'Best of TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated!
Dick Eats Bush
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Gore Vidal: President Jonah (truthdig.com)
Berman sets his scene briskly in recent history.
"We were already in our twilight phase when Ronald Reagan, with all the insight of an ostrich, declared it to be 'morning in America'; twenty-odd years later, under the 'boy emperor' George W. Bush (as Chalmers Johnson refers to him), we have entered the Dark Ages in earnest, pursuing a short-sighted path that can only accelerate our decline. For what we are now seeing are the obvious characteristics of the West after the fall of Rome: the triumph of religion over reason; the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion, the state, and the apparatus of torture-a troika that was for Voltaire the central horror of the pre-Enlightenment world; and the political and economic marginalization of our cultureŠ.
Terrence McNally: Election Theft Emergency (AlterNet.org)
Mark Crispin Miller talks about how the right stole the 2004 presidential election -- and how they'll do it again unless we stop them.
Noah Leavitt: Doing Dirty Work Abroad (AlterNet.org)
Europe is investigating the CIA's clandestine torture centers while the U.S. Congress looks the other way.
Larry Gross: Inventing Sin: Religion and Homosexuality (truthdig.com)
No matter their own scandals, religious institutions through history have a consistent scapegoat: homosexuals.
Mark Morford: Here Is The Big Gay Agenda (sfgate.com)
Revealed! The horrifying secret plot to homo-amplify America. Also: Dig this hetero agenda!
Jacqueline Stenson: The best butt-kicking exercises (msnbc.msn.com)
What's the best way to firm up your buttocks? And how do you get rid of back fat? Smart Fitness answers your queries.
Nicholas von Hoffman: Eating Ourselves to Death (thenation.com)
In the land of the free, the brave and the sick, the more money you have, the greater the odds are that you eat right and exercise enough to have no worries about diabetes. This is a disease of low- and middle-income people. They are the ones who live off factory-made food loaded with the grease and sugar from which American people are sickening at an ever younger age.
DENNIS OVERBYE: Search Finds Far-Off Planet Akin to Earth (nytimes.com)
Astronomers say that by virtue of the ceaseless shifting of the billions of stars in the Milky Way and a trick of Einsteinian physics, they have briefly glimpsed the most Earth-like planet yet to be discovered outside the solar system. It is a ball of rock and ice only about 5.5 times as massive as Earth, smaller than any of the 160 previously discovered exoplanets, and is orbiting a dim reddish star 21,000 light-years from here.
The World Can't Wait: Drive Out the Bush Regime (worldcantwait.net)
Nationwide Election Incidents (voteprotect.org)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Forthright Actions Knockout Evil
The Wall St. Poet
Incumbency
Corruption, high oil prices, inflation, healthcare foul-ups, and Iraq will all likely be worrying Americans when next election day rolls around. But none of this will make much difference in determining the outcomes of congressional races. Gerrymandering guarantees that 98 percent of present congressional bunglers will get reelected...
©2006
For more satirical verse: www.wallstreetpoet.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny, but cold.
The plumber never showed, but he did call three times.
No new flags.
Serious News At Risk
Aaron Brown
Former CNN 'NewsNight' anchor Aaron Brown said important issues, such as the war in Iraq, are being clouded over by 'mud-wrestling' that skirts substance. Brown spoke Tuesday at The Society of the Four Arts.
The anchorman whose boss once characterized him as ice compared with his successor's fire was anything but chilly in the impassioned speech he delivered Tuesday at The Society of the Four Arts.
"Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news," said Aaron Brown, whose four-year period as anchor of CNN's NewsNight ended in November, when network executives gave his job to Anderson Cooper in a bid to push the show's ratings closer to front-runner Fox News.
He's shocked "by how unkind our world has become," he said. E-mail and talk radio appear to have given people the license to say anything, regardless of how cruel or false it may be, he said.
For a lot more, Aaron Brown
Theron, Geldof & The Pussy Cat Dolls
Germany's Golden Camera Awards
Charlize Theron, Bob Geldof and The Pussy Cat Dolls are among the international stars being recognized at Germany's Golden Camera awards this year.
The annual awards, sponsored by a leading TV magazine owned by publisher Axel Springer AG, will be presented Feb. 2 in a nationally televised show.
Theron is being honored with the International Film trophy, while Geldof is the recipient of an Honorary Award in Music for starting the Live Aid project, organizers said Friday.
The Pussy Cat Dolls were selected for the International Pop award in recognition of their splash onto the music scene in 2005.
Germany's Golden Camera Awards
Muslim Group Asks For Apology
Bill Handel
A Muslim civil liberties group demanded an apology Thursday from the host of a Los Angeles-area radio show for making fun of a stampede that killed hundreds of Muslims during an annual pilgrimage.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations asked for an apology from KFI-AM 640 host Bill Handel, who allegedly made fun of the deaths the same day they happened during a segment he called the "Annual Stampede Report."
A spokeswoman for KFI, which is owned by Clear Channel Communications, did not immediately return a message left Thursday. Handel's producer, Michelle Kube, also did not return calls for comment. Handel had left work for the day and attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
According to the civil liberties group, Handel imitated the people screaming and then joked that the Muslims at the pilgrimage should use a helicopter to monitor pilgrimage traffic, as is done in Los Angeles with the freeways.
Bill Handel
String of Grainy Hits
Celeb Sex Tape
In a Hollywood museum specializing in erotica, there lies a grainy tape of a woman having sex with a man on a couch. The museum says it's widely believed, though denied by her estate, that the woman is Marilyn Monroe, circa 1948.
Fast-forward some 60 years, past Rob Lowe and Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton. The latest celebrity sex tape contains 14 minutes of seriously hard-core action between actor Colin Farrell and a former Playboy Playmate, punctuated by dialogue like: "Where's the zoom on this?"
It wasn't always thus. In the old days, Hollywood studios worked hard to suppress behavior they didn't like. Celebrities under contract had to sign morals clauses, says Jonathan Kuntz, a film professor at UCLA who specializes in Hollywood history.
Celeb Sex Tape
Gets Honorary Doctorate
Engelbert Humperdinck
Crooner Engelbert Humperdinck was made an honorary Doctor of Music on Friday by a university in his English home town.
The singer, whose real name is Arnold George Dorsey, received the degree during a ceremony at the University of Leicester in central England.
Bestowing the honor, Professor Stewart Petersen said honorary degrees "are a recognition of distinction and there is no doubt Engelbert is a man of distinction."
Engelbert Humperdinck
Four Hurt in Accident
'All My Children'
Four stunt artists were hurt in a special-effects accident on the set of the soap opera "All My Children," the ABC show said Friday.
The accident occurred Tuesday at a studio on West 66th Street.
The daytime show had publicized upcoming Mardi Gras episodes that included "an explosion that rocks Pine Valley and its residents."
'All My Children'
Uninjured in Car Accident
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix's car overturned on a canyon road and collided with another vehicle after his brakes went out, but there were no reports of injury, police said.
Phoenix, the 31-year-old star of the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line," was driving eastbound above Sunset Strip about 2:50 p.m. when he realized his brakes were not working, said Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman.
Phoenix lost control of his car, which overturned and hit another vehicle also headed eastbound, Lee said.
His publicist, Susan Patricola, said in a statement that Phoenix was wearing his seat belt and walked away from the scene after being helped out of his vehicle by a passer-by.
Joaquin Phoenix
Ex-Nurse Files Lawsuit
Aaron Spelling
A nurse who was sued by TV producer Aaron Spelling last year for allegedly violating a confidentiality agreement has filed a lawsuit claiming he sexually harassed her.
Charlene Richards claims Spelling, 82, made sexual advances during her employment and engaged in other inappropriate behavior.
Her lawsuit was filed Thursday in Superior Court and names Spelling, his wife, Candy, and their trust fund. It seeks at least $25,000 in damages for sexual harassment and discrimination, battery, wrongful termination and other grounds.
Aaron Spelling
Employees Sue Over Alleged Mold
Faux News
Two Fox News employees have filed a lawsuit alleging they were sickened by toxic molds and pesticides in a building where some of the network's top shows are produced.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleges the employees fell ill in the building where "The O'Reilly Factor" and "At Large with Geraldo Rivera" are produced, as well as "Hannity and Colmes" and "Dayside." It seeks unspecified damages from Fox News and the building's management company.
Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said the federal Occupational, Safety and Health Administration had declined to investigate, and an onsite probe by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation had "fully resolved" the matter.
Faux News
Archeologists Find Remains
4,000-Year-Old Ships
An American-Italian team of archaeologists has found the remains of 4,000-year-old ships that used to carry cargo between Pharaonic Egypt and the mysterious, exotic land of Punt, the Supreme Council of Antiquities has announced.
The ships' remains were found during a five-year excavation of five caves south of the Red Sea port of Safaga, about 300 miles southeast of Cairo, the chairman of the supreme council, Zahi Hawass, said in a statement late Thursday.
The archaeologists, who came from Boston and East Naples universities, found Pharaonic seals from the era of Sankhkare Mentuhotep III, one of seven rulers of the 11th dynasty, which lasted from about 2133 B.C. to 1991 B.C.. They also found wooden boxes, covered with gypsum, bearing the inscription "Wonders of the land of Punt."
4,000-Year-Old Ships
Pleads Not Guilty to DUI
Tracy Morgan
Former "Saturday Night Live" star Tracy Morgan is heading to court after pleading not guilty to charges of drunken driving, prosecutors said Thursday.
Morgan pleaded not guilty Jan. 13 to two misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of alcohol after being arrested in Los Angeles on Dec. 2, city attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan said. He is due in Superior Court for a pretrial hearing Feb. 23.
Tracy Morgan
Bolivian President Slashes Salary in Half
Evo Morales
President Evo Morales cut his salary in half and declared no Cabinet minister can collect a higher wage than his own, with the savings to be used to hire more public school teachers.
The move followed a campaign pledge to tackle political corruption and restore honesty to the government of South America's poorest country. But critics called it a propaganda ploy that will do little to help the needy.
Five days into his leftist government, Morales announced Thursday his salary would be $1,875 a month and that his Cabinet would also have their salaries capped at that figure.
Evo Morales
In Memory
Gene McFadden
R&B vocalist and songwriter Gene McFadden, best known for singing and co-writing the 1979 smash "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," died Friday at home after a battle with cancer, his family said. He was 56.
McFadden and John Whitehead formed the Epsilons in their youth and toured with Otis Redding in the 1960s. They became a prominent song writing and performing duo at Philadelphia International Records, the soul music powerhouse.
"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" hit No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 13 on the pop charts. The duo also wrote several hits performed by others, including "Back Stabbers" for the O'Jays and "Wake Up Everybody" for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.
Whitehead was fatally shot in May 2004.
Gene McFadden
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