Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Sanford Pinsker: You Can't Go Home Again, with Apologies to Thomas Wolfe (The Irascible Professor)
One of the few benefits of advancing age is perspective. For example, "back in the day," as emeritus professors like to put it, students gave the fish eye to questions about what they planned to do after graduation.
Kaili Joy Gray: This week in the War on Women (Daily Kos)
Indiana wants to force doctors to lie to their patients: …
Clarence Page: Black hopes vs. white anxiety
Race relations have undergone a curious flip-flop. Polls show blacks feel more optimistic about the nation's future than whites, despite the Great Recession that's giving everybody the blues.
Paul Krugman's Column: Medicare Saves Money (New York Times)
Every once in a while a politician comes up with an idea that's so bad, so wrongheaded, that you're almost grateful. For really bad ideas can help illustrate the extent to which policy discourse has gone off the rails.
Paul Krugman's Blog: Discretionary Truthiness Update (New York Times)
Politifact has now updated its work on the claim, universal on the right - and repeated often by Paul Ryan - that discretionary non-defense spending is up 80 percent under Obama. It's completely false.
Goldy: Stupid F**king Anti-Vaccine Hippies (The Stranger)
Our current epidemic of anti-vaccine hysteria kicked off in 1998, when former physician and researcher Andrew Wakefield published a controversial study in British medical journal the Lancet linking the MMR vaccine to the development of autism. I emphasize "former physician and researcher" because Wakefield lost his license to practice medicine after he was found guilty of serious medical misconduct and unethical research practices, as the BBC reported in 2010.
Clarence Page: She's just not that into to you. Really.
An Australian demographer has found a malady that makes some middle-aged men think they are more attractive to women than they actually are.
JF: Thomas Hardy Isn't Jane Austen; Get Over It (The Rumpus)
They hated the ending. I knew they would. They always hate the ending. "They" means my university students. "The ending" means the last chapters of Thomas Hardy's novel "Far From the Madding Crowd" (1874).
Anthony Esolen: Some Pig, Some Book (Wall Street Journal)
"The Story of Charlotte's Web" is Michael Sims's carefully researched and affectionate account of how E.B. White came to write one of the most acclaimed children's books of the twentieth century.
Roseanne Barr: 'Fame's a bitch. It's hard to handle and drives you nuts' (Guardian)
With a hit TV show, Roseanne Barr could get the best tables in the best restaurants. Never mind about the empty flattery, the nervous breakdowns and the feeling of being used for 10 years. But she's not bitter. Honest.
Roger Ebert: Review of "MIDNIGHT IN PARIS" (PG-13; 3 ½ stars)
This review contains spoilers. Oh, yes, it does, because I can't imagine a way to review "Midnight in Paris" without discussing the delightful fantasy at the heart of Woody Allen's new comedy.
Moira Macdonald: "Ewan McGregor: 'I just look for stories that grab me'" (The Seattle Times)
It's a rare experience, for an actor, to have the person he's portraying be present on a movie set. Ewan McGregor, in "Beginners," had an even more unusual experience: The man he was portraying was also the film's director and writer.
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'
BadtotheboneBob
Fallen Warriors
From the 'Despicable beyond Belief' File...
Reader Review
2nd Republican Debate
I watched the 2nd Republican Debate. To my mind, Romney was the winner. He seemed like the only serious candidate on the stage. Santorum struck me as particularly scattered and tight assed. Pawlenty struck me as weak -- and not just in his unwillingness to repeat his criticism of Romney to Romney's face. Bachmann, who's always underrated, was as poised and quick as she's ever been and sometimes a little scary. Herman Cain suffered from the presence of buzzy candidates and from a lack of new things to say. Gingrich didn't live up to his promise as the guy with the out-of-the-box ideas everyone else has to ponder. Paul remains an amusing un-electable crank.
MAM
Thanks, Marianne!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gray morning, sunny afternoon.
40 Years Later
Pentagon Papers
Call it the granddaddy of WikiLeaks. Four decades ago, a young defense analyst leaked a top-secret study packed with damaging revelations about America's conduct of the Vietnam War.
On Monday, that study, dubbed the Pentagon Papers, finally came out in complete form. It's a touchstone for whistleblowers everywhere and just the sort of leak that gives presidents fits to this day.
The documents show that almost from the opening lines, it was apparent that the authors knew they had produced a hornet's nest.
In his Jan. 15, 1969, confidential memorandum introducing the report to the defense chief, the chairman of the task force that produced the study hinted at the explosive nature of the contents. "Writing history, especially where it blends into current events, especially where that current event is Vietnam, is a treacherous exercise," Leslie H. Gelb wrote.
Asked by Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara to do an "encyclopedic and objective" study of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from World War II to 1967, the team of three dozen analysts pored over a trove of Pentagon, CIA and State Department documents with "ant-like diligence," he wrote.
Pentagon Papers
Renewed For Second Season
'The Killing'
AMC has ordered a second season of "The Killing," a serial drama based on a Danish series about the search for the killer of a teenage girl.
Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman star as Seattle homicide investigating the murder.
"The Killing" premiered to 2.7 million viewers April 3 and is averaging 2.2 million viewers so far this season. It ranks as AMC's second-highest-rated first-season drama after "The Walking Dead." Series creator Veena Sud ("Cold Case") will return as showrunner.
'The Killing'
Blu-ray In September
"Citizen Kane"
"Citizen Kane," frequently cited as the best American movie ever made, will premiere on Blu-ray on September 13 with a 70th anniversary collector's edition.
Orson Welles, who was 25 at the time, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in the tale of a controversial publishing tycoon, inspired by William Randolph Hearst. Nominated for nine Oscars, it won for original screenplay.
Warner Home Video is going back to the original nitrate for a hi-definition restoration in 4K resolution, and promising that this edition will present "Kane" in the highest quality yet. And there will plenty of new extras, too.
The collector's edition will come with a 48-page book part of which will be a 20-page reproduction of the original 1941 souvenir program, lobby cards plus facsimiles of memos and correspondence made during the movie's production.
The new edition will include all the extras from the DVD two-disc special edition, including the Academy Award-nominated documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane." It will also contain "RKO 281," the Emmy-winning HBO docudrama revolving around Hearst's efforts to stop the movie from being made. It starred James Cromwell as Hearst, and Liev Schrieber as Welles.
"Citizen Kane"
Ratings Tumble
'The Kardashians'
The Season 6 premiere of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" fell sharply from the launch of Season 5 as the Tonys and the NBA Finals siphoned off viewers.
The show averaged 2.5 million viewers on Sunday, down from the 4.7 million who turned out for the Season 5 premiere last August. The Season 5 finale drew 4.1 million in December.
Following at 10:30 p.m., the series debut of "Ice Loves Coco," following rapper-actor Ice-T and wife Coco Austin, drew just 1.3 million viewers.
'The Kardashians'
Salt Lake City Station Refuses To Air
Playboy Club
NBC's Salt Lake City affiliate has opted against airing the network's upcoming fall drama "The Playboy Club," citing objectionable content.
The Mormon-controlled KSL-TV said Monday that "Playboy Club," which stars Eddie Cibrian and Amber Heard in a 1960s-set club where crooners, mob bosses and politicians mingle among Chicago's elite, doesn't fit with its mission.
"The Playboy brand is known internationally," KSL president and CEO Mark Willes said in a statement. "Everyone is clear what it stands for. We want to be sure everyone is clear what the KSL brand stands for, which is completely inconsistent with the Playboy brand."
The station is owned by Deseret Media Companies -- which is controlled by the Church of Latter Day Saints -- whose mission is to "champion values that have been cherished by good people from diverse backgrounds for centuries."
Playboy Club
Producer Fights Extradition
Bruce Beresford-Redman
A reality show producer fighting extradition to stand trial on a charge he killed his wife in Mexico has introduced statements by his young daughter to contradict police witnesses and the theory his wife was killed in their hotel room.
Attorneys for Bruce Beresford-Redman claimed Monday in a court filing that Mexican authorities "rushed to judgment" to build a case against the former "Survivor" producer and that the aggravated homicide case against him is built on speculation and assumptions.
They are asking a federal judge to reject returning Beresford-Redman to Mexico to stand trial.
The 24-page filing includes statements by a therapist who has interviewed the couple's 6-year-old daughter and says the child didn't see their father hit her mother on an April 2010 vacation.
Bruce Beresford-Redman
Pleads Not Guilty
Lenny Dykstra
Former New York Mets star Lenny Dykstra pleaded not guilty to bankruptcy fraud charges on Monday and was ordered to stand trial on August 9.
Dykstra, best known for helping the Mets win the 1986 World Series, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in May, accused of stealing or destroying some $400,000 in property that was part of his bankruptcy case.
The 48-year-old former ballplayer faces unrelated charges in state court stemming from what Los Angeles County prosecutors say was a scheme to lease cars using phony business and credit information.
His accountant, 27-year-old Robert Hymers, and friend Christopher Gavanais, 30, were also charged in the state case.
Lenny Dykstra
Suit Filed
'Real Housewives of NJ'
A Chicago family says members of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" cast were real louts during a boozy trip to a Caribbean resort.
Yolanda Martinez and some of her relatives filed a lawsuit Monday in New York. They say Teresa Guidice from the "Bravo series" sprayed Champagne in Martinez' face, and then Guidice and others on the show beat up Martinez' son-in-law and his cousin Feb. 23 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Bravo declined to comment. A representative for series producers Sirens Media had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit says Martinez' son-in-law, Adolfo Arreola, and his cousin Jason Gomez quickly signed $25,000 settlements that also covered up to $12,000 in medical expenses. The suit says they agreed because they wanted to fly home, and they didn't cash the checks.
'Real Housewives of NJ'
Credit Card Suit Struck Down
Kardashians
A judge has thrown out a $75 million lawsuit filed against the Kardashian sisters after they yanked their endorsement of a prepaid debit card that was criticized for its high fees, saying the reality show stars had no duty to promote a product that might be considered unlawful.
The ruling issued June 7 by Fresno Superior Court Judge Jeff Hamilton states attorneys for Revenue Resource Group LLC hadn't sufficiently shown they could win their breach of contract case. The ruling also states the sisters could not sued for voicing concerns about the debit card because the claims would violate their First Amendment rights.
The Fresno-based company sued sisters Kim, Khloe and Kourtney in January, blaming them for heavy losses after the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" stars publicly severed ties with the company. A phone message for the company's attorney Nathan Miller was not immediately returned.
The sisters withdrew their support for the debit card three weeks after the product launched following a warning from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal that the card's fees were "predatory."
Kardashians
Warns Kids
Plaxico Burress
Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, a week after his release from prison on gun charges, pledged on Monday to preach against gun violence to the nation's children.
The 2008 Super Bowl star said the volunteer effort was the right move after serving nearly all of his 20-month sentence for weapons possession.
In November, 2008, Burress carried a gun into a Manhattan nightclub and accidentally shot himself in the leg.
"I paid a tremendous price for a bad decision," said Burress at a news conference organized by his partners in the effort, the National Urban League and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Plaxico Burress
Belgian Festival Bans Horse Meat
Morrissey
A Belgian music festival that has snared Sister Bliss, Primal Scream and Roger Daltrey reprising The Who's rock opera "Tommy", has taken prized horse-meat sausage off the menu to honour vegetarian Morrissey's first appearance.
Jan Cools, who heads the volunteer organisers behind the 10-day Lokerse Feesten in Flemish northern Belgium, told AFP on Thursday they tried for years to land former The Smiths frontman Morrissey and "when we got the booking, we decided to offer that day meat-free."
Morrissey did not ask for the gesture as a condition, he spelled out, but August 4, when the Manchester singer appears in Lokeren, will see food vendors ordered to remove their standard fare of sausage rolls and snails, to be replaced by vegetarian food only.
"Morrissey is a big vegetarian, it only seemed right to offer that because we were just so pleased to get him," Cools said.
Morrissey
In Memory
Laura Ziskin
Laura Ziskin, who produced the "Spider-Man" movie franchise among many other hits in a 35-year Hollywood career, has died. She was 61.
Ziskin, who fought a seven-year battle against breast cancer, died Sunday evening at her Santa Monica home, according to a statement from the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
Over a 35-year career, Ziskin was producer or executive producer of such crowd-pleasers as "No Way Out" with Kevin Costner, "Pretty Woman" with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and "As Good As It Gets," which won Academy Awards for Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.
She produced the three "Spider-Man" features and at the time of her death was working on a fourth, "The Amazing Spider-Man."
In the 1990s, Ziskin was president for five years of Fox 2000 Pictures, a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox that released more serious or quirky fare, including "Fight Club" and Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line," which was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
She also produced the Academy Awards telecasts in 2002 and 2007. She was the first woman to be solo producer of the show.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, Ziskin joined with other women in the entertainment industry and the media to form Stand Up to Cancer, a nonprofit organization that has raised some $200 million to fight the disease.
Born in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Ziskin studied filmmaking at the University of Southern California, wrote for game shows after graduating in 1973 and got her start in features as personal assistant to producer Jon Peters.
She is survived by her husband, screenwriter Alvin Sargent, and her daughter, Julia Barry.
Laura Ziskin
In Memory
Carl Gardner
Carl Gardner, original lead singer of the R&B group the Coasters, has died in Florida. He was 83.
Gardner's wife Veta says her husband died Sunday at a Port St. Lucie hospice following a long bout with congestive heart failure and vascular dementia.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the Coasters had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Their single "Yakety Yak" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 following its 1958 release. It also spent seven weeks as the number one rhythm and blues song.
Veta Gardner said of her husband, "He loved his singing. That was his whole life."
The group continues to perform. Carl Gardner Jr. has been the lead singer since his father retired in 2005.
Carl Gardner
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