If you're by a television tonight, (or the internet, you can watch here ) the big celebrity fundraiser for Tsunami victims will air on NBC, MSNBC and other affiliated stations at 8 pm. Funds raised will go to the Red Cross. You can download the live performances afterwards at Sony Connect, where proceeds also go to the Red Cross.

Thelma White, who starred in the 1936 film "Reefer Madness" has died at age 94.

"Reefer Madness" was a low-budget propaganda film written by a religious group to broadcast the dangers of marijuana. It was relegated to the cinema waste heap for more than three decades until 1972, when Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, discovered it in the Library of Congress archives and paid $297 for a print. He then screened it in New York as a benefit for the organization, launching it on the road to cult-film history.

Mary Mapes, fired for her role as producer of the Dan Rather segment on President Bush's National Guard (non) service, has issued this statement in response to both her firing and the independent report commissioned by CBS.

The independent report on Dan Rather's report on Bush's National Guard service is in. Four employees got the ax.

The network fired Mary Mapes, producer of the report; Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday" and his top deputy Mary Murphy; and senior vice president Betsy West.

The report concluded the broadcast was not the result of a political agenda, just the desire to be first in reporting the story.

The independent investigators - former Republican Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and Louis Boccardi, retired president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press - said they could find no evidence to conclude the report was fueled by a political agenda.

The network's drive to be the first to break a story about Bush's National Guard service was a key reason it produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet CBS News' internal standards, the investigators said.

BBC, Britiain's public broadcasting channel, aired "Springer The Opera" last night despite receiving more than 40,000 protests, mostly from church groups. Can you imagine how many protests it would generate in America? Did anyone happen to tape it?

Inspired by Springer's trashy American television talk program, it features songs titled "Pregnant By A Transsexual" and "Here Come The Hookers." It is peppered with obscenities and has drawn the ire of Christian groups, outraged at its portrayal of Jesus Christ in a nappy admitting he is a "bit gay."

Then there's this objection which must set a new record for spreading propoganga through deceit:

Lobby group Mediawatch U.K. has attacked the level of swearing. Critics claim the show has 8,000 swear words. That figure is calculated by multiplying the number of obscenities by the 27 members of the chorus who sing the opera's expletive-laden songs.

Fox News has scored a big one. Denver federal judge Phil Figa has dismissed the libel lawsuit filed against the network and reporter Carol McKinley by John and Patsy Ramsey and their son Burke.

The suit involved a December, 2002 broadcast in which McKinley said there was no evidence of an intruder, and later said the only people in the house were the Ramseys and their son Burke. The Ramseys claimed the broadcast implied one of them had something to do with the crime. The Judge disagreed:

Jeff Jarvis is worried that the impending Michael Jackson trial will knock the Tsunami coverage off the front page. He's dreading the cable tv coverage and predicts blog coverage won't be that heavy. [link via Instapundit.]

Blog coverage of high profile criminal trials has never been that heavy. I think there was more for Kobe Bryant than for Scott Peterson, but still, I don't think the blog reading audience is the same as the cable tv viewing audience.

Michael Jackson trial coverage will start out wall-to-wall on cable news, but whether it stays that way will depend on ratings.

Jarvis is correct that if the Jackson case takes off, it could knock things like the Tsunami crisis off the front page. Did anyone notice this morning that the news of the reversal of Andrea Yates' conviction was the lead story above the articles on the confirmation hearing of Alberto Gonzales?

CNN has told Tucker Carlson it will not renew his contract. Crossfire most likely will be "folded into" regular programming. Carlson may go to MSNBC...replacing Deborah Norville. [Link via Poor Man.]

He subbed last week for newscaster Aaron Brown as {CNN CEO Jonathan] Klein wanted to see him in a different role before making a decision about his future. Klein said his views on wanting to change the tone of political coverage were separate from the decision to keep Carlson.

"His career aspirations and our programming needs just don't synch up," Klein said. "He wants to host his own nighttime show and we don't see that in the cards here. Out of respect for him and his talent, we thought it would be best to let him explore opportunities elsewhere."

The age of the politcal scream-fest may be coming to an end.

Crooks and Liars has posted a video it just recieved of an incoming wave filmed by a family vactioning in Phucket. It says the impact is "startling."

Jack Newfield has died at 66 of cancer. He was an inspiration to journalists and he relentlessly exposed injustices.

A veteran of the Daily News, Post, and Sun, Newfield's reputation is anchored in the 24 years he spent here at The Village Voice, chronicling the sins of New York's powerful—judges, elected officials, landlords, boxing promoters, party hacks, developers—and the valor of some of the city's lesser-known residents.

Move over Monopoly. From across the border in Canada comes "The Grow-Op Game" where you get the chance at running your own "B.C. Bud" marijuana farm, complete with legal pitfalls. In fact, the creators of the game label it an "educational board game" and say it is aimed at teaching kids about the dangers of the pot business:

"You get ratted on by neighbors, hydro cuts you off, you get floods, there are tons of stuff that is negative about it," Vancouver-based creator Ivan Solomon said Saturday.

Solomon said the Monopoly-style game is the brainchild of a young, 20-something reformed pot grower, known only as the "Rabbit," to conceal his identity. Solomon said Rabbit came up with the idea for the game while serving time in jail.

Crooks and Liars has the 1986 videoclip of Frank Zappa on Crossfire, in which he argues against censorship and tells John Lofton of the Washington Times to "kiss my a**":

"The biggest threat to America today is not communism, it's moving
America toward a fascist theocracy. And everything that's happened
during the Reagan administration is steering us right down that pike.

I can only imagine what he would have thought of Bush and Ashcroft. Too bad he never got a chance to debate Jerry Falwell.