'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
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pay at the pump
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
© 2004 **********The Wall Street Poet
Smug Man
Could Donald Rumsfeld's days at the Department of Defense be numbered? And if so, what the hell took so long?
Smug Man
When facing confrontations grave
Some statesmen sip at caution's well
While others from their allies crave
Assurances their doubts to quell
But our Defense Department's man
Is following a different plan:
Smugman.
For him good will's a sissy play
And subtlety's a useless tool
They're things the big boys cast away
For them hard ball's the only rule
He¹ll recognize no other¹s ban
He'll call the shots because he can:
Smugman.
He thinks its foolish to consult
Pursuing a collective tack
He opts, instead, to sling insult
With arrogance he has a knack
The perfect little hatchetman
His boss' pushy Caliban:
Smugman.
To date his mouth has cost us dear
In soured ties and frayed relations
But setbacks in Iraq, I fear,
May threaten his own Beltway stations
'Cause when the bad stuff hits the fan
A superman's an also ran
And maybe bye-bye
For Smugman.
For more political verse:
www.beltwaybard.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & breezy.
Finally have a browser with a pop-up blocker - wow - what a fabulous difference!
The new mouse didn't work this morning, so I found an old one, but it's not working right, either. OTOH, at least it kinda works and doesn't just sit there immobile.
Actor Kiefer Sutherland, left, holds the hands of his step-daughter Michelle Kath, before her wedding to actor Adam Sinclair, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Thursday May 6, 2004. Sutherland wore a Douglas tartan kilt for the marriage of Kath, the daughter of his first wife Camelia, to Sinclair at Edinburgh's City Chambers.
Photo by David Cheskin
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Republican Family Values In Action
Jenna & Barbara
Resident Bush and first lady Laura 'Pickles' Bush will skip their twin daughters' college graduations later this month to avoid creating a distraction at the respective schools, the White House said Thursday.
Jenna Bush is slated to graduate May 22 from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in English. Barbara Bush graduates May 24 with a bachelor's in humanities from Yale University.
Jenna & Barbara
To Be Honored
Peter Tosh
Late reggae legend Peter Tosh will be honored at the fourth annual Calabash International Literary Festival later this month.
The May 28-30 festival will bring together several internationally recognized writers, actors and musicians for public readings and performances.
It will take place in the small fishing village of Treasure Beach on Jamaica's south coast, the Jamaica Tourist Board said Wednesday.
Peter Tosh
www.calabashfestival.org
Denounce Patriot Act
300 Jurisdictions
The tiny Martha's Vineyard hamlet of Tisbury, Massachusetts, this week became the 300th local or state government to denounce the USA Patriot Act, even as resident George W. Bush was campaigning for Congress to make the Act permanent before its expiration next year.
Tinsbury's voters Tuesday joined New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago - the country's three biggest metropolises among others - in approving a resolution condemning provisions of the Act as threats to basic civil liberties.
As of Thursday, the 300 local and municipal jurisdictions - including the states of Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont -- that have passed such measures represent more than 51 million people, or one in every six U.S. residents, according to the Massachusetts-based Bill of Rights Defense Committee which has been working with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups to marshal public opinion against the Act.
Of the 25 most populous U.S. cities, 15 - including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Dallas, Denver, San Jose, Seattle, San Francisco, and Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C. - have approved resolutions urging that the Act be amended or repealed.
For more, 300 Jurisdictions
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., right, greets actor Sean Patrick Astin, from the trilogy 'Lord of The Rings,' after his education speech at Colton High School during a campaign stop Thursday, May 6, 2004, in Colton, Calif.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian
Plaque Stolen
Mayberry Statue
Someone stole the plaque from a park statue commemorating "The Andy Griffith Show," the kind of theft that probably never would have happened in the fictional town of Mayberry.
The artwork is on permanent loan to the city from the cable channel TV Land, which has placed similar statues of Mary Tyler Moore in her TV home of Minneapolis and of Jackie Gleason's "Honeymooners" character, Ralph Kramden, in New York City.
Mayberry Statue
To Tape Show at 4 a.m.
Dave Letterman
David Letterman will be staying up very late - or getting up really early - to tape a show next week at 4 a.m.
"We thought it would be cool, just something different to try," said Rob Burnett, the "Late Show" executive producer. "We've been doing the show for so long that anytime you can come up with something new it makes it interesting for us."
The show that airs on Friday, May 14 will be taped early that morning. Typically, Letterman tapes his Friday show on Thursday evening.
Dave Letterman
'Breakfast With Hunter'
Hunter S. Thompson
For most documentary filmmakers, being shot at by their subject might put a damper on the project. But when that subject is the notorious author Hunter S. Thompson, it's less a deal-breaker than a rite of passage.
"I had to take it as a hug from Hunter," director Wayne Ewing, a friend and colleague of Thompson's for two decades, recalled in a recent interview.
The practical joke, which involved a 12-gauge pistol and occurred early in the making of "Breakfast With Hunter," was no deterrent. "I think it was a test to see whether I would call 911," Ewing said with a laugh. "He wasn't trying to hit me, but he put it pretty close."
Ewing's cinema verite tribute to the gonzo master premiered last year at the CineVegas Film Festival in Sin City, with Thompson in attendance. It continues to travel the fest circuit, and a supplement-packed DVD went on sale earlier this year, available exclusively via the Web
www.breakfastwithhunter.com.
For a lot more, Hunter S. Thompson
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Memorabilia Auctioned in London
John Lennon
John Lennon memorabilia, including a leather collar he wore during the 1960s, was auctioned by Christie's for a total of $400,500.
The items included a colored felt-pen drawing by Lennon ($17,800), a letter with his signature ($9,800) and "Happy Fish," a pen-and-ink drawing ($17,000).
The Christie's auction also sold three items associated with other international stars. An early Elvis Presley U.S. concert poster sold for $17,800, a Salvador Dali-inspired watercolor by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols sold for $2,850, and a poster from Jimi Hendrix's Experience concert sold for $2,700.
John Lennon
Gathered 'Outlaws' for TV Special
Willie Nelson
Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kid Rock and Merle Haggard were among the "outlaws and angels" that Willie Nelson brought out on Wednesday for his third annual concert special on USA Network.
During a three-hour show, where country music took a back seat to gospel, soul, reggae, jazz and rockabilly, the black-clad Nelson let his many guests take the spotlight. He even left the stage when Toots Hibbert and Ben Harper sang the former's reggae classic "Pressure Drop" together.
The Wiltern Theater event, dubbed "Willie Nelson & Friends: Outlaws and Angels," will air as a two-hour special on Memorial Day, Monday, May 31 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
Other guests included Al Green, Shelby Lynne, Rickie Lee Jones, Carole King, Toby Keith, Lucinda Williams, Lee Ann Womack, the Holmes Brothers, and Los Lonely Boys.
Willie Nelson
Terry Anderson talks about the kitchen in his house being built in Athens, Ohio, Jan. 22, 2004. Anderson is running for an Ohio Senate seat. The 56-year-old is running as a Democrat in a southeast Ohio district long held by Republicans. Anderson says while held captive in Lebanon from 1985 to 1991, he decided he wanted to participate in the political process rather than observe it. Anderson was chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press when he was kidnapped in Lebanon by Iranian-sponsored terrorists in 1985.
Photo by Jay LaPrete
From The Parallel Universe Called Faux
Chris Wallace
A war has broken out among TV anchors as Faux's Chris Wallace declared himself offended by ABC's Ted Koppel for airing a controversial roll call of American dead in the Iraq war and announced a counter-offensive to tell of the good America has done there.
Wallace, a former ABC employee, son of legendary CBS newsman Mike Wallace and host of "Faux News Sunday" said on Thursday he will do a special segment this weekend highlighting U.S. accomplishments in Iraq to counter Koppel's "Nightline" program on Iraq.
Wallace said that while he has the idea for the segment in his head, it has not yet been finished, but when done should run about five to 10 minutes on this Sunday's show.
"We're calling it 'What We've Accomplished,"' Wallace said. "We're going to talk about some of the success stories in Iraq, from the end of the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein, to the building of schools and infrastructure, to the rebuilding of the economy."
Chris Wallace
Oh, Canada
Gina Lollobrigida
Debate in Canada's parliament has degenerated into shouts and catcalls after an opposition legislator committed what others saw as the sin of mispronouncing an Italian movie star's name.
The disturbance erupted when Jason Kenney of the Conservatives claimed that a former government minister had been "rubbing shoulders with ageing Italian sex kitten Gina Lollobreegeeda" -- whose name is in fact Gina Lollobrigida.
"It's Gina Lollobrigida, idiot!" bellowed Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe, prompting Kenney to say he was sorry for "offending the ageing sex kitten community".
Gina Lollobrigida
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Wins Britain Privacy Case
Naomi Campbell
Supermodel Naomi Campbell won her appeal Thursday in her privacy case against a newspaper that published photographs of her leaving a drug counseling meeting.
Reversing a lower court decision, the Law Lords, Britain's highest court, ruled 3-2 that the Daily Mirror invaded Campbell's privacy. The lords also overturned an order requiring her to pay the newspaper's legal costs, estimated at $630,000.
Campbell had asked the panel, which sits in the upper chamber of Parliament, to reverse an October 2002 ruling that the Daily Mirror was justified in publishing a picture of her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting because Campbell had previously lied to the media about her drug use.
Naomi Campbell
New Trial
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot, the French former film goddess turned animal-rights activist, broke down in tears Thursday when she left a Paris courtroom after testifying at her latest trial on charges of inciting racial hatred.
Bardot, 69, previously convicted of similar offences, is on trial over her book "A Scream in the Silence," an outspoken attack on gays, immigrants and the jobless which shocked France.
Bardot, in her 1960s heyday the epitome of French feminine beauty, told Thursday's hearing that France was going through a period of decadence and said she opposed inter-racial marriage.
In her book, the former film idol attacks homosexuals as "fairground freaks," condemns the presence of women in government and denounces the "scandal of unemployment benefit." She also criticized the "Islamization of France" -- which has a five million strong Muslim minority -- and the "underground and dangerous infiltration of Islam."
Brigitte Bardot
A Silvered-leaf langur baby nurses from its mother, Thursday, May 6, 2004, in the JungleWorld exhibit, an Asian rain forest at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo in New York. The babies are orange when they are young so members of the troupe can easily identify and protect them, but change to a silvery gray as they mature.
Photo by Kathy Willens
Officer Not A Gentleman
Capt. Leo Merck
The head of a U.S. military police unit at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison is under investigation following charges he secretly photographed naked female American soldiers, officials said on Wednesday.
Capt. Leo Merck, 32, a member of the California National Guard who commanded the 124-strong 870th Military Police Company, is under U.S. Army investigation and has been relieved of duty, they said.
The Contra Costa Times, which broke the story on Wednesday, quoted Spc. Myrna Hernandez, 26, as saying she saw Merck photograph her as she was showering with two other women.
"I saw a guy get on all fours with a digital camera in his hands. His head was going under the wall, and we made eye contact," she told the newspaper. "I was in shock, like what do I do now?"
Capt. Leo Merck
May Not Have Shot Victim
Phil Spector
An actress killed at music producer Phil Spector's home was shot with a gun inside her mouth and had gunshot residue on both hands, indicating she may have fired the weapon, according to a coroner's report obtained by The Associated Press.
The forensic analysis involving the .38-caliber Colt revolver was prepared four days after the Feb. 3, 2003, death of Lana Clarkson at suburban Alhambra home of Spector, who has been charged with murder and is free on $1 million bail.
"Analysis revealed several highly specific particles and many consistent particles of gunshot residue on both the right and left hand. ... Therefore, the decedent may have discharged a firearm or had (her) hands otherwise in an environment of gunshot residue," the report said.
Phil Spector
Major Gift of American Art
National Gallery
The National Gallery of Art has acquired 51 paintings by Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer and other American masters through one of the most significant private donations in the gallery's history, the museum said on Thursday.
An exhibition of the works owned by art scholar and collector John Wilmerding, a former deputy director of the gallery, is due to open on Sunday and will remain at the museum after the display closes on Oct 10.
"I decided I didn't want to have this simply be the result of a dreary estate settlement and an obituary I couldn't read, but to do it and to have fun while I was able to enjoy it."
National Gallery
An as yet unnamed six-month old female endangered Grevy's Zebra foal runs alongside it's mother 'Pearl' Thursday, May 6, 2004, after she was alarmed by a peacock sharing the animal's quarters in the African Plains exhibit at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo in New York. The foal is the first offspring for her 14-year-old zebra mom, and the second for her dad, 'Raya.' The foal made her public debut Thursday in advance of Mother's Day and will be named at a live auction event Wednesday, May 26, at New York's Central Park Zoo. Bidding to name the baby is expected to start at $20,000. Proceeds support the Wildlife Conservation Society's work to save wildlife globally.
Photo by Kathy Willens
'The Osbournes'
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