Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: The word 'hypocrite' applies to most Arizona GOP lawmakers (Tucson Weekly)
My favorite athlete of all time is Muhammad Ali. I had friends who couldn't stand him, claiming that he "bragged too much." I always figured that if he said what he was going to do and then went out and did it, it wasn't bragging. I considered it a rather manly way to live one's life. The corollary to that is that after doing something, one should have the testicular (and/or ovarian) capacity to own up to what one did. It shouldn't be that hard, even for politicians. I'm sorry, but claiming to look out for the middle class and then giving tax breaks to corporations is hypocritical.
Susan Estrich: In Search of Neuter Judges (Creators Syndicate)
Many years ago, the late and great U.S. District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley of the Southern District of New York was assigned to hear a case alleging sex discrimination by one of New York's top law firms.
Jim Hightower: OHIO'S HIGH-FLYING BUDGET SLASHER
One morning in March, Ohio's pious, anti-spending governor, John Kasich, got up, brushed his teeth, and went to the capitol to announce that he was slashing spending on schools, teachers, and other public employees.
Connie Schultz: Honor Thy Children, Too (Creators Syndicate)
This latest Code Blue is brought to you by Michigan, where state elected officials are debating whether foster children deserve to wear new clothes State Sen. Bruce Caswell wants the government to pay only for used clothes, insisting that the retreads of thrift shops are just fine for children who already have lost their homes and the parents who were supposed to love them.
Progress: Moving America Forward
PROGRESS is designed to show the real effects of the steps President Obama and Democrats have taken to rebuild our economy. Behind these numbers are stories about people whose lives and communities have been positively affected by the change Democrats have made.
Really Really Really Big Government (Rachel Maddow Show)
"If you have five minutes (or a uterus), watch this censored Florida legislator make his case for choice. He calls out his state legislative colleagues for espousing small, hand s-off government for corporations but big, intrusive government for average citizens like his wife." - Andrew Tobias
Bay Area Moms: Proof that Barbie's dimensions are out of whack (SF Gate)
If Barbie were human-size, she'd stand 6 feet tall with a 36-inch [or 39-inch] chest, an 18-inch waist, and 33-inch hips. Galia Slayen, who once battled an eating disorder, wanted to know what a person with these dimensions would look like so she built a life-size Barbie. The result is a freakish-looking woman with spindly legs, a disturbingly skinny waist, and big boobs.
Keith Thursby: "Phoebe Snow dies at 60; singer of 1974 hit 'Poetry Man'" (Los Angeles Times)
Phoebe Snow received wide acclaim for her self-titled album, which showed off her multi-octave range and musical versatility. She had suffered a brain hemorrhage in January 2010.
Rosie Swash: Poly Styrene dies aged 53 (Guardian)
The punk icon and singer with X-Ray Spex has died from an advanced form of breast cancer.
Adam Sweeting: Poly Styrene obituary (Guardian)
One of the punk era's original talents, she fronted the band X-Ray Spex.
Henry Rollins: Henry on Why Music Makes Us Lusty (Los Angeles Weekly)
In the '80s and '90s, artists like Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland, Die Cheerleader, 7 Year Bitch, Frightwig, the Lunachicks, L7, Skunk Anansie, Fire Party, PJ Harvey and the Insaints permanently obliterated any notion that females couldn't rock like hell.
Jim Fusilli: Who Will Remember Paul Simon? (Wall Street Journal)
By any sensible standard, he's a great American composer. But the next generation of fans and musicians haven't embraced him with the same gusto as his peers.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny with a pleasant breeze.
Says NBC Knows Trump's Plans
Lawrence O'Donnell
NBC was not responding to a challenge by talk-show host Lawrence O'Donnell to disclose whether Donald Trump will return next fall with "The Celebrity Apprentice."
"NBC has created a monster and it is called Donald Trump," O'Donnell said in a blistering 15-minute rant on Wednesday's edition of his show, "The Last Word," which airs on MSNBC, a sister network of NBC.
If a deal is in place for another "Apprentice" season, Trump's attention-grabbing flirtation with a presidential bid is nothing more than a publicity stunt, O'Donnell declared.
"If Donald Trump has committed to do ('Celebrity Apprentice'), he is obviously not running for president," O'Donnell said, "and all of this, every bit of it, is as fake as Donald's reality show."
NBC, which will formally announce its 2011-12 season schedule on May 16, must already know if more "Celebrity Apprentice" is in the cards, O'Donnell said. He insisted that NBC settle the question right away and avoid being part of what he called Trump's "campaign to legitimize hatred and racism."
Lawrence O'Donnell
Pick Mid-January Date
Golden Globes
The 2012 Golden Globe Awards will be presented on Jan. 15, but which network will air the star-studded presentation is still an open question for a federal judge to decide.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the date on Thursday without mentioning a specific broadcaster.
The group is locked in a battle with longtime producer Dick Clark Productions over whether the show will air on NBC as it has for nearly two decades. Last year the press association sued the production company, which is now under new ownership, claiming that it negotiated a new broadcast deal without permission.
A trial to resolve the broadcast rights is scheduled for September.
Golden Globes
Returns To CNN For One Night
Larry King
In his first CNN special since stepping down from his nightly talk show, Larry King visits a Las Vegas clinic where Alzheimer's disease is studied. He is accompanied by former President Ronald Reagan's son Ron.
One of the men takes a brain scan to reveal whether he is at risk of developing Alzheimer's or other memory disorders. The other declines.
King, trying to pump up interest for the show, won't say in advance which is which. Reagan and King had visited the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at the Cleveland Clinic to learn about advances in treating the incurable memory disorder.
King's special, "Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic," airs Sunday at 8 p.m. EDT/PDT on CNN. It features interviews with several celebrities touched by the disease, including Maria Shriver, whose father Sargent Shriver had it, and actor Seth Rogen. The mother of Rogen's fiancée was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 55, and he wanted to talk about it to make clear that not only old people are affected.
Larry King
Leaves Bon Jovi Tour
Richie Sambora
Bon Jovi announced that Richie Sambora will miss dates on its current tour amid reports that the guitarist is heading to rehab.
In a statement released Thursday, the group said its support for Sambora was "absolute" and that he remained a member of the band. But it also said he would miss an undetermined number of concerts and that it looked forward to his "healthy return."
Neither the band nor its publicist would confirm or deny reports that Sambora planned to enter rehab. He went to rehab a few years ago.
Richie Sambora
Media Tour Prison
Bradley Manning
The Army opened the doors of a Kansas military prison to reporters on Thursday in an unusual attempt to combat allegations that the military has been mistreating a private accused of passing U.S. government secrets to the website WikiLeaks.
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was moved last week from the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., to the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth amid criticism over his treatment and confinement. At Quantico, Manning was held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, stripped naked each night and given a suicide-proof smock in which to sleep.
Senior Pentagon officials insist those conditions met basic standards of confinement and were appropriate given the seriousness of the charges against Manning. They say Manning was transferred because Fort Leavenworth is better suited to long-term detainment, which Manning likely faces as his complex case unfolds.
Thursday's tour, which barred the taking of photos or video, was intended to show the conditions inmates live in at the medium-security prison, which opened late last year and houses about 150 other inmates, including several awaiting trial. It was built near the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, the military's maximum-security prison for inmates sentenced to at least five years' confinement or death.
Bradley Manning
Money Talks In Malibu
The Edge
A California agency has agreed not to oppose U2 guitarist The Edge's plan to build five mansions overlooking Malibu in exchange for more than $1 million in funding and other services.
The Los Angeles Times reports Thursday that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy board voted 3-2 for the agreement this week. In return, the musician and his partners would pay $750,000 to help pay for trail easements and up to $250,000 for consulting services.
The payments will depend on whether the project gets final approval and survives any legal challenges.
The Edge wants to build the mansions on a ridgeline and has said the homes will be environmentally sensitive.
The Edge
Racist Language In Constitution
Alabama
The Alabama Senate approved a measure on Wednesday that would eliminate references to "Jim Crow" or segregationist laws as well as all mentions of race from the state constitution.
The legislation passed in a 22-9 vote, with all Republicans voting in favor after an all-night session, said Republican Senator Jabo Waggoner.
The proposed amendment would eliminate language that calls for separate schools for black and white students and poll taxes, the latter generally viewed as instituted to keep black residents from voting.
Written in 1901, the document has 827 amendments and 340,000 words, making it 40 times longer than the U.S. Constitution.
Alabama
Looking For Publicity
Superman
Superman has started a stir with a bold declaration he intends to renounce his U.S. citizenship in a move aimed at giving him more global clout and authority.
The decision is made in a short story in "Action Comics" No. 900. It has caused consternation online among readers who liken the Man of Steel's declaration to go before the United Nations and "inform them I am renouncing my citizenship" to abandoning the ideals of truth, justice and the American way.
DC Comics said Thursday the Kryptonian superhero isn't abandoning his adopted country. It says he's putting a global focus on his never-ending battle against evil and trying to keep a world that's not his safe.
Superman
Says Girl Manipulated Him
Convicted Assassin
Convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan was manipulated by a seductive girl in a mind control plot to shoot Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his bullets did not kill the presidential candidate, lawyers for Sirhan said in new legal papers.
The documents filed this week in federal court and obtained by The Associated Press detail extensive interviews with Sirhan during the past three years, some done while he was under hypnosis.
The papers point to a mysterious girl in a polka-dot dress as the controller who led Sirhan to fire a gun in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel. But the documents suggest a second person shot and killed Kennedy while using Sirhan as a diversion.
For the first time, Sirhan said under hypnosis that on a cue from the girl he went into "range mode" believing he was at a firing range and seeing circles with targets in front of his eyes.
Convicted Assassin
Make Donations
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen's tour is taking a softer approach when it arrives in San Francisco later this week, with a donation planned for a Giants fan severely beaten during the Los Angeles Dodgers' home opener.
Sheen's publicist announced Thursday that the actor will donate the profits made from merchandise sold at Saturday's show to benefit the fan, Bryan Stow.
Stow is a paramedic who had to be placed into a medically induced coma after being beaten on March 31 outside Dodgers Stadium.
The "Major League" star is an avid baseball fan, and has drawn cheers for sporting the hometown ball club's jersey in cities on his "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour.
Charlie Sheen
Hunt Begins
Mona Lisa
Researchers have begun their hunt for the remains of the woman who might have been the model for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, hoping to unravel a mystery that has baffled art historians for over five centuries.
A team of experts armed with a special radar device descended this week on a dilapidated convent in Florence where they believe the body of the woman who modeled for da Vinci back in the 16th century is buried.
The real Mona Lisa, Italian art historians say, was Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a rich Florentine silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo who is thought to have commissioned the portrait -- although there is no definitive proof of this.
The researchers say that if they can find her skull, they will be able to reconstruct her face and compare it with the painting.
Mona Lisa
NYC Webcam
Hawk Fans
Thousands of viewers who have been watching a live video stream of two hawks incubating eggs in a nest on a New York building were waiting the birth on Tuesday, when the eggs appeared to be hatching.
The red-tailed hawks became Internet stars after making their home on a window ledge of New York University's Bobst Library, outside the office of President John Sexton.
For months, only Sexton and visitors to his office paid much attention to the hawks, named Bobby and Violet, until in late March Sexton noticed three eggs in the nest.
The New York Times installed a Hawk-Cam trained on the nest and has provided updates on its City Room blog, where the nesting birds can be seen in a live video stream.
Hawk Fans
NYT Hawk Cam - live streaming video powered by Livestream
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of April 18-24. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 4.477 million homes, 6.3 million viewers.
2. NBA Playoffs: L.A. Lakers vs. New Orleans (Sunday, 9:47 p.m.), TNT, 4.471 million homes, 6.28 million viewers.
3. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 4.09 million homes, 5.9 million viewers.
4. NBA Playoffs: New Orleans vs. L.A. Lakers (Wednesday, 10:45 p.m.), TNT, 3.88 million homes, 5.35 million viewers.
5. NBA Playoffs: New York vs. Boston (Monday, 9:39 p.m.), TNT, 3.71 million homes, 4.9 million viewers.
6. NBA Playoffs: Indiana vs. Chicago (Tuesday, 7:09 p.m.), TNT, 3.42 million homes, 4.73 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.32 million homes, 4.55 million viewers.
8. NBA Playoffs: Orlando vs. Atlanta (Friday, 9:39 p.m.), ESPN, 3.29 million homes, 4.57 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.24 million homes, 4.54 million viewers.
10. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.207 million homes, 4.82 million viewers.
11. "NCIS" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.204 million homes, 4.34 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.13 million homes, 4.26 million viewers.
13. NBA Playoffs: Orlando vs. Atlanta (Sunday, 7:09 p.m.), TNT, 3.12 million homes, 4.5 million viewers.
14. "NCIS" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.11 million homes, 4.27 million viewers.
15. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.07 million homes, 4.64 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Roger Gimbel
Emmy Award-winning TV producer Roger Gimbel, who worked with stars including Bing Crosby and Sophia Loren, has died. He was 86.
Spokesman Dale Olson said Thursday that Gimbel died of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Gimbel's wife, actress Jennifer Warren, was at his side.
Gimbel's 500-plus productions received 18 Emmys, including one for 1973's "A War of Children," about Irish and Protestant friends engulfed by strife in Belfast.
He worked on TV movies including "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "In This House of Brede" and produced specials with Crosby, Loren, Dean Martin and others.
Gimbel, a Philadelphia native, was a member of the Gimbels department store family. Besides his wife, Roger Gimbel's survivors include four children.
Roger Gimbel
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