marble falls
marble falls's JournalComedian Andy Kaufman 'faked his death', brother claims
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24939133
Cult comedy star Andy Kaufman faked his own death in 1984 and is still alive, his brother has claimed.
Comedian Andy Kaufman 'faked his death', brother claims
Andy Kaufman Kaufman's eccentric comedy act often incorporated elaborate pranks
Cult comedy star Andy Kaufman faked his own death in 1984 and is still alive, his brother has claimed.
Kaufman, best known for playing the incompetent Latka Gravas on the 1970s sitcom Taxi, officially died from lung cancer in 1984.
But, appearing at an award show named in Andy's honour, Michael Kaufman said he received a letter from his brother, confirming he was alive, in 1999.
He then introduced a woman who claimed to be Andy's 24-year-old daughter.
Her age would mean she was born five years after his death.
"He just wanted to be a stay-at-home dad, that's why he wanted to leave the showbiz," she explained at the New York event.
"He's pretty much a great dad, and raised us. My mom has her own business... He helps her with that kind of thing, paperwork and stuff, so he can work from home and he doesn't have to be hiding out [or] concealing himself."
"He just makes us food and takes care of the house."
It has since been claimed, however, that the mystery woman is in fact a New York actress whose father is a doctor.
According to website The Smoking Gun, Alexandra Tatarsky was recruited by Michael Kaufman earlier this year to play his alleged niece.
Audience 'freaked out'
The woman's arrival on Monday night had been preceded by a long anecdote, in which Michael described how, many years ago, he discovered an essay in which Andy detailed plans to fake his death.
It was accompanied by a note, saying the comedian would reappear on Christmas Eve 1999, in a specific restaurant.
Although Andy failed to show up, Michael was handed a letter explaining that his brother had gone into hiding to live a normal life, and now had a wife and daughter.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
It was chilling, upsetting and absolutely intriguing”
Killy Dwyer, audience member
In addition to his role on Taxi, Andy Kaufman was an eccentric performance artist who often staged elaborate pranks that entertained, confused and at times frustrated his fans.
He organised wrestling matches between himself and women, impersonated Elvis Presley and, most famously, created a hideous lounge singer alter-ego called Tony Clifton, who reeked of foul-smelling cheese and verbally abused virtually everyone in sight.
Famously, after he played Carnegie Hall, he hired 24 buses and took the 2,800 audience members out for milk and cookies.
A life-long health fanatic, he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 33 and died in May 1984. A copy of his death certificate, which lists the cause of death as renal failure, can be seen online.
Nonetheless, a portion of his fan base has always maintained his death was a hoax.
Still from Man On The Moon Jim Carrey played Kaufman in the 1999 biopic Man On The Moon
Audience members at the Andy Kaufman Awards were uncertain how to take Michael's revelation, wondering if it, too, could be a stunt.
"The entire room was freaked out," wrote comedian Killy Dwyer on her Facebook page.
"I get that it is - could - might all be a hoax... [but] it was as real as anything I've ever seen. There is video. It was chilling, upsetting and absolutely intriguing."
Award show producer Al Parinello told the Hollywood Reporter: "I witnessed the entire thing and I can tell you without a doubt this was not a prank."
"You could see by the look on [Michael's] face that it had an emotional impact on him," said Ed Cavanagh, manager at the Gotham Comedy Club, where the award show took place.
But, he added: "I don't know whether somebody is perpetrating something on [Michael] or not. I'm truly 50-50 on this one."
Witnesses said the unnamed woman had explained the catalyst for her appearance was the death of her grandfather, Andy's father, in July.
In a video of the encounter, posted on gossip site TMZ, Michael is seen asking whether his brother is "getting close to revealing himself".
The woman covers her face and says, "I don't know what to say."
"I mean, he was really thinking about coming," she adds.
Michael then asks the audience not to follow the woman after she left the building.
"I won't give you her name. I don't even know [her] name," he says. "Let her have her privacy."
"Send him my love," he adds.
Why do the one's that complain so much about 'big' government .....
complain the most about long lines at the driver's license office?
Everytime I go to register a car or renew my license or pay taxes it feels like I'm in a line to join the Teabilly Club. And I refuse to remain silent to their gobblygook.
To the guy who last Tuesday insisted on filling out a provisional ballot to vote. It was a pain for you to get it done, but thank-you for doing it whether you canceled my vote or doubled it. Voter ID gotta go.
Stop Watching Us
Posted 14 hours ago on Oct. 23, 2013, 4:43 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
This video is a call to action released in support of the Stop Watching Us: Rally Against Mass Surveillance being held in Washington, DC, on Saturday, Oct. 26, the 12th anniversary of the Patriot Act. Formed in June 2013, the StopWatching.us coalition is comprised of more than 100 public advocacy organizations and companies from across the political spectrum demanding that Congress investigate the full extent of the NSA's spying programs.
A diverse cast of media, academic, political and legal figures and truth-speakers unite in the video to sound the alarm over unconstitutional government surveillance. The full list, in order of appearance, includes:
Daniel Ellsberg, “Pentagon Papers” whistleblower
Phil Donahue, television talk-show pioneer
US Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee
David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress
Maggie Gyllenhaal, actor and activist
Oliver Stone, director of The Untold History of the United States and Nixon
John Cusack, actor and activist
Wil Wheaton, actor and writer
Molly Crabapple, artist and writer
Jesselyn Radack, U.S. Department of Justice whistleblower and national security and human rights director at the Government Accountability Project
J. Kirk Wiebe, NSA whistleblower
Mark Klein, AT&T whistleblower who revealed the telecommunications company’s collaboration with the NSA in collecting customer data
Thomas Drake, NSA whistleblower
Cindy Cohn, Legal Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Dan Choi, LGBTQ activist and Iraq War veteran
Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School
Thomas Drake and Daniel Choi will also speak at the rally, which begins with a march from Columbus Circle to the Capitol Reflecting Pool at 12 p.m. EST on Saturday, Oct. 26. StopWatching.us will also deliver more than 500,000 signatures opposing the NSA’s mass surveillance to Congress. The coalition is calling for a full Congressional investigation of America’s surveillance programs, reform to federal surveillance law, and accountability from officials responsible for hiding this surveillance from lawmakers and the public.
http://occupywallst.org/article/stop-watching-us-now/
ATM maker Diebold pays $48 million to settle foreign bribery case
They'll bribe but they won't sell crooked voting machines, right?
ATM maker Diebold pays $48 million to settle foreign bribery case
Diebold Inc. was accused of bribing foreign bank officials with trips to Las Vegas and other locations. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times / October 22, 2013)
By Stuart Pfeifer
October 22, 2013, 9:38 a.m.
Diebold Inc., a manufacturer of ATMs, bank security systems and voting machines, has agreed to pay a $48-million penalty to settle charges it bribed officials at government-owned banks in China, Russia and Indonesia in order to win their business.
The North Canton, Ohio, company was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department of spending about $1.8 million to send the foreign bank officials on vacations to the United States and Europe and provide entertainment and gifts in violation of a federal law that prohibits U.S. companies from bribing foreign government officials.
The company was also accused of giving annual cash gifts ranging from $100 to more than $600 to foreign bank executives.
Diebold falsely recorded the bribes in its books as training expenses, the SEC alleged.
"A bribe is a bribe, whether it’s a stack of cash or an all-expense-paid trip to Europe," said Scott W. Friestad, an associate director in the SEC’s enforcement division. "Public companies must be held accountable when they break the law to influence government officials with improper payments or gifts."
According to the SEC complaint filed in federal court in Washington, Diebold’s misconduct occurred from 2005 to 2010.
Among the destinations of the U.S. trips were the Grand Canyon, Napa Valley, Disneyland, and Universal Studios as well as Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, Washington and Hawaii, the agency said.
Officials also were treated to European vacations, the SEC charged. For example, it said, eight officials at a government-owned bank in China enjoyed a two-week trip at Diebold’s expense that included stays in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Klagenfurt, Venice, Florence and Rome.
The Russian bribes were funneled through a distributor using phony service contracts to hide and falsely record the payments as legitimate business expenses, according to the SEC.
In addition to the fine, Diebold agreed to appoint an independent compliance monitor to prevent future violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Diebold shares were up 25 cents, or 1%, to $29.97 in morning trading Tuesday.
Bloomberg to Spend $1.1 Million for McAuliffe
Monday, 21 Oct 2013 11:11 PM
By Cathy Burke
Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's pro-gun-control super PAC will finance $1.1 million in advertising for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe in the final weeks of the race, Politico reported Monday.
The ads will roll out Tuesday. The election is Nov. 5.
McAuliffe journeyed to New York in August to seek the mayor's support.
Bloomberg, a political independent, has spent more than $15 million on various gun control initiatives — and spent $1 million helping elect Newark Mayor Cory Booker to a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey's special election to replace the late Frank Lautenberg, who championed gun control, The New York Post reported.
McAuliffe supports stricter gun laws, including an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, limiting the size of magazines and preventing people from buying more than one gun a month.
Roll Call reported Monday that the political action committee of the National Rifle Association has spent $466,000 on television and Internet ads highlighting McAuliffe-backed gun control measures.
The campaign of Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who supports a focus on mental health to reduce gun violence, slammed the ads as out-of-state interference.
"Terry McAuliffe and his allies are spending tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to buy Virginia's governor's mansion and impose an idealogical agenda that will severely restrict Virginian's Second Amendment rights, hike energy prices for Virginia families and undermine our right-to-work laws," Cuccinelli communications director Richard Cullen told Politico.
<snip>
Fox issued new Press badges by White House.....
http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4793446658868162&w=166&h=170&c=7&rs=1&pid=1.7A Song For John Boehner and the Shut Down, by Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
&feature=player_embedded#t=93Nebraska Court Rules Teen Too Immature for an Abortion, Fine to Raise a Kid
Nebraska Court Rules Teen Too Immature for an Abortion, Fine to Raise a Kid
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/10/07/nebraska_supreme_court_rules_that_a_16_year_old_in_foster_care_is_not_mature.html?wpsrc=upworthy
By Katy Waldman
The Nebraska Supreme Court denied a 16-year-old foster child’s request for an abortion on Friday because she was "not sufficiently mature" to make the decision herself. So instead, this immature young woman who does not want a baby will become a mother. Everyone wins.
The teenager, identified in the court ruling as Anonymous 5, showed evidence of mature reasoning at a confidential hearing. She worried that she didn’t have the financial resources to support a child or to be “the right mom that I would like to be right now.” Yet district judge Peter C. Bataillon, whom the Raw Story reports once served on the committee for an Omaha anti-abortion group, disagreed, and the Supreme Court upheld his ruling in a split vote of 5-2.
<snip>
Since Anonymous 5 is a ward of the State Department of Health and Human Services—she actually requested the abortion at the confidential hearing dissolving the parental rights of her biological mother and father, who were physically abusive—she doesn’t have anyone to grant her consent. “She is in legal limbo—a quandary of the Legislature's making,” wrote Judge William Connolly in his Supreme Court minority opinion.
<snip>
Katy Waldman is a Slate assistant editor. Follow her on Twitter.
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