June 8, 2006

Special forces to use strap-on 'Batwings'

6th June 2006 A new way to get to work!http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=389357&in_page_id=1770

Data Theft Affected Most in Military

National Security Concerns Raised (Washington Post, June 7, 2006, Pg. 1)Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel-including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force-were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft.

'Reality TV' Not So Real, Says ArticleJune 6, 2006(AgapePress) - It may be the fad that just won't die, and it may be highly popular among couch potatoes, but it seems that the one thing "Reality TV" isn't is, well, real.

An article in Time magazine revealed some of the tricks frequently employed on reality shows. For example, producers of ABC's "The Dating Experience" thought it would make for more interesting television if a female participant was perceived to like one of the male contestants, when in reality she did not.

How did the producers solve this problem? Time's James Poniewozik said: "So they sat her down for an interview. Who's your favorite celebrity? they asked. She replied that she really loved Adam Sandler. Later, in the editing room, they spliced out Sandler's name and dropped in audio of her saying the male contestant's name."

Apparently such tactics are a regular part of reality television. Poniewozik said the above example even has a name -- "Frankenbiting." The moniker comes from the fact that sound bites are "stitched together" to create a sentence that wasn't actually spoken by a participant.

Other tricks: fake settings are built, maybe an office or an apartment that gives the impression the contestants are at a real location; a "misleading montage," in which footage shot days apart is reassembled to create a more interesting story line; or even dubbing in sounds over a scene in which participants are off-screen, to suggest something that never really occurred -- like sex...

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/62006c.asp

Who's doctoring reality shows?

July 21, 2005- The word is "frankenbiting," and it's one of those delicious terms of art in the reality TV trade that means exactly what it implies: A producer on a show decides he or she doesn't like the way a particular taped interview went with a contestant, so "improvements" are made. A snip here, a snip there, a little highly selective editing, and -- presto! -- the "frankenbite" (as in "sound bite"), in which the contestant is made to say something that he didn't actually say.

...Certainly, no one should be shocked, shocked, to learn that there's some monkey business going on here. Moreover, no one should confuse "The Real Gilligan's Island" with, say, "Frontline." But reality fans might be surprised to learn just how much is, in fact, phony. And if this lawsuit goes to trial -- which is what the WGA/West wants -- they just might.

...Harmon "Todd" Sharp, who most recently was a "Bachelor" producer ...says shows like "The Bachelor" are indeed "scripted," and about the only thing that isn't piped is the dialogue -- although, he adds, "if you want a conversation to happen, and it's not happening, we might stop the camera and say, ', we need you to talk about something ... '"

Sharp, who is one of an estimated 1,000 reality TV "writers," says a typical 42-minute episode has to be culled from hundreds of hours of tapes, so it is up the to the "writer" to structure a story out of this mishmash. "One of the arguments I've heard is that they say we don't actually write down dialogue, but my response to that is that if a writer were hired to adapt a book to a screenplay and didn't write any dialogue, then he'd still be called a 'writer.' That's what I do -- set the structure and story arc ... "

...Sharp recalls an incident during a show he worked on called "The Dating Experiment," in which a female contestant despised a male contestant, whom she was supposed to like for purposes of the story. On camera, she was asked, "Who do you love?" and the answer was Adam Sandler. In the frankenbite, Sandler's name was dropped, and the hated contestant's name spliced in....http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-gay-realitydoctoring-0721,0,329167.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

How Reality TV Fakes It

Jan. 29, 2006 ...Granted, in the pantheon of shocking headlines, REALITY SHOWS MANIPULATED ranks with PORK RINDS FATTENING, RESEARCHERS SUSPECT. But even savvy viewers who realize that their favorite reality shows are cast, contrived and edited to be dramatic may have no idea how brazen the fudging can be. Quotes are manufactured, crushes and feuds constructed out of whole cloth, episodes planned in multiact "storyboards" before taping, scenes stitched together out of footage shot days apart.

And while we may have long suspected that a cast of camera-smitten future trivia answers can't really be that interesting without professional help, details of how these shows manipulate reality have begun leaking out--because of a dispute with the employees hired to do the jiggering. Those staff members--who create story lines, coach interview answers and cobble together video--say their work amounts to writing, and they are suing their networks and production companies, arguing that they deserve to be covered by the Writers Guild of America.

Their employers call them story editors, segment producers and so forth and don't recognize them as union employees. Those designations save money--Guild members have better pay, benefits and protections. But they also preserve an illusion: that the shows are authentic and true to life, free of anything close to "writing."

...Jeff Bartsch, a freelance reality-show editor...worked on Blind Date, a syndicated dating show that features hookups gone right--and comically wrong. If a date was dull or lukewarm, the editors would juice the footage by running scenes out of order or out of context. To make it seem like a man was bored, they would cut from his date talking to a shot of him looking around and unresponsive--even though it was taken while she was in the restroom and he was alone. "You can really take something black and make it white," Bartsch says.

...The first season of Laguna Beach, MTV's reality series about rich teens in Orange County, Calif., centered on a love triangle among two girls (LC and Kristin) and a boy (Stephen). The problem, says a story editor who asked not to be named, was that the triangle didn't exist. LC and Stephen, he says, were platonic friends, so the producers played Cupid through montage. LC "would say things about [Stephen] as a friend," says the editor. "[LC] said, 'I just love this guy.' All you have to do is cut to a shot of the girl, and suddenly she's jealous and grimacing."

...If reality participants think the enhancement amounts to a lie, they have little recourse, since they usually sign a thick stack of waivers. On The Amazing Race last year, Jonathan Baker savagely berated his wife Victoria Fuller and alienated fellow contestants and service workers around the globe. But Baker says his villainy was trumped up in the editing room. One episode showed him appearing to be kicked out of a cab after browbeating the driver. Really, Baker says, the driver had an accident and couldn't continue. "I got the worst rap of anyone in reality television ever," Baker says...

...Sarah Kozer, a contestant on the Fox dating show Joe Millionaire, says producers doctored a scene in which she went for a walk behind some trees with the show's bachelor, Evan Marriott, to make it seem as if they had oral sex. The producers added sound effects and captions, she says, and dubbed in a line--"It's better if we're lying down"--that she had said earlier in the day in a different context. "It couldn't have been more misrepresented and fictional if it had been completely scripted," she says. (Fox declined to respond.)...http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,1154194,00.html

Dixie Chicks tour struggling in several markets

Jun 7, 2006 NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Initial ticket sales for the Dixie Chicks' upcoming tour are far below expectations and several dates will likely be canceled or postoned.

Ticket counts for the 20-plus arena shows that went on sale last weekend were averaging 5,000-6,000 per show in major markets and less in secondaries, according to sources contacted by Billboard. Venue capacities on the tour generally top 15,000.

...early ticket sales are clearly not meeting projections. The plug was pulled on public on-sales for shows in Indianapolis (August 23), Oklahoma City (September 26), Memphis (September 27) and Houston (September 30) because of tepid pre-sales in a national promotion with Target stores.

The Memphis show has been pulled off the route and the status of the shows in Indianapolis, Houston and Oklahoma City remains uncertain. Industry speculation has it that much or all of the tour may be postponed. At the very least, it is likely routing and capacity will be reconfigured.

...After two shows in London, the North American tour was set to begin July 21 in Detroit. But with ticket sales below expectations, it is possible the route and capacities may be further reconfigured.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2006-06-07T230808Z_01_N07224908_RTRUKOC_0_US-DIXIE.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Record low temperatures set at Tallahassee and Apalachicola on Wednesday

(7 June 2006) A record low temperature of 54 degrees was set at Tallahassee Regional Airport yesterday. This breaks the old record of 57 set in 1991. The low temperature of 60 degrees at Apalachicola breaks the old record of 62 set in 1997.
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=32311#REC

Store owner, 81, shoots robbers

Three men were hospitalized — including a liquor store owner — after two men tried to rob him outside his store in the Shawnee neighborhood store late Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The liquor store owner shot them after they pistol-whipped him, said Officer Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville Metro Police spokesman.

None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, he said.

Police were called to Wilson’s Liquors, 3804 River Park Drive, just before 5 p.m. The owner was parking his car in a garage behind the business when the two men attacked him and tried to rob him, police said.

He then pulled a gun and shot at the two robbers, who ran off, Mitchell said.

...Police would not say how many times he shot the men or where they had been shot...Officers later found one suspect five doors down from the liquor store...The other suspect turned up at Jewish Hospital, Mitchell said.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060606/NEWS01/60606031/-1/rss

PG' rating mean 'Pro-God'
Narrow focus draws 'PG' rating for Baptist-backed film 07-JUN-06 The Motion Picture Association of America is crystal clear when it describes why its "PG" rating exists _ it's a warning flag.

"The theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance," states the online explanation of the rating system. "There may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence or brief nudity. ... The PG rating, suggesting parental guidance, is thus an alert for examination of a film by parents before deciding on its viewing by their children. Obviously such a line is difficult to draw."

Disagreements are a given. The Christian moviemakers behind a low-budget film called "Facing the Giants" were stunned when the MPAA pinned a PG rating on their gentle movie about a burned-out, depressed football coach whose life _ on and off the field _ takes a miraculous turn for the better.

"What the MPAA said is that the movie contained strong 'thematic elements' that might disturb some parents," said Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films...

Which "thematic elements" earned this squeaky-clean movie its PG?

"Facing the Giants" is too evangelistic.

The MPAA, noted Fuhr, tends to offer cryptic explanations for its ratings. In this case, she was told that it "decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It's important that they used the word 'proselytizing' when they talked about giving this movie a PG. ...

"It is kind of interesting that faith has joined that list of deadly sins that the MPAA board wants to warn parents to worry about."...the scene that caught the MPAA's attention may have been the chat between football coach Grant Taylor _ played by Alex Kendrick _ and a rich brat named Matt Prader. The coach says that he needs to stop bad-mouthing his bossy father and get right with God.

The boy replies: "You really believe in all that honoring God and following Jesus stuff? ... Well, I ain't trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes in that."

The coach replies: "Matt, nobody's forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you're going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it'll change your life. You'll never be the same."

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RELIGION-FAITH-06-07-06

Obituary: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
The BBC Obit (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5058262.stm) does not mention al-Zarqawi was a Jordanian born "TERRORIST". They call him an "insurgent." CNN called him an “Iraqi insurgent” even though he is not an Iraqi.

When the news came out in the US the maim-stream press, who by the way had previously said al-Zarqawi was more important to get than bin-Laden and severely criticized the President for not getting him, tempered the news by stating this was just one man and won't likely impact the other (terrorist) organizations and might embolden his followers. They avoided the connection that nailing al-Zarqawi is like intercepting the football and running it in for a touchdown, it can be a huge momentum changer... DB

It was noted on FreeRepublic that when the news broke on Democratic Underground (the liberal version of conservative FreeRepublic), the posters immediately started wringing their hands and complaining about how this may help Bush ...DB

Al Zarqawi death “more important” than bin Laden’s: expertsKhaleej Times ^ 6/8/06 LONDON - Abu Musab Al Zarqawi’s death should be a cause for celebration across the entire Arab world and could be felt more keenly in the area than the death of Osama bin Laden, leading British academics said on Thursday.

Professor Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University in Scotland, said: “I do not think any of the decent majority in the Arab world will mourn his passing.”

Michael Clarke, director of the International Policy Institute at King’s College London, said that because of the devotion Al Zarqawi inspired in his followers, his loss to Al Qaeda could be felt more keenly than the death of bin Laden.

Professor Clarke said: “If Osama is captured or killed, I would say it probably would not make much of a difference to the movement. But in the case of Zarqawi being killed, it is quite a big blow, which will not be felt immediately.”

Al Zarqawi appeared to have influence over 10,000 fighters, and had a “big handle on the Sunni and external elements. That will raise big questions for Al Qaeda”, said Clarke.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/June/theworld_June252.xml§ion=theworld&col=

"Canadian Mounties Always Get Their Man" says Rush Limbaugh
In Canada, mum's the word on marriage of gay MountiesThe Washington Post- TORONTO — It promises to be a grand June wedding, two scarlet-coated officers of the famed Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing before a justice of the peace with an escort of similarly spiffy Mounties observing the nuptials on the eve of Canada Day, a national holiday.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003044625_mounties07.html

Air America Deflates Despite Bush's SlideMay 4, 2006- Just past its second birthday, Air America, the Left’s great hope to defeat the Right in the talk radio wars, has no reason to celebrate.

Winter 2006 Arbitron ratings, leaked to Matt Drudge earlier this week and reported in greater detail by the invaluable Radio Equalizer blog, show Air America registering a weak 1.0 share in Los Angeles, an even tinier share in Chicago, and a catastrophic drop in New York City, where flagship station WLIB hemorrhaged nearly half its listenership over the last ratings period, falling from a mediocre 1.4 to a pathetic 0.8 share.

That’s smaller than the all-Caribbean format the network replaced when it first launched in New York and nowhere near the ratings of conservative heavyweights like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity in the city. Air America’s Gotham numbers are so dismal that WLIB is booting the network off the station later this summer, industry publication Mediaweek has just announced.

...even hard-core liberals (who make up only about one-fifth of the American electorate, it’s important to remember) must find Air America’s incessant and often moronic Bush bashing monotonous and unentertaining—the kiss of death for talk radio... liberals already have NPR—and for that matter, the New York Times, network newscasts, CNN, and most of the mainstream media. Conservative and libertarian voices dominate the radio dial because they offer a much-needed response to the liberal media mainstream. The Right has done well on cable television and in the blogosphere for the same reason. Air America, created and kept afloat by a handful of wealthy liberal financiers, meets no such market demand.

Even as Air America’s hosts snicker about President Bush’s plummeting approval ratings, the network seems destined to disappear from the radio dial before the president leaves the White House.

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=14577

Air America Crashes and Burns in Atlanta

Atlanta Journal constitution06/07/2006- Joe Weber, who recently purchased WWAA-AM/1690, will be migrating his eclectic music format from 1160 starting Monday June 12. 1690 has run liberal talk show syndicate Air America the past couple of years. Weber is planning to keep only Al Franken from noon to 3 p.m. He says his focus is on mornings and drivetime and by keeping Franken, he hopes to grab a few of those Air America fans. This does mean no more access to Rachel Maddow, Janeane Garafalo, Jerry Springer and Randi Rhodes unless you have XM Satellite radio or you can listen online....

Vet under fire for debarking neighbor's dog (I wonder if he makes house calls...)Muskogee veterinarian Dr. James Risch admits he impulsively neutered and de-barked his neighbor’s 10-week-old puppy, thinking it was a stray.

...Miller’s complaint states she had the puppy, Max, two days when Risch took it from her fenced-in yard and neutered it and de-barked it...

....Risch described de-barking as a ventriculocordectomy, which he said was a “simple procedure that reduces the volume of the bark but does not inhibit the dog’s ability to bark.”

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060606/NEWS01/60606005/1002

Conn. City Evicts Residents With Eminent Domain

June 6, 2006- New London, Conn. city officials voted to evict two residents whose refusal to give up their riverfront houses helped lead to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling that governments may seize property for private development projects.

The City Council voted 5-2 in favor of eviction Monday. An attorney for the residents said they are considering continuing to fight.

...The city has been trying for a decade to redevelop the once-vibrant neighborhood at the point where the Thames River joins the sea. Seven homeowners challenged the city's plans to seize the property and build a hotel, convention center and upscale condominiums, saying eminent domain can't be used to make way for private development.

However, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last year to uphold the city's right to take the homes, saying municipalities have broad power to do so in favor of private development to generate tax revenue.

...Charles Frink, one of the two council members who voted against the plan, said supporters should admit their mistake.

"I can't accept a possible reduction in taxes by having neighbors thrown out of their property," he said. "This is morally abhorrent to me. I refuse to profit from my neighbor's pain."

http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/6/132848.shtml?s=ic

New Orleans' Chief Backs Down on Gun Grab

June 6, 2006- Within two hours of an announcement that the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) was calling for a Justice Department investigation of New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley’s plan to confiscate guns again if a major storm hits the city this year, SAF learned that Riley has backed off.

"Somehow,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, "I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Earlier this year, as our attorneys were about to enter a motion for contempt against Riley and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in federal court, the city finally admitted that it did have hundreds of seized firearms in its possession. That came after months of denial the city had taken guns from anybody.

"Now, days after Riley told a New Orleans radio station that he was planning another gun grab,” Gottlieb continued, "we have him suddenly back pedaling almost immediately after we announce our complaint to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales...

"For months, we and the National Rifle Association, who was our partner in the lawsuit against the city, were stonewalled, ignored and lied to about the post-Katrina gun confiscations,” Gottlieb said....http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/6/205657.shtml?s=ic

Smashing media myths

Dr. Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. June 7, 2006Read article at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50535

A Convenient Pack of Lies (Re: Al Gore)

June 8, 2006 http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22828

Expert Thinks Evangelicalism Could End Chinese Communism

(AgapePress) - An American anti-Communist activist says he is encouraged by a recent report that after years of atheism, the Chinese people are returning to religion. He believes that is going to be an increasing problem for the Chinese Communist Party.

D.J. McGuire is president of the China Support Network and the China E-Lobby. He says a recent article in the Chinese newspaper, the Epoch Times, points out that years of Communist rule has not brought the Chinese people satisfaction or spiritual transcendence, with the result that many are turning elsewhere to fill the void.

"The Chinese people are suffering a crisis of faith," McGuire contends. "As one would expect, Maoism has not brought them fulfillment of any kind. They're now relying on radical nationalism, the CCP is, in order to survive, and that's exactly the sort of thing that only works temporarily."

But while the Communist regime looks to nationalistic fervor for salvation, the activist says the Chinese people are returning to the very thing the government fears -- religion. "What we now see is a people, the Chinese people, crying out for faith, crying out for fulfillment," he explains. "And they're finding it, increasingly, in Christianity."

The more Christianity spreads, McGuire asserts, "and the farther and deeper that spreads, the more treacherous it is for the Chinese Communist Party." He says this is because there is something fundamentally different about the Christian church.

"What makes Christianity different," the head of the China Support Network notes, "in particular evangelical Christianity -- and I say this as someone who was born and raised Catholic -- [is that] evangelical Christianity is connected but it's decentralized, which makes it much harder for the communists to stamp out and remove."

Other religious communities, such as Falun Gong and Roman Catholicism, are more centralized, McGuire points out. "And that is why I think the rise of evangelical Christianity is one of the things that will lead to the end of the Chinese Communist regime."

Because of the structure of China's underground Christian church in cells or house church communities rather than a centralized "head" that can be easily cut off, McGuire says he believes evangelical Christianity will eventually lead to the end of Communist Party rule in China. He believes this is one reason why the Communist Chinese regime is so afraid of the church.
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/1400326.html

But Canada's Not in Iraq and That Causes Terrorism, Right? (observation by Rush)

Terrorists Wanted to Behead Canadian PM, Jun. 7, 2006- The terrorism suspect who allegedly plotted to behead the Prime Minister was a Canadian soldier for four years and likely received weapons training. (ah...it's the military's fault)
...Chand, who later converted to Islam and went by the name Abdul Shakur, is charged with belonging to a terrorist group, receiving training and recruiting or training others to participate in terrorist activity. The charges partly involve allegations that Chand and eight other suspects spent five days last winter in a remote field in Washago, Ont., to participate in terrorist training.

...Chand was one of 17 suspects arrested Friday and Saturday as part of a massive police raid. They are accused of being members of an alleged homegrown terrorist cell, plotting attacks in Canada...

...Chand's lawyer, Gary Batasar, stunned the courtroom by revealing that his client and the 16 others are accused of being involved in a "detailed terrorist plot," which included plans to storm the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, take political hostages, harm hostages if Canadian troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan, and to attack media outlets including the CBC.

Relying on a synopsis provided by government lawyers, Batasar indicated that Chand was also alleged as a suspect "likely to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper."

...Sometime after leaving the military, Chand began hanging out near the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, playing sports with some of the youths and becoming interested in Islam, the centre's imam, Aly Hindy, said yesterday...http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149630613348&call_pageid=968332188492
David<><
http://freewill-predestination.com/
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove/