Fox News Host Mocks Heath Ledger's Death

Tuesday afternoon Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York City apartment from what is now believed to been an accidental overdose of sleeping medication.

Ledger first made a name for himself in the Mel Gibson movie "The Patroit" but will probably be best known for his Oscar nominated performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain and as the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie "The Dark Knight". Heath Ledger was 28 and leaves behind a two year old daughter and a heart broken, devestated close knit family.

On January 23rd FOX News right wing, anti-gay radio host John Gibson decided to express his ignorance and hate to the nation through FOX News and mock the death of Heath Ledger just because Ledger portrayed a gay cowboy in BrokeBack Mountain.

Opening his radio show with funeral music, Fox News host John Gibson callously mocked the death of actor Heath Ledger, calling him a “weirdo” with a “serious drug problem.” Playing an audio clip of the iconic quote, “I wish I knew how to quit you” from Ledger’s gay romance movie Brokeback Mountain, Gibson disdainfully quipped, “Well, he found out how to quit you.” Laughing, Gibson then played another clip from Brokeback Mountain in which Ledger said, “We’re dead,” followed by his own, mocking “We’re dead” before playing the clip again.

GIBSON: Maybe he had a serious position in the market.
TOM SULLIVAN: And possibly today, he looked at the window and said…
GIBSON: “Oh my God.”
SULLIVAN: His name’s not Keith Bledger, right?
GIBSON: He was depressed about yesterday’s downturn in the world stock markets. On the Democratic debate in South Carolina:
GIBSON: Apparently Heath Ledger was suicidal and his friends saw it coming. I think he watched the Clinton-Obama debate last night. I think he was an Edwards guy, cause he saw his Edwards guy was just completely irrelevant.

In reality, New York City Police spokesman Paul J. Browne told the New York Times that there was “no obvious indication of suicide.”

Gibson gave a robotic like apology along with a smirk for his hate filled bias comments the following day.

Fox News once again shows the nation it stands by ignorance and hate by staffing the likes of John Gibson. It's a sad day for the family and friends of Heath Ledger. It's also a sad day for Fox News. You lost my trust and you lost me as a viewer.

It took pure courage for Heath Ledger to play a gay character in a film industry where an actor would usually be black balled after such a role.
It took pure cowardliness for John Gibson to hide behind a microphone and mock a man after he has died and not be able to defend himself.

If anyone is interested in sending your comments to Fox News here is the contact information:

Mr. Mitch Davis Vice President Fox News Radio Network
1211 Avenue Of The Americas 18th Floor
New York, NY 10036-8701
Direct Phone: *212-301-5800
Outlet Fax: *212-301-5455
Outlet Phone: 212-301-3000
Email: mitch.davis@foxnews.com

Mark Bingham Documentary

I have posted here in the past that a personal hero in my life is a man named Mark Bingham who was one of the passengers on United Flight 93 and was one of the people believed to have stormed the hijackers on the plane that day.

In the past year Emmy award winning director and producer Scott Gracheff has been working closely with Mark's family and friends to bring his story to the big screen in a documentary about his life. I had the honor to be interviewed by Scott on camera and I actually am in the film's preview which could be seen on line. (I'm the guy in the blue baseball cap at the rugby game).

I can't tell you how much this means to me to be part of this film. Even though he gave his life on September 11, 2001 stopping the hijackers on Flight 93, Mark managed to change my life for the better long after he was gone. Mark's mother Alice and his friends Joe and Todd really played key roles in helping me and I'll always be thankful for that.

I explain it better in the film and you could see that in the trailer so check it out here and find out who this man was and why he's loved by so many people:
http://www.markbinghamdocumentary.com/
(you could cut and paste it to make it work or look at my links on the left side of my blog and click the active link there)

Blog Makes the Newspaper

I received an email from a reporter last week from the New Haven Register last week. He told me he was doing a story on local Blogs and wanted to interview me.
Well today the story was in the paper along with a big dorky picture of me.
The article was pretty neat. So for my fellow bloggers out there I want to say that someone is actually reading what we write about so keep it up.

Here's the article for those who are interested:

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Even the guy next door who grows catnip and the kid who collects dust has a blog By Jim Shelton, Register Staff

Will the last person in Greater New Haven without a blog please turn off the lights on your way to the 21st century?
A decade after they first hit the Internet, digital diaries and compendiums continue to multiply and flex their muscles in the national discourse. It’s common now for people to check in with various blogs as part of their daily or weekly routine. Meanwhile, New Haven’s little corner of the blogosphere keeps growing. There are students with blogs, parents with blogs and citizens of all ages posting their thoughts about life, work, politics and the latest installment of “American Idol.”
For instance, readers far and wide can visit “Yankees Tonight,” at yankstonight.blogspot.com, for sports analysis from an East Haven man in his 20s; they also can surf over to “Derailed,” at bobbyderailed.blogspot.com, to read the ruminations of a 40-something Metro-North conductor from Clinton.
Then you have “For God, For Country and For Yale,” at ivycatholic.blogspot.com, written by a Yale University football player; and “This Blog Is About What?” at rochpunk.blogspot.com, compiled by an avid triathlete in Branford.
Some bloggers keep at it for years, while others post their musings for a few months and then move on to something else. Heck, even a passel of Register editors and reporters have blogs at nhregister.com.
“You want your voice to be heard, even if it’s only lighter stuff that you’re writing about,” says Rick Clark, a 42-year-old hospital lab technician from East Haven.
Clark is the author of “Rick’s Time On Earth,” at rickstimeonearth.blogspot.com. It’s got Clark’s movie reviews, thoughts on Paris Hilton and travelogues about weekend trips. He started it last year.
Although it focuses on ordinary life, “Rick’s Time On Earth” was inspired by one of the biggest events in American history — the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Specifically, the story of Mark Bingham, a passenger on United 93 who is thought to have been one of the people who attempted to storm the cockpit to wrest control of the plane from hijackers.
Bingham’s bravery, and his openness about being gay, led Clark to come out of the closet in 2006. Clark also developed a friendship with Bingham’s mother, Alice Hoagland, who gave Clark this advice: “Document your life on this earth.”
So that’s what he’s done, despite the fact that Clark had never read a blog. He’s had more than 1,400 visits to his blog since October, when he finally put in a counter.
“It shocks me,” Clark says of the number of people reading his posts. “I didn’t think anyone other than my friends would want to look. Actually, my friends don’t look very often. It’s mainly people I don’t know.”
Then you have blogs that evolve. For example, New Haven resident Judi Janette started writing a blog four years ago called “Escape to Elm City” at escapetoelmcity.blog-city.com. It was prompted by Janette’s move from Guilford to New Haven.
She updated “Escape to Elm City” faithfully for years, until she felt it had run out of steam. Then she created a new blog, “So Whay Sonata,” at sowhaysonata.blog-city.com. Its name is an abbreviation for her neighborhood, south of Whalley Avenue.
“Blogging gives you a freedom to write what you want and hash out your own ideas,” Janette, 44, explains. Her blog posts include everything from local politics to satire. Once, after she drove an SUV as a loaner vehicle while her car was in the shop, she posted her “TOP TEN REASONS TO DRIVE A BIG-ASS SUV.” Number seven was: “Personalized invitation to OPEC ‘Holiday Meet & Greet’ party.”
Now she’s taking her blogging in yet another direction, as an online diarist for the Web site New Haven Independent, at newhavenindependent.org. The venue may be different, but she says her writing sensibility remains unchanged. Like the time she wrote about cleaning up for Passover, for instance. That blog post hit a nerve with the public, apparently, because Janette started getting 1,000 hits a day after she wrote it. “I would get e-mails from people I know, saying, ‘Hey, you really should read this,’ and it was my post,” she laughs.
For a collegiate view of the city, there’s “Elightenment,” at andyatyale.blogspot.com, written by Yale freshman Andrew Feldman of Framingham, Mass. It’s a fresh take on the trials and tribulations of leaving home, coming to a new city and learning the rituals of a storied institution. He’s posted about attending a Master’s Tea, going to the Halloween concert at Woolsey Hall, enduring Parents’ Weekend and experiencing the annual Freshman Dinner in December.
“Some of my friends are amazed by all the Yale traditions,” says Feldman, 18. “Before I left for college, I talked with my parents about how often we’d keep in touch, and I thought it would be nice to have a record of freshman year. I’d say my most avid readers are my parents and grandparents.”
But they aren’t his only readers. Recently, Feldman struck up a conversation with a young woman in one of his classes. “She said, ‘My mom reads your blog,’” Feldman says.

Jim Shelton can be reached at (203) 789-5664 or jshelton@nhregister.com.

COLD and FLU

It winter and the cold and flu season are here. I was surprised at how many people didn't know the difference between the cold and the flu. Here's a list of the differences in the two.

FEVER: (COLD)-A fever is very rare with a cold. (FLU)-Fever is usually present with the flu. 80% of the flu cases include a fever. A temp of 100 degrees or higher for 3 to 4 days is associated with the flu.

ACHES: (COLD)- Sight body aches or pains can be part of a cold. (FLU)- Severe aches and pains are common with a cold.

CHILLS: (COLD)- Chills are uncommon with a cold. (FLU)- Chills are fairly common in most flu cases. 60% of flu cases include chills.

TIREDNESS: (COLD)- Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold. (FLU)- Tiredness is moderate to severe with the flu.

SUDDEN SYMPTOMS: (COLD)- Cold symptoms are not sudden and develop over a few days. (FLU)- The flu has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. The flu hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains.

COUGH: (COLD)- A hacking, productive (mucus producing) cough is often present with a cold. (FLU)- A nonproductive cough that does not produce a mucus is usually present with the flu. Dry cough is present in 80% of flu cases.

SNEEZING: (COLD)- Sneezing is commonly present with a cold. (FLU)- Sneezing is not commonly present with the flu.

STUFFY NOSE: (COLD)- A stuffy nose usually accompanies a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week. (FLU)- Stuffy noses are not common with the flu.

SORE THROAT: (COLD)- Sore throat is common with a cold. (FLU)- Sore throat is not common with the flu.

CHEST DISCOMFORT: (COLD)- Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold. (FLU)- Chest discomfort is often severe with the flu.

HEADACHE: (COLD)- A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold. (FLU)- A headache is very common with the flu.

Flue Facts:

• The flu is a contagious virus that is spread from one person to another through tiny droplets that are released into the air when a person infected with the flu coughs or sneezes. Sometimes, people can become infected by touching their nose or mouth after touching something infected by the flu virus.

• Most healthy adults can infect others one day before they begin experiencing symptoms and up to five days after they become sick. That means you can pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

• A typical case of the flu can last up to one week.

• The flu can be a serious illness, particularly for mature populations aged 50 and older, and those with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and asthma.

• Flu season can begin as early as October and last as late as May. Track the flu in your area.

As for the "starve a cold, feed a fever..or is it feed a cold..??" there is no evidence that not eating with shorten a cold. A cold is a virus and the only thing that will get rid of that virus is time. Bottom line is you have to wait it out. Drinking lots of warm fluids like tea and soup will help with the congestion and some research suggest high amounts of vitamin C may help also.

But be it a cold or the flu, rest and plenty of fluids are very important.