My friend Aaron is looking for funds to finish his documentary:


Dalit Documentary Trailer from Aaron B. Smith on Vimeo.

A lawsuit against Scientology that names Tom Cruise as a defendant? Yes Please!

Tom Cruise is named in a $250 million federal lawsuit that is using the RICO statute against the Church of Scientology. Ex-Scientologist Peter Letterese, a longtime critic of the church, filed suit in Southern District Court in Florida on July 15 alleging, among other things, that members of the church harassed him after he left.

In court papers provided to The News by investigator Paul Barresi, Letterese claims a member of the church phoned his lawyer at home, and when the lawyer's wife answered, said he was her husband's homosexual lover.
Barresi, who has done investigative work on behalf of Cruise, tells us: "[Letterese] is just including a celebrity name to get attention."

Letterese calls the church a "crime syndicate" and wants it broken up under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization law, just as the feds have broken up Mafia families.

He singles out Cruise, who's made no secret of his religion, saying that Scientology head David Miscavage is "aided and abetted by the actions of Tom Cruise, his right-hand man for foreign and domestic promotion, as well as for foreign and domestic lobbying. He has assisted the syndicate in acquiring funds and [made] his own donations of money believed to be in the multiple tens of millions of dollars."

Nice story:

President George W. Bush made a pit stop on his way back to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Tuesday evening.
After leaving a fundraiser in Gates Mills, his motorcade passed a home with a sign asking the president to stop by -- so he did.

From the hot air headlines

Ernie Harwell's wife is in the hospital:

Ernie Harwell was doing his morning exercises around 6:30 a.m. when Lulu Harwell came into the room and said she was having chest pains, the Hall of Fame sportscaster told the Free Press today. They contacted their community's emergency personnel, who responded and called an ambulance.

Lulu Harwell celebrated her 89th birthday earlier this month.

The two met in 1940, according to a Free Press article earlier this year. Lulu Harwell was, at the time, Lulu Tankersley. They were married in 1941 and are due to celebrate their 67th anniversary in August.

"I'm still a newlywed," Ernie Harwell said, laughing, for a Free Press article earlier this year. "It's been wonderful for me - she's such a wonderful person. We are more in love now than we ever have been. It's because of her, I think, it's been a great success."

God willing, she'll be home soon with Ernie. In the meantime, thoughts, prayers and best wishes go out to the Harwells...

It's a new day in Detroit!

The good news is that home sales in the city of Detroit through June are up by a whopping +46.56% (YTD) compared to last year (5,389 homes sold in 2008 YTD vs. 3,677 last year), but the bad news is that the average price for a home sold in Detroit has fallen by 56% to only $19,448 so far this this year, compared to an average price last year of $44,346 for the January-June period!

One can only speculate as to whether the firm, steady guidance of Mayor Kilpatrick has contributed to this stellar performance.

Speaking of Kwame: Here's a little support for the prosecutor trying to rid Michigan of the Kilpatrick administration (via God and Culture)...

Best film I've ever seen in the theater. Might be the best film I've ever seen. Greatly exceeded my expectations, which were as high as I've ever had for a film.

Gizmodo goes inside the lego factory. A man could have a lot of fun with all those bricks.

July 20, 2008 - 39th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, 32nd Anniversary of my birth.

Woo hoo!

Terrible news:

Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary and conservative pundit who bedeviled the press corps and charmed millions as a FOX News television and radio host, died Saturday after a long bout with cancer. He was 53.

A syndicated columnist, editor, TV anchor, radio show host and musician, Snow worked in nearly every medium in a career that spanned more than 30 years.

I really liked Tony Snow; he seemed to be a decent, sincere, and genuinely nice person. He exhibited uncommon bravery and unfailing optimism in his battle with cancer, and he will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Gone Too Soon: 1955-2008

So long, old friend. I wish I could have taken my son to see you when he was old enough to understand how special it was for me to see a game there with his grandpa, and how much I wish he could have seen a game there with grandpa and I.

I guess I will be seeing WALL-E:

An automatic classic that will stand the test of time and sear itself into the collective memory of a generation, WALL-E is so profoundly moving, so quietly eloquent and so purely magical, it may well be movie of the decade.

I. CANNOT. WAIT.

So it was just after 10 when I realized that I still has to get some stuff off the table on the deck from dinner. I walk out, notice a few slices of cucumber still sitting on a plate, so i chucked them out into the yard (I'm mowing the lawn tomorrow anyway), and one of them goes into the rose bushes.

And it hit something. Which moved.

So I'm peering out into the darkness, trying to see which of the neighborhood cats was in my yard.

But it wasn't a cat.

Sad news today from Washington.

Good track. Crazy film, but good track.