Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Where Are the Grown-Ups? (nytimes.com)
The grown-up thing to do is to rescue the financial system. If Henry Paulson isn't the grown-up we need, are Congressional leaders able to fill the role?
The Masher: The Wild Stuff that Makes Its Way Around the Internet (AlterNet.org)
You won't see this stuff in the mainstream media.
Pete Cenedella: "Bush May Be Stupid, But He's No Fool: The Bailout and the Final Repeal of the 20th Century" (huffingtonpost.com)
When the funds transfers are complete, be it in installments or one spectacular $700 billion tranche, there will be virtually no new social spending possible. There will be no way to lower taxes on the middle class. There will be no way to enact health care reform. There will be no means for the federal government to effectively run many existing programs, which will lend luster to the Republican calls for privatization of Social Security.
Sam Stein: McCain's Financial Crisis Timeline (huffingtonpost.com)
McCain's mixed messaging on the bailout proposal was not just bizarre. It was emblematic of his actions the entire week. Indeed, the Senator has been all over the map when it comes to addressing the current situation. When the market crisis originally surfaced, McCain - now infamously - was the one to declare that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Later he would call the situation the worst since World War II.
Andrew Sullivan: McCain's (Lack of) Integrity (theatlantic.com)
For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest person. When he knows, as every sane person must, that Obama did not in any conceivable sense mean that Sarah Palin is a pig, what did he do? Did he come out and say so and end this charade? Or did he acquiesce in and thereby enable the mindless Rovianism that is now the core feature of his campaign?
Jeffrey Toobin: "RICH BITCH: The legal battle over trust funds for pets (newyorker.com)
The life of Leona Helmsley presents an object lesson in the truism that money does not buy happiness.
A Review by Sherwin B. Nuland: "Making the Cut: How Cosmetic Surgery Is Transforming Our Lives" by Anthony Elliot (New Republic; Posted by Powell's)
Lying on a couch in the office of one of the hairdressing salons that she owns in London, Sharyn Hughes perused the advertising brochure she had been sent by Makeover Getaways: "Our Malaysian Makeover Package is a brilliant combination of surgery treatments, sunny beaches and shopping. Offering the latest technological facilities in an exceptionally clean hospital environment, and with guaranteed five star hotel accommodation for postoperative recovery and holiday, you will return home fully revitalized and looking wonderful."
Robert J. Elisberg: The Unknown Story Behind the Merkle Blunder (huffingtonpost.com)
1908. September 23. The Bonehead Merkle Blunder.
Tom Danehy: Tom encourages you to get out and enjoy the games we Tucsonans play (tucsonweekly.com)
So they're doing this Best of Tucson thing, and they didn't give me anything to write about. I even went to the BOT meeting at a restaurant where they served hors d'oeuvres, none of which looked like little cocktail weenies with barbecue sauce, so I passed. While I was looking for something to munch on, they handed out all of the assignments.
'Fashion should be funny'
After escaping an insect-infested cork factory in Reading, Simon Doonan became creative director of Barneys in New York, a newspaper columnist and the most famous window-dresser in the world. With his fairytale life about to be celebrated in a new TV series, he talks to Laura Barton.
Cary Darling: U.K.'s Hot Chip would like to defy definition, for now (McClatchy Newspapers)
The British quintet Hot Chip has been at the forefront of what's been lauded as an electro music revival on the far side of the Atlantic. In fact, the U.K. press has said that Hot Chip flies the banner for the "new rave" movement, a label that has been applied to such other bands as the Klaxons and Brazil's Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS).
Steven Rea: "Attention grabber: Keira Knightley as 'The Duchess'" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
In pirate movies - and you may have caught Keira Knightley in a few - the hero or heroine swats away the meddlesome hordes with jaunty strokes of a sword.
There is a misconception that ___?___ gave up political satire when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger in 1973. He did say that the awarding of the prize to Kissinger made political satire obsolete, but has denied that he stopped doing satire as a form of protest, and asserts that he had stopped doing satire several years earlier.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Little bit of a marine layer.
Not A Palin Fan
Anjelica Huston
Actress Anjelica Huston has become the latest star to take aim at US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, stating the fact the Alaskan Governor is even in the race for the White House is "depressing".
The Witches star admits she's "terrified by the politics of Mrs. Palin" and disturbed by her love of hunting.
Huston states, "This is a woman who is shooting caribou from the air, from helicopters. It's like going back in time to some kind of fantasy of the 1950s, and I find it very depressing.
"I think people are looking at the election as a reality show. I think people have forgotten that this is about the presidency of the United States. They are looking at this like (reality TV show) Living Lohan or The Osbournes or something. I just can't imagine that this is happening."
Anjelica Huston
Crashes Fashion Show
Sacha Baron Cohen
Actor Sacha Baron Cohen, best known for his eccentric character Borat, burst onto the catwalk at Agatha Ruiz de la Prada's show in Milan on Friday, bringing the playful show to a halt as security guards stepped in.
Baron Cohen is in Milan making a new film about fashion centered on his character Bruno, a flamboyant Austrian fashionista.
He bowled onto the start of the catwalk rolled up in what turned out to be a long, black caped outfit with eccentric accessories.
After a few minutes of darkness while Baron Cohen, or Bruno, was escorted off the catwalk, the show started again. Models had kept their cool but the designer was visibly upset when she appeared at the end of the show.
Sacha Baron Cohen
New Album Streaming On NPR
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's new album shall be released one week early as a free online stream on National Public Radio's Web site.
NPR Music will stream the entire two-CD, "Tell Tale Signs," beginning at 12:01 a.m. EDT Tuesday. It will be available for listening at least until Oct. 7, when the album is officially released by Columbia Records.
"Tell Tale Signs" is the eighth volume of Dylan's ongoing rarities compilations, titled the "Bootleg Series." This edition includes out-takes and rare cuts from the last two decades. An alternate version of "Mississippi" - a song from 2001's "Love and Theft" - was earlier made available as a free download at Amazon.com
The early album stream is a first for NPR Music, which often provides live concerts for free as podcasts.
Bob Dylan
Treasure Trove
Hank Williams
It took a fortuitous find and years of legal wrangling, but some of the lesser-known recordings by country great Hank Williams will soon be available for mass consumption.
"The Unreleased Recordings" includes performances from the "Mother's Best Flour" radio program, which Williams hosted on the legendary WSM-AM Nashville in 1951, two years before his death.
Williams and his band prerecorded 72 shows to run while they were on tour. The shows were recorded on 16-inch acetate discs that were later thrown into the trash during a station move in the '60s but salvaged by WSM employee Les Leverett.
In the '80s, Jerry Rivers, who played fiddle for Williams as part of the Drifting Cowboy Band and later backed the singer-songwriter's daughter, Jett Williams, told her about the "Mother's Best" show. He then introduced her to Leverett, who turned over the original acetates.
Hank Williams
Working For NYC Law Firm
Erin Brockovich
The legal crusader portrayed by Julia Roberts in the Oscar-winning film "Erin Brockovich" is now working for a Manhattan personal injury law firm that specializes in asbestos cases.
The real Erin Brockovich signed a consulting contract with Weitz & Luxenberg and will be involved in soliciting cases and investigating claims. Brockovich told the New York Post: "I'm hands-on and they're hands-on so it will be a team effort."
Already the 48-year-old Brockovich has filmed two TV commercials for the law firm seeking individuals who may have contracted lung cancer from exposure to asbestos, the Daily News reported. Brockovich also consults with a West Coast law firm, Girardi & Keese.
Erin Brockovich
Won't Face Felony Charge
Kanye West
Los Angeles County prosecutors say they have declined to file felony charges against Kanye West for an incident in which a paparazzo's camera was broken.
Los Angeles County District Attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons says prosecutors referred the case to city attorneys, who will decide whether to charge West with a misdemeanor.
West was arrested Sept. 11 at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of felony vandalism after he was captured on video struggling with a paparazzo and breaking a flash on the floor.
Kanye West
Crying Poor Mouth
NBC
The U.S. economic downturn has had a severe effect on broadcaster NBC's local television stations but the company has not yet seen an advertising slowdown at a national level, its chief executive said.
"It's had a profound effect on our local TV stations, which were highly dependent on auto and retail advertising," NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker told a conference of Britain's Royal Television Society in London on Friday.
"We haven't seen an advertising slowdown on a national level yet in the United States but obviously we're concerned about it, and I think if you're not concerned about it you're in denial," he added.
A report released this week by TNS said advertising spending in the second quarter showed its biggest drop since the last U.S. recession in 2001, with steep drops in spending from the automotive, telecoms and retail sectors largely to blame.
NBC
Celebrates 10 Years
Vegetable Orchestra
The Vegetable Orchestra has been playing with its food for 10 years, delighting audiences from Belfast to Hong Kong with its self-made cucumberphones, celery bongos, pepper trumpets and leek violins.
Drawing inspiration from electronic music artists such as Germany's Kraftwerk or John Cage, the dozen musicians from Vienna carve and chop their own instruments to create a truly organic sound.
With around 200 performances under its belt, the one-of-a-kind orchestra just celebrated its 10th anniversary with a concert at Vienna's prestigious RadioKulturhaus before embarking on a tour of France and Germany.
With backgrounds in music, architecture, design, plastic arts and video, the orchestra's musicians created a unique world combining vegetables and technology.
Vegetable Orchestra
Authentications & Auctions
Banksy
Cult graffiti artist Banksy, whose works can fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds and are popular with some of the world's biggest stars, has refused to authenticate five works up for auction this weekend in London.
Pest Control, the organization tasked with authenticating the anonymous British artist's works, said it would not approve any street pieces removed from their original setting, partly to crack down on fakes and partly to protect the original concept.
His work became so valuable that several street pieces were salvaged, including a painting attributed to Banksy on a wall in London that fetched 208,100 pounds ($383,000) in an online sale. The cost of removing the wall and replacing it was not included.
Ben Hanly of Lyon & Turnbull said that the auctioneer would go ahead with the sale of five street pieces even without official verification, adding that it had no doubts the pieces on offer were original.
Banksy
Held Woman Hostage
Big Pig
A pony-size pig who held an Australian woman hostage for 10 days inside her home will be removed on Wednesday to a piggery, where his bacon will be saved by a stint on stud duties, rangers said.
The 80 kg (176 pound) pig, nicknamed Bruce, kept self-confessed animal lover Caroline Hayes, 63, in her farmhouse near Uki, in northern New South Wales State, with aggressive demands to be fed, even headbutting her bedroom door at night.
She said the pushy pig was as big as a "Shetland pony" and wandered onto her property 11 days ago after being let loose in surrounding rainforest by neighbors.
Len Hing, a pest animal ranger from the local Tweed Lismore Rural Lands Protection Board, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that Bruce was friendly, but his large size made him a handful when he was hungry.
Big Pig
In Memory
Thomas 'Buddy' McDonald
Thomas 'Buddy' McDonald, who appeared in "Our Gang" movies as a child, then became an alcoholic cop, as well as a criminal, before sobering up and starting addiction treatment programs, died Monday at his home in Seal Beach. He was 85.
He started in movies at age 8 after his parents wrote to the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, seeking an audition for their son. A few days later McDonald had a screen test and was cast as Buddy, the boy with the freckles and big ears in several "Our Gang" comedies, including "School's Out" and "Teacher's Pet" in 1930.
By the time he was teenager, McDonald outgrew his acting career. He dropped out of ninth grade and, when his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and two brothers to Oregon, where they worked as fruit pickers. Eventually, they returned to California and settled in Bell.
McDonald joined the Marines at the start of World War II, but a training accident disqualified him from active duty. He became an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department, where he worked for about four years.
By his late 20s, McDonald developed a serious drinking problem. He left the LAPD, in part because of his alcoholism.
McDonald robbed a store at gunpoint, was convicted of a felony and sent to prison. There, he started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
McDonald only served six months before being released on good behavior, and he went to work as a truck driver, paid restitution for the robbery and became active in Alcoholics Anonymous. Through the group, he sponsored newer members and went to court with them to settle drunk-driving charges, getting to know several judges.
In the late 1960s, McDonald helped launch educational and treatment programs in public schools with Downey Municipal Court Judge Leon Emerson. They developed a "court card" system that enables offenders to attend AA meetings as part of their probation.
McDonald, who was born in Coalinga on Oct. 1,1922, was married twice. His second wife, Marcia, died in 1996. A daughter, Sharon, died in 2005. In addition to his son, Scott, who lives in New York City, he is survived by a daughter, Debra, of San Francisco, and a brother, Alex, of Florida.
Thomas 'Buddy' McDonald
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