Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: That '30s Feeling (nytimes.com)
The rise of the deficit hawks in Germany and the rest of Europe is depressing.
Beverly C. Lucey: Sometimes a Book is Just a Book (irascibleprofessor.com)
In "Sometimes a Book is Just a Book" guest commentator and freshman writing instructor Beverly C. Lucey challenges the powerful National Association of Scholar's contention that the summer reading assignments that many colleges and universities make for their incoming freshmen are dominated by books that have a "liberal" slant. The Irascible Professor chimes in with some comments of his own.
Mark Morford: 19 reasons why God torched Jesus (sfgate.com)
Charred remnants remained this morning of the large Jesus statue iconic to Interstate 75 that was destroyed following an apparent lightning strike during a thunderstorm late Monday night. -- Dayton Daily News
Roger Ebert: Here's another fine mess
What we can't seem to accept is that the oil is leaking and we can't stop it. This doesn't fit the modern narrative in which we can fix anything if we get organized and throw enough money at it. An earthquake devastates Haiti? The world rushes to its aid. A tsunami wreaks havoc? Emergency teams descend. Swine flu? We get inoculated. The economy collapses? Bail it out.
Froma Harrop: Make Louisiana a U.S. Protectorate (creators.com)
A modest proposal: The federal government should take over Louisiana. Might as well, at this point.
HOLLY RAMER: Professor Pushes For Return To Slow Reading (huffingtonpost.com)
Slow readers of the world, uuuuuuuu...niiiiite! At a time when people spend much of their time skimming websites, text messages and e-mails, an English professor at the University of New Hampshire is making the case for slowing down as a way to gain more meaning and pleasure out of the written word.
Susan Estrich: The Second Time Around (creators.com)
"I'm definitely going to sail around the world again, or at least give it another try," teen sailor Abby Sunderland told the Australian press after her rescue last week. Before she does, she and her family might consider doing two things: paying for the costly rescue and waiting for Abby to turn 18.
Deborah Orr: "Puberty: little girls really are growing up faster" (guardian.co.uk)
A new study says girls are hitting puberty at the age of nine - if so, it's a worrying phenomenon.
Roger Moore: With 'Toy Story 3', Pixar goes for laughs, and tears (popmatters.com)
"'Brand X' companies will push some third film out in a series just to see how much money they can make and they won't pay much attention to their script," says actor John Ratzenberger. "But Pixar never does that."
Review of "Toy Story 2" (4 stars out of 4 stars)
"You've got a friend in me," go the lyrics to the Randy Newman tune that has been crooned in all of Pixar's magical 'Toy Story' films, including the brand-new 'Toy Story 3.' It's a catchy little ditty, and it might even trick you into thinking the films are about friendship. But you'd be wrong.
Roger Ebert: Review of "THE KARATE KID" (PG; A faithful remake, well done; 3 1/2 stars)
If you've seen "The Karate Kid" (1984), the memories will come back during this 2010 remake. That's a compliment. The original story was durable enough to inspire three sequels, and now we have an entertaining version filmed mostly on location in China, with 56-year-old Jackie Chan in the role of Mr. Miyagi.
Dana Stevens: The Karate Kid (slate.com)
While the fight scenes have been (literally) punched up by the inclusion of more spectacular martial-arts stunts-along with the bonecrunching sound effect now required to accompany all onscreen fisticuffs-this Karate Kid isn't the rushed, coarsened, CGI-infested ripoff that fans of the original may be dreading. It's as sweet-natured a movie as you could expect about a 12-year-old learning to beat the crap out of his schoolmates.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Gettin' Yer Buzz On' Edition...
America's Prohibition laws were meant to cut crime and boost morality - they failed on both fronts. So how can the 'War on Drugs' ever succeed?
How Can America's 'War on Drugs' Succeed When Prohibition Laws Failed? | CommonDreams.org
What is your position on 'illegal' drugs?
1.) Legalize them all
2.) Legalize only ______
3.) Keep the status quo. They're bad, bad, bad...
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggeston
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, still warm.
Aims to Become Reporter Haven
Iceland
Iceland has approved a package of laws designed to make the country an international haven for reporters. The laws, which were both inspired and assisted by Wikileaks, offer sweeping speech protections for individuals and groups. The laws protect the anonymity of anonymous sources, empower whistle-blowers, and seek to expand the freedom of information, as well as other provisions.
The New York Times' Noam Cohen explained when the laws were introduced that Iceland wants to "become a haven for journalists and publishers by offering some of the most aggressive protections for free speech and investigative journalism in the world. ... much the way businesses relocate to countries like the Cayman Islands or Switzerland to take advantage of legal protections and shield laws for bank accounts, publications would relocate to Iceland - or at least relocate their computer servers that publish their Web sites - in order to get the benefits, and gain access to Iceland's plentiful energy resources."
Salon's Glenn Greenwald explains a key motivation behind the laws' passage. "Iceland enacted that law because the extreme secrecy among their political/financial elite is what enabled their economic collapse."
Iceland
Gulf Oil Spill Telethon
CNN
CNN and Larry King are presenting a telethon Monday to benefit victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Celebrities on the special two-hour edition of "Larry King Live" will include Justin Bieber, Ted Danson, Cameron Diaz, Randy Jackson and Robert Redford, as well as a performance by Sting.
CNN said Friday that guests will visit with King on set and by satellite. They will also participate in the program's telephone banks taking viewer calls.
"Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help" is aimed at raising funds for the United Way, National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy. The telethon will air 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern.
CNN
Visits Refugees In Ecuador
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie has braved a journey on rutted jungle roads to a village on Ecuador's border with Colombia to highlight the abuses suffered by women and children refugees.
The actress and U.N. human rights goodwill ambassador returned for the first time in eight years to a turbulent region where thousands of Colombian refugees live.
She ended her two-day visit Friday wotj a meeting in Shushufindi with President Rafael Correa and other senior government officials.
More than 50,000 Colombian refugees are registered in Ecuador though unofficial estimates put the number at more than 170,000.
Angelina Jolie
Lyrics Fetch $1.2M At Auction
John Lennon
John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to the final song on the classic Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" were purchased by an American collector on Friday for $1.2 million.
The winning bid for "A Day in the Life" was placed by phone at Sotheby's auction house, which declined to identify the collector further.
The price exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $500,000 and $800,000.
The double-sided sheet of paper features Lennon's edits and corrections in his own hand - in black felt marker and blue ball point pen, with a few annotations in red ink.
John Lennon
Urges Band Bus BP Boycott
Korn
Korn's Jonathan Davis is urging artists to boycott troubled oil giant BP over the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a statement issued Friday, the rock singer says he has gathered a coalition of artists, including Lady Gaga, Creed and the Backstreet Boys, and they have agreed not to use fuel sold by BP or their affiliates on their tours this year.
Tens of millions of gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf Coast since an April explosion of an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana.
Meanwhile, stars including Justin Bieber, Cameron Diaz, Lenny Kravitz, Ryan Secreast are set to appear Monday on CNN's two-hour telethon, "Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help." Larry King is scheduled to host.
Korn
Rapper Takes Aim At Arizona
Chuck D
Public Enemy's Chuck D has Arizona in his crosshairs - again.
Nearly 20 years after the socially conscious hip-hop group's very public feud with Arizona over the state's lack of recognition for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday -- as documented in the single "By the Time I Get to Arizona" -- frontman Chuck D has released a new track about the state, "Tear Down That Wall."
"Yeah, because the governor is a Hitler," Chuck D told Billboard.com. "Things do change from time to time, but it goes right back into just proving that it wants to be something else. 'Tear Down That Wall' is something that has its own life. It's not that you're doing anything to be opportunistic. I talked about the wall not only just dividing the U.S. and Mexico but the states of California, New Mexico and Texas. But Arizona, it's like, come on. Now they're going to enforce a law that talks about basically racial profiling."
"Tear Down That Wall," which is available at www.slamjamz.com, will appear on his solo CD, to be released at a later date.
Chuck D
Kanye West's Face Off
Marion "Suge" Knight
Battle-scarred rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight and volatile hip-hop star Kanye West faced off Friday over a beef involving a bullet - with a conference table between them.
The two rap titans were there for West to answer questions about a celebrity-packed Miami Beach party where an unknown gunman shot Knight in the leg. West hosted the 2005 fete at the posh Shore Club before the MTV Video Music Awards, held that year in Miami.
Knight - who promoted some of rap's biggest acts in the 1990s but has been beset by legal and financial troubles - has sued the Grammy Award-winning West and the Shore Club's owners, saying they didn't provide enough security.
Knight said Friday he had hoped a face-to-face encounter with West - and their lawyers - could settle the matter, but he got few answers.
Marion "Suge" Knight
Fake Stolen
Banksy
Australian experts Friday cast doubt over claims that graffiti stolen from outside an underwear tycoon's Melbourne house was by secretive British artist Banksy.
Police launched an investigation after the "valuable" picture of a sunglasses-wearing rat carrying bolt cutters, spray-painted using a stencil in the Banksy style, was stolen between late April and early May.
But gallery owner and street art expert Andy Mac said he doubted the work, which appeared on underwear designer Mitch Dowd's electricity meter box about 18 months ago, was a genuine Banksy.
"To my knowledge, Banksy has not been back in (Australia) since 2002 or 2003. I would be very surprised that this stolen work is in fact a Banksy," Mac told The Age newspaper.
Banksy
Future Of Ban Rests With Japan
Commercial Whaling
Nations will next week consider whether to sanction commercial whale hunts for the first time in a quarter-century, a compromise to coax Japan into ending an annual cull of hundreds of the sea mammals in a sanctuary in the Antarctic.
The broader goal at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Morocco that begins Monday is to fix a fractured regulatory system in which a handful of whaling nations currently operate under a complex set of exemptions.
The focus will be on Japan, the strongest advocate of modern whaling. Even firm opponents are willing to allow limited commercial hunts if Tokyo stops pursuing whales in the southern sanctuary - a hunt allowed in the name of scientific research although much of the catch goes on sale in Japan as meat.
But that appears to be more than the Japanese are willing to concede.
Commercial Whaling
LA Costs
Michael Jackson
A Los Angeles councilwoman says the estate of Michael Jackson and the entertainment company AEG have agreed to contribute $1.3 million to help the city pay for costs related to the pop star's memorial service last year at Staples Center.
Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents much of downtown, announced the agreement Friday and says she is pleased the matter has been resolved.
Critics took aim at the city for spending $3.2 million to support the July 7 memorial service at AEG's Nokia Theater and Staples Center.
Michael Jackson
Uh-Oh
SpaghettiOs
Campbell Soup Co. is recalling 15 million pounds of SpaghettiOs with meatballs after a cooker malfunctioned at one of the company's plants in Texas and left the meat undercooked.
The Agriculture Department announced the recall late Thursday. Campbell spokesman Anthony Sanzio said the company is recalling certain lots of the product manufactured since December 2008 "out of an abundance of caution" because officials don't know exactly when the cooker at the Paris, Texas, plant malfunctioned. Officials believe it happened recently but aren't sure, he said.
The meatballs that went through the cooker did not get the requisite amount of heat, according to the company.
Recalled are certain lots of three varieties of the pasta product often consumed by children: SpaghettiOs with Meatballs, SpaghettiOs A to Z with Meatballs, and SpaghettiOs Fun Shapes with Meatballs (Cars).
SpaghettiOs
Vocal Problems Force Tour Cancellation
Simon & Garfunkel
Singers Simon & Garfunkel have canceled an upcoming North American tour because Art Garfunkel has a condition affecting his vocal cords.
The "Old Friends" tour, reuniting the legendary but fractious 1960s partnership that produced hits like "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "The Sound of Silence", had already been rescheduled once this year, from April to July.
But a statement posted this week on their official website, said the pair was now postponing indefinitely the dates in Canada and the U.S.
"According to his doctors, Art is expected to make a full recovery, however they cannot predict an exact timeline," the statement said.
Simon & Garfunkel
Christie's Auction
William Faulkner
A rare auction of signed William Faulkner books and personal items has drawn international interest, but few on the town square of the author's hometown were aware of the bidding set for Tuesday at Christie's in New York.
It's not as if Oxford's famous son is forgotten at home. Inside Off Square Books, a poster of the fiercely private writer hangs on an entrance wall. Down the street is the home where Faulkner's mother lived and nearby is Rowan Oak, the author's Greek Revival house owned and operated as a museum by the University of Mississippi. Rowan Oak draws about 26,000 visitors each year.
Included in the collection are signed copies of "The Wild Palms" and "Absalom, Absalom!" In keeping with common auction house practice, Christie's didn't identify the owner, but said he was an American.
A few items offer a glimpse into the personal side of the author, whose stream of consciousness writings explored the complicated social system of the South.
William Faulkner
In Memory
Jose Saramago
Jose Saramago, who became the first Portuguese-language winner of the Nobel Literature prize although his popularity at home was dampened by his unflinching support for Communism, blunt manner and sometimes difficult prose style, died Friday.
Saramago, 87, died at his home in Lanzarote, one of Spain's Canary Islands, of multi-organ failure after a long illness, the Jose Saramago Foundation said.
Saramago was an outspoken man who antagonized many, and moved to the Canary Islands after a public spat in 1992 with the Portuguese government, which he accused of censorship.
His 1998 Nobel accolade was nonetheless widely cheered in his homeland after decades of the award eluding writers of a language used by some 170 million people around the world.
"People used to say about me, 'He's good but he's a Communist.' Now they say, 'He's a Communist but he's good,'" he said in a 1998 interview with The Associated Press.
Born Nov. 16, 1922 in the town of Azinhaga near Lisbon, Saramago was raised in the capital. From a poor family, he never finished university but continued to study part-time while supporting himself as a metalworker.
His first novel published in 1947 - "Terra do Pecado," or "Country of Sin" - was a tale of peasants in moral crisis. It sold badly but won Saramago enough recognition to allow him jump from the welder's shop to a job on a literary magazine.
But for the next 18 years Saramago published only a few travel and poetry books while he worked as a journalist.
He returned to fiction only after the four-decade dictatorship created by Antonio Salazar was toppled by a military uprising in 1974.
International critical acclaim came late in his life, starting with his 1982 historical fantasy "Memorial do Convento," published in English in 1988 as "Baltasar and Blimunda."
The story is set during the Inquisition and explores the battle between individuals and organized religion, picking up Saramago's recurring theme of the loner struggling against authority.
That kind of conflict surfaced in the heated clash Saramago had in 1992 with Portuguese under-secretary of state for culture Antonio Sousa Lara, which prompted Saramago's move to the Spanish islands off northwest Africa.
Sousa Lara withdrew the writer's name from Portugal's nominees for the European Literature Prize. Lara said Saramago's 1991 novel "O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo" ("The Gospel according to Jesus Christ") - in which Christ lives with Mary Magdalene and tries to back out of his crucifixion - offended Portuguese religious convictions and divided the heavily Roman Catholic country.
His outspokenness set off a storm of protest in 2002 when during a visit he compared Ramallah, a Palestinian city blockaded at the time by the Israeli army, to the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
He was frequently compared with Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his writing is often described as realism tinged with Latin-American mysticism, particularly for his technique of confronting historical personages with fictional characters.
He leaves his wife, Spanish journalist Pilar del Rio, and a daughter from his first marriage.
Jose Saramago
In Memory
Sebastian Horsley
Eccentric British dandy and author Sebastian Horsley, best known for having himself nailed to a cross in the Philippines in the name of art, has died of a suspected drug overdose, British media reported.
The 47-year-old was found dead at his London apartment on Thursday just days after a play adapted from his memoirs opened at the Soho Theater.
In 2008, he was denied entry to the United States on the grounds of "moral turpitude."
"They said I was suffering from moral turpitude," Horsley said at the time. "I was very surprised. I'm feeling quite well. I've never drunk turpentine in my life."
He was also quoted to have said: "I have invested 90 percent of my money on prostitutes, the rest on Class A drugs, the remains I squandered."
His lurid autobiography of drug addiction and sex called "Dandy in the Underworld" was variously described as amusing and revolting.
Sebastian Horsley
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