'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jules Siegel: Crashing the Gate (Cafe Cancun. Posted on Alternet.org)
Their book is at once awesomely inspiring and profoundly depressing. Devoting themselves almost entirely to analysis of political technique rather than ideology, Armstrong and Moulitsas describe the massive superiority of the Republicans in creating and deploying political infrastructure, the greedy incompetence of the Democratic consultants who enrich themselves while losing again and again, the fanatic single-issue pressure groups that have made it impossible for the Democratic party to present a unified, disciplined public image.
Terrence McNally: What Is Plan B? (AlterNet.org)
Eradicate poverty, reforest the earth, restore fisheries, eliminate overgrazing, protect biological diversity, stabilize climate -- Lester Brown says it's all possible.
Annalee Newitz: The Kings of Creepy (AlterNet.org)
On privacy issues, Microsoft may not be as bad as you think -- but Google may not be as good.
Cindy Sheehan: 'My arrest: What really happened' (smirkingchimp.com)
As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened:
JIM HOLT: CODE-BREAKER (newyorker.com)
The life and death of Alan Turing
Susan Carpenter: Don't call them misfits (latimes.com)
Underground artists are designing toys that serve more as lowbrow art than plaything.
Joel Stein: Sex, boys and video games (latimes.com)
Turns out that it's hard to offend today's 17-year-old males. Porn in 'Grand Theft Auto'? Ho-hum.
Hollis Gillespie: Teenage prostitute to the stars (clnlb.us.publicus.com)
The vital importance of absolute truth in memoirs
Be Heart Smart (prevention.com)
Is the worry over your cholesterol raising your blood pressure? If so, kill two birds with...8 simple nutrition principles. By taking these small steps toward health, you'll see BIG results in matters of the heart.
Political Fact Sheets
Hubert's Poetry Corner
LIES COSTING LIVES
Wonders... "Why Me?"
Avery Ant
For those about to read (I salute you) Satan's New Image
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but not as warm.
Added a new flag - French Polynesia.
The Edge and U2 Offer Aid
New Orleans
In 2005, after Katrina devastated New Orleans - a city he calls "very unique and very special" - The Edge was inspired to try to help. The result was Music Rising.
For The Edge, aka David Evans, that relief work topped off a packed year of touring, family trauma and five Grammy nominations for U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." The Grammys will be handed out Wednesday.
The normally soft-spoken guitarist, 44, grows passionate when he talks about Katrina's impact and his efforts to help with Music Rising, which he organized along with Gibson Guitar, the Guitar Center Music Education Foundation and the MusicCares Foundation.
In the early '90s, a visit with Bono to a small New Orleans club had an unexpected impact.
New Orleans
Receives Key to Newark
Russell Simmons
Hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons received a key to the city Thursday for his dedication to young people.
About 2,000 students from Weequahic High School attended the presentation for the 48-year-old co-founder of Def Jam Records, creator of HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" and chairman of Rush Communications, which includes his Phat clothing empire.
Newark Mayor Sharpe James honored Simmons for his work with the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, a group Simmons founded to help at-risk youth.
Russell Simmons
Tribute In New York
Arthur Miller
Eli Wallach, Marian Seldes and Frances Sternhagen will be among the readers next week at a tribute to Arthur Miller, whose collected works are being published by the Library of America.
The readings are to take place Feb. 10, the first anniversary of Miller's death, at St. Bartholomew's Church in midtown Manhattan. The event, for which admission is free, is sponsored by TIPA (Toward International Peace Through the Arts), a nonprofit organization. Miller's sister, Joan Copeland, will also appear at the reading.
Arthur Miller
Uproar Gathers Pace
Cartoon 'Blasphemy'
An international row over newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad gathered pace on Thursday as more European dailies printed controversial Danish caricatures and Muslims increased pressure to stop them.
A dozen Palestinian gunmen surrounded European Union offices in the Gaza Strip demanding an apology for the cartoons, one of which shows Islam's founder wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Muslims consider any images of Mohammad to be blasphemous.
Afghanistan condemned the publication of the caricatures and about 400 Islamic school students set fire to French and Danish flags in protest in the city of Multan in central Pakistan.
Cartoon 'Blasphemy'
Jyllands Posten Muhammed Cartoons
(all the cartoons)
When Fundies Attack
Chad Allen
"End of the Spear," a movie that depicts the slaying of Protestant missionaries in South America, is provoking a side debate among some religious conservatives because lead actor Chad Allen has advocated for gay causes.
"Spear" tells the true story of bush pilot Nate Saint, played by Allen, and four colleagues who were killed 50 years ago by jungle tribesmen in Ecuador whom they wanted to evangelize. The film opened at No. 10 in U.S. box office rankings, and was 14th last weekend, beating features in wider release including "King Kong."
Protests about Allen originated with sharperiron.org, the Web site of the Rev. Jason Janz, a self-described fundamentalist and assistant pastor of Red Rocks Baptist Church in Lakewood, Colo.
Jim Hanon, director of the movie, confirmed in an interview that Every Tribe learned the information about Allen a week after the commitment was made in 2004.
Hanon, an evangelical Protestant, said: "We don't endorse Chad's lifestyle. We disagree with him on homosexuality, and we knew some in our audience would be sensitive to it. But we decided to proceed." Hanon said if the company had known about Allen beforehand "he probably would not have been offered the role."
Chad Allen
'Lost' Actor Delivers State Senate Praye
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
One of the actors of the ABC series "Lost" left behind his star power to promote a different type of strength among local lawmakers - harmony and hope.
Dressed in a simple gray suit draped with a single strand of maile leaves, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a devout Buddhist, quietly delivered the traditional, daily prayer before the state Senate on Tuesday.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays the character of Mr. Eko, a former African drug lord who had taken on the identity of a Roman Catholic priest. The series is filmed in Hawaii.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje was invited to deliver the invocation by Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-Lanikai-Waimanalo, after the senator saw the episode featuring Eko's story.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Divorce News
Locklear - Sambora
After 11 years of marriage, actress Heather Locklear has filed for divorce from rocker Richie Sambora, her publicist said Thursday.
"This is a private matter and there will be no further comment at this time," CeCe Yorke said in a statement.
Locklear and Sambora were married in 1994. Their daughter, Ava Elizabeth, is 8.
Locklear - Sambora
Faith-Based Second Sight
Christian Psychics
A conservative advocacy group that urged a boycott of NBC's recently canceled drama about a pill-popping priest turned its wrath on Thursday to an upcoming "Will & Grace" episode that it says will mock Christ's crucifixion.
In the episode, scheduled to air on April 13, Jack's fictional TV network is bought by a Christian broadcaster, leading Britney Spears' character to do an Easter cooking segment on Jack's show called "Cruci-fixin's."
Mississippi-based American Family Association immediately raised objections to the planned episode, saying it "mocks the crucifixion of Christ" and will "further denigrate Christianity" by airing the night before Good Friday.
The advocacy group called on its supporters to urge network affiliates to refuse to run the episode and to write letters of protest to NBC executives. It also included an appeal for a "small donation to help us in this effort."
Christian Psychics
Opera Video Angers Religiously Insane Parents
'Faust'
Some parents in prairie town Bennett (CO) are angry with an elementary school music teacher for showing pupils a video about the opera "Faust," whose title character sells his soul to the devil in exchange for being young again.
Tresa Waggoner showed approximately 250 first-, second- and third-graders at Bennett Elementary portions of a 33-year-old series titled "Who's Afraid of Opera" a few weeks ago.
The video features the soprano Dame Joan Sutherland and three puppet friends discussing Gounod's "Faust." Waggoner thought it would be a good introduction to opera.
School Superintendent George Sauter said the teacher should not have shown the video to children below the fourth grade but will not lose her job. She has sent letter of apology to all elementary school parents in Bennett, population 2,400 and about 25 miles east of Denver on Colorado's eastern plains.
"I was definitely not sensitive to the conservative nature of the community, and I've learned that," Waggoner said in Sunday's editions of The Denver Post. "However, from what has been said about me, that I'm a Satan worshipper, my character, I can't believe all of this. My intention was just to expose the kids to opera."
'Faust'
'Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll'
Marilyn Manson
Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson will play "Alice in Wonderland" author Lewis Carroll in a movie that also marks his writing and directing debut.
Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, is heading to the upcoming Berlin Film Festival's European Film Market to drum up financial support for "Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll," which is budgeted at about $4.2 million.
Manson will attend Berlin to preview some of the music he has composed for the film as well as a trailer featuring the production's early art and costume design.
Marilyn Manson
Sells Entire Stake in Universal
Matsushita
Ending its 15-year investment in Hollywood, Japan's Matsushita Electric said Thursday it is selling its remaining 7.66 percent stake in Universal Studios Holding to Vivendi Universal, which said the deal was worth $1.15 billion.
After the deal is closed Feb. 7, the French entertainment company will own 100 percent of Universal Studios Holding I Corp., up from the current 92 percent.
The move marks the final chapter in the unraveling of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s ambitious $6 billion purchase of the Hollywood studio more than a decade ago - a period when other Japanese electronics makers like Sony Corp and Pioneer Corp. were similarly buying up U.S. entertainment companies.
Matsushita
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