'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Weekly Review
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW
April 1, 2003
American and British forces in Iraq were slowed in their
advance toward Baghdad by severe dust storms and by attacks
from Iraqi militias, who were harassing the long, exposed
supply lines between Kuwait and the front. American
commanders were forced to change their tactics because of
the unexpected resistance.
Lt. General William Wallace,
commander of Army forces in the Persian Gulf, said that "the
enemy we're fighting is a bit different than the one we war
gamed against."
American and British casualties were heavier
than expected, and soldiers said they were having a hard
time distinguishing Iraqi forces from civilians. "It's not
pretty," said one marine. "It's not surgical. You try to
limit collateral damage, but they want to fight. Now it's
just smash-mouth football."
The bombing of Baghdad
continued; one reporter described seeing a severed hand, a
pile of brains, and the remains of a mother and her three
small children who were burned alive in their car after two
American missiles landed in a crowded market.
A few days
later another marketplace was hit by a missile and dozens of
civilians died.
Pentagon officials suggested that the
missiles could have been fired by the Iraqis. An American
missile also hit an empty shopping mall in Kuwait City;
although U.S. officials said they could not confirm the
origin of the missile, Kuwaitis said that fragments were
recovered that clearly established the missile's provenance.
Bush Administration sources said they were frustrated with
the skeptical tone of some recent reporting on the war, and
some American troops were becoming impatient with the
failure of most Iraqis to show enthusiasm for the invasion.
"I expected a lot more people to surrender," one soldier
told a reporter. "From all the reports we got, I thought
they would all capitulate."
Another soldier was unimpressed
with the ruins of the ancient city of Ur, the birthplace of
Abraham. "I've been all the way through this desert from
Basra to here and I ain't seen one shopping mall or fast
food restaurant," he told a British reporter. "These people
got nothing. Even in a little town like ours of 2,500 people
you got a McDonald's at one end and a Hardee's at the other."
Resident George W. Bush declared that he was satisfied with
the war and said that "the Iraqi people have got to know
that they will be liberated and Saddam Hussein will be
removed, no matter how long it takes."
Continued at www.harpers.org/weekly-review
-- Roger D. Hodge
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
A cold front is moving through, so it's about 20 degrees cooler today.
This morning I thought one of the cats was regressing, and had peed in the tub, again. When I applied water, it started to bubble. Seems that the kid
realized how much liquid Ajax dish detergent looks like cat urine, so he put a healthy squirt in the tub, and set me up! He laughed all the way to school.
Last night Dave Letterman did a wonderful tribute to the late George Miller, with film clips from the old Carson show. (For the obit, see: BartCop E - Sunday, 9 March, and scroll down.)
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS is supposed to have the Season Premiere of 'Star Search', followed by '60 Minutes II', then
'48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Helen Hunt, Jeremy Suarez, and Cory Branan.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Robert Duvall and Jamie Kennedy.
NBC is supposed to offer 'Dateline', followed by a FRESH 'West Wing', then a
FRESH 'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Annika Sorenstam and the Wallflowers.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Colin Farrell, Michael Palin, and Wendy Northcutt.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly is Bon Jovi.
ABC is supposed to have a RERUN 'My Wife & Kids', followed by a FRESH 'George Lopez', then
a FRESH 'The Bachelor', followed by a FRESH 'All American Girl'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Tommy Lasorda and Cam'ron and the Diplomats, with this week's guest co-host Mike Tyson.
The WB has a FRESH 'Dawson's Creek', then a FRESH 'Angel'.
Faux offers a FRESH 'That 70's Show', followed by a FRESH 'American Idol', then a FRESH
'Bernie Mac', followed by a FRESH 'Wanda At Large'.
UPN has a FRESH 'Enterprise', followed by a FRESH 'Twilight Zone'.
TCM celebrates baseball with 'A League Of Their Own', 'Pride Of The Yankees', 'Angels In The Outfield', 'The Stratton Story', and 'The Big Leaguer'. Unfortunately, no 'Rhubarb'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
French daredevil Alain Robert, with a sweater reading 'No War' climbs the TotalFinaElf tower in the Paris suburb La Defense, Tuesday, April 1, 2003.
Photo by Michel Euler
Returns to High Ratings
David Letterman
Comedian David Letterman received a big welcome back to the CBS "Late Show" from a monthlong illness, scoring his second-highest ratings this season and his biggest victory over NBC late-night rival Jay Leno in three years.
According to preliminary Nielsen Media Research figures from the nation's 55 largest media markets, Letterman's return on Monday night posted a 5.3 rating, his highest rating since self-help guru Dr. Phil McGraw appeared on the show Feb. 17.
It was only the second time this season (Dr. Phil's visit was the first), that Letterman bested NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in overall ratings. And it marked the steepest percentage gain (23 percent) over Leno since Letterman returned to the program in February 2000 following open-heart surgery.
Joking about the duration of the illness Monday night, Letterman alluded to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's insistence that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was proceeding according to plans.
"Thirty days it took me to get over the shingles. And according to Donald Rumsfeld, that's right on schedule," Letterman said.
Then, in a reference to supplies the U.S. government suggested Americans have on hand in the event of a biological or chemical weapons attack, he added: "You know what cleared this up? Duct tape."
David Letterman
Pulls Anti-War Video
Madonna
Madonna has decided to withdraw the violent, anti-war video for her new single "American Life" out of respect for the troops fighting in Iraq.
In a statement posted on her Web site Monday, the singer said the video was filmed before the war started and was not appropriate to air at this time.
The video for the title track of a new album shows Madonna wearing military garb next to dancers in camouflage on a fashion runway. At one point, a grenade is thrown in the direction of a lookalike of resident Bush. Scenes are intercut with images of war.
Madonna
Madonna Web Site
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Snarky Gossip
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's alarming behavior is costing him all his old friends. The latest to part company: Cher. "I don't have a nice thing to say about him. He and I were friends when he was little. I watched him grow up and all that, but, you know, you dangle a baby over a balcony, that's it for me," she told "Entertainment Tonight." "If it was up to me, he wouldn't have those babies now." Cher told TV Guide: "I don't really care what he does to his face. He could just erase it as far as I'm concerned . . . This guy is nuts. He shouldn't have these children." Elizabeth Taylor reportedly severed her relationshiop with Jacko when he treated her rudely. His ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley told Rolling Stone he is "manipulative and controlling." Now Star reports that Jacko - wearing a plastic mask with eyes and lips painted on it - visited the Grove shopping center in L.A. where he fell in love with a $210 handbag with a see-through plastic pocket for child photos. What he really liked was a picture in the display purse of one of the designer's two boys. He persuaded the store owner to sell him the bag with her son's photo in it.
Michael Jackson
Elaine Clarke, of Detroit, Michigan, joins a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington April 1, 2003. The Supreme Court questioned whether race can be used in university admissions in the most significant test of racial preferences in 25 years, as civil rights supporters demonstrated outside.
Photo by Brendan McDermid
Cancels British Tour
Mark Knopfler
Rock star Mark Knopfler has canceled his British tour after a motorcycle accident in which he broke six ribs and a collar bone.
Judy Shaw of Mercury Records said Tuesday the Dire Straits lead singer has canceled six shows, scheduled June 2-9, because of the injuries he suffered in the March 17 crash.
Knopfler, 53, was knocked from his Honda bike when it collided with a Fiat Punto in Belgravia, central London. The female driver of the Fiat was not injured.
Mark Knopfler
Decide to Split
Jennifer Garner - Scott Foley
"Alias" star Jennifer Garner and her husband, actor Scott Foley, are splitting.
Garner and Foley "have mutually decided to separate," according to a statement Tuesday from their publicist, Nicole King.
The couple, both 30, met in 1998 on the set of "Felicity," the WB drama in which Foley co-starred. They married in 2000. Foley is currently in the NBC sitcom "A.U.S.A.," while Garner plays a spy in ABC's "Alias."
Jennifer Garner - Scott Foley
Fox Agreed to Oust Rivera
Pentagon Says
Although Geraldo Rivera claimed reports of his demise were premature, the Pentagon said Tuesday that Fox News Channel had agreed to remove him from his posting with U.S troops in Iraq.
Military officials had accused Rivera of disclosing unauthorized information. In the report that aired Monday, Rivera squatted in the desert and outlined military movements in the dirt.
Lt. Col Dave LaPan said that the Pentagon had asked that Rivera be removed "and we are working with (Fox News Channel) to make that happen." He said the network had agreed.
Rivera appeared in a live shot on Fox News Channel Tuesday morning. At the time, he said he was still with the 101st Airborne Division and said nothing about leaving.
Tim Graham, a spokesman for the conservative watchdog organization, the Media Research Center, said he considered Rivera a grandstander and wished Fox News Channel hadn't hired him.
Pentagon Says
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Thanks Mom for Sounds Career Advice
Cher
Cher says her mother gave her three pieces of advice: if you're going to steal something, steal something big; if it doesn't matter in five years, it doesn't matter at all; and she may not be the prettiest or smartest or most talented, but when you put everything together, it's a pretty good package.
Cher says she thinks about her mother's words of wisdom all the time, adding that her only regret in her 40-year career was turning down a part in "Thelma and Louise."
"The Very Best of Cher" is in stores today. Her farewell concert tour is set to air as a two-hour special on NBC on April 8.
Cher
Cher Web Site
Biologists attached tags with a 1-800 phone number and an individual I.D. number, to more than 20,000 monarch butterflies, such as the one shown in this undated handout photo, between November 2002 and February 2003 when they clustered in California wintering grounds in coastal Marin, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties. The scientists want the public's help in watching for the butterflies bearing the tiny tags, that may reveal the mystery of where the colorful insects spend their summers.
Photo by Ventana Wilderness Society
Peace Sign To Excised
'What a Girl Wants'
Warner Bros. wants to avoid making a political statement in its ads for the movie "What a Girl Wants."
Print advertisements for the teen comedy originally featured a photograph of star Amanda Bynes wearing a tank top with an American flag on it and flashing the peace sign with her fingers as she stands between two British royal guards.
But with the war in Iraq sparking anti-war protests in the United States and abroad, Warner Bros. quickly changed the ad. The studio said Monday it feared the peace sign would be viewed as a political message.
'What a Girl Wants'
Bias Suit Filed
NY Post
A former editor at the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. , sued the newspaper on Tuesday alleging it discriminates against Americans and women.
Maralyn Matlick, a 25-year veteran of the tabloid, alleged in the suit that the paper has carried out a plan to replace top management with Australian and British men. Matlick was fired from her position as Sunday editor last year.
She was the highest-ranking female in the newsroom at the time of her dismissal.
Matlick, who filed the suit in Manhattan federal court, seeks reinstatement as Sunday editor and millions of dollars in damages, benefits, pension and litigation costs.
The suit alleges that the discriminatory practices began in April 2001 when Australian-born Murdoch appointed his son Lachlan chairman at the Post. Matlick alleged that Lachlan Murdoch immediately began a plan to fire American men and women in top management positions.
NY Post
Mississippi Tourism Tax To Build Museum
B.B. King
State senators voted to send Gov. Ronnie Musgrove a bill letting Indianola set a 2 percent tourism tax to pay for a museum honoring blues great B.B. King.
City officials could vote to levy the tax on hotel and motel rooms and restaurants and bar tabs. Local residents could then petition for an election.
The governor has proclaimed 2003 as "The Year of the Blues," and Mississippi tourism officials want to more aggressively market the state's blues heritage.
B.B. King
B.B. King Web site
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Three Movies Drop Plans
Minnesota
Three movies and a cable TV series have dropped plans to film in Minnesota, blaming the end of a state rebate program.
"That's a $66 million loss" of money that would have been spent in the state, said Craig Rice, executive director of the Minnesota Film and TV Board.
Those productions had counted on the "snowbate," an incentive to filmmakers that Gov. Tim Pawlenty suspended in January in a round of emergency cuts.
Because the board is partly supported by private grants and donations, it wouldn't disappear, said Rice, but its office would be reduced "to a couple of people who answer questions on the phone" instead of actively drumming up business.
Minnesota
Minnesota Film and TV Board Web site
Kenya Wildlife Service game wardens prepare to relocate a captured rhino from Lake Nakuru national park in the heart of Kenya's scenic Rift Valley to another game park in the northern part of Kenya, March 17, 2003. The exercise aims to revive the number of rhinos, which were nearly wiped out in poaching attacks years ago.
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Moves To Branson
Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum
Well-wishers bid "happy trails" to the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum, which is moving to Branson, Mo.
The museum, which closed its doors Sunday, hopes to open in Branson for the Memorial Day weekend.
Rogers — known to Western movie fans as the "King of the Cowboys" — died in 1998 at age 86. Evans, who wrote the couple's theme song, "Happy Trails to You," died in 2001 at 88.
"We've been here 36 years in the high desert, so it's a little bit rough," said son Dusty Rogers.
Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum
Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Web site
Arrested on DUI Suspicion
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad, who starred in the TV series "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "The Wild Wild West," was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol after a head-on crash with another car, the California Highway Patrol said.
Conrad crashed while driving west on Highway 4 in the Sierra foothills of Northern California in a 1995 Jaguar about 7:15 p.m. Monday, police said.
Officer Bryan Duquesnel said the results of Conrad's blood-alcohol test weren't available Tuesday. "But since there are injuries to another person, at this particular time, it is being considered a felony," Duquesnel said.
The driver of the other vehicle, Kevin Burnett, 26, suffered multiple fractures to his left leg, Duquesnel said.
Police list Conrad's age at 74. Television and film reference guides report the actor is 68.
Robert Conrad
To Conduct Buffalo Philharmonic
Marvin Hamlisch
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has selected Marvin Hamlisch as its principal pops conductor.
Hamlisch — an Oscar, Grammy and Tony Award winner — fills a position that's been vacant since Doc Severinsen resigned in May 1999.
As principal pops conductor, Hamlisch will conduct three concert series during the 2003-04 season, in October, December and April.
Marvin Hamlisch
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Web site
Another Kicked Off Fox Show
'American Idol'
It's more than just a talent contest. The would-be pop stars competing on the Fox reality hit "American Idol" seem these days to be running into trouble over past personal scandals.
A month after Fox disqualified a singer from the show amid revelations that she had posed topless on an Internet porn site, the network said on Monday it was expelling another finalist, Corey Clark, who is facing trial on misdemeanor charges of battery against his sister and resisting arrest.
Fox said in a statement that Clark "withheld information about a prior arrest which, had it been known, might have affected his participation in the show."
Clark's arrest record first came to light in a report posted on the Web site The Smoking Gun (www.thesmokinggun.com), which is known for unearthing obscure legal records dealing with numerous celebrities and entertainment figures.
Clark is the third "American Idol" contestant ejected from the show this year because of a checkered past.
'American Idol'
2 Early Watercolors Sold
Beatrix Potter
Two early watercolors by children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter have been auctioned for a total of more than $64,000.
Bonhams' Auctioneers said Tuesday that the snow scenes featuring rabbits wearing blue and red jackets — created around 1892 but never published — were probably intended as Christmas cards.
One painting, in which the two rabbits build a snowman, fetched $34,000 at the Tuesday auction. The other, featuring the two figures about to start a snowball fight, sold for $30,200.
The paintings were created about 10 years before Potter published her first book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," in 1902.
Beatrix Potter
Hauled From The Deep
Greek Satyr
Romans flocked to see a 2,400 year old bronze Greek satyr which went on public display in the Italian parliament, five years after the priceless archaelogical treasure emerged from the bottom of the sea in a fisherman's net.
The two-metre high satyr, which is missing two arms and a leg, is reputed to be one of the most important archaelogical finds in Italy in recent years.
It went on display after a painstaking four-and-a-half year restoration carried out by experts at the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome, and proved an immediate hit with Romans and tourists Tuesday.
Frozen for centuries in mid-leap, and with its swept back wavy hair, the satyr will remain on display until June 2 at the Montecitorio building which houses the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Then it will go on permanent display in the Sicilian fishing port of Mazara del Vallo, close to where it was found.
Experts say the statue, recovered 50 miles off the Sicilian coast in 1998, is most likely Greek dating from around the fourth century B.C.
Greek Satyr
Surrealist Works to Be Sold
Andre Breton Collection
Some 5,500 objects considered talismans of the French Surrealist movement from Breton to Magritte will go on sale in Paris this month despite an outcry from artists opposed to splitting up the works.
The entire contents of poet Andre Breton's 231-square-foot workshop, except for a wall of "primitive" art objects which has been donated to Paris's Pompidou Center, are going under the hammer because his descendants can no longer manage the legacy.
The sale at famed auction house Drouot is expected to fetch as much as $33 million.
Breton's studio at 42 rue Fontaine, near the Paris district of Montmartre, was so small and so packed with objects that "there would have been room for about three people," Pinel said.
Critics deplore the lack of state aid to preserve so rich a collection -- on sale are works by Rene Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Jean Arp, Francis Picabia and naif master Hector Hippolite.
It also includes photographs of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera with Leon Trotsky, manuscripts of Breton's poems and letters, his collection of primitive sculptures and Mexican paintings, and quirky objects like 90 enormous waffle irons, a pack of tarot cards and a butterfly collection.
Andre Breton Collection
In Memory
Michael Jeter
Michael Jeter, the character actor who won a supporting actor Emmy as a shrimpy assistant football coach on CBS's "Evening Shade" and was known on "Sesame Street" as The Other Mr. Noodle, has died, his publicist said Monday. He was 50.
Jeter's body was found in his Hollywood Hills home Sunday, publicist Dick Guttman said. Friends said they had communicated with him as recently as Saturday, Guttman added.
An autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death. Guttman said Jeter, who was HIV (news - web sites)-positive but had been in good health, apparently died of natural causes.
Jeter had been filming the Christmas movie "The Polar Express." Guttman said the producers believe there is enough footage to preserve Jeter's role in the film.
Jeter, a slim, 5-foot-4 actor with thinning red hair, bushy mustache and a broad grin, played tough runts, sniveling wimps and big-hearted underdogs.
"I often see myself in my private life as being a pinched and confined person. When I get on the stage I can open up," he said in a 1992 interview.
Among his favorite roles was the kindly Mr. Noodle on PBS's children's show "Sesame Street." The character was nicknamed The Other Mr. Noodle when Jeter took over the role from Bill Irwin. The two Noodles, the show explained, were brothers.
"Kids would recognize him and come running up to him, 'Mr. Noodle! Mr. Noodle,'" Guttman recalled. "He really loved that."
On "Evening Shade," which ran from 1990 to 1994, Jeter played the blustery assistant football coach Herman Stiles opposite the calm, paternal lead character played by Burt Reynolds (news). He won his Emmy in 1992.
He had film roles as a kindhearted mental patient in 1998's "Patch Adams," a mouse-loving prisoner in 1999's "The Green Mile" and a dinosaur-hunting mercenary in 2001's "Jurassic Park III."
Jeter started as a stage actor and won a 1990 supporting actor Tony Award as provincial German Jewish bookkeeper Otto Kringelein in the musical "Grand Hotel."
Jeter grew up in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., and studied acting at Memphis State University.
He worked in theater and in small film roles in the 1970s and '80s, but after two bouts of drug and alcohol abuse he decided the irregular life of a performer was too much for him.
He became a legal secretary and abandoned acting until a casting director sought him out in 1987. He was offered a small role in CBS's "Designing Women," made by the same people who would later produce "Evening Shade."
Michael Jeter
A Green Tree Python sleeps during the early hours in Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo, April 1, 2003. When resting, Green Tree Pythons loop saddle-fashion over a branch, anchoring themselves with their prehensile tail and cradling their head in the middle of their coils.
Photo by Alexandra Winkler
'The Osbournes'
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