'Best of TBH Politoons'
Report From Mr. Hawk
A Presidential Visit
Or Return of the King
King George II made his 3rd visit to Charleston on Wednsday. This time he didn't dare to show his face at a public event but appeared at a private residence. Of course, my tax dollars went to security, school buses, fighting rerouted traffic etc. I was unable to attend due to the fact the great thief snuck into town before I got off work. I could see out my window a group of protesters lined up on the bridge he had to take. Note, there were 2 police officers for every protester, as usual. Guess KG II is very afraid of those 70 year olds after he tried to loot Social Security. I could see from my window when his motorcade came roaring past. Question, how much gas does the American people pay for with all those SUV's?
Now I know he's out raising money for the BFEE and I also know he has that right. But...one incident has me burning. If you read the local papers and the national news feeds you see where the motorcade stopped and Bush got out at a lemonade stand, drank a glass and tried to pretend he's just folks. The puppy press just ate it up. First, a report just last week stated "Everything" Bush eats or drinks is tested before he gets it. They even said they were flying Bush's food from St Petersburg to Washington for testing before he ate it. Second, even in the body of the newspaper report there is a statement that the SS asked the owner of the property if the children could move there. Can you say phony photo op, I can.
By the way, if they made that lemonade from the city water here in Chemical Valley KG II might be in for a case of traveler's trots. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
It should be noted that Charleston is also the site of one of the lawsuits against Bush and the SS for illegally arresting a couple at a rally. Big side note, the Republican candidate chosen to lose to Bob Byrd didn't attend. Wonder if he thinks KG II is the kiss of death? Fortunately, the Congresswoman who invited Bush didn't. I think she forgot she almost lost the biggest county (her home county) in the state to a man who didn't open a local campaign office there until 3 weeks before the general election. Well, KG II has climbed back into his great silver bird and left us peons again. Once again I must ask the question, what did we do to deserve this?
- Mr. Hawk
Thanks, Mr. Hawk!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: I.R.S. to Cut Tax Auditors (nytimes.com)
The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others.
Lionel Shriver: Bush and co don't care about the lives of whole, big people. They would rather focus on a few clumps of cells (guardian.co.uk)
The stem-cell debate is so lopsided that it borders on dull. Research on embryonic stem cells may well produce breakthroughs in the treatment of serious diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. The cost? Destruction of a few unused human embryos - each a handful of cells - that fertility clinics are going to chuck anyway. All gain, no pain. What the phrase "no-brainer" was coined to cover. President Bush's chief of staff may have blustered this week that "it's a very complicated, very, very delicate issue," but it's not complicated. It's dead simple.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Black and Blue (The New York Times)
According to the White House transcript, here's how it went last week, when President Bush addressed the N.A.A.C.P. for the first time:
THE PRESIDENT: "I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party."
AUDIENCE: "Yes! (Applause.)"
Thomas Ferraro: Religious Left Gears Up to Face Right Counterpart (Reuters)
The religious right, which helped re-elect President Bush in 2004 by rallying opposition to abortion and gay marriage, is now facing a pushback from the religious left.
Jessica Azulay:"Protection" Act Would Strip Consumers of Credit Safeguards (The NewStandard)
The US House of Representatives is poised to consider a bill that would make it more difficult for consumers to protect their credit from identity thieves.
Peter King: Factoid That May Interest Only Me (sportsillustrated.cnn.com; scroll down)
Facts are facts. And we all need to do something about this phenomenon of the Earth heating up and the polar ice caps melting. This is not exactly the venue to warn the world about global warming, but all you football junkies readying for your fantasy drafts should do one real-world thing in the next couple of weeks: take two hours to see this movie [An Inconvenient Truth].
Daniel Engber: I Want a Butt Double (slate.com)
How much will I have to pay?
Triumph and tragedy as the Dolls come out to play (telegraph.co.uk)
David Johansen of the New York Dolls talks to Marc Lee about the joys of reuniting after 30 years - and the heartache that followed
Butch and Sundance ride again (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Robert Redford and Paul Newman reunite in a remarkable new documentary. Here, Kevin Maher explains their alchemy. Plus, read an exclusive extract from this revealing conversation
David Bruce: Wise Up! Children (athensnews.com)
As a child, Hugh McIlhenny, aka "The King," developed his incredible ability to run with the football. His mother used to send him to go to the store, and to get to the store, he had to go through a scary dark alley. Whenever he had to go through the alley, he ran as fast as he could to escape the dangers he thought were lurking hidden in the shadows.
List of Buffyverse-related topics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Purple Gene Asks
Who's the BEST Sheena?
Purple Gene's second annual contest for pulp "B" movie made for TV Comic Strip female superlativity !
With World War III about to begin….100 plus people perishing in a heat wave in California….global warming getting hotter and the Bush administration sinking into scary new lows….
And after watching Tanya Roberts riding a Zebra, I decided to see if anybody really cares anymore………
Please vote on your FAVORITE SHEENA!!!!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not quite as hot as yesterday, but just as humid.
The new kitten has been named 'Buddy'.
No new flags.
Philadelphia's Marian Anderson Award
Sidney Poitier
Award-winning actor and human rights activist Sidney Poitier will be the 2006 recipient of the Marian Anderson Award, which honours artists whose leadership benefits humanity.
Poitier, 79, was chosen because of his work as an artist, humanitarian and diplomat, Mayor John F. Street said Wednesday.
Poitier is to accept the award, and its accompanying $100,000 US honorarium, at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 14.
Sidney Poitier
Ken Burns, PBS & Censorship
'The War'
The U.S. government's crackdown on media indecency could prevent World War Two veterans from sharing their stories in an upcoming TV documentary series by Ken Burns, the head of the Public Broadcasting Service said Wednesday.
Noted filmmaker Burns' highly anticipated seven-part series "The War" features salty language used by servicemen and others. If the expletives make it to air, they could lead to crippling fines for the offending stations as a result of a new law signed last month by resident George W. Bush.
Paula Kerger, the president and CEO of PBS, told reporters at a media event in Pasadena, California, that she was reluctant to bleep the words out, because that would diminish the impact of the documentary. Airing the film after 10 p.m., when the new rules do not apply, would reduce the available audience, she said.
"The American people need to know this is not about Janet Jackson."
'The War'
Buys Property in Crawford
Cindy Sheehan
War protester Cindy Sheehan has purchased a 5-acre plot in Crawford with some of the insurance money she received after her son was killed in Iraq.
The group she helps lead, Gold Star Families for Peace, says on its Web site that it will return next month to protest the war in Iraq in the small town near Waco where President Bush has a ranch. Like last year, Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, will again demand to meet with the president.
Her anti-war gathering in Crawford is scheduled for Aug. 16 through Sept. 2. But Bush is scheduled to be at his ranch mainly during the first two weeks of August.
Cindy Sheehan
Not On Leno
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis was set to make a triumphant post-Tour de France appearance on the "Tonight Show." Instead, the cyclist may end up as comedy fodder for host Jay Leno.
Landis, whose victory was put in doubt after his team said he tested positive for high testosterone levels, won't appear on the NBC talk show Friday as planned, a network spokeswoman said Thursday.
The show was informed by a representative for Landis that he was still in Europe and unavailable, the spokeswoman said. "Tonight" remains interested in having him on, she added.
Floyd Landis
'Dogs of War' Plot
Frederick Forsyth
"The Dogs of War," Frederick Forsyth's 1974 bestseller about an attempt by mercenaries to topple the government of a mineral-rich African republic, was closer to fact than readers may realize.
The writer has admitted he disguised himself as a potential buyer of illicit arms in the 1970s in order to infiltrate the world of mercenaries for the purposes of researching a book, and came across a real-life plan to stage a coup.
The author, now 67, said he met with mercenaries mainly in Hamburg and Antwerp over several months and "several beers" in the early 1970s, and during those meetings the idea of overthrowing the government of Equatorial Guinea was raised.
Frederick Forsyth
Divorce News
Prince
Prince's second wife, Manuela Testolini Nelson, has filed for divorce from the pop superstar, his attorney has confirmed.
Patrick Cousins, Prince's general counsel, said Wednesday the case was pending. He had no further comment.
The Star Tribune reported on its Web editions Wednesday that the case was filed May 24. A court administrator told the AP the case was sealed on July 11.
Prince
Charges Dropped
Troi Torain
Criminal charges against a New York hip-hop disc jockey -- fired for racist and sexually threatening comments about a rival's wife and daughter -- will be dropped, the District Attorney's office said on Thursday.
The case against Troi Torain, who goes by the name DJ Star, will be dropped in six months if he does three days community service and stays away from the four-year-old victim of his comments, said New York District Attorney spokeswoman Barbara Thompson.
Torain, 42, was fired by Clear Channel Radio's Power 105.1 station in May for what Clear Channel said were "wholly unacceptable" comments. He was arrested by detectives from the Hate Crimes Unit two days later.
Torain made anti-Asian comments about Gia Casey, the wife of a rival disc jockey at another radio station, Raashaun Casey, known as DJ Envy, and made comments that implied a threat of sexual abuse against the couple's child.
Troi Torain
Evidence Tossed
'Girls Gone Wild'
Hundreds of hours of videotape seized by deputies in their 2003 search of "Girls Gone Wild" producer Joseph Francis' condominium cannot be used in court, a judge ruled.
Circuit Judge Dedee Costello suppressed all evidence Tuesday gathered during the searches. Defense attorneys argued the search warrants were not specific about what deputies were looking for in the condominium.
Deputies seized 700 items that formed the basis for most of the 42 charges against Francis and his company. The case is set for trial this year, and Francis, 33, could face decades in prison if convicted.
'Girls Gone Wild'
Dumps Christian Format For Porn Radio
KFYE-FM
KFYE-FM hasn't budged from the Fresno-area dial, but it's about as far as you can get from the Christian music, sermons and Bible stories it was broadcasting until about a week ago.
Now it calls itself Porn Radio - "all sex radio, all the time," with a suggestion that people under 21 not listen.
Songs with little in common except suggestive titles and lyrics fill the playlist, including Why Don't We Do It in the Road by The Beatles, Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye and Nasty by Janet Jackson. Tamer songs are heated up by adding recorded moans and groans.
KFYE has been playing songs in a continuous one-hour loop without commercials. Station owner Jerry Clifton wouldn't tell the Bee whether he plans to eventually switch to a more traditional format.
KFYE-FM
Principals At Loggerheads Over Webcasting
Who
In an abrupt change of course, the Who will stop Webcasting its live shows once the group's European tour wraps Saturday in Zaragosa, Spain.
According to guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey "seems to be unconvinced that the Web has any real contribution to make to our career."
Proceeds from the $10 summer Webcasts, which Townshend was funding on his own, had been earmarked for charity. Townshend has also been featuring live solo and Who performances on the online show In the Attic, run by his girlfriend, singer/songwriter Rachel Fuller.
Who
Settles Piracy Suits
Kazaa
The company that produced software called "Kazaa," which made it simple for millions of computer users to download music and movies over the Internet, has agreed to pay more than $115 million to the entertainment industry to settle global piracy lawsuits, the industry said Thursday.
Sharman Networks Ltd., which produced and distributed the popular Kazaa software also promised to "use all reasonable means" to discourage online piracy, including building into its software "robust and secure" ways to frustrate computer users who try to find and download copyrighted music and movies, court papers said.
The settlement concludes legal battles against Sharman Networks around the world. Sharman Networks has boasted that its Kazaa software was downloaded more than 389 million times, and the company operated the underlying "Fast Track" file-sharing network that connected tens of millions of personal computers.
Kazaa
Divorce News
Bach - Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff and Pamela Bach have officially parted ways. Their divorce was finalized Wednesday, Bach's attorney Bret Hunter said.
In May, the court awarded them joint custody of their two teenage daughters.
Hearings on other matters in the case were continued to Oct. 10.
Bach - Hasselhoff
British Airways Banned
David Hasselhoff
Baywatch star David Hasselhoff was told he could not board a plane headed for Los Angeles, shortly after arriving at British Airways's first class lounge at Heathrow on Wednesday morning.
The 53-year-old actor was seen staggering around, mumbling to people and even attempted to pick up a shop manageress, according to the Sun newspaper.
The report said Hasselhoff downed bottles of beer and shots of whisky as he waited for his flight and told BA staff he was upset about his divorce from wife Pamela after 16 years.
David Hasselhoff
Publicist's Nightmare - The Spin
David Hasselhoff
A spokesperson for David Hasselhoff denied a report Thursday that the former "Baywatch" and "Knight Rider" star had been turned away from a British Airways flight because he was drunk.
Judy Katz, the actor's publicist, said Hasselhoff had not been drinking, but felt unwell after taking some medication for a recent arm injury and wasn't able to get on a flight Wednesday from Heathrow Airport to Los Angeles.
The Sun reported the actor had been told he could not board the flight because he was drunk. Witnesses told the newspaper Hasselhoff appeared to have trouble standing and told staff he was upset about his divorce from Pamela Bach. The divorce was finalized Wednesday in a Los Angeles court.
David Hasselhoff
9th Annual
International Pop Overthrow
Purveying "pure pop for now people," as Nick Lowe once memorably defined the form, has always been the mission of the International Pop Overthrow.
The ninth annual Los Angeles edition of the IPO festival kicks off Thursday night with an eight-band bill at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. Through August 13, nearly 180 pop classicists from across the U.S. and a half-dozen foreign countries will showcase their sounds at seven clubs around L.A., with ancillary gigs in the cities of Stanton and Huntington Beach. On the weekends, multiband bills will be mounted in the afternoons and evenings.
All this action is somewhat surprising because the type of music the IPO features -- melodic, jangly, guitar-driven power-pop -- is a commercial anomaly in an era when rap and country rule the charts. Exalting the style might seem like a quixotic pursuit, but IPO founder David Bash waxes messianic about it.
International Pop Overthrow
Madame Tussauds' Latest
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's baby went on display Wednesday - at a wax museum.
Two-month-old Shiloh is the first infant re-created in wax by Madame Tussauds and can be seen with her wax parents standing over her at the international museum's branch in Times Square. A ticket to take a peek at what the museum calls "the world's most famous baby" costs about $30.
Visitors can have their photos taken with the famous wax family, and $1 from each photo will be donated to UNICEF.
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt
Lost Nazi Ship Found?
Graf Zeppelin
Poland's Navy said Thursday that it has identified a sunken shipwreck in the Baltic Sea as almost certainly being Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin - a find that promises to shed light on a 59-year-old mystery surrounding the ship's fate.
The Polish oil company Petrobaltic discovered the shipwreck earlier this month on the sea floor about 38 miles north of the northern port city of Gdansk.
"We are 99 percent sure - even 99.9 percent - that these details point unambiguously to the Graf Zeppelin," said Dariusz Beczek, the Navy commander of the vessel, the ORP Arctowski, said soon after returning to port Thursday morning after the two-day expedition.
The Graf Zeppelin was Germany's only aircraft carrier during World War II. It was launched on Dec. 8, 1938, but never saw action. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the Soviet Union took control of the ship, but it was last seen in 1947 and since then the ship's fate has been shrouded in mystery.
Graf Zeppelin
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
