'Best of TBH Politoons'
This Weekend
Erin Hart
July 2nd & 3rd 2005 on 710 KIRO from 9 p to 1 a. PDT. And
on AM 760 Air America in Boulder on July 5th from 5 a. to 9 a. PDT.
Can we have our country back now, please? GW was a joke; Sandra Day O'Connor is
retiring --the battle to save our nation is rejoined!
Saturday we talk to Live 8 attendees from World Vision and 710 KIRO's Tim Haeck
about the momentous concerts to remind the biggest and wealthiest to save
the world who earn under $1 a day. We'll travel from Philadelphia to
Scotland and back.
And on Sunday night, a very special visit with women members of the
Washington National Guard who have served in Iraq--hear what they have to
report on their return from an asymmetrical and to many, unpopular, war.
Salute and support our troops and talk to them honestly.
Plus, David Cay Johnston of the New York Times on class in America and David
Domke of the University of Washington on Bush language--on July 5th, Air
America in Boulder.
Lots of fun events coming up. And do check in with
erinhartshow.com
and 710kiro.com
for more late breaking information.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Annalee Newitz: No Roads For You (AlterNet)
Why would an elected official want to bar cities from giving their residents quick and easy access to the Internet?
Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech: 'You've got to find what you love' (Stanford U)
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
UCC President Backs Gay Marriage Resolution
The Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, endorsed tonight a resolution that the UCC General Synod will debate that declares denominational support for gay marriage.
Spain OKs Gay Marriage, Defying Opponents (Associated Press)
Madrid, Spain, June 30 - Parliament legalized gay marriage Thursday, defying conservatives and clergy who opposed making traditionally Roman Catholic Spain the third country to allow same-sex unions nationwide.
Mark Morford: Burn, Canada And Spain, Burn! (SF Gate)
Look to the skies, see the wrath of God rain down on married gays! Will hockey and tapas survive?
The Ten Myths About the Ten Commandments (www.beliefnet.com)
Think you've got the Ten Commandments story down cold? Think again.
Selected Readings
That Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny and pleasantly cool.
Late night TV here is running a crapperload of commercials 'starring' Erik Estrada as he hawks land in a variety of locations.
So far, I've seen him pitching Washington (state), Arizona, Colorado & California City, CA.
Any other sitings?
Hybrid Philosophy
George Clooney
Wouldn't it be great if more movie stars were like George Clooney?
He's the modern model: He's too cool to demand a $20 million salary to prove his self-worth; he writes, directs and produces; and he expends his movie star capital to push for the things he believes in.
"I'm a hybrid," Clooney said last week after he accepted the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival's first Spirit of Independence Award. "I succeed in both worlds. I hope that selling out on 'Ocean's Eleven' is not such a bad deal. The trade-off is, I get to go make something uncommercial that will probably lose money."
Clooney is confident enough to go toe to toe with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly or to protect a movie extra from an abusive director or to coax not only fellow "flaming liberals" to join his campaign against hunger in Africa but also Pat Robertson as well. (On ABC's "Nightline," Clooney got the televangelist to admit that in certain extreme situations, condom use is a good thing.) And when a completion bond company backed out of Clooney's second directing effort, the $8 million black-and-white drama "Goodnight, and Good Luck," starring David Strathairn as newsman Edward R. Murrow, Clooney offered to put up his house, worth $7 million, to insure the movie himself.
George Clooney
Today's Schedule
Live 8
ON TV: MTV, VH1 and mtvU (the college network) will run a shared feed of the show from noon to 8 p.m. There's no set schedule, but the networks will cut to each venue whenever something hot happens. ABC has a two-hour highlight show from 8 to 10 p.m.
ONLINE: Starting at 6 a.m., broadband users can log on to AOLmusic.com, which is simultaneously streaming live from six cities (London, Philadelphia, Rome, Paris, Toronto and Berlin) and showing highlights from the remaining four on their "Global Feed." For the following six weeks, you'll be able rewatch segments through the "on demand" function.
SATELLITE RADIO: XM Satellite radio has exclusive rights. The six major cities get one dedicated channel, while the remaining four share a "Global Coverage" channel. Subscribers can check XMradio.com for a list of channels and schedules.
Live 8
Shields Rips 'Ridiculous Rant'
Tom Cruise
Brooke Shields took aim at Tom Cruise's "Today" show diatribe against antidepressants, saying the drugs helped her survive feelings of hopelessness after the birth of her first child. In an op-ed piece published Friday in The New York Times, Shields criticized what she called Cruise's "ridiculous rant."
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression," Shields wrote.
She added that Cruise's comments "are a disservice to mothers everywhere. To suggest that I was wrong to take drugs to deal with my depression, and that instead I should have taken vitamins and exercised shows an utter lack of understanding about postpartum depression and childbirth in general."
"If any good can come of Mr. Cruise's ridiculous rant, let's hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease," she wrote.
Tom Cruise
FBI Searches Home
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
Federal authorities intensified their investigation into U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's dealings with a defense contractor Friday by searching his California home and a yacht where he has stayed while in Washington, D.C.
FBI agents searched Cunningham's $2.55 million mansion outside San Diego and a 42-foot yacht named Duke Stir, according to a bureau spokeswoman, who said agents from the Department of Defense and Internal Revenue Service assisted.
Authorities also searched the Washington, D.C., offices of defense firm MZM Inc. MZM's founder, Mitchell Wade, bought a home from the congressman in 2003 at what may have been an inflated $1.7 million price. Wade also owns the boat docked on the Potomac River where Cunningham said he has lived part-time since April 2004.
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
Seeks Fees After OutKast Lawsuit
Rosa Parks
Lawyers for Rosa Parks went before a federal judge to seek legal fees in the civil rights pioneer's settled lawsuit against the Atlanta-based rap duo OutKast.
The April settlement ended a 1999 lawsuit in which Parks' attorneys accused OutKast of wrongly using her name in a song title. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
Gregory Reed, a Detroit attorney who sued OutKast on Parks' behalf, asked U.S. District Judge George Steeh on Thursday to award his law firm $220,000 and divide another $70,000 among three other firms. He made public a 1999 letter from Parks authorizing him to file the lawsuit and promising him one-third of any settlement.
Rosa Parks
Cinemark Matches AMC Guarantee
'Cinderella Man'
More moviegoers may be watching "Cinderella Man" for free this weekend after the Cinemark theater chain said Friday it will match AMC Entertainment's money-back guarantee in certain cities.
Both chains say moviegoers should return to the box office if they don't enjoy the movie to get a full refund of the ticket price. Ads on the AMC Web site say, "AMC believes `Cinderella Man' is one of the finest motion pictures of the year!"
'Cinderella Man'
Ordered to Give Deposition
R. Kelly
A judge in Illinois has ordered singer R. Kelly to give a deposition in a civil case filed by a woman who claims he secretly videotaped her while having sex.
The order allows Kelly to be questioned about what he knows about a tape that's allegedly available on the Internet.
Kelly's lawyer says the statute of limitations has run out on the woman's claims of invasion of privacy. The lawyer also says the singer will probably invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because of unrelated criminal charges in a child pornography case that's pending.
R. Kelly
Touchstone For A Town
'Giant'
With its population eroded and the lone movie theater long shuttered, tiny Marfa clings to the memories of when it was "Giant."
Fifty years ago, this West Texas town, with its wide-open landscape and mountains on the horizon, became the setting for a Hollywood classic about a wealthy Texas cattle-raising family featuring James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.
To mark the golden anniversary, Warner Brothers is shipping a print of "Giant" from the corporate vault to Marfa for a Saturday benefit to raise money for the Marfa Public Library.
Since the Palace theater closed about 30 years ago, a projection truck will beam the movie to an inflatable screen for an audience of 500 people. For their $50, attendees will get a custom-made lawn chair carrying the film logo.
'Giant'
New Drawing Discovered
Leonardo Da Vinci
Art curators have uncovered a new Leonardo Da Vinci drawing hidden beneath the surface of one of the Renaissance artist's most celebrated works, Britain's National Gallery said on Friday.
Da Vinci painted two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks between 1483 and 1508. London's picture has long been regarded as an inferior copy of the original now in the Louvre in Paris.
National Gallery curators found the uncompleted drawing while researching how Da Vinci copied his original, using infrared scanning to see through layers of paint on the London picture.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Blue-Eyed American Turned Naked Sadhu
Rampuri
Many people in United States dropped out and turned on in the 1960s as the country became involved in the Vietnam war and major cities became engulfed by race riots. Rampuri went a big step further -- he disappeared into rural India and became a naked sadhu.
For 21 years he wandered holy outposts and smoked pot from a clay pipe called a chillum, learned the rituals of sadhus -- Hindu devotees covered in sacred ashes and sporting dreadlocks -- from a guru and along the way abandoned his western name and cut most contact with his family in Beverly Hills.
The wandering years are the subject of his book, "Baba -- Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi", that gives a modern globalized twist to what Thomas Wolfe wrote in the 1930s about a man who moves to New York and writes a best seller critical of his small town roots -- You Can't Go Home Again.
For a lot more, Rampuri
South Korea's Bridget Jones
Kim Sam-soon
She doesn't let men push her around, is overweight and can't dance well, and talks openly about constipation. That's why South Korea is falling in love with Kim Sam-soon.
Kim is the lead character of the new TV soap opera My Name is Kim Sam-soon, which has rocketed to the top of the ratings since its premiere last month. Its popularity is driven by an audience of 30-something women who see the gutsy Kim as South Korea's Bridget Jones - a woman who speaks her mind and is fed up with societal pressure to marry and settle down while also living up to conventional stereotypes of beauty.
The MBC network show soared to 41.7 per cent viewership across South Korea on Thursday evening and is the highest-rated soap opera this year. TNS Media Korea, which compiles TV ratings, said women in their 30s are the largest group of viewers.
Kim Sam-soon
Settles Suit
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
After settling a trademark infringement suit with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, a new Web site honoring Jewish rockers with a "Shul of Rock" and "Challah Fame" is open for business.
The suit was dismissed earlier this week when the founders of Jewsrock.org agreed to refrain from using the phrase "Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" in connection with their site, a lawyer for the site told Reuters on Friday.
That didn't stop sponsors of the site from establishing a "Challah Fame" -- using the Yiddish word for a braided egg bread -- to label their alphabetical listing of Hebraic-born pop stars, among them Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Lou Reed, Carole King and David Lee Roth.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Mattel Unveils
Celebrity Barbie Dolls
This month, Mattel debuts a handful of familiar faces in its ever-growing line of celebrity Barbie dolls: country music artists Martina McBride and LeAnn Rimes, R&B/pop trio Destiny's Child, "I Love Lucy"-era Lucille Ball (the line's ninth "Lucy" doll) and Disney star Raven-Symone.
The first celebrity Barbie doll -- Twiggy -- appeared in the '60s. The 2001 Cher doll remains the best seller in the Barbie line, with "tens of thousands of units sold." Through the years, the retail price for each celebrity Barbie doll has ranged between $35 and $50.
The dolls debuting this month, in stores until the end of the year, have a suggested retail price of $19.99.
Celebrity Barbie Dolls
In Memory
Bruce Malmuth
Bruce Malmuth, an actor and writer who directed such films as "Nighthawks" and "Hard to Kill" and played bit parts in "The Karate Kid" and other films, died Tuesday of esophageal cancer. He was 71.
Malmuth was best-known for directing Sylvester Stallone in the 1981 thriller "Nighthawks" and Steven Seagal in the 1990 political action film "Hard to Kill," as well as "Where Are the Children?," with Jill Clayburgh.
An avid sports fan, Malmuth played the role of ring announcer in 1984's "The Karate Kid," among other small film roles.
Malmuth began making documentaries while serving in the Army, where he met baseball announcer Walter "Red" Barber. After his military career, Malmuth directed the New York Yankee games at WPIX radio in New York before entering the film and television industry.
Bruce Malmuth
In Memory
Renaldo 'Obie' Benson
Renaldo "Obie" Benson, a member of the legendary Motown singing group the Four Tops, died Friday. He was 69.
Benson died at a Detroit hospital, said the group's road manager, Fred Bridges. His death also was confirmed by Craig Hankenson, president of Producers Inc., one of the agencies that books dates for the Four Tops.
Benson's death leaves two surviving members of the original group: Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir. The fourth original Top, Lawrence Payton, died of liver cancer in 1997.
The Four Tops began singing together in the 1950s under the name the Four Aims and signed a deal with Chess Records. They later changed their names to the Four Tops.
Renaldo 'Obie' Benson
In Memory
Luther Vandross
Grammy award winner Luther Vandross, whose deep, lush voice on such hits as "Here and Now" and "Any Love" sold more than 25 million albums while providing the romantic backdrop for millions of couples worldwide, died Friday. He was 54.
Vandross died at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, N.J., said hospital spokesman Rob Cavanaugh. He did not release the cause of death but said in a statement that Vandross "never really recovered from" a stroke two years ago.
He was arguably the most celebrated R&B balladeer of his generation. He made women swoon with his silky yet forceful tenor, which he often revved up like a motor engine before reaching his beautiful crescendos.
Yet, while Vandross was a household name in the black community, he was frustrated by his failure to become a mainstream pop star. Indeed, it took Vandross until 1990 to score his first top 10 hit - the wedding staple "Here & Now."
Another frustration for Vandross was his lifelong battle with obesity. Health problems ran in his family, and Vandross struggled for years to control his waistline. When he first became a star, he was a hefty size; a few years later, he was almost skinny. His weight fluctuated so much that rumors swirled that he had more serious health problems than the hypertension and diabetes caused by his large frame.
Luther Vandross
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