'American Idol' star's dad cited for patronizing prostitute

June 17th, 2009
from KSL.com
By Ben Winslow

MIDVALE -- The father of "American Idol" runner-up and Utah favorite David Archuleta quietly settled a citation for patronizing a prostitute, court records show.

The case was handled in January in Midvale Justice Court. Records show James "Jeff" Archuleta, 41, pleaded no contest to patronizing a prostitute, a class B misdemeanor.

He entered what is called a plea in abeyance, which means that if he commits no further violations of the law, the case will be dismissed.

Court records show Midvale Justice Court Judge Ronald Wolthuis ordered Archuleta to attend a class called "Thinking Errors," and pay a $582 fine. He complied with those terms, court records show.

Archuleta is due in court again on June 30 for a review hearing where the case will likely be dismissed.

Midvale police did not return repeated calls for comment seeking information on the initial arrest.

Carrie Underwood & Led Zeppelin - because I enjoy a wide range of music

My posts are generally about Obama, politics and major world news. However, once in a while I will toss in some sports, like Florida Gators Football.

Today, I'm going to post about Carrie Underwood. I believe she's a great representative of what can be achieved in this country when you set goals and persevere. She's a beautiful woman, a wonderful person and a great example for the younger girls who admire her. Plus, she's got an incredible voice.

One of my favorite songs by her is "I Told You So," which was previously performed by Randy Travis. Carrie and Randy performed it together for the first time on a recent American Idol and it was amazing. If you haven't watched it, click here or on the image below. You won't be disappointed.

I also love Rock & Roll like Led Zeppelin. I watched the recent performance by Adam Lambert of the Led Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love." I actually think I like his version as much as the original. You can click here to listen to the Adam Lambert studio version. He also did an amazing performance on the Queen song "We Are The Champions."

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!
Rees





from Yahoo News

A brief history on Carrie:

Yet for a lesson in how to build truly massive riches, the current finalists should study the brief career of season-four winner Carrie Underwood. The farm girl turned songstress has gone on to a hugely lucrative recording, touring, and product endorsement career. Underwood raked in an estimated $14 million last year, enough to secure the title of top-earning Idol alum.

With her carefully crafted Nashville pop, Underwood cultivates a massive audience spanning both country and Top 40 fans. Her debut album, "Some Hearts," spent 11 weeks in 2007 at the top of the Billboard album charts. Songs from her second effort, "Carnival Ride," got massive airplay on both country and adult alternative radio. All told, Underwood has sold 9.6 million albums and 10.7 million digital downloads, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

Along with producing crowd-pleasing albums, Underwood understands the financial importance of hitting the road. She has played more than 300 shows since her "Idol" win. Each performance brings in about $350,000 to be split between Underwood and the concert promoter, according to Pollstar.
Click to read the article and the comments

Office of "THE" American Idol

Votes verified by ACORN

Obama To Visit 'American Idol? - If he does, he'll be the biggest "Attention Whore" of all time - if he's not already

I think it would be a horrible decision if Obama were to go on American Idol. However, it wouldn't surprise me if he does, because the immature misfits that manage him are intent on having his arrogant mug in our face 24/7. They know he'd be watched by millions of people, many just to see him on Idol.

I think the continued excessive media exposure of Obama will just alienate more and more people, as everyone is getting real tired of his "self-declared awesomeness" being force-fed to us every day.

We'll see what wins, common sense or his uncontrollable narcissistic ego.
Rees

from NBCWashington.com
May 1, 2009

The "American Idol" contestants have enough pressure dealing with the critiques of Randy, Kara, Paula and Simon – and if "Idol's" harshest judge gets his way, they'll be performing for President Obama.

"We would put out an invitation on a daily basis," Simon Cowell told The Hollywood Reporter about "Idol's" attempt to get the Commander in Chief to appear on the hit FOX show.

"I'd love him to come on, his wife to come on, kids to come on." Simon said of the First Family. "I could only picture now what it would be like if he actually turned up."

Adding, "He's a rock star!"

In the meantime, "Idol's" final four will be graced by the presence of another rock star, when Slash mentors the contestants next week.
Click for for information and to read the over 300 comments

Obama on 'Dancing With the Stars'?

Has Obama-mania reached its limit?

It's obvious the camera loves President Barack Obama. But are American audiences growing tired of his seemingly ubiquitous TV appearances?

This week alone, the president was on "60 Minutes," held a prime-time press conference (networks reluctantly bumped "American Idol" and "The Biggest Loser" to make room for it), and answered viewer questions at his first-ever online town hall meeting. And all this is in addition to ESPN’s sporadic updates on how his NCAA bracket is doing.

The New York Times columnist Gail Collins put it this way:

"…there appear to be only two constants in our ever-changing world. One is that Barack Obama is going to be on television every day forever. No venue is too strange. Soon, he’ll be on 'Dancing With the Stars' ('And now, doing the Health Care, Energy and Education tango ...’) or delivering the weather report. ('Here we see a wave of systemic change, moving across the nation ...’)"

Others criticize President Obama, known for his fiery orations, for "being boring" and "dull". LA Times blogger Andrew Malcolm likened Obama's Tuesday night primetime presser to a lackluster college lecture:

"Professor Barack Obama showed up. And if you remember one of those required college lecture courses in the large auditorium at 8:10 a.m., listening to a droning don, and how it felt, slumped in the cushy seats having skipped breakfast for an extra 13 minutes of ZZZZs."

The TV ratings seem to echo the feelings of those less-than-enthused critics. According to Nielsen, Obama’s much hyped prime-time appearance attracted 40 million viewers, down 18% from his February 9 press conference and down 23% from his February 24 address to Congress.
Click to read the rest of the article

U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers - Is there anyone left whose head hasn't already exploded?

This is so unbelievable, it's unbelievable. (Yeah, I know it sounds stupid)
Rees

from Reuters
By Thomas Ferraro
March 24, 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.

"This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat," said Senator Benjamin Cardin.

A Cardin spokesman said the bill had yet to attract any co-sponsors, but had sparked plenty of interest within the media, which has seen plunging revenues and many journalist layoffs.

Cardin's Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.

Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.

Click to read the rest of this article

E.P.A. Expected to Regulate Carbon Dioxide - "will have a profound impact on transportation, manufacturing costs and how utilities generate power."

Wow! This is great. Two slippery slopes in one day.

This is just another tax on the American People. When will this Financial Rape of the American People end?
Rees

from The New York Times
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: February 18, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to act for the first time to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for the warming of the planet, according to top Obama administration officials.

The decision, which most likely would play out in stages over a period of months, would have a profound impact on transportation, manufacturing costs and how utilities generate power. It could accelerate the progress of energy and climate change legislation in Congress and form a basis for the United States’ negotiating position at United Nations climate talks set for December in Copenhagen.

The environmental agency is under order from the Supreme Court to make a determination whether carbon dioxide is a pollutant that endangers public health and welfare, an order that the Bush administration essentially ignored despite near-unanimous belief among agency experts that research points inexorably to such a finding.

Lisa P. Jackson, the new E.P.A. administrator, said in an interview that she had asked her staff to review the latest scientific evidence and prepare the documentation for a so-called endangerment finding. Ms. Jackson said she had not decided to issue such a finding but she pointedly noted that the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. E.P.A., is April 2, and there is the wide expectation that she will act by then..

“We here know how momentous that decision could be,” Ms. Jackson said. “We have to lay out a road map.”

She took a first step on Tuesday when she said that the agency would reconsider a Bush administration decision not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new coal-burning power plants. In announcing the reversal, Ms. Jackson suggested that the E.P.A. was considering additional measures to regulate heat-trapping gases. The White House signaled that it fully supported Ms. Jackson’s approach, deferring to her to discuss the administration’s response to the Supreme Court case.

If the environmental agency determines that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant to be regulated under the Clean Air Act, it would set off one of the most extensive regulatory rule makings in history. Ms. Jackson knows that she would be stepping into a minefield of Congressional and industry opposition and said that she was trying to devise a program that allayed these worries.

“We are poised to be specific on what we regulate and on what schedule,” Ms. Jackson said. “We don’t want people to spin that into a doomsday scenario.”

Even some who favor an aggressive approach to climate change said they were wary of the agency’s asserting exclusive authority over carbon emissions. They say that the Clean Air Act, now more than 40 years old, was not designed to regulate ubiquitous substances like carbon dioxide.

Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, warned Ms. Jackson during her January confirmation hearing that she should not undercut Congress’s authority by using the agency’s regulatory power to address global warming. Mr. Barrasso called the use of the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon “a disaster waiting to happen.”
Click to read the rest of the article

Barack Backmouthin' - A Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name Meets A President That Dares Not Speak Off Script...

from the website America is an Obamanation!

Candidate Obama vs. President Obama: Change We Can Believe In?

Busy Simon Cowell Tells Jay Leno He Turned Down Obama’s Invitation to Have Dinner in LA

I guess Obama shouldn't have bumped Idol with his press (look at me and listen show) conference.

Must Watch! - Glenn Beck aka Howard Beale - I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore - The One Thing 3/23

Video: Glenn Beck responds to Bill Maher, compares himself to Howard Beale

from Hot Air
March 23, 2009

You’ll have to wait awhile for the reply to Maher — a long, long, long while — but it’s here, tucked away at the end of a 14-minute disquisition on … all kinds of stuff, really. Whatever you may think of the man, he’s touched a nerve:

On Friday, he was number one in all of cable news in the coveted 25-54 demo, ahead even of Bill O’Reilly. With ratings like that, I don’t know how Fox can afford to keep him out of prime time. I’m expecting the announcement any day now that Special Report will be moving to 5 p.m., Shep to 6, and Beck to 7 to lead in to the Factor. God only knows what ratings he’d do with a real audience.
Click to read the article and comments

Obama 1, American Idol 0 - He may declare "I Won", but did he?

Dear Barry,

If you were a contestant on American Idol, you would be the first to go. I'm also pretty sure that Simon and the rest of the judges would not use their one-time "save" on you.

There were 31 million votes cast last week. Some people can obviously vote twice if they choose to do so (hey, just like they did in the recent election). However, just to be safe, we'll be conservative, a concept that you're not familar with, and assume that not everyone voted twice. We'll round the number off (just like Tim G. does). Let's just guess that you may have pissed off upwards of 20 million people.

Yes, Barry, all the American Idol fans will be thinking about you come Tuesday night, but it won't be in a positive light. Think about it next time Mr. NOTUS. (Narcissist Of The United States)

Rees

from the Times Online

by Tony Allen-Mills

March 22, 2009

Democrat anger at Obama overkill
Concern is mounting at the president’s tactics

WHEN the White House announced last week that President Barack Obama will be returning to the nation’s television screens on Tuesday for a prime-time press conference that will postpone the latest episode of American Idol - the talent show watched by 25m viewers - fans of the programme were quick to respond.

“Stop, please stop, Mr O, we can’t take much more,” one angry viewer wrote on an Idol-related website. “Not again!” complained another. “It’s the same speech he’s been giving for the past year.”

There were dark mutterings that by commandeering evening programming only a few days after he appeared on Jay Leno’s popular late-night chat show, Obama was “just like Fidel Castro [of Cuba] and Hugo Chavez [of Venezuela] - always on camera, always giving speeches and lecturing”.

Click to read the rest of the article