Blowing his nose and wiping away tears, the multimillionaire founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" video empire pleaded guilty to contempt of court Monday and was sentenced to 35 days in jail.
Joe Francis, who was sued by seven women who were minors when filmed, apologized to the judge for yelling at the plaintiffs during settlement talks. Francis drew the contempt charge during negotiations to settle the federal lawsuit brought after his production company filmed the women at Panama City Beach in 2003.
Attorneys for the women said Francis, who makes a reported $29 million a year taping topless women for his videos, lost his temper in negotiations and yelled obscenities at them.
U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ordered Francis to settle the case or go to jail for contempt of court. When talks fell through, Francis lashed out at Smoak in the media, calling him a "judge gone wild" and questioning the judge's authority to order a settlement. Stupid move. Don't ever slag a judge in the media when you're appearing before him.
His attorney, Jan Handzlik, said being in jail had changed his client. "He is a different man. Undoubtedly he is a different man," he said. "After what his cellmate did to him."
Posted by: Mike ||
04/24/2007 06:30 ||
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Joe Francis, who was sued by seven women who were minors when filmed, apologized to the judge for yelling at the plaintiffs during settlement talks.
Well, it wasn't like he was on the phone talking to his child. Paging Mr. Baldwin, white courtesy phone.
#2
In this case he has some degree of sympathy. To start with, this is a civil case, not a criminal case. The girls are guilty of deception, and voluntarily removed their clothing, but are now claiming harm in the millions of dollars for having pictures of their breasts taken. In a few months they would have been legal and it would not have been at issue.
He has already paid a $1.6M fine as criminal sanction for not keeping the right records.
The judge claims to have been "snookered" by him and his lawyers into signing off on a settlement that was not what he thought it was; but even so, ordering a settlement instead of reaching a judgment is very odd in a civil trial.
#5
My understanding is that a settlement was reached. When it came time to sign the papers, they read something different than the agreement. The plaintiff moved to compel the settlement as agreed to, and the defendant had nothing to say, yet refused to live up to the agreement. The judge would not have Ordered a settlement unless the extraneous evidence supported the fact that they had a settlement agreement.
As an old boss once tought me: "An Order is an order."
Posted by: Mark E. ||
04/24/2007 11:43 Comments ||
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#6
Even so, a person does not have to sign any settlement agreement iff the final terms are NOT what he understood them to be, or something was wilfully concealed from him, i.e. so-called "LEGAL FRAUD/DECEPTION/THEFT". THE US Legal system is intentionally designed to decide guilt or innocence on a case-by-case basis. ANY CLIENT HAS THE RIGHT TO HIS DAY IN COURT AND TO BE MADE ABSOLUTELY UNDERSTOOD + COGNIZANT OF WHAT KIND OF AGREEMENT/TERMS IS BEING MADE IN HIS NAME OR ON HIS BEHALF. Its akin to finding a person "guilty" without giving public or formal notice of guilt = judgement, ergo the burden is on the same to prove he's "innocent". FAR TOO MANY JURISTS GO FOR THE QUICK OR CONVENIENT WAY OF LAW OR RESOLUTION WHICH DISRESPECTS THE RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED, AS WELL AS JUSTICE OR FAIRNESS.
NO LAW SAYS OR INTENDS ONLY LAWYERS DECIDE WHAT IS TO BE "SETTLED". such interprettaions are fallacious, dubious, andor mostly political/PC, NOT "LEGAL". IMO iff Francis has overwhelming or conclusive evidence on his side, he should appeal including by suit to overturning the settlement.
A man cut off his own penis with a large knife in front of diners at a busy London restaurant.
Witness Stuart McMahon, who was eating at Zizzi in the Strand with his girlfriend on Sunday, told the Sun: "This guy came running in then charged into the kitchen, got a massive knife and started waving it about. "Everyone was screaming and running out as he jumped on a table, dropped his trousers and popped his penis out. "Then he cut it off. I couldn't believe it."
Police said a man in his 30s was taken to a south London hospital where his condition was stable today.
#3
No doubt, after all the condescending opinions from the UK press regarding the VTech tragedy they will also provide an abundance of unsolicited advice with this event as well. I look forward to the insightful pieces such as Friends lament Missed warning Signs of Penis Cutter, UK Knife Culture Examined, and The Shocking Secrets of a member of The Member Dismemberment Society.
The 35-year-old Pole burst into the Zizzi eaterie in central London and grabbed a knife from the kitchen.
He then leapt on a table and dropped his trousers as customers fled screaming.
A witness said: There was blood everywhere. Everyone ran out of the place.
Surgeons battling to save the severed willy tried to sew it back on in the first UK op of its kind.
Quick-thinking cops recovered the organ from the restaurant floor after subduing its crazed owner with CS gas.
The manhood was packed in ice and taken with the man to Londons St Thomass Hospital.
A spokesman there confirmed doctors had attempted to re-attach it, but the hospital refused to say whether the procedure had been successful.
The 200-seater restaurant on The Strand in central London was packed with runners and spectators from Sundays Marathon.
Sales rep Stuart McMahon, who was eating supper with his girlfriend, said: This guy came running in then charged into the kitchen, got a massive knife and started waving it about.
Everyone was screaming and running out as he jumped on a table, dropped his trousers and popped his penis out. Then he cut it off. I couldnt believe it.
The staff were really upset and there was blood everywhere.
Police sped to the scene and restrained and handcuffed the man. Several diners were treated for shock by ambulance crews.
A spokesman for the Zizzi restaurant chain said: It all happened in a matter of seconds and was obviously extremely frightening and distressing. The manager and staff bravely helped evacuate the restaurant.
Last night cops were trying to establish the Poles background. He had left no identification in the clothing he discarded. A source said: We believe hes Polish and 35. We dont know if he has a history of mental illness, but hes clearly not a well boy.
A Met Police spokeswoman said: Officers arrived to find a 35-year-old man with severe self-inflicted injuries.
No other people were injured and the man was not arrested. He is now stable in hospital.
The man will be assessed by psychiatrists following treatment for his wounds and is expected to be held under the Mental Health Act for his own safety.
The diner remained shut yesterday for a clean-up operation. It was due to re-open last night.
The Royal College of Surgeons confirmed this was the first time that anyone in the UK had had their penis sewed back on.
After controlling the blood loss, doctors had to repair the blood supply and reanimate the tissue by rejoining the arteries and veins under a microscope.
Top Italian plastic surgeon Dr Nicolo Scuderi said of the operating technique: We dont know how much sensitivity and function will be regained.
Personally I think this is a well-placed criticism. Why does the subject of gun control come up when we should be focus entirely on how this obvious nut-case was able to avoid our pathetic mental health-care system?
Kryptonite is no longer just the stuff of fiction feared by caped superheroes. A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia.
According to movie and comic-book storylines, kryptonite is supposed to sap Superman's powers whenever he is exposed to its large green crystals. The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum. Yeah, easy for you to say--you're not a strange visitor form another world with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. If you were, . . .
"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either - although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange," he told BBC News. Awwww!
Once the London expert had unravelled the mineral's chemical make-up, he was shocked to discover this formula was already referenced in literature - albeit fictional literature. "Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.
"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite." It's a victory for truth, justice, and the geologist way!
The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas. Instead, it will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year. Jadar is the name of the place where the Serbian mine is located.
Oh. So it's not kryptonite. Never mind!
Posted by: Mike ||
04/24/2007 09:19 ||
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And pinkish-orange krytonite makes Superman ... hmm.
Posted by: ed ||
04/24/2007 9:50 Comments ||
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My junior high chemistry teacher told my class that there was a guy who discovered a compound but couldn't quite fathom its structure. He proposed the name C-nose. That name got rejected, so he proposed God-nose (a twist on God-knows!). Of course that got rejected, so he proposed the name that it is known by today, which is Vitamin C. I don't know if this story is true or not, but it's entertaining.
In any case, perhaps we could call this new stuff gaydonite? :-)
MADISON, Wis. - The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on government-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday.
I am delighted this has concluded. The men and women of Wiccan faith bleed just as copiously to defend our nation and deserve our thanks, our respect, and the right to be buried in a place of honor under the symbol of their personal faith. This was the right and proper thing to do and I'm sorry it took this long and a lawsuit to bring it to pass.
A settlement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of "emblems of belief" allowed on VA grave markers. Eleven families nationwide are waiting for grave markers with the pentacle, said Selena Fox, a Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis., a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The settlement calls for the pentacle, whose five points represent earth, air, fire, water and spirit, to be placed on grave markers within 14 days for those who have pending requests with the VA.
"I am glad this has ended in success in time to get markers for Memorial Day," Fox said.
#2
Doesn't matter, Zen. There's no 'ifs or buts' involved here. They fought and died for us, they get their faith's symbol on their gravestone. It's the very least we can do.
I would also like to note that the Wiccans acted very responsibly throughout this process, they went through the courts and pursued their complaint lawfully and civilly. No hunger strikes, Direct Actions, hostage-taking, seething, whining, pink tshirts or giant puppets. To the best of my knowlege they did not post a Manifesto on DKos, or dress their children in Amerikkka sheets.
Again, this was the right result for these loyal soldiers.
#3
I am Christian but know enough history to admit much of the mythology we have built up is itself a complete and total confabulation of ancient rites and deities even it time-tested rather than modern.
#4
I agree with Sea. These folks are Americans. They fought and died to protect us. They can and should be buried under their religious symbol. I thank them for their sacrifice and fear I'm not worthy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2007 14:46 Comments ||
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#5
Doesn't matter, Zen. There's no 'ifs or buts' involved here. They fought and died for us, they get their faith's symbol on their gravestone. It's the very least we can do.
Nowhere do I disagree. It's just that Wiccanism is so obviously contrived. I've been to several Wiccan covens and they are extremely peaceful events. This was reflected in their proceedings with the military as well. Go ahead, bury them under their preferred symbol, I just have a difficult time awarding it the reverence that they seem to think it merits.
While a seemingly minor point, in Kabbalist traditions it is the center of a pentagram (or, in older terms, pentagon), what we now call a pentagon that is of actual importance. Revealing central truths in an indirect manner represented a crucial aspect of the mystical experience. The star figure merely limns out the internal shape in an unbroken line. Images drawn with a single pen stroke were meant to convey timeless truths. The pentagon was one of the basic polygons.
Much as with Keplers nested polyhedral model of the geocentric solar system, these shapes conveyed then important attributes and properties that are now lost upon most modern scientific minds.
Note how in the above photo, the internal pentagon points downward. That is traditionally the direction of the evil. While encircling the pentagram is supposed to ward off malign forces, the stars point should actually be directed downwards so that the internal pentagon, the real element of significance would have its tip point upwards toward good. While it might seem trivial, this nonetheless demonstrates how Wiccanism plays cafeteria with more ancient and better-grounded traditions (e.g., Kabbalism, numerology, geomancy). It is the sometimes arbitrary and often contrived nature of Wiccanism that fails to impress me. Should Wiccans fight for my country, I shall be proud to shake their hands for it. All I ask is that they not try to portray theirs as one of the ancient religions.
#7
Granted much of wicca was made up out of whole cloth in the late 19th century. I have a couple of distant acquaintances who are pretty serious about wicca. They are also soft leftists in a California artist kind of way. They are also pretty polite and friendly.
I've never heard of a wiccan flying an airplane into a building or saying that people of other religions must be killed.
Palestinians living in Iraqs Anbar province have come under increasing pressure from militants to leave or be killed, NGOs and Palestinians say. Palestinians in the capital, Baghdad, have long been threatened by armed groups and harassed by authorities but threats to them in other provinces are a new development, aid workers say. Sunni-dominated Anbar used to protect Palestinians, who are predominantly Sunni too, but times have changed.
Boy howdy that really gets to me ... no, wait, that's the chili dawg I had for lunch.
Palestinians had been looking for safety and had found it in Anbar province but now they are being targeted. The threats they have received are an effrontery against the feelings of Muslim Arabs. They have nowhere to go and might be killed if they try to go to another place, Mahmoud Aydan, a media officer for the Ramadi council, said.
Say Mahmoud, any idea why the Paleos ain't so welcome any more?
We believe that there are about 150 families taking refuge in different cities of Anbar province but they havent been registered with the National Food Programme which makes it harder to know their exact location, Aydan said.
Which I suspect is exactly their intent.
A spokesman for the Baghdad-based Palestinian Muslims Association (PMA) said he was concerned about the fate of Palestinians in Anbar province after militants left threatening notes on the doors of Palestinians taking refuge in the area. At least 17 families have fled Ramadi after militants gave them a week to leave their homes or become the next victims of violence in Iraq, Ahmed Muffitlak, a spokesman for PMA, said.
So they get to go home to Gaza. No wonder they're unhappy.
But they dont have anywhere to go. Some families told me they are going to try to reach the al-Waleed camp near the Syrian border. Others expect to be accepted in Baghdads Sunni neighbourhoods, he added.
In Baghdad, Palestinians - especially those in the mainly Palestinian neighbourhoods of Baladiat, Hurriyah and Iskan - continue to be discriminated against and continue to receive threats to leave the country.
Tusk, tusk. Someone put this on the agenda with the Prime Minister of Iraq for somewhere around, oh, 2022 or so. March. Before it gets hot.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a press statement in March that at least 186 Palestinians have been murdered in Baghdad between April 2004 and January 2007, while about 15,000 Palestinians remain in Iraq, fewer than half the number who had lived there previously.
"They should do something before more Palestinians are killed. It is the minimum they can do to save so discriminated against a community, which cannot even return to its original land," added Muffitlak.
Sure they can. The Rafat crossing is open. Some days. Or they could dig a tunnel ...
Muffitlak reiterated the PMAs call for the protection of Palestinian refugees in Iraq and has urged the Iraqi government and international NGOs to assist the threatened families in Anbar.
They're a little busy right now trying to stop the splodydopes from killing the innocents. Splodydopes who, by the way, got the idea from your people.
Ahmed Raki, a 43-year-old Palestinian father of three lives in Ramadi. He is looking for a place at al-Waleed camp on the Syrian border, which has become a makeshift home for hundreds of Palestinians fleeing violence. There are dozens of families living with Iraqis in Ramadi, Fallujah and al-Qaim and the threats have been delivered to their homes. We dont have money, goods and some elderly people are very sick, requiring urgent medical assistance. But they will be forced to flee the area to save their lives, said Raki.
Two girls from our community were raped last week by militants who told them that it was a message to the Palestinians in Anbar to leave the area, Raki added. I have to leave before my two daughters meet the same fate.
Condolences to the women. They don't deserve that. Now why don't you guys leave Iraq? Seems like that without Saddam you're no longer wanted.
#1
"Militants left threatening notes on the doors of Palestinians taking refuge in the area." Bravo Sierra! If the Militants wanted to send the Paleos in Iraq a "message" they would kill a couple of families. Chalk this up to another "Feel sorry for me" Paleo story.
#4
no mention of Saddam's Paleo squads of headcrackers, same as the MM's in Iran use to keep dissent down. Great (not) article with no indepth analysis of why these Paleos might be disliked, nor any mention of their previous place as "superior" in Saddam's regime. Feh
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2007 19:41 Comments ||
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no indepth analysis of why these Paleos might be disliked
Who needs a reason? The Palestinians are simply some of the most repugnant assholes to ever have walked this earth. Nobody can crap on their own doorstep like a Palestinian. I doubt their conduct in Iraq varied at all from Gaza or the West Bank.
DEXTER, Ore. -- The downright frowsy Dexter Lake Club, the roadhouse that was home to scenes in the 1978 comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House," is for sale.
Viewers may recall it as the place where Boon, Pinto and Flounder, ne'er-do-wells from fictional Faber College, found their favorite music group, Otis Day and the Knights, singing "Shama Lama Ding Dong."
Another of their group, Otter, looked around at the all-black clientele and predicted: "We're gonna die."
The movie was not a hallmark of political correctness but it was a box office smash that has become a classic. At the same time, those who were there recall racial issues in then-as-now overwhelmingly white Lane County, where it was shot.
The 50-year-old building southeast of Eugene off of Oregon 58 is yours for the asking price of $259,000. Real estate agent Shaunna Durham says the 2,444-square-foot rural commercial space has possibilities.
"It's a nice diner," she said. "And I'm sure you could pull a lot of business from the (University of Oregon) having themed toga parties."
It still has the Dexter Lake Club neon rooftop sign that advertises "Cocktails" and "Dining," which attracted movie scouts in the fall of 1977.
"It was probably the most bizarre location that I've ever scouted," location scout Katherine Wilson said. "It really (felt like an) old South bluesy roadhouse."
Much has changed.
The bar and lounge portion, once a watering hole for local residents seeking a drink and a live tune, has been out of use for years. The front end has housed a series of mom-and-pop diners.
The proprietor in 1977, Wilson says, was a free spirit prone to leather and leopard-skin patterns, and the place reflected her personality.
But the zebra-patterned wallpaper, the vinyl-padded front door and the round booth seating from the film are gone.
The dimly lit lounge in the back has been mostly gutted. A cutout can be seen in the floor where the bar once stood. The brick stage where the band played remains in good condition.
Some critics found the Dexter Lake Club scene racially insensitive, and Wilson says race was a factor on the set as well. At one point, the cast and crew members in the film lined up for a meal of prime rib while black extras were told they were getting sack lunches. The problem, Wilson said, was remedied by a producer who ordered the two groups to switch lunch lines.
There was also the irony that most of the extras in the scene came from outside the Dexter area, said Maida Belove, an extra in the film who assisted with costuming for the Dexter Lake Club scene.
The black actors were recruited from Portland and Los Angeles, and there were reports of some racial tension between them and local residents.
But mostly, Wilson said, the shooting of the film was one big party.
She recalled the late author Ken Kesey, who lived at nearby Pleasant Hill, showing up on the set, as well as musician Robert Cray.
"That was back in the day when film was fun and creative," Wilson said.
Thirty years later, some call Animal House the film that launched a thousand gross-out comedies.
"I think it's stayed current because we all want to live that crazy life, and you know, just go for it and be daring and question authority," Wilson said.
"That was the motto of my youth."
In the final scene the character of Bluto (John Belushi) and Mandy the sorority girl (Mary Louise Weller) drive off into the sunset in a convertible.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2007 20:59 Comments ||
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#2
GUAM RADIO promo > Belushi > "Over, did you say over, well nothing is over until WE say it is. Was it over when the GERMANS bombed Pearl Harbor -no, and it taint over now. Because when the going gets tough ????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????uh, the tough get going! Who's with me - lets go, yahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!?
#5
Caplock Joe in the Sinktrap? Yet another sign of the pending Apocalypse.
Someone with even a shred of brains would purchase the place, make Southern-style barbeque and classic chrome & formica diner menu items the usual and make a fortune. Idjits. Hell, I could supply all the necessary recipes and half the small wares.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A man cut off his own penis with a large knife in front of diners at a busy London restaurant.
