'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Richard D. Kahlenberg: A World Without Teacher Unions? (commondreams.org)
In the 1950s, prior to when Albert Shanker and other New York City teachers forged the modern teacher union movement, teachers engaged in "collective begging" rather than collective bargaining. They were poorly paid (making less than people who washed cars), forced to eat lunch while supervising students, and told to bring a doctor's note when they were out sick.
Paul Krugman: Snow Job in the Desert (The New York Times; Posted on AlterNet.org)
It appears that many influential people in this country have learned nothing from the last five years.
Will Durst: Get the New DVD: Republicans Gone Wild 2
You'll never forget this brand new, never-before-seen footage featuring their patented wide stances and narrow minds.
Mark Morford: I Hate You I Hate You I Hate You
There's nasty, there's puerile, and then there's Mark Morford's hate mail. Wake the kids!
Beth Quinn: A challenge to students' as the school year open's (recordonline.com)
Hey kid's! Guess where your going this week!
Alan Justiss: Bukowski and Me (altweeklies.com)
Blood, literature and a night in the drunk tank: Poet Alan Justiss recalls his wild years with photographer Claude Powell and poet Charles Bukowski.
Emily Wilson: Are Men Threatened by Funny Women? (AlterNet.org)
Comedy isn't just about laughter -- it's about power.
owen holmes: Silly Putty Doesn't Work Anymore (altweeklies.com)
When the Silly Putty empire asked its followers in 2001 to write in with their "silliest uses" of America's favorite viscoelastic liquid, Putty enthusiasts responded with more than 3,000 functions of the stretchable, bounceable, breakable substance. Pam Straub of North Hampton, N.H., uses it to attach unwanted vegetables to the underside of her family's dinner table. Judith Daly of Norwich, Conn., molds Silly Putty to resemble a swollen gland and fakes sick. Ron Franko of Library, Pa., even helped authorities catch a local vandal by using Silly Putty to lift fingerprints off his burglarized truck.
The Top 50 Silliest Uses for Silly Putty (sillyputty.com)
Known as the toy with one moving part, uses for Silly Putty are almost as numerous as the more than 20,000 eggs snapped together each day at the Silly Putty factory in Bethlehem, Pa. To commemorate Silly Putty's 50th anniversary this year, the maker of the silly stuff gave Silly Putty fans the opportunity to enter their inventive uses into the "Silliest Uses for Silly Putty Contest."
David Bruce: Wise Up! Illness & Injury (athensnews.com)
* While dancing the lead role of "The Prodigal Son," Edward Villella used to slide off a table, one end of which had been lifted in the air by the drinking companions. During one performance, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and the pain continued after the performance. He didn't know what was causing the pain until a few days later when someone in his dressing room saw him without a shirt and told him, "My God! You've got a splinter in your back the size of a nail!"
Reader Comment
Cloning
COOL! Now I have an excuse for all the baby sheep that bear a striking resemblance to you know who.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Perfect Fit for Senator Larry Craig
Reader Comment
Re: Whoopi
Yo Marty….
I swear, how can some people be so blind!!! Whoopi said on her View debut
"Goldberg said that "from where he comes from" in the South, dogfighting isn't that unusual."
Um, Whoopi?…neither is racism, but it's not something you want to JUSTIFY or DEFEND!!!
And what's with comparing it to cockfighting in Puerto Rico!! As if that makes it acceptable?
One of my many bumperstickers says "People who abuse animals rarely stop there". Whoopi needs to spend a day with some animal regulators to see the horrible things they deal with.
I've always liked Whoopi, but on this one, she blew it.
Love ya
ducks
Thanks, ducks!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The heat wave has passed! Woo Hoo!
Today was the kid's first day of high school.
21st annual Bridge School Benefit
Neil Young
John Mayer, Metallica, Tom Waits, and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder are among the artists who will join Neil Young for his 21st annual Bridge School Benefit concerts near San Francisco on October 27-28.
Also on this year's bill are Tegan and Sara, Regina Spektor, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Waits, who previously played at one of the 1999 Bridge concerts, will perform with the Kronos Quartet. Vedder, who has been in the Bridge lineup eight times before, will play alongside Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and ex-Peppers/ex-Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons.
Neil Young, who hosts the annual, mostly-acoustic event, has played every year since launching the benefit in 1986. Proceeds from the shows support the Bridge School, the northern California school for children with physical and speech impediments, co-founded by Young's wife Pegi.
Neil Young
Added To 'The View'
Sherri Shepherd
Actress Sherri Shepherd will be introduced next week as a new cast member on "The View," giving the daytime chat show its first full cast since before Rosie O'Donnell came and went.
The show's creator, Barbara Walters, said Wednesday that she would reveal the new cast member on Monday. That will be Shepherd, said a person close to the show who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Shepherd is no stranger to "The View." She was a guest host more than a dozen times, many of them this summer as she tried out for a cast slot left empty since Star Jones Reynolds left last summer.
Published reports had Walters set to appoint Shepherd in late July, around the time Whoopi Goldberg was selected as the show's new moderator. But the announcement was delayed, perhaps a sign that hardball negotiations were taking place.
Sherri Shepherd
`On the Road' Marathon
Jack Kerouac
Some read with an actor's exuberance, some plowed straight ahead, others read with subtlety and a smile.
As he listened Wednesday to different voices begin a marathon reading of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," Kerouac fan Frank Wagner found each reader sparked a similar reaction.
The reading in Kerouac's native Lowell was a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the publication of "On the Road," a stream-of-consciousness chronicle of his cross-country wanderings. Poets and politicians joined fans to read passages from his signature work in a 12-hour session at a downtown deli and coffee shop.
The readers, about 60 scheduled in all, read from various editions of "On the Road" as people moved in and out of the seats in front of them. Some in the audience laughed, others followed along in their own copies of the book.
Jack Kerouac
Wedding News
Meyer - Maguire
Actor Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer, with whom he has a baby girl, were married during a ceremony in Hawaii, his publicist confirmed Tuesday.
Maguire, 32, and Meyer have been together since 2003. They got engaged last year and have a daughter, Ruby, who was born in November.
Meyer is the daughter of Ron Meyer, president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios.
Meyer - Maguire
Hops To Faux
Carlos Amezcua
Longtime "KTLA Morning Show" host Carlos Amezcua has jumped to rival KTTV, where he'll co-anchor the Fox-owned station's 10 p.m. newscast beginning Oct. 1.
Out in the anchor shuffle is longtime KTTV anchor John Beard, whose contract was set to expire. Beard, who's spent 14 years at the station after a long run at KNBC, will appear on Fox 11 for the last time on Sept. 28.
Amezcua's move was a surprise, given that he was until recently considered the heir apparent to the KTLA 10 p.m. slot left empty by the recent death of anchor Hal Fishman.
Amezcua, a seven-time Emmy winner, helped launch the "KTLA Morning Show" -- then called "KTLA Morning News" -- in 1991 and has been with the ayem broadcast ever since. Before KTLA, Amezcua worked as a CBS News correspondent and an "NBC Nightly News" reporter. He has also worked for CNN and HBO's "America Undercover," as well as stations in New York, San Diego and Denver.
Carlos Amezcua
Carlos Amezcua is a natural for Faux news.
Another smug, sanctimonious, self-righteous, right-wing, knee-pad-wearing cheerleader fluffer for all things Rupert holds dear.
Good riddance.
Found Guilty
Tony Rosato
Troubled actor and comedian Tony Rosato has been found guilty of criminally harassing his wife.
The judge's verdict comes just one day after the Crown reduced the charge from an indictable offence to a less serious summary conviction. The sentence is still to be determined.
Rosato has been diagnosed with Capgras syndrome, a rare mental disorder that has left him convinced that his wife and daughter are impostors.
The former "SCTV" and "Saturday Night Live" cast member spent more than two years in jail awaiting trial.
Tony Rosato
To Sue Over New Book
Birkhead & Stern
Larry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern both plan to sue the author of a new book that claims the two men shared a sexual encounter before Anna Nicole Smith's death and worked together afterward to manipulate the media and maximize profits.
"Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death," by journalist Rita Cosby, hit stores Tuesday.
Birkhead, the father of Smith's infant daughter, said that though he has yet to see the book, he intends to sue Cosby, her sources and Grand Central Publishing.
Stern also planned to "file and aggressively pursue a libel case" against Cosby and her publishers, his attorney, L. Lin Wood, said Tuesday.
Birkhead & Stern
Ordered To Stand Trial
The Game
The Game was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on three felony charges after he allegedly pulled a gun during a pickup basketball game at an educational center in South Los Angeles.
The rapper, whose real name is Jayceon Terrell Taylor, faces counts of making criminal threats, possession of a firearm in a school zone and exhibiting a firearm on the grounds of a facility for minors.
The charges stem from an alleged Feb. 24 fight during a basketball game at the learning complex. Police allege Taylor, 27, grabbed a gun from his red Cadillac Escalade after punching a player on the opposing team and threatened to shoot him.
Taylor remains free on $50,000 bail. If convicted, he could face more than five years in prison.
The Game
Arrested For Alleged Attack
Jude Law
Police arrested Jude Law for allegedly attacking a photographer outside his London home, British media reported Wednesday.
The 34-year-old actor allegedly tried to grab the photographer's camera during the incident on Tuesday, Britain's Press Association said. He was released on bail and must return to a London police station in October.
Police would not directly confirm the report, but said a 34-year-old man from Law's neighborhood was arrested on suspicion of causing bodily harm. Police added the man voluntarily went to a police station for questioning.
Jude Law
Awarded $545,000 In Suit Vs. 1st Husband
Jennifer Lopez
A judge has approved a $545,000 arbitration award to Jennifer Lopez in a lawsuit against first husband Ojani Noa.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael C. Solner also issued a permanent injunction barring Noa from publishing negative, denigrating or disparaging details about Lopez.
Noa had planned to publish a tell-all book claiming the 39-year-old singer-actress had several affairs.
Lopez's lawsuit accused Noa of violating a previous lawsuit settlement that prevented him from revealing private information about their relationship.
Jennifer Lopez
Standup Routine Gets The Hook
Eddie Griffin
A standup routine by black comedian Eddie Griffin was stopped after he repeatedly used the N-word, a magazine's spokesman said Wednesday.
Griffin, who has appeared in movies such as "Undercover Brother" and "Date Movie" and the TV show "Malcolm & Eddie," was performing at a Black Enterprise magazine event in the Miami suburb of Doral on Friday when he was cut off after using profanities and the N-word, said Andrew Wadium, a spokesman for the publication.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who attended a meeting held by the magazine in Miami but not the performance, said the crowd gave an ovation to Earl Graves, the magazine's publisher, when he came on stage after the 39-year-old Griffin was pulled, according to a statement on the Web site of Sharpton's National Action Network.
Eddie Griffin
Carbon Dating Casts Doubt
Saint Francis of Assisi
Carbon dating has cast doubt on the authenticity of one of four robes kept by Italian churches as relics of the medieval Saint Francis of Assisi, though another tunic, a belt and a cushion were found to be the right vintage.
Friars from two churches of the Franciscan order founded by the saint asked a laboratory specialising in dating artwork to examine two simple brown tunics said to have been worn by the champion of the poor, as well as a mortuary cushion.
Four Franciscan churches have claimed to house relics. The tests showed that one, in the Basilica of Cortona in Tuscany, did date from his lifetime, as did an embroidered cushion said to have come from his deathbed.
A second robe from Florence's Basilica of the Holy Cross did not match the dates, though the belt around it did.
Saint Francis of Assisi
Bunnypants Lies Some More
'I Do Tears'
Resident Bush told the author of a new book on his presidency that "I try not to wear my worries on my sleeve" or show anything less than steadfastness in public, especially in a time of war.
"I fully understand that the enemy watches me, the Iraqis are watching me, the troops watch me, and the people watch me," he said. Yet, he said, "I do tears."
"I've got God's shoulder to cry on. And I cry a lot. I do a lot of crying in this job. I'll bet I've shed more tears than you can count, as president. I'll shed some tomorrow."
"I wouldn't be president if I kept drinking. You get sloppy, can't make decisions, it clouds your reason, absolutely. I still remember the feeling of a hangover, even though I haven't had a drink in twenty years." He said he ate chocolate in the evenings after he swore off booze, because his body missed the sugar.
'I Do Tears'
Citrus Sodas Top Cola
Caffeine
Looking for a quick pick-me-up to get through a long afternoon? Forget that cola. A fizzy citrus drink could provide even more of a boost. A new study shows that citrus-flavored sodas often have a higher caffeine content than the most popular colas. The research also found that caffeine content can vary widely from brand to brand, and even within a brand.
While caffeine occurs naturally in some products, like coffee and tea, it's an additive in soft drinks. It is commonly sought out for its stimulatory effect, and beverage companies say the slightly bitter substance is also an element in their flavor formulas.
Caffeine content of well-known national brands include: Coca-Cola (33.9 milligrams), Diet Pepsi (36.7 milligrams), Pepsi (38.9 milligrams), Dr Pepper (42.6 milligrams), Diet Dr Pepper (44.1 milligrams), Diet Coke (46.3 milligrams), Mountain Dew (54.8 milligrams) and Diet Mountain Dew (55.2 milligrams).
Caffeine
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Aug. 27-Sept. 2. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (19) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 10.31 million viewers.
2. (77) "The Power of Ten" (Tuesday), CBS, 9.89 million viewers.
3. (15) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 9.09 million viewers.
4. (22) "CSI: NY," CBS, 8.9 million viewers.
5. (23) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 8.46 million viewers.
6. (71) "The Power of Ten" (Wednesday), CBS, 8.34 million viewers.
7. (88) "Big Brother 8" (Tuesday), CBS, 8.14 million viewers.
8. (11) "House," Fox, 7.95 million viewers.
9. (7) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 7.77 million viewers.
10. (43) "Rules of Engagement," CBS, 7.62 million viewers.
11. (19) "NCIS," CBS, 7.47 million viewers.
12. (81) "Just for Laughs," ABC, 7.19 million viewers.
13. (23) "Without a Trace," CBS, 6.76 million viewers.
14. (109) "Last Comic Standing," NBC, 6.49 million viewers.
15. (109) "Just for Laughs" (Tuesday), ABC, 6.48 million viewers.
16. (98) "48 Hours Mystery," CBS, 6.31 million viewers.
17. (88) "Big Brother" (Thursday), CBS, 6.212 million viewers.
18. (26) "Cold Case," CBS, 6.209 million viewers.
19. (27) "60 Minutes," CBS, 6.134 million viewers.
20. (98) "20/20" (Friday), ABC, 6.128 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Marcia Mae Jones
Marcia Mae Jones, who starred as a child in such films as "The Champ" and "Heidi" and maintained an adult career in television Westerns and sitcoms, died at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital Sunday. She was 83.
Although she never achieved the stardom of Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney, Jones played important roles in such films as "The Garden of Allah," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "These Three."
She started acting in films at age 2. Her son, Tim, said she was proud of the fact that she was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild at age 6.
Jones played teenage roles in such films as "Let's Go Collegiate" and "Secrets of a Co-Ed." As a grown-up, she acted in television sitcoms and in Westerns such as "Wild Bill Hickok." Her last major film appearance was in 1973's "The Way We Were."
She is survived by her sons, Tim and Robert Chic, two grandchildren and a brother, Joseph Jones of San Antonio Texas.
Marcia Mae Jones
In Memory
Miyoshi Umeki
Actress Miyoshi Umeki, who won an Oscar for her performance as the doomed wife of an American serviceman in "Sayonara" and later starred in the Broadway musical "Flower Drum Song," has died of cancer. She was 78.
The Japanese-born actress, the first Asian performer to win an Oscar, died Aug. 28 at Licking nursing home, said Michael Hood, her son.
In "Sayonara," the 1957 film version of James A. Michener's best-selling novel, she teamed with Red Buttons in a tragic subplot about a U.S. serviceman and local woman who fall in love in post-World War II Japan. They commit suicide rather than part when he is supposed to return to America.
Both won Oscars for their supporting roles, surprising fans to whom Umeki was unknown and Buttons was a television comedian.
Umeki also portrayed Mrs. Livingston, the housekeeper, in the ABC series, "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (1969-1972), which starred Bill Bixby and Brandon Cruz. In a 1969 Washington Post interview, Bixby called her "the best actress I've ever worked with."
Among her other movies were "Cry for Happy" (1961), "The Horizontal Lieutenant" (1962) and "A Girl Named Tamiko" (1962).
Umeki was born May 8, 1929, in Otaru, Japan. She sang on Japanese radio and television and in the mid-1950s, then left for the United States.
Umeki retired from show business in the early 1970s and moved to Licking, a small town in the Missouri Ozarks, in the 1990s to be closer to her family, her son said. Her second husband, Randall F. Hood, died in 1976.
Besides her son, Umeki is survived by two grandchildren.
Miyoshi Umeki
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