'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Oil Nonbubble (nytimes.com)
Are speculators mainly responsible for high oil prices? And if they aren't, why have so many commentators insisted, year after year, that there's an oil bubble?
Jim Hightower: GOD AND OIL PRICES (jimhightower.com)
... I was not totally surprised to learn recently that a group of church folks have been holding a series of "pray-ins" at gas stations across the country. They gather in front of the pumps, clasp hands, and reverently beseech God to deliver us from these high prices. "God is the only one we can turn to at this point," says pray-in organizer Rocky Twyman. "Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it," he says. " The prices keep soaring and soaring."
BETH QUINN: Two new recruits in the battle of the bulge (recordonline.com)
And so it has come to this. Boot camp. Exercise boot camp. With a drill sergeant named Jim. Brenda Gilhooly and I are doing it together.
Brad Taylor Negron: My Mother (huffingtonpost.com)
Bruce highly recommends this essay. Mr. Negron really knows how to write.
Cheryl Saban: You Rock, Mom (huffingtonpost.com)
Mom, thank you for giving me life. Let me go on record to state unequivocally that you are a woman of worth and valor. You are precious to me, in every way.
Molly Magid Hoagland: These Are the Good Old Days (huffingtonpost.com)
But of course motherhood has its dark moments. After her death I read some decades-old journal entries; in one she berates herself for yelling so loud at five-year-old me that I was terrified, hands clapped over my ears--"I will never do that again" she vows guiltily. I don't remember that incident at all, nor any other episodes of scary yelling, and the fact that I don't is a great comfort to me in my worst moments as a mother.
The future of Buffy is in the cards (afterellen.com)
A new Buffy tarot will incorporate characters from the series, but also be a working tarot deck.
Malinda Lo: Interview With Zero Chou (afterellen.com)
Out director Zero Chou is one of the few openly lesbian filmmakers in the world, and the only one in Taiwan. Her first film, Splendid Float (2004), which was about drag queens, won three of Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, including Best Taiwanese Film of the Year. Her second film, Spider Lilies (2007), won the Berlinale Teddy Award for Best Queer Feature, and comes out on DVD in the United States on May 6.
Interview with Graham Norton (afterelton.com)
The host of the hit BBC America show talks about being gay in England.
For Sale - Bruce's Newest Book: "The Funniest People in Books, Volume 3: 250 Anecdotes"
A couple of screenplay writers rented a house with the proviso that the landlord would redecorate the house. Time passed, and it became apparent that the landlord was not go-ing to keep his promise. Therefore, the writers saw a lawyer, who drew up an agreement in which the landlord allowed the writers to redecorate the house any way they liked as long as they paid for the redecorating. Just before the writers moved out of the house, they painted every wall, every ceiling, and every floor-black.
Commentoon: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3590
Reader Suggestion
"Flame Warriors"
Really funny - dead on accurate from what I've seen...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Thick marine layer never burned off. Overcast, cool and pleasant.
Cannes Film Festival
Sean Penn
Sean Penn, 47, who heads the nine-strong jury that will award the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival opening this week, has seen his stock rise since the mid-1990s, with a best actor Oscar for 2003's "Mystic River" and three more Academy Award nominations.
Although his work behind the lens has been restricted to a handful of films, Penn won critical acclaim for his sensitive directorial performance on last year's moving drama "Into the Wild."
As Penn's career has flourished he has also become a vocal political activist, regularly enraging conservative pundits in the United States for his strident criticism of resident George W. Bush, who he has said should be impeached.
He was lambasted for visiting Iraq in December 2002, which came two months after he paid 56,000 dollars for an advertisement in the Washington Post protesting Bush's "War on Terror" and planned invasion of Iraq.
Sean Penn
His Own Spider
Neil Young
Iconic singer and songwriter Neil Young has had an honor bestowed upon him that is not received by many musicians -- his own spider.
An East Carolina University biologist, Jason Bond, discovered a new species of trapdoor spider and opted to call the arachnid after his favorite musician, Canadian Neil Young, naming it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.
Bond discovered the new spider species in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 2007. He said spiders in the trapdoor genus, who tend to live in burrows and build trap doors to seal off their living quarters, are distinguished from one species to the next on the basis of differences in genitalia.
Young is not the first musician to have a creature named after him. A species of beetle that looks as if it is wearing a tuxedo -- the whirligig beetle, or Orectochilus orbisonorum -- was named earlier this year after the late rock 'n' roll legend Roy Orbison and his widow Barbara.
Neil Young
Moving To NYC
'Ugly Betty'
Production of ABC's "Ugly Betty" is moving to New York. The announcement was made Monday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor David Paterson and ABC Studios President Mark Pedowitz. They say the show will take advantage of a 35 percent tax credit from the city and state when it makes the move from Los Angeles.
The comedy will be filmed in Manhattan and Queens. It is expected to create more than 200 full and part-time jobs.
"Law & Order," "30 Rock" and "Gossip Girl" are filmed in Manhattan.
'Ugly Betty'
Leads In Unsolicited Campaign Songs
Obama
Barack Obama is closing in on the Democratic nomination for president, but he clinched the race for the best campaign soundtrack long ago - no superdelegates needed.
John McCain and Hillary Clinton also have plenty of musical support in the first presidential election of the YouTube era. But from will.i.am's star-studded viral hit "Yes We Can" to amateur odes folk to Spanish-language tunes and even a Jamaican reggae tribute, Obama is the leader in what observers are calling a new form of political campaigning.
"Songs about candidates have really taken off," says Steve Grove, head of The YouTubes.com's news and politics division. "They've found a new way to support their candidates. ... it stretches from regular average voters all the way up to somebody like will.i.am in terms of being kind of like a new, broader trend in political video."
Obama
Artwork On Display In London
Bob Dylan
An exhibition of art by singer Bob Dylan is to go on display in London for the first time.
The show, opening at London's Halcyon Gallery next month, features drawing and sketches made by Dylan while on the road from 1989 to 1992.
"This is an incredible opportunity for viewing this powerful body of work which gives an insight into the artist's soul," Halcyon Gallery President Paul Green said of The Drawn Blank Series.
Bob Dylan
Hospital News
Roy Horn
Roy Horn, one-half of magician duo Siegried and Roy, underwent a knee operation Monday in Graz, southern Austria, and was doing well, his surgeon Peter Panzenboeck told a press conference.
His condition was, "given the circumstances, very satisfactory," said Panzenboeck, adding that recovery would take about 10 days.
A local newspaper reported Sunday that the German-born illusionist, who was attacked by one of his white Bengal tigers during a performance in Las Vegas in October 2003, was to receive a knee cartilage transplant.
Roy Horn
"Playing the Building"
David Byrne
Ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne plans to turn a landmark building in Manhattan into a giant musical instrument.
State officials say Byrne will create a temporary installation in the Great Hall of the Battery Maritime Building, which is next to the Whitehall Ferry Terminal.
The "Playing the Building" installation will include devices attached to ceiling beams, plumbing, electrical conduits and other parts of the structure. Sound will be produced through vibration, making the building function as an instrument.
David Byrne
Now A Teaching Tool
Wikipedia
Wikipedia, the upstart Internet encyclopedia that most universities forbid students to use, has suddenly become a teaching tool for professors.
Recently, university teachers have swapped student term papers for assignments to write entries for the free online encyclopedia.
Wikipedia is an "open-source" web site, which means that entries can be started or edited by anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
Writing for Wikipedia "seems like a much larger stage, more of a challenge," than a term paper, said professor Jon Beasley-Murray, who teaches Latin American literature at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Wikipedia
Another Dog & Pony Show
Bush Administration
The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.
Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the department's Office of Accountability and Transparency last year, and James Mattil, who worked as the chief of staff, told Senate Democrats on Monday that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored.
Brennan also alleges the State Department prevented a congressional aide visiting Baghdad from talking with staffers by insisting they were too busy. In reality, Brennan said, office members were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers. The staffers' workload had been cut dramatically because of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "evisceration" of Iraq's top anti-corruption office, he said.
The State Department's policies "not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government," Brennan told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
Bush Administration
Trial Delayed
Clear Channel
Talks are underway to settle a dispute over financing the $20 billion leveraged buyout of U.S. radio operator Clear Channel Communications Inc, the company said in a statement on Monday.
A trial over the case was delayed by a day in New York and hearings were postponed in Texas as the discussions went on.
Clear Channel struck the deal to be bought by private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital at the peak of the private equity boom last year. The market has changed drastically since then, with the cost of financing leveraged loans skyrocketing.
The deal descended into litigation this year when THL and Bain filed complaints in New York and Texas against six Wall Street banks -- Citigroup Inc, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and Wachovia Corp -- to enforce their agreement to fund the buyout.
Clear Channel
Granted Divorce Decree
Paul McCartney
Sometimes love isn't all you need. A judge in London granted a preliminary divorce Monday to former Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. If no one objects, the divorce will be final in six weeks.
Mills will retain custody of the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Beatrice. McCartney will retain the bulk of his fortune, estimated by the court at $880 million.
The split makes McCartney, at age 65, the last of The Beatles to get a divorce.
John Lennon left his first wife, Cynthia, for Yoko Ono. Ringo Starr and his first wife, Maureen, divorced after 10. And George Harrison's marriage to Patti Boyd ended after 11 years.
Paul McCartney
Life Extended
"Reaper"
The CW has picked up cult-favorite supernatural comedy-drama "Reaper" for a second season.
"Reaper" will return for 13 episodes midseason and will likely be paired with "Supernatural" on Thursday nights after "Smallville" concludes its run.
The network made the decision Monday, going down to the wire on whether to pick up the series before the CW's "upfront" presentation to advertisers the next day.
"Reaper"
Consider Dropping Paper Catalogs
Publishers
A publishing institution, faithfully mailed at least twice a year to thousands of stores and libraries for about as long as the industry has existed, may be on its way out: The paper catalog.
HarperCollins announced Monday that it was planning to make their listings of upcoming releases available only online, calling the current system both economically and environmentally indefensible.
Other major publishers are moving in a similar direction, including Penguin Group (USA) and Random House Inc.
According to HarperCollins, about 100,000 catalogs - a print run worthy of a best-selling novel - are sent for each publishing season: summer, winter and fall. Besides saving money and paper, online catalogs can be updated instantly to reflect changes in price and cover art and can include other media. The Harper catalogs will offer links to reviews, interviews, audio excerpts and promotional video.
Publishers
Copped In Claremont
Crystal Skull
A large crystal skull similar to those at the center of the upcoming Harrison Ford movie was recently stolen from a New Age store, puzzling employees in part because of the laid-back nature of shop regulars.
The skull, named Solar Ray by owner Don Marr, had been on loan at Kindred Spirits for about four months and went missing about two weeks ago. It had sat on an altar in the store's classroom area and was considered one of the shop's prized objects.
"He was on an altar, and he just enjoyed being here," said employee Kristen Nestor, who supervises the store's weekly crystal-reading classes. "He participated in our classes.
Marr filed a police report on the missing skull last week, but police have had no luck so far.
Crystal Skull
In Memory
Irena Sendler
Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who saved thousands of Jewish children during World War Two by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, died in the Polish capital on Monday after a long illness, local media said.
The web portal of Poland's leading daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, said Sendler, 98, died in Plocka Street hospital early on Monday. The hospital declined to comment on the report.
Using her position as a social worker, Sendler regularly entered the ghetto, smuggling around 2,500 children out in boxes, suitcases or hidden in trolleys.
The children were then placed with Polish families outside the ghetto, created by Nazi Germany in 1940 for the city's half a million strong Jewish population, and given new identities.
But in 1943 Sendler, who led the children' section of the Zegota organization which helped Jews during the war, was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo.
She only escaped execution when Zegota managed to bribe some Nazi officials, who left her unconscious but alive with broken legs and arms in the woods.
Sendler was honored with Israeli Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations medal in 1965 for her actions, and later made an honorary Israeli citizen.
Irena Sendler
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