'TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jamie Pietras: It's Just a Book (The Village Voice)
Not even Not even the foggiest-headed stoner would argue they want children to smoke pot. (Especially if it means children digging into one's stash.)
Jehangir Pocha: Plagued by corruption and short on resources, Cambodia may be incubating a deadly contagion.
Š the likelihood of a global bird flu pandemic is increasing.
ROGER EBERT: Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Awful Grandma makes it madness to see 'Diary'
ROGER EBERT: Who is that mad black woman?
Well, now I know who Tyler Perry is.
Christina Larson: Seven Mistakes Superheroines Make
Why the latest action-babe flicks flopped.
Jim David: Conservatives off the deep end (The Advocate)
Right-wingers and family values vultures, newly drunk with power, are reaching a level of hypocritical hysteria that makes last year's Janet Jackson breast brouhaha seem like a tempest in a C cup.
Americablog: A Man Called Jeff (Adult)
EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS: Dean says Democrats 'not going to concede the South'
Nine headlines you will see when hell freezes over.
Chris Rock Mocks Bush in Oscar Monologue
Political Cartoons (In These Times)
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Some sun, but mostly overcast - more rain on the way.
I'm a bit cranky & there's a Carl's Jr. commercial that's rubbing me the wrong way.
It features an overly obnoxious talking fetus barking dietary directives at his mother. Makes me think Joan Crawford was wrong - we need more wire hangers.
Corrects Error - Iraq Judge Not Assassinated
Brian Williams
NBC News twice issued corrections for an erroneous "Nightly News" report that the chief judge for Saddam Hussein's trial had been assassinated.
NBC led its evening newscast with a report Tuesday that Raid Juhi, the chief administrative judge seen in Hussein's July court appearance, had been killed. Actually, it was another judge involved in the trial, Barbweez Mahmood, who had been killed.
Tuesday's initial report was seen on several East Coast broadcasts, but had been corrected by the time later feeds were made available in the Midwest and West, NBC said.
Brian Williams
Buying Out The MS
NBC Universal
NBC Universal is in talks to buy out Microsoft Corp.'s stake in MSNBC, the struggling news cable channel, according to a news report Thursday.
The New York Post, quoting unnamed sources, reported that the two companies are in advanced talks to close a deal that would put NBC Universal in full control of MSNBC, while Microsoft would still have access to some of NBC's content for online use.
Microsoft and NBC founded MSNBC and its companion online news site in 1995 with a joint investment of $400 million.
NBC Universal
Swinging Open?
Gannongate
Gannongate may be opening a little wider soon.
For two weeks, several Democratic members of Congress have pressed the White House, the Secret Service, the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security for information about just how GOPUSA/Talon News reporter James Guckert was able to attend briefings and presidential press conferences for two years under the alias James Gannon, on behalf of an openly partisan organization. Guckert has also been linked to sex sites and a male escort operation.
Today, ranking members for House committees on Rules, Judiciary, Government Reform, Homeland Security and Ways and Means submitted a Resolution of Inquiry, which would require the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to turn over all documentation regarding Guckert's access to the White House day after day for two years.
The resolution must be considered by the Judiciary Committee within 14 legislative days and, unless blocked by the Republicans on the committee, will be put before the full House for consideration.
Gannongate
Going Back in Time
BBC
The BBC is taking multi-channel digital television back to broadcasting's earliest days with plans to show its first live drama in more than two decades.
Britain's public broadcaster said Thursday it would present a new version of the popular 1950s science fiction serial "The Quatermass Experiment" on its three-year-old BBC4 digital channel on April 2 as a one-hour program.
"Quatermass" features an alien-infected astronaut's return to Earth and was considered daring when it aired on BBC1 in 1953 as a six-part series, with Reginald Tate as the title scientist trying to save the planet.
It was the first BBC drama to be recorded onto film, though the results were disappointing and only the first two episodes survived. The program also spawned sequels and a movie.
BBC
Rehabilitation Continues
Dick Clark
Three months after a stroke, Dick Clark continues to recuperate at his beachfront home and doctors are pleased with the "American Bandstand" icon's progress, his publicist said Thursday.
"He is at home. He is continuing rehabilitation. He is walking and talking, not to the extent that we would like to see it, but he's progressing. The doctors are happy with his progress," publicist Paul Shefrin said.
Clark, 75, suffered what was described as a minor stroke on Dec. 6 and he was hospitalized for more than seven weeks at a Burbank hospital, forcing him to cancel as host of the "New Year's Rockin' Eve" TV show from New York's Times Square.
Shefrin has refused to discuss the impact of the stroke and whether there was any paralysis.
Dick Clark
Dispute Cited in Theft
Ray Charles
A popular sound engineer who was arrested last month on charges of stealing master recordings of Ray Charles valued at $8 million had a dispute with executives at the singer's company who wanted him to be less involved in the operation, officials said.
Terry Howard, 48, who had worked with Charles for two decades and won three Grammys for his work on the late singer's final album, had a flare-up with leadership at Ray Charles Enterprises in March 2004, Detective Donald Hrycyk of the Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday.
Howard's attorney, Steven Crom, said the dispute led to "someone at Ray Charles Enterprises wanting Howard to be less close to things."
Howard was still in custody early Thursday following his Feb. 17 arrest. A Superior Court judge Tuesday reduced his bail from $1 million to $100,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing March 28.
Ray Charles
Series Canceled
'North Shore'
Fox television's Oahu-based drama series "North Shore" has been canceled, officials said.
Producer Harry Bring said he was told Wednesday that the network will not renew the hotel drama, which shut down in December two episodes short of its planned 22-episode season.
ABC's "Lost" is now the sole network series filming in the islands. NBC's cop drama "Hawaii" was canceled last year after one season.
'North Shore'
Jewelry Causes Stir in Austria
Michael Jackson
Austrians recognized Michael Jackson's star - the one he wore on his chest that is.
The pop singer has been photographed before recent court appearances in California wearing what experts here say is the "Order of Vienna," a medal awarded to artists, businessmen or others of merit, Austria Press Agency reported. The gold star with an eagle in the center has been bestowed to about 50 people a year for their contributions to society.
The only problem is that Jackson, 46, has not been among the prize's recipients. The singer's staff bought the medal at an antique shop in downtown Vienna, APA reported.
It is illegal in Austria to wear such medals if one has not earned them, and Jackson theoretically could face a €700 (US$919) fine in Austria.
Michael Jackson
Upset by Federal Airport Ban
Zippo
Zippo Manufacturing Co., which prides itself on its classic brass-and-chrome butane lighters, says new air travel security regulations could cut into sales by as much as 30 percent.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has announced it will ban butane, electric and absorbed fuel lighters aboard all aircraft and in areas behind airport security gates beginning in April.
Zippo officials will meet with federal officials later this month to plead their case. Millions of the metal, rectangular lighters are bought on impulse at duty-free shops and at vacation spots as mementos. Now, the company fears disposable lighters will drain their business.
The company makes all its lighters in Bradford, a town in northwest Pennsylvania with a population of about 9,500. The company sold 14 million of them last year, said Greg Booth, president and chief executive officer.
Zippo
Bullish About Stern's Advertiser Appeal
Mel Karmazin
Radio shock-jock Howard Stern, whose daily show is too racy for many blue-chip sponsors, will usher in a new era of national radio advertising once he begins his new gig at Sirius Satellite Radio in January, the company's CEO Mel Karmazin said Wednesday.
He told a gathering of Wall Street analysts in Florida that Sirius might run various local feeds of Stern's show in such cities as Los Angeles and New York, whereby local weather and contests might be featured, in order to lure local advertisers.
The emphasis, though, will be on beefing up the national advertising model. With Stern, "We really jump-start our advertising business," Karmazin said at brokerage Bear Stearns 18th Annual Media Conference.
Mel Karmazin
Little Town Basks in Attention
'Napoleon Dynamite'
Talk to a Preston (Idaho) resident for any length of time and you're likely to hear the town's new mantra. "There's a little bit of Napoleon in all of us," says lifelong resident Thedora Petterborg. "Who hasn't felt like that once in a while?"
And now, based on the cult following the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" has earned, the tiny city of Preston has gained a cult following all its own.
The movie, written and directed by first-time filmmaker Jared Hess and set in his hometown, has been a surprise indie hit. It has grossed $44.5 million in the United States since its debut last June and stayed popular as a DVD best seller since December.
That success has brought fans from as far away as Germany to Preston, buying thousands of dollars' worth of souvenir shirts, tetherballs and the ever-popular boondoggle key chain.
'Napoleon Dynamite'
Court Acquits Rapists
Pakistan
A Pakistani court acquitted on Thursday five of six men sentenced to death for the gang-rape of a woman on the orders of a village council.
The sixth man had his death sentence commuted to life in prison, said Ramzan Khalid Joya, the lawyer for the 30-year-old victim.
The attack in 2002 shocked the country and and focussed international attention on the plight of women in rural areas of the male-dominated society.
The victim, Mukhtaran Mai, broke into tears upon hearing the ruling by a two-judge High Court bench and said her life now had no purpose. But she vowed to get justice.
Pakistan
Primitive Tribe Survived Tsunami
The Onge
When the water in the creek suddenly ran out to sea on the morning of Dec. 26, the aboriginal Onge tribe knew the evil spirits were up to no good.
They scattered pig and turtle skulls around their settlement and hurled stones toward the ocean. Hurriedly gathering their baskets, bows and arrows, they then fled into the jungle, bearing amulets of ancestral bones for protection.
Minutes later, the tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing in the Indian Ocean region slammed into their tribal reserve in India's remote Andaman islands. All 96 Onge survived, even as residents of the nearby town of Hut Bay perished.
The Onge (pronounced OHN-ghee) lived while so many others didn't because of their innate understanding of how nature works.
For a more, The Onge
Archaeologists Uncover
Bead-Covered Mummy
Archaeologists uncovered three coffins and a remarkably well-preserved mummy in a 2,500-year old tomb discovered by accident - after opening a secret door hidden behind a statue in a separate burial chamber, Egypt's chief archaeologist said Wednesday.
The Australian team was exploring a much older tomb - dating back 4,200 years - belonging to a man believed to have been a tutor to the 6th Dynasty King Pepi II, when they moved a pair of statues and discovered the door, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top antiquities official.
Inside, they found a tomb from the 26th Dynasty with three intricate coffins, each with a mummy.
"Inside one coffin was maybe one of the best mummies ever preserved," Hawass told reporters at the excavation site in the cemetery of Saqqara, a barren hillside pocked with ancient graves about 15 miles south of Cairo.
Bead-Covered Mummy
Basic Cable Networks
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Feb. 21-27. Each ratings point represents 1,096,000 households. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 3.4, 3.71 million homes.
2. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.2, 3.49 million homes.
3. "Monk" (Friday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.2, 3.48 million homes.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), Spike, 3.1, 3.38 million homes.
5. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.1, 3.37 million homes.
6. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.29 million homes.
7. "Law & Order" (Monday, 8 p.m.), TNT, 2.9, 3.15 million homes.
8. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.14 million homes.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.1 million homes.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.98 million homes.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 4 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.92 million homes.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.91 million homes.
13. "Law & Order" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 2.5, 2.73 million homes.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.5, 2.72 million homes.
15. "Law & Order" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 2.5, 2.71 million homes.
Ratings
