Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Laura Bush meets the sex bloggers (sfgate.com)
And over here we've got what we can only hope will be the final nationwide appearance of any kind whatsoever of one dangerously prim, heavily shellacked Laura Bush, trotting herself out like some sort of equestrian trophy on Larry King Live to shill for her new book, "Shut Up and Sit Quietly, You're Just a Woman" -er, "Spoken from the Heart."
Paul Krugman: We're Not Greece (nytimes.com)
The United States may currently be running deficits of comparable size to Greece's, but its economic position and fiscal outlook is vastly better.
Froma Harrop: Gulf Shrimpers Had Economic Interests, Too (creators.com)
A pile of beautiful Gulf shrimp beckoned from the fish counter, and I thought, better buy them soon. Louisiana shrimpers are now trying to grab all they can get before the oil takes over. A lot of pleasure is dying in the Gulf of Mexico - but economic activity, too. Only lawyers seem to be prospering as the suits begin to fly.
Connie Schultz: A Young Conservative Gives Hope to This Ol' Liberal (creators.com)
Kyle Robbins' first e-mail made me smile: "Can't say I really saw this interaction coming," he wrote. That makes two of us, Kyle.
Susan Estrich: A Supreme Choice (creators.com)
Elena Kagan is not a surprising choice for the United States Supreme Court, but she is a very smart and deserving one. She is smart and honorable, a woman of character and integrity. And perhaps most important of all, in these times, she will be very hard to oppose.
Harry Shearer: Bagram --The Cat's Slightly Out of the Bag (huffingtonpost.com)
Every time I've written a post here on the subject of the secret U.S. prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan -- a prison where, according to reports, at least one detainee has died as a result of harsh treatment -- commenters here have pooh-poohed the notion. Today, they have to argue with the Red Cross and the BBC.
"First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process" by Robert D. Richardson: A review by Nikolai Slivka
"Stop if you find yourself becoming absorbed, at even the first paragraph." So advised Ralph Waldo Emerson on the perils of reading.
REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN: Theory, Literature, Hoax (nytimes.com)
We love stories as much as we need them, but a funny thing has happened to departments of literature. The study of literature as an art form, of its techniques for delighting and instructing, has been replaced by an amalgam of bad epistemology and worse prose that goes by many names but can be summed up as Theory.
George Varga: San Diego Teen a 'Jazz Piano Phenom' (creators.com)
It's a good thing San Diego piano wiz Chase Morrin has the boundless energy of a teenager. Anyone with less drive and stamina might get tired just contemplating his nonstop schedule, let alone trying to pull it off.
Bob Stanley: The Bay City Rollers are back! But why? (guardian.co.uk)
The rockers are sharing a stage with the Osmonds, David Essex and Leo Sayer. What's the enduring appeal of nostalgia tours?
Will Harris: Paul Provenza, Comedian and Host of "The Green Room" (bullz-eye.com)
On the concept for "The Green Room": The greatest joy of my life has been hanging around with comedians. So I thought, 'How do I take the thing that I love the most, that makes me the happiest in life, and make that part of the work that I do?'
William Douglas: After a life of ups and downs, things seem just right for Pam Grier (McClatchy Newspapers)
Pam Grier let out a hearty chuckle when asked to assess her impact on the 1970s, action-packed, "they-have-a-plan-to-stick-it-to-The-Man" film genre known as blaxploitation.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Sympathy for the Devil' Edition...
Glen Beck(-elzebub) - or perhaps some unearthly entity clothed in Glenn Beck's skin - on Faux and Fiends, discussing the Miranda Rights of alleged Times Square car bomber Faisal Shahzad said… "He is a citizen of the United States, so I say we uphold the laws and the Constitution on citizens… If you are a citizen, you obey the law and follow the Constitution. He has all the rights under the Constitution… We don't shred the Constitution when it is popular. We do the right thing"...
You weren't expecting that, were you? I don't think anybody was...
Quote Unquote: Glenn Beck on Faisal Shahzad's Rights | Indecision Forever | Comedy Central
and Huff Post
Sooooooo....
Who among you has the courage to stand with Beck(-elzebub) and for the record
state that you agree with him on this issue?
(haha! This too delicious!)
I am SO Bad... totheboneBob
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Question
Re: Oil Spill
Hi Marty,
I was pondering the oil spill in the Gulf, and I thought of a few things.
Number 1
President Obama should declare this a National Emergency, at the very least.
Number 2
If this is declared a National Emergency, we have the means to help. I say this with all
seriousness, would one of our submarines be able to sit on top of that gusher? Until they
decide how they want to stop it? I am asking, is it feasible? 200 thousand gallons of crude
leaking a day in the Gulf, would justify the expense, in my opinion.
Uncle Sky
Thanks, Uncle Sky!
I wish I knew the answer to that one!. Anybody?
OTOH, I don't understand the coverage.
It's like BP is channeling Dick Cheney and the Gulf is a freshly shot lawyer.
Maybe they're waiting for the lawyer to apologize.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mild day and a foggy, foggy night.
Grants For Nonprofit Proups
Academy Foundation
The film academy is giving $500,000 in grants to 73 film-oriented nonprofit programs nationwide.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says the grants will support internship opportunities and enable filmmakers to visit schools and other organizations where they can share their expertise.
The American Film Institute's directing workshop for women, the Brooklyn Museum's Saturday screening series and various university film programs are among the recipients of this year's academy grants.
Academy Foundation
Univ. of Texas Exhibit
Walter Cronkite
The personal archive of the journalist known as the "Most Trusted Man in America" is on display in Austin, Texas.
Walter Cronkite's papers are housed at the University of Texas' Briscoe Center for American History. The center opens an exhibit covering Cronkite's personal and professional life Saturday.
It includes film clips and photographs, reporting notebooks, letters and personal items from his long career.
The exhibit at the LBJ presidential library on the university campus runs until January.
Walter Cronkite
Canceled By NBC
'Law & Order'
The venerable police-courtroom drama "Law & Order" has been axed.
NBC announced Friday that the show would end its historic 20-season run on May 24, with a season finale that was never meant to bring the saga to a close.
Even as it issued a death sentence to the original "Law & Order," NBC announced a new drama in the "Law & Order" franchise called "LOLA" ("Law & Order: Los Angeles"). Premiering this fall, "LOLA" is described as a procedural crime drama "that will follow the theme and storylines similar to the 'Law & Order'-brand series on the streets of Los Angeles." Casting for the show is under way, the network said.
NBC will also renew "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" for a 12th season.
'Law & Order'
Cancellations
NBC
It's official. NBC has canceled "Heroes." The network also pulled the plug Friday on its two freshman medical dramas, "Mercy" and "Trauma."
The network seriously mulled bringing back "Heroes" for a shortened final season to wrap up the serialized show, possibly as a two- or four-hour movie.
In the end, given the fairly high cost of the drama, the show's consistently declining ratings and the number of new hour-long shows coming to NBC next season, the network decided the series wasn't worth an additional episode order.
The long-struggling Wednesday night drama "Mercy" most recently pulled a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49 in the 9 p.m. hour.
NBC
"Chuck," "V"
Renewals
NBC's "Chuck" and ABC's "V" will get renewed for next season despite modest ratings, sources said.
Both shows are expected to receive 13-episode orders, rather than full-season 22-episode orders.
Renewals
New Lake Ontario Lighthouse
Oak Orchard Harbor
An abandoned lighthouse toppled into Lake Ontario during a 1916 storm, closing out Point Breeze's heyday as a tourist beacon that lured schooners and steamboats, an upscale hotel and racetrack and trainloads of daytrippers fleeing the summer swelter.
This spring, a 37-foot-tall replica was erected with painstaking devotion beside the harbor. Already, visions of an economic revival in an overlooked oasis in upstate New York are flickering on the horizon.
"It's the first historic replica I know of that has ever been built on Lake Ontario, and it's the first new lighthouse on Lake Ontario in more than 70 years," said author Thomas Tag, a Chicago-based expert on lighthouse technology.
A Rochester construction firm, Nathaniel General, dusted off 1909 Coast Guard blueprints and brought in a specialized carpentry team run by Dan Synder and his son, Ian.
Oak Orchard Harbor
Sues To Protect Right To Swear
ACLU
An American rights group is suing the police in Pennsylvania for issuing tickets, which carry a jail sentence, to people for swearing.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuits earlier, argues that the right to use profanity is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
"Unfortunately, many police departments in the commonwealth do not seem to be getting the message that swearing is not a crime," said Marieke Tuthill of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. "The courts have repeatedly found that profanity, unlike obscenity, is protected speech."
One lawsuit involves an unidentified woman in Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania who was given a citation which carries a maximum penalty of $300 and 90 days in jail after she yelled an offensive word at a motorcyclist who swerved close to her in October 2008.
At least 750 people in Pennsylvania a year face illegal disorderly conduct charges because of the use of profanity in Pennsylvania, the ACLU said.
ACLU
Adds Jonah Hill, Jay Roach
"Bruno" Lawsuit
The Palestinian activist who sued Sacha Baron Cohen, David Letterman and NBC Universal for defamation in December for being portrayed as a terrorist in "Bruno" has refiled his $110 million lawsuit with a few more bold-faced names as defendants.
Actor Jonah Hill and director Jay Roach -- both co-producers on the Universal-distributed comedy -- have been added to the complaint, filed in Washington DC superior court by Ayman Abu Aita. The self-described community organizer claims he was duped by the "Bruno" gang into being interviewed on camera, and later found himself identified in the film as a "terrorist group leader."
Letterman, his Worldwide Pants production company and CBS are defendants because "The Late Show" featured the scene and an allegedly defamatory interview segment with Baron Cohen last July.
Aita now says he's suffered "death threats; shame; loss of reputation; loss of effectiveness as a community organizer and conciliator; depression and anxiety; loss of business to his family market; and fear for the well-being and safety of his wife, children, and his relatives" both on the West Bank and in Washington D.C.
"Bruno" Lawsuit
Tawdry Tale
Charlotte Lewis
Los Angeles prosecutors have met with a British actress who claims she was sexually abused by director Roman Polanski in Paris when she was 16.
Forty-two-year-old Charlotte Lewis, speaking at a news conference Friday in Los Angeles, says Polanski abused her while she was working on the film "Pirates" in 1982.
Los Angeles County district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons acknowledges Lewis met with a prosecutor handling Polanski's 33-year-old sex case involving another girl. Gibbons would not comment further.
Lewis' attorney Gloria Allred says she hopes her client's allegations will affect sentencing for Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland and is fighting extradition. He pleaded guilty in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old girl but fled to France.
Charlotte Lewis
The age of consent in France is 15.
KISS Costume Prevents "Grinding"
Gene Simmons
KISS bassist Gene Simmons on Friday denied brushing up against a make-up artist and "grinding" against her, saying his codpiece-style stage costume made that impossible.
Simmons' legal team filed court papers in Los Angeles asking a judge to declare that accuser Victoria Jackson has suffered no harm from the star of costume rock and reality television.
The dispute stems from a November 2009 appearance Simmons and fellow band member Eric Singer made on the ESPN television show "SportsCenter."
Jackson has stated in a letter to Simmons, 60, that he hugged and "grinded" her in a hallway at ESPN studios in Los Angeles, when he was there for "SportsCenter."
But Simmons' lawyers say Jackson's grinding allegations are "implausible if not impossible" because he was in his KISS costume with a codpiece that sits over the groin.
Gene Simmons
"Irish" Robin Hood Accent
Russell Crowe
Actor Russell Crowe stormed out of a BBC radio interview after suggestions that he had made the quintessentially British legend Robin Hood sound Irish in his latest movie.
BBC radio arts reporter Mark Lawson said he felt his impression from Crowe's performance was that "Robin Hood was an Irishman who took frequent holidays in Australia."
Lawson then asked Crowe if the accent was meant to be northern English. Robin Hood, a 13th century archer who according to folklore robbed the rich to give to the poor, lived in a forest near the northern English city of Nottingham.
"No, I was going for an Italian ... missed it? F--- me."
The actor could then be heard muttering: "I don't get the Irish thing by the way. I don't get it at all," as he walked out of the interview.
Russell Crowe
There She Goes Again
Avaricious Fabulist
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Quitter) warned NRA members Friday that President Barack Obama wants to gut the Second Amendment and told a separate gathering that "mama grizzlies" will help Republicans win this November, sweeping away the Democratic agenda.
"Don't doubt for a minute that, if they thought they could get away with it, they would ban guns and ban ammunition and gut the Second Amendment," said Palin, a lifelong NRA member who once had a baby shower at a local gun range in Alaska. "It's the job of all of us at the NRA and its allies to stop them in their tracks."
During an event earlier Friday in Washington sponsored by an anti-abortion group, she challenged Republican women to help the GOP "take this country back" and elect anti-abortion lawmakers. She praised female leaders of the tea party movement and invoked the 2008 acceptance speech where she compared herself to a pit bull.
She said Obama is "the most pro-abortion president ever to occupy the White House" and asserted that the health care law would fund abortions.
In fact, Obama's health care law would not allow federal dollars to pay for elective abortions. Catholic hospitals and organizations of Catholic nuns backed the measure. U.S. Catholic bishops and major anti-abortion groups opposed it, arguing that federal dollars could end up paying for abortions.
Avaricious Fabulist
Too Much Viagra For Guitarist
Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz, 20, told Bild newspaper that someone offered him a Viagra tablet during a concert tour of Asia. After first turning down the offer, Kaulitz said he decided to try one. He said a little later he took a second one and fell ill.
Kaulitz, a member of the German rock band that has sold millions of albums around the world, said he took a few more tablets used to treat impotence when he got back to his hotel.
"I popped a few more pills, probably too many," he said. "The next morning my head was pounding and everything in front of my eyes was blurry. It wasn't fun any more. It was pretty bad."
Kaulitz said it took two days for the effects to wear off. "Unfortunately there were situations where it just wasn't appropriate," Kaulitz said.
Tokio Hotel
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