Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman's Blog: On Pity for the Rich (New York Times)
… my take is that what we're looking at is the closing of the conservative intellectual universe, the creation of an echo chamber in which rightists talk only to each other, and in which even the pretense of caring about ordinary people is disappearing.
Mark Shields: One and a Half Cheers for the Bishops (Creators Syndicate)
When there was grumbling from some of the more affluent in the pews that too much of the church's limited revenues was going to people and neighborhoods who were not even Catholic, [the late Cardinal James Hickey] offered this by way of rebuttal: "We serve the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. If we don't care for the sick, educate the young, care for the homeless, then we cannot call ourselves the church of Jesus Christ."
Marc Dion: The Next Greatest Generation (Creators Syndicate)
Until every howler monkey with his name on a ballot (or a newspaper column) started beating it to death, that "Greatest Generation" phrase was a helluva thing.
Paul Krugman's Blog: The Progressive Budget Alternative (New York Times)
I've been remiss in not calling attention to the budget proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It's not going to happen - but then neither is the Ryan plan. And unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense.
Marilyn Preston: End Health Care Hysteria! 10 Ways to Save the U.S. and U (Creators Syndicate)
"We have very good evidence that a number of our most common cancers can be prevented by being at a healthy weight and being physically active." - Alice Bender, nutritionist at the American Institute for Cancer Research
Chuck Norris: Stand Up! (Creators Syndicate)
Q: Mr. Norris, someone told me that sitting can be bad for your health. Ever heard of that? - Randy T., Newark, N.J.
Amy Winter: How a Clean Working Area Can Benefit Your Professionalism (Creators Syndicate)
Do you consider your office messy? Your idea of neat and tidy could be completely different than how your manager views cleanliness. If your colleagues walk by your office with a disgusted look on their faces, it is probably time to clean. That old food is starting to smell.
An Architect's Blueprint for Overexposure (Wall Street Journal)
Joe Queenan on the Frank Gehry glut: With the architect's work everywhere, how about giving someone else a chance?
Joe Queenan: French Twist: Meet Monsieur Nice Guy (Wall Street Journal)
If you're a seasoned inhospitality buff like me, the very worst has happened: The French have stopped being mean and surly.
Kevin C. Johnson: Surprise Grammy win hasn't changed Arcade Fire (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Arcade Fire, fresh off one of the most shocking Grammy wins of all time, is touring middle America. Drummer Jeremy Gara talked about the rising indie band.
Marc Myers: Still Standing at the Crossroads (Wall Street Journal)
Blues singer-guitarist Robert Johnson recorded only 29 songs before he was poisoned in August 1938 and died at age 27. A new box set puts his recordings in context.
George Varga: At 91, Ravi Shankar Seeks New Vistas (Creators Syndicate)
At 91, Ravi Shankar is clearly - and very happily - not the retiring kind.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
wrote:
answered:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Mi Bunny
MY POV By Spike Jensen
"Save America and Cut Taxes To Minus 0%"
I hate taxes. On beer. On paint ball supplies. On Big Mac's. On just about everything. Why can't they just go away? I mean we pay them and the government is still broke right? Without them we would just be a little more broke and I'd have more cash so big deal. I just don't get why big brother has to screw with us anyway, man they have their hand out 24/7. Maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess if they made taxes a pay as much as you feel is right deal. I like giving the drunk homeless guy sleeping on the corner a buck now and then way better than him making me pay a quarter every time I walk around him on the sidewalk when he's awake (if I don't he says he will use this can opener he carries around on my ankles. He can barely even stand up but I've always been freaked about getting shanked since I started watching Lockup on MSNBC). I have to go that way about 4 or 5 times a day so it really adds up after awhile.
I read in the newspaper I borrowed from my next door neighbor most big companies in this country pay no "corporate" taxes and they even get back a butt load of dough, like 33 billion last year. Seriously, JP MorganChase got 1.4 billion back in 2010, Bank Of America made 4.4 billion and got back 1.9 billion and they too got some of the bail out dough, like almost 1 trillion (how much is a trillion?). That GE company has made 26 billion in the last 5 years and got back 1.4 billion! And I am not joking with this last one either, the US company that made the most cash, around 19 billion in one year (2009) was Exxon and they got back a check for 156 million freaking dollars. We are not talking about motherfuckers not paying their fair share, we are talking about motherfuckers not paying their fair share and their flesh eating gerbil lawyers/accountants/lobbyists robbing the US government blind.
So this has gotten me to think about what we get for our taxes. Like is it me or does it seem like it's not that much? I'm not poor enough to get free cheese or vaccinations. I'm really even not that into government services and could live without them if I had to. I mean all I really want is to get my mail (or my neighbors as he gets Playboy each month), go to a park sometimes, drop by the library to check out DVD's, buy burgers that won't kill me, fly on a plane once or twice a year without crashing into another plane, have someone handy to put out another fire in my apartment, a group of people to stop anyone from robbing or beating me up, another group of people to fight against those who might want to bomb American Samoa or Guam, maybe get another Pell grant to go to community college one more time, make sure they keep sending social security checks to my grandma Rose as she still gives me cash on birthdays, keep letting my uncle Jerry who was in the Viet Nam war get his pills for free from that VA place cuz he is really mean without them, if something terrible happens where I live I might need those FEMA clowns (even if they put me in a concentration camp it would beat living in a pup tent somewhere), that place where they print money needs to stay open in case I suddenly get rich I want fresh crisp new Franklins, and oh yeah, how about at least sorta clean air. That ought to do it. Is that too much to ask for? I don't think so.
Thank god I'm not like all the losers who have their hand out, begging Uncle Sam to save them whenever things get tough. My parents raised me right I guess. If someone got sick in all those western's I watched on tv as a kid (my old man still loves them) they poured some gun powder on what was bleeding, took a belt of whiskey and they were fine. You know what is going to bring this country down, it's not going to be terrorists or Russian mail order brides, nope, it's going to be the people you know who take and take and take from the government. That's why we are so lucky that we have the Tea Party right now to lead the fight to fix this train wreck. Without them you know the liberals would try and raise taxes on the rich (which I'm pretty sure I'm going to be real soon) to get us out of the ditch. Don't they know that every time you take a dollar away from a millionaire he has one less dollar? They need their dollars just in case something bad happens like the transmission on the car goes out or a pipe breaks in the upstairs bathroom, junk like that. Everyone feels a lot better in this country when they know that people with a lot of money can still have a lot of money no matter what. It's what we are all about as Americans.
So the next time you hear a politician babble on about "safety nets" and the "less fortunate' hold on to your wallets. This country was never supposed to hold 300 million people. What's the problem if we shrunk down to maybe 175 million? Still enough to fill NFL stadium's, keep fast food places around (except maybe Sonic) and listen to talk radio. We would survive just fine. Don't let them fool you with all their scary talk about survival of the fittest cuz what's so scary about that anyway? In the jungle the lion lives and the baby zebra dies. That's life. Anyway, I gotta go now as there's a killer sale at Safeway on pigs feet (with a Club Card). Later.
MY P.O.V. by Spike Jensen
Thanks, Spike!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Misty morning, mostly sunny afternoon.
Branching Out
Grammy Museum
A Grammy museum will be built in Mississippi, the hub of the Delta blues.
Bob Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, announced Thursday that the museum's first branch outside California will be built in Cleveland, Miss.
"The state of Mississippi is the cradle of American music," Santelli said.
He announced the project in Jackson during the annual meeting of the Mississippi Economic Council, a state chamber of commerce. He received a standing ovation from Gov. Haley Barbour and more than 1,000 business people.
Grammy Museum
Inspires Libyan Rebels
Rap Music
Libyan rebel fighter Jaad Jumaa Hashmi cranks up the volume on his pickup truck's stereo when he heads into battle against Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
He looks for inspiration from a growing cadre of amateur rappers whose powerful songs have helped define the revolution.
The music captures the anger and frustration young Libyans feel at decades of repressive rule under Gadhafi, driving the 27-year-old Hashmi forward even though the heavy machine gun bolted on the back of his truck - and other weapons in the rebel arsenal - are no match for Gadhafi's heavy artillery.
"It captures the youths' quest for freedom and a decent life and gives us motivation," Hashmi said as he sat in his truck on the outskirts of the front line city of Ajdabiya. He was listening to "Youth of the Revolution," which the rap group Music Masters wrote just days after the uprising began in mid-February.
"Moammar, get out, get out, game over! I'm a big, big soldier!" sang 20-year-old Milad Faraway, who started Music Masters with his friend and neighbor, 22-year-old Mohammed Madani, at the end of 2010.
Rap Music
Transferring From Brown
Emma Watson
A spokeswoman for Harry Potter star Emma Watson says she will be transferring from Brown University to another university in the autumn.
Vanessa Davies denied reports that the 21-year-old actress was "bullied out" of the Rhode Island university, saying there was no truth in reports by a number of online publications who cited classmates and "insiders".
Davies said Saturday that Watson, who plays Hermione in the wizard movie series, has decided to pursue a different course not offered at Brown.
She added that the star "has absolutely loved her time at Brown" and made many good friends there.
Emma Watson
Draws Chuckles And Frowns
EU 'Presidentor'
It's a script drawing laughs and frowns among European Union veterans: Arnold $chwarzenegger, EU president, chairing summits next to Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and David Cameron.
News that the Austrian-born former "Governator" of California was advised to seek the EU presidency has brought smiles to the staid corridors of Brussels, but also exasperation about the EU's image in the United States.
"It gave me a pretty good laugh," Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgian prime minister and head of the European Parliament's Liberal group, told AFP.
Turning serious, he sighed that it "shows a total lack of knowledge of Europe," noting it must be confusing for Americans to know who's at the helm when the EU has a European Council president and a European Commission president, each of whom tries to rival the top national figures.
Joerg Leichtfried, a fellow Austrian Social Democrat member of the European Parliament, was less amused, saying talk of $chwarzenegger bidding for the European Union presidency feels "scurrilous."
EU 'Presidentor'
Still Trying To Fix Computer Problems
Amazon
Amazon.com is still trying to restore computers used by other websites as an outage stretched into a third day.
Besides selling books and DVDs, Amazon.com Inc. rents out space on computers that run other websites and online services. One of its data centers in Virginia began having problems on Thursday morning.
Amazon said Saturday that it is making progress fixing the problem, but more slowly than it had hoped. News-sharing site Reddit appeared to be functioning again. On its website, Amazon said it removed some bottlenecks that prevented connections from its Virginia center, but an additional issue was holding up restoring all remaining connections. The company's so-called "cloud' services in Northern California are operating normally.
No one knows for sure how many people have been inconvenienced, but the services affected are used by millions of people.
Amazon
NY Case Underscores Privacy Dangers
Wi-Fi
Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of "pedophile!" and "pornographer!" stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn't need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.
That new wireless router. He'd gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.
"We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night," the man's lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, "Doldrum."
Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. Their advice: Password-protect your wireless router.
Plenty of others would agree. The Sarasota, Fla. man, for example, who got a similar visit from the FBI last year after someone on a boat docked in a marina outside his building used a potato chip can as an antenna to boost his wireless signal and download an astounding 10 million images of child porn, or the North Syracuse, N.Y., man who in December 2009 opened his door to police who'd been following an electronic trail of illegal videos and images. The man's neighbor pleaded guilty April 12.
Wi-Fi
States Blast Endorsed Drink
Snoop Dogg
Fifteen US states have slammed a drink endorsed by hip-hop star Snoop Dogg as a high-alcohol "binge in a can," urging the product be taken off the market for glamorizing heavy drinking and targeting underage Americans.
State officials led by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wrote a stinging letter Thursday to Illinois-based Pabst Brewing Company, maker of fruit-flavored malt beverage "Blast by Colt 45," urging the beer giant to lower the 12 percent alcohol content.
Madigan's office said the high alcohol content of a 23.5-ounce (700-milliliter) can of Blast makes it equivalent to drinking an entire six-pack of American beer.
An advertisement for the brew has Snoop Dogg saying "What a blast, huh!?"
Snoop Dogg
Scientists Fret Over BP Funds
Gulf Research
Scientists say it is taking far too long to dole out millions of dollars in BP funds for badly needed Gulf oil spill research, and it could be too late to assess the crude's impact on pelicans, shrimp and other species by the time studies begin.
The spring nesting and spawning season is a crucial time to get out and sample the reproduction rates, behavior and abundance of species, all factors that could be altered by last year's massive spill. Yet no money has been made available for this year, and it could take months to determine which projects will be funded.
"It's like a murder scene," said Dana Wetzel, an ecotoxicologist at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida. "You have to pick up the evidence now."
BP PLC had pledged $500 million - $50 million a year over 10 years - to help scientists study the spill's impact and forge a better understanding of how to deal with future spills. The first $50 million was handed out in May 2010 to four Gulf-based research institutes and to the National Institutes of Health.
Rita Colwell, a University of Maryland scientist who chairs the board overseeing the money, said the protocol for distributing the remaining $450 million would be announced Monday at the National Press Club Washington. After that, scientists will be allowed to submit proposals, but it could take months for research to be chosen.
Gulf Research
Weekend Box Office
'Rio'
Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg's talking birds have edged out Tyler Perry's sass-talking grandma at the weekend box office.
Hathaway and Eisenberg's animated family adventure "Rio" took in $26.8 million to remain the No. 1 movie for the second-straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" debuted a close second with $25.8 million, another solid opening for writer-director Perry, who also stars as boisterous, opinionated grandma Madea.
Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson's circus romance "Water for Elephants" premiered in third-place with $17.5 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Rio," $26.8 million.
2. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family," $25.8 million.
3. "Water for Elephants," $17.5 million.
4. "Hop," $12.5 million.
5. "Scream 4," $7.2 million.
6. "African Cats," $6.4 million.
7. "Soul Surfer," $5.6 million.
8. "Insidious," $5.4 million.
9. "Hanna," $5.3 million.
10. "Source Code," $5.1 million.
'Rio'
In Memory
Marie-France Pisier
French New Wave cinema muse Marie-France Pisier was found dead in her swimming pool in the south of France on Sunday. She was 66 years old.
The investigating magistrate in the Mediterranean city of Toulon, near her villa at Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, said her husband found her body in the pool at around 4:00 am.
The cause of death is being investigated, but foul play is not suspected, the prosecutor said.
The actress had been due to travel to the Cannes Film Festival next month for a homage to leading French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Pisier's acting career began in 1961 after New Wave director Francois Truffaut saw her in a family photo taken in Nice.
Truffaut directed her in her first film, "Antoine and Colette", one of five short films that made up the 1962 omnibus "Love at Twenty".
She went on to play for renowned filmmakers Luis Bunuel, Jacques Rivette and especially Andre Techine.
Pisier won two Cesar awards -- the French equivalent of the Oscars -- for best supporting actress in Techine films, "Cousin, Cousine" in 1976 and "Barocco" in 1977.
She played opposite Belmondo in the 1982 action comedy "L'as des as".
Her performance in "Cousin, Cousine" and the film's success in the United States took her to Hollywood, where she starred in the 1978 romantic thriller "The Other Side of Midnight".
Marie-France Pisier
In Memory
Nawang Gombu
Sherpa mountaineer Nawang Gombu, the youngest on Sir Edmund Hillary's climbing team that first scaled Mount Everest in 1953, died on Sunday at his Indian home at the foot of the Himalayas. He was 79.
Friends and family were at Gombu's bedside when he died after a brief illness in Darjeeling, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) north of Kolkata, his son Kursung Phinjo Gombu said.
The first person to summit Everest twice, Gombu was considered one of the last of the so-called "Tigers of the Snow" - a small group of Sherpa mountaineers who scaled the Himalayas to bring fame and prestige to their ethnic community that originates from the mountains of eastern Tibet and Nepal.
Gombu was about 21 when he joined his uncle Tenzing Norgay and Hillary on the famous 1953 expedition, but he did not reach the top of the world's highest mountain until 10 years later when he guided the first American expedition led by mountaineer Jim Whittaker to the summit. The 1963 expedition members were then invited to the White House, where Gombu placed a traditional white katha-style scarf around the neck of President John F. Kennedy.
Gombu achieved fame two years later as the first to summit Everest twice, when he guided an Indian team to the top. He is also credited with pioneering dozens of new routes through the Himalayas and helping to open the region to tourists and trekkers seeking new and increasingly extreme climbing challenges.
Born and raised in Tibet, the young Gombu migrated with his family to neighboring Nepal before finally settling in Darjeeling. He began working as a Mountaineering Institute instructor when the adventure school was set up in 1954 and later served as director of field training when his uncle retired. He and Norgay had been among the first Sherpas to complete a Swiss mountain guide course in 1954.
Gombu's career includes numerous Indian and international awards including a Coronation Medal from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and a Hubbard Medal from the National Geographic Society for his climbing feats.
He is survived by his sister, his wife Sita, his son, four daughters and nine grandchildren. A funeral is planned on Thursday in Darjeeling.
Nawang Gombu
In Memory
Huey Meaux
Huey P. Meaux, who discovered recording artists Doug Sahm and Barbara Lynn before scandal and prison ended Meaux's career, has died. He was 82.
Meaux's nephew, Larry Meaux Jr., says his uncle died Saturday morning of multiple organ failure at his Southeast Texas home in Winnie, about 60 miles east of Houston
In addition to discovering Barbara Lynn and San Antonio-born singer-songwriter Doug Sahm, Meaux revived the recording career of Freddy Fender. Meaux produced Fender's chart-topper "Before the Next Teardrop Falls".
In 1996, police raided Meaux's studio in Houston and found hundreds of videotapes and photos of him having sex with underage girls. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a teenage girl and other charges. He was released four years ago.
Huey Meaux
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
