'TBH Politoons'
Jazz From Hills
Trimmed Bush and Hedges
Monthly Link
Modern Mirth
January Clearance! (A comedy concrète audio production)
The Blat!
Jenniferville!
A couple of columns!
Just about nothing else!
But Untrue
Strangely Believable
Due to a profoundly embarrassing childhood experience, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is afraid of tape recorders.
~Jeff Crook
Jeff Crook is the Ceci Connolly of the Left. ~ J. Howard Tuft
Strangely Believable but Untrue is now available online at the Untrue Fact of the Day web calendar. Help spread disinformation and misunderstanding by sharing this with your friends and enemies.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
SEYMOUR M. HERSH: THE COMING WARS (The New Yorker)
George W. Bush's reëlection was not his only victory last fall. The President and hi national-security advisers have consolidate control over the military and intelligence communities' strategic analyses and cover operations to a degree unmatched since the rise of the post-Second World War national-security state. Bush has an aggressive an ambitious agenda for using that control-against the mullahs in Iran and against target in the ongoing war on terrorism-during hi second term. The C.I.A. will continue to be downgraded, and the agency will increasingly serve, as one government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon put it, as "facilitators" of policy emanating from President Bush an Vice-President Dick Cheney. This process is well under way.
The Buzzflash Interview: Melanie Sloan's Team of Watch Dogs Is Taking the Crooks To Court
We filed suit against the Justice Department... The Justice Department has documents that were stolen from the computers of Democrats, but didn't call Democratic Senators to inform them that, hey, somebody's obviously been accessing your documents, because we have them. And the question is, why didn't the Justice Department return them? I think the Justice Department is going to have a hell of a time in court with that argument.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
DEEPTI HAJELA: Economic Equality a Civil Rights Issue (Associated Press)
Forty years after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and decades after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made strides in racial equality, America remains split along racial lines - divided by the color green.
Joy Lanzendorfer: The New Ad Age (AlterNet)
As opportunities to avoid advertising develop - such as skipping ads, blocking pop-up windows - advertisers are working hard to make sure their message is heard, everywhere you go.
Leigh Strope: Cuts in disability benefits seen in Social Security plan (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON -- Disability benefits may not be safe from the across-the-board cuts that are likely in President Bush's proposal to allow personal investment accounts in the Social Security program.Retirement and disability benefits are calculated using the same formula, so if future promised retirement benefits are cut, then disability benefits also would be reduced -- unless the program is somehow separated.bility benefits also would be reduced -- unless the program is somehow separated.
Jennifer Harper: Anti-Bush inaugural bashes to abound
Loyal Republicans, esteemed statesmen, satin-wrapped ladies and country music luminaries have their place in the spectrum of inaugural festivities. But so do guerrilla poets, die-hard Democrats, punk rockers, hip-hop artists, disc jockeys and assorted noisemakers who will people alternative celebrations to mark President Bush's second term in office.
Jim Phillips: Author explains how conservatives became so terribly oppressed (Athens News)
Two millionaires ran for president in 2004. Both came from wealthy families and attended elite universities. One, from a party long associated with labor, was portrayed as an elitist, yacht-sailing snob. The other, from a party that has long supported big business, was seen as a down-home, regular guy. The second candidate won, carrying some of the nation's most economically ravaged states including Ohio and West Virginia. What's wrong with this picture?
David Bruce: Wise Up: Prejudice (Athens News)
When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., received the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, not everyone was happy. In January 1965, as Dr. King attended a reception in his honor at the Dinkler Hotel in Atlanta, Ga., troops of hooded Ku Klux Klansmen marched outside the hotel. Inside the hotel, blacks and whites enjoyed a nice party.
Mike Malloy Narrates A Bushflash Movie
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny & pleasant.
Normally do the weekly run to CostCo on Thursdays, but in an effort to not spend one damn dime this Thursday, made the trip a day early.
'Lost' ran over by 3 minutes again tonight.
BBC Poll Shows The World
Anti-Bush
A majority of people surveyed in a global poll think the re-election of George W. Bush as U.S. president has made the world more dangerous and many view Americans negatively as well, says the BBC.
The survey by the broadcaster published on Wednesday showed that only three countries -- India, the Philippines and Poland -- out of 21 polled thought the world was safer following Bush's election win in November.
On average across all countries, 58 percent of the 22,000 surveyed said they believed Bush's re-election made the world more dangerous.
Traditional U.S. allies in western Europe, such as Britain (64 percent), France (75 percent), and Germany (77 percent), were among the most negative about Bush's re-election.
A majority in Italy (54 percent) and Australia (61 percent), which both have troops in Iraq, also thought his win had made the world more dangerous.
Anti-Bush sentiment was strongest in Turkey, with 82 percent thinking his win was bad for peace compared to just 6 percent in support. A large majority in Latin American countries, including 58 percent in close neighbour Mexico, were also negative.
The survey was conducted between November 15, 2004 and January 5, 2005.
Anti-Bush
Rolls Out More Liberal Talk Radio
Clear Channel
Clear Channel Communications Inc. on Wednesday said it converted three stations to a liberal talk format and this year could double to 44 the number of stations carrying such programming.
After offering mostly conservative-leaning talk for the past decade, Clear Channel and other broadcasters are now embracing "progressive" talk to woo a listener base that is growing increasingly fragmented due to satellite, Internet radio and devices like iPods.
The nation's biggest radio operator said it switched underperforming stations in Washington, D.C., Detroit and Cincinnati carrying nostalgic or sports programming with talkers like Jerry Springer, Ed Schultz, Lionel, Phil Hendrie, Randi Rhodes and Al Franken.
Clear Channel has over 1,200 stations, with 175 focused on news or talk.
Clear Channel
Premiere Date Confirmed
'Family Guy'
The premiere date for the new season of Family Guy has finally been confirmed. No more "FOX 2005" for us. Oh no, we have a date AND a time. The season premiere of Family Guy season 4 will take place on Sunday, May 1st 9/8c on FOX. Mark your calendars and buckle up… only 104 days to go!
'Family Guy'
Marvel Ordered to Pay 10%
Stan Lee
A federal judge has ordered Marvel Enterprises Inc. to pay the creator of the comic book character Spider-Man 10 percent of Marvel's profits from the "Spider-Man" movies, Marvel said on Wednesday.
Marvel, a comic book publisher that licenses its characters, said the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered it to pay Spider-Man creator Stan Lee a share of proceeds it has received since November 1998 from movies, television shows and movie-related toys manufactured by Marvel.
Stan Lee
Vedder, Grohl, Beck & Chris Rock
Tenacious D
Tenacious D drafted a formidable roster of guests to lend a hand at its benefit for Asian tsunami relief Monday at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre.
The show featured solo sets from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, and Beck, all of whom stuck around for a show-closing jam with the D.
Actor Will Ferrell set the tone for the show at the outset, announcing, "It's going to be a very sexy evening, with actual artists performing live music." Ferrell proceeded to sit at a keyboard and mime a version of Coldplay's "Clocks," all the while eating a sandwich and reading a newspaper.
After a brief, surprise set of stand-up comedy from Chris Rock, Grohl took the stage to debut a new song he said he'd penned that morning. Also featured were "Everlong," "Times Like These" and "Tired of You."
Tenacious D
20 February
Jazz Auction
A treasure trove of jazz memorabilia - including saxophones that belonged to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet and a gown that Peggy Lee wore when she sang Fever - will go on the auction block next month.
"It's the first truly major auction focusing on jazz," Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's, which is holding the Feb. 20 auction, said Tuesday. Most of the nearly 400 lots were consigned by the families of the jazz legends to whom they belonged, Ettinger said. Several of the family members will donate proceeds to foundations that promote jazz and provide scholarships to young musicians, he said.
Among the items to be sold are a 27-page letter handwritten by Louis Armstrong, a smoking jacket worn by Thelonious Monk, an unreleased tape of a 1951 performance by Parker and original Al Hirschfeld caricatures.
Jazz Auction
Symphony No. 7 to Premiere
Philip Glass
Conductor Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Symphony No. 7 by Philip Glass on Thursday at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The 30-minute symphony, commissioned by the orchestra, will be repeated Friday and Saturday.
Glass calls the new work "A Toltec Symphony," after a people who conquered Mexico a thousand years ago and were themselves conquered by the Aztecs.
Philip Glass
Promotes Breastfeeding
Elle Macpherson
Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson visited a hospital maternity ward on Wednesday to encourage new mothers to breastfeed their babies.
Macpherson, who promotes breastfeeding for the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, was shown around the maternity unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Manchester, northern England.
She presented the hospital with a Baby Friendly Award for its work in supporting mothers who want to breastfeed.
In 1994, before the Royal Oldham Hospital started working toward Baby Friendly standards, only 29 per cent of new mums were breastfeeding and almost all of those quit within the first four weeks after the birth. By 2004, almost two-thirds of new mothers were breastfeeding, and 40 per cent were still doing so after four weeks.
Elle Macpherson
Sees Sharp Ratings Decline
UPN Network
UPN has seen a sharp ratings drop for its six comedies that appeal largely to blacks, and isn't sure whether that reflects a change in their popularity or how viewers are counted.
Five of the six comedies, which air on Monday or Tuesday nights, have seen viewership go down by at least 10 percent since last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The single exception: "One on One," which has benefited from a move to a more desirable Monday time slot. Still, that show's audience is 11 percent lower than "The Parkers," which aired in its same time slot last season.
UPN Network
Dumped Waste on Boat Passengers
Band Driver
A driver for the Dave Matthews Band was charged on Wednesday with reckless conduct for dumping human waste from a tour bus over the side of a bridge onto passengers aboard a boat on the Chicago River.
Stefan Wohl, 42, who turned himself in to authorities and was released pending a March hearing, drives a bus assigned to the band's violinist, Boyd Tinsley.
Prosecutors said Wohl was alone on the bus at the time of the incident last August 8, in which up to 100 gallons of waste were dumped over the bridge and fell on scores of people aboard a boat passing underneath.
Band Driver
Series To End 16 May
Everybody Loves Raymond
'Everybody Loves Raymond', television's most popular sitcom will end its nine-year run on May 16 with a half-hour show, CBS said Tuesday. "We didn't want to milk the story into an hour," series star Ray Romano said. "There's been enough of that," added Phil Rosenthal, executive producer.
Of course, CBS will precede that 30 minutes with an hour-long retrospective to make it an attractive event for advertisers. The cast is filming the finale this week and keeping tight-lipped on whether the battling Barone family will exit arguing.
Everybody Loves Raymond
Unnerve Hawaiian Island
Coqui Frog
A tiny frog with a huge shriek has invaded the Big Island and won't shut up. Big Island Mayor Harry Kim is looking for $2 million to begin controlling the spread of the nocturnal coqui frog, a beloved native in Puerto Rico but considered an annoying pest in Hawaii since hitching a ride over in shipments of tropical plants around 1990.
Aside from the noise, the frogs have a voracious appetite for spiders and insects, competing with native birds and fauna. And coqui frogs are adaptable to many ecosystems and breed heavily in Hawaii, experts said.
Kim said he declared a county emergency in April over the frogs, but the state waited to see if the federal government would offer assistance, which it did not.
Coqui Frog
Improves Thinking in Older Women
Daily Drink
Women who enjoy a drink of beer or wine daily have sharper minds into old age than women who abstain, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
The report, based on a study of nearly 12,500 nurses, adds to the apparent benefits of light to moderate drinking, which can also prevent heart disease and stroke.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Grodstein and colleagues said they found that drinkers aged 70 to 81 were 20 percent less likely to experience a decline in their thinking skills over a two-year period than women who did not drink at all.
Daily Drink
In Memory
Lamont Bentley
Actor Lamont Bentley has died in a car crash in Los Angeles. Bentley was best known as a regular on the 1990s UPN sitcom "Moesha" and appeared frequently in TV and movies.
Bentley -- who was 31 -- played Hakeem Campbell, the longtime friend of Moesha Mitchell.
He was returning from a screening for an independent short film entitled "Shards" when he was killed.
Bentley had appeared in a number of films, including "The Wash," "The Breaks" and "Tales From the Hood." He played Tupac Shakur in "Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story."
He also made guest appearances in such TV shows as "The Parkers," "The Proud Family," "NYPD Blue" and "Clueless."
Lamont Bentley
