'Best of TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated! New Features!
dommecile.com
All new edition of DommeCile.com is online!
* New FoxHoles comic strip
* Mediocracy column on Repugs who didn't co-sponsor anti-lynching resolution
* Daily Di-Jest
* Religious Affairs
Clear Channel Communications database - Do they own every radio station or performance venue in your area?
And, of course, the printable Bu$h Dollar$ from the Banana Republicans of America!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Letha Dawson Scanzoni: The Gospel On Gay Marriage (AlterNet)
Before dismissing the religious right, progressives may find it helpful to learn more about them -- particularly that group the media lump together as 'the evangelicals.'
Paul Krugman: What's the Matter With Ohio?
(Clicks on "Columns," then on "What's the Matter With Ohio?")
The Toledo Blade's reports on Coingate - the unfolding tale of how Ohio's Bureau of Workers' Compensation misused funds - deserve much more national attention than they have received so far.
Start Making Sense: Is Liberalism Dead? (Alternet)
Is liberalism dead? What will it take for us to bring about a rebirth of inspiration, hope and optimism for a new American future?
Arianna Huffington: Not Your Father's Anti-War Movement (AlterNet)
'Rally round the president when the nation is at war' is the American tradition -- but only for a time. Bush was able to keep Iraq at bay long enough to get re-elected, but the debacle threatens to derail his second term.
Jamie Daniel: Injuries to All (In These Times)
A human rights report details the gruesome cost of the Bush administration's hostility to workplace safety.
A Recommendation from Andrewtobias.com
Gary Diehl: "This is a wonderful heartfelt monolog by Julia Sweeney (formerly of Saturday Night Live). ... go to the 05 archive at left and select the June 3 "Godless America" episode (Episode 290). Her monolog is in the second half of the show, so you can skip ahead to the 37 minute 30 second mark." [The first 37.5 minutes are also worth hearing.]
Frank E. Lockwood: Mother of dead soldier vilifies Bush over war (HERALD-LEADER)
PRESIDENT RIDICULED AT INTERFAITH RALLY
Kevin B. Zeese: Memorial Day Interview: Gold Star Families for Peace (Lewrockwell.com)
Cindy Sheehan, "We are insulted when people like Bush say that America has to 'stay the course' in Iraq to 'honor our children's sacrifices.' Not one more drop of blood should be shed for the lies and deceptions."
Frank Davies: Senate committee wants Congress to act on Guantanamo Bay camp (Knight Ridder Newspapers)
"Does that mean it's the administration's position that the folks we consider a danger, 550 or so folks in Guantanamo, will be held in perpetuity?" asked Sen. Joseph Biden. J. Michael Wiggins, deputy associate attorney general, responded: "It's our position that legally they could be held in perpetuity."
Joy Press: Dude, Where's My Country? (Village Voice)
In the wake of Super Size Me, director Morgan Spurlock tackles a range of American woes.
Rich Barlow: In 'Sins,' a Christian denounces conservative beliefs (Boston Globe)
Imagine Donald Rumsfeld opening a press conference with, ''Ladies and gentlemen, after careful reflection, I've decided that this country really stinks."
Once Catholic: A Site for Seekers
OnceCatholic.org is a ministry of the Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.
Country Joe's New Protest Song: "Support the Troops"
Scroll down to see the lyrics and listen to the song.
Slideshow: Guantanamo Naval Base
Weekend Nights
Erin Hart Show
Listen to the Erin Hart Show every Saturday & Sunday night at 9pm - 1am (pdt) on KIRO in Seattle.
Starting this Sunday, the editorial staff of
BartCop Entertainment will become a regular guest on the Erin Hart Show on
KIRO, appearing the 1st & 3rd Sundays of the month.
Listen live online as Erin & Marty (or is it Martha?) recommend blogs & websites of note.
Call in 877-710-5476
Check out the Erin Hart Show Links Archive
Purple Gene Reviews
Tim Buckley and Jeff Buckley
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lovely overcast day.
Local TV is in fearmongering mode over 'the big one' - no, not Fred Sanford's heart attack, but the 'big earthquake.'
Bastards.
Just more of the 'be afraid, be very afraid' routine.
Sure miss the America of FDR and nothing to fear but fear itself.
Evil GOP Bastards Cut Funding
Public Television
The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill on Thursday that would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by $100 million, or 25 percent, starting in October.
The funding cut was included in a massive, $142.5 billion spending bill for health, education and labor programs that still must be passed by the full House and Senate.
Rep. Ralph Regula, an Ohio Republican who crafted the legislation, said 49 federal programs were being eliminated and other funding reduced because of tight spending limits.
Regula's original bill would have eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2008, but a Democratic amendment earmarked $400 million so that public broadcasting could use the money in the future.
Public Television
Checks Into German Rehab Center
Roy Horn
Illusionist Roy Horn has checked into a German rehabilitation facility, 18 months after a near-fatal tiger mauling during a performance left him partially paralyzed.
"Siegfried and I are thrilled to return to our home country and excited with the programs set forth by the great doctors and staff at the world-class Leonardis Clinic," Horn said in a statement Friday. "The support we have received from our fans in Germany has been overwhelming and continues to inspire me daily."
No details of the 60-year-old Horn's condition or treatment were released. The rehabilitation facility is in Bad Hellibrun.
Roy Horn
'Most Punk' Star Of All Time - Poll
John Lydon
Sex Pistols singer John Lydon (AKA: Johnny Rotten) has been voted the "most punk" star ever in a poll which illustrates the broad nature of the term by also including the likes of Cuban revolutionary hero Che Guevara and footballer Eric Cantona.
The poll of listeners to Britain's Radio 1, the BBC's pop and rock station, was commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of the first concert by the Sex Pistols, the band credited with launching the punk revolution.
Released Friday, the punk poll had Lydon just ahead of the late Joe Strummer, singer with The Clash, the other seminal British punk act of the era.
Third was Hunter S. Thompson, the recently-deceased US journalist and author who, despite his lack of connection of music, was revered in the rock world for his anarchic approach.
For the rest, John Lydon
Pays for Funerals
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder has arranged to pay the funeral expenses for five children who were killed in a city row house fire, his publicist Ira Tucker said.
Wonder, 55, also hopes to visit with the families while he is in Philadelphia for the Live 8 concert on July 2, Tucker was quoted Friday as saying.
The June 12 blaze in the city's Kensington neighborhood killed three sisters, Summer Cooke, 5; Samantha Bowers, 4; and Sabrina Dickson, 22 months; and two of their cousins who lived nearby, Amber Johnson, 3; and Reginald Ringgold, 1.
Stevie Wonder
Gay Paper & Network TV Affiliate
Partnership
In what's believed to be a first-ever partnership between a gay newspaper and a mainstream network-affiliated television station, Out & About Newspaper in Nashville is producing a weekly program for the cable outlet of the CBS affiliate WTVF NewsChannel 5.
"Out & About Today" broadcast its first show Saturday June 11 on Cable Channel 50, part of WTVF's NewsChannel Plus network. The first show featured an interview with John Siegenthaler, the former The Tennessean editor who is the founder of Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Nashville.
WTVF, which is the number-one rated broadcast station in the Nashville market, is owned by Norfolk, Va.-based Landmark Communications Inc., publisher of 17 daily newspapers and numerous free and community papers. The chain's commitment to diversity was the driving reason behind the gay-oriented show, station chief Turner said.
Partnership
Rare First Edition Auctioned
Anne of Green Gables
A first edition of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic Anne of Green Gables was auctioned off for $24,000 US at Sotheby's on Friday.
The 97-year-old book by the P.E.I.-born author had been expected to fetch up to $12,000 US. The 1908 book in its original pale-green ribbed cloth cover with gilt lettering was exceptionally rare and in superb condition, said Sotheby's.
The volume was part of a collection of over 300 books that belonged to Hollywood director George Cosmatos - the man behind Tombstone and Rambo: First Blood.
Anne of Green Gables
Picasso's Mistress Auctions Sketches
Genevieve Laporte
Most of Pablo Picasso's loves had tortured lives and tragic ends. Marie-Therese Walter hanged herself. Jacqueline Roque shot herself in the temple. And Dora Maar became a recluse, dying poor and alone. So it's a surprise to meet sunny 79-year-old Genevieve Laporte, with her laugh lines, throaty chuckle, floral-print dress and white orthopedic shoes comfy for walking the dog. She survived Picasso and then some - becoming an award-winning poet and documentary filmmaker.
Starting when she was 24, Laporte had a two-year secret affair with the 70-year-old master. She was a beautiful, tousle-haired former Resistance fighter, and Picasso sketched her over and over: naked in bed, in a fantasy wedding gown, in a prim sailor sweater.
On June 27, Laporte will sell 20 of Picasso's sketches in Paris. They're worth an estimated $1.8-2.4 million, and they show a soft, smitten side of the womanizing genius.
For more, Genevieve Laporte
Engagement News
Holmes - Cruise
For weeks, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes answered questions about marriage by saying, "That's something we have to talk about." On Friday morning, they finally found the time - at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The crowd of journalists cheered and applauded as the couple looked at each other, smiling and blushing. Holmes, seated nearby, held her hands together in her lap, a massive diamond ring on her finger.
Holmes - Cruise
Reopens With Security Upgrade
Munch Museum
The Munch Museum in Oslo reopened Friday with massive security upgrades brought on by the brazen theft last year of two Edvard Munch masterpieces.
The paintings "The Scream" and " Madonna" are still missing despite five arrests, promises of a reward and a worldwide hunt involving the FBI.
The nearly $6.2 million security upgrade of the city-owned museum includes metal detectors and baggage scanners such as those used at airports. Key paintings are behind bulletproof glass. Norwegian media described the remodeled museum as "Fortress Munch," and the opening ceremony was slightly delayed as scores of guests lined up to pass through security.
Munch Museum
IOKIYAR
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
Voters in the district of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-$pecial Intere$t) want to know more about the sale of a house that once belonged to Cunningham.
According to 10News, someone overpaid about $700,000 for the house. Who overpaid? Mitchell Wade, whose company received Cunningham's support and millions of dollars in defense contracts.
Cunningham first bought the home in 1988 for $435,000. According to a Multiple Listing Service, he sold the property in November of 2003 for more than $1.6 million.
The home was immediately put back on the market by Wade. Eight months later, it sold for $975,000.
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
Can Be Sued Over Ride Safety
Disney
Days after a young boy died on a space ride at Walt Disney World, the California Supreme Court opened a new avenue to sue Disney and other theme park operators, ruling the parks have a duty to keep customers safe, even when they seek the thrill of danger.
The ruling, released on Thursday, was a victory for the family of a 23-year-old Spanish woman who suffered a fatal brain injury aboard the Indiana Jones ride during her 2000 honeymoon at Disneyland in southern California.
The court said the family could sue Walt Disney Co . under a state law usually applied to transportation companies. Disney declined to comment on the ruling. The case now returns to Los Angeles Superior Court for trial.
The California court ruled that Walt Disney Co was required to provide vehicles that are "safe and fit for the purposes to which they are put."
Disney
Chocolate
Elton John
Madame Tussauds has created a lifesize statue of Elton John from 227lbs (126kgs) of Cadbury's Dairy Milk.
And Sir Elton's partner David Furnish thought he looked good enough to eat.
Cadbury's asked the public to vote for the personality they would most like to see made out of chocolate.
Elton John
In Memory
Ron Randell
Ron Randell, an Australian-born actor whose career included movies, television, radio and Broadway, has died from complications of a stroke. He was 86.
Born in Sydney, Randell was 17 when he began a career in radio. He moved into theater and in 1946 played the lead in "Smithy," about real-life Australian aviation pioneer Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith.
That led to a Hollywood movie contract, and the following year Randell appeared in "It Had to Be You."
He went on to appear in dozens of films over the next 35 years including "Follow the Boys," "The Longest Day," "King of Kings," "The She-Creature" and "Kiss Me, Kate," in which he played Cole Porter.
He made dozens of guest appearances on British and American TV shows, including "Bewitched," "Mission: Impossible," "Bonanza" and "Gunsmoke."
He appeared on Broadway in such productions as "Bent" and "The World of Susie Wong."
Ron Randell
In Memory
Ronald Winans
Ronald Winans, a Grammy-winning member of the Winans gospel family who was part of the quartet The Winans, has died. He was 48.
Winans, who had suffered a heart attack in 1997, died Friday at Harper Hospital of heart complications, his family said. He had recently been admitted for observation, the family said, after doctors realized he was retaining fluid.
Ronald Winans, who sang on five Grammy-winning albums, released his final CD, a live recording, in January.
Ronald Winans
In Memory
Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller, a founding member of the Twin Cities rock band Soul Asylum, died Friday after suffering from throat cancer. He was 41.
Mueller played the bass guitar for Soul Asylum, which he co-founded in 1984 with friends Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy.
Mueller was diagnosed with cancer in May 2004 and underwent radiation treatment.
The cancer was in remission in October when a legion of Twin Cities music scene veterans banded together for a "Rock for Karl" benefit concert at the Quest to help defray Mueller's medical costs.
Karl Mueller
