On August 11, 2005, Bernard Goldberg, ex-correspondent turned dickhead pundit, appeared on the 7:30 - 8:00 a.m. segment touting his new book entitled " The Top 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America". Essentially he said that these people were responsible for fucking up America, and to paraphrase, that we were all going to hell in a hand-basket if these people didn't get with the "red" states "Middle America", and cut out the nonsense that occurs on, his words, not mine, "paranthetical "blue coasts" ".
He qualified this statement saying if both blue coasts were to get in touch and eliminate the "disconnect" (which is a verb, Bernard, not a noun, you idiot), a new pundit buzzword, between the blue states and the red states, then everyone would probably be ok, and most likely not burn in eternal torment, but those elite people in the blue states were out of touch with reality and were fucking up America. Well, I think it's the polar opposite.
The people in the red states have always had about a three to-five time year lag when it comes to politics, music, fashion, fads, you name it. It's just that farm boys in Kansas aren't gonna be the hip young guys, not because they're dumb, it's more of an information lag-time issue.
Yeah, Bernard, those scientists in Boston/Cambridge, and the San Francisco/Oakland Bay area, and Madison, Wisconsin, and Austin, Texas, and Stanford and UCLA and CUNY, and Princeton, all those damn liberal bastions of depravity where they are working on curing cancer, heart disease, engineering the impossible, exploring artificial intelligence, debating the string theory, wondering if this is the theory that can explain the whole universe, yeah, Bernie, these places ought to be shut down. Let's return to good old-fashioned ignorance. Why don't we try to outlaw these damn elite blue states. Hell, we wouldn't have ever gotten out of Viet Nam if it wasn't for those good ole boy red states who wanted to keep the war goin' so their defense conglomerates could continue making weapons of mass destruction (that was an attempt at irony.......).
Yeah, those blue coast people are involved in different types of activities than, oh, say the drunk-assed hillbillies in eastern Kentucky selling oxycontin to Rush Limbaugh via his live-in maid, or the KKK down in Alabama who haven't quite figured the black man was set free well over a century ago. If Goldberg thinks these red states are like Norman Rockwell paintings, then he needs to go to some town like Gilbertsville, Alabama and register with his last name, then see what kind of southern hospitality he gets. Hell, there'll be banners up on Main Street saying "We Got Us A Jew At The Hotel Lester Maddox!!".
The "blue coasts" and "blue states" are and always have been places where PROGRESS occurs. If you want to call progress elitist, go ahead. But when your heart pump goes out, I'd sure thank those evil-doers who have figured out how to essentially non-intrusively go into your heart and repair damaged tissue. Or when you come down with prostate cancer, your chance of survial is quite good for survival (75% cure rate). Or when your mother breaks her hip, she'll remain mobile thanks to the plasic hip replacement resulting from research that goes on in these damned elitist communities.
Bernie said there's nothing he can do when he's with his children and some show like "Will and Grace" comes on and there's nothing one can do about it. Or when gangsta rap comes on MTV and there's nothing you can do about. Sure there is. Turn that shit off and turn your kids on to orchestral music and jazz, that have always been on the blue coasts and usually take some time before it emanates to Middle America. It's been this way for at least 75 years. Bernie, crank up some Louis Armstrong and have a gas with your kids. They'll love it.
The only music to come out of Middle America is Country, Western, and Country and Western, that music that worships getting drunk, beating up your wife, fighting in bars, getting "tatted", in reality scarred with tattoos, and honky-tonkin' their lives away until they need a kidney transplant developed by those awful blue states. Oh, I almost forgot bluegrass, whose father of this music was Bill Monroe, a known racist/separatist, who hated black people, or any people other than his fair-skinned brothers.
I had to look at this list for myself that Goldberg came up with, so I threw on some jeans and a tee-shirt and went down to the local newsstand and browsed through his book. Almost every lady or gentleman listed was a Democrat or Independent or "Other". There were a couple of Republicans, but not very many. Al Franken was number 37, which I thought Franken would at least make Goldberg's top ten due to Al's frankness about how big of fool Goldberg is.
Almost every Republican in the nation is starting to re-evaluate the current administration, including Middle America. Goldberg must be one of the guys that'll go to his grave saying that George W. Bush is not a war criminal, and that he was an excellent president in the face of the terrorists. He's an ex-reporter, for god's sake. He ought to know, and realize what is really going on.
The Republicans have fucked up everything they have touched, period. There are literally billions upon billions of dollars missing from this mess of a war we're in. Doesn't that seem odd? I mean, that would take more than a storage locker or two to stash billions of dollars into. Are they marked in $100 bills or $20 bills? Either way, it takes alot of space unless it's cooked into books. Halliburton's hands are so dirty it will take years to figure out their cooked books, and where the money was funneled, but you might as well start at the top and work down, which would make Bunnypants our starting point.
From there, Cheney would be Number Two (hell, Uncka Dick is Number One in reality but not structurally ), and from there just go down the line until someone sings like a canary. Then you proceed over to the Pentagon and the CIA, and find out if Bush was misled or if Bush misled the United States. Either way he should be held responsible. A man should be judged by his actions, not by words or rhetoric or anything else. Judge him by his actions, then judge the consequences of those actions. He's a war criminal, period. The Iraquis had nothing to do with 9/11. Nothing. If Bush got suckered, he should own up to that. He wouldn't be the first. What this administration has gotten away with so far is beyond the Twilight Zone.
What happened to the Karl Rove story? This guy leaked a covert agent to the press and Fox News never even raised a question about it. What about the vote count in Ohio, where the head cheese overseeing the elections was an ex-campaign manager for Dubya Bunnypants? Ohio was won by a very narrow margin, as was the national vote count resulting in the disaster we're in. If Ohio went to Kerry by literally a few thousand votes, we'd be in a totally different situation. Do you think Kerry would put John Bolton, an antagonistic son-of-a-bitch, into the United Nations at a delicate point in history in which we need to mend some relationships with major economies in Europe and the Middle East?
Would Kerry appoint an extreme right-wing man to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court? There needs to be balance in our Republic or the thing gets out of hand and one party's ideology becomes so dominant that it takes years to get back on an even keel. Right now the chief obstacle in the progress of our country is the Republican right and all their big biz cohorts. It's ironic that the Christian right votes Republican when it says very plainly in their holy book that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. I think Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson decided that this passage was inserted into the bible by some blue state, somewhere, somehow.
Bernard Goldberg is just another sensationalistic writer who makes his millions by all the dumbfucks who buy and BELIEVE his rhetoric. There's a market for that kind of low-brow bullshit that is equal in intellectual capacity to the people who read Jackie Collin's books. But it's time for the majority of Middle America realize their sons and daughters are dying daily and enough is enough. Middle America is not Bernie Goldberg. Do you think if he had a son that his son would be in Iraq? Fuck no! He's too clever selling his dumbassed books to the people who's sons and daughters go and serve, and die. Bernard, are your children in the armed forces right now? Hmmmm?? I didn't think so.
The Funniest People in Sports : 250 Anecdotes About Baseball Players, Figure Skaters, Gymnasts, the Olympics, and More. By David Bruce.
* Umpire Beans Reardon once made a mistake. Richie Ashburn slid into second base and Billy Cox attempted to tag him. Beans yelled "Safe," but at the same time he flung his arm in the "Out" gesture. Mr. Ashburn asked, "What the hell does that mean?" Mr. Reardon replied, "Richie, you know you're safe. Billy, you know he's safe. But 30,000 fans see my arm. Richie, you're out."
* Figure skater Rosalynn Sumners has a tendency to put on weight. When she was skating for Disney, her contract required her to be weighed each week, and if she was three pounds over her desired weight, Disney fined her $10. After a while, Ms. Sumners began to stand on the scales each week with a $10 bill in her hand.
Ratings For Political Blogs... (huffingtonpost.com)
"In less than two years, the progressive blogoshpere had grown from less than as big as the conservative blogosphere, to nearly double its size," the study reported.
Kimberly Brooks: Penguins Kill Intelligent Design Theory (huffingtonpost.com)
I took my kids to see March of the Penguins the other night. In between the Red Vines and the popcorn, all I could think was: "this is the most poorly designed animal I had ever seen." A more apt title is The Plight of the Penguin. Intelligent Designer? Give me a break.
Rob Collins: Living Will (Oklahoma Gazette)
Will Rogers never met a man he didn't like, but did that include cowboys? American Indians? Or commies? Seventy years after his death, scholars are still debating the humorist's political beliefs.
Scott Burns: The Seven Laws of Personal Finance
1. Spend Less Than You Earn. Millions of people still don't grasp this simple principle, choosing instead to believe they can borrow their way to security and wealth. Unless you spend less than you earnŠ so that you have money to investŠ all talk about personal finance is fruitless.
Purple Gene's review of Willie Nelson on the Howard Stern Show 8/16/05:
WILLIE NELSON WILL SING WITH ANYONE !!!!!
I've said it before and I'm sayin' it again. Today, on the Howard Stern Show, Willie Nelson reached the hellish and humiliating low point of his career of singing duets with anyone…..first a little history….
Willie Nelson was born in 1933….yep, that makes him over seventy years old. He moved to Nashville in the 60s and wrote "Night Life" for Ray Price…."Ain't it funny How Time slips Away" for Billy Walker….."Hello Walls" for Faron Young. His first big break was writing the song "Crazy" that Patsy Cline made into a standard… After kickin' around writing and getting drunk and stoned he moved to Austin, Texas and recorded the "Shotgun Willie" album that started the Willie Nelson DUET CRAZE !!
WILLIE NELSON WILL SING WITH ANYONE !!!!!
It started with :
Willie and Waylon Jennings…………………."Good Hearted Woman"
Willie and Mary Kay Place………………….."Something to Brag About"
Willie/Waylon/Kris and Cash……………….."The Highwaymen"
Willie and Emmy Lou
Willie and Dolly
Willie and Brenda Lee
Willie and Bonnie Raitt
Willie and Sinead O'Connor
Willie and Julio Iglesius………………………"To All the Girls I've Loved"
Willie and Bob Dylan
Willie and Neil Young
Willie and Paul Simon
Willie and Ray Charles
Willie and Toby Keith…………………………"Beer for my Horses"
Willie and Jessica Simpson……………………"These Boots are Made for Walkin' "
Willie and Toots Hibbert ……………………..."Country Man" (Reggae)
Well today…it finally all went into the toilet on the Howard Stern Show……..
WILLIE NELSON AND JEFF THE "DRUNK" SING "YOU WERE ALWAYS ON MY MIND"
Oh gawd….how could Howard allow such pornography….an inebriated, one armed, beer bombed, bespeckled, Willie shirt wearin', can't sing for shit loser aptly named "Jeff the "Drunk" barges into Howards innocent inquiry with Willie about Jessica Simpson's ASS on the set of the "Dukes of Hazzard"!!!!!!!! This has been Jeff's life long dream….to sing with Willie….and so it happened on live radio….."Maybe I should have held you……You were always on my mind…." This Jeff guy was sooooooo terrible that it really hurt to hear him murder the song…well then Willie sang the second verse…"Little things I could have said….you were always on my mind…" Holy Shit here it comes…the end of the song where Willie and Jeff sing the final chorus as a DUET….It is the end of the world as we know it….the Stern studio is in tears of laughter and as they BOOT the Drunk out he yells "Willie 'Effin Nelson"!!!!!!!
Willie……it's over!!!!! Time to head back to Texas and start paying attention the "Willie Bio-Diesel" company that you started when you were on the alternative energy kick….how about "Farm Aid # 20"?????? but PLEASE
NO MORE DUETS !!!!!!!!
Purple Gene gives Willie Nelson 5 Texas style doobie smoke rings out of 10 for putting up with juvenile horseshit…what a good sport and great talent…… still!
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Big Brother 6', followed by a RERUN'CSI: The Original One', then a RERUN'Without A Trace'.
On a RERUNDave (from 6/23/05) are Tom Cruise and Ben Folds.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Jami Gertz, Missy Higgins, and Steve Howey.
NBC begins the night with a RERUN'Joey', followed by a RERUN'Will & Grace', then a RERUN'Scrubs', followed by another RERUN'Scrubs', then a RERUN'ER' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour).
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Pamela Anderson and Hanna McEuen.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Steve Carell, Connie Nielson, and the Click Five.
On a RERUNCarson Daly (from 7/21/05) are Christina Applegate and Bill Burr.
ABC starts the night with the movie 'The Tuxedo', followed by 'PrimeTime Live'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 7/19/05) are Wolf Blitzer, William Hung, and Amanda Ghost.
The WB offers a RERUN'Smallville', followed by a RERUN'Everwood'.
Faux has LIVE'NFL Preseason Football', and the left coast gets bonus RERUNs of 'Simpsons' and 'Malcolm'.
UPN fills the night with 'WWE SmackDown!'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Cold Case Files', and 'The First 48'.
AMC offers the movie 'Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult', followed by the movie 'The Man With The Golden Gun', then the movie 'The Man With The Golden Gun', again.
BBC -
[2pm] 'My Family' - Death and Ben Take a Holiday;
[2:40pm] 'My Hero' - All in the Mind;
[3:20pm] 'The Thin Blue Line' - The Green-Eyed Monster;
[4pm] 'Little Britain' - Episode 1;
[4:40pm] 'Blackadder' - Amy & Amiability;
[5:20pm] 'Blackadder' - Duel & Duality;
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Hinton;
[7pm] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 49;
[8pm] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - Dinsdale;
[8:40pm] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - The Spanish Inquisition;
[9:20pm] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - Episode 3;
[10pm] 'Teachers' - Episode 3;
[11pm] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 49;
[12am] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - Dinsdale;
[12:40am] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - The Spanish Inquisition;
[1:20am] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - Episode 3;
[2am] 'Teachers - Episode 3;
[3am] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - Dinsdale;
[3:40am] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - The Spanish Inquisition;
[4:20am] 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - Episode 3;
[5am] 'Teachers' - Episode 3;
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Battle Of The Network Reality Stars', followed by the FRESH'Celebrity Poker Showdown', then a FRESH'Being Bobby Brown', and another 'Being Bobby Brown'.
Comedy Central has 'Weekends At The D.L', last night's 'Adam Carolla', last night's 'Jon Stewart', 'Comedy Central Presents' (Mike Birbiglia), and the 'Comedy Central Roast Of Pamela Anderson'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is John Richardson.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Boneyard: Where Machines End Their Lives', and another 'Modern Marvels'.
IFC -
[6AM] 'Deconstructing Harry' (1997);
[7:45AM] 'Ma Vie En Rose' (1997);
[9:30AM] 'The Last Broadcast' (1998);
[11AM] 'Looking For Richard' (1996);
[1PM] 'At the IFC Center' (2005);
[1:30PM] 'Ma Vie En Rose' (1997);
[3PM] 'The Last Broadcast' (1998);
[4:30PM] 'Looking For Richard' (1996);
[6:30PM] 'The Brother From Another Planet' (1984);
[8:30PM] 'At the IFC Center' (2005);
[9PM] 'Monsoon Wedding' (2001);
[11PM] 'Salaam Bombay!' (1988);
[1AM] 'Lost And Delirious' (2001);
[2:45AM] 'IFC in Theaters' (2005);
[3AM] 'Salaam Bombay!' (1988);
[5AM] 'At the IFC Center' (2005);
[5:30AM] 'Henry's Film Corner #109' (2005). (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has the movie 'Alien Lockdown', followed by the mvoie 'Alien Express'.
Sundance -
[7AM] 'The Al Franken Show': (08/17/05);
[8AM] 'Missing Allen';
[9:35AM] 'The Navigators';
[11:15AM] 'The Long Goodbye';
[1:10PM] 'Detained';
[2:25PM] 'Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties';
[3:35PM] 'The Navigators';
[5:15PM] 'Particles of Truth';
[7PM] 'Strictly Ballroom';
[8:35PM] 'Silverstar';
[9PM] 'The Long Goodbye';
[11PM] 'Anatomy Of A Scene: Gosford Park';
[11:30PM] 'The Al Franken Show': (08/18/05);
[12:30AM] 'Zus & Zo';
[2:15AM] 'Silverstar';
[2:30AM] 'The Al Franken Show': (08/19/05);
[3:30AM] 'Last Dance' (2002);
[5AM] 'The Cathedral';
[5:15AM] 'Particles of Truth'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Wynn Las Vegas Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn stands next to a puppet modeled after himself during a news conference for the Broadway musical 'Avenue Q' at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, August 16, 2005. Winner of three 2004 Tony awards, the show previews at the resort in the Wynn's 1,200-seat Broadway Theater on August 27.
Photo by Steve Marcus
A trip to Kenya by Angelina Jolie and U.N. adviser and economist Jeffrey Sachs will air Sept. 14 on MTV as part of the cable music network's "Diary" series.
"The Diary of Angelina Jolie & Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa" will follow their trip to Sauri, a remote group of villages in western Kenya where Sachs' U.N. Millennium Project team is working to end poverty, hunger and disease, MTV said in a statement Monday.
The September premiere of the special will coincide with the opening of the U.N. Special Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, which in 2000 were adopted by nearly 200 world leaders to reduce extreme poverty, MTV said.
Sources are at the heart of the Valerie Plame case. Sources are also a big part of Arianna Huffington's series of blog postings -- on HuffingtonPost.com -- about what she sees as New York Times reporter Judith Miller's less-than-heroic role in "Plamegate."
Huffington said her sources include journalists, social acquaintances of Miller's, general readers of the Huffington Post, and others. "But perhaps the most important category [of sources] is very serious, very responsible reporters within The New York Times who are worried about the paper linking itself so completely with Miller's fate," Huffington told E&P Online.
She also said "the mainstream media are having a hard time -- or are just uninterested in -- following the thread that the Miller story isn't just about the outing of Valerie Plame but about the misinformation campaign that led us into the Iraq debacle."
Los Angeles city officials on Wednesday rejected a demand for $18 million by the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. to end a lawsuit that accuses two former Los Angeles policemen of conspiring in the 1997 murder.
Lawyers for the family said they had sought a settlement to spare the city further litigation over the death of the rapper born Christopher Wallace, who was shot to death at the age of 24 after leaving a party in Los Angeles.
"We're giving the city the chance to stand up and do the right thing and not be painted with the really ugly brush that people in the LAPD could be painted with," attorney Perry Sanders said.
A hand-scrawled note on the refrigerator in Hunter S. Thompson's kitchen says, "Never call 911/Never/This means you/HST." Over the sink, a snapshot shows the famously reckless father of Gonzo journalism nuzzling a tiny kitten.
This room, jammed with cooking utensils, writing mementos and a giant TV, is where Thompson wrote some of the acerbic books and articles that made him an American treasure in the late 1960s and early '70s. It was here that he held court with friends and admirers. It is also where he shot himself to death six months ago at age 67.
The kitchen remains a center of Thompson's still-swirling universe as family and friends wrap up plans to blast his ashes out of a 150-foot-tall monument behind the house at Owl Farm this Saturday. It's what he wanted.
"No crying, no tears, only celebration," Thompson's widow, Anita, said during a 2 1/2-hour interview with The Associated Press at the home and her makeshift office, providing a rare glimpse into the writer's world.
The next really bad Tom Cruise story is about to break - not here - and this one, to me, may be the most damaging because it is the one that shows that he has either lost complete touch with reality (and professional courtesy) or that he has completely lost control of the Scientology sled he is riding.
The funny thing, for me, is that I don't really care what religious group he wants to be a part of in his real life. And given the amount of money his face and skills can generate, I don't think Hollywood does either. But proselytizing is bad, bad, bad for business.
Meanwhile... ironically... things seem to be going very smoothly and quietly on the Mission: Impossible 3 set. Concerns that JJ Abrams would be told how to tie his shoes every morning by Cruise have not played out. And the media buzz has been as low as Cruise has seen all year.
Nonetheless, a little tsunami is coming, sure to be followed by waves of denials. Sigh…
A female snow leopard cub wakes from a nap a top a rock in the sun at the Bronx Zoo, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005 in New York. The rambunctious female was born on April 25, to mother Shikari and father Boris.
Photo by Mary Schwalm
Eminem, who last week wrapped up his nationwide "Anger Management" tour, has canceled his European tour, citing exhaustion and other medical issues, his record label said Tuesday.
In a brief statement, Interscope Records said Eminem was scrapping the tour, which was supposed to kick off Sept. 1 in Hamburg, Germany, and end Sept. 17 in Dublin, Ireland. There were 10 concerts scheduled.
A former personal assistant to Carlos Santana has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the rock star and his company, claiming he was fired after his consciousness was "calibrated" and determined to be too low.
The lawsuit by Bruce Kuhlman, 59, charges that Santana's wife, Deborah, brought in a man known as "Dr. Dan" so employees could grow closer to God and become better workers. The lawsuit alleges that "spiritual calibration" allowed a person to develop a deeper level of consciousness.
"In Deborah's view, the higher a person calibrated with Dr. Dan, the better employee they were because they were more 'spiritually evolved'," the lawsuit filed in Marin Superior Court said.
A part of a golen treasure, unearthed since last summer in an ancient tomb near the central village of Dabene, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of the capital, Sofia, is exposed in the National Historical Museum Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005. Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed some 15,000 tiny golden pieces that date back to the end of the third millennium B.C. a find they say matches the famous treasure of Troy.
Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is suing his former business manager, alleging she siphoned $5 million from his personal savings and investments while he spent time in a Buddhist monastery.
Cohen, best known for such introspective songs as "Bird On a Wire" and "Suzanne," filed the lawsuit Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
In it, he alleges Kelley Lynch, took millions from his accounts between 1994 and 1999, while Cohen was living at the Mount Baldy Zen Center in Los Angeles.
Cohen discovered Lynch's activities when an informant approached his daughter in October 2004, the suit says. He investigated and fired Lynch a short time later. She had worked for him for 17 years.
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Aug. 8-14. Each ratings point represents 1,096,000 households. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 3.7, 4.06 million homes.
2. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 3.1, 3.43 million homes.
3. "Homicide: Life on the Street" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), TNT, 3.1, 3.4 million homes.
4. "Monk" (Friday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.1, 3.35 million homes.
5. NFL Exhibition: San Diego vs. Green Bay (Thursday, 8 p.m.), ESPN, 3.0, 3.31 million homes.
6. "Comedy Central Roast: Pamela Anderson" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), Comedy Central, 2.9, 3.14 million homes.
7. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), Spike, 2.9, 3.14 million homes.
8. "Law & Order" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 2.9, 3.13 million homes.
9. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.12 million homes.
10. "Real World XVI" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 2.8, 3.1 million homes.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.88 million homes.
12. Movie: "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 2.6, 2.87 million homes.
13. "Law & Order: SVU" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.5, 2.7 million homes.
14. "Family Guy" (Tuesday, 11 p.m.), Cartoon, 2.4, 2.64 million homes.
15. "Family Guy" (Monday, 11 p.m.), Cartoon, 2.4, 2.6 million homes.
Esther Wong, who booked a who's who of punk rock and new wave bands at her popular Madame Wong's clubs in the 1970s and '80s, has died. She was 88.
Wong, who earned the nickname the "godmother of punk," showcased such popular groups as the Police, X, the Go-Gos, Oingo Boingo, the Motels, the Knack, the Textones and Plane English early in their careers, giving many groups their first major break.
The native of China originally booked Polynesian bands to play at her restaurant, but when hardly anyone showed up to hear them she decided to take a chance on rock acts. Almost overnight in 1978, hundreds of people began showing up at her Chinatown restaurant to hear the new sounds, and she opened a Madame Wong's West in Santa Monica that same year.
"Before, I didn't think I'd ever like rock music," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1979. "Now I can turn it on, and it doesn't bother me."
As her clubs flourished, Wong quickly became known as a no-nonsense proprietor. She once halted a performance by the Ramones until the band members left the stage and cleaned up the graffiti they had put on a bathroom wall. She rarely booked female singers, calling them "no good, always trouble," and she was known to go into the audience to try to sniff out marijuana smokers.
James Dougherty, the retired Los Angeles detective who was the first man to marry Norma Jeane Baker - before she went off to Hollywood and took the name Marilyn Monroe - has died. He was 84.
Dougherty died Monday in San Rafael, Calif., of complications of leukemia, his stepdaughter, Annie Woods of Sabattus, told the Sun-Journal of Lewiston. He had spent much of his later years in Maine.
Dougherty married Baker in 1942, before he went to sea as a merchant mariner. She was 16 at the time.
Baker set out to pursue a Hollywood career while Dougherty was gone, and the two were divorced in 1946. Dougherty remarried twice.
On June 3, 2005 at 10:45 p.m. in Memphis, Tennessee, Dorothy Gibson Cully, 86, died peacefully, while in the loving care of her two favorite children, Barbara and David. All of her breath leaked out.
She was born the second child of six in 1919 as Frances Dorothy Gibson, daughter to Kathleen Heard Gibson and Calvin Hooper Gibson, an inventor best known as the first person since the Middle Ages to calculate the arcane lead-to-gold formula. Unable to actually prove this complex theory scientifically, and frustrated by the cruel conspiracy of the so-called "scientific community" working against his efforts, he ultimately stuck his head in a heated gas oven with a golden delicious apple propped in his mouth. Miraculously, the apple was saved for the evening dessert. Calvin was not.
At the time of her death, Dot was visiting her daughter, Carol in Memphis. Carol and her husband, Ron, away from home attending a "very important conference" at a posh Florida resort, rushed home 10 days later after learning of the death. Dot's other children, dutifully at their mother's side helping with the normal last minute arrangements - hospice notification, funeral parlor notice, revising the last will, etc. - happily picked up the considerable slack of the absent former heiress.
This photo released by the Zoological Society of San Diego shows the unnamed giant panda cub, born Aug. 2, 2005, during its first veterinary exam Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005, at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego. The cub measured 24 centimeters and weighed 13 ounces. Veterinarians are not yet certain if the cub is male or female. The cub is the second giant panda born in the United States this year, following last month's birth of a male panda at the National Zoo in Washington.
Photo by Ken Bohn
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