'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Comment
The Capitol Steps
Hi Marty,
Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a production of "The Capitol
Steps" at Proctor's Theater in Schenectady, NY. The performers are all
former congressional employees that sing political diddies to familiar
melodies.
One such tune sung was "Springtime for Hitler" from 'The Producers'. But
the words were changed to: 'Springtime for LIberals and Hillary". It was
hilarious.
They had "Cheney" come out in duck hunting garb and stand behind "Dubya"
and mimick him and pretend to want to smack him for being so dumb. It was
a terrific evening. Just google them, you'll find a lot of links and I
think there are free downloads of some their routines.
The reason I'm writing is this: at intermission it struck me: this is
what life USED to be like. The freedom to express opinions. The freedom
to laugh at our elected officials in an open forum The easy-going give
and take between performers and the audience. One woman near me was
yelping and squealing she was laughing so hard. Then I thought: this is
what the world was like before Clinton's impeachment, before the battle
lines were drawn, before the red vs blue state mentality was forced upon
us. The theatre seated 2000. It was sold out. The lights came up
everyone was still smiling and in no hurry to go.
I was going to start off by saying the evening felt like the old days
before 9/11, but we were edgy and nervous before that too. The 2000
election, the press laying down and dying in the face of truth, the
crucifixion of Gore, and the treasoness behavior of the GOP of putting
party before country.
So, if you get a chance to attend an evening like this. Go. The glow of
freedom of expression pretty much just lasts over night but its better
than nothing.
Sigh,
Sara
Thanks, Sara!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dahr Jamail: Torture as National Policy (Tomdispatch.com; Posted on Alternet.org)
War on Iraq: From Guantánamo to Iraq, the vicious abuse of prisoners by the U.S. military is business as usual.
Alexandra Zendrian: Was It Worth It? (citypaper.net)
William J. Maher III. Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division. Died: July 28, 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq, age 35.
Christopher Goffard: A Brutal Scene Caught on Tape (latimes.com)
A 21-minute recording of a sexual assault shattered lives in O.C.
Dream Hampton: Parable of the Writer (villagevoice.com)
Octavia E. Butler, science fiction visionary, 1947-2006
Ask Auntie Pinko! (democraticunderground.com)
I live in Australia. I follow U.S. politics quite closely, like a lot of people from around the world, and I have read books by Jon Stewart and Al Franken and really enjoyed both of them. But I really don't know which authors I should be looking out for. Could you perhaps let me know who the best liberal authors are so that I can try and track them down?
Emily Flake: Smoke Break (Cartoon Feature; citypaper.com)
A Love Hate Love Hate Love Story About Ambivalence Towards This Monkey on My Back
Live Action Simpsons
Update From Colby
Re: Katherine Harris
Katherine Harris: Beginning of the End
She just can't face reality.
Colby
in Frostproof
Thanks, Colby!
Reader Contribution
Re: Ostrich
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cool & overcast - weather on the way.
Two new flags - Andorra 
and Cuba 
Profile in Courage Award
Jack Murtha
Rep. John Murtha, a Vietnam veteran who has denounced the war in Iraq, was named a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Thursday.
Alberto Mora, a former Navy general counsel who warned Pentagon officials that U.S. policies dealing with terror detainees could invite abuse, also will receive the award from the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library Foundation.
Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, was recognized "for the difficult and courageous decision of conscience he made in November 2005, when he reversed his support for the Iraq war and called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the conflict," the foundation said in a statement.
The award, created in 1989 and named for Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, is presented annually to public servants who have withstood strong opposition while fighting for their beliefs.
Jack Murtha
Fear for Our Country
Faith Hill & Tim McGraw
Country-music heavyweights Faith Hill and Tim McGraw let loose with their feelings about the Hurricane Katrina cleanup effort Wednesday, calling the slow-going work "embarrassing" and "humiliating," ABC News reports.
McGraw, a Louisiana native, said politicizing cleanup based on race or economic status is "the most wrong thing." "That erases everything that's great about our country," McGraw said.
A clearly frustrated Hill, who is a native of Jackson, Miss., broke down at one point, swearing and calling the government's efforts "screwed up."
The criticism was uncharacteristic of either performer, both of whom usually avoid political discussions, although both have been active in raising money and volunteering for Katrina cleanup efforts.
McGraw singled out resident Bush directly, wondering aloud why the leader of the free world can't hold someone accountable for the cleanup.
Faith Hill & Tim McGraw
Finland Trip
Conan
Conan O'Brien may be a talk-show host in America, but he's a god in Finland.
On Friday, O'Brien will devote the whole of "Late Night" to recapping his recent trip to the Nordic country where he is surprisingly so popular. Thousands met him at the airport; he was mobbed wherever he went.
In Finland, his NBC show airs in prime time, though delayed three days. Seizing on his peculiar Nordic niche, O'Brien joked with his usual self-deprecating style: "(David) Hasselhoff is big in Germany, but I'm the king of Finland."
Conan
Explores World of 'Trek' Tech
William Shatner
The irreverent documentary "How William Shatner Changed the World" features the actor examining the ways "Star Trek" technology inspired real-life innovators, whose inventions include communicator-like flip phones and medical equipment reminiscent of the starship Enterprise's sick bay.
Premiering Sunday on the History Channel, the show kicks off the network's "Out of This World" week, featuring explorations of comets, meteors and UFOs.
The documentary studies how Gene Roddenberry's sci-fi series helped energize scientific explorers who created gadgets we could only dream about when "Star Trek" premiered in the 1960s.
William Shatner
Hidden Novel Published in English
'Suite Francaise'
The story of how a Jewish girl survived World War II, protected her mother's notes from the Nazis and saw them published decades later is as extraordinary as the acclaimed novel about life in occupied France itself.
When her parents were arrested in 1942 and taken to concentration camp to die, Denise Epstein, then 13, was on the run.
Wherever she went during her flight, she took a suitcase containing that turned out to be a literary gold mine.
"When my father was arrested he handed me the famous suitcase and told me: 'You must never part with this because there is a notebook of your mother's inside.'
'Suite Francaise'
Neo-Nazis Quash Show
Konstantin Wecker
Neo-Nazis in the eastern German state of Sachsen-Anhalt have successfully blocked a benefit concert by a left-wing singer-songwriter.
Konstantin Wecker, a political activist singer and film composer ("Schtonk!"), had planned to perform Wednesday at a high school in the eastern town of Halberstadt. It was part of Wecker's "Nazis Get Out of Town!" tour, a nonprofit series of concerts the musician has organized across eastern Germany in response to the recent upswing in neo-Nazi violence there.
But radical right-wing party the NPD threatened to disrupt the Halberstadt concert if it went ahead. The NPD accused Wecker of using the school concert as a front for political campaigning on behalf of Germany's socialist Left Party.
Town authorities refused to grant Wecker a permit, arguing the concert was an illegal commercial venture in a public schoolroom. Wecker charges a token EUR10 ($12) for his anti-Nazi tour to cover operating costs but performs for free.
Konstantin Wecker
Attended Premiere
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra, daughter of late, legendary singer Frank Sinatra saw her father take the stage Wednesday at a London theater he first graced in 1950 - thanks to technology that has helped create an unusual new musical.
Never-before-seen pictures and film of the singer taken during the 1950s - which has been painstakingly cleaned and edited - are displayed across a series of angled screens and give the impression of Sinatra moving across the stage in time with the music.
The show, "Sinatra at the London Palladium," charts the singer's life and music from his birth in 1915 to his death, at the age of 82, in 1998. It includes home-movie footage of his children Nancy, Frank and Tina.
Nancy Sinatra
Postpones Final 10 Dates of Tour
U2
U2 has postponed the final 10 dates of their "Vertigo" world tour because of the illness of a family member.
In a statement, the tour promoter said the decision was unavoidable "due to the illness of an immediate family member of one of the band."
The statement, released Wednesday, gave no details of the nature of the illness or the band member whose relative was sick. The promoter could not immediately be contacted for further comment.
U2
Wife Claims Domestic Violence
David Hasselhoff
Less than a month after filing for divorce, the estranged wife of David Hasselhoff has filed for a court order on a claim of domestic violence by the former "Baywatch" star, according to court records.
Actress Pamela Bach, 42, made the filing Monday against Hasselhoff, 53, in Los Angeles Superior Court, summary records on the court's Web site show.
At a private hearing, Bach also asked for a temporary restraining order against the actor, but a judge denied the request, instead instructing the two to stay away from each other.
Bach was granted custody of one daughter while Hasselhoff was given custody of the other, publicist Judy Katz said Wednesday.
David Hasselhoff
Begins Serving Jail Sentence
Brad Renfro
Brad Renfro pleaded no contest Wednesday to a drunken driving charge and was immediately taken to jail to begin serving a 10-day sentence.
Superior Court Judge Michael Carter also ordered the 23-year-old actor to pay a $450 fine, take alcohol education classes for 18 months and serve five years' probation.
The month after his DUI arrest, Renfro was taken into custody in a drug sting. He pleaded guilty Feb. 23 to attempted possession of heroin and was ordered earlier this week to enter a drug rehabilitation program.
Brad Renfro
Caught In The Middle
Roger Waters
Palestinian artists have appealed to a British musician famed for the 1970s protest song "Another Brick in the Wall" to cancel a concert in Israel out of solidarity with their fight against Israel's West Bank barrier.
Pink Floyd singer-songwriter Roger Waters, a vocal critic of the 600-km (370-mile) network of fences and concrete barricades going up in and around the occupied territory, surprised many in the Middle East by agreeing to perform in Tel Aviv this summer.
Concert promoter Shuki Weiss said Waters was persuaded to come to Israel after it quit the Gaza Strip, territory on which Palestinians want to build a state, last year in a move billed as breaking a deadlock in peacemaking.
Roger Waters
Files Suit Over Brother's Store
Lou Ferrigno
Lou Ferrigno is suing his brother, Andrew, and Andrew's wife, Janie, who live in Bethlehem, Pa., and their business, Ferrigno Fitness of Greenwich Township, claiming they are unlawfully trading on the name and image of the former action star.
Scott Wilhelm, lawyer for the defendants, said Andrew Ferrigno and his late father, Matthew, began selling fitness equipment in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1980. Two years later, the father bought a 5,000 square-foot retail store on Route 57 in Greenwich and moved the business there.
The father died in 2003 after a two-year battle with stomach cancer - a period in which Lou Ferrigno offered no help with the business, the lawyer said.
Lou Ferrigno
Banned From Vanity Fair Party
Paris Hilton
Socialite Paris Hilton was banned from Vanity Fair's annual post-Oscar party on Sunday night.
Vanity Fair boss Graydon Carter reduced the party's invite list to 500 this year, meaning only a-list stars such as Madonna, Teri Hatcher, Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez were in attendance at Morton's Restaurant in Beverly Hills, California.
Hilton did attend Sir Elton John's post-Oscar party, and caused a furor when she had a cigarette at the non-smoking event.
Paris Hilton
Not Extinct After All
Rat-Squirrel
It has the face of a rat and the tail of a skinny squirrel - and scientists say this creature discovered living in central Laos is pretty special: It's a species believed to have been extinct for 11 million years.
The long-whiskered rodent made international headlines last spring when biologists declared they'd discovered a brand new species, nicknamed the Laotian rock rat.
It turns out the little guy isn't new after all, but a rare kind of survivor: a member of a family until now known only from fossils.
Nor is it a rat. This species, called Diatomyidae, looks more like small squirrels or tree shrews, said paleontologist Mary Dawson of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Rat-Squirrel
IOKIYAR-Style Justice
Backlash
The facts of the case appeared straightforward: On a hot summer night in 1999, a young woman tending bar in an upscale New Delhi restaurant refused to serve a drunk patron. It was about 2 a.m. Closing time, she told him, had passed. So he shot her in the head.
Dozens of people witnessed the killing of Jessica Lall, bullet casings were recovered, and a suspect was quickly identified.
But that suspect, 24-year-old Manu Sharma, was the son of a powerful and wealthy politician with interests in sugar mills. He was only a few years out of Mayo College, one of India's most elite boarding schools. Among the friends with him that night were a coterie of the young, the rich and the well-connected. He and his friends, who were accused of helping cover up the crime, insisted they were innocent.
For six years, the case moved through the courts - fairly speedy for a legal system hobbled by corruption and a maze-like bureaucracy. And few were surprised when the verdict was announced Feb. 21 and all nine of the accused were acquitted.
Backlash
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
