Now Playing: Lynn Samuels
Topic: Dittohead Dogma
Third Columnist Implicated with Payola Charges

By E&P Staff

Published: January 27, 2005 11:00 PM ET

NEW YORK Michael McManus, whose syndicated column, "Ethics & Religion," appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to promote an administration marriage initiative, according to an article posted yesterday by Salon.com, the online magazine.

Senior writer Eric Boehlert wrote that Salon had confirmed that McManus "championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed."

This report emerged one day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, after revelations surrounding commentators Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher.

According to Salon, Dr. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at HHS, had responded to the latest report by announcing that HHS would institute a new policy that forbids the agency from hiring any outside expert or consultant who has any working affiliation with the media. "I needed to draw this bright line," Horn told Salon. "The policy is being implemented and we're moving forward."

McManus could not be reached for comment.

Horn told Salon that McManus was paid approximately $10,000 for his work as a subcontractor to the Lewin Group, which was hired by HHS to implement the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative. McManus provided training during two-day conferences in Chattanooga, Tenn., and also made presentations at HHS-sponsored conferences.

Horn said he first learned about the payment on Thursday.

"In the wake of the Gallagher story," Boehlert wrote, "he asked his staff to review all outside contracts and determine if there were any other columnists being paid by HHS. They informed him about McManus. Horn says the review for similar contracts continues."

Horn said HHS was not paying Gallagher and McManus to write about Bush administration initiatives but for their expertise as marriage advocates. "We live in a complicated world and people wear many different hats," he told Salon. "People who have expertise might also be writing columns. The line has become increasingly blurred between who's a member of the media and who is not. Thirty years ago if you were a columnist, then you were a full-time employee of a newspaper. Columnists today are different."

In 1996, McManus co-founded Marriage Savers, which, among other things, asks clergy not to conduct marriage ceremonies unless the couple has had lengthy counseling first.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher.com)
[ This story was reported on Lynn Samuels. ]

So the dittoheads keep telling us George the Second IS NOT Hitler reincarnated...but WHAT do you call a government paid press???

Topic: Fourth Reich Blues
US women get closer to combat
Some say move imperils units, violates law
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | January 26, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Army for the first time is placing women in support units at the front lines of combat because of a shortage of skilled male soldiers available for duty in Iraq and is considering a repeal of the decade-old rule that prohibits women from being deployed alongside combat forces, according to Pentagon officials and military documents.

The Army's Third Infantry Division has added scores of female soldiers to newly created ''forward support companies" that provide maintenance, food service, and other support services to infantry, armor, and Special Forces units that commonly engage in combat.

Army officials acknowledge that the changes will increasingly place women, who make up about 15 percent of the armed forces, in combat situations, but believe they are following federal law, which prohibits female soldiers from serving in units that engage in direct combat.

The Army maintains that it has not changed the overall Pentagon policy regarding women in combat, which limits women to serving on surface ships and in attack aircraft. But internal Army documents indicate the service is ignoring a 1994 regulation barring women from serving alongside units that conduct offensive operations.

The change made by the Third Infantry Division was prompted by a shortage of trained troops caused by the unexpected length of the Iraq war and has set off a quiet, but highly charged debate within the Army over the role of women in the military. As a practical matter, the guerrilla tactics used against US troops during the occupation have also blurred the traditional lines between combat and support functions and is expected to prompt a wholesale review of the definition of ground ''combat" within the Bush administration.

''After this operation is over the question of how they define combat has got to be raised," said Lory Manning, a retired Navy captain who heads the Women in the Military Project at the nonpartisan Women's Research & Education Institute in Washington.

US law prohibits women from serving in combat units, and the Army insists it is following the law. At issue is a separate Army rule that also bars women from front-line support units.

Opponents to putting women in ground combat fear their presence on the front lines -- even in a support role -- will harm the cohesion and effectiveness of fighting units, a view Republican and Democratic administrations have held for decades.

''The issue remains unresolved," said Elaine Donnelly, president of the conservative Center for Military Readiness, who contends that the military is ''implementing illicit plans to force female soldiers into land combat units for the first time in our history." She asserts that the Army is circumventing regulations through ''subterfuge" by labeling the female soldiers as being ''attached" to the new units as opposed to ''assigned" to them.

Others military specialists, however, contend that the US experience in Iraq provides a powerful new argument for permitting women, who make up about 10 percent of the force there, to take on more combat roles because they have been shown to be as capable as men in handling the rigors of combat.

The Third Infantry Division is the first to attach support units to combat forces, but those changes will be expanded to other units as part of the Army's effort to make its forces more mobile and flexible. Most of the division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., has arrived in Iraq since Christmas to start a second tour there, and all its deployed units are scheduled to be in the country by the end of the month.

The Army, as required by law, has notified Congress of the division's changes.

''The whole structure of our Army changed," said Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman. ''The Third ID is the first unit to deploy with the reconfiguration, so this will be the first time where this is in question."

Women soldiers have found themselves in the line of fire more often in Iraq and Afghanistan than in any previous wars. Since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, about 30 women have been killed, most of them in hostile action, according to official statistics. In one attack, Army Private Teresa Broadwell, 20, was awarded a Bronze Star for returning fire when her military police unit was attacked in Karbala in October.

Army documents show that the strain the war has placed on personnel is a factor in women serving in units previously for male soldiers only.

A confidential Army brief given to commanders last summer declared that there are ''insufficient male soldiers [with the needed skills] in the inventory to fill forward support companies." The paper, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe, said that continuing to exclude women from support units that deploy jointly with combat troops would create ''a long-term challenge," contending that the pool of male recruits may be ''too small to sustain [the] force."

The Army could not immediately quantify how many women are serving in the forward support companies in Iraq. A company generally has 60 to 200 soldiers.

Late last year, Army Colonel Robert H. Woods Jr., a senior personnel official, suggested in a brief that the next step may be to either ''rewrite" or ''eliminate" the regulation that prohibits what the Army calls the ''collocation" of women with combat units.

Military specialists disagree about the implications. Opponents like Donnelly contend that it could be just the beginning of placing women in broader combat roles, a move she asserts has not been taken for good reason.

''If it stands, the same would apply to other units," she said. ''It will be an incremental change that is unjustified and very harmful to those land combat units," including weakening their fighting ability and creating romantic liaisons that would harm unit cohesion.

She is lobbying members of Congress and Pentagon officials to have women in the forward support companies reassigned.

''We have push-button wars and the battlefield is different, but there are certain things about combat that haven't changed," Donnelly said. ''Female soldiers are at a physical disadvantage."

The changes are being made out of ''expediency," she added, and if more male soldiers are needed, then the Army should recruit them.

Some of the division's soldiers also want women removed from the support companies.

''We are trained to engage in direct ground combat on land, and the collocation of gender-mixed forward support companies with us would seriously distract from the mission and possibly cost lives," a Third Infantry Division soldier who asked not to be identified wrote in a letter this month to Representative Duncan Hunter of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The soldier said that when the division participated in the initial Iraq invasion, six female medics attached to his all-male battalion were romantically involved with male soldiers and one female medic became pregnant. ''It became an enormous distraction for the company commanders who had to constantly separate the pairs and deal with the pregnancy," the eight-year veteran told Hunter. The letter did not identify the soldier's battalion.

Still, proponents of giving women more opportunities in the military say research suggests Iraq has been a positive experience for women and the military.

''The general take is that they are doing very, very well," said Manning of The Women's Research & Education Institute.

''They are able to bond with men or pick up and shoot an automatic weapon when that is necessary. They have no problem living hard in the field," Manning said. ''All those old excuses for why women can't be in combat are falling by the wayside."

The Army, for its part, is closely watching the Third Infantry Division deployment. According to the December briefing by Woods, the Army will ''incorporate lessons learned from Third ID into future decisions on policy affecting assignment and utilization of women soldiers."

Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.



? Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Topic: All My Children

Just found out that Ruth Warrick died, even though it happened nine days ago!!!

You would think that the pogromiesters at ABC/Disney would have notified the faithful viewers of one of their longest running show of that fact, but maybe they're too busy with coronations and pretending to be a news channel for that!!!

The mighty SHEagles!!!
Topic: Football

If you click here and go to the Pirate Stern Bulletin Board, you'll see that i am very arrogant about how great the Patriots are, and if you interview some of my friends, you'll see how dispassionate a gambler i can be.

The most shocking bet i ever made, to my friends at least, was when i bet the Ravens to beat the Giants in the Super Bowl. Contrary to what some people believe, i am not one of those people who follow the hype, which is why i hated both the Steelers and Cowboys during their heydays, but seldom bet against them in the big dance.

Gambling is like football, the object is to win.

It would amaze you to realize that i have only been to TWO Giants games in my life, yet i had gone to almost a hundred Jets games! The reason being it was always easy to get free Jets tickets from their fans who were usually pissed off by mid-November, and the fascination of watching the Jets blow thirty-point leads in the fourth quarter was irresistible.

So now we come to the age of the Patriots dynasty, one that will be remembered for as long as there is football.

The Shitsburgh Steelers were invincible, and having beaten the Patriots on Halloween they were looking for the treat that is the Super Bowl, unaware of the trick that is the Patriots!!!

With Bettis and Staley, they had two of the biggest power backs in the game, and Big Ben Roethlisberger looked like he was poised to do something that immortals like Marino, Elway, Montana, or Eli Manning couldn't do...take their team to the Super Bowl during their rookie campaigns, the Steelers are the only viable threat to the Pats three-peating that i can see right now.

Philly fans may beg to differ, but in their hearts they're hoping beyond hope for some kind of Rocky story in Jacksonville.

The press is already playing it as the second "African American" quarterback who can win the Super Bowl, but we already know that Donovan McNabb is a nigger by association!!!

Terrell Owens end-zone antics was coonshow cute, but he will be forever hated and detested for his halftime encounter with a white woman, even if it was fictitous. Almost forty years after Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Amerikkka is still offended when some black buck looks like he might fuck one of their women!!!

And there is still the stigma that many little Black kids face growing up--Hey you call us spearchuckers, so why cain't we be quarterbacks???

The only thing interesting about THIS Super Bowl will be the race card, since none of the sports media has the balls to start whispering THREE-PEAT!!!

Let FREEDOM ring???
Topic: Dittohead Dogma

Saudi Arabia: Flogging Used to Silence Protesters
Cancel Sentences That Violate Convention Against Torture
(New York, January 17, 2005) The Saudi government should act immediately to stop the sentence of flogging imposed on 15 anti-government protestors, Human Rights Watch said today.

For all the Saudi government's promises of reform, this sentence is a terrible disappointment. The Saudi government is flogging those who attempt to exercise the basic rights to free speech and association.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch

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The protestors, including one woman and two foreign nationals, were among 21 people who had been arrested following a public demonstration on December 16 in Jeddah. The protest called for an elected government, independent judiciary and a new Islamic constitution. A religious court sentenced them to a range of 100 to 250 lashes and two to six months imprisonment for taking part in demonstrations against the government.

In an unusual move, the government on January 11 publicly announced the sentence. Previously protestors and political dissidents have been sentenced to jail terms and fines, but not flogging. When religious courts have handed down flogging sentences, it has usually been for morals offenses such as adultery, and the government has not taken the step of publicly announcing the sentence.

"For all the Saudi government's promises of reform, this sentence is a terrible disappointment," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The Saudi government is flogging those who attempt to exercise the basic rights to free speech and association."

Holy shit!!!
Johnny Carson, King of Late Night, Dies

Jan 23, 2:14 PM (ET)

By JEFF WILSON

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Johnny Carson, the "Tonight Show" TV host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years, has died. He was 79. "Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning," his nephew, Jeff Sotzing, told The Associated Press. "He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable. There will be no memorial service."

Sotzing would not give further details, including the time of death or the location.

The boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests - particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched - the wry tales of multiple divorces: Carson's air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.


(AP) Johnny Carson works on his monologue to open "The Tonight Show" in his office at the NBC-TV studios...
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"Heeeeere's Johnny!" was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as "Carnac the Magnificent."

But America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992. In his final show, he told his audience: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

His personal life could not match the perfection of his career. Carson was married four times, divorced three. In 1991, one of his three sons, 39-year-old Ricky, was killed in a car accident.

Nearly all of Carson's professional life was spent in television, from his postwar start at Nebraska stations in the late 1940s to his three decades with NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."

Carson choose to let "Tonight" stand as his career zenith and his finale, withdrawing into a quiet retirement that suited his private nature and refusing involvement in other show business projects.


(AP) Johnny Carson, star and host of ABC's datytime game show "Who Do You Trust?," shows a magic trick...
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In 1993, he explained his absence from the limelight.

"I have an ego like anybody else," Carson told The Washington Post, "but I don't need to be stoked by going before the public all the time."

He was open to finding the right follow-up to "Tonight," he told friends. But his longtime producer, Fred de Cordova, said Carson didn't feel pressured - he could look back on his TV success and say "I did it."

"And that makes sense. He is one of a kind, was one of a kind," de Cordova said in 1995. "I don't think there's any reason for him to try something different."

Carson spent his retirement years sailing, traveling and socializing with a few close friends including media mogul Barry Diller and NBC executive Bob Wright. He simply refused to be wooed back on stage.


(AP) Television entertainer Johnny Carson is shown in this undated photo. Carson died Sunday, Jan. 23,...
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"The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself," he told Esquire magazine in 2002 in a rare interview.

The former talk show host did find an outlet for his creativity: He wrote short humor pieces for The New Yorker magazine, including "Recently Discovered Childhood Letters to Santa," which purported to give the youthful wish lists of William Buckley, Don Rickles and others.

Carson made his debut as "Tonight" host in October 1962. Audiences quickly grew fond of his boyish grin and easy wit. He even made headlines with such clever ploys as the 1969 on-show marriage of eccentric singer Tiny Tim to Miss Vicki, which won the show its biggest-ever ratings.

The wedding and other noteworthy moments from the show were collected into a yearly "Tonight" anniversary special.

In 1972, "Tonight" moved from New York to Burbank. Growing respect for Carson's consistency and staying power, along with four consecutive Emmy Awards, came his way in the late 1970s.


(AP) Johnny Carson, comedian and host of "The Tonight Show," is shown in 1962 at an unknown location....
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His quickness and his ability to handle an audience were impressive. When his jokes missed their target, the smooth Carson won over a groaning studio audience with a clever look or sly, self-deprecating remark.

Politics provided monologue fodder for him as he skewered lawmakers of every stripe, mirroring the mood of voters. His Watergate jabs at President Nixon were seen as cementing Nixon's fall from office in 1974.

He made presidential history again in July 1988 when he had then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton on his show a few days after Clinton came under widespread ridicule for a boring speech at the Democratic National Convention. Clinton traded quips with Carson and played "Summertime" on the saxophone. Four years later, Clinton won the presidency.

Carson dispatched would-be late-night competitors with aplomb. Competing networks tried a variety of formats and hosts but never managed to best "Tonight" and Carson.

There was the occasional battle with NBC: In 1967, for instance, Carson walked out for several weeks until the network managed to lure him back with a contract that reportedly gave him $1 million-plus yearly.


(AP) Entertainer Bette Midler caresses talk show host Johnny Carson during his next-to-last taping of...
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In 1980, after more walkout threats, the show was scaled back from 90 minutes to an hour. Carson also eased his schedule by cutting back on his work days; a number of substitute hosts filled in, including Joan Rivers, David Brenner, Jerry Lewis and Jay Leno, Carson's eventual successor.

Rivers was one of the countless comedians whose careers took off after they were on Carson's show. After she rocked the audience with her jokes in that 1965 appearance, he remarked, "God, you're funny. You're going to be a star."

"If Johnny hadn't made the choice to put me on his show, I might still be in Greenwich Village as the oldest living undiscovered female comic," she recalled in an Associated Press interview 20 years later. She tried her own talk show in 1986, quickly becoming one of the many challengers who could not budge Carson.

In the '80s, Carson was reportedly the highest-paid performer in television history with a $5 million "Tonight" show salary alone.

His Carson Productions created and sold pilots to NBC, including "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes." Carson himself made occasional cameo appearances on other TV series.

He also performed in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J., and was host of the Academy Awards five times in the '70s and '80s.

Carson's graceful exit from "Tonight" did not avoid a messy, bitter tug-of-war between Leno and fellow comedian David Letterman. Leno took over as "Tonight" host on May 25, 1992, becoming the fourth man to hold the job after founding host Steve Allen, Paar and Carson.

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, and raised in nearby Norfolk, Neb. He started his show business career at age 14 as the magician "The Great Carsoni."

After World War II service in the Navy, he took a series of jobs in local radio and TV in Nebraska before starting at KNXT-TV in Los Angeles in 1950.

There he started a sketch comedy show, "Carson's Cellar," which ran from 1951-53 and attracted attention from Hollywood. A staff writing job for "The Red Skelton Show" followed.

The program provided Carson with a lucky break: When Skelton was injured backstage, Carson took the comedian's place in front of the cameras.

Producers tried to find the right program for the up-and-coming comic, trying him out as host of the quiz show "Earn Your Vacation" (1954) and in the variety show "The Johnny Carson Show" (1955-56).

From 1957-62 he was host of the daytime game show "Who Do You Trust?" and, in 1958, was joined for the first time by McMahon, his durable "Tonight" buddy.

A few acting roles came Carson's way, including one on "Playhouse 90" in 1957, and he did a pilot in 1960 for a prime-time series, "Johnny Come Lately," that never made it onto a network schedule.

In 1958, Carson sat in for "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar. When Paar left the show four years later, Carson was NBC's choice as his replacement.

After his retirement, Carson took on the role of Malibu-based retiree with apparent ease. An avid tennis fan, he was still playing a vigorous game in his 70s.

He and his wife, Alexis, traveled frequently. The pair met on the Malibu beach in the early 1980s; he was 61 when they married in June 1987, she was in her 30s.

Carson's first wife was his childhood sweetheart, Jody, the mother of his three sons. They married in 1949 and split in 1963.

He married Joanne Copeland Carson in 1963; divorce came in 1972. His third marriage, to Joanna Holland Carson, took place in 1972. They separated in 1982 and reached a divorce settlement in 1985.

On the occasion of Carson's 70th birthday in 1995, former "Tonight" bandleader Doc Severinsen, who toured with musicians from the show, said he was constantly reminded of Carson's enduring popularity.

"Every place we go people ask 'How is he? Where is he? What is he doing? Tell him how much we miss him.' It doesn't surprise me," Severinsen said.

The brisk sale of the video collection "Johnny Carson: His Favorite Moments From The Tonight Show," released in 1994, offered further proof of his appeal.

He won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1992, with the first President Bush saying, "With decency and style he's made America laugh and think." In 1993, he was celebrated by the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for career achievement.

---

AP Television Writer Lynn Elber contributed to this report.

Encore!!!
Topic: Three-card Monty

Isn't it funnny how history seems to repeat itself???

Topic: Work in Progress

Yesterday i watched Crossroads, the Ralph Maccio movie in which Steve Vai plays all the guitar parts, and i couldn't help the urge to pick up one of my guitars which have basically strangers to me.

i started playing some real wanky Mississippi blues, the Vai-ish modalities coming from the three years of intensive classical studies inspired by Randy Rhoads' Dee. And the rust was evident, since i haven't really played in the now almost three years since my cousin got on the losing end of his battle with cancer.

No one knows the struggle to hit the right note, to "discover" an interesting riff unless they have been an aspiring musician with every thing it takes to be great but talent. No one knows WHY EminemsRevenge the "writer" must also be an at least mediocre guitar player.....

The PLAN is slowly coming together, but in a world where i-Pods are Blackberries i am constantly reminded that a prophet is not without honour except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own home.

So i bought some 9 volt batteries on sale at Rite Aid to put into my Epiphone, torpedoes be damned!!!

The Bush Coronation
Topic: All My Children


Long after Fox News stopped talking incessantly about the "war" in Iraq, ABC News was doing a bad impersonation of CNN as they covered Pentagon press briefings and other insignificant proceedings coming out of the Bush White House.

For fans on All My Children, many of our viewing days were interrupted as this feckless reporting by the hairsprayed anchormen at the Disney network tried in vain to get some of the credibility they had an eon ago when Nightline debuted.

i can understand why they broadcasted today's coronation, but i do hope that Reichkanzler Bush will consider the timing of these events in the future, as he broadens his crusade against Islam.

People who watch soap operas generally don't give a fuck about anything that can't fit into a sound-bite on the evening news. i am one of the few exceptions, but i still have been sorely perturbed by these meaningless attempts of ABC News where they pretend that Peter Jennings might be a second coming of Edward R. Murrow.

What i just saw in place of my soap opera, the post-inaugural parade here on the West Coast...made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

The protestors, who will later be vilified on Fox News, were mentioned in passing by Jennings. He insincerely spoke of their constitutional right to protest, but it was a hollow nod to the half of the electorate that voted against Herr Bush.

The kind of reporting one saw during the 1968 Democratic convention and the Viet Nam (as it was then spelt) war is part of the distance past, yet ABC/Disney is still trying to act like they are real newsmen!!!

ABC/Disney lost all credibility as a hard-news orginization when they summarily got rid of Lynn Samuels at their New York City radio station, and it is time that someone inform the mice at ABC/Disney that their network "news" coverage is farcial at best.

Quit trying to act like CNN and let people watch their AMC!!!

Need i say more???
Topic: Football