'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Comment
Re: Flying Pigs
Saw them last summer. All sold out but wanted it for my classroom so when the kids came in with excuses and begging, I could set it off and say "You expect a credit for that? Look up?" and the pig would fly.
They wouldn't get it but I would, and love it. Then I would explain.
Thanks, Marian!
It's the first time I'd seen the flying pigs - now I wish I'd bought more.
Reader Link
'This Land'
Reader Humor
Riddles
What major goal does George W. Bush still dream of accomplishing?
Being elected president.
How do you tell the first Bush administration from the second Bush administration?
This time the stupid one's in charge.
What's the difference between George W. Bush and Koko, the gorilla who understands approximately 2,000 words of spoken English?
Nobody thinks Koko is president.
What's the difference between George W. Bush and Mussolini?
Mussolini was elected.
What do you call Bush voters who aren't millionaires?
Suckers.
Thanks, Bruce!
Reader Contribution
Bumper Sticker
Marty,
Bumper sticker idea:
Bush/Cheney 04
Just to see who they'll invade next
Love the page,
- Wayne
Thanks, Wayne!
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Paul Berenson
Another Side of the News
The Corporate media is giving credibility to talk of postponing (canceling) the election. Aaron Brown on The Most Trusted Blah Blah Blah urges "gently" studying the possibility. Nothing is more important than this, at least I don't think so.
Closer to home, Ahhnuld is cancelling Million$ in fees from the budget. The "Have Mores", CA Chamber of Commerce, Farm Bureau, and Oil Producers call them "Taxation Without Representation." Tell that to the college kids who are getting THEIR fees raised. These cuts will be devastating to the environment. Ahhnuld promised to "fight for the environment", RFK, Jr said he would be the best environmental Governor ever, when he stumped for him. Where's the leader of the Republican wing of the Kennedy Clan now?? You are doing real damage to CA!!! Come out here and stump against this!!!
Tune in to "Another Side of the News" with Paul Berenson, Saturdays 9am-10am PST on KCSB-FM 91.9 or listen on
our webcast.
Your local phone calls are welcome at:
893-2424
893-2425
Outside of the Santa Barbara area:
1-805-893-2426
1-805-893-3757
If you're tired of the Limbaugh's, Fox News, Corporate Media, etc. and want to hear a Democrat with attitude, this is for you!
Join listeners and callers on the South Coast and across the nation listening on our webcast at
our webcast.
Reader Contribution
Bumper Sticker
Bush-Cheney 2004
Because thinking for oneself can be SO exhausting!
Thanks, Terry!
Reader Link
Debt Cartoon
Here is a good national debt cartoon:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The humidity convention seems to have come to town.
Here's a link to the Complete List of Emmy Nominations - 2004
Bonnie Raitt performs on stage at the Live at Sunset Festival in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday, July, 16, 2004.
Photo by Dorothea Mueller
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Blames Bush for Sept. 11
Jadakiss
Over the years, the rapper Jadakiss has depicted a world of drug dealing, murder and other assorted mayhem without raising many eyebrows.
But seven words in his new song "Why" - "Why did Bush knock down the towers?" - has gotten Jadakiss the most mainstream attention, and criticism, of his career.
Jadakiss doesn't really believe Bush ordered the towers destroyed - he says the line is a metaphor, and that Bush should take the blame for the terrorist attack because his administration didn't do enough to stop it.
"They didn't follow up on a lot of things properly," says Jadakiss. "It's the president of the United States. The buck stops with him."
Jadakiss
Arlo Guthrie, left, sings at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, Thursday, July 15, 2004, along with family members, from left, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Abe Guthrie, and Johnny Irion, to celebrate the unveiling of a portrait of his dad, legendary folk artist Woody Guthrie. 'This is totally cool,' said Arlo of the honor for his father, who has sometimes been been shunned by Oklahoma politicans because of his reputation as a radical whose songs promoted unionism and reviled institutions such as banks.
Photo by Sue Ogrocki
Sues Disney Over Comic Royalties
Marvel
Marvel Enterprises Inc., creators of such comic book superheroes as "Spider-Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" is suing The Walt Disney Co. in a royalty dispute over animation programs aired on Disney's ABC Family channel.
Marvel is asking for nearly $55 million in compensatory damages, interest and other fees it says it is owed for royalties generated by made-for-television episodes of "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "The Incredible Hulk."
The agreements at issue in the lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, were made before Disney acquired Fox Family Worldwide in 2001. The lawsuit claims Disney has not kept accurate records of royalties due under those inherited agreements.
The lawsuit, which claims $54.8 million in total damages, does acknowledge that Disney did pay some disputed royalties when asked.
Marvel
Nude Scene Cut
Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell isn't getting boastful after all the hype surrounding his edited-out nude scene in A Home at the End of the World.
In the July 23 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Farrell, 28, speaks candidly about the full-frontal display. Despite published reports that the scene was cut because audiences were distracted by the magnitude of what they saw, Farrell said it wasn't anything to "write home about."
"I walk to a door and you see my ... and I walk out of the shot," Farrell said. "It's dark and it's three inches, uh, seconds long."
Colin Farrell
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Attracts Attention in Ky
Orlando Bloom
Some central Kentucky residents got a taste of Hollywood when director Cameron Crowe filmed scenes in Versailles for his latest movie, "Elizabethtown."
But Crowe didn't attract as much attention as Orlando Bloom, the movie's male lead.
Girls lined up on Main Street Thursday to shout, "We love you, Orlando!" to the 27-year-old actor, who was behind the wheel of a gray Mercury sedan that went up and down the street for multiple takes.
Orlando Bloom
Helena Bangert of the Netherlands uses a straw to finish off a sculpture of Pinhead from Hellraiser movie during the Sand Sculpture Festival in Zeebrugge, northern Belgium, July 15, 2004. A team of forty carvers from 13 different countries spent three weeks building giant sculptures based on the 'Hollywood' theme. Twenty-four tons of sands were needed to complete the sculpture which will be on show from July 16 to September 5.
Photo by Francois Lenoir
Pic Set
'Beowulf'
One of the oldest poems in English literature is being turned into a Hollywood movie.
"Beowulf," the epic tale of man vs. monster, is set up at Warner Bros., and will be written by rookie scribe Matthew Sand, a former SoHo art dealer with a background in art history.
Written in Old English and dating back to the eighth century, the blood-soaked poem tells the tale of Beowulf of the Geats, who is called to slay Grendel, a monster that is attacking a Danish kingdom. After defeating Grendel, Beowulf slays Grendel's mother and then clashes with a dragon. The poem is known to have been an influence on J.R.R. Tolkien, author of "The Lord of the Rings."
'Beowulf'
Henry Mancini Institute's Hank Award
Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach will soon add another prize to his trophy case.
The Oscar and Grammy-winning composer will receive the Henry Mancini Institute's Hank Award, which recognizes distinguished service to American music, in a ceremony Aug. 14 in Los Angeles.
The 75-year-old composer will receive the Hank Award from Phil Ramone, a previous winner.
Burt Bacharach
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Fired From 'CSI'
Jorja Fox and George Eads
Two stars of the CBS hit television series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" were fired for breach of contract, KCBS-TV and Variety reported Thursday.
Actors Jorja Fox and George Eads, who play investigators Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes, were fired after asking for more money to stay on the show, according to the reports.
The actors were in the fifth of their seven-year contracts.
Jorja Fox and George Eads
Old classic sailing ships coming from all around the world race off Brest, Brittany on their way to Douarnenez, western France, Friday, June 16, 2004.
Photo by Franck Prevel
Deal Reached on Anti-War Billboard
Clear Channel
An activist group and media giant Clear Channel on Thursday settled a dispute over an anti-war billboard that would have loomed over Times Square during the Republican National Convention and until Election Day, the group said.
Project Billboard has agreed to two billboards to run during the convention - a giant peace dove and a ticker displaying the cost of the war in Iraq in dollars.
The 105-foot-long dove will be decorated in stars and stripes and retain the message about democracy, said Deborah Rappaport, a board member for the group.
The ticker will hang from Aug. 2 until December, and the dove until October, Rappaport said. The four-day Republican National Convention begins Aug. 30 at Madison Square Garden, about 10 blocks south of Times Square.
Clear Channel
Questioning of Photo Student Challenged
Ian Spiers
Ian Spiers had just hours to finish an assignment for his photography class. He was taking shots of a railroad bridge near the Ballard Locks when an officer with a German shepherd approached him, asked him what he was doing and requested some ID.
Later, he was questioned and photographed by a Homeland Security agent.
It was the second time in less than two months that Spiers had been questioned about taking pictures of a landmark that attracts hundreds of tourists a day, many of whom snap photos of the ships passing between Lake Union and Elliott Bay.
A growing number of photographers around the country have been similarly rousted in recent years as they've tried to take pictures of federal buildings and other major public works, said Donald Winslow, editor of the National Press Photographers Association's magazine.
For the rest of a frightening read, Ian Spiers
Spiers' Web site
Zoroastrians Sacred Spring
Chak Chak
Zoroastrians say the sacred spring at Chak Chak, a shrine perched beneath a towering cliff face in the searing desert of central Iran, has lost none of its miraculous healing powers.
Now there are only 30,000 followers of the ancient religion among the Islamic Republic's 66 million people, down from 60,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Zoroastrians see life as an eternal conflict between their good God Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, the embodiment of evil.
Followers of the prophet Zoroaster, who died in the 6th century B.C., say the central tenets of their faith are: "Good thoughts, good words, good deeds."
For a lot more, Chak Chak
Japan Detains Ex-Chess Champ
Bobby Fischer
Immigration authorities have detained former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in Japan, an official said Friday.
Fischer, wanted in the United States for attending a 1992 chess match in Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions, was stopped at Tokyo's Narita International Airport on Tuesday, an airport spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
Fischer, 61, was trying to leave Japan for the Philippines, the spokesman said. He refused to elaborate, citing Fischer's privacy.
Officials were preparing to deport him to the United States, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Friday, citing unnamed sources.
Bobby Fischer
Big-budget Musicals Turn Strip into Broadway West
Las Vegas
An increasing number of high-profile shows, including the Tony Award-winning Avenue Q, are putting down roots in Sin City for extended runs, bypassing bigger locales such as Los Angeles and Chicago. "The great thing about Vegas is that we don't have to go to America," said Kevin McCollum, an Avenue Q producer. "America will come to us."
Word that Avenue Q will not tour, opting for an open-ended engagement in Las Vegas next year, surprised many in the theatre world and was met with criticism, particularly from road producers whose cities would have seen a production.
When the curtain goes up on Avenue Q in September 2005, the Las Vegas Strip will be home to no fewer than four big-budget musicals.
For a lot more, Las Vegas
Changes His Mind on Black Holes
Stephen Hawking
After almost 30 years of arguing that a black hole swallows up everything that falls into it, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking backpedaled Thursday. In doing so, he lost one of the most famous bets in recent scientific history.
The world-famous author of a "Brief History of Time" said he and other scientists had gotten it wrong - the galactic traps may in fact allow information to escape.
The findings, which Hawking is due to present at the 17th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin, Ireland, on July 21, could help solve the "black hole information paradox," which is a crucial puzzle of modern physics.
Stephen Hawking
In Memory
Sam McKim
Sam McKim, an artist whose career as a member of Walt Disney's Imagineering team included drawing the first souvenir map of Disneyland and early sketches for many of the theme park's attractions, has died. He was 79.
McKim, who was a popular child actor in numerous B-westerns in the 1930s, died of heart failure Friday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, a Disney spokesman said.
McKim was long known as the "master map maker." As a Disney theme park cartographer, he created "fun maps" charting the layouts of Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Pirates of the Caribbean and Tom Sawyer Island. He later came out of retirement to draw the first souvenir map of Disneyland Paris.
McKim joined WED Enterprises as an illustrator in 1954, the year before Disneyland opened. Walt Disney had founded the design and development organization in late 1952 to help create Disneyland. In 1986, WED was renamed Walt Disney Imagineering.
Among McKim's initial assignments were sketches for attractions, shops, and restaurants on Main Street and in Frontierland, including the Golden Horseshoe Revue.
He played a key role on the four Disney attractions at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, contributing sketches for Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, It's a Small World, Carousel of Progress and Magic Skyway.
Born in Vancouver, Canada, McKim moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1935. Shortly after their arrival, he visited a cousin who worked at MGM. A casting director spotted McKim there, and he immediately began working in films.
He appeared frequently in westerns, including half a dozen appearances in "The Three Mesquiteers" series starring Bob Livingston, Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune, and later John Wayne. McKim was also in the serials "The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok," starring Bill Elliott; "The Painted Stallion" starring Corrigan; and "The Lone Ranger," starring Lee Powell.
McKim's four siblings - Harry, David, Lydia and Peggy - also worked as child actors in the movies. But Sam, Harry McKim recalled Wednesday, "was the prominent one."
A Hollywood High School graduate, McKim served in the Army during World War II and enrolled in Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles when he got out. Called back to military duty, he served in Korea, where he earned the Distinguished Service Cross, among other medals.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; sons Matt, a former senior production designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, and Brian, a former Disney artist; and two grandchildren.
Sam McKim
Swifty the donkey takes a break from eating grass on Morris Powell's family farm in Rising Fawn, Ga., Friday, July 16, 2004. As one of the most active Democrats in the rural part of Georgia, Morris Powell was assured a spot months ago as a delegate at the party's convention in Boston. It took some negotiating, but now Swifty is a delegate too. Swifty overcame security and space concerns to become ``the official Donkey Delegate'' of the convention.
Photo by Ric Feld
'The Osbournes'
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