'Best of TBH Politoons'
But Untrue
Strangely Believable
Senator Rick Santorum is a champion breeder of poodles and shitzus.
~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
ADAM ZAGORIN: The Abu Ghraib Scandal You Don't Know (Time)
BOB HERBERT: Stories from inside Guantanamo (The New York Times)
ZACH DUNDAS: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: Portland writer Donald Miller is selling books, wowing fans-and fighting to shake up Christianity as we know it.
Umbra Fisk: Got Time? On effective activism
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW : Melissa Boyle Mahle Shares an Insider's View of the CIA and Why the Agency Failed on 9/11
Warren J. Blumenfeld: Ask not for whom homophobia tolls (The Advocate)
Ruth Conniff: Bush's Budget
ROGER EBERT: Ossie Davis: In Memory
Roger Ebert: Ossie Davis: That's What It's All About (March 25, 1968)
www.responsiblewealth.org
The Wall Street Poet
Captain Pork
©2005
Valentine Rant
Avery Ant
'once-in-a-lifetime' chance to win a fun-filled
week at Avery's Ant Farm & Spa.
That or win a t-shirt. It could go either way.
For all the jiggy details, check out:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warm.
The calla lilies are up and the birds o'paradise are blooming.
Talked with dear old Dad in PA - he was wondering where all the birds went. Said he hadn't had to refill his birdfeeder in the last month when he usually goes though about 15 pounds of seed in a month.
ABC Plans Time Delay
Oscars
ABC will use a time delay during this year's live broadcast of the Oscars on Feb. 27 in an effort to screen out any scandalous wardrobe malfunction or foul language, a network spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The trade newspaper Variety said the delay would last seven seconds, the usual time broadcasters use to check a live program before letting it go out.
The telecast for the U.S. film industry's top honors, awarded by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, is one of the most-watched television programs and a major source of advertising revenue for the Walt Disney Co.-owned network.
Oscars
Hosting MSGOP News/Talk Show
Ron Reagan
Ron Reagan, son of the late president and conservative hero Ronald Reagan, will co-host a new political talk show on MSNBC, the network said on Wednesday.
Reagan will host "Connected: Coast to Coast" from MSNBC.com headquarters in Redmond, Washington, MSNBC said in a statement.
The show, which will air twice daily, will base its other host -- Monica Crowley, a former Richard Nixon aide and Fox News analyst -- at MSNBC headquarters in New Jersey.
The show will premiere on Tuesday. The early broadcast will present developing news, while the later show will focus more on analysis and debate.
Ron Reagan
'Sideways' Wins Laughs
Aspen Comedy Fest
The Oscar-nominated movie "Sideways" won four of the five awards at the third annual Comedy Film Honors of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., organizers said Tuesday.
The festival, now in its 11th year, runs Wednesday through Sunday.
Among this year's special events, Conan O'Brien will present Jim Carrey with the AFI Star Award for his successful crossover from slapstick comedy into more serious roles.
Cartoonist Garry Trudeau will receive the annual Freedom of Speech Award for constantly pushing the envelope with his "Doonesbury" comic strip.
Aspen Comedy Fest
Quits WH Reporting Post
Jeff Gannon
Jeff Gannon, the controversial reporter for conservative Web site Talon News who drew complaints for gaining access to White House press events, resigned from his job last night amid liberal blogs' allegations about his real name and his personal and professional life.
Gannon, whose real name, according to investigators at DailyKos and other blogs, is James "J.D." Guckert, first gained attention several weeks ago when he asked a question at a presidential press conference that some in the press corps considered so friendly it might have been planted. Later it was revealed by E&P that Gannon had been turned down last year for a congressional press pass because he could not prove his employer was a valid news organization. That denial barred him from receiving a White House "hard pass," allowing regular access to White House press events.
But Gannon had been obtaining daily White House press passes, a situation that had irked some veteran White House reporters who also questioned his credentials or considered him to be too partisan in his questioning.
Gannon's refusal to deny he used a fake name sparked investigations by a number of blogs, including Daily Kos, Eschaton, and World O' Crap, that probed his true identity. In addition, those sites posted allegations yesterday that Web sites such as hotmilitarystud.com, militaryescorts.com, and militaryescortsm4m.com, were registered to the same owner as Gannon's personal Web site, according to the blog MediaCitizen.
Another intriguing issue is his involvement, along with better known Robert Novak, Judith Miller and others, in the Valerie Plame/CIA episode. His name turned up on a list of reporters targeted for questioning by the federal prosecutor in the case. Froomkin of the The Washington Post wrote last spring that "the reason Gannon is on the list is most likely an attempt to find out who gave him a secret memo that he mentioned in an interview he had with Plame's husband, former ambassador and administration critic Joseph Wilson."
The Talon News site today scrubbed its archives of many "Gannon" articles and removed his biography.
Jeff Gannon
Apologizes to James Watt
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers has apologized to former U.S. Interior Secretary James Watt for referencing a quote, which has been wrongly attributed to Watt for years, during a speech Moyers gave last December upon receiving an award from Harvard Medical School. The text of the speech has since appeared in several newspapers and on numerous Web sites.
Moyers, a well-known journalist and recently departed host of NOW on PBS, said he phoned Watt yesterday and faxed him a letter stating his regrets. Moyers wrongly referred to Watt during a speech in New York on Dec. 1, after Moyers received an award from Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment.
During the speech, Moyers said, "Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of the interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, 'after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back'."
For the rest, Bill Moyers
Donates $1M to Art Collection
Steve Martin
Entertainer Steve Martin donated $1 million to the American art collection at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.
The gift is seen as a boon for a department traditionally overshadowed by the museum's European collections. Additionally, a new gallery opening this spring will eventually double the exhibition space for American art.
Three-fourths of the gift, which will be made over five years, will be used to put on American art exhibitions, and the remaining $250,000 will likely be used for acquisitions or exhibitions.
Steve Martin
Nude Portrait Fetches $7.3 Million
Kate Moss
A nude portrait of pregnant supermodel Kate Moss by one of Britain's most renowned artists, Lucian Freud, sold for 3.93 million pounds ($7.32 million) at a London auction on Wednesday.
Auction house Christie's said an anonymous telephone bidder bought the near-lifesize painting, "Naked Portrait 2002," which had been estimated to fetch up to 3.5 million pounds.
The full-length painting of British model Moss shows her pregnant, reclining on a bed with her left arm across a pillow.
Kate Moss
A photo of this picture can be found here - then scroll down.
Denies Lesbian Rumors
Marcia Cross
Marcia Cross is making it clear that while she's no desperate housewife, she's not gay, either. The "Desperate Housewives" star said she wasn't a lesbian after "The View" co-host Barbara Walters questioned her Wednesday on rumors regarding her sexuality.
"I'm not," said Cross.
She wondered how the rumors had gotten started.
"Well, it was very odd," said Cross. "And I, I just assumed this is what comes of being 42 and single. I don't know if they just needed to find a reason why I wasn't married."
Marcia Cross
Wu-Tang to Honor Posthumously
ODB
The surviving members of the Wu-Tang Clan have regrouped to record a tribute to fallen colleague Ol' Dirty Bastard, who died in November while working on his first album since being released from jail in 2003.
Wu-Tang principal RZA says the track, tentatively titled "I Go Through Life," will hopefully appear on ODB's album, which will be a joint venture between RZA's Wu-Tang Records imprint and the new Damon Dash Music Group.
ODB
Sues Jewish Hall for Trademark
Rock Hall
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has sued the online Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame over alleged trademark infringements of the rock hall's name.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Cleveland seeks to halt the use of the name Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and award the Cleveland rock hall unspecified damages. The lawsuit claims the rock hall has sold more than $5 million in licensed items in the past 10 years, and the Jewish rock hall jeopardizes that brand.
David Segal, a writer for The Washington Post and one of founders of the Jewish rock hall, said backers plan to launch the new Web site next month. The Jewish rock hall's site showed a single message Tuesday: Future Home of JewsRock.org.
Rock Hall
Concert Honors Composer
Harold Arlen
The American songbook would sound a whole lot different without the work of Harold Arlen, yet the man who composed "Over the Rainbow" and "Stormy Weather" is hardly a household name.
A yearlong commemoration of Harold Arlen's career aims to change all that, starting with a Feb. 14 concert at Carnegie Hall on the eve of the centennial of his birth.
In the early 1930s, Arlen's burgeoning songwriting career led him and lyricist Ted Koehler to a stint at Harlem's famed Cotton Club, where Cab Calloway performed their songs, including "I've Got the World On a String" and "Stormy Weather."
Arlen's success grew when he went solo as Hollywood studios Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer hired him to write music for movies, leading to his breakthrough gig - writing the entire soundtrack for "The Wizard of Oz."
For a lot more, Harold Arlen
324-Year Old Tree Pulled Down
Versailles
The oldest tree in the grounds of the palace of Versailles -- Marie-Antoinette's oak -- was pulled down more than 320 years after it was planted.
Measuring 35 metres (115 feet) high and 5.5 metres (18 feet) in circumference, the tree died of dehydration in the heatwave of 2003 after being deprived of surrounding cover in the devastating storms of December 1999.
Planted in 1681, the oak was named after the ill-fated wife of King Louis XVI who reputedly liked to enjoy its shade. It is to replaced by another of the same species.
Versailles
Gets Bigger Role at White House
Karl 'Turd Blossom' Rove
Resident Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, will take on a wider role in developing and coordinating policy in the president's second term, the White House announced on Tuesday.
Rove, who was Bush's top political strategist during his 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, will become a deputy White House chief of staff in charge of coordinating policy between the White House Domestic Policy Council, National Economic Council, National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.
Rove will continue to oversee White House strategy to advance Bush's agenda and will "make sure we have an open and fair process for the development of policy and to make sure the policy is complementary and consistent with the various councils," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Karl 'Turd Blossom' Rove
Once Part Of French Crown
Hope Diamond
Researchers using computer analysis have traced the origin of the famed Hope Diamond, concluding that it was cut from a larger stone that was once part of the crown jewels of France.
A French connection had been suspected for the Hope, but the new study shows just how it would have fit inside the larger French Blue Diamond and how that gem was cut, Smithsonian gem curator Jeffrey Post explained.
The deep blue Hope Diamond is the centerpiece of the gem collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, famed for its claimed history of bad luck for its owners. It's been good fortune for the museum, though, drawing millions of visitors.
Hope Diamond
In Memory
Jimmy Smith
Organist Jimmy Smith, who helped change the sound of jazz by almost single-handedly introducing the electric riffs of the Hammond B-3 organ, has died at age 79 at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, his record label said on Wednesday.
Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 8, 1925, Smith ruled the Hammond B-3 in the 1950s and 1960s and blended jazz, blues, R&B, bebop and even gospel into an exciting stew that came to known as "soul jazz" -- an idiom that produced imitators, followers and fans.
Paired with jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery in the 1960s, Smith first made his mark as a soloist on Blue Note Records where, as one critic noted, he turned the Hammond B-3 organ "into a down and dirty orchestra."
The pipe organ had been used in jazz in the 1930s by such famous players as Fats Waller but it was obviously too big and too heavy to be lugged into jazz clubs. Smith was able to take his electric B-3 on the road and created a jazz trio of organ, drums and either guitar or saxophone.
He began playing the Hammond organ in 1951, and soon wound up playing in some of New York's most famous clubs, including Cafe Bohemia and Birdland.
Smith's Blue Note sessions from his 1956 "New Sounds on the Organ" to 1963 when he left the label included work with some of the major players of the day, including Kenny Burrell, Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Tina Brooks, Jackie McLean, Ike Quebec, and Stanley Turrentine.
On Verve from 1963 to 1972, he played with Montgomery and in big bands conducted or arranged by Oliver Nelson.
Jimmy Smith
