'Best of TBH Politoons'
But Untrue
Strangely Believable
The Pentagon has awarded a $730 million contract to the Triumph Motorcycle Company to produce armored motorcycles for use in
~Jeff Crook
Jeff Crook is the Ceci Connolly of the Left. - J. Howard Tuft
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jim Hightower: ROBBERY BY BANKRUPTCY
Why is it that when George W says he's going to "reform" something, I instinctively want to grab my money, my liberties, my family...and flee to the woods? For the Bushites, the word reform means "deform," to monkeywrench the system so the rich get richer...and the rest of us get schtooked. Still, there's one system crying out for real reform: the bankruptcy process that corporations are using to stiff their employees - letting CEOs simply walk away from binding contracts on wages, health care, and pensions.
Labor Pains by the Editors
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was once considered the crown jewel of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The National Labor Relations Board (nlrb), which it created, was supposed to ensure that workers enjoyed the same freedom of association in the workplace that they did in the political arena. By guaranteeing that workers could organize without being fired or threatened, it redressed the growing imbalance of power in the workplace. By encouraging the growth of the labor movement, it stilled the fires of revolutionary socialism and Huey Long's populism and laid the foundation for a new democratic pluralism by giving workers a seat in Washington next to business.
Jenny Booth: Torture? Not if cheerleaders do it, lawyer claims
Forcing naked Iraqi prisoners to pile themselves in human pyramids was not torture, because American cheerleaders do it every year, a court was told today [Jan. 10].
10 Young Students Strip-Searched in Texas
LA MARQUE, Texas - Ten students between the ages of 11 and 12 were strip-searched as officials at their charter school tried to find a missing $10 bill.
David Bruce: Wise Up! on Clothing
On a TV game show, a contestant was asked what you could find on a pool table that you could also find in a pair of pants. The contestant did not say the correct answer -- pockets.
Michael Moore: "Fahrenheit 9/11" Named Best Picture of the Year by the American People
Dear Friends, Last night, at the People's Choice Awards, "Fahrenheit 9/11" was named the Best Movie of the Year. It was a stunning moment for us. And, somewhere inside the Bush White House, someone there must have been stunned, too. 21 million people voted in the People's Choice Awards. They chose our film over "Shrek 2," "Spiderman 2" and "The Incredibles." If we can beat that many superheroes, surely we can survive the next four years.
Michael Moore Wins A People's Choice Award (A Short Movie)
We Sell One Product A Day (Read The Interesting FAQs)
Reader Comment
Re: NASA - Prometheus
Marty, ouch.
"Cassini is still operating and sending back tremendous amounts of information. Go to the NASA's main Saturn page for information and updates. Saturday, January 14th, is a big day. Huygens will land on another world and Cassini will relay the data to us Earthlings. It's one small long distant step for men, one giant leap for mankind.The urge to explore -- to find out, to seek out new places and greet new faces -- transcends race, politics or religion."
While you're lauding Cassini, remember that this spaceshot lobbed a large amount of nuclear material over our heads, and if the calculations had been wrong when it slingshoted back towards earth, according to NASA's EIR (required by law, then), 5 billion people would have gotten their maximum annual dose of radiation in a few hours.
Now NASA is planning on Prometheus, the plan to lob fullscale nuclear reactors over our heads in 2010, yes for exploration, but MAINLY to power Bush's Star Wars Space Lasers and other weapons of hate and world domination.
1 in a 100 of NASA's boosters blow the F up.
Letting these maniacs roll the dice with our lives is not progressive, no matter how much we like the exploration science. Letting them launch Space Star Wars while goosing Star Trek heads with 'science' is more Kubrick than Clarke.
Dr. Strangelove wants to explore Mars to find caves for the few survivors of the global apocalypse of his Doomsday machine.
Paul in LA
Still protesting after all these years
Thanks, Paul!
Good point.
Do you remember that 50 pounds of radioactive material from the Gallileo sent crashing into the planet Jupiter? Could that count as a rehearsal?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
A clear, sunny, windy, brisk day with NO rain!
My pal Erin has been visiting from Seattle, and her train was scheduled to leave this morning from Union Station.
So, after getting the kid off to school, walked the 3 blocks to the Blue Line (they call it a subway, but it's above ground in these parts) station & took a trip to downtown LA.
She was supposed to take Amtrak's lovely coastal route north, but because of the landslide near Ventura, she was put on a bus at the train station and then sent up I-5 to San Luis Obispo.
Bet she'll have some stories for her show Saturday night.
'America' Back on Mississippi Libraries Shelves
Jon Stewart
A library board for two south Mississippi counties has reversed a ban on Jon Stewart's best-selling "America (The Book)."
The Jackson-George Regional Library System board of trustees said they banned the satirical textbook in eight public libraries last month because they objected to an image of the faces of the U.S. Supreme Court justices superimposed on nine naked bodies.
However, the board met Monday night and by a 5-2 vote lifted the ban. The book will return to the shelves of the eight libraries in the two counties.
"We have come under intense scrutiny by the outside community," said David Ables, board chairman. "As a board, we don't decide for the community whether to read this book or not, but whether to make it available."
Jon Stewart
Vibrator Addict Looking For Attention
Clooney vs. O'Really
A television benefit show for victims of the Asian tsunami featuring Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Elton John and a string of Hollywood celebrities has run into controversy in the United States before a note has been played or a dollar pledged.
Fox TV conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly started the furor by suggesting that not all the money raised would aid tsunami victims.
Actor George Clooney, one of the organizers of the telethon scheduled for Saturday on NBC, hit back with a letter accusing O'Reilly of creating a fuss for his own personal gain.
He urged O'Reilly to take part as a presenter and followed up with a letter saying, "We're not playing games here, we're trying to save lives. It's as simple as this; you're either with this joint effort or against it."
Performers will include Diana Ross, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Annie Lennox and Brian Wilson. There will also be appearances by Actors Clint Eastwood, Halle Berry, Meg Ryan, Kevin Spacey and other stars.
Clooney vs. O'Really
Democrat Urging Boycott
David Livingstone
David Livingstone says the idea behind the economic boycott he's organizing is simple: If people don't show up at work or buy things, companies lose money. As he sees it, that's money the Bush administration can't tax, and can't use to run the war in Iraq, protect polluters or chip away at the Constitution.
So the Detroit Democrat and a handful of other anti-Bush groups across the country are urging others of like mind to withhold their cash and labor on Inauguration Day - from all businesses. They don't think they'll inflict a huge economic pain, but they do want to make a point.
"I view the inauguration of Bush as a black Thursday for this country," Livingstone says. "We've tried marching in the streets to stop the war, we tried writing letters, we tried initiatives on the Web, but Bush doesn't listen. It seems to us the only thing Bush and the Republicans will listen to is money."
For more, David Livingstone
Black Thursday
Not One Damn Dime!
Jazz Funeral for Democracy
Another Tsunami Benefit
Tenacious D
Tenacious D will be joined by such rock heavyweights as Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, Beck, Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl and Queens Of The Stone Age principal Josh Homme at a Jan. 17 benefit in Los Angeles for the victims of the Asian tsunami.
The Wiltern Theatre event will also boast an appearance by actor Will Ferrell. Tickets are $60 and $100. The show is being organized via the new collective Music for Relief, with proceeds to benefit the American Red Cross.
Tenacious D
Wants Cannon Back
Uncle Sam
The U.S. military is demanding two Sierra Nevada ski resorts, including Alpine Meadows, return howitzer cannons used for avalanche control so the weapons can be deployed for the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Alpine and Mammoth Mountain, under a loan from the U.S. Army, began using five howitzers last year to intentionally trigger avalanches in hazardous areas by firing rounds into snow-covered mountainsides. The ski resorts received word earlier this month that the Army's Tank Automotive and Armaments Command at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois must have the howitzers returned immediately to support the war.
"We were surprised they still used that type of weapon in Iraq or Afghanistan," said Ray Belli, ski patrol director at Alpine Meadows. "They must have more modern weapons than that these days. "
Patrollers at Alpine use the 105-caliber, 119-A model howitzer to do avalanche control in areas that would be either too difficult to reach or too dangerous to control by hand.
photo of howitzer on mountain
Uncle Sam
Thanks, Mr. Miata!
45th Annual List
Mr Blackwell
In his 45th annual no-puns-barred list of what he calls "The Bad, The Sad and The Downright Ugly," Mr Blackwell said Nicollette Sheridan, who a plays a suburban vamp in the hit ABC series, is "a taste-free pain."
"Let's crown her the Tacky Temptress of Wisteria Lane!" he added as he placed her at the top of his list, which has become a Hollywood tradition.
He gave second spot on his list to teen star Lindsay Lohan, calling her, "Over-hyped and under-dressed. What's happened to Lindsay? When it comes to fashion she's in a schizophrenic frenzy!"
The singing sisters Jessica and Ashlee Simpson tied for third, with Mr Blackwell decrying, "From gaudy to grim to downright frenetic these two prove that bad taste is positively genetic!"
He called singer Courtney Love "a Medusa stuck in a meltdown mode" and named her fourth. Socialite Paris Hilton was fifth: "This is one Hilton that should be closed for renovation."
In sixth place was tennis champ Serena Williams, whom Mr Blackwell said has moved "from the queen of tennis to fatal fashion menace." He was no less unkind to Britney Spears, saying she is "a "clothes encounter of the catastrophic kind."
He dismissed singer Paula Abdul, calling her "a paint by numbers fashion foul." As for Meryl Streep in ninth place, Mr Blackwell said, "Forget 'Lemony Snicket,' Streep packs the fashion punch of Jiminy Cricket!"
The final victim on his list was former Playmate married to a millionaire Anna Nicole Smith, whom Mr Blackwell said looked like "a rag doll trapped in a wind machine."
Mr Blackwell
Industry Faces Slowdown
Actors Talks Hit Snag
Feature film production could screech to a halt in as little as three weeks if Hollywood's actors and industry negotiators do not reach a new contract by the end of the month, industry sources said Monday.
Contract talks broke down Sunday after the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and employers represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said they were not ready to make a deal -- and would recess indefinitely to plot their next moves.
Sources said significant progress was made, but the talks stalled over two final demands by the actors, one being higher residuals from DVDs. The studios have made it clear that they are willing to risk a strike to preserve the current DVD formula.
A news blackout remains in effect regarding the negotiations, and the sources would not discuss the actors' other demand that has hindered the talks.
Actors Talks Hit Snag
Not Welcome NJ Town
'Simple Life'
After getting the cold shoulder in a rural town, Paris Hilton and her reality show are now headed for the city. The celebrity heiress and her Fox reality show, "The Simple Life," whose plans to film at a school in nearby Buena Vista Township were dashed, will instead film this week at a city fire station.
On Monday, Buena Regional School District officials who had planned to put the two to work as middle school substitute teachers and cafeteria monitors withdrew the welcome mat following an uproar from parents and others. Opponents called Hilton a bad example for young children.
Producers had approached school officials in December, offering $5,000 for the right to film at the J.P. Cleary Middle School. School officials liked the idea, and sent permission forms and a letter from the show's production company to parents last week.
'Simple Life'
Pleads Not Guilty
Ron Isley
Isley Brothers lead singer Ron Isley has pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to report performance and royalty income.
Isley was indicted in October for allegedly evading taxes from 1997 to 2002 by depositing his dead brother's royalty checks, buying cars for his personal use with money from a business account and paying his band members cash to keep them off the books.
He is charged with five counts of tax evasion and one count of failing to file an income tax return.
Ron Isley
Cuts Ties With Law Career
Star Jones
Star Jones Reynolds has finally cut ties with her former law career. A host of ABC's daytime talk show "The View," she listed her profession as TV personality instead of attorney for the first time last year while filling out customs forms during a European trip.
"I guess I've crossed over to the dark side," she said. "It felt truthful. I'm sure it's strange for my father, who wants to know where all the money went for law school."
Jones Reynolds worked as an assistant district attorney for six years and has been doing television since 1992.
Star Jones
Quits Reality Show
Germaine Greer
Feminist icon Germaine Greer, who baffled observers by agreeing to appear in a reality TV show, quit "Celebrity Big Brother" Tuesday and launched a scathing attack on the producers.
Speaking at a press conference, Greer compared the house to a "fascist prison" and said producers had behaved with "complete irresponsibility".
Having vowed to use any money earned through the program to save 125 acres of rain forest in Australia, Greer told the show's cameras she didn't need the funds badly enough.
"The rain forest will be fine - I'll save it in other ways," she said.
Germaine Greer
Modern Danger & Ancient Yystery In Laos
Plain of Jars
A busload of Japanese tourists spills onto a mud road and poses for pictures next to a red sign that says, "DANGER!"
Nearby several bomb clearance workers armed with a metal detector prepare to face a potentially deadly hazard. They head single-file along a narrow path into the brush, and 20 minutes later a call rings out: they have found two live mortar bombs.
Inspection reveals the bombs do not pose an immediate danger and can be collected at another time for demolition. The teams moves on.
Later another call rings out ... this time for an archaeologist.
This find is not lethal but fragile. Buried in the bushes are large pieces of ancient rock, the stone jars that give the Plain of Jars its name.
No one knows much about the thousands of pod-like stone vessels, some taller than a man, which dot the landscape in northeastern Laos and are nestled next to bomb craters resembling golf course bunkers.
For the rest, Plain of Jars
