WASHINGTON -- A proposed federal gas tax hike of 40 cents per gallon over the next several years is not sitting well with many drivers and legislators across North Texas.
A divided special commission urged the increase Tuesday and called for drastic changes to fix aging bridges and roads and reduce traffic deaths.
The tax hasn’t been raised since 1993, but local drivers are already feeling the pinch of spiking oil prices and rising costs of living.
In many states, including Texas, the population is growing more quickly than tax revenues, making for difficulty in maintaining roads.
The two-year study by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission is the first to propose broad changes after the devastating bridge collapse in Minneapolis last August shone a spotlight on the unsteady conditions of the nation's infrastructure.
Calling for immediate action, the congressionally created panel warns that "applying patches" is no longer acceptable, saying the nation risks tens of thousands of highway casualties each year and millions of dollars lost in economic growth.
Gov. Rick Perry issued a press release Tuesday urging members of Congress to reject the proposal. Perry argued that the federal government should step aside and allow the states to retain their dollars and choose how to solve their own revenue issues.
The 68-page report was supported by nine members of the commission, and is expected to reignite debate over raising gas taxes.
In a 10-page dissent, the commission's chairwoman, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, and two other members agreed with several aspects of the report but sharply criticized the proposal for higher gasoline taxes.
She and the two commissioners are calling instead for sole reliance on tolls and private investment, which Peters said would avoid sending millions of dollars of new tax revenue to Washington that end up as congressional pork.
Under the proposal to raise gas taxes, the current tax of 18.4 cents per gallon would be increased by 5 cents to 8 cents annually for five years and then indexed to inflation afterward to help fix the infrastructure, expand public transit and highways as well as broaden railway and rural access. The increase is designed to take effect in 2009, after President Bush leaves office.
Among the recommendations, which are expected to cost $225 billion each year for the next 50 years:
--Work to cut traffic fatalities in half over the next 17 years by urging states to embrace new strategies to improve safety.
--Ease traffic congestion by expanding state and local public transit systems and highway capacity.
--Protect the environment by smoothing traffic flow, encouraging alternative commute options such as carpooling and public transit and promoting energy-efficient construction and lighting in transit systems to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
--Seek to develop new energy sources with new research programs costing $200 million annually over the next decade.
The report also calls for the country to rebuild and expand its rail network to meet a growing demand for alternatives to congested highways and to promote partnerships between the public and private sectors at U.S. ports.
The commission was formed by Congress in 2005 to study the future needs of the nation's surface transportation system, which includes roads, mass-transit systems, ports and rail lines -- as well as to recommend funding options.
The report comes as state governments and several business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, are calling on the federal government to raise gas taxes to pay for substantial transportation improvements. The Minneapolis bridge collapse, which killed 13 people and injured about 100, also drew new calls for additional spending.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tracy Morgan's Wife Files for Divorce
HOLLYWOOD - Comedian Tracy Morgan's wife is filing for divorce, claiming the 30 Rock star has lost his battle with alcoholism.
The 39-year-old star recently claimed he had been sober for months, spurred on by his three sons' pleas for him to stay off alcohol.
But Sabina, his wife of 22 years, claims he is back on the booze.
She says, "I have to divorce him. I still have feelings for him, but the marriage is over.
"I'm having my lawyer file the divorce papers. I gave him every opportunity since August to stay in the marriage, but he's failed.
"It's terrible that he's drinking again. He knows he shouldn't be doing that for so many reasons, his health especially."
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TYRA GETS HILLARY TO TALK ABOUT BILL'S CHEATING: Sen. Clinton gets real personal during taping of Banks' talk show.
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*During a taping of the "Tyra Banks Show" Monday, Hillary Clinton spoke candidly and at length about the pain she endured when her husband, former president Bill Clinton, had his White House fling with former staffer Monica Lewinsky.
“I really had to dig down deep and think hard about what was right for me, what was right for my family,” the Democratic presidential hopeful told Banks in an appearance set to air Friday.
In explaining her decision to stay in the marriage, she told Tyra: “I never doubted Bill’s love for me ever, and I never doubted my faith and my commitment to our daughter and our extended family.”
Her initial reaction to his infidelity, however, was not as diplomatic. In fact, she admitted to dealing with a range of emotions – from anger to embarrassment.
“The momentary feelings — you know, you are mad, you are really upset, you are disappointed — all of that goes through your mind …” Clinton said. “I have found you really shouldn’t make decisions in the heat of those moments.”
After surviving such a high-profile affair, Banks noted, women must come up and say, "My husband is stepping out on me," and ask, "What is Clinton’s advice?"
"I say you have to be true to yourself," Clinton said. "No one story is the same as any other story. I don’t know your reality. I can’t possibly substitute my judgment for yours. … You have to do what is right for you and that may not be what anybody else believes."
In the clip below, Hillary also talks to Tyra about her controversial MLK comment:
American Idol 7 exchanges cruelty for storytelling and attention whores
Last year, the auditions for American Idol 6 were uncomfortably cruel. Instead of abject cruelty and lingering, awkward shots of delusional people, American Idol 7 delivered long, extended biographical segments on auditioners, many of whom actually made it through to Hollywood.
By my count, 20 people appeared in front of and interacted with the judges, and eight of those auditions were preceded by long bio segments, where cameras followed them to their homes or elsewhere as they told their stories, which were meant to be heartwarming but were trying too hard. Seven others contestants’ appearances in front of the judges were preceded by short bios or conversations with Ryan Seacrest in the hotel, while the other five just appeared in front of the judges and interacted with them briefly. We did see a a number of others sing briefly, often all singing (badly) parts of the same song—and most of those people never actually appeared in front of the judges, but instead performed for producers and had their auditions cut in with reaction shots from the judges.
The judges were kind; Paula and Randy only laughed uncontrollably at a Philadelphia tour guide named James whose guttural singing style was completely laughable. The show did make fun of a couple people, or at least let them make fun of themselves; one, Alaa Youakeem, whose nickname was pronounced “yuka,” said he was from Egypt and came across like a real-life bad SNL sketch. “She told me, Yuka, you are sexyface,” he said. “I save myself until when I get the good girl. I want to love a girl from the hair to the nipple.”
Besides people like him, the show also gave time to more obvious attention-whores, discernible from the mentally unstable because they can barely keep themselves from jumping up and down with joy over the fact that the camera is pointed at them. One woman, painted with glitter, had an over-the-top, unjustified reaction to a rather kind dismissal, as if she’d already planned what to say and performed her routine even though there was no real reason to be outraged. Her name was Alexis Cohen, and coincidentally, there’s an Alexis Cohen in imdb listed as the assistent to the executive producer of So You Think You Can Dance, which shares its executive producers with American Idol.
Proving that those producers care about nothing except entertainment, they let people outside of the show’s age range audition. A 32-year-old sang “a love song I wrote for Paula Abdul,” which included the lyrics, “She hasn’t noticed me/it really gets me down/I broke into her house when she wasn’t there/took off my clothes and tried on her underwear. … I’m not much of a talker/I’ll just stalk her. … If I were Colombo/I’d just Peter Falk-her. … If she were a bathtub/I’d caulk her.” Self-identified social worker Milo Turk, 39, sang his own song “No Sex Allowed,” which he said “need[s] to be heard by millions of people.” Mission accomplished.
There was one person who seemed to be genuinely disheartened by her dismissal, a Star Wars fanatic with Princess Leia hair. She was not the worst singer ever, but the judges rejected her, and she dramatically declared, “If they want to pass on on talent because of the outside exterior, then so be it.” At the end of the show, the editors included her talking about the series, intercutting her remarks with shots of those who made it through to the Hollywood round. “They don’t want anything different, they don’t want true diversity out there,” she said. “People who have been coming out of there have been the same, normal-looking pop people. They need something different for this show, and they’re not allowing it. It’s ridiculous.” I think the footage of the golden ticket holders were supposed to argue against what she was saying, but she actually ended up making sense.
So, for the most part, did Simon Cowell, who dressed up for the occasion, wearing a ratty, stretched v-neck white undershirt and jeans. He wasn’t really harsh or cruel at all, and instead just gave people a simple “no” or expressed disbelief that they thought they were good singers. Usually, he just looked bored out of his mind. I’m curious: If the judges are so bored most of the time, why are we supposed to be entertained?
One guy, Ben Haar, showed up and revealed himself to be dressed in a skimpy female gladiator/Xena Warrior Princess outfit. “Benjamin, why should I bother listening to this?” Simon asked, and at least the guy was honest: “‘cause it might have been entertaining?” Paula Abdul said she was distracted by his chest hair, and he asked, “Can I wax it and come back?” He left, and Simon asked “Why would you bother doing that?” When Ben returned, splotchy red but smooth, they dismissed him after he sang one word.
As the contestant exited, Simon said, “All because that fat lump wants to be on TV.” That should be the tag line for these first eight episodes and 10 hours of American Idol 7.
By my count, 20 people appeared in front of and interacted with the judges, and eight of those auditions were preceded by long bio segments, where cameras followed them to their homes or elsewhere as they told their stories, which were meant to be heartwarming but were trying too hard. Seven others contestants’ appearances in front of the judges were preceded by short bios or conversations with Ryan Seacrest in the hotel, while the other five just appeared in front of the judges and interacted with them briefly. We did see a a number of others sing briefly, often all singing (badly) parts of the same song—and most of those people never actually appeared in front of the judges, but instead performed for producers and had their auditions cut in with reaction shots from the judges.
The judges were kind; Paula and Randy only laughed uncontrollably at a Philadelphia tour guide named James whose guttural singing style was completely laughable. The show did make fun of a couple people, or at least let them make fun of themselves; one, Alaa Youakeem, whose nickname was pronounced “yuka,” said he was from Egypt and came across like a real-life bad SNL sketch. “She told me, Yuka, you are sexyface,” he said. “I save myself until when I get the good girl. I want to love a girl from the hair to the nipple.”
Besides people like him, the show also gave time to more obvious attention-whores, discernible from the mentally unstable because they can barely keep themselves from jumping up and down with joy over the fact that the camera is pointed at them. One woman, painted with glitter, had an over-the-top, unjustified reaction to a rather kind dismissal, as if she’d already planned what to say and performed her routine even though there was no real reason to be outraged. Her name was Alexis Cohen, and coincidentally, there’s an Alexis Cohen in imdb listed as the assistent to the executive producer of So You Think You Can Dance, which shares its executive producers with American Idol.
Proving that those producers care about nothing except entertainment, they let people outside of the show’s age range audition. A 32-year-old sang “a love song I wrote for Paula Abdul,” which included the lyrics, “She hasn’t noticed me/it really gets me down/I broke into her house when she wasn’t there/took off my clothes and tried on her underwear. … I’m not much of a talker/I’ll just stalk her. … If I were Colombo/I’d just Peter Falk-her. … If she were a bathtub/I’d caulk her.” Self-identified social worker Milo Turk, 39, sang his own song “No Sex Allowed,” which he said “need[s] to be heard by millions of people.” Mission accomplished.
There was one person who seemed to be genuinely disheartened by her dismissal, a Star Wars fanatic with Princess Leia hair. She was not the worst singer ever, but the judges rejected her, and she dramatically declared, “If they want to pass on on talent because of the outside exterior, then so be it.” At the end of the show, the editors included her talking about the series, intercutting her remarks with shots of those who made it through to the Hollywood round. “They don’t want anything different, they don’t want true diversity out there,” she said. “People who have been coming out of there have been the same, normal-looking pop people. They need something different for this show, and they’re not allowing it. It’s ridiculous.” I think the footage of the golden ticket holders were supposed to argue against what she was saying, but she actually ended up making sense.
So, for the most part, did Simon Cowell, who dressed up for the occasion, wearing a ratty, stretched v-neck white undershirt and jeans. He wasn’t really harsh or cruel at all, and instead just gave people a simple “no” or expressed disbelief that they thought they were good singers. Usually, he just looked bored out of his mind. I’m curious: If the judges are so bored most of the time, why are we supposed to be entertained?
One guy, Ben Haar, showed up and revealed himself to be dressed in a skimpy female gladiator/Xena Warrior Princess outfit. “Benjamin, why should I bother listening to this?” Simon asked, and at least the guy was honest: “‘cause it might have been entertaining?” Paula Abdul said she was distracted by his chest hair, and he asked, “Can I wax it and come back?” He left, and Simon asked “Why would you bother doing that?” When Ben returned, splotchy red but smooth, they dismissed him after he sang one word.
As the contestant exited, Simon said, “All because that fat lump wants to be on TV.” That should be the tag line for these first eight episodes and 10 hours of American Idol 7.
Bishop Thomas Weeks issues an apology to Juanita Bynum
What a difference a day makes! Just Wednesday Bishop Thomas Weeks was set to release a book called What Love Taught Me, about his marriage to and scandalous break up from Prophetess Juanita Bynum. But Thursday, via his website, bishopweeks.com, he's issued a video apology for the book and announces that its sales will immediately discontinue and refunds will be issued to anyone who pre-ordered it. Bishop Weeks goes on to say that he still loves Juanita, and he even invites her to come back to their Global Destiny Church in Atlanta.
"My love for you still stands," he wrote. "I still appreciate everything you have done for me all through the years, and you've done for this ministry. It will never be erased. It will never be forgotten. Even though I've had to remove your picture, your name, for certain reasons, you're still visible in my prayer time."
What happened to cause the sudden about-face? The couple appears to have come to some sort of amicable agreement and decided to bury the hatchet, letting bygones be bygones.
Ironically, the second of a two-part interview that Juanita did with Essence magazine some time ago hit newsstands Wednesday. Has she accepted his apology? Will she accept his invitation to come back to the church and allow people to, as he says, "hear the voice that God has anointed you to be?" Stay tuned...
Nivea confirms split from The Dream
When Sister 2 Sister last spoke with Terius "The Dream" Nash, the singer-songwriter behind Rihanna's "Umbrella" and his own single "Shawty is Da S#@t," he was at home with his wife, R&B singer Nivea, and their 2-year-old daughter. And while he'd laughed playfully about disagreements he's had with Nivea during his interview for S2S's January issue, it was clear to all that he loved his wife.
Months later, the New York Post's Page Six reported that The Dream and Nivea had split, and that he's been flying model Kris Jacob from her New York home to spend time with him in Atlanta and Las Vegas.
Nivea released an official statement exclusively to s2smagazine.com. Here it is in its entirety:
"I am sorry to have to report the news of our ("The Dream" and I Nivea's) separation. It is, however, a mutual decision for the both of us. We see this as an attempt to try and maintain the friendship we've developed since our marriage and also to allow growth for myself as well as him. Unfortunately I was not prepared for partnership, or even real life for that matter.
"I am completely and truly grateful and thankful to God for sending him into my life and to him for everything that he has done for me and my family—and that includes monetarily as well as spiritually and mentally, especially for myself —which was never his responsibility in the first place. None of you are aware of the real me and I plan to make that as clear as possible on this next album. I come from a sad and scary past that I am still in the process of overcoming and growing past —thanks to the man I love and always will. This is truly the only person I've ever known or heard of that is incredibly loving, passionate, wise, psychic, creative, genius, and many more things that I could never put into words.
"I don't feel it is fair for neither of us, especially him, to continue this never-ending battle of the minds that he and I have continued for long enough. I want nothing more than for him and I to be happy. His happiness is all I want, for I could never repay him for what he has endured by being my friend, partner, and husband."
The Dream and Nivea met when he wrote her 2005 hit "Okay." They've been married for three years.
EXCLUSIVE FIRST PICS: NICOLE RICHIE AND JOEL MADDEN'S DAUGHTER HARLOW!!
January 16, 2008. MediaTakeOut.com got its hands on what we are told are photos of Nicole and Joel's baby Harlow Winter Kate Madden shortly after birth. How precious...
WHAT THE HECK!!! TAMEKA FOSTER TO SING ON USHER'S NEW ALBUM!!
January 16, 2008. Prepare yourself for this one guys. MediaTakeOut.com is hearing whispers that Usher and his new wife Tameka Foster are planning on releasing a duet together.
Word coming out of Atlanta is that the newlyweds are working with top producers to come up with a hit song. And one source tells MediaTakeOut.com that Tameka's singing isn't half bad. The insider explained, "You really should hear [Tameka] sing, you'd be surprised at how good she sounds."
You knew Tameka had big plans when she landed Usher - but a singing career???? In the immortal words of Whitney Houston, AWW HEEEELLLLS TO THE NAW!!!
On Right Thinking - Words of Wisdom - January 16, 2008
Good morning. How we think is how we behave, and how we behave is who we are.
God is Love
Rev Run
Texas man guilty of raping another man
HOUSTON - A jury convicted a man Tuesday of raping another man, one of five sexual assaults he is accused of committing on men in an eight-month spree in 2006. The sentencing phase of the trial was to begin later Tuesday for Keith Hill, who could receive anything from five years' probation to life in prison for aggravated sexual assault.
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The trial focused on just one of the cases against him: A May 2006 attack of a teenager who said he was forced to perform oral sex at gunpoint after he was abducted from his driveway near Houston.
The U.S. Justice Department says one in 33 men in the United States has been a victim of a rape or attempted rape, compared with one in six women. Experts say men are far less likely to report a rape because they fear being perceived as weak.
Hill, 20, pleaded not guilty to the attacks, and his attorney, Lane Lindsey, said Tuesday that a confession he gave to Harris County Sheriff's Sgt. Shane McCoy in February may have been coerced.
Lindsey said Hill gave a written confession after six hours of interrogation by McCoy and police officers from Baytown, the refinery town where the attacks allegedly occurred. Because there is no videotape or audiotape of the confession, it's impossible to tell whether the statement is genuine, Lindsey argued.
But in his closing arguments, prosecutor Spence Graham said it should be easy for the jury to convict Hill because his semen was found on the victim's shirt and because his confession included information that only the actual assailant could know.
Hill did not testify and his attorney did not present any witnesses before making closing arguments on Tuesday morning.
Hill also faces charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated kidnapping in connection with the other cases. Prosecutors have said they will decide how to proceed with the four other cases after Hill's trial.
Source: Deandra
K. Fed "acts" on 'One Tree Hill'
Kevin Federline's much-touted three-episode arc on One Tree Hill began last night, and the former rapper made an impression. Or was that — did an impression, of Fred Durst?
In his first appearance onscreen, the one-time Mr. Spears spoke-sang his way through a musical number to general approval. But when his fictional act was courted by Hilarie Burton's character Peyton to sign to her new record label, a jaded K-Fed declined with a quip about his "lying bitch" ex. Ouch!
Wearing a black sleeveless tee (the better to show off his tats, natch) Kevin's as-yet-unnamed character reconsidered the decision by the end of the episode, agreeing to a deal. Things won't be all fluffy clouds and rainbows next week, though — the show's previews promise that recording with K-Fed's band isn't all it's cracked up to be. Like the producers of Playing With Fire couldn't have told us that!
Oprah Winfrey getting her own TV network
NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey is getting her own TV network.
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OWN — for Oprah Winfrey Network — will debut next year in nearly 70 million homes with cable and satellite, part of a deal announced Tuesday with Discovery Communications. It will replace the Discovery Health network.
The announcement builds a media empire that already includes the top-rated TV talk show, a magazine, a satellite radio network, a Web site and TV movies made under her banner.
"This is an evolution of what I've been able to do every day," Winfrey said. "I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever."
She will be chairwoman of the network, owned 50-50 by Discovery and her company, Harpo Productions Inc. In return for taking over a network already operated by Discovery, Winfrey gives half ownership of the Oprah.com Web site.
Discovery owns 13 networks in the United States, including Discovery, TLC and Animal Planet. Discovery Health is one of the least successful, and company President and CEO David Zaslav was looking for ideas about what to do with it when his wife handed him a copy of Oprah's magazine.
He approached Winfrey about a partnership, coincidentally shortly after she had come upon an entry for her diary dated May 24, 1992, when she wrote about her idea for creating her own network.
"David came and really spoke about the vision I'd been having for 15 years," she said. "It felt like, `I can't believe you're saying this.'"
Zaslav said that Discovery's core mission is knowledge and curiosity and "this is right in our sweet spot."
Winfrey envisions the programming dealing with issues such as money, health, weight, relationships and raising children. Some of the stable of in-house experts she uses on "Oprah" and the XM satellite radio station might be expected to contribute.
While Winfrey will be the face of the new network, she won't have much of a presence, at least at first. She is under contract to continue on "Oprah" through May 2011, a deal that prohibits the use of reruns on her own network.
After that, she could continue her show on broadcast TV or do it for the cable network, and may reach a deal to allow reruns on OWN. Taking "Oprah" off broadcast TV, however, could reduce its visibility and in turn make the cable network less valuable.
Winfrey said she needed to decide this fall whether to continue her syndicated show beyond 2011.
Winfrey was an early and visible investor in the development of Oxygen, a network for women that was created in the 1990s. She said she quickly determined that Oxygen "did not reflect my voice" and she removed herself from the company's board after a few meetings.
"The difference here is I will have editorial control and there is a vision for what I want to do with this network," she said.
Oxygen was also a startup in an industry where it's becoming harder to introduce new networks, while OWN will have the built-in advantage of already being in nearly two-thirds of the nation's homes with television.
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