Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Focus Hocus-Pocus (nytimes.com)
Just what do people mean when they say Obama overreached by focusing on health care and not job creation?
Ted Rall: Bank Job
When I lost my half my income in 2009, Chase Home Finance advised me that getting laid off had not adversely affected my financial status.
Curtis Sittenfeld: Barack Obama - Why I still love him (guardian.co.uk)
Large swathes of the US may have turned against the president at the midterm polls, but for author Curtis Sittenfeld the thrill has not worn off.
TIMOTHY EGAN: Not Quiet on the Western Front (New York Times)
Some late election surprises, and lessons, in the West.
Froma Harrop: The Democrats Did Good (Creators Syndicate)
The Democrats did good. Not in the election - they did pretty miserably there. But they did good for the country. They led America back from the brink of economic disaster.
Susan Estrich: The Day After (Creators Syndicate)
Actually, to be a little Pollyanna-ish here, what's striking is that for Democrats, it could have been so much worse. California and New York were, for starters, exempt. Also Massachusetts. A whole slew of people who could very well have lost - from Harry Reid in Nevada to Chris Coons in Delaware - didn't. The Senate remained Democratic. People were much more into throwing the bums out when it came to House races than gubernatorial races.
Richard Roeper: 'Take back the country' a slogan as hollow as Palin (suntimes.com)
But she emerges a winner, earning $12 million since quitting as gov.
Norman Lear: Enough Already With "The American People" (huffingtonpost.com)
I won't go into how pitifully broadcasting, journalism, the media generally, "informs" the American people. Or how much the billion dollars or more from unknown sources poisoned the political climate this election season with attack ads full of distortion and hate. Our experiment in democracy depends, the founders told us at the beginning, on an informed citizenry. Fat chance, American people!
PIA CATTON: The Punk Poet Finds a Muse (wsj.com)
Patti Smith took a recent stroll through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, looking for inspiration for an upcoming performance. She found it.
Polly Vernon: "Jon Bon Jovi: 'I'm overweight. Drinking too much. Bored to tears'" (guardian.co.uk)
Jon Bon Jovi admits he has seen better days. But after a quarter century of nonstop hits, stadium tours and large-haired sexiness, what do you do for an encore? We catch up with the 48-year-old rock god in Brazil and find he may be dreaming of a political career.
Jack Hamilton: Robert Plant's Second Act (theatlantic.com)
The former frontman for Led Zeppelin has embraced rootsy Americana in his later career. How the new work helps us re-evaluate his earlier music.
Will Harris: A Chat with Glen Matlock, Singer/songwriter, Sex Pistols bassist (bullz-eye.com)
When I was with the Rich Kids, w saw Duran Duran in the front row when we was in Birmingham, checking us out. I think we were the bridgehead between punk and what came after it. That's our claim to fame: that we got Duran Duran going!
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," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Conspiracy Theory... or Fact?' Edition...
"The Vietnam War was fought over a bet that Howard Hughes lost to Aristotle Onassis."
--Jerry Fletcher (Mel 'Sugar Tits' Gibson) - Conspiracy Theory
As you will see at the following website... Conspiracy Planet - The Alternative News & History Network
There's no end to the topics covered. Some are new, some not so much. Some are interesting. Some are outrageous. Some are frightening. Some are merely entertaining... but, make no mistake, each one is believed by someone, somewhere.
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Bit cooler, but still unseasonably toasty.
MSNBC Suspends Indefinitely
Keith Olbermann
MSNBC has suspended prime-time host Keith Olbermann indefinitely without pay for contributing to the campaigns of three Democratic candidates this election season.
Olbermann acknowledged to NBC that he donated $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grivalva and Gabrielle Giffords.
NBC News prohibits its employees from working on, or donating to, political campaigns unless a special exception is granted by the news division president - effectively a ban. Olbermann's bosses did not find out about the donations until after they were made. The website Politico first reported the donations.
His "Countdown" show, which airs at 8 p.m. ET, is MSNBC's most popular program. His on-the-air transformation from the host of a straight news program to a liberal commentator led the network itself to go in the same direction, filling its prime-time lineup with left-leaning hosts and doing better in the ratings than anytime since its 1996 launch.
Keith Olbermann
1.5 Million In October
Political Ads
Television viewers were probably exposed to more political ads last month than ever before.
The Nielsen Co. said Friday that nearly 1.48 million political ads aired on local broadcast stations in October. That's more than any other month since Nielsen began collecting that data in 2000.
The previous high was 1.41 million ads in October 2008, a presidential election year.
The actual number of televised ads was higher. Nielsen's count takes in 707 broadcast stations across the country, but does not include cable networks.
Political Ads
Nuns Sell Card
Honus Wagner
A rare Honus Wagner baseball card that was bequeathed to an order of Roman Catholic nuns has sold at auction for $262,000.
The Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame put the card up for sale after inheriting it from the brother of a deceased nun. The sale price exceeded the expectations of auctioneers at Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries.
The nuns will receive $220,000 from the sale. The total sale price includes a 19.5 percent buyer's premium. Sister Virginia Muller, who was entrusted with the card, says the proceeds will go to the order's ministries in more than 30 countries around the world.
About 60 of the T206 Honus Wagner cards, produced between 1909 and 1911, are known to exist.
Honus Wagner
Musical Delays Opening
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is having trouble getting off the ground on Broadway.
Producers of "Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark" are delaying by three weeks the opening of the costly and complicated show, meaning it will only be available for previews after the busy Thanksgiving holiday.
Originally scheduled to begin previews on Nov. 14 with an opening four days before Christmas, the show will now begin previews on Nov. 28 and open Jan. 11.
It's the latest blow for the Julie Taymor-led show that features music by U2's Bono and The Edge. Delays have cropped up and producers have come and gone. Two actors have been injured while practicing aerial stunts.
Spider-Man
Fan Guilty Of Stalking
Kathryn Erbe
A fan of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" was convicted Friday of stalking Kathryn Erbe, who plays the show's star detective, by posting threatening comments and photos on the Internet.
Jurors - who heard testimony from Erbe and defendant Charles Nagel in the four-day trial in federal court in Brooklyn - deliberated less than a day before reaching a split verdict. They acquitted the Philadelphia resident on a separate stalking charge based on his attempts to meet her on location.
Nagel, 36, had described himself as an avid but mild-mannered autograph seeker and fan of "Criminal Intent." The USA network series featured Erbe as Detective Alexandra Eames for nine seasons.
When the forewoman announced the not-guilty portion of the verdict, Nagel responded with a joyful whimper. His demeanor quickly turned sullen when he learned of the conviction.
Kathryn Erbe
Continues Lawsuit Against Kanye
Marion "Suge" Knight
The attorney for Marion "Suge" Knight says the rap mogul plans to appeal a judge's decision that dismissed his lawsuit against Kanye West.
Knight was shot in the leg in 2005 at a Miami Beach party hosted by West, and Knight blames West for lax security. His lawsuit is seeking more than $1 million in damages from West.
Knight's attorney, Mark Brumer, said Friday his client was disappointed in the judge's decision.
In Thursday's order, the judge concluded there's no evidence that a shooting at the party was foreseeable.
Marion "Suge" Knight
C-4 Seized In Colorado
Rogue SEAL
Federal agents seized five pounds of C-4 military explosives from the Colorado home of a man accused with a Navy SEAL and a Las Vegas associate of smuggling machine guns from Iraq into the U.S. for sale and shipment to Mexico, authorities said Thursday.
Grenades and night-vision goggles also were found in the Durango, Colo., home of 34-year-old Richard Paul, according to federal prosecutors and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents in Las Vegas and Colorado.
Paul and Andrew Kaufman, 36, of Las Vegas, were arrested Wednesday and appeared Thursday before federal magistrate judges in Durango and Las Vegas on conspiracy charges. Each was ordered held in federal custody pending an evidentiary hearing.
They are accused of conspiring with Navy SEAL Nicholas Bickle of San Diego to smuggle and sell weapons to an undercover federal agent in Nevada and Colorado.
Smith characterized Bickle, 33, as a "rogue Navy SEAL" - an active-duty special warfare operator 1st class who Smith said also worked as a consultant on the Hollywood movie "Transformers 3."
Rogue SEAL
Defends Human Rights Record
U.S.
The United States defended itself against criticism of its human rights record from friend and foe alike on Friday in a United Nations forum that the former Bush administration had boycotted as hypocritical.
Senior U.S. officials said President Barack Obama's government had begun "turning the page" on practices of George W. Bush's administration that had caused global outrage, and denied allegations that the U.S. used torture.
"Let there be no doubt, the United States does not torture and it will not torture," Harold Hongju Koh, State Department legal adviser, told the council.
"Between Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo we have conducted hundreds of investigations regarding detainee abuse allegations and those have led to hundreds of disciplinary actions."
U.S.
No New Cases
Porn
No new cases of HIV have been found at the Los Angeles clinic where an adult film actor tested HIV-positive last month.
The Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation said Friday it has ruled out the illness in any partners of the infected actor after two rounds of testing.
News of the HIV-infected actor last month spread fresh fears of sexually transmitted disease through the California adult film industry. Several major pornographers shut down film production until the clinic could complete testing on all parties that may have been affected
The identity and gender of the HIV-positive actor have not been released.
Porn
In Memory
Jill Clayburgh
Jill Clayburgh, whose Broadway and Hollywood acting career stretched through the decades, highlighted by her Oscar-nominated portrayal of a divorcee exploring her sexuality in the 1978 film "An Unmarried Woman," died Friday. She was 66.
Her husband, Tony Award-winning playwright David Rabe, said she died after a 21-year battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She was surrounded by her family and brother when she died at her home in Lakeville, Conn., he said.
Clayburgh, alongside peers such as Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine and Jane Fonda, helped to usher in a new era for actresses in Hollywood by playing women who were confident and capable yet not completely flawless. Her turn as a mother dealing with life after 16 years of marriage in "An Unmarried Woman" earned Clayburgh her first Oscar nod.
The next year, Clayburgh was again nominated for an Academy Award for "Starting Over," a comedy about a divorced man, played by Burt Reynolds, who falls in love but can't get over his ex-wife.
Clayburgh came from a privileged New York family. Her father was vice president of two large companies, and her mother was a secretary for Broadway producer David Merrick. Her grandmother, Alma Clayburgh, was an opera singer and New York socialite.
Clayburgh also took drama classes at Sarah Lawrence. She and her friend Robert De Niro acted in a film, "The Wedding Party," directed by a Sarah Lawrence graduate, Brian DePalma. After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree, she began performing in repertory and in Broadway musicals such as "The Rothschilds" and "Pippin."
Besides appearing in such movies as "I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can," "Silver Streak" and "Running With Scissors," Clayburgh's Broadway credits include Noel Coward's "Design for Living," the original production of Tom Stoppard's "Jumpers," and the Tony Award-winning musicals "Pippin" and "The Rothschilds."
Clayburgh's work also stretched across TV. She most recently played the matriarch of the spoiled Darling family on ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money." She was nominated for two Emmys: for best actress in 1975 for portraying a prostitute in the TV film "Hustling" and for her guest turn as a vengeful plastic surgery patient on "Nip/Tuck" on FX in 2005. She also had a recurring role on "Ally McBeal" as McBeal's mother.
Clayburgh will next be seen playing the mother of Jake Gyllenhaal's character in the upcoming film "Love and Other Drugs."
She is survived by three children, including actress Lily Rabe, Michael Rabe and stepson Jason Rabe.
There will be no funeral, Rabe said. The family will have a memorial in about six months, though plans have not been finalized.
Jill Clayburgh
In Memory
Jim Clench
Jim Clench, a bassist and vocalist who played with Canadian rock bands April Wine and Bachman Turner Overdrive, has died at 61.
April Wine bandmate Brian Greenway says Clench died Tuesday in a Montreal hospital after fighting Stage 4 lung cancer.
Clench was not married and had no children.
Clench joined April Wine in 1970 after the release of the band's first album and played bass and added vocals to the mix until 1975.
He went on to join Bachman Turner Overdrive, before returning to April Wine in 1992 and staying with the band through 2006. He also wrote songs for the band, including fan favourite "Oowatanite."
Jim Clench
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