Blagojevich ’blacker than Obama’!
CHICAGO: Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he’s “blacker than Barack Obama” and tells Esquire magazine that he was a real person in a political arena dominated by phonies.
Blagojevich, referring to the president as “this guy,” says Obama was elected based simply on hope.
“What the (expletive)? Everything he’s saying’s on the teleprompter,” Blagojevich told the magazine for a story in its February issue, which hits newsstands Jan. 19.
“I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived,” Blagojevich said. “I saw it all growing up.” The White House refused to comment.
The twice-elected Democrat was impeached and removed from office last year after federal prosecutors arrested him on corruption charges that included trying to sell Obama’s old US Senate seat. He has pleaded not guilty. Blagojevich continues to accuse prosecutors of persecuting him for routine political deals.
One of those deals, he said, was the possibility of naming Attorney General Lisa Madigan to Obama’s Senate seat in exchange for cooperation on important programs from her powerful father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. He used an infamously coarse word to refer to the attorney general. “If I can get this, how much do I love the people of Illinois to make that (expletive) senator?’” Blagojevich said.
Chavez for ‘socialist soap operas’
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he has asked film producers to make “socialist soap operas,” with government help if needed, because there’s too much capitalism on television. “A while ago, I was in Cuba and they broadcast soap operas there, not capitalist soap operas but with a social content, socialist” soap operas, Chavez told a group of filmmakers and scriptwriters guested on his weekly radio and television show, “Alo Presidente.” “I’m going to ask that we make socialist soap operas (in Venezuela), instead of capitalist ones.” The firebrand leftist leader offered government help to producers following his advice.
“We can also make good movies,” he added. “Not capitalist movies that are poison and incite our children to take drugs and even push them into crime.” In 2006, Chavez opened Villa del Cine, a filmmaking center outside Caracas that produces full-length and short films and documentaries.
Iranian to star in ABC family sitcom
LOS ANGELES: Iranian-born comic Maz Jobrani will star in the ABC family sitcom pilot “Funny in Farsi.”
Another Iranian native, Marjan Nehsat, will co-star in the project based on the memoir by Iranian-born author Firoozeh Dumas about growing up in Newport Beach, Calif., during the 1970s.
Jobrani will play the dad, Mohammed Sayed Kazem Jazeyeri (a.k.a. Kaz), an engineer for an oil company who emigrated with his family from Iran to Newport Beach.
Neshat will play the mother Nazireh (a.k.a. Nancy), who finds it hard to assimilate in her new environment. Armenian-American Hrach Titizian will play Uncle Mansoor, Kaz’s jovial younger brother.
Jobrani is a familiar face on ABC. He co-starred on ABC’s “Knights of Prosperity” and has a recurring role on the network’s sophomore comedy “Better Off Ted.”
A TV special based on his stand-up tour, “Maz Jobrani: Brown & Friendly,” airs on Showtime. Titizian has a recurring role on the upcoming season of Fox’s “24” as Nabeel, the second-in-command to President Hassan.
White House crasher ‘had invite’
WASHINGTON: A man whose attendance at a White House state dinner is in dispute asserted Monday that “I received an invitation in the mail and used that invitation to get in.” But when pressed in a nationally broadcast interview to display any piece of paper with his name on it, Washington businessman Carlos Allen could not comply. He said he didn’t know precisely the nature of Secret Service procedures, but insisted repeatedly that he had not crashed the Nov. 24 State Dinner for visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Allen was among three people who purportedly went without invitations to the official party that President Barack Obama gave for Singh — a circumstance that has caused a continuing controversy long after the lights were darkened. Two others, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, got in without displaying invitations to security personnel on site, and so far have resisted congressional subpoenas seeking their testimony.
— Compiled from agencies
