'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Michael Hamersly: The always politically incorrect Bill Maher talks politics, cannibals (McClatchy Newspapers)
To say Bill Maher is politically incorrect is about as much of an understatement as is possible. In fact, the wry comedian was so politically incorrect regarding 9-11 that ABC canceled his show, "Politically Incorrect." Seems Maher disagreed with the popular sentiment that the suicide bombings were an act of cowardice, and the ensuing uproar sealed his fate.
FROMA HARROP: Cosby Is the Real Prophet, Not Wright (creators.com)
Jeremiah, you're no Jeremiah. Although Barack Obama's controversial former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright puts himself at the center of a prophetic tradition of the Afro-American church, he's not much of a prophet. The prophet in the Biblical mode often tells his people what they don't want to hear. Wright only mimics the prophet in his fiery condemnations of America. When it comes to the feelings of those who employ him, he's strictly on tiptoe.
TOM DANEHY: When did conservatives abandon conservation? (tucsonweekly.com)
Pardon my asking, but don't the words "conserve" and "conservative" come from the same root? I used to think so, but after talking to a few self-proclaimed conservatives these past couple of weeks, I'm not so sure any more. Republicans are singing a distinct tune these days.
Peter Miller: Why Are We Always on the Wrong Side? (A Comic Book Offers Answers) (huffingtonpost.com)
Howard Zinn's new "A People's History of American Empire" provides a damning account of America's empire building - And it does it all with cartoons.
Helaine Olen: My Personal Recession Indicator (huffingtonpost.com)
My idiosyncratic take on life as it is lived by middle-class women has not failed as an indicator during several economic downturns. Almost all signs are currently flashing either yellow or red.
JOEL STEIN: This bud's for you, and you, and you too (latimes.com)
How I got my hands on some marijuana -- the legal (and easy) way.
Jennifer Maerz: Meet the Rosenthals (SF Weekly)
One six-story warehouse in San Francisco is home to two generations of art stars: filmmaker/musician Henry S. Rosenthal, his wife, Carlota Anderson, and their kids George and Lou Lou of the band Lou Lou and the Guitarfish.
Michael Hann: Hail, Hail, Rock'n'Roll (arts.guardian.co.uk)
'It's rare to have to search music out these days, but the deferred gratification in finding that long-sought rarity is still hard to beat'
GENE ARMSTRONG: Taking Her Time (tucsonweekly.com)
Kathleen Edwards brings a sharp wit and charm to her alt-country creations.
Justin Strout: When Simple Isn't (Orlando Weekly)
Orlando's newest indie rockers Baron Von Bear are serious about their fun.
Tony Sachs: "Frank Sinatra: Ten Years After His Death, The Best Is Yet To Come" (huffingtonpost.com)
Would you believe me if I told you that over 60 studio recordings exist of Frank Sinatra singing with a small jazz band--over two dozen of which he never recorded before or after in the studio?
Me and Mr Jones: is John Hurt a villain? (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
He played Quentin Crisp, got drunk with Oliver Reed. But is John Hurt the latest Indiana Jones bad guy, asks Kevin Maher.
Reader Suggestion
Re: Sky Bridge in Langkawi, Malaysia
Marty
Enjoyed the sky bridge in Langkawi, Malaysia. I was recently sent the clip below of the El Caminito del Rey in El Chorro, near Alora in Malaga , Spaint. Talk about gephyrophobiacs . . . that is me for sure!
El Caminito del Rey (The King's pathway) is a walkway, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga , Spain. The walkway has gone many years without maintenance, and is in a highly deteriorated and dangerous state. It is only one meter in width, and over a 700-meter fall, and over time it has also lost its handrail. Some parts of the walkway have completely collapsed and have been replaced by a beam and a metallic wire on the wall. Many people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years. After four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances. However, adventurous tourists still find their way into the walkway.
The view and the music are almost like being in a video game...very cool!
Oh yes... once you get to the website and click the 'Play' button - you must go FULL SCREEN!!
To watch the video - click here
MAM
Thanks, Marianne!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Marine layer is hanging tough - got about an hour of sun mid-afternoon.
Dog Fan
Glenn Close
Glenn Close's signature characters have boiled a bunny, plotted the skinning of Dalmatian puppies and, more recently, helped arrange the killing of a pet dog to leverage a balky witness.
She suggests that her new business venture is a form of penance.
Close, who writes a blog on fetchdog.com, is the public face of the business that sells high-end beds, bowls, leashes, carriers, toys and other dog products by catalog and on the Internet while building an online community of Web surfers whose dogs are an essential part of their lives.
In her blog, "Lively Licks," Close interviews celebrities about their dogs, profiles people who train or work with dogs and answers questions on topics ranging from puppy training to canine health and nutrition. And like actor Paul Newman's line of "Newman's Own" salad dressings, spaghetti sauces and other grocery items, Fetchdog funnels a portion of its proceeds to charity.
Glenn Close
Narrow Escape In Burma
Dan Rivers
A CNN reporter who left Myanmar Friday was chased by authorities as he reported on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis but escaped primarily because of the incompetence of the people after him.
Dan Rivers hid under a blanket at one police checkpoint and casually covered up his name on a passport to avoid detection another time. He may ultimately have gotten out of the country due to a stewardess' impatience.
Rivers' story illustrates the preoccupation of Myanmar's military government with things other than helping the country recover from a storm that killed thousands and left many survivors homeless. Aid groups have reported difficulties in getting badly needed supplies and relief workers into the secretive country.
Rivers sneaked into the country on Monday - he wouldn't say how - and for a day reported the story without saying his name or showing his face onscreen.
Dan Rivers
Child 'Forrest Gump'
Michael Conner Humphreys
As a boy, Michael Conner Humphreys made a splash on the silver screen as "Young Forrest Gump." As an adult, he somewhat mirrored the life of his movie character: He joined the Army and fought in an unpopular war.
Humphreys' enlistment ends June 4 and Hollywood is already calling. He's landed a role in an independent film, playing, of course, a soldier.
Humphreys said making "Forrest Gump" was a great experience and he fondly remembers Hanks and Sally Field, who played his mother.
He joined the Army in 2005, fulfilling a deep-seated desire to serve his country. He is an infantryman assigned to a tank battalion and was once stationed at the same post in Germany where Elvis Presley stayed. In the movie, Elvis stayed overnight with the Gumps, teaching the boy to dance.
Michael Conner Humphreys
Honorary Degree
William Gibson
The man who coined the word "cyberspace" has returned to his home page.
Author William Gibson was given an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, where he was born 60 years ago and which he last saw when he was 5.
"I was born here in the middle of the previous century, and spent the last 30 years writing about imaginary versions of the current century," Gibson said in a short address Saturday. "Somehow, I never expected to see Conway in the 21st century. I think it looks very good indeed, and I'm proud to be born here."
Gibson came up with the term now used for the Internet in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer."
William Gibson
Maine Shipyard Christens Destroyer
Vice Adm. James Stockdale
The Navy's newest guided missile destroyer was christened Saturday with the name of a fighter pilot who spent 7 1/2 years in captivity in North Vietnam, received the Medal of Honor and served as presidential candidate Ross Perot's running mate.
Four Medal of Honor recipients and seven former prisoners of war attended the ceremony at Bath Iron Works that marked a milestone in construction of the 9,200-ton ship named for Vice Adm. James Stockdale.
Stockdale's widow, Sybil, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and uses a wheelchair, let loose a champagne bottle propelled by rope that swung across the Stockdale's bow. On the second try, the bottle exploded, the band broke into "Anchors Aweigh" and red, white and blue streamers filled the air.
The Stockdale, the 56th destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class and the 30th to be built at Bath, is scheduled to undergo sea trials in September and be delivered to the Navy a month later. It will sail early next year to its home port of San Diego, not far from where its namesake had retired.
Vice Adm. James Stockdale
Won't Be Back
"Back to You"
Fox has made the first series pickup of the network "upfront" season, ordering the comedy "The Inn," described as "Upstairs/Downstairs" set at a hip New York hotel.
The network also renewed the sophomore-season sitcom "'Til Death," starring Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher.
In a somewhat surprising move, Fox opted not to bring back freshman comedy "Back to You" for a second season. The TV-newsroom-set show was created by Christopher Lloyd and stars Kelsey Grammer and Patrica Heaton.
"'Til Death" and "Back to You" -- both multicamera sitcoms -- have run in a block to OK but not spectacular ratings. With its marquee talent in front of and behind the camera, however, "Back to You" is a far more expensive production.
"Back to You"
McBush Pick Quits
Doug Goodyear
Doug Goodyear, the man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar.
"Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign."
Goodyear, chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted a story posted online that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent Myanmar's junta.
The Newsweek article also reported that some of Goodyear's allies worry that worry the choice of Goodyear could fuel perceptions that McCain is surrounded by lobbyists. DCI Group earned $3 million last year lobbying for ExxonMobil, General Motors and other clients, the report said.
Doug Goodyear
Pretty In Pink?
DMX
Rap star DMX was arrested on Friday on suspicion of drug possession and animal cruelty after two searches of his home allegedly turned up weapons, drugs, dog carcasses and abused pit bulls.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said DMX, 37, whose real name is Earl Simmons, initially barricaded himself in his bedroom when officers arrived at his home at 3 a.m. He eventually surrendered without offering further resistance.
It was the second time this week DMX, who rose to fame with hard-core rap songs and hit albums like "It's Dark and Hell is Hot," has run afoul of Arizona authorities.
On Tuesday, state police arrested him for driving at speeds as high as 114 miles per hour (183 kph) on a freeway.
DMX
Set To Be Finalized
McCartney Divorce
Paul McCartney and his estranged wife Heather Mills are scheduled to return to London's High Court on Monday for their divorce to be formally finalized.
At the hearing before Justice Hugh Bennett, the couple are likely to be granted a divorce on the uncontested basis that they have lived apart for two years.
In March, Bennett blasted Mills, branding her evidence in a battle over her divorce settlement as "inconsistent and inaccurate."
He ended up awarding Mills 24.3 million pounds ($48.7 million) -- a fifth of the sum she had been seeking. That still gave her the equivalent of about $34,000 for each day of her four-year marriage to the pop icon.
McCartney Divorce
Case Can Go To Trial
Jamie Leigh Jones
A woman who said she was raped by co-workers while employed by a contractor in Iraq can take her claims to trial, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Jamie Leigh Jones filed a federal lawsuit last year, saying she was attacked while working for a Halliburton Co. subsidiary at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005. Her lawsuit claims that after she endured harassment from some of the men where she lived in coed barracks, she was drugged and raped by Halliburton and KBR firefighters.
Jones, a former Conroe resident, said a KBR representative imprisoned her in a shipping container for a day so she wouldn't report the assault.
Halliburton's attorneys argued in March that the employment agreement Jones signed says any claims made by an employee against the company that in any way touch on his or her employment have to be settled through arbitration, in which a third party would resolve the case through a private hearing process.
Jamie Leigh Jones
Historic Cabin Vandalized
SpongeBob SquarePants
The U.S. Forest Service is looking for the "SpongeBob fanatics" who painted the cartoon character on the chimney of a historic building.
The 10-foot tall painting of Nickelodeon character SpongeBob SquarePants is on a cabin in the Pike National Forest that used to be the Forest Service's tree nursery until it was abandoned in the 1930s. Forest Service law enforcement officer Tom Healy says the incident is part of an increase in vandalism in the area.
Officials say whoever painted the cartoon on the chimney brought four colors of paint and that it was a time-consuming venture.
Healy says it will cost several thousand dollars to wipe the animated yellow sea sponge's image from the site.
SpongeBob SquarePants
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