'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Telephone Press Briefing for Journalists with Economist Jeffrey Sachs Discussing the Upcoming G-8 Summit
... all the recent studies that have been done, whether by the UN Millennium Project, which I had the honor to direct, or by Tony Blair's Africa Commission, or by the Global Monitoring Report of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, have all come to the same conclusion: extreme poverty can be reduced, indeed eliminated by our generation.
Rose Aguilar: The Loneliness of a Lonestar Liberal (AlterNet)
Progressive activists in Texas face strong and often hostile opposition. But they say they're going to fight to turn Texas blue again.
Arianna Huffington: EZPass Russert
Wow. So, Russert got McCain to make a huge deal not over the need for Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld to be held accountable but over the need for Durbin to apolo
John Conyers: Secretary Rice Lets the Truth Slip -- The President Does Not Intend to Bring Our Troops Home
As Republican Senators publicly proclaim that the situation if Iraq is eroding, we learn that there is no "exit strategy" because no exit is planned. How out of touch with the reality on the ground and the reality here at home is this?
Avery Walker: Wacky antics of the Nixon administration (RAW STORY)
..., just weeks ago, the President was privately blaming a newsmagazine for deaths caused by factual inaccuracies--and some in his administration were doing so openly-resulting from mistreatment of prisoners taken during a war he justified through factual inaccuracies.
DAVID COLMAN: Gay or Straight? Hard to Tell (NY Times)
ARE you confused that the newly styled Backstreet Boys, hoping for a comeback, look an awful lot like the stars of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"?
Stories in America
Results: Creating Political Will to End Hunger
Reader Comment
Repeal of 22nd Amendment
The Repugs would be shooting themselves in the feet if they did away with the amendment limiting a president to two terms.
Why?
Clinton/Clinton 2008
Sounds great to me, but do those neo-nazi bastards reallly want to make that a possibility?
Terry C
NJ
Thanks, Terry!
Comment From Kip
Steve Earle
ALASKANS HURL AT THE THOUGHT OF EARLE
Although tickets are apparently selling better than for any previous years,
the more right-wing residents of Alaska have taken time off from trying to
flog their state to oil companies in order to campaign against an invitation
to Steve Earle to play at the Southeat Alaska State Fair. We're not quite
sure what the American equivalent of Sir Buffton-Tuffton would be, but he's
busily sending letters and buying advertising space to moan that a
un-American Marxist has been invited to play at such an event.
Local prospector Merrill Palmer dipped into his pocket to take out the
adverts:
"He runs around with these communist hammer-and-sickle symbols as he goes
all over the world, and I'm just saying, this is outrageous," he said. "This
is not something that Haines should support."
Palmer took out a full-page paid commentary titled "A heads up to my fellow
citizens by: Merrill Palmer," on page 6 of the May 19 issue of the Chilkat
Valley News. Another commentary appeared June 16.
For the rest
Kip
********
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to
explain to us what the exit strategy is." - George W. Bush, 04-09-99
Thanks, Kip!
I can remember when Alaska was the last frontier, and idividualism reigned supreme. It was the least judgemental place I ever lived.
May not be politicaally correct by current standards, but it was far more acceptable to ask 'do you beat your wife' than ask what one did for a living.
And politics? I was exposed to an incredible spectrum of beliefs - and none were considered 'evil' or 'bad'. None.
Hate radio has been allowed to demonize democrats, women & science, while encouraging a state of perpetual fear.
And facts be damned.
Only their point of view matters - isn't this what they used to tell us the Commies did?
Anyway, found this tonight:
Two full-page ads, and a flurry of letters to the editor, have not halted a concert at the Southeast Alaska State Fair by alt-country star (and outspoken political activist) Steve Earle.
Local critics call Earle's lyrics un-American, even communistic. Some have said he doesn't fit into the family fair in Haines, and call for a boycott.
All this protest activity in the weekly Chilkat Valley News hasn't prevented an advance sale of 300 tickets already for the July 30 show. "We've never pre-sold that many tickets to anything before," fair Executive Director Herb VanCleve told another paper. "We're selling lots of tickets in Whitehorse. We're selling lots of tickets in Juneau and in Haines."
But VanCleve said the negative attention seems to have generated a rush of radio play for Earle in Haines. "The general reaction I've gotten from virtually everyone has been 100 percent in support of what the fair is doing," VanCleve said.
Newspaper Ads in Alaska Target Singer Steve Earle
Now this sounds more like the Alaska I know!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Very sunny & warm.
Seems to be a heavy push with the Dennis Miller/L'Oreal commercials.
He's hawking 'Stop Lines Moisturizer For Men'.
Vanity, thy name is Den-Den.
Movie Biography
Rodney Dangerfield
Two of the producers of the Oscar-winning movie about soul singer Ray Charles are now turning their attention to another dead entertainer, Rodney Dangerfield, the comic famed for the signature phrase "I can't get no respect."
Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety reported in its Tuesday edition that producers Howard and Karen Baldwin will base their project in part on Dangerfield's memoir "It's Not Easy Bein' Me," which was published four months before he died last October, aged 82.
They also acquired life story rights from his widow, Joan.
Rodney Dangerfield
Reports Attack
Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has filed a police report over an attack at a party that left him needing 12 stitches in his neck, police said on Tuesday.
Police said no one had been arrested and there was no known motive for the attack, which occurred at a Hollywood party on Friday.
According to media reports, DiCaprio was hit in the face by a woman wielding a beer bottle as he was leaving a party at the home of socialite Paris Hilton's ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon. The woman was reportedly looking for her ex-boyfriend.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Seeks to Organize U.S. Reality TV
Writers Union
The union representing Hollywood screenwriters launched a campaign on Monday to gain a labor contract for writers, producers and editors who work in the booming field of "reality TV" shows.
The Writers Guild of America argues that the creative teams behind the camera on such hit shows as "Survivor," "The Apprentice" and "The Bachelor" routinely work far longer hours at much lower pay than their counterparts in scripted dramas and sitcoms.
The guild says writers, editors and producers who toil anonymously to create -- or at least perfect -- the illusion of spontaneity on reality shows do so without the health insurance or pension benefits earned by union members.
Writers Union
2nd Season Ordered
'Beauty and the Geek'
The WB Network has ordered a second season of its hot summer reality series "Beauty and the Geek."
The show, which pairs beautiful women and nerdy guys in teams competing for $250,000, has showed impressive growth in its three airings to date, most recently pulling 4.5 million viewers and winning its Wednesday 8-9 p.m. slot in such key demos as adults 18-34 and persons 12-34.
The WB has given it an eight-episode pickup for a second cycle to premiere during the 2005-06 season, possibly midseason. That is two more episodes than the first installment. Actor Ashton Kutcher is among the producers.
'Beauty and the Geek'
Steelers Broadcaster Retires
Myron Cope
Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers radio broadcaster Myron Cope is retiring.
Cope, known for his screeching, nasal delivery of exclamations such as "Yoi!" and "Double Yoi!" has broadcast games on the Steelers Radio Network since 1970.
He also created the "Terrible Towel," a black-and-gold good-luck charm that fans wave at games. Hundreds of thousands have been sold at $5 to $10 each, with profits going to charity.
His retirement follows an injury in November, when he apparently fell at his home and hit his head the day before a game. He went to Heinz Field for the game, but couldn't continue beyond the first half and was taken to a hospital.
Myron Cope
This reminded me of the Pirates and their now-silenced long-time voice, the fabulous Bob Prince and
Gunnerisms.
Time to dust off my old green weenie.
Low-Key Anniversary
Jean-Paul Sartre
When the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre died in 1980, some 50,000 people attended his funeral in Paris' Montparnasse cemetery, but the hundredth anniversary of his birth passed off with little comment in France.
In fact, says historian Annie Cohen-Solal, writing in Le Monde newspaper, the French have largely turned their backs on Sartre, while his philosophy goes from strength to strength in other parts of the world.
Part of the indifference in France may have been because news media amply covered Sartre's legacy in April on the 75th anniversary of his death, including two major documentary films broadcast by the French-German TV channel Arte.
However, much of Sartre's world has disappeared and politically engaged philosophers like him have given way to slick television personalities.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Ad Bookings To Drop 30%
NBC
NBC is expected to see its take of advertising bookings for the 2005-06 television season drop by at least 30 percent, reflecting the once-top rated television network's inability to replace hit shows such as "Friends" and "Frasier."
The network, which is owned by General Electric Co., is expected to book between $1.9 billion and $2 billion in "upfront" commitments, advertising time sold in advance of the coming fall season, down from $2.9 billion last year, a source familiar with the matter said.
The decline reflects both declining rates, which are expected to be flat to down 3 percent, and a declining amount of advertising time sold.
NBC
Closed Before Opening
KissWorld
Rock act Kiss' first official retail store KissWorld is holding a closing down sale before it ever opened for business. The store, planned to open November 2004, was a joint-venture between Kiss and Melbourne-based paper goods manufacturer, World of Stars.
The 10,000 square meter Melbourne store was to stock merchandise relating to the band and other music, sports, movie and television personalities. It was to include a museum of stage outfits, a cinema to show unreleased Kiss footage, a cafe and a wall of fame.
The directors of KissWorld, Peter Hoffmann and Robert Manuele, said, "It is devastating to see the project coming to an end, not only in terms of the financial loss to us but also the energy and passion that has gone into it." Hoffmann and Manuele did not discuss reasons for the venture's failure.
KissWorld
Biographer Searches
John O'Hara
John O'Hara, who needled the upper middle class in such novels as "Butterfield 8" and "Pal Joey," began his writing career as a journalist in Pottsville (Pa), the coal town where he grew up in the early 1900s and which provided the setting for much of his later fiction.
But the articles he wrote as a general assignment reporter for the Pottsville Journal are missing - and have been since the paper folded in the early 1950s and its archives were transferred to the local historical society.
Now, a leading O'Hara's scholar, Matthew J. Bruccoli, is offering a $1,000 reward in hopes that somebody will come forward with the missing newspaper volumes - which span the years 1924 to 1926 - and let him put them on microfilm.
O'Hara left Pottsville in 1927 and rarely returned. But there is little doubt about his feelings toward the place. In a 1935 letter to longtime Pottsville newspaperman Walter Farquhar, O'Hara referred to it as "that God awful town."
John O'Hara
Picks Up BBC Radio 1
Sirius Satellite
BBC's popular music station Radio 1 said on Tuesday it signed a deal to be broadcast in the United States over Sirius Satellite Radio as the U.S. company looks overseas to lock in unique programing.
The exclusive agreement to bring the British public broadcaster's Radio 1 to America later this summer follows earlier Sirius deals to broadcast Premier League soccer and Wimbledon Championship tennis from Britain.
Radio 1 is renowned for introducing Britons to up-and-coming rock, pop and hip-hop musicians. Sirius said the programing will be broadcast on a time-shift basis, meaning that listeners on the U.S. East Coast, for example, will hear Chris Moyles' popular morning show in the morning.
Sirius Satellite
Poking At Duke
Pete Stark
Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, pounced Monday on the ethical troubles of a fellow House member, Republican Randy "Duke'' Cunningham of San Diego County, who is under investigation for an alleged sweetheart real estate deal with a defense industry lobbyist.
"Attention Powerful Lobbyists,'' read the headline in a satirical advertisement Stark bought Monday in the online editions of CongressDaily and the Hotline, a political roundup. "House for sale by influential member of Congress."
A San Diego federal grand jury and the FBI are investigating Cunningham, who sits on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, for his sale of a home in Del Mar for $1.7 million to Mitchell Wade, president of the defense contractor MZM Inc., in 2003. The buyer resold the home in 2004 for a $700,000 loss.
In Washington, Cunningham lives on a yacht owned by Wade.
Pete Stark
Ratings Slip, Seeks Triumph Of The Will
Ahnold
Responding to a precipitous drop in popularity, Gov. Arnold '2-Passports' $chwarzenegger (R-$pecial Intere$t $chlampe) on Tuesday said he wants to seek compromise with Democrats on the state budget and on issues he has placed before voters for a November special election.
"I feel that there is an agreement to be had," he said at a Capitol news conference. "We can resolve this, and then we can go together to the special election - Democrats and Republicans alike.
"It's all about the will. Do we have the will to represent the people of California?"
The poll released Tuesday showed $chwarzenegger's job approval rating at a new low, 37 percent. The drop continued a slide that began in January when he announced plans for a "great battle" with the Democrats who control the state Legislature.
Ahnold
Cripes - there he goes invoking Hitler's favorite favorite female
propagandist, Leni Riefenstahl, and her
meisterpiece, Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens) (1935) as the answer.
We are so screwed.
In Memory
Jack Kilby
Nobel laureate Jack Kilby, whose 1958 invention of the integrated circuit ushered in the electronics age and made possible the microprocessor, has died at 81 after a battle with cancer.
During his first year at Texas Instruments, using borrowed equipment, Kilby built the first integrated circuit into a single piece of semiconducting material half the size of a paper clip. Four years later in 1962, Texas Instruments won its first major integrated circuit contract, for the Minuteman missile.
Kilby later co-invented the hand-held electronic calculator.
Jack St. Clair Kilby was born in 1923 in Great Bend, Kan. His father was the owner of a small electric company, and Kilby became interested in radio tubes while listening to big band radio in the 1940s.
He earned degrees in electrical engineering from the universities of Illinois and Wisconsin, and began his career in 1947 with the Centralab Division of Globe Union Inc. in Milwaukee, developing ceramic-based, silk-screened circuits for electronic products.
Kilby is survived by two daughters, five granddaughters, and a son-in-law.
Jack Kilby
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