'TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Molly Ivins: Merry Christmas to all
And a Merry Christmas to all, including people who have white Christmas trees decorated entirely with purple balls. Merry Christmas to the Red states and the Blue states, to the R's and D's, and to all the troops stationed in Afghanistan, including the French troops there -- Mais oui, Christmas, y'all.
KEEPING CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS: FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH RESPONDS TO OUTRAGED E-MAILS FROM AMERICA'S CRUELLY OPPRESSED CHRISTIAN ZEALOT JUGGERNAUT
THE FIRST LADY: Hello, and Happy Holidays! Oh, I mean "Merry Christ-X!" A lot of vile, blue state pagans X out the word Christ in Christmas, but here at the White House, if we X out anything it's going to be the Roman Catholic Mary Worshipping "Mass" part! So take that, you old, un-American Iraq-War-scoffing Pope in Rome!
ELIZABETH BECKER: U.S. Cutting Food Aid Aimed at Self-Sufficiency
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - In one of the first signs of the effects of the ever tightening federal budget, in the past two months the Bush administration has reduced its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty. With the budget deficit growing and President Bush promising to reduce spending, the administration has told representatives of several charities that it was unable to honor some earlier promises and would have money to pay for food only in emergency crises like that in Darfur, in western Sudan. The cutbacks, estimated by some charities at up to $100 million, come at a time when the number of hungry in the world is rising for the first time in years and all food programs are being stretched. As a result, Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services and other charities have suspended or eliminated programs that were intended to help the poor feed themselves through improvements in farming, education and health. . . .
Rep. Allen: Bush Team Downplays Massive Debt Required for Social Security Privatization
"As President Bush heads down the slippery slope of Social Security privatization, his team has begun a public relations effort to downplay the fact that his plan will require massive borrowing to fund system benefits," Representative Allen said. "The proposed Social Security privatization will sink the nation further into the ocean of red ink that has already resulted from this President's failed budget and tax policies. No amount of media 'spin' can disguise the brutal fiscal reality that this plan is a double-edged sword that wreaks deficit havoc on one side and Social Security chaos on the other."
(PS by Bruce: This is a good quote to use when writing your elected politicians about Social Security. You can email your elected politicians from the Vote Smart Website: http://www.vote-smart.org/.)
Matt Miller: THE LESSON OF 'ARMORGATE'
I certainly didn't expect those stunning TV images of Donald Rumsfeld being questioned on armor shortages by the troops to be the centerpiece of President Bush's economic summit - but I also didn't expect our entire political and media culture to skate past this episode without marinating in its lessons. When the biggest military spending hike in history produces shockingly inadequate results on the front line, the massive mismanagement - and GOP hypocrisy - needs to be examined.
ANDREW GREELEY: No peace on Earth during unjust war
One reads in the papers that the Pentagon expects the war in Iraq to continue till 2010. Donald Rumsfeld will not guarantee that it will be over by 2009. How many dead and maimed Americans by then? How many sad obituaries? How many full pages in the papers with pictures of all the casualties? Why? Š Note: Some conservative Catholics -- Republicans, I assume -- are spreading the word on the Internet that I am an ''unfrocked'' (sic) priest. That is false witness. I am and have been for 50 years a priest in good standing of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Call (312) 751-8220 if you don't believe me. False witness is a grave sin and must be confessed before Christmas communion. Moreover, those who commit it are bound to restore the reputation of the one about whom they've li
Mark Fiore: A Very Bushy Christmas
Reader Suggestion
Parody
a sad parody page on IRAQ and BUSH:
Purple Gene Reviews
'Festival Express'
Purple Genes' review of the Rockumentary Movie "Festival Express" (1970 - 2004) Directed by Bob Smeaton:
"I love you Janis......" - They'll never ever find anybody to play YOU in a biopic movie - OK they have Pink cast in "The Gospel according to Janis" but there's no fuckin' way any female can throw shit down like you did! I remember seeing you at the Fillmore in 1967 singing "Piece of my Heart" (Fuck you Faith Hill!) - and I do believe you had an orgasm on stage!!!!! " I love you Janis Joplin......"
I love the stoned hippy blues rock psycha-fuckin'-delic shit that went down musically in the 60s. You really had to be a witness to some of the amazing characters that were throwing their creative asses out on stage. Most of them are dead now......Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin......."
Woodstock
" and "Monterey Pop
" were great flicks about this period. I just got a chance to see another ONE! A gem - a Jewel and just grainy and gritty enough to be GREAT. I'm talking about "
Festival Express
"! No prepackaged, over produced pop pablum here....."
Festival Express
" is the chance to go back stage with the "Greatful Dead", the "Band", Buddy Guy, the "Flying Burrito Brothers", Delaney & Bonnie, Ian & Silvia and.........Janis Joplin! But this movie could also be called "Janis' Last Ride" !
"Festival Express" - the music tour actually took place in Canada in the summer of 1970. Tour organizer Ken Walker decided to "Book a Train" and stick all these musicians on it and have a week long "Rolling Party". Starting in Toronto, over to Winnipeg and west to Calgary stopping along the way to perform concerts.......but spending the rest of the time on the train just jamming all night long! We get to see some great concert footage, but to me the unique part of this film is that they kept the cameras going from train car to train car....the whole time.......
You've got the "Dead" doing "Don't Ease me In" and "New Speedway Boogie" opening up in Toronto .....the "Band" doing "The Weight" and "I Shall Be Released"....and the Flying Burrito Brothers doing "Lazy Day"....and Buddy Guys band doing "C.C. Rider"...and Delaney Bramlett doing "After Midnight" ......and Ian and Sylvia doing "Great Speckled Bird" .............Then Janis comes out on stage in full regalia - bandana and boa and boots and fuckin' wild hair ....and starts talking about her man running off to "Casablanca" and then screams into "Cry Baby" ....awesome......
Meanwhile ...back on the train...the party just keeps going...fueled by gallons of alcohol...accoustic music abounds....imagine Heavenly voiced Richard Manuel from the "Band" moaning out "Ain't no Cane in the Brazos" with Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin ringing in........drunken conversations galore and witty repartee.......Shit!!! They run out of booze in Seskatchewan, sooooooooo stop that train in Saskatoon...go buy out the "station" liquor store.....back in business......what a ride!
At the end of the movie Janis yells at the stage promoters of this glorious gig "Next time you throw a train, man, invite me." Three months later she was found dead in a Hollywood Hotel.
"I love you Janis."
Purple Gene gives "Festival Express" 10 "little pieces of my Heart" out of 10 for being a great trainride back to 1970.
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & 70°
Think I have everything wrapped.
Go over to Bartcop & check out the wonderful Merry Crispness present from the always fabulous Marc Perkel!
Tapes Christmas Eve Show in Iraq
Late Show with David Letterman
N.H. Boy Receives Christopher Reeve's Van
Tyler Howard
Christopher Reeve played a superhero in the movies, and now, two months after his death, he's a superhero to a 14-year-old boy.
Tyler Howard of Charlestown is a quadriplegic and has been in a wheelchair for 10 years. On Thursday, Reeve's family gave Howard the late actor's specially modified van, so he can get around with his wheelchair and other medical equipment.
"I'm free, I'm free," Howard said. "I can go where I want."
Howard, who requires 24-hour care, developed quadriplegia following a virus he contracted when he was 4. He is dependent on a ventilator and has a tracheotomy.
Tyler Howard
Opens New Unit at N.Y. Hospital
Bill Clinton
Former President Bill Clinton, slim and smiling, returned to thank doctors and staff at the hospital where he learned in September that he needed quadruple bypass surgery.
"I was really delighted to walk in here instead of coming in a wheelchair and I'm even more delighted to be able to walk out," Clinton said Thursday as he helped open a new cardiac catheterization center at the Westchester Medical Center.
He was given a private tour of the new catheterization center, which is designed to help both urgent and outpatient cases, then cut a red ribbon to formally open it.
Bill Clinton
Barred From School Ceremony
John Mayer
Grammy Award-winner John Mayer returned to his alma mater to be inducted into its Hall of Fame - and wound up in the headmaster's office.
The 27-year-old guitarist and singer, a 1995 graduate of Fairfield Warde High School, decided to attend the induction ceremony but was barred because of what school officials said were security concerns. They said they had not expected the pop star to attend.
Mayer said he was taken to the headmaster's office, where officials stalled him until the ceremony was under way and then walked him to his car.
"It was hurtful," he said Thursday.
John Mayer
Sting, Joe Cocker Help Ukraine Campaign
Viktor Yushchenko
Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko closed his campaign ahead of a repeat election this weekend with a half-hour televised political commercial featuring national and international celebrities including pop stars Sting and Joe Cocker.
The slick advertisement alternated between powerful scenes of pro-Yushchenko protesters in the streets of Kiev during the "orange revolution" that has shaken the country in recent weeks and footage of Yushchenko on the campaign trail, all set to stirring music and pointed narrative.
In addition to brief footage of Sting and Cocker, who called for a fair vote Sunday in messages dubbed into Ukrainian, the commercial also featured Vitali Klitschko, the Ukrainian boxer and a national hero, knocking out his opponent as he defended his world heavyweight title this month.
Viktor Yushchenko
Town to Launch Film Festival
Kearney, Nebraska
Sundance and Cannes have noted film festivals. Now Kearney is joining in.
The first Central Nebraska Film Festival will be held Jan. 28-29 at the Kearney Community Theatre. It will celebrate and promote independent films and filmmaking in the Midwest, including feature films, short films and documentaries.
Kearney, Nebraska
Heads List of Concert Moneymakers
Prince
Prince is the concert tour king. He's in the No. 1 spot on Pollstar's Top 25 tours chart for 2004, grossing $87.4 million.
Celine Dion, who's been appearing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for a long string of shows, was in second place, coming in at $80.4 million, followed by Madonna, $79.5 million; Metallica, $60.5 million; and Bette Midler, $59.4 million.
Other acts in the top 10: Van Halen, Kenny Chesney, Sting, Toby Keith and Elton John.
Prince
Philandering Draft-Dodger Turns Texan
Ted Nugent
The Motor City Madman is officially turning Texan. Michigan rocker and hunting activist Ted Nugent says he plans to get a Texas driver's license soon. He said in a phone interview Wednesday that he'll officially become a Texas resident in 2005, after moving his family to Crawford, Texas, about 18 months ago.
And the hunting in Crawford is great, too, he said.
Nugent - who said he supports resident Bush "100 percent" - said his new home is "right around the corner" from Bush's ranch. Nugent said he's working with the Texas fish and game department, where he writes for a state publication on bowhunting.
Ted Nugent
Sirius Options Worth $240 Million
Mel Karmazin
Mel Karmazin's 30 million of Sirius Satellite Radio stock options are now worth about $240 million, forming a major part of his compensation at Sirius, where he became chief executive last month.
The value has soared as Sirius' stock has risen to nearly $8, largely on the expectations of Karmazin's performance at the company, where he is also a director.
Under Karmazin's five-year contract, he earns a base salary of $1.25 million per year, and a bonus to be determined each year by the compensation committee of the board of directors.
Mel Karmazin
Father of Chicano Music Still Rockin'
Lalo Guerrero
When Lalo Guerrero picks up a guitar and begins to sing - first in Spanish and then in English - there's no doubt one is in the presence of the father of Chicano music.
It was 1955, and thanks to Walt Disney Co.'s promotional machine, the nation was enraptured with the larger-than-life frontiersman who died at the battle of the Alamo in 1836. There was a Davy Crockett TV movie, toy rifles and "coonskin" caps, and a song that people couldn't escape hearing, even in the barrio of East Los Angeles.
So Guerrero, already a star in Mexico and the Southwest for traditional Mexican songs, lifted the Disney melody and put it to a humorous ditty about a Pecos Bill-Paul Bunyan type of character from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
A string of hit song parodies in both English and Spanish followed, among them Pancho Claus, Elvis Perez, Tacos for Two (to the tune of Cocktails for Two) and There's No Tortillas (to the tune of O Sole Mio).
But that only scratches the surface. Over the years, there were also big-band recordings, Pachuco swing hits, protest songs and rock 'n' roll in both languages, not to mention rancheras, corridos, boleros, mambos, cha-chas, South American cumbias, Latin pop and even Afro-Cuban rhythms.
For the rest, Lalo Guerrero
Touted Artifact a Forgery
Israel Museum
An ivory pomegranate long touted by scholars as the only relic from Solomon's Temple is a forgery, the Israel Museum said Friday, as investigators were wrapping up a separate probe officials say uncovered several antiquity forgery rings.
Indictments in that investigation are to be handed down next week, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
A team of experts found the thumb-sized pomegranate dates to the Bronze period, or about 3,400 years ago, meaning it is considerably older than the first Jewish Temple, and the inscription was added recently, the museum said in a statement.
Israel Museum
In Memory
Ruth Etta Tantaquidgeon
Ruth Etta Tantaquidgeon, one of the two matriarchs of the Mohegan tribe, died Wednesday, a funeral home said. She was 95.
Tantaquidgeon, along with her sister Gladys, was credited with helping the Mohegan Tribe gain federal recognition.
The sisters were 10th-generation descendants of Uncas, the Mohegan sachem, or chief, who settled at Fort Shantok. Gladys Tantaquidgeon, who is 105, is now the last surviving full-blooded Mohegan.
In the early 1990s, Ruth Tantaquidgeon organized a large collection of family memorabilia, which included correspondences and notices of births, funerals, graduations, marriages, military and tribal records. The documents proved vital to the tribe's federal recognition effort.
Ruth Etta Tantaquidgeon
In Memory
Gretchen Bender
Gretchen Bender, an artist who worked with photography and film and whose work is displayed in several major museums, died Sunday of cancer, her family said. She was 53.
Bender, who worked primarily in photography and film, premiered her first Manhattan gallery show at the Nature Morte Gallery in the East Village in 1983. Her early work was a combination of images from abstract art, advertising and photography. Bender liked to explore gender role and sexuality issues, as well as the contrast between industry and the human condition.
She extended her pursuits to include directing music videos for acts like Babes in Toyland and Martha Wash, and editing videos for R.E.M., New Order and Megadeth.
Gretchen Bender
