'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Sean Gonsalves: Winning the Class War
This year's Executive Excess 2007 report found that "top executives averaged $10.8 million in total compensation, which is 364 times the pay of the average American worker."
Lillian B. Rubin: Hey Folks, You're Spending My Inheritance (dissentmagazine.org)
"A big twist, isn't it? You go from knowing you'll inherit money to wondering how you'll support mom and dad through Alzheimer's and a nursing home"...
Ann Hulbert: Back to School (slate.com)
It's back-to-school season, and students aren't alone in suffering from a case of nerves.
Adam Williams: "The End of an Era: Hilly Kristal 1932-2007" (popmatters.com)
A good guy, who gave us all a hell of a lot to be thankful for.
Roger Ebert: Paparazzo goes the weasel (3 1/2 stars)
If he had not been an actor, Steve Buscemi could have been a paparazzi. But then you can keep saying that about Buscemi. If he had not been an actor, he could have been an incompetent kidnapper ("Fargo"), or a cynical journalist ("Interview"), or a gangster (Tony Blundetto on "The Sopranos"), or a coffee house owner ("Art School Confidential"), or a fanatic record collector ("Ghost World"), or a drunk ("Trees Lounge"), or a director (which he was on "Trees Lounge," "Interview" and "Lonesome Jim"). Here's an actor who has 104 movie and TV roles listed on IMDB, and he could have been any of those characters.
Chuck Wilson: Zombie Vision (villagevoice.com)
The rocker turned Halloween director on demonic gargoyles, the drive-in, and growing up without YouTube
Roger Ebert: Ratatouille (G; 4 stars)
A lot of animated movies have inspired sequels, notably "Shrek," but Brad Bird's "Ratatouille" is the first one that made me positively desire one. Remy, the earnest little rat who is its hero, is such a lovable, determined, gifted rodent that I want to know happens to him next, now that he has conquered the summit of French cuisine. I think running for office might not be beyond his reach, and there's certainly something de Gaullean about his snout.
Commentoon: Senator Craig (womensenews.org)
Sylvia (womensenews.org)
Contributor Comment
GoogleWhack
Marty:
Got this in the mail from 'Yorsh' -
I searched for "philatery homophobia" and BartCop Entertainment - Monday, 22 May, 2006 was the only result.
I'm so pleased with myself :)
Congratulations, or something.
TTFN,
Baron Dave
--
"What doesn't have credibility today is the truth." -- Bill Moyers, The Daily Show 6/22/05
Thanks, Baron Dave!
Had another googlewhack - BartCop Entertainment - Friday, 7 January, 2005, and
the words used were "cardigans froglets".
Those terms are no longer googlewhack'd.
Reader Comment
Re: grandparent comment
Marty -
Don't take offense (at being mistaken for the kid's grandparents)....
Every year I see more grandparents who are raising their grandkids.
Sad isn't it??
Marian the Teacher
Thanks, Marian!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Feels like we're living in a sauna. Ack.
Likes Dem Candidates
George Clooney
Barack Obama has the aura of a rock star, says George Clooney, who also had some kind words for other Democratic presidential candidates.
"You've been in a room once in a while with a rock star. He walks into the world, and he takes your breath away. I'd love him to be president, quite honestly," the actor told reporters Friday at the Venice Film Festival, where his legal thriller "Michael Clayton" was premiering.
But with more than a year until the election, Clooney also said he liked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards - and pondered whether former Vice President Al Gore might vie for the presidency again.
George Clooney
Academy Sues To Stop Sale Of Oscars
Mary Pickford
The Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences is suing to stop the public sale of two Academy Awards given to silent film star Mary Pickford.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the academy claims it has the right to buy the historic statuettes and one owned by her late husband for $10 each.
The academy contends an heir to the Oscars demanded $500,000 for one statuette alone in July - an offer the academy refused.
The suit claims that academy bylaws dating from 1950 and agreements signed by Oscar winners give the academy the first chance to buy Oscars for $10 each if they ever go on the market.
Mary Pickford
Calgary Concerts
Art Garfunkel
The Pembina Institute says it will earmark 10 per cent of the proceeds from its Art Garfunkel fundraising concerts to help a Calgary couple give their new quadruplets a good start in life.
On Aug. 12, J.P. and Karen Jepp had four identical girls named Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia, who will be sisters to two-year-old Simon. Only 61 sets of identical quadruplets have been born worldwide since 1930.
J.P. Jepp worked as an energy analyst with the Pembina Institute until about six months ago, while Karen also worked in the environmental sector.
Other proceeds from the Garfunkel concert will also support the work of the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental organization working towards sustainable energy solutions.
Art Garfunkel
Marks Summer Of Love
Peter Max
Peter Max, the artist whose psychedelic style embodied the wild spirit of the 1960s, still is amazed and bemused by the impact of his works.
Max was in San Francisco for an appearance Friday night at a retrospective of his Pop Art works -- part of the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" that celebrated rock music, easy sex and an alternative lifestyle.
In an interview with Reuters, Max reflected on a career in which he cast aside realism for a cosmic, dreamy style of bright colors that brought him fame in the late 1960s, as well as licensing deals and a multimillion-dollar fortune.
"From being kind of saddened, no work, not knowing where to go, what to do with this great skill of realism I had, to suddenly find out that I had a style that came to me accidentally, and suddenly I was like in the middle of the cultural flow," said Max, who turns 70 next month. "People told me that I, like, ushered in the '60s; it's ludicrous.
Peter Max
Web Video Series
Don Was
Like most of the music industry, award-winning record producer Don Was -- who has worked with dozens of artists including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Al Green and Willie Nelson -- is struggling to make sense of the Internet.
His foray takes the form of a syndicated Web video series on the newly launched My Damn Channel, where he interviews such rock stars as Ozzy Osbourne and films studio sessions with artists like Jill Sobule.
Any music recorded for the site can be downloaded for free, subsidized by Internet advertising. In addition, content created for the site can be found on YouTube, and soon will spread to other digital platforms.
Was also has added a podcast series, and hints at additional innovations down the line. His method is to let the outlet -- the Web site -- drive the content creation, rather than create content first and then find a Web outlet for distribution.
Don Was
Student Suspended Over Stadium Prank
Kyle Garchar
A high school student who tricked football fans from a crosstown rival into holding up signs that together spelled out, "We Suck," was suspended for the prank, students said.
Kyle Garchar, a senior at Hilliard Davidson High School in suburban Columbus, said he spent about 20 hours over three days plotting the trick, which was captured on video and posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube. He said he was inspired by a similar prank pulled by Yale students in 2004, when Harvard fans were duped into holding up cards with the same message.
At the end of the video, Garchar wryly thanks the 800 Hilliard Darby High School supporters who raised the cards at the start of the third quarter during last Friday's football game.
Davidson Principal John Bandow gave Garchar three days of in-school suspension and banned him from extracurricular activities for a semester, the students said. Two Darby students who helped Garchar received the same punishment after the principals from both schools spoke by phone.
Kyle Garchar
British Ex-Army Chief Criticizes U.S. Over Iraq
General Sir Mike Jackson
The head of the British army during the Iraq invasion has launched a scathing attack on U.S. post-war policy, a newspaper reported on Saturday, underlining growing transatlantic strains over Iraq.
General Sir Mike Jackson, a now retired former chief of the general staff, said the approach taken by former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was "intellectually bankrupt" and described his comment that U.S. forces "don't do nation-building" as "nonsensical," The Daily Telegraph said.
Jackson said the entire U.S. approach to tackling global terrorism was "inadequate" because it relied too heavily on military power at the expense of nation-building and diplomacy, the report said.
General Sir Mike Jackson
Gets Probation
Brian Bonsall
Former child star Brian Bonsall, who played Andy Keaton in "Family Ties," was given two years probation Friday under an agreement reached with prosecutors.
Bonsall, 25, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault but three other charges against him were dismissed.
He was arrested in March after his girlfriend told police he poured an alcoholic drink on her face while she slept, put her in a choke hold and threw her onto a bed when she tried to leave.
Bonsall told investigators he pushed her down in self-defense after she cut his arm and face with a steak knife. She denied the claim and wasn't charged in the case.
Brian Bonsall
Raises New Questions About Cost of War
U.S. Poverty Data
It is one of the most affluent countries in the world, but still millions of people in the United States find it very difficult to put a nice meal on their dinner table.
Nationwide, more than 36 million people, or nearly 13 percent of the total population, lived in poverty last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau report released this week.
The data reveals continued inequality and concentration of wealth in the United States, with the top 20 percent of households receiving over 50 percent of the nation's income, while the lowest 20 percent got just a little over 3 percent.
Noting that currently the U.S. government spends about $720 million a day on the war in Iraq, Joyce Miller, a human rights activist associated with AFSC, said that amount could buy school lunch for 1 million children and provide over 400, 000 children with health care.
U.S. Poverty Data
Restricts Volunteers At Disasters
Feds
In an effort to provide better control and coordination, the federal government is launching an ambitious ID program for rescue workers to keep everyday people from swarming to a disaster scene. A prototype of the new first responder identification card is already being issued to fire and police personnel in the Washington, D.C., area.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency came up with the idea after the World Trade Center attack and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when countless Americans rushed to help - unasked, undirected, and sometimes unwanted.
Ground zero volunteer Rhonda Shearer, 53, said the experience convinced her that agencies are ill-equipped to handle major disasters - but don't want outsiders pointing out their failings.
Similar frustrations arose after Katrina, when people were shocked that the government struggled to take basic supplies such as water to the worst areas.
Feds
Turned Up In Texas?
Chupacabra
Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra.
Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 80 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she can get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.
She suspects, as have many rural denizens over the years, that a chupacabra may have killed as many as 26 of her chickens in the past couple of years.
What tipped Canion to the possibility that this was no ugly coyote, but perhaps the vampire-like beast, is that the chickens weren't eaten or carried off - all the blood was drained from them, she said.
Chupacabra
Swiss Deportation Policy Draws Criticism
Switzerland
The campaign poster was blatant in its xenophobic symbolism: Three white sheep kicking out a black sheep over a caption that read "for more security." The message was not from a fringe force in Switzerland's political scene but from its largest party.
The nationalist Swiss People's Party is proposing a deportation policy that anti-racism campaigners say evokes Nazi-era practices. Under the plan, entire families would be expelled if their children are convicted of a violent crime, drug offenses or benefits fraud.
Ronnie Bernheim of the Swiss Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism said the proposal was similar to the Nazi practice of "Sippenhaft" - or kin liability - whereby relatives of criminals were held responsible for his or her crimes and punished equally.
Similar practices occurred during Stalin's purges in the early days of the Soviet Union and the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution in China, when millions were persecuted for their alleged ideological failings.
Switzerland
Thrusday Night
Long Beach
Authorities arrested a man who engaged officers in a shootout in the Wrigley area Thursday, shooting a SWAT officer.
Officers attempted to make contact with the alleged shooter, Rocco Francisco Banich of Long Beach, 52, who apparently ran away from officers and barricaded himself in a residence on the 2600 block of Magnolia Avenue, said Officer Jackie Bezart. Bezart did not know if Banich knew the people who lived at the residence, but a neighbor who did not want to be identified said the home belonged to Banich's family.
SWAT officers tried for about 4 & 1/2 hours to negotiate with Banich, who allegedly opened fire at about 10:30 p.m. Before he was wounded and disarmed, Banich allegedly shot a SWAT officer in the upper arm.
Bezart did not know how many cars were shot nor did she have an estimate of property damage. She did not know if the suspect was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. Bezart said it appeared that Banich's alleged shooting did not appear to be directed at anyone in particular.
A resident who has lived in the neighborhood for about 20 years, said she came home to find the street blocked off and a helicopter flying overhead. "It sounded like we were living in Baghdad. It culminated with a helicopter flying over my house and yelling at the guy (that) until he showed his hands, they would not send the ambulance to help him. I know Wrigley has a semi-bad reputation, but we're not used to that kind of stuff over here."
Long Beach
This was our evening's entertainment Thursday night - it took place not quite 2 blocks away.
The helicopter action started a little after 6pm and it droned on overhead for a nearly 5 hours.
Because Long Beach has no TV stations and the only radio station is NPR, and it happened after the local fish wrap went to bed, we
were left in the dark as to wtf was going on until this morning.
LA TV didn't bother to cover it.
There was only the cop copter, continuously circling, and barking orders while demonstrating the Dopler Effect with "This is the Long Beach police. Come out with your hands up..."
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