'Best of TBH Politoons'
Filling For Jay Marvin Tomorrow
Erin Hart
Erin Hart sits in for Jay Marvin on
AM 760, Saturday, June 30, and July 3 & 4 (Monday & Tuesday).
Monday we talk to Ken Gude, Associate Director of the International Rights
and Responsibilities Program at the Center for American Progress about the
Supreme Court ruling that military tribunals for terror suspects at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba do not comply with the Geneva Conventions regarding
treatment of prisoners.
Also on Monday, we check in about how the Bush taxes hit most of us with
Colorado's Progressive Coalition. Find out just how regressive these taxes
are. And we follow up on immigration with Keep Colorado Safe. Find out
what they will compromise on and what they will not!
Tuesday, celebrate our country's birth with fireworks supplied by the newest
Americans among us. New citizens are particularly invited to participate.
Joining us will be Minister Jamal Rahman, who recently became a citizen
after living and working in Seattle for several years. Find out what July
4th means to him as a Muslim, as a progressive, as a new citizen.
All that and a celebration of our interstates--Thanks Dwight! And we are
working on Eugene Jarecki, director and producer of the Sundance award
winner, "Why We Fight". And marty
of BartCop Entertainment will likely pop a cracker or two.
That and so much more-please check out
erinhartshow.com for further details (or drop
marty a note).
Adventure is everywhere. . .
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: Flag Burning (andrewtobias.com)
Oh, for crying out loud. The whole point of America is that you can burn the flag. Nothing sums up her greatness so succinctly. And it is precisely this - that in America you should be free to do any damn thing you please so long as it does not impinge on the rights of others - that leads most of us to abhor the idea of burning it in the first place. And one thing you should absolutely be free to do in America is criticize your country and express outrage at its behavior - even if you're wrong. We call that the Bill of Rights.
Naomi Oreskes: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change (sciencemag.org)
Many details about climate interactions are not well understood, and there are ample grounds for continued research to provide a better basis for understanding climate dynamics. The question of what to do about climate change is also still open. But there is a scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Climate scientists have repeatedly tried to make this clear. It is time for the rest of us to listen.
Dr. Mark H. Shapiro: Let the Chips Fall Where They May (irascibleprofessor.com)
Political interference in academic research seems to be on the rise lately. We have seen this in the recent attempts to harass and intimidate researchers in such diverse fields as climate change and medicine whose results conflict with a particular political philosophy or ideology. The latest attempt to discredit the results of scientific research that uncovers uncomfortable facts is not in the cutting edge areas of global warming or stem cell research, but in the rather mundane area of forest management.
HOWARD GABENNESCH: Critical Thinking, What Is It Good for? (In Fact, What Is It?) (csicop.org/si)
Nearly everyone is in favor of critical thinking. This is evidence that the term is in danger of becoming meaningless. Skeptics should spearhead the effort to clarify what critical thinking is-and what it is not. The stakes are high.
Matthew Yglesias: Iraq: A Shocking Waste of Money (The American Prospect. Posted on Alternet.org)
Forget those early estimates about the cost of our failed war in Iraq; the final tally is likely to be over $1 trillion.
Ted Barrett: Democrats: No raises for Congress until minimum wage is increased (cnn.com)
A week after the GOP-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Senate Democrats on Tuesday vowed to block pay raises for members of Congress until the minimum wage is increased.
Simon Singh: What Maurice Hilleman did for us (guardian.co.uk)
Last week a radio programme made me cry. BBC Radio 4's The Vaccine Hunter told the story of Maurice Hilleman, who died in April ages 85. Hilleman saved more lives than anybody else in the 20th century, because he was responsible for inventing many of the vaccines that control childhood diseases. You almost certainly know someone who would be dead if it were not for Hilleman's genius and determination.
Jacob Weisberg: Wealthy and Wise (slate.com)
Warren Buffett's lesson to the rich.
Ros Taylor: Harry Potter and the violent illness (guardian.co.uk)
JK Rowling hinted this week that the seventh and final Harry Potter novel might see the death of her protagonist. Several draft plots have come to light, taking up the story after Dumbledore's death and Harry's decision to break up with his new girlfriend Ginny in order to devote his life to defeating the evil Voldemort.
Bryan Curtis: It's a Wonderful List (slate.com)
Inspiring movies and what to do about them.
BBC: The Vaccine Hunter, BBC Radio Four, 21 June 2006: The Vaccine Hunter
Maurice Hilleman saved more lives than any other scientist in the 20th Century, but few people know his name. In 'The Vaccine Hunter' Jeryl Lynn Hilleman charts the incredible life of her father who discovered vaccines for flu, hepatitis B and the controversial M.M.R.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, hot & overly humid.
I'm scheduled to visit Erin when she subs for Jay Marvin (Boulder's Progressive AM 760) on Monday - if I can drag my sorry ass out of bed at 5:15am (pdt). Ack.
Have an anniversary coming up in about 3 weeks.
No new flags.
Army's Ranger Hall of Fame
Tom Hanks
Actor Tom Hanks was inducted Thursday as an honorary member of the U.S. Army's Ranger Hall of Fame for his accurate portrayal of a World War II Army Ranger company commander in the movie "Saving Private Ryan" and for his continued commitment to honoring those who served in the war.
Besides his role in "Saving Private Ryan," Hanks was cited for serving as the national spokesman for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary chairman of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the Emmy Award-winning miniseries, "Band of Brothers."
Hanks, who was unable to attend the induction ceremony, becomes the first actor to receive such an honor.
Tom Hanks
Shows To Aid Schools
Hootie & the Blowfish
Hootie & the Blowfish will launch a 10-city concert series Monday in Nashville to help collect school supplies for children.
Ticketholders are encouraged to bring school supplies to shows in the Homegrown Concert series. The supplies will be donated to each community's public school system.
In each city, a business or organization will make a donation to the schools. In Nashville, the Hard Rock Cafe will donate $5,000 to LP Pencil Box, a school supply center where teachers can get supplies for students who can't afford them.
Hootie & the Blowfish
Receives Award
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron, who has mainly acted in big-studio movies, has been awarded the Los Angeles Film Festival's Spirit of Independence award.
During Wednesday night's ceremony, Theron recounted her life and career. She began as a model in her native South Africa before coming to the United States with the Joffrey Ballet.
Theron - wearing a short brown dress and Manolo Blahnik shoes - said she wasn't a great dancer, "but if you put me on a stage and told me I was a swan and that I was dying, I ... died."
Charlize Theron
Donates $2 Million
Nicolas Cage
Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage has donated two million dollars to establish a fund for former child soldiers, Amnesty International announced.
The money will be used for rehabilitation shelters, medical services and psychological and reintegration services for children forced to take part in armed conflicts world-wide, the human rights monitor said.
According to Amnesty, an estimated 300,000 children under the age of 18 are currently participating in armed conflicts in more than 30 countries on nearly every continent.
Nicolas Cage
Back From Dead, Again
Radar Magazine
Radar, a twice-dead pop culture and politics magazine, will return to newsstands by early next year, this time backed by funding from a company run by the son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, a Radar spokesman said on Thursday.
The magazine -- founded by a former top New York magazine editor, Maer Roshan -- landed a "multimillion dollar" multiyear investment from Integrity Multimedia Co. LLC, run by Yusef Jackson.
It is expected to go on sale in early 2007. A new Web site will be relaunched this summer.
Radar Magazine
News Reports For Sirius
Variety
Variety has reached a deal with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to do regular radio news reports on the entertainment industry from its offices in Los Angeles, the companies announced Thursday.
The reports will air several times an hour on Sirius' Los Angeles 150 station on various topics that the longtime entertainment industry publication covers, including the movie business, TV and publishing.
Reporters and editors from Variety will produce the reports. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Variety
Baby News
August Hermann
Mariska Hargitay, star of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and her husband, Peter Hermann, have welcomed their first child, a son named August, People magazine reports.
The baby, who was a week overdue, was born by Caesarean section Wednesday in Los Angeles, weighing 10 pounds, 9 ounces, the magazine said.
August Hermann
Theme Park To Open In Amsterdam
'Chocolate Factory'
Amsterdam will get a theme park dedicated to chocolate and inspired by Roald Dahl's children's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," city officials and entrepreneurs said on Thursday.
Just like Dahl's fictional "Chocolate Factory" owned by Willy Wonka, the main part of the "sweets park" will be located underground, in a disused railway tunnel which was handed over by the city of Amsterdam in a ceremony on Thursday.
The attraction, which is expected to open to the public in two to three years, will feature a glass elevator and a chocolate fountain, similar to the book. It will also produce small amounts of chocolate.
'Chocolate Factory'
Arrested in Philly
'Grannies for Peace'
Police arrested ten elderly members of the anti-war group called the Granny Peace Brigade who refused to leave a military recruiting center Wednesday after they were told they were too old to enlist.
Several dozen protesters, some using wheelchairs, canes or walkers and many sporting flower-festooned hats, held signs and chanted outside the downtown Armed Forces Recruiting Center. Some drivers waved and honked their horns in support, and the grandmothers replied by cheering and clapping.
A few of the women went inside the recruiting facility to speak with military recruiters and to try to dissuade those who arrived to enlist.
"We're saying, 'I've lived my life. Let me go to Iraq instead of our grandchildren, so they have a chance to live their lives,'" said Jean Haskell, 74, a grandmother of five from Philadelphia.
'Grannies for Peace'
Bigger Threat Than Drugs
Alcohol
Alcohol abuse by minors results in almost 3,200 deaths a year -- four times more than deaths due to all illegal drug use combined, a new study finds.
Despite these numbers, policymakers remain focused on the impact and prevention of drug use in minors, rather than alcohol, the study's authors said. The budget for anti-drug use by America's youth is nearly 25 times that of public funds earmarked for the prevention of alcohol use.
"Alcohol-related traffic crashes, violence, teen pregnancies, STDs, burns, drownings, alcohol poisoning, property damage and other risks take a human and economic toll that's much greater than illegal drugs. Yet, we spend so much more on youth drug abuse," study author Ted Miller, director of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), said in a prepared statement.
Miller's team at the PIRE Public Services Research Institute in Calverton, Md., found that a large number of minors are drinking great quantities of alcohol. In fact, the study showed that underage youth consume at least 16 percent of all alcohol sold in the United States, a number the researchers called conservative.
Alcohol
Killer Roller Coaster
Disney
A 12-year-old boy died after riding a roller coaster Thursday at the Disney MGM theme park, the Orange County sheriff's office said.
The boy died after he was brought by ambulance to a hospital at about 11:30 a.m., a Disney statement said. The cause of death was not immediately known, Sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said.
Park officials closed the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster but said a preliminary investigation showed the ride was operating normally.
Disney
Government Denies Banning Song
Jamaica
Jamaican government officials this week denied claims by reggae star Cham that his song "Ghetto Story," describing poverty in the Caribbean nation, had been banned from the radio.
A story in Billboard magazine last week quoted Cham as saying that the country's radio stations ultimately defied a government prohibition against the song after about two weeks under pressure from fans to play it.
However, at least one radio station, FAME FM, owned by the Radio Jamaica Communications Group, acknowledged that it had individually refused to play the song, saying that its lyrics encourage violence.
Jamaica
In Memory
Johnny Jenkins
Johnny Jenkins, a guitarist who worked with Otis Redding in the early 1960s and influenced Jimi Hendrix through his acrobatic playing style, has died. He was 67.
Jenkins was touring around the South, playing fraternity parties and other venues with his band, the Pinetoppers, when he met up with Redding.
The Pinetoppers had a regional hit in the early 1960s with an instrumental called "Love Twist." Redding began recording with the famed Stax Records in Memphis after accompanying Jenkins and his band there to record a follow-up, according to an account in Rolling Stone magazine in 2004 by producer-musician Steve Cropper.
Jenkins' style became known indirectly through Hendrix, who saw him perform when visiting his aunt in Macon.
Vocalist Arthur Ponder, who sang with Jenkins, recalled Hendrix as a "little guy who would follow us around a lot. Next thing we know, he's Jimi Hendrix."
Jenkins continued to perform sporadically, including a 2000 show at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. His last two albums, "Handle with Care" (2001) and "All in Good Time" (2003), were produced by Mean Old World Records.
Johnny Jenkins
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