'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Molly Ivins: Catapulting the Propaganda (AlterNet)
Meanwhile, back in Baghdad, federal dollars are being used to destroy life at a pretty good clip because Bush decided to wage an entirely elective war against a country that presented little or no threat to us. And according to the Downing Street memo, he damn well knew it, too.
How's Dean Doing? (Air America Radio. Posted on Alternet)
Howard Dean's first 100 days as DNC chair have come and gone. Marty Kaplan from Air America recently asked a panel to discuss his performance.
Tales of abuse in Guantanamo testimony (The Associated Press)
One Guantanamo prisoner told a military panel that American troops beat him so badly he wets his pants now.
CHARLES POPE AND LISA STIFFLER: Gas-conscious car buyers in for mpg sticker shock (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER)
The EPA's numbers are almost always wrong, inflating[gas] mileage by 15 percent to 30 percent, critics say.
Paul Krugman Ably Responds to Dan Okrent's Criticisms
Talking Points Memo Coffee House
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Career Guide to Industries
Weekend Nights
Erin Hart Show
The Erin Hart Show, on KIRO (in Seattle and streamed live online),
Saturday & Sunday nights, 9pm - 1am (pdt) has added a new monthly feature -
me(!)
We'll be discussing blogs of note and/or value. Join us this weekend!
New Zealand Blog
'Kea'
Saturday In Lexington, KY
'Cinderella '75'
This Saturday, June 4th, there will be a showing of the film I cowrote and directed called "Cinderella '75". It is a downscale, white trash version of the old story. I mean she goes to the ball in the back of a pickup. It's 25 minutes long.
For the longest time the sound was on audio cassette and the picture was on separate 8mm film or video. Recently, my sister, Kelly (Cinderella) had the sight and sound put together on DVD. She has rented the Kentucky Movie Theater in downtown Lexington to show it.
At first we thought we would just be showing it to cast members, friends and family. But the Lexington Herald has interviewed us and is doing a good sized article on Friday.
I think it's just a trick to get me up before noon on Saturday morning.
Gare
If you're in the Lexington, KY-area on Saturday, go see Gare's movie.
You'll laugh, guaranteed!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
'June Gloom' didn't burn off til near dinner time.
Back to 'Star Wars' - you mean to tell me that they have floating droids delivering babies, but they couldn't tell beforehand Padmé was carrying twins?
Wasn't it enough that Anakin abandoned her at a sparsely decorated intergalactic Motel 6, with big windows & no curtains, for the gestation?
There are all kinds of bionic replacements for Anakin's lost limbs, but sonograms were never heard of?
Or did Padmé just blow off all that frivolous pre-natal stuff? Maybe she was using all her energy trying to flutter multiple layers of fake eyelashes.
Seems to me she was totally selfish while Anakin was a republican before he joined the darkside.
Man With An Opinion
George McGovern
The US media needs a modern-day "Deep Throat" within the administration of resident George W. Bush to reveal how America was "misled" on Iraq, former presidential contender George McGovern said.
"We need someone like that who is highly placed to tell us what's really going on. We know that we were misled on Iraq," McGovern told Fox News Radio.
"This war in Iraq, in my opinion is worse than anything Nixon did. I think Nixon deserved to be expelled from office in view of the cover-up that he carried on and the laws that he violated.
"But we have an administration in power now that led us to a war that is internationally illegal; it's a war that we are fighting with a country that has no threat to us that has nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks.
McGovern said Nixon was undoubtedly "tricky," but said of Bush: "This man claims to be Christian, following the will of God, and then he misleads the whole nation on a totally fraudulent enterprise in Iraq that we should have never been attached to."
George McGovern
Writes Children's Book
Paul McCartney
Former Beatle Paul McCartney is writing a children's book called "High in the Clouds: An Urban Furry Tale," to be released in October, his publisher Penguin said in a statement.
The book was inspired by an animated film called "Tropic Island Hum," which McCartney worked on with animator Geoff Dunbar. The publisher said it was an adventure story about a squirrel and a frog, and the cover illustration shows the two main characters in a hot-air balloon.
Penguin said McCartney was collaborating with Dunbar and veteran children's book author Philip Ardagh on the book. It will have an initial print run of 500,000 copies and will come out in eight countries.
Paul McCartney
Back to Host Tony Awards
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman is back as host for the third year in a row, and the Broadway season's biggest musical hit, "Monty Python's Spamalot," is being challenged by three very different musicals.
Welcome to Sunday's 2005 Tony Awards (8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT on CBS), where the production that could walk off with the most silver medallions is a play - John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt," which has picked up just about every other theater award given this spring, as well as a Pulitzer Prize. It's a shoo-in for best play Tony and probably several more honors, too.
Yet most of the attention will be focused on the musical categories where "Spamalot," a Mike Nichols-directed extravaganza based on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," received 14 nominations. And the prime entertainment of every Tony telecast is a scene from each of the shows nominated for best musical and best musical revival.
"Spamalot" will present its inspirational "American Idol" spoof, "Find Your Grail," featuring the Lady of the Lake (Sara Ramirez), King Arthur (Tim Curry) and the entire company.
"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," a raunchy tale of French Riviera con men, will offer "Great Big Stuff," a hymn to greed delivered by stars Norbert Leo Butz and John Lithgow. "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," the cheerful little show about young spelling bee contestants, will combine the musical's title song with "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor," a man who provides emotional first aid for those who happen to misspell a word and get eliminated.
Hugh Jackman
Merrill Lynch Gives $5 Million
Sesame Street
U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch is expanding its ties with "Sesame Street" to help boost children's financial literacy and improve their awareness of global cultures.
Building on a joint three-year program to boost financial know-how among children, Merrill Lynch on Thursday launched the WorldwideKids initiative with Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization that produces the TV series "Sesame Street."
The Wall Street firm is giving $5 million to the five-year program to produce research materials to teach children good financial habits and expand their global perspective.
Sesame Street
Baby News
Lola Sheen
Three months after she filed for divorce from actor Charlie Sheen, model turned actress Denise Richards has given birth to their second daughter, People magazine reported on Thursday.
The baby girl, named Lola, was born on Wednesday night at a Los Angeles-area hospital, and Sheen was in the delivery room at the time, Richards' publicist told the magazine. The publicist could not be immediately reached for comment.
Mother and daughter were reported to be doing fine.
Lola Sheen
50 Years Later
James Dean
Red lipstick kisses are sun-baked into James Dean's pink granite gravestone, testifying to the enduring allure of the man who, 50 years after his death, remains a symbol of rebellious, misunderstood youth.
Frozen in time by death - forever handsome, sullen and projecting a cool nonchalance - Dean is winning new fans with his legacy of cinematic magic, sex appeal and tragedy.
His three big films have been digitally restored and were released Tuesday as a DVD box set. Film crews from around the world are visiting his hometown for documentaries.
And starting Friday, up to 100,000 people - including Martin Sheen and Dennis Hopper - are expected to converge on Marion, Ind., his birthplace, for a three-day festival featuring outdoor screenings of "East of Eden," "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" on a huge screen at Marion's airport.
For the rest, James Dean
BET Founder Johnson Steps Down
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson, who turned a $15,000 loan into the multi-billion dollar Black Entertainment Television, on Thursday stepped down as chief executive of the media company he founded.
Johnson, 59, takes on the title of chairman, turning over day-to-day operations and role of chief executive to Debra Lee, currently president and chief operating officer, BET said in a statement.
Johnson, who engineered the sale of BET to Viacom for $2.5 billion in stock four years ago, said he would retire as chairman by January 2006. Lee will then take that position, too, the company said.
Robert Johnson
Clue Found in Treasure Hunt
Fairy Tale
A Pittsburgh man is the first treasure hunter to decipher the clues in the book "A Treasure's Trove: A Fairy Tale About Real Treasure for Parents and Children of All Ages" to redeem a $25,000 prize.
Jake Polterak, 35, found the clue, hidden as a token, on May 22 at the Rickets Glen State Park near Red Rock, Pa., a 4 1/2-hour drive from his home. The token's prize is an 18-karat gold dragonfly decorated with diamonds and sapphires.
Polterak, a computer consultant, had been reading "A Treasure's Trove" with his 4-year-old daughter, Allie.
Author and publisher Michael Stadther personally hid 12 tokens redeemable for one-of-a-kind jewels with a combined value of $1 million in public places around the country. The jewels represent the 12 forest creatures featured in the fairy tale.
Fairy Tale
Secret Archive May Be Lost
Dmitry Shostakovich
Gathering dust in an Estonian apartment and disintegrating by the day is an important piece of musical history, says the owner of a secret archive relating to composer Dmitry Shostakovich.
The collection of 700,000 manuscripts and documents and 1,000 hours of concert recordings could shed new light on Shostakovich, regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest symphony composers.
But Mark Matsov, son of conductor Roman Matsov who worked closely with Shostakovich during the Soviet censorship years, fears it could be lost for ever.
Struggling to pay the rent on the archive's home in Tallinn, Matsov, who lives in Moscow, says the collection is in danger of becoming homeless and could perish if not digitally recorded.
Dmitry Shostakovich
Memorable Memorial Day
Gallagher
Police are investigating a California man's claim that comedian Gallagher slapped him during a show at a southern Nevada casino.
No criminal charges have been filed on the misdemeanour battery complaint, Las Vegas police Sgt. Chris Jones said Wednesday. William Edwin May III, 40, of Anaheim, filed a police report May 27, several hours after an incident at Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino. It alleges that Gallagher walked on a table, berated a waitress and slapped May on the side of the head.
Gallagher, 58, acknowledged in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he struck an audience member, but compared it with throwing a pie in someone's face.
Gallagher was fired from his Memorial Day weekend booking after protesting the policy of selling drinks during his show, Roy Jernigan, Riverside entertainment director, told the Review-Journal.
Gallagher said he quit.
Gallagher
Lotions, Soaps Won't Carry Label
Organic
If you want a lotion, soap or lip balm free of chemicals and synthetics, you'd better read the fine print. The Agriculture Department is taking its round, green "USDA Organic" label off personal care products and cosmetics.
When it created the seal in 2002, the primary intent was to certify the organic claims made by food producers, such as that meat came from animals raised without antibiotics and not confined indoors, or that vegetables were grown without pesticides.
But the department also opened the door to making a wide range of other products eligible for the label: cosmetics and personal care items, pet food, dietary supplements, textiles like cotton T-shirts and fish.
Three years later, the department decided it had gone too far. In April, it began telling companies their cosmetics and other personal care products can't be government-certified as organic, after all.
For a lot more, Organic
Rules All Syndicated Shows
'Oprah'
"The Oprah Winfrey Show" has squeezed past "Wheel of Fortune" in the weekly ratings to become the top syndicated program for the first time since summer 1992.
"Oprah" averaged an 8.1 household rating in the week ended May 22, according to Nielsen Media Research, up 1% from the previous week and up 7% over the year-ago period.
"Wheel" dipped 2% from the previous week to a new season low of 7.9. "Wheel" has been the top syndicated show since the week ending Sept. 19, when "Jeopardy!" was in the No. 1 spot. "Jeopardy!" meanwhile, was flat week-to-week with a 7.1.
"Dr. Phil," meanwhile, as usual came in second to "Oprah" in the talk show category, jumping 4% from the previous week to a 5.9. Several other talkers also saw boosts, including "Live With Regis and Kelly" (3.6, up 6%), " The Jerry Springer Show" (2.3, up 10%), and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (2.2, up 5%). Among all talkers, "Ellen" is showing the biggest year-to-year improvement with a 10% increase.
'Oprah'
In Memory
J.D. Cannon
J.D. Cannon, an actor who appeared in guest roles on television shows such as "Law & Order" and "Murder, She Wrote," died May 20 at his upstate New York home. He was 83.
Cannon had a regular role as a New York detective chief on the series "McCloud," a police drama that ran on NBC from 1970-77.
From 1960 to 1991, he had 85 guest roles on television. The shows included "Remington Steele," "The Fall Guy," "B.J. and the Bear," "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza," "The Mod Squad," "The Fugitive," "The Defenders" and "The Untouchables."
His final on-screen role was in a March 1991 episode of "Law & Order."
Cannon had a few big-screen roles, including one in 1967's "Cool Hand Luke," a prison drama featuring Paul Newman and George Kennedy.
A native of Salmon, Idaho, Cannon graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He served in the Army during World War II.
J.D. Cannon
