Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: Hungry Doggerel
Missing a day/ Fills me with sorrow;/ Nevertheless,/ Please come back tomorrow.
Mark Morford: Hello, sinner! What are you guilty of today? (San Francisco Gate)
Have you done anything unconscionable today? Have you engaged in any thought pattern, activity or perhaps even a strange interpretive dance that might be considered, well, dirty?
Tom Danehy: Now that Reagan Canonization Week is over, let's talk about Obama (Tucson Weekly)
Now that we've all made it through the Ronald Reagan Canonization Week without screaming ourselves hoarse, it's time to move on.
Dr. Mark H. Shapiro: California State University System Spends Millions on Consulting Fees and Administrator Raises in the Face of Severe Budget Shortfalls (irascibleprofessor.com)
The Irascible Professor has learned that in spite of the on-going, major budget crisis in California that has resulted in substantial fee and tuition increases for students, freezes in faculty and staff salaries, layoffs for many part-time faculty members, mandatory furloughs for full-time faculty and staff, and a severe shortage of class sections for students, the California State University System has managed to find enough money to fund 607 raises for CSU managers and administrators.
Connie Schultz: Supporting The NEA Is A Family Value (Creators Syndicate)
... some Republican members of Congress have embarked on a mission to undermine countless museums - and the artists, photographers, composers and writers whose work gives them meaning. They want to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts' $165 million budget. They claim they have to wipe out the NEA to trim the current federal budget deficit, which is a whopping $1.5 trillion.
Susan Estrich: Judicial Politics (Creators Syndicate)
There is a crisis in America's federal courts that has absolutely nothing to do with politics, although that is its cause.
Jim Hightower: LLOYD BLANKFEIN - WHAT A DOLL!
Most of us would not consider $600,000 to be good pay for a year's work. We'd consider it a bonanza!
Annie Lowrey: Cleaning Up Our Budget House (Slate)
A thought experiment: What would the budget look like if the United States were a middle-class household?
Paul Begala: No Cash for You, Kentucky (Daily Beast)
"Kentucky is home to Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, who are horrified by federal spending. Yet Kentucky also takes $1.51 from Washington for every $1 it sends in taxes. So Paul Begala proposes that we give them what they want: a sharp cut in federal spending. Specifically, take them off the Federal dole. Cut them back at least to par, where they get no more from Washington than they contribute. It's time, Paul says, for New York and California to stop subsidizing Kentucky." -- Andrew Tobias
Laura Barton: I'm not immune to the lure of celebrity gossip, but it harms us to read this bilg (Guardian)
Women have greater access to education, careers and intellectual fulfilment than ever before. So why do we choose to sedate ourselves with this drivel?
VIRGINIA POSTREL: Would Bogie Wear Gore-Tex? (Wall Street Journal)
The next big thing often consists of lots of little things
More often, the next big thing is actually a lot of little things. Like compound interest, small improvements add up over time. Surgical techniques get better, cars more reliable, ATMs more convenient, upholstery more durable, running shoes more supportive, entertainment options more abundant.
Cathy Yan: Hello Panda, Bye-bye Kitty? (Wall Street Journal)
Hi Panda is no Hello Kitty. In fact, the Chinese brand with the grumpy mascot is far edgier than the Sanrio cat.
David Bruce has 40 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $40 you can buy 10,000 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
MAM
Ray McGovern Bloodied and Arrested at Clinton Speech
Partnership for Civil Justice reports: "As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protesters and do not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail. She never paused speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, was wearing a Veterans for Peace t-shirt."
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MAM
Thanks, Marianne!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Kinda sunny, with real weather moving in.
Fund for Civility, Respect, and Understanding
Tucson
Jackson Browne, Alice Cooper, David Crosby and Graham Nash will perform in Tucson, Ariz., to benefit a charitable fund established after the shooting there that killed six people and wounded 13 others.
Other acts at the March 10 concert that Browne and Cooper announced this week include Sam Moore, Nils Lofgren, Keb' Mo', Jerry Riopelle, Dar Williams, Ozomatli and Calexico.
Astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, plans to speak at the event.
It will benefit the Fund for Civility, Respect, and Understanding. Wounded Giffords aide Ron Barber started the fund to support people affected by the Jan. 8 shooting and to hold events promoting community unity.
Tucson
Artist Bids To Copyright Che Image
Jim Fitzpatrick
The Irish artist whose poster of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara became one of the most reproduced images of the 20th century, said he has decided to copyright the image to block "crass commercial" use.
Jim Fitzpatrick produced the classic red and black print of the long-haired Che wearing a soldier's beret with a single star in 1968 and distributed it copyright-free for use by revolutionary groups in Europe.
But the image of the Marxist revolutionary, who helped bring Fidel Castro to power in 1959, has since been co-opted by makers of mugs, baseball caps and even lingerie. The image is emblazoned across Cuban-themed restaurants around the world.
After four decades of allowing the image to be reproduced free of charge, Fitzpatrick said he has applied for documentation to prove that he is the copyright holder.
He intends to travel to Havana later in the year to hand the ownership rights to Guevara's family.
Jim Fitzpatrick
Detroit To Get Fan-Funded Statue
RoboCop
From sci-fi cult film, to Twitter phenomenon to Detroit landmark-in-the-making.
Plans for a statue honoring RoboCop, the half-man, half-machine crimefighter of the 1987 movie of the same name, are moving ahead after a group of Detroit artists and entrepreneurs raised more than $50,000 via Facebook and an online fund-raising site.
"It hit a sweet spot. It's a fun and funny idea to build a statue of RoboCop," said Jeff Paffendorf, who helped lead the project inspired by a whimsical suggestion sent to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing via Twitter last week.
Bing's office is still not convinced, but a spokeswoman said the city is studying how it could accept and display a gift RoboCop statue.
RoboCop
Returned To US
Silent Movies
In a cold underground bunker once packed with enough dollars to replenish the cash supply in the eastern United States in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack, "Gigi" lies silently near "An American in Paris".
In a room next door, a young woman who gave her name as Barbara works on "Little Brother". Upstairs, one of Barbara's colleagues is trying to make sense of "The Arab".
This is not a secret US interrogation site, but the state-of-the-art facility where the US Library of Congress holds and preserves the world's largest collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings.
Last year, the four-million-piece collection at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC), which includes 700,000 reels of film, swelled immeasurably in historical terms as Russia handed over digital copies of 10 US silent movies that were thought to have been lost.
"The Arab", directed in 1924 by Rex Ingram, who made a star of Rudolf Valentino in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" a few years earlier, was one of the films returned to the United States by the Russia's state film archives, Gosfilmofond.
Silent Movies
Returning To TV
Billboard Music Awards
Billboard said Thursday it plans to bring back its annual music awards show on television after it has been dormant since 2006.
The Billboard Music Awards will be shown live on ABC from Las Vegas on May 22. In contrast to the annual Grammy Awards, which awards trophies based on the votes of industry professionals, the Billboard awards will honor artists based on sales figures tracked by the music trade publication, concert attendance and the amount of online activity connected to the artist.
Besides the awards show, Billboard will be aggressive in making more music programming for TV, said Richard Beckman, CEO of Prometheus Global Media, which became the publication's owner last year.
The revival has been in the works since last year, but the timing may be fortuitous. Sunday's Grammy Awards telecast was seen by nearly 27 million viewers, about 10 million more than in 2006 and 2008, the Nielsen Co. said.
Billboard Music Awards
Author To Get Honorary Degree
'Boardwalk Empire'
The author of the book that inspired the HBO dramatic series "Boardwalk Empire" will receive an honorary doctorate from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey at its spring commencement.
The college announced the honor for Nelson Johnson on Thursday.
Stockton President Herman J. Saatkamp Jr. said Johnson will receive a doctor of humane letters degree recognizing the many years he has devoted to researching the history of the Atlantic City region and preserving it for future generations.
Johnson, who lives in Hammonton, has practiced law for more than 30 years. He was an attorney for the Atlantic City Planning Board at the time many of the city's casinos were approved.
'Boardwalk Empire'
Baby News
Aiden Stewart
Rod Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster have welcomed a new baby boy into the world, the singer's record company said on Thursday.
The son, named Aiden, is the couple's second boy. They have another boy named Alastair Wallace who is five years old.
Aiden is Stewart's eighth child. The 66-year-old British rocker has been married two previous times, along with having a string of long-term relationships with women, including model Kelly Emberg and actress Britt Eckland.
Stewart, whose hits include "Maggie May" and range from the late 1960s up to the 2000s, was previously married to models Alana Hamilton and Rachel Hunter before Lancaster, who turns 40 years-old in March.
Aiden Stewart
Fathered Child?
Sam Kinison
A longtime friend of Sam Kinison said Thursday that he recently obtained DNA testing shows the late comedian fathered a daughter with his ex-wife and that he hopes the revelation will free him from years of unpaid child support penalties.
Comic Carl La Bove filed a petition Thursday to try to invalidate a nearly 13-year-old agreement requiring him to make payments for the girl, who is now 21 years old. As of 2009, La Bove owed nearly $188,000 in back child support, according to a statement filed with his petition.
But he said any animosity he felt toward Kinison for sleeping with his now ex-wife during Kinison's hard-charging heyday in the late 1980s is gone.
A comedian who opened for Kinison for years and was with him when he died in a car accident in California in 1992, La Bove is hoping that the release of child support obligations will allow him to drive himself to gigs from now on.
DNA testing submitted to the court Thursday shows La Bove has a zero percent probability of being her father. Additional tests done using samples from Kinison's two brothers, one of whom is now dead, show a 99.8 percent chance that she is related to them.
Sam Kinison
Father Pleads Guilty
The 5 Browns
The distraught father of The 5 Browns musical group pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing his daughters when they were children in a deal that will send him to prison for at least 10 years.
With scratches and bruises on his face from a crash in which his Porsche plunged 300 feet into a canyon, Keith Brown, 55, entered his plea to three felony counts in Fourth District Court.
"He is terribly remorseful for what has happened and for what he has put his family through," defense attorney Steven Shapiro said after the hearing. "He recognizes that this is the next step in the long road to trying to accept responsibility for something terrible that he did a long time ago."
Dressed in dark slacks and a grey overcoat, Brown appeared in court with his sister-in-law by his side. He showed few signs of the horrific crash just three days earlier that police called an accident.
Brown's three daughters and two sons are part of the classical piano group The 5 Browns, whose albums have topped the classical music charts and who have appeared on "Oprah" and other shows. The group also has been profiled by "60 Minutes."
The 5 Browns
Bankrupt Investment Company
Starr & Company
A celebrity investment firm filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, listing entertainers such as Liza Minnelli, Al Pacino, Paul Simon, TV interviewer Barbara Walters and film producer Harvey Weinstein among hundreds of creditors.
Starr & Company LLC and Starr Investment Advisors LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy less than a year after its founder Kenneth Starr pleaded guilty to bilking millions of dollars from investors.
Other famous figures listed in the creditor claims include the photographer Richard Avedon, the author Cormac McCarthy and a company representing the late composer Leonard Bernstein.
Starr, 67, who is facing a prison sentence of between 10 and 12 years, stole between $20 million and $50 million from his clients in a Ponzi scheme, according to court documents.
Starr & Company
Estate Earns $310 Million
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's estate has generated $310 million in revenue from album sales, a film, merchandising and other products since the "Thriller" singer died in 2009, according to court papers filed on Thursday.
His estate's administrators have used $159 million to pay down the pop star's debt, which when Jackson died amounted to more than $400 million, court records show.
"Although there remain unresolved creditor claims, pending litigation and additional challenging business, tax and legal issues, and the estate is not yet in a condition to be closed, the executors have made substantial progress in reducing the estate's debt," the documents state.
The records, which were made public as part of the estate's probate proceedings, are the most detailed accounting yet of the finances of Jackson's estate from his death until December 31, 2010.
Michael Jackson
Critiques Statue
$chwarzenegger
A 9-foot-tall statue depicting Arnold $chwarzenegger at the height of his bodybuilding career has received a final critique by the former Mr. Universe before being sent for bronzing.
The former California governor who recently announced his return to acting visited northern Idaho on Wednesday to suggest a few modifications to the clay sculpture. It's destined to stand in a rippling, full-flex pose outside his childhood home, which is now a museum in Thal, Austria.
$chwarzenegger first commissioned Lewiston artist Ralph Crawford in the 1970s to create a small bronze that became a trophy for a fitness event. Other commissions followed, including the most recent.
$chwarzenegger noted Crawford's passion and his ability to sculpt accurate proportions when it comes to veins, muscle separation and head position.
$chwarzenegger
Dining Habits
Ancient Britons
Ancient Britons devoured their dead and created gruesome goblets from the skulls of their remains, according to new research published on Wednesday.
Researchers from London's Natural History Museum discovered 15,000-year-old human bones in southern England which showed signs of cannibalism and skulls made into drinking cups.
The skulls -- found in Gough's Cave in the Cheddar Gorge in the southwestern English county of Somerset -- had been meticulously cleaned of soft tissue, cut to remove the base and facial bones, and had their rough edges smoothed to create skull-cups or bowls, paleontologist Silvia Bello wrote in a study in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.
"All in all it was a very painstaking process given the tools available," Bello said in a statement.
Ancient Britons
Dodges Geomagnetic Storm
Earth
A wave of charged plasma particles from a huge solar eruption has glanced off the Earth's northern pole, lighting up auroras and disrupting some radio communications, a NASA scientist said.
But the Earth appears to have escaped a widespread geomagnetic storm, with the effects confined to the northern latitudes, possibly reaching down into Norway and Canada.
"There can be sporadic outages based on particular small-scale events," said Dean Persnell, project scientist at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory at Goddard Space Flight Center.
The event began Tuesday at 0156 GMT with a spectacular solar eruption in a sunspot the size of Jupiter that produced a Class X flash -- the most powerful of all solar events.
Earth
In Memory
John Strauss
John Strauss, a composer and sound editor whose work includes theme songs from early TV shows and the film and soundtrack for Oscar best picture winner "Amadeus," has died. He was 90.
Strauss passed away Monday night at a nursing home in West Los Angeles after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, said his son, Larry Strauss.
In a career that spanned nearly 50 years, Strauss won an Emmy Award for sound editing (1977's "The Amazing Howard Hughes") and a Grammy for best classical album of 1984 (Milos Forman's "Amadeus").
Along with producing the soundtrack album for the eight-time Oscar winner, Strauss served as the film's music coordinator and is briefly seen onscreen as a conductor. He also wrote the brief composition that the Count shows to Mozart, who mocks the effort.
Strauss coordinated the music for three other Forman films: "Hair" (1979), "Ragtime" (1981) and "Valmont" (1989), for which he also composed part of the score.
However, Strauss' most widely recognizable composition is probably the theme from "Car 54, Where Are You?," the 1961-63 NBC series that starred Joe. E. Ross and Fred Gwynne. He also scored "The Phil Silvers Show" and the Elaine May film "Mikey and Nicky" (1976) and served as music editor on NBC series "L.A. Law."
The New York native worked as sound editor on early Woody Allen films "Take the Money and Run" (1969), "Bananas" (1971) and "Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex ..." (1972). He did the original "Heartbreak Kid" and "Slaughterhouse-Five," both in 1972, and was music supervisor on "The Blues Brothers" (1980), "Impromptu" (1991) and "The Pirates of Penzance" (1983).
Strauss was married to actress Charlotte Rae, for whom he wrote arrangements for her 1955 album "Songs I Taught My Mother" and with whom he collaborated on cabaret shows. They divorced in 1975. Strauss then became life partners with artist Lionel Friedman, who died in 2003.
Strauss served in France and North Africa during World War II, studied under Paul Hindemith at the Yale School of Music and taught briefly at New York's High School of Performing Arts. He composed two ballets for the Joffrey Ballet, and his opera, "The Accused," was performed by soprano Patricia Neway and televised on the NBC Opera series of the 1950s.
John Strauss
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