'Best of TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated!
Dick Eats Bush
Reader Comment
Yesterday's zEN mAN Photo
Marty,
Nice pic of the Southbound train, but . . .
It appears he was standing on, or very close to, the Northbound track, with his back to Northbound trains -- including the frequent, much faster and quieter, passenger trains that frequent that location. Over the rumble of the UP freight engine, he might not even heard the warning blast of an air horn coming up behind him.
Creating a whole new route to zEN consciousness, I suppose.
-Fred
Thanks, Fred!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Reign of Error (The New York Times)
Amid everything else that's going wrong in the world, here's one more piece of depressing news: a few days ago the Harris Poll reported that 50 percent of Americans now believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when we invaded, up from 36 percent in February 2005. Meanwhile, 64 percent still believe that Saddam had strong links with Al Qaeda.
It's an event - a raw, emotional hit (telegraph.co.uk)
Opera can be unwieldy, but it has a primal power that no other art form can match. Leading director Phyllida Lloyd reveals the secrets of making it sing
Moore readies Michigan film gala (news.bbc.co.uk)
Director Michael Moore is preparing for the second Traverse City Film Festival, held in his home state of Michigan.
Mark Morford: Dumb People Make Children Cry
PBS fires young, female kiddie-show host over old, [slightly] naughty video. Smart people groan.
Rachel Kramer Bussel: Panty Play for Men and Women (villagevoice.com)
Keep your undies on for a hotter time in bed.
The Last Ones Standing (boston.com)
Only four Shakers are left in the world, all living in southern Maine. But if they can't attract converts to their celibate lifestyle and this really is the end for them, they have a plan to ensure that their legacy lives on forever.
Commentoon: Merkel Massage (womensenews.org)
Marian The Teacher On Vacation
(Not A) Hasselhoff Siting
Marty,
I was in the Business Class lounge (smoking section) right next to the 1st class lounge at Heathrow that night and I never saw Daviid Hasselhoff, but who knows?
Anyhow, we took the East and West Med cruises and they were terrific for the most part. Tunis requires Jewish people to register before they can come into their country and Turkey requires anyone of color to register, too. I went to both places but hated them!!
Holland America should reconsider their ports. I think I'm rambling but I still love your site even though Holland America charges me a fortune to see it.
Marian
Thanks, Marian!
Wish Holland America would send me some of what they're charging you to read - we could do lunch!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Wonderfully overcast til nearly 4pm. Still a bit more humid than usual, but tolerable.
No new flags.
Red Square Concert Canceled
Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton's scheduled concert on Red Square next week has been canceled after Russian authorities abruptly withdrew their permission, the guitarist's publicist said.
A Russian promoter had received an official permit for Clapton to perform on Red Square on Thursday, but officials withdrew that Friday, Clapton's publicist, Kristen Foster, said in a statement.
Yevgeny Safronov, the director of the InterMedia company that organized the concert, said the show appeared to be in jeopardy.
Eric Clapton
Says Goodbye To Rolling Rock
Latrobe
A line of trucks idled outside the loading docks at Latrobe Brewing Co. on Friday. In a few hours, they would haul away some of the last cases of Rolling Rock beer brewed here.
Known for its distinctive green bottle and quality pledge with a mysterious "33" at the end, Rolling Rock has been brewed here since 1939.
But Belgium-based InBev SA, which owned Rolling Rock and Latrobe Brewing, sold the Rolling Rock brand to Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. for $82 million in May.
Anheuser-Busch plans to brew the beer in New Jersey beginning in August. The brewery in Latrobe was not included in the deal, and is expected to close Monday.
Latrobe
First Guitar Sold
Paul McCartney
An American collector has bought Paul McCartney's first acoustic guitar for 330,000 pounds ($614,000) at auction.
A spokesman for the auction house Cooper Owen said the auction had attracted bidders from Europe, the U.S. and Russia. He had expected the instrument to fetch around 100,000 pounds.
McCartney learned to play his first chords on the guitar which belonged to his friend Ian James. James sold the guitar to help fund his retirement and the deal included a letter from the former Beatle confirming the guitar was authentic.
Paul McCartney
Wedding News
Anderson - Ritchie
She was once Pamela Anderson Lee. Now actress Pamela Anderson is Mrs. Kid Rock. The former "Baywatch" babe wed the rock star Saturday in St. Tropez, Anderson's spokeswoman, Ann Gurrola, told The Associated Press. She said more details on the wedding would be available Monday.
Anderson, 39, and her first husband, rock star Tommy Lee, divorced in 1998 after three years of marriage. They have two sons, Brandon, 10, and Dylan, 8.
Kid Rock, 35, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, has a 13-year-old son, Bob Jr.
Anderson - Ritchie
Wedding News
Borucka - Reno
French actor Jean Reno, star of such films as "The Big Blue," "Leon" and "The Da Vinci Code," married model and actress Zofia Borucka on Saturday in a hilltop village in the south of France.
The wedding, witnessed by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and singer Johnny Hallyday, took place in the town hall of Les Baux de Provence, near Avignon, a day before the star's 58th birthday.
Born Don Juan Moreno y Jederique Jimenez in Morocco to Spanish parents, Reno came to France as a teenager. After drama studies in Paris, he worked in French theater and television before landing his first film role in 1979.
Borucka - Reno
Mea Maxima Culpa Mode
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson issued a lengthy statement Saturday apologizing for his drunk driving arrest and saying he has battled alcoholism throughout his life.
The actor and "The Passion of the Christ" director also apologized for what he said were "despicable" statements he made to the deputies who arrested him early Friday on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
A breath test indicated Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, Whitmore said. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent.
Mel Gibson
Files For Divorce
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney has filed for divorce from Heather Mills McCartney, formally beginning proceedings in what could be one of Britain's most expensive breakups, newspapers reported Saturday.
The 64-year-old former Beatle blamed his estranged wife for the split, saying her behavior was unreasonable and argumentative, The Sun and The Daily Mirror reported. Her spokesman, Phil Hall, said she was unhappy about the reports.
McCartney, who does not have a prenuptial agreement to protect his estimated $1.5 billion fortune, has hired lawyer Fiona Shackleton, who represented Prince Charles in his divorce from Princess Diana.
Paul McCartney
More Than 60 Percent Of U.S.
Drought
More than 60 percent of the United States now has abnormally dry or drought conditions, stretching from Georgia to Arizona and across the north through the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
An area stretching from south central North Dakota to central South Dakota is the most drought-stricken region in the nation, Svoboda said.
Conditions aren't much better a little farther north.
Drought
Found Bible In Dump
Michael Hoskins
Electrician Michael Hoskins is not averse to browsing when he drops off trash at the Route 41 dump bin, and a recent visit rewarded his curiosity. Hoskins said he discovered a 188-year-old King James Bible. Now he's fending off offers approaching $1,000 for the find.
"I go up there all the time to drop off my household trash, and there it was," Hoskins told the Danville Register & Bee. "There were three or four boxes of books leaning up against the concrete wall behind the Dumpsters," Hoskins said. "I found the Bible in four pieces, put them together and took it home."
While otherwise intact, the Bible appeared to have fire damage and had watermarks on some of its inner pages. The sheepskin-covered book was printed in Pittsburgh in 1818 and, according to Hoskins' research, is one of less than half dozen copies in existence.
Michael Hoskins
Caretakers Fight With USDA
Hemingway Cats
The caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home want a federal judge to intervene in their dispute with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property.
More than 50 descendants of a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway lived for more than 10 years and wrote "A Farewell to Arms" and "To Have and Have Not."
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum disputes the USDA's claim that it is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami.
Agency inspectors who have repeatedly visited the property since October 2003 have never indicated any concerns about the welfare of the cats. But they have said a 6-foot-high, brick-and-mortar fence Hemingway built around the property in 1937 did not sufficiently contain the 53 cats, which should be caged, according to the complaint.
Caging the cats, some of which are 19 years old or older, would traumatize them, and the home's designation as a National Historic Site prohibits extending the height of the fence, the complaint said.
Hemingway Cats
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