'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tara Lohan: Rural Communities Exploited by Nestlé for Your Bottled Water (AlterNet.org)
The McCloud Watershed Council has reported that Nestlé will pay .000087 cents per gallon for the water it takes from McCloud's springs. Its website explains: "In other words, that's only 8.7 cents for 100,000 gallons. Meanwhile, the rest of us who use a fraction of what Nestlé will, pay almost 20 bucks each month, just for water. On the other hand, Nestlé can sell a 16-ounce bottle of the same water for around $1.29, or $10.32 per gallon."
Dennis Cauchon: Taxpayers on the hook for $59 trillion (usatoday.com/)
The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year - far more than the official $248 billion deficit - when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
Andrew Tobias: The Pinchot Retirement Program
Ta-Da! (andrewtobias.com)
So okay, I got this in the mail. Mailings like this are like little puzzles: You know there's a catch - but can you figure out what it is?
Mark Morford: Bush Declares Self 'Mega Decider' (sfgate.com)
New documents ensure Dubya will rule America, should calamity strike. Free balloons!
Beth Quinn: Of phantom pain and cries in the night (Times Herald-Record, recordonline.com)
As children, Inge and I heard our fathers cry out in the night, sometimes, on those occasions when the phantom pains took over.
Annalee Newitz: Green Libertarianism: The New Reformist Movement? (AlterNet.org)
Combining libertarianism with green values might be a pragmatic way to convince some of the worst polluters to cut back by essentially bribing them with cash.
Janet Ewell: Test-takers, not students (latimes.com)
Test madness and centralized curriculum control squeeze creativity out of the classroom.
Jim Phillips: Ethics expert discusses plagiarism, dishonesty on college campuses (athensnews.com)
Universities that want to address student cheating and plagiarizing need to realize that the culture of winning-at-any-cost extends far beyond campus, an expert in academic ethics told an Ohio University audience Thursday.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Children (athensnews.com)
Olympic gold medalist Dot Richardson, a softball shortstop, was discovered when she was a 10-year-old. While she was playing catch with her brother, a man asked her if she wanted to play on his Little League team, telling her, "We'll cut your hair short and call you Bob."
Reader Suggestion
new video
From Kos, Paul Wolfowitz gets owned
Reader Comment
Ted Stevens
Ted Stevens political life goes down the tubes , and NOT the internet type tubes.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sun broke through before noon, but the marine layer returned before supper time.
The kid was watching 'Star Trek Legacy' on Sci-Fi, and he aked why was Newt Gingrich in it.
Didn't really have a snappy answer other than both are scripted.
Who better to represent America's current promise of the future than a shameless, serial-philandering, self-serving conservative politician.
Waitress Set For Stardom
Victoria Hart
An 18-year-old waitress and part-time jazz singer is in line for a multi-million dollar record deal after performing for George Clooney at the Cannes film festival.
Victoria Hart, whose day job involves working for tips at the little-known Naked Turtle restaurant in London, was flown to Cannes earlier this month after a friend-of-a-friend put her name forward to sing at a charity event.
Her performance in front of Hollywood stars including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Clooney, who described her as "simply lovely," won her international acclaim and now major record labels EMI and Universal are battling to sign her.
Hart, a blonde bombshell whose singing style is a mixture of jazz and swing, has been performing since an early age but her set at Cannes, in front of the cast of "Ocean's 13" to raise money for Darfur, was a major breakthrough.
Victoria Hart
Playing Macy's In Minneapolis
Prince
Prince will perform for 1,400 fans at Macy's department store in his hometown of Minneapolis on July 7, the day that his new fragrance, 3121, debuts.
The Ultimate Prince Xperience package includes one ticket to the private show on the eighth floor of Macy's downtown department store, one ticket to Prince's performance at the Target Center that evening and his 3121 perfume.
Cost of the Xperience package is $250, plus service fees and taxes. It goes on sale Friday at Macy's Minneapolis. Details are posted on the 48-year-old singer's Web site.
Prince
Music By Philip Glass
Leonard Cohen
It was a casual phone call between celebrated composer Philip Glass and enigmatic poet Leonard Cohen that ultimately brought the pair together after years of mutual admiration.
Glass can't remember who called whom some six years ago, but the ensuing conversation led to an afternoon meeting in which the cerebral Montrealer read a stack of poetry manuscripts aloud to the composer and an idea was born.
Each artist knew what their next project would be: a collaboration that would somehow meld the mystique and romance of Cohen's words with the music of Glass.
This week, that pairing is realized in "Book of Longing," a concert piece that makes its world premiere Friday as part of the Toronto arts festival, Luminato.
Leonard Cohen
Teams-Up With Google
'Jeopardy'
"Jeopardy!" has answered the question of how to integrate the online world with America's classic game show with the Jeopardy! Google Daily Challenge.
Beginning June 4, viewers who log on to Jeopardy.com will find an additional clue/answer drawn from one of the featured categories from that day's broadcast to which they can use the Google search application to find the correct answer. Online participants will then be entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win the daily $100 prize or the $25,000 grand prize.
The contest will continue through July 13 with a new clue posted each day.
'Jeopardy'
Headlining Kids' Charity Show
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop & the Stooges are to headline a charity show "Rock The House Live" gig in aid of British charity the Children's Society.
Also playing the show in the grounds of Harewood House in Leeds, England, on August 31, will be Idlewild, the Horrors, and Sunshine Underground.
Iggy Pop and the newly reunited Stooges will play the gig for free for the charity that helps more than 50,000 children every year.
He said: "I'm getting a big kick out of making music for the Children's Society. All kids deserve a good childhood."
Iggy Pop
Stamp Collection On Display
John Lennon
The late Beatle John Lennon's childhood stamp collection goes on display for the first time in Europe on Friday in an exhibition at the Stockholm Postal Museum, organisers said.
The hardcover stamp album was given to Lennon by his cousin Stanley Parkes, who wanted to interest the 10-year-old John in stamp collecting.
The album's flyleaf bears the earliest known signature by John Lennon, believed to be from around 1950.
John Lennon
Celebrates 40 Years
Sgt Pepper
The 40th anniversary of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is to be celebrated this week.
The eighth Beatles album is considered to be one of the greatest albums in history, and it enjoyed unprecedented chart success on its release in 1967.
It stayed in the number one spot for 15 weeks on the US Billboard chart, 27 weeks in the UK album chart, and 30 weeks in Australia's ARIA chart.
Recorded at Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper's captured a raw and original sound, and it's now acknowledged as the first 'concept album'.
Sgt Pepper
Wedding News
Ling - Song
Lisa Ling, a correspondent for National Geographic Channel and former co-host of ABC's "The View," married Dr. Paul Song this Memorial Day weekend.
Ling and Song, a Chicago-based radiation oncologist, were wed Saturday in an Asian-themed ceremony in Los Angeles, said Chris Albert, a representative for National Geographic Channel, in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Song, 41, proposed to the 33-year-old Ling in December.
Ling - Song
Who Keeps Serving Minor?
Lindsay Lohan
Authorities conducting undercover operations at trendy celebrity watering holes in recent weeks want to know if an underage Lindsay Lohan was served alcohol before a weekend car crash.
California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control investigators also want to know if Lohan or others were served after hours, agency spokesman John Carr said.
Videos show Lohan leaving Hollywood's Les Deux club at 3:30 a.m.
Alcohol cannot be served in California after 2 a.m.
Lindsay Lohan
Seat Belt Problem
Matt Lauer
NBC's Matt Lauer didn't learn his lesson from interviewing New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine about the governor's near-fatal car crash while riding without wearing a safety belt.
A few weeks after that chat, there was Lauer on "Today" on Wednesday, sitting in the back of a sport utility vehicle interviewing Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney. Both men were unbuckled.
A sheepish Lauer admitted his mistake after "Today" ran the interview, which was conducted Tuesday.
"Today" show producers noticed the oversight before the segment with Romney aired and decided to have Lauer address it, executive producer Jim Bell said.
Matt Lauer
Balloon Finds Pen-Pal
Tom Stancombe
A 4-year-old boy who released a balloon with a message hoping to find a pen pal in a foreign land ended up having a correspondence with the Queen.
Tom Stancombe let go of his helium balloon in Hampshire, but rather than flying across to France or half way around the world, it ended up just 20 miles (32 km) away, landing inside Windsor Castle, the Daily Mail reported.
The Queen instructed her personal assistant to reply and so the monarch and the boy, helped by his parents, exchanged a series of letters, mostly about the fact that one of the boy's ancestors, an artist, had works in the royal art collection.
Tom Stancombe
Stolen In Japan
Gold Bathtub
Japanese police are scratching their heads over how a gold bathtub worth 120 million yen ($988,100) and weighing some 80 kg was stolen from a hotel near Tokyo.
Staff discovered early on Wednesday that someone had stolen the tub from a shared bathroom for men on the 10th floor of the hotel in Kamogawa, by the Pacific Ocean.
But police said they found no signs that the heavy bathtub had been dragged out of the hotel.
Gold Bathtub
Brothers Charged In Scam
Faith Healers
Two brothers claiming to be faith healers were charged with grand theft for allegedly convincing clients they were cursed and would die unless they paid for expensive cleansing rituals, authorities said.
Carlos Salazar, 34, and John Salazar, 23, who called himself "Master Alexander," are accused of scamming hundreds of clients through their San Jose business, which they advertised exclusively through Spanish-language newspapers and radio stations.
The pair wore robes and performed sleight-of-hand illusions - such as turning water into a red substance they pretended was blood - to fool customers into believing they were possessed, said San Jose Police detective Manuel Jurado.
Faith Healers
Double Jeopardy Conviction
Ed Rosenthal
The self-proclaimed "guru of ganja" was convicted again Wednesday in federal court of illegally growing hundreds of marijuana plants that he said were meant to treat sick people, which state law allows.
Ed Rosenthal was convicted after U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer prohibited the marijuana activist's lawyers from telling the jury he was working for a pot club sanctioned by Oakland government officials. The decision underscored the tension between federal law, which prohibits marijuana, and laws in 11 states that have legalized pot for medical purposes.
The jury deliberated for about two days before convicting Rosenthal of growing more than 100 marijuana plants, conspiring to cultivate the drug and maintaining a growing operation in a warehouse. He was acquitted of a fourth charge, and the jury couldn't decide on the fifth.
But the 63-year-old won't serve any time in prison. That's because he was convicted of the same charges in 2003 and sentenced to a day in prison because the judge said that Rosenthal reasonably believed he was immune from prosecution because he was acting on behalf of Oakland city officials.
Ed Rosenthal
Searches For 3 Missing Rockwells
Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Co. wants the real thing - in this case, three rare Norman Rockwell paintings.
The beverage company is searching for missing one-of-a-kind oil paintings that it commissioned from the Americana master more than 74 years ago. Each could be worth more than $500,000 if sold at auction.
The paintings were among six works depicting children that Rockwell did for Coca-Cola's advertising campaigns of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The company has the other three paintings - including two on display at the new World of Coca-Cola museum in downtown Atlanta and another that hangs in the executive offices of its world headquarters nearby.
The paintings, described by Coca-Cola's archivist as "seminal pieces" of the company's history, were likely lost over time because they were used to create magazine and poster advertisements in an age when Coke employees wouldn't have thought to hold onto them once the ads ran.
Coca-Cola
Offer 'Proof' Of Aliens
UFO Buffs
Proof that a 12-foot creature with fiery red eyes spooked Braxton County schoolchildren in 1952. Proof that aliens crashed a spaceship near Roswell, N.M., in 1947. Proof that the U.S. military engaged alien spaceships in battle over the Atlantic Ocean more than 50 years ago.
"You're going to see some hard evidence" at the Flatwoods Monster 55th Anniversary and Flying Saucer Extravaganza on Sept. 7-8 in Charleston, said promoter Larry Bailey. "That's a promise. That's not just promotional talk."
The UFO conference coincides with the 60th anniversary of an unexplained sighting of a crashed aircraft in New Mexico that is still a source of controversy and speculation of a government coverup. It's also the 55th anniversary of sightings of a noxious-odor-emitting monster in Flatwoods in Braxton County.
Freddie May, one of the boys who saw the monster after a fireball fell from the sky in September 1952, is scheduled to attend. He will refute those who dismiss the monster as a hoax and others who say it was a gaseous ball that formed during a meteor shower.
UFO Buffs
Musicians Ratify New Contract
Broadway
The musicians union Local 802 has amiably agreed to a three-year contract with Broadway producers, a contrast to the last round of negotiations that culminated in a strike and darkened Broadway for days.
Members of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians approved the contract with The League of American Theatres and Producers, Disney Theatrical Productions and Musical Rights, Inc., following a union ratification meeting on May 16, officials said.
The contract expands the pool of musicians eligible for health care, and includes more contributions to the health plan from producers. In return, musicians gave up two wage increases during the term of the agreement. No other details were released.
Broadway
Prime Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for May 21-27. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 30.74 million viewers.
2. (2) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 25.33 million viewers.
3. (9) "Dancing With the Stars Results" (Tuesday)," ABC, 22.96 million viewers.
4. (5) "Dancing With the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 20.19 million viewers.
5. (17) "NCIS," CBS, 14.14 million viewers.
6. (15) "Lost," ABC, 13.86 million viewers.
7. (4) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 13.79 million viewers.
8. (17) "Heroes," NBC, 13.48 million viewers.
9. (X) "CBS Tuesday Movie: Jesse Stone: Sea Change," CBS, 13.01 million viewers.
10. (44) "The Bachelor," ABC, 12.67 million viewers.
11. (X) "Two And a Half Men," (9:30 p.m.) CBS, 12.31 million viewers.
12. (17) "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 11.82 million viewers.
13. (10) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.51 million viewers.
14. (24) "Shark," CBS, 11.03 million viewers.
15. (26) "24," Fox, 10.3 million viewers.
16. (32) "Law And Order: SVU," NBC, 10.28 million viewers.
17. (23) "CSI: NY," CBS, 10.25 million viewers.
18. (14) "Deal Or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 9.87 million viewers.
19. (21) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 9.57 million viewers.
20. (53) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 9.51 million viewers.
Ratings
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