Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Fantasy Politics
Fantasy Politics is a fun opportunity for you to build a team of national politicians and pundits and get points from their real life actions. Our 20+ different Power Score™ scoring criteria are based on everything from polling to social media followers. See how smart you really are.
Marc Dion: Stranger in a Fat Land (Creators Syndicate)
"Bass ackwards," my old man would say, using a polite '50s locution to describe my way of going through life.
Mike Lux: "'Lord of the Flies'? In Abundance" (Huffington Post)
I guess the good news for Romney in the bullying story is that it will help with solidifying Republican base voters who cheer the idea of people dying because of lack of health insurance, boo a gay soldier, and laugh and applaud in delight when people say things like "in nature, the lions eat the weak.
Jason Horowitz: Mitt Romney's prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents (Washington Post)
A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school's collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber's hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.
Don George: Lincoln's wisdom of leadership (from 2009)
I believe this is the way that it is with Obama and same sex marriage at the moment. Now is not quite the right moment for Obama to take up same sex marriage. It would be a premature struggle that would end as badly as Clinton's trying to lift the ban on gays in the military. However, I bet that when the timing is right, Obama will jump on recognizing same sex marriage at the federal level and it will be historic. The timing isn't quite right yet. I don't know when it will be right, but I bet it's coming soon.
Susan Estrich: Who's on First? (Creators Syndicate)
Depending on which poll you believe, Obama is either up by 3, 7 or 9 points, or down by 1, 3 or 5.
Marina Hyde: Holding out for a hero? Then look no further than your nearest plucky movie star (Guardian)
It's not just Dustin Hoffman who's prepared to save the world. There's a whole host of would-be celebrity superheroes out there.
Alex Pappademas: The Inquisition of Mr. Marvel (Grantland)
On the (surprisingly complicated) legacy of Stan Lee.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
wrote:
replied:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
Sea Stacks
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Yesterday the kid & I journeyed up to Hollywood to see a play, followed by an unplanned side-trip out to the Valley,
then a quick stop in Silver Lake, where we managed to miss my old pal, Erin from Seattle, who was in town for a couple of days.
Talks Peace
Mandy Patinkin
"Homeland" star Mandy Patinkin has made a small push for peace while filming episodes of the hit TV show in Israel.
Israel's Channel 10 Sunday showed footage of the cast filming near Jaffa and actress Claire Danes leaving a restaurant.
Patinkin is a supporter of the Israeli left that advocates a two state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an end to settlement building in the West Bank.
Patinkin said he wants his grandchildren "to be able to have Hummus with their neighbors in Hebron," a West Bank town.
Mandy Patinkin
Manuscript On The Road
'On the Road'
The 36-metre long original scroll of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" left the United States Friday to go on show in France, where a new film version of the cult novel will premiere in Cannes next week.
The prized manuscript is to go on display in Paris for three months from May 16, the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival where "On the Road" by Brazilian director Walter Salles is one of 22 films competing for the Palme d'Or.
The then 29-year-old Kerouac famously wrote up the beat generation novel in a three-week sitting in April 1951, typing continuously on to a 36-metre (120-foot) roll of tracing paper sheets that he cut to size and taped together.
The first nine metres of the scroll, which the Indianapolis Colts football team owner Jim Irsay acquired for 2.5 million dollars -- will be unfurled for public viewing at the Paris museum of letters and manuscripts.
'On the Road'
Given Freedom Of London Borough
Michael Caine
Oscar-winner Michael Caine Saturday received the freedom of the London borough of Southwark, where the veteran British actor grew up.
The 79-year-old received the honour in a ceremony at St George's Cathedral, not far from the Elephant and Castle district where he spent his childhood.
"I've received awards before, but this is so personal, because it's about where I grew up," said Caine, known for his distinctive London accent.
"I come from here. I did my first acting in a youth club here, an amateur dramatic society. I'm part of what this place is."
Michael Caine
350 Years
Mr Punch
Dozens of puppeteers gathered in central London on Sunday to celebrate 350 years of the Punch and Judy show, an anarchic English seaside entertainment known for its slapstick and casual violence.
On the second of two days of festivities, Punch and Judy men and women -- known as "professors" -- took their hand puppets on a procession in London's Covent Garden, staged shows for hundreds of children and held a church service with the red-nosed Mr Punch in the pulpit.
"Punch and Judy pokes fun at all the establishment, but it's got a lot of heart," said Maggie Pinhorn, organiser of Sunday's events, which commemorate the first recorded mention of Punch and Judy by diarist Samuel Pepys.
The show, performed by a single puppeteer in a striped booth, features the outrageous Mr Punch, who initially appears happy with his wife Judy and their baby before things go downhill when he is asked to babysit.
Punch fights off his opponents -- who can also include a devil, a doctor and a hangman -- using a stick, the original "slapstick", in a story descended from the Italian Commedia dell'Arte and its long-nosed character Pulcinella.
Mr Punch
Founder Arrested In Germany
Sea Shepherd
The founder of conservation group Sea Shepherd, which annually disrupts Japan's whale hunt, has been arrested in Frankfurt for extradition to Costa Rica, according to the organisation.
Paul Watson is in a German jail after being detained Sunday on charges stemming from a high seas confrontation over shark finning in 2002.
A media report in Australia, citing Costa Rican reports, said he also faced an outstanding warrant for attempted murder during the same incident.
The specific "violation of ships traffic" incident took place in Guatemalan waters when Sea Shepherd encountered an illegal shark finning operation, run by a Costa Rican ship called the Varadero, it added.
It claimed that while escorting the Varadero back to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew.
Sea Shepherd
Russia Church Feud
Pussy Riot
The skinny dissident is thrown headfirst into a police van by camouflage-clad officers. Nearby, a dozen bearded men bearing Russian Orthodox crosses and wearing skull-and-crossbones T-shirts cheer on the cops.
It's the latest flare-up in a growing feud pitting supporters of the influential church, which sees itself as the nation's spiritual guide, against opponents who say the church has sold out to Vladimir Putin - becoming an arm of his regime more interested in gold than souls.
Roman Dobrokhotov was on his way to Christ the Savior Cathedral, Russia's biggest church, to protest against the arrest of members of female punk rock band Pussy Riot. They were jailed in early March for belting out an anti-Putin "punk prayer" in front of the church's gilded altar wearing garishly colored balaclavas.
The church's leader, Patriarch Kirill, cried blasphemy. Critics claimed church-state collusion was keeping the women locked up.
The church's backing for the Kremlin became so fawning that it consecrated new nuclear missiles as "Russia's guardian angels" and urged young Russians to volunteer for military service in Chechnya. Shortly before the Pussy Riot escapade, Kirill met with Putin and praised his two presidential terms as "God's miracle." In return, Putin said that "the state still owes much to the Church."
Pussy Riot
Topless Activist Grabs Soccer Cup
Femen
A Ukrainian women's rights activist stripped to the waist and seized the Euro-2012 soccer trophy while it was on public display in Kiev on Saturday in a protest against the forthcoming month-long championship.
The young woman, 23-year-old Yulia Kovpachik, is a member of the Kiev-based Femen women's rights group which believes the Euro-2012 soccer tournament being played in Ukraine next month will encourage sex tourism.
Kovpachik strode up to the silver, 60 centimeter (two feet) high trophy, which was on display as a tourist attraction in an open air exhibition in central Kiev, ostensibly to be photographed alongside it like hundreds of other sightseers.
But she then pulled down her red T-shirt to reveal the words "Fuck Euro 2012" scrawled on her torso. As she grabbed hold of the cup with both hands, she was seized by security guards, who appeared to have had advanced warning of the protest.
The protest appeared to be the first action in a campaign against the championship by Femen which regularly stages bare-breast protests in Ukraine - and sometimes beyond - to highlight what it sees as political injustice, social abuse and the exploitation of women in Ukraine.
Femen
Immigration Blowback
Alabama
Some Alabama farmers say they are planting less produce rather than risk having tomatoes and other crops rot in the fields a second straight year because of labor shortages linked to the state's crackdown on illegal immigration.
Keith Dickie said he and other growers in the heart of Alabama's tomato country didn't have any choice but to reduce acreage amid fears there won't be enough workers to pick the delicate fruit.
Some farmers lacked enough hands to harvest crops because immigrants fled the state after Gov. Robert Bentley signed the immigration law last fall, and some told The Associated Press they fear the same thing could happen this year.
It's unclear how many farmers are changing their planting patterns this year because of the law and whether consumers might see food shortages on the produce aisle at supermarkets. Some growers say they aren't making any changes from years past, and neither the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries nor the Alabama Farmers Federation has compiled statistics yet for the year.
Alabama
Favor Obama
Weary Warriors
Mack McDowell likes to spend time at the local knife and gun show "drooling over firearms," as he puts it. Retired after 30 years in the U.S. Army, he has lined his study with books on war, framed battalion patches from his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, a John Wayne poster, and an 1861 Springfield rifle from an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
But when it comes to the 2012 presidential election, Master Sergeant McDowell is no hawk.
In South Carolina's January primary, the one-time Reagan supporter voted for Ron Paul "because of his unchanging stand against overseas involvement." In November, McDowell plans to vote for the candidate least likely to wage "knee-jerk reaction wars."
Disaffection with the politics of shock and awe runs deep among men and women who have served in the military during the past decade of conflict. Only 32 percent think the war in Iraq ended successfully, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. And far more of them would pull out of Afghanistan than continue military operations there.
If the election were held today, Obama would win the veteran vote by as much as seven points over Romney, higher than his margin in the general population.
Weary Warriors
Bull Donated
White Buffalo
An Oregon peacemaker said she's so upset by the apparent slaughter of a rare white buffalo calf -deemed "the hope of all nations" by a Lakota Sioux rancher last year - that her organization is donating a white buffalo bull from its herd.
Arby Little Soldier, who owns the Lakota Ranch near the North Texas town of Greenville, said he had hoped the 3,000-pound gift would arrive during a memorial celebration this weekend that was initially intended to celebrate Lightning Medicine Cloud's first birthday, which was May 12. The calf was found dead nearly two weeks ago.
Cynthia Hart-Button, the bull's caretaker and the president of the Sacred World Peace Alliance, is tight-lipped about the animal's exact arrival time because of transportation and security concerns. The organization claims to have a record 14 white buffalo on its sanctuary in central Oregon.
Hart-Button said she hopes the bull, named Chief Hiawatha, will produce another white calf for the Lakota Ranch. The bull will turn 7 on May 16.
She said Hiawatha has been like a guard dog, growling when someone comes near who "is not good in spirit."
White Buffalo
Weekend Box Office
'The Avengers'
"The Avengers" is taking a page out of Superman's comic book - flying faster than a speeding bullet to the billion-dollar mark at the box office.
The superhero blockbuster took in $103.2 million to lead for a second-straight weekend, raising its domestic total to $373.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
With $95.4 million more overseas, "The Avengers" lifted its international receipts to $628.9 million and a worldwide haul of just over $1 billion, only 19 days after it began rolling out in some markets.
"The Avengers" easily fended off Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's vampire romp "Dark Shadows," which had a so-so domestic start of $28.8 million to finish a distant No. 2.
That's far below such past Depp-Burton collaborations as "Alice in Wonderland," which opened with $116.1 million, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which debuted with $56.2 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Avengers," $103.2 million ($95.4 million international).
2. "Dark Shadows," $28.8 million ($36.7 million international).
3. "Think Like a Man," $6.3 million.
4. "The Hunger Games," $4.4 million ($2.4 million international).
5. "The Lucky One," $4.1 million ($2.5 million international).
6. "The Pirates! Band of Misfits," $3.2 million ($2.2 million international).
7. "The Five-Year Engagement," $3.1 million ($1.7 million international).
8. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," $2.7 million ($1.9 million international).
9. "Chimpanzee," $1.6 million.
10. "Girl in Progress," $1.4 million.
'The Avengers'
In Memory
Donald 'Duck' Dunn
Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bassist who helped create the gritty Memphis soul sound at Stax Records in the 1960s as part of the legendary group Booker T. and the MGs and contributed to such classics as "In the Midnight Hour," ''Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," died Sunday at 70.
Dunn, whose legacy as one of the most respected session musicians in the business also included work with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd's Blues Brothers as well as with Levon Helm, Eric Clapton, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, died while on tour in Tokyo.
News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep.
Dunn was born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1941, and according to the biography on his official website, was nicknamed for the cartoon character by his father. His father, a candy maker, did not want him to be a musician.
"He thought I would become a drug addict and die. Most parents in those days thought music was a pastime, something you did as a hobby, not a profession," Dunn said.
But by the time Dunn was in high school, he was in a band with Cropper.
Cropper left to become a session player at Stax, the Memphis record company that would become known for its soul recordings and artists such as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes and the Staples Singers.
Dunn soon followed Cropper and joined the Stax house band, also known as Booker T. and the MGs.
It was one of the first racially integrated soul groups, with two whites (Dunn on bass and Cropper on guitar) and two blacks (Booker T. Jones on organ and Al Jackson on drums), and was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The group had its heyday in the 1960s as backup for various Stax artists. Dunn played on Redding's "Respect" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Coming" and Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour."
Booker T. and the MGs had its own hits as well, including "Hang 'Em High," ''Soul-Limbo" and, before Dunn joined the band, the cool 1962 instrumental "Green Onions."
In the 1970s, the group's members drifted apart. Jackson was killed in Memphis in 1975 by an intruder in his home.
Cropper and Dunn reunited when they joined Aykroyd and Belushi's Blues Brothers band and appeared in the 1980 "Blues Brothers" movie.
"How could anybody not want to work with John and Dan? I was really kind of hesitant to do that show, but my wife talked me into it," Dunn said in a 2007 interview with Vintage Guitar magazine, "and other than Booker's band, that's the most fun band I've ever been in."
Dunn once said that he and Cropper were "like married people."
"I can look at him and know what he'll order for dinner," he said. "When we play music together we both know where we're going."
Dunn received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2007.
He is survived by his wife, June; a son, Jeff; and a grandchild, Michael, said Michael Leahy, Dunn's agent.
Donald 'Duck' Dunn
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
