Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Susan Estrich: The Future of Marriage (creators.com)
Maybe it's just a coincidence that the "Today" show and United States District Judge Joseph Tauro of Massachusetts reached essentially the same conclusion on the same day. But I'm one of those people who believe there is no such thing as a coincidence. No, I'd call it a trend in the right direction.
George Lakoff: Why Conservative Lies Spread and What Progressives Can Do to Fight Them (alternet.org)
When Democrats use conservative language to promote their agenda, it ultimately creates more support for Republicans.
David Lazarus: A four-week hassle to get a $4 rebate (latimes.com)
Mail-in rebates can be a minefield of sneaky requirements and exclusions. You almost suspect that big businesses don't really want people claiming the money they're due.
Jim HIghtower: STOMPING ON AMERICA'S WORKERS (jimhightower.com)
Republican congress critters have once again stomped on the fingers of out-of-work Americans who're clinging to unemployment aid to keep from tumbling into the depths of poverty. Every single Republican senator recently locked arms to block consideration of a $33 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits to those who've been without work for more than six months, at which point their jobless payments expire.
Matt Miller: Jobs now, deficits . . . soon! (washingtonpost.com)
I come before you, in other words, a deficit hawk to the core. But it is the height of economic folly -- and socially dangerous, in my view -- to elevate deficit reduction as a goal today over boosting jobs and growth. Especially when there are ways to goose the economy while at the same time legislating changes that move us toward fiscal sanity once we're past this stagnation.
CATHERINE RAMPELL: They Did Their Homework (800 Years of It) (nytimes.com)
THE advertisement warns of speculative financial bubbles. It mocks a group of gullible Frenchmen seduced into a silly, 18th-century investment scheme, noting that the modern shareholder, armed with superior information, can avoid the pitfalls of the past. "How different the position of the investor today!" the ad enthuses.
Ray Fisman: The Almighty Dollar (slate.com)
Are preachers motivated by the desire to save souls or to make cold, hard cash?
Sandy Banks: Forgiveness is the best revenge (latimes.com)
A desire 'to set the record straight' brings the realization that even in tragedy there are blessings.
Brian Palmer: No Teacher Left Behind (slate.com)
When did it get to be so hard to fire a teacher?
roger ebert's journal: Video games 13,823, Huck Finn 8,088
If they had their choice, 63.1% of people would value "a great video game" over Huckleberry Finn. That's the result of a completely unscientific survey I conducted in two places: Twitter, and my recent blog about video games.
Dr. Andrew Weil: Fat or Carbs: Which Is Worse? (huffingtonpost.com)
In my home state of Arizona, a restaurant named "Heart Attack Grill" does brisk business in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb. Waitresses in nurse-themed uniforms with miniskirts deliver single, double, triple and quadruple "bypass burgers" (featuring one, two, three and four hefty patties, respectively) dripping with cheese, to patrons who wear hospital gowns that double as bibs. The motto: "Taste Worth Dying For!"
Greta Guest: Borders launches e-book sales (Detroit Free Press)
Borders Group launched its eBook store Wednesday morning at Borders.com. The store features more than 1.5 million titles available for immediate download with prices such as 79 cents for "Rules of Deception" by Christopher Reich and $14.99 for "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult. Some digital titles sell for $18, said Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis.
Chris Riemenschneider: "Devo Evolves: Once-Futuristic Hitmakers Might Be Right on Time" (Star Tribune)
"We grappled with the [record] industry the first time around, but now it gave us this glimmer of hope that we could do something new and interesting instead of being pontificated to by people that controlled the faucet."
The Weekly Poll
Summer Sabbatical
Poll returns 13 July!
BadToTheBoneBob
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Puzzled By Russian Spy Motives
John le Carre
John le Carre, master of the Cold War espionage novel, says he can't comprehend what the 10 Russian spies kicked out of the United States this week thought they were doing.
In a commentary published Saturday in The Guardian newspaper, le Carre writes: "Who did they think they were protecting in their distorted, programmed little minds as they tried and tried again, unsuccessfully, to slither up the slippery pole of western society?"
Le Carre - the pen name of David Cornwell - says there was a time when spies had motives, and took their place in a great struggle between capitalism and communism.
But now, says le Carre: "What was there to choose between Mother Russia and Mother America, two huge continents out of control drowning together in the oily waters of capitalism?"
John le Carre
Trigger To Be Auctioned
Roy Rogers
An upcoming New York City auction will feature the belongings of movie cowboy Roy Rogers - including the preserved remains of his famous horse, Trigger.
Christie's in Manhattan held a preview Friday for next week's auction. The items are from the now-closed Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Branson, Mo.
Rogers had his faithful companion preserved with taxidermy in 1965. The presale estimate for the dead horse is $100,000 to $200,000.
The auction also will offer another kind of horsepower - Rogers' 1964 Bonneville convertible, adorned with collectible silver dollars. It's estimated at $100,000 to $150,000.
Roy Rogers
More Rant Audio To Come
Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson
The two-minute clip of Mel Gibson using a racial slur and calling his ex-girlfriend a "whore" during an argument are unlikely to be the last ugly words the public hears from the actor.
RadarOnline.com, the celebrity website that posted the recording Friday, says there's more where that came from.
For 10 days, the site has posted written transcripts of secret recordings it said Gibson's former girlfriend, Russian singer Oksana Grigorieva, had made. The snippet released Friday is the first audio of the confrontations that have been aired.
David Perel, RadarOnline's founder and executive vice president, told The Associated Press that the site had heard "a substantial portion" of 30 minutes of recordings Grigorieva had made. Perel said more audio clips will likely be released in coming days.
Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson
Court Details Long, Strange Road To Sequel
"Easy Rider"
Considering the lack of courtroom success that Hollywood studios have had lately, perhaps the best legal strategy is to hide.
Consider Polestar Entertainment, a film production company that has just escaped a $700,000 default judgment for allegedly defrauding a man who invested in a sequel to the 1969 cult fave "Easy Rider." The company was able to get out of the penalty on the grounds that it didn't know a trial was going on. A Missouri appeals court has ruled that the court award was a violation of the defendants' due process rights.
The plaintiff in the case was the estate of Al Kerth III, perhaps most infamous in Hollywood for helping relocate the Rams from Los Angeles to St. Louis. In 1999, Kerth invested $125,000 with Polestar, run by Glenn Tobias, for a planned sequel to "Easy Rider."
Kerth committed suicide in 2002, and in sorting his affairs, lawyers for the estate discovered the agreement. In 2004, the estate filed a lawsuit against Tobias and two of his companies, Polestar and Besdine Management Company, alleging fraud and breach of contract.
"Easy Rider"
Cancels Controversial Cyprus Show
J-Lo
Jennifer Lopez called off a controversial birthday show in the breakaway north of Cyprus, provoking celebrations Friday by Greek Cypriots while Turkish Cypriots denounced the move.
The furor over a luxury hotel inauguration showed how easily bitter rivalry can flare up between Cypriots across the ethnic divide, even as the two sides are locked in fruitless peace talks.
Reports that Lopez would perform at a hotel in the breakaway Turkish north on her 41st birthday this month triggered a Greek Cypriot online campaign pushing for cancellation.
Greek Cypriots viewed Lopez's July 24 appearance as helping legitimize the Mediterranean island's violent division. Cyprus was split into a Greek speaking south and a Turkish speaking north in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
Turkish Cypriots declared an independent state in 1983 that is only recognized by Turkey, which maintains 35,000 troops there. Both sides have come closer in recent years, but hopes are fading that long-drawn peace talks can reach a reunification deal any time soon.
J-Lo
Antiques Dealer Faces Jail
Shakespeare Folio
An unemployed British antiques dealer with a taste for the high life faces jail after he was convicted Friday of handling a stolen copy of a rare first collection of Shakespeare's plays.
Raymond Scott, 53, who drove a yellow Ferrari and posed as an international playboy despite having huge debts, walked into one of the world's leading Shakespeare research centers with the 17th century book.
Staff at the renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. recognized the valuable book and called the police, the British Embassy and the FBI.
A jury at Newcastle Crown Court in northeast England found Scott guilty of handling stolen goods and removing stolen property from Britain, the Press Association said. However, he was cleared of stealing the book from Durham University in 1988.
Shakespeare Folio
Rape Charges Are 'Set Up'
Mikhail Pletnev
Acclaimed Russian conductor Mikhail Pletnev on Saturday again protested his innocence after being charged with raping a teenage boy in Thailand, saying the affair was a "set up."
"A big company wants to present me as a criminal, which I am not," Pletnev told a press conference at this Macedonian lake resort, without elaborating.
"Nowhere in the world I did anything wrong. On the contrary, I have done a lot of good things in Thailand, which inhabitants there could tell about," Pletnev said.
Earlier this week in Moscow Pletnev denied the charges, saying he could not imagine himself in the role of a rapist and he was against all forms of violence "especially when it concerns children."
Mikhail Pletnev
NY Court Tosses Suit Over Photo
'Couple's Retreat'
A former model might not like what the movie "Couple's Retreat" did with her years-old bikini photo, but a court says the comedy's distributors have no legal exposure.
Irina Krupnik's lawyer said Friday she was considering appealing a Manhattan judge's decision to dismiss her $10 million defamation lawsuit against NBC Universal Inc.
The judge noted last month that Krupnik signed a document waiving her rights to control the picture when it was taken in 2001. A stock agency eventually sold it to the makers of "Couple's Retreat."
A character in the 2009 movie deploys the photo as a sexual aid. Krupnik argued she never imagined such a use when she signed the photo release.
'Couple's Retreat'
China Court Accepts Plagiarism Case
'Avatar'
A Beijing court will hear a case filed against "Avatar" director James Cameron by a Chinese man who claims the idea for the sci-fi film came from a novel he published, state media said Saturday.
After throwing out the case in March due to insufficient evidence, the court agreed to the hearing after Zhou Shaomou dropped a demand for as much as 147 million dollars in compensation, the China Daily said, citing the author.
Besides Cameron, Zhou is also suing 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, two Chinese movie distributors and Haidian Theatre where he watched the film.
"Avatar" has been wildly popular in China, quickly becoming the highest-grossing film in the country's history after its January 4 release in both 2D and 3D versions.
'Avatar'
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