'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Suggestion
'Sunday, Bloody Sunday'
Interesting clip of Bush singing "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Emily Bazelon, Phillip Carter, and Dahlia Lithwick: Who We Torture, How, and Why: An Interactive Guide (slate.com)
An interactive primer on American interrogation.
Alan Wolfe: Why Conservatives Can't Govern (washingtonmonthly.com)
Search hard enough and you might find a pundit who believes what George W. Bush believes, which is that history will redeem his administration. But from just about everyone else, on the right as vehemently as on the left, the verdict has been rolling in: This administration, if not the worst in American history, will soon find itself in the final four. Even those who appeal to history's ultimate judgment halfheartedly acknowledge as much. One seeks tomorrow's vindication only in the context of today's dismal performance.
Playing politics with gay marriage - and our future (hillaryrodhamclinton2008)
"This is not a conservative administration," Hillary [Clinton] told supporters in New York this week. "There is nothing conservative about it. It is radical. It is upending. It is undermining our constitutional democracy."
Hillary Clinton: Speech (hillaryclinton.com)
As I travel around our state, I'm encouraged by the number of the people who come to my events who say they didn't support me last time and tell me that they are Republican, and I always say, "We're glad you're here. Welcome." And I also ask them, "Well, why are you here?" And they always say something like, "I didn't sign up for all of this." They didn't sign up for a government that interferes with personal, private, intimate relations. They didn't sign up for a government that's sending us into debt. They didn't sign up to be the largest debtors in the history of the world where we have to borrow $60 billion a month from China, Japan, and others. They didn't sign up for Terry Schiavo to be turned into a tragic, political problem.
Eugene Robinson: Stay the Course? What Course? (Washington Post)
Bush's stalwart ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is sorry if London police, conducting an anti-terrorist raid this month, shot and wounded an innocent man whose only "crime" was to come downstairs in his underwear to see who was breaking into his house. But not as sorry as Blair was after the London subway bombings, when commandos shot dead an innocent Brazilian electrician whom they mistook for a possible, potential, just-might-be terrorist.
Seth Stevenson: Mac Attack (slate.com)
Apple's mean-spirited new ad campaign.
Julie Myerson: Once I would have killed our dog to meet a writer (guardian.co.uk/)
I still feel like punching the air every time I see Andrew Motion
Sam Anderson: A Prairie Home Conundrum (slate.com)
The mysterious appeal of Garrison Keillor.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and pleasant.
No new flags.
Weekly Internet Show
Bill Maher
Earlier this month, comedian Bill Maher made his Internet programming debut with Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher, a 30-minute weekly TV-style show that airs on Amazon.com.
"It's kind of an odd choice because I'm not the most tech-savvy person in the world," said Maher, 50. "This is the future and I'm glad they're inviting me to lead the parade."
Maher talked with The Associated Press about the current political climate and where he thinks the country is heading.
For the interview - Bill Maher
Reporter Expulsions
Gitmo
The fallout from last week's expulsion of four journalists from Guantanamo Bay by military officials, who claimed the move was necessary to appease other media outlets seeking similar access, continued in recent days as newspapers from The New York Times to the Los Angeles Times raised concerns about the move.
In addition, journalism organizations such as the Society of Professional Journalists have weighed in on the reporter banishment, claiming the removal of journalists following the suicides of three detainees just a week ago was wrong.
"This is the sort of banana-republic intimidation of the press we sneer at when it occurs on other points on the globe," Charles N. Davis, co-chairman of SPJ's Freedom of Information Committee, said in a statement. "The American public deserves nothing less than knowing what's going on at Guantanamo."
Gitmo
Plagiarism Case Rejected
George Clooney
A French court dismissed a lawsuit against George Clooney and Warner Bros. filed by a screenwriter who alleged "Syriana" was plagiarized from her script, court officials said Monday.
Stephanie Vergniault had claimed the thriller borrowed "very largely" from a script she completed in 2002, but the judge said the two scripts were "obviously different."
He also noted that Vergniault, who was seeking $2.5 million in damages, failed to provide proof that she had sent her script to a Canadian company with close ties to Warner Bros., as she had claimed.
George Clooney
Buys Land For Laika Animation Studio
Phil Knight
Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight has purchased 30 acres of land south of Portland, Ore., to house a state-of-the-art campus for his burgeoning computer animation studio.
The future site, set to open in 2008, will house Laika Entertainment and its growing roster of talent and productions.
Laika Entertainment has two animated feature films in production under the supervision of director Henry Selick. It was a production entity on his Oscar-nominated animated film "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride."
In addition, Laika recently acquired the film rights to one of the U.K.'s current best-selling children's novels, writer-illustrator Alan Snow's "Here Be Monsters," and will develop it as an animated feature film.
Phil Knight
Another Adoption
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie says she and Brad Pitt, who have three children including a newborn daughter, are planning to adopt another child.
"Next, we'll adopt," Jolie tells CNN's Anderson Cooper in an interview to air Tuesday on "Anderson Cooper 360" (10 p.m. EDT).
"We don't know which - which country. But we're looking at different countries," the actress tells Cooper. "And we're - I'm just - it's gonna be the balance of what would be best for Mad and for Z right now. It's, you know, another boy, another girl, which country, which race would fit best with the kids."
Angelina Jolie
Recovering
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis was back working the phones for his annual Labor Day telethon as he recuperates on his boat in San Diego after heart surgery, his manager said Monday.
Lewis, 80, was released from a hospital Saturday after having surgery to insert a stent in an artery following a June 11 heart attack, his longtime manager Claudia Marghilano said.
Lewis, a Las Vegas-area resident, keeps a boat in San Diego harbor.
Jerry Lewis
Wedding News
Kidman - Urban
Nicole Kidman and fiance Keith Urban came home to Australia on Monday to be married, they said in a joint statement.
"We are very happy to be back in Australia," they said in a joint statement carried by Australian Associated Press. "We have come home to celebrate our wedding with our family and friends."
Australian media have widely speculated that Kidman, who will be 39 on Tuesday, and Urban, 38, will wed June 25 at a Catholic church in a northern Sydney suburb close to where Kidman, who was born in Hawaii, attended high school.
Kidman - Urban
Finances Center Of Trial
Michael Jackson
A year after Michael Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges, a lawsuit by a former associate is headed for a trial that will put Jackson's chaotic financial dealings in the spotlight.
The pop star is not expected in court but he will be seen through videotaped depositions.
Jackson is being sued by F. Marc Schaffel for $3.8 million in what Schaffel says are unrepaid loans and expenses, unpaid salary for work on a charity record and his share of proceeds from two TV specials that were produced to bolster Jackson's battered reputation after child molestation allegations surfaced.
Facts involved in Jackson's criminal trial last year are likely to be revisited when Schaffel testifies about his role in attending to the family of a boy who claimed he was molested by Jackson.
Michael Jackson
Departure Not Hurting 'Today'
Katie Couric
Katie who? In the measurements that mean the most to television executives - ratings and ad sales - NBC's "Today" show appears not to have suffered from the departure of Katie Couric, at least not yet.
"Today" beat second-place "Good Morning America" of ABC by an average of 1.3 million viewers in the two weeks following Couric's last show on May 31, according to Nielsen Media Research. The NBC show's margin of victory (5.85 million to 4.92 million) was tighter during Couric's last full week on the air.
NBC also says it has earned about $25 million more in "upfront" advertising sales for "Today" in the fall than it did last year at this time, when the morning show was facing a stiffer challenge from ABC.
Katie Couric
Files Defamation Suit
Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against a paparazzi photographer who accused the "Die Hard" actor of attacking him outside a restaurant.
Anthony Goodrich allegedly made "malicious, fabricated and defamatory statements" about a June 13 encounter as Willis entered the Los Angeles restaurant Koi, attorney Martin D. Singer said in the Superior Court suit.
Willis, 51, was entering the restaurant when he was confronted by Goodrich and other "stalker-paparazzi" flashing high-powered strobe lights, the suit said.
"Goodrich falsely stated that Willis stiff-armed Goodrich, shoved the photographer and pushed his camera into his face, causing injury to Goodrich's nose and teeth," the suit said, noting the allegations eventually wound up on the Internet.
Bruce Willis
$135 Million For Klimt Portrait
Ronald Lauder
Makeup magnate and fine art enthusiast Ronald Lauder has paid 135 million dollars, the highest known price ever paid for a painting, for a 1907 Gustav Klimt portrait.
The portait, "Adele Bloch-Bauer 1", a gold-encrusted image of the wife of a Jewish sugar industrialist, is considered a masterpiece of the Austrian Art Nouveau painter.
The painting was long the subject of a restitution battle between the Austrian government and a niece of Mrs. Bloch-Bauer who argued that it was seized along with four other Klimt paintings by the Nazis in World War II.
Lauder purchased the work for a New York gallery he founded five years ago, Neue Galerie, focused on German and Austrian decorative arts.
Ronald Lauder
Winners of the 2006 Video Awards
MuchMusic
Winners of the 2006 MuchMusic Video Awards:
Best video: Kardinal Offishall f. Ray Robinson - Everyday (Rudebwoy) (Black Jays/EMI)
Best director: Kardinal Offishall f. Ray Robinson - Everyday (Rudebwoy) (Black Jays/EMI)
Best post-production: The Trews - So She's Leaving (Bumstead Productions/SONY BMG)
Best cinematography: Buck 65 - Devil's Eyes (Warner Music)
Best pop video: Massari - Be Easy (Capital Prophet Records Inc.)
MuchLOUD best rock video: Nickelback - Photograph (EMI)
MuchVibe best rap video: Classified - No Mistakes (Half Life/Urbnet)
Best independent video: Metric - Poster of A Girl (Last Gang Records/Universal Music)
MuchMoreMusic award: Michael Buble - Save the Last Dance for Me (Warner Music)
Best French video: Stephanie Lapointe - La Mer (Musicor/Select)
Best international video u artist: Rihanna - S.O.S. (Rescue Me) (Island/Universal Music)
Best international video u group: Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends (Warner Music)
VideoFACT: Kardinal Offishall f. Ray Robinson - Everyday (Rudebwoy) (Black Jays/EMI)
People's Choice (voted by fans)
Favourite Canadian group: Simple Plan - Crazy
Favourite Canadian artist: City and Colour - Save Your Scissors
Favourite international group: Fall Out Boy - Dance Dance
Favourite international artist: Kelly Clarkson - Because of You
MuchMusic
In Memory
Arthur Franz
Arthur Franz, a veteran movie and television character actor, died Saturday of heart failure and emphysema, his daughter said. He was 86.
Franz appeared in the 1949 John Wayne film "Sands of Iwo Jima" and in 1951's "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man." He played alongside Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Davis, in the 1957 film "Hellcats of the Navy."
He also appeared on TV programs including "Perry Mason," "The Mod Squad" and "Rawhide."
Born in Perth Amboy, N.J., Franz developed an interest in acting while he was a teen. He started working in the theater in New York before moving to Los Angeles and taking film roles.
Arthur Franz
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