Diners Club: Don't Dare Spy Without It
Meet Al Gore, Ace TV Pitchman
Despite reports that advertisers aren't exactly lining up around the block to buy airtime on former Vice President Al Gore 's new digital cable network, Current TV's president of sales and marketing, Anne Zehren, says she couldn't be more pleased with the progress the channel has been making: "Our advertisers are A-list." Still, it doesn't hurt that Gore often joins Zehren in meetings with potential ad buyers to talk up the network, which bills itself as the TV equivalent of an iPod shuffle.
Preparing for a Bird Flu Pandemic
With the deadly avian flu zooming its way west through Russia toward Europe, infectious-disease experts in the United States are becoming increasingly distressed over the slow pace of preparation for combating a flu pandemic here, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates could sicken 90 million Americans, killing more than 200,000. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt told Whispers that the department's long-awaited pandemic flu plan should be done by late September. At present, it will take at least six months from the start of a pandemic to produce a vaccine. Which raises a question: Who will be lucky enough to get one of the 2.3 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu--which appears to be the only drug that can prevent or lessen the severity of the bird flu--that the government is stockpiling? Leavitt is thinking about letting healthcare workers and first responders stash the drug at home. So does Leavitt have some Tamiflu tucked away in the sock drawer for his family? "At this point," he confessed, "I do not."
President Bush, 'In Da Club'--Sort Of
Over at the music site audiostreet.net, one of the most popular downloads for the past year has been the creations of a New York City-based DJ who takes old political speeches, sampled from C-SPAN broadcasts, and mixes them with popular hits. "DJ rx" joined the voices of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Bush on "Birthday," a takeoff on 50 Cent's "In Da Club," complete with President Bush exclaiming, "Go Shorty!" Before his CD, The Party Party, was released this month, his songs racked up almost 370,000 downloads.
A Picture Book for Kid Conservatives
Los Angeles-based publishing house World Ahead is releasing a new children's book entitled Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed . The picture book features a Ted Kennedy character taxing away the profits from a lemonade stand while Hillary Rodham Clinton outlaws sugary drinks.
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With David E. Kaplan, Leo Sisti, Suzi Parker, Nancy Shute and Joshua Davidovich
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