'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Comment
Let The Eagle Soar
True meaning behind Ashcrofts's "Let The Eagle Soar"
(sung to the tune of "Let The Eagle Soar" )
Let the pundits whore
Like they've never whored before
From bow tie boy to Rush Limbaugh
Let the slimy pundits whore.
Whore with venom in their stings
As the land beneath them rings:
'Only Smirk, no other kings'
This country's far too rich to die.
We've still got a lot of lying to do
And we can screw it if we try.
Ruined by lies and wars
Smirk has led us through.
Paul G
Thanks, Paul!
Check out Symbolman's take on
Let the Eagle Soar - John Ashcroft Sings
and Mark Fiore's Fiore Presents: Patriot Act Summer Tour
and the original video - Ashcroft sings.
Reader Request
Animal Rescue Site
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
'June Gloom' is hanging in, and I'm grateful - mild, sunny days and cool nights.
Didn't feel the San Diego earthquake here at all.
Yahoo expanded e-mail services - gots lots of space to fill up now. Yaaa-Hooooo!
'Fahrenheit 9/11' commercial on Letterman tonight(!).
Lauren Bacall, left, and Tom Brokaw arrive for a special screening of Michael Moore's new film 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Monday June 14, 2004 in New York.
Photo by Tina Fineberg
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Backs PG-13 Rating for 'Fahrenheit 9/11'
Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo has been hired by the distributors of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in their effort to get a PG-13 rating instead of an R.
"I'm going to do everything I possibly can to get this picture advanced," said the former New York governor, a Democrat who has been a lawyer in private practice since being defeated in a bid for a fourth term in 1994.
Besides representing the distributors, Cuomo plans to go on talk shows to promote the movie.
"I'm committed personally to the proposition, as more than just a lawyer, that everybody should see this film," he told reporters Tuesday at his firm's midtown offices.
Mario Cuomo
Plans Politically Charged 'Revolution'
Steve Earle
Outspoken singer/songwriter Steve Earle wears his politics on his sleeve with "The Revolution Starts... Now," his new studio album due Aug. 24 via Artemis.
The 11-track set finds Earle advocating his most blatant anti-government stance on the guitar-driven "F the CC." He pulls no punches in his assault on the Ramones-esque track, which boasts the chorus, "F*** the FCC /f*** the FBI / f*** the CIA / I'm living in the motherf***ing U.S.A."
Elsewhere, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice comes directly under fire in "Condi, Condi," while Earle also airs his frustrations on "Gringo," "Rich Man's War" and the spoken word track "Warrior."
In advance of the album, Earle will be on tour beginning with a June 22 show in San Diego. Along with his own headlining shows, he's also slated to take part in a pair of Gram Parsons tribute concerts next month in southern California.
Steve Earle
Explains Switch From GOP
Teresa Heinz Kerry
Teresa Heinz Kerry says anger, not ideology, prompted her to become a Democrat. The wife of Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, says her emotion stemmed from the way the Republican Party, to which she had pledged allegiance, treated Democratic Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia in 2002.
Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm as an Army captain during the Vietnam War, lost his re-election bid in a bitter campaign against then-Rep. Saxby Chambliss. The GOP had raised questions about Cleland's patriotism because of his position on legislation to create the Department of Homeland Security. Cleland supported the concept behind the department, but insisted that a workers' rights provision be part of the bill.
"Three limbs and all I could think was, 'What does the Republican party need, a fourth limb to make a person a hero?' And this coming from people who have not served. I was really offended by that. Unscrupulous and disgusting," she said, her reference being an indirect one to resident Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Teresa Heinz Kerry
Still Laughing at 100
N.Y. Friars Club
With customary comic savagery, the members of the New York Friars Club, famous for their celebrity roasts, gathered Monday to celebrate its 100th birthday and take pot shots at each other.
Founded in 1904 by a group of press agents, the club soon began drawing entertainers and comedians of all sorts. Some of the century's greatest funnymen were members, like Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett and, of course, Pat Cooper.
Membership has its privileges. The club's midtown Manhattan building, known as "the monastery," has a restaurant, a bar, a steam room and a barbershop.
Some things have changed, though. In 1988, after 84 years, the club allowed women to join, starting with Liza Minnelli.
N.Y. Friars Club
From left to right stand John Kander, left, composer; Fred Ebb lyricist; Harold Prince; Sheldon Harnick, lyricist;and Jerry Bock, composer at a press conference in New York, Tuesday, June 15, 2004. Kander and Ebb worked on the 'Cabaret' and 'Chicago' productions and Harnick and Bock did 'Fiddler on the Roof' for Broadway.
Photo by Ed Bailey
Last Sketch Up for Sale
John Lennon
An autographed sketch which John Lennon gave to a fan minutes before his murder in New York is expected to fetch more than $148,800 at auction on Wednesday.
The former Beatle scribbled his name and two smiling faces on a scrap of paper half an hour before his death, London auction house Cooper Owen said.
He gave his cartoon-style sketch on yellowing paper to an employee at Record Plant recording studios in Manhattan at 10:25 p.m. on Dec. 8 1980.
It forms part of the auction house's Rock Legends Internet sale which will start at 4 p.m. (11 a.m. EDT) on Wednesday at www.ebayliveauctions.com.
John Lennon
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, a Canadian-born comedy writer who created "Saturday Night Live" and produced "Wayne's World," "Tommy Boy" and other movies that showcased its stars, will be awarded one of America's top comedy prizes.
The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded annually by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will be given to Michaels at an awards ceremony in Washington on Oct. 25.
A Toronto native, Michaels moved to Los Angeles in 1968 to work as a writer for NBC's "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In." Seven years later he moved to New York to begin "Saturday Night Live."
Lorne Michaels
Joining Venture Capital Firm
Bono
Bono, lead singer for rock band U2, has joined a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that plans to invest in media and entertainment projects, according to a published report.
The 44-year-old singer is joining the newly created Elevation Partners, based in Menlo Park, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The new venture aims to raise $1 billion.
The venture fund was launched by technology investor Roger McNamee and John Riccitiello, former president of videogame maker Electronic Arts Inc. The venture also includes Fred Anderson, who retired this month as Apple Computer Inc.'s finance chief.
Bono
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Reality Show to Yield New Singer
INXS
Australian rock band INXS, which lost its singer, Michael Hutchence, to suicide in 1997, will be at the center of a new reality show called "Rock Star."
The latest show from Mark Burnett, the creator of such reality hits as "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," will see a new lead singer chosen for the veteran combo.
"Rock Star" auditions will be held on five continents. The winner and INXS will record a studio album, the band's first since 1997's "Elegantly Wasted" (Mercury), and then head out on a world tour.
INXS
Academy Award-nominated actor Jackie Cooper admires photos from his 1931 film 'Skippy' prior to a screening of the drama at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday, June 14, 2004, in Beverly Hills, Calif. The film was featured as part of the Academy's 'Great To Be Nominated' screening series. At the age of nine, Cooper received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor category for his performance in this film's title role.
Photo by Todd Wawrychuk
Hospital News
Johnny Ramone
The guitarist with pioneering punk rock band the Ramones is fighting a losing a battle with cancer in a Los Angeles hospital, Rolling Stone magazine reported on its Web site on Tuesday.
Johnny Ramone, 55, whose real name is John Cummings, was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago, and it has now spread throughout his body, Rollingstone.com quoted the band's drummer, Marky Ramone, as saying.
"Johnny's been a champ in confronting this, but at this point I think the chances are slim," Marky Ramone said in the report. "John never smoked cigarettes, he wasn't a heavy drinker and he was always into his health. It just proves when cancer seeks a body to penetrate, it doesn't matter how healthy you are or how unhealthy you are. It just seeps in and there's nothing you can do."
Johnny Ramone
Countersues in Privacy Fight
Prince
Prince is denying allegations that he instructed his bodyguard to assault a college student who took the musician's photo at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Prince filed a counterclaim Monday in Hennepin County District Court, alleging the student invaded his privacy and violated trademark and copyright law.
Anthony Fitzgerald of Edina sued Prince and his bodyguard in April for damages of at least $50,000. Fitzgerald claims he was assaulted at the airport Dec. 29 and that his new digital camera was confiscated when he took a photo of Prince as the rock star was getting off a plane.
Prince
Postpones Concert Tour
Courtney Love
Singer-actress Courtney Love, facing mounting legal problems due to drug possession and assault charges in two states, has postponed a summer concert tour just days before it was due to begin, her representative said on Tuesday.
The 21-show tour was set to kick off on Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, and close on July 23 in Los Angeles.
Courtney Love
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Singer Sentenced
Glen Campbell
Singer Glen Campbell was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 days in jail for extreme drunken driving and leaving the scene of a accident last year, court officials said.
Campbell, 68, will be allowed out each day for 12 hours on work furlough under a plea deal that was formally approved during a brief hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court. He also was placed on two years probation and must perform 75 hours of community service under the sentence, which begins July 1.
Glen Campbell
Sean Lennon, right, and Elizabeth Jagger arrive for a special screening of Michael Moore's new film 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Monday June 14, 2004 in New York.
Photo by Tina Fineberg
Switzerland Ending Century-Old Ban
Absinthe
The Swiss parliament voted to end a 96-year ban on absinthe, the mythical herbal liqueur beloved of artists at the turn of the century and blamed for driving some of them mad.
The green spirit was allowed back into shops in much of western Europe in 1981 after a European Union directive overturned bans in many countries, but absinthe remained outlawed in non-member Switzerland.
Pro-legalisation camps in Switzerland have touted the economic benefits of the drink for the isolated Val de Travers region, in the western canton of Neuchatel, which claims to be the birthplace of the alcohol made from wormwood.
Absinthe
US Collection
James Joyce
James Joyce filled notebooks with references from death notices and weather reports, mythology and conversations overheard at cafes, which he crossed out as he used while writing "Ulysses" and "Finnegan's Wake."
His notebooks, along with passports, family photos and first editions are on display to mark the 100th anniversary of "Bloomsday" - June 16, 1904 - the day Joyce's Leopold Bloom made his travels through Dublin in "Ulysses."
The extensive Joyce collection has been amassed by the University at Buffalo over the past 50 years, beginning in 1949 when the university, to its surprise, made the lone, $10,000 bid on a collection of personal items auctioned in Paris several years after the writer's death.
James Joyce
ReJoyce Dublin 2004
Cancels Tour
Britney Spears
Britney Spears won't be gyrating in revealing outfits this summer - at least not on stage. The pop star canceled her summer tour Tuesday because of a knee injury she suffered last week during a video shoot with Snoop Dogg in New York for her new song "Outrageous."
Her knee gave out during the choreography and afterward she underwent arthroscopic surgery.
As a result, she'll be wearing a hard brace for six weeks and will require at least two months of rehabilitation, according to a statement from her label, Jive Records.
Britney Spears
Faux Gives A Rave Review
'Fahrenheit 9/11'
The crowd that gave Michael Moore's controversial "Fahrenheit 9/11" documentary a standing ovation last night at the Ziegfeld Theater premiere certainly didn't have to be encouraged to show their appreciation. From liberal radio host/writer Al Franken to actor/director Tim Robbins, Moore was in his element.
But once "F9/11" gets to audiences beyond screenings, it won't be dependent on celebrities for approbation. It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.
As much as some might try to marginalize this film as a screed against resident George Bush, "F9/11" - as we saw last night - is a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty - and at the same time a indictment of stupidity and avarice.
For the astounding rest, 'Fahrenheit 9/11'
Paid $23 Million
Michael Jackson
Though it has long been reported that the 45-year-old singer Michael Jackson paid millions of dollars to settle a civil lawsuit by the boy, CourtTv said it had obtained a copy of the legal agreement and was making it public for the first time.
The papers, which were signed by Jackson and his then-attorneys, Johnnie Cochran and Howard Weitzman, in January of 1994, show that Jackson agreed to set up a $15.3 million trust fund for the boy, as well as pay him a seven-figure lump sum.
According to the court documents, Jackson also agreed to pay the boy's parents $1.5 million each and pay $5 million, plus expenses, to their attorney. CourtTv said the moonwalking entertainer also had to pay his own lawyers an unspecified amount for their work on the case.
Michael Jackson
Opens New Department
Metropolitan Museum
A new department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be responsible for showing the past and present of modern and contemporary art in all media.
The department, which opens July 1, will be called Nineteenth-Century, Modern and Contemporary Art, the museum announced Tuesday. The curator will be Gary Tinterow, who has been the museum's Engelhard curator of 19th-century European paintings.
The new department includes European paintings from 1800 to the present and international 20th-century sculptures, drawings, prints, decorative arts and designs.
Metropolitan Museum
A Giraffe mother grooms her baby giraffe at Metropolitan Zoo in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, June, 15, 2004. The calf was born last May 24.
Photo by Santiago Llanquin
'The Osbournes'
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