Jesse Ventura is back for another stab at TV stardom, this time hosting a program that digs into conspiracy theories, including alternate views of what was behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the purpose of a sprawling research center in remote Alaska.
The former Minnesota governor, professional wrestler and Navy SEAL stars in “Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura,” which premieres tonight on truTV. The cable network, part of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., has ordered seven episodes of the hourlong weekly series.
Ventura said on CNN’s “Larry King Live” Monday night that his new show doesn’t examine conspiracy theories involving the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy or the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but instead confines itself to the past decade.
The premiere episode deals with the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, a 35-acre compound of 180 antennas near Gakona, Alaska, that is used to study the Earth’s ionosphere. Ventura and those he interviews question whether the government is using the site to manipulate the weather or to bombard people with mind-controlling radio waves.
John Mellencamp’s 14-year-old son has started a social networking campaign on Facebook that he hopes will get his rocker dad to quit smoking.
The 58-year-old Mellencamp has said many times since his 1994 heart attack that he’s failed in trying to kick his decades-old habit. Mellencamp’s youngest son, Speck, says his dad has promised to quit if he gets 1 million people to join the Facebook group. More than 7,000 people had joined the group as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Facebook group is called: “1,000,000 to join, my dad john mellencamp will quit smoking.”
Alicia Keys says her first visit to Africa was so emotional and inspiring that she is ready to take others there to experience something similar.
The Grammy-winning singer is launching a contest through her charity, Keep a Child Alive, that will give five people an opportunity to visit the continent with her. She says her initial trip to Africa “totally changed my life.”
“Going to Africa was unbelievable for me,” the 28-year-old said.
“I was able to see the great separation between have and have not,” said Keys, who first went to Africa at age 19. “I was able to see the incredible spirit of people. I was able to learn firsthand about the AIDS pandemic of Africa.”
Fans will be able to enter the contest online at the foundation’s Web site, or by sending a text. The fee for the text is $5, but it will be donated to Keep a Child Alive.
Keys said the winners, who will travel throughout Africa for five days sometime next year, will visit the people and places that were most influential to her.
Just two weeks after publication, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s memoir has sold 1 million copies, a HarperCollins spokeswoman said Tuesday. The print run for “Going Rogue” has been increased again, to 2.8 million copies. The original printing was 1.5 million, then moved up to 2.5 million.
Associated Press
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