Natalie is 26 today

Saturday is for Sarah Silverman

...watch your ass cause Paris is out to get you.

Bush has a successful G8 summit

I missed the festival again this year

The Life of a Blogger

American politicians battle it out

When I posted this item last month about politicians fighting in the Taiwan Parliament it's because the idea of politicians fighting in the Legislature seems so foreign in North America. Boy was I wrong.

Senator Charles Bishop (R-Jasper) punched fellow Senator Lowell Barron (D-Fyffe) on the Alabama State Senate floor.

Charles Bishop later said he should not have hit him on the Senate floor, but that the Democratic Senator deserved to be punched, and that Bishop would do it again under the same circumstances.

Spectators reported that Bishop punched Barron, and that it took six people to pull him off the other senator. Bishop said that the incident occurred after Barron called him a “son of a bitch” while they were still on the Senate Floor.

Story here.

Los Angeles has gone insane

Released by West Hollywood's mayor.

HELICOPTER NOISE

Dear Neighbors:

I have received an enormous number of calls and e-mails today about the helicopters hovering over the City. As you may know, Paris Hilton lives in Los Angeles, just off the Sunset Strip and immediately adjacent to West Hollywood. Given the publicity and controversy surrounding her recent incarceration and re-assignment to house arrest, the media has converged on our community, including a flock of helicopters.

Like many of you, I too was woken this morning about 5:30 AM by helicopters. However, I want to let you know that the City of West Hollywood and the Sheriff’s Department, as well as the City of Los Angeles and their Police Department, have no authority or jurisdiction over airspace and helicopters hovering overhead. Aircraft remain under the exclusive control of the federal government and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

West Hollywood and hundreds of other cities have protested the serious impacts of hovering helicopters, particularly news and paparazzi helicopters, for many years to no avail.

While we shall again register our objections to our federal representatives and ask for more local regulatory authority, I also want to offer some suggestions for you. If you feel strongly that helicopters hovering over densely populated residential neighborhoods is a problem that needs fixing, please contact West Hollywood’s federal representatives and the FAA:

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer
U. S. Senator Dianne Feinstein
U. S Representative Henry Waxman

You can also call the “Assignment Desk” at local television stations and register your complaints about their news helicopters and their negative impact on the community.

Channel 2
Channel 4
Channel 5
Channel 7
Channel 9
Channel 11
Channel 13

I regret that I cannot do more as a member of the City Council to help relieve our neighborhoods of this problem, but I am certain that our representatives and the news stations would be pleased to know your views on the subject.

Best regards,

JEFFREY PRANG
Mayor Pro Tempore

Mayor Pro Tempore Jeffrey Prang
7985 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 109-590
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 934-4816

One of those moments

The hourly fee of a pricey DUI lawyer

...$400


One day at the Century Regional Detention Center


....$99.64


Seeing a handcuffed Paris Hilton crying in the back of a police car



....priceless

No time to blog today

...Pseudonym's baby graduated university today!

NHL Relocation Policy Will Likely be Challenged

According to a report from the National Post, the Canadian Competition Bureau is investigating the NHL's franchise relocation policies and specifically the aspects that involve the "territorial rights" of teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It's hard not to believe that Jim Balsillie didn't have just a little to do with the fact this is now being investigated, and you wonder if this business is making the Maple Leafs brass squirm. He would love to move the Nashville Predators to Hamilton and has already had some discussions regarding arena leases.

I would love to see this happen. The Toronto Maple Leaf organization treats its very loyal fans poorly - that is a fact. They charge the highest ticket prices in the league and provide a very poor product. Their commitment is to making money (and they make lots of it) and not to winning. It is a country club atmosphere built around a culture of losing.

Let's face it the GTA is a huge market that can be shared by two hockey teams. A second team will introduce competition and force the Leafs to examine their product and price for the first time. The other owners have no love for the Leaf organization because of their weak support of the lockout and the amount of money they make. Wouldn't it be nice if the other owners ganged up on Toronto and forced them to accept another team in their territory? Or better yet,what if Balsillie copied the Baltimore Colts and just packed up their hockey bags and moved to Hamilton? What would the league do?

Police Monitor Facebook

Don't plan your illegal activities on Crackbook. The Toronto police are hooked on it too, and might accept your invite and end your bush party before it even gets started.

Paris Speaks

“I want to thank the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and staff of the Century Regional Detention Center for treating me fairly and professionally. I am going to serve the remaining 40 days of my sentence. I have learned a great deal from this ordeal and hope that others have learned from my mistakes.”

– Paris Hilton

I think I'm going to be sick!

Paris Hilton Receives Designer Monitoring Device

Today prison officials released Paris Hilton to complete her sentence in 'house arrest'. Sure you think that is going to be easy just because she lives in a mansion. But remember she has no access to the night club scene for 40 days!!

And to make sure she behaves, prison officials have provided her with a monitoring device. Of course its in the form of a designer necklace. We're talking about Paris Hilton afterall.

Too Much Boost so Man Sues

A Harlem man has filed suit against the makers of the nutritional drink Boost, charging that the protein shake gave him the wrong kind of lift.

Christopher Woods said that drinking cans of Boost Plus Nutritional Energy Drink left him with an erection that wouldn't go away. It lasted 3 whole days but wasn't so much fun. Read the story here.

The Ducks are Finally Mighty, the Leafs aren't Even Close

The Anaheim Ducks went all the way to become Stanley Cup champions because they had the greatest depth of talent. No luck was involved.

The Ducks had three strong forward lines that could all score, Norris Trophy finalists Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger to man the blue-lines and a consistently good goaltender in Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

The Senators were impressive through three rounds but could not cope with the rough-and-tumble Ducks in the final, and it didn’t help that goaltender Ray Emery had his worst performance of the post-season in the final game.

It took the Ducks 14 years to win the Cup. While the Leafs completed the 40th year since winning their last Cup without even making the playoffs. Comparing the Leaf and Duck rosters underscores how far the Leafs need to go to compete. The Ducks have a line made up of 2nd year players (Getzlf, Perry and Penner) that will all be stars while the Leafs best young players (Wellwood, Steen, Stajan) struggled this past season.

Meanwhile, Leaf GM, John Ferguson has been busy locking up Antropov, Ponikarovsky, Tucker, Devereaux, White and soon will add Sundin. So there will be minimal change in the Leaf line up despite the fact that they couldn't even qualify for the playoffs. Once Ferguson signs all his free agents, there will be little cap money left to sign additional help.

So the culture of losing will continue in Toronto. Losers always have an excuse for not winning. When asked by Canadian Press to provide a post-mortem on the Leaf's most-recent season, Ferguson said "We were number one in the league to man games lost to injury in what turned out to be the toughest division in the East and probably in the league to qualify." When asked about the impact Sean Hill's delayed suspension had on the Leafs and Islanders, Ferguson said, "For sure I think we would have made the playoffs."

Here's hoping the Senators can pull it off tonight

40 years later and really not much has changed in the Middle East

40 years ago today, Israel launched a preemptive strike against Egypt after Egypt had expelled U.N. forces from the Sinai and make threatening gestures directed at Israel. Other neighbouring Arab states attacked but the war with Israel capturing the Sinai, East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights.

Several wars later and there is still no peace in the Middle East. Some would argue that things are worse. Israel is still surrounded by hostile neighbours who have continued to fight a war of attrition. In response Israel has built a separation wall to thwart suicide bombers when terrorist were no longer able to cross the border and launch attacks. As Israel effectively cut off access to suicide bombers, missiles and rockets have now become the tool of terrorists.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza but it did nothing to improve security, No one can come up with a plan on how to end Israeli occupation of the West Bank and now the Palestinians are on the verge of civil war.

Iran is working on closing the nuclear gap with Israel and has been threatening Israel with annihilation on a regular basis (which is was lead to Israel's preemptive strike 40 years ago). The prospects of another war in the near future is as high as its ever been. One thing you can count on, the next war will not bring peace to the region.

Evolution

Hope Sandra Bernhart has a wacky 52nd birthday

Larry David will have new material for Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm creator and star Larry David and his real wife, eco-activist Laurie David, have split after 14 years of marriage. Laurie, 49, was a producer of the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth and recently toured with Sheryl Crow to shed awareness of the state of the planet. Larry, 59 (who also helped create, write and executive produce Seinfeld), has long joked about her environmental work – among other things.

Well he now will have new material.

Sarah Silverman on Paris Hilton in Prison

MTV Award for Best Kiss: Will Ferrell and Sasha Baron Cohen

AA Manager Totally Loses It

Toronto Transit Riders are Courteous

CityTV sent a hidden camera with a mother-to-be who was due "yesterday" onto a streetcar and see if anyone would give up their seat for her during rush hour. The result: she was seated within seconds of getting on. All but one out of four people who saw her willingly and immediately gave up their chair on the crowded car. "People ... surprised me," she confesses. "Most people were like, yeah, right away."

Next they had a woman who walks with a cane, take test subway riders. She did even better, going four for four - and sometimes several people stood up at once. "I was actually quite surprised, pleasantly surprised," she relates. "It was very nice today to have someone offer their seat so readily, and it was interesting to see also that it was always women."

So Toronto transit riders pass the test. We are nice!

The man below is searching through the debris on what appears to be a massive rubbish heap...until you realise he is sitting on a small rowing boat. He is actually floating on what must be one of the world's most polluted rivers in Indonesia. And his mind-boggling task is to collect plastic for recycling.

The river Citarum in the West Java province is full of rotting rubbish and pollution spewed out from 500 industries and the homes of five million people.

The waterway is the main source for drinking water for cities such as Jakarta. It also supplies power to three dams - essential for the region's electricity as well as Indonesia's largest paddy field.

Experts are concerned the fetid water may soon start corroding the hydropower stations in the area.

So less calories than regular water?

Alanis Morissette sings at Game 4, but Senators lose

Ducks win 3-2 and take a 3-1 lead in the Series. Am Ottawa comeback now next to impossible. They looked great in the 1st period but couldn't maintain it in the final 40 minutes so that's all she wrote.

Wonder why Christine Aguilera has a Hebrew tattoo

Movie Studio that Made "Knocked Up" is Being Sued

Canadian entertainment columnist Rebecca Eckler is suing Universal Studios for copyright infringment.

Eckler’s book Knocked Up, which details her unexpected pregnancy, was released in 2004. Last weekend, the Judd Apatow movie Knocked Up, about an up-and-coming entertainment journalist who gets a promotion, parties too hard that night and wakes up pregnant by a less-than-desirable father, opened to the tune of nearly $30 million (U.S.).

Sounds a little too much of a coincidence.

Salma Hayek may be asked to do milk ads

From the recent Democratic Presidential Debate

Another Bush Administration Resignation

AP (Washington, D.C.): The White House is reporting that Barney, the Scottish Terrier and confidante to President Bush, is resigning his post today.

Citing family and financial reasons for his departure, Barney is looking to the private sector for a more financially rewarding career.
While Bush was unavailable for comment, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino read a statement from the President. "Laura and I are very sad to see Barney go; he's been a tremendous asset to this administration. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors."

Perino added: "Barney had been planning on spending more time with his family for some time."

Polar Ice Caps are Melting

NASA sattelite photos of the North Pole. The photo above was take in 1979 and the one below in 2003. The size of the ice cap in clearly shrunk over 24 years.

Spelling Bee organizers need to be able to spell too

The last time I checked Baltimore was in MARYLAND.

Australians lose 'most friendly' title to Canada

Canada has ousted Australia as the world's friendliest nation and China has knocked them out of the top 10 index that rates a nation's brand name value.

The Anholt Nations Brand Index (NBI) poll has found Canadians have overtaken Australians as the world's friendliest people, after interviewing 25,000 people in 35 developed and developing countries.

NBI creator Simon Anholt said the poll, which is taken quarterly, highlighted how each nation was viewed by the rest of the world, reflecting aspects of trade, tourism and immigration.

And the Maple Leafs are no closer to winning the Stanley Cup after 40 years.

Man Intentionally Runs Over 3 Teens

A 43-year old Toronto man,Sellandrai Selvanaygam, has been charged with attempted murder when he tried to run over his daughter, her brother-in-law and her boyfriend. When police arrested the obviously deranged man he has a big grin on his face.

Police claim the father tried to run the three down in a fit of rage after his daughter left home for two days and refused to dump her boyfriend, 18-year-old Pream Anandarajah.

Police allege that the man drove his teal Toyota Sienna minivan towards the youths who were sitting in a park before slamming into a fence and a tree. The daughter was taken to hospital by ambulance. The father is to undergo a mental assessment.

Paris making nice with one of the prison guards

Not going to be Parent of the Year

ROM Crystal Opening

Yesterday was the opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Daniel Libeskind's facelift for the Royal Ontario Museum's $240 million "renaissance". Looks incredible. I understand the ROM is the fifth largest museum in North America.