'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)
By Baron Dave Romm
Read this book.
Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, Al Franken's fifth book, is exactly the book I'd wish to write if I were a comedian, Harvard fellow and friend to Paul Wellstone. It's exactly the book that should be mandatory for everyone who listens to -- and believes without question -- George W. Bush, Bernie Goldberg, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Fox News, etc etc. And it's exactly the book thet will be attacked, sued and/or ignored by everyone who listens to -- and believes without question -- George W. Bush, Bernie Goldberg, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Fox News, etc etc. They've been outed.
Getting a liberal book published in an increasingly hostile conservative atmosphere has to be counted as a miracle. Franken researches all his facts using a team of unpaid Harvard grad students, and manages to be funny and poignant at the same time. His comments about the disgusting Republican smear campaign over the Wellstone Memorial are especially on target. When he spoke here in the Twin Cities recently, he could barely get through his comments without breaking out into tears, even a year later. The NTSB investigation into Wellstone's fatal crash has not come to any firm conclusions. What we do know is that several hatemongers lied about the memorial and the conservative news media picked up on the lies and repeated them over and over. Al doesn't forgive them, and neither do I. Neither should you.
Franken is his usual funny self. The book is enormously helped because you can hear his voice from his tv appearances. His dry wit and self-deprecating humor are nice bridges while going from liar to chickenhawk and back. He shows that he knows the New Testament better than Bush's supposed Biblical study group. He demonstrates several of the ways that liars lie. He ceaselessly flogs the right wing media elite, and the complacent news media that simply goes along with the lies deliberately planted by well-paid spin doctors.
Frankly, Al, I'd go a bit further. One of the Ten Commandments is Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness, yet the very people who profess the highest adherence to the church are the ones breaking this Commandment the most. The religious right is practicing the most shameful sort of moral relativism.
Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) should be mandatory reading for everyone who will avoid it. The truth is a hard pill to swallow for hate radio and Fox News. Al Franken is more gentle then they deserve. Despite his anger, he doesn't descend to their level. Okay, sometimes he does. But not often, and when he does, it's funny and dead-on.
As important, it's a must book for everyone who discusses politics with dittoheads. I suspect you'll find fewer and fewer takers when you start citing Franken. Or else they'll just insult him and you. Probably behind your back. Laugh 'em off... but don't let them get away with lying.
And remember to vote. Using a paper ballot.
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, and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio here (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air, and I'm collecting extra-weird stuff for a possible CD compilation.
Reader Comment
Re: Pam Anderson Countdown
Hi Marty!
I strongly request that you remove the "Pamela Anderson Countdown" link from your page. It sent my laqptop into a meltdown. One brutal hard restart and a full Norton scan (results negative) later, I am OK.
- Fred
Thanks, Fred!
You were not the only one who had trouble with it.
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Suggestions
from Dooley
Hey Marty,
Looks like with Chimpagedden running loose we all better bone up on atomic bomb stuff. Have ya seen these?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Brisk, but sunny.
We have floor furnaces and they tend to collect lots of dust when they're not in use. So, every fall before they're fired up, they need to be vacuumed out, not just for safety's sake, but also the stench-factor.
The vacuum wasn't working properly and it took a couple of hours to pull it apart, then put it back together. Just love when little jobs blow up into major annoyances.
OTOH, it's nice & toasty here tonight.
One of the new kittens was adopted today. He went to a fine home out in San Berdo.
Tonight, Monday, CBS opens the night with a FRESH 'Yes, Dear', followed by a FRESH
'Still Standing', then a FRESH 'Raymond', followed by a FRESH '2½ Men', then
a FRESH 'CSI: Miami'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Ashley Judd, Sarah McLachlan, and "Survivor: Pearl Islands" evictee Shawn Cohen.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Peter Gallagher, Alexis Bledel, and Lucky Boys Confusion.
NBC starts the evening with a FRESH 'Fear Factor', followed by a FRESH 'Las Vegas', then the
Series Premiere of 'Average Joe'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Dana Carvey, Snoop Dogg, Chingy, and Ludacris.
On a traditional Monday-night RERUN Conan are Sylvester Stallone, Bill Bellamy, and Train.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Tito Ortiz, and Goldfrapp.
ABC has the traditional 'MNF'. On the east coast it's 'Jesus, Mary & Da Vinci With Elizabeth Vargas', then the game. On the left coast it's football first, then the pseudo-documentary.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Jamie Kennedy and 2003 World Series of Poker Champion Chris Moneymaker, with this week's guest co-host Andy Dick.
The WB offers the FRESH '7th Heaven', followed by a FRESH 'Everwood'.
Faux has a FRESH 'Joe Millionaire', followed by a FRESH 'Skin'.
UPN has a FRESH 'The Parkers', followed by a FRESH 'Eve', then a FRESH
'Girlfriends', followed by a FRESH 'Half & Half'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (John Ritter), 'Cold Case Files', and 'City Confidential'.
AMC offers the movie 'Ghost', followed by the movie 'Mary Reilly', then the movie 'Rosemary's Baby'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Hirst;
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - Bordon;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Northumberland;
[8pm] 'Murder in Mind' - Neighbor;
[9pm] 'The Vice' - Walking on Water;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Jane Seymour, Carol Smillie;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Marianne Faithful, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen;
[12am] 'The Vice' - Walking on Water;
[2am] 'Murder in Mind' - Neighbor;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Jane Seymour, Carol Smillie;
[3:30am] 'So Graham Norton' - Marianne Faithful, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen;
[4am] 'The Vice' - Walking on Water; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'West Wing', the movie 'La Bamba', and another 'West Wing'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Kyle Maclachan.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Mail Call', 'Guts & Bolts', and 'The Story Of The Screaming Eagles'.
SciFi is all 'Stargate SG-1' all night.
TCM -
[6am] 'Stella Dallas' (1937);
[8am] 'The Wolf Man' (1941);
[9:15am] 'Meet Me In St. Louis' (1944);
[11:15am] 'Immortal Battalion' (1944);
[12:45pm] 'Gaslight' (1944);
[2:45pm] 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek' (1944);
[4:30pm] 'Giant' (1956);
[8pm] 'As You Like It' (1936);
[10pm] 'Treasure Island' (1934);
[12am] 'Dracula' (1931);
[1:30am] 'Frankenstein' (1931);
[2:45am] 'Son of the Sheik' (1926) SILENT ; and
[4am] 'Tess of the Storm Country' (1922) SILENT . (ALL TIMES EST)
Retired television anchorman Walter Cronkite, left, does a yo-yo trick while Tom Smothers looks on during the arrivals at CBS's 75th anniversary celebration Sunday, Nov. 2, 2003, in New York.
Photo by Craig Blankenhorn
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Sitting Out November Sweeps For Reruns
'Bernie Mac'
Fans of "The Bernie Mac Show" will have to wait until the end of the November sweep for the return of Fox's edgy family comedy.
Meanwhile, NBC's freshman comedy "Coupling" reached the point of no return as the network officially canceled the racy sitcom Friday.
"Bernie Mac," originally slated in the Wednesday 9 p.m. slot, was moved in September to the plum post-"Simpsons" Sunday 8:30 p.m. period, with the third season of the comedy starring Mac scheduled to launch Sunday.
Now, the network will run repeats of "The Simpsons" in the 8:30 p.m. slot for the four weeks of the sweep, pushing the season premiere of "Bernie Mac" to Nov. 30.
For the current sweep, NBC has added three hours of repeats of its formidable "Law & Order" franchise a week in addition to the three regularly scheduled episodes.
'Bernie Mac'
Urges World to Help Rebuild Iraq
Sting
British rock star Sting on Sunday denounced the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and urged the world to help reconstruct the war-ravaged nation.
"I wasn't in favor of going into Iraq," the 52-year-old singer said at a news conference in Hong Kong promoting his latest album, "Sacred Love."
Sting said world leaders should now concentrate on picking up "the pieces" and giving the Iraqi people a normal life.
Sting's comments echoed Latin guitarist Carlos Santana's anti-war message late Saturday at a Hong Kong rock concert.
Ten songs into his 90-minute performance, Santana asked the crowd for 30 seconds of silence to condemn resident Bush's foreign policy, the English-language newspaper The South China Morning Post reported.
"We are the other side of America," Santana was quoted as saying before an audience of 13,000 people. "We do not go along with George Bush. We are here to accentuate peace and compassion on the planet. God bless humanity."
Sting
Receiving a memorial plaque, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, second left, shakes hands with Mohammad Maleki, a prominent political activist as Narges Mohammadi, right, wife of Taqi Rahmani, a prominent jailed political dissident, aplpauds, while Habibollah Peyman, a prominent political activist, looks on at the Amir Kabir university in Tehran, Iran, Wedenesday, Oct. 29, 2003. Shaking hands between unrelated men and women in public is a crime under Iranian laws and subject to jail and flogging punishment.
Photo by Vahid Salemi
Tuesday Night
Sundance Channel
Sundance Channel eyes the democratic process in an Election Day marathon of four documentaries.
This Tuesday lineup starts at 8 p.m. with "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election," a dissection of events in Florida before, during and after voting day three years ago, directed by Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler. At 9 p.m., "The Perfect Candidate" (directed by R.J. Cutler and David Van Taylor) follows Oliver North's 1994 campaign to unseat Democratic incumbent Chuck Robb — seven years after North admitted lying to Congress about his role in the Iran-Contra Affair. At 11 p.m. "Off the Record" chronicles the 2001 New York City mayoral race as experienced by the family of Democratic candidate Mark Green, and filmed by his teenage son, Jonah Green. And at 12:15 a.m., "Our Times" examines the role of women and youth in modern Iran through the prism of that country's 2001 presidential election, in a film directed by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad.
Sundance Channel
Received Award
Laura Innes
Actress Laura Innes received this year's Artistry Award from the gay rights organization Power Up for her portrayal of a gay character on the hit medical drama "ER."
Innes plays Dr. Kerry Weaver on the NBC show.
Also honored were the Bravo Network and Judith Light, a two-time Emmy actress, for Light's portrayal of the mother of Ryan White, the boy who was ostracized by his school after being diagnosed with HIV.
Laura Innes
Finished New York Marathon
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs
Hip-hop music and fashion entrepreneur Sean "P. Diddy" Combs on Sunday completed the New York marathon, despite suffering leg cramps for about half the distance, as part of an effort to raise millions of dollars for needy city children.
Combs, who performs as "P. Diddy" after becoming one of hip-hop's most successful stars as "Puff Daddy," ran the 26.2 mile course in the official time of four hours, 14 minutes and 54 seconds.
Combs said he raised $2 million for New York's public schools, children suffering from HIV and AIDS and his own charity to foster social programs.
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Weighs in on Celebrity Marriages
Madonna
Madonna says Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck share some blame for the excessive media attention that caused them to postpone their wedding last month.
"Well, to a certain extent, they courted the media attention," Madonna told Pat O'Brien on "Access Hollywood" in an interview that aired Thursday. "At the end of the day I feel like that's their job, and then there needs to be a part of the relationship that you keep private." Excerpts of the interview were released in advance.
"You know, I'm not making a judgment call on Jennifer and Ben ... we can only make assumptions about why it did or didn't happen," she said.
Madonna
Three top winners of the World Beard and Moustache Championships held in Carson City, Nevada. From the left are first runner up for the overall grand champion, 82 year old Alf Jarrald of London, England; Overall Grand Champion Karl Heinz Hille of Berlin, Germany; and 2nd runner up Dave Traver of Anchorage, Alaska.
Photo by Paul Handley
Responds To Rod Stewart
More Sting
British musician Sting responded Sunday to a bitter attack from fellow musician Rod Stewart by offering one of his numerous Grammy awards to the Scottish rock star.
"They tend not to give it to the British unless you're Sting. The sun shines out of his arse -- a pure jazz musician, Mr. Serious who helps the Indians," Stewart said in an interview with British magazine Radio Times last week.
"I think he deserves one, I really do," said Sting, who has won 14 Grammy's as a soloist and with the group Police.
"You know, Rod hasn't received a Grammy. I'm thinking of sending him one of mine," he said.
More Sting
Memorabilia Showing Up Online
Clay Aiken
Clay Aiken is passing into another realm of celebrity, thanks to those who knew — or just videotaped — him before he became a household name.
Aiken was the runner-up on "American Idol" this season, but his album "Measure of a Man" debuted at No. 1, selling nearly 613,000 copies during its first week in stores.
And now, Aiken memorabilia is showing up online — from old yearbooks to videos of Clay dressed as Santa and singing Christmas tunes.
Clay Aiken
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Rupert's Programming Geniuses
Transsexual Surprise
A reality TV game show that tricks a group of men into winning the affections of a beautiful "woman" who is actually a man -- what could go wrong?
British pay-TV company BSkyB and independent producer Brighter Pictures are facing a threatened lawsuit from six contestants on the show, "There's Something About Miriam," who are trying to prevent the program from being broadcast. The contestants are challenging the consent forms they signed before discovering that Miriam, a male pre-operative transsexual, was not all that she seemed.
A BSkyB spokesman said the company had not scheduled the show for broadcast. "We have received a letter of complaint."
Transsexual Surprise
A Vodou believer pours hot pepper-spiced homemade alcohol on her genital area, one of the key rituals during Gede, a Vodou holiday dedicated to Baron Samdi and the Gede family of spirits of the dead, while other believers, one clutching a miniature coffin, look on in the National Cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on November 1, 2003, which is All Saints Day and is also the first of two days devoted to the Gede, who are feted for most of the month of November. One of themost important Vodou holidays in the country, but especially in the capital, Vodouists go to cemeteries to pray with food, coffee and peppered alcohol, to light candles and to put fresh flowers on graves, and then dance all night at 'peristyles' or Vodou temples.
Photo by Daniel Morel
Hot Water Trick
Frozen Kittens
Pat O'Rourke was inspecting the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe main line near Butte on Friday when he saw three kittens frozen to the tracks. One was on its back and one was stuck by its tail. The third had a paw on a railroad spike and its belly on the track.
The young mountain lions apparently had crossed Silver Bow Creek in the 10-degree air before walking onto the steel rails and getting stuck.
"They kept licking their paws, and the more they licked, the more stuck they got," O'Rourke said. "It seemed like every time they moved one thing, something else got stuck."
O'Rourke called for help and Marty Vook, a state game warden, responded. He brought the hot water. O'Rourke said the kittens left patches of hair on the steel tracks.
Frozen Kittens
A female Tasmanian Devil with her young shows her teeth at Trowunna Wildlife Park at Mole Creek, 60km east of Launceston in Tasmania. Tasmania's devil population has been hit by a mysterious disease which causes cancerous growths on the face with nearly 50 percent of the wild population already wiped out.
Photo by Peter Parks
'The Osbournes'
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