'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
The National Debt is $8.7 Trillion!
In Fiscal Year 2006, the U. S. Government spent $406 Billion of your money on interest payments* to the holders of the National Debt. Compare that to NASA at $15 Billion, Education at $61 Billion, and Department of Transportation at $56 Billion. So how do we fix this growing debt problem?
Bob Somerby: BARBERSHOP II-NOT THE MOVIE (dailyhowler.com)
It isn't surprising that there's a "man-in-the-street" who believes a string of things which are false. What's remarkable here is [NYT reporter Rachel] Swarns herself (and her editor), not that blathering barber. Remarkably, Swarns prints those counter-factual statements above the fold on page one of the Times, without making the slightest attempt to tell readers that the statements are factually false.
Terry Sawyer: Don't Mess With Texas: The Lone Star State Loses Its Greatest Spitfire (popmatters.com)
Molly Ivins was one of the world's most gifted bar stool philosophers, someone who effortlessly segued into the world of ideas from the sure-footed ground of details.
Kinky Friedman: Molly Ivins -- 'a truth-seeking missile' (latimes.com)
Columnist Molly Ivins was a feisty truth-teller unafraid to battle those who prevented a better world.
Charlie Brooker: I hate Macs (guardian.co.uk)
The current Apple Macintosh campaign starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, has taken over magazines, newspapers and the internet in a series of brutal coordinated attacks aimed at causing massive loss of resistance.
Richard A. Kaye: Bear-y gay (latimes.com)
A subculture of hefty, hirsute gay men is attracting the attention of academics and social critics.
A Quickie With Jane Lynch (afterellen.com)
On Hollywood, being sexually inappropriate, and Joyce Wischnia's love life.
Xena for (Gay) Boys (afterelton.com)
Why Xena: Warrior Princess is just as much a gay icon as a lesbian one.
Patrick Day: Red light? Green light (latimes.com)
Desire is the currency in this virtual world. Its operators see potential to make serious dough.
The Real McCain
Keith Olbermann: Special Comment
Reader Suggestion
Nature Picture
Here's a subject: for your nature pic at the end of the page
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and still summer-like.
Warmed all the way up to 3° (F) for dear old Dad.
All the 2007 Super Bowl Commercials
Added a new flag - Georgia 
(
Georgia - old flag)
Likes Dem Hopefuls
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand likes what she sees in the Democratic race for the presidency, so much so that she's giving money to three candidates.
Streisand, a friend and supporter of former President Clinton, has previously made contributions to the successful U.S. Senate campaigns of Clinton's wife, Hillary. This time, the actress said in a statement released Monday, she's giving money not only to the New York senator but to former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
"I'm very excited about the strength of the Democratic field for the 2008 presidential election, and I'm looking forward to a lively and healthy primary debate that discusses the key issues facing this country," Streisand wrote.
"Because I want to see the front-runners have the financial backing they need to be competitive during this process, I've decided to make the maximum allowable primary donation to Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama," Streisand said in the statement, adding, "As the conversation continues, I may make contributions to other candidates as well."
Barbra Streisand
Nominees Celebrate
Oscar Lunch
Talk about a power lunch. Chew on this: Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Will Smith and Penelope Cruz were just some of the 140 nominees chowing down Monday at the 26th annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon.
There were luminaries all around the International ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The contenders for the 79th Academy Awards celebrated their elite status together - cinematographers and costume designers, screenwriters and song writers, art directors and actors. They drank wine, broke bread, collected their nominee certificates and posed for the annual "class photo," all the honorees, side by side.
In addition to their certificates and official Oscar sweat shirts, the nominees were given tape recorders - each with a 45-second tape - to practice their acceptance speeches, Ziskin pointed out.
Oscar Lunch
Dispute Highlights Rule Problems
'NYT' Embed
A dispute between The New York Times and the Pentagon over publication of a photo of a wounded soldier in Iraq, who later died, is another reminder of how poorly many of the rules regarding embedded journalists in Iraq are structured and enforced, veteran embeds said Thursday.
"This is something that has gone on for some time and has caused problems in the past," said James Crawley, a Media General military reporter, former Iraq embed and president of Military Reporters and Editors. "Different commanders interpret the rules differently. One commander will interpret the rule one way while another will interpret them in the opposite way."
The renewed debate centers on the coverage by reporter Damien Cave of the New York Times and photographer Robert Nickelsberg of Getty Images, who was on assignment for the Times. The duo had been embedded with an Army unit in Iraq on Jan. 24 when Staff Sgt. Hector Leija was wounded.
Conflicting reports have said that the journalists were suspended from their embed privileges, although the Times, in a statement, has said they were not. As the dispute continues, the Times has agreed to write a letter to the soldier's family apologizing, although it claims the family had been notified of the death prior to any images being published or posted.
'NYT' Embed
17th Oscar Nomination
Randy Newman
Randy Newman has heard the conventional wisdom about the best original song competition in this year's Academy Awards: With three of the category's five nominations, "Dreamgirls" will split the vote, leaving the race between Newman's "Our Town," from "Cars," and Melissa Etheridge's "I Need To Wake Up" from the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
"I've heard that theory, but I don't necessarily subscribe to it," Newman told Billboard.com. "I think they'll give 'Dreamgirls' something."
That said, Newman will be at the February 25 ceremony, performing "Our Town" with James Taylor -- who sang it for the Disney/Pixar film -- and sitting in the audience when the winner's name is called.
It's Newman's 17th Oscar nod, having been nominated in the song and best original score categories for his work on "Ragtime," "The Natural," "Toy Story," "James and the Giant Peach," "A Bug's Life" and "Meet the Parents," among others. Newman won once, for the song "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc."
Randy Newman
Settle Trademark Squabble
Apple & Beatles
Apple Inc. has settled its long-running trademark dispute with The Beatles' company, Apple Corps Ltd, in a deal that could finally pave the way for the Fab Four's songs to be sold on the iTunes music store.
The two companies said Apple Inc. would now own all the trademarks related to "Apple" and would license certain trademarks back to Apple Corps for continued use.
The dispute centers around a 1991 trademark agreement between the two sides regarding the use of their respective apple-shaped logos. The music firm said that the computer company had violated the agreement by moving into the music business through its market-leading iTunes online store.
Apple & Beatles
Wedding News
Rothstein - Margera
Bam Margera - professional skateboarder, prankster and MTV star - just earned himself another title: husband. Margera, 27, who became a punk hero on the shows "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam," married childhood friend Missy Rothstein, 26, in downtown Philadelphia on Saturday.
Margera is making his path to marriage into a nine-part reality television series called "Bam's Unholy Union." The wedding itself will be shown in the final episode in early April.
The couple will honeymoon in Dubai.
Rothstein - Margera
Arrest Accounts Differ Sharply
Ryan O'Neal
Accounts of who started the altercation leading to Ryan O'Neal's weekend arrest for alleged assault differed sharply Monday, with O'Neal saying he was defending himself against an enraged son and the actor's daughter claiming her father was lying.
Sheriff's deputies arrested O'Neal early Saturday at his Malibu home for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm. He was booked and released on a $50,000 bond.
The incident happened after O'Neal arrived home after dinner with a group of friends, including his former girlfriend Farrah Fawcett, according to O'Neal's manager and a friend who attended the dinner. The group had been celebrating Fawcett's 60th birthday and that she was cancer-free after four months of treatment.
Ryan O'Neal
NYC Judge Blocks Ads
DirecTV
A U.S. judge Monday blocked DirecTV Group Inc. from airing advertisements in which Jessica Simpson and William Shatner say its high-definition television service provides better pictures than Time Warner Cable Inc.'s high-definition service.
DirecTV will still be allowed to use comparative advertising stating that its overall picture quality is superior to Time Warner Cable because evidence had not established that DirecTV's all-digital service as a whole was not superior to cable's mix of digital and analog, the judge said.
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Time Warner Cable was entitled to a preliminary ruling blocking the ads from being shown while a lawsuit proceeds through the Manhattan federal court.
DirecTV
New Species Found In Philippines
Mollusks
A French-led marine expedition team believes it has discovered thousands of new species of mollusks and crustaceans around a Philippine island, officials and scientists said Monday.
Some 80 scientists, technicians, students and volunteers from 19 countries surveyed the waters around Panglao island, 390 miles southeast of Manila from 2004-05.
"Numerous species were observed and photographed alive, many for the first time, and it is estimated that 150-250 of the crustaceans and 1,500-2,500 of the mollusks are new species," said a statement from the expedition team, which was led by Philippe Bouchet of the French National Museum of Natural History.
Mollusks
Paying $2MIn Boston Bomb Scare
Turner Broadcasting
Turner Broadcasting Systems and Interference Inc. have agreed to pay $2 million for a Cartoon Network advertising campaign that caused a widespread bomb scare, the attorney general said Monday.
The agreement with several state and local agencies resolves any potential civil or criminal claims against the companies, said Attorney General Martha Coakley.
More than three dozen blinking electronic signs with a boxy cartoon character giving an obscene hand gesture were found Wednesday in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville. The signs, part of a publicity campaign for Cartoon Network's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," also appeared in nine other big U.S. cities in recent weeks, with little interest.
Turner Broadcasting
In Memory
Barbara McNair
Singer Barbara McNair, who became a film and television star in an era when such opportunities were opening up for black women, has died, her sister said. She was 72.
McNair died Sunday after a battle with throat cancer in Los Angeles, sister Jacqueline Gaither said.
McNair made her Hollywood acting debut in 1968 in the film, "If He Hollers, Let Him Go!."
She later starred opposite Sydney Poitier in "They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!" and with Elvis Presley in "Change of Habit."
She hosted television's "The Barbara McNair Show," a musical and comedy program in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a singer, one of her biggest hits was "You Could Never Love Him."
Barbara McNair
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