Arizona's immigration law goes before U.S. Supreme Court; Myanmar's natural beauty -largely tourist-free, but for how long?; Rupert Murdoch before the Leveson Inquiry

Timescast of the New York Times for April 25, 2012: Arizona's immigration law goes before U.S. Supreme Court; Myanmar's natural beauty -largely tourist-free, but for how long?; Rupert Murdoch before the Leveson Inquiry. http://youtu.be/WKktlz4UVHc


I'll have some thoughts to share later today on Murdoch, père et fils, and the Levseon Inquiry later today, including some thoughts on an angle to the story involving former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that, curiously, never seems to quite get mentioned in the American press, but which if it did happen here, would be the thought uppermost on everyone's minds.


It's hard not to look at those islands in Mynamar and not think of the scenery for two 007 films, The Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies, since both were filmed in both Thailand and near the South China Sea.


I wonder how long it will be before Sports Illustrated shoots their annual swimsuit issue there?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/swimsuit/home/index.htm
Once that happens, there'll be no putting the genie back in the bottle.
As we have all seen before...

Colorized clips from first episode of NBC-TV's I Dream of Jeannie, The Lady In the Bottle, September 18, 1965. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_In_The_Bottle


The first episode, in glorious Black & White



http://youtu.be/Er547IHK6Io

How the U.K. & Miami are alike: Whilst "good journalists remain in the majority" elements of the press have become "putrid"; that £100k offer

Channel 4 News video: Alastair Campbell slams 'putrid press.

Correspondent Andy Davies reports on what the former Tony Blair press guru said on Wednesday to Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry on media hacking and ethics.

He also reports on complaints about lax action by the official media watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO) by a former high-ranking official there, Alec Owens, even when there was clear evidence of wrong-doing.

http://bcove.me/17xpks6a

Story at: http://www.channel4.com/news/alastair-campbell-slams-putrid-press

How England and Miami are alike: Whilst "good journalists remain in the majority" elements of the press have become "putrid."

Except here in South Florida, as I've pointed out here to a fair-thee-well, and as I and many of my friends and fellow bloggers know from personal experience, they're actually in the minority, and are often too lazy to show-up at actual news events without being handed the pre-digested facts on a silver platter by a PIO before showing-up.

That is, IF they show up at all.

Unfortunately for residents like me who want to know more about what's going on here in the country's fourth-largest state -and in-depth- the truth is, South Florida is the the exact opposite of the hot-house competitive reporting atmosphere in England that brings out lots of important news stories that would otherwise never see the light of day.

Channel 4's webpage of archived stories on the multiple phone hacking scandals:

http://www.channel4.com/news/phone-hacking-media-scandal

On Monday, a media-savvy friend in England who's been following this matter a lot more carefully than yours truly, sent me an interesting email, which, for reasons of shorthand here on the blog, I'll simply call The Curious Case of Charlotte Church.

Serendipitously, in my YouTube Channel mailbox later in the day was the ITN Showbiz 411 video below, which tells you everything you need to know about her part in a strange tale.

Yes, some pretty odd and forthright stuff coming from the Welsh songbird.

ITN Show Biz 411 video: Charlotte Church 'offered £100k to sing for Rupert Murdoch -or favorable "press"'; her testimony from the Leveson Inquiry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afCYiojhR5c&feature=youtu.be

I last wrote about Charlotte on the blog back on October 27th, 2010 in a post I titled,

The Klaxons -Twin Flames (featuring Charlotte Church) from Richard Bacon's new afternoon program on BBC Radio 5 live

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/klaxons-twin-flames-featuring-charlotte.html

-----

http://www.charlottechurch.co/

My favorite Charlotte comment from her website above?

Easy, it's from February 11th, Storm in a Tea Cup, featuring the cutting closing remark about the news media: "Still, it's always a shame to spoil a good story with the truth isn't it?"

Beautiful!

http://www.youtube.com/user/charlottechurch

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to visit White House, speak to Congress, go to U.N., and lobby to gain Australia a seat on Security Council

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits The White House, Capitol Hill and the U.N. this week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBRbXawQ8M

On Wednesday Julia Gillard is scheduled to be the fourth Australian Prime minister to address a Joint Session of Congress -replicating Menzies, Hawk and Howard- as she arrives in Washington, D.C. to meet with President Obama at The White House.

Later in the week she flies to New York for a Thursday meeting with Rupert Murdoch and other senior News Corps Ltd. executives, she'll be at the United Nations meeting the U.N. Secretary and also look to lobby member countries to gain Australia a seat on the Security Council this October.