The Saga Continues

Super-duper-cali-fragialistic Tuesday, the gigantic showdown that was to be the mother of all primaries, ended up resolving only one thing: the presidential preference campaigns aren't over yet if you're a Democrat. But while you bite your nails and stress over delegate counts, we at your Lightning Round have a few other items for your consideration.

KEY TO DEMOCRACY. Diebold electronic voting machines are already known for security problems. But here's the topper: blogger Brad Friedman reports somebody copied a key to a Diebold machine using a photo on the company's website.

From BradBlog:

It was revealed in the course of last summer's landmark virus hack of a Diebold touch-screen voting system at Princeton University that, incredibly, the company uses the same key to open every machine. It's also an easy key to buy at any office supply store since it's used for filing cabinets and hotel mini-bars!

It's no wonder Maryland is voting to scrap its Diebold machines for pencil and paper optical scanning systems.

LOOK BEFORE SENDING. The New York Times landed a huge scoop last week because of a mis-directed e-mail. The paper reported drug giant Eli Lilly was in settlement talks with the feds over improperly marketing its drug Zyprexa for schizophrenia.

From Portfolio.com:

As it turned out, one of Eli Lilly's lawyers at Pepper Hamilton in Philadelphia wanted to email [law firm] Sidley Austin's Berenson, about the negotiations. But apparently, the name that popped up from her email correspondents was the wrong Berenson.

The wrong Berenson was Alex Berenson, a Times reporter. He who trusteth in auto-complete has a foolish finger.

SKIN TRADE. Abercrombie & Fitch makes millions selling clothes, so why do they display images of people under-dressed? Virginia Beach police seized two large promotional photographs from an A&F last weekend because they ran afoul of obscenity laws.

Reports the Virginian-Pilot:

[Police] confirmed that one depicts three shirtless young men from the back, walking through a field. The man in the lead appears to be about to pull up his jeans, which have slipped down enough to reveal his upper buttocks.

The same image is displayed on the Abercrombie Web site.

The other image is of a woman who is topless and whose "breast is displayed with her hand covering just the nipple portion," [a police spokesman] said. "You could still pretty much see the rest of the breast."

One could interpret the first photograph as an innocent case of plumbers' behind, but the second makes Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction look like just a glitch. Now the A&F manager could be looking at fines and/or jail time for the risque business. Authorities later dropped the charges, but another case isn't going away so easily.

Fifty-two ABC television stations are also on the hook for $1.43 million in fines because of a nude scene in a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue which showed a woman's partially bare breast and fully bare buttocks as she was preparing to take a shower, and a young boy accidentally walking in on her as he tries to use the bathroom.

ABC warned about "partial nudity" in a disclaimer before the show, and it made this rationalization for the scene, as noted in the FCC ruling.

ABC asserts that the purpose of the scene was to "illustrate the complexity and awkwardness involved when a single parent brings a new romantic partner into his or her life," and that the nudity was not included to depict an attempted seduction or a sexual response from the young boy. Even accepting ABC's assertions as to the purpose of the scene, they do not alter our conclusion that the scene's depiction of adult female nudity is titillating and shocking. As discussed above, the scene includes multiple, close-up views of the woman's nude buttocks, with the camera at one point panning down her naked back for a lingering shot of her buttocks.

C'mon, ABC, admit you're playin' dirty here.

But here's what your Lightning Round finds puzzling: All of the stations that were fined were in the Central and Mountain time zones, because the particular scene aired in the 10pm hour rather than the 11pm hour, in which indecency standards are looser. Should one hour really make a difference, especially in the age of TiVO?

Also puzzling: not all of the ABC stations in said zones were fined. KNXV in Phoenix, Arizona was fined, but not KGUN in Tucson? KMBC, KDNL, and KSPR in Missouri were fined, but not KMIZ? As far as I know, all of these stations aired NYPD Blue in the 10pm hour.

UPDATE: According to David Hatfield of Inside Tucson Business, KGUN wasn't fined because nobody in their viewing area complained to the FCC. So if a buttock is bare in prime time in Tucson, and nobody complains, is it still offensive?

The courts have already found the FCC's indecency regulations are a mess to figure out. Look for this case to end back up in front of judge.

WHAT DID HE TAKE FOR A HEADACHE? Actor Heath Ledger died from "acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," according to New York City Medical Examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove. And yet his death is still called an accident.

Reports AP:

In a statement released through Ledger's publicist, the actor's father, Kim, said Wednesday: "While no medications were taken in excess, we learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy. Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage."

And still the question persists, did he need all of those drugs in the first place? Yes, it was an accident all right... an accident waiting to happen.

Until next week: medicate safely, everyone.