Grinding Meathead - A Dedicated Website

How long has "Meathead" remained in office without being reappointed?

Find Out Here>>

The Devil Is In The Details

The devil is in the details:

It seems that the latest big Hollywood entertainment vehicle will pass this speed bump into movie immortality.

With little or no evidence, writers are fighting over the copyright claims of religious “Historical Conjecture”.

On this basis alone, “The Da Vinci Code” should be vetted for every detail and suspected at every turn.

This From Reuters -

"The Da Vinci Code" copyright case winds up
Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:37 AM ET
By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - A court case in which two historians accuse Dan Brown of copying their work in his novel "The Da Vinci Code" is due to finish on Monday, ending one of the most closely watched copyright claims of recent years.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh wrote "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail", a work of historical conjecture published in 1982, which shares some of the same themes as Brown's best-selling religious thriller.
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Both books raise the possibility that Jesus had a child by Mary Magdalene, she fled to France after the Crucifixion and Christ's bloodline survives to this day. They also associate Magdalene with the Holy Grail.

Authors warn that should the historians succeed, there would be serious implications for fiction writers who have always incorporated other people's ideas and research into their works.

Legal experts say the claimants face an uphill task to protect general ideas. "You would hamper artistic creativity if you couldn't write a novel that theorizes about a conspiracy theory," said Boston-based intellectual property lawyer Edward Naughton of Holland & Knight.
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"If it were otherwise the dissemination and discussion of history, science, religion and like topics would be stultified. Creativity of novelists, TV producers and film makers would be stymied," he (Random House's lawyer John Baldwin) said.
Read All>>

Again, these people are arguing over the potential of delivering a conspiracy theory ... FACTUALLY!

This view of seperating fact from fiction found on the FAQ's page on a webite put up by Sony Pictures (the studio responsible for making "The Da Vinci Code" into a movie) to give their entertainment effort cover -

Question:

Why was this site created?

Answer:

While The Da Vinci Code is an entirely fictional thriller, the story obviously touches on religious issues that concern many Christians. The Da Vinci Dialogue grew out of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s desire to respect those concerns by providing a forum where a wide variety of respected religious scholars could discuss some of the serious questions the movie may raise.

"Million-Year" War Declared Against Scientology

"South Park" creators Trey Parker, left, and Matt Stone pose at their offices in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, 2005. The battle between the pair and the celebrity-endorsed religion of Scientology, raged on this week in a tempest over a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise. They said Thursday, March 16, 2006, they won't relent in their feud against the religion, based on the self-help book "Dianetics" by founder/science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. (AP Photo/Ann Johansson)

There has been more bad blood brewing between the creators at Comedy Central's "South Park" and the Church of Scientology ever since Oscar winning singer, Isaac Hayes resigned as the voice of "Chef" (saying he could no longer tolerate its religious "intolerance and bigotry.").

Excerpts from Yahoo Entertainment News & Gossip -

'South Park'-Scientology Battle Rages On
Friday March 17 7:35 PM ET

"South Park" has declared war on Scientology. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated satire, are digging in against the celebrity-endorsed religion after a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise was yanked abruptly from the schedule Wednesday with an Internet report saying it was covert warfare by Cruise that led to its departure.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!" the "South Park" creators said in a statement Friday in Daily Variety. "Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies... You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!"
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The episode in question, "Trapped in the Closet," which first aired last November, shows Scientology leaders hailing Stan, one of the show's four devilish fourth-graders, as a savior. A cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out. An animated John Travolta, another famous Scientologist, enters the closet to try to get him out.
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On Monday, Stone told The Associated Press, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith in Scientology...He has no problem and he's cashed plenty of checks with our show making fun of Christians."
Read All>>

And all of this time since 9/11, we have been concerned for our safety from the efforts of radical fascist Muslims.

Phishing Tidal Wave - National Consumers League Issues Report

More needs to be done in combating the problem of phishing. Referencing a 57 page report issued by the National Consumers League, participants in a press conference expressed concern that Internet users are becoming more wary of conducting business online because of phishing scams and other cybersecurity problems.

This story from IDG News Service via Infoworld -

Coalition calls for action on phishing
In a report, consumer groups, technology vendors, financial services organizations and law enforcement agencies, calls on Internet companies to step up consumer education efforts
By Grant Gross, IDG News ServiceMarch 16, 2006

Internet service providers (ISPs) and e-commerce sites can employ more tools to combat phishing scams, including "white lists" of legitimate Web sites and using false identification information to scam the scammers, according to a report released Thursday.

The report, released by a coalition of consumer groups, technology vendors, financial services organizations and law enforcement agencies, also calls on Internet companies to step up their consumer education efforts.

Among the more novel techniques recommended by the group was for Internet companies and law enforcement agencies to enter false information, such as bogus credit card numbers, into phishing Web sites, allowing police to find phishing scammers by tracking the use of those false numbers.
Read More>>

Media & Terrorists Get Hit With This Shalaylee Offensive

Soldiers and aircraft are positioned on the airstrip at Forward Operating Base Remagen in advance of Operation Swarmer. Image courtesy of Sgt. First Class Antony Joseph, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.

This from The Fourth Rail -

March 17, 2006
Operation Swarmer: Legit or Theater?
Swarmer is the latest in a series of Air Assault missions, not a "wag the dog" moment

As soon as Operation Swarmer kicked off, the pundits rushed to assign political motivations to the operation. One author of this school of analysis is Richard Beeston, the Diplomatic Editor of the London Times, who claims the air assault is "politically opportune for both the Bush Administration and the fledgling Iraqi government in Baghdad," "a show of US strength" and a "demonstrate that that they [American and Iraqi commanders], in fact, are in charge."

Rubbish.

Such analysis highlights the shortcomings of the media in covering war, particularly the inability to track combat operations and provide meaningful analysis. Instead of looking at the big picture, a single combat operation is viewed as an isolated incident, and there is little attempt to provide the context for an operation.

Read all of Bill Roggio's Report>>
And this report on Operation Swarmer Near Samarra>>

These posts from The Fourth Rail speak for themselves. Whack 'em, and whack 'em hard. We are even seeing the Iraqi's dancin' the jig in this joint operation.

WBC - Mexico Turns 9th Inning Dbl. Play - USA Out!

Mexico's Jorge Cantu strokes a double. (AP)

No fireworks for Rocket in what could be his last appearance in professional baseball.

Team Mexico - 2 Team USA - 1

AP Story via Yahoo Sports -

The outcome was a stunner, considering Team USA fielded a lineup loaded with All-Stars even without Derrek Lee and Johnny Damon, sidelined with sore left shoulders.

Recap>>

Cheese & The Infidel-Evangelical Alliance

Photo Credit: TIME

Post From Pilgrim:

This is the best article on the early American Baptist and evangelical views I have seen.

These views are often distorted by Falwell and Dobson and Charles Colson, as mentioned in the article.

I was amazed to see such an accurate reading and what I think is good contemporary application.

The book mentioned by George Marsden and Nathan Hatch, the two leading evangelical church historians in America today, is excellent.

Excerpts from Beliefnet, On Belief by Steven Waldman -
A version of this article is also appearing in the Washington Monthly.

Jefferson, Madison & Their Evangelical Pals
Religious freedom resulted from an unlikely alliance: evangelicals and skeptics

Thomas Jefferson stood, dressed in a black suit, in a doorway of the White House on Jan. 1, 1802, watching a bizarre spectacle. Two horses were pulling a dray carrying a 1,235-pound cheese—just for him. Measuring 4 feet in diameter and 17 inches in height, this cheese was the work of 900 cows.

More impressive than the size of the cheese was its eloquence. Painted on the red crust was the inscription: “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” The cheese was a gift from religious leaders in western Massachusetts.

It may seem surprising that religious leaders would be praising Jefferson, given that his critics had just months earlier attacked him as an infidel and an atheist. In the 1800 election, John Adams had argued that the francophile Jefferson would destroy America’s Christian heritage just as the French revolutionaries had undermined their own religious legacy. Adams supporters quoted Jefferson’s line that he didn’t care whether someone believed in one god or 20, and they argued that the choice in the election was: “God—and a religious president…[or] Jefferson—and no God.”

But in a modern context, the most remarkable thing about the cheese is that it came from evangelical Christians.

Read It All>>

Clooney Tunes - An Open Letter - Dear George

Photo Credit: Reuters

This Op-Ed piece in the LA Times -

Max Boot:
Best supporting neocon
March 15, 2006

DEAR George Clooney,

Congratulations on that best supporting actor Oscar you picked up last week. I couldn't be happier for you. Not only because I admire your Cary Grant-esque panache but because I admire your politics. As an advocate of a hawkish but high-minded foreign policy, I can't find much to cheer about in Hollywood, but you, my friend, consistently deliver. Dare I say it — you're the No. 1 neocon in Never Never Land.
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The message is clear: The U.S. should pursue its ideals in foreign policy, not simply try to protect its strategic or economic interests. Believe it or not, that is the essence of modern neoconservatism. And that is precisely the policy that President Bush has been following in Iraq, notwithstanding the sniping he's received from you and your friends.

Perhaps the problem is that you support the ends — getting rid of Hussein — but are leery of the military means. But what other alternative is there? As "Three Kings" showed, asking the Iraqi people to rise up against their oppressor wouldn't have worked. The U.S. had to step in, if only to make up for its betrayal of the Iraqis in 1991.

Anybody who wonders what U.S. troops are doing in Iraq today should rent "Three Kings." It makes an ironclad moral case for the invasion.

Good work, George. I'm looking forward to your next project: "Leo! The Leo Strauss Story."
Read It All>>

That hammer as opposed to a mirror approach out of Hollywood may be worth trying, do ya' think? George ... unwittingly thinks so!
ht: Laura Ingraham

Grinding Meathead – The Handle Turns

They can say anything they want about me,” Reiner says of critics. “I’ll take the hits as long as I reach my goal.” (Lori Shepler / LAT)

Rob Reiner meets with the press in Sacramento for the first time since the questions about the management of the program he oversees came to light and it turned into ... Sausage, Sweet Sausage!

Some choice excerpted statements -

Rob Reiner, movie director/activist: ""Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish."

Reporters made hamburger out of "Meathead" today, as he publicly answered questions for the first time about the possible misuse of taxpayer money. - abc7news.com
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Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a University of Southern California political analyst, said voters haven't focused on the debate, but "if charges are filed, all bets are off" on his political future. - USATODAY
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Director Rob Reiner's reviews have never been worse.His latest movie — "Rumor Has It" — was panned by the critics the world over. It's "Reiner's slow slide toward oblivion," opined an Associated Press movie critic. Bermuda's Royal Gazette: "Rumor has it you should avoid this flick." And Taiwan's Taipei Times: "The movie was directed between naps."

But Reiner is learning the hard way that facing down his critics in Hollywood is nothing compared to those in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. "Hollywood? It's like child's play," he said. "This is much, much worse." -- And if that's not enough, Reiner was recently lampooned on Comedy Central's "South Park." They called him fat. - LA Times
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Claiming he consulted with educational experts, interestingly Reiner failed to sit down with any associations representing preschools. He failed to consult with any of the California K-12 school reform groups. And he never talked with any home-schooling organizations. So, who did he consult? The existing interlocking layers of dysfunctional bureaucracy, California state, county and district levels of education, where parents, voters and taxpayers have very little say or control. Prop 82 will hand preschools over to the same bureaucracy.

Reiner also fails to consider the substantial analysis and findings on the effects of early preschool on under 5 year olds in his efforts to gain preschool for all.

Consider: Stanford University Findings: In their review, "How Much is Too Much? — the Influence of Preschool Centers on Children's Development Nationwide" they detail their analysis which utilized data from 14,162 kindergartners and their parents and teachers. Which found that children from poor families had gains in cognitive skills when attending preschools by about 10%, and double that for English-proficient Hispanic children. However, they also found that there is less evidence of cognitive skill gains for youngsters from middle-class home, or for other children from lower-income families compared with their counterparts who remain at home with a parent. - Renew America

ht: Hugh Hewitt

And, of course, there is much MORE and the audit hasn't even taken place. Sweet Sausage will be turned HOT if the results are as suspected. Keep watching, as the handle turns.

ABC News Sounds Alarm On Bird Flu Migration

Photo Credit: ecj, Condor 3-2003

From Primetime -

Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America
Officials Advise Stocking Up on Provisions -- and Warn That Infected Birds Cannot Be Prevented From Flying In
By BRIAN ROSS

March 13, 2006 - In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.

Ready or not, here it comes.

It is being spread much faster than first predicted from one wild flock of birds to another, an airborne delivery system that no government can stop.

"There's no way you can protect the United States by building a big cage around it and preventing wild birds from flying in and out," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns said.

U.S. spy satellites are tracking the infected flocks, which started in Asia and are now heading north to Siberia and Alaska, where they will soon mingle with flocks from the North American flyways.

"What we're watching in real time is evolution," said Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. "And it's a biological process, and it is, by definition, unpredictable."
MORE>>

And in a related story -

Alaska Villagers to Help Bird Flu Survey
By ANNE SUTTON, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 11, 5:48 PM ET

JUNEAU, Alaska - He lives in one of the most remote areas of North America, but that hasn't stopped James Active Jr. from worrying about bird flu on its march around the globe.

A Yupik Eskimo from Kipnuk, a native village of 600 people on the edge of the Bering Sea, he follows the news on satellite television: millions of chickens and ducks dead or slaughtered in Asia, a scattering of human deaths, fallen swans in France, a dead cat in Germany.

Thousands of miles from these outbreaks, Active sounds resigned to the eventual appearance of the disease on his turf."We hear about it being overseas in different countries but somewhere down the line, I'm sure it will end up this way too," he said.
MORE>>

I sense a conspiracy theory out here, and it goes something like this …

The U.S. Congress, in a cost cutting move to finance the war against world terrorism, classifies Eskimo’s as U.S. spy satellites. This will have the effect of killing two birds (sorry) with one stone – to reduce the overall cost to our military infrastructure and to have a built in early warning system that will track flu infected migratory flocks of birds through the North American flyways into the United States.

Is it time yet to invest in N95 to N100 face masks?

WBC - Team USA In Must Win Situation, Again

Korea's Hee-Seop Choi watches his three-run homer in the fourth inning. (Chris Carlson/AP)

With a loss against unbeaten Team Korea, Team USA meets a powerful Team Mexico in a possible 'must win' situation in order to advance to the next round.

Team Mexico finds itself in the same situation tonight against Team Japan, however, if Japan faulters, Mexico will find itself in a position to take out Team USA.

In summation, Team USA, with this defeat against Korea, now needs to defeat Mexico with Roger Clemens on the mound and hope that the Japanese lose to either Mexico or Korea on Tuesday or Wednesday nights to move on.

GAME SUMMARY>>
ht: worldbaseballclassic.com