Seriously? OMG! WTF?

The CPB, with help from Wal-Mart, is funding a Sesame Workshop special, When Parents Are Deployed, to help parents and caregivers deal with the effect of military deployment to Iraq on children. The half-hour show, which will premiere Dec. 27 at 9 p.m. and is hosted by Cuba Gooding Jr., is targeted at adults rather than parents In announcing the new series, Sesame Workshop said that there are more than 700,000 kids separated form their mother or father over the holidays. The special will work in the storyline of the deployment of Muppet Elmo’s father to Iraq with interviews with the stories of military families. The special is an offshoot of the Workshop’s partnership with Wal-Mart on an educational-outreach kit, Talk, Listen Connect: Helping Families During Military Deployment, which was targeted at helping kids cope with deployment. The kits are downloadable at www.sesameworkshop.org/tlc. "Military families give so much to community and country," said CPB President Patricia Harrison in announcing the funding. "The demands of military life can be especially hard on children who are separated from their Mom and Dad during the holiday season."

Broadcasting & Cable 

That is really nice of them to do! And I am sure the families are going to appreciate it!!!

Jay-Z and Russell Simmons have teamed up to produce a public service announcement aimed at combating anti-semitism. In addition to running his non-profit organization The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Simmons serves as chairman of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. The foundation’s mission is to foster and develop positive relationships with other ethnic groups. The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding’s president Rabbi Marc Schneier will present the campaign today (Nov. 12) at the World Jewish Congress Board of Governors meeting in Paris. According to The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Schneier is hoping that local Jewish communities will broadcast the ad in their hometowns. "It’s a whole different ball game when you have two African-Americans [who] are considered demigods," Rabbi Schneier said. "We cannot fight our battles alone. We cannot do it. And these ads are a manifestation of that," he said. The spot will be converted into Spanish, Russian, French and other languages using Voxonic translation technology, a new software being marketed and developed with the help of fellow mogul Andre Harrell. The PSA will be run in the United States, Europe and South America. The spot features Simmons, who founded Def Jam in 1984 with the company’s current President Jay-Z asking viewers: "What’s hot? Respect for people. What’s not hot? Hating people for their color or religion." The commercial is slated to run nationally in January in the United States, to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. day. Time/Warner has donated over $10 million in air time for the PSA.

AllHipHop 

Good for them! I think it is amazing what they are doing and I hope more musicians follow their example. Sadly for them they will never be in a Mel Gibson film.

Elle Macpherson bravely fought off a mugger outside a London nightclub. The supermodel – dubbed ‘The Body’ for her toned physique – was arriving at the Move For AIDS VIP charity bash in North London – when a thug suddenly pounced on her and tried to steal her handbag. However, the 43-year-old beauty was left unfazed by the attack and, to the astonishment of witnesses and the unfortunate thief, launched her own assault on the crook using her well honed martial arts skills. An eye witness told Britain’s The Sun newspaper: "Everyone was watching her, he didn’t stand a chance. As soon as he grabbed Elle’s bag she swung around quite calmly, just went for his arm and got her bag. The mugger reacted like he’d been floored, then staggered back and ran for it." Elle regularly practices the ancient Chinese art of T’ai Chi, which has apparently given the catwalk queen "the strength of a bodybuilder."

Female First 

Dang if it wasn’t for that stoy, I would never had guessed from that photo she had just stopped a mugger. You go girl!!! 

SUMNER Redstone has had many unkind words for Tom Cruise over the past months – and he’s still not finished bashing the couch-jumping Scientologist. "He was embarrassing the studio. And he was costing us a lot of money," the outspoken Viacom chief tells the December issue of Vanity Fair. Confirming a Page Six exclusive, Redstone admits it was his wife, Paula, who first soured on Cruise, which resulted in his decision not to renew Paramount’s megabucks deal with Cruise’s production company. "Paula, like women everywhere, had come to hate him. The truth of the matter is, I did listen to her . . ." Redstone says. "His behavior was entirely unacceptable to Paula and to the rest of the world. He just didn’t turn one [woman] off. He turned off all women, and a lot of men." Redstone estimates that Cruise’s antics – acting wacky, ripping into psychiatry, firing his professional publicist – were the key elements in the star’s downfall: "When did I decide [to fire him]? I don’t know. When he was on the ‘Today’ show? When he was jumping on a couch at ‘Oprah’? He changed his handler, you know, to his sister [LeAnne Devette] – not a good idea." Redstone estimates that Cruise’s bizarre behavior cost Paramount "$100 million, $150 million on ‘Mission: Impossible III.’ It was the best picture of the three, and it did the worst." He isn’t sorry he embarrassed Cruise publicly: "The explosion was good. It sent a message to the rest of the world that the time of the big star getting all this money is over. And it is! I would like to think that what I did, or what we did, has had a salutary effect on the rest of the industry."

Page Six 

He is so right on and I think he did send a message to Hollywood…it will be interesting to see if Hollywood will listen to this NY man?

A group of Marines and ex-Marines who fought in Iraq — including two wounded there — is featured in a beefcake calendar being sold to help wounded veterans. "It’s a stopgap effort to help people where government programs leave off," said Rudy Reyes, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan and is on the calendar’s cover. "This is a way for citizens to help citizens." The "America’s Heroes" calendar is being sold by Freedom is Not Free, a San Diego-based nonprofit group that helps injured service members and their families with such expenses as travel, mortgage and utility bills and special beds for burn victims. Reyes and the other men who appear in the glossy 2007 lineup served in Iraq in Marine reconnaissance units. Sgt. James Wright, 31, who lost his hands and part of his leg, appears on the back cover in full uniform, saluting with what’s left of his right arm. Several members of the group, promoting the calendar on a cross-country tour, said Thursday they have medical conditions, ranging from combat stress-related symptoms to injuries to their feet, knees, hips and backs from carrying combat loads of more than 200 pounds. When service members come back, "many don’t have the financial or emotional support to get back to daily life," said former Sgt. Michael Saucier, 24, of Prior Lake, Minn., who served two Iraq tours and is now a carpenter’s apprentice in Lake Tahoe, Nev. All but one of the men had to be coaxed to pose shirtless for the calendar. "I wasn’t afraid to pose. This is the new-generation Marines," quipped Sean Mickle, 31, a Marine platoon sergeant at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The $14.99 calendar promises that "100 percent of proceeds aid wounded heroes and their families." Production expenses were covered by private donations to Freedom is Not Free, founded last year by entrepreneur David Dominguez. "There is a need," he said. "Some Iraq veterans are so depressed when they get back they can’t even fill out the papers required for benefits." The calendar is the brainchild of his client Jean Hamerslag, a California advertising executive who suggested that the organization’s fundraising needed something that would grab the public’s attention. "Sex," she said with a giggle.

WKMG (story) and Freedom is not Free (photo) Thanks Clinton! 

Oh you know they are going to sell a lot of calendars! If you want to purchase one you can do so at The Freedom is not Free website.

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