'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Glenn W. Smith: George Lakoff's Freedom Frame (AlterNet.org)
The author of 'Moral Politics' says the battle to define freedom is being fought by warriors with radically different world views.
KERA ABRAHAM: Peace Through Poverty, The simply rich life of Charles Gray (eugeneweekly.com)
Most people spend their lives trying to gain wealth. Charles Gray spent his trying to get rid of it. He went from involuntarily poor to unwittingly wealthy to voluntarily, joyously, rebelliously poor. In his last decade he took up a simple middle class life, and on July 8 he died of bone cancer at his home in northwest Eugene at age 81. (eugeneweekly.com)
Pretty poor (guardian.co.uk)
Winding country lanes, village greens, charming, stone-built cottages ... the British countryside is seen as an idyllic place - and perhaps it is for the commuters and those rich enough to retire there. But for many, the picture-postcard image belies a life of poverty and hardship. Stephen Moss investigates.
Ben Yagoda: You Need To Read This (slate.com)
How need to vanquished have to, must, and should.
Detective novelist Spillane dies (news.bbc.co.uk)
US crime writer Mickey Spillane, who created the tough private eye Mike Hammer, has died at the age of 88.
The ideas interview: Liz Spencer (guardian.co.uk)
What role do friendships play in society? John Sutherland talks to the sociologist who is unearthing what best friends are for.
Chris Thompson: One Blowhard Down, Plenty More to Go (eastbayexpress.com)
The outing of Ann Coulter as a likely plagiarist by professor John Barrie's scanning software could help usher in a new era of author accountability.
Prof. David J. Hanson, Ph.D.: Alcohol And Health (potsdam.edu)
Moderate drinkers tend to have better health and live longer than those who are either abstainers or heavy drinkers. In addition to having fewer heart attacks and strokes, moderate consumers of alcoholic beverages (beer, wine or distilled spirits or liquor) are generally less likely to suffer hypertension or high blood pressure, peripheral artery disease, Alzheimer's disease and the common cold.
Alcohol and Drinking Facts in States across the US (potsdam.edu)
California: An award-winning adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood was withdrawn from a recommended reading list by the school board in Culver City, California, simply because the heroine had included a bottle of wine in the basket she brought to her grandmother.
David Bruce: "Wise Up!" Death (athensnews.com)
"When Jesus said 'Love your enemies,' he probably meant don't kill them." -- bumper sticker.
The Wall St. Poet
The Coming Conflagration
Given what's in newspapers these days, it's probably best not to read one shortly after rereading William Butler Yeats "The Second Coming." Doing so may lead to thoughts such as these...
The Coming Conflagration
The problem with a tenderbox
The cause for great dismay
Is that once you've stacked the kindling
You are just a spark away
From the loosing of a fire
That becomes a conflagration
Spreading fast beyond all bounderies
A horrendous consummation.
Look around you at the feedstock
That our policies have spawned
How constraining institutions
Their goodwill we've cheaply pawned
How with arrogance and bullying
We played the loutish duffer
Can one dodge the laws of karma
Play the fool and then not suffer?
We are close now to the tipping point
That point of fatal dip
When the common threads of decency
No more restrain the slip
Into fiery deeds and mayhem
Long prepared, now fully flowered
Wrought by cheery, glazed-eyed madmen
Our own bumbling empowered.
**********
©2006
For more financial/political verse:
www.wallstreetpoet.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still hot & sticky.
Last night a sweet little golden-yellow striped kitten wandered onto the back porch.
It was very hungry, and is missing all of its whiskers.
No new flags.
British Edition Retracts Story
Britney Spears
The U.S.-based National Enquirer published a rare apology and retraction in its British edition Tuesday to pop star Britney Spears, whom the tabloid last month reported was ready to split from husband Kevin Federline.
A London lawyer representing American Media Inc., the Boca Raton, Florida-based publisher of the National Enquirer, signed a settlement agreement with Paul Tweed, the Belfast lawyer representing Spears in Britain and Ireland. The settlement requires a published apology, but no cash damages.
Spears pursued a libel action on this side of the Atlantic, rather than in the United States, because British and Irish laws are much more plaintiff-friendly.
Media lawyers say such cases could become increasingly popular when targeting U.S.-based publications with even a small overseas distribution.
Britney Spears
British Court Must Watch
Jerry Springer
A British Court of Appeal judge on Tuesday ordered a trial to settle a dispute between distributors of "The Jerry Springer Show" and a company claiming the program became too strong for local tastes.
In effect, the Court of Appeal ordered a Commercial Court judge to watch samples of the show.
Flextech Television, which provides 10 channels of programming for British cable operator NTL Inc., contends that it was entitled to cancel its "Springer" deal with Universal Studios International because it became impossible to air some episodes without violating British broadcasting rules.
Jerry Springer
Wedding News
Anderson - Richie
The on-again, off-again love affair between actress Pamela Anderson and singer Kid Rock is on again and this time they plan to marry.
The former Playboy model and the Detroit rap-rocker will exchange vows on July 29 aboard a yacht near the French Riviera city of St. Tropez, the celebrity magazine US Weekly reported.
"Yes, I'm finally getting remarried ... I'm in love. I'm happy," Anderson writes on her Web site, pamelaanderson.com, in an entry on Tuesday.
Anderson - Richie
Launching National Morning Show
Fox
Trying to take advantage of instability in morning television, Fox announced on Tuesday that it will launch an hour-long morning news program in January.
Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy, currently daytime anchors on Fox News Channel, will be the hosts of the program. It will air at 9 a.m. in most markets and lean toward light, entertainment-driven news unless there is a major story. Fox News Channel reporters will be used for story coverage.
The program, which doesn't have a name yet, will follow four hours of local news programming on many Fox stations. Fox hopes that provides a compatible lead-in, said Dennis Swanson, president of operations for the Fox television stations.
Fox
Takes Stand
Mindy McCready
Country singer Mindy McCready testified Tuesday that she thought police pulled her over to "give her a hard time" - not because they thought she was driving under the influence.
She said she used to live in the area where she was stopped and knew some of the officers well.
"Way back when - when I used to have hit records 10 years ago - I would get pulled over a lot and had officers ask me to do the strangest things. Once an officer asked me to dance for his camera," she told jurors.
The DUI case centers on a video of the field sobriety tests McCready took after she was stopped for speeding in May 2005.
Mindy McCready
Wins Restraining Order
John Cusack
John Cusack won a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a woman he claims has been stalking him for more than 18 months.
Emily Leatherman must stay at least 500 feet from the 40-year-old actor, his home, workplace, car and any company or office where he does business, Superior Court Judge Linda K. Lefkowitz ruled.
Leatherman, who is identified in court papers as being homeless, could not immediately be reached for comment.
John Cusack
New Game Announced
LOTR
Electronic Arts, Inc., the world's largest video games publisher, says it is planning to release a role-playing game based on the British author J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
"We will launch the Lord of the Rings game at the end of 2007," says Electronic Arts spokesperson Scott Gamel. "The game will incorporate elements from the J.R.R. Tolkien novels and also from the recent Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, which was produced by New Zealander Paul Jackson."
Known as The Lord of the Rings, The White Council, the game will be developed at Electronic Arts' Redwood City, California studio. The executive producer for the role-playing game will be Electronic Arts developer Steve Gray.
LOTR
Husband's A Rat
Christie Brinkley
A 19-year-old former employee of Christie Brinkley's husband, Peter Cook, says he hired her and seduced her with lavish gifts, then attempted to woo her back with repeated notes and phone calls after she broke off the affair.
Diana Bianchi told the New York Post for Tuesday editions that Cook, 47, made advances on her shortly after she took a job at his architecture firm, adding that at the time she was "a little naive."
Bianchi said she first met Cook when she was a 17-year-old toy store clerk, but he made his intentions clear when she was a year older and his employee, typing in a computer document as she stood by his desk, "How would you feel if I told you I was attracted to you?"
Christie Brinkley
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for July 10-16. Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (X) Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Fox, 14.42 million viewers.
2. (39) "America's Got Talent," NBC, 11.14 million viewers.
3. (7) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 10.61 million viewers.
4. (3) "CSI," CBS, 10.33 million viewers.
5. (X) "All-Star Game Preview," Fox, 10.21 million viewers.
6. (56) "So You Think Can Dance," (Wednesday), Fox, 9.65 million viewers.
7. (18) "CSI: NY," CBS, 9.55 million viewers.
8. (6) "Without a Trace," CBS, 9.50 million viewers.
9. (58) "So You Think Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 9.34 million viewers.
10. (15) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.15 million viewers.
11. (92) "Dateline," (Sunday, 7 p.m.), NBC, 9.03 million viewers.
12. (23) "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.20 million viewers.
13. (71) "How I Met Your Mother," (9:30 p.m.) CBS, 8.13 million viewers.
14. (27) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 8.12 million viewers.
15. (21) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 8.0 million viewers.
16. (82) "Last Comic Standing 4," NBC, 7.58 million viewers.
17. (34) "Law & Order," NBC, 7.57 million viewers.
18. (22) "Cold Case," CBS, 7.49 million viewers.
19. (103) "Big Brother 7," (Tuesday), CBS, 7.34 million viewers.
20. (44) "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 7.22 million viewers.
Ratings
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