Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Bruce is on vacation.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but brisk.
2012 Class Of Inductees
Rock Hall
Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Guns N' Roses.
The seminal rock band of the late 1980s and early '90s, best known for hits like "Welcome to the Jungle," ''Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain," leads the 2012 class of inductees announced on Wednesday. Also making the cut is the hip-hop trio Beastie Boys; rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro; Donovan; and influential British rock group The Small Faces/The Faces, which included Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
Nyro, who wrote such hits the 5th Dimension's "Wedding Bell Blues" and Blood Sweat & Tears' "And When I Die," is the only female act to make it this time around. The hall passed on Donna Summer, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Heart and Rufus with Chaka Khan, who were on the ballot for 2012.
But it wasn't just women who were denied entry into the rock hall for next year. Voters also passed on hip-hop pioneers Eric B. & Rakim, War, the Cure and the Spinners.
Other inductees include Freddie King for early influence; rock promoter Don Kirshner, who died earlier this year, receives the Ahmet Ertegun award; and Tom Dowd, Glyn Johns and Cosimo Matassa will be honored for musical excellence.
Rock Hall
Cannonball Experiment
'MythBusters'
Zany experiments testing scientific theories in real-world settings have earned the TV show "MythBusters" a devoted following, but a stunt gone awry met with an unhappy audience when an errant cannonball went shooting through a California family's bedroom.
Sheriff's deputies are still measuring how, exactly, the cannonball flew from a bomb range in the rolling hills flanking a suburban San Francisco Bay area neighborhood and rocketed into the front door of a home and through its master bedroom before landing in a neighbor's parked minivan.
Producers for the Discovery Channel show fired the cannonball Tuesday as they filmed an episode testing whether other types of projectiles shot from a cannon would pick up the same speed and have the same impact as the steel ball. Later, the team plans to film flying stone cannonballs at a rock quarry in Northern California.
Instead of hitting a string of water-filled garbage cans, however, the cannonball passed over the barrels, crashed straight through a protective cinderblock wall and careened off the hill behind it, said Alameda County Sheriff's Department spokesman J.D. Nelson.
'MythBusters'
Tried To Sponsor SC Presidential Primary
Stephen Colbert
Comedian Stephen Colbert tried yet again to get his name on South Carolina's presidential primary ballot - only this time he wanted to sponsor the Republican contest.
GOP officials in the state said they met with Colbert several times this fall to discuss a potential sponsorship of the first-in-the-South Republican primary. Colbert offered more than $100,000 to name the contest the "The Colbert Nation Super PAC Presidential Primary."
The Republican Party has been scrambling to raise nearly $800,000 needed for the primary, but they have said they will be able to do it. Also, several counties sued challenging the state's right to hold the primary at all, but last month the state Supreme Court green-lighted the balloting. GOP officials said that decision ended discussions with Colbert.
Colbert also sought naming rights for a debate several days before the Jan. 21 primary, but Fox News Channel holds the exclusive rights.
Stephen Colbert
Celebrity Monarchs Named
Mardi Gras
Rocker Bret Michaels and Grammy-winning singer Cyndi Lauper are among the celebrities heading to New Orleans for Carnival 2012.
Orpheus parade organizers named the pair as their celebrity monarchs Wednesday.
Mardi Gras is Feb. 21, but Orpheus is among the dozens of parade krewes rolling before Fat Tuesday.
Orpheus was founded in 1993 by actor and crooner Harry Connick Jr., who is from New Orleans. The star-studded parade is scheduled to roll the Monday night before Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras
Wedding News
Sinead O'Connor
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor will wed for the fourth time this week, choosing the occasion of her birthday to tie the knot, she said on her website on Wednesday.
"With enormous joy myself and my beloved boyfriend Barry Herridge will be getting married tomorrow, December 8th 2011, at 'an undisclosed location' in my absolute dream wedding ceremony," O'Connor said in a statement on the site.
The singer, who will turn 45-years-old on December 8, achieved worldwide success with her 1990 cover of Prince's song "Nothing Compares 2 U."
She married musician and long-time collaborator Steve Cooney in July 2010, but the relationship ended in divorce earlier this year. Her previous two marriages also ended in divorce.
Sinead O'Connor
Hospital News
Fernando Botero
Colombian sculptor and painter Fernando Botero has been released from a hospital. Both doctors and relatives say he's doing well.
Juan David Botero tells The Associated Press his brother went to a hospital because he felt ill due to a sudden change in altitude as he travelled from sea level to the city of Rionegro at about 7,000 feet (2,130 meters).
He says the 79-year-old artist now is doing "very well."
Dr. Juan Manuel Sierra says Botero was examined by internists, cardiologists and urgent care specialists after coming to his San Vicente Foundation clinic on Tuesday.
Fernando Botero
Personally Lobbying
Rupert
News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate) threw his weight behind Congress' attempt to restrict the Internet, personally lobbying leaders on Capitol Hill Wednesday for two measures that purport to combat piracy.
Murdoch's media empire is among some 350 large corporations that have come out in favor of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House, as well as the Protect IP Act in the Senate.
Both measures would require Internet operators to police activity online, and would mandate Internet giants like Google and AOL (the parent company of The Huffington Post and an opponent of the bills) and credit card companies to take down sites that have content deemed to be in violation of copyright rules.
The battle has pitted huge content generators like Disney and the motion picture industry against their online competitors, with each side reportedly spending some $90 million on lobbying efforts.
The personal intervention of Murdoch shows how high the stakes are. Sources confirmed to HuffPost that the media magnate was pushing for the two bills, and that he met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky Jelly.).
Rupert
Spied On Critic
Rupert
Newly disclosed evidence in Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal confirmed Wednesday that an outspoken critic of Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate) was put under surveillance by his now defunct tabloid the News of The World.
Lawmaker Tom Watson, who has led efforts to expose the extent of malpractice in Britain's newspaper industry, was followed for five days in 2009 by private investigator Derek Webb, a former police officer.
Law firm Linklaters, which represents the management and standards committee of Murdoch's News Corp., said in a letter sent to Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport committee - which is investigating phone hacking - that three employees of the tabloid were responsible for commissioning Webb to spy on the Labour Party legislator.
Linklaters also acknowledged that internal inquiries showed that the ex-chief executive of News International, Rebekah Brooks, had authorized a settlement in 2010 with celebrity publicist Max Clifford over the hacking of his phone.
Rupert
Presidential Race Coverage
Conflict Issues
Political consultant Dick Morris recently disclosed on Fox News Channel that some of the Republican presidential candidates that he talks about on the air have paid for advertisements in a newsletter he sends out to subscribers.
Columnist and ABC commentator George Will's wife works for Rick Perry. Fox host Greta Van Susteren's husband advised Herman Cain. NPR's Michele Norris left as host of "All Things Considered" in October because her husband began working for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
Such entanglements are laying bare the close ties between the media and political world during this campaign season while raising familiar questions: How much should consumers be clued in to preserve the sense that news organizations are acting independently? And what should journalists do to avoid the perception of a conflict?
There are no shortages of opinions on the topic and no one correct answer, though advocates for ethics in journalism tend to lean toward full disclosure of conflicts caused by relationships between politicians and on-air reporters or commentators.
Conflict Issues
Another Arrest
Phone Hacking
British police have arrested an 18th suspect in their investigation into phone hacking by the News of the World tabloid, the Rupert Murdoch-owned U.K. paper shut down earlier this year.
The 41-year-old man was held Wednesday on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voice mail messages and pervert the course of justice, London's Metropolitan Police said.
The man's name was not released, but media including Sky News - which is 39 percent owned by Murdoch's News Corp. - identified him as Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who was previously jailed for hacking into the voicemail messages of royal staff while working for the News of the World.
Only two people have been jailed for phone hacking - Mulcaire and News of the World reporter Clive Goodman, both in 2007.
After long maintaining that phone hacking at the News of the World was the work of a rogue reporter - Goodman - Murdoch shut down the tabloid in July after evidence emerged it had accessed the mobile phone voice mails of celebrities, politicians and even crime victims in its search for exclusives.
Phone Hacking
Rupert's Casting Couch
Sock Puppet
Add former Clinton adviser Dick Morris (R-Mmmmm, Toes) to the list of people who think that the Republican nomination is won on Fox News.
Morris, a Fox regular, appeared on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday morning to discuss the rise of Newt Gingrich in the race for the GOP nomination.
He pointed to a certain phenomenon he has noticed: "You don't win Iowa in Iowa. You win it on this couch. You win it on Fox News. You win it in the debates," Morris said.
Morris is far from the first person to make this judgment. There is a growing sentiment that a national "media primary" has subverted the traditional state-by-state primary system.
Sock Puppet
Panties In A Bunch
Gov. Goodhair
Rick Perry may be forgetful when it comes to stuff like which cabinet departments he'd like to eliminate, or the legal voting age in the United States, but when it comes to gay-bashing, the Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful is right on top of his game.
In a new ad, Perry -- outdoorsy in a casual jacket -- says, "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian. But you don't have to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military" -- a pause -- "but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school."
But the "I'm More Conservative Than My Opponents" ad continues, "As president, I'll end Obama's war on religion and I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again. I'm Rick Perry and I approved this message."
President Obama attends church, although he's not in the pew every Sunday. And, at this year's National Prayer Breakfast, he said: "When I wake in the morning, I wait on the Lord, and I ask him to give me the strength to do right by our country and its people. And when I go to bed at night, I wait on the Lord, and I ask him to forgive my sins and look after my family and the American people and make me an instrument of His will."
Gov. Goodhair
House Arrest
Anthony Borgese
Anthony Borgese, a character actor best known for playing criminal roles in "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos," has been sentenced to six months of house arrest for his role in arranging for a mob beating.
Borgese, who also goes by the stage name Tony Darrow, also will receive two years probation, Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for Brooklyn Federal Court, confirmed to TheWrap.
The 72-year old Borgese faced up to three years in jail after pleading guilty to enlisting a Gambino crime family associate to collect a $5,000 debt for him. The victim of the collection attempt broke his jaw and ribs.
In addition to his work as lounge owner Sonny Bunz in "Goodfellas" and a recurring role as crime family captain "Larry Boy" Barese in "The Sopranos," Borgese also played thuggish parts in "Sweet and Lowdown" and "Analyze This."
Anthony Borgese
What Climate Change?
Weather Disasters
America smashed the record for billion-dollar weather disasters this year with a deadly dozen, and counting.
With an almost biblical onslaught of twisters, floods, snow, drought, heat and wildfire, the U.S. in 2011 has seen more weather catastrophes that caused at least $1 billion in damage than it did in all of the 1980s, even after the dollar figures from back then are adjusted for inflation.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration added two disasters to the list Wednesday, bringing the total to 12. The two are wildfires in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona and the mid-June tornadoes and severe weather.
NOAA uses $1 billion as a benchmark for the worst weather disasters.
This year's total may not stop at 12. Officials are still adding up the damage from the Tropical Storm Lee and the pre-Halloween Northeast snowstorm, and so far each is at $750 million. And there's still nearly a month left in the year.
Weather Disasters
Many Companies Pay None
State Taxes
Many brand-name U.S. companies are using deductions, credits and other means to shave their state tax rates below zero percent, a study by a left-leaning think tank released on Wednesday found.
Dupont and Intel Corp. are among the Fortune 500 companies that paid no net state income tax between 2008 and 2010, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy.
The study of 265 corporations that publicly disclose their state and local income taxes in financial reports found they paid state taxes, on average, of 3 percent on U.S. profits over the three year period.
The statutory average state corporate tax rate tops 6 percent.
Sixty-eight of the companies reviewed paid no state taxes in at least one of the years studied, the report found.
State Taxes
Miss America Judge
Kris Jenner
Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner is on a panel of seven judges who will pick next year's Miss America during a pageant in January in Las Vegas.
Jenner, a star of cable reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," will join "Meet the Parents" actress Teri Polo and ABC's lifestyle anchor Lara Spencer on the panel announced Wednesday.
Also judging the pageant will be "Dancing With the Stars" dancer Mark Ballas, "The Bachelor" executive producer Mike Fleiss, "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" host Chris Powell and photographer Raul de Molina.
The pageant's finals are scheduled for Jan. 14 at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and will air live on ABC.
The pageant will be hosted by "The Bachelor" host Chris Harrison, who's at the start of a two-year deal hosting the competition.
Kris Jenner
Blocked By Iran Net Censor
U.S. "Virtual Embassy"
Iranian authorities blocked a website on Wednesday hours after it was launched by the U.S. State Department to be a "virtual embassy" reaching out to people in the Islamic Republic.
"In accordance with the cybercrime law, access to this website is not possible," read a notice to anyone inside Iran trying to visit iran.usembassy.gov.
The "Virtual Embassy Tehran" website -- which makes clear it does not offer consular services -- is an attempt by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to give Iranians a sympathetic view of the United States, which is referred to as "the Great Satan" by Tehran's ruling elite.
The United States has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since its embassy in Tehran was stormed in 1979 -- the year of the Islamic Revolution -- and its staff held hostage for 444 days.
The website was launched one week after British diplomats fled Iran after their embassy was stormed by radical youths, bringing Tehran's relations with Europe to a new low.
U.S. "Virtual Embassy"
In Memory
Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan never planned to be an actor, yet he spent 10 years on one of the top TV series of all time, made 50 films and appeared on Broadway. He became one of the best-known character actors in Hollywood. He was 96.
It was Morgan's portrayal of the fatherly Col. Sherman Potter on "M-A-S-H" for which Morgan became most famous, and he knew it.
"He was an imp," said Mike Farrell, who starred as B.J. Hunnicutt in "M-A-S-H" along with Morgan and Alan Alda. "As Alan once said, there's not an un-adorable bone in the man's body. He was full of fun, and he was smart as a whip."
Morgan died Wednesday at his Brentwood home after having pneumonia, his daughter-in-law, Beth Morgan, told AP.
Morgan appeared in mostly supporting roles on the big screen, playing opposite such stars as Henry Fonda, John Wayne, James Garner, Elvis Presley and Dan Aykroyd.
On television, he was more the comedic co-star, including roles on "December Bride," its spin-off "Pete and Gladys," as Sgt. Joe Friday's loyal partner in later "Dragnet" episodes and on CBS-TV's long-running "M-A-S-H" series, for which he earned an Emmy award in 1980.
Born in Detroit in 1915, Morgan was studying pre-law at the University of Chicago when public speaking classes sparked his interest in the stage. Before long, he was working with a little-theater group in Washington, D.C., followed by a two-year stint on Broadway in the original production of "Golden Boy," with Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb.
Morgan made his way to Hollywood in 1942 "without any assurance that I would find work," he said in a 1976 interview with The Associated Press.
One of his earliest films was "The Ox Bow Incident" in 1943 with Fonda. Other films included: "High Noon," ''What Price Glory," ''Support Your Local Sheriff," ''The Apple Dumpling Gang" and "The Shootist."
Morgan began his television career in 1954 when the medium was in its infancy.
In "December Bride," his first TV series, Morgan played Pete Porter, a perpetually henpecked neighbor. The CBS series lasted from 1954-1959, when he went on to star in his own series, "Pete and Gladys," a spinoff of "December Bride."
Demonstrating his diversity as a character actor and comedian, Morgan also starred in "The Richard Boone Show," ''Kentucky Jones" and "Dragnet."
His acting career didn't stop after the "M-A-S-H" left the air in 1983 after 11 years -- one of television's most successful primetime runs. Morgan went on to appear in several made-for-TV movies and other television series, such as "AfterMASH" and "Blacke's Magic."
When he was not on the set, Morgan enjoyed reading books about the legal profession and poetry. He also liked horses, which he once raised on his Northern California ranch.
Morgan is survived by three sons, Charles, Paul and Christopher; eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Harry Morgan
In Memory
Dobie Gray
Dobie Gray was more than a smooth balladeer who recorded the timeless hit "Drift Away" in 1973.
He wrote songs for an array of country and pop performers, was a trailblazing entertainer in South Africa and, in death, a philanthropist.
Gray died in his sleep at his Nashville home Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.
"Drift Away" also was recorded by rap artist Uncle Kracker in 2003 and became a hit again.
Gray's silky tenor also was heard on other hits including "The In Crowd" in 1965 and "Loving Arms" in 1973. His songs received radio airplay on several formats including Top 40, country, AOR and adult contemporary.
"He had such a unique style, so identifiable," said Bud Reneau, Gray's close friend and songwriting partner. "If you listened to his record, you knew right away it was him. It was a big factor in his marketability."
Gray toured extensively in Europe, Australia and Africa, and insisted on performing for integrated audiences in South Africa, according to his web site. After that declaration, he became especially popular in South Africa.
He wrote songs recorded by Ray Charles, Johnny Mathis, Etta James, Three Dog Night, Julio Iglesias, John Denver, George Jones and Tammy Wynette.
Gray sang on several motion picture soundtracks including "Uptown Saturday Night," ''Out of Sight" and "Casey's Shadow." Additionally, he sang advertising jingles for companies such as Clorox, Budweiser, Hardee's, Honda and Buick.
Gray was born into a family of sharecroppers in Simonton, Texas. He moved from Texas to California in the early 1960s where he met Sonny Bono, then an executive with Specialty Records. This led to his first record, "Look at Me," in 1963. While in Los Angeles, Gray appeared in a production of "Hair."
Funeral arrangements were incomplete. He was not married and had no children.
Reneau said Gray willed much of his property and future earnings to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Dobie Gray
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