'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Comment
Re: Biggest Hole
Hi Marty
That Utah hole
is something, but I think the biggest (A)-hole in the world
is in the Whitehouse.
Paul
Thanks, Paul!
Can't argue with your logic.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
LAURIE GOODSTEIN: Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock (nytimes.com)
He said he first became alarmed while visiting another megachurch's worship service on a Fourth of July years ago. The service finished with the chorus singing "God Bless America" and a video of fighter jets flying over a hill silhouetted with crosses. "I thought to myself, 'What just happened? Fighter jets mixed up with the cross?' " he said in an interview.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Shock and Awe (The New York Times)
For Americans who care deeply about Israel, one of the truly nightmarish things about the war in Lebanon has been watching Israel repeat the same mistakes the United States made in Iraq. It's as if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been possessed by the deranged spirit of Donald Rumsfeld.
Tim Dowling: Last word (guardian.co.uk)
We may fear terrorism, but we'll get over it.
Rohan Mascarenhas, Amherst College: Boys Crying Wolf (campusprogress.org)
The overreaction to women closing the gender gap.
Julian Baggini: Is boring bad? (guardian.co.uk)
Teaching is the least boring graduate profession, according to a survey by the Training and Development Agency for Schools. Clearly the TDA thinks this is a good thing, since its job is to help schools with recruitment and retention. But how important is it to avoid tedium?
Myshele Goldberg: The Real Tragedy of Student Debt (WireTap. Posted on Alternet.org)
A young, working-class woman shares the story of her subtle slide into unbearable debt.
'I'd like to have seen you,' my mother says, 'but it's not as important as people think' (guardian.co.uk)
Etta and Fred Reid held down successful careers, had three children in quick succession, and managed to raise them with hardly any outside help. No big deal - except they are both totally blind. Here their daughter Julie Reid remembers her extraordinary childhood.
The ideas interview: David Edgerton (guardian.co.uk)
New technology is not always the best technology, argues this historian. The rickshaw is just as important as the jumbo jet. By John Sutherland.
Michael Wood: Musketeers Without a Cause (slate.com)
Rediscovering the secret core of Dumas' classic.
Jonathan Hunt: Athens [Ohio] gets high ranking for its quality of life -- and obscurity (athensnews.com)
A national magazine has ranked Athens among its "12 Great Places You've Never Heard Of," which lists under-the-radar small cities that are fun and affordable places to live or travel. "It was one that jumped out at us at the very beginning," said Mother Earth News Managing Editor John Rockhold on Friday.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Good Deeds (athensnews.com)
When Martin Luther King, Jr., organized a boycott of the segregationist Montgomery, Ala. bus company, black-owned taxi companies let passengers ride for only 10 cents, so that the people who could usually afford only to ride the bus could afford to take a taxi instead.
Global Warming
Avery Ant
Open-Source Political Video
Take Back The Capitol
Announcing the launch of TAKE BACK THE CAPITOL, an
open source political video project and clip contest
dedicated to overturning Republican control of
Congress in the November, 2006 election.
Anyone can submit a short video clip (a sound bite, a
slogan, a gesture, a dance step, etc.) in response to
the question "Why must we overturn Republican control
of Congress?". The best clips will win cash prizes and
be compiled into a fast-paced music video by producer
and editor Sim Sadler, which will be offered for viral
distribution via e-mail/cell phone/iTunes ahead of the
election.
For more info, see www.takebackthecapitol.org
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Nice sunny day.
No new flags.
Hosting Creative Emmys
Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller will host the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony. The two "defy labels and their genre of magic and offbeat humor will no doubt provide us with one mind-boggling show," Spike Jones Jr., the show's producer, said Tuesday.
The 2006 Creative Arts Emmys ceremony will present trophies in 73 categories, including those for technical achievement and guest actors and actresses in series. The ceremony will be held Aug. 19.
The prime-time Emmys are scheduled for Aug. 27.
Penn & Teller
Jamestown Celebration
Lucille Ball
The 95th anniversary of Lucille Ball's birth falls on Sunday, and it won't go uncelebrated.
This weekend in Jamestown, N.Y. -- where Lucy was born and has since been buried and where a major Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz museum now exists -- they'll be having a Lucy birthday blowout, with Lucy-Desi fans expected from all over the globe.
The organizers, led by Ric Wyman, executive director of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, have scheduled three days of events, including such special guests as "Lucy" film editor Dann Cahn, "Lucy" co-writer Bob Schiller, former Desilu contractee Carole Cook and a "Lucy" semi-regular, the amazing 101-year-old actor Charles Lane.
Lucille Ball
British National Treasures
Monty Python
Monty Python, fish and chips and Sherlock Holmes are just some of the 20 new additions to join a list of England's national treasures.
Alongside the Mini, the bowler hat and the Archers, they were drawn up by experts and voted for by 350,000 members of the public as part of the Icons - A Portrait of England collection.
The Icons Web site can be viewed here.
Monty Python
The Newest Joker
Heath Ledger
Batman is heading into a sequel, titled "The Dark Knight," and he will face off against the Joker, this time played by Heath Ledger.
Christian Bale, the star of last year's "Batman Begins," will reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Christopher Nolan is returning to the directing chair.
An early 2007 start date is being eyed for the sequel. Before then, Bale and Nolan will be in theaters this fall with the Disney release "The Prestige."
Heath Ledger
Celebrity News Site
TMZ
Breaking the Mel Gibson arrest story was the latest coup for Harvey Levin and his staff of 25 at the fledgling entertainment Web site TMZ.com.
The site, a partnership between Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and Telepictures Productions, was designed to report "entertainment news in real time in an unvarnished way," said Levin, 55, an attorney who has worked as a journalist for 30 years.
Jim Paratore, president of Telepictures Productions, said that breaking the Gibson story gives visitors an idea of the potential of TMZ, which stands for Thirty Mile Zone - a film industry term referring to the immediate area around Los Angeles where filming can occur without added out-of-town labor costs.
TMZ
ABC Pulls Holocaust Miniseries
Mel Gibson
The ABC television network said on Tuesday that it has pulled a miniseries about the Holocaust it was developing with Mel Gibson's production company.
The actor, who holds strong conservative Catholic religious and political views and whose father is a Holocaust denier, apologized on Saturday and has entered a rehabilitation program to treat alcoholism.
Disney's movie studio arm still plans to release Gibson's self-financed Mayan-language movie "Apocalypto" on December 8, Hollywood's trade papers reported.
Mel Gibson
Turn Backs On Hollywood
Japanese TV Advertisers
In the beginning, there was Charles Bronson. He was followed by James Coburn, casually lighting up a cigarette, and Paul Newman behind the wheel of a Nissan.
By the mid-'80s, the floodgates opened and dozens of Hollywood's big-screen stars were selling products on Japan's small screens. America's top entertainment talent was hawking everything from Japanese Scotch to instant noodles, mobile phones and chewing gum.
But not anymore. The American face no longer sells so well in Japan, which has undergone a shift in advertising tactics to embrace its homegrown talents and Asian screen stars who have become more prominent in recent years.
Japanese TV Advertisers
Helicopter Pilot In Trouble
Tommy Lee
A pilot faced reckless flying and other charges for landing a helicopter on a public street to pick up rocker Tommy Lee and take him to a concert, prosecutors said.
David Keith Martz, 49, landed the helicopter July 7 outside a home in the Hollywood Hills to give the former Motley Crue drummer a 50-mile flight to a Nine Inch Nails concert in Irvine, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the City Attorney's Office.
Martz was charged with one count each of reckless flying, landing an aircraft on a public road and landing an aircraft without a permit, Mateljan said. Martz will be arraigned in Hollywood on Wednesday.
Tommy Lee
Director In Court
Vadim Perelman
Vadim Perelman, who faces charges of groping two women and punching another at a South Norwalk nightclub, has sought a special type of probation.
Perelman, who directed the 2003 film "House of Sand and Fog," appeared Monday in state Superior Court seeking accelerated rehabilitation. He would have no criminal record if he successfully completes his probation.
Perelman, 42, of Venice, Calif., faces a third-degree assault charge and two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, or sexual contact without consent. The incidents allegedly occurred July 22.
Vadim Perelman
Sued By Former Agency
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes former talent agency is suing the actor for back commissions on "Blade: Trinity" and other films.
In a suit filed Monday in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, attorneys for the United Talent Agency say Snipes has been paid at least $13 million for his work on the 2004 action sequel and paid commissions to UTA totaling about $717,000.
But UTA claims that Snipes still owes "Blade: Trinity" commissions totaling about $584,000, and it also seeks commissions totaling more than $2 million related to its 10% representation fee on three additional movies.
Wesley Snipes
Teen Activity Center
Alice Cooper
For all the envelope-pushing Alice Cooper has done as a shock rocker, he also knows the value of boundaries, especially for children.
Cooper said his Christian, nonprofit Solid Rock Foundation has begun fundraising efforts for a 20,000-square-foot teen activity center to be called The Rock, to be built at Grand Canyon University in West Phoenix.
Officials for Grand Canyon University, a private college with a Christian focus, came to Cooper with the offer to build the youth center on the campus. Cooper has given scholarships to the school for more than five years.
Alice Cooper
Swift Boat Liars Back In Action
Jack Murtha
The "Swift Boat" veterans who grabbed national headlines in 2004 when they attacked John Kerry in his failed presidential bid now are turning their sights to Johnstown.
Their target is U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a critic of the Iraq war and a de facto spokesman on the subject for the national Democratic Party.
Armed as a new group - Veterans for the Truth - they're bringing their campaign to "Redeploy John Murtha From Congress" to his backyard.
Jack Murtha
Concert Draws Noise Citation
Pete Best
A rock 'n' roll show by the original drummer for The Beatles landed a club owner a date in court after complaints that the music was too loud.
Pete Best and The Pete Best Band were playing outdoors Sunday night at Loco's Deli & Pub, a nightclub in Athens (GA), a college town famous for launching the careers of bands like REM and The B-52s.
Because Loco's owner Jamie Loftin has been cited for noise before, he is headed to municipal court, where a judge will decide if he should pay more than the usual $144 US fine.
Pete Best
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