Happy New Year 2007! ....
Friday, December 29, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
-115 and still going. No sugar, no flour, period.
Previously----
My -88 story and thanks to Gov. Huckabee are right here:
AbbeBuckPR -in the business of "High-Viz-Ability": -88 "HighViz ...
Thursday, June 22, 2006. -88 "HighViz P.R." for myself, or, I owe GOV Mike Huckabee (R-AK), a great BIG HOOAH! a HIGHVIZ Memorandum: From: Abbe Buck[PR] ...
abbebuckpr.blogspot.com/2006/06/88-highviz-pr-for-myself-or-i-owe-gov.html -
Mike Huckabee President 2008: June 2006
Abbe Buck, a Washington DC public relations specialist, says she owes Mike Huckabee "a ... ...
I lost 88 lbs in 7 mos. I have 88 to go..." Congrats, Abbe! ..."
mikehuckabeepresident2008.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_mikehuckabeepresident2008_archive.html
Stats:
My top weight was over 300 lbs.
I put down the sugar and flour 11 months ago.
I will lose another 50, perhaps even more. I MUST.
Because I am alive.
2/3 of the world are sugar and food addicts.
Are you an addict like me?
There is hope for us.
# # #
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Go, Huckabee, Go! the advice you shared helped SAVE MY LIFE
--from the New York Times:
DROPS 100 LBS.: The Slenderized Governor From Arkansas, With Advice to Share...
STORY:
September 10, 2006
The Slenderized Governor, With Advice to Share
By SHAILA DEWAN
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Sept. 8 — Mike Huckabee has been the governor of Arkansas for a decade, but he is most famous for what he has done in the last three years: lose more than 100 pounds and encourage other Arkansans to follow his example.
As he contemplates a bid for the Republican nomination for president in 2008, the slenderized governor has inspired a host of imitators, including Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia, who shed 33 pounds, and Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who promised in June to go on a diet. These and other Southern politicians say they are trying to set an example for their constituents, who exhibit the highest rates of obesity in the country.
But for those who would join the health crusade, Mr. Huckabee’s tale includes a cautionary thread. In the South, the fight against obesity is essentially a culture war. And while the campaign may have raised Mr. Huckabee’s national profile, not everyone here appreciates a governor whose policies include weighing schoolchildren and sending home report cards on their body mass index.
Mr. Huckabee, a teetotaler who now rises before dawn to jog five miles, has been accused of nagging the populace, banning birthday cakes in schools (not true, he says) and trampling the personal freedoms of smokers with an indoor smoking ban. While he says he uses the carrot, not the stick, to encourage better health, his virtue alone has a way of making people like Pearletha David, the owner of David Family Kitchen, a soul food restaurant here, feel henpecked.
“I think it’s fine for him,” Ms. David said, putting her hands on her hips. “But he ain’t got to make the whole state lose weight.”
After the governor’s nutritional guidelines for school lunches took effect, one girl wrote a letter to him demanding “real food” like nachos and pizza. A columnist for The Baxter Bulletin imagined a future of diners picking at their “sautéed soybeans with flavor-free dressing” and discussing the criminalization of cheese curls.
Despite the efforts, the state’s obesity rate among adults has actually increased since last year, according to the Trust for America’s Health.
Mr. Huckabee counters that changing dietary habits is a long-term, generational project, and says that in three years of recording children’s body mass index and reporting it to parents, the number of children at risk of obesity has decreased — by half of 1 percent.
Mr. Huckabee knows what he is up against, namely all-you-can-eat buffets, cheese grits and a local ice cream flavor called Woo Pig Chewy. One of his own family dogs is named Sonic, after the fast-food chain whose cherry limeades are favored by his wife, Janet.
“It’s not just your culture,” he said, speaking in his office in the Capitol building. “It’s your comfort.”
But Mr. Huckabee insists that a lifestyle revolution can happen, citing four behaviors that have been reshaped over the years by concerted government effort: littering, seatbelt use, smoking and drunken driving.
“In each of those cases, in my lifetime, I have seen the needle move from one side to the other,” he said. “People used to throw entire sacks of trash out of their cars without thinking it was inappropriate.”
Mr. Huckabee’s health obsession began in 2003, when he received a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, which can sometimes be controlled by diet and exercise. At the time, he weighed close to 300 pounds.
With the help of doctors at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the governor went on a strict diet and began to exercise, shedding weight so rapidly that it was as if he simply unzipped a fat suit and stepped out. He wrote a book called “Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.” In March 2005, he ran the Little Rock marathon in 3 hours 38 minutes.
But Mr. Huckabee’s change of eating habits has put him in another sort of bubble. He no longer eats at banquets and receptions. He keeps a cooler of food in his car. On a recent day, an acquaintance started to offer him a slice of homemade cheesecake, then stopped herself. “I’d give it to you, but then I’d be digging your grave with a fork and a plastic knife,” she said.
The governor insists he does not want to create a “nanny state” or a “grease police.” Many of his policies include incentives like exercise breaks for state employees. He has expanded state insurance coverage to cover obesity treatment. He advocated restricting access to vending machines for high school students and replacing the sugary sodas in them with juice and water.
Arkansas is one of a handful of states where the nutritional guidelines for school lunches are stricter than the federal requirements.
But some critics say Mr. Huckabee’s crusade has more rhetoric than substance. Part of his Healthy Arkansas initiative is to give a seal of approval to restaurants that offer healthful alternatives and nutritional information, but critics point out that the list of 106 restaurants includes a Burger King, a Pizza Hut and 52 McDonald’s.
The policy that has brought the most attention to the governor, however, was not his initiative. In the spring of 2003, Herschel W. Cleveland, then the Arkansas House speaker, introduced a bill to remove vending machines from elementary schools and send home the body mass index report cards.
The bill passed easily, but the public generally did not notice until Mr. Huckabee had become the health governor. The news made national headlines and brought vehement objections from parents concerned about government intrusion and fragile young egos, recalled the sponsor, State Representative Jay Bradford, a Democrat, who spoke by telephone from his office in Pine Bluff. “I’m also thin, by the way,” Mr. Bradford added.
For those who would change Southern eating habits, though, there is always the problem of tradition and identity. And though Mr. Huckabee is not naïve, his strategy for tackling the issue is optimistic. “There’s much more to celebrate in a person’s health than there is about just what they eat,” he said.
Comment: he is right about that.
# # #
DROPS 100 LBS.: The Slenderized Governor From Arkansas, With Advice to Share...
STORY:
September 10, 2006
The Slenderized Governor, With Advice to Share
By SHAILA DEWAN
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Sept. 8 — Mike Huckabee has been the governor of Arkansas for a decade, but he is most famous for what he has done in the last three years: lose more than 100 pounds and encourage other Arkansans to follow his example.
As he contemplates a bid for the Republican nomination for president in 2008, the slenderized governor has inspired a host of imitators, including Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia, who shed 33 pounds, and Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who promised in June to go on a diet. These and other Southern politicians say they are trying to set an example for their constituents, who exhibit the highest rates of obesity in the country.
But for those who would join the health crusade, Mr. Huckabee’s tale includes a cautionary thread. In the South, the fight against obesity is essentially a culture war. And while the campaign may have raised Mr. Huckabee’s national profile, not everyone here appreciates a governor whose policies include weighing schoolchildren and sending home report cards on their body mass index.
Mr. Huckabee, a teetotaler who now rises before dawn to jog five miles, has been accused of nagging the populace, banning birthday cakes in schools (not true, he says) and trampling the personal freedoms of smokers with an indoor smoking ban. While he says he uses the carrot, not the stick, to encourage better health, his virtue alone has a way of making people like Pearletha David, the owner of David Family Kitchen, a soul food restaurant here, feel henpecked.
“I think it’s fine for him,” Ms. David said, putting her hands on her hips. “But he ain’t got to make the whole state lose weight.”
After the governor’s nutritional guidelines for school lunches took effect, one girl wrote a letter to him demanding “real food” like nachos and pizza. A columnist for The Baxter Bulletin imagined a future of diners picking at their “sautéed soybeans with flavor-free dressing” and discussing the criminalization of cheese curls.
Despite the efforts, the state’s obesity rate among adults has actually increased since last year, according to the Trust for America’s Health.
Mr. Huckabee counters that changing dietary habits is a long-term, generational project, and says that in three years of recording children’s body mass index and reporting it to parents, the number of children at risk of obesity has decreased — by half of 1 percent.
Mr. Huckabee knows what he is up against, namely all-you-can-eat buffets, cheese grits and a local ice cream flavor called Woo Pig Chewy. One of his own family dogs is named Sonic, after the fast-food chain whose cherry limeades are favored by his wife, Janet.
“It’s not just your culture,” he said, speaking in his office in the Capitol building. “It’s your comfort.”
But Mr. Huckabee insists that a lifestyle revolution can happen, citing four behaviors that have been reshaped over the years by concerted government effort: littering, seatbelt use, smoking and drunken driving.
“In each of those cases, in my lifetime, I have seen the needle move from one side to the other,” he said. “People used to throw entire sacks of trash out of their cars without thinking it was inappropriate.”
Mr. Huckabee’s health obsession began in 2003, when he received a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, which can sometimes be controlled by diet and exercise. At the time, he weighed close to 300 pounds.
With the help of doctors at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the governor went on a strict diet and began to exercise, shedding weight so rapidly that it was as if he simply unzipped a fat suit and stepped out. He wrote a book called “Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.” In March 2005, he ran the Little Rock marathon in 3 hours 38 minutes.
But Mr. Huckabee’s change of eating habits has put him in another sort of bubble. He no longer eats at banquets and receptions. He keeps a cooler of food in his car. On a recent day, an acquaintance started to offer him a slice of homemade cheesecake, then stopped herself. “I’d give it to you, but then I’d be digging your grave with a fork and a plastic knife,” she said.
The governor insists he does not want to create a “nanny state” or a “grease police.” Many of his policies include incentives like exercise breaks for state employees. He has expanded state insurance coverage to cover obesity treatment. He advocated restricting access to vending machines for high school students and replacing the sugary sodas in them with juice and water.
Arkansas is one of a handful of states where the nutritional guidelines for school lunches are stricter than the federal requirements.
But some critics say Mr. Huckabee’s crusade has more rhetoric than substance. Part of his Healthy Arkansas initiative is to give a seal of approval to restaurants that offer healthful alternatives and nutritional information, but critics point out that the list of 106 restaurants includes a Burger King, a Pizza Hut and 52 McDonald’s.
The policy that has brought the most attention to the governor, however, was not his initiative. In the spring of 2003, Herschel W. Cleveland, then the Arkansas House speaker, introduced a bill to remove vending machines from elementary schools and send home the body mass index report cards.
The bill passed easily, but the public generally did not notice until Mr. Huckabee had become the health governor. The news made national headlines and brought vehement objections from parents concerned about government intrusion and fragile young egos, recalled the sponsor, State Representative Jay Bradford, a Democrat, who spoke by telephone from his office in Pine Bluff. “I’m also thin, by the way,” Mr. Bradford added.
For those who would change Southern eating habits, though, there is always the problem of tradition and identity. And though Mr. Huckabee is not naïve, his strategy for tackling the issue is optimistic. “There’s much more to celebrate in a person’s health than there is about just what they eat,” he said.
Comment: he is right about that.
# # #
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Glenn Ford, 1916 - 2006
.
From the Los Angeles Times: How topical it is today!
As a commander in the Naval Reserve, Ford spent a month in South Vietnam in 1967.
Accompanied by a Marine Corps camera crew, he filmed combat locations for "Global Marine," a documentary training movie for recruits.
"People who come out here for a visit and go back with pat opinions about how the war is going to be won are fools," Ford told The Times at the end of his trip to the war zone.
"This is a vicious war, a unique war, with no simple answer, but I think the complicated problem we face here cannot be appraised and judged by anyone who has not been here."
Naval Commander Ford, who was the Brad Pitt of his day, (trust me on that!) knew what it was all about. He never won an oscar. Never even had a nomination in the academy (but he made sure William Holden had the win for "Stalag 17" in 1953 by sacrificing his own nom). This journeyman actor could play drama, comedy and [all of those] westerns with style. I became a fan once he stopped making movies, but what a discovery!
http://www.armyarcherd.com/2006/08/glenn_ford_reme.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-ford31aug31,1,7553049.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california
# # #
From the Los Angeles Times: How topical it is today!
As a commander in the Naval Reserve, Ford spent a month in South Vietnam in 1967.
Accompanied by a Marine Corps camera crew, he filmed combat locations for "Global Marine," a documentary training movie for recruits.
"People who come out here for a visit and go back with pat opinions about how the war is going to be won are fools," Ford told The Times at the end of his trip to the war zone.
"This is a vicious war, a unique war, with no simple answer, but I think the complicated problem we face here cannot be appraised and judged by anyone who has not been here."
Naval Commander Ford, who was the Brad Pitt of his day, (trust me on that!) knew what it was all about. He never won an oscar. Never even had a nomination in the academy (but he made sure William Holden had the win for "Stalag 17" in 1953 by sacrificing his own nom). This journeyman actor could play drama, comedy and [all of those] westerns with style. I became a fan once he stopped making movies, but what a discovery!
http://www.armyarcherd.com/2006/08/glenn_ford_reme.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-ford31aug31,1,7553049.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california
# # #
Monday, August 28, 2006
EMMY: it's a big country. Leave Conan O'Brien alone. Sic NBC
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/08/27/emmy-parodies-planecrash-hours-after-kentucky-accident/
[ i liked bob newhart locked in the glass case submeged in water for 1111:0000 hrs much bettah!]
###
[ i liked bob newhart locked in the glass case submeged in water for 1111:0000 hrs much bettah!]
###
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
NO Mission Impossible 4! - Tom Cruise dumped by Paramount - studios are sick of being pushed around
.
a) So, Paramount does not want to make a deal, and Redstone publicly lays out the "scandal" card.
b) Cruise and his partners lash out
c) Tom Cruise's baby no where to be seen publicly - was Holmes pregnancy real or ruse?
PARAMOUNT severs ties with Tom Cruise... Behavior of star 'unacceptable'...Wagner: Redstone's comments 'outrageous and disrespectful'...Studios 'sick of being pushed around'... After 14 years...Who's Crazier: VIACOM or Tom? (-Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, CNN Money)
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/viacom-tells-wsj-tom-cruise-dumped/
---just click on this link for everything you need on this story. Nikki Finke knows IT ALL.
I just LOVE the way this woman writes!
LATEST COLUMN ON DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD:
War of the Worlds Cruise And Redstone do battle – prepare for a true epic.
By NIKKI FINKE August 22, 2006
If there’s suddenly a litmus test for insanity to be administered by Hollywood moguls, then start with the studio’s executive suites. That’s my reaction to the are-you-shitting-me pronouncement by Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone that his Paramount Pictures is terminating its 14-year relationship with Tom “Crazy” Cruise’s production company because of the actor’s controversial and erratic off-screen behavior hurt the theatrical grosses of Mission Impossible 3. [more]
# # #
a) So, Paramount does not want to make a deal, and Redstone publicly lays out the "scandal" card.
b) Cruise and his partners lash out
c) Tom Cruise's baby no where to be seen publicly - was Holmes pregnancy real or ruse?
PARAMOUNT severs ties with Tom Cruise... Behavior of star 'unacceptable'...Wagner: Redstone's comments 'outrageous and disrespectful'...Studios 'sick of being pushed around'... After 14 years...Who's Crazier: VIACOM or Tom? (-Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, CNN Money)
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/viacom-tells-wsj-tom-cruise-dumped/
---just click on this link for everything you need on this story. Nikki Finke knows IT ALL.
I just LOVE the way this woman writes!
LATEST COLUMN ON DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD:
War of the Worlds Cruise And Redstone do battle – prepare for a true epic.
By NIKKI FINKE August 22, 2006
If there’s suddenly a litmus test for insanity to be administered by Hollywood moguls, then start with the studio’s executive suites. That’s my reaction to the are-you-shitting-me pronouncement by Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone that his Paramount Pictures is terminating its 14-year relationship with Tom “Crazy” Cruise’s production company because of the actor’s controversial and erratic off-screen behavior hurt the theatrical grosses of Mission Impossible 3. [more]
# # #
Friday, August 11, 2006
a potentially damned fine interview aborted - those hollyweird tee-vee idiots do it again
.
-----Original Message-----
From: Frances Kuffel [mailto: * * * * * * * * * * * ]
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 9:53 AM
To: adorable me
Subject: la-la land
Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.
John Le Carré
+++
I went to Los Angeles for 62 hours to do a new talk show. I had been cut from the script. I got home at 1 a.m. & am now, barely, mobile, off to collect Boomer & reunite with Daisy. I feel like Anna Karenina if she'd
survived the train.
Or maybe I feel like a bouillon cube sitting in a pool of boiling water...
love, frances
-------------------------------------
Frances Kuffel ("Passing for Thin") was out in LA to do an interview and possibly(?) to secure rights for having a movie made from her great book (her book was my and many others inpirations to KICK flour + sugar and addiction food + eating). (NOTE: I have found since from Frances' comment that this was not the case...)
So, she does this talk show, natch, then gets cut! MORONS! She is making the right news. The right message. But do they get it? Nope. (this is way beyond "The Beverly Hills Diet" meets "Jenny Craig" I guess...) Am I surprised? Nope. That is why I did my little good deed for The Society of Singers, Glenn Ford, Agua Caliente in Palm Springs and then, QUIT. I am not cut out for LA, although I would like to walk on the red carpet just once in my lifetime for s---s and giggles! I do so love driving the Pacific Coast Highway, too.
Frances' message matters. I am proud to say that I gave an interview that she used as part of the pitch for her next book -- which is what happens to us who do try to deal with the addiction to food/certain foods, lose weight, and then...fall...off ...the wagon....and many of us do! The important thing is that we get back on! It can be painful, but it can also be glorious! The IMPORTANT thing is that there is no reason to give up, we need to TRY.
My little story was part of Frances' book pitch to her publisher (thanks, Frances, it was my pleasure (smile) --) for I lost 140 once upon a time, gained it back and more! ---and have just RE-LOST my 103rd pound after many years. But this time I am dealing with more than just a diet or a weight loss club "CLUB". They don't last for a person like me. I am, dealing day in and day out with an addictive dis-ease, period.
Abbe B. - 103 to-day.
# # #
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Keith Olbermann's Nazi Salute - just another way to get attention-- and MORE ratings?
.
Click here first to see the letter from the Jewish Anti-Defamation League about Keith Olbermann:
http://www.adl.org/media_watch/tv/20060728-MSNBC.htm (the link)
Okay. But, hey, if Mel Brooks can make an entire INDUSTRY out of making fun out of Hitler, what's the fuss? Betcha Big bad Brother Bill O'Reilly called the ADL (HEH HEH HEH)
---but ask yourselves, is O'Reilly like Adolf Hitler? Pulleaze. But if Hebe's (Hebrew boys) like Keith-boy want to "Seig Heil", well, hell, have at it! Keith's a Hebe. Mel Gibson has an Israeli bodyguard. JESUS WAS JEWISH. FACE IT. YOU CANNOT ERADICATE US! We are all JEWISH! (PASTE STAR OF DAVID HERE) YES YES YES! ((( O'Reilly secretly wishes he were a Hebe. I know this is true. )))
http://newsbusters.org/taxonomy/term/185
GOP Bloggers :: Keith Olbermann's Nazi Salute
Keith Olbermann's Nazi Salute. Robert Cox over at Olbermann Watch alerts us to ...
MSNBC Pres. Rick Kaplan Resigns.... The Huffington Post
Yes, but Keith Olbermann (who is Jewish as well) won't touch the Zionazi Rabbis shown in the picture at the following URL: http://www.davidduke.com/?p=531. ...www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/06/07/msnbc-pres-rick-kaplan-r_n_22455.html - 39k - Cached - Similar pages
# # #
Click here first to see the letter from the Jewish Anti-Defamation League about Keith Olbermann:
http://www.adl.org/media_watch/tv/20060728-MSNBC.htm (the link)
Okay. But, hey, if Mel Brooks can make an entire INDUSTRY out of making fun out of Hitler, what's the fuss? Betcha Big bad Brother Bill O'Reilly called the ADL (HEH HEH HEH)
---but ask yourselves, is O'Reilly like Adolf Hitler? Pulleaze. But if Hebe's (Hebrew boys) like Keith-boy want to "Seig Heil", well, hell, have at it! Keith's a Hebe. Mel Gibson has an Israeli bodyguard. JESUS WAS JEWISH. FACE IT. YOU CANNOT ERADICATE US! We are all JEWISH! (PASTE STAR OF DAVID HERE) YES YES YES! ((( O'Reilly secretly wishes he were a Hebe. I know this is true. )))
http://newsbusters.org/taxonomy/term/185
GOP Bloggers :: Keith Olbermann's Nazi Salute
Keith Olbermann's Nazi Salute. Robert Cox over at Olbermann Watch alerts us to ...
MSNBC Pres. Rick Kaplan Resigns.... The Huffington Post
Yes, but Keith Olbermann (who is Jewish as well) won't touch the Zionazi Rabbis shown in the picture at the following URL: http://www.davidduke.com/?p=531. ...www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/06/07/msnbc-pres-rick-kaplan-r_n_22455.html - 39k - Cached - Similar pages
# # #
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Dateline: Healthy Arkansas: Should be Blueprint for US
Memorandum to Joe Quinn, Policy Director, Gov. Mike Huckabee, (R-AR)
REF: http://www.arkansas.gov/ha/nutrition/
Diabetes • Obesity • Physical Activity • Tobacco Use • Worksite Wellness • BMI • Understanding BMI • Changing the Culture of Health: a Blueprint for Communities
Note for Gov.'s office: Gov. Mike Huckabee is getting (the) message across the miles. We owe his gentle prodding (in his wonderful book) a debt of gratitude! We need to carry the message to all who still suffer.
Abbe B.
ps: I lost another 14 lbs (grin) - it's a definite work in progress.
# # #
REF: http://www.arkansas.gov/ha/nutrition/
Diabetes • Obesity • Physical Activity • Tobacco Use • Worksite Wellness • BMI • Understanding BMI • Changing the Culture of Health: a Blueprint for Communities
Note for Gov.'s office: Gov. Mike Huckabee is getting (the) message across the miles. We owe his gentle prodding (in his wonderful book) a debt of gratitude! We need to carry the message to all who still suffer.
Abbe B.
ps: I lost another 14 lbs (grin) - it's a definite work in progress.
# # #
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Abbe's message to Mel Gibson (by way of Army Archerd and Larry Gelbart)
Mel Gibson, will you work in this town again? Absolutely. Allan Nierob is spinning apologies like mad -- and with all of this publicity! This is a town that of FULL OF YES, that loves the infamy of a big fat comeback. The old guard Jews are dying. But they do have one big fat last hurrah about Jew haters.
Face it baby. You are a racist. You are a JEW HATER, JEW BAITER. Not merely an "anti-semite", because semites are also Jihad,Hezbollah, Lebanese, Iranian, Arabian and anyone of that ilk that came from the PROMISED LAND, B.C. You just hate the CHOSEN PEOPLE. MY PEOPLE. And your father is wrong. There was a holocaust. My distant cousins DIED IN THOSE OVENS, you fucking idiot!
I am a Jew. Period. And so many hate me! I remember swatzikas in the 60's on the wall at our rec center in Niles, Ilinois when I was just eight years old. WHY? I am now Mel's age. I thought it would surely go away. After reading Larry and Army, surely it has NOT.
Now for Army and Larry, who went to Lakeview HighSchool with my Dad, Marvin (that is too cool!)"
---Abbe Buck, APR
= = = =
Army Archerd for Variety « Jack and Marlon Main What's killing the biz? »
Message to Mel from Larry
Larry Gelbart sent this message to me for Mel:
"Icon Productions, indeed. You managed to con everyone, sir. Including those of your own faith.The Jewish people, who managed to survive Goebbels, will survive one more Mel-content, one who already has a cocktail named after him.The leaders of this community, with rare exception, have contracted a case of laryngitis in this matter, largely choosing not to speak out against a man who so stokes the bonfires of bigotry.When the people who feel exactly the same way that Mel Gibson feels come to take us and families to the ovens, they make absolutely no distinction between those who spoke out and those who chose to play it safe."
((( P.S. Larry also told me: "The reason ABC canceled Mel Gibson's new version of the holocaust -- in his version, the Jews killed six million Nazis.")))
ARMY ARCHERD ALSO SAYS: Congrats Larry. And to those who had been reading my column all these years, you learned Mel's feelings beyond question. So much so that two years ago, Mel's longtime agent Ed Limato politely disinvited me from his annual Oscar party fearing my presence might embarrass his guest and client, Mel Gibson.
# # #
Wednesday, August 02, 2006 Permalink
Face it baby. You are a racist. You are a JEW HATER, JEW BAITER. Not merely an "anti-semite", because semites are also Jihad,Hezbollah, Lebanese, Iranian, Arabian and anyone of that ilk that came from the PROMISED LAND, B.C. You just hate the CHOSEN PEOPLE. MY PEOPLE. And your father is wrong. There was a holocaust. My distant cousins DIED IN THOSE OVENS, you fucking idiot!
I am a Jew. Period. And so many hate me! I remember swatzikas in the 60's on the wall at our rec center in Niles, Ilinois when I was just eight years old. WHY? I am now Mel's age. I thought it would surely go away. After reading Larry and Army, surely it has NOT.
Now for Army and Larry, who went to Lakeview HighSchool with my Dad, Marvin (that is too cool!)"
---Abbe Buck, APR
= = = =
Army Archerd for Variety « Jack and Marlon Main What's killing the biz? »
Message to Mel from Larry
Larry Gelbart sent this message to me for Mel:
"Icon Productions, indeed. You managed to con everyone, sir. Including those of your own faith.The Jewish people, who managed to survive Goebbels, will survive one more Mel-content, one who already has a cocktail named after him.The leaders of this community, with rare exception, have contracted a case of laryngitis in this matter, largely choosing not to speak out against a man who so stokes the bonfires of bigotry.When the people who feel exactly the same way that Mel Gibson feels come to take us and families to the ovens, they make absolutely no distinction between those who spoke out and those who chose to play it safe."
((( P.S. Larry also told me: "The reason ABC canceled Mel Gibson's new version of the holocaust -- in his version, the Jews killed six million Nazis.")))
ARMY ARCHERD ALSO SAYS: Congrats Larry. And to those who had been reading my column all these years, you learned Mel's feelings beyond question. So much so that two years ago, Mel's longtime agent Ed Limato politely disinvited me from his annual Oscar party fearing my presence might embarrass his guest and client, Mel Gibson.
# # #
Wednesday, August 02, 2006 Permalink
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
INFAMOUS! The anti-semite cometh!
What a punim! What a Mugshot!*MEL GIBSON'S CAREER SUICIDE @HIGHVIZPR.BLOGSPOT.COM
HighVizPR Promotion = the new journalism. Politics = Show Biz! News is entertainment?: Allan Neirbob spins like mad to save his client's rep--- but the buzz is that Melvin Gibson is on the verge of career suicide, I reckon. He says it's real suicide, which is real-spin. Oh, he'll make a comeback after the requisite stint in 30 day rehab. Will it be "Lethal Weapon 5 meets mAD mAX GOES HELLZABOLLah--istic??" oy vey!
###
*Punim = Yiddish expression for face. Photo (c) THESMOKINGGUN.com
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Deplorable. THE Brooke Astor, 104 years old, living in hell on Park Avenue
Poor Brooke Astor. Why is this happening to her? I'd rather have love than money, damnit.
--from the NY Daily News, July 25, 2006
Vicious court battle rocks the world of Manhattan's one-time society queen
BY HELEN PETERSON, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Society queen Brooke Astor is living a twilight hell because of son Anthony Marshall, court papers say.
According to court papers, Brooke Astor, 104, lives in wretched conditions in Park Ave. building.
-->Brooke Astor, the patron saint of philanthropy and society in New York, is being forced to live her remaining days in wretched, uncharitable conditions, according to court papers filed by her grandson.
Astor, now 104, is allegedly being kept inside her dilapidated Park Ave. duplex by her only child, Anthony Marshall - who controls her $45 million fortune, yet refuses to spend money for her care.
The stunning blue blood family feud emerged from court documents obtained exclusively by the Daily News.
According to court papers, Marshall:
--->Cut back on everything from her doctor visits to the brand of makeup she uses.
--->Won't give Astor a hospital bed fitted with rails, even though she has fallen from her bed.
--->Ordered her aides to not buy certain medicine at the drugstore because a weaker version is available for less on the Internet.
---> Wouldn't allow nurses to buy his mother a new outfit for her 104th birthday.
The grandson, Philip Marshall, is seeking to immediately remove his father as legal guardian, and replace him with Annette de la Renta, the wife of Oscar de la Renta, and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Philip Marshall charges that his grandmother is a victim of "elder abuse" - and he's got some influential people on his side.
A trio of prominent New Yorkers - former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Chase Manhattan Bank CEO David Rockefeller and Annette de la Renta - have filed affidavits in support of the grandson.
Astor's 82-year-old son landed at Iwo Jima during World War II, is a former intelligence officer with the CIA, a former diplomat and a Broadway producer with his wife, Charlene. The pair have won two Tony Awards.
Reached at his E. 79th St. apartment, Anthony Marshall, who pays himself $2.3 million as Astor's caretaker, according to the papers, declined to comment.
"No, I don't want to comment. You said it is shocking and I agree. I don't think I should comment. It is a matter that is going to be coming up in a court of law and it should be left to the court," Anthony Marshall said.
He said a hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 8, putting one of New York's first families on display.
The massive court filing details everything from Astor's bland diet - which includes pureed peas, carrots, liver and oatmeal prepared by an "unmotivated cook" who replaced her French chef last year - to her medical care.
According to the papers quietly filed last week, Anthony Marshall has had Astor's weekly doctor visits cut down to once a month, and has ordered the staff not to take her to an emergency room or call 911 if she is having a medical emergency without contacting him first.
The grandson went to court because his father, who is supposed to be overseeing the care of Astor, "has turned a blind eye to her, intentionally and repeatedly ignoring her health, safety, personal and household needs, while enriching himself with millions of dollars."
"My grandmother is one of the great philanthropists of our time," Philip Marshall said in an affidavit. "The sad and deplorable state of my family's affairs has compelled me to bring this guardianship action."
Astor - who still receives about $2 million a year in income from her late husband Vincent Astor's trust - suffers from significant memory loss, skin cancer, chronic anemia, heart problems, spinal stenosis, among other ailments, and has broken her hip twice, according to court papers.
"Her bedroom is so cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to sleep in the TV room in torn nightgowns on a filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine," according to the affidavit.
Astor, who is one of 33 women to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, "has devoted her life to making the world a better place," according to Philip Marshall. She has given away $200 million to city charities alone.
Yet, according to her grandson's court filings, this is what her life has come to:
Although Astor had always used Estée Lauder cosmetics and face creams, her head maid, Mily Degernier, who has worked for Astor for 35 years, has instructed that a "cheaper brand" of makeup be used and that Vaseline be used instead of face cream.
A prescription for Astor's anemia, Procrit, which costs about $1,000 a month, was stopped for no medical reason.
An enzyme supplement, CoQ10, to promote a healthy heart, and which may help in Astor's battle against cancer, which costs $60 a bottle, was stopped at the instruction of Charlene Marshall, Anthony's wife. She then told the aides to buy the medicine off the Internet, a diluted version that costs $26 for three bottles.
When an aide's request for two air purifiers - needed for the dust-filled apartment - was denied, they were bought by de la Renta.
When a request for hair bonnets and no-skid socks was denied, Astor's nurses bought them themselves.
Astor apparently has not seen her beloved dogs, Boysie and Girlsie, in six months because they are kept locked in a pantry to keep them from damaging the apartment.
Anthony Marshall, Astor's son from her first marriage, repeatedly has refused to open up Holly Hill, her 75-acre estate in Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, this year, even though Astor has said she wants to die there.
While Astor has a nurse on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the staff has been cut back. She used to have two aides on duty at all times, according to an affidavit filed by one of her nurses, Minnette Christie.
Astor's physical therapy has been cut from three to two times a week over the protests of the therapist.
While the apartment was once filled with art, figurines and fresh flowers, according to court papers, "which gave Mrs. Astor great pleasure," some of the art and figurines have been removed. Floral arrangements have been replaced with one or two bouquets from the local Korean market.
Although Astor was known for being always impeccably dressed, she is now reduced to wearing torn nightgowns and old clothes because her son won't buy new ones.
Philip Marshall said her old clothes are too tight because Astor is not as flexible as she used to be, and the nightgowns are rough against her sensitive skin so the staff turns them inside out so that the smoother surface is against her skin.
"New clothes would be good for her spirits," he said in the affidavit.
Another aide, Pearline Noble, said that despite Astor's concern about her appearance, her son has ordered that her manicures and pedicures be cut to once a month, that a scarf Noble had used to cheer Astor not be worn because of a $16 cleaning bill, and that her hair dye be eliminated. Instead, Noble said, she now pays for the hair rinse out of her own pocket.
"The staff that works for Ms. Astor really loves her. It breaks our hearts to see that she is not being cared for by her son in an appropriate way at the end of her life," Noble said.
# # #
--from the NY Daily News, July 25, 2006
Vicious court battle rocks the world of Manhattan's one-time society queen
BY HELEN PETERSON, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Society queen Brooke Astor is living a twilight hell because of son Anthony Marshall, court papers say.
According to court papers, Brooke Astor, 104, lives in wretched conditions in Park Ave. building.
-->Brooke Astor, the patron saint of philanthropy and society in New York, is being forced to live her remaining days in wretched, uncharitable conditions, according to court papers filed by her grandson.
Astor, now 104, is allegedly being kept inside her dilapidated Park Ave. duplex by her only child, Anthony Marshall - who controls her $45 million fortune, yet refuses to spend money for her care.
The stunning blue blood family feud emerged from court documents obtained exclusively by the Daily News.
According to court papers, Marshall:
--->Cut back on everything from her doctor visits to the brand of makeup she uses.
--->Won't give Astor a hospital bed fitted with rails, even though she has fallen from her bed.
--->Ordered her aides to not buy certain medicine at the drugstore because a weaker version is available for less on the Internet.
---> Wouldn't allow nurses to buy his mother a new outfit for her 104th birthday.
The grandson, Philip Marshall, is seeking to immediately remove his father as legal guardian, and replace him with Annette de la Renta, the wife of Oscar de la Renta, and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Philip Marshall charges that his grandmother is a victim of "elder abuse" - and he's got some influential people on his side.
A trio of prominent New Yorkers - former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Chase Manhattan Bank CEO David Rockefeller and Annette de la Renta - have filed affidavits in support of the grandson.
Astor's 82-year-old son landed at Iwo Jima during World War II, is a former intelligence officer with the CIA, a former diplomat and a Broadway producer with his wife, Charlene. The pair have won two Tony Awards.
Reached at his E. 79th St. apartment, Anthony Marshall, who pays himself $2.3 million as Astor's caretaker, according to the papers, declined to comment.
"No, I don't want to comment. You said it is shocking and I agree. I don't think I should comment. It is a matter that is going to be coming up in a court of law and it should be left to the court," Anthony Marshall said.
He said a hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 8, putting one of New York's first families on display.
The massive court filing details everything from Astor's bland diet - which includes pureed peas, carrots, liver and oatmeal prepared by an "unmotivated cook" who replaced her French chef last year - to her medical care.
According to the papers quietly filed last week, Anthony Marshall has had Astor's weekly doctor visits cut down to once a month, and has ordered the staff not to take her to an emergency room or call 911 if she is having a medical emergency without contacting him first.
The grandson went to court because his father, who is supposed to be overseeing the care of Astor, "has turned a blind eye to her, intentionally and repeatedly ignoring her health, safety, personal and household needs, while enriching himself with millions of dollars."
"My grandmother is one of the great philanthropists of our time," Philip Marshall said in an affidavit. "The sad and deplorable state of my family's affairs has compelled me to bring this guardianship action."
Astor - who still receives about $2 million a year in income from her late husband Vincent Astor's trust - suffers from significant memory loss, skin cancer, chronic anemia, heart problems, spinal stenosis, among other ailments, and has broken her hip twice, according to court papers.
"Her bedroom is so cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to sleep in the TV room in torn nightgowns on a filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine," according to the affidavit.
Astor, who is one of 33 women to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, "has devoted her life to making the world a better place," according to Philip Marshall. She has given away $200 million to city charities alone.
Yet, according to her grandson's court filings, this is what her life has come to:
Although Astor had always used Estée Lauder cosmetics and face creams, her head maid, Mily Degernier, who has worked for Astor for 35 years, has instructed that a "cheaper brand" of makeup be used and that Vaseline be used instead of face cream.
A prescription for Astor's anemia, Procrit, which costs about $1,000 a month, was stopped for no medical reason.
An enzyme supplement, CoQ10, to promote a healthy heart, and which may help in Astor's battle against cancer, which costs $60 a bottle, was stopped at the instruction of Charlene Marshall, Anthony's wife. She then told the aides to buy the medicine off the Internet, a diluted version that costs $26 for three bottles.
When an aide's request for two air purifiers - needed for the dust-filled apartment - was denied, they were bought by de la Renta.
When a request for hair bonnets and no-skid socks was denied, Astor's nurses bought them themselves.
Astor apparently has not seen her beloved dogs, Boysie and Girlsie, in six months because they are kept locked in a pantry to keep them from damaging the apartment.
Anthony Marshall, Astor's son from her first marriage, repeatedly has refused to open up Holly Hill, her 75-acre estate in Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, this year, even though Astor has said she wants to die there.
While Astor has a nurse on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the staff has been cut back. She used to have two aides on duty at all times, according to an affidavit filed by one of her nurses, Minnette Christie.
Astor's physical therapy has been cut from three to two times a week over the protests of the therapist.
While the apartment was once filled with art, figurines and fresh flowers, according to court papers, "which gave Mrs. Astor great pleasure," some of the art and figurines have been removed. Floral arrangements have been replaced with one or two bouquets from the local Korean market.
Although Astor was known for being always impeccably dressed, she is now reduced to wearing torn nightgowns and old clothes because her son won't buy new ones.
Philip Marshall said her old clothes are too tight because Astor is not as flexible as she used to be, and the nightgowns are rough against her sensitive skin so the staff turns them inside out so that the smoother surface is against her skin.
"New clothes would be good for her spirits," he said in the affidavit.
Another aide, Pearline Noble, said that despite Astor's concern about her appearance, her son has ordered that her manicures and pedicures be cut to once a month, that a scarf Noble had used to cheer Astor not be worn because of a $16 cleaning bill, and that her hair dye be eliminated. Instead, Noble said, she now pays for the hair rinse out of her own pocket.
"The staff that works for Ms. Astor really loves her. It breaks our hearts to see that she is not being cared for by her son in an appropriate way at the end of her life," Noble said.
# # #
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Been There, Done That, too, Carnie -but go fer it, girl!
I had my bypass on Feb. 28, 1985. Like Carnie's it was a success, and I lost around 140 lbs. (137). Then I got pregnant which was a license to E A T. And regain the weight. But from 1989 until now, I stayed THAT___ F A T.
But I had no trainers, or coaches, or certainly no wonderfully exploitive "PR-SHOWBIZ-Q-Rating-let's see warts and all to get (me) to claw back in the spandex spotlite- shows like VH1's CELEBreality[TM] to get involved in and voila! GREAT BOD after baby! MASS LOVE! I'll cut an album! TEE VEE appearances! More publicity than I can gorge into my tiny mouth! YES! YES! YEeeeeees!"
((((Oh, I LOVE THIS TOO! Watching another human train wreck, this reality show biz stuff. Yeah, like the midget having the love affair with show biz blowzy blonde in the voyeur-house...ooh!))))
But I am dealing with the addiction "between the ears" that caused the ___F A T this go-round. I think Carnie will with CelebREALITY[TM] Part 4.
Here's Miss Carnie, no longer the poster child for the gastric bypass like I was in 1988, no more speaking engagements....she gains the weight back after having baby Lola, then can't ....lose it...and half just hangs on....she is human after all... This is exposure and exposure is still exposure, is still EXPOSURE. Go fer it, girl! Go get another 15 mins!
http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/celebrity_fit_club_4/106885/episode.jhtml
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/carnie-wilson-talks-about-joining-vh1-celebrity-fit-club-4-cast-1008839.php
Carnie Wilson talks about joining VH1's 'Celebrity Fit Club 4' cast
UPI News Service, 06/20/2006 - Carnie Wilson may have lost 20 dress sizes following gastric bypass surgery, but the new mom picked up some pounds when she got pregnant with daughter Lola.
She has lost 65 of the pounds she gained, but with 40 left to get rid off, Carnie seeks professional help by being on the fourth season of "Celebrity Fit Club," Entertainment Tonight reported Tuesday.
"I may be this person known as the spokesperson for gastric bypass, but I have struggles and challenges too. I'm only human," said Wilson.
"It took me nine months to lose 15 pounds," she said. "That was really frustrating. Then you just want to give up. It was one step forward and two steps back."
When she was approached about doing VH1's "Celebrity Fit Club," she decided it might be the answer to her weight struggle.
# # #
But I had no trainers, or coaches, or certainly no wonderfully exploitive "PR-SHOWBIZ-Q-Rating-let's see warts and all to get (me) to claw back in the spandex spotlite- shows like VH1's CELEBreality[TM] to get involved in and voila! GREAT BOD after baby! MASS LOVE! I'll cut an album! TEE VEE appearances! More publicity than I can gorge into my tiny mouth! YES! YES! YEeeeeees!"
((((Oh, I LOVE THIS TOO! Watching another human train wreck, this reality show biz stuff. Yeah, like the midget having the love affair with show biz blowzy blonde in the voyeur-house...ooh!))))
But I am dealing with the addiction "between the ears" that caused the ___F A T this go-round. I think Carnie will with CelebREALITY[TM] Part 4.
Here's Miss Carnie, no longer the poster child for the gastric bypass like I was in 1988, no more speaking engagements....she gains the weight back after having baby Lola, then can't ....lose it...and half just hangs on....she is human after all... This is exposure and exposure is still exposure, is still EXPOSURE. Go fer it, girl! Go get another 15 mins!
http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/celebrity_fit_club_4/106885/episode.jhtml
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/carnie-wilson-talks-about-joining-vh1-celebrity-fit-club-4-cast-1008839.php
Carnie Wilson talks about joining VH1's 'Celebrity Fit Club 4' cast
UPI News Service, 06/20/2006 - Carnie Wilson may have lost 20 dress sizes following gastric bypass surgery, but the new mom picked up some pounds when she got pregnant with daughter Lola.
She has lost 65 of the pounds she gained, but with 40 left to get rid off, Carnie seeks professional help by being on the fourth season of "Celebrity Fit Club," Entertainment Tonight reported Tuesday.
"I may be this person known as the spokesperson for gastric bypass, but I have struggles and challenges too. I'm only human," said Wilson.
"It took me nine months to lose 15 pounds," she said. "That was really frustrating. Then you just want to give up. It was one step forward and two steps back."
When she was approached about doing VH1's "Celebrity Fit Club," she decided it might be the answer to her weight struggle.
# # #
Monday, July 24, 2006
"Four of every ten patients who undergo weight-loss surgery develop complications within six months, the federal government said (July 23rd)
(((( Oh, WHAT ARE MY FAT CONTEMPORARIES (FELLOW FOOD ADDICTS) GOING TO DO? WHERE WILL THEY TURN?)))))
Well, I may have have died on the table. I am glad I chose another path, and the "Huckabee" way. God is my co-pilot on this one. I am powerless over sugar, flour and large amounts of food that I would be triggered to eat if I go for the refined stuff. If more people who weigh 300+ accept this, they will no longer turn to the knife. WE CAN DO IT! -- Abbe Buck, PR flack, on a mission, I think (smile)
New York Times: Officials Cite Obesity Surgery Complications
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, July 23 — Four of every 10 patients who undergo weight-loss surgery develop complications within six months, the federal government said today.
The number of such surgical procedures has been rising rapidly, along with the incidence of obesity, which now afflicts about 30 percent of adults in the United States, health officials said.
Obesity surgery is helping thousands of Americans lose weight and reduce the risk of diabetes and other life-threatening diseases, said Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the Public Health Service. But she added, “This study shows how important it is for patients to consider the potential complications.’’
Many of the complications were so serious that patients were readmitted to hospitals or visited hospital emergency rooms within six months.
In a procedure known as bariatric surgery, doctors reduce the number of calories that a person can consume and absorb. One of the more common techniques restricts the size of the stomach and the length of the intestine, where nutrients are absorbed.
Federal researchers found that complications from obesity surgery significantly increased costs.
Over all, said William E. Encinosa, an economist at the health research agency, medical costs averaged $29,921 for obesity surgery and six months of follow-up care. For patients who experienced complications, the costs averaged $36,542. And for those with complications that required readmission to a hospital, the average costs were $65,031.
Prior studies found that 10 percent to 20 percent of patients had complications while they were in the hospital. In the new study, Mr. Encinosa said, federal researchers found that 39.6 percent of patients had complications within 180 days of surgery.
The most common complications included vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal hernias, infections, pneumonia and respiratory failure, as well as the leaking of gastric juices caused by imperfect surgical connections between the stomach and the intestines.
Joanne Kayser, a retired New Hampshire state employee, said she weighed 320 pounds when she had bypass surgery in 2003. “The operation went well,’’ she said in an interview. “It reduced my food intake. After the surgery, I lost 60 pounds.’’
But Ms. Kayser, now 64, said: “My incision did not heal for seven months. I could not exercise, and I stopped losing weight. The incision became infected, and I had to have surgery by a wound-care specialist. In addition, after four months, I developed a hernia, a bulge in my tummy.’’
Bariatric surgery often alleviates conditions that occur with obesity, like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. That was the case with Ms. Kayser, who said she no longer needed to take diabetes medications because her blood sugar levels were under control.
Dr. Philip R. Schauer, president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, estimates that 175,000 to 200,000 weight-loss procedures will be performed this year, up from 47,000 in 2001. The number of people receiving the operation “may be less than 1 percent of those who need it,’’ said Dr. Schauer, who is director of bariatric surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.
The government study was based on insurance claims filed with health plans offered by 45 large employers in 49 states. The data included information on 2,522 weight-loss operations in 2001 and 2002.
Dr. Schauer said that surgical techniques and the quality of care had improved, so patients were less likely to suffer complications. In 2001 and 2002, he said, “there were not a lot of standards for doctors and hospitals getting into the field of bariatric surgery.’’ Since then, he said, the society has adopted standards, and some hospitals that specialize in the procedure have been designated “centers of excellence.’’
In addition, Dr. Schauer said, more than half of the operations are now done with a technique known as laparoscopic surgery, which requires only tiny incisions. This approach sharply reduces some types of complications, he said.
In the cases reviewed by federal researchers, 85 percent of the patients were women.
Dr. Schauer suggested several reasons: “Women have a somewhat higher incidence of obesity. Women seek medical care more than men. And obesity is more socially acceptable in men than in women.’’
But he also said: “Obesity is more deadly in men because they are more likely to have secondary effects of obesity like heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.’’
Arthur G. Richards, an insurance agent in Portland, Ore., said some insurers were refusing to pay for obesity surgery and its complications. Such complications can lead to lawsuits, even when doctors meet the prevailing standards of care. Mr. Richards said his company was developing special insurance policies that would pay doctors for treating foreseeable complications.
# # #
Well, I may have have died on the table. I am glad I chose another path, and the "Huckabee" way. God is my co-pilot on this one. I am powerless over sugar, flour and large amounts of food that I would be triggered to eat if I go for the refined stuff. If more people who weigh 300+ accept this, they will no longer turn to the knife. WE CAN DO IT! -- Abbe Buck, PR flack, on a mission, I think (smile)
New York Times: Officials Cite Obesity Surgery Complications
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, July 23 — Four of every 10 patients who undergo weight-loss surgery develop complications within six months, the federal government said today.
The number of such surgical procedures has been rising rapidly, along with the incidence of obesity, which now afflicts about 30 percent of adults in the United States, health officials said.
Obesity surgery is helping thousands of Americans lose weight and reduce the risk of diabetes and other life-threatening diseases, said Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the Public Health Service. But she added, “This study shows how important it is for patients to consider the potential complications.’’
Many of the complications were so serious that patients were readmitted to hospitals or visited hospital emergency rooms within six months.
In a procedure known as bariatric surgery, doctors reduce the number of calories that a person can consume and absorb. One of the more common techniques restricts the size of the stomach and the length of the intestine, where nutrients are absorbed.
Federal researchers found that complications from obesity surgery significantly increased costs.
Over all, said William E. Encinosa, an economist at the health research agency, medical costs averaged $29,921 for obesity surgery and six months of follow-up care. For patients who experienced complications, the costs averaged $36,542. And for those with complications that required readmission to a hospital, the average costs were $65,031.
Prior studies found that 10 percent to 20 percent of patients had complications while they were in the hospital. In the new study, Mr. Encinosa said, federal researchers found that 39.6 percent of patients had complications within 180 days of surgery.
The most common complications included vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal hernias, infections, pneumonia and respiratory failure, as well as the leaking of gastric juices caused by imperfect surgical connections between the stomach and the intestines.
Joanne Kayser, a retired New Hampshire state employee, said she weighed 320 pounds when she had bypass surgery in 2003. “The operation went well,’’ she said in an interview. “It reduced my food intake. After the surgery, I lost 60 pounds.’’
But Ms. Kayser, now 64, said: “My incision did not heal for seven months. I could not exercise, and I stopped losing weight. The incision became infected, and I had to have surgery by a wound-care specialist. In addition, after four months, I developed a hernia, a bulge in my tummy.’’
Bariatric surgery often alleviates conditions that occur with obesity, like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. That was the case with Ms. Kayser, who said she no longer needed to take diabetes medications because her blood sugar levels were under control.
Dr. Philip R. Schauer, president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, estimates that 175,000 to 200,000 weight-loss procedures will be performed this year, up from 47,000 in 2001. The number of people receiving the operation “may be less than 1 percent of those who need it,’’ said Dr. Schauer, who is director of bariatric surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.
The government study was based on insurance claims filed with health plans offered by 45 large employers in 49 states. The data included information on 2,522 weight-loss operations in 2001 and 2002.
Dr. Schauer said that surgical techniques and the quality of care had improved, so patients were less likely to suffer complications. In 2001 and 2002, he said, “there were not a lot of standards for doctors and hospitals getting into the field of bariatric surgery.’’ Since then, he said, the society has adopted standards, and some hospitals that specialize in the procedure have been designated “centers of excellence.’’
In addition, Dr. Schauer said, more than half of the operations are now done with a technique known as laparoscopic surgery, which requires only tiny incisions. This approach sharply reduces some types of complications, he said.
In the cases reviewed by federal researchers, 85 percent of the patients were women.
Dr. Schauer suggested several reasons: “Women have a somewhat higher incidence of obesity. Women seek medical care more than men. And obesity is more socially acceptable in men than in women.’’
But he also said: “Obesity is more deadly in men because they are more likely to have secondary effects of obesity like heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.’’
Arthur G. Richards, an insurance agent in Portland, Ore., said some insurers were refusing to pay for obesity surgery and its complications. Such complications can lead to lawsuits, even when doctors meet the prevailing standards of care. Mr. Richards said his company was developing special insurance policies that would pay doctors for treating foreseeable complications.
# # #
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Liz is my hero - and she tells it like it is! It's Liz -- not Madonna, the REAL mother of reinvention, still getting Fab PR!
And I like the idea that I look kinda like her....(smile) well, my husband says so, but he's biased as hell. She is still a beauty at 74.
Elizabeth Taylor: 'I Enjoy Food Too Much'
Elizabeth Taylor says she enjoys food too much to starve herself like other Hollywood starlets.
NEW YORK, Jul. 10, 2006 (AP) Elizabeth Taylor, who has been thin and not-so-thin, says she won't starve herself to be like Hollywood's size-zero starlets."I wish I could be that size, but I can't be," Taylor says in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar, on newsstands July 25. "I enjoy food too much. In the end, I'm too hedonistic. I enjoy pleasures."When asked by fashion designer Michael Kors, who conducted the interview, whether she dresses for men, women or herself, Taylor reveals she prefers to impress the opposite sex."Men first. Myself. Then other women. `Cause you can't please women. They are horribly critical of each other. And more so if you're famous. Meow."
The 74-year-old legend, known for her violet eyes, has been married eight times. When asked whether she is a romantic, she concedes: "I'm afraid so."When she was married to Sen. John Warner, she says she was told not to dress ostentatiously during his 1978 campaign."I ended up in a tweed suit," she says. "Me. Little tweed suits. What I won't do for love."
On the Net: http://www.harpersbazaar.com
MMVI The Associated Press.
# # #
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Olsen twins create nutrition show: Yes, we need MORE Insanity - they certainly cannot focus on fashion anymore!
=[Yes, the] Olsen twins create nutrition show - [AND it makes the wire in the UK!]
Monday July 3, 11:45 AM - By WENN
Click to enlarge photo -[your choice]
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are creating a show about health and nutrition for young children, according to media reports in the US.
Ashley and her twin sister Mary-Kate - who was underwent rehab for anorexia in 2004 - have met with US TV executives about the new program aimed at four-to-five-year-olds called Sportee Kids.
A source tells American publication Us Weekly, "It will focus on fitness and healthy eating."
The duo have reportedly received a mixed reactions about their new concept.
The source adds, "Some execs are weirded out to do a show about food and nutrition with the Olsens."
A representative for the pair has hit back saying, "There's no truth to people being scared to work with them. They're healthy and fine." [The twins' regular publicist is Michael Pagnotta].
###
Monday July 3, 11:45 AM - By WENN
Click to enlarge photo -[your choice]
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are creating a show about health and nutrition for young children, according to media reports in the US.
Ashley and her twin sister Mary-Kate - who was underwent rehab for anorexia in 2004 - have met with US TV executives about the new program aimed at four-to-five-year-olds called Sportee Kids.
A source tells American publication Us Weekly, "It will focus on fitness and healthy eating."
The duo have reportedly received a mixed reactions about their new concept.
The source adds, "Some execs are weirded out to do a show about food and nutrition with the Olsens."
A representative for the pair has hit back saying, "There's no truth to people being scared to work with them. They're healthy and fine." [The twins' regular publicist is Michael Pagnotta].
###
Monday, July 03, 2006
Yes, Star Jones Reynolds has left The View - and another Media Feeding Frenzy begins --or---slooooow newz day - hit snooze button NOW
fox: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,201940,00.html jane hall, gabler, cal thomas, the usual suspects
MSNBC - just google it anywhere
###
MSNBC - just google it anywhere
###
Jossip editors, oh, where out thou NOW?
Good! SHAKE IT UP! Do we need new blood in the mix, or should we care?FILE UNDER - mediabistro reports to the "insiders"
###
i need a martini, jerk! hurry up!
Sunday, July 02, 2006
The "I can get sued" Dept. - No, I can't! Star Jones (already) on the comeback trail - not a publicity stunt - I AM THE VICTIM HERE
http://goodpublicitybadpublicity.blogspot.com/2006/07/star-jones-and-al-roker-rebuilding.html#links
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=FAB77296-31CF-4B4A-BE9C-B52F4A9C5ED6&f=00&fg=copy
Star Jones is the ultimate DIVA - love her, hate her, she is a S T A R. But now she is out of the closet - she 'fessed up to Al Roker on TODAY. Bigger than Larry King which was a benchwarmer. It was long segment -- Longer than "Hillary Clinton and the vast right wing conspiracy" (!) It will take one hell of a brand reshaping here, But Savvy Star is getting busy so she lands another gig NOW. She is taking the high road.
Hindsight is 20 - 15: Yes, she should have had the public join the journey at Day #1. Just a purely PR opine, natch. But this is a very good route. Confession to Al Roker. Good move. Apologized to viewers (ala DeGeneres) Better move. And if a "Medical Intervention" is the bypass, well, alrighty, then! (She and Al had the same doctors, after all). [By the way, I know Dr. Paul Lin personally--he almost did a re-do for me!]
Good luck, Mrs. Reynolds! Be ready: Barbara Walters will speak OUT sooner or later!
Abbe B., -92 now. Sans bypass and redo of a roux -n-y.
###
"The Obesity Tsunami": --or--REASONS for morbid obesity other than food are:
AFP: Chewing the fat: New theories on world's obesity pandemicJul 01 11:33 PM US/Eastern
Fatty hamburgers, sugar-laden sodas and a couch-potato lifestyle: these are the familiar villains in the crisis of obesity sweeping developed countries.
But what if they had been convicted without fair trial?
What if the global fat explosion had other causes?
What, for instance, if air conditioning or lack of sleep helped make you fat? Or what if obesity were caused by a microbe -- what if, bang, you caught an unlucky sneeze and this made you chub out?
These ideas challenge the mainstream view that the bulging waistlines of an advancing society can be overwhelmingly pinned to diet and lifestyle.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last September warned that a billion people were overweight and obese, and the toll could rise to 1.5 billion by 2015, driven by low- and middle-income countries.
The WHO accepted there were "a number of factors" for this increase, but especially blamed "a global shift in diet towards increased energy, fat, salt and sugar intake, and a trend towards decreased physical activity due to the sedentary nature of modern work and transportation, and increasing urbanisation."
Some worry that this view is dangerously monolithic.
Writing on Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity, a team of US public-health experts caution against focussing obsessively on the "Big Two" -- a slower lifestyle and modern food marketing.
"This has created a hegemony whereby the importance of the Big Two is accepted as established and other putative factors are not seriously explored," they say. "The result may be well-intentioned but ill-founded proposals for reducing obesity rates."
They contend the evidence against junk food, supersize-me portions and high-calorie corn syrup is "equivocal and largely circumstantial" and offer some intriguing ideas of their own for other drivers of the obesity tsunami.
Among them:
-- Industrial chemicals called endocrine disruptors that disturb metabolism, encouraging the formation of fat.
-- Giving up smoking: people who give up cigarettes very often gain weight.
-- Air conditioning, which establishes a comfortable temperature zone. In temperatures above this zone, people eat less. The rise in number of air-conditioned homes in the United States virtually mirrors the increase in the US obesity rate.
-- Fat people marry other fat people. These individuals may be genetically vulnerable to obesity, a trait that could handed on to their children.
Another hypothesis is that lack of sleep jolts the metabolic system into demanding doses of instant energy. SUGAR, ANYONE?
University of Chicago researcher Esra Tasali notes that waistlines in modern societies started to expand when people started to sleep less. Today, the "sleep deficit" is about two hours per night compared with 40 years ago.
In work unveiled at an obesity conference last October, Tasali recruited a group of healthy young adults and divided them into three groups. One group had eight hours' sleep; another had their sleep regime extended to 12 hours; and the third was limited to only four hours.
The sleep-deprived group swiftly developed cravings for high-calorie sweets, and their metabolisms were akin to those of diabetics.
Meanwhile, Nikhil Dhurandhar of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University believes obesity could be caused by a bug.
At least 10 different pathogens are known to cause obesity in animals, causing dramatic changes to the metabolic system so that more energy gets converted into fat.
Dhurandhar believes that something similar may happen among humans exposed to cousins of the common cold.
He tested the stored blood of 500 Americans and found that 30 percent of obese people had antibodies for Ad-36, an adenovirus which causes coughing, sneezing and cold-like symptoms.
Only 11 percent of people of normal body weight had this telltale of Ad-36 infection.
Dhurandhar stresses, though, that infection is likely to be only of a bouquet of causes for obesity.
"In 10 years, people may be able to walk into a clinic and be told that their obesity is due to X cause, such as genes, the endocrine system or pathogens. That may have a more productive outcome than a blanket treatment right now, (which) is not very successful."
Neville Rigby, of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, says that such unconventional views usually get a good hearing among scientists, for no one claims to have a monopoly of wisdom when it comes to this fast-growing disease.
"It's a very complex story, it's not a single issue," said Rigby. "But the overarching question is how much we consume and how much we burn."
Copyright AFP 2006
###
Fatty hamburgers, sugar-laden sodas and a couch-potato lifestyle: these are the familiar villains in the crisis of obesity sweeping developed countries.
But what if they had been convicted without fair trial?
What if the global fat explosion had other causes?
What, for instance, if air conditioning or lack of sleep helped make you fat? Or what if obesity were caused by a microbe -- what if, bang, you caught an unlucky sneeze and this made you chub out?
These ideas challenge the mainstream view that the bulging waistlines of an advancing society can be overwhelmingly pinned to diet and lifestyle.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last September warned that a billion people were overweight and obese, and the toll could rise to 1.5 billion by 2015, driven by low- and middle-income countries.
The WHO accepted there were "a number of factors" for this increase, but especially blamed "a global shift in diet towards increased energy, fat, salt and sugar intake, and a trend towards decreased physical activity due to the sedentary nature of modern work and transportation, and increasing urbanisation."
Some worry that this view is dangerously monolithic.
Writing on Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity, a team of US public-health experts caution against focussing obsessively on the "Big Two" -- a slower lifestyle and modern food marketing.
"This has created a hegemony whereby the importance of the Big Two is accepted as established and other putative factors are not seriously explored," they say. "The result may be well-intentioned but ill-founded proposals for reducing obesity rates."
They contend the evidence against junk food, supersize-me portions and high-calorie corn syrup is "equivocal and largely circumstantial" and offer some intriguing ideas of their own for other drivers of the obesity tsunami.
Among them:
-- Industrial chemicals called endocrine disruptors that disturb metabolism, encouraging the formation of fat.
-- Giving up smoking: people who give up cigarettes very often gain weight.
-- Air conditioning, which establishes a comfortable temperature zone. In temperatures above this zone, people eat less. The rise in number of air-conditioned homes in the United States virtually mirrors the increase in the US obesity rate.
-- Fat people marry other fat people. These individuals may be genetically vulnerable to obesity, a trait that could handed on to their children.
Another hypothesis is that lack of sleep jolts the metabolic system into demanding doses of instant energy. SUGAR, ANYONE?
University of Chicago researcher Esra Tasali notes that waistlines in modern societies started to expand when people started to sleep less. Today, the "sleep deficit" is about two hours per night compared with 40 years ago.
In work unveiled at an obesity conference last October, Tasali recruited a group of healthy young adults and divided them into three groups. One group had eight hours' sleep; another had their sleep regime extended to 12 hours; and the third was limited to only four hours.
The sleep-deprived group swiftly developed cravings for high-calorie sweets, and their metabolisms were akin to those of diabetics.
Meanwhile, Nikhil Dhurandhar of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University believes obesity could be caused by a bug.
At least 10 different pathogens are known to cause obesity in animals, causing dramatic changes to the metabolic system so that more energy gets converted into fat.
Dhurandhar believes that something similar may happen among humans exposed to cousins of the common cold.
He tested the stored blood of 500 Americans and found that 30 percent of obese people had antibodies for Ad-36, an adenovirus which causes coughing, sneezing and cold-like symptoms.
Only 11 percent of people of normal body weight had this telltale of Ad-36 infection.
Dhurandhar stresses, though, that infection is likely to be only of a bouquet of causes for obesity.
"In 10 years, people may be able to walk into a clinic and be told that their obesity is due to X cause, such as genes, the endocrine system or pathogens. That may have a more productive outcome than a blanket treatment right now, (which) is not very successful."
Neville Rigby, of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, says that such unconventional views usually get a good hearing among scientists, for no one claims to have a monopoly of wisdom when it comes to this fast-growing disease.
"It's a very complex story, it's not a single issue," said Rigby. "But the overarching question is how much we consume and how much we burn."
Copyright AFP 2006
###
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Star Jones' star dimmed --OFF The View! 'being unlikable hurts my show' says Babs (NYT)
file under: I will need an entertainment lawyer if i post this dept.:
HighVizPR's getting good PR, dealing with bad PR: a case study approach: Star Jones' star dimmed - OFF the view! "Being Unlikable hurts my show", says Babs
uh-oh. I called it when rosie was announced!
DAMN! No cat fights over the roux-n-y!
###
HighVizPR's getting good PR, dealing with bad PR: a case study approach: Star Jones' star dimmed - OFF the view! "Being Unlikable hurts my show", says Babs
uh-oh. I called it when rosie was announced!
DAMN! No cat fights over the roux-n-y!
###
Thursday, June 22, 2006
-88 "HighViz P.R." for myself, or, I owe GOV Mike Huckabee (R-AK), a great BIG HOOAH!
a HIGHVIZMemorandum:
From: Abbe Buck[PR]
To Joe Quinn, Policy Director for State of Arkansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee
cc: (undisclosed recipients)
fyi* Hey, Joe, as you know, I was given a death sentence in August, 2005. I was told that if I did not lose some of my girth, I would be sentenced to a wheelchair. To me that equivalates DEATH. I potentially need a full (two) knee replacement and was too FAT to get one. On November 11, 2005 I gave up all SUGAR, FLOUR and REFINED FOOD cold turkey.
I simply did what GOV Mike Huckabee is doing, and will do it for the rest of my life. As Billy Sunday was a preacher in the 1920's, and as himself is an ordained minister, GOV Mike Huckabee is preaching the gospel, but instead of "give up drinking the demon rum" Mike Huckabee's approach of "Quit digging your grave with a Knife and Fork" is a need in our life and times. It can be a lethal addiction, everyday eating, because you/we, can put down the bottle! You see, food is our daily "fuel", like gassing up our cars!
You may not realize it, as large as I was/am, that one of the WORST ADDICTIONS that we, as a people are wired into in the USA is one of FOOD. TWO THIRDS of the US POPULATION are not my fellow alkies, or druggies, but my fellow food addicts, addicted to sugar and flour that lead to binge foods. Yes, like a junkie. Non non-sequiters needed saying 'junk food junkies'. It's all too true! I weighed 352 lbs tops.
Of course, being fat, in a wheelchair, as your "virtual sexy sounding PR gal", I could keep working for you (see www.highvizpr.com/washington_woman), but like Gov. Huckabee, as he and I turned the corner at 50, we would be lucky if our lifetime clocks kept ticking as we turned 51....52.....55....57......You see this could mean DEATH. Yes. OBESITY = lifetime illness. And OBESITY KILLS. Trust me on that.
I lost 88 lbs in 7 mos. I have 88 to go. Then I will stay there. No gastric bypass (Carnie Wilson, Al Roker and Star Jones, take note--YOU ARE STILL ADDICTED TO FOOD, kids - Carnie admits it, bless her) No hoodia (just another addiction - PILLS, ask Limbaugh--and he's fat again!) and alcohol....it is pure sugar, and refined food that will give you just as much a "kick" - just try a whole Tiramasu, babay!
For more on my story (Hey, Jim Bell/Today Show, you may finally want that interview - I would go one on one with Al Roker - you bet!), I can be reached at 1-800-380-2825. --Abbe Buck[PR]
Trackback at HighVizPR:
http://highvizpr.blogspot.com/2006/02/ap-governors-urge-change-in-our-eating.html
###
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
The Real Arianna
www.maureenorth.comArticle at Maureen Orth site. Arianna gets it done. Mrs. Tim Russert knew her WHEN.
###
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
[Groan Dept.] Connie Chung, Blow-torch singer for one night ONLY!
nyt reports (LOL!)
Connie Chung, Torch Singer for a Night
--and in an off-key range of five keys, ALL OF US can cringe right with him, and my dogs can howl, too!
Connie, "we thank you, so much"
Love,
Abbe Buck, once a singer
###
Connie Chung, Torch Singer for a Night
By JACQUES STEINBERG - Published: June 20, 2006
Those who caught a glimpse over the weekend — either on television, or later on the Internet — of the torch song that Connie Chung warbled to mark the end of her short-lived program with Maury Povich on MSNBC, take note: She says she meant her performance to be a gag. [It was a great gag!]
Video: Connie Chung's Farewell (youtube.com)
"I sing off tune so perfectly," she said yesterday, "I just find it's a great way to capture the audience."
Ms. Chung, in a shimmering evening gown and long white gloves, slithered atop and around a grand piano while singing a version of Bob Hope's signature song, "Thanks for the Memory," in a style best described as evoking a tipsy Marilyn Monroe. At one point Ms. Chung even shook her behind at the camera. The lyrics — written by Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show" and executive producer ofMs.Chung's program — mostly made fun of Ms. Chung and her husband, Mr. Povich, whose own long-running talk show tends toward seamier material than did "Weekends With Maury & Connie."
A sampling of the lyrics: "This half a year flew by/My Maury, what a guy/Instead of asking, 'Who's the daddy?'/He could talk Dubai."
Asked if she had required a drink beforehand to get through lines like that, Ms. Chung, a former co-anchor of the "CBS Evening News," laughed, then said, "I should have had a drink before I went on."
Thanks in part to the Web site Youtube.com, clips of Ms. Chung's rendition have been rocketing through cyberspace. Not everyone, it seems, got the joke.
The media-centric Web site Gawker.com was reminded of something Dave Barry once wrote about Richard M. Nixon's resignation remarks — "a semicoherent speech about his mother that may well rank as the single most embarrassing moment in American history." The site then added, "The 37th president can finally rest in peace."
Did such barbs sting? "I always have a hard time with them," Ms. Chung said. "I decided what the heck?"
"Weekends with Maury & Connie" — a half-hour program in which the two hosts sought to comment on the news through analysis, point-counter-point and humor — was at least partly intended to counter the conventional wisdom about each of them, she said. "It showed Maury was a thinker, a reader, an intelligent news person," Ms. Chung said. "It showed, on my side, that I can have as much fun as anyone."
The show, which was broadcast for six months, on Saturday mornings at 10 (and rebroadcast throughout the weekend), never caught on with viewers, drawing an average audience of slightly more than 200,000 on Saturday mornings. The cable channel quietly noted its demise earlier this month.
Throughout her career Ms. Chung, 59, has periodically sought to show that she has a sense of humor about herself and her work. She was a frequent guest on David Letterman's late-night talk show, particularly when it was on NBC.
And this is hardly the first time she has sung off-key, as a gag, publicly. She once did so on "The View," serenading Barbara Walters after she announced her retirement from "20/20." And about a decade ago, she said, she did so at an awards dinner, crooning to Dan Rather (with whom she had been briefly, awkwardly paired on the evening news).
Of her singing, she gloated, "It makes Maury cringe."
###
--and in an off-key range of five keys, ALL OF US can cringe right with him, and my dogs can howl, too!
Connie, "we thank you, so much"
Love,
Abbe Buck, once a singer
###
Monday, June 19, 2006
Mrs. Maury Povich: When your ratings are that bad, and no one cares, do your own THANG!
This is still our Diva, our media babe. Katie Couric is one of a kind. Diane Sawyer ditto. Ann Coulter may take cheap shots at the 9-1-1- widows dressed in Dana Buckman drinking Moet, but Connie Chung is a drunken singing swan dive! BOOM! She bombs! Ann will too in a couple of books from now. We all do.FILE UNDER HIGHVIZPR meets high camp, please!
And no, Bob Hope is NOT turning in his grave.
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2745632?htv=12
###
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Hang in there, Jer! SEE YOU ON LABOR DAY, BABY!
Checklist:
- Send flowers immediately
- Call Jerry's spokeswoman (publicist Candi Cazau).
- Do pro-bono stuff on 'net for Jerry and MD for Labor Day telethon
- Say prayers. He had a good run, and he did a lot of good, mania, depression or not. (((This manic depression is so common with us Jews and Italians, isn't it?)))
AP - Jerry Lewis Suffers 'Mild' Heart Attack - Jun 13 8:19 PM US/Eastern
LAS VEGAS- Comedian Jerry Lewis postponed a July engagement to perform live after suffering a heart attack Sunday that a casino spokeswoman described as "mild."
"At present, he is under hospital care and is expected to make a full recovery," said Candi Cazau, spokeswoman for the Orleans hotel-casino in Las Vegas, where Lewis was to perform July 13-16.
Lewis, 80, is also suffering from "a touch of pneumonia," Cazau said in a statement. A call to Lewis' manager, Claudia Marghilano, was not returned Tuesday.
Last week, a wise-cracking Lewis appeared healthy at a news conference in Las Vegas when he announced his first return to live performances in five years after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis, a crippling lung ailment.
He also appeared at a roasting as abbot of the Friars Club in New York on Friday, with fellow comedian Robert Klein and the Amazing Kreskin in attendance.
Lewis announced last week that he planned to direct a version of his hit 1963 comedy, "The Nutty Professor," as a musical on Broadway by October 2008.
Those plans have not changed, said executive producer Ned McLeod of The Michael Andrew Company, which bought the rights to develop the show in March.
"We support and will be by Jerry on any health issue that comes up for him as well as he would for me or Michael," McLeod said. "It's not going to affect us."
###
((((Life goes on. Jer is 80. I willl be 50 tomorrow. Geez. So much for the 'new 30'!)))
Monday, June 12, 2006
"The girl can't help it!" or Stanley Bing tells us how to get "100 BULLSHIT media jobs" (AHAHAHAHAHA!!)
Excerpt: 100 Bullshit Jobs...And How to Get Them - www.mediabistro.com, (my home page!)
In his new book, Stanley Bing lays out just which media jobs are full of bull
By Stanley Bing – June 12, 2006
Agent
A:Talk on phone, take percentage
$$: Seven figures is not out of the ordinary, and the lunch action is astounding.
B: 54-172.
Skills Required: Shine people on or cut them dead, depending on the situation. One must possess a serious love of bullshit in all its many forms.
Duties: Make sure no client of yours ever takes it up the butt.
Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent. —Shakespeare
Famous Examples: Swifty Lazar, who will be remembered for his Oscar parties; Norman Brokaw and Lou Weiss of the William Morris Agency, who I believe knew Jolson; Binky Urban, whose name comes up more often in New York book chat than Proust's or Jerry McGuire.
How to Get It: To become a successful agent, all you need to do is get a foot in the door at the very lowest level and then show yourself to be a meat-eating barracuda from the get-go. A lot of agents, although not as many as in the past, come in through the mailroom. Others start as assistants and very quickly begin to take on unknown and marginal petitioners, one of whose success will immediately reap huge career gains. You don't have to be all that educated, either. Just smart. Or not. There are certainly a lot of stupid agents.
RELATED:Essay: Bullshit Media Jobs
I'm not currently represented. I'm with the William Morris Agency. —Larry Gelbart, to Johnny Carson
The Upside: Lots of people groveling as you eat your gravlax. A sense of achievement in the success of others, as long as you're getting a piece of it.
The Downside: People sucking on your face all day. And there comes a time when Steve doesn't seat you at the right table.
The Dark Side: You die alone and unmourned.
Where You Go From Here: Upward and upward into the stratosphere of the profession, where the lines blur between superagent and producer and lawyer.
--NEXT!
Book Editor
A.Take breakfast meeting with writers, assign ideas generated by others, hound writers for manuscripts, have lunch, hound writers for manuscripts, have drinks and dinner. Repeat as necessary.
$$: $16,000-$450,000, depending. The lower you are paid, the less bullshit your job is; conversely, the more you make, the more access you have to the highest, rocket-grade bullshit imaginable.
B: 15-104. What a range! Entry-level editors must rewrite and proofread manuscripts (like this one instance for), and field angry phone calls from authors and agents so that their bosses can talk to other people with bullshit jobs (see Best-Selling Author).
Skills Required: There are still some book editors around who actually mark up manuscripts, but the truly successful ones wouldn't risk inkstains on their Armani cuffs. The great ones operate in pure ideas and conjecture—like which to order for lunch at Michael's, the sweetbreads or the Cobb salad? Occasionally, they will weigh into the process by barking, "Where's my book?" The great book editor is at once a gifted salesperson, an arbiter of taste, a babysitter of lost souls, and a closet boulevardier. God bless them, both of them.
No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft. —H.G. Wells
Duties: Ability to "read" a 300-page book before lunch, while answering emails on his Blackberry.
Famous Example: Maxwell Perkins, a towering figure of the 1920s and '30s, whose aggressive yet thoughtful shaping of the great modern authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolf, hewed solid monuments of literature out of flaccit, egotistical lumps of prose. The fact that Maxwell Perkins existed has made it possible for generations of book editors who came after him to feel good about their profession.
How to Get It: Take a job for no money upon graduating from an Ivy League school; live at your parents' house for three years until you make a living wage; then inherit a best-selling exercise book from an editor who's left for a better bullshit job.
The Upside: Meet Oprah.
The Downside: You are seated with James Frey and Nan Talese at the PEN dinner.
The Dark Side: Must eat at Elaine's.
Where You Go From Here: Elaine's.
**
Celebrate the release of 100 Bullshit Jobs...And How to Get Them June 14 at mediabistro's next Edit Staff Party in New York
Stanley Bing is a columnist for Fortune and the author of a host of best-selling books, including What Would Machiavelli Do?, Throwing The Elephant, Sun Tzu Was A Sissy, Rome, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the First Multinational Corporation (Atlas Books) and most recently, the ground-breaking 100 Bullshit Jobs... And How To Get Them (Collins).
> Have a comment? Send a letter to the editor.> Read more in our archives
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In his new book, Stanley Bing lays out just which media jobs are full of bull
By Stanley Bing – June 12, 2006
Agent
A:Talk on phone, take percentage
$$: Seven figures is not out of the ordinary, and the lunch action is astounding.
B: 54-172.
Skills Required: Shine people on or cut them dead, depending on the situation. One must possess a serious love of bullshit in all its many forms.
Duties: Make sure no client of yours ever takes it up the butt.
Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent. —Shakespeare
Famous Examples: Swifty Lazar, who will be remembered for his Oscar parties; Norman Brokaw and Lou Weiss of the William Morris Agency, who I believe knew Jolson; Binky Urban, whose name comes up more often in New York book chat than Proust's or Jerry McGuire.
How to Get It: To become a successful agent, all you need to do is get a foot in the door at the very lowest level and then show yourself to be a meat-eating barracuda from the get-go. A lot of agents, although not as many as in the past, come in through the mailroom. Others start as assistants and very quickly begin to take on unknown and marginal petitioners, one of whose success will immediately reap huge career gains. You don't have to be all that educated, either. Just smart. Or not. There are certainly a lot of stupid agents.
RELATED:Essay: Bullshit Media Jobs
I'm not currently represented. I'm with the William Morris Agency. —Larry Gelbart, to Johnny Carson
The Upside: Lots of people groveling as you eat your gravlax. A sense of achievement in the success of others, as long as you're getting a piece of it.
The Downside: People sucking on your face all day. And there comes a time when Steve doesn't seat you at the right table.
The Dark Side: You die alone and unmourned.
Where You Go From Here: Upward and upward into the stratosphere of the profession, where the lines blur between superagent and producer and lawyer.
--NEXT!
Book Editor
A.Take breakfast meeting with writers, assign ideas generated by others, hound writers for manuscripts, have lunch, hound writers for manuscripts, have drinks and dinner. Repeat as necessary.
$$: $16,000-$450,000, depending. The lower you are paid, the less bullshit your job is; conversely, the more you make, the more access you have to the highest, rocket-grade bullshit imaginable.
B: 15-104. What a range! Entry-level editors must rewrite and proofread manuscripts (like this one instance for), and field angry phone calls from authors and agents so that their bosses can talk to other people with bullshit jobs (see Best-Selling Author).
Skills Required: There are still some book editors around who actually mark up manuscripts, but the truly successful ones wouldn't risk inkstains on their Armani cuffs. The great ones operate in pure ideas and conjecture—like which to order for lunch at Michael's, the sweetbreads or the Cobb salad? Occasionally, they will weigh into the process by barking, "Where's my book?" The great book editor is at once a gifted salesperson, an arbiter of taste, a babysitter of lost souls, and a closet boulevardier. God bless them, both of them.
No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft. —H.G. Wells
Duties: Ability to "read" a 300-page book before lunch, while answering emails on his Blackberry.
Famous Example: Maxwell Perkins, a towering figure of the 1920s and '30s, whose aggressive yet thoughtful shaping of the great modern authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolf, hewed solid monuments of literature out of flaccit, egotistical lumps of prose. The fact that Maxwell Perkins existed has made it possible for generations of book editors who came after him to feel good about their profession.
How to Get It: Take a job for no money upon graduating from an Ivy League school; live at your parents' house for three years until you make a living wage; then inherit a best-selling exercise book from an editor who's left for a better bullshit job.
The Upside: Meet Oprah.
The Downside: You are seated with James Frey and Nan Talese at the PEN dinner.
The Dark Side: Must eat at Elaine's.
Where You Go From Here: Elaine's.
**
Celebrate the release of 100 Bullshit Jobs...And How to Get Them June 14 at mediabistro's next Edit Staff Party in New York
Stanley Bing is a columnist for Fortune and the author of a host of best-selling books, including What Would Machiavelli Do?, Throwing The Elephant, Sun Tzu Was A Sissy, Rome, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the First Multinational Corporation (Atlas Books) and most recently, the ground-breaking 100 Bullshit Jobs... And How To Get Them (Collins).
> Have a comment? Send a letter to the editor.> Read more in our archives
mb offers
nyc/l.a. course
boot camp for journalists
Earn your stripes: Have 8 publishable articles in 8 weeks after completing our signature class.
Enlist today!New York - Jun. 12Los Angeles - Jun. 20
nyc course
tv newsreporting
Become a TV news reporter. Learn how from BBC reporter Manoush Zomorodi.Intro - Jul. 10Adv. - Jun. 13
l.a. seminar
head-turning headlines
Learn how to write fresh, provocative headlines and how to get (and keep!) the attention of editors and readers. Jun. 27.
l.a. seminar
radiodocumentaries
Learn how to produce and submit stories to radio stations without having any prior experience. Jun. 29.
l.a. course
the wholefreelancer
Be a successful freelancer. Learn valuable tips on juggling assignments, dealing with deadlines, and much more. Begins Jun. 28.
s.f. seminar
editorial photography
Learn how to get editorial photo jobs from photographer Caren Alpert (Gourmet, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, and more). Jun. 20.
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Saturday, June 10, 2006
Viva la Jerry! Third time is the charm AT THE FRIARS CLUB!
(AP) Jerry Lewis is used to making jokes. This summer, he'll bear the brunt of them.The legendary comedian will take his third turn suffering insults and slams _ all in good-natured fun, of course _ at a Friars Club celebrity roast on June 9, it was announced Thursday." Since I had nothing better to do, why not?" Lewis quipped.Actor-comedian Richard Belzer will lead the roast, which will be presented at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan.The 80-year-old Lewis, who earned fame in showbiz and respect through his prodigious fundraising for children with muscular dystrophy, was previously roasted in 1971 and 1986. He was also honored with Dean Martin in 1955 at a testimonial dinner.
One likely target roasters are expected to aim at is Lewis' renown popularity in France, where he has reached near godlike status."Once again, we're very proud to honor our Roastee, the comedic genius Jerry Lewis," said Freddie Roman, the club's dean. "We're happy to prove that 50 million Frenchmen can't be wrong."
On the Net: http://www.friarsclub.org/MMVI The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, May 29, 2006
FILE UNDER: Keeping up with the (religious) Jones' PR or Pat Robertson does media really stupid one more time!
"If this 700 Club guy can bench press 2000 lbs, I have tits like Pam Anderson." --Abbe Buck,HighVizPR
Nuff Said!
WONKETTE (written by a guy, but what the hell) STORY HERE
MY HighVizPR LINK HERE
###
Nuff Said!
WONKETTE (written by a guy, but what the hell) STORY HERE
MY HighVizPR LINK HERE
###
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The current abbebuckpr sites - May, '06
HighViz PR My current working site - closing June 15th*
Good PR/Bad PR I [HEART] Richard Edelman was my last post.
HighViz PR - Politics = Show Biz!
Kilroy2005 (www.kilroy2005.blogspot.com)
and
AbbeBuck.com(vocals)
*( a long story--going a new path. Contact me for details.)
###
Good PR/Bad PR I [HEART] Richard Edelman was my last post.
HighViz PR - Politics = Show Biz!
Kilroy2005 (www.kilroy2005.blogspot.com)
and
AbbeBuck.com(vocals)
*( a long story--going a new path. Contact me for details.)
###
Tony Snow crosses to the other side
Show Biz and politics collide once again -- Tony Snow will be on Lou Dobbs - CNN today-- see www.cnnpipeline.com.
Tony Snow is non-biased, eh? Mmmmmhmmmm....Shedding his FNC skin and playing up the virtues of the BUSH PR MACHINE with Dibbs. How benign of him! Can Wolf Blitzer and Larry King be next up?
---Abbe Buck PR
###
Tony Snow is non-biased, eh? Mmmmmhmmmm....Shedding his FNC skin and playing up the virtues of the BUSH PR MACHINE with Dibbs. How benign of him! Can Wolf Blitzer and Larry King be next up?
---Abbe Buck PR
###
Sunday, April 09, 2006
The sad times of the Saginaw Chippewa
This was not what I had in mind when worked for GT Law for "Team Abramoff" clients. And in spite of the scandal, this did not have to happen, did it?
Washington, D.C. Former Abramoff tribal client not moving forward with school project
http://www.kbzk.com/Global/story.asp?S=4741034
April 8, 2006 12:48 PM EST
One of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's former tribal clients is severing ties to millions of dollars in federal aid he helped arrange.
Leaders of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan say they will not move forward with plans to build a school on the reservation.
The project received three (m) million dollars in funding from the federal government with help from Abramoff. The lobbyist pleaded guilty in a Justice Department corruption probe.
The tribe announced its decision yesterday in letters addressed to the four lawmakers who chair the Senate and House appropriations subcommittees that oversee the Interior Department. Senator Conrad Burns was among them.
Saginaw Tribal Chief Fred Cantu and Tribal Sub-Chief Tim Davis wrote that the tribal council voted against the construction, because it's -- quote -- "not financially prudent to pursue this project at this time."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington, D.C. Former Abramoff tribal client not moving forward with school project
http://www.kbzk.com/Global/story.asp?S=4741034
April 8, 2006 12:48 PM EST
One of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's former tribal clients is severing ties to millions of dollars in federal aid he helped arrange.
Leaders of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan say they will not move forward with plans to build a school on the reservation.
The project received three (m) million dollars in funding from the federal government with help from Abramoff. The lobbyist pleaded guilty in a Justice Department corruption probe.
The tribe announced its decision yesterday in letters addressed to the four lawmakers who chair the Senate and House appropriations subcommittees that oversee the Interior Department. Senator Conrad Burns was among them.
Saginaw Tribal Chief Fred Cantu and Tribal Sub-Chief Tim Davis wrote that the tribal council voted against the construction, because it's -- quote -- "not financially prudent to pursue this project at this time."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Page Six Editor Richard Johnson said, "I don't know anything about this. Sounds like horse-s*** to me. Call Howard Rubinstein"...
...only the BIGGEST PR MAN IN NEW YORK.
ny daily news:
The billionaire, the Post and the $220G shakedown
Page Six writer wanted $$$ to stop inaccurate coverage
ny times running front page story tomorrow!
PR NEWSWIRE
The Following Statement Was Issued by Michael Sitrick, a Spokesman for Ron Burkle, in Response to Media Inquiries
LOS ANGELES, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- For more than a year, Mr. Burkle,
his attorneys and other representatives have been complaining to New York
Post editors, management and attorneys about the inaccurate items that have
appeared about him in the Post's Page Six column. After his
representatives' pleas produced no results, Mr. Burkle wrote a personal
letter to the Post's owner Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Burkle has repeatedly said
that he understands that a person might not always like what is written
about him, but that his complaints were not about unflattering items, but
false ones. Unfortunately, even his plea to Mr. Murdoch appeared to fall on
deaf ears.
Mr. Burkle said that while he has been asked not to discuss the details
of Mr. Stern's conversation with him -- because of the ongoing
investigation -- he did say that the story in the NY Daily News was
accurate and that he was shocked angered and saddened by what he heard.
"Corporate governance is not just for the boardrooms," Mr. Burkle said.
"It is also important in the newsrooms. I am a big believer in the fourth
estate. I feel strongly that honest, hardworking journalists make a major
contribution to a free society."
SOURCE Ron Burkle
Issuers of news releases and not PR Newswire are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Terms and conditions, including restrictions on redistribution, apply.
Copyright © 1996-document.write (thisYear);
2006 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights Reserved.
A United Business Media company.
###
ny daily news:
The billionaire, the Post and the $220G shakedown
Page Six writer wanted $$$ to stop inaccurate coverage
ny times running front page story tomorrow!
PR NEWSWIRE
The Following Statement Was Issued by Michael Sitrick, a Spokesman for Ron Burkle, in Response to Media Inquiries
LOS ANGELES, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- For more than a year, Mr. Burkle,
his attorneys and other representatives have been complaining to New York
Post editors, management and attorneys about the inaccurate items that have
appeared about him in the Post's Page Six column. After his
representatives' pleas produced no results, Mr. Burkle wrote a personal
letter to the Post's owner Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Burkle has repeatedly said
that he understands that a person might not always like what is written
about him, but that his complaints were not about unflattering items, but
false ones. Unfortunately, even his plea to Mr. Murdoch appeared to fall on
deaf ears.
Mr. Burkle said that while he has been asked not to discuss the details
of Mr. Stern's conversation with him -- because of the ongoing
investigation -- he did say that the story in the NY Daily News was
accurate and that he was shocked angered and saddened by what he heard.
"Corporate governance is not just for the boardrooms," Mr. Burkle said.
"It is also important in the newsrooms. I am a big believer in the fourth
estate. I feel strongly that honest, hardworking journalists make a major
contribution to a free society."
SOURCE Ron Burkle
Issuers of news releases and not PR Newswire are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Terms and conditions, including restrictions on redistribution, apply.
Copyright © 1996-document.write (thisYear);
2006 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights Reserved.
A United Business Media company.
###
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