Dowbrigade

Russian
MPs have given a final warning to TV stations to cut back on violent
shows like the Simpsons if they want to avoid censorship.

State Duma deputies overwhelmingly voted for a motion warning television
channels to cut down on the amount of violence they show.

It called on television companies to more strictly adhere to a voluntary
code of conduct signed in June by the chief executives of six leading national
channels to avoid promoting a "cult of violence and cruelty".

The move came after the Simpsons was given a hard core adults-only rating
and blamed for corrupting Russian schoolchildren and degrading family values.

MP Yelena Afanasyeva said: "The experts gave just the result we feared.
They found the Simpsons were crammed with violent and aggressive episodes.
These cartoons also introduce antagonism between children and parents."

Let us get this straight. Homer and Bart are banned
in Russia but embraced in the Muslim
Middle East? What’s up with that?

from Ananova

MIAMI (Reuters) – Pirates firing rocket-mounted grenades
and machine guns tried to board a U.S.-owned cruise ship in the Indian
Ocean on Saturday but the vessel carrying more than 300 people escaped
and no one was hurt, its owners said.

Men in two small boats approached the Seabourn Cruise Line ship Spirit
about 100 miles off the Somali coast, fired on it and sought to board
the 10,000-ton vessel in an apparent bid to rob the passengers and
crew, cruise line spokesman Bruce Good said.

"The crew responded with a trained response that they do to keep people
from getting on the ship. They managed to evade them, repel them and
keep them off the ship," Good said.

The 161-member crew gathered the 151 passengers into a central lounge
away from windows and decks during the attack, he said.

The cruise line’s president, Deborah Natansohn, told CNN that the attackers
used machine guns and rocket-mounted grenades.

from Reuters (drawing
by  S. Clay Wilson)