Philadelphia, PA—In what is being hailed as “the copycat publicity stunt from hell”, the Daily Discord plans to burn old Duran Duran albums en mass next Saturday.  According to inside sources, Discord staffers have accumulated 16 of the band’s albums, mostly Rio, as well as one of the bassist’s rarer solo albums (Dave Atsals is a huge fan).  Unless their demands are met, the Discord is planning this pop-pyre at the Liberty Bell Pavilion in Philadelphia, PA, on the anniversary of the cancellation of Celebrity Family Feud. 

When asked about these demands, the Daily Discord’s CEO, Pierce Winslow, channeled a certain teen beauty queen. “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq, uh—”

“We will burn all of these albums onto our hard drives,” cut in the Discord’s Ghetto Shaman. “Muslims hate illegal downloads.  It makes them crazy…er, crazier.”

He then recited a strange variation of Churchill’s speech, with lyrics such as: “We shall fight them on the bitches!” to the backdrop of his fellow Discordians belting out one of the worst renditions of Hungry Like the Wolf ever karaoked.  The unauthorized press conference ended when the Philadelphia Police Department tear gassed the lot.

Chicago, IL­ – The Onion’s Area Man, known for such cutting edge commentary as Area Man Depressed Despite Happy Hour and Area Man to Rent All Planet of the Apes Movies, has been seriously injured by Bat Boy. Bat Boy, of Weekly World News fame, is known for such controversial headlines as Bat Boy Uses Radar to Procure Hookers as well as Bat Boy On Ice!

The handlers of Bat Boy claim, “He’s just an excitable Bat Boy.”

They also believe Area Man must have taunted him, or said something to offend Bat Boy’s delicate sensibilities.

“Or he was just hungry,” added Gob Breenberger, editor of the Weekly World News. “Bat Boy eats twice his own body weight each day, which is why we don’t usually let him out unsupervised.”  When asked why he was out unsupervised, Breenberger said, “I said usually, asshole.”

On a related note, Batman denies fathering Bat Boy and was unavailable for comment.  However, the following entry appeared on Batman’s Facebook page yesterday, “If that psycho bitch goes for child support, I’ll introduce her to my Bat Bat.”  Batman went on to complain about his continued efforts to find an appropriate name for his baseball bat.

Santa Fe, NM— Dr. Sterling Hogbein, of the Hogbein Institute and Bagel Shop, is under increasing scrutiny for his downtown zombie treatment center.

“Look, if we even get twenty-percent of all zombies to forgo brains, it could be the difference between our survival or extinction during the next zombie uprising,” said Hogbein.

Hogbein boasts the staff-to-client ratio at his W. Rodeo Lurch-In Clinic is excellent, “Or the staff would be eaten.”  The program is spiritual based and follows the ‘12 Stagger Model,’ wherein each zombie is taught that ‘one brain is too much and a thousand is never enough.’

Dr. Hogbein feels zombies are a misunderstood, and ultimately redeemable, species.  A second program at the institute involves teaching the more chronic living-impaired to only eat the brains of other zombies.

“Zombies are smarter than eats the eye,” said Hogbein, laughing.  “After all, you can’t argue that brain is brain food.”

When questioned further, Hogbein admitted none of his consumers have made it past Stagger One, which states: We admitted to ourselves that we are powerless over brains and that our deaths have become unmanageable.

The Institute’s plans for a Radioactively Enlarged Insect Wellness Clinic and an Alien Gestalt Therapy Center are also under growing scrutiny from city officials.

Toyota announced their fix for the stuck gas pedal problem on some of their most popular models, as well as the brake failure problem on their hybrid Prius.

“We have a sorution.  One fix fol arl moders,” said Toyota spokesman Heowaki Kausakarastinki, in a culturally insensitive dialect.

The sorution, uhh, solution, involves the installation of an emergency arrest system activated by pressing a large red button, depicted above, located on the steering wheel.

Kausakarastinki claims the inspiration came from those Staples Easy Button commercials. The fix is available immediately at no charge to the consumer, but it does significantly reduce luggage capacity in the trunk of most models.

Kausakarastinki warns that the button should never be used to deter tailgaters, but he believes the device will gradually have a positive impact on traffic patterns in the future across our great country. 

Washington, DC—The Obama Administration is investigating its own near-criminal inflation of the total jobs created by the stimulus plan. Some of the problem is due to the questionable decision to hire The Count von Count, of Sesame Street fame, to tally the numbers.

“It started out well enough,” said stimulus overseer Ed DeSeve.  “He counted full-time jobs created by the stimulus package, then he counted part-time jobs created by the stimulus package, and then at some point he started counting ceiling tiles.”

According to witnesses, The Count started the project with, “One! One job created by the stimulus package, ah, ah, ah…  Two! Two jobs created by the stimulus package, ah ah ah…” but, by day twelve, The Count was overheard saying, “Four! Four thousand cars on the Southeast Freeway, ah, ah, ah…”

“We knew right then we were screwed,” said DeSeve.  “I told Barak that we should have gone with Grover.”

The Obama Administration is trying to put the best spin possible on the matter.

“It’s not known when The Count transitioned from counting real jobs to counting random inanimate objects,” said Obama, “but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that some of those early numbers were legitimate jobs created.”

Obama is denying allegations that he had planned to name The Count his Enumeration Czar in early February.

“I would also like to dispel any rumors that Burt or Ernie will be my next Family Values Czarinas.”

Washington insiders believe neither Ernie nor Burt have spoken to the president since his stance on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.