Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Changing faces with a smile - Operation Smile (YouTube 3:21)
Operation Smile is an organization that offers cleft palate and lip cosmetic surgery to children around the world. Here's a video of one successful surgery on a little girl in Brazil. A day after the procedure, she looks at herself and is amazed at the results.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Fathers (Athens News)
Joe E. Brown once guest hosted on a daytime talk show. He interviewed a woman with four children and said, "That's your entire family, I suppose." She replied, "Hell, no there's a father, too."
Greg Thom: Graeme the cat gains rock-star status on the Hurstbridge line (Herald Sun, Australia)
Every morning the laid-back feline leaves home and saunters down to the platform on the Hurstbridge line to mix with travellers heading off to work.
List of exonerated death row inmates (Wikipedia)
This list contains names of people who were found guilty of capital crimes and placed on death row who were later found to be wrongly convicted. Some people were exonerated posthumously.
Marc Dion: Troy Davis (Creators Syndicate)
"The poorly educated, the usually intoxicated and the illegally medicated," was what an old cop friend of mine used to call the Monday morning crowd of defendants.
Susan Estrich: Real Change (Creators Syndicate)
Believe me, I know. I hear it every day. You had such high hopes for Barack Obama. For once, maybe the first time in years, you cared. You dared to believe. You really thought he could do it.
Mark Morford: How to make a creationist weep (SF Gate)
Do you want to know the real reason Barack Obama is going to win the 2012 election?
Andrew Tobias: What To Tell Friends Who May Still Be Demoralized
Had a single vote flipped in the 5-4 Florida recount decision, there would have been no war in Iraq, no trillion-dollar deficits, no near-Depression - and no Roberts or Alito to tilt the Court further right.
Paul Krugman: The Social Contract (New York Times)
This week President Obama said the obvious: that wealthy Americans, many of whom pay remarkably little in taxes, should bear part of the cost of reducing the long-run budget deficit. And Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan responded with shrieks of "class warfare."
Annie Lowrey: Who Is Warren Buffett's Secretary? (Slate)
Debbie Bosanek is not the talkative type, especially about tax reform.
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 Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and much cooler than PA.
Obama Fundraiser
Lady Gaga
Pop singer Lady Gaga was among the guests at a Silicon Valley fundraiser for President Barack Obama.
The intimate gathering was held under a tent in the yard of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg on Sunday night. Gaga wore a black, sleeveless gown and high heels, and with her hair piled up she towered over the Silicon Valley elites who were paying up to $35,800 per couple to attend.
Gaga attended as a paying guest. She said last week that she wanted to meet with Obama to discuss her concerns about bullying, but it wasn't clear whether the two would be having that discussion.
Lady Gaga
Man With An Opinion
Morgan Freeman
Don't look for Morgan Freeman at any Tea Party events anytime soon. Unless he's there to protest them.
The "Invictus" star condemns the Tea Party political movement as "a racist thing" for trying to oust Pres. Barack Obama from office on Friday's edition of "Piers Morgan Tonight."
"Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term," Freeman noted. "What underlines that? 'Screw the country. We're going to whatever we can to get this black man outta here.'"
Dismissing Morgan's suggestion that the Tea Party's motivations might be merely political, Freeman asserted, "It is a racist thing."
The actor went on to say that the Tea Party agenda "just shows the weak, dark, underside of America … We're supposed to be better than that."
Morgan Freeman
Broadway Musical Hits Pop Charts
"The Book of Mormon"
Last June, The Book of Mormon, the musical written by the creators of the raunchy hit cartoon series South Park on the US cable channel Comedy Central, won nine Tony Awards and the soundtrack raced up the Billboard pop chart to third, behind Adele and Lady Gaga.
This marked the first time since 1969, when the cast recording of Hair was in first for 13 weeks, that a Broadway musical was at the top of the Billboard pop charts, Billboard's associate director of charts, Keith Caulfield, told NPR, America's National Public Radio.
In the golden era of the Broadway musical during the 1950s and '60s, My Fair Lady was the biggest selling record of all time, while Hello Dolly! and Funny Girl were also at the top of the Billboard pop charts.
Co-written with one of the songwriters from the hit Avenue Q, the sold-out Book of Mormon also started selling albums. One of the creators of the show and South Park, Trey Parker, says the musical "treads the line between profane and sweet."
"The Book of Mormon"
"Call It A Day"
R.E.M
R.E.M, once dubbed "America's Best Rock & Roll Band," said on Wednesday they had decided to "call it a day" after more than 30 years of generating hits and selling millions of records.
Key members of the band, whose hits include "The One I Love" and "Losing My Religion," addressed fans in a posting on their website, thanking them for their loyalty and saying they have astonished even themselves with their accomplishments.
R.E.M was originally comprised of singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bass player Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry, who suffered a brain aneurysm during the band's 1995 "Monster" tour and subsequently left the group.
But even without Berry, the band continued to make records and tour. Overall, R.E.M. have released 15 albums since breaking through the ranks of rock acts in the early 1980s when they became a sensation on the U.S. college circuit singing their hit "Radio Free Europe."
R.E.M
Anti-Segregation Contract Sells
Beatles
A Beatles contract for a 1965 California concert that reveals that the Fab Four refused to play before a segregated audience has sold for $23,033 -- more than four times its estimated price .
The contract, which was signed by the Liverpool group's manager, Brian Epstein, specified that they "not be required to perform in front of a segregated audience" for their August 31, 1965, show at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.
It sold far above the pre-auction estimate of $3,000 to $5,000 at a Los Angeles auction held on Tuesday by Nate D. Sanders. The buyer was not disclosed.
The Cow Palace concert was part of the Beatles' third major tour of the United States. Signed on March 24, 1965, the contract guaranteed the band $40,000 against gross box office receipts of more than $77,000.
Beatles
Long lost Film Takes A Bow
Alfred Hitchcock
Suspense master Alfred Hitchcock died in 1980 but that hasn't stopped him from adding a new title to his filmography. "The White Shadow," produced in 1924, is the earliest known film bearing his creative touch.
The long lost film was unveiled to audiences on Thursday night at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills with a screening attended by the stars of two Hitchcock classics, Eva Marie Saint ("North by Northwest") and Norman Lloyd ("Saboteur").
Also on hand were experts from the New Zealand Film Archive where the print was uncovered by Leslie Anne Lewis of the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Lewis stumbled upon the first three reels of the film while poring through original nitrate prints unseen for decades. The movie had no credits, requiring Lewis to match documentation from various sources to the movie.
A lush melodrama, "The White Shadow" stars Betty Compson as twin sisters, Georgia (pure of heart), and Nancy, (black as Hades). Clive Brook plays an American art student who meets Nancy in transit to Europe and ultimately falls in love. But Nancy disappears, leaving her father grief stricken and wandering the land looking for her.
Alfred Hitchcock
Hospital News
Wanda Sykes
Comedienne and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Wanda Sykes tells Ellen DeGeneres on Monday's "Ellen" show that a decision earlier this year to have a breast reduction surgery may have saved her life.
Sykes tells DeGeneres that while lab work was being performed after her breast reduction, doctors discovered she had DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), a stage zero cancer, which prompted her to opt for a bilateral mastectomy, or a double mastectomy, to head off any further development of the disease.
The procedure is the same surgery "Up All Night" star Christina Applegate underwent in 2008 after being diagnosed with breast cancer and testing positive for BRCA, the "breast cancer gene."
Sykes, who's currently on a stand-up comedy tour and will perform at the New York Comedy Festival in November, joked to DeGeneres that she kept her cancer diagnosis hush hush -- the "Ellen" show appearance is the first time she's discussed it publicly -- because she didn't want to become the cancer "poster child."
Wanda Sykes
Winning
Charlie Sheen
The studio that fired former "Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen said Monday it has struck a deal with the actor to end their legal dispute.
Warner Bros. Television released a statement saying that Sheen's lawsuit against the studio and series executive producer Chuck Lorre has been settled "to the parties' satisfaction." The statement said terms of the settlement are confidential.
Sheen had filed a $100 million lawsuit for wrongful termination against Warner after his firing last March. His attorney, Marty Singer, had said much of that amount was the actor's share of DVD, syndication and other profits that the studio was withholding.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sheen's settlement would be $25 million, although celebrity website TMZ reported the deal would be worth roughly $100 million over the next several years. Both outlets cited unnamed sources in reports about the settlement amounts.
Charlie Sheen
Escorted Off Flight
Leisha Hailey
A lesbian actress who starred in "The L-Word" says she was escorted off of a Southwest Airlines flight for kissing her girlfriend.
Leisha Hailey on Monday took to Twitter to call for a boycott of the carrier after a flight attendant told them other passengers had complained.
Southwest responded on its website that Hailey was approached "based solely on behavior and not gender."
Earlier this month the airline kicked off Green Day's lead man Billie Joe Armstrong for wearing his pants too low.
Leisha Hailey
Publicity Stunt
"Wife Swap"
Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard and actor Gary Busey will trade partners in an upcoming episode of "Celebrity Wife Swap," a spokeswoman for the show said on Thursday.
Haggard's participation in the episode comes five years after a stunning fall from grace for the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
He was exiled from the Colorado-based New Life mega-church he founded after admitting "sexual immorality" and buying methamphetamines from a male masseur.
The air date for the episode on ABC starring Haggard and Busey has not been determined, but the two men will swap partners, said Brooke Fisher, a spokeswoman for the show.
"Wife Swap"
British Arts World Wades Into Row
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Leading names in British arts world have criticised the London Philharmonic Orchestra's (LPO) suspension of four members who opposed a London concert by Israeli musicians.
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, film maker Mike Leigh, actress Miriam Margolyes and 115 other prominent arts figures said they were "shocked" and "dismayed" at the suspension of the four musicians, and urged the LPO to reconsider its decision.
The LPO suspended violinists, Tom Eisner, Nancy Elan and Sarah Streatfeild, and cellist, Sue Sutherley, for nine months after they used its name in support of a boycott of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's (IPO) performance at the annual BBC proms in London.
The four musicians were signatories of a letter, published on Aug 30, which said "Israel's policy toward the Palestinians fits the UN definition of apartheid."
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Attorney Threatens Lawsuit
Palin
An attorney for Sarah Palin is threatening to sue over a new book that he says defamed the Palins and contains "a series of lies and rumors."
John Tiemessen, in a letter to the publisher of Crown Publishing Group Monday, cites an email that author Joe McGinniss allegedly sent a blogger in January seeking substantiation for several rumors that have surrounded Palin's family. That email was posted online last week by Andrew Breitbart.
Tiemessen says McGinniss' book, "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin," contains "most of" the stories that merely "amounted to the wishful fantasies of disturbed individuals."
McGinniss lived next door to the Palins last year while researching the book. It was released last week.
Palin
Self-Immolate
Tibetan Monks
Two Tibetan monks set themselves on fire Monday in a protest over China's tight rein over Buddhist practices, a rights group said as the Chinese government reiterated it will choose the next Dalai Lama.
The London-based Free Tibet campaign said Lobsang Kalsang and Lobsang Konchok, both believed to be 18 or 19 years old, self-immolated Monday at the Kirti Monastery in Sichuan province's Aba prefectuture.
The monks allegedly called for religious freedom and said "long live the Dalai Lama" before they set themselves on fire, Free Tibet said in an emailed statement.
The official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report that did not identify the monks by name that both were rescued by police, suffered slight burns and were in stable condition.
Tibetan Monks
Thousands In Underwear Protest Laws
Utah
Thousands of people stripped to their underwear and ran through Salt Lake City to protest what they called the "uptight" laws of Utah.
Undie Run organizer Nate Porter says the goal of the event Saturday was to organize people frustrated by the conservative nature of the state's politics.
Nudity was prohibited by organizers. Participants donned bras, panties, nightgowns, swimwear or colorful boxer shorts - and some added political messages by expressing support for causes like gay marriage on their chests, backs or legs.
Porter estimates 3,000 people participated in the run, which began in downtown Salt Lake City and circled past the state Capitol building about a mile away.
Utah
Go Online
Dead Sea Scrolls
Two thousand years after they were written and decades after they were found in desert caves, some of the world-famous Dead Sea Scrolls went online for the first time on Monday in a project launched by Israel's national museum and the web giant Google.
The appearance of five of the most important Dead Sea scrolls on the Internet is part of a broader attempt by the custodians of the celebrated manuscripts - who were once criticized for allowing them to be monopolized by small circles of scholars - to make them available to anyone with a computer.
The scrolls include the biblical Book of Isaiah, the manuscript known as the Temple Scroll, and three others. Surfers can search high-resolution images of the scrolls for specific passages, zoom in and out, and translate verses into English.
The scrolls, considered by many to be the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century, are thought to have been written or collected by an ascetic Jewish sect that fled Jerusalem for the desert 2,000 years ago and settled at Qumran, on the banks of the Dead Sea. The hundreds of manuscripts that survived, partially or in full, in caves near the site, have shed light on the development of the Hebrew Bible and the origins of Christianity.
Dead Sea Scrolls
Ruby Sippers Up For Auction
"Wizard of Oz"
A pair of the iconic ruby red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" is going up for auction with an estimated price of $2 - $3 million.
California auction house Profiles in History said the slippers -- one of four known surviving pairs made for the 1939 movie -- are believed to have been worn by Judy Garland's Dorothy when she clicks her heels to return home to Kansas near the end of the film.
The slippers will be auctioned on December 16 in Los Angeles as part of a Hollywood memorabilia sale. Profiles in History owner Joe Maddalena said he was expecting bids from around the world.
One of the pairs of slippers used in the "Wizard of Oz" is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, one is in private hands and another was stolen from the Judy Garland museum in Minnesota.
"Wizard of Oz"
Weekend Box Office
"The Lion King"
Walt Disney's "The Lion King" reissue was No. 1 for the second-straight weekend with $22.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. That puts it just ahead of Pitt's baseball drama "Moneyball," a Sony Pictures release that opened at No. 2 with $20.6 million.
Debuting closely behind at No. 3 was the Warner Bros. family film "Dolphin Tale" with $20.3 million. "Dolphin Tale" stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.
The 3-D reissue of 1994's "The Lion King" has taken in $61.7 million since opening the previous weekend to a much bigger audience than expected. That's on top of nearly $800 million worldwide the movie made in its original run and a 2002 re-release.
The film has done so well that Disney plans to leave it in theaters longer than the two-week run the studio initially planned as a prelude to its Blu-ray home-video debut Oct. 4, said Dave Hollis, Disney's head of distribution.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Lion King," $22.1 million ($1.9 million international).
2. "Moneyball," $20.6 million.
3. "Dolphin Tale," $20.3 million.
4. "Abduction," $11.2 million.
5. "Killer Elite," $9.5 million.
6. "Contagion," $8.6 million.
7. "Drive," $5.8 million.
8. "The Help," $4.4 million ($1.1 million international).
9. "Straw Dogs," $2.1 million.
10. "I Don't Know How She Does It," $2.05 million.
"The Lion King"
In Memory
Wangari Maathai
Kenya's former president called her a mad woman. Seen as a threat to the rich and powerful, Wangari Maathai was beaten, arrested and vilified for the simple act of planting a tree, a natural wonder Maathai believed could reduce poverty and conflict.
Former elementary students who planted saplings alongside her, world leaders charmed by her message and African visionaries on Monday remembered a woman some called the Tree Mother of Africa. Maathai, Africa's first female winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, died late Sunday in a Nairobi hospital following a battle with cancer. She was 71.
Maathai believed that a healthy environment helped improve lives by providing clean water and firewood for cooking, thereby decreasing conflict. The Kenyan organization she founded planted 30 million trees in hopes of improving the chances for peace, a triumph for nature that inspired the U.N. to launch a worldwide campaign that resulted in 11 billion trees planted.
Maathai, a university professor with a warm smile and college degrees from the United States, staged popular protests that bedeviled former President Daniel arap Moi, a repressive and autocratic ruler who called her "a mad woman" who was a threat to the security of Kenya.
In the summer of 1998, the Kenyan government was giving land to political allies in a protected forest on Nairobi's outskirts. Maathai began a campaign to reclaim the land, culminating in a confrontation with 200 hired thugs armed with machetes and bows and arrows. When Maathai tried to plant a tree, she and her cohorts were attacked with whips, clubs and stones. Maathai received a bloody gash on her head.
Maathai said during her 2004 Peace Prize acceptance speech that the inspiration for her life's work came from her childhood experiences in rural Kenya. There she witnessed forests being cleared and replaced by commercial plantations, which destroyed biodiversity and the capacity of forests to conserve water.
After arap Moi left government, Maathai served as an assistant minister for the environment and natural resources ministry.
Although the tree-planting campaign launched by her group, the Green Belt Movement, did not initially address the issues of peace and democracy, Maathai said it became clear over time that responsible governance of the environment was not possible without democracy.
Maathai's work was quickly recognized by groups and governments the world over, winning awards, accolades and partnerships with powerful organizations. Meanwhile, her dedication to nature remained, as could be seen in her role in a movie called "Dirt! The Movie," where Maathai narrated the story of a hummingbird carrying one drop of water at a time to fight a forest fire, even as animals like the elephant asked why the hummingbird was wasting his energy.
Her quest to see fewer trees felled and more planted saw her face off against Kenya's powerful elite. At least three times during her activist years she was physically attacked, including being clubbed unconscious by police during a hunger strike in 1992.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Monday called Maathai a "true African heroine." The Nelson Mandela Foundation also expressed sadness. The foundation hosted Maathai in 2005, when she headlined the foundation's annual lecture.
Maathai is survived by three children. Funeral arrangements were to be announced soon, the Green Belt Movement said.
Wangari Maathai
In Memory
Vesta Williams
Big-voiced R&B diva Vesta Williams, perhaps best-known for her 1980s hits "Don't Blow A Good Thing" and "Congratulations," has been found dead of a possible drug overdose in a Southern California hotel room, coroner's investigators said Friday. She was 53.
Born Mary Vesta Williams on Dec. 1, 1957, to a disc jockey in Coshocton, Ohio, she had hits with "Once Bitten Twice Shy," ''Sweet, Sweet Love" and the torch song "Congratulations," where she emotionally bids goodbye to her ex, about to marry someone else, on his wedding day.
Williams also appeared in movies and on television.
She was a saloon singer in the Mario Van Peebles movie "Posse" and she had a recurring role on the television situation comedy "Sister, Sister," playing actress Jackee Harry's best friend Monica.
Williams diminutive frame belied her powerful, soulful pipes. Her initial success in the music industry came as a background singer for artists ranging from Chaka Khan, Anita Baker and Sting. But she would eventually establish her career with release of her first album, "Vesta," in 1986.
Over the years, she had hits including "Once Bitten Twice Shy," ''Sweet, Sweet Love" and her signature torch song "Congratulations."
Williams continued to make albums, and was a regular performer on the concert circuit.
She was supposed to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!" in Los Angeles next month. The Oct. 22 show will now pay tribute to her and another late soul singer, Teena Marie.
The 5-foot-3 entertainer gained weight in the 1990s, ballooning to a size 26. She went on a dramatic weight loss program, losing 100 pounds and getting down to a size 6.
She told Ebony magazine that she began gaining weight rapidly after her singing career started to falter. She blamed her size for loss of her recording contract.
She went on to become an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.
Vesta Williams
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