Record sales have been on a steady decline for more than a decade: file sharing and streaming services have been the main culprits. The former has been the focus of lawsuits and headlines, but it?s the latter that has quietly crept into the consciousness of artists making their music available to services like Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm and the like. Artists like the Black Keys have declined to let their most recent record?the critically acclaimed and Grammy Award winning El Camino?from being available on Spotify and other streaming services, saying it?s not a viable, profitable option.
The most recent gripe between artist and online radio has proved to be the lone galvanizing motive for Pink Floyd, a band whose surviving members haven?t put differences aside for more than 30 years?aside from their all-too-brief reunion at Live 8 in 2005.
Pink Floyd collectively submitted an op-ed piece to USA Today, accusing Pandora of using tricks to fool artists to agree to an 85% slash in the royalties they receive. Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason have singled out the service for their support of the Internet Radio Fairness Act of 2012,?the IRFA died in committee?which called for the drastic cut.
?For almost all working musicians, it?s also a question of economic survival. Nearly 90% of the artists who get a check for digital play receive less than $5,000 a year,? the members said in the piece. ?They cannot afford the 85% pay cut Pandora asked Congress to impose on the music community.?
WCBS-FM afternoon drive jock ?Broadway? Bill Lee agrees with Pink Floyd?s assessment of Pandora?s action. ?Waters (along with Gilmour and Mason) is well within his rights to make that claim,? says Lee. ?Even though Pandora isn?t turning a profit yet, based on their stock performance, they certainly will be in the future.?
Pink Floyd also pointed out that Pandora?notably founder Tim Westergren?was emailing artists ?asking them to ?be part of a conversation? about the music business and sign a simple ?letter of support? for Internet radio.? A copy of such a letter between Westergren and New York-based musician Blake Morgan was published on the Huffington post: it includes Morgan?s disapproving response and the continued exchange between the two.
Pandora released their own statement, respectfully denying Pink Floyd?s claims. ?Unfortunately, they have been given badly misleading information ? the result of a well-orchestrated campaign by the RIAA and their lobbying arm to mislead and agitate artists,? the statement reads. It continues, saying the accusation that Pandora supports an 85% cut are ?? simply not true? and that ?Pandora is by far the highest paying form of radio in the world and proudly pays both songwriters and performers.?
Pandora?s statement proceeds to call into question Pink Floyd?s source for this 85% cut in royalties, saying the Internet Radio Fairness Act doesn?t mention specific rates?which it does not.
But musicFIRST, a coalition whose aim ?is to ensure music creators get fair pay for their work everywhere it is played,? pointed out that Westergren and Pandora currently pay a 50% royalty rate but wishes to make the cut to 8%: the same as satellite radio. After crunching the numbers, the drop from 50% to 8% is roughly the same as an 85% cut, which is pointed out by this infographic.
Pink Floyd?s battle with Pandora is just the beginning of what looks to be a lengthy conflict, especially with continuing advances in the digital age that sees businesses looking to continually pad their pockets while artists pursue their fair shake of revenue.
The Supreme Court hands landmark wins to gay-marriage supporters, Obama starts a tour of Africa, and more
1. GAY-MARRIAGE SUPPORTERS CELEBRATE SUPREME COURT VICTORIES The Supreme Court delivered two major victories for supporters of gay marriage on Wednesday. In a landmark ruling, the sharply divided court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, forcing the government to recognize marriages in the 12 states where it is legal. The court also said that supporters of California's gay-marriage ban, Proposition 8, had no standing to challenge a lower court ruling striking it down, paving the way for same-sex marriages in the nation's largest state. [Reuters] ??????????????????????????????
2. OBAMA ARRIVES IN SENEGAL TO START AFRICA TOUR President Obama arrived in Senegal Wednesday night to begin a week-long, three-country tour of Africa. The trip, focusing on strengthening economic ties and underscoring the importance of democratic reforms, begins Thursday with a meeting with Senegalese President Macky Sall, followed by a trip to Goree Island, which was the largest slave trading post in Africa for centuries. [USA Today] ??????????????????????????????
SEE ALSO: WATCH: Nancy Pelosi wearily dismisses Michele Bachmann's DOMA statement
3. MANDELA'S CONDITION WORSENS Anti-Apartheid icon Nelson Mandela's health deteriorated on Wednesday, as a government official briefed on his condition said the former South African president had been placed on life support. President Jacob Zuma canceled a trip to Mozambique scheduled for Thursday. Supporters lit candles and posted signs expressing love for Mandela, 94, who was elected the country's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for fighting against white minority rule. [CNN] ??????????????????????????????
4. PERRY GIVES TEXAS REPUBLICANS ANOTHER CHANCE TO PASS ABORTION RESTRICTIONS Hours after Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis' epic filibuster blocked a restrictive Texas abortion bill, Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday called a second, special legislative session to give Republicans another chance to pass it. The rules would force most Texas abortion clinics to close. Raucous outbursts by opponents prevented Republicans from getting it passed before the last session closed. Perry said the "breakdown of decorum and decency" wouldn't stop lawmakers from doing their job. [Texas Tribune, Huffington Post] ??????????????????????????????
SEE ALSO: Did a U.S. clerical mistake allow Edward Snowden to flee China?
5. FOOTBALL PLAYER AARON HERNANDEZ CHARGED WITH MURDER NFL star Aaron Hernandez was arrested Wednesday and charged with orchestrating the murder of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, a friend. Prosecutors said they used surveillance video, cell phone data, and other evidence to trace Hernandez to the industrial park where Lloyd's body was found on June 17. Lloyd had been shot in the head. The New England Patriots promptly dropped Hernandez, a tight end who had signed a five-year, $40 million contract last summer. He is being held without bail. [Associated Press] ??????????????????????????????
6. TEXAS EXECUTES WOMAN IN STATE'S 500TH MODERN EXECUTION Texas executed Kimberly McCarthy, 52, on Wednesday, for the 1997 murder of 71-year-old retired college professor Dorothy Booth. This marked the state's 500th execution since it resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. Texas reached the grim milestone far ahead of other states ? Virginia is next with 110 modern executions. McCarthy, the first woman executed in the U.S. in nearly three years, was sentenced to die for killing Booth in a robbery. [Dallas Morning News] ??????????????????????????????
SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: June 27, 2013
7. WALMART JOINS COMPANIES DUMPING PAULA DEEN Hours after Paula Deen appeared on the Today show to assure fans she is not a racist, three more companies cut their ties to the embattled celebrity chef. Walmart and Home Depot said Wednesday that they would stop carrying Deen-branded cooking products, and Caesars Entertainment stripped Deen's name from four restaurants it runs. Fans are rallying behind the Southern cooking star, who also lost her Food Network shows, with demand surging for a tickets on next year's annual "Paula Deen Cruise." [NBC, New York Daily News] ??????????????????????????????
8. MILITARY OVERTURNS CONVICTION AGAINST IMPRISONED MARINE The military's highest court has overturned a conviction of a Marine, Larry Hutchins, for the killing of an unarmed Iraqi man in 2006 ? one of the highest profile cases against an American soldier in the Iraq war. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that Hutchins was improperly denied a lawyer when he was first questioned. [Los Angeles Times] ??????????????????????????????
SEE ALSO: The last word: He said he was leaving. She ignored him.
9. MORSI WARNS PROTESTS COULD DERAIL EGYPT'S DEMOCRACY Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, marked his first year in office with a speech Wednesday in which he acknowledged making mistakes but warned that mounting unrest is "threatening to paralyze the country." Soldiers have been posted around the country ahead of planned weekend protests to demand Morsi's removal from power. Morsi told rivals to "enter elections if you want to change the government." [BBC News] ??????????????????????????????
10. FEDERER UPSET EARLY AT WIMBLEDON Defending Wimbledon champion Roger Federer was knocked out of the storied tennis tournament in the second round Wednesday night by Sergiy Stakhovsky, an unseeded Ukrainian. "I'm still kind of in disbelief that that actually happened," Stakhovsky, ranked No. 116 in the world, said after the epic ? 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5, 7-6(5) ? upset. Federer's shocking defeat came two days after the elimination of another favorite, Rafael Nadal, in the first round. [Wall Street Journal]
SEE ALSO: Today in history: June 27
View this article on TheWeek.com Get 4 Free Issues of The Week
More from The Week:
Like The Week on Facebook?-?Follow The Week on Twitter?-?Sign-up for The Week's Daily Newsletter
June 25, 2013 ? Scientists in the US have developed a novel vaccination method that uses tiny gold particles to mimic a virus and carry specific proteins to the body's specialist immune cells.
The technique differs from the traditional approach of using dead or inactive viruses as a vaccine and was demonstrated in the lab using a specific protein that sits on the surface of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The results have been published today, 26 June, in IOP Publishing's journal Nanotechnology by a team of researchers from Vanderbilt University.
RSV is the leading viral cause of lower respiration tract infections, causing several hundred thousand deaths and an estimated 65 million infections a year, mainly in children and the elderly.
The detrimental effects of RSV come, in part, from a specific protein, called the F protein, which coats the surface of the virus. The protein enables the virus to enter into the cytoplasm of cells and also causes cells to stick together, making the virus harder to eliminate.
The body's natural defence to RSV is therefore directed at the F protein; however, up until now, researchers have had difficulty creating a vaccine that delivers the F protein to the specialised immune cells in the body. If successful, the F protein could trigger an immune response which the body could 'remember' if a subject became infected with the real virus.
In this study the researchers created exceptionally small gold nanorods, just 21 nanometres wide and 57 nanometres long, which were almost exactly the same shape and size as the virus itself. The gold nanorods were successfully coated with the RSV F proteins and were bonded strongly thanks to the unique physical and chemical properties of the nanorods themselves.
The researchers then tested the ability of the gold nanorods to deliver the F protein to specific immune cells, known as dendritic cells, which were taken from adult blood samples.
Dendritic cells function as processing cells in the immune system, taking the important information from a virus, such as the F protein, and presenting it to cells that can perform an action against them?the T cells are just one example of a cell that can take action.
Once the F protein-coated nanorods were added to a sample of dendritic cells, the researchers analysed the proliferation of T cells as a proxy for an immune response. They found that the protein-coated nanorods caused the T cells to proliferate significantly more compared to non-coated nanorods and just the F protein alone.
Not only did this prove that the coated-nanorods were capable of mimicking the virus and stimulating an immune response, it also showed that they were not toxic to human cells, offering significant safety advantages and increasing their potential as a real-life human vaccine.
Lead author of the study, Professor James Crowe, said: "A vaccine for RSV, which is the major cause of viral pneumonia in children, is sorely needed. This study shows that we have developed methods for putting RSV F protein into exceptionally small particles and presenting it to immune cells in a format that physically mimics the virus. Furthermore, the particles themselves are not infectious."
Due to the versatility of the gold nanorods, Professor Crowe believes that their potential use is not limited to RSV.
"This platform could be used to develop experimental vaccines for virtually any virus, and in fact other larger microbes such as bacteria and fungi.
"The studies we performed showed that the candidate vaccines stimulated human immune cells when they were interacted in the lab. The next steps to testing would be to test whether or not the vaccines work in vivo" Professor Crowe continued.
Contact: Paul Butler paul@dtm.ciw.edu Carnegie Institution
Washington, D.C.A team of astronomers, including Carnegie's Paul Butler, has combined new observations with existing data to reveal a solar system packed full of planets. The star Gliese 667C is orbited by between five and seven planets, the maximum number that could fit in stable, close orbits. A record-breaking three of these planets are super-Earths found in the so-called habitable zone around the starthe zone where liquid water could exist. This makes them good candidates for the search for life.
Gliese 667C is a very well-studied star. It is just over one third of the mass of our Sun, and it is part of a triple star system known as Gliese 667. Gliese 667 is remarkably similar to our solar system, compared to other stars studied in the search for habitable planets.
Previous studies of Gliese 667C found that the star hosts three planets, with one in the habitable zone. Now, a team of astronomers led by Guillem Anglada-Escud of the University of Gttingen, a former Carnegie post-doc, reexamined observations taken between 2003 and 2012, along with new observations from a variety of telescopes, and found evidence for five, and possibly as many as seven, planets around the star.
If seven planets exist, they would completely fill the habitable zone; there are no more stable, long-lived orbits in which a planet could be so close to the star. Because Gliese 677C is part of a triple-star system, the other orange stars would be visible in daytime on each of these planets, and in nighttime they would provide the same illumination as the full moon on earth.
"We identified three strong signals in the star before, but it was possible that smaller planets were hidden in the data" said Anglada-Escud. "We reexamined the existing data, added some new observations, and applied two different data analysis methods especially designed to deal with multi-planet signal detection. Both methods yielded the same answer: there are five very secure signals and up to seven low-mass planets in short-period orbits around the star."
Three of these planets are confirmed to be super-Earthsplanets more massive than Earth, but less massive than giant planets like Uranus or Neptunewhich are within the star's habitable zone.
"This is the first time that three such planets have been spotted orbiting in this zone in the same system," Butler said.
Compact systems around Sun-like stars have been found to be abundant in the Milky Way. However, many of these systems consist of super-Earths lying very close to their star, within the orbit of Mercury. In systems built around Sun-like stars, these orbits are very hot and planets there are unlikely to be habitable.
This is not the case for cooler and dimmer stars Planets found very close to such stars could still be habitable planet candidates. The Gliese 667C system is the first example of a system in which a low-mass star is seen to host several packed planets with habitable conditions.
This discovery illustrates that low-mass stars are currently the best targets for searching for potentially habitable planets, an important finding given that around 80% of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy, and many stars near to us, fall into this lower mass bracket. If such packed systems are common around low-mass stars, the number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy could be much larger than previously expected.
The team came to its conclusions by digging into previous data from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-metre telescope in Chile, the Carnegie Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) at the 6.5-metre Magellan II Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, and the HIRES spectrograph mounted on the Keck 10-metre telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Spectra taken using the UVES spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile were used to fine tune the properties of the star accurately.
###
This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, D. Pinfield and RoPACS (Rocky Planets Around Cool Stars), a Marie Curie Initial Training Network funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme, the DFG, NASA's Virtual Planetary Laboratory, the NSF, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Fondecyt, CATA, the GEMINI-CONICYT FUND, and the Comite Mixto ESO-GOBIERNO DE CHILE.
The work is based in part on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology.
The Carnegie Institution for Science is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Paul Butler paul@dtm.ciw.edu Carnegie Institution
Washington, D.C.A team of astronomers, including Carnegie's Paul Butler, has combined new observations with existing data to reveal a solar system packed full of planets. The star Gliese 667C is orbited by between five and seven planets, the maximum number that could fit in stable, close orbits. A record-breaking three of these planets are super-Earths found in the so-called habitable zone around the starthe zone where liquid water could exist. This makes them good candidates for the search for life.
Gliese 667C is a very well-studied star. It is just over one third of the mass of our Sun, and it is part of a triple star system known as Gliese 667. Gliese 667 is remarkably similar to our solar system, compared to other stars studied in the search for habitable planets.
Previous studies of Gliese 667C found that the star hosts three planets, with one in the habitable zone. Now, a team of astronomers led by Guillem Anglada-Escud of the University of Gttingen, a former Carnegie post-doc, reexamined observations taken between 2003 and 2012, along with new observations from a variety of telescopes, and found evidence for five, and possibly as many as seven, planets around the star.
If seven planets exist, they would completely fill the habitable zone; there are no more stable, long-lived orbits in which a planet could be so close to the star. Because Gliese 677C is part of a triple-star system, the other orange stars would be visible in daytime on each of these planets, and in nighttime they would provide the same illumination as the full moon on earth.
"We identified three strong signals in the star before, but it was possible that smaller planets were hidden in the data" said Anglada-Escud. "We reexamined the existing data, added some new observations, and applied two different data analysis methods especially designed to deal with multi-planet signal detection. Both methods yielded the same answer: there are five very secure signals and up to seven low-mass planets in short-period orbits around the star."
Three of these planets are confirmed to be super-Earthsplanets more massive than Earth, but less massive than giant planets like Uranus or Neptunewhich are within the star's habitable zone.
"This is the first time that three such planets have been spotted orbiting in this zone in the same system," Butler said.
Compact systems around Sun-like stars have been found to be abundant in the Milky Way. However, many of these systems consist of super-Earths lying very close to their star, within the orbit of Mercury. In systems built around Sun-like stars, these orbits are very hot and planets there are unlikely to be habitable.
This is not the case for cooler and dimmer stars Planets found very close to such stars could still be habitable planet candidates. The Gliese 667C system is the first example of a system in which a low-mass star is seen to host several packed planets with habitable conditions.
This discovery illustrates that low-mass stars are currently the best targets for searching for potentially habitable planets, an important finding given that around 80% of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy, and many stars near to us, fall into this lower mass bracket. If such packed systems are common around low-mass stars, the number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy could be much larger than previously expected.
The team came to its conclusions by digging into previous data from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-metre telescope in Chile, the Carnegie Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) at the 6.5-metre Magellan II Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, and the HIRES spectrograph mounted on the Keck 10-metre telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Spectra taken using the UVES spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile were used to fine tune the properties of the star accurately.
###
This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, D. Pinfield and RoPACS (Rocky Planets Around Cool Stars), a Marie Curie Initial Training Network funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme, the DFG, NASA's Virtual Planetary Laboratory, the NSF, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Fondecyt, CATA, the GEMINI-CONICYT FUND, and the Comite Mixto ESO-GOBIERNO DE CHILE.
The work is based in part on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology.
The Carnegie Institution for Science is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
For Nuance, it's not enough that Dragon Mobile Assistant spares Android users from pecking at the keyboard -- with the app's new 4.0 upgrade, those users can sometimes avoid contact altogether. Dragon Mobile Assistant can now detect when you're in a moving car and automatically invoke a Driver Mode that relies solely on voice recognition and feedback, keeping your focus on the road. Accordingly, the upgrade builds in spoken notifications for inbound calls, messages, upcoming meetings and Facebook updates. There's also voice-aware email and customizable wake up commands. All told, 4.0 is a big boost for Android fans who see touchscreens as old hat; if you do, you can grab the update shortly (if not already) through Google Play.
The Man has his hand in your inbox, cops are intimidating citizens who film them beating other citizens, it's only logical to want to keep the private contents of your SD card, well, private. The Covert Coin from CCS Spy Gear is a precision-machined piece of retired US currency that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing when closed. Which is great, until you accidentally deposit 16GB of files into a parking meter. [Peta Pixel]
Quite simply, LeAnne stole Brandi's husband, Eddie Cibrian, and made him her own. Since then, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/02/25/brandi-glanville-opens-up-about-leann-rimes-adrienne-maloof-plastic-surgery-and/">the Real Housewife has been getting her public revenge (book included)</a>, and the feud between the two women just keeps making headlines.
Sharon and Kelly Osbourne vs. Lady Gaga
It's quite the saga with these three, really: It all started when Kelly Osbourne <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/kelly-osbourne-has-harsh-words-for-lady-404664">called Gaga a"Butterface,"</a> then jokingly asked if the <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4547126/Kelly-Osbourne-reckons-Lady-Gaga-is-pregnant.html">singer is pregnant when she gained weight</a>. Gaga's loyal fans took it to heart, apparently, and in an interview later on, Osbourne said they bullied her and called them <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/kelly-osbourne-lady-gaga-bullying-fat_n_2440673.html?utm_hp_ref=social-media">"the worst."</a> In response (and in her Little Monsters defense), Gaga wrote an open letter to the young Osbourne and said her work "is rooted in criticism, judgment." That's when Kelly's mother, Sharon Osbourne, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/sharon-osbourne-lady-gaga-kelly-osbourne_n_2455327.html?utm_hp_ref=celebrity">jumped in and called Gaga a "publicly seeking hypocrite and an attention seeker."</a> Two days later, Gaga replied to Sharon and urged the Osbournes to cease fire and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/lady-gaga-kelly-osbourne-feud-responds-sharon-osbourne_n_2467273.html">make the world a better place</a>.
Jennifer Lawrence vs. Kristen Stewart
When Lawrence's "The Hunger Games" came out, it was naturally compared to "Twilight," both huge YA franchises. <a href="http://www.gossipcop.com/twilight-hunger-games-feud-fight-kristen-stewart-jennifer-lawrence-robert-pattinson-liam-hemsworth/">Rumors circulated at the time</a> that "Jennifer really wants to overthrow Kristen as Hollywood's young darling," and that Stewart called Lawrence "plain" in response. But after the two beauties chatted it up at the Oscars (Lawrence inquired about Stewart's crutches, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/kristen-stewart-jennifer-lawrence-oscars_n_2774474.html">Stewart cheered on when Lawrence won best actress</a>), the rumors subsided. Until the sequel?
Hilary Duff vs. Lindsay Lohan
Take two Disney starlets and one prepubescent popstar and you have a recipe for one of the most discussed celebrity feuds of the 2000s.
Back in 2002, Aaron Carter reportedly broke up with or cheated on Hilary Duff, who he was dating for two years, to hook up with Lindsay Lohan. The 15-year-old Casanova then left Lohan to get back together with Duff.
Though the girls should have been furious with Carter, they instead turned on each other. Their feud played out in the pages of magazines with both actresses <a href="http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/8669450/ns/today-entertainment/t/lohan-says-duff-rebuffed-her-peace-attempt/" target="_hplink">taking shots at each other for years. </a>
By 2007 the girls put their past behind them and made up.
"We are both adults and whatever happened, happened when we were young," Duff <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20033534,00.html" target="_hplink">told <em>People</em></a>. "It's over."
Jon Hamm vs. Kim Kardashian
"Mad Men" star Jon Hamm recently made some unflattering <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/jon-hamm-slams-kim-kardashian-idiot-culture_n_1335411.html" target="_hplink">comments to <em>Elle UK</em> </a>about celebrity culture, putting reality TV queen Kim Kardashian in his crosshairs. "Whether it's Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated. Being a f**king idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you're rewarded significantly," he told the magazine. Kim responded on Twitter, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/12/kim-kardashian-responds-jon-hamm-stupid_n_1339923.html?ref=the-kardashians" target="_hplink">writing</a>: "I just heard about the comment Jon Hamm made about me in an interview. I respect Jon and I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that not everyone takes the same path in life. We're all working hard and we all have to respect one another. Calling someone who runs their own businesses, is a part of a successful TV show, produces, writes, designs, and creates, 'stupid,' is in my opinion careless." When asked about his comments, <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/jon_hamm_kim_kardashian_slam_not/301003#ixzz1p6Yz2tbE" target="_hplink">Hamm told E! News</a>, "It's surprising to me that this has become remotely a story. I don't know Ms. Kardashian. I know her public persona. What I said was meant to be more on pervasiveness of something in culture, not personal, but she took offense to it and that is her right."
Courtney Love vs. Dave Grohl
It's a known fact that Courtney Love hates former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, and he is by no means fond of her.
The two have been feuding over the rights to Nirvana's music since Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994.
Most recently, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/courtney-love-explains-foo-fighters-rant_n_1095238.html" target="_hplink">Courtney explained</a> why she hates the Foo Fighters frontman, after playing a show in Brazil.
"What I was saying, is Dave makes $5 million a show, he doesn't need the money. His mother's a banker, his father's a stock broker and he's making $5 million a show. Why the f**k then does he have a Nivana Inc. credit card and I don't? And last week he bought an Aston Martin on it," she said.
Miley vs. Selena Gomez & Demi Lovato
Disney starlets do not play nice. In 2008, teen queen Miley Cyrus went head to head with Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.
BFFs Selena and Demi used to make goofy videos they would post to YouTube, much to the chagrin of Miley as it turned out.
Miley and her BFF Mandy made a parody video where they mocked the other girls, making fun of their makeup and the gap in Demi's front teeth.
The feud appeared to come out of nowhere. "To be honest I don't know what happened," <a href="http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/08/01/the-miley-cyrus-selena-gomez-demi-lovato-feud-nonexistent/" target="_hplink">Selena told MTV</a>. "I though we were okay, but to be honest, I don't even know [Miley and Mandy]. And Demi has never met Miley. It's interesting -- that's all I'm going to say about it."
They all eventually made up and became friends. <a href="http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00021443.html" target="_hplink">Miley addressed the feud in a YouTube video in 2009: </a>
"So everyone's thinking there's a big feud between me and Selena and Demi. Actually, I'm going to have meatloaf with Demi tonight. I'm riding my bike to Demi's house. So I'm going to be partying with Demi 'cause we're friends, and I love her and she is always there for me. She is one of my bestest friends."
Donald Trump vs. Rosie O'Donnell
There are many celebs who have feuded with Donald Trump, but his ongoing fight with Rosie O'Donnell remains the most memorable.
In 2006, Rosie criticized Trump for not dethroning Miss USA Tara Conner after her drug scandal and she called him a "pimp" and "snake oil salesman."
Never one to take things lying down, Trump responded by calling her a "big, fat pig" and a "loser."
Their feud dragged on until no one wanted to hear what either of them had to say and it unfortunately started up again. <a href="http://www.accesshollywood.com/donald-trump-and-rosie-odonnell-feud-reignited_article_57986" target="_hplink">In December 2011, Trump tweeted</a>, "Same last name, same bad ratings - @lawrence and @rosie," and linked to a YouTube clip of himself ranting about how neither of their talk shows were doing well.
Rosie tweeted back, "How many billionaires sell ties and have crappy non reality shows -- none - go back to selling snake oil #bankruptmuch?"
Neither will spare the public of their immaturity and their feud continues today.
Will.i.am vs. Perez Hilton
Gossip blogger Perez Hilton was confronted by the Black Eyed Peas at the Much Music Video Awards in 2009 and began hurling insults at Will.i.am and the rest of the band.
Perez was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/22/perez-hilton-called-willi_n_219088.html" target="_hplink">punched in the face</a> by Will.i.am's manager and the blogger later tweeted, "I was assaulted by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need a police report. No joke."
Will.i.am later denied Hilton's claims and Hilton shot back with a 12-minute video blasting the Black Eyed Pea as a "disgusting human being" and "a fucking liar."
Perez later sued Will.i.am's manager and a s<a href="http://wonderwall.msn.com/music/perez-hilton-black-eyed-peas-manager-settle-suit-1537413.story" target="_hplink">ettlement was reached.</a>
Lindsay Lohan vs. Brandon Davis
Who needs enemies when you have friends like Brandon Davis?
Back in 2006, Lindsay Lohan was pals with Paris Hilton, until Paris accused her of trying to steal her boyfriend, Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos.
Once Lindsay was on the outs with her socialite friends, oil heir Davis took it upon himself to brand Lohan with a nickname.
While drunk in LA one night, Davis was filmed ranting about Lohan, <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2006/05/17/paris-and-brandon-davis-the-incredible-hatred-toward-lindsay/#.T2FG_HJSTdc" target="_hplink">dubbing her "fire crotch," and making other rude and disgusting claims.
</a>
Kelly Osbourne vs. Christina Aguilera
These ladies need to learn to keep their comments to themselves.
Back in the day, Christina Aguilera apparently used to call Kelly Osbourne fat, and now that Kelly has slimmed down and Christina has gained a few pounds the tables have turned.
Osbourne made sure to call attention to the singer's weight gain, not once, but twice in 2011.
"Maybe she is just becoming the fat bitch she was born to be. I don't know. She was a c**t to me. And she bought my house," Osbourne said <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/04/kelly-osbourne-calls-christina-aguilera-a-fat-bitch_n_918063.html" target="_hplink">during an episode of "Fashion Police" that aired in August.</a> "She called me fat for so many f***ing years, so you know what? F**k you! You're fat too."
Then in October, the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/kelly-osbourne-i-was-never-as-fat-as-christina-aguilera_n_1015490.html" target="_hplink">singer was again the topic of discussion on the show: </a>
"Lady Marmalade got into the peanut better again," quipped co-host Joan Rivers when criticizing Aguilera's too-tight outfit.
"She called me fat for years, I was never that fat," Osbourne said and later added, "Trust me, I'm a 2/4. That is not a 2/4."
Shannen Doherty vs. Alyssa Milano
Shannen Doherty has a reputation as Hollywood's bad girl and feuded with nearly all of her "Beverly Hills, 90210" castmates, and yet it was her feud with Alyssa Milano that will go down as the worst.
The "Charmed" co-stars began fighting on set during the third season and it was reported that Shannen was jealous of Alyssa's popularity.
Tension ran high on set and things grew so heated, producers had to bring in a mediator to resolve their issues. When they couldn't work things out, Shannen left the show.
Mariah Carey vs. Eminem
Is there anyone Eminem hasn't feuded with?
Eminem and Mariah Carey began to spar after he claimed that they used to have a sexual relationship. Mariah denied the relationship, telling Larry King, "I hung out with him, I spoke to him on the phone. I think I was probably with him a total of four times. And I don't consider that dating somebody."
Mariah later mocked his claim in her video for "Obsessed," which featured an Eminem look-alike who was obsessed with her.
The rapper retaliated with a number of songs that mentioned Carey and threatened to release nude photos of the singer as well as voicemails to prove they dated. In the song "The Warning" he raps:
"Shut the fuck up before I put up all the phone calls you made to my house when you were "Wild N' Out" before Nick, when you was on my dick and give you something to smile about."
Charlie Sheen vs. Chuck Lorre
When Charlie Sheen lost his mind in 2011, he dug his own grave and lost his job as the highest paid actor on television.
Sheen went on a rampage, verbally attacking "Two and a Half Men" showrunner Chuck Lorre, after CBS suspended the series due to Sheen's insane behavior.
After Lorre make a joke about Sheen, the <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20469063,00.html" target="_hplink">actor attacked him, calling Lorre a "clown" </a>, and made a strange anti-Semitic dig, saying his real name is "Chaim Levine" (though his name is actually Charles Michael Levine). Sheen continued to blast Lorre as a "stupid, stupid little man and a p*ssy punk that I never want to be like."
Now that Sheen appears to be sober, Lorre has <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-11/news/30618049_1_half-men-fx-network-leaf" target="_hplink">chosen to take the high road.</a> "I wish him well. I'm glad he's happy and sober," he said in January 2012.
Lauren Conrad vs. Heidi and Spencer
"You know what you did," Lauren Conrad screamed at Heidi Montag on an episode of "The Hills."
Lauren and Heidi's friendship began to dissolve in 2007, when Heidi started dating Spencer Pratt. "He's a sucky person," she infamously told her one-time best friend.
Heidi chose a relationship with Spencer over a friendship with Lauren and spread a rumor there was a<a href="http://www.justjared.com/2008/05/01/heidi-montag-lauren-conrad-feud/" target="_hplink"> Lauren Conrad sex tape floating around. </a>
Heidi tried to repair things with Lauren, but she wasn't having it. "I want to forgive you and I want to forget you," Lauren told her as <a href="http://www.sheknows.com/living/march-madness-mix-up-gallery/cry-faces/lauren-conrad-3" target="_hplink">mascara ran down her face</a>.
The feud eventually ended but they never repaired their friendship.
As Spencer began to fade into obscurity he tried make himself relevant by burying the hatchet with Conrad, <a href="http://tv.yahoo.com/news/lauren-conrad-planning-ignore-spencer-pratts-apology-000504559.html" target="_hplink">wishing her a happy birthday</a> on Twitter in February 2012.
Chris Christie vs. Snooki
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has no love for the "Jersey Shore" cast and Snooki isn't fond of him either.
Christie has been vocal about his distaste for the cast and has referred to them as "losers," and also vetoed a $420,000 tax credit for the MTV reality show in September 2011.
Snooki doesn't appriaciate being called a loser and the pint-size reality star <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/snooki-refuses-to-vote-for-chris-christie_n_1247211.html" target="_hplink">tweeted that she wouldn't be voting for Christie for president </a> and added, "Love always, the "buffoons" from that degrading Jersey Shore show."
Christie wasn't and isn't running for president, but Snooki regardless explained:
"I DEF don't want a judgmental president who has NEVER met me in person. F that. idc who exploits me. But for a man wanting to be president&calling us names when he's never met us..no thanks. I'll stick w Obama."
Kid Rock vs. Steven Tyler
Kid Rock had a big problem with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler taking on a new gig as a judge on "American Idol" in 2010.
Kid Rock didn't believe a true rock star would even think about working for a show like "Idol" and proceeded to trash Tyler for it.
<a href="http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39954827/ns/today-entertainment/t/kid-rock-slams-steven-tylers-american-idol-gig/#.T2ICPGLLwbI" target="_hplink">Rock told<em> Entertainment Weekly,</em></a> "I think it's the stupidest thing he's ever done in his life. He's a sacred American institution of rock and roll, and he just threw it all out the window. Just stomped on it and se it on fire."
At a press conference, Tyler <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/steven-tyler-on-kid-rock-hes-just-jealous-20101105" target="_hplink">responded</a>, "He's just jealous, he's just jealous. And he's working on his new record, so God bless him."
Chris Brown vs. Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert was not happy to see Chris Brown performing at the Grammy Awards.
"And Chris Brown Twice? I don't get it. He beat on a girl...Not cool that we act like that didn't happen," she tweeted referencing Brown's brutal 2009 assault on Rihanna.
Brown responded indirectly by tweeting, "Hate all you want because I got a grammy now! That's the ultimate f*** off."
Then at her concert, Lambert held up a handwritten poster that read, "Take notes Chris Brown" and said to the audience, "Listen, I just need to speak my mind. Where I come from, beating up on a women is never OK. So that's why my daddy taught me early on in life how to use a shotgun."
Brown fired back in a series of tweets: "Using my name to get publicity? I love it! Perform your heart out! Go buy @miranda_lambert! So motivational and "PERFECT." Goodnight to all the people who live life and who aren't stuck in the past!"
Brett Ratner v. Olivia Munn
In actress Olivia Munn's book "Suck It, Wonder Woman," she recounts her brief romantic dalliance with director Brett Ratner and didn't have anything nice to say about the size of his penis.
Ratner <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/243711/20111104/brett-ratner-admits-banged-olivia-munn-promoting.htm" target="_hplink">addressed the claims on "Attack of the Show" saying</a>, "I used to date Olivia Munn, I'll be honest with everyone here, when she was Lisa...she wasn't Asian back then."
He continued:
"She was hanging out on my set of 'After the Sunset,' I banged her a few times. But I forgot her...because she changed her name...I didn't know it was the same person, so when she came and auditioned for me for a TV show I forgot her, she got pissed off, and she made up all these stories about me eating shrimp and masturbating in my trailer."
Munn responded by tweeting a link to a <em>Cosmo</em> article she had written titled, "How to Stand up to an A-Hole," that detailed an incident with a director she called the "Douche."
LeAnn Rimes vs. Giuliana Rancic
LeAnn Rimes is skinny -- so skinny that she has people worrying that she's not eating.
The equally skinny Giuliana Rancic was one those people.
Pot, meet kettle.
The two skinny ladies battled it out <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/leann-rimes-responds-giuliana-rancic_n_941579.html" target="_hplink">telling each other to eat a sandwich. </a>
Ciara vs. Rihanna
Rihanna and Ciara -- who both dated Chris Brown in the past -- got into a heated public spat in February 2011.
First Ciara made a dig at Rihanna on "Fashion Police," saying:
"I ran into her recently at a party. She wasn't the nicest. It's crazy because I've always loved and respected what she's done in fashion. It wasn't the most pleasant run-in."
When Rihanna heard what Ciara had said, she fired back on Twitter. "My bad Ci, did I forget to tip you? How rude of me.... You gangsta huh? Ha."
They volleyed insults and threats at each other and then Rihanna called a truce.
"Ciara baby, I love you girl! You hurt my feelings real bad on TV! I'm heartbroken! That's why I retaliated this way! So sorry! Let's make up."
Ciara accepted the apology and that was that.
Kourtney Kardashian vs. Farrah Abraham
This might be one of the most ridiculous celebrity fights of all time.
"Teen Mom" cast member Farrah Abraham didn't think things through when she criticized Kourtney Kardashian on Twitter.
"I'm shocked Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant again Did she not learn anything from TEEN MOM? Maybe its a fake pregnancy like kims wedding SAD," she tweeted.
Kourtney was understandably confused by the attack and tweeted back, "Why would I have anything to do with Teen Mom? I'm 32 years old! I may look young, honey, but don't get it twisted."
While Kourtney suggested that Farrah had no idea what she was talking about, the "Teen Mom" star couldn't resist firing back at her:
"Guess what! Age and money honestly do not change a person's poor choice. Quit making excuses," she tweeted.
Kourtney's boyfriend Scott Disick also got in on the fight, sarcastically tweeting at Farrah, "We're not teenagers, ya f**king moron." When asked if he knew who she was, he responded, ""I just thought she was some shit stain on Twitter, no?"
Sadly, this Twitter fight actually continued with Farrah later tweeting, "4 all who mistunderstood: regards to kourtney K.~I hope she takes her relationship w/her boyfriend more serious 4 their children-takecare."
Shortly after, however, she couldn't resist getting one more word in with a jab at Disick:
"Caught wind of these dramatic articles, w/ loser scott disick or some boyfriend of kourtneys, is Shit Stain < racist 4 black?" she wrote. "Great dad! NOT."
Anthony Bourdain vs. Paula Deen
Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain is not a fan of Paula Deen's cooking. In 2011 he told <em>TV Guide</em> she was "the worst, most dangerous person to America."
Deen responded, claiming, "You know, not everybody can afford to pay $58 for prime rib or $650 for a bottle of wine. My friends and I cook for regular families who worry about feeding their kids and paying the bills . . . It wasn't that long ago that I was struggling to feed my family, too."
Months later, after Deen announced she has Type 2 diabetes and was now a paid spokeswoman for a diabetes medication, Bourdain <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20562258,00.html" target="_hplink">responded with a thinly veiled tweet</a>: "Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later."
Deen fired back that Bourdain should "get a life".
Jonah Hill vs. Matthew Morrison
Jonah Hill made it clear he was no fan of "Glee" star Matthew Morrison, when he appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" in September 2011.
Hill recalled a "douchey Hollywood party" where he tried to eavesdrop on a conversation between "Gossip Girl" actor Chace Crawford and Morrison, who had<a href="http://www.dlisted.com/2011/09/23/fight-fight-jonah-hill-vs-matthew-morrison" target="_hplink"> made a joke at Hill's expense at an event a few weeks earlier</a>. He then overheard the two drop his name and start laughing.
Hill took the opportunity on "Late Night" to call out the "Glee" actor:
"Matthew Morrison, you better bring your sh*t next time I see you...I'd like to see him sing his way out of this one," he said.
Morrison responded by sending a goofy video to "Late Night," where he finished his joke about Hill and then accepted the actor's challenge, saying, "Nobody messes with someone from musical theater!"
This extremely dorky feud <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673980/jonah-hill-matthew-morrison-sitter.jhtml" target="_hplink">eventually just blew over</a>.
Chelsea Handler vs. Michelle "Bombshell" McGee
Chelsea Handler <a href="http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2010/04/chelsea-handler-goes-after-michelle-bombshell-mcgee-some-more.html" target="_hplink">started a feud with Jesse James' tattooed mistress Michelle "Bombshell" McGee in 2010,</a> with a joke she wrote on her blog: "I guess she doesn't read magazines which makes sense, since she basically has one on her face."
McGee responded on her Facebook page writing:
"Chelsea, here's some free advice: Use some of that Botox from your forehead and put it in your flabby underarm skin. I've seen better wings in a bucket of KFC chicken." And later wrote, ""In all seriousness, Im a big fan of 'Chelsea Lately' ... I was laughing my ass off.... feel so honored to have a transexual [sic] poke fun of me ..."
Don't mess with a comedian -- Handler didn't hold back with her response to McGee:
"First of all, look at my forehead, you dumb bitch, okay? It moves ... You have a tattoo on your forehead, so you have had a needle in your forehead -- and probably Jesse James' balls. So shut your face."
Ryan Murphy vs. Kings of Leon
This feud started after Kings of Leon declined to allow the Fox series "Glee," to cover one of its songs on a future episode.
"Glee" creator Ryan Murphy was pissed and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/26/kings-of-leon-vs-glee-nathan-followill-fires-back-at-ryan-murphy-in-homophobic-rant_n_814351.html" target="_hplink">sent a message to the band via <em>The Hollywood Reporter</em></a>:
"F**K you, Kings of Leon," he said. "They're self-centered assholes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It's like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music."
KOL member Nathan Followill fired back with a homophobic dig at openly gay Murphy, tweeting:
"Dear Ryan Murphy, let it go. See a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra. Zip your lip and focus on educating 7yr olds how to say f**k."
Realizing how his comments could be seen, Followill later tweeted: "I'm sorry 4 anyone that misconstrued my comments as homophobic or misogynistic. I'm so not that kind of person. I really do apologize."
Tom Cruise vs. Brooke Shields
In 2005, Tom Cruise seemed to have lost his marbles when he jumped on couches on Oprah's talkshow.
He then lashed out at actress Brooke Shields, while on the "Today" show, telling Matt Lauer that Shields should not have taken antidepressants to combat the postpartum depression she was suffering from after the birth of her first child. Cruise, a Scientologist who shuns psychiatry, insisted the depression could be treated with "vitamins and exercise."
Shields responded by writing an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/opinion/01shields.html" target="_hplink">op-ed piece in the <em>New York Times,</em> writing</a>:
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression ... And comments like those made by Tom Cruise are a disservice to mothers everywhere ... If any good can come of Mr. Cruise's ridiculous rant, let's hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease."
Cruise later apologized to <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1531255,00.html" target="_hplink">Shields, the actress told Jay Leno </a>a year later. "He came over to my house and he gave me a heartfelt apology. And he apologized for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened," she said.
Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West
Kayne West infamously hijacked Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards, interrupting her to say, "I'm really happy for you. I'ma let you finish, but Beyonc? had one of the best videos of all time."
Swift was dumbstruck by the incident and it seemed as if she didn't want to get into it with the rapper.
"I don't know him, and I've never met him, so..." she said. "I don't want to start anything because I had a great night tonight."
A year later she was literally singing a different tune. At the 2010 VMAs she p<a href="http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2010/09/13/taylor-swift-kanye-west-mtv-video-music-awards-youre-still-an-innocent-time-we-had-a-toast/" target="_hplink">erformed her new song</a> "You're Still an Innocent," a reference to the previous year's incident with West, basically calling him immature. "Thirty-two and still growing up now / who you are is not what you did / you're still an innocent," she sang.
Kanye didn't have any right to fire back, but of course he did. At a concert in New York City, <a href="http://www.popeater.com/2010/11/24/kanye-west-concert-taylor-swift/" target="_hplink">West blasted Swift to his fans</a>:
"Everybody needs a villain, don't we? We need to blame someone at all times ... I was emotional, that was not exactly the way I wanted to word it, but I wrote it, I rode it, just as Taylor never came to my defense in any interview, and rode the waves and rode it and rode it."
The feud seems to have blown over, as Swift wore a blouse from Kanye West's spring 2012 collection in the <a href="http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2012/03/07/taylor-swift-kanye-west-design-harpers-bazaar-australia/" target="_hplink">pages of <em>Harper's Bazaar.</em> </a>
Astronaut wives: The other space pioneers As the men of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs reached further to the Moon, their spouses back home faced stresses and celebrity in an orbit all their own
Source: CBSNews Posted on:
Monday, Jun 17, 2013, 8:12am Views: 10
Morris sit on the lap of Diego Cruz, left, as Sergio Chamorro pets Morris, at their home in Xalapa, Mexico, Saturday, June 15, 2013. Put forth as candidate by Camacho and a group of friends after they became disillusioned with the empty promises of politicians, Morris, a black-and-white cat with orange eyes, is running for mayor of Xalapa in eastern Mexico with the campaign slogan "Tired of Voting for Rats? Vote for a Cat." And he is attracting tens of thousands of politician-weary, two-legged supporters on social media. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
Morris sit on the lap of Diego Cruz, left, as Sergio Chamorro pets Morris, at their home in Xalapa, Mexico, Saturday, June 15, 2013. Put forth as candidate by Camacho and a group of friends after they became disillusioned with the empty promises of politicians, Morris, a black-and-white cat with orange eyes, is running for mayor of Xalapa in eastern Mexico with the campaign slogan "Tired of Voting for Rats? Vote for a Cat." And he is attracting tens of thousands of politician-weary, two-legged supporters on social media. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
Diego Cruz, left, and Sergio Chamorro pose with their cat Morris, in their home in Xalapa, Mexico, Saturday, June 15, 2013. Put forth as candidate by Camacho and a group of friends after they became disillusioned with the empty promises of politicians, Morris, a black-and-white cat with orange eyes, is running for mayor of Xalapa in eastern Mexico with the campaign slogan "Tired of Voting for Rats? Vote for a Cat." And he is attracting tens of thousands of politician-weary, two-legged supporters on social media. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
MEXICO CITY (AP) ? This mayoral hopeful in Mexico promises to eat, sleep most of the day and donate his leftover litter to fill potholes.
Morris, a black-and-white kitten with orange eyes, is running for mayor of Xalapa in eastern Mexico with the campaign slogan "Tired of Voting for Rats? Vote for a Cat." And he is attracting tens of thousands of politician-weary, two-legged supporters on social media.
"He sleeps almost all day and does nothing, and that fits the profile of a politician," said 35-year-old office worker Sergio Chamorro, who adopted the 10-month-old feline last year.
Put forth as a candidate by Chamorro and a group of friends after they became disillusioned with the empty promises of politicians, Morris' candidacy has resonated across Mexico, where citizens frustrated with human candidates are nominating their pets and farm animals to run in July 7 elections being held in 14 states.
Also running for mayor are "Chon the Donkey" in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, "Tina the Chicken" in Tepic, the capital of the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, "Maya the Cat" in the city of Puebla and "Tintan the Dog" in Oaxaca City, though their campaigns are not as well organized as that of Morris.
Politicians repeatedly rank at the bottom of polls about citizens' trust in institutions. A survey last year by Mitofsky polling agency ranking Mexicans' trust in 15 institutions put politicians and government officials among the bottom five. Universities and the Catholic Church were the top two, respectively.
Morris' cuteness, the clever campaign and promises to donate money collected from the sales of campaign stickers and T-shirts to an animal shelter has attracted cat lovers, but Chamorro said most of his supporters are citizens tired of corrupt politicians and fraudulent elections.
"Morris has been a catalyst to show the discontent that exists in our society," Chamorro said. "Our message from the beginning has been 'if none of the candidates represent you, vote for the cat' and it seems people are responding to that."
Xalapa, a university city of 450,000 people, is the capital of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where residents have in last two years been beleaguered by drug violence, corruption scandals and the killings of at least nine reporters and photojournalists.
During last year's presidential election, a video posted on social networks showed a massive warehouse in Veracruz stuffed with election give-away groceries. Authorities also seized $1.9 million in wads of cash found when police decided to search passengers of a private plane arriving from Veracruz to Toluca, the capital of the home state of now-President Enrique Pena Nieto. Officials later said they had found no wrongdoing and the money was returned.
Giovanna Mazzotti, a 48-year-old university professor from the city of bright colonial buildings and steep streets, said she supports Morris' campaign and plans to go to a party for him being held Friday. The candidate is not expected to attend.
"In this state there is no rule of law, there is no respect for human rights, there are no institutions," Mazzotti said. "It's great that this campaign is showing the fiction in our elections. Every three years politicians laugh at us, it's good to laugh at them a bit, too."
Morris has a website, a Twitter account and a Facebook page with more than 115,000 'likes,' that makes him more popular in social networks than the five human mayoral contenders. Americo Zuniga, the candidate for the ruling party who is leading in election polls, had 33,000 Facebook 'likes' as of Friday.
His website has a collection of memes that picture Morris yawning while describing his "ample legislative experience," an image that mirrors photographs of lawmakers sleeping during congressional sessions.
Morris' campaign managers are asking supporters to write-in 'Morris' or draw a cat's face on the ballot to send a message to authorities, who are not taking the cat's growing popularity lightly.
Members of the Electoral Institute of Veracruz this week called on voters not to waste their vote on a cat.
"We are asking for people to participate by voting for those citizens registered on the ballots," electoral institute president Carolina Viveros told local media this week. "Everything else is part of expressions happening in social media and I respect that, but you have to vote for the registered candidates, please."
Morris also has international supporters.
On Friday, the animal-welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote Morris congratulating him for his campaign.
Stubbs, a cat that has been the honorary mayor for more than 15 years of the sleepy Alaska town of Talkeetna, has shown support for Morris by posting his fellow feline candidate's spot campaign on its Facebook page.
Negative campaigning has become more effective since 1828, though at times no less brutal. Many attribute this growing efficiency to the legacy of Republican strategist Lee Atwater. The former RNC chairman may have been best known as a driving force behind political ads such as the iconic <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io9KMSSEZ0Y" target="_hplink">Willie Horton commercial</a> against Michael Dukakis in 1988, but his past involvement in smear campaigns is much deeper. Slate <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2008/09/mr_wedge_issue.html" target="_hplink">reports</a> on Atwater's earlier career:
<blockquote>In 1973, the 22-year-old prot?g? of South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond began his consulting career by publicizing the fact that Tom Turnipseed, a candidate for the state Senate, had undergone shock therapy as a young man: "They hooked him up to jumper cables" became the catchphrase that sunk Turnipseed's candidacy. Five years later, Atwater helped to defeat Max Heller, a Holocaust survivor running for U.S. Congress, by secretly enlisting a third candidate to enter the race and stir up anti-Semitic sentiment. Atwater finagled his way into a minor post in the Reagan administration, but it was as the director of George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign (and mastermind of the Willie Horton TV ads) that he found his true Machiavellian voice.</blockquote>
The Wrong Jim Brady
The potential perils of attack politics were on full display in 1996 when then-GOP Senate candidate Al Salvi attempted to knock down a high-profile endorsement given to his opponent, then-Rep. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), by former Ronald Reagan Press Secretary Jim Brady.
Brady "used to sell" machine guns, Salvi alleged, a strong claim considering Brady's position as strong advocate for gun control and victim of a gunshot wound to the head during a failed assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981.
Salvi was wrong.
"Turns out that was a different Jim Brady," a blushing Salvi was later <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-11-02/news/9611020079_1_o-malley-event-gun-control-assault-weapons" target="_hplink">forced to admit</a>. "I apologize."
Salvi ended up losing to Durbin.
Attacking A Triple-Amputee For Lack Of Courage
In 2002, Saxby Chambliss, then a Georgia GOP congressman mounting a bid for U.S. Senate, released a controversial ad <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58371-2004Sep28.html" target="_hplink">falsely accusing</a> then-Sen. Max Cleland (D), a triple-amputee Vietnam War veteran, of voting against the nation's national security interest. It placed Cleland next to images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and suggested that the senator lacked "courage."
Chambliss, who didn't serve in Vietnam because of a bad knee, drew widespread condemnation from Republican military veterans in the Senate such as Arizona Sen. John McCain and Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel.
In a 2008 interview, Chambliss, who had eventually gone on to defeat Cleland six years earlier, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/11/13/32286/chambliss-cleland-truthful/" target="_hplink">stood by his ad</a> as "truthful in every way."
Jean Schmidt Blasts 'Cowards'
Long before Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) uttered <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/29/jean-schmidt-reacts-health-care-ruling_n_1638335.html" target="_hplink">shrieks of joy</a> because of false reports that the Supreme Court had ruled against Obamacare, she outraged colleagues on the House floor by suggesting that Vietnam veteran Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.), was a "coward."
In 2005, Schmidt addressed her colleagues in a House speech, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2005/11/18/2603/schmidt-shame/" target="_hplink">relaying a message</a> from a Marine who she said had urged her to support an extension of the Iraq War.
"He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course," she said. "He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards cut and run, Marines never do. Danny and the rest of America and the world want the assurance from this body -- that we will see this through."
She later returned to the House floor to have her remarks stricken from the record and to apologize to Murtha.
RNC's Harold Ford Hit
In 2006, the Republican National Committee set off bickering within and between political parties when it decided to air an ad in a Senate race between then-Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) and GOP candidate Bob Corker. The ad was chock-full of stereotypes and thinly-veiled racist undertones -- Ford is black. It drew widespread condemnation from both Democrats and Republicans, including Corker himself.
Amid the flareup, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/ns/politics/t/tennessee-ad-ignites-internal-gop-squabbling/" target="_hplink">said he found nothing wrong</a> with the ad, but attempted to blame the content on a third party group. Corker eventually won the election.
Palin's 'Palling Around With Terrorists'
In the heat of the 2008 presidential election, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin lofted a now-infamous charge, drawing immediate criticism from opponents who saw it as an attempt to brand then-candidate Barack Obama as un-American. Some even alleged that it was a racially charged character attack seeking to subtly link the supposed terrorist ties to prevalent right-wing conspiracy theories about Obama's so-called Muslim roots.
The Associated Press <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/ap-palins-ayers-attack-ra_n_132008.html" target="_hplink">reports</a> on her comments:
<blockquote>"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.
"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."</blockquote>
'There Is No God'
In 2008, a floundering Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) released an ad attempting to accuse her opponent, Democrat Kay Hagan, of having mysterious ties to a group called Godless Americans.
The entire ad struck many observers as a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/29/dole-ad-fabricates-audio_n_138874.html" target="_hplink">desperate attempt</a> to regain momentum, but the brunt of the controversy came in the last few seconds, when a faceless voice rings out, yelling "there is no God." Many saw it as an attempt to paint the quote as Hagan's. It wasn't. In fact, Hagan was a Sunday School teacher who served as an elder at her Presbyterian church.
Vintage Michele Bachmann
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) had a somewhat rapid ascent to her current status as darling of conservatives and the Tea Party faithful. It was accelerated in part by appearances such as this one in 2008, during which she called into question the "pro-America" views of the Obamas and various members of Congress.
HuffPost's Sam Stein <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/17/gop-rep-channels-mccarthy_n_135735.html" target="_hplink">reported</a> at the time:
<blockquote>In a television appearance that outraged Democrats are already describing as Joseph McCarthy politics, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed on Friday that Barack Obama and his wife Michelle held anti-American views and couldn't be trusted in the White House. She even called for the major newspapers of the country to investigate other members of Congress to "find out if they are pro-America or anti-America."
Appearing on MSNBC's Hardball, Bachmann went well off the reservation when it comes to leveling political charges against the Democratic nominee.
"If we look at the collection of friends that Barack Obama has had in his life," she said, "it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs and values and thoughts are. His attitudes, values, and beliefs with Jeremiah Wright on his view of the United States...is negative; Bill Ayers, his negative view of the United States. We have seen one friend after another call into question his judgment -- but also, what it is that Barack Obama really believes?"</blockquote>
'You Lie'
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) embodied a newly emerging brand of hyper-partisanship in 2009 when he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/09/gop-rep-wilson-yells-out_n_281480.html" target="_hplink">interrupted</a> President Barack Obama's major speech on his health care reform package.
"You lie!" Wilson yelled over Obama, who was explaining that the legislation would not mandate coverage for undocumented immigrants.
Wilson's outburst drew disapproval from both sides of the aisle.
'Baby Killer'
During the heat of the health care debate in 2010, Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) added to the growing partisan discord when he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/22/randy-neugebauer-revealed_n_508525.html" target="_hplink">shouted "baby killer"</a> at Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) while he was delivering a speech on the House floor. Stupak, an anti-abortion Democrat, had been under heavy fire from Republicans after crafting a deal with the White House in return for his and other Democrats' "yes" vote on the health care reform bill. The White House held up their end of the bargain with an executive order affirming that no taxpayer money would go to fund abortions.
'No Mosque'
North Carolina GOP congressional candidate Renne Ellmers <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/23/renee-ellmers-gop-congres_n_735585.html" target="_hplink">raised some eyebrows</a> and gave her race national attention when she released an attack ad attempting to link her Democratic challenger to the controversial Park51 Islamic center.
The ad was criticized for its apparent interchangeable use of the words "terrorists" and "Muslims," as well as the fact that Ellmers' opponent, incumbent Rep. Bob Etheridge (D) hadn't even weighed in on the issue yet.
Ellmers didn't appear to do herself any favors in her <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/27/renee-ellmers-north-carol_n_740199.html" target="_hplink">attempts to explain the ad</a> during a contentious interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, but she ended up winning in November after a late surge of momentum.
Alan Grayson's 'Taliban Dan'
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) managed to give his opponent, Republican Dan Webster, a boost after he released an attack ad seeking to label Webster as "Taliban Dan." The spot featured selectively edited quotes from a 2009 Christian seminar that <a href="http://www.politifact.com/florida/article/2010/sep/28/fact-checking-alan-graysons-taliban-dan-webster-ad/" target="_hplink">misrepresented Webster's words</a> to suggest that he believed wives should submit to their husbands.
Grayson had repeatedly enraged his Republican opponents with biting and at times over-the-top allegations. Comments such as his notorious charge that their health care plan was for Americans to "die quickly" had made him a top target for the GOP. He would lose his election to Webster.
Scott Brown Pictures Stripped Elizabeth Warren
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) did himself no favors in the fall of 2011, when he returned a volley concerning his past nude modeling for <em>Cosmopolitan</em> magazine, a career choice that his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Warren had earlier jabbed at.
HuffPost's Ryan Grim <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/scott-brown-elizabeth-warren-senate_n_998048.html" target="_hplink">reported</a>:
<blockquote>"Have you officially responded to Elizabeth Warren's comment about how she didn't take her clothes off?" the host asked Brown Wednesday.
"Thank God!" Brown said, laughing.
The host got a kick out it, too. "That's what I said! I said, 'Look, can you blame a good-looking guy for wanting to, you know..."</blockquote>
His opponents quickly <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/06/news/la-pn-scott-brown-thank-god-20111006" target="_hplink">hit back</a>, claiming that the comments were sexist and "the kind of thing you would expect to hear in a frat house, not a race for U.S. Senate."
'Debbie Spend It Now'
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) couldn't have picked a bigger stage to launch a now-notoriously insensitive ad against his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
In the middle of the Super Bowl, Hoekstra's campaign <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/pete-hoekstra-ad-china_n_1256791.html" target="_hplink">rolled out the spot</a>, which featured an Asian-American actress using stereotypically broken English to accuse Stabenow -- or "Spend-It-Now" -- of supporting U.S. government spending habits that benefitted the Chinese economy.
The backlash was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/pete-hoekstra-ad-china-michigan_n_1256912.html" target="_hplink">bipartisan</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/pete-hoekstra-polls-china-ad_n_1294221.html" target="_hplink">widespread</a>.
Allen West
Though only a freshman, Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) has already staked his political fame on inflammatory and controversial statements.
His most well-known claim is now perhaps his contention that as many as 80 House Democrats are members of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/11/allen-west-democrats-communist-party_n_1417279.html" target="_hplink">Communist Party</a>. His spokesperson later claimed that he was referring to members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Of course, that's just one of a catalogue of Allen West-isms. Click through the slideshow <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/allen-west-communists_n_1437517.html" target="_hplink">here</a> for a larger sampling.
'True Hero' Battle
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) began digging himself a hole in July when he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/joe-walsh-tammy-duckworth_n_1646793.html" target="_hplink">suggested</a> that his Democratic opponent, triple-amputee Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth, was not a "true hero" because she spoke too frequently about her military service.
In the followup, Walsh kept digging deeper on the Duckworth line, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/joe-walsh-tammy-duckworth_n_1650805.html" target="_hplink">claiming</a> that "all she does" is "talk about her service," instead of focusing on other issues. He <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/joe-walsh-ashleigh-banfield_n_1652236.html" target="_hplink">took a similar angle</a> in a subsequent interview, in which he managed to utter his interviewer's name more than 90 times.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
Share ] 
