Whistleblower cautions on July 4 about Americans’ loss of liberties

Chatham, N.Y. Frank Serpico, the whistle-blowing ex-New York City cop, criticized the government’s anti-terrorism measures at a July Fourth reading of the Declaration of Independence.

“It is my opinion that never before have we, as a nation, stood in greater danger of losing our individual liberties as we are today,” he said. “We, the people of this great nation, are being punished for the transgressions of our leaders and their consorts.”

Despite catcalls from the audience, he continued with his statement before moving on to the text of the historic document.

“When I still have the freedom to speak, I’ll always use it,” said Serpico, best known for fighting corruption within the police department in the 1960s.

Bowie knifes British media

London Veteran rocker David Bowie said he would never live in Britain again because the news media are so obsessed with celebrities.

The 55-year-old singer, who has lived in the United States for a decade, said he and his family would have no private life if he came back to his native country.

“The pure inconvenience of having a camera lens stuck in either my face or my wife and child’s face every morning, I think would certainly be a deterrent to me wanting to come back to live here on a permanent basis,” he told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday.

“Even being here a couple of days, I mean, this is a really different place,” said Bowie, who is promoting his new album, “Heathen.” “It’s astounding how media-driven London is.”

Director works past stereotype of emotionless American Indians

Taipei, Taiwan Action film director John Woo says Western films often have given viewers the mistaken idea that American Indians are without emotion.

“Whenever we saw the Indian character on the screen, he was very stoic,” Woo said during a recent promotional visit for his new movie, “Windtalkers.”

“We didn’t know what they were thinking, or what they were feeling. We never saw them smile or cry. They seemed to be faceless,” he said. “In this film, I wanted to show their real character.”

“Windtalkers,” which stars Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater, is the story of American Indians recruited as Marines and trained to use their language as code during World War II.

Ad-lib turns into a life-saver

New York What young ladies haven’t dreamed of a bit of mouth-to-mouth from Matthew McConaughey? And thank goodness he really knows how to do it.

The actor resuscitated a sound man from “Access Hollywood” who had suffered a seizure during an interview at the Regency Hotel for McConaughey’s new film “Reign of Fire,” reports The New York Daily News.

McConaughey sustained the man until medics arrived and took over. The man is reportedly in good condition.