'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Request
Mike Malloy
SHOW MALLOY YOUR SUPPORT
Every Air America Affiliate Should Do What Air America in Phoenix is doing!
Mike Malloy Helped get Air America Back On the Air in Phoenix.
Now KPHX 1480-am Is Helping Malloy get back on the Air!
Please contact your Air America Station and have them Link to: http://1480kphx.com/
And Follow The Example Being set by Air America Phoenix
And Help Mike Malloy!
Kevin
P.S. Who Stole The Kishka?
Thanks, Kevin!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Gerald Traufetter: Global Warming a Boon for Greenland's Farmers (service.spiegel.de)
Known for its massive ice sheets, Greenland is feeling the effects of global warming as rising temperatures have expanded the island's growing season and crops are flourishing. For the first time in hundreds of years, it has become possible to raise cattle and start dairy farms.
New Census Report: Uninsured Up, Real Income Down For Men and Women, Poverty Unchanged (thinkprogress.org)
... the Census Bureau released new figures about health insurance, income, and poverty. It's not a pretty picture. The number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise at an alarming rate, men and women are earning less money and there are as many people living in poverty as there have ever been.
How to be an 'ordinary, decent' muslim (guardian.co.uk)
You're a Muslim living in a Britain that has become hyper-sensitive to all hints of Islamist terrorism. So how do you convince people that their prejudiced assumptions about you are wrong? Urmee Khan offers an irreverent insider's guide.
Shreema Mehta: Students Seek Alternatives as Textbook Prices Mount (NewStandard; Posted on Wiretap)
A recent study finds that the college textbook industry is driving up costs and restricting cheaper options and suggests alternatives students can use to save money.
I can't blame my parents for everything (guardian.co.uk)
Lionel Shriver: In 2002, a harried woman named Judith Scruggs discovered her 12-year-old son Daniel hanged by a necktie in his closet. The tragedy was just the beginning of a four-year ordeal.
Emine Saner: A word or two on muffin tops (guardian.co.uk)
"Every time we create a new edition we get a snapshot of how the world has changed in the three years since we last did it," says Ian Brookes, editor of the Chambers Dictionary. Of the 500 new words that will make it into the dictionary in two weeks' time, unsurprisingly the majority come from technology (remember when you had never heard of iPods or weblogs?) but a significant number focus on our obsession with physical appearance. "It is particularly noticeable," says Brookes, "because it's not an area where you always expect new words to come from. It certainly reflects our ideals of beauty."
Statistics, damn statistics and lies: Nick Afka Thomas does the maths (guardian.co.uk)
Statistics present us with data needing to be interpreted. Exam season provides a lot of data, and a lot of interpretation. But not all statistics reveal useful truths about the world we live in. Think about it: every man and woman in the UK has, on average, one breast and one testicle. Now that's gender equality.
Adam McKibbin: Siren Song of the Counter Culture (WireTap)
Interview: Punk rock band Rise Against's frontman Tim McIlrath talks about the importance of preaching to audiences on the opposite side of ones political views.
Stephen Metcalf: French Class (slate.com)
The casual, moral genius of Eric Rohmer.
June Thomas: Billie Jean KingAn equal-opportunity rabble-rouser (slate.com)
Throughout my teenage years, I had a morning ritual: Every day, I affixed to my school uniform a Billie Jean King button, a dinner-plate-sized object I'd obtained from a company that advertised in the back of New Musical Express. Just as North Koreans clip on their Kim il-Sung lapel pins in honor of the great leader, I pledged my allegiance to BJK.
Farting George Bush Doll - The Pull My Finger President
Hubert's Poetry Corner
THE RICKY AND JERRY DONKEY SHOW
MORE ORAL VIRTUOSITY BY THE TEXAN WITH THE PRETTY HAIR AND HIS NEW SIDEKICK WITH CUNNING LINGUISTICS!
Reader Question
problems with the site
Marty,
I've been having problems with BartcopE the last two days. Whenever I click on one of the links, the whole thing locks up Explorer. I've noticed that if I let the entire page finish loading, it doesn't lock up when I click a link. But for some reason the page is taking forever to load. It shouldn't, as I am on a massive government line capable of moving terabytes of data.
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff!
Anybody else having trouble?
Purple Gene Reviews
Dylan Video
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
No new flags.
Lineup Gets More Eclectic
Farm Aid
This year's Farm Aid benefit concert will feature not only the nearly annual show's mainstays such as Neil Young and Willie Nelson, but also genres from polka to reggae.
Farm Aid board founders Nelson, Young and John Mellencamp will be there, along with board member Dave Matthews.
Other acts include reggae's Steel Pulse, polka star Jimmy Sturr, pedal-steel guitarist and New Jersey native Robert Randolph, and rock 'n' roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis with Roy Head.
The lineup also includes Los Lonely Boys, Arlo Guthrie, Gov't Mule, Steve Earle and Allison Moorer, Shelby Lynne, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Pauline Reese and Danielle Evin.
Farm Aid
Paintings Found
Edvard Munch
Two art world masterpieces have been recovered, two years after being stolen from a museum in a daring raid.
"The Scream" and "Madonna" were both painted by Edvard Munch. They'd been on display at a museum in Oslo, Norway, until August of 2004, when masked men swooped in and grabbed them. Three people were convicted of the thefts in May, but the paintings had been missing until now.
Oslo authorities say they were recovered in what's described as a police action. Police describe the two paintings as being in better condition than they'd expected
"The Scream" is a fairly well-known work of art, showing a waif-like figure apparently screaming or hearing a scream. It's become a modern icon of human anxiety.
Source
MAM
Thanks, Marianne!
Uncut, Uncensored
Howard Stern
It's Howard Stern like you never heard him before he switched to satellite.
Sirius Satellite Radio announced Thursday that it would broadcast a Labor Day Weekend marathon of the shock jock's classic material culled from more than 23,000 hours and spanning two decades of his radio show.
The satellite broadcast will mark the first time that Stern's terrestrial radio shtick airs unedited, with every F-bomb, stripper contest and what-have-you left intact.
Fans itching to get their ears on a specific Stern stunt are encouraged to submit requests online through sirius.com and howardstern.com. Phone lines will also be open through Monday.
Howard Stern
Iowa Birthplace
Johnny Carson
Edward Chappell, approaching 80, admired Johnny Carson throughout his long career and wanted to honor the famed entertainer who was born just months apart and miles away from him in this small southwest Iowa town.
Chappell purchased the old Carson home, tucked away on a hill in this 1,800-person Adams County town, last October for $17,000, according to county records. He plans to turn it over to the society once its nonprofit status is approved.
Beth Waddle, executive director of the Adams Community Economic Development Corp., said it's been a dream of the community to "preserve the history of our favorite son, Johnny Carson."
When the house came up for sale, there wasn't an organization in place to purchase it, but she said Chappell "rose to the occasion."
Johnny Carson
Birthday Bash Cancelled
Freddie Mercury
Organizers of a 60th gala birthday party for the late Zanzibar-born rock star Freddie Mercury, have cancelled the weekend event after outraged Muslims threatened to disrupt it.
Faced with fierce opposition from Islamists, who complained the flamboyant Queen lead singer's lifestyle was offensive to many on the overwhelmingly Muslim archipelago, organizers said they had no choice but to call it off.
"We have decided to cancel the party after misleading and erroneous information was spread about it," said organizer Simai Mohamed Saidi, who runs a Freddie Mercury theme restaurant in the capital.
Saidi also lamented that the cancellation would hurt his intention to use the party to raise money for HIV/AIDS victims on Zanzibar.
Freddie Mercury
Doing Well After Surgery
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow was at his Palm Springs home in a wheelchair following hip surgery, but should be walking by the end of the week, his publicist said.
"Being in a wheelchair would naturally be the case two days after surgery," publicist Carol Marshall said Wednesday. "He's doing great. He's still on a high from winning an Emmy."
"He still has a good six weeks or so of physical therapy," Marshall said. Following his recuperation, Manilow plans to return to his Las Vegas concert schedule.
Barry Manilow
Giving The Viewers What They Want?
British TV
British public broadcaster Channel 4 is courting controversy with what it calls a "shockingly real" television drama about a fictional assassination of resident George W. Bush.
"Death of a President," shot in the form of a documentary, will use a blend of archival footage and computer-generated special effects to portray Bush in October 2007 arriving in Chicago during an anti-war rally.
In the film, Bush is shot to death by a sniper, and the investigation quickly focuses on a Syrian-born man. It will air in October on Channel 4's More4 digital channel, as well as at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
Promotional materials described the program as "a thought-provoking critique of the contemporary U.S. political landscape."
British TV
More Republican Dignitude
Kenneth Tomlinson
A Senate committee said on Wednesday it would not vote this year on another term for Kenneth Tomlinson to oversee U.S.-backed international TV and radio services, following a government report that said he used the office for personal gain.
Resident George W. Bush in 2005 nominated Tomlinson to a second term as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees government international programming like Voice of America as well as Radio and TV Marti, which air Spanish-language broadcasts to Cuba.
However, the Republican-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee will not take up his nomination this year, panel spokesman Andy Fisher told Reuters. Democrats in Congress have demanded Bush fire Tomlinson.
Bush could bypass Congress and install Tomlinson to another term using a so-called recess appointment. A White House spokeswoman and State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the committee's plans.
Kenneth Tomlinson
Writer Hoodwinked By Fake Love Letter
A.N. Wilson
A British writer was duped into printing a fake love letter in his latest biography - complete with a coded four-letter insult aimed at him.
Biographer A.N. Wilson thought he had new evidence that English poet John Betjeman, who publicly lamented his dull sex life, had a previously unknown extramarital affair.
Wilson included the letter, said to be from the poet to his mistress, in his book Betjeman, published this month.
He failed to notice that the first letter of each sentence in one section of the letter spells out "A.N. Wilson is a s---."
A.N. Wilson
Unmentioned Elephant Noticed
Christian Zionism
The Vatican's envoy in the Holy Land and bishops from three other churches have launched a rare joint attack on the Christian Zionist movement, accusing it of promoting "racial exclusivity and perpetual war."
Christian Zionists form a growing part of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, the Jewish state's main ally. They believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and establishment of Israel are proof of God's promises to biblical patriarchs.
Churches in the Middle East often appear closer to the Palestinians, whose Christian minority makes up a substantial portion of their clergy in the region.
The "Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism" was signed by Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, a Palestinian, and by bishops of the Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran and Syrian Orthodox Churches in Jerusalem.
Christian Zionism
More Crap TV From Faux
Elisabeth Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, is bringing the British viewer-participation program "My Games Fever" to her father's Fox TV stations in the United States.
The format consists of multiple games that feature home-viewer participation through text messaging and online interaction. Viewers will have the opportunity to win prizes that could include cash or products or both.
It will air live and commercial-free from 1-3 p.m. ET weekdays on all Fox owned-and-operated MyNetworkTV affiliates starting in December. MyNetwork, which boasts a two-hour primetime strip from Monday to Saturday, will launch September 5.
Elisabeth Murdoch
Turdblossom's Good Little Parrots
Republican Candidates
The answers were so good, Republican candidates wanted to use them as their own. The embarrassment was at least seven did.
Republicans in House races copied their party's talking points and included parts of the answers as their own for an AARP survey. The answers related to Medicare, Social Security, insurance plans and retirement.
Candidates in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, South Carolina and Texas all submitted the sometimes word-for-word responses, which originated with the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Republican Candidates
Reopens After Six Decades
Green Vault
The restored Green Vault at Dresden's Royal Palace, one of Germany's most celebrated museums, has been unveiled more than 60 years after World War II bombs reduced it to rubble.
It has taken more than four years and cost more than 45 million euros (58 million dollars) to rebuild the museum, a treasure trove of jewelry, porcelain and precious figurines.
It was founded in 1723 by August II, the prince-elector of Saxony and little-loved king of Poland.
The Green Vault's contents are the biggest surviving princely art collection in Europe but languished in relative obscurity behind the Iron Curtain for decades.
Green Vault
In Memory
Jumpin' Gene Simmons
Rockabilly singer and songwriter Jumpin' Gene Simmons, who worked with Elvis Presley and had a top 20 hit in 1964 with the bouncy "Haunted House," has died. He was 69.
Simmons - not to be confused with the Kiss bassist with the same name - was in show business for more than 50 years, working with such names as Sam Phillips and the Bill Black Combo. More recently, he co-wrote "Indian Outlaw," which became a big hit in 1994 for country superstar Tim McGraw.
But his biggest success came in 1964 with the novelty song "Haunted House," which reached No. 11 on the Billboard pop chart and launched Simmons on a world tour.
Among other early gigs, he performed as an opening act for Presley in Tupelo, Presley's birthplace and Simmons' longtime hometown, as Presley's career was taking off, said his son, Cary Simmons.
After appearing in some Memphis clubs, Simmons signed with Sun Records, the legendary Memphis label formed by Phillips that launched the careers of Presley, Johnny Cash and other stars.
While he didn't have the chart success of other Sun performers, Simmons' recordings have become known to later generations through reissues. Brian Setzer did a version of Simmons' "Peroxide Blonde in a Hopped Up Model Ford" on his "Rockabilly Riot Vol. 1: A Tribute to Sun Records."
Simmons, born in Itawamba County in 1937, spent most of his life in Northeast Mississippi although he lived for a time in Memphis. Besides his son, survivors include his mother, a sister, and two brothers.
Jumpin' Gene Simmons
CURRENT MOON lunar phases |