5-21-2012
CLARABELLE RINGERS -- This weekend as over a thousand members
of a group that calls itself the “Clown Bloq” descended in full clown garb on
the city of Chicago, site of the 2012 NATO Summit to, in their words, “provide
hilarity in the face of a humorless police state and to provide a fool’s
critique of organized and militarized repression of the people.” Chicago’s landmark Parker House Hotel, where a majority of the clowns had
booked rooms, temporarily suspended their usual offer to shine guests’ shoes free
when left outside the door.
IN FROM THE COLD -- Two of the three Cal Berkeley hikers
who claimed they had wandered over the Iran border by mistake in 2009 and
served two years of an eight-year sentence for espionage have married in
northern California. Throughout their
ordeal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd insisted they were not spies but simply
hikers with inadequate compass training.
Now that their covers have been blown, the C.I.A. admits that both were
undercover operatives. Shane’s assignment was to
photograph Iranian Dairy Queens suspected of concealing uranium processing
plants and Sarah’s to pose as an Avon
Lady and infiltrate Amadinajhad's harem.
STIFF SNIFFERS -- Debuting on CBS
September 23, 2002, “C.S.I.: Miami,” a spin off from the popular series “CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation,” was to begin its tenth season this year. Instead, CBS has cancelled both ground-breaking
police procedurals. Fans of shows were shocked and most expressed remorse. In honor of the genre they credit with making their previously obscure
jobs intimately familiar to faithful viewers throughout the country, real crime
scene investigators from coast-to-coast paid the series their highest honor – a
“21-snap rubber glove salute.”
CLAYMATION BUILDING -- The Pentagon has put on public display a clay and Styrofoam model
of Osama bin Laden’s compound in Ahmadabad that was constructed from satellite
photos to aid in the preparation of the raid that successfully killed him. Aside from the the half million dollar cost of the model, the Pentagon
paid $3 million to Warner Brothers, Disney, and 20Th Century-Fox for
the rights to use Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Nicholas Cage, Robert
Downey, Jr., Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger action figures as simulated members of Seal Team Seven.
FOR THOSE WHO
THINK DEAD -- To commemorate the 25Th anniversary of the release of
Michael Jackson’s “Bad” album, Pepsi will distribute two billion limited
edition cans featuring the image of the dead pop icon in South America, Africa,
Asia, China and the U.S. The estate of
Michael Jackson will receive a substantial royalty for use of the image. Once again, as they were so prone to do during
his life, Jacko’s critics have accused his estate of copying the estate of
Elizabeth Taylor.
Copyright (c) 2012 by Robert L. Mills All Rights Reserved
