$200,000 and celebrity entitlement: Lohan avoids jail again

Lindsay Lohan avoided jail again, by posting another $200,000 in bail money. According to People magazine, Lohan's SCRAM ankle monitor alerted authorities Sunday night while she attended an after-party for the MTV Movie Awards.

This was enough for Beverly Hills Judge Marsha Revel to issue a bench warrant late Tuesday for Lohan's arrest, claiming the 23-year-old actress was "in violation for conditions on bail." Her prior $100,000 bail was revoked because of the violation; another $200,000 in bail was paid.

It's unclear what triggered the alarm, but the obvious thought would be, seeing as how it was a party, that Lohan took one (or more) drinks. The SCRAM bracelet detects alcohol in a person's perspiration.

An additional possibility is that Lohan tried to interfere with the bracelet somehow, so she could take a drink.

Of course, Lohan denied any wrongdoing, posting the following on Twitter:

My scram wasn't set off-Its physically impossible considering I've nothing for it to go off-All of these false resports are absolutely wrong

Wearing the monitoring bracelet was part of the requirements imposed by Revel after Lohan missed a mandatory hearing on her probation related to an earlier DUI case. Her lawyer claimed her passport was stolen.

Despite her claim of sobriety, Lohan’s lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, said in a statement that the device indicated the "presence of a small amount of alcohol," which was what set off the alert.

The sheer number of times that Lohan has avoided "real" jail time (she did serve for 84 minutes at one time) has led many to point to the "celebrity entitlement" issue that seems to pervade the judicial system.

One has to wonder if the lack of jail time, which Jane Q. Public would most certainly have faced by now, will lead to eventual tragedy, either for her or someone else.

Tokyo screenings of Oscar-winning dolphin slaughter film canceled

We first wrote about "The Cove" in 2008, when it was tentatively titled "The Rising." Since then the film, about the slaughter of dolphins in a secluded cove in Japan, has won an Oscar for Best Feature- Documentary. Yet showings of the film in Japan may not happen.

Unplugged, the Japan distributor, had planned showings of the film at two cinemas in Tokyo this month. Those have been canceled because of fears that planned protests might "inconvenience movie-goers," whether or not they were attending "The Cove."

Despite all this, Unplugged is still in negotiations to show the movie at 23 venues around the country this summer. Screenings at one Osaka theater have also been called off.

At issue are planned protests by conservative activists who say the film is anti-Japanese. Takeshi Kato of Unplugged said in a faxed statement to Reuters, "'The Cove' is absolutely not an anti-Japanese film. I believe a deep and constructive debate is needed about the content of the film."

Japan's government has long defended its whale and dolphin hunts, saying such hunts are an important cultural tradition. The country continues to use the "research" loophole in anti-whaling laws to justify its whaling, for one.

Watch the trailer, and a video report, embedded below:

BA struggles to explain bin Laden frequent flier miles

One has to wonder if British Airways decided to screw up and thus take some of the heat off another company with the word "British" in its name, British Petroleum (BP). Nah, that makes to much sense.

Instead, this is likely a joke gone bad. BA is apologizing profusely after it was noted that the LHR News, the company's internal magazine for BA staff at London's Heathrow airport, had the image above in it. The photo accompanied an article touting the benefits of BA's mobile-boarding setup, which permits users of mobile devices (like bin Laden's iPhone) to print out their boarding passes on the fly.

The boarding pass reads "Bin Laden/Osama," as you can see. Worse, it appears that somehow bin Laden managed to get frequent flyer miles.

While it could just be a joke gone bad, it's also possible it's a bit of ill-natured sabotage by a disgruntled employee. After all, BA is embroiled in a nasty standoff with cabin crew that has led to strikes.

Summer Internships Underway for SLU AT Students

SLU athletic training students take MAT 590 Athletic Training Field Experience during the summer between their two years in the professional phase of the program.
The course is based in a summer internship experience and this year's internships are very exciting:

Jacob Blasingame - St. Louis Rams Football Club, St. Louis, MO

 

Geanie Butts - Disney/ESPN Wide World of Sports, Orlando, FL

Mollie Cole - University of Missouri Baseball, Columbia, MO

Meghan Gehrs - Gateway Grizzlies Baseball Club, Sauget, IL

Laura Gosewisch - Nazareth Academy, LaGrange Park, IL

Emily Monahan - AC St. Louis Soccer Club, St. Louis, MO

Diane Schlesselman - KC Explorers Professional Tennis, Kansas City

Ann Schmerbauch - River City Rascals Baseball Club, O'Fallon, MO