Recommended Reading
from Bruce
roger ebert's journal: An affront to the eyes of God
"Mary, give me one of your Kleenexes," my mother told my aunt one morning long ago when we were entering Holy Cross Church. She held a bobby pin in her lips, reached up to part her hair, and fixed the Kleenex on top of her head. My Aunt Mary already had her handkerchief in place.
Paul Krugman: Freezing Out Hope (New York Times)
After the pummeling in the midterm elections, has President Obama suffered a moral collapse?
Andrew Tobias: DEMOCRATS VOTE TO EXTEND TAXCUTS FOR EVERYONE
Yesterday, House Democrats voted overwhelmingly and successfully to extend the expiring tax cuts to everyone on their first $250,000 of income.
Steve Lopez: An odd twist in a tale of honesty (Los Angeles Times)
If you found a fat wad of money on a bus, what would you do? Would you stuff it in your pocket and keep your mouth shut, or do your best to find its rightful owner?
George Skelton: State budget reality check (Los Angeles Times)
Brown has reached two conclusions as he meticulously examines the chronically ailing state budget that he's about to inherit.
Jim Hightower: CEOs SOAK SHAREHOLDERS AND TAXPAYERS FOR PERKS
You think you've got financial problems, Bucko? It's time you considered the squeeze that others are feeling. For example, CEOs.
Froma Harrop: The American Dream Is Not All About Money (Creators Syndicate)
We always talk about "The American Dream" - about living it, saving it, wondering what happened to it. Few bother to define it.
Sandy Banks: An unforgettable lesson on true generosity (Los Angeles Times)
A woman who received an outpouring of donations passes along her bounty to those even more in need.
Bill Press: Keep Me Safe, But Please: Don't Touch My Junk! (Tribune Media Services)
It used to be my favorite holiday. Too bad we didn't get to celebrate it this year. Thanksgiving 2010 was canceled.
Ted Rall: RAPE MY BRAIN BUT DON'T TOUCH MY JUNK (Scroll Down)
"I didn't really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants," schoolteacher Kaya McLaren, an elementary schoolteacher from Washington state told 'The New York Times' about her experience at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. What prompted this feel-up? "The body scanner detected a tissue and a hair band in her pocket," reported 'The Times.'
ADAM GOODHEART: Moses' Last Exodus (New York Times)
On her final journey out of the slave South, Harriet Tubman meets with tragedy in her own family - but manages to save another.
GRETCHEN REYNOLDS: "Phys Ed: Why Wii Fit Is Best for Grandparents" (New York Times)
The number of research studies examining elderly exergame users remains small (as does the number of elderly exergamers). But the available results are provocative.
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 'Wiki-Humpty Dumpty' Edition...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday the leak of hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic documents is an attack not only on the United States but also the international community...
"This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests," Clinton said. "It is an attack on the international community: the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity." ..."It puts people's lives in danger, threatens our national security and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems," she told reporters at the State Department...
Clinton calls leaked documents attack on world | detnews.com | The Detroit News
(I watched her statement live and she looked to be NOT a happy camper... Woe be unto PFC Manning)
Do you feel the release of these diplomatic documents are:
1.) A good thing...
2.) A bad thing...
3.) Sorta good - Kinda bad...
4.) Hey! What happened to the Holiday Season theme - thingy?
Send your response to
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Urban Deer
There were 2 little deerlettes, and a big guy with antlers (which I didn't get to photo) and a mother.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Picked the kid up at school and headed north to Sacramento. What's a couple of rainstorms and 200 miles of tule fog....Yikes.
Acknowledges Effects Of Climate Change
Alaska
Alaska wildlife officials have released a report acknowledging that scientific and traditional evidence increasingly shows climate change at unprecedented rates throughout the Arctic.
The report released this week marks a departure for the state, which is suing to overturn the federal listing of polar bears as a threatened species because of declining sea ice habitat.
The report, called "Climate Change Strategy," says warming temperatures could affect Alaska's bodies of water, leading to changes in sport fishing and subsistence opportunities.
A Department of Fish and Game official, Doug Vincent-Lang, says the agency has stayed out of the climate change debate but thought it was time to take stock of the effects.
Alaska
Wagner Fan
Daniel Barenboim
Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim says the perception of composer Richard Wagner is unjustly influenced by the fact he was Hitler's favorite composer.
"We need one day to liberate Wagner of all this weight," Barenboim told reporters Friday. He is conducting Wagner's "Die Walkuere" for the gala premiere of La Scala's season in Milan next week.
"I think a bit of the problem with Wagner isn't what we all know in Israel, anti-Semitism, etc. It is how the Nazis and Hitler saw Wagner as his own prophet. ... This perception of Wagner colors for many people the perception of Wagner."
Barenboim said Wagner, who died in 1883, was politically on the left and could not have foreseen the Nazi Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews during World War II.
Daniel Barenboim
Rare Copy Sold
'Star-Spangled Banner'
An 1814 first edition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" has sold for more than half a million dollars at a New York City auction.
Christie's auction house says an anonymous telephone bidder placed the winning bid of $506,500 on Friday. The pre-sale estimate was $200,000 to $300,000.
Christie's says it's the only known copy in private hands and one of only 11 first-edition copies known to exist. The others are in institutions or university libraries.
'Star-Spangled Banner'
Actor Quits Smoking - At 106
Johannes Heesters
Actor and singer Johannes Heesters has given up smoking for love -- at age 106.
"I did it for love, for my wonderful wife," Heesters, who is better known as "Jopie" in Germany where he has spent most of his 90-year career, told the German entertainment magazine Bunte. "She should have me as long as possible."
Dutch-born Heesters, who will turn 107 on Sunday, has been married to German actress Simone Rethel, 61, since 1992. Heesters said he quit smoking three weeks ago.
Heesters, who in 2008 apologized for his cooperation with the Nazi regime, is known for his roles in the film "Die Fledermaus" (1946) and the German film "The Moon Is Blue" (1953).
Johannes Heesters
Millions Into Faith-Based Groups
Stimulus Funds
The stimulus bought Castleton United Methodist Church in Indianapolis a new heating and cooling system. In Laramie, Wyo., it bought the Church of St. Laurence O'Toole new windows for the Roman Catholic school it runs. And in Harrisburg, Pa., Christian Churches United of the Tri-County Area spent its $120,000 in stimulus funding on food and shelter for local homeless people.
For many conservatives, the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as the stimulus is formally known, has been Exhibit A in their case against the Obama administration, a symbol for an era they feel will be defined by out-of-control government spending.
But the stimulus is also the largest-scale embodiment of what was, not long ago, a conservative priority: directing tax dollars to "faith-based initiatives," as resident George W. Bush called them.
The story of the Obama administration's large-scale spending on faith-based groups has been largely untold, perhaps because it cuts so sharply across the moment's intensely partisan narrative. And in fact, when the stimulus was being debated in February 2009, conservatives attacked the bill as "anti-religious" in its spending guidelines.
But an analysis by POLITICO found that at least $140 million in stimulus money has gone to faith-based groups, the result of an unpublicized White House decision to spend government money, where legal, supporting religiously inspired nonprofit groups. And that decision was just the beginning.
Stimulus Funds
Actor Charged
Michael Brea
An actor accused of hacking his mother to death with a sword was arraigned Friday from a hospital prison ward on charges of second-degree murder.
Wearing a light green gown, Michael Brea did not speak or enter a plea. He was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon after investigators found him in the bedroom of his apartment with a 3-foot sword. His mother, Yanick, was found on her knees, hacked to death in their blood-spattered bathroom Nov. 23.
The 31-year-old Brea had small roles in ABC's now-canceled show "Ugly Betty" and the movie "Step Up 3D."
Relatives issued a statement after Yanick Brea's death expressing their support for her son, whom they called "a compassionate, gentle, intelligent, spiritual and loving man" in need of help.
Michael Brea
Owner Sues Media Giant
"Super Bowl Shuffle"
The owner of a beloved ditty by the 1985 Chicago Bears is preparing to shuffle on down to federal court to take on a media conglomerate.
"Super Bowl Shuffle" owner Julia Meyer filed a lawsuit in Chicago this week alleging Viacom used the video on MTV and VH1 without permission.
The video features Bears boasting, "We're so bad, we know we're good. Blowing your mind like we knew we could." It sold more than 500,000 singles and became a hallmark of the Super Bowl champions.
The lawsuit says interest in the video is up on the 25 anniversary of its recording and Viacom has undermined potential sales. It says a jury should determine a damages figure.
"Super Bowl Shuffle"
Dropped By Domain Name Provider
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks' American domain name system provider withdrew service to the wikileaks.org name after the secret-spilling website once again became the target of hacker attacks.
EveryDNS said in a statement that it dropped the website late Thursday because the attacks threatened the rest of its network. WikiLeaks responded by moving to a Swiss domain name, wikileaks.ch.
In a tweet on Friday, the owner of EveryDNS, Dynamic Network Services Inc., wrote that "trust is paramount: Our users and customers are our most important asset." It did not specify whether it was referring to WikiLeaks, however.
WikiLeaks confirmed the drop in a separate tweet, saying "WikiLeaks.org domain killed by US everydns.net after claimed mass attacks." It was not clear where the alleged attacks were coming from.
WikiLeaks
China Stops Artist From Leaving
Ai Weiwei
Chinese police have prevented artist Ai Weiwei from traveling to South Korea, he said on Friday, linking it to a crackdown on dissidents ahead of the formal awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a prominent rights activist.
Ai had been due to board a flight from Beijing to South Korea on Thursday evening, when police presented him with a piece of paper saying he was not allowed to leave China on grounds of endangering security.
"They said my leaving the country would threaten national security. They were very polite, and said that in accordance with the law, I could not leave ... It's really silly," Ai told Reuters by telephone.
Ai is one of China's most famous contemporary artists. His career spans protests for artistic freedom in 1979, provocative works in the 1990s and a hand in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Ai Weiwei
Suit Dropped
`Dora The Explorer'
A teenage actress has dropped her claim that Nickelodeon underpaid her for serving as the voice of the cartoon heroine of "Dora The Explorer."
Federal court records show Caitlin Sanchez agreed to dismiss her lawsuit against the network and its corporate parents last month.
Nickeolodeon said Friday that Caitlin would complete some future episodes on which she worked. The network declined to say how many.
The 14-year-old Caitlin had said she was owed millions of dollars for her work on the show.
`Dora The Explorer'
House For Sale
'The Godfather'
The eight-bedroom New York City mansion used in the 1972 mobster epic, "The Godfather," is for sale.
The owners of the Staten Island home are asking $2.9 million - or an offer they can't refuse.
Owner James Norton says his mother kept many artifacts from the movie, including Brando's cue cards.
The house features two fireplaces, a basement pub, a four-car garage and an in-ground pool.
'The Godfather'
In Memory
Elaine Kaufman
Elaine Kaufman, the colorful restaurateur whose East Side establishment, Elaine's, became a haven for show business and literary notables, died Friday at the age of 81.
Kaufman died at a Manhattan hospital of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and pulmonary hypertension, according to a statement issued by the restaurant's representative.
Kaufman was a veteran waitress and cafe manager in Greenwich Village when she bought a small bar-restaurant near the corner of Second Avenue and 88th Street in 1963.
It was never about the design or the food - basic Italian fare. It was all about the owner-hostess, an outsized mother figure in a tentlike dress, and her friendships with the famous.
Norman Mailer, Gay Talese and George Plimpton quickly became regulars, and over the years the glitterati joined the literati. Even Jackie Onassis went there.
Among those showing up at a 25th anniversary celebration were Sidney Lumet, Peter Maas, Eli Wallach, Raquel Welch, Jackie Mason, Billy Dee Williams and Cheryl Tiegs.
Woody Allen opened his movie "Manhattan" with a scene set in Elaine's. He became a regular, Kaufman told The Associated Press in 1988, because "he loves to people-watch. It's comfortable, nobody bothers him, we make him what he wants."
She was proud that she didn't change her business to keep up with current fashions.
One change was forced upon her in 2003, when the city banned smoking in restaurants. She said she had quit smoking several years earlier but was unhappy about forcing customers to forgo tobacco at their seats.
"In my business, it's about hospitality," she wrote in a 2002 New York Times essay. "We serve people. We like to please. We'd much rather say yes than no. ... So what do we have now? Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wants us to ban smoking entirely. He wants us to say no to the customers."
Elaine Kaufman
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