Dan Rather is suing CBS.  You may remember that after presenting clearly false documents as real ones during a Presidential election, and then still holding to the veracity (if not validity) of the documents, Dan Rather was fired (or resigned, whichever they said publicly).

So what is the basis of his lawsuit?  He's claming he was the victim of a massive conspiracy stretching from CBS executives all the way to the White House.

Today, in New York Supreme Court, in response to Dan Rather's civil lawsuit, CBS filed a lengthy 30-page motion to dismiss the case.

CBS executives also released a statement today, noting that they are "mystified" by Rather's "bizarre allegations" but will "vigorously" defend themselves in court if need be.

"Dan Rather is one of the most important figures in the history of broadcast journalism, and for more than 40 years was one of our most valued colleagues," CBS said in the statement. "That is why we at CBS are mystified and saddened by the baseless and self-serving allegations and distortions of fact raised in his lawsuit."

"Today we are filing a motion to dismiss," added the statement. "If we are required to proceed beyond this point, we will defend the case vigorously and demonstrate that the lawsuit is wholly without merit, and that the bizarre allegations by Mr. Rather are untrue."

"The Complaint is predicated on allegations of a bizarre 'scheme' extending from the White House to an array of CBS executives including Sumner Redstone, CBS's Executive Chairman, Leslie Moonves, CBS's Chief Executive Officer, and Andrew Heyward, formerly president of CBS News, all of whom, according to Rather, colluded to harm Rather's reputation and keep him off the air," add CBS lawyers. "Of course, there was no such nefarious scheme, and Rather's allegations bear no resemblance to reality. CBS and its executives are not now, and never have been, out to get Dan Rather."

So, we'll see what comes of this...

A Santa training course in Australia is urging their students to be more politically sensitive:

Thirty trainees at a Santa course in Adelaide last month, held by recruitment company Westaff, were urged to replace the traditional festive greeting with "ha, ha, ha".

A Santa veteran of 11 years who attended the course told the Sunday Mail  the trainer was very clear in spelling out no to "ho".

Two Santa hopefuls reportedly left the course after the trainer's edict.

The term "ho" is also American slang for a prostitute. "We were told it (ho) was a derogatory term for females and can upset people," said the Santa, who did not want to be identified publicly.

The policy doesn't seem to be getting much support as the rest of the article basically points out why it's absurd and the online poll was around 96% against the idea.  Just to be fair to the Aussies -- we all have our crazy contingents.

This from the Daily Mail: Boy George is charged after 'chaining male escort to a wall'

Boy George has been charged with false imprisonment after allegedly chaining a male escort to a wall at his London flat.

Auden Karlsen, 28, claims he was a prisoner at the Culture Club star's home in Shoreditch.

He said he met George on the website Gaydar but only went to the flat as a photographic model.

He said George and another man held him at the property after taking pictures.

The star allegedly produced whips and sex toys and threatened him.

Mr Karlsen said he only escaped after wrenching a hook out the wall.

I tried to think of a joke for this, but all of the humor is out on the table already.

Everyone's favorite victim, Paris Hilton, has found her cause.  Every celebrity has to have one, after all.  And now, finally, she has hers.  Guess what it is.

No, really.  Guess.  I promise you won't get it.

Ready?

From the AP: Hilton Tries to Help Drunk Elephants

Paris Hilton is being praised by conservationists for highlighting the problem of binge-drinking elephants in northeastern India.

Activists said a celebrity endorsement such as Hilton's was sure to raise awareness of the plight of the pachyderms that get drunk on farmers' homemade rice beer and then go on a rampage.

"The elephants get drunk all the time. It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them," the 26-year-old socialite said in a report posted on World Entertainment News Network's Web site. Her comments were picked up by other Web sites and newspapers around the globe.

Yes, for real.

Pope Says Catholicism Only True Church

Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document that says Orthodox churches are defective and that other Christian denominations are not true churches. The document, released Tuesday, restates key sections of a 2000 document that set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations. It said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation." In the new document and an accompanying commentary it says "Christ 'established here on earth' only one church." It says the other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles.

In other articles it's said that, basically, while the Protestant churches can contribute to a person's salvation inasmuch as God can use it (which you can actually say about anything), the only path to salvation lies through the Catholic church.

This is a shame and feels like a step backwards away from a church unity I was hoping to see some day.  C. S. Lewis has talked about this a lot and about the differences between "high church" and "low church" and how really both are necessary in some degrees.  I'm not sure, also, exactly where the apostolic succession rule is introduced.  Could be in the Apocrypha, I guess.

Sprint hangs up on "excessive" complainers

Sprint Nextel Corp, which recently launched an advertising campaign to attract new customers, is disconnecting more than 1,000 subscribers for calling its customer service lines too often and making what the company called unreasonable requests.

The No. 3 U.S. wireless provider with 53 million customers said on Monday it started sending service termination letters on June 25. Sprint said the cancellations involved 1,000 to 1,200 customers who had called the company about 40,000 times a month in total.

"In some cases they were calling customer care hundreds of times a month for a period of six to 12 months on the same issues even after we felt those issues had been resolved," she said.

Singleton, noting that mass cancellation letters were not routine, said this call volume was 40 to 50 times more than average customer monthly calls. She would not say how often customers can call before being deemed too demanding.

The company also declined to say what percentage of monthly service calls the 40,000 figure represented.

Singleton said some of the cancellations involved customers who repeatedly asked for information about other people's accounts.

As someone who has worked in customer service, I can only say one thing.  Bravo.  Finally a company with the guts to stand up to people whose sole mission in life appears to be irritating customer support.  They didn't say what percentage the 40,000 calls represents, but they did say that it was 40 to 50 times the average user. That means that those 1,000 on average are calling about 40 times a month (that's more than once a day), which means the average user probably calls about once a month.  Which means those 40,000 (out of apparently an average of 53 million calls a month) would be 0.075%, as opposed 1000 normal users at 0.0019%.

I could easily see that small minority monopolizing so much of their time and considering they waived any remaining balances on those users' accounts and gave them 30 days to find another carrier, it's a more than generous situation.  I'm sure they'll get some PR backlash from the decision (and their stock has already taken a small hit from it) but I'm behind it.

Ah, the "fairness doctrine".  Even the mention of the Orwellian name brings back to mind the 1990s when Limbaugh was king and the dems were desperate to thwart him any way they could.  Senator Feinstein is "looking into" bringing it back.  The article in full:

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., said Sunday she is "looking at" the possibility of reviving the fairness doctrine for U.S. broadcasters.

Feinstein, speaking on "Fox News Sunday" with Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said talk radio in particular has presented a one-sided view of immigration reform legislation being considered by the Senate.

U.S. talk radio is dominated by conservative voices.

"This is a very complicated bill," said Feinstein. "Most people don't know what's in this bill. Therefore, to just have one or two things dramatized and taken out of context, such as the word amnesty -- we have a silent amnesty right now, but nobody goes into that. Nobody goes into the flaws of our broken system."

Feinstein said the measure before the Senate "fixes those flaws" but that doesn't get presented on talk radio, which she said "pushes people to ... extreme views without a lot of information."

Asked if she would revive the fairness doctrine, which used to require broadcasters to present competing sides of controversial issues, Feinstein said she was "looking at it."

"I remember when there was a fairness doctrine," she said, "and I think there was much more serious correct reporting to people."

Ahh, that's the free-speech, capitalist society I like.  Don't like the opinions on talk radio?  Free market system preventing boring, unpopular alternative views from being aired?  Why, get the government to force 'em!

Cameron Diaz on a visit through Peru...

US actress Cameron Diaz has apologised for wearing a bag with a political slogan that evoked painful memories in Peru. The voice of Princess Fiona in the animated Shrek films visited the Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru's Andes wearing an olive green bag emblazoned with a red star and the words "Serve the People", perhaps Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong's most famous political slogan, printed in Chinese. The bags are marketed as fashion accessories in some cities around the world, but in Peru the slogan evokes memories of the Maoist Shining Path insurgency that fought the government in the 1980s and early 1990s in a bloody conflict that left nearly 70,000 people dead. "I sincerely apologise to anyone I may have inadvertently offended," Diaz said in a statement. "The bag was a purchase I made as a tourist in China and I did not realise the potentially hurtful nature of the slogan printed on it." One prominent Peruvian human rights activist said Diaz should have been a little more aware of local sensitivities when picking her accessories.

To be fair, I suppose such a thing could happen to anyone.  Though, honestly, getting a bag in China with a bright red star on it?  It probably doesn't mean peace, freedom, and the American way...

I'm glad it's a big fashion accessory this year too.  Last year's "Hitler purses" were starting to get old.

CBS blames sexism for bad ratings

Leslie Moonves, CBS chief executive, on Tuesday suggested that sexist attitudes were partly to blame for the faltering performance of Katie Couric, the news anchor he recruited to the network with a $15m annual pay package.

"I’m sort of surprised by the vitriol against her. The number of people who don't want news from a woman was startling," Mr Moonves said of the audience's reaction to Ms Couric, who this month brought ratings for the CBS Evening News to a 20-year low.

Yes, of course.  That must be it.  It couldn't be the bias or the fact that the news is fluffy nonsense instead of actual news.  The truth comes out later in the article:

In the absence of specific research, some analysts took issue with that argument. “People get news from women all the time – on local news, on morning shows. I’m skeptical of his discovery of sexism,” said Andrew Tyndall, whose Tyndall Report monitors newscasts. He and others have criticized the style of Ms Couric’s newscast, which emphasized soft features over hard news – something CBS seemed to acknowledge this year when it replaced the producer.

Why!  Female local anchors?  In this day and age?!  It's enough to make the monocle pop right out of my eye and make me utter a profound "My Word!"

Yikes...

(from the article)
A dozen riders on an Arkansas roller coaster spent half an hour hanging upside down — 150 feet above the ground — after a power outage shut down the attraction.

It took about 30 minutes for the city Fire Department to rescue the riders using a ladder truck Saturday evening, said Aundrea Crary, spokeswoman for the Springs & Crystal Falls amusement park.

Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron. Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

---

It's very easy to give into a little schadenfreude here but I'm trying to refrain.  She's a spoiled, arrogant, sinful creature.  But then so am I.  It's important to remember that Jesus died for her.  And though it's no excuse, as we're all accountable for our own actions, her life and upbringing has not been one that lends itself towards God.  For that I suspect her parents will be held accountable to some degree.  Still, I hope this serves as some kind of wake-up call - that she doesn't just shrug it off afterwards or turn it into a reason to feel persecuted and injured for the rest of her life.  I honestly suspect that will be the case, unfortunately.  But I will do what I can and pray.

In case you haven't seen it yet, they unveiled the new logo for the 2012 Olympics in London...

Yeah, that's pretty much what everyone else has thought of it too.  The shapes are supposed to be the numbers 2012, but it's hard to tell if you're not looking for it.

Unfortunately, they've had some problems with it and advertising around it when viewed by epileptics:

Animated footage promoting the London 2012 Olympics is being removed from its official website amid claims that it could trigger epileptic seizures, organisers said.

Allegations were made on the BBC that footage involving a diver plunging into a pool had already caused seizures.

A London 2012 spokeswoman said: "We have just been notified of the problem and we have taken immediate steps to remove the animation from the website. We will now re-edit the film."

The footage controversy follows widespread ridicule surrounding the 2012 logo. The bold, jagged £400,000 brand, which is a modern take on the Olympic colours, took a year's research, including consumer testing. Organisers have hailed it as dynamic and vibrant, but other people have said it resembles a "toileting monkey" or a "broken swastika".

Speaking on BBC London News about the promotional footage, epileptic photo sensitivity expert Graham Harding said: "We now know of eight cases of which seizures have occurred. What it appears has happened is that the flash rate of the diving sequence contravenes the Ofcom guidelines."

Despite a growing petition against the logo, London organising committee chairman Coe remains clueless:

"It won't be to be everybody's taste immediately, but it's a brand that we genuinely believe can be hard working... and reach out and engage young people, which is our challenge over the next five years," he said.

"It's not a logo, it's a brand that will take us forward for the next five years."

All about the youth.  You kids with your pink and yellow jagged numbers and seizures...