'Best of TBH Politoons'
TONIGHT!
Erin Hart
Erin Hart is slated to be on Fox News Network (cable) tonight (March 9th), in the 7 (Pacific), 10 (Eastern) p.m. hour as she opines with a fellow pundit about Election 2008!
Erin's an Obama delegate to the Washington convention on April 5th.
Check for updates at Erin Hart Show.com - where you can post your views, or join in the forum, too!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Anxiety Election (nytimes.com)
The state of the economy could give Democrats a huge advantage - especially with white working-class voters who supported President Bush in 2004.
Froma Harrop: Few Cheers for Mortgage Bailout (creators.com)
The woman choking up on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" is about to lose her home. Heather DiStefano said that she and her husband can't hack monthly mortgage payments that have nearly tripled in three years to $3,100 from $1,300. And with falling house prices, they owe more on their Worcester, Mass., home than it's worth.
SUSAN ESTRICH: Blame the Supreme Court (creators.com)
Blame the Supremes. That's right. The nine of them are responsible for this mess.
Terry Savage: Take a Peek at America in 2028 (creators.com)
Prominently displayed on the home page of this Web site are two running series of numbers that increase almost faster than the eye can capture. The first is the "official" national debt, calculated by the U.S. Treasury, which was $9,193,222,137,000 at the instant when I checked in. The number is growing by $1 million every minute!
Ted Rall: Afghanistan: A War We Can't Believe In
Why Obama's Favorite War Is Less Winnable Than Iraq.
Jim Hightower: CHOOSING A VEEP (jimhightower.com)
The nation's political pundits have spent weeks trying to tell us who will be the presidential nominees. From the Iowa caucuses forward, however, these Beltway Prognosticators have been proven wrong again and again, but that is not stopping them from now turning to the next major political question facing America: Who will be the Vice-presidential nominees?
Richard Roeper: It's thick as magazine, size of paperback (suntimes.com)
I've experienced the future of reading, and it's not ready. Not yet. For the last couple of months I've been using the Kindle.
Mark Morford: Read this column before you die (sfgate.com)
1,000 sights, 1,000 books, a few hundred drugs, 397 kinky positions, one million blasphemies. Get busy.
Jenny Carlson: Review of "Comedy at the Edge" by Richard Zoglin (popmatters.com)
Zoglin frames stand-up comedians who achieved artistic maturity during the '70s as the "forgotten heroes" of the cultural revolution that rocked the country from Vietnam until the Reagan era.
Malcolm X Abram: Black Crowes deserve a bigger apology (Akron Beacon Journal; Posted on popmatters.com)
OK, this one's kind of personal.
Ed Morales: Panama's Flex creates controversial name for himself (Newsday; Posted on popmatters.com)
The new kid on the block in Latin pop is a 27-year-old Panamanian singer who, in this country, goes by the name of Flex.
Obituary: Giuseppe Di Stefano (timesonline.co.uk)
The Sicilian tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano was the most brilliant and sought-after lyric tenor of the 1950s and will long be remembered for the many roles he sang opposite Maria Callas, in both the opera house and the recording studio.
ROGER EBERT: The Questions That Will Not Die
This column originally ran August 27, 2000: The Answer Man has a special folder for The Questions That Will Not Die. These questions are like urban legends. While the general population faithfully repeats the story about the blind date who stole the kidney, the AM is asked yet once again if there is not a ghost in "Three Men and a Baby." This column is dedicated to answering Questions That Will Not Die and no others. Clip and save. Please.
Blake's progress (guardian.co.uk/books/video)
Quentin Blake is one of Britain's most famous children's illustrators, with over 300 books published and still working into his 70s. Hogarth Brown is a young artist with no books (so far) but a passion for the artist he has never met ... until now.
Sports Fun Stuff
Scroll Down.
NonEuclid-Hyperbolic Article and Applet (Free; cs.unm.edu)
NonEuclid allows the curious explorer to gain experience in Hyperbolic Geometry and to empirically investigate questions such as: "In Hyperbolic Geometry, are the base angles of an isosceles triangle congruent?"
Reader Comment
Re: Michelle Triola
Hi Marty,
Noticed the pic on yesterday's (Friday) page.
Michelle Triola's name rang a bell. She used to live with Lee Marvin and sued him in the infamous "palimony" case, Marvin v. Marvin in the 1970s. She had given up her singing career and changed her name to his.
In law school, that case was so important we read it in three different classes, I believe. If she and Lee Marvin had been living in Texas, she would have had a very good case for a common-law marriage, as well as the community property case that Texas and California share. As I recall the judgment, she was awarded $104,000 for rehabilitation purposes, but the award was reversed on appeal by the California Supreme Court.
Sharon
Thanks, Sharon!
Reader Comment
Re: Television Coupons
Hello Marty,
Re: Television Coupons....They don't Work for Cable T.V.
Getting Screwed by The Big Cable Corporations?
As of March 7, 2008, Cox Cable (without notice) already moved several
cable networks to the "digital only" format. That means people are being
forced to have a digital Television and Recorder or "Rent" a Digital
Receiver from the cable company to watch any of those networks!
We have Six Analog Televisions and Video recorders hooked up to Cox Cable.
Those Televisions and Video recorders are now useless !
We could go out and buy Six Digital Televisions, Six Digital VCR
Recorders, or "Rent" a digital receiver from The Cable Whores!
Rental for the Cable Receiver is $11.00 per Television and
$11.00 per VCR....On top of the Monthly Service!
Goodbye: Turner Classic Movies, Discovery, ESPN, etc...I have a Family to
feed!
Take Care,
KevKev in Apache Junction
Thakns, KevKev!
This whole change-over stinks from top to bottom.
Not only have the citizens lost ownership of the airwaves, they're now being forced to buy new equipment to watch the same old crap, from fewer providers.
At the same time, the corporate lobbyists' mouthpieces in Congress bleat 'you only need a converter box' but as you have experienced, there's more to it.
And, once again, the people are served. Sorta like in the old Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man."
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, with a bit of a breeze.
Unites 23 Divas
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox has got together 23 of the world's top female singers to raise awareness of HIV and Aids.
Teaming up superstars such as Madonna and Celine Dion, the Scottish singer has recorded the charity single Sing for the South African charity group Treatment Action Campaign. It goes on sale in the Body Shop on March 10.
Annie has long been one of the music world's most active voices in the fight against HIV and Aids. Of her new campaign, she says: "I am determined to continue to speak up and keep singing to spread the message, to try to make a real difference to people's lives."
Other artists who have dedicated their vocal skills to the song include Shakira, Dido, Joss Stone and Gladys Knight.
Annie Lennox
Gets Hollywood Star
Sherwood Schwartz
Sherwood Schwartz, who created the TV comedy classics "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Brunch," gleefully thanked the leading ladies of those shows Friday when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"To me, Dawn will always be Mary Ann on 'Gilligan's Island' and Florence will always be Mrs. Brady," said Schwartz, 91, referring to actresses Dawn Wells and Florence Henderson, who also spoke during the ceremony.
Schwartz also mused about his start in show biz, which happened "by accident," he said.
Schwartz came to Southern California from New York in 1938 to get a master's degree in biological sciences. In need of work, he started writing jokes for Bob Hope's radio show, which Schwartz's brother Al worked for.
"Bob liked my jokes, used them on his show and got big laughs. Then he asked me to join his writing staff," Schwartz said. "I was faced with a major decision - writing comedy or starving to death while I cured those diseases. I made a quick career change."
Sherwood Schwartz
Getting Second Chance
Vick's Dogs
Shadow and 21 other pit bulls are living at a southern Utah animal sanctuary where handlers hope to undo the mental damage done at Michael Vick's Bad Newz Kennels.
"These are the 22 that they thought were the most hopeless - the least likely to ever be rehabilitated," said Dr. Frank McMillan, a veterinarian at the Best Friends Animal Society's sanctuary.
It took weeks for handlers to get Shadow to stop cowering at the back of his kennel. Finally, someone discovered that he loves car rides and after a few spins through the red rock canyons - lapping up the air with his head hanging out the window - Shadow was warming up to his new caretakers.
Vick's pit bulls are getting a chance most fighting dogs don't. And surprisingly, animal rights groups don't think they should. Groups such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals believe that euthanasia, the fate of most fighting dogs, would still be the most humane option, rather than keeping them in a shelter indefinitely or in some cases permanently.
Vick's Dogs
Online Deal With AOL
CBS Radio
CBS Radio is teaming up with AOL to provide online streams from all 140 of its stations to AOL's online radio service.
The deal announced Friday will bring news, sports and music programming from big CBS stations to AOL, including WFAN-AM and 1010 WINS in New York.
AOL's deal with CBS will replace an arrangement the online portal currently has with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. The deal with CBS Radio, which is part of CBS Corp., goes live in mid-May.
CBS Radio
NPR's Chief Executive Steps Down
Ken Stern
National Public Radio's chief executive is stepping down, the network's board of directors announced Thursday.
Ken Stern, who spent 10 years with the company as chief operating officer and chief executive officer, is leaving by "mutual agreement," the board said in a statement. Chairman Dennis L. Haarsager will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement.
The board did not give a reason for Stern's departure.
Ken Stern
No charges Filed
Esai Morales
No criminal charges will be filed against "NYPD Blue" star Esai Morales over allegations that he raped his ex-girlfriend, a prosecutor's office spokeswoman said Friday.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office rejected the case on Feb. 13, citing lack of evidence, spokeswoman Shiara M. Davila said.
Morales' former girlfriend, Elizabeth Mazzocchi, alleged that he raped her in April 2006. Morales has denied committing any crime, Morales' attorney, Richard Charnley said. He also noted that Mazzocchi continued to live with Morales for months after the alleged rape.
Mazzocchi has sued Morales in Los Angeles County Superior Court for unspecified damages, contending he raped her and gave her herpes. The lawsuit is awaiting trial.
Esai Morales
Loopholes For The Chosen Few
Special Rules
House Democrats targeted a multibillion-dollar overseas contracting loophole Friday by vowing to investigate why - and how - it was slipped into plans to crack down on fraud in taxpayer-funded projects.
The inquiry will look at whether the exemption was added at the request of private firms, or their lobbyists, to escape having to report abuse in U.S. contracts performed abroad.
"By taking this action, the Bush administration is sending an unambiguous message: If you are a U.S. government contractor in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere overseas, you have a green light to defraud our government and waste taxpayer dollars," Rep. Peter Welch wrote to Democratic leaders of the committee.
Special Rules
FAA In Hot Seat
Safety Probe
The Federal Aviation Administration should "clean house from top to bottom" and has too cozy a relationship with the airlines, the head of a congressional committee investigating airline safety inspections said Friday.
The problems have led to the sort of lax enforcement that allowed Southwest Airlines Co. to fly at least 117 aircraft past mandatory inspection deadlines, said Rep. James Oberstar, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman.
Oberstar also said he believes similar violations may have occurred involving other airlines, but that those who have such evidence are afraid to come forward.
Southwest has said it voluntarily disclosed its maintenance violations, but Oberstar said the law requires that planes be grounded until they are in compliance. The Southwest planes continued to fly with full knowledge of an FAA supervisor, Oberstar said.
Safety Probe
Archaeologists Unveil Finds
Rome
A sixth-century copper factory, medieval kitchens still stocked with pots and pans, and remains of Renaissance palaces are among the finds unveiled Friday by archaeologists digging up Rome in preparation for a new subway line. Archaeologists have been probing the depths of the Eternal City at 38 digs, many of which are near famous monuments or on key thoroughfares.
Over the last nine months, remains - including Roman taverns and 16th-century palace foundations - have turned up at the central Piazza Venezia and near the ancient Forum where works are paving the way for one of the 30 stations of Rome's third subway line.
Archaeologist Mirella Serlorenzi said that among the most significant discoveries in a ninth-century kitchen were three pots that were used to heat sauce. Only two others had been found previously in Italy.
Rome
In Memory
Malvin Wald
Malvin Wald, a screenwriter who was nominated for an Academy Award for the 1948 movie "The Naked City," has died at 90.
Wald wrote dozens of scripts for motion pictures and TV shows including "Peter Gunn," "Daktari" and "Perry Mason."
He wrote the story for "The Naked City," then co-wrote the screenplay with Albert Maltz, who was one of the "Hollywood 10" of blacklisted writers during the McCarthy era.
In addition to Wald's nomination, the movie won two Oscars for film editing and cinematography. It also spawned a popular television show of the same name that aired from 1958 to 1963 and inspired countless others.
During World War II, Wald was in the Army Air Forces and helped make more than 30 training and recruitment films in Culver City. He also taught screenwriting at the University of Southern California.
He is survived by his son, Alan, and a daughter, Jenifer Wald Morgan.
Malvin Wald
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