Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Ten Years Later (New York Times)
… there's a very big anniversary coming up next week - the start of the Iraq war. So why does there seem to be so little coverage? Well, it's not hard to think of a reason: a lot of people behaved badly in the runup to that war, and many though not all people in the news media behaved especially badly.
Paul Krugman: Other People's Children (New York Times)
Matthew Yglesias beats me to a point I was planning to make. Sen. Rob Portman has made headlines by declaring his support for gay marriage after learning that his own son is gay, and apparently we're supposed to praise him for his new enlightenment. But while enlightenment is good, wouldn't it have been a lot more praiseworthy if he had shown some flexibility on the issue before he knew that his own family would benefit?
Matthew Yglesias: Rob Portman and the Politics of Narcissism (Slate)
Senators basically never have poor kids. That's something members of Congress should think about. Especially members of Congress who know personally that realizing an issue affects their own children changes their thinking.
Mathew Yglesias: How Rich Is the Catholic Church? (Slate)
Nobody really knows, because religious groups don't need to follow regular accounting and disclosure rules.
Amy S.F. Lutz: Where Should Special Needs Kids Be Special? (Slate)
Earlier this year, I was out to dinner with a friend and our combined eight kids. My 14-year-old son, Jonah, who has autism, was very excited about the imminent arrival of his hamburger and french fries, so he was acting as he does when he's happy: bouncing in his seat, clapping his hands, and vocalizing a mishmash of squawks and catchphrases from his favorite Sesame Street videos.
Lucy Mangan: I've really put the cat among the pigeons this time (Guardian)
My family are going to ostracise me for this, but I'm going to spend whatever it takes to get my cat back to health.
Marilynn Preston: "Better Lazy Than Crazy: Why We All Need Down Time" (Creators Syndicate)
… science has already proven: A more relaxed, less stressed life is linked to longevity, because unrelieved stress creates chronic disease.
Brendan McGinley: 5 Moments That Prove Mr. Rogers Was the Greatest American (Cracked)
#3: He Found Delight in Little Things. Mr. Rogers was 143 pounds his entire adult life, and back in a time when we wore magical devices on our belts called pagers, that number was how drug dealers told each other "I love you."
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Hello All,
This is the first of 2 of my March Astrology columns.
If you're new, this is the only Astro/Humor/Political/Catlover column in the Blue Ridge area...or maybe the whole world.
For the new folks, this work started out as the Astrological tool for the Presidential campaign of Sneak Pie Brown, Rita Mae Brown's crime solving cat. It has mushroomed since then into some sort of fungus....lol.
This particular column is not all that political...but most of the following will be.
Check it out... we can use as many hits as possible!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Honored By GLAAD
Anderson Cooper
Pop star Madonna on Saturday presented CNN anchorman Anderson Cooper with a gay media watchdog's top honors in recognition of his stature and accomplishment as an openly gay journalist.
"Love thy neighbor as thyself," she said, decrying anti-gay bullying that sometimes has led to suicide. "It's an atrocity to me, and I don't accept it," she added to enthusiastic applause.
The annual Vito Russo Award is named after the activist and film historian who was one of the founding member of media watchdog group GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
CBS' "The Amazing Race," which has been won by gay couples during its long run, received the award for reality program, while MSNBC's "Being Transgender in America" and "Good Morning America's report "Obama Endorses Marriage Equality" won awards for television journalism.
The Boston Globe, Rolling Stone magazine, City Pages' Andy Mannix, The New York Times' Frank Bruni and The Advocate/Out were among winners for print journalism. "The Whale" and "From White Plains" took the theater honors.
Anderson Cooper
Prods UK Conservatives
J.K. Rowling
Celebrities like J.K. Rowling and Hugh Grant accused the British government on Sunday of letting down the victims of media intrusion and urged tough new measures to rein in Britain's unruly press.
Lawmakers are to vote Monday on rival plans for tougher controls in the wake of the country's phone-hacking scandal.
The Conservative-led government says it will propose a new press watchdog with the power to levy fines of up to 1 million pounds ($1.5 million). But hacking victims say the regulator must be backed by a new law to give it real teeth - something Prime Minister David Cameron opposes.
"Harry Potter" author Rowling - who testified previously to a media ethics inquiry about the impact of intrusive media upon her family - said she and other victims felt they "have been hung out to dry" by the government.
Grant, who won damages for phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid, said hacking victims supported a rival plan by the Liberal Democrats and the Labour party for stronger media measures. The actor said lawmakers "promised victims to do right by them, and they have that chance on Monday."
J.K. Rowling
Performing In Israel?
Barbra Streisand
An Israeli government official says Barbra Streisand is coming to town.
The official says the celebrated American Jewish singer will perform in Israel in June in honor of Israeli President Shimon Peres' 90th birthday.
The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to brief reporters about the matter. There was no immediate comment from Streisand.
The official says Streisand's appearance will coincide with a yearly speaker's conference headed by the Israeli president. This year's conference takes place June 18-20 in Jerusalem.
Barbra Streisand
Pritzker Prize
Toyo Ito
Japanese architect Toyo Ito, whose buildings have been praised for their fluid beauty and balance between the physical and virtual world, has won the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the prize's jury announced Sunday.
The 71-year-old architect joins such masters as Frank Gehry, I.M. Pei, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano and Wang Su in receiving the honor that's been called architecture's Nobel Prize. Ito, the sixth Japanese architect to receive the prize, was recognized for the libraries, houses, theaters, offices and other buildings he has designed in Japan and beyond.
Some of Ito's notable creations include the curvaceous Municipal Funeral Hall in Gifu, Japan; the transparent Sendai Mediatheque library in Miyagi, Japan; the arch-filled Tama Art University Library in suburban Tokyo; the spiral White O residence in Marbella, Chile; and the angular 2002 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London.
Ito began his career at Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates after he graduated from Tokyo University in 1965. He founded his own architecture firm in 1971. His works have been exhibited in museums in the United States, England, Denmark, Italy, Chile and numerous cities in Japan.
Ito will receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion at the formal Pritzker ceremony May 29 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
Toyo Ito
Berlin Wall Campaign
The Hoff
David Hasselhoff put his name behind a campaign to preserve one of the few remaining sections of the Berlin Wall, calling it a "sacred" monument to cheers Sunday from Germans who fondly remember his schmaltzy hit "Looking for Freedom" as one of the soundtracks to their peaceful 1989 revolution.
The actor, best known for starring in "Knight Rider" and "Baywatch," joined ordinary Berliners in protesting a real estate developer's plans to move part of the wall to make way for an access path for a luxury housing development.
Plans to move part of the East Side Gallery - a 1.3 kilometer (3/4 mile) stretch of wall painted by artists after the fall of communism and popular with tourists - sparked angry protests earlier this month. Activists have denounced it as part of a wider trend of steamrolling Berlin's tumultuous history to make way for gleaming but soulless developments in the heart of the city.
At least 136 people died between 1961 and 1989 trying to cross the wall that divided the communist-run East Berlin from West Berlin. Most of the wall has since been destroyed, with only two large sections remaining as memorials.
Asked if he thought his song - belted out by a million people on both sides of the wall during a New Year's Eve concert in 1989 - had played any role in bringing down the most visible section of the Iron Curtain, Hasselhoff said: "Whether it had anything to do with anything, it's a song about freedom and it stuck in their head because it had a good hook."
The Hoff
Inspired Movie
Ruth Ann Steinhagen
She inspired a novel and a movie starring Robert Redford when in 1949 she lured a major league ballplayer she'd never met into a hotel room with a cryptic note and shot him, nearly killing him.
After the headlines faded, Ruth Ann Steinhagen did something else just as surprising: She disappeared into obscurity, living a quiet life unnoticed in Chicago until now, more than a half century later, when news broke that she had died three months earlier.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Friday that Steinhagen passed away of natural causes on Dec. 29, at the age of 83. First reported by the Chicago Tribune last week, her identity was a surprise even to the morgue employees who knew about the 1984 movie "The Natural," in which she was portrayed by actress Barbara Hershey.
The story, with its elements of obsession, mystery, insanity and a baseball star, made it part of both Chicago's colorful crime history and rich baseball lore.
Ruth Ann Steinhagen
"Big Air Package"
Christo
Artist Christo has unveiled his latest spectacular creation: a balloonlike installation that fills the inside of a former natural gas storage tank in Germany's industrial Ruhr region.
Christo's "Big Air Package," an inflatable envelope made of translucent white polyester, rises 295 feet (90 meters) from the floor of the Gasometer in Oberhausen. It will be open to the public from Saturday through Dec. 30.
Christo's structure is kept upright by air fans. Visitors enter through airlocks. Christo says the effect is to leave visitors "virtually swimming in light."
The tank was converted into an exhibition hall after being taken out of service in 1988.
Christo
Hundreds Found
Dinosaur Egg Fossils
Researchers in northeastern Spain say they've uncovered hundreds of dinosaur egg fossils, including four kinds that had never been found before in the region. The eggs likely were left behind by sauropods millions of years ago.
Eggs, eggshell fragments and dozens of clutches were nestled in the stratigraphic layers of the Tremp geological formation at the site of Coll de Nargó in the Spanish province of Lleida, which was a marshy region during the Late Cretaceous Period, the researchers said.
"Up until now, only one type of dinosaur egg had been documented in the region: Megaloolithus siruguei," the study's leader, Albert García Sellés added. His team found evidence of at least four other species: Cairanoolithus roussetensis, Megaloolithus aureliensis, Megaloolithus siruguei and Megaloolithus baghensis. Megaloolithus eggs are thought to be associated with sauropods, long-necked dinosaurs that were among some of the largest to roam the planet.
The Coll de Nargó area is considered one of the most important dinosaur nesting areas in Europe, the researchers said, adding that their study shows it was used by several dinosaurs from the Late Campanian age (around 71 million years ago) to the Late Maastrichtian age (around 67 million years ago).
Weekend Box Office
"Oz the Great and Powerful"
"Oz the Great and Powerful" is living up to its name at the box office.
Walt Disney's 3-D blockbuster led all films for the second week in a row, taking in $42.2 million according to studio estimates Sunday. Sam Raimi's prequel to the L. Frank Baum classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" also took in $46.6 million overseas, leading to a two-week worldwide total of $281.8 million.
In a winter of underperforming releases, that makes "Oz" easily the biggest hit of 2013 so far.
Among the weekend's debuts, the Halle Berry thriller "The Call" far exceeded expectations with a $17.1 million opening for Sony and TriStar Pictures. The Steve Carell magician comedy "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" fared worse, opening with a disappointing $10.3 million for Warner Bros.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday:
1. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $42.2 million. ($46.6 million international.)
2. "The Call," $17.1 million.
3. "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," $10.3 million.
4. "Jack the Giant Slayer," $6.2 million. ($10 million international.)
5. "Identity Thief," $4.5 million. ($745,000 international.)
6. "Snitch," $3.5 million. ($130,000 international.)
7. "21 and Over," $2.6 million. ($1 million international.)
8. "Silver Linings Playbook," $2.6 million. ($3.7 million international.)
9. "Safe Haven," $2.5 million. ($1.2 million international.)
10. "Escape From Planet Earth," $2.3 million.
"Oz the Great and Powerful"
In Memory
Malachi Throne
Malachi Throne, who played Robert Wagner's boss Noah Bain in the 1960s series "It Takes a Thief" among many other roles during a long career, Throne's agent told TheWrap on Friday. He was 84.
"Supernatural" and "Justified" actor Jim Beaver, posted news of Throne's death on his Facebook page Thursday, writing, "My good friend Malachi Throne died last night. One of the finest actors and finest people I've been fortunate enough to know."
Theatre West, a Los Angeles-based theater company, also noted Throne's death, writing, "Theatre West says goodbye to our good friend and colleague Malachai Throne 1928-2013" on its website.
Born December 1, 1928 in New York City, Throne was an early convert to show business, first appearing on stage at age 10 as Huckleberry Finn, in a production of "Tom Sawyer" by the New York Parks Department.
He became a familiar face on television through numerous guest appearances on series including "Ben Casey, "The Fugitive," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "Hogan's Heroes" and "Mannix."
Throne's television roles also included the villain False Face on the "Batman" series, a character who used disguises when evil-doing and a semi-transparent mask when he wasn't committing crimes.
In later years, Throne would appear on "Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II" as well as "The West Wing." He would also provide voice work for series such as "Batman Beyond," "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "The New Batman Adventures."
Malachi Throne
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