'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Fareed Zakaria: Enfeebled superpower: how America lost its grip (timesonline.co.uk)
The mighty US has held the best ever hand in global political history but played it spectacularly badly. Now its influence is waning on all fronts.
Christopher Hitchens: Book Drive for Iraq (slate.com)
HOW YOU CAN DO YOUR BIT TO BUILD DEMOCRACY.
Richard Laermer: "Trendspotting: The Vonnegut Files" (huffingtonpost.com)
No one understood creativity in our world like Kurt Vonnegut did. He always said the problem was that people thought too small and thought what America needed was a "cabinet post" of Secretary of the Future.
Leslie Goldman: How Ugly People Succeed (theweightinggame.ivillage.com)
A few weeks ago, I received an email which made me snort Jelly Bellies out of my nose when I read it: Jim O'Connor is writing a book about unattractive people who have faced the world and found happiness, a good job, and love. Can he interview you?
Seth Roberts: How Art School Reveals Human Nature (huffingtonpost.com)
Sure, we can learn about human nature by looking at art. What's less obvious, at least to me, is how much can be learned about human nature by observing art students.
Jesse Kornbluth: "WALL-E: Why Pixar is More Valuable Than General Motors" (huffingtonpost.com)
It strikes me as no accident that the best film I've seen all year is WALL-E, created by a cadre of fiercely independent filmmakers at a studio that values independence.
Luaine Lee: Bruce Campbell and Jeffrey Donovan turn up the heat in 'Burn Notice' (McClatchy-Tribune)
It's a little difficult to tell the good guys from the bad guys on USA's "Burn Notice," and that's one of the things that make the character-driven thriller unique.
Portrait of the artist: Danielle de Niese, soprano (music.guardian.co.uk)
'It's not just sopranos who are divas - plenty of tenors are like that, too.'
Glenn Gamboa: If radio won't push Ringo's new album, he and his All-Starrs will (Newsday)
Despite good reviews and a decent publicity push, Ringo Starr's latest album, "Liverpool 8" (Capitol), sold only 7,000 copies in its first week of release in January, landing it at No. 94. Its release even managed to generate a bit of controversy for the laid-back Beatle and the equally controversy-averse "Live With Regis and Kelly." (When producers wanted Starr to cut the performance of the title track from 4 minutes, 15 seconds to 2 1/2 minutes, Starr reportedly responded "God bless and goodbye" and walked off the show.)
Dan Deluca: "Rickie Lee Jones: following her fitful muse" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"Sometimes I listen to my music," Rickie Lee Jones is saying, as she sits in a cafe here.
Erin Podolsky: Laptops add depth to all-instrumental band STS9 (Detroit Free Press)
Santa Cruz-based, Georgia-raised STS9 is a five-member, all-instrumental band that combines live instruments with computer and synth samples to create an electro-live sound with grooves that move from dance-oriented to chill-out.
Ben Wener: 311 gears up for a summer with Snoop Dogg (The Orange County Register)
Brendan Benson and bluegrass? Cult tunesmith Jon Brion and the new Robert Plant & Alison Krauss collaboration? These are the makings of the next album from the blunted groove merchants who gave us "Down" and "All Mixed Up" and "Amber"? Well, they're at least one element, anyway, says Nick Hexum, lead singer and chief songwriter for the rap-rock-reggae-etc. outfit 311.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and pleasant.
Too Bad, So Sad
Justice Department
A government watchdog wants to see whether it can discipline Justice Department officials who improperly rejected liberal Ivy Leaguers and other top law students for plum jobs - or take action against those who benefited from having GOP roots.
The inquiry by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel comes amid a class action lawsuit by one of the law students who was denied even an interview for one of the jobs, despite having worked for the Justice Department the year before.
An internal Justice Department investigation last month concluded that politics and ideology disqualified a significant number of newly graduated lawyers and summer interns seeking coveted Justice jobs in 2006. The report marked the culmination of a yearlong investigation into whether Republican politics were driving hiring polices at the once fiercely independent department.
Federal law prohibits discriminating against government job applicants based on their politics. But the Justice report concluded that it's unlikely that any of those involved in the hiring process will be penalized since they no longer work at the department. A Justice official has said the department is not considering pressing criminal charges or taking or civil actions against them.
Justice Department
'This Land is Your Land'
Country Joe McDonald
More than 2,000 guitar-players performing "This Land is Your Land" in a Bay Area park appear to have strummed their way into the record books.
Led by 1960s folk singer Country Joe McDonald, 2,052 electric and acoustic guitar pickers played the Woody Guthrie classic at Todos Santos Park in Concord on Tuesday night.
Organizers believe the rendition was good enough to beat the Guinness World Record for guitar-ensemble playing. The previous mark was set in Germany in 2007, when 1,802 people played "Smoke on the Water."
The record is not official until Guiness verifies it, which could take about a month.
Country Joe McDonald
30th Anniversary Trek
Longest Walk 2
With hopscotch speed, Shanawa Littlebow leapt to the side of the road, scooped up a plastic bottle cap and fell back into line with his fellow walkers, passing trailer homes and gas stations along Jefferson-Davis Highway.
The Tigua Indian man walked and searched for litter - a feathered staff in the crook of his right arm - in honor of Mother Earth.
The 100-person caravan passed through Virginia Tuesday in the final stretch of the Longest Walk 2, an 8,300-mile trek from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the effects of environmental devastation on American Indians and all people.
The walk began Feb. 11, and is expected to end July 11, when organizers plan to present a 30-page manifesto of American-Indian environmental concerns to Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat who advocates on a wide range of minority issues, on the U.S. Capitol steps.
The walk marks the 30th anniversary of the first Longest Walk, a 3,600-mile effort that gathered support to successfully halt bills before Congress that Native Americans said threatened their sovereignty.
Longest Walk 2
Wood Density Holds Key
Stradivarius
For the past 300 years, musicians and scientists have puzzled over the unparalleled quality of classical Cremonese violins made by Italian masters like Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu.
Now a Dutch doctor and a violin maker from Arkansas think they have cracked the mystery after comparing five classical and eight modern violins in a computed tomography (CT) scanner normally used to examine patients.
They found no significant differences between the median densities of the modern and the antique violins but did discover far less variation between wood grains of early and late growth in the old ones.
Since differentials in wood density affect vibration and therefore sound quality, the discovery may well explain the superiority of the Cremonese violins, they reported in the online journal PLoS ONE on Wednesday.
Their paper is available here
Stradivarius
Basquiat Painting Fetches £5M
U2
A painting owned by rock group U2 has sold for more than £5 million at auction.
The artwork entitled Pecho/Oreja by the late American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat went under the hammer at Sotheby's Contemporary Art sale in London.
A Sotheby's spokesman said it sold for £5,081,250 to a European private buyer. The price includes the buyer's premium.
The lot had a guide price of £3 million to £4 million.
U2
Tomb Vandalised
Hans Christian Anderson
The gravestone of Denmark's famed story teller Hans Christian Andersen was vandalised along with other tombs at a cemetery in Copenhagen, police said on Wednesday.
The tomb of the author, who penned stories including "The Little Mermaid", was covered in messages referring to a residence for young people razed in March last year, said police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch.
The city of Copenhagen recently cleaned graffiti off the wall surrounding the cemetery and, according to Munch, the vandalism that took place overnight Tuesday was in response to this.
The cemetery in Copenhagen is also the resting place of one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, Niels Bohr, whose tomb was vandalised in the incident.
Hans Christian Anderson
Funeral Songs
Australians
Hymns are being replaced at funerals in one Australian city by popular rock classics like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," a cemetery manager said Wednesday.
At Centennial Park, the largest cemetery and crematorium in the southern city of Adelaide, only two hymns still rank among its top 10 most popular funeral songs: "Amazing Grace" and "Abide With Me."
Leading the funeral chart is crooner Frank Sinatra's classic hit "My Way," followed by Louis Armstrong's version of "Wonderful World," a statement said.
Among other less conventional choices were "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by the Monty Python comedy team, "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," "Hit the Road Jack," "Another One Bites the Dust" and "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead."
Australians
New Deal
Oink
Approaching his 20th anniversary as talk radio's most dominant force prime propagandist, oxycontin fan and viagra-dependent Rush Limbaugh has signed a lucrative new deal with Premiere Radio Networks that will keep him on the air until 2016.
Premiere wouldn't disclose details on Wednesday, but Limbaugh told The New York Times in an article to be published Sunday that he would be getting a nine-figure signing bonus and would make about $38 million a year.
Limbaugh's three-hour show, broadcast from his office in Florida, is heard on some 600 radio stations across the country. More than 14 million people listen to him at least once a week, according to Talkers magazine. Sean Hannity is second with more than 13 million listeners.
Oink
Sex Tape, Part 2
Verne Troyer
The woman in a sex tape featuring Verne Troyer - best known for his role in the "Austin Powers" movies - says she allowed celebrity Web site TMZ to broadcast snippets of the tape.
Troyer's ex-girlfriend, Ranae Shrider, signed a declaration filed in federal court in Los Angeles stating the tape was created with her video camera. Her statement prompted a judge to allow TMZ to reinstate a post featuring snippets of the tape.
The judge had temporarily barred TMZ from showing or broadcasting any portion of the tape on its Web site or TV show. The post was restored by Tuesday evening.
Troyer's lawsuit alleged the tape was stolen. Shrider's statement says she believes she also owns the tape, but so far has only given permission to TMZ to air it.
Verne Troyer
Pleads Guilty
Tatum O'Neal
Oscar winner Tatum O'Neal, the former child actress who chronicled her struggles with addiction in a 2004 memoir, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to disorderly conduct stemming from her drug arrest in June.
O'Neal, 44, was ordered to attend two half-day drug treatment sessions and to pay a $95 fee, court officials said.
"I'm going back to my meetings and back to my life. ... I'm just glad that I got the deal that I got," the actress told The New York Daily News outside Manhattan criminal court.
O'Neal was initially charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to one year in jail, court officials said.
Tatum O'Neal
More Job Cuts
L.A. Times
The Los Angeles Times will cut 250 jobs -- including 150 in the newsroom -- and trim the number of pages it publishes by 15 percent, in an effort to bring costs into line with declining revenues, the paper said on Wednesday.
"You all know the paradox we find ourselves in," Times Editor Russ Stanton said in a memo to the staff published on the paper's website.
"Thanks to the Internet we have more readers for our great journalism than at any time in our history," Stanton said in the memo. "But also thanks to the Internet our advertisers have more choices and we have less money."
The Times said in a separate story on its website that the editorial staff cuts, which were to be completed by Labor Day, amounted to about 17 percent.
L.A. Times
Rape Charge Dropped
Rikki Rockett
A rape charge against Rikki Rockett has been dropped after authorities determined that the Poison drummer was not in the state at the time of the alleged crime.
Authorities say they are now looking for a man with a history of passing himself off as a rock musician to pick up women.
Rockett was accused of raping a woman at a central Mississippi casino in September 2007 and arrested in March. The Neshoba County district attorney's office confirmed Tuesday that the charges were dropped.
Police arrested Rockett, whose real name is Richard Ream, at Los Angeles International Airport upon his return from a concert in New Zealand in March. The 46-year-old said he's never been arrested before and feared his reputation would be ruined.
Rikki Rockett
Record Expected In Presidential Race
TV Ads
The 2008 presidential race, which has already drawn a record number of dollars and voters, is poised to shatter another record: the amount of money spent on television advertisements.
As Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain barnstorm across the country before the November election, they will spend heavily on ads that will increasingly reflect the cut-and-thrust of the campaign.
Total spending on TV ads in the presidential race is expected to top $800 million, said Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising. Such spending totaled $500 million, the previous record, in the 2004 race.
That's good news for the television business, which is suffering from a pullback in spending from automotive, real estate and financial service advertisers.
TV Ads
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of June 23-29. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. Auto Racing: Sprint Cup (Sunday, 1:59 p.m.), TNT, 3.87 million homes, 5.49 million viewers.
2. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.79 million homes, 6.16 million viewers.
3. "BET Awards" (Tuesday, 8 p.m.), BET, 3.59 million homes, 5.84 million viewers.
4. "In Plain Sight" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.35 million homes, 4.46 million viewers.
5. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.32 million homes, 5.36 million viewers.
6. "Army Wives" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), Lifetime, 3.07 million homes, 3.83 million viewers.
7. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.06 million homes, 4.04 million viewers.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 11:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.851 million homes, 3.87 million viewers.
9. Movie: "Camp Rock" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 2.850 million homes, 4.24 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.83 million homes, 3.93 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 12 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.75 million homes, 3.66 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 12 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.74 million homes, 3.75 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 11:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.71 million homes, 3.68 million viewers.
14. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 2.67 million homes, 4.17 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Friday, 2 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.66 million homes, 3.93 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Marie Castello
Fortune teller Madam Marie, a figure of rock 'n' roll mythology thanks to Bruce Springsteen, has died. She was in her mid-90s.
Sally Castello tells the Asbury Park Press that her great-grandmother, Marie Castello, died Friday. The psychic reader and adviser began telling fortunes on the Asbury Park Boardwalk in New Jersey in the 1930s.
Madam Marie became famous in 1973 when Springsteen paid homage to her in the song "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)."
His lyric, "Did you hear, the cops finally busted Madam Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do," cemented her fame.
Marie Castello
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