'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Myths and falsehoods about Hillary Rodham Clinton (mediamatters.org)
On January 20, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) announced the formation of her presidential exploratory committee. Yet despite the claim by conservative news outlets such as Fox News that the Washington press corps is "pulling for her," media reports and commentary are already rife with myths and falsehoods regarding her record, her motivations, and Americans' perceptions of her, as Media Matters for America documents.
Richard Roeper: Are Oprah and O'Reilly big enough to admit they were wrong? (suntimes.com)
Step right up, Oprah. The floor is yours, Bill O'Reilly. Now that Michael Devlin has been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault in the kidnappings of two Missouri boys, I'm wondering if either of these media titans are ready to acknowledge their comments might not have been helpful to the alleged victims.
RICHARD ROEPER: When tragedy strikes the young, we can only wonder 'what if?' (suntimes.com)
Saturday. While searching through bags tucked deep into the corner of a storage facility, I came across some high school newspapers from the 1970s.
Annalee Newitz: Peeing by Design (alternet.org)
In the search for gender-neutral bathrooms, Safe2Pee maps the answers.
Martin Foreman: Happy Reasonday! Socrates and March 20 (godwouldbeanatheist.com)
When was Socrates born? I am, of course, talking about the Athenian philosopher who died over 2,400 years ago rather than the many other semi-famous Socrateses listed on Wikipedia.
College: Wikipedia not source for papers (usatoday.com)
Middlebury College history students are no longer allowed to use Wikipedia in preparing class papers. The policy says, in part, "Wikipedia is not an acceptable citation, even though it may lead one to a citable source."
Mark Doten: An Interview with Edmund White (bookslut.com)
"My first novel to be published, Forgetting Elena, came out. And I sent it to [Nabokov], and he sent me a charming letter. Two lines: 'Dear Mr. White, My wife and I both enjoyed your book very much. Everything is teetering on the edge of everything.' And the first line was: 'This is not for publication.'"
'It's complexicated' (guardian.co.uk)
Michel Gondry, the maker of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, tells Xan Brooks about his weird dreams, why Carrey and Winslet aren't friends - and why he's finally gone solo.
Should Sting get £70m for the Police reunion? (guardian.co.uk)
Whatever pleasures may be derived from this tour, the satisfaction of rescuing a once great artist from penury will not be among them.
Jon Katz: Why People Love Dogs (slate.com)
It's more complicated than you think.
Cool Link
Topographic Map
Planning on a hiking trip on mars? Here you go, use this and neither you or
your rover will get lost.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and breezy.
Went to the local Target store, only to find it closed down and fenced off.
Must be that robust economy.
Enters Race
Al Franken
Comedian Al Franken announced Wednesday that he will run for the Senate in 2008, seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.
Franken's announcement came on the final day of his show on the liberal radio network Air America. The decision by the former "Saturday Night Live" performer instantly makes him a serious contender and brings national attention to the race.
The decision was not unexpected. Franken announced a few weeks ago that he would leave Air America and privately told prominent Democrats about his plans to seek office.
Al Franken
Takes On An Oratorio
Eric Idle
How do you follow "Monty Python's Spamalot"?
For Eric Idle and John Du Prez, it's an oratorio called "Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)," which will be one of the major attractions at "Luminato," a 10-day arts festival premiering June 1-10 in Toronto.
"It will be funnier than Handel, though not as good," says Idle of the oratorio, which will be performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Peter Oundjian (Idle's cousin). The oratorio will feature a narrator, guest soloists and a choir. Performances are June 1-4 at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.
Idle and Du Prez were the creators of "Spamalot," the Tony-winning musical based on the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Eric Idle
Newest Ben & Jerry's Flavor
Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream
Stephen Colbert may have no taste for the truth, but he does have a sweet tooth. Ben & Jerry's has named a new ice cream in honor of the comedian: "Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream."
It's vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and caramel.
Announcing the new flavor Wednesday, Ben & Jerry's called it: "The sweet taste of liberty in your mouth."
Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream
Engagement News
Ostrosky - Stern
Howard Stern once worried on the air that a marriage to longtime girlfriend Beth Ostrosky would only mess up a good thing. It seems he's willing to take the risk.
Stern announced on his satellite radio show on Wednesday that he had proposed the evening before - and Ostrosky had said yes.
It's a turnaround for the media maverick, who launched his satellite radio show last year with comments that he was happy to leave things as they were.
Ostrosky - Stern
Honorary Doctorate
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is slated to receive an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music during her March 17 performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
The honor from the Boston college puts the 71-year-old Lynn into a select group of recording artists that includes Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Earl Scruggs, Sting and Sarah Vaughan.
Since beginning her career in 1960, the Butcher Hollow, Ky., native has written more than 160 songs and released 70 albums, 17 of which have gone to No. 1.
Loretta Lynn
Letters Released
Otto Frank
Anne Frank's father tried to arrange U.S. visas for his family before they went into hiding, but his efforts were hampered when Allied and Axis countries tightened immigration policies, according to papers released Wednesday.
Otto Frank also sent desperate letters to friends and family in the U.S. pleading for help with immigration costs as the family tried to escape the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
The letters, along with documents and records from various agencies that helped people immigrate from Europe, were released by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, a New York-based institution that focuses on the history and culture of eastern European Jews. The group discovered the file among 100,000 other Holocaust-related documents about a year and a half ago.
The documents show how Frank tried to arrange for his family - wife Edith, daughters Margo and Anne and mother-in-law Rosa Hollander - to go to the U.S. or Cuba. He wrote to relatives, friends and officials between April 30, 1941, and Dec. 11, 1941, when Germany declared war on the U.S.
Otto Frank
Pleads Guilty To DWI
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge.
The 38-year-old comic, who co-stars on the NBC sitcom "30 Rock," submitted the plea in Manhattan Criminal Court in exchange for a conditional discharge, meaning he must meet conditions set by the court and the case against him will be dismissed.
Judge Ellen Coin ordered Morgan to enter a doctor-supervised alcohol program, do community service to be determined later, and avoid being arrested again within the next six months. The judge also fined Morgan $1,000 and suspended his driver's license for six months.
Tracy Morgan
Estate Problems
Darrell "Wayne" Perry
The children of a hit country music songwriter won't get control of his estate, a judge ruled, but a bigger battle looms between them and their aunt, an evangelist with a worldwide ministry.
Darrell "Wayne" Perry's four children have sued their aunt Darlene Bishop, saying she hastened her brother's death by promising to use prayer to cure the throat cancer that killed him and discouraging him from receiving medical treatment.
Wayne Perry's songs include Tim McGraw's "Not a Moment Too Soon," Toby Keith's "A Woman's Touch" and Lorrie Morgan's hit "What Part Of No." He died of throat cancer in 2005 at age 55.
Perry's heirs alleged that Bishop took money intended for them, including payment from a $260,000 insurance policy, and refused to disburse Perry's assets to them as he had intended.
Darrell "Wayne" Perry
Approves CIA Flight Probe
Switzerland
Switzerland on Wednesday followed Italy and Germany in raising the threat of criminal prosecution of CIA operatives involved in anti-terrorism operations in Europe.
The Swiss Cabinet authorized the start of criminal proceedings against those responsible for the abduction in Italy of an Egyptian Muslim preacher allegedly taken on CIA flights through Swiss airspace.
Switzerland, which has cooperated closely in U.S. investigations and attempts to shut down terrorists' funding networks, has generally avoided open disputes with the U.S. government. But the wording of the seven-member Cabinet's statement was sharp.
Switzerland
Republican Family Values
Ann Scalia Banaszewski
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's daughter was arrested this week and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and child endangerment, officials said Wednesday.
Ann Banaszewski, 45, of Wheaton, was arrested Monday evening as she was driving away from a McDonald's in the suburb 20 miles west of Chicago.
Police said three children were inside Banaszewski's van.
Ann Scalia Banaszewski
The Grown-Ups Are In Charge
Republican Ethics
Nine months before agreeing to let ConocoPhillips delay a half-billion-dollar pollution cleanup, the government's top environmental prosecutor bought a $1 million vacation home with the company's top lobbyist.
Also in on the Kiawah Island, S.C., house deal was former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, the highest-ranking Bush administration official targeted for criminal prosecution in the Jack Abramoff corruption probe.
Just before resigning last month, Assistant Attorney General Sue Ellen Wooldridge signed two proposed consent decrees with ConocoPhillips: one giving the company as much as two to three more years to install $525 million in pollution controls at nine refineries and the other dealing with a Superfund toxic waste cleanup.
Last April, Wooldridge, ConocoPhillips Vice President Donald R. Duncan and Griles had gone together on a $980,000 home in a gated community at Kiawah Island. Records from the Charleston County Auditor's office obtained by The Associated Press list Duncan as a 50 percent owner of the home and Wooldridge and Griles as 25 percent owners.
The deed is filed under Duncan's name, but the mailing address for the South Carolina property - tucked among pines, palmettos, a pool, golf course and racket club several hundred yards from the beach - is Griles' home in Virginia. He and Wooldridge jointly own a condo there.
Republican Ethics
Booze Ban Threatens Jazz Hall
Mutual Musicians Foundation
Jazz musicians still jam till dawn at the Mutual Musicians Foundation, the old union hall that's one of the few remaining reminders of the days when Count Basie was a household name and the place to be here was 18th and Vine.
The Mutual Musician Foundation, it seems, never did have a liquor license. Not that that had ever stopped the booze from flowing. Think of it as just another way of honoring the good old days, when laws were viewed as suggestions and political Boss Tom Pendergast reigned over a city rife with gambling halls, brothels and juke joints that never closed.
"What we had was a world-class speakeasy," said Ray Reed, a jazz vocalist who also works as the club's doorman.
At least, that's what they had until someone ratted out the club to city liquor inspectors.
Mutual Musicians Foundation
First Snowfall In 63 Years
Kathmandu
Snow fell on Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, for the first time in 63 years on Wednesday, stirring excitement and curiosity among residents and their children.
Weather officials said the brief snowfall, which lasted only a few minutes, was the result of a "westerly disturbance" over Nepal that earlier in the week caused heavy rains.
Though the Himalayan country is home to Mount Everest, Kathmandu, with a population of 1.5 million people, is situated in a valley and has not had snow since January 1944, according to Independent Kantipur television.
Kathmandu
In Memory
Joe Edwards
Joe Edwards, an artist who worked on the 1942 debut issue of Archie comics and later created the character Li'l Jinx, has died. He was 85.
A Manhattan native, Edwards served in the Army during the Second World War, illustrating training manuals. While based in Italy, he drew animated cartoons warning of minefields around Naples.
Edwards worked for Demby Studios, which produced comic book stories for a number of publishers, and then joined the former MLJ Comics, the precursor to Archie Comics.
Along with drawing the popular redheaded teenager, Archie Andrews, and his pals Jughead, Betty and Veronica, Edwards created Li'l Jinx, a precocious girl who had her own comic book for a time and still appears as a character in others, said Victor Gorelick, vice president and managing editor of Archie Comics.
Edwards is survived by his wife, Eda Selnick, sons, Todd and Ken, a daughter, Naomi, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Joe Edwards
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