'Best of TBH Politoons'
Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday - Friday
Erin Hart
Please join Erin Hart as she fills in on the afternoon drive on AM760 Progressive Talk in Denver
all next week (except Thursday) from 3pm to 6pm (pdt) | 4pm to 7pm (mdt) | 5pm to 8pm (cdt) | 6pm to 9pm (edt).
Senator John McCain, visits Colorado and the Dalai Lama in Aspen. He dared Obama to go abroad and now complains. . . .
Senator Barack Obama looks more and more like a Commander in Chief as he rocks the houses of Europe; and does very well in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Did Obama's trip increase his stature? It must have, because attacks coming out of the McShame camp sound truly pathetic.
Is McCain REALLY gaining in the polls in CO and other battleground states, and what does that mean at this stage?
Will the U.S. House of Representative hearings on GW Bush's whacking of executive power make any difference?
Will CO go blue all the way? Talk to delegates from all walks of life set to attend the Democratic Convention.
Who truly has the best plan for improvements in the U.S. economy and what can candidates say and do to make you feel more secure about whether our country is headed?
And talk to Sustainable Dave (Chameides) about his 365 Days of Trash project and learn tips on how to be even more green than we are blue right now!
For more information check out Erin Hart Show
Who Do You Think Should Be Obama's VP?
The Thursday Poll
The current question:
Last Sunday in an interview with CBS, Senator Obama said that an increase in troops, "...two Brigades, perhaps three..." is necessary in Afghanistan. Are you in favor of that escalation? (three brigades is approximately 15,000 soldiers)
Fresh poll questions appear on Monday and Thursday, with Monday's results on Thursday, and Thursday's results on Monday. Might even have some charts and graphs.
Send your responses, and a (short) reason why, to BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
M.J. Rosenberg: Obama's Overseas Success: What's His Secret? (tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com)
I think I have read every word Barack Obama uttered on his visits to Israel and Palestine and I'm struck by his ability to navigate this tricky issue with such dexterity. After all, everybody is just waiting for him to trip up on the Arab-Israeli issue. Joe Lieberman, the Israeli media, the right-wing pro-Israel organizations are just waiting to pounce on some misstep. It didn't happen, just as it didn't happen in Afghanistan or Iraq.
John Derbyshire: Talking to the Plumber (nationalreview.com)
U.S. society today is very nearly a pure meritocracy, perhaps the purest there has ever been. If you display any ability at all in your early years, you will be marked for induction into the overclass, especially if you belong to some designated victim group. (We preen ourselves endlessly - and pardonably - on how much more "inclusive" our present elites are than our past ones. This is one of the ways we avoid thinking about the necessity for any elite to be exclusive in some fashion.) There are still trust-fund kids, but they are not very consequential in this meritocracy.
Carl Honoré: Recession? The perfect time to slow down (guardian.co.uk)
Maybe the economic slump and soaring oil prices is our chance to relearn the lost art of slowing down.
Joel Stein: Taking all the fun out of cycling (latimes.com)
Why would you watch the Tour de France without the doped-up athletes?
Garrison Keillor: Summer civility and the promise of more to come
New York in July, hot and breezy, the smell of pizza and coffee in the air, and on the subway one is surrounded by women in light summer dresses, the bare shoulders of elegant young urban women whose shoulders tell you they never toted barges or lifted bales, never laid eyes on a barge or a bale except for someone barging into their office and giving them a baleful look.
Chris Robé: "30 Days: The Complete Second Season" (popmatters.com)
Ever since the 2004 release of Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock has been treated by the commercial press as a kinder-and-gentler version of Michael Moore: thinner, younger, and more personable-with a gorgeous vegan chef, Alex Jamieson, as his accomplice.
Jonathan Flax: A Roundtable Chat with Emily Mortimer, Co-Star of "Transsiberian"
(On Woody Harrelson) There's nothing problematic about the way he approaches his work. It's just a great ride being with him.
Roger Ebert: "THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE" (PG-13; 3 and 1/2 stars)
"The X-Files: I Want to Believe" arrives billed as a "stand-alone" film that requires no familiarity with the famous television series. So it is, leaving us to piece together the plot on our own. And when I say "piece together," trust me, that's exactly what I mean. In an early scene, a human arm turns up, missing its body, and other spare parts are later discovered.
Roger Ebert: The balcony is closed
I was surprised how depressed I felt all day on July 21, when Richard and I announced we were leaving the "Ebert and Roeper" program. To be sure, our departures were voluntary. We hadn't been fired. And because of my health troubles, I hadn't appeared on the show for two years. But I advised on co-hosts, suggested movies, stayed in close communication with Don DuPree, our beloved producer-director. The show remained in my life. Now, after 33 years, it was gone--taken in a "new direction." And I was fully realizing what a large empty space it left behind.
Luaine Lee: Starring role on 'Psych' the result of determination from Dule Hill (McClatchy-Tribune News Service)
It was a gift to his grandmother that convinced actor Dule Hill he'd done the right thing when he decided to become an actor.
ALAN SCULLEY: Winwood keeps the faith (csindy.com)
Former Traffic frontman looks back on Blind Faith and reunites with Eric Clapton.
Greg M. Schwartz: A Chat with Travis Steve of Coheed and Cambria (bullz-eye.com)
"We've been playing with each other since we were in junior high school, so sometimes it's like we almost know what the other one is going to play."
Reader Comment
7 years
Congratulations on 7 years of a very well done 'e-page'
I really can't comprehend the fact I've been visiting your web site for 7
years, but I checked your archives and it actually has been around that
long! In
comparison Bush's 7.5 years seem like a hundred....
Good Luck and keep up the Fantastic Job!
Gary in Tijeras
Thanks, Gary!
Reader Suggestion
Satire
Now this is a great satire for which the New Yorker verily cannot understand.
Reader Comment
Re: LascauX Caves
They are absolutely amazing to see. When visiting, you enter an exact replica of the original.
This site has been the subject of great controversy in France because of the damage caused by the ventilation system to the original site. It was supposed to keep the site safe and dry.
No one outside of official circles knows how bad the damage actually is. Scholars who have been inside the case claim that images are disappearing completely, and there are mushrooms and mold spreading over the walls.
The Minister was probably there for a bit 'damage control' but in the PR sense of the phrase.
KH
Thanks, Kris!
Reader Suggestion
Wall-E Vignette
just thought it was funny
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and a bit more humid.
Gives Alma Mater $1 Million
Kirk Douglas
Film legend Kirk Douglas has given a private university in upstate New York a $1 million gift.
It's the second time the 91-year-old Academy Award-winning actor and his wife, Ann, have donated $1 million to St. Lawrence University. The gift helps minority students attend St. Lawrence University through the Kirk Douglas Scholarship Fund.
Douglas graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1939. He last returned to the Canton campus in 1999 and donated $1 million to establish the scholarship fund.
Kirk Douglas
Online Series
Jon Heder
Jon Heder, who starred in "Napoleon Dynamite" and skated opposite Will Ferrell in "Blades of Glory," is venturing into digital entertainment as the star of the zombie comedy "Woke Up Dead."
The scripted online series, created by John Fascano and being produced by Electric Farm Entertainment, centers on a University of Southern California student who wakes up underwater in the bathtub one morning and suspects that he might be dead.
"Dead," which was developed with Heder in mind for the lead, will comprise 50 three-minute episodes for online and mobile distribution in the U.S.
Sony Pictures TV International is co-producing and will internationally distribute "Dead" on mobile, broadband and traditional TV.
Jon Heder
The Most Bankable
Likable Celebrities
Forget popularity and recognition. Celebrities who are likable and can be trusted have the most influence on what consumers buy, according to a new study.
While actor Brad Pitt and pop singer Britney Spears are the most recognized stars among 200 famous faces tested in a survey, they failed to crack the top five for likability, according to New York-based market research company NDP Group, Inc.
Actors Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Halle Berry and George Clooney were the most likable celebrities.
Oprah Winfrey's interior designer Nate Berkus and Will Smith topped the chart for eliciting trust, followed by chef Mario Batali, golfer Tiger Woods and chef Paula Deen.
Likable Celebrities
Offer Fans Free Online Concert (There's A Catch)
Motley Crue
Rockers Motley Crue are giving fans the chance to watch one of their sold out US concert dates for free online.
The band has announced devotees can watch the gig live via website deeprockdrive.com on 1 August, when they take to the stage at 9.30pm at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Tickets for the online show are completely free of charge, but fans are urged to register early for access as virtual tickets will be very limited.
Motley Crue
Baby News
Harper Rosie Maguire
Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks and her husband, Gareth, have welcomed another addition to their all-girl brood: daughter Harper Rosie Maguire.
The baby was born Friday morning in Austin, Texas, weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces, the Dixie Chicks announced on their Web site.
The couple have twin daughters, Eva and Katie, born in 2004.
Harper Rosie Maguire
Remembers His Mommy Dearest
John Cleese
Monty Python star John Cleese spoke out about his strained relationship with his mum to reporters at a fundraiser for Bristol Zoo on Thursday.
Cleese shocked journalists and fans as he told how had struggled to get along with his mother - who died in 2002 aged 101 - and even said he worried she may never die.
He says, "I did have a dreadful mother. Isn't that a terrible thing to say? But it's true.
"She was classically self-centred. Always though of herself. And she lived to 101 - I thought I'd never get rid of her."
John Cleese
Cleveland & Shakespeare
Drew Carey
"The Price Is Right" host Drew Carey is ready to showcase his Shakespearean side in a concert appearance with the Cleveland Orchestra.
The Ohio native says he's "very, very excited" to be narrating "A Midsummer Night's Dream" though he's also a little afraid he might do something by mistake at the Saturday night performance.
Still, the 50-year-old comic says it's going to be a fun evening and something he'd buy a ticket for.
Drew Carey
Judge Tosses Lawsuit
Savage Weiner
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservative unhinged, right-wing radio talk show host propagandist and provocateur Michael Savage (R-Vile) against an Islamic civil rights group over its use of a portion of his show in which he called the Quran a "book of hate."
Savage sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, for copyright infringement and racketeering lawsuit late last year, claiming the group violated his rights by using a segment of his "Savage Nation" show in a letter-writing campaign to get advertisers to boycott the program. In the broadcast used by CAIR, Savage also called the Muslim holy book "a throwback document."
In her ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said people who listen to a public broadcast are entitled to use excerpts for purposes of comment and criticism. She also said no evidence was presented to show that advertising on the show's broadcast was affected by CAIR's actions.
Savage Weiner
Shocking! His Relatives Prosper
Kenneth Copeland
Here in the gentle hills of north Texas, televangelist Kenneth Copeland has built a religious empire teaching that God wants his followers to prosper.
Over the years, a circle of Copeland's relatives and friends have done just that, The Associated Press has found. They include the brother-in-law with a lucrative deal to broker Copeland's television time, the son who acquired church-owned land for his ranching business and saw it more than quadruple in value, and board members who together have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for speaking at church events.
Copeland, 71, is a pioneer of the prosperity gospel, which holds that believers are destined to flourish spiritually, physically and financially - and share the wealth with others.
His ministry's 1,500-acre campus, behind an iron gate a half-hour drive from Fort Worth, is testament to his success. It includes a church, a private airstrip, a hangar for the ministry's $17.5 million jet and other aircraft, and a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion.
Kenneth Copeland
Publisher Wants Advances Back
Undelivered Books
A New York publisher is suing Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim, saying they were paid advances for books they never delivered.
Simon & Schuster Inc. says Brown was paid $75,000 in 2005 to deliver an autobiography called "Broken Silence" by February 2006; and Lil' Kim was paid $40,000 in 2003 for a novel due June 2004.
The publisher wants its money back through the two lawsuits filed Thursday.
Undelivered Books
Sunken Russian Sub Raised
Juliett 484
Military salvage teams used hydraulic pumps and pontoons Friday to raise a Russian submarine once featured in a Hollywood film that sank in the Providence River last year during a storm.
The 282-foot-long submarine, known as Juliett 484, had been used as the floating Russian Sub Museum until April 2007, when it was swamped after a powerful nor'easter.
The salvage effort was complicated by the river's poor visibility and the 30 feet of water and 15 feet of mud under which the sub is buried.
The sub, alternatively designated as K-77, was launched in 1965 as part of the Soviet Northern Fleet. The Juliett class was initially planned as a nuclear missile platform for strikes against the United States and later tracked U.S. aircraft carriers.
Juliett 484
Turkish Soap Takes Arab World By Storm
'Noor'
A Turkish soap opera that flopped when first broadcast in its native Turkey three years ago has taken the Arab world by storm, provoking a flood of Gulf Arab tourists to Turkey that even includes royalty.
"Noor" became an immediate hit when Saudi-owned MBC satellite television began airing it earlier this year, partly because of its unconventional usage of colloquial Arabic dubbing -- and because its blond-haired, blue-eyed leading man had women swooning.
"It seems most viewers are female," said Hana Rahman, who runs an Arab entertainment blog (waleg.com). "They're so swept away by the main character. He's become a heartthrob here! He has even caused divorce cases in Saudi Arabia."
Many Saudi women explained their devotion to the show as a form of escapism from stifling, love-less marriages.
'Noor'
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