'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Time to Take a Stand
Here's what will definitely happen when Gen. David Petraeus testifies before Congress next week: he'll assert that the surge has reduced violence in Iraq - as long as you don't count Sunnis killed by Sunnis, Shiites killed by Shiites, Iraqis killed by car bombs and people shot in the front of the head.
Janet Hook: GOP hopefuls are staying Bush's course (latimes.com)
More than two-thirds of Americans say the country is 'seriously off on the wrong track' under President Bush. Still, a remarkable thing is happening among Republican candidates for the White House: They are enthusiastically embracing Bush's major policies and principles - even some of the most controversial and unsuccessful ones. Mitt Romney wants to keep the Guantanamo Bay prison open - even expand it - and endorses Bush's failed plan to overhaul Social Security. Rudolph W. Giuliani, like Bush, sees tax breaks as the key to expanding health insurance coverage. ...
Froma Harrop: A Sad Coda to Kennedy Career (creators.com)
Once upon a time, Ted Kennedy could count on his daily dose of veneration. The right wing hated the Massachusetts Democrat, but progressives honored him as a defender of old-school liberalism.
Jim Hightower: THE PRICE OF TRUCKER FATIGUE (jimhightower.com)
The Bushites are determined to increase corporate power even if it kills them - or you!
Thomas Curwen: Students have real-life problems too (latimes.com)
Grades and learning often pale in comparison to the hard-luck realities faced outside the classroom.
Tom Danehy: Fun and games in the movie-preview line (tucsonweekly.com)
I recently wrote about the wonderful experience of the Harry Potter sneak preview, because nobody was allowed to have a cell phone in the theater. After that column came out, several people e-mailed me and said I should look into the whole sneak-preview phenomenon.
Joel Stein: How to spot a NASCAR 'pit lizard' (latimes.com)
The sport actively courts its female fans -- as do some of the drivers.
'It was all about the voice' (guardian.co.uk)
The world-famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti died yesterday aged 71. We asked those who worked with him how he would be remembered.
Tom Sutcliffe: "Obituary: Luciano Pavarotti" (guardian.co.uk)
Pavarotti was not thin - though he was a handsome, if usually unaristocratic, figure on stage. By the early 1970s, he was significantly overweight. But his father, too, cut a bulky shape. Reporters interviewing Pavarotti often referred to this. When asked his weight, he would reply: "Less than before." And when challenged what exactly that was, would respond: "More than now."
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Coastal Eddy is holding tight - and that's a good thing.
Fires Back At Loofah O'Reilly
Nas
Nas has hit back at Fox News pundit republican propagandist Bill O'Reilly, who claimed that his inclusion at a concert dedicated to the Virginia Tech massacre is insulting to the memories of the victims.
Nas has now hit back at O'Reilly, claiming he is racist.
In an interview with MTV, he said: "Everybody has a marketing plan; his marketing plan is racism.
"It just shows you what bloodsuckers do: they abuse something like the Virginia Tech [tragedy] for show ratings. You can't talk to a person like that."
Nas
Cheered At Alma Mater
Dave Letterman
David Letterman says it will be convenient having a building named after him at his alma mater.
"Forget your name - just check the building," he said.
That was part of a Top-10 list the talk-show host and Ball State University graduate read Friday during the dedication ceremony for the David Letterman Communication and Media Building.
Letterman was joined by his four-year-old son, Harry, and mother, Dorothy, for the ceremony, during which he asked the crowd whether he still needed to wear his name badge.
Dave Letterman
Launching Two Dozen More Sites
MTV Networks
MTV Networks said on Friday that it would launch two dozen new Web sites based on its shows, including the entire video archives of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with comedian Jon Stewart.
The new sites, which debut this month and in the fourth quarter, are part of a strategy to expand MTV Networks' digital media businesses, which the company expects to generate well above $500 million in revenue this year.
With the slate of new development, MTV Networks will have more than 300 sites by the end of the year.
MTV Networks
Up For Emmy
'Dick In A Box'
There are dozens of surprises among the more than 400 Emmy nominees, but none quite like the one we can't name in this story.
It's in the Original Music and Lyrics category, a holiday-themed music video that aired last December on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" with an off-color title. Performed by Justin Timberlake and "SNL" cast member Andy Samberg, the fake music video describes packaging a certain part of the male anatomy in a gift box and presenting it to a loved one.
We'll just call it "(Blank) in a Box."
The Original Music and Lyrics category is in the "little Emmys," a.k.a. Creative Arts Emmys, to be presented Saturday night and airing Sept. 15 on E!, the night before the Primetime Emmy Awards on Fox.
'Dick In A Box'
Makes Jump From Online To On-Air
TMZ.com
Wander through TMZ.com at any given moment and it's easy to grasp what the Web site is gleefully pushing. There are stars smooching. Stars sunning. Stars looking hot, or not. And, always, there are stars misbehaving.
TMZ broke the news of Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and Michael Richards' comedy-club tirade. Looking for "new pics" about a car crash involving Hulk Hogan's son? Or of Lindsay Lohan in any number of interesting activities? They're here.
It all adds up to the most popular online entertainment site and, starting Monday, a television show. "TMZ," joining the crowded field of entertainment news magazines, will test the bounds of the TV audience's fascination with celebrity.
(The name is based on the phrase "thirty mile zone," coined in the 1960s for a part of Los Angeles used for location shooting and subject to studio production rules.)
TMZ.com
Contestants Battle In Finland
'King of the Air'
Contestants from 10 countries were fine-tuning their imaginary Stratocasters Friday for the final showdown in the Air Guitar World Championships.
Both professional and amateur performers were taking part in the two-day event in northern Finland, battling it out for the "King of the Air" title.
A panel of four judges score the air guitarists on an "Olympic figure skating scale" - 6.0 being best - based on technical prowess, stage persona and a more opaque quality known as "airness."
The winner gets a custom-made Flying Finn electric guitar worth US$3,400.
'King of the Air'
Sentenced To Year In Jail
Foxy Brown
Foxy Brown was sentenced Friday to one year in jail for violating probation that stemmed from a fight with two manicurists in a New York City nail salon three years ago. "I'm not going to give you any more chances," Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson told the 28-year-old rapper. "I hope you turn your life around and never again have to stand in a court of law."
Probation Department officials asked for the hearing after Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, was arrested Aug. 14 in Brooklyn on charges of assaulting Arlene Raymond, 25.
The judge found Brown had left the state without permission; had moved her residence from Brooklyn to Mahwah, N.J., without permission; had failed to notify the department of an arrest in Mahwah; had failed to report to probation officers, and had dropped court-ordered anger management sessions with a psychologist.
Foxy Brown
Sues Hallmark
Paris Hilton
Socialite Paris Hilton has filed a lawsuit against Hallmark Cards, claiming it used her likeness without permission on a greeting card entitled "Paris's First Day as a Waitress."
Hilton, 26, is suing for an injunction against the U.S. greeting card company and for damages in excess of $100,000 (49,000 pounds), according to the suit filed late on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
According to the lawsuit, Hilton's face is superimposed over a cartoon of a waitress serving food to a patron with the dialogue "Don't touch that, it's hot. What's hot? That's hot."
The suit says that Hallmark failed to obtain approval from the hotel heiress for using her image and had damaged her rights to privacy and publicity.
Paris Hilton
Grovels For Disney
Vanessa Hudgens
The Walt Disney Co. is sticking with the 18-year-old star of its wildly successful "High School Musical" franchise, despite her "lapse in judgment" in posing for racy photos that were leaked to the Internet.
Vanessa Hudgens apologized Friday for the photos, which show her smiling as she posed naked and in underwear in a bedroom with a red curtain behind her.
"Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously a lapse in judgment," said Disney Channel spokeswoman Patti McTeague. "We hope she's learned a valuable lesson."
She said negotiations were ongoing to land all the actors for a "High School Musical 3" feature film - including Hudgens.
Vanessa Hudgens
New Radio Gig
Kelly Osbourne
With one of the world's most controversial rockers as a dad and a hit family reality show under her belt, Kelly Osbourne would seem ideally qualified for her latest role - that of Radio 1 agony aunt.
Ozzie Osbourne's talented daughter, who's due to make her West End debut in the musical Chicago on September 10, will take to the airwaves to answer young people's queries as part of a new Sunday evening "teen zone".
No stranger to the highs and lows of teenage life herself, the 22-year-old will be lending her advice and input to callers on a range of subjects of interest to young people, from relationships to education.
Kelly Osbourne
Hard On The Heart
Early Rising
Generations have praised the wisdom of getting up early in the morning, but a Japanese study says early-risers are actually at a higher risk of developing heart problems.
The study, conducted by researchers from several universities and hospitals in the western Japanese city of Kyoto, revealed a link between wake-up times and a person's cardiovascular condition.
The study, covering 3,017 healthy adults aged between 23 through 90, found that early risers had a greater risk of heart conditions including hypertension and of having strokes.
Early Rising
Found In Israel
3,000-Year-Old Beehives
Archaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.
The findings in the ruins of the city of Rehov this summer include 30 intact hives dating to around 900 B.C., archaeologist Amihai Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew University told The Associated Press. He said it offers unique evidence that an advanced honey industry existed in the Holy Land at the time of the Bible.
Beekeeping was widely practiced in the ancient world, where honey used for medicinal and religious purposes as well as for food, and beeswax was used to make molds for metal and to create surfaces to write on. While bees and beekeeping are depicted in ancient artwork, nothing similar to the Rehov hives has ever been found before, Mazar said.
The beehives, made of straw and unbaked clay, have a hole at one end to allow the bees in and out and a lid on the other end to allow beekeepers access to the honeycombs inside. They were found in orderly rows, three high, in a room that could have accommodated around 100 hives, Mazar said.
3,000-Year-Old Beehives
Bunnypants' Shining Moment
Gift Of Gaffe
Even for someone as gaffe-prone as U.S. resident George W. Bush, he was in rare form on Friday, confusing APEC with OPEC and transforming Australian troops into Austrians.
Bush's tongue started slipping almost as soon as he started talking at a business forum on the eve of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney.
Upon finishing his speech, Bush took the wrong way off-stage and, looking slightly perplexed, had to be re-directed by Howard to a center-stage exit.
But not before a veteran White House correspondent seized the opportunity to ask Bush whether there had been any new message in his speech. Apparently misunderstanding the question, he bristled and asked, "Haven't you been listening to my past speeches?" before turning away.
Gift Of Gaffe
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