'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Comment
Re: Terri Schiavo
Why doesn't Schiavo's husband move her to Texas? That
way life-support could be removed and there shouldn't
be any ruckus. Yeah, right...
Roma
Thanks, Roma!
Reader Update
Re: Patricia Heaton site
Marty-
Apparently the guestbook has been taken down.
Sean K
Thanks, Sean!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Podvin: AMERICA RULES! (Make Them Accountable)
The World Health Organization has released a study that verifies the United States is the undisputed champion in mental illness*, dominating various pathologies ranging from anxiety to depression to poor impulse control.
Global study finds mental illness widespread (The Associated Press)
Mental illnesses including anxiety disorders and depression are common and under-treated in many developed and developing countries, with the highest rate found in the United States, according to a study of 14 countries.
Julie Weisberg: The Bush dodger returns (The Advocate)
After almost two years of living with her Canadian partner in that gay-friendly nation just north of Buffalo, an American lesbian faces her own shame at not fighting back and decides to return to the U.S. of A.
Harvey Wasserman: If Jesus returns, Karl Rove will kill him (The Free Press)
As we enter another Easter Season, it's become all too obvious that if Christ returns, those who hate in his name will slime him, then kill him.
J. D. Smith: An Immodest Proposal (Grist)
How a little blue pill could get big results -- in species conservation, we mean
Bill Moyers: Welcome to Doomsday (NY Review of Books)
There are times when what we journalists see and intend to write about dispassionately sends a shiver down the spine, shaking us from our neutrality.
CNN.com posted misleading graph showing poll results on Schiavo case (Media Matters)
Cartoon Stock
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast & damp.
Lots of food ladies at CostCo today. The kid was greatly pleased.
FHM Names Sexiest Woman
Angelina Jolie
It's all in the lips. Angelina Jolie has been named the sexiest woman in the world by FHM magazine. It is Jolie's first time at the top of the annual readers' poll by the American edition of the men's magazine.
After Jolie, readers ranked, in order, Jennifer Garner, Paris Hilton, Charlize Theron, Halle Berry, Alyssa Milano, Teri Hatcher, Pamela Anderson, Scarlett Johansson and Lindsay Lohan.
Last year's winner, Britney Spears, didn't even make the list of 100.
Angelina Jolie
NBC Announcer Retires After 62 Years
Howard Reig
Through the eras of John Chancellor, Tom Brokaw and now Brian Williams, Howard Reig's voice also was heard when viewers heard they turned on the news.
"This is NBC Nightly News," the clear baritone would say, ushering in headlines from Watergate to terrorism. Now 84, with a career that spans the very life of television itself, Reig retires Friday as NBC's last staff announcer.
A gnomish figure who walks the halls of NBC's Rockefeller Center office with the help of two hearing aids and a pacemaker, he's been working for NBC and its parent General Electric for nearly 62 years.
His career began in 1943 when, as a high school English teacher, he took a summer acting job at the GE-owned radio station WGY in Schenectady, N.Y., and its new sister station WRGB-TV.
He plans to move to Florida and live with one of his three sons, and dote on five grandchildren.
Howard Reig
OD'd At Carrie Fisher's
Robert Stevens
A media advisor who helped US resident George W. Bush get re-elected, died of a drug overdose in the home of Hollywood movie star Carrie Fisher, a coroner revealed.
Robert Stevens, 42, was found dead in a guest room of the home of the "Star Wars" actress who is the daughter of movie legend Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, on February 26.
The Los Angeles coroner's office ruled that Stevens, who was reportedly an old friend of Reynolds, died after overdosing on a cocktail of cocaine and the powerful painkiller oxycodone.
He served as co-chairman of the entertainment task force for the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign.
Robert Stevens
Ends Shift
'Third Watch'
It's official -- NBC's "Third Watch" will not be returning for a seventh season.
Peabody-winning "Third Watch," on hiatus to make room for midseason entry "Law & Order: Trial by Jury," will return with the remainder of its sixth season, ending its run with a series finale.
'Third Watch'
Newest Star on Walk of Fame
Sandra Bullock
Actress Sandra Bullock was all smiles as she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, the same day her comedy "Miss Congeniality 2" opened nationwide.
Her star was placed next to that of friend and "Speed" co-star Keanu Reeves.
Guests at the dedication included William Shatner, Ernie Hudson, Diedrich Bader, George Lopez and Heather Burns, who co-stars in "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous."
Sandra Bullock
Casting News
Pilots
Jonathan Silverman will star in CBS' untitled Marsh McCall project, in which he'll play one of three adult siblings who rally to support their eccentric professor father.
In other comedy pilot casting news:
- Darren Ritchie has landed the male lead opposite Tiffani Thiessen in CBS' untitled Yuspa-Goldsmith comedy pilot, which centers on a young New York couple adjusting to life as new parents.
- Melinda McGraw has landed a lead role on ABC's "Neighbors," which revolves around dueling neighbors (Lenny Clarke, Brian Benben) who have to contend with one another when their wives (Ann Cusack, McGraw) and kids become friends. McGraw recently co-starred on CBS' short-lived "Center of the Universe" and has a multiepisode arc on ABC's "Desperate Housewives."
- Geoff Pierson has joined NBC's "All In," which stars Janeane Garofalo as a single mother of three in Las Vegas who earns a living as a professional poker player. Pierson, who plays President John Keller on Fox's "24," will play the main character's father.
- Kurt Fuller has come aboard ABC's "Joint Custody." The comedy stars Nick D'Agosto as a recent college graduate who returns home and find his parents (Marilu Henner, Fuller) divorced. Fuller, whose credits include the features "Ray" and "Anger Management" and ABC's "Alias," also has landed a role in the New Line feature "Mr. Woodcock."
- Martin Mull, whose numerous TV credits include "The Ellen Show," "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," "Fernwood 2Nite" and "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," has been cast in NBC's "Thick and Thin," which centers on a former fat woman (Jessica Capshaw) who struggles with her new image.
Pilots
Brandeis to Name Festival After
Leonard Bernstein
Brandeis University is renaming its annual arts festival after Leonard Bernstein, a former faculty member. Bernstein taught music at Brandeis from 1951 to 1955. In 1952, he created the Brandeis Festival of the Creative Arts, which featured the premiere performance of his one-act opera "Trouble in Tahiti."
This year's installment of the five-day festival, which starts April 13, features concerts, plays and other performances by more than 150 artists, including the Boston Opera Project and the Actors' Shakespeare Project.
The festival concludes April 17 with a musical tribute to Bernstein by the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra.
Leonard Bernstein
Trump Says Not Comng to Vegas
Michael Jackson
Donald Trump might not want Michael Jackson to perform at his Las Vegas hotel after all.
On Wednesday, Us Weekly magazine reported that Trump and Phil Ruffin, his partner in the Trump International Hotel & Tower now being built in Las Vegas, have had discussions with representatives of Jackson about having the King of Pop perform a Wayne Newton-style resident gig at Ruffin's New Frontier Hotel and Casino.
"It's an interesting idea, but I don't think he'd show up half the time," Trump told syndicated entertainment show "The Insider" Thursday. "I can't imagine what the insurance policy would be like."
Michael Jackson
DA Says Blake Jurors Stupid
Steve Cooley
District Attorney Steve Cooley (R-Sanctimonious) says Robert Blake was "guilty as sin" and the jurors who acquitted him of murder were "incredibly stupid."
"Quite frankly, based on my review of the evidence, he is as guilty as sin. He is a miserable human being," Cooley said Wednesday.
Juror Chuck Safko said: "To hear him say we aren't a smart jury is sour grapes. They didn't have a good case. Their case was built around witnesses who weren't truthful."
Steve Cooley
Sect Leader Dies
'True Pope'
The leader of a secretive Spanish sect who said he was the true Pope and that the Vatican was controlled by the devil has died, a town hall official said Tuesday.
Gregorio XVII, 58, was the leader of a self-styled church whose followers believed he would be crucified before a kind of apocalypse would take place.
Gregorio believed God crowned him after Pope Paul VI's death in 1978 and he rejected changes made to the Catholic church in the 1960s such as saying mass in local languages rather than Latin and dialogue with other branches of Christianity.
The sect, based in the southern Spanish town of El Palmar de Troya but with members from as far away as the United States, conferred sainthood on former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. A town hall official said Gregorio had died, although she could not confirm when. A local police officer said the bells at the vast walled church complex had been ringing for about an hour Tuesday morning.
'True Pope'
Fined for L.A. Hit-And-Run Case
Paula Abdul
"American Idol" television star Paula Abdul on Thursday was fined $300 and sentenced to two years probation for swiping a car on a Los Angeles freeway then fleeing the scene, a city official said.
She faced a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to two years in prison if convicted, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
She was formally charged Thursday morning, and her attorney made the plea this afternoon. With penalties tacked on, Abdul paid close to $900 and another $775 in restitution to the victims, Mateljan said.
Paula Abdul
Sentenced for Drug-Related Charge
Tom Sizemore
Actor Tom Sizemore was sentenced Thursday to nearly two years in jail for repeatedly failing drug tests while on probation, but he was allowed to remain free while he appeals a domestic violence conviction.
Sizemore, 43, failed seven drug tests, admitted methamphetamine use twice and failed to show up for further testing while on probation for a 2003 domestic violence conviction involving his ex-girlfriend, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, prosecutor Sean Carney said last month.
Sizemore sobbed, gestured and begged for another chance as he delivered a rambling speech before being sentenced by Superior Court Judge Antonio Barreto Jr.
Tom Sizemore
Complains to FCC About Rap Music
Al Sharpton
The Rev. Al Sharpton, upset about violence in rap music, asked the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to punish artists and radio stations connected with violent acts.
Artists connected to such acts should be denied airplay on radio and television for 90 days, he told reporters after meeting with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and two other commissioners.
He also urged the agency to fine and review the licenses of radio stations "that encourage a pattern of this, including allowing employees to do on-the-air inciting of violence."
Al Sharpton
Abusive Dad Shuts Down Show
'Wife Swap'
A Nashville man being filmed for the TV show "Wife Swap" was charged with striking his 13-year-old daughter in the face after a production crew sought treatment for the girl. Yanni Panagiotakis, 38, was charged with domestic assault. Production on the episode featuring his family was shut down.
The crew took the girl and her brother to a hospital, where she was treated and released, and called the mother, who was in California filming the show. The father did not go with them to the hospital.
Panagiotakis was arrested Tuesday night at his home. He was free on $1,000 bond Wednesday.
'Wife Swap'
Picasso & Long Lost Kandinsky
Auction
A painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and a long lost painting by Russian expressionist Wassily Kandinsky could fetch at least 15 million dollars each when they go under the hammer in New York, auction house Sotheby's said.
The two paintings will be up for bids at the May 3-4 Impressionist and Modern Art auction.
The 1955 Picasso is part of the Spanish master's "Women of Algiers" series, while the Kandinsky, called "Two Riders and Reclining Figure," was painted between 1909-1910.
Kandinsky's piece, unseen in nearly a century and largely unknown to scholars, could fetch up to 25 million dollars, Sotheby's said.
Auction
Not An Urban Legend
Wendy's
A diner at a Wendy's fast food restaurant in San Jose, California, found a human finger in a bowl of chili prepared by the chain, local officials said on Wednesday.
"This individual apparently did take a spoonful, did have a finger in their mouth and then, you know, spit it out and recognized it," said Ben Gale, director of the department of environmental health for Santa Clara County. "Then they had some kind of emotional reaction and vomited."
Officials are trying to determine if the finger came in the raw materials Wendy's used to prepare the chili, Gale said.
Wendy's
Basic Cable Networks
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of March 14-20. Each ratings point represents 1,096,000 households. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. "Comedy Central Roast: Jeff Foxworthy" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), Comedy Central, 3.7, 4 million homes.
2. "Law & Order" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 3.2, 3.51 million homes.
3. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 3.1, 3.44 million homes.
4. Movie: "Scooby-Doo Movie" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.33 million homes.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.31 million homes.
6. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), Spike, 3.0, 3.28 million homes.
7. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.18 million homes.
8. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.14 million homes.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.09 million homes.
10. Movie: "Scooby-Doo Movie" (Friday, 8:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.09 million homes.
11. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.08 million homes.
12. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.08 million homes.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.06 million homes.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 5:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.89 million homes.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.8 million homes.
Ratings
In Memory
Jacqueline "Jackie" Donahue
The sister of Grammy-winning rapper Nelly died Thursday at a St. Louis hospital after a long battle with leukemia, the artist's publicist said.
Jacqueline "Jackie" Donahue, 31, had been diagnosed with leukemia on March 29, 2001. The cancer was in remission for nearly two years before she suffered a relapse, prompting Nelly to arrange a number of bone marrow drives. A match was never found.
In March 2003, Nelly and his sister formed a campaign called "Jes Us 4 Jackie" to find donors for Donahue and others, and to raise awareness about bone marrow donations.
Jacqueline "Jackie" Donahue
In Memory
Barney Martin
Barney Martin, a former New York City detective who went into show business and became best known for playing Jerry Seinfeld's father Morty on the comedian's hit television series, has died. He was 82.
Born March 3, 1923, in the New York City borough of Queens, Martin served as a navigator in the Air Force during World War II before starting a 20-year career as a New York City police detective.
Martin showed a talent for making deputy police commissioners laugh during presentations. In the 1950s, he began writing on the side for comedy shows such as "Name That Tune" and "The Steve Allen Show."
Martin got his start in film when Mel Brooks featured him in "The Producers" in 1968. That role launched Martin into Broadway theater, where he appeared in several musicals, including "South Pacific," "The Fantasticks," All American" and "How Now Dow Jones."
He is credited with creating the role of Roxy's unappreciated husband, Amos Hart, in the musical "Chicago."
Martin also appeared in several television series in the 1990s, including "The Tony Randall Show," "US," "Sydney" and "Zorro and Son."
In "Seinfeld," Martin was the third actor to play the part of Seinfeld's father and became the one most identified with the role of the Florida retiree.
He is survived by his wife and son. A daughter died in 2002 of cancer.
Barney Martin
