Le Show; 2009-03-01

From deep inside your radio. Ladies and gentlemen, Marty Gras is of course way well over now, but having experienced it firsthand. Back in the home of the homeless, back in the showroom, World Headquarters, just a thought about that event. People say about New Orleans that there is no organizational ability there, that there's minimal work ethic, that people have no clue about, you know, deadlines, real world deadlines. And then you, if you experience carnival there on any level other than the pure tourist level and you see the, the layers of the way the city celebrates this event, which goes on for about three and a half weeks all in.

And you realize that most of the people involved not only put their own money into it, there is no commercial sponsorship of Marty Gras, there's no Budweiser float, there's no Kodak float, there's nothing except what people put in from their own pockets. But they spend much of the year, if not most of the year, if not all of the year. Fixing for it, preparing for it, planning for it, sowing, bejeweling, beating costumes, designing floats, again, without the help of, you know, any industry or commercial sponsor. And you know, the floats, the parades have to start, well, you know, they don't necessarily start right on time, but they do have to, to roll on the point of day. So there is great organizational ability and work ethic and deadline meeting in New Orleans. And if it were devoted to, let's say, the making of money, New Orleans would be, if not

New York, at least Atlanta, but unfortunately, it's just devoted to making people happy. On that subject, here is Robert Gibbs of the, he's the press spokesman for the Obama administration. This was at a media briefing, I believe Wednesday or Thursday of this week. And it was the last question asked in an hour long briefing. And just as it was being asked, the last news cable network covering the press briefing bailed out. Because you know, it was near the top of the hour and Andrew Mitchell had to say goodbye. So viewers on television, even in New Orleans, never got to hear the answer, which was, to the question, which was, what's the administration doing about recovery in New Orleans, spending

all this money on infrastructure and all this, but none of it, for that. And here is press secretary, Robert Gibbs, complete answer for your listening pleasure. I think the, the last week the president extended a Gulf Coast recovery office that's important in taking steps involving our Katrina relief efforts throughout the Gulf Coast. And I know that there are some cabinet secretaries that will make trips to the region as early as next week to look at progress or lack thereof that's being made regarding that recovery. The president obviously is deeply concerned about ensuring that the federal government keeps its commitment to rebuild not only New Orleans, but the Gulf Coast that we keep

the commitments that have been made. And I think federal funding is one thing that both the president and Louisiana's governor agree on as a release step. Thanks guys. Oh, he flees. Obviously deeply concerned, hence the multiple us. And nothing about the fact that, oh, there's one of mine, that as of last Friday, the levy commission in New Orleans had called the city's attention and the government's attention to the fact that the core of engineers was already cutting corners on its new more robust plan for flood protection levies, claiming money troubles, truth and advertising, latest gentlemen, oh, speaking of which, it, uh, it does seem as if the advertising industry

is bending over backwards to say, don't believe a word we say. I point to no more obvious example than the current ad campaigns for banks. Now that yeah, they're spending plenty of money flying private jets and sending people to, uh, plush vacations, but apparently no money for new ad campaigns that would seem a little bit more relevant, uh, given the current circumstances, the way certain brokerage firms are doing, hey, in these tough times, you got to call us, no, you have bank of America still promoting itself as bank of opportunity. When the main opportunity involved is the one they're taking advantage of to get federal funds and my favorite is city group, which calls itself city, CITI in the commercials, talking about your dreams, your dream of the future, your dream of success, new dream

of this, new dream of that, and making those dreams possible is city's job because city never sleeps, city never sleeps. Of course not. That's in a freaking call, my hello, welcome to the show. It's her, she didn't see me, behind window beam, explaining patient lady, how she needs to see six forms of ID, oh tell me now, who do you love, who do you love, who can you trust with the love these days, you'll learn to haze, you'll learn to haze, quarter

to four, the light still out the door, I can see in her eyes, she's heard it all before, she's looking alright, despite the bright fluorescent lights, and I wonder what she's like when she gets home at night, oh tell me now, who do you love, who do you love, who can you trust with your love these days, you'll learn to haze, you'll learn to haze, it comes to me suddenly, springing for eternity, the hours passed and days gone by, oh

It really should, to cross that line, to get inside A little more time, and now the girl is mine I hit her with my very best pick-up line She puts down my file, stares at me while

And I swear I see her crack a little smile I'll tell me now, who will you love? Who can you trust with your love these days? I'll tell me now, who will you love? Who can you trust with your love these days? You're on the haze You're on the haze You're on the haze You're on the haze From the edge of America, from the home of the homeless I'm Harry Sheerah welcoming you to this edition of the show Speaking of truth and advertising

The Pentagon's weapons tester Says he doesn't have high confidence That the Boeing companies managed US missile defense That's our missile defense That's effective against even a rudimentary missile from North Korea That's some defense Testing against the possible trajectories and altitudes of a North Korean missile has been limited And hasn't generated enough data to run the thousands of computer simulations needed to predict performance That's from Charles McQuirey in his annual report to Congress Additional test data under realistic conditions is necessary to increase confidence The key phrase there would be under realistic conditions That hasn't been done yet All right, so relax. It's fine. Everything's fine And now, speaking of things that are aloft

Tales of airport security, speaking of high confidence First from Karen, a listener to this broadcast, but let's listen to her anyway Karen writes with some brevity Did I know of the little glass cubicle for women wearing long skirts? No. Call me naive Mr. TSA officer with Tom Up just shared the universal stop While warm air blew up my skirt I was wearing no underwear As I cleared and walked into the secure waiting area

I noticed the second floor windows overlooking the walkway Filling with smiling men I smiled back And this from the Guardian of London Regarding the British low-fair airline EasyJet EasyJet has a rule. Its website and tickets insist all passengers provide photographic ID at check-in on all flights including domestic services So when Arnie Wilson, a magazine editor, turned up at Gatwick Airport this month for a flight to Edinburgh He realized he had neither his passport nor his driving license He could confirm the requirements for photo ID But as Wilson started the panic and make plans to have his passport couriered from home They offered a helpful and alternative

He could make his own They suggested I go to the railway station within the terminal by a season ticket and with it get a photo card Which they'd then accept as an ID Wilson said in fact it was even easier and didn't cost a penny The railway gave me a photo card and sent me upstairs to the public photo booth I asked if I needed to come back to the ticket office with the photos They said no, I should just fill in the card myself then seal down the plastic covering The airline accepted the do-it-yourself identity without question Wilson added I couldn't believe it. What's the point of EasyJet asking for photo ID if you can get it done like this And their staff even tell you how to do it Obviously it was only a domestic flight but then so were all the planes hijacked on 9-11 Wilson ads A spokesman for the airlines and the requirements for photo ID was introduced to enhance security after 9-11 But that rail photo cards are acceptable on domestic flights even though the airline's website doesn't say so

Check and staff also have extensive training and assessing whether a passenger is a security risk the spokesman said Unlike in the United States, British Airlines are under no legal requirement to ask for photo ID on domestic flights The carriers have decided their own policy British Airways asks for no photo ID at all So anyone can fly on that airline using a made-up name at a stroke rendering all security watch lists of suspected terrorists useless The British Home Office denies there's a problem arguing that even if suspected terrorists did board domestic flights Airports scanners meant they would only be they would not be unable to carry on weapons so they would quote Only have their bare hands, unquote

Tales of airport security ladies and gentlemen copyrighted feature of this broadcast And now News from outside the bubble Oh, this is so rich so rich and hardy sit down Iraq's electricity minister Karim Waheed has invited France to help Iraq build a nuclear power plant No, no, no, it's for civilian use only you know that This is three decades after Paris constructed a reactor near Baghdad that was bombed by the Israelis I'm willing to enter into contacts with the French nuclear agency to start to build a nuclear power plant because the future is nuclear

Iraq's electricity minister this is my perspective did he say nuclear or unclear it's nuclear By coming here is to tell French companies the time has come come and invest French president Sarkozy told the joint news conference with the Iraqi prime minister And by the way the Iraqi government last year sold and transported Uranium concentrate or yellow cake ring a bell to Canada We no longer need this material said the Iraqi government spokesman at the time by the way Iraq still has to clean up the last radioactive waste at its former plant destroyed three decades ago don't you know From the independent London Britain faces fresh accusations that it colluded in the rendering sorry the rendition

And the alleged torture of a second British resident now being held at Guantanamo Bay the new claims bring further pressure on government ministers to come clean about the scale of the government's complicity In rendition and torture of dozens of terror suspects captured by the Americans Case comes after that of Binyam Mohamed released from Gitmo last week and whose claims of UK involvement in his torture are being investigated by the British Attorney General And now allegations made by shock air Amar the final British resident at Gitmo raised concerns that both British spy agencies MI5 and MI6 were widely involved in the US rendition and torture program Amar says he was renditioned from the Pakistani border to Afghanistan where he claims he was tortured He was passed by Pakistani groups to the northern alliance who sold him to the Americans the CIA arranged for his detention in Afghanistan and transferred to Guantanamo He has the two British officers a man and a woman interrogated him after he'd been subjected to beatings and sleep deprivation by the Americans while being held at prison in Kandahar A few weeks later he says the British officer was present while he was being tortured by CIA agents in an interrogation cell at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan

This time he says a British man called Sean who introduced himself as being from British intelligence was in the room when his head was repeatedly bounced against the wall and he was told he was going to die Amar's statement will be used in a court challenge against the British government to force government ministers to release information about his detention and interrogation in 2002 British government has always denied using torture or helping others use it but a series of embarrassing revelations have shown the public may not have been told the whole truth When is the public told the whole truth I would ask but that's just me from Asia times online Karachi the Pakistani government's peace agreement last week with militants in the SWAT Valley followed by ceasefires all across the tribal areas in the formation of a United Pakistani tribal front of Mujahideen to reinforce the Taliban's battle in Afghanistan We're just the first seed sewn for the failure of the US plans for the region

The developments Pakistan will conclusively end the political package drawn up in 2007 by Saudi Arabia, the US and Britain and implemented through February's 2008 elections in Pakistan to install a consensus government of liberal and secular political parties to provide possible support for the war on terror This all comes as the Pakistani Supreme Court ruled that the opposition leader a former two-time prime minister could not run for parliament as a result of an old criminal conviction the court also disqualified his brother The decision sets the scene for political turmoil and unrest and a major challenge to the one-year-old government of Pakistan within hours of the disqualifications violent street protests forced the government to impose governor's rule in Punjab for two months, but that's okay, it's just two months But more ladies and gentlemen, as noted, the British citizen subject, sorry, they're not citizens, they're subjects

Now being held at Gitmo was formally held at Bagram, that's the other Gitmo in Afghanistan and the independent of London reports that less than a month after signing an executive order to close Gitmo President Obama has quietly agreed to keep denying the right to trial to hundreds more terrorist suspects held at Bagram In a single sentence answer filed with the Washington Court, the administration dashed hopes who would immediately rip up bush-era policies that have kept more than 600 prisoners and legal limbo, not limbo And in rudimentary conditions at the Bagram airbase, human rights groups say they are increasingly concerned that the use of extrajudicial methods in Afghanistan could be extended rather than curtailed Under the US administration, the airbase is about to undergo a $60 million expansion that will double its size, meaning it can house five times as many prisoners as remain at Guantanamo Staff from the International Red Cross Human Rights Groups and journalists have been barred from Bagram where former prisoners say they were tortured by being shackled to the ceiling of isolation cells and deprived of sleep

The base first became notorious when two Afghan inmates died after the use of such techniques in 2002 Treatment and conditions have been improved since then the Red Cross issued a formal complaint to the US government Two years ago about harsh treatment of prisoners held in isolation for months, the justification for not applying the same closed down at Guantanamo to Bagram, the Justice Department says Bagram is a special case, unlike Guantanamo, it is cited within a theater of war Of course, the Bush administration claimed the whole world was a theater of war because the war on terror had no boundaries From Reuters, Dayline London, the British government refused this week to publish records of cabinet discussions on the legality of evading Iraq in 2003 despite a court ruling last month that it must release them Justice Secretary Jack Straw used a ministerial veto, who knew, to block the request made under the Freedom of Information Act, he says the release of the records would, quote, in my judgment, risk serious damage to cabinet government, unquote, i.e. the ruling party

The decision to take military action has been examined with a fine toothed comb, we've been held to account for it in this house, meaning Parliament and elsewhere, straw said, but the duty to advance that interest further cannot supplant the public interest in maintaining the integrity of our system of government Unquote publication of the documents says Reuters could have embarrassed Prime Minister Tony Brown, whose predecessor Tony Blair was accused by critics of glossing over his lawyer's initial reservations about the legality of launching the invasion that overthrew Hussein Previously released documents have shown that the Attorney General had cast doubt on the legal grounds for war days before Blair ordered British troops in The minutes of cabinet meetings are normally kept secret for 30 years, so stay healthy and stick around And finally, from outside the bubble latest gentleman from the telegraph, British newspaper, more than 60 popular over-the-counter medicines, some specifically labeled for children, will be marked with warnings that they must not be given to children

Under six and are not recommended for children under 12, so I guess they're for children over 12 In an unprecedented move, British government safety regulators will advise that the dangers posed by over-the-counter cough and cold remedies outweigh any benefits Several children have died from overdoses of the medicines, others have suffered hallucinations, allergic reactions, and other side effects The alert centers on 15 ingredients found in most cough and cold medicines, many of which have been used by drug companies for years The deaths of at least five children under two have been linked to the remedies, more than 100 serious cases of suspected adverse reactions have been reported with children requiring hospital treatment Five products aimed at children younger than two have already been withdrawn from the market The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, MHRA, said a review of 69 cough and cold remedies for children had, quote, found no robust evidence that these medicines work and gave warning that they can cause side effects, such as allergic reaction, effects on sleep or hallucinations

Parents sometimes miscalculate the dose, give additional doses or combine products containing similar ingredients Reports submitted to regulators show that when cases involving children of all ages are considered, dozens have died after taking medication containing the ingredients, and more than 3,000 people have reported adverse reactions DiFenhydramin was mentioned in reports of 27 deaths while chlorphenamine and ingredient in Tix-Lix, cough and cold were mentioned in reports of 11 deaths, stay away from Tix-Lix Parents will be advised to give temperature lowering, lowering drugs To children with colds and to use a simple cough syrup containing glycerol, honey or lemon, with vapor rubs for a stuffy nose

A consultant in emergency medicine says of the remedies the names are confusing and often sound very innocuous, Tix-Lix The dangers are only in small print and on top of the risks there is no evidence that any of these products do any good Dr. Hermione Lyall, consultant pediatrician says these drugs carry a number of risks they can affect the heart, speeding it up or down Oh, you don't want it's bed down, and they can even affect the central nervous system leading to convulsions Coughs and colds will run their course and if you're going to use any medication, it's better to rely on ibuprofen to reduce the child's temperature That course that's only happening, that only happens in Britain Here we're fine, news from outside the bubble latest gentleman at Copyrighted feature this broadcast Don't leave me no more, won't you come back home, won't you come back home, baby, baby, come back home

Can anybody of me do without you, no, no, no, won't you come back home, baby, baby, let me praise it All this thing we've read, every, every, every name of y'all Oh, you, yeah I got in bed, like a dream in gold So it won't rob me, don't need me no more Yeah! Won't you come back home, won't you come back home?

Baby, baby, come back home, when anybody can't use that. Don't know, won't you come back home, baby, baby, Let me pray that all this thing will run. Get me, baby, baby, laying on your own. I don't get it. I ain't bad, like I told you before. So in love, don't leave me no more. Leave me no more, don't leave me no more. Leave me no more, don't leave me no more. Come on, baby, come on, baby, come on, baby. Oh, yeah.

This is Lesho, joining New Orleans and saying goodbye to Snoke's England. And speaking of New Orleans, the Senate Natural Disaster Recovery Subcommittee this week gave a little assessment of how FEMA did, how FEMA is doing, specifically the Subcommittee found eight fundamental problems with FEMA's response to housing difficulties after the flooding and the thing. And they're, you know, they're cute little problems. FEMA had no operational catastrophic disaster plan. FEMA's programs were insufficient to meet housing needs in post-catastrophic events. FEMA's decisions to reject other options resulted in heavy reliance on costly trailers and mobile homes. And by the way, not only costly but toxic. Legal interpretations eliminated housing options. FEMA's programs were marked by frequent changes in errors. FEMA had insufficient and poorly trained staff. The needs of renters were not met and flawed FEMA public assistance programs blocked state and local governments

for restoring public services needed for housing recovery. Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, FEMA's doing fine. I like the last one. FEMA's blocked state and local response. So it's not only they couldn't do it, but they kept staying local governments from doing it. That's called a complete approach. Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is a sad weekend for me because a voice that has been in my life pretty much all my life has been stilled. And it requires, especially for a public radio audience, which may just be depending on the obituaries that have appeared. It may require a little time to go into the voices that of the legendary, as he's been called almost everywhere, a broadcaster, Paul Harvey. And I'll just take just, you know, at random, the Los Angeles dog trainers, obituary, which borrows heavily on that of the Associated Press, but you know, they're down staffing.

Actually, it was, I think the New York Times that, first of all, they called him a talk radio pioneer. Now, Paul Harvey's broadcast had almost nothing except political slant in common with those of practitioners of modern talk radio. They're on for three hours a day, ad-libbing, blustering, denouncing opponents in the most fiery terms. Paul Harvey was on for at most 15 minutes a day, wrote every word, he spoke. And even though you, you, as well as I might have disagreed with an awful lot of his opinions, he, especially in this, his last two or three decades, he was on the air for 50 years. Took a relatively respectful approach towards those who disagreed with him.

Anyway, here's, here's the dog trainer. A quoting Michael C. Keith, communications professor at Boston College, quoting from an interview with him in 2001 back when the Times had more of a staff. Part of Harvey's enduring appeal, Keith said, was his writing style. Once it came on the air, he was just irresistible. He really had you from the moment he said, page one, unquote, Keith and the dog trainer. Ladies and gentlemen, as someone who listened to Paul Harvey pretty much every day for, as I say, my whole life, towards he never uttered were page one. He said page two, page three and page four. He never said page one. Page one was the beginning of his show. He didn't say it.

Here's a, here's the newspaper, quoting a professor, saying he had you from the moment he said, page one, which moment never existed. So you need a little, and an awful lot of the obituaries quoted also the associated presses dating of the first moment that Paul Harvey was not reliably conservative. The moment when he came out publicly against the Vietnam War to 1970. Now they may be right. The AP may be right. But as a listener, I recall it being earlier, I recall Paul Harvey coming out against the most media observers have credited a Walder Krunkite with turning, starting to turn American public opinion against the Vietnam War. My recollection was that it was 1968 when Paul Harvey first began turning against the war coincidentally with I think the time that his son turned draft age, but okay, whatever it takes. And his, his audience was huge, but predominant in the Midwest, the most and the South, the most pro war parts of the country up to that point. Of course, there were ironies galore in Paul Harvey's approach.

He, he loved to, to position himself as a spokesperson for what he called the nine tents of the country that's still country, even though his headquarters was not in desplanes Illinois or Otama, Iowa, he was in Chicago. And last time I looked, that's a pretty big city, but he was a brilliant broadcaster and certainly more surprising at times than you would think. Here are a couple little samples of Harvey's approach. The first one is just a little news popery from back in 1963, listen with particular care to the last two items for a suggestion of exactly how good we are looking into the future and how bad we are at remembering the past. In Nashville, Tennessee, Albert Henry Stone fell asleep at the wheel and his car ran through a busy intersection and jumped the curb and tore down a fence and bounced all three buildings before it sold out. You know Henry's unhurt, but awake.

Another thing you might have missed is an old on a placemat in a restaurant in Coutington, Kentucky, which says quote, 4,076 people last year died of gas. 29 inhaled it, 47 put a match to it and 4,000 stepped on it. In a car wreck northwest of London, England, the Duchess of Bedford has suffered a concussion and her 20 year old daughter is all terribly smashed up. In Tampa, Florida, President Kennedy predicts that you and I will fly routinely, you and I will fly in space at 15,000 miles an hour. He predicts metro planes taking off from the downtown heart of a city, from the crowded center of the city within 11 years. Baghdad, another scalp on Nasser's belt, the government of Iraq has been seized by that nation's armed forces. They've thrown out the bath party and they're moving out of merge with Syria and the UAR. Yeah, that worked out well.

You can hear just in that little snippet part of what was sort of hypnotizing, mesmerizing to me the way this guy with a remarkable voice used every part of his range. But he was also famous, not just for when he talked, he was famous for his pauses. And he said in an interview that they were not deliberate, they were accidental. I once had the privilege of attending one of his broadcasts, the Chicago desk arranged it on my first visit to Chicago. And here was this guy with this big and sometimes when he wanted to be kind of stern voice, famously pouring through the radio. But at the time he was also doing a little TV commentaries and he was about as he did his big noon news program to go off to tape his TV commentary.

And so I was treated to the spectacle of this big, serious, sometimes stern, sometimes jovial voice coming from a body encased in a powder blue makeup smock. As visible as that might have been, it wasn't nearly as visible as this moment back from the days when his show like so many others had a live in studio announcer. The lady who was shopping for a frilly night down as a birthday present for her pet poodle. They didn't have any of the store clerk said if you'll measure the dog will have one made and the lady said, oh, I couldn't do that. I wanted to be a surprise, page two. One of the most spectacular kinds of automobile accidents is the one in which a car not only gets magged up and put very soon to flames. One makes it really horrible is the idea that a driver in his passenger is stunned by the accident, maybe trapped inside the burning car.

The National Safety Council says that fortunately for most of us, this type of spectacular smash up is very rare. Only one night, mother. The thing is, tons of people inside of car. Someday just. Time now once again for Paul Harvey news. And what more can I say than Paul Harvey. Good day. As I say, he was. For most of his career, a conservative, most of his opinions were conservative and and yet he was capable of of some surprises, not even including the opposition to the Vietnam War.

Here's a surprising example now. The rest of the story. Away from the headlines and the television cameras. Down in the shadowy realms where US foreign policy shakes hands with the devil. There will forever be a fascination with the case that we're about to discuss about a handful of Americans living overseas. Acting independently, perhaps, and for their own reasons. Or perhaps the United States government did itself carefully, quietly, engineer. The overthrow of a friendly monarchy. The kingdom's queen surely suspected the latter. The queen wasn't able to demonstrate her. Although having ascended her throne only a year previous, her hold on the government was less firm than it might have been. It was on the evening of January 16th that her people peer up from behind cracked doors and disbelief to witness the invasion of American troops.

Now this is something you never saw on the six o'clock news. But there in part is the evidence for intentional seizure by the United States. Now wait a minute. We now know that American foreign minister John Stevens called in the Marines. Not it would seem on orders from our president, but he called in the Marines at the request of a small group of American businessmen who resided in that foreign country. In fact, it appears these businessmen had been plotting the overthrow of this government for almost a year. The queen they said had been uncooperative. To independent, they said, of American concern. There will always be those who insist there was a conspiracy that the United States had plotted for years to bring this kingdom under its control that the businessmen were simply part of the plot by the neither case. The invading American troops, regardless of whose orders brought them in from the USS Boston that day, were now quartered at Ariane Hall in the nation's capital, only a short distance from the Royal Palace. Directly across the street from Ariane Hall was the government building which in hours would be seized and occupied by the American businessmen.

From there, they would demand the queen's application. They would declare martial law. American foreign minister Stevens would respond by giving diplomatic recognition to the kingdom's new government. And before any of the queens subjects could fully grasp the significance of what was happening, it would have happened. One moment their country's flag was flying over the government building and the next moment the stars and stripes. The president of the United States, while refusing officially to declare the kingdom in American possession, nonetheless also refused to assist the queen in restoring her monarchy. And within five years her original native born subjects were a minority in their own country. What you've just witnessed is the death of a nation, January 1893, away from the headlines and the TV cameras, down in the shadowy realms where US foreign policy shakes hands with the devil. There was a military overthrow.

And if swaying fronds and soft music have somehow perfumed the unhappy past, don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot where ruled a capable and dignified queen named Liliokil on it. It was a kingdom of islands called Hawaii. Now you know the rest of the story. And yes, he invented the concept of a supposed journalist who also sometimes called himself an historian and sometimes talk like a preacher doing his own commercials, paving the way for Charles Osgoode and, yes, Charlie Rose, Paul Harvey. Good day. And now ladies and gentlemen, the apologies of the week. A statement from Rupert Murdoch speaking of journalism giants.

As the chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what's printed in its pages. The buck stops with me. Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today, I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended and even insulted. Over the past couple of days, I have spoken to a number of people and I now better understand the hurt this cartoon has caused. At the same time, I've had conversations with post editors about the situation. I can assure you without a doubt that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such. We owed all the readers of the New York Post and high regard and I promise you that I will seek to be more retuned to the sensitivities of our community. I, please don't stop buying our paper. We're losing enough money. By the way, Rupert, I have your Christmas gift here if you want to pick it up. Here's an apology issued this week by Reveley, the company behind the TV show The Biggest Loser. As executive producers of The Biggest Loser, we would like to make an official apology and set the record straight with regards to the claim in last night's episode. The Dane Patterson completed a marathon on Arizona. After seeing on various online blogs that this information may be inaccurate, we investigated that and found that Dane had not indeed completed the marathon. Unated.

He ran the first 17 miles before receiving a ride from the field producer for three miles before rejoining the race at the 20 mile mark where a punny completed the race. We've taken the necessary action to ensure there is no future misrepresentations. There is no future misrepresentations. Good English babe. And sincerely apologize for misleading our loyal viewers. And it was certainly not our intent, but an unwitting mistake and a run on sentence. Dane himself says I always intended to run the full marathon. I'm proud of the feat of running 26 miles in one day. I apologize for stating I ran the entire marathon before I actually ran the whole 26 because he went back and finished the last three miles later that day with his wife and cousin Blaine. Dane Lundin, Bishop Richard Williamson, formerly excommunicated member of the Society of St. Pius X apologize this week for statements in which he denied the extent of the Holocaust in a statement published on his return to London after being expelled by the government of Argentina.

And you've got to be kind of a bad dude to be expelled by Argentina, don't you? I mean, weren't a lot of Nazis happy there for a long time? The Bishop said the Holy Father in my superior requested that I reconsider their marks. I made unsweetish television four months ago because their consequences have been so heavy. These remarks were basically to deny that Jews were gassed. But the Bishop continued observing these consequences. I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice, under the Third Reich, I would not have made them. To all souls that took on a scandal from what I said before God, I apologize. Vatican said the apology was not good enough to admit him into the Catholic Church as a clergyman.

Try crawling on broken glass, would you? The Atlanta former police officer tearfully apologized for his role in an elderly Atlanta woman shooting death during a botched drug raid. This is your brain on the war on drugs, and another told a judge he prays daily for the victim. Victim's dead. I used to think I was a good person, ex-cop Greg. Junie said before breaking down on the witness stand during a sentencing hearing. Junie and two other ex-offers Arthur Tesla and Jason Smith face prison in connection with the drug raid that left 92-year-old, 92-year-old Catherine, Johnston, dead in a hail of gunfire. She must have been packing. Vestigators later determined the raid was based on falsified paperwork, stating that illegal drugs were present in the home, the killing prompted a major overhaul of the Atlanta police drug unit. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian. See, I always dreamed of living in a world where that would be a commonly acceptable phrase, reality TV star.

By the way, she's also the daughter of OJs. Best friend. She is issued an apology for posting insensitive pictures of her family posing with their new pet chimpanzee in the same week a woman was brutally mauled by a crazed ape. She's posed with her mother Chris, sisters Chloe and Courtney all spelled with Kays. Yeah, it's cute. Sure. What's your point for the picture along with their three-year-old chimps Susie. The Simblings rented the chimp for a week as a prank on their mom, but their laughs were short lived when critics lashed out at Kim who posted the snap stays after a 14-year-old 200-pound chimp left a 55-year-old Connecticut woman near dead. Kardashian says, I understand why timing was not appropriate and it was insensitive of me. I guess timing is not something you have when you're a reality TV star. Dateline Gu Zhao China, provincial governor apologized for China's worst industrial accident in a year, a sobbing relatives of the 74 coal miners killed in the underground explosions finished identifying the bodies Tuesday.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a law firm, said it will conduct layoffs after the legal blog above the law reported an anonymous tipsters detailed description of a loud cell phone conversation in a public place between two senior managers regarding the layoffs. Quote, we apologize for the unfortunate manner in which our deliberations about reductions have become public said the law firm. It's an unfortunate fact and today's economy that no business or law firm can rule out adjustments to their overall workforce levels. Gotta keep the doughboys. Oh, that's a different Pillsbury. Northern Trust Bank, which has come under fire for its entertainment spending at a recent golf tournament, said that it plans to repay the approximately 1.5 billion received from the US government in November as quickly and prudently as possible. The Chicago-based bank, which caters to the wealthy, as Willie Sutton famously didn't say, because that's where the money is.

Also said it would ensure the future entertaining will be appropriate given the current environment. Northern made the remarks in a letter to legislators about its entertainment spending at the Northern Trust Open, including hundreds, flying hundreds of clients and employees to LA putting some up at Ritzi Hotels and hiring headline entertainers, including Cheryl Crow and Chicago. We deeply regret that some of the events associated with the Northern Trust Open have distracted from the positive nature. An event that has raised more than 50 million for charities, a chief executive, Frederick Wadel. Santa Clara University officials issued apologies to Gonzaga University a day after Santa Clara fans through debris on the floor, laid in the fourth quarter of the men's basketball game. Unfortunately, the behavior of a few of the students not only marred the game, but contributed to the outcome in embarrassed the university, said the athletic director Dan Coonan. He added he apologized to the coach of Gonzaga and the athletic director. We're taking this incident very seriously. A Miami child welfare judge drew the eye of his boss and the judiciary and the local children's advocates when he told a 15-year-old runaway foster child she would end up a toothless, dead crack or, if she didn't mend her ways.

The next day after that, the chief juvenile court judge Cindy Letterman brought the girl back to court when two attorneys who had been in court the day before complained about that judge's comments, Letterman apologized to the girl. That should never have happened. I am so sorry, said the chief judge. Date like Charleston, the executive director of state church group is criticized the American tort reform association spokesman for comments related to the Holocaust he made to West Virginia newspaper, the spokesman quickly apologized for the remarks. The tort reform group said like Holocaust deniers West Virginia's hell hold deniers because it calls the tort situation in West Virginia a judicial hell. Are all free to pretend there's nothing wrong said the tort reform associations spokesperson now apologizing. The president of Guatemala this week formally apologized to the victims of the country's 1960 through 1996 Civil War 10 years after a US UN sponsored report came out on the atrocities largely committed by the military.

And deadline Los Alamedos California, the mayor of Los Alamedos says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an email picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title no Easter egg hunt this year. Los Alamedos mayor Dean Gross issued an statement saying he is sorry and will step down as mayor of the town best known for its quarter horse racing track. The apologies of the week ladies and gentlemen a copyrighted feature of this broadcast. By the way news of inspector generals they treasurer departments inspector general said.

Treasurer department right regulator should have seen that the Indie Mac bank was built on a house of cards shaky loans based on inflated property values. Never too late latest gentlemen that concludes this week's edition of the show the program returns next week at the same time over these same stations over NPR Worldwide throughout Europe on the USN 440 cable system in Japan around the world of the facilities of the American forces network up down the east coast of North America via the shortwave giant WBCQ the planet 7.4.5 megahertz shortwave on the 904 in Berlin. Around the world via the Internet at two different locations live and archived on your computer whenever you want at Harry Shira.com and KCRW.com available all day Sunday via streaming audio. That you can find at public radio fan.com available as a free download to members at www.autable.com slash the show and available as a free podcast at KCRW.com.

And it be just like regulators recognizing a house of cards when they see one if you agree to join with me then would you already thank you very much well they look like very sturdy cards I guess. A typical of show shoppo to the San Diego Pittsburgh Hawaii and Chicago desks. The email address for this broadcast and information on the music heard here on only part of the panoply of features offered at the always evolving and yet intelligently designed Harry Shira.com and thanks as always to Pam Hallstead. Actually some of the sturdiest houses are build of cards but only face cards. The show comes to you from century progress productions and originates through the facilities of KCRW Santa Monica community recognized around the world as the home of the homeless.