Big Brother: Brian Dowling defends Conor cash win

Brian Dowling has defended Big Brother's White Room twist and Conor McIntyre's £50,000 prize win.

Conor took home 50% of the show's prize money in the task, bluffing his rival Luke Scrase.

Viewers described the twist as "disgraceful" following Conor's behaviour with Deana Uppal earlier in the series, when he claimed that he would happily "punch" her and made sexually aggressive comments about the Miss India UK winner.

Fans also comnplained about the selection of Conor to take part in the task and the fact that he had won cash without any public vote of support for him.

However, host Dowling claimed that the White Room twist had been one of his series highlights.

"Conor winning the 50 grand, people say, 'Oh no, he shouldn't win', but he won it fair and square," Dowling told Telly Mix.

The former Big Brother champion did admit that he wouldn't have taken the prize money personally, claiming that he "wouldn't have that".

'Strictly', 'I'm a Celebrity' in 'battle to sign Olympic stars'

Rival reality shows are reportedly battling to sign Olympic medallists from Team GB.

Producers of Strictly Come Dancing, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here and Dancing on Ice are all interested in securing London 2012's champion athletes, The Sun reports.

Cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Elizabeth Armitstead are said to be major targets, while sailing star Ben Ainslie, gymnast Beth Tweddle and swimmer Rebecca Adlington are also being courted.

ITV is said to have approved appearance fees nearing six figures in a bid to get Wiggins and Armitstead on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.

"It's war between the rival shows to get the biggest Olympic names signed up and smash their rivals out of the water," a source said.

"The nation has fallen in love with the Games and the most popular athletes have shot to the top of the celeb target lists."

A BBC insider added: "Our priority is to secure as many London 2012 medal winners for this series of Strictly as possible. We want to get some big sporting names on board."

Matt Smith: 'Doctor Who series eight will be emotional'

Matt Smith has said that Steven Moffat's plans for the next series of Doctor Who will leave fans teary-eyed.

Series seven of the long-running sci-fi show is due to begin later this month, with six episodes airing this year and eight in 2013.

Smith revealed to The Sun that Moffat has already pitched ideas for the next series to him, and that fans are in for a treat.

The 29-year-old said: "His first episode sounds great.

"It hasn't been written yet but the idea is as brilliant and as mental as you'd expect from Steven. So there's a lot to look forward to.

"When Steven was going to pitch the next season to me not long ago, he said, 'Are you ready to cry?'"

Smith also discussed the ongoing plans for the show's 50th anniversary celebrations next year, and claims that fans won't be disappointed with what's in store.

He says: "We want to do 50 years - and everyone that's been associated with the show - justice. We want to go, 'Look, world, here is Doctor Who. It's 50 years old, a science fiction show, still going and going from strength to strength'.

"Steven will do something brilliant. He'll do something grand, or maybe something very simple, but he'll come to it as a fan.

"He'll go, 'What would I want to see?'"

Tom Daley's Olympic bronze dive gives BBC Three huge ratings

Tom Daley's Olympic bronze in diving gave BBC Three an enormous audience last night.

Daley's involvement in the 10m platform men's final attracted a high of over 6 million to BBC Three at 9.30pm, the channel's best peak of the Olympics.

When Daley switched to BBC One and BBC Olympics 1, the 18-year-old made an even bigger splash, with 15.9m watching him win a medal at 10pm.

Mo Farah capturing a second London 2012 gold, which prompted the runner to perform the 'Mo-bot', was seen by a peak of at least 12.4m at 7.45pm.

With Team GB extending their gold medal tally to 28, 3.78m (31.9%) caught up with all the action with Olympics Tonight from 10.35pm.

Olympics Breakfast, meanwhile, averaged 1.45m (43.3%) for a preview of the penultimate day's events.

BBC One dominated with an all-day share of 36.3% and a primetime share of 39.2%. BBC Three was second with 6.9% and 11.8% respectively - the first time the digital channel has ever beaten ITV to second place in the primetime league tables.

Chandra Wilson, Kevin McKidd to direct more 'Grey's Anatomy' episodes

Chandra Wilson and Kevin McKidd are to direct new episodes of Grey's Anatomy, it has been announced.

The duo are set to helm upcoming episodes of the ABC medical drama's ninth season, reports TV Line

Wilson will mark her seventh time in the directing chair, while it will be the fourth time for McKidd, who voiced Lord MacGuffin in Pixar's latest animated film Brave.

The last episodes directed by the stars aired during season eight - McKidd helming episode 21 and Wilson overseeing episode 22.

Grey's Anatomy's ninth season will see the return of its series regulars with the exception of Eric Dane, Chyler Leigh and Kim Raver.

Grey's Anatomy will return on Thursday, September 27 on ABC.

Bret Easton Ellis: 'Big Bang Theory is gayness personified'

Bret Easton Ellis has dismissed all CBS sitcoms as "crap".

The American Psycho author stirred up controversy this week when he claimed that Magic Mike star Matt Bomer should not be cast in a Fifty Shades of Grey movie because he is openly gay.

Ellis later began tweeting about gay actors playing straight characters on television, singling out Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother).

"Feel complicated about Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother - central joke being that he's a gay actor playing a... womaniser," he wrote.

"Why not cast Jason Segel in the Neil Patrick Harris role in How I Met Your Mother? [Because] the meta-joke is that Harris is openly gay. Lame..."

He continued: "You don't think the makers of How I Met Your Mother didn't KNOW that Neil Patrick Harris was gay and that would be part of the joke? Really?

"Look, I like Neil Patrick Harris especially when he's hosting The Tonys but How I Met Your Mother is, like all CBS sitcoms, a piece of crap."

Ellis then referenced The Big Bang Theory, calling the popular series "another terrible CBS sitcom".

"And please don't get me started on the gay The Big Bang Theory - I'm too tired to go there," he wrote. "Gayness personified."

The 48-year-old writer then denied accusations of homophobia, arguing that his critics are "missing the point".

"I'm not a homophobe. I'm a misanthrope," he argued. "I hate the way homosexuality is presented in our entertainment culture."

Olympics opening ceremony DVD to be released by Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle has confirmed plans for a DVD release of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

The director revealed that he will produce a feature-length version of the showpiece, in order to provide a clearer view of the night's proceedings that may have been lost at the time.

Boyle said that the various music and film clips that were used would be much more visible, including the likes of Gregory's Girl, Kes and two pieces from one of his idols Nicolas Roeg.

He told The Guardian that he "hopes to make things clearer" on the DVD, so that viewers can spot every single reference.

"It will make more sense in this version," Boyle added.

The entry procession of all the nations and athletes will still be included on the DVD, but will be presented in an edited-down version, while the music playlist will also remain.

The opening ceremony - which included appearances from the likes of The Queen, Daniel Craig, David Beckham, Sir Steven Redgrave, Rowan Atkinson and Sir Paul McCartney - was watched by around 27 million viewers in the UK on July 27.

TV Tonight 13th of August 2012

The daily list in alphabetical order, of all the new episodes airing.

    A Question of Sport S43E28: "Uncut"
    Adam Buxton's TV Bug S01E06: "Episode 6"
    Adventure Time with Finn and Jake S04E18: "King Worm"
    Alan Partridge's Mid-Morning Matters S01E06: "Episode 6"
    Alphas S02E04: "When Push Comes to Shove"
    American Pickers S04E24: "Train Wreck"
    Bachelor Pad S03E04: "Season 3, Episode 4"
    Beaver Falls S02E02: "Series 2, Episode 2"
    Big Brother (AU) S09E01: "Launch Show"
    Big Brother (UK) S14E74: "BB 13, Episode 74"
    Big Brother's Bit on the Side S04E70: "Series 4, Show 70"
    Bizarre Foods S07E14: "Austin"
    Border Wars S04E06: "Cartel Cash Stash"
    Britain's Next Top Model S08E06: "Series 8, Episode 6"
    Bunheads S01E09: "No One Takes Khaleesi's Dragons"
    Celebrity Masterchef S07E01: "Series 7, Episode 1"
    Chelsea Lately S06E127
    Chicagolicious S01E09: "Queen With Envy"
    Chitose Get You!! S01E07: "Episode 7"
    Coming Up S07E06: "If We Dead Awaken"
    Coronation Street S53E162: "Mon Aug 13, 2012 [Episode 2]"
    Coronation Street S53E161: "Mon Aug 13, 2012 [Episode 1]"
    Daybreak S02E240: "August 13, 2012"
    Days of our Lives S47E185: "Ep. #11895"
    Deal Or No Deal (UK) S08E01: "Episode 1994"
    Degrassi S12E17: "Sabotage (1)"
    Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives S15E02: "Goin' the Extra Mile"
    Dispatches S26E14: "Tricks of the Dole Cheats"
    Doctors S14E66: "A Broad Church"
    Dora the Explorer S07E05: "Dora's Fantastic Gymnastics Adventure"
    EastEnders S28E125: "August 13, 2012 [Episode 2]"
    EastEnders S28E124: "August 13, 2012"
    Emmerdale S41E189: "August 13, 2012"
    Food Factory S03E06: "Sugar Rush"
    Four Corners (AU) S52E28: "The Body Snatchers"
    General Hospital (US) S50E94: "#12622"
    Grimm S02E01: "Bad Teeth"
    Hell's Kitchen (US) S10E16: "6 Chefs Compete"
    Hollyoaks S18E161: "August 13, 2012"
    Hollywood Heights S01E41: "Eddie Inspires Loren"
    Home and Away (AU) S25E146: "Episode 5581"
    Hotel Hell S01E01: "Juniper Hill Inn, Part One"
    House Hunters S50E36: "No Time for Projects in Pennsylvania"
    House Hunters International S34E32: "Starting Anew in Bogota"
    Hyouka S01E17: "The Kudryavka Order"
    Intervention S13E02: "Elena"
    Intervention S13E01: "Nichole"
    James May's Things You Need to Know S02E01
    Jimmy Kimmel Live S09E287
    Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita S01E07
    Late Night with Jimmy Fallon S02E314
    Late Show with David Letterman S19E109
    Live with Kelly S29E244
    Lizard Lick Towing S02E23: "Season 2, Episode 23"
    Locked Up Abroad S06E17: "Venezuela Hustle"
    Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta S01E09: "TBA"
    Major Crimes S01E01: "Reload"
    Masterchef Australia S05E13: "All Stars - 13"
    Monday Night Football S43E27
    Monkey Life S05E11: "Series 5, Episode 11"
    MythBusters S10E13: "Jawsome Shark Special"
    Neighbours S28E156: "Episode 6466"
    Oda Nobuna no Yabou S01E06: "Sunomata One-Night Castle"
    Opening Act S01E05: "Joy Island & LMFAO"
    Panorama S60E28: "Justice Denied: The Greatest Scandal?"
    Pawn Star$ S05E12: "Bullitt Proof"
    Pointless S06E61: "Series 6, Episode 61"
    Push Girls S01E12: "Moving On"
    Regular Show S03E37: "Death Bear"
    ReModeled S01E07: "ALL in the Family"
    Scooby-Doo - Mystery, Inc. S02E11: "The Midnight Zone"
    Secret Dealers S03E16: "Series 3, Episode 16"
    Shark Week S25E03: "Sharkzilla"
    Simply Italian S01E03: "Episode 3"
    Single Ladies S02E12: "All or Nothing"
    Squidbillies S07E04: "Green and Sober"
    Stars Earn Stripes S01E01: "Pilot"
    Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets S03E08: "New Year's Eve Murder"
    Teen Wolf S02E12: "Master Plan"
    The Amazing Race Australia S02E10
    The Bold and the Beautiful S26E101: "Ep. #6385"
    The Closer S07E21: "The Last Word"
    The Colbert Report S08E101: "fun."
    The Daily Show S17E139: "Robert Pattinson"
    The Glass House (US) S01E09: "Episode 9"
    The Jeremy Kyle Show S07E229: "August 13, 2012"
    The Project S04E192: "Season 4, Episode 192"
    The Real Housewives of New York City S05E11
    The Secret Life of the American Teenager S05E09
    The Tonight Show with Jay Leno S20E129
    The View S15E217: "Edward Norton"
    The Young and the Restless S40E100: "Ep. #9969"
    Tia & Tamera S02E09: "Too Much Nappa Whine"
    Underbelly S05E01: "Thy Will Be Done"
    Underbelly: Badness S01E01: "Thy Will Be Done"
    University Challenge (1994) S19E03
    Warehouse 13 S04E04: "There's Always A Downside"
    Web Therapy S02E07: "Infanticipation"
    Wild Justice S02E18: "Bear Scare"
    World's Wildest Police Videos S05E13: "Season 5, Episode 13"
    WWE Raw S20E33: "Episode 1003"

'Dallas' boss wants more classic character cameos

Dallas exec Cynthia Cidre has revealed that she would like to bring more classic characters back to the show.

JR Ewing (Larry Hagman), Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) and Sue Ellen Ewing (Linda Gray) have all reprised their roles in TNT's revamp of the '80s soap.

"We're just breaking stories [for season two] now so I don't really know [who we might bring back] yet," Cidre explained to TV Guide.

The showrunner named Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) and Valene Ewing (Joan Van Ark) as two characters she is interested in bringing back.

"I just met Joan Van Ark the other day and she was lovely," Cidre admitted. "We tried for a cameo with her and Ted Shackelford this past season, but it didn't work out.

"I also met Donna Mills [from Dallas spinoff Knots Landing] and she looks awesome, but I don't know that we can use Knots Landing characters."

The first season of the new Dallas concluded in the US on Wednesday night (August 8), with the finale episode attracting 4.29m viewers.

The series will launch on Channel 5 in the UK next month.

Gary Barlow: 'Last year's X Factor contestants were cocky and lazy'

Gary Barlow has admitted that last year's X Factor contestants quickly became complacent.

In an interview with the Daily Mail's Weekend magazine, the Take That star revealed that he was surprised at how arrogant some of the hopefuls became.

"One of the biggest shocks for me last year was how quickly people become lazy once they get into this competition," he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'Hold on, this is just the start. You haven't made it yet. Even if you win it is just the start.'"

The 'Patience' singer mentored the boys category last year, which included controversial contestant Frankie Cocozza. The then 18-year-old - who was eventually disqualified from the competition - was frequently criticised for his weak performances and off-stage attitude.

"It is weird," Barlow said. "You take people off the street and put them in this bubble and they start to act like they have arrived.

"You can see them thinking, 'I was born to do this, I don't have to work at it'."

The singer told The Sun that the quality of the auditions has improved since the last series.

"The standard has definitely gone up a few notches. I think the audience is going to love it," he said.

Barlow was also quick to praise new judge Nicole Scherzinger, saying: "We're really pleased to have Nicole on the panel with us. She's amazing. She really feels like a Hollywood star.

"She got the job because she clicked... With all her experience in the industry and as a judge on the US X Factor, she has definitely earned her place.

"I think she'll be quite good with the contestants. She's quite emotional, maternal almost. To be honest, I think you could have the same four judges every year [as] I think it's more about the contestants. If they're no good, no-one will watch."

Barlow is said to be performing at this evening's Olympics closing ceremony, despite announcing the tragic loss of his daughter Poppy last week. The new series of The X Factor will begin on August 18.

Big Brother's Ashleigh Hughes: "If they boo me, they boo me"

Ashleigh Hughes told Brian Dowling tonight (August 10) that her and Luke Scrase's relationship was for real.

The Essex girl was speaking after leaving the house with Scott Mason in a double eviction.

Asked by Dowling what she thought about the boos which greeted her exit - contrasting with the cheers that Scott Mason had received from the crowd - Ashleigh said that she had been herself, and concluded: "If they boo me, they boo me; if they love me, they love me."

Commenting on her turbulent relationship with Deana Uppal, she admitted that there had been "complications", but said that the Miss India UK had "a good heart" and was just not the evictee's "cup of tea".

Ashleigh was also not bitter when shown who had nominated her, commenting: "I do get all of [the reasons given by the housemates]."

The notorious potty-mouth only swore once in the interview, saying, "Oh, for f**k's sake", when the phrase "Lushleigh" was put to her.

She went on to insist that her relationship with Luke S had been a romance rather than a 'showmance', and dismissed her initial attraction to Conor McIntyre, explaining that she now saw him as a "brother".

The ex-contestant seemed a little bothered when shown footage of Luke S saying their relationship might not last in the outside world, and confessed that it "maybe" made her question the romance, but she then immediately played it down, adding: "Whatever."

She finished by saying that she wanted Luke S or Sara McLean to win on Monday's (August 13) final.

'MasterChef's Gregg Wallace: 'I'm scared of relationships'

Gregg Wallace has revealed that he doesn't want to find love after his third marriage came to an end.

The MasterChef star explained that he has been "put off" by relationships, and that he definitely does not want to get married for a fourth time.

The 47-year-old broke up with wife Heidi in March after just over a year as a married couple.

"I couldn't marry again. No. I'm not even sure I could do a full-time girlfriend," he told The Sun.

"I've been put off romance a little bit. I'm now scared of relationships. I just don't want to fall in love with anyone. I just don't.

"I don't need a relationship. I have this great support network in Whitstable where I live. I've got my housekeeper and nanny, my PA and the home economist who helps me with all my recipes. All these three women are mates.

"They live near me and everything in my life is taken care of. I'm good at business but I'm not good with wives and girlfriends."

Wallace's ex-wife Heidi had continued as his PA after the split, and also looked after his two children. However, he explained that the break-up eventually made the arrangement difficult.

"She's moved out. I couldn't do it. It was constantly upsetting me," he said.

"We went to counselling but it just didn't work. We could have made it work if we had gone six months earlier but too much had gone on by then. I miss her. I was madly in love with her. The kids see her regularly."

Wallace added that his former partner does not want any money from their impending divorce.

He said: "Heidi doesn't want a thing. All those people suggesting Heidi was a gold-digger - it's so far from the truth."

Wallace will return with John Torode for a seventh series of Celebrity MasterChef tomorrow (August 13) at 6.30pm on BBC Two.

Joe McElderry on 'X Factor' snub: 'I don't care'

Joe McElderry has insisted that he is fine with being excluded from The X Factor's new advertising campaign.

ITV unveiled its 'Whose Time Is Now' promo last month, featuring Leona Lewis, One Direction, Olly Murs, Alexandra Burke, JLS and Little Mix talking about their success since the show.

McElderry, along with fellow winners Shayne Ward, Matt Cardle, Leon Jackson and Steve Brookstein, were not included in the commercial.

"I'm not on Simon's [Cowell] label so I wouldn't expect him to promote me," McElderry told the Daily Star Sunday.

"If they want to erase the fact I won X Factor or try to hide it, I don't care.

"Personally I am proud I came from The X Factor. If Simon doesn't feel the same then you'll have to ask him why."

Ward recently hit out at his exclusion from the promo campaign.

He said: "Just seen the new X Factor promo video. Yet again it's like I'm being erased slowly from their history. Pathetic really. Would love to know why?"

'X Factor' series nine final to be held in Manchester

The X Factor 2012 final will be held in Manchester, it has been confirmed.

The talent contest is set to move from its traditional base in London for the climax of series nine, with judges Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Tulisa and Louis Walsh, host Dermot O'Leary and the chosen hopefuls to now head to Manchester Central.

Show sponsor TalkTalk has also announced that it will be giving customers 10,000 tickets to the live final weekend via its Facebook page.

Louis Walsh commented on the news: "Our live final is going to be another major event - so The X Factor 2012 has everything! I believe it's going to be our best series yet."

Commercial director of TalkTalk Tristia Clarke also said: "We can't wait to take the X Factor live finals to Manchester for the first time.

"This year we helped to create the mobile auditions, which recruited talent from all over the country, and we're delighted that 10,000 of our customers will have the chance to join us at the finals in Manchester."

The X Factor series nine begins on Saturday (August 18) at 8pm on ITV1.

Can MundoFox Reproduce Fox's Success - En Espanol?

Twenty-six years ago, Fox emerged from nowhere to give audiences something they didn't even know they were missing: an alternative to the Big 3 networks that once dominated broadcasting.

MundoFox premieres Monday with hopes of doing the same thing – but in Spanish.

The network hopes to find a niche by emulating U.S. programming in every way except the language in which it is delivered. It aims to set itself apart from top-rated Spanish-language network Univision and second-place Telemundo with programming that breaks barriers the way Fox did a quarter-century ago with shows like "Married…. With Children" and "The Simpsons."

"When you're a Latino you have potentially two choices: You either have Spanish-language television that hasn't changed very much in ten years, that's very heavy on telenovelas and speaks much to the traditional Latino viewers," said Hernan Lopez, president and CEO of Fox International Channels. "And then you have the best television in the world, which happens to be in English. There isn't a third choice, and MundoFox is coming in to bring that third choice. That means television that feels, looks, sounds like American shows, but just happens to be created in Spanish."

MundoFox comes into the Spanish-language market with brand recognition that Fox took years to build. The new network is airing in 50 markets representing 80 percent of U.S. Hispanic households.

But it will face the same question Fox did: Whether there are enough viewers to go around. For Fox, there were. It is now the top-rated network in the key 18-49 demographic.

For MundoFox, it's an open question. It is only the latest network launched or partnership forged by U.S. networks trying to grab a fast-expanding Latino population.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population grew by 43 percent, or four times the nation's growth rate overall. Overall, Latinos represented 16 percent of the U.S. population, or 50.5 million of the 308.7 million Americans.

Latino viewers, however, are watching less TV than viewers overall. According to a Nielsen study last year, the average U.S. viewer watches five hours and 11 minutes daily. African-Americans watch the most, 7 hours and 12 minutes, followed by whites, who watch five hours and 2 minutes, Latinos, with 4 hours and 35 minutes, and Asians, who watch three hours and 14 minutes.

Still, one of MundoFox's established competitors says there's no shortage of Spanish-speaking viewers.

"The fact that there are new players coming to our industry validates the power and influence of the U.S. Hispanic market and helps increase the awareness of the opportunities in this dynamic and vibrant audience," said a spokeswoman for the NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo.

Univision declined to comment for this story. It boasts a 73 percent share of the Hispanic market despite competition from Telemundo and others. A decade ago it had 79 percent of the market. It is the fifth-highest-rated network overall in primetime.

Univision's share of Latino viewers is disappointing not only for its Spanish-language competitors but for its English-language ones. Last week, The New York Times noted the failure of even top-rated shows like "Modern Family," "Two and a Half Men" and "NCIS" to draw sizable Hispanic audiences.

The Times suggested that stereotypical characterizations in primetime might be one reason Latinos are cold on U.S. shows. Lopez has another theory: If you don't speak perfect English, the shows can be very hard to follow. That was his experience when he came to the U.S. from Argentina, he said.

"When I moved to the U.S. 15 years ago, my English wasn't perfect and one of the most difficult things to do was follow an American show because you have to follow every word and every situation and every expression," he said.

Now he can fully appreciate shows he couldn't before, he said: His favorite show is "Modern Family."

MundoFox's programming plans include teleseries – action/romance hybrids that skew more male than the telenovelas so popular on Spanish-language networks. MundoFox's premiere teleseries, the previously aired "El Capo 2," follows a fictional drug lord. Its other shows include "Los Exitosos Perez," a comedic look at identity theft, and "Kdabra," a supernatural series with a 17-year-old protagonist.

Those shows may sound like they could work for English- or Spanish-speaking audiences -- which is the point. MundoFox hopes to emulate English-language TV without alienating fans of traditional Spanish-language TV.

Take its tagline, "Americano como tu," which translates as "American like you." That might seem like a naked bid for an assimilated audience, but it isn't.

Many in Latin America consider themselves American -- they inhabit one of the American continents -- though people in the U.S. generally think the term refers only to them. Viewers, Lopez said, tend to interpret the tagline to refer to either usage of the word.

"That's working in our favor," he said. "Because both people born in the U.S. and Latinos born in Latin America see that and interpret it the way they see it."

English-language networks are also making serious efforts to draw Hispanics to their news broadcasts. ABC News and Univision recently formed an especially high-profile partnership.

Rather than partnering with Fox News, MundoFox will offer its own nightly newscast. Based in Los Angeles, it will air in different versions twice nightly – once for the East Coast and once for the West.

Free Samples of Seeds of Hate Served Up at Costco

The holocaust, as much a blight on human history as any other deed of forced human extinction, teaches us many things.

This is one event that you don't "get over" or "move on" from.  This is one event that should not be trivialized to create analogies to petty acts of theistic crimes against man or nature.

Contrary to what greasy Iranian despots who look like the snitch on "Miami Vice" may think, the Holocaust happened, and I take comfort that in its wake there was a groundswell of Jewish social and political dominance whose cry of "Never Again" kept the issue of hate on history's front burner.

Because of the Holocaust, we look for injustices whose origination might appear insignificant, and we nip it in the bud before injustice blossoms into hate, and hate morphs into sterilization. This is the muscle memory of history.

With every Nazi that was captured and brought to justice, a tumor was excised from society's underbelly. The sickness of a final solution is the result when injustice gains momentum. The famous quotation by Martin Niemoller, a prominent Protestant pastor who enraged Hitler with his anti-Nazi rhetoric wrote:

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me."

So when an author like Joan Rivers writes a book, "I Hate Everything ... Starting With Me," and her right of free expression and free trade is blocked by a publicly traded entity like Costco, then there is a problem -- a huge one.  To equate this with Nazi Germany is not only appropriate, it's absolutely correct.

Costco's problems with the book harken back to a proclamation by the German Student Association's Press and Propaganda Office to take "action against the Un-German Spirit."  The result of this action was a symbolic burning of 25,000 volumes of "un-German" books.  Libraries were pillaged and book stores were raped to the rhythm of anti-intellectual incantations and the breath-steam of hate. Dangerous authors like Helen Keller, Jack London, H.G. Wells and Ernest Hemingway had their collective works thrown on funeral pyres in 34 university towns across Germany.

Think of that the next time you navigate and graze the crowded aisles of Costco seeking samples of mini corn dogs. With every piece of free spinach quiche that the Sample Droid hands out like a mother starling regurgitating food into the gaping beaks of her hungry young, they also seek to deny nourishment to Joan Rivers' and all of our right to free speech and free trade.

When you are a publicly traded entity like Costco (NASDAQ: COST) you have an inherent responsibility to serve the public. The censorship of one book negates all of their charitable foundations, donations to food banks, etc. That is the propaganda Costco promotes in order to seduce the public. Behind the charity pumps a black corporate heart that serves to foist their political and social sensibilities unto their customer base. Costco's problems with a four-letter word on the back cover of Joan River's book is a thinly veiled excuse to control the right of free speech and access to same.

Costco has no problem selling DVD's that include scenes of rape, brutality and violence.  Costco has no problem selling fat-saturated, high sugar content foods that serve to promote the condition known as "diabesity" in our youth. Hell, Costco has no problem selling low cost caskets (please allow 3-4 weeks delivery). Yet when it comes to an outspoken woman whose life is of interest to thousands of people world-wide, it denies her of that right.

I'm not necessarily a fan of Joan Rivers, but I support her.

On those cold German nights when lemmings and anti-Semites warmed themselves at their fire of hate, one of the books that burned was written by German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who wrote "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen".

"Where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people."