'Best of TBH Politoons'
26 - 28 December
Erin Hart
Join
Erin Hart on
Progressive Talk AM 760
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (26 - 28 December) when she fills in for Jay Marvin from 6am - 10am MST (8am - noon EST / 7am - 11am CST / 5am - 9am PST).
Tune in if you're in the area, or listen online.
We'll talk snow, travel, Iraq, Bush's heinous surging plan, and have a look
back at the best AND worst of last year.
Let's aim for a peaceful 2007 despite the craziness of W. Onward Dems to
change and hope!
Happiest of Holidays to all.
Please keep in touch via erinhartshow.com.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
John Dickerson: What Has Bush Learned From His Mistakes? (slate.com)
Nothing.
Bill Theobald: Democrats' religious spin likely to veer toward poor, environment (usatoday.com)
Many Democrats talked openly during the fall campaign about their faith and how it influenced their policy positions in an overt attempt to counter the power of the religious right. Now that they have won control of Congress, people can expect next year to see a new set of issues being presented with a religious spin. Restricting gay marriage and promoting prayer in schools as "values" issues are likely to be replaced by helping the poor and protecting the environment.
US senator seeks answers in botched Canadian terror case: report
OTTAWA (AFP) - The incoming chair of the powerful US senate judiciary committee has vowed to get to the bottom of an alleged rendition of a Canadian man wrongly accused of terrorist ties, a Canadian newspaper said.
The Dixie Chicks Ad NBC Doesn't Want You To See (thinkprogress.org)
NBC is refusing to air an ad for the new Dixie Chicks documentary, "Shut Up & Sing." Variety reports, "NBC's commercial clearance department said in writing that it 'cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush.'"
Column: Resolve to save more, cut debt
NEW YORK - Resolved: I'm going to save more money, pay down my debt, check my credit report, improve my job prospects and review my life insurance. For those too lazy to come up with their own financial resolutions for the new year, these are the recommendations of consumer experts from around the country.
Sam Anderson: Tenaciously Disappointing (slate.com)
The tragic squandering of Jack Black's awesomeness.
The pianist who fell to earth (guardian.co.uk)
Andrei Gavrilov was a teenage superstar with the world at his feet. But then he crashed and burned. He tells Stephen Moss where it all went wrong - and why he is bac.
Short of a stocking filler? (guardian.co.uk)
Emine Saner laments our smutty-minded attitudes to old book titles such as How Nell Scored and Muffs and Morals.
Joel Waldfogel: The Sovereign vs. the Idiot (slate.com)
What kind of gift-giver are you?
Joseph Bottum: Wrapping Paper Rapture (weeklystandard.com)
The whole panoply of Christmas coverings.
Sven Birkerts: The work of fiction in the age of blockbuster publishing (boston.com)
BY NATURE OR by nurture, the book reviewer is a caged animal, an idealist turned brute, a cynic.
Contributor Comment
Serge...again
Marty
Thanks to KevKev for the "Beverly Hills Cop" (1984) "Serge" quotes.
They made a "Beverly Hills Cop III" (1994) in which
Bronson Pinchot appeared again as "
Serge" !
The script writer must have anticipated Bush and Company's latest Iraq loonacy with these words from "Serge" about the "Surge"!
Axel: "Get the Fuck outta here!"
Serge: "No....I cannot."
It seems that "W" will never "Get the Fuck Out" of Iraq !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Purple Gene
Thanks, Purp!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cloudy and cold.
KCAL, part of the CBS duopoly here, says that the 'Chips for Kids' campaign - the highway patrol's annual toy drive for underprivileged kids is taking a beating this year. Based on previous years, they anticipated needing 220,000 toys. So far, they've only collected around 50,000.
Oh, that's right, the economy is booming.
Judge Dismisses Suit
Michael Moore
A U.S. federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by an Iraq war veteran who claimed filmmaker Michael Moore used the veteran's image without permission in the anti-war documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."
According to court papers, Judge Douglas Woodlock of U.S. District Court in Massachusetts dismissed the suit on Wednesday. It had sought $35 million in damages from Moore, as well as Miramax, which is owned by Walt Disney Co. and several other film companies.
The film showed Iraq war veteran Sgt. Peter Damon, who had lost his right arm near the shoulder and much of his left arm, lying in a hospital gurney at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland, saying that he feels pain but that pain-killers given him "take a lot of the edge" off of it.
Michael Moore
Hanging With Poppy
George Clooney
Former President Bush and George Clooney helped celebrate on Wednesday a plan to rebuild an emergency care hospital in Cameron Parish destroyed in Hurricane Rita.
Bush presented officials with a $2 million donation from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund that will pay for operating expenses once South Cameron Memorial Hospital is rebuilt next year.
Clooney, who once starred on the medical drama "ER," lightened the mood.
"There is good news in all of this, which is that when the hospital gets up and running, I will not be doing any of the medical procedures," he joked.
George Clooney
The Donald & Rosie
Things got even uglier Thursday in the bitter war of words between short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell. The Donald called the Los Angeles-based Faux morning show "Good Day L.A." to sound off on O'Donnell's remarks about his near-firing of Miss USA Tara Conner.
"Maybe she wanted to put the crown back on Miss USA's head," the real-estate mogul said of the openly gay O'Donnell, who has four children with her partner, Kelli. "I think she's very attracted to Miss USA so she probably wanted to put the crown on her head herself."
O'Donnell said Trump's news conference with Conner, whose title was in jeopardy because of underage drinking, had annoyed her "on a multitude of levels" and that the twice-divorced Donald had no right to be a "moral compass" for the beauty queen.
The Donald & Rosie
Final Title Announced
'Harry Potter'
We now have a title for Harry Potter VII. But if you want to find out for yourself, visit J.K. Rowling's Web site and play a little game of hangman.
Or you can just take Scholastic's word for it: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
Rowling's U.S. publisher, Scholastic Inc., released a brief statement Thursday announcing the name of the world's most anticipated children's book, the finale to her phenomenally popular fantasy series.
'Harry Potter'
Baby News
Baby Girls Combs
Call him P. Daddy. Sean "Diddy" Combs and girlfriend Kim Porter became the parents of twin girls Thursday morning, with the hip-hop impresario flying in from a movie set in Canada for the birth at a Manhattan hospital, said Combs spokesman Robert Zimmerman.
The first arrived at 7:56 a.m., weighing in at 5 pounds, while the second girl was delivered two minutes later and weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces. There's no word on names for the new arrivals, Zimmerman said.
Baby Girls Combs
Pulled Out Of Show
Jessica Simpson
Unhappy with her second try at paying tribute to Dolly Parton for the "Kennedy Center Honors," Jessica Simpson has pulled out of the show.
Simpson drew unwanted attention earlier this month when she flubbed the words to Parton's "9 to 5" during a taping of the annual show, grew flustered and fled the stage. Producers gave her a second chance at the song.
But after Simpson saw a tape, she requested the second attempt be pulled from the show, which airs Dec. 26 on CBS.
Jessica Simpson
Work Damaged In Theft
Edvard Munch
Experts fear that theft damage to Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," one of the world's most famous images, may be too extensive to completely repair, according to a report to be released Friday.
After extensive study, museum experts are turning over a 200-page assessment to Oslo police, which, among other things, expresses concern about moisture damage to a swath of "The Scream."
"Water has been absorbed by one corner of the paper board, and there is abrasion damage on the lower part of the painting," museum curator Ingebjoerg Ydstie told the TV-2 network. "We have a large swath that is very visible."
Edvard Munch
Offers Katrina Scholarship
Diane Sawyer
A graduate of a Hurricane Katrina-damaged high school in Mississippi will get a full ride to Southeastern Louisiana University, courtesy of Diane Sawyer.
Sawyer was the Secret Santa this year for her "Good Morning America" co-host, Robin Roberts. Sawyer decided her gift would be a four-year scholarship for a student from Pass Christian High School, where Roberts graduated, to SLU, where Roberts earned her college degree.
Roberts grew up in Pass Christian and graduated from the public high school there. Since Katrina, she has visited several times, often bringing donations from different groups.
Diane Sawyer
Trip To New Museum
Viking Longships
Viking longships ruled the seas 1,000 years ago and even crossed the Atlantic and now three of them may face a new perilous trip -- albeit just 6 km (4 miles) across Oslo.
Oslo University, which looks after them, wants to move the ancient wooden vessels from the Viking Ship Museum on the edge of the Norwegian capital to a new city-center museum for all Viking artifacts.
But Wednesday's vote for the move by the university board sparked disputes on Thursday about whether or not they were strong enough to survive or would splinter apart on the way.
Viking Longships
Brace For Year Ff Fire On Water
Feng Shui
Forget fund flows and profit predictions, 2007 is about "fire sitting on water". Buy oil, avoid metals, and don't get your fingers burnt.
Feng shui experts steeped in the ancient Chinese knowledge of geomancy, or natural energies, see a turbulent year ahead for both markets and mankind.
"The elements -- they are in conflict," said Raymond Lo, a practitioner for more than 10 years, whose office close to Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour is considered a repository of positive feng shui energies in this hotbed of capitalism.
Lo expects a stock market boom in the first half of the year, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index likely to soar over 20,000 points, creating an "illusion of optimism" before a steep drop. The market is up 30 percent this year at 19,216 and, along with other Asian bourses struck record highs in 2006.
Feng Shui
Pooping Peasants Popular
El Caganer
The Virgin Mary. The three kings. A few wayward sheep. These are the figures one expects to find in a traditional Christmas nativity scene. Not a smartly dressed peasant squatting behind a rock with his rear-end exposed.
Yet statuettes of "El Caganer," or the great defecator in the Catalan language, can be found in nativity scenes, and increasingly on the mantelpieces of collectors, throughout Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, where for centuries symbols of defecation have played an important role in Christmas festivities.
These traditions, in the case of the caganer dating back as far as the 17th century, come from an agricultural society where defecation was associated with fertility and health.
While the traditional caganer is a red-capped peasant, more modern renditions have gained popularity in recent years.
El Caganer
Relieves OCD Symptoms
Psilocybin
A preliminary study of the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms has found it is effective in relieving the symptoms of people suffering from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, a University of Arizona psychiatrist reports.
Dr. Francisco A. Moreno led the first FDA-approved clinical study of psilocybin since it was outlawed in 1970. The results of the small-scale study are published in the latest edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Moreno said the study's intent was only to test the safety of administering psilocybin to patients, and its effectiveness is still in doubt until a larger controlled study can be conducted.
But in each of the nine patients in the study, psilocybin completely removed symptoms of the disorder for a period of about four to 24 hours, with some remaining symptom-free for days, Moreno said.
Psilocybin
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