Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO – O.J. Simpson jokes are apparently now fair game in presidential politics. President Obama invoked the former NFL star acquitted of murder Monday night during a fundraiser here during a riff about Sesame Street characters on the run from Mitt Romney seeking to cut federal funding from public broadcasting. “Elmo has been seen in a white Suburban,” Obama said. “He’s driving for the border.” Simpson, of course, traveled in a white Ford Bronco, not a Chevrolet Suburban, during his infamous 1994 low-speed chase through Los Angeles.

Elmo imposter hassles tourists for money and gets booted from Central Park Zoo Man dressed up as furry Sesame Street Muppet gets taken away on ambulance An Elmo imposter who has hassled tourists for money for years was taken away from Central Park in an ambulance Sunday afternoon after cops got a call about an emotionally disturbed person. “Elmo” began yelling obscenities when security guards booted him from Central Park Zoo for pestering tourists to pay him to pose for pictures. An emotionally disturbed man dressed as Elmo is taken away by ambulance after hassling tourists for money and shouting...

Elmo, Internet Czar & FCC Work to Redistribute Wealth With Free Broadband (VIDEO)

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that House Republicans want to strip government funding of PBS because they have a "vendetta against Elmo." Boxer made the comments during a floor speech where she made the case for her bill that would ensure that the president and lawmakers are not paid if a government shutdown occurs. Boxer said that the cost of four hours of the Iraq war would be enough to keep PBS funded — and the popular fire-red children's character on the air. Boxer believes that the GOP has more than just a vendetta against Elmo. She added that...

Yes, these are the Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Elmo, Rosita and cousin Jesse at a joint event at the Pentagon. Sesame Street had a great initiative producing materials in support for the veteran’s families with young children coping with the death of a parent. The creative team addressed the issue tastefully and hopefully the children who need support in very difficult times will feel that people around understand them – even Elmo and his friends do. Let me make it clear: I like...

This is the Lund Variable Velocity Weapons System, a combustion-powered rifle that can both kill or stun an enemy. It was developed by the creators of Honey My Baby Pony and Tickle Me Elmo dolls for the Pentagon. No kidding. Lund—a company specialized in creating toys—started to work with the Pentagon under the Small Business Innovation Research funds, following the military's objective to develop a non-lethal weapons arsenal. To achieve its double-function, the LVVWS works at two different speeds. By clicking a switch, the weapon goes from one mode to the other. To make is safer, it also has...

The First Lady will help kick off the 40th year of "Sesame Street" with an appearance on the Nov. 10 season premiere, PBS announced Tuesday. Michelle Obama will bring with her a message touting the importance of planting gardens and healthy eating. She'll teach children how to plant tomato, cucumber and lettuce seeds as part of the show's new two-year science initiative called "My World is Green & Growing." "All these seeds need to grow are sun, soil and water. If you eat these healthy foods, you're going to grow up to be big and strong, like me," Obama tells...

Three agencies are teaming up with Sesame Street to prepare school children for the new threat of the H1N1 virus. The White House announced Tuesday morning that the Homeland Security, Education, and Health and Human Services departments are enlisting the help of Elmo and Gordon from the long-running educational show to teach children how to avoid H1N1, also know as the swine flu. President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with the secretaries of those three agencies and other administration officials later Tuesday afternoon to discuss the threat. Elmo, Gordon, the Sesame Workshop and the federal agencies will try to...

The Obama administration has recruited yet another Sesame Street character to help push a policy initiative, this time new efforts to raise awareness about children's health and safety. In an obvious snub at Miss Piggy, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared earlier today with Elmo to launch a new public service announcement designed to encourage families with young children to protect themselves from swine flu. HHS will team up with Sesame Workshop and the Ad Council, which will distribute the PSAs to television stations nationwide. Elmo will appear with Sesame Street character Gordon to instructing children to wash...

If the recession has been as hard on Madison Avenue as on other sectors, a lot of marketing types are probably free to watch daytime TV. And if marketing’s your game, that’s time well-spent. You can surf the kiddy shows and learn from the true masters of your art: environmentalists. Their latest coup? Elmo, the most popular character on PBS’ “Sesame Street,” has gone “green.” Literally. The environmental left has accomplished what marketers dream of: hooking consumers from a young age and creating customers-for-life. What’s more, they’ve done it on the cheap. As CMI has documented, Nickelodeon’s “Big Green Help”...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2009 – Sesame Workshop will air a PBS special April 1 aimed at helping military families cope with changes. Actor/singer Queen Latifah and singer John Mayer will join Elmo to present, “Coming Home: Military Families Cope with Change.” The special carries a message for children whose parents suffered a physical or psychological wound in combat. “Rosita’s father is in a wheelchair and [she] talks to Elmo about her feelings,” Barbara Thompson, director of the Defense Department’s Office of Family Policy/Children and Youth, said. “Elmo very graciously says, ‘You need to talk to your dad about that.’”...

For nearly two years, designers at Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price toiled to hide a maze of copper wires and microchips under the plush red fur of the company's newest Elmo toy. The resulting "Elmo Live" is its most advanced ever, able to cross its legs, flap its arms and fluidly mimic the famous television Muppet. All that wizardry, however, comes at a steep price. When Elmo Live arrives in stores on Tuesday, it will cost $60 -- about a third more than last year's model, and above the $50 tag that once was the high-water mark for most toys. Elmo Live...

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Aug. 26, 2008 – Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the program “Sesame Street,” and the United Service Organizations joined forces to bring “The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families” to 43 installations across the country. Amanda Moran of Military OneSource, helps Kassandra Chavez, 11, and her brother José, 9, put beading kits into a bag Aug. 10, 2008, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The table was one of many with giveaways and information at the “Sesame Street Experience.” U.S. Army photo by Cheryl Harrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The tour travels for...

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – Sunny days will be just around the corner when Elmo and his friends bring “The Sesame Street Experience” to 43 military installations to help children trying to cope with parents’ deployments. Jillian Kules, 13 months, shows Leslye Arsht, deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy the new DVD she got June 26, 2008, at the launch of Sesame Workshop's "The Sesame Street Experience." Both the DVD and the live show were developed with the support of Arsht's office to help young military children cope with parents' deployments. Defense Dept. photo...

Toy Threatens To Kill Fla. Boy After Battery Change, Say Parents Mom: Toy Now Says 'Kill James'   POSTED: 12:07 pm EST February 22, 2008 UPDATED: 1:22 pm EST February 22, 2008  LITHIA, Fla. -- A child's Sesame Street Elmo doll programmed to learn phrases from owners' computers started making "kill James" death threats to its 2-year-old owner after its batteries were changed, according to the boy's parents.  Melissa Bowman of Lithia said she replaced the batteries on the Elmo Knows Your Name doll for her son James. Soon after, the toy began to say, "Kill James," Bowman said....

A Lithia family says a cuddly, programmable Elmo doll revealed its dark side yesterday after fresh batteries were installed. Instead of singing songs or reciting the favorite color of its 2-year-old owner, James Bowman, the doll started making death threats, the family says. With a squeeze of its fuzzy belly, the Sesame Street character now says, in a sing-song voice, "Kill James." "It's not something that really you would think would ever come out of a toy," said Melissa Bowman, James' mother. "But once I heard, I was just kind of distraught." The Elmo Knows Your Name doll, which connects...

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2007 – Sesame Street’s Elmo and his friends at Sesame Workshop are helping military children deal with a parent’s deployment through a new project called “Talk, Listen, Connect: Helping Families During Military Deployment." Leslye Arsht, deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy, center, tells a crowd gathered at the National Press Club in Washington about the positive impact the Sesame Workshop's "Talk, Listen, Connect: Helping Families During Military Deployment" and the associated tool kit has had on military families. Joanna Lopez, left, and her three children are featured on a DVD included...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2006 -- Elmo and the characters of Sesame Street are going to give Americans a chance to see what military families go through when their loved ones deploy to war zones. Sesame Street will air “When Parents Are Deployed” on most Public Broadcasting System stations Dec. 27. Armed Forces Network stations will air the special in January. “The special focuses on giving people an understanding of the sacrifices servicemembers’ families make in a deployment,” said Barbara Goodno, a senior program analyst with the Pentagon’s Office of Family Policy. Elmo, the fuzzy red puppet who is perpetually...

Click here for a video demo of what apparently is going to be this Christmas's big toy: (Warning: Excessive Cuteness Ahead) TMX Elmo

Lacrosse players' defense: Documents being withheld   By William F. West : The Herald-Sunbwest@heraldsun.comSep 1, 2006 : 11:20 pm ET DURHAM -- Attorneys for the three Duke lacrosse players charged with assaulting an exotic dancer claim District Attorney Mike Nifong and police still haven't provided several vital documents in the case, as required by law. As a result, the defense lawyers have filed papers in Superior Court calling for Nifong to produce those documents. The request to Judge Osmond Smith comes after Durham County's chief prosecutor told Smith and defense lawyers at a recent meeting that a toxicology report...