Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: State Republicans are fighting the Independent Redistricting Commission-and the possibility of Democrats winning more races (Tucson Weekly)
Watch out, folks! Arizona's Republicans are on the warpath.
Roger Ebert: Clinging to the rear view mirror
Marshall McLuhan wrote much nonsense. Embedded in it I find startling insights that help explain my experiences. Consider the phrase "the medium is the message." These five words at a masterstroke explain the digital age we now occupy. One sign of a valuable insight is when it applies to developments its author could hardly have foreseen.
Connie Schultz: The Look of Love (Creators Syndicate)
As a Midwesterner who likes to brag about our heartland ways, it's rare for me to envy New Yorkers. This week, though, I'm as green as summer clover at the sight of all those beautiful same-sex couples exchanging vows in New York.
William Pannapacker: Overeducated, Underemployed?(Slate)
How to fix humanities grad school.
Bruce Bartlett: "Barack Obama: The Democrats' Richard Nixon?" (The Fiscal Times)
Conservatives will, of course, scoff at the idea of Obama being any sort of conservative, just as liberals scoffed at Nixon being any kind of liberal. But with the benefit of historical hindsight, it's now obvious that Nixon was indeed a moderate liberal in practice. ... It may take 20 years before Obama's basic conservatism is widely accepted as well, but it's a fact.
Susan Estrich: Stand By Your Man (Creators Syndicate)
I don't like the economy any more than the next person. I'm blessed to be secure, to be able to pay my bills and educate my kids, but believe me, that isn't true for many of the people around me, for family and friends. When unemployment is as high as it is, when housing prices have dropped as low as they have, no one is untouched. But that's not a reason to desert a president who has kept his promises and is struggling to secure a deal that will not betray those most in need.
Robert Reich: Vicious Cycles: Why Washington is About to Make the Jobs Crisis Worse
The only way out of the vicious economic cycle is for government to adopt an expansionary fiscal policy - spending more in the short term in order to make up for the shortfall in consumer demand. This would create jobs, which will put money in peoples' pockets, which they'd then spend, thereby persuading employers to do more hiring. The consequential job growth will also help reduce the long-term ratio of debt to GDP. It's a win-win.
Kenneth Thomas: Heritage Tries to Mislead Us on How Swell Poverty Is
Over the past 50 years, televisions have gotten a lot cheaper and college has gotten a lot more expensive. … if you're looking to live in a safe neighborhood with good public schools in a metropolitan area with decent job opportunities you're going to find that this is quite expensive. Health care has become incredibly expensive.
Jim Hightower: Corporate thieves fear public disclosure
Poor Halliburton. Poor ExxonMobil, Blackwater, Microsoft, and other huge corporations that get billions of dollars each year in lucrative contracts from our government.
Jeremy Stahl: "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Creators of the Musical 'The Book of Mormon'" (Slate)
They reinvigorated Broadway: by taking musicals back to their roots (and making them more like 'South Park').
Bill Wyman: Amy Winehouse (Slate)
Why her music will last.
Hadley Freeman: Amy Winehouse's death was badly reported (Guardian)
There's a way to report celebrity deaths - and the way the media reported Amy Winehouse's death wasn't right.
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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3< 4 5 CaterpillarsGulf Fritillary Butterfly
Gulf Fritillary butterfly
Here are today's pictures:
Caterpillar #1 - pupated (but not looking so good, but still alive)
Caterpillar #2 - pupated
Caterpillar #3
Caterpillar #4
Two-Fer - Caterpillars # 3 (bottom right) and #4 (top left)
Caterpillar #5 - the newest addition
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lovely marine layer hung around til mid-afternoon.
Man With An Opinion
Harry Belafonte
Singer and activist Harry Belafonte says President Barack Obama and his "mission" have failed because of a lack of moral courage and vision.
The president is "not a stand-alone," Belafonte said Thursday. Regarding the debt-ceiling crisis, Belafonte said he would ask Congress, the president and other U.S. institutions of power "what happened to moral truth" and moral courage.
Belafonte made his remarks to the Television Critics Association while discussing "Sing Your Song," a documentary about him airing this autumn on HBO. The 84-year-old singer, known as the King of Calypso, has pushed for political and social change since the U.S. civil rights movement.
He hopes the documentary will illuminate a time when Americans faced problems and found the resources to face them, Belafonte said. "Sing Your Song" debuts Oct. 17.
Harry Belafonte
Town Won't Name Bridge After
Kurt Cobain
The City Council in Aberdeen, Wash., voted 10-1 against a resolution to rename a bridge after the late Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain.
Eight citizens and several council members spoke against renaming the bridge, which is unofficially named after pioneer Alexander Young.
KXRO reports the vote against the Cobain rename drew applause from the audience at Wednesday's council meeting. Some people were concerned about memorializing the grunge rock musician because of his drug use, suicide and negative comments about his hometown.
The council did vote to name a small body of land on the Wishkah River the Cobain Landing.
Kurt Cobain
Mano a Mano en El Bañno
Old Spice
The Old Spice Guy has won his hunk-off with Fabio.
Former football player Isaiah Mustafa has been lead spokesman for the Procter & Gamble Co. brand of men's body washes and deodorants for nearly two years, starring in a popular series of marketing campaigns relying heavily on YouTube, Twitter and other social media.
Now, he has held off a playful effort by the Italian model to become "the new Old Spice Guy."
In a series of videos culminating Thursday, the muscular pitchmen dueled in tongue-in-cheek challenges from one another and viewers. They held staring and whistling contests, bantered and gave advice on writing love letters and working out. P&G says Mustafa won based on consumer feedback such as "likes" and online comments.
They called the competition "Mano a Mano en El Bañno" (hand-to-hand in the bathroom).
Old Spice
Von A-Hole's 25th Anniversary Billboard
Zsa Zsa
Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband is saying happy anniversary in a big way. Frederic Von Anhalt has taken out a billboard on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles to celebrate the couple's 25th wedding anniversary. Beside the couple's wedding photo, it reads, "Prince Frederic & Princess Zsa Zsa 25 years and counting." It also includes Von Anhalt's website.
Gabor and Von Anhalt were married August 14, 1986.
He said the billboard is an anniversary gift for his ailing 94-year-old wife, who smiled when she saw a picture of it on TV.
Von Anhalt said he spent his "life savings" on the $68,000 billboard, which will be up for one month.
Zsa Zsa
Jack Kirby Loses
Marvel
Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk can save the world from evil through superhuman feats, but it took a federal judge Thursday to decide who legally owns the rights to their lucrative characters.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that they and other Marvel Worldwide Inc. superheroes will remain the property of the company, despite claims by heirs to the artist who played a key role in creating them that they are entitled to the copyrights.
The Manhattan judge cited statements made by artist Jack Kirby before his 1994 death to support her finding that his creations must remain Marvel's property.
She noted that he said in a 1986 affidavit that he did his work at a time when it was common practice that vested ownership of his creations belonged to the company that paid him to draw. She said he also signed a written agreement in the spring of 1972, well after the creation of the characters, admitting that he was not entitled to retain ownership of the work.
Marvel filed a federal lawsuit in January 2010 seeking to invalidate 45 notices sent by Kirby's heirs to try to terminate Marvel's copyrights, effective on dates ranging from 2014 through 2019. The comics were published between 1958 and 1963. Those at issue in the case included The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men, The Avengers, Ant-Man, Nick Fury and The Rawhide Kid.
Marvel
Studios Win UK Case
Newzbin2
Hollywood film studios have won a court case in Britain blocking access to a website accused of flagrant infringement of copyright.
Justice Richard Arnold announced Thursday that he would issue an order which would compel BT PLC, the country's largest Internet service provider, to block access to the Newzbin2 website. The precise wording of the order will be subject to a further hearing in October.
The order was sought by six studios including Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures Corporation and Disney Enterprises. They were supported by recorded music, video gaming and publishing organizations.
The judge noted that the studios considered this to be a test case, and that if they won an order they would take similar action against other Internet service providers in the United Kingdom.
"The operators of the Newzbin2 website are unknown, but the operation appears to have moved offshore. It is thus effectively beyond the reach of this court," the judge said.
Newzbin2
Just Like Old Times
Hollywood
Police in riot gear clashed with a crowd that became unruly outside a Hollywood film premiere Wednesday evening, throwing bottles and vandalizing cars and refusing orders to disperse after they were forced to leave an overcrowded theater, authorities said.
The chaos erupted around 5:40 p.m. after a Los Angeles Fire Department inspector determined Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where the film was screening, was overcrowded, department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
Police estimated about 2,000 people were inside the theater to catch the premiere of a documentary about the Electric Daisy Carnival rave. An unknown number of people were pushed out into the streets, joining a growing crowd that may have been drawn to the event from a Twitter message by a popular DJ known as Kaskade who said there'd be a block party.
Officers ordered hundreds of people to disperse, but the crowd refused and began throwing objects, Officer Karen Rayner. Additional officers were called to the scene and were able to control the crowd several hours later.
A section of Hollywood Boulevard was shut down and a subway station under the famous theater and the next-door Hollywood & Highland entertainment complex was closed during the disturbance.
Hollywood
Slain Girl's Mom Targeted
Rupert
Britain's simmering phone hacking scandal erupted again Thursday as a charity founded by the mother of a murdered child said she was targeted by a detective who worked for the News of the World.
The charity, Phoenix Chief Advocates, said Glenn Mulcaire, a detective employed by the now-defunct tabloid, had the details of Sara Payne in his notes. Payne is the mother of 8-year-old Sarah Payne, whose murder by a pedophile in 2000 shocked Britain and was heavily covered by the News of the World.
The charity said in a statement that police had previously said Sara Payne's name was not on a list held by Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 for hacking into the voice mail messages of royal staff. But it said "it has now been confirmed by (police) that Sara's details are on his list."
The ongoing scandal over illegal eavesdropping has shaken Rupert Murdoch's global media empire, led to the resignation of top executives, including Murdoch protege Rebekah Brooks, and prompted the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid, which she once edited.
Rupert
Pleads Guilty In Bar Scrap
Paz de la Huerta
Actress Paz de la Huerta admitted Thursday that she harassed a reality TV figure in a confrontation that authorities said was laced with ill will about their respective claims to fame.
"I'm extremely glad this is over," the "Boardwalk Empire" actress said after acknowledging in court that she threatened to hit Samantha Swetra in March at a bar at a chic Manhattan hotel.
De la Huerta pleaded guilty to harassment, a violation that is akin to a traffic ticket. Her plea deal calls for a day of community service and 12 weeks of alcohol counseling.
While the criminal case is ending, de la Huerta still faces a lawsuit from Swetra, a fashion buyer who appeared on the MTV reality series "The City." Swetra's lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, said she would continue "to pursue the case vigorously."
Paz de la Huerta
Deadbeat Dad Tea-Bagger
Rep. Joe Walsh
Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, the tea party-backed Republican who squeaked into office last year by vowing to bring fiscal responsibility to Washington and who has been one of President Barack Obama's most outspoken critics during the standoff over the debt ceiling, is being sued for more than $100,000 in unpaid child support, a newspaper reported.
The freshman congressman's ex-wife, Laura Walsh, filed the claim against him in December as part of their divorce case, saying he owed $117,437 to her and their three children, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in a story published Wednesday. She contends that Walsh loaned his own campaign $35,000 and took international vacations but said he couldn't afford child support payments because he was between jobs or out of work.
Walsh, whose campaign was marked by allegations of financial mismanagement, said he thought he and his ex-wife were coming to an agreement on the money owed, according to a February court filing. And in the statement, he said he has been "trying to resolve this issue since January in a court of law ..."
The congressman's alleged financial problems made headlines while he was campaigning last year, when former campaign field director Richard Cape claimed he would "spend, spend, spend uncontrollably." His campaign manager quit and sued for $20,000 in nonpayment, and two other staffers who quit accused him of not properly disclosing a 2008 home foreclosure and traffic citations to the public, taking their grievances public. Walsh also bounced checks, including one to a Republican fundraiser.
Rep. Joe Walsh
Tweet. Tweet.
Hugh Hefner
Playboy accuses ex of lying about sex
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Playboy founder Hugh Hefner says his former fiance is lying about their sex life, or lack of it.
Crystal Harris, 25, who ditched Hefner, 85, five days before their June wedding, told radio show host Howard Stern this week that sex with the Playboy magazine mogul "lasted like two seconds" and that she had never seen him naked.
"Crystal lied about our relationship on Howard Stern but I don't know why," Hefner said in a Twitter message on Tuesday. The remark, which was re-tweeted by some fans, has since been removed from his account.
"Crystal convinced me that she adored me. That was the first lie," Hefner said in response to a tweet from a fan. And he told another: "I feel sorry for Crystal. She seems lost."
Harris also claimed that she and Hefner only had sex once in their two-year relationship, that she had never seen him naked and that Hefner was more into "couch cuddling and movie nights" than sex.
Hugh Hefner
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