'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Equal Time
Links
from Mark
No Oil Left Behind
We need to take the little children in Iraq and hold their hands and really
teach them what freedom is all about.
~~The decisive G. Dubya Bush, April 28, 2003
The conditions that I laid out for the Liberian rescue mission still exist.
Charles Taylor must go, the cease-fire must be in place, and we will be
there to help ECOWAS. And so we're working to get those conditions in
place. And we will continue working to get them in place until they are in
place ... blah, blah, blah.
~~The vacillating G. Dubya Bush, July 30, 2003
-Mark
Selected Readings
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another too humid day.
Watched 'Watergate Plus 30' on PBS. The common threads of then & now are remarkable. Jaw-dropping remarkable. It seems the republican party wrote up their current playbook of dirty tricks from what
got the CREEP boys in trouble. Their lesson wasn't 'don't do it', but 'next time, we'll try this'.
It was also pointed out that when Watergate happened, the media was mostly lapdog press and congressional democrats had no balls. Was it Casey Stengel who coined the phrase: 'It's like deja vu all over again'? This program is worth the time.
Today TCM (Turner Classic Movies) spends 24-hours with Jimmy Stewart.
Tonight, Friday, CBS opens the night with a FRESH 'big Brother 4', followed by a
RERUN 'JAG', then '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Naomi Watts, Jeff Stilson, and O.A.R.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Larry King, tennis star Ashley Harkleroad, and Josh Kelley.
NBC begins the evening with a 2-hour 'Dateline', then a RERUN 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Samuel L. Jackson, Alison Krauss and Union Station.
On a RERUN Conan are Queen Latifah, Jason Schwartzman, and Dennis M. Hope.
On a RERUN Carson Daly are Tom Green, Magic Johnson, Ben Harper, and Jack Johnson.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN 'America's Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH 'Whose Line?', then another
FRESH 'Whose Line?', followed by '20/20'.
On a RERUN Jimmy Kimmel (from 6/23/03), are Martin Short and Lou Ferrigno, with guest co-host David Cross.
The WB offers a RERUN 'Reba', followed by a RERUN 'What I Like About You', then another RERUN
'Reba', followed by a RERUN 'Grounded For Life'.
Faux has a RERUN 'Bernie Mac', followed by another RERUN 'Bernie Mac', then a RERUN 'Boston Pubic'.
UPN has the movie 'Avalanche'.
Check local PBS listings for 'NOW With Bill Moyers'.
A&E has 'Biography' (Larry 8 Wives), followed by the movie 'A Touch Of Frost'.
AMC offers the movie 'Highlander', followed by the movie 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', and then the movie 'Airport 1975'.
BBC -
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - The Italian Job;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Ep. 7 Woodford Green;
[8pm] 'Coupling' - Naked;
[8:40pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Saffy;
[9pm] 'The Office' - Episode 2;
[9:40pm] 'Manchild' - Episode 7;
[10:20pm] 'The League of Gentlemen' - How the Elephant Got It's Trunk;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Joan Collins;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Glenda Jackson, Jackie Stallone;
[12am] 'The Office' - Episode 2;
[12:40am] 'Manchild' - Episode 7;
[1:20am] 'The League of Gentlemen' - How the Elephant Got It's Trunk;
[2am] 'Coupling' - Naked;
[2:40am] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Saffy;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Joan Collins; and
[3:30am] 'So Graham Norton' - Glenda Jackson, Jackie Stallone. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Bonfire Of The Vanities', then the movie 'But I'm A Cheerleader'.
HBO - 'Real Time With Bill Maher'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Greatest Raids', 'Heavy Metal', then more 'Modern Marvels'.
MTV offers 2 1/2 hours of 'The Osbournes'.
SciFi has 'Tremors: The Series', 'Stargate SG-1', and a couple of 'Scare Tactic's.
TCM pays tribute to Indiana, PA's own, James Stewart with a 24-hour marathon.
[6am] 'The Mortal Storm' (1940);
[8am] 'The Stratton Story' (1949);
[10am] 'Ziegfeld Girl' (1941);
[12:30pm] 'Vivacious Lady' (1937);
[2pm] 'The Shop Around The Corner' (1940);
[4pm] 'Shenandoah' (1965);
[6pm] 'The Far Country' (1955);
[8pm] 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' (1939) (An idealistic Senate replacement takes on political corruption. James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains. Director: Frank Capra);
[10:15pm] 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' (1962) (An experienced gunman and a peace-loving tenderfoot clash with a Western bully. John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin. Director: John Ford);
[12:30am] 'Harvey' (1950) A wealthy eccentric prefers the company of an invisible six-foot rabbit to his family. James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Cecil Kellaway. Director: Henry Koster);
[2:30am] 'Bell, Book and Candle' (1959); and
[4:30am] 'The Shopworn Angel' (1938). (ALL TIMES EDT)
USA has 'Monk'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Hip hop pioneers RUN-DMC create handprints in cement as they are inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk Monday, Feb. 25, 2002, in Los Angeles. Jason 'Jam Master Jay' Mizell, left, Darryl 'DMC' McDaniels, center, and Joseph 'DJ Run' Simmons, produced the first rap album to go gold as well as the first rap act nominated for a Grammy.
Photo by Krista Niles
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Revives Free Air Time Bid
John McCain
The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday relaunched his bid to give politicians free air time, introducing legislation that would provide candidates government-issued vouchers for campaign commercials.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has crusaded for years to clean up political campaigns, said the legislation is "designed to increase the flow of political information in broadcast media and to reduce the cost to candidates."
"Our democracy is stronger when a candidate's success is achieved by ideas, not by dollars, and when an electorate is informed by facts, not 12 second sound bites," McCain said.
Broadcast lobbyists said they plan to fight the renewed effort. Broadcasters have argued that free time, when it is offered, usually goes unused.
John McCain
Pelted With Garbage
Justin Timberlake
The afternoon kicked off on a low point for Timberlake when a concertgoer's sign questioning the singer's sexuality made it to the jumbotrons for about 15 seconds. Timberlake took to the stage with an obvious awareness of audience cynicism, beginning his set with a small attempt to mitigate the crowd's frustration: "This will be over before you know it."
During his mini-set of "Cry Me a River," "Senorita" and "Rock Your Body," Justin gracefully dodged water bottles flung by anti-pop audience members, and winced slightly at their less than playful jeers. After quietly thanking the city of Toronto for generally being welcoming to him and his tour crew, Timberlake left the stage to make way for more crowd-pleasing acts including the Guess Who, Rush, AC/DC and headliners the Rolling Stones.
Justin got his sweet revenge, though, when Jagger invited him onstage for what appeared to be an unrehearsed performance of "Miss You," in which Timberlake mimicked Jagger's signature sways and echoed his vocals. In a clearly forced but effective fusion of classic rock and bubblegum pop, Jagger even sang the words "cry me a river" for several repetitions with Timberlake. And though the audience still managed to sling a few bottles Timberlake's way, guitarist Keith Richards exhibited remarkable tenacity, as he angrily motioned to the crowd to show the pop star a little respect.
Timberlake hugged Jagger and thanked each Rolling Stone by his first name, then humbly (or perhaps strategically) made a quick exit.
Justin Timberlake
Thanks, Alex!
'Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Cheated?: The '70s Punk Rebellion'
Rhino Records
Rhino Records will on Oct. 28 release a four-disc box set with more than 100 songs chronicling the 1970s punk movement.
"Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Cheated?: The '70s Punk Rebellion" will feature tunes from the full gamut of punk artists of that era, ranging from obvious masters to flashes-in-the-pan to performers initially labeled as punk but who later transcended the genre.
The set features songs from 1973 to 1980, by which time the movement had shifted into a number of subgenres. "Classic" punkers like the Ramones, the Clash, Dead Kennedys, the Jam, the Damned, Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex, Wire and Generation X are featured, as are artists such as Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Joy Division, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson, Television, the Pretenders, the Boomtown Rats and Blondie, who were originally aligned with the punk movement but later became associated with other genres.
"The '70s Punk Rebellion" also boasts material from short-lived acts like the Adverts, the Rezillos and Eddie & the Hot Rods and punk progenitors such as Iggy & the Stooges, the Modern Lovers and the New York Dolls.
Rhino Records
Scaffolding surrounds the dome of the Planetarium Theater at Griffith Observatory a year into an $83 million project to restore and expand the landmark Thursday, July 1, 2003, in Los Angeles. The building is among the city's best-loved landmarks and has appeared in countless films, most famously in 1955's 'Rebel Without a Cause.'
Photo by Kevork Djansezian
Faces Subpoena
Russell Simmons
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons faces an Aug. 20 deadline to comply with a state subpoena into whether he violated lobbying laws while trying to reform the state's mandatory drug sentencing statutes, a state official said.
Simmons and former NAACP leader Benjamin Chavis had sought a temporary restraining order Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan to put a hold on the state Lobbying Commission's investigation of the civic leaders.
State law requires lobbyists to register and document their spending to reveal the pressure and influence on state lawmakers and officials.
Simmons and Chavis said they were exercising their constitutional right to petition government and were unaware of the State Lobbying Act requirements. The two men and the Coalition of Fairness had sought reform or repeal of the Rockefeller-era drug laws that mandate long sentences even for possessing and selling small amounts of illegal drugs. Reformers say the laws disproportionately affect minorities.
Russell Simmons
Tour Bus Rear-Ended
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks' tour bus was rear-ended early Thursday while parked along a highway on the outskirts of San Antonio, city police said.
According to the accident report, the bus pulled over on an overpass in northwest San Antonio at 3:30 a.m. after being struck with an unknown object. Police say the parked bus was partially blocking a westbound traffic lane.
As driver Ross Ellis looked for damage, a pickup truck driven by Larry Cox of Corpus Christi struck the back of the bus. Police said Cox was taken to a hospital for treatment of a cut on his right arm.
Cox told police he took his eyes off the road briefly to answer his cell phone as he was approaching the parked bus, and didn't see the other vehicle in time.
Dixie Chicks
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Gets 10 Months in Prison
Marion 'Suge' Knight
Rap mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight was given 10 months in prison Thursday after a parole board found that he struck a Hollywood nightclub valet.
Knight, who has been jailed since June 27, faced a maximum sentence of a year in prison for the parole violation. He has been credited for time spent behind bars, said Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the Board of Prison Terms.
The parole board heard compelling testimony during a closed hearing from the arresting officer and a witness before making its decision, Sessa said.
Marion 'Suge' Knight
An enlarged version of the District of Columbia postage stamp displayed in Washington Thursday, July 31, 2003. Part of Pierre L'Enfant's map of Washington, Shaw row houses, cherry blossoms and memorials are part of a commemorative stamp of the District. The U.S. Postal Service and city officials unveiled the first class 37-cent stamp , only the second time a diamond shaped stamp has been issued.
Photo by Rick Bowmer
Sued By Gardener Over Butler
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor is being sued by her former landscape gardener for breach of contract and sex discrimination in a bizarre case involving a butler and a Disneyland-like jungle at the star's Bel Air mansion.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Willem Van Muyden is seeking unspecified damages for being fired by the actress without being paid $294,000 he says are owed him for 10 years of gardening work. He claims in the filing he was subjected to questionable sexual antics.
Van Muyden, who created a Disneyland jungle-style garden at the request of Taylor, claims he was fired because he rejected the sexual advances of the actress's French butler.
Van Muyden claims that Taylor's butler, Jean-Luc Lacquement, 33, grabbed him in the testicles and proclaimed his love for the gardener during an encounter in Taylor's kitchen two months earlier.
Elizabeth Taylor
The New Face Of Impotence
Mike Ditka
As a professional football player and coach, "Iron" Mike Ditka was known for his toughness. Now he's being paid to show his sensitive side.
Bayer AG and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the pharmaceutical companies, have hired Ditka to promote Levitra, their new impotence drug, in a campaign to encourage men to confront touchy health problems.
Every week, 120 million football fans will be inundated with television ads of Ditka touting the benefits of Levitra, which clinical trials have shown works faster than Viagra.
Earlier this month, the companies paid an undisclosed amount to be a sponsor of the National Football League. While the league would not provide details, published reports put the deal's value at $6 million per year, in addition to costs Bayer and Glaxo will pay to purchase advertising time on TV networks during the football season.
Mike Ditka
New Tourist Spot For Fans
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy fans now have a new tourist spot to visit — in rural Kansas.
The Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Museum will open Friday at the Prairie Rose in eastern Butler County. The Prairie Rose began serving chuck wagon suppers in 1999, and the site now has a recreational vehicle camp, an opera house and a children's theater.
The new museum will have 10,000 square feet of exhibit space devoted to the cowboy hero. Also opening: a new "Hopalong House," filled with souvenirs, and a 250-seat theater, it was announced recently.
Hopalong Cassidy
www.prairierosechuckwagon.com
Wins Libel Suit
Nicole Kidman
Oscar winning actress Nicole Kidman won a public apology and substantial damages from the Daily Mail on Thursday after the British newspaper suggested she had an adulterous affair with Hollywood star Jude Law.
She denied the report and, although the newspaper later conceded it was untrue, her defense lawyers said her reputation has suffered as a result.
The judge ruled in her favor and ordered the Daily Mail to issue an apology and pay damages and legal costs. The size of the pay-out was not disclosed.
Nicole Kidman
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
New Films Debut
60th Venice Film Festival
Woody Allen, inspired by his love for the city of Venice, will open the 60th Venice Film Festival Aug. 27 with the world premiere of his new film "Anything Else," festival organizers said Thursday.
Other high-profile films, which aren't up for prizes, are Robert Benton's "The Human Stain," starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, and Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," with a cast that includes Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Johnny Depp.
The festival also will pay homage to Katharine Hepburn, who died June 30, by showing a restored copy of 1955's "Summertime." In the film, directed by David Lean and set in Venice, Hepburn plays a lonely American woman who falls in love with an Italian, played by Rossano Brazzi.
60th Venice Film Festival
www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/
A sculpture of Wilber and Orville Wright, carved out of butter, stands on display at the Ohio State Fair Thursday, July 31, 2003, in Columbus, Ohio. The sculpture is part of the butter cow exhibit in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight.
Photo by Terry Gilliam
Break Record in 51-Hour Marathon
Dancers
Kool & the Gang's "Celebration" played early in the morning at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, marking what 41 marathon dancers hope is a new record for the longest dance party.
It will be a few weeks before the Guinness Book of World Records confirms whether the record was broken, event spokesman Peter Collins said Thursday.
Guinness' current mark for longest dance party was set in November 1999 by 56 participants in an event sponsored by MTV India.
The dancers originally had planned to dance for 81 hours, but they cleared the floor Thursday morning after 52 hours and three minutes, organizers said. The 81-hour goal was in recognition of the 81st anniversary of their sponsor, St. Joseph Aspirin's 81 milligram aspirin tablet.
Dancers
Guinness World Records
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Smithsonian Exhibited Fake
Old Gold Bar
After two years of study, scientists say a gold bar on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is a fraud.
The nearly five-ounce ingot is part of a huge coin display at the museum's National Numismatic Collection. It was thought to have been made in 1857 by Justh & Hunter company in Marysville, Calif.
But researchers said it's more likely the bar dates only to the 1950s.
Bob Evans, a geologist and numismatic researcher from Ohio, conducted the investigation with Nevada geologists Fred Holabird and David Fitch. Results of their work will be published Friday in Numismatist, the journal of the American Numismatic Association.
For more, Old Gold Bar
American Numismatic Association
National Numismatic Collection
Returns Home
Marie Trintignant
French actress Marie Trintignant, who has been in a coma in Lithuania since the weekend, arrived home in France Thursday although doctors had said she was in too poor a condition to be moved.
The actress, daughter of French movie star Jean-Louis Trintignant, had been making a film in Lithuania, and was taken to hospital with severe head injuries Sunday after an incident at her hotel in the capital, Vilnius.
"If she has to die, her family would like ... it to be in France," the family's lawyer, Georges Kiejman, told France 2 television.
Her rock singer boyfriend Bertrand Cantat, 39, from top French band Noir Desir, appeared in court Thursday and was formally arrested for two weeks while police investigate.
Her father, one of France's top film stars, made his name in films like the 1966 classic love story "A Man and A Woman."
Marie Trintignant
Mystery Disease
Tasmanian Devils
A mysterious cancer is killing Australia's Tasmanian devils, whose spine-chilling screeches, dark color and reputed bad temper prompted early settlers to give them their chilling name, wildlife officials said on Thursday.
The world's largest carnivorous marsupial is the size of a stocky small dog but has jaws as strong as a crocodile which allow it to eat up to half its body weight in 30 minutes. An adult can weigh up to 26 pounds.
On Australia's southern island state of Tasmania -- the only place where you can find Tasmanian devils -- they are the dominant predator but are now being stalked by a disease that has cut some population groups by 85 percent.
Wildlife officials said the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) population peaked at around 150,000 to 200,000 in 1996 when the cancer first appeared, but they now fear the cancer may kill two thirds of the population by 2006.
Tasmanian Devils
Extends Reunion Tour
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac has added a 17-date second leg to its successful summer tour. The new round of performances, in continuing support of the recent Reprise/Warner Bros. album, "Say You Will," begins Sept. 6 in Biloxi, Miss.
The band will revisit such cities as Chicago and Washington, D.C., which were played on the first leg, as well as a number of locales not yet visited, including Toronto, Boston and Bridgeport, Conn. The tour's current leg wraps Aug. 19 in Grand Forks, N.D.
Fleetwood Mac's new tour dates:
Sept. 6: Biloxi, Miss. (Mississippi Coast Coliseum)
Sept. 7: Atlanta (Arena @ Gwinnett Center)
Sept. 10: Greensboro, N.C. (Greensboro Coliseum)
Sept. 12: Knoxville, Tenn. (Thomspon-Boling Arena)
Sept. 13: Chicago (United Center)
Sept. 17: Detroit (Joe Louis Arena)
Sept. 20: Toronto (Air Canada Center)
Sept 21: Wantagh, N.Y. (Tommy Hilfiger @ Jones Beach)
Sept. 24: Boston (FleetCenter)
Sept. 27: Bridgeport, Conn. (Arena @ Harbor Yard)
Sept. 28: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)
Sept. 30: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Oct. 2: Washington, D.C. (MCI Center)
Oct. 5: San Antonio (SBC Center)
Oct. 6: Houston (The New Houston Arena)
Oct. 9: Omaha, Neb. (The New Omaha Arena)
Oct. 11: Denver (Pepsi Center)
Fleetwood Mac
In Memory
Sam Phillips
Rock 'n' roll pioneer Sam Phillips, the Sun Records founder who discovered Elvis Presley and also launched the careers of such stars as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and B.B. King, died on Wednesday at age 80.
Phillips died at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, the Mississippi Delta town where his influential studio still stands as a tourist attraction, according to Rachel Zurka, a spokeswoman for the Memorial Park Funeral Home. No further details were immediately available.
Widely regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th century popular music, Phillips played a major role in bringing the electric blues of black artists to a wider audience and in pioneering the development of rock 'n' roll.
In an era when the Deep South remained racially segregated, Phillips, who was white, crossed the color barrier by opening his studio to black and white musicians alike.
Born January 5, 1923, in Florence, Alabama, Phillips became involved in radio, and by 1945 he was working as a disc jockey for a Memphis station. Five years later he opened his first studio business, the Memphis Recording Service, where he recorded weddings and other private events to make ends meet.
Among the artists he produced early recordings for and leased to independently owned labels of others were bluesmen B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf. He also recorded Jackie Brenston's landmark single "Rocket 88," often cited as the prototypic rock 'n' roll record.
Phillips launched his own eponymous label in 1950 that folded after just one release. But he started a new label two years later called Sun Records, which achieved its first national R&B hit in 1953 with Rufus Thomas' "Bear Cat."
The following year, reportedly seeking a white singer with a black feel, Phillips struck pay dirt when he recorded Presley's first single, a cover of the blues tune "That's All Right Mama."
The young native of Tupelo, Mississippi, went on to record four more classic singles at Sun Records before Phillips, in need of capital to expand his label, sold Presley's contract to RCA for $35,000 in 1955. It was at RCA that Elvis later built his career as a superstar.
Back at Sun, Phillips soon scored his first national pop hit, and million-selling single, with Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes." For the rest of the decade, Phillips focused on developing his roster of rockabilly talent, though it was at Sun that Cash, who hewed closer to country, developed his distinctive "boom chicka boom" sound. Country singer Charlie Rich also began his career there.
As the '50s wound to a close, Sun Records began to lose some of its luster. Cash and Perkins moved to Columbia Records in 1958, Lewis remained at Sun but saw his career diverted by scandal in the late '50s, and Roy Orbison finally achieved star status in the early '60s after jumping to Monument Records.
Sam Phillips
Sun Records
Oregon State University professor Steve Strauss holds leaves from genetically engineered poplar trees in an undisclosed location in Oregon, Tuesday, July 29, 2003. The leaf on the left is an average leaf from an unmodified control tree and the one on the right was genetically engineered to be larger and will be used to identify genes that affect gene growth and productivity. Until recently, scientists engineering trees were largely ignored by biotechnology critics who took aim mostly at modified food crops. But as more trees undergo genetic tinkering, opposition to the work is growing.
Photo by John Gress
'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
The Group finally comes face-to-face with Satan, himself.
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 5
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
