'Best of TBH Politoons'
M Is FOR MASHUP - June 20 2007
Who Are Useo?
By DJ Useo
TOMORROW
Erin Hart
Please join Erin Hart when she fills in for Jay Marvin on AM760 Progressive Talk,
tomorrow, Thursday, June 21st, from 6am - 10am mdt (8am - noon edt / 7am - 11am cdt / 5am-9am pdt).
Where is America? Where are we? Where are you?
The Erin Hart Show
WEIRD WORD OF THE WEEK
ASTROBLEME
"ASTROBLEME"
ON LINE DEFINITION: An ancient circular depression on the earth's surface caused by the collision of a meteor.
ON THE STREET: Crusty old Crater.
IN A SENTENCE: I had a Zit on my Ass as big as an "Astobleme"....it felt like a "Callisto" and disappeared like a "Palimpsest"!
(Read BartCop Entertainment and learn a useless new word each Tuesday)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Yes, it's a day late...
Got this note from Purple Gene this am -
did you get this a couple of weeks ago?
Marty's response:
Yeah, I got it, but, between my crappy memory & crappier computer it didn't get on the page today.
Remembered it after I got the page up last night, so fired up the editor & added it, but when I tried to log back on I couldn't.
Don't know if it's the aol software or my computer (or both), but it would go through it's little routine and when it got to the 'checking password' part, it disconnected the modem (I heard the little 'click'), and then it would start to log on again, get to the 'checking password' part, and disconnect.
Tried rebooting, unplugging, and lots of cursing, but it made no difference.
When I noticed it was nearly 4am I said 'fuck it' and went to bed.
About an hour later the damn cats started fighting and I didn't get back to bed til after 7, but between the neighbor's gardener, the garbage truck parade, and local kids, didn't get a whole lot of sleep.
At this point, it's too late to update today's page, so will use it on tomorrow's with a note.
May root around & find an old St. Jude medallion & hang it on the 'box' - maybe it just needs the patron saint of lost causes & the hopeless...
And Purp's response:
AS MY IRISH CATHOLIC MOTHER USED TO SAY WHEN SHE WAS FRUSTRATED...
"SHIT...SHIT...SHIT" !
I THINK YOU SHOULD PUT UP THIS WHOLE LETTER TOMORROW AS IT IS QUITE HILARIOUS AND IT WOULD GIVE READERS A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO TO HOW GODDAM HARD YOU WORK AT KEEPING THIS SITE GOOD AND GOING .....I ESPECIALLY LIKE THE PART ABOUT THE CATS FIGHTING...JUST TO GET A "WEIRD WORD OF THE WEEK" UP...
Great idea, Purp.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ravi Somaiya: Going cheap: the 43rd president of the United States (guardian.co.uk)
George W Bush (approval rating: 29%) is used to being unpopular with the US electorate. But now he is even losing the support of the rightwingers in his party - and they're showing their displeasure in dollars, not just percentage points.
Dean Kuipers: Gore Comes Alive (lacitybeat.com)
Al Gore wants to talk about the issues, not the horserace.
Jim Hightower: THE BLOATED PAY AND EGOS OF CEOS (jimhightower.com)
We know that runaway executive pay has left cubicle employees and shop floor workers far behind, but they're not the only ones eating the CEO's financial dust these days.
Hara Estroff Marano: Trashing Teens (psychologytoday.com)
Psychologist Robert Epstein argues in a provocative book, "The Case Against Adolescence," that teens are far more competent than we assume, and most of their problems stem from restrictions placed on them.
Stan Schroeder: 33 Ways to Watch Free TV Online (mashable.com)
It's time to toss the old tube to the dumpster. Well, not if you have one of those 47" plasma ones, butŠyou know what we mean. The future of media is the Internet, and television is no exception. Instead of browsing through the channels with your remote, you could be browsing through the free online TV providers on your computer - hell, if you like, you can watch them all at once (in really tiny windows). It's time to reach out and see how much free online TV we can find.
Sinéad O'Connor talks music, mental illness and men (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
The doe-eyed young woman who sang Nothing Compares 2 U is now 40 years old, with four children - and as brutally frank as ever.
Interview by Laura Barnett: Portrait of the artist: Peter Gabriel, musician (guardian.co.uk)
What's the greatest threat to music?
The internet: downloads and file-sharing are bringing a very serious decline in the sale of physical product. But the internet allows artists to be in charge of what they do, and to build a direct relationship with their audience.
Andrew Perry: From kids to pensioners... the Stripes leave them gasping (telegraph.co.uk)
After an 18-month lay-off, the White Stripes have returned to their mission to extend rock's route map. They're soon to hoist the red, white and black flag in every previously unvisited state in America, including Wyoming, Alaska, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory.
Galaxy of Stories (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Welcome to the Galaxy of Stories site where famous names from the worlds of film, TV and comedy tell memorable children's stories and bring them to life in their own unique way. In this section, parents can download new stories each week to keep the family entertained at home or in the car.
LARRY MAGID: Putting Energy Hogs in the Home on a Strict Low-Power Diet (nytimes.com)
I THOUGHT I was pretty good about energy conservation, but it turns out that I've been a bit of a hypocrite. I drive a reasonably fuel-efficient car, I work at home so I don't use fuel to commute and I am replacing incandescent bulbs in my home with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs.
Drinking one too many can damage your liver (guardian.co.uk)
It used to be associated with older heavy drinkers but serious liver disease is rising fast in young people. All it takes is a few pints of lager and glasses of wine a week. Lucy Atkins reports.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Good Deeds
Throughout the world, you can occasionally see a person in a public place holding a sign that says, "FREE HUGS." The sign means exactly what it says. If you want a hug, you may hug the person holding the sign, for free--even if you are a stranger to the person holding the sign. A man in Sydney, Australia, was the first to start giving free hugs, footage of him ended up in a music video for the song "All the Same" by a group called Sick Puppies. The video was seen millions of time on youtube.com, and many people have given many free hugs in many countries across the world.
Reader Suggestion
Bible Verse Condoms
Wouldn't Jesus want people to accept their full nature in health rather than to repress parts of it in shame? This site promotes that message:
New Interview
RE: Margaret Cho
Hey There
You were so kind as to post my Margaret Cho cover story for
Frontiers, well there is another cover story I did on her up
Stray Bullets.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and mild on the coast, hot inland.
2007 Marian Anderson Award
Richard Gere
Richard Gere will receive the 2007 Marian Anderson Award for his advocacy efforts on behalf of independence for Tibet and better care for HIV/AIDS patients.
"His accomplishments as an actor are only surpassed by his accomplishments as a humanitarian and as an advocate for human rights issues around the world," Mayor John F. Street said Tuesday in announcing the award.
Gere, 57, has served as the chairman of the board of the International Campaign for Tibet and has sponsored the Dalai Lama on two trips to the United States. He also started a foundation bearing his name and a public charity, Healing the Divide, that work to better medical care for HIV/AIDS patients.
Richard Gere
Spoofs`Sopranos'
Hillary
The scene: A diner and a jukebox. A nostalgic song. A long fade to black. It worked as a finale for "The Sopranos." It now marks a new beginning for "The Clintons."
Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign on Tuesday unveiled its new campaign song with a Web video that spoofs the final scene of the popular HBO mobster series.
The video and the announcement of Celine Dion's "You and I" as the official Clinton tune cap a monthlong, interactive Internet campaign that drew more than a million viewers to the Clinton campaign Web site and to YouTube, the popular online video display room.
Hillary
Urge Guantanamo Shutdown
Hip-Hop Artists
Hip-hop musicians, themselves longtime enemies of police and government policies, on Tuesday likened their struggle for justice to that of "war on terror" prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But in order to call attention to their message to end prisoner torture and urge the closure of the US detention camp, they had to plunge deep into the caverns of the much-hated "establishment" -- the US Congress.
"When I walk through these halls, you know, all the way here, I felt this despicable taste in my mouth," rapper M1 of the group Dead Prez told a news conference inside the Capitol Hill press briefing room.
"I came to this building which claims to represent the people who live in this country and (where people) do some of the most treacherous and demeaning acts to other human beings," said M1, his camouflage baseball cap tilted to one side.
Hip-Hop Artists
The War on Medical Marijuana
Paul Krassner
Anthropologists of the future will look back upon these times as incredibly barbaric. One such example is medical marijuana, which is already legal in a dozen states, yet prohibited -- and trumped -- by federal law.
New York and Connectictut are next in line. The New York Times recently editorialized, "Although there are other prescriptions that are designed to relieve pain and nausea and there is concern about the health effects of smoking marijuana, there are some truly ill people who find peace only that way."
Those "other prescriptions" are aided by the pharmaceutical industry, which spent a record-breaking $155-million to lobby the government from 2005 to mid-2006. As for "concern about the health effects of smoking marijuana," it was reported at the 2005 meeting of the International Cannabinoid Research Society that smoking marijuana -- "even heavy long-term use" -- does not cause cancer of the lung, upper airwaves or esophagus.
Syndicated columnist Clarence Page -- referring to WAMM, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana -- has written about the DEA raiding "a legitimate health co-operative that was treating more than 200 patients, some of them terminally ill, in Santa Cruz [California]. Snatching medicine out of the hands of seriously ill patients sounds like terrorism to me. In this case it was federally sponsored and taxpayer-financed."
Paul Krassner: The War on Medical Marijuana
He's Back
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens and his perennially adolescent alter ego Pee-wee Herman vanished from public view a while back. Legal troubles, you'll recall.
But, Pee-wee re-emerged this month for the first time in 15 years, making a surprise appearance at Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards. And Reubens began his latest resurgence last summer with a stint of TV guest-star and film roles that have drawn kudos from critics.
"I feel like I'm on my third or fourth comeback at least," says Reubens, whose close-cropped haircut and twinkling eyes belie his 54 years.
His recent TV work included playing a handicapped prince with a disturbingly small prosthetic hand on NBC's "30 Rock," an alcoholic editor on FX's "Dirt" and an eccentric police lieutenant on Comedy Central's "Reno 911!" Film-wise, Reubens has recently appeared in David Arquette's horror flick, "The Tripper," and the cop spoof "Reno 911!: Miami."
Paul Reubens
Manuscripts Donated To Princeton
Kahlil Gibran
The Princeton University Library is now the holder of working manuscripts and notebooks for four well-known Kahlil Gibran books, including the Lebanese-American's bestselling "The Prophet."
The donation was made to the university by the family of the late William H. Shehadi, a Lebanese-American physician, researcher and professor who was an admirer of Gibran. Using the collection of manuscripts, Shehadi published the book, "Kahlil Gibran: A Prophet in the Making," in 1991.
Decades after his death in 1931, Gibran's writings gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s during the counterculture movement, which responded to his lyrical language and mystical treatment of such subjects as love, death, nature and longing for the homeland.
Kahlil Gibran
Baby News
River Russell Deary
Actress Keri Russell welcomed her first child, a boy named River Russell Deary, on June 9 in New York, her publicist, Jill Fritzo, said Tuesday.
Russell married Shane Deary, a contractor, in Manhattan on Valentine's Day. The couple became engaged last year.
River Russell Deary
Cries For Judge
Tom Sizemore
Troubled actor Tom Sizemore tearfully begged a Los Angeles judge not to send him to prison after admitting violating probation for a drugs offense here Tuesday.
The 45-year-old star of "Black Hawk Down" and "Saving Private Ryan" asked for mercy from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Cynthia Rayvis as she mulled her sentencing options, which include a hefty prison sentence.
Sizemore earlier acknowledged he had violated probation when arrested in May in Bakersfield, California, 169 kilometers (105 miles) north of Los Angeles, on seven drug-related charges.
Sizemore, who has been in jail since June 5 when he surrendered to authorities after a warrant for his arrest was issued, could face up to 16 months behind bars for the offense.
Tom Sizemore
Wins Delay In DUI Trial
Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie on Tuesday won a more than two-week postponement of her trial on charges of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, but the judge in the case said he would grant no further delays.
Superior Court Commissioner Steven Lubell set a new trial date of July 11 for Richie, who was arrested in December after allegedly driving the wrong way on a busy Los Angeles freeway.
If convicted, Richie faces a minimum punishment of 90 days in jail because she has a prior conviction for driving under the influence, Robison said.
Nicole Richie
Echoes Cruise On Psychiatry
John Travolta
John Travolta says his thinking is in line with fellow high school dropout and Scientologist Tom Cruise, who has publicly defended the religion's stance against psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Cruise, during a famously heated debate on NBC's "Today" show in 2005, criticized Brooke Shields for taking anti-depression drugs and berated host Matt Lauer for suggesting that psychiatric treatment might help some patients.
"I don't disagree with anything Tom says," Travolta says in the July issue of W magazine, on newsstands Friday. "How would I have presented it? Maybe differently than how he did, but it doesn't matter. I still think that if you analyze most of the school shootings, it is not gun control. It is (psychotropic) drugs at the bottom of it."
John Travolta
Sues Manager
Motley Crue
Motley Crue is suing one of its managers for more than $20 million, claiming he pushed drummer Tommy Lee into doing two disastrous reality shows that took him away from the band and forced the cancellation of dozens of concerts.
The suit filed Monday in Superior Court claimed fraud and breach of fiduciary duties against Carl Stubner and a company called Sanctuary Group.
Stubner is one of the band's three managers and also is Lee's manager, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the TMZ.com Web site.
The suit contended that the TV shows were part of a "self-serving scheme" to promote Lee's personal work at the expense of the group because Stubner got a higher commission for solo projects.
Motley Crue
Smuggled In Garden Gnomes
Reptiles
What's in a gnome? For surprised Australian customs officials, the answer was snakes and lizards.
During a routine check of international mail on June 10, an officer discovered two snakes and three lizards stuffed inside three of the diminutive garden figurines in a shipment from Britain.
A day later, officials at the same facility X-rayed another package from Britain and found five snakes and five lizards stuffed inside pottery figures and other ornaments.
Reptiles
Specialty License Plate
Elvis Presley
Organizers of a campaign to get an Elvis Presley specialty license plate may be rallying for the King, but they're taking a cue from the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends."
Elvis Presley Enterprises and the Regional Medical Center at Memphis will launch a media blitz to attract the 1,000 purchasers they need for the state to begin production of the Elvis plate.
The drive kicked off in October 2005 with organizers expecting to quickly meet the 1,000 threshold. But the effort has fallen flat.
Elvis Presley
Clear Channel Removes Billboards
Britney Spears
Radio station billboards that featured unflattering photos of a bald, scowling Britney Spears have been taken down after the pop star's attorneys threatened legal action.
The billboards, advertisements for WFLZ FM's "The MJ Morning Show," depicted a bald Spears and show host Todd Schnitt along with the slogans "Total Nut Jobs," "Shock Therapy" and "Certifiable."
"We have confirmed that the billboards are down," Clear Channel spokeswoman Michele Clarke said Tuesday. She referred other questions to the Clear Channel offices in Tampa, whose representatives didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Britney Spears
Under Investigation In Italy
'Da Vinci Code'
More than a year after its premiere, "The Da Vinci Code" is being investigated by Italian state attorneys on the grounds that it is "obscene" from a religious perspective.
Earlier this year, a complaint against the film was filed by a group of clergy near the Italian village of Civitavecchia, where the state prosecutor's office said it would open a criminal investigation into the film. The complaint says the film violates Article 528 of Italy's Penal Code.
The investigation means the case will have its day in court in the seaside port village about 40 miles north of Rome, though a judge could elect to throw out the charges. But it is significant that the state prosecutor agreed to investigate it.
'Da Vinci Code'
Vie For `Simpsons'
Springfields
With a bowling alley, a pub, a prison and a nuclear power plant just down the road, Springfield, Vt., likes to think itself a real-life version of the home of "The Simpsons."
Now, the town is going all out to prove it, joining 13 other Springfields from across the nation in a contest, with the winner hosting the big-screen premiere of "The Simpsons Movie" July 26. The public will choose the winner in a USA Today online vote.
Springfield, Ill., has its own power plant, run by a man who looks a lot like Mr. Burns, head of the nuclear plant on "The Simpsons," said Tim Farley, executive director of the Illinois' Springfield Convention and Visitors' Bureau. The school is identical and the city is not far from Shelbyville, the town next to Homer Simpson's Springfield, he said.
Every Springfield in the nation was invited to take part, submitting a three- to five-minute video showcasing their towns. Some had a cow over the idea.
Springfields
In Memory
Richard Bell
Keyboardist and songwriter Richard Bell, who played with Janis Joplin and The Band, has died of cancer in a Toronto hospital. He was 61.
He began playing with Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band in 1970 and appeared on "Pearl," her posthumously released album. He later joined The Band as a keyboardist and played on their albums "Jericho," "High on the Hog" and "Jubilation."
As a studio musician, he played with artists such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Joe Walsh, Paul Butterfield, The Cowboy Junkies, Bruce Cockburn and Bonnie Raitt. In recent years he has been part of the Toronto jazz/blues group Pork Bellies Futures.
After being diagnosed about a year ago with cancer, he had rigorous treatment and, despite a very poor prognosis, was well enough this spring to work in studio in Nashville on a comeback album with The Flying Burrito Brothers. But his cancer returned.
Bell was the son of esteemed Canadian conductor, musician and educator, Dr. Leslie Bell. A child prodigy, Bell began playing the piano at age 4 and studied at Canada's Royal Conservatory of Music.
He is survived by his mother, his sister and his nieces and nephews.
Richard Bell
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