Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Elephants Resign (YouTube)
"Elephants Resign" is sponsored by the 50 State Strategy SuperPAC ( 50statestrategy.com ) We intend to air additional spots in republican held congressional districts throughout the nation.
Tom Danehy: Five years from now, a student writes a letter (Tucson Weekly)
Our assignment in class today is to write a letter to somebody famous or important, so, naturally, I chose you. I mean, there aren't many kids who can say that they attend a school named for one of their relatives. I like it here at the Al Melvin Secular Charter School, home of the Fighting Old White Guys. (Our principal wants to call our sports teams the FOWG-ies, but I don't think it will catch on.)
Kevin Drum: Soaking the Poor, State by State (Mother Jones)
And then there are state taxes. Those include state income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and fees of various kinds. How progressive are state taxes? Answer: They aren't.
Susan Estrich: Chasing Equality (Creators Syndicate)
Tuesday's ruling by a panel of three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holding unconstitutional the California ballot initiative that aimed to take the right to marry away from same-sex couples is hardly the last word in the debate.
Carolyn Kellogg: Online magazine, the Rumpus, embraces snail mail (Los Angeles Times)
Fans of the online literary magazine the Rumpus recently opened their mailboxes to find a missive from its founder, Stephen Elliott.
D. McCallum: 6 Comic Book Easter Eggs That Stuck It to The Man (Cracked)
All of us should have jobs where we can slip passive-aggressive "screw yous" to our enemies or our bosses right there in the work we produce. It must be very satisfying.
Ann Thwaite: Why I was happy when my parents died (Guardian)
After watching her father and mother suffer the effects of debilitating illness, the author Ann Thwaite explains why she rejoiced at news of her parents' deaths.
Lisa Levy: A Peaceful, but Very Interesting Pursuit (Rumpus)
Even after he published 'Prufrock' and 'The Waste Land,' T.S. Eliot continued to work his day job at a bank. The new volume of his letters reveals his financial anxieties and his unexpected attitude towards work and writing.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
Strange & Interesting Facts
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Interesting reading
Hi Marty,
Given the latest expressions of supposed "outrage" by the GOP leaders and
candidates regarding the Obama administration's new rule requiring employers
and insurers to provide reproductive health benefits, I found this to be
interesting reading:
Many Catholic Universities, Hospitals Already Cover Contraception In Their Health Insurance Plans | ThinkProgress
Barbara
Thanks, Barbara!
Can Seventh Day Adventist employers or Jehovah's Witness employers opt out of plans that cover blood transfusions?
Can Jewish or Muslim employers opt out of plans that do heart repairs with pig valves?
Can Christian Scientist employers opt out of plans that cover treatments for diseases?
Can Catholic employers selectively refuse to cover spouses of employees where one of the pair is a divorcee?
If religions want to maximize their investments with for-profit health services, they need to be in the health service business, not a selective service health business.
Years ago my insurance company sent me to a doctor for a 2nd opinion, but I left before the exam was finished.
When the insurance people asked why, I said the doctor was wearing a "WWJD" bracelet, and I didn't want a doctor who took second opinions from a carpenter.
The agent agreed, and I was sent to a real doctor (& I finally got better).
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mid-80°s and balmy.
FBI Memos
Steve Jobs
Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs, hailed as one of the greatest technology visionaries of his generation, dabbled in illicit drugs in his youth and alienated colleagues yet commanded universal respect, according to interviews conducted by the FBI in the 1990s.
A series of interviews with friends and associates -- whose names were redacted by the bureau -- painted a familiar picture of a technology visionary who intimidated associates and insisted on getting his way, but whose drive and vision inspired admiration.
The FBI in 1991 began questioning Jobs and associates as the increasingly high-profile CEO of Next Inc began to be considered as a candidate for sensitive, presidential appointments.
Jobs himself admitted in a 1991 interview, days before his wedding, that he had experimented with hashish and LSD in his youth.
Steve Jobs
FBI's Steve Jobs' Memos
Walk O' Fame Star
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney finally got his own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Thursday, becoming the last of the four Beatles to get the honor.
McCartney's star was placed outside the Capitol Records building, alongside those of band members John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
The Beatles were given a star as a group in 1998, more than 25 years after they split up. Lennon and Harrison were given their individual stars several years after their deaths in 1980 and 2001 respectively, while Starr got his in 2010.
Starr was prevented from attending Thursday's ceremony because of illness, but rocker Neil Young was on hand to pay tribute to McCartney as a singer and songwriter "at the top of his game."
Paul McCartney
Disappointed In Government
Jack Hanna
TV personality Jack Hanna says he's shocked Ohio lawmakers haven't yet passed a bill to regulate exotic animals, and he's asking what it will take to get it accomplished.
Efforts to strengthen the state's law took on new urgency in October when authorities were forced to kill 48 wild animals - including endangered Bengal tigers - after their owner freed them from his Zanesville farm and committed suicide.
Hanna says the state isn't facing some "little issue" of exotic animals but rather is facing what he describes as bombs.
Hanna is a former Columbus Zoo director. He spoke Thursday to the Ohio Newspaper Association in Columbus.
Jack Hanna
Drumming Up Some Publicity
Oscar Statues
It's safe to say Oscar is the most popular passenger on Flight 531.
Two Oscar statuettes traveled alongside film academy president Tom Sherak aboard the United Airlines flight from Chicago to Los Angeles, which was renamed Oscar 1 for the occasion.
The golden guys were embraced hundreds of times as passengers snapped photos of themselves with the coveted trophy.
Airline workers also held an Oscar-related trivia contest for passengers on board and awarded prizes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
A flight attendant called the occasion a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" as she invited passengers to enjoy "the flight of the Oscars."
Oscar Statues
Asks Judge To Toss 'Three Cups' Lawsuit
Greg Mortenson
Attorneys who accuse Greg Mortenson of defrauding readers in his best-selling "Three Cups of Tea" say his case is no different from that of James Frey, who admitted on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" that he lied in his memoir "A Million Little Pieces."
That lawsuit ended in a settlement that offered refunds to buyers of the book.
Mortenson has asked a judge to throw out the civil lawsuit that says he fabricated portions of his book, saying that if it is allowed to proceed, other authors could be subjected to similar claims and the result would be a stifling of the free exchange of ideas.
But the plaintiffs' attorneys argue in court documents filed Tuesday the lawsuit should go forward because of the precedent set by class-action lawsuit against Frey. The two cases are "nearly identical," they said.
The lawsuit claims Mortenson lied about how he began building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan and fabricated other events in the books "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools." The attorney who led the Frey lawsuit, Larry Drury, is also a plaintiffs' attorney in the nine-month-old case against Mortenson.
Greg Mortenson
Calls Out Piers Morgan
Heather Mills
She squared off against former Beatle Paul McCartney in divorce court; on Thursday, Heather Mills took on Piers Morgan at Britain's media ethics inquiry.
The ex-model trashed Morgan's earlier testimony, saying that one of her private voicemails, which was played to the CNN interviewer and former tabloid editor, could have been obtained only through phone hacking.
Mills spoke under oath at Lord Justice Brian Leveson's inquiry into the practices of Britain's scandal-hit press, and said two dozen messages left for her by the former Beatle were intercepted by a journalist working for British newspaper group Trinity Mirror.
She said the incident happened after she and McCartney had a fight in January 2001, when McCartney, then her boyfriend, bombarded her with phone calls.
She said she found it strange that the messages were listed as having been listened to even before she had accessed them, but said she didn't realize what had happened until the Mirror journalist - unnamed for legal reasons - called her up and confronted her with details of the battle.
Heather Mills
Arrested In Vegas
Marion "Suge" Knight
Rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight is facing a March court date in Las Vegas following his arrest on a 2009 traffic warrant and a new misdemeanor drug charge, authorities said Thursday.
The former Death Row Records executive, 46, was stopped driving a black Bentley with California license plates about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on a street just off Flamingo Road west of the Las Vegas Strip, Officer Laura Meltzer said.
Knight was issued an unsafe lane change summons and arrested on a warrant stemming from previous traffic infractions. He also was charged with possession of less than one ounce of a controlled substance and released from jail without bail.
Celebrity website TMZ first reported the arrest. It said Knight had marijuana with him in the car.
Knight is due March 12 in Las Vegas Municipal Court, where court spokeswoman Jill Christensen said he was sought on a March 2009 warrant for failure to appear on three traffic violations - following too closely, failure to surrender a suspended license plate and being a non-resident driving on a suspended or revoked driver's license. The original charges stemmed from a traffic stop in November 2008.
Marion "Suge" Knight
Oscars Landlord Fires Back
Kodak
The landlord for the Oscars theater has struck back in court against Kodak's attempt to get its name off the theater weeks before the biggest event in film.
In a filing Wednesday, CIM Group, which developed the Hollywood & Highland complex that houses the Kodak Theater, accusing the bankrupt company of trying to pull out of its contract after it has already reaped the benefits of it.
A hearing is set for February 15, less than two weeks before this year's Oscar ceremony.
In its motion, CIM insisted it has held up its end of the bargain struck back in 2000 -- when the Oscars moved to the newly opened Hollywood & Highland complex and Kodak stuck its name on the theater.
CIM argues that Kodak must still pay its annual installments, at least for this year since the Awards are so close.
Kodak
Pissing On Your Leg & Swearing It's Raining
Marine Corps
The Marine Corps on Thursday once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS - a special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others.
The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable, but the Marines in the photograph taken in September 2010 will not be disciplined because investigators determined it was a naïve mistake.
The Marines believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to be associated with a racist organization, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton, where the Marines were based.
"I don't believe that the Marines involved would have ever used any type of symbol associated the Nazi Germany military criminal organization that committed mass atrocities in WWII," Chapin said without any hint of irony. "It's not within who we are as Marines."
Marine Corps
Perverting Justice
Vatican't
Roman Catholic Church leaders unveiled an Internet teaching project on Thursday to help clergy around the world root out pedophiles in their ranks and protect children from potential abusers.
Ending a four-day conference on child abuse in Rome, Father Francois-Xavier Dumortier said the 1.2 million euro ($1.60 million) project would provide multilingual advice and access to research on pedophilia and how to respond to the problem.
"It will help to develop a culture of listening...a different face to the culture of silence," said Dumortier, who is rector at the Pontifical Gregorian University where the conference was held.
An association for victims of abuse, while not commenting directly on the Internet project, has dismissed the conference as "window dressing" and said the Vatican should publish its documentation on abuse and hand it over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.
But on Wednesday the Vatican's top official for dealing with sexual abuse of minors, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, said hiding behind a culture of "omerta" - the Italian word for the Mafia's code of silence - would be deadly for the Church.
Vatican't
Prank Pig On Police Decal
Vermont
Remember the pig hidden within the decal on the doors of some Vermont State Police cruisers?
There's now a movement under way to keep it there.
But it turns out there was more wrong with that image than just the white pig hidden as a splotch on the cow, made to resemble one of Vermont's ubiquitous Holsteins. State law requires that the cow in the crest be red - not red and white - as a tribute to the hardy Devon cattle first brought to Vermont by English settlers.
"What I would really like is for the governor to just leave the pigs on the car. That's the bottom line, at no expense to anybody," said Barre musician Cid Sinclair, who created the Facebook page "Save the Vermont Pigs." The site has been liked by more than 500 people. Two hundred people have signed an online petition, he said.
"No harm, no foul, take it as an opportunity to have some fun," Sinclair said. "We live in pretty bleak times and it's pretty rough. We have an opportunity to laugh together as one, as Vermonters."
Vermont
IMDB "Jane Doe" Case Gets Court Date
Junie Hoang
Junie Hoang, the actress suing the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for revealing her age, will see her day -- and perhaps two days -- in court next year.
Court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Monday have set a January 7, 2013 court date for the trial. The filing indicates that the trial is expected to last one or two days.
Hoang -- who was born Huong Hoang but works under the stage name "Junie" -- is seeking $1 million from IMDB and its parent company, Amazon. She claims that the publication of her age -- which she says IMDB obtained when she used her credit card to sign up for the site's subscription service IMDB Pro -- has damaged her career prospects.
Hoang initially filed her lawsuit anonymously, but in December the judge in the case ordered her to reveal her name if she wanted the suit to continue. The actress, whose credits include "1000 Ways to Die" and "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant," filed an amended complaint containing her name in January.
The case has set off a robust debate about ageism in Hollywood, with many supporting Hoang's cause. The Screen Actors Guild issued a statement of support for the actress after she revealed her name.
Junie Hoang
Gender-Bending Model Pushes Limits
Andrej Pejic
On a chilly winter afternoon, Andrej Pejic settles into a Manhattan cafe with a cup of Earl Grey tea, sitting gracefully, long legs crossed. The blue-eyed fashion model gazes out a window, unaware that almost every man sitting at surrounding tables is transfixed.
A man in a black leather jacket walks up to the window, presses his face against the glass and kisses it. Pejic giggles and admits: "I find it flattering."
The admirers are likely unaware that the beautiful blonde is actually a man.
As Fashion Week gets under way in New York City, Pejic is one of the most recognizable - and controversial - faces in the industry. He's the only top-tier fashion model who can walk down the runway as either a man or a woman. And his androgynous beauty has turned him into a trendsetter in an industry that's always seeking to push the envelope.
"He's just this beautiful thing that everyone wants a piece of," says stylist Kyle Anderson, who dressed Pejic for a German magazine cover.
Andrej Pejic
In Memory
Gilbert LaPiere
The stepfather of Oscar- and Grammy winner Cher has died in Oklahoma City.
Verna Bullock said Thursday her father, Gilbert LaPiere, died on Tuesday. Bullock says LaPiere suffered a heart attack recently and fractured his hip. He was 88.
Bullock says LaPiere was married to Cher's mother, Georgia Holt, and that the entertainer and LaPiere remained close over the years.
LaPiere was born June 29, 1923, in Irvington, N.J. His college education at the University of Missouri School of Mines was interrupted by service in World War II as a bombardier with the Army Air Corps.
He earned a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineer and worked in the oil and gas lending industry in Oklahoma, New York and California. LaPiere moved to Oklahoma in 1966.
Gilbert LaPiere
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