definitely not good news

such sad news...hopefully the funding for and faith in science has not been completely dismayed.

experimental AIDS vaccine fails - volunteers infected

Los Angeles, CA - An experimental AIDS vaccine research trial has been terminated after recent findings that the drug has failed to prevent HIV infection in test subjects. According to a press release from the vaccine’s developer, Merck & Co., the vaccine was being tested in uninfected volunteers at high risk for acquiring HIV. Not only did the drug not prevent infection, but more inoculated volunteers contracted the virus than volunteers who were not inoculated.

Merck & Co. was co-sponsoring the trial with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). After an interim analysis of the research study, study investigators have been instructed to discontinue vaccinating volunteers.

STEP, the name of the trial, enrolled 3,000 HIV-negative volunteers from diverse backgrounds between 18 and 45 years of age at high risk of HIV infection. Research on the vaccine included multiple clinical trial sites in North and South America, the Caribbean and Australia. The first volunteer enrolled in the study in December 2004, and enrollment was completed in March 2007. A second Phase II trial of the vaccine, the Phambili trial, was begun in 2007 in South Africa. According to a report by the Associated Press, enrollment and vaccination in that trial and two other Phase I trials have been discontinued.

Many of the participants in the trial were gay men or female sex workers. According to the Bay Area Reporter Online, 137 gay and bisexual men from the city were enrolled in the Phase II trial. The San Francisco Health Department’s HIV research section began contacting the volunteers on Friday to inform them of the halting of the research trial.

"I was surprised. No one anticipated this response. This vaccine had shown a good immune response in prior trials," Gavin Morrow-Hall, a community educator with the research section who helped recruit participants for the trial, told the Bay Area Reporter. "The vaccinations will not continue, but we still hope to see our study participants because there is still a lot of information we can learn about the vaccine."

The vaccine was composed of a weakened version of a common cold virus, which delivered three synthetically produced genes from the AIDS virus. The theory behind the vaccine was that the synthetic genes would stimulate T-cells in the body to provide a higher immune protection against the HIV virus. Those infected with HIV who have strong T-cell response tend to do better than those who do not.

The study aimed to test whether the vaccine prevented HIV infection in participants and whether the vaccine reduced the amount of the virus in those who did develop an infection. Out of 741 volunteers who received the vaccine, 24 of them became infected with the HIV virus. In the 762 volunteers who received a placebo, 21 cases of HIV infection were reported. For those who received the vaccine after being infected with HIV, the drug did not reduce the amount of virus in the bloodstream of the volunteers. According to Merck, volunteers were provided with counseling on reducing their risk of HIV infection during the trial.

"We share in the disappointment of the research and HIV communities today. Sadly, developing an effective AIDS vaccine remains one of the most challenging tasks facing modern medicine," said Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., president, Merck Research Laboratories. "Merck's 20-year HIV research program has led to improved scientific understanding of HIV and to true breakthrough medicines. We are committed to studying the data closely and sharing it with the scientific community to inform the on-going search for an effective HIV vaccine."

"Today's announcement about the STEP Study is a deep disappointment and a scientific setback for the AIDS vaccine field,” the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) said in a release. “However, it must be seen for what it is: the failure of a product to show efficacy in a specific trial. Clinical testing of AIDS vaccines is a scientific process and, while this is a disappointment, it is in no way the end of the search for an AIDS vaccine.

Volunteers in the study were followed for approximately 13 months and additional analyses will be conducted on the participants in the study.

into the groovecopter

here's a mashup of "helicopter" by bloc party and "into the groove" by madonna by dj schmolli. it's interesting for sure and shines new light on the song...i can possibly imagine madonna doing a rocked out version of the song someday on a tour. it's kinda weird how the chords kinda match in the two songs and it's even crazier hearing madonna's already minnie mouseish vocals sped up even more!!

dj schmolli - groovecopter

dj regis and ripa ciccone

take a look at this clip of the "relly awards" with regis and kelly ripa... kelly does her best madonna impersonation...it's nice to see someone other than a drag queen impersonate her hehe...kelly looks hot and dances hot too!

click here for the video...i would usually embed it but it has been disabled on youtube for some reason for this clip

good luck dan rather

Rather: I was forced to step down

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather says the $70 million lawsuit he filed Wednesday against his former employer is an effort to strike a blow against political and corporate influence that he believes threatens the independence of American journalism.


Dan Rather, here in July 2006, said that corporate and political influence may cause a chilling effect on journalism.

"This is the right stand, at the right time, about the right issue," Rather told CNN's Larry King Thursday night, in his first TV interview since filing the suit. "We have to, somehow, get back to integrity in the news and somehow at least alleviate, if not eliminate, these big corporate and big government pressures."

"You can't have freedom of the press if you're going to have large, big corporations and big government intruding and intimidating in newsrooms. The chilling effect on investigative reporting is going to be something we don't want to see," he said.

Rather's breach of contract suit charges that CBS made him the scapegoat when the network came under intense criticism over a September 2004 "60 Minutes II" story challenging President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.
Don't Miss

* Dan Rather sues CBS for $70 million

Immediately after the story aired, critics began questioning the authenticity of documents used to buttress allegations that Bush did not fulfill his military commitments. Rather, who narrated the disputed piece, became the target of fierce criticism from conservative partisans who believed the story was an attempt to influence the 2004 presidential race.

Six months later, he stepped down from the anchor chair he had occupied for nearly a quarter century -- a departure he says was not voluntary.

In his interview with King, Rather again defended the accuracy of the story and said "I think there's a lot more in the president's military record that we don't know about."

"Nobody to this day has proved these documents were fraudulent," Rather said. "The story was true."

He also said an independent investigative panel commissioned by CBS, which issued a report highly critical of the story, was a "fraud."

"It was a set-up," Rather said of the investigation, headed by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press chief Louis Boccardi, which led to the firing of a producer and the resignations of three executives. "It was designed to achieve a certain result so that the corporation would be exonerated."

Rather's suit alleges that management at CBS and its then parent company, Viacom, shifted blame to him to pacify the White House and that on the day after Bush was re-elected, he was informed he would be removed as anchor of the CBS Evening News.

The suit maintains that inaccuracies in the National Guard report have "never been established," but, even if there were errors, he was not responsible for them because he "played largely a supervisory role" in the production of the broadcast and was assured by others that the documents had been authenticated.

After initially defending the piece, CBS later retracted it, and Rather later made an on-air statement admitting the network couldn't vouch for the authenticity of the documents and calling the decision to air the story a "mistake in judgment."

However, Rather now charges in his lawsuit that he was "coerced" by CBS management "into publicly apologizing and taking blame for alleged journalistic errors in the broadcast."

Rather told King that he agreed to read the on-air apology -- largely written by other people -- to "play team" and help the organization where he had worked for more than 40 years.

"I didn't want to apologize. I didn't think we should apologize," he said.

He also said he didn't realize at the time that the apology was part of an effort by management to "make sure that they shifted whatever blame there was going to be ... away from themselves and put it on me and some other good people in the news division."

Rather said that in the weeks leading up to broadcast, he was not deeply involved in National Guard story because he was extremely busy covering a number of other major news stories, including a hurricane and the Republican National Convention.

He also said he was not invited to the final screening of the piece before it aired, which was attended by two corporate attorneys and a host of CBS executives, including Andrew Heyward, then president of the news division.

"I depended on a team of people to vet it," he said. "Didn't happen."

Rather said he is not interested in gaining financially from the suit and will donate a "substantial part" of any damages he collects to journalism organizations who work to keep "hard-nosed investigative reporting alive."

Rather's suit names as defendants CBS and its CEO, Leslie Moonves; Heyward; and Viacom and its CEO, Sumner Redstone.

Reacting to the suit, CBS issued a statement saying "these complaints are old news, and this lawsuit is without merit." Contacted for their reaction, Moonves and Heyward referred CNN to the CBS statement; Viacom and Redstone refused comment.

marcia marcia marcia was finger licking good!

who the hell woulda thunk it?


09/21/07

'Brady Bunch' Star Reveals All About Lesbian Fling With TV Sister?

Wholesome former The Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormick is set to reveal the beloved 70s TV series' most shocking secret in a new book - she and her on-screen sister had a lesbian fling.

McCormick's tell-all, "Here's The Story," won't hit bookstores until 2008, but publishers are already buzzing about the big reveal.

As well as talking candidly about her well-documented eating disorder and drug problems in the book, TV's Marcia Brady will come clean about a romance she had with co-star Eve Plumb, who played her sister Jan on the hit show.

A source tells the National Enquirer, "The most explosive comments will be how the then-blonde, blue-eyed cutie developed a crush on Eve Plumb, which led to some sexual play. This book will certainly come as a shocker. While Maureen is not a lesbian, she reveals there were some sexual hijinks going on behind the scenes. It's bizarre because she played such a virginal character on the show."

who writes his speeches?

dailymail.co.uk

The day George Bush killed off Nelson Mandela

By DAVID GARDNER
Last updated at 01:30am on 22nd September 2007

Nelson Mandela yesterday assured the world that, contrary to the impression given by the President of the United States, reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

Even for a statesman as blunder-prone as George Bush, it was a gaffe of toe-curling proportions.

The president's latest faux pas came as he tried to draw a tortuous link between the revered former South African leader and the sectarian violence in Iraq.

Defending his stand on the war, Mr Bush said Saddam Hussein's brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and halt the civil warfare that has torn Iraq apart.

"I heard somebody say, 'Where's Mandela?'" said Mr Bush.

"Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," he added, to the general bemusement of the White House press corps.

The South African authorities were besieged with calls after Mr Bush's speech, which was carried live by TV news networks.

Many viewers feared the country's first black president and Nobel Peace Prize winner had died.

Jailed for 27 years by the former apartheid government in South Africa, Mr Mandela remained a constant thorn in the side of the white minority government.

Yesterday, his office put out an assurance that, at 89, he was very much alive.

Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said: "It's out there.

"All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive."

The president's allusion was all the more strained because Nelson Mandela was a strong opponent of the war in Iraq.

Before the 2003 invasion, he condemned Mr Bush as "a president who can't think properly and wants to plunge the world into a holocaust".

It is not the first time Mr Mandela's demise has been announced prematurely.

In 2003, CNN accidentally ran his obituary on its website and earlier this year a fringe Rightwing-group claimed he had died. He was on holiday in Mozambique at the time.

He retired from public life three years ago after beating prostate cancer in 2001.

President Bush is known for making gaffes.

He mixed up Austria with Australia in a speech in Sydney earlier this month.

Then there was his unstatesmanlike "Yo, Blair" greeting to Tony Blair at the G8 summit in St Petersburg last year.

His sometimes muddled syntax and mispronounciation of words such as nuclear, or as the president calls it "nukular", have long made him the butt of jokes.

Supporters, however, say his folksy style has helped build his popularity with Middle America.


take a look at this...another scoop of dirt on his political and mental grave

savage ray of light

here's two videos featuring an interview and acoustic performances by former savage garden frontman, darren hayes! he talks about the time madonna came to see one of his shows after getting a phone call from tommy mottolla. take a listen to this fantastic cover of madonna's "ray of light" he kills each and every note with amazing precision and even sings the guitar part instrumental himself...so great...then after listen to him cheekily describe how he would plan his funeral hehe

hillary solo vs. the republican empire

wow! my girl hillary had some strong words recently about a lot of her enemies...gotta love her for not only being quite the sarcastic, comedienne...but also for being dead on!

HILLARY: CHENEY IS WHITE HOUSE'S DARTH VADER

Post Staff Report

September 20, 2007 -- Hillary Clinton pulled out her light saber last night at a fundraiser in New York as she called Vice President Dick Cheney "Darth Vader."

"Vice President [Dick] Cheney came up to see the Republicans yesterday. You can always tell when the Republicans are getting restless, because the Vice President’s motorcade pulls into the Capitol, and Darth Vader emerges," Clinton said in Manhattan's Town Hall near Times Square.

Clinton, in a conversation with Tom Vilsack and Wesley Clark, said, when it comes to strategy for the war in Iraq, "I'm not invited to their meetings and I don't know what he says or does.

"But all the brave talk about bringing our troops home, and setting deadlines, and getting out by a certain date just dissipated," the presidential candidate said.

She then took a jab at President Bush's global warming policy:

"It will be refreshing, I think, to have a president who will actually utter the words 'global warming.'"

Vilsack, a top advisor to Clinton, also raised the stakes for GOP rival Rudy Giuliani, saying his stormy personal life will be fair game should he win the Republican nomination for president.

"There's a lot that the rest of the country is going to get to know about Mayor Giuliani that the folks in New York City know," Vilsack said.

"I can't even get into the number of marriages and the fact that his children - the relationship he has with his children - and what kind of circumstances New York was in before Sept. 11," Vilsack said during an interview on NY1 last night.

"There are lot of issues involving Mayor Giuliani . . . He's got a very interesting past."

The Clinton campaign's mudslinging against Giuliani's personal life is surprising, given the New York senator's struggles with her own marriage to philandering former President Bill Clinton, and other White House scandals.

The Giuliani campaign declined comment.








Culture of Corruption Continues!

"The Conservative Media" website treats us to a list of the Republican's Scandals for 2007 (sans Bush & Cheney's continued war crimes & treason). We've included a sampling of the Republican's Culture of Corruption here, but it's definitely worth checking out the full article. You may want to sit down though... this is gonna take a while!

The Republican hits just keep on coming in 2007

"One of the main reason Republicans were turned out of power in 2006 and lost control of both the U.S. House and Senate was because of their culture of corruption. Republicans vowed that would end after the scandal-filled 2006 that saw scandals like Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney and Jack Abramoff just to name a few. That has not happened, and even though 2007 is not even over yet, we have seen plenty of GOP scandals in 2007. Here is the list so far:

January 23, 2007: Republican radio personality Scott Eller Cortelyou of Denver arrested on suspicion of using the Internet to lure a child into a sexual relationship.

February 14, 2007: Major Republican fundraiser Brent Wilkes and former CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo are indicted by a grand jury for corrupting CIA contracts.

March 5, 2007: Ethics complaint filed against Republican Senator Pete Domenici for his role in the Attorney Purge scandal.

March 6, 2007: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury.

March 8, 2007: Republican former U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich admits to extramarital affairs.

March 23, 2007: Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of George W. Bush's energy policies, pleads guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee.

March 28, 2007: Robert Vellanoweth, a Republican activist and appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, after a crash that killed three adults and one child.

March 29, 2007: Rep. John Garfield, R- Rochester Hills, was arrested in the East Lansing area by Michigan State University campus police on suspicion of drunk driving. Despite registering a .14 – almost twice the legal limit of blood-alcohol limit – the charges were later dismissed because the police improperly pulled him over, and he avoided his second drunk driving conviction.

April 18, 2007: The FBI raids the home of Republican Congressman John Doolittle, investigating his ties to Jack Abramoff.

April 23, 2007: The FBI questions Republican Congressman Tom Feeney about his dealings with Jack Abramoff.

April 23, 2007: Federal auditors find repeat violations of federal election law from the 2004 Senate campaign of Republican Senator Mel Martinez.

May 4, 2007: Bruce Weyhrauch and Pete Kott, former Alaska state Republican legislators, were arrested and accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from the corrupt VECO Corporation.

May 11, 2007: A field coordinator for Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry is indicted for voter fraud in North Carolina.

May 12, 2007: NBC News breaks the story that the FBI is investigating Republican Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons for suspicion of accepting bribes in exchange for securing government contracts.

May 15, 2007: Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy is arrested for drunk driving (he pled no contest on June 1, but didn't publicly disclose the event until June 11).

May 18, 2007: Republican former South Dakota State Representative Ted Klaudt is charged with eight counts of second-degree rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of sexual contact with a child younger than 16, two counts of witness tampering and one count of stalking against two foster children in his care.

May 21, 2007: Republican state Senate candidate Mark Tate is indicted on nine counts of perjury and two counts of election fraud by a grand jury.

June 11, 2007: Republican Senator Larry Craig is arrested for lewd conduct in the men's bathroom of an airport.

June 19, 2007: South Carolina Republican state Treasurer and South Carolina Chairman of Giuliani for President Thomas Ravenel is indicted by a grand jury on cocaine distribution charges.

July 2, 2007: President George W. Bush commutes the sentence of former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby following Libby's conviction on obstruction of justice and perjury.

July 3, 2007: A grand jury report declares that the sale of public land to Republican Congressman Ken Calvert and his business partners violated the law.

July 11, 2007: Republican state Representative and Florida co-Chairman of McCain for President Bob Allen is arrested for soliciting a male undercover police officer, offering to pay $20 to perform oral sex.

July 16, 2007: Republican Senator David Vitter holds press conference acknowledging being on the D.C. Madam's list and past involvement with prostitutes.

July 16, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was involved in a sweetheart real estate deal.

July 19: Republican former state legislator Coy Privette is charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution

July 24, 2007: Michael Flory, a 32, the former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans pled guilty in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Ohio that he sexually abused a colleague during Young Republicans convention in the summer of 2006.

July 29, 2007: Glenn Murphy Jr., recently-elected Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, is accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping man.

July 30, 2007: The FBI and IRS raid the home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens following investigations into Stevens' dealings with the corrupt VECO Corporation.

August 2, 2007: Bush administration senior adviser Karl Rove disregards a Congressional subpoena and refuses to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

August 6, 2007: Investigation called for after House Republican Leader John Boehner leaked classified information regarding a secret court ruling over warrantless wiretapping.

August 9, 2007: Major Republican donor Alan Fabian is charged with 23 counts of bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and perjury.

August 22, 2007: Republican political consultant Roger Stone resigns his role with the New York state Senate Republicans after reports surfaced that he made a "threatening, obscenity-laced" phone call to the 83-year-old father of Governor Eliot Spitzer.

August 27, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested and pled guilty - he had not publicly disclosed the events to that point.

The Republican hits just keep on coming in 2007

dj chauncey d : definite eleven

i've been pretty bad at keeping up with a top eleven like i used to do in the past...but here's a new one...the songs that are underlined you can download by clicking on them!! so many chauncey treats for you!!




dj chauncey d's definite eleven
september 2007

1. billie ray martin - undisco me (acid jacks remix)
2. mark knight - party animal (any mix)
3. kleerup f. robyn - with every heartbeat (any mix)
4. van she - sex city (nightmoves remix)
5. mark ronson - stop me (dirty south remix)
6. she wants revenge - out of control
7. mark knight - the reason (rene amesz mix)
8. empulse - american idle (quentin harris remix)*
9. dave spoon - time machine (tom neville remix)
10. lcd soundsystem - someone great
11. andrea doria - bucci bag 2007 (dino lenny remix)

* for more remixes of empulse's "american idle" please go to www.beatport.com and purchase them all (they are my friends!)

susan sarandon is my hero!!

Colbert: Is the answer to the trauma of returning vets not to bring them home?

Susan Sarandon appeared on Tuesday's Colbert Report to discuss her new film, In the Valley of Elah, which concerns a military cover-up of the murder of an Iraq War veteran


"I think it might start a dialogue about the fact that, actually, war changes you," said Sarandon. "There's a big disconnect between the politicized war and the actual war. ... All the guys who got us into this war never went to a war. They avoided a war, so they don't really have any idea what war means.


"They didn't avoid this war," objected Colbert. "They actively went after this war,"


"That's so true," agreed Sarandon.


"You're saying there's some trauma these people experience and they have to deal with that when they come home?" asked Colbert. "Isn't the answer, maybe, to not bring them home? I mean, the president has done his part in that regard."

click HERE
for the video

no vacancy

U.S. military cemetery running out of space

Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:57am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2039677420070920?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - A Kansas military cemetery has run out of space after the burial of another casualty of the Iraq war, officials said on Thursday.

"We are full," said Alison Kohler, spokeswoman for the Fort Riley U.S. Army post, home of the 1st Infantry Division.

U.S. Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, both Kansas Republicans, on Thursday sent a letter to William Tuerk, the under secretary for memorial affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, urging for full funding for a new cemetery for Fort Riley.

"While a new cemetery would not be completed in time to alleviate this situation immediately, it is vitally important," Roberts and Brownback, a Republican presidential candidate, said in their letter.

"We truly owe our military members a debt of gratitude and the least we can do is provide them with an honorable burial ground," the senators wrote.

Since the 2003 beginning of the war in Iraq, Fort Riley has lost 133 soldiers and airmen, though not all are buried in the Fort Riley cemetery. Sgt Joel Murray, who died September 4 in Iraq, took the last available plot, said Kohler.

Fort Riley can bury bodies on top of other bodies if family members want to share a plot, said Kohler.

And this is one of the recent videos that pissed off our "profound" commander in chief



special thanks to myspace friend denise who literally posts important bulletins at least once every ten minutes...yes..there's that much nonsense and disgusting facts to discover daily

dinner with madonna

just one word...."fierce"


Sunday, September 16, 2007
Dinner with Madonna
When Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Kevin Flower, began gesticulating wildly at me from across the dinner table, pointing at his chest and mouthing some word I mistook for an obscenity, I thought maybe he was trying to tell me the bill was here and I owed him a LOT of money.

It took me a while to realize that he was actually pointing at a petite blonde sitting at the table behind him instantly recognizable as the one and only Madonna.

Suddenly, the place was buzzing. Waiters dropped their dishes. Diners stopped chewing and turned around to stare. The more quick-witted ones whipped out their mobile phones and snapped grainy pictures.

But while the rest of the place craned their necks to get a better look, I was shrinking into my seat hoping to disappear from view.

You see, I did a story recently on Madonna, Kabbalah and her visit to Israel for the Jewish holidays. Suddenly, face to face with the subject of my work, I was terrified.

I had a vision of her marching over and slapping me with her dinner napkin, deeply offended at my pathetic attempt to report on her celebrity supremacy as husband Guy Ritchie glowered at me from a distance.

So, I took decisive action. I decided to ignore her. I turned to a fellow journalist beside me for support.

"What about these rumors of the Egyptian President’s failing health? What does it all mean?" I asked in a desperate attempt to look serious and sound earnest, pretending to be utterly unconcerned with the superstar in our midst.

But it was unavoidable. All around me people wanted to talk Madonna. What kind of shoes is she wearing? What is she eating? Is it kosher? What size do you think she wears? She’s so tiny! Why does her hair look so great? Atika, why does her hair look so perfect? You have the best view!

That was the worst part. I had a clear shot to the Material Girl herself and I was too embarrassed to even glance in her direction.

My friend Katherine, a professional photographer who is much braver than me, suddenly announced, "I want to take her picture but I don’t have a camera."

Guiltily, sheepishly, I slid my CNN-paid-for videophone across the table to her, an enabler to paparazzi.

You know, as a journalist, I’ve walked into the aftermath of a tsunami, stared down the barrel of a kalashnikov, and run headfirst into a riot. I’ve interviewed presidents and prime ministers, even a convicted cannibal.

But I couldn’t even gather enough guts to press a button and take a photo of Madonna.

We struggled for at least 30 minutes like this. Giddily taking photos of each other. Surreptitiously zooming in on the real target behind us.

It was a mess.

The closest we got was a very unflattering picture of Bureau Chief Kevin Flower and Madonna’s two bodyguards blocking the view behind him.

So, at the restaurants urging, we finally paid the bill and walked out, utterly defeated.

Of course, I’m sure Madonna had no idea what was going on. She probably didn’t even watch CNN and had never even seen my piece on air and didn’t give a hoot except to think: What a bunch of losers these people at the next table are.

Outside, the paparazzi pounced on us as we exited, flashing and snapping their cameras then groaning when they realized their mistake.

What was I doing? I should have elbowed her bodyguards aside, brazenly snapped a photo and demanded an interview with Madonna mid-bite. That's what a real journalist would do.

So, Madonna, I apologize for not doing my job and interrupting your dinner and bombarding you with questions until I was forcibly removed from the building.

I admit it: When it comes to celebrities, I am a bad journalist.

-- From CNN International Correspondent Atika Shubert in Jerusalem.

www.cnn.com

pink is the new red white and blue

‘I’ve stood around too long’

Central Kings students wear pink to send bullies a message

By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Valley Bureau | 6:06 PM


Central Kings Rural High School students David Shepherd and Travis Price bought 75 pink tank tops and other pink items for students to wear after a new student at the school was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. (IAN FAIRCLOUGH / Valley Bureau)

CAMBRIDGE — Two students at Central Kings Rural High School fought back against bullying recently, unleashing a sea of pink after a new student was harassed and threatened when he showed up wearing a pink shirt.

The Grade 9 student arrived for the first day of school last Wednesday and was set upon by a group of six to 10 older students who mocked him, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up.

The next day, Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price decided something had to be done about bullying.

"It’s my last year. I’ve stood around too long and I wanted to do something," said David.

They used the Internet to encourage people to wear pink and bought 75 pink tank tops for male students to wear. They handed out the shirts in the lobby before class last Friday — even the bullied student had one.

"I made sure there was a shirt for him," David said.

They also brought a pink basketball to school as well as pink material for headbands and arm bands. David and Travis figure about half the school’s 830 students wore pink.

It was hard to miss the mass of students in pink milling about in the lobby, especially for the group that had harassed the new Grade 9 student.

"The bullies got angry," said Travis. "One guy was throwing chairs (in the cafeteria). We’re glad we got the response we wanted."

David said one of the bullies angrily asked him whether he knew pink on a male was a symbol of homosexuality.

He told the bully that didn’t matter to him and shouldn’t to anyone.

"Something like the colour of your shirt or pants, that’s ridiculous," he said.

"Our intention was to stand up for this kid so he doesn’t get picked on."

Travis said the bullies "keep giving us dirty looks, but we know we have the support of the whole student body.

"Kids don’t need this in their lives, worrying about what to wear to school. That should be the last thing on their minds."

When the bullied student put on his pink shirt Friday and saw all the other pink in the lobby, "he was all smiles. It was like a big weight had been lifted off is shoulder," David said. No one at the school would reveal the student’s name.

Travis said that growing up, he was often picked on for wearing store-brand clothes instead of designer duds.

The two friends said they didn’t take the action looking for publicity, but rather to show leadership in combating what they say is frequent bullying in schools.

(ifairclough@herald.ca)