'Best of TBH Politoons'
M Is For MASHUP - March 28 2007
Paid In Comments
By DJ Useo
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Annalee Newitz: Vote Mac?
The new attack ad against Hillary Clinton seems to blur the lines between what we should be buying and who we should be voting for.
RICHARD ROEPER: Why no outrage over Maher calling Obama 'articulate'? (suntimes.com)
Check out this quote about Barack Obama: "[He's] exciting. Everyone says he's a rock star, which is one of the most overused phrases these days.... You know what? If you're not [receiving oral sex] after an event, you're not a rock star. But OK, Obama is a rock star. Fine, if that's what it takes. He seems articulate and serious and thoughtful and electable."
Christopher Howard: American Socialism for the Already Rich (Democracy: a Journal of Ideas ; Posted on AlterNet.org)
Call it phony universalism, Robin Hood in reverse, or socialism for the rich -- the United States spends almost as much helping the have-plenties as the have-nots.
James M. Cypher: Who's Gorging and Who's Getting Roasted in the Economic Barbecue? (Dollars and Sense; Posted on AlterNet.org)
Not since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century has America witnessed such a rapid shift in the distribution of economic wealth as it has in the past 30 years.
Sean Gonsalves: What's an Opinion Worth?
How to combat the anti-intellectual virus.
JIM MAYNARD: Choosing the Gay Option (memphisflyer.com)
Both the religious right and liberal determinists misconstrue what homosexuality is.
Michael Abernethy: Queer, Isn't It?: 'That Ain't Right!' (popmatters.com)
The news, television, and films all reinforce the idea that there is something wrong with even the hint of homosexuality.
Andrew Tobias: PS - I Love You (But You'll Never Know It)
I hereby proclaim and decree that the Post Scriptum of a physical letter be replaced by the e-Prior Signatorum. You write it just the same way . . . "PS -- On the off-chance you didn't realize it, Jack, I am joking." . . . only you put it above the signature instead of below.
H.R.1257
Title: To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation.
Sponsor: Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] (introduced 3/1/2007)
Cosponsors (27)
Latest Major Action: 3/21/2007 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
David Bruce: Wise Up: Children (athensnews.com)
As part of his nonviolent resistance to unjust laws, Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested many times and taken to jail. When his children were small, they would ask their mother, "Why is Daddy in jail?" Coretta Scott King would answer, "Daddy is helping people."
Current TV: The TV Network Created by the People Who Watch It
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Really goofy weather.
Clear, sunny, windy morming, then around lunchtime a storm blew in with bigger winds, an ominous gray sky, about a 20° drop in temperature and rain.
Didn't last long - cleared up and went back to clear, sunny and windy.
Wrecks $1.5M Ferrari Enzo
Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin crashed a rare Ferrari Enzo worth $1.5 million into a concrete barrier while practicing at a racetrack, destroying the car but escaping uninjured.
The 38-year-old actor-comedian was practicing Monday for a charity race to promote his upcoming film, "Redline," when he drove too fast around a curve at the Irwindale Speedway. Video footage shows the red sports car screeching before it ricocheted off the barrier with heavy damage to its front.
"Undercover Brother's good at karate and all the rest of that, but the Brother can't drive," said Griffin, referring to his 2002 movie, after the accident.
"He walked away completely unscratched, but probably a little shaken," the film's publicist, Wendy Zocks said.
Eddie Griffin
BMI's Icon Award
Bee Gees
In the '70s, they sang the soundtrack for the disco scene with hits including "You Should Be Dancing" and "Stayin' Alive." Now, the Bee Gees are being honored as icons at BMI's 55th annual Pop Awards.
The awards, which honor the songwriters and publishers of the past year's top songs, will be presented May 15 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Broadcast Music Inc. announced Monday.
BMI Icons are selected for "their unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." Past recipients include Crosby, Stills & Nash, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Brian Wilson, James Brown, Carlos Santana and Dolly Parton.
Bee Gees
80th Birthday
Mstislav Rostropovich
Feeble but clearly pleased, Mstislav Rostropovich came to the Kremlin on Tuesday evening for a gala celebration marking the 80th birthday of a man renowned for his music and his human rights work.
Rostropovich, who had been hospitalized in February for an undisclosed illness, walked slowly into the celebration on the arms of his wife, Galina Vishnyevsakaya, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The hall was decked in decorations shaped like cellos, the instrument of which he was a towering master.
One of the giants of classical music, Rostropovich went into exile from the Soviet Union with his family in 1974 after housing dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn for four years. He and his wife eventually lost their Soviet citizenship.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Naked King Lear
Ian McKellen
Veteran actor Sir Ian McKellen shocked theatregoers when he stripped completely naked midway through a new production of King Lear.
The 67-year-old was performing in a preview of the William Shakespeare play in Stratford-Upon-Avon on Saturday.
His strip surprised many in the audience, who were given no advance nudity warning.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Shakespeare Company says a meeting is being held today to discuss whether to warn parents and school groups about the scene.
Ian McKellen
Woodward's Notes Interviews On View
'Deep Throat'
If you have ever been fascinated with Watergate -- or merely enjoyed the movie "All the President's Men" -- you've probably tried to imagine what Bob Woodward's notes from his parking ramp meetings with "Deep Throat" in the famous parking garage looked like. Now you have the chance.
Papers belonging to Washington Post reporters Woodward and Carl Bernstein concerning Mark Felt, the source known as Deep Throat, went on public display Friday at the University of Texas at Austin. Some can be viewed online. The first set of notes includes a direct quote from Felt: "this could ruin the admin, I mean ruin."
The university acquired the Watergate papers of Woodward and Bernstein for $5 million in 2003, and most of the documents were made available at the Ransom Center two years later. Papers on Deep Throat, however, were held back because his identity was a well-guarded secret.
'Deep Throat'
Joins PETA
Shirley Manson
Garbage singer Shirley Manson is the latest star to front an anti-fur coat campaign for People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA).
The Scottish star is pictured in a new advertising campaign, which is designed to shock and is launched today.
On one poster, Manson is pictured wearing a Stella McCartney dress, while holding a skinned fox next to the words 'Here's The Rest Of Your Fur Coat'.
"A lot of my fans are very pro-animal rights and have often, when I have been wearing fake fur, said, 'Is that real?' and really gotten upset, and I have had to reassure them,0 'No, it's cool, it's fake, don't worry.' They have made me very conscious of it, and I am really grateful that they have made me pay attention."
Shirley Manson
Hospital News
Jack Valenti
Former Hollywood lobbyist and presidential adviser Jack Valenti has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke. Valenti, 85, had the stroke last week and remains at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore, according to a statement issued by longtime friend Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros.
"His family tells me that the doctors are encouraged by his progress," Meyer said.
No further details would be released, he said.
Jack Valenti
Made In India
Virgin Comics
Throw Indian and American soldiers into a barren Afghanistan desert, toss a nuclear warhead into the hands of terrorists and you have an action-packed plot in the latest graphic novel to be released by Virgin Comics.
Created by graphic artists in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, the dark tale titled "Virulents" is the latest in a series of comic books produced in a year-old partnership between British billionaire Richard Branson, spiritual guru Deepak Chopra and Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.
The comic will first be released in the United States on Wednesday, followed by Britain and India.
Graphic novels are part of Virgin's strategy of tapping into India's booming entertainment market. The company sees India, with its one billion plus population, both as a producer of content and as a consumer.
Virgin Comics
Seeks Divorce
Wynonna Judd
Wynonna Judd filed for divorce Tuesday from her estranged husband, less than a week after his arrest in Texas on sex charges involving a minor. Dan R. Roach, 49, was arrested Thursday in Abilene and charged with three counts of aggravated sexual battery against a child younger than 13 in Nashville, police said.
Police spokesman Don Aaron said an investigation by the department's sex crimes unit started in February.
Judd cited irreconcilable differences as a reason for divorce in the complaint filed in the Nashville suburb of Williamson County. The couple, who were married in November 2003, have been separated since Feb. 18, according to the complaint.
Wynonna Judd
Cancel UK Tour Dates
Snoop & Diddy
U.S. rappers Snoop Dogg and Sean "Diddy" Combs have canceled the British dates of their European tour after Snoop was denied a visa to enter Britain, his record company said on Tuesday.
The pair were "incredibly disappointed and devastated" after concerts in London, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham and Glasgow were called off, Polydor said in a statement.
Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin Broadus, has been performing across Europe with Combs, once his bitter rival in a notorious feud between the east and west coast U.S. hip-hop scenes.
Fans will be given a refund. The tour continues in Dublin on Saturday.
Snoop & Diddy
Hidden Disney
`Song of the South'
Walt Disney Co.'s 1946 film "Song of the South" was historic. It was Disney's first big live-action picture and produced one of the company's most famous songs - the Oscar-winning "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." It also provided the inspiration for the Splash Mountain rides at Disney's theme parks.
But the movie remains hidden in the Disney archives - never released on video in the United States and criticized as racist for its depiction of Southern plantation blacks. The film's 60th anniversary passed last year without a whisper of official rerelease, which is unusual for Disney, but President and CEO Bob Iger recently said the company was reconsidering.
The film's reissue would surely spark debate, but it could also sell big. Nearly 115,000 people have signed an online petition urging Disney to make the movie available, and out-of-print international copies routinely sell online for $50 to $90, some even more than $100.
`Song of the South'
Shooting QE2
Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz will take the official photograph for Queen Elizabeth II's state visit to the United States, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.
The photograph will be shot at the palace in the next few days. It will be released the day before the queen leaves for a six-day visit to the United States in early May, the palace said.
Leibovitz said the portrait would be "very formal and painterly" and that she was in negotiation with the palace over what the queen would wear.
Annie Leibovitz
Cancels Guest Editor Program
LA Times
The Los Angeles Times said Tuesday it is scrapping its program of selecting prominent people to occasionally oversee the Sunday opinion section, days after it canceled the debut section over concerns about a conflict of interest.
The Times' editorial page editor, Andres Martinez, had arranged for Hollywood producer Brian Grazer to be the first guest editor. The publisher canceled that plan after learning Martinez dated a publicist for Grazer. Hiller said he believed Grazer was chosen for his own merit, but he said he wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
Martinez resigned after that decision, saying his credibility had been undermined. He and the publicist have denied she had any improper influence on the newspaper's editorial pages.
LA Times
Relatives Against Exhumation
Harry Houdini
The family of Harry Houdini's widow wants to block a plan to exhume the escape artist's remains, saying a disinterment to determine whether he was murdered smacks of sensationalism.
"It is our firm belief that Bess Houdini would never approve of this," said a statement from her grandnephews, John and Jeffrey Blood. "The family believes this is likely being done to promote sales of a recent book on Harry Houdini, suggesting he may have been murdered."
A spokesman for Houdini's grandnephew, who supports the exhumation, and one of the new biography's authors on Tuesday quickly protested the Bloods' suggestion.
"I'm sorry that Bess' side of the family feels that way, because this is not a publicity stunt in any shape or form," said Larry Sloman, co-author of "The Secret Life of Houdini." "This is not something frivolous. This is a serious scientific study."
Harry Houdini
Forbidden On Passover
Pot
In bad news for its religious Jewish supporters, an Israeli pro-marijuana party announced Tuesday that pot is forbidden on Passover.
Cannabis is among the substances Jews are forbidden to consume during the week-long festival, which begins Monday, said Michelle Levine, a spokeswoman for the Green Leaf party.
Biblical laws prohibit eating leavened foods during Passover, replacing bread with flat crackers called matza. Later injunctions by European rabbis extended those rules to forbid other foods like beans and corn, and more recent rulings have further expanded the ban to include hemp seeds, which today are found in some health oils - and in marijuana.
"You shouldn't smoke marijuana on the holiday, and if you have it in your house you should get rid of it," Levine said. The edict was first reported in The Jerusalem Post.
Pot
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for March 19-25. 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. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 29.96 million viewers.
2. (1) "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 27.08 million viewers.
3. (5) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 22.3 million viewers.
4. (3) "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 21.8 million viewers.
5. (9) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 17.66 million viewers.
6. (17) "NCIS," CBS, 15.69 million viewers.
7. (17) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 15.19 million viewers.
8. (114) "`Til Death," Fox, 14.88 million viewers.
9. (12) "Deal Or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 14.19 million viewers.
10. (21) "Cold Case," CBS, 13.91 million viewers.
11. (21) "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.64 million viewers.
12. (X) "Survivor: Fiji" (Wednesday)," CBS, 12.78 million viewers.
13. (17) "Without a Trace," CBS, 12.74 million viewers.
14. (25) "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.63 million viewers.
15. (24) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 12.3 million viewers.
16. (13) "Lost," ABC, 12.22 million viewers.
17. (34) "The Unit," CBS, 11.97 million viewers.
18. (21) "24," Fox, 11.8 million viewers.
19. (16) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 11.68 million viewers.
20. (29) "October Road," ABC, 11.5 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Norma Goodman
Alaskan broadcasting pioneer Norma Goodman died Wednesday night at the age of 76 after a short battle with cancer.
Goodman held the record for hosting the longest continuous running talk show on television--not just in Alaska, but in the country.
Goodman got her start in television more than 50 years ago, right here on channel 11, when she went to work for Augie Hiebert back in 1954. The station had signed on just a few weeks earlier. It wasn't long before Norma was hosting her very own show
In the beginning it was called Hostess House and it featured things like a regular cooking segment with chefs from local restaurants. There were also lots of live commercials, shot right on the set: a skill at which Goodman excelled.
Eventually it was called the Norma Goodman Show. But its focus stayed right on the community, with a mission to inform, inspire and entertain in a way that only Goodman could.
She'll be remembered as a true Alaskan pioneer who left our community a better place.
Norma Goodman
I worked in master control at KTVA, channel 11 in Anchorage back in the late-1970s.
The 'Norma Goodman Show' was live every weekday morning, with live commercials.
The big sponsor was the local Wonder Bread bakery, and every Monday they provided several of bags of each of their baked products so Norma could hold one up and go on about how good it was.
Back then there weren't many food options in the middle of the night in Anchorage, and the overnight crew would eat the baked goods. By Friday, poor Norma would be left with a couple dozen empty plastic bags.
Norma never got angry - she was a pro - she'd just slip off a shoe and put it in the bag so she'd have what appeared to be a nice fresh bag of Wonder Bread to hold up during the live commercials.
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