'Best of TBH Politoons'
Who Do You Think Should Be Obama's VP?
The Thursday Poll
The current question:
Last Sunday in an interview with CBS, Senator Obama said that an increase in troops, "...two Brigades, perhaps three..." is necessary in Afghanistan. Are you in favor of that escalation? (three brigades is approximately 15,000 soldiers)
Fresh poll questions appear on Monday and Thursday, with Monday's results on Thursday, and Thursday's results on Monday. Might even have some charts and graphs.
Send your responses, and a (short) reason why, to BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Matt Taibbi: America's Middle Class Can't Take Much More Punishment (RollingStone.com)
Whether we like it or not, America is in the midst of revolutionary economic changes that are crushing the middle class.
DAVID GLENN: Supply-Side Education (chronicle.com:80)
What explains the growing gap in wages?
Anne Applebaum: A Textbook Case of Intolerance (slate.com)
CHANGING THE WORLD ONE SCHOOLBOOK AT A TIME.
Del Shores: Healing Through Laughter (huffingtonpost.com)
Can laughter heal this country? Can it make us forget a senseless war for a moment or two? Can it help us forgive those who spew hatred at the gay community?
IRA FORMAN: McCain's Record ... of Flip-Flops (huffingtonpost.com)
Today, my organization, the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) released a fact sheet to set the record straight on McCain's history of flip-flops following McCain's recent statement, "I take a stand on principle, and I don't switch positions depending on what audience or time it is in the electoral calendar."
JOSH GERSTEIN: Campaign Finance Effort Resumes, Without McCain (nysun.com)
The quartet of lawmakers behind every major federal campaign finance restriction in the past decade is suddenly missing one of its members.
The elided surnames of the four men, "McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan," have become synonymous with so-called campaign finance reform, but Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, is conspicuously absent from the latest effort.
Mark Morford: John McCain, please log on (sfgate.com)
The crusty ol' Repub says he has no clue how to use a computer. Isn't that cute? (sfgate.com)
Look here, Senator, this is a link. You click it to take you somewhere else on the Web. Here's an example: When we click this link we see this page of - oh I'm sorry, this appears to be a big list of your most significant and appalling flip-flops, major issues you've reversed yourself on over weeks, months, years. Goodness, there sure are a lot of them.
A Book Review by Art Winslow: "Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case" (Melville House Classic Journalism) by A M Rosenthal (powells.com)
When a 78-year-old pedestrian was downed by a hit-and-run driver in Hartford, Conn., in June, street surveillance video showed multiple cars passing by without stopping and fellow pedestrians staring at the victim without any visible move to aid him. This provoked public outrage and claims of a Kitty Genovese syndrome.
Tom Hundley: Saudi author scandalizes the Muslim world (Chicago Tribune)
It's not clear if Rajaa Alsanea's first novel, "Girls of Riyadh," was banned in Saudi Arabia because it became a Middle East best seller or if it became a best seller because it was banned.
Geeta Sharma Jensen: Rushdie traces the roots of his latest award-winning tale (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Fatehpur Sikri, the old, abandoned capital of India's Mughal King Akbar, is a somewhat deserted place these days, a bit off the beaten tourist path, outdone by the popularity of the Taj Mahal about an hour away.
Rev. Doug Gebhard: "Pop Culture: Finding Meaning and Purpose in the Neighborhood" (popmatters.com)
Whether intentionally spiritual or not, popular culture and its products serve many of the same drives of religion: making meaning and forging the bonds of community.
Bruce Dessau: "Louis CK: the comedian that Ricky Gervais calls the funniest in America" (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
With that endorsement, it can't be long before he hits the big time. What makes him tick?
Charlie was first, and correct, with:
Reader Suggestion
Imperial High Tide
Hi Marty,
A friend sent this to me - it is fascinating, and a good take of the ONGOING war in Iraq. If you have a few minutes (where you have nothing to do, hahaha) it's an educational read...
Reader Comment
1 year in a row
Just a note to bring notice to your upcoming 365th consecutive issue.
as it is leap year should we celebrate 366? ( or maybe 6am--think about it----1/4)
i have noticed that i probably should end my newspaper subscription because 90% of the "news" articles i have already seen here first!
let me be the first to say ----Thanks for a job well done---- I'm sure i'm not alone in appreciating your efforts
Gary in central PA
Thanks, Gary!
It's a bit embarrassing, but I seem to have screwed up.
Last summer we returned from PA on July 25th so I'd be back in time to celebrate the e-page's 6th birthday on the 26th.
Haven't taken a day off this year, so technically, tomorrow is the 366th day.
As well as the e-page's 7th birthday.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny and cooler than seasonal.
Madame Tussauds In London Unveils
Amy Winehouse
Madame Tussauds unveiled a waxwork of Amy Winehouse on Wednesday complete with her signature beehive, black eyeliner and a bright yellow minidress.
Winehouse's hair and 5-inch black heels make the model nearly 6 feet tall. The wax Winehouse's dress resembles one that the singer wore to the BRIT music awards in 2007, when she won best female solo artist.
The singer's parents, Mitch and Janis Winehouse, attended the unveiling, but the 24-year-old soul diva did not. Her father said she was working and would see the waxwork in the next few weeks.
Amy Winehouse
Students Offer Reward
New Zealand
A group of New Zealand students has come up with a novel way of protesting against a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R-Incompetent), offering a cash reward for her "arrest" over U.S. actions in Iraq.
The Auckland University Students' Association has offered NZ$5,000 ($3,700) for any student making a citizen's arrest of Rice during her 36-hour stay that starts later on Friday.
"It's primarily symbolic, but it's a protest against her actions as secretary of state in Iraq and the authorization of the torture of suspected terrorist detainees," said the student body's president, David Do.
New Zealand
Boy Must Give Up Website
Narnia
A Scottish schoolboy must surrender a Web address tied to the Narnia fantasy world, which his father said was a birthday present, after a ruling by a United Nations arbitrator, an official report said on Thursday.
The U.N.'s patent and copyright agency WIPO said the independent arbitrator had ordered transfer of the site, www.narnia.mobi, to the estate of C.S.Lewis, late author of the popular "Chronicles of Narnia" books.
"We are shocked by the decision," Gillian, the mother of 11-year-old Comrie Saville-Smith told the Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh after they were given advance notice of the ruling on Wednesday.
"We put up a spirited fight because we wanted to prove that you do not have to hand something over just because someone richer and more powerful tells you to do so," she said, according to a report on the Scotsman website.
Narnia
Voted Top Reality TV Villain
Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell's scathing critiques of "American Idol" contestants made him the favorite reality TV villain in America, but cohort Paula Abdul was declared the worst reality TV judge in a poll released on Thursday.
Ratings juggernaut "American Idol" itself was judged the best reality show on U.S. television, ranked No. 1 by 33 percent of viewers taking part in an AOL Television survey that drew more than 1.3 million votes.
"The Amazing Race" was the reality show most people polled wanted to take part in, garnering 32 percent of votes.
Long-running dating show "The Bachelor" appears to have lost the hearts of American viewers after 12 seasons. It placed first in the "SO over" category, with 43 percent of voters.
Simon Cowell
'Angel of Death'
Ed Brubaker
Veteran comic-book artist Ed Brubaker is spearheading an online live-action series.
Brubaker, whose credits include "The Death of Captain America" and "Criminal," has been enlisted by Sony Pictures Television to produce "Angel of Death."
The series will run live on Sony-owned video hub Crackle.com.
Sony is eyeing "Angel" as an experiment in introducing a franchise to the DVD market after giving some of the content an online run. The production budget for 10 short-form episodes of the series is $1 million, on the high end for online content.
Ed Brubaker
Sued For Stones Copyright Breach
Lil Wayne
A musical publishing company that owns the rights to the Rolling Stones' song "Play With Fire" sued U.S. rapper Lil Wayne on Thursday, saying he released an altered version of the song without permission.
Abkco Music Inc accused Lil Wayne, his artistic collaborators and his record company, a unit of Universal Music Group, of copyright infringement and unfair competition.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan seeks unspecified damages.
Lil Wayne
Pleads Not Guilty
DMX
DMX rapped for reporters outside a Phoenix courtroom Thursday after pleading not guilty to felony charges of theft and identity theft.
Authorities allege the 37-year-old rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, gave the name "Troy Jones" and an incorrect Social Security number to a Scottsdale hospital in April to avoid paying $7,500 in medical expenses.
When reporters asked for comment following the hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court, Simmons rapped: "If and when you ever fall down, get back up. ... Stand for something or fall for everything. Wait for the right pitch, you'll miss every swing."
His lawyer, Charles Kozelka, then pulled him away as Simmons urged reporters to look for his next album. He has a hip-hop album, "Walk With Me Now," slated for release Oct. 14 and a gospel album, "You'll Fly With Me Later," in the works.
DMX
Copyright Lawsuit
Redlasso
NBC and Fox News Channel sued video-sharing service Redlasso for copyright infringement on Wednesday, accusing the website of showing programs like "The Tonight Show" and "The Fox Report with Shepard Smith" without permission.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, comes two months after the television networks complained in a letter to the closely held website that it violated copyright laws by running unauthorized clips and full-length programs.
General Electric Co's NBC Universal and News Corp's Fox News and Fox Television Stations are seeking a court injunction and monetary damages.
Redlasso
Court Rules
Lesbos
A Greek court has dismissed a request by residents of the Aegean island of Lesbos to ban the use of the word lesbian to describe gay women, according to a court ruling made public on Tuesday.
Three residents of Lesbos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poetess Sappho whose love poems inspired the term lesbian, brought a case last month arguing the use of the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.
In a July 18 decision, the Athens court said the word did not define the identity of the residents of the island, and so it could be validly used by gay groups in Greece and abroad.
The ruling ordered the plaintiffs to pay court expenses of 230 euros ($366.2).
Lesbos
Ruling Reveals ID Of Online Seller
Oscar Tickets
A judge's ruling has brought the organization that hosts the Academy Awards a step closer to discovering how tickets to this year's show got online.
An attorney for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said Wednesday that the organization has learned the identity of a person who posted an ad on Craigslist, claiming to have two tickets available for this year's show.
The disclosure to the Academy comes a day after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Fahey ordered Craigslist, an online site where people can post free ads to sell everything from couches to concert tickets, had to disclose the identity of the person who posted the ad in February offering the tickets for $2,500 each.
The Academy sued several people and companies in March, accusing them of selling or brokering Oscar tickets. In court documents, it states that invitees to the Academy Awards show are explicitly told they cannot sell or give their tickets away.
Oscar Tickets
So That's What 'Faith-Based' Means
'Good Faith'
The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will would not cause "prolonged mental harm."
That heavily censored memo, released Thursday, approved the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques method by method, but warned that if the circumstances changed, interrogators could be running afoul of anti-torture laws.
The Aug. 1, 2002, legal opinion signed by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee was issued the same day he wrote a memo for then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales defining torture as only those "extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure.
The Bybee legal opinion defining torture was withdrawn more than two years later. Justice spokesman Peter Carr said Thursday the interrogation techniques currently authorized by the Bush administration are legal. It's unclear, however, which of those outlined in the second memo are still being used. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has refused to address whether waterboarding, for example, is legal since the CIA no longer uses it.
'Good Faith'
Found in Laundry Products, Air Fresheners
Toxic Chemicals
A study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found the products emitted dozens of different chemicals. All six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws, but none of those chemicals was listed on the product labels.
"I first got interested in this topic because people were telling me that the air fresheners in public restrooms and the scent from laundry products vented outdoors were making them sick," said Anne Steinemann, a University of Washington professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs. "And I wanted to know, 'What's in these products that is causing these effects?'"
Manufacturers of consumer products are not required to disclose the ingredients, so Steinemann analyzed the products to discover their contents.
Nearly 100 volatile organic compounds were emitted from the six products, and none were listed on any product label, she said. Plus, five of the six products emitted one or more carcinogenic "hazardous air pollutants," which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to have no safe exposure level, Steinemann said.
Toxic Chemicals
Scientists Expose Mystery Behind
Northern Lights
Scientists have exposed some of the mystery behind the northern lights. On Thursday, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky.
The findings should help scientists better understand the more powerful but less common geomagnetic storms that can knock out satellites, harm astronauts in orbit and disrupt power and communications on Earth, scientists said.
A fleet of five small satellites, called Themis, observed the beginning of a geomagnetic storm in February, while ground observatories in Canada and Alaska recorded the brightening of the northern lights. The southern lights - aurora australis - also brightened and darted across the sky at the same time.
A team led by University of California, Los Angeles, scientist Vassilis Angelopoulos confirmed that the observed storm about 80,000 miles from Earth was triggered by a phenomenon known as magnetic reconnection. Every so often, the Earth's magnetic field lines are stretched like rubber bands by solar energy, snap, are thrown back to Earth and reconnect, in effect creating a short circuit.
Northern Lights
N.M. Cavers Chart
Fort Stanton Cave
Hundreds of feet beneath Earth's surface, a few seasoned cave explorers venture where no human has set foot. Their headlamps illuminate mud-covered walls, gypsum crystals and mineral deposits.
A massive formation that resembles a white river spans the cave's floor. A closer examination reveals that the odd formation is an intricate crust of tiny calcite crystals.
The explorers have reached Snowy River - thought to be the longest continuous cave formation in the world.
The survey expedition by members of the Fort Stanton Cave Study Project in early July added several thousand feet to the measurement of the spectacular formation, which is at least four miles long. The explorers who have been following the passage under the rolling hills of southeastern New Mexico say there's still more of Snowy River to be discovered.
Fort Stanton Cave
Looking For A Home
PA Peacock
Picking up hitchhikers can be risky, but this one in northeast Pennsylvania was a bird of a different feather. Jerry Dimick and a friend were driving along Route 307 near Clarks Summit on Wednesday when they spotted a peacock standing by the edge of the road.
Dimick said he stopped and "went 'smooch, smooch, smooch, smooch' and the bird came over," so he "reached out and grabbed him."
With no room in the back of his pickup truck, Dimick put the peacock in the front seat. He said, "The bird was sitting in between the two of us. He sat there."
Dimick took the bird to his home in Taylor and is trying to find it a safe place to live. So far, he's had no luck with the Game Commission, animal control, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or the local zoo.
PA Peacock
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