'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Quick Thoughts
By Baron Dave Romm
Global warming: Until the right wingers start apologizing, they have no credibility. They denied that climate change was happening, or that it was bad, with religious fervor. It's the same red-faced, "damn it, I'm sure, how dare you question me?" stance they have on all issues, and how dreadfully wrong they are on global warming puts all their issues in doubt: The environment, Abortion, Immigration, Communism, tax cuts, Iraq, etc.
The Everyone Does It Defense is coming out in force. The shame of being a conservative has never been greater, and the far right is clenching their butt cheeks and pointing fingers. It's embarrassing to watch.
A few months ago, I was listening to Fox "News". (It was on continuously in the offices of conservative businessman and evangelical Christian who I happened to be working for at the time. He was a nice guy though a bad businessman, and his politics were ill-informed...) Fox was trying to grapple with the rise of MoveOn, a liberal/progressing grassroots movement which I support. The "fair and balanced" commentators spent several minutes desperately trying to say that MoveOn was very similar to the NRA. That's pretty stupid on the face of it: At best, the NRA is a single-issue organization whose political arm is an offshoot (if you'll pardon the expression) of their primary stated purpose. At worst, it's an organization run by anti-American gun nuts who encourage treasonous acts such as shooting the president, usually phrased as "a means of protection against oppressive government". An oppressive government that monitors your telephone calls, can throw you in jail without a warrant and lies about going to war... hmm... I guess they don't actually do what they say. Meanwhile, MoveOn is a member-driven political organization. They are trying to bring sanity back to the political process, and are having a modicum of success, though not as much success as the corrupt, big-money, tax dodging gun nuts making millions with no-bid contracts and fear-mongering. Fox is part of that fear-mongering, and their comparisons are odious.
On a message board I frequent, another comparison came up. I'd heard it before, but never had the chance to engage with someone gullible enough to believe it: They compared Michael Moore to Rush Limbaugh; Ann Coulter has come up in previous comparisons. The Everybody Does It defense comprises "Moore and Limbaugh are in the exact same class. They play fast and loose with the facts and the truth to make political points." Seen from the skewed perspective of the far right, I imagine this is true. From the perspective of journalistic integrity, this is laughable. Moore has class, honor and integrity while Limbaugh is a drug-addled tool of the sphincter conservatives. Moore went after people of all political persuasions in his two tv shows. That gave him gravitas and a larger budget. Long before he was making movies, I checked out what he was saying. He's not always dead on, and he's clearly got an opinion to share, but more often than not he's skewering the people who need skewering. The case in point: Shrub really screwed up before, during and after 9/11, and whining about minor details hurts Bush and those who think Bush is G-d far more than it takes the polish off Moore. The mistakes, when someone right-leaning source does more than spin on their own, have been answered on Moore's site. Meanwhile, Limbaugh has had a daily radio show for more than 20 years. He gets 3 1/2 hours a day to spew lies and hate, which Armed Forces Radio carries without any pretense of balance. Limbaugh goes out of his way to repeat the most disgusting, Rovian lies such as his harping on the false Iraq-Al Queda Connection. I felt really sad for the poster desperately trying to drag Michael Moore down to the level of Rush Limbaugh. It didn't work.
"Cut and Run" vs. "Sitting Duck". Republicans are once again desperately trying to get our brave men and women in uniform killed. The try to paint opposition to our continued presence in the quagmire of Iraq as "cut and run". This is a very powerful campaign tool to convince the weak minded. I think it's time to counter sound bite with another sound bite: Accuse those who have no exit strategy of a "sitting duck" mentality. Staying there, where we are not wanted and where people are gunning for us, is only going to get soldiers killed. They're needed elsewhere. Like New Orleans...
Nine-Commandment Christians on parade: Karl Rove. Karl Rove lied to the American people about his traitorous actions in outing CIA agent Valerie Plame. This may cost us dearly: Her knowledge of how nuclear materials are acquired by suspect governments has already affected how we are dealing with Iran. We know the Bush administration prefers the lie over the truth. Plame (and others) could have helped find the truth, and her life was put in danger by Karl Rove and Dick Cheney because he dared expose more Bush lies. Ah, but Rove apparently told the truth to the grand jury, so his treason didn't quite reach the level of, say, getting a blow job. He didn't swear false oaths, he merely bore false witness. Almost all Republicans do this: Lie and lie repeatedly, hanging on to the legalistic turn that they didn't like "under oath". For a group that wants to put huge stone monuments to the Ten Commandments, they don't think it applies to them. You wonder what other Commandments the far right rejects. Oh yeah, the one about not killing. Maybe they're down to eight...
Marvin Bush, brother to George W, was a principle in Securacom (since renamed Stratesec), a company that provided security for the World Trade Center and American Airlines. The company was run by Bush cousin Wirt Walker III. The contract to provide security ran out on Sept. 11, 2001. (Wikipedia entry on 9/11 conspiracy theories, other points of interest.) Marvin was also an advisor to HHC Insurance, which covered the WTC, and as Democracy Rising puts it, "Bush was a director at HCC, which has benefited financially from the 9-11 insurance bailout legislation passed by Congress at the instigation of the White House. The departure of Marvin from the HCC board was announced the same day, November 22, 2002, as the passage of the bill." Smirking Chimp archive of the American Reporter story, with much more detail. He's one of the many people connected to the Bush family and Bush administration who has made a lot of money from George W's incompetence.
I always find it amazing how the Bush family story has major plot elements that include some variant on the phrase, "and then he died suddenly". It's difficult to imagine that there has been a concerted effort to kill political enemies, but as the 9/11 Commission said, not anticipating terror attacks was a failure of imagination. If anyone knows how to kill someone and make it look like an accident, it would be the former head of the CIA with lots of Skull and Bones ties to experts in clandestine operations.
Briefly, a list of sudden deaths that helped the Bush family. Probably not complete. I won't try to connect the dots, but I'll mention the deaths and some speculation as to why you should care.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts being reworked. Recent radio programs can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Filling For Jay Marvin TODAY
Erin Hart
Erin Hart on
AM 760 June 26 and 30, July 3 and 4.
A quartet of shows coming up as Erin fills in for the vacationing Jay Marvin,
morning host on Boulder's Progressive Talk, AM 760, Monday, June 26th and Friday, 30th,
as well as Monday, July 3rd and Tuesday, the 4th, from 6am - 10am (MDT).
Celebrate what's left of our nation after the Bush administration by taking
our country back.
June 26th guests include: Bill Ritter, Colorado's gubernatorial candidate,
talks charity, gay and women's rights. And Big Ed Schultz checks in on
issues of the day.
We will no doubt discuss the arrest of the Miami 7. "Aspirational" not
"operational" terrorist-suspects who have to ask their FBI infiltrator and
informant for a van and a digital camera? Who exercise in Ninja outfits?
Anybody worried about overreach here? Anybody hear echoes of co-INTELPRO?
The war in Iraq has caused much ado in Congress--how does this affect YOU
and your choices in November? What is your exit strategy? Our war dead
totals 2517 as of this writing, martial law prevails in Baghdad.
That and so much more-please check out
erinhartshow.com for further details.
Adventure is everywhere. . .
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Annalee Newitz: Personal Surveillance Etiquette (AlterNet.org)
As more people buy phones like Treos, which keep extensive records of everyone who's ever called, I'm more confused by the corresponding etiquette.
Will Durst: The Party of No Ideas vs. the Party of Bad Ideas
Given the stupidity and corruption that have reigned in Washington the last five years, it seems like no ideas are better than what we have now.
LAURA A. LOCKE: San Francisco's Latest Innovation: Universal Health Care (time.com)
With an ambitious new plan, the city hopes to provide a nationwide model that grants health access to all
Logan Hill: The Very Good Girl (nymag.com)
The Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway struggles with her angelic disposition.
Roger Ebert: Answer Man
Q. Please help before it's too late! There is still time for the producers of the animated movie "Barnyard" to redub the soundtrack. No wonder Americans are becoming known as the world's stupidest people: apparently we don't even know that milk comes from mommies, not daddies. The brain trust behind this movie spent a fortune to animate "cows" with very prominent udders -- all of which are dubbed with MALE VOICES. Oh, the horror.
Compiled by Jim Emerson: Superheroes: Men in tights
Superheroes may have been born in comic books, but they were made for the movies. ... Below, Roger Ebert traces the development of the movie superhero from the birth of the modern era in 1978 to 2006's "Superman Returns." -- JE
Brent Hartinger: Who the #%*& Cares if Superman is "Gay"? (afterelton.com)
Remember that story last fall about how the bulge in Superman actor Brandon Routh's tights was so big that it had to be airbrushed down to avoid shocking viewers? You think that story wasn't deliberately concocted, or at least deliberately released, by someone thinking it would tease the gay audience?
Gregg Shapiro: Interview with Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds
The Sounds singer talks about their queer following and new cd, Dying To Say This To You.
Julia Bloch: Interview with Poet Amy King (curvemag.com)
Lambda Literary Award finalist Amy King's Antidotes for an Alibi (BlazeVOX) offers a poetic vision that is as styled as a modern cityscape and as intimate as the details that often shape the poems' otherwise metaphysical reach.
Bill Moyers: Faith & Reason (beliefnet.com)
In his latest PBS series, the veteran journalist talks to writers about faith, reason, and religious conflicts around the world.
Steven Waldman and Laura Sheahen: Hell (beliefnet.com)
Conservatives are more confident than liberals that they'll avoid hell--and that they know someone who won't. Liberals are less confident about their own chances of escaping hell and less sure they can identify the damned. These are a few results from an unusual online survey Beliefnet conducted this month among 10,000 of its members.
BartCop's Worst President Ever Shirt
Video: More Than Just a Number (peacetakescourage.com)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
CREAMY LINGUS
Purple Gene
CA Gubernatorial Election
Purple Gene's inside scoop on this Novembers Gubernatorial election in California:
At last…we have choices here in California…everyone thinks that it will be State Treasurer Phil Angelides - the Democrat…… running against Arnold $chwarzenegger the Republican…but I have breaking news !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Late last night I was watching the HOT Network….a little movie called "On the Rise" (2006) starring Randy Spears, Katie Morgan, Cindi Crawford and ……Mary Carey….the 5'-9"….36DD"-24"-36" former ballet dancer turned Porn Movie starlet who actually ran for Governor a couple years ago when Gray Davis was recalled by the right wing media slime machine…well she lost to That Action Hero Arnie…but she actually garnered 11,000 votes…….
I just got off the phone with her and she's thinking of running again!
Imagine our choices NOW
Phil Angelides……the Greek Geek !
Arnold $chwarzenegger ….the Austrian ASS… (see video clip)
Mary Carey…..the Porn BOOB…
Being a movie buff…I am may throw my vote to Mary simply because of her great resume of film roles……
"Asses in the Air # 4" (2002)
"Lesbian Big Boob Bangeroo # 2" (2003)
"Busty Dildo Lovers # 4" (2003)
"Rub the Muff # 6" (2003)
"Mary Carey Rules # 5" (2004)
"Kick Ass Chicks # 21: Squirters" (2005)
What's the "Assinator" have to top that?
"The Villain" (1979)
"Raw Deal" (1986)
"True Lies" (1994)
"AC/DC: Family Jewels" (2003) (he played in "Big Gun")
And then there's Phil…..
OK so I went to dinner with Mr. Angelides…..and he does know how to balance the books (State Treasurer)…..He cares about the firemen and cops and teachers and believe it or not about the environment….I know he needs new glasses and a hipper haircut and a pair of FANGS to bite Arnold in the neck .....and don't buy into anything that the Karl Rove attack dogs hired by Arnie to "Swift Boat" Phil are going to say about him…it will all be "True Lies"!
So if you're tired of politics as usual, just go watch the Nazi in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" (2003) and then go watch Mary in "Best Breasts in the Biz" (2005) and then….and I mean this sincerely……go out and stump for Phil Angelides and leave the 2 other Show Biz BOOBS to disappear into oblivion!
Purple Gene says vote for the Greek Geek and save our State from the ASSinator!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sun never broke through, keeping it 30° cooler than further inland.
Had a great time out in the Valley last night.
Added a new flag - Grenada 
Changes Ahead
MSGOP
If NBC's selection of Dan Abrams, an on-air anchor, as the new day-to-day boss of MSNBC left employees of that all-news cable channel gasping in shock - and it did - the next steps in the reshaping of the long-struggling network are likely to generate at least a few low whistles of surprise.
One senior NBC executive said, "There will probably be one to two hours of long-form taped shows every night in prime time." The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because the decisions were not final and would affect some of the prime-time hosts, like Rita Cosby, Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough, now working on the channel.
Two of the channel's hosts, Chris Matthews of "Hardball" and Keith Olbermann of "Countdown," clearly will not be affected, because MSNBC's managers consistently cite those programs as long-sought breakthroughs.
MSGOP
Studio Bosses Face Unwanted Attention
Anthony Pellicano
Studio bosses Brad Grey and Ron Meyer have scaled Hollywood's ruthless ranks to become two of the most powerful men in the entertainment industry.
On their way to the top, both enlisted the help of private eye Anthony Pellicano, who is now accused in a federal indictment of wiretapping celebrities and others to dig up dirt to help clients in legal disputes.
Federal authorities have looked into Pellicano's links to the two executives as part of their ongoing investigation. Neither has been charged, but the unwanted attention has come at a critical time.
Both executives have been questioned by the FBI and testified before a federal grand jury. They denied wrongdoing.
Anthony Pellicano
Royal Send-Off
Julio Bocca
Never let it be said that the ballet world doesn't know how to give a proper send-off - especially when it's for someone as beloved as the passionate Julio Bocca, retiring from American Ballet Theatre after 20 years.
The dashing Argentine was given a hero's farewell on Thursday after his final performance, as Des Grieux in "Manon," alongside his longtime partner, Alessandra Ferri. The sold-out audience at the Metropolitan Opera House enveloped him in cheers for 20 minutes, as flowers were tossed at his feet and gobs of glittery confetti filled the air.
A who's-who of ABT luminaries filled the stage, from former stars Cynthia Gregory and Susan Jaffe to current principals Jose Manuel Carreno, Angel Corella, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy and Bocca's other fellow dancers. They plied him with hugs, kisses and bouquets, but he still wanted something else: a beer. An Argentine beer. And so they brought him a bottle onstage.
Julio Bocca
Baby News
Krall & Costello
Diana Krall and husband Elvis Costello announced Sunday that the jazz singer is pregnant and due in December - just in time for their third wedding anniversary.
A spokesman confirmed the pregnancy.
Krall & Costello
Wedding News
Cross - Mahoney
Marcia Cross and stockbrocker Tom Mahoney have tied the knot, according to published reports.
The "Desperate Housewives" star and Mahoney were married Saturday in San Gabriel, Calif.
About 200 guests attended the wedding at the Church of Our Savior Episcopal Parish, People magazine reported.
Cross - Mahoney
Hometown Holds Vote To Change Name
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The people of Aracataca, where Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born and first heard the ghost stories that would inform the "magical realism" of his novels, decide on Sunday whether to change the town's name to honor him.
A banner stretching across the road leading to this impoverished community in Colombia's northern banana-growing region already takes the new name for granted, saying "Welcome to the magical world of Macondo."
Macondo, as the Nobel laureate's fans know, is the name of the fictitious town where his masterwork, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" unfolds.
In a move to jump-start the economy with tourist dollars, Mayor Pedro Sanchez is sponsoring a referendum on Sunday on changing the town's name to Aracataca-Macondo, a proposal some here call an offensive gimmick.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Japanese Look To Export
Octopus Dumplings
If Morio Sase has his way, hungry teenagers around the world will soon be snacking on something more exotic than McDonald's hamburgers: takoyaki, or octopus dumplings.
With more than 350 takeout stores in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan already, Sase's Gindaco chain is one of a barrage of fast-food companies bringing lowbrow Japanese chow to overseas markets. Its first U.S. store is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2007, and it hopes to open 20 stores in California by 2010.
Hand-grilled in iron molds by cooks behind a large display window, the octopus dumplings are made from wheat flour paste mixed with fish stock, spring onions and boiled octopus chunks, and drizzled with a sweet sauce, dried bonito flakes and seaweed.
Octopus Dumplings
Orphaned Parma Wallaby
A.J.
When a baby wallaby's mother died of a bacterial infection last month, a zoo biologist volunteered to become its foster mother.
A.J., the orphaned Parma wallaby, grew accustomed to Jennifer Donovan's touch and smell. Donovan fashioned a makeshift pouch to make the 7-month-old feel comfortable, but she needed a better way to carry the wallaby around.
So, Donovan, a 34-year-old senior staff biologist at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, called her own mother, Toni, and told her to start sewing.
The result was a fleece-lined "joey pouch" Donovan hangs around her neck.
A.J.
School Lunch Debate
'Fluffernutters'
When it comes to food, Boston is best known for baked beans and clam chowder. But this week, state legislators have engaged in robust debate on Marshmallow Fluff -- a locally made, sugary spread.
State Sen. Jarrett Barrios started the tempest in a lunch box when he learned that his son's Cambridge grammar school cafeteria offered Fluff-and-peanut butter sandwiches daily.
In a nation where child obesity rates have more than doubled in the past 25 years, Barrios fretted that was not a healthy option. Monday he proposed a law that would allow schools to serve the "Fluffernutters" only once a week.
'Fluffernutters'
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