(2002-08-30) — A second episode of confusion rocked the MTV Music Awards when Michael Newdow mistakenly accepted the “Atheist of the Millennium Award.” Earlier Michael Jackson thought that Britney Spears had presented him with the “Artist of the Millennium Award.”
“I can’t believe it,” Newdow exclaimed, clapping his hand to his chest as his eyes welled [...]
Entries from August 2002
MTV Denies it Named Newdow ‘Atheist of Millenium’
by Scott Ott · Comments Off
Tags: Politics
Palestinian Authority Bids to Join Powerball Coalition
by Scott Ott · Comments Off
(2002-08-30) — As part of a continuing effort to assert its independence, the Palestinian Authority has applied to join the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), a coalition of 24 U.S. states which offer the PowerBall lottery, among other government-sponsored games of chance.
“No one questions the statehood of Pennsylvania, Nebraska or Wisconsin, and they’re all members of [...]
Tags: Global News
TSA Mandates New Airline Ticket Counter Questions
by Scott Ott · Comments Off
(2002-08-30) — A day after ordering airline ticket agents to stop asking customers about their luggage, the Transportation Security Administration has mandated a new set of questions each potential passenger must answer before boarding a flight.
For the past 16 years, ticket agents have asked each customer:
1) “Have any of the items you are traveling with [...]
Tags: Media/Journalism
Donahue’s Viewer Loves the Show
by Scott Ott · Comments Off
(2002-08-29) — The viewer of the new Donahue show on MSNBC apparently loves it.
Overnight ratings from Nielsen indicate that the viewer joined the program a bit late yesterday, but continued to watch throughout the entire show. A Nielsen spokesman said more detailed demographic and psychographic data about the Donahue viewer would be released in about [...]
Tags: Politics
One Parent’s Story: “We Love Our Failing School”
by Scott Ott · Comments Off
(2002-08-29) — According to The New York Times, few parents exercise their right to pull children from failing public schools, and to use vouchers to place them in schools with better performance records.
“We just love our failing school,” said Portia Gasterson, mother of 12-year-old Casey. “I’m so excited because the teacher says my baby is [...]
Tags: Politics
Bin Laden to Bush: Saddam ‘No Threat to World’
by Scott Ott · Comments Off
(2002-08-28) — Usama bin Laden, in a visit to President Bush’s Texas ranch, told the President that Saddam Hussein is no threat to the region or the world. He urged the U.S. to patiently allow legal processes to settle the disagreement over Iraqi weapons inspections, and “not to do anything rash, or provocative.”
The Islamic trendsetter’s [...]
Tags: Politics
Earth Summit Delegates Have Choice of Hotels
by Scott Ott · Comments Off
(2002-08-27) — Mgluta Emakula, proprietor of the Hotel L’Eau de la Salle de Bain near Johannesburg, wonders what she must do to lure more Earth Summit delegates to her establishment.
“We have been preparing for this conference for months,” she said. “Yet we have not received a single reservation from among the Earth Summit delegates.”
The Summit [...]
Tags: Politics