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Video -- Lohan/Ronson in Dubai? Why is Sam Spinning in Very Gay Unfriendly UAE

So, Samantha Ronson, how much money did they dangle in front of you to do this, anyway?

Wikipedia (Michael Scott's favorite reference resource):

Article 177 of the Penal Code of Dubai imposes imprisonment of up to 10 years on consensual sodomy. In 2005 police raided a private party, and arrested over a dozen men for the crime of homosexuality, cross-dressing and initially an Interior Ministry worker told the press that people convicted of sodomy should be given hormone treatments as a "cure", although the Dubai government quickly retracted the statement, and instead suggested that such treatments might be made optional, by the court, to reduce the prison sentences of the convicted men.

Eleven of the men arrested were sentenced to five year prison sentences, while another fifteen men were still waiting for their sentence. The court did not make any mention of hormone treatments, although some news reports suggest that some of the convicted men are being given some type of psychiatric testing. The private party was often described as a "gay wedding", and one of the arresting police officers was subsequently investigated for spreading the pictures he had taken of the raid around on his cell phone.

More on being gay in the United Arab Emirates at this link.

So Lindz is all analytical and political on her Myspace blog and Ronson has an I Stand With Israel band on hers, but Sam can't turn down the opportunity to grab some cash from the UAE.

And Linsday goes along for the ride.

You two need to be more consistent.

And before you tell me some claptrap about them not being paid by some sheik that would have the women in his life covered head to toe (and I'm sorry if I'm offending, but that just looks really really uncomfortable) in black, you need to know that everything that happens in the UAE right now is a big PR ploy for the entire region.

I believe that this is the reason for all the development there in the first place, to put a sheen on the very regressive ways imposed by the powers that be.

And on top of that, Dubai is being built on the backs of third world laborers not getting a living wage for their work and being housed in horrible conditions.

See the video from ABC News' Brian Ross in a clip after the jump.

Sam, Lindz, I hope you're watching this.

It's The Timing That I Find Interesting -- ABC's Brian Ross Profiled by AP

Okay, first Brian Ross is gonna have this bombshell of a report about the DC Madam and the names that correspond to the phone records, then Randall Tobias resigns because he knows he's about to be named, then Ross and his team along with ABC brass decide that the names of the people on this list aren't important enough to ruin their lives, then there's talk about the high-powered corporate executive and people throwing around the name Dick Cheney (including me in a previous post, and that's just what I did, btw, throw around his name, not allege anything -- I've been reading the blogger's rights manual at EFF.org), and now David Bauder files a profile on Ross, despite the fact that he didn't just file some big scoop.

Now I'm not a conspiracy theory kinda guy, but maybe I'll send Bauder an email asking him what makes this story newsworthy now that there's no big Brian Ross scoop?

And for those of you keeping score, there are still a gazillion people with money and people in power doing immoral, illegal and unethical things all the time (including right now, and again right now, and ...), even with Paris behind bars.

Is ABC Preventing Brian Ross from Reporting on VP's Ties to DC Madam?

More on this here. Homepage here.

Just after I said something good about ABC's Brian Ross, I have to hear from Randi Rhodes at Air America Radio and her guest Wayne Madsen that ABC killed the DC Madam story because Dick Cheney is involved. Supposedly, the orders came from the very top at Disney.

Well, I guess I'll watch Brian Williams at NBC ... oh, but wait, they refuse to run with the story because of GE's defense contracts, so I guess I'll be watching Katie again ... but Katie's news in just not working for me ... so, well, where do I go for the real news now?

Well, on this story, a good place to start is probably here at WayneMadsenReport.com (his site is close to crashing because of all the traffic, so click over later.

If Brian Ross doesn't just walk away from his job because of this, I will no longer have respect for him. And, about Disney, if you're looking for news, I would suggest not going to ABC News anymore. It's obvious to me that they just couldn't care less about bringing the actual news to you.

If it doesn't mesh with their corporate profile, ABC will just throw out the news and information you need. They will fail you. If you don't mind that, keep watching Charlie Gibson at night and Diane Sawyer in the morning.

There is news to be had, you can always click over to BBC America and watch the BBC World News. It also runs on a lot of PBS stations.

UPDATE: Still can't get on Wayne Madsen's site, all these hours later (9:40P)

FURTHER UPDATE (Saturday at 5:45 PM): Still nothing when I click on WayneMadsenReport.com, I'm guessing he exceeded bandwidth. Now, I'm sure I'm far from that, but you know I've never had a post that has generated this much interest.

I would think if you wanted to hear the Randi Rhodes show segment with Wayne Madsen, you could probably find that at their website or their YouTube channel, which has some audio files that you can play.

Funny how there's been nothing else in the popular media about this. It wouldn't even be here if I hadn't been listening to the radio at the time. It's gotta make you wonder about how this whole corporate news business works.

Now, as you can tell, this isn't a political blog, I mostly enjoy writing snarkily about sitcoms and shows like Heroes and the TV biz in general (including the nexus of government and broadcasting) though I do get political from time to time, sometimes just tangentially.

Since this is the most successful post I've written since starting this blog, I would be foolish not to invite you back, so consider the red carpet rolled out, and please don't get between Paris or Lindsay and the lens of the nearest camera or you will be detained and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

-Joe

New CBS News VP: "We're On the Right Track"

One day after the bad news for Katie comes these remarks by Paul Friedman, the new #2 (Senior Vice President) at CBS News:

"Obviously it's not the best news one could get on a Tuesday morning, but we know we're on the right track now, and we know most nights we're the best broadcast on in the evenings," said Friedman.

(snip)

"Our frustration is that the program is so much better, and we just need people to notice that, because we did make mistakes at the beginning, clearly, and alienated clearly a significant part of our traditional audience," Friedman said. "We've got to get them to check in again."

Well, good luck with that. I never thought I'd be saying that I miss Bob Scheiffer. I usually start with the CBS newscast (they all run at 6:30 in this market) because it actually starts at 6:29, a minute earlier (yes, KCBS, that works!) and I can see what their story lineup is going to be before the other newscasts start.

Lately, I've just been putting on Gibson on ABC and blogging with it on in the background. In truth, I usually have all the information they are delivering ahead of time from the Internet, I just tune in to see what they are going to say about the events of the day.

Also, the only reporter doing any worthwhile investigation on TV is ABC's Brian Ross, who has a doozy for tonight, in fact. Click here to read about how Rudy Giuliani may have bribed the DEA on behalf of the creators of OxyContin. This is gonna be BIG:

Hutchinson told the Blotter on ABCNews.com today that Giuliani asked for a meeting, "and we gave him a meeting." Hutchinson says he was aware the company was under investigation at the time, and "any time a company is under investigation I like to give them a chance to make their case."   

Kerik told New York Magazine at the time that Giuliani had raised $15,000 in donations for a "traveling museum operated by the DEA."

Some officials told ABC News there were questions inside the agency of whether the donations were an attempt to influence the DEA.

Considering Rudy's bulldog personality, there should be major blowback on this one, but, with the disgraced Bernie Kerik involved, too, Rudy's gonna have to find a way to ramp up his credibility on this issue.

But wait, wasn't this a post about the ratings of the CBS Evening News? Yes, it was. Note use of the word "was."