the affair was tainted.
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PERRY, WHITE WIN TX GOV. PRIMARIES: Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a big step closer to holding on to his job, having defeated popular Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary. Perry won 51 percent of the vote to Hutchinson’s 31 percent, and pulled a big lead over Tea Party favorite Debra Medina. The two have been rivals for two decades, since he was elected agriculture commissioner and she state treasurer in 1990.
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 MISSING CALIF. TEEN’S BODY FOUND: California police have found the body of Chelsea King, the 17-year-old girl who went missing last week, near the shores of San Diego’s Lake Hodges. King disappeared after going for a jog. Two days ago, police arrested John Albert Gardner III, a convicted sex offender who’s DNA was found on King’s clothing, which was discovered near where police think she was abducted. Gardner was arrested in 2000 for committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and is also now suspected of connection to the disappearance of another San Diego teenager.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Facebook revenue is rising rapidly and could top $1 billion this year, according to the online publication Inside Facebook. The social networking behemoth is estimated to have raked in $225 million in brand advertising in 2009. Facebook declines to comment on the report. ***Janice Min, who left Us Weekly in July, is said to be making the rounds with Ben Silverman pitching Web-site concepts to online media, such as AOL. Min “could be interested in launching a celebrity mom-based site.” Silverman is part of Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp.
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LAPD APOLOGIZES TO KENNEDYS: The Los Angeles Police Department has apologized to the Kennedy family for including the shirt, tie, and jacket that Robert Kennedy wore when he was murdered as part of a homicide exhibit in Las Vegas. The LAPD apparently never asked the Kennedy’s for permission to use the items, which were included in the 2010 California Homicide Investigators Association Conference. Other items were from the Black Dahlia slaying, Marilyn Monroe’s death, the O.J. Simpson case, and the Manson family murders.
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LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***The authorities questioned Carlos Beltran about Dr. Anthony Galea, who is suspected of supplying performance-enhancing drugs.
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Writer and author Larry Grobel along with over 3170,000 other “influencers” understands that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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 LBN-VIDEO LINK: Jessica Simpson says John Mayer apologized to her for that whole “sexual napalm” thing — but she ain’t accepting it. In an interview that aired this morning on Oprah, Jessica says she “felt betrayed” when her ex spilled the dirty details of their sex life to Playboy — and though he said he’s sorry via e-mail, she never wrote back.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By GINA PICCALO: Helena Bonham Carter is talking about her inner child, nestled as she is in yet another romantic and whimsical getup, this one reminiscent of Madonna circa Like a Virgin. She was “an obedient child” whose early film roles, A Room With a View, Howard’s End and The Wings of the Dove, were rooted in the rigid mores of English society’s Edwardian era. She can’t bear to watch those movies now. There’s little trace in them of this vivacious being here, a woman whose cackling laugh surely echoes down the hall of her Hollywood hotel. Only the corsets of those roles foreshadowed the Gothic babe she would become, the tousled muse to the phantasmagoric Tim Burton.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: The Middle Eastern foreign minister was talking about enlightened “liberal” trends in his country, contrasting that with the benighted “extreme” conservative religious movement in a neighboring state. But the wild thing was that the minister was Prince Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia — an absolute Muslim monarchy ruling over one of the most religiously and socially intolerant places on earth — and the country he deemed too “religiously determined” and regressive was the democracy of Israel. “We are breaking away from the shackles of the past,” the prince said, sitting in his sprawling, glinting ranch house with its stable of Arabian horses and one oversized white bunny. “We are moving in the direction of a liberal society. What is happening in Israel is the opposite; you are moving into a more religiously oriented culture and into a more religiously determined politics and to a very extreme sense of nationhood,” which was coming “to a boiling point.” “The religious institutions in Israel are stymieing every effort at peace,” said the prince, wearing a black-and-gold robe and tinted glasses.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: I was traveling via Los Angeles International Airport — LAX — last week. Walking through its faded, cramped domestic terminal, I got the feeling of a place that once thought of itself as modern but has had one too many face-lifts and simply can’t hide the wrinkles anymore. In some ways, LAX is us. We are the United States of Deferred Maintenance. China is the People’s Republic of Deferred Gratification. They save, invest and build. We spend, borrow and patch. And this contrast is playing out in the worst way — just slowly enough so the crisis never seems acute enough to take urgent action. But, eventually, infrastructure, education and innovation policies matter. Businesses prefer to invest with the Jetsons more than the Flintstones, which brings me to the subject of this column. I had a chance last week to listen to Paul Otellini, the chief executive of Intel, the microchip maker and one of America’s crown jewel companies. Otellini was in Washington to talk about competitiveness at Brookings and the Aspen Institute. At a time when so much of our public policy discussion is dominated by health care and bailouts, my public service for the week is to share Mr. Otellini’s views on start-ups. While America still has the quality work force, political stability and natural resources a company like Intel needs, said Otellini, the U.S. is badly lagging in developing the next generation of scientific talent and incentives to induce big multinationals to create lots more jobs here.
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LBN-FILM REVIEW By MANOHLA DARGIS: The sins of the father weigh heavily and sometimes scarcely at all in the documentary “Harlan — In the Shadow of ‘Jew Süss.’”
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By JOHN STOSSEL: “It’s a free country.” That’s a popular saying — and true in many ways. But for a free country, America does ban a lot of things that are perfectly peaceful and consensual. Why is that?
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE: What the horrors of war are, no one can imagine. They are not wounds and blood and fever, spotted and low, or dysentery, chronic and acute, cold and heat and famine. They are intoxication, drunken brutality, demoralization and disorder on the part of the inferior jealousies, meanness, indifference, selfish brutality on the part of the superior.
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Last gasp of Camelot, Caroline Kennedy is furious over an upcoming TV mini-series that portrays her father, President John F. Kennedy, as a sex maniac, say insiders. The eight-part History Channel series The Kennedys won’t air until 2011, but it’s already been slammed as a “cheap soap opera” by critics. ***Actor/director/perennial balding Opie, Ron Howard’s plaintive plea to the world. When he dies, he doesn’t want to be remembered as Opie. ***Lil Wayne will not be going to jail today — dude’s check-in date was just pushed back again for the 3rd time!!! If you’ve been following the saga — Wayne was originally supposed to go to jail a few weeks ago but the judge cut him a break so the rapper could swap out his diamond teeth for a less expensive set.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Teflon is the slipperiest substance in the world. ***The ‘’vintage date'’ on a bottle of wine indicates the year the grapes were picked, not the year of bottling. ***The bark of an older redwood tree is fireproof. ***The first product that Sony came out with was the rice cooker. ***The IRS employee’s tax manual has instructions for collecting taxes after a nuclear war.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.”- Steven Wright.
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LBN-HISTORY: On March 3, 1991, in a case that sparked a national outcry, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Delia Ramos, Ben Yano, Anna Alaverdyan.
LBN E-Lert Disclaimer: 1.) The LBN E-Lert accepts no liability for the content of this email, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The LBN E-Lert is not associated with any commercial or political organization and is transmitted via the web for the sole benefit of its subscribers. 2.) Unfortunately, computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses.
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LBN-VIDEO LINK: Marvin Gaye: 
BIG MOUTH CAUGHT: Officers in Pakistan arrested American-born al-Qaida:The American-born spokesman for al-Qaida has been arrested by Pakistani intelligence officers in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said Sunday as video emerged of him urging U.S. Muslims to attack their own country. The arrest of Adam Gadahn is a major victory in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan, criticized in the past for being an untrustworthy ally, is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi, including the movement’s No. 2 commander. Gadahn has appeared in more than half a dozen al-Qaida videos, taunting and threatening the West and calling for its destruction. A U.S. court charged Gadahn with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years.
LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***President Obama holding 
3 KILLED, 54 WOUNDED IN BOMB BLAST ON EVE OF PIVOTAL IRAQ ELECTIONS: Three people were killed when a parked car rigged with explosives blew up Saturday in Najaf on the eve of parliamentary elections, the Interior Ministry said. At least 54 others — 17 Iraqis and 37 Iranians — were injured in the attack near the Imam Ali Holy Shrine, which houses the tomb of Ali, cousin of the Prophet Mohammed. Two of the dead were Iranians, the interior official said. Najaf, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad, is frequented by Shiite pilgrims from Iran. Iraqis will go to the polls Sunday to choose a 325-member parliament. The election has been marred by violence despite heavy security.
LENO CRUSHES LETTERMAN IN RETURN: In the local people meter markets Leno was twice as popular with adults 18-49, scoring 2.0 rating vs a 1.0 rating for Letterman. In the metered market household ratings between 11:30p-12:30a Jay Leno’s return to The Tonight Show dominated Letterman and Late Show. Leno had a 5.4/14 (household rating/share) to Letterman’s 3.0/8. Sure, Leno’s first night back (and perhaps first week or two back) is likely inflated by a post-Olympic halo, but the early indication is “all is forgiven.”
NYT DROPS NEW PATERSON BOMBSHELL: Gov. David Paterson personally directed his press secretary to ask a woman who had accused his close aide of attacking her to say the run-in was nonviolent and contradict her previous accounts to the police in court; The New York Times cites three sources as saying. Paterson also allegedly had a state employee, who was a mutual friend of both the woman and the governor, make contact with the accuser to “finalize an order of protection against the aide” before her court date. 
DANCING WITH THE STARS CAST REVEALED: What do a former astronaut, a sex tape star, and the mother of eight have in common? They’ll all be taking the stage for next season’s Dancing With the Stars. Buzz Aldrin, Pamela Anderson, and Kate Gosselin are just three of the 11 celebrities hitting center stage to show off their moves. Joining them will be ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews; Beverly Hills, 90210 star and former hellraiser Shannen Doherty; Olympic gold medalist figure skater Evan Lysacek; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver and notorious end-zone dancer Chad Ochocinco; Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger; host of decluttering show Clean House Niecy Nash; Bachelor Jake Pavelka; and soap star Aidan Turner.
LBN-VIDEO LINK: 
LBN-SEE IT: Anne Heche bums a light from James Tupper.
LBN-MEDIA TRACKER:
LBN-COMMENTARY By ROBERT REDFORD (Actor, Director, and Environmental Activist): The citizen force is about to be unleashed, and this time, it will be in support of the most critical environmental vote of my lifetime: passing clean energy and climate legislation in the Senate.
LBN-COMMENTARY By NORMAN LEAR (Founder, People for the American Way): Ever since I smoked my first good cigar, I have felt that if there were no other reason to believe in God, Havana leaf would suffice. I’ve had similar epiphanies while biting into a ripe peach.
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By JIMI HENDRIX: In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first.
LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Billy Baldwin’s 18-year marriage to Chynna Phillips nearly ended in heartbreak when she filed for divorce on Friday — but then had a dramatic change of heart Sunday. Baldwin, now filming “Gossip Girl” in New York, was shocked when Phillips instructed her lawyers to file in Santa Barbara. But after an emotional weekend, the singer — who just completed treatment for anxiety following months of stress — told her attorneys to withdraw the bombshell divorce filing yesterday. A source said, “Chynna has gone under a lot of personal and professional stress. The divorce petition came after a long and emotional buildup. But once it was filed, she realized she didn’t want to lose Billy and asked her lawyers to withdraw it.” ***Mariah Carey was nearly two hours late for her final concert in Las Vegas. The diva had problems with her vocal cords and demanded to see her doctor before she finally got on stage at the Pearl Concert Theater Saturday night. ***It’s war between two financial gurus: Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” which urges business and real estate investment, and Suze Orman, who preaches long-term savings and paying off debts quickly. “I can’t believe this lady,” Kiyosaki tweeted yesterday. “No way in hell she believes what she teaches.” Orman fired back: “At least I did not lead millions of people down the path to lose all their money in real estate as you did. Shame on you.” ***Jaime Escalante, the legendary Garfield High math teacher portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the movie “Stand and Deliver,” has cancer and his family has run out of money to pay his medical bills. Olmos is helping to raise funds. ***A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Ronald Reagan’s grandson after dude blew off a court date for a marijuana arrest … an arrest that flew right under the radar. Cameron Reagan was arrested on November 9, 2009 after cops pulled the 31-year-old over for speeding in Malibu. ***Charlie Sheen’s complicated life is about to get even more complicated. A woman who slept with Charlie and wife Brooke Mueller at the same time is about to come forward and tell her story, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.
PELOSI: WE HAVE THE VOTES: Is health care almost here? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and an aide to President Obama said separately Sunday that congressional Democrats will have the votes to pass the health-care overhaul. Acknowledging that the vote could risk the political careers of some House Democrats, Pelosi said she’s confident she can pass a bill based on the version the Senate passed in December.
FRANTIC RESCUE EFFORTS IN CHILE AS TROOPS SEEK TO KEEP ORDER: With frantic rescue efforts under way, a rising death toll and isolated outbreaks of looting, the Chilean president on Sunday issued an order that will send soldiers into the streets in the worst-affected areas to both keep order and speed the distribution of aid. After huddling in a crisis meeting with her cabinet, President Michelle Bachelet called the damage caused by Saturday’s magnitude-8.8 quake “an emergency unparalleled in the history of Chile.” She said the death toll had reached 708 and suggested it would probably grow in the days ahead.
RULINGS RESTRICT CLEAN WATER ACT, FOILING E.P.A.: Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators. As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.
LBN-SEE IT:One morning last week, a Marine with Company K slept in a compound near Marja. The Marines cleared a road, later linking up with another company.
SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Los Angeles Business Journal top Editor Charlie Crumpley along with over 317,000 other “influencers” understands that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
LBN-VIDEO LINK: 
LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***On March 2, Ebert will speak for the first time in four years on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Using a remarkable new computer technology, Ebert will chat with Oprah about his Oscar picks for this year. Oprah and her cameras will also follow Ebert and his wife, Chaz, for a day, exploring his life and wining up with a chat in Oprah’s studio. Other Oscar-related segments are planned for the “Pre-Oscar Special,” including visits with Morgan Freeman and Colin Firth.
LBN E-LERT # 1: Thousands of readers throughout Europe passionately report that that the LBN E-Lert is their “Number 1″ source of news and information. 
LBN-HOW FAIRY TALES REALLY END - Cinderella.
WHERE’S ERIN BROCKOVICH?: The Southern California legal assistant who became famous when Julia Roberts portrayed her in the movies now runs Brockovich Research & Consulting with a couple of assistants out of her Agoura Hills home. She advises people who believe they’ve been hurt by contamination by getting them connected with public agencies and lawyers, who pay her.
LAST CALL: The February LBN Eye is still up - 
LBN-COMMENTARY By MICHAEL REAGAN: My father, Ronald Reagan, battled successfully to simplify the tax code but his work has been largely undone. The arrogance of those who use the tax code to manipulate citizen behavior and Congressional ambitions for personal advancement have again corrupted the already destructive income tax system.
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
CHILE STILL REELING FROM 8.8 QUAKE: National Emergency Agency officials say the Chilean death toll is over 300 after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake shook the South American country yesterday. The shock was the most powerful earthquake to hit the area southwest of Chile’s capital, Santiago, in 100 years, damaging nearly half a million homes and throwing residents from their beds. After the shock, seven-foot high waves rattled the Pacific, killing at least five people on remote islands.
WARREN BUFFETT’S BEST PUNCH LINES: Warren Buffett’s much-watched Berkshire Hathaway announced an increase in profits Friday. But some investors were interested in the Oracle of Omaha’s shareholder letter not for money advice, but to get a taste of Buffett’s trademark humor. The billionaire didn’t fail to deliver. He had a laugher on country music: “Sing a country song in reverse, and you will quickly recover your car, house, and wife.” Buffett went for the kill with this doozy relating to his investment in Geico: “An old Wall Street joke gets close to our experience. Customer: Thanks for putting me in XYZ stock at 5. I hear it’s up to 18. Broker: Yes, and that’s just the beginning. In fact, the company is doing so well now, that it’s an even better buy at 18 than it was when you made your purchase. Customer: Damn, I knew I should have waited.”
NEW AND NOT IMPROVED: A new generation has made militant networks in Pakistan more sophisticated and deadly.
UNLIKELY ACTIVIST WHO GOT TO THE TEA PARTY EARLY: Keli Carender has a pierced nose, performs improv on weekends and lives here in a neighborhood with more Mexican grocers than coffeehouses. You might mistake her for the kind of young person whose vote powered President Obama to the White House. You probably would not think of her as a Tea Party type. But leaders of the Tea Party movement credit her with being the first.
LBN-THIS DAY IN HISTORY: ATF Raids Branch Davidian Compound (1993). After investigating charges of child abuse and the illegal stockpiling of weapons at the Texas ranch of the Branch Davidian religious sect, US ATF agents raided the compound. The confrontation turned violent, and 10 people were killed in the firefight. A siege of the compound ended 51 days later, when the complex was engulfed in flames. Seventy-nine people, including 21 children and Davidian leader David Koresh, died in the incident.
LBN-TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: Mario Andretti (1940). Mario Andretti is the only racecar driver to have won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, and the international Formula One championship. He retired from Indy-car racing in 1994 with 52 victories but continued his attempts to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports-car endurance race until the age of 60. The Italian-American legend has been called the “Driver of the Century.”
LBN-SNAP: Rihanna.
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: I ordered each man to be presented with something, as strings of ten or a dozen glass beads apiece, and thongs of leather, all which they estimated highly; those which came on board I directed should be fed with molasses.
LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW: Evan Lysacek.
LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Supermodel bad girl Kate Moss is prepping for the ballet, according to the Daily Mail. The British tabloid says that the Jill of all trades will dance with ballet legend (and Carrie’s Sex and the City love interest) Mikhail Baryshnikov in an upcoming short film. The dance is being choreographed and directed by Michael Clark. One source tells the paper that Moss is hard at work and has dropped hard partying for the role. ***Lady Gaga’s been enjoying herself since becoming famous. “I wanted to sleep with as many rock ‘n’ roll guys as I could, and I’ve certainly had my fun,” the singer says in the latest issue of Cosmo. Still, she’s career-oriented: “Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.” ***Brooklyn Decker is making the jump from modeling to acting. We’ve learned the Sports Illustrated cover girl and wife of tennis champ Andy Roddick, just signed on to star in “Just Go With It,” a romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. “I’m so happy and excited to be working with such an amazing cast and crew on my first film. I just hope no one minds if I try to get Sandler in a mankini for my next shoot,” Decker says. ***Marie Osmond’s son leaps 8 stories to his death.
LBN-FACESPACE:
MARIE OSMOND’S SON COMMITS SUICIDE:
LBN-NOTICED: ***A star-packed group of celebrities and moguls had dinner last night at the home of Stewart and Lynda Resnick (owners of Fiji Water, Teleflora, etc) in Beverly Hills to hear best-selling author and New York Times star columnist Tom Friedman talking about how America “can get its groove back”. Included in the dinner group were David Geffen, Steve Martin and wife Ann, Warren Beatty, Bill Maher, Norman Lear, Bob Dailey, Sherry Lansing and Bill Friedkin, Michael Levine, Michael Milken, Terry Semel among others. ***Don Barrett, founder of the popular website 
U.S. AND CANADA SET FOR REMATCH: With one victory against the hockey-centric country beneath their belts, the U.S. men’s hockey team has to play Canada one more time on their home turf in order to earn an Olympic gold medal. “It’s hard to beat a team twice in a tournament like this,” the U.S. team’s coach said, despite their blowout win against Finland yesterday.
CUOMO OBVIOUS GOV. FRONTRUNNER: State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may be following in his father’s footsteps, now that New York Governor David Paterson has dropped his bid for election. Although Cuomo did not receive the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2002, Paterson has made room at the top of the list for the New York legacy this time around. “It puts him as the early odds-on favorite for a multitude of reasons—money, name recognition, popular standing, momentum,” one pollster said. On Friday, Cuomo issued the following statement: “I am sure this is a difficult choice and a sad day for the governor and his family. It is in the best interests of all New Yorkers that the state government functions through this difficult time and address the pressing budgetary problems we face.”
GARY COLEMAN SUFFERS SEIZURE: While on the set of The Insider yesterday morning, Gary Coleman suffered an apparent seizure and was rushed to the hospital, according to sources from the entertainment show. Television personality Dr. Drew Pinsky was with Coleman, known for his role on Different Strokes, when the incident occurred. Pinsky reportedly helped the ailing star until paramedics arrived at the studio. Last week, Coleman walked off The Insider when a panel continued to bombard him with questions about whether or not he abused his wife. Just a month ago, Coleman was hospitalized after suffering from “seizure activity,” as he referred to the episode.
LBN-SNAP: Singer Gloria Estefan.