'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN: FBI Agent Slams Bosses at Moussaoui Trial (apnews)
The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001 testified Monday he spent almost four weeks trying to warn U.S. officials about the radical Islamic student pilot but "criminal negligence" by superiors in Washington thwarted a chance to stop the 9/11 attacks.
Sam Seder: Why Ned Lamont is a Democrat (inthesetimes.com)
Joe Lieberman is a Republican. He may call himself a Democrat--he can call himself anything he wants--but really he's a Republican. And, in fact, he's actually sometimes worse than those who admit to being Republicans. Bill Frist and Karl Rove only wish they had the power to undermine the Democrats the way Lieberman can.
Howard Zinn: America's Blinders (progressive.org)
Now that most Americans no longer believe in the war, now that they no longer trust Bush and his Administration, now that the evidence of deception has become overwhelming (so overwhelming that even the major media, always late, have begun to register indignation), we might ask: How come so many people were so easily fooled?
Kelly Hearn: Latin America fights the battle of the bulge (inthesetimes.com)
Like her friends from Mexico to Chile, the girl from Ipanema is getting too big for her britches. Latin America has fallen preyŠ
John Hanchette: 'Hateful preacher should be nervous' (Niagara Falls Reporter; Posted on smirkingchimp.com)
OLEAN -- The older I get, the harder I find it to hew to lifelong beliefs.
Ian Buruma: Mr. Natural
R. Crumb, the comic figure, is not quite Mr. Everyman. Rather, he is the artist as loser, the sensitive nerd, who feels humiliated by the handsome bullies who are dumb and cruel but get the girls, while he can only dream about them.
Jack Shafer: Productivity Madness (slate.com)
The press swallows $3.8 billion worth of junk economics.
Update From Colby
Katherine Harris
Katherine Harris' Grief Campaign
This is how most thinking people see her campaign for senator.
Colby Black
in Frostproof
Thanks, Colby!
And for your viewing pleasure, from the vaults of the always fabulous
Crooks and Liars -
Katherine Harris Shakes her Booty
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, windy, and a bit warmer.
Jo, the (lucky) lizard, had his first full day outside in a long time.
No new flags.
Future Conservatives
Whiny Children
Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.
At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.
The study from the Journal of Research Into Personality isn't going to make the UC Berkeley professor who published it any friends on the right. Similar conclusions a few years ago from another academic saw him excoriated on right-wing blogs, and even led to a Congressional investigation into his research funding.
But the new results are worth a look. In the 1960s Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids' personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. There's no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings - the investigators were not looking at political orientation back then. Even if they had been, it's unlikely that 3- and 4-year-olds would have had much idea about their political leanings.
A few decades later, Block followed up with more surveys, looking again at personality, and this time at politics, too. The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.
The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests. The girls were still outgoing, but the young men tended to turn a little introspective.
Whiny Children
N.C. Post Office Named After
Ava Gardner
The Smithfield Post Office is now the Ava Gardner Post Office.
Resident Bush signed legislation Monday to rename the post office in honor of the Oscar-nominated actress, who grew up in Johnston County.
"Ava Gardner was a small-town girl who became a big-time celebrity," said Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., who sponsored the bill to rename the post office.
Ava Gardner
Online Testing
'Jeopardy!'
What is the online contestant test, Alex? The answer is, the innovative method "Jeopardy!" has devised for potential participants to take the first step toward appearing on the long-running game show.
Fans will be able to take the 50-question preliminary general knowledge exam online from March 28-30 at www.jeopardy.com/onlinetest. Each day is designated for a specific time zone and will get different questions from the other two.
Cheating is theoretically possible, but it won't do much good. Those who pass the online test and are selected for an interview will have to travel to one of the in-person auditions and pass another test with proctors watching over them.
'Jeopardy!'
Jazz Prodigy Revives Swing Violin
Aaron Weinstein
Guitarist-vocalist John Pizzarelli says he doesn't listen to many of the demo tapes offered him by aspiring jazz musicians. But at the urging of his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey, he played the disc sent in by jazz violin prodigy Aaron Weinstein. He was so impressed he called the teenager that night.
Weinstein, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, started out studying old-time fiddle music at age eight. In 1998, the 13-year-old became the youngest person ever to win the overall title at the Illinois State Fiddle Championship.
But shortly afterward, his interest in jazz was awakened when he found a cassette recorded by Joe Venuti, the first prominent jazz violinist, in his parents' record collection.
"Sweet Georgia Brown was the first tune that I heard," recalled Weinstein. "Venuti came in playing and his attack on the violin was such a powerful sound. . . . It was the first jazz on the violin that I heard and it was like, oh my God, what have I been missing."
Aaron Weinstein
Editor Loses AP Job, Suddenly
Chris Graff
Chris Graff, the well-known Associated Press bureau chief in Montpelier, Vt., is out of a job, he told E&P Monday evening.
The Web site of the weekly Vermont Guardian reported earlier today that Graff was "dismissed without warning" this morning, under mysterious circumstances. Graff would not comment beyond confirming that he no longer works for AP.
The news came as a shock in Vermont. Graff has covered Vermont and its politics for more than 20 years and is the regular host of Vermont Public Television's Vermont This Week.
He told the Rutland Herald for its Tuesday edition: "I'm trying to figure it out myself."
Chris Graff
Protesters Gear Up
Seal Hunt
Protesters, celebrities and fishermen were gearing up for Canada's hotly debated seal hunt, set to get under way later this week in the gulf off the Atlantic Ocean.
Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn has given a cold shoulder to French film legend Brigitte Bardot, who intends to visit Ottawa on Wednesday to implore the federal government to end the regulated slaughter of some 325,000 harp seals.
Fisheries officials and sealers say the annual hunt provides badly needed income for the isolated fishing communities in Atlantic Canada, as well as food and shelter for the aboriginal Inuits in the Arctic North.
About 320,000 seals pups were killed during the hunt last year, bringing the local fishermen $14.5 million. Federal officials say fishing communities of Quebec and Newfoundland, whose livelihoods were devastated when the Atlantic cod stocks dried up in the 1990s, earn 25 percent to 40 percent of their annual income by selling the seal pelts and blubber for about $70 each.
Seal Hunt
Supermarket Deal
CBS
As TV viewing habits evolve, networks are constantly trying new ways to reach viewers, through the Internet, video iPods, and on-demand services from cable providers. Next up: the produce aisle.
In what appears to be a first, CBS has signed up to become a programming partner with SignStorey Inc., a Fairfield, Conn.-based company that has video screens installed in 1,300 supermarkets nationwide.
George Schweitzer, the head of CBS's marketing group, said the screens would provide short-form programming designed specifically for shoppers on topics such as health, nutrition, as well as short news and sports items and entertainment.
CBS
Getting Those "Bloody" Australian Ads
Canada
Canadian television viewers may soon see controversial Tourism Australia ads that pose the question, "So where the bloody hell are you?" after the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. decided this week to accept the ads in all but two of its programs.
Unlike their British counterparts, regulators at the publicly owned CBC decided the words "bloody" and "hell" were harmless except during shows promoted as family programming.
"It is specific programs, not a time slot," said CBC spokeswoman Ruth Ellen Soles, referring to times the commercials won't be broadcast. "It's only two programs."
Canada
Murder Trial Delayed
Phil Spector
A judge agreed Wednesday to postpone the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector until September, noting that prosecutors and a defense attorney have scheduling conflicts.
The trial had been set for April 24, but one of Spector's attorneys is involved in a federal trial in New York that is expected to go beyond that date, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.
In addition, two prosecutors are scheduled to go to trial in May in the case of Michael Goodwin, who is charged with the 1988 shooting deaths of racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife.
Phil Spector
Shitty Week
Hank Williams Jr
A 19-year-old waitress has accused Hank Williams Jr. of harassing her in a hotel bar.
Holly Hornbeak alleged that around midnight Saturday the country superstar swore at her, tried to kiss her and lifted her in a chokehold, according to a police report.
Williams has been staying at the Peabody Hotel while his daughters are being treated in a Memphis hospital for injuries they suffered in a car crash.
On Friday Williams held a news conference to dispel rumors started by an anonymous caller on a radio talk show that he had asked for only white personnel to attend to his daughters.
Hank Williams Jr
Vatican's Vintner & The Porn Star
Savanna Samson
It seemed like the perfect gimmick: a celebrity porn star would launch her own wine, with her alluring picture on the label.
Savanna Samson did just that, but when it received a score of 90 to 91 out of 100 by wine guru Robert Parker, the project became serious. It turns out Samson, the star of "The New Devil in Miss Jones," has produced an exceptional wine, becoming the toast of two industries: wine-making and pornography.
"I never wanted to just do gimmick. That would just happen with me being a porn star, me having a photographer shoot the label, how risque could I get on the label -- all those things," Samson, the stage name for 31-year-old Natalie Oliveros, said in an interview.
The seriousness of the idea was lining up a respected wine maker. So she convinced Italy's Robert Cipresso -- also a vintner to the Vatican -- to join the project.
Savanna Samson
Bar Stings
Texas
Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.
The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.
Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said.
Texas
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