SUSAN ESTRICH: Once More into the Breach (creators.com)
"I want to run a strong, positive campaign," Michael Dukakis told me over and over again 20 years ago. "People hate negative campaigns," he said, more times than I cared to count or remember. He was half right. People don't like negative campaigns. They'll tell you that till they're blue in the face, in between asking you if he really did let a murderer go free, or fake his injuries, or let his men down.
Froma Harrop: Lazy Big Media Misses Edwards (creators.com)
What about John Edwards? The big-media portrays the Democratic race as a death-match between the Clinton machine and the Obama phenom. Edwards comes off as a plodder in the shadow of two glamour pusses. Back in the world of plain people, the story:
TOM DANEHY: Being a vegetarian's fine, but please don't force it on me (tucsonweekly.com)
I'm getting a bit tired of fighting this fight, but sometimes the only tactic available to those who have neither righteousness nor reason on their side is to constantly bombard the opposition until that beleaguered side throws its hands up in frustration and walks away. Well, I'm not going to do that. That's how the Nazis came to power, and that's also how 7th Heaven kept getting renewed season after season.
CONNIE TUTTLE: Crusader fingers unlicensed bodyworkers (tucsonweekly.com)
Denise Caywood has too much time on her hands. The Tucson massage therapist has made it her mission to harass Steven Chen and his employees. Chen runs Oriental Chi, a company with several mall locations where body workers offer frazzled shoppers a few minutes of blessed relief from the strains, stresses and pace of everyday life.
Roger Ebert: THE GOLDEN COMPASS (PG-13; 4 stars)
"The Golden Compass" is a darker, deeper fantasy epic than the "Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Potter" films. It springs from the same British world of quasi-philosophical magic, but creates more complex villains and poses more intriguing questions. As a visual experience, it is superb. As an escapist fantasy, it is challenging. Teenagers may be absorbed and younger children may be captivated; some kids in between may be a little conflicted, because its implications are murky.
SUSAN ESTRICH: A Lot Like Christmas (creators.com)
"I'd rather get presents for Christmas," my friend's daughter told her, as she was on the verge of actually getting her first Chanukah present of the season.
All members of the Nazi SS had a tattoo in their armpit - what was it?
A: Hitler's birthday
B: A serial number
C: Their blood type
D: Fake hair Source
BadtotheboneBob was first, and correct, with a simple:
C: their blood type
Richard was second, but wrong:
Numbers as in serial
DanD was third, and right, writing:
You know, if somebody calls you an asshole, you should be proud!
Assholes perform a very critical function for the body by being the
predetermined portal of exit for the body's selectively more solid
refuse. Consider it as a practical judgement call in the realm of body
language.
But they're really insulting you if they ever call you an "armpit." All
armpits really do is just sit in the dark and work up a stink until you
bathe them, and then the process is repeated. No critical functions
performed. Think about it (but not too long ... ).
S. Bennett was correct, too:
The tattoo was the blood type.
One dead Waffen SS soldier even had "Für eine gute Zeit rufen Gretchen. Duseldorf 5-1477" tattooed on his inner thigh. Oh those wacky Nazis.
joe b was wrong with:
I say "B" for identification.
Dan got it right:
I believe it was their blood type.
mj was wrong, but makes an interesting point:
A, because it's so silly, and they were very silly people. Psychotic and dagerous, but ultimately silly. If people had treated them as the silly asses they were and given them no respect, and only mockery, perhaps things would not have gone so terribly wrong.
Dave in Tucson was correct, writing:
It was their blood type. I guess it was to make it easy on the medics if an SS man was wounded.
Ken T was right, too:
It was the member's blood type!
Buzzcook also nailed it:
Blood type
Sally P (in a chilly New Jersey) got it right, writing:
The Nazi SS had a tattoo in their armpit. And, my answer is: "C" The tattoo was a means to ascertain that the soldier would get the right plasma, fast, in case of injury.
Alan J was correct, too, with a succinct:
Blood Type
bebo was also right:
c. their blood type.
Sharon got it, too:
Their Blood type.
And, Joe ("If the workers took a notion they could stop all speeding trains; every ship upon the ocean they can tie with mighty chains. Every wheel in the creation every mine and every mill; fleets and armies of the nation, will at their command stand still."
--Joe Hill) was also right:
I'm truly tempted to say D: Fake hair, but I'm guessing the answer is C: Their blood type
Here's an underground joke from Bruce: George W. Bush once mislaid
his wallet, but mistakenly thought that someone had stolen it. He
informed the CIA of the "theft," then the next day found his wallet.
He told the CIA what had happened, but the CIA told him that they had
already arrested 10 people for the theft and taken them to Guantanamo
Bay to be "interrogated." Bush shrugged, then said, "Release them."
The head of the CIA replied, "We can't. They have all confessed."
Tonight the kid & I went to his school's big football playoff game at the Home Depot Center in Carson, where the Poly Jackrabbits were victorious over the Crespi Celts.
As half-time started, a fine mist turned into an outright downpour.
Who says it never rains in Southern California.
Tonight, Sunday:
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by a FRESH'Amazing Race 12', then a FRESH'Cold Case', followed by a FRESH'Shark'.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'Football Night In America', then pads the left coast with local crap.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' then a FRESH made-for-TV-movie 'For One More Day'.
The CW offers a FRESH'CW Now'RERUN'Aliens In America', then a FRESH'Life Is Wild', followed by a RERUN'America's Next Top Model'.
Faux has a RERUN'King Of The Hill', followed by another RERUN'King Of The Hill', then a RERUN'Simpson', followed by a FRESH'King Of The Hill', then a RERUN'Family Guy', followed by a RERUN'American Dad'.
MY has 'That 70s Show', another 'That 70s Show', and the movie 'Night Of Terror'.
AMC offers the movie 'Guarding Tess', followed by the movie 'Santa Clause: The Movie', then the movie 'A Christmas Carol'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Doctor Who - Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion (2005);
[1:00 PM] Torchwood - Ep 2 Day One;
[2:00 PM] Hex - Episode 9 (US Ep 4);
[3:00 PM] Hex - Episode 10 (US Ep 5);
[4:00 PM] Hex - Episode 11 (US Ep 6);
[5:00 PM] Hex - Episode 12 (US Ep 7);
[6:00 PM] Hex - Episode 13 (US Ep 8);
[7:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 7 The Brothers A Dale;
[8:00 PM] Calendar Girls;
[10:00 PM] 476-lb. Teenager;
[11:00 PM] Calendar Girls;
[1:00 AM] 476-lb. Teenager;
[2:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 7 The Brothers A Dale;
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Episode 11;
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Episode 12;
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 5 Ardingly 52;
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 5 Westpoint 12;
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 12 Walters;
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 13 Fry;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has all 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' all night.
Comedy Central has 'Bill Engvall: 15 Degrees Off Cool', followed by the movie 'Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie', and 'Rodney Carrington: Live At The Majestic'.
FX has the movie 'XXX: State Of The Union', followed by the movie 'Flightplan', and 'Nip/Tuck'.
History has 'The Lost Book Of Nostradamus', followed by 'The Lost Book Of Nostradamus', and '1968 With Tom Brokaw'.
IFC -
[07:10 AM] Tadpole;
[08:30 AM] The Station Agent;
[10:05 AM] Man of the Century;
[11:30 AM] Strictly Ballroom;
[01:05 PM] The Station Agent;
[02:45 PM] Man of the Century;
[04:05 PM] Strictly Ballroom;
[05:45 PM] The Station Agent;
[07:25 PM] All over Me;
[09:00 PM] Kinsey;
[11:05 PM] Sex Is Comedy;
[12:45 AM] Broken Lizard's Club Dread;
[02:35 AM] Kinsey;
[04:40 AM] The Station Agent. (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[04:30 AM] Agnes Browne;
[06:15 AM] Trudell;
[07:45 AM] The Mighty Celt;
[09:15 AM] Air Guitar in Oulu;
[10:00 AM] Eileen Gray: Invitation to a Voyage;
[11:00 AM] Sean Penn + Jon Krakauer;
[12:00 PM] It's All Gone Pete Tong;
[01:35 PM] Tony Takitani;
[03:00 PM] Pray;
[03:35 PM] The Refugees of the Blue Planet;
[04:40 PM] Pray;
[05:15 PM] Short Hymn, Silent War;
[05:45 PM] It's All Gone Pete Tong;
[07:30 PM] The Mighty Celt;
[09:00 PM] John Mayer, Norah Jones & Richard Ashcroft;
[10:00 PM] Going All the Way;
[12:00 AM] The Eye 2;
[01:40 AM] Occupation: Dreamland;
[03:00 AM] Episode 5;
[03:30 AM] Topsy-Turvy. (ALL TIMES EST)
Actress Rene Zellweger (L) and comedian Jerry Seinfeld perform on stage in bee costumes next to entertainer Thomas Gottschalk (R) during the TV Show "Wetten Dass" in Graz December 8, 2007.
Photo by Herwig Prammer
Angelina Jolie's help is being sought by a left-wing Filipino farmers group that wants to call attention to thousands of rural people who have been displaced by increased military operations.
The Farmers' Movement of the Philippines, or KMP, wants the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to send the 32-year-old actress - a UNHRC goodwill ambassador since early 2001 - to look into the rising number of internal refugees in the country.
The KMP wants Jolie to witness "the real situation of internally displaced people in the country," KMP officer Willy Marbella said in a statement Friday.
More than 10,000 people have been forced to leave their homes this year alone because of increased military actions and threats, he said.
The Jury members, from left, British actor John Hurt, French director Claude Miller, and Czech-born filmmaker and president of the jury Milos Forman of the Marrakesh 7th International Film Festival, applaud American actor Leonardo Di Caprio, unseen, after his speech during the opening night of the festival, Friday, Dec. 7, 2007 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Photo by Abdeljalil Bounhar
La Scala's new guest conductor Daniel Barenboim opened the season with Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" without shoes, he told ANSA news agency on Saturday.
"One of my shoes completely broke in the front, so I had to take off both," he said.
The press mentioned that Barenboim was not wearing his typical patent leather shoes, but did not give any explanation as to why.
Ray Charles is back in his hometown. Albany unveiled a revolving, lighted bronze statue of Charles on Friday in the middle of a new downtown plaza that bears the R&B legend's name.
Family members attended the musical ceremony honoring the city's most famous native son, born here in 1930.
Charles was born in Albany but moved to Florida with his mother when he was young. He frequently returned to his hometown to visit family.
"Trumbo," a documentary about blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, will be released theatrically in the spring by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Goldwyn and Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment jointly acquired the Peter Askin documentary, with Red Envelope spearheading home video. The two also bought U.S. television rights.
"Trumbo," which premiered this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, examines the story of the scribe behind such 1940s movies as "Kitty Foyle" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." He was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee as part of the Hollywood Ten. He eventually was blacklisted and spent nearly a year in jail.
Trumbo continued writing during the blacklist, with so-called "front" names being credited. He was ultimately -- and sometimes posthumously -- credited with some of the most successful films of the mid-20th century, including "Roman Holiday," "The Brave One," "Exodus" and "Spartacus."
A sand sculpture of Indian pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi is seen during an annual sand sculpture event in the northeast Italian town of Jesolo December 8, 2007.
Photo by Michele Crosera
Gulf countries, cautious about the nuclear standoff between the United States and Iran, signalled loudly at a regional security conference on Saturday their opposition to any military option against Tehran.
Washington, wrong-footed by its own National Intelligence Estimate in its accusations that Iran wanted nuclear weapons, has emphasised that no options have been ruled out in forcing it to end its nuclear enrichment programme.
Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamed bin Jassem al-Thani went further, calling on Washington to engage Tehran in dialogue to reach a solution.
"Direct talks do not mean agreeing (from the start) with the other party," he told conference delegates on Saturday, among them US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk."
As a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 1992, Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.
Huckabee said bullshitted Saturday that his comments came at a time when the public was still learning about HIV and AIDS and promised to do "everything possible to transform the promise of a vaccine and a cure into reality."
Also in the wide-ranging AP questionnaire in 1992, Huckabee said, "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."
A judge issued an arrest warrant for Daniel Baldwin on Friday when the actor didn't show up to court to give a progress report on his drug rehabilitation.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Millington issued the no-bail bench warrant and revoked Baldwin's probation after he failed to appear "without sufficient excuse" and without his lawyer, according to court documents.
Baldwin, brother of actors William, Stephen and Alec Baldwin, was required to meet with the judge in connection with a cocaine-possession case.
Children play on a replica of the historical monument Charminar, made from flowers, during a flower show in the southern city of Hyderabad ,December 8, 2007.
Photo by Krishnendu Halder
Vivica A. Fox on Friday became the latest celebrity to enter a plea deal with prosecutors to settle a drunken driving case, authorities said.
The actress and former "Dancing With the Stars" contestant pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit of .08, city attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan said.
A Superior Court judge sentenced Fox to three years probation and ordered her to enter a 90-day alcohol education program. She also must pay a $390 fine, Mateljan said.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped a charge of misdemeanor driving under the influence, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail.
An undated handout photo shows a Roman marble Ares statue known as the "Borghese Ares". Ancient Greece resurfaces in Singapore this week at an exhibit of classical sculptures and artefacts which aims to give Asians a glimpse of the cradle of Western civilisation.
Photo by D. Lebee and C. Deambrosis
Eight Cuban acrobat jugglers disappeared before a performance at a festival in central Mexico last week, presumably to defect to the United States, organizers said on Friday.
The six men and two women, the entire juggling and high-flying acrobatics act of Havana-based Circuba, arrived in the Mexican state of Queretaro last week for an annual festival of musicians, actors and artists from around the world.
The group was part of a troupe of more than 20 Cuban performers attending the fair for the second year in a row.
"They arrived on Thursday, bought cell phones, and by eight in the morning on Friday they were gone," said Guadalupe Navarro, a spokeswoman for the Queretaro fair.
A passerby takes a photo of the S.T. Griswold & Company concrete holiday truck in Montpelier, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2007. The cement mixer, covered in lights, makes stops all over Vermont during the holiday season. It takes about 60 hours to add the lights to the truck and the cement drum still operates.
Photo by Toby Talbot
Catholics began marking Saturday 150 years since a young shepherdess saw visions of the Virgin Mary, with thousands of pilgrims expected at her shrine at Lourdes over the next year, including Pope Benedict XVI.
The celebrations, coinciding with the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a key date in the Catholic calendar, began with a mass celebrated by Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias before some 20,000 faithful, including 400 priests, bishops and other cardinals.
It was followed by the solemn opening of the gates leading to the pilgrim trail to the holy places where Bernadette Soubirous lived and experienced 18 apparitions of the mother of Jesus Christ between February and July 1858.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
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Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
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How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
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A box set the whole world should own?
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Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
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