The Weekly Poll
The New Question
This week's poll:
Unisex Selective Service Registration
OK, Poll-Fans, here it is...
Senator Barack Obama has gone on record that females aged 18-25 be required to register with the Selective Service as males in that age group are required by law to do.
He also is in favor of opening up all 'Combat Arms' positions that women are not currently not allowed to participate in... Candidates differ on female draft
Are you in favor or opposed to these positions?
BadtotheboneBob
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob (BCEpoll (at) aol.com)
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Baby-Sitting the Economy (Recycled from Slate.com)
The baby-sitting co-op that went bust teaches us something that could save the world.
Philip Pullman: If Mozart can write three symphonies in 42 days, why are the police so slow? (guardian.co.uk)
People can do complex, extraordinary, profoundly difficult things in 42 days or less. Six weeks is a long time.
42 WRITERS FOR LIBERTY
Welcome to the 42 Writers for Liberty website, part of Liberty's urgent campaign, Charge or Release. The campaign opposes the [British] Government's current proposals to extend pre-charge detention in terrorism cases from 28 to 42 days.
Alan Cumming: Why Is America So Content With Mediocrity? (huffingtonpost.com)
I truly think that some Americans are comforted by mediocrity. Even those who have been battered the most by the last eight years can be reticent to the idea of change, because they are told to fear it.
Michele Hanson: A video sex guide by the WI? What perfect timing. It's good exercise, it keeps you warm and it's free (guardian.co.uk)
The Women's Institute (WI) has released a video sex guide that provides advice on how to perk up your sex life. What a fabulous idea, and what perfect timing. Here we are, fuel and transport bills soaring, on the brink of recession, the cost of gym membership prohibitive, pensions shrinking: sex is the only free, warming and fun pastime available to many of us. And such good exercise. Apparently doing it fairly energetically uses up the number of calories in a slice of chocolate cake. Have sex, eat cakes and stay slim. That employs the baking skills as well.
Chris Riemenschneider: Brendan Canning explains Broken Social Scene's splintered but still very together existence (Star Tribune)
It's not the most conventional band there ever was. But at the same time, it's not that hard to figure out.'
Glenn Gamboa: With 'Honey,' life is sweet for Lucinda Williams (Newsday)
Lucinda Williams isn't exactly sure what's going on, but she knows it's good.
Jordan Levin: Bajofondo takes its global tango sound around the world (McClatchy Newspapers)
Argentine composer and producer Gustavo Santaolalla is a boundary-leaping kind of guy in just about every way you could (and some you couldn't) imagine. But taking his global tango group Bajofondo to South Korea and Japan is a cultural stretch even for this groundbreaking Latin rock producer (Juanes, Julieta Venegas, Cafe Tacuba) and Oscar-winning film composer ("Brokeback Mountain," "Babel").
Caroline Sullivan: 'I've always been the outsider' (guardian.co.uk)
She was a pop powerhouse whose songs lit up the 1980s. And now Cyndi Lauper is back - with a hot dance album and the same couldn't-give-a-hoot attitude.
Roger Ebert: I.O.U.S.A. (3 1/2 stars)
Of all the presidents in the last century, the only one who was able to achieve a balanced budget and produce a surplus was Bill Clinton. He did that by bravely raising taxes and cutting spending. Our current president, George W. Bush, is now finishing up eight years of throwing around money like a drunken sailor. His fellow conservatives, like Rush Limbaugh, like to talk about "tax and spend Democrats." But they seem to be "don't tax and spend even more Republicans."
YouTube: See I.O.U.S.A.
2-3. What bargain hunters enjoy. 6-22. What we all should be. 4-5. A written acknowledgment. 4-26. A day dream. 6-7. Such and nothing more. 2-11. A talon. 10-11. A bird. 19-28. A pigeon. 14-15. Opposed to less. F-7. Part of your head. 18-19. What this puzzle is. 23-30. A river in Russia. 22-23. An animal of prey. 1-32. To govern. 26-27. The close of a day. 33-34. An aromatic plant. 28-29. To elude. N-8. A fist. 30-31. The plural of is. 24-31. To agree with. 8-9. To cultivate. 3-12. Part of a ship. 12-13. A bar of wood or iron. 20-29. One. 16-17. What artists learn to do. 5-27. Exchanging. 20-21. Fastened. 9-25. To sink in mud. 24-25. Found on the seashore. 13-21. A boy. 10-18. The fibre of the gomuti palm.
, the Crossword puzzle enthusiast, noted:
Marty
I came across this tonight after watching the debate. It is almost not funny.
Run your mouse over all the objects in the room and on the windows and doors. When the cursor changes to the 'hand', click!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny and a bit cooler.
It was 'Back to School Night' at Poly High.
Not Happy With McPalin
Bon Jovi
Rocker and Democratic supporter Jon Bon Jovi on Wednesday became the latest musician to complain about Republican John McCain's presidential campaign using songs without the artists' approval.
Bon Jovi, who threw a $30,000-per-person, fund-raising dinner for Democrat Barack Obama at his New Jersey home in September, said he was surprised to hear that his band's song "Who Says You Can't Go Home" was used during rallies held by Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin this week.
"We wrote this song as a thank you to those who have supported us over the past 25 years. The song has since become a banner for our home state of New Jersey and the de facto theme song for our partnerships around the country to build homes and rebuild communities.
"Although we were not asked, we do not approve of their use of 'Home,'" Bon Jovi said in a statement to celebrity Web site TMZ.com.
Bon Jovi
Weekend Comedy Show On CNN
D.L. Hughley
News network CNN says Wednesday it's starting a Saturday night show with comedian D.L. Hughley. The show, tentatively titled "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" will air live 10 p.m. Saturdays and replay 24 hours later.
Moving swiftly to take advantage of the intense news period, CNN will debut the show on Oct. 25.
Hughley describes it as a news-oriented talk show - more like David Letterman and Jay Leno's program than Jon Stewart's.
D.L. Hughley
No On 8 PSA
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres has made a public service announcement urging California voters to oppose a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage.
DeGeneres married actress Portia de Rossi on Aug. 16, two months after the California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage took effect. In recent days, the popular talk show host has been criticized in the gay press for not giving money to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8 or otherwise lending her star presence to the cause.
She still hasn't made a campaign contribution, but on Tuesday she posted a video on her show's Web site. She said when she got married it was the happiest day of her life.
DeGeneres' mother, Betty, has given $700 to help defeat the initiative.
Ellen DeGeneres
Costly Stand Against Prop. 8
Father Geoffrey Farrow
A week ago, Father Geoffrey Farrow stood before his Roman Catholic parishioners in Fresno and delivered a sermon that placed him squarely at odds with his church over gay marriage.
With Proposition 8 on the November ballot, and his own bishop urging Central Valley priests to support its definition of traditional marriage, Farrow told congregants he felt obligated to break "a numbing silence" about church prejudice against homosexuals.
"How is marriage protected by intimidating gay and lesbian people into loveless and lonely lives?" he asked parishioners of the St. Paul Newman Center. "I am morally compelled to vote no on Proposition 8."
On Thursday, Fresno Bishop John T. Steinbock removed Farrow, 50, as pastor of the St. Paul Newman Center, which primarily serves students and faculty at Cal State Fresno.
The priest also was stripped of his salary and benefits, and ordered to stay away from all church communities he had served.
Father Geoffrey Farrow
Hospital News
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal fractured his spine in a fall two weeks ago and canceled an appearance scheduled Thursday at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library in Toledo, Ohio.
"I'm trying to grow a new vertebrae, which I believe tadpoles can do, but I'm not so sure about humans," the 83-year-old author joked in a telephone interview Wednesday from his home in Los Angeles.
Known for such novels as "Lincoln" and "Myra Breckinridge," Vidal said he fell while entering a restaurant in Los Angeles and was briefly hospitalized.
He said he wasn't wearing a brace or taking painkillers. When asked how long he would need to recuperate, Vidal responded, "I don't think about such things."
Gore Vidal
More Hospital News
Gale Harold
Gale Harold was in critical condition Wednesday after the "Desperate Housewives" actor crashed his motorcycle the day before, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Publicist Nancy Seltzer said Wednesday that Harold fractured his shoulder, and "Housewives" creator and executive producer Marc Cherry said he apparently has swelling on the brain but is expected to recover.
Selzer said no one else was injured, but did not provide further details on the Tuesday wreck, which was first reported by TMZ. The California Highway Patrol said it had no information about the accident.
Harold plays Jackson, the boyfriend of Terri Hatcher's character Susan Mayer on the ABC show. The character plays a pivotal role in the fifth season's eighth episode, a November sweeps installment which finds several Wisteria Lane residents trapped inside a nightclub fire.
Gale Harold
Paid For GOP Politicking
Taxpayers
The White House dispatched cabinet members and other agency officials to more than 300 events nationwide to help Republican candidates in the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections, according to a House of Representatives committee report.
Taxpayers paid for more than half of the events, the report said.
The draft report, issued Wednesday by California Rep. Henry Waxman , the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee , accuses the White House of requesting the travel to save money for the Republican congressional campaigns.
The administration also authorized mandatory political briefings for agency political appointees with the aim of helping Republican candidates, the report charges.
Taxpayers
Sued Over Antique Car
Jay Leno
The estate of a Macy's department store heir has sued U.S. comedian and car collector Jay Leno, saying a Manhattan garage stole the heir's 1931 Model J Duesenberg and illegally sold it to Leno in 2005.
Two antique cars owned by John Strauss -- the Duesenberg and a 1930 Rolls Royce -- were kept in Manhattan's Windsor Garage for 50 years until 2005, when the garage put them up for auction without Strauss's knowledge, according to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court.
The garage said it took possession of the cars because Strauss owed $29,000 in parking fees, the lawsuit says.
But the claim was a sham concocted to justify the sale of the vehicles, it says. The estate wants the cars returned and seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Jay Leno
Charged With Felony
Ryan O'Neal
Ryan O'Neal and his son, Redmond, have been charged with possession of methamphetamine in Malibu, California.
Both men are charged with felony drug possession, district attorney James Garrison said Wednesday. Redmond O'Neal, 23, also faces misdemeanor charges for possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of pepper spray.
The father and son were arrested Sept. 17 after deputies searched their Malibu home. The sweep was part of Redmond's probation; police said drugs were found on Redmond and in Ryan O'Neal's living area.
Ryan O'Neal
Shedding DVDs
Playboy
Playboy Enterprises Inc, which publishes the world's most widely read adult entertainment magazine, will stop making DVDs to save about $12 million a year, and focus on distributing its content online, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Shutting its DVD operations will cost 80 jobs and $2 million in restructuring charges, according to the filing on Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
With another $4 million taken against archival materials and a receivable, the company anticipates taking $6 million in charges against operating income for the third quarter ended September 30, which is expected to result in a net loss for the quarter.
Playboy
White House Stonewalling
Interrogation Probe
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the White House on Wednesday of withholding documents showing it authorized the CIA to use waterboarding and other tough interrogation tactics on suspected terrorists.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., was reacting to a report that two White House memos, in 2003 and 2004, gave the CIA written approval for using specific interrogation techniques on al-Qaida suspects. Those memos followed an earlier Justice Department opinion clearing the way for harsh interrogations so long as the methods did not cause intense pain similar to causing death or organ failure.
The existence of the White House memos was revealed in Wednesday's editions of The Washington Post.
"If White House documents exist that set the policy for the use of coercive techniques such as waterboarding, those documents have been kept from the committee," Rockefeller said in a statement. "That is unacceptable, and represents the latest example of the Bush administration withholding critical information from Congress and the American people in an attempt to limit our oversight of sensitive intelligence collection activities.
Interrogation Probe
Alabama
32 Cats
Five veterinary clinics in eastern Alabama received 32 surprises in the last week: Healthy cats in containers and carriers, along with notes from an anonymous donor saying she is dying from cancer.
The notes signed by "Miss R" beg the vets to find her pets new homes.
"My time is very, very short," the donor wrote. "There is not enough time to find homes for my children another way. I beg you not to let them die because I have to, please!"
Each cat's name, age, description and medical summary was written on its container. At least four other clinics received cats in Lee County, about 50 miles northeast of Montgomery.
32 Cats
Where's The Impeachment?
The Donald
Property mogul and diehard Republican Donald Trump told CNN on Wednesday that resident George W. Bush misled the US into the Iraq War and should have been impeached when the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006.
"I was surprised that she didn't do more in terms of Bush and going after Bush," Trump said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, referring to Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"It ... just seemed like she was going to really look to impeach Bush and get him out of office, which personally I think would have been a wonderful thing."
Trump, 62, said Bush misled the United States into waging war on Iraq, a much worse offense than a dalliance with a White House intern his predecessor Bill Clinton was impeached for in 1999.
The Donald
In Memory
Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti, a former big band trumpeter, arranger and composer who worked with Count Basie and Woody Herman and later composed the memorable themes for the movie "The Odd Couple" and the campy hit TV series "Batman," has died. He was 85.
Hefti died Saturday at his home in Toluca Lake, said his son, Paul. He did not know the cause of death, but said his father had been in good health.
Described as "one of the most influential big band arrangers of the 1940s and '50s" in "The Encyclopedia of Popular Music," Hefti turned his attention to composing for film and television in the 1960s.
Among his credits as a film composer are "Sex and the Single Girl," "Harlow" (one of his most famous tunes, "Girl Talk," came out of the score), "How to Murder Your Wife," "Boeing Boeing," "Duel at Diablo," "Barefoot in the Park," "A New Leaf," "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" and "The Odd Couple," whose theme he reprised for the 1970s TV series.
Hefti also gained wide notice for composing the energetic title theme for "Batman," the over-the-top 1966-68 superhero series that became an overnight sensation.
The son of a traveling salesman, Hefti was born Oct. 29, 1922, in Hastings, Neb. He began playing the trumpet at age 11.
Hefti, who was classified 4-F during World War II after being hit by a car in New York and breaking his pelvis, joined Woody Herman's band in 1944.
In 1945, Hefti married the Herman band's lead female vocalist, Frances Wayne. They remained married until her death in 1978.
In addition to his son Paul, a music composer, Hefti is survived by a brother, Joe; a sister, Pat Wacha; and three grandchildren.
Instead of flowers, Paul Hefti suggests that donations be made to Boys Town, or to the American Cancer Society. Both Hefti's wife and daughter, Dr. Marguerita Hefti, died of cancer.
Neal Hefti
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
