'Best of TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated
Humor Gazette
President Bush today responded to a new report investigating the bogus pre-war intelligence scam that led to war in Iraq by admitting that the whole thing was nothing more than a big prank.
"Gotcha. Heh-heh," Bush said to a slack-jawed pack of media jackals assembled for the April 1 press conference. "You been punk'd. Heh-heh."
For the rest:
Reader Comment
Who Says Dems Don't Pray
Now I lay me down to
sleep
I do pray they will
impeach
If he should serve 4 more
years
We'll all drown in a sea of
tears
Amen!!!
Sue T
Thanks, Sue!
Paul Berenson Show
'The Afternoon Connection'
Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum did not have one of her better weeks in office this week. The issue was how much of a pay raise for the police. She will join us to talk about that and the State of the City in general.
Tune in to "The Afternoon Connection" with Paul Berenson, Saturdays 3 pm-4 pm on KTMS-AM 990. Your local phone calls are welcome at:
879-KTMS (5867)
If you're tired of the Limbaugh's, Fox News, etc. and want to hear a Democrat with attitude, this is for you!
You can listen to past shows here.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Don Hazen: Tune In (AlterNet)
Marking Air America's one-year anniversary, 'Left of the Dial' chronicles the fits and starts of the feisty talk radio channel, serving as a progressive success story, warts and all.
David Morris: The End of Reason (AlterNet)
Organized religion elevates superstition to an entirely new level, so let's call its institutions by their proper name: superstition-based institutions.
Seymour Hersh: The Progressive Interview
Seymour "Sy" Hersh is a legendary investigative journalist.
Sanford Pinsker: I Know How Much it Costs to Hear the Caged Bird Sing (The Irascible Professor)
A short time ago I read with no small amusement about the plight of George Mason University.
Beth Hawkins: Safe Child Syndrome (City Pages)
Protecting kids to death.
Annalee Newitz: Mother's Little Sniffer (AlterNet)
Spying is fun for the whole family! Let the CIA teach you how.
ROGER EBERT: Sin City (4 Stars)
If film noir was not a genre, but a hard man on mean streets with a lost lovely in his heart and a gat in his gut, his nightmares would look like "Sin City."
KIRO - Weekends - 9pm to 1am (pst)
Erin Hart
Pope John Paul II--what is his legacy--a mix of conservative and liberal
thought--a Pope for all seasons--what did his reign mean to you?
We will check in with religious leaders and you about his legacy.
And the intelligence report got buried in the death of Terri Schiavo and the
grave illness of the Pope but all of us should demand an accounting and WILL
SOMEBODY FINALLY PIN THE BLAME WHERE IT SHOULD BE.
Sigh. Is Iraq better off? We will consider the question. Ponder our
upcoming election court date in Washington.
And check in with Dan O'Neill founder of Mercy Corps, about Darfur; the
latest earthquake in South Asia; Afghanistan and Iraq. We are also working
on getting you more information about the Darfur Genocide Intervention
Fundraiser which features frequent Erin Hart show guest: The Very Reverend
Robert Taylor of St. Mark's Cathedral. It's at GSM/Mercury Bld. 1931 Second
Avenue, Third Floor on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Go if you can.
KIRO is streaming & Erin is back on the web.
Contributor Comment
Re: Mitch Hedberg
I would imagine you will have the obit for Mitch Hedberg in tomorrow's
page, but there are some stories about him from here in Minneapolis I'd
like to share:
Mitch ran away from home at a young age, taking his belongings in a
couple of paper bags, and leaving home to go try comedy. He worked all
this shitty joints in the area until he became a regular at Acme Comedy
Company, where he honed his act, and became quite the local sensation.
I saw him a few times, opening for comedians who weren't quite as good
as he was, and usually blowing them off the stage. His breakthrough
moment had to be when he opened for Dennis Miller back in 1998. It was
a Big theater, high profile gig, and he took the stage and killed.
People were blown away by his stuff, and he left the stage to a standing
ovation. When Miller took the stage, he said, "Great, I always love
having to follow the local genius progeny," and did his same act he'd
done since 1996.
Mitch got higher profile gigs and spent less time here in Minneapolis,
but he came back for what he called his "Farewell show" at Acme.
Tickets were pretty hard to get, but I called early enough to score one
for his last night. What was so great about the show was that after he
finished his set, the crowd kept cheering until he came back (kind of
unheard of in comedy clubs) and did an encore. After about 5 minutes,
he actually asked the crowd for requests, telling them to shout out a
word to remind him of the joke.
The thing that was always fun about Mitch was that he had a notebook
with him in the early days, and if a joke bombed, he'd say "I think I
have to work on that one" and would write it down in the notebook.
You'll find a lot of stories about how great he was with fans, how he
was considered a genius, and I even read that Howard Stern called him
the next Jerry Seinfeld at some point.
I always saw him more as a comedian in the Stephen Wright tradition. He
just got up, told jokes, and expected the audience to be as clever as he
was. He was a hell of a funny guy, and it's a damn shame he won't be
around any more.
He has a pair of CDs, one of which was recorded in Acme Comedy Company,
and both have been used on Bartcop radio.
Cory!! Strode,
The Best Dressed Man In Comics
www.solitairerose.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another sunny day.
Was pleasantly surprised by Bill Maher tonight. Bunch of godless liberals are much more entertaining than pandering to fascist theocrats.
Recovering From Brain Aneurysm
Neil Young
Neil Young was treated for a brain aneurysm this week and remains hospitalized, although doctors expect a full recovery, his publicist said Friday.
The 59-year-old rocker underwent a procedure to treat it Tuesday night at a New York hospital, where he was expected to remain for a few more days, publicist Bob Merlis told The Associated Press.
Young had been expected to perform Sunday at the Juno Awards - the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys.
The aneurysm was discovered when Young's vision became blurry after attending the March 14 induction ceremonies for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Merlis said. An examination by a neurologist detected the aneurysm and the procedure was scheduled.
Neil Young
Interview Requested 24 Years After Death
Bob Marley
The British Broadcasting Corporation sent an e-mail requesting an interview with reggae star Bob Marley, 24 years after his death.
The publicly funded broadcaster confessed on Friday it was "very embarrassed" by the mix-up which appeared in an e-mail to the Bob Marley Foundation.
It said the mistake occurred in a standard letter the BBC sent out to hundreds of "icons and musicians" it wanted to take part in a series on digital channel BBC-3.
Bob Marley
Roger Moore & Harry Belafonte
Hans Christian Andersen
Roger Moore and Harry Belafonte followed in the footsteps of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen - at least for about nine feet.
Moore and Belafonte, tapped as goodwill ambassadors for festivities marking Andersen's 200th birthday, took a few steps along an eight kilometre route through the city that leads to places where the author lived and worked.
Named "In the Footsteps of Hans Christian Andersen," the walk inaugurated Thursday is marked by 2,000 white footsteps in the writer's shoe size - 12 1/2 - painted on the pavement.
Hans Christian Andersen
Childhood Home In Pittsburgh
Andy Warhol
It could be called Andy Warhol's first studio. It was where he got his inspiration for his paintings of Campbell's soup cans. It was where he became consumed by celebrity and first began drawing pop icons.
It's also a little disappointing.
A bare light bulb hangs on two wires from a rafter of the roofless, ramshackle porch. A rusted scaffold was left standing on the porch apparently abandoned in the middle of the job. The windows are caked with dirt, some are broken and boarded up.
But Warhol's last home in Pittsburgh before moving to New York could see better days if a group - including his older brother, a real estate agent, a community activist and professor - has its way.
Andy Warhol
Pull Out of Play
Sharon & Aimee Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne and her daughter Aimee have withdrawn from performing in "The Vagina Monologues" because Aimee is ill, a spokeswoman said Friday.
Aimee, 21, had been set to begin her run with her mother in the West End production of the show on Tuesday.
The spokeswoman, in a statement, said the family was flying to Los Angeles over the weekend so that Aimee could have "further treatment and rest." There were no details about her illness.
Sharon & Aimee Osbourne
In New York for Tartan Day
'Braveheart' Sword
The sword used by Scottish independence hero William Wallace, known to many from the film "Braveheart," has left Scotland for the first time to join "Tartan Day" celebrations in New York starting this weekend.
"The sword is a symbol, it's a national icon in Scotland in the same way the original Declaration of Independence is a national icon in the United States," Colin O'Brien, Provost of the Scottish city of Stirling, said on Friday after its arrival in New York.
This year there will be a week of celebrations around Tartan Day on April 6, which marks the anniversary of the 1320 signing of the Declaration of Arbroath, Scotland's own declaration of independence from the English.
'Braveheart' Sword
Apologizes to Vietnam
Peter Yarrow
It's been 30 years since the last bombs fell during the Vietnam War, and longtime peace activist Peter Yarrow says it's about time that America apologizes.
During his first trip to Vietnam this week, he told The Associated Press that the war wounds of the United States won't heal until the nation makes amends - a process he believes should involve helping Vietnamese suffering from the ill health effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed by U.S. planes during the war.
A U.S. federal court last month dismissed the first-ever lawsuit filed by Vietnamese against the American chemical manufactures, claiming they suffered severe health problems after exposure to Agent Orange.
U.S. aircraft dumped 21 million gallons of defoliant on Vietnam from 1962-71. Most of that was Agent Orange, which contains the toxic dioxin, blamed for causing diseases such as cancer, diabetes, spina bifida and a range of other health problems. However, the U.S. government maintains there is not enough evidence to link dioxin to those ailments.
Peter Yarrow
Festival Must Pay $100,000
Ted Nugent
A Muskegon County jury ruled that a music festival must pay $100,000 in damages to Ted Nugent (R-Draft Dodger/Philanderer).
The guitarist-singer, who had a 1977 hit, "Cat Scratch Fever," had sued the Muskegon Summer Celebration over the cancellation of his June 2003 concert.
Nugent said a festival news release at the time of the cancellation wrongly accused him of making racist remarks.
Nugent's concert was canceled after he used a slur offensive to blacks during a live interview on a Denver radio station in May 2003.
Ted Nugent
Sanity Prevails In Illinois
Birth Control
Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved an emergency rule Friday requiring pharmacies to fill birth control prescriptions quickly after a Chicago pharmacist refused to fill an order because of moral opposition to the drug.
The emergency rule takes effect immediately for 150 days while the administration seeks a permanent rule.
"Our regulation says that if a woman goes to a pharmacy with a prescription for birth control, the pharmacy or the pharmacist is not allowed to discriminate or to choose who he sells it to," Blagojevich said. "No delays. No hassles. No lectures."
Under the new rule, if a pharmacist does not fill the prescription because of a moral objection, another pharmacist must be available to fill it without delay.
Birth Control
BBC ON THIS DAY - April Fool Prank
1957
The BBC has received a mixed reaction to a spoof documentary broadcast this evening about spaghetti crops in Switzerland.
The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest.
It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.
Mr Dimbleby explained how each year the end of March is a very anxious time for Spaghetti harvesters all over Europe as severe frost can impair the flavour of the spaghetti.
He also explained how each strand of spaghetti always grows to the same length thanks to years of hard work by generations of growers.
Watch the tape
BBC ON THIS DAY - 1957: BBC fools the nation
I remember seeing this on the old Jack Paar show. Having a grandmother who made pasta daily, it was the topic of much discussion for weeks.
Old Ladies Just Want to Have Fun
Red Hat Society
The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays and knitting themselves slowly into senility are gone.
Enter the Red Hat Society -- a group dedicated to the radical notion that old ladies should have fun.
In the Red Hat Society, women over 50 wear red hats and purple clothes, while the women under 50 must wear pink hats and lavender clothing.
The organization was inspired by a poem by Jenny Joseph that begins: "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple/ With a red hat which doesn't go," said Sue Ellen Cooper, who founded the Red Hat Society in 1998 with the first chapter in Fullerton, California.
Red Hat Society
Jack Keller
Pop songwriter Jack Keller, who wrote the theme song for "Bewitched" and other TV sitcoms and was a producer on the Monkees' first album, died Friday in Nashville. He was 68.
The Brooklyn-born Keller's big break came when he joined Aldon Music, Don Kirschner's company in New York, and a stable of young pop songwriters including Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield and Carole Bayer Sager.
Keller and Greenfield wrote "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own," both No. 1 hits for Connie Francis in 1960, and "Venus in Blue Jeans" for Jimmy Clanton. He also shared writing credit with Goffin on "Run to Him," recorded by Bobby Vee.
Keller and Greenfield wrote the theme song for the shows "Bewitched" and "Gidget." Keller also teamed with Ernie Sheldon to write "Seattle" for the western sitcom "Here Come the Brides."
The TV work led Keller to the Monkees, getting producer credit on their TV theme song and first album.
Jack Keller
