'Best of TBH Politoons'
Jazz From Hills
Trimmed Bush and Hedges
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
IRAQ: Acid attacks on "immodest" women on the rise
BAGDAD, 4 July (IRIN) - For Sumeya Abdullah, a 34-year-old primary school teacher in the capital Baghdad, life will never be the same again. In late June she had her legs burned by corrosive acid in a street attack because, she believes, she was not wearing her veil and the traditional 'abaya' covering common in many Middle Eastern countries.
"Bring Them On": Two Year Anniversary (Warning: Graphic Photos of War as It Really Is)
"There are some who, uh, feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: Bring 'em on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation. " - George W. Bush, July 2, 2003.
PAUL HARVEY ON TERRORISM
Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and into this continent by giving small pox infected blankets to native Americans. Yes, that was biological warfare!
Paul Harvey's Tribute to Slavery, Nukes, Genocide (FAIR)
Hateful rant shows Disney's double standard on speech
Report: State employees' lack of writing skills cost nearly $250M (The Associated Press)
States spend nearly a quarter of a billion dollars a year on remedial writing instruction for their employees, according to a new report that says the indirect costs of sloppy writing probably hurt taxpayers even more.
H.L. Mencken: The Declaration of Independence in American
All we got to say on this proposition is this: first, you and me is as good as anybody else, and maybe a damn sight better; second, nobody ain't got no right to take away none of our rights; third, every man has got a right to live, to come and go as he pleases, and to have a good time however he likes, so long as he don't interfere with nobody else.
Ring W. Lardner: Baseball-American
... the following ... combines the common language with the special argot of the professional baseball-players, a class of men whose speech Mr. Lardner has studied with great diligence.
Sandy Plunkett: 'Batman Begins' confirms: It's never too late to be born again (The Athens NEWS)
The movie-going population of this country seems to have an insatiable appetite for superhero movies.
David Bruce: Wise Up! War (The Athens News)
At a time when all America was declaring support for the troops, comedian Bill Hicks said, "I was in the unenviable position of being for the war but against the troops. I'm sorry. I just don't like those young people. Don't get me wrong, though -- I'm all for the carnage."
The Wall Street Poet
The Ten Beltway Commandments
©2005
**********
For more satire in verse:
www.wallstreetpoet.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny & cooler than seasonal.
The fig tree out back is really loaded.
Hope the squirrels, racoons, opossums & birds leave a few for us this year.
Wins 'Dancing With the Stars'
Kelly Monaco
Kelly Monaco tore up the dance floor Wednesday night with a hip-shaking samba and emerged the champion of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." &&
The "General Hospital" star upset the odds-on favorite, John O'Hurley, on the runaway hit ballroom dancing competition. In the end, she proved more fleet of foot than O'Hurley, famous for playing J. Peterman on "Seinfeld."
"Dancing with the Stars" has been the surprise hit of the normally quiet summer TV schedule. Last week, it was easily the most watched show, pulling in 18.6 million viewers.
Kelly Monaco
The contestant on the Disney/ABC payroll won?
I'm shocked. < /sarcasm >
Ticket Prices Up
Concert Sales Down
North American concert attendance declined nearly 12 percent in the first half of 2005 despite the first drop in average ticket prices in a decade.
Fans purchased 14.5 million tickets to the top 100 concert tours from January to June, according to Pollstar, the industry trade magazine.
The tours generated $730.9 million in gross receipts, a decline of 17.2 percent from last year.
The decline in receipts and number of tickets sold comes after years of escalating concert prices turned off many fans, said Gary Bongiovanni, Pollstar's editor in chief.
For a lot more, Concert Sales Down
Honored for Preservation Effort
Steven Spielberg
The city of Krakow has recognized Steven Spielberg for his efforts to preserve parts of the former ghetto where he filmed much of his Oscar-winning "Schindler's List."
The city cited the director's donation of $40,000 to preserve the former Pod Orlem pharmacy, whose owner risked his life to help Jews of the ghetto.
The pharmacy owner, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, was the only non-Jew who remained in the ghetto during the entire Nazi occupation. He provided food and medicine to the Jewish population and helped some residents escape.
Director Roman Polanski, who is a survivor of Krakow's ghetto, also has donated to the preservation of the pharmacy, which was converted into a museum in 1983.
Steven Spielberg
Donate Tickets to U.N. Auction
Music Acts
Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Maroon 5 and other music acts have donated concert tickets and special experiences in an online auction for Music Clearing Minefields, an initiative of the United Nations Association's Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign.
McCartney has donated VIP tickets to his sold-out fall tour to the online auction, which was set to go live Wednesday on the Charity Folks Web site. Coldplay, Meat Loaf, Avril Lavigne, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Jack Johnson, B.B. King and others also have donated concert tickets and "meet-and-greets."
Last year, Adopt-A-Minefield auctioned off items such as tickets to the "Kingdom of Heaven" film premiere, passes to a Valentino fashion show in Paris and drum skins signed by Aerosmith and Ringo Starr. Adopt-A-Minefield encourages individuals, community groups and businesses to resolve the global land mine crisis.
Music Acts
Live 8 Profits To Charity
David Gilmour
Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour says he will donate profits from his Live 8 appearance to charity - and has urged other artists to do the same.
Retailers have reported a huge upsurge in Pink Floyd sales since the band reunited for Saturday's concert in Hyde Park. The concert was one of 10 around the world designed to pressure leaders of the G-8 nations to strike a deal for impoverished African countries at their summit in Scotland this week.
HMV said sales of Pink Floyd's album "Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd" had gone up by 1,343 percent since the weekend.
David Gilmour
Rock NASA Scientists
The Comets
A day after NASA scientists blasted a hole in a comet, The Comets struck back. Five surviving members of the rock 'n' roll band Bill Haley & The Comets paid tribute to the space agency's Deep Impact team by hosting an outdoor concert Tuesday at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Comets - Johnny Grande, Marshall Lytle, Dick Richards, Joey Ambrose and Franny Beecher - performed several of their greatest hits including "Shake, Rattle and Roll," "See You Later Alligator" and "Rock Around The Clock" during an hourlong concert.
About 400 scientists and engineers - including dozens of Deep Impact members who spent a sleepless Fourth of July weekend on the project - danced along to the music.
The Comets
Adopting Ethiopian Girl
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is adopting an orphaned Ethiopian baby girl.
Jolie visited the Horn of Africa nation last week to file her adoption request, accompanied by Brad Pitt and her 3-year-old son, Maddox, whom she adopted in Cambodia, an official said Wednesday.
"The paperwork has gone through. Miss Angelina's request was accepted last week," Hadosh Halefom, head of the country's state-run adoption agency, told The Associated Press.
The child "is less than a year old," Hadosh said, refusing to elaborate. The actress filed her request through a private adoption agency.
Angelina Jolie
Converge on Idaho Resort
Media Honchos
Chief executives of entertainment firms converging on this Idaho mountain resort face some troubling issues, including a slump at the box office and signs that the surge in DVD sales of movies may be slowing.
News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, Walt Disney Co.'s Michael Eisner, Ron Meyer of NBC Universal Inc. and Michael Dell were among the first to arrive at the five-day conference Wednesday.
The annual retreat for media CEOs and their families has been held every year since 1983, hosted by Allen & Co., a family-run investment firm with close ties to industry heavyweights.
Media Honchos
Acknowledges Son
Prince Albert
The ruler of Monaco, Prince Albert II, has acknowledged having fathered an illegitimate son with a former flight attendant from Togo, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Albert - in his first remarks on the child since French media broke the story weeks ago - wants to face up to his responsibilities and hopes his young son, now almost 2 years old, could live away from the media spotlight, the Paris lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, said in a statement.
Albert, 47 and a bachelor, is the only son of Prince Rainier III and film star Grace Kelly. He took over royal powers in the tiny Riviera principality shortly before his father's death and will formally ascend to the throne on July 12.
Prince Albert
Gets Year for Perjury
Lil' Kim
Grammy-winning rapper Lil' Kim was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in prison and fined $50,000 for lying to a federal grand jury to protect friends involved in a 2001 shootout outside a Manhattan radio station.
U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch said he had considered the public perception of sending a young black entertainer to prison far longer than Martha Stewart, who spent five months in prison and remains under house arrest.
Before the sentence was handed down, Lil' Kim spoke briefly, her voice breaking. She admitted to lying to the grand jury and at her trial. "At the time I thought it was the right thing to do but I now know it was wrong," she said.
Lil' Kim
Light Saber Up For Auction
Luke Skywalker
Two of the most famous props in US film history -- light sabers belonging to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader of "Star Wars" fame -- will go under the hammer in late July auction, organizers said.
Dozens of objects from George Lucas' celebrated sci-fi saga will go the highest bidders at the July 29 auction in Beverly Hills organized by Profiles in History, which specializes in the sale of film props.
The Jedi knight's light saber, owned by "Star Wars" producer Gary Kurtz, is estimated to sell for between 60,000 and 80,000 dollars.
Luke Skywalker
Joins 'Vegas'
Lara Flynn Boyle
Lara Flynn Boyle is set to join the cast of NBC's drama "Las Vegas" in the fall, playing the flamboyant new owner of the Montecito Casino.
"Las Vegas," which will be entering its third season, stars James Caan as the head of the casino's surveillance team, and Josh Duhamel as his protege. Molly Sims, Nikki Cox, James Lesure and Vanessa Marcil round out the cast.
Lara Flynn Boyle
Steelers Fan
James Henry Smith
In silk black-and-gold pajamas, velvety black robe and slippers, James Henry Smith is at rest.
His feet are crossed, his pack of cigarettes and a beer by his side. Steelers highlights are playing on a high-definition TV screen nearby. With the TV remote in his hand, leaning back in his recliner, a Steelers blanket across his legs, it's like a game-day Sunday.
Last night at Samuel E. Coston Funeral Home in Lincoln-Lemington, family and friends were filing in to pay their final respects to Smith, whom they called one of the biggest Steelers fans in the universe.
Smith, 55, of Garfield, had been ill for two years with prostate cancer. He died last Thursday at the VA Medical Center in Oakland.
A week before, his wife, Denise Finn Smith, had called Coston's to ask if something special could be done to celebrate her husband's life. He wanted to be at home, in the living room, surrounded by photos of family and watching football.
Smith was born in 1950 in the Hill District, and he had two older sisters. He was a skinny kid who graduated from Westinghouse High School in 1968 and went to Vietnam. He served three years in the Army, 17 in the Army Reserve and five in the National Guard.
For a lot more, James Henry Smith
In Memory
June Haver
June Haver, the sunny blond star of 1940s musicals who was promoted as the next Betty Grable but gave up her career to briefly enter a convent, has died. She was 79.
Haver, who was married to actor Fred MacMurray, died of respiratory failure Monday at her home, her family said.
A role in Twentieth Century Fox's "Home in Indiana in 1944 brought her to the attention of studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck, who envisioned the wholesome, vivacious actress following in Grable's footsteps as Hollywood's next blonde pinup girl.
Dubbed the "pocket Grable," she costarred with Grable herself in "The Dolly Sisters" before going on to appear in a series of other frothy musicals that appealed to wartime audiences. They included "Three Little Girls in Blue," "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" and "Oh, You Beautiful Doll."
She also appeared with MacMurray, her future husband, in "Where Do We Go From Here?" in 1945. And the studio loaned her to Warner Bros. for two of her most popular musicals, 1949's "Look for the Silver Lining" (as Broadway star Marilyn Miller) and 1950's "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady."
A marriage to trumpet player Jimmy Zito fell apart after just six weeks. She reunited with a previous fiance, studio dentist John Duzik, but he died of complications of surgery.
Devastated, Haver turned to the Roman Catholic Church for solace, and in 1953 she stunned Hollywood by announcing she was spurning her $3,500-a-week contract to become a novice nun at the Sisters of Charity convent in Kansas. Her last film, "The Girl Next Door," was released that same year.
Just eight months later, Haver left the convent to return to Hollywood.
Soon after leaving, she bumped into MacMurray, recently widowed, at a party and they wed six months later. She largely retired from performing at that time.
Their marriage endured until MacMurray's death in 1991.
Haver, who was born June Stovenour, grew up in Illinois and Ohio, singing on radio as a child and appearing in local stage productions. She was still in her teens when she signed a contract with Twentieth Century Fox and made her film debut in 1943 as a hatcheck girl in "The Gang's All Here."
Haver is survived by daughters Kate and Laurie MacMurray; stepson Robert MacMurray; stepdaughter Susan Pool; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
June Haver
In Memory
Ray Davis
Ray Davis, a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, a flamboyant 1970s funk band whose music is considered a precursor to modern rap and hip-hop, died Tuesday from respiratory complications at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, said his son, Derrick. He was 65.
Davis provided bass vocals on songs such as "Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucka)," "One Nation Under A Groove" and "Flashlight." The latter two songs reached No. 1 on the R&B charts.
Davis was a member of the original Parliaments, a vocal group formed in the 1950s by George Clinton while he was a junior high school student. In the early 1970s, Clinton changed the vocal group's name from plural to singular and also created Funkadelic, a funk band with a sound more influenced by the electric guitar. The two overlapping groups and other affiliated acts became known as "P-Funk."
Parliament-Funkadelic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Ray Davis
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