'Best of TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated!
Dick Eats Bush
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Brent Budowsky: Push Back: Koreans Stopped Nuclear Moves Under Clinton, So Bush And McCain Blame Clinton?
Lets get this straight: Bill Clinton had a policy towards Korea that worked for eight years that included a strong military, and included diplomacy, and resulted in North Korea holding back from nuclear tests that have taken place on George W. Bush's watch.
Jacob Weisberg: That Axis of Evil (slate.com)
It's here now. Thank you, Mr. President.
Daniel Gross: Blue Is Green (slate.com)
Why Democratic-leaning companies outperform Republican-leaning ones.
Earth wobbles linked to mammal extinctions (msnbc.msn.com)
Fossil records found rise and fall of rodents linked to Earth's behavior.
Sarah Boseley: How often should I have an HIV test? (guardian.co.uk)
Twice a year, according to Scarlett Johansson, who says being tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases is the only decent thing to do.
Victoria Moore: My 460-bottles-a-week habit (guardian.co.uk)
Pity the poor teeth of a wine writer. The wine, shucked and swished around the mouth, melts away enamel faster than the North Sea washes away the East Anglian coast. By the end of my last wine-tasting marathon, my teeth were squealing so much I could barely eat, let alone brush or floss, and my dentist has no sympathy. "Can't you use a straw if you must insist on drinking acidic things?" is all she can say.
'It's all going a bit Wallace and Gromit' (arts.guardian.co.uk)
Step into the Chapmans' studio at Frieze and the famously twisted brothers will paint your portrait. Our critic Adrian Searle takes his chances.
Roger Ebert writes from rehab
For 40 years, I didn't miss a single deadline, but since July, I have missed every one. I also, to my intense disappointment, missed the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Having just written my first review since June ("The Queen" -- for 10/12), I think an update is in order.
Reader Comment
Got Snow?
Reader Comment
Riverbend
Hey Marty;
Thanks to Marianne for the link. I too have been concerned
about Riverbend
and am glad to know there are others who are equally
concern for this brave young woman. Her post have been a great insight
into what it is like for the people living in the mess the Moron
created. My hope is that she has escaped Iraq and is safe somewhere.
Like others who have spoken their minds and expressed themselves under
dangerous times she is a true TREASURE.
Scott in Nebraska
Thanks, Scott!
Came across this forum today -
ePluribus Media Community || Is Riverbend Still Alive?
The Death of Crikey
Avery Ant
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny with a nice breeze.
Starts Military Blog
Garry Trudeau
Though often bitterly critical of the war on Iraq in his comic strip "Doonesbury," creator Garry Trudeau now is offering readers a chance to get a closer, mostly unfiltered view of troops' experiences in their own words.
"The Sandbox," a new addition to his Doonesbury Web site, lets viewers read the comments of service members. It's a version of a military blog - one of many that already are available on the Web.
"This is GWOT-lit's forward position, offering those in-country a chance to share their experiences and reflections with the rest of us," Trudeau writes, using an acronym for the "Global War on Terror."
Garry Trudeau
Letter To The Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert hopes to be fully recovered in time for the Academy Awards and the Cannes Film Festival. In a letter published Thursday in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and co-host of the "Ebert & Roeper" TV show says he's looking forward to getting back to work full time early next year.
"One thing I've discovered is that I love my job more than I thought I did, and I love my wife even more!" he wrote.
He announced in the letter that his first movie review in months will run Friday. He decided to review "The Queen" after an "Ebert & Roeper" producer brought him a copy of the movie on DVD. He plans to continuing doing occasional reviews until he's fully recovered.
Roger Ebert
Wins Nobel Literature Prize
Orhan Pamuk
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, who stood trial this year for insulting his country, won the 2006 Nobel prize for Literature on Thursday in a decision some critics assailed as politically charged.
The Swedish Academy declared Pamuk the winner on a day when, to Turkey's fury, the French lower house of parliament approved a bill making it a crime to deny that the Armenian genocide had occurred.
In a what was seen as a test case for freedom of speech in Turkey, Pamuk was tried for insulting "Turkishness" after telling a Swiss paper last year that 1 million Armenians had died in Turkey during World War One and 30,000 Kurds had perished in recent decades.
The court dismissed the charges on a technicality, but other writers and journalists still are being prosecuted under the article and can face a jail sentence of up to three years.
Orhan Pamuk
'Borat' Defends Portrayal Of Kazakhstan
Sacha Baron Cohen
The comedian known as "Borat" appeared briefly in Amsterdam Thursday, praising the city's freewheeling nightlife and defending his portrayal of the central Asian country of Kazakhstan. Borat boasted of picking up a date at a popular Amsterdam bar known as a gay meeting place.
"This woman reminded me of Kazakhi woman, she was more tall than me, with hair on arms, and some hair on face, and deep voice," he told the Dutch press.
Borat Sagdiyev, played by British comic Sacha Baron Cohen, has been criticized as a homophobic, misogynistic, English-mangling caricature - the very traits that endear him to fans of his satire.
Sacha Baron Cohen
Dedicates Virgin America Jet
Grace Slick
Rock icon Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane was on hand Wednesday to dedicate Virgin America Inc.'s new corporate headquarters and an aircraft named after the legendary 1960's band.
Slick joined California Gov. Arnold $chwarzenegger, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Virgin America Chief Executive Officer Fred Reid for the celebration at San Francisco's International Airport.
The "Jefferson Airplane" is the first of Virgin America's new fleet to be named. The company has invited the public to submit entries to name its other planes.
Grace Slick
Files Adoption Papers In Malawi
Madonna
Madonna and her husband took custody of a motherless 1-year-old boy from Malawi on Thursday after filing adoption papers and receiving interim approval from a judge in the impoverished southern African nation.
The boy's father said he was happy for his son, named David, and pleased with the celebrity couple who wants to be his parents.
Judge Andrew Nyirenda "has just given out an interim order" that allows Madonna to take David, said Thomson Ligowe, a court registrar. The interim order allows the couple to take the boy home.
Madonna
Spawns "Pale Force" Webisodes
Conan O'Brien
NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" is spawning original digital content with a new series of webisodes from comedian Jim Gaffigan.
Gaffigan will launch his popular animated creation "Pale Force" on Thursday's edition of "Late Night" before its online debut Friday at NBC.com.
Gaffigan, who has made 14 appearances on "Late Night," introduced his superhero cartoon in September 2005. His animated shorts chronicle the adventures of Gaffigan's muscle-bound Pale Man character and his scrawny sidekick -- who happens to be named Conan O'Brien -- as they combat crime with the power of their paleness.
Conan O'Brien
Sold Paintings
David Geffen
Entertainment mogul David Geffen sold paintings by US artists Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning for a total of 143.5 million dollars in private sales, The New York Times reported.
Hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin and his wife, Anne, bought Johns' 1959 work "False Start" for 80 million dollars, the report said.
Another hedge fund heavyweight, Steven Cohen, snapped up the Dutch-born de Kooning's 1955 abstract landscape "Police Gazette," for 63.5 million, it added.
David Geffen
Leno Visit
$chwarzenegger
California Gov. Arnold $chwarzenegger distanced himself from resident George W. Bush on national television on Wednesday, saying he was as far from his fellow Republican as he was from winning an Academy Award during his film career.
It was $chwarzenegger's fifth guest spot on the late-night comedy "news" show since he used a 2003 appearance on the program to announce his first campaign for public office in 2003.
The governor's Democratic challenger in his bid for a second term, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, complained NBC was snubbing him while unfairly giving $chwarzenegger valuable media exposure weeks before the election.
$chwarzenegger
French Exhibition
Guitars
On display in a Paris exhibition tracing the development of the guitar, it is almost a surprise to see Pete Townshend's Les Paul Deluxe intact and undamaged.
The fiery guitarist of British rock group The Who, the first to make an art of smashing his instrument on stage, is one of a host of famous names in the new exhibition which treats the guitar as a symbol as much as a musical instrument.
Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd are all there, although the instruments on display contain few traces of the ordeals their owners put other guitars to.
Another room has a mellower selection of performances that include Blues legend John Lee Hooker, Brazilian samba star Baden Powell and classical master Andres Segovia.
Guitars
Vanity Plate Recalled
FOAD1
The vanity plates of Freeborn County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen are going to get a makeover. Gabrielsen said he received a letter Friday from Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services notifying him that he must change the plates on his 1991 Mazda Miata.
The plates read: FOAD1. Among some members of the military and computer users, FOAD stands for "(expletive deleted) off and die."
In September, the state asked Gabrielsen to explain the acronym. He said he told them it stands for "freedom offers America democracy."
FOAD1
Judge Won't Dismiss Charges
Kim Basinger
A judge Wednesday refused to dismiss contempt charges against actress Kim Basinger, who is accused of failing to heed court orders in her custody fight with ex-husband and actor Alec Baldwin.
Superior Court Commissioner Maren E. Nelson denied a motion by Basinger's attorney to throw out 12 misdemeanor counts of contempt.
Basinger pleaded not guilty last week. She faces up to 60 days in jail and a $12,000 fine if convicted of all counts.
Kim Basinger
Closing Up Shop
Genetic Savings & Clone
Genetic Savings & Clone, a biotechnology company that sold cloned pets, sent letters to its customers last month informing them it will close at the end of the year because of little demand for cloned cats. The company had recently reduced the price from $50,000 to $32,000.
The letters said the Sausalito company was not accepting new orders for clones because it was "unable to develop the technology to the point that cloning pets is commercially viable."
The kitten cost its owner $50,000 and was created from DNA from her beloved cat, Nicky, who died the previous year. That kitten's creation and sale reignited fierce ethical and scientific debate over cloning technology, which is rapidly advancing.
Genetic Savings & Clone
4 Million Copies Sold In One Week
'The Little Mermaid'
Seventeen years after its theatrical debut, Walt Disney's "The Little Mermaid" is making a big splash on DVD.
The two-disc Platinum Edition of the animated classic, which hasn't been available on DVD in seven years, sold more than 4 million units last week, Disney said Tuesday, making it the top animated October DVD debut ever.
Disney said the film's DVD debut was bigger than any previous Platinum Edition release, an elite club that includes such classics as "Bambi," "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King." The studio announced on Tuesday that its next Platinum Edition DVD release will be "Peter Pan," coming in March 2007. The 1953 film has undergone an extensive digital restoration and features a new 5.1 home theater mix.
'The Little Mermaid'
Killer Weed
Afghan Forest
Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet (three metre) high marijuana plants.
General Rick Hiller, chief of the Canadian defence staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.
"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.
"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.
Afghan Forest
Oslo Natural History Museum
Birds & Bees
The birds and the bees may be gay, according to the world's first museum exhibition about homosexuality among animals.
With documentation of gay or lesbian behavior among giraffes, penguins, parrots, beetles, whales and dozens of other creatures, the Oslo Natural History Museum concludes human homosexuality cannot be viewed as "unnatural."
"We may have opinions on a lot of things, but one thing is clear -- homosexuality is found throughout the animal kingdom, it is not against nature," an exhibit statement said.
Geir Soeli, the project leader of the exhibition entitled "Against Nature," told Reuters: "Homosexuality has been observed for more than 1,500 animal species, and is well documented for 500 of them."
Birds & Bees
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