'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Suggestion
Bob Rivers
Marty,
I thought you might enjoy this Twisted Tune from the Bob Rivers show about
Gonzales.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Noam Chomsky: Preventing War with Iran (Tomdispatch.com; Posted on AlterNet.org)
Stopping a war with Iran requires a strong organized popular opposition.
TIM DICKINSON: The Enemy Within (rollingstone.com)
The Democrats' most dangerous opponent in '08 may be their own campaign consultants, who charge far more than GOP strategists -- and deliver far less
Andrew Tobias: ROLLING STONE
An article in Rolling Stone says it's not Republicans who do Democrats in - it's Democratic consultants. The piece raises important questions. I hope all our candidates - especially whichever one gets the nomination - read it. One of the charges is that 10% of donor money goes to consultant commissions. ... But actually, at the DNC, the concern was raised in time for 2004 and your money was not wasted - and won't be this cycle, either. THE COMMISSION ON DNC MEDIA BUYS WAS ONE PERCENT, NOT TEN PERCENT. ... please forward the Rolling Stone piece to the candidate of your choice. But please do not think any appreciable portion of your support of the DNC is going to consultant commissions.
Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt: The Myth Of Voter Fraud (washingtonpost.com)
As Congress probes the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, attention is centering on who knew what, and when. It's just as important to focus on "why," such as the reason given for the firing of at least one of the U.S. attorneys, John McKay of Washington state: failure to prosecute the phantom of individual voter fraud. ... the notion of widespread voter fraud, as these prosecutors found out, is itself a fraud. Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch.
Brent Budowsky: The Republicans' Pinocchio Problem (pundits.thehill.com)
Now Mitt Romney lies about hunting. The former Massachusetts governor said he had been a hunter for just about all his life. Almost immediately his staff reminded him he had only been hunting twice. Presumably Mr. Romney forgot about all the times he never hunted.
'You can change the world' (guardian.co.uk)
At 93, Eileen Daffern is still a force to be reckoned with in the campaign against nuclear weapons. Jeremy Paxman has known - and admired her - since the 1980s ...
Larry Beinhart: The Sex Life of Presidents (huffingtonpost.com)
It's time for a national debate on the sex lives of presidents.
Joel Stein: Can I be a soft-core porn star? (atimes.com)
His wife said OK, but he declined an offer to simulate sex on camera. What happened?
Fresh Update!
Not from Dickeatsbush
Inspired by this article - Overlooked Realities.
Reading Suggestion
'One Last Song'
Hi Marty!
My name is Shawn
Richter and I am the artist on an upcoming comic book mini-series
called "One Last Song" and I thought it might be of interest to you and
your readers.
The premise is that in 2046, American media personalities must obtain
an officially sanctioned "performance card" or face internment in
"terror aversion camps". Musician Amanda Casey is a rebel spreading the
truth about her government's corruption via seemingly innocent love
songs. What she doesn't know is that the government thinks her message
is just the thing to keep the people under control. This is the story
of a dreamer's fight against a police state for a free society even as
she herself becomes co-opted, another brand name to sell to the masses.
There is a preview located at: onelastsong.com.nyud.net:8090/pdf/OLS.pdf (pdf file!)
Because we are working with a smaller publisher, if people are
interested in obtaining a copy of the book they would be better off to
contact us directly (our blog)
and the official website for the comic is
onelastsong.com or, if they are near a comic book store (here's a
comic shop locator service), they can order the book from there
with the code Feb073275.
Blue Skies,
Shawn
Thanks, Shawn!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and cool.
Picks Pal's Space Menu
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart, the apostle of the cozy and the quaint, came Friday to the bleak space town of Baikonur to watch a billionaire friend blast off for the international space station.
Stewart, who parlayed her vision of gracious living into a business empire, is a longtime friend of Charles Simonyi, a software engineer and developer of Microsoft Word who paid $20-25 million for a 13-day trip to the international space station.
Stewart chose the menu for a gourmet meal that Simonyi will be taking to the ISS as a treat for his comrades in space. They plan a celebratory feast for April 12, which Russia observes as Cosmonauts' Day.
The menu includes quail roasted in Madiran wine, duck breast confit with capers, shredded chicken parmentier, apple fondant pieces, rice pudding with candied fruit, and semolina cake with dried apricots. It was to be prepared by Alain Ducasse's consulting and training center, ADF, according to Space Adventures.
Martha Stewart
Superman Matches Twinkie
Costume Auction
A costume worn by actor Christopher Reeve in his first "Superman" film has sold for $115,000 at auction, the same price a "Winkie" costume from the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz" fetched.
The rare Winkie costume was used by an actor portraying a guard protecting the Wicked Witch of the West in the much beloved "Wizard of Oz." It was within its estimated price range of $100,000 to $120,000, but the Superman costume from the 1978 movie soared past its $50,000 to $70,000 estimated price.
By contrast, the costume worn by actor George Reeves in the 1950s television series "The Adventures of Superman" brought in $129,800 in 2003.
A Batsuit from 1995's "Batman Forever" brought $63,250 and an alien creature costume from 1979's "Alien" $126,500.
Costume Auction
Sale Of Painting Halted
Georgia O'Keeffe
Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper on Thursday halted a proposed deal that would have allowed the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum buy a painting by the artist from Fisk University for millions of dollars below its estimated value.
The agreement would have given the O'Keeffe museum the exclusive right to purchase "Radiator Building - Night, New York," for $7 million. Since that agreement was announced, the university has been offered up to $25 million for the picture.
Fisk is trying to sell the O'Keeffe work and another piece from its Stieglitz Collection to replenish the historically black university's endowment.
The art collection was donated to Fisk in 1949 by O'Keeffe, and her estate objected to the sale on the grounds it would violate the terms of the bequest. That dispute was settled with the agreement to sell the O'Keeffe painting to the museum.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Sexist Racist Apologizes
Don Imus
Radio host Don Imus apologized Friday for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy headed hos" on his nationally syndicated program.
The National Association of Black Journalists demanded his immediate firing after the man known as "Imus in the Morning" put his foot deep in his mouth Wednesday. Imus questioned the players' looks, describing them as tattooed "rough girls." His producer compared the team - which has eight black members - to the NBA's Toronto Raptors.
Gregory Lee, an NABJ officer and senior assistant sports editor at The Boston Globe, said the mea culpa did little to atone for the comments.
"You can apologize, but what does that mean when you have a history of making disparaging remarks about people?" Lee asked about the acid-tongued Imus. "This kind of behavior must be punished. I hope the company and sponsors he has take some sort of action ... to educate him."
Don Imus
More Fake News From Faux
O'Reilly & Rivera
Noted pervert Bill O'Reilly and noted philanderer Geraldo Rivera said Friday there were no hard feelings after they engaged in a shouting match unusual even for a cable opinion program where the volume is frequently set to loud.
No chairs flew and no noses were broken. But the finger-pointing verbal duel over illegal immigration on Fox "News" Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" Thursday night became a water-cooler topic the next day.
Rivera, who is a guest on "The O'Reilly Factor" once a week, said he doesn't come on to be cowed or bullied by the host's opinions.
His on-camera duel with O'Reilly seems to have struck a chord, judging by the requests he's getting to talk about the issue, Rivera said. The tape was played a couple of times Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America."
O'Reilly & Rivera
Defies Judge, Won't Surrender
Joe Francis
The founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos defied a federal judge Thursday, calling him a "judge gone wild" and refusing to surrender to U.S. marshals on a contempt citation.
U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ordered Joe Francis into custody after settlement negotiations soured in a lawsuit brought by seven women who were minors when Francis' company filmed them on Panama City Beach.
The 34-year-old Francis, who makes an estimated $29 million a year through the videos of girls exposing their breasts, drew the contempt order after lawyers for the women said Francis threatened them during negotiations.
Joe Francis
Key To Next-Generation DVD War
Porn
In the battle over next generation DVDs, pornography could prove to be the XXX factor that helps determine a winner.
Thirty years ago, VHS toppled Betamax in part because of the adult film industry, and now some see blue movies playing a key role again as backers of HD-DVD and Blu-ray maneuver to make their formats the standard.
The stakes are high. As prices of high-definition televisions and DVD players fall, backers of the rival -- and incompatible -- formats are looking to tap a home and rental DVD market approaching $25 billion.
Porn
Disease Underlies
Hatfield-McCoy Feud
The most infamous feud in American folklore, the long-running battle between the Hatfields and McCoys, may be partly explained by a rare, inherited disease that can lead to hair-trigger rage and violent outbursts.
Dozens of McCoy descendants apparently have the disease, which causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches and too much adrenaline and other "fight or flight" stress hormones.
"This condition can certainly make anybody short-tempered, and if they are prone because of their personality, it can add fuel to the fire," said Dr. Revi Mathew, a Vanderbilt University endocrinologist treating one of the family members.
Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Basic Cable
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of March 26-April 1. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.
1. "Kids' Choice Awards" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.91 million homes, 6.11 million viewers.
2. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.75 million homes, 5.44 million viewers.
3. "Planet Earth" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), Discovery, 3.56 million homes, 5.89 million viewers.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.35 million homes, 4.85 million viewers.
5. "Planet Earth" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Discovery, 3.21 million homes, 5.35 million viewers.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.11 million homes, 4.12 million viewers.
7. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 7 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.99 million homes, 4.42 million viewers.
8. Movie: "Pirates of the Caribbean" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), USA, 2.93 million homes, 4.27 million viewers.
9. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.91 million homes, 3.99 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.81 million homes, 3.47 million viewers.
11. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.76 million homes, 3.37 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.73 million homes, 3.47 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:45 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.68 million homes, 3.94 million viewers.
14. Movie: "School's Out" (Saturday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.56 million homes, 3.4 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 7 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.54 million homes, 3.46 million viewers.
Ratings
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