Denver would be a terrific place to be, especially with a floor pass at the Pepsi center.  On Monday night Ted Kennedy addressed the convention with a rousing challenge to believe in positive change and on Tuesday night Hillary Clinton stole the show with her endorsement of Barack Obama and her plea for party unity. Check out Youtube for the videos.

Ted Kennedy

Hillary Clinton

Gail Renard was 16 when she heard that John Lennon was going to be staying over in Montreal.  She crashed his party with a friend via a fire escape at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel.  Ringing the doorbell during a change of security, Yoko answered the door and let her in for an interview.

Gail stayed for the week of the famous bed in and the recording of “Give Peace a Chance.”  Lennon is recalled as speaking with Gail’s mother on the telephone and gaining her approval; every night Gail went to her own home and bed to sleep.  During the day she acted as Lennon’s liaison to the press, played with Kyoko Lennon in the nearby park, made arrangements for tambourines for the recording session, and hobnobbed with the celebs including Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, and Allan Ginsberg.

She felt secure in her surroundings and recalls how when an amorous member of the press attempted to kiss her, John intervened and chased him off.  Among the several mementos that he gave her was the song board to Give Peace a Chance which was recently, almost 40 years later, auctioned off at Christies for almost $850,000.  He’d told her, “hang on to it, it will be worth something one day.”  They had originally guessed that the piece would fetch between 200 and 300,00 pounds.  Renard, an award winning radio and TV writer, commented, saying, “It’s all monopoly money to me.”

Read an interview with Gail Renard here. 

Ozzy was recently awarded an undisclosed sum in a judgment against the Daily Star.  The Star had published an article suggesting that Ozzy was too ill to present awards at a recent, British awards ceremony, and said that he had collapsed twice prior to the ceremony, and relied on an electric buggy to get around the set. In addition to the financial award which was donated to Sharon Ousbourne’s favorite charity, Ozzy received a profuse apology from the newspaper declaring the allegations untrue and admitting that they never should have been published.

In other news, the Osbournes will be hosting a six episode variety series that will be launched on the Fox network at Christmas.

Last Friday the Canadian Federal Court ruled that US war deserter, Joshua Key, could qualify for refugee status in Canada. Federal Court Justice, Robert Barnes said that the refugee court had erred previously in denying Key’s bid for asylum and ordered the board to reconsider Key’s application. Citing a case from the US Federal court of appeal, Barnes ruled that supporting evidence for asylum status did not have to meet the threshold of a “war crime,” as sufficient reason for Key’s refusal to serve.  Barnes said that “it cannot be seriously challenged,” that some of the conduct that Keys witnessed had violated the Geneva Convention.  The decision was released on July 4th and could affect as many as 100 other deserters in Canada presently according to the Windsor Star.

Key’s had been sent to Iraq for an eight month tour and testified that during that time he witnessed instances of abuse, humiliation, and looting by US military personel. Key’s then experienced debilitating nightmares upon return for a two week leave and said that he could not return.  Seeing no other option, he moved his family to Canada and applied for asylum.

What will it take to make America truthfully, “the greatest nation on the earth?”

1) Adult Literacy:
USA #9, Sweden #1, Norway #2

2) Healthcare Quality Index:
USA #37, #1 France, #2 Italy

3) Student Reading Ability:
USA #12, Finland #1, South Korea #2

4) Student Problem Solving Ability:
USA #26, South Korea #1, Finland #2

5) Student Ranking on Mathematics Ability:
USA #24, Hong Kong #1, Finland #2

6) Student Ranking on Science Ability:
USA #19, Finland #1, Japan #2

7) USA Ranking on Life Expectancy:
USA #29, Japan #1, Hong Kong #2

8) USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index:
USA #17, Iceland #1, Finland #2

9) USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index:
USA #45, Finland #1, Norway #2

10) USA Ranking on Infant Mortality:
USA #32, Sweden #1, Finland #2