'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Who Was Milton Friedman? (nybooks.com)
Milton Friedman played three roles in the intellectual life of the twentieth century. There was Friedman the economist's economist, who wrote technical, more or less apolitical analyses of consumer behavior and inflation. There was Friedman the policy entrepreneur, who spent decades campaigning on behalf of the policy known as monetarism-finally seeing the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England adopt his doctrine at the end of the 1970s, only to abandon it as unworkable a few years later. Finally, there was Friedman the ideologue, the great popularizer of free-market doctrine.
Joseph Lelyveld: No Exit (nybooks.com)
The argument that putative combatants-would-be combatants who have merely been trained as well as those picked up in the vicinity of a battlefield-can be held in wartime until the end of hostilities isn't in itself novel or controversial. What's new in the current conflict, as it pertains to al-Qaeda and those detainees who are alleged to be its followers, is that no one can imagine the armistice or surrender that would signify an end to this war.
The Daily Howler: IN SEARCH OF THOSE EVIL, BAD MEN
Until the day he's made to stop, [MSNBC talking head Chris] Matthews will continue his sneering remarks about Clinton. He'll call her "Dukakis in a dress." He'll say she reminds him of "a stripteaser." He'll pretend, as he did last Thursday and Friday, that Bill Clinton has called her an "uppity woman" (text below). These sneering, gender-based comments and insults will be available each evening on Hardball. And this worthless man will sing the praises of the twin virile saints, John and Rudy. What lies at the soul of the celebrity press corps? Consider Clinton's joke this Sunday about "evil/bad men."
MATTI FRIEDMAN: First Arab nominated for Holocaust honor (Associated Press)
JERUSALEM - At the height of World War II, Khaled Abdelwahhab hid a group of Jews on his farm in a small Tunisian town, saving them from the Nazi troops occupying the North African nation.
The holy ghost of jazz (music.guardian.co.uk)
John Fordham on the jazz musician Albert Ayler, whose sound was like 'singing from a black hole'.
Sir Gawain finds his voice after 600 years (books.guardian.co.uk)
Simon Armitage has found a new language for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, says Chloe Todd Fordham.
The sick society (books.guardian.co.uk)
Oliver James's "Affluenza" shows how wealth and misery go hand in hand, says William Leith.
'The Little Book of Plagiarism' by Richard A. Posner: Book Review by Jonathan Kirsch
At 116 pages - and small pages at that - Richard A. Posner's "The Little Book of Plagiarism" is aptly titled. It's a brief but provocative and illuminating meditation on the current craze for searching out, denouncing and punishing authors who appear to have borrowed the work of others and passed it off as their own. Ever the controversialist, Posner is willing to entertain the idea that plagiarism is hardly the high crime that moralists in the media and the academy advertise it as, and he makes a good case for the notion that copying is (and always has been) a crucial element of the creative enterprise.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast morning, but no more rain.
Running For Senate
Al Franken
Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota in 2008, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said Wednesday.
Franken told the official, who did not want to be identified because Franken has not made an announcement, that he had decided to run in a recent conversation.
The news was not unexpected. Franken has been calling members of the Minnesota congressional delegation to get their input on a run, and he announced this week that he would be leaving his show on Air America Radio on Feb. 14. He told listeners he would be making a decision on a race soon.
Should he win the Democratic primary in Minnesota, Franken would take on Republican Norm Coleman, a first-term senator who is among the Democrats' top targets. Coleman declined to comment Wednesday.
Al Franken
How Long Will She Be At CBS?
Lara Logan
News reporters frequently complain that their work isn't getting the attention it deserves, but CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan took the extra step.
She wrote to friends and family members asking for their help in getting her report on street fighting in Baghdad on the air. She never, the network said Wednesday, intended to make the plea public. But eventually it got out.
Logan filed the gritty report about dangerous conditions near the Green Zone on Jan. 18 for the "CBS Evening News." The network didn't air it, deeming some of the images of tortured bodies that it contained too graphic, and because another story Logan filed that day from Iraq was more newsworthy, said Sandy Genelius, news spokeswoman.
Instead, the report was streamed on the news division's website. It ends with an Iraqi blaming the United States for the "death and destruction" brought to the country.
There are no plans to air the report, Genelius said. "It's pretty much yesterday's news for everyone here."
Lara Logan
Gives $10,000 To School
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand has donated $10,000 to a performing arts high school, which says her record label plans to contribute an additional $10,000 worth of audio-visual gear.
The St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, which serves ninth through 12th grades, announced the donations Tuesday. Its executive director, Terry Tofte, said he first learned of the gifts last month, and "my reaction was, 'Well, Merry Christmas!'"
Tofte said the school hadn't had any contact with Streisand's staff up to that point, and he didn't know of anybody at the school who had even attended her Oct. 24 concert at the nearby Xcel Energy Center. The Streisand Foundation told the school she identifies an arts organization to support in the cities where she tours.
Barbra Streisand
In The Mail
Oscar Ballots
More than 5,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will soon get their official ballots for the 79th Academy Awards.
The 5,830 ballots were mailed Wednesday and must be returned to Pricewaterhouse-Coopers by Feb. 20. The ballots list nominees in 19 categories.
Ballots for certain categories will not be sent until members have verified their attendance at mandatory screenings. These include best documentary feature, documentary short subject, foreign language film, animated short film and live action short film.
Oscar Ballots
Reopening Delayed To 2O1O
Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam's renowned Rijksmuseum, home to some of the most famous works by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters and which is undergoing restoration, will not reopen until 2010, two years later than planned.
Delays had arisen due to the need for extra building permits after some initial designs had been modified, the Dutch culture ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
During the renovation, works by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters such as Frans Hals and Vermeer have remained on view in a side wing.
Rijksmuseum
Police Want 'Prison Break' Star Charged
Lane Garrison
"Prison Break" actor Lane Garrison should be charged with felony gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs for a solo car crash that killed a teenage passenger and injured two others, police said Wednesday.
Police Chief David L. Snowden said investigators have also asked county prosecutors to charge Garrison, 26, with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Garrison's Land Rover jumped a curb and struck a tree on Dec. 2, killing 17-year-old Beverly Hills High School student Vahagn Setian and injuring two 15-year-old girls who were also in the vehicle.
Snowden said Garrison had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent. After the crash, police said, the actor volunteered to submit a blood sample and analysis of it found he also had cocaine in his system.
Lane Garrison
Settles Lawsuit
Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis has settled a lawsuit filed against his childhood friend over allegations the man tried to extort at least $100,000 from the actor, Willis' publicist said.
The lawsuit filed in August accused Bruce DiMattia, who was hired to maintain Willis' personal items and memorabilia, of extortion and violation of privacy.
Willis' publicist Paul Bloch issued a statement Tuesday that said Willis and DiMattia had reached a settlement and that their dispute was "amicably resolved."
"The filing of the lawsuit by Bruce Willis against Bruce DiMattia was based on a regrettable misunderstanding and was based on misinformation," the statement said. "Bruce Willis wishes Bruce DiMattia the best of luck in the future and Bruce DiMattia wishes him the same."
Bruce Willis
Legal Battle Continues
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys used to sing about endless summers. These days, at least two of them seem to be caught up in endless litigation. The latest round came Tuesday when a judge rejected Beach Boys' singer Mike Love's motion to rule in his favor in Love's lawsuit against former bandmate Al Jardine. Instead, Superior Court Judge James R. Dunn ruled there was sufficient evidence for the matter to go to trial.
Dunn didn't immediately set a trial date, but Jardine's lawyer, Lawrence Noble, said he told attorneys for both sides to get in touch with him by the end of February to let him know the status of the dispute.
The Love-Jardine legal battle dates to 2001, when Jardine filed a $4 million action against Love and the Beach Boys' Brother Records Inc., alleging Love excluded him from concerts that year. The complaint was eventually dismissed and Love sued Jardine in 2003.
Dunn threw out part of Love's suit last September but allowed him to continue to seek $2 million in court costs and $1 million in earnings he says Jardine wrongly was paid for using the Beach Boys' name.
The Beach Boys
Fresh Doubt Cast On Disputed Paintings
Jackson Pollock
A Harvard study has raised new doubts over the authenticity of three paintings previously thought to be works by abstract artist Jackson Pollock, weighing into a simmering controversy in the art world.
The report by the Harvard University Art Museums, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, suggested the three paintings may have employed paints not commercially available until after the painter's death.
They were among 32 works discovered by Alex Matter, a filmmaker whose parents knew Pollock. Matter found the paintings among the possessions of his late parents in 2002 and began showing them publicly in 2005 after authentication by Ellen Landau, a Pollock art historian.
Jackson Pollock
Discovery Shows Influence
Olmecs
A 2,500-year-old city discovered between a gas station and a housing development near Mexico City has shown the ancient Olmecs wielded deeper influence beyond their homeland than was earlier thought, according to archeologists.
The Olmecs, who lived on or near Mexico's Gulf coast from around 1,200 B.C. to 400 B.C., are considered the mother culture of pre-Hispanic Mexico, including the Maya and Aztec civilizations.
The Zazacatla complex sits on a vacant lot and is the first site on the central Mexican plateau to feature monumental Olmec architecture and detailed statues.
Olmecs
In Memory
Molly Ivins
Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, a sharp-witted liberal who skewered the U.S. political establishment and referred to President George W. Bush as "Shrub," died Wednesday after a long battle with breast cancer.
She was 62. David Pasztor, managing editor of the Texas Observer newspaper, confirmed her death. The writer, who made a living poking fun at Texas politicians, whether they were in her home base Austin or the White House, revealed in early 2006 she was being treated for breast cancer for the third time.
"I'm sorry to say (cancer) can kill you but it doesn't make you a better person," she said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News newspaper in September, the same month cancer claimed her friend former Texas governor Ann Richards.
To Ivins, "liberal" wasn't an insult.
"Even I felt sorry for Richard Nixon when he left; there's nothing you can do about being born liberal - fish gotta swim and hearts gotta bleed," she wrote in a column included in her 1998 collection, "You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You."
Ivins' best-selling books included those she co-authored with Lou Dubose about Bush. One was titled "Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush" and another was "BUSHWHACKED: Life in George W. Bush's America."
Molly Ivins
In Memory
Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers - Broadway theater, movies and television - then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men, has died. He was 89.
Sheldon began writing as a youngster in Chicago, where he was born Feb. 17, 1917. At 10, he made his first sale: $10 for a poem. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs, attended Northwestern University and contributed short plays to drama groups.
At 17, he decided to try his luck in Hollywood. The only job he could find was as a reader of prospective film material at Universal Studio for $22 a week. At night he wrote his own screenplays and sold one, "South of Panama," to the studio for $250.
During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. In the New York theater after the war he established his reputation as a prolific writer. At one time he had three musicals on Broadway: a rewritten "The Merry Widow," "Jackpot" and "Dream with Music." He received a Tony award as one of the writers of the Gwen Verdon hit "Redhead." His Broadway success brought about his return to Hollywood.
His first assignment, "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer" brought him the Academy Award for best original screenplay of 1947.
"I suppose I needed money," he remembered. "I met Patty Duke one day at lunch. So I produced 'The Patty Duke Show' (in which she played two cousins), and I did something nobody else in TV ever did. For seven years, I wrote almost every single episode of the series."
Another series, "Nancy," lasted only a half-season, but "I Dream of Jeannie," which he also created and produced, lasted five seasons, 1965-1970.
"During the last year of 'I Dream of Jeannie,' I decided to try a novel," he said in 1982. "Each morning from 9 until noon, I had a secretary at the studio take all calls. I mean every single call. I wrote each morning - or rather, dictated - and then I faced the TV business."
Sheldon was married for more than 30 years to Jorja Curtright Sheldon, a stage and film actress who later became a prominent interior decorator. She died in 1985.
He married Alexandra Kostoff, a former child actress and advertising executive, in 1989.
Along with his wife, Sheldon was survived by his daughter, author Mary Sheldon; his brother Richard; two grandchildren and other family members.
Sidney Sheldon
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