Newer, Faster Iphone On The Way

It's probably always pretty wise not to be the first in line for these new gadgets, Ipod and now Iphone included. First there was the relatively drastic price cut a few months after it was released, now the second generation Iphone seem likely to be a vast improvement from the first one.

Zoey Zane's Body Probably Found

Considering the circumstances and the fact that a blood splattered hotel room with a man was the last place she was known to have been, this news is unfortunately not all that surprising. Hopefully the dirtbag who was last seen with her, and obviously the prime suspect, Israel Mireles, will be found and brought to justice.

Rodney King Shot Up With Pellet Gun

I'd like to know how much of that $3.2 million he has left. Things certainly don't seem to be going too well for Rodney King these days, judging from this news.

Kasparov Warns of 'Chaos' in Russia

This guy can certainly play chess, that's for damn sure, however the verdict is still out on whether he can become an effective opposition politician in Russia. He really ought to look twice before he crosses the street these days, and he might want to have someone taste his food before he eats. Modern Russia under Putin has proven to be brutal to those who annoy her.

Convicted Bank Robber Might Get Shafted Out of Lottery Win

This is just a crazy story. Guy robs two banks, gets busted and put on probation, and then wins $1,000,000 in the lottery. Problem is, not playing the lottery or gambling was a part of his probation terms. Seems to me the guy should have been doing jail time anyway, who only gets probation for robbing banks?

Friends Puzzled Over Quiet Riot Singer Dubrow's Death

Seems like the guy was in good health, and his friends are at least claiming that he was on the straight and narrow. It's surprising that the toxicology tests take that long. One would think that the guy's profile of a rock star would mean that drink or drugs were involved, but it's probably more likely that he just had a heart attack and died. It happens.

Pregnant Woman Tasered in Ohio

Feelings Raw After GOP Debate/Backyard Brawl

The reason why this race has suddenly become so nasty is because of the very fact that no less than five candidates still think they have a real chance of winning this wide open contest. All five (Romney, Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, Thompson) are deeply flawed candidates. My how things have changed for the Republican party from 8 short years ago when George W. Bush was basically anointed as the candidate by the party's powers that be, and the entire GOP united behind their man. Today the party is split wide open and hemorrhaging for all to see, and whoever their nominee winds up being stands the stark likelihood of being land slided by their Democratic foe in November 2008.

Missing Kansas Teen Was A Web Porn Star

This story is creeepy, and bound to become big news. An 18-year old college teen from Kansas named Emily Sander turns out to be an XXX porn star with the screen name of Zoey Zane. Daddy's 'sweet little girl' turns out to be doing hardcore porn. Then the story gets really bad as she goes missing after leaving a bar with a dude and the hotel where they were staying is blood spattered. This has Hollywood written all over it.

HBO Developing Barry Bonds Movie

I guess if they're making a movie about it, the folks at HBO think people will watch, although I think that remains to be seen.

Rudy "Travelgate" Story Gaining Legs

Weekend trips to The Hamptons with a saucy mistress while married being billed to obscure agencies in what appears to be an effort to hide and launder them surely won't play to well in Peoria for the Giuliani campaign, let alone Iowa. I think Giuliani is toast, getting bible-thumping Southern Conservatives to vote for a thrice married, anti-gun, pro-abortion New Yorker was always a big stretch, and now that this additional news has come out and voters are starting to pay attention to the race, his lead in the polls are vaporizing.

News From The Planet Venus, Earth's "Hellish Twin"

Will our planet Earth become what sister planet Venus already is? That being a hellish, lifleless 750 degree desert wasteland with smoldering, noxious gasses? Time will tell but it certainly seems that we are headed in that direction.

Garbage Pick Up Crew Finds 60 Pounds of Weed on Florida Roadside

Hopefully these guys kept some for themselves, although it seems like they are too honest for their own good. What a find though! Something tells me the owners are not going to be so quick to call the police looking for their dope.

Britney Spears Goes Nuts in Hollywood Porn Shop

Things keep getting creepier and creepier regarding poor Britney. Following her has become a perverse American obsession, akin to watching the smoldering remains of a disastrous car crash.

Pat Sajak on Celebrity Endorsements

Why anyone would listen to what Pat Sajak has to say regarding anything besides what vowel to buy on Wheel of Fortune is unclear. He is however a distinct minority as a celebrity conservative, joining people like Chuck Norris and Tom Selleck.

Gay Escort's Emails Regarding Trent Lott

This story is all rumor and innuendo, yet still pretty interesting. It would be no shock whatsoever if Republican Trent Lott did turn out to be gay. What's also of note is how the escort is now backtracking so quickly on the story. You know what they say: money talks. Meanwhile Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, who has offered big prize money for information leading to the outing of gay Republican politicians, is confirming that Lott has been a target for quite some time.

Old White Women Sex Tourism Thrives in Kenya

This is a pretty interesting article about an industry that few probably had the faintest idea even existed: wealthy older European women who go to Africa to get their world's rocked by young black African men.

Arab World Pessimistic on Annapolis

It's just like George W. Bush to sleepwalk through the first 7 years of his woeful presidency and all but ignore the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and then schedule a hastily arranged peace conference to try and make up for it all at the last minute. What a colossal waste of time and energy.

Google Goes Green

If I were an investor in Google I might be a bit concerned over drift of focus after reading this news. However Google's founders have been able thus far to accomplish amazing things: 'green' energy is a very very different thing from Internet advertising. Will they be able to make a difference? Probably, but not nearly as much as they have had with the Internet.

Nebraska Search for New Football Coach Turns into State Obsession

Cornhusker football is a pretty big deal in the state of Nebraska. That's an understatement; it is actually an obsession. It looks like the new head coach will be either Turner Gill or Bo Pellini. I've never quite understood how a team like Nebraska was such a powerhouse for decades, one would think a talented recruit might prefer the warmer confines California or Florida or even Texas. Whoever the new coach is, they will face intense pressure to succeed nearly immediately.

Stephen King: Jenna Bush Should be Waterboarded

This Time interview with Stephen King is a pretty interesting read. The guy's clearly got a pretty lively imagination--

Black Friday's Hottest Sellers

Once again this list is dominated by tech gadgets, everything from Nintendo's to virtual picture frames. In other words, everything you don't really need, but still would like to have and show off to your friends with.

"Rock Band" Takes Video Game World by Storm

The twist with this game is that it can potentially get the whole family involved, which is different than the "Guitar Hero" games. At $170, it had better be good. Needless to say, it's helping Sony's new PlayStation 3 fly off of the shelves.

Gay Rumors Swirl Around Trent Lott Retirement

Larry Craig, David Vitter, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Foley, William Bennett....can we add Trent Lott's name now to the list of disgraced bible-thumping right winger Republicans? These are only rumors, but you know the old adage: where there's smoke there's usually fire.

Coming: The Google 'gDisk' Remote Disc Drive?

Things have been moving off of physical hard drives on computers and on to the Internet for years now, but leave it to Google to make this happen in a big, dramatic way. Their name and brand recognition will dwarf all attempts that other companies have made in the past to mainstream this practice.

Quiet Riot Lead Singer Found Dead in Vegas Home

These guys were huge in the early 80's--they were one of the first MTV propelled 'hair bands' of that decade. The tune 'Cum on Feel The Noise' was and is an absolute rock anthem from that particular time period. I'm actually pretty surprised to see that they were still in existence....

Finally, an E-Book That Works?

History is littered with failed electronic books, but Amazon.com's new Kindle is raising eyebrows, and as this New York Times article suggests, might just catch on. At $300 it's a little pricey, though.

Giant Sea Scorpion Discovered; Was Bigger Than a Man

Giant sized cockroaches, dragonflies with the wing spans of sea gulls....seems like the prehistoric world was a pretty wild place. The story of these scorpions, roughly eight feet long, is pretty wild. It makes one ponder what will become the top of the food chain once humans extinct themselves. What organisms will dominate the planet then?

Bloomberg Cramming For Run?

The Huffington Post has an interesting read on how NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has all of a sudden become very interested in learning about international foreign policy issues. Bloomberg is every bit as qualified as say a Rudy Giuliani, and would be much less polarizing a figure than say a Hillary Clinton. Most importantly, however, is that he's a billionaire several times over and could finance the most expensive campaign in US presidential history by the stroke of a pen with his own checkbook.

Long Knives Come out for Huckabee

Increased scrutiny was to be expected as Huckabee surges in the polls, particularly in Iowa. Many of these claims and accusations certainly raise questions about Huckabee's ethics, and are sure to tarnish what has up until now been an impeccably clean image. Indeed they are surprising and contradict his pristine, conservative image.

New York Times on Why Kerry/Edwards 2004 Didn't Work

It's true that the men were completely different, but I think really the fact that the country was at war was the main reason why Kerry and Edwards lost in 2004. The Republicans ran a slightly better campaign, and the Swift Boat campaign proved to be devastating. One could expect lingering recriminations and bad feelings between two highly competitive, ambitious politicians with big egos like John Kerry and John Edwards.

Free Porn Sites Send Chills Through Industry

The Internet is in the process of fundamentally changing the business of pornography, just as Craigslist did to the newspaper advertising world and Itunes is doing to the music industry. Read about it in this article.

Sex Scandal Rocks Atlanta Mega Church

It's a truism in America that the most openly devout religious people usually turn out to be the biggest dirt bags. Think Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, Rush Limbaugh, David Vitter. The list really goes on and on. This case in Atlanta might take the cake, though.

Mike Huckabee Uses Chuck Norris in New Iowa TV Ad

This is a little weird. Huckabee is struggling against vastly better financed rivals like Romney and Giuliani, but is gaining ground in Iowa, mainly due to his impeccable social conservative stances and his folksy, likable demeanor. Why he and his handlers decided to spend precious recourses on an ad featuring Chuck Norris (who happens to be George W. Bush's favorite actor) is unclear and somewhat of a head scratcher....

New York Times's Frank Rich on Giuliani, Fox News, and Judith Regan

November 18, 2007

Op-Ed Columnist

What ‘That Regan Woman’ Knows

By FRANK RICH

NEW Yorkers who remember Rudy Giuliani as the bullying New York mayor, not as the terminally cheerful “America’s Mayor” cooing to babies in New Hampshire, have always banked on one certainty: his presidential candidacy was so preposterous it would implode before he got anywhere near the White House.

Surely, we reassured ourselves, the all-powerful Republican values enforcers were so highly principled that they would excommunicate him because of his liberal social views, three wives and estranged children. Or a firewall would be erected by the firefighters who are enraged by his self-aggrandizing rewrite of 9/11 history. Or Judith Giuliani, with her long-hidden first marriage and Louis Vuitton ’tude, would send red-state voters screaming into the night.

Wrong, wrong and wrong. But how quickly and stupidly we forgot about the other Judith in the Rudy orbit. That would be Judith Regan, who disappeared last December after she was unceremoniously fired from Rupert Murdoch’s publishing house, HarperCollins. Last week Ms. Regan came roaring back into the fray, a silver bullet aimed squarely at the heart of the Giuliani campaign.

Ms. Regan filed a $100 million lawsuit against her former employer, claiming she was unjustly made a scapegoat for the O. J. Simpson “If I Did It” fiasco that (briefly) embarrassed Mr. Murdoch and his News Corporation. But for those of us not caught up in the Simpson circus, what’s most riveting about the suit are two at best tangential sentences in its 70 pages: “In fact, a senior executive in the News Corporation organization told Regan that he believed she had information about Kerik that, if disclosed, would harm Giuliani’s presidential campaign. This executive advised Regan to lie to, and to withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik.”

Kerik, of course, is Bernard Kerik, the former Giuliani chauffeur and police commissioner, as well as the candidate he pushed to be President Bush’s short-lived nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security. Having pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors last year, Mr. Kerik was indicted on 16 other counts by a federal grand jury 10 days ago, just before Ms. Regan let loose with her lawsuit. Whether Ms. Regan’s charge about that unnamed Murdoch “senior executive” is true or not — her lawyers have yet to reveal the evidence — her overall message is plain. She knows a lot about Mr. Kerik, Mr. Giuliani and the Murdoch empire. And she could talk.

Boy, could she! As New Yorkers who have crossed her path or followed her in the tabloids know, Ms. Regan has an epic temper. My first encounter with her came more than a decade ago when she left me a record-breaking (in vitriol and decibel level) voice mail message about a column I’d written on one of her authors. It was a relief to encounter a more mellow Regan at a Midtown restaurant some years later. She cordially introduced me to her dinner companion, Mr. Kerik, whose post-9/11 autobiography, “The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice,” was under contract at her HarperCollins imprint, ReganBooks.

What I didn’t know then was that this married author and single editor were in pursuit of not just justice, but sex, too. Their love nest, we’d later learn, was an apartment adjacent to ground zero that had been initially set aside for rescue workers. Mr. Kerik believed his lover had every moral right to be there. As he tenderly explained in his acknowledgments in “The Lost Son” — published before the revelation of their relationship — there was “one hero who is missing” from his book’s tribute to “courage and honor” and “her name is Judith Regan.”

Few know more about Rudy than his perennial boon companion, Mr. Kerik. Perhaps during his romance with Ms. Regan he talked only of the finer points of memoir writing or about his theories of crime prevention or about his ideas for training the police in the Muslim world (an assignment he later received in Iraq and botched). But it is also plausible that this couple discussed everything Mr. Kerik witnessed at Mr. Giuliani’s side before, during and after 9/11. Perhaps he even explained to her why the mayor insisted, disastrously, that his city’s $61 million emergency command center be located in the World Trade Center despite the terrorist attack on the towers in 1993.

Perhaps, too, they talked about the business ventures the mayor established after leaving office. Mr. Kerik worked at Giuliani Partners and used its address as a mail drop for some $75,000 that turns up in the tax-fraud charges in his federal indictment. That money was Mr. Kerik’s pay for an 11-sentence introduction to another Regan-published book about 9/11, “In the Line of Duty.” Though that project’s profits were otherwise donated to the families of dead rescue workers, Mr. Kerik’s royalties were mailed to Giuliani Partners in the name of a corporate entity Mr. Kerik set up in Delaware. He would later claim that he made comparable donations to charity, but the federal indictment charges that $80,000 he took in charitable deductions were bogus.

Amazingly, given that he seeks the highest office in the land, Mr. Giuliani will not reveal the clients of Giuliani Partners. Perhaps he has trouble remembering them all. He testified in court last year that he has no memory of a mayoral briefing in which he was told of Mr. Kerik’s association with a company suspected of ties to organized crime.

Ms. Regan’s knowledge of Mr. Giuliani isn’t limited to whatever she learned from Mr. Kerik. She used to work for another longtime Giuliani pal, Roger Ailes, the media consultant for the first Giuliani campaign in 1989 and the impresario who created Fox News for Mr. Murdoch in 1996. A full-service mayor to his cronies, Mr. Giuliani lobbied hard to get the Fox News Channel on the city’s cable boxes and presided over Mr. Ailes’s wedding. Enter Ms. Regan, who was given her own program on Fox’s early lineup. Mr. Ailes came up with its rather inspired first title, “That Regan Woman.”

Who at the News Corporation supposedly asked Ms. Regan to lie to protect Rudy’s secrets? Her complaint does not say. But thanks to the political journal The Hotline, we do know that as of the summer Mr. Giuliani had received more air time from Fox News than any other G.O.P. candidate, much of it on the high-rated “Hannity & Colmes.” That show’s co-host, Sean Hannity, appeared at a Giuliani campaign fund-raiser this year.

Fox News coverage of Ms. Regan’s lawsuit last week was minimal. After all, Mr. Giuliani dismissed the whole episode as “a gossip column story,” and we know Fox would never stoop so low as to trade in gossip. The coverage was scarcely more intense at The Wall Street Journal, whose print edition included no mention of the suit’s reference to that “senior executive” at the News Corporation. (After bloggers noticed, the article was amended online.) The Journal is not quite yet a Murdoch property, but its editorial board has had its own show on Fox News since 2006.

During the 1990s, the Journal editorial board published so much dirt about the Clintons that it put the paper’s brand on an encyclopedic six-volume anthology titled “A Journal Briefing — Whitewater.” You’d think the controversies surrounding “America’s Mayor” are at least as sexy as the carnal scandals and alleged drug deals The Journal investigated back then. This month a Journal reporter not on its editorial board added the government of Qatar to the small list of known Giuliani Partners clients, among them the manufacturer of OxyContin. We’ll see if such journalism flourishes in the paper’s Murdoch era.

But beyond New York’s dailies and The Village Voice, the national news media, conspicuously the big three television networks, have rarely covered Mr. Giuliani much more aggressively than Mr. Murdoch’s Fox News has. They are more likely to focus on Mr. Giuliani’s checkered family history than the questions raised by his record in government and business. It’s astounding how many are willing to look the other way while recycling those old 9/11 videos.

One exception is The Chicago Tribune, which last month on its front page revisited the story of how, after Mr. Giuliani left office, his mayoral papers were temporarily transferred to a private, tax-exempt foundation run by his supporters and financed with $1.5 million from mostly undisclosed donors. The foundation, which shares the same address as Giuliani Partners, copied and archived the records before sending them back to New York’s municipal archives. Historians told The Tribune there’s no way to verify that the papers were returned to government custody intact. Mayor Bloomberg has since signed a law that will prevent this unprecedented deal from being repeated.

Journalists, like generals, love to refight the last war, so the unavailability of millions of Hillary Clinton’s papers has received all the coverage the Giuliani campaign has been spared. But while the release of those first lady records should indeed be accelerated, it’s hard to imagine many more scandals will turn up after six volumes of “Whitewater,” an impeachment trial and the avalanche of other investigative reportage on the Clintons then and now.

The Giuliani story, by contrast, is relatively virgin territory. And with the filing of a lawsuit by a vengeful eyewitness who was fired from her job, it may just have gained its own reincarnation of Linda Tripp.

American Peso (aka Dollar) Continues its Humiliating Fall

It is great to be a European tourist in America these days. With the dollar at historic lows, as this article points out tourists are coming to the States with one suitcase and leaving with three. When George W. Bush came into office in 2000 one Euro was worth about 80 cents, now a Euro is worth about $1.40. Of course these things tend to run in cycles, and once W leaves the Oval Office I believe trust in the dollar will increase, probably dramatically.

Charles Dolan to David Stern: My Son's Not Leaving

James Dolan is the completely incompetent son of a billionaire cable entrepeneur, Charles Dolan. He was given control of the Knicks and has proceeded to run the franchise into the ground: it has literally become the laughingstock of professional sports franchises. Parallels between Jim Dolan and George W. Bush abound. Bush, too, is a radically incompetent son of an accomplished man in a job way over his head. Worse than merely being incompetent, both Bush Jr. and Dolan Jr. are stubborn and dangerously inept. In other words both stubborn brats are not content to sit back and let capable people do the heavy lifting in their enterprises. Each needs to be 'the man' and use their vast powers as something like a toy. The results have been as predictable as they have been catastrophic.

Federal Government Moves to Ease Atlanta Water Shortage

I don't know about you, but I think that Atlanta needs another subdivision on the outskirts of town, or a few more golf courses, or maybe some more McMansion's with huge green lawns in front of them. Although obvious, it is a fact that is almost universally overlooked in modern society: water is essential to human life and it is a precious recourse. With our population numbers booming, and being in the beginning throws of the effects of man made global warming, we can expect to have droughts and battles over diminishing fresh water supply with increasing frequency. Especially in cities that have had abysmal planning and rampant over development like Atlanta.

Japanes Fleet Goes on Whale Slaughter Hunt

The Japanese have the world's second largest economy and are an advanced people by anyone's estimation. This, however, is barbaric and should bring shame and embarrassment to their entire country.

Update: Swift Boat Millionaire Renegs on Challenge After Kerry Calls Him Out

How pathetic. In response to the throw down John Kerry issued to Texas billionaire oilman and swift boater T. Boone Pickens, Pickens responds by basically wussing out on the challenge like the spineless jellyfish he no doubt is. Story here.

It''s indicative, however, of the sorry state of affairs the national Republican party finds itself in these days. Billionaires can't even pay their bets. Looking back, the party reached its zenith during the Swift Boating charade four years ago. They won that election, but it has been a precipitous fall since then, starting with the 2006 midterms and undoubtedly will continue with the 2008 elections.

Kerry to Billionaire Republican Swift-Boater: "Bring It On."

It ought to be very interesting indeed to see how this story plays out. T. Boone Pickens is a legendary Texas oil man and investor, and Kerry here is challenging the man's honor. It boggles the mind how Kerry allowed such scurrilous attacks to go unchallenged four years ago. His delayed response literally cost him the presidency.

McCain's Strange Strategy

John McCain's fall from presumptive Republican nominee to a distant third place $1.5 million debtor candidate has been both swift and cruel. He made the tactical decision soon after losing to George W. Bush in 2000 to embrace his former rival's agenda and to court the right wing of the Republican party in the hope it would pay off precisely now--weeks before the first primary votes for the 2008 nomination are cast. That strategy has turned out to be an abject failure; and now as this article indicates his broke, rudderless campaign is stumbling like a blind person in the dark without a coherent strategy.

Army Desertion Rate Skyrockets

No real shocker here, the Iraq mission is highly controversial, dangerous, and has no end in sight. Afghanistan is not far behind in terms of misery level.

Ron Paul Funny Money Seized in Raid

Ron Paul is supported by many on the lunatic fringe of the Republican party, along with Libertarians and other anti-establishment types. This guy had the bright idea of coining his own money with the image of Ron Paul stamped on it. Something tells me this guy is slightly less than completely forthcoming on his tax filings every year, too.

Amy Whitehouse Does Line of Coke on Stage

Steve Jobs to get a Pay Raise

Granted, most of us make more than the $1 year he's earned for the past 10 years or so since he's returned as Apple's CEO, but please don't cry me a river for Steve Jobs, he's worth nearly $6 billion due his massive holdings of Apple stock. Speaking of that stock, no one can argue with the job Jobs has done as Apple CEO. To Apple shareholders, he's worth every penny he gets.

Controversy Brews Over Eurostar Ad

It's a bit much, especially for kids, to see something like this. However, the ensuing controversy has guaranteed an incredibly successful campaign, which is probably exactly what the ad's creator had intended to happen in the first place.

88-Year Old Chicago Man Faces Deportation for Nazi War Crimes

One has to question the utility of the government going after 90 year old people for crimes that were committed 60 years ago. There's no question that barbaric, heinous crimes against humanity were committed, but in this guy's case there's no evidence of exactly what he did. If he cleaned toilets or served food for the criminal soldiers, does that make him liable for murder? It seems like a stretch and indeed a waste of taxpayer money to hunt down geriatrics like this.

Goldman Sachs Executive Helps A-Rod With Record Breaking Deal

This is fitting. Goldman Sachs is the current unrivaled king of the finance world, indeed at times it seems like they are printing their own money. It's unsurprising, therefore, that their tentacles have reached into the negotiation of the sports world's largest contract ever: the Yankees resigning of Alex Rodriguez for $275 million.

Saudi Court Sentences Gang Rape Victim to 200 Lashes

Remember this barbaric regime is a close ally of America and the Bush family in particular due to their enormous oil reserves. Reading this article, it's hard to fathom a country on the planet with a worse human rights record than Saudi Arabia. Yet business between America and them is booming!!

Lindsey Lohan Does Community Service

Anything that keeps her from behind the wheel of a car is fine by me.

London Audience Boos, Walks out On Amy Whitehouse

This seems like poor form on her part--tickets surely weren't cheap.

Mike Huckabee's Wife Fluent with Grenade Launchers

This is, well, weird. Believe it or not, it might just help him with the lunatic wing of the Republican party though. These types, critical to any Republican presidential aspirant, have been drawn to Ron Paul this cycle, and by and large are deeply suspicious of New Yorker Rudy, Flip-flopping Mitt, and traitor John. Perhaps if Mike Huckabee is elected president, the military can enlist his wife in their hunt Osama program...

Cult of Personality Develops Around Putin

Mainly due to the surging price of oil, things are relatively good economically today for most Russians. To many Putin has restored Russian pride; the Russian psyche was badly damaged after the fall of Communism, when it went from a world superpower to nearly a third-world country overnight. It also seems like Putin, unsurprisingly and similarly to many Russian leaders before him, covets his power and has little desire to give it up.