New York's high society to Trial shines a spotlight

Reporting from New York What did the butler hear? Can the peeved French maid and the combative ex-chauffeur be trusted? If only the pet dachshunds, Boysie and Girlsie, could talk. It would make it far easier for the jurors who this week are expected to begin reviewing four months of often contradictory testimony to decide if the son of Brooke Astor, the late philanthropist and New York social doyenne, fleeced his mother of millions.Final arguments began Monday in the trial of the son, Anthony Marshall, and Astor's estate attorney, Francis X. Morrissey Jr. They are accused of altering Astor's will to ensure her approximately $198-million estate went to Marshall when she died in 2007 at the age of 105.On Tuesday, defense attorneys sought to portray Astor as a mother driven by love for her only son to change her will in 2004. She was not, they reasoned, a demented old woman strong armed by Marshall and Morrissey, as the prosecution has alleged."Underlying this case is the love of Brooke Astor for Tony Marshall," his attorney, Frederick Hafetz, said as defense summations stretched to the 10-hour mark.The trial has revealed the clashing worlds of New York where Wall Street's collapse and the Bernard Madoff scandal have ended many high rollers' lavish ways, but where a rare few still have untold millions to spend. In Astor's case, those millions often went to supporting institutions geared toward improving life for less fortunate New Yorkers libraries, universities, hospitals, public gardens and conservation pairs among them.

Morrissey’s: candidates prevail in W. Haven

WEST HAVEN It was the Morrissey faction over the Picard faction in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.More candidates supported by Democratic Town Committee Chairman James Morrissey won in Tuesday night’s hotly contested primary over candidates supported by Mayor John M. Picard.In two of the most heated contests of the night, City Clerk Deborah Collins and Tax Collector Francis Withington will remain the candidates for the Democratic Party. Collins, backed by Morrissey, handily defeated challenger Deborah Evangelista, who was supported by Picard.Former City Councilwoman Martha Bell waged an intense battle against Withington for the tax collector spot on the ticket and earned a large number of votes, though Withington ultimately won. Final tallies were not available Tuesday night. During his one term in office, Withington generated controversy when he refused to hire a tax manager for the office, despite strong urging from Picard and the City Council.Picard said he was particularly disappointed by Bell’s loss to Withington, saying he “couldn’t believe people couldn’t see that we need a professional in that office.” Regarding the loss of a majority of his candidates for City Council, Picard said he is disappointed but still plans to focus on moving the city forward if re-elected.“My intention is always to move the city forward,” he said.Picard also pointed out that two of his candidates for the Board of Education, M. Toni Paine and Mark Palmieri, were the night’s top vote getters. His third Board of Education candidate, Gerald Calabritto, did not make the ticket, as Morrissey backed candidate Eric Murillo did.For City Council, the only Picard supported candidate to defend his spot on the ticket was District 1 Councilman Nicholas Pascale. The rest of the winners for City Council were Morrissey candidates: Sean McCauley, 2nd District; John Lewis, 3rd District; Steve Wydra, 4th District; Councilwoman Nancy Rossi, 7th District; Councilwoman Tracy Morrissey, 8th District; and Councilman Sean Ronan, 9th District. Council member Deborah Conlon lost her 2nd District seat, and Gail Carroll lost her 3rd District seat.“The Democratic voters spoke for themselves,” James Morrissey said at the end of the night. “It was a sweet victory for us.”One person on the Picard team, 18 year old recent Notre Dame High School graduate Michael DiMassa, said he was proud of the showing he had against Rossi. DiMassa said he lost by about 40 votes.“Against a two term incumbent? I’m thrilled. I’ll be back in two years,” he said.

Jim Geraghty, King Banaian, The Ed Morrissey Show

Today, on the Ed Morrissey Show (3 pm ET), Jim Geraghty of Campaign Spot returns to discuss the latest in politics! We’ll without doubt discuss the death of Senator Ted Kennedy and the impact that has on Washington, along with Jim’s updates on the Virginia governor’s race. In the second half, King Banaian joins us to discuss the current admission by the White House that they had seriously underestimated both the deficit and the recession. King brings charts and data, as well as a feeling of animate being of humor, to the analysis. Don’t miss it!
Now you can join the conversation in the chat room! Be sure to register at Ustream to performer in our raucous live chat sessions. (And if the log-in prompt doesn’t come up in the chat box below, use this link instead.) Jazz Shaw of The Moderate Voice and The Monster calm the chat, and they have Troll Gun Trivia Contest running before the show, for those who get there early and are recorded!

Morrissey Fabulous resurrection

FASHION designer Peter Morrissey believes the brain aneurism that almost killed him seven weeks ago happened for a reason.
After his surgery, Morrissey's twin sister and four brothers all had MRI scans. It was discovered his brother Chris, a doctor married to singer Marcia Hines, had an unruptured aneurism.
Chris then had a procedure to repair it. Morrissey wouldn't reveal more details out of respect for his brother's privacy but said he was now in a stable condition.
''I exist a brain aneurism and now I've saved my brother's life. It was worth it,'' Morrissey said. ''My brother is in hospital now and we were just laughing and comparing how much catheters hurt.''
But it wasn't a laughing matter seven weeks ago. Morrissey said it was touch and go.
''I was on 24-hour see for nine days in hard care. They were troubled I could have had a stroke. I had to learn to walk again. The intensive care nurses said not many people who are in intensive care for nine days survive.''
But he has been given the all clear and has spent the past month resting and having physiotherapy.
''It changed my life in that I have a higher admiration of my family and my partner, Sean, a higher admiration of nurses and a higher admiration of the medical system.''
Morrissey's life has been full of ups and downs.
''I'm a miniseries the bust up with Leona [Edmiston], my parents dying, losing the rights to my name … this health scare is just another climactic turn in the script. I believe everything happens for a reason. It's not bad luck - it's a wonderful lesson,'' he said.
He said he had been overwhelmed with support. ''The public have been amazing. I go into the chemist and people say, 'Oh, you're alive?' … Barry Humphries sent me an email from Texas, saying, 'I believe you've had a fabulous resurrection.' ''
Morrissey has joined forces with Bruno Schiavi to launch a collection in stores across Australia and the US. They will launch in Big W stores nationally on October 22. ''I've been criticised for going mass market and I just say I good if Madonna feels that when she sells 600 million albums,'' he said. ''The top price of a dress in Big W is $59. It's socially correct to make suitably priced clothes so people can fashion their lives.''
He also plans to give back to the medical teams who saved his life.

Neil Morrissey £2.5m in debt

Neil Morrissey has annonuced that he's lost £2.5million following the holocene downfall of his luxury chain of hotels.The Men Behaving Badly star set up the business authority in 2004, investing most of his hard earned cash.‘It was a mess,’ admits Neil. 'There I was, doing very well, bowed around as the successful actor. Then I found myself absolutely in schtuck.‘All of a sudden everyone need their money back. And the credit crunch certainly didn't help at all. A lot of banks needed to recall, and certainly review the nature of the loans. There's still an abhorrent lot of people out there suffering because of the banks' attitude.’But Neil, 47, is determined to get back on his feet and has already started a beer business with his best friend Richard Fox.‘Bankruptcy’s the easy way out,’ he tells the News Of The World. ‘I decided no, I’d step up to the plate. I’d try to do the right thing and get everyone their money back.’

Morrissey Behaving Badly Star Millions In Debt

TV star Neil Morrissey has become the latest victim of the credit compaction, falling millions of pounds into arrears after a business scheme he invested in collapsed.

The actor, best known for playing loveable damn fool Tony in BBC hit Men Behaving Badly, told News Of The World he lost £2.5m when his hotel chances failed.
"It was a mess," Morrissey said. "There I was, doing very well, bandied around as the successful actor. Then I found myself completely in schtuck.
"All of a sudden everyone needs their money back. A lot of banks needed to recall, and surely review, the nature of the loans."
Morrissey's company, set up five years ago, bought pubs and hotels across the country, including Brown's Hotel in Laugharne and Hurst House in Covent Garden.
It break down after a series of ventures failed to perform, forcing Morrissey's business partner into bankruptcy.
"No one is untouchable. This can happen to anyone," Morrissey warned.
"You can be doing very well one day, and on the streets the next."

Morrissey tells fans, "Boycott new box set reissues" Morrissey tells fans

Singer asks followers 'not to bother buying' the new releases.

Morrissey has requested that fans don't buy any of the approaching box set reissues from his back catalogue.The former Smiths singer claimed in a statement issued to fan site True-to-you.net, which he often annonunce through, that he wouldn't receive any money from the reissues, released on November 2, and that he was not asked for acceptance for their release.

The Morrissey reissues will see singles and B-sides re-packaged as new seven-inch vinyl releases."Morrissey would like it to be known that he has not been refered by EMI/HMV/Parlophone [record labels, and not the retailer] with regards to two approaching boxed sets of Morrissey singles," the message read.It continued: "Morrissey does not accept such releases and would ask people not to bother buying them. Morrissey receives no payments from EMI for any back catalogue, and has not received a commission from EMI since 1992.

"Morrissey also does not approve of, and was not advised on, the (past release) Rhino box of Smiths CDs, or the Warner acquittance of Smiths LPs on 180 gramme vinyl."Morrissey last received a royalty payment from Warners ten years ago and, once again, he would ask people not to bother buying the reissued LPs or CDs."The singer made a similar move in August 2008, asking fans not to buy a DVD of one of his live shows, 'Live At The Hollywood Bowl', describing the arm art as "appalling".