Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Decca Aitkenhead: "Abhijit Banerjee: 'The poor, probably rightly, see that their chances of getting somewhere different are minimal'" (Guardian)
The author of 'Poor Economics' on why aid that assumes the poor will do the right thing is misguided - and why political corruption does not necessarily mean economic stagnation.
Author Bill Dicksion On Telling True Stories of the West (Smashwords)
Bill Dicksion is 87-years-young, and the author of seven novels. He stands as an inspiration for anyone wanting to become an independent author. He's been with Smashwords for almost two years, and his sales have been growing each quarter as readers discover his books (when we see strong organic growth like this, we know we're looking at a future bestseller). He and his wife, Millie, live in Hawaii, where he is hard at work on more books about the American West.
Mark Morford: How to Properly Spank a Nun (SF Gate)
Funny how no one ever talks about the nuns.
MARIO BEAUREGARD: Near death, explained (Slate)
New science is shedding light on what really happens during out-of-body experiences -- with shocking results.
Sheila Bair: Fix income inequality with $10 million loans for everyone! (Washington Post)
Are you concerned about growing income inequality in America? Are you resentful of all that wealth concentrated in the 1 percent? I've got the perfect solution, a modest proposal that involves just a small adjustment in the Federal Reserve's easy monetary policy. Best of all, it will mean that none of us have to work for a living anymore.
Robin Wells: European turmoil, American collateral (Guardian)
For the US, the risk of damage from the eurozone's crises is not primarily economic, but political. But there is opportunity, too.
Andrew Tobias: Oh, Mitt!
From Mitt Romney's very first ad - the one where he showed President Obama saying that "if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose" - there's been something different here. (What the ad did not reveal was that Obama was quoting his opponent's campaign. Like quoting a film critic saying, "ANYONE will enjoy this film" without the preceding four words: "There's no conceivable way . . .")
Aditya Chakrabortty: "Apple: why doesn't it employ more US workers?" (Guardian)
The electronics giant assembles its gadgets in China. But, according to new research, if it moved its production home, it would still be hugely profitable and create thousands of jobs.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
wrote:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Windy afternoon, rainy night.
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Pete Seeger
Folk music legend Pete Seeger has won a prize and he might just sing a song to celebrate.
The 92-year-old troubadour is receiving a "Distinguished Service" award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to academy executive director Virginia Dajani, Seeger might perform at the May 16 ceremony, where playwright Tony Kushner will present Seeger a certificate and a check for $1,000. In an acceptance letter sent to the academy, and shared with The Associated Press, Seeger wrote that his father, Charles Louis Seeger, Jr., would have been "especially pleased." The elder Seeger was a composer, conductor and pioneer of "ethnomusicology."
Also Wednesday, the academy announced that a pair of Pulitzer Prize winners and academy members will receive gold medals for lifetime achievement: David McCullough for biography and Steven Reich for music. Because academy members are eligible for the medals, no cash prize is awarded.
The arts academy is an honorary society founded in 1898. It has a core membership of 250 writers, artists and musicians, including McCullough, Reich, Toni Morrison, Jasper Johns and Ornette Coleman
Pete Seeger
2012 Peace Summit Award
Sean Penn
Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has accepted an award from a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates for his work in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Penn received the 2012 Peace Summit Award on Wednesday afternoon in Chicago, where Peace Prize laureates have been gathered for a three-day summit. He said in an emotional speech that he's "humbled" by the honor.
Penn has become a major player in efforts to rebuild Haiti since the January 2010 earthquake that flattened thousands of buildings, killed more than 300,000 and left at least 1.5 million homeless.
Penn spends at least half his time in Haiti. He's CEO of the J/P Haitian Relief Organization and is an ambassador-at-large for President Michel Martelly, the first non-Haitian to receive the designation.
Sean Penn
Out-Fundraises Ron Paul
Colbert Super PAC
Stephen Colbert's political action committee has enough cash to play jokes and pull pranks through the presidential campaign, but for now the comedian is mum on how he plans to spend that money.
Colbert's Super PAC, Americans for A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow has $794,000 cash-on-hand sitting untouched in its coffers, according to March documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, making it wealthier than some PAC's intended to back (legitimate!) presidential candidates
By contrast, as Politico first reported, Take Endorse Liberty, a PAC dedicated to supporting Ron Paul's candidacy has just $54,000 in the bank.
Colbert's PAC, however, was significantly outspent by big-name organizers. Winning Our Future, the pro-Gingrich PAC mostly bankrolled by Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his family received $5 million in March alone.
The pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action has $5 million cash-on-hand, and Restore Our Future, the group backing Mitt Romney has $16.5 million in the kitty.
Colbert Super PAC
Says All His Future Movies Will Be 3-D
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese has become so enamored with 3-D filmmaking that he expects to use the technology in all his future projects.
The Academy Award-winning director of "The Departed" told a crowd of theater owners at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas on Wednesday that he wishes his landmark films "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver" had been three-dimensional. Scorsese is so convinced of the power of 3-D, he said he only saw "Hugo," his first 3-D movie released to critical acclaim last year, once in 2-D.
Scorsese spoke at a filmmaking panel alongside director Ang Lee, who won an Oscar in 2006 for the gay cowboy love story "Brokeback Mountain." Scorsese and Lee are among a growing crop of prominent directors who claim 3-D technology is the future of filmmaking.
Scorsese compared 3-D to the rise of color movies. He said as a film student at New York University in the early 1960s, he was shocked when he heard predictions that all future movies would be filmed in color. He said anyone harboring doubts about the rising influence of 3-D technology should consider how color movies have taken over the industry.
Martin Scorsese
Sarajevo Declares Honorary Citizen
Angelina Jolie
Bosnia's capital has named Angelina Jolie its honorary citizen.
A statement issued by city's authorities Wednesday said it made the decision in recognition of Jolie's role in preserving the "truth about the war" in Bosnia, through her directorial debut "In the Land of Blood and Honey."
The spokeswoman for the Sarajevo Canton, Lamija Bojadzic, said Wednesday it was not yet clear if Jolie will attend a May 3 ceremony in Sarajevo.
Angelina Jolie
Plaque Back On Display
Michael Landon
Like an episode of TV's "Bonanza" and "Little House on the Prairie," there's a happy ending after a New Jersey town removed a plaque honoring hometown celebrity Michael Landon.
The bronze plaque dedicated to the actor, writer and producer and star of the TV shows is back on display in Knight Park in Collingswood.
Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley had said the marker was temporarily moved during a park cleanup last fall.
The Courier-Post of Cherry Hill reports the marker is near its original location with a bench and small garden.
Michael Landon
As Pure As Newly Fallen Snow
Rupert
Rupert Murdoch is used to slipping into Downing Street by the back door for discreet meetings with prime ministers, but there was no such privacy on Wednesday when he faced a grilling about his political influence in the full glare of the world's media.
It was one of the most extraordinary days in a career spanning six decades that has seen the owner of a provincial Australian newspaper morph into a global media magnate credited with the power to make or break governments.
Questioned under oath at a judicial inquiry prompted by revelations of endemic phone-hacking at his News of the World tabloid, which he shut down last July, Murdoch gave a confident performance in which he amiably played down the power he holds.
Wednesday's grilling showed Murdoch's political malleability, which analysts say has been one of the hallmarks of his success.
With the Thatcher era over and her Conservative successor John Major bogged down in party infighting, Murdoch switched allegiance to left-of-centre Tony Blair of New Labor, who flew to Australia as opposition leader to pay homage to Murdoch.
Rupert
A Senator & A Charity Auction
'Girls Gone Wild'
Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor said Wednesday he's asked the FBI to investigate who set up an online auction for an internship in his Washington office that the founder of "Girls Gone Wild" says he bought for the winner of a reality show.
Pryor denied a claim that the winner of "The Search for the Hottest Girl in America" contest put on by video empire founder Joe Francis will intern in the senator's office this summer. Pryor called the claim a "hoax" and said his office doesn't sell, donate or auction off internships.
"We believe someone outside Senator Pryor's office has broken the law by fraudulently impersonating a U.S. senator, fraudulently attempting to sell a government position and using the Senate seal without authorization," Pryor spokeswoman Lisa Ackerman said. "We have asked the FBI to fully investigate who is perpetrating this fraud against the senator and the U.S. Senate."
Francis, who has made a fortune marketing videotapes featuring young women flashing their breasts, announced the internship would be part of the contest winner's prize package after bidding on it during an online charity auction for a California temple last weekend.
BiddingForGood, the Cambridge, Mass.-based website where Francis said he bid on the item, said the internship was put up for auction to benefit a child learning center operated by the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and was sold for $2,500. The listing for the internship does not say who donated it.
'Girls Gone Wild'
Not Happy With Bishop
Notre Dame Professors
More than a hundred University of Notre Dame professors have demanded that Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky renounce comments he made criticizing President Barack Obama's stance on religious liberty that compared him to dictators Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
"Jenky's comments demonstrate ignorance of history, insensitivity to victims of genocide and absence of judgment," said the letter addressed this week to the leadership of the renowned Catholic university in Indiana and signed by 131 professors from various fields.
The letter urged the school to distance itself from Jenky's "incendiary statement," and called for Jenky, 65, a Notre Dame graduate who has led a Catholic diocese in Peoria, Illinois, since 2002, to "renounce loudly and publicly this destructive analogy" - or resign from the university's Board of Fellows and board of trustees.
Jenky, along with other U.S. Catholic bishops and social conservatives, condemned the Obama administration's requirement that church-affiliated institutions provide insurance that covers contraception.
But his April 14 homily singled out Obama and the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, saying "The Church will survive ... the calculated disdain of the President of the United States ... and of the current (Democratic) majority of the federal Senate."
Critics of Jenky, including groups dedicated to the separation of church and state, seized on his remarks, contending he instructed his flock to vote against Obama in November's general election, a violation of the church's tax-exempt status.
Notre Dame Professors
Marine Discharged
Sgt. Gary Stein
A sergeant will be discharged for criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook in a case that called into question the Pentagon's policies about social media and its limits on the speech of active duty military personnel, the Marine Corps said Wednesday.
Sgt. Gary Stein will get an other-than-honorable discharge and lose most of his benefits for violating the policies, the Corps said.
The San Diego-area Marine who has served nearly 10 years in the Corps said he was disappointed by the decision. He has argued that he was exercising his free-speech rights.
"I love the Marine Corps, I love my job. I wish it wouldn't have gone this way. I'm having a hard time seeing how 15 words on Facebook could have ruined my nine-year career," he told The Associated Press.
Gary Kreep, an attorney for Stein, said he would pursue administrative appeals within the Marine Corps but anticipates the effort will be denied. He said he planned to file an amended complaint in federal court.
Sgt. Gary Stein
Ugly American Opens His Big Yap
Donald T-rump
Donald Trump (R-Birther) on Wednesday swept into Scotland's parliament to demand the country end plans for an offshore wind farm he fears will spoil the view at his exclusive new $750-million-pound ($1.2-billion) golf resort.
In a typically blunt display, the New York property tycoon told an inquiry into renewable energy to stop the wind power efforts in the country's north.
"Scotland, if you pursue this policy of these monstrous turbines, Scotland will go broke," he said. "They are ugly, they are noisy and they are dangerous. If Scotland does this, Scotland will be in serious trouble and will lose tourism to places like Ireland, and they are laughing at us."
When challenged to produce hard evidence about his claims on the negative impact of turbines, Trump said: "I am the evidence, I am a world class expert in tourism."
The public gallery burst into laughter.
Donald T-rump
Egypt Actor To Appeal Jail Term
Adel Imam
The Arab world's most famous comic actor, Adel Imam, will appeal a decision by an Egyptian court to sentence him to three months in jail for insulting Islam in his films and plays, his lawyer told Reuters on Wednesday.
A court found Imam guilty of defaming Islam on February 2 and fined him 1,000 Egyptian pounds in absentia. Imam has frequently poked fun at the authorities and politicians during a 40-year career and his more serious films have dealt with the rise of Islamist militancy.
The timing of his case - at a time when Islamists are in the political ascendancy - and his high own profile has raised fears that ultraconservative Muslims, who swept parliamentary elections, are trying to force their views on society.
The case against Imam was brought by a lawyer with ties to Islamist groups. Asran Mansour accused the actor of offending Islam and its symbols, including beards and the Jilbab, a loose-fitting garment worn by some Muslims, the Egyptian news portal Ahramonline reported.
Adel Imam
"U.S. At War With Islam"
Military Course
The top military officer ordered a review of training material after a course for officers was found to espouse the view that the United States is at war with Islam, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a letter on Tuesday to leaders of the Army and other services, along with regional commanders and officials heading the National Guard, ordering a review of relevant training and education material across the military.
The review, which was first reported by Wired.com, was prompted by a complaint by a soldier who had recently completed an elective course entitled "Perspectives on Islam and Islamite Radicalism" at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia.
One example of objectionable material, presented in a power point slide for students, was an assertion "that the United States is at war with Islam and we ought to ought to just recognize that we are war with Islam," Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.
Dempsey also ordered an inquiry into how the material, which Kirby described as "objectionable" and "inflammatory," got into the course at Norfolk.
Military Course
Served With Search Warrant
Fox News 'Mole'
Joe Muto, the former Fox News associate-producer-turned-infamous-"Fox Mole," was served with a search warrant by police early Wednesday. Investigators seized his laptop, Muto said.
"I just got search warranted at 6:30 a.m. by a very polite crew from the DA's office," Muto tweeted. "Took my iPhone, laptop, some old notebooks."
Gawker published several columns by Muto earlier this month while he was still employed by Fox News, and also published unaired video footage taken from a Mitt Romney interview with FNC's Sean Hannity. Fox News quickly fired Muto, and sent letters to both him and Gawker, threatening to pursue criminal and civil charges.
"They're pretty worked up over a clip of Romney talking about his horses," Muto wrote on Twitter. "According to the warrant, Fox News is apparently accusing me of grand larceny, among other things."
On Twitter, Muto took a jab at the phone-hacking scandal at the cable channel's News Corp. parent. "I should have done something more innocuous," he wrote, "like hacked a dead girl's phone and interfered with a police investigation."
Fox News 'Mole'
Estate Granted Restraining Order
Thomas Kinkade
A judge in California has issued a restraining order against the girlfriend of late painter Thomas Kinkade.
The order against Amy Pinto-Walsh was sought by Kinkade's company, Windermere Holdings, which claimed she broke a confidentiality agreement by talking to reporters after Kinkade was found dead and threatening to reveal his secrets.
Windermere Holdings is acting as trustee and executor of the Kinkade Family Trust.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that a Santa Clara County judge granted the 15-day restraining order on April 16.
Thomas Kinkade
Attending White House Correspondents Dinner
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is going to Washington - and no, it's not to testify before Congress against the overly aggressive and intrusive tactics of paparazzi.
The "Mean Girls" actress will appear at this Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. She will attend the event, which each year merges humor and politics, with her attorney, Shawn Holley, as guests of Fox News personality Greta Van Susteren and her husband, John Coale, the actress's publicist told TheWrap.
Lohan will be in good company at the annual event; according to Politico, other celebrities expected to attend include George Clooney; Steven Spielberg; "Hunger Games" stars Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Banks; Sofia Vergara and her "Modern Family" castmates Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Julie Bowen and Eric Stonestreet; "Homeland" star Claire Danes and Charlize Theron.
Lindsay Lohan
Melting From Warm Water Below
Antarctic Ice
Antarctica's massive ice shelves are shrinking because they are being eaten away from below by warm water, a new study finds. That suggests that future sea levels could rise faster than many scientists have been predicting.
The western chunk of Antarctica is losing 23 feet of its floating ice sheet each year. Until now, scientists weren't exactly sure how it was happening and whether or how man-made global warming might be a factor. The answer, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is that climate change plays an indirect role - but one that has larger repercussions than if Antarctic ice were merely melting from warmer air.
Hamish Pritchard, a glaciologist at the British Antarctic Survey, said research using an ice-gazing NASA satellite showed that warmer air alone couldn't explain what was happening to Antarctica. A more detailed examination found a chain of events that explained the shrinking ice shelves.
Twenty ice shelves showed signs that they were melting from warm water below. Changes in wind currents pushed that relatively warmer water closer to and beneath the floating ice shelves. The wind change is likely caused by a combination of factors, including natural weather variation, the ozone hole and man-made greenhouse gases, Pritchard said in a phone interview.
As the floating ice shelves melt and thin, that in turn triggers snow and ice on land glaciers to slide down to the floating shelves and eventually into the sea, causing sea level rise, Pritchard said. Thicker floating ice shelves usually keep much of the land snow and ice from shedding to sea, but that's not happening now.
Antarctic Ice
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