This interview is awesome.

SPIEGEL Interview with Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg. My favorite part:

Cruise: I'm a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs. In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon.

SPIEGEL: That's not correct. Yours is never mentioned among the recognized detox programs. Independent experts warn against it because it is rooted in pseudo science.

Cruise: You don't understand what I am saying. It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period.

SPIEGEL: With all due respect, we doubt that. Mr. Cruise, you made studio executives, for example from Paramount, tour Scientology's "Celebrity Center" in Hollywood. Are you trying to extend Scientology's influence in Hollywood?

Cruise: I just want to help people. I want everyone to do well.

Spielberg: I often get asked similar questions about my Shoa Foundation. I get asked why I am trying to disseminate my deep belief in creating more tolerance through my foundation's teaching the history of the Holocaust in public schools. I believe that you shouldn't be allowed to attend college without having taken a course in tolerance education. That should be an important part of the social studies curriculum.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Spielberg, are you comparing the educational work of the Shoa Foundation with what Scientology does?

Spielberg: No, I'm not. Tom told you what he believes in, and after that I told you what I believe in. This is not a comparison between the Church of Scientology, the Shoa Foundation and the Holocaust.

Sweet. Am I the only one who finds Tom Cruise's Scientology fanaticism scary? Of course, I find fanaticism for any religion creepy. . . but Scientology - that stuff is whack!

Norman Mailer, I'm pregnant!

From Bookslut, I learn that Norman Mailer will announce on Thursday that he has sold his archive materials to the Ransom Center at UT.

The title of this post is a quote from an ep of Gilmore Girls, one of his few television guest appearances.

Am I a nerd?

I got his in my email today from FAIR: Time Covers Coulter: Magazine's Cover Story a Sloppy, Inaccurate Tribute to Far-Right Pundit. So instead of following the action alert, I google "John Cloud" (the article's author) and find this interview as the top result. I then join the Columbia Journalism Review's forum on the topic so I can post about the interview and the action alert. Does this make me a nerd? You don't have to answer. It's a hypothetical question.

Coalition for Darfur: While We Were Distracted

Coalition for Darfur: While We Were Distracted - a reflection on what the media has focused on this year so far and in 1994. Not Rwanda or Sudan, that's for sure.

And if you haven't seen Hotel Rwanda yet, PLEASE rent it. It is well worth your time and money. Great acting, amazing story, and it will make you feel ashamed and angry all at the same time.

Genevieve

Genevieve is walking 60 miles in 3 days for the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Those damn Christ-hating liberals

This pisses me off so much - The New York Times > Washington > Frist Set to Use Religious Stage on Judicial Issue. Because Democrats want to filibuster "activist" judges, we are viewed as being against religion and Christianity. As an active Presbyterian and Democrat, I can't find the humor in it. Liberal Christians are out there, and we don't like being told what to think by Fundys.

a very touching post

Rep. Aaron Pena from the Texas legislature has his own blog and he wrote a very powerful post I wanted to pass on. He writes about the impact his son's death continues to have on him and the legislation he was able to pass out of the House this week regarding crime victims. Even if you aren't from Texas, it's worth reading.

A CAPITOL BLOG: A FATHER'S PROMISE

Gmail adds feed reading, unless you're me.

Evhead has a post (evhead: Gmail adds feed reading) on G-mail adding feed reading. I went through my Gmail, searching in every nook and cranny for this added ability. It's nowhere to be found! So it's only an option to a select few as of yet, I guess. The rest of us will just have to wait.

I expected more from Apple

Apple has taken three bloggers to court to find out who divulged their product plans.

A decision by a local California judge poses grave threats to First Amendment protections for journalists, said a group of major media organizations in response to the latest actions in Apple Computer Inc.'s suit involving some bloggers who let a few of Apple's product plans out of the bag.

The decision, made by Judge James Kleinberg of the Santa Clara County Superior Court, said that journalists are not protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, or by California's shield law, when they publish trade secrets. The decision stemmed from Apple's attempts to force the bloggers involved to reveal their confidential sources. In addition, Apple is also attempting to subpoena e-mail content from the bloggers' Internet service providers.

This really disappoints me. I still like Apple better than Mircosoft!

Apple Decision a Threat to Journalists, Claims EFF

Peabody time

I love the Peabody awards. When Homicide: LOTS was around it won at least one. Man, I was obsessed with that show. I'll admit the only one of these winners I made a point to watch was the American Experience: Tupperware! show. And if you missed that, you really missed out. It was an extremely interesting look at the history of an American company built on women and their networking.

I'm very tempted to buy the Leonard Bernstein radio series, since I somehow missed the WHOLE series when it played here in Austin. Luckily, it is available for sale, and the price isn't too bad. And I am a huge fan of the composer/conductor. I figure I can buy it and if I don't like it, I can donate it to my college's music library. Or something.

Complete list of 64th annual Peabody Award winners with citations

Darfur vs. Martha Stewart

Coalition for Darfur: Darfur vs. Martha Stewart:

The bottom line is that nearly 400,000 people have died of disease, starvation and violence at the hands of the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias, yet the crisis has receives barely a fraction of the coverage garnered by the legal problems faced by Michael Jackson or Martha Stewart.

an interview with Jane Fonda

The Guardian interviews Jane Fonda. It's quite insightful. I may have to check out her upcoming autobiography. Her relationship with her father fascinates me:

This made the scenes they played together in On Golden Pond poignant and peculiar. It was the biggest-grossing film of 1981, in which Fonda and Fonda played out a weird proxy of their own relationship on screen, with Katharine Hepburn as the mother. Didn't her dad find it bizarre that there they were speaking lines about the failure of a father/daughter relationship when they couldn't do it in real life? "I don't know!" says Fonda, throwing up her arms. "Because he would never talk to me about it. I could never get him to tell me! I mean, he was a smart and sensitive man, so he must have known. But I think if he had really allowed himself to talk about it he would have become emotional and cried and he couldn't stand emotions. This is what patriarchy has done to our men. They think the only thing their sons and daughters want are their balls; but what we really want are their hearts."

Guardian Unlimited Books | Extracts | 'I give off sparks'

Happy April Fools Day

Sorry I flaked out on my Women's History Month project. I have just overextended myself with other projects. *sigh*

This has become ony of my favorite April Fools Day traditions: SojoMail: April Fool's Day edition. It's definitely a must-read.

Favorites: Action alert: Erica, why won't you go out with me?
Eco News: Hummer Hybrid

Go read it, now.