'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Mr. Hawk Reviews
Andromeda
This week's Andromeda was the best so far. I have to admit to a liking for a
low key episode. The standard trick of having Dylan falling for the guest
lead has worked pretty well. 'Course it's worked since Captain Kirk slept with
nearly every alien woman he ran across. The time loop theme has been done
before but can still provide for an interesting story. Andromeda will never
match TNG for plot depth but it beats out Voyager any day of the week.
Thanks, Mr. Hawk!
Reader Link
'The Squanderer'
think you'll get a kick out of this parody, "The Squanderer", a take-off on the old hit "The Wanderer"
Recommended Reading
The Alternet Interview With Seymour Hersh
The Alternet Interview With Seymour Hersh
An Excerpt:
Abu Ghraib is a symptom, a terrible symptom of a system that went bad
from the beginning. From the first days of the war, the attitude was
'We can do anything we want.' When John Walker Lindh -- that young
boy who was captured with al Qaeda, that lost kid from California --
was first captured, the mistreatment was astonishing. He was
stripped, thrown around. There was a bullet they didn't take out for
days. The soldiers spit on him. There were people at the time who
thought it was just madness what we were doing and that it would stop
soon. But the American public liked it.
Reader Links
Seven
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Suggestions
More Bumper Stickers
George W. Bush: 100,000 Dead Iraqi Civilians
George W. Bush: Tens Of Thousands Of Maimed Iraqi Citizens
George W. Bush: Hundreds Of Thousands Of Relatives Of Dead Or Maimed Iraqi Citizens
George W. Bush: Can't Find WMD He Was Sure Were In Iraq
George W. Bush: Can't Find Osama Bin Laden
George W. Bush: Can't Find 380 Tons Of High Explosives That Were In Iraq
(Hint: Look For Them In Car Bombs That Kill Our Soldiers)
George W. Bush: Can't Find The Person Who Blew Valerie Plume's CIA Cover
George W. Bush: Can't Find Anyone Who Saw Lieutenant Bush In Alabama
George W. Bush: Can't Find Enough Money For After-School Programs
George W. Bush: Can't Find 58,000 Absentee Ballots In Largely Democratic Broward County
George W. Bush: Can't Find A Plan For Peace
George W. Bush: Can't Find An Exit Strategy
George W. Bush: Gave Away Billions Of Dollars In Government Contracts Without Competitive Bids
George W. Bush: The American Quality Of Life Is Down, But Beheadings Are Up, So It Evens Out In The End
George W. Bush: Let Zarqawi And Osama Live To Kill Another Day, And Another, And Another
George W. Bush: King Of Quagmires
George W. Bush: He Let Us Down
George W. Bush: Too Incompetent To Deserve Re-Election (Or Even Election For The First Time)
Karl Rove: Turning Ohio Into Florida
Halloween Scary Thought: A Bush Victory
Thanks, Bruce!
Paul Berenson
Another Side of the News
377 tons of high grade explosives missing in Iraq and Bush bames Kerry! The Corporate media gives it creedence, even after a video surfaces showing them on April 18, 2003. When Larry King tells Bush/Cheney campaign director Marc Racicot that President Kennedy took responsibility for the Bay of Pigs because "...the buck stops here" Racicot enlightens us about WHY it's Kerry's fault.
Early problems with voting in Florida and New Mexico. The President of the Albuquerque City Council says he tried to cast a vote for Kerry, and it kept coming up Bush. Ashcroft is dispatching a few thousand DOJers to ensure voting goes smoothly. That's comforting! This is positively Orwellian!!!!!
Tune in to "Another Side of the News" with Paul Berenson, Saturdays 9am-10am (PDT) on KCSB-FM 91.9 or listen on our webcast
Your local phone calls are welcome at:
893-2424
893-2425
Outside of the Santa Barbara (CA) area:
1-805-893-2426
1-805-893-3757
If you're tired of the Limbaugh's, Fox News, Corporate Media, etc. and want to hear a Democrat with attitude, this is for you!
Join listeners and callers on the South Coast and across the nation listening on our webcast.
Give Paul a listen - he's smart & funny.
Reader Contribution
'W For Womenfolk'
Hi Marty!
Since Karl Rove is okay with photoshopping Bush's campaign crowd scenes, I
thought I would do it too.
This time, Chimpy is talking to all his female constituents...probably
telling them to stay in the kitchen. I considered throwing an Ann Coulter
in there, but the evil was just too much for my computer's virus protection
to cope with.
I also stuck an abortion reference in there just as a reminder that
Republicans should not be choosing the next 3-4 Justices for the Supreme
Court.
Carbon
FOUR more days of hell....then....
Reader Suggestion
Votergate: The Movie
Purple Gene Reviews
Ann Coulter
Purple Genes' short review of Ann Coulter BY SATELLITE on "Real Time with Bill Maher":
Just as I suspected....Ann Coulter is a CHICKEN SHIT like Bill O'Reilly!!!!!!!
She wouldn't appear live on Bill Mahers' show........so they put her big stupid republican conservative Whore Face up on a flat screen....like the oblique, blaring and banal right wing puppet with a cunt that she IS....as I said before, she must use "PERT" in her hair - that's all she has going....Gawd I just can't stand her baritone bullshit!
I'm sorry.....HERE'S THE BUILD-UP.....We have General Wesley Clark (honorable and intelligent patriot), Kevin (the Ralph Nader Lackey) Costner and Richard (Hollyweird) Belzer sitting with Bill Maher having a round table discussion about Bush and Kerry ....snore......bore...can't take anymore.......then they pull down the flat screen and up pops "Anthrax" Repug slut foaming bile bilious bonehead Ann Coulter....say what you will about her......she is truly an IDIOT...and Richard Belzer scored a HOME RUN against Bill Mahers' "This is my Cunt" protests by shouting that Ann Coulter is a "FASCIST PARTY DOLL"........he also got into a fight with Bill calling her a REPUGNANT PERSON and a LIAR.......BELZ for PREZ....YEAH!!!!!
After Bill Maher (as I predicted) claimed that Ann had left one of her earrings in is Playboy Pad.....and after Bill pressed her HARD about what she thought about Bushs' performance as the leader of the FREE WORLD and the commander in Chief on the war in Iraq.....Ann the "Insane" left us with the Quote of the night...."By all standards ....the War in Iraq has been a "MAGNIFICENT SUCCESS"......THE ROAR OF LAUGHTER IN MY HOUSE COULD BE HEARD FOR MILES!!!!!!!! Exit Ann........
Bill Maher ended the show with his usual witty monologue and finally donned a Wolf Head Mask...in response to the republican anti Kerry adds depicting terrorists as wolves and he had to defend the reputation of our Wolf Friends. .....Bill the "Wolf" called the Bush propaganda movie "DANCES AROUND FACTS"...this of course got a great chuckle from Kevin (Dances with Nader) Costner!!!!! End of show........................
Purple Gene gives Ann Coulter 2 brass balls for trying to talk like an emasculated male gogo dancer about the truly serious issues that face this world.....Vote Kerry and shut this bitch up!!!!!
Purple Gene
Thanks, Purple Gene!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, breezy & still cool.
The school nurse called around lunchtime & had to go pick up the kid. Looks like we're in for a technicolor weekend...Ack
Bill Moyers was pulling no punches tonight. Wow!
Also caught 'Real Time With Bill Maher' - next week is the season finale!
Kerry & Bush Interviews
'Sabado Gigante'
Resident Bush and his Democratic rival, John Kerry, both gave interviews to the Spanish-language network Univision that will appear on the popular Saturday night variety show "Sabado Gigante."
Host Mario Kreutzberger, known as Don Francisco, interviewed the resident in Washington and Kerry in Scranton, Pa., the network said. The candidates discuss immigration and religious issues.
One hour of the three-hour show that airs 8 p.m. EDT will be devoted to the American presidential campaign.
'Sabado Gigante'
Profanity Rankles Papers
'Doonesbury'
At least 20 newspapers are objecting to Saturday's "Doonesbury" comic strip because it features a profanity, uttered in the strip by Vice President Dick Cheney.
In Garry Trudeau's comic, the voice of Cheney directs a caricature of President George Bush to tell a reporter to "go f-- himself."
'Doonesbury'
Bush Campaign Drops 'Still the One'
John Hall
The Bush campaign abruptly stopped using the 1970's hit "Still the One" at campaign rallies Friday after the songwriter, no fan of the president, claimed the Republicans never got permission.
John Hall, a former Democratic county legislator in upstate New York, co-wrote the song and recorded it with his band Orleans in 1976. He complained on Friday morning about the campaign playing the song at the president's events.
Hall, still a working musician at 56, wrote "Still the One" with his then-wife, Johanna D. Hall. The two, as well as surviving members of the band, are supporters of Democratic Sen. John Kerry and didn't want their work used to promote Bush's re-election.
John Hall
Shopping 'Underground' Film
Chris Columbus
Little Steven's Underground Garage Festival, which took place Aug. 14 at New York's Randall's Island, may be headed to the big screen.
Director Chris Columbus, whose credits include "Home Alone," the first two "Harry Potter" films and the upcoming screen adaptation of "Rent," is shopping a concert documentary to film studios. Sources say he wants the film to be a high-definition, 3-D experience.
Steven Van Zandt, aka Little Steven of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, organized the festival, which featured such acts as Iggy Pop & the Stooges, Big Star, Nancy Sinatra, the Strokes, the New York Dolls and the Pretty Things.
Chris Columbus
Performs Morricone Music
Yo-Yo Ma
Ennio Morricone has composed some of the most moving melodies ever written for films - music that enraptures Yo-Yo Ma.
"I've loved his music as long as I can remember," the 49-year-old cellist said in a telephone interview from his home in Cambridge, Mass. "I just swoon when I hear it."
Now, Ma and Morricone have collaborated on an album that contains 19 of the prolific Italian composer's works. At Ma's request, Morricone re-orchestrated the music to feature solo cello with an orchestra accompaniment.
Yo-Yo Ma
Kerry Wins
Zogby Says
Pollster John Zogby, in a telephone interview yesterday, predicted that John Kerry will win the election. "It's close," he said, "but in the last couple of days things have been trending toward Kerry - nationally and in the swing states. Between this and history, I think it will be Kerry."
When Zogby talks, politicians listen. He made his bones in the Bill Clinton-Bob Dole election of 1996, when he came within one-tenth of a percentage point of the final tally.
Zogby Says
Drops Wrongful-Death Suit
Voletta Wallace
The mother of Notorious B.I.G. reportedly has dropped a wrongful-death lawsuit against a former suspect in the rap star's slaying.
Voletta Wallace had accused Amir Muhammad, aka Harry Billups, of shooting her son outside the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles after a music industry party on March 9, 1997.
Her decision to dismiss Muhammad as a defendant followed a pretrial deposition during which he denied any connection to the rapper's death and offered to take a lie-detector test, unidentified sources close to the negotiations told the Los Angeles Times.
The confidential settlement didn't include any payments, the sources said. Wallace's attorneys refused to discuss additional details of the agreement with the newspaper.
Voletta Wallace
Friends, Family Gather
Reeve Memorial
Three weeks after Christopher Reeve's death, his family and friends celebrated him Friday at a place that was central to his life: The Juilliard School, where he first honed his acting skills and later returned to receive an honorary doctorate.
More than 900 people, including Hollywood stars and Washington politicians, arrived at the school's Lincoln Center campus for the memorial to Reeve, the strapping actor who played "Superman" on screen and then spent the last nine years of his life as a quadriplegic after a riding accident.
"His courage and inspiration will live on," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said of Reeve, who worked toward finding a cure for paralysis after his accident.
Among those in attendance were Teresa Heinz Kerry; actors Michael J. Fox, Laura Linney, Mary Tyler Moore, Kim Cattrall and Su, Mary Tyler Moore, Kim Cattrall and Susan Sarandon; television hosts Larry King and Katie Couric; actor Giancarlo Esposito and director Mike Nichols.
Reeve Memorial
Spins Off Show for Women
'Queer Eye'
The "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" franchise is becoming a little more, well, feminine. Bravo announced Thursday the makeover show's spin-off, "Queer Eye for the Straight Girl," is starring not a fab five but a quadruplet - and one of them is female.
The show promises to transform heterosexual women for events such as a proposal, a 30th birthday and a wedding.
"Queer Eye for the Straight Girl" will premiere in 2005.
'Queer Eye'
Schwarzenegger Aide Facing Suit
Sean Walsh
A British judge cleared the way for an aide to Arnold Schwarzenegger to face a libel trial for allegedly calling a television presenter a liar after she claimed the actor-turned-politician fondled her.
High Court Judge David Eady ruled against an attempt by Schwarzenegger's spokesman Sean Walsh to block the libel case brought by British television reporter Anna Richardson.
The decision means the court case, which could prove extremely embarrassing for Schwarzenegger, elected governor of California a year ago, will take place in London some time next year.
Sean Walsh
Tax Dollar$ At Work
Pufferbelly Toys
Nothing about running a small store called Pufferbelly Toys prepared Stephanie Cox for a cryptic phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Two men arrived at the store and showed Cox their badges. The lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube. She said yes. The Magic Cube, he said, was an illegal copy of the Rubik's Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time. He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.
After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that the Homeland Security agents had it wrong. The Rubik's Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on rival toy's trademark.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency's intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.
Read the rest - Pufferbelly Toys
Trove Auctioned
Oscar Wilde
A handwritten chapter of Oscar Wilde's novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," written by the author at the behest of his publishers and including the scandalous visit of the title character to an opium den, has been sold for $132,000.
The heavily revised text was one of several pieces of memorabilia auctioned Friday on behalf of a private buyer by Sotheby's. A signed first edition of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" fetched $770,000.
The trove of material, described by Sotheby's as "the finest collection of Oscar Wilde material remaining in private hands," was sold for $1.5 million. It was well above the $1.1 million estimate, even though some items did not sell.
Oscar Wilde
Breaks Foot
Maria Schwarzenegger
California's first lady injured herself while watching the fifth playoff game between Boston and the New York Yankees. The Red Sox, who had been down three games, went on to win the next four and advance to the World Series.
When the Sox's David Ortiz smacked a 14th-inning single, an excited Shriver jumped off the sofa - landing on one of her children's cast-off shoes and breaking her foot.
"She was hollering at her kids to pick up their misplaced shoes, but she's realized her instructions fell on deaf ears," spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh said Thursday.
Maria Schwarzenegger
Paramount Molding Remake
'The Blob'
Paramount Pictures, fast becoming the home of the remake with such recent pictures as "The Italian Job," "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Stepford Wives," is resurrecting "The Blob."
Starring Steve McQueen, the 1958 campy cult classic followed a mysterious creature from another planet that resembled a giant blob of jelly and went on a path of destruction as it grew bigger. The movie was remade in 1988 with Chuck Russell at the helm.
The update will be produced for the studio by Jack Harris, who produced the original, and Scott Rudin.
'The Blob'
Kerry Wins
Indian Astrologers
Surveys in the United States may be showing the race for president as too close to call but top Indian astrologers say the planets have clearly made up their mind: John Kerry will win.
Planets governing resident Bush are eclipsed and in an uncomfortable position, making his tenure controversial and his re-election bid unsuccessful, the soothsayers said on Friday, four days before the vote.
"Kerry will win," said Madan, who is known as "the emperor of astrologers." "It is cosmic writ that George W. Bush cannot become president of United States again."
Indian Astrologers
Come Centuries Too Late
'Witch' Pardons
Accused witches - and their cats - executed during a wave of hysteria and religious ferment hundreds of years ago will be pardoned on Halloween in the Scottish township of Prestonpans, a court official said Friday.
Sunday's ceremony will publicly pardon 81 people executed in the 16th and 17th centuries for being witches. The pardons have been granted under ancient feudal powers due to be abolished within weeks.
More than 3,500 Scots, mainly woman and children, and their cats were killed in witch hunts. Many were condemned on flimsy evidence, such as owning a black cat or brewing homemade remedies.
'Witch' Pardons
Japanese Firm's Technology Can
Name That Tune
"Hum a few bars and I'll fake it," goes the old joke. In Japan, hum a few bars and they'll find the song.
A song-recognition technology being developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Japan's biggest telecom company, aims at helping consumers who might remember a snatch of melody but can't name the tune.
Billed as the world's first such service, SoundCompass System will allow users to find the names of songs by humming part of the melody into a mobile phone.
Name That Tune
Profit Rises
Clear Channel
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest U.S. radio station chain, on Friday posted higher operating earnings and said a new strategy to trim advertising airtime showed early signs of success.
Shares of Clear Channel rose 2 percent, despite a decline in third-quarter radio ad revenue on weak sales to automotive and telecommunications customers.
Clear Channel's plan is to reduce its advertising inventory, which will help stabilize or raise prices. In the second quarter, Clear Channel said about 29 percent of its available inventory generated no revenue.
Clear Channel
Newspaper Endorsements
Daily Tally
In the latest daily update to our exclusive list of editorial endorsements for president, 41 newspapers that backed resident Bush in 2000 have switched to Sen. John Kerry's camp.
The three new examples are the Times-Standard of Eureka, Calif., the Observer-Reporter of Washington, Pa., the La Crosse (Wisc.) Tribune. They join large papers such as the Orlando Sentinel, the Daily News in Los Angeles, and The Seattle Times in this category. Bush has picked up only six formerly Gore-backing papers that we know of.
At least 11 other papers have switched from Bush in 2000 to neutral this year, including The Detroit News, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.
In the closing days of the endorsement race, Kerry now leads comfortably, 175 newspapers to 138. The Democrat's list grew by 13 today, compared with nine new endorsements for Bush. The circulation count of papers supporting Kerry is no contest; he leads 18.8 million to 12.1 million.
JOHN KERRY
175 newspapers total
18,757,511 daily circulation
GEORGE W. BUSH
138 newspapers total
12,068,720 daily circulation
For the complete list of newspapers, by state, Daily Tally
In Memory
Vaughn Meader
Vaughn Meader, who gained fame satirizing John F. Kennedy's presidency in the multimillion-selling album "The First Family" only to have his star plummet when the president was assassinated, died Friday. He was 68.
Meader, who had battled by chronic emphysema and other ailments, died at his home in this central Maine city after refusing to be taken to the hospital, his wife, Sheila, said.
When it came out in late 1962, poking gentle fun at JFK's wealth, large family and "vigah," "The First Family" became the fastest-selling record of its time, racking up 7.5 million copies and winning the Grammy for album of the year.
The Maine native, recruited to play the president on the album after he began throwing Kennedy impressions into his musical act, had to tweak his own New England accent only slightly to sound just like the Massachusetts-bred president.
Even the president was said to be amused, picking up 100 copies of the album to give as Christmas gifts. He once opened a Democratic National Committee dinner by telling delegates: "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself."
Meader was born in the central Maine city of Waterville during one of New England's worst floods. He often told crowds: "I was born on March 20, 1936, the night the West Bridge washed out."
After high school he joined the Army, and later started doing a standup comedy act in New York. His Kennedy act led to the popular album, which brought Meader, still in his 20s, instant fame.
He appeared in Time and Life magazines, on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and packed rooms in Las Vegas.
With Kennedy's death, his acts were canceled and stores pulled the album from their shelves. His famous friends no longer associated with him. Meader said he turned to booze and started taking cocaine and heroin.
After a period of drifting, he returned to Maine, where Meader wrote and played bluegrass and country music and became known for his honky-tonk performances in small, local bars.
Meader will be cremated and a private committal ceremony is planned for Sunday. A public celebration of his life was scheduled for Nov. 21 at a Hallowell, Maine, bar where he had performed.
Vaughn Meader
Thanks, Mr. 2E
