That's bang out of order

A FIREWORKS firm has provoked outrage by using a picture of the Twin Towers exploding on a box of rockets.

The packaging shows the World Trade Center towers in New York ablaze with missiles flying at them.

The rockets, are called Shock And Awe — after the 2003 Coalition campaign in Iraq — and the Towers sit over the words “200 shot barrage”.

The towers were destroyed by al-Qaeda fanatics in hijacked passenger jets on September 11, 2001, leaving 2,800 dead.

Helen Chaplain, 31, was sold the rockets by a street dealer — who was also selling “UN Rockets” — near her home in Marston, Birmingham.

She said: “I paid £20 for a box from the man. I did not notice the package until a pal pointed out the towers.

"I was appalled. It is most abhorrent. It is clearly designed to mock September 11.

One UK distributor, Brighton Fireworks, of East Sussex, said: “When Panda came out with the sick design, we decided not to import this firework because it was in bad taste.

“We understand Panda has now sacked the man responsible for the appalling design.”

"Uhhhh... Can we move up the assault on lip syncing recording artists? (I'd kind of like to bash them a little sooner.)"

You are right. We have gotten several requests to fight that evil practice, and may well be assign it an earlier date. It will depend upon the length of time involved in actions that are already scheduled and how well our recruiting goes. ;)

It seems only Turkmenistan has actually done anything about it:

Music ends for non-singing singers of Turkmenistan
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
(Filed: 25/08/2005)

In recent years many things have irked Turkmenbashi the Great, as Turkmenistan's erratic president-for-life Sap-armurat Niyazov is officially known.

Opera and ballet have been outlawed as "unnecessary" while gold fillings and long hair are similarly prohibited.

Though relieved that the sun no longer glints off the teeth of the singers who perform in his honour, the president was reportedly furious to find that they were not singing at all, but merely mouthing the words. This week he took action, banning the playing of recorded music in all public places in an effort to stamp out the scourge.

"One can see these talentless old singers lip-synching to songs," he said at a cabinet meeting aired on state television. He then banned lip-synching and recorded music at public events, in restaurants and at private parties.

Mr Niyazov's latest whim comes days after he issued a proclamation forbidding female news presenters and reporters from wearing make-up and dying their hair.

In power for 13 years, Mr Niyazov has turned his country into one of the most autocratic in the world, creating a powerful personality cult and forbidding all opposition. Even those closest to him live in fear. In the past month he has sacked a third of his cabinet.

Last week he docked three month's pay off his education minister, blaming him for falling standards in schools.

Calls from human rights groups for the isolation of Turkmenistan have only been heeded half-heartedly, critics say, because it holds the world's fifth-largest oil reserves.

On Monday, Mr Niyazov met Gen John Abizaid, the chief of US Central Command, but the US embassy in the capital Ashgabat did not divulge whether they talked about music.

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