'Best of TBH Politoons'
Jazz From Hills
Trimmed Bush and Hedges
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Sanford Pinsker: Religion and Literature in the Age of Bush (irascibleprofessor.com)
Liberal learning, I keep reminding myself, is where a student's unquestioned beliefs are called into question -- not so that the views change (although that certainly can happen), but so that students will learn how to defend views they hold dear.
Sean Gonsalves: Crying 'anti-Americanism' (workingforchange.com)
Fox News speaks up for the poor, downtrodden white male
Sen. Clinton Attacks Bush Over Ta
"I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington," Clinton said referring to the freckle-faced Mad magazine character.
Ken Siman: Periel of wisdom (Advocate.com)
Fashion designer-activist Periel Aschenbrand made waves with her "the only bush i trust is my own"underwear in 2004. Now she has a book of the same name-and strong opinions about Larry Kramer and being "post-gender."
Two Cheap Bastards: The Big Gay Picture: Coming Soon - The Gay Genre! (afterelton.com)
Let's face it. The Gay Story has now been told-plenty of times, a few times even well.
preachingpeace.org
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny & hot.
Bet NBC could save a fortune on Katie Couric's wardrobe if they dressed her in a cheerleaders outfit whenever someone like Newtie visits.
What a pathetic excuse for an interview. No questions, just giggles. Gag.
I can't believe that if a crazy, drug-addled man had a gun & a baby in Beverly Hills the cops would have shot them both, followed by the chief of police bleating that while it's sad, it was the right thing to do.
Rocking Montana For Democrat
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam will play an Aug. 29 concert in Missoula, Mont., where bassist Jeff Ament went to college, to raise money for a U.S. Senate bid by Democrat Jon Tester.
Tickets for the Adams Center show go on sale July 23 via Tickets West. Tester, currently Montana Senate president, is one of several Democrats vying to challenge U.S. Senator Conrad Burns, a Republican seeking his fourth term.
The benefit comes on the heels of a recently announced Sept. 1 show in George, Wash., which sold out in three hours, and a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 stand at the Borgata in Atlantic City, N.J., which sold out in two minutes. In between, Pearl Jam will play a 16-date Canadian tour beginning Sept. 2 in Vancouver and open a Sept. 28 show for the Rolling Stones in Pittsburgh.
Pearl Jam
Urges Congress on Stem Cell Bill
Michael J. Fox
Actor Michael J. Fox is pushing Congress hard to lift resident Bush's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
"Embryonic stem cell research holds enormous promise," said Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, in remarks prepared for a Capitol Hill news conference on Wednesday. "More federal funding and more lines are needed or progress will stall."
The Senate is considering a House-passed bill to lift Bush's 2001 restrictions on federal funding for such studies, but the measure is facing stiff resistance from conservatives who believe the process is unethical because it destroys embryos.
Fox is one of many celebrities who have for years urged passage of the bill, including former First Lady Nancy Reagan and actress Mary Tyler Moore, who suffers from diabetes. As she did during debate in the House, Mrs. Reagan has begun calling undecided lawmakers before Senate floor debate, expected next week, said her friend, Hollywood producer Doug Wick.
Michael J. Fox
Broadcasting Probe Widens
PBS
A probe into the activities of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been widened to include the selection of a former top Republican Party official to be CPB president, a Democratic senator said on Tuesday.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said he had received word from the CPB's inspector general that he would investigate how Patricia Harrison, former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, was chosen.
The inspector general, Kenneth Konz, was already investigating the CPB's chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson, over some of his activities, such as a decision to hire lobbyists as well as an outside researcher to gauge whether some public programs had a bias.
Democrats have charged Republicans with politicizing U.S. public broadcasting with the selection last month of Harrison and have sought Tomlinson's resignation. The White House rejected calls for Tomlinson to be fired.
PBS
Set to Debut First Opera
Roger Waters
Although Roger Waters dabbled with operatic themes in Pink Floyd's "The Wall," he's never written a traditional opera - until now.
Waters will debut "Ca Ira (There Is Hope)," his opera about the French Revolution, Sept. 27 with a double-CD and DVD project from Sony Music.
Though the production includes baritone Bryn Terfel and other classical music veterans, Waters believes "Ca Ira" might spark some skepticism from the classical music world.
The idea for the opera came in 1989, around the time of the revolution's bicentennial, when songwriter Etienne Roda-Gil approached Waters with his libretto, illustrated by Roda-Gil's wife, Nadine.
Roger Waters
Joins Fox's 'O.C.'
Jeri Ryan
Jeri Ryan ("Star Trek: Voyager," "Boston Public") is moving to "The O.C." next season.
For seven episodes, Ryan will play a mysterious woman Kristen Cohen (Kelly Rowan) befriends in rehab. Fox's popular teen drama will be returning for a third season.
Jeri Ryan
6 New Specials For PBS
Monty Python
PBS will be the home for six new Monty Python specials this spring. Each special will focus on a member of the British comedy troupe, mixing new footage with clips from Python movies and the group's television series.
The new series, spotlighting Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, will be called "Monty Python's Personal Best" and is being produced by Python (Monty) Pictures Ltd.
Monty Python
Rejects 'The Aristocrats'
AMC Theaters
AMC Theatres, which will become the country's second-largest theater chain after its pending merger with Loews Cineplex, has decided not to exhibit "The Aristocrats," an upcoming unrated documentary about a particularly blue joke, on any of its screens.
According to the movie's distributor, ThinkFilm, the Kansas City-based AMC originally agreed to play the film in two markets -- Atlanta and Chicago -- but later backed out of its obligations.
AMC countered that though the two companies engaged in early conversations, AMC never reached an agreement with ThinkFilm to play the "Aristocrats." AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase said that whenever a film is unrated, the company's policy is to send the movie up to its corporate offices. Blase said in this case AMC Film Group chairman Dick Walsh made a business decision not to play the film.
Blase added that even if "Aristocrats," which showcases a string of comedians telling the same vaudeville-era dirty joke, performs well when it opens in limited engagements July 29 in Los Angeles and New York, AMC will not try to secure it for one of its 3,500 screens.
AMC Theaters
'The Aristocrats' - clips & more
Out Of The Hospital News
Brad Pitt
Film star Brad Pitt was released on Wednesday from a Los Angeles hospital where he had been admitted for a flu-like illness that turned out to be viral meningitis, his spokeswoman said.
Pitt, 41, was at home on Wednesday afternoon after his discharge and was "doing well," his publicist said in a statement.
Brad Pitt
Misses Hearing, Checks Into Rehab
Tom Sizemore
Actor Tom Sizemore missed a probation violation hearing Tuesday after checking into a live-in drug rehabilitation program.
If the court finds Sizemore violated probation, he could be sent to prison for up to three years. The actor was ordered into drug treatment after pleading guilty in October to possession of methamphetamine.
Sizemore's hearing in Superior Court was rescheduled for July 22. A bench warrant will be issued for his arrest if he misses that court appearance, Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney said.
Tom Sizemore
Photographer On Trial
John Rutter
A photographer who took steamy photographs of actress Cameron Diaz before she was famous went on trial on Wednesday for what prosecutors said was an attempt to blackmail her for more than $3 million.
John Rutter, 42, is charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with forging the "Charlie's Angels" actress's signature on a May 1992 model release form and of attempted grand theft.
An earlier charge of extortion was dropped against Rutter, who is alleged to have tried to sell Diaz the photos in 2003 before shopping them to others.
John Rutter
Fan Files Lawsuit
Gallagher
A fan who was smacked by comedian Gallagher during a performance has filed a lawsuit, claiming he was severely injured.
The complaint filed by Edwin May III in Clark County District Court on Monday follows a decision last week by prosecutors not to file misdemeanor battery charges against the 58-year-old comedian.
In the lawsuit, May said Gallagher became agitated during a May 27 show at the Riverside hotel-casino in Laughlin and struck him on the side of the head, damaging his hearing and inflicting extreme emotional, physical and psychological harm.
Hotel officials have said they fired Gallagher after the Memorial Day weekend incident, though the comedian says he quit.
Gallagher
Pope Disapproves
Harry Potter
Pope Benedict believes the Harry Potter books subtly seduce young readers and "distort Christianity in the soul" before it can develop properly, according to comments attributed to him by a German writer.
Gabriele Kuby, who has written a book called "Harry Potter - Good or Evil," which attacks J.K. Rowling's best selling series about the boy wizard, published extracts from two letters written to her by Benedict in 2003, when he was a cardinal.
"It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because these are subtle seductions which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly," Benedict wrote, according to the excerpt.
Harry Potter
World's Oldest Panda
Meimei
The world's oldest panda held in captivity has died at a south China zoo at the age of 36, or the equivalent of 108 human years, according to the Chinese government.
Meimei died Tuesday at the Guilin City Zoo in the Guangxi region, where she had been living for the past 20 years, the Xinhua News Agency said. Because of her old age, Meimei had recently suffered from eating difficulties and the gradual failure of various organs, Xinhua cited zoo officials as saying.
Meimei lived in the Wolong Natural Conservation Area in southwest China's Sichuan province before being transferred to the zoo in September 1985. The park is China's premier center for the study and breeding of pandas.
Meimei
Myanmar Miracle?
Mystery 'Sex Change'
Thin Sandar, a chicken seller in Myanmar, had always dreamed of being a man. When she inexplicably grew a penis last month, the 21-year-old treated it as an awe-inspiring omen -- as have the thousands of stunned villagers who have traveled to a pagoda to see him.
"On the morning of the full moon day of June 21, I noticed my thing (sex organ) was not the same as before," Thin Sandar, who now goes by the male name Than Sein, told AFP in an interview at his home.
People privately concede Than Sein is a hermaphrodite. Several medical experts have examined him, and he awaits test results from the central women's hospital.
"We can not say right now if she has really undergone a sudden gender change," said a township official who declined to be named, adding that Than Sein's birth certificate shows that he was born a girl.
Medical doctor Aye Sanda Khaing put it in layman's terms in a local journal: "Her penis appeared at the site of her clitoris," the doctor was quoted as saying.
For more - Mystery 'Sex Change'
1 in 3 Americans Believe
Ghosts
Gallup reports today that its latest poll found that one in three Americans believe in ghosts. The numbers: 32% of all adults say they believe that ghosts/spirits of dead people can come back, while 48% do not, and 19% are unsure.
An even larger number of Americans believe that houses can be haunted, with 37% holding that position, 46% saying no, and 16% not sure.
Belief in ghosts declines with age, with 45 of those 18 to 29 sticking to that, while only 22% of those 65 and over holding that view.
Ghosts
Urges Fans to Skip 'Dukes' Movie
Ben 'Cooter' Jones
If television's "Crazy Cooter" has his way, fans of the "Dukes of Hazzard" may be speeding away from a new movie version of the cornpone classic faster than the Duke boys running from Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane.
Ben Jones, a former Georgia congressman who played the wisecracking mechanic on the popular series from 1979-85, said profanity and sexual content in the film make a mockery of the family friendly show.
"Basically, they trashed our show," said Jones, who now lives in the mountains of Washington, Va. "It's one thing to do whatever movie they want to do, but to take a classic family show and do that is like taking "I Love Lucy" and making her a crackhead or something."
Ben 'Cooter' Jones
In Memory
Lillie Mae Tomlin
Lillie Mae Tomlin, mother of actress and comedian Lily Tomlin, died Tuesday at age 91.
Tomlin, a native of Kentucky, had a sense of humor family members say charmed everyone she met. When her daughter once told her how much everyone delighted in her wit, the elder woman admitted she sometimes "thinks it up ahead of time," according to the Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home.
During the 1980s, she opened Chez Tomlin, a gift shop, tearoom and gallery in downtown Paducah, Ky. She had returned to Kentucky after many years in Detroit, where she lived with her husband of 35 years, Guy Tomlin, and worked in the nursery of Highland Park General Hospital.
During the past few years, she had spent time living in Nashville, where her son Richard Tomlin lives, and Palm Springs, Calif., near Lily Tomlin.
Lillie Mae Tomlin
In Memory
W. Pauline Nicholson
W. Pauline Nicholson, Elvis Presley's cook, who prepared the King's favorite peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches, died July 7 of cancer. She was 76.
In addition to cooking, Nicholson also worked as his housekeeper and sometimes looked after a young Lisa Marie Presley.
She continued cooking for the Presley family after Elvis died, including last Christmas, when Lisa Marie and her mother, Priscilla, came to Memphis and requested Nicholson cook for them.
Nicholson was featured in the movie "This is Elvis," and loved to talk about her time with the King of Rock and Roll, whom she called Mr. P.
Nicholson was introduced to Elvis in the mid-1960s by a neighbor, Cleo Smith, who knew she was a good cook, said her son, Ossie Nicholson Jr.
Elvis would sometimes talk with Nicholson in the kitchen at Graceland and when he learned in 1974 her husband, Ossie Sr., was laid off, he hired him as a guard.
W. Pauline Nicholson
In Memory
Freddy Soto
Comic Freddy Soto, who came to Hollywood when he was 20 to break into comedy and started out as a limousine driver for Richard Pryor, died in his sleep at the home of a friend, Laugh Factory owner Jaime Masada said Wednesday. He was 35.
After making $5 from his first paying standup gig at St. Mark's Jazz Club in the Venice section of Los Angeles, Soto became the doorman at the Comedy Store in West Hollywood and made $25 a night. He eventually headlined comedy clubs, opened for singer Marc Anthony on a 30-city tour, and appeared on late-night talk shows.
Soto toured the nation in 2001 and 2002 as one of the Three Amigos - including Hispanic comics Pablo Francisco and Carlos Mencia - and a DVD of the concert tour was released by Miramax in May.
In addition to several television pilots for UPN and CBS, Soto landed a part in the 2004 film "Spanglish," serving as a translator for the housekeeper.
Freddy Soto
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