'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Warmer still, but cools off nicely after dark.
The kid is down to the last 2 weeks of school. He's stoked, to phrase it mildly.
Irish rock star Bono of U2 arrives at Dublin Castle Tuesday June 1, 2004, to address an Informal meeting of European Union development ministers and confirm his own project of holding a 'Band Aid 2' concert.
Photo by John Cogill)
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Promoting Book on CBS
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, memoir writer, should get better ratings for doing "60 Minutes" than did Bill Clinton, co-host of "Point-Counterpoint."
Clinton, who flopped last year as a commentator for the CBS television news magazine, will discuss his upcoming book, "My Life," with newsman Dan Rather for an interview to be aired Sunday, June 20.
"My Life" will be published June 22 with a first printing of 1.5 million. "60 Minutes" has been a key forum for some of the year's biggest political books, including Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies" and Bob Woodward's "Plan of Attack."
Bill Clinton
Hits Theaters June 25th
'Fahrenheit 9/11'
Michael Moore's award-winning documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" has picked up a U.S. distributor and will hit theaters June 25.
The film will be released by a partnership of Lions Gate Films, IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group, which was formed by Harvey and Bob Weinstein specifically to market Moore's film.
The Weinstein brothers will personally finance and control distribution and marketing, they said Tuesday.
'Fahrenheit 9/11'
Veers to the Right
Public Broadcasting
It is deeply troubling to learn that public broadcasting has been subject to intense ideological pressure from conservatives.
Ken Auletta's expose in this week's New Yorker "Big Bird Flies Right" points to several disturbing trends:
The decision by CPB to fund two programs - one hosted by Tucker Carlson, who speaks for conservatives on CNN's "Crossfire," and one moderated by Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, at the same time that "NOW with Bill Moyers," which receives no CPB funds, is cut from an hour to 30 minutes, in what appears to be a Bush Administration litmus test for choosing members of the CPB. When CPB board candidate Chon Noriega, a UCLA media professor and co-founder of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, was interviewed by the White House, he was asked whether the CPB should intervene in programming "deemed politically biased." When Professor Noriega said intervention should be used in only extraordinary circumstances, the appointment process ground to a halt, and the White House asked Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) to put forward another candidate.
Bill Moyer's statement to Auletta: "This is the first time in my 32 years of public broadcasting that CPB has ordered up programs for ideological instead of journalistic reasons."
For more, Public Broadcasting
Young women set afloat lanterns off Magic Island in Ala Moana Park in Honolulu, Hawaii, May 31, 2004 during the annual Toro-Nagashi (Lantern Floating) Ceremony. Hundreds of lanterns are set afloat in the shores of the Pacific Ocean to serve as a beacon to the souls of the dead returning to the spiritual world. The Lantern Floating Ceremony, organized by the Shinnyo-en temple of Hawaii, precedes the Obon Festival or 'Feast of the Dead'. The ceremony is also held on Memorial Day weekend to pray for the souls of the war dead and highlight the need for world peace.
Photo by Lucy Pemoni
Steps Down as Viacom President
Mel Karmazin
Viacom Inc. on Tuesday said President Mel Karmazin has resigned, capping years of growing tension between Karmazin and Sumner Redstone, head of the media company that owns CBS and MTV.
The plain-spoken and aggressive Karmazin has been Viacom's president and chief operating officer since 2000. Two of the company's most powerful unit heads, MTV Networks CEO Tom Freston and CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, were named co-presidents and co-chief operating officers to succeed him.
In a statement, Karmazin cited "personal and professional reasons" for his departure and said he would "pursue other interests."
Karmazin's Exit - Part 1
Howard Stern
Is the show over for Howard Stern?
The shock jock himself was wondering that on the air Tuesday morning just hours after the announced resignation of Mel Karmazin, the president of media colossus Viacom Inc. and Howard Stern's bulwark against indecency control advocates.
In a mood that was trademark Stern -- alternately somber and feisty -- the morning radio host expressed his dismay over the exit of his longtime backer. "This is sadder than the "Friends" ending," deadpanned Stern. "If it wasn't for Mel, I'd probably be a telemarketer right now."
Stern, 50, has reason to be concerned. Karmazin first hired Stern in the mid-1980s, after Stern was dumped by New York's WNBC, and helped turn Stern into a national celebrity. Over the years, as Stern repeatedly ran into government crosshairs over a show known for its explicit and salacious discussions about rough sex, masturbation and the virtues of slavery, Karmazin also emerged as one of Stern's chief public defenders.
"You may not like the humor," Karmazin once told Time magazine, "but that is why every radio has an on-off button."
Howard Stern
Karmazin's Exit - Part 2
Howard Stern
Shock jock Howard Stern said on Tuesday his radio days are "really numbered" with the abrupt resignation of his chief benefactor, Mel Karmazin, as president of Viacom Inc.
"He's my backup here," Stern lamented as he opened his nationally syndicated morning show lamenting the news that Karmazin, for whom Stern has worked for 18 years, was stepping down as Viacom president and chief operating officer. "This is definitely the nail in my coffin."
"If NBC was a concentration camp, then Mel was my Schindler," Stern told listeners, alluding to the German war profiteer who saved more than 1,100 Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his factory.
On his show last week, Stern predicted that Karmazin would leave Viacom, adding he would leave Infinity if Karmazin quit.
On Tuesday's show, he seemed to soften his stance, saying he was contractually bound to remain at Infinity for now.
Howard Stern
Starts Syndicated Column
Howard Dean
Howard Dean is writing a weekly column that's being syndicated by Cagle Cartoons.
The first piece by the former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont governor appeared yesterday. In it, Dean called for electronic voting to be shelved until 2006 or until it's "reliable and will allow recounts."
Syndicate founder Daryl Cagle told E&P he contacted Dean through a mutual friend. One reason why Dean agreed to write the column was his interest in CC's reach -- more than 600 newspapers subscribe to the service in English. All clients get all of CC's features, and then decide which ones to publish.
Howard Dean
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Speaking at Lake Placid Festival
Martin Scorsese
Legendary director Martin Scorsese will speak at the five-day Lake Placid Film Festival beginning Wednesday.
Scorsese, director of "Goodfellas" and "Gangs of New York," will introduce on Saturday a restored print of the 1963 Italian film, "The Leopard," which is considered by some critics to be a lost classic.
Other stars scheduled to appear at the festival this year include actors Matthew Modine, Peter Riegert and Campbell Scott, as well as director James Toback, said festival co-founder Kathleen Carroll.
Martin Scorsese
Members of the DanceAfrica troupe peform in 'A Dancer's Path: Ancient Traditions, Modern Trends,' during dress rehearsal at New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music, Thursday May 27, 2004.
Photo by Richard Termine
Wins Astaire Award
Hugh Jackman
They may not be known for their dancing, but Hugh Jackman and Donna Murphy have all the right moves on Broadway.
Jackman, who plays Australian entertainer Peter Allen in "The Boy From Oz," and Murphy, star of "Wonderful Town," have won the 2004 TDF-Astaire Awards as the best male and female dancers in theater, it was announced Tuesday.
The prizes are given each year by the Theatre Development Fund and Robyn Smith Astaire, widow of the legendary dancer Fred Astaire. The awards will be presented at a ceremony later this month.
Hugh Jackman
Judge OKs Quickie Divorce
Torres - Anthony
A judge approved a divorce Tuesday for Puerto Rican singer Marc Anthony and former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres.
Anthony has been reportedly been dating singer Jennifer Lopez.
Anthony was present during the hearing last week on the divorce motion filed by both him and Torres. The Dominican Republic offers quick divorces to foreigners as long as one of the spouses is present.
Torres - Anthony
China Places Conditions on Tour
Britney Spears
Britney Spears' first China tour has received Culture Ministry approval, but officials want to know what she's wearing before she hits the stage, the official China News Service reported Tuesday.
Spears, who's on a world tour to promote her latest album, "In The Zone," will perform five concerts in Shanghai and Beijing sometime next year, CNS said.
Britney Spears
Pregnant with Twins
Julia Roberts
Oscar-winner Julia Roberts is pregnant with twins and is due to give birth early next year, her spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
People magazine reported Roberts' pregnancy on its Web site on Monday night and spokeswoman Marcy Engelman confirmed the details on Tuesday.
Julia Roberts
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Fired As Judge
Kwame Jackson
Less than two months after getting fired by Donald Trump on the U.S. reality show "The Apprentice," runner-up Kwame Jackson got the boot again - as a judge for Trump's Miss Universe pageant.
Jackson, the runner-up to the reality show's April 15 final prize - a yearlong, $250,000 job with the billionaire developer - was disqualified by pageant organizers for waving at beauty queens he bumped into in the lobby of their hotel.
The pageant statement quoted Jackson saying he was "disappointed and disheartened" and "honestly had no idea that (the hotel) was off limits."
Kwame Jackson
This icon of tempera on wood with silver gilt, filgree enamels, and seed pearls, is part of an exhibit at Washington's Hillwood Museum and Gardens which is showing 43 of them in an exhibit titled 'Tradition in Transition.' Russians have collected icons for centuries, displaying the small paintings of religious figures and scenes and lighting candles and lamps before them in special corners of their homes. Early renditions of the most revered works rarely come on the market and are valued in hundreds ofthousands of dollars.
Photo by Edward Owen
Activist Faults Disclaimer
'Dr. Phil'
A mental health activist has filed a complaint about "Dr. Phil" with the Federal Communications Commission, alleging the show fails to air an adequate viewer disclaimer.
A statement advising viewers that psychologist Phil McGraw's advice show is intended as entertainment and not counseling should be shown before each episode, Neal David Sutz said in his FCC complaint.
Sutz, of Mesa, Ariz., said the brief disclaimer at the end of the show, which was added after he publicly criticized the lack of an on-screen advisory, was not enough.
'Dr. Phil'
Shut Down Indefinitely
Seattle Monorail
An electrical short apparently sparked a monorail fire outside a Seattle museum that trapped as many as 100 people, officials said Tuesday.
Perry Cooper, spokesman for the city's monorail system, said both of the system's trains will remain out service indefinitely.
Seattle Monorail
Sues Celeb Sleuth in Threats Case
Anita Busch
A former Los Angeles Times reporter has sued celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano, the city of Los Angeles and SBC Communications, Inc. over a purported campaign waged by Pellicano to scare her off doing stories about action star Steven Segal and the Mafia.
In the lawsuit, which surfaced on Tuesday, journalist Anita Busch claims she was the victim of a bizarre series of threats starting in June 2002 that "traumatized her and brought her illustrious career to a halt."
Pellicano, a private eye-to-the-stars for more than two decades whose client list included Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Cruise and Roseanne Barr, is at the center of an ongoing federal probe into widespread wiretapping he may have done for Hollywood's top entertainment industry law firms.
For the rest, Anita Busch
National Tap Dance Day
Hoofers Celebrate
Arthur Duncan and Jimmy Slyde, veteran tap dancers took to the stage as the tap world honored its elders and celebrated younger stars such as Savion Glover and Ayodele Casel with the 16th annual Tap Extravaganza.
The four-hour event, a sprawling, sometimes exasperating affair, is not for the faint of heart. Held this year at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the jam-packed performance and awards ceremony marked National Tap Dance Day - May 25, the birthday of tap legend Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
For the rest, Hoofers Celebrate
Mel Gibson's Next Project?
Boudicca
Mel Gibson is guaranteed a panning for his forthcoming film on Britain's warrior queen Boudicca, experts say -- either from the feminists who have turned her into an icon, or from the historians for whom she remains an enigma.
Now his Icon production company is working on "Warrior" in the race to take Boudicca to the big screen -- a subject guaranteed to raise hackles in Britain, whose occupants Boudicca spurred to rebel against their Roman occupiers in AD 60-62.
Boudicca, known also as Boudica and Boadicea, has become hot property in Hollywood, where no fewer than four scripts on her are in the works, among them a Dreamworks production called "Queen Fury."
For a lot more, Boudicca
Found in London
WW II Plane
Archaeologists said Monday that they have unearthed parts of a World War II fighter plane that crashed after downing a German bomber near Buckingham Palace.
Archaeologist Christopher Bennett said the plane's engine and control panel were located late Sunday during excavations in Buckingham Palace Road in the center of the capital.
The Battle of Britain was raging over the skies of London when pilot Ray Holmes spotted the German Dornier bomber on Sept. 15, 1940.
Holmes had run out of ammunition so he flew his Hurricane directly into the German plane. He managed to use his aircraft to slice off the bomber's tail and parachuted out of his plane before it hit Buckingham Palace Road. The Dornier plunged into part of Victoria Station.
Holmes, 89, was present as the engine was lifted to ground level.
WW II Plane
Ludkan Baba - the Rolling Saint
Holy Roller
Barreling down a sizzling-hot road, in a cloud of diesel fumes and dust, Ludkan Baba is on a serious roll.
He lies flat on the ground, turning himself over and over like a runaway log, limbs flailing as he bumps across potholes, splashes through mud puddles and falls deeper into a spiritual trance.
Like any sadhu, or Hindu ascetic, he undertakes severe penance to liberate his soul from reincarnation's endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Stretched out in the middle of the road, rolling hour after hour, mile after mile through crowds and heavy traffic, he is making his trip to eternal bliss.
But this is no ordinary holy roller. He is also on a mission to bring peace to the world. His devotion, and alms-raising power, has earned him several disciples, many admirers and the title Ludkan Baba - the Rolling Saint.
Holy Roller
In Memory
William Manchester
William Manchester, author of popular biographies on Winston Churchill and Douglas MacArthur and the controversial chronicler of President Kennedy's assassination, has died, a spokesman at Wesleyan University said Tuesday. He was 82.
Poor health had kept his from completing the third volume of his best-selling Churchill series, "The Last Lion, Volume III." Paul Reid, a feature writer at The Palm Beach Post, was recently chosen to help finish the book.
Manchester emerged from a working-class childhood in industrial Massachusetts and battlefield experiences as a Marine Corps sergeant in World War II to write about 20th century giants such as Kennedy, Churchill, MacArthur and the Rockefellers.
Manchester and Kennedy became friends in 1946 while both were recovering from debilitating war wounds. During the 1950s and the "Camelot" years, Manchester was a confidant and companion to Kennedy, and a frequent visitor to the family's Hyannis Port complex.
The friendship helped provide Manchester with material for his breakthrough book - the 1962 "Portrait of a President," the first of three books that he wrote about the late president. The shattering experience of the Kennedy assassination the following year and the exhaustive, controversial investigation led to "The Death of a President," published in 1967.
Jacqueline Kennedy made an unsuccessful attempt to block the publication, saying it revealed intimate family details. Manchester eventually agreed to drop certain passages. Still, the book sold more than a million copies.
William Manchester
A red panda is shown at the official opening of a new exhibit showcasing the animal at Zoo Boise, Tuesday morning, June 1, 2004, in Boise, Idaho. The red panda, an endangered species, is a smaller relative of the more well known giant black and white panda. Zoo Boise had to go through a rigorous accrediation program by the American Zoo & Aquarium Association before it was allowed to acquire the rare animal, according to zoo officials.
Photo by Troy Maben
'The Osbournes'
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