'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Are the Faithful Losing Faith? (msnbc.msn.com)
Two weeks till midterms, the NEWSWEEK poll shows Republicans in danger of losing a big chunk of their base. And a growing consensus for a bread-and-butter Democratic agenda.
PETER KEOUGH: Off with their heads (thephoenix.com)
Recent polls are giving the GOP the willies. So should the movies.
Sasha Abramsky: Selling Voters on the Minimum Wage Hike (The Nation; Posted on AlterNet.org)
How New Mexico successfully framed the minimum wage as a moral issue, and was able to pass a progressive ballot initiative.
Bill Moyers: Lincoln Weeps (tompaine.com)
Once upon a time the House of Representatives was known as "the people's house." No more. It belongs to K Street now. That's the address of the lobbyists who swarm all over Capitol Hill. There are 65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. They spend $200 million per month wining, dining and seducing federal officials. Per month!
Arianna Huffington: The Lamont Litmus Test: Why Are So Many Democrats Failing It? (huffingtonpost.com)
So the good news in the Connecticut Senate race is that the party is finally stepping up to the plate. Unfortunately, the news is good for Joe Lieberman, because the party that's rising to the occasion is the GOP. The question is: why aren't the Democrats doing the same thing for Ned Lamont?
Cenk Uygur: What If Joe Lieberman Gave the Senate Back to the Republicans? (huffingtonpost.com)
Just think about this very real possibility for a second: The Democrats win back the Senate by a one vote margin after a mighty struggle. They pull off a stunning victory in Tennessee, they put away Missouri and Ohio, they win everywhere else and they retain New Jersey. And then they walk back into the Senate, Joe Lieberman switches sides, and everything that we have all worked for goes to absolute waste!
Sam Anderson: Troubadork: Twenty-five years of "Weird Al" Yankovic (slate.com)
Weird Al's essential service is to point out that, from the perspective of the middle-class suburban lifeworld, pop culture itself is weird. This is the paradox of Weird Al's weirdness: He's actually Normal Al, a common-sensical, conservative force. He's Everyman trapped on Neverland Ranch, exposing as many stylistic excesses and false profundities as he can.
Information About Where You Live (neighboroo.com)
Electoral-vote.com
Reader Tip
New Bird Species
Something you will definitely enjoy seeing, Marty.
Check it out - a new species discovered in Colombia.
color picture
Paul
Thanks, Paul!
Hubert's Poetry Corner
THE EVOLUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH
THE ORIGIN OF FECES?
Reader Comment
How do you do it?
Marty,
Bartcop Entertainment is always the first web site I visit every morning (after my daily dose of comics), and it boggles my mind how you do it! Your site is always new, day-after-day, week-after-week, with precious few (and always explained) days with no update. I've been reading you for seemingly forever, even before clicking on
BartCop. I have for all this time been forwarding a great deal of what you include to friends and relatives and acquaintances on a daily basis. You have just the right balance of news, opinion, satire, parody and just plain knee-slapping funny to keep me coming back.
You're the best in my book.
Sincerely,
Roy the SMSgt., USAF (Ret.)
Tyler, TX
Thanks for the kind words, Roy!
There's a great group of people who help me on a daily basis - like that MadCat, JD and David Bruce and
zENmAN and
Don Davis and
Tim.
Then there are the weekly contibutors - like
Baron Dave Romm and
Michael Dare and Purple Gene and Cory! Strode and
The Wall Street Poet.
And a bunch of regular contributors, like Marianne and Marian the Teacher and Hubert and Meg the Movie Reviewer.
There're also a few irregular contributors.
Letters like yours are what makes it worthwhile (even if I blush).
The last time there wasn't an update was 25 Aug, 2004 - today makes 771 days in a row (not that I keep track). ; )
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer than seasonal.
The kid's 14th birthday is Thursday.
Appears In Ads For Democratic Senate Candidate
Michael J. Fox
His body visibly racked by tremors, actor Michael J. Fox speaks out for Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill in a television ad that promotes her support for embryonic stem cell research.
"As you might know I care deeply about stem cell research," says Fox, 45, who has struggled with Parkinson's disease for more than a decade. "In Missouri you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures."
McCaskill has made support for the research a key part of her campaign to unseat Senator Jim Talent. The Republican incumbent opposes the research as unethical, saying it destroys human embryos.
The new ad debuted prominently Saturday night during Game 1 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers and will continue airing statewide this week, a campaign spokeswoman said.
Michael J. Fox
YouTube - Michael J. Fox | Clare McCaskill Ad
Pigboy attacks Michael J. Fox: " …he was either off the medication or he was acting. He is an actor, after all." - Crooks & Liars.
2007 MusiCares Award
Don Henley
Don Henley will be honored as the 2007 MusiCares Person of the Year. Henley, 59, will receive the award Feb. 9 at a gala dinner and concert in Los Angeles, The Recording Academy and the MusiCares Foundation announced Monday.
The annual gala is among the festivities that will lead up to the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, to be presented Feb. 11 at the Staples Center. The awards show will air on CBS.
Henley, a founding member of the Eagles and a solo artist, was selected for his achievements as a musician and for his philanthropic work benefiting environmental issues and musicians' rights and concerns.
Don Henley
Halloween Show In 'Skelevision'
Conan O'Brien
Watching Conan O'Brien's "Late Night" on Halloween may be a scary proposition - the entire episode will be in "skelevision." The Oct. 31 edition will be a painstakingly reconstructed rerun of a show last May, with all featured performers appearing as skeleton puppets, NBC announced Monday.
The episode featured Larry King, "House" co-star Omar Epps and pole dancing workout instructor Sheila Kelley.
"Skelevision" appears a close cousin to a previous "Late Night" episode done entirely in clay animation.
Conan O'Brien
Queen Guitarist Launches Astronomy Book
Brian May
Brian May traded rock 'n' roll for the big bang as he launched a book about the origins of the universe. May, who abandoned doctoral studies in astronomy to play guitar with `70s rock legends Queen, has returned to his first love as a co-author of the book "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe," which was launched Monday.
Co-written with Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, presenters of the British Broadcasting Corp. astronomy program "The Sky at Night," the book recounts the formation of the universe from its origins more than 13 billion years ago and looks forward to its end, several billion years from now.
May, 59, whose guitar playing drives "We Will Rock You," "Bohemian Rhapsody" and other hits, sees similarities between his two great loves, music and astronomy.
Brian May
Starting European Tour In Denmark
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton will kick off her first major European tour since the 1970s in Denmark next year.
The 60-year-old country singer will begin her eight-stop tour in Horsens, 125 miles west of Copenhagen, on March 7, said Horsens Ny Teater, a theater company organizing the Danish concert.
Parton will continue to Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, England and Scotland before ending the tour April 2 in Dublin, Ireland, the company said Monday.
Dolly Parton
Uses Images To Challenge Stereotypes
JR
Bizarre, startling posters appeared on the walls and street corners of Paris this year. They showed faces - mostly black faces - contorted into outlandish grimaces, with teeth bared, nostrils flared, eyes crossed.
The provocative photos were the work of a Paris street artist who wanted people to confront stereotypes. His giant photos asked passers-by an in-your-face question: When you see a kid from the housing projects, do you see a bogeyman?
"After the riots, Parisians viewed suburban kids as extraterrestrials," JR said in an interview in his Paris studio. "On television, you always saw them wearing masks. People said, 'Those kids are all the same. Everybody who comes from those areas took part in the riots.' Everybody was afraid of them, and so I decided to take pictures of them looking like monsters or extraterrestrials."
JR
New Series
Pickups
CBS has ordered a full season's worth of episodes of the freshman drama "Shark," which stars James Woods as a charismatic defense attorney-turned-prosecutor.
Meanwhile, the CW has also handed out "back-nine orders" to rookie comedy "The Game" and the veteran drama "7th Heaven."
"The Game" debuted October 1 as part of the CW's Sunday night comedy block, which last week switched to Mondays. It is one of only two new series on the CW's first fall slate. The other series, the drama "Runaway," was canceled last week.
In addition to "Shark" and "The Game," four other freshman series -- ABC's "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers & Sisters," NBC's "Heroes" and CBS' "Jericho" -- have been picked up for a full season.
Pickups
Mexico Breaks Record
Chess
Mexico set a new record for simultaneous chess games on Sunday when 13,446 players faced off at the same time in a vast Spanish colonial square at the heart of the former Aztec empire, Mexico City officials said.
Players seated in Mexico City's Zocalo square beat last year's record of 12,388 simultaneous games set in the nearby Mexican city of Pachuca.
Russian chess giant and former world champion and Grand Master Anatoly Karpov attended and a representative from Guinness World Records confirmed the new record, city officials who organized the event said in a statement.
Chess
Behind The Orange Curtain
Snoop Dogg
Prosecutors are considering charges against Snoop Dogg after authorities discovered a 21-inch collapsible baton in his bags as he boarded a New York-bound flight, authorities said Monday.
The rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, had the baton in his laptop case as he went through a security checkpoint at John Wayne International Airport on Sept. 27, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.
Snoop Dogg, 35, told sheriff's deputies that the baton was a prop for a movie he was filming in New York, Amormino said.
District attorney spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder said her office received the sheriff's report on Monday. She said prosecutors had not yet decided whether to charge Snoop Dogg, who was not arrested.
Snoop Dogg
Namibia Received No Extradition Request
Wesley Snipes
Namibia has not received a U.S. extradition order for Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes, who faces $12 million tax fraud charges at home but is shooting a movie in the African country, the government said on Monday.
"We only read about it in the newspapers and the U.S. government hasn't communicated to us on the issue or for the possible extradition of the movie star," Lidwina Shapwa, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, told Reuters.
Snipes, who is shooting a film in the country's dramatic Namib desert, is wanted by the U.S. authorities for allegedly illegally claiming tax refunds of $12 million.
Wesley Snipes
Returns To Theaters
'Halloween'
Horror-film fans with a taste for `70s-style slasher antics can indulge themselves next week when the original "Halloween" movie returns to theaters for the first time in 27 years.
A digitally remastered, high-definition version of the 1978 film, which turned Jamie Lee Curtis into a star, will play at 8 p.m. Oct. 30 and 31 in 150 movie houses.
A new 20-minute featurette about "Halloween," including interviews with original cast members and a look at the movie's impact on pop culture, will precede the screening.
'Halloween'
Judge Threatens With Jail Time
Foxy Brown
Hip-hop artist Foxy Brown missed a court date in her New York assault case on Monday, and the judge vowed to issue a bench warrant for her arrest if she failed to appear again on Tuesday.
The recording star, whose real name is Inga Marchand, told Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson in a letter she was unable to attend the hearing because she was undergoing oral surgery.
In the last 18 months, the rap artist has fired three lawyers, delaying her case each time. Brown has also failed to show up for other scheduled proceedings.
Foxy Brown
Airline For Smokers
Smintair
A German entrepreneur wants to create a nostalgic smokers' haven above the clouds by starting a nicotine-friendly airline offering Cuban cigars, caviar and flight attendants in designer uniforms - as well as smoking allowed in every seat.
Alexander Schoppmann, a 55-year-old former stockbroker, has come up with a business plan for Smoker's International Airways, or Smintair, which he says will offer flights between his home town of Düsseldorf in western Germany and Tokyo.
It's all about service, he says - and that includes helping people avoid long hours confined without a cigarette break during a long-haul flight.
Schoppmann said in an interview he plans to start flying in March with three leased Boeing 747s, two of them plying the route and one as a backup. The idea is to bring back "the luxury of the old days" by using only 138 business- and first-class seats on a plane that has space for more than 400 people.
Smintair
60 Years Of Making Guitars
Fender
Fender is celebrating 60 years of making guitars, basses and amplifiers that have been a staple for so many musicians - from teenagers playing in their garages to legendary musicians playing arenas.
Fender got its start in a small shed behind a Southern California radio repair shop, where Leo Fender built his first amplifier. The company has gone on to create many of the world's most recognizable and respected instruments and equipment.
Fender's iconic twangy-toned Telecaster, the warmer, clean-sounding Stratocaster and deep-toned bass guitars are among the most-used and copied electric guitars in the world. They remain industry benchmarks decades after they were created.
Fender
Paintings Recovered
Harvard
Two paintings reported missing from Harvard University's collections more than three decades ago have been recovered and will be returned to Harvard.
One of the paintings is a 1790 portrait of William Ponsonby, Second Earl of Bessborough, by John Singleton Copley. The portrait went missing from private university property in 1971. The second painting is a portrait of John Thornton Kirkland, a 19th-century Harvard president, by Gilbert Stuart. That was reported missing in 1968.
Both paintings were sold at an auction in Hudson, N.Y., last weekend, said Harvard University Art Museums spokesman Daron J. Manoogian said Friday. Both buyers later contacted Harvard, Manoogian said.
Harvard
Separate But Equal
Masons
The Masons, the storied fraternal order whose members have included Mozart, George Washington and John Wayne, has become entwined across the Deep South with the remnants of another tradition in these parts: strict segregation.
Nationwide, Masonic groups operate in a separate-but-supposedly-equal system in which whites typically join one network of Masonic groups, called Grand Lodges, and blacks typically join another, called Prince Hall.
But in the South, it goes further: White-controlled Grand Lodges in 12 Southern states do not even officially recognize black Masons as their brothers - the Masonic term is "mutual recognition" - and in some cases, black lodges have taken similar stands.
Masons
In Memory
Sandy West
Sandy West, whose ferocious drumming fueled the influential all-female `70s rock band the Runaways, has died of lung cancer. She was 47.
West was only 16 when she co-founded the Runaways in 1975 with singer and guitarist Joan Jett.
Along with band members Lita Ford and Cherie Currie, they had such hits as "Cherry Bomb" and "Born to Be Bad."
Following the band's breakup in 1979, West continued to perform as a singer, guitarist and drummer with the Sandy West Band. She also released a solo CD.
West is survived by her mother, Jeri Williams, stepfather Dick Williams, and six sisters.
Sandy West
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