'Best of TBH Politoons'
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Erin Hart
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Happiest of Holidays to all.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jennifer James: A Call for Publicly Financed Elections (Yale Daily News. Posted on AlterNet.org)
Voters are fed up with Abramoff-style politics. Using public money to fund elections could help clean up corruption.
Mará Rose Williams: Nearly 3,000 flags recall troops' sacrifices (Kansas City Star)
For three years, in lieu of holiday lights, Joe Spector has filled the front lawn of his Overland Park home with American flags. Each 12-inch flag represents a service member killed in Iraq. ... "I've had to go to smaller flags this year to get them all in the front yard," Spector said. "And since we put them up, there have been probably 20 or 30 more killed," Spector said Sunday.
Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily: Children Pick Their Christmas Toys (Inter Press Service)
FALLUJAH, Dec 25 - Ahmed Ghazi has little reason to stock Christmas toys at his shop in Fallujah. He knows what children want these days. "It is best for us to import toys such as guns and tanks because they are most saleable in Iraq to little boys," Ghazi told IPS. "Children try to imitate what they see out of their windows." And there are particular imports for girls, too, he said. "Girls prefer crying dolls to others that dance or play music and songs."
Julie Hirschfeld Davis: Bush is bracing for new scrutiny (baltimoresun.com)
President Bush is bracing for what could be an onslaught of investigations by the new Democratic-led Congress by hiring lawyers to fill key White House posts and preparing to play defense on countless document requests and possible subpoenas.
Cara DeGette: Public Eye: The animation of James Dobson (csindy.com)
First it's gay animated sponges, now it's gay animated penguins, starring in what conservative radio host Michael Medved calls possibly "the darkest, most disturbing feature-length animated film ever offered by a major studio."
CHRIS DAVIS: Man in Back (memphisflyer.com)
Johnny Cash sideman Marshall Grant goes on the record with a new book and an exclusive Flyer interview.
RICHARD ROEPER: 'DREAMGIRLS' IS FLASHY, BRASSY, BIG -- BUT IT'S NOT THE YEAR'S BEST (suntimes.com)
"Dreamgirls" is a star-studded, finger-popping, whiz-bang adaptation of the Broadway hit. It's sure to have some audiences literally standing and cheering, and it's bound to garner multiple Oscar nominations. But it doesn't deserve to win in most categories. They're selling this as the shoo-in for best picture, and I am telling you I'm not buying.
Real money meets virtual reality (msnbc.msn.com)
Designers sell items in online world, but who legally owns their creations?
Jody Rosen: He Made the World Funky (slate.com)
An appreciation of James Brown.
Seth Stevenson: Ads We Hate (slate.com)
The worst commercials on television.
Glenn C. Altschuler: A famously open mind (boston.com)
William James smoked opium, befriended W.E.B. DuBois, and had a fling with the paranormal when such things were not done...
Reader Comment
Re: Gropenator's broken leg
Looks as though all those years on 'roids have weakened the old bones.
Terry C
NJ
Thanks, Terry!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Clear, cold and very windy.
Keeps Track
Iraq Coalition Casualty
When Michael White, a self-described "Joe Blow off the block," set up a Web site to track U.S. casualties in Iraq he never imagined it would become a leading resource on the subject.
The 50-year-old joins the traffic every morning to get to work as a software engineer at a firm outside Atlanta. He's never been to the Middle East, has no military training and speaks no Arabic.
But his "Iraq Coalition Casualty" site, which keeps a log of the dead and wounded among the military and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, gets a million hits a day on peak days and at least four million hits a month, White said.
It attracts analysts, journalists and defense departments as well as ordinary readers with its near real-time updates, statistics, and the names of casualties. Web audience measurement firm Hitwise calls it "one of the most visited non-partisan sites aimed at U.S. politics junkies."
White set up www.icasualties.org in May 2003 when the war was supposed to be winding down and says it flourished in part because of his obsessive desire to make the names, dates and places listed on the site as accurate as possible.
Iraq Coalition Casualty
Programs Not Interrupted
CBS
Unlike its network rivals, CBS News did not break into its programming for a special report on former President Ford's death, instead running a printed "crawl" at the bottom of the screen with the news.
CBS said Wednesday it is bringing Katie Couric home from an overseas vacation to anchor the "CBS Evening News" on Thursday and any ceremonies for Ford over the weekend.
In 2004, a CBS News producer was fired for breaking into "CSI: NY" for a special report on Yasser Arafat's death, which caused fans of that show to complain. In that case, specific instructions left to handle Arafat's death with a "crawl" were ignored.
On the East Coast, news of Ford's death broke during a rerun of David Letterman's "Late Show." In the West, a special report would have interrupted the end of an "NCIS" repeat.
CBS
Directing James Brown Biopic
Spike Lee
The late "Godfather of Soul" James Brown will rise again, on screen. Spike Lee has signed on to direct a feature film about the singer produced by Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment, Paramount Pictures announced Wednesday.
"It's an authorized biography done with the cooperation of Mr. Brown before his passing," Paramount spokeswoman Nancy Kirkpatrick said without further comment.
Lee will rewrite a draft by Jezz and John Henry Butterworth, the trade paper Daily Variety reported Wednesday. The script has been through several drafts since Steve Baigelman wrote the original. The movie could be in production by late 2007, Variety said.
Spike Lee
Big Screen Bound
'Naked Boys'
In the grand tradition of "Dreamgirls" and "Funny Girl," the long-running off-Broadway musical "Naked Boys Singing!" is coming to the big screen.
The bare posteriors of the 10-member cast are being preserved for posterity at Los Angeles' Hayworth Theater, where the gay-themed project is set to complete shooting this week.
Since opening at L.A.'s Celebration Theater in 1998 and moving to its current New York run the following year, the nudity-filled revue has played in more than 20 countries and toured theaters around the country -- and not without controversy. The Milwaukee Gay Arts Center production of the show, featuring such original songs as "I Beat My Meat," "Perky Little Porn Star" and "Nothin' but the Radio On," was closed by the local vice squad last year. Similar shutdowns occurred in 2004 in Atlanta and in 2003 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
'Naked Boys'
Piano Score Discovered In Salzburg
Mozart
A hitherto unknown piano score extremely likely to be by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been discovered in the composer's birthplace Salzburg, Austrian broadcaster ORF said.
The score's facsimile will be officially presented and played by clavichordist Florian Birsak on Friday, it said.
Some time ago, the archives of the city's episcopal office were offered unsigned keyboard works, including an "Allegro di Wolfgango Mozart". Detailed tests led experts to conclude that the piece was indeed written by the master, when he was between six and 10 years old.
A second score in the collection could also be by Mozart.
Mozart
Settles 'Payola' Lawsuit
Entercom
Entercom Communications Corp., one the largest broadcasters in the U.S., will pay $4.25 million to end Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation of gifts - or "payola" - given by record companies in exchange for air play, Spitzer said Wednesday.
A lawsuit filed by Spitzer's office in March claimed Entercom solicited payments from record labels and traded air time for promotional items, personal trips and other gifts.
Spitzer, the governor-elect, also charged that Entercom took payments from record labels to play their songs on the overnight programs "CD Preview" and "CD Challenge" in order to manipulate the music charts.
The attorney general's investigation focused on Entercom's activities from 1999 to 2006, spokesman Brad Maione said.
Entercom
In The Mail
Oscar Ballots
Nomination ballots for next year's Oscars were mailed to the 5,830 people who will decide the winners of the film world's most prestigious awards.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members must return their ballot papers to auditing giants PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5pm on Saturday January 13 ahead of the nomination announcement in Beverly Hills 10 days later.
A second round of ballots will be mailed out after the nomination announcement where Academy members will cast their decisive votes to determine the Oscar winners at next year's February 25 awards in Hollywood.
Oscar Ballots
Birth Bonus
Germany
Enticed by a generous German government aid program for newborn children that takes effect on January 1, expectant mothers are doing what they can to prolong their pregnancies until Monday.
Tips and warnings from doctors and midwives to pregnant women on how and whether it is safe to try to stave off their deliveries -- even by a few hours -- to make it to January 1 have filled newspapers and news broadcasts as the deadline looms.
While experts have warned pregnant women to refrain from medical intervention to delay births, they acknowledge there is an enormous financial incentive -- up to 25,200 euros (22,345 pounds) per year. They point out natural methods that might help.
Worried about Germany's shrinking population and a birth rate that fell to a post-war low in 2005, the government introduced a law in September to encourage working couples to have children. They made January 1, 2007 the cut-off date.
Germany
Lost In Houston
Luggage
Authorities were trying Tuesday to figure out how dozens of pieces of luggage belonging to air travelers ended up in a trash bin behind a Houston pet store. The store's owners discovered 60 to 70 pieces of luggage, which belonged to passengers of Continental Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways and U.S. Airways, and contacted the Harris County Sheriff's Department, according to Houston television station KRIV.
Mary Clark, a spokeswoman for Continental, told The Associated Press that some of the luggage belonged to passengers of international flights. She didn't know if the contents of the bags were stolen.
The luggage was found behind a Pet City store.
Luggage
Top 20 Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 18-24. 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) "NFL Postgame Show," CBS, 17.23 million viewers.
2. (11) "Deal Or No Deal," (Monday), NBC, 15.37 million viewers.
3. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 12.95 million viewers.
4. (X) "Identity," (Monday), NBC, 12.27 million viewers.
5. (6) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 12.15 million viewers.
6. (10) "CSI: NY," CBS, 12.14 million viewers.
7. (14) "NCIS," CBS, 10.92 million viewers.
8. (13) "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.86 million viewers.
9. (14) "Two And A Half Men," CBS, 10.7 million viewers.
10. (X) "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," CBS, 10.58 million viewers.
11. (21) "Shark," CBS, 10.26 million viewers.
12. (9) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 10.25 million viewers.
13. (17) "House," Fox, 10.11 million viewers.
14. (X) "Identity," (Thursday) NBC, 9.53 million viewers.
15. (4) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 9.14 million viewers.
16. (X) "I Want a Dog for Christmas," CBS, 8.89 million viewers.
17. (X) "Identity," (Wednesday) NBC, 8.76 million viewers.
18. (55) "Dateline NBC," (Wednesday), NBC, 8.64 million viewers.
19. (29) "The Unit," CBS, 8.61 million viewers.
20. (21) "Law And Order: SVU," NBC, 8.47 million viewers.
Ratings
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