'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Beth Quinn: George is worst natural disaster to hit country (Times Herald-Record)
Well, folks, the only thing left up in the air now is whether George Bush is the worst president ever. Herbert Hoover has held the title since 1933. It's been neck and neck for a while, but I think Bush pulled ahead with his spectacular failure in handling Katrina.
Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria: In Washington, it's business as usual in the face of a national catastrophe
The highway bill of 1982 had 10 "earmarked" projects-the code word for pork. The 2005 one has 6,371. Today's Republicans believe in pork, but they don't believe in government. So we have the largest government in history but one that is weak and dysfunctional.
Alison Stein Wellner: No Exit From the Danger Zone (MotherJones.com. Posted on Alternet.org)
Disaster evacuation plans throughout the U.S. assume that people own a car. Too bad for the 23 million Americans who don't.
Another Win for 'Friends & Allies'
When John G. Roberts is approved as chief justice of the United States, as expected, he can thank President Bush 's "Friends & Allies" program, which went to work on him immediately after he was nominated.
RICHARD ROEPER: 'Girls Gone Wild' for charity is no moral dilemma
When I read in the Tribune that only 28 percent of the revenue from last year's Farm Aid found its way to farm families, I was glad I wasn't attending Sunday's Farm Aid concert in Tinley Park. Better that my money goes to strippers and Louis Vuitton! But let's keep positive about this and remember that the vast majority of hurricane relief money really does go to people who need it and will spend it on necessities, not handbags and silicone.
Scott Renshaw: The Corpse Bride (altweeklies.com)
When the action moves from the land of the living to the land of the dead, Burton portrays the underworld in vivid primary colors and boisterous carousing--those who still breathe have considerably less fun than their moldering counterparts here. Uncooperative eyeballs roll around and squirt from skulls; a decapitated "head waiter" bustles about with the aid of insect-like legs.
Roger Ebert: Answer Man
Next you'll be telling me there was more than one Lassie. I'm pretty sure there was only one Trigger, however, because Roy Rogers had the horse stuffed, inspiring Dale Evans to say, "Now Roy, don't you go getting any ideas about me."
David Bruce: Wise Up: Public Speaking (athensnews.com)
Atlee Pomerene was a former Ohio senator who practiced law. One day, after arguing in court, he told a friend, "I am tired." The friend said, "I don't understand that. You used to be in the Senate; you talked a great deal there and it didn't seem to tire you much." Mr. Pomerene replied, "I know, but for that kind of talking, I didn't have to think."
The Wall Street Poet
A Fiscal Conservative's Lament
©2005
*******
Fore more financial verse:
www.wallstreetpoet.com
Another Rant
Avery Ant
Reader Question
Re: Wild Hawk Photo
Marty,
Purple Gene
Celebrities Secret Lives
"Breaking up is Hard to Do" : "The End for KEN and REN" !!!!!!
Let's catch up on recent super-star split-ups:
Jen & Ben (J-Lo and Ben Affleck)
Jen & Brad (Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt)
Benet & Berry (Eric Benet and Halle Berry)
Cruz & Cruise (Penélope Cruz and Tom Cruise)
Ethan & Uma (Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman)
Val & Van (Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen)
Hugh & Hurley (Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley)
Angie & Billy Bob (Angelina Jolie & Billy Bob Thornton)
Pitt & Pal (Brad Pitt & Gwyneth Paltrow
Ken & Barbie (They were together forever)
And Now…………………………………………..
Ken & Ren (Kenny Chesney and Renée Zellweger)
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
For the first time in the 30-odd years I've lived in CA, it rained on my birthday.
Had intermittent showers with rolling thunder & lots of lightning for close to 15 hours. Very unseasonal, but much appreciated.
Was farting around online last night & there was an ad for classmates.com at the bottom of the page. Thought I was seeing things when one of the faces winked at me. Arfing A.
The always fabulous Michael Dare sent out a correction to
yesterday's
Disinfotainment Today.
You can check out the updated & corrected version
here or
here.
Blasts 'New Journalism Order'
Dan Rather
Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather said Monday that there is a climate of fear running through newsrooms stronger than he has ever seen in his more than four-decade career.
Rather famously tangled with President Nixon and his aides during the Watergate years while Rather was a hard-charging White House correspondent.
Addressing the Fordham University School of Law in Manhattan, occasionally forcing back tears, he said that in the intervening years, politicians "of every persuasion" had gotten better at applying pressure on the conglomerates that own the broadcast networks. He called it a "new journalism order."
He said this pressure -- along with the "dumbed-down, tarted-up" coverage, the advent of 24-hour cable competition and the chase for ratings and demographics -- has taken its toll on the news business. "All of this creates a bigger atmosphere of fear in newsrooms," Rather said.
For the rest, Dan Rather
2005 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer, one of America's most renowned and controversial authors, will be awarded a medal of honor for lifetime achievement by the National Book Foundation, the organization said on Tuesday.
"Mailer has long been considered a major figure in postwar American literature whose innovative works of fiction and nonfiction have changed the landscape of American writing," said the foundation, which presents the National Book Awards.
It will present the 2005 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Mailer on November 16 when the National Book Awards are presented. Finalists for the annual awards will be announced on October 12.
Norman Mailer
Criticizes British Policy
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
British foreign policy played a role in motivating the July 7 London bombings, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens said Tuesday.
Yusuf Islam, who had a string of pop hits in the 1960s and '70s, said an al-Qaida video claiming responsibility for the attacks and linking them to Britain's role in the Middle East showed foreign policy "was not the only factor but it was a major contributory."
He also said Muslims should do more to integrate into British society.
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
Touring Despite Religious Nuttery
'Jerry Springer - The Opera'
An imperiled British tour of the trash TV-inspired musical "Jerry Springer - The Opera" is to go ahead despite protests by an evangelical Christian group, the show's producers said Tuesday.
Earlier this year, several regional theaters dropped plans to schedule the raucous show after it was targeted by a tiny but vocal group, Christian Voice. The organization condemned the play - which features a cast of strippers, transvestites, dancing Ku Klux Klansmen and a diaper-wearing Jesus Christ who says he is a "bit gay" - as "filth and blasphemy" and picketed the London theater where it was running.
Producer Avalon Promotions said 21 regional theaters had agreed to host the show, pooling marketing costs to save money. The musical's creators agreed to waive royalties from the tour, which is scheduled to begin in January in Plymouth, southern England. It will travel to cities including Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Birmingham.
A Broadway run for the $13.9 million production, initially slated for this fall, remains on hold. One of the show's financial backers pulled out after the Christian Voice protests.
'Jerry Springer - The Opera'
Ad Campaign Cancelled
Kate Moss
Fashion giant Hennes and Mauritz has canceled an advertising campaign using British supermodel Kate Moss following allegations she took illegal drugs, the Swedish-based company said on Tuesday.
The company had previously said it would still use Moss in the campaign after meeting her to discuss the publication of photos in the Daily Mirror which the British tabloid said showed her snorting cocaine.
Kate Moss
May Go Greek
Atlantic Storm Names
Forecasters could run out of names for tropical storms and hurricanes before the season ends November 30.
The Atlantic basin has seen 17 named storms since the season began June 1, and only four (Stan, Tammy, Vince and Wilma) are left on the list.
Should the Atlantic see more than 21 named storms "additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on," according to the National Hurricane Center Web site.
Atlantic Storm Names
Gossip Meets the G-Men
FBI Files
The Beach Boys. Frank Sinatra. Liberace. Sonically, the trio shared little - from the California group's soaring harmonies to Sinatra's saloon singing to Liberace's marshmallow soft vocals. But their offstage antics were music to the ears of the FBI, where all three became the subject of muckraking files in the agency's Washington headquarters.
Celebrities and criminals, rock stars and mob stars, athletes and artists - scores of high-profile Americans have their very own FBI file, a bold-faced universe rife with dirt and scandal. It's no surprise that gossip columnists such as Walter Winchell turn up as sources.
The sheer volume became clear in response to a Freedom Of Information Act request by The Associated Press for every FBI "High Visibility Memorandum" filed between 1974 and 2005, allowing a lengthy traipse through the lives of celebrities from A (Louis Armstrong) to Kaye (Danny) to Z (Efrem Zimbalist). The AP's request produced more than 500 redacted memos totaling nearly 1,500 pages - a stack of documents six inches high.
For a lot more, FBI Files
Cancelled
'The Comeback'
HBO on Monday axed "The Comeback," a mockumentary comedy starring Lisa Kudrow as a has-been actress seeking to revive her career.
The former "Friends" star also created the show with production partner Michael Patrick King. Its 13-episode run ended September 4. Said an HBO spokeswoman, "We've looked at our schedule, and given our future commitments, we felt we would not be able to give the show the support it needed."
'The Comeback'
Army Recruiting & Branded Integration
Dick Butkus
The U.S. Army is employing branded integration in a new ESPN series as the latest weapon in its efforts to target new recruits.
Staff Sgt. James Alexander Self, a basic combat training drill sergeant, will work alongside head coach and Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus to train the Montour Spartans in rural McKees Rocks, Penn. Self appears in most of the episodes but not the premiere.
The Army, in dire need of recruits, hopes its integration into "Bound for Glory" will help it reach its target audience -- in this case young males and their parents -- more effectively than with 30-second TV ads or direct mailings.
Dick Butkus
More Disney Magic
'Ugly' Woman
Deleese Williams of Conroe, Texas, has sued ABC's popular reality show "Extreme Makeover" for more than $1 million claiming among other things that an abrupt cancellation of her appearance on the program led to her sister's death.
The suit starts with the blunt description: "Deleese Williams is considered ugly" and says one doctor promised her "a Hollywood smile like Cindy Crawford."
The suit claims the "Extreme Makeover" crew manipulated Williams' sister, Kellie, into making cruel statements about Williams' looks.
The night before Williams was to begin her makeover, the show's producers told her it would take too long for work on her jaw to heal. They canceled her appearance and sent Williams home where Kellie, distraught over what she had said about her sister, eventually killed herself, according to the suit.
'Ugly' Woman
Coming to New York
'Floating Island'
There's something unusual floating in the waters off Manhattan. (And no, it's not what you're thinking, so please, no mob or radioactive fish jokes.)
Thirty-five years after it was first conceptualized, artist Robert Smithson's "Floating Island To Travel Around Manhattan Island" - a flat barge covered with soil, trees, shrubs and rocks, led by a tugboat - will be doing precisely that, traveling up and down the Hudson and East rivers. The project makes its debut on Saturday, and can be seen through Sept. 25.
"It's a very charismatic project because everyone can relate to an island, we live and work on one," said Diane Shamash, executive director of Minetta Brook, the arts organization that launched the "Floating Island" with the Whitney Museum, which is holding a Smithson retrospective through Oct. 25.
'Floating Island'
Plays Celebrity Card
Oprah
Oprah Winfrey didn't waste any time in the new season of her syndicated TV show to revisit her summer feud with luxury store Hermes.
"Everybody who's ever been snubbed because you were not chic enough or the right class or the right color or whatever - I don't know what it was - you know that that is very humiliating and that is exactly what happened to me."
"I would like to say we're really sorry," said Robert Chavez, the chief executive officer of Hermes USA, who was a guest on Winfrey's show. "You did meet up with one very, very rigid staff person."
"Rigid or rude?" Winfrey challenged.
"Rigid and rude, I'm sure," Chavez replied.
Oprah
In Memory
Joel Hirschhorn
Joel Hirschhorn, who shared two Academy Awards for theme songs in "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno," has died. He was 67.
With longtime collaborator Al Kasha, he won his first Oscar in 1973 for "The Morning After" from "Poseidon," a film about a luxury cruise ship capsized by an enormous wave.
They earned a second Academy Award in 1975 for "We May Never Love Like This Again" from "The Towering Inferno," a film about a catastrophic blaze in a high-rise building.
Two years later, Hirschhorn and Kasha were nominated for a pair of Oscars for songs from the Disney animated film "Pete's Dragon."
In addition to his wife of 20 years, documentary producer Jennifer Carter Hirschhorn, Hirschhorn is survived by her two sons, Kevin and Brent Carter; his mother, Evelyn Hirschhorn of Westlake Village; his sister, Madeleine Desjardins of Palm Desert; and a grandson.
Joel Hirschhorn
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
