Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: Taxes (andrewtobias.com)
Man up, for God's sake. And consider the possibility that paying taxes - or in this case, cashing your larger than usual refund check - is even more patriotic than complaining that you shouldn't have to. You voted for Bush, you even reelected him, and thus you voted for the war in Iraq and the giant tax cuts for the rich and the massive debt and deficits they left us with. So now that it's fiscal clean up time, grab a mop - not a gun - and help out like everybody else.
Paul Krugman: The Fire Next Time (nytimes.com)
While pretending to oppose bank bailouts, the Senate Republican leader is actually doing the bankers' bidding.
Garrison Keillor: Vanilla Can Be a Flavor to Savor (tmsfeatures.com)
Said it before, say it again: It's a great country, and one of its beauties is freedom of expression, freer now than ever before, and another is a general amiability that you find everywhere, the helpfulness of strangers, the pleasure of small talk.
Mark Morford: 37 things worse than a KFC meatwich (sfgate.com)
And lo, the reaction was swift and true, an incredible flood of comment and reply, recoil and horrified laughter, in response to last week's column -- and the Huffington Post's wondrous reprint -- on the gut-clenching KFC meat phenomenon/abomination known as the Double Down.
Ted Rall: FREE THE TROOPS (uexpress.com)
The number of new U.S. Army recruits who are high-school dropouts soared during the Bush years, peaking at 29.3 percent in 2007.
Froma Harrop: Politicians Honoring Their Kind (creators.com)
Fly from Atlanta to Houston, and you may start at an airport named after two mayors and land at one named for a president. While in the air, you pass over hundreds of bridges, roadways and public buildings - all honoring politicians, alive or dead.
"What Darwin Got Wrong" by Jerry Fodor: A review by Edward J. Larson (The Wilson Quarterly)
Americans love conspiracy theories. Many still think that shadowy plotters continue to cover up the identity of JFK's "real" killers, and the popular notion that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by a cabal of self-interested scientists is now enjoying its second or third wind.
20 Questions: Mark Kurlansky (popmatters.com)
Mark Kulansky is the kind of prolific, intelligent, compassionate, multi-talented, cultural historian / generalist that we really admire at PopMatters. That's a mouthful. In sum: Kurlansky is a Renaissance man, whose skill for penning books on cultural history (but one arrow in his quiver of talents) should be read, learned from, and admired.
Jay Parini: Dead Poets' Society (chronicle.com)
Relationships among poets are about much more than anxiety.
"Mom: The Transformation of Motherhood in Modern America" by Rebecca Jo Plant
You've Come a Long Way, Maybe?
George Varga: "Mehldau Crosses (Music) Party Lines: Pianist's Resume Goes Way Beyond Jazz" (creators.com)
Jazz, classical and rock don't intersect for Brad Mehldau so much as they co-exist as happy equals that provide him with endless inspiration and sustenance. Justly hailed as one of the greatest jazz pianists of his generation, he reaches across idioms whenever the spirit moves him.
George Varga: Phish Leaves its Mark on Coachella Fest (creators.com)
There may be something fishy - make that Phishy - going on this weekend in Indio at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.
Tom Stoppard: 'I'm the crank in the bus queue' (guardian.co.uk)
Tom Stoppard gets riled by many things: bad grammar, constant interruptions, French Connection, and Steven Spielberg calling him in the shower. As 'The Real Thing' gets a revival, he tells Mark Lawson why he longs to escape into a new play.
Jonathan Jones: The artist who steals for a living (guardian.co.uk)
Pinching other people's ideas is nothing new in art. But Roisin Byrne has taken things one step further ...
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Enemy of the State' Edition...
"The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them... officials say Mr. Awlaki is an operative of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate of the terror network in Yemen and Saudi Arabia...
It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing, officials said..."
Confirmed: Obama authorizes assassination of U.S. citizen - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
Do you approve or disapprove of such an action?
A.) Approve
B.) Disapprove
C.) This is nothing new, it's been going on for years...
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Back to sunny and seasonal.
Extends Health Care Rights To Gay Partners
Obama
In a move hailed as a step toward fairness for same-sex couples, President Barack Obama is ordering that nearly all hospitals allow patients to say who has visitation rights and who can help make medical decisions, including gay and lesbian partners.
The White House on Thursday released a statement by Obama instructing his Health and Human Services secretary to draft rules requiring hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments to grant all patients the right to designate people who can visit and consult with them at crucial moments.
The designated visitors should have the same rights that immediate family members now enjoy, Obama's instructions said. It said Medicare-Medicaid hospitals, which include most of the nation's facilities, may not deny visitation and consultation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
The Human Rights Campaign, which backs gay rights, called Obama's decision an "important action" that was inspired in part by a New York Times article about a lesbian couple in Miami. They were kept apart while one lay dying in a hospital despite having an "advanced health care directive" asking for full visitation rights for each other.
Obama
Taxi From Oslo To Brussels
John Cleese
Monty Python comedy legend John Cleese took a 5,100 dollar taxi ride from Oslo to Brussels after becoming stranded in Europe's volcanic ash travel crisis, the Norwegian TV2 broadcaster reported Friday.
"We checked every option, but there were no boats and no train tickets available. That's when my fabulous assistant determined the easiest thing would be to take a taxi," Cleese told the broadcaster in a telephone interview posted on its website in Norwegian.
The bill? A whopping 30,000 kroner (3,800 euros/5,100 dollars), said Cleese, who was visiting the Norwegian capital to take part in the popular Scandinavian talk show Skavlan.
The taxi carried two extra drivers for the 1,500 kilometre (930 mile) drive, TV2 reported.
John Cleese
Issue Unheard Song For Record Stores
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones will release "Plundered My Soul," a track never heard before, as a limited edition vinyl single to mark Record Store Day Saturday which aims to support struggling music retail outlets.
An iTunes digital download version of the track will be available from Friday, according Universal Music Group.
Plundered My Soul was discovered during work on the reissue of "Exile on Main Street," considered one of the group's most important albums, due on May 17. The song will be one of 10 bonus tracks on the deluxe edition.
The release is part of a series of seven-inch singles being issued by the band's label to mark the day, with The Beatles and Lily Allen among EMI's releases, limited to 1,000 copies each.
Rolling Stones
Archive Going Online - For A Price
Rolling Stone
For the first time Rolling Stone is inviting its readers on the long, strange trip though the magazine's 43-year archive, putting complete digital replicas online along with the latest edition. But you'll have to pay to see it all.
With a new site launching Monday, Rolling Stone will become one of the most prominent magazines to decide that adding a "pay wall" is the best way to make money on the Web.
A one-month pass will cost $3.95 and annual access is $29.99. Online subscribers will automatically get a print subscription, which normally costs $19.95 a year. But print subscribers don't automatically get Web access.
The magazine has never put a full issue online except to tease an article here and there. On the new site, readers can flip through, search and zoom in on a complete replica of the print edition.
The same goes for every issue since the magazine launched in 1967. If you're willing to pay, you can peruse a big grid with thumbnail views of every cover.
Rolling Stone
Grandfather's Shadow
Simon Tolkien
Until he reached the age of 40, Simon Tolkien was sure of one thing; he could not write.
After all, his late grandfather J.R.R. Tolkien, famed for "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit," was the author in the family, and he was a London criminal barrister.
"The one thing I knew from a very early age was I can't write," Tolkien told Reuters in an interview to promote his second novel, "The Inheritance," published this week by Minotaur Books.
But as he turned 40 in 1999 and then with the hype ahead of the 2001 release of the Peter Jackson-directed blockbuster movie, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," he had something of a mid-life crisis and decided to write.
Simon Tolkien
To Take Back Miramax
Weinstein Brothers
It seems the Weinstein brothers have fashioned a winning bid for Miramax Films, the studio they founded in 1979 and sold to Walt Disney Co in 1993 for $80 million.
Disney for months has been soliciting offers for the recently shut specialty-film unit and its 611-title library. Harvey and Bob Weinstein had been building enough financial muscle to put together an offer of $600 million or thereabouts, seeking to top bids from such rival suitors as businessmen Alec and Tom Gores, and Hollywood wheeler-dealer David Bergstein.
The Weinsteins have been in talks with billionaire financier Ron Burkle throughout the auction process. In addition to Burkle's Yucaipa Group, the duo's backers include hedge funds Fortress and Colbeck Capital.
In effect, Burkle and friends would be the official buyers, but the Weinsteins would effectively run the operation. There was no word on when an official announcement of the deal will be made, as Disney lawyers were still going over the financial details provided by the Weinsteins.
Weinstein Brothers
Offers Refunds
Cincy Tea Party
An Ohio tea party group says it will offer refunds after Fox Rupert News host Sean Hannity canceled an appearance at its Tax Day rally.
The Cincinnati Tea Party said in a statement Friday that it will set up a special e-mail address to handle refund requests.
The group says nearly 10,000 people turned out Thursday evening for the rally along with a planned Hannity book-signing and taping of his television show at the University of Cincinnati basketball arena.
Fox Rupert News says Hannity's appearance was canceled over admission fees. The network says the group was trying to profit from Hannity.
Cincy Tea Party
Unconstitutional
National Day of Prayer
A federal judge in Wisconsin declared Thursday that the US law authorizing a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.
US District Judge Barbara Crabb said the federal statute violates the First Amendment's prohibition on government endorsement of religion.
She issued a 66-page decision and enjoined President Obama from issuing an executive order calling for the celebration of a National Day of Prayer.
'The government may not endorse a religious message'"A determination that the government may not endorse a religious message is not a determination that the message itself is harmful, unimportant, or undeserving of dissemination," she said. "Rather it is part of the effort to carry out the Founders' plan of preserving religious liberty to the fullest extent possible in a pluralistic society."
National Day of Prayer
Benny the Rat's Holocaust Denier
Bishop Richard Williamson
A German court convicted ultraconservative British Bishop Richard Williamson on Friday of denying the Holocaust in a television interview.
A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg found Williamson guilty of incitement for saying in a 2008 interview with Swedish television that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II.
The Roman Catholic bishop was barred by his order from attending Friday's proceedings or making statements to the media.
The interview was conducted near Regensburg and was granted shortly before Williamson's excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI, along with that of three other bishops from the anti-modernization movement of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Bishop Richard Williamson
Lawsuit Dismissed
Woody Harrelson
Court records show a lawsuit filed by a former TMZ photographer who accused Woody Harrelson of attacking him has been dismissed.
Filings in Los Angeles Superior Court state Harrelson and the photographer, Josh Levine, reached a settlement earlier this month. The details of the settlement were not included in court records.
Levine sued Harrelson in June 2008, alleging the Academy Award-nominated actor broke his video camera, choked him and ordered his bodyguard to attack the photographer during an incident in Hollywood in 2006.
Harrelson countersued for invasion of privacy and records show that case has also been dismissed.
Woody Harrelson
Actress Charged With Marriage Fraud
Fernanda Romero
Mexican-born actress Fernanda Romero has had bit parts in such movies as "Drag Me to Hell," but prosecutors say her biggest act was pretending to be a bride.
The U.S. attorney's office says the 28-year-old actress and her husband were arrested Friday for marriage fraud at their separate Los Angeles homes.
A
uthorities contend that Romero paid 28-year-old Kent Ross to marry her in 2005 so she could become a U.S. resident. They say the two never lived together and she submitted phony documents with her green card application.
Investigators say a month after the marriage, Romero began dating a fashion photographer and eventually lived with him.
Fernanda Romero
In Memory
Peter Steele
Peter Steele, the driving force behind the Brooklyn-based goth/metal quartet Type O Negative, died Wednesday of apparent heart failure. He was 48.
Known for his vampiric good looks, morbid sense of humor and rich baritone, the singer/bassist was the author of such metal classics as "Christian Woman;" "Black No. 1;" "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend;" and the recent "September Sun."
Born in 1962, Steele played in a number of hardcore bands around his native Brooklyn before starting Carnivore, a controversial thrash band whose overt sarcasm and nihilistic views were the genesis for his most enduring and successful project, Type O Negative.
With childhood friends Sal Abruscato (later replaced by Johnny Kelly), Josh Silver and Kenny Hickey, Steele formed Type O Negative and signed to RoadRunner Record. Influenced by groups such as Black Sabbath and The Doors as well as many punk, post-punk and new wave bands, Steele wrote lyrics that were often intensely personal, dealing with love, loss and addiction; yet he infused his writing with great wit and self-deprecating, dark humor which endeared him to his fans.
The band's first release, "Slow, Deep And Hard" (1991) was notable for both its long dirges and thrash breaks, and dark, humorous lyrics. Yet it was the landmark follow-up, "Bloody Kisses" (1993) that broke the group worldwide. Steeped in goth imagery and experimenting with more complicated song structures, Type O scored minor hits with "Christian Woman," "Black No. 1" and the slowed-down Seals & Crofts cover of "Summer Breeze."
In 1996, the band returned with the commercial "October Rust" and Steele gained notoriety for his landmark layout in Playgirl. Steele and the group toured heavily, enjoying the fruits of their labor; but excesses of the road and personal loss led to 1999's "World Coming Down" -- an album laden with Steele's sadness and depression. Songs with titles such as "Everyone I Love Is Dead" and "Everything Dies" failed to connect at radio; yet the band continued to tour before going on hiatus. A hits collection would tide fans over until 2003 when the band released "Life Is Killing Me."
Peter Steele
In Memory
Daryl F. Gates
Daryl F. Gates, the polarizing former police chief whose 14-year tenure ended amid widespread criticism over his department's response to the city's deadly 1992 riots, died Friday after a short bout with cancer. He was 83.
A tart-tongued career cop with a short fuse and a penchant for making controversial statements, Gates was a flashpoint for controversy long before the riots that broke out after four white police officers were acquitted of most charges in the beating of black motorist Rodney King.
As a member of the police department's command staff in 1972, he formed Los Angeles' first Special Weapons and Tactics Team or SWAT. He also shut down one of the department's intelligence units in 1983 after learning officers were spying on the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations.
As early as 1982, Gates came under fire for saying more blacks died than whites during the use of carotid chokeholds because "the veins or arteries do not open up as fast as they do on normal people."
Forensic experts said there was no such difference between races and a black community leader said the only reason blacks died more frequently was because the chokehold was used on them more often.
Gates later apologized.
Gates' police career began to unravel with the 1991 beating of King, which was videotaped by a man in a nearby apartment after King was pulled over for speeding. Audiotapes of the officers making racist remarks about the incident were released and the videotape of the prolonged beating televised.
Gates criticized the officers' actions but dismissed them as an aberration. Critics said they represented a pattern of abuse directed at minorities allowed to flourish under Gates' watch.
Under pressure to resign, Gates announced his retirement in the months following the beating. He was just two months short of leaving when the officers were acquitted on April 29, 1992, a verdict that triggered one of the worst outbreaks of civil unrest in Los Angeles history.
Four days of rioting throughout the sprawling city left 55 people dead, more than 2,000 injured and property damage totaling $1 billion. Entire blocks of the city were reduced to cinders by fires.
Gates came under intense criticism from the mayor, fire chief and others who said officers were slow to respond. Then-Mayor Tom Bradley said Gates had "brought Los Angeles to the brink of disaster just to satisfy his own ego."
Gates' personal life, like his career, was sometimes tumultuous. His marriage ended in divorce and his son struggled with drug abuse, suffering an overdose during the 1992 riots.
Daryl F. Gates
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