'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Joshua Holland: Myth of the Liberal Nanny State (AlterNet.org)
Economist Dean Baker lays waste to one of the most cherished myths of conservative philosophy.
Ezra Klein: THAT EXPLAINS IT (prospect.org)
If you're ever confused about the GOP's puzzling determination to eliminate the broadly supportable estate tax, this report showing that George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their cabinet will personally gain between $90 and $340 million dollars from the tax's repeal clarifies things considerably. As for amassing the political will for the battle, a recent Center for Public Integrity report found that a handful of superrich families had spent $490 million lobbying against the tax. If they succeed, these same families will gain almost $72 billion. Now that's what I call a good investment. - Ezra Klein
Elizabeth Drew: Power Grab (nybooks.com)
During the presidency of George W. Bush, the White House has made an unprecedented reach for power. It has systematically attempted to defy, control, or threaten the institutions that could challenge it: Congress, the courts, and the press. It has attempted to upset the balance of power among the three branches of government provided for in the Constitution; but its most aggressive and consistent assaults have been against the legislative branch: Bush has time and again said that he feels free to carry out a law as he sees fit, not as Congress wrote it. Through secrecy and contemptuous treatment of Congress, the Bush White House has made the executive branch less accountable than at any time in modern American history. And because of the complaisance of Congress, it has largely succeeded in its efforts.
Ahmed Rashid: Afghanistan: On the Brink (nybooks.com)
It is now five years since George W. Bush declared victory in Afghanistan and said that the terrorists were smashed. Since the Bonn meeting, in late 2001, a smorgasbord of international military and development forces has been increasing in size. How is it, then, that Afghanistan is near collapse once again?
Daniel Engber: How Hard Is Hard Labor? (slate.com)
Do military troublemakers have to break rocks?
Joel Stein: Meet the campaign wannabes (latimes.com)
I knew that my district - which includes Beverly Hills, Hollywood and West Hollywood - was pretty far left. But I didn't know just how liberal my neighborhood was until I found out that the Republican Party is controlled by the Log Cabin Republicans. This place is so liberal that if you needed to find someone to argue the pro-life stance, you'd have to teach a fetus to talk.
Henry Chu: Bullied by the Eunuchs (latimes.com)
I don't know how they found me, but they demanded baksheesh. If I didn't yield, they might do something unseemly, but I refused to give in.
Jonah Lehrer: The Gay Animal Kingdom (seedmagazine.com)
The effeminate sheep & other problems with Darwinian sexual selection.
Cartoon: Mikhaela B. Reid: The Phone Conversations Bush Won't Listen In On (inthesetimes.com)
The Polar Grizz
Avery Ant
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
'June Gloom' at it's finest.
No new flags.
Headed To Big Screen
'24'
The real-time TV thriller "24" is headed to the big screen under a deal between movie studio 20th Century Fox and the show's producers, trade paper Daily Variety said on Thursday.
The Hollywood publication said no deals are in place with the cast, although star Kiefer Sutherland -- an executive producer of the series -- has said he would like to reprise his role as sleep-deprived action hero Agent Jack Bauer in a feature version.
However, the paper said the "24" movie would likely abandon the TV show's distinctive real-time conceit, meaning that all the murder and mayhem will no longer be squeezed into one day. A rough plot outline has been drafted, but no details have been disclosed, it said.
'24'
Sets 20-Concert Tour
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand announced Thursday that she will embark on a national concert tour this fall, her first in over a decade.
Streisand will play 20 concerts in U.S. cities during October and November, her manager, Martin Erlichman, said in a statement. Her last U.S. tour was in 1994.
The 64-year-old singer-actress plans to give "designated proceeds" from the tour to support several causes, including the environment, education and women's health. The money will be distributed through the Streisand Foundation.
Barbra Streisand
Admits To Nerves
Robert Altman
He is 81 years old, has an honorary Oscar and 50 years of television and classic movies like "MASH" behind him, but director Robert Altman admits he still gets a case of nerves ahead of a film debut.
His latest movie, "A Prairie Home Companion," hits theaters on Friday. Reviews are mostly good and the cast, which includes Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and teen idol Lindsay Lohan, is stellar.
"I'm scared shitless. I get very sensitive about reviews and what people have said," Altman said. "As long as I've been doing this, I still take it personally. I don't know why. I guess that's just my nature."
Robert Altman
Voted Britain's Greatest Living Writer
J.K. Rowling
It's another magical result for J.K. Rowling. The creator of boy wizard Harry Potter was voted Britain's greatest living writer in a survey released Thursday.
Readers of The Book Magazine ranked Rowling ahead of literary heavyweights including Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Harold Pinter and A.S. Byatt.
The magazine's online poll allowed readers to choose from a list of 50 authors, or to add their own suggestion. The top 10 consists of Rowling, Pratchett, McEwan, Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, Philip Pullman, Pinter, Nick Hornby, Byatt and, in a 10th-place tie, Jonathan Coe and John Le Carre.
J.K. Rowling
Struggling In Los Angeles
Urban Gardeners
It began as a utopian dream: an oasis-like garden where people could grow their own food in the center of a gritty urban neighborhood.
But like so many such visions, the 14-acre farm that sprang up in the middle of an area scarred by the city's 1992 riots is on the verge of falling beneath the bulldozer.
With the price of the property more than tripling since the city acquired it by eminent domain in the 1980s, the developer who later bought it now wants to replace the 350 small garden plots with a large warehouse.
Having lost in court, unable to raise the $16.3 million asking price and facing eviction, members of the 350 mostly Hispanic families who till the soil have turned to the court of public opinion, inviting a stream of celebrity supporters to plead their case.
Urban Gardeners
Rocker Fails To Sell At Auction
JFK
A rocking chair that once belonged to President Kennedy failed to sell at auction, a spokesman for the auctioneer said.
Bids for the chair, which researchers believe was a gift to Kennedy from the leader of Pakistan, did not reach the owners' minimum asking price of $75,000 at Wednesday's auction, said John Petty, a spokesman for Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas.
The chair will continue to be available for one week in an after-auction sale on the auctioneer's Web site, Petty said.
JFK
CBS Contract
Writers Guild
Two days of further negotiation failed to produce a new contract between the Writers Guild of America and CBS this week as the union continues to resist efforts to strip news producers of their coverage, guild officials said Wednesday.
The two sides met Monday and Tuesday in New York in a bid to end the stalemate over the WGA-CBS national agreement, which expired in April 2005. The agreement covers newswriters, editors, graphic artists and others in Los Angeles, New York, Washington and Chicago. The previous meeting was in November.
One of the key sticking points, according to the union is that CBS wants to deprive newswriters and producers of the union protection they have had for more than 40 years.
Writers Guild
Hospital News
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn underwent shoulder joint-replacement surgery Thursday and is expected to make a full recovery, a spokesman said.
The country queen, 71, injured her left shoulder on Sunday in a fall at her home in Hurricane Mills, about 60 miles west of Nashville.
Loretta Lynn
Charging For Photos
Park Service
Wedding parties and other groups hoping to commemorate their special event with a photograph at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument or other popular landmarks on National Park Service land now have to pay for a permit.
Under a new policy that began May 15, the Park Service is requiring a payment of $50 to $250 from groups that hire commercial photographers to snap pictures at some of the 390 monuments, parks and historic sites it oversees. The cost depends on the size of the group.
The fees are being charged at some of the busiest Park Service sites in the Washington, D.C., area and at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Other heavily used sites include the Statue of Liberty, Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, Big Bend National Park in Texas, and Yellowstone National Park.
Park Service
Lawsuit Filled
Mindy McCready
Mindy McCready has sued her former boyfriend for $3 million, claiming he beat her last year and that the incident hurt her music career.
McCready, who had a No. 1 hit in 1996, "Guys Do It All the Time," sued last month in Davidson County Circuit Court, The Tennessean newspaper reported Thursday. The lawsuit claims the alleged assault hindered the 30-year-old country singer's ability to book performances and other work.
William McKnight is facing charges of attempted murder and breaking into McCready's home and beating her severely in May 2005.
Mindy McCready
China Pulls From Theaters
'The Da Vinci Code'
The Chinese government, in an unprecedented move, has ordered movie theaters to stop showing "The Da Vinci Code," movie industry officials said Thursday.
Chinese authorities said the withdrawal of the movie from theaters Friday was to make way for locally produced films, one industry executive said, declining to be named because she wasn't authorized to speak to the media on the matter.
But another Hollywood blockbuster, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" was to be released in China on Friday, said the executive, who added that "The Da Vinci Code" was the first foreign film to be pulled from theaters in China after being approved for release.
'The Da Vinci Code'
Serial Killers
Calendar
April belongs to serial sex killer John Wayne Gacy, convicted of killing 33 young men and boys, while May is for Jeffrey Dahmer, who ate 17 men. June features Satanic worshiper and murderer Richard Ramirez.
The grisly 2007 Serial Killer Calendar produced by a Maine businessman depicts some of the world's most notorious murderers painted by "the vampire of Paris," Frenchman Nico Claux who himself served 7 years for murder.
Purple Inc., the Bangor, Maine-based company that produced and distributes the calendar in specialty retailers and the Internet, said initial response has been so strong that the company is planning a sequel and a line of posters.
Calendar
Convicted In Tax Case
Phil Driscoll
Grammy-winning trumpeter Phil Driscoll, who shifted from pop music to gospel, was convicted Thursday on federal charges that he used his Tennessee-based Christian music ministry in an income-tax cheating scheme.
A jury found Driscoll, 58, guilty of charges of conspiracy and evading some federal income taxes owed for 1996 through 1999.
The jury of seven women and five men acquitted Driscoll's wife, Lynne, on the conspiracy count but deadlocked on a tax evasion charge, prompting U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier to order another trial that he said would be scheduled later.
Phil Driscoll
Expands Right Wing Spew Fest
CNN Headline News
CNN Headline News said Wednesday it is expanding its primetime programming block to seven days a week, beginning June 17.
Formerly strictly a weekday play, Headline Prime will now repeat weekday editions of "Prime News with Erica Hill" "Nancy Grace" and "Showbiz Tonight," some enhanced with new segments. Also part of the new weekend expansion is "Glenn Beck," which had already been scheduled seven days a week.
CNN Headline News
U.S. Payoffs Have 'Skyrocketed'
Solatia
The local custom is known as "solatia" --it means families in Iraq receive financial compensation for physical damage or a loss of life. The practice has earned more attention in recent weeks, with news that the U.S. military paid about $2500 per victim to families in Haditha following the alleged massacre there last November.
But how common is the practice? And how many deaths do the numbers seem to suggest?
A chilling report from the Boston Globe on Thursday reveals that the amount of cash the U.S. military has paid to families of Iraqi civilians killed or badly injured operations involving American troops "skyrocketed from just under $5 million in 2004 to almost $20 million last year, according to Pentagon financial data." The payments can range from several hundred dollars for a severed limb to a standard of $2500 for loss of life.
Solatia
Gives Up Everest Climb For Rescue
Daniel Mazur
Just days after a British climber was left to die near Mount Everest's summit, an American guide abandoned his second bid to stand on top of the world so he could rescue a mountaineer mistakenly given up for dead.
Not only did Daniel Mazur not scale the world's highest peak from the northern side, he also failed to get his two paying clients to the top.
Mazur, his two clients and a Sherpa guide were just two hours from the 29,035-foot peak on the morning of May 26 when they came across 50-year-old Lincoln Hall, who was left a day earlier when his own guides believed he was dead.
Daniel Mazur
In Memory
Lula Hardaway
Lula Mae Hardaway, mother of singer Stevie Wonder, has died. She was 76.
Hardaway is credited as a co-writer on several of Wonder's songs, including the hits I Was Made to Love Her and Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours.
Hardaway was born Jan. 11, 1930, to a sharecropper in Eufaula, Ala. Her life was marked by poverty and abuse, according to interviews she gave for a 2002 biography, Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway, Stevie Wonder's Mother.
At 15, she and her father moved to Indiana, where she went to work in a sewing factory. She married a much older man, Calvin Judkins, father of her children, who drank, beat her and eventually forced her into prostitution to support the family, according to the book.
She eventually fled to Detroit, divorced and got work. It was in Detroit that her blind 10-year-old son, Stevie, began singing on street corners. His talent caught the eye of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr., who signed him to a record contract and nicknamed him Little Stevie Wonder.
The family moved to Los Angeles in 1975, where Hardaway was known for her barbecue sauce and peach cobbler. She was a religious woman who kept Bibles on the bed, dresser and couch, according to the obituary from her family.
Lula Hardaway
In Memory
Johnny Grande
Johnny Grande, an original member of Bill Haley and His Comets who played piano on their hit "Rock Around The Clock," died. He was 76.
Born in Philadelphia, Grande had recorded more than 40 records, including four that went gold. He played piano on hits like "See You Later, Alligator" and "Rockin' Through the Rye." He helped arrange albums like "Rockin' Around the World."
"Rock Around the Clock" was recorded in 1954 and was a No. 1 hit for eight weeks before going on to sell 22 million copies worldwide, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It gained new popularity when it was chosen for the soundtracks of the movies "The Blackboard Jungle" in 1955, a film named for the song in 1956 and "American Graffiti" in 1974.
Grande was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1997. Haley is the only member of the group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Johnny Grande
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