Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Everybody get bloody (sfgate.com)
Kids! Click here for brutal, nonstop misery and pain!
Ted Rall: "Only One Solution: Eat the Rich"
A moratorium on housing foreclosures and evictions is a good idea. So is making the tax code more progressive. Obama's plan to build new public works is smart. But those are half-measures. Even if they don't come out of Congress watered down and wankified, they'll come too little and too late to kill the rapidly metastasizing disease that threatens to kill the U.S. economy: income inequality.
Melinda Henneberger: Mall Noir (slate.com)
The store was going out of business in a couple of days, she said. Oh, I'm sorry, I started to say, but she stopped me: Nah, not to worry; it wasn't her store, thank God, though this was the fourth business in the mall to go under in the last month alone, and she was starting to wonder where she was going to find a J-O-B. The place was so still all through Christmas, she said, that the highlight of her season was the day a shoplifter ran through the mall with six or eight security guards in hot pursuit-and got away.
Michele Hanson: There's a lot to be miserable about now (guardian.co.uk)
What can the future hold for [today's youth]? The miracle is that only one in 10 think life means nothing. Eight out of 10 would not be unreasonable. Today's youth need a medal for sticking it out.
Troy Patterson: Homeland Security USA (slate.com)
A show about the brave agents defending America from Swiss belly dancers.
David Faris: The Anti-Library of George W. Bush (citypaper.net)
The architects of George W. Bush's legacy face a daunting challenge in the years ahead: How to build a presidential library for a man who - Karl Rove's absurd claims of Bush's bookishness notwithstanding - doesn't seem to read.
"Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" by Mignon Fogarty: A review by Bill Reagan (popmatters.com)
Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is my favorite evidence of the resurgence in syntactical attentiveness.
Michael Agger: Thoreau's Worst Nightmare (motherjones.com)
After 150 years, "Walden" endures as a monument to frugality, solitude, and sophomore-year backpacking trips. Yet it's Thoreau's ulterior motive that has the most influence today. He was one of the first to use lifestyle experimentation as a means to becoming a published author. Going to live by the pond was a philosophical decision, but it was also something of a gimmick. And if you want to land a book deal, you gotta have a gimmick.
Agnes Oaks, ballet dancer: Interview by Laura Barnett (guardian.co.uk)
'You should be remembered at your best -- so I'm retiring this summer.'
Gail Pennington: Kevin Kline's Cyrano de Bergerac brings Broadway to TV (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
"Great Performances" brings Broadway to television with a straight-from-the-stage version of Edmond Rostand's 1897 classic "Cyrano de Bergerac."
Preston Jones: These days, performers are creating their own marketing strategies (McClatchy Newspapers)
Of all the embattled, entrenched industries in America, few have weathered more public criticism and financial blows than the music business.
Glenn Gamboa: "Viva Glasvegas: Scottish rockers are fast becoming the next big thing" (Newsday)
Glasvegas is moving fast. Three years ago, the Scottish rockers weren't even a band. A year ago, they hadn't even been in a proper recording studio and hadn't completed an album. But the swiftness of their arrival - they've already been crowned "Britain's Best Loved Band" by influential British magazine NME - isn't the result of any sort of plan.
David Bruce: Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal": A Discussion Guide
Free download. This short pamphlet contains Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and a few anecdotes about Jonathan Swift.It also includes a number of questions and their answers about Jonathan Swift and "A Modest Proposal."
The Weekly Poll
Break Time
I'm gonna take a break for a week or two to catch up from the holidays and focus on some personal affairs (mainly relocation closer to my immediate family).
I'll be back soon, I assure you!... Meanwhile, don't let the bastards get ya down!
BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Charlie was first, and correct, with:
And, MAM 
replied:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Portrait Goes To Smithsonian Institution
'Hope'
Even before he takes office, President-elect Barack Obama's image will become part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery, the museum announced Wednesday.
The gallery acquired the iconic red, white and blue collage by Los Angeles street artist Shepard Fairey, depicting Obama with the word "Hope." The image - later modified with the messages of "Change" and "Vote" for the Obama campaign - became one of the most memorable images from the 2008 election. The curators at the Smithsonian Institution museum plan to hang it by Inauguration Day.
"What I think is so fascinating is the ubiquitous nature," said Carolyn Carr, deputy director of the Portrait Gallery. "When people think of a portrait of Obama, they think of this image."
Gallery officials would not reveal how much they paid Fairey for the 1.5-metre tall, mixed-media stencilled collage. Art collectors Heather and Tony Podesta of Washington donated money for the Smithsonian to purchase the work.
'Hope'
No Nude `King Lear' For PBS
Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen says his on-stage "King Lear" nude scene is discreetly avoided in the upcoming public television version of the play.
A public TV executive said Wednesday at a meeting of the Television Critics Association that the decision to forgo full-frontal nudity by McKellen was made by Trevor Nunn, director of the acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company production that airs March 25.
McKellen said audiences can be distracted when an actor or actress strips. The British actor, who turns 70 this year, of "Lord of the Rings" and "X-Men" films fame, said cutting the nudity left the production's quality unaffected.
Ian McKellen
Baby News
Baby Girl Affleck
It's another girl for Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck.
Affleck's spokesman, Shawn Sachs, and Garner's spokeswoman, Leslie Sloane-Zelnik, said Tuesday that Garner gave birth to their second daughter but would not provide any additional details.
Garner and Affleck, both 36, were married in June 2005. Garner gave birth to daughter Violet in December 2005.
Baby Girl Affleck
Hong Kog To Restore Old Home
Bruce Lee
The Hong Kong government has agreed to preserve a former home of late martial arts legend Bruce Lee and turn it into a tourist attraction, an official said Wednesday.
The house where Lee lived from 1972 to 1973 is currently used as a "love motel," where rooms are rented by the hour and people often carry on affairs. The owner has lobbied to covert it into a museum.
Hong Kong's commerce and economic development minister met with the owner Tuesday and agreed to the project that would restore the two-story house back to its "original outlook and features," said government spokeswoman Winnie To in an e-mail statement.
Bruce Lee
Still Nailin' the Palins
Schadenfreude
If Sarah Palin was feeling some "fear and despair" over daughter Bristol's situation before, we can only imagine what things are like now that both the father and paternal grandmother of little Tripp are dealing with some major issues.
Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin's betrothed and Sarah Palin's would-be son-in-law, has been forced to leave his electrical apprenticeship at an Alaskan oil field after a local newspaper raised questions about his eligibility for such a position. The 18-year-old's lack of a high school diploma, for one, was against federal regulations, and the governor's apparent arm-twisting to land him the gig didn't help his cause, either.
But that's small potatoes compared to his mom, Sherry Johnston. As word came Monday of Levi's sudden unemployment, she was busy pleading not guilty to six felony counts of possessing and selling OxyContin, aka hillbilly heroin. The 42-year-old is currently out on bail and her trial is set to start in March.
Schadenfreude
Arrests Sheriff Over Jail Food
Judge U.W. Clemon
A federal judge ordered an Alabama sheriff locked up in his own jail Wednesday after holding him in contempt for failing to adequately feed inmates while profiting from the skimpy meals.
U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon had court security arrest Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett at the end of a hearing that produced dramatic testimony from skinny prisoners about paper-thin bologna and cold grits.
The sheriff, who showed no emotion when his arrest was ordered, had testified that he legally pocketed about $212,000 over three years with surplus meal money but denied that inmates were improperly fed.
Sheriffs in 55 of Alabama's 67 counties operate under the system allowing them to make money operating their jail kitchens. The law pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate.
The law doesn't require the money to be spent at the jail or within the department; sheriffs can keep it as personal income. They historically have provided little information about profits, so the hearing offered a rare look into a practice that dates back to the Depression.
Judge U.W. Clemon
Tries To Extend 15 Minutes
Joe The Plumber is putting down his wrenches and picking up a reporter's notebook.
Joe Sam the (Fake) Plumber
The Ohio man who became a household name during the presidential campaign says he is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for the conservative Web site pjtv.com.
Samuel J. Wurzelbacher says he'll spend 10 days covering the fighting.
He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants to let Israel's "'Average Joes' share their story."
Joe Sam the (Fake) Plumber
Sues Nephews
Larry Flynt
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt has sued two of his nephews for selling their own line of adult movies under the same family name.
Flynt accuses the nephews of producing pornographic films that are "inferior products" and "knockoff goods." Flynt said he filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court to protect his family name in the industry.
Jimmy Flynt II and Dustin Flynt worked for their uncle for more than a decade before he fired them about a year ago. The brothers said they are trying to break into the business and have a right to use their family name.
Larry Flynt said he fired his nephews for being unproductive and gave them a severance package of $100,000 that they used to start a competing company. He said he is unimpressed with that company's products and expects he will have to help out his nephews when it fails.
Larry Flynt
Humor Impaired
Juan Valdez
Colombian coffee growers are brewing up a lawsuit over a U.S. comic strip joking that violence is so rampant there, maybe "there's a little bit of Juan Valdez in every can" of the country's java.
The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation says it has consulted with U.S. lawyers and will sue "Mother Goose & Grimm" cartoonist Mike Peters "for damage and harm, detriment to intellectual property and defamation."
The suit will be filed Friday and "would not seek any less than $20 million," according to a note on the federation's Web site. It will also demand a retraction from any newspaper that published the Jan. 2 cartoon.
In the offending comic strip, a character says: "Y'know, there's a big crime syndicate in Colombia. So when they say there's a little bit of Juan Valdez in every can, maybe they're not kidding." The joke plays off a former marketing slogan used by the federation.
Juan Valdez
Judge Seals Records
Eddy Arnold
A judge has sealed records in a paternity suit filed by a California man who claims he is the biological son of the late country singer Eddy Arnold.
Probate Judge Randy Kennedy on Monday ordered all new filings private.
Forty-eight-year-old Christopher Tanner of Anaheim filed his suit in June, a month after Arnold died at 89.
Arnold's family says Arnold denied fathering Tanner. The family asked the judge to seal records to limit damage to the late singer's reputation.
Eddy Arnold
Coffin On eBay
Big Bopper
The son of iconic '50s rock n' roller the Big Bopper has said he plans to sell his late father's casket--which he was buried in for 48 years--on eBay in the next few weeks.
The Big Bopper, real name J.P. Richardson, died along with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens in a plane crash in 1959. The accident has since become known as "the day the music died" after Don McLean recalled the incident in his massive-selling 1972 U.S. number one "American Pie."
The 16-gauge steel casket was exhumed from its original resting place in 2007, because Richardson's son wanted to move his father to a more visible location, reports The Beaumont Enterprise.
Richardson, who was born three months after his father's death, said he saw his body for the first time in person after it was exhumed. Buried in a black suit with a blue-and-grey striped tie and socks, the Big Bopper's thick, brown hair was reportedly still in perfect condition. He has since been reburied in a new casket.
Big Bopper
Sorry Excuse
'John Doe'
The Army said Wednesday that 7,000 family members of soldiers killed in the Iraq or Afghan wars mistakenly were sent letters addressing them as "John Doe." Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., was sending a personal letter to all the families who received the improperly addressed letters as the result of a printing error, the Army said.
The 7,000 original letters were sent late last month to inform survivors about private organizations that offer gifts, programs and other assistance to families that have lost soldiers in Iraq or other countries where they are deployed for the war on terrorism.
It was sent from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command's Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Center in Alexandria, Va., which issued a formal apology Wednesday.
The letters, which were printed by a contractor, were to have been automatically addressed with the specific names and addresses of survivors, said Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman. Instead, they contained the placeholder greeting - "Dear John Doe."
'John Doe'
Surgeon Jailed
Dr. Jan Adams
The plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West's mother before she died has been sentenced to a year in jail for drunken driving.
Dr. Jan Adams pleaded no contest to misdemeanour drunken driving last year.
Authorities say his Jaguar was spotted early June 26 travelling the wrong way on Interstate 680 near Cordelia. Adams' blood alcohol level was .20 per cent.
Solano County Court Commissioner Ray Wieser sentenced the 54-year-old surgeon, author and TV personality Monday. He'll get credit for eight days he previously was jailed.
Dr. Jan Adams
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 29-Jan. 4. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (X) NFL Playoff: Indianapolis vs. San Diego, NBC, 27.79 million viewers.
2. (X) "NBC NFL Playoff Pre-Kick 2," NBC, 21.87 million viewers.
3. (X) "Fox NFC Wildcard Post Game," Fox, 16.42 million viewers.
4. (7) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 14.39 million viewers.
5. (3) "NCIS," CBS, 13.43 million viewers.
6. (X) Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Utah, Fox, 13.37 million viewers.
7. (16) "Cold Case," CBS, 12.67 million viewers.
8. (8) "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.32 million viewers.
9. (10) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 11.87 million viewers.
10. (14) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.36 million viewers.
11. (21) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 10.94 million viewers.
12. (X) "Superstars of Dance," NBC, 10.55 million viewers.
13. (X) "Kennedy Center Honors," CBS, 10.51 million viewers.
14. (27) "Million Dollar Password," CBS, 10.41 million viewers.
15. (X) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 9.76 million viewers.
16. (31) "The Unit," CBS, 9.73 million viewers.
17. (X) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 9.62 million viewers.
18. (X) "Deal or No Deal," NBC, 9.49 million viewers.
19. (X) Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech, Fox, 9.32 million viewers.
20. (24) "Brothers and Sisters," ABC, 9.09 million viewers.
Ratings
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