'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Nat Hentoff: Consider the Constitutions of Obama and McCain as You Choose Sides (villagevoice.com)
On the blessed day when George W. Bush leaves office, he will have left behind a largely hidden parallel government within this nation, a rogue apparatus that allows a President to be the law, with a holy patriotic mission to ignore the Congress and the courts when decisive action is needed.
Christopher Middleton: Drawing on real life (telegraph.co.uk)
Lauren Child, best-selling author of "Charlie and Lola," is working with UNESCO to help the world's street children.
Patricia Zohn: My Sneaky Uncle, A Soon-To-Be-Hot Young Writers Collaborative Debuts (huffingtonpost.com)
Do not imagine for one second that your favorite author just rolled out of bed one morning in a fit of invention and wrote that book you love. Chances are, years of torture are behind every, single word.
Annalee Newitz: Three Myths About the Internet That Refuse to Die
The Internet will not magically bring the world together; nor is it likely to destroy us.
Tony Romm: Why Would a Virus Look at Kiddie Porn? (slate.com)
MALICIOUS CODE THAT MAKES YOUR COMPUTER VISIT ILLEGAL WEB SITES.
Garrison Keillor: Obama sure walks the talk
Hot night, New York: a little breeze in the trees in the deep stone canyons as I look out my window, thousands of little lighted windows of private lives, one of which is mine. I'm reminded of this by the fact that a hundred feet away, a man stands at a window looking through binoculars that seem to be trained precisely on me-I feel (slightly) honored by his attention.
Ted Rall: OOPS NATION
Tens of thousands of innocent detainees have passed through Guantánamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib, Diego Garcia and other U.S. torture facilities. Thousands remain "disappeared," possibly murdered. Some may be on one of the Navy vessels recently revealed to have been repurposed as prison ships. Dozens have been beaten to death or killed by willful medical neglect.
MICHAEL ABERNETHY: "QUEER, ISN'T IT?: Saying It With Pride" (popmatters.com)
From Tammy Faye to Rick Santorum, hoodia to herpes treatments, this is a hodge-podge of Pride Month-induced thoughts.
Kate Goldsworthy: Lesbian Activists the First to Wed (curvemag.com)
San Francisco City Hall was flooded with gay and lesbian couples ready to tie the knot ... exactly 30 days after the ban on same-sex marriages was lifted.
San Francisco: Marriage Equality in Pictures (advocate.com)
Take a look at the first day of marriage equality in the city where it all began.
Michael Jensen: Interview with George Takei and Brad Altman (afterelton.com)
The Star Trek star and his longtime partner discuss their upcoming wedding, what they're doing to keep gay marriage legal, Howard Stern, and more!
Brent Hartinger: Neil Patrick Harris Lets it all Hang Out (afterelton.com)
Lately Neil Patrick Harris has been speaking his mind.
A: Charcoal Etchings
Purple Gene Reviews
# 1 WORST EVER COVER SONG
Reader Comment
Cindy Sheehan
Hi Marty,
I am listening to the Mike Malloy show on Sirius Satellite Radio. His guest is Cindy Sheehan (remember her)? She is saying that she has been under virtual attack from the right for the last two years, and cannot get any publicity for her campaign. do you know anything about this perchance? I have always felt for Cindy because of her loss of her son, and of course I would back her as I am so antiwar... She is really sounding sharp on the show as well.
IAC, thought I'd check with you about this - very interesting, huh?
Sally P
PS: I mean, Pelosi is USELESS as far as I am concerned...
Click here: Cindy Sheehan For Congress
Thanks, Sally!
I think Nancy Pelosi's problem is that she's cornered the Botox market, and it's seeped in too far.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not as hot, but still uncomfortable.
In all of the George Carlin tributes, not one has mentioned his stint as 'Mr. Conductor' on Shining Time Station.
PBSs Shining Time Station had the continuing tales of the British-produced Thomas The Tank Engine.
The first 'Mr. Conductor' was Ringo Starr, and he was later replaced George Carlin. Mr. Conductor would introduce the Thomas segment, then narrate it.
It was the first TV program to hold the kid's interest. It didn't talk down to kids, and parents could watch it without gagging.
And as much as the kid loved Thomas, he loved Mr. Conductor more.
4 or 5 years later, as I was settling down to watch a Carlin special on HBO, the kid got out of bed and came into the living room.
He saw George Carlin and shrieked MR. CONDUCTOR!
Had to explain that this was the adult version of Mr. Conductor, but when he was older, yada, yada, yada.
We'd never had any trouble with him sneaking stuff - until he re-discovered Mr. Conductor and found his old specials rotating on HBO - and we get 8 HBOs.
The kid was busted when I went to use the DVR - and it was chock-full. Chock-full of George Carlin.
That's when I realized that having attended inner-city schools, there wasn't a word or phrase in any of Carlin's material the kid hadn't been exposed to by the 2nd grade.
So I welcomed him out of the TV-viewing closet to join me on the couch and watch Mr. Conductor on HBO.
It's been a standing date. Thank you, Mr. Conductor.
First Posthumous Mark Twain Honoree
George Carlin
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said on Monday it would go ahead with plans to present its Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to the late George Carlin, making him the first comedian so honored posthumously.
The Kennedy Center had only announced days before that Carlin was selected as the 11th recipient of its prestigious Mark Twain award, an honor bestowed annually at a black-tie gala televised on the Public Broadcasting Service network PBS.
After consulting with Carlin's family and PBS, the Kennedy Center decided to go forward with the ceremony as scheduled on November 10. The show, taped at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., will air on PBS at a date to be announced.
Last year's honoree was actor-comedian Billy Crystal. The first in 1998, was Richard Pryor, the only other recipient who is now deceased. Others have included Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Bob Newhart, Steve Martin, playwright Neil Simon and "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels.
George Carlin
Web Site Merging
International Herald Tribune
The New York Times Co plans to merge the International Herald Tribune website and non-U.S. coverage from The New York Times into a joint "international edition," according to an internal memo.
Aiming to improve advertising revenue and attract a larger global audience, the joint site will include internationally focused stories from the New York Times and from the International Herald Tribune, a European-focused, English-language paper owned by the Times.
The integrated site will be a "co-branded international homepage" that will replace the IHT news website and feature "internationally focused" news on business, culture, sports, luxury and travel.
International Herald Tribune
Photographer Documents All 189 of Them
Secret Satellites
For most people, photographing something that isn't there might be tough. Not so for Trevor Paglen.
His shots of 189 secret spy satellites are the subject of a new exhibit -- despite the fact that, officially speaking, the satellites don't exist. The Other Night Sky, on display at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum through September 14, is only a small selection from the 1,500 astrophotographs Paglen has taken thus far.
In taking these photos, Paglen is trying to draw a metaphorical connection between modern government secrecy and the doctrine of the Catholic Church in Galileo's time.
Satellites are just the latest in Paglen's photography of supposedly nonexistent subjects. To date, he's snapped haunting images of various military sites in the Nevada deserts, "torture taxis" (private planes that whisk people off to secret prisons without judicial oversight) and uniform patches from various top-secret military programs.
Secret Satellites
Anti-Gang Music Schools
Venezuela
Venezuela's youth orchestras and choirs have helped thousands of children resist thug life in some of South America's most violent slums, and now wealthy countries are lining up to emulate the system.
Last year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic named Venezuelan conductor and the classical music world's brightest star Gustavo Dudamel, 27, as its next director, shining a spotlight on the remarkable network of music schools in which he was trained.
About 300,000 Venezuelan children, many from deprived city barrios, others from distant Amazon towns, now choose violins and trombones over guns and drugs, proving Mozart and Berlioz can be as fresh as rap beats even to 21st century youths.
Dudamel, who grew up in a provincial city and started playing the violin at 10, joined the music school system a few years later to learn to conduct and at 18 he was already the national youth orchestra's music director.
Venezuela
Not Colorblind, Not Funny
Don Imus
Don Imus has once again injected race into his radio show. During an on-air conversation Monday about the arrests of suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones, Imus asked, "What color is he?"
Told by sports announcer Warner Wolf that Jones is "African-American," Imus responded: "There you go. Now we know."
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton issued a statement calling the exchange disturbing "because it plays into stereotypes." He says his National Action Network was still deciding how to respond.
Don Imus
Networks Join Fight Against Fine
'NYPD Blue'
More than three years after it went off the air, "NYPD Blue" is still at the center of a battle over broadcast indecency.
Fox, NBC, Telemundo and CBS on Friday filed a legal brief denouncing as unconstitutional the Federal Communications Commission's decision to fine ABC $1.2 million for airing a female derriere during a 2003 episode of the cop drama.
ABC paid the fine, and then appealed to New York's 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal, claiming the commission's decision is "arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the law."
The intervenor filing by the rival broadcasters claims the FCC's order "reveals various starkly unlawful and unconstitutional aspects" of an "expanding regime" bent on enforcing bans on "indecent" broadcasting.
'NYPD Blue'
Robbed In Brazil
Pele
Brazilian former soccer star Pele was robbed by a gun- and knife-wielding gang of youths when his chauffeur-driven car got stuck in traffic near Sao Paulo, a report in the weekly Veja newsmagazine said.
The 67-year-old sporting legend was forced to hand over a watch, a gold chain and a mobile telephone to the 10-strong gang that surrounded his car, the magazine said.
According to Veja, Pele yelled out "It's Pele!" to his assailants as they targeted his vehicle, hoping they would let him go. Instead they hit the car and ordered him to hand over his possessions.
Pele
Buys Movies.com
Fandango
Entertainment site Fandango.com said on Monday it bought Movies.com from the Walt Disney Co to expand its offering of movies reviews and celebrity news.
Fandango, part of No. 1 U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp, said the acquisition will help it expand the advertising it reaps from movie theaters, studios and other marketers.
Fandango, which also sells movie tickets online, said there was little overlap between the audiences of both sites. Fandango alone attracted 6.3 million monthly unique visitors in May, while Movies.com had 1.9 million visitors, according to Nielsen NetRatings data.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fandango
Denied U.S. Visa
Boy George
Culture Club frontman Boy George has been forced to cancel his North American summer tour after U.S. authorities refused to issue him a visa, citing looming legal issues overseas.
George's 24-date North American trek was scheduled to begin July 11 at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, and wrap August 23 at the House of Blues in Dallas.
"At the moment, Boy George cannot come to the United States of America because he has been refused permission to enter by the USA Administration," read a statement from the artist's management. "This is not in respect of anything he has done in the past but because he is facing a trial in November in London for something that happened in April last year."
George was arrested last year after a 28-year-old male escort from Norway accused the singer/DJ of false imprisonment and assault. George later denied the allegations and was released on bail.
Boy George
20 Years Ago
James Hansen
Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.
James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.
"We're toast if we don't get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance."
Burning fossil fuels like coal is the chief cause of man-made greenhouse gases. Hansen said the Earth's atmosphere has got to get back to a level of 350 parts of carbon dioxide per million. Last month, it was 10 percent higher: 386.7 parts per million.
James Hansen
Odysseus' Bloody Homecoming
April 16, 1178 B.C.
Using clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer, scholars think they have determined the date when King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and slaughtered a group of suitors who had been pressing his wife to marry one of them.
It was on April 16, 1178 B.C. that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York and Constantino Baikouzis of the Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, Argentina, acknowledge they had to make some assumptions to determine the date Odysseus returned to his kingdom of Ithaca.
But interpreting clues in Homer's "Odyssey" as references to the positions of stars and a total eclipse of the sun allowed them to determine when a particular set of conditions would have occurred.
April 16, 1178 B.C.
Saved By A Sports Bra
Jessica Bruinsma
An American hiker stranded in the Bavarian Alps for nearly three days was rescued after using her sports bra as a signal, police in southern Germany said Monday.
Berchtesgaden police officer Lorenz Rasp said that he helped lift 24-year-old Jessica Bruinsma of Colorado state to safety by helicopter on Thursday after she attracted the attention of lumberjacks by attaching her sports bra to a cable used to move timber down the mountain.
"She's a very smart girl, and she acted very resourcefully," said Rasp. "She kept her shirt and jacket for warmth, but thought the sports bra could work as a signal."
Jessica Bruinsma
In Memory
Dody Goodman
Dody Goodman, the delightfully daffy comedian known for her television appearances on Jack Paar's late-night talk show and as the mother on the soap-opera parody "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," has died at 93.
Goodman, with her pixyish appearance and Southern-tinged, quavery voice, had an eclectic show-business career. She moved easily from stage to television to movies, where she appeared in such popular films as "Grease" and "Grease 2," playing Blanche, the principal's assistant, and in "Splash."
It was on "The Tonight Show" when Paar was the late night TV program's second host in the late 1950s that Goodman first received national attention. Her quirky, off-kilter remarks inevitably got laughs and endeared audiences.
After a falling out with Paar, other chat shows took up the slack, including "The Merv Griffin Show" and "Girl Talk." And there were roles on TV series, too, most notably her appearances as Martha Shumway (Louise Lasser's mother) on "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," starting in 1976, and guest shots on such shows as "Diff'rent Strokes," "St. Elsewhere" and "Murder, She Wrote."
In later years, Goodman was a regular in "Nunsense" and its various sequels, appearing off-Broadway and on tour in Dan Goggin's comic musical celebration of the Little Sisters of Hoboken. She started out playing Sister Mary Amnesia, later graduating to the role of Mother Superior.
The actress was born Dolores Goodman on Oct. 28, 1914, in Columbus, Ohio, where her father ran a small cigar factory. She arrived in New York in the late 1930s to study dance at the School of American Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School, and later graduated to Broadway musicals.
The actress performed regularly on stage in the 1940s and early '50s as a chorus member in such musicals as "Something for the Boys," "One Touch of Venus," "Laffing Room Only," "Miss Liberty," "Call Me Madam," "My Darlin' Aida" and "Wonderful Town," in which she originated the role of Violet, the streetwalker.
Goodman, who never married, is survived by seven nieces and nephews, 11 great nieces and nephews and 15 great-great nieces and nephews, Adams said.
Dody Goodman
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