'TBH Politoons'
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Humor Gazette
But Untrue
Strangely Believable
In 1986, George W. Bush's political advisor Karl Rove received an NEA grant to publish a book that consisted of nothing but his own signature in a variety of flowery scripts.
~Jeff Crook
Jeff Crook is the Ceci Connolly of the Left. ~ J. Howard Tuft
Strangely Believable but Untrue is now available online at the Untrue Fact of the Day web calendar. Help spread disinformation and misunderstanding by sharing this with your friends and enemies.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jack Rotfeld: Please Waste Your Money on Me
It sounds impressive when the experts interviewed on NPR or the evening news are not merely professors, but the Daddy Warbucks Eminent Professor of Moneymaking or the Dithers Distinguished Professor of Management. These special named professorships are commonly called "endowed chairs" since they are created with the help of special donations or endowments to supplement the salary for a distinguished faculty member. While these positions were at one time almost-rare special opportunities at prestigious schools or programs, today almost every U.S. university has multiple endowed positions all over campus. At some schools these chairs are so numerous that even junior faculty might hold a specially named position. People of my age or experience that I see at conferences either hold an endowed chair or are actively seeking one.
Dan Murphy: The Dangerous Life of an Iraqi Policeman
Increasingly the target of choice for insurgents, security forces are dying at a rate of 4 to 1 compared with U.S. troops.
Mark Morford: God Does Not Cause Tsunamis
And like millions of Americans, I was on a reasonably relaxing and relatively effortless holiday break with my family when the earthquake/tsunami devastated Asia.
Meg Cabot's Blog: ***Every Boy's Got One Tour, Days 3-4***
Dear Betty, the Lady Who Patted Me Down in the Security Line at Memphis International Airport: Hi, Betty! Remember me? I'm the passenger who asked, hopefully, "What does it mean when they punch a star into my boarding pass? That I'm going to get STAR treatment all the way to Louisville?" And your boss replied, "No, it means we have to give you a full body pat down. Step behind the yellow line, please. Betty, female pat down!"
Interview With Meg Cabot, Author Of "The Princess Diaries"
I was inspired to write "The Princess Diaries" when my mom, after the death of my father, began dating one of my teachers, just as Mia's mom does in the book! I have always had a "thing" for princesses (my parents used to joke that when I was little, I did a lot of insisting that my "real" parents, the king and queen, were going to come get me soon, and that everyone had better start being a LOT nicer to me) so I stuck a princess in the book just for kicks . . . and VOILA! The Princess Diaries was born. The voice of Mia, of course, is taken directly from my own diaries that I kept when I was in high school . . . I was pretty much a huge geek in high school--although I was pretty involved with the school's drama group. Most of what's in my journals from those days is about boys, boys, boys, and that's why I am the only one who is allowed to look at them! It is too embarrassing!
Dear Fan of Count Olaf ,
If you are looking for information about Lemony Snicket, you're probably ugly. This website is filled with nonsense about a series of books. Everyone knows that the only thing more boring than reading one book is reading a series of books, and the only thing more boring than that is reading a website about a series of books. The one section worth visiting here is "My Movie," which is spectacular! Why not visit someplace altogether more entertaining, good-looking, and smart, like www.countolaf.com? It's filled with so many pictures of me, even someone like you will look good!
Kids Books
Reader Suggestion
Re: ken lay's site
hi marty
first, glad to hear the rain has stopped. I love rain but I know LA wasn't built to handle THAT much rain (esp. when they started paving everything). It used to be able to receive a lot of rain but that's back when there was more land and less concrete.
your story today about ken lay says "One of the first thing people see when they put the search words "Enron" or "Ken Lay" into search engines such as Google, Yahoo and AOL is a link to kenlayinfo.com. When a person clicks on that link, Lay pays the search engine between about 5 cents and 12 cents."
So here's my idea...if a LOT of us just click on the web site (takes what? a nanosecond?), maybe we can break him. Not that I'm a big fan of Google, Yahoo or AOL, but heck, I'd rather make them money than let kennyboy keep his. We don't have to actually DO anything when we go to the kennyboy website, just click then leave.
just a thought.
stay dry.
ducks
Thanks, ducks!
I think your idea has great merit!
Reader Comment
Re: 'Lost'
Wow! I thought it was just me. Yes, it DID run long by a few minutes last night. I was so engrossed in the story and so uninterested in what came on next (on any channel) that I didn't get too upset. But you're right--I'm getting tired of the networks playing this game of having an episode go long or start early just to screw up everything in their attempt to make you watch one channel all night (as if!).
Linda >^..^<
Thanks, Linda!
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Purple Gene Reviews
'The Aviator'
Purple Genes' review of the movie the "The Aviator" (2004) directed by Martin Scorsese:
"There's clouds in Oakland - there's clouds in Oakland" !!!! These were the triumphant words of Howard Hughes' chief meteorologist Dr Fitz (played by Ian Holm) that saved the day for the filming of "Hell's Angels".
Howard Hughes moved his whole filming operation up here from southern California so that the plane fighting sequences being filmed in the air would have clouds to accent and define the speed and action. "Hell's Angels" was the most expensive film ever made at the time and it almost didn't get done - because the skies in southern California were CLEAR!!!! Well, today "There's clouds in Oakland" and as I look out my window, I wonder what it was like in 1928 ?????
Martin Scorsese has managed to meticulously make a movie about a maniac and a mechanic….but Scorsese also tells a story about one of the most famous and then unfamous characters to ever come along. Howard Hughes took big chances back then and became the richest man in the world……as well as a babe magnet….but part of the story behind Hughes is his developing obsessive compulsive disorder and his desire to be the first, the fastest and the best!! He did pretty good - for twenty years…and then he crashed…..
Howard Hughes (Leonardo DeCaprio - "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" - "Titanic" - "Gangs of New York") comes to Hollywood from Texas in 1927 to make a silent film…a war movie called "Hell's Angels"….he gets Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani - "No Doubt") to star in it…he also manage to spend almost 4 Million, an unheard of amount at the time, and in the midst of production, decides to make "Hell's Angels" a "Talkie". Well the movie was a hit and Hughes started dating starlets and he ran into Katherine HepburnCate Blanchett - "Elizabeth" - "The Missing" - "Life Aquatic")…..went to meet he parents (disaster) …let her fly his plane (Thrilling)…..and lived with her in Hollywood. Howard starts dating Ava Gardner and Kate Hepburn falls in love with a married Spencer Tracy (Howard later on loyally helps hide this affair) and all the while he is still making movies and designing and building Airplanes…and Bras (there's a great scene in the movie where Howard had designed a cleavage pumping pneumatic bra for Jane Russell in "The Outlaw" and proved to the censorship commission with calipers that there was no more cleavage showing than in movies that they had already approved!)
So now it's the forties and there is a war on and Howards' company TWA is fighting Pan Am for the control of transcontinental commercial traffic……Howard has developed a carrier that can make the flight by flying higher and using less gas….but Pan Am has ties to the federal government through an ambitious senator Owen Brewster (Alan Alda - "Hawkeye" - "Same Time next Year" - "The Seduction of Joe Tynan")…..we have congressional hearing and Howard, who has become completely consumed by his obsessive compulsive behavior, crashed a plane in Hollywood and almost died, and is deteriorating in self induced insane isolation, must clean up and shave and go before the public one more time……..So Howard goes before Congress and exposes senator Brewster for his monopolizing and manipulating…and then proves to the world that his final invention nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" - a hemongous transport plane - can actually fly……..Rev up those 8 engines - lets go straight into that 15 mph head wind….let's fly this baby…..just this once…..
This 160 minute movie ends on a high note! But as we all know, Howard Hughes went into hiding for the rest of his life and diseappeared into Oblivion……Who knows, if there hadn't been "Clouds in Oakland", this whole story might have never happened….. Purple Gene gives "The Aviator" 9 neatly lined up urine jars out of 10 for Scorseses' making of a "Pisser" of a good movie!
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast, cool, but no rain.
The kid has grown an inch since Thanksgiving.
Hosting 47th Grammy Awards Show
Queen Latifah
Oscar-nominated actress Queen Latifah is presiding over the music industry's biggest annual event - the 47th annual Grammy Awards.
She also will perform during CBS' Feb. 13 broadcast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences said. "Queen Latifah is an extraordinary renaissance artist with unparalleled style and substance, and her passion, talent and personality make her an excellent choice as host for our show," NARAS President Neil Portnow said in a statement Thursday.
Queen Latifah
No HBO In VA?
'Ali G'
British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen escaped a near-riot at an American rodeo while filming his satirical "Da Ali G Show."
According to a report in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times, a man who was introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan -- in reality a Cohen character named Borat -- appeared at the rodeo over the weekend after organizers agreed to have him sing the national anthem.
After telling the crowd he supported America's war on terrorism, he said, "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards ... And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq." He then sang a garbled version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The Roanoke Times reported that the crowd turned "downright nasty." One observer said "If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him."
'Ali G'
Defied Pentagon Ban
Coffin Footage
The Pentagon ban on newspaper and TV images of coffins returning from Iraq suffered an unexpected jolt in Louisiana yesterday.
A Louisiana National Guard unit defied a Pentagon request to prevent television news crews from filming six flag-draped soldiers' coffins arriving in the state following the men's deaths in Iraq last week, according to a report by CBS News.
The Louisiana National Guard allowed a CBS crew to film the arrival of six soldiers' coffins at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, La., near New Orleans. Lt. Col. Pete Schneider, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard, told CBS: "What we thought was, we're going to do what the family asked us to do."
Coffin Footage
Dress Stolen From Museum
Gwen Stefani
A red vinyl dress worn by pop singer Gwen Stefani of the group No Doubt for the band's first hit album has been stolen from a museum.
The dress, which was on a mannequin behind a Plexiglas wall, disappeared Tuesday afternoon from an exhibit dedicated to the history of rock music in Orange County.
Stefani, 35, who attended high school and college in the county, wore the sleeveless dress with matching red boots for the cover of the 1995 album "Tragic Kingdom," which included the hits "Don't Speak" and "Just a Girl" and sold about 15 million copies worldwide.
Gwen Stefani
Not Payola?
Armstrong Williams
A member of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday the agency should investigate whether conservative commentator Armstrong Williams broke the law by failing to disclose that the Bush administration paid him $240,000 to plug its education policies.
Williams said that neither he nor any of the stations that carried his syndicated program violated the law because two one-minute ads that aired during the show, and that also pr aired during the show, and that also promoted the law, specifically stated they were paid for by the Education Department.
Williams, a nationally syndicated radio, print and television personality, was paid by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. The contract required Williams' company to produce radio and TV ads that promote the controversial law and feature one-minute "reads" by Education Secretary Rod Paige.
Armstrong Williams
Payola?
Dave Universal
The firing of Dave Universal from Entercom Communication Corp.-owned WKSE-FM comes amid increasing scrutiny of the relationship between the recording industry and the broadcasters who play their songs. Universal was accused of taking a trip to Miami that was paid for by a record label, and attending sporting events arranged by music executives, The New York Times reported.
While Universal's alleged dealings were apparently directly with music executives, the broader issue of record companies' attempts to influence play lists - particularly through the hiring of independent promoters - has been getting attention from several fronts concerned about a new form of "payola."
A 1960 U.S. federal law in response to payola revelations made it a crime to accept money or other inducements to give records airplay, unless the payment was disclosed to listeners.
Dave Universal
Has 'Wardrobe Malfunction'
Naomi Campbell
Wardrobe malfunction or fashion statement? That's what Brazilians were left wondering Thursday, a day after top model Naomi Campbell paraded with her breasts bared at Fashion Rio - a weeklong event of fall/winter collections, which ends Friday.
Campbell kicked off the fashion show for the TNG label in a simple white flower print dress, topped with a white mink stole.
But less than halfway down the runway, the sleeveless deep V-neck dress proved more revealing than perhaps designer Tito Bessa had intended. It wasn't clear if a strap or button had come undone or whether it simply fit Campbell loosely.
Naomi Campbell
Screening at Berlin Fest
'Heaven's Gate'
A newly restored and uncut version of Michael Cimino's epic 1980 western, the financially disastrous "Heaven's Gate," will screen at the Berlin International Film Festival (Feb. 10-20), organizers said Thursday.
Cimino's monumental depiction of the 1890s Johnson County Wars in Wyoming was the director's follow-up to his Oscar-winning Vietnam classic "The Deer Hunter." But "Heaven's Gate," which featured an all-star cast including Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt and Isabelle Huppert, was a box office flop blamed for single-handedly bringing down production studio United Artists.
'Heaven's Gate'
National Museum of the American Indian
Felipe Rose
Felipe Rose, the Indian dude from the singing group the Village People, presented the National Museum of the American Indian with a framed, gold 45-rpm single of the disco group's 1978 megahit "Y.M.C.A." on Wednesday afternoon.
And the museum happily and ceremoniously accepted it (a Lakota prayer was sung first, then everyone danced to "Y.M.C.A."), on the precept that sooner or later they might need such an artifact of a bygone era, perhaps to flesh out a future exhibit on the folkloric value of disco, and native cultural responses to it.
Rose, who is part Lakota Sioux, missed the big opening of the museum last September. He said he really wanted to go, but the Village People were on tour with Cher.
So he began to think if there was some other way he could contribute. "It was a stab in the dark, really," Rose said. He "just called up" the museum and asked if they wanted his gold record. "I didn't know how they would react. And they were so great. I guess when it went before the board they just instantly voted and agreed it would be a good thing to have."
For a lot more, Felipe Rose
Ordered Removed In Georgia
Evolution Stickers
A federal judge Thursday ordered a suburban Atlanta school system to remove stickers from its high school biology textbooks that call evolution "a theory, not a fact," saying the disclaimers are an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
"By denigrating evolution, the school board appears to be endorsing the well-known prevailing alternative theory, creationism or variations thereof, even though the sticker does not specifically reference any alternative theories," U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said.
The stickers were put inside the books' front covers by public school officials in Cobb County in 2002. They read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
Evolution Stickers
Angry Over Marley Plans
Jamaicans
Jamaicans reacted angrily Thursday to plans by Bob Marley's widow to exhume the reggae legend's remains and rebury them in Ethiopia, an African country holy to Rastafarians, saying it would rob the Caribbean island of its national heritage.
Speaking Wednesday in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, Rita Marley said the reburial would occur after February celebrations in Jamaica and Ethiopia marking Bob Marley's 60th birthday and has the support of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Ethiopian government officials.
Mrs. Marley said her late husband would be reburied in Shashemene, 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Addis Ababa, where several hundred Rastafarians have lived since they were given land by Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie.
Jamaicans
Part of New CNN Headline Shows
Nancy Grace
A nightly talk show with hard-charging legal analyst Nancy Grace and a live program with entertainment news will be part of CNN Headline's revamped prime-time lineup.
"Showbiz Tonight," "Nancy Grace" and the summary newscast "Prime News Tonight" will air back-to-back-to-back from 7-10 p.m. EST on weeknights beginning Feb. 21, the news channel announced Wednesday.
Grace, a former prosecutor, and her guests will examine legal issues, prominent trials and cases involving those who may have been wrongly convicted. The show airs at 8 p.m. EST.
She will also continue anchoring live daily trial coverage on Court TV's "Closing Argument."
Nancy Grace
Accused of Stereotyping Muslims
Faux TV
The Fox television network said on Thursday it will provide its stations with TV spots that portray Muslims in a favorable way after it received complaints for featuring followers of Islam as terrorists on its hit television show "24."
On Monday, Fox premiered the fourth season of "24." The drama featured an upper-middle class Muslim family operating as a sleeper terrorist cell. The Muslim mother poisons her son's non-Muslim girlfriend because it was feared the girl could jeopardize the terrorists' plan.
A Fox spokesman said it would provide public service announcements sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to its affiliate stations. Local television executives can decide if and when to use the spots.
Faux TV
Returning to TV
'A Current Affair'
The flying "A Current Affair" triangle logo and distinctive theme are careening back to television. The syndicated news magazine show, which ran from 1986 to 1996, will return this spring with former NFL player, author and Fox Sports commentator Tim Green as host, Twentieth Television announced Thursday.
Maury Povich and Maureen O'Boyle served as anchors during its initial run.
'A Current Affair'
In Memory
Oleta Kirk Abrams
Oleta Kirk Abrams, who co-founded the nation's first rape crisis center nearly 35 years ago, died Saturday at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, her daughter said. She was 77.
In 1971, Abrams helped found Bay Area Women Against Rape, which still serves hundreds of women each year from its Oakland offices.
Abrams, known as "Lee," founded the nonprofit organization after her 15-year-old foster daughter was raped in a stairwell of Berkeley High School and then treated rudely by authorities.
The girl was not allowed to phone home and was kept from her family at the police station, according to news reports about the incident. At the hospital, the girl was kept waiting an hour before a doctor arrived. In the room, he made jokes, but never checked the girl for pregnancy or venereal disease, according to the reports.
Infuriated, Abrams and two other women founded the organization, which now offers a 24-hour rape crisis hot line, counseling, educational programs and survivor advocacy services to women of all ages.
Oleta Kirk Abrams
In Memory
Spencer Dryden
Spencer Dryden, the drummer for legendary rock band the Jefferson Airplane, has died of cancer. He was 66.
Dryden, who died at his home Tuesday, retired from performing 10 years ago, although he hadn't been working much before that.
A benefit concert last year featuring Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule and raised $36,000 for Dryden, who was in the middle of two hip replacement surgeries and was facing heart surgery at the time. His Petaluma home and all his possessions had been destroyed in a fire in September 2003. He also had been diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Dryden was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 for his work with the Jefferson Airplane during the band's glory years - from the breakthrough 1967 "Surrealistic Pillow" album through historic rock festivals such as Woodstock and Altamont.
Born in New York City, Dryden moved with his parents when he was an infant to Los Angeles.
He attended Glendale High School and graduated from the Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad in 1955. He played in some early rock bands but soon drifted toward jazz and was working as a drummer at the Hollywood strip club the Pink Pussycat when session drummer Earl Palmer recommended him to the Airplane's manager.
He replaced Skip Spence, who went on to start another Fillmore-era San Francisco rock group, Moby Grape. During his stint with the Airplane, Dryden had an affair with the band's female vocalist, Grace Slick, and his marriage to the former Sally Mann was covered extensively in Rolling Stone magazine. He left the band in 1970.
Dryden replaced Mickey Hart in the Grateful Dead sideline country-rock band, New Riders of the Purple Sage, in February 1971 and stayed with that group until 1978.
In the '80s, he joined a group of psychedelic rock veterans called the Dinosaurs that played informally around the San Francisco Bay area along with former members of Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Country Joe and the Fish. When the other band members reunited for a 1989 Jefferson Airplane reunion album and tour, Dryden was not invited.
He last appeared in public in November, after he was already being treated for cancer, signing autographs and shaking hands at a release party for the DVD of Jefferson Airplane video clips.
He was married three times and is survived by three sons; Jeffrey, Jes and Jackson Dryden. Plans for a memorial concert are pending.
Spencer Dryden
In Memory
James Arthur "Jimmy" Griffin
James Arthur "Jimmy" Griffin, who was a founding member of the 1970s pop group Bread and shared an Oscar for co-writing "For All We Know," died of complications from cancer. He was 61.
Griffin, who died Tuesday at his home in Franklin, sang harmony and played guitar with Bread, whose soft-rock hits included "Make It With You," "Baby I'm-a Want You" and "Everything I Own."
"For All We Know," from the movie "Lovers and Other Strangers," won a 1970 Academy Award and was a hit for The Carpenters. Griffin also wrote such country hits as Conway Twitty's "Who's Gonna Know" and Restless Heart's "You Can Depend On Me."
Griffin was raised in Memphis and moved to Hollywood, Calif., in the early 1960s. He, David Gates and Robb Royer released Bread's debut album in 1968.
Griffin left the band in 1973 and rejoined in 1976 before it broke up in a swirl of rancor and lawsuits.
In the 1980s, Griffin formed Black Tie with former Eagles member Randy Meisner, and he became a regular on the Nashville scene in the early 1990s with the band the Remingtons.
He is survived by his wife, Marti, a daughter and a son.
James Arthur "Jimmy" Griffin
