Mo Money...Mo Problems...

Majority of people tend not to like paying for a service they assume to be free, especially if you are already paying a form of subscription for a service that is viewed as poor. It is inventible that people will get upset and angry and a small group may even get physical, but a lady in the good ol' USA took her frustration to a whole new-level.  

The service provider in question is the largest broadcasting and cable company in the world based on revenue, one with massive political clout with easy access to the White House and at the centre of a scandal that could see it using its power to influence how much coverage internet-providers supply and forcing users to cough up more dough.

Shame the lady below didn't have access to the boardroom. 

Taken from http://www.abqjournal.com/

Unanticipated Comcast fees made one Albuquerque woman so angry she pulled a gun on a worker for the cable company, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Gloria Baca-Lucero, 48, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon Monday and booked into jail. She was released later that day.

Police say a Comcast serviceman went to do work in Baca-Lucero’s house near San Pedro and San Antonio in the Northeast Heights on Monday, according to the complaint. Baca-Lucero said she thought the work would be free, but the worker told her there would be a fee. She called customer service, and someone on that line also told her she had to pay.

The worker then told her if she didn’t sign for the fee he would leave. She refused to pay, and the worker told police as he was loading tools into his vehicle, Baca-Lucero grabbed one of his tool bags and took it inside her house.

When the worker went to get it, he said she told him he couldn’t have his tools back and pulled out a black handgun from her pocket, pointing at his torso, the complaint states.

The worker told police he put his hands up because he “didn’t want to get shot,” and left the property before calling 911.

Baca-Lucero told police he left the tools and she took them inside, and wouldn’t give them back to him when he returned. When the worker refused to leave, she pointed the gun in the air. He left, and she then also called police, the complaint states.

When police searched her home, they found a black Glock, along with a Glock magazine and 11 rounds. They also found the tool bag, according to the court document.

Warhol's Angel.

Famous figures and art, two entities closely tied together and the kudos of one helps the other. However, besides or because of this close relationship things can soon splatter and turn sour and without any strokes of luck, legal proceedings can occur. 

Which is what happened when Ryan O'Neal, that all American good-looking film star was taken to court by the University of Texas over the ownership of Andy Warhol's Farrah Fawxcett portrait and a signed napkin.  

Both O'Neal and the University of Texas presented strong emotional cases as to why they should keep the multi-million dollar valued Warhol; from the University of Texas expressing how much Fawxcett loved the institution to O'Neal, who was the one-time lover of the beauteous Charlie's Angels actress' Fawxcett, testifying that he spoke to the painting (unconfirmed wherever the painting spoke back).  

Read below as to how this saga has now concluded its '15 minutes of fame'. 

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Ryan O’Neal finally has Farrah Fawcett for keeps.

The actor and on-off-again lover of ’70s siren Fawcett has settled a contentious lawsuit with the University of Texas at Austin over a portrait of the late actress by pop icon Andy Warhol and a drawing on a cloth napkin also inscribed by the artist.

After nearly three years of litigation and more than $1 million in costs, the university has quietly dropped its appeal and settled a lawsuit with O’Neal, conceding a Los Angeles jury’s December ruling that he owned the portrait of Fawcett.

The napkin drawing, which the Los Angeles County Superior Court jury determined to be owned equally by O’Neal and the university, will be sold at auction according to the agreement, with proceeds split between them.

The agreement was reached May 7 but became known only Friday after McClatchy filed a Texas open records request this week.

It is, effectively, a total victory for O’Neal, who will get $25,000 in court costs from the university as part of the agreement. He gave emotional testimony at the three-week trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, saying he talks to the painting, which hangs over his bed at his Malibu home, and that he wanted to keep it for his and Fawcett’s son, Redmond O’Neal. The actors never married, but were together for many years.

Fawcett, a Texas beauty from Corpus Christi, attended the University of Texas at Austin in the 1960s before moving to Hollywood to pursue a modeling and acting career. A star of the popular ’70s television show “Charlie’s Angels,” Fawcett died of cancer in 2009 and left all her artwork to the institution in her living trust.

Her love for the university was part of the reason the school fought so hard for the artwork, even though there were two nearly identical Warhol portraits of Fawcett and the university already had one of them.

“We worked hard to honor the wishes of our donor and will always seek to honor donors’ wishes,” Gary Susswein, spokesman for the University of Texas at Austin, told McClatchy. “In so doing, we also sought to secure a piece of art that has cultural significance and is valuable in our academic, educational and outreach missions. At this point in time, though, this agreement is the appropriate resolution.”

O’Neal’s attorney, Marty Singer, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The napkin, held by the university, shows split hearts with the inscriptions “to Farrah F. and Ryan O.” and in a corner, a heart with the words “Houston Texas” in it. (They were at a dinner in Houston when Warhol grabbed a napkin and drew on it.) It’s signed, “Andy Warhol.”

During the trial, experts for the university valued the napkin at $3,500. Susswein said there was no date yet for an auction for the framed 20-by-20-inch napkin. The colorful portrait of Fawcett, which shows her with bright green eyes and eye shadow and red lips, was valued at $12 million. But both may well be worth more after the publicity from the trial.

Mad as Hell.

NewsSpeak, by its very nature, believes wholeheartedly in the right of freedom of speech.  It is a guiding principle that has enabled cultures and countries to fight against oppression and ensure that all citizens can express themselves freely without fear of retribution.

This right is governed by limitations such as ‘libel’, ‘classified information’ and ‘hate speech’ and it is this last area, which our following story relates to. 

A young man took exception to a sign displayed by a church (on its property) that suggested that if you didn’t believe in God you may end up in Hell. This young man was so offended he did what any other ‘reasonable’ person would do; he called the Police, whom due to national guidelines had to act.

Now, NewsSpeak is offended on various occasions and more often than not offends others on a daily basis, however, it would never seek to bring the Police into the matter and instead by using intelligent thought would counter the argument or message or just rise above it.

And on that note, NewsSpeak will leave you with this; "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

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The Attleborough Baptist Church sign was looked at as a “hate incident” after Robert Gladwin objected to the slogan “if you think there is no God, you’d better be right” - with flames underneath the message.

But police said the pastor of the church had agreed to remove the sign.

Mr Gladwin, 20, who spotted the sign on Leys Lane while heading home to Hargham Road, said: “I was just astounded really. We live in the 21st century and they have put that message - that non-Christians will burn in hell - up to try and scare people into joining their mentality.”

Mr Gladwin decided to contact the police after comparing the message to other forms of hate speech.

A spokesperson for the police said: “Norfolk Constabulary received a report regarding a poster outside a church in Attleborough which was deemed offensive by the complainant.

“National guidance required us to investigate the circumstances and the matter has been recorded as a hate incident. Having spoken to the pastor of the church, it has been agreed the poster will be taken down.”

Mr Gladwin added: “It is my basic understanding that Christianity is inclusive and loving in nature.

“The message being displayed outside of the church could not be further from the often uttered phrase ‘love thy neighbour’.”

Chris Copsey, of the Norfolk Humanists, described the sign as “pernicious nonsense”.

He added: “I believe the people of Attleborough have more common sense than to give this sign any credence.”

But the complaints have provoked concerns about the church’s freedom of speech.

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: “Personally I don’t find it offensive. But we did fight a long battle of freedom of speech together with Christian groups because we believe that freedom of speech is essential to a functioning society.

“If you don’t give it to everybody then it isn’t free speech and as long as they aren’t inciting violence or trying to get people to do things that are against the law then I think it is acceptable to say whatever you want to say.”

Mr Sanderson added that if he felt uncomfortable with the sign, he would put up one himself – and said that police activity over the message was equivalent to “banning the Bible”.

The sign is filled with upcoming events and at the bottom says that visitors “can always be sure of a very warm welcome”.

The Rev Simon Ward of the Diocese of Norwich believed the sign was intended as a vessel for debate.

“I guess they are trying to open a conversation and cause people to think. However, I think there are more positive conversations that you could have and more positive reasons for coming to church,” he said.

Attleborough Baptist Church was not available for comment.