'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Barbara Ehrenreich: We Need a "Can-Do" Attitude on Health Care (AlterNet.org)
Most Democrats say their hands are tied when it comes to fixing health care. But they've also said that about the minimum wage, and this election voters proved them wrong.
Will Durst: Pelosi's San Francisco Values
Conservatives can hardly say the new Speaker's name without talking about her alarming Bay Area values. But what does that mean?
Is Dubya back on the bottle? (guardian.co.uk)
Ed Pilkington: Is Graydon Carter going soft on George Bush? The editor of Vanity Fair made the slow evisceration of the US president his top priority in the period leading up to the 2004 elections, slicing off lumps of his flesh with each of his monthly editor's letters.
Annalee Newitz: Microsoft Linux
It's easy to understand why open-source and free-software advocates are up in arms.
Catherine Bennett: What does a desk covered with family photos tell you? That your work colleague is not to be trusted (guardian.co.uk)
The alpha male's large office needs filling with something. The more ruthless the individual, the more ostentatious will be the testimony to family values.
Toontown heads for double trouble (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Animation has never had it so good -- or so bad. Ian Johns takes stock on an industry at the crossroads.
'Nepotism? I'm all for it' (guardian.co.uk)
The graffiti on the wall outside Abbey Road studios normally concerns itself with events that took place 40 years ago - but now, among the avowals of undying love for the Beatles, there are messages dealing with more recent developments. "Marry me, Paul," reads one. "I have my own money."
The Bogle eBlog (johncbogle.com)
Download (pdf) John C. Bogle's speech at Immaculata College on "The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism."
FOX NEWS INTERNAL MEMO (Obtained by huffingtonpost.com)
"Be On The Lookout For Any Statements From The Iraqi Insurgents...Thrilled At The Prospect Of A Dem Controlled Congress"...
Vanguard: A Good Place for Your IRA (vanguard.com)
Bruce recommends it.
Purple America Maps (princeton.edu)
Reader Comment
Re: We Are Marshall
Marty,
Recently one of your reviewers discussed the trailer to the film "
We Are Marshall", I thought your readers might like to see a review of the film.
What your reviewer failed to note was that this film is based on real events
and needs to be looked at as a history.
On a personal note I went to Marshall when Jack Lengyel was coaching and
would like to say he's a little more urbane than Matthew McConaughey plays
him. The real Jack Lengyel would never be caught in a t-shirt.
Mr. Hawk
Thanks, Mr. Hawk!
That would have been Megan's Rrviews this past Sunday (12 November, 2006).
Megan was quite upfront in stating she hates heartwarming - and even gave an example of throwing a copy of
Rudy out a window.
I can empathize. Heartwarming annoys me, too.
Especially when embroidered by Hollywood.
You sum up the concept quite well with the reference to Coach Lengyel and t-shirts.
Put historical, heartwarming and Hollywood embroidery together and you have a recipe for a bad cinema casserole - one made with pasteurized, processed cheese-food, artificial flavorings and red (white & blue) food dye #2.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Goes Solo
Shirley Manson
Shirley Manson is recording a solo album, according to reports.
In the same week that Garbage announced details of their forthcoming greatest-hits album, news has emerged about Manson's first material alone.
Jack White is apparently involved in the recordings, as are Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins and Paul Buchanan of the Blue Nile, reports British music paper the NME.
Shirley Manson
Oscar's Short List
Academy Awards
Al Gore has entered the Academy Awards campaign. "An Inconvenient Truth," which presents the former vice president's case about the dangers of global warming, is among 15 feature-length documentaries that made the short list for Oscar consideration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday.
Also in the running are two documentaries featuring church leaders involved in sex scandals. "Jesus Camp," which follows children being groomed in evangelical beliefs, features a scene in which superstar minister Ted Haggard condemns homosexuality. Haggard has since been fired from his megachurch amid allegations he had sex with a male prostitute and took drugs.
"Deliver Us From Evil" centers on defrocked Roman Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, who was deported to his native Ireland after serving seven years in a California prison for molesting two boys. O'Grady has admitted abusing at least 25 children, the film questioning how much church leaders, including Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, knew about those crimes.
The U.S. war in Iraq and its ramifications also are well represented among potential documentary nominees. On the Oscar short list is "Shut Up & Sing," which examines the backlash against the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines told a concert crowd on the eve of the war in 2003 that the country trio was ashamed resident Bush comes from Texas, their home state.
Other Iraq-related documentaries up for consideration include "The War Tapes," edited from footage shot by troops serving in Iraq; "The Ground Truth," featuring Iraq veterans discussing their disillusionment with the war; and "Iraq in Fragments," offering portraits of Iraqis coping with the U.S. led occupation.
Academy Awards
Hotel Chain Drops - Not Republican Enough
CNN
A Midwest hotel chain has pulled CNN from the TV channel lineup in its guest rooms, saying the cable network was aiding terrorism with the broadcast of a video showing Iraqi snipers shooting at U.S. troops.
The broadcast, which aired Oct. 18 on both CNN and CNN Headline News, featured edited portions of a tape the network said it obtained from a rebel group called Islamic Army of Iraq.
The video crossed the line from journalism to propaganda, said James Thompson, president of the Iowa-based Stoney Creek Hospitality Corp.
Guests at the Stoney Creek Inn's 10 properties in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin can still view Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC and other cable news channels.
CNN
'Mao' Sells For $17.4 Million
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol's iconic image of Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, considered one of his most sensational pieces of the 1970s, sold for $17.4 million, a world auction record for the artist, Christie's auction house said.
The portrait was offered by the Swiss-based Daros Collection, owner of one of the greatest private holdings of Warhol paintings, and was sold Wednesday to Joseph Lau of Hong Kong. It brought in about $5 million more than expected, Christie's said.
Warhol's 1962 work, "Orange Marilyn," went for $16.2 million, about $1 million over estimate. "Sixteen Jackies," from 1964, sold for $15.6 million, which was expected.
Andy Warhol
Britain's Best-Selling
Queen
Their over-the-top rock may not win the critical acclaim given The Beatles or the Rolling Stones, but Queen can claim Britain's best-selling album of all time. The Official U.K. Charts Company said Thursday that Queen's "Greatest Hits" had sold more than 5.4 million copies in Britain since its release in 1981, more than any other record.
The Beatles' 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was second, selling 4.8 million copies, followed by Oasis' 1995 disc "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?" with 4.3 million.
Albums by Dire Straits, ABBA, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson and Madonna are also in the top 10 of the list, compiled by checking more than a half-century of sales figures.
The list proves critical kudos do not always translate into sales. Some of the most revered acts of the last half-century - including Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols - do not have an album in the top 100.
Queen
Agrees To Buyout
Clear Channel
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's biggest radio station owner, said Thursday it has agreed to be acquired for about $18.7 billion by an investment group.
Clear Channel said the deal calls for a group led by the investment firms Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC to pay $37.60 in cash for each share of Clear Channel common stock. That is a 10.2 percent premium over its closing price on Wednesday.
Clear Channel owns or operates 1,150 radio stations and is the largest operator of radio stations in the country.
In a separate announcement Thursday, Clear Channel said it plans to sell 448 of its radio stations, all located outside the top 100 media markets in the U.S., and its 42-station television group.
Clear Channel
Hospital News
Michael Flatley
"Lord of the Dance" Michael Flatley was seriously ill in a London hospital with a mystery condition said to be a viral infection, the dancer's publicist and the British media reported.
The Irish-American dancer was suffering from an illness that has left the "Riverdance" star "in the fight of his life", a source quoted in a newspaper said.
The 48-year-old has been in hospital for around a fortnight and is expected to remain there for several days.
His sold-out Celtic Tiger tour of Europe, which was due to start within days, has been scrapped.
Michael Flatley
What Global Warming?
Insomniac Bears
Insomniac bears are roaming the forests of southwestern Siberia scaring local people as the weather stays too warm for the animals to fall into their usual winter slumber.
The furry mammals escape harsh winters by going to sleep in October-November for around six months, but in the snowless Kemerovo region where the weather is unseasonably warm, bears have no desire yet to hibernate.
"Due to weather conditions, bears didn't go into the winter sleep in time," said Tatiana Maslova, chief expert at a regional environmental agency in the city of Kemerovo, about 3,500 km (2,190 miles) southeast of Moscow.
Russian media reported that in the Kemerovo region and other areas, normally cold and snowy by now, there are fresh buds on trees and some flowers have blossomed for the second time this year.
Insomniac Bears
Not A Bush Fan
Voodoo
A renowned black magic practitioner performed a voodoo ritual Thursday to jinx resident George W. Bush and his entourage while he was on a brief visit to Indonesia.
Ki Gendeng Pamungkas slit the throat of a goat, a small snake and stabbed a black crow in the chest, stirred their blood with spice and broccoli before drank the "potion" and smeared some on his face.
"I don't hate Americans, but I don't like Bush," said Pamungkas, who believed the ritual would succeed as, "the devil is with me today."
"I am doing voodoo, because other rituals would not work," he told reporters after he conducted the gory ritual about 1 kilometers from the palace.
Voodoo
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