'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Readings
from Bruce
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman : American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio
As the whole world watches, American democracy may be hanging by a thread in Ohio.
Paul Berenson
Another Side of the News
The US is reconsidering it's policy on Russia because of their "increasingly undemocratic policies" and "...[Putin's] extreme policy on Ukraine". We may have to adopt a more militaristic policy toward Moscow, according th the LA Times. Oh, "U.S. hopes for joint energy development have been set back by Russia's move to renationalize it's energy sector..." Over 90% of Russian oil passes through Ukranian pipelines.
PNAC has been advocating a military advance to the Russian border for years and it's one of the countries Bush singled out for a premptive first nuclear strike. It also claims Iran is a bigger threat than Iraq, and now the neocons claim a war could start there as soon as March.
We may also talk about Ahhnuld's "Power Play" to reorganize California's government.
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:
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1-805-893-2426
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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!
Purple Gene Reviews
'Kinsey'
Purple Genes' review of the movie "Kinsey" (2004) :
What do you get from a bible thumpin' victorian tortured by cock contraption sexually repressed preacher of a father? A well hung Gall Wasp counting human scientific sexual research pioneer nicknamed "PROK" ! Of course I'm talking about Alfred Kinsey. I still can't figure out "PROK" - it sounds like a combination of PROD and PRICK which would be appropriate for the personality and the personal equipment of Dr. Kinsey. I went into watching the new movie "Kinsey" directed by Bill Condon ("Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh" - "Gods and Monsters") with the expectation that it would be a boring biopic....I was wrong!
Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) began his sexual revolution by collecting tiny Gall Wasps and accounting their mating and habitat. He met Clara McMillan (Laura Linney) who was a student of his and quite interested in similar staid scientific subjects......They get married and on their wedding night PROK (Alfred) tries to fuck MAC (Clara) and because it is the first time, they are both very clumsy and self-conscious...and Clara can't do it because she has a thick and unbroken Hymen.....so they go and see a sex specialist (rare at the time) and he snips her and suddenly the sex is great....this incident piqued Kinseys' interest into using the scientific method in understanding human sexuality without religious guilt and social stigma......
Well, Al gets money from the Rockefellers and creates an interviewing questionaire and starts training his students to gather personal information in "Sex Surveys". Meanwhile the curiosity about sex gets really tested....Kinsey has sex with Clyde (Peter Sarsgaard) (after discussing the sliding scale of homosexuality)....Kinsey tells his wife - "All for the sake of science"...so she fucks Clydes' sliding scale......pretty soon the researchers are wife swapping and butt fucking and Wanking way off while gathering information for the book Kinsey will publish. Needless to say, when "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" hit the book shelves it was like a bomb being dropped........the shit was out of the closet....and he was working on the next book about "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female".....The conservative christians, the puritan polititians and even the anti-communists couldn't handle it.......Hoover and Billy Graham and Schwartz and all the righteous pricks of the time crucified Kinsey.......
This whole movie was in the format of an interview...but what really surprised me was how well the characters were developed Neeson did an amazing acting job - restrained then enthusiastic - sensitive and brutish...the scene where he interviews his fundamentalist father (John Lithgow) is really touching - realizing how damaged his own dad was from bizarre sexual adolescent torture, Kinsey says, "Dad, I'm so sorry" I also think Laura Linney did an equally amzing portrayal of a young student, a passionate wife and a loyal spouse....they both deserve the big "O" (Oscar) consideration.
There is an odd scene where Kinsey and Clyde interview this wierd sexual olympian Kenneth Braun (William Sadler) who claims he can get an erection and ejaculate in 10 seconds....and he whips it out and squeeks and squints and squirts in....10 seconds.
The final scene of the movie is an older woman being interviewed (Lynn Redgrave) - she tells Kinsey how for so many years she carried a deep affection for another woman even though she was married to a man and when she read Kinsey's book she felt she could actually tell this woman that she loved her....and the woman said she also felt the same way...and they got together and shared a loving relationship. She said to Kinsey "Sir, you saved my life"!
What it boils down to now as it did then is this...anytime anyone can do anything that really pisses off the "lets return to the dark ages repressed rediculous christian creeps"....it's OK by me!!!!!!!
Purple Gene give "Kinsey" 9 orgasms out of 10 for doing a great job in showing the life of this complicated, courageous, difficult and important man!
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and not as windy.
Bids Farewell to 'Now' Viewers
Bill Moyers
During his sign-off from public television, veteran journalist Bill Moyers thanked his viewers, who he said keep reminding him that "the quality of journalism and the quality of democracy go hand in hand."
Moyers, 70, is retiring after more than three decades in television journalism. His final episode of "Now," the weekly public affairs show he has hosted since 2002 and seen by 2.4 million people each week, was at 8:30 p.m. Friday. "Now" will continue with Moyer's co-host, David Brancaccio.
In a transcript of his prerecorded remarks, Moyers expressed his appreciation to his staff and thanked PBS executives for their defense of the show "against fierce attacks from partisan ideologues who cannot bear to have their version of reality measured against evidence to the contrary."
Moyers began his career at PBS as host of "This Week" and "Bill Moyers' Journal" in 1971. He has won more than 30 Emmys and 10 Peabody awards.
Bill Moyers
Weinsteins Face Ironic Fate in Oscar Race
Miramax
For brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, these may be the best of times and the worst. Their Miramax Films is mounting what could be its strongest slate of Oscar contenders in years, led by "The Aviator," yet the pair also could soon lose their jobs with Disney.
The co-chief executives of Miramax, backer of Oscar-winning films like "Chicago," are locked in contentious talks with corporate parent Walt Disney Co over a renewal of their employment contract which ends next September.
Whatever the outcome, Bob Weinstein told Reuters the brothers plan to continue to work together, and said he expected the issue to be solved amicably and quickly.
Miramax
Pulls Three Miller Lite Commercials
CBS
Broadcast television network CBS on Friday said it will pull three Miller Lite commercials from its airwaves, saying the spots were too disparaging of rival Bud Light, beer companies Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. and Miller Brewing Co. said on Friday.
The move comes after Anheuser-Busch, maker of brands such as Bud Light and Michelob Ultra, filed a 26-page complaint with the four major U.S. broadcast networks about 11 commercials from Miller Brewing, a unit of SABMiller Plc.
The pulled commercials include two that feature actors portraying former Anheuser-Busch drinkers talking through a bullhorn at an Anheuser-Busch plant, saying that Miller brands taste better than Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light or Budweiser.
The other commercial features a Bud Light delivery man wearing capri pants.
CBS
Pricey Tickets Draw Scrutiny
Bruce Springsteen
A benefit concert by the Boss is bringing out big bids on eBay. But some people offering tickets at several times their face value for an intimate performance Sunday by Bruce Springsteen may be running afoul of anti-scalping laws. The face value of the tickets is $100 each.
Three pairs and one single ticket to the sold-out shows were listed recently at prices ranging from $750 to $2,000 for the pairs and $780 for the single seat.
Under state law, a licensed ticket broker cannot resell tickets, even for a charity event, for more than 50 percent of the face value, said Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for the state Division of Consumer Affairs. Individuals reselling a ticket may not get more than 20 percent above the face value.
The two concerts Sunday at the restaurant, for just 500 people each, are to benefit charities in Asbury Park, where the Jersey-born rocker rose to fame.
Bruce Springsteen
Gives Soldiers Purple Hearts
Denzel Washington
Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington on Friday presented Purple Hearts to some soldiers at Brooke Army Medical Center who were wounded while in Iraq.
Washington was invited by the Army to help recognize the soldiers as they recover from their injuries.
Denzel Washington
Baby News
Richards & Sheen
Christmas has come early for Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards. The couple are expecting their second child, due in June, People magazine reports. Their first, daughter Sam Sheen, was born in March.
"They are incredibly thrilled and I couldn't think of a better Christmas present for the both of them and for little Sam," the magazine quotes Richards' agent, Chuck James.
Richards & Sheen
Leaving Her MSGOP Show
Deborah Norville
Deborah Norville, who hosts both "Inside Edition" and MSNBC's "Deborah Norville Tonight," is leaving her cable show.
"This decision comes down to one issue: time," Norville said in a statement to MSNBC employees Friday. "With my pre-existing commitments to King World's `Inside Edition' and to my husband and three children, there simply are not enough hours in my day to do justice to my colleagues at MSNBC and the program we aspire to."
Norville will continue with the syndicated "Inside Edition," which she has anchored since 1995. She will stay on MSNBC until mid-January.
Deborah Norville
Apartment to Become Home for Writers
Anne Frank
The Amsterdam apartment where Anne Frank began her diary before going into hiding from the Nazis will become a writers' residence, 60 years after she died in a concentration camp.
While the building she hid in became a renowned museum dedicated to the memory of the Jewish teenage diarist, the home Anne and her family lived from 1933 to 1942 was little known.
Local housing associations, the Anne Frank Museum and a cultural body have joined forces to make the apartment available as a guest residence to foreign writers and journalists who face censorship or persecution.
The 3-bedroom apartment, overlooking a park in a quiet suburb of the city, will be restored to its former 1930s glory. The first visiting writer will be welcomed in September 2005 and will be invited to stay a year.
Anne Frank
'Survivor' Has New Boyfriend
Julie Berry
One of the women who fell just short of winning the $1 million top prize on CBS' "Survivor" reportedly has a new boyfriend - the show's host.
Jeff Probst told People magazine that he and Julie Berry, of Gorham, have become a couple.
"Nobody is more surprised than me," Probst, 43, was quoted as saying on the magazine's Web site. Probst said he and Berry, a 24-year-old youth mentor, started dating after he e-mailed her to say hello once the show was over.
Julie Berry
Poised to Pay Record $44 Million for NY Pad
Rupert Murdoch
Apartment hunting in Manhattan can trigger depression for the budget-minded, but these are heady times at the top end as The New York Times reported on Friday that media mogul Rupert Murdoch is set to buy a Fifth Avenue triplex for $44 million -- in cash.
Murdoch, the billionaire chairman of the News Corp, has agreed to pay the asking price for the late Laurance Rockefeller's 20-room penthouse across from the Central Park Zoo, the newspaper said.
The deal marks a new high for the dizzying Manhattan real estate market, where the average selling price of an apartment now tops $1 million.
Rupert Murdoch
Guitar Sells for $567,500
George Harrison
A classic Gibson guitar played by George Harrison on the Beatles' "Revolver" album and by John Lennon during the recording of the "White Album" sold Friday to an anonymous bidder for $567,500, Christie's auction house announced.
The cherry-red SG Standard guitar belonged to Harrison from 1966 through 1969, and holds a special place in Beatles history. Harrison used the guitar in recording sessions and in several of the band's increasingly rare public appearances, and loaned the guitar to Lennon during sessions for the "White Album," according to Darren Julien, whose Julien Entertainment co-sponsored the auction.
The 40-year-old guitar comes with a star-crossed history. The Beatle presented the instrument to a friend, guitarist Pete Ham of the band Badfinger, as a gift in 1969. Ham committed suicide five years later, and the guitar passed on to his brother John.
John Ham stored the guitar beneath a bed in his London home, where it sat until he was contacted in 2002 by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame representatives putting together a Badfinger retrospective. Ham discovered the guitar in the same spot where he had placed it a quarter-century earlier.
George Harrison
MTV Auctioning
Memorabilia
A handmade dress worn by Destiny's Child, a poster signed by Jennifer Lopez and a guitar signed by Wyclef Jean are on sale in an MTV internet auction to raise money for hurricane victims in the Caribbean.
Seventy-five percent of proceeds from the Caribbean Relief Auction will go to American Red Cross efforts in Haiti, Grenada and the Cayman Islands, according to MTV's Web site. The auction runs through Monday.
Other items include a poster signed by Britney Spears, tickets to The Daily Show with John Stewart and a travel package to Grenada.
Memorabilia
Kills Self Inside Crystal Cathedral
Johnnie Carl
The longtime conductor of the Crystal Cathedral's orchestra shot himself to death Friday at the landmark church after a nine-hour standoff that began when he opened fire as congregants prepared for a Christmas pageant.
Conductor Johnnie Carl, 57, had barricaded himself in a bathroom and shot himself at about 2 a.m. as police officers tried to talk to him. Carl, who had also made records with Celine Dion and others, had grappled with depression, authorities said.
The cathedral, a huge, sprawling structure of glass and steel not far from Disneyland, is home to the Rev. Robert Schuller's international Crystal Cathedral Ministries and claims a congregation of more than 10,000 members. The internationally televised "Hour of Power" is broadcast from there.
Johnnie Carl
Sets Auction Record
'Scarlet Letter'
The oldest known copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" was auctioned Thursday for $545,100, a record price for an American 19th-century literary work, Christie's auction house said.
The pre-sale estimate was between $200,000 and $300,000 for 144 pages of a printed proof of the classic novel. The manuscript was bought by an American book dealer who requested anonymity, Christie's New York spokeswoman Bendetta Roux said.
The manuscript, with some pages browned and fraying at the edges, has more than 700 corrections on its pages, many believed made in Hawthorne's own hand. Others were probably made by the publisher's proofreaders.
'Scarlet Letter'
