Editorial: Clueless in the House (madison.com)
... "well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two, you don't pay any taxes. So you probably if you don't pay any taxes, you are not going to get a big tax cut. Now, if you earn $1 million a year, you are going to pay about $400,000 of taxes. Maybe you'll get a $40,000 tax cut ..." - Dennis Hastert, Republican, Speaker of the Houyse of Representatives
IRENE MESSINA: Fired Up (tucsonweekly.com)
Annabelle Gurwitch, who has appeared in films including Daddy Day Care and The Shaggy Dog, collected stories of being fired from her celebrity friends and wrote Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized and Dismissed.
zEN mAN (couldn't resist seeing Joan Baez scaling a tree in Southern California with Julia Butterfly Hill behind her to bring attention to an urban community farm about to be plowed under)
Purple Gene's Re-Review of the Howard Stern Show with the Dixie Chicks:
I take it Back!
I had a change of heart today…after I snuck back and tuned in the Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite radio this morning because he was going to have the Dixie Chicks on…I realized that I had been too quick to judge the prurient purveyor of porn and profanity….it turns out that under all that bilious bluster Howard cares about freedom of speech more than just for being able to say "Shit, Piss, Fuck"!
Of course I had to listen to a sicko dad talk about his new sexy wife getting drunk in a hot tub and fucking her new step-son…while the dad watched….with all the appropriate farting and screwing sounds…
But then he had the Dixie Chicks come in….Martie, Emily and Natalie….coming back after being blackballed over three years ago for making a comment in England about being embarrassed that the president of the United States is from Texas…..this was in response to George Bush's illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq…coming back after a republican smear campaign of vitriole that got the Chicks hate mail and death threats for being traitors…coming back after having 5 kids between them and "Not Ready to Make Nice" as their new single….
Well, to his credit, Howard introduced the Trio as American Heroes for standing up to the politicians and Corporate Radio and hateful former fans and really being all about freedom of speech and not wanting our kids and innocent Iraqi's to die for no reason. Incidently, back in 2003 when the shit hit the fan for the Chicks, they had the # 1 song in Country Music called "Traveling Soldier" which was a sad and poignant tribute to our kids going off to fight….
Anyway….Howard stated that the Chicks were the first artists to come out against the war and that history will prove them right….Then they played live their version of the Stevie Nicks song "Landslide"….Awesome…..
Then Howard launched into asking the girls what kind of panties they had on (Natalie had none)….do they swallow after giving Blow Jobs….do they take vibrators with them on the road…do they shave their Dixie pussies…and on and on….and to their credit, the Chicks went toe to toe with the Howard and his horny harangue…Natalie even admitted that she and the girls hosted a Sex Toy Party……This is the kind of tawdry trash that you will NEVER hear on regular radio …much less regular Country radio…..(P.S. check out Red Peters on Serius radio for nasty country music)
Then Howard played the new Dixie Chicks single from their new album "Taking the Long Way"…."I'm not ready To make Nice….I'm not ready to back down…I'm mad as hell and I don't have time to go round and round and round…." The Chicks are back…but not on Country Radio….yet….Howard finished by telling everyone to show all the haters they're wrong by going out and buying the Dixie Chicks new album…
By the way, I've decided that when I'm filling up my gas tank, to use a little discretion in terms of how loud my satellite radio is…..ha ha ha..
Purple Gene gives the Dixie Chicks on Howard Stern 10 totally erect thumbs up out of 10 for being true to themselves and still making really great music.
P.S. Here's a plug for another Texan….vote for Kinky for Governor!!!!!
(Rendered in the style of the Epitaph of Gray's 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard')
The Epitath
Here meets a pair of statesmen wannabes Who sought a way to cut the Mideast knot; Their aim - from posts of power tyrants squeeze, Bring freedom to replace the local rot.
Long they planned, and prayed hard to their heaven For a cause that would their war empower; Until the Pit bequeathed them 911, Allowing shock and awe to finally flower.
Three long years on, the plotters now confer, Again to gloss the foolish game they've lost; While watchers round the world would just prefer, To see these bunglers from their jobs get tossed.
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', followed by a RERUN'Close To Home', then a RERUN'NUMB3RS'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Bill Maher and Rita Wilson.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Jenny McCarthy, Gomez, and Jim Short.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by a RERUN'Las Vegas', then a RERUN'Conviction'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Dana Carvey, 8-year-old dental expert Nicholas Hearon, and T.I.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Halle Berry and Peeping Tom.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson Daly are Chelsea Handler, Harland Williams, Jordan Rubin, and Rocco DeLuca & the Burden.
ABC opens the night with the movie 'Freaky Friday' (Lindsay Lohan version), followed by the unwatchable '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Dane Cook, Brett Ratner, and Tyler Snyder (caught Barry Bonds' 714th home run).
The WB offers a RERUN'What I Like About You', followed by a RERUN'Twins', then a RERUN'Reba', followed by a RERUN'Living With Fran'.
Faux fills the night with the movie 'Mona Lisa Smile'.
UPN fills the night with a FRESH'WWE Friday Night SmackDown!'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio', the MOST IMPORTANT program on over-the-air-TV.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (Tom Selleck), then the made-for-TV-movie 'Ike: Countdown To D-Day'.
AMC offers the movie 'Ronin', followed by the movie 'For A Few Dollars More', then the movie 'Halloween 4: Michael Myers'.
BBC -
[2pm] 'As Time Goes By' - Episode 7;
[2:40pm] 'Are You Being Served' - Cold Store;
[3:20pm] 'Keeping Up' Appearances - Episode 3;
[4pm] 'My Hero' - Episode 6;
[4:40pm] 'My Family' - The Age of Romance;
[5:20pm] 'My Family' - Get Cartier;
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[ 6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Episode 3;
[7pm] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 27;
[8pm] 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' - Episode 12;
[8:30pm] 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' - Episode 3;
[9pm] 'The Thick Of It' - Episode 3;
[9:40pm] 'Kumars at No. 42' - Helena Bonham Carter;
[10:20pm] 'Little Britain' - Episode 5;
[11pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - New Best Friend;
[11:40pm] 'The Office' - Episode 2;
[12:20am] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 8;
[1am] 'The Thick Of It' - Episode 3;
[1:40am] 'Kumars at No. 42' - Helena Bonham Carter;
[2:20am] 'Little Britain' - Episode 5;
[3am] 'Are You Being Served' - No Sale;
[3:40am] 'Are You Being Served' - Top Hats and Tails;
[4:20am] 'Are You Being Served' - Forward Mr. Grainger;
[5am] 'Father Ted' - Ep. 1 Good Luck Father Ted;
[5:30am] 'Father Ted' - Ep. 2 Entertaining Father Stone;
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Fargo', 'The 100 Funniest Movies', another 'The 100 Funniest Movies', and yet another 'The 100 Funniest Movies'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Beverly Hills Cop III', an old 'Jon Stewart', an old 'Colbert Report', 'Mind Of Mencia', 'Chappelle's Show', and a FRESH'Stand Up Nation With Greg Giraldo'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Decoding The Past', another 'Decoding The Past', and another 'Modern Marvels'.
IFC -
[6AM] The Dreamlife Of Angels;
[8AM] Secrets & Lies;
[10:30AM] At The IFC Center #13;
[11AM] The Cat's Meow;
[1PM] Matewan;
[3:15PM] Media Lab Results;
[3:45PM] Blind Swordsman #1: The Tale of Zatoichi;
[5:25PM] The Cat's Meow;
[7:30PM] IFC In Theaters;
[7:45PM] Fall Time;
[9:15PM] Sex, Lies and Videotape;
[11PM] Reservoir Dogs;
[2:30AM] At The IFC Center #13;
[3AM] Reservoir Dogs;
[4:40AM] Document Of The Dead. (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has the movie 'Frankenfish', followed by the movie 'Snakehead Terror'.
Sundance -
[7AM] Buena Vista Social Club;
[8:45AM] In Search of Gregory;
[10:15AM] Das Bus;
[12PM] The Naked Man;
[1:45PM] La Pagaille;
[3:30PM] The Times of Harvey Milk;
[5PM] Private;
[6:30PM] Kath & Kim: Wedding;
[6:55PM] Little Otik;
[9PM] Slings and Arrows: Episode 2: Fallow Time;
[10PM] FACE;
[11:30PM] Godly Boyish;
[12AM] It's All About Love;
[2AM] The Idiots;
[4AM] Far From War: Chechnya, The Endless War;
[5AM] La Pagaille. (ALL TIMES EDT)
U.S. actress Sharon Stone speaks during the opening auction for amfAR's Cinema Against AIDS 2006 event, during the 59th International Cannes film festival in Mougins, southern France, Thursday, May 25, 2006.
Photo by Jeff Christensen
Cheech Marin - one half of the stoned comedy duo that embodied 1970s and 1980s marijuana humor - said there will be no future joint efforts with Tommy Chong.
"DOA," Marin replied when asked about the prospects during a press junket this week for "Cars," the new animated summer offering from Disney and Pixar. In the film, Marin voices Ramon, a vintage low-rider who befriends lead character Lightning McQueen ( Owen Wilson).
"We've tried to do it a bunch of times and we always end up at the same place," Marin said. "All the old animosities resurface."
"You know what?" he added. "I'm real comfortable leaving Cheech & Chong right where it is. I was a big Laurel & Hardy fan when I was a kid. I used to watch them on TV all the time and then one time I saw a Laurel & Hardy film they made when they were a lot older and it creeped me out. I just never wanted to do that."
ABC News said on Thursday that it is standing by its story that House Speaker Dennis Hastert's actions are being looked at as part of a federal corruption probe involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Hastert's office called upon ABC to retract the story and representatives of the Justice Department twice denied that it was investigating Hastert.
The report, first aired on "World News Tonight" on Wednesday, characterized the Republican speaker as "very much in the mix" of the corruption probe. Specifically, they were looking at a letter sent by Hastert urging the Bush administration to block a casino on an Indian reservation that would have competed with tribes represented by Abramoff.
ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider suggested there may be a semantics difference between saying someone is formally under investigation and whether his name came up as part of a wider probe.
In an extraordinary move, NBC has completely revamped the fall schedule it announced only last week after seeing what its broadcast rivals had done.
NBC moved "Law & Order" to Friday nights, took "Medium" off the schedule until midseason and shifted its highly touted Aaron Sorkin show on the backstage world of a TV comedy from Thursday to Monday.
While it's not unusual for networks to make minor tweaks to a schedule between the time it is announced and when it goes on the air, this is the first time in memory a schedule has been completely revised. NBC made changes on every night but Saturday.
Turner Classic Movies cable network said Wednesday that it will produce a pair of pilots with the intent of launching its first series. TCM also is launching a cult-film showcase and breaking ground on its first in-house documentary production.
Also coming to TCM is "TCM Underground," a late-night showcase of cult and underground movies from rocker-turned-filmmaker Rob Zombie. Premiering in October, "Underground" will include such films as Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster" and Francis Ford Coppola's "Dementia 13."
In July, TCM will unveil its first original documentary, "Edge of Outside," which surveys independent filmmaking with its leading practitioners, including Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee and Henry Jaglom.
The host of PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show" was traveling in Syria in late March when he unexpectedly developed heart trouble that required surgery in Paris and a monthlong hospital stay.
He's still recuperating, and grateful that things aren't worse.
Rose said he's spending his time reading, walking, visiting with friends and dining out, but hopes to return to work some time next month.
Salma Hayek hosts the 'Colombia sin Minas' Benefit concert at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles Wednesday, May 24, 2006. The concert presented by Colombian singer Juanes and United For Colombia, raises money for children victimized by antipersonnel mines in Colombia.
Photo by Branimir Kvartuc
Comedian-magician Penn Jillette sure is getting great at pulling names out of his? hat.
His 11-month-old daughter, Moxie CrimeFighter, got a partner to fight off school bullies with Monday when Jillette and his wife Emily welcomed their second child, a baby boy whom they have named Zolten Penn.
"Zolten is a common Hungarian name, it's my wife's maiden name and most importantly, it's the name of Dracula's dog," Jillette said in a statement.
Actress and author Victoria Principal, who starred on the long-running TV drama "Dallas," has filed for divorce from her husband of more than 20 years.
In a Security Court petition filed on Tuesday, Principal cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for her split from her husband, Dr. Harry Glassman, according to court papers.
Principal and the plastic surgeon were married June 22, 1985, and separated on March 25. They have a prenuptial agreement, according to the petition.
Woody Allen, in another legal fight with two former friends and producers he accused of cheating him out of $12 million, has lost a skirmish over what versions of six of his movies will be shown on television and in airplanes.
State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried ruled that terms of a settlement of a lawsuit Allen filed against Jean Doumanian, his former producer and friend of 30 years, allow her to develop the television and in-flight versions of "Bullets over Broadway," "Mighty Aphrodite," "Everyone Says I Love You," "Deconstructing Harry," "Celebrity" and "Sweet and Lowdown."
The fight over the modified versions stems from the 2001 lawsuit Allen filed against Doumanian, Jacqui Safra, her personal and professional partner, and their production company, Sweetland Films.
After a nine-day trial in 2002, the parties settled the lawsuit without revealing the terms of their agreement.
But the judge's decision, made public Thursday, said one settlement provision says that if the parties disagree over how to edit Allen's films to meet television standards the matter would be submitted to Manhattan's state Supreme Court for resolution.
American folk singer Judy Collins, left, receives and award from American Ambassador Patricia Herbold, right, on Thursday May 25, 2006 in Singapore for her support of humanitarian causes such as raising funds for survivors of last year's Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami of 2004. U.S. Ambassador Patricia Herbold presented Collins, 66, with an 'American Citizen Honor Award' a day ahead of the singer's concert in the Southeast Asian city-state.
Photo by Alphonso Chan
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has begun looking into whether some television stations violated rules requiring them to identify the source of video news releases they use, an agency official said on Thursday.
The FCC is looking into allegations that sponsorship identification rules were not followed and will take action if there were any violations, an FCC official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official declined to elaborate.
The move follows a complaint filed last month by two consumer advocacy groups that found 77 television stations over a 10-month period ending in March failed to clearly tell viewers when they were using video news releases.
The FCC a year ago reminded television broadcasters and cable operators to properly identify the source of video news releases after incidents in which prepackaged news from government agencies was used by stations without proper sponsorship identification.
Michael Jackson plans to make his first public appearance since his trial acquittal last June at a ceremony in Tokyo to accept MTV Japan's "Legend Award," his spokesman said.
Jackson's participation in the award ceremony Saturday at Yoyugi Olympic Stadium will launch an Asian tour. Jackson also plans to visit Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong, spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain said in a telephone interview from her Washington, D.C., office Thursday.
Bain, who said she was en route to the airport to join Jackson in Tokyo, said the star plans to visit orphanages, tour the city of Tokyo and meet with members of the Asian business community during his trip.
One of the newest additions to the Brookfield Zoo, a female aardvark named Paatsy, right, sticks close to her mother, Gracie, during mealtime Thursday, May 25, 2006, at the zoo in Brookfield, Ill. It will still be several more weeks before Paatsy, born March 30, makes her debut before zoo visitors. Zookeepers and researchers were able to accurately predict Paatsy's date of birth by analyzing hormone levels in her mother's fecal samples, giving them time to prepare the birthing area for her arrival.
Photo by Jeff Roberson
Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, who has portrayed Queen Elizabeth and Katharine Hepburn, will add another legend to her resume: Bob Dylan.
The 37-year-old Australian actress is one of seven actors to play Dylan at various stages of his career in the biopic, "I'm Not There," tentatively scheduled for release next year. She'll portray a specific aspect of Dylan's personality, embodied by an androgynous singer-songwriter character named Jude, according to Killer Films, the movie's production company.
Mount Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary said Wednesday he was shocked that dozens of climbers left a British mountaineer to die during their own attempts on the world's tallest peak.
David Sharp, 34, died apparently of oxygen deficiency while descending from the summit during a solo climb last week.
More than 40 climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and almost all continued to the summit without offering assistance.
"It was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say 'good morning' and pass on by," Hillary said.
An emergency radio station mistakenly warned that a massive, volcanic-caused mudflow was headed from the flanks of Mount Rainier and that listeners in the valley below should rush to higher ground.
The emergency lahar warning was broadcast Wednesday for nearly an hour on the 1580 AM frequency in the suburban Pierce County town of Puyallup.
On Wednesday, 1580 AM picked up a test signal as real and said the lahar was coming. The prerecorded radio message apparently was triggered by a software error.
Nevada officials are pressing the Department of Veteran Affairs to allow the family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan to place a Wiccan symbol on his headstone.
Federal officials so far have refused to grant the requests of the family of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, who was killed in Afghanistan last September when the Nevada Army National Guard helicopter he was in was shot down.
Stewart, of Fernley, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which the Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize.
Stewart enlisted in the Army after he graduated from Reno's Wooster High School in 1989 and served in Desert Storm and in Korea. After completing his active duty, he enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in 2005 and went to Afghanistan with Task Force Storm.
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