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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
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 • FEBRUARY 8, 2010 |
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: ***Everyday, 7% of the U.S. eats at McDonald’s. ***One in ten people live on an island. ***Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. ***Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying. ***The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher. ***One in every 9,000 people is an albino. ***The electric chair was invented by a dentist. ***In 2007, China became the world’s largest salt producer, surpassing the U.S.
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IRAN PLANS TO DEPLOY MISSILE DEFENSE AND START DRONE PRODUCTION: Iran announced today it has launched two production lines for unmanned aircraft with surveillance and attack capabilities. In addition, the country’s defense minister says it will soon deploy a missile defense system more powerful than the Russian S-300 system ordered from Russia in 2007 that has yet to arrive. The two types of drones will be called Ra’d (meaning thunder) and Nazir (herald). Two years ago, Tehran announced it had built a drone, but offered few details until last year. At that time, the defense minister said it had a range of 600 miles, meaning it could reach Israel.
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TOYOTA EXPECTED TO RECALL 2010 PRIUS: At least 311,000 2010 Prius hybrids are expected to join Toyota’s list of recalled vehicles after the company received numerous complaints about the car’s brakes, a source told The New York Times. Toyota is likely to make the announcement early in the week following their recall of approximately eight million vehicles worldwide due to faulty gas pedals. After some 2010 Prius drivers expressed concerns about being unable to stop on uneven surfaces, U.S. regulators opened up an investigation last week.
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 TIGER READY TO RETURN TO GOLF?: Welcome back, Tiger: TMZ says Tiger Woods will return to golf next month at the Tavistock Cup, an event which pits the pros of two rival country clubs against each other (and which Tiger played in last year). After that, TMZ says Tiger will head to Georgia and start preparing for the Masters. TMZ also adds that Tiger will return to his home in Florida next week.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Now that he has a new job, will he get his $35,000 commode back? Ousted Merrill Lynch chief John A. Thain is now taking over CIT Group Inc. The appointment, announced Sunday, is effective immediately and Thain will start his new job on Monday. ***Bankers, unhappy at the president’s proposals for tighter financial regulations, are shifting donations to Republicans. ***Renowned sculptor Victor Issa (www.victorissa.com) received the prestigious 5W Report (www.5WReport.com) award for best personal sculptor of 2010 yesterday.
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HOW LENO & LETTERMAN LINKED UP: The most surprising Super Bowl ad featured David Letterman and Jay Leno on a couch with Oprah, plugging the Late Show. How did it come together? After receiving permission from NBC exec Jeff Zucker to do the ad, Leno took NBC’s private jet to New York and showed up at Letterman’s studio in a hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses, and a fake mustache. According to Late Show producer Rob Burnett, “It was very friendly, very professional, and totally cordial. You could tell these were two guys who have known each other for a long time.”
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Display advertising is expected to contribute more than $1 billion to Google’s total sales this year — an increase of some 40% over last year. Big advertisers have traditionally focused branding efforts on television and print, but “that will be moved online.” ***Sports Illustrated is publishing its annual swimsuit issue this week. The swimsuit franchise has earned the Time Inc. magazine more than $1 billion in revenue since its inception in 1964. David Letterman is set to reveal the name of the cover model on his talk show tonight. “ ***The New Yorker is marking its 85th anniversary with a special double issue featuring four different covers from four New Yorker artists. The Conde Nast title plans to take many of its old covers on the road for a three-city show. Overall, advertising is up 64% for the issue.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Leonardo DiCaprio shopping for eco-friendly pieces at Environment Furniture’s showroom on Broadway and 18th in NYC. ***Peter Bacanovic, who was once Martha Stewart’s stockbroker, and Yanna Avis, the cabaret-singing widow, at Swifty’s in NYC. *** Making the trip overseas to Europe, George Clooney was spotted touching down via private jet in St Moritz, Switzerland on Sunday. ***David Beckham was spotted out with his sons in Milan,Italy on Monday. ***BE AN LBN CORRESPONANT-Send your celebrity sightings to LBNELERT@TimeWire.net.
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 LBN-SNAP: Producer Christine Peters.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***A recent study has found that babies who died from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) show lower levels of the brain chemical serotonin than babies who died from other causes. Serotonin regulates a baby’s sleep, heart rate, and breathing; and abnormal levels of the neurotransmitter could hamper an infant’s breathing. The findings suggest that some babies have an underlying vulnerability to SIDS, and researchers hope there will one day be a test to identify those at risk.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Iranian “President” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wearing protective goggles.
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SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: ***Attorney Susan Estrich ***Sports team owner Mark Cuban ***TV talk show host Mike Huckabee ***Agent Chris Silberman ***Political commentator Arianna Huffington ***Pianist George Winston ***12 members of the White House staff ***Publicist Dick Guttman ***Music manager Jim Morey ***Vice-President Joe Biden ***Psychology Today magazine editor Kaja Perina ***Over 100 Academy Award winners ***Nationally syndicated radio talk show host Doug Stephan ***The Wrap Editor Sharon Waxman ***Super-model Cindy Crawford,along with over 317,000 other “influencers” who understand that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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 LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Powerful music attorney Fred Goldring and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson were among the six new members named to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities late last week by President Obama. Goldring, a partner in Goldring, Hertz & Lichtenstein, has represented the likes of Will Smith, Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, The Black Eyed Peas and Britney Spears and he is the former chairman of Rock The Vote.
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SOLDIER WATER BOARDS 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER: U.S. Army soldier Joshua Tabor has admitted to water boarding his 4-year-old daughter because she couldn’t recite the alphabet, according to police. Tabor, stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington, was arrested after being seen walking around his neighborhood wearing a military-issue Kevlar helmet and threatening to break windows. Cops went to Tabor’s home and spoke with his girlfriend, who told them she found the girl hiding in a closet with bruises and scratches on her back and neck. “Daddy did it,” the girl told the woman. Police say Tabor admitted to the torture because he was so angry the girl could not recite the alphabet.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By MALCOLM GLADWELL (WRITER): I love thrillers of all kinds and Lee Childs is the master of the form. I am about to read an advance copy of his next book.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By STUART ELLIOTT: Madison Avenue played it safe, dusting off characters like Sock Monkey and calling in stars of yore like Abe Vigoda.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By DR. ANDREW WEIL (Founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine): Since 2005, when I raised the suggested dosage of vitamin D from 400 to 1,000 IU (International Unit), clinical evidence has been accumulating to suggest that a higher dose of vitamin D is more appropriate to help maintain optimum health.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: The way the Senate works is no longer consistent with a functioning government, and senators should change the rules to end obstructionism.
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THE LIST RANT By ERICKA T. BASS: 1. The things that piss me off uncontrollably are hidden fees, not getting a human on the phone, the option to speak in Spanish, cell-phones, people who text while driving, incomprehensible bills, dog poop, and waiting for repair people. 2. I will never be a poet if it means my tone must be delicate. 3. My tears are sincere and I hate emotional bullshit. 4. The city of Los Angeles is run by a group of people who couldn’t get a management position at Taco Bell. 5. I love the gay comic Jason Stuart. 6. My last visit to Chin-Chin made me puke. 7. Let’s face the fact dear friends, that art is a sacred calling. 8. Neil Young looks dirty. 9. The women I have known that have attended Vassar are shallow, love sex and can’t cook worth-a-crap. 10. Outside the U.S., most of my fans live in Beijing. 11. Believe it or not, I was a dreamy little girl who my classmates thought was steely cold. But it didn’t matter because I had big boobs and the guys love me. ***Shout back at Erika T. Bass- Email LBNElert@TimeWire.net. (Please Note: The opinions expressed by Erika T. Bass are those of her alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the LBN E-Lert or its staff.)
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By ARTHUR ASHE: If I were to say, “God, why me?” about the bad things, then I should have said, “God, why me?” about the good things that happened in my life.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Conrad Murray will plead not guilty when he is arraigned on involuntary manslaughter charges relating to the death of Michael Jackson, TMZ reports. Murray will arrive 20 to 30 minutes before the 1:30 p.m. arraignment, and 20 Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies will be at the courthouse. Police have had a security plan in place for a while to deal with crowd control and concerns for Murray’s safety. Murray is expected to post a $25,000 bail and then leave for Las Vegas or Houston. ***MTV chiefs are cracking down on the money-grabbing “Jersey Shore” stars’ lucrative personal appearances that are netting them up to $7,500 a night. They’ve ordered the cast — including Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, “Pauly D” Delvecchio and Jenni “JWoww” Farley — to rein in their appearances at clubs and bars or face strict fines or even legal action. ***Sarah Silverman doesn’t criticize ex-boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel in the next issue of Page Six Magazine, coming out Thursday in The N.Y. Post. But the way she praises her current beau, writer Alec Sulkin, it sounds like she’s happy she moved on. “The guy I’m dating now, who is so awesome, is not my typical fare. He’s really skinny. Usually I like pudgy, macho-ish guys. But I think I mistook macho-ish for strong, emotionally. And I think it’s really the opposite. I’m with this guy who’s so unafraid to, I think he’s the first guy in a decade who’s given me any kind of compliment, like saying I’m pretty or anything.”
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Jonathan Swift wrote “Gulliver’s Travels” in 1726 as a satire on human nature, but today it is a children’s story. ***Humans begin to feel thirsty after losing just 1% of the water in their bodies. ***During the Middle Ages, sugar was considered a luxury and cost nine times as much as milk. ***Hurricanes and tornadoes rotate clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. ***By age 65, the average American will have watched the equivalent of 9 uninterrupted years of television.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Iran’s favorite TV show isn’t Al-Jazeera or CNN, it’s ‘American Idol’ ” -Sen. Chuck Schumer speaking on the Westernization of Iran to the AIPAC annual dinner at the Marriott Marquis.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Feb. 8, 1996, in a ceremony at the Library of Congress, President Clinton signed legislation revamping the telecommunications industry, saying it would “bring the future to our doorstep.”
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
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 • FEBRUARY 7, 2010 |
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 SUPER BOWL PREDICATIONS: Super Bowl predictions are in the fabric of the game itself. And it seems like everyone has one for Super Bowl XLIV. As the hours before kickoff are being counted down, we asked our football experts at NFL.com and NFL Network who will win the Big Game? The results were heavily skewed toward Indianapolis; 13 picked the Colts, four liked the Saints, and one couldn’t decide to follow his head (Colts) or heart (Saints).
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TOYOTA HAS PATTERN OF SLOW RESPONSE ON SAFETY ISSUES: Toyota’s recalls and disclosures in recent months are part of a lengthy pattern in which the automaker has often reacted slowly to safety concerns, in some instances making design changes without telling customers about problems with vehicles already on the road, an examination of its record shows.
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IRAN UPS ITS NUCLEAR GAME: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization to begin work on a higher-grade nuclear fuel for a Tehran medical-research reactor, according to Reuters. His announcement comes in direct opposition to a plan, agreed upon last year by Iran and six major powers, for the country to send its low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for higher-refined fuel and to quell fears about Tehran’s ability to make an atomic bomb. In a televised speech, Ahmadinejad said “We had told them (the West) to come and have a swap, although we could produce the 20 percent enriched fuel ourselves.” His comments prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to again call on the international community for sanctions to halt Iran’s nuclear work.
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PALIN ‘READY FOR ANOTHER REVOLUTION!’: “How’s that hopey-changey thing workin’ out for you?” Sarah Palin asked a crowd of 1,100 gathered for the first National Tea Party Convention Saturday night, part of a 40-minute speech assaulting the Obama administration and pumping up the conservative faithful. “America is ready for another revolution,” Palin said.
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 CLIMATEGATE PROFESSOR CONSIDERED SUICIDE: Phil Jones, the British professor who was embroiled in an email scandal over climate change research, considered killing himself, he told The Times of London. He also said that people continue to threaten him as well. “I was shocked. People said I should go and kill myself. They said that they knew where I lived. They were coming from all over the world,” Jones said. He defends the work done by his climate research unit at the University of East Anglia but has stepped down from the post.
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 ‘SNOWMAGEDDON’ OVER?:The snow has finally let up and blizzards warnings have been lifted in the storm some are calling “Snowmageddon” or the “Snowpocalypse,” but Mid-Atlantic States are still dealing with the fallout. Around 100,000 people are still without power, bus service and above-ground rail has been cancelled in Washington, D.C., and drivers are being urged to stay off the roads. “Monday is not going to be a get-to-work day,” said an official from the Virginia Department of Transportation, estimating that plowing would continue through “the better part of next week.”
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FINANCE LEADERS VOW TO KEEP GREECE IN LINE: The G-7 vowed to ensure that Greece would fulfill its financial obligations in the wake of a global stock-market rout last week attributed largely to fears over how that nation’s economic problems would affect the EU and its common currency, the euro. At the weekend’s summit in Canada, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he was confident that Greece, which has been hit by the budget-deficit crisis, would meet tough new belt-tightening targets.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Spike Lee, wearing his trademark N.Y. Yankee cap, having breakfast solo at News Café in South Beach. ***Adam Sandler, David Spade and Chris Rock hanging out at the Gansevoort Hotel on Collins Avenue. *** Jim Kelly telling people he was drinking and golfing all day at the GQ pre-game Super Bowl party at the Bud Light Hotel, which normally goes by the name Doubletree Surfcomber. ***John Elway having a burger in New York at Rare Bar & Grill on Lexington in NYC. ***Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler spent quality time side by side in Los Cabos, Mexico on Saturday. ***Ready for a fun-filled trip to southern Florida, Brad Pitt and Maddox were spotted departing from LAX Airport on Saturday. ***Heading out for their usual weekend Kabbalah outing, Madonna, along with three of her children, were spotted in New York City on Friday evening. ***BE AN LBN CORRESPONANT-Send your celebrity sightings to LBNELERT@TimeWire.net.
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GET WITH THE PROGRAM: Every day tens of thousands of LBN E-Lert readers FORWARD this LBN E-Lert to tens of thousands of their friends, family and associates. Please join the revolution. Forward the LBN. Your friends will thank you.
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 SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOR GROUNDED: NASA officials have delayed the launch of the space shuttle Endeavor for at least a day because of cloud cover over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission comes at a time when President Barack Obama is preparing to abandon the U.S. space agency’s effort to return astronauts to the moon by 2020.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: The smallest dog on record was a matchbox-size Yorkshire Terrier. It was 2.5″ tall at the shoulder; 3.5″ from nose tip to tail, and weighed only 4 ounces.
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JON PETERS’ HARASS SUIT TO HAVE ALL-STAR CAST: Hotheaded Hollywood producer Jon Peters’ tell-all may be shelved, but the book proposal that rocked Tinseltown could be turned against him as evidence at a sexual-harassment trial. Peters is being sued by his “Superman: Man of Steel” co-producer and former staffer, Brian Quintana, for sexual harassment. A jury trial is slated to start in LA on March 1, just days before the Oscars. Peters strenuously denies Quintana’s claims. Quintana’s wish list of witnesses he wants to subpoena reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood, many of whom Peters threatened to dish on in his book. The leading ladies include Barbra Streisand, Salma Hayek, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez and Oprah Winfrey. Male stars include Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio. Among the directors on the list are Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner and JJ Abrams. Quintana would also like to call Barry Diller, David Geffen, Benny Medina, Peter Guber and three of Peters’ ex-wives. There’s no guarantee anyone on Quintana’s list will have to take the stand unless they have evidence relevant to his case.
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—–LBN E-Lert: Charity Link of the Week—–
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 LBN-SNAP: Actress Lindsey Shaw.
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CENTER OF DATE: A law to let same-sex couples marry and adopt is pushing Mexico City to the forefront of the gay rights movement.
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 CABBAGE PATCH CEO GETS MADOFF DIGS: The marketing mogul behind Cabbage Patch kids and Pokémon toys is moving into jailed Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff’s New York apartment, the New York Post reports. Alfred R. Kahn, the CEO of 4Kids Entertainment, has signed a deal for the Upper East Side apartment, which was recently listed at $8.9 million.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Billy Crystal has grossed $21 million with two tours of his one-man show, “700 Sundays,” and might bring it back to Broadway.
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 LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Sade will release “Soldier of Love,” her first new album in 10 years, on Tuesday.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Sunday at midnight is the final closing for Equator Books on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, California.
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LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***Peyton Manning is not just the N.F.L.’s most valuable player for the fourth time, but perhaps the dominant player of his generation. ***He won’t train with his teammates. He cultivates slights more than his public image. He doesn’t care about money. And that may be why Shani Davis is the best speed skater in the world. ***Tiger Woods is headed back to his home in Florida sometime next week and has pinpointed his return to golf, according to someone who works for the Woods family. The sources say he is aiming to play in the Tavistock Cup — an event that pits pros from the Isleworth Golf & Country Club against the pros from the nearby Lake Nona Golf & Country Club. ***Former NFL star Warren Sapp was arrested by Miami Beach police this afternoon and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery stemming from an allegedly violent confrontation with his girlfriend. ***Indianapolis Colts receiver Pierre Garcon has dedicated his play in the Super Bowl to Haiti, where he has family and friends. He’s also teamed up with a Haitian missionary to raise money and awareness for the people there.
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Commissioner of Baseball Allan “Bud” Selig 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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AN EXPLOSION AT A CONNECTICUT POWER PLANT NEAR HARTFORD HAS CAUSED “MASS CASUALTIES: Two people have been confirmed dead, said Middletown, Connecticut, police Sgt. Chuck Jacobucci, but authorities expect the number to rise since they are still searching for people.
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3 KILLED WHEN TWO PLANES COLLIDE NEAR COLORADO AIRPORT: Two planes collided in midair Saturday in Boulder, Colorado, killing three people, authorities said. One of the planes, a single-seat Piper Pawnee, was towing a glider. The pilot of the Piper died in the collision, said Rick Brough of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. After the collision, the pilot of the glider was able to detach from the plane and land safely, Brough said. The second aircraft involved in the collision was a Cirrus SR 20. Two people on that plane also died, Brough said.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: *** Sony scored a touchdown pass this Super Bowl weekend with its Nicholas Sparks lit adaptation “Dear John” earning an estimated $32.4 million, enough to tackle 20th Century Fox’s holdover phenomenon “Avatar,” which landed in the No. 2 spot with $23.6 million. *** Pixar Animation Studio’s “Up” was named best animated feature at the 37th annual Annie (animation) Awards.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By NICHOLAS CIARELLI: A long-running dispute between Amazon.com and the publishing industry turned into all-out corporate war this week, complete with boycott threats, irritated authors, and the hasty removal of a publisher’s entire catalog from Amazon’s shelves. The matter at hand: e-book pricing. The ugly chain of events followed Apple’s announcement of its own e-book store for the iPad on January 27. After partnering with Apple, major publishers descended upon Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to demand a big concession from the online retailer: the ability to set their own prices for e-books. For new releases, the publishers plan to raise those prices to $12.99 or $14.99, a hefty increase from the $9.99 Amazon presently charges for most books.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: Yemen’s former prime minister, Abdul Karim al-Iryani, got right to the point when I arrived at his Sana home for dinner: “So, Thomas, did it take Abdulmutallab to finally get you here?” Yes, it is true, I admitted, because that young Nigerian, trained in Yemen by Al Qaeda, tried to blow up a Northwest jetliner on Christmas Day, I decided I had to see Yemen firsthand. I further confessed to Iryani: “I was a bit worried coming here. I half expected to be met at the bottom of the stairs from my Qatar Airways flight by Osama bin Laden himself.” Fortunately, though, I found that Sana is not Kabul, and Yemen is not Afghanistan — not yet. The Walled Old City of Sana, a U.N. World Heritage site with its mud-brick buildings adorned with geometric shapes, was bustling with coffee shops at night and vendors by day. Walking through its streets with a Yemeni friend, we came upon four bearded, elderly Yemeni men — traditional daggers tucked into their belts — discussing a poster taped to a stone wall urging “fathers and mothers” to send their girls to school. When I asked what they thought of that idea, the oldest said he was “ready to give up part of a meal each day so that my girls can learn to read.” Moreover, he added, the poster had just fallen down and he had just taped it back up for others to see. Not what I expected.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: Harold Ford Jr., the transplant with the Tennessee driver’s license who was raised in Washington, D.C., professes that he loves, loves, loves, loves New York.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By FRANK RICH: After Adm. Mike Mullen called for gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military, a curious silence befell the right.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By CESAR CHAVEZ: Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***The Joe Francis/Jayde Nicole club fight fiasco is one step closer to being a distant memory — a judge tossed out part of Joe’s lawsuit against Jayde. The alleged altercation took place back in August. Authorities decided not to press charges, but Joe and Jayde sued each other for assault and battery. ***With charges in the death of Michael Jackson looming over his head, Dr. Conrad Murray sought out peace in an unlikely location — Jackson’s final resting place. Murray showed up at Forest Lawn Memorial Park on Wednesday afternoon to visit the tomb of the man he may or may not have accidentally killed. ***Jersey Shore is about to get bigger. Jenni “JWoww” Farley is planning another boob job to enhance her already enormous assets. She was spotted Friday visiting the Long Island offices of plastic.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***In a standard deck of cards, the only king without a moustache is the king of hearts. ***More than 10% of the world’s salt is used to de-ice American roads. ***In 1952, Albert Einstein was offered the presidency, but he declined to accept. ***Ancient Romans used porcupine quills as toothpicks. ***Ears of corn always have an even number of rows of kernels.
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LBN-QUOTE: “There are many so-called orphanages that have opened in the last couple of years that are not really orphanages at all. They are fronts for criminal organizations that take advantage of people who are homeless and hungry. And with the earthquake they see an opportunity to strike in a big way.”-FRANTZ THERMILUS, the chief of Haiti’s National Judicial Police.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Feb. 7, 1984, space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk.
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 LBN-FACESPACE:
1.Name: Lucy Russell
2.Have you hated anyone? Yes, not too frequently, but it passes and then I love them again.
3.What is your profession? Actress.
4.What is your greatest fear? Paperwork, I wish I knew why. Actually, it’s probably growing up and whatever that represents.
5.Are you superstitious? Not anymore.
6.Do you believe in an after-life? Energy can’t cease to exist, it changes. So we’re all still here, somewhere.
7.Coffee or tea? Tea - I am English - but since I had twins, coffee is pretty central in my life as well.
8.If you had to choose between knowing only the past or the future, which would you prefer? Definitely the past, it’s the only way to free you up to experience your future.
9.Is the world a better place than 20 years ago? It certainly is for me personally - hurrah - but not for us environmentally. The problem is that we’re a bunch of chimps, with the memories of goldfish; we need to work towards more of a chimp-elephant hybrid!
10.Email and website: lucy.russell@btinternet.com www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/page.asp?partid=67
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 • FEBRUARY 6, 2010 |
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: An estimated 1.8 percent of U.S. adults are underweight due to poor nutrition, or health conditions.
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PALIN READIES FOR HER TEA PARTY DEBUT: Sarah Palin is regularly receiving briefings on domestic and foreign policy from a regular group of advisors and installing a television studio in her Wasilla home to reach FOX News with ease, but to what end? No one knows whether she’s preparing for a presidential run, a lucrative position as a media figure, or a party activist. According to the New York Times, her closest aides include Jason Recher, a former McCain campaign aide who clashed with his colleagues in 2008 over their handling of Palin.
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SNOWMAGEDDON’ PARALYZES D.C.: The Washington, D.C. area was again pummeled by a powerful storm Friday night in one of the snowiest winters the region has seen in years. After dark, a full blizzard warning was extended east of the Chesapeake Bay, and snow fell as fast as two inches an hour. The snow is wet and heavy—perfect for snowballs, but also very dangerous.
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LBN-INSIDE THE SUPER-BOWL: ***Is this the final insult? After being removed as FEMA head in 2005 due to his failure handling the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, radio host Michael Brown is backing the Indianapolis Colts over the New Orleans Saints in this year’s Super Bowl. “I have to go with the Colts,” Brown said in a POLITICO Podcast.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Contradicting rumors that his bonus would be six figures, Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein has announced his $9 million, no-cash bonus, the smallest payout in the company’s history in a record year for profits. Goldman’s board voted on the amount—which is in stock compensation, not cash—Friday afternoon, and gave the same amount to Blankfein’s top lieutenants.
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IRAN’S DUBIOUS PEACE CLAIM: Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, predicted a deal over his country’s nuclear program in the “not too distant future,” but his words gained little traction among Western leaders. “Our hand is still reaching out towards [Iran]. But so far it’s reaching out into nothingness,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said at the same Munich security conference where Mottaki made his remarks.
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U.S. BAPTISTS RETURN TO HAITI JAIL: The group of U.S. missionaries charged with child kidnapping in Haiti will face three more days of hearings after being denied provisional release Friday, reported lawyer Edwin Coq. Neither Haitian officials at the courthouse nor the charged Baptists answered questions from journalists, but Coq maintains the group (excluding leader Laura Silsby) was not aware they lacked proper adoption papers, and he said, “It is scandalous that they are being detained.”
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: TV hostess Leeza Gibbons 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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TOYOTA PRESIDENT’S CAREFUL BOW: The length and depth of a bow speaks volumes in Japan, and Toyota President Akio Toyoda’s respectful dip is being dissected for its meaning in the wake of the company’s admission of serious safety issues with its vehicles. Toyoda’s bow at a news conference on Thursday was short, only about a second, and according to the LA Times, a longer one might have been viewed as an admission of guilt in lawsuits over Toyota’s vehicles. Previous CEOs have bowed publicly to atone for their company’s failings in Japan, including Katsuhiko Kawasoe, the former president of Mitsubishi, who apologized for a cover-up of defective cars that led to fatalities over two decades. A group of executives at a drug firm in 1996 that accidentally gave AIDS-contaminated blood to hemophiliacs fell to their knees and lowered their foreheads to the floor before families of the victims.
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TEA PARTIERS TO FORM PAC: Members of the Tea Party movement announced plans to form a political action committee while gathered for their inaugural convention in Nashville, saying they will raise money and provide other forms of support for conservative candidates. The group aims to raise $10 million this year, and will also work on providing political consulting and campaign management to candidates.
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PANDAS GET CELEBRITY WELCOME IN CHINA: After a 15-hour journey on the FedEx Panda Express, famous furry ambassadors Tai Shan and Mei Lan arrived in Chengdu to throngs of photographers and a welcoming ceremony. The pandas returned to China to uphold a deal with the U.S. which stated the animals would return to their country of ownership when they reached 2 years old; but after their long journey together, they will now part ways.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Actress Anne Hathaway.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Stogie smokers will be watching the game at Davidoff at Time Warner Center, where regulars include James Spader, Queen Latifah, Richard Belzer and Robin Williams. ***Veteran comedy agent Danny Robinson having lunch yesterday at the Sparks Grill on Pico in L.A. ***Prominent massage therapist Steve Oskard having dinner last night at The Enterprise Fish Company off Main Street in Santa Monica. ***Sean Hayes having dinner at Marino Restaurant on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. ***Former Dodger and Padre hero Steve Garvey and his wife Cindy at the launch party of Morgan’s in the Desert- James Beard Award winning Chef Jimmy Schmidt’s new restaurant at La Quinta Resort near Palm Springs. ***Rant columnist smoking a cigar out in front of Carney’s on the Sunset Strip last night around mid-night. *** Charlize Theron braved the rain to join host Quentin Tarrantino for a dinner party at Mr. Chow’s in Beverly Hills on Friday evening. ***Eva Longoria and Tony Parker out for dinner in Pacific Palisades, California on Friday evening. ***Stepping out for night two of the International Film Festival, Sandra Bullock attended the annual fest on Friday night. ***Natalie Portman was spotted reporting for duty on the set of “Black Swan” yesterday. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***The F.D.A. may update serving sizes for foods like chips, cookies and ice cream to reflect how Americans really eat.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By PETER BEINART: Republicans think about terrorism the way Democrats think about poverty. Democrats know their anti-poverty policies don’t always work. But they tell themselves that at least their hearts are in the right place, at least they care about the problem.That’s the way Republicans think about terrorism. In unguarded moments, honest Republicans will admit that not all of the Bush administration’s anti-terror policies worked. But they tell themselves that at least they know America is at war; at least they know the terrorists are evil; at least they really care about the problem.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Steve Urkel, now and then.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MICHAEL CIEPLY and PAULA SCHWARTZ: The whoops and giggles, heard when “The Blind Side” was announced as a best picture nominee, were the sound of Hollywood surprising itself.
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—–LBN E-Lert: Charity Link of the Week—–
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SERIOUS BUSINESS: Why do you think many leading executives from - Pitney Bowes, RadioShack, Foot Locker, Mattel, Monsanto, Maytag, Clorox, Levi Strauss, Starbucks, CarMax, Hilton Hotel’s Adolph Coors, Hormel Foods, Southwest Airlines, Gillette, Oracle, Northwest Airlines, Nike all read the LBN E-Lert daily? One clue, they aren’t stupid.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By ALESSANDRA STANLEY: “Undercover Boss,” a CBS reality show that turns the tables on management, seems tailor-made for the times but it paints too rosy a picture of white-collar benevolence.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By CHARLES M. BLOW: President Obama’s new sense of vigor comes as a welcome reprieve from a year in which he toddled about as if someone had slipped him an Ambien.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MATTHEW DeBORD: Companies that aim for cultish loyalty are vulnerable because they lack the ability to handle doubt, dismay or the obliteration of trust.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BILL O’REILLY: A few months ago, I wrote an article for Parade magazine about what President Obama could teach America’s kids. Basically, the piece told children that despite having no father present and a rather loopy mom, the president was able to prosper and achieve the most powerful position in the world.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By JOSHUA ROBINSON: Post-quake Haiti has lines for everything. More often than not, they turn into mad scrums and minor riots, especially when food or water is involved. But one of the more peaceful queues here forms each night under the watchful eyes of U.S. Marines, outside the American Embassy. The reward for patience is much greater than a day’s worth of rations. At the front of the line, endless hours of waiting away, lies the chance for a ticket to the United States. When people first join the queue, usually with a suitcase and a few relatives in tow, every one of them thinks that he or she has a shot at making it out. In truth, not everyone is equal.
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LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT: No stream rises higher than its source. What ever man might build could never express or reflect more than he was. He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Andrew Young says the FBI has a copy for the John Edwards sex tape, according to court documents. The FBI has been investigating the money that exchanged hands during Edwards’ second White House campaign. ***Taylor Swift and John Mayer’s fledgling romance has already hit the skids - because her protective mother hates his wild past. The unlikely couple heated up after Taylor’s December breakup with Twilight hunk Taylor Lautner. But before the love affair could take flight, her mother Andrea made her disapproval clear, sources say. ***Howard K. Stern and the two doctors who treated Anna Nicole Smith have a date with a jury on August 4. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich face a total of 23 felonies — including illegally funneling sedatives and opiates to Smith. ***Leif Garrett has been charged with a felony count of heroin possession following his drug bust on Monday at an L.A. Metro-link station. As we first reported, our sources say cops searched Leif at the Metro-link station after they spotted him shaking and sweating. ***Britney’s little sis, Jamie Lynn Spears, has reportedly split from boyfriend and baby daddy Casey Aldridge. The cause of the breakup was not initially reported.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***If Los Angeles County were a country, it would be the world’s 19th largest economy. ***The Sahara Desert is growing at a rate of about 1 square kilometer per month. ***The average case of the hiccups lasts 5 minutes. ***More people admit to fearing spiders than fearing death. ***Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team his sophomore year.
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LBN-QUOTE: “These people here are dying, but they keep me alive.”–PIERRE-LOUIS MONFORT, who single-handedly runs a tuberculosis clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Feb. 6, 1952, Britain’s King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.
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LBN-FACESPACE:
1. Name: Shelene Atanacio.
2. Occupation: Actor, Writer and Author of book, “Act From The Inside Out”
3. If you could sleep with one celebrity, who would it be? James Dean.
4. If you could have dinner with one dead person, who? Marilyn Monroe - I’ve been watching a lot of old movies lately.
5. If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where and why? Somewhere in South America, to get fluent in my Spanish and Salsa dance.
6. What Makes You Unique? I’m uniquely versatile. I’ve been able to play a secret agent and fight off 5 bad guys, write for my book, be a salsa dancer in a music video, write and consult for an investment newsletter, help my son with his homework, and attend my son’s school PTA meetings all in the same week.
7. What’s the best thing about your job? The ability to see the world through different lenses, depending on the character I am playing or a story I am writing.
8. Who would you want to be in another life? The Real Laura Croft.
9. Do you know anyone who’s had sex for money? Not for sure, but I have a burning feeling I might. I try not to make assumptions.
10. E-mail and website: sheleneatanacio@gmail.com, www.shelene-atanacio.com, www.actfromtheinsideout.com.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga.
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 • FEBRUARY 5, 2010 |
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JOBLESS RATE DOWN TO 9.7%; 20,000 JOBS LOST IN JANUARY: In its latest report on employment, the government said on Friday that American employers shed 20,000 nonfarm jobs in January and that job losses in 2009 were worse than previously reported. Though the government’s survey of households found a drop in the unemployment rate, to 9.7 percent in January from 10 percent in December, the new figures raised concern that the recovering economy may be slow to bring relief for workers.
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TEA PARTY CONVENTION KICKS OFF WITH RACE-BAITING: Its credibility already thrown into question by rival activists, the Tea Party Convention in Nashville did little to quiet critics who say the grass-roots movement often flirts with extremism. Former Rep. Tom Tancredo, famous for his anti-immigration politics, offered a racially incendiary opening day speech on Thursday in which he denounced “the cult of multiculturalism” and said President Obama was elected because “we do not have civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.” The line about tests carried an explosive edge beyond its schoolyard taunting: literacy and civics voting tests were notoriously used to prevent blacks from voting during segregation and were banned by the Voting Rights Act in 1964.
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GLOBAL STOCKS TUMBLE: Stock prices fell across Europe and Asia on Friday morning, extending a stock-market slide that sent the Dow down 268 points, or 2.6 percent, on Wall Street Thursday. Recent stock-market woes have more to do with Europe’s limping economy than America’s own slow recovery. Financial crises in European countries like Greece and Portugal, which use the euro, have some frightened that the EU’s currency could rapidly lose its value and affect growth worldwide as a result.
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 EVEN WHERE PAKISTANI LAW EXISTS, TALIBAN FIND A POROUS BORDER: Gaping holes in security checks along the border remain at heavily trafficked crossings, a problem hardly contained to Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas.
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TOYOTA:’THIS IS A MAJOR CRISIS’: In his first press conference since recalling millions of cars, the president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, apologized to drivers for the “major crisis” and said the “safety of customers is vital.” The company is now considering issuing a recall for its Prius model due to a brake defect. In addition to a recently launched investigation into the Prius brakes, the automaker is now launching a probe into the Lexus HS250h, a luxury hybrid model in Japan. The car uses the same brake system as the Prius. No complaints have been filed for the Lexus HS250h, and the investigation is to ensure safety, a Toyota representative said.
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INDIA, PAKISTAN TO RESUME TALKS?: The ice between India and Pakistan may be melting. A Delhi official recently told the BBC that India proposed talks between the two countries’ foreign ministers and Pakistani officials are reportedly seeking clarification on the substance of the negotiations, with Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi pushing for the resumption of a “comprehensive dialogue” on everything from the troubled region of Kashmir to terrorism. India and Pakistan began a formal dialogue in 2004, but India broke off diplomatic contact with Pakistan in 2008 after the attack on Mumbai appeared linked to Pakistani militant groups. The U.S. would welcome increased diplomatic contact between the two countries, which is seen as vital to the security of the region.
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WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT: ***Over 100 winners of the Academy Awards. ***3 Nobel Prize winners. ***Over 300 Grammy Award winners. **12 members of the White House staff. ***Over 500 best-selling authors. ***The Mayors of Baltimore, San Francisco and Denver. ***2 Billionaires - along with over 317,000 other “influencers” in all 50 of the United States and 24 foreign countries including China,India, England, Japan and Australia.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***“American Idol” producers are said to have approached Howard Stern to replace Simon Cowell as the hit Fox show’s tough-talking judge. They approached the shock jock after he discussed on-air that his exclusive Sirius XM Radio deal is set to expire. ***Interview has hired back Elle V.P./managing director Dan Ragone to be the magazine’s president. ***The New York Times had a four-star headline goof yesterday, misidentifying the Joint Chiefs Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, as a “general”. ***The Los Angeles Times is losing its Pulitzer Prize-winning automotive columnist, Dan Neil, to the Wall Street Journal. With the ongoing shrinking of the Times’ news hole and reconfiguring of sections, Neil’s column has been bounced around the paper.
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 LBN-INSIDE THE SUPER-BOWL: ***Sunday’s game on CBS could be the most-viewed Super Bowl ever, according to chatter among broadcasters. Pregame features include news anchor Katie Couric interviewing President Obama live. Top CBS exec Sean McManus says that “extraordinary” ratings are possible. ***Google is offering Super Bowl advertisers exposure far beyond television. Marketers can upload their ads on YouTube’s Super Bowl Ad Blitz page. The Internet giant is also promising marketers more exposure if they buy video, search and display ads. ***The nearly 40 advertisers that bought ad time in the CBS Super Bowl telecast are serving up supersized self-promotion on social media sites. “They’ve deputized an entire population via Twitter and Facebook to spread the news of these ads. Folks do it absolutely for free.” ***Brand Bowl 2010, a new advertising-review site from Boston ad firm Mullen and social media monitor Radian6, will collect and analyze all worldwide tweets mentioning Super Bowl commercials and translate them into a near-real-time, top-10 ranking of each brand’s popularity. ***The Who, once known for embodying an era of risk and experimentation, will provide the halftime entertainment at Sunday’s Super Bowl, where everything is tightly scripted.
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MURRAY’S ARRAIGNMENT POSTPONED: Dr. Conrad Murray was expected to be arraigned on Friday on charges of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson’s death, but TMZ reports that the arraignment has been delayed because of fighting between the Los Angeles County district attorney and the LAPD. Murray’s lawyers had been negotiating with the DA’s office for a civil, voluntary surrender, which would preclude the need to bring Murray to court in handcuffs. But the LAPD reportedly “vehemently objected” to the idea, as ‘cuffs are standard operating procedure in homicide cases. Plans for Friday’s arraignment are now off, according to TMZ.
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 OBAMA CALLS FOR HEALTH-CARE VOTE: President Obama is ready to move forward with health-care legislation, calling Thursday for talks and a resolution with Republicans so the bill can move to Congress. His request comes on the heels of Democrats losing their supermajority when Scott Brown was sworn into the Senate, and Obama says Democratic leaders will now work on compromises to health-care bills passed by the House and Senate last year, then move to high-level talks with Republicans.
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SETTLEMENT PLAN: The first cases seeking compensation for 9/11 responders’ illnesses and injuries are scheduled for trial on May 16. But a settlement plan has been drafted, the judge said.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***Anna Wintour (pictured) shivering in front of the Lucille Lortel Theatre before a performance of “The Pride,” then greeting her daughter, Bee Shaffer, with a warm, “Hello, my darling”. ***Alec Baldwin at Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC loading up on fudge, chocolate and Swedish Fish. ***Mick Jagger and an unidentified young blonde at the Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar in NYC with Mickey Rourke’s girl friend, Elena Kuletskaya. ***Bono, in Bulgari sunglasses, and Damien Hirst, in a fez, dining with a gaggle of gorgeous girls at Da Silvano in NYC. **Former Dodger and Padre hero Steve Garvey and his wife Cindy at the launch party of Morgan’s in the Desert, James Beard Award winning Chef Jimmy Schmidt’s new restaurant at La Quinta Resort near Palm Springs. ***Tending to her parental duties, Heidi Klum was spotted picking up her kids from karate lessons in Los Angeles yesterday. ***Model/actress Bar Refaeli was spotted out and about in Paris, France earlier today. ***Gearing up for this weekend’s football festivities, Carrie Underwood teamed up with Queen Latifah to attend the Super Bowl XLIV Pregame press conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Thursday evening. ***LeAnn Rimes was spotted covering her face after leaving a doctor’s office in Beverly Hills, CA on Thursday. ***Keeping up on his mad soccer skills, Cristiano Ronaldo was spotted taking the field with his Real Madrid teammates in Spain on Thursday. ***BE AN LBN CORRESPONDANT-Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@timewire.net.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Just as America’s recession begins to ebb, trouble is brewing in Europe that may prolong a downturn and ricochet through the global economy as it struggles to recover.
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DO YOU SUPPORT LBN?: If you enjoy the LBN E-Lert each day (7 days a week), there is a simple way to show your support. Simply CLICK on all of the Sponsor Links. Support our advertisers.
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TURKISH GIRL BURIED ALIVE FOR TALKING TO BOYS: The body of a 16-year-old girl police say was buried alive by relatives in an “honor” killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys has been discovered in Kahta, Turkey. Turkish police discovered the body after acting on an anonymous tip. The tipster told police that the girl was killed after a family council meeting, and had been buried under a chicken pen. Police say that the girl had complained two months earlier that her grandfather beat her for talking to boys.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***The American Society for Radiation Oncology issued a six-point plan that it said would improve safety and quality and reduce the chances of errors in medical radiation. ***A man who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2003 and had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state was able to communicate with scientists using just his thoughts. Researchers asked the man a series of yes-or-no questions while monitoring his brain activity through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging. They found that by changing his thoughts, the patient was able to communicate accurate answers. Several other patients involved in the study also showed signs of awareness. The findings raise serious questions about the treatment of patients diagnosed as “vegetative.”
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 LBN-SNAP: Actress Ali McGraw.
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LONE REPUBLICAN BLOCKS ALL OBAMA NOMINEES: Maybe it’s time to revisit the Senate’s arcane rules, which allow any individual senator to block any presidential appointee on a whim. With dozens of government posts still unfilled, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is reportedly throwing a historically unprecedented temper tantrum by placing a hold on at least 70 presidentially nominated jobs. Shelby’s office will not talk to reporters about the reported move, which can be undertaken anonymously, but according to Congress Daily the lawmaker has clashed with the White House over a $40 billion military contract whose recipient is threatening to scrap a planned factory in Mobile, Alabama.
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 LBN-SNAP: Former talent agent Mike Ovitz.
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 MILDRED’S TEMPLE KITCHEN, CANADIAN RESTAURANT, ENCOURAGES CUSTOMERS TO HAVE SEX IN ITS BATHROOMS: Visitors to Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, a restaurant in Toronto, Canada, are invited to spice up their love life this Valentine’s Day with a trip to the bathroom. “Have you given any thought to moving beyond the bedroom?” patrons were asked in a not-too-subtle promotional e-mail. The individual bathrooms will be open for sexual escapades from the 12-15th February. According to the manager, Rory Gallagher, a french maid will be working the toilets, making sure everything is “going smoothly and kept clean.”
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Veteran actor and signer Jon Schneider signs with Michael Gursey for management.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By MARIO BATALI (Chef and TV Personality): The pasta at Marea in New York is just definitive. Michael White is one of the great Italian chefs working in America today. He does this dish with octopus, ragu and bone marrow that will just blow you out of the water. His understanding of fish is just amazing.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By OLIVER NORTH: No nation ever has had a better military than today’s all-volunteer U.S. armed forces. Though I wouldn’t trade anything for the young Americans I served with in Vietnam — or afterward — those presently wearing America’s uniforms are the brightest, best-educated, best-trained and most combat-experienced military the world ever has seen.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By DICK MORRIS: As he tells us he wants to reduce the dangerous budget deficit, President Obama brings to mind the hapless engineers at Toyota who find that their vehicles accelerate whether or not the driver wants them to. It appears that no matter how hard Obama jams on the brakes with his newfound commitment to deficit reduction (after almost doubling the deficit in one year), the level of red ink just seems inexorably to rise. The House voted yesterday to raise the federal debt limit another $1.9 trillion.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: Fear-mongering on the deficit as part of the Republican political strategy could end up doing as much harm as the fear-mongering on weapons of mass destruction.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By DEBORAH BLUM: An admission by the N.F.L. that football-related concussions can cause long-term brain damage comes 80 years after the data.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By WALT DISNEY: I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***It doesn’t seem right that Jesus and Madonna should split. And apparently, it’s not true. The New York Daily News reports that Jesus Luz and the material girl are still an item, despite reports they ended their yearlong affair. The pair attended the London premiere party for A Single Man on Monday, and according to an unnamed source, “they were all over each other and were even kissing in front of everyone,” although Luz left early, leaving Madonna free to chat up ex-husband Guy Ritchie. ***An outbreak of bedbugs sent suits at Universal Music Group and top talent agents from ICM scurrying from their Midtown offices. Executives from Universal and their Island Def Jam label, which boasts artists such as Rihanna and Jay-Z, were sent fleeing from 825 Eighth Ave. last month. Then, on Wednesday, staff at ICM — which reps Megan Fox, Halle Berry and Mickey Rourke in LA and authors Patricia Cornwell, Nora Ephron, Toni Morrison and Candace Bushnell in New York — were sent home after the critters scuttled into their offices below. A source said, “Universal had its three floors fumigated last month. But this week, a small area of the ICM offices directly below were found to be infested, so the office was evacuated and fumigated within 24 hours. They even brought in bedbug-seeking beagles.” One source said the problem was building-wide. A Universal rep said, “We were aware of the issue and it has been resolved on our floors.” ***Rachel Uchitel, the 35-year-old buxom brunette whose romance with Tiger Woods launched the mother of all celebrity cheating scandals, is now dating Hooters heir Christopher Harding. ***Charlie Sheen will be charged with felony menacing in connection with the Christmas Day incident with his wife, Brooke Mueller, in Aspen, this according to law enforcement sources. We’ve learned in addition to the felony, Sheen, who stars in “Two and a Half Men”, will be charged with misdemeanor assault.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***There are 635,013,559,599 possible hands in the game of bridge. ***A storm officially becomes a hurricane when its winds reach 74 mph. ***The head of a newborn baby makes up one-fourth of its body weight. ***King Louis XIV of France once established the court position of “Royal Chocolate Maker to the King.” ***India is the world’s largest democracy with more than 600 million voters.
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LBN-QUOTE: “One’s friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.” - George Santayana.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Feb. 5, 1937, President Roosevelt proposed increasing the number of Supreme Court justices; critics charged Roosevelt with attempting to “pack” the court.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 • FEBRUARY 4, 2010 |
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FEDS KNEW TOYOTA’S TROUBLES: Prius envy is a thing of the past now that Japanese officials have ordered Toyota to investigate the 2010 Prius braking system. U.S. officials have also announced that they will conduct their own brake probe. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received 171 complaints from Prius owners by 2010, 111 involving brake problems, and at least 2 leading to driver injuries.
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LBN MEANS SERIOUS BUSINESS: Leading executives from many large corporations including — Intel, Lowe’s, Wells Fargo, Allstate, Microsoft, Walgreen, J.C. Penney, AT & T, Safeway, MetLife, Dell, Johnson & Johnson Costco, Procter & Gamble, Bank of America, Target, Boeing, Kroger, Home Depot, Citigroup, Ford Motor and Wal-Mart understand that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a “power-tool.
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SCOTT BROWN TO BE SWORN IN THURSDAY: Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown will be sworn in as the successor to Ted Kennedy as early as Thursday at 5 p.m., a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. Brown’s attorney had written Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, urging him to certify the election results immediately.
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IRAN MISSILE LAUNCH TAUNTS WEST: Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad found an odd way to continue to antagonize the West on Wednesday: his country fired a rocket into space with a mouse, two turtles, and some worms on board. On the same day, the Iranian leader offered last minute concessions to ship uranium out of Tehran and sideline new sanctions designed for the Islamic republic.
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TOYOTA SAYS PRIUS BRAKES HAD DESIGN FLAWS: Toyota admitted Thursday that the hybrid-electric Prius had problems with its anti-lock braking system, the latest blow to the beleaguered company and one that affects the symbol of the automaker’s engineering prowess. A spokesperson for the company said Toyota had found design problems in models sold before late January, but that it had corrected them in models sold since then, the Associated Press reported. The Prius was drawn into the mounting crisis for Toyota on Wednesday as Japanese officials ordered the company to investigate problems with the brakes on the 2010 model.American safety officials also said they had received dozens of similar complaints.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Drunk driving causes approximately one-third of all traffic fatalities in the United States.
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CHINA’S CURRENCY MANIPULATION?: Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa is urging President Obama to declare that China is manipulating its currency, keeping the yuan value artificially low so that Chinese exports are cheap and foreign imports are expensive in the Chinese market. Obama criticized his predecessor George W. Bush for failing to say China is doing so, but has yet to make the call himself, despite two opportunities.
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LBN-RIP-OFF ALERT: A medium bag of popcorn costs just 60 cents to make but retails for $6, a whopping 900% markup. That’s enough to make “Avatar” fans turn blue. Richard McKenzie, an economics professor at University of California-Irvine, says theater owners mark up the snack so much because they don’t make a profit elsewhere.
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‘TERROR MOM’ FOUND GUILTY: MIT-trained Pakistani woman was found guilty of trying to murder American soldiers and FBI agents while detained in Afghanistan in 2008. A Manhattan jury convicted Aafia Siddiqui, 37, Thursday. She responded, “This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America, and that is where the anger belongs. I can testify to this and I have proof.” Convicted of two counts of attempted murder, Siddiqui will likely face life.
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 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: China is just one of the 24 foreign countries with daily LBN E-Lert readers.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***CBS News chief Sean McManus says that criticizing Katie Couric’s salary is unfair at a time news division jobs are being cut and that he expects the news anchor to stay at the network “for a long time.” Also, dozens of CBS News employees are being laid off. ***Vanity Fair’s new Hollywood app will let users invite friends to make their Oscar picks and compare their selections with each other as well as editors at the Conde Nast magazine. The app also will offer exclusive coverage of Vanity Fair’s Oscar-night party.
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INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER FOR JACKSON DOC: Dr. Conrad Murray will be arraigned Friday and charged with involuntary manslaughter for his alleged role in Michael Jackson’s death last summer. Murray will turn himself in to Los Angeles police Friday morning, TMZ reports. The doctor who allegedly gave Jackson the powerful prescription drug Propofol will be booked and taken to Airport Court, Division 144, before a judge at 1:30 p.m. Cameras will record the event.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Famed experimental writer Don DeLillo shoved aside his love of privacy long enough to give a short interview to The New York Times about his new novel, Point Omega. He told The Times that a 2006 art installation at the MoMA, Douglas Gordon’s “24 Hour Psycho,” inspired the book. The installation slowed down Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho to two frames per second, so that the film lasted a whole day instead of a mere hour and a half.
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STRUGGLE: The Obama administration wants China to stop artificially depressing its currency, a policy that fuels its persistent trade gap with the United States.
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 WASHINGTON SAYS GOODBYE TO PANDA: Breaking up is hard to do, and Washington is relearning that lesson as the city says farewell to Tai Shan, the panda who is bound for China Thursday. Born four years ago, the bamboo-eater is the only panda to survive infancy in Washington’s zoo. He’ll be dragged out of his home by a tractor-trailer and then put on board a FedEx airplane Thursday morning. Giant pandas are endangered, and this one is being taken to the mountainous interior of China to take part in a breeding program.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Australian rock band Men at Work had a massive hit with their 1980s song “Down Under” about a vegemite sandwich and the world’s other temptations. It turns out they had some help as an Australian judge ruled Thursday that the group’s famous flute riff was ripped off from a folk tune. The owner of the song, the entertainment group EMI, may have to pay up to 60 percent of the earnings they made from the international smash. “It’s a big win for the underdog,” said one lawyer.
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 LBN-SNAP: The Coen Brothers.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Has Reese Witherspoon waded back into the dating pool? The Oscar winner, 33, shared dinner for two at Santa Monica’s cozy Italian eatery Locanda Portofino last Thursday with Jim Toth, an agent at Hollywood’s powerful Creative Artists Agency. ***Even Wendy Williams, who’s known for her oversized hair, accessories and other body parts, seemed petite in Joan Rivers’ cavernous great room Tuesday night. Williams attended the book party Rivers hosted for her daughter, Melissa, in her Upper East Side apartment. Hoda Kotb, Rosanna Scotto, Deborah Norville, Robin Quivers, WNBC’s Megan Meany and LXTV’s Sara Gore gathered with Bernadette Peters and Donnie Deutsch to celebrate Melissa’s “Red Carpet Ready: Secrets for Making the Most of Any Moment You’re in the Spotlight.” She’ll host a signing today at Borders at Time Warner Center in NYC. ***City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her longtime partner, Kim Catullo, buying tile at Casale Tile in Ocean, NJ. ***Hugh Jackman and his young son at the Armory Winter Antiques Fair on Park Avenue in NYC. ***Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna, dining with his wife Lizzie Spender at Swifty’s in NYC on their first night back in town. ***Jerry Lewis and Richard (”Law & Order”) Belzer dining at Primola in NYC. ***Stepping out to tend to work duties, Renee Zellweger was spotted out in Beverly Hills on Wednesday night. ***Earlier today, Mel Gibson was spotted at a photo call for “Edge of Darkness” in Paris, France. *** Aussie supermodel, Miranda Kerr was spotted arriving at a photo shoot in Sydney, Australia earlier today. ***BE AN LBN CORRESPONDANT-Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@timewire.net.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***The private equity firm Star Avenue Capital - a partnership between CAA and Irving Place Capital - is buying a majority stake in J Brand, a denim apparel brand whose jeans are popular among the celeb crowd. The agency thus becomes an equity owner in the blue jeans company making this, to Fleming’s recollection, the first time a talent agency has held a stake in a consumer apparel brand. ***As Japanese officials ordered an inquiry into problems with the brakes on the 2010 Prius, Toyota’s stock price dropped about 3.5 percent in early trading Thursday. ***Toyota said Thursday that it posted a net profit in the final three months of last year, a period before the Japanese auto giant was hit by its current global recall of millions of vehicles. ***Fashion designer Zac Posen is in “survival mode” as a rough economy softens his brashness.
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 LBN-AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTO: Real and untouched-Send YOUR awkward family photo to us - e-mail: LBNLert@TimeWire.net (Please put Awkward Family Photo) in the subject line.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By DAN ABRAMS (CEO of Abrams Research and Chief Legal Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC): I am riveted by Jeffrey Toobin’s The Nine at the moment. I’m ashamed to admit that as I should have read it when it came out. I’m reading it old school for now, paperback, but I think I am about a month away from a full-on kindle transition.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By VIVIEENE WALT (Correspondent for Time Magazine): What really blew me away when I saw District 9 was Clinton Shorter’s soundtrack which had me hooked from the opening credits. Sure there’s been enough said (at least until the Oscars) about the science fiction thriller, although plenty of us South Africans who lived though apartheid had issues with the movie’s portrayal of Johannesburg in the 1980s.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MIKE HALE: Tuesday night’s season premiere of “Lost” seemed to be trying to strike a balance between the show’s convoluted mythology and its more human, character-driven dimension.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By GAIL COLLINS: Cutting a federal program is next to impossible because there’s usually somebody who cares much more about keeping it than the White House does about making it go away.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BUZZ ALDRIN (Astronaut, Apollo 11 mission; Best-selling author of “Magnificent Desolation”): With his deeds, not only words, President Obama has revitalized our struggling space program.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By SAMMY DAVIS JR.: When you lose a lover it’s like getting a bad haircut. It grows back in time.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Mariah Carey can’t stand it when husband Nick Cannon is a slob. “She hates when I’m messy when it has to do with her nice stuff. Like, I can’t throw my jacket on the Marilyn Monroe piano — but I do,” Cannon tells Entertainment Weekly. ***Naomi Campbell is planning a series of fashion shows to benefit the victims of the Haitian earthquake, including one during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 12. ***Hard-charging CNN anchorman Anderson Cooper was so moved by the suffering from the earthquake in Haiti, he’s decided to adopt a Haitian orphan. *** Coroner rules actress Brittany Murphy’s death an accident; cites pneumonia, anemia and multiple drug intoxication.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Two out of every five marriages ends up in divorce. ***Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots. ***In 1998, Sony accidentally sold 700,000 camcorders that had the capability to see through clothing. ***Before the invention of toilet paper, French royals used fine linen to wipe. ***The Pony Express only had horses, not ponies.
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LBN-QUOTE: “The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought.” - John Jay Chapman.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Feb. 4, 1974, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 • FEBRUARY 3, 2010 |
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 CIA CHIEF: EXPECT NEW ATTACKS: STAY ALERT: The CIA expects al Qaeda to attack the U.S. in the next three to six months. Agency chief Leon Panetta said Tuesday that the terrorist group is sending new recruits with “clean” records to the U.S. to carry out attacks from inside the country. “The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect,” Panetta said. “It’s the lone-wolf strategy that I think we have to pay attention to as the main threat to this country.”
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TOP DEFENSE OFFICIALS SEEK TO END ‘DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL’: The nation’s top two defense officials called Tuesday for an end to the 16-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, a major step toward allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the United States military for the first time. “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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BOFA BANKERS GET NEAR-RECORD BONUSES, LAUGH OFF ‘THE VOLCKER PLAN’: HEY THERE, BIG SPENDERS: Each banker and trader at Bank of America will collect a bonus between, on average, $300,000 and $500,000. That payout is close to what BofA paid in its peak year of 2006, though the ratio of compensation to revenue is down to 19 percent from 2006’s 27 percent. Twenty-five percent of the bonuses will be paid in cash with the rest in stock that won’t be available for at least one-and-a-half years.
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OBAMA REACHES OUT TO GOP: Who’s bringing the nachos? President Obama will invite Republicans to the White House for the Super Bowl as part of a new strategy to engage the GOP. They’ll also be invited on social visits to Camp David, but it won’t be all R&R, as Obama also plans to engage them in policy initiatives in order to, as The New York Times puts it, “share the burden of governing and put more scrutiny on Republican initiatives.”
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Our collective weight is going up. The average American male has gained 17.1 pounds and the average American female has added 15.4 pounds since 1988.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***U.S. regulators have accused Toyota of dragging its feet on fixing defective gas pedals and are threatening the automaker with civil penalties and further review of its products. Toyota recalled nearly six million vehicles after reports of sudden acceleration that have been linked to at least five fatalities. “While Toyota is taking responsible action now, it unfortunately took an enormous effort to get to this point,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said Tuesday in a statement. “We’re not finished with Toyota and are continuing to review possible defects and monitor the implementation of the recalls.” ***Frederic C. Rosen, the former President and CEO of Ticketmaster, joined Englander Knabe & Allen as a senior counselor.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: By June, about 5.1 million people will own a home whose value is below 75 percent of what is owed.
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 JOHNNY CARSON SEX PARANOIA: TV legend Johnny Carson was so convinced his second wife was bedding football great Frank Gifford, he mounted an undercover mission to catch her cheating! That’s the shocking revelation from Johnny’s former attorney and longtime confidant Henry Bushkin - who also claims the popular Tonight Show host cracked jokes about the New York Giant-turned-broadcaster to hide his grief and went on a drinking binge after finding the evidence he believed pointed to an affair.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***With a little more than a year to go on her contract, Katie Couric is dressing up her resumé. The CBS “Evening News” anchor is facing a cut in her $15 million-a-year salary. More importantly, her bosses at CBS have not yet said whether they want to keep her at any price. ***HDNet chief Mark Cuban charges Google and other content aggregators of being freeloaders — or worse. “The word that comes to mind is vampires.” He urges newspapers and others to block Google News from linking to their sites. “Show some balls.” ***David Morrow, who led TheStreet.com as editor in chief for eight years, died Monday after a month long battle with cancer. He was 49. Morrow’s “uncompromising drive brought considerable growth and acclaim to the Web site,” writes editor in chief Glenn Hall. ***A reason for liberals to tune into Fox News: Jon Stewart will head to enemy territory Wednesday and Thursday to appear on The O’Reilly Factor. Fox News says that O’Reilly and Stewart will talk about media bias, among other things. It’s the second time Stewart will appear on Fox with O’Reilly. O’Reilly, for his part, has appeared on The Daily Show three times. ***Veteran Silicon Valley executive Dan Rosensweig has left the top job at the Guitar Hero gaming franchise to take over Chegg.com, a fast-growing start-up that rents textbooks online. ***At least a dozen of Hollywood’s media have accepted publicist Michael Levine invitation to watch the Super Bowl with L.A.’s Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at the home of Dr. Gary Gitnick. ***Managing director Glenn Bunting has opened Sitrick & Company’s offices in San Francisco, with responsibility for offices in Silicon Valley and South Florida. ***The National Sports Daily would have been 20 years old if it had survived until this past weekend.
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SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Renowned film producer Mike Medavoy 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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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***According to a report that first surfaced on LatinoReview.com, the creator of the “MacGyver” TV series, Lee Zlotoff, may be gearing up to craft a lawsuit against the producers of the Will Forte-starring parody film, “MacGruber.” ***While they’ve made it plain they would like their name back, the Weinstein brothers are now said to be eyeing a potential purchase of both the Miramax moniker and its library. The Wrap reports that two hedge funds have approached Harvey and Bob Weinstein about teaming up to buys the studio, according to an individual with knowledge of the plan. ***According to a translation of Politika Magazine by the Playlist, Johnny Depp is to return to directing with a documentary on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” character Jack Sparrow is fashioned in part on Richards while the rocker played Sparrow’s father in one of the series’ films. ***How did the major agencies do in today’s Oscar-nomination frenzy? ***CAA – 28 ***WME – 12 ***ICM – 8 ***UTA – 5 ***Paradigm – 5 ***Gersh – 4. ***Management 360 has promoted William Choi, Peter Kiernan and Nicole King to partners.
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 SANFORD’S STRANGE WEDDING VOWS: Love Gov. Mark Sanford has a much better adultery defense than debating the meaning of “is”; technically, he never promised wife Jenny that he’d be faithful; in fact, he cut fidelity out of their wedding vows. Jenny recently told 20/20’s Barbara Walters that although “it bothered me to some extent” that Mark wanted the faithfulness clause excised, she “got past it…along with other doubts that I had”, made a “leap of faith”, and married him. Jenny added, “I thought he loved me in his own way, which is not a warm, bubbly way.” And given his Argentina paramour, apparently not a “you’re my soul-mate” way either.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Barbra Streisand joined a host of stars young and old to record the classic “We Are the World” for the Haiti relief effort. Sources said Streisand joined the marathon all-night recording session in LA on Monday and sang the line originally performed by Diana Ross: “There’s a choice we’re making.” Babs did 79 takes before Quincy Jones said from the studio, “That’s perfect.” Others on the single include Wyclef Jean, Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, Pink, Celine Dion, Keith Urban, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Natalie Cole, Akon, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Toni Braxton, Gladys Knight, Justin Bieber, Harry Connick Jr., LL Cool J, Robin Thicke, Rob Thomas, Katharine McPhee, Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and Sean Garrett, who told us: “Everyone put their ego aside to take part. There’s only room for 10 solo parts and there were 85 artists. It was one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen.”
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Ray Liotta attended the Neil Young tribute with Jeff and Deborah Wald as the guests of Neil’s long time manager Elliot Roberts. They were seated with Brian Wilson at one of Neil’s tables. ***Quentin Tarantino and Lady Gaga dining separately at the Standard in Los Angeles. ***Ryan Phillippe, John Legend and the Jonas Brothers jamming out to the Roots at their party at Key Club in LA over the weekend. ***“The City” star Erin Lucas being styled in Kid Dangerous sweaters at the P3R showroom in Beverly Hills. ***Mario Lopez dining with nine friends at Strip House’s private wine room in Vegas before hosting the Miss America Pageant. ***Film director Peter Hankoff and his girlfriend Ilene having dinner last night at the Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset. ***LCO publicist Lee Runchey at the Ozzy Osbourne book signing at Book Soup last night. ***She’s no stranger to international travel, and earlier today Victoria Beckham was spotted arriving at Heathrow Airport in London, England. ***Brad Pitt having lunch at Louise’s Trattoria in Hancock Park. ***Taking some time for their kids, Julia Roberts and Daniel Moder were spotted tag-teaming their parental duties at different points in the day yesterday in Los Angeles. ***First lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden at Wednesday night’s World Series game between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. ***BE AN LBN CORRESPONANT-Send your celebrity sightings to LBNELERT@timewire.net
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 LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Jon Peters’ Hollywood tell-all book has suffered another setback after ghostwriter Bill Stadiem quit it. Stadiem writes in next month’s Vanity Fair that the onetime movie mogul wanted up to $10 million to dish on celebs such as Peters’ ex-wife, Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson and Barbara Walters. Stadiem also writes that the project fell apart after they landed a six-figure deal and the proposal leaked to the media. Stadiem says Peters demanded he cancel his deal with HarperCollins, and then vowed to publish the book himself. Stadiem has now walked away, claiming the “Superman” producer failed to pay him and began acting unreasonably and once threw a tantrum. He writes, “It seemed to me [Peters] wanted a companion as much as he wanted a book.” High-school-principal-turned-media-phenomenon Steve Perry’s PUSH HAS COME TO SHOVE, in which the educator and CNN commentator reveals the “whatever it takes” secrets of the inner-city high school he founded and runs, now being seen as a template for how America can reinvent its schools, sold to Rick Horgan at Crown, by Bonnie Solow at Solow Literary Enterprises (world) ***Actor and activist Ashley Judd’s highly personal memoir about change and hope and human transformation “along with those [stories] of the beautiful and resilient people I’ve met in the most desperate places,” drawing on 500 pages of journal entries compiled while serving as global ambassador for the public health non-profits PSI (Population Services International)/Youth AIDS, sold to Pamela Cannon at Ballantine, for publication in spring 2011, with a foreword by Nicholas Kristof, by Trena Keating at Keating Literary (world English). ***Former US Weekly editor-in-chief Janice Min’s HOW TO BE A MOMSHELL: The Rules and Celebrity Secrets for Being a Thinner, Younger, and Sexier Mom, an inspirational, prescriptive book offering advice to new mothers on how to stay and feel youthful and attractive, using tips from celebrity moms, fitness experts, stylists, hairdressers, make up artists, and others, sold to Kathy Huck at St. Martin’s, at auction, by David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects (NA).
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PASTOR BOB (Pastor Bob is the Founder of the First Fundamental Church of the Bible): Tim Tebow and his mom are great Americans. This Sunday be sure to thank your mom for being pro-life. Get it? If your mom was “pro-choice” you’d be dead right now. *Life is pretty simple–choose God’s narrow road or be on the highway to Hell.
Feeling stressed? These two words spell relief: p-r-a-y-e-r and w-o-r-k. The last American movie masterpiece was “The 10 Commandments” with the great Charlton Heston. I heard Obama’s speech. Now let me give you the real State of the Union: We need to repent or God will continue to judge our nation like he recently did in Haiti. I’m praying for the poor people of Haiti,and I’m praying for you. ***To reply directly to Pastor Bob email, LBNELERT@Timeware.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-RECOMMENDS By DAVID BOULUD (Chef and restaurateur): Last night I had dinner at Le Gavroche in London. It is one of those iconic places I’ve dreamed about going ever since I was a young cook. The Roux family, Le Gavroche’s owners, is legendary amongst chefs. In London working on the opening of my new Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental, I had a free night and jumped at the chance to eat at this legendary restaurant. Behind the stove at Le Gavroche today you’ll find the effervescent Michel Roux Jr. He is proof that the second generation of this culinary dynasty continues to be profoundly worthy of all their accolades.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: I’ve had high hopes for Adm. Mike Mullen ever since I learned that his mom was an assistant to Jimmy Durante and his dad was a Hollywood press agent whose clients included Bob Hope, Ann-Margret, Phyllis Diller, Jimmy Stewart, Carol Burnett and Dyan Cannon. That’s the dream U.S.O. tour. On Tuesday, the craggy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff showed that a lifetime in the military has not knocked all the showbiz pizazz out of him. “I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” Mullen said during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on dropping the archaic “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. “For me personally, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”
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LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: One of the few pleasant surprises of 2009 was that the world’s biggest economies were able to concentrate on healing themselves without any major wars or world-shaking political or geopolitical disruptions. What are the odds that 2010 will be so benign? I’d say quite low. No question, the world’s major economies badly need 2010 to be another quiet year politically and geopolitically, but that will require, at a minimum, that three major struggles — the banks vs. President Obama, China vs. Google & friends, and the world vs. Iran — can be defused with win-win compromises rather than win-lose confrontations. Let’s look at all three. Banks are like the heart that pumps blood — credit — to our country’s corporate muscles. If that heart is malfunctioning, any recovery will be anemic. But heart surgery is a very complex thing. You wouldn’t want yours done by a plumber or a politician. After all, a year ago there was a great clamor to nationalize some major banks; that would not have been a good idea. Moreover, our financial crisis was the result of a broad national breakdown in ethics — from borrowers to lenders to rating agencies to lawmakers. Don’t think for a second that bank reform alone is a cure-all.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By LYNDA RESNICK (Author, Rubies in the Orchard): The next time your local school puts its arts program on the chopping block, I hope you’ll consider all that’s at stake: It’s so much more than construction paper and pipe cleaners.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By JOHN STOSSEL: Many window-making companies struggle because of the recession’s effect on home building. But one little window company, Serious Materials, is “booming,” says Fortune. “On a roll,” according to Inc. magazine, which put Serious’ CEO on its cover, with a story titled: “How to Build a Great Company.”
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By PRINCESS DIANA: They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?
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 LBN-STREET SNAP: The prestigious law firm MS & K hosts Pre-Grammy Party at the Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles. In Numerical order: 1. Marissa Renee 2. Megan Blake 3. Russell Frankman & Abby (daughter) 4. Ryan O’Neal & Liam Collopy 5. Lynda Kay 6. James Kaufman 7. Giddle Partridge 8. Gary Sager 9. Devin Curry & Frances Hagan.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Cougar crooner Madonna, 51, has gotten the boot from studly, 23-year-old Latin lover Jesus Luz, the Chicago Sun-Times reported yesterday. “We’ve just run out of things to talk about. We have Kabbalah, but that’s about it,” Madonna admitted to a pal. ***Leif Garrett was arrested Monday morning in Los Angeles for possession of a controlled substance. The former teen idol was busted at 11:20 AM at the Metrolink station in downtown Los Angeles by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Garrett was taken into custody and placed behind bars. He wasn’t released until this morning. ***Paul Anka has just raised the stakes in his bitter divorce — he just filed a defamation case against his estranged wife, Anna Anka.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Seattle drivers spend an annual average of 59 hours in traffic. ***Australia has 17 million people and 150 million sheep. ***Water expands by about 9% when it freezes. ***The first televised sporting event was a Japanese elementary school baseball game, broadcast in September 1931. ***40 billion songs are illegally downloaded each year.
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LBN-QUOTE “To be content with what one has is the greatest and truest of riches.” - Cicero.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Feb. 3, 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 • FEBRUARY 1, 2010 |
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U.S. TO REACH RECORD DEFICIT: DON’T FLINCH: A congressional source reveals The U.S. will reach a record $1.6 trillion budget deficit this year. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget predicts that the deficit for the current fiscal year, ending September 30, will exceed the record $1.4 trillion mark set last year, which is a level not seen in the U.S. since World War II. The Capitol Hill insider says the deficits are expected to drop to $700 billion by the end of fiscal year 2013 and then gradually increase to $1 trillion by the end of 2020, according to the budget proposal to be released Monday.
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SUICIDE BOMBING KILLS 41: A deadly day in Baghdad: An Iraqi police official tells the Associated Press that a female suicide bomber killed at least 41 people during a Shiite pilgrimage on Monday. At least 100 people were wounded too after the bomber hid explosives under her abaya and joined pilgrims in a Shiite neighborhood. It was the first major attack in Iraq in 2010.
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 BEYONCE’S RECORD NIGHT: It was ladies night at the Grammys on Sunday. Beyonce set a record for awards won in a single night by a female artist, taking home six trophies including song of the year. However, top prize went to Taylor Swift, whose Fearless won album of the year. Lady Gaga opened the show with a performance with Elton John and took home two awards. Kings of Leon made sure it wasn’t a ladies-only affair, however, by winning record of the year for “Use Somebody.”
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TOYOTA SAYS IT WILL SEND DEALERS THE PARTS TO FIX DEFECTIVE PEDALS: Toyota Motor on Monday said it would begin fixing accelerator pedals in millions of recalled vehicles this week, with some dealerships staying open around the clock to speed the process. The company said its engineers have developed and “rigorously tested” a remedy that involves reinforcing the pedal to eliminate excess friction. It said it had an “effective and simple” solution for current owners; dealers will install a steel reinforcement bar into the pedal assembly to reduce the surface tension that could cause it to stick.
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WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? ***Mark Cuban ***Gloria Allred ***Lynda Resnick ***Mike Medavoy ***Ron Paul ***Vice-President Joe Biden ***Mayor Mike Bloomberg ***Mike Huckabee ***Russ Frackman ***Larry Grobel ***Susan Estrich ***Jeff Berg ***Dick Guttman ***Jim Morey ***Dick Morris ***Mitchell Kaplan ***Fred Specktor ***Senator Diane Feinstein ***Tom Girardi ***Dr. Arnold Klein, along with over 317,000 other “influencers” in all 50 of the United States and 24 foreign countries. All smart people who understand that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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FOR HIRE: CIA AGENTS: Instead of investigating the financial industry, it appears CIA agents may be aiding it: Politico reports that the CIA has been permitting its agents to sell their services to private companies on the side—and buyers include hedge funds and financial firms. In one case, active-duty officers trained hedge-fund workers in “deception detection,” the art of figuring out whether an executive is lying based on clues during conversation. CIA sources defend the policy as necessary to avoid brain drain.
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OBAMA WANTS ‘NO CHILD’ OVERHAUL: Another plate for President Obama to spin: He wants to overhaul No Child Left Behind. The president will seek to change the way schools are judged as successes or failures and will eliminate the law’s 2014 deadline for bringing every single American student to academic proficiency.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Goldman Sachs could pay its chief executive Lloyd Blankfein a bonus of up to $100 million, in defiance of President Obama’s insistence that banks limit such huge payouts, according to bankers at Davos for the World Economic Forum. ***Silverado Coach (www.Silveradocoach.com) selected as the Limo Service of the year (2010) by the prestigious “5wReport” (www.5WReport.com), which is completly independent and does not accept any advertising.
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 INVENTOR UNVEILS $7,000 TALKING SEX ROBOT: Engineer Douglas Hines, a New Jersey man creates what may be most sophisticated talking female sex robot. Called Roxxxy, life-size computerized figure can answer questions, carry on chats. She costs $7,000 and comes with five “personalities,” from Frigid Farrah to Wild Wendy. Roxxxy was unveiled at porn-industry convention in Las Vegas.
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SWEPT TO DEATH: A woman walking along the California coast, was dragged by a riptide to her death.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Several deals were concluded, keeping pretty much apace with 2009’s festival, but the general consensus is that no film will have the breakout success of last year’s “Precious.” Many felt this year’s edition was more of the same. Others say there may be a strong after-market for sales. ***An award-winning film editor who worked on many of Errol Morris’ documentaries, including “The Fog of War,” was struck and killed by a getaway car speeding from a Manhattan drugstore robbery, police and her mother said on Saturday. Karen Schmeer was crossing Broadway at West 90th Street on the Upper West Side on Friday when she was struck by a car driven by two suspects in the theft of over-the-counter medication from a CVS drugstore a few blocks away, police said. ***WME agent Michael Cooper has left and signed with CAA. Cooper used to be Jim Wiatt’s assistant. ***Mark Ruffalo has left WME and manager Robert Stein. ***Agent Andrew Rogers has left Paradigm. ***ICM has signed Michael Keaton.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Ellen Archer, President and Publisher of Hyperion, today announced plans to publish a new fashion guide by Nina Garcia, fashion director of Marie Claire and star judge of the hit Lifetime reality series Project Runway. Titled NINA GARCIA’S LOOK BOOK: What to Wear for Every Occasion, and featuring original four-color artwork by acclaimed artist Ruben Toledo, this illustrated guide is scheduled for publication in August 2010 under Hyperion’s Voice imprint. ***Mark Sanford’s 12-year-old son said his father was “worse than Eliot Spitzer” after he learned about his affair with an Argentine woman, says Jenny Sanford in her new book, Staying True. Jenny told her sons about the affair before it became a media sensation, and she says that Sanford begged her for permission to see his mistress, even after Jenny had discovered their affair. Staying true hits bookstores on Friday. ***To the residents of Cornish, N.H., J. D. Salinger was not a recluse. He was a townsperson — just a guy called Jerry.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Super Bowl network CBS is rejecting an ad from ManCrunch.com, a gay dating Web site, saying the submitted spot “is not within the network’s broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday.” A ManCrunch spokesperson says: “It’s straight-up discrimination.” ***Mort Zuckerman’s New York Daily News is widening its weekday circulation lead over Rupert Murdoch’s rival New York Post to more than 40,000 copies, says Audit Bureau of Circulations. Both newspapers are losing print readers as more people get their news online. ***The Washington Times is naming Sam Dealey as its new editor to lead the Sun Myung Moon-founded newspaper’s newsroom and manage content for its other multimedia outlets. Dealey is a former editorial writer for the Asia edition of the Wall Street Journal, among other positions. ***Veteran CNN correspondent Candy Crowley will be the host of the network’s Sunday morning political talk show. Crowley replaces John King, who is leaving the show he started after one year. King has a new weekday evening show that’s expected to debut on CNN soon. Her appointment was announced on the air Sunday.
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 LBN-AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTO: Real and untouched-Send YOUR awkward family photo to us - e-mail: LBNLert@TimeWire.net (Please put Awkward Family Photo) in the subject line.
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LBN-HEALTH INSIDER: Decades of progress in the United States on cutting cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking are being stalled by rising obesity rates, and heart disease will kill around 400,000 Americans this year.
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AMERICAN EAGLE SLAPPED WITH $2.5 MILLION FINE: American Eagle Airlines was fined $2.5 million by the Federal Aviation Administration Monday for failing to ensure the weight of luggage was properly calculated. FAA claims that American Eagle conducted at least 154 flights where the baggage weight logged on cargo load sheets was different than data entered into the airline’s Electronic Weight and Balance System.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***K-EARTH PD Jhani Kaye, his midday and afternooner Jim Carson and Shotgun Tom Kelly, KABC/KLOS GM Bob Moore, former 1110/KRLAers Manny Pacheco, Jeffrey Leonard, Detective Rudy Alvarez, and Dominic Garcia, President of the Southern California Broadcasters Association, Mary Beth Garber, HOT 92.3 (Art’s current station) operations director Ron Shapiro, music director Damon Knight, Rick Nuhn and Marie Flores, former R&R publisher Erica Farber, “Retro 1260” midday Mike Sakellarides, former Boss Jock Dave Sebastian Williams, the Insane Darrell Wayne, TalkRadioOne.com and regular at Art’s dances at El Monte Legion Stadium Dan Avey, former KVEN owner Bob Fox, KTWV/KRTH AE Pam Baker, Rockit Radio’s Lane Quigley and Steve Propes, PR agents Irwin Zucker and Ira David Sternberg (came in from Las Vegas for the event), former KNX news anchor Larry Van Nuys, former KIIS and Movin’ afternooner Clarence Barnes, CRN President Mike Horn, and LARPs Laura Gross, Tom Bernstein, John Felz, and Alfred Archuleta all attending Art Laboe’s 2010 LARadio Lifetime Achievement Award luncheon at Vitello’s in Studio City on Saturday night. ***Grammy nominee and hip-hop star Fabolous getting fitted for the awards weekend in Los Angeles at Domenico Vacca’s flagship store in New York, where our source said, “The designer met Fab personally to fit him and dress him” ***Sting popping into Nougatine at restaurant Jean Georges on Columbus Circle in NYC to have a moment with his manager, Bill Ashby, who was dining at the bar. ***Elliot Gould, Shirley Jones, Dick Van Patten, publicist Edward Lozzi, Spago’s Barbara Lazaroff, Frances Fisher all bidding for Barbara Eden’s original lamp from the I Dream of Jeannie’s TV series at Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna’s Emergency Fundraiser Auction at their Home in Beverly Hills to benefit the remaining 60 residents of the Motion Picture Home. Lazaroff won the bidding at $1,700. ***BE AN LBN CORRESPONDENT-Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By TINA BROWN: Just when we are all feeling depressed about the malaise of the body politic, along comes a book designed to make us feel worse. Andrew Young’s account of his decade as John Edwards’s body man, beard, and shit-eating courtier is a mesmerizing insight not only into the rotten nature of his hero but the corruption of the culture that allowed a man as devoid of authenticity as John Edwards to flourish for so long, even to the point of getting a decent shot at the White House. This is not a political memoir. It’s a morality tale with the chill of Hitchcock.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By GERALD L.SHARELL: The too-hot-to-handle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed travelin’ road show has been run out of Gotham. The cover story is that a vacillating mayor, succumbing to pressure from commercial and residential neighbors, convinced both the White House and Justice Department to abandon the resolute plan to try the accused terrorist at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. The more likely story is that Attorney General Eric Holder blinked in the face of mounting criticism and the White House used the Bloomberg about-face (real or not) to escape from New York.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Any donations to Haiti relief efforts made this year (by Feb. 28, 2010) can be taken as a deduction against 2009 taxes.
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PLEASE SUPPORT LBN: Each reader can support the LBN E-Lert by simply CLICKING on all of the Sponsor Links. Support our advertisers.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: Canada’s regulatory habit of limiting the risk and leverage banks can accept helped protect that country from recessionary fallout.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN: In the age of Oprah and Twitter, fame through invisibility like that achieved by the author J.D. Salinger may well belong to a generation that has passed.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By JEAN-MAX BELLERIVE (Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti): The earthquake that has destroyed so much has also brought much-needed attention and goodwill to Haiti. In honor of all those who have died, we vow to create a new, stronger, and more prosperous Haiti.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By DIANE ARBUS: Most people go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life. They’re aristocrats.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Andrew Young, the former loyalist who lied to protect John Edwards’s extramarital affair while running for President, has received and rejected offers of “gigantic amounts of money” for the Edwards - Hunter sex tape. ***A miracle baby is on the way for Rachael Ray - the 41-year-old star chef plans to adopt a child, sources say. ***Hollywood bad girl Shannen Doherty is trying to save her career by launching a new reality show, sources say. ***Rip Torn was taken to court today — in handcuffs — to face charges stemming from his arrest this weekend.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***The average woman consumes twenty kilograms of lipstick in her lifetime. ***Cleopatra married two of her brothers. ***Half of the world’s population earns just 5% of the world’s wealth. ***Fishing is the world’s most popular sport in terms of participants. ***Iceland has no military and no military expenditure.
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LBN-QUOTE: “It captured on tape the deaths of four people in an uncontrolled acceleration where the driver was an experienced highway patrol officer. If he couldn’t bring the car under control, which could?” -CLARENCE M. DITLOW, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington, on a fatal crash that raised awareness about problems with many Toyota models.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they’d been refused service.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 • JANUARY 31, 2010 |
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VOLCKER: LET’S MAKE BANKS SAFE: Stepping out of the shadows again, Paul Volcker, the head of President Obama’s Economy Recovery Advisory Board, writes in Sunday’s New York Times that more needs to be done to improve the “safety net” which keeps commercial banks stable. The former Fed chair takes aim at the commercial banks, which sponsor hedge funds or private equity funds, putting bank capital at risk.
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ANOTHER LBN SPEED VICTORY: The U.S. is placing special ships off the coast of Iran and antimissile systems in at least four Arab countries in an effort to beef up defenses against possible Iranian missile strikes and late yesterday afternoon all 317,000 LBN E-Lert readers got the news BEFORE,The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News, USA Today, MSNBC, Associated Press.
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TIGHTWAD ORSZAG FINDS NEW ROLE: Peter Orszag, the White House’s budget chief, has spent his career fighting widening budget deficits. Now, the man perhaps better known for his racy love life is learning how to accommodate his values to the Great Recession, where thrift may not be the wisest course for the government. Both President Obama’s chief of staff and one of his chief economic advisers
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TAKE THAT: China announced an unusually broad series of retaliatory measures in response to the latest U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, including sanctions against some American companies.
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33 HAITIAN CHILDREN TAKEN ILLEGALLY: Ten Americans are in custody in Port-au-Prince after being accused of trying to illegally take children out of Haiti. The suspects—five men and five women—were detained at Haiti’s main border crossing into the Dominican Republic with 33 children aged two months to 12 years and no papers proving the adoptions were legal.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Wolves have about 200 million scent cells. Humans have only about 5 million. Wolves can smell other animals more than one mile (1.6 kilometers) away.
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FAR AND WIDE: Thailand, Turkey, Iran, Vietnam, Nigeria are just a few of the 24 foreign countries with daily LBN E-Lert readers.
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LBN-VIDEO LINK: The Original Godfather Trailer - This is the 1972 Godfather film trailer. The Godfather is an American 1972 crime drama film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf16Vc3iZjE
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MEET THE FACEBOOK GANGSTER: Colin Gunn is one of Britain’s scariest gangsters, locked up in maximum security prison for ordering the execution of two grandparents. In the last two months, he’s been using Facebook to frighten and threaten his enemies, communicating with his 565 “friends” online. Gunn wrote in one message, “I will be home one day and I can’t wait to look into certain people’s eyes and see the fear of me being there.” Gunn’s page was shut down after Britain’s Sunday Times notified authorities.
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TREATING TRAUMA: By 2006, fewer than 100 psychiatrists remained in Iraq, so the government has embarked on a program to rebuild its ruined mental health care system.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Want to buy Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall on Amazon.com? How about the new John Edwards tell-all by his former aide? Tough luck if you’re looking for a digital copy. The online retailer has pulled those books along with others published by Macmillan from its shelves. At dispute is the price Amazon is selling e-books, which Macmillan’s CEO says unfairly, takes, and money away from the publisher. Beginning in March, Macmillan will sell its books digitally for $12.99 to $14.99, more than Amazon’s $9.99 price for best-sellers. It is not known how long the books will remain unavailable.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Mary-Louise Parker wants to know if LBN E-Lert readers want some pie.
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TOYOTA TO ISSUE A FIX FOR RECALLED CARS: Toyota Motor has come up with a remedy to fix the millions of cars it recalled because their accelerator pedals could become stuck, dealers and a federal official said Saturday. Word of the solution came as the French automaker Peugeot said it was recalling cars it builds with Toyota at a plant the companies operate in the Czech Republic, widening a recall that has affected cars in the United States, Canada, China and Europe.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Kathryn Bigelow has won the Directors Guild of America award for directing “The Hurt Locker,” becoming the first woman to do so in the 62 years of the DGA awards.
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 GET READY FOR THE GRAMMYS: Music’s top women are gearing up to rule the red carpet—and scoop up all of the awards—during the recording industry’s biggest night. Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift are all up for the top three awards—Album, Song, and Record of the Year—at tonight’s Grammy Awards, and Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas is up for two, leading Jim Farber to speculate that “estrogen fuels much of what’s left in the music industry.”
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—–LBN E-Lert: Charity Link of the Week—–
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Over 20 staff, interns and alumni of the prominent entertainment P.R firm LCO (www.LCOonline.com) gathered in Santa Monica yesterday for the “1st Annual LCO Beach Picnic” where many of the LCO’s got Henna tattoos. ***KFI news reporter Donald Morrison and his girlfriend having dinner last night with a group of friends at El Cholo restaurant in Santa Monica. ***Showing their love for the world to see, Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman shared a kiss as they arrived at the Culver City Ice Rink in Culver City, California on Saturday. *** Emerging from her New York City apartment right on schedule, Catherine Zeta Jones was spotted en route to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Saturday. ***Making what looks to be the perfect couple, Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves attended the MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute to Neil Young in Los Angeles on Friday. ***Hopping a flight to Miami, Eva Longoria was spotted arriving at the southern Florida airport earlier today. *** Spending the night with the possible future in-laws, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were out with Jessica’s parents on Friday night. ***Keeping her body in top form, Anna Paquin was spotted going for a jog along the boardwalk in Venice, CA on Friday afternoon. ***Gearing up for an active weekend afternoon, Kim Kardashian was spotted stocking up with supplements at The Body Factory in West Hollywood on Saturday. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***Roger Federer wins Australian Open title, defeats Andy Murray in straight sets. ***Since the Super Bowl began, the buildup has been interminable, the game sometimes anticlimactic, and the news media coverage ambivalent.
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 LBN-THE HUMOR CORNER: Consumer protest forces Mattel to discontinue new doll.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By KATI MARTON: I have spent the last two years studying the face of Terror. No, not the bearded, turbaned image of an Al Qaeda cave dweller, but another version, one that unspooled as I translated my family’s secret police file in the archives of the Hungarian Communist Party. The two faces are really not that different. The communists, like Al Qaeda, started with a utopian dream of righting wrongs and empowering the powerless. Even the Nazis saw themselves in such a light: They would restore jobs and honor to their humbled countrymen. For all these movements, a more perfect world beckoned at the end of the rainbow. This is how they attracted their fanatical followers even as they used terror and fear to gain power.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By RICK LYMAN: Claire Danes tackles one of her most demanding roles in “Temple Grandin,” an HBO film about the famous autistic author and animal sciences professor.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: It began as a bit of partisan gamesmanship and ended, surprisingly, as illuminating political theater. White House advisers thought that if they asked that cameras and reporters be allowed in for the usually closed Q. and A. with the president at the annual retreat of House Republicans, the Republicans might say no and look obstructionist. But the Republicans realized what the White House was up to, got irritated and opened up the exchange in Baltimore to show they weren’t scared of the smart, facile and newly warm-blooded Barack Obama. And during the next hour and a half, our government did not look quite so lame.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: As a political barometer, the Davos World Economic Forum usually offers up some revealing indicators of the global mood, and this year is no exception. I heard of a phrase being bandied about here by non-Americans — about the United States — that I can honestly say I’ve never heard before: “political instability.” “Political instability” was a phrase normally reserved for countries like Russia or Iran or Honduras. But now, an American businessman here remarked to me, “people ask me about ‘political instability’ in the U.S. We’ve become unpredictable to the world.” Mind you, people at international conferences love to criticize America, poke fun at America and complain about America. It is the only global sport more popular than soccer. But in the past, it was always done knowing that America was this global bedrock that could always be counted upon to lead. But this year is different. This year, Asians and Europeans, in particular, pull you aside and ask you some version of: “Tell me, what’s going on in your country?” We’re making people nervous.
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THINK ABOUT IT (REALLY): The ideas and insights of the LBN E-Lert keep YOU ahead of the curve.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By PHILIP GEFTER: Paris was in a state of magical metamorphosis between the World Wars. The city’s urban landscape was undergoing modernization as rapid social, economic, and cultural changes altered the pace of daily life. It was the capital of Western art in the early decades of the 20th century, and, also, the center of the Surrealist movement. Photographers such as Ilse Bing, Brassaï, André Kertész, and Man Ray, who found their way to Paris in the 1920s, experimented with new technologies and explored perceptual ambiguities in their photographic images that documented the changing city.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL VOLCKER: Reform of the financial system, including regulation of the banks whose collapse would disrupt the market, can do away with the concept of “too big to fail.”
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE: Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW: Photographer legend Greg Gorman.
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Drunk as a skunk, out-of-control Emmy winner robs Connecticut bank, cops charge. A very drunk Rip Torn, 78, was arrested Friday night for allegedly breaking into a bank, armed with a loaded revolver. Connecticut state police in North Canaan say Torn allegedly forced entry into a Litchfield Bancorp building, setting off an alarm.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***The United States Postal Service handles over forty percent of the world’s mail volume. ***Wild animals will not eat an animal that has been struck by lightning. ***The Bible is the world’s best-selling book, as well as its most frequently shoplifted. ***If a statue of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in a battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. ***Germany’s PJ Reuter started a foreign news agency in 1858; Reuters is now one of the biggest news agencies in the world
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LBN-QUOTE: “If you’re strong enough, there are no precedents.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.
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 LBN-FACESPACE:
1. Name: David Shoenfeld
2. Occupation: Independent Business Executive, Narrative Advisor and Storyteller
3. What is your greatest extravagance? Dipping into retirement savings to develop and create The Comedy Sidekick App to help folks find their funny and share laughs with friends. www.thecomedysidekick.com
4. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I imagine it would be if you’d run out of ideas to explore, refine, and share with the world.
5. If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be and why? Henny Youngman. He made generations laugh, and inspired generations of comics. Plus I already have a rubber chicken, so I’d be ready to roll.
6. What is your most marked characteristic? Whenever stress or anxiety is “in the house”, my over-sized funny bones go to work to help people feel better so they can deal with what really bothers them.
7. Who are your heroes in real life? Dr. Ivar Lovaas, who transformed his Applied Behavioral Analysis research into an effective intervention method that’s made a crucial difference in the lives of so many children with Autism.
8. What’s the worst fashion crime a person can commit? Being overdressed when comfort and fun should carry the day.
9. What is your motto? Life is a Cabernet. Or maybe a Merlot.
10. E-mail and website: David@Shoenfeld.com, http://www.shoenfeld.com
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
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 • JANUARY 30, 2010 |
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: ***The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites. ***An American urologist bought Napoleon’s penis for $40,000.00. ***There are about 2 chickens for every human in the world. ***Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear 700 times. ***In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman picture or reference somewhere. ***Cats have one hundred vocal sounds, dogs only have about ten. ***Our eyes are always the same size from birth but our nose and ears never stop growing.
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OBAMA: DEFICIT THREATENS RECOVERY: President Obama warned Saturday that a $1.4 trillion deficit needed to be addressed to keep the economy competitive. “As we work to create jobs, it is critical that we rein in the budget deficits we’ve been accumulating for far too long—deficits that won’t just burden our children and grandchildren, but could damage our markets, drive up our interest rates, and jeopardize our recovery right now,” he said in his weekly radio address.
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STATES HALT HAITI RELIEF: Injured earthquake survivors got lost in American politics this week as the U.S. suspended medical evacuations of Haitians until it could determine who was footing the hospital bill. Military officials announced the suspension Friday. With more than 500 victims airlifted to Florida alone so far, Gov. Charlie Crist demanded on Wednesday that the federal government help pay for medical care, causing military flights out of Haiti to screech to a grinding halt.
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LBN BEATS WASHINGTON POST: Following objections from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Obama administration decided the trial for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will not be held in Manhattan. Yesterday afternoon, all 317,000 LBN E-Lert readers got the news BEFORE The Washington Post.
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 OBAMA OUTLINES PLAN TO INCREASE EMPLOYMENT: In proposing a one-year, $33 billion tax credit for small businesses, the Obama administration is simultaneously seeking to stimulate hiring by reducing payroll taxes and to turn its attention to a constituency that has historically been associated with Republicans. Hours after the Commerce Department announced that economic growth had picked up at the end of last year, President Obama visited a machine plant in Baltimore on Friday to promote the plan, which would give companies a tax credit of up to $5,000 for each new hire and reimburse them for Social Security taxes if they expand their payrolls. The credit is capped at $500,000 for each employer.
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CHINA HITS BACK AFTER U.S. TAIWAN DEAL: In response to the new $6 billion arms deal between Taiwan and the U.S., China has suspended military exchanges with the United States, according to The Washington Post. The announcement came along with a statement from the Chinese Defense Ministry saying, “Considering the severe harm and odious effect of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the Chinese side has decided to suspend planned mutual military visits,” and the vice minister of foreign affairs described the mood in the Chinese government as “strongly indignant.”
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NO ‘PURITY TEST’ FOR GOP: Republicans rejected the purposed “purity test” Friday, which would’ve required GOP candidates to agree with eight out of 10 policy points to receive funding and national support. Instead, the Republican National Committee approved a rule that would urge party leaders to support nominees in favor of the party’s platform. Even after the original proposal—written by Indiana committeeman James Bopp—was unanimously shot down, there were heated arguments between opposing sides of the issue.
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Former British Prime Minster Tony Blair 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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LBN-INSIDE HAITI: ***To evoke sentiment and earn money for the Haiti earthquake-relief project, Adrienne Black will incorporate the faces of Haitian people and the devastation that surrounds them into her most recent series of mixed-media artwork. After reading about the death and devastation from the Jan. 12 quake, Black, 22, felt compelled to use her art to raise money for the Haiti relief project. The Southern Oregon University senior put a call out through Facebook and word of mouth asking for photographers of Haitian people. She said she felt the impact would be more personal if the photographs were from personal photo collections rather than the internet. ***At a maternity tent outside the general hospital in Port-au-Prince, now one of the better medical facilities in Haiti, the joy found in most maternity wards has been lost to the cracked earth. ***Haitian lawmakers plan to ask President René Préval to extend their terms of office, U.N. officials said.
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SUPPORT LBN: You can support this LBN E-Lert simply by CLICKING on all of the Sponsor Links. Support our advertisers. Each has been carefully screened to insure the highest quality of product and service.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Fist-pumping Jersey Shore fans can rest easy—MTV has officially booked a second season of the wildly successful reality show, it was announced late Friday. Twelve new episodes featuring the same cast from Season One will begin airing this summer, but surprise!—the self-described “guidos” and “guidettes” will “escape the cold northeast and find themselves in a new destination,” according to a statement. ***Over 100 Academy Award winners read this LBN E-Lert daily.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Toyota said there would be “rapid deployment” of a remedy but did not say specifically when or how it would fix the gas pedal problems. ***Despite the availability of over 140,000 apps on iTunes, researchers have found that the average iPhone or iPod Touch owner uses only 5 to 10 regularly. ***Ron Burkle has made an offer to take a controlling stake in Barney’s New York, the storied but troubled luxury retailer. ***Leading executives from numerous large corporations including — Home Depot, Intel, Microsoft, Starbucks, Ford Motor Company, Apple, Wal-Mart - read this LBN E-Lert daily.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***A mysterious musician who is never seen in public, Johnny Harmonic, has a richly eerie instrumental album ironically titled “We All Love Bright Shiny Things”.
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—–LBN E-Lert: Charity Link of the Week—–
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LBN-BOOK INSIDER: ***Amazon removed Macmillan books from its site in a dispute over prices of e-books. ***Over 500 best-selling authors read this LBN E-Lert daily.
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 LBN-SEE IT: Mary Kate Olsen.
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SLAIN LOTTO WINNER FOUND: Did the lottery kill Abraham Shakespeare? The $31 million winner was found buried in concrete under the driveway this week at a home in Plant City, Florida after having been reported missing since November. Shakespeare, 43, won his wealth in a state lotto in 2006 but faced a lawsuit from a fellow truck driver who claimed he stole the lucky ticket out of his wallet. Police suspect foul pay in his death and are looking for clues to bring the murderer to justice. “Somebody put that body in that hole,” the local sheriff told CNN. “This isn’t by any means just where we find someone on the side of the road. Somebody has obviously put him there.”
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Joe Piscopo having dinner at Marino Restaurant on Melrose Ave, in Hollywood. ***After stepping out for Adam Lambert’s 28th birthday celebration, Lindsay Lohan was spotted leaving the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday. ***Checking her vehicle in with valet, Julia Roberts was spotted at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on Friday. ***This time of year always draws the celebrities out and Christina Aguilera was spotted heading into a Grammy pre-party in Los Angeles on Friday night. *** Fitting in a little time for herself, Cameron Diaz was spotted shopping at Barney’s New York in Beverly Hills on Friday. *** Gearing up for up for one of the biggest award shows in Hollywood, Rihanna was spotted at rehearsals for the Grammy’s last night. *** Having just flown into town the previous evening, Britney Spears was hard at work in Miami, Florida on Friday afternoon. *** Always busy with promotional stops, Kim Kardashian was spotted greeting a large crowd of gathered fans and onlookers at the Westfield Century City Shopping Mall on Friday. ***Seemingly always maintaining a cheerful mood, Renee Zellweger was spotted rocking out to her iPod shuffle while making her way around Los Angeles on Friday morning. ***Doing the best to put aside the controversy, Jay Leno was busy filming his NBC show in Los Angeles on Friday. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 SERENA WILLIAMS WINS AUSTRALIAN OPEN: In an upset, Serena Williams beat Belgian Justine Henin in the Australian Open Saturday, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, allowing Williams to claim her 12th Grand Slam title, and fourth in Melbourne. The match was especially dramatic because of Henin’s recent return from retirement; just two weeks ago, she was unranked and unseeded. “It’s good to have her back, it’s exciting,” Williams said of her opponent.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By JACOB BERNSTEIN: The reason for this is that the Grammys are fundamentally unlike film awards shows, where small, critically acclaimed films frequently dominate. Rather, they’re a mutual masturbation society for a dying breed of A&R men, an opportunity to give out year-end bonuses in an industry that can’t afford them and is ineligible for a government bailout.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By BOB HERBERT: Think of what this country would be like if Howard Zinn and others like him never bothered to fight for what they believed in.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BILL O’REILLY: Watch out. America is moving to the right, and it’s happening fast.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By SAM HASKELL (Former head of television for the William Morris Agency): The Miss America system provides up to $45 million in scholarships each year — who else is putting women through college like that?
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas made a cameo appearance yesterday in Manhattan federal court to bail out his troubled son, Cameron, who pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges earlier this week. ***Brittany Murphy’s death investigation has taken a mysterious turn – sources say the L.A. County Coroner’s Office is now trying to fill in some critical gaps in her medical history. We’ve learned Brittany was suffering from severe anemia and other conditions and was under a doctor’s care. The Coroner’s Office received medical files from her doctor, but they show her last visit was months before her death. ***Sarah Silverman has new boyfriend. Silverman confirmed that she is dating Alec Sulkin on Friday. Comic’s comic reports, from a media conference call, that Silverman is dating the “Family Guy” writer and producer.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By JOAN CRAWFORD: If you have an ounce of common sense and one good friend you don’t need an analyst.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese. ***Dalmations are born without spots. ***Men’s shirts have buttons on the right side; women’s shirts have buttons on the left. ***Dutch are the tallest average people. ***An olive tree can live up to 1500 years.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Whenever you see a successful business, someone made a courageous decision.” - Peter Drucker.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.
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 LBN-FACESPACE:
1. Name: Jerry Meadors.
2. What is your profession? Movie Producer/Film Marketing Expert.
3. Which living person do you most admire? Stephen Sondheim.
4. Which president of the United States was/is your favorite? Thomas Jefferson.
5. Do you believe in UFO’s? Yes, I think it is arrogant not to believe in them.
6. Who are your heroes in real life? Committed parents. I think it is the most daunting and important responsibility on earth.
7. What’s the most important thing in your life? Friendships.
8. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Allowing any negative thoughts to crowd my personal vision and goals.
9. Where is your ideal location to live? Los Angeles; It is the center of modern life.
10. Email and Website: meadorsman@yahoo.com , pmeg.net
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Anna Alaverdyan
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga.
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 Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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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| FRIDAY • JANUARY 29, 2010 |
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BIN LADEN BLASTS U.S. FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming, according to a new audiotape released Friday. In the tape, broadcast in part on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden warned of the dangers of climate change and says that the way to stop it is to bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a halt. He blamed Western industrialized nations for hunger, desertification and floods across the globe, and called for “drastic solutions” to global warming, and “not solutions that partially reduce the effect of climate change.” Bin Laden has mentioned climate change and global warning in past messages, but the latest tape was his first dedicated to the topic. The speech, which included almost no religious rhetoric, could be an attempt by the terror leader to give his message an appeal beyond Islamic militants.
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U.S. ECONOMY GREW AT ANNUAL RATE OF 5.7% IN FOURTH QUARTER, MORE THAN EXPECTED: The United States economy grew at its fastest pace in over six years at the end of 2009, but a sluggish job market is still souring economists on the sustainability of the recovery. Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, well above analysts’ expectations. It had grown at an annualized rate of 2.2 percent in the previous quarter.
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OBAMA’S BIG TAX BREAK: After a State of the Union address that heavily emphasized job creation, President Obama is set to reveal a plan with $33 billion in tax breaks in an attempt to “give a little extra incentive” for hiring and pay raises among small-business owners. The proposal is likely to benefit 1 million small businesses and will provide a $5,000 tax credit for each new worker hired this year, with a cap of $500,000 per business.
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CLINTON BACKS TALIBAN NEGOTIATIONS: Hillary Clinton will lend her support to a $500 million initiative by NATO and Afghan officials seeking to negotiate with Taliban insurgents, it was revealed at this week’s London conference. “The starting premise is you don’t make peace with your friends,” said Clinton. “You have to be willing to engage with your enemies if you want to create a situation that ends the insurgency.” Funding for the plan would come from the Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund, which has been termed by many the Taliban Trust Fund.
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Feminist attorney Gloria Allred 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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OBAMA RETHINKING NYC TERROR TRIAL: It appears Khalid Shaikh Mohamed may not be tried at the scene of the crime after all. After facing criticism from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over the impending trial of the 9/11 terror suspect in New York City, President Obama asked Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to consider other locations. “It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that’s too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood,” Bloomberg told reporters only hours before Obama’s decision. “There are places that would be less expensive for the taxpayers and less disruptive for New York City.” According to The Daily News, New York’s police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, was instrumental in rallying opposition to the planned trial location based on the extreme cost of maintaining security.
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TONY BLAIR DEFENDS IRAQ LEGACY: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair sought to explain himself on Friday before an inquiry tasked with learning the lessons of the Iraq War. According to Blair, his attitude toward security “changed dramatically” after 9/11, prompting his eventual decision to join the United States in invading Iraq. “Here’s what changed for me: the whole calculus of risk,” he said. “The point about this terrorist act was over 3,000 people had been killed, an absolutely horrific event.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Miramax Films, the studio that made indie films such as “Pulp Fiction” the darling of Hollywood in the 1990s, is closing down. About 80 people are expected to lose jobs at the Disney subsidiary. In recent years, Disney has downscaled the studio’s output. ***Maria Bello is teaming with Oscar winners Simon Beaufoy and Russell Crowe for a series project in the works at HBO. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bello will star in the drama “Emergency Sex,” which is being written by “Slumdog Millionaire’s” Beaufoy and executive produced by Bello, Beaufoy and Crowe. ***A third Sex And The City movie will allegedly begin shooting soon. According to The Sun, studio bosses are keen to move forward with another installment in the comedy series before the lead actresses - Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon - start to look too old. ***Tom Cruise has left publicist Paul Bloch and Arnold Robinson at Roger & Cowan to sign with Amanda Lundberg at 42 west.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Go Daddy, the Internet domain registrar, says it has received a rejection for one of its Super Bowl commercials. The spot features an effeminate former football star named Lola who designs lingerie. The ad, CBS says, “had the potential to offend a significant number of people.” ***CBS is said to be deliberating on whether to run a controversial commercial for the gay dating site ManCrunch.com during the Super Bowl. Reps for the site say they believe CBS has no intention of airing their spot, but do not want to officially reject it fearing a backlash. ***CBS’ “The Early Show” features a commentary this morning by media expert and author Michael Levine on Jay Leno’s interview on the Oprah Winfrey show. ***Emily Bear, former head of Miramax Film publicity has hired by Steven Rubenstein to co-head the entertainment division at Rubenstein Communications.
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 JOHN TRAVOLTA BRINGS AID, DOCTORS, AND VOLUNTEER MINISTERS TO HAITI: On the 25th of January, John Travolta, wife Kelly Preston at his side, flew his 707 to Port Au Prince to deliver aid to Haiti. The plane carried 7 tons of cargo - including medical supplies and 3750 MREs. They also brought about 20 doctors - who came in from all over the United States - and three Volunteer Ministers of the Church of Scientology. These Doctors and Ministers joined the nearly 300 who have already been brought to Haiti through the Volunteer Minister Program. The Ministers are providing logistical help and services to medical personnel in the hospitals.
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 PRESCHOOLS ADD BRUSH-AND-SPIT TO DAY: Massachusetts is the first state to require that toothbrush time be part of the color-nap-snack-and-play routine of preschools, and a debate has ensued.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Toyota faced heightened scrutiny on Thursday over problems with the accelerator pedals on its vehicles, as a House committee scheduled Congressional hearings into the matter and its recalls expanded to Europe and China. The recalls were a significant blow to Toyota, the world’s biggest auto company, which had built its sales on a reputation for quality. ***Microsoft said its earnings for the quarter jumped 60 percent, helped by a rebound in personal computer sales.
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ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: Japan, Israel, Russia, India, Mexico, China, Australia, England and Brazil are just a few of 24 foreign countries with daily LBN E-Lert readers.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***A celebrity benefit album is raising millions for Haiti and breaking digital download records. The Hope for Haiti Now album, a compilation of tracks from last week’s benefit show, which included Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Coldplay, has raised over $3 million for the shattered country. Hope for Haiti Now also became the first digital-only album to debut at No. 1 on the SoundScan charts. ***The Traveling Wilburys’ Roy Orbison will receive his star next to those of John Lennon and George Harrison. Orbison died in 1988 of a heart attack at the age of 52. Dan Aykroyd, Michelle Branch, Jeff Beck, Chris Isaak, Jeff Lynne, Jason Mraz, Joe Walsh, Dwight Yoakam and others are expected on Friday for the 11:30 a.m. ceremony outside the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood. ***Multiple law enforcement sources say the D.A. is ready to charge Dr. Conrad Murray in the death of Michael Jackson. ***The entertainment law firm M.S.K. will have it’s annual pre-Grammy party this Sunday at Hotel Figueroa in Downtown Los Angeles.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming sits on the site of an ancient super volcano. It erupted around 2 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 640,000 years ago. If it follows the same pattern, another eruption is due any time now.
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 LBN-NOTICED: ***Hollywood power agents Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell chatting with Variety V.P. Peter Bart and Hollywood publicist Michael Levine at The Grill in Beverly Hills yesterday for lunch. ***Ashley Dupre is hanging out at the Playboy Mansion — but she’s not yet posing for the magazine. The Sunday N.Y. Post’s sultry sex-and-relationships columnist was rumored to be in talks to pose for Playboy, but the aspiring singer is in Los Angeles for the Grammy celebrations. ***Rudy Giuliani on a Delta flight from Salt Lake City Wednesday night, “chuckling” at the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech. ***John Cusack stopping by Fedora Primo in Santa Monica to pick up a ball cap. *** Joining a star-studded guest list, Ali Larter was on-hand for the Calvin Klein Collection & Los Angeles Nomadic Division event in Los Angeles, California on Thursday night. *** Fresh off of her big engagement news, Tara Reid was spotted at a Project We The Children benefit concert at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on Thursday. *** Tending to her motherly duties, Elin Nordegren looked just like Tiger Woods in a full Nike outfit as she carried her daughter Sam Alexis into her daycare in Windermere, Florida. ***Stepping out for a swanky evening, Nicole Scherzinger was spotted attending the Calvin Klein pre-Grammy party in West Hollywood last night. *** Making their way cross-country, Britney Spears and Jason Trawick touched down in Miami, Florida on Thursday night. *** Stepping out for some serious nightlife, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy were spotted hitting up TAO Nightclub in Las Vegas last night. ***Fresh off a fun-filled trip to Disneyland the previous day, Jennifer Garner was spotted picking up her daughter Violet from school in Santa Monica on Thursday afternoon. ***Some of our favorite celebrities were in the house for the Calvin Klein Collection & Los Angeles Nomadic Division’s 1st Annual Celebration for LA Arts Monthly and Art Los Angeles Contemporary event last night. Hollywood hotties like Kate Bosworth, Penelope Cruz, Nicky Hilton, Michelle Monaghan, and Jordana Brewster all looked lovely as they arrived. *** Treating herself to a delicious dinner, Paris Hilton was spotted arriving at Benihana Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles last night. ***Showing off her already-trim post-baby body, Camila Alves was treated to a romantic dinner on the town by actor boyfriend Matthew McConaughey on Thursday night. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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SIZING UP THE IPAD: It may be the hottest thing to hit publishing since the Kindle, but Apple’s new iPad has more than its fair share of critics, who have already taken the gadget to task for its lack of multitasking capabilities, flash support, USB ports, and a camera, among other things. Daily Intel rounded up some of the harsher words from journalists, bloggers, and Twitter addicts in the wake of the device’s unveiling: “No multitasking on an oversized powerful iPod Touch?” griped one frustrated blogger. “The only ‘revolutionary’ [thing] about the iPad is the price.” Another summed up its shortcomings via Twitter, saying, “The iPad is clearly a device centered around media consumption, not creation.”
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J. D. SALINGER, LITERARY RECLUSE, DIES AT 91: J. D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II, famous for not wanting to be famous, died on Wednesday at his home in Cornish, N.H. He had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years. He was 91. Mr. Salinger’s literary representative, Harold Ober Associates, announced the death, saying it was of natural causes. “Despite having broken his hip in May,” the agency said, “his health had been excellent until a rather sudden decline after the new year. He was not in any pain before or at the time of his death.”
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 ACTIVIST ROEDER CONVICTED OF ABORTION PROVIDER’S MURDER: A Kansas jury deliberated just 40 minutes before convicting an anti-abortion activist of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an abortion provider. The jury found Scott Roeder, 51, guilty of gunning down Dr. George Tiller, who operated a clinic where late-term abortions were performed. Roeder, 51, faces life in prison when he is sentenced on March 9.
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AGREEMENT: Liberals and conservatives, gays and straights, blacks and whites, young and old all agree - everyday, seven days a week, the LBN E-Lert has some stories BEFORE, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Fox News, The Hollywood Reporter, MSNBC. Deal with it.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BRYAN CURTIS: Those of us who hail from the Red States know the main event at Sunday’s Grammy Awards isn’t Lady Gaga. It’s the battle of the blondes. The combatants: Carrie Underwood, the four-time Grammy winner, and Taylor Swift, the relative ingénue who just won four Country Music Association Awards. Underwood and Swift are officially duking it out for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. But the real battle is much wider: It’s a Beatles-vs.-Stones tug-of-war for our souls. Are you on Team Carrie or Team Taylor?
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BARBRA STREISAND: I wish this conservative Supreme Court that supposedly exercises judicial restraint and follows precedence had not flip-flopped for the second time in ten years by becoming the most activist court in recent history.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: Our budget problems won’t be solved with gimmicks like a temporary freeze in nondefense discretionary spending.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By ROGER COHEN: The rise of China appears to be unstoppable, but let’s try imagining a world in which Beijing no longer freeloads on a declining United States.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By SAMUEL PISAR: Those of us who survived Nazi concentration camps have a duty to transmit to humankind the memory of what we endured.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The real scandal surrounding the failed Christmas Day airline bombing was not the fact that a terrorist got on a plane, but what happened afterward.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By CHARLES DARWIN: A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Padma Lakshmi, the gorgeous host of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” is due to give birth soon, and she has never named the man who impregnated her. But sources hear the father is Adam Dell. Dell, 40, the tech-savvy younger brother of billionaire computer maker Michael Dell, is a venture capitalist who teaches at Columbia Business School. ***Nicole Kidman was among the stars who donated $250,000 each to Haiti at a fund-raiser hosted by director Paul Haggis. Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Gerard Butler, Daniel Craig and Sean Penn each pledged to give $50,000 a year for five years to Artists for Peace & Justice’s Haiti relief fund. Haggis persuaded the actors to donate at a brunch at his LA home Sunday which raised $4.5 million. ***Jennifer Aniston’s rekindled love affair with 300 beefcake Gerard Butler has shifted into overdrive - she’s asked him to move in with her.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***American Express issued the first credit card in 1951. ***The Vatican is the world’s smallest country, at 0.16 square miles. ***Men are struck by lightning seven times more often than women. ***Humans remain conscious for eight seconds after being decapitated. ***The milk of a hippopotamus is bright pink.
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LBN-QUOTE: “Organization can never be a substitute for initiative and for judgment.” - Louis D. Brandeis.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Jan. 29, 1963, poet Robert Frost died in Boston.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Editor in Chief: Natgeda Remy
Contributing Editors: Teju Jyothi, Rachel Yip, Kevin Aquino, Marissa Stone, Marlynn Duran, Ian Haga, 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 E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Contributing Editors: Sargam Pathak, Rachel Yip, Marissa Stone, Rita Elias, Marlynn Duran.
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 • JANUARY 28, 2010 |
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‘I NEVER SUGGESTED CHANGE WOULD BE EASY’: President Obama called for a new jobs bill in his State of the Union address Wednesday night, touted his tax cuts, promised to make college more affordable, and criticized the broad influence of lobbyists in Washington. The president urged Congress to overcome the bitter partisan infighting that has paralyzed the Capitol to pass bills the public deserves. Obama addressed the health-care impasse head-on, pledging to think about the next generation, not the next election.
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 LBN-SEE IT: His father tested chemical weapons on his dogs, tried to turn him into a suicide bomber and groomed him to lead Al Qaeda. A rare photo Omar bin Laden and his wife.
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IRAN EXECUTES TWO OVER ELECTIONS: It’s not a great time to be a protester in Iran. Two people were hanged on Thursday for their role in the street disturbances that rocked the streets of Iran after the country’s presidential election. Nine more people have also been sentenced to death on similar charges of moharebeh (warring against God), attempting to overthrow the Islamic establishment, and membership in armed groups. The executions were the first carried out for offenses related to the presidential election, which the reformist opposition said was rigged in favor of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The executions may increase the fervor of the opposition, which apparently intends to protest on February 11, the day Iran celebrates the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution that deposed the U.S.-backed shah.
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GOP:GOV’T TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell gave the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. McDonnell said the GOP was also worried about the unemployment rate, and instead of adding more taxes and regulation, his party favors policies that spur entrepreneurship and innovation. “Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much,” McDonnell said, adding that federal deficit spending is “simply unsustainable.”
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WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT?: ***Veteran entertainment publicist Dick Guttman. ***Attorney Bob Myman. ***USC law professor Susan Estrich. ***Feminist attorney Gloria Allred. ***Sports owner Mark Cuban. ***Psychology Today magazine editor Kaja Perina. ***TV hostess Leeza Gibbons. ***Director of National Institute of Allergy and Disease Anthony Fauci. ***Political commentator Dick Morris. ***New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg. ***Radio talk show host Barry Farber. ***Vice-President Joe Biden. ***Movie producer Mike Medavoy. ***CAA agent Fred Specktor. ***Super-model Cindy Crawford along with over 317,000 other “influencers” in all 50 of the United States and 24 foreign countries.
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 IPAD UNLIKELY TO SAVE MEDIA: The media may be out of luck. According to The Wall Street Journal, publishing and magazine executives say that few of their questions have been answered as to how the device will display their content. Said one exec, “There’s no iMagazines and there’s no iNews. Either we have to package our products much differently, or we just lost the paid content game.”
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PAY UP AND WE’LL FIGHT THE TALIBAN: An Afghan tribe that represents 400,000 people has agreed to support American efforts against Taliban insurgents in exchange for $1 million of direct aid in development projects. “The Taliban have been trying to destroy our tribe, and they are taking money from us, and they are taking our sons to fight,” a leader of the Shinwari tribe told The New York Times. “If they defy us now, we will defeat them.” The pact appears to be the first of its kind with an entire Pashtun tribe, but The Times warns the allegiances in the war-torn country are at best fragile.
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WASHINGTON’S FAVORITE PUNCHING BAG: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner knew he was going to take some shots when it came time to pay a visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday, but did he know it was going to be this bad? Geithner was there to answer questions about his role at the New York Fed and his alleged effort to hide details about the $180 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG.
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SMALL SIGNS OF REVIVAL: As Haiti tries to restart its economy and piece together its capital, hundreds of thousands of its people are taking the first steps to rebuilding their lives.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***The Ford Motor Company said Thursday that it made $2.7 billion in 2009, and that it would be profitable in 2010 and beyond. Ford says it benefited from cost-cutting, debt reduction and popular cars and trucks like the Ford Fusion sedan and Escape SUV. Ford’s net income of 86 cents per share rose from the year before, when it lost a record $14.6 billion. ***For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that companies should warn investors of global-warming risks. ***Former L.A. City Councilman Jack Weiss will run the Los Angeles office of Altegrity Risk International, the new international investigations firm that William Bratton left the LAPD to establish. The firm kicks off Monday, with Bratton as chairman and former LAPD deputy chief Michael Berkow as president.
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RECALL TARNISHES TOYOTA’S REPUTATION: Toyota has added 1 million cars to its massive recall, tarnishing its reputation, experts say, and causing its stock to drop for the fifth straight day in Tokyo. A pedal flaw, causing unintended acceleration, has been blamed as the problem. “People aren’t going to buy Toyotas, period. It doesn’t matter which model. What’s happened is sufficient to keep people out of the stores,” one industry analyst told Bloomberg News. The Japanese auto maker has halted production of eight car models for the American market, including Camry and Corolla cars.
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LBN-MUSIC INSIDER: ***Elton John surprised audiences nine years ago when he performed at the Grammys with Eminem. This year, he’s planning a similar move. Spies say he’ll join Lady Gaga onstage Sunday. ***Ozzy Osbourne fans can expect a big-screen version of his life springing from his new memoir, “I Am Ozzy.” “People are working on scripts right now,” The Prince of Darkness tells The Post’s Billy Heller. Who’ll star as the Godfather of Metal? “I’ve thought about Johnny Depp,” Osbourne says. “He’s one of the few actors who know about rock ‘n’ roll who does a really good English accent.”
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Renown Los Angeles divorce attorney Steven Knowles having lunch at Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills yesterday. ***Mischa Barton, who is being sued for three months rent by her ex-landlord in TriBeCa in NYC, going in and out of the Cooper Square Hotel with her Tibetan spaniel, Ziggy. ***LeBron James watching football with some Cavalier teammates in a private room at Prime Lounge, the little hotel next door to Prime 112 in South Beach, and devouring chicken and waffles with maple syrup and hot sauce . ***Real Estate guru Barbara Corcoran and the three children of the late Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, at the Sundance screening of “Benazir Bhutto.” ***Prominent organizational psychologist Esther Weinberg having dinner last night at the chic restaurant Street owned by Susan Feniger on Highland Ave in Hollywood. ***Showing off her snazzy brunette hairdo, Lindsay Lohan was spotted out visiting a friend in Venice Beach earlier this week. ***She’s never been a fan of the paparazzi, and last night was just more of the same for Charlize Theron. The “Italian Job” babe looked a bit frustrated as she tried to make her way to her car in Beverly Hills after grabbing dinner at Spago. ***Stepping out for a special event, Taylor Swift attended “An Unforgettable Evening” at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on Wednesday night. ***Stepping out for a fun-filled day, Kate Moss and Jamie Hince were spotted leaving their swanky Ritz Carlton Hotel in Paris, France today. ***Continuing her string of box-office success, Kristen Bell was spotted at the Los Angeles premiere of her new movie “When in Rome” last night. *** Treating herself to a delicious meal out, Kim Kardashian was spotted hitting up Dan Tana’s restaurant last night. *** Stepping out to get his hairdo styled up, Ryan Phillippe was spotted out at the popular Neil George Salon in Beverly Hills on Wednesday afternoon. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION ALREADY: Do you have the GUTS to forward this LBN E-Lert to your friends, family and associates. Do you? Do you?
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: Around one in every 100 people is ambidextrous, or able to use both hands equally well to perform tasks. A study comparing ambidextrous children to their right-handed and left-handed peers found that those who write with both hands are more likely to struggle academically, have symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and have difficulties with language. Earlier studies have also linked mixed-handedness with dyslexia, a learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words. Researchers say further investigation is necessary to determine why this difference exists.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: Champagne, one of the world’s greatest sparkling wines, is popularly but erroneously thought to have been invented by the Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Perignon (1638-1715). Although he did not invent or discover champagne, he founded many principles and processes in its production that are still in use today. And he purportedly declared upon drinking the bubbly beverage, “I am drinking stars.”
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 WANT TO RUN? DITCH THE SHOES: A new study out Thursday, led by Harvard researchers, suggests that running barefoot can actually be better for your feet than running with shoes, as it saves your feet from a negative impact. “It’s as if every time you land on the ground, someone hits you on the heel with a hammer,’’ said one scientist. “It’s an amazing thing. Running barefoot can be less impactful.’’ Barefoot runners land on the ball or middle of their feet avoid the problem of landing heel-first. When runners land on their heels, the foot experiences an impact of two to three times their body weight. Barefoot runners avoid this fate.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington sees a “hybrid future” where the old media and new media work together. And while some news outlets start adding online pay walls, “it’s important to recognize that we’re living in the linked economy. And links are monetizable.” ***Former eBay Chief Meg Whitman serves up frank opinions of Craigslist and Google in her new self-help business book, “The Power of Many.” Google gives too many perks to its employees, she writes, while Craigslist suffers from dubious “legal and ethical” standards. ***The Herald de Paris et Cie. (http://www.heralddeparis.com/), a daily newspaper with European-style news for intellectuals throughout the world, has signed a deal with prominent America media expert and best-selling author Michael Levine to write a column titled “Random Notes.” Levine, who has written 19 books, will turn his eye to popular culture as a monthly columnist effective January, 2010. “We are thrilled to have the strong and courageous voice of Michael Levine join our list of esteemed writers,” said Herald de Paris et Cie. publisher & founder, Jes Alexander.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***J.D. Salinger, author of, “The Catcher in the Rye” has died at 91. ***Conversations with God author Neale Donald Walsch’s The Mother of Invention: The Legacy of Barbara Marx Hubbard is a biography of the pioneering futurist and prime innovator of the human potential movement. Buckminster Fuller refers to Barbara Marx Hubbard as “the best informed human now alive regarding futurism and the foresights it has produced.” Walsch’s book has been sold to Reid Tracy at Hay House, by Bill Gladstone at Waterside Productions (World English). ***No. 1 NYT best-selling author of Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson, Ian Halperin pulls back the curtain on another celebrity whose identity cannot be revealed, sold to Lynn Grady at William Morrow, with Matthew Benjamin editing, for publication in September 2010, by Jarred Weisfeld at Objective Entertainment (world). ***Actor Ted Danson’s celebratory and cautionary look at the world’s oceans, written with journalist Mike D’Orso, the culmination of more than two decades of study, activism, and teaching, including Danson’s story of how he came to make ocean preservation his life’s work, with photos, charts, and graphics, sold to Colin Dickerman at Rodale, in a pre-empt, for publication in winter 2011, by David Kuhn of Kuhn Projects (world). ***Howard Zinn died today of a heart attack in Santa Monica. The playwright and author of “A People’s History of the United States” had been scheduled to appear Feb. 4 at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and introduce his new documentary.
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LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***Serena Williams is looking for a fifth championship at Melbourne Park: She won here in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.
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 LBN-STREET TEAM SNAPS: “Arts and Artifact” gallery opening at The Photographic Art Center in Beverly Hills.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By BRUCE RIEDEL: The last few months have seen a dizzying array of terror plots at home and abroad, from the Fort Hood massacre to the attempt to blow up Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. Lost in the noise about these dangerous operations was a foiled plot in Dhaka, Bangladesh, late last year. The Bengali plot never came to fruition, but it may be one of the most dangerous near-misses of the last few months and should spark a rapid and global crackdown on the group involved: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
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LBN-COMMENTARY By DR. EARL MINDELL: My New Year’s Resolution is to help communicate to the public through lectures, blogs, media, etc. how the average person can take care of themselves. It isn’t hard. Taking a natural multiple vitamin and minerals with antioxidants (Vitamins C, E, carotenoids, selenium) would be a start. Eat real foods. Drink 6 to 10 glasses of clean water daily depending on weight. Do some type of exercise daily. This is a new decade of a new century. Isn’t it time we took good care of our bodies as we do our pets, automobiles, and rose bushes?
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By WALTER ANNENBERG: Live rich, die poor; never make the mistake of doing it the other way round.
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 A DIFFERENT VIEW: Our LBN readers are here,there and everywhere.
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***The son of actor Michael Douglas and grandson of Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas,Cameron Douglas pled guilty to dealing large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine from a chi-chi Manhattan hotel where he was busted July 28, 2009. ***Rosie O’Donnell is secretly begging estranged wife Kelli Carpenter to take her back, say sources. And during a brief reunion at a publicity event, an emotional Rosie pleaded with her ex-partner of 12 years, Kelli Carpenter, to reunite, reveal insiders. ***Hollywood legend Zsa Zsa Gabor has sparked new fears for her health after she was snapped looking frail and weak after she left a LA medical center in a wheelchair. The 92-year-old Gabor who appeared in Touch of Evil and the original Moulin Rouge has kept a low profile recently.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***All the swans in England are property of the Queen. ***The human mouth produces one liter of saliva per day. ***Vincent van Gogh sold only painting in his entire life - to his brother. ***Sony’s first released product was the rice cooker. ***Tug of War was an Olympic event from 1900-1920.
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LBN-QUOTE: “The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they’re still alive.” - O.A. Battista.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Jan. 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.
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LBN E-Lert Edited by Shannon Donnelly
Contributing Editors: Sargam Pathak, Rachel Yip, Marissa Stone, Rita Elias, Marlynn Duran.
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 • JANUARY 27, 2010 |
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 JOHN EDWARDS HATED ‘FAT REDNECKS’: Andrew Young, “body man” to John Edwards during the 2008 presidential campaign who briefly claimed paternity of Edwards’ love child, says he used his own money to pay for hotel rooms on the campaign trail so that Edwards could meet with his mistress Rielle Hunter. According to The Wall Street Journal, which obtained a copy of Young’s book The Politician before its February 2 release date, Edwards promised to reimburse Young after Elizabeth Edwards died of cancer, when he’d no longer have to hide those costs. Young says when Hunter phoned him to say she was pregnant, Edwards called her a “crazy slut” and said they were in an “open relationship,” meaning his paternity chances were “one in three.” Young also says he saw Edwards in a sex tape with a visibly pregnant Hunter. But Young’s unflattering revelations about Edwards go way beyond his sex shenanigans: He portrays Edwards as preening and arrogant, an Atkins dieter who hated making campaign stops at state fairs where “fat rednecks try to shove food down my face.” And his son-of-a-mill-worker rhetoric was all surface—before a labor union, Young says Edwards made him cut a “made in the USA” label from his own suit so it could be sewn in place of Edwards’ “made in Italy” label.
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LBN-INVESTIGATES: The only president to be unanimously elected was George Washington (1732-1799). He also refused to accept his presidential salary, which was $25,000 a year. George Washington never lived in the White House. The capital was actually located in Philadelphia and other cities when Washington was president. He is also the only president who didn’t represent a political party.
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APPLE PUBLISHERS IN 11TH HOUR TALKS FOR TABLET: Apple may unveil its new tablet on Wednesday, but the business side is still being worked out: The company has been hosting 11th-hour negotiations with book publishers, says The Wall Street Journal, to figure out how to take on rival Amazon. Amazon’s cut-rate staple of $9.99 bestsellers, on which it accepts a net loss in order to build its market share, made publishers anxious that the public would come to expect cut-rate ebook prices, while Apple’s new system will allow publishers to set their own prices, shifting the balance of power back to publishers, at least partly.
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PRESIDENT’S PANEL: A plan for a bipartisan commission to press for tax increases and spending cuts failed in the Senate, but President Obama may establish a similar panel by executive order.
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GEITHNER DENIES AIG WRONGDOING: Expect fireworks: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will tell Congress on Wednesday that he had no role in disclosures about AIG’s payments to banks as the head, at the time, of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Geithner will also defend his actions in rescuing AIG by repaying banks like Goldman Sachs in full, at the cost of billions of taxpayer dollars.
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CIA MAN RETRACTS WATER BOARDING CLAIM: In 2007, a former CIA operative named John Kiriakou told ABC that water boarding cracked al Qaeda militant Abu Zubayadh, saying “From that day on, he answered every question. The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks.” Now, in a new book, Kiriakou says he wasn’t actually there for the interrogation. “What I told Brian Ross in late 2007 was wrong on a couple counts,” he writes. “I wasn’t there when the interrogation took place; instead, I relied on what I’d heard and read inside the agency at the time.”
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U.S. AIDED YEMEN STRIKES: U.S. military teams and intelligence are “deeply involved” in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops, says The Washington Post. The operation was approved six weeks ago by President Obama and involves dozens of troops from the military’s Joint Special Operations Command. The U.S. advisers do not participate in missions, but help plan them, develop tactics, and provide weapons and munitions.
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 WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT?: Former presidential speechwriter David Frum along with over 317,000 other “influencers” in all 50 of the United States and 24 foreign countries.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Michael Eisner says that old media is on a “death march” and that made-for-Web content is an “explosion ready to happen.” The former Disney and Paramount boss made the remarks as he unveiled “Booth,” the latest Web series from his Vuguru new-media studio. ***Nearly three months after Newsday put its Web site behind a pay wall, Newsday.com has attracted only 35 subscribers. In addition, traffic to the Long Island daily’s site has dropped by half. Owner Cablevision says: “Our strategy is proceeding according to plan.” ***Roger Hodge, the editor of Harper’s Magazine since 2006, is stepping down to “pursue other endeavors.” Sources at the general-interest title, however, say Hodge was dismissed due to general weakness of the magazine’s newsstand sales and circulation figures. ***WorldNetDaily.com, the “must-read Web site for anyone who hates Barack Obama,” serves up a provocative mix of reporting and speculation. Revenue is on track to hit $10 million annually, says Joseph Farah, formerly an editor of the now defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. ***94 of the top 100 talk radio show producers in the United States read the LBN E-Lert daily. ***One of Hollywood’s most prominent entertainment P.R. firms, LCO (www.LCOonline.com) belatedly celebrates the start of the New Year with their first annual “LCO Beach Picnic” this Saturday on the beach in Santa Monica. Joining the staff will be current interns and alumni from the last 26 years. ***Yes, there is life after Oprah: Anyone who has not yet mastered the art of place-cards or flower arranging will soon be able to get a Martha Stewart fix on the Hallmark Channel. Hallmark is giving Stewart control of a chunk of daytime programming, and Stewart’s syndicated weekday program will move to the channel in September.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Borders, the struggling U.S. book-seller, is announcing the resignation of CEO Ron Marshall, who was appointed only a year ago to head continuing turn-round efforts at the chain. Borders reported a “disappointing” 13.7% fall in sales during the holiday season.
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FOX MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS: A new survey by Public Policy Polling shows that Fox News is the only news organization in the country that more people trust than distrust: 49 percent of people trust Fox and only 37 percent of people distrust it. CNN was next best at 39/41; then NBC at 35/44, CBS at 32/46, and ABC at 31/46. Seventy-four percent of Republicans trust Fox, with no more than 23 percent trusting any of the other sources. A majority of Democrats, meanwhile, trust all the news sources (most of all NBC) except for Fox, which only 30 percent trust.
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 EXPLORE THE EYE: The January LBN Eye is a collection of ten (10) compelling, intriguing and unusual photographers from LBN E-Lert readers all over the world - CLICK HERE
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NO DUNGEONS & DRAGONS IN PRISON: Inmates do not have the right to a 20-sided die, hand-painted orc miniatures, or escape fantasies, according to a panel of three federal judges. Despite acknowledging that there is no evidence that role-playing games move their players to real-life violence, the panel upheld the Wapun Correctional Institution’s ban on Dungeons & Dragons. In the initial suit, prisoner Kevin T. Singer argued that his First and 14th Amendment rights were violated when prison officials banned the game and confiscated his gaming materials, including books and a 96-page handwritten manuscript he wrote.
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 LBN-SNAP: Actress Katherine Heigl.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***New York City says Ted Turner’s bison bistro tried to buffalo them. The Health Department yesterday shut down Ted’s Montana Grill on West 51st Street for operating without a permit. A spokeswoman for the chain, known for its bison-meat menu, insisted the paperwork was filed on time and the owners were working to clear up the problem so they can reopen as quickly as possible. The Health Department confirmed the closing order, but provided no further details. ***Toyota Motor Company will temporarily stop selling and building eight models for the U.S. market while it tries to resolve a problem with accelerator pedals.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Paula Abdul has a million reasons to appear on “Dancing with the Stars.” ABC is said to have offered Abdul a $1 million development deal, with one catch — she has to appear on the network’s celebrity dance show. The deal would allow Abdul to do Simon Cowell’s “The X Factor.” ***Apparently, the late-night wars weren’t personal: NBC and Conan O’Brien are back in business after the network picked up an hour-long pilot from O’Brien’s production company Conaco. The untitled Conan project, known currently as “Justice,” tells the story of a Supreme Court justice who quits the bench to start a private practice. Conan is expected to serve as executive producer. As part of his $33 million settlement with NBC, Conan agreed that Conaco would operate at NBC through the end of the development season. ***James Cameron’s science-fiction epic “Avatar” has passed his “Titanic” to become history’s highest-grossing film.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Veteran producer Robert Lee having lunch yesterday at McCormick & Schmicks in Beverly Hills ***Madonna throwing a fifth birthday party for daughter Mercy at Kidville on Columbus Avenue in NYC with tykes like Sascha Seinfeld (with mom Jessica). ***Donald Trump finishing up a round of golf at The Donald Trump Golf Club in Palos Verdes, CA with Oscar De la Hoya, George Lopez, & Television & Movie Casting Director Jeff Olan. ***Looking to pick up a few new duds, Liv Tyler was spotted shopping in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon. ***Trading in the chilly Park City, Utah weather for some SoCal sunshine, LeAnn Rimes was spotted arriving last night into LAX International Airport from the Sundance Film Festival. ***Enjoying some down time with a gal pal, Reese Witherspoon was spotted in Santa Monica, CA on Tuesday. ***Keeping her fabulous figure in top form, Molly Sims was spotted heading to the gym for an early morning workout in Studio City on Tuesday. ***Stepping out for the day’s agenda, Britney Spears was spotted running errands in Calabasas, California on Tuesday afternoon. ***Looking very much in love, Ben Affleck was spotted spending time alongside Jennifer Garner in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday afternoon. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT – Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 LOS ANGELES MARIJUANA SELLERS LIMITED: The Los Angeles City Council voted to shutter roughly 80 percent of the city’s pot dispensaries and restrict their hours.
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LBN-SPORTS INSIDER: ***China’s Li Na stunned sixth-seeded Venus Williams at the Australian Open; Serena Williams also struggled early, but battled back to advance to the semifinals.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS BY CAT CORA (Chef and Cookbook Author): I’m loving Ouzo Plomari right now. It is a classic Greek alcoholic liqueur, but its strong licorice flavor is still a bit foreign to the U.S. palate, so it’s not as widely enjoyed as it is abroad. It can be shot, sipped, or diluted with a bit of water and served over ice, but my favorite way to drink it is with a bit of pomegranate juice to lighten and brighten it up. The color is deep and beautiful, and its flavor sweet and exotic—perfect to enjoy as a new and refreshing adult beverage with friends.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By MAUREEN DOWD: He’s The One, all right. The handsome, athletic pol with the comely wife and two lovely daughters who precipitously rose from the State Legislature to pull us all together. The fresh face and disarming underdog America’s been waiting for, someone who suffered through his parents’ divorce, watched his mom go on welfare and survived some wayward youthful behavior to become disciplined and successful — a lawyer, a lawmaker and a devoted family guy who does dog duty. Someone who’s always game for a game of pickup basketball loves talking sports and even boasts beefcake photos. A pro-choice phenom propelled into higher office by conservatives, independents and Democrats, a surprise winner with a magical aura.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve found the last few weeks in American politics particularly unnerving. Our economy is still very fragile, yet you would never know that by the way the political class is acting. We’re like a patient that just got out of intensive care and is sitting up in bed for the first time when, suddenly, all the doctors and nurses at bedside start bickering. One of them throws a stethoscope across the room; someone else threatens to unplug all the monitors unless the hospital bills are paid by noon; and all the while the patient is thinking: “Are you people crazy? I am just starting to recover. Do you realize how easily I could relapse? Aren’t there any adults here?”
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By MICHAEL MEDVED: Barack Obama’s embarrassing new attempt to channel Harry Truman with his angry populist appeals is doomed to failure for three reasons: wrong guy, wrong Congress and wrong country.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By NICOLE LAPORTE: Anyone who expected a documentary about Joan Rivers—at least one that she had anything to do with—to be a hagiography, clearly hasn’t spoken with Rivers. “What I didn’t want it to be was one of those ass-kissing biographies that you see on the Biography channel,” the comedienne said on the telephone the other morning as she was having her make-up applied (an hour-long process) before attending a screening of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work at the Sundance Film Festival.
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 LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By COCO CHANEL: I don’t know why women want any of the things men have when one of the things that women have is men.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:
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LBN-OVERHEARD: ***Monkees singer Davy Jones is an emotionally abused husband - that’s the shocking claim of an ex-employee of the former teen heartthrob and his much-younger wife, Telemundo actress Jessica Pacheco. The couple has been married only five months. “The sex must be great. That’s the only reason I can imagine he would put up with this woman,” said Elizabeth Cochran, who cared for Davy’s 11 horses and lived in a small guest cottage on his rambling, 15-acre Beavertown, Pa., estate. ***You’d think a guy who went through rehab would stay off the sauce. Not Ben Affleck who’s been spotted sucking down vodka at the Sundance Film Festival. Affleck who went through rehab for a sobriety prob in 2001 has fallen off the wagon RadarOnline.com reported. ***According to sources, leave it to Charlie Sheen! Who else would have the chutzpah to call ex-wife Denise Richards from jail after being incarcerated for a domestic dispute with current wife Brooke Mueller? Despite his jailhouse blues Charlie did find time to call his two daughters, Lola and Sam, to wish them a merry Christmas, ex-wife Denise Richards told Oprah Winfrey. Richards says that Charlie called collect from his cell. “It’s sad. It’s a sad situation,” Denise said. “Their dad was in jail on Christmas. ***Adrian Pasdar — the guy who plays the flying Senator Nathan Petrelli on “Heroes” — was busted for DUI early this morning after cops say he was burning rubber and swerving all over a Los Angeles freeway. ***The woman who accused David Copperfield of sexually assaulting her has just been indicted on charges of making a false statement to a public servant and prostitution. The woman — Lacey Carroll — claimed Copperfield raped her on his private island back in 2007. Federal prosecutors pulled the plug on the investigation two weeks ago after her credibility was called into serious question. Now the Bellevue City Prosecutor’s Office in Washington filed charges against her in connection with a December 2, 2009 incident involving another man. Authorities say Carroll met the man in a bar and went to his hotel room. As they began having sex she allegedly told him, “Put $2,000 in my purse and you can have it all.” The man says when he refused to fork over the money, she told police he had forced himself upon her.
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LBN-DID YOU KNOW: ***Rubber bands last longer when they are refrigerated. ***The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters. ***Eskimos use refrigerators to keep food from freezing. ***It is impossible for a person to sneeze and keep his or her eyes open at the same time. ***This LBN E-Lert is read daily by over 100 Academy Award winners, over 300 Grammy Award winners and over 500 best-selling authors.
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LBN-QUOTE: “She plays, she smiles, she laughs, but she doesn’t want to be alone.”-MARIE ALICE CRAFT, a school psychologist in Haiti, on her 11-year-old daughter after the earthquake.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Jan. 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil I. ‘’Gus'’ Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.
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LBN-VIDEO LINK: MEDIA WATCH: 
LBN-VIDEO LINK: WATCH: 
LAWYER: MICHAEL JACKSON’S DOCTOR TO SURRENDER:
U.S. SENATE CONFIRMS BEN BERNANKE FOR A 2ND TERM AS FED GOVERNOR: 