Behind the scenes Britney Spears managed or exploited?
March 31, 2009
(ChattahBox) — There are some strange goings on in the Spears world with an undercurrent of trouble in paradise with the conservatorship hold that dad Jamie has on his daughter Britney. Most recently while daddy was away Britney was rumored to be at play. Brit was messing around with hunky 21-year-old backup dancer while father Jamie was tending to business in L.A. late this month. According to a NY Daily News well-placed tour source:
“Britney was a bad girl,” says our insider. “Literally as soon as her dad left, she started getting cozy with a dancer named Gio. It wasn’t serious. They had a few romantic interludes, and she bought him a few things — a pair of shoes and some clothes — even though she’s on an allowance.”
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Google Moving Into Venture Capital-Will Invest $100 Million
March 31, 2009
(ChattahBox)–Google will soon to dive into the venture capital business, with its announcement this week of the formation of Google Ventures, which is committed to investing $100 million to worthy and profitable companies through the next 12 months. The venture capital unit will replace many of the charitable donations made in the past by Google.org, its corporate philanthropy unit. Google Ventures is looking for a few good investments in the Internet, clean energy and technology and life sciences Read more
It’s a daughter for Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof
March 31, 2009
(ChattahBox) — How I Met Your Mother actress, Alyson Hannigan and her fellow actor husband, Alexis Denisof, are proud parents of their first child a daughter. Satyana Denisof, was born March 24 in Los Angeles, which also happens to be Hannigan’s birthday. Read more
FDA Issues Warning Over Tainted Pistachios
March 31, 2009
(ChattahBox) — A California based pistachio company is recalling more than two-million pounds of nuts because routine salmonella tests turned up positive. Food and Drug Administration officials say Setton Farms shipped pistachios to 36 wholesalers that were sold in at least 31 states across the country. They were largely distributed in 2,000-pound containers to food wholesalers who would then package them for resale or incorporate them as ingredients in other products, such as ice cream and trail mix. Read more
Skype Offering Service to iPhone and Blackberry Users
March 30, 2009
(ChattahBox)–Skype CEO Scott Durchslag, announced today the company is launching its popular Internet phone service to iPhone and blackberry users. Durchslag is set to announce the availability of service to iPhone users on Tuesday at the CTIA annual mobile showcase in Las Vegas. Skype phone service to blackberry users will be available in May. The new Skype mobile service will only work on WiFi for the time being and will not operate over a 3G network.
Apple’s latest iPod Touch device, which is equipped with WiFi, but has no cellular connection, would be a good device for Skype’s new service. Skype is not offering its popular Internet video service to mobile phone users yet, but is considering it.
Skype mobile phone service has been available for some time in other countries, such as the UK, but has been slow going in the United States. Existing carriers are afraid of losing revenue to usurpers like Skype. AT&T has had exclusive rights to calls made from iPhones.
Skype is already available on Windows Mobile, Google’s Android and Nokia phones. The Skype mobile phone service is free to download, offering free calls between Skype users, with a fee charged for calls to land lines.
The Skype service is unique in that it has subscribers. iPhone users can easily use their existing address book contacts for the Skype service.
Senator Webb launches bi-partisan prison reform
March 30, 2009
(Chattahbox) — With a population of 2,393,000 and rising, the nation’s prison system has become the focus of major concern for Senator Jim Webb [D-VA]. Calling the current position in which our prisons house five-times more people than DC itself, ‘a national disgrace,’ Senator Webb has proposed that a more radical cure must now be applied.
Joined by Senator Arlen Specter [R-PA,] in a welcome example of objective focus, the two lawmakers have sponsored The National Criminal Justice Commission Act, a bi-partisan bill to create a blue-ribbon panel, charged with performing an incisive review and presenting concrete plans for comprehensive and grossly-belated reforms.
In an engaging but troubling speech last Thursday, the Senator told reporters that the US has five-percent of the globe’s population, yet it houses a quarter of the world’s prison inmates, too many of whom are there for minor offenses or mental-health issues, for which incarceration has proved an ineffective response; “We are not protecting our citizens from criminals who perpetrate violence, and we are locking-up too many people who do not belong in a jail,” he explained to the audience and press. Read more
Drew Carey on absurdity of DEA medical marijuana bust of Charlie Lynch
March 30, 2009
(ChattahBox) — What will become of Charles Lynch, A California man who ran a medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, who faces years in prison for a dubious crime, could tell us a lot about the Obama policy on drugs. He could be the first medical marijuana dispenser sent to prison on President Obama’s watch or the last man federally prosecuted even though he adhered to state law. Watch the video below from Reason TV, featuring Drew Carey telling the true story about Charlie Lynch.
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Pre-Existing Condition Denials Increase, as the Jobless Search for Medical Coverage
March 30, 2009
(ChattahBox)—A report from the Miami Herald this morning exposes the increasing practice of medical insurers automatically rejecting applicants who suffer from certain medical conditions or those taking certain medications. People forced to buy health insurance on their own in the private market have long faced the dreaded pre-existing condition clauses, denying coverage for a medical condition altogether, or forcing a person to wait out an imposed time frame, until claims were paid for a pre-existing condition.
However, the Miami Herald piece sheds the light on the recent actions of the insurance industry of completely rejecting applicants seeking health insurance. Not only denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, but automatically denying health coverage, period. Read more
CO2 Emissions=Acidic Oceans=Catastrophic Climate Change
March 30, 2009
(ChattahBox)—Scientists at the recent Aspen Environment Forum, want the world to pay attention to the havoc, greenhouse gas emissions are wrecking on the world’s oceans, by increasing the acidic level of the oceans, which could completely wipe out coral reefs, causing catastrophic climate change. Scientists warn that all coral in the ocean could die-off by the middle of this century, unless we stop burning fossil fuel at current rates. Read more
Chinese Death Vans: Execute Prisoners and Harvests Their Organs
March 30, 2009
(ChattahBox)—An appalling story out of China today, involving China’s use of perhaps hundreds of roving high-tech death vans to execute prisoners by lethal injection, in what the Chinese officials see as an “efficient and clean” method to dispose of prisoners, without the need to build separate facilities.
There is even a darker twist to this story. As soon as the prisoners draw their last breath, doctors remove their organs, which are then sold to wealthy Chinese and patients from other countries who are willing to pay a hefty price for an organ, with no questions asked. Read more