'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Will Durst: 32 Short Thoughts About Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader thinks that if America is to become better, it must first become worse. It's already worse!
Jim Hightower: THE DELIBERATE DECEIT OF DRUG ADS (jimhightower.com)
Four out of five doctors recommend that you not believe any advertising that makes claims based on the opinions of four out of five doctors. Or, for that matter, ads based on the opinions of even one, well-known doctor.
Jim Hightower: BANKING ON A BAILOUT (jimhightower.com)
What's good for Bank of America is good for America - right?
Mark Morford: How to abandon your God (sfgate.com)
Is it OK to switch religions, change denominations, even split from God entirely? Jesus says: Sure!
ALESSANDRA STANLEY: Who Says Women Aren't Funny? (vanityfair.com)
The idea that women aren't funny-and which male said that?-seems pretty laughable these days. TV has unleashed a new generation of comediennes, who act, perform stand-up, write, and direct-dishing out the jokes with a side of sexy. Annie Leibovitz photographs a dozen of the wittiest dames in showbiz, from 30 Rock's Tina Fey to Sarah Silverman, to S.N.L.'s current stars, while the author learns why the setup has changed.
NIKKI TRANTER: "Historian: Interview with Brian Garfield" (popmatters.com)
"I think that, except for its ludicrous violence toward the end, the Death Sentence movie does depict its character's decline and the stupidity of vengeful vigilantism." Death Wish creator Brian Garfield talks to PopMatters about remakes, sequels, writing, and the meaning of vengeance.
Connie Ogle: An interview with Jacqueline Winspear, creator of Maisie Dobbs mysteries (McClatchy Newspapers; Posted on Popmatters.com)
Research, not surprisingly, plays a big part in the writing life of Jacqueline Winspear, creator of the Maisie Dobbs mystery series, which is set in 1930s England.
Maureen Simpson: Author chips away at Hollywood stereotypes of Arabs, Muslims (McClatchy Newspapers; Posted on Popmatters.com)
George Clooney asked him to work as a consultant on two films - including "Syriana" - and national news programs and networks such as "The Today Show," "Nightline" and CNN have featured the Hilton Head author on a regular basis.
Geoffrey Himes: Meet John Duchac (citypaper.com)
X frontman and solo artist John Doe revisits his Baltimore roots.
Chris Riemenschneider: Mould talks the 'Line': Ex-Hüsker Dü and Sugar frontman has a new, classic-sounding (Star Tribune; Posted on popmatters.com)
Bob Mould says he has lightened up. In fact, he emphatically insists upon it.
Can you do me a quick cow's head? (arts.guardian.co.uk)
From Damien Hirst to Mark Wallinger, many major artists now rely on legions of helpers. How do they feel about their often uncredited roles? Patrick Barkham reports.
Joseph V. Amodio: Fast chat with 'Law & Order'/Broadway star S. Epatha Merkerson (Newsday; Posted on popmatters.com)
First off, it's pronounced "ee-PAY-thuh." S. Epatha Merkerson's name may be unusual, but it's familiar to "Law & Order" fans. She's played Lt. Anita Van Buren on the juggernaut series for 14 seasons.
Marty's New Computer Fund Update
Donations
There have been 16 donations for a total of $620.
Thanks!
(If you're more comfortable with snail mail, please drop me a note)
Reader Comment
Charlie Wilson's Other War
Greetings from the Big Potato. Saw this item on one of our local news nets and thought it might be of interest.
Reader Comment
the future in tv and movies
Hi Marty,
I know many people are amused that Lost in Space took place in the "far distant future" of 1997 but it was a cartoonish tv show with "special effects" from old Buster Crabbe movies. The one that always gets me is the 1969 movie "2001 A Space Odyssey "also set in the 'far future'. In 1969, as a teenager, I really DID think we would have made our way into space by then. Not the way we do it now, but with all the bells and whistles in the movie.
But then, I never thought that 1984 would come true in my lifetime, oddly enough in 2001. (although if you think about it, the seeds for 2001 were planted back in the early 80s).
ducks
Thanks, ducks.
Red Ink Raygun's re-election in 1984 should have been a clue - or an omen.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny, but not as warm.
9/11 Aftermath
First Amendment
The shadow of the Sept. 11 terror attacks is eclipsing press freedom and other constitutional safeguards in the United States, Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley said Thursday.
"What has become clear in the aftermath of 9/11 is how much expediency trumps safeguards," Curley said in remarks prepared for the annual dinner of the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation.
"Congress steps back from its constitutional role of executive oversight. Civilian oversight of the military wanes. A Justice Department interprets laws in ways that extend police powers. More drastically, prisons are established in places where government or military operatives circumvent due process or control trials," Curley said in accepting the foundation's First Amendment Leadership Award.
"It's at moments like these when a free press matters most," he said.
First Amendment
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
Golden Note Awards
Singer/songwriters Lionel Richie and Steve Miller will receive lifetime achievement honors at music industry group ASCAP's annual awards ceremony in Hollywood next month.
They will be presented with Golden Note Awards, which go to songwriters, composers, and artists who have achieved "extraordinary career milestones," ASCAP said in a statement on Wednesday. Previous winners include Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, Jermaine Dupri and Quincy Jones.
ASCAP -- the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers -- collects royalties on behalf of its member songwriters and publishers from the public performance of their compositions from such outlets as radio, TV and Web sites.
Golden Note Awards
Boss Raising Money For Theater
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen plans to raise some money for the restoration of the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, N.J..
Springsteen, who grew up in nearby Freehold, is scheduled to hold a benefit on May 7 at the theater, which was built in 1926 to showcase movies and vaudeville.
The theater was renamed after native son and jazz great William "Count" Basie in 1984.
Bruce Springsteen
Congress Wants Cost Updates
TV-Coupons
House lawmakers don't want the cost of a television coupon program to catch them by surprise - or without enough money to ensure millions of Americans can still watch TV after their analog sets flicker out of existence.
On Wednesday, they asked for regular updates on the cost of coupon program for converter boxes needed to update older TV sets. People who watch free, over-the-air broadcasts via an antenna on analog sets, will need such devices when the nation switches to an all-digital format in February 2009.
Under the $1.5 billion program, the government is issuing two $40 coupons per household to subsidize the cost of the boxes. The boxes, which run between $40 and $70, are on sale at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. Inc., Circuit City Stores Inc. and other retailers.
About 2.5 million consumers have ordered more 4.8 million coupons since the program started Jan.1. Consumers can apply online at www.dtv2009.gov or call the 24-hour hot line, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009). They can also fax a coupon application to 1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632) or mail one to P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208-2000. The program expires March 31, 2009.
TV-Coupons
Slavery Letter On Sale
Abraham Lincoln
One of the most significant collections of Abraham Lincoln letters to be auctioned in decades includes his heartfelt reply to a group of youngsters who asked him to free America's "little slave children."
Lincoln's hand-penned reply, estimated to be worth $3 million to $5 million before the April 3 auction at Sotheby's, could become the most expensive Lincoln letter ever sold.
The president who guided the nation through the Civil War was inundated with mail from ordinary people but could only occasionally answer personally.
He was deeply moved by the simple request he received in April 1864 from the Massachusetts children, reading: "Children's Petition to the President asking him to free all the little slave children in this country."
Abraham Lincoln
Strikes Again
Banksy
Guerilla artist Banksy has created his latest piece of work on the wall of a pharmacy in Islington, north London.
The piece appeared on Wednesday night and shows two children pledging allegiance to the supermarket giant Tesco.
Far from being annoyed by the vandalism, the pharmacy owner Raj Chavda, 53, is delighted.
He said: "I just walked into the shop on Monday and, lo and behold, there it was. I am absolutely delighted - I think it's just fantastic. I've heard how much these works can go for.
Banksy
Judge Denies New Bail
Joe Francis
"Girls Gone Wild" mogul Joe Francis has lost his bid to be released from a Nevada jail without fear of being extradited to Florida.
The 34-year-old video empire founder is facing trial in Nevada for tax evasion. He's wanted in Florida on charges related to filming underage girls on spring break. Francis has been jailed for nearly a year while caught in a tug-of-war between the two states.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval denied arguments by Francis' lawyers that would have freed Francis, but kept Florida prosecutors from jailing him.
Joe Francis
Pleads Guilty
Lou Pearlman
A former boy band mogul pleaded guilty on Thursday to an audacious fraud that used fake accountants, fake bank accounts and a dead man's signature to swindle banks and investors out of more than $300 million.
Lou Pearlman, known for launching the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, took a plea deal in a U.S. court in Orlando on two counts of conspiracy involving bank and investor fraud, one of money laundering and one of making false claims in a bankruptcy.
U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp set a sentencing date of May 21. The charges carry a maximum prison term of 25 years and a $1 million fine, but the deal offers Pearlman the possibility of a reduced sentence in exchange for full cooperation in recovering money to repay investors.
Prosecutors counted at least 250 individual victims who lost $200 million, plus 10 financial institutions that lost $100 million, according to the deal.
Lou Pearlman
Minor Charged With DUI
Barron Hilton
Paris Hilton's 18-year-old brother was charged Thursday with four misdemeanor counts stemming from his Feb. 12 arrest on suspicion of drunken driving. Barron Nicholas Hilton's charges include driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and being an unlicensed driver.
Hilton was stopped Feb. 12 after a witness reported seeing a black Mercedes-Benz weaving on Pacific Coast Highway, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. He was allegedly carrying a fake driver's license.
Hilton was booked at the Malibu station and registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.14 percent - .08 is the rate at which a driver is legally intoxicated in California.
Hilton was freed on $20,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned April 14.
Barron Hilton
Makes Challenge
Bill Cosby
Comedian and activist Bill Cosby says problems in the black community are like dirty laundry that need to be washed, not ignored.
The 70-year-old author and actor told crowds at a community college and a mostly black church in suburban Cleveland on Wednesday that it's time to address head-on problems such as teen pregnancy, crime and school dropout rates among blacks.
The Rev. Marvin McMickle said people who attended Cosby's lecture only to see a celebrity were missing the point. He calls Cosby a celebrity who challenges people to look at themselves.
Bill Cosby
For Sale Sign Goes Up
Steuben Glass
Steuben Glass's longtime owner Corning Inc. has placed the maker of the only luxury lead crystal still handcrafted in the United States on the auction block. The crystal business launched by Frederick Carder in 1903 has been unprofitable for a decade, lost US$30 million over the last five years and will be unloaded most likely this year - even if that means shutting it down, company officials said Thursday.
Corning bought out the business in 1918 and, as popular taste turned toward less ornate forms, formulated a colourless, highly refractive, heavy lead crystal that has distinguished Steuben since the Depression era.
Corning, based in a small western New York city of the same name, evolved in the 1990s into the world's biggest maker of optical fibre and cable and now dominates the global market for liquid crystal display glass used in computers and television monitors.
Steuben Glass
Selling Off Your Airwaves
Wireless Auction
Bidding is expected to draw to a close soon in the closely watched auction of wireless airwaves that the U.S. government is selling.
After more than a month of bidding that has raised a record $19.59 billion, analysts said the auction of 700 meghertz airwaves is likely to end within a matter of days.
Under rules set by the Federal Communications Commission, the auction must continue until bidding has stopped on all five blocks of spectrum offered for sale. Bidders' identities remain secret until the entire auction ends.
Potential bidders in the auction that began January 24 range from entrenched carriers AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, to possible new competitors like Google Inc, EchoStar Communications Corp and Cablevision Systems Corp.
Wireless Auction
1888 Photo Found
Helen Keller
Researchers have uncovered a rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod and tucked inside a family album.
The photograph, shot in July 1888 in Brewster, shows an 8-year-old Helen sitting outside in a light-colored dress, holding Sullivan's hand and cradling one of her beloved dolls.
Experts on Keller's life believe it could be the earliest photo of the two women together and the only one showing the blind and deaf child with a doll - the first word Sullivan spelled for Keller after they met in 1887 - according to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which now has the photo.
For more than a century, though, the photograph was hidden in an album that belonged to the family of Thaxter Spencer, an 87-year-old man in Waltham.
Helen Keller
Paris Show
Man Ray
Portraits of such cultural luminaries as Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway are on display with such bizarre objects as a blue baguette and a pair of golden lips.
They're all the work of American-born artist Man Ray, one of the fathers of both dadaism and surrealism, whose taste in art embraced the ridiculous and the sublime. Best known for his striking black and white photographs, Man Ray was an all-around artist who dabbled in sculpture, painting and lithography, among other disciplines.
"The Workshop of Man Ray," on display at the Pinachotheque de Paris museum through June 1, draws on the artist's meticulously kept archives to bring together an eyebrow-raising potpourri of some of Man Ray's best- and least-known work.
The show spans the near entirety of the artist's seven-decade-long career, from an ink drawing he jotted off at age 18 to a pastel from 1971, five years before his death at 86.
Man Ray
Camera Spots In Sierra Nevada
Wolverine
A research project aimed at weasels has turned up a bigger prize: a picture of a wolverine, an elusive animal scientists feared may have been driven out of the Sierra Nevada long ago by human activity.
The discovery could affect land-use decisions if the wolverine is declared an endangered species, a step the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering, although the animals typically live at high elevations where there is limited development.
A graduate student at Oregon State University, Katie Moriarty, got a picture of a wolverine recently on a motion-and-heat-detecting digital camera set up between Truckee and Sierraville, in the northern part of the mountain range.
News of the picture surprised scientists, who thought wolverines, if they still inhabited the Sierra, would be found only in the southern part of the range, not in the Lake Tahoe area.
Wolverine
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