The reason? The popular American adult cartoon Family Guy had parodied Walt Disney’s When You Wish Upon A Star with both an episode name (When You Wish Upon A Weinstein) and a song contained within that episode (I Need A Jew).

The synopsis is simple. Peter Griffin, an idiotic middle-aged American voiced by Seth MacFarlane, a multi-millionaire comedian who was booked on American Airlines Flight 11 on 11 September 2001 (which flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre), but was late for the ill-fated flight, has money troubles. After hearing his friends talk about their ‘amazing’ accountants, who happen to be Jewish, he decides that the only way he can work his way out of trouble is to find a Jew.

Thus the parody of When You Wish Upon A Star was born. The episode, though endorsed by two rabbis, was originally deemed too offensive for TV when it was originally intended to air in 2000. As a result, the episode was not shown until 9th November 2003.

Bourne Co. Music, who owns the copyright to the song, sought unspecified damages and a halt to the programme’s distribution, despite the fact that the defendants had already distribtued well over one million copies of the episode by the time the lawsuit was filed.

In Bourne Co. v Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Broadcasting Company, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc., Fuzzy Door Productions, Inc., The Cartoon Network, Inc., Seth MacFarlane, Walter Murphy, the plaintiff claimed that the defendants ‘have harmed the value and reputation of “When You Wish Upon a Star” by associating the famous song with a vile and outrageous anti-Semitic message’.

On Monday, 20 months after the lawsuit was filed, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts ruled in favour of the defendants, saying that the lyrics and tone of the song used in Family Guy were ‘strikingly different’ and that it was fair for it to be imitated for humorous effect.

‘It is precisely that beneficial association [with Disney, including Pinocchio] that opens the song up for ridicule by parodists seeking to take the wind out of such lofty, magical, or pure associations.’ She dismissed claims that it infringed Bourne Co.’s copyright.

It is, without a doubt, a victory for all comedy writers, performers and their financiers in allowing them to parody music for humorous effect, Regardless of how offensive the song was deemed to have been, had Judge Batts ruled in favour of the plaintiff it could have set a dangerous precedent for music owners across America to sue anyone who dared parody their works in the name of light-hearted entertainment.

It is a fantastic result, not only for a fantastic and charismatic leader, but also for America, who has finally put the past behind her and moved on, and for democracy, with an unprecedented participation and interest Britain could only dream of.

I took a short “bloggers’ break” to concentrate on other things (mostly Uni work, and then plenty of overtime at the Co-operative) but I never stopped following the incredible journey and am delighted that Obama has won.

David Cameron yesterday morning released the following video giving his thoughts on an historic victory:

One must not forget, though, that John McCain is a true American hero who has done nothing but serve his country – both at war and then in Congress – all his life and his loss must be commiserated after a gallant fight to the end.

Yes, those obscenely high-paid professors released the findings of research last week which revealed that the Bee Gees song Staying Alive “lives up to its name”, as it has almost the perfect rythmn for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

I did my First Aid at Work course back in February of this year, at which the people running the course said exactly the same thing, without the unnecessary research by people who surely have better things to do.

Thankfully, it’s not just this side of the pond with sense. The American Heart Association has also been using the song for a while (two years) – and certainly long before the research began.

What really amuses me about the situation, though, is that the Doctor who carried out the research said that the findings warrant further, larger, more definitive research.

Or he could just do the world a favour and get a life – before he bores us all to death!

Okay, there’s celebrity support (will.i.am, for example), but then there’s ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I love Family Guy, and I love Obama, but why produce this:

Somehow, I think that it won’t be long before MacFarlane & Co. start producing hilarious jokes against President (oops, too soon…) Senator Obama.

Unsurprisingly, the media has been on the prowl trying to dig the dirt on McCain and his running mate Gov. Palin of Alaska.

They must have spent many tireless hours following Mrs Palin’s revelation that her 17 year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant – and that she will keep the baby and marry the baby’s father. Well the countless man hours employed have come up with the outrageous and shocking revelation that Levi Johnston had written on his MySpace profile that “I don’t want kids”, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Gov. Palin and Johnston’s parents must be so ashamed!

Seriously, all this sorry saga demonstrates is how backward some elements of the Grand Old Party are – and how little the media understands those who use the many features of social networking sites such as MySpace.

Bristol Palin is not in an unusual situation in today’s world – and we as conservatives must be prepared to accept that the world has moved on. We are no longer all 5ft tall, in working class 2-parent families going to church every Sunday. It is, of course, a sad fact. But if we want to engage with the electorate and win support, we nust do so on their level as much as possible!

As for social networking – there are many people (myself included) who build an “online” persona using one or more social networking sites. Personally, I keep the more serious and genuine side of myself to MySpace and Facebook, whereas I’ve built a largely ironic – and slightly humorous – persona on Bebo, where I claim to be the best thing since sliced bread (all in good taste, I might add)!

The thing is, someone who writes on an internet site such as MySpace “I don’t want kids” has the same right to change his mind on hearing he is to be a father as someone who spends the majority of their life so far campaigning for a political party, only to realise that they’ve been campaigning for a lie, see the light and join another political party instead. It’s called change! And change is what most politicians and the media alike are fighting to bring about, yet find a reason to complain when it happens.

The world has changed The world is changing. People change. Politicians and the media cannot afford to be stuck in the past whilst the world progresses.

Yes, I know that John McCain has already announced that he has chosen his running mate – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin – but she is a virtual unknown!

Obama played a risky hand when he chose one of his critics – Joe Biden – to be his running mate, but McCain’s choice of someone who could be his daughter (although Meghan McCain is younger and much better looking!) went further in my opinion.

Of course the general idea is that the ticket is balanced out, and, to be fair, this has happened quite well: McCain, the white, elderly male with much experience, has chosen Palin, the white, middle-aged female (“hey Obama, I’ve chosen a woman, why not you?”) with some experience; while Obama, the black middle-aged male with little experience, has chosen Biden, the white, elderly male with a lot of experience.

The choice of running mate whilst significant at the moment plays only a minor role in the overall shape of the election. What really matters to Americans is achieving a shift away from George Bush, and much like Milliband isn’t the way to achieve the necessary change in this Country, McCain isn’t the key to achieving the necessary change in American.

Only Barack Obama and Joe Biden can.

Election workers in Florida’s Brevard County were given a headache after Tropical Storm Fay rendered two polling stations unusable for Tuesday’s primary.

Workers scrambled to find new polling stations in two precincts where before the all important August primary, which takes place just days after Sen Biden was announced as Obama’s running mate.

Source: CF News 13

Want to know what all the TS Fay fuss is about? Check out this video from AP:

On the final leg of his nine-day tour, Barack Obama visited Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron in London. Below are the videos of the visit from Obama’s campaign channel and webcameronuk.

Obama meeting Brown:

Obama meeting Cameron:

In fact, there is only one man who can deliver the change which is needed so badly by millions of Americans currently facing financial difficulties as the full-power of the credit crunch is being felt. That man is Barack Obama.

It may come as a shock to many people after my support for a McCain v. Clinton election last July, and even as late as January this year. However, I am now convinced that Obama is the only man capable of turning around the dire situation in America.

Obviously I don’t agree 100% ideologically (withdraw troops from Iraq, are you insane, Senator?!), but then I don’t agree 100% ideologically with my own Party. What’s important is that Obama has the ideas and vision to take America forward.