Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Lazarus: A remedy for medical bill ills (Los Angles Times)
The obvious solution for making the cost of treatments clear and consistent is to replace individual contracts between insurers and providers with fixed prices determined by a panel of experts.
Paul Krugman: Reform, Real and Fake (New York Times)
Hey, it must be serious! It has lots of footnotes! Actually, the report looks quite cheesy, if you ask me. And if Ryan is super-wonky, I'm a triathlete.
Mark Shields: Words That Make Me Weep (Creators Syndicate)
The next time you hear some swaggering think-tank commando or some talk-show tough guy bloviating about why the U.S. needs - in yet one more Middle Eastern country - "more boots on the ground," please think of nurse Jackie and ask yourself what kind of a world it is with no birds.
Susan Estrich: Two No Trump (Creators Syndicate)
There are many potential candidates I respect on the Republican side, who are not Mormons and not failed developers. But so long as Romney and Trump are leading the pack, they are unlikely to lead their party to the White House.
Jim Hightower: A Mickey Mouse Wage Hike
… many corporate chieftains did much better than average in their bonus checks. Take Robert Iger of Walt Disney Inc. He pocketed a bonus of $13.5 million this year, 45 percent more than he got a year ago.
Amy Kaufman: A new Russell Brand isn't the same old Brand (Los Angeles Times)
It can be exhausting, admitted Russell Brand, being on all the time. Constantly looking for the laugh, thinking up witty comebacks, exuding rakish charm.
Jonathan Glancey: Windsor is just Woody Allen's type (Guardian)
The film director has a favourite font, and it has cropped up in his latest film, 'You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger.'
Marisa Tomei: Smoking-And Fuming-In Bed (Wall Street Journal)
The actress, now starring in the play "Marie and Bruce," talks about Lady Gaga, marriage and why she prefers the theater.
Chris Garcia: Wes Craven's Primal Therapy (Wall Street Journal)
The director of "Scream 4" talks about why he returned to the horror franchise after a decade.
'I never wanted to be an actor,' says screen star Neve Campbell (Guardian)
Neve Campbell was born to dance, but spent 15 years propping up the Scream films. Ryan Gilbey asks why.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
RE: links from some guy
Gee, I can't wait either! Santorum was a Representative and then a Senator from my part of Pennsylvania. Despicable little man. As a kid, he lived in the 'housing' for employees at the VA hospital in Butler, PA. The units were across the street from our home. 'Rooster' (as the kids called him) Santorum was in my daughter's class at school. Wasn't liked then either.
MAM
Thanks, Marianne!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, clear and cold.
Gains fFor Super-Rich
Income
In recent years, we've been hit with a barrage of statistics,, charts, and even full-length books , documenting how inequality is on the rise in America.
But very few of them capture what's happened over the last 30 years or so as well as this image:
Could Fetch $30 Million
Andy Warhol
An Andy Warhol self-portrait purchased in 1963 for $1,600 on an installment plan is poised to fetch $30 million or more when it hits the auction block at Christie's in May.
"Self-Portrait," a four-panel acrylic silkscreen depicting the pop artist wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, is being sold by the family of Detroit collector Florence Barron.
Barron first commissioned Warhol to paint her portrait, but changed her mind and suggested the young artist depict himself, telling him, "Nobody knows me ... They want to see you."
The result was Warhol's first self portrait, four images taken in a coin-operated photo booth rendered in hues of blue.
The portrait graced the living room wall of the family home in Detroit. It also went on public display, serving as the cover image for catalogs from major Warhol exhibitions and retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.
Andy Warhol
Christie's To Auction Jewelry
Liz Taylor
Christie's auction house says it has reached an agreement with Elizabeth Taylor's family to sell her prized jewelry collection, as well as some of her art, clothing and other memorabilia.
Christie's says it is planning a series of auctions that will be announced later this spring.
The screen star was known for her passion for opulent diamonds.
She published a book in 2003 entitled, "Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry," and her collection has included some of the world's most expensive stones.
Liz Taylor
Oregon Town Promotes Solar Energy
Pendleton
A cowboy grasping the reins of a bucking bronco has long been the image of this farm and ranch town. It's the emblem of the annual Pendleton Roundup, a celebration of the city's colorful past, when pioneers on the Oregon Trail settled the prairie.
Today, solar panels might just outnumber cowboys.
Rural Pendleton is blazing an unlikely renewable energy trail, offering no-interest loans to spark interest in solar power and a group-buy philosophy to get better prices. More than 50 residents installed systems last year, and the program was expanded to more residents and to include businesses this year.
Oregon earned a reputation for being a green leader years ago, with adoption of the first bottle bill in 1971 to encourage recycling and efforts to keep its beaches public.
However, many green efforts stem from the state's populated - and more liberal - west side. They're less likely to be found in Oregon's ruggedly conservative agricultural country.
Pendleton
Rush Of Phone Hack Claims
Rupert Murdoch's UK news arm faces a flood of fresh compensation claims and could be exposed to criminal prosecution after admitting its role in a long-running phone hacking scandal, lawyers said on Saturday.
News of the World Rupert
News International, parent company of Britain's top-selling News of the World tabloid, said on Friday it would admit liability and pay compensation in eight cases -- although many more believe they were targeted.
The admission was an about-turn from the media group's previous denial that it knew journalists were hacking the phones of the royal family, politicians, celebrities and sports stars, blaming a handful of "rogue reporters" for the scandal.
Analysts said the media group's move was an attempt to draw a line under the affair and limit potential financial costs as News Corp tries to push ahead with its planned $14 billion purchase of British satellite pay-TV operator BSkyB.
Settling all the cases could cost the group as much as 40 million pounds ($66 million), said media lawyer Rod Dadak, a partner of law firm Lewis Silkin which represents a number of potential phone hacking litigants.
News of the World Rupert
Fined Over Free Tickets
LA Councilmen
Four City Council members agreed to pay $13,300 in fines for improperly accepting free tickets to Hollywood shows and dinners, including the Academy Awards.
The city Ethics Commission, which issued a report on the fines Friday, is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to accept deals with Tony Cardenas, Eric Garcetti, Jose Huizar and Herb Wesson.
City law prohibited them from accepting gifts worth more than $100 a year from donors that have business before the city.
Ticket donors also have agreed to pay fines.
LA Councilmen
Lying Intact
Nazi Warplane
A rare World War Two German bomber, shot down over the English Channel in 1940 and hidden for years by shifting sands at the bottom of the sea, is so well preserved a British museum wants to raise it.
The Dornier 17 -- thought to be world's last known example -- was hit as it took part in the Battle of Britain.
It ditched in the sea just off the Kent coast, southeast England, in an area known as the Goodwin Sands.
The plane came to rest upside-down in 50 feet of water and has become partially visible from time to time as the sands retreated before being buried again.
Now a high-tech sonar survey undertaken by the Port of London Authority (PLA) has revealed the aircraft to be in a startling state of preservation.
Nazi Warplane
Legalizing Switchblades For One-Armed People
Maine
Maine lawmakers on Wednesday approved legalizing switchblades for people with one arm, moving close to becoming the first state to make such an exception to laws that ban use of the spring-action knives.
Backers of the measure say legalizing switchblades would eliminate a need for one-armed people to be forced to open folding knives with their teeth in emergencies.
The bill to allow amputees and other one-armed people to carry the quick-opening knives cleared Maine's Senate on Wednesday after passing the House on Tuesday, Senate officials said.
Until now, Maine banned the use of switchblades by anyone.
Maine
Stands Guard
Deer
A deer has been standing watch for several days over a female goose nesting in a city cemetery, a scene normally reserved for a children's movie.
"People always want to turn it into a Disney story and in this case it's not far off," said Gina Browning, director of the Erie County SPCA.
For at least four days, the buck stood guard near the nest of a Canada goose as she sits on her eggs inside a large urn at Forest Lawn cemetery, home to the remains of President Millard Fillmore and rock icon Rick James.
"He does appear to be guarding the goose, as it were," Erie County SPCA Wildlife Administrator Joel Thomas said. "He's within touching distance of her -- there's no doubt what's going on."
The deer, which he said looks like a buck that has shed its antlers, has not strayed from his post.
Deer
In Memory
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet, the award-winning director of such acclaimed films as "Network," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "12 Angry Men," has died. He was 86.
A Philadelphia native, Lumet moved to New York City as a child, and it became the location of choice for more than 30 of his films. Although he freely admitted to a lifelong love affair with the city, he often showed its grittier side.
Such dramas as "Prince of the City," "Q&A," "Night Falls on Manhattan" and "Serpico" looked at the hard lives and corruptibility of New York police officers. "Dog Day Afternoon" told the true-life story of two social misfits who set in motion a chain of disastrous events when they tried to rob a New York City bank on an oppressively hot summer afternoon.
Although he didn't work in Los Angeles, the director maintained good relations with the Hollywood studios, partly because he finished his pictures under schedule and budget. His television beginnings had schooled him in working fast, and he rarely shot more than four takes of a scene.
He was nominated four times for directing Academy Awards, and actors in his films won 17 Oscars. But Lumet himself never won.
"I'm also not a competitive man, but on two occasions I got so pissed off about what beat us," he told The Associated Press in 2006. "With 'Network,' we were beaten out by 'Rocky,' for Christ's sake." That year, the field also included "Taxi Driver" and "All the President's Men." In 1983, "The Verdict" lost to "Gandhi" - a year in which "E.T." also finished as an also-ran.
Lumet did receive an honorary Oscar in 2005 for lifetime achievement. He also received the Directors Guild of America's prestigious D.W. Griffith Award for lifetime achievement in 1993.
Lumet immediately established himself as an A-list director with his first theatrical film, 1957's "12 Angry Men," which took an early and powerful look at racial prejudice as it depicted 12 jurors trying to reach a verdict in a trial involving a young Hispanic man wrongly accused of murder. It garnered him his first Academy Award nomination.
Other Oscar nominations were for "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), "Network" (1976) and "The Verdict" (1982).
"Network," a scathing view of the television business, proved to be Lumet's most memorable film and created an enduring catch phrase when crazed newscaster Howard Beale exhorted his audience to raise their windows and shout, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
Beale, played by Peter Finch, is ultimately assassinated by his network bosses for lousy ratings.
"That's the only part of 'Network' that hasn't happened yet, and that's on its way," Lumet later said.
It won Academy Awards for Paddy Chayefsky for best screenplay, Finch as best actor (presented posthumously) and Faye Dunaway as best actress.
Although best known for his hard-bitten portrayals of urban life, Lumet's resume also included films based on noted plays: Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night," Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge," and Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending," which was made into "The Fugitive Kind." He also dealt with such matters as the Holocaust ("The Pawnbroker"), nuclear war ("Fail-Safe") and the convicted Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg ("Daniel").
He directed a highly successful Agatha Christie mystery, the all-star "Murder on the Orient Express," as well.
Other popular Lumet films included "Running On Empty," "Equus," "Family Business' and "The Wiz."
The director was born June 25, 1924, in Philadelphia to a pair of Yiddish stage performers, and he began his show business career as a child actor, appearing on radio at age 4.
He made his Broadway debut in 1934 with a small role in Sidney Kingsley's acclaimed "Dead End," and he twice played Jesus, in Max Reinhardt's production of "The Eternal Road" and Maxwell Anderson's "Journey to Jerusalem."
After serving as a radar repairman in India and Burma during World War II, Lumet returned to New York and formed an acting company. In 1950, Yul Brynner, a friend and a director at CBS-TV, invited him to join the network as an assistant director. Soon he rose to director, working on 150 episodes of the "Danger" thriller as well as other series.
The advent of live TV dramas boosted Lumet's reputation. Like Arthur Penn, John Frankenheimer, Delbert Mann and other directors of television drama's Golden Age, he smoothly made the transition to movies.
Lumet continued directing features into his 80s, and in 2001 he returned to his television roots, creating, writing, directing and executive producing a cable series, "100 Centre Street." It was filmed in his beloved New York.
His first three marriages ended in divorce: to actress Rita Gam, heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and Lena Horne's daughter, Gail Jones. In 1980, he married journalist Mary Gimbel.
He is survived by his wife, daughters Amy and Jenny Lumet, stepchildren Leslie and Bailey Gimbel, nine grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
Sidney Lumet
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