Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Val Patterson of Salt Lake City, Utah, Uses Obituary to Confess (Salt Lake Tribune)
Now that I have gone to my reward, I have confessions and things I should now say. As it turns out, I AM the guy who stole the safe from the Motor View Drive Inn back in June, 1971. I could have left that unsaid, but I wanted to get it off my chest. Also, I really am NOT a PhD. … If you want to live forever, then don't stop breathing, like I did.
A Blogger's Failed Attempt To Sandbag Connie Schultz (Talking Points Memo)
"I am surprised you did not find a photo of me kissing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown so hard he passes out from lack of oxygen. He's really cute. He's also my husband. You know that, right?"
Andrew Tobias: CAN You Find Talent for $1 Million a Year?
Why would Mr. Romney not release all his returns, going back as far as, say, his dad did? One might guess it's because whatever they would reveal is worse than the hits he's taking for not releasing them. And what could that be? Well, how about a year or two when he made millions but paid no tax - something like that? All perfectly legal, but the kind of thing that could rankle the average gal or guy struggling to make ends meet.
Stephen Marche: Hardheaded Socialism Makes Canada Richer Than U.S. (Bloomberg)
On July 1, Canada Day, Canadians awoke to a startling, if pleasant, piece of news: For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American. According to data from Environics Analytics WealthScapes published in the Globe and Mail, the net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, while the average American household's net worth was $319,970.
Walmart Heirs Worth Same Amount As Bottom 40 Percent Of Americans In 2010: Analysis (Huffington Post)
The six heirs to the Walmart fortune are worth as much as nearly half of all American households. The Walton family was worth $89.5 billion in 2010, the same as thebottom 41.5 percent of U.S. families combined, according to Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute. That's 48.8 million American households in total.
Kenneth Thomas: One Year Anniversary (Middle Class Political Economist)
I owe a great deal of gratitude to everyone who has helped promote this blog. Mark Thoma, who had picked up David Cay Johnston's review of "Investment Incentives and the Global Competition for Capital" last January, linked to my very first substantive post and has been generous with links ever since. Marty at BartCop Entertainment was the first to make me a regular.
UNF President John Delaney: What Jesus might do on gay rights ordinance (Florida Times-Union)
Jesus boiled down God's mandates to two: Love God with all one's heart, and love one's neighbor as one's self. The sinners that Jesus most often criticized were the arrogant, the righteous and the sanctimonious. He was appalled by those who hated their neighbors: The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrated this point. He despised the Pharisees who used religion against fellow men and created religious outcasts. In fact, Jesus was well known for associating with such outcasts of society. [Executive summary: Jesus would be for non-discrimination against gays.]
Hadley Freeman: If US Christians have given up trying to 'cure' gay people, what next? (Guardian)
Here are some new ways for them to bring shame and misery to their followers.
Roger Ebert: Roger loves Chaz
I sensed from the first that Chaz was the woman I would marry, and I know after 20 years that my feelings were true. She has been with me in sickness and in health, certainly far more sickness than we could have anticipated. I will be with her, strengthened by her example. She continues to make my life possible, and her presence fills me with love and a deep security. That's what a marriage is for. Now I know.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Day 11
Gulf Fritillary
Came across some of Gulf Fritillary larva
on the back fence, so it looks like we'll have a third year of raising butterflies. : )
Click on any picture for a larger version.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and a lot more humid than seasonal.
Had planned on getting the page
Emmys - Complete List of Nominations - 2012 up,
but I should know better than to plan...may get it done later today, if not, Saturday, for sure. Also have some of Michelle's pics of her
SF visit.
Gives $1 Million
Morgan Freeman
Actor Morgan Freeman is the latest Hollywood figure to join the ranks of $1 million donors to Democratic President Barack Obama's re-election effort with his donation in June to the "Super PAC" helping Obama.
The Oscar-winning actor's big donation to Priorities USA Action, the "super" political action committee backing the president, was announced on Thursday and will be reported in the group's federal disclosures on Friday.
Priorities USA has raised $20.4 million this election cycle but lags far behind Restore Our Future, the Super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Restore Our Future has so far reported raising $81.5 million.
Last month both Super PACs had their best month of fundraising yet. Priorities raised $6.1 million and Restore pulled in $20 million.
Morgan Freeman
Fires Almost All the Writers From 'The Newsroom'
Aaron Sorkin
You would think after getting picked up for a second season after the first two episodes, Aaron Sorkin and the rest of The Newsroom's writing staff would be on cloud nine. And yet, here we are another two episodes later and almost all of the writing staff are getting their pink slip.
The Daily were the first to report that "most" of the writing staff ofThe Newsroom, except for Sorkin and his ex-girlfriend Corinne Kinsbury. He couldn't fire his muse for all the Will and MacKenzie scenes! The Hollywood Reporter reports that "most" really means every single person but Sorkin and Kinsbury are on their way to the curb. Which begs the question: on the most Sorkinian show of his entire career, the show he's wearing his biggest flaws on his sleeve, how much input did the other writers even have? Let's look at their IMDB writing credits for some answers. Oh, well then. That settles that.
While ratings have been okay (the debut was the third highest for HBO since 2008 , but don't ask us why that year is significant), reviews have generally been terrible. It started at first with Emily Nussbaum's brilliant New Yorker review, and continued from there. Our colleague Richard Lawson thought it was a, ahem, flawed hour of television. Just today, Salon's Alex Pareene writes that The Newsroom succeeds despite Sorkin, not because of him. It's "phenomenally bad good TV." The performances are great! "So is the production, and the direction, and even the editing!" he says. But it's all there to cover up the shortcomings of the show's biggest villain: Sorkin.
Aaron Sorkin
Seinfeld Cartoon Honored In Caption Contest
New Yorker
What would a pig say if it were standing in line at the complaint department? In a 1998 episode of Seinfeld, Elaine tries to draw her own cartoon for the New Yorker. Jerry, Kramer, and George try to help her out by writing captions for the cartoon.
In the episode, Elaine confronts one of the magazine's cartoonists over a comic that just doesn't make sense.
The cartoonist admits that he doesn't even understand the comic, saying that he just "liked the kitty." This gives Elaine the idea that anyone can draw a comic for the New Yorker so she sets about creating her own.
Elaine puts a pig standing next to a complaint department. Now what does the pig say?
If you have a good caption you can submit it to the New Yorker here.
New Yorker
Sexed-Up Editions
Clandestine Classics
Now we know how Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson really felt about each other.
British e-publisher Clandestine Classics is releasing sexed-up editions of Sherlock Holmes, "Pride and Prejudice" and other classics, with erotic passages woven into the traditional texts. That means Mr. Darcy "buried inside the depths" of Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice" and Dr. Watson declaring his "joy of knowing other men."
Clandestine managing director Claire Siemaszkiewicz says she has always been drawn to "the underlying sexual tension" in older novels. The new editions were started before the "Fifty Shades" phenomenon, but the release date was moved up to July 30 in hopes of attracting fans of E.L. James' erotic trilogy.
Clandestine Classics
Suit Settled
'Bruno'
A Palestinian grocer portrayed as a terrorist in the movie "Bruno" has settled his slander suit against film star Sacha Baron Cohen and David Letterman, his lawyer said Thursday.
Ayman Abu Aita's "case is settled to the mutual satisfaction" of everyone involved, attorney Joseph Peter Drennan said. Court records show the case was designated settled and closed Wednesday.
Drennan wouldn't discuss the terms. Lawyers for Baron Cohen, Letterman and other defendants involved with the movie and Letterman's "Late Show" didn't immediately return calls.
In the 2009 comedy, Baron Cohen plays an Austrian fashion journalist aiming to make peace in the Middle East. He interviews Abu Aita, who's labeled in a caption as a member of the militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.
A Christian and "a peace-loving person" who was living in the West Bank, Abu Aita has never associated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade or any terrorist activity, his court papers said.
'Bruno'
Buying 7 TV Stations
Sinclair Broadcast
U.S. TV station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc (R-Swift-Boaters) said it will buy broadcast assets of seven television stations for $452.5 million in two separate deals.
The company said it will buy six TV stations from Newport Television located in five states -- Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Kansas -- reaching 3 percent of the U.S. TV households.
Sinclair also agreed to buy assets of Bay Television Inc, which owns WTTA-TV in the Florida market, for $40 million.
Sinclair, which acquired 23 television stations in the last one year, said it expects the Newport deal to close by December.
Sinclair Broadcast
Charity Expands Board
'Three Cups'
The charity co-founded by Greg Mortenson said Thursday it has added seven new board members, an expansion that is part of a legal settlement over accusations the "Three Cups of Tea" author mismanaged the organization that builds schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The new Central Asia Institute board of directors includes academics, people with business and finance backgrounds, philanthropists and an attorney who are familiar with the region where the institute works. They participated in their first meetings in San Francisco last week after being selected from dozens of people who had submitted letters of interest.
The new members join Mortenson, Abdul Jabbar and Karen McCown, who previously were the sole board members of the Bozeman-based charity.
A Montana attorney general investigation concluded last spring that Mortenson's control of the institute went unchallenged by the board and led to the charity spending millions on Mortenson's books, travel and personal items.
'Three Cups'
Pee-wee Herman, Revisited
Fred Willard
Actor Fred Willard, perhaps best-known as a dog-show announcer in the movie "Best in Show," has been arrested on suspicion of committing a lewd act at a Hollywood adult theater.
Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Ro says uniformed vice officers were conducting a routine investigation of the theater shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday and saw Willard engaging in a lewd act.
The 72-year-old actor was booked at the Hollywood police station on suspicion of committing a lewd act in public. Ro says Willard was released after midnight without posting bail.
Fred Willard
PBS Show Severs Ties
Fred Willard
The public television station that produces a show narrated by Fred Willard says it is ending the actor's work on the series after his arrest on suspicion of a lewd act.
Jeanne Hopkins is the spokeswoman for WGBH, the Boston public TV station that produces "Market Warriors." Hopkins says the station is removing Willard's narration from four episodes.
His voice will be replaced by "Antiques Roadshow" host Mark Walberg.
Fred Willard
Disneyland
To Study Segway Use
A California appeals court told Disneyland it must consider allowing use of two-wheel Segways by disabled people.
Disneyland currently allows disabled visitors to use wheelchairs and scooters at the Anaheim theme park, but the justices of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said it's time for "The Happiest Place on Earth" to study the idea of adding Segways.
"We have every confidence that the organization that, half a century ago, brought us the Carousel of Progress and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln can lead the way in using new technology to make its parks more welcoming to disabled guests," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the court.
The ruling comes in the case of Tina Baughman, who uses a two-wheeled Segway to get around because she has limb girdle muscular dystrophy, which makes it difficult to walk or rise from a seated position. Segway operators use the transportation device in a standing position.
The Los Angeles Times said Baughman went to Disneyland to celebrate her daughter's 8th birthday. She explained her disability but said Disneyland refused to allow her to use the Segway at the theme park.
Disneyland
Top 20
Concert Tours
The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. (1) Kenny Chesney; $4,272,326; $89.80.
2. (2) Roger Waters; $2,086,906; $107.32.
3. (3) Coldplay; $1,907,070; $80.92.
4. (4) Dave Matthews Band; $1,354,667; $54.40.
5. (6) Radiohead; $1,243,495; $56.44.
6. (5) Cirque du Soleil - "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; $1,210,106; $107.94.
7. (7) Van Halen; $1,164,997; $100.13.
8. (8) Red Hot Chili Peppers; $801,364; $58.59.
9. (9) Drake; $783,513; $56.96.
10. (10) Nickelback; $697,641; $67.77.
11. (12) Blue Man Group; $522,900; $54.75.
12. (11) The Beach Boys; $518,841; $72.48.
13. (13) One Direction; $499,246; $43.06.
14. (14) Lady Antebellum; $493,296; $40.03.
15. (15) The Black Keys; $475,306; $46.90.
16. (16) Miranda Lambert; $432,714; $36.24.
17. (17) Scorpions; $339,848; $54.84.
18. (18) Il Divo; $338,147; $93.66.
19. (19) LMFAO / "Sorry For Party Rocking Tour"; $325,468; $42.12.
20. (20) Eric Church; $320,774; $36.31.
Concert Tours
In Memory
Tom Davis
Tom Davis, a writer who with Al Franken, helped develop some of the most popular skits in the early years of "Saturday Night Live," died on Thursday at age 59.
His wife, Mimi Raleigh, said he died of throat and neck cancer at his home in the Hudson Valley, north of New York City. He was diagnosed in 2009.
Davis is best known as the thinner, taller partner in Franken and Davis, the off-kilter comedy duo who performed in the early years of the show. They also were among the first writers hired for the new show in 1975 and helped create memorable work such as the "
Raleigh said Davis and Franken "were two of the first writers hired - with one salary."
As performers, Davis was the quiet guy, overshadowed by the flashier Franken, who is now a Democratic senator from Minnesota. Davis, in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press, said, "If we were Sonny and Cher, he would be Cher."
Davis met Franken at a suburban prep school in Minnesota, where their first gig was making announcements at morning chapel. They hit it big with "SNL" and stayed there until 1980, then returned a few years later. Davis left the show in 1994, feeling frozen out. Still, he told the AP he would always treasure his time on the show.
"It's my family. It's my extended, dysfunctional family, and I love them," Davis said.
Davis recalled spending his childhood watching "The Mickey Mouse Club" on television while wearing Mouseketeer Ears. He was the older of two brothers. Their father worked for 3M and their mother was the 1950 Queen of the Lakes of the Minneapolis Aquatennial, an annual summer festival.
In his memoir, "Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL From Someone Who Was There," Davis also detailed friendships with counterculture legends Jerry Garciaand Timothy Leary, his own drug use and his travel as a young hippie to India in the 1970s.
Davis kept up his quirky sense of humor to the end, writing an essay on his experiences with cancer and the coming end of his life.
"I wake up in the morning, delighted to be waking up, read, write, feed the birds, watch sports on TV, accepting the fact that in the foreseeable future I will be a dead person," Davis wrote. "I want to remind you that dead people are people too."
Tom Davis
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