Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman's Column: No, We Can't? Or Won't? (New York Times)
If you were shocked by Friday's job report, if you thought we were doing well and were taken aback by the bad news, you haven't been paying attention. The fact is, the United States economy has been stuck in a rut for a year and a half.
Connie Schultz: If Only Poverty Made for Good TV (Creators Syndicate)
The FBI reports that 1,494 people younger than 18 were murdered in America in 2008.
Ray Fisman: Does Health Coverage Make People Healthier? (Slate)
A new study provides a compelling answer to the vexing question underlying the health care debate.
Matt Miller: Why are we defining democracy down?
Our leaders now act as if the highest achievement we can expect from self-government is to avert calamity. Once upon a time Americans could come together through government and create universal public education, build interstate highways, bring security to old age through Social Security and Medicare, and nurture the most dynamic economy on Earth.
Scott Burns: Mere Millionaires Need Not Apply (assetbuilder.com/)
Nurturing a secret fantasy of avoiding the indignity of work by winning the lottery? Then gird yourself. You're going to have to win really big. It has never cost more to be somewhat well off.
Does Diet Soda Make You Fat? (thestranger.com)
I have at least a few friends who, as part of trying to lose weight, drink diet soda constantly. Even after a few of them shifted from corn-syrup-packed regular soda to diet, their weight doesn't seem to budge. In fact, the fattest people I know happen to be the biggest diet soda drinkers. I think it's connected, drinking diet soda and being fat. Back me up, Science! Does drinking diet soda make you fat?
Nica's Dream
Stanley Crouch reviews David Kastin's new life of the European aristocrat who befriended Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk and became the "Jazz Baroness."
Henry Rollins: Now It's Dark, and I Am Real (LA Weekly)
If I were a doctor, I would prescribe that you addict yourself deeply and irrevocably to music and never, ever seek cure outside of more music. It really is the best drug available.
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'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but still no caterpillars.
New Allegations Besiege Evil Empire
Rupert
Rupert Murdoch's media empire was besieged Monday by accusations that two more of his British newspapers engaged in hacking, deception and privacy violations that included accessing former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's bank account information and stealing the medical records of his seriously ill baby son.
His reporters were also accused of paying Queen Elizabeth II's bodyguards for secret information about the monarch, potentially jeopardizing her safety.
In Britain, the scandal has cast a harsh light on the unparalleled political influence of Murdoch's collection of newspapers and is taking an increasing toll on Prime Minister David Cameron. The conservative leader's former communications chief, Andy Coulson, was arrested last week in connection with alleged payoffs to police when he was editor of News of the World.
Legal experts said Monday it is possible Murdoch's U.S. companies might face legal actions because of the shady practices at the News of the World, his now defunct British tabloid. In the U.S., Murdoch owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, among other holdings.
They said Murdoch's News Corp. might be liable to criminal prosecution under the 1977 Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, a broad act designed to prosecute executives who bribe foreign officials in exchange for large contracts.
Rupert
Cast Reunion At Comic-Con
"Batman"
Holy reunion, Batman! Or maybe we should say: Holy Batman reunion!
Cable station The Hub announced on Monday that Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar, stars of the 1960s ABC series "Batman," will gather for a panel at this year's Comic-Con convention.
The panel, which takes place on Friday, will commemorate the 45th anniversary of the series, which ran from 1966 to 1968 and is currently carried in reruns on The Hub.
On the series, which gave a campy twist to the superhero legend, West played Batman, while Ward portrayed his crime-fighting sidekick Robin and Newmar was one of three women to play Catwoman. (Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt also donned the Catwoman costume during the show's run.)
"Batman"
ESPN Classic
"Friday Night Lights"
"Friday Night Lights" may be wrapping up its critically acclaimed run on NBC and DirecTV on July 12, but the show about Texas football will live on courtesy of ESPN.
ESPN will air the entire series with episodes set to premiere on the same day the show goes off the air. Episodes one and two from season 1 will air back-to-back in primetime on ESPN at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. EDT.
The ESPN family will flood the zone with "Friday Night Lights" coverage, offering up a season 1 marathon on July 14 and 15 on ESPN Classic. Though the show will premiere on ESPN, sister network ESPN Classic and will become the series' home starting on July 21. It will air every Thursday night at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. EDT.
"Lights," a Peabody- and Emmy-winning series, was a big hit with critics but struggled in the ratings throughout its run. It managed to avoid cancellation after NBC brass struck a deal with DirecTV in 2008, in which the subscription satellite company got rights to broadcast the show first, in exchange for subsidizing its production costs.
"Friday Night Lights"
Baby News
Hudson - Bellamy
Kate Hudson is a mom again, and the father is another rocker.
Hudson's rep said Sunday that Hudson and fiance Matt Bellamy, singer with the British band Muse, are new parents.
Publicist Brad Cafarelli tells The Associated Press in an email that "Matthew and Kate welcomed a healthy baby boy" Saturday in Los Angeles.
The birth gives a brother to Hudson's other son, 7-year-old Ryder, whose father is Black Crowes lead singer Chris Robinson. And it means Hudson's mother Goldie Hawn is a grandmother again.
Hudson - Bellamy
Shareholders Sue
Rupert
A group of News Corp. shareholders have sued the media conglomerate over a phone-hacking scandal at its now-closed News of the World tabloid in London.
The lawsuit accuses News Corp. of large-scale governance failures surrounding the British hacking case. News of the World employees have been accused of hacking into the phone of a missing 13-year-old girl, who was later found murdered, as well as those of other crime victims.
The lawsuit was filed late Friday in Delaware Chancery Court by shareholders led by Amalgamated Bank. Several municipal and union pension funds joined in the lawsuit. The shareholders own less than 1 percent of News Corp.'s stock combined.
The lawsuit is part of an amended complaint that was filed this year. The shareholders are also challenging News Corp.'s acquisition of Shine Group Ltd., founded by the daughter of News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. The suit claims that Rupert Murdoch "habitually uses News Corp to enrich himself and his family members at the Company's and its public shareholders' expense."
Rupert
Conservative POV
Marriage Pledge
"THE FAMILY LEADER," a group run by failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, last week solicited GOP presidential candidates to sign a pledge attesting their support for traditional marriage, entitled "The Marriage Vow--A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family" as the first step in potentially earning their support for 2012. Social conservatives Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Crazy Eyes.) and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Man-on-Dog) quickly signed on.
But after the public had a chance to examine the complete document, outrage ensued over multiple provisions, including one that reportedly stated the following
Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President.
CNN reports that the language included a citation to a document entitled: "The Consequences of Marriage for African Americans: A Comprehensive Literature Review" from 2005.
Marriage Pledge
Man Can't Recall
Ed Sullivan Theater
The attorney for a man charged with smashing glass doors and breaking into the New York City theater where David Letterman tapes his television show says the man was drunk and doesn't recall the incident.
James Whittemore was arraigned Monday on burglary and criminal mischief charges. His lawyer says the 22-year-old "certainly didn't plan this" and doesn't even remember how he got to the Ed Sullivan Theater early Sunday.
A criminal court complaint says Whittemore used a metal stanchion to break several of the theater's glass doors. They say he did about $5,000 worth of damage at the closed theater. The complaint says pictures, fans, phones, and printers were among other items damaged.
CBS and production company Worldwide Pants said the "Late Show" set wasn't harmed.
Ed Sullivan Theater
Pharmacy Robbery Before Show
Michael Todd,
The bass player for a rock band has been arrested and charged with robbing a Massachusetts pharmacy of prescription painkillers just hours before a show.
Attleboro police say Michael Todd, bassist for Coheed and Cambria, entered the Walgreen's pharmacy after 1 p.m. on Sunday and showed the pharmacist a note on his phone saying he had a bomb.
Police say the 30-year-old Todd, of Anaheim, Calif., then made off with six bottles of Oxycontin and fled in a cab headed to the Comcast Center in Mansfield, where his band was to open for Soundgarden that night. He was arrested at the concert hall before the show, and the band played without him.
The band's website says the tour will continue.
Michael Todd,
Shootings Cover Up
New Orleans
A former police detective testified Monday that he participated in a plot to fabricate witnesses, falsify reports and plant a gun to make it seem police were justified in shooting unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.
Jeffrey Lehrmann, a government witness in the federal trial of five current or former officers, said he saw Sgt. Arthur "Archie" Kaufman retrieve a gun from his home several weeks after the deadly shootings on the Danziger Bridge. Kaufman later turned the gun in as evidence, claiming he found it under the bridge a day after the 2005 shootings that left two people dead and four others wounded.
Lehrmann said Kaufman instructed him to fill out paperwork that claimed the gun belonged to Lance Madison, whose mentally disabled brother, Ronald, was shot and killed on the bridge. Lance Madison was arrested on attempted murder charges and held for more than three weeks before a judge freed him.
Lehrmann said Kaufman, his supervisor, had grown concerned because the judge who freed Madison didn't believe Kaufman's testimony at the hearing.
Lehrmann said Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen joined him and Kaufman when they drove to Kaufman's house to retrieve a gun. Kaufman emerged from his garage carrying the gun in a brown paper bag, calling it a "ham sandwich," Lehrmann said.
New Orleans
Army Limits Addictive Meds
New Rules
Faced with rising abuse of prescription drugs, the Army has limited how many painkillers a soldier can get at one time and is threatening disciplinary action for troops caught violating the restriction.
Army data requested by The Associated Press shows the number of soldiers referred for opiate abuse treatment has been growing steadily for at least a decade, a time when increasing numbers of troops have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat or training injuries that can cause chronic pain. The Veterans Administration says more than 50 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans report pain issues as they leave active duty military service.
The Army put limits on painkillers in November by restricting most Schedule II controlled substances, which include narcotics, opiates and amphetamines, to just 30-day prescriptions. Previously, some prescriptions had been available for 60 or 90 days and the average was 40 days. The policy makes an exception for medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and it affects anyone who fills a prescription at an Army hospital or pharmacy, including military spouses, children and retirees.
In June, the Army followed with a policy that soldiers found using the restricted drugs six months after they were prescribed could be disciplined, too. The force carries out random drug tests among active duty soldiers.
New Rules
Moving To Dallas
Ex-Fox Personality
Former Fox "News" Channel personality Glenn Beck is bound for Texas.
Beck said Monday that he's relocating his family to Dallas, where his media company is building a new television and radio studio.
Beck is starting a new online network, GBTV, on which he will beam a two-hour program each evening starting in late summer. He's continuing his syndicated radio show.
The president of Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts, says the move doesn't mean the company will be abandoning its studio and offices in New York.
Ex-Fox Personality
In Memory
Ramona Hahn
Monday, family and friends mourned the death of Ramona Hahn, the matriarch of a prominent Los Angeles political family.
Hahn was the wife of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn (D-Good Guy), who passed away in 1997.
Ramona Hahn was the mother of former L.A. Mayor James Hahn and L.A. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.
Ramona Hahn was 86.
Her death comes a day before a special election in which Janice Hahn hopes to win a U.S. House of Representatives seat in the South Bay's 36th District.
Ramona Hahn
In Memory
Sam Denoff
Emmy-winning writer Sam Denoff, who wrote for TV's "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and helped create the Marlo Thomas comedy "That Girl," has died in Los Angeles at 83.
Denoff's son Douglas tells the Los Angeles Times that his father, who had Alzheimer's disease, died Friday at home in Brentwood.
Denoff and writing partner Bill Persky had written for Steve Allen and Andy Williams television shows as well as the series "McHale's Navy" when they sold a script for "The Dick Van Dyke Show," which ran on CBS from 1961 to 1966. Persky and Denoff went on to share two Emmys for that series.
Sam Denoff
In Memory
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