'Best of TBH Politoons'
Special Dispatch - Update
Fire
by Michael Dare
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Maureen Lane: The GOP Fights to Keep Women in Poverty (TomPaine.com; Posted on Alternet.org)
New welfare rules created by the Bush administration are doomed to fail by forcing women to take the first dead-end job that comes their way.
Dan Gilgoff: Dean's List (usnews.com)
The Democratic chair plans to fight in every one of the 50 states. Is this shrewd strategy or a recipe for disaster?
Mark Pike and Peter Backoff: Five Minutes With: Lawrence Lessig (campusprogress.org)
Imagine your public library being sold to Barnes and Noble: That's what will happen if neutrality legislation fails. The internet will be shifted to prefer a single, narrow vision of content. The diversity of content it now supports will be narrowed.
Sam Adams: One Body (citypaper.net)
LGBT Christians Make Themselves A Place In The Church
Happiness is always a delusion (guardian.co.uk)
Our shelves are groaning with books on how to find joy, but psychoanalyst Adam Phillips thinks we are chasing an impossible dream. In fact, sanity involves learning to enjoy conflict, he tells Stuart Jeffries.
Keep your cool (guardian.co.uk)
This could be the hottest day ever recorded in Britain. But how can you escape the heat without turning on the air conditioning - and warming the planet even more? Dominic Murphy offers some tips on how to stay chilled with a clear conscience
The "Dilbert" guide to personal finance (flagship2.vanguard.com)
* Make a will.
* Pay off your credit cards.
* Get term life insurance if you have a family to support.
* Fund your 401(k) to the maximum.
* Fund your IRA to the maximum.
* Buy a house if you want to live in a house and you can afford it.
* Put six months' expenses in a money market fund.
* Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker, and never touch it until retirement.
Molly Ivins: Capitalism's Suicide
Hedge funds are investment pools for the rich -- and they're causing serious harm to our country's economy.
Scarletteen: Sex Ed That's for Real (scarleteen.com)
At Scarleteen, we believe that no one should ever have to be pregnant if they do not want to be.
Download the Scarleteen flier now! (scarleteen.com)
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still hot, supposed to get hotter. Ack.
Back on Saturday, 3 September, Purple Gene
did a review 'Bad Movies/Good Cameos'. For the movie,
"Busty Cops,"
he included this picture of Jesse Jane:
Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Studs Terkel
Writer and oral historian Studs Terkel has been awarded the first Dayton Literary Peace Prize, an outgrowth of the Dayton Peace Prize that commemorates the 1995 agreement that ended the war in Bosnia.
Terkel, 94, will receive a lifetime achievement award Nov. 5. The group Dayton: A Peace Process also will award two writers in the categories of fiction and nonfiction. Each award is worth $10,000.
The Dayton Peace Prize commemorates the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, which were negotiated at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Previous winners include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Studs Terkel
Hollywood's A-List Delivers
Hillary Clinton
If Hollywood has a DaVinci Code, Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has cracked it.
Top stars such as Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson donated to the New York senator in recent months, generating the kind of cash usually associated with a major box office opening - or a potential presidential bid in 2008.
Another contributor was Chris Rock, one of many comedians who made bawdy jokes at the Clintons' expense after the investigation into Bill Clinton's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. Rock gave the senator $2,100.
Singer Bette Midler gave the maximum allowed by law, $4,200, as did actor James Caan.
Other donors included Donald Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples, who gave $2,000, and director Rob Reiner, who gave $3,200.
Hillary Clinton
Dan Quayle Walked Out
John Mellencamp
Dan Quayle took time out from participating in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Stateline, Nev., on Friday to attend John Mellencamp's concert only to run into a political statement.
He then made a statement of his own by walking out during Mellencamp's rendition of ``Walk Tall.'' Before launching into the song, Mellencamp told the Harveys casino crowd, in effect, that it was dedicated to everyone hurt by policies of the current Bush administration.
Quayle, who served as vice president for President Bush's father in 1989-93 walked out of the venue before Mellencamp finished the song.
Quayle said through a publicist: ``Well, I think Mellencamp's performance was not very good to begin with, and the comment put it over the top.''
John Mellencamp
Bryn Mawr Launches
Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center
Bryn Mawr College announced it will launch a center honoring the life and work of alumna Katharine Hepburn and will present actresses Lauren Bacall and Blythe Danner with awards at the center's inaugural event in September.
The Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center was established to honor the American screen legend and four-time Oscar winner, a 1928 Bryn Mawr graduate, and her mother, Katharine Houghton Hepburn, an early feminist activist and 1899 Bryn Mawr graduate. The center has been authorized by the Hepburn family and executors of her estate, the school said Tuesday.
Actress and playwright Katharine Houghton, Hepburn's niece, will deliver the gala dinner's closing remarks.
Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center
Arkansas To Pardon
Keith Richards
The state of Arkansas is prepared to pardon Keith Richards for being a reckless driver, 31 years later.
The state Parole Board on July 3 approved an application for clemency submitted on behalf of Richards, the 62-year-old guitarist for the Rolling Stones, by Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Richards was arrested July 5, 1975, as he, bandmate Ron Wood, a security guard and a fan traveled from Memphis, Tenn., to Dallas. The group had stopped in Fordyce for lunch, then got back on the road with Richards driving.
A Fordyce officer saw the car swerve - Richards said later he bent to adjust the radio - and stopped the vehicle. Police said they smelled marijuana and took the four to City Hall.
Keith Richards
Slashing Jobs, Movie Output
Disney
The Walt Disney Co. is restructuring its studio division to emphasize blockbuster franchise films over more adult fare, a move that will mean slashing 650 jobs worldwide, the company announced Tuesday.
The restructuring will cut Disney's output from about 18 films a year to about a dozen. Of those, about 10 will be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, a proven family-friendly brand that includes the successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.
Disney's Touchstone label, which is responsible for more esoteric fare by artists like Joel and Ethan Coen of "Fargo" fame, will be cut back to only two or three releases a year. Recent Touchstone films have included the box-office flops "The Alamo" and "The Ladykillers."
Disney
Go Postal
Superheroes
Faster than a speeding bullet, comic book superheroes are coming to a post office near you. Batman and Superman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl and a half dozen other superheroes will star on new postage stamps being released Thursday.
The new 39-cent stamps and 24-cent postal cards will be made public at a comic book show in San Diego, and will go on sale nationwide Friday.
The stamps are sold in a sheet of 20, half featuring the individual superheroes and half showing covers of comic books starring them.
Superheroes
Wedding News
Cullen - Hayes
Darren Hayes, one-half of defunct Australian pop duo Savage Garden, said he married his boyfriend in a recent civil ceremony in London.
The announcement, made to fans Monday on Hayes' web site, offered a rare insight into his private life, which he has long kept under wraps.
"On June 19th 2006 I married my boyfriend of two years, Richard (Cullen), in a civil partnership ceremony in London. I can honestly say it was the happiest day of my life."
Cullen - Hayes
Returning To School
Anita Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson's widow will get a chance to do something the godfather of gonzo journalism never did: graduate from Columbia University.
Anita Thompson, 33, learned Friday that she had been accepted at the school, where her husband studied creative writing more than 50 years ago. She plans to earn her bachelor's degree in English.
"I'm thrilled. I have Hunter to thank for getting me accepted and hooking me up with the kinds of people who wrote me letters of recommendation," she told the Aspen Daily News.
Anita Thompson
How A Republican Takes Responsibility
Pete Coors
Beer company executive Pete Coors has pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence and failing to stop at a stop sign.
His attorney entered the pleas for him Tuesday and Coors did not appear in court, said Jefferson County district attorney's spokeswoman Pam Russell.
Company spokeswoman Kabira Hatland has said Coors rolled through a stop sign a block from his Golden home and was stopped by the officer in his driveway. She said a breath test showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.088. The legal limit is 0.08.
Pete Coors
Not Guilty
Mindy McCready
Mindy McCready was found not guilty Wednesday of driving under the influence in May 2005. But a jury found her guilty on the charge of driving on a suspended license. The DUI case centered on a video of the field sobriety tests the country singer took after she was stopped for speeding.
Her attorney, Lee Dryer, said McCready wasn't impaired and that the field sobriety tests weren't performed properly. He also said she removed her shoes for the roadside test, but then found it hard to complete because her pant legs were too long.
After her trial, McCready said she feels as though she's turned a corner in her personal life.
Mindy McCready
Rescinds $50 Entry For Klimt
Neue Galerie
The Neue Galerie dropped plans to charge a $50 admission fee for special viewings of a celebrated Klimt portrait following protests from some callers.
The museum said Wednesday that it would go ahead with free members-only Wednesdays - the day it had planned the $50 fee for the general public - to see Gustav Klimt's "Adele Bloch-Bauer I," a 1907 portrait of a Viennese society woman in an ornate golden gown.
For several days, the museum's Web site had publicized special viewings on Wednesdays between noon and 4 p.m. for nonmembers at $50 "because of high demand." The announcement was removed Wednesday and replaced with references to members-only free visits, without the public being admitted, the museum said.
Neue Galerie
Family Fights Hollywood
'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'
The son of the Chinese author of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is waging a legal battle in a Canadian court with Hollywood studios over the film rights to his father's books.
The film version of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" by director Ang Lee won four Oscars and now Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. and The Weinstein company say they hold the film rights to other books in the same series penned by Wang Du Lu.
While Hollywood producers are anxious to make a prequel to the martial arts blockbuster "Crouching Tiger," a Saskatchewan judge must first determine who owns the rights to the remaining books in the series.
'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'
Ex-Village People Singe Cops Plea
Victor Willis
Victor Willis, the original policeman in the 1970s disco band The Village People remains behind bars after pleading no contest to drug possession charges.
The 54-year-old Willis was arrested in March in South San Francisco, after police stopped his car and found cocaine and drug paraphernalia.
After allegedly jumping bail last fall, he was featured on a December episode of the T-V crime show "America's Most Wanted."
Victor Willis
What Global Warming?
Britain
Lions licked blood-flavored ice blocks in the zoo, judges went wigless in court and guards at Buckingham Palace ducked into the shade. Britain faced the hottest day ever recorded in July on Wednesday as a heat wave swept much of Europe. Temperatures hit 96.6 degrees south of London - so hot some road surfaces melted.
London's Underground has no air conditioning and the Evening Standard newspaper measured temperatures in the train system at 117 degrees. Operator Transport for London takes no measurements but did not dispute the figure.
The average temperature in southeastern England in July is 70 degrees - and that figure has been the nighttime temperature the past few days.
Britain
Offers DVDs Before TV Premieres
NBC
In an unusual promotion, NBC said Wednesday it will let subscribers of online movie rental service Netflix take sneak peeks at two new drama series before the shows air on the TV network.
Netflix subscribers will be able to rent DVDs containing the debut episodes of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "Kidnapped" starting Aug. 5, about six weeks before the shows premiere on television.
NBC
Cheap Fix - Changes Name
ABC News
ABC News said it's changing the name of its evening newscast to reflect both new anchorman Charles Gibson and an expansion into the digital realm, including an afternoon webcast.
The change from "World News Tonight" to "World News with Charles Gibson" occurred Wednesday evening.
ABC named its newscast "World News Tonight" in 1978 with the debut of anchormen Frank Reynolds, Peter Jennings and Max Robinson. It became "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" in 1984, then dropped Jennings' name after his death from cancer in August 2005.
ABC News
Toronto, Not Baltimore
'Hairspray'
"Good Morning, Baltimore" - Canada is calling. "Hairspray" will be shot entirely in Toronto. Producer Craig Zadan said Baltimore simply doesn't have the vast soundstages needed to mount such an elaborate production.
Cost also was a factor. Despite lobbying by the Maryland Film Office, "Hairspray" won't even send its second unit to town to shoot exteriors of the city's distinctive rowhouses. Instead, they will be recreated on Toronto soundstages and streets, and still photographs of Baltimore will be digitally inserted into the finished product.
Although the budget for the movie will exceed $50 million, Zadan said it wasn't feasible to uproot the production and move it to Baltimore even for a few days of shooting.
'Hairspray'
Doesn't Match Performance
CEO Pay
An analysis of the 100 largest technology companies finds that those with the highest-paid CEOs in 2005 had the worst returns.
In the recent study, DolmatConnell & Partners, an executive compensation consulting firm based in Waltham, Mass., found there was an inverse correlation between tech CEO pay and shareholder returns over a one-year period. Companies analyzed in the study included Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, Google, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle, as well as telecommunications providers, technology services companies and products distributors.
The one-third highest performing companies paid their chief executives an average of $7.12 million--while the bottom third paid their CEOs $9.29 million. The study compared direct compensation, which includes base salary, bonus, long-term incentive payouts and value of stock grants.
A copy of the study can be accessed here (pdf format). .
CEO Pay
More 'Reality' TV
LA County Sheriff
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and cadets will be allowed to take part in two proposed reality television shows.
Their participation was approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors, which voted 3-1 to let two production companies film deputies at work and cadets hoping to make the cut.
No filming will be allowed in the jails and all unused footage must be destroyed, according to the contracts with 44 Blue Productions Inc. and Scott Sternberg Productions Inc.
The shows are tentatively titled "The Assignment" and "The Academy."
LA County Sheriff
Cable Networks
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of July 10-16. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.
1. Movie: "Pirates of the Caribbean" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), USA, 5.01 million homes, 7.36 million viewers.
2. "Home Run Derby" (Monday, 8 p.m.), ESPN, 4.87 million homes, 6.78 million viewers.
3. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 4.84 million homes, 6.4 million viewers.
4. Auto Racing: Nextel Cup (Sunday, 2:11 p.m.), TNT, 4.34 million homes, 6.16 million viewers.
5. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.85 million homes, 5.11 million viewers.
6. "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 3.55 million homes, 5.24 million viewers.
7. "Monk" (Friday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.44 million homes, 4.89 million viewers.
8. "Psych" (Friday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.35 million homes, 4.71 million viewers.
9. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.17 million homes, 4.33 million viewers.
10. "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" (Wednesday, 9:54 p.m.), TNT, 3.12 million homes, 4.75 million viewers.
11. Movie: "Big Fat Liar" (Friday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 2.66 million homes, 3.84 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Tuesday, 5 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.64 million homes, 3.66 million viewers.
13. "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.), Disney, 2.58 million homes, 3.58 million viewers.
14. "House" (Friday, 11 p.m.), USA, 2.57 million homes, 3.44 million viewers.
15. Movie: "Big Fat Liar" (Friday, 9:45 p.m.), Disney, 2.57 million homes, 3.62 million viewers.
Ratings
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