Lucy’s Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was flabbergasted that South Carolina’s Legislature is considering outlawing sex toys.
The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph Davenport, would make it a felony to sell devices used primarily for sexual stimulation and allow law enforcement to seize sex toys from raided businesses.
People convicted under obscenity laws face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
South Carolina law borrows from a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to define obscene as something "contemporary community standards" determine as "patently offensive" sexual conduct, which "lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."
For two hours, authorities say, that message would be pounded into Lester Eugene Siler’s head and body, reinforced with the barrel of a gun and echoed in threats of electrocution.
Handcuffed and surrounded, Siler was now a prisoner of the war on drugs in Campbell County (Tenn.).
Seven months later, five former Campbell County Sheriff’s Department lawmen are poised to plead guilty to federal charges they conspired to violate Siler’s civil rights by beating, threatening and torturing him.
Named in informations drafted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley Jr. and filed last week in U.S. District Court are David Webber, 40; Samuel R. Franklin, 42; Joshua Monday, 24; Shayne Green, 35; and William Carroll, 26.
In those documents, Atchley details a plot by the former lawmen to force Siler to put his signature on a form they could use in court as proof the convicted drug dealer agreed to let them search his home in the White Oak community in search of drugs and money.
Enron Corp. was a victim of a "witch hunt" that unfairly criticized the giant energy company's business and drove it toward bankruptcy, former Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lay testified at his criminal trial on Tuesday.
Lay has blamed Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, the Wall Street Journal and a group of predatory investors for creating a "classic run on the bank" that led to the company's downfall.
A producer of 'The Maury Povich Show' has sued the talk show host, claiming that the workplace was "permeated with the use of alcohol, pornographic videos and parties inviting open and notorious sexual activity."
In the complaint, filed Monday in the Supreme Court of New York, Bianca Nardi claims that Povich had "a long time, intimate and sexual relationship" with a member of the staff. She claims the alleged relationship "created a hostile workplace that was sexually abusive to woman (sic)."
Nardi claims she was forced to expose her breasts and have them photographed on the show. She also claims she was directed to "tape the chests of female guests... in order to photograph them with large 'boobs'."
The patience of Royals owner David Glass has been severely tested during Kansas City's early-season slide. But Glass made it clear Saturday that he's still willing to stay the course at this juncture and not have a knee-jerk reaction to three weeks of poor baseball.
Amid speculation that general manager Allard Baird's job security may be in jeopardy, Glass said his immediate focus is on helping his baseball operations team led by Baird do whatever it takes to turn things around.
In April 2006, Jackson County voters barely approved a three-eights cent sales tax increase for the next 25 years to modernize Kauffman Stadium. The Royals will kick in another $25 million and pay for any cost overruns. The team plans on using the renovation to widen the concourses, add concession stands and luxury suites, which could add over $10 million a year to revenue. Fans can only hope that the team, one of the most subsidized in baseball, will use the proceeds to improve its dreadful roster rather than line the pockets of its owner, David Glass.
The team has cut player costs by $10 million over the past four years. Meanwhile, the team's take from the revenue sharing pool has increased by $20 million during the same time period. This business "strategy" has helped the Pirates turn a total profit of $34 million during the past two years.
Time Warner is closing in on a deal that would make Colorado-based Liberty Media Corp. the new owner of the Atlanta Braves, two people familiar with the negotiations said Sunday.
Liberty's motivation for a Braves deal has little to do with baseball and a lot to do with taxes.
Liberty CEO Gregory Maffei told investors on a conference call last month that his company wanted to redeem much of its $3 billion worth of Time Warner stock in a tax-free transaction.
Liberty spokesman John Orr told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that, under tax laws, such a transaction could be accomplished by returning the stock to Time Warner in a deal that would bring Liberty a Time Warner-owned asset, such as the Braves, as well as cash.
...
The people close to the talks said that, under the proposed deal, Time Warner would receive a large block of its stock that currently is owned by Liberty Media as well as Liberty's 50 percent stake in Court TV, the other half of which already is owned by Time Warner. In return, Liberty would get the Braves, a large amount of cash — and significant tax benefits.
While the trend in pro sports is against publicly traded corporations owning teams, MLB — unlike the NFL — does not have a rule against such ownership.
In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie,
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, dou, dou, dou, dou, dou ...
... about a plucky little fellow with a dream, and if you've seen "The Full Monty," "Billy Elliot," "Saving Grace," "Brassed Off," "Waking Ned Devine," or "Calendar Girls," you may be wondering if the British film industry has officially begun to make these movies in its sleep.
Danish supermodel May Andersen has been arrested for hitting a flight attendant on a flight from Amsterdam to Miami, police said.
The 23-year-old bombshell was aboard Martinair Flight 643 on Thursday. She was ''loud and disruptive all throughout the flight,'' according to a Miami-Dade police spokeswoman.
di·va (dē'və)
n., pl. -vas or -ve (-vā).
1. An operatic prima donna.
2. A very successful singer of nonoperatic music: a jazz diva.
In a searing court attack on Charlie Sheen, actress Denise Richards alleges that her estranged husband is unstable, violent, addicted to gambling and prostitutes, and visits pornographic web sites featuring young men and girls who appear underage. In a remarkable sworn declaration (a copy of which you'll find below) filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, Richards also charges that Sheen, 40, assaulted her and threatened her life during a December 30 incident at the actress's Los Angeles home.
Sheen was angry because she had told her divorce attorney about discovering details of Sheen's porn-surfing practices. Richards's declaration, filed in support of her request for a restraining order against Sheen, contends that Sheen "belonged" to "disturbing" sites "which promoted very young girls, who looked underage to me with pigtails, braces, and no pubic hair performing oral sex with each other." Other sites visited by Sheen, Richards alleges, involved "gay pornography also involving very young men who also did not look like adults."
With broad strokes and the most garish colors, "Art School Confidential" lampoons the poseurs, artistes, druggies, burnouts and assorted other ass-pirants who make up an arts institute. With an "Animal House"-ish deportment, "Art School" likely will entertain a sophomoric audience and etch some winning college-kid figures, but art house audiences will be disappointed by its paint-by-numbers storytelling.
If the names of director Terry Zwigoff and screenwriter Daniel Clowes weren't prominently credited on "Art School Confidential," this melancholy comedy might be mistaken for an inferior imitation of their "Ghost World." The thematic and tonal overlap between the two films is considerable, and this second collaboration is entirely true to the idiosyncratic spirit of that earlier work. But despite a soulful leading performance from Max Minghella, pic feels insubstantial, echoing without equaling both the coolly ironic edge and heart of "Ghost World""Ghost World" and the incisive art-world outsider portrait of the director's docudocu feature, "Crumb." Breakout beyond specialized niches appears doubtful.
Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, from a Daniel Clowes screenplay, is a satisfyingly bilious satire with two not entirely unserious points to make: (a) most art sucks and (b) this is the case because the controlling institutions are eminently corruptible. The film was disliked across the board. A pity, since the career advice Jim Broadbent's washed-up painter gives to Max Minghella's ambitious student—"Are you a 'great artist' when it comes to fellatio?"—would have easily topped last year's accidental catchphrase: "It's hard out here for a pimp," from Hustle & Flow, which Art School improves on as a meditation on art and fame.
Approval among Republicans is below 70 percent for the first time of Bush’s presidency. Two-thirds (66 percent) approve of Bush’s job performance today, down almost 20 percentage points from this time last year when 84 percent of Republicans approved.
Malaysian wildlife officials denied capturing a baby "Bigfoot," amid fevered speculation over the existence of the mythical creature in the nation's southern jungles.
The Berita Harian newspaper reported that a young Bigfoot was caught by a group of men thought to be from the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) near the southern town of Kota Tinggi two weeks ago.
The paper quoted local residents as saying they had spoken to men who described shooting the creature with tranquiliser darts. The locals then peeked into the back of the their truck to see a large, hairy creature.
You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person I'll guarantee you'll win.
Home. The dictionary defines it as both a place of origin and a goal or destination. And the storm? The storm was all in my mind. Or as the poet Dante put it: In the middle of the journey of my life, I found myself in a dark wood, for I had lost the right path. Eventually I would find the right path, but in the most unlikely place.
We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly without complexities or pride. I love you because I know no other way then this. So close that your hand, on my chest, is my hand. So close, that when you close your eyes, I fall asleep.
Death. To die. To expire. To pass on. To perish. To peg out. To push up daisies. To push up posies. To become extinct. Curtains, deceased, Demised, departed And defunct. Dead as a doornail. Dead as a herring. Dead as a mutton. Dead as nits. The last breath. Paying a debt to nature. The big sleep. God's way of saying, "Slow down."
(imitating a skeleton) I have a boner. Wait, I am a boner.
"President Bush, stop him from killing" ... "Stop persecuting the Falun Gong," she yelled. She also shouted in Chinese, "President Hu, your days are numbered" ...
Today, President Bush will roll out the red carpet for Chinese President Hu Jintao, a leader whose government brutally crushes freedom, democracy and the religious expression of the Chinese and Tibetan people. Hu will receive the best welcome U.S. taxpayer money can buy, including full military honors and a 21-gun salute.
This is the same regime that provides military technologies to countries that threaten international security, including Iran and North Korea. The same regime that threatens Taiwan with a military attack, detains and tortures Chinese people for expressing their political and religious beliefs and arrests Tibetans for carrying a picture of the Dalai Lama.
Unfortunately, Pelosi seems to be a voice in the wilderness on this issue. But she couldn't be more right --U.S. policy toward China is ineffective in upholding the pillars of our foreign policy — promoting democratic freedom, stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and growing our economy by promoting exports abroad. Instead, we have pursued trickle-down liberty — promoting economic freedom first, assuming that political freedom will follow. Reality exposes this policy as the illusion it is.
Bush administration officials say they hope that China will become a "responsible stakeholder." We should avoid wishful thinking. Beijing's priority is regime security. Economic development, along with the harsh repression of its own citizens, are the means to maintain political power. Access to the U.S. market is central to Beijing's strategy.
But the protesters' message on the eve of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Seattle today and Wednesday was grisly. The Chinese government, they alleged, is killing Falun Gong followers in a Nazi-style concentration camp in Liaoning province and harvesting their organs.
The protesters, who came from as far as San Diego, based their claims on reports by Falun Gong supporters in China and articles in The Epoch Times, a newspaper and Web site affiliated with the group.
"Our main message is to let China's president know that the world knows about the death camp," said Allison Pan, a Seattle software engineer who helped organize the demonstration. "We demand a full investigation."
Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, consists of meditation and slow-motion physical exercises. Its teachings emphasize three principles: truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.
"They don't treat Christians any better than they do Falun Gong," he said.
Yahoo Inc. may have helped Chinese police to identify an Internet writer who was subsequently jailed for four years for subversion in the third such case, an advocacy group for journalists said on Wednesday.
News implicating Yahoo in the imprisonment of Jiang Lijun in 2003 surfaced on the eve of a summit between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Bush in Washington.
It was the third such case involving the U.S. Internet giant.
Yahoo was accused of providing electronic records to Chinese authorities that led to an eight-year prison term for Li Zhi for subversion in 2003 and of helping to identify Shi Tao, who was accused of leaking state secrets abroad and jailed last year for 10 years.
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it had obtained a copy of the verdict showing that Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) helped Chinese police to identify Jiang by confirming that the e-mail account ZYMZd2002 had been used jointly by Jiang and another pro-democracy activist Li Yibing.
"Little by little we are piecing together the evidence for what we have long suspected, that Yahoo! is implicated in the arrest of most of the people that we have been defending," the group said.
"We hope this Internet giant will not, as it has each time it has been challenged previously, hide behind its local partner, Alibaba, to justify its behavior. Whatever contract it has with this partner, the e-mail service is marketed as Yahoo!," it said.
...
The case is the latest in a string of examples that highlight the friction between profits and principles for Internet companies doing business in China, the world's number-two Internet market.
Web search giant Google Inc. has come under fire for saying it would block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, bowing to conditions set by Beijing.
In December, Microsoft Corp. shut down a blog at MSN Spaces belonging to outspoken blogger Michael Anti under Chinese government orders.
Ironically, Suri was born the same day as Brooke Shields' newborn daughter, Grier Hammond Henchy.
Shields and Cruise had a public spat last year after he criticized the actress for taking antidepressants following the birth of her first child.
The decision as to whether McKinney will be charged remains in the hands of a grand jury in Washington.
U.S. Attorney Ken Wainstein turned the matter over to the grand jury two weeks ago. Chuck Canterbury, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he met last week with McKenna and asked him to consider filing a lawsuit against McKinney. Canterbury also called on McKinney to apologize directly to McKenna.
Loud and brash, in gawdy garb and baseball caps, more than three million of them flock to our shores every year. Shuffling between tourist sites or preparing to negotiate a business deal, they bemoan the failings of the world outside the United States.
The reputation of the "Ugly American" abroad is not, however, just some cruel stereotype, but - according to the American government itself - worryingly accurate.
Now, the State Department in Washington has joined forces with American industry to plan an image make-over by issuing guides for Americans travelling overseas on how to behave.
Under a program starting next month, several leading U.S. companies will give employees heading abroad a "World Citizens Guide" featuring 16 etiquette tips on how they can help improve America's battered international image.
Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA), a non-profit group funded by big American companies, has also met Karen Hughes, the head of public diplomacy at the State Department, to discuss issuing the guide with every new U.S. passport. The goal is to create an army of civilian ambassadors.
The guide offers a series of "simple suggestions" under the slogan, "Help your country while you travel for your company". The advice targets a series of common American traits and includes:
• Think as big as you like but talk and act smaller. (In many countries, any form of boasting is considered very rude. Talking about wealth, power or status - corporate or personal - can create resentment.)
• Listen at least as much as you talk. (By all means, talk about America and your life in our country. But also ask people you're visiting about themselves and their way of life.)
• Save the lectures for your kids. (Whatever your subject of discussion, let it be a discussion not a lecture. Justified or not, the US is seen as imposing its will on the world.)
• Think a little locally. (Try to find a few topics that are important in the local popular culture. Remember, most people in the world have little or no interest in the World Series or the Super Bowl. What we call "soccer" is football everywhere else. And it's the most popular sport on the planet.)
• Slow down. (We talk fast, eat fast, move fast, live fast. Many cultures do not.)
• Speak lower and slower. (A loud voice is often perceived as bragging. A fast talker can be seen as aggressive and threatening.)
• Your religion is your religion and not necessarily theirs. (Religion is usually considered deeply personal, not a subject for public discussions.)
• If you talk politics, talk - don't argue. (Steer clear of arguments about American politics, even if someone is attacking US politicians or policies. Agree to disagree.)
"Americans have a certain reputation which, for the majority, is undeserved. These guidelines sound like good common sense but they're not something the majority of our American visitors need."
Babylon, the mud-brick city with the million-dollar name, has paid the price of war. It has been ransacked, looted, torn up, paved over, neglected and roughly occupied. Archaeologists said American soldiers even used soil thick with priceless artifacts to stuff sandbags.
But Iraqi leaders and United Nations officials are not giving up on it. They are working assiduously to restore Babylon, home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and turn it into a cultural center and possibly even an Iraqi theme park.
Emad Lafta al-Bayati, Hilla's mayor, has big plans for Babylon. "I want restaurants, gift shops, long parking lots," he said.
God willing, he added, maybe even a Holiday Inn.
"I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there."
Family Pride spokeswoman Cathy Renna said the families who signed up to attend committed not to use slogans or even wear t-shirts that could get them barred from the White House.
"We're all in this together, everywhere in the world," he testified.
That was before new corporate documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed Raymond's retirement deal and his $51.1 million paycheck in 2005. That's equivalent to $141,000 a day, nearly $6,000 an hour. It's almost more than five times what the CEO of Chevron made.
What is this pestilence, we hear you ask, that has spread throughout the metro area and indeed threatens to engulf an increasingly affluent north metro area? The answer is: Children!
More specifically those children from the more "privileged" parts of greater Atlanta where guilt-ridden parents in fractious households with six-figure incomes have created a short attention span stew of frenetic drop-off for baseball, pick-up soccer, and other hyper activities as a substitute for any truly meaningful one-on-one interaction.
Of course, spoiled-child syndrome is nothing new. Every generation blames the one before. What makes this group particularly egregious is the sense of entitlement displayed by those mothers who can be seen carrying, pushing and toting this living accessory around as if bearing a child has somehow become an achievement in itself comparable to climbing Everest.
A British broadcaster who travelled to the Philippines to be crucified on Good Friday for a television program pulled out of the stunt in tears yesterday — and blamed God for his decision.
Dominik Diamond broke down and wept after watching nine Filipinos take their turn to be whipped and nailed on crosses and realizing that his turn was next. "God wanted me only to pray at the foot of my cross," he sobbed, sinking to his knees and praying as local people and tourists started to boo.
Negotiations had taken place to bestow on Diamond the privilege of becoming only the second Westerner to take part in the event, known as Karabrio. The ceremony is held in the village of Cutud, 50 miles north of Manila. Men dress in white robes and flagellate themselves with glass-tipped paddles and bamboo whips, in penitence for their sins.
Diamond, who said that he had had a crisis in his faith, decided to go on a pilgrimage taking in the Vatican and a Jesuit retreat in Italy, and culminating in the crucifixion to restore his faith in God. Despite his failure to go through with the exploit, producers insist that the documentary would still be aired.
After pulling out of the challenge, Diamond said: "At no point was it ever conveyed that I would definitely be crucified. At all times in this journey I have been guided by my God in ways I could never have predicted. Having experienced the humility of bearing my own cross through the streets, I felt my God wanted me only to pray at the foot of my cross."
There's something irresistible about a mulleted behemouth head-butting a mound of bricks, then following it up with an invitation to accept Christ. I never quite figured out the connection. WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT AT A POWER TEAM CRUSADE?
During each nightly meeting, three to six evangelists (Power Team members) present a program of feats of strength set to upbeat Christian music. These feats of strength are utilized carefully throughout the service to illustrate Biblical truths. Power Team members share relevant, heart-stirring testimonies along with a 20-minute Bible-based evangelistic message and a clear-cut altar call to accept Jesus Christ. The testimonials not only stir the hearts of the lost, but also inspire the hearts of Christians to move into a deeper walk of faith. Each night of the crusade is unique with varying themes, messages, feats of strength, and a variety of speakers.
"In the culture, there's such a swarm of information running over us every day, and you have to pick and choose what to pay attention to. And you have to do that at this conference," said Rhonda Wilcox of Gordon College, who's presenting a paper on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
One of the suddenly popular topics this year is the TV series "Battlestar Galactica," which Georgia State University's Daniel Vollaro called a "richly plotted, socially conscious science-fiction TV series with textured narratives and interesting characters." It is that, but it's also, as Shawn Krause-Loner from Syracuse University acknowledged, "a soap opera about people being chased through space by bloodthirsty robots."
*"Guts and Glory on the Felt: Poker's Popularity and the Crisis of Masculinity"
*"Achtung Bono: New Celebrity Activist or Same Old Song and Dance?"
"Dames, Babes, Battle-axes and Tomatoes: Women and the Three Stooges"
*"Here be Ronsters: Gender Trouble in the 'Scooby-Doo' Movies"
Warming up on the touchline, a black player jogs toward fans at the Parc des Princes soccer stadium. As he gets closer, a barrage of monkey chants explodes -- "OOOH! OOOH! OOOH!" -- and racist insults fill the air.
Such scenes are increasingly common at the home stadium of Paris Saint-Germain, or PSG, one of France's top soccer teams, and are finding expression in elite soccer leagues across Europe, raising fears that a global sport that calls itself "the Beautiful Game" is getting uglier.
On the bleachers of Parc des Princes, PSG supporters divide along racial lines in two opposing sections of stands -- the Kop of Boulogne behind one goal and the Tribune d'Auteuil behind the other. Boulogne is nearly entirely Caucasian; Auteuil is multiracial and includes whites.
This week, an NBC News producer, using a hidden camera, visited the bazaar and bought a half dozen of the memory drives the size of a thumb known as flash drives. On them, NBC News found highly sensitive military information, some which NBC will not reveal." Earlier, the Los Angeles Times had published what indeed appeared to be sensitive material.
"This isn't just a loss of sensitive information," Lt. Col. Rick Francona (ret.), an NBC News military analyst, said. "This is putting U.S. troops at risk. This is a violation of operational security."
Some of the data would be valuable to the enemy, NBC related, including names and personal information for dozens of interrogatorsm and interrogation methods; and IDs and photos of U.S. troops. With information like this, "You could cripple our U.S. intelligence collection capability in Afghanistan," said Francona.
In a federal lawsuit, Jarman Gray, a former assistant manager of an Alabama Hooters, charges that he was fired last year after complaining about comments made to employees by a female "visiting training manager." In his April 7 U.S. District Court complaint, the 31-year-old Gray claims that a trainer named Cat told waitresses that they were "the ones with the pussys and you are in control because of that." Then she reportedly added, "If you need the extra money, go ahead and suck a dick or fuck a customer if the money is right."
In an unlikely twist of events, the former Atlanta media mogul played a hand in the Wolfman finding a spot in television commercial history. When Rodgers started looking into television advertising, he turned to the Superstation, Turner's then struggling cable channel. As Turner's channel started growing on a national level, so did the local Wolfman's reputation, so much so that Wolfman Jack (or his lawyers) felt threatened enough to claim copyright infringement. Turner quickly took care of the situation, and so the furniture salesman Wolfman continued on, almost seeming timeless.
