This weekend, our nation will celebrate the 233rd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The day is usually marked with cookouts, fireworks, red-white-and-blue bunting, and patriotic displays that entertain both kids and grown-ups alike. If you can’t make it to our Nation’s Capital this weekend for the fun, check out what you can do in your own backyard…
Gatlinburg Midnight Independence Day Parade – Join 100,000 spectators for this decades-old parade, led by a reenactment of FDR’s presidential motorcade of 1940. Floats, bands, balloons and other entertainments will follow the motorcade, and pre-parade festivities will also be available.
Let Freedom Sing! In Nashville – Head to Riverfront Park in Nashville for a full day of concerts, entertainments and family fun. The grand finale is a show-stopping fireworks display, accompanied by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.
Pops on the River, Chattanooga – Coolidge Park is the site of a festive 4th of July concert in Chattanooga. Visitors can bring lawn chairs and blankets, and food is available on site.
Memphis has so many local July 4th festivities planned that there’s an entire list of them here, at About.com
Jonesborough Days – July 3-5 marks this historic town’s festival, called “Red Rockets, White Lies and Bluegrass.” More than 30,000 people come to enjoy this party each year.
Smithville Fiddler’s Jamboree and Crafts Festival – The 38th annual Jamboree and Festival are July 3-4. Musicians, craftspeople and spectators from around the world come to celebrate our nation’s birthday in this small southern town.
Today, Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail, the maximum penalty, for bilking thousands of people out of billions of dollars over the past few decades. Since Madoff is already 71 years old, the sentence will ensure that he dies in prison (unless he finds a fountain of youth or something, in which case he’ll still spend more time in jail than he’s already spent on this earth).
In court for his sentencing, Madoff was face-to-face with many of his victims, all of whom argued passionately to the judge that Madoff deserved the worst possible punishment. The judge, US District Judge Denny Chin, said that not one person had written a letter of support to the court regarding Madoff’s character, and he himself blasted Madoff for his behavior. From the nearly 9,000 people who have filed claims for losses from Madoff’s financial tricks, it is estimated that he took roughly $65 billion, living in luxury and avoiding scrutiny of his Ponzi scheme.
Madoff’s defense unsuccessfully argued that he deserved just a dozen years in jail. While he got the maximum sentence of 150 years, some say that there’s no punishment harsh enough for a man who stole so much from so many people. But whether there is such a thing as fair punishment in this case, one thing is true: Madoff will forever be a poster child for the greed and corruption that helped to bring the US economy into crisis.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner … or maybe it’s a loser.
The World’s Ugliest Dog was declared last week. His name is Pabst, and he’s a 4-year-old Boxer mix from California. Pabst beat out the former winner, a Chinese Crested named Rascal, to take the honor, the $1,600 prize money and the modeling contract with House of Dog. Check out some pics of the other contenders here .
What makes Pabst so ugly? His HUGE under bite, for starters. Overall, the dog looks just plain angry. He may not be a looker, but he’s one lucky pooch: Pabst was a rescue dog, a mutt picked up at the shelter by his owner, Miles Egstad. Yet another argument for skipping the puppy mills and pet shops and getting a dog from a shelter!
If you’re in the market for a dog (cute or otherwise), try your local adoption center . You’ll make a best friend for life and save a life in the process!
Remember Lynndie England? She was the Army Reservist pictured in the shocking 2004 photos of abuse that came out of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. England and others involved served jail time for the prisoner abuse scandal that rocked the world, but now, she’s on a book tour, hoping to tell her story and make a better life for herself and her 4-year-old son.
The Washington Postreports that England can’t get a job anywhere, despite sending out hundreds of resumes. She says that she’s recognized whenever she leaves the house, and that people point and whisper about her. When asked about the images taken of her in the prison, photos that include her holding a prisoner by a neck restraint, and one of her giving a thumbs-up and pointing to a naked prisoner’s genitals, she claims that she and the 10 other soldiers found guilty of misconduct were pawns. She said she was following orders from higher-ups on how to treat the prisoners, higher-ups who then let them take the fall when the photos were released. Prosecutors say otherwise, of course, and say that the prisoners in question weren’t even suspected terrorists.
England claims that she’s paid her dues and apologized for the incidents, saying that she was only in the photos for a second and that she wasn’t a vile torturer as many paint her. Her biography, Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World, was written by Gary Winkler, an author who admits that even he couldn’t decide whether he liked or hated England.
England appealed her conviction and will have another hearing in July. As for the court of public opinion, it remains to be seen whether she’ll be a monster or a victim in the eyes of those around her.
With all the legitimate and unexpected celebrity deaths in the past few weeks, it seems that some people are beginning to post celebrity death hoaxes online. Claiming that yet another famous person has met an untimely end can be great for driving traffic to a website or starting a Twitter frenzy, even if it’s not remotely true. So what’s real and what’s fiction among celebrity death reports? Let’s break it down:
We hope this has cleared up the rumors/questions about recent celebrity deaths. If you see a “tweet” about a celebrity death or receive a forwarded email about it, check news sites like www.CNN.com and hoax sites like www.snopes.com to verify before passing the news along.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc. (the company that makes iPods, iPhones, iTouches, and i-everything), was the “sickest patient on the waiting list” before his liver transplant, but now he’s doing well, according to Methodist University Hospital’s transplant institute in Memphis. Jobs had had liver cancer, but now, his prognosis is excellent, which is great considering that his status with Apple means that any illness for him can (and does) make Apple’s stock fall.
Probably because of the link between Jobs’s health and the company’s stock, news of Jobs’s health was kept fairly quiet while the latest iPhone successfully launched. Jobs had been on a medical leave of absence for several months leading up to the transplant, which happened sometime in April; the transplant was not reported until a week ago, at the end of the day that the iPhone 3G S came out. First the iPhone, then the news about the boss… Makes sense when you’re trying to make sure that hysteria over medical news won’t overshadow a new product release. The Wall Street Journal reports that Jobs will be back to work by the end of the month, which is good news for Apple and Apple-lovers worldwide. He might work part time at first, but that’s certainly better than not working at all. So kudos to the Memphis health care professionals who performed Jobs’s liver transplant and gave him the care he needed to recover!
The NBA Draft of 2009 has permeated the sports world over the past few days. While most people knew that Blake Griffin would be chosen first (and chosen he was, by the Clippers with their number one pick), some players fell down the list, while others moved up higher than expected. So who ended up on the Grizzlies’ roster?
The Memphis Grizzlies had the second overall pick in the draft, and with it, they took Hasheem Thabeet, the 7’3” center from UConn. They also had the 27th overall pick, with which they took DeMarre Carroll, the 6’8” forward who played for Vanderbilt, then Missouri. How were these picks received?
Mostly well, according to observers. The Memphis Commercial Appeal said that, while there was some debate over which player to take at number two, Thabeet’s name was met with cheers from most of the crowd. NBA.com calls Thabeet “an imposing physical specimen who protects the basket,” while describing Carroll as a “tenacious interior player with terrific physical ability.” The Grizzlies also took Sam Young, 6’6” forward from Pittsburgh, at pick number 36 (round two of the draft); he’s described as “an aggressive defender and rebounder.”
While the draft is never a perfect indication of a team’s performance in the coming seasons, it does seem that the Grizzlies got a couple of talented players who could contribute a lot to the team. Watch for the 2009-2010 NBA season, starting this fall, to see just how the team does on the court.
As you probably know (if you don’t live under a rock), Michael Jackson died yesterday at the age of 50. He was the King of Pop, the star beloved worldwide for his music despite his occasional eccentricities. As fans pay tribute to Jackson today, many are recalling similar tributes to other lost musicians, especially Tennessee’s own Elvis Presley.
Presley and Jackson have been compared in the past, but never more so than now. Both were the top of the music world in their time, both were the subject of countless rumors and speculations, both died too young (Elvis was 42 when he died in his Graceland mansion in 1977), and both inspired outpourings of grief around the world upon their sudden deaths. As the public waits for the autopsy results for Jackson, many can’t help but wonder whether the toxicology will indicate a drug-related death, which would be still another similarity to Elvis.
Jackson was even briefly married to Elvis’s daughter, Lisa Marie, in the 1990s. They divorced after less than two years of marriage, but Lisa Marie said in a statement that she is “sad and confused” at Jackson’s death, and that she is “heartbroken for his children.”
It is a tragedy to lose two of the brightest stars of American music far too young, first Elvis, now Michael Jackson. As the tributes continue, one can only hope that the celebration of Jackson’s life and music will help the grieving come to terms with his death.
I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt’s advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.
We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.
Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.
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