Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ted Rall: Barack Obama, Torture Enabler
America is a nation of laws--laws enforced by Spain.
William Saletan: Deeper Digital Penetration (slate.com)
The expanding invasion of the naked body scanners.
Human Rights Campaign Exposes National Organization for Marriage's Fake Ad for Fake Problems (hrc.org)
Right-wing group does not have truth on its side, so it hires actors to spew lies; Audition reel uncovered online.
Mark Morford: Fear the rainbow! (sfgate.com)
A storm is gathering. Are you afraid, Christian? Are you afraid *enough*?
Felice Prager: Terms (irascibleprofessor.com)
Since I occasionally advertise my tutoring, writing, and editing services online, I was not surprised by the call that started, "You the one who put the ad on Craigslist?" In the past, I have been able to fill in the gaps this way. Lately, the gaps are a bit bigger and harder to fill, but I am managing.
Phillip A. Lobo: "So This Is What the Dream Is Like: Violence and Assimilation in 'Grand Theft Auto IV'"
Notorious for its violence, misogyny, and gleeful amorality, though less well known for its biting social commentary: Grand Theft Auto IV polarizes opinion...
Mike Steinberger: Not Such a G'Day (slate.com)
How Yellow Tail crushed the Australian wine industry.
JIM SULLIVAN: "Interview: Dame Edna" (thephoenix.com)
Dame Edna Everage is surely the most popular and most gifted woman in the world today. Housewife, investigative journalist, social anthropologist, talk-show host, swami, children's-book illustrator, megastar, celebrity spin doctor, and icon. Well, that's what it says on Dame Edna's Web site. Who am I to disagree?
MEGHAN DAUM: The recession heats up romance novels (latimes.com)
In a down economy, sales of bodice-rippers are growing. Escapism is part of the allure, but there's more to the story.
Marijeta Bozovic: What We Write About When We Write About Art (popmatters.com)
"On Edge" exhibits a composite image of a younger, rougher New York: we know it existed, but it still has the power to shock and charm, like a photo of a beloved aunt as a teenager with cropped and blue hair.
Diepiriye Kuku: Why Sasha Fierce is more than just "the female version of the hustler" (popmatters.com)
In case you haven't heard, Vogueing is back.
Lady Sovereign: 'I lost the plot a few times' (guardian.co.uk)
She was signed by Jay-Z at 19, toured the US -- and then threw in the towel. Now Lady Sovereign is back. Hattie Collins meets her.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Ban the Bomb' Edition
Barack Obama yesterday announced a radical drive aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, as the focus of his European visit switched from financial to geopolitical security. "In Prague, I will lay out an agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said yesterday... "The spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," he warned, adding that suspected rogue nuclear states, such as North Korea or Iran, may only be persuaded to abandon their quests if the big nuclear powers set an example...
Barack Obama's New Offensive Against Nuclear Weapons | CommonDreams.org
How successful do you think Obama will be in this endeavor?
A. Total nuclear disarmament and the dawning of the Age of Aquarius (Hoo Ha!)...
B. Significant arms reduction by the current nuclear powers, rigorous enforcement of the non-proliferation treaty re: Iran and North Korea etal and the Doomsday Clock rolls back a couple of hours (whew!)...
C. Are you kidding? Humanity is gonna, sooner or later, blow itself to smithereens, dagnabbit!
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
wrote:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast and cool.
NASA Announcing Module Name Tuesday
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert is still clinging to hope that NASA will name a new room at the international space station after him.
The space agency said Friday it would announce the name of the module Tuesday on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." Astronaut Sunita Williams will appear on the program.
The agency held an online contest, letting the public vote on a name for a future addition to the station. "Colbert" beat out NASA's four suggested options: Serenity, Legacy, Earthrise and Venture.
The comedian said in a statement: "I certainly hope NASA does the right thing. Just kidding. I hope they name it after me."
Stephen Colbert
New Collection Of Short Stories
Kurt Vonnegut
A posthumous collection of short stories by Kurt Vonnegut will be released this November.
The collection, called "Look at the Birdie," contains 14 stories by the author of "Slaughterhouse-Five" and other works, Delacorte Press announced Friday.
The publisher says it plans to reissue 15 Vonnegut titles including "Mother Night," "The Sirens of Titan," "Galapagos" and "Slaughterhouse-Five." Also due: another collection of his unpublished writings and a book of letters sent to and from the author during his life.
More never-before-seen stories by Vonnegut appeared in the 2008 collection "Armageddon in Retrospect."
Kurt Vonnegut
Muralist Shows L.A.'s Many Sides
Kent Twitchell
No, Kent Twitchell says, he never set out to be the muralist who helped define Los Angeles' quirky, eclectic edge by putting its larger-than-life pop stars, its movie heroes and its just plain hardworking folks on the sides of buildings and freeways everywhere.
He simply showed up one day, fresh out of the Air Force in 1966, and started painting on everything he saw.
Before he knew it, there was a portrait of Steve McQueen covering an entire side of a two-story home near downtown. Then a few years later pop artist Ed Ruscha emerged, six stories tall and gazing intently across the downtown skyline from the side of the federal Job Corps Center.
"The hippie days were just beginning and everybody was just sort of expressing themselves in visual ways," Twitchell, a modest, unassuming man of 66, said recently as he paused from overseeing installation of some of his works for a larger-than-life exhibition at a downtown gallery. "A lot of people were painting on clothes and vans and window shades and I was just one of them."
Kent Twitchell
Reuniting For Detroit Event
Amboy Dukes
Rightwing draft-dodger Ted Nugent will reunite with his first recording band, the Amboy Dukes, on April 17, when they will receive a Distinguished Achievement Award at the annual Detroit Music Awards. The group -- which had a hit single with "Journey to the Center of the Mind" -- also intends to play, marking its first performance since 1968.
Nugent said he considers the Dukes "the world's greatest garage band. We were part of that original fist of Detroit music, the confluence of rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll and that Motown touch. My brain is jam-packed with stimulating memories."
Nugent formed the Dukes in Chicago in 1964, then moved the group back to his native Detroit in 1968. Amidst a variety of lineup changes, the band released six studio albums and one live set. The Dukes disbanded in 1975, when Nugent embarked on a solo career.
Nugent has long eschewed drugs, but the Amboy Dukes' best-known song, "Journey to the Center of the Mind," was a psychedelic rock anthem (with lyrics by guitarist Steve Farmer).
Amboy Dukes
Held Without Bail
Redmond O'Neal
A judge on Friday ordered the son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal to be held without bail while he awaits sentencing on a probation violation.
Redmond O'Neal appeared in court Friday and admitted he had violated the terms of his probation for a previous drug conviction, court records show. A judge revoked the 24-year-old's bail and ordered a sentencing hearing for next week.
He faces up to three years in state prison for the violation, and still has a pair of pending drug cases.
O'Neal has been jailed since Sunday, when he was arrested at a jail north of Los Angeles on suspicion of carrying heroin. O'Neal had been sentenced to a drug diversion program after pleading guilty to methamphetamine and heroin possession charges in June.
Redmond O'Neal
Chicago-Based Newspaper Causes Uproar
LA Times
An advertisement dressed up as a news story on the front page of the Los Angeles Times has reporters at the newspaper fuming and the publisher defending the move.
The advertisement, for the NBC television series "Southland," appeared on page one of the Times on Thursday. Although it was labelled "advertisement," the ad resembled a news story complete with a bold-type headline.
According to the blog MediaMemo, more than 100 staffers at the newspaper signed a petition protesting the appearance of the fake news story ad on the front page.
The Times said about 70 readers had complained about the ad, which was published over the objections of the newspaper's editor, Russ Stanton.
LA Times
Baby Momma Sues
David Caruso
David Caruso's ex-girlfriend is seeking more than $1.2 million and a house she says the "CSI: Miami" star promised her.
Liza Marquez sued Caruso in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, claiming he promised to support her even after their nearly four-year relationship ended.
In her complaint, Marquez paints Caruso as a possessive, jealous boyfriend who was a reluctant father. The suit claims Caruso, 53, was verbally abusive to Marquez on several occasions and told her that he envisioned himself on a yacht in the French Riviera, not as a father.
The lawsuit states Caruso ended their relationship two days after she gave birth to their second child in October 2007. It claims the couple later reached an agreement that that actor would pay Marquez $1 million and $200,000 in attorney's fees, and give her a home in the San Fernando Valley.
David Caruso
German Regulators Fine For Price-Fixing
Microsoft
Antitrust regulators fined Microsoft Corp.'s German subsidiary 9 million euros ($11.8 million) and said the world's largest software maker illegally influenced retail prices for its Office 2007 programs.
The Bundeskartellamt, Germany's economic regulatory body, said in a statement that an undisclosed retailer worked with Microsoft to set the price of Microsoft's Office Home and Student 2007 software packages before the companies jointly launched an ad campaign.
"Not every contact between supplier and retailer regarding resale prices constitutes an illegal concerted practice," the German group said in the statement, but such communication can't lead to agreement about the retailer's future actions. "In the present case, this boundary has been crossed."
Microsoft said it will comply with German regulations.
Microsoft
FBI Warning
`Oprah' Tickets
The FBI and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" say Internet users should beware of an e-mail scam that promises attendance at the popular talk show in exchange for the purchase of a plane ticket.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center said this week that a circulating e-mail was advertising the "Oprah Millionaire Contest Show," which asks recipients for contact information. It also says those who apply have a chance to win $1 million.
The bureau says the e-mail is fraudulent and not from Winfrey or her show's production company, or Harpo Productions.
`Oprah' Tickets
TV Show Exonerates
Osama bin Laden
In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show "Devil's Advocate" on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled that there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.
The Netherlands, home to "Big Brother" creator Endemol, is known for being on the cutting edge of format-based television. But even for Dutch standards, "Devil's Advocate," from Amsterdam production house AVRO, pushes the envelope.
The show features star defense attorney Gerard Spong standing up for some of the world's worst criminals.
In the latest show, Spong was able to convince the jury that bin Laden's connection to September 11 was a product of "Western propaganda." The jury also ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove bin Laden was the real head of terrorist network al-Qaida. The jury did rule, however, that bin Laden is a "terrorist who has misused Islam."
Osama bin Laden
Another Rightwing Repug
"Gay" Elephant
A Polish politician has criticized his local zoo for acquiring a "gay" elephant named Ninio who prefers male companions and will probably not procreate, local media reported Friday.
"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys ($11 million) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there," Michal Grzes, a conservative councilor in the city of Poznan in western Poland, was quoted as saying.
"We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?" said Grzes, who is from the right-wing opposition Law and Justice party.
The head of the Poznan zoo said 10-year-old Ninio may be too young to decide whether he prefers males or females as elephants only reach sexual maturity at 14.
"Gay" Elephant
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