'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
LARRY MARGASAK: Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House (Associated Press)
Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.
Helen Thomas: Want more Bush? Elect McCain (Hearst Newspapers)
In his bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain is moving to the right.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Yes He Would (The New York Times)
"But he wouldn't do that." That sentiment is what made it possible for President Bush to stampede America into the Iraq war and to fend off hard questions about the reasons for that war until after the 2004 election. Many people just didn't want to believe that an American president would deliberately mislead the nation on matters of war and peace.
Seth Stevenson: The Nastiest Wife on Television: An odd new ad from Century 21 (slate.com)
Sure, it's great when an agent becomes a pal and confidante, consoles you with tender notions about "memories," or (as happens in the spot titled "First-Time Buyers") hands over your new house keys, says "Welcome home," and gives you a big bear hug. But thoughtful gestures and congenial chitchat are not services worth thousands of dollars. Much better would have been a campaign that portrayed these agents as shrewd negotiators, or sharp assessors of a home's true market value. Those are the skills people might be willing to fork over that 6 percent for.
Grace Hood: Growing up behind bars (boulderweekly.com)
But it wasn't just a bad day for Robbie and for Joel. It was the beginning of a nightmare for their families, as well. While Robbie's family had to adjust to his tragic injury, Joel's family had to come to grips with having a loved one in prison. As the reality of Joel's actions crashed in on them, so did this truth: When a loved one goes to prison, the whole family does time.
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez: News Fakers (Democracy Now!. Posted on Alternet.org)
A scandalous new report shows how widespread and pernicious fake news has become.
Beth Quinn: A modest little proposal: Bring back the draft (recordonline.com)
In other words, he'd like to see Bush's daughters march off to Iraq, too. If the children of bankers, oil men and politicians are shipped out, Bush might be a little more cautious about putting our troops in harm's way. Maybe he'd even get them armor!
Beth Quinn Column Archive
Purple Gene Reviews
'Zen Pussy'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD took the day off.
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Don't know about this link, but will use it anyway - Who Let The Jews Out?
No new flags.
Image Rights Sold
Muhammad Ali
Entertainment and licensing firm CKX Inc. said on Tuesday it purchased an 80 percent interest in the name, image and likeness of boxing great Muhammad Ali for about $50 million in cash.
CKX said the agreement covers all other rights of publicity for Ali, 64, as well as certain trademarks and all existing license agreements.
Ali retains a 20 percent interest in the licensing rights to his own name, which will be operated through a newly formed company named G.O.A.T. LLC. G.O.A.T. stands for the "Greatest of All Time," a reference to Ali's self-proclaimed sports title.
Muhammad Ali
Sways UK Theatergoers
'My Name Is Rachel Corrie'
One of the most disturbing things about "My Name Is Rachel Corrie," the Royal Court play based on the journals and e-mails of a young American who died in Palestine for no apparent reason, is that it has yet to be seen in the United States.
The one-woman production starring Megan Dodds was on its way to the New York Theater Workshop last month when it derailed. Instead, it's in a sold-out run at London's Playhouse Theater, directed, as it was at the Royal Court, by actor Alan Rickman, who fashioned the play with journalist Katharine Viner.
Rachel Corrie was a seriously earnest young woman from the Pacific Northwest who was born seeking a cause. At 10, she made a speech pleading on behalf of the poor at her school's fifth-grade news conference on world hunger, and at 23 she left to take a look at the sharp end of where her country's tax dollars were spent on things military.
'My Name Is Rachel Corrie'
Seek to Hide Stars' Pay
Media Companies
Some big media and entertainment companies hope to keep under wraps the perks and income of their stars and celebrities, challenging a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal that's being called the "Katie Couric clause."
The SEC proposed the rule in January as part of an initiative to require companies to disclose far more details about their executives' pay packages and perks.
The regulation in question would require a company to disclose the pay details of as many as three non-executive employees whose individual compensation exceeds that of any of its top five executives.
Media Companies
Reviving Pioneer Awards
Rhythm & Blues Foundation
The Rhythm & Blues Foundation, which halted its Pioneer Awards for soul legends three years ago as the organization battled money woes, is reviving the ceremony in June and relocating to Philadelphia, the organization told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The Pioneer Awards, co-founded by Bonnie Raitt in 1989, were created not only to preserve the legacy of R&B, but to provide financial, medical and other kinds of assistance to struggling soul musicians.
The Pioneer Awards will be held June 29 in Philadelphia and hosted by Patti LaBelle and Smokey Robinson. Its honorees this year: Chubby Checker, Bettye LaVette and Barbara Mason, producer Thom Bell and the Delfonics.
Rhythm & Blues Foundation
5 Year Contract
Matt Lauer
While the television world was paying attention to Meredith Vieira's selection as Katie Couric's successor on the "Today" show last week, Matt Lauer quietly agreed to a contract extension to keep him on the show until 2011.
NBC confirmed the deal Tuesday, after Lauer revealed it during an interview with The New York Times. The network released no details. Lauer, 48, would not comment on the extension of a contract that was due to expire in 2008, a spokeswoman said. His salary is expected to be in a similar $13 million to $15 million range a year that Couric's was.
Matt Lauer
Actress-Turned-Nun
Dolores Hart
Dolores Hart, who at age 24 startled the film world in 1962 by leaving a thriving screen career - including two roles opposite Elvis Presley - to become a nun, has returned to Hollywood for her first visit after 43 years in a monastery.
Now the Rev. Mother Dolores Hart and prioress of the cloistered community at Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut, she has been renewing friendships from her studio years.
Why? To spread awareness about a largely mysterious neurological disorder that afflicts countless Americans, including herself, called peripheral idiopathic neuropathy.
Over a recent lunch at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Mother Dolores spoke of her ordeal with the disease. She also told of her long ambition to be an actress and what ended that phase of her life.
For the rest, Dolores Hart
Annual Tribute
Help USA
Martin Scorsese and Jon Bon Jovi will be honoured by Help USA, a national non-profit organization, at its annual tribute dinner, to be held May 4 at Gotham Hall.
"Jon Bon Jovi and Martin Scorsese are two public figures who view their success as a platform to give back and do so in ways consistent with Help USA's 20 years of job and housing assistance and mentoring," Maria Cuomo-Cole, co-chair of the dinner, said Tuesday in a statement.
Help USA was formed by former federal Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo to aid the homeless and victims of domestic abuse.
Help USA
Engagement/Baby News
Gyllenhaal - Sarsgaard
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard are engaged and expecting a baby, her publicist said Tuesday.
It will be the first marriage for both actors, Gyllenhaal's representative, Amanda Silverman, said Tuesday. No other information was released.
Gyllenhaal - Sarsgaard
Child Welfare Visit
Britney Spears
Child welfare officials and a sheriff's deputy visited the home of Britney Spears but declined to say Tuesday whether they were investigating the pop princess.
The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services and the Lost Hills sheriff's station declined to give details of Saturday afternoon's visit.
The Sheriff's Department said it was a DCFS matter and couldn't release any information. Glaskides said there may not even be a DCFS investigation, noting it may have been only a welfare check.
Britney Spears
Clothing Company Sues
Jessica Simpson
A California-based clothing manufacturer is suing Jessica Simpson for $100 million, claiming she breached their contract by failing to support lines of apparel she developed with the company.
Tarrant Apparel Group (TAG) of Los Angeles says in court papers that an agreement it signed in December 2004 with Jessica Simpson Brand Management LLC lets it use Simpson's name to make, sell, market and distribute women's sportswear.
TAG says it has already paid Simpson $2.2 million with another $1.6 million guaranteed as a sales royalty for 2004 and 2005 and an additional $4.4 million guaranteed for the remainder of the contract.
Jessica Simpson
Sues Ex-Husband
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez is suing her ex-husband, claiming he demanded $5 million to keep him from publishing a book containing private details about the star and their relationship.
In the lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Lopez alleged that Ojani Noa violated a confidentiality agreement by distributing the manuscript of his book to publishers, the syndicated television show "The Insider" reported. She is seeking a restraining order to keep the manuscript from becoming public.
The confidentiality agreement stemmed from a settlement in October, when Noa dropped his lawsuit claiming Lopez fired him as manager of her Pasadena restaurant without cause. Ojani agreed not to disparage Lopez or make money off disclosure of details of their relationship, the lawsuit said.
Jennifer Lopez
Georgia Search
Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
Wildlife biologists are searching one of the nation's most primitive swamps for the ivory-billed woodpecker, which was believed extinct since 1944 until one was reported in an Arkansas swamp last year.
A handful of biologists from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service launched the search last week in the Okefenokee Swamp, where the last confirmed sighting was reported in 1942. The search will continue for the rest of the month.
Using vehicles, canoes and helicopters they'll cover 80,000 acres in the northwestern portion of the 402,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, a home for snakes, alligators and black bears.
Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
Bodies Found
Knights Templar
The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel.
The remains were found beneath the ruined walls of Jacob's Ford, an overthrown castle dating back to the Crusades, which had been lost for centuries.
They can be dated to the exact day -- August 29, 1179 -- that they were killed by Saladin, the feared Muslim leader who captured the fortress.
Knights Templar
OK'd Removing Records, Kept Quiet
The National Archives
The National Archives agreed to seal previously public CIA and Pentagon records and to keep silent about U.S. intelligence's role in the reclassification, according to an agreement released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The 2002 agreement, requested three years ago by The Associated Press and released this week, shows archivists were concerned about reclassifying previously available documents - many of them more than 50 years old - but nonetheless agreed to keep mum.
"It is in the interest of both (unnamed agency) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to avoid the attention and researcher complaints that may arise from removing material that has already been available publicly from the open shelves for extended periods of time," the agreement said.
The National Archives
The New Lies
Women's Health
For the past 15 years, Ruth Shaber, M.D., has been an ob-gyn in San Francisco for Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest health maintenance organizations. She sees all types of women-union members, executives, waitresses. Most of them, Dr. Shaber says, have questions for her, including how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases, how to preserve their fertility, how to prevent breast and cervical cancer and whether the latest Internet health scare they've heard is really true.
Dr. Shaber tries hard to separate fact from fiction because, she says, "rumor and hearsay can start to seem real." In the past, she'd sometimes refer patients to government websites and printed fact sheets, or rely on those outlets to help create her own materials. Not anymore. "As a physician, I can no longer trust government sources," says Dr. Shaber. She is not a political activist or a conspiracy theorist; in addition to her own practice, she's Kaiser Permanente's director of women's health services for northern California and head of the HMO's Women's Health Research Institute. Yet this decidedly mainstream doctor and administrator says, "I no longer trust FDA decisions or materials generated [by the government]. Ten years ago, I would not have had to scrutinize government information. Now I don't feel comfortable giving it to my patients."
Such doctor mistrust represents a major change. For the past 100 years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been the world's premier government agency ensuring drug safety. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have similarly stellar track records. But recently, Dr. Shaber charges, the government has lost its most precious asset: credibility.
How did it happen?
For an informative read, Women's Health
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