The Monday Or Thursday Poll
The Current Question
The current question:
Famed Soviet dissident and Noble Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn died this week in Moscow. Have you ever read any of his many books?
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
BadtotheboneBob
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Where have all the real men gone? (timesonline.co.uk)
Top American columnist Kathleen Parker argues that feminism has neutered men and deprived them of their noble, protective role in society.
Mark Morford: Top 9 best new drugs (sfgate.com)
One to make you larger, and one to make you small. Take one, take them all!
Joel Stein: What's so bad about foreign oil? (latimes.com)
How achieving "energy independence" would leave Americans worse off.
THOMAS MALLON: Forging On (nytimes.com)
In the annals of literary forgery, William Henry Ireland had Shakespeare ("Vortigern and Rowena" - who knew?), Thomas Chatterton the nonexistent medieval poet Rowley, and Lee Israel, well, the silent-film star Louise Brooks. Pretty far down Parnassus, you say? Don't be a snob. Israel displayed an excellent ear and fine false turn of phrase during the 15 or so months in the early 1990s when she sold hundreds of phony celebrity letters - and a lot of filched real ones - to about 30 different dealers. Now, all these years later, she's written a slender, sordid and pretty damned fabulous book about her misadventures.
Dominic Maxwell: Jim Jeffries (timesonline.co.uk)
The Australian comic is an electrifying performer, but his freethinking machismo gets harder to bear as his hour goes on.
Maureen Ryan: 'Mad Men's' most outspoken woman (Chicago Tribune)
For Christina Hendricks, playing Joan Holloway on "Mad Men" (Sunday, AMC) has been an eye-opening experience.
Will Harris: A Chat with Philip Baker Hall, Star of "Duck" (bullz-eye.com)
The director determined that some ducks were better for certain moods than others. So if we needed a duck that was nervous or sort of grouchy, that would be, like, #25...and if we needed a duck that listened well quietly and seemed to be absorbing dialogue, that was Duck #34.
Don't confuse cults with classics (guardian.co.uk)
As a Rocky Horror remake is announced, Ronald Bergan examines cult classics: the good, the bad, and the so bad they're good.
Roger Ebert: Spartan Special at CGI Friday's (2 stars; Rated R)
I gave a four-star rating to "Sin City," the 2005 film based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. Now, as I deserve, I get "300," based on another work by Miller. Of the earlier film, I wrote prophetically: "This isn't an adaptation of a comic book, it's like a comic book brought to life and pumped with steroids." They must have been buying steroids wholesale for "300." Every single male character, including the hunchback, has the muscles of a finalist for Mr. Universe.
A: Bradford, PA
Charlie responded:
, in PA, said:
Reader Comment
Clearwing Moths
Marsha, Marsha, Marsha,
Loved your Nature photo's, especially the one of a lusting mantis in your backyard. That being said, however, I might suggest a, "Sexually explicit photo warning" be applied to yesterday's offering, "Mating on my butterfly bush..." Think of the children...
Kidding aside, great shots, Marsha. May I query as to the camera you are using to capture the titillating activities in your yard??
Admiringly yours,
Sally P
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny with a nice breeze.
FBI's Snitch On Warren Commission
Gerald Ford
Former President Ford secretly advised the FBI that two of his fellow members on the Warren Commission doubted the FBI's conclusion that John F. Kennedy was shot from the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository in Dallas, according to newly released records from Ford's FBI files.
Ford, still a congressman at the time, also told a senior FBI official about internal panel disputes over hiring staff, Chief Justice Earl Warren's timetable for completing the final report on the assassination and what panel members said about the FBI.
In turn, Assistant FBI Director Cartha "Deke" DeLoach confidentially advised Ford of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's position on panel disputes; discussed where leaks were coming from; and, with Hoover's personal approval, loaned him a bureau briefcase with a lock so he could securely take the FBI report on the 1963 assassination with him on a ski trip.
The new details were included in 500 pages of the FBI's large file on Ford, released in part this past week in response to requests under the Freedom of Information Act that The Associated Press and others made on the day Ford died in December 2006. The FBI intends to release additional documents about Ford in several batches, all with parts censored for law enforcement and privacy reasons.
Gerald Ford
Weighs Selling Art
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga, one of the nation's oldest and most significant historic sites, is so financially strapped that its trustees are considering selling off some of the fort's vast collection of artifacts, including artwork believed to be worth millions.
The move comes after the fort lost the support of billionaire Forrest E. Mars Jr. amid disagreements with Fort Ticonderoga's longtime executive director, Nicholas Westbrook.
Besides being a privately owned tourist attraction operated as a not-for-profit, Fort Ticonderoga is also a state-chartered museum. Museum charters are granted by regents who must approve any sale of artifacts or artwork.
Fort Ticonderoga
Finds Homer Simpson Euro
Jose Martinez
A one euro coin has turned up in Spain bearing the face of cartoon couch potato Homer Simpson instead of that of the country's king, a sweetshop owner told Reuters on Friday.
Jose Martinez was counting the cash in his till in the city of Aviles, northern Spain, when he came across the coin where Homer's bald head, big eyes and big nose had replaced the serious features of King Juan Carlos.
"The coin must have been done by a professional, the work is impressive," he told Reuters.
The comical carver had not taken his tools to the other side of the coin displaying the map of Europe. So far, no other coins of the hapless, beer-swilling oaf have been found in circulation.
Jose Martinez
Right Wing Cuts Arts Funding
Oh Canada
The Conservative government has announced it will no longer fund a federal program that subsidizes international promotional tours of Canadian artists.
Foreign Affairs officials confirmed Friday that PromArt will lose its $4.7-million budget next spring, effectively killing the program.
They attempted to play down reports that claimed the decision was motivated by ideological differences with many of the recipients.
Oh Canada
More Indy 500
ABC
ABC will carry the Indianapolis 500 through 2012, marking nearly 50 years that the network has televised the race.
ESPN announced a deal Thursday with the Indy Racing League that would also include four IndyCar Series races per year until 2012. The cable portion of the race will, however, move to Versus.
The Comcast-owned sports channel will carry at least 13 races a year for the next decade. Each race will include at least three hours of the race, pre-race coverage and an hourlong preview show. It also will carry qualification-day coverage for the Indy 500.
ABC
What Police State?
FBI
FBI Director Robert Mueller has apologized to the editors of The Washington Post and The New York Times for improperly obtaining phone records of the newspapers' reporters while investigating terrorism four years ago.
Mueller called Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and Times Executive Editor Bill Keller on Friday to express regret that agents did not follow proper procedures in 2004 when they obtained the phone records of a Post reporter and a researcher and two Times reporters. All four were working in Indonesia and writing about Islamic terrorism at the time.
Mueller and other FBI officials told the newspapers that agents obtained the records under a process that allowed them to bypass a grand jury review in emergency cases. The incident came to light through a review by the Justice Department's inspector general of bureau procedures that enabled the FBI to obtain thousands of records from phone companies after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Last year, the inspector general uncovered 700 cases in which FBI agents obtained telephone records through "exigent letters," which asserted that grand jury subpoenas had been requested for the data when in fact such subpoenas never had been sought. The FBI eliminated use of the letters in 2007.
FBI
Short Shrift To Gays
Global AIDS Prevention
Jorge Saavedra's moment of truth came in the middle of an impassioned speech to 5,000 people about the paltry amount of money being spent to stop the spread of AIDS among gay men.
The Mexican federal official paused, then said publicly for the first time that he was gay.
Saavedra's coming out on Tuesday at the International AIDS Conference sent a powerful message to the world: Homophobia must be stamped out if AIDS is to be controlled.
Fewer people are dying from AIDS, but new HIV infections among gay and bisexual men in many countries are rising at alarming rates.
Yet less than 1 percent of the $669 million reported in global prevention spending targets men who have sex with men, according to UNAIDS figures from 2006, the latest available data.
Global AIDS Prevention
Denied Bail
Carl Blonsky
Hairspray star Nikki Blonsky's father will remain in jail for a minimum of 11 days after he was denied bail on felony charges of grievous bodily harm after an altercation at an airport last week.
Carl Blonsky was arrested with his daughter following a fight with US reality TV star Bianca Golden on 29 July and both were taken into custody by Turks and Caicos Islands police.
A judge at the Providenciales Magistrates' Court ruled on Friday that Blonsky Sr. must wait until 19 August before he can post bail.
According to Prosecutor Samantha Glinton, Golden's mother Elaine had to be airlifted to a Florida hospital, where she stayed for five days before being released to a neurologist as a result of Blonsky's alleged attack.
Carl Blonsky
Boyfriend Busted for Battery
Angie Everhart
Angie Everhart's boyfriend, whose identity was not released by police, was arrested Thursday in West Hollywyood for allegedly roughing her up during an "incident" that left Everhart with minor injuries.
"There was an incident involving Angie Everhart and her boyfriend," said Los Angeles Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Scott Wolf. "He was gone from the location of the incident before deputies arrived. There were minor injuries, but they did not require medical attention. He was subsequently booked for misdemeanor spousal battery."
No further details were released.
Angie Everhart
Cloned Puppies, Sex Slaves & A Mormon Missionary
Joyce Bernann McKinney
A woman who made news around the world when she had five pups cloned from her beloved pit bull Booger looked very familiar to some who saw her picture: She may be the same woman who 31 years earlier was accused of abducting a Mormon missionary in England, handcuffing him to a bed and making him her sex slave.
A paper trail of court documents and jail booking information uncovered by The Associated Press suggests 57-year-old dog-lover Bernann McKinney is Joyce McKinney, who in 1977 faced charges of unlawful imprisonment in the missionary case. She jumped bail and was never brought to justice.
British tabloids first recognized the blonde woman's smiling face when she appeared in news photographs this past week with the five pit bull pups she paid South Korean scientists $53,000 to clone from her pet dog Booger who died two years ago.
There is indeed a striking resemblance between Bernann McKinney and Joyce McKinney. Arrest records and court documents for the two names over the years show other similarities: the same birth date and Social Security numbers, the same hometown of Newland, N.C., and Joyce McKinney's middle name is Bernann.
Joyce Bernann McKinney
100th Anniversary Of Riot
Springfield, IL
Two days of terror. Black men tortured and hanged. A baby dead of exposure. Four white rioters shot by black defenders.
It wasn't America's first riot, and certainly not the last.
But this one was in the hometown of Abraham Lincoln, the president who helped end slavery.
Today, Lincoln's city - where Barack Obama launched his campaign to become the first black president - is finally commemorating the events that erupted 100 years ago this month.
Springfield, IL
Interviews with survivors
History
Battle of Gettysburg
'Witness Tree'
Standing just 150 feet from the platform on which President Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, one of the few remaining "witness trees" to the Battle of Gettysburg has been severely damaged by a storm, National Park Service officials said.
The huge honey locust tree on Cemetery Hill fell Thursday evening.
The tree, which stood on the right side of the Union lines, "was there as a silent witness - to the battle, to the aftermath, to the burials, to the dedication of the cemetery," park historian John Heiser said.
Heiser said he knows of only three other witness trees that still stand in the heart of the battlefield.
'Witness Tree'
In Memory
Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish, whose poetry his fellow Palestinians embraced as the voice of their suffering, died on Saturday after heart surgery in Texas.
The death of a man whose life and words were tightly bound up in a struggle for a Palestinian national rebirth that seems little closer now than when his first work was published in 1960 immediately triggered a wider outpouring of popular emotion.
He won new generations of admirers with work that evoked the pain of Palestinians displaced, as he was as a child, by the establishment of Israel 60 years ago, but also did not shrink from criticism and touched on broader human themes, like love.
An intensely private man who largely lived alone, he enjoyed a mass following across the Arab world, where he had the kind of readership contemporary poets in other languages only dream of.
His last works are imbued with a sarcastic humor and a sense of both Israelis and Palestinians, however antagonistic, bound irredeemably together to share an uncertain future.
"Sarcasm helps me overcome the harshness of the reality we live, eases the pain of scars and makes people smile," he said.
"History laughs at both the victim and the aggressor."
Mahmoud Darwish
In Memory
Bernie Mac
Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."
Though his comedy drew on tough experiences as a black man, he had mainstream appeal - befitting inspiration he found in a wide range of humorists: Harpo Marx as well as Moms Mabley; squeaky-clean Red Skelton, but also the raw Redd Foxx.
Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. He began doing standup as a child, telling jokes for spare change on subways, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy "Mo' Money" in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama "Get on the Bus."
He was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience.
In the late 1990s, he had a recurring role in "Moesha," the UPN network comedy starring pop star Brandy. The critical and popular acclaim came after he landed his own Fox television series "The Bernie Mac Show," about a child-averse couple who suddenly are saddled with three children.
Mac mined laughs from the universal frustrations of parenting, often breaking the "fourth wall" to address the camera throughout the series that aired from 2001 to 2006. "C'mon, America," implored Mac, in character as the put-upon dad. "When I say I wanna kill those kids, YOU know what I mean."
He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his "The Original Kings of Comedy" co-stars Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.
Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city's South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was the deacon of a Baptist church.
Bernie Mac
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