'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Suggestion
Re: Iraq
In case you forgot why this country went to war with Iraq watch
the movie.
It will only be available on-line through tomorrow.
It is about a 44 meg download or you can watch it on-line, 87 minutes long.
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Observation
Politics as Usual
In 2002, George W. Bush and the Republicans ruthlessly used 9/11 and its aftermath to capture control of the Senate by portraying Democratic candidates as friends of terrorism. The most prominent victim of Bush's strategy? Georgia Senator Max Cleland, whose face appeared in ads alongside those of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
Oddly, Cleland's body did not appear in the ads - perhaps because he had lost three of his limbs fighting in the Vietnam War.
[Where was George W. Bush during the Vietnam War? In the National Guard, guarding the skies over Texas.]
Thanks, Bruce!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD's on vacation
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, but with a good dose of humidity.
Ken Jennings won day #25 on 'Jeopardy' - has racked up $788,960 - so far.
The kid is back to digging his hole in the backyard.
Entertainer Beyonce Knowles smiles as she sits down for a press conference at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, Tuesday, July 6, 2004, during a break in filming of 'The Pink Panther,' which is due to be released in July 2005. Co-stars Steve Martin, left, and Frenchman Jean Reno, second from left, also take part.
Photo by Jerome Delay
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Memoir Spurs Cookbook Interest
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton's memoir apparently has cooked up a lot of interest for another book connected to the former president.
Two weeks ago, just before the release of Clinton's autobiography "My Life," a cookbook released by Clinton's library foundation ranked a modest 80,000th on the Amazon.com sales list.
As of Monday, it had climbed to 2,035th.
"I can only assume that 'My Life' has something to do with it," said Skip Rutherford, president of Clinton's nonprofit foundation.
Bill Clinton
Reacts to Torture of Children
Norway
As a reaction to the alleged torture of children, Norwegian authorities state they will address the US both politically and diplomatically and clearly state that it is not tolerated.
German television aired footage of American abuse of children in jails in Iraq Monday.
"Such assaults are unacceptable," said Odd Jostein Sæter, parliamentary secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, to the Norwegian television channel NRK. "It is against international laws and it is also unacceptable from a moral point of view. This is why we react strongly, as we already have reacted to the abuse which is documented at the prisons in Iraq."
He said that Norwegian authorities will use its first possible opportunity to respond to the Americans actions both politically and diplomatically. He stressed that jailing and assaulting children will not be tolerated.
Norway
For the story auf Deutsch, Irak: US-Soldaten sollen inhaftierte Kinder misshandelt haben - SPIEGEL ONLINE
For those who prefer English - More Than 100 Children Imprisoned; Report Of Abuse
Does Mike Moore need to make another movie so we can see this footage?
Frank Cole gestures while telling his side of a 24-year-old Outback mystery at his suburban Melbourne, Australia, home Sunday, July 4, 2004. Cole claims he shot a dingo in 1980 that had the body of a small child in its mouth while on a camping trip near the giant monolith known as Ayers Rock but didn't report the incident for fear of prosecution for shooting in a National Park. Lindy Chamberland was convicted of murdering her infant but was later released from prison and cleared of the crime after fresh evidence supported her claim that a dingo took her child.
Photo by Damien Horan
Attended India AIDS Awareness Seminar
Richard Gere
Hollywood actor Richard Gere on Tuesday attended a three-hour AIDS awareness workshop in the Indian capital, stroking his Buddhist prayer beads as he listened to speeches and watched street plays and a puppet show.
"Make Art/Stop AIDS," an awareness-through-art workshop mainly funded by the U.N. AIDS agency and the Gere Foundation India Trust, has been traveling around India for the last six months.
The workshop will head to Bangkok next for the July 11-16 World AIDS conference, said Dr. David Gere, director of the project and Richard Gere's brother.
Richard Gere
Barred From Using 'Born to Be Wild'
Paris Hilton
It seems that a lot of people have been unable to resist socialite Paris Hilton. But John Kay of the rock group Steppenwolf did.
Kay told a Canadian newspaper that Hilton asked him to let her use the band's 1968 anthem "Born To Be Wild" on her on-the-road TV show, "The Simple Life."
Kay said he refused the idea outright.
"There are certain things even a rock and roller will not stoop to, and this is one of them," Kay told the Toronto Star.
Paris Hilton
Celebrates 'Hard Days Night' at 40
Paul McCartney
Beatle Paul McCartney celebrated the 40th anniversary of the film "A Hard Day's Night" at a private screening Tuesday.
McCartney enjoyed the black-and-white film tribute to 1960s Beatlemania with his wife, Heather, 36.
"Heather has never seen it full-length. We have just seen bits and pieces," he said.
Paul McCartney
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Queen Dedicates Fountain
Princess Diana
Queen Elizabeth II dedicated a fountain in honor of Princess Diana on Tuesday and acknowledged that there had been difficult times with her late daughter-in-law but "memories mellow with the passing of the years."
The queen, her husband Prince Philip and Diana's former husband, Prince Charles, joined with Diana's family to formally open the $6.5 million oval granite water feature in Hyde Park.
Construction of the fountain, designed by American architect Karen Gustafson and built of 545 blocks of Cornish granite, was delayed by bureaucratic wrangling and arguments within the Memorial Fountain Committee headed by Diana's friend Rosa Monckton.
Princess Diana
Revellers raise red scarves as they celebrate the start of the San Fermin's festival in the Town Hall square in Pamplona, July 6, 2004. A pack of six fighting bulls runs through the center of the town to the bullring every morning during the week long festival made popular by U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway.
Photo by Dani Cardona
Wedding News
Spelling - Shanian
Actress Tori Spelling, best known for her role as Donna on TV's "Beverly Hills 90210", has married, her publicist said Monday.
Spelling, 31, and actor-writer Charlie Shanian got married Saturday at her parents' home in Holmby Hills, publicist Cece Yorke said. It is the first marriage for both.
Spelling - Shanian
Baby News
Justin Charles & Jordan Edward Rogers
Singer Kenny Rogers and his wife, Wanda, are the parents of identical twin boys.
Justin Charles weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and his twin brother, Jordan Edward, weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces.
Justin Charles & Jordan Edward Rogers
Writing Autobiography
Sean Connery
Sean Connery has a contract to write his autobiography, but confesses to some trepidation about the project.
HarperCollins announced Monday that it has a deal with the Scottish actor for a memoir to be published in the latter half of 2006. The publisher declined to comment on press reports that Connery had agreed on a six-figure deal.
Sean Connery
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Libel Suit Dismissed
Ahnold
A Los Angeles judge has dismissed a lawsuit against California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by a former stuntwoman who said the former actor sexually assaulted her and then implied she was a prostitute.
Superior Court Judge Robert Hess ruled on Friday that at the time she filed her libel suit against Schwarzenegger last year, Rhonda Miller was a public figure not afforded the same privacy protection as members of the general public.
Hess also found no evidence to show that Schwarzenegger knew of or approved an e-mail sent to reporters by his campaign suggesting Miller had a criminal record for prostitution, which was not true.
In her lawsuit, Miller accused Schwarzenegger and his campaign aides of defaming her by directing reporters via e-mail to the criminal record of an accused prostitute named Rhonda Miller posted on a Los Angeles County Web site.
Ahnold
A wall painting of a hunting scene is seen on a Waksu-ri tomb at Koguryo ruins in Nampho, North Korea, which has been listed on the World Heritage list by UNESCO recently, in this photo released by the Korea News Agency, July 6, 2004. The complex of the Koguryo tomb, the first site inscribed on the World Heritage list for North Korea, includes several group and individual tombs - totaling about 63 individual graves - from the later period of the Koguryo Kingdom, one of the strongest kingdoms in northeast China and half of the Korean peninsula between the 3rd century BC and 7th century AD, according to a UNESCO statement.
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Lives on in L.A. Tribute Concerts
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons embodied the rock 'n' roll cliche -- live fast, die young, become immortal.
In his brief 26 years, the fortunate son of a wealthy Florida family helped popularize country rock by recording albums with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and a pair of LPs under his own name. Along the way, Parsons influenced the Rolling Stones and discovered Emmylou Harris.
At least the bizarre aftermath of his 1973 death ensures he will never be forgotten: his remains were incinerated in the California desert by a drunken buddy who stole his body to make good on a promise. His only child, who was 7 years old at the time, remembers hearing about her father's death on the news.
Now, Polly Parsons has corralled A-list musicians such as Keith Richards, Norah Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams to perform at two tribute concerts for her father in the Los Angeles area this weekend.
"Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons" will take place on July 9 at the Santa Barbara Bowl, and July 10 at the Universal Amphitheater near Hollywood. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Musicians' Assistance Program, which provides assistance for alcohol and drug rehabilitation to people in the music industry.
Polly Parsons and her father's widow, Gretchen, share equally in the modest proceeds from Gram Parsons' estate. His copyrights have just reverted to their control, and Polly has plans to exploit the catalog more aggressively so that his music can reach beyond a small core of fans.
Inevitably, it's his post-mortem adventures that fascinate people to this day. After Parsons died of a drug overdose in his beloved desert hideaway of Joshua Tree, California, his body was set to be taken to New Orleans for burial. But his road manager, Phil Kaufman, stole it from Los Angeles International Airport and brought it back to the desert and set it alight.
Polly Parsons thinks the whole thing is "fabulous," though at the time her family was shocked to learn that he had been "burned to a crisp," having not known about the prearranged death pact.
"It's a bit novel, and the stuff stories are made of, obviously. It's epic. It's epic in proportion! It's rock 'n' roll, it's fantastic! It just happened to be my dad!"
Gram Parsons
'Rydhsys rag Kernow lemmyn'
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Simpson, the pointy-haired schoolgirl of the U.S television hit series "The Simpsons", is to embrace the cause of Cornish independence.
In a Christmas Day special edition of the animated comedy, Lisa will run around the Simpsons' home in Springfield shouting "Rydhsys rag Kernow lemmyn", which translates as "Free Cornwall Now."
Cornwall has remained stubbornly distinct from the rest of the United Kingdom. Nationalists in the county think the area should be accorded the status Wales and Scotland enjoy, having devolved powers if not outright independence.
Lisa Simpson
Slippery When It Comes to Age
Celebrities
Twenty-four years ago, starring in the movie "Fame," Irene Cara promised us that she would live forever. Now she may be trying to fulfill that dream. A recent dispute over the correct birth date for the 40-to-45-year-old Cara is just the latest example of an age-old debate in the parallel universe called celebrity.
Cara, whose real name is Irene Escalera, says she was born March 18, 1964. But several media outlets, including The Associated Press, have her birth date as March 18, 1959.
Cara's publicist, Bernie Roswig, recently called The AP requesting a correction on the year to 1964. But voter registration records from Florida, where she lives, have her birth year as 1959.
Often, a star's true age isn't revealed until after he or she dies. Actress Mercedes McCambridge, who died March 2, gave her birthday as March 17, 1918 because she wanted to be two years younger. Her obituary revealed her true age of 87.
For a lot more, Celebrities
Cremated in Los Angeles
Marlon Brando
Acting great Marlon Brando was cremated in a private funeral attended only by family and cloaked in the kind of secrecy that shrouded the last years of his life, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
The service, which relatives managed to keep under wraps until a day after the fact, was held in Los Angeles on Monday, said Seattle-area attorney David Seeley, who represented Brando and his business interests for the past four years.
The actor's older sister, former actress Jocelyn Brando, was quoted by Foxnews.com columnist Roger Friedman as saying, "There will be no service of any kind."
She added: "If someone wants to do something, that's their business. But Marlon would have hated it. He would not have liked it, and we don't want to do anything he didn't want to do. He's off on his trip, whatever that is."
A spokeswoman for UCLA Medical Center said last week that the performer had died of lung failure. His sister told Foxnews.com that Brando had suffered from the chronic lung ailment pulmonary fibrosis.
Marlon Brando
In Memory
Eric Douglas
Eric Douglas, 46, youngest son of actor Kirk Douglas and who struggled with longtime drug and alcohol abuse, was found dead on Tuesday in a New York apartment, police said.
The body of the sometime actor and stand-up comic, who had numerous brushes with the law, was discovered by a maid who had come to clean the Manhattan apartment where he was staying, police said.
There were no signs of foul play, and the city medical examiner was planning an autopsy to determine the cause of death, police said.
Discussing his battles with drugs and alcohol, Douglas, who also attended rehab programs, once told New York's Daily News he found it difficult being part of such a well-known family.
Douglas once disclosed that his speech and gait had been affected by a eight-day accidental drug-related coma in 1999.
Eric Douglas
Mooshu, an older neighborhood cat who has lived most of his sixteen years in the Lanikai section of Kailua, Hawaii, takes a cat nap on a skateboard belonging to his owner's children, July 5, 2004. Picture taken July 5, 2004.
Photo by Lucy Pemoni
'The Osbournes'
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