'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Stephen Pizzo: Bush: Worst President Ever? (News for Real. Posted on Alternet)
Herbert Hoover may have triggered the Great Depression, but he didn't invade another nation on false pretenses, authorize torture of prisoners, or try to stack the courts.
Paul Krugman: The Chinese Connection (NY Times)
(Click on "Columns," then on "The Chinese Connection.")
Stories about the new Treasury report condemning China's currency policy probably had most readers going, "Huh?" Frankly, this is an issue that confuses professional economists, too. But let me try to explain what's going on.
Annalee Newitz: Burn Your License (AlterNet)
As of last week, we have a new card to burn. I'm talking about the new driver's licenses and ID cards ushered into existence by the passage of the Real ID Act.
Jim Hightower: Mother Nature Dumps on George (AlterNet)
Please volunteer with your local Sierra Club or other grassroots environmental group to defeat George's corporate assault on Mother Earth.
CATHERINE O'SULLIVAN: Only if you get your balls done first ... (Tucsonweekly.com)
I was talking to a friend the other day. She wants to get her tits done, as in augmented, also elevated. They just don't look the way they used to.
Sell Your Old Cell Phone
Note: You won't get much money, but it is a way to "recycle" your old cell phones.
Cathy Resmer: Heart of Darthness: Confessions of a former Skywalker (Seven Days: Vermont's Alternative Webweekly)
George Lucas didn't make me gay, but I think my mother blamed him when I came out to her nine years ago.
ROGER EBERT: Cannes #7: Odds and sods
CANNES, France -- In this festival of smooth, mannered style, what a jolt to encounter "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," directed by Tommy Lee Jones.
The Writings of Greg Palast
Jim Hightower
News for Real
Reader Comment
Plumbers suck...
Hey, Marty:
Man, I'm totally identifying with your plumbing fiasco, as I had to have the seal replaced on the toilet this week. My experience wasn't as bad as yours, but it was enough to piss me off!
The plumber, of course, had to leave for a while, and I walked in to check his progress while he was gone and he was using my toothbrush glass to catch a leak from the input valve! I tried to stay calm, thinking I'll just Clorox the hell out of it later. When he left, though, he just put it back up on the shelf and never told me he had used it! If I wouldn't have seen it...well, you get the picture!
In addition, instead of bringing rags, or even asking me if I had any to use, he used my pure white bath towels to soak up the watery, sludgy mess on the floor. They will never be white again, I'm afraid, which really pisses me off!
WTF is wrong with these people? Apparently, they haven't heard of the 19th century Germ Theory...
Hope your get your kitchen problem resolved quickly!!
Good luck, Tiera H.
Thanks, Tiera!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & about 15° above seasonal.
We've been adopted by another sickly old cat. We've named her 'Sascha'.
She seems to be part Siamese, with long gray fur and light blue eyes.
Plaque On The Freeway
Beach Boys
Hundreds of fans and three Beach Boys gathered Friday to unveil a state historical landmark at the site of the home of the legendary band's founding brothers - demolished in the mid-1980s to make way for a freeway.
"A wonderful monument, isn't it?" laughed Al Jardine, holding his palms upward toward the tree-lined Interstate 105 embankment and sound wall. "Progress. Can't stop progress."
With Brian Wilson's cousin Mike Love, and Wilson's brothers, Carl and Dennis, the group rented instruments for $300 from a nearby music shop and recorded a demo tape of "Surfin'." Jardine said he played bass while Wilson kept the beat on drums with his fingers. The Beach Boys were born.
The actual landmark rests about where the Wilson family's lawn began. It is a brick wall emblazoned with names of donors, a bronze plaque, and an etching of six Beach Boys carrying a surfboard, reminiscent of the group's "Surfin' Safari" album cover.
Beach Boys
Fundraiser in Vienna
Life Ball
Liza Minnelli, Elton John and Donatella Versace were among the celebrities who gathered in Vienna for Saturday's Life Ball, a charity gala dedicated to raising money to fight AIDS.
Versace is presenting a fashion show to kick off the event, which organizers hope will raise as much as $1.3 million. The show will display for the first time some designs created by her late brother, Gianni, before he was gunned down in Miami Beach in 1997.
The 13th annual event at Vienna's City Hall is known for the extravagant costumes worn by the thousands of guests, who often come in feathers, sparkle, glitter - and little else. The celebrities and organizers hope to draw attention to combatting the disease.
Life Ball
No Ahnold Fan
Warren Beatty
Actor Warren Beatty, who has been considered a potential candidate for California governor, said on Saturday he does not want to run in next year's election, even as he lashed out against incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies.
Beatty, invited to speak to graduates of the University of California at Berkeley's public policy school, has never held public office, but he has been a trusty supporter of Democratic presidential candidates for decades. In recent months, the two movie stars have sparred in separate public appearances that hinted at a possible political showdown.
"I'm an opponent of (Schwarzenegger's) muscle-bound conservatism with longer experience in politics than he has," the star of the political satire "Bulworth" said at the commencement ceremony.
"And although I don't want to run for governor, I would do one hell of a lot better job than he's done," the 68-year-old actor said. "I could name you a lot of Democrats who would be so much better than I would, and maybe even a few Republicans."
Warren Beatty
The Fred M. Rogers Center
Bill Isler
Fred Rogers' former confidant and collaborator has been tapped to lead a center in honor of the creator of public television's "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
Bill Isler, head of Family Communications Inc., the nonprofit created by Rogers, was named Friday as executive director of The Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at St. Vincent College.
The $12 million center will train educators to use media, including television, to teach young children.
Bill Isler
Launching Indie-Friendly Theaters
Sundance
Robert Redford's Sundance Group will launch Sundance Cinemas, a movie theater chain for independent, documentary and foreign-language films as well as some studio projects.
"Anything which helps new and interesting voices in the cultural realm reach more people can only enrich the experience of artists, audiences and communities," Redford said.
Sundance Cinemas will be operated by the theater management team of Paul Richardson and Vert Manzari. The pair has worked together since starting an exhibition theater in 1975. That enterprise was merged with Landmark Theatres in 1982, growing into the largest art theater circuit in the country. Richardson and Manzari left Landmark in 2004.
The number of new theaters was not released. But Manzari said Sundance Cinemas is looking nationally for locations.
Sundance
Hosting Party-Hopping 'Wild On!'
Tara Reid
"Wild On!" is back, and Tara Reid has signed on as host. The travel series will debut its new season in August, E! Entertainment Television said Friday.
Reid, star of "Van Wilder," "Josie and the Pussycats" and the "American Pie" movies, will take viewers along "as she skips to the front of the line and straight past the bouncer at the wildest parties in the world," E! said in a statement.
Tara Reid
Strip Club Suit Transferred
Catherine Zeta-Jones
A lawsuit filed by Catherine Zeta-Jones over a Nevada strip club's use of her image will be transferred to a federal court there.
On Thursday, a judge granted a change of venue request by the club owner, who claimed the club didn't have links to California.
Zeta-Jones sued Reno-based The Spice House in October, alleging the club had used her image for advertising on its Web site without her permission.
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Breast Reduction Surgery
Lara Croft
In an attempt to appeal to more female players the creators of computer game icon Lara Croft have re-vamped her image to remove one of her most prominent and remarked-upon features -- her generous bust.
For years, Croft's gravity-defying chest, waspish waist and long legs have delighted teenage boys playing the various editions of "Tomb Raider," the computer game in which she stars.
According to Saturday's edition of The Times newspaper, British computer game firm Eidos, which created Croft, has changed her physique to one less likely to put off female players.
In the soon-to-be-released "Tomb Raider: Legend," the eighth title to feature Croft, her DD-size bust has been reduced to a more modest C-cup and some of her more revealing outfits have been ditched, the report said.
Lara Croft
Out Of State Shake Down Tour
Ahnold
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Philanderer) has embarked on a multistate fundraising swing to collect some of the estimated $50 million his advisers say he will need to wage a special election campaign in his own state.
Schwarzenegger's (R-Botox) first scheduled stop was to be Tampa on Friday, to be followed by a lunch in Miami on Saturday with Gov. Jeb Bush and deep-pocket donors. He then heads to Illinois and Texas, where he ends with a cocktail and dinner party Monday night in Dallas.
Schwarzenegger's (R-Musclehead) fundraising blitz seems to be an acknowledgment the money to bankroll his initiatives is not forthcoming in California, political strategist Garry South said.
Schwarzenegger (R-Buffoon) has proposed three ballot measures to put before voters in a November election that is estimated to cost taxpayers $70 million to $80 million. He wants to cap state spending; institute a longer probation period for new teachers; and have retired judges rather than lawmakers draw legislative boundaries.
Ahnold
58th Cannes Film Festival
Winners
Awards given Saturday at the 58th Cannes Film Festival, selected by a nine-member jury headed by Sarajevo-born filmmaker Emir Kusturica:
_Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): "The Child," Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium)
_Grand Prize: "Broken Flowers," Jim Jarmusch (United States)
_Jury Prize: "Shanghai Dreams," Wang Xiaoshuai (China)
_Best Director: "Hidden," Michael Haneke (Austria)
_Best Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (United States)
_Best Actress: Hanna Laslo, "Free Zone," Israel
_Best Screenplay: "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," Guillermo Arriaga (Mexican screenwriter, U.S. film)
_Golden Camera (first-time director): "Me and You and Everyone We Know," Miranda July, (United States), and "The Forsaken Land," Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka)
_Best short film: "Wayfarers," Igor Strembitskyy (Ukraine)
Winners
Friday Night
Daytime Emmys
Ellen DeGeneres made it two-for-two on Friday, copping a second consecutive Daytime Emmy award for outstanding talk show in her program's second year, then added another award for best talk show host.
"General Hospital" won the Emmy for best soap opera for the eighth time, breaking the Daytime Emmys' record for the top drama award.
Another famous host, Martha Stewart, also picked up an Emmy for outstanding service show for "Martha Stewart Living." But the lifestyle guru, who was recently released from prison after an insider trading scandal, lost to Bobby Flay ("Boy Meets Grill") and Michael Chiarello ("Easy Entertaining"), who tied for best service show host.
Top acting honors went to Erika Slezak of "One Life to Live," who joined the cast in 1971 and won a record sixth Emmy on Friday as best actress, while Christian Jules LeBlanc of "The Young and the Restless" was named best actor on his first foray in that category.
Veteran talk show host-turned game show producer Merv Griffin, who created both "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune," was presented with the lifetime achievement award.
Best game show went to "Jeopardy" for the 10th time, while former journalist Meredith Vieira was named outstanding game show host, her first win in the category, for the daytime version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."
Other noteworthy winners included Henry Winkler of "Happy Days" fame, who was named outstanding performer in an animated program for "Clifford's Puppy Days," and Stockard Channing who won the Emmy for best performance in a family special for "Jack."
Daytime Emmys
