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Katt Williams: The Government is Your Pimp
A clip from comedian Katt Williams' 2007 HBO stand-up special, The Pimp Chronicles, Vol. 1.
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Pope slams crucified frog
Pope Benedict XVI has condemned a metre-high sculpture of a crucified frog by German artist Martin Kippenberger. The work is currently on display at a museum in Bolzano, North Italy.
"In a letter dated August 7, Benedict said the sculpture 'has injured the religious feeling of many people who see in the cross the symbol of the love of God and of our salvation which deserves recognition and religious devotion.'
The amphibian, which according to the museum curators represents a self-portrait of the artist 'in a state of profound crisis,' is said to have shocked many visitors.
Does it offend you? Pope Benedict XVI has condemned a metre-high sculpture of a crucified frog by German artist Martin Kippenberger. The work is currently... more -
Doc: Truth or Fiction?
The kids filmed for "American Teen" confront the allegations that the documentary was actually scripted or that scenes were manipulated to portray things that didn't really happen. The kids filmed for "American Teen" confront the allegations that the documentary was actually scripted or that scenes were ... more
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Q&A With Josh Brolin on Playing George Bush in Oliver Stone's 'W...
THIS IS A VERY CANDID INTERVIEW! (IMHO)
In Oliver Stone's sure-to-be-controversial W., Josh Brolin finds both the comedy (pretzel choke!) and pathos in our soon-to-be-history president. THIS IS A VERY CANDID INTERVIEW! (IMHO) ... more -
Billboards tout freedom from religion
"Controversial billboards touting freedom from religion and separation of church and state are going up around the downtown Phoenix area this week.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., paid advertising company CBS Outdoor to put up five signs that read Imagine No Religion.
"The message on the billboards will start to go up today and will remain there for a month," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion.
The organization said it is comprised of 12,000 atheists or agnostics and aims to promote free thought and the separation of church and state.
The group has put up billboards in other U.S. cities and so far, Gaylor said, there has been little opposition to the billboards, and she doesn't anticipate any issues in Phoenix.
Religious groups said they are seeing an increase in atheist activism.
"I don't have a problem with people expressing their points of view in public," said Bob Mitchell, senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church, whose congregation has around 420 members.
Mitchell said he hopes there wouldn't be backlash against the billboards, but he added he wouldn't be surprised if there were.
"I would prefer that there was serious tolerant dialogue that might emerge from this publicity campaign because it is much needed," he said.
State Sen. Linda Gray of Glendale is critical of the organization and its billboards.
Gray, a Republican, thinks the signs will be offensive to those who believe in God.
The five sites chosen by the organization for the billboards were changed after CBS Outdoor said they had to be 1,000 feet from any schools or churches, Gaylor said. The sites were finalized late last week.
CBS Outdoor was not available for comment over the weekend. " "Controversial billboards touting freedom from religion and separation of church and state are going up around the downtown Phoen... more -
Forbidden Love: Mixed-Race Couples Face Violence in Pennsylvania Town
They are united by their love for each other, their children and their commitment to maintain a strong family. But every day, they must contend with disapproving looks and, sometimes, insults shouted at them because they belong to different ethnic groups.
This is the story of the many couples in interracial relationships, mostly white women and Mexican men, who live in the town of Shenandoah, Pa. This summer, the town garnered national media attention when a group of white teenagers killed a Mexican man who had a white girlfriend.
Amid an environment of racial harassment, these couples also live with the uncertainty that they could one day be separated because their partner is not in the United States legally.
This is the case of Ruben*, a 39-year-old Mexican, who came to Shenandoah 10 years ago and lives with his partner of five years, 28-year-old Susan*.
Marriage is not a possibility for Ruben, who entered the country illegally and would need to return to Mexico and wait for 10 years before gaining legal status. He prefers to stay here with his three children and his girlfriend, ignoring the occasional insults shouted at him in the street by white teenagers, who call him a "dirty Mexican" or a "wetback."
Susan says she has also been the object of disapproving glances and comments for having a Mexican partner.
"It doesn't happen every day, but occasionally they've told me that I'm dirty to be with a 'dirty Mexican,'" says Susan. "I feel more welcome in the Latino community," she adds.
Susan sadly recalls the life of Luis Martinez and his girlfriend, Crystal Dillman, who suffered similar harassment on many occasions. On July 12, Martinez was beaten by four white teenage boys as they yelled racial slurs at him. He died 30 hours afterwards in a local hospital.
Dillman, a mother of three — two with Martinez — did not get married because the couple had planned to move to Mexico, far from the insults and stares of Shenandoah. She says Shenandoah residents have screamed "dirty Mexican," at her boyfriend on various occasions.
Another couple that has faced the hostile environment of Shenandoah is 32-year-old Felipe* and his girlfriend, Anne*. A native of Guanajuato, Mexico, Felipe works as a gardener and has lived for six years with Anne and their two children, who are two and four years old.
Although they may get married, Felipe says he doesn't want to. "I don't want people to say that she married me so I could get my papers," he says. "I am with her because I love her."
Anne says she respects his decision, but hopes that he can change his mind: She knows single mothers in Shenandoah whose undocumented partners have been deported.
Yet, discrimination in East Pennsylvania is not limited to Latino men and white women. Latina women who are dating white men are also harassed.
Ana Taveras, who is Dominican, is married to Raymond Schuman. The couple, who lived together for seven years before they got married and had a 5-year-old daughter together, still faces discrimination. Living in Hazelton, Pa., Taveras says she has to listen to people tell her husband that "'he could have done better.'"**continues** They are united by their love for each other, their children and their commitment to maintain a strong family. But every day, they mus... more -
Robots put on waterboarding torture display
An animatronic show featuring a hooded figure pouring water into the face and mouth of a convulsing Guantanamo prisoner has been put on display at Coney Island. Visitors are apparently welcomed into the exhibit by a cartoon statue of Spongebob Squarepants.
Unsurprisingly, it is causing some controversy. But do you think this is an effective way of making people realise the horrors of torture? Or is it all a bit too Madame Tussaude's dungeon of horror to be taken seriously? An animatronic show featuring a hooded figure pouring water into the face and mouth of a convulsing Guantanamo prisoner has been put o... more -
Ramiro's Story
Ramiro is an immigrant from Mexico who doesn't have papers to live in the U.S. This is his story about how he is overcoming this obstacle. Ramiro is an immigrant from Mexico who doesn't have papers to live in the U.S. This is his story about how he is overcoming this ... more
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Major Surf Threat
The Surfrider Foundation is constantly challenging the Transportation Corridor Agencys (TCA) plans to build a Toll Road through San Onofre State Park but makes questionable claims about impacts to the waves and environment that the road may cause. The Surfrider Foundation is constantly challenging the Transportation Corridor Agencys (TCA) plans to build a Toll Road through San O... more
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Danish cartoonist charged in Jordan: interview
After drawing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a lit bomb in his turban in 2005, Kurt Westergaard has lived under constant police protection. Now Jordan wants to prosecute the Dane. In a SPIEGEL ONLINE interview he discusses the legal summons and his anger.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Westergaard, I am assuming you're not planning a vacation in Jordan this year?
Westergaard: No, I don't think so!
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The prosecutor general in Amman has issued a subpoena against you. He wants you to face a court in Jordan for the cartoon you drew of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
Westergaard: Yes, but so far I haven't received an official summons to court. I have already contacted the Jordanian Embassy in Berlin and asked them if they could inform me what the punishment would be. If I went to Amman would I be arrested as soon as I put my foot on Jordanian soil? But I never got an answer.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: You would likely be apprehended were you to travel to Jordan...
Westergaard: Yes, I suppose so.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What would you tell a Jordanian court in your defense?
Westergaard: I would try to explain that the cartoon was not aimed at Islam as a whole but aimed at the terrorists, who use part of Islam as their spiritual ammunition. You could also say that the terrorists have taken the Prophet as their hostage.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The Jordanian government has passed a new law expressly forbidding the defamation of the Prophet Muhammad -- a direct reaction to your caricature and the others. There seems little doubt that you'd be convicted.
Westergaard: Yes, it has been very difficult to get Muslims to understand my intentions.
(continued at link) After drawing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a lit bomb in his turban in 2005, Kurt Westergaard has lived under constant polic... more -
Olympic wrestler's punishment: a rights violation
"And you thought the Chinese government was repressive.
The International Olympic Committee has decided it has the right to control the way medal winners treat their medals.
Remember Ara Abrahamian, the Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler who felt he should not have lost his semifinal match against Italy's Andrea Minguzzi?
Remember that Abrahamian was so upset, he removed his bronze medal during the medal ceremony, walked off the podium and dropped it in the center of the mat before disappearing?
Ara Abrahamian immediately steps off the podium after receiving the bronze medal."I didn’t deserve to lose; the system is corrupt," said Abrahamian afterward. "I don't care about this medal."
Well, the IOC didn't like his attitude, and decided he should be stripped of that medal.
In a decision announced Saturday, the IOC's executive board ruled that his treatment of the medal was a political demonstration and disrespectful to the other athletes.
The haughty board then threw him out of the Olympics and stripped him of his medal.
We knew the IOC had become chummy with the Chinese, but this is ridiculous.
In the sort of free societies that the IOC claims it supports, medal winners should be able to do whatever they want with their medal.
They should be able to sell it, frame it, play Frisbee with it. Who cares?
Heck, a young Cassius Clay once threw his medal into the Ohio River, and he didn't turn out too badly.
The IOC has no right to strip Abrahamian of his medal. He could have eaten it on the stand and they still shouldn't have stripped him of it.
This is the sort of thing that would happen only in China, where the IOC is currently making billions at the expense of human rights.... Oh, wait, now we understand." "And you thought the Chinese government was repressive. ... more -
IOC turns blind eye to controversy over China's kiddie gymnasts
"The Chinese gymnasts could have picked out their leotards from Thumbelina's closet as they performed gymnastics in miniature on Wednesday. Wearing blue eye shadow with their hair pulled back, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin looked like girls who had just rummaged through their mothers' makeup. This was a ladies' final, though somehow it was hard to see how they qualified as women.
Amid pre-Olympic hand-wringing over why the birthdates of He, Yang and Jiang didn't jibe with other registration materials that showed they might be as young as 14, China swore on its stars' passport stamps that the tots are the legal tumbling age of 16." "The Chinese gymnasts could have picked out their leotards from Thumbelina's closet as they performed gymnastics in miniatur... more -
Alcohol to go - is it targetting teens?
"The makers call it a "party in a pouch."
Critics say it's more like an alcoholic candy bar.
ShotPak is a line of alcoholic beverages that come in shot-sized, laminated-foil plastic pouches that are reminiscent of the drinks children pack in school lunches.
Purple Hooter is one of the drinks, which sell for 99 cents to $1.50 in liquor stores and for more in some nightclubs. There are also a Kamikaze, Lemon Drop, Sour Apple and a higher alcohol line of pocket-sized drinks called STR8UP of vodka, whiskey, tequila and rum -- all ironically made at a distillery in Temperance, Mich., and sold throughout Southern California. The company is legally headquartered in Irvine but is run mostly from Sarasota, Fla., where its parent company is located.
ShotPak refers to its drink as "the shot . . . without the glass!" The company's critics call it a blatant play to entice underage drinkers and to get alcohol into schools and other public venues where it wouldn't ordinarily be drunk.
"Images of these packs stuffed in jeans pockets can give kids the wrong idea. It turns this into an alcoholic candy bar," said George Hacker, a policy advocate with the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.
Until recently, the company's home page on the Internet showed a photo of just the middle of an attractive young woman. There was no head and not much of her legs. But there was a tight, bare belly clad in low slung bluejeans with a Purple Hooter pouch wedged into her front pocket.
In April, the company's main website was found in violation of advertising standards for alcoholic beverages set by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a self-regulating industry trade group.
ShotPak also had a MySpace page that talked about how "these shots are perfect to take with you tailgating, at concerts, to sporting events, on vacations, on a plane or on your next camping or boat trip."
Its list of MySpace friends include celebutante Kim Kardashian and a nearly naked woman who calls herself Jessica Rabbit. The page also contained other sexually suggestive imagery.
ShotPak made changes on both websites to comply with the standards set by the industry trade group after The Times called the Distilled Spirits Council asking about the images. "We are tidying up what might be considered controversial. We are trying to turn this into a positive product," said R. Charles Murray, chief executive of Beverage Pouch Group, which owns the ShotPak brand.
Still, some experts said they believed the convenient format of the ShotPak could encourage abuse.
"Combining vodka with raspberry drinks . . . and calling it a party in a pouch. Who are they appealing to? This isn't the kind of thing adults drink," said Dr. Michael Brody of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Adults of 25 to 40 years old are the prime targets, Murray said.
Murray said the company would sell about $500,000 of the drinks this year and was marketing a convenient drink "for a social setting" such as tailgate parties at sporting events, beaches or while boating -- situations where people don't want to cart glass around."
What do you think? Would you drink them? "The makers call it a "party in a pouch." Critics say it's more like an alcoholic candy bar. ... more -
Stasi theme bar causes uproar
BBC reporter Tristana Moore files this report on a controversial new pub in Berlin called the Stasi Bar named after the former East Germany's secret police. Although it has been nearly 20 years since the collapse of the Berlin Wall -- separating West Berlin from East Berlin -- and the end of East Germany's socialist government, elements of "ostalgie" have emerged in German culture in recent years conveying a sentimental nostalgia towards life in the DDR. The owners of the Stasi Bar, however, may be too provocative for some in Berlin, particularly those who remember the shadowy Stasi police. BBC reporter Tristana Moore files this report on a controversial new pub in Berlin called the Stasi Bar named after the former East Ge... more
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On the Fringes: The Life of Diane Arbus
Remembering one of the 20th century's most innovative and controversial photographers.
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Standard Operating Procedure
Documentary maker Errol Morris investigates the story behind the controversial Abu Ghraib photos.
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Beer Pong brouhaha
Beer Pong, the favorite past time of American college students, has faced ever increasing heat from concerned parents, colleges and the US government. The battle has become so mainstream it made the front page news section of Yahoo.com today.
The Nintendo Wii game formally titled “Beer Pong” has taken most of the heat as the software maker JV Games received letters from angry parents and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who were concerned that this new form of digital binge drinking could lead to dorm room deaths. As expected JV Games copped out changing the name to “Pong Toss” and switching the cups of beer to water - what could have been a million dollar idea is now a Teen Rated waste of time.
Although the Wii game has been the popular target of late, old fashioned Beer Pong has taken a few hits around the country as well.
Georgetown University banned beer-pong in 2007 as well as “specially made beer-pong tables, inordinate numbers of Ping-Pong balls and any other alcohol-related paraphernalia in its on-campus dorms - even in the rooms of students of legal drinking age.” Multiple schools, including the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Tufts University are also planning a ban, with many schools expected to follow the trend. Even entire towns, like Belmar, NJ, are outlawing the “sport.”
WON'T SOMEBODY PLEEEEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!! Beer Pong, the favorite past time of American college students, has faced ever increasing heat from concerned parents, colleges and th... more -
XBOX processor used in video games that actually kill people
Raytheon has developed new drone controls that play like video games. Soldiers will be able to fight Bush's War on Terror from the comfort of temperature controlled leather chairs in Nevada. Raytheon has developed new drone controls that play like video games. Soldiers will be able to fight Bush's War on Terror from th... more
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Kurt Cobain Murdered?
From my investigation, the evidence points in that direction
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“W.” Trailer
The trailer for Oliver Stone’s biopic about George W. Bush surfaces online, promptly reminding us that November can’t come quickly enough. If the trailer is any indication, Bush is going to get the same “presidential” treatment that Stone bestowed upon Tricky Dick. The trailer for Oliver Stone’s biopic about George W. Bush surfaces online, promptly reminding us that November can’t come quickly eno... more
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