No Authority

WEB EXCLUSIVE—“Greedy Bastards” author Dylan Ratigan explains the idea of collective collaboration, and how regular people working together can replace traditional paradigms requiring authority figures to get anything done

Just when you thought it was safe to park in Philly . . . the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) returns to A&E with a new season more riotous than ever! The people you love-to-hate are back to ticket, boot, and tow the cars of problem parkers -- parkers who express their outrage in furious Philly fashion with every excuse, insult, and plea in the book.

During his lifetime, J. Edgar Hoover would rise to be the most powerful man in America. As head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years, he would stop at nothing to protect his country. Through eight presidents and three wars, Hoover waged battle against threats both real and perceived, often bending the rules to keep his countrymen safe. His methods were at once ruthless and heroic, with the admiration of the world his most coveted, if ever elusive, prize. Hoover was a man who placed great value on secrets?particularly those of others?and was not afraid to use that information to exert authority over the leading figures in the nation. Understanding that knowledge is power and fear poses opportunity, he used both to gain unprecedented influence and to build a reputation that was both formidable and untouchable.

This emotionally-charged film celebrates the triumph of a young rural couple as they face nature's greatest ravages, the threat of poverty and a wrenching separation. Sissy Spacek, Mel Gibson and Scott Glenn star in this moving tribute to love, faith, determination and the vanishing America of the independent farm family. Tom and Mae Garvey (Gibson and Spacek) are struggling to keep their homestead safe from the local power authority who wants to flood their land. When Mae's former beau, John Wade (Glenn), turns out to be in charge of the plan to acquire the property, tensions run high, climaxing in a devastating confrontation on the flooded river banks.

At the heart of Oren Moverman's Rampart is a riveting parable about what happens to a man who refuses to change, even when change is the only thing that can save him. That man is Dave Brown, played by two-time Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson. Though the film is set in the 1990s, when scandal rocked the LAPD's Rampart division, the film hones in on a single fictional cop: Dave Brown, a man who has taken the ?no guts, no glory? American mythos to heart, without questioning what it is doing to him and those he holds dear. He is a cop whose personal life is propelled into a dizzying downward spiral when he comes under suspicion for roughing up a suspect. More than just a police officer who plays things fast and loose, Brown exposes the inner workings of a certain type of personality everyone recognizes around them, a personality very much part of American culture, yet not often examined. He is the kind of man inexorably drawn to authority and power, yet seems destined to abuse it; a man who has dreams of being a great masculine hero, yet is beholden to women; who has undeniable charm, yet whose stubborn refusal to take responsibility for his actions becomes a destructive force against family, community and ultimately himself.

Summer, 1971. Protests against the Vietnam war are spreading across America. In Camden, New Jersey, a group of 28 activists, mostly conscientious objectors from the Catholic left, plan to break into a local draft board office and destroy records - striking a blow against the system. But little do they know a mole has infiltrated their operation...and within hours of beginning their mission they are rounded up and arrested by the FBI, under the personal authority of J. Edgar Hoover. Featuring a treasure trove of archival materials as well as current interviews with members of the Camden 28, scholars such as Howard Zinn, and a former FBI agent involved in the case, this award-winning documentary uncovers a story of potent dissent - one that has special relevance in our current political climate.

It's Christmas Eve and a huge blizzard has just shut down the airport, threatening to ruin holiday plans for all stranded travelers. Snowed in en route to their father's house, two 'Unaccompanied Minors'--dubbed UMs--Spencer (Dyllan Christopher) and his little sister, Katherine (Dominique Saldana), are ushered to the airport's Unaccompanied Minors Room, a holding cell for dozens of stranded, parent-free kids from all over the country. Caught in the crossfire of projectile cupcakes and juice boxes and desperate to escape, Spencer makes a run for freedom along with four other UMs, who couldn't be more different if they tried: spoiled rich girl Grace (Gina Mantegna), trailer-park tomboy Donna (Quinn Shephard), academic overachiever Charlie (Tyler James Williams) and comic-book geek Timothy Wellington a.k.a. 'Beef' (Brett Kelly). With the airport's peevish Passenger Relations Manager Oliver Porter (Lewis Black), his lackey assistant Zach Van Bourke (Wilmer Valderrama) and every airport security guard hot on their trails, this group of UMs from cliques that don't mix learn to ditch their differences and help each other flee the clutches of airport authority. Meanwhile, Katherine and the other UMs have been herded to a nearby hotel to wait out the storm. Determined to reunite with his little sister and fulfill her unspoiled vision of Santa Claus arriving on Christmas morning, Spencer enlists the help of his UM posse. Working together as an unlikely family of their own, they outwit and outrun Oliver and his crew. Plummeting through baggage chutes, rummaging around unclaimed luggage and canoeing down a snow-covered hill, they turn Christmas at the airport into holiday pandemonium and, along the way, prove that the holidays aren't about where you are, but who you're with.

I already hate going to the airport, and now this condescending avatar is going to tell me about the shuttle bus? I swear to god, if that place didn t have the only Auntie Anne s I know about, I would just take the train. Listen to this customer service avatar revealed by New York s Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye this week: I never take a break, don t charge overtime, hardly ever take sick leave, and I don t need a background check. Oh wow, so impressive. I don t have a complex network of highly-evolved organs. I don t have squishy meat needs and emotions. I m just an image projected on a piece of glass. You know what? I m just going to make my own almond pretzels if I have to. Do you hear me? I will make my own almond pretzels. On the other hand, the humans loudly talking over her presentation make me wish Airport Avatar Lady well in replacing us all. Think of how fast the line at security will be when everyone is just a perky digital image! (Jezebel via Village Voice)

New Laffing Devils prez Billy the Kid has an uncomfortable conversation with former president Gipsy about giving up his cut in order to better establish Billy's authority.

Musicians competed for a chance to play for commuters as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority s Music Under New York program.

Tonight's episode of Entertainment Tonight marks a very special milestone for the long-running, most-watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world, as we celebrate 8,000 shows! Watch our time-traveling video retrospective… Related: ET's Mary Hart Passes the Baton to Nancy O'Dell A very rare achievement for any television show, ET has demonstrated itself to be the foremost authority on breaking entertainment news since its debut on September 14, 1981. Widely regarded as a staple of American culture, ET pioneered the practice of day-and-date programming via a satellite feed and remains a broadcast phenomenon.

FBI Director Robert Mueller urged Congress to renew wide-ranging surveillance authority to thwart terrorism plots like the latest one in which an al-Qaida-engineered explosive device was to have been detonated on a U.S.-bound airline flight. (May 9)