'Best of TBH Politoons'
Now With Working Link
'Sinister Minister'
Marty
The link I sent for my "Sinister Minister" video is all kinda katawampus, could I get you to rerun it with
THIS URL?
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
'We should be scared stiff' (guardian.co.uk)
Renowned scientist James Lovelock thinks mainland Europe will soon be desert -- and millions of people will start moving north to Britain. Stuart Jeffries meets him.
Will Durst: The Department of Just Us
These days the Department of Justice has become the Department of Just Us. And that us, doesn't include you or me.
Happiness and all that jazz (books.guardian.co.uk)
Simon Jenkins is converted by Terry Eagleton's "The Meaning of Life."
Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley: Dozens in GOP turn against 'No Child' act (msnbc.msn.com)
States could opt out of testing mandates under proposed changes.
CHRISTOPHER AMES: Schooled by 'American Idol' (chronicle.com)
We might think that Americans are eager to celebrate talented young people who can thumb their noses at the older generation and thus exorcise the lingering resentment so many harbor from being graded and evaluated in the classroom. But what American Idol reveals instead is a veritable hunger for realistic evaluation.
Stephen Prothero: We live in the land of biblical idiots (latimes.com)
Public school courses that promote Bible literacy can enhance our civic life.
Time To Change The Light Bulb? (cbsnews.com)
There's a growing coalition that wants to ban the standard light bulb and replace it with compact fluorescents. Advocates say fluorescents will reduce greenhouse gases and save electricity and money.
Alexander Stille: Machiavelli's hero (.latimes.com)
Even 500 years after his death, Cesare Borgia speaks to us about power and politics.
Lloyd Grove: Unfortunately, we'll always have Paris (Hilton) (.latimes.com)
What the socialite's undeserved fame says about our society.
'He is a superman' (guardian.co.uk)
He is one of classical music's greatest figures, revered around the world. As Rostropovich turns 80, fellow cellist Steven Isserlis gives a personal tribute to an extraordinary man.
Hannah Pool: Question time (guardian.co.uk)
Children's laureate Jacqueline Wilson on Enid Blyton, unhappy families - and why she's not as rich as JK Rowling
Reader Comment
No Shame
Marty
I'll never say shame on you for any reason. I love BCE!! It's the first
thing I look at every morning after I check my e-mail. Keep up the good
work!
Peace
--Joe
Thanks, Joe!
Reader Suggestion
upside-down
Marty,
This is disturbing on so many levels:
Reader Suggestion
Bradbury Video Chat
There are book lovers out there who might not have read "Fahrenheit
451," the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel about a future in America
when citizens grow so intellectually lazy they allow books
to be banned.
If so, those same readers might want to grab a copy, since
"Fahrenheit 451" is the 2007 selection for The Big Read,
a new municipal library-sponsored program to get people reading
and talking about one special book.
Then they can join a conversation about it with Bradbury,
the 87-year-old science-fiction author himself, who is to
be connected by simulcast with a local audience assembled
March 23 at Loussac Library.
You can read the full story online at: Bradbury Video Chat
Vic in AK
Thanks, Vic!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, breezy and cool.
Visa Problems
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Rodrigo y Gabriela, known for their dueling acoustic guitar instrumentals blending heavy-metal riffs with Latin rhythms, have canceled several U.S. appearances because of a problem with a work visa.
The duo of Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero formed in Mexico City but moved to Dublin, Ireland, after growing frustrated with the late '90s Mexican music scene. They busked in the streets of Dublin before breaking into the local club scene and building a following in Europe.
Sanchez, who applied at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City to renew his papers, was told the request was on hold because officials had to verify that he wasn't the person with a similar name who is on a wanted list. Details on the identity of the wanted man weren't available.
The duo canceled shows at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, and a festival in Florida, Tetzeli said. Their Web site said they have postponed upcoming shows in Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., and Washington.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
First Nontheist Congressman
Rep. Pete Stark
The American Humanist Association applauded Rep. Pete Stark for publicly acknowledging he does not believe in a supreme being. The declaration, it said, makes him the highest-ranking elected official - and first congressman - to proclaim to be an atheist.
The organization took out an ad in Tuesday's Washington Post, congratulating the California Democrat for his stance.
Stark's beliefs garnered attention after the Secular Coalition for America offered a $1,000 prize to the person who could identify the "highest level atheist, agnostic, humanist or any other kind of nontheist currently holding elected public office in the United States."
Stark, whose district is in the San Francisco Bay-area town of Fremont, confirmed his belief in a statement to The Associated Press late Monday. He said he was "a Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being."
Rep. Pete Stark
Download Firm Secures Rare Footage
Beatles
Digital download service Wippit will offer rare footage documenting the rise of the Beatles as part a new deal forged with archive specialist ITN Source.
A range of Beatles interviews and news stories are covered, including an interview with guitarist George Harrison on his 21st birthday, the band meeting Queen Elizabeth, and interviews with the group on the set of the feature film "Help!"
Among the other footage is Paul McCartney's admission to taking LSD, Harrison's arrest on drug charges and the backlash to Lennon's controversial comment to the Evening Standard newspaper that the band was "more popular than Jesus."
Wippit will offer the video downloads to all territories except North America.
Beatles
Working For The Post Office
R2-D2
Thirty years ago, in theaters near and far, far away, a movie opened the imaginations of millions, combining the magic of mythology and special effects to launch the "Star Wars" phenomenon.
A star of those films - the brave little robot R2-D2 - is about to take a turn collecting mail as the Postal Service and Lucasfilm Ltd. commemorate that movie launch.
The post office is wrapping mail collection boxes in some 200 cities nationwide in a special covering to look like R2-D2.
About 400 mailboxes will be covered to look like the stout droid. "When you look at a mailbox, the resemblance to R2-D2 is too good to pass up," Bizzotto said.
R2-D2
Hospital Update
Regis Philbin
Daytime television host Regis Philbin was cracking jokes with nurses a day after heart surgery, co-host Kelly Ripa told the "Live with Regis and Kelly" audience on Thursday.
Philbin announced on the show on Monday that he would undergo open-heart surgery to clear out plaque in his arteries that had caused chest pains and shortness of breath.
Regis Philbin
Online Rumor Unfounded
Sinbad
Condolences flowed for U.S. comedian Sinbad after the online encyclopedia Wikipedia announced his death on Thursday, but it turned out the grieving was premature and the comic was alive and well.
The hoax entry said the 50-year-old entertainer, who appeared in several television series and starred in films including "Houseguest," and "Jingle All the Way," had died of a heart attack on the morning of March 14.
The news was quickly picked up by an Internet user who forwarded the e-mail link and prompted widespread mourning.
Sinbad
Makes Donation
Isaiah Washington
Isaiah Washington, who traced his ancestral roots to Sierra Leone through DNA testing, has donated $25,000 to a computer animation project that aims to detail the Atlantic slave trade.
The computer project focuses on Bunce Island, an 18th-century slave-trading castle that sent African captives to North America. Joseph Opala and Gary Chatelain, professors at James Madison University in Virginia, are directing the project, which will show the castle as it appeared in 1805.
Washington's donation was made through his Gondobay Manga Foundation and the Friends of Sierra Leone, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Isaiah Washington
Marks Latin America Tour
Food Fixation
U.S. resident George W. Bush's Latin American tour was supposed to be all about diplomacy, but at times he sounded more like he was eating his way across the region.
At every stop of his five-country trek, the U.S. leader waxed almost as passionate about the local cooking as he did about affairs of state.
In Colombia, Bush received gift baskets of chocolate, coffee and other foodstuffs as he met former coca farmers who have converted their fields to legal cultivation.
Visiting a farm cooperative in the Guatemalan highlands, he helped hoist crates of lettuce onto a lorry while First Lady Laura Bush stood by holding a large stalk of celery.
Food Fixation
Wins Place In Dictionary
'Wiki'
If you think "wiki" doesn't sound like English, you are right. But it's English now. This word born on the Pacific Island of Hawaii finally got an entry into the latest edition of the online Oxford English Dictionary along with 287 other new words.
But "Wiki Wiki", meaning "quick" in Hawaiian, has a very different meaning in its new host language: a type of Web page designed so that its contents can be edited by anyone who accesses it.
That the word acquired a new meaning is attributed to the fact that commenting and editing on Internet Web sites became faster, the OED's principle editor of new words, Graeme Diamond said.
'Wiki'
Says He's Bigger Than Springsteen
Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell says he's bigger than The Boss. In an interview to air Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," the "American Idol" judge says he's worth five times more to Sony BMG than Bruce Springsteen.
"I sell more records than Bruce Springsteen, sure," Cowell says of the 57-year-old rocker, who signed a contract that was reported to be in the neighborhood of $100 million.
"I mean, in the last five years, I've probably sold over 100 million records. If (Springsteen) got one hundred (million dollars), I should have got five hundred (million dollars)," he says.
Cowell says he sells all those records because he's signed "the biggest artist on the planet" - Fox network's "American Idol."
Simon Cowell
Arrested For DUI
Yancy Butler
Yancy Butler, who starred in the cable TV show "Witchblade," has been charged with driving under the influence after crashing her Saab 900 into a wire guard rail, state police said.
Butler, 36, was also charged Tuesday with failure to drive in the established lane.
The actress was released on a $500 bond and ordered to appear in Bantam Superior Court on March 26.
Yancy Butler
Ono's Ex-Driver Can Leave U.S.
Koral Karsan
Yoko Ono's former driver, who pleaded guilty to trying to extort money from her, can leave the United States voluntarily rather than be deported, a federal immigration judge decided Wednesday.
Koral Karsan can return to his native Turkey without further legal proceedings under an order signed by Judge Alan A. Vomacka. Karsan must leave the U.S. by April 13. He has a plane ticket to Turkey for March 23, lawyer Jonathan Avirom said.
The voluntary departure resulted from an agreement between Avirom and Department of Homeland Security attorney Victor Yee. It makes Karsan's re-entry into the United States less difficult than if he were deported.
Koral Karsan
Controversial S. Korea Comic Book Pulled
'Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara'
A South Korean publisher agreed Thursday to withdraw a best-selling children's book from stores after meeting with a prominent anti-Semitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing Nazi propaganda.
The series of comic books, titled "Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara," or "Far Countries, Near Countries" and authored by visual arts professor Rhie Won-bok, purports to teach children about the world and has sold more than 10 million copies since the first volume was published in 1987.
One of three books on the U.S. published in 2004 contains a chapter claiming Jews were the driving force for the hatred that led to the Sept. 11 attacks, that they exert control over all U.S. media and also prevent Korean-Americans from succeeding in the United States.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center met with the author at his publishing company Thursday in Seoul, confronting Rhie with copies from the group's archives of the early 20th century Nazi magazine Der Stuermer to show its similarity to caricatures in the South Korean books.
'Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara'
Sues O'Really, Faux For Defamation
Prince Frederic von Anhalt
Prince Frederic von Anhalt has sued Fox and Bill O'Reilly after the talk show host called him a fraud for claiming he could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby.
Von Anhalt, who is married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, filed the defamation suit seeking at least $10 million in damages Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
"Look, this guy's a fraud," O'Reilly said, according to a transcript of the show posted on the network's Web site. "We know he's a fraud. But let's - what I want to talk about is - he's done. His credibility is - is finished."
Since the show aired, von Anhalt said people give him dirty looks when he goes to the grocery store.
Prince Frederic von Anhalt
Caught On Tape
Ivory-Billed Impostor?
Fresh analysis published on Thursday suggests that a fuzzy four-second video that revived hope the rare ivory-billed woodpecker had survived extinction may be nothing more than a case of mistaken identity.
Research published in the journal BMC Biology compares footage of the common pileated woodpecker with a now-famed video shot in 2004 by David Luneau in the swamps of Arkansas of what he believed to be an ivory-billed woodpecker.
Luneau's finding, which appeared in the journal Science in 2005, has been disputed by several bird experts. A new study by J. Martin Collinson of the University of Aberdeen in Britain raises even more questions.
Collinson analyzed the flight and plumage patterns of the bird in the Luneau video.
Ivory-Billed Impostor?
New Species Found In Borneo
Clouded Leopard
The clouded leopard of Borneo - discovered to be an entirely new species - is the latest in a growing list of animals and plants unique to the Southeast Asian country's rainforest and underscores the need to preserve the area, conservationists said Thursday.
Genetic tests by researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute revealed that the clouded leopard of Borneo and Sumatra islands is a unique cat species and not the same one found in mainland Southeast Asia as long believed, said a statement by WWF, the global conservation organization.
The secretive clouded leopards are the biggest predators on Borneo, growing sometimes to the size of a small panther. They have the longest canine teeth relative to body size of any cat.
Clouded Leopard
Purify Ruin After Visit
Mayan Priests
Mayan priests spiritually "cleansed" a Guatemalan religious site with incense and candles on Thursday after a visit earlier this week by resident Bush.
Two priests lit colored candles on the four corners of the ruins to represent natural elements, burning incense and beating a ceremonial drum on top of a pyramid visited by Bush and Guatemalan President Oscar Berger on Monday.
"During resident Bush's visit here snipers occupied this entire area," said Mayan youth leader Jorge Morales Toj. "It's a violent way of showing how disrespectful the U.S. empire is toward indigenous people."
The head of security at the U.S. embassy in Guatemala said it was standard practice for two sniper teams to protect resident Bush while he was traveling.
Mayan Priests
In Memory
Lucie Aubrac
Lucie Aubrac, a hero of the French Resistance whose dramatic life story became a hit film, has died. She was 94.
Born on June 29, 1912, in the eastern city of Macon, Aubrac was working as a history and geography teacher when she and her husband, engineer Raymond Samuel, helped create the Resistance network known as Liberation-Sud, or Liberation-South.
Liberation-Sud was one of the first networks set up by the Resistance, a French movement to continue warfare against Germany after France's 1940 defeat in World War II. It linked civilians and armed bands of partisans working secretly to oppose the Nazi occupation of France.
In 1943, Aubrac helped orchestrate her husband's escape from a Lyon prison after his arrest. She persuaded the local Gestapo leader, Klaus Barbie, to let her meet with her imprisoned husband. During the meeting, she informed him of the Resistance's plan to attack the German truck that was to transfer him.
French director Claude Berri made the hit 1997 movie "Lucie Aubrac," starring Carole Bouquet in the title role. Two other films, Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 "The Army of Shadows ["L'Armée des ombres"]" and the 1991 "Boulevard of the Swallows ["Boulevard des hirondelles"]" by Josée Yanne, were also based on Aubrac's story.
In 2000, Aubrac published "The Resistance Explained to my Grandchildren," a book about her experiences.
Aubrac is survived by her husband and three children.
Lucie Aubrac
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