Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Georgia Works: Create Your Own Job
ABC News Video.
Paul Krugman: The End of the Tunnel (nytimes.com)
American politics these days is anything but rational. Example: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey just canceled the Hudson River tunnel project.
Lesley Chilcott, Producer, Waiting for 'Superman': My Crush on Finland (huffingtonpost.com)
Whatever one might think of Finland in comparison to the United States, the Finns properly value the teaching profession. That is something we should look at closely.
Cary Nelson: "Parents: Your Children Need Professors With Tenure" (chronicle.com)
If you follow the news these days, you know that tenure is getting a bad rap.
Froma Harrop: Latinos Should Darn Well Vote (creators.com)
The Hispanic activist grew defensive as we discussed Latinos' low turnouts in recent elections. Indeed, the subject popped up with no prompting from me.
Connie Schultz: We've Taught Our Kids to Hate (creators.com)
It's fair to say that more than one gay teenager has committed suicide in recent weeks after being harassed and bullied by peers. Like Tyler Clementi, whose death has been well-publicized, they finally succumbed to a hopelessness most parents cannot imagine.
Andrew Harmon and Julie Bolcer: Franken Takes on Bullying (advocate.com)
Minnesota senator Al Franken, who earlier this year introduced a bill explicitly addressing antigay bullying in public schools, has condemned recent statements by a social conservative group claiming that such legislation is not only unnecessary but would serve to indoctrinate students into homosexuality.
Susan Estrich: JAMRS (creators.com)
The government sent my son a $2 bill. And they promised him another $5 if he would spend 15 minutes filling out a survey.
Andrew Sullivan: "You Elected Me To Do What Was Right"--Obama
Obama's speech to Gen44 tonight knocked my socks off. It's streaming on CSPAN here. If you've forgotten why many of you worked your ass off for this guy, and felt hope for the first time in many years, watch it. He deserves criticism when necessary as this blogazine has not shied from at times. But he remains in my judgment the best option this country still has left - and it's far too easy for the left and far too dangerous for serious conservatives and independents to abandon him now.
Jim Hightower: EXECUTIVE EXCESS IN THE GREAT RECESSION
"No pain, no gain," say the fitness folks. But - ouch! - this old exercise cliché has been badly twisted by many of America's top CEOs, who are getting gains from our pains.
Jim Hightower: CORPORATE-FRIENDLY "JOURNALISM"
It can be amusing to read the business section of newspapers, because corporate coverage tends to be carefully couched in phrases that either obfuscate what's really going on, or are outright Orwellian.
DANIEL GROSS: Credit for the Recovery (nytimes.com)
For the economy to fully recover, the greatest economic force known to mankind (the American consumer) has to get back in the game. Credit is vital to making that happen.
David Bruce has 39 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $39 you can buy 9,750 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," and "Maximum Cool."
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'DanD cynically inspired Media Integrity' Edition...
Are there any Media-Types (TV, Radio, Print) that you believe have 'Integrity' enough that you respect them and their works? (Even in the morning, haha)... Name names, if'n ya please...
1.) Heck, yeah!...
2.) No way! They're all corporate dupes...
Send your response to
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responded:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Raeder Suggestion
Some Guy
DWI video
Thanks, Guy!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Our Poly Jackrabbits were victorious over the Lakewood Lancers.
Donates To Penn Haitian Charity
Clinton Foundatio
The William J. Clinton Foundation is donating half a million dollars to the J/P Haitian Relief Organization founded by Sean Penn.
The former president says the money will help provide health care, education and job training to tens of thousands of people displaced by the earthquake that struck Haiti in January.
Penn's organization manages a refugee camp in Port-au-Prince and is working to relocate its 55,000 residents. The group also provides medical services, counseling and educational seminars.
Penn praised his mostly Haitian staff Friday for earning Clinton's faith and performing "heroic and vital services."
Clinton Foundation
Surprise School Visit
Johnny Depp
Hollywood star Johnny Depp took "show and tell" to a new level at a London school when he turned up in full pirate regalia after a fan wrote to him seeking help stage a "mutiny," according to media reports.
Beatrice Delap, 9, wrote to Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp's character in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, asking for help with an uprising against teachers at Meridian Primary School in Greenwich, south-east London.
Depp, who is in south-east London filming the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie "On Stranger Tides," gave the school 10 minutes notice on Wednesday that he was on his way.
The school quickly called an assembly and Depp walked in to gasps from the students, according to People magazine.
Depp, holding the letter, called Delap up to the front and hugged her but he dashed any thoughts of a rebellion.
Johnny Depp
Warner Bros Scraps 3-D Plans
"Harry Potter"
Harry Potter fans will have to wait a bit longer to enjoy the magic of 3-D.
Warner Bros Pictures said on Friday that it was unable to produce a 3-D version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I" in time for its release next month, meaning the film will be presented only in conventional 2-D and in Imax theaters.
"Despite everyone's best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality," the studio, a division of Time Warner Inc, said in a statement.
The film is scheduled to be released on November 19, with the second installment due to hit theaters next July. That installment is still set to be released in 2-D and 3-D.
"Harry Potter"
Drops Affiliation With PBS
KCET
Unable to renegotiate its deal with PBS, longtime Los Angeles affiliate KCET announced Friday it will go independent and drop the full public television lineup after the end of this year.
"After four decades as the West Coast flagship PBS station, this is not a decision we made lightly," said KCET president and CEO Al Jerome in a statement. "We have been in discussions with PBS for over three years about the need to address challenges that are unique to our market as well as our station."
One of those challenges has been paying an affiliation fee to PBS of about $7 million a year at a time when pledges and sponsorships have fallen as a result of increased media competition and overall problems with the economy. In its statement KCET said its rate had been frozen before the economic 2008 downturn and that it was unable to get it lowered.
KCET also noted that Southern California is one of the few markets with overlapping public TV stations. Jerome promised that KCET would now produce and distribute its own content across all media platforms. There had been discussions about sharing content with other public TV stations in the area, including Orange County's KOCE-TV, KVCR-TV in the Inland Empire and KLCA-TV, operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District, but apparently none of those bore fruit. KOCE will now be the largest public TV station in the area carrying PBS shows like "Sesame Street" and "NewsHour."
KCET
Political Donation
Facebook Co-Founders
California's ballot measure to legalize marijuana has a new friend: Facebook co-founder Sean Parker has given $100,000 to back the proposal.
Parker's donation was reported in Proposition 19 campaign finance filings this week.
And he's not the first big Proposition 19 donor with ties to the social networking site. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz gave $20,000 to the campaign and has contributions $70,000 overall.
Neither Parker nor Moskovitz are still with Palo Alto-based Facebook, but both still have ownership stakes. Recent estimates put the value of the privately held company as high as $33.7 billion.
Facebook Co-Founders
Why He Quit Conan
Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg, longtime drummer and bandleader for late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien, is speaking out about his decision not to return to Los Angeles for his counterpart's new TBS show, "Conan," which premieres November 8.
"On February 8, I came to the end of a 26-year watchful, waiting odyssey that culminated in 12 hours of massively invasive open heart surgery," Weinberg said in an interview with Fancast.
At the age of 59, the drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1974 says it ultimately came down to family and his health.
"Frankly, I do prefer living in New Jersey and that was one of the problems I had. I love playing in L.A., but my kids and my wife are back East, and we live part of the time in Italy, so it was hard to structure my life (and have a job in Los Angeles)," he explained.
Max Weinberg
Universal Yanks Movie Trailer
"The Dilemma"
Universal Pictures on Friday yanked from theatres a promotional trailer for new movie "The Dilemma" after complaints about actor Vince Vaughn's character calling electric cars "gay," which some viewed as a slur.
In a statement, the Hollywood studio said the trailer "was not intended to cause anyone discomfort" and a new version will be posted online on Friday.
Complaints about the promotional movie footage, which is played before a feature film begins in theatres, follow recent weeks of news about people being bullied, in some cases leading to horrific consequences. In U.S. pop culture, men and women sometimes use the phrase "that is so gay" in a disparaging way to tease or joke about others.
CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper, appearing on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show on Friday, pointed out that he'd seen the trailer in a theatre and was "shocked" to hear "that is so gay" in a way that was meant to make people laugh.
In general, he told DeGeneres, the phrase is "used not just against kids who are actually gay or lesbian. It's used against anybody who's perceived that way or even just as an insult to anybody, in this day and age, among kids. That's something that's just got to stop."
"The Dilemma"
Case Goes To Jury
Anna Nicole Smith
The Anna Nicole Smith drug conspiracy case, charging her lawyer-boyfriend and two doctors with providing the former Playboy model with excessive amounts of drugs, in the hands of a jury.
After nine weeks of testimony and arguments, the last word to jurors Friday came from the prosecutor who implored them to convict the defendants on all counts. Earlier in the day, they heard from a defense lawyer who said the three defendants had not broken the law.
Jurors were told to select a foreperson, then were to be sent home until Tuesday when they will begin deliberations. Monday is a court holiday.
Anna Nicole Smith
Couple Gets 4 Years
John Stamos
A Michigan couple convicted of trying to extort $680,000 out of "Glee" actor John Stamos were each sentenced Friday to four years in prison.
Allison Coss and Scott Sippola were hoping to receive sentences of less than two years in prison, but U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar ordered a stiffer punishment.
They were convicted in July of conspiracy and using e-mail to threaten a person's reputation. Coss, 24, and Sippola, 31, threatened to sell old photos of Stamos with strippers and cocaine to the tabloids unless he paid up.
The FBI said such photos didn't exist. Edgar agreed and said Coss lied about the photos during her testimony at the summer trial in Marquette, in the state's Upper Peninsula.
John Stamos
SEC Charges Securities Fraud
Larry Wilcox
Federal regulators have accused the actor who played a California highway officer in the 1970s TV series "CHiPs" of securities fraud.
The scheme involving actor Larry Wilcox was one of several kickback operations run by more than a dozen small-company stock promoters, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday. The SEC charged Wilcox and the others in lawsuits filed in Miami federal court. The 63-year-old Wilcox, of West Hills, Calif., played Officer Jonathan "Jon" Baker on "CHiPs."
The SEC says the promoters were caught in an FBI undercover sting operation offering to pay kickbacks to pension-fund managers or stockbrokers for using their clients' funds to buy penny stocks.
Larry Wilcox
Web Banner 'Gangsters' Look Like Jay-Z
Miami Police Department
The Miami Police Department encouraged residents to report gang activity - with a website banner depicting two gangsters bearing a striking resemblance to rapper Jay-Z.
The graphic depicting the Jay-Z lookalikes and three other figures had been removed and was no longer on the website Friday.
The Miami New Times first blogged about the graphic Thursday on its website.
Police spokeswoman Kenia Reyes told The Associated Press on Friday that the drawing was inadvertently done. She would not say how long the graphic was on the website or provide details about how Jay-Z's image ended up in the graphic.
Miami Police Department
No More Fat Suits
Software
Goodbye, Hollywood fat suits!
Scientists in Germany have created software that enables actors to appear thinner or heavier on-screen. The program also alters muscle tone and body shape, according to The New Scientist (via Valley Wag).
The developers say their software will save money because advertisers won't have to shoot different actors to account for "standards of beauty ... across cultures." They also say it can help stars stay healthier, pointing to Robert De Niro, who famously gained 60 pounds for his role in "Raging Bull."
"The actor wouldn't need to go to all that trouble," a scientist is quoted as saying.
Software
Soap Made From Berlusconi
"Clean Hands"
A Swiss museum will display a bar of soap which an artist claims to have made out of fat belonging to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, it said on Friday.
"The exhibition presents the work 'Clean Hands', a bar of soap which was probably made from the fat of Silvio Berlusconi," Zurich's Migros Museum of Contemporary Art said in a statement
Berlusconi underwent liposuction at a Swiss clinic in 2004, and a clinic employee gave the discarded fat to Swiss artist Gianni Motti, the statement said.
The off-white soap, which is the size of a conventional bar, will be exhibited until November 28 in its first public display since being purchased by a private collector in 2005.
"Clean Hands"
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