Recommended Reading
from Bruce
New Jobs for Virginia (youtube.com)
30-second funny political ad.
Health Care
The innovative new website developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services helps you understand all the health insurance options available in your local area for you and your family. After answering just a few basic questions, the website's insurance finder will identify public and private coverage options that might be right for you.
Paul Krugman: Myths of Austerity
Somehow it has become conventional wisdom that now is the time to slash spending, despite the fact that the world's major economies remain deeply depressed.
Froma Harrop: Lafayette, We Are Embarrassed (creators.com)
Thirty-six American cities and towns are named after the Marquis de Lafayette - the best-known being Fayetteville, N.C., and Lafayette, La. Countless streets, parks and counties also honor the French aristocrat who left his country at age 19 to enlist with George Washington in the American Revolution.
Mark Morford:The last tuna nigiri on Earth (sfgate.com)
I call it a "Republican moment," one of those surreal and disturbing thoughts that sneaks into my soul every now and then like an unwelcome but insistent visitor, a nasty little thought made of equal parts greed and unchecked entitlement, all overlaced with a sort of willful ignorance that entirely blocks out that dangerous beast of burden known as "conscience."
Deborah Orr: Why the financial crisis is going to hurt you (guardian.co.uk)
Nice clothes and holidays have been ridiculously cheap for 30 years. That's why the drop in living standards will be tough.
Pat Benatar for the Sunday Conversation (latimes.com)
The 'Heartbreaker' rocker of the '70s and '80s is on tour and telling her story in a memoir, 'Between a Heart and a Rock Place.'
Ann Powers: A genuine piece of Sarah McLachlan (latimes.com)
Some real-life hard knocks led to "Laws of Illusion," the singer's most emotionally direct work in years. She is heading a revived Lilith this summer.
Greg Kot: Crossroads not the end for Eric Clapton (Chicago Tribune)
In the months leading up to his Crossroads Guitar Festival on Saturday at Toyota Park in south suburban Bridgeview, Ill., Eric Clapton had been saying it would be his last.
LINDY WEST: Gallagher Is a Paranoid, Right-Wing, Watermelon-Smashing Maniac (thestranger.com)
The Decline and Fall of a Comedy Legend.
Lesley Goldberg: An interview with Julianne Moore (afterellen.com)
The actress talks about her new film, The Kids Are All Right, and being an ally to the LGBT community.
Sean O'neal: Interview with Janeane Garofalo (avclub.com)
The outspoken comedian and actor talks about her first stand-up special in more than a decade, and why she can be passionate about politics but not funny about them.
The Weekly Poll
Summer Sabbatical
Poll returns 13 July!
BadToTheBoneBob
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
The You Tubes
Gay, straight or just creepy? We report, you decide.
Mr. 2E
Thanks, Ed!
Who Knew?
Indonesian Glacier
JAKARTA: Lonnie Thompson spent years preparing for his expedition to the remote, mist-shrouded mountains of eastern Indonesia, hoping to chronicle the effect of global warming on the last remaining glacier in the Pacific. He's worried he got there too late.
Indonesia's last glacier will melt within years - Arab News
BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, B2tbBob!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another sunny day.
Facebook Fan Record
Lady Gaga
Glam pop singer Lady Gaga is on the brink of becoming the first living person to have 10 million fans on a single social networking site, having already overtaken U.S. President Barack Obama on Facebook, a British group that measures online popularity said on Friday. Skip related content
Famecount.com said Lady Gaga is already the most popular living musician online, according to her following on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
On Friday, the provocative "Bad Romance" and "Paparazzi" singer had more than 9.9 million Facebook fans and 4.7 million Twitter followers.
The 24 year-old performer, who released her first album two years ago, overtook Obama last week. The U.S. president has 9.4 million Facebook fans and 4.4 million Twitter followers.
Lady Gaga
Revels In 'Twilight' Spotlight
Quileute Nation
The leader of the Quileute Nation in northwest Washington first began hearing her tribe had a role in a popular series called the "Twilight Saga" from fans clamoring to know more about the place where a vampire tale of teenage love unfolds.
Some fans sent e-mails. The most dedicated among them made trips to the remote reservation that is home to the series' heartthrob werewolf Jacob Black.
"The interest in our tribe was a surprise, a good surprise," tribal Chairwoman Anna Rose Counsell-Geyer said. "I thought to myself, people are going to actually get to know the Quileute and we are going to be recognized as a people. The real Quileute."
That was a couple of years ago. With "Eclipse," the series' third movie in theaters now, the 750-member Quileute Nation is reveling in the "Twilight" spotlight, attempting to capitalize on the blockbuster's massive financial pull and welcoming new interest in the tribe's culture.
Quileute Nation
Words Matter
Thomas Jefferson
Preservation scientists at the Library of Congress have discovered that Thomas Jefferson, even in the act of declaring independence from England, had trouble breaking free from monarchial rule.
In an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote the word "subjects," when he referred to the American public. He then erased that word and replaced it with "citizens," a term he used frequently throughout the final draft.
Fenalla France, a research chemist at the Library, said her lab made the discovery last year by using hyperspectral imaging, using a high resolution digital camera that compiles a series of images to highlight layers of a document. Some of those invisible layers - like erased text and even fingerprints - pop into view on a computer screen.
In switching from "subjects" to "citizens," France said it appears Jefferson used his hand to wipe the word out while the ink was still wet. A distinct brown smudge is apparent on the paper, although the word "subjects" is not legible without the help of the digital technology.
Thomas Jefferson
Letter Deciphered
David Livingstone
The contents of a long-illegible letter written by famed 19th century explorer David Livingstone have finally been deciphered, a British university said Friday, nearly 140 years after he wrote of his despair at ever leaving Africa alive.
Researchers say that the letter - which required state of the art imaging techniques to decipher - helps round out the picture of a man traditionally cast as an intrepid Victorian hero, revealing the self-doubt that tormented the missionary-explorer in one of his darkest hours.
"I am terribly knocked up but this is for your own eye only," Livingstone wrote to close friend Horace Waller in the newly revealed correspondence. "Doubtful if I live to see you again."
The explorer was stuck in the village of Bambarre, in present-day Congo, in February of 1871. He was a long way off from his intended goal, most of his expedition either died or deserted him, and he was still suffering the effects of pneumonia, fever, and tropical eating ulcers - a nasty condition that consumes skin and flesh.
Adding insult to injury, Livingstone, a crusading abolitionist, had been forced to seek help from Arab slave traders while he waited for outside support. Bedridden for weeks on end, Livingstone had read the Bible several times over and started hallucinating.
David Livingstone
Drops 10 Dates
Lilith Tour
Women rockers have become the latest victims of a weak concert season in North America.
Organizers of the all-female Lilith Fair festival tour, co-founded by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan in 1997, announced on Thursday that they would cancel almost one-third of the scheduled shows.
Lilith, which kicked off in Calgary on Sunday after an 11-year break, is to drop such big markets as Montreal, Houston and Dallas, with organizers citing "one of the most challenging summer concert seasons."
To be sure, it is not just a gender issue. Artists such as Christina Aguilera, the Eagles, Rihanna, John Mayer, Limp Bizkit, and the Go-Go's have either canceled shows or entire tours.
Lilith Tour
Propaganda Masters Convene
Sun Valley
As Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate), Bob Iger and other media honchos assemble in Sun Valley next week for some fly-fishing or white water rafting, spirits should be brighter than a year ago: stock prices are up by about a third, after all.
That alone provides the currency and freedom to get down to the real business of the media summit, one that boutique investment bank Allen & Co annually hosts in the shadow of the Pioneer Mountains in Idaho. For the past 27 years, the Sun Valley Lodge has been the spot where blockbuster media deals have been hatched.
Even in 2009, when advertising revenues nosedived, Comcast Corp's co-founder Ralph Roberts had the moxie to talk to General Electric Co Chief Executive Jeff Immelt about a deal for NBC Universal.
This year, it could be Walt Disney Co CEO Iger who finds himself center stage amid speculation he may shop ABC -- something Disney has denied. Or veteran dealer Barry Diller from IAC/InterActiveCorp, who has said he would look at a deal involving his Ask.com search engine.
Sun Valley
World Cup Adventure
Paris Hilton
Hollywood socialite Paris Hilton was briefly arrested in the South African city of Port Elizabeth on Friday after attending a World Cup match, but subsequently released.
"The charges against her were dropped," a prosecutor told a special court
Paris Hilton
Judge Drops Case
Matthew McConaughey
A judge has dropped charges against two surfers accused of attacking a celebrity photographer shooting photos of Matthew McConaughey on a Malibu beach.
Los Angeles County district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons says the charges were dismissed Friday after prosecutors decided against starting a third trial against the surfers. A jury deadlocked last month on the misdemeanor battery case against Skylar Peak and Philip Hildebrand.
Peak and Hildebrand were accused of confronting several paparazzi who showed up to shoot photos of the "Fool's Gold" star on a Malibu beach two years ago.
Peak's attorney, Harland Braun, said the case was poorly investigated and never should have been filed. He said paparazzi video of the fight had been manipulated to implicate the surfers.
Matthew McConaughey
Suspects Indicted
Celebrity Burglaries
Five people accused of burglarizing celebrities' homes now face conspiracy charges after a grand jury issued an indictment against the group.
The indictment, unsealed Friday, details the research and planning that went into the break-ins at the homes of stars such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom and Megan Fox.
The group already faced a variety of charges, but prosecutors opted to present their case to grand jurors rather than having a judge evaluate the evidence during a preliminary hearing. Now, the group may go on trial by November.
They are accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of clothing, jewelry and other luxury items. Some of the property, including Hilton's jewelry, have been recovered. But prosecutor Sarika Kim said in court Friday that one of the defendants, Rachel Lee, may still have some of the goods.
Celebrity Burglaries
Steele's Hallucinating
GOP
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele says Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing" and the conflict "is not something the United States has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," comments that drew an immediate rebuke from Democrats and a call from at least two Republicans for him to resign.
In remarks captured Thursday on camera and posted online, Steele criticized President Barack Obama and his handling of the nine-year-old war begun by Republican resident George W. Bush in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He suggested the war cannot be won.
Republican officials confirmed Steele made the comments at a Connecticut fundraiser, which was closed to the media. The remarks, at odds with members of the Republican Party, were caught on camera and posted on the Web.
Looking to mitigate the political fallout, Steele issued a statement Friday, saying, "There is no question that America must win the war on terror. ... And, for the sake of the security of the free world, our country must give our troops the support necessary to win this war."
GOP
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