NBC introducing new singing competition format

NBC introducing new singing competition format
The network said Monday that it will debut "The Voice of America" in the spring. Its format is based on a popular show in Holland where celebrities are paired with amateur singers in competition. The twist is the celebrities must pick their teams based solely on hearing their voices without seeing what the contestants look like. "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett and "Big Brother" producer John De Mol will work together on the series. NBC says it's not yet clear whether the show will compete direc...

NBC Challenging 'American Idol' With 'Voice Of America'
Live Feed: NBC is teaming with Mark Burnett and John de Mol to launch a new singing competition program that takes aim at Fox's American Idol and its upcoming series The X Factor. The broadcaster has acquired the rights to The Voice of Holland, a format created by Reality TV pioneer and media mogul de Mol. Since debuting earlier this year, The Voice has become a top-rated show in the Neatherlands, with one report claiming its 3 million viewers make it the most-watched talent show ...

People in the news
Published: Dec. 14, 2010 at 4:30 AM British model and actress Elizabeth Hurley confirmed via Twitter she has separated from her husband, Indian businessman Arun Nayar. UPI/Rune Hellestad Vanessa Hudgens: Hollywood couple Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron, who starred in the "High School Musical" franchise, have broken up, sources told E! News. Efron, 23, and Hudgens, 22, have been going out since they were teenagers. "It's nothing dramatic," one insider told E! Monday. "There's no Third Party involv...

Narnia sequel tops US box office
The latest chapter in the Chronicles of Narnia series has topped the US and Canada Box Office chart in its opening weekend, according to early figures. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader took $24.5m (£15.5m) between Friday and Sunday - much less than its 2005 and 2008 predecessors. However, 20th Century Fox said the film had taken $105.5m (£66.9m) globally. "We had a huge task ahead of us to resurrect this franchise," said the studio's head of distribution. "We really h...

Parkersburg's patch a tornado survivor
Among the 1,505 patches in the Des Moines Police Museum collection is one that has a story like no other. The patch journeyed nine miles on the same tornado winds that caused death and destruction at Parkersburg and New Hartford in 2008. "I have a gold frame for it because it's special," said Dick Draper, assistant curator of the police museum. The patch is dirty and torn, and it has not been cleaned since it was found near the junction of Iowa Highway 57 and County Road T55 near New Hartford....

No bidding war for Jerry Brown buttons, but memorabilia 'holding its own'
Lot No. 13 at the Political Collectibles Show & Sale on Sunday was a collection of 24 buttons, including "California needs a Brown out," from Gov.-elect Jerry Brown 's lengthy Political Career. Adam Gottlieb , president of the Northern California chapter of American Political Items Collectors, stood on a chair at Sacramento's Sierra 2 Center and started the bidding at $60. Then $50. Then $25. "Do I see $20 for the Jerry Brown collectibles?" he said. Finally, a hand went up. Then another. When ...

Everybody's Breaking Up!: R.I.P., Celebrity Couples We Never Knew
ScarJo, before RyRey. ​Alas! Or...hooray! Or...well, how should we know how to feel about any of this, anyway, since we don't actually know them and have only seen them looking generally smiley in pictures? Still, given the news coverage, it seems very important! Breaking: Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds have reportedly separated. The unhappy couple (who split "amicably," like they all do) join fellow celeb breaker-uppers Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Ephron, Eva Longoria and Tony Parker...

Big Brother, small government: Texas shows how
The following segment from Rachel Maddow on Friday was the perfect demonstration of what Small Government Conservatism is all about: I'm sure Rick Perry's First Amendment rights are being violated here, if only Carrie Prejean or Sarah Palin were here to explain how. Paul Rosenberg :: Big Brother, small government: Texas shows how ...

Hey, Big Brother
From this... To this: Citizen Concepts announces the launch of PatriotAppTM, the world's first iPhone application that empowers citizens to assist government agencies in creating safer, cleaner, and more efficient communities via Social Networking and mobile technology. This app was founded on the belief that citizens can provide the most sophisticated and broad network of eyes and ears necessary to prevent Terrorism, crime, environmental negligence, or other malicious behavior. Simply downlo...

New Massena trustees urge green space at fire site
MASSENA — The Village Board of Trustees' two newest members are wondering if an empty parcel of downtown land could be turned into a green space — even though the village doesn't own the property. It has been nearly three years since a massive fire destroyed 13, 15 and 17 Main St. Trustee Timothy J. Ahlfeld and Mayor James F. Hidy floated the idea for a small park at the Village Board of Trustees meeting this week. They wondered whether topsoil, grass and flowers could be ...

YouTube is letting users decide on terrorism-related videos
Reporting from Washington — Nudity. Sexual Activity. Animal abuse. All are reasons YouTube users can flag a video for removal from the website. Add a new category: promotes Terrorism. YouTube and its parent company, Google, have been criticized by lawmakers for refusing to prescreen Militant speeches and Propaganda videos that have been cited in more than a dozen terrorism investigations over the last five years. But rather than submit to policies that many argue would amount to an eros...

Homegrown Hate Crimes Against our Troops
Posted by Michelle Malkin on Dec 13th, 2010 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. When Jihad-bent American Muslims target American Soldiers on American soil, why does America yawn? The Fort Hood massacre has faded from view. The Little Rock Army recruiting station ambush barely registered on the national radar screen. And the arrest this week of a Baltimore-area bo...

Christmas Jihad
Editor’s Note: Catch Larry Johnson on John Batchelor’s syndicated Radio Show TONIGHT at around 10:05 to 10:35 p.m. ET. You’ll find programming details and “how to listen” instructions at the end of this post. ...

ENOUGH with this Islam. Its a stupid ass religion
From Jihad Watch - Pakistan: Muslim doctor arrested for Blasphemy for throwing away business card of man named Muhammad Want people to hold on to your business card? Change your name to Muhammad. Sharia Alert from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. “Pakistan doctor arrested on Blasphemy suspicion,” by Ashraf Khan for The Associated Press, December 12 (thanks to Mackie): Karachi, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities have arrested a doctor on suspicion of violating the country’...

Battle cry of a mujahid: "Stop your drawings"
"Stop your drawings," he says in his recorded message. It is an unstable and, in all possible senses, impoverished society for which the absurdity of that grievance as casus belli is lost, for a stable, prosperous society does not last where such outbursts of destructive anger are seen as justified. But "persecution," or "oppression," as al-Abdaly terms the Muhammad cartoons among other things in his screed, is "worse than slaughter" (Qur'an 2:191). And so another "defensive Jihad" erupts, se...

Sweden jihad bomber "friendly" immigrant "radicalized" in Britain
"He drank Alcohol and had girlfriends." But then in England he encountered Muslims who told him that the true and pure Islam was something different from what he had been living. Once again we see devoutness in Islam lead to Jihad activity. But note also that, at least by the account of Qadeer Baksh of the Luton Mosque, the bomber wasn't "radicalized" there either. He showed up there already "radical." So where exactly encounter the Egyptian imam referred to in this story? "Sweden bomber 'frie...

Stockholm terrorist was carrying three sets of bombs
Sweden's first Suicide Bomber carried three bombs, one of which may have detonated by accident when he stumbled en route to his probable target, a crowded railway station. Prosecutors in Stockholm disclosed details of what they described as Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly's plan of attack as it emerged that the 28-year-old Iraqi, who lived in Luton for the past decade, had sent a series of emails declaring Jihad due to the presence of Swedish Troops in Afghanistan and cartoons of the Prophet Moha...

AQI: "Expect More Attacks Sweden & Europe"
Well, what did you expect them to say?An Internet posting on Monday, attributed to a senior Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, warned that last weekend's deadly bombings in Stockholm were "only the beginning", and threatened attacks against Nato and Europe. In an audio recording on the Shumukh al-Islam Islamic website, a man identified as Abu Suleiman al-Nasser, a leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, warned that the Sweden attacks were "only the beginning of a new era in our Jihad", or holy war.The...

Bomb Attack in Sweden: The Cartoon Jihad Never Ends
Remember: The Religion of Perpetual Outrage hates all infidels. The targeting of Mohammed Cartoonists is a lingering pretext to demonstrate that centuries-old, Koran-inspired hatred....

UK Cops Search House Of Sweden Bomber
A begrudging report from Reuters: UK Police search house in link with Swedish blasts By Patrick Lannin And Niklas Pollard December 13, 2010 Stockholm (Reuters) - A Middle East-born man who died in a blast in Stockholm was wearing an explosives belt and likely aimed to attack a crowded train station or Department Store when the device went off prematurely, an official said on Monday . Sweden’s chief prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand told a news conference the man had been well equipped wit...

Councilmember Kevin Wallace: Bellevue is too good for light rail
According to Bellevue City Council Member Kevin Wallace, Bellevue is too good for at-grade light rail: It should not surprise Seattle that Bellevue finds this unacceptable. The Surrey Downs and Enatai neighborhoods are similar to Seattle’s Maple Leaf and Montlake neighborhoods. Imagine the reaction in Seattle if Sound Transit proposed to run light rail at-grade up Roosevelt Way through Maple Leaf, or to condemn 47 homes in Montlake because running at-grade next to Montlake Boulevard woul...

Swedish police confirm blasts were terror attacks
Swedish Police said today that two Explosions in central Stockholm were an act of Terrorism by what appeared to be a Suicide Bomber, who killed himself and injured two people on a busy shopping street. Police would not comment on a motive for the yesterday's attack. But a Swedish news agency said it received an e-mail threat just before the blast in which the writer claimed to have visited the Middle East "for Jihad," and referred to the country's Soldiers in Afghanistan and a cartoon...

Virginia: Muslim arrested after making bomb threats on Facebook
Yet more Facebook Jihad. "Facebook chats alert authorities to Va. man's Bomb Threats," by Emily Babay for the Washington Examiner, December 12 (thanks to Patrick): An Arlington man is accused of threatening to set off bombs around D.C., including in the Metro system, but was caught through messages he sent on Facebook before a plot was developed. Awais Younis, who also goes by Sundullah "Sunny" Ghilzai as well as Mohhanmed Khan, was charged in Federal Court in Alexandria with making threateni...

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Takes Credit For Swedish Suicide Bombing
FYI: Still has nothing to do with Islam… Dubai (AFP) - An Internet posting on Monday, attributed to a senior Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, warned that last weekend’s deadly bombings in Stockholm were “only the beginning”, and threatened attacks against Nato and Europe. In an audio recording on the Shumukh al-Islam Islamic website, a man identified as Abu Suleiman al-Nasser, a leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, warned that the Sweden attacks were “only the...

Stockholm suicide attacker carried three bombs
Reporting from Stockholm and London — Swedish authorities said Monday that the would-be Suicide attacker who blew himself up in Stockholm over the weekend was carrying at least three bombs and may have had accomplices. Prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said the man, believed to be Taimour Abdulwahab Abdaly, 28, was also the owner of a car that exploded Saturday afternoon in a busy shopping district in the Swedish capital. A few minutes after that blast, the bomber blew up explosives he was ca...