Audio/Video Of The Day: Walter Williams; Social Security Ponzi Scam

MSNBC Washington HQ Can’t Make Rent; Considers Sharing Space With American University

From the Observer

NBC is currently exploring the possibility of leasing out part of its longtime headquarters in Washington D.C. to an outside organization, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Soon to be nearly empty headquarters...

One possible partner? American University.

The longtime home of NBC News, MSNBC, and WRC-TV Channel 4—NBC’s owned and operated station in D.C.—is located on Nebraska Avenue, a short walk from the university’s bucolic campus in Northwest Washington.

What American University would do with space in the building remains unclear. But the university’s School of Communication, which offers graduate and undergraduate degrees to hundreds of students, is currently undergoing a $20 million renovation that will eventually modernize and expand its journalism facilities. In the meantime, the school remains under construction.

If the two institutions strike an agreement, NBC is expected to maintain much of the ample space at its sprawling compound. And, presumably, bringing in a roomate would help NBC pay for some of the much-needed upgrades on a facility that predates HD technology by many, many decades.

Earlier this year, a number of employees at the bureau accepted buyout offers from NBC. As a result, the overall size of the staff working out of the D.C. offices has dwindled, freeing up even more room in a building that was never particularly cramped to begin with.

"Mr. President, this has been the greatest 100 days of my life...you not only are giving me tingles but you're making my heart flutter!"

NBC News is not alone is reconsidering its physical footprint in Washington. In recent years, ABC News has significantly reduced the size of its Washington Bureau on DeSales Street NW transfering the bulk of its Nightline staff up to New York City and moving This Week with George Stephanopoulos into a studio at the Newseum.  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–They have so much unoccupied space that it makes more sense for the MSNBC division of the building to simply invite their minuscule  audience over to their office so they can watch their self-important hosts “perform” the news.

There’s a rumor going around that NBC has been raising revenue by renting their additional space as a banquet hall hosting local weddings and bar mitzvahs.

I guess NBC considers their so-called “News” division a loss-leader.  That must be true because they continue to throw away millions of dollars to secure the talents of such hacks as Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann whom people clearly don’t want to see.

It won’t be long before the combined viewing public of MSNBC News and CNN will fit in a phone booth and you’ll be able to hear their broadcasts via interactive conference calls.  And it couldn’t happen to a nicer crowd of incompetents.

I’ve located the future home of MSNBC “News”…

"Hey, where's Mathews?..Uh, Chief, he felt another one of those tingles down his leg and he had to rush outside to use the "facilities."

Today’s Birthday Bio: Duke Ellington

From Wikipedia

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.

Duke Ellington was known in his life as one of the most influential figures in jazz, if not in all American music. His reputation increased when he died including a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Ellington called his music “American Music” rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as “beyond category.”These included many of the musicians who served with his orchestra, some of whom were considered among the giants of jazz and performed with Ellington’s orchestra for decades. While many were noteworthy in their own right, it was Ellington who melded them into one of the most well-known orchestral units in the history of jazz. He often composed specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as “Jeep’s Blues” for Johnny Hodges, “Concerto for Cootie” (“Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me“) for Cootie Williams and “The Mooche” for Tricky Sam Nanton. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol’s “Caravan” and “Perdido” which brought the “Spanish Tinge” to big-band jazz. After 1941, he frequently collaborated with composer-arranger Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his alter-ego.

One of the 20th century’s best-known artists, Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films. Ellington and his orchestra toured the United States and Europe regularly before and after World War II. Ellington led his band from 1923 until his death in 1974.

His son Mercer Ellington took over the band until his death from cancer in 1996. Paul Ellington, Mercer’s youngest son, took over the Orchestra from there and after his mother’s passing took over the Estate of Duke and Mercer Ellington.  (Read more.)

Today In History: April 29th

On this day, April 29th,

1875–Henry James’ “Transatlantic Sketches” is published.

1944–Last “Our Gang” film released.

1945–Adolph Hitler marries Eva Braun.

1953 – Coke Time with Eddie Fisher began its TV and radio run on NBC-TV and Mutual radio. Fisher, a popular performer, was seen and heard on more TV and radio stations in 1954 than any other entertainer.

1954 – Ernest Borgnine made his network television debut in Night Visitor on Ford Theatre on NBC-TV. The versatile film (Marty) star would later become a sitcom sensation in McHale’s Navy with comedian Tim Conway on CBS and, later, as a helicopter owner in Airwolf.

1960 – Dick Clark told a House of Representatives investigating committee looking into the payola scandal that he, the host of American Bandstand, never took payola for records featured on his daily TV show. Clark would, however, relinquish rights to music publishing that he owned. The value of those rights, Clark indicated 30 years later, amounted to about $80 million.

1961 – “Spanning the globe … to bring you the constant variety of sport, the constant variety of human competition, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. This is ABC’s Wide World of Sports.” A Saturday afternoon sports program began its long run on ABC-TV. The show, featuring Jim McKay as host, along with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Al Michaels, Jack Whitaker, Heywood Hale Brun and others, was not an immediate hit. Although Roone Arledge’s vision of a worldwide window on televised sports got off to a slow start, ABC’s Wide World of Sports became one of TV’s most popular and enduring programs.

1967–Aretha Franklin releases “Respect.”

1968 – Hair made its way from Greenwich Village to to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. The show certainly opened eyes. It was the first time that actors appeared nude in a Broadway musical. Hair ran for 1,844 shows on and off Broadway. It was even more successful in its London run later. Big songs from the show: Hair (The Cowsills) and Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The 5th Dimension).

1969 – Sir Duke, Duke Ellington, celebrated his 70th birthday. He was honored with the presentation of the Medal of Freedom, the U.S. government’s highest civilian honor.

1974 – Phil Donahue’s TV show was on the move. Donahue was moving to Chicago, IL, where it would remain until 1985. The show was originally based in Dayton, OH. Following more than a decade in the Windy City, the show again moved, this time to New York City. During its stay in Chicago, Donahue earned nine Emmy Awards.

1974–President Nixon announces release of “Watergate” tapes.

1981 – Steve Carlton, the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, became the first left hander in the major leagues to get 3,000 career strikeouts. He fanned Montreal’s Tim Wallach in the first inning of a game that saw the Phillies beat the Expos 6-2. Carlton was only the sixth major leaguer to strikeout 3,000 batters.

1985 – George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, fired manager Yogi Berra. Berra was canned after only 16 games into the young baseball season. In his place, Steinbrenner brought Billy Martin back … for the fourth time.

1986 – Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox set a major-league baseball record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariner batters on the way to a 3-2 win. This record for the Bosox hurler surpassed the 19 strikeouts for a nine-inning game held by Nolan Ryan when he pitched for the California Angels. Tom Seaver of the New York Mets and Steve Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals also held a piece of the previous 19-KO record.

1992–Riots erupt in Los Angeles over Rodney King verdict.

2005 –JAG ended it’s ten-season TV run with a flip of a coin — frozen in mid air — that still leaves us wondering if it was Harm, or was it Mac (Sara), who gave up their career in order for the couple to be together.

Quote Of The Day: Samuel Adams; Natural Rights

If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of god, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.

"Hey Sam, you look a little more dapper on your beer label"...

–Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution

Today’s Birthdays: April 29th

1745 – Oliver Ellsworth
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court [3rd to be selected]; died Nov 26, 1807

1863 – William Randolph Hearst
publisher of U.S. newspapers and magazines; influenced the establishment of comic strips; built San Simeon estate; subject of biography, Citizen Kane; grandfather of Patricia Hearst; died Aug 14, 1951

1899 – Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington
musician, composer, bandleader; died May 24, 1974

1901 – Hirohito
Japan’s longest-reigning emperor; died Jan 7, 1989

1907 – Fred Zinnemann
Academy Award-winning director: High Noon [1952], From Here to Eternity [1953], A Man for All Seasons [1966]; died Mar 14, 1997

1909 – Tom Ewell (Samuel Yewell Tompkins)
Tony Award-winning actor: The Seven Year Itch [1953]; The Tom Ewell Show, Easy Money; died Sep 12, 1994

1912 – Richard Carlson
actor: I Led Three Lives, MacKenzie’s Raiders, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Doomsday Flight, Tormented; died Nov 24, 1977

1915 – Donald Mills
singer: group: The Mills Brothers: Tiger Rag, Nobody’s Sweetheart, Dinah, Paper Doll, Glow Worm, You Always Hurt the One You Love, Cab Driver; died Nov 13, 1999

1917 – Celeste Holm
Academy Award-winning actress: Gentlemen’s Agreement [1947]; All About Eve, High Society, The Tender Trap, Three Men and a Baby

1918 – George Allen
football: head coach: LA Rams, Washington Redskins [Super Bowl VII]: “Losing is like death.”; sportscaster; died Dec 31, 1990

1928 – Carl Gardner
singer: group: The Coasters: Down in Mexico, Searchin’, Young Blood, Yakety Yak, Charlie Brown, Along Came Jones, Poison Ivy, Little Egypt

1929 – Mickey (Maurice Joseph ‘Maury’) McDermott
baseball: pitcher: Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, NY Yankees [World Series: 1956], KC Athletics, Detroit Tigers, SL Cardinals; died Aug 7, 2003

1931 – (Anthony James) Lonnie Donegan
folk singer, musician: guitar, banjo: Rock Island Line, Gambling Man, Cumberland Gap, Lost John, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour [On the Bedpost Overnight]; died Nov 3, 2002

1933 – Rod McKuen
singer: If You Go Away; poet-song writer

1934 – Luis Aparicio (Luis Ernesto Montiel)
Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop: Chicago White Sox [AL Rookie of the Year: 1956/all-star: 1958-1962, 1970/World Series: 1959], Baltimore Orioles [all-star: 1963, 1964, 1971, 1972/World Series: 1966], Boston Red Sox; shortstop records: most games [2,581], assists [8,016], chances [12,564], double plays [1,553]; stole over 50 bases three straight seasons leading league in steals 9 consecutive times

1936 – Zubin Mehta
conductor: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

1936 – April Stevens (Carol Lo Tempio)
singer: Deep Purple, Whispering, Stardust

1943 – Duane Allen
singer: group: Oak Ridge Boys: Talk About the Good Times, Where the Soul Never Dies, Cryin’ Again, American Made, Love Song, I Guess It Never Hurts to Cry Sometimes, Everyday, Make My Life with You, Little Things, Touch a Hand Make a Friend, Elvira

1944 – Jim Hart
football [quarterback]: SL Cardinals [record: most yards passing, career: 34,639 yards: 1966-83]

1947 – Jim Ryun
runner; member U.S. House of Representative [from Kansas]

1947 – Tommy James (Jackson)
singer: group: Tommy James and The Shondells: I Think We’re Alone Now, Hanky Panky, Mony Mony, Crimson and Clover, Sweet Cherry Wine, Crystal Blue Persuasion; solo: Draggin’ the Line, I’m Comin’ Home, Three Times in Love

1947 – Johnny Miller
golf champion: U.S. Open [1973], British Open [1976]; shares record for lowest 18-hole total [63]

1949 – Francis Rossi
musician: guitar, singer: group: Status Quo: LPs: Picturesque Matchstickable, Piledriver, Hello, On the Level, Blue for You

1951 – Dale Earnhardt
NASCAR auto racer: champ: Winston Cup [7 times], Daytona [34 times], 76 career victories; killed in crash in Daytona 500 Feb 18, 2001

1954 – Jerry Seinfeld
Emmy Award-winning producer: Seinfeld [1992-1993]; comedian, actor

1955 – Kate Mulgrew
actress: Columbo, Ryan’s Hope, Roots, Daddy, Throw Momma from the Train

1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis
Academy Award-winning actor: My Left Foot [1989]; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, In the Name of the Father, Age of Innocence, Gandhi, A Room with a View

1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer
actress: Dangerous Liaisons, Batman Returns, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Grease 2, Ladyhawke, Scarface, The Witches of Eastwicke, The Age of Innocence

1958 – Eve Plumb
actress: The Brady Bunch, Little Women, … And God Spoke, A Very Brady Christmas, Force of Evil

1968 – Carnie Wilson
singer; group: Wilson Phillips; daughter of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, sister of singer Wendy Wilson

1970 – Andre Agassi
tennis champion: Wimbledon [1992], U.S. Open [1994]

1970 – Uma (Karuna) Thurman
actress: The Truth about Cats and Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Mad Dog and Glory, Final Analysis, Robin Hood, Henry and June, Dangerous Liaisons, Kiss Daddy Goodnight

Al Gore Wants Prompt Action On Melting Ice

OSLO — Al Gore said Tuesday the world must act quickly to slow the melting of the world’s polar ice packs and glaciers before it reaches a critical rate for global warming.

"Hey you...yeah you, ice cubes--Al Gore says you're not allowed to melt anymore!"

“We have to act and we have to act quickly because we don’t want to cross this tipping point,” the Nobel peace laureate and former U.S. vice president told a meeting of foreign ministers, experts and scientists from the most affected countries.

The meeting, called “Melting Ice Regional Dramas, Global Wake-Up Call” was held the day before a meeting of the Arctic Council of foreign ministers. The council members are the United States, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

Dorthe Dahl Jensen, an expert from Denmark’s Niels Bohr Institute, told the conference in the Arctic town of Tromsoe that the need for a wake-up call was genuine for the polar and glacial regions.

“Antarctica and Greenland have been sleeping until now,” she said. “Now they are awakening giants.”

She said if Greenland’s ice sheet melted, sea levels would rise by 7 meters (23 feet). If Antarctica melted, the rise would be up to 70 meters (230 feet), she said.

Gore, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for his campaign to draw attention to global warming, said there was a danger of permafrost melting. He said that would thaw vast amounts of organic matter that microorganisms would then turn into climate damaging methane gas, doubling current levels of climate gases.

“As difficult as this challenge is to solve now, it would be twice as difficult if you waited until this (permafrost) thawed,” he said.

Gore said carbon dioxide and methane remain the greatest challenges, but that another pollutant, black carbon _ or soot _ from diesel engines and fires also is a threat. It blackens snow and ice, trapping heat and accelerating the melt.

However, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who co-hosted the meeting with Gore, said soot could be reduced quickly and regionally.

“It might give regions of ice and snow a chance to survive long enough for greenhouse gas reductions to have an impact,” Stoere said.

Stoere said the Tromsoe meetings were setting up a scientific task force to draft a report on the melting of ice globally to the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.

Most Americans Living In Dirty Air…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sixty percent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution levels, despite a growing green movement and more stringent laws aimed at improving air quality, the American Lung Association said in a report released Wednesday.

Los Angeles smog

The public-health group ranked the pollution levels of U.S. cities and counties based on air quality measurements that state and local agencies reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency between 2005 and 2007. Overall, the report found that air pollution at times reaches unhealthy levels in almost every major city and that 186.1 million people live in those areas.

The number is much higher than last year’s figure of about 125 million people because recent changes to the federal ozone standard mean more counties recognize unhealthy levels of pollution. Health effects from air pollution include changes in lung function, coughing, heart attacks, lung cancer and premature death. “Six out of 10 Americans right now as we speak live in areas where the air can be dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, dirty enough to shape how kids’ lungs develop and even dirty enough to kill,” said Janice E. Nolen, the association’s assistant vice president on national policy and advocacy. Cities including Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Baltimore have seen improvements in air quality over the last decade, the report said.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside region of Southern California remained the metropolitan area with the highest levels of ozone pollution, as it has in each of the past 10 reports. Other metropolitan areas considered to have the most ozone pollution included Houston-Baytown-Huntsville and Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas.  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–So our air quality is poor; we’re told that our water quality is poor; we’re in the midst of a flu pandemic, AIDS is on the increase again and Al Gore tells us that global warming is melting our polar ice-caps at breakneck speed.

We also have to worry about our reliable stand-by’s like drugs, cigarettes and its dreaded second-hand smoke companion, plus we still have to worry about all the usual cancers.   Throw in natural disasters like earthquakes, fires and floods and my recommendation is that you shouldn’t ever leave your house unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Yummy water...drink up.

Dennis Rodman Ordered To Pay Beverage Manager $225,000

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge in Las Vegas has ordered former NBA star Dennis Rodman to pay a former casino employee $225,000 for grabbing and humiliating her at work in March 2006.

A lawyer for 28-year-old Sara Ure says Rodman never responded to the civil lawsuit filed against him in November 2007.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Jones entered a default judgment against Rodman on Monday.

No lawyer for Rodman was cited in the case file. Rodman’s marketing agent did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Ure is a former beverage manager at the Hard Rock Casino. She accused Rodman of grabbing her and forcing her to dance, holding her against her will and slapping her backside in front of subordinates and patrons.

B.S. Report–Wow, that’s worth $225,000? I’m no fan of Rodman but I might dance with him and let him slap my butt for that kind of cash…well, maybe not.

I can’t imagine that Dennis Rodman has any money left at this point to pay off his present… and future lawsuits.

Chihuahua Swept Away By 70-Mile-Per-Hour Wind Gusts Found Safe

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – Tinker Bell has been reunited
with her owners after a 70-mph gust of wind picked up the six-pound
Chihuahua and tossed her out of sight.

Family Reunited...

Dorothy and Lavern Utley credit a pet psychic for guiding them on Monday to a wooded area nearly a mile from where 8-month-old Tinker Bell had been last seen. The brown long-haired dog was dirty and hungry but otherwise okay.

The Utleys, of Rochester, had set up an outdoor display Saturday at a flea market in Waterford Township, 25 miles northwest of Detroit. Tinker Bell was standing on their platform trailer when she was swept away.

The Utley family searched the area through the weekend.

Then, an unexpected call Monday brought the family new hope of finding Tinker Bell.

“Well, we were on a local radio station this morning for about two and a half hours, and a psychic had called and she had told us that we were doing the wrong thing,” Dorothy Utley said. “She told us what to do and we went and found her … she came running out of the woods like a little rabbit.”

The Utley’s said the psychic told them exactly where to find the dog, on a hillside across the road.

Dorothy Utley tells The Detroit News that her cherished pet “just went wild” upon seeing her.