'TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Josh Marshall: Voter "Fraud" (talkingpointsmemo.com)
The 'lost' RNC emails story deserves and will get a lot of attention. But tomorrow's Times has another story that will probably generate less heat but is closer to the core of what the Purge story is about. Since President Bush came into office, the Justice Department has made 'voter fraud' prosecutions a high priority. Yet, not for lack of effort, they've barely been able to find any examples of it. The grand effort has boiled down to a program to send a few handfuls folks -- mainly black -- to jail for what are in almost every case notional or unintentional voting infractions.
Will Goldsmith: Good news for people who love bad news (c-ville.com)
Attacks on free speech continue on everything from global warming research to evil teddy bear movies.
Meghan Daum: Why doesn't Harvard love me? (latimes.com)
Thanks partly to rankings, seniors are all trying to cram through the same small college doors.
Joyce Carol Oates: The Art of Vengeance (nybooks.com)
On Collected Stories by by Roald Dahl.
Mark Morford: DRUNK. WANTSEXSEXNOW. TXT ME! (sfgate.com)
Where were you when text-message sex came and went like a naughty geeky thief in the night?
David Downs: Starbucks' Frappuccino Siren Songs (eastbayexpress.com)
The Antichrist of Globalization signs Paul McCartney but no-names like Ceu and Amy Winehouse get a leg up as well.
Cole Haddon: Grindhouse's Gritty Beat (eastbayexpress.com)
Directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez talk music, dismemberment, and the relationship between the two.
Joel Stein: Imus' sin: He's stupid (latimes.com)
The shock-jock's firing unmasks him for what he truly is: an angry adolescent playing adult pundit.
Fire Don Imus!
Uncensored Celebrity Outtakes (Realplayer required)
Reader Suggestions
Re: Dr. Bronner
Dear Marty:
Here is some more information about Dr. Bronner's Soap:
"Dr." Emanuel Bronner, Shaman of Mind-Cleansing Soap, OK! Dr. Emanuel Bronner Fan/Fact sights
:Dr. Bronner's SUPERMILD 18-in-1 BABY-CASTILE SOAP by GORDON KENNEDY
On his soapbox - Man of ideas lathered his cleansing product with messages By Eldon Knoche
Why the weird religious ravings on Dr. Bronner's soap?
Kevkev
In Apache Junction, Arizona
Thanks, Kevkev!
While I love my Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap, found out the hard way not to use it 'everywhere'.
Reader Suggestion
Interesting concept...
A site named "Hot Topics", indexing and connecting to what folks are blogging about hour-by-hour, indicating how often each subject's referenced by the size of the type. I hope that explanation makes some sense!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and dry.
Added a new flag - Mozambique 
Lashes Out At Gitmo
Patti Smith
Rocker Patti Smith said Friday that her concern for the hundreds of men imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay compelled her to record a song about a former detainee.
"I feel responsible as an American citizen," Smith told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from New York. "It's a terrible injustice and I think it will be a stain upon us when history examines this period."
"I'm not really politically articulate, so I try to respond to the things that move me in a humanistic way," the 60-year-old singer told the AP. "I can't imagine people languishing in prison for years while other people are trying to decide what to do."
Patti Smith
Indianapolis Tribute
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut's hometown has been celebrating his literary works in a "Year of Vonnegut" and will honor the late author this month at a sold-out event where he had been scheduled to speak.
Fans who were eagerly awaiting his lecture on April 27 are crestfallen at Vonnegut's death, said Chris Cairo, the Marion County Public Library's director of project development.
Mark Vonnegut will speak at Butler University in place of his father, who died Wednesday at age 84 after being injured in a fall at his home in New York.
Vonnegut's paternal grandfather was an architect who designed several Indianapolis landmarks. His father also was an architect, but the family's fortunes fell sharply during the Great Depression.
Kurt Vonnegut
Pelosi Fundraiser
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand welcomed Nancy Pelosi to her bluff-top Malibu estate for a fundraising dinner that took in $1.3 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The 120 invited guests paid up to $50,000 a couple to attend Thursday night's dinner party inside a large white tent erected on the Point Dume property. The fundraiser was an effort to increase the Democrats' majority in the House of Representatives in the 2008 elections.
Among the guests at the Streisand dinner were Eva Longoria, Melissa Etheridge, Tammy Lynn Michaels, David Foster, Kenny G, Josh Groban, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Amy Brenneman, J.J. Abrams, Dick Van Dyke, Nita Whitaker and Norman Lear.
Barbra Streisand
Campaign Contributions
Al Franken
Scores of actors, writers, producers and others from the entertainment industry have contributed to Al Franken's Senate campaign, helping the Minnesota Democrat get off to a strong fundraising start.
Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" star who hopes to take on GOP Sen. Norm Coleman next year, raised the maximum $4,600 from actors such as Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jason Alexander and Larry David, according to a campaign finance report filed Friday.
Other notable contributors include actors Kevin Bacon and Kevin Kline; producers James L. Brooks and Norman Lear; directors Rob Reiner and Jonathan Demme; singers Don Henley and Bonnie Raitt; and actress Jane Curtain.
He also picked up donations from cartoonist Garry Trudeau, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, comedian Bill Maher, Dream Works Studios CEO David Geffen and former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro.
Al Franken
Sells Songs Stake
Julian Lennon
Julian Lennon sold a share of his financial stake in Beatles songs co-written by his late father to a New York music publishing firm in a deal announced Friday.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Primary Wave Music Publishing said its acquisition represented a significant share of Julian Lennon's economic interest in the songs.
The deal does not apply to any of John Lennon's solo compositions.
Julian Lennon
Companion of the Order of Australia
Nicole Kidman
Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman, at home in Australia to make a new movie, was awarded Australia's top civil honor on Friday at a ceremony at Government House.
Kidman was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia by Governor-General Michael Jeffery for her contribution to cinema, and for her work promoting women and children's health, and cancer research.
The Companion of the Order of Australia is the nation's highest honor, equivalent to an English knighthood, and is awarded for "eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large."
Nicole Kidman
Banned In California Middle School
`Kaffir Boy'
An award-winning memoir about growing up poor and black in apartheid-era South Africa was banned from an intermediate school after a parent complained about a two-paragraph scene of men paying hungry boys for sex.
Superintendent Sonny Da Marto ordered an eighth-grade teacher to stop using "Kaffir Boy" in her English classes even though a literature review committee composed of parents, teachers, a librarian, a student and a school board member approved the book.
"The kids were angry," said English teacher Amelia Ramos, whose four classes were about halfway through the memoir when the superintendent stopped them from reading it. "They were frustrated. They were appalled."
Da Marto told the Burlingame school board he would allow an abridged version of "Kaffir Boy" to be taught, but that the paragraphs depicting child prostitution were inappropriate for 13- and 14-year-olds. The school board refused to reverse his decision.
`Kaffir Boy'
Pleads Guilty
Trey Anastasio
Trey Anastasio pleaded guilty Friday to a felony drug charge, avoiding jail time in a plea agreement that drops more serious charges and orders him into a drug court program.
Anastasio, 42, pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance. He admitted that he was in possession of Vicodin, Percocet, heroin and Xanax when he was pulled over in a Dec. 15 traffic stop in Whitehall.
Under the drug court program, the former Phish frontman will spend 12 to 15 months making weekly court appearances. He will also be subject to drug testing and will have to perform community service.
Trey Anastasio
Imus Reruns
KCAA
A small radio station intends to run the "Best of Imus" next week in defiance of Don Imus' firing.
Fred Lundgren, chairman of 1,400-watt KCAA (1050 AM), said the station would start the series Monday with the program that wound up getting Imus cashiered.
"I'm not going to let networks dictate to me who I run on my station," said Lundgren.
The motive for broadcasting the Imus reruns is in part financial. "I hate to say it, but without Imus, we're pretty much toast," said Lundgren, adding: "What Imus did was deplorable, inexcusable, but it shouldn't end the career of a man who has done so much good. This is an overreaction beyond anything I've ever seen in radio."
KCAA
The Price is Right Wing
Tucker Carlson
Bob Barker, Wink Martindale, Chuck Woolery and ... Tucker Carlson? Come on down!
The conservative bow-tied pundit has a new "situation." He's signed to host a CBS game show pilot, "Who Do You Trust?," originally hosted in the '50s by Johnny Carson.
The show features contestants wagering how much they trust each other as the game goes on. As part of his hosting duties, Tucker gets to grill the players, trying to extract information from them about motivations and gameplay.
Tucker Carlson
Names Murphy On Birth Certificate
Melanie Brown
Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown has listed Eddie Murphy's name on the birth certificate of her infant daughter, her publicist said Friday.
The 31-year-old Brown, known as Scary Spice when she was in the megahit group of the '90s, gave birth to the child April 3 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Brown has said ex-boyfriend Murphy is the father. The 46-year-old "Dreamgirls" star has said he isn't sure, while Brown has said there is "absolutely no question that Eddie is the father."
Melanie Brown
Paternity Suit
Chris Rock
A woman who claims Chris Rock is the father of her child is withdrawing a lawsuit filed last month in Georgia and will refile it in New York, according to a published report.
Kali Bowyer claims the 42-year-old actor-comedian is the father of a child she had 13 years ago. The lawsuit filed in Bulloch County asked for child support, medical coverage and attorney fees.
There was no immediate response from Rock's publicist, Leslie Sloane, to an e-mail from the AP seeking comment.
Chris Rock
Won't Face Charges
James Blunt
James Blunt will not be charged over a claim that he drove over someone's foot while leaving a party in February, the city attorney's office said Friday.
"After review of the information provided, we've decided not to file charges at this time," city attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan said without further comment.
Police investigated a man's claim that he was injured at a Feb. 24 Bel-Air Estates bash. Some witnesses reported that Blunt was driving the car, police said.
James Blunt
Sponsors Online Gaming Channel
US Army
The US Army is charging into the world of computer gaming in the hope of finding prime recruits among the legions of young players of online battle games.
The US Army will spend an estimated two million dollars in the coming year to sponsor a channel at the Global Gaming League (GGL) website, a popular spot for Internet computer game lovers.
A first-person shooter game based on the army training manual will be a centerpiece of the channel, which will feature independent game titles in the same genre.
The army's online push is aimed at gamers in the cherished recruiting age range of 17 to 24.
US Army
Shocking! Classes Don't Stop Sex
Abstinence
Students who took part in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not, according to a study ordered by Congress.
Also, those who attended one of the four abstinence classes that were reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes. And they first had sex at about the same age as other students - 14.9 years, according to Mathematica Policy Research Inc.
The federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education. Critics have repeatedly said they don't believe the programs are working, and the study will give them reinforcement.
However, Bush administration officials cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from the study.
Abstinence
In Memory
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson, an MGM contract player during the 1940s who later had a prolific theater career and was the first actor to play James Bond on screen, has died. He was 89.
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1941, Nelson was signed to MGM after being spotted by a talent scout. He appeared in a number of films for the studio in 1942, including "Shadow of the Thin Man," "Johnny Eager" and "Dr. Kildare's Victory." He also landed the leading role in "A Yank on the Burma Road," playing a cab driver who decides to lead a convoy of trucks for the Chinese government.
Nelson entered the Army during World War II and went on the road with other actors performing the wartime play "Winged Victory," which was later made into a movie starring Red Buttons, George Reeves and Nelson.
After the war, Nelson starred in a string of movies, including "Undercover Maisie," "Time to Kill" and "Tenth Avenue Angel."
He is the answer to the trivia question: Who was the first actor to play James Bond? Before Sean Connery was tapped to play the British agent on the big screen in 1962's "Dr. No," Nelson played Bond in a one-hour TV adaptation of "Casino Royale" in 1954.
Among his other film credits were "Airport" and "The Shining," and he also appeared on such TV shows as "Murder, She Wrote," "Dallas" and "Magnum P.I."
More recently, Nelson and his second wife, Nansi, spent a lot of time traveling. He planned to write a couple of books about his time on stage and in Hollywood.
Barry Nelson
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