'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Observation
Re: Google
Hey, I looked at that new Google.cn China search engine and you are NOT
Blocked nor is the "regular" BartCop... nice to know.
Pete
Thanks, Pete!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lakshmi Chaudhry: Postcards From the Front (inthesetimes.com)
In Jarhead, his memoir of the first Gulf War, Anthony S
Those two goals-winning and taking care of his men-may have been compatible when the victory was defined as the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Today the mission is nothing less than bringing peace and democracy to Iraq. Within this context, the death of an Iraqi boy represents a decisive defeat, irrespective of its toll on our soldiers. The low priority that military policy has assigned to Iraqi life throughout this war is exactly what fuels the insurgency.
Nicholas D. Kristof: Genocide in Slow Motion (nybooks.com)
And now the same tragedy is unfolding in Darfur, but this time we don't even have any sort of excuse. In Darfur genocide is taking place in slow motion, and there is vast documentary proof of the atrocities.
Will Durst: The Mythical High Ground
Republicans are in dire need of ethics reforms -- and I have some suggestions.
Daniel Engber: Can Someone Else Pay Your Taxes? (slate.com)
Sure, but only if you pay taxes on the taxes.
William Saletan: Bats and Balls (slate.com)
Why males grow bigger testicles and smaller brains.
William Saletan: Ass Backwards (slate.com)
There's no delicate way to put this, so I'll just quote the survey report: "For males, the proportion who have had anal sex with a female increases from 4.6 percent at age 15 to 34 percent at ages 22-24; for females, the proportion who have had anal sex with a male increases from 2.4 percent at age 15 to 32 percent at age 22-24." One in three women admits to having had anal sex by age 24. By ages 25 to 44, the percentages rise to 40 for men and 35 for women. And that's not counting the 3.7 percent of men aged 15 to 44 who've had anal sex with other men.
Susan J. Douglas: Let Them Eat Crap (inthesetimes.com)
Because this sickening cycle is only the result of individual (not industrial) greed, in October the House of Representatives passed, by a 306-120 vote, the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" (a.k.a., the "cheeseburger bill"), which would protect the food industry from obesity-related lawsuits. Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell's companion "Commonsense Consumption Act," awaits action in the Senate. Already 20 states have enacted their own versions of "commonsense consumption" laws. Guess who wrote them? Lobbyists for the food industry.
Mark Morford: Horse Sex Porn Candy Teens! Inside! Fresh Google search terms to confound Dubya and the FBI. Also: Is Bush a fascist? (sfgate.com)
Up, off the couch. Log in to Google. Type "Karl Rove eaten by giant homosexual squid." Type "George W. Bush beaten to lifeless pulp by swarm of angry kindergarten children." Enter "Samuel Alito loves his 'Weapons of Ass Destruction IV' DVD." It might not be much, but it sure sends the right kind of message. Don't you agree?
Hubert's Poetry Corner
BROWED MARY
Reader Comment
Re: Kestrel Albatross
Hi Marty,
I'm not sure where Paul
got his information but I don't think he's right about that
bird shown on 1/11
, it isn't a cormorant and it sure does look like a Laysan albatross- sometimes known as a white gooney. I don't think there is even a bird species named Kestrel Albatross.
Thanks,
Pete in Cincinnati
Thanks, Pete!
Don't know much about birds, but they sure are good for mail.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but cooler.
No new flags.
Australia Honors
Nicole Kidman
Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman was given Australia's highest civilian honour Thursday for her contribution to the performing arts and her charitable work.
Kidman, 38, was named a companion in the general division of the Order of Australia, one of more than 200 people honoured to mark the Australia Day national holiday which celebrates the arrival in what is now Sydney Harbour of the first European settlers in 1788.
Kidman was not in Australia for the holiday, but in a statement released by her publicist said she was moved by the award.
Nicole Kidman
LA Names School After Lawyer
Johnnie Cochran
Los Angeles has renamed a public school after Johnnie Cochran, the late criminal defense lawyer who helped clear "Trial of the Century" murder defendant O.J. Simpson.
School district officials voted unanimously for the name change on Tuesday, saying Cochran, who attended the former Mt. Vernon Middle School as a boy, was an "extraordinary, superb lawyer with movie-star celebrity status."
Cochran, who died last year of a brain tumor at age 67, was the lead attorney for Simpson. He accused Los Angeles police of framing his client because he was black and famously told the jury, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," in reference to a bloody glove found at Simpson's house.
Johnnie Cochran
Criticizes 'Boondocks'
Al Sharpton
The Rev. Al Sharpton has asked for an apology from Cartoon Network for an episode of edgy animated series "The Boondocks" that shows the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. saying the n-word.
The episode, "The Return of the King," aired Jan. 15, the day before the national holiday honoring the slain civil-rights leader. It shows King emerging from a coma and using the n-word in an angry speech venting his frustration toward sexually explicit hip-hop videos, among other things.
In the episode, King is branded a traitor and terrorist sympathizer for his "turn-the-other cheek" philosophy of nonviolence in response to post-Sept. 11 retaliation. Exhausted, he moves to Canada, but his speech provokes a second civil-rights revolution.
Sharpton said he could appreciate McGruder and his achievements, but added: "This particular episode is over the line."
Al Sharpton
Hosting Web Talk Show
Stewie
Stewie, the tyrannical tyke in the Fox animated series "Family Guy" will be the virtual host of a talk show being developed strictly for the Internet later this year.
Stewie's show will be based on familyguy.com and other News Corp.-owned Web properties catering to the young demographics that have embraced the Fox series.
Stewie
TV's Top 'Hunk'
Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway, who plays con man Sawyer on the hit ABC series "Lost," has been named the "hottest hunk" on television by In Touch Weekly.
Second on the list is John Stamos of ABC's "Jake in Progress." The 42-year-old actor, who previously starred on "Full House," was divorced from Rebecca Romijn last year.
Also on the list: Jared Padalecki from "Supernatural," David Boreanaz ("Bones"), Wentworth Miller ("Prison Break"), Eddie Cibrian ("Invasion"), Patrick Dempsey ("Grey's Anatomy"), Shemar Moore ("Criminal Minds") and Tom Welling ("Smallville").
Josh Holloway
Gets Hollywood Star
Motley Crue
It was girls, girls, girls Wednesday when the bad boys of '80s heavy metal band Motley Crue received the 2,301st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"We're across the street from the Erotica Museum and Frederick's of Hollywood. This is a perfect place for us to be," bassist Nikki Sixx told an estimated 600 screaming fans.
Sixx joined drummer Tommy Lee, guitarist Mick Mars and singer Vince Neil at the ceremony in front of the Musician's Institute on Hollywood Boulevard.
Motley Crue
Evicted From Celebrity Big Brother
George Galloway
British lawmaker George Galloway was voted off a reality television show to a chorus of boos and jeers after his Big Brother antics triggered a nationwide uproar.
Eviction from Celebrity Big Brother, however, will likely be the least of the politician's worries amid mounting questions over his relationship with deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Earlier in the day The Daily Telegraph lost its libel appeal against the flamboyant anti- Iraq war lawmaker over its report that he accepted large sums of money from Saddam's regime.
George Galloway
Guilty in Tax Case
Richard Hatch
Richard Hatch, who won $1 million in the debut season of the reality show "Survivor," was found guilty Wednesday of failing to pay taxes on his winnings and taken straight to jail.
Hatch remained calm as the court clerk read the verdict. He waved goodbye to family members, then was handcuffed and taken into custody after U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres said he was a potential flight risk.
The charges carry up to 13 years in prison. Torres said he expected a sentence of between 33 months and 41 months, but it could be longer because prosecutors accuse Hatch of committing perjury during his testimony. Sentencing was scheduled for April 28.
Hatch, 44, was also convicted of evading taxes on $327,000 he earned as co-host of a Boston radio show and $28,000 in rent on property he owned.
Richard Hatch
Ordered to Tear Down Log Cabin
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney can't let it be. Local officials said Wednesday they had ordered the former Beatle to tear down a log cabin on his estate in southern England.
Rother District Council said its planning committee refused to give the 63-year-old musician retrospective planning permission for the timber lodge on the grounds of Woodlands Farm in Peasemarsh, about 70 miles southeast of London.
At its meeting in December, the planning committee ruled that the building "harms the intrinsic landscape quality and character" of the area.
Paul McCartney
Mirror Offers 'Dark Town' Ray Of Sunshine
Viganella
The village of Viganella, with population of only 70, lies in the belly of a valley so sheer that each year, from November 11 to February 2, its inhabitants are deprived of the sunlight that normally drenches much of Italy.
Helped by an architect friend, mayor Pierfranco Midali has drawn up a plan to install a 5-metre (16-foot) high, 8-metre (26-foot) wide mirror on the mountainside that would track the sun's movement and reflect its rays into Viganella's historic piazza.
The mirror, he says, would guarantee at least six hours of sunlight per day during the "dark" months. The estimated cost of the project is around 100,000 euros ($123,000).
Viganella
Streaky Bay
Ambergris
An Australian couple could reap a fragrant fortune after what they thought was an odd-looking tree stump turned out to be a rare lump of ambergris, a whale excretion used in perfumes and known as "floating gold".
Loralee and Leon Wright were walking along a remote beach near Streaky Bay in western South Australia state on a fishing trip three weeks ago when they saw the strange object.
Intrigued, they took a closer look and Leon Wright, thinking it could have been some kind of cyst from a large marine animal, suggested they take the 14.75 kg (32 lb) lump home.
Ambergris can fetch between $20-$65 (11-37 pounds) a gram, The Age newspaper reported on Wednesday. That would make the Wrights' find worth at least $295,000 (165,000 pounds).
Ambergris
Memoirist's Identity Disputed
Nasdijj
Doubts were raised about yet another memoirist as the alternative publication LA Weekly reported Wednesday that the award-winning Nasdijj, who says he's of Navajo descent, may be a white writer impersonating an Indian.
Citing documents and interviews with scholars, Indian authors and his acquaintances and colleagues, the magazine alleges that Nasdijj is really named Timothy Barrus, a writer of gay and pornographic literature.
Nasdijj emerged in 1999 with an article in Esquire about his adopted son, a Najavo named Tommy Nothing Fancy, and the boy's death from fetal alcohol syndrome. The article was a finalist for a National Magazine Award and led to a book contract with Houghton Mifflin, which in 2000 published "The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams." In 2004, the book was chosen for a citywide reading club in Salt Lake City.
Nasdijj
Washington Health Aid Stats
Wal-Mart
More than 3,100 Wal-Mart employees in Washington were benefiting from state-subsidized health coverage throughout 2004 - nearly double the total for any other company, according to two confidential state reports.
That total is much higher than previously thought. And it indicates that as many as 20 percent of Wal-Mart's employees were getting taxpayer-funded health care for themselves or their dependents.
One report shows that, throughout 2004, an average 3,180 Wal-Mart employees were receiving state-funded medical assistance, including Medicaid, for themselves or for a dependent. The other report shows that 456 Wal-Mart employees were on the state's Basic Health Plan that year. Some employees may be counted on both of the lists.
McDonald's restaurants had the second-highest total, with an average 1,824 employees receiving Medicaid benefits in 2004.
Wal-Mart
In Memory
Fayard Nicholas
Fayard Nicholas, who with his brother Harold wowed the tap dancing world with their astonishing athleticism and inspired generations of dancers, from Fred Astaire to Savion Glover, has died. He was 91.
The Nicholas Brothers were still boys when they were featured at New York's Cotton Club in 1932. Though young, they were billed as "The Show Stoppers!" And despite the racial hurdles facing black performers, they went on to Broadway, then Hollywood.
Astaire once told the brothers that the acrobatic elegance and synchronicity of their "Jumpin' Jive" dance sequence in "Stormy Weather" (1943) made it the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen. In the number, the brothers tap across music stands in an orchestra with the fearless exuberance of children stone-hopping across a pond. In the finale, they leap-frog seamlessly down a sweeping staircase.
Their trademark no-hands splits - in which they not only went down but sprang back up again without using their hands for balance - left film audiences wide-eyed. The legendary choreographer George Balanchine called it ballet, despite their lack of formal training.
The great dancer and actor Gregory Hines once said that if a film were ever made about their lives, the dance numbers would have to be computer-generated because nobody could duplicate them.
Fayard, born in 1914, and Harold, born in 1921, learned to dance watching vaudeville shows while their parents played in the pit orchestra.
The brothers were good enough by 1928 to debut in vaudeville. In 1932 they made their film debut in the short "Pie, Pie Blackbird," and were booked at the Cotton Club, which became their base. They were allowed to mingle with the white celebrity patrons before going home to bed at 5 or 6 a.m. They would sleep until 3 p.m., when their daily tutoring began, then return to the club by chauffeur-driven limousine for the first show at midnight. Fayard was 18, Harold 11.
Their polished urbanity and classic good looks made them film stars despite the celluloid segregation that relegated them to non-speaking parts and dance sequences that could be easily cut for racially squeamish audiences in the South. They finally danced with a white star, Gene Kelly, in their last film together, "The Pirate" in 1948.
Fayard won a Tony award in 1989 for his choreography of "Black and Blue," and the brothers were awarded Kennedy Center Honors in 1991.
Fayard Nicholas
In Memory
Chris Penn
Actor Chris Penn, brother of Sean Penn, was found dead Tuesday at his condominium near the beach in Santa Monica, police said. There were no obvious signs of foul play.
Chris Penn's credits included "Mulholland Falls," "Rumble Fish," "All the Right Moves," "Footloose" and "Rush Hour." He also played Nice Guy Eddie Cabot in the 1992 Quentin Tarantino crime drama "Reservoir Dogs."
His late father, Leo Penn, directed television shows. His mother, Eileen Ryan, is an actress. Another brother is musician Michael Penn.
Chris Penn's latest film, "The Darwin Awards," was scheduled to premiere Wednesday at the Sundance Film Festival.
Chris Penn
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