March 18, 2008
Extra Extra: I'm Sorry, Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Do That

Photo by Susan Catherine via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
- Best known for his authoring of "2001: A Space Odyssey," sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke has died at 90 in Sri Lanka.
- This just in from the LA Times's Soundboard blog...Prince has been added to the Coachella roster! Nice!
- Obama had a huge campaign moment this morning, perhaps the biggest yet: he confronted the race issue in a stirring speech after his pastor's anti-American sermons went spaz all over the internet.
- More sad obit news: Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella of "The English Patient," "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain" fame died at the age of 54 today in London due to a hemorrhage following surgery.
- Good news for Ventura County commuters! Highway 23 between Moorpark and Thousand Oaks has been finished, shaving off 15 to 20 minutes of drive time one-way
- After last week's random freeway shooting death of a woman, and despite a public outcry for cameras on freeways, the verdict is "only a test project has been completed and officials have yet to pursue funding for the program."
- Former LA Times rock critic Robert Hilburn has signed a deal to release a memoir of his many adventures in rock n' roll. Slavish praise of Bruce Springsteen's entire oeuvre will no doubt make up the bulk of the work.
- Bad headline for the mouse: Disney bus bursts into flames in Cerritos. But good news for Disney: they're opening up a new interactive ride based on Toy Story!
Zach Behrens also contributed to this report.



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Prince is definitely going to do Coachella just like Madonna.
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The Obama speech is without a doubt, a great speech.
As per rightwing SOP, I'm sure the tighty righties are already working on ways to, cherry pick, take pieces of it out of context, and generally give it a negative spin, if not justify calling it outright treason.
I plan to listen to that speech several more times, so that if I'm in the company of anyone who does that, I'll be able to shoot them down.
I'd like to have some anti-spin talking points handy, to be able to anticipate the bogus arguments they'll make.
I know it's coming.
Anyone have any ideas?