'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dean Baker: The Iraq War Slows Growth, Costs Jobs (prospect.org)
Yeah, that would not be news to any economist, but why is the negative impact of military spending on the economy never raised in political debates? President Bush has said that he won't do anything serious to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because it would hurt economic growth, and that was the end of his discussion. But, for some reason, the fact the jobs the growth and jobs that are lost because of his wars is never even raised as an issue.
Jim Hightower: STAMPING OUT THE FREE PRESS (jimhightower.com)
At last, Washington officials are doing something about the problem of corporate control of America's media sources. Unfortunately, what they're doing will make the problem worse.
Mark Morford: The Hippies Were Right! (sfgate.com)
Green homes? Organic food? Nature is good? Time to give the ol' tie-dyers some respect
Matthai Chakko Kuruvila: The thorny path to enlightenment (sfgate.com)
Buddhists bringing ancient faith to U.S. at odds over role of martial arts in Shaolin -- former allies deeply divided on physical, spiritual aspects of the misunderstood culture
Jonathan Jones: Annie Leibovitz - not just a flattering celebrity snapper (guardian.co.uk)
See beauty in the world and lovingly record it, and you're a flattering celebrity portraitist. By this standard, Annie Leibovitz, whose portrait of the Queen was published yesterday, is not a serious photographer.
Stephen Moss: The DIY violinist (guardian.co.uk)
Fed up with being overlooked by agents and labels, Ruth Palmer hired an entire orchestra and released her own CD.
Kim Masters: Let the Games Begin (slate.com)
In a crowded summer blockbuster season, someone's going to get hurt. Will it be Spider-Man?
Tad Friend: Hostile Acts (newyorker.com)
"The Sarah Silverman Program" puts the mean back in funny.
Patti Smith: Poem: Tara (newyorker.com)
Cartoon: Mikhaela B. Reid: Performance Review (inthesetimes.com)
More Follow Up
zEN mAN wONdEREd
Tent Caterpillars can be stopped from invading trees by a simple burlap wrap
in the spring before they start emerging and climbing the trees.
A burlap sack wrapped around the trunk is a great barrier, the critters hate
it and will not cross it. If you can still find a burlap sack.
Steve in Greensboro NC
Thanks, Steve!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny with a nice breeze.
CBS Slates Tribute Special
Walter Cronkite
CBS News will honor longtime anchor Walter Cronkite with a primetime special later this month, the network said Thursday.
"That's the Way It is: Celebrating Cronkite at 90" will air at 8 pm. Friday, May 18, on CBS. It will mark the history and legacy of the 91-year-old TV legend, who most recently contributed to the "CBS Evening News" by announcing the beginning of the September 5, 2006, show that started Katie Couric's tenure.
Couric will be in the roster of news stars -- as well as competitors Charles Gibson and Brian Williams -- who will be interviewed about Cronkite's legacy. Also appearing will be CBS News journalists Don Hewitt, Mike Wallace, Morley Safer and the man who replaced Cronkite in 1981, Dan Rather. So too will be Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and Ted Koppel plus friends Spike Lee, George Clooney and Robin Williams.
Walter Cronkite
Tops Sci-Fi List
`The Matrix'
The best science-fiction movie or TV show of the past 25 years?
As a classic episode of "The Twilight Zone" once so memorably underscored, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - so the answer is surely endlessly debatable. But, according to a list compiled by the editors of Entertainment Weekly, it's "The Matrix."
"The Matrix" is followed by the Sci Fi Channel series "Battlestar Galactica," 1982's "Blade Runner," the cult TV hit "The X-Files" and - another 1982 production - "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."
The 1985 movie "Brazil" ranks No. 6, and is trailed in the top-10 by "E.T."; "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; "Aliens"; "The Thing," starring Kurt Russell.
`The Matrix'
Bowler To Auction
Stan Laurel
A bowler hat worn by comedian Stan Laurel, half of the 1930s slapstick double act Laurel and Hardy, is to be auctioned in New York later this month, Christie's auction house said Wednesday.
The iconic black bowler, so often used as a pantomime prop by the comedy duo, was expected to fetch up to 15,000 dollars in the sale, which also features three of the funnyman's bow ties and a binder full of gags.
It was not known for sure if the hat was worn by Laurel on screen, but the black felt bowler was identical to one he was photographed wearing on the set of the 1938 film "Swiss Miss," Christie's said.
Stan Laurel
Wrapping After 7 Years
`Gilmore Girls'
Goodbye "Gilmore Girls." The sharp-witted saga of an independent mother and daughter that added to the luster of the young WB network, will end its run after seven seasons.
The show, which last year moved to the CW network created by the merger of WB and UPN, will air its final episode May 15 at 8 p.m. EDT, CW and producer Warner Bros. Television announced Thursday.
"Gilmore Girls," starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel and created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, "helped define a network and created a fantastic storybook world featuring some of television's most memorable, lovable characters," CW and the studio said in a joint statement.
`Gilmore Girls'
Baby News
Tin Visnijc
Handsome Croatia-born actor Goran Visnijc has become a dad after he and his artist wife Ivana adopted a baby boy. The pair are the latest Hollywood couple to add to their family in this way recently, following in the footsteps of Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Meg Ryan.
According to US magazine People, Ivana attended the April 19 birth, when the new arrival weighed in at 5lbs 5oz. She and the ER hunk have decided to call their new son Tin - a popular name in Croatia - after the country's famous poet Tin Ujevic, who was born in the same town as Ivana's father.
The 34-year-old actor will have plenty of time to devote to fatherhood in the future as he's decided to quit his eight-year role as ER's heart-throb medic Dr Luka Kovac. He'd originally planned to leave at the end of the current series, but agreed to film six more episodes to allow writers to pen an end for his on-screen romance with Abby, played by Maura Lynn Tierney.
Tin Visnijc
Breach Of Contract Suit
Don Imus
Disgraced radio host Don Imus will sue CBS Radio for the huge portion of his $40 million contract that was left unpaid after he was fired for racist and sexist comments, his attorney said Thursday.
Martin Garbus, a First Amendment attorney, said he plans to file the breach of contract lawsuit by the end of next week.
Imus, 66, was barely three months into the five-year deal with CBS when he was dismissed April 12 after describing the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio program.
Garbus cited a contract clause in which CBS acknowledged that Imus' services were "unique, extraordinary, irreverent, intellectual, topical, controversial." The clause said Imus' programming was "desired by company and ... consistent with company rules and policy," according to Garbus.
Don Imus
Home Video
David Hasselhoff
A videotape made by David Hasselhoff's daughters shows the recovering alcoholic falling off the wagon, Hasselhoff acknowledged Thursday, but the actor added that he is doing much better since it was made.
The video, which aired Thursday on on several syndicated entertainment shows, depicts an apparently inebriated Hasselhoff, clad only in blue jeans, lying on the floor of a room and clumsily eating a hamburger while one of his daughters reproves him about his drinking.
The TV shows said the tape was made about three months ago by Hasselhoff's 16-year-old daughter, Taylor-Ann, in his home in Las Vegas, where the former "Baywatch" star has been appearing in a stage version of "The Producers."
On the tape, a girl's voice is heard saying: "Dad, you need to promise me you're not gonna get alcohol tonight, OK?
"If you get alcohol tonight you're fired from your show tomorrow," the girl continues. "And a doctor's coming over here in the morning to check your alcohol level and if there's any alcohol in your system you're gonna be fired from the show. Tomorrow. You hear me? No alcohol."
David Hasselhoff
Prosecutors Want Jail Time
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton should be jailed for 45 days for violating terms of her probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving conviction, city prosecutors say.
In documents filed in Superior Court, prosecutors said they also want Hilton to stay away from alcohol for 90 days and wear a monitoring device that will chart whether she complies. And they are seeking to have her license suspended for an additional four months.
The recommendation will be reviewed by a judge when Hilton appears for a probation violation hearing on Friday. The judge can accept it or impose a different penalty. The maximum penalty is 90 days in jail.
Paris Hilton
Tap Hollywood
GOP Candidates
Republican Rudy Giuliani once derided Hollywood in his Senate bid against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Today, as he pursues the presidency, he's collecting checks from actors Adam Sandler and Kelsey Grammer, and Paramount studio chief Brad Grey.
Of the GOP candidates, Giuliani, the former New York city mayor, counted several big and small screen donors as well as producers and studio executives.
Sandler, who shares a love of the New York Yankees with Giuliani and tapped him for a cameo in his 2003 movie "Anger Management," contributed $2,100. "Frasier" star Grammer and his wife donated $6,900. Mark Vahradian, who produced "Annapolis" for Paramount, gave $2,100. Writer-producer Lionel Chetwynd, an Oscar nominee for co-writing 1974's "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," gave more than $4,200.
GOP Candidates
Nothing But Brownies
Veterans Affairs
Congressional leaders on Thursday demanded that the Veterans Affairs secretary explain hefty bonuses for senior department officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1 billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.
A list obtained by the AP of bonuses to senior career officials in 2006 documents a generous package of more than $3.8 million in payments by a financially strapped agency straining to help care for thousands of injured veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Among those receiving payments were a deputy assistant secretary and several regional directors who crafted the VA's flawed budget for 2005 based on misleading accounting. They received performance payments up to $33,000 each, a figure equal to about 20 percent of their annual salaries.
Also receiving a top bonus was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who helps manage a disability claims system that has a backlog of cases and delays averaging 177 days in getting benefits to injured veterans.
The bonuses were awarded even after government investigators had determined the VA repeatedly miscalculated - if not deliberately misled taxpayers - with questionable methods used to justify Bush administration cuts to health care amid the burgeoning Iraq war.
Veterans Affairs
Explorers Find Ancient Caves
Nepal
Explorers have discovered a series of caves decorated with ancient Buddhist paintings, set in sheer cliffs in Nepal's remote Himalayan north, leaving archaeologists excited and puzzled.
An international team of scholars, archaeologists, climbers and explorers examined at least 12 cave complexes at 14,000 feet (4,300 metres) near Lo Manthang, a mediaeval walled city in Nepal's Mustang district, about 125 km (80 miles) northwest of Kathmandu.
The cave complexes are several hours walking distance apart. Some chambers were thought to have been used for burials, and there were also mounds archaeologists hope may hide further treasures.
There are about 20 openings in each complex, and their multiple floors are connected by vertical passages with rudimentary handholds or footholds, requiring some climbing skill to negotiate.
Nepal
In Memory
Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott, a handsome, muscular actor who portrayed an "intelligent and nice" Tarzan in 1950s movies, has died. He was 80. Scott, who had been living in a working class section of south Baltimore, died Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of post-heart surgery complications, a hospital spokesman said.
Scott made 24 movies including "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" (1957), "Tarzan's Fight for Life" (1958), "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958), "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (1959) and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (1960).
Scott was a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas when he was discovered by Hollywood producer Sol Lesser, said Scott's brother Rayfield Werschkull of Portland, Ore.
During the 1954 production of his first film, "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle," he fell in love with co-star Vera Miles. The couple married that year and divorced four years later.
Scott's later years were spent in Baltimore, in the row house of Roger and Betty Thomas, who had befriended him.
"My husband has been a fan of his since he was a child. When we were in Hollywood about eight years ago, we looked him up," said Betty Thomas. "We invited him for a visit. He came and never left."
Gordon Scott
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