Baron Dave Romm
By Baron Dave Romm
As mentioned last week, no column this week.
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"I don't want to bother the internet with my problem."
-- Marge Simpson
Kindly wish Baron Dave and
Thomas Jefferson happy birthday.
TODAY!
Erin Hart
Wake up with
Erin Hart today, tomorrow, and Wednesday morning (13 - 15 April), when she sits in for Jay Marvin on
Colorado's Progressive Talk - AM 760 from 5am - 9am PDT (6am - 10am MDT | 7am - 11am CDT | 8am - noon EDT)
To Polarize or Not to Polarize, that is the Question the right raises about President Barack Obama. That plus distorting much of what he has to say.
And Pastor Rick Warren reneged on This Week because he has contradicted himself mightily in statements about his support of gay marriage bans. . . . Is he repenting his earlier bigotry?
Plus the economy-is it wrong to long to see the bankers frog-marched to jail? And is Defense Secretary Gates Really cutting costs? Where has Obama pleased and where has he disappointed-it's close on 90 days, to to evaluate.
And behold, we have a First Dog-Bo, a Portuguese Water Hound-and of course, there is a controversy about pound versus breeder. Pedro says NONSENSE and welcomes Bo with a wag of the tail instead of a growl. What's not to love?
Happy Passover and Happy Easter, all. And Spring Break, of course.
Listen online at www.am760.net and call 303-713-7600 to join the conversation.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Gabriel G. Arana: Lambda vs. Howard K. Stern (advocate.com)
Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer-turned-lover Howard K. Stern is suing an author for $60 million for claiming in a book that he's gay. Lambda Legal doesn't like that, because there's "nothing shameful about being identified as gay."
Susan Estrich: About What Happened in Jerusalem (creators.com)
I was in elementary school in Swampscott, Mass., when I learned that the Jews had killed Christ. Or so we were told, right around this time of year. Most of the kids in the class just nodded when they heard. It seems they already knew. I was shocked.
Froma Harrop: A Nation of Unwed Drudgery (creators.com)
A neighbor in her 30s, a very fine woman, recently had a child with her boyfriend. They live together. The boyfriend's mother and father enjoy being grandparents. The boyfriend gets to have a son, as well as live-in female companionship. How eager he was to be a father, I don't know, but he clearly doesn't want to be the mother's husband. He's keeping his options open.
Tim Parks: Knock on Wood (nybooks.com)
When his publisher insisted he contribute to a new children's weekly, Carlo Collodi reluctantly delivered the first installment of "The Story of a Puppet," with a letter remarking: "Here's some childish twaddle, do what you want with it; but assuming you print, you'd better pay me well if you want to see any more." The story would later be retitled "The Adventures of Pinocchio." Collodi did not grow more fond of it.
GEOFFREY K. PULLUM: 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice (chronicle.com)
April 16 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of a little book that is loved and admired throughout American academe. Celebrations, readings, and toasts are being held, and a commemorative edition has been released.
I won't be celebrating.
PAUL CONSTANT: You Can't Read STACEY LEVINE'S "The Girl with Brown Fur" Like It's a Normal Book (thestranger.com)
It is kind of a shame that Stacey Levine's stories have to be published in the form of a book. It's not that they should appear in e-books or anything so mundane as that. Rather, I wish it were somehow possible to hire elfin booksellers to sneak into your home and hide Levine's stories in odd places-inside a cereal box, tucked into a pair of swimming trunks, taped to the back of the oven-so that you could discover them at random and, perhaps, inopportune times. Levine's stories are rare and mysterious things, and confronting them in a book makes them feel less wondrous somehow.
PAUL CONSTANT: Wizards vs. Vampires (thestranger.com)
Last Saturday, some 300 people packed the auditorium at the Central Library for a debate sponsored by the Seattle Public Library and Team Read, an after-school literacy program. Two teams of three high-school girls were to determine, once and for all, which popular young-adult fantasy series-Harry Potter or "Twilight"-is the best.
Neil Fisher: How Handel became England's national treasure (timesonline.co.uk)
So you want to be a legendary composer? As Handel fever hits the country, our correspondent reveals the secrets of success.
20 Questions: Eulogies (popmatters.com)
Q: You're proud of this accomplishment, but why?
A: Anytime seven to ten people come together and make something collectively, that's a worthy achievement. This record may be merely the thing we were doing at that time, but I hear all the hours of writing and rehearsing and recording and listening and mxing and mastering. There's a lot in there for us. But I have to say I like the fact that it all boils down to 45 minutes of music.
Will Harris: A Chat with Dhani Harrison, thenewno2 singer (bullz-eye.com)
On sounding like his father, George Harrison: I've got the same sort of bummed-up nose that he used to have, so sometimes when I say 'girls,' it sounds a lot like 'gulls.' That's just by accident, I can assure you.
Will Harris: A Chat with Oli Hecks, thenewno2 drummer (bullz-eye.com)
All the feedback that we've had (on the album) has been positive, really. Surprisingly. I think I read, like, one negative thing that just said, 'Gay, gay, gay, gay.' Everything else has really, really positive, which is great.
'It's the gift that keeps on taking' (guardian.co.uk)
When he first noticed his little finger shaking, Michael J Fox put it down to a hangover. A year later - at just 30 years of age - he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He tells Emma Brockes why, despite it all, he's still smiling.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
The Intermittence of Sandy Lake and Whitlock Lane
Deja Vu - and beyond?
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Ban the Bomb' Edition
Barack Obama yesterday announced a radical drive aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, as the focus of his European visit switched from financial to geopolitical security. "In Prague, I will lay out an agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said yesterday... "The spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," he warned, adding that suspected rogue nuclear states, such as North Korea or Iran, may only be persuaded to abandon their quests if the big nuclear powers set an example...
Barack Obama's New Offensive Against Nuclear Weapons | CommonDreams.org
How successful do you think Obama will be in this endeavor?
A. Total nuclear disarmament and the dawning of the Age of Aquarius (Hoo Ha!)...
B. Significant arms reduction by the current nuclear powers, rigorous enforcement of the non-proliferation treaty re: Iran and North Korea etal and the Doomsday Clock rolls back a couple of hours (whew!)...
C. Are you kidding? Humanity is gonna, sooner or later, blow itself to smithereens, dagnabbit!
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
Results tomorrow
wrote:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Bright & sunny.
Swiss Architect Wins Pritzker
Peter Zumthor
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, a designer who spurns the limelight while creating a handful of meticulously crafted buildings at his alpine retreat, won his profession's top honour on Sunday, the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Zumthor, 65, becomes the third native of Switzerland to receive what is sometimes described as the architecture world's equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Many of Zumthor's works dot the mountainous canton where he has lived and worked for the past 30 years, including his best-known project, Therme Vals. The luxury spa, which opened in 1996 after a decade of work, consists of 60,000 precision-cut quartzite stone slabs built into a hillside surrounded by soaring peaks.
But Zumthor has no completed projects in either the United States or Britain. And he eschews large commercial buildings and high-priced vanity projects.
Peter Zumthor
Comedy Tour
Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel's latest sensation, is taking a comedy show on the road for six live performances over six days during the first week of June.
Beck calls his act a "poor man's Seinfeld" and intends to mix topical humor with his modern-day reimagining of Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet "Common Sense."
The radio and TV talk show host will start June 1 in Denver, then perform in theaters in Phoenix, San Diego, Kansas City, Houston and Richmond, Va., over the next five days, he said.
Glenn Beck
TNT Cancels
"Trust Me"
TNT has canceled its low-rated freshman drama "Trust Me," which starred Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh as ad-agency executives.
The show garnered middling reviews, and its January 26 premiere drew 3.4 million viewers, losing 50 percent of its lead-in from "The Closer." A week later, "Trust Me" dropped to 1.9 million viewers. It ended its 13-episode run last week.
In another sign the show was on its way out, "Will & Grace" alumnus McCormack last month booked an untitled comedy pilot at ABC.
"Trust Me"
Man With An Opinion
Lewis Black
If you really want to wind up comical curmudgeon Lewis Black, just ask him what his latest source of anger is.
Faced with the loaded question in a recent interview, the Grammy-winning American stand-up star - known for appearing on the verge of a mental breakdown while discussing his beefs - charged into one of his typical, amusing tirades.
Just because former U.S. resident George W. Bush - who was a prime source for comedy material - is now out of the White House, doesn't mean there won't be any shots at the current administration.
Black calls President Barack Obama "very bright and really smart and all the things you kind of hope for and he speaks English, which is unusual for us to have an English-speaking president and someone that's comprehensible.
"But he's still a Democrat and that implies a certain kind of I think retardedness on his part much as if he were a Republican."
Lewis Black
Held As Illegal Immigrants
Citizens
Pedro Guzman has been an American citizen all his life. Yet in 2007, the 31-year-old Los Angeles native - in jail for a misdemeanor, mentally ill and never able to read or write - signed a waiver agreeing to leave the country without a hearing and was deported to Mexico as an illegal immigrant.
For almost three months, Guzman slept in the streets, bathed in filthy rivers and ate out of trash cans while his mother scoured the city of Tijuana, its hospitals and morgues, clutching his photo in her hand. He was finally found trying to cross the border at Calexico, 100 miles away.
In a drive to crack down on illegal immigrants, the United States has locked up or thrown out dozens, probably many more, of its own citizens over the past eight years. A monthslong AP investigation has documented 55 such cases, on the basis of interviews, lawsuits and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. These citizens are detained for anything from a day to five years. Immigration lawyers say there are actually hundreds of such cases.
It is illegal to deport U.S. citizens or detain them for immigration violations. Yet citizens still end up in detention because the system is overwhelmed, acknowledged Victor Cerda, who left Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2005 after overseeing the system. The number of detentions overall is expected to rise by about 17 percent this year to more than 400,000, putting a severe strain on the enforcement network and legal system.
Citizens
Drilling Suit
Allegheny National Forest
The U.S. Forest Service will review and allow public comment on gas and oil drilling projects in the Allegheny National Forest under a settlement reached with environmental groups.
The groups claimed in a federal lawsuit that the Forest Service was not conducting required federal environmental reviews on several dozen drilling projects, thus potentially jeopardizing the environment and wildlife in Pennsylvania's only national forest.
The 800-square-mile forest lies in Elk, Forest, McKean and Warren counties. While the federal government owns the surface, more than 90 percent of the mineral rights that lie underground are privately owned. The government did not buy the mineral rights when the forest was created nearly 90 years ago.
Disputes over whether the Forest Service can regulate drilling have led to several other lawsuits recently as demand for oil has spurred drilling in the Allegheny.
Allegheny National Forest
Middle Kingdom Find
Mummies
Archaeologists working in an Egyptian oasis have found a necropolis containing dozens of brightly painted mummies dating back as far as 4,000 years, the country's antiquities chief said on Sunday.
"The mission found dozens of mummies in 53 rock-hewn tombs dating to the Middle Kingdom" from 2061-1786 BC, Zahi Hawass told AFP.
"Four of the mummies date back to the 22nd Dynasty (931 to 725 BC) and are considered some of the most beautiful mummies found," he said.
The linen-wrapped mummies are painted in the still-bright traditional ancient Egyptian colours of turquoise, terracotta and gold.
Mummies
New Population Found In Indonesia
Orangutans
Conservationists have discovered a new population of orangutans in a remote, mountainous corner of Indonesia - perhaps as many as 2,000 - giving a rare boost to one of the world's most endangered great apes.
A team surveying forests nestled between jagged, limestone cliffs on the eastern edge of Borneo island counted 219 orangutan nests, indicating a "substantial" number of the animals, said Erik Meijaard, a senior ecologist at the U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy.
The team also encountered an adult male, which angrily threw branches as they tried to take photos, and a mother and child.
There are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 90 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in neighboring Malaysia.
Orangutans
Weekend Box Office
'Hannah Montana: The Movie'
Walt Disney's "Hannah Montana: The Movie" opened with $34 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That followed Cyrus' first-place premiere last year with her 3-D concert film.
"Hannah Montana" drew $17.3 million on Friday for the biggest opening day ever for a G-rated live-action movie.
The previous weekend's box office champ, "Fast & Furious," fell to second place with $28.8 million. The street-racing thriller raised its domestic take to $118 million, and distributor Universal said its worldwide total has topped $200 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Hannah Montana: The Movie," $34 million.
2. "Fast & Furious," $28.8 million.
3. "Monsters vs. Aliens," $22.6 million.
4. "Observe and Report," $11.1 million.
5. "Knowing," $6.7 million.
6. "I Love You, Man," $6.4 million.
7. "The Haunting in Connecticut," $5.7 million.
8. "Dragonball: Evolution," $4.7 million.
9. "Adventureland," $3.4 million.
10. "Duplicity," $3 million.
'Hannah Montana: The Movie'
In Memory
Michael Stern
A U.S. war correspondent and author who helped turn the aircraft carrier Intrepid into a New York City military museum has died at age 98.
Stern was born in Brooklyn. He quit Syracuse University to begin a career as a journalist and crime writer.
As a Second World War combat reporter he reached Rome a day before U.S. troops. He lived there for 50 years after the war, writing on mobsters and other topics.
His books include "An American in Rome" and "Into the Jaws of Death."
In 1978 he joined philanthropist Zachary Fisher to rescue the USS Intrepid from a scrapyard and turn it into a popular sea, air and space museum.
Michael Stern
In Memory
Randy Cain
Randy Cain, a founding member of the soul group the Delfonics, which had such hits as "La La Means I Love You," has died. He was 63.
Brothers William and Wilbert Hart and Cain formed the group while attending Philadelphia's Overbrook High in the 1960s. The group, one of the earliest to define the smooth, soulful "Philadelphia sound," won an R&B Grammy in 1970 for their song "Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time."
Cain left the group in 1971 but returned for a later version of the group.
"I'm gonna miss him. We grew up together since 1968," Wilbert Hart told the Philadelphia Daily News. He said he last saw Cain four or five months ago.
Randy Cain
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