'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dear Laura, it's not one attack a day in Iraq, it's 230 (americablog.blogspot.com)
Laura Bush, ace Iraq expert, made a little bit of a whoopsie on Larry King the other night. She said that Iraq was really going well, but that the big bad biased liberal media keeps reporting that one attack a day in an effort to make things look bad. Well, seems it's more like 180 attacks a day, and that's just against our troops. There are 50 attacks a day or so against civilians, making that 230 attacks a day.
Former Army Specialist: U.S. Troops 'Turn To TV And Movies' For Torture Techniques (thinkprogress.org)
Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan recently told the 24 producers that he was concerned that the show's promotion of illegal torture "was having a damaging effect on young troops." In a new interview with Newsweek, former U.S. Army specialist Tony Lagouranis, who left the military with an honorable discharge in 2005, confirms Finnegans fears - that U.S. soldiers did take cues from 24 to torture prisoners.
Jeanna Bryner: The Rich See What They Believe (livescience.com)
People see what they believe, not vice versa, when it comes to social injustice. And this mind-altering trick of perception keeps moral outrage at bay, especially among the rich, a new psychological study suggests. By reducing outrage, this mental hoodwink also impedes social change because it inhibits people from taking action, allowing injustices to persist.
Robert Roy Britt: Altruistic Love Related to Happier Marriages (livescience.com)
Altruism may breed better marriages, a new study suggests. Or, the data might mean that good marriages make people more altruistic. Whatever, altruism and happiness seem to go together in the realm of love.
DAVID CRARY: Study: College students get an A in narcissism (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.
Cameron Scott: Queer 101: A Guide for Heteros (AlterNet.org)
Conservative Americans may demonize gay people -- but how much do progressives really know about queer culture?
Catherine Bennett: What was the most unappetising sight this week? The Sun's greed for stories to feed its freakshow (guardian.co.uk)
Any young reader who goggled at the prodigious food intake of eight-year-old Connor is sure to enjoy Billy Bunter's tales of scoffed sweets and pilfered grub.
'We're not remotely bitter' (guardian.co.uk)
Overlooked by the BBC and overshadowed by the Pythons, the Goodies' comic legacy has been unjustifiably neglected. But, they tell Brian Logan, they're back to set the record straight.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but still cold.
Star On Walk O'Fame
The Doors
Forty years ago, the Doors' Jim Morrison seduced Hollywood with his wild moves and wilder poetry. On Wednesday, the rock band cemented its legendary status with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek, 68, and guitarist Robby Krieger, 61, showed up minus drummer John Densmore for the dedication of the walk's 2,325th star.
Densmore, 62, said he was unable to make the ceremony because of an interview commitment to a local radio station.
The Doors
UNA Film Festival
George Lindsey
Robert Redford has a film festival, and so does cousin Goober.
Named for the actor who portrayed the goofy grease monkey in Andy Griffith's old television show, the 10th annual George Lindsey UNA Film Festival opened Thursday at the University of North Alabama, Lindsey's alma mater.
The Lindsey festival doesn't have the reputation of Redford's Sundance Festival, and northwest Alabama isn't a resort spot like Park City, Utah. Paparazzi? Doubtful.
Still, like hundreds of community film events in cities across America, "Goober Fest" has quietly become a staple in this Tennessee Valley town. It has drawn hundreds of talented if not-so-famous movie makers over the past decade, plus a few real stars.
George Lindsey
Pris Art Exhibition
David Lynch
What is it like to glimpse into the mind of moviemaker David Lynch? A new exhibition in Paris shows that it is every bit as twisted as a true fan could imagine.
The exhibition, "The Air Is on Fire," is the most comprehensive showing of Lynch's visual art to date, and it includes paintings, photographs and countless doodles on Post-it notes, hotel stationery and napkins from Bob's Big Boy diner.
Some sketches date back to 61-year-old Lynch's high school days when, oddly enough, the "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive" director worked his way toward the rank of Eagle Scout.
David Lynch
Voted Britain's Best Read
'Pride And Prejudice'
Jane Austen's "Pride And Prejudice" topped a poll of Britons' 100 favourite books released Thursday, indicating that classic novels are still most people's idea of a good read ahead of modern offerings.
Children's books adapted into big-budget films also do well -- "The Lord of the Rings" by JRR Tolkien is at number two and JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" series is at four.
But with "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte at number three, her sister Emily's "Wuthering Heights" at seven and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell at eight, the list is dominated by staples of the school curriculum.
There is also room for the Bible at number six in the list of works "our nation can't live without", compiled from an online poll of 2,000 readers for World Book Day Thursday.
'Pride And Prejudice'
B!tch-Slapped By Agency
Savage Weiner
Just two days after announcing they were representing him, CAA has given homophobic radio host Michael Savage the ax! Adios, hater!
As TMZ earlier reported, on the heels of being signed to the high-profile talent agency, Savage made disparaging and homophobic remarks aimed at fellow CAA client Melissa Etheridge. Well, that didn't fly at the agency, because, according to Planet Gossip's Marc Malkin, CAA is no longer repping the conservative hate-monger -- and has unceremoniously dropped him from their client list!
Looks like Savage will now have something beside the private lives of A-list Oscar-winning lesbians to whine about.
Savage Weiner
Going Political
Madame Tussauds
Will tourists accustomed to free attractions in the U.S. capital be willing to spend their money to see wax figures of politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton?
Madame Tussauds, famed for its London museum housing likenesses of everyone from actor George Clooney to Queen Elizabeth, is betting they will.
Tussaud's plans to open its third U.S. wax museum, and seventh worldwide, in Washington this October. Although celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will be on display, the Washington outlet will focus on American political leaders.
Madame Tussauds
Radio Station Frees
Bobby Brown
Bobby Brown's release after three nights in the county jail was the result of a radio station paying the $19,150 the R&B singer owed in late child-support payments and court fees, the station said Thursday.
Hot 99.5 FM, which broadcasts in the Washington D.C. area, intervened following on-air discussions and two days of negotiation with Brown's attorney, the host of the station's "The Kane Show," told The Associated Press.
"In exchange for the money, he agreed to be an employee of our radio station for one week," where he will discuss what he did wrong and how he could turn his life around, said Kane, who goes by one name. "We are going to have a very open and candid conversation."
Bobby Brown
O'Jays Suit
Sammy Strain
A longtime member of the O'Jays has sued his former partners and record label over royalties.
Sammy Strain charges in his $15 million civil lawsuit that he never received any royalties from his 16 years with the group, when the O'Jays recorded hits such as "Used to Be My Girl" and "Forever Mine."
The lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Philadelphia, alleges that O'Jays founders Eddie Levert and Walter Williams conspired to deny Strain his share of the royalties.
The lawsuit also names renowned R&B producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff as defendants, and their label, Philadelphia International Records.
Sammy Strain
Rhonda Byrne's Little Money Maker
`The Secret'
"The Secret" keeps on spreading. Two million additional copies have been ordered for Rhonda Byrne's self-help phenomenon, yet another beneficiary of Oprah Winfrey, who devoted two shows to the book in early February.
Released last fall by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, "The Secret" now has 3.75 million copies in print and for days has displaced the final Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," from the top of Amazon.com, where "The Secret" is currently out of stock.
Created by Australian producer Byrne, "The Secret" began as a DVD film, released last March and, thanks to aggressive Internet marketing, became enough of a hit to be spun off into a book, which Byrne finished in less than a month.
`The Secret'
Scraps Controversial Anti-Terrorism Measures
Canada
The Canadian parliament scrapped Tuesday controversial anti-terrorism measures adopted after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, saying they breach civil rights.
Lawmakers voted 159 to 124 on a bill that opposed prolonging the measures, which are due to expire Thursday, over the objections of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government.
The demise of the security provisions comes only days after Canada's highest court blunted other weapons in Canada's anti-terrorism arsenal.
On Friday, the Supreme Court quashed portions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that allowed Ottawa to detain foreigners suspected of terror ties without charges for many years, based on undisclosed evidence presented at secret court hearings, as unconstitutional.
Canada
Loaned Painting Stirs Controversy
Leonardo da Vinci
Italy plans to lend one of Leonardo da Vinci's best known paintings to Japan this month but opponents say the long plane trip could damage the masterpiece and are threatening to block the transfer.
The Annunciation, a painting more than two meters long, is set to leave Florence's Uffizi Gallery on March 12 in a crystal case designed to keep temperature and humidity levels stable and protect the 15th century artwork from earthquakes.
The case will then be placed in a wooden box and transported by van under police escort from Florence to Rome where it will be flown to Tokyo the next day.
In Japan the painting will be displayed in a series of exhibitions celebrating da Vinci and other Italian artists.
Leonardo da Vinci
Report slams Treatment
Guard & Reserves
The National Guard and Reserves don't get enough money or equipment and are left out of important planning for national emergencies, an independent panel concluded Thursday, long after the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina exposed serious stresses on the services.
The report from the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves compounds earlier criticism of the Bush administration's response to the devastating hurricane that struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005. The administration also is still struggling to better manage the reserves nearly four years into the Iraq war.
The 151-page report found a significant lack of communication between reserve officials and other military leaders, the Homeland Security Department and U.S. Northern Command, which is responsible for the military's defense of the U.S. homeland.
Guard & Reserves
Procurement Specialist
Shinzo Abe
Japan's nationalist prime minister denied Thursday that the country's military forced women into sexual slavery during World War II, casting doubt on a past government apology and jeopardizing a fragile detente with his Asian neighbors.
The comments by Shinzo Abe, a member of a group of lawmakers pushing to roll back a 1993 apology to the sex slaves, were his clearest statement as prime minister on military brothels known in Japan as "comfort stations."
Historians say some 200,000 women - mostly from Korea and China - served in the Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Many victims say they were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.
The sex slave question has been a cause celebre for nationalist politicians and scholars in Japan who claim the women were professional prostitutes and were not coerced into servitude by the military.
Shinzo Abe
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