GOD REACTS TO BUSH'S RE-ELECTION

The big G.O.D. reacts to the election results on November 3rd, 2004.

May 17th 1999, STAR WARS EPISODE ONE @ the Wyo

In celebration of Episode III, I offer this picture to the public. This is a scan of a picture that was published in the Laramie Boomerang. I also gave this picture to my friend Ben Corley (aka Sirus Kane)

Corley, myself and others doing our 'JEDI/3 MUSKETEERS' impression. Most definitely one of our prouder moments in life.

May the force be with you!

NOW GO PUT MONEY IN GEORGE LUCAS' POCKET AND SEE THIS MOVIE!

Kelsey Grammer is Beast in X-Men 3!

ComingSoon.net/SuperheroHype.com got a chance to talk to Marvel Studios President and CEO Avi Arad on Tuesday afternoon about X-Men 3 and he revealed new details about the anticipated third installment."

It's about to go," Avi says about the film. We asked whether it would build on the first two films. "In my opinion, X3, from a story and script perspective, it's bigger than one and two. It's the concept behind the movie that's bigger than one and two. It's building on our world, building on the world of mutants. In movie one you got to know what a mutant is and had to deal with it visavis humanity and the brotherhood. The second one was actually sort of a continuation but we were able to have more fun with it."

Which brings us to the big news. "And movie three features Angel, Beast, Kitty Pryde and Juggernaut. Right there you have worth the price of admission. And there are more, those are just the ones we can talk about. Juggernaut you had it already on your site, that is [Vinnie] Jones. That was accurate. Angel is not done yet, we're looking at a few guys, but it's a big role, so... we are very close, a few more days. Angel is a great emotional story. It's a very big role in this movie and so is Kitty Pryde, where we have some high choices that are great but it's just not locked up yet." Lost star Maggie Grace is in talks for the role.

Then we got to Beast. "It was the best man for the job. The name is... Kelsey Grammer! If you would have seen his read. It is kinda weird when you think about it for a second, and the key was with the X-Men movies is get the best man for the job. He blew us out of the park. Yeah, yeah, and he's also my neighbor..." As we laughed, Arad reassured us that the "Frasier" star is the right man for the job. "When you look at it you see how again we are continuing with inspired choices."

So what can we expect Grammer's Beast to be like? "Super intelligent. A pacifist Ph.D as he should be. I cannot tell you what he does in the movie because it's an amazing... it's a very big role in this movie. The subject matter of this movie, we don't take Beast lightly. It was someone that we didn't take into one and two because we were busy with other characters and Beast needs to be a centerpiece... and so is Angel, they had to be centerpieces. Too much going on within the story, the origin."

We asked Avi whether Grammer will be wearing a suit like The Thing, played by Michael Chiklis, in Fantastic Four. "You will see Beast like you've never seen him before. It's going to be very true to the comic. Of course we're building a suit and hair, you name it. Without going into detail, he's a very central character here in the movie and very much within what Hank McCoy is, Dr. McCoy."

Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn is taking over from the first two films' director Bryan Singer. "I'm glad that 'Layer Cake' came out to help people understand who this guy is," said Arad. We've known him for a long time, but once we saw Layer Cake... You know he produces movies and he does understand the role, the sets and writing. There's a lot of functions. Some producers are lucky enough to take the plunge, to say 'that's it, I'm going to go for it'.

Asked whether anyone from the first two movies is not coming back, Arad said that "they're all coming back." Is there anything we can expect for Dark Phoenix or Gambit? "Well, just saying that Famke is coming back, we'll leave it to people's imagination to figure it out. And no comment on Gambit."

Avi added that 20th Century Fox expects to start shooting at the end of July. "We've been in active pre-production, costuming and all these things for quite a while. It's not starting at ground zero."

While we also asked about the other projects in development (click here for his answers), we got a few brief update on the other possible films in the "X-Men" franchise. Arad said that the Wolverine spin-off is "being written, you know David Benioff is writing it. We'll look at it and at the end of the day, if the script gets everybody excited... if David just knocks it out of the park, we want to make it. The when will be answered when we read it." He just said that the Magneto spin-off is in development.

Regarding X-Men 4, Arad said they'll have to wait and see. "You have to look at it. You say, 'Yeah I want to make X-Men 4', but let's see what we can make fresh and exciting that warrants making another one".

X-Men 3 is currently scheduled for a May 26, 2006 release.

This news is so incredibly awesome!!! Beast has alwasy been my favorite X-Man from the comics, and it looks like we are going to get to see him on the big screen next year! F#%KING AWESOME!!!

The Way of the Future

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism. "

--Albert Einstein--

Judge: Election results stand on Smoking Ordinance

By Micah Sturr Boomerang Staff Writer

Albany County District Court Judge Jeffrey Donnell ruled to uphold the election that produced Laramie’s smoking ban.

The group that brought the lawsuit against the city still has the opportunity to appeal, and new lawsuits could be filed by other groups, but barring further action, another election will not be held and the smoking ban will continue.

Laramie residents can’t smoke in public, and they can’t vote again on it, either.

The plaintiffs, represented by local attorney Janet Tyler, said that the election was flawed in six ways — ballot boxes were improperly opened; unfolded ballots were counted; some voters were deprived of absentee ballots; the ballot didn’t contain appropriate language; the wrong return address was listed on some absentee ballots; and voting instructions were not properly posted at some precincts.

The ruling addressed each of these complaints individually, but Donnell’s overarching reason for dismissing the lawsuit is that, regardless of possible procedural problems, the outcome of the election wasn’t affected.

“This Court interprets Wyoming law to require that Plaintiffs demonstrate not just that illegal votes were counted or legal votes not counted but also that such matters affected the results of the election. Under that interpretation, Plaintiffs, again, have failed to carry their burden as they have failed to demonstrate any effect on the election,” according to Wednesday’s decision.

Tyler was unavailable to comment on the decision on Wednesday, and city attorney Peggy Trent refused to speak with the Boomerang.

Mayor Jodi Guerin said that she was happy with the decision because it is consistent with the voting wishes of Laramie’s citizens.

“I’m obviously pleased because, from the standpoint of the city, we’ve been trying to defend the citizens’ choice,” Guerin said.

“When there was a lawsuit after the fact, I guess you could say that it’s a slight against all of the citizens who voted, to a certain degree,” Guerin said.

While she expressed satisfaction at the lawsuit being dismissed, Guerin was cautiously optimistic that the latest development is the true end of the smoking ban saga.

“I’m sure that this won’t be the end of it. During our hearings we had a number of people stand up and say that they would file lawsuits, so this very well may not be the end of it,” Guerin said. “The unfortunate part of it for me is that, every time somebody litigates against the city, the citizens bear a cost. And given that the citizens spoke out (in favor of the smoking ban), I think it should stand.”

The election will stand, thanks to Donnell’s ruling based on the relevant law.
“Plaintiff has presented nothing to demonstrate that the election results would change; to the contrary, Defendants assure this Court that it would not,” according to the judgement.

So, any reaction or comments are welcome!

Ridge reveals clashes on alerts

By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or "high" risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.

His comments at a Washington forum describe spirited debates over terrorist intelligence and provide rare insight into the inner workings of the nation's homeland security apparatus.
Ridge said he wanted to "debunk the myth" that his agency was responsible for repeatedly raising the alert under a color-coded system he unveiled in 2002.

"More often than not we were the least inclined to raise it," Ridge told reporters. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on (alert). ... There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?' "

Revising or scrapping the color-coded alert system is under review by new Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff. Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said "improvements and adjustments" may be announced within the next few months.

The threat level was last raised on a nationwide scale in December 2003, to orange from yellow — or "elevated" risk — where the alert level is now. In most cases, Ridge said Homeland Security officials didn't want to raise the level because they knew local governments and businesses would have to spend money putting temporary security upgrades in place.

"You have to use that tool of communication very sparingly," Ridge said at the forum, which was attended by seven other former department leaders.

The level is raised if a majority on the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council favors it and President Bush concurs. Among those on the council with Ridge were Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI chief Robert Mueller, CIA director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Ridge and Ashcroft publicly clashed over how to communicate threat information to the public. But Ridge has never before discussed internal dissention over the threat level.
The color-coded system was controversial from the start. Polls showed the public found it confusing.