Paul Krugman: Dooh Nibor (New York Times)
More seriously, we have lots of empirical work on the effects of tax changes at the top - and none of it supports the Romney camp's claims. What we've just learned is that they were faking it all along. There is no plan to offset the tax cuts; Romney is just intending to blow up the deficit to lavish favors on the wealthy, then use it as an excuse to savage Social Security and Medicare.
Paul Krugman: More DeMarco (New York Times)
So we have an administrator refusing to implement the president's policy, even though it would actually improve his agency's finances, and even though his own staff says that it would probably help the federal budget as a whole too, because he doesn't feel like it.
"The Choice" - Obama For America TV Ad (YouTube)
"I believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class. Asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way. So that we can afford to invest in education, manufacturing, and homegrown American energy for good middle class jobs. Sometimes politics can seem very small. But the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger."-Barack Obama
Froma Harrop: Drought Nation Heads for Dry Federal Well (Creators Syndicate)
One other thought for policymakers. Drought is no foreigner to America's midsection. Conditions were reportedly worse in the 1950s and, of course, the Dust Bowl years of the '30s. But this one is up there, and if climate change is as real as it looks, things will get worse, as higher temperatures evaporate more of what water there is. How long can water-deprived regions rely on a federal well that is itself running dry?
10 Things Science Fiction Got Right
… believe it or not, there are many things that sci-fi got right as well. From communication satellites to robotic pets, here are a few of the things that science fiction nailed before they happened.
Charlie Jane Anders: The Most Brilliant Fairy Tale Novel We've Read in Years (io9)
What if a girl really vanished for 20 years - and then reappeared, looking no older than she did when she left? What if she said she'd been taken to a fantastical land, akin to fairyland, where time passed much more slowly? How would people react in real life? That's the great premise of Graham Joyce's new novel "Some Kind of Fairy Tale," which is one of the most impressive fantasy books we've read in ages.
David Weir: Author Sylvia Hubbard, Founder of Motown Writers Network, Talks Indie Ebooks (Smashwords)
I became interested in the romance genre when I was ten years old. There was this cover at the library of Fabio holding a woman and I just knew I had to have this book. Unfortunately, the librarian was doing her job and refused to let me check out the book. Obsessed, I came back and stole the book (but later returned a newer copy years later). I read that book until the pages fell out the binding and I knew I wanted to write those stories that made the heart soar, the mind dream and the soul stir.
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."
Morey Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 - October 28, 1996) was an American television actor and comedian, best known for the role of Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s.
Amsterdam was born Moritz Amsterdam in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of the three sons of Max and Jennie (Finder) Amsterdam, Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary. He began working in Vaudeville in 1922 as the straight man for his older brother's jokes. He was also a cellist, a skill he used throughout his career. By 1924, he was working in a speakeasy operated by Al Capone. After being caught in the middle of a gunfight, Amsterdam moved to California and worked writing jokes. His enormous repertoire and ability to come up with a joke on any subject earned him the nickname The Human Joke Machine. He sometimes performed with a mock machine on his chest, hanging by a strap. He turned a hand crank and paper rolled out; he would then read the machine's joke, although actually the paper was blank.
Source
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
Morey Amsterdam
Charlie wrote:
Morey Amsterdam
Sally said:
I do believe that annoying little man, Morey Amsterdam, billed himself as, "The Human Joke Machine."
Anybody remember him?
Personally, I would vote for George W Bush.
But, he was just one big joke...
PS: Isn't it amazing how many people will come out to eat artery-clogging fried, "Chick-FIL" chicken, just to prove how much they support Hetro marriage, but can't get out to protest (or support) anything else?? Oh, and we can thank former presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee who led the people out to support the food nasty chain. He makes Romney look real good...
Booooooo!
BttbBob replied:
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
Morey Amsterdam
Adam answered:
Morey Amsterdam. Well, OK...
John said:
Morey Amsterdam
Marian responded:
Morey Amsterdam
Dale of Diamond Springs replied:
The Human Joke Machine was Morey Amsterdam of the "Dick Van Dyke Show". Only as funny as his writers!!
MAM wrote:
Morey Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 - October 28, 1996) was an American television actor and comedian, best known for the role of Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s.
PS Very late getting this in tonight. Been busy gabbing with my daughter. . . last night she will be here from Idaho.
And, Joe S answered:
My favorite crime solving doctor Dick Van Dyke, or as he is known in our house, Ding Ban Dick. That's what the kids called him when they were 3 and 4 years old. The name stuck.
I'm still gonna quit Facebook, I just haven't done it yet.
We took a Blue Line field trip to Chinatown, and then visited Little Tokyo.
The Blue Line's 7th Street Station's tile work pays homage to science fiction movies.
Tonight, Friday:
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Undercover Boss', followed by a RERUN'CSI: The 3rd One', then a RERUN'Blue Bloods'.
On a RERUNDave (from 6/6/12) are Jane Fonda, Boris Johnson, and Jimmy Cliff.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Edward Norton and Malin Akerman.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN'Shark Tank', followed by '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 7/26/12) are Jessica Biel, Adam Richman, and Rick Ross.
The CW offers a RERUN'Nikita', followed by another RERUN'Nikita'.
Faux has a RERUN'House', followed by a RERUN'Bones'.
MY has an old 'Monk', followed by another old 'Monk'.
AMC offers the movie 'Donnie Brasco', followed by the movie 'The Untouchables', then the movie 'Cop Land'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] BBC WORLD NEWS
[7:00AM] BBC WORLD NEWS
[8:00AM] THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW - SEASON 8-Ep 11 - Matt LeBlanc, David Mitchell, Donald Sutherland, Mary Portas
[9:00AM] DOCTOR WHO: THE END OF TIME
[12:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES UK - SEASON 1-Ep 3 - Walnut Tree
[1:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - SEASON 2-Ep 2 - Giuseppi's
[2:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES REVISITED UK - SEASON 3-Ep 2 - The Fenwick Arms
[3:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - SEASON -Ep 4 - Finn McCool's
[4:00PM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 4-Ep 6 - The Doctor's Daughter
[5:00PM] BATTLESTAR GALACTICA-Ep 2 - Razor, Part 2
[6:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4-Ep 21 - The Drumhead
[7:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 13-Episode 3
[8:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 3-Episode 10
[9:00PM] JURASSIC PARK III
[11:00PM] JURASSIC PARK III
[1:00AM] COPPER: BEHIND THE BADGE
[1:30AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 14-Episode 6
[3:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 15-Episode 1
[4:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 15-Episode 2
[5:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 2-Episode 8 (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Starship Troopers', followed by the movie 'Mission: Impossible'.
Comedy Central has last night's 'Colbert Report', last night's 'Jon Stewart', 'Tosh.0', another 'Tosh.0', 'Futurama', 'Tosh.0', and 'Daniel Tosh: Happy Thoughts'.
FX has the movie 'Rush Hour', followed by the movie 'Tarzan The Ape Man', then the movie 'Rush Hour 2'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Whitest Kids U'Know
[6:15AM] American Gun
[8:15AM] The Dead
[10:00AM] American Gun
[12:00PM] Dancer in the Dark
[3:00PM] The Dead
[4:45PM] The Three Stooges-Three Smart Saps
[5:10PM] The Three Stooges-What's the Matador?
[5:35PM] The Three Stooges-Who Done It?
[6:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Reese Cooks
[6:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Tutoring Reese
[7:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Bowling
[7:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Malcolm vs. Reese
[8:00PM] Arrested Development-Mr. F
[8:30PM] Arrested Development-The Ocean Walker
[9:00PM] Arrested Development-Prison Break-In
[9:30PM] Arrested Development-Making a Stand
[10:00PM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Adam Scott Wears a Red Oxford Shirt & Jeans
[10:30PM] Bunk
[11:00PM] Whitest Kids U'Know
[11:15PM] National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
[1:00AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!
[1:30AM] Bunk
[2:00AM] King of New York
[4:15AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Adam Scott Wears a Red Oxford Shirt & Jeans
[4:45AM] Whitest Kids U'Know
[5:00AM] Mr. Show With Bob and David-We Regret to Inform You
[5:35AM] The Three Stooges-What's the Matador? (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:00A] Donkey In Lahore
[8:00A] Police, Adjective
[10:00A] Man in the Chair
[11:50A] Rains
[12:00P] Donkey In Lahore
[2:00P] Police, Adjective
[4:00P] Man in the Chair
[5:50P] Ten for Grandpa
[6:00P] Love Lust & Secret Societies
[7:00P] MY SO-CALLED LIFE - Life of Brian (Episode 11, Season 1)
[9:50P] Student Services
[11:40P] Diary of a Nymphomaniac
[3:15A] Student Services
[5:05A] Monsieur Hubert de Givenchy (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Category 7: The End Of The World', followed by a FRESH'WWE Steroid SmackDown!', then a FRESH'Lost Girl'.
Cast member Bryan Cranston poses at the premiere of "Total Recall" at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California August 1, 2012. The movie opens in the U.S. on August 3.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Some of Britain's leading musicians have published a letter calling for Russian officials to release a punk band that has been jailed following a protest in Moscow's main cathedral.
The Who's Pete Townshend, former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys and others call for the release of the three members of Pussy Riot in a letter published Thursday in The Times of London.
The musicians say the band members were involved in legitimate protest and should not be facing up to seven years in jail for their actions.
The letter says "dissent is a right in any democracy."
Actress Tippi Hedren holds a fake bird as she arrives on stage during the HBO presentation at the Cable portion of the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California August 1, 2012. Hedren and Sienna Miller along with Toby Jones star in the HBO Film "The Girl" about Hedren's experience filming the Hitchcock film "The Birds."
Photo by Fred Prouser
Beyoncé is teaming with the United Nations and humanitarian aid organizations on a global campaign to encourage people around the world to get involved.
The international pop star and songwriter Diane Warren will donate a video of "I Was Here" that will be filmed in the UN General Assembly Hall in New York in front of a live audience. The video will premiere Aug. 19 on World Humanitarian Day and the UN hopes it will help the campaign reach 1 billion people.
A news release says the campaign website launched Thursday and allows people to share individual acts of good.
Beyoncé says in the statement that World Humanitarian Day is a chance to work together and "this is our time to leave our mark on the world."
The 27-year-old British singer says she is changing her stage name to reflect her marriage to Sam Cooper - and she's working on new material.
A statement Thursday from publicist Ambrosia Healey says the singer will now be known as Lily Rose Cooper, the name she already uses on her Twitter account.
She and Sam Cooper married last year, and the pair have a daughter.
Actor Jeff Daniels star of "The Newsroom" and creator and executive producer Aaron Sorkin (R) speak during the HBO presentation at the Cable portion of the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California August 1, 2012.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Oprah Winfrey has tapped La Toya Jackson to star in her own reality show.
"Life with La Toya" is described as a "candid look" inside Jackson's life as she juggles family, friends and business. It will air next year on Winfrey's TV network, OWN.
La Toya is one of Katherine and Joe Jackson's nine children and was Michael's sister.
A video-sharing website that allows users to post links to copyrighted videos hosted on third-party sites is not infringing copyright laws, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.
The ruling reversed a lower court decision that had temporarily blocked the video bookmarking site myVidster.com from linking to pornographic videos owned by Flava Works Inc.
The decision was a win for Internet giants including Google Inc and Facebook Inc, which had asked the appeals court to overturn the lower court ruling in order to protect innovation on the Web.
The social media site myVidster.com allows visitors to bookmark videos of their choice. Users can watch their embedded videos on myVidster's page through a frame of ads on the site.
Flava Works, which keeps its porn videos behind a pay wall, sued myVidster in 2010 after finding that website users were linking to illegal copies of its copyrighted videos. The suit accused myVidster of helping potential Flava Works customers circumvent the company's pay wall.
French actor Alain Delon (R) reacts after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from Festival Director Olivier Pere during a ceremony before the screening of the film "Lore" by director Cate Shortland at the 65th Locarno Film Festival in Locarno August 2, 2012.
Photo by Fiorenzo Maffi
The battle between MGM and the makers of a sequel to the 1980 film "Raging Bull" has ended in a split decision.
The studio has settled its lawsuit against boxer Jake LaMotta, the inspiration for the film, and RB II Production over a big-screen adaptation of LaMotta's 1986 book "Raging Bull II."
Under the agreement, the new movie has been given the working title "The Bronx Bull," LaMotta's boxing nickname.
In a joint statement, MGM and Dahlia Waingort - a producer at Sunset Pictures, the production company of the film's director, Martin Guigui - also stressed that the two films are in no way associated.
"The parties have amicably reached a resolution of their pending litigation, pursuant to which production of a film based upon certain events in the life of Jake LaMotta will proceed under the working title 'The Bronx Bull,'" the statement reads. "That film is not related in any way to the 1980 motion picture entitled 'Raging Bull,' and MGM is not associated with the film in any respect. Neither party will have any further statements regarding this matter."
Cast member Colin Farrell and his sister Claudine poses at the premiere of "Total Recall" at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California August 1, 2012. The movie opens in the U.S. on August 3.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Stubbornly high U.S. unemployment, a weak housing market combined with a mature business prone to regular programming blackouts has seen more than 400,000 American homes drop their cable or satellite TV service since the start of the year.
DirecTV Group, the No.1 U.S. satellite TV provider, revealed its first-ever, quarterly customer losses on Thursday, with some 52,000 homes dropping the service in the second quarter. That was more than analysts expected from a company long seen as the best run video provider in the industry.
Also on Thursday, Time Warner Cable Inc, the No.2 cable provider said it lost more subscribers than analysts expected with 169,000 customers leaving the service. While a small percentage of Time Warner Cable company's 12.3 million total customers, this is a 10th straight quarter of customer losses.
The biggest U.S. TV distributor, Comcast Corp, lost 176,000 video subscribers, which was considered an improvement as the rate of losses was better than recent quarters. Of the big four distributors Dish Network Corp, the other major satellite provider, said it lost just 10,000 subscribers, also considered an improvement.
This Nov. 3, 2011 photo released by Disney on Aug. 1, 2012 shows British actor Russell Brand dressed as Captain Hook from "Peter Pan" during a photo shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz, seated right, for the Disney Dream Portrait series near Newhall, Calif. The portrait series features celebrities set in Disney fantasy settings. The images by Leibovitz will be used as a special insert in fall issues of "GQ," "O - The Oprah Magazine," "People," "People En Español," "Vanity Fair," "Real Simple," "Essence," and "InStyle," to promote Disney theme parks.
Photo by Scott Brinegar
A new law in North Carolina will ban the state from basing coastal policies on the latest scientific predictions of how much the sea level will rise, prompting environmentalists to accuse the state of disrespecting climate science.
The law has put the state in the spotlight for what critics have called nearsightedness and climate change denial, but its proponents said the state needed to put a moratorium on predictions of sea level rise until scientific techniques improve.
The law was drafted in response to an estimate by the state's Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) that the sea level will rise by 39 inches in the next century, prompting fears of costlier home insurance and accusations of anti-development alarmism among residents and developers in the state's coastal Outer Banks region.
Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue had until Thursday to act on the bill known as House Bill 819, but she decided to let it become law by doing nothing.
The bill's passage in June triggered nationwide scorn by those who argued that the state was deliberately blinding itself to the effects of climate change. In a segment on the "Colbert Report," comedian Stephen Colbert mocked North Carolina lawmakers' efforts as an attempt to outlaw science.
Sacred threads and "tika", coloured powder and rice grains used as a blessing, are pictured during the Janai Purnima, or Sacred Thread, Festival at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu August 2, 2012. Hindus take holy baths and change their sacred threads, also known as janai, for protection and purification during the festival.
Photo by Navesh Chitrakar
Hackers hit Major League Baseball teams' Facebook pages with phony postings on Thursday, including an announcement that New York Yankees star Derek Jeter would undergo sex change surgery, the sports site Deadspin reported.
"He promises to come back stronger than ever in 2013 as Minnie Mantlez," said a posting that was quickly removed from the Yankees' page. Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was a Yankees' slugger in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Miami Marlins' page falsely announced a pit bull giveaway. The animal is banned in Miami-Dade County.
The Chicago White Sox, President Barack Obama's favorite team, purported to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, while the Washington Nationals' page said the team, which used to be the Montreal Expos, was moving back to Canada.
The sites of the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs were also hit with fake posts, some of them profane or insulting. The messages were quickly removed and the teams posted notes explaining that they had been hacked.
An Indian man watches a poster of Bollywood film "Jism 2" displayed outside a cinema in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. "Jism 2" stars a hard-core porn actress, and it does have that pesky title. But it's not a porn movie. Bollywood is certainly not ready for that. The film, which will be released across India on Friday, is pushing the ever-widening sexual boundaries enjoyed by many in urban India.
Photo by Mahesh Kumar A
NBC's researchers are finding that people who know the results of London Olympics events before they are shown on tape delay are more - not less - likely to watch them.
The preliminary research unveiled Thursday undercuts an assumption that has guided production of Olympic broadcasts from locales outside of U.S. time zones for decades. NBC has been criticized for not televising live some of the London Games' marquee events like swimming and gymnastics so they can be aired later in prime time.
Two-thirds of people questioned in a survey Sunday said they watch the prime-time Olympics telecast even if they know the results ahead of time. People who watched the events live earlier in the day via computer screen watched the tape-delayed broadcast 50 percent longer than those who hadn't, said Alan Wurtzel, NBC's chief researcher.
NBC has been getting far better ratings for the London Games than it ever expected, outpacing the 2008 Games in Beijing. A month ago, NBC had predicted it would lose some $200 million on the games, but network executives said Wednesday the company would break even. NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus said Thursday the company could even make money if the good ratings continued.
A sculpture (L) by artist Choi Jin-Ah, featuring U.S. President Barack Obama and the late leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Il, is displayed at the Asian Students and Young Artists Art Festival (ASYAAF), a students' summer art exhibition, at the old Seoul Station building in central Seoul August 2, 2012.
Photo by Lee Jae-Won
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 / Tim McGraw; $4,094,356; $87.77.
2. (3) Coldplay; $2,082,709; $80.36.
3. (2) Roger Waters; $2,063,469; $107.51.
4. (4) Dave Matthews Band; $1,354,667; $54.40.
5. (5) Cirque du Soleil - "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; $1,321,296; $111.18.
6. (6) Red Hot Chili Peppers; $824,446; $59.00.
7. (7) Drake; $783,513; $56.96.
8. (New) Jason Aldean; $729,232; $39.88.
9. (8) Nickelback; $705,544; $68.54.
10. (New) Iron Maiden; $606,296; $55.32.
11. (10) Blue Man Group; $524,188; $56.36.
12. (9) The Beach Boys; $521,562; $73.66.
13. (11) One Direction; $499,246; $43.06.
14. (12) Lady Antebellum; $488,036; $40.07.
15. (13) The Black Keys; $475,306; $46.90.
16. (14) "Vans Warped Tour"; $462,538; $32.41.
17. (15) Miranda Lambert; $420,514; $34.26.
18. (16) Il Divo; $348,987; $93.76.
19. (18) Eric Church; $337,839; $36.61.
20. (New) John Mellencamp; $337,398; $79.25.
A baby rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) touches the face of a tiger cub as they play together at a zoo in Hefei, Anhui province, August 2, 2012.
Photo by Jianan Yu.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
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answered:
