Free Republic

His prime-time debut is months away but many are already wondering whether audiences will tune in (or even TiVo) his talk show at 10. Kim Masters says the joke may be on the other networks. Jeff Zucker has long been the Rodney Dangerfield of the big-media world. And the NBC Universal chief executive’s decision to schedule a Jay Leno talk show five nights a week at 10 p.m. did nothing to change that. The conventional wisdom was that in scheduling Leno for an hour in prime-time five days a week beginning in September, NBC was giving up beachfront real-estate to...

An Australian airliner was grounded after four baby pythons escaped from their container in the aircraft's hold. The snakes, just six inches long, were among 12 Stimson's pythons being flown from Alice Springs to Melbourne. At first it was thought the reptiles may have been eaten by the other snakes, but this was discounted after they were weighed on landing. Passengers were transferred to other aircraft. The jet was fumigated but the snakes' bodies are yet to be found.

Ask those on the left what values they champion and they will say equality, tolerance, women’s rights, gay rights, workers rights and human rights. Militant Islamists oppose all that, not infrequently through the application of lethal force. So how does one explain the burgeoning left-Islamist alliance? I know: There are principled individuals on the left who do not condone terrorism or minimize the Islamist threat. The author Paul Berman, a man of the left, has been more incisive on these issues than just about anyone else. Left-of-center publications such as The New Republic have not been apologists for Jihadism. But...

Magnitude 6.5 - SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

NEW YORK — John Madden is calling it quits. NBC said Thursday that the burly ex-coach who has been one of pro football's top broadcast analysts has decided to retire. The 73-year-old Madden has been working for the past three seasons on NBC's Sunday night NFL game. His last telecast was the Super Bowl between Arizona and Pittsburgh.

BANGOR, Maine — There are people in Maine and across the country who are fed up. They are fed up with taxes. They are fed up with President Obama’s spending initiatives. They are fed up with their local elected officials, who they feel haven’t done enough to stop the prevailing tax-and-spend ways. That anger was brought to light in a very public way on Wednesday with a nationwide series of protests that evoked demonstrations of the country’s Founding Fathers. Reminiscent of the famous Boston Tea Party that protested taxation without representation, Republican and conservative groups all over the U.S. held...

In what is a milestone and historic event for Brazilian ufology and for ufologists around the world Brazil’s UFO community has gained access to previously classified top-secret UFO files. The UFO community headed by the CBU or Commission of Brazilian Ufologists has been fighting for access to these files for over a year under freedom of information provisions and has emerged from this battle victorious. The Government has previously released in stages various files on the topic depending on the level of their classification but has now released files on the most significant and highly classified UFO events, including the...

HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities say a Huntington Park police officer shot and killed a man who reached for what turned out to be a phony gun as he was ejected from a bar.

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Following last week’s storm of bad Lindsay Lohan news, according to OkMagazine.com, it seems Lindsay’s Mom Dina attempted an intervention of sorts Easter Sunday. “We’re all trying to convince Lindsay to go [to rehab]” an anonymous relative told Ok! Wednesday. “We want what’s best for her, and I don’t think she knows what that is.” Ok! also reports Lindsay was overheard on Easter Sunday engaged in a yelling match with Dina (star of the hit E! reality show “Living Lohan”) over Lindsay’s need to enter a rehab treatment facility (again) immediately. “Mom, stop it!” Enough! Quit it!” Lindsay was heard...

Janie’s Got a Gun-Aerosmith ( I was lucky to stay with a member of Aerosmith’s mother and Sister for a few days many years ago. Good people. Je Taime-Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg (What to say?) Jealous-Sinead O connor ( She might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but a great singer nonetheless.) Jealous Guy- John Lennon or Roxy Music ( Lots of great versions of this, including Belinda Carlisle and Elliot Smith, but the two mentioned are my faves) Jet-Paul McCartney (My 2 favourite Wings songs come from Band on the run, Jet and Bluebird Johnson’s Aeroplane-INXS ( probably...

New jobless claims fell more than expected for the second straight week, but the number of Americans continuing to receive unemployment insurance benefits rose above 6 million for the first time. Analysts expect the labor market to remain weak for the most of this year, as many employers are reluctant to hire until an economic recovery is well under way. And fresh housing data show the slump in that market, a major factor in triggering the recession, is not yet over. The Labor Department said Thursday that its tally of initial unemployment claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 610,000 from...

In the new issue of Rolling Stone, Hulk Hogan goes off on his wife Linda Bollea, 48, for leaving him for "some shaggy-haired pool boy 30 years her junior." "I could have turned everything into a crime scene, like OJ, cutting everybody's throat," says Hogan, 55. (Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1995.)

Sources confirm that the supermodel mogul is expecting her third child with music-man hubby Seal. The couple has two sons together, Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, 3, and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel, 2. Seal is also the adoptive father of Klum's daughter, Helene "Leni" Klum (who turns 5 on May 4), whom she had with Italian businessman Flavio Briatore

APRIL 15--The California woman who gave birth in January to eight babies has filed an application to trademark the word "Octomom," which she wants to slap on disposable diapers and assorted clothing items. Nadya Suleman, who has shown a knack for cashing in on her post-natal predicament, last Friday filed two applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in a bid to commercially exploit her tabloid-bestowed nickname. In her April 10 USPTO filings, the 33-year-old mother of 14 identifies herself as "Nadya Suleman, AKA Octomom," and notes that she wants to use the "Octomom" handle on products such as...

Inflation: You may have heard your parents or grandparents talk about how different things were when they were your age. It only cost a nickel to see a movie. Gas was 30 cents per gallon. A brand new car might cost about $5,000. In the intervening years, prices have risen, sometimes drastically. Seeing a movie in the theater now costs about $8; gas can cost more than $2 per gallon in some places; and few new cars cost less than $15,000. That's inflation. Inflation is when a certain form of currency starts to have less value over time. It is...

Isobel-Bjork (this was my first introduction to the magical world of Bjork, and when my daughter noticed a poster saying Bjork was in Jakarta, we were both happy until we saw the date (we had missed it!) Itchycoo Park-The Faces ("The lyrics are about skipping school to get high, but at the time, The Small Faces claimed it was much more innocent to ensure airplay" A great place to learn about a song is songfacts.com, of which this tidbit is taken It was a very good year-Frank Sinatra (Oh how I miss the Sopranos!) I Go To Sleep-The Pretenders (I...

My observations from the New York City Tea Party held at City Hall last night.

Are tax day protestors justified in their cause? Yes, the government needs to know we won't stand the wasting of OUR tax dollars Yes, right or wrong the protestors have a constitutional right to do so No, tea party participants need to shut up and pay up -- it's the law