WASHINGTON - With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities... Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power - NYTimes.com
Last November after Obama was elected, I asked about what Executive Orders you'd like 'The Man' to make. Puzzlingly, he did not utilize that option in any significant way, to my thinkin'... Now, however, with his "agenda stalled", he's decided to get 'Froggy' and make that leap... So, once again, I ask...
What specific issues would you like 'The Man' to address with Executive Orders?
Adam in NoHo sent an ambitious agenda...
Restore habeas corpus; stop torture, rendition & military tribunals; close Guantanamo effective 28 Feb 2010 and give it all back to Cuba (so that the base and everything it means is no longer a temptation).
Arrest Bush, Cheney, and the rest for war crimes and put them on very public trial. I'd do the same for the traitorous Reagan admin, but it may be too late. Withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan effective May 2010 (although, that may already be in my purview as C-in-C). Stop-loss DADT and tell the justice dept we are no longer defending DOMA. (I don't think either of those need an Ex. Order, either)
Have another 9/11 investigation but without the politics.
Give the EPS full power to make everyone conform to CA state pollution standards (or better).
I'm sure I'd think of more stuff to do over lunch that day!
SallyP added...
A good Health Care Bill, including dental care for all. If he would cut all the military spending and bring the troops home, the cost of such protection could be very reasonable.
Lift the ban on openly Gay men and Lesbians serving in the military, NOW! Who cares what grumpy old men think - it's stupid to have anything like, "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" in this day and age. Oh, and while he's at it, let the Gays marry as well! Could they do any worse than Sanford, Edwards and Woods???
And Finally, set up Regulations on heat-trapping gases blamed for climate change. Just do a modified, "Cap 'n Trade" of such emissions whether Congress likes it of not!
It's time for some REAL LEADERSHIP, and Executive Orders are just the ticket for him to use!
Charlie said...
I didn't get in before the deadline last week, but others had pretty much the same thoughts I was having. I don't know how many besides Bob and I got the Donovan song in our heads as a result of the saffron question. Anyhow, I think military spending is a domestic policy issue as it is the primary method of government intervention in the economy. Of course right-wing so-called opponents of Big Government never show any concern about this particular 900 pound gorilla. That it's pretty obvious that Obama is only making this situation worse, the question was what I issues I think he should be addressing, and the redirection of our society away from militarism and toward infrastructure rebuilding on many fronts is where he should be leading us.
And Claudia listed...
1) Begin immediate shut down of 95% of American military bases on foreign soil and repatriation of troops.. Make sure the other 5% are under-funded.
2) Fire (or post to the nearest closet) all DEA personnel who have defied the Exec order to make medical marijuana the lowest priority.
3) Refuse to sign any legislation that contains material written by lobbyists.
4) Require that all use of public lands, assets and resources by corporations be paid for at market value, and all pollution or other degradation of public property be severely sanctioned
Well then, Poll-fans, the above ideas are grand, but I'd like to see an order that would help stop an ecological disaster of Biblical proportions. That would be the closing of the Chicago ship canal to prevent this...
The invasion of the Great Lakes by the Silver Asian Carp! If you have the time, please read these links and you'll understand what I mean...
The '1st Ever BadtotheboneBob Oscar Award Contest' Edition...
With a Prize! That's right, Poll-fans! A Prize! You like prizes, dontcha? I know I do!
I emptied my little change jar and I came up with $27.54 that I will gladly, gladly I say, donate to yer favorite charity. If that's you, OK, that's cool. If it's Marty and the page, so much the better, eh? All ya gotta do is correctly pick the winners of these Oscar categories... The closest one wins The Prize!... Ready? Set... Go !!!
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Directing
...
Oscar night is Sunday, March 7th. Cut off for entries will be 8PM EST Saturday March 6th and will be posted Sunday morning. The winner will posted Tuesday, March 9th with a new question.
Oh, ties will be resolved in a scientific manner involving my toddler grand-daughter, 'Maddie Muffin' and will be explained with the posted predictions... Good Luck!
Mark Morford: Tiger Woods' terrifying lack of humor
It is entirely possible that Tiger Woods, AKA the world's most famous athlete who also appears to be the most boring and bland and Jesus dude show a hint of spark and humor and life, would you please? It's entirely possible Tiger is far more messed up and clinically depressed than his juvenile, low-grade adoration of hookers, porn stars and skeevy Vegas waitresses would let anyone believe.
Zack Smith: An interview with Larry Flynt about free speech (indyweek.com)
Flynt's public image received a major positive makeover when he was portrayed by Woody Harrelson in Milos Forman's 1996 film 'The People Vs. Larry Flynt,' which dramatized Flynt's battle for press freedom in the face of a lawsuit brought by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, who had been the subject of a parody in the pages of the Flynt-published 'Hustler' magazine.
How to conquer the clutter (guardian.co.uk)
A mountain of stuff that we neither need nor use is taking over our homes - twice as much as 30 years ago. Hoarder Michele Hanson wonders how she might conquer her clutter.
Beth Quinn: Sam's a bit quirky, but aren't all unicorns? (zestoforange.com)
We are Gammy and Gamps, my husband and I. It was up to our second grandchild to so name us. Our first grandchild, Sam, doesn't speak. At the age of six, he's never said Mommy or Daddy. He's never called me anything. It's more than possible he never will.
Gay love: When a husband or wife comes out (guardian.co.uk)
How does it feel to discover the person you married is gay? Or, after years with a man, that you're attracted to other women? Amy Bloom introduces the stories of partners who had a change of heart.
"Yours Ever: People and Their Letters" by Thomas Mallon: A review by Louis Bayard
My father wrote me once a week when I was in college. Chitchat, for the most part. "Your Uncle Joe called....Dishwasher went out....Had a nice jog this morning." Exactly the kind of stuff people post on Facebook now. I read each of his letters exactly once and put it . . . where? That's what I couldn't remember in the days and weeks after his death.
In politics , left-wing, leftist and the Left are generally used to describe support for social change with a view towards creating a more egalitarian society. The terms Left and Right were coined during the French Revolution, referring to the seating arrangement in parliament; those who sat on the left generally supported the radical changes of the revolution, including the creation of a republic and secularization.
Source
mj was first, and close, but not correct, with:
I think it was 18th century England and referred to which side of the chamber members chose to sit. But I could be misremembering. I was very young back then.
~ Tony in Philly nailed it with:
During the French Revolution
Marian the Teacher replied:
French Revolution
Charlie wrote:
I think I first heard this in junior high, and later in college.
The left-right identification in politics dates from the seating arrangements in the French Chamber of Deputies after the French Revolution of 1789. It is believed that the practice of the conservatives sitting to the right of the Speaker and the radicals to the left had its origins in the old custom by which a host would place their honored guests to the right at formal gatherings.
And, of course, the positions regarded as "left" or "right" have changed considerably since those days.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
The French revolution...
Sally said:
The political terms "Right" and "Left" were born in the French Revolution, when two different revolutionary factions took seats in the French National Assembly's hall: The Girondins on the right wing and the Jacobins on the left wing.
How analytic philosophers themselves map their discipline. The map is provided by Ted Honderich in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995).
PS: Marty, I've been to Vegas several times at this time of the year, and remember it as being quite cold (and remember, I'm a Nordic woman...)
Alan J answered:
during the French Revolution (1789-1799)
MAM replied:
The political terms Left and Right first coined during the French Legislative Assembly of 1791, where the moderate royalist "Feuillants" sat on the right side of the chamber, while the radical "Montagnards" sat on the left.
French Legislative Assembly of 1791
And, Joe S responded:
During the French Revolution. You can see, not much has changed since then.
PS Sally, I feel it's my duty to explain how the groundhog thing really
works. Don't feel upset Sally, hardly anyone understands how to interpret
the groundhog actions as well as I do. This is the way it works. If the
groundhog comes out of his den and sees his shadow, that means there will
be six more weeks of Winter. If the groundhog doesn't see his shadow,
then Spring is only six weeks away. I hope that is helpful to everyone.
No virus found in this outgoing message.
In the mail:
Hey, Marty... The answer, Josephine Baker as the first American-born woman to be awarded the French Croix de Guerre, appears to be incorrect from my research. The list of awardees provided by this link: Croix de guerre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia clearly shows that an Isabel Weld Perkins was awarded the medal in 1918 (WWI) while Ms. Baker received hers for her actions in WWII. Also, this link:
Isabel Weld Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia notes the award and details her fascinating life. I write this not to disparage the otherwise fabulous Josephine Baker, but to set the record straight as I have found it...
BadtotheboneBob
And:
Isabel Weld Perkins received the Croix de Guerre in 1918 before Josephine Baker.
Isabel Weld Perkins (1877-1948), mostly known as Isabel Anderson after her marriage, was a Boston-area heiress and author who left a legacy to the public that includes a park and two museums.
During World War I, Isabel worked for the American Red Cross as a volunteer of the District of Columbia Refreshment Corp. In 1918 she received the Croix de Guerre for her contributions.
She beats Baker by a couple decades.
While we're on women who won the Cross of War, people should really introduce themselves to Milunka Savi?, a Serbian woman war hero from The First World War, recognized as the most-decorated female combatant in the entire history of warfare. She was wounded no less than nine times during her term-of-service.
That's stuff they should be making movies out of. It also includes a semi-tragic ending add to that she was a babe and we got a box office hit.
i had to wrestle my dads gun from his hands to prevent him from taking his own life a few years back he had cancer widowed 6 months previous. mom had cancer too
they are both gone now writing this thru my tears. please post keith's commentary for them.
We found a video of the famous Penis Trousers by designer Isabel Mastache and zoomed in so you can see the crucial appendage in motion. You're welcome.
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Survivor', followed by a RERUN'The Mentalist', then a RERUN'CSI: The Original One'.
On a RERUNDave (from 2/8/10) are Drew Brees and Sandra Bullock.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Seann William Scott and Jackie Collins.
NBC fills the night with FRESH'Olympics'.
The Tonight Show is pre-empted for Olympics coverage.
Jimmy Fallon is pre-empted for Olympics coverage.
Carson 'The Scab' Daly is pre-empted for Olympics coverage.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'The Deep End', followed by a RERUN'Grey's Anatomy', then a RERUN'Private Practice'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel Gordon Ramsay, Ginnifer Goodwin, and VV Brown.
The CW offers a RERUN'Vampire Diaries', followed by a RERUN'Supernatural'.
Faux has a FRESH'American Idol', followed by a FRESH'Past Life'.
MY fills the night with the movie 'Hotel Rwanda'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', still another 'The First 48', 'Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force', and another 'Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Bodyguard', followed by the movie 'Forrest Gump', then the movie 'Forrest Gump', again.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep 25 Greenwood
[1:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep 16 Ransom
[2:00 PM] Antiques Roadshow UK - Episode 13
[2:00 PM] Antiques Roadshow UK - Episode 13
[3:00 PM] Antiques Roadshow - Episode 1
[4:00 PM] Antiques Roadshow UK - Episode 14
[5:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep. 3 Walnut Tree
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited - Ep 2 The Fenwick Arms
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Trobiano's
[9:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 Giuseppi's
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America
[11:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Trobiano's
[12:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 Giuseppi's
[1:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Trobiano's
[2:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 Giuseppi's
[3:00 AM] Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - Ep 13 Gordon Ramsay, Reese Witherspoon, Sophia Loren, Russell Howard
[4:00 AM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 9
[4:30 AM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 8
[5:00 AM] BBC World News
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of OC', another 'Real Housewives Of OC', still another 'Real Housewives Of OC', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of OC'.
Comedy Central has last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening', 'Nick Swardson: Seriously, Who Farted?', followed by a FRESH'Important Things With Demetri Martin', then a FRESH'Sarah Silverman'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Martin Scorsese.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report are Shani Davis and Seth Wescott.
FX has the movie 'Dodgeball" A True Underdog Story', followed by the movie 'The Simpsons Movie', 'Archer', and another 'Archer'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Ax Men', 'WWII In HD'.
IFC -
[6:00 AM] Garden State
[7:45 AM] Trans
[9:05 AM] 2010 Spirit Award Nomination Special
[9:30 AM] Kissing Jessica Stein
[11:15 AM] Heathers
[1:00 PM] Blue Car
[2:30 PM] A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
[4:15 PM] 2010 Spirit Award Nomination Special
[4:45 PM] Garden State
[6:35 PM] Trans
[8:00 PM] Cabin Fever
[9:35 PM] A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
[11:20 PM] 2010 Spirit Award Nomination Special
[11:45 PM] Bad Lieutenant
[1:30 AM] Wrong Door
[2:00 AM] Ideal
[2:30 AM] Z Rock
[3:00 AM] Cabin Fever
[4:35 AM] Heathers (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[04:30 AM] Paris Je T'aime
[06:35 AM] Nothing But a Man
[08:15 AM] For The Bible Tells Me So
[10:00 AM] Pleasure Of Being Robbed
[11:15 AM] Nothing But a Man
[12:50 PM] The Saviour
[01:10 PM] For The Bible Tells Me So
[02:55 PM] Metropolitan
[04:35 PM] Pleasure Of Being Robbed
[05:45 PM] Ran (1985)
[08:30 PM] Feel
[10:00 PM] Summer Hours
[11:45 PM] All God's Children Can Dance
[01:15 AM] Kippur
[03:15 AM] Feel
[04:45 AM] Summer Hours (ALL TIMES EST)
T.J. Martell Foundation president of the board Ron Hartenbaum, left, presents musician Bob Weir with a commemorative plaque in appreciation of his support funding cancer and AIDS research at SIRIUS XM Radio on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 in New York.
Photo by Evan Agostini
Weeks after scoring a publicity coup with a 30-second Super Bowl ad featuring Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, conservative Christian group Focus on the Family is at the center of another marketing tug-of-war - this time involving the major governing body of college sports.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association removed a Focus on the Family banner ad from one of its Web sites this week, NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said Wednesday.
The NCAA made the decision after some of its members - including faculty and athletic directors - expressed concern that the evangelical group's stance against gay and lesbian relationships conflicted with the NCAA's policy of inclusion regardless of sexual orientation, Williams said.
Advertisers "should be generally supportive of NCAA values and attributes and/or not be in conflict with the NCAA's mission and fundamental principles," according to NCAA standards. The NCAA may exclude ads or advertisers "that do not appear to be in the best interests of higher education and student athletes."
More than a year after disclosing he is gay, Clay Aiken is speaking before a gay-rights event in his hometown.
Aiken will deliver a speech about gay rights this weekend at the Human Rights Campaign Carolinas gala in Raleigh, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday. Actress Meredith Baxter, who recently said she is a lesbian, also will deliver a speech.
Aiken said he would probably attend Saturday's event with his bodyguard and without family members or friends. Some family members have handled news of Aiken's homosexuality better than others, he said.
The top U.S. communications regulator offered to pay television broadcasters to give up their rights to airwaves in a controversial bid to free up wireless spectrum for advanced mobile phone services.
But analysts say the plan could run into opposition from broadcasters reluctant to give up their airwaves unless they are offered a price that might be too expensive for the government to pay.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said on Wednesday he wants to free up 500 megahertz of spectrum to wireless carriers over 10 years, as part of the National Broadband Plan to be released on March 16.
Genachowski's proposal is the latest chapter in the battle between broadcasters, unwilling to give up highly prized spectrum acquired from the digital television transition, and the wireless industry, which is concerned with a looming spectrum crisis as more people use wireless to surf the Web.
At 21, Alan Lomax went to Haiti and recorded its citizens making music - songs about Voodoo, carnival politics, children's games and the first airplanes crisscrossing its Caribbean skies in the late 1930s.
He preserved the sounds on aluminum discs for the Library of Congress, but they were largely forgotten for seven decades as they sat in the library's archives. Recently discovered, they were compiled into a box set released last fall. Haitian music scholars called it a "cultural archive" that documents the daily triumphs that get missed whenever a crisis in Haiti makes the news.
The catastrophic earthquake last month that killed more than 200,000 people was the latest crisis. Now, the set's curator hopes "Alan Lomax in Haiti" will teach people that Haiti's culture remains intact, even when so many of its arts institutions have collapsed. Music from the 10-disc box set, released by Harte Recordings, is featured in three radio public service announcements seeking aid for Haiti.
Lomax was a newlywed ethnomusicologist when he set out to record the music of Haiti in 1936 and 1937, just following a 15-year American military occupation of Haiti. He lugged his equipment into the mountains beyond the capital, Port-au-Prince, in search of ordinary people instead of polished performers and ended up with 1,500 recordings. Ultimately, digital copies will be returned to Haiti, as some of Lomax's recordings from other Caribbean countries have been returned to those islands.
Ferlin Husky, who first achieved stardom with his 1957 song "Gone," will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with veteran country stars Jimmy Dean, Don Williams, and Billy Sherrill.
Husky helped usher in the smoother, more slickly produced Nashville Sound movement, with "Gone" a top country hit that also reached No. 4 on the pop charts. The record featured vocals from The Jordanaires and Millie Kirkham.
Dean, 81, had a hit with the song "Big Bad John," which won a 1961 Grammy Award. He later hosted his own television show in the 1960s, introducing country music's stars to a national audience. More recently, he started a successful meat sausage business.
Sherrill, 73, co-wrote and produced Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man." He added strings and other elements to the songs he produced, which included George Jones' epic hit "He Stopped Lovin' Her Today."
Two concerts next month by French electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre are to be filmed in 3-D with the same cameras used to shoot James Cameron's sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar", the musician said Wednesday.
In a telephone interview from Belgium, where he is rehearsing, Jarre told AFP he had been contacted by Panasonic, which developed the cameras for the 3-D opus, to film the concerts and record in high-definition sound.
The film of the two concerts in Strasbourg and Liege, Belgium, will be "released in 3-D and 2-D later in the year," he said.
A Venetian chopine from 1550-1600 is on display in the "On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels" exhibition at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto December 15, 2009. Centuries before Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama were sized up over their shoes women's feet had been a platform for showing off their economic and political status. This new exhibit of more than 60 pairs of rare platform and high heel shoes shows how extreme and impractical footwear became a fashionable symbol of social standing in the 16th and 17th centuries. Picture taken December 15, 2009.
Photo by Mark Blinch
The parents of missing "Growing Pains" actor Andrew Koenig have issued an emotional plea for their son to contact them. Koenig was visiting friends in Vancouver when he went missing more than a week ago.
The Venice, Calif., native had a recurring role on the 1980s sitcom as Boner, a pal of star Kirk Cameron's character, Mike.
Walter Koenig, best known for playing Pavel Chekov on the original "Star Trek" television series, said Wednesday his son stopped taking antidepressant medication about a year ago.
Vancouver police Constable Tim Fanning says there has been no activity on Koenig's cell phone or bank records since Feb. 16. Fanning says Vancouver's 1,000-acre, thickly forested Stanley Park, which Koenig loved, has been searched thoroughly.
British lawmakers accused bosses at Rupert Murdoch's top-selling British tabloid on Wednesday of suffering "collective amnesia" over illegal hacking of phone messages meant for royalty and other celebrities.
A parliamentary committee on media said in a report it was "inconceivable" that managers at the News of the World did not know about the practice, which the legislators said was more widespread than the Sunday newspaper had previously admitted.
In 2007, Clive Goodman, who reported on the British royal family for the paper, was jailed for four months after writing stories based on phone taps of royal aides carried out by a private detective.
News International has always maintained that Goodman acted without the knowledge of senior editors and his actions had been an isolated incident.
But the cross-party parliamentary committee said in its report: "The evidence, we find, makes it inconceivable that no-one else at the News of the World, bar Mr. Goodman, was aware of the activities."
Shown is a piece of furniture by Virgil Marti titled Sigmund, 2010, surrounded by art work inspired by Pablo Picasso, during the Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010. The exhibit is scheduled to run through April 25, 2010.
Photo by Matt Rourke
Police charged a man with arson Wednesday in a fire at the music company offices of a Grammy-winning songwriting team Gamble and Huff who scored dozens of hits for stars including Teddy Pendergrass, Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls and the O'Jays.
Fire, smoke and water damage from last weekend's blaze ruined 40 percent of the memorabilia at Philadelphia International Records, though the recording studio was largely spared, label co-founder Kenneth Gamble said Wednesday.
The fire damaged gold and platinum records and the company's personal inventory of CDs by Michael Jackson and the Jacksons, Pendergrass, Rawls and LaBelle, Gamble said.
Gamble, 66, Huff, 67, and fellow Philadelphia producer Thom Bell are credited with creating the lush acoustics of 1960s and '70s soul music that came to be known as the "Sound of Philadelphia." Gamble and Huff's songs include the O'Jays' "Love Train," Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" and McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now."
Garrett has pleaded not guilty in a felony drug possession case in Los Angeles.
The plea came Wednesday during the arraignment of the musician and former teen heartthrob.
Defense attorney Andrew Flier said authorities illegally searched Garrett before he was arrested Feb. 1 for investigation of carrying heroin in the city subway system.
Flier says Garrett disputes the contention that he was nervous and sweating profusely, which prompted his search and arrest.
Adrian Pasdar has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge.
The "Heroes" actor entered the plea through his attorney and did not attend a court hearing on Wednesday. His case is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on March 15.
Pasdar was arrested Jan. 27 after authorities say they spotted the 44-year-old swerving and speeding on a Los Angeles freeway.
Pasdar plays Nathan Petrelli on the NBC show "Heroes." He is married to Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines.
ESPN has suspended host Tony Kornheiser from his television talk show "Pardon the Interruption" for two weeks for comments he made on the radio last week about SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm's clothing.
Kornheiser announced the suspension on his Washington D.C. radio show Tuesday morning, calling his remarks about Storm intemperate and stupid.
Kornheiser described an outfit Storm was wearing at ESPN last week as "horrifying," saying her shirt was too tight and looked "like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body."
Kornheiser said he had called Storm to personally apologize for the remarks.
A woman poses for pictures as she hugs a man who wears a sexy outfit during the 2010 Sex Expo in Mexico City, Wednesday Feb. 24, 2010.
Photo by Claudio Cruz
Dirk Hannema was known as a brilliant art curator but a bit of a fool. He claimed he had seven Vermeers in his collection, several Van Goghs and a few Rembrandts, but no one believed him.
Now 25 years after his death it turned out he was right - about one work by Vincent van Gogh.
The painting, "Le Blute-Fin Mill," goes on public display Wednesday in the small Museum de Fundatie in the central Dutch town of Zwolle.
Louis van Tilborgh, curator of research at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, said the painting was unusual for the 19th century impressionist, depicting large human figures in a landscape. The painting shows Parisians climbing wooden stairs to a windmill in the Montmartre district.
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Feb. 15-21. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. Winter Olympics (Sunday, 7:45 p.m.), MSNBC, 4.98 million homes, 8.22 million viewers.
2. Winter Olympics (Sunday, 9:55 p.m.), MSNBC, 4.04 million homes, 6.48 million viewers.
3. "NCIS" (Monday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.67 million homes, 4.72 million viewers.
4. "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), E! Entertainment, 3.60 million homes, 4.81 million viewers.
5. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.41 million homes, 5.11 million viewers.
6. "NCIS" (Monday, 6 p.m.), USA, 3.29 million homes, 4.15 million viewers.
7. "Penguins of Madagascar" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.26 million homes, 4.60 million viewers.
8. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.213 million homes, 4.81 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.208 million homes, 4.19 million viewers.
10. "Hannah Montana" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 3.19 million homes, 4.50 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.18 million homes, 4.39 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.15 million homes, 4.23 million viewers.
13. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.12 million homes, 4.05 million viewers.
14. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 3.11 million homes, 4.11 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.10 million homes, 3.91 million viewers.
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How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
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A box set the whole world should own?
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Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
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