Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dan DeLuca: Jon Stewart has to find humor even when the news is grim (The Philadelphia Inquirer; Posted on Popmatters.com)
It's Jon Stewart's job to make fun of the news, even when there's nothing remotely funny about it. Such was the case last week when Stewart and the cast of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" came to work on Monday and were confronted with the breaking story of the deadliest shooting rampage in American history.
Glenn Greenwald: The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds (salon.com)
It is difficult to watch these clips from yesterday's House hearings investigating the absolute, deliberate lies regarding Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch fed to the American public by the U.S. military -- with an eager and accommodating assist from our excellent and intrepid media -- and feel anything other than disgust (and this is just beyond comment). But as anger-inducing as it all is, there is really nothing remarkable about any of it.
Josh Marshall Tells the Truth (talkingpointsmemo.com)
After half a decade, the verdict is pretty clear: President Bush has been the biggest ally Osama bin Laden has. He's helped bin Laden at pretty much every turn -- even if only by his own stupidity, incompetence and cowardice. And when the next big terrorist attack comes, we can thank President Bush for helping make it happen.
Mark Morford: The Key Chain Of Your Doom (sfgate.com)
Is something scary waiting in your car? Is your key fob beeping? Should you be screaming?
C. D. STELZER: BEEwitched, Bothered, and BEEwildered
Illinois scientists search for the reasons bees are dropping like flies
MICHAEL PYE: Party, party, party (living.scotsman.com)
SOME BOOKS ARE A HIGH-WIRE act without a net; and the more you admire the writer on the wire, the more scary the reading. Here's Barbara Ehrenreich, who used her persistence and her crystal style to bring home what it's like to work for the minimum wage, what the worldwide web of capital is doing to women. And here's Barbara Ehrenreich skimming a couple of millennia like a mayfly, writing the history of something abstract that she can't observe. Can she do it?
Meghan O'Rourke: Train Your Brain (slate.com)
The new mania for neuroplasticity.
Losing Their Religion (slate.com)
My neighbors are proselytizing to my kid. How can I get them to stop it?
Beth Ditto: How to Come Out (guardian.co.uk)
Be prepared for any reaction, including the good ones (when my mom hugged me, and said, "Six, one, half a dozen, the other" - Arkansas speak for "It's all the same to me"), the awkward (the time my aunt asked me, "How y'all do it?" in the middle of thanksgiving dinner), and the ugly ("I feel so sorry for all my gay friends who are going to hell," which was said to my best friend by a mutual friend).
Payscale.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Son Takes Place
Kurt Vonnegut
A hometown celebration of Kurt Vonnegut's life and literary prowess was highlighted Friday night with the last thing the author wrote - a speech he had planned to deliver himself at Butler University.
Vonnegut wrote the 13-page lecture two weeks before he died at age 84 on April 11, said his son, Mark, who spoke on his father's behalf at the annual McFadden Memorial Lecture.
The sold-out event was part of a yearlong tribute to the author. Indianapolis officials designated 2007 the "Year of Vonnegut," with readings and forums intended to encourage people to visit libraries and to read.
Vonnegut was born on Nov. 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, the youngest of three children. His affluent German-American ancestors played a key role in the city's early development, and his paternal grandfather was a prominent architect who designed several Indianapolis landmarks.
Kurt Vonnegut
Should Launch Today
James Doohan
If all goes as planned Saturday, the cremated remains of the actor who portrayed "Scotty" aboard Star Trek's starship Enterprise will sail into suborbital space aboard a rocket launched from the southern New Mexico desert.
Actor James Doohan's remains, along with those of Apollo 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper and about 200 others, are aboard the second private rocket scheduled to be launched at Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport being developed in Upham, N.M.
UP Aerospace Inc. of Farmington, Conn., launched the first rocket from the desert site in September. But that Spaceloft XL rocket crashed into the rugged desert after spiraling out of control about nine seconds after liftoff.
Company officials blamed the failure on a faulty fin design. A Spaceloft SL-2 rocket, with a fourth fin added for stability, will carry the cremains, which were loaded into the rocket last month.
James Doohan
Comeback
Yusuf Islam
Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens, has quietly returned to music with a new album and concerts. And he's sounding a lot like ... Cat Stevens.
Thirty years after the folk singer converted to Islam, changed his name and dropped out of music, calling it un-Islamic, he has picked up the guitar once more. He has reconciled pop music with his faith and wants to use it to spread a message of peace.
"When I come out now, I sound quite similar. For some people, it's a welcome return to the sound of my voice and my music," says Islam, who as Cat Stevens sold 60 million albums with songs like "Wild World" and "Peace Train."
In an interview with The Associated Press, Islam said he's trying to make amends for dropping out all those years ago - and he admits he might have hurt some feelings. He said his break might not have been as complete had the press been more understanding about his conversion to Islam, he says.
For the interview: Yusuf Islam
Walk of Fame
Music City
John Hiatt slept under a park bench on his first night in Nashville in 1979. Now the city has given the singer-songwriter the star treatment.
Hiatt was among six inductees to the Music City Walk of Fame. Also honored: Wynonna Judd, Emmylou Harris, music business pioneer Frances Preston, contemporary Christian singer Michael W. Smith and Buddy Holly's backing band, The Crickets.
"Though we come from different genres of music, this is about the human spirit today," Judd said.
Music City
Special Edition Hits Copyright Snag
Beyonce
Columbia Records is facing the prospect of having to pull the new deluxe edition of Beyonce's "B'Day" from stores amid a dispute over publishing rights.
But rather than recalling the release altogether, multiple sources say Columbia parent company Sony BMG plans to manufacture and distribute a new version of the deluxe edition, minus one track featuring the challenged copyright.
At the heart of the controversy is the track and accompanying video "Still in Love (Kissing You)," a reworking of Des'ree's 1996 song "I'm Kissing You."
The Royalty Network, a publishing company administering the copyright on behalf of Timothy Attack, co-writer of the song, alleges that Sony BMG didn't receive its permission to use "I'm Kissing You." It is pressing the matter by filing a copyright infringement complaint with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York --a move that has led to a temporary halt of distribution of the albums.
Beyonce
Magic Act
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson will replace Carmen Electra as special guest star in Hans Klok's new show, "The Beauty of Magic," at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.
Electra said at a press conference last week that she would be with the show for three months. Publicists had hailed it as her stage debut in Las Vegas and promised "sultry surprises."
But the 35-year-old actress pulled out for "scheduling reasons," said Bill Taylor, chief executive of Stage Entertainment, which produces Klok's show.
Pamela Anderson
Charges Dropped
Daniel Baldwin
Car-theft charges against Daniel Baldwin were dropped Friday.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern dismissed the charges at the prosecution's request during a brief hearing, said Farrah Emami, district attorney spokeswoman.
"After following up on statements that were provided to us by witnesses and the victim, we determined that the evidence didn't support us going forward with the case," she said.
Daniel Baldwin
Ferrari At Auction
Steve McQueen
A 1963 Ferrari once owned and driven by the late film star Steve McQueen is expected to fetch between $800,000 and $1.2 million at an auction in August, Christie's said.
Christie's unveiled the car on Friday: a Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso with a medium-brown metallic paint and beige leather interior.
"It's probably the best example of a Ferrari Lusso that's out there on the marketplace," said Christopher Sanger, vice president and head of Christie's car sales in the Americas.
"It was McQueen's first Ferrari and was his everyday, run-around car, not a movie prop," he said.
Steve McQueen
Reruns Cleared
'Family Guy'
The animated comedy "Family Guy" has been cleared in 90% of the United States for its fall launch in syndication, distributor Twentieth Television said Thursday
The Emmy Award-winning series has been cleared in 150 markets, including 24 of the top 25. The suburban satire is completing its sixth season on Fox. It features the voices of creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis and Seth Green.
'Family Guy'
Big Settlement
`Will & Grace'
The creators of "Will & Grace" settled a legal dispute with NBC Studios Friday, a day after the foreman of the jury that heard the case was removed for failing to disclose he hosted a Web site critical of NBC.
Terms of the settlement were not released. Executive producers David Kohan and Jason "Max" Mutchnick had sought $55 million, claiming they were cheated out of millions of dollars owed them from revenue generated by the long-running NBC hit.
An attorney for Kohan and Mutchnick said the creators signed off on the settlement after overnight negotiations between the lawyers and a mediator. Kohan and Mutchnick were not in court Friday because they were shooting a television pilot, said attorney Ronald Nessim.
Jurors reached a verdict Wednesday after six days of deliberations in a trial that began in February. Superior Court Judge Warren Ettinger had planned to read the verdict Thursday, but NBC Studios raised questions about the jury foreman's Web site, which was critical of corporations and NBC.
The suit was resolved before Ettinger could decide whether to order new deliberations with an alternate juror.
`Will & Grace'
In Memory
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich played the cello with grace and verve - and lived his life offstage the same way. His death at age 80 takes away one of modern Russia's most compelling figures, admired both for his musical mastery and his defiance of Soviet repression.
Rostropovich, who was known by his friends as "Slava," was considered by many to be the successor to Pablo Casals as the world's greatest cellist.
A bear of a man who hugged practically anyone in sight, he was an effusive rather than an intimidating maestro, a teacher who nurtured Jacqueline du Pre among many other great cellists.
Rostropovich's sympathies against the Communist Party leaders of his homeland started with the Stalin-era denunciations of Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
Under Leonid Brezhnev's regime, Rostropovich and his wife, the Bolshoi Opera soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, sheltered the dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn in their country house in the early 1970s.
After Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, Rostropovich wrote an open letter protesting the official Soviet vilification of the author.
The quest by the cellist and his wife for cultural freedom resulted in the cancellation of concerts, foreign tours and recording projects. Finally, in 1974, they fled to Paris with their two daughters. Four years later, their Soviet citizenship was revoked.
In 1989, as the Berlin Wall was being torn down, Rostropovich showed up with his cello and played Bach cello suites amid the rubble. The next year, his Soviet citizenship was restored, and he made a triumphant return to Russia to perform with Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, where he was music director from 1977 to 1994.
When hard-line Communists tried to overthrow then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, Rostropovich rushed back to Moscow without a visa and spent days in the Russian parliament building to join those protesting the coup attempt.
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich was born March 27, 1927, in Baku in then Soviet Azerbaijan. His mother was a pianist. His grandfather and father, Leopold, were cellists. One memorable photo shows him as an infant cradled in his father's cello case. He started playing the piano at age 4 and took up the cello at about 7, later studying at the Moscow Conservatory.
He made his public debut as a cellist in 1942 at age 15, and gained wide notice in the West nine years later when the Soviets sent him to perform at a festival in Florence, Italy.
Rostropovich's work for humanity didn't stop with the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1991, he and his wife established the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation to help improve health care for children in former Soviet states.
In addition to his wife, whom he married in 1955, survivors include their daughters, Olga and Elena.
Mstislav Rostropovich
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