Repeat After Me. Fox News Is NOT A News Outlet

As many progressives and liberals know, Fox News is not a news outlet. It is a right-wing propaganda arm. But now we have more ammunition because the parent company of the channel, News Corporation, has decided to give one million dollars to the Republican Governors Association:

The company's media outlets play politics more openly than most, but the huge contribution to a party committee is a new step toward an open identification between Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and the GOP. The company's highest-ranking Democratic executive, Peter Chernin, recently departed.

[...]

UPDATE: News Corp. Spokesman Jack Horner emails, "News Corporation believes in the power of free markets, and the RGA’s pro-business agenda supports our priorities at this most critical time for our economy."

The giant check to the RGA dwarfs low four-figure checks from Fox's PAC to Democrats including Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer.

hat/tip to Rod 2.0

VitaminWater Is Declared A Scam!

OMG! Vitaminwater has been ruled to be a marketing scam by a federal court. This is very sad to me because I love drinking Vitaminwater! I like the "dwnld" and "XXX" flavors. I never believed the "health claims" but I figured that it was better than drinking juice or Gatorade.

However, the Center for Science in the Public Interest points out that each 20 ounce bottle ofVitaminwater has 32.5 g of sugars. There is no Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of sugars, but official guidelines indicate that a good goal is at most 40g of sugars for someone who has 2000 calories per day.

The CSPI sued Coca-Cola over the claims the company makes for Vitaminwater and a federal judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit.

By including the suggestion that the product will “keep you healthy” or “help bring about a healthy state of physical and mental being” alongside such statements, the quoted language implies that the nutrient content of vitaminwater may help consumers maintain healthy dietary practices. I conclude, therefore, in light of the language and context in which they are used, that the statements on the “defense” and “B- Relaxed” labels constitute implied nutrient content claims which use the word “healthy.” Such claims are in violation of violation of FDA regulations because . . . vitaminwater achieves its nutritional content solely through fortification that violates FDA policy.

Now that I am more aware of how sugary Vitaminwater is, I will limit my consumption accordingly!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

New Head Of Disney Studios Openly Gay

Interesting pick up from Kevin Broderick over at LA Observed who noticed that the Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein discusses the sexual orientation of Rich Ross in his blog for the paper. Ross, who was recently named to head Walt Disney Studios after longtime studio head Dick Cook was fired a little over two weeks ago, has a male partner of over 20 years and is comfortably out. Ross becomes the first openly gay head of a Hollywood studio, although rumors have long swirled around Diane Von Furstenberg's husband (Barry Diller).

Maybe a sequel to Kirby Dick's Outrage is in order on Hollywood?

Disney Buys Marvel For $4 Billion

Disney announced on Monday that they are buying Marvel for $4 billion. The details of the deal are available at Wonder Man's blog, who is worried that The Mouse will "bring Ororo, Jean Grey and The Wasp into the Disney family and make them princesses."

What do you think?

MOVIE REVIEW: Food, Inc.

Saw the movie Food, Inc. at the Regency Academy Theaters in Pasadena, my favorite second-run theater where matinee screenings cost $2 and all other shows are $3. For the first time I had to wait before going into the theater, because there was a significant line to get in to the theater, which I presumed was because they were also showing the new Star Trek film (see MadProfessah's review).

Food, Inc. is the most significant documentary that I have seen since two health care documentaries from 2007 called Salud and Michael Moore's Sicko.

Instead of health care, this year's amazing non-fiction film is about another of life's necessities: food.

Directed by Robert Kenner and featuring Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, two of the most influential talking heads on food issues in the public eye.

There are some hard to watch scenes in Food, Inc. as well as lots of very important information.

This movie will change the way you look at food, which will change the way you live your life. As with all important documentaries (and films, for that matter) the impact of spending time to watch Food, Inc. is felt for much longer durations than then event itself.

Running Time: 1 hour, 34 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated PG for some thematic material and disturbing images.

OVERALL GRADE: A+.

ACTING: N/A.
IMAGERY: A+.
PLOT: A.
IMPACT: A+.

First Black Female CEO (of Xerox) Named

This what the boss looks like

The New York Times pointed out yesterday that Ursula Burns is poised to become the first African American female chief executive of a Fortune 500 company, Xerox.

Even more interesting about Burns ascension to the top of the corporate ladder at Xerox is that it is the first time such a transition has occurred from one woman to another. The current CEO is Anne Mulcahy.

Ms. Mulcahy, 56, has spent 33 years at Xerox, working in roles that spanned sales, marketing and human resources. Ms. Burns, 50, is also a longtime Xerox veteran, having started as an engineering intern in 1980.

“They’re both insiders that sort of bleed toner, as it were,” said Steve Reynolds, an analyst with Lyra Research, which follows the printing and imaging industries.

As president, Ms. Burns has most recently been overseeing a large swath of Xerox’s operations. She has conducted meetings with investors and Wall Street analysts alongside Ms. Mulcahy as well.

You go, girl!

Corporations Pledge HIV Anti-Discrimination

A regular MadProfessah.com reader alerted me to David Mixner's blog which had this interesting post about a voluntary corporate initiative to eliminate discrimination on the basis of HIV status.

The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC) is an organization I have not previously heard of but apparently they are announcing on World AIDS Day that several Fortune 500 corporations (representing over 5 million employees worldwide) are taking the pledge to end HIV stigma:

As a member of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, my company is committed to fight HIV/AIDS discrimination and stigma in our workplace.

We pledge that our hiring, promotion and retention decisions will not be influenced by an individual’s actual or perceived HIV status.

We pledge to take prompt and meaningful action to improve our performance should we determine it falls short of these goals.

Recognizing the power of leadership by example, we pledge to use every opportunity to encourage other business leaders to make the same commitment.

Signed by the following CEOs:
Miles D. White, Abbott
Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Access Bank Plc
Gilles Pelisson, Accor
Cynthia Carroll, Anglo American plc
Margery Kraus, APCO Worldwide
Anne Lauvergeon, AREVA Group
Kabelo Antony Ebineng, Associated Fund Administrators Botswana (Pty) Ltd
David R Brennan, AstraZeneca
Rahul Bajaj, Bajaj Auto
Peter Munk, Barrick Gold Corporation
Werner Wenning, Bayer AG
Edward J. Ludwig, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)
Vimal B.Shah, Bidco Oil Refineries Limited
Stephane Bancel, bioMérieux
Birger Sorensen, Bionor Immuno
Debra L. Lee, Black Entertainment Television (BET)
Bill Downe, BMO Financial Group
Dr. Alessandro Banchi, Boehringer Ingelheim
Shumeet Banerji, Booz & Company
Tony Hayward, BP
Michael T. Dan, The Brink's Company
James Cornelius, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Michael Predeaux, British American Tobacco
Mark Penn, Burson-Marsteller
Dave O'Reilly, Chevron Corporation
Gerald T. McCaughey, CIBC
Vikram Pandit, Citigroup
Muhtar Kent, The Coca-Cola Company
Samer Khoury, Consolidated Contractors International Company S.A.L. (CCC)
Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Daimler AG
N. F. Oppenheimer, De Beers
Blackie Marole, Debswana
Michael Dell, Dell
James H. Quigley, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Gerald Mahinda, East African Breweries Limited
Gennady Gazin, EastOne LLC
Richard Edelman, Edelman
Christian Kemp Griffin, EDUN
John Lechleiter, Eli Lilly and Company
Phirwa Jacob Maroga, Eskom
Martin Vial, Europ Assistance Holding
Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil Corporation
Jacqueline Mugo, Federation of Kenyan Employers
Glen K. Murphy, Gap Inc.
Jonathan D. Klein, Getty Images
Alexander Saint-Amand, Gerson Lehrman Group
Andrew P. Witty, GlaxoSmithKline
Dong Soo Hur, GS Caltex Corporation
P. Igathe, Haco Industries Ltd
William A. Haseltine, Haseltine Global Health
Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, Heineken N.V.
Richard Plepler, Home Box Office (HBO)
Victor Y. Yuan, Horizon Research Group
Frank Ireri, Housing Finance Company of Kenya Limited
Anthony L. Howard, Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd
Heather Reisman, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
Corrado Passera, Intesa Sanpaolo
Jena Gardner, JG Black Book of Travel
William C. Weldon, Johnson & Johnson
Gerard J. Inzerillo, Kerzner International
Derek J. Oatway, KK Security (Kenya Kazi Services Ltd)
Bruno Lafont, Lafarge
John Anderson, Levi Strauss & Co.
Beatrice Dautresme, L'Oréal
John Demsey, MAC Cosmetics / MAC AIDS Fund
Ian E.L. Davis, McKinsey & Company
Richard Clark, Merck & Co., Inc.
L W Nkuhlu, Metropolitan
Dennis Pinto, Micato Safaris
Samir Modi, Modicare
William H. Roedy, MTV Networks
Robert J. Coury, Mylan Inc.
Gary Ginsberg, News Corporation
Mark Parker, Nike, Inc.
David Stern, National Basketball Association (NBA)
Daniel Vasella, M.D., Novartis
Duncan L. Niederauer, NYSE Euronext, Inc.
Marcia Silverman, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Douglas A Michels, OraSure Technologies
Jeff Kindler, Pfizer Inc.
Christie Hefner, Playboy Enterprises Inc.
Naresh S. Mehta, Power Technics
Neil Mehta, Premier Medical Corporation
Maurice Levy, Publicis
Thomas H. Glocer, Reuters
Tom Albanese, Rio Tinto
Simon Cooper, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
Gordon M. Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada
Dr. Ganesh P. Rane, RRR Industries
Matthew J. Wright, Russell Reynolds Associates
Graham Mackay, SABMiller plc
Fred Hassan, Schering-Plough Corporation
Rick Waugh, Scotiabank Group
Ai Lianghua, Shanghai Desano Pharmaceuticals Holding Company Ltd
Pete Ruegger, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett
Christian Jourquin, Solvay
Gary Watts, SSL International plc
Clive Tasker, Standard Bank
Peter Sands, Standard Chartered Bank
Hiromasa Yonekura, Sumitomo Chemical
Scott Mullin, TD Bank Financial Group
Carol Johnston, Times Media Group
Christophe de Margerie, Total
John Noel, Travel Guard
Marie-Christine de Saragosse, TV5
Patrick Cescau, Unilever
Henri Proglio, Veolia Environment
Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, Vestergaard Frandsen
Phillippe Dauman, Viacom International
Sir Richard Branson, Virgin
Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen
S. Shiryaev, Vostok-Service
Lev Partskhaladze, XXI Century Investments
Mick Davis, Xstrata
Dr. Subhi Quraishi, ZMQ Software System

Interesting news for World AIDS Day.

MTV Networks Joins Fight To Defeat Prop. 8!

Acccording to HRC's Backstory blog, MTV Networks, a subsidiary of VIACOM (the largest media company in the world) and parent of the gay and lesbian cable network LOGO, has come out against California's discriminatory Proposition 8, joining Apple and Google and other good corporate citizens in the Equality For All Business Council.

Google Opposes Proposition 8!

Google has officially come out against Proposition 8!

As an Internet company, Google is an active participant in policy debates
surrounding information access, technology and energy. Because our company
has a great diversity of people and opinions -- Democrats and Republicans,
conservatives and liberals, all religions and no religion, straight and
gay -- we do not generally take a position on issues outside of our field,
especially not social issues. So when Proposition 8 appeared on the
California ballot, it was an unlikely question for Google to take an
official company position on.

However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further
government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it
is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of
our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While
we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of
this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope
that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not
eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry
the person they love.

Posted by Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology

94% of Fortune 500 Companies Bar Sexual Orientation Bias

Joe.My.God has a very cool graphic up illustrating the 29 companies in the Fortune 500 that DO NOT ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The good news is that it means that Equality Forum has documented that over 94 percent of these companies do bar sexual orientation discrimination.

P.F. Chang Is NOT Chinese

Why do people eat at P.F. Chang's China Bistro? The "P.F." stands for Paul Fleming, who founded the chain in Scotsdale, AZ in 1993.

Fleming, a native of Louisiana who had worked in the oil business, entered the restaurant business in the early 1980s when the global oil glut devastated the petroleum industry in the Gulf of Mexico and sent Louisiana into a deep recession. He managed to gather together enough funds to open a franchise of New Orleans-based Ruth's Chris Steak House in Beverly Hills, California. Fleming had immediate success in a tough business. Eventually, he would acquire the franchise rights for Ruth's Chris Steak Houses in California, Arizona, and Hawaii, and he would also purchase other restaurant franchises, including four Z'Tejas Grills and one Nola's Mexican Restaurant. But it was not until he opened P.F. Chang's China Bistro in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1993 that he began his own, rather unique chain. As president of Fleming Chinese Restaurants Inc., he started up and managed the first four restaurants in the fledgling enterprise. Fleming claimed that his principal motivation was his fondness for Chinese food, which he wanted to make available to all comers at reasonable prices in a less intimidating format than that of most Chinese restaurants.

As far as I'm concerned, P.F. Chang's is to chinese food what Taco Bell is to Mexican food. 'Nuff said.

Some Mathematicians Earned Billions In 2007

The Top 10 Hedge Fund managers for 2007 have been released by Alpha Magazine. On last year's list the highest earner was James Simons, a former mathematics professor with $1.7 billion. This year John Paulson, another mathematician, is atop the list with more than double that obscene amount: $3.7 billion. Also in the top 3 was George Soros, who has been active in progressive causes through his Open Society Institute. The rich get richer, indeed!

Rank Name       Firm Name 2007 Earnings*
1  John Paulson Paulson & Co. $3.7 billion
2  George Soros Soros Fund Management 2.9 billion
3  James Simons Renaissance Technologies Corp. 2.8 billion
4  Philip Falcone Harbinger Capital Partners 1.7 billion
5  Kenneth Griffin Citadel Investment Group 1.5 billion
6  Steven Cohen SAC Capital Advisors 900 million
7  Timothy Barakett Atticus Capital 750 million
8  Stephen Mandel Jr. Lone Pine Capital 710 million
9  John Griffin Blue Ridge Capital 625 million
10 O. Andreas Halvorsen Viking Global Investors 520 million

PlanetOut Sells Advocate and Out To here!

PlanetOut Corporation has agreed to sell the Advocate and Out magazines to a subsidiary of here! television for six million dollars in order to focus its corporate energy on its websites planetout.com and gay.com.
Joe.My.God had the heads up and has generally had excellent coverage about the business travails of the first corporation exclusively catering to the LGBT community to be listed and traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange (symbol: LGBT).

There are some interesting details in the business reports about PlanetOut's sale of its publishing business to the gay and lesbian premium cable network. For example:

The company's online segment has been contributing less to its revenue for each of the last three years. In 2005 it accounted for 87 percent, in 2006 54 percent, and in 2007 51 percent. Magazine publishing's portion of total revenue rose in each of those years, from 13 percent in 2005 to 46 percent in 2006 and 49 percent in 2007.

[...]

Last week, PlanetOut (NASDAQ: LGBT) put Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) in charge of travel booking on its web sites.

[...]

In February, PlanetOut reported a $51.2 million loss for 2007. The company's accumulated deficit on Dec. 31, 2007 was about $89.5 million.

[...]

The company had 237 employees at the end of 2007.

Full disclosure: over 10 years ago (in 1996) Mad Professah used to be on the Board of Directors of PlanetOut Corporation (prior to the merger with gay.com). And no, I don't have any stock!

Hollywood Gives Writers No Respect, Example #946

From the detailed press coverage of the writers strike we knew that Hollywood studios had no respect for the work that scribes do, but this is taking things a bit too far. Apparently, the powers that be assholes at New Line Cinema feel that a one-time payment of $62, 500 is just compensation for the creative source of the $6 billion movie franchise The Lord of the Rings. Yesterday, the trustees of the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien sued New Line Cinema for breach of contract. According to Box Office Mojo, the multiple Oscar-winning trilogy has grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide. According to their contract, Tolkien (or his heirs) were to receive 7.5% of "gross receipts" after expenses. Nikke Finke at the must-read Deadline Hollywood Daily has the press release:

The Lord of the Rings films produced by New Line are among the most financially successful films ever created by Hollywood and were released in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively. The cumulative worldwide gross receipts to date total nearly $6 billion. Notwithstanding the overwhelming financial success of the films, and the fact that the plaintiffs have a gross participation in each of the films, New Line has failed to pay the plaintiffs any portion of the gross profit participation at all. [emphasis added]

The trustees’ UK lawyer, Steven Maier, of Manches LLP, said: “The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court. But in this case, New Line has left them no option at all. New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures. To make matters worse, to date New Line has even prevented the plaintiffs from auditing the last two films of the series. The trustees are very aggrieved by New Line’s arrogance.”

The complaint seeks, among other things, in excess of $150 million in compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages, and a declaration from the Court that the plaintiffs have a right to terminate any further rights New Line may have to the Tolkien works under the agreements, including The Hobbit, due to the serious and material nature of the breach of the agreements.

Bonnie Eskenazi, the trustees’ US counsel who filed the complaint, said, “New Line has brought new meaning to the phrase ‘creative accounting.’ I cannot imagine how on earth New Line will argue to a jury that these films could gross literally billions of dollars, and yet the creator’s heirs, who are entitled to a share of gross receipts, don’t get a penny.”

It should be noted that the Oscar-winning director-screenwriter-producer Peter Jackson had to sue New Line to receive just compensation, so maybe it's not just the writers the suits try to screw over but all creative talent.

However, by dissing the goose that lays the golden eggs, New Line is jeopardizing its previously announced participation in the movie version of The Hobbit, another book written by Tolkien which is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

If New Line (or Time Warner if the rumors are true) doesn't pay the Tolkien Trust some significant fraction of the $150 million that they owe them, this is one Tolkien fanboy who will be boycotting the two new Lord of the Rings films planned for December 2010 and 2011.

Microsoft Offers $44.6 BILLION to Buy Yahoo

Microsoft has just announced it is offering $31 a share to acquire Yahoo, valuing the company at $44.6 billion dollars.

MOVIE REVIEW: Michael Clayton

George Clooney's Michael Clayton was one of the last movies we saw at the end of the year before going off to Northern Italy for two weeks.

Clooney plays a lawyer who has been at a big New York City corporate law firm for years but instead of being a partner he has turned into something more valuable: a fixer of embarassing problems. When his friend Arthur, who happens to be the smartest lawyer at the firm and their lead attorney in a $3 billion dollar product liability lawsuit, stops taking his anti-psychotic medication and has a spectacular mental breakdown in camera during a deposition, Clooney is called in to fix the mess.


Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Pollack have important supporting roles and are all excellent, with Wilkinson (as usual) the standout as Clooney's friend Arthur. Both he and Swinton have both been rewarded with Oscar nominations (along with Clooney).

The plot is a bit involved, but the film is more about the choices people will make: career versus family, good versus evil and personal loyalty versus professional duty. This movie attacks head on the notion the idea that when a superior says "Just get it done" what that may entail for the poor schmucks who have to carry out the marching orders. And it exposes to what depths those underlings will go to achieve their bosses' wishes, in a number of different settings: but primarily in corporate law. Writer-director Tony Gilroy (who was nominated in both capacities) enacts a taut script in an understated but very effective way which doesn't leave an immediately overwhelmingly positive impression, but is deep enough to cause one to assess upwards the impact the film has had, days and weeks later.

GRADE: A-.

Trader Joe's Now Open Until 10pm!

One of the biggest benefits of living in Los Angles just got better. Trader Joe's has extended its hours: it's now open from 9am until 10pm!

The Day The Music (Industry) Died

The best rock band in the world, Radiohead, has announced that their next album will be available starting October 10th from a website, http://www.inrainbows.com/ and the price of the album is a sliding scale: whatever you, the purchaser/fan would like to pay for it! (There is a $1 credit card processing fee.)



The band, which has twice been nominated for the Best Grammy album (1998's OK Computer, 2000's Kid A) is widely regarded as one of the most influential music makers in pop/rock today.



Earlier in the summer Prince made headlines when he gave away copies of his latest album to 3 million readers of a Sunday British tabloid newspaper.

99 Cent iPhones In Los Angeles

The 99 Cent Only stores have an ad in today's Los Angeles Times advertising a promotion to sell 4 GB Apple iPhones for 99 cents to the first 9 people in line when it's Westchester, CA store opens on Thursday August 9th, the 25th anniversary of the date the store opened for the first time. The owners of the stores, Jim Gold and his wife Sherry will be in attendance at Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tyra Banks (sic) have been invited to attend, along with a few thousand iPhone-hungry Angelenos!

Prince Gives Away 3 Million Copies Of Latest CD

Prince gave away 3 million copies of his latest album, Planet Earth, last Sunday with the Sunday edition of the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday. Representatives of the music industry are not pleased: "The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores," said Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association.

However, Time magazine calls it a briliant move.

In a world where free usually means worthless, many in the industry can't stomach the idea that one day consumers could pick up the new Eminem album with every packet of M&M's. But one man's freebie is another man's fortune. Prince was reportedly paid $500,000 over and above the royalties for each CD — typically around 10%. Considering that his last album, 3121, sold only 80,000 copies in the U.K., this deal may have earned him more than eight times as much. Plus, Planet Earth — which has gotten fairly good reviews so far — is now in the hands of thousands of people who may never have thought to buy it. Maybe they like what they hear ... and maybe they want more. They'll have to settle for buying up his back catalog, because the 21 shows he's playing in London in August and September are already sold out. Naturally, he's giving away a copy of the album with every ticket (a trick he pulled with Musicology back in 2004).

For its part, the Mail on Sunday printed, and sold, an extra 600,000 copies in addition to the 2.3 million they usually sell every week. Advertisers find it hard to resist those kinds of sums. And according to managing director Stephen Miron, his office has been flooded with calls from other artists wanting in on the action (as for who, he won't tell). "They are saying they think this is a much more effective and efficient way of building up their business."