'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Suggestion
Female Portraits
Marty
This is really an unusual video! I thought very well done.
Reader Suggestion
colbert graphic generator
Marty,
Kind of cool:
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Deborah Charles: New Peace Index Ranks US Among Worst Nations (Reuters; Posted at commondreams.org)
WASHINGTON- The United States is among the least peaceful nations in the world, ranking 96th between Yemen and Iran, according to a new index released on Wednesday that evaluates 121 nations based on their peacefulness.According to the Global Peace Index, created by The Economist Intelligence Unit, Norway is the most peaceful nation in the world and Iraq is the least, just after Russia, Israel and Sudan.
Phoebe A Greenwood: Crucible of hate (guardian.co.uk)
All across eastern Europe, gay people are demanding equality. But in Russia, Poland and Latvia, their growing confidence is being met with violent resistance from nationalist and religious groups. What lies behind this hysteria?
Jim Hightower: THE OFF-SHORING OF LOCAL NEWS (jimhightower.com)
Here in Austin, Texas, a TV station fired its news director and didn't replace him. Instead, the conglomerate owner decided to put the news director of its Tampa, Florida, station in charge of our "local" news coverage. Rumor has it that the Tampa guy had once visited our fair city, so apparently that qualified him to be the long-distance arbiter of Austin news.
LISA KATAYAMA: Hole in the street (sfbg.com)
How one homeless man's death impacted the various Haight Street communities he looked after
Nicholas Day: What's Wrong with School Lunch? (chicagoreader.com)
Everything, say reformers like local caterer Greg Christian. But to change it is to fight the government, agribusiness, and the kids themselves.
Joel Stein: My run for the fake border (latimes.com)
For about $20, Mexico's Parque EcoAlberto allows you to experience the journey taken by real border crossers.
Mark Morford: Is Lindsay Lohan The Antichrist? (sfgate.com)
Evidence confirms the Dark One stumbles among us. But what of poor Tom Cruise?
Kira Cochrane: The US pole vaulter and her unwanted internet fans (guardian.co.uk)
Of all the clips you might expect to become a YouTube phenomenon, an interview with a student pole vaulter - in which she outlines her training and talks of her plans for the future - probably isn't one of them.
Anthony Letizia: Sing Along with Buffy (popmatters.com)
How exactly did a cheerleading assassin of the undead become a Rocky Horror cult musical hit?
Michael Abernethy: There's always consequences (popmatters.com)
Whedon must be given sole credit for creating this realistic world filled with mythical creatures. Although he is not the show's sole writer, he plots each season out before filming begins. Even with the shared writing duties, scripts for the series have been consistently crisp, intelligent, and witty.
Coming-Out Insurance: Video
Reader Suggestion
Paul Wolfowitz
Oh, my. Paul Wolfowitz got a myspace page.
Reader Suggestion
Naming Rights
It's time to put in the naming rights - for the New $592 million US Embassy in Baghdad!
"Naming rights are the right to name a piece of property, either tangible
property or an event, usually granted in exchange for financial
considerations. Institutions like schools, places of worship and hospitals
have a tradition of granting donors the right to name facilities in
exchange for contributions, with the general rule being that the larger
the contribution, the larger the facility named."
How about the Halliburton Embassy at the The Carlyle Group Grounds,
sponsered by the Chevron Tennis Courts, with the Bechtel swimming pools,
etc. etc. etc.
Lets Get going on this.......
Who would do you think should have the Naming Rights?
kevkev
in Apache Junction, Arizona
P.S. (this should be an "open bid" contest)
Great idea, kevkev!
Suggestions?
Reader Comment
Re: Trouble in Dareland
Hi Marty,
As I read Michael's narrative, I thought to myself, "Self,that's incredibly
sad". And in the same thought, "Self,that's incredibly exciting"!
Being a paycheck or two away from disaster ourselves (like so many others in
this "great" country...please) I've often wondered what we would do given
the same circumstances.
I would suck it up and approach it much in the same way as Dare. I won't
assume he's seeing this as some great adventure (maybe he is. I don't know)
but the way he writes about it shows great courage and optimism in the face
of some very scary life "events".
Thank you, and him for sharing this modern day Grapes of wrath with us.
I wish him the best outcome, and if I had any extra scratch, I'd send it his
way.
Regards...
Th'Rev
Thanks, Rev!
Reader Suggestion
YouTubes
marty, this youtube video is priceless.
You gotta check this press conference out. I think Bush has finally lost it for good.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Heavy marine layer and not a lot of sun.
So, in the middle of uploading the page Thursday night/Friday morning, the picture on my monitor started to get wavy around the edges.
It was moderately annoying, but I could deal with it.
The waves became more frequent and more disruptive, and since the FTP was also acting up, I just sat back & watched the 'show'.
Found it intriguingly psychedelic - well, until I noticed the black smoke puffing out of the top of the monitor.
Holy crap! The damn thing was burning up.
Got it unplugged and untethered, and major damage (and fire) were avoided.
Was a bit surprised I could lift and move the damn thing so effortlessly, but that's adrenaline for you.
Granted, it was a 12-year old monitor, but it's the first time I've ever seen one meltdown like that.
I'm grateful it didn't happen when we were asleep or out of the house.
After I calmed down, had to swipe the kid's monitor so I could get yesterday's page up, and do this one.
Hope there's enough aluminum in the recycling bin to buy him a replacement.
Final Season
'Battlestar Galactica'
The upcoming fourth season of Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" will be its final one after all.
After months of speculation, the show's producers are set to make the announcement at a press conference Friday.
Ending "Battlestar" with the upcoming 22-episode fourth season was a creative decision made by the hit show's executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick.
The fourth and final season of "Galactica" will kick off in November with "Razor," an extended two-hour episode, with the rest of the season slated to run beginning in early 2008.
'Battlestar Galactica'
Dutch Reality Television Show A Hoax
Kidney Donor
A Dutch reality show in which a supposedly dying woman had to pick one of three contestants to receive her kidneys was revealed as a hoax on Friday.
Identified only as "Lisa," the 37-year-old woman turned out to be a healthy actress but the three candidates were genuine kidney patients, details the show's producers revealed in the last minutes of the "The Big Donorshow."
The show, co-produced by makers of "Big Brother" Endemol, had said its aim was to focus attention on a chronic need for donor organs but it was condemned by the Dutch prime minister ahead of transmission and sparked controversy worldwide.
Kidney Donor
Attends Graduation
Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck cracked jokes about his film career during a high-school commencement speech Friday while giving a heartfelt tribute to a graduating student he befriended years ago.
Students at Falls Church High School and family members gave a standing ovation to Affleck following his commencement speech, in which he praised 19-year-old Joe Kindregan, a disabled student he met in 1998 on a film shoot. The two built a close friendship.
Kindregan suffers from ataxia-telengiectasia, a rare, degenerative genetic disease. Over the past decade, Affleck has helped Kindregan raise money to develop a cure for the disease.
Kindregan introduced Affleck to the audience by saying "He is married to the cutest girl ( Jennifer Garner) ... but most important he is the best friend you could ever have." Kindregan declined to be interviewed.
Garner attended the graduation but did not participate in the ceremonies.
Ben Affleck
Inspired Beatles' Title
Lucy O'Donnell
A woman said on Friday that a childhood drawing of her by John Lennon's son was the inspiration for the iconic Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
Many fans have always believed that the psychedelic song was a thinly disguised paean of praise for the drug LSD.
But Lucy O'Donnell, 43, said her moment of fame came in 1967 when Julian Lennon returned from school with a picture he had drawn and told his father "It's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
"I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other much to the horror of the classroom attendant," O'Donnell told BBC 6 Music Today.
Lucy O'Donnell
Nurtures Arab Musical Roots
Syrian Female Oriental Group
Centuries ago, Arab servant girls would serenade the caliph, or ruler, a tradition that Syria's only all-woman classical Arab music ensemble is reviving in modern form -- without the servitude.
"Now it's not for the caliph, it's for everybody," smiled 23-year-old Maya Youssef, the youngest member of a talented quintet known as the Syrian Female Oriental Group.
The bare classroom where the women practice at Damascus's Higher Institute of Music is a far cry from a caliph's palace.
Syrian Female Oriental Group
Hospital News
Stephen Baldwin
Actor Stephen Baldwin, nursing a broken shoulder and rib from a reality-TV rodeo accident, said on Friday the bull that threw him to the ground in four seconds was more fierce than he had expected.
The 41-year-old performer, youngest of the acting brothers that include William, Daniel and Alec Baldwin, injured himself on Thursday while working on cable network CMT's upcoming series "Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge."
He and fellow celebrity contestants, including rapper-musician Vanilla Ice and actor Leif Garrett, had just started training on live bulls when he got thrown.
Stephen Baldwin
'Flip This House' Star Accused Of Fraud
Sam Leccima
On an episode of A&E's popular reality series "Flip This House," Atlanta businessman Sam Leccima sits in front of a run-down house and calls buying and selling real estate his passion.
Now authorities and legal filings claim that Leccima's true passion was a series of scams that included faking the home renovations shown on the cable TV show and claiming to have sold houses he never owned.
McGee and others say Leccima's episodes of "Flip This House," A&E's most popular show, were elaborate hoaxes. His friends and family were presented as potential homebuyers and "sold" signs were slapped in front of unsold houses. They say the home repairs - the lynchpin of the show - were actually quick or temporary patch jobs designed to look good on camera.
"We are dismayed to learn of these allegations," read a statement issued by the network. "A&E Television Networks is not a party to any of the transactions shown in Flip This House and has not received any formal complaints about the properties or sales."
Sam Leccima
No Bean-Toss Prosecution
Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant won't be prosecuted for allegedly hurling baked beans at a photographer, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Friday.
Grant, who also will not face charges for allegedly kicking the photographer, was arrested following the clash on April 24.
"We have advised the police that there is insufficient evidence to charge Hugh Grant with any offense in relation to an allegation that he kicked a photographer," said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
Hugh Grant
Auction Results
Michael Jackson
An auction of the King of Pop Michael Jackson's memorabilia this week brought in between 1.5 and two million dollars, said the company that organized the sale, promising to hold another.
Among the 1,100 items for sale Wednesday and Thursday at a Las Vegas hotel were a suit that sold for 22,800 dollars and a black crested jacket for 20,400 dollars, said a statement Friday from Universal Express.
Awards that Jackson won for the collaborative song "We Are the World" and the MTV Video Music Award he won for USA for Africa brought in 20,400 dollars and 19,200 dollars respectively.
Michael Jackson
La Paz's Museum of Ethnography and Folklore
Masks
Some are made with clay, others with colourful tin foil, and a few carved in wood. One includes human teeth, and two of the rarest were worn by revellers who often collapsed dead after days of dancing, drinking and sex.
La Paz's Museum of Ethnography and Folklore opened a rare exhibition of masks on Thursday displaying two millennium of Bolivia's ancient and modern traditions of masquerading, which mixes indigenous and European culture and religious beliefs.
Two masks, measuring about 3 feet 3 inches (1 metre) high, and weighing some 27 pounds (12 kg) stand out from the rest.
Decades ago they were worn by the men chosen each year as Jach'a Tata, who sacrificed themselves to the Gods in a decadent ritual to bless the pachamama, or mother earth.
Masks
Odd Packing Material
Jawbreakers
Two men hauling more than 40,000 pounds of Jawbreaker candies also had some not-so-sweet freight, the Minnesota State Patrol said: nearly 1 1/2 tons of marijuana.
A search using a drug-sniffing dog turned up the load during a traffic stop Tuesday near St. Paul. The 41 boxes of marijuana were surrounded by 28 pallets of boxes containing the hard candy, authorities said.
Kent Bailey, acting special agent in charge of the Minneapolis-St. Paul office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the marijuana would be incinerated and the candy probably would be destroyed as well.
Jawbreakers
Hopes Rocker Will Take Over Mansion
Sir Benjamin Slade
A British aristocrat said on Friday he hoped that a long-lost rock star relative could take over his multi-million pound 13th century stately home because he can no longer afford to run it.
Isaac Slade, lead singer with US band The Fray, contacted Sir Benjamin Slade after his search for relatives prepared to take on Maunsel House in Somerset, south-west England, was shown on "I'm Really A Royal" on the Discovery Channel.
Sir Benjamin, who is childless and has no close family, is looking for an heir to take on the mansion and has invited Slade, 24, one of his closest living relatives, for a two-night stay in the hope that he could move in.
Sir Benjamin Slade
Mini-Leopard Cat
Ashera
An exotic cat with the looks of a mini-leopard and a whopping $22,000 (11,000 pound) price tag has joined a crowded designer pet market that also features hypoallergenic kittens.
The Ashera is the result of blending the African Serval and the Asian Leopard Cat with a domestic cat, creating what Los Angeles-based Lifestyle Pets described this week as "the world's largest, rarest and most exotic domestic cat."
With tiger stripes and leopard-like spots, Ashera is pictured on the company's Web site wearing a diamond studded collar.
It grows up to 30 pounds and sports fearsome teeth but the company says it gets along with other pets and children and takes well to being walked on a leash.
Ashera
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