Gawker

Why Did Meg Whitman's Son Get Suspended from Princeton? [Rich Kids]

Azaria Jagger — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:49:02 -0500

California gubernatorial candidate and tempestuous eBay billionaire Meg Whitman doesn't use her kids on the trail. Is it because she respects her Ivy League sons' privacy, or because at least one of them is a liability?

Griff Harsh V was a member of Princeton's class of 2008 (among the first classes eligible to live in Whitman College, which his mother donated $30M to build) until mysterious circumstances and a disciplinary hearing forced him to withdraw for a year and join the class of 2009 instead. Perhaps the infraction had something to do with Griff's documented pigheadedness when he drinks? Quoth campus rag The Nassau Weekly:

Overheard at Charter [eating club]

Griff Harsh (Meg Whitman's son) throws beer in Guy's face.
Guy: You can't do that to people.
Griff Harsh (points at himself): Billionaire.

What was Griff's disciplinary infraction—and did Meg's money affect the proceedings? (Also: How is it possible that a college-aged heir to an internet fortune is not depicted anywhere in the whole of the internet, but for the above microscopic thumbnail? Is Griff the only human in America to whom the new Facebook privacy settings do not apply?) For the good of California: tips@gawker.com if you know. [NassauWeekly]

Record Label Declares War on Twee Lip Syncing Bloggers [Fight The Man]

Azaria Jagger — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:56:07 -0500

Big Music is harshing hip, tech-savvy narcissists' mellows: Record label EMI is suing Vimeo for encouraging lip dubs, wherein flipcam-possessing twenty-somethings make video of themselves dancing around and lip-syncing to their iPods.

Vimeo—the twee-est and Brooklyn-est of video sharing sites—is home to such channels as Lip Dub Stars, where the blurb explains the genesis of this venerable new form:

The term "lip dub" was coined by Jakob Lodwick, founder of Vimeo. The videos are filmed with the song dubbed over the footage during editing, which lends theatrical heft and volume to what would otherwise be a routine lip-sync.

Here's a sample of Jakob destroying the music industry. (That sentence was meant ironically, but then, he does sort of ruin the song.)

Mediapost reports that music giant EMI has filed suit in New York complaining that Vimeo encourages users to violate copyrights by using high-quality copies of songs in their entirety, then hosts said copies. However! Lip dub advocates claim fair use, and art: "I've seen plenty of lip dubs that struck me as extremely creative and transformative and that put things in an entirely new perspective," said an Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer.

The lip-dubious battle is but a skirmish in the Great Internet Music War of Generation Napster. I'm rooting for Team Lip Dub, because if the music industry can't handle adultolescents lip syncing soft rock hits for personal blogs read by tens, then it's too far behind the times to be worth saving, anyway.

[MediaPost] [LipDubStars]

Steve Carell and Tina Fey Love Starring in Films Together [Trade Roundup]

Adrian Chen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:42:55 -0500

Before our excitement about next year's Fey/Carell vehicle 'Date Night' even had time to incubate, we're hit with news that the NBC comedy darlings might co-star in another romcom. "30 Rock" + "The Office" = Yes, please.

The film is Warner Brothers' Mail Order Bride, about a woman who orders a husband from Eastern Europe. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the pairing is far from certain, given that the project has no director, and the two TV stars have little overlapping time to shoot. [THR]

•Producer Simon Fuller hopes to conquer basically the last Reality TV-free zone on earth: The Internet. The "American Idol" creator has signed up Hulu, Clear Channel, MySpace, Ford and Pepsi for an online-only project about people having their dreams crushed—er, trying to achieve them? [TheWrap]

•This item is worth it mainly for the name of the character Rene Russo has been cast to play in the film adaptation of Marvel Comics' 'Thor': Frigga. Frigga! That is a "Frigga" dumb name! [Variety]

•When Rich Ross took over Disney studios, he instituted the revolutionary strategy of not making so many bad movies. Since then, Disney has canceled the Robin Williams comedy 'Wedding Banned' and "20,000 Leagues under the sea." The latest causality is 'Wild Hogs 2'—the sequel to the John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, Tim Allen comedy. If only Ross could go back in time and cancel the first one. [Variety]

•Love 3D films, Nicolas Cage and free money? Summit Entertainment is releasing 'Drive Angry,' an action film that contains the first two of those things. Director Patrick Lussier was responsible for "My Bloody Valentine 3D," which went on to gross $100 million worldwide and become one of the early signs that a new era of 3D was upon us. [Variety]

•Animal Planet is releasing a 2-hour special called 'The Bear Whisperer' on Jan 7th. It follows Steve Searles, who apparently talks to bears in California and tries to convince them to constrain their terrible strength. No word on how many people were killed during the making of this doc. [The Wrap]

Steven A. Cohen's Giant Mansion Might Be Built on Sand [The Rich]

Adrian Chen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:05:26 -0500

Here is a tip for the super-wealthy: Do not build a ludicrously large mansion if you may someday be charged with racketeering. This mansion will change from a symbol of your stupid wealth to a symbol of your outright stupidity.

The house that reclusive billionaire trader Steven A. Cohen built is 35,000 square-feet. Well, maybe 36,000 now: Last year, Cohen applied for a permit to add 1,000 more. This act of hubris must have angered the gods, because he's in trouble now.

(Cohen's Greenwich, Conn. mansion as it might look to a vengeful god)

The Times is reporting today that Cohen's ex-wife, Patricia, has filed a lawsuit against him. In it, she claims he scammed millions of dollars during their 1988 divorce by hiding money from her—and the IRS—in shady real-estate deals. The suit also accuses Cohen of insider trading. According to the Times Dealbook blog:

She claims in her suit that in 1985, while they were married, Mr. Cohen confessed to her that he received inside information on the takeover of RCA by General Electric. When she asked him if trading on such information would be illegal, Mr. Cohen said that that he knew that the source was a former classmate of his from Wharton. But he obtained the information from a mutual friend, so he was not involved in insider trading.

Also, just sleazy finance-related behavior in general: After Patricia made almost a million dollars through real-estate deals, she claims Steven took the money, placed it in an account in his name and told her she couldn't touch it. This thing is going to be messy. Patricia Cohen's lawyer told the Times, "What I look forward to most is the day when Steve Cohen has to face 12 people on a jury and have to answer for what he did to his former wife." Damn.

And the case will seriously compound Cohen's other recent troubles: He and his company, SAC Capital Advisors, are being eyed by feared FBI investigator B.J. Kang in the case of an insider trading ring involving ex-SAC employees. (Which also encompasses the charming story of Andrew Tong—a trader allegedly forced to perform oral sex on his boss.)

Who knows how Cohen will fare in the lawsuit or the investigation. One thing's for sure: Behind the walls of his huge mansion, Cohen has got to be fuming about the attention this is bringing him. This man is private to the point of neurosis: According to Reuters, "Cohen is so intensely private he hates being photographed and has even bought the rights to some pictures taken by freelancers."

This description of his house from a lengthy 2003 BusinessWeek profile completes the image of the shut-in billionaire who values his privacy as much as he does his wealth:

It is completely obscured from the street by a roughly 12-foot-high wall. Cohen is so secretive that he installed an extensive alarm system that beeps whenever someone walks into a room or out, say acquaintances.

The grounds, which some neighbors call Chelsea Piers — after the mammoth Manhattan sports complex on the Hudson River — include a basketball court that becomes an ice-skating rink in winter, several golf holes, and a bubble-enclosed swimming pool. "For kids, getting invited to the Cohens is one of the most coveted invitations in Greenwich," says a neighbor.

Remember, billionaire readers: It's always those last 1,000 square feet that bring fate crashing terribly down on your head.

Snooki on Leno: So Dumb She Must Be Acting [Jersey Shore]

Adrian Chen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:45:59 -0500

We are not buying for a second that a living human can be as dumb as Snooki was on Leno tonight. Granted, the other two Jersey Shore cast members were dumb, too. But Snooki won the stupid day.

Leno had Mike "The Situation", "Snooki", "DJ Pauly D" on for a trivia game. This was totally funny, because answering trivia requires knowledge, which none of the three seemed to possess. While the dudes mostly demurred when faced with a question they didn't know, Snooki courageously opened her mouth and said words without thinking. Have a look:

And the kicker:

OK! Back to worrying about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Massive 'Waterworld' Discovered in Space, Presence of Kevin Costner Unconfirmed [Science]

Adrian Chen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:41:32 -0500

Astronomers have found a planet around six-and-a-half times the size of Earth, which they believe has abundant liquid water. It's one of the most Earth-like planets discovered yet, and it's a mere 40 light-years away. Road trip! [MSNBC]

All Tonight's Holiday Parties: Vogue (Really!) and Elle [Holiday Parties]

Adrian Chen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:05:29 -0500

Looks like the fashionistas will be stepping out tonight in their uncomfortable shoes. After a false alarm, we have it from a reliable source that the real, top-secret Vogue holiday party is tonight. Plus, Elle.

The Vogue party is being held at the super swank club with the super dumb name: The Boom Boom Room in the Standard Hotel (848 Washington St.), which opened in September and has since been the site of high fashion shindigs:

View Larger Map

The Boom Boom Room has been coined the "new Studio 54", and is so exclusive that the A.V. club writes "it makes you hate nightlife." Despite a rough year for Conde, looks like Vogue is not skimping on the holiday fete.

The Elle party is at the Simyone Lounge (409 W. 14th St.), whose website assaults you with moving images and sound in an annoying way:

View Larger Map

A tipster also tells us an Elle "unofficial after party" will be in the lounge at 5 Ninth (5 9th Ave.)

View Larger Map

We're guessing the unofficial after party is the most crashable. Not that we would ever encourage anyone to do anything like that. (HERE IS A GUIDE. TAKE A LOT OF PICTURES.)

Are/were you at these holiday parties? Do you know of any other upcoming fancy parties? Dish! We are huge losers and are never invited to anything. (Not that we'd want to be or anything...)

Sometimes Bill O'Reilly Is Legitimately Funny [Bill O'reilly]

Adrian Chen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:46:51 -0500

Seriously, we laughed out loud at the backhanded way Bill O'Reilly praised Time managing editor Richard Stengel for picking boring old Ben Bernanke as Time's 2009 'Entity of the Year'. The guy knows how to undermine in a funny way!

Ha: "There he is in a beard." So good we were thinking about just stealing it outright.

Anyway: Bill has a point, and for once it does not sadden and enrage us. Although we know just enough about economics to know that we have no idea if Bernanke is a savior or a villain, we too salute Time for having the straight-laced cojones to place on their cover someone a large percentage of America is going to mistake for Jeffery Tambor with a beard.

Live Blogging the Top Chef Reunion Show [Top Chef]

MisterHippity — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:00:00 -0500

It was a great season, even if the wrong guy won. Why not relive the highlights and join our live blog of tonight's reunion show? Just one request: No spoilers about which chubby bearded guy will win "fan favorite," OK?

As usual, the live blog will be created by you folks in the comments section below this post. But not as usual, the show starts at 9 Eastern, not 10. Bravo is trying to trick us into missing it by airing it an hour earlier than usual—but we won't fall for that, will we? No, because we show up early! We have nothing better to do on a Wednesday night!

And why not, when the party's such a blast? Take last week's final: For a selection of some of the funniest of the twelve-hundred comments from that one, click here. Here are few random highlights:

Commenter youngmarblegiant came up with the best name Kevin nickname yet: "Friar Low Flow."
Mothers put in an appearance because, as AnnieSaBu observed, "The mom card is so Bravo."
The pregnant Padma seemed so unusually lucid, rodmanstreet wondered if she "put her one-hitter away for the sake of the fetus."
When Padma asked Mrs. Voltaggio which son's dish she liked better, several commenters observed that it was a real "Sophie's Choice" moment.
Both Beardo and Blando blew it, allowing Slouchy McSmartass to sneak in and snag the big prize. All told, bad-posture Volt won six challenges, $150,000 and a Toyota Prius, while his good-postured sibling won four challenges and … zilch. But at least Bryan's mom loves him second-best, so he has that going for him.

As for tonight, the previews tell us that Kevin almost quit the show because something really got him down. Bravo won't reveal what, but my guess is that his girlfriend dumped him after she caught him getting his beard stroked by one its Facebook fans.

As for the rest of the show, well…if you've watched one of these reunion things before, you know what to expect: The chefs will lounge on comfortable chairs while host Andy Cohen asks them uncomfortable questions, and makes them squirm through video clips of their bad behavior (Expect an especially long montage of Robin abuse, followed by some awkward silence and foot-shuffling). More importantly, we'll get a chance to revisit chefs we haven't seen in weeks, and recall great nicknames like "Hook-in-Mouth," "Tintin," and "Top Bottom."

Even more importantly, we'll get a chance to enjoy one another's company one more time before next season. And what great company it is! I think you're all the funniest, most interesting commenters on the Web, and I want to thank you all for making this live blog great. If I were sloppy drunk, I'd give you all a great big cyber-hug right now.

But I'm not sloppy drunk yet—just tidy drunk—so I'll just offer up a few cyber-high-fives and cyber-fist-bumps down in the comments section instead. See you there!

The Problem of the Tiger Woods Scandal, as Captured in a Radaronline.com Headline [Tiger Overload]

Gabriel Snyder — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:39:06 -0500

We're not providing the link on this one. How do you turn this one into "news"? Blame the mistresses! "It seems Tiger Woods' fourth mistress, Jamie Jungers, wasn't telling the whole story when she described herself as a 'model'."

Stabby Twitterati Dance on Graves [Twitterati]

Ryan Tate — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:09:26 -0500

MC Hammer pumped up a Silicon Valley rap battle; Nick Denton mocked a laid off New York Timesman; and a Fox Newser lashed out at the "hippies." The Twitterati love a fight.

Niche Media's Jason Binn is in love with the idea of child labor.

Nick Denton, the richest man at Gawker Media, was not above reveling in a New York Times writer's misfortune. He really didn't like that article, apparently.

Fox News Channel's Molly Stark Dean is glad she doesn't have to deal with spoiled, insulated children of wealth, at her conservative news network, owned by Rupert Murdoch and his kids.

The National Organization for Women is not at all impressed by your sex "app," Cosmo.

MC Hammer approves of white venture capitalist rap battles. Who knew?

Did you witness the media elite tweet something indiscreet? Please email us your favorite tweets — or send us more Twitter usernames.

GOPeer [Pic Of The Day]

Brian Moylan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:05:15 -0500

[There's nothing to hide the flaws in an extreme closeup of senator John McCain taken during an address to the Heritage Foundation in Washington. Image via Getty]

The New York Times Layoff Victims: Allen Salkin(!) Is Among Them [Updated] [Layoffs]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:23:57 -0500

Yowza. About those New York Times layoffs everybody's been waiting to hear about: Daily Intel got a partial list of layoff victims, and some surprisingly big names are on it. Including the Seymour Hersh of the Styles section! [UPDATED].

Yes: Allen Salkin, writer of innumerable rage-inducing (but often entertaining!) Styles features is reportedly among the layoffs. Assuming this is accurate, we are now in mourning. Daily Intel's full list:

Eric Konigsberg - Culture
Sara Rimer - National
Christine Hauser - Metro
Josh Barbanel - Real Estate
Mitch Blumenthal - Continuous News
Kate Galbraith - Business
Allen Salkin - Styles
Monica Evanchik - Web

And one more: C. Spencer Beggs, Multimedia producer for the New York Times News Service/Syndicate, tells us: "I'm out Dec. 31. Been there a year and a half. Got 4 weeks salary. I was full-time, non-union."

On a separate front: We've heard of two NYT blogs which are being shut down: Economix and Green Inc.. The reason given for both was they were not bringing in enough revenue. The people working on them (we think) are not losing their jobs.

UPDATE: We received the following email from NYT spokesperson Diane McNulty:

Hamilton,
As you know, The Times does not and will not discuss personnel matters, nor reveal any names or numbers relating to the current staff reduction. As a result, The Times cannot and will not comment on the list of specific names you picked up from NY Magazine, except to say the list is in error, as is the information you posted about our blogs. There have been no decisions about shutting down either of those blogs.
Thanks,
Diane

[If you know more, email us. Pics via NYT and January]

Hilarious Old Snuggie Ancestor Unearthed [Classic Ads]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:55:29 -0500

Robe scientists have discovered the earliest known Snuggie/ Slanket ancestor: "The Bundler." Which is apparently just footie pajamas held on with rubber bands? "Deliciously sexy on her, smoothly good-looking on him." No it's not. [Flickr via Copyranter. Click to enlarge.]

The '60s Are Back! Birchers Sponsor Conservative Conference [John Birch Society]

Pareene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:51:08 -0500

Oh, hey, CPAC is coming up. That is the annual conference for dedicated conservatives. And just to prove that the Republican Party is back in a big way, the John Birch society is a 2010 CPAC sponsor!

This wonderful group is so hysterically, old-fashionedly conservative that they still probably think Jew Mason Communists are working out that New World Order thing. They have basically been banned from serious participation in the Conservative Movement since the '60s, when William F. Buckley decided their insanity and paranoia reflected poorly on the movement.

And they have not gotten any less insane and paranoid, since then! But Buckley has gotten much more dead, so, welcome back, John Birch Society! Welcome back to the big tent of constant fear of everything. (This is all thanks to proud Bircher Ron Paul, of course—hey, internet glibertarians, yr girlfriend is an old crazy person.) This JBS sponsorship displeases some. (Not us! We think it's wonderful, that they are not letting the damn international Jewish one world currency conspirators keep them from setting up a little booth at a hotel in DC, to raise fiat money.)

CPAC is traditionally about as big a tent as the modern movement can handle, but typically the attendees and organizers come more from the business-friendly side of the modern movement than the "we hate gay people" side. But this year, the insane "Liberty Council" (a sort of anti-ACLU, the Liberty Council defends the rights of Christians to put Ten Commandments wherever the hell they want forever, and they also fight against Gay Marriage) is threatening to boycott CPAC if CPAC allows some sad "gay conservative" group to be involved, in any capacity.

Here is a sentence about this whole thing that you will enjoy:

It boils down to this: there is nothing "conservative" about - as Barber inimitably puts it - "one man violently cramming his penis into another man's lower intestine and calling it ‘love.'"

Right. Ok.

Anyway, this year's CPAC is gearing up to be the best ever! We can't wait for Ann Coulter's millionth identical standup routine about which Democrats are fags this year.

Hello, Dolly [Open Caption]

Brian Moylan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:44:26 -0500

[With the help of a hand truck, 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski robbed a Manhattan store blind yesterday afternoon. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

The Facebook Privacy Settings You've Lost Forever [Your Privacy Is An Illusion]

Ryan Tate — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:43:25 -0500

While covering Facebook's systematic elimination of privacy, we've been deluged with questions from readers asking how to restore certain Facebook privacy protections. Sadly, many such settings appear to be lost forever. Here are the most glaring examples.

1. Hide group and page memberships

Facebook changed its formal Privacy Policy to say that "pages you are a fan of... and networks" are now totally public information (along with many other things). There's apparently no setting to shield page and network data, which leads to terrible situation like this one, sent in as a reader plea:

All of a sudden my grandmother can see that I belong to the Queer Graduate Student Union and Open Relationships Networking Group. Please help. I can't bring myself to de-friend my grandmother!

2. Block Facebook activity from appearing on your wall

There used to be a setting that allowed users to prevent Facebook activity from automatically showing up on their Facebook wall, thus blocking updates like "John commented on Jane's picture," "John is now friends with Bob," "John is attending Uber Gay Circuit Party 2010," etc. This setting is apparently gone, and you have to remove such notices one at a time.

Writes one tipster:

It is extremely annoying not to mention a complete tell of how often I use Facebook during work hours:)

3. Prevent strangers from friending you

It used to be you could keep non-friends from sending you a Facebook friend requests, although they could confirm. That's not the most, well, social way to use a social network, but judging from our email, it was a frequently used and valued feature. Wrote one Gawker regular:

Before the changes I wasn't searchable on FB and hence friended only those I wanted to friend, in essence, I would initiate the request. But... I am now getting friend requests from people I don't know, or worse, from people I know but I don't want to befriend on FB...

Facebook now makes you offer the "Add friend" option to all friends of friends — you can't restrict any tighter than that, so strangers can still send you friend requests. Screenshot (click to enlarge):

4. Completely hide friends list

Your friends list, too, is considered public information. Though you can remove it from your profile, you can't keep friends of friends from seeing it. They just have to pull up one of your friends' friend list, click you name, and view your friends list.

Writes one reader: "Many of us are concerned, seeing as how there are thousands of people faced with the threat of stalkers." Another, right on cue:

I have been dealing with a deranged, threatening stalker... There is no way of keeping your Friend list private... I have been obsessively reading about this topic [overall Facebook privacy]... To say I'm outraged is an understatement.

We thought Facebook might be improving this, but we continue to receive emails like these, and Facebooks written Privacy Policy still states that friends lists are now public information.

5. Block Wall announcements that you've been tagged in a photo

You can keep photos of yourself out of the "Photos" tab on your profile, even if they've been uploaded by other people. But it seems you can't block from your Wall announcements that you've been tagged in someone else's photo , which sort of defeats the purpose: It leaves your profile as a very convenient central location for any incriminating pictures of yourself.

You can remove each notification manually, but that becomes a game of whack-a-mole.

Wrote one Facebooker:

I've already blocked everyone from viewing photos that I'm tagged in, but I'd prefer that my friends not even see that I've been tagged in the small preview photo that gets posted to my wall every time someone tags me.

UPDATE: According to a helpful tipster, this can be disabled by going to the Settings menu at the top right of your Facebook home page, then to "Application Settings," then the "Photos" application, then click "Edit settings." Then click the "Additional Permissions tab," and there is an option to "Publish to streams." Uncheck this. Like so (click to enlarge):

And more, we're sure

We'd love to be wrong about any of these privacy rollbacks, so if you know of settings or workarounds we've overlooked, do email us at tips@gawker.com. Conversely, if we've left out a lost privacy option you feel strongly about, let us know about that, too.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) originally said his social network's privacy changes were intended simplify and enhance the privacy experience on the site. Judging from our inbox, it would seem he's achieved neither.

'Screw Judge Saldaña,' Says Upcoming Graffiti [Monsters]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:31:48 -0500

An 18-year-old in Texas was sentenced to eight years in prison with no possibility of parole for three graffiti charges and weed possession. Eight years. In prison. Here's the sentencing judge, Marisela Saldaña. Looks awful Satan-like, no? [AnimalNY]

Gawker Stalker at a Glance [Stalker]

Robespierre — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:19:53 -0500

While you ate lunch, celebrities roamed the Earth. Today in #stalker sightings: Jude Law and Sienna Miller (twice!) and John Slattery.

John Slattery walking his Jack Russell.
Jude Law and Sienna Miller shopping at FAO Schwarz, followed by their...
Makeout session at the Russian Tea Room.

There are two new ways to submit sightings: 1. You can email them to stalker@gawker.com or 2. see your sighting published immediately on the site (if you're an approved commenter) by using the Share box at the top of the front page and including the #stalker hashtag. Either way, be sure to give us details you'd want to know - what they were wearing, what they said, who they were with, what they ate. Brownie points for spelling their names right and using proper capitalization.

Gawker.TV: The Five Best Videos Ever of the Day [Clipjob]

Whitney Jefferson — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Today at Gawker.TV, the cast of Jersey Shore sullies the story of the First Christmas by reenacting it themselves, Jason Segel's puppet-centric Rock Opera, MTV's Teen Mom, and a bastardized new version of Let's Make a Deal.

Jason Segel Performs Puppet Opera on 1,000th Episode of The Late, Late Show
Some of us forgot Sarah Marshall (See what I did there?), but those that refused forgetfulness lauded over Jason Segel's Dracula's Lament. Much like a vampire, Segel's puppet-driven rock opera lives beyond expectation on Craig Ferguson's 1,000th episode.

The Cast of Jersey Shore Re-Enacts the Story of Christmas
The cast of Jersey Shore continues their assault on the West Coast with an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. Pauly-D, The Situation, and Snooki were the three wise men—the only difference: Two of the wisemen had rock-hard abs.

Teen Mom Focuses on Exactly Why Teens Shouldn't Be Moms
MTV's creatively titled Teen Mom follows around, well, teen moms. It's basically a gigantic PSA to show how awful it is to be a teenager with a baby.

The New, Updated Version of Let's Make a Deal
While most of us are at work-or let's face it, asleep- a revamped version of Let's Make a Deal hosted by Wayne Brady is being broadcast. And it sure is wacky.

Ladies, Moments Like These Are Why Your Boyfriend Won't Watch The View
You know it's going to be a classic episode when in the first twenty seconds on-air, the words uterus and nipples are uttered. That, and the focus on these things resembling futuristic space shuttles attached to Whoopi's feet.

Douche of the Decade, Round Two: Real Douches Only [Polls]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:46:30 -0500

Yesterday we offered you 15 exquisite choices in our quest to find who, pray tell, is the douchiest douchebag of the past decade. Today: Some are removed; one is honorarily honored; a Kade-style addition; and crucial second-round voting. Yes, crucial!

Here's how it is: Bill O'Reilly is winning so far, with 30% of the vote. The problem is that Bill O'Reilly is not a douchebag, in the classical "How We Mean It" sense of the word. Mea culpa! O'Reilly is a jerk, a windbag, an asshole, and a repellent media figure. But he's a little too nationally known, media savvy and unironically influential to be a "douchebag," per se.

And this award is simply too important to get wrong. So here's what we're going to do: We hereby award Bill O'Reilly an honorary "American Asshole of the Decade" award. We are removing him as a Douche of the Decade candidate. We are also removing Thomas Friedman, Carrie Prejean, and Andrea Peyser—who, like O'Reilly, do not quite fit the real definition of "douchebag." Simply being annoying, politically repulsive, dumb, and/or wrong does not a douchebag make.

None of this should be taken to mean that these are not bad people for their own reasons. But we want the Douche of the Decade to be a true, self-made, self-important, self-regarding, self-unaware, Gawker-style douchebag. This is important. So we are holding open the voting—those who voted for O'Reilly et al are encouraged to go in and make another choice.

We're also adding Arthur Kade, by popular demand. Vote now.

Do Not Look to CAA for Validation [Perks]

Richard Rushfield — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:37:37 -0500

If there's anything Hollywood hates, it's paying for stuff it used to get for free. And throughout 2009, CAA has given the industry the biggest FU in entertainment history, charging visitors for parking, all to save just $800,000.

The entertainment industry runs on freebies; gift bags filled with fur-lined DVD players and diamond-studded iPod holders, private jet rides to Cannes, dinners paid for by your agent or producer. If you are anyone in Hollywood, the world lines up to hand over its goods on a platinum platter. And in Hollywood, being handed a check is akin to being served notice that the world is wondering when you are going to remove your stinking carcass from its immaculately scrubbed foyer.

Today, The Wrap reports on the fallout from CAA's ultimate power move. A year ago, the uber-agency decided fatefully to make its guests pay for their own parking, a shot across the bow akin to making visitors sign a declaration that they are nothing, not even insects, before the might talent agency. Apparently, the Wrap has learned, the move saved the agency $800,000 this year in validations.

What are they doing with that $800,000 in blood money? Buying miles of rain forest or opening a new convalescence home for elderly development executives? Perhaps investing in a decent script for client Reese Witherspoon?

No, according to The Wrap, this draconian cutback comes in the face of massive bonuses this year. It seems the agency is planning, more or less, to take Hollywood's parking fees and give them to their agents in the form of one-thousand-dollar bills that they will use to light their illegally imported cigars. (Celebrity clients, The Wrap reasonably speculates, are still validated.)

Parking in Century City, where the agency is located, is indeed about the steepest valet tab on the planet, with a two-hour visit running as high as $34. The piece points out " visitors to CAA — really, I'm not kidding — have taken to parking at the Century City mall." The mall is a full half a block away, caddy corner across the intersection, in Earth distances. In LA distance, however, walking half a block is the equivalent of marching approximately 14 and three-quarters miles anywhere else on the planet, a marathon slog truly beneath the dignity of visitors to the most powerful agency in the world.

However, for the masters of CAA, who can stand, cigar in hand, currency smoldering in the ashtray and stare out the window watching their non-celebrity clients trudge foot after desperate foot down the block, waiting in anguish for the crosswalk light to change — for those with that privileged view, all must seem very right with the world indeed.

The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast [Our Dumb Decade]

Brian Moylan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:20:21 -0500

Sure, reality TV has been around longer, but starting in 2000, it really hit the big time. Everyone professes to hate it, but this cheap, tawdry programming has become an easy staple, and it's changing every minute.

Reality television officially started in 1973 when PBS aired An American Family, a documentary series about the everyday lives of the Louds, a "normal" family in Santa Barbara, California. Of course the Loud's oldest son, Lance, was a flamboyant homosexual and the couple decided to get a divorce during the filming. Ten million people tuned in an a whole new genre was defined. The enterprise lay dormant pretty much until 1992 when MTV's revolutionary The Real World put a bunch of 20-somethings in a house to stop being polite and start being real.

In the summer of 2000, something called Survivor happened and changed the face of television forever. 52 million people tuned into the show's finale, and just as many people decried how horrible the show was. Once network execs saw how cheap these shows were to make and the rewards they could get from them, everyone rushed a bunch of reality shows into production. As the decade progressed programs started to splinter off from the genre and form genres onto themselves.

Here's a look at the reality genres that have come to define the decade. While some are better than others, making the whole "reality TV is bad" argument is now impossible, because it is everywhere and available in a million different forms across a broad and beautiful spectrum. We are living in a reality reality, and we're the better for it.

Competitive
Description: A bunch of normal joes are thrown together in an extreme situation and have to do fight to win a pile of cash.
Highlights: The Amazing Race, Big Brother
Lowlights: The Mole, Pirate Master, The Swan
Reigning Champion: Survivor

Professional
Description: People of a certain profession compete in challenges to determine who is the best. A winner is decided by ranking professionals in the field and a telegenic host.
Highlights: Project Runway, Iron Chef
Lowlights: Wickedly Perfect, Shear Genius
Reigning Champion: Top Chef

Talent
Description: Unlike the professional category, these are amateurs trying to win a contract to be the performer they always dreamed they could be. There is almost always a set of judges involved, usually one nice, one snide, and one completely worthless.
Highlights: So You Think You Can Dance, America's Next Top Model
Lowlights: America's Got Talent, American Inventor
Reigning Champion: American Idol

Make Over
Description: A person's house, wardrobe, car, dog house, nails, hair, or just about anything that is deemed lacking is made into something new and shiny by a host who professes to know what he talks about. Gays excel in this genre.
Highlights: What Not to Wear, Trading Spaces
Lowlights: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Pimp My Ride
Reigning Champion: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Documentary
Description: A group of people is placed into a situation and observed without producers meddling with them. Well, at least too much.
Highlights: The Real World before Las Vegas, Bad Girl's Club
Lowlights: The Real World after Las Vegas, Kid Nation
Reigning Champion: Jersey Shore

Fabricated Reality
Description: We are supposed to be tricked into thinking what we are watching is really happening, but the "scenes" and "storylines" have often been predetermined by producers and events are staged in order to get the desired effect. We actually know it's all fake, but we don't care.
Highlights: The City
Lowlights: The Hills
Reigning Champion: The Hills

Celebrity
Description: A celebrity—no matter how large or small—opens his or her doors and lets the cameras inside to get a look at his real life. It is always a train wreck, but it's not always something you want to watch.
Highlights: The Osbournes, Being Bobby Brown
Lowlights: Hey, Paula, The Newlyweds, Keeping up with The Kardashians, The Anna Nicole Show
Reigning Champion: Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List

Workplace
Description: Like documentary or celebrity programs, this takes an inside look into a specific workplace, usually one that is odd, extreme, or full of drama.
Highlights: Ace of Cakes, Dirty Jobs
Lowlights: Sunset Tan, Miami Ink, The Restaurant
Reigning Champion: The Deadliest Catch

Self Help
Description: People go on television in order to make themselves better. They usually succeed while the cameras are on and then go home and fail, returning to a life of quiet desperation after they have been sentimentally abused for our entertainment.
Highlights: Intervention, Shaq's Big Challenge
Lowlights: Celebrity Fit Club, Celebrity Rehab
Reigning Champion: The Biggest Loser

Romantic
Description: Are you sitting alone in your room? Go on television and find the man/woman/midget of your dreams!
Highlights: Joe Millionaire, Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?, Flavor of Love
Lowlights: The Littlest Groom, Mr. Personality, Boy Meets Boy, Paradise Hotel, Rock of Love,
Reigning Champion: The Bachelor

Housewives
Description: Congrats, Bravo. You have created your own genre about rich women behaving badly, having fights, and pretending like they're wealthier than they really are.
Highlights: Real Housewives of Atlanta
Lowlights: Real Housewives of Orange County
Reigning Champion: Real Housewives of New Jersey

[Top image via Getty]

Bill Keller Response Response Response Response! [Newspaper Wars]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:04:24 -0500

Breaking: Bill Keller responds to the WSJ's latest response to Keller's letter responding to the WSJ's award that was referenced in the WSJ's response to David Carr's column about the WSJ. Will they respond? Stay tuned!

Weirdo Self-Hating Mormon Jew Promises to Fight DC Gay Marriage! [Probable Closet Cases]

Pareene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:04:09 -0500

Washington DC will allow gay marriage, yay! But because DC is not allowed to govern itself, the legislation can still be revoked by the US Congress. No one in Congress really wants to get involved. Besides one Republican hero!

His name is Jason Chaffetz, and he is pledging to use his (nonexistent) power on the House Subcommittee for DC to overturn the gay marriage ordinance, in the name of Mormon values.

Here are some amazing fun facts about Chaffetz that Ken Layne taught us:

He is from San Francisco.
He is/was Jewish.
He is the son of Kitty Dukakis.
He apparently decided to rebel again his liberal Jewish San Francisco family by going to Bringham Young on a football scholarship and converting to Mormonism.
His father, John Chaffetz, wrote book in support of Gay Marriage.

This fucking guy. If he wasn't a vile wingnut Congressman bigot we would almost feel bad for Michael Dukakis' idiot stepson, having all these weird issues all out in public like this.

Roy Disney, 1930-2009 [Deaths]

Gabriel Snyder — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:33:30 -0500

Roy Disney, nephew of Walt and a troublemaker in the Disney boardroom, has died. [LAT]

The Time 5WPR Had a Nasty Ladies Room [Internal Memos]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:32:02 -0500

It's a Christmas miracle: a tipster has forwarded us a historic May, 2007 internal staff email from our favorite public relations powerhouse, 5WPR. It seems someone (ladies) could not keep the poop flushed and the tampons put away properly.

From: [5WPR staffer]
To: "Email-Everyone"
Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 13:18:56 -0400
Subject: Bathroom - Last Warning
Whoever took a dump in the ladies room between this morning and now needs to go back in the bathroom to flush the toilet. In addition, the other stall has the flap on the tampon box open.

This is the absolute last time I'll be asking the ladies in this office to have proper bathroom etiquette before we have locks installed in the bathroom and a sign in sheet for every time you use it.

I've got everyone on this e-mail copied, including Ronn [Torossian] and Adam because it's beyond me why as professional women we don't know how to keep the bathrooms in order for our colleagues, clients and potential new clients to use. How many times do I have to ask?

Again, this is the last warning.

Pick up after yourself, close the tampon box, wipe, clean and flush. If the toilet paper our hand soap runs out, please let Christine Garabedian know.

Thanks.

All the Best,

[5WPR staffer]

'Evil Meg' Feud Shows Why You Should Never Badmouth Your Boss, to Anyone [Cubicle Culture]

Ryan Tate — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:09:34 -0500

Meg Whitman would love to be California's next governor, but now she has to deal with chatter she was called "Evil Meg" by eBay underlings. All it took to sidetrack her campaign was a purportedly chatty staffer and a lawsuit.

eBay executive Garrett Price is fighting with Craigslist in court over what, exactly, he said about his boss during business negotiations five years ago, according to NBC Bay Area. Craigslist, the online classifieds company, claims he confided a ferocious picture of Whitman:

[Craigslist CEO Jim] Buckmaster testified that Price told him that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman could go from "Good Meg" to "Evil Meg," and that in her frustration with Craigslist was leaning toward the latter and becoming a "monster."

Price, naturally, denies all this. Maybe he was awkwardly trying to set up a good cop/bad cop dynamic; he was negotiating to buy a stake in Cragslist at the time. But it all comes back to the bottom line: This kind of talk will haunt you, one way or another.

UPDATE: Added video of Buckmaster's testimony.

Michelle Obama — [Pullquote]

Gabriel Snyder — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:00:06 -0500

speaking at a Marine Corps' Toys for Tots photo op in Quantico, Va., a couple hours ago, according to McClatchy's Margaret Talev who's doing White House pool duty today.

New York's Two Favorite People, Together At Last [Hooray]

Pareene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:53:56 -0500

Everyone look at this delightful photo! Famous gravelly voiced actor Alec Baldwin and famous wry Canadian newscaster Pat Kiernan, meeting face to face! (Oh, 30 Rock filmed at NY1 today, for some reason.) (And Alec Baldwin's iPhone battery died!) [TwitPic]

Battlefield iPhones to Run Facebook of War [World Of Warcraft]

Ryan Tate — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:51:07 -0500

Raytheon made an iPhone app for mapping units a combat zone, and for new types of communication, like "friending" other tanks. It'll presumably sell for, like, $50,000 in Apple's military app store, and still earn less than iFart. (Pic)

New York Times Barely Worth Freelancing For [Media Crack]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:49:31 -0500

In your arctic Wednesday media column: the NYT freelancers grow restless, News Corp hands out Christmas bonuses, the Miami Herald is sad, fabulous corrections, and layoffs at TNR.

A couple of years ago, Caitlin Kelly made a third of her income freelancing for the New York Times; now, she says, the competition and the long wait times make it hardly worth the bother. Also, "the line-up for the Times' remaining assignments already stretches, for one section editor I know, into April." Crikey! So that's why the Style section is always five months late on trends.

A tipster full of holiday cheer tells us there is free food in the News Corp. lobby today. "Yeah, we ain't got no holiday party. BUT WE GOT MUFFINS!" Rejoice!

It is kind of sad (although not surprising, or even a bad idea!) that the Miami Herald is now just stone cold soliciting donations on its website, to try to not go broke, but it is even sadder that this debasement won't work out for them.

Regret The Error gives the already famous WaPo "911/ 9-11" correction its correction of the year, so let's look at one of the many fine runners-up:

News Tribune (Washington State):

A photo caption on Tuesday's Page A8 said a student was performing the Heimlich maneuver on a dummy. The student was actually playing around and pretending to choke the dummy

The New Republic is laying off six editorial staffers, including senior editor Chris Orr.

The French Resistance to Yahoo's Cost-Cutting CEO [Layoffs]

Ryan Tate — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:15:53 -0500

Carol Bartz's lacerating eccentricity may captivate Silicon Valley, where she's cutting costs left and right. Not so in Europe: When Yahoo tried to shut down operations in France, workers made this surreal, defiant video. And went on strike, naturally.

Their point: Yahoo made about 1 million euros per worker from Yahoo France alone last year, and used to hype how "it's important to have [locally] concentrated engineering activities... to innovate" in France, where it would base "one of [its] most important centers in Europe." Yahoo France's engineers will now stop working until Yahoo agrees that they shouldn't have to stop working. At least they're fact checking the internet company's hype along the way.

Alisher Usmanov: The Scary Russian Oligarch Seducing Silicon Valley [Crime]

Ryan Tate — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:53:43 -0500

Alisher Usmanov is nicknamed "the hard man of Russia," but he's good at seducing the softies in California's tech community: An investment firm he backs lead a $180 million investment in Zynga, the gaming company that trafficked in scammy ads.

The investment firm, Russia's Digital Sky Technologies, led a broader group of investors in putting money into San Francisco-based Zynga, according to the New York Times. It's DST's second Silicon Valley conquest, following two investments in Facebook earlier this year that totaled $300 million and that allowed the social network to cash out employee equity.

Usmanov (pictured), who reportedly owns 32 percent of DST, comes with the sort of unsavory press clippings worthy of a long-survivng oligarch in anarchic, organized-crime-ridden Russia: He's been accused by a former British ambassador of being a "gangster and racketeer" and of close ties to mafia drug trafficking and, as we've reported previously, controversially tried to censor bloggers who linked to news of the accusations.

Then there was this, last year: After Usmanov bought a chunk of mobile phone operator Megafon through a holding company and from a fund called IPOC, a former Megafon shareholder said he had been physically coerced into selling his Megafon holdings to IPOC; he later disappeared from his bloodstained vacation home in Latvia.

Zynga is used to dealing in the dark fringes of the markets; it made loads of ad revenue off scammers who deceptively sold "learning CD" and SMS subscriptions to gamers trying to earn virtual currency and now faces a class action lawsuit. Now, despite all the company's talk about reforming its way back into the light, it is, in a way, going deeper into the shadows. Zynga CEO Mark Pincus once bragged about "doing every horrible thing just to get revenues right away." Let's hope, for his sake, he's not making such a recklessly calculated move now.

Poetry Is Humanity's Only Defense Against the AOL News Borg [Free Verse]

Brian Moylan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:50:43 -0500

Seed, the AOL News Borg that generates story ideas based on the things that people are looking for on search engines, is up and running. We've had a look at their assignments and there is only one appropriate response: poetry.

Seed is trying to recruit a cyborg army of underpaid freelancers who will write their content for them and will pay them anywhere from $25 to $7 trillion based on the difficulty of the assignment and the amount of traffic it gets. We are now all soulless creatures plugged into the Seed matrix and paid only in the life-sustaining fluid that keeps us alive and Seed is like those metal cockroach things running around feeding off our energy.

To extend this Matrix metaphor further, we are going to be the Neo trying to jack this entire system. Instead of quickly churning out content for this soul-crushing enterprise, we are going to feed it with poems. Hopefully it will find all this creativity to be poison and it will die from the inside out.

Burger Salad Decision*

A sesame-seed bun looks like a million lights
left on in Ewok village, plump and starchy
its dome echos over the green canopy of
lettuce peeking out of its peek. Tomato
shows its pudgy nose, a slip of taunting red
like Wilde's boutineer, drawing
you in and laughing you away at the same time.
The fruit slices moisture wicks into the dry
bread above it and its seeds rummage
in their embryonic fluid on a leafy bed.

Slowly, imperceptibly, a gush of juice rambles
from the patty. It is smooth and clear and carries
the weight of a million molecules, like the white water
in The River Wild, Meryl Streep
coasting to her doom, avoiding Kevin Bacon. Where
is the bacon?

It is sprinkled stingily on the salad nearby. Romaine, Arugula
the severed spine of frisée, radicchio's lilac gash,
Titanic crash of the iceberg: all of these castaways tossed
in suspense, buoyed on a Balsamic sea with fatty globules
floating to the surface as life rafts. A fork will not stick,
blue cheese crumbles. The mouth becomes
a needless destination.

But the burger, you can seize—
like a castle. Your fingers delapidating the bun's
towers, your thumbs undermining as teeth
finally sink into carnage and pull its vaguely
resistant corpse. Chew, you fool, chew, and
let the juice do the choosing.

Original, actual assignment: A photo of someone trying to decide between a plate with burger with fries and a plate of salad. JPEG is the preferred format; TIFF if no other format is available. Uncropped, untreated, original images. RGB. DPI should be between 150 and 300. Please note offer price is for all photos submitted. PAYS: $25.00 USD

[Image via Tracy 27's Flickr]

Exactly As You Would Imagine It [Trendwatch]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:49:42 -0500

"'Square-dancing here isn't really what people imagine it to be,' [Portland hipster Paul] Silveria [friends with many 'tattooed habitués of the punk scene'] says of the hybrid rock and square-dance moves he does." Oh yes it is. [WSJ]

There Will Be a Lot of White People for a Few Extra Years [Demographics]

Pareene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:31:20 -0500

Good news, White People: there will be more of you than of other people for eight more years than previously predicted! The Census Bureau says White People will remain the majority in America until 2050, thanks to 9/11.

Yes, 9/11! And also this epic financial crisis thing. There has been a drop in immigration in this country, lately, because we strengthened some of our immigration policies, and also fewer people actually want to move here, because have you seen how miserable and fat and lazy most of us are? And also we complain so much!

You may think this is wonderful new for racists, but it's actually something of a mixed bag. 2050 seems like a long time from now, right? Why bother being scared of Mexicans forcing your grandchildren to pledge allegiance to Selena's Ghost "en espanolo" when by the time it is supposed to happen, the Socialist Obama Americorps ACORN shock troops will have already relocated you to your FEMA death camp? The whole "in a dozen years there will be more Hispanic babies than adorable perfect white babies named Jaden" thing has always been a great way for crypto-racists to awaken the latent racism of potential voters, because it just sounds bad, like someone is going to beat up your baby or something, but now that will not even happen until 2031.

So thanks, terrorists and the financial sector, for saving white people, from themselves (and from Mexicans).

News War History: WSJ's Response To Bill Keller's Letter [Newspaper Wars]

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:28:29 -0500

Earlier this week, WSJ editor Robert Thomson took a shot at NYT editor Bill Keller over a letter Keller wrote to an awards committee last year regarding an award-winning WSJ story. Now, we've obtained the WSJ's original response letter.

Keller's letter, from March 2008, is here; below, the response at the time from Marcus Brauchli, who was then managing editor of the WSJ. Spat!

Dr. Robert D. Spector, Chairman
The George Polk Award
Long Island University
1 University Plaza
Brooklyn, New York, 11201-5372

Dear Dr. Spector:

Rebecca Blumenstein has sent me word of a complaint by Bill Keller about the languange in a press release about the Polk awarded to Shai Oster.

Mr. Keller's claim is a surprise to us, and we believe it is without merit. He bases his assertion on a government news-agency report that conflicts with other government news-agency reports he could as easily have cited. Our articles, which your press release describes, rest on our reporting.

In his letter, Mr. Keller challenges the accuracy of your press release and, by implication, our reporting. He asserts that the relocation of four million people has "only an indirect relationship to the dam itself." He goes on to say that "any claim that China plans to move so many people as a result of the problems, much less as the result of any newspaper story, is false."

We have never claimed that China announced the relocations as the result of our articles. But China is planning relocations and they are connected to the environmental situation surrounding the Three Gorges. "Some local officials say the new relocation is purely about spurring economic growth," Shai Oster's article of Nov. 6 says, "but the government's own researchers recommended millions of relocations to respond to the environmental hazard."

Mr. Keller should know this: his newspaper followed the Journal's lead in writing about relocations connected to the troubles at the dam. "The Chinese government has announced that it will relocate an additional three million to four million people from the banks of the Yangtze River because of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam," Howard French wrote in the Times. The New York Times hasn't published a correction, as far as we know.

Mr. Keller also suggests that he is unable to determine "the pedigree" of the claim that China hopes to relocate more people as a result of problems surrounding the building of the dam. Our sourcing is crystal clear in the article. We relied on interviews with government officials, China's official Xinhua News Agency-the same agency Mr. Keller cites in his letter-scholars and members of government-backed think tanks who provided the research for resettlement plans.

On Nov. 27, several weeks after our story ran, Chinese cabinet officials held a press conference in which they defended the dam, even as they acknowledged rising costs to address its environmental impact. The Wall Street Journal and the Times both filed pieces on the government response. The Journal included the official's assertion that the additional relocations were not related to the dam. The Times chose not to include that denial in its story, or to address the issue of the resettlements at all.

In our articles last year, we acknowledged that there are several factors at play behind the relocations, which we cited in our coverage. But there is no question that the paramount reason for the pending relocation lies in the environmental problems triggered by the dam, which were known to government officials long before we first reported them.

For years, the subject of the Three Gorges Dam was so sensitive that discussion of it was virtually banned in China, despite growing evidence of problems as the water level rose. Journal reporter Shai Oster's story on the unforeseen environmental problems at the dam on Aug. 29, along with his subsequent coverage, finally broke that silence and spurred vital reporting and questioning of the project that continues today.

We take great pride that your committee found our coverage worthy of a Polk, and we stand by our reporting.

Sincerely,

Marcus W. Brauchli
Managing Editor
The Wall Street Journal.

Home for the Holidays [Justice]

Gabriel Snyder — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:22:17 -0500

Roman Polanski gets to spend the holidays (maybe longer) in his Swiss chalet. [ABC]

Teabaggers Sing! [Songs Of Loving Hate]

Pareene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:55:52 -0500

Merry Christmas from the enraged white people who have seized control of the GOP! They are caroling, for you! [TWI/David Weigel]