When I saw these ads I first was speechless…but don’t worry, I’ll have enough of my voice back to rail about this on BTR Today later on.

Yes, these are ads for the House of Deréon, a clothing line created by singer Beyoncé and her mama, Tina Knowles.  According to Wikipedia:

House of Deréon is a prêt-à-porter fashion line introduced by singer Beyoncé Knowles and her mother/stylist Tina Knowles. The style and concept is inspired by three generations of women in their family, with the name “Deréon” paying tribute to Beyoncé’s grandmother, Agnèz Deréon.

Expanding the brand, Jay Z and her sister Solange Knowles launched the junior line Deréon that is geared towards younger consumers and is more reasonably priced. The tag line for Deréon is “Where the sidewalk and catwalk meet”. […]

It is reported that Beyoncé has an active role in the House of Deréon’s design department, approving and discussing fashion designs and ideas.

First of all, what is it with all the stinkin’ acute accent marks?  I don’t like to drag out Character Map every time I try to type up an article.

I like what Pop Gumbo had to say:

Tina, we understand that you had to pimp out your daughter at a young age in order to make her a star and bring money into the home. Without that sacrifice, “bootylicious” might never have made it into the American vernacular. So for that we are truly grateful, but this boo, is a disgrace. These little girls look like whores. Why all the lipstick?

What is the next ad going to look like? Babies wearing gold metallic bikinis while five-year old boys throw Monopoly money on them.

These ads creep me out…but more importantly, they make me sick.  The top photo is the worst offender; the bottom one is just dumb in a too-much-makeup-on-a-little-kid way.  It’s bad enough that we have teenagers walking around dressed like they’re looking for their pimp, but little girls?  I’m no prude, and I don’t believe little girls should always be in ruffly dresses and hair bows, but come on…high heels on preschoolers?  They’re probably a grown-up pair, but still…what are these people thinking?  Who would buy such trash for their child?  Why would advertisers want to show children in full makeup and hairdos, looking like adults?  What’s with all the lipstick and “come hither” looks?

And the sad thing is that clothing like these are not relegated to ads.  Go to any mall on a weekday and you can see mothers with their preschoolers walking around dressed like this.  Whatever happened to kids being kids?  Being silly with mommy’s makeup and playing dress-up with grownup clothes and shoes in one’s home, during playtime, is one thing.  Taking it to the streets is something else entirely.  And that’s exactly what these little girls look like they’re getting ready to do.  Let children be children…and let children look like children.

Don’t tell me I’m a sicko who is seeing something that isn’t there…take some software, age the photographs of these girls about fifteen years, don’t change their expressions, and see what they look like.  Sexy ads.  I rest my case.

A friend of mine once told me that we can make our daughters targets or treasures.  I’ll let you decide.

Oh wait, that was a different serial philanderer and liar.  My bad…they all run together after a while.

Roger Clemens is steadfastly denying that not only did he not take steroids and performance-enhancing drugs:

“I know that many people want to know what I have to say about the recent articles in the media,” Clemens, who has raised his four children with his wife, Debbie, in the Katy and Memorial areas, said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle. “Even though these articles contain many false accusations and mistakes, I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry. I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans. Like everyone, I have flaws. I have sometimes made choices which have not been right.”

While not admitting to any specific mistakes, Clemens did remain adamant that he never used steroids or HGH. He has been fighting to clear his name since Dec. 13, when he was implicated in the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the report former Sen. George Mitchell prepared for Major League Baseball.

“I believe my personal life has nothing to do with the accusations of steroid and HGH use,” he said in the statement. “I have already made clear that I did not use them.”

…but that he also did not have an improper relationship with country singer Mindy McCready:

“Now, I have been accused of having an improper relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Nothing could be further from the truth. This relationship has been twisted and distorted far beyond reality. It is just one of many, many accusations that are utterly false.”

McCready, however, told the Daily News that she “cannot refute anything in the story” about her relationship with Clemens.

…along with other (admittedly legal) women:

The Daily News also reported that Clemens had extramarital relationships with two other women, including the former wife of pro golfer John Daly.

Clemens is adamant that he won’t confess just so the scrutiny will go away.

“I realize that many people want me to simply confess and apologize for the conduct that I have been accused of, but I cannot confess to, nor apologize for, things I did not do,” he said. “I have apologized to my family for my mistakes. And having offered this apology to the public, I would ask that you let me and my family deal with these matters in private.”

Like I said before, had he just kept both his big mouth shut and his Rocket in his pants, this story about Mindy McCready might not have ever hit the press.  It seems that if she would have wanted to publicize it, she would have done so by now, and outside of one statement to the press when the story broke she has remained silent on the subject.  But because he filed a defamation of character suit against his former trainer, it all came out, and Roger has only himself to blame for it.  Yes, it might have come out anyway, but he could have then apologized and at least not looked like a lying hypocrite (yeah, as if he would have the humility to apologize).

Yes, we all make mistakes, and yes, we all have things in our pasts that we are embarrassed about and ashamed of.  But if you’re in the public eye, you need to make double sure that you’re not presenting yourself to the world as one thing, when you’re really another, because you will be found out.  Millions of dollars, a possible stint in the pokey, and his family are at stake, all because Roger Clemens is too arrogant to realize just what is going on.

Set Sail On The Newly Renovated DeathWinds, Now With More Cancer

Radar Online, have gotten an answer back from Church of Scientology spokeswhores on the Freewinds cruise ship asbestos story (which we broke first thanks to Anonymous sources) and as expected, their response is full of lies and prevarication, and even Radar, a reputable news outlet casts doubts on the veracity of those speaking on behalf of the dissembling Church of Scientology:

But wait, there’s more…

You know what, I have grown to HATE Disney’s influence on children. First it was Vanessa Hudgens with her full-on nude photo showing ALL her naughty bits — and never mind how Britney, Christina and Justin have grown up to be sexually explicit artists — but now we have Miley Cyrus aka “Hannah Montana” in nude photo shoots.

Well, I should say “artistically” nude. See, we don’t *actually* see anything other than the implied threat of her nudity as she is covered up with a sheet. Famed photographer Annie Leibowitz did the shoot for Vogue Magazine of Miley Cyrus and really should have known better, as should have Miley, her parents, her agent, her manager and anyone who really cares about the “Hannah Montana” franchise, which is estimated to be close to $1 billion dollars.

As could be predicted, Disney has responded to the photos being leaked out on the internet for the impending June Vogue issue, which comes on the heels of leaked photos showing Miley tarting it up in other picture (you can see those here), from the NYTimes:

But wait, there’s more…

Glosslip’s interview with ex-Scientologist Marc Headley in many ways was more of a blow to the Church of Scientology, than ABC’s light coverage of CoS victims Jenna Miscavige (niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige) and actor Jason Beghe’s powerful Scientology video with Mark Bunker of Xenutv.com.

Thanks to the exceedingly gracious efforts of Anonymous, we are able to bring you transcribed information from that interview, so that our hearing impaired, or dial-up users can be privy to this illuminating, yet disturbing details about the Church of Scientology’s inner workings. Marc Headley is not only an amazingly articulate person, he’s also very brave for stepping forward to share this information from deep inside the Church. As Executive Producer at Golden Era Production, the production company owned by Scientology, Headley worked closely with RTC President and CoS figurehead, David Miscavige.

When you read this transcribed interview I ask that you bear in mind, this man, David Miscavige, is a role model to Scientologists around the globe, he is the head of an organization which deems itself as the spiritual salvation for mankind. Please try to imagine any other spiritual leader in this role, and truthfully ask yourself if this conduct is befitting of such an honor:

DO: Good afternoon Glosslip radio listeners, I am Dawn Olsen of glosslip.com, and I am very excited to have a very special guest with me today. It’s Marc Headley, an ex-Scientologist who was with the Church of Scientology for 15 years. He’s got some really very interesting, exciting and sad stories to share with us about his experiences within the Org. He and I talked a few times before while we were setting up the interview, and certainly I’m well aware of the stories he has to tell, so I’m just going to give you a little background here from his bio.

Marc worked at the Scientology international management headquarters in Gilman Hot Springs
from 1990-2005, and he worked for the media production company owned by the Church of
Scientology, Golden Era productions. They’re the ones that put out all those Scientology
commercials and propaganda videos we’ve seen and mocked on the web over the last few months.

Having worked there for quite some time, he ended up becoming the Executive Producer at
Golden Era Productions. He left in 2005 and now lives in California with his family. We’re going to
leave it at that because why he left is very pertinent to this story. First we’re going to begin with
introducing Marc. Hello Marc, thanks for joining us, I’m really excited to have you.

MH: Hi Dawn, great to be here.

DO: And you’re recovering from a cold, so everybody…

MH: Just a little bit hoarse.

DO: Just a little bit hoarse. We’ll try and not make you talk too much. I’m just curious, can you tell us how you became involved in Scientology? I know you still have family members who are in, so let’s go with your background first.

MH: What actually happened was my mother, probably in the very early 80’s, got involved in Scientology through a friend.

More and more, she became involved in doing courses and getting auditing. I grew up living
across the street from the Celebrity Center in Los Angeles. So I grew up around Scientologists,
then my mom became a Scientologist and I went to a Scientology school. So from about the age of
six or seven I was indoctrinated into the lingo and the procedures, and all the different things that
Scientologists do. In 1989, I left school, the Scientology school that I was attending, to join the Sea
Organization.

Very shortly from when I joined the Sea Org, I was transferred from Los Angeles to the
Golden Era productions facility, so that’s how I got in. When you grow up in Scientology, the Sea
Org is made out to be the elite of all Scientology so if you can actually go into the Sea Org, it’s
considered a privilege. They have a slogan: “Many are called, few are chosen.” And that’s how they
recruit people.

DO: So, they make it sound like a very elite society, and not everyone, you may be interested but not everyone gets to join, therefore increasing the image of the Sea Org?

MH: That’s exactly correct. You don’t really see when you’re Scientology public, if you’re a parishioner, behind the scenes into the Sea Org. You only see the staff that work at the different churches. A parishioner might never go into a management facility or a confidential location such as Golden Era Productions. They’re not really privy to the goings on there, its very mysterious.
Even when I joined the Sea Org in 1989, I was not aware that there was a facility, even a secret
facility that was up in Hemet. I had no idea, even after I was in the Sea Org for many months. I had
never heard it until I was asked if I would like to go there. So I said “Sure, what it it?”, I didn’t even
know.

I didn’t know who David Miscavige was, I didn’t know who any of the current leaders of
Scientology were, nothing. I had no knowledge of them whatsoever, that’s the view of a kid
growing up in it. So that’s how I ended up at Golden Era Productions.

DO: Now, when you and I talked, I shared with you some experiences that Jeff Hawkins and I talked about. Do you know Jeff?

MH: Yeah, I know Jeff.

DO: I assumed you would have, but there’s a lot of people who’ve come and gone over the years so I shouldn’t assume that people know each other. But he worked with David Miscavige doing marketing, that type of stuff, I figured you could have run into each other. He told a very disturbing story about David actually abusing his staff members and specifically Jeff, he himself was abused.

And he saw a senior Org member get beaten, it was like an open-handed slap to the face
several times. That was David’s way of intimidating staff into doing what he wants and he’s a very
angry man. But you also have some more stories and I’d like you to share that with us, I think it’s
very important because we’re trying to build a picture about a man we don’t know that much about,
you have a lot of insight into that, why don’t you tell us what you know about David Miscavige.

MH: Well, from the time I showed up at Golden Era Productions in 1990, I had been there maybe a few months when I saw David Miscavige physically beat somebody up. And that was in 1990. So it’s not like this just developed over the past five years, there’s a pattern going on.

All the way up until I left in 2005 I’d say that I saw David Miscavige physically strike somebody or slap as you say or punch in the face, I’d say I witnessed myself at least thirty different occasions, myself. And I heard from other people second hand many more instances that occurred. That was the turning point was for me. In late 2004 I was walking through the main factory facility with David Miscavige and I had made a smart-alec comment in response to one of his questions, apparently he’d not had a good day already and my comment was not well received and he proceeded to unload on me.

He punched me in the face at least ten times and my glasses fell off, I was thrown up against a
desk unit, a counter top, and that was the moment right then when I realized I could go no further
down than this, to be beaten by the leader of my so-called church. What else could I do that could
get me in a lower status than that? And I decided that I would strike back. As soon as he saw that in
my eyes, I was grabbed and escorted out of the building and made to take a walk for about an hour
or so. He sent several people off to console me, that he really shouldn’t have done that and he was
really sorry. While I was being escorted out of the room I heard him say to his staffers, “He was
going to hit me back”.

And I thought to myself, “Do you know what? I really was, I really was going to hit you back”. At that point that I started figuring out what I was going to do because I wasn’t going to be staying there much longer. And in January 2005 I left. A lot of people, a lot of Scientologists think that Dave Miscavige is the savior of the church and all those things that he’s done have kept it alive, basically the reason they are still around. That might also be the reason why they’re not going to last, because of the crimes, the physical violence, the emotional and mental torture, that he puts people through, its mind-boggling.

A lot of people don’t believe, the stuff they read on the internet, that David Miscavige has done. When I got out of the Sea Org I couldn’t believe the amount of stuff that was on the internet that was absolutely, 100% accurate, of the going ons at the international headquarters or Int Base. So yeah, there’s a lot of stuff on the internet and it’s absolutely true, pretty much I’d say 99% of it is very accurate.

David, while not a “minister” at the Church, is certainly the person who sets policy, creates initiatives and leads his “parish.” By virtue of Miscavige’s role as head of a “religious organization” it is entirely appropriate to set standards of conduct upon him befitting of someone who leads such a wealthy organization. An organization mind you, which prides itself on ethical mores, spiritual guidance and has taken the charge of “obliterating psychiatry,” saving mankind, and ultimately “clearing the planet” of undesirable elements which keep us as a species from becoming enlightened.

Do you suppose Pope Benedict XVI punches, slaps and abuses his flock? Does the Dali Lama do this? What about high ranking Rabbis, Ministers, Reverends and spiritual leaders around the world? Today while sitting in my own house of worship, I tried imagining the leader of my faith doing this. It was laughable, inconceivable.

This man, who cradles babies with the love of a father to all, the person who smiles upon me and all those who stood with me as though the very light of divinity shone through me, and those in my fellowship. This person who asked kindly for my donations to continue their good works, but smiled just as benevolently upon me as they did upon those who couldn’t give. This person who feels their offering of salvation on behalf of their chosen faith, is predicated on the example they set, based on teachings which are thousands of years old. This person wouldn’t dare think it was appropriate to treat another member of their congregation or any other human the way David Miscavige has treated his dedicated Sea Org members as described above.

I wish this were the worst of it, but sadly, the sadism and cruelty is even worse than the abuse Marc discusses above. Regardless of your faith, or lack thereof, we are all expected to treat each other with respect. But this behavior, witnessed first hand, is unforgivable coming from a leader of a so-called “religion.”

Coming up next….how David Miscavige tortured his staff, had members thrown in filthy lakes, and mentally abused and ridiculed his own associates.

Oh, those crazy celebrities.  They just can’t remember what they said or did and they have such a hard time keeping their stories straight.  But, by gosh, they are celebrities, so they should be totally exempt from having to stick to their stories, right?

Case in point:  Pamela Anderson, who has long been a champion for the animal rights group PETA (I won’t do the tasty animals joke, been done to death, no pun intended).  She recently refused to act in a scene in her new movie, Superhero Movie, because there was a dog in it (PETA doesn’t believe animals should be in movies, homo sapiens excluded of course):

The animal rights campaigner was upset when she discovered she would be starring alongside the canine in Superhero Movie, because the scene goes against Peta’s guidelines for using real animals in movies.

A movie insider said: “Pamela left the set and went for a walk. She needed a time out. She was that upset.”

In the scene, Pamela’s Invisible Girl character was required to call for her Invisible Dog, who only becomes visible as it is picked up by the busty blonde.

So what was she doing munching on a hot dog at her son’s ball game?

She is clearly eating a hot dog at her son’s ball game. Since Pam makes a big deal out of being a vegetarian, it reflects badly on her commitment. Recently Pam refused to ACT in a scene with a dog because PETA doesn’t believe live animals should be in movies. (Apparently they prefer humans to dress up as animals.) Needless to say, the director of her “Superhero Movie” was not thrilled. And Pam has been critical of other actors like Jason Alexander, who endorses KFC. So this hot dog IS a very big deal. PETA tried to defend Pam by claiming it was a tofu dog - but since when do they sell THOSE at kid’s ball games?

I don’t know.  The last time I went to one of my kids’ sporting events, they had all sorts of healthy vegetarian food there.  Tofu dogs in whole wheat buns, soyburgers on pita bread, organically produced nacho cheese made with soy milk, nachos made with organic corn, popcorn grown in a biosphere and picked by hand.  We’re progressive here in the flyover states.  I’m telling you, the possibilities were endless.  And so tasty, too!

I think we need to give Pammie a little breathing room, here.  After all, this is the woman who didn’t realize that Uggs were actually made of sheepskin.  Maybe she didn’t realize that hot dogs are meat.  But then, if you’ve ever seen the movie The Great Outdoors with the late, great John Candy, you know what hot dogs are made out of.

I’m just sayin’.

And then you have these two morons.

Let’s compare and contrast my post yesterday about the low-key, classy wedding thrown by Eli Manning and his long-time girlfriend, and the white trash, hillbilly affair that Tony Romo’s birthday bash turned into.

Yes, Jessica Simpson threw boyfriend Tony a party, and the affair disintegrated into a caek-slurping mess:

 The PDA-packed bash took place Saturday night at Suite, a lounge in Dallas, where “she sang him ‘Happy Birthday,’” Kyle Kearbey of DMagazine.com, the Web site for Dallas’ D Magazine, tells Usmagazine.com.

The two really seemed to enjoy the cake, which was in the shape of a Dallas Cowboys star and had Romo’s No. 9 jersey number on it.

“They were kissing with lots of messy cake!” adds Kearbey. “Jessica had cake all over her hands and was licking her thumbs.”

I’m sorry…I’m not a prude or an old fogey, but this is really just gross.  Is she trying to be sexy or something?  Is acting like a baby with their first birthday cake sexy?  I’m not adverse to having fun with one’s food, but if Jessica and Tony want to play like this with their caek then they should keep that stuff in the privacy of a room with plastic sheets and walls that you can hose off.  When I see people out in public acting like this, I want to remind them that the world at large isn’t there to be their audience.

Perhaps, just maybe, it would have been a little bit acceptable had they rented a private room for their party, but they were out in a public place.  Geez, nobody wants to see things like this.  It reminds me of toddlers who smush food all over their faces just to see what sort of reaction they will get.

There’s fun, and then there’s just stupidity.  Let’s guess which category this one falls into.

For more photos (if you can stomach it), go here.

For those of you who don’t know who Katie Price is, she’s somewhat of a celebrity in Britain.  Just what she’s famous for isn’t quite clear, other than having breastesses the size of watermelons (she recently had them reduced), wearing enough makeup to cover every face in La Cage aux Follies, and marrying Peter Andre, whom she met in the jungle while filming I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!

She also has had some television shows and written a kids’ book or two and I don’t really care enough to research this further, because it isn’t important.  What is important, however, that during a visit to Los Angeles to get the veneers on her teeth touched up (what, they don’t have dentists in London?  Oh wait…nevermind), she took her daughter, Princess Tiáamii (yes, that is her name) out for a shopping trip.  Oh, and while she was out, she managed to infect everywhere she went with chickenpox, because that’s what her daughter is sick with:

Despite medical recommendations to keep a chicken pox sufferer at home, the glamour model brought the nine-month-old baby for a day out in Beverly Hills - and her spotty appearance certainly caused a stir.

Katie Price, 29, and husband Peter Andre, 35, flew into Los Angeles with their three children Princess; Harvey, five; and Junior, two; on Friday.

The couple are filming and promoting their reality TV show, which has recently been snapped up by U.S. network E!.

During their three weeks Stateside, Katie says she hopes to take the children to Disneyland and fix her veneers at a cosmetic dental surgery.

Arriving at LAX airport, Katie admitted Princess had caught the virus from older brother Junior.

She said: “She’s covered in chicken pox. How typical.

“She’ll be alright. Junior’s just had them.”

On Sunday, the couple left Harvey and Junior with the nanny to show ailing Princess the sights of Beverly Hills.

With their reality TV crew and a horde of paparazzi following their every move, the publicity-loving pair brought ailing Princess for lunch at celebrity hangout The Ivy.

Seated outside on Robertson Boulevard in the warm LA sun, the couple kept the photographers entertained with public displays of affection in between mouthfuls.

After lunch, the pair moved on down the road to trendy boutique Kitson, where Katie spent hundreds of dollars on clothes for her children.

When poor Princess appeared to be growing ever more uncomfortable from her illness, the pair decided to bring her to a clinic in Encino, before being redirected to the Children’s Hospital in nearby Hollywood.

The couple were swiftly seen by a specialist, who prescribed Princess with medication.

Did I mention that she took the poor little girl out shopping the day before as well?  Just what a toddler with chickenpox wants to do, go to Abercrombie & Fitch.

Here’s the deal:  Chickenpox is highly contagious.  People who are sick with it are supposed to stay home until all the spots are crusted over.  In fact, you can infect others up to two days before you even know you have it yourself.  You don’t have to have contact with the infected person to catch it. You are definitely not supposed to come into contact with a pregnant woman, especially in the first 28 weeks of gestation, because of serious risks to the unborn baby.  All that, and people with chickenpox are generally achy, itchy, and miserable.  When my kids had them, the last thing they wanted to do was go shopping…the first thing they wanted to do was lay on the couch and sleep.

Well, we can just add this to the list of Bad Parenting Decisions that Katie has made.  She’s already suing a former nanny for alleging that Katie is a bad mother who, among other things, never spends time with her kids unless they are in front of a camera and who has been investigated for a scalding incident involving her oldest son Harvey (he is blind and disabled).

Yeah, I guess she and her husband did take their daughter to the doctor, but only after a day of shopping, eating at a notorious paparazzi hangout, and mugging for the cameras.  Hey, you have to take care of the important business first, before you can be bothered with little details like a sick child.

It should also be noted here that the cameras following Katie and Peter around are from E!, the network that is also bringing you the Denise Richards reality show.  You know, the mom who pimps out her daughters for fame and cash, even though their father attempted to stop it in court.  Maybe Denise and Katie could get together and trade tips on how to properly whore your kids out to the highest bidder.

Do us all a favor, Katie, and keep your kids at home while they’re sick.  Oh, and go down to the local clinic and take a free class or two on How To Properly Be A Parent.

UPDATE:  Just found this photo of little Princess having a great time at the Ivy, enjoying her lunch and making life sweeter for those who sought an overpriced lunch in a sophisticated atmosphere at a swanky upscale restaurant.

And yeah, Katie did know that her daughter had chickenpox on the flight from London:

Arriving at LAX airport, Katie admitted Princess had caught the virus from older brother Junior.

She said: “She’s covered in chicken pox. How typical.

“She’ll be alright. Junior’s just had them.”

So let’s review:

• Katie knew her daughter had chickenpox.
• Katie knew her daughter would get them, since her son had just had them (if you are the parent of more than one child, you know that what one gets, the rest eventually get).
• Katie exposed passengers on a transatlantic flight to chickenpox.
• Katie took her daughter out shopping and eating, in full view of E!’s cameras, before bothering to get her any sort of medical attention.

Oh yeah.  Mom Of The Year candidate here!

Ok, last I heard on this matter from my sources inside, there was some communication with Viacom, the owners of the original Steven Colbert clip Mark Bunker used the first time his account was suspended on YouTube.

YouTube is showing their true stripes for continuing to play hardball on this TOS issue, making an example out of an “EMMY AWARD WINNING JOURNALIST” who posted a video HE OWNED AND PRODUCED because someone (in OSA looking to “up” their stupid-ass stats for the week as I was informed earlier) alerted YouTube to the fact that this Mark Bunker is the same Mark Bunker they banned a while back.

There are a couple salient points in all of this. On one hand, YouTube is being watched closely enough that they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they let Mark Bunker’s account be reinstated, they will open the flood gates to all sorts of complaints and issues from those they penalized in the past for similar violations, and if they leave it suspended they will be viewed as fascist cult lovers.

This is a lose-lose situation for YouTube. I feel for them, but not much. Then there’s Viacom, and so far their opinion as it can be perceived based on their inaction is one of “eh, why should we get involved, this isn’t our problem,” which technically it isn’t, but……they could be the heroes in this by making a simple phone call to YouTube rescinding the original DMCA complaint, thereby allowing YouTube to graciously restore Mark’s account.

In the end, Mark can go anywhere he wants with this video, including my account on YouTube which I cheerfully offered of course, but that would be for my own agenda. Mark knows this, and he knows there are about 10000 other Glosslips/anonymous folks who would LOVE to have that video in their hot little hands.

This isn’t the answer. The answer as I see it is to give Viacom polite, but insistent pressure en masse to step in and be the heroes. They could go either way. I have no read on their stake in all of this.

In the end, Mark will post the video SOMEHOW, and he’s a savvy enough guy to figure this out on his own, but it would be a shame for him to have lost his videos, the time and effort of those who’ve voted, commented and rated them will be gone, as well as, the most visible and easily distributable forum for hosting this video from Jason Beghe.

Any way you slice it, one thing remains perfectly clear: the Church of Scientology really, really, really sucks.

Good luck Mark, whatever you do, we will stand behind you.

CoS, I said it earlier, and it bears repeating, all you’ve done is PISS off some very interested parties, as well as some potentially unmanageable elements on the internet. You haven’t stopped the internet OR the flow of information, you’ve merely proven to the world how sick and twisted you really are.

Let us know how that works out for you.

In an article in the Sun, retro soul-singer Amy Winehouse has been issued a warning by her label, Universal, that her druggie ways may have a deleterious affect on her career, and they reserve the option to not release any new albums. Here’s Sun’s report:

A source revealed: “Amy has been reminded of her responsibilities. Unless she is clean she will not be allowed to release another album.

“She took notice when Lucian talked to her earlier in the year and agreed to go to rehab. But she didn’t take it seriously enough.

“They would never release her from her deal, they would just not put an album out.”

On Saturday I revealed Amy’s label are now privately accepting there will be no album until 2009 after she scrapped plans to start recording in the Bahamas. And my source added: “The label were not impressed. She has been warned about her behaviour and needs to keep the standards up.”

Universal’s stance suggests this could be the last album of her deal. Otherwise they would be churning something out to capitalise on her fame. And while it’s commendable they are taking a tough stand, I think Universal need Amy more than she needs them.

I completely disagree with Sun writer Gordon Smart’s take on this situation. Amy needs a label, and so far Universal has been willing to bend over backwards for her despite her reprehensible and deplorable behavior. Not only did she drop out of her tour, disappointing and angering thousands and thousands of fans, but she has set a terrible example for those who look to her as both a role model and a fount for quality music.

This isn’t Billy Holiday we are talking about. Amy isn’t content to keep her drug abuse “her problem” instead she has allowed this deadly disease to affect her ability to perform and create. The culture does not live in a vacuum waiting on pins and needles for the next Amy Winehouse creation to spill forth from her lips. There are certainly hundreds of equally talented artists out there on the edge of breaking into the business who can and will replace anyone who fails to live up to their responsibility.

Amy take this warning to heart, your talent is undisputed, but time waits for no one. Either you get your act together or be content to live out your days consuming ever-growing quantities of drugs to achieve that elusive high that just won’t come, all the while, watching our royalty checks whither away as the industry and culture forgets you ever existed. This is harsh, but this is reality.