'Best of TBH Politoons'
Sat & Sun Nights
Erin Hart
A weekend to explore the possibilities of peace for all of us.
As the war rages in Iraq, the Bush Administration seems at a loss. And what
is the Democratic Party DOING???? Base closures, Bolton's advice and
consent plus filibustering.
Special guests abound this weekend: we talk to Ellen Frick about the
documentary she and Gretchen Burger made called "Another Side of Peace"
which will be broadcast this week on KCTS. It's about the Parents Circle, a
support group for bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost
children in the conflict.
Then we check in with Houzan Mahmoud about the situation in the West Bank
and about President Abbas's upcoming visit to the U.S.
On Sunday, we will talk to executive director Beverly Boos about "Opening of
the Heart" a workshop about how to listen to each other (what on a TALK
SHOW?).
And then we will interview Palestinian director Yahya Barakat about his new
documentary called "Rachel Corrie: An American Conscience".
And we review the blogs with Marty of Bartcop. Check out Huffington
Post and all those bad boy Bolton postings.
Plus local catch-ups on elections, found and lost votes and closeted gay
Republicans and sex scandals; driver's license legislation and MORE.
Check out The Erin Hart Show, and
streaming live 9pm - 1am, Saturday & Sunday night at
710kiro.com.
There's a chatroom, too.
Think I'm scheduled Saturday, but nothing's written in stone.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jim Hightower: Bush's New Social Security Tactic (AlterNet)
Excellent. Professor George W.'s "60-day, 60-city, traveling medicine show" to sell the miracle cure of his Social Security privatization tonic to us gullible rubes--has been a bust.
Paul Krugman: Always Low Wages. Alway (New York Times)
[Click on "Columns," then on "Always Low Wages. Always."]
Last week Standard and Poor's, a bond rating agency, downgraded both Ford and General Motors bonds to junk status. That is, it sees a significant risk that the companies won't be able to pay their debts
Posted by Hans Riemer: Michael Medved, twisting in the wind (Rockthevote.com)
(May 11)
Today, I went on the Michael Medved radio show for an hour. What a riot.
Annalee Newitz: Merit Badge (AlterNet)
Grabbing those screen shots from DVDs was, as my lawyers assured me, a textbook definition of fair use. But the entertainment industry made it a pain in the ass.
That Prime Time Religion: Is 'South Park' the best religion show on TV? (Belief.net)
Ellen Leventry: From "The Flying Nun" to "Touched By an Angel," television has always dealt with faith and religion. But "Joan of Arcadia" and recent other-worldly shows are different--the oft-used word is "edgy." When did this new strain of spiritual television begin?
The Ten Commandments of Joan of Arcadia by Executive Producer Barbara Hall
5. Everyone is allowed to say no to God, including Joan
Buy Blue: Auto Insurance
So if you're in that third of the driving population shopping for auto insurance, we'd like to propose that you consider the only 100% blue auto insurance company we have found, Progressive Insurance.
Amy Alkon: Ask the Advice Goddess
What is your view of magazines like Penthouse and Playboy?
Compare Prices on New and Used Books
Another Rant
Avery Ant
Purple Gene Reviews
'Garbage' on Letterman
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & too warm for the season.
Turned out the old film I'd taken to CostCo was from November, 1991. Was helping deliver a car to Alaska, and took a lot of pictures of snow, ice, and a stuffed wolverine.
-25°(F) that night in Haines Junction, and it wasn't even winter.
Hibbings To Name Street
Bob Dylan
The street where Bob Dylan grew up is being given the name "Dylan Drive" in his honor.
It's the first time the city of Hibbing, where Dylan also attended high school, is doing something permanent to honor him.
The city had issued a proclamation on May 24, 2001, Dylan's 60th birthday, but that was just a one-day event. The sign will be permanent.
The sign is honorary only, meaning 7th Avenue will remain the official name of the street, and residents won't have to change their addresses.
Bob Dylan
Sues Celebrity Lookalike
Robin Williams
Robin Williams claims a look-alike named Michael Clayton duped a reporter and a charity organizer into thinking he really was Williams.
Williams' federal lawsuit claims the look-alike's agent, Michael Pool, called reporters in September to set up an airport interview with Williams.
"I was completely suckered," Star Tribune gossip columnist C.J. wrote four days later after discovering the man was really Clayton. "When Pool arrived with 'Williams,' I was surprised by the blond hair. My suspicions eased when I saw Clayton's hairy arms."
The lawsuit, which includes allegations of false advertising, also says Clayton duped a woman who was organizing a charity for the Punkin Center Rural Fire Department in Missouri. The lawsuit said Shirley Collins questioned whether she was really dealing with Williams until Pool put a man on the phone who launched into a Mrs. Doubtfire impersonation.
Robin Williams
Renewals & Dumps
'On The Bubble'
NBC insists it has yet to render a final verdict on the future of its highly touted "Law & Order: Trial By Jury," but Hollywood's leading show business papers reported on Friday the struggling show appears headed for the slammer.
The Hollywood Reporter, citing unnamed sources, said NBC was not expected to renew the show as part of the 2005-2006 programing lineup the network will unveil on Monday in its annual "upfront" presentation to advertisers.
Other NBC series said to be questionable for next season are the 1960s-era drama "American Dreams," sitcom "Committed" and "The Office," a quirky workplace comedy adapted from the British TV hit of the same name.
Shows on the cusp for rivals include "Eyes," "Blind Justice" and "8 Simple Rules" at ABC; "Judging Amy," "Joan of Arcadia" and "Yes, Dear" at CBS; and "Bernie Mac," "Quintuplets" and Emmy-winning comedy "Arrested Development" at Fox.
'On The Bubble'
Will Remain 'Liberal'
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
When Lee Enterprises Inc. agreed to purchase Pulitzer Inc. for $1.46 billion, it also agreed that the flagship St. Louis Post-Dispatch will keep its longstanding liberal editorial slant for at least the next five years, according to the purchase agreement mailed to Pulitzer shareholders Friday.
"For a period of at least five years following the Effective Time, Parent (Lee Enterprises) will cause the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to maintain its current name and editorial page platform statement and to maintain its news and editorial headquarters in the City of St. Louis, Missouri," the agreement states.
The Post-Dispatch platform statement, adopted in 1911, includes the pledge that the newspaper "will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Returns to 'Idol'
Clive Davis
Record mogul Clive Davis is returning to "American Idol" to give his expert opinion on this year's remaining finalists.
Davis, who gushed over Fantasia last year before she was crowned champ, will appear on the Fox show Tuesday, a week before the season finale.
Davis, who heads the U.S. division of the BMG music conglomerate, has guided the debut albums of each of the "Idol" winners and that of runner-up Clay Aiken. Each of their albums has sold more than 1 million copies.
Clive Davis
'Night of the Museums'
1,000 Museums
More than 1,000 museums across Europe promised a sleepless night Saturday, when they plan to stay open for free into the small hours.
Some 700 museums in France and 500 elsewhere in Europe were participating in the event, dubbed the "Night of the Museums," which was launched by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.
Museums in Italy, Portugal and Sofia were also taking part in the programme.
1,000 Museums
Spars With Press
Scottie McClellan
On the day after more than 30,000 people -- including the vice president, the first lady, and a former first lady -- were evacuated from their offices or homes in Washington, D.C., but the president, who was biking in Maryland was not notified until the threat passed, reporters grilled Press Secretary Scott McClellan at his daily briefing.
For those who might have missed it on TV -- that is, nearly everyone -- here are some choice excerpts, as McClellan continually refers to "protocols" and reporters work up the nerve to essentially ask, "Wouldn't most men like to know when their home is evacuated and their wife is hustled to a secure bunker?" They also wonder about the small matter of the president being commander in chief and the capital possibly being under attack.
Some reporters also suggested that the off-kilter Cessna had come much closer to the White House than McClellan's claim yesterday of three miles. Today, McClellan amended that to "within three miles."
**
Q: Scott, yesterday the White House was on red alert, was evacuated. The first lady and Nancy Reagan were taken to a secure location. The Vice President was evacuated from the grounds. The Capitol building was evacuated. The continuity of government plan was initiated. And yet the president wasn't told of yesterday's events until after he finished his bike ride, about 36 minutes after the all-clear had been sent. Is he satisfied with the fact that he wasn't notified about this?
McCLELLAN: Yes. I think you just brought up a very good point -- the protocols that were in place after Sept. 11 were followed. The president was never considered to be in danger because he was at an off-site location. The president has a tremendous amount of trust in his Secret Service detail. ...
For the rest, Scottie McClellan
Group Drops Hunting Plan
Stray Cats
A month after Gov. Jim Doyle said a plan to allow hunters to shoot stray cats was making Wisconsin a laughingstock, the public advisory group that raised the issue decided Friday to let it die.
"There is no need to push it any further," Wisconsin Conservation Congress chairman Steve Oestreicher said of a proposed change to allow licensed hunters to shoot feral cats that kill songbirds and other wildlife.
The proposal ignited a firestorm among animal rights groups that called it inhumane and dangerous - and raised the specter that hunters would shoot cats that had only wandered from their homes.
Stray Cats
Attendants Pose for Risque Calendar
United Airlines
While some United Airlines employees are using placards and pamphlets to protest the loss of their pensions, a group of flight attendants is taking a more risque tack - showing some skin to publicize their plight.
The five women, ranging in age from 55 to 64, posed for a 2006 calendar that depicts them in various states of undress in front of a vintage plane, on a park bench and on a plane's wing, among other locations. Reflecting a mix of humor and anger, it was released to coincide with a bankruptcy court's approval this week of United's plan to terminate $9.8 billion in employee pension obligations.
While United is never named nor its airplanes shown, every photograph in "Stewardesses Stripped (Of Their Pension?)" is accompanied by a zinger related to the record pension default by the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline.
"Coffee, tea, or me without a pension?" reads one. "Marry me, fly free - but don't expect anything from my pension," says another. And the cover shot: "Are your butts covered? We thought ours were too."
United Airlines
Avoids Jail Time in Plea Deal
50 Cent
The rapper 50 Cent struck a deal with prosecutors on Friday that will help him avoid jail time for allegedly trampling two women and punching a third during a concert last year.
If the entertainer, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, stays drug free for two years and follows other orders laid out by a judge, the charges will be dropped.
Jackson, 29, who lives in Farmington, Conn., entered a plea Friday in Springfield District Court to facts sufficient for a guilty finding. He had been charged with three counts of assault and battery.
50 Cent
Plans to Sue British Paper
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz is suing the British tabloid newspaper The Sun over a story suggesting she was having an affair with a married man.
Lawyer Simon Smith said the actress had instructed his firm, Schillings, to start libel proceedings against the publishers of The Sun. Smith said lawyers hoped to file a writ by Monday.
The firm is also representing Justin Timberlake in a lawsuit against the News of the World tabloid over a story claiming he had cheated on Diaz.
Cameron Diaz
Annoyed With Media Reports
Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it any more.
Fed up with what he calls the Internet "echo effect, which goes on and on," the filmmaker has sent out a press release to contradict recent media reports about him.
"Contrary to recent reports in the media, I've never announced or intend to make films called 'Constantine,' 'The Night Watchman" or the life story of Margaret Thatcher," read Stone's release, which was issued Thursday from Los Angeles.
"Nor, as also reported, have I fled the United States for France, 'apologized' to Turkey for (1978's) 'Midnight Express' or denounced my film 'Alexander,' which has now grossed $170 million internationally and will be released on DVD in two versions Aug. 2 in the United States, Latin America, the U.K., Australia, and other countries. Lest my friends are confused, I continue to live in the United States, where I am developing various film projects."
Oliver Stone
