'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
New Music for '04 - Part 2
By Baron Dave Romm
Political digression: My new dream team is John Kerry/John McCain.
Republicans are holding a paper-thin majority in the House and Senate because the David Duke/Pat Buchanan hatemonger wing joined with the Reagan military hardliners who had formed an uneasy alliance with the Moral Majority/Pat Robertson/Terry McVeigh religious extremists. When the Taliban wing of the GOP was merely filling the courts with unqualified yet politically correct judges or attacking a woman's right to choose, the moderates went along for the ride. As long as the economy was growing and the country was safe, the Goldwater libertarians and the Nixon imperialists were happy to let the whackos have their day in the sun.
No longer.
Even formerly conservative Republicans are disgusted with George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Saxby Chambliss, Tom DeLay, etc etc. They thought the problem was with Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond, but they went away and the problem got worse. The GOP is in serious danger of losing the military vote, the fiscal conservatives, suburbanites who get along with their neighbors, and the corporate world that has to do business overseas.
One of Bush Lite's many Republican enemies is John McCain. McCain was the first of W's victims, as he was savaged and lied about during the 2000 primaries. The press, of course just let W. rip apart a war hero. Sound familiar? I don't always agree with McCain's politics, but he has class and intelligence and has shown a willingness to work with others, notably Sen. Kerry.
McCain could run as a Republican on a Democratic ticket, saying it was time to take the country back from the lying cowards in his former party. Kerry could promise not to insist that McCain take the party line if the VP had to break a tie in the senate. This would be a win-win for many Republicans. The extremists are out of power, the GOP would have a national standard-bearer, and the left and the right would meet in the middle.
I predict that the presidential election won't be all that close -- Kerry is going to trounce Bush -- and the real struggle will be for the House and Senate. Longtime Republicans know that if George W. goes down to defeat as badly as his father did in 1992, the Dems will have an excellent chance to regain both houses of Congress as well as the presidency. With McCain on the Kerry bandwagon, disgusted Republicans will have a reason to go to the polls and vote for a Democrat for president and a Republican for Congress.
Kerry/McCain. A long shot, but one can dream, eh?
End digression.
New CDs (at least, new to me) are piling up in both my "to be listened to" and "songs to be cataloged" bins. I'll try to catch up with recommendations, even if the CDs were mentioned here earlier.
Kay Frances is really pissed off. Mostly at men, but sometimes at herself. I'm not sure how you can get her EP You Make Me Puke and other love songs but try sending e-mail to Kay Frances. The CD is 10 short songs totaling less than 16 minutes of music. It's well worth a listen, and she should be encouraged to write longer songs. The title song, You Make Me Puke, is the female side of Worm Quartet's Great Idea For A Song. Her update of Makin' Whoopee! is a worthy addition to the Beware of STD genre. Women will probably appreciate The PMS Song and Flannel Gown more than I did. She's the stalker in You Know You Love Me. Frances has a clear country voice and belts out the songs with the right degree of seriousness tempered with self-deprecation. If you liked Lisa Koch, you'll probably like Kay Frances.
And as long as I'm talking about EPs and Marscon, let me thrown in a brief word about the 2-song Demo Possum Willy was giving out at the con. Neither of the songs, Disco Rock Song or Old Farmer, did much for me. But both got better with second listenings. They're in the rock/punk vein, and the group will only get better with time and practice. You can hear both songs off their audio page, if you can stand the Angelfire pop-ups. Not recommended yet, but worth keeping an ear on.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here.
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National "I'm Embarassed By My President" Day
April 1st
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Way too warm for the season.
The kid is fond of the History Channel, but tonight he started complaining about their many re-select chimpy commercials.
Checked it out & he was right. Haven't seen anything like it on any other channels - yet.
Still having computer problems, and it's become old, fast.
Tonight, Monday, CBS opens the night with a RERUN 'Yes, Dear', followed by a RERUN 'Still Standing', then a
RERUN 'Raymond', followed by a RERUN '2½ Men', then a FRESH 'CSI: Miami'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Janet Jackson and John Mayer.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Neal McDonough and Van Hunt.
NBC begins the night with a RERUN 'Fear Factor', followed by a RERUN 'Las Vegas' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour), then a FRESH
'Average Joe: Adam Returns' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour).
Scheduled on a FRESH Leno are Kiefer Sutherland, Raquel Castro, and Gary Jules.
On a traditional Monday-night RERUN Conan are Topher Grace, Jack Osbourne, and Jim McMullan.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Ben McKenzie, Max Kellerman, and Blondie.
ABC starts the night with the movie 'The Haunting', followed by '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Henry Simmons and Los Lonely Boys.
The WB offers a RERUN '7th Heaven', followed by a RERUN 'Everwood'.
Faux has a FRESH 'Bernie Mac', followed by a FRESH 'Cracking Up', then a RERUN 'That 70s Show', followed by another
RERUN 'That 70s Show'.
UPN has a RERUN 'The Parkers', followed by a FRESH 'Eve', then a FRESH 'Girlfriends', followed by a
RERUN 'Half & Half'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Cold Case Files', the FRESH 'The Other Man', then a FRESH
'Airline', followed by another 'Airline'.
AMC offers the movie 'D.O.A.', followed by the movie 'Charade', then the movie 'Donovan's Reef'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Tredwen;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Erdington;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Nunhead;
[8pm] 'Red Cap' - Stalker;
[9pm] 'McCallum' - Touch;
[11pm] 'Red Cap' - Stalker;
[12am] 'McCallum' - Touch;
[2am] 'House Invaders' - Erdington;
[2:30am] 'Changing Rooms' - Nunhead;
[3am] 'Red Cap' - Stalker;
[4am] 'McCallum' - Touch;
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'West Wing', 'Kathy Griffin: The D-List', 'Significant Others',
another 'Significant Others', and another 'West Wing'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'One Night At McCool's', 'South Park', and 'Jay Mohr: My Turn'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Jennifer Beals.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Mail Call', another 'Mail Call', and 'Boone & Crockett: The Hunting Heroes'.
IFC -
[4PM] 'At The Angelika 82' (2003);
[4:30PM] 'The Last Broadcast'(2003);
[6PM] 'Onibaba' (1964)(2003);
[7:45PM] 'IFC In Theaters'(2003);
[8PM] 'Dinner For Five 12'(2003);
[8:30PM] Short: 'Hard Corps' (2003)(2003);
[9PM] 'Once In The Life' (2000)(2003);
[11PM] 'Dinner For Five 12'(2003);
[11:30PM] 'Another Day In Paradise' (1998)(2003);
[1:15AM] 'Songcatcher' (1999)(2003);
[3:15AM] 'Once In The Life' (2000)(2003);
[5:15AM] 'IFC In Theaters'(2003);
[5:30AM] 'At The Angelika 82' (2003). (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi is all 'Stargate SG-1' all night.
Sundance -
[3PM] 'Gotham Fish Tales' (Documentary);
[4:15PM] 'Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight' (Documentary);
[5:15PM] 'Won't Anybody Listen' (Documentary);
[6:30PM] 'Offspring Barry Stevens' (Documentary);
[7:30PM] 'My Father, the Genius' (Documentary);
[9PM] 'Anonymously Yours' (Documentary);
[10:30PM] 'Sixteen Decisions' (Feature);
[11:30PM] 'The Hunt' (Documentary);
[12:40AM] 'The Moderns' (Feature);
[2:50AM] 'The City of Lost Souls' (Feature);
[4:35AM] 'Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead' (Feature). (ALL TIMES EST)
TCM:
[6am] 'Penguin Pool Murder' (1932);
[7:15am] 'The Bishop Misbehaves' (1933);
[8:45am] 'The Kennel Murder Case' (1933);
[10am] 'The Case of the Curious Bride' (1935);
[11:30am] 'Murder on a Bridle Path' (1936);
[12:45pm] 'Nancy Drew--Detective' (1938)
[2pm] 'The Saint's Double Trouble' (1940);
[3:15pm] 'Footsteps In The Dark' (1941);
[5pm] 'Grand Central Murder' (1942);
[6:15pm] 'Cry Wolf' (1947);
[8pm] 'The Lady From Shanghai' (1948);
[9:30pm] 'Shanghai Express' (1932);
[11pm] 'The Shanghai Gesture' (1941);
[1am] 'West Of Shanghai' (1937);
[2:30am] 'Footlight Parade' (1933);
[4:30am] 'The Ship From Shanghai' (1929). (ALL TIMES EST)
Former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and his wife, Lonnie, walk the red carpet in Phoenix, Ariz., Saturday, March 27, 2004, before the Celebrity Fight Night X fundraising dinner supporting the Muhammad Ali Reasearch Center,
Photo by Chris Polk
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Launches Wednesday
Air America Radio
The gloves are coming off on talk radio. Comedian-provocateur Al Franken anchors Wednesday's launch of a new liberal radio network -- Air America -- that promises irreverent voices from the opposite end of the political spectrum to conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who dominate talk radio.
"We're going to listen to (Limbaugh's) show and hold him up to scorn and ridicule," Franken said in a telephone interview.
The debut is auspiciously timed: the presidential candidates have come out swinging and liberal anger at Republican resident Bush is at a fever pitch.
The network will also feature other radio neophytes such as actress Janeane Garofalo, rapper Chuck D and activist Robert Kennedy Jr. Each will be paired with a radio veteran.
Franken will kick off with a three-hour midday show, "The O'Franken Factor," a mocking tribute to his broadcasting foe Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News.
"This is a president who ran as a uniter not a divider and he's the most divisive president that I can remember," Franken said. "He had an opportunity to lead us in a new American century united in purpose and sacrifice and blew it completely. He wanted for some reason very, very, very badly to attack Iraq ... (which) I think has damaged the war on terror."
For more, Air America Radio
Air America Radio - Home
Air America Radio - Schedule
Cherry Blossom Princess Tomoko Shiojiri from Japan, poses beside the traditional Japanese stone lantern after a ceremony, to mark the Cherry Blossom Festival, Sunday, March 28, 2004 in Washington. The 3,000 cherry blossom trees were a gift to the city of Washington by Japanese citizens in 1912, to enhance the friendship between U.S. and Japan.
Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta
Rips Taiwan's Election
Jackie Chan
Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan said Sunday that Taiwan's recent presidential election was "the biggest joke in the world."
President Chen Shui-bian narrowly won the March 20 vote. The opposition wants to nullify the results after Lien Chan lost the election and claimed the vote was marred by irregularities. Thousands protested in the streets for a week after the vote.
"People will talk about it for 100 years," Chan said at a news conference in Shanghai. "It was a shame. Not so good to look at. I was very upset and couldn't fall asleep."
Jackie Chan
Seeks Probe
ABC
ABC News on Friday asked the Pentagon to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of a freelance cameraman in Iraq.
Burhan Mohammed Mazhour, who had been working for ABC for two months, died of gunshot wounds while covering a firefight between U.S. Marines and Iraqi insurgents in the war-torn city of Fallujah.
One witness reported that Mazhour was shot by American forces after the cameraman strayed into the middle of the hourlong battle.
According to doctors, Mazhour was struck by a single bullet to the head. He died later at a hospital.
ABC
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Guitar, Bluegrass Fans Get How-To Shows
DIY: Do It Yourself
Fans of vintage guitars and bluegrass music are getting their dream construction shows on cable channel DIY: Do It Yourself, a sister network of Home & Garden TV.
"Handmade Music" is an eight-part series that premieres at 10 p.m. ET April 2. Ted Davis and John Arnold, known for making guitars from sought-after red spruce wood, are featured in the series.
The show also spotlights Lynn Dudenbostel demonstrating how to build guitars from scratch, including a look at the "gold standard" for bluegrass pickers, the D-28 from Martin Guitars.
"Handmade Guitars" is a one-hour special that focuses more on constructing a D-28 guitar. That show premieres at 6 p.m. ET May 23.
DIY: Do It Yourself
Bureau of Printing and Engraving physicist Virgil Huber washes U.S. currency at the Bureau in Washington Tuesday, March 23, 2004.
Photo by Lauren Burke
Seizes Airwaves For Back Pay
DJ
A Romanian DJ has seized a radio station and threatened to jump from a balcony if his employer cut the broadcast and told listeners he wanted his overdue salary, TV Antena 1 reports.
"I want them (the employers) to pay me the money they owe me," DJ Alin Farcas told listeners of the small private radio station Mix FM in the Romanian capital.
Radio director Alexandru Lazescu told TV Antena 1 he would try to pay the salary which, Antena 1 said, amounted to about 14 million lei (235 pounds).
DJ
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Former Employee Targeted
Fox
The U.S. Secret Service has implicated a former Fox employee in an online piracy ring run from studio computers.
Last month, the Secret Service searched the home of former Fox Cable employee Lisa Yamamoto in Los Angeles and confiscated material on her home computer server.
According to the Secret Service's affidavit, a piracy ring -- dubbed "warez" -- accessed on its members' home servers illegal copies of 14 films from various studios, including "Daddy Day Care," "Daredevil," "The Matrix Reloaded," "Old School" and "X-Men 2" that were stored on a Fox computer server.
Fox
The Three Mile Island nuculear power plant is seen along the Susquehanna River near Middletown, Pa., Sunday, March 28, 2004. March 28th marks the 25 anniversary of the nation's worst nuclear accident.
Photo by Chris Gardner
Arrested in Wisconsin
Howie Day
Singer Howie Day was arrested for apparently locking a woman in a bathroom and breaking another woman's cell phone after one of the women allegedly refused his sexual advances.
Day, 23, who opened for the band Barenaked Ladies at a concert Wednesday, was charged Friday with misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct in connection with the post-concert incident on his tour bus.
Day was released from jail after posting $850 bail Thursday. He is scheduled for a court appearance on April 1.
Howie Day
Beating Drug Tests
'Major Industry'
Put 30 drug testing workers in a room together for a few hours and it isn't long before they start trading strange — and somewhat indelicate — tales of urine collection.
Drug screening is a rite of passage for millions of U.S. workers, with more than 40 million tests conducted each year by employers and others. The vast majority are done by collecting a urine sample, which people in the testing business refer to, mostly straight-faced, as their "gold standard."
The "positive" rates are low — less than 5 percent — suggesting that most people aren't using drugs, let alone trying to cheat.
But the prevalence of screening and the reach of the Internet has fostered a thriving cottage industry of entrepreneurs who promise to help workers beat the tests.
For the rest, 'Major Industry'
$19.99 an Acre
Lunar Plots
On U.S. Highway 395, Dennis Hope sells undeveloped land for the bargain price of $19.99 an acre. There are spacious lots near grand locales: The Sea of Tranquility. The Sea of Serenity.
Behold the moon, Hope's real estate boon. Millions have already purchased prime parcels. They have nicely framed certificates to prove it.
The moon seller is a former actor, ventriloquist, purveyor of mobile homes and one-time deli counter worker. By his estimate, he sampled 96 occupations before opening his company, Lunar Embassy.
Lunar Embassy, licensed by the state of Nevada, boasts 2.5 million property owners in 80 countries. More than 1,300 corporations have purchased plots, including Safeway supermarkets in Great Britain, which resold 20,000 lots to grocery shoppers.
For a lot more, Lunar Plots
www.lunarembassy.com
'Eyeball people' Medaman use a magnifying glass to get a good look at a little girl as they stroll through a square in Tokyo March 28, 2004. The street performers, named from medama, meaning eyeball in Japanese, were part of a spring festival.
Photo by Eriko Sugita
'The Osbournes'
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