'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jaime O'Neill: Lost in America (smirkingchimp.com)
"Wow, Brazil is big." Those were the words of President George W. Bush a few years ago when the president of Brazil showed him a map of that country.
Bill Gallagher: The Madness Of Our King George Has Even Texas Friends Worried (Niagara Falls Reporter; Posted on smirkingchimp.com)
Our destiny in Iraq will develop along the lines of "a Korean model," according to White House spokesman Tony Snow. With a gutless Congress willing to continue to give the "decider" and "commander guy" a blank check for the war that cannot be won, our troops are doomed to camp in the deadly desert indefinitely.
Jim Hightower: LET'S LEARN FROM THE PALAUANS (jimhightower.com)
Hey, hey, we're the USA! We're the most powerful nation in the world! And the richest! Also the smartest, right? Uh... hold up on that last one. Powerful and rich, for sure, but smartest? I'd give that honor to a nation most Americans never heard of: Palau.
Anna Tims: Are extended warranties worth the extra money [especially in Britain]? (guardian.co.uk)
Extended warranties are supposed to buy peace of mind and mostly they do - for the retailer. The profits they rake in compensate amply for dwindling returns on electronic goods. So lucrative are these paper promises that sales staff are adept at alarming customers with the woes that might bedevil them should they fail to insure their purchases.
Mark Morford: iPhone Will Broker World Peace (sfgate.com)
Luscious uber-gizmo also rumored to cure brain cancer, provide oral sex. All true!
My life without a goodnight from him (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Ronnie Corbett reveals what it's like to be the surviving half of a great British double act.
Roger Ebert: Ocean's Thirteen (Thumbs Down; 2 1/2 stars)
The genius of the past decays remorselessly into the routine of the present, and one example is the downfall of the caper picture.
Voted Best Commercial in Europe (youtube.com)
Reader Suggestion
Doctor Who
Here's a little entertainment news I thought I'd pass along for any of your readers that are Dr. Who fans and have access to CBC: Series 3 Begins June 11 on CBC
In an interesting twist, Series 3 will be preceded by a broadcast of the 2006 Christmas Special The Runaway Bride on June 11 before showing episodes of the latest series starting Monday, June 18 at 8pm on CBC.
If you want something to play with while you're waiting for Monday to roll around, how about whipping up
a little Picasso for over the mantelpiece or in the bathroom.
It's like making a Mr. Potatohead except it's only for serious art students, after all, this is a serious letter.
The best part of it is, now you can pick your nose in front of the whole family!
Then the eyes, chin, ears etc.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sun broke through early, but still on the cool side.
Johnny Mercer Award
Dolly Parton
Country music icon Dolly Parton was honored for her songwriting on Thursday at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, where she made jokes about her famous big bust that she quipped would outlast her.
Parton, already a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was given the Johnny Mercer Award by the association for her songwriting.
Also at the event and inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame were Jackson Browne, who wrote such hits as "Rock Me on the Water" and "Running on Empty," and Don Black, who wrote the lyrics for "Born Free," which won an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1967, and "To Sir With Love."
Inducted as well were Michael Masser, who wrote "Touch Me in the Morning," Irving Burgie, who wrote "Day-O" and "Island in the Sun" popularized by Harry Belafonte, and the team of Bobby Weinstein and Teddy Randazzo, who wrote "Goin' Out of My Head" and "Hurt So Bad" for Little Anthony & the Imperials.
Songwriter and entertainer John Legend and music publisher and producer Don Kirschner also were honored.
Dolly Parton
Rancho Mirage Dedicates Drive
Dean Martin
An honor for Dean Martin has added another celebrity street name to one of Southern California's desert playgrounds.
Dean Martin Drive joins a long list of thoroughfares named after celebrities such as Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Ginger Rogers, Kaye Ballard, Gerald Ford, Gene Autry and Frank Sinatra.
Dean Martin Drive, formerly 35th Avenue, was dedicated Thursday, which would have been the late crooner's 90th birthday. Martin's son, Craig, was on hand.
Dean Martin
NAB Not Happy (Cheney 'Em)
Mel Karmazin
The head of the National Association of Broadcasters is urging Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin to end his attempt to merge the nation's two satellite radio companies and accusing the executive of misleading the public about the deal's benefits.
In a letter to Karmazin on Thursday, NAB president and CEO David Rehr asked the radio titan to scrap the deal. Karmazin has told Congress and investors that merging Sirius and XM Satellite Radio will bring customers more programming choices without a huge increase in cost.
Rehr accused Karmazin of attempting to win the merger so he can cover up poor business choices like giving Howard Stern a multimillion-dollar, multiyear deal.
Mel Karmazin
Thousands March
Tel Aviv
Thousands of gays, lesbians and activists marched and partied at the annual Gay Pride parade and beach bash on Friday hosted by Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv.
Participants walked and danced in a carnival atmosphere from the central Rabin Square to a strip of downtown Mediterranean beach to hear DJs, musical acts, performance artists and local singing stars.
Police put attendance at 10,000 and reported no serious incident, despite threatened disruption from right-wing and religious opponents of the parade, which has been organised in liberal Tel Aviv by its municipality since 1998.
Last year, a much-delayed Gay Pride parade through the streets of Jerusalem was scrapped and instead held under tight security at a stadium after violent protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews and denunciations by other religious leaders.
Tel Aviv
Maine Attraction
`Peyton Place'
When moviemakers wanted to film "Peyton Place" in this small seaside town, the best-selling novel the movie was to be based on was so scandalous the local library didn't even keep it on its shelves.
The book had sparked outrage with its titillating look behind closed doors in a proper New England town. People read it in secret, and it was banned from many schools and homes.
But that didn't keep Camden from welcoming 20th Century Fox to turn its streets, homes and people into "Peyton Place." Now 50 years ago, film crews transformed the small mill and summer resort town into a movie set for a story about adultery, sexual abuse, murder and lies.
Grace Metalious' 1956 novel "Peyton Place" was dubbed "trash" by some critics, but it made for juicy reading and sold more than 12 million copies.
`Peyton Place'
No-Raise Offer Irks Stars
'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" producers' intent to bring back the cast of the series with no raises next season is not sitting well with the show's stars, sources said.
It is understood that Wolf Films and NBC Universal TV Studio have set a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday (June 8) for stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Chris Noth and Kathryn Erbe to accept the offer.
Series cast members normally receive a 5 percent salary bump every year, with higher figures sometimes on offer for stars on established shows. Studios have been pushing to tie such standard raises to the show's license fee increase, which generally is lower than 5 percent.
In the case of "CI," producers face the economic realities of producing a high-production-value drama with marquee stars on a cable budget. The series has been moved from NBC -- where it aired for six seasons -- to USA Network, with a second window on NBC. (The repeats on NBC should alleviate some of the financial strain.)
'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'
Gets Community Service
George Michael
A British judge sentenced George Michael on Friday to 100 hours of community service and banned him from driving for two years for driving under the influence of drugs.
Michael, whose real name is George Panayiotou, pleaded guilty May 8 to a charge of driving while unfit through drugs.
As part of his sentence, Michael was ordered to pay costs of $4,622.
George Michael
Option Not Renewed
Isaiah Washington
Isaiah Washington has lost his job on the hit ABC medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," five months after creating a furor with his use of an anti-gay slur.
Washington's contract option was not renewed for next season, series producer ABC Television Studios said Thursday.
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," Washington said in a statement released through his publicist, Howard Bragman, without elaboration.
Isaiah Washington
Covers Coffee Shops
Dutch Smoking Ban
A Dutch smoking ban will come into force in July next year for all restaurants and cafes -- including coffee shops where cannabis is the top attraction, the government decided on Friday.
"Coffee shops will be treated in the same manner as other catering businesses. They will be smoke-free," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told NOS television.
"It would have been wrong to move towards a smoke-free catering industry and then make an exception for coffee shops. People would not have understood that."
Establishments will not in fact have to be completely smoke-free. Proprietors will be allowed to set up a separate room or glass partition behind which people can smoke, but customers will not be served there to protect staff.
Dutch Smoking Ban
G8 Summit Beverage
Afri Cola
Coca-Cola might style itself the real thing, but the U.S. beverage was hard to find at the Group of Eight summit.
Journalists at the three-day meeting have instead been offered a small German rival called Afri Cola bottled in a town close to the summit venue of Heiligendamm.
Organisers say there is no anti-American message behind the decision to give prominence to Afri Cola.
"It's a regional product and we wanted to plug a local beverage," said Jarste Weuffen, catering manager at the media centre and agriculture marketing director for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Afri Cola
Los Angeles To Host
Jules Verne Film Festival
Paris's longstanding Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival will shift to Los Angeles this December, with sponsors hoping to make the US celebration of the early French science fiction writer an annual event, they said Friday.
Set for December 10-15, the festival, themed "from the abyss to the stars," is an extension of the festival of films based on or in the spirit of Verne's novels, like "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days," that has been held in Paris for 15 years.
Organizers, led by legendary US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, presented their plans Friday to Los Angeles officials, saying in a statement that the event would celebrate "the spirit of adventure and the preservation of our planet."
Jules Verne Film Festival
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