'Best of TBH Politoons'
M Is FOR MASHUP - Jan 9th, 2008
A Strange Kind Of Useo
By DJ Useo
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ted Rall: An Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove: How American Democracy Relies on Fascism
What would you do if you learned that Bush Administration officials wanted to round up thousands of Americans and throw them into concentration camps?
Jim Hightower: FACTS FOR ACTION ON HEALTH CARE (jimhightower.com)
Widely-reported fact Number One: our country faces a growing health care crisis, that leaves 47 million Americans with no health insurance - an increase of 7 million people since the year 2000.
Aaron Barnhart: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann enjoys big success and a little wisdom (McClatchy Newspapers; Posted on popmatters.com)
Rare is the night when "Countdown With Keith Olbermann," MSNBC's highest-rated program, doesn't take aim at something said on "Fox Noise" or "Fixed News," Olbermann's pet names for the channel.
Michele Hanson: In massive post-Christmas debt? Never fear, the church is here to help (guardian.co.uk)
... 45 years ago in Rome. I had just staggered round the Vatican staring at its riches, then came out and spotted a child beggar near the entrance with a patchy shaven head. There were crowds of beggars around town, mostly children with patchy heads, and crowds of fat priests ignoring the beggars.
How to get back to real food (guardian.co.uk)
In the second and final extract from his new book, Michael Pollan says we need to rediscover the simple rules for healthy eating. Here, he gives his recipe for reclaiming control over our disastrous diets.
Sanford Pinsker: The World According to Professor Blog (irascibleprofessor.com)
I'm all for "life-changing experiences" (on course evaluations our students were asked how many of them they had had in the four courses they took that semester), but when I asked if students would get academic credit for internships with the National Rifle Association or Pro-Life groups, the suggestion was met with howls of protest -- even when I made it clear that these students would write term papers outlining their experiences and how they changed their lives.
Why finding time is a balancing act (telegraph.co.uk)
Find a window worth staring out of, says Lesley Garner.
Beth Quinn: Click here if you forgot your password (recordonline.com)
My friend John and I have formed a group called the Committee Responsible for Abolishing Passwords. Our slogan: "Let's stop being so case-sensitive!"
MIKITA BROTTMAN: Dyke-Alikes (popmatters.com)
Welcome to an alternate universe populated entirely by middle-aged lesbians the likes of Robert Redford, Barry Manilow, Al Franken, and Kim Jong-il.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Authors (athensnews.com)
Children's book author Joyce Carol Thomas writes a draft, then adds to it and creates another draft, then adds to that draft and creates yet another draft, and so on. One day, she sent a draft of an essay to her editor, and her editor simply said to the assistant editor, "Put that draft in a drawer. There are more coming." The statement was true. Ms. Thomas sent three more drafts. According to her editor, "This is the way a real writer works."
Reader Suggestion
Run Mitt Run
Funny as hell...AND it makes Romney look like the douchebag he is.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast, and colder than it was in backwoods PA again today.
Annual Worst-Dressed List
Mr. Blackwell
A decade after singling out the Spice Girls as fashion atrocities, Mr. Blackwell put just one of them - Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham - at the top of his 48th annual worst-dressed list.
Britney Spears, who has made the list many times before, is missing this year.
"I felt that it was inappropriate at this time to make comment, when her personal life is in such upheaval. I hope 2008 is a better year for her," Blackwell said.
His top 10 also includes Amy Winehouse, Mary-Kate Olsen, Fergie, Kelly Clarkson, Eva Green, Avril Lavigne, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Alison Arngrim.
Mr. Blackwell
Award Nominees
Directors Guild of America
Sean Penn earned a nomination Tuesday as best filmmaker from the Directors Guild of America for his tragic road tale "Into the Wild," along with Joel and Ethan Coen for their bloody crime saga "No Country for Old Men."
Also nominated: Paul Thomas Anderson for his historical epic "There Will Be Blood," starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a baron of California's oil boom in the early 20th century; Tony Gilroy for his legal drama "Michael Clayton," featuring George Clooney as a conscience-torn attorney in a corporate lawsuit; and Julian Schnabel for his real-life memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," with Mathieu Amalric as French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was paralyzed by a stroke.
Except for Joel Coen, previously nominated for "Fargo," the guild choices all were first-time nominees.
Directors Guild of America
"No Country for Old Men" Big Winner
Critics' Choice Awards
"No Country for Old Men" was the big winner at Monday's Critics' Choice Awards, winning best picture, best director for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem.
Awards came in pairs for three other films: "Hairspray," "Juno" and "There Will Be Blood."
Julie Christie won best actress for "Away From Her," but she wasn't on hand to accept her prize. Also absent was best young actor Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, star of "The Kite Runner," and supporting actress Amy Ryan, who co-starred opposite Casey Affleck in "Gone Baby Gone."
"Enchanted" won best family film, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" was best made-for-TV movie and "Sicko" was best documentary feature.
Critics' Choice Awards
House Panel Launches Practices Probe
FCC
Worsening friction between Congress and the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission escalated on Tuesday into a formal investigation of agency rule-making procedures and management practices.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee said it launched the probe to determine if the agency had been fair, open, efficient and transparent when crafting regulations.
The panel did not cite a specific case in a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (R-Rupert's Fluffer) but the investigation comes just three weeks after Martin defied lawmakers by holding a vote to ease media ownership restrictions.
Committee Chairman John Dingell a Democrat of Michigan and the ranking Republican, Joe Barton of Texas, asked Martin to save all electronic records and personal e-mails related to FCC work. The investigation would also "address a growing number of allegations received by the committee" that relate to management practices, their letter said.
FCC
Unveils High-Tech Music Education Tour Bus
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono was flanked by music celebrities Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show as she unveiled a high-tech music education tour bus dedicated to late Beatle John Lennon.
The bus will tour the United States and Canada year-round, teaching children about music and letting them dabble with recording songs at professional levels, according to operators of the nonprofit charity project.
"This is the kind of thing that John would have loved," his widow, Ono, 74, said before uncovering the bus with help from musicians Natasha Bedingfield, Pat Monahan of Train, and Will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas.
Yoko Ono
Jurors Announced
Sundance
Marcia Gay Harden, Sandra Oh, Quentin Tarantino, Jason Reitman and Alan Alda are among the jurors lined up for this month's Sundance Film Festival.
Other jurors include actress Melonie Diaz ("Be Kind Rewind"), director Mary Harron ("American Psycho"), actor Diego Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien") and documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki ("Why We Fight").
Harden, Luna and Oh will join Harron and Tarantino to choose the dramatic competition grand jury prize. Diaz and Reitman, along with filmmaker Jon Bloom, comprise the American and international shorts jury.
Jarecki will help select the documentary competition grand jury prize, and Alda the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, awarded to a film focusing on science or technology.
Sundance
Golden Globes Honor Postponed
Steven Spielberg
Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg will not receive the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award at this year's stripped-down Golden Globes, which NBC will broadcast in a press-conference format Sunday night.
The annual honor recognizing "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field" was announced November 14. Normally, the recipient is treated to a package of film clips recapping his career as well as praise from colleagues at the annual Globes ceremonies at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
But now that the 65th annual Golden Globes has been reduced to just an hour-long press conference, produced by NBC News, the HFPA had decided to defer the Spielberg segment until the 2009 ceremonies, so that the tribute can play out before a full audience.
Steven Spielberg
Denies Kinks Reunion Rumors
Dave Davies
The Kinks' Dave Davies has released a statement to counteract rumors that the band may reform following comments by his brother and ex-bandmate Ray Davies.
Dave, who was a founding member of the Kinks more than 40 years ago, says there are no plans to reunite now or in the immediate future.
"To be honest, Ray and I haven't even spoken in over six months," he says. "So not only hasn't a tour been planned, it hasn't even been discussed. I am focused on my solo career right now and that's all I'm concerned with at the moment."
Dave Davies
Unveils Schedule
LA Opera
The Los Angeles Opera's upcoming season will feature several productions directed by famed filmmakers including Woody Allen, David Cronenberg and William Friedkin.
Allen, making his operatic debut, is scheduled to direct "Gianni Schicchi," part of Puccini's "Il Trittico," a trio of one-act operas. "Gianni Schicchi," set in medieval Florence, is Puccini's only comedy.
The two other operas, "Il Tabarro" and "Suor Angelica," will be directed by William Friedkin.
Cronenberg is set to direct the U.S. premiere of Howard Shore's "The Fly."
LA Opera
NBC Offers Cash Back To Advertisers
Golden Globes
NBC is offering cash back to some Golden Globe Awards marketers after the network scrapped the star-studded telecast, which typically generates about $25 million in advertising, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
After actors last week said they would honor picket lines and not attend the Globes, the network, controlled by General Electric Co, announced on Monday a revised press-conference format for the January 13 event.
A person familiar with the matter said NBC was offering some advertisers cash back. "Clients who want cash back can have it. Since the show has changed, this is certainly an option," the source said.
Golden Globes
Free Classical Download
Tasmin Little
Acclaimed British violinist Tasmin Little will give her next recording away for free as a digital download in an attempt to popularise classical music.
The album, called "The Naked Violin," will feature three pieces for unaccompanied violin -- Bach's Partita No. 3 in E Major, Luslawice Variations by Paul Patterson and Sonata No. 3 ("Ballade") by Eugene Ysaye.
It will also include commentary from Little and is available on Web site www.tasminlittle.net from Monday.
Tasmin Little
Ratings Whore
Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil's public brand of tough love sometimes makes him tough to love, particularly among mental health professionals who are accusing television's self-help guru of making an uncalled-for house call on Britney Spears this week.
Although Dr. Phil - whose full name is Phillip McGraw - announced Monday that he is shelving plans for a show on Spears' latest breakdown, some in the mental health community say just showing up at her hospital room last week was going too far.
"It's true people sometimes need to be placed under involuntary mental health treatment because they can't take care of themselves," veteran psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Sugar said of the 26-year-old Spears. "But there's a difference between being detained involuntarily for psychological treatment and being forced to endure Dr. Phil involuntarily."
Dr. Phil
To Probe Comcast Complaints
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission will investigate complaints that Comcast Corp. actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (R-Rupert's Whore) said Tuesday.
A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars asked the agency in November to stop Comcast from discriminating against certain types of data. Two groups also asked the FCC to fine the nation's No. 2 Internet provider $195,000 for every affected subscriber.
"Sure, we're going to investigate and make sure that no consumer is going to be blocked," Martin told an audience at the International Consumer Electronics Show.
FCC
Trafalgar Square
'Fourth Plinth'
Sculpted meerkats, the remains of a car bombed in Iraq and live members of the public are vying for a place alongside monuments to Britain's military heroes in London's iconic Trafalgar Square.
City officials on Tuesday unveiled a shortlist of six artworks competing to fill the "fourth plinth" in the square's northwest corner. Built in 1841 for an equestrian statue that was never completed and empty for a century and a half, it has been occupied since 1999 by a series of new artworks erected for 18 months at a time.
Finalists to fill the space next year include Jeremy Deller's "The Spoils of War (Memorial for an Unknown Civilian)," the remains of a vehicle destroyed in an attack on civilians in Iraq; Anish Kapoor's "Sky Plinth," which would use five mirrors to reflect the sky to passers-by; and Tracey Emin's "Something for the Future," a sculpture of a group of meerkats.
The other contenders are Yinka Shonibare's "Nelson's Ship in a Bottle," a replica of Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory; and "Faites L'Art, Pas La Guerre (Make Art, Not War)," a sun- and wind-powered illuminated peace sign by Bob and Roberta Smith, the pseudonym of artist Patrick Brill.
'Fourth Plinth'
Visits Mumbai
Madonna
Madonna visited a crowded Mumbai slum Tuesday, where impoverished residents showered her with rose and marigold petals.
She was accompanied by her husband, Guy Ritchie, and Australian author Gregory David Roberts, who made the Mumbai slum his home in the early 1980s.
Roberts worked for the city's crime bosses and set up a free health clinic in the slum when he took refuge in Mumbai after escaping from an Australian high-security prison.
Madonna
Stolen Paintings Recovered
Brazil
Brazilian police recovered paintings by Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari that were stolen last month from the country's premier modern art museum, officials said Tuesday.
Two suspects were arrested with the paintings, but no other details were immediately available, said Rosa Maria da Costa, a spokeswoman with the Sao Paulo state public safety office.
Police believe the thieves were paid by a wealthy art lover adding to a private collection. The thieves ignored works including Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "Bather with a Griffon Dog," Vincent Van Gogh's "L'Arlesienne," and Henri Matisse's "Plaster Torso and Bouquet of Flowers." Instead they homed in on just the two paintings.
Brazil
France Tops, US Dead Last
Healthcare
France is tops, and the United States dead last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries.
The study by the Commonwealth Fund and published in the January/February issue of the journal Health Affairs measured developed countries' effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare.
The study, entitled "Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis," was written by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It looked at death rates in subjects younger than 75 that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical care.
"It is startling to see the US falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance," said Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, who noted that "other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less."
Healthcare
Report Reveals Faked Attacks
Vietnam
North Vietnamese made hoax calls to get the US military to bomb its own units during the Vietnam War, according to declassified information that also confirmed US officials faked an incident to escalate the war.
The report was released by the National Security Agency, responsible for much of the United States' codebreaking and eavesdropping work, in response to a "mandatory declassification" request, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said Monday.
Probably the "most historically significant feature" of the declassified report was the retelling of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to president Lyndon Johnson's sharp escalation of American forces in Vietnam.
The author of the report "demonstrates that not only is it not true, as (then US) secretary of defense Robert McNamara told Congress, that the evidence of an attack was 'unimpeachable,' but that to the contrary, a review of the classified signals intelligence proves that 'no attack happened that night,'" FAS said in a statement.
Vietnam
Christmas Fun Gets Out Of Hand
Antarctica
A groping Santa, a drunken car chase, a bloody punchout. Festivities in Antarctica got a little out of hand this Christmas.
Complaints of "inappropriate touching" were made against a Santa who had posed for photographs on a decorated snowmobile at the U.S. McMurdo station, on the edge of the continent, a New Zealand newspaper reported on Wednesday.
That incident was followed by another in which a U.S. staff member, suspected of drink-driving, raced along an icy road in a four-wheel-drive vehicle chased by a fire engine before she was intercepted, said Christchurch-based The Press newspaper, without citing sources.
At a different U.S. station at the South Pole a worker had to be flown out to a hospital in Christchurch, over 5000 km (3000 miles) away, after his jaw was broken in a Christmas punchout with a fellow staff member, The Press said.
Antarctica
Hugo Chavez Interview
Naomi Campbell
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in an interview with supermodel Naomi Campbell predicted that the U.S "empire" is about to fall, called Jesus Christ history's No. 1 revolutionary -- and offered to pose topless.
"Why not? Touch my muscles!" the burly, 53 year-old former paratrooper said, when asked if he would follow the example of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who caused a stir last year with a series of shirtless pictures.
An actress and model of Jamaican heritage, Campbell was hired by GQ magazine to interview the left-wing leader, who is known for his tirades against the United States.
In the article, to be published on Thursday, Campbell describes Chavez as a "rebel angel," praises his singing voice and chats with him about the Spice Girls.
Naomi Campbell
Candy Man Fights Energy Firms
Forrest E. Mars Jr.
A reclusive billionaire whose family owns the Mars candy empire is emerging as a formidable opponent to the energy industry's plans to expand development of some of the country's most productive coal and gas deposits.
Forrest E. Mars Jr., the former chief executive of Mars Inc., owns a sprawling ranch along Montana's Tongue River - directly in the sights of companies hoping to tap the area's extensive coal and natural gas reserves.
Through his previously undisclosed ownership of the 82,000-acre Diamond Cross ranch, Mars is bringing his $14 billion fortune to bear on the side of ranchers and conservationists trying to curb the companies' ambitions.
The ranch sits on the northern end of the Powder River Basin, an area with some of the most productive coal and natural gas fields in the nation. Development of those resources was concentrated over the last decade in the southern portion of the basin, in Wyoming.
Forrest E. Mars Jr.
Prime Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 31-Jan. 6. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (X) "NFL Playoff Game 2: Jacksonville at Pittsburgh," NBC, 25.74 million viewers.
2. (X) "NFL Playoff Pre-Kick," NBC, 23.87 million viewers.
3. (X) "NFL Playoff Bridge," NBC, 23.48 million viewers.
4. (X) "AFC Wildcard Post Game," CBS, 21.37 million viewers.
5. (3) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 19.78 million viewers.
6. (12) "60 Minutes," CBS, 18.25 million viewers.
7. (16) "Law & Order," NBC, 13.46 million viewers.
8. (X) "Deal or No Deal" (Thursday), NBC, 13.41 million viewers.
9. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 13.25 million viewers.
10. (15) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 12.6 million viewers.
11. (21) "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," NBC, 12.35 million viewers.
12. (24) "Deal or No Deal" (Wednesday), NBC, 12.33 million viewers.
13. (X) College Football: Virginia vs. Oklahoma, Fox, 12.16 million viewers.
14. (X) "American Gladiators," NBC, 12.06 million viewers.
15. (24) "Amazing Race 12," CBS, 11.98 million viewers.
16. (X) College Football: Kansas vs. Virginia Tech, Fox, 11.96 million viewers.
17. (X) "NCIS," CBS, 11.76 million viewers.
18. (X) College Football: Hawaii vs. Georgia, Fox, 11.7 million viewers.
19. (27) "Apprentice 7," NBC, 11.08 million viewers.
20. (19) "Cold Case," CBS, 10.96 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Shu Uemura
Shu Uemura, the Japanese makeup artist who won acclaim in Hollywood and built an international cosmetics brand under his name, has died. He was 79.
Uemura, who gained acclaim working with actress Shirley MacLaine on the 1962 Hollywood film "My Geisha," died of pneumonia in Tokyo on Dec. 29, according to a statement released Tuesday by his company, also called Shu Uemura. Its products were mentioned in the more recent film "The Devil Wears Prada."
In 1960, Uemura developed his first cosmetics product, a cleansing oil that remains popular today. He later opened a school to train makeup artists in Tokyo.
Uemura gradually expanded his brand to include handmade makeup brushes, perfumes, and voluptuous fake eyelashes. The company's eyelash curlers were mentioned in the 2006 movie "The Devil Wears Prada".
He is survived by his wife and a son.
Shu Uemura
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