Thank You Germany!

We work very hard to put togther some of the best news stories around the globe, but sometimes it is hard to find the right story. So, whenever we get in a bind, we just go to Germany. Enjoy.

Italian vacationers admiring the view from a fairground Ferris wheel at the Munich Oktoberfest got more than they bargained for when a porn shoot suddenly began inside their cabin, authorities said on Friday.

Having settled down to enjoy a leisurely spin on the wheel at the famous beer festival, the group of Italians were quite unprepared for the arrival of two men toting cameras and a woman who started to use a vibrator.

Unable to stop the shoot, the Italians informed local police, who promptly arrested the actress and her crew, a political scientist and a 25-year-old student.

"They said they weren't doing it for commercial reasons but that they wanted to see how visitors would react," police said. The three have been charged with public indecency.

You know what's really funny is that we have a political science friend who does porno with his students. We wonder if it's the same guy.

Getting Back to Normal

We have been very supportive of the efforts to bring New Orleans back, and we are happy to see that one of the first professions to get back to business is one of the world's oldest professions. If you think about it, it really makes sense. It doesn't, well read this:

In a sign that things may be returning to normal in New Orleans, strip shows are back in the city's famous French Quarter.

Erotic dancers and strippers are entertaining crowds of police, firefighters and military personnel instead of the usual audiences of drunken conventioneers and tourists in Bourbon
Street's Deja Vu club, which reopened this week.

It's the first strip joint to resume business, three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck in the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States.

"It's nice to get back to work, and all these men need some entertainment," Dawn Beasley, 27, a dancer at the club, said on Tuesday night. "They haven't seen anybody but their buddies for two weeks."

The crowd hooted and hollered as women peeled off their tops and gyrated, as customers tucked tips into their G-strings.

"This is our first time off the ship and it's great," said one young sailor as he left the club. He declined to give his name or say where he was stationed.

"It's good to see the businesses getting back up and bringing the city back," another sailor said.
New Orleans' strip clubs have long been a fixture of Bourbon Street, where marquees promise everything from "barely legal" dancers to transvestite divas. Photos of the seedy shows inside the clubs line the windows, next to scores of bars in the district that draws tourists from around the globe.

The city's dusk-to-dawn curfew failed to prevent the Deja Vu from staying open to the early hours, with blaring music and neon lights spilling out into the Quarter, most of which remained bathed in darkness in the aftermath of the storm.

"We were open till two last night, just long enough to get the testosterone flowing," Beasley said.
Only a handful of restaurants and bars in the Quarter have reopened in recent days, serving food and drinks -- usually without charge -- to rescue workers and military who stream through the mostly empty streets. The Deja Vu waived its cover charge, drinks were selling for $3 and a private dance was available for just $1.

For Deja Vu manager Brent Ardeneaux, reopening was a public service.

"It's a disaster zone. You got a lot of people in from out of town that need entertaining," he said as he unloaded supplies from the back of a pick-up truck.

The club even drew several women looking for a respite from their duties patrolling the city, but they resisted entreaties to join the others on stage and left after a few minutes.

One of them, a soldier, said: "We were just looking for any place open. We've been working hard."

A private dance for a dollar?? Holy cow! It doesn't shock us that a strip club would be one of the first things to open on Bourbon Street. because it's Bourbon Street, but on a serious note, it is good news to hear that the city is starting to get back to business. Oh yeah, and private dances for a dollar!! Did you read that! A dollar!

Who Doesn't Like Bruce Lee?

We're back. We wanted to pull back on some of our news while the city of New Orleans starts to recover. Please still give them all of your help by going to www.redcross.org and donate clothes and supplies to the Salvation Army. Now to the funny: We are big fans of Bruce Lee, but not quite as much as the city of Mostar.

The ethnically divided Bosnian city of Mostar has agreed to erect a new symbol of unity -- a statue of kung fu legend Bruce Lee, worshipped by Muslims, Serbs and Croats.

A group of enthusiasts came up with the idea of honoring the childhood hero of the city's ethnic groups in 2003, on the 30th anniversary of his death. They launched the project, found donors and waited a year for the city's approval.

"We plan to erect the statue in November in the center of the city," Veselin Gatalo, a member of the Urban Movement organization, told Reuters by telephone Monday.

"This will be a monument to universal justice that Mostar needs more than any other city I know."

He said Mostar, scene of fighting between Muslims and Croats in 1993-1994, needed a symbol of justice, mastery and honesty -- virtues upheld by the late Chinese-American actor.

Born in San Francisco, Lee starred in several kung fu movies, including 1973's "Enter the Dragon." He died at the age of 32 from swelling on the brain.

A German organization agreed last year to sponsor the project with a 5,000 euro grant.

The statue, cast in bronze and showing the martial arts master in a typical fighting pose, will be designed by a local sculptor and put up in central Mostar.

Lee's widow Linda will be invited to attend the ceremony.

For years, reconciliation in post-war Mostar was slower than anywhere else in Bosnia. But the reconstruction of the city's Old Bridge last year has helped reunite Muslim and Croat communities separated by the river.

We think that it is awesome that even from the grave Bruce Lee can help stop ethinc cleansing and racial hatred. Maybe we should erect a Bruce Lee statue everywhere that people can't get along: Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Tommy Lee's house.