| | | WEDNESDAY • MAY 28, 2008 |  |  BUSH MISLED U.S. ON IRAQ, FORMER AIDE SAYS IN NEW BOOK; SCOTT MCCLELLAN'S 'WHAT HAPPENED' DELIVERS TOUGH CRITICISM OF PRESIDENT, ADVISERS: In a book due out Monday, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan offers a blistering review of the administration and concludes that his longtime boss misled the nation into an unnecessary war in Iraq. "History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided -- that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder," McClellan wrote in "What Happened," due out Monday. "No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact." The most explosive revelations in the 341-page book: McClellan charges that Bush relied on "propaganda" to sell the war. He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war. He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be "badly misguided." The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them -- and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts. McClellan asserts that the aides -- Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff -- "had at best misled" him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
LBN-VIDEO LINK: **VIDEO** Rove: McClellan Sounds Like Left Wing Blogger...
| | IRAN'S AHMADINEJAD REQUESTS MEETING WITH POPE: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked for an audience next week with Pope Benedict which would be the first meeting between the two leaders, a diplomatic source said on Tuesday. Ahmadinejad is among the heads of state expected to visit Rome to attend a June 3-5 United Nations summit on global food security, hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
| |  WHO READ THE LBN E-LERT? Sid Ganis, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences along with approximately 284,000 other "influencers" in all 50 of the United States and 23 foreign countries.
| | LBN E-Lert Sponsor --Click Here--  | | VANCOUVER COUPLE ARRESTED FOR PUTTING BABY UP FOR ONLINE SALE; JUST A HOAX, SAYS COUPLE: A Vancouver couple have been arrested but will not be charged after posting an Internet ad on Craigslist, offering their seven-day-old baby for $10,000, police said Tuesday. Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning said he had never heard of such a thing in his 27 years as a police officer. Ten police officers worked on the case, he said, tracking the Craigslist posting to a west-end apartment. "Police knocked at the door and asked if there was a baby in the apartment," Const. Fanning told reporters at a news conference. He said the 23-year-old mother was found nursing a seven-day-old baby.
| | MONUMENT TO HOMOSEXUAL VICTIMS OF NAZIS UNVEILED: Germany unveiled a monument to the tens of thousands of homosexuals persecuted under the Nazis, whose laws were used to prosecute gay men for a generation after World War Two. Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, who is openly gay, hailed the grey, concrete memorial as a long overdue acknowledgement of the repression of homosexuals, 50,000 of whom were convicted by Nazi courts during Adolf Hitler's 12-year dictatorship.
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 LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Tuesday he is ready to debate Al Gore about global warming, as he presented the English version of his latest book that argues environmentalism poses a threat to basic human freedoms. "I many times tried to talk to have a public exchange of views with him, and he's not too much willing to make such a conversation," Klaus said. "So I'm ready to do it." ***Was Jack Nicholson once into hookers? In her new memoir, "Undiscovered," Debra Winger recalls landing in Germany with Nicholson to promote their movie "Terms of Endearment," which won the Best Picture Oscar. "I had never been there and was relentlessly joking with Jack about how I, as a Jew, would be treated," she writes. "He finally told me to stop, that these paranoid fantasies had little to do with modern Germany and that I should relax and enjoy the trip - perhaps join him on his search for the perfect brothel." ***The E-Myth Revisited author Michael Gerber's THE E-MYTH ENTREPRENEUR, explaining the twin strategies that every entrepreneur must employ in the design of a business, offering a primer for a new "MBD" (a Masters of Business Design), sold again to Ethan Friedman at Collins Business, for publication in 2009, by Stephen Hanselman at LevelFiveMedia (World). ***Clarence Clemons and Don Reo's BIG MAN, The E Street Band's sax player's wild adventures and life and times as told to long time friend and Hollywood writer (Everybody Hates Chris, MASH) focusing on this year's international tour, reportedly the E Street's last, sold to Ben Greenberg atGrand Central, by Lydia Wills at Paradigm (world) ***Best-known for the TV role on Little House on the Prairie, Melissa Gilbert's book promising to feature behind-the-scene stories from her years on the Little House set as well as her time spent in Brat-Pack Hollywood, including her relationship with Rob Lowe (to whom she was engaged), life as an adopted child, the loss of her father at age 11, and her battle with and triumph over both alcohol and failed relationships, sold to Jennifer Bergstrom at Simon Spotlight Entertainment, for publication in Spring 2009, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group. ***Debbie Busby's CONFESSIONS OF A RECOVERING MORMON: A Memoir, the story of a Mormon wife and mother who risked losing her eternal salvation by leaving the Church and starting a new life for herself and her children, sold to SterlingHouse Publishers, in a nice deal, by Krista Goering at the Krista Goering Literary Agency. ***Alan Nevins, the heir to the agency and legacy of the original super-agent, Irving "Swifty" Lazar, is following in his mentor's footsteps, throwing a true tinsel town dinner this Friday at 208 Rodeo in Beverly Hills for the 'crème de la crème' of attendees at this week's Book Expo America. Dinner guests include Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles (Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001); Heidi Murkoff, the author of the international mega selling pregnancy series What to Expect When You're Expecting; Hollywood royalty, Tony Curtis, whose new memoir, American Prince, is being published this coming fall; Ruben "Doc" Cavazos, the President of the notorious Mongols motorcycle club; Tim Storey, the savior and life coach to much of Hollywood (Utmost Living: Creating and Savoring Your Best Life Now); Bruce Hulse, one of the world's top 5 male models (Sex, Love and Fashion: A Memoir of a Male Model); Fieldy, founding member of the rock band Korn; the Fonz himself, Henry Winkler, and Lin Oliver, the co-creators and writers of the best-selling children's series, Hank Zipzer Series: The World's Greatest Underachiever; and Marc Eliot, the best selling author of many books, including the upcoming Ronald Reagan: The Hollywood Years. Not unlike Swifty's Oscar night bash of years ago, many are pressing the Nevins office for an invite. ***Psychologists (whose work has been discussed by Malcolm Gladwell and taught by Stephen Pinker and others) Christopher Chabris and DanielSimons' THE INVISIBLE GORILLA: How Everyday Illusions Distort Our Thoughts About the World and Ourselves, a thought-provoking look at misperception and misunderstanding, explaining how we often fail to recognize the evidence that lies right in front of us, sold to Rick Horgan atCrown, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in late 2009 or early 2010, by James Levine at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (NA).
| |  LBN-SEE IT..... A survivor of the quake rests at a temporary evacuation camp set up at the Jiuzhou sports stadium in the earthquake-hit area of Mianyang, Sichuan Province May 28, 2008.
| |  WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT? Professors at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Dartmouth, UCLA, Duke, USC, Princeton, NYU along with approximately 284,000 other "influencers". Smart people understand that information if power and the LBN E-Lert is a power tool.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: Imagine for a minute, just a minute, that someone running for president was able to actually tell the truth, the real truth, to the American people about what would be the best -- I mean really the best -- energy policy for the long-term economic health and security of our country. I realize this is a fantasy, but play along with me for a minute. What would this mythical, totally imaginary, truth-telling candidate say?For starters, he or she would explain that there is no short-term fix for gasoline prices. Prices are what they are as a result of rising global oil demand from India, China and a rapidly growing Middle East on top of our own increasing consumption, a shortage of "sweet" crude that is used for the diesel fuel that Europe is highly dependent upon and our own neglect of effective energy policy for 30 years. Cynical ideas, like the McCain-Clinton summertime gas-tax holiday, would only make the problem worse, and reckless initiatives like the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep offer to subsidize gasoline for three years for people who buy its gas guzzlers are the moral equivalent of tobacco companies offering discounted cigarettes to teenagers. *I can't say it better than my friend Tim Shriver, the chairman of Special Olympics, did in a Memorial Day essay in The Washington Post: "So Dodge wants to sell you a car you don't really want to buy, that is not fuel-efficient, will further damage our environment, and will further subsidize oil states, some of which are on the other side of the wars we're currently fighting. ... The planet be damned, the troops be forgotten, the economy be ignored: buy a Dodge."
| |  AL QAEDA WARRIOR USES INTERNET TO RALLY WOMEN: Hazel Thompson for The New York Times On the street, Malika El Aroud is anonymous in an Islamic black veil covering all but her eyes. In her living room, Ms. El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, wears the ordinary look of middle age: a plain black T-shirt and pants and curly brown hair. The only adornment is a pair of powder-blue slippers monogrammed in gold with the letters SEXY. But it is on the Internet where Ms. El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name "Oum Obeyda," she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe.
| | LBN E-Lert Sponsor --Click Here--  | | LBN-COMMENTARY By ROBERT REDFORD: I think he (Sydney Pollack) always had it on his mind he would like to be a producer. I think that in his later years, he went in that direction because perhaps he got more tired of directing. I think that the best times that he and I had were when the film industry was a different business. It was mainly because, in more of the films he and I did during the time we worked together, we were going against the grain. The business has so drastically changed now, it's just a completely different business than it was. And I don't know that we could ever produce the fun he and I had during the '60s, '70s and '80s, when we were constantly trying to forge projects that were going to be hard to get the studios to go with and working against those odds. A lot of the appeal was it was great fun. Success I think kind of changed that.
| | LBN-RECOMMENDS: Beverly Hills hairstylist to the stars, Janis Bueller - 25 years experience. Mention the LBN E-Lert and get 10% off. Call (310) 887-1891 or e-mail janiscuts@aol.com. | | LBN-COMMENTARY By FLORIE BRIZEL: American Airlines decision to charge $15 for any piece of checked luggage is blatantly discriminatory against people with disabilities. Delta Airlines is wise not to copycat. Many people cannot physically navigate heavy, rolling carry-on luggage through gigantic airports and the rigorous security process. But if they can, by the time they board the airplane, airline employees (protective of their own necks/backs/shoulders) often rebuff their request for help placing it, as required, in the overhead bins. Such passengers must then ask for the kindness of strangers, which doesn¹t always materialize. If American Airlines must raise fees to cover increased costs, build them into everyone¹s tickets equally. I strongly protest and hope others will, too.
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| | NEW ORLEANS SURVEY: A survey showed that 86 percent of the homeless were from the New Orleans area. Sixty percent said they were homeless because of Hurricane Katrina.
| | LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Talks between United and US Airways appear to have fallen apart, the second time in a month that United failed to reach a deal with a rival airline. ***The home-buying season is shaping up to be even worse than expected, with prices falling, sales slowing and few signs of a turnaround.
| |  LBN-COMMENTARY By GERALDO RIVERA: In an effort not seen since the panic unleashed by the Great Depression, federal law enforcement has been targeting technically illegal workers who have been long tolerated in their industries.
| | LBN-HEALTH WATCH: ***Childhood obesity, on the rise for more than two decades, appears to be holding steady, a new study indicates.
| | LBN-COMMENTARY By AMARTYA SEN: The global food problem is not being caused by a falling trend in world production, it is the result of accelerating demand.
| | LBN-NOTICED: Matthew McConaughey last night holding court at the bar at Onyx in L.A. hefting a martini with three ladies holding onto every word. ***Grammy winner Patti Austin dining with acclaimed filmmaker and author Sandi Bachom and PR person Tom Estey at Norma's at the Parker Meridien in Manhattan. ***Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton window-shopping with his wife on Memorial Day at the new outdoor mall, The Americana, in Glendale. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT - send your celeb sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
| | LBN-RECOMMENDS: Bobby Van's Restaurant NYC - for Reservations, call (212) 344-8463 or visit www.bobbyvans.com.
| | LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Media and entertainment companies are likely to feel a pinch from a sluggish U.S. economy all year long, based on the results of the just-ended quarterly earnings season. News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch puts it most bluntly: "There's no doubt the consumer economy is stressed." ***CBS and NBC will air a simultaneous one-hour fundraiser for cancer research in prime-time on Sept. 5. The "Stand Up to Cancer" broadcast will feature musical performances and celebrity appeals. The American Association for Cancer Research will distribute the money raised. ***New York Times Magazine's cover story this Sunday focuses on efforts by former model Tyra Banks to turn herself into a brand. The host of "America's Next Top Model" and "The Tyra Banks Show" aims to become "like her hero, Martha Stewart," according to the profile. ***The median age of magazine readers is creeping up, now to 45, according to media expert and author Michael Levine.
| |  LBN-SEE IT..... Producer Robert Evans and Ali MacGraw attend the AMPAS salute to Robert Evans.
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LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***The family of "The Lord of the Rings" creator J.R.R. Tolkien is trying to stop New Line Cinema from making "The Hobbit." Tolkien's son, Christopher, 83, claims the studio owes the family $160 million in profits from the "Rings" trilogy. On June 6, he'll ask an LA judge to back his claim that he has the right to terminate film rights to "The Hobbit," set to shoot this year. In 1969, the elder Tolkien reluctantly sold screen rights for 7.5 percent of any profit to pay a tax bill. ***The major studios and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have signed a primetime deal that will ease -- but not eliminate -- the town's fears of an actors strike. Following nine consecutive days of negotiations, AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers reached a tentative three-year agreement early Wednesday at AMPTP headquarters in Encino. ***After more than 20 years at 20th Century Fox TV, David E. Kelley has jumped ship to Warner Bros. TV. Today's trades report that WBTV has finalized a three-year overall development and production deal with the prolific Emmy winner.
| | LBN-COMMENTARY By J. NEIL SCHULMAN: Vincent Bugliosi, whose only claim to fame as a prosecutor is a conviction of Charles Manson that any first-year law student could have achieved, now writes a book calling for the execution of the President of the United States on the grounds that a war in Iraq approved by Congress was achieved by executive deceit. Bugliosi is correct, but the executive who deceived the world about Iraqi WMDs was President Saddam Hussein, already hanged, who wished Iran to believe he still had WMD's and fed disinformation to every intelligence agency worldwide toward this end. ***To respond directly to Mr. Schulman, e-mail : LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
| | LBN E-Lert Sponsor --Click Here--  | | NO DEAL: The United States Supreme Court said that it would not hear an appeal by former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois of his 2006 racketeering and fraud conviction.
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| | DO YOU? Do you have the guts to forward this LBN E-Lert to your friends and family? Do you? Do you?
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***He's not a lawyer, he just played one on TV - but now Dylan McDermott is representing himself. McDermott, who played Bobby Donnell on "The Practice" for seven years, has filed for divorce from his wife, Shiva Rose, the mother of his two daughters, citing irreconcilable differences. E! News reports McDermott is handling the case "in propria persona," as his own lawyer. ***Looks like the Chinese will have to live without Sharon Stone's "Sliver" for a while: The biggest movie chain in China says it's banning her flicks from its screens after she called the horrific earthquakes there "karma" for past abuses. Ng See-Yuen, head of the UME Cineplex chain, tells the Hollywood Reporter that Stone's ridiculous remarks were "inappropriate" and that actors should bring personal politics to such a disaster that's killed thousands and left 5 million homeless. ***One book to watch for this fall is Running Press' You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story written by Time Magazine's senior film critic Richard Schickel and former London Times film critic, George Perry. Eighty-five years of screen icons, legendary films, and history-making achievements are detailed in this comprehensive, photo-filled treasure trove with many never-before-seen pictures culled from the Warner vault and fully authorized by the studio. The companion volume to a 5-part documentary narrated by Clint Eastwood and airing on PBS this September, You Must Remember This will be in stores September 9. ***Kirsten Dunst is hard at work shooting her next movie, All Good Things, on New York's Upper West Side. But she's decided to focus on something else today--opening up to dispel rumors and tabloid reports that she sought help earlier this year at Cirque Lodge treatment center in Utah due to alcoholism and substance abuse. "I didn't go to Cirque Lodge for alcohol abuse or drug abuse," Dunst reveals during a lunch break on All Good Things. "I went there for depression."
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| | LBN-QUOTE: "Barack Obama is about to get the Democratic nomination. It'll be the first time in history that a black man beat a white woman and didn't go to jail for it" - comic Eddie Griffin.
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