'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Comment
'The President is always right'
Hi Marty,
These guys are really starting to creep me out:
LEAHY: The president has said very specifically, and he's said it to our
European allies, he's waiting for the Supreme Court decision to tell him
whether or not he was supposed to close Guantanamo or not. After, he said
it upheld his position on Guantanamo, and in fact it said neither. Where
did he get that impression? The President's not a lawyer, you are, the
Justice Department advised him. Did you give him such a cockamamie idea or
what?
BRADBURY: Well, I try not to give anybody cockamamie ideas.
LEAHY: Well, where'd he get the idea?
BRADBURY: The Hamdan decision, senator, does implicitly recognize we're in
a war, that the President's war powers were triggered by the attacks on
the country, and that law of war paradigm applies. That's what the whole
case -
LEAHY: I don't think the President was talking about the nuances of the
law of war paradigm, he was saying this was going to tell him that he
could keep Guantanamo open or not, after it said he could.
BRADBURY: Well, it's not -
LEAHY: Was the President right or was he wrong?
BRABURY: It's under the law of war -
LEAHY: Was the President right or was he wrong?
BRADBURY: The President is always right. Source
-Chris
Thanks, Chris!
And here's the video of Mr. Bradbury confusing Bush with the pope.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: What if Medicaid were allowed to negotiate?
"Hey, this is a great drug!" "Yes, isn't it?" "We want to buy 100 million of these pills a year." "Great. They're $7 each." "Ouch!" "Well, for you, and in quantity like that, maybe $6." "But you charge the Canadians $1.40, and your cost of production is only 7 cents." "That's true, but it costs us billions of dollars to develop these drugs. We need to make a profit commensurate with our investment and our risk, or else why would we continue to advance the frontiers of medicine." "You have a good point. How about we pay double what the Canadians pay?"
Molly Ivins: The Politics of American Greed
Anyone who doesn't think this is a country where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer needs to check the numbers.
Annalee Newitz: Trucks, Tubes and Net Neutrality (AlterNet.org)
Verizon is covertly preparing its newest customers for a world without network neutrality.
Traci Hukill: Would You Eat Lab-Grown Meat? (AlterNet.org)
Scientists growing meat in petri dishes say it's safer, healthier, more humane and less polluting. But can we get past the 'yuck' factor?
RICHARD OUZOUNIAN: Mike Nichols gets more eclectic with age (thestar.com)
Mike Nichols has won seven Tonys, two Emmys and one Oscar for directing, so when he offers advice on how to have a successful production, you listen. "I have a secret for creating a cast," he whispers over the phone from his home in Connecticut. "Are you ready? No assholes."
Jeff Trainor: Inside the Heathen Mind (altweeklies.com)
Hank Williams III talks about blending country, rock, metal and sticking it to Nashville.
Tanya Ignacio: Confessions of a Breast Milk Donor (altweeklies.com)
My breasts have never been things of much prominence. I was never called a "balloon smuggler" in middle school. Men don't stare at my chest. Cleavage? Hah!
Shine on you crazy diamond (guardian.co.uk)
Syd Barrett, the most famous recluse in rock, is dead. It would be easy to mourn the founder of Pink Floyd as a casualty of drugs and mental illness, says Nick Kent -- but his songs will inspire musicians for generations.
Rick Moody: What Syd Barrett means to me (guardian.co.uk)
It's heresy in many quarters, but I don't care that much for Pink Floyd after the departure of Syd Barrett.
H. Bruce Miller: Body "Art"? (tsweekly.com)
Why tattoos make my skin crawl.
James Thurber: The Little Girl and the Wolf
Moral: It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.
James Thurber: The Courtship of Arthur and Al
Moral: It is better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all.
Gen. JC Christian, patriot: The General's Picks
Sure, my beloved Republican party has made a mess of everything it's touched, but according to Rush, Mr. Hannity, and that guy at the coffee shop who's always ranting about commies, the Frenchmen in the Democratic Party will be much, much worse. That's why I want to see Democrats elected this cycle. It'll prove once and for all that Republicans aren't the most inept elected officials on the planet. At least, that's what I hope.
ActBlue
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and the humidity is rising.
Five year anniversary next Friday, the 21st.
Had a job interview. Ack.
No new flags.
Setting Another Lousy Precedent
Fox
The Associated Press is protesting plans by Fox to bar photographers from its news conferences at the Television Critics Association press tour and says it will not cover the events unless the network changes the policy.
Fox has asked journalists to accept handout photos from photographers it has hired. The news cooperative says Fox's decision interferes with its ability to fully report the event and sets a bad precedent.
Television networks bring executives and stars to a Los Angeles-area conference center twice a year to meet with journalists from across the country.
Unless Fox allows it to send photographers, the AP will not assign any print journalists to cover Fox's events, which include those by the affiliated FX cable network.
Fox
Laments State Of TV Comedy
John Cleese
TV comedy is driven more by marketing than edginess these days, says the man behind two of the tube's most innovative shows.
John Cleese, one of the brains behind the iconic Monty Python's Flying Circus and the perennially popular Fawlty Towers, says he thinks original material often frightens TV executives.
"They say they want something original and edgy, and if you actually write it and show it to them it frightens" them, Cleese said.
He adds that TV programmers usually aim for younger audiences and dismiss anyone over 40, putting on programming which is "almost entirely mindless."
John Cleese
Sings For Basque Peace
Bob Dylan
Tens of thousands of music lovers spread out along the beach near the Spanish city of San Sebastian to listen to US legend Bob Dylan perform in support of the peace process for the Basque region.
For an hour and a half, the 65-year-old folk-rock musician reached into his arsenal of timeless classics, including "Mr. Tambourine Man" to regale the crowds, mostly young, gathered on Zurriola beach.
Dylan made no speech, but the event's organizers had said earlier his concert would be remembered as "a milestone in the path of peace".
Bob Dylan
Slashing Jobs
Disney
Walt Disney Co. will substantially reduce its work force and slash its annual output of films from 18 to eight - cutbacks greater than Hollywood had anticipated, it was reported Wednesday.
Additionally, Daily Variety said all the movies will be Disney-branded, suggesting diminished roles for its Touchstone label. The Hollywood trade paper said a Disney announcement was expected within 10 days.
Disney's move reflects a trend in Hollywood to cut costs amid increasing overhead, production budgets and marketing bills.
Wall Street sees the move as necessary if the entertainment giant wants to see double-digit growth, said analyst David Miller, managing director of the brokerage firm Sanders Morris Harris Group.
Disney
Cutting More Jobs
CBS Radio
CBS Radio on Wednesday said it was cutting an unspecified number of jobs at its stations as part of a previously announced plan to manage costs.
CBS Corp.'s radio division declined to specify the number of job cuts, although a source familiar with the matter said CBS was eliminating about 115 out of more than 8,500 full and part-time positions at its 179 stations.
CBS announced plans more than a month ago to divest several stations in smaller markets with lower revenue producing potential, including those in Memphis, Tennessee, and Buffalo and Rochester, New York.
CBS Radio
Family Wants To Expand Suit
Notorious B.I.G.
The family of Notorious B.I.G. has asked a judge for permission to expand its wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, contending police Officer Rafael Perez was on duty at Petersen Automotive Museum the night of the killing.
The request was included in a 94-page motion citing a list of incidents, which the family contends shows a pattern linking police to crimes involving rap stars, including Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur.
The Wallace family's attorneys alleged that Vincent Marella, a private attorney defending the city, said in a court hearing July 5 that Perez was in uniform and involved in the rapper's shooting.
Notorious B.I.G.
Emmy Nominated Show To Re-Air
'South Park'
"Trapped in the Closet," the controversial "South Park" episode that skewers Scientology and its popular proponent Tom Cruise, is hitting the airwaves again.
Comedy Central plans to air the Emmy-nominated episode on July 19. It was last scheduled to rerun in March but was abruptly pulled by the network.
"This episode just happens to be rotating back in," spokesman Tony Fox said Wednesday.
'South Park'
Renewed Again
'Simple Life'
It's been more than a year since they went from best buddies to bitter enemies, but Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have agreed to renew their TV partnership for another season of "The Simple Life."
Cable channel E! Entertainment Television, the show's new home since it was canceled after three years on the Fox broadcast network, said on Wednesday the feuding "celebutantes" will return for a fifth season of their series in 2007.
The half-hour reality show is now in its fourth season, featuring Hilton and Richie taking turns assuming the role of housewife for various host families.
'Simple Life'
Censorship Crackdown Craziness
FCC
In its continuing crackdown on on-air profanity, the FCC has requested numerous tapes from broadcasters that might include vulgar remarks from unruly spectators, coaches and athletes at live sporting events, industry sources said.
Tapes requested by the commission include live broadcasts of football games and NASCAR races where the participants or the crowds let loose with an expletive. While commission officials refused to talk about its requests, one broadcast company executive said the commission had asked for 30 tapes of live sports and news programs.
"It looks like they want to end live broadcast TV," said one executive, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. "We already know that they aren't afraid to go after news."
FCC
Won't Show In Dominica
'Pirates of the Caribbean'
Yo ho ho? Sorry, no. The only theater in this lush tropical island won't be screening the latest installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean," the venue's owner said Wednesday - disappointing fans on the island where the film was partially filmed.
The 300-seat theater, which has been closed for about two months, still has a leaky roof and won't open in time for "Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man's Chest," said owner Joan Prevo.
The decision is a blow not only to movie fans but to the to the 75 islanders who held full-time jobs on the movie and another 200 who appeared as extras in the Hollywood blockbuster.
'Pirates of the Caribbean'
Castrati Secrets Revealed
Farinelli
Historians and scientists have exhumed the remains of legendary castrato Farinelli in Italy to study the anatomical effects of castration carried out on young boys to turn them into high-pitched stars of the opera.
Castrati played heroic male leads in Italian opera from the mid-17th to late 18th century when the bel canto was the rage in Europe. Farinelli, born Carlo Broschi in 1705, was the most famous of them all, in a stage career lasting from 1720 to 1737.
Carlo Vitale of the Farinelli Study Center in Bologna said they had recovered the bodies on Wednesday of the singer and his great-niece, who moved his body from a first grave destroyed in the Napoleonic wars.
Farinelli
Historic Movie Location
Wildfire
A wildfire burned several structures Tuesday in a desert locale where dozens of Hollywood Westerns were filmed, threatened other towns and prompted 1,000 people to flee.
The blaze burned through historic Pioneertown, and television news footage showed several structures burned to the ground. DeRosier said at least 30 homes and outbuildings were destroyed in Pioneertown and surrounding towns.
Pioneertown, about two hours east of Los Angeles, was host to Roy Rogers, Russ "Lucky" Hayden and other Hollywood cowboys who helped establish the desert hideaway in 1946. Movie crews nailed together a saloon, hauled up a railroad car and sank posts around the "OK Corral."
Gene Autry filmed "Last of the Pony Riders" and "Indian Territory" in Pioneertown. Hayden, of Hopalong Cassidy fame, used it for his "Judge Roy Bean" TV series, and "Cisco Kid" producers shot several movies and the TV series there.
Wildfire
Film Maker Freed
Hao Wu
A Chinese film maker and permanent U.S. resident has been freed after being held in isolation and without charge in China for five months, a Paris-based press watchdog said on Wednesday.
Hao Wu, who returned to China in 2004 after living in the United States for 12 years, was detained on February 22 after interviewing a human rights lawyer while making a documentary about an underground Protestant church.
He was held in isolation for 140 days and not allowed access to a lawyer, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. It did not give the day of his release.
Chinese authorities had never given a reason for his detention and barred his relatives from visiting or phoning him, the group added.
Hao Wu
Fan Web Site Shut Down
Prince
Prince's fan Web site has been shut down, but an attorney for the musician says it's not related to a recent trademark lawsuit against the site, NPGMusicClub.com.
HM Publishing Holdings, a book company in England, filed the lawsuit on July 3 based on its own NPG, a science-book subsidiary called the Nature Publishing Group.
Prince's attorney, David Schelzel, said Prince already has approval of the name from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and that the legal action is minor.
The online club started around 2000, and it won Prince a Webby Award in June for being an Internet innovator.
Prince
INTERVIEW WITH A DIXIE CHICK
"Let them Hate Us"
The Dixie Chicks began their careers in the late 1980s as tradition-conscious country darlings. They fiddled Bluegrass numbers and warbled harmless tunes like "I Want To be a Cowboy's Sweetheart." Their career took off in 1995, when singer Natalie Maines joined the band, which was formed by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robinson. Their album "Wide Open Spaces" sold 12 million copies in the United States alone. But later, they became a lighting rod for controversy, with songs like "Goodbye Earl," a ditty about domestic violence in which an abused wife takes deadly revenge on her no-good husband and gets away with it. But the fun became a nightmare after a Dixie Chicks concert in 2003 in London, where singer Maines told the crowd and the world that she was "ashamed" that resident George W. Bush came from her home state of Texas. Some American conservatives claimed that Maines's remarks were equivalent to treason, and the group faced massive boycotts from country fans and Nashville and death threats.
In a recent SPIEGEL interview in Cologne, Maines discussed the boycotts, the drama and why she remains one of Bush's most outspoken critics.
SPIEGEL: If the right to freedom of expression is an untouchable fundamental American right, does that not make your critics the people who are truly unpatriotic?
Maines: It seemed like traditional values had been temporarily suspended. I didn't recognize this country, we didn't know what year it was and we didn't know what country we were in. The Republicans and right-wing groups were very organized and they knew exactly what they were doing. It seems like our media is dominated by right-wing media moguls like Rupert Murdoch (Fox News). If you don't share their opinions, they label you as a terrorist or a person who doesn't have any family values. Unfortunately, people in the US who don't have the time to seek out the truth through neutral news sources have a real problem.
For the whole interview - "Let them Hate Us"
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