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Showing posts from August, 2011

Kevin Stefanski gives up Browns play-calling duties

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  Kevin Stefanski Hands Over Browns Play-Calling Duties to Offensive Coordinator Ken Dorsey: A New Era for Cleveland’s Offense In a significant shift for the Cleveland Browns, head coach Kevin Stefanski has decided to relinquish his play-calling responsibilities, passing them on to recently hired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. This move marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of the Browns’ offense, signaling Stefanski’s willingness to adapt in hopes of igniting the team's underwhelming performance on that side of the ball. The Decision to Step Back Since taking over as head coach in 2020, Stefanski has called offensive plays for the Browns. Under his leadership, Cleveland’s offense initially flourished, particularly during the 2020 season when the team made a rare playoff appearance, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round. Stefanski's offensive schemes, emphasizing a run-heavy attack and play-action passes, played a key role in maximizing the talents of qu...

Beck’s Hybrids Orange County Chopper Bikes

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This is an awesome sight to biker fans. They are the Beck’s Hybrids 75th Anniversary custom built Orange County Choppers motorcycles. You can find some more photos in the photo album. The one on the left has a combine corn head with ears of corn for handles and both have vintage farm scenes on the gas tanks. You can stop by the Beck’s tent to enter to win one of these bikes in the We Care for Orphans Adoption Fund Sweepstakes. You can get more details in the booth. The drawing will be held on Feb. 22, 2012 and the winner will be announced at Commodity Classic in Nashville, Tenn., March 1 – 3, 2012. “My great grandfather and grandfather started Beck’s 75 years ago, following the principle of providing our customers with the best in seed quality, field performance and service,” said Scott Beck, vice president of Beck’s Hybrids. “In celebration of our 75th anniversary, we commissioned OCC to build two custom choppers, with one of the choppers being featured on the popular Discovery Cha...

Uneven Night for Quarterbacks and Their Teams

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — At various points during the past month, Eli Manning and Mark Sanchez have drawn attention for things they have said. Sanchez revealed (in a GQ interview) that he wanted to fight Jets Coach Rex Ryan last season. Manning opined (in a radio interview) that he believed he was one of the five best quarterbacks in the N.F.L. Both remarks helped break up the slog of training camp, but Monday night the respective faces of the Giants and the Jets were notable for a more meaningful reason. With 13 days remaining before Week 1, Sanchez and Manning were remarkably underwhelming in the latest meeting between the city’s N.F.L. rivals, which the Jets won, 17-3, casting an uneasy feeling over the final dress rehearsal for the top players from both teams. The game was played under unusual conditions at MetLife Stadium, as it was originally scheduled for Saturday night before being moved — once to Saturday afternoon and finally to Monday evening — as a result of Hurricane Ir...

Kreayshawn Aces MTV VMA Quiz, Ready To Host Red Carpet

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  Kreayshawn jokes that she didn't grow up with cable TV, but that didn't stop her from acing an MTV News Video Music Awards quiz. The Bay Area rapper took part in our mock game show, and even impressed herself with how much she knew about past VMA performances. She stumbled a bit over the first question — Who closed last year's Video Music Awards? — guessing David Bowie, Eminem and Birdman before coming up with the correct answer: a red-suit-wearing Kanye West. She also scored correct guesses when she answered which song Britney Spears sang in her debut Video Music Awards performance ("... Baby One More Time") and what Madonna song Katy Perry sang ("Like a Virgin") when she fronted the house band one year. Sounds like she'll do just fine come Sunday night, when she works the black carpet as a host for MTV.com. Others who've filled this role in past years include Coco Rocha, Christian Siriano and Adrienne Bailon. "I'm super excited...

Tyler, The Creator Nabs Best New Artist VMA

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MTV Video Music Awards voters went bonkers for "Yonkers," or more specifically, its creator, Tyler, the Creator, awarding the young MC with the night's Best New Artist Moonman. After a jubilant hug from his mother, Tyler rushed the stage to nab his statue from presenters Taylor Lautner and Selena Gomez. Joined by his group, Odd Future, the MC offered an excited, yet expletive-laden acceptance speech. "Yo, I'm excited as f--- right now, yo," he said. "I wanted this sh-- since I was nine. I'm about to cry. This is for my little brother Earl [Sweatshirt]. He's not here right now. I really can't believe I'm here right now. I didn't write a thank you speech. I don't know. F---. To all the kids watching, you can do this sh--. Thank you." Tyler directed the black-and-white video -- from his second solo album, Goblin -- using the name Wolf Haley. The 20-year-old beat out fellow Best New Artist nominees Big Sean ("My Last,...

Radio is an important tool for hurricane preparedness

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I was listening to NPR this morning as I got ready for work and during the headlines at the top of the hour heard a short story about communities preparing for Hurricane Irene. It featured a quick actuality from a sheriff in South Carolina saying that a battery operated radio will be a vital tool to stay informed when Irene’s force hits. To me that advice sounds obvious, and not just because I’m such a radio enthusiast. Growing up on the East Coast it seems like I always heard about having a radio and plenty of batteries on hand whenever a severe storm threatened. As well, when I moved to the Midwest in the 1990s having a portable radio with fresh batteries on hand was advised to be ready for a tornado. However, now that we rely so heavily on cell phones and other networked devices it’s easy to forget that they’re much more susceptible to failure during power outages brought on by natural disasters. Even if your mobile phone still has battery life, the closest cell tower might not. No ...

''Go for the real gold before it's too late'' financial expert warns

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New fund from Belkhayate Asset Management easily converts paper assets into physical gold Geneva (MMD Newswire) August 24, 2011 - With gold prices going nowhere but up, many investors are grabbing on to all of the yellow metal they can acquire. But are they really getting gold? In most cases they're not, cautions gold expert, asset manager, and financial market analyst El Mostafa Belkhayate. Belkhayate, whose predictions about financial markets have been uncannily accurate for more than ten years, says that it's time to get back to "the real gold" - physical gold, as opposed to paper gold. And his company has launched a new fund to help investors do just that. "Paper gold," says Belkhayate, "is nothing but paper pretending to be gold. Unfortunately, the majority of gold investors are holding only paper." However, more investors are starting to demand physical gold delivery, and Belkhayate Asset Management has introduced a Physical Gold Fund - Swiss...

Toronto-Dallas CONCACAF game postponed by bad weather

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TORONTO (AP) – Toronto FC's CONCACAF Champions League game with FC Dallas was halted at halftime Wednesday night as lightning forced the game to be postponed. The game will be replayed Thursday from the start despite FC Dallas holding a 1-0 lead when play was stopped. Play was stopped for 40 minutes in the first half due to the threat of lightning and other bad weather. The second half never started as conditions worsened and officials decided to call the game. It's the second time bad weather has affected a Toronto game this season. The second leg of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship final between Toronto and Vancouver was abandoned May 25 due to lightning and rain. The game was replayed in June.

Nancy Reagan's Stumble: How Older Adults Can Avoid Falls

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Former First Lady Nancy Reagan lost her footing and nearly fell on Tuesday evening at an event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. She was unhurt, but her public stumble serves as a reminder of the health consequences of trips, slips and falls for older adults. Falls are not unusual for people over the age of 65. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every three adults in this age group falls each year. These falls can have severe consequences -- hip fractures, head trauma, even death. The CDC reports that more than 18,000 older adults died from unintentional fall injuries in 2007. "It's not age itself that puts people at risk for falling," said Dr. Mary Tinetti, a geriatrician at the Yale School of Medicine. "But as people get older, they accumulate more of the illnesses and impairments that put them at risk for falling." Not surprisingly, problems with balance can often lead to falls, but so...

McDonnell: Tornado fund needs $1 million more

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RICHMOND — Individual and corporate donors have contributed $1.1 million to the Virginia Disaster Relief Fund, responding to Gov. Bob McDonnell's call to assist communities that are struggling to recover from April tornadoes. The funds will be used to distribute grants to local disaster recovery organizations in tornado-damaged communities, including Pulaski County and Washington County in Southwest Virginia. More than 30 tornadoes hit Virginia in three separate events in April, causing 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries. McDonnell stepped up calls for private donations after the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied his request for federal disaster assistance. The governor pledged to set aside $600,000 in unspent state dollars for the disaster fund and the state established a website (www.disasterfund.virginia.gov) to collect individual contributions. McDonnell challenged Virginians on Wednesday to contribute another $1 million to the fund by Nov. 1 to help meet an estimat...

Analysts Downplay Apple Stock Dip on Jobs Resignation

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Apple stock dipped as much as 7.39 percent Wednesday, stripping $24 billion from its market cap in after-hours trading, after its iconic leader Steve Jobs announced he was stepping down as CEO amid longstanding health concerns. Under Jobs, whose vision is credited with delivering an unprecedented string of breakthrough products from the Apple II to the iPad, Apple had surged from near bankruptcy in the late 1990s to the most valuable company in the world this month, briefly topping Exxon Mobile. Along the way, it eclipsed long time rival Microsoft, and it most recent adversary, Google. It had closed the day at $376.18, up 0.69% from yesterday, before sliding on the news. Analysts downplayed the drop, noting that Jobs was long expected to step away from the CEO role. “Frankly it removes an overhang. People didn’t know when this would happen or when the day would come. It’s probably the best outcome,” Michael Walker, Portfolio Manager for WP Stewart told Reuters. Ultimately, Walker said,...

Seismologist Say El Paso Could See Magnitude 7 Earthquake

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EL PASO, Texas -- Wood house are very flexible in an earthquake... Adobe could come collapsing down. Seismologist say El Paso could experience a magnitude 7 earthquake. The Franklin Mountains are proof that the El Paso area has scene earthquakes. The last big tectonic plate shifts were close to 5,000 years ago. Just east of the mountains, underground, is a fault line called the Rio Grande Rift that runs all the way to Colorado. A couple of earthquakes were felt in El Paso in April and May. The larger ones happened about 80 miles south of El Paso, in Chihuahua, Mexico. People don't really think of El Paso as an earthquake place because most earthquakes happen on the edge of tectonic plates and we're in the middle of the North American plate but so is Washington D.C. and all of Colorado. Diane Doser is a geological professor at the University of Texas in El Paso. She explains that earthquakes can occur in the middle of a tectonic plates. Doser said there are plenty of webs...

Earthquake Has Some Looking At New Madrid Fault

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The rare earthquake that shook the East coast on Tuesday afternoon is causing some folks in the mid-state to look twice at our own earthquake threat from the New Madrid fault. The fault has caused massive earthquakes before including four of the largest earthquakes in North America's history. The massive quakes in 1811 and 1812 caused the Mississippi River to supposedly flow backwards and created Reelfoot Lake. "The geologists and seismologists tell us that we're probably going to experience some type of event which will cause damages, about a 50 percent chance in the next 60 years. And so we're ready, we want everybody in the state to be ready for that," said Cecil Whaley with TEMA. Experts said there's no need to panic, like many did in 1990 when a seismologist said the conditions were right for a massive earthquake. Fortunately, that prediction did not come to pass. The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Virginia on Tuesday was the lar...

Craig Ferguson Discusses Anthrax Scare on ‘Late Late Show’

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The comedian Craig Ferguson seemed to be in good spirits on Tuesday evening when he wrote on his Twitter account , “Ack! Someone mailed my show white powder & claimed it was anthrax. I’m not a big fan of that sort of thing.” But Mr. Ferguson, the host of CBS’s “Late Late Show,” was not entirely kidding, and explained what happened in a monologue recorded Tuesday and planned for broadcast early Wednesday, according to remarks released by CBS. “Today someone sent an envelope packed with white powder to the show,” Mr. Ferguson told the studio audience at “Late Late Show,” which is produced in Los Angeles. “I offered to test it, but they said no. The police did test it and it’s not dangerous, so you have no excuse to leave.” “Nowadays,” Mr. Ferguson continued, “white powder in the mail is a bad thing. I called CBS security and they said, ‘We’re busy.’ So I told them I am a personal friend of Drew Carey and they sent somebody over right away.” (Mr. Carey, who gave Mr. Ferguson an ear...

'America's Got Talent': Semi-Final 1 recap

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Having secured their place in the semi-finals, the first group of 12 hopefuls took to the stage again tonight in order to compete for a spot in the Top 10 of America's Got Talent 's sixth season. Here's what the judges had to say. Zuma Zuma - Acrobatic Dance Group The act includes fire breathing, as well as the group building massive towers atop stacks of wooden chairs. Piers admires the flexibility of some of their members and praises them for improving from previous rounds, keeping the audience engaged and putting on a "terrific" show. Sharon agrees, saying that she loves what they do and that they display such infectious enthusiasm, though she admits that it's not as good as past weeks. Howie sides with Sharon, claiming that it didn't share the same "exuberance" as past acts and that they didn't step it up from the quarter-finals. Beth Ann Robinson - Dancer Sharon thinks it's a "flawless" performance and hopes that...

Pat Summitt determined to face down Alzheimer's challenge

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Pat Summitt ,the coach with more wins than anyone else in college basketball history, woman or man, has early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type Summitt, 59, will continue to coach, and that's the part of Tuesday's shocking news that makes it seem as if she is staring down her disease with the same icy glare she made famous while winning eight national championships, 1,071 games and the respect of a nation that didn't pay much attention to women's sports in the days when she was growing up. Summitt, entering her 39th season as coach at the University of Tennessee , got the diagnosis in May and told the world about it Tuesday afternoon. Reaction was shock giving way to dismay, tempered by admiration for her fighting spirit. "It's like finding out a close family member is ill," said transportation safety consultant Kevin Galbreath, a UT alumnus and fervent fan. "Pat Summitt is our John Wooden," Baylor women's coach Kim Mulkey said. "...

Family Helps Glen Campbell Fight the Darkness

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Singer Glen Campbell is having a great time. Make no mistake, it is tragic that Alzheimer's disease is slowly stripping away the memories and abilities that define one of music's greats. But day-to-day, surrounded by his family and friends, encouraged to play his guitar and sing and golf and joke, the 75-year-old Campbell is often smiling. "I'm really not worried about anything," Campbell said. "You know those people who say, 'Oh, geez, I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow?' Tomorrow's cool. Just don't mess it up. It's just wonderful. I think where I am at right now in this universe, I wouldn't want to be anything else than what I am." Call it The Zen of Glen, and it has been reached through the hard work of his wife, Kim, his children and his business associates who often are as close as family. They have created a carefully engineered environment meant to shelter and encourage Campbell at every turn, whether he is at ho...

NBC Pins The Rock for '80s Pro-Wrestling Drama

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If NBC is going to get back on the top turnbuckle, this will be the show to get it there. The network is developing a drama about the "golden age" of wrestling during the 1980s, when beasts like Hulk Hogan and The Iron Shiek made it cool to wear tights and put a man's head between your legs (although to be fair, a lot of New Wave music made that cool, too). Dwayne Johnson, aka former wrestling star The Rock, will executive produce, and he's awesome so I have no doubt this too will be awesome. It will be just like Mad Men , but with less talking and more Camel Clutching. [Deadline Hollywood] … Syfy, the network that loves to hate its viewers, has released the premiere dates for a few of its fall shows. Sanctuary bows on October 7, Scare Tactics scares on October 10, and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files fakes it on October 19. They've also got this original movie called Zombie Apocalypse that sounds pretty awful on October 29. Can't wait. But when do the netw...

Washington Monument Indefinitely Closes After Earthquake Causes Cracks

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WASHINGTON –   After reports of the Washington Monument possibly leaning due to a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Virginia Tuesday, the National Park Services has revealed an inspection found cracks in the stones at the top of the Monument.  The NPS released a statement after completing a secondary inspection that structural engineers will evaluate the cracks Wednesday to determine the best way to repair the Monument before reopening it to the public.  The Washington Monument grounds have been reopened except for an area about 100 feet outside of the plaza.  The initial reports of the Monument leaning due to the earthquake have previously been called false by U.S. Park officials

Central Va., East Coast recovering from 5.8 quake

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One of the most powerful earthquakes in Virginia history rippled from its epicenter in Louisa County throughout the eastern United States , but injured few people and caused little major structural damage. The tremor measured 5.8 on the Richter scale at 1:51 p.m. today, prompting buildings to empty, cell phone service to go silent and two nuclear reactors near the center of the quake to shut down without damage. Six students and at least one staff member at Louisa High School were injured in the quake, but only one was hospitalized. “The very good news is that the damage and the injuries that have been reported are very, very minor,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a news conference this afternoon. In downtown Richmond , three elderly residents of a high-rise apartment building were hospitalized for medical conditions and a dozen more examined at the scene after they were evacuated, but no one was injured. The 250 residents were allowed to return to their apartments last night...

Earthquake news tips sent to The Baltimore Sun

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Henry Fostel, Towson (1:51 p.m.): We just experienced a small earth quake at 1:50pm in Towson. Karen A. Fitze, Towson, Timonium and Selbyville, Del. (1:57 p.m.): An earthquake just hit Towson, Timonium, AND Selbyville, Delaware. Catherine Bedolla, Ellicott City (1:58 p.m.): Was that just an earthquake in Ellicott City?  We shook for a good 5 seconds w/ blinking lights. Bruce Sandler, Catonsville, Ruxton (1:58 p.m.): mild earthquake 5 min ago in Catonsville. also Ruxton. Pat Dumroese, Columbia (1:58 p.m.): Earthquake just hit Columbia, MD, a few minutes ago. Dan Brawdy, Columbia (1:59 p.m.): earthquake... columbia..., about 1:50 pm. the whole house shook as did our neighbors Peter Cohen, Catonsville (1:59 p.m.): At approximately 1:50 PM Spring Grove Hospital Center experienced an earthquake. My wife recorded the same tremor in Aspen Hill Maryland. No damage to the building or to the inhabitants at our building but can't verify any other structures on the campus. Shawn ...

Joan Crawford on TCM: MILDRED PIERCE, WHEN LADIES MEET, FLAMINGO ROAD

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Joan Crawford is Turner Classic Movies' next "Summer Under the Stars" star. On Monday, August 22, TCM will be showing 13 Joan Crawford movies, in addition to Peter Fitzgerald 's documentary Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star , narrated by Anjelica Huston . (Curiously, Crawford is nowhere to be found in any of the 40+ films directed by Anjelica Huston's father, John Huston .) [ Joan Crawford Movie Schedule .] As an MGM and WB star, Crawford is one of TCM 's most visible stars. Every week, there's some Joan Crawford movie or other on TCM — at times, a number of them. Even so, there's plenty of room for variety, as Crawford made about 60 films between 1930 and 1950, roughly her (talkie) time at MGM (1930s and early '40s) and WB (late '40s). There would be even more room for variety if TCM bothered showing more of Crawford's silents . She appeared in about 25 of those, precious few of which have surfaced so far. Unfortunately, TCM won...

Huntsman Says He'd Be Open to Running as Bachmann's VP

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WASHINGTON –   Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman says he'd be open to running as vice president if rival and tea party favorite Michele Bachmann wins the nomination. The former Utah governor, who was appointed ambassador to China by President Barack Obama , says that every time he's been asked to serve his country he's answered "yes." He resigned his China ambassadorial post earlier this year. Huntsman told CNN interviewer Piers Morgan on Monday that if asked by the Minnesota congresswoman to run as her vice president he'd "be the first person to sign up, absolutely." Huntsman tried quickly to backtrack, saying the answer was based on a hypothetical question and that he has no doubt he'll win the Republican nomination Meanwhile, a newspaper reported that Republican front-runner Mitt Romney wants to nearly quadruple the size of his $12 million oceanfront mansion in La Jolla, California, a move that could alienate him from less aff...

Raiders draft Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor

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Terrelle Pryor said he was nervous about Monday morning's supplemental draft, even if there were reports that he was wearing a silver and black sweatsuit Sunday night. "I just wasn't sure, especially with the five-game suspension," Pryor told the NFL Network after the Raiders picked him in the third round. "I had a lot of odds against me, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to play for the Raiders - one of my favorite teams as well." In drafting the Ohio State quarterback, the Raiders give up their third-round pick in next year's draft and now don't have second-, third- or fourth-round picks. Pryor locked up his spot on the Raiders when he ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash at his Pro Day on Saturday. He also reportedly threw the ball well. There are some concerns about Pryor's accuracy, despite his success at Ohio State, and he has said he would be willing to move to receiver or tight end if that's what an NFL team wanted. "This you...

RPT-INSIGHT-DePuy's handling of hip recall sparks questions

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This is a copy of a story originally transmitted on Aug. 21) * J&J's DePuy unit hires third party to handle recall * Unusual move generates criticism from patients, lawyers * DePuy faces more than 2,000 lawsuits in U.S. By Toni Clarke BOSTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ.N ), which could face billions of dollars in costs over an artificial hip recall, is taking an unusual approach to managing the crisis -- one that could limit its financial exposure, legal experts say. J&J's DePuy Orthopaedics Inc unit recalled its metal ASR hip system a year ago after it failed at a higher-than-expected rate, with some patients experiencing pain, swelling, joint dislocation and sometimes systemic damage to the central nervous system, thyroid and heart. The company now faces more than 2,000 lawsuits in state and federal court in the United States. In a highly unusual move, DePuy has hired a third party -- Broadspire Services Inc, which manages workers compensation...

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Scrap the Show, Says PEOPLE TV Critic

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A reality show may present itself as a grand mansion, but it's essentially a prefab house plunked down on what the owners hope looks like solid ground: If an earthquake rumbles below and splits open a fissure, the foundation of the house goes, goes, goes down, down, down. Bravo has set about trying to repair the tragic mess that is now season 2 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills . The season, which was scheduled to premiere Sept. 5 , will be reedited and possibly postponed in light of the suicide of Housewife Taylor Armstrong's estranged husband, Russell. According to Variety , it's likely that Russell's presence – that is, his life – will be reshaped or reduced. The fact remains that public interest in the show is now higher than ever. But, in a better world, Bravo would just go ahead and scrap not just the season but the entire series. And I say that as a fan of the show. The first season was one of the most entertaining things ever to come out of Bravo. Th...

'Tea party' group fires back at Maxine Waters over 'hell' comment

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A "tea party" group has fired back at Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who during a Saturday forum for unemployed people in Inglewood said "the 'tea party' can go straight to hell." The event occurred a day after new statistics were released showing that California's jobless rate last month went up to 12%, from 11.8%.  California now has the second-highest rate of unemployment in the nation, trailing only Nevada at 12.9%, and its jobless rate is well above the U.S. average of 9.1%. More than 1,000 people attended "Kitchen Table Summit," which was designed to give the jobless an opportunity to vent to elected officials and share their struggles about finding a job. Waters criticized Republicans in Congress, saying: "I'm not afraid of anybody. This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned, the 'tea party' can go straight to hell." Waters told the crowd a...