'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Joel Stein: Taking a stand against U.S. subsidies that help cripple Third World economies (latimes.com)
If a charity stops taking your money, you've got to be doing something pretty shady. Historically, you could invent dynamite, beat up striking workers, build defective Xboxes, write a column about hating dogs -- and your check would still get cashed. So when CARE, the giant poverty-relief organization, stops taking $45 million a year in indirect food aid from the U.S. government, it is a strong indicator of some impressive sleaziness going down in D.C.
Froma Harrop: The CIA, al-Qaida and Real ID (creators.com)
We don't want to be writing reports in 2008 or 2009 about what we could have done in August 2007 to avoid another terrorist attack, do we? Let the Central Intelligence Agency summary of its failings before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks be a lesson to everyone - above all, politicians. Today's missed opportunities - for example, promoting a secure form of ID - could haunt them tomorrow.
Froma Harrop: Mitt and the Chickenhawk Problem (creators.com)
Mitt Romney has five strapping sons, and not one of them has ever served in the military. When asked about this in Bettendorf, Iowa, the Republican presidential hopeful said that "one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected." He noted that his boy Josh had driven a Winnebago to all of Iowa's 99 counties - all 99 of them!
Jim Hightower: REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPES (jimhightower.com)
But snowman snobbery is the least of the GOP's problems. The field of hopefuls is so weak that there is actually a move afoot to draft - you're not going to believe this - Dick Cheney! Yes, "Buckshot" - the snarling old autocrat whose 18 percent favorable rating ranks him as the least popular vice president of modern times. Even Dan Quayle beat 18 percent.
Bill Gallagher: REPUBLICANS THE EPITOME OF EVIL? (niagarafallsreporter.com)
Rove is gone. Rice is staying. The beltway blabber classes hail both announcements. Somehow, Karl Rove -- President George W. Bush's political guru, the man who created the monster -- gets most of the blame for the lasting horror show this failed presidency has brought the world.
Raphaël Costambeys-Kempczynski: Channel Crossings: Fading to Grey: Noam Chomsky (popmatters.com)
Noam Chomsky has peered into the abyss of the future with the eye of a true skeptic. And being the intellectual he is I am sure that he has revelled in the abyss staring back at him in an equally skeptical manner.
ALAN FRAM: Book Chief: Conservatives Want Slogans (huffingtonpost.com; posted on nevadathunder.com)
Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry's trade group says she knows why - and there's little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation.
The new listeners (guardian.co.uk)
In this age of high-definition TV and digital gadgets, surely no one tunes in to radio any more. So how come listener figures are soaring? Zoe Williams thinks she has the secret to the allure of the airwaves.
David Bruce: Examples of Good Deeds (evidenceofhumanity.org)
Throughout the world, you can occasionally see a person in a public place holding a sign that says, "FREE HUGS." The sign means exactly what it says. If you want a hug, you may hug the person holding the sign, for free-even if you are a stranger to the person holding the sign. A man in Sydney, Australia, was the first to start giving free hugs, footage of him ended up in a music video for the song "All the Same" by a group called Sick Puppies, the video was seen millions of time on youtube.com, and many people have given many free hugs in many countries across the world. (Go to youtube.com and search for "Free Hugs" to see videos.)
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lovely coastal eddy keeping the temperatures lower than seasonal.
Raps U.S. Justice System
Mos Def
Although a jury convicted Jose Padilla of supporting terrorism earlier this week, rapper-actor Mos Def thinks that Padilla may not have gotten the due process the criminal justice system promises.
"We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress - at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation, a new consideration for facts, and just the truth - basically saying these people are not the criminals they're being made out to be," he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.
"(It's) the climate that we live in, people's rights and liberties being taken advantage of - the whole situation with Jose Padilla," he said. "Basically the state being able to just charge any individual with anything and prosecute them on the basis of that."
Mos Def is hoping to draw attention to what he sees as inequities in the United States' criminal justice system this weekend with the 10th annual "Black August" benefit concert at The Nokia Theater in New York City. Other performers include socially minded rappers such as Talib Kweli and Dead Prez, and rapper Saigon.
Mos Def
Presses China To Help Darfur
Mia Farrow
After starting an Olympic-style torch relay through countries that have suffered genocide, Mia Farrow on Friday pressed China, the host of the 2008 summer games, to help end abuses in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Farrow recently returned from refugee camps in eastern Chad, which she visited in her role as a U.N. Goodwill ambassador and to start the torch relay. She recounted stories from the ravaged area to reporters on Friday, including the tales of women refugees from Darfur who survived attacks by militias only to be imprisoned for months and repeatedly abused.
Farrow said China's massive oil interest in Sudan is effectively funding attacks on the people of Darfur, and she urged the government to encourage Sudan to embrace the peacekeeping force.
"China is hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and their slogan for the games is `One world, One dream' but there is one nightmare - that China is not allowed to sweep under the rug - and that nightmare is Darfur," Farrow said.
Mia Farrow
Sues Over 'Hannah Montana'
Buddy Sheffield
A comedy writer is suing The Walt Disney Co., alleging he came up with the idea for the teen television show "Hannah Montana" but was never compensated.
Buddy Sheffield filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday alleging breach of contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment.
Sheffield, who has written for "The Smothers Brothers Show," "The Dolly Parton Show" and "In Living Color," says he pitched an idea for a television series called "Rock and Roland" to the Disney Channel in 2001. The story was about a junior high school student who lived a secret double life as a rock star, according to the lawsuit.
The Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" is about high school student Miley Stewart, who lives a secret double life as a famous pop star.
Buddy Sheffield
Conservative Family Values In Action
Televangelists
The minister husband of televangelist and gospel singer Juanita Bynum turned himself in Friday to face charges that he beat her outside a hotel earlier this week. He was later released on bond but ordered to have no contact with his wife. Thomas W. Weeks III, known to his followers as Bishop Weeks, was accompanied by his lawyer when he surrendered at the Fulton County Jail, said Atlanta Police spokesman James Polite.
Weeks was photographed and fingerprinted, then released on US$40,000 bond after a brief hearing with the condition that he have no contact with his wife or her sister. He faces charges of aggravated assault and uttering threats following a confrontation in which police say he left his estranged wife badly bruised.
Bynum is a former hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist, author and gospel singer. Her ministry blossomed after she preached at a singles event about breaking free of sexual promiscuity. Among her books are "No More Sheets: The Truth About Sex" and "Matters of the Heart."
Weeks is the founder of Global Destiny churches. The couple married in 2002. Together, they wrote "Teach Me How to Love You: The Beginnings."
Televangelists
Penthouse Robbery
Kirsten Dunst
A $13,000 handbag and other items were snatched from "Spider-Man" star Kirsten Dunst's penthouse suite at a posh Manhattan hotel earlier this month, according to court records.
Thieves slipped into the actress' rooms at the SoHo Grand Hotel on Aug. 9, court records show. Dunst, who was in town to shoot scenes for a forthcoming film called "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," had left early that morning, according to the records.
Darting into the suite through an open door, the thieves grabbed designer bags, $2,500 in cash, credit and ID cards, two digital cameras, a cell phone and an iPod music player, court records show. A surveillance camera captured the burglars leaving the hotel with the items.
Authorities have since recovered credit cards, IDs and the cell phone.
Kirsten Dunst
Actor Arrested
Austin Nichols
Austin Nichols, the title character in HBO's "John From Cincinnati," was arrested early Friday on suspicion of drunken driving.
The 27-year-old actor was stopped by police about 2:40 a.m. after being spotted driving a silver Mercury Mountaineer the wrong way down a one-way street in the city, said Jackson police Lt. John Holda.
An officer smelled alcohol and, after conducting sobriety tests, took Nichols into custody. A breath test later indicated he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.10 percent, Holda said.
Nichols, who also appeared in "Deadwood," was held at the Jackson County Jail and released about 8:40 a.m., said Jackson County sheriff's Lt. Carl Carmoney. He wasn't arraigned and was expected to appear in court at a later date.
Austin Nichols
Sheriff Raids Home
DMX
Sheriff's deputies raided the home of rapper DMX on Friday, seizing several pit bulls and finding the remains of three other dogs but making no arrests.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office received a tip more than a week ago about dogs being kept in inhumane conditions at the Phoenix-area home, said Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Detectives visited the home and then called one of the rapper's lawyers and told him that the conditions for the animals at the property needed to be improved or deputies would take action, Arpaio said. The dogs were not being fed or given water.
The 36-year-old musician and actor, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was not at home during the raid.
DMX
Accepts Libel Damages
David Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff accepted libel damages Friday from the publisher of magazines that accused him of being drunk and abusive in a Hollywood nightclub.
Northern and Shell PLC, the publisher of the British edition of OK! magazine and Northern and Shell North America Ltd., the publisher of the U.S. edition of OK! Weekly, "accept that their allegations were false," Hasselhoff's lawyer, Simon Smith, said in court.
The amount of damages in the out-of-court settlement was not disclosed.
David Hasselhoff
Ex-Attorney Sues
Pamela Bach
Divorce may cost more than David Hasselhoff's ex-wife bargained for.
Pamela Bach was sued Thursday by her former lawyer, Gary Mitchell, who alleges the actress owes him nearly $40,000 in unpaid fees.
The lawsuit was filed a day after a Superior Court judge ruled that Hasselhoff, the former star of TV's "Baywatch" and "Knight Rider" and most recently a judge on NBC's "America's Got Talent," does not have to pay nearly $200,000 in legal fees to another attorney who represented Bach during their child custody battle.
Pamela Bach
Find Hole In The Universe
Astronomers
Astronomers have stumbled upon a tremendous hole in the universe. That's got them scratching their heads about what's just not there. The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter. It is 1 billion light years across of nothing. That's an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of emptiness, a University of Minnesota team announced Thursday.
Astronomers have known for many years that there are patches in the universe where nobody's home. In fact, one such place is practically a neighbor, a mere 2 million light years away. But what the Minnesota team discovered, using two different types of astronomical observations, is a void that's far bigger than scientists ever imagined.
"This is 1,000 times the volume of what we sort of expected to see in terms of a typical void," said Minnesota astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick, author of the paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal. "It's not clear that we have the right word yet ... This is too much of a surprise."
Astronomers
Childbirth Deaths Rising
U.S. Women
U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. Though the risk of death is very small, experts believe increasing maternal obesity and a jump in Caesarean sections are partly to blame ways to blame the victims.
The U.S. maternal mortality rate rose to 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004, according to statistics released this week by the National Center for Health Statistics.
The rate was 12 per 100,000 live births in 2003 - the first time the maternal death rate rose above 10 since 1977.
To be sure, death from childbirth remains fairly rare in the United States. The death of infants is much more common - the nation's infant mortality rate was 679 per 100,000 live births in 2004.
U.S. Women
NYPD Rejects
Meatball Defense
So much for the meatball defense. A veteran counterterrorism detective's claims that he flunked a drug test because his wife served him marijuana-spiked meatballs "simply weren't credible," and he has been fired by the New York Police Department, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Thursday.
Anthony Chiofalo, a 22-year-veteran assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, was suspended without pay in 2005 after a random drug test found marijuana in his system. The officer denied ever using drugs and demanded a hearing.
During an investigation, his wife said she had secretly substituted marijuana for oregano in her meatball recipe in hopes of forcing him to leave police work.
The detective's lawyers presented evidence that she had passed a lie-detector test, and offered testimony from a toxicologist that the excuse was valid.
Meatball Defense
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