Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Aida Edemariam: Pizza - the latest weapon of protest (Guardian)
Pizza joint gets orders from around the world to feed anti-cuts demonstrators in Wisconsin.
Jim Hightower: THE KOCH BROTHERS: WHAT A SIGHT
Until recently, Charles and David Koch were just a couple of anonymous billionaires. For years they've been financing a vast right-wing network dedicated to establishing a laissez-faire corporate utopia in America, operated in the shadows of politics, thus avoiding public scrutiny.
Froma Harrop: Federal Policies Skew House Values Everywhere (Creators Syndicate)
Not Seattle! Home prices in the "Queen City" of the Northwest were not supposed to go south. This isn't Miami, Phoenix or Las Vegas, where suntanned speculators built big, borrowed big and went bust with a bang.
STANLEY FISH: What Did Watson the Computer Do? (New York Times)
Despite the hype, the I.B.M. machine that recently beat two humans at "Jeopardy" has little to do with human intelligence.
Christy Harrison: Slimming the Future (Slate)
What should we do about childhood obesity?
Steve Garbarino: "Dress Like an Icon: Stand out from the casual pack by accessorizing like yesteryear's leading men" (Wall Street Journal)
'I don't dress for the moment,' Cary Grant once said. What he meant was, he didn't put himself together merely for formal affairs. Being comfortable, while looking his best-both on and off camera-was simply a given for the great charmer, whom many sartorial experts consider the best-dressed man who ever lived.
Germaine Greer: How many experts does it take to prove Mona Lisa was not a man with implants? (Guardian)
It's been conclusively established that Mona Lisa was a silk merchant's wife - but that isn't stopping the speculation.
Ted Rall: Borders is Bankrupt. Will Books Survive?
The next time you walk past the empty ghost store where your local Borders used to be, you may ask yourself: Are we becoming a post-literate society?
Mark Morford: The greatest movie you'll never see (SF Gate)
How about we make a movie about, say, the countless ignitions and romances, love notes and marriages, wedding photos and baby pictures, evolutions and even revolutions currently flooding all over those same networks like sticky fire in the veins of our jaded and bitter god?
Sean Fennessey: The 'bold, crazy' world of Adult Swim (Los Angeles Times)
That's how one show supplier describes the cable programming block that is grabbing more viewers and attention. Guys, 18-49, this is for you.
Jazz Was His Earliest Muse (Wall Street Journal)
Clint Eastwood has had a life-long love affair with jazz music, calling it one of the only truly American art forms. "It's something that could only come out of such a diverse country," he says, in Cultural Conversation with Michael Judge.
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Portrait of the Artist: Johnny Mathis, singer" (Guardian)
Singing is like golf. You can flounder over things for years - then a pro sets you straight in minutes.'
David Bruce has 40 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $40 you can buy 10,000 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Governor Pranked
Wisconsin gov. pranked by caller posing as donor.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A prank caller pretending to be billionaire conservative businessman David Koch was able to have a lengthy conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about his strategy to cripple public employee unions, the governor's office confirmed Wednesday.
Governor Pranked
MAM
Thanks, Marianne!
Reader Comment
Re: Pigboy
So - I see that the Vulgar Pigboy is at it again, dissing the First Lady. Obviously, this fat tub of goo is no prize! Hell, if he didn't have money, he wouldn't have gotten married - for the fourth time!
I sincerely believe that this evil, cruel man will, during the next year or two, suffer a whopper of a heart attack, followed by cardiac arrest so sharp and jarring that not even a defibrilator will be able to save him!
So, write this down and take it to the bank: When "Fatboy" Limbaugh dies, all of his secrets will come spilling out - especially what he has been doing with a bottle of Viagra in the Dominican Republic.
If this is too awful for anyone to face, maybe the hope for an investigation of this evil man - preferably by, say, Matt Taibbi of "Rolling Stone" magazine - will prompt some of you to e-mail Matt with this as a suggestion for a story.
Keep rockin' friends!
George M
Thanks, George!
Reader Suggestion
Re: Wisconsin
Hi Marty,
For BCE readers who would like to support their union brothers and sisters in WI and elsewhere, here is info on a march in Santa Ana on Thursday. Fortunately California doesn't have the mess other states have, because we worked so hard on the election last year and won every statewide race. You KNOW a Governor Whitman would be doing the same thing as Walker if she could!
In Unity,
Ed the Retired Teacher
Who Works Three Jobs
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, breezy, and brisk (for these parts).
Legally Indefensible
DOMA
President Barack Obama ordered his administration on Wednesday to stop defending the constitutionality of a federal law that bans recognition of gay marriage, a policy reversal that could have major implications for the rights and benefits of gay couples and reignite an emotional debate for the 2012 presidential campaign.
Obama still is "grappling" with his personal views on whether gays should be allowed to marry but has long opposed the federal law as unnecessary and unfair, said spokesman Jay Carney.
First word of the change came not from the White House but from the Justice Department. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Obama had concluded the 15-year-old Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, was legally indefensible.
The decision was immediately welcomed by gay rights organizations and vilified by those on the other side. Some Democrats in Congress praised the decision, while it drew criticism from some Republicans and the office of their leader, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Cry Baby), all surely a preview of coming political debate over the latest development in the long-running national conversation about gay rights.
DOMA
Back Pedals
Whoopi
Whoopi Goldberg says the lack of black nominees in the major categories at this year's Academy Awards doesn't reflect a trend in the film industry.
Speaking at an exhibit of Oscar statues Wednesday at New York City's Grand Central Terminal, Goldberg underscored that five black actors have won Academy Awards since 2002.
Goldberg recently said on "The View" that she was upset about an article in The New York Times citing the lack of black nominees this year because it didn't mention her supporting actress Oscar for 1990's "Ghost." The Times later said she read the story "incorrectly." She apologized for calling the reporting sloppy.
She said Wednesday that it's inaccurate to think there's "something wrong" with the way blacks are represented at the Oscars.
Whoopi
Rules Out Politics
George Clooney
Actor George Clooney will play a flawed presidential candidate in his latest movie, but he has again rejected the notion of running for politics in real life.
"I didn't live my life the right way for politics, you know," the Oscar-winning actor told Newsweek magazine in a cover story about his humanitarian work in Sudan.
"I f**ked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that's the truth," said Clooney, who has twice been declared People magazine's sexiest man alive.
Clooney, 49, said a smart political campaigner would "start from the beginning by saying, 'I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let's talk about issues' That's gonna be my campaign slogan: 'I drank the bong water.'?"
George Clooney
Belongings Sold
Lena Horne
The estate of sultry jazz singer and actress Lena Horne has sold some of the fancy gowns, jewelry, fine art and books that filled her New York City apartment.
The auction of more than 200 items brought a sales total of $316,000 Wednesday at the Doyle New York auction house. That was double the total the sale was expected to bring in.
Among the items sold was a small Louis Vuitton trunk with stickers inscribed "Lena Horne Hayton" that went for $20,000. It had been estimated at up to $700.
Other items also sold well above their estimated. A reversible mink coat by Horne's favorite designer, Giorgio di Sant' Angelo, sold for $8,125. It had been estimated to bring in up to $500.
Lena Horne
Literary Archive To Oxford
John le Carre
Spy novelist John le Carre said Thursday he is giving an archive of his books, personal papers and photographs to Oxford University's renowned Bodleian Library.
The archive includes drafts and manuscripts of le Carre's best known novels, including "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," "The Tailor of Panama" and "The Constant Gardener."
Le Carre - the pen name of David Cornwell - said he was delighted to hand over his works.
The Bodleian Library said it was grateful for the le Carre archive.
John le Carre
Leaves Westchester Orchestra
Itzhak Perlman
World-famous violinist Itzhak Perlman has resigned his post as artistic director of the Westchester Philharmonic in New York.
Philharmonic Executive Director Joshua Worby tells the Wall Street Journal that the orchestra and Perlman have mutually agreed to dissolve the contract, which was to expire in June.
The paper says Perlman did not immediately return a call for comment. The orchestra says when it hired Perlman in 2007, attendance doubled and fundraising increased. But Worby tells the Journal that the orchestra continues to face financial challenges and has fallen behind in paying Perlman and its other musicians.
In a statement provided by the orchestra, Perlman says he had wished for a different outcome and hoped he could lead the orchestra "again soon."
Itzhak Perlman
Punked By DailyBeast
'Hosni' Walker
On a prank call that quickly spread across the Internet, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was duped into discussing his strategy to cripple public employee unions, promising never to give in and joking that he would use a baseball bat in his office to go after political opponents.
Walker believed the caller was a conservative billionaire named David Koch, but it was actually a liberal blogger. The two talked for at least 20 minutes - a conversation in which the governor described several potential ways to pressure Democrats to return to the Statehouse and revealed that his supporters had considered secretly planting people in pro-union protest crowds to stir up trouble.
The call also revealed Walker's cozy relationship with two billionaire brothers who have poured millions of dollars into conservative political causes, including Walker's campaign last year.
Walker compared his stand to that taken by President Ronald Reagan when he fired the nation's air-traffic controllers during a labor dispute in 1981.
'Hosni' Walker
Humbles US Oil Giant
Maria Aguinda
She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a landmark judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home.
The diminutive grandmother whose modest home sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of the David-and-Goliath case, and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage.
"Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old Aguinda told AFP at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents had become a sad fact of life.
"Mary Aguinda et al" are the opening words of the suit launched in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 residents of Orellana and Sucumbios provinces, in which they charge Texaco dumped billions of gallons of toxic crude during its operations, fouling rivers, lakes and soil and causing cancer deaths in indigenous communities.
Maria Aguinda
Court Time
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan was warned on Wednesday that any plea bargain on her jewelry theft charge would involve jail time, but the troubled actress seemed set on rejecting any deals and opting instead to risk a trial.
Lohan, 24, was given until March 10, to consider a plea deal offered by prosecutors on a charge that she walked out of a Los Angeles jewelry store in January without paying for a $2,500 necklace.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed at Wednesday's hearing -- the latest in a series of trips to court that have halted Lohan's once promising movie career.
But celebrity website TMZ.com, citing unnamed sources connected to the case, said prosecutors want Lohan to plead guilty and serve six months in jail to avoid a possibly longer sentence if convicted at trial of stealing the necklace.
Lindsay Lohan
Canada Rules
Randy Quaid
American actor Randy Quaid says he's won his legal fight to stay in Canada, after the Canada Border Services Agency dropped inadmissibility proceedings against him.
At a news conference with his wife and lawyer on Wednesday morning in Vancouver, Quaid said he and his wife Evi were relieved by the news.
Randy and Evi Quaid applied for refugee status in October, claiming they were being persecuted in the U.S. and were possible targets of so-called "Hollywood star-whackers" who were bent on killing actors.
Evi Quaid said friends such as actors David Carradine and Heath Ledger were "murdered" under mysterious circumstances and she was worried something would happen to her husband.
It turned out that because Evi Quaid's father was born in Canada, she was granted Canadian citizenship on Feb. 10. That allowed her to sponsor Randy's immigrant.
Randy Quaid
Artist Sues
Kevin Costner
An artist who created a bronze sculpture for Kevin Costner is suing the actor to force him to sell the work of art.
Peggy Detmers says she spent more than six years creating the sculpture of 14 bison and three American Indian hunters for a resort Costner had planned to open in South Dakota's Black Hills.
The Rapid City Journal says Detmers values the sculpture at $2.2 million.
Costner says he still wants to build the resort he planned 20 years ago. Meanwhile, he spent $6 million to build a visitors' center and create a display site for the sculpture. Detmers says she wasn't properly consulted in that project.
Kevin Costner
Barbados Lifts Ban
'Black Swan'
A censorship board has reversed a decision to ban theaters in Barbados from showing "Black Swan" because of its sexual and violent content.
The Cinematograph Film Censorship Board reviewed its decision after a theater filed an appeal. The board announced Wednesday the movie would be shown under an "R" rating.
Hundreds of people signed an online petition asking the Caribbean nation's board to reverse its decision. Hundreds more joined a Facebook page titled "For Freedom of Thought and Expression in Barbados."
The psychosexual thriller is nominated for a best picture Oscar.
'Black Swan'
'Pandering With The Stars'
Christine O'Donnell
Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell says she's been invited to be a contestant on TV's "Dancing with the Stars." But the losing Senate candidate from Delaware isn't sure she should accept, saying she has two left feet and a book about politics to complete.
The conservative Republican, who lost to a Democrat amid controversy over past statements about youthful dabbling in witchcraft, is soliciting opinions on her Facebook page.
O'Donnell says her initial reaction was to say "no" to the show, but others are encouraging her to accept. O'Donnell writes she's flattered, but a 2-year-old nephew has more rhythm than she does.
Christine O'Donnell
Wipes Out, No Waves
Big Wave Surfing Invitational
An epic U.S. surfing contest that in the past featured athletes riding huge waves is washing out this year, due to a lack of big surf, organizers said.
The Jay at Maverick's Big Wave Surfing Invitational, near scenic Half Moon Bay in California, often attracts some of the surfing world's top talent. But the competition is only held if the right weather conditions produce giant swells.
Those conditions would need to happen by February 28, the final day in the window of time set by organizers of the northern California contest, and they have discounted that possibility.
The window of the time for the contest to happen began back on December 1.
Big Wave Surfing Invitational
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for Feb. 14-20. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 23.2 million.
2. "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 22.18 million.
3. "NCIS," CBS, 19.4 million.
4. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16.8 million.
5. "The Mentalist," CBS, 15.01 million.
6. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 14.51 million.
7. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 13.29 million.
8. "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior," CBS, 13.06 million.
9. "Mike & Molly," CBS, 12.92 million.
10. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 12.85 million.
11. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 12.41 million.
12. "The Good Wife," CBS, 11.43 million.
13. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.37 million.
14. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 11.163 million.
15. "Survivor: Redemption Island," CBS, 11.155 million.
16. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 10.73 million.
17. "Undercover Boss," CBS, 10.68 million.
18. "CSI: NY," CBS, 10.65 million.
19. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 10.58 million.
20. "Modern Family," ABC, 10.57 million.
Ratings
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