Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Steve Lopez: Grasping for a shred of hope as the reality of poverty sets in (latimes.com)
Todd Little worked steadily until two years ago. Now, he's behind on rent, depends on a food bank and is wise to the ways of the welfare office.
Bill Press: Don't Count on Tea Party for Fire Protection
Before commenting on the Tennessee tragedy, and before he leads any more religious revivals anywhere, maybe Beck should ask himself: What would Jesus do? I doubt he would stand by, do nothing, and let his neighbor's house burn to the ground.
Mark Shields: "The Party of Food Stamps"(creators.com)
In 1976, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan challenged President Gerald Ford for the GOP presidential nomination. Running to the conservative right of Ford, Reagan in a speech to an overflow crowd at a Florida rally used a regional term of racial disrespect in explaining the outrage of working people in line at a supermarket when they saw "a strapping young buck" using food stamps to buy T-bone steaks.
Susan Estrich: The Money Race (creators.com)
If there were one contest Meg Whitman didn't need to win in her bid to become governor of California, it was the race to collect the most money from individuals and businesses that do business with the state of California.
Michele Hanson: I have a bad dream… (guardian.co.uk)
And it's reinforced by watching David Cameron bragging to a hall full of deluded gloaters.
Morgan House: Warren Buffett on Taxes (The Motley Fool)
We're going to have to get more [tax] money from somebody. The question is, do we get more money from the person that's going to serve me lunch today, or do we get it from me? I think we should get it from me. I have a lower tax rate, counting payroll taxes, than anybody in my office. And I don't have a tax shelter -- I just take the form and fill out the numbers. -- Warren Buffet
Jim Hightower: OAKLAND GOES TO POT
In California, a surprising new union movement is growing like a weed, having taken root in a burgeoning economic sector that has enormous potential: marijuana.
Dahlia Lithwick: Up in Their Grill (slate.com)
The Westboro Baptist Church politely shows the court how to be obnoxious.
Richard Williams: When the Rat Pack ruled supreme (guardian.co.uk)
Fifty years ago Frank Sinatra and his buddies helped catapult John F Kennedy into the White House, an unforgettable moment in US history.
"Grant Wood: A Life" by R. Tripp Evans: A review by Steven Biel
Grant Wood's life story, as he told it to the press and as many of his biographers have repeated it, went like this: Born in rural Iowa in 1891, Wood showed artistic precocity from an early age, flirted with bohemianism, turned his back on his benighted region under the sway of H. L. Mencken, traveled to France, grew a hideous beard, produced derivative Impressionist paintings, returned home, shaved off the beard, discovered a "native" subject matter and style (most famously in his 1930 painting American Gothic), and became America's "artist in overalls."
Michael Savitz: Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman (slate.com)
I spend 80 hours a week trawling junk shops with a laser scanner. I don't feel good about it.
Ben Johnson: 'My revelations will shock the sporting world' (guardian.com)
The shamed former sprinter tells Donald McRae of the loneliness, rehabilitation and the events leading to his ban.
David Bruce has 39 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $39 you can buy 9,750 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," and "Maximum Cool."
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'DanD cynically inspired Media Integrity' Edition...
Are there any Media-Types (TV, Radio, Print) that you believe have 'Integrity' enough that you respect them and their works? (Even in the morning, haha)... Name names, if'n ya please...
1.) Heck, yeah!...
2.) No way! They're all corporate dupes...
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
We're having another heat wave. Ack.
Monument Unveiled
John Lennon
John Lennon's son Julian and first wife Cynthia unveiled a monument to the late singer Saturday, the 70th anniversary of his birth, and said the time for mourning the former Beatle was over.
The presentation of a $350,000 18-foot structure, designed to promote peace, was one of several events being held around the world to celebrate one of pop music's most influential singers and songwriters who was murdered in New York in 1980 at the age of 40.
Internet search site Google paid tribute to Lennon with a hand-drawn logo and mini-video based on his hit "Imagine."
Manhattan planned a benefit concert and Lennon's widow Yoko Ono was to perform alongside their son Sean as the Plastic Ono Band in Reykjavik.
Cynthia, 71, and Julian Lennon, 47, looked on in Lennon's birthplace Liverpool as a choir performed his music. A crowd of several hundred people gathered in Chavasse Park for the event.
John Lennon
Dedicates Lennon Time Capsule
Rock Hall
On the eve of his 70th birthday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has dedicated a time capsule in honor of John Lennon containing several CDs, DVDs and books and two notes written by widow Yoko Ono.
The stainless steel capsule dedicated Friday will be kept in the Cleveland museum's archives at a nearby college campus.
Assistant curator Meredith Rutledge tells The Plain Dealer that the goal of the capsule was to preserve the "legacy of peace and love" of the former Beatles member.
About 100 people attended the dedication, which marks the start of a weekend of events in honor of Lennon's birthday. The capsule is scheduled to be opened in 2040, on Lennon's 100th birthday.
Rock Hall
Mystery Masterpiece Emerges
Paris
When an auctioneer entered a dust-covered old Parisian flat in June to take inventory of the deceased owner's possessions, he had the impression of creeping into Sleeping Beauty's castle.
In the gloom of the flat that had been shut-up for decades, he came across a portrait unknown to art experts of a beautiful woman by one of 19-century Paris' most prized portrait artists, Italian Giovanni Boldini.
The painting recently fetched 2.1 million euros (2.9 million dollars) in frenzied bidding, making a record for one of the artist's works.
The flat's last occupant, who was the grand-daughter of Boldini's muse, had shut it up before World War II to go live in the south of France and never returned.
The woman recently died at the age of 91 years, having paid upkeep fees for the large flat in central Paris for 70 years without using it.
Paris
New Comic Series
Stan Lee
MTV is helping to bring Stan Lee's newest superhero to life.
The network is joining forces with Lee's POW Entertainment to create a new digital comic series called "The Seekers."
"It involves superheroes, it involves a very high-concept plot, it's a story such as you never have seen before, and it spans the centuries," Lee said in a telephone interview from New York Comic Con, where he and MTV are set to announce the new series on Saturday.
Lee went on to say that "The Seekers" is "more than just a comic. It's actually the start of a tremendous franchise."
Stan Lee
Medical Request
Michael Caine
British actor Michael Caine has said he persuaded a doctor to give his terminally ill father a fatal overdose, adding his voice to the country's long-running debate about assisted suicide.
The Oscar-winning star of "The Italian Job" and "The Dark Knight" said in a radio interview he had kept the secret for more than 50 years and now advocated voluntary euthanasia "where life is no longer bearable".
"My father had cancer of the liver and I was in such anguish over the pain he was in, that I said to this doctor, I said 'Isn't there anything else you could, just give him an overdose and end this', because I wanted him to go and he said 'Oh no, no, no, we couldn't do that,'" he told Classic FM.
"Then, as I was leaving, he said 'Come back at midnight.' I came back at midnight and my father died at five past 12. So he'd done it," he said in the interview to be broadcast Saturday.
Helping people with terminal illnesses to commit suicide is a hotly disputed topic in Britain, where it remains illegal but is rarely prosecuted.
Michael Caine
Joins 'Good Morning America'
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is taking some time to appear on more than just "The View."
ABC announced Thursday that Hasselbeck is joining "Good Morning America" as a contributor, covering "hot-button family, lifestyle and child-rearing issues." The network said her first report, looking at the growing trend of parents and kids getting tattoos together, will air Monday. She said she was "thrilled" to explore issues facing parents and children.
Hasselbeck joined "The View" as a co-host in 2003.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
1.5 Million Copies To Hit Shelves
Memoir
One and a half million copies of George W. Bush's memoir hit the shelves next month, along with an e-book version containing a video message from the former president and his home movies, Crown publishers said Friday.
"Decision Points" goes on sale in the United States and Canada on November 9, a week after mid-term congressional elections are predicted to see heavy gains for Bush's Republican Party.
The huge print run is equivalent to that for former Democratic president Bill Clinton's book, "My Life," which was a runaway hit.
Crown, part of Random House, said in a statement that Bush's book, priced at 35 dollars, would be "news-making" and would "bring history alive for readers."
Innovations include an interactive e-book with the president's most memorable speeches, a video introduction by Bush, "intimate Bush family movies" and hand-written letters from his correspondence collection.
Memoir
Trio Rejoins Reality Show
"Deadliest Catch"
Capts. Sig Hansen and Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand have agreed to return to "Deadliest Catch," ending a legal stalemate that threatened the Discovery hit reality series.
"We're happy we worked everything out with Discovery," the trio told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. "A deal's a deal. We're heading up to Dutch Harbor to start filming the new season of 'Deadliest Catch' and hopefully it will be the best one yet."
Hansen and the Hillstrands had quit the show in response to a $3 million lawsuit filed by Discovery against the Hillstrands for allegedly refusing to finish work on a planned spinoff special. As part of the settlement, Discovery's lawsuit will be dropped.
Terms of the settlement are not being disclosed, but both Cohen and a Discovery representative said they were happy with the results of the negotiations. Also as part of the deal, the Hillstrands have agreed to finish work on "Hillstranded," the spinoff that prompted the standoff.
"Deadliest Catch"
Nuremberg Laws On Public View
National Archives
The laws signed by Adolf Hitler taking away the citizenship of German Jews before the Holocaust were placed on rare public display Wednesday at the National Archives.
The Nuremberg Laws were turned over to the archives in August by The Huntington, a museum complex near Los Angeles where they were quietly deposited by Gen. George Patton at the end of World War II. The papers will be on display in a separate gallery from the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence through Oct. 18.
Tony Platt, a historian who has studied the laws and is currently researching in Berlin, said the laws offer lessons from what happened in Germany and from how the documents were hidden away in the United States for decades.
Previously, the Nuremberg Laws had only been displayed in Los Angeles while on loan from The Huntington to the Skirball Cultural Center, which includes a Jewish history museum.
National Archives
Taiwan Rice Farm
Michael Jackson Scarecrows
A Taiwan rice farm is trying an off the wall way to get hungry birds to beat it at harvest time: scarecrows dressed like King of Pop Michael Jackson.
One of the two scarecrows, wooden frames with sponges for faces, wears white sequined gloves, a black fedora hat and black brogues, and the other is decked out in a red "Thriller" jacket and trousers. They are set in the fields in different poses copied from the dead singer's signature dance moves.
They are the idea of 30-year old salesman and Jackson fan Lee Ping-hsing, who is now making a third for his father's farm in Changhua county, central Taiwan.
"I was yelled at by my grandfather, who said Jackson's spirit could come and haunt us," Lee said.
Michael Jackson Scarecrows
In Memory
Leona Gage
Leona Gage, who in 1957 was named Miss USA but had the title stripped the next day when pageant officials learned she was married and a mother of two, has died in Los Angeles at 71.
Her son, Robert Kaminer, said Saturday that Gage died of heart failure at a Sherman Oaks hospital Tuesday.
Like Vanessa Williams and Carrie Prejean decades later, Gage's pageant scandal brought her bigger stardom than keeping the crown.
The 18-year-old Gage also lied about her age - telling pageant officials she was 21.
She had been married twice starting at age 14 and had her second child at 16, all forbidden for a pageant contestant.
The lost tiara led to many television appearances, including a famous one on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Leona Gage
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