Taste Of Tippecanoe

Taste of Tippecanoe is tonight: Here's the plan

The Taste of Tippecanoe, which will be 4 p.m. to midnight today in downtown Lafayette-West Lafayette, combines food, music, kids activities and fireworks, all to benefit the Tippecanoe Arts Federation.

Where

The Taste of Tippecanoe is on Second, Third, Fourth, Main and Ferry Streets, Riehle Plaza, the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge and in West Lafayette's Tapawingo Park.

How much

Tickets are $10 at the gate. Food tickets are $1 each. For more information, visit www.tasteoftippecanoe.org.

Food

There's a reason for the "Taste" in Taste of Tippecanoe. There will be 35 restaurants serving everything from Chicken Tikka Masala to Pesto Cavatappi. New restaurants to the Taste this year include Yats, Great Harvest Bread Company, McAlister's Deli, Main Street Wine and Cheese Cellar, Las Olas Mexican Restaurant, Noodles and Company, Panini Deli and Punjabi Masala Kitchen. The festival also features wine and beer tents for the adults. Food tickets are $1 each.

For a preview of menu items, click on entertainment.

Music

There are stages featuring Americana, family events, Jazz, the World Stage and gospel. The Millers, Michael Kelsey, Los Blancos Latin Jazz Band, The Overtones and Old School are among the acts.

Fireworks

Pretty much everything pauses at 10 p.m. for the fireworks show over the Wabash River.

The Forecast

Chances are fair weather will hold for the Taste of Tippecanoe. The National Weather Service in Indianapolis predicts a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. today. Skies will be mostly cloudy, with a high temperature near 82. The chance of storms will decrease later in the day .

Parking

In Lafayette, free parking will be available at the Tippecanoe County garage on Second and Columbia and the Lafayette City garage at Fifth and Columbia. In West Lafayette, the Wabash Landing garage will also provide free parking. Street parking is available as well.

Original Source : http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080621/NEWS/806210322

Lee Atwater : Rise And Fall Of The Ultra Right

With the presidential primaries come to a close and the general election only months away, it seems apparent that the ultra-right forces that have enjoyed unprecedented power and influence are about to taste the bitter fruit of defeat. While nothing is certain in politics (or in football, as those of us who thought the New England Patriots would surely beat the New York Giants can attest), many self-described conservatives are already willing to concede the November election to the Democrats.

Whether that defeat, should it happen, is a long-term development or a temporary respite from power for the ultra-right cannot be decided now. But it is worth considering how and why the conservative movement that dominated the latter part of the 20th century in US politics now finds itself in such utter disarray in the early part of the 21st century.

In general, my view is that the conservative movement collapsed under the weight of its ultra-right perspectives. In other words, the conservative movement's reaction was countered by the proaction of the left; the ultra-right became mired in mission, while the left concerned itself with vision.

BUCKLEY, NATIONAL REVIEW AND Y.A.F.

During the 35-year period between 1933 and 1968, the Democratic Party had a virtual cinch-lock on the White House with the exception of the eight year period of the Eisenhower presidency. In the 40 years since then, Democrats have held the White House for only 12 years.

The emergence of the modern conservative movement can, arguably, be traced back to the appearance in print of the book, "God and Man at Yale," by William F. Buckley, Jr. Buckley had a mission, and that mission was to "rescue" anti-Communism from the political gutter in which it had found itself due to the demagoguery of Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. In furtherance of this mission Buckley, alongside a veritable rogues gallery of anti-and-ex Communists, founded the magazine, National Review.

The pages of the National Review were given over to attacks on liberals as well as treatises of various lengths on the virtues of limited government alongside its stock-in-trade anti-Communism. Buckley himself was a bit of a paradox. A man of keen intellect who occasionally blurred the lines between erudition and pompousness, Buckley was an unabashed rightist. And yet, he did not hesitate to condemn the anti-Semitism of the extremist John Birch Society (devoting an entire issue to an expose of that organization). He also welcomed liberals and social democrats, like the late author Michael Harrington, on "Firing Line," his television show that ran on PBS for many years – treating them with a dignity that is unknown to the ultra-right talking heads of today. Buckley also displayed a sense of humor, appearing on NBC's "Laugh In" because, he told hosts Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, the producer of the show "had promised to fly me from New York to Los Angeles on a plane with two right wings."

The influence of Buckley's magazine cannot be underestimated, counting among its early subscribers and supporters Ronald Reagan. It should be recalled that when National Review first hit the stands, the notion of an openly conservative magazine was rather a radical notion. By the early 1970's, National Review could be said to be the journal of choice for conservative intellectuals. (Filmmaker Woody Allen made reference to the magazine in two of his films: In "Bananas," a copy of National Review is seen in the center of a wall-sized rack of pornographic magazines. In "Annie Hall," Woody comes over to Annie's apartment to kill a spider and she hands him a copy of the magazine. "What are you…..? Are you dating a right-wing rock-and-roll star?" he asks her).

Perhaps less known today is Buckley's role in the formation of an explicitly right-wing youth organization, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). YAF's founding meeting took place at Buckley's estate in Sharon, Connecticut and adopted on September 11, 1960 that became known as "The Sharon Statement" and articulated a series of core beliefs that became a hallmark for conservatives: individualism over community, weakened government, states' rights, free market and free trade, anti-Communism, and unquestioning support for U.S. imperialism.

THE "REAGAN REVOLUTION"

It would be 20 years before the right succeeded in electing an avowed conservative into the Oval Office: The former actor-turned-California Governor Ronald W. Reagan.

Although the Republican Party emerged victorious in the presidential contest twelve years earlier with the election of Richard M. Nixon, with the benefit of historical hindsight it can be argued that Nixon, while more conservative than President Lyndon B. Johnson and certainly more conservative than his vanquished opponent Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, held no strong commitment to any ideological perspective. Nixon's presidency was about the man himself and his own ambitions to historic greatness; the GOP was little more than a vehicle for attaining those ambitions as was aptly demonstrated by Nixon's disastrous decision to operate a campaign and intelligence operation largely independent of the Republican National Committee.

Nixon's foreign policy departed from conservative norms in the form of détente with the Soviet Union and reproachment with the People's Republic of China. \Nixon himself claimed that no Democratic president would have dared take such steps. But in these matters as with others, Nixon was unconcerned with ideological perspectives, or in genuinely promoting world peace; his interests were in his own vision of himself as well as a desire to exacerbate tensions between the USSR and China by playing off one against the other.

The so-called "Reagan Revolution" was the product of a confluence of events that crystalized in Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. The break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee by Nixon operatives in June of 1972 began a series of cover-ups that had little to do with the break-in itself. When these were ultimately exposed, aided and abetted by the fact that Nixon had secretly tape recorded virtually every meeting that took place in the Oval Office and his "hideway office" across the street in the Executive Office Building, Nixon was compelled to step down and the Republican Party was in a shambles.

By 1979, however, the Republican Party had started to rebound. A series of crises beset President Jimmy Carter. There was a shortage of gasoline that led to gas stations displaying signs proclaiming "No gas today." The US Embassy in Tehran, Iran had been seized by followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Conservatives seized on these events, and the inability of the Carter administration to force Soviet troops from Afghanistan – the US boycotted the summer Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 over the issue while the Soviets did participate in the winter Olympics that year in Lake Placid, New York.

The resurgence of the Republican Party and the ultra-right had little to do with Reagan, whose stage persona was a melange of demagoguery and a sort of folksy geniality. Rather, GOP operatives skillfully manipulated a political atmosphere epitomized by what President Jimmy Carter had called "a crisis in the national confidence….a crisis of national will," exploiting perceptions that the US was in a financial slump at home and powerless abroad.

Although the National Review saw fit to hail Samuel Pierce Jr. as the "unsung hero of the Regan revolution" (Pierce was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the only cabinet member to serve the full eight years of the administration), the true heroes are without doubt those who envisioned and forged an alliance between the GOP and right-wing Christian fundamentalists. It is this alliance that rescued the GOP from its post-Watergate doldrums, provided the foot soldiers for the Reagan revolution, and put Rev. Jerry Falwell and his organization, the so-called "Moral Majority," on the political map.

Falwell, who died last year, was one of the architects of this alliance as well as a principal beneficiary. He worked hard for a marriage between the ultra-right segments of the GOP and Falwell's brand of evangelical Christianity; one that would blur the distinctions between ideology and theology and, in the finest traditions of "Christian marriage" make two into one.

The issue of abortion was the wedding band that cemented this bond. What is beyond doubt is that the issue gained traction in many segments of the population, and that many evangelicals began to shift their focus from the heavens to the halls of power in Washington, DC and state legislatures.

It can be debated whether Falwell or his allies genuinely believed that overturning Roe v. Wade would eliminate abortion in the United States. Its primary value was as a wedge issue: one by which the religious right could establish a base from which they could transform conservative politics from the traditional "less government=lower taxes=greater freedom" mindset advocated by people like Buckley and organizations like the YAF, toward a politics that blurred the lines between ideology and theology. And it must be admitted that this effort was extremely successful is resurrecting the GOP.

In the presidential campaign of 1960, John F. Kennedy faced the formidable task of winning the election as a Roman Catholic. Kennedy sought to make clear that, if elected, the decisions made by his administration would be made in Washington, not in Rome. Twenty years later, the separation between church and state avowed by JFK had been turned on its head not by the Pontiff in the Vatican, but by a movement led by a minister in Lynchburg, Virginia. The message of that movement was that the wages of sin were political death.

But sin, it appeared, was a matter to be narrowly defined. As the marriage of convenience between the ultra-right and religious fundamentalism succeeded in gaining influence in the Republican ranks, power operators emerged whose strategy and tactics owed more to the Nixon's "hatchet man" Charles ("When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow") Colson than to Aquinas, Calvin or Luther.

No one better embodied this trend than the late Lee Atwater. Atwater was a young man in a hurry who was hungry for power. As a consultant to the South Carolina Congressional campaign of Floyd Spence in 1980, Atwater made an issue of the fact that Tom Turnipseed had psychiatric treatment as a youngster (shades of the Nixon campaign's attack on Senator Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern's original running mate in the 1972 election), and used "push polling," in which efforts are made to influence the electorate under the pretext of conducting a poll. Atwater used this device to suggest that Turnipseed was a member of the NAACP. More recently, it was alleged that the Bush campaign used the same technique to hurt John McCain in 2000; Bush advisor Karl Rove is often described as an Atwater protégé.

And, of course, Atwater had no qualms with using race to divide and conquer. While the "Willie Horton" episode used against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in the 1984 presidential election is well-known, operatives like Atwater were using it well before then as the NAACP reference in the above paragraph attests. In 1981, Atwater gave an off-the-record interview to Alexander P. Lamis for a book on the issue of southern strategy. Following Atwater's death from a brain tumor in 1991 at the age of 40, the book was reprinted with remarks attributed to Atwater:

"You start out in 1954 by saying, 'n----, n----, n-----. By 1968 you can't say 'n----' - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now…. you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me – because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'N----, n----'."

The obvious contradiction between the low road electoral tactics of Atwater (who publicly apologized before his death) and the love-thy-neighbor message in the Gospels didn't seem to bother right-wing fundamentalists; they, like Atwater, clearly believed that the ends justified the means.

GEORGE W. BUSH AND THE AGONIES OF THE ULTRA-RIGHT

The 1992 presidential contest brought an end to twelve years of the GOP's control of the executive branch. The collapse of the Soviet Union had as one of its by-products the devaluation of anti-Communism that had been the right wing's stock in trade for decades. The exposure of the "Iran-Contra" affair in which arms were secretly sold to Iran in order to provide munitions to right-wing forces seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and a rather enemic campaign by President George H.W. Bush against Clinton – by most accounts one of the most skillful politicians to come to national prominence – were only two of the important elements in the election that year.

Within three years of the Clinton victory, however, the ultra-right came back like a Phoenix from the ashes to seize control of Congress, ending four decades of Democratic dominance there and electing Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House.

The ultra-right's ultimate goal, however, was to control both the Congress and the White House, and toward that end they embarked on a campaign to assail the Clinton administration. Their shock troops were right-wing radio talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and former FBI agent-turned-Watergate-conspirator G. Gordon Liddy, among others. They were inadvertently aided in their goal by the fact that Clinton's political skills were not matched by his fidelity as a husband, and this culminated in the appointment of Kenneth Starr as an "Independent Prosecutor" whose mandate to investigate questions associated with an Arkansas real estate transaction called Whitewater quickly morphed into an inquiry about President Clinton's relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. The hypocrisy in this was laid bare when, years later, Gingrich admitted that he, too, was hardly a paragon of marital virtue.

By 2000, the ultra-right had selected as their candidate George W. Bush, the ne'er do well son of the former president – a man who had failed in almost every business venture but who was at the time of his nomination the Governor of Texas. Bush, who the late Molly Ivins memorably dubbed "Shrub," won the election only through the disenfranchisement of wholesale segments of the Florida electorate (his brother, Jeb, was Governor) and the intervention of the US Supreme Court.

If the "Reagan revolution" represents the ascendency of the ultra-right then certainly it must be said that the presidency of George W. Bush represents both its apex and its nadir. The terrible and tragic events of September 11, 2001 – a scant nine months into the administration – created a tidal waive of anger, revulsion and fear that was skillfully parlayed into an ongoing US military intervention in Iraq that has enriched corporations beyond their wildest dreams of avarice. Halliburton, whose ties to Vice President Dick Cheney have been extensively documented, has benefited from a series of virtually "sweetheart" deals, as has Blackwater USA. And the oil companies are recording record profits.

KBR, a Halliburton spin off, has been named in allegations of widespread fraud and, more recently, sexual harassment and rape. The Defense Department's Inspector General declined to investigate the rape allegations, citing an ongoing Justice Department investigation. But in a Vanity Fair article on KBR that appeared last year, anti-fraud crusader Alan Grayson contended that the Justice Department, which had previously been responsive to fraud allegations was taking extraordinary steps to stand in his way when the issue was the Iraq war.

Today, the ultra-right finds itself in panic mode on the verge of a full-fledged political anxiety attack. The economy is veering toward recession; home foreclosures are at virtually unprecedented levels; the US military is mired in Iraq – and the only real and demonstrated surge has been Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic primaries.

And now Arizona Sen. John McCain has emerged as certain Republican nominee for the White House, much to the consternation of the ultra-right, who can sense they are about to lose in November.

There is only one conclusion that can be reached: George W. Bush, a failure in business has been a failure as the chief executive of the United States. As satirist Andy Borowitz might write, what a shocker.

But perhaps we should take a moment to reflect on the positive accomplishments of this administration.

* The Bush administration's actions have demonstrated that the only value the ultra-right holds dear is that ability of corporations to run amok and make record profits without regard to who gets hurt;
* The Bush administration's actions have shown that US military intervention abroad isn't supported by the majority of the American people, who have no taste for war and for its toll on human lives and on the economy;
* The Bush administration has discovered that while vast segments of the electorate do not want to experience another tragedy like September 11th, it is ultimately the politics of hope that will vanquish the politics of fear.

Last, and by no means least, courtesy of the Bush administration the electorate has woken up and gone to polls in unprecedented numbers. The political landscape in the United States is on the verge of a transformation that would have been almost unthinkable seven years ago. And that transformation is being driven not by Washington policy makers or the corporate board rooms of Manhattan, but by working women and men in other cities and towns, urban and rural, of all races and creeds. This is the majority. And they are not being silent.

Original Source : http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/7049/1/340/

Raj Bhavsar Gymnast

If there is an emotional favorite among gymnastics fans it is Raj Bhavsar, 27, of Houston. Bhavsar was devastated when he was only named an alternate on the 2004 Athens Olympic team. He didn't compete and quit the sport for nearly two years. Bhavsar said his love of gymnastics crept back slowly. He competed at the 2006 nationals and put his mind into making the 2008 team. Bhavsar's emotions play on his face, so the crowd knows by each grimace, groan, grin and fist pump whether things are going well or poorly.

UP: Things went well on his parallel bars routine, well enough that after finishing with a stuck landing that would help him score 15.700, Bhavsar made his hands into binoculars, gazed into the crowd and then applauded for them.

Jonathan Horton, hoping to be a U.S. all-around representative in Beijing put up a big rings score, 15.950.

Justin Spring worked the parallel bars with the enthusiasm of a 10-year-old in his backyard. He got a huge hug from coach Jon Valdez at the finish and a score of 15.550.

DOWN: Cal's Tim McNeil nearly sat down on his parallel bars landing. It is hard to be the guy who felt he had to be perfect to have an Olympic chance.

-- Diane Pucin

Original Source : http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/06/fourth-rotati-2.html

Scott Kalitta Killed In Car Crash

NHRA driver Scott Kalitta killed in crash in NJ

Scott Kalitta died Saturday when his Funny Car crashed and burst into flames during the final round of qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

State police confirmed the 46-year-old Kalitta, a two-time Top Fuel champion who had 18 career victories, was killed. The NHRA said on its Web site that Kalitta was taken to Old Bridge Township Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from multiple injuries.

Witnesses told The Star-Ledger of Newark that Kalitta's Toyota Solara was traveling at an estimated speed of 300 mph when the crash occurred.

The Palmetto, Fla., resident started his career at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in 1982. His father, Connie Kalitta, was a longtime driver and team owner known as "The Bounty Hunter," and his cousin, Doug Kalitta, also drives competitively.

NASCAR Nationwide series driver Brad Keselowski — a native of Rochester Hills, Mich., about 20 miles away from Kalitta's hometown of Mount Clemens — learned the news from a television report Saturday afternoon.

"That really hits close to home," Keselowski said after winning the pole position for Saturday night's race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis. "(He was) a friend of my family's, and I send my thoughts and prayers out to him. That's tough to hear."

Last year, Funny Car driver Eric Medlen died after an accident in a testing session at Gainesville, Fla.

Original Source : http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gevRq1Q5ccWq260Xzhxnu7cGVP-wD91EP40O0

Redfin

Redfin co-founder raises cash for Fridge Door

Michael Dougherty, who co-founded Redfin and then spent time at Zillow.com, has raised $830,000 in startup cash for Fridge Door.

Given Dougherty's background at Redfin and Zillow, one might think that Fridge Door is trying something new in the online real estate arena.

But Dougherty -- who was trying to keep a low profile about his Seattle upstart -- said that's not the case.

"Two real estate startups is enough," said Dougherty, who didn't want to offer many details about the company until a new name is secured.

That moniker should be coming in a few weeks, with a full launch later this year. So what is Fridge Door up to?

Dougherty would only say that it is in the "personal communications space."

Fridge Door is backed by angel investors and Palomar Ventures, a southern California venture firm.

The other Fridge Door co-founders -- Logan Bowers, Sameer Rayachoti and Greg Whelan - also worked at Zillow.

Original Source : http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/archives/141586.asp

Golliwog Insult Leads To Police Assault

Ranting Naomi claims racist 'golliwog' insult led to her assaulting two police officers

Naomi Campbell last night blamed racism for her outburst on a British Airways jet, claiming she had been called 'a golliwog supermodel'.

In an interview with Sky News, Miss Campbell said she was not going to apologise to BA as they were "disgusting."

She said: 'I was called a racial name on that flight. And that was part of my reaction. Again, nothing to do with the police but yes from British Airways.'

'I was called a golliwog supermodel, I don’t think that’s really fair do you?'

Lucky escape: Naomi Campbell at a west London court where she pleaded guilty to an alleged assault on a police officer. The supermodel escaped a jail sentence

The supermodel did not say exactly who had called her the name only that it was not one of the passengers.

When asked who called her the name, she replied: 'Someone on the flight, not the passenger.'

She added:'Would you like it if someone turned round and called you a golliwog supermodel?

'I mean I’m proud to be a black woman, I’m proud to be British, I’m proud of the job that I do but I did not call anyone names of colour, of their race.

Fight back: Naomi talks to Sky about her treatment by British Airways

'And, you know, I’ve had to leave all of that out of court and all of that out of statement because at the end of the day the real problem was, I took my upset and my, the end of my wrath came out on the police, which was wrong.'

Miss Campbell avoided jail yesterday despite admitting kicking, hitting and spitting at police officers on board the jet at Heathrow.

Extraordinary details of the supermodel's vicious assault on two officers emerged in court as she was sentenced to a 200 hour unpaid community service order.

Magistrates told the model that the community service was part of a 12-month order.
They also ordered her to pay compensation of £200 each to the two police officers she assaulted, and £150 compensation to the aircraft captain, Miles Sutherland.

In addition she was ordered to pay fines for committing a public order offences totalling £2,300 and a £15 surcharge.

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Running the gauntlet: Naomi - seen here in the black suit - was jostled by photographers as she arrived for her court appearance

British Airways later issued a statement saying: "British Airways does not accept any allegations of racism.

'We are proud of our diversity. We fly to 90 different countries around the world and employ a multi-nationality workforce.

'We have strict policies concerning dignity at work and have long standing training programmes on diversity and inclusion.'

During the fracas, Miss Campbell went berserk, spat at a male officer in the arm and caught he and his female colleague in the groin, thighs and shins with her 'formidable platform boots with stiletto-style heels'.

Amid a tirade of foul-mouthed abuse, Campbell also hit out brandishing her mobile phone, striking one of the officers on the arm as other passengers in first class retreated in terror to a safe distance in the crew kitchen.

During the scuffle, which escalated after Campbell discovered her bags had gone missing, she hollered that she was being mistreated because she was 'black and famous'.

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Under siege: Naomi Campbell arrived at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes and emerged wearing a dark suit and sunglasses to a battery of photographers

More...

• Pictured: The incredible moment Sky TV presenter Kay Burley grabbed a rival by the throat and pinned her to the wall

She then claimed that she could not be arrested because she had 'a cousin in Scotland Yard'.

At one point, she screamed down her mobile phone: 'They have lost my f***ing bags, get me another flight, get the press, get me my lawyer.'

She was eventually restrained in handcuffs and after being prized from the seat where she had wedged herself, flopped onto the floor 'like a child' before being dragged off the jet and locked in police cells.

There, she continued to scream abuse at police, telling one officer: 'I'm going to screw you like a mother****er'.

The row escalated after 38-year-old Campbell was informed her bags has gone missing at Terminal 5 as she sat in her £5,000 first class sear waiting for the LA-bound flight to take off on April 3 of this year.

A court heard that when the captain made the unusual move of personally approaching her to apologise, she ordered him to get off the plane and look for her suitcase.

When he refused she screamed 'F*** you, f*** you, captain', at which point the crew decided to call the police. The row held up the Boeing 747 trans-Atlantic flight for 90 minutes.

Incredibly, Miss Campbell escaped jail after pleaded guilty to six counts of assault at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court in west London today.

The model pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer, one count of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and using threatening, abusive words or behaviour to cabin crew.

She arrived at court amid chaotic scenes as scores of photographers swarmed around her.

As Campbell stood in court yesterday, she smirked as the prosecution account was read out. But as the hearing went on, tears appeared.

In court, Melanie Parrish, prosecuting, told how flight crew said initially that Campbell was very friendly and professional.

But after she discovered a bag of hers had gone astray, Campbell became upset and demanded to know where her bag was. Meanwhile the captain began to go through her options with her.

Miss Parrish said: 'To say that this process was difficult would be something of an understatement. Miss Campbell made no attempt to listen to him and talked over him, stating: "I don't want to hear".'

The court heard Campbell continued to shout at Capt Sutherland, saying: 'I can't believe you have lost my f***ing bag. Bring me my f***ing bags now.'

Miss Parrish said: 'She instructed him to personally get off the aircraft and get her bag and show it to her.

'The captain explained this wasn't going to happen. He repeatedly tried to take control of the situation and asked if he could get a word in.'

The magistrates were told that when Capt Sutherland tried to explain her options, Campbell snapped: 'How dare you tell me what my options are? You are not leaving until you find my f***ing bags.'

As the captain walked away Campbell shouted after him: 'You are a racist, you wouldn't be doing this if I was white.'

The court was told a cabin services director and a BA special operative trained to deal with difficult situations were called to the aircraft but had little success.

Miss Parrish said: 'Miss Campbell was clearly upset and explained to them the reason why this was so awful for her was that she was contracted to wear a particular Yves Saint Laurent outfit on a U.S. chat show and it was in the bag that hadn't been loaded.'

She told the court that Campbell again began to shout and swear and was told that her language was unacceptable and there were families and children on board.

Campbell continued shouting and swearing before the decision was taken that she would have to be removed from the flight.

When asked for the final time to leave of her own accord, Campbell replied: 'F*** off, I have paid £5,000 for this. I have a right to be on this plane.'

The court heard that police were called and three officers arrived.

The officers made no attempt to touch her but Campbell seemed to 'completely lose control', screaming 'You can't f***ing touch me' and shouting down her phone to 'make sure the press know'.

'She said: "You can't arrest me, my cousin is in Scotland Yard."

'When PC John Eastick moved towards her, she went berserk, striking PC Eastick on the arm with her mobile phone.'

Campbell continued to struggle violently and she was described as throwing her right leg back and thrusting forward, striking another male officer, PC Campling, on the thigh.

Miss Parrish added: 'At the time she was wearing formidable platform boots with stiletto-style heels.'

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Naomi Campbell leaving the police station at London's Heathrow airport following her April arrest

The court also heard how Campbell kicked PC Eastick and PC Charles Campling both in the groin area with her heeled shoes.

'Then she spat and hit PC Eastick on his arm,' said Ms Parrish.

As the continued to kick out indiscriminately, she caught PC Eastick on the right shin and left thigh before slumping down in her seat.

The court heard she continued to shout and swear and then pulled her head back and threw it forward, spitting at PC Eastick.

As they tried to remove the model from the aircraft she continued to be abusive and became increasingly violent, shouting at the officers: 'Don't touch me.'

Campbell then shouted at the officers: 'It is because I am a black woman, you are all racists. I am going to sue you. I am going to f*** you,' and continued to kick out as they tried to remove her.

After a severe struggle in which Campbell wedged herself in a flight seat, PC Eastick and PC Campling got her off the plane.

Then Campbell was taken to a police cell at Heathrow, and WPc Eastick told her she could have her bags back.

'But Ms Campbell called him a c*** and said 'I am going to sue you, like a motherf*****,' said Ms Parrish.

Campbell's lawyer Simon Nicholls said the whole incident flowed from the difficulties with baggage at Terminal 5 and if her bag hadn't gone missing she would have got on the flight, gone to sleep and arrived in LA.

The Police Federation criticised the leniency of Miss Campbell's sentence, saying she should have at least served time in jail.

Paul McKeever Chairman of the Police Federation said: 'The courts should come down hard on those who attack police officers who are simply doing their job, and should impose a custodial sentence.

'Our job is hard enough and lenient sentences will be seen by some as a green light to attack officers without any fear of the law or justice being served. We trust that she won’t use the community sentence imposed as just another opportunity to gain publicity.'

Campbell has a long-standing reputation for getting into fiery rows, and a history of run-ins with the law.

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Assault: Naomi leaving the Department of Sanitation Manhattan, in New York last year on her final day of community service

Last year, the model was sentenced to five days community service and ordered to attend two days of an anger management course after admitting a charge of reckless assault against her maid.

Campbell spent five days in March 2007 mopping floors, sweeping and scrubbing toilets in the city's sanitation department as punishment.

But in true supermodel style, she ended the week by sashaying out of the facility, at Pier 36 in Manhattan, in a sequin-encrusted floor-length silver evening gown and matching stilettos.

The model had been arrested a year previously after hurling the phone - reportedly a jewel-encrusted BlackBerry - which smacked her housekeeper on the head, leaving her needing four stitches.

She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of reckless assault for the attack.

Most of the Streatham-born star's legal woes have involved employees.

In 2000, she pleaded guilty to attacking her personal assistant Georgina Galanis, who told a Canadian court the model hit her with a phone and threatened to throw her out of a moving car in Toronto two years earlier.

A 'remorseful' Campbell was given an absolute discharge, paid an undisclosed sum to her former employee and agreed to attend anger management classes.

The same year another PA, Vanessa Frisbee, also claimed she had been attacked during an argument.

Campbell denied it and sued for breach of contract.

In 2003, personal assistant Simone Craig sued the supermodel, accusing her of holding her hostage in a hotel and throwing a phone at her.

Campbell's lawyer said she 'categorically denied' the allegations.

In August 2004, police in New York recorded an allegation by Campbell's housekeeper Millicent Burton that she had been punched and scratched during an argument over packing a suitcase.

Campbell also made a complaint of harassment against her 44-year-old employee, and no further action was taken.

Original Source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1027971/Ranting-Naomi-claims-racist-golliwog-insult-led-assaulting-police-officers.html

Blue Whale Song

Blue whale song is getting deeper

The haunting song of the world's biggest animal, the blue whale, is getting deeper, researchers have discovered.

Underwater recordings of the giant endangered mammals have revealed that the tone of their rhythmic pulses and moans has become steadily lower as their population have slowly recovered after nearly being wiped out by whaling.

	Watch: The tone of the blue whale's song has become lower

Marine biologists believe the changes offer a new insight into blue whale culture as entire populations alter the tone of their songs as they grow in numbers.

Professor John Hildebrand, a blue whale expert at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego, has used recordings of blue whales since the 1960s to track the changes in their songs.

He found that in 1962 blue whale calls were at a frequency of around 22Hz, well below the range of human hearing, but last year had decreased even further in frequency to around 15Hz.

He said: "This is giving us an insight into the culture of blue whales as they are clearly listening to each other's songs and changing them.

It takes a conscious decision to make the calls deeper, so it is a reflection of what is going on in the population.

"These animals have a finite lung capacity, so their songs are a trade off between frequency and volume.

"They can either make the song really loud or really deep.

"As their numbers have slowly increased after the devastation caused by whaling, they are having to communicate over smaller distances so their songs don't need to be as loud and they can make them deeper."

The findings are the latest to offer a glimpse into the mysterious world of these majestic creatures.

Blue whales, which can grow up to 110 feet in length, are notoriously shy and difficult to study.

Before large-scale hunting, the global blue whale population was thought to have been around 200,000 animals, but numbers fell to just a few hundred by the 1960s when a hunting ban was introduced.

The population has since recovered to around 4,500 animals.

Professor Hildebrand has also discovered that blue whales in different parts of the world use different "dialects" in their songs.

Only the males sing and it is thought they are attempting to attract mates or to communicate to other males during the mating season.

But other researchers believe whale song is a more complicated form of communication than simply trying to attract a female.

Professor David Rothernberg, a musician and philosopher at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, has spent the past three years attempting to communicate with whales through his own musical instruments.

Using hydrophones linked to microphones he has played his clarinet and saxophone to a range of whale species, including the most vocal of all sea mammals the humpback whale.

He claims the whales responded to his music and interacted with him in an underwater "jam" session.

In a new book, Thousand Mile Song, he details his journey to play music with the whales and includes some recordings of the interactions.

He said: "For me, I felt like they could recognise the music I was making and were responding to that.

"There was a very special interaction with a humpback and he seemed to change his song so that by the end it was hard to tell which was the clarinet and which was the whale.

"These are incredibly social animals and they seem to change their songs regularly. When one of them innovates, this gets picked up by the rest of the population and they all start singing in the same way."

Original Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/21/eawhales121.xml

Grandma's Marathon

Young whipper snappers run for fun

Whether they’d been training for a couple of weeks or had just slammed a pop with a bunch of caffeine, more than 1,000 kids from age 14 down to — well, however old you have to be to walk — gathered at Bayfront Festival Park on Friday afternoon to officially start Grandma’s Marathon weekend.

Briefly threatened by rain, the Whipper Snapper Races for Kids kicked off at 2 p.m. with the highly anticipated race involving popular Northland mascots. Jack the Dog of Wells Fargo beat the Cow from Kemps, Harley D. Huskie of the Duluth Huskies, the Kool 101.7 Penguin, and Tiki Tom and Tiki Tina of the Edge Water Park.

After the mascots left all they had on the racetrack, it was the kids’ turn.

Mascots Tiki Tom (from left) and Tiki Tina of the Edge Water Park, the Kool 101.7 Penguin, Kemps’ Cow, Target’s Bullseye, Jack the Dog of Wells Fargo and the Duluth Huskies’ Harley D. Huskie compete at the start of the Whipper Snapper races at Bayfront Festival Park on Friday afternoon. [Clint Austin / News Tribune]

Girls 4 and under were the first group to take the track. Boys and girls under age 9 raced together in a 100-yard dash and were separated by age and launched in heats. The 4-and-under bracket alone took at least 10 heats, with each heat containing at least 50 kids.

All three of Fallon and Gina Kelly’s children participated in Friday’s races. Gina Kelly will run her first Grandma’s Marathon today, but the family came to Duluth from Lisbon, N.D., on Friday for the Whipper Snapper Races.

Even the family’s youngest member, Seamus, who is only 1, took part in one of the day’s first races.

“He’s only going to run 100 yards, but he could probably run at least a mile,” Gina said.

Their oldest child, Caemon, 9, ran the quarter-mile race and had prepared for the race by running a mile several times last week.

Other training methods employed by Friday’s runners included chasing the dog around the yard, playing capture the flag, consuming lots of sugar and even running the track several times just minutes before race time.

Eight-year-old Autumn Olson of Des Moines, Iowa, was happy with her performance but saw room for improvement if she races again next year.

“It was fine,” said Autumn. “The only thing I didn’t like about it was that there were these girls I wanted to pass but couldn’t because they were too close to each other.”

Last year’s Whipper Snapper Races attracted 1,134 kids. Although this year’s numbers weren’t tallied Friday, event coordinators expect more kids participated this year, according to Jon Carlson, a Grandma’s Marathon coordinator.

Original Source : http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=68964&section=homepage

World of Warcraft : Ahune

World of Warcraft: Midsummer Fire Festival

Type: Holiday Event
Date: June 21 - July 4
Location: Azeroth and Outland

Tending the Flames

Across Azeroth, brilliant bonfires have been lit to signify the hottest months of the year. The chosen Flamekeepers are eager to ensure they continue burning long into the days and nights of the celebration - and they seek the aid of able explorers in doing so. Traverse the land and delve into dangerous dungeons at their behest. You may return hot, sweaty, and a little sooty...but these spiritual guides understand well the need to reward adventurers beyond the promise of "enlightenment."

Burning Blossoms

Burning Blossoms are the currency used for the Fire Festival and are used to purchase seasonal reward items from Midsummer Suppliers and Merchants. You can collect Burning Blossoms by completing quests, including the daily quests that are part of the festival. Using them near a Fire Festival Bonfire also grants a temporary but useful buff to your character, or reignites an extinguished bonfire - but consumes the blossom in the process.

Ahune, the Frost Lord

One of the main additions to the Fire Festival this year is a new summonable boss. Level 70 players can undertake this questline that takes you to the Slave Pens to seek and defeat Ahune, the Frost Lord. Ahune is a special summonable boss, similar to the Headless Horseman, that is only available during the Fire Festival. Luma Cloudsister, located just inside the Slave Pens, directs your party to where you can find and defeat Ahune - and loot his special rewards. The loot in Heroic mode is more powerful than on normal mode and includes epic items.

Dancing Around the Ribbon Pole

At every festival camp, one of these traditional decorations stands tall beside the bonfire. Take up one of the multi-colored ribbons and dance around the pole with your friends and fellow celebrants! The activity may appear a bit frivolous for your average ferocious fighter, but even the most seasoned veteran can appreciate the resulting 10% bonus to experience from killing monsters.

Torch Tossing

So you want to be a fire juggler? If you think you have what it takes - the dexterity, the reflexes, the courage - this is your chance to prove it! Take the provided torches and look for the braziers with markers flashing above them. While standing near the bonfire, throw a torch at each brazier as soon a mark appears above it. You must hit the marked brazier before the mark fades if you want credit for the toss. It's a good idea to place the practice torch on your action bar for easy access. After you have completed this quest, you unlock a follow-up quest to catch torches (below), and subsequently, a daily version.

Torch Catching

After successfully completing Torch Tossing, you're ready to show that you can not only throw torches, but catch them as well. Take the provided unlit torches and stand near the bonfire. Throw a torch in the air by right-clicking it, then follow its flight path (look for the shadow it casts on the ground) and catch it when it lands. After you catch enough torches, you will unlock a daily version of this quest and Torch Tossing (above) which each grant five Burning Blossoms a day. Additionally, you will be able to toss torches to and catch torches from other players.

Unusual Activity

While celebration has its place, there are graver matters to attend to as well. When the festival began, reports began filtering in from Ashenvale about a sharp increase in Twilight Cult activity. Go to the camp just south of the Blackfathom Deeps entrance, in the ruins, and see if the cultists there will part with this information. This quest line continues on, eventually unlocking a daily quest for ten Burning Blossoms where the objective is to kill a particular enemy NPC.

Honor or Desecrate the Flame

Festival fires burn across the land, in Alliance and Horde settlements alike. If you make time to honor those of your faction, while desecrating those of the opposing faction, you will earn rewards for your efforts. You receive five Burning Blossoms for each same-faction fire you honor and ten for each opposing-faction fire you desecrate, and there are about 30 of each. Each individual fire can only be interacted with once per year. If you find them all, you can collect over 300 Burning Blossoms - which comes in handy if you wish to buy the big prizes. Additionally, if you manage to sneak into an enemy capital city to descecrate their flame, you will be rewarded with gold, a choice of consumable items, and 25 Burning Blossoms. The enemy players and guards likely won't take too kindly to your efforts, however. To add extra incentive to keeping your flame alive, all friendly players in the vicinity of a lit flame for your faction receive a special buff that grants bonus fire damage with every attack -- and this buff gets snuffed out if your flame does.

Fire in the Sky

The lengthy Midsummer Fire Festival traditionally ends with the sky itself being set alight. The goblins of Undermine have lent their considerable skill (and copious amounts of gunpowder) to the task, resulting in a tremendous fireworks show! Take up a festival mug and raise a toast to the season as the multicolored explosions dance across the sky above you!

Original Source : http://www.warcry.com/news/view/84585-World-of-Warcraft-Midsummer-Fire-Festival

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Roller Boogie

What killed movie musicals in the early 1980s?

Just as MTV was gaining a foothold in the world of cable TV in the early 1980s, movie musicals went into hiding. What was to blame? The glitzy New Wave/disco of Olivia Newton-John's XANADU? The crash-and-burn of the Village People's first (and only) big-screen vehicle CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC? The less-than-gargantuan grosses of GREASE 2? (But the sight of 24-year-old Michelle Pfeiffer climbing that ladder in the "Cool Rider" number? I'd pay top dollar!)

Tonight, Turner Classic Movies offers two more culprits. And after you see them, you will have a new appreciation for the craftsmanship of XANADU and the subtle shadings of GREASE 2...

Take a big, juicy bite of total campiness in THE APPLE, a sort of semi-remake of SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, in which guileless young songbirds are lured into decadence and degradation by the pseudo-Satanic Mr. Boogalow. "The Apple takes your soul!" promises the rather unenthusiastic narrator of the trailer, and anyone who's watched this endlessly hilarious sci-fi musical (set in the futuristic world of 1994 -- oooooh!) will heartily agree.

THE APPLE is a tough act to follow, but the sight of Linda Blair on skates might just be the thing to top it. ROLLER BOOGIE, like XANADU, was designed to cash in on the roller-disco craze; unfortunately, by the time the movies opened the trend was at an end.

Relive the glory days of feathered hair and satin shorts in ROLLER BOOGIE.

Here's how badly the marketing on ROLLER BOOGIE must have been: I was a high school student at the time it opened, and my friends and I used to go to the roller rink all the time, and even we didn't go see the movie (OK, XANADU was another story). I do, however, remember that the Woodland Skating Rink -- our big hangout -- did play this hard-driving tune from the ROLLER BOOGIE soundtrack. (I take no responsibility for any freak-outs you may suffer while watching the uber-campy video...)

The ROLLER BOOGIE soundtrack: My friends and I bought Supertramp's "Breakfast in America," Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" and The Bee Gees' "Spirits Having Flown" instead, so we missed out -- big-time!

What did we miss? The background article at TCM notes that "the film is a true one stop shop for anyone harboring a desire to return to the days of gold lame, tight pants, and feathered hair."

Wow, couldn't we have just taken one night off from the rollerama to see Ms. Blair do her thing?

(THE APPLE starts on TCM around 2 a.m. tonight. ROLLER BOOGIE follows at 3:45 a.m. Disco Rehab will probably follow around 5:30 a,m, or so.)

Original Source : http://www.mlive.com/movies/index.ssf/2008/06/what_killed_movie_musicals_in.html

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James Earl Reed

SC executes James Earl Reed by electrocution
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents 14 years ago was executed in the state's electric chair last night.

James Earl Reed was the first person electrocuted in South Carolina in more than four years.

He did NOT issue a final statement.

Reed had been on death row since 1996, when he was convicted of murdering Joseph and Barbara Lafayette in their Charleston County home two years earlier.

The execution had been put on hold earlier yesterday evening as defense attorneys successfully obtained a stay from a federal judge. But that was vacated by the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals.

A final effort to halt the sentence was denied by the US Supreme Court.
Original Source : http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=8534621&nav=menu45_2


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Noogie

Teen fights suspension in 'noogie' case

What Ethan Mirenberg, 15, thought was a harmless gesture landed him a lengthy suspension. Now, the noogie he allegedly gave his former teacher earlier this school year is making its way through the courts.

The boy's father, Bill Mirenberg, plans to appeal a State Supreme Court judge's April decision that allowed the school district's punishment, a 10-month suspension, to stand.

While Ethan, a 14-year-old freshman when the incident occurred in November, will likely be back in school before an appellate decision, his attorney said the appeal is meant to vindicate the boy - who denies the noogie - and pave the way for further legal action.

"This has been very hard for me," Ethan said at a news conference Friday. "I hope to return to Lynbrook next year clean."

Mirenberg's attorney, Edward Paltzik of the Garden City firm Thomas Liotti, said the boy has been through an "unimaginable and appalling nightmare" for what he described as a hug and a light pat on the head.

But the district's attorney, Florence T. Frazer of the Garden City firm Frazer and Feldman, said the boy put middle school Spanish teacher Sharon Cantante in a chokehold and grinded his knuckles into her scalp.

Frazer said the appeal is without merit. "This is a youngster that grabbed a teacher around the neck from behind and held her against her will," she said. "That's serious misconduct."

In his April written decision, Justice Thomas Phelan said: "The court is not inclined to substitute its judgment for the Education Department."

The state education commissioner had denied Mirenberg's request to stay the district's suspension in February, according to a spokesman. The Education Department still is reviewing Mirenberg's appeal.

Ethan was receiving tutoring paid for by the district, but his father moved to East Rockaway so Ethan could enroll in school there in April. Even so, Ethan said he plans to return to Lynbrook when his suspension ends in September because his "whole life" is there.

Original Source : http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/ny-linoog215736114jun21,0,2670962.story

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