'Best of TBH Politoons'
The Wall St. Poet
American Politics
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Evan Derkacz: Impeaching Bush, State by State (AlterNet.org)
Taking advantage of 'Jefferson's Revenge,' state legislatures have brought impeachment much closer to reality.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Discrimination: The Root of the Black Job Crisis
Nearly forty percent of young black males are unemployed. Not by choice; because employers refuse to hire them.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg: Just Say No to Uncle Sam (inthesetimes.com)
What unfolds in my edited collection, 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military, are stories by military parents, soldiers, veterans, lawyers and journalists about what doesn't make it into those ads. They describe the real life of a soldier-complete with lifelong injuries, inadequate care, insanity and death.
John Dickerson: Shooting an Elephant (slate.com)
Why Republicans are screwed.
Russell Baker: Talking It Up (nybooks.com)
In eighteenth-century England, Miller says, the word "conversation" was sometime used to mean "sexual intercourse," and "criminal conversation" was a legal term fo adultery. After the Earl of Halifax willed his mistress Catherine Barton a bequest o twenty thousand pounds, a malicious wit said Halifax had shown his appreciation o Miss Barton's "excellent conversation.
Craig Malisow: Money for Nothing (houstonpress.com)
Hopeful beggars shake their virtual cups online
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny.
The kid has another cold. Ack.
No new flags.
Media Dumbing Down News
David Milch
"Deadwood" creator David Milch accused news media outlets Tuesday of "infantilizing" viewers with their entertainment-style coverage of such events as the September 11 attacks and the war in Iraq.
"I think the influx of information, when it's not organized by any sort of emotional or spiritual principle provided by the media, is a demoralizing and corrosive process," he said during an industry forum luncheon at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills.
He likened the media coverage during the beginning of the war in Iraq with that of a "three-week miniseries with a beginning, middle and end," where the ending was the act of the Iraqis tearing down the statue of Saddam Hussein.
"When the series was over, the president's approval rating was 98% -- that was a good show," Milch said. "What's left is 'reruns' with people dying, but," speaking as he was imagining a viewer might, "'I'm done with that "show." Now you're showing me people being blown up by bombs? I'm done with that -- bring those boys home. Put something else on. Go back to Osama bin Laden -- that "show" was never finished."'
He went on to say that "people spend more than a third of their waking hours watching TV, which is weird, especially given the s--- we're delivered. The consequences are that if we have one more plane (hit) a building, (the public response will be) 'They're all ragheads, they all look alike. We gave them a chance, now let's kill them all."'
David Milch
Suffered Eye Injury
Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher suffered an eye injury when a light bulb exploded on the set of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," People magazine reported Wednesday.
Hatcher, 41, said she should be back to work in two days and was trying to see the humor "in the oddity of it all."
The injury forced the actress to cancel her appearance at a Tuesday night party for the AmberWatch Foundation, which is dedicated to preventing child abduction and molestation. Hatcher is the group's new spokeswoman.
Teri Hatcher
Ad to Promote Tennessee Tourism
Dolly & Elvis
In a new television commercial promoting Tennessee tourism, a dashing young Elvis Presley drives his red convertible Corvette Stingray in a clip from his 1967 film "Clambake."
Music icons Dolly Parton and Presley appear in the ad together through digital insertion. State tourism officials believe it is the first time Elvis has digitally appeared in a television commercial with a celebrity.
"I've played a lot of stages over the years but there's one I never get tired of that's set for a great time day or night - Tennessee," Parton says before an announcer chimes in over scenes of Graceland, the Great Smoky Mountains and several other Tennessee attractions.
Then, Parton turns to Presley and says, "Let's pick it up a little bit, honey. There's all kinds of things to do in Tennessee. But next time, let's take the pink Cadillac."
Dolly & Elvis
Brazil Farmer Pleads Guilty
Sister Dorothy Stang
An Amazon farmer charged in the killing of American nun and rainforest defender Dorothy Stang pleaded guilty Wednesday and said two ranchers ordered her murder because of her opposition to their plan to log a patch of forest.
Amair Feijoli da Cunha, 38, told a jury he offered money to two gunmen to shoot the 73-year-old nun on Feb. 12, 2005, at the behest of ranchers Vitalmiro Moura and Regivaldo Galvao.
He said Galvao told him to offer $24,000 to kill Stang. Feijoli said Moura supplied the .38 caliber revolver used in the killing.
Stang, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Ohio, spent the last 23 years of her life in the remote jungle town of Anapu, some 1,250 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, where she defended the rainforest and poor settlers who lived there.
Sister Dorothy Stang
Tricks Armed Robbers
David Copperfield
49-year-old illusionist David Copperfield was walking with two female assistants to their tour bus after his show Sunday at a performing arts center when four teens pulled up in a black car, a police report said.
Two armed robbers allegedly got out of the car and demanded the group's belongings. One woman handed over $400 from her pockets and the other gave up her purse with 200 euros, $100, her passport, plane tickets and a cell phone. Copperfield refused to empty his pockets, the report said.
Copperfield says he turned his pockets inside out to reveal nothing in them, even though he was carrying his passport, wallet and cell phone.
Four teenagers were arrested and charged with armed robbery. They were held without bond, police said. The women's property was recovered.
David Copperfield
Tops Most Beautiful List
Angelina Jolie
Pillow-lipped actress Angelina Jolie graces the cover of People's "100 Most Beautiful People" issue, on newsstands Friday. It's her fourth time on the list, but first as cover girl.
The magazine didn't forget her boyfriend Brad Pitt, or her two children, either. People named the globetrotting Jolie-Pitt clan the "World's Most Beautiful Family."
Also making the "Beautiful People" list, which until this year was limited to 50: Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Kirstie Alley, Ryan Seacrest and University of Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart.
Angelina Jolie
Sexiest Woman In UK
Keira Knightley
Actress Keira Knightley was voted the world's sexiest woman in a magazine poll on Thursday, beating model Keeley Hazel and Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson into second and third place respectively.
The poll, which British magazine FHM said was based on two million votes, saw homegrown model and TV presenter Kelly Brook slip to 5th from first last year, while Angelina Jolie, expecting a baby in mid-May, came fourth.
Beyonce Knowles was the sexiest pop star at number seven and Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova the top sportswoman at number 56.
Keira Knightley
Propagandist Gets New Job Title
Tony Snow
Resident George W. Bush named Fox News Radio host Tony Snow as White House press secretary on Wednesday in his latest move to shake up his staff and breathe new life into his presidency.
A cancer survivor, Snow is the first journalist to go directly from the media industry to the top spokesman role since Ron Nessen during Gerald Ford's presidency in the 1970s.
Snow, who starts his job in early May, worked as a speech writer for Bush's father when he was president and has a lengthy resume in print, radio and television journalism.
Tony Snow
Ordered To Appear At Blake Trial
Christian Brando
Christian Brando, son of late actor Marlon Brando, has been ordered to appear in court to face possible contempt of court charges stemming from his testimony during Robert Blake's civil trial.
Bonny Lee Bakley initially named her daughter, now 5, after Brando, but paternity tests revealed that Blake was the girl's father.
An interview with jurors found that Brando made gestures and was mouthing words toward the jury as he left the witness stand after his testimony in October, according to court documents signed by Superior Court Judge David Schacter on April 18. The alleged action illegally interfered with court proceedings.
The court documents did not describe the gestures. However, the Los Angeles Times said one juror told court personnel that Brando gestured at Blake and mouthed the word "guilty" in full view of the jury.
Christian Brando
Fiat Bulldozer
James Bond
British secret agent James Bond has chased the world's most dangerous villains in everything from cars to spaceships, but in his latest adventure, his vehicle of choice will be a bulldozer.
In the opening scene of "Casino Royale," the 21st instalment of the popular movie franchise, Bond will pursue his latest enemy in a four-wheel W190 bulldozer supplied by Fiat, the Italian industrial group.
Although its vehicles have appeared in a number of movies including the Alfa Romeo Spider in "The Graduate," it is the first time that Fiat will have one starring in a Bond movie.
James Bond
Won't Go On With The Show
Jan Maxwell
Actress Jan Maxwell left the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Joe Orton's comedy "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" last Sunday after complaining about the behavior of her co-star, Alec Baldwin.
Maxwell's departure was first reported Wednesday in the New York Post, which obtained a copy of an e-mail the actress sent to a friend about Baldwin. In the note, the actress declared that the "bottom line was my physical safety, mental health and artistic integrity - none of which Roundabout was supporting."
In the e-mail, Maxwell said Baldwin put his fist through a wall and was "throwing things around with all of us cowering," and Maxwell accused Baldwin of giving the Roundabout an ultimatum: refusing to go on with her.
Jan Maxwell
Hands On Actor
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner was accused of performing an indecent act as he received a massage at a Scottish hotel, in a claim by a former spa worker filed with a British employment tribunal.
The 34-year-old woman claimed the actor exposed himself and carried out a sex act as she gave him the massage at the Old Course Hotel in Fife, Scotland, in October 2004, said papers filed with the tribunal.
Tribunal chairman Nicol Hosie said the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had agreed to settle her claim of unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination out of court.
The tribunal, sitting in Dundee, Scotland, on Tuesday, did not consider whether her allegations were true.
Kevin Costner
Spanking Not In Job Description
Janet Orlando
Lawyers for a woman who was spanked in front of her co-workers as part of what her employer said was a camaraderie-building exercise asked a jury Wednesday for at least $1.2 million for the humiliation she claimed to have suffered.
Janet Orlando, 53, quit her job at the home security company Alarm One Inc. and sued, alleging discrimination, assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress.
Employees were paddled with rival companies' yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against each other, according to court documents. The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks.
Janet Orlando
America's Dream An Illusion
Rags-To-Riches
America may still think of itself as the land of opportunity, but the chances of living a rags-to-riches life are a lot lower than elsewhere in the world, according to a new study published on Wednesday.
The likelihood that a child born into a poor family will make it into the top five percent is just one percent, according to "Understanding Mobility in America," a study by economist Tom Hertz from American University.
By contrast, a child born rich had a 22 percent chance of being rich as an adult, he said.
Recent studies have highlighted growing income inequality in the United States, but Americans remain highly optimistic about the odds for economic improvement in their own lifetime.
Rags-To-Riches
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