band silenced for wearing anti-bush t-shirts

what has happened to the "land of the brave, home of the free"? where did it go? aside: wonder if they would have had their power cut off if they'd been wearing pro-Bush t-shirts? or if they'd been wearing anti-Clinton t-shirts? of course not.

Tower City shuts off band for political T-shirts

A band wearing anti-President Bush T-shirts was silenced in mid-performance at Tower City Friday because the mall's management felt the band's attire was inappropriate.

Mifuné, an Afro-beat band, was performing as part of the Tri-C JazzFest when the sound was cut off about 20 minutes into the set on orders from Tower City management.

"They didn't like that all the band members wore a T-shirt with a picture of George Bush with a line through it," said band leader Jacob Fader, 28, of Cleveland Heights. "They said we either remove the shirts, turn them inside out, or get off the stage. I said that doing so would be against our core principles and free speech. We told the audience what happened from the stage after the microphones were cut. The crowd booed."

A spokesman for Tower City confirmed the action.

"We felt the band's attire was distracting and inappropriate," said Lisa Kreiger, Tower City general manager. "We welcome all the musical groups from the festival. The purpose of the show was to provide musical entertainment."
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the star spanglish banner?

waving the Mexican flag, messing with the US national anthem... someone is giving these folks some REALLY bad PR advice. unless it's part of some deliberate strategy to piss everyone off. these tactics may be a good way to vent immigrants' anger, but i don't think they're going to win many friends.

Spanish 'Star-Spangled Banner' Draws Ire
...
Bryanna Bevens of Hanford, Calif., who writes for the immigration-focused Web magazine Vdare.com, said the remix particularly upset her.

"It's very whiny. If you want to say all those things, by all means, put them on your poster board, but don't put them on the national anthem," she said.
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chimpy celebrates earth day

Bush dodges muddy obstacles in Earth Day bicycle ride
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, April 22, 2006
(04-22) 14:39 PDT LAS POSADAS STATE FOREST, Calif. (AP) --

President Bush marked Earth Day with a lung-busting mountain bike ride high above Napa County wine country, dodging {and also causing} ruts that sent several partners crashing into the mud.

The president spent Saturday morning with a small pack of riders in this foggy redwood forest about 90 minutes north of San Francisco. He relished the swampy conditions in the remote state-owned tract, returning repeatedly to huge puddles and streams running high after weeks of rain.
...

"We're able to enjoy the beauty without really disrupting the pristine nature of the place," the mud-splattered president said after the 65-minute ride. "It's a classic way for mankind to enjoy God's gift. Plus, we get some exercise."

The ride started at an elevation of about 1,700 feet above sea level and dropped steeply for several miles, prompting a bit of anxiety in the president. He is not accustomed to the sustained drops and climbs of California's mountains, having ridden mostly in the Washington, D.C., area and on his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

Riding Mountain Bike One — a blue and white Trek Fuel bicycle emblazoned with the presidential seal — Bush glided confidently over loose rocks and deep gullies carved by rain runoff. He recovered from a near spill on a fast downhill, but four riders behind him went down in a Tour de France-style pileup, leaving them caked with dirt.
...

The president set the pace throughout the ride, with four Air Force men, a White House legislative aide and Secret Service agents tightly bunched behind him. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., began the ride with the president, but quickly sensed he was not up for the rugged terrain and fast pace. He peeled off and pedaled solo.

"I'm used to riding in the flats," Lungren said later.

A long convoy of SUVs and off-road vehicles rumbled behind the group, carrying medics and security agents with machine guns.

One of the bicycle-borne agents had mapped out the route, and he alone knew where to turn when the road forked. Bush, however, made plain he was in charge. "Drop back," the commander in chief ordered the agent, with a thumb over his shoulder.

The president explained later that he cherishes both the solitude and the social aspect of mountain biking.

"Generally when I ride it's the one time when I feel alone, even though I know people are behind me," he said. "I ask people a lot of times not to be in my line of vision because all I can see straight ahead is, you know, space."

Often, he said, when he is riding with his usual group near Washington he plugs headphones into his ears and cranks up his iPod, "and it's like I'm alone."
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chimpy pushes to open nuke waste dump

proving once again that the public's safety is the last thing on the minds of the nuke proponents. all they care about is getting thru the "regulatory hurdles" as fast as possible. but SAFETY CANNOT BE RUSHED.


W. House to send Congress nuke storage legislation
Tue Apr 4, 1:50 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will send to Congress on Wednesday a legislative proposal designed to hasten the opening of the
Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site in Nevada, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said.

Bodman said the proposed legislation "will speed the process of opening the Yucca Mountain repository and make it an even more valuable national asset once it is up and running."

The contentious storage site is designed to hold the thousands of tons of spent fuel and other radioactive waste now at nuclear power plants around the country.

"The bill we are sending to Congress represents a serious effort on our part to remove a number of legal and regulatory barriers that we believe stand in the way of making timely progress toward completing and opening the Yucca Mountain repository," Bodman said.

Bodman announced the legislative proposal in a speech to the United States Energy Association's annual meeting.

Talking later with reporters, Bodman provided few details on the legislation. He refused to say for example when, or how much sooner, the legislation calls for opening the storage site.

But he did divulge that the measure did not seek to give the Energy Department the authority to open an interim above-ground storage site for the nuclear waste until the permanent Yucca Mountain site was ready.

The Energy Department was scheduled to hold a briefing with reporters on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the legislation.