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Thirty workers at a Turkmenistan television network have been sacked after a cockroach was seen scuttling across the newsreader's desk during a live broadcast, it has been reported. The large brown insect crawled a full lap of the newsdesk on the 9pm news programme, Vatan, before the blooper was aired again on the 11pm edition. The sacked workers included journalists, directors, camera operators, and technical staff The national station was bombarded with calls from disgusted viewers, who said the cockroach's guest appearance had put them off their dinner. But the mishap was to have more far-reaching consequences than the odd...

CBS4) MIAMI Miami-Dade’s former Transit Director is going public with his side of the story. Last week, Mayor Carlos Alvarez fired Roosevelt Bradley, one of the county’s highest African-American administrators. Bradley has been in charge of the transportation department for the last 4 years, but has been with department for more than 20 years. Alvarez defended his actions saying Bradley was fired for a number of performance and personnel issues, including violating the county’s nepotism rule. He denied it was racially motivated as some have claimed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department laid out an elaborate, five-step plan for firing seven U.S. attorneys on Dec. 7, and the White House legislative, political and communications offices signed off on it according to e-mails released Tuesday. Entitled, "Plan for Replacing Certain United States Attorneys," the step-by-step instructions were sent by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, as an attachment to an e-mail. Sampson resigned Tuesday. The e-mail was released Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee. ___ Steps 1 and 2: On Dec. 7, the Justice Department was to simultaneously notify the Republican home-state senators of...

First on TVNewser: We may not see Kiran Chetry on Fox News Channel anymore. The news update and weekend anchor was in the middle of contract negotiations with the net, but they are no longer interested in matching any other offer she receives, according to a letter sent to her agent this afternoon. In the letter, legal VP Dianne Brandi says "Chetry is free to leave Fox News prior to March 6 (the natural expiration of the agreement) with no further compensation."

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The mayor of Baqouba and 1,500 police officers in Diyala province have been fired in a bid to end the raging violence in that region northeast of Baghdad, the provincial police chief said Sunday. Ghanim al-Qureyshi, who took command of police operations in the violent province after his predecessor was sacked last month, said Mayor Khalid Al-Senjeri, a Sunni Muslim, was dismissed over suspicions he was collaborating with Sunni Arab insurgents. Last week, the mayor was reported kidnapped by insurgents who blew up his office and stole several new police vehicles in Baquoba, the provincial capital. He...

NEW YORK Eric Alterman, perhaps the first writer to get a blog on a mainstream national news site, has been dismissed after 10 years by MSNBC.com. "P.S., I’m Fired," he heads an email to others in the media. His blog, Altercation, however, will be picked up by the liberal site Media Matters. He will also become a senior fellow there. Alterman has also been a longtime columnist at The Nation magazine. He teaches at City University of New York. "I was hired before the 1996 launch by both the website and the cable station, and while the latter association ended...

September 7, 2006 -- AN infuriated Warren Buffett has renounced one of his granddaughters - telling her she is no longer his relative "legally or emotionally" because she took part in a documentary about the lives of the very rich. Nicole Buffett, the adopted daughter of Buffett's son Peter and biological daughter of Peter's ex-wife Mary, was featured in Jamie Johnson and Nick Kurzon's documentary, "The One Percent," which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and is a follow-up to Johnson's "Born Rich." Enraged that Nicole not only participated in the documentary, but also plugged it on National...

August 31, 2006 -- CAROLYN KEPCHER, Donald Trump's co-star on "The Apprentice," has heard him say "You're fired!" for the last time - because this time he said it to her, sources told The Post. The icy, 36-year-old blonde - who was running the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff in Westchester and helping supervise the Trump National in Bedminster, N.J. - was let go earlier this week. "She became a prima donna," said one insider. "Being on 'The Apprentice' went to her head. She was no longer focused on business. She was giving speeches for $25,000 and doing endorsements."...

Aug. 22, 2006 — A Wall Street Journal story released late today said Paramount Pictures is terminating its 14-year relationship with Tom Cruise, in part because of the actor's erratic behavior over the past year. "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone told The Wall Street Journal. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount." Viacom is the parent company of Paramount. Cruise, one of the most successful movie stars of all time, has starred in "Top Gun," "Rain Man" and three "Mission: Impossible" movies....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures unit is ending its 14-year relationship with Tom Cruise's film production company because of the actor's offscreen behavior, the company's chairman said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. ADVERTISEMENT Sumner Redstone, Viacom chairman, said the behavior of the star of the "Mission: Impossible" series and "Top Gun" was unacceptable to the company, according to the Wall Street Journal story e-mailed to reporters. Cruise, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, has been known more recently for his antics on U.S. television talk shows, including jumping up and down on Oprah Winfrey's couch...

NEW YORK -- Donald Trump 's wife gave birth to a boy Monday, the billionaire developer announced. "Everyone's perfect," Trump said in a telephone interview on MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning," about 20 minutes after the arrival of his fifth child. Trump said the new baby was already making him feel younger. "I continue to stay young, right? I produce children, I stay young," he said.

Scranton fires campaign manager for calling Swann 'rich white guy' By David M. Brown and Brad Bumsted TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, January 26, 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Scranton fired his campaign manager and apologized for a racially charged remark the manager made about former Steelers star Lynn Swann, Scranton's rival for the GOP nomination. On a televised call-in show Wednesday night, James Seif said "the rich white guy in this campaign is Lynn Swann." Scranton, in a statement released from his campaign, said he was trying to reach Swann last night to apologize. "I want to apologize to Lynn Swann, his...

NBC's "The Book of Daniel" may have launched to great controversy and hoopla. But, today, the show ended with a whimper – pulled unceremoniously from NBC's Friday night schedule, effective immediately, with no more of an announcement than an entry on an NBC blog by creator Jack Kenny.

ALBANY — Megabuilder and late-blooming TV star Donald Trump yesterday flatly ruled out running for governor this year — but hinted he may go for president in 2008. Trump, in a phone call to The Post from his oceanside Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, declared, "I'm not going to run for governor because I'm having too much fun doing what I'm doing now. "I'm the largest builder in New York, I'm building things all over the country, I have one of the top shows on television. It's a little hard to leave all of that." Trump, a Republican, said he had...

Merry Christmas: The Union Got You FiredBy Michael ReitzFrontPageMagazine.com | December 20, 2005 The Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE), the state’s largest state employee union, is asking agencies to terminate dozens of workers, some just in time for Christmas. Why is a union, charged with representing the interests of employees, demanding that they be fired?Simple: They haven’t paid their union dues. The state’s new collective bargaining agreements, negotiated in 2004, require all covered employees—some 53,000 general government workers—to join the union or pay nonmember “representation fees.” Hundreds of state workers objected to the mandatory dues, as they were not...

Just seconds after being named this season's Apprentice, Randal Pinkett made his first executive decision -- he instructed Donald Trump not to hire his competitor Rebecca Jarvis. "I think there should be only one apprentice," he said when Trump asked if Jarvis should also be hired. "I think that's the way it should be." While it was obvious The Donald had planned on offering jobs to both candidates, Trump did not hesitate in granting Pinkett's wish and making him the sole Apprentice. For Jarvis this was a huge slap in the face. Not only did the 23-year-old outshine Pinkett during...

(AP) Walgreen Co., the nation's largest drugstore chain by revenue, said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule. The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and "have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said. A rule imposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the U.S. Food...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - "The Apprentice" winner Bill Rancic, entrusted by the reality TV show's creator, Donald Trump, to develop a skyscraper, says he'll stop working for him next year and start his own business. Rancic, who won the first season of the U.S. NBC network's "The Apprentice" in April last year, said his contract with Trump, the American real estate mogul, to oversee construction of the 90-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago will end in March. "That will probably be it for me," Rancic said late Wednesday during a global leadership forum in Malaysia. "I'm going to...

Today my manager just gave me a listing of my internet activity for the month of July, which was given to him by our MIS department. This was a first time for him and I and we discussed my online activity. While it was quite active, he was cool about it and said he didn't know why it was given to him but for me to take it to heart. Before anyone starts flaming me about surfing FR while at work, keep in mind that that does not interfere whatsoever in my job performance. Considering my job, there are periods...

Megabucks real estate mogul Donald Trump, whose patented phrase,"You're Fired," has become the centerpiece of NBC's hit show "The Apprentice," said Sunday that he'd fire CBS News anchorman Dan Rather if he had the chance. "I would have fired him a long time ago," Trump told "Fox News Sunday." "I would have said, 'Dan, you're fired.'" The recently remarried gazillionaire went on to elaborate: "I'm not a big fan of Dan Rather. I don't want to be a fan of Dan Rather. I don't think he's good at the news. I don't think a lot of people think he's good...

Four CBS News employees have been ousted in connection with CBS's flawed, inaccurate "September surprise" story questioning George W. Bush's National Guard service. The departing CBS staffers include Senior Vice President Betsy West; "60 Minutes/Wednesday" Executive Producer Josh Howard and his deputy, Mary Murphy, all three of whom were asked to resign, press reports said Monday morning. Mary Mapes, the producer of the segment on George W. Bush's National Guard service, was fired. Equally as important as who was fired is who was not fired: CBS News President Andrew Heyward will remain in his job, something that will upset people...

Only the brass pole was missing. A woman tried to lay down the law yesterday morning by performing a spontaneous striptease in family court. She was protesting the judge's decision not to grant her motion for an adjournment. The woman, who can't be named, claimed the judge was biased. She did not have a lawyer. "I am not going to allow this to happen and as a form of non-violent protest, I am going to, at this point, start taking off my clothing," said the woman, who is in her early 30s. The woman was in court for a hearing...

Catastrophic Coverups... Hall of FameCBS gives Gunga Dan the boot! This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Donald Trump's casino operations filed for bankruptcy Sunday in a long-expected move that would allow the real estate maverick to restructure the company's debt and overhaul its aging casinos.Trump, the developer who flaunts his brusque business style on "The Apprentice" reality television show, last month clinched a restructuring pact with bondholders that would cut his stake in the company but preserved his role as chairman and chief executive.Under the voluntary bankruptcy filing, Trump Atlantic City Associates, which is 99 percent owned by Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., listed $1.3 billion in debt and $1.5 million in...

Today, on the Radio Factor, Bill O'Reilly had just finished telling a caller that he (Bill) had studied everything there was to know about John Kerry and his plans, when the caller asked him why he felt that Kerry would be strong on defense. The called said that Kerry said he would withdraw all of the troops from Iraq in 6 months, then 2 years, then 5 years. To which O'Reilly replied that Kerry never said he would withdraw the troops in 6 months and repeatedly to the caller that he was wrong.

Slim-Fast Sheds Whoopi Goldberg After Bush Riff NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comedian Whoopi Goldberg will no longer appear in ads for diet aid maker Slim-Fast following her lewd riff on President Bush's name at a fund-raiser last week, the company said on Wednesday. Florida-based Slim-Fast said it was "disappointed" in Goldberg's remarks at last Thursday's $7.5 million star-studded fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York. "Ads featuring Ms. Goldberg will no longer be on the air," Slim-Fast General Manager Terry Olson said in a statement, adding that the company regrets that Goldberg's remarks offended some customers. Republicans have...

The strategy of stuffing commercial radio full of ads has backfired, as a handful of investment banks predicted slower growth, downgrading six key radio stocks -- Clear Channel, Emmis, Cox Radio, Entercom, Citadel and Westwood One -- and the sector as a whole. Wall Street's piling on the industry comes two weeks after the sector's most outspoken advocate, Mel Karmazin, exited Viacom. The media conglom subsequently hinted that it may consider selling its giant Infinity radio division. Karmazin built Infinity and repeatedly predicted over the years that consolidation meant radio would be able to snatch an ever bigger piece of...

I am graduating with a masters tomorrow and I have yet to find a job. I have been looking for over a year and cant find one. My field is educational technology (curriculum design for corporations and businesses ie training). I have an idea, we could get every new college grad to send their resume to Bush demanding that he find them a job and flood the whitehouse with resumes of unemployed white collar workers then perhaps he will wake up and do something instead of spouting off about how there are jobs and he created them. I am trying...

Some of the guys and I are presently at the camping lodge and we’ve got a problem that requires the help of a sensible woman. My brother-in-law managed to get something in his hair this morning, and he wanted to wash it out. I can’t tell you what that something was, because he’s refused to divulge that to us thus far (I suspect that he fabricated the “tainted hair” theory to save himself some embarrassment.) My brother-in-law believes that his wife has, at some point, told him that peanut butter is a useful household hair cleaner / conditioner. His wife...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Mar. 24 - Every Thursday, millions tune in to watch Donald Trump squint, purse his lips, and with a swoop of a stubby finger, utter the catch phrase of the day: "You're fired!" The words that punctuate each episode of "The Apprentice" TV show are unambiguous, blunt and final. They're also largely fiction. Fear of lawsuits has made the fantasy firing mostly obsolete. Trump himself, hardly Mr. Sensitivity, says he rarely uses the term in real life, although he told Newsday he finds it "succinct and beautiful." Instead, many companies have...

<p>I once had dinner with Paul O'Neill, the former Treasury secretary who is now making headlines with a scathing portrayal of his days in the Bush administration prior to his firing in December 2002. Bush critics will hail Mr. O'Neill as a truth-teller, White House aides are already calling him a back-stabber. In fact, Mr. O'Neill is a relic. The man I broke bread with was clearly a product of the Nixon and Ford administrations, in which he had served, and simply hadn't adapted to the post-Reagan Republican Party.</p>

Hi everyone. I'm thinking about taking a breather from Free Republic for a little while. Not long, I'm sure. But, I just don't want it to interfere with my job, and I already had that happen once. I'm reading and posting much too much. I think a short sabbatical should help me break this bad habit.See you all soon .... NOT DURING WORK HOURS!