'Best of TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated!
Dick Eats Bush
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Iraq torture 'worse after Saddam' (news.bbc.co.uk)
Torture may be worse now in Iraq than under former leader Saddam Hussein, the UN's chief anti-torture expert says.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Insurance Horror Stories (The New York Times)
"When Steve and Leslie Shaeffer's daughter, Selah, was diagnosed at age 4 with a potentially fatal tumor in her jaw, they figured their health insurance would cover the bulk of her treatment costs." But "shortly after Selah's medical bills hit $20,000, Blue Cross stopped covering them and eventually canceled her coverage retroactively."
Giving it all away (guardian.co.uk)
From Milton Keynes to Manchester, Stockholm to New York, free newspapers are on the march. In London alone, two titles have been launched in the past month. Can the paid-for press survive the competition? Or is this the death-knell for quality journalism? Patrick Barkham investigates.
Molly Ivins: The Presidential Three-Year-Old
...Or the worst press conference in history.
Joel Stein: Finally, Some Prime-Time Racism (latimes.com)
Battle of the races on 'Survivor' places discussion of stereotypes where it belongs -- in the mainstream.
Robert Lipsyte: America's Juiced-Up Jock Culture (Tomdispatch.com. Posted on AlterNet.org)
From the recently disqualified Tour de France-winner Floyd Landis to home-run beefcake Barry Bonds, American atheletes have become overly obsessed with being freaks of physique.
Mrs. Betty Bowers: America's Best Christian (bettybowers.com)
Frankly, after the massacres by domestic aircraft at the World Trade Center, followed by the massacres by military aircraft in Iraq, claiming "Middle East Islam is a religion of peace" is as hollow as saying "American Christianity is a religion of peace."
Live in Athens, Ohio? Borrow Bruce's Books (Ohio University's Alden Library)
Perform a search for "Funniest People."
Reader Comment
Re: Madrid model
Hey Marty,
I saw the pic you put up of the model from the Madrid fashion show
…THAT's one of the model's that made the cut when they said "no too-skinny models at the show"?????????
That young woman looked like a skeleton with skin. Uck.
ducks
Thanks, ducks!
A Tribute To A Tree
Big Beautiful Cottonwood
A tribute to a tree :
This may seem silly to some people. But I loved that tree and I'll
always be sorry it's gone. At least I can give it a kind of
continuing life on the Web.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny & cooler than seasonal. Quite pleasant.
Who is dressing perky Katie? 40 years ago my Mom had the same dress she wore tonight - and it looked as matronly today as it did then.
I can't believe how lame network news has become.
In the first 10 minutes of CBS, NBC & ABC's attempts I learned that Starbucks is raising the price of it's overpriced coffee a nickel - next month.
I also learned that Wal-Mart is dropping the price of generic drugs to $4 - but only in 1 city in Florida - next month.
Oh, and there's a new Elmo toy.
Nothing about Darfur. Nothing about AIDs. Nothing about cronies & corruption. No follow up on New Orleans.
But, by gawd, I know all about corporate advertising passing as 'news' - next freaking month.
OTOH, at least Katie didn't need to floss after her Kean fluffing segment that was passing as political news/analysis.
No. 2 On Sexiest Anchor List
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert, the 42-year-old anchor of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," placed second on the list of "TV's Sexiest News Anchors," posted on Maxim magazine's Web site. Melissa Theuriau, anchor of French TV news magazine "Forbidden Zone," is No. 1.
Colbert is the only male on the list, and he can take comfort in the notion that he is apparently sexier than network newspeople who didn't make the cut, including "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, co-host of ABC's "Good Morning America," and Matt Lauer, co-host of NBC's "Today" show.
"Sure, he lacks functional cleavage and, in his hermetically sealed suits flashes less skin than Diane Sawyer," the Web site says of Colbert. "But shame on you, liberal media, to tell us that ... (he) can't be as sexy as a Joy Behar or a Helen Thomas. Hard-left media arbiters of sexy, you're on notice."
Stephen Colbert
Named UN Messenger Of Peace
Yo Yo Ma
UN chief Kofi Annan appointed Chinese-American virtuoso cellist Yo Yo Ma as a Messenger of Peace for the world body during a ceremony here to mark International Day of Peace.
The 50-year-old French-born cellist thus joins Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, US boxing legend great Muhammad Ali, Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas and British primatologist Jane Goodall in campaigning for what Annan sees as the world's most urgent task: promoting peace.
The International Day of Peace was established by the UN General Assembly in 1981 to express the world's desire for peace.
Yo Yo Ma
Disney Burns Canada, CTV Gets Blamed
'Grey's Anatomy'
Many Canadian fans of "Grey's Anatomy" were puzzled by plot gaps and apparent inconsistencies Thursday night when CTV inadvertently aired the second episode of the season rather than the hotly anticipated premiere.
While the network blamed the mistake on a "satellite feed error," it was little consolation for viewers who had waited an entire summer to learn the fate of the libidinous interns at Seattle Grace Hospital.
Rick Lewchuk, a senior vice-president at CTV, said there were no "red flags" to indicate the network had received the wrong episode.
He said the show CTV aired even had the proper "slate" - an introductory frame identifying it as Season 3, Episode 1.
CTV spokesman Mike Cosentino said Disney called the network to apologize for the mistake ("Grey's Anatomy" is distributed by Buena Vista International, the production arm of Disney) and confirmed it was a human error in their Burbank, Calif., transmission centre.
'Grey's Anatomy'
Fuelled By Angst, Not Anger
David Cross
An article in the Los Angeles Times recently suggested that in order to reach the pinnacle of success, a comedian needs to be complicated and angry. The article slammed up-and-comer Dane Cook for being the "Disneyland of comics."
"Comedians aren't supposed to be happy, just the opposite," said the article.
But American comedian and actor David Cross says most of his stand-up material is fuelled by angst, not anger, and he disagrees with the Times piece.
"There's no such thing as 'supposed to be' in a comedy world, except for funny," he said in an interview. "That's just some silly stereotype that you're supposed to be miserable and you're supposed to be ugly."
For a lot more, David Cross
Expresses Shame At Anglican Church
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in the first authorized biography of the Nobel peace laureate, said he was ashamed of his Anglican Church's conservative position that rejected gay priests.
In the book "Rabble-Rouser for Peace," by his former press secretary, John Allen, Tutu also criticized the last apartheid president, F.W. de Klerk, for not accepting accountability for apartheid atrocities. He said the failure caused him to regret having nominated de Klerk, along with Nelson Mandela, for their 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
The retired archbishop was critical of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams for bowing on the gay priest issue to conservative elements, particularly African bishops, in the 77-million member Anglican Church that includes Episcopalians in the United States.
In a 1998 letter to Williams predecessor, Archbishop George Carey, Tutu wrote that he was "ashamed to be Anglican." It came after the Lambeth Conference of Bishops rejected the ordination of practicing homosexuals saying their sexual relations were "incompatible with scripture."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Gets Key To Gainesville
Tom Petty
Tom Petty has come home. "Every corner you turn is some kind of memory," said the 55-year-old rocker, who grew up in Gainesville and hasn't played here in 13 years.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' concert at the O'Connell Center on the University of Florida campus Thursday night sold out in 10 minutes.
Guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench were born and raised in and around Gainesville, and bassist Ron Blair lived in the area for many years.
Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan presented each band member with a key to the city and proclaimed Sept. 21 as "Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Day."
Tom Petty
West Point Award
Tom Brokaw
Tom Brokaw became only the second journalist to be honored with a prestigious West Point award Thursday.
Past recipients of the Sylvanus Thayer Award include Gen. Douglas MacArthur, former President Ronald Reagan and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The award, named for West Point's fifth superintendent, is given to a U.S. citizen who exemplifies the ideals of the academy's motto, "Duty, Honor, Country." It has only been given to one other journalist - former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite.
Tom Brokaw
Another Failure
'Reading First'
A scorching internal review of the Bush administration's billion-dollar-a-year reading program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.
The government audit is unsparing in its view that the Reading First program has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It suggests the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use.
It also depicts a program in which review panels were stacked with people who shared the director's views, and in which only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money.
About 1,500 school districts have received $4.8 billion in Reading First grants.
'Reading First'
Whining About Live Programming
TV Networks
A majority of the nation's networks have told the Federal Communications Commission that its policy putting TV station owners at risk of huge fines for a slip of the tongue threatens to end live broadcast television.
In papers filed late Thursday at the FCC, Fox, CBS, NBC and Telemundo argued that the government policy already has forced TV writers and producers to alter scripts and has caused network affiliates to avoid airing controversial programs or broadcast them on late at night. ABC was expected to make a separate filing.
"The commission's sweeping departure from restraint in its approach to indecency has resulted in an unprecedented intrusion into the creative and editorial process and threatens to bring about the end of truly live broadcast television," the networks wrote.
TV Networks
CDomestic Battery Charged
Lou Diamond Phillips
Prosecutors charged actor Lou Diamond Phillips on Thursday with domestic battery in connection with an incident last month involving his live-in girlfriend.
According to police reports, the 44-year-old actor got into an argument with his girlfriend, and it escalated into a physical fight in the early hours of Aug. 11. His girlfriend, who was not identified in court documents, "was pushed and dragged across the house resulting in scrapes to both knees," City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said in a statement.
The woman grabbed a phone, locked herself in a bathroom and dialed 9-1-1, Delgadillo said. Phillips was arrested and held for about 10 hours before being released.
Lou Diamond Phillips
Talking Veggies Stir Wingnut Controversy
NBC
Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber always had a moral message in their long-running "VeggieTales" video series. But now that the vegetable stars have hit network television, they can't speak as freely as they once did, and that's got the Parents Television Council steamed.
The conservative media-watchdog group issued a statement Wednesday blasting NBC, which airs "VeggieTales," for editing out some references to God from the children's animated show.
"VeggieTales" is a collection of animated home videos for children that encourage moral behavior based on Christian and biblical principles. More than 50 million copies have been sold since 1993, according to Big Idea Inc., which produces the series.
Two weeks ago, NBC began airing 30-minute episodes of "VeggieTales" on Saturday mornings. The show was edited to comply with the network's broadcast standards, said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.
NBC
Unkindest Cut
Tiki Thieves
Masked thieves armed with a chisel stole the penis of a wooden Maori figurine, or tiki, at the entrance of a public library in northern New Zealand, police said.
Security cameras captured pictures of three masked men using the chisel to remove the tiki's penis early on Sunday morning. The figurine is one of two indigenous Maori designs that stand on "pou" or posts astride the entrance to the library in Whangarei.
Police said they were at a loss to explain the theft, particularly as a nearby statue of Tangaroa, the Maori god of the sea, was better endowed.
Tiki Thieves
World's Most Expensive
Marmalade
A company has produced what it says is the world's most expensive jar of marmalade, making breakfast a pricy proposition at 76 pounds per slice of toast.
The one kilo jar costs 5,000 pounds and contains generous lashings of 62-year-old Dalmore malt whisky and Pol Roger vintage champagne, as well as edible gold leaf.
Manufacturers Duerr's, who produced the one-off to mark the company's 125th anniversary, say the jar will be auctioned for charity on auctions website eBay later this year.
Marmalade
Four-Legged Chicken
Henrietta
Henrietta the chicken was living inconspicuously for 18 months among 36,000 other chickens at Brendle Farms - until a farm foreman discovered she had four legs.
Farm-owner Mike Brendle was amazed by the discovery among his standard two-legged, egg-laying hens.
"It's as healthy as the rest," he said.
Brendle's 13-year-old daughter, Ashley, named the bird Henrietta after the discovery. It has two normal front legs and, behind those, two more feet. They are of a similar size to the chicken's front legs, but do not function. The chicken drags her extra feet behind her.
Henrietta
Finds 1.30-Carat Diamond
Melissa Lacey
Melissa Lacey of Knoxville (Tenn), whose husband predicted she wouldn't have any luck gem hunting at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park made a sparkling discovery: a 1.30-carat diamond.
At first, she thought the light yellow diamond was "a piece of dirty quartz." After it was identified by park staff, Lacey said she couldn't wait to show it to her husband.
The diamond was the size of a piece of candy corn. The largest diamond ever discovered in the U.S. was unearthed here in 1924. Named the Uncle Sam, the white diamond weighed 40.23 carats.
The Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world's only publicly operated diamond site where the public is allowed to search and keep any gems found, regardless of their value.
Melissa Lacey
In Memory
Joe Glazer
Joe Glazer, a singer-songwriter who rallied union loyalists and sympathizers, died Tuesday. He was 88.
Glazer, often called Labor's Troubadour, sang songs of solidarity on picket lines and union halls in almost every state. He also performed for many liberal politicians; in 1980, President Jimmy Carter invited him to play at the White House.
He recorded more than 30 albums, wrote a book about labor music, recorded the songs of others and helped recruit a new generation of protest singers.
Glazer wrote his best-known song, "The Mills Weren't Made of Marble," in 1947. It tells of a millworker's dream of a happy heaven where "nobody ever got tired and nobody ever grew old."
Glazer joined the Kennedy administration in 1961 as a labor information officer for the United States Information Agency. Besides explaining American current events to foreigners, he was regularly sent abroad to sing protest songs.
Glazer resigned from the agency after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated and soon began composing songs, like "Jellybean Blues," satirizing the president.
Joe Glazer
In Memory
Danny Flores
Danny Flores, who played the saxophone and shouted the word "tequila!" in the 1950s hit song "Tequila!", has died. He was 77.
The man sometimes called the "godfather of Latin rock" was born in Santa Paula but grew up in Long Beach. By age 5 he was playing guitar in church and at 14 he was a member of a trio that performed Mexican music.
In 1957, Flores was in a group that recorded some work with rockabilly singer Dave Burgess. One of the songs was based on a nameless riff Flores had written. He played the "dirty" saxophone part and repeatedly growled the single-word lyric: "Tequila!"
"Tequila!" went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart and won a Grammy in 1959 for best rhythm and blues performance. Flores continued to play it for the next 40 years.
"I can honestly tell you he never got tired of playing that song," said his wife, Sharee.
Besides his wife, Flores is survived by seven children from previous marriages and 15 grandchildren.
Danny Flores
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
