'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Suggestion
YouTube
I like this particular video on youtube, a slide show of bush using "nowhere man" by the beatles. It's short and you can't go wrong listening to the beatles.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Gonzales Blames Legal Challenges For Five Year Delay In Bringing Gitmo Detainees To Trial (thinkprogress.org)
The track record of the Guantanamo detention program "can be summed up quite simply: five years, zero convictions." More than 770 captives have been held there and just 10 have been charged with crimes.
JIM KUHNHENN: House passes student loan interest bill (Associated Press)
The Democratic-controlled House voted overwhelmingly to cut interest rates on need-based student loans Wednesday, steadily whittling its list of early legislative priorities.
Annalee Newitz: The Stop Online Expression Act (AlterNet.org)
A new bill is the latest attempt to curtail free expression online by raising the specter of child abuse.
Nick Pinto: Drinking Liberally: A New Strategy for Progressive Politics (AlterNet.org)
Social club? Revolution? A new progressive organization takes politics into the barroom and just about everywhere else.
Joel Stein: Posh and Becks come home: Angelenos are getting what they want -- glitzy, pointless fame (latimes.com)
THERE IS AN ugly self-hatred among Angelenos. We're so ashamed of L.A.'s vapidness that we insist the city is actually a secret hotbed of intelligentsia, throwing a "festival of books," building giant museums we have no artwork to fill and trying to trick billionaires into believing that it's still super-important to own a newspaper.
Sally Schultheiss: Getting by on gift cards (latimes.com)
MY HUSBAND and I couldn't pay our bills this month. We wrote checks from one credit card company to pay another. Our mortgage was past due, our cable TV was shut off, and we are still sharing a cellphone. Last week, I had to ask my son's preschool to wait to cash the tuition check.
SCOTT FREEMAN: James Brown: Soul Brother No. 1 (1933-2006) (atlanta.creativeloafing.com)
The story of a Georgian who rose from poverty to become a cultural icon, as told by the people who knew him best
Sites for When You are Bored
Reader Correction Correction
Re: Treeline
William wrote:
You DO know that yahoo screwed it up, the treeline didn't move North (i.e. in latitude) it moves *up* in altitude.
WRONG
The tree line does in fact move up in latitude, there is a point in both the northern and southern hemisphere where due to seasonal cold and lack of direct sunlight because of the Earth's tilt trees can't grow .
I lived in the arctic and sub arctic for a bunch of years so I can attest to the fact.
One peculiar exception is shown in this photo.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Billy Crystal Serenades
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali celebrated his 65th birthday Wednesday night watching his old friend Billy Crystal perform at Arizona State University.
The former heavyweight champion joined the comedian on stage, receiving a minute-long standing ovation from the crowd and a cake from Crystal's wife.
The nearly 2,000 people who came to see Crystal's one-man show, "700 Sundays," chanted "Ali! Ali! Ali!"
Crystal and Ali held up fists in a mock stare-down as Crystal's wife, Janice, came out with a cake with one candle lit. Ali dipped his finger in the cake and, arm in arm, the boxer and the comedian blew out the candle and walked off stage.
Muhammad Ali
Awarded French Legion d'honneur
Harold Pinter
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin awarded Nobel prize-winning British playwright Harold Pinter the French Legion d'honneur during a visit to London.
At a ceremony that took place at the residence of the French ambassador to London, the French prime minister reflected on Pinter's influence on himself, saying: "Your words express the anguish and the torrent that is human life."
Pinter, 76, who received the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature, is a fervent critic of the war in Iraq, and has branded Blair a "deluded idiot".
At the ceremony, Pinter praised France for its tough stance against the Iraq war, and spoke very strongly against the conflict.
Harold Pinter
Stephen Colbert & Blake Edwards To Be Honored
U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
Stephen Colbert and Blake Edwards will be honored at the upcoming U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
Colbert, host of "The Colbert Report" on Viacom Inc.'s Comedy Central, will receive the inaugural Person of the Year Award. Edwards will be honored in the Filmmaker Tribute, organizers said Wednesday.
The festival runs Feb. 28-March 4 in Aspen.
U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
News Chief Takes Swipe At O'Really
NBC
Bill O'Reilly's criticism of NBC News as a liberal-leaning network is "really kind of sad and pathetic," the network's news president said.
Steve Capus attributed the Fox News Channel host's criticism of the network to O'Reilly's ongoing feud with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
"I think it's really kind of sad and pathetic, some of the things that he's been lobbing at us these days," Capus told reporters Wednesday. "I don't quite understand it. I assume it's because Keith Olbermann has had such tremendous growth and there's real momentum behind Keith's broadcast."
NBC
Controversy Grows
Isaiah Washington
The heated controversy at ABC's top show, "Grey's Anatomy," boiled over Thursday as the network rebuked co-star Isaiah Washington for an anti-gay comment and Washington issued a lengthy apology.
"We are greatly dismayed that Mr. Washington chose to use such inappropriate language at the Golden Globes, language that he himself deemed `unfortunate' in his previous public apology," the network said in a statement.
ABC said in its statement it has "a longstanding policy to maintain respectful workplaces" for its employees, adding that the network had "dealt with the original situation in October, and thought the issue resolved."
Isaiah Washington
End Lawsuits
Minnelli & Gest
Liza Minnelli and husband David Gest have patched things up to the point that they can now get divorced.
Legal disputes between the two ended Thursday when their lawyers filed court papers saying they had settled their differences and agreed to get divorced without fault.
Gest's lawyer, Susan M. Moss, said the two will be divorced "within the next few weeks" in Memphis, Tenn., where Gest has a home. Moss said the couple chose Tennessee because the state, unlike New York, has no-fault divorce.
The agreement to file for a no-fault divorce in Tennessee means neither party has to accuse the other of wrongdoing.
Minnelli & Gest
Video Games Fan
Stan Lee
As superheroes are adopted by a new generation of video gamers, one man hopes this will give them a new life force -- comic book creator Stan Lee.
Lee, creator of Marvel Comics superheroes such as Spider-Man, the Hulk and the X-Men, thinks video games are "the ultimate in entertainment" -- even though he can't play them.
"Video games are more exciting, more colorful and more complex than motion pictures," said Lee, 85, an outspoken showman who has thrilled fans for more than four decades with stories about superheroes who struggle with human flaws.
Stan Lee
Hefty Pay Rise
Kyra Sedgwick
Fresh off her Golden Globe win, "The Closer" star Kyra Sedgwick has scored a pay rise that makes her one of the highest-paid actresses on television.
Sources said she is getting a significant salary bump to $250,000-$300,000 per episode of TNT's hit police drama, including one-time bonuses. Representatives for TNT and Sedgwick declined comment on the specifics of the deal.
The pact also adds a year to her original contract, keeping her on "The Closer" for a total of seven seasons, and gives her a producer credit. The series is returning for a third season in the summer.
"The Closer" has emerged as the most-watched basic cable series ever. It averaged 6.6 million viewers last season, up 21% from Season 1, and ranked as the top ad-supported cable series of 2006 among adults 25-54. The detective drama's second-season premiere smashed the ratings record for a basic cable original scripted series with 8.3 million viewers.
Kyra Sedgwick
Claaes Up Texas Inaugural
Ted Nugent
Hours after Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his second full term in office, Ted Nugent helped him celebrate at a black-tie gala, but not all attendees were pleased by the rocker's performance.
Using machine guns as props, Nugent, 58, appeared onstage as the final act of the inaugural ball wearing a cutoff T-shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag and shouting offensive remarks about non-English speakers, according to people who were in attendance.
"I think it was a horrible choice," GOP strategist Royal Masset said. "I hope nobody approved it."
Ted Nugent
Broker Commission
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld's high-priced Manhattan home is going to cost him more than he thought, about $100,000 more.
A Manhattan judge has ruled the 52-year-old comedian owes about that much as a commission to the broker who helped him find a town house on the Upper West Side that he and wife Jessica bought for $3.95 million in February 2005.
Seinfeld had argued that the broker, Tamara Cohen, didn't deserve the commission because she failed to show the West 82nd Street brownstone on the Jewish Sabbath, the day the Seinfelds wanted to see it.
The Seinfelds looked at the house and made a deal to buy it without Cohen after they were unable to reach her and she failed to return their calls.
Jerry Seinfeld
Expanding To 4 Hours
`Today'
NBC's "Today" show will add a fourth hour in September, stretching television's most popular and lucrative morning show nearly into lunchtime.
The fourth hour will likely resemble the current third hour, light on hard news and heavy on lifestyle segments, NBC executives said Wednesday. Al Roker and Ann Curry are currently hosts of the third hour, but NBC News President Steve Capus said it hasn't been determined who will do the fourth hour.
At the same time, NBC is canceling the soap opera "Passions." Both moves reflect a trend that advertisers have less interest in traditional daytime TV while morning news and entertainment is considered a growth area. Fox is introducing a new network morning show on Monday.
`Today'
Compulsory License Fee Raised
BBC
The annual license fees BBC viewers have to pay will increase to 151.50 (231 euros, 299 dollars) over the next six years under a deal announced by the government.
British Broadcasting Corporation director general Mark Thompson said he was a "little bit disappointed" by the 20-pound increase, adding that the broadcaster would have to review its future plans, although current services were guaranteed.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said the price of a color television license would rise from its current level of 131.50 pounds to 135.50 pounds from April 1 this year, reaching 151.50 pounds (231 euros, 299 dollars) in 2012.
BBC
2 More Installments
'Survivor'
The torch of CBS' "Survivor" will continue to burn for another year.
The network has ordered two more installments of the hit reality series to run next season. The deal will bring the editions of the Jeff Probst-hosted show to 16.
Despite its long run and increased competition, "Survivor" continues to be a formidable anchor of CBS' Thursday lineup in the 8 p.m. slot.
'Survivor'
In Memory
Art Buchwald
Columnist and author Art Buchwald, who for over four decades chronicled the life and times of Washington with an infectious wit and endeared himself to many with his never-say-die battle with failing kidneys, is dead at 81.
Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on Oct. 25, 1925, Buchwald had a difficult childhood. He and his three sisters were sent to foster homes when their mother was institutionalized for mental illness. Their father, a drapery salesman, suffered Depression-era financial troubles and couldn't afford them.
At 17, Buchwald ran away to join the Marines and spent 3 1/2 years in the Pacific during World War II, attaining the rank of sergeant and spending much of his time editing a Corps newspaper.
After the war, he enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he became managing editor of the campus humor magazine and a columnist for the student paper. But he dropped out in 1948 and headed for Paris on a one-way ticket.
He married Ann McGarry, of Warren, Pa., in London on Oct. 12, 1952. The writer and one-time fashion coordinator for Neiman-Marcus later wrote a book with her husband. They adopted three children.
She died in 1994. In 2000, Buchwald published his first novel, "Stella In Heaven: Almost a Novel," about a widower who can communicate with his deceased wife.
Buchwald is survived by son Joel Buchwald, of Washington; daughters Jennifer Buchwald, of Roxbury, Mass.; and Connie Buchwald Marks, of Culpeper, Va.; sisters Edith Jaffe, of Bellevue, Wash., and Doris Kahme, of Delray Beach, Fla., and Monroe Township, N.J.; and five grandchildren.
Art Buchwald
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