'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tamara Draut: Excerpt: Downscaling the Dreams of Youth (AlterNet.org)
America prides itself on its unlimited opportunity. So why are fewer and fewer young people able to attend college, find jobs and reach the middle-class promised land?
Brendan Murray: Rove May Find `It's the Economy, Stupid' Won't Work (bloomberg.com)
Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser, laid out a plan to win the 2002 congressional elections by stressing national security. For 2006, Rove is framing a strategy for Republicans to sell the U.S. economy.
Bill Gallagher: PRESIDENT'S CON-GAME CONSERVATISM (niagarafallsreporter.com)
I have long argued that President George W. Bush and his greedy and arrogant gang are not conservatives. Sure, they like to call themselves that and see political advantage in using the label. But the truth is, the Busheviks' only real ideology is gaining and keeping power to protect and enhance their wealth.
Marc Kaufman: Researchers surprised to find no link between marijuana, lung cancer (Washington Post; Posted on sfgate.com)
Study's findings apply even to heavy pot smokers
Sexual attraction: the magic formula (timesonline.co.uk)
Finding your perfect match really is about the right chemistry, but it's a complex equation, says the American scientist Martie G Haselton
Joss Whedon, Wonder Boy (davidlavery.net)
The man who had brought to television one of its great female heroes was now about to re-imagine for the movies another female icon. With speculation rampant about who would be cast in the role of Wonder Woman, Whedon, with characteristic humor, would insist the part had already been offered to Morgan Freeman.
Lotte Jeffs: A history of lesbian superheroes (guardian.co.uk)
Holy hole in a doughnut! Batwoman is set to be revealed as a "lipstick lesbian" in the weekly DC comic book 52. It should come as no surprise that the crime-fighting femme fatale, with her trusty "utility purse", is batting for the other team. As if the butch handbag wasn't enough of a give-away, she also never leaves the house without sneezing powder, handcuffs and an expanding hairnet - classic Sapphic accessories.
Jon Katz: Grunt and Grumble (slate.com)
Why do men in the country talk that way?
David Bruce: Wise Up: Telephones
As the wild and crazy character known as The Ghoul, Ron Sweed used to host mostly bad horror movies on a television station in Cleveland. The show's set included a telephone. Whenever The Ghoul had an incoming call, viewers at home heard the telephone emit a loud knock.
Joe Bob's Week in Review
The Facts Of Life
Avery Ant
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Feels like we're gonna have a heat wave.
No new flags.
Amazon Fishbowl - Tonight
Bill Maher
Bill Maher is set to unleash his acerbic wit on the web.
His new live weekly show, Amazon Fishbowl With Bill Maher, debuts Thursday night on Amazon.com. Maher's guests include the Dixie Chicks, Chris (Ludacris) Bridges and author Dean Koontz.
Fishbowl will appear Thursdays through Aug. 17. Each 30-minute episode will feature interviews and performances with artists whose wares are available for sale on the website.
Bill Maher
Beginning June 1, the show will be streamed every Thursday at Amazon.com at 8 p.m. Pacific / 11 p.m. Eastern. Until then, you're invited to enjoy the pilot episode here.
No. 1 On Charts
Dixie Chicks
Despite a cool reception from country radio, the Dixie Chicks returned to No. 1 on the pop and country charts with their first album since publicly criticizing the president three years ago.
The album "Taking the Long Way" took the top spot on country albums chart and the Billboard 200 overall chart - which are based on sales rather than radio airplay - with 526,000 units sold in its first full week.
For the year, the Chicks' first-week showing is behind only Rascal Flatts' "Me and My Gang" (722,000 units), according to Wade Jessen, director of Billboard's country charts.
Dixie Chicks
Webby Lifetime Achievement Award
Prince
Prince will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at this year's Webby online awards for his use of the Internet to distribute music and connect with audiences.
The 47-year-old pop superstar was the first major artist to release an entire album, 1997's "Crystal Ball," exclusively on the Web, according to the announcement, and "long before MySpace and iTunes, Prince used the Web as a new way to distribute music, premiere videos and build his relationship with his fans."
His Web site, npgmusicclub.com, has more than seven full-length CDs of music unavailable elsewhere.
Prince
Coming Out
Batwoman
Years after she first emerged from the Batcave, Batwoman is coming out of the closet. DC Comics is resurrecting the classic comic book character as a lesbian, unveiling the new Batwoman in July as part of an ongoing weekly series that began this year.
The 5-foot-10 superhero comes with flowing red hair, knee-high red boots with spiked heels, and a form-fitting black outfit.
The original Batwoman was started in 1956, and killed off in 1979. The new character will share the same name as her original alter ego, Kathy Kane. And the new Batwoman arrives with ties to others in the Gotham City world.
Batwoman
Wins Spain's Prince of Asturias Prize
Paul Auster
Paul Auster, author of "The New York Trilogy" and "The Book of Illusions," among other works, won Spain's Prince of Asturias prize for literature Wednesday.
The 59-year-old novelist, poet, screenplay writer and translator was chosen "for the literary renewal he has carried out by uniting the best of North American and European traditions," said Victor Garcia de la Concha, president of the prize organizers' committee.
Auster was born in Newark, N.J. After graduating from Columbia University, he lived in France where he translated Mallarme, Sartre and other writers.
Paul Auster
Baby News?
Coppola - Mars
Sofia Coppola has a new project in the works - a baby, due this winter, People magazine reported Wednesday on its Web site.
The father is Coppola's boyfriend, Thomas Mars, a singer for the French band Phoenix, the magazine said. The 35-year-old filmmaker won a best screenplay Oscar for 2003's "Lost in Translation," which she also directed.
Coppola - Mars
White House Screening
'United 93'
US Resident George W. Bush late Tuesday hosted an "emotional" White House screening of the fantasy film "United 93," with relatives of some of the passengers who died aboard the September 11, 2001 flight attending, his spokesman said.
After the screening of the film -- the first major movie to address the 2001 events -- Bush met and spoke with some of the families, White House spokesman Tony Snow spokesman said.
'United 93'
Authenticity Of Exhibit Challenged
Marilyn Monroe
A lawsuit claims that Marilyn Monroe had no connection to many of the items in an exhibit that claims to showcase her possessions.
The exhibit aboard the Queen Mary, which is moored in Long Beach, features items including hair rollers, suitcases, a lipstick holder and a "red shiny dress" that the iconic sex symbol supposedly owned. Thousands of people have paid $22.95 each to see it since it opened in November.
The exhibit opened on the ship after the Hollywood Museum canceled a scheduled show over questions about the authenticity of some of the memorabilia.
Marilyn Monroe
Iraq Veteran Sues
Michael Moore
A veteran who lost both arms in the war in Iraq is suing filmmaker Michael Moore for $85 million, alleging that Moore used snippets of a television interview without his permission to falsely portray him as anti-war in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Sgt. Peter Damon, a National Guardsman from Middleborough, is asking for damages because of "loss of reputation, emotional distress, embarrassment, and personal humiliation," according to the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last week.
Damon contends that Moore's positioning of the clip just after a congressman's comments makes him appear as if he feels like he was "left behind" by the Bush administration and the military.
In his lawsuit, Damon says he "agrees with and supports the President and the United States' war effort, and he was not left behind."
Michael Moore
Rejects Second Appeal By CBS
FCC
The government on Wednesday rejected a second appeal by CBS to lift the $550,000 fine imposed on its stations for the Janet Jackson breast exposure during the 2004 Super Bowl.
The Federal Communications Commission rejected CBS's claim that the show was not indecent and said the violation was "willful."
In its order, the FCC noted that the fine is less than one-quarter of the $2.3 million that CBS charged for a single 30-second advertisement aired during its broadcast of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
FCC
Another Kid?
Prince Albert
Monaco's royal palace refused comment Wednesday on French media reports that the principality's ruler, Prince Albert II, will soon acknowledge paternity of a second illegitimate child.
"The palace is not commenting, since these are the private affairs of the prince," spokeswoman Christiane Stahl said of reports that Albert will acknowledge paternity of a 14-year-old American.
The Wednesday edition of the tabloid Le Parisien carried a large front-page photo of the girl it identified as Jazmin Grace, with her mother in California. The newspaper blurred the girl's face.
Prince Albert
Retirement Tire
Juan Valdez
The iconic Juan Valdez is set to hang up his sombrero and part company with his trusted mule after almost four decades of promoting coffee and helping Colombia clean up its cocaine-stained image.
"It's pretty nostalgic," said Carlos Sanchez, who for the past 37 years has personified the mustachioed coffee farmer many have come to identify with Colombian coffee.
Created by a New York-based advertising agency in 1959, the Juan Valdez campaign initially featured Cuban-American actor Jose Duval.
During a tour of the historic Colombian city of Cartagena in 2002, US president Bill Clinton spotted and had himself photographed with the friendly coffee farmer and his mule, who had conspicuously taken up position on the main square.
Juan Valdez
Given Voice
Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa's smile may always remain a mystery, but it is now possible to hear what her voice would have sounded like, thanks to a Japanese acoustics expert.
Dr Matsumi Suzuki, who generally uses his skills to help with criminal investigations, measured the face and hands of Leonardo da Vinci's famous 16th century portrait to estimate her height and create a model of her skull.
"Once we have that, we can create a voice very similar to that of the person concerned," Suzuki told Reuters in an interview at his Tokyo office last week. "We have recreated the voices of a lot of famous people that were very close to the real thing and have been used in film dubbing."
Mona Lisa
Returned To German Museum
Looted Painting
A 16th-century Florentine painting that disappeared more than 60 years ago during World War II was returned to a German museum, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation said.
The portrait of Eleonora of Toledo, the daughter of the Neapolitan viceroy and wife of the first duke of Florence, Cosimo de Medici I, was acquired by the Gemaeldegalerie in 1894 and reported missing in 1944.
The painting has been given back to the museum by the London-based Commission for Looted Art in Europe, which said it had for decades been in the possession of veteran BBC correspondent Charles Wheeler.
Looted Painting
MIT Wins
'Doonesbury' Poll
Despite some digital ballot-box stuffing, or perhaps because of it, MIT has won the poll that asked where Alex Doonesbury should go to college.
"A careful check of the applicable rulebook indicates that queering the results was not specifically prohibited," noted a Friday post on
Doonesbury.com, where the poll was conducted. "And by tradition, engineers, hackers, and techfolk will assume that in a problem-solving situation of this nature, there is no box out of which they are not expected to climb. The Doonesbury Town Hall thanks all those who took the time and trouble to vote, even those who voted only once. Ms. Doonesbury will be attending MIT."
More than 175,000 votes -- legitimate or otherwise -- had come in when the poll was removed from Doonesbury.com Tuesday morning. Final percentages were not posted on the site today. But when contacted by E&P this morning, a Doonesbury Town Hall spokesman said MIT had 48%, Rensselaer 32%, and Cornell 19%.
'Doonesbury' Poll
Spewing North
John Stossel
It's enough to make Tommy Douglas spin in his grave: Canada's cherished public health system is destined to collapse because it's missing out on the competitive benefits of being run by the private sector.
Then again, no one will ever accuse John Stossel of being a conformist.
Stossel, an author, journalist and well-known contrarian, spent Wednesday in Toronto promoting his latest book, called Myths, Lies and Outright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel - Why Everything You Know is Wrong.
"Somebody stopped me on the street in New York and said, 'Are you John Stossel? I hope you die soon,"' the ABC News correspondent said during a luncheon speech in Toronto hosted by the right-wing Fraser Institute.
John Stossel
In Memory
Robert Sterling
Robert Sterling, the handsome star of 1940s movies who appeared with his wife Anne Jeffreys in the television series "Topper," died Tuesday at his Brentwood home. He was 88.
Sterling died of natural causes following a decade-long battle with shingles, said his son, Jeffrey. His wife and other close relatives were at his bedside.
Sterling was born William Hart in 1917 in New Castle, Pa., the son of Chicago Cubs catcher William S. Hart. He attended college in Pennsylvania and worked as a clothing salesman before breaking into movies.
He proved a versatile player, especially in romantic roles, and appeared in five films in 1941, including the romantic comedy "Two-Faced Woman" with Greta Garbo and "The Penalty" with Lionel Barrymore.
Sterling was married to actress Ann Sothern from 1943 to 1949 and they had a daughter, actress Tisha Sterling. He married Jeffreys in 1951 and they had three sons: Jeffrey, Dana and Tyler.
Robert Sterling
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