'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Robert Baer: Why KSM's Confession Rings False (time.com)
It's hard to tell what the Pentagon's objective really is in releasing the transcript of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confession. It certainly suggests the Administration is trying to blame KSM for al-Qaeda terrorism, leading us to believe we've caught the master terrorist and that al-Qaeda, and especially the ever-elusive bin Laden, is no longer a threat to the U.S. But there is a major flaw in that marketing strategy.
Ben Paynter: Oval Office Ambush (pitch.com)
With war memories torturing him, Alexis Janicki tried to bust his way into the White House.
Anastasia Pantsios: Divine Retribution (freetimes.com)
The Religious Left Reclaims Faith From Those Who Hate.
Sam Harris: God's dupes (latimes.com)
Moderate believers give cover to religious fanatics -- and are every bit as delusional.
Kathy Freston: You Call Yourself a Progressive -- But You Still Eat Meat? (AlterNet.org)
Eating a plant-based diet is an easy, cheap way to end animal cruelty and clean up the environment. Why, then, are so many progressives still clinging to their chicken nuggets?
With tax season here, IRS warns of cybersquatters
San Francisco (IDGNS) - If you're paying taxes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service there is only one URL you need to know: IRS.gov. That's what the U.S. tax collecting department said this week in a note on its Web site, warning taxpayers of tax season scams and reminding them that Web sites like IRS.com are not affiliated with the U.S. government.
Clive James: Dick Cavett (slate.com)
The secret art of the talk-show host
Jacob Weisberg: Introducing The Clive James Show (slate.com)
Britain's greatest interviewer, live on Slate.
Purple Gene Reviews
100 Worst Reviewed Movies
Rotten Tomatoes blew it in their "100 worst reviewed movies ever"
They missed these two 0% stinkers......
"The Clan of the Cave Bear" (1986)...starring Darryl Hannah
And
"Repossessed" (1990)...starring Linda Blair
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Very foggy night followed by a nice sunny day.
Hinckley, Ohio
Buzzard Day
To the relief of bird watchers and business boosters alike, the first officially spotted Hinckley buzzard of 2007 glided smoothly over the treetops, marking the 50th anniversary of the gimmicky vigil.
The buzzards return after wintering down south, and the site Thursday of the first one this year meant money in the bank for this quaint community about 20 miles south of Cleveland.
Hinckley has crafted an all-buzzards, all-the-time theme in honor of the carcass-loving birds with black feathers, red heads and wing spans of up to 6 feet. There are buzzard-named businesses, a Sunday pancake breakfast to mark the return of the buzzards and T-shirts with "I saw the return of the buzzards" for sale.
By tradition, the buzzards have returned to Hinckley each March 15 since 1819, when they were attracted by thawing carcasses of livestock predators killed months earlier by farmers.
Buzzard Day
Returns To Opera Stage
Seiji Ozawa
Japanese music legend Seiji Ozawa has taken up his baton again in Tokyo with a production of Wagner's "Tannhauser," his first opera performance since poor health forced him to rest for more than a year.
Opening the season of the Tokyo Opera Nomori, the company he created in 2005, Ozawa led the world premiere of a "Tannhauser" production co-produced with the Paris National Opera and directed by the Canadian Robert Carsen.
Ozawa cancelled all of his engagements last year at the Vienna State Opera, where he is musical director, due to illness including fatigue and pneumonia.
He has since resumed working in Japan but under doctors' advice takes long stretches of rest.
Seiji Ozawa
Book Network Wins Lindgren Prize
Banco del Libro
Banco del Libro, a nonprofit Venezuelan network that has been distributing books to children for nearly half a century, is the 2007 winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature.
The award, which includes a cash prize of $710,000, was established by the Swedish government in 2002 and is the largest children's book award in the world.
The award is named after Astrid Lindgren, the beloved Swedish children's writer whose Pippi Longstocking - a strong-willed girl with braided hair, freckles and mismatched stockings - captivated generations of children around the world. Lindgren died in 2002.
Banco del Libro
Wins First Jackson Poetry Prize
Elizabeth Alexander
The first annual Jackson Poetry Prize, a $50,000 award for poets of "exceptional talent" who have not received "major national acclaim," has been given to Elizabeth Alexander, author of four books of verse.
The prize was announced Friday by sponsor Poets & Writers, Inc., "the nation's largest nonprofit literary organization serving creative writers." Alexander was selected by a committee of three poets: Lucille Clifton, Stephen Dunn and Jane Hirshfield.
A professor of African-American Studies at Yale University, Alexander was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005 for her collection, "American Sublime." Her other books include "The Venus Hottentot," "Body of Life" and "Antebellum Dream Book."
Elizabeth Alexander
Tours U.S.
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil, one of Brazil's leading luminaries, is a founding father of the Tropicalism movement, whose everything-plus-the-kitchen sink ethos is largely responsible for the harmonic and rhythmic complexity of Brazilian music.
Gil, who won a Grammy in 1998 for best world music album, is on a three-week North American tour; his U.S. appearances will include New York City's Carnegie Hall. He is promoting "Gil Luminoso," a career retrospective of 15 songs reworked for solo guitar and voice, originally recorded in 1999 but only just released.
Tropicalism's rich tapestry has since attracted such prominent fans as David Byrne, Paul Simon and Beck, but its early political content offended the nation's 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Both Gil and Veloso were jailed in 1968 after angering the right-wing regime with their music.
They went into exile in London in 1969, and stayed there until 1972. Upon their return home, the two were more famous than ever, a kind of Brazilian John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Gilberto Gil
LA Times Names Guest Editor
Brian Grazer
Film producer Brian Grazer will be a guest editor of the Los Angeles Times Sunday commentary section, becoming the first of four guest editors a year.
"We asked Brian Grazer to kick off the program because we wanted to tap into his creative vision," said Andres Martinez, editorial page editor of the Times. "His career is powered by an endless curiosity, and we thought it would be fun to hitch a ride along the way."
Grazer's responsibilities for the March 25 edition will include choosing topics and assigning them to writers.
Brian Grazer
Hospital News
Larry King
Larry King underwent vascular surgery Friday and was expected to return Monday to his CNN talk show. King, 73, was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where doctors performed carotid endarterectomy surgery, which removes plaque from the carotid artery and can restore blood flow.
"Larry is doing great and he is excited to be back on the air Monday night with an interview with Sen. Barack Obama as we mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war," said a statement from CNN.
King, host of "Larry King Live," underwent successful quintuple bypass heart surgery in 1987. He recently started a foundation that will cover the cost of cardiac care for about 300 uninsured patients at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
Larry King
Three-Way Tie
'Jeopardy'
All those years of answers and questions, and it's never happened before on "Jeopardy!" What is a three-way tie, Alex?
The three contestants on the venerable game show all finished with $16,000 after each answering the final question correctly in the category, "Women of the 1930s," on Friday's show. They identified Bonnie Parker, of the famed Bonnie and Clyde crime duo, as a woman who, as a waitress, once served one of the men who shot her.
The show contacted a mathematician who calculated the odds of such a three-way tie happening - one in 25 million.
The three contestants, Jamey Kirby of Gainesville, Fla.; Anders Martinson of Union City, Calif.; and Scott Weiss of Walkersville, Md; were all declared champions and taped a rematch that will air Monday.
'Jeopardy'
Sues 'Family Guy'
Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett has filed a $2 million copyright infringement lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming her cleaning woman character was portrayed on the animated series "Family Guy." The U.S. District Court lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, said the Fox show didn't have the 73-year-old comedian's permission to include her cleaning woman character, Charwoman, in an April 2006 episode.
The episode shows Charwoman as a porno-shop maid, and it uses what the lawsuit called an "altered version" of Burnett's theme music. The characters in the show also perform Burnett's signature ear tug, the lawsuit said.
Besides copyright infringement, Burnett alleges 20th Century Fox violated her publicity rights.
Carol Burnett
Postpones Mexico City Concert
The Who
First it was on. Then it was off, at least for now. The Who, scheduled to perform in Mexico City on Saturday, have postponed the show because singer Roger Daltrey is still sick with bronchitis.
Concert organizer Ocesa said Thursday it doesn't yet have a new date for the show. Earlier, an Ocesa spokesman had said the show would go on, despite Daltrey's illness.
The Who
Murder Trial Set To Begin
Phil Spector
The murder trial of pioneering rock producer Phil Spector finally begins on Monday, more than four years after a B-movie actress was found shot to death at his castle-like mansion outside Los Angeles.
The trial, delayed repeatedly since Spector was indicted in 2003, will be shown on live television amid fascination with the 1960s musical genius turned recluse who once described himself as having "devils that fight inside me."
Spector, who is free on $1 million bail, denies the charges that he killed actress Lana Clarkson in February 2003.
Phil Spector
Bush 'Worst President' Ever
The Donald
George W. Bush will be remembered as the worst US president ever, real estate mogul Donald Trump said Friday, adding that US Senator Hillary Clinton could be Bush's White House successor.
"Bush is probably the worst president in the history of the United States," Trump told CNN, lamenting the 2004 Democratic failure to stop Bush's reelection.
He reserved his harshest language for Bush's Iraq war.
"There's only one person you can blame, and that's our current president," Trump told CNN.
The Donald
Giving Away Land
Anderson, Alaska
Anderson, a little town in Alaska's interior, has no gas station, no grocery store and no traffic lights, but it does have plenty of woodsy land - and it's free to anyone willing to put down roots in the often-frozen ground.
In a modern twist on the homesteading movement that populated the Plains in the 1800s, the community of 300 people is offering 26 large lots on spruce-covered land in a part of Alaska that has spectacular views of the Northern lights and Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak.
The 1.3-acre lots will be awarded to the first people who apply for them and submit $500 refundable deposits beginning at 9 a.m. Monday. Each winning applicant must build a house measuring at least 1,000 square feet within two years. Power and phone hookups are already available.
Folks in Anderson say there are some job opportunities within driving distance, including a coal mine, a utility, major hotels and the air station, a ballistic missile early-warning site. Locals also would like to see entrepreneurs among the newcomers.
Anderson, Alaska
Da Vinci Masterpiece Arrives In Japan
'The Annunciation'
Leonardo da Vinci's "The Annunciation" was safely placed on the wall of a Tokyo museum Friday, prompting a sigh of relief after it withstood its first trip from Florence in six decades.
Some 15 specialists took more than an hour to remove the 15th-century painting from a protective travelling crate and hang it in its temporary new home in Japan's National Museum.
Plans to send the painting to Japan sparked protests in Italian cultural circles, including from the director of the Uffizi, who said the work -- which had not left Florence since 1945 -- was too fragile to be transported.
The painting will be on public view in Tokyo from Tuesday until June 17 as part of an exhibition of Italian art.
'The Annunciation'
Swords Into Plowshares
Coffee Machines
In the shadows of his dingy workshop in a northern Ethiopian town, Azemeraw Zeleke stoops over a baffling array of cylinders, tubes and handles.
The 54-year-old inventor and repairman supplies Mekele, and indeed the whole of the hilly Tigray region, with coffee machines. But it is his choice of materials that makes Azemeraw's trade truly unique.
"The farmers bring me mortar shells from the old battlefield," he says, gesturing north where Ethiopia borders Eritrea and the two nations fought a 1998-2000 war.
"The empty tubes are perfect for the coffee machines. Look, the bronze does not rust. And the shape is ideal."
Coffee Machines
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