'Best of TBH Politoons'
Contributor Comment
Re: Celebrity Ranker
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PAUL KRUGMAN: The Paranoid Style (The New York Times)
Last week Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, explained the real cause of the Foley scandal. "The people who want to see this thing blow up," he said, "are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."
Ann McFeatters: Helen Thomas: Asking Bush the Tough Questions (Ms. Magazine; Posted on alternet.org)
Fearless White House correspondent Helen Thomas has covered nine presidents, and says Bush is undoubtedly the worst.
M.J. Rosenberg: Did Carville Tip Bush Off to Kerry Strategy (TPM Café; Posted on makethemaccountable.com)
I just came across a troubling incident that Bob Woodward reports in his new book. Very troubling.
David Niven: Mike DeWine campaign suffering from too much Mike? (The Other Paper; Reprinted at athensnews.com)
As the ad continues, you notice there's something about the way his mouth hangs open when he's not talking. And his hair seems a bit misshapen. And his S's whistle in a not-so-senatorial way. It combines to leave the viewer wondering not so much about Mike DeWine's tax record as what time the attendant comes to take him back to the home.
Anne Applebaum: Anna Politkovskaya, 1958-2006 (slate.com)
Russia's best-known journalist, murdered in Moscow.
Garrett Downing: Ohio University takes yet another media hit, this time in the paper of record (athensnews.com)
A recent string of negative newspaper articles and editorials, including a piece in The New York Times, has increased national attention on problems that have surfaced at Ohio University within the past year.
When healthy eating turns into a disease (guardian.co.uk)
Some will eat only grain, others only raw veg - a few refuse all food unless it's yellow. 'Orthorexics' think their severe diets are healthy, but do they actually have a eating disorder? Kira Cochrane reports.
Lionel Shriver: What's wrong with young people today? (guardian.co.uk)
They tune into Christian rock stations and kneel in church devoting themselves to Jesus.
Emily Braden: The Gift That Keeps on Giving (jacksonfreepress.com)
"Marital aids" remain illegal in Mississippi, but that doesn't stop the "fun" parties.
David Bruce: Wise Up: Education (athensnews.com)
I've had a couple interesting experiences in writing conferences recently. One of my students wrote a letter about how to get more streetwalkers into an Athens store. I had to point out that she probably meant pedestrians, not streetwalkers. Another student wrote about Paris, Prince of Troy, being guilty of self-gratification. I had to point out that she probably meant he was guilty of selfishness.
The Funniest People in ...
Bruce's Books
Hi, Marty,
I have decided to let people download my books for free in
an attempt to get them read--and perhaps some people will decide to
buy a paperback copy after reading the ebook. Fortunately, this is
just a hobby. Please let your readers know about this deal. Thank you.
Reader Comment
Re: Riverbend::Summer of Goodbyes
Hi Marty,
Riverbend::Summer of Goodbyes
Some people have suggested that she might have been hinting that she was
leaving. I hope this is the case. She always came across as decent,
thoughtful person caught up in indecent tragedy brought about by a
thoughtless corrupt regime. If you hear anything of her fate please pass
the word on.
Thanks,
Chris
Will do, Chris!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Partly cloudy.
Quotes Cheney, Media Gets Case Of The Vapors
Barbra Streisand
The most riveting moment of Barbra Streisand's Madison Square Garden concert was one of the only unscripted ones. Streisand endured jeers as she interjected a political skit into Monday night's show, exchanging zingers with a celebrity impersonator playing George Bush as a bumbling idiot.
"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.
"Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"
With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered - no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.
Barbra Streisand
Delivers $1 Billion To U.N.
Turner Foundation
The United Nations Foundation, created by media mogul Ted Turner, has donated $1 billion to U.N. projects over the past nine years, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday.
Turner, the founder of the CNN television network, himself donated $1 billion and his foundation raised millions from other corporations, governments and charities.
Projects have focused on the environment, women, children, health, peace, human rights and promoting the United Nations in the United States.
Turner Foundation
Fans Gather To Mark Birthday
John Lennon
John Lennon fans gathered in Central Park on Monday to celebrate what would have been his 66th birthday.
The fans, some of whom weren't born when Lennon was killed in 1980, placed flowers and candles in the Strawberry Fields section of the park and sang his songs.
Lennon was shot to death on Dec. 8, 1980, in front of his apartment at the Dakota building, across the street from where the fans remembered him Monday.
John Lennon
More Prominent Role
Lou Dobbs
CNN is giving a newly prominent role to Lou Dobbs, one of its most popular and opinionated personalities, including a slot alongside Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper as an anchor of midterm election coverage next month.
Dobbs' weeknight news show will expand to seven days a week, with the two weekend editions presenting highlights of the week's reporting beginning Oct. 28.
The longest-running anchor on CNN's air, Dobbs is suddenly hot again, due to his new opinionated persona as a crusader on issues like immigration reform. His hourlong "Lou Dobbs Tonight" is up 22 percent in viewers this year over last, a bigger increase than any show on CNN or Fox News Channel.
Dobbs is also anchoring three pre-election special reports: "War on the Middle Class" on Oct. 18, "Broken Borders" on Oct. 25 and "Democracy at Risk: E-voting's Threat" on Oct. 29. The title of the first special is the same as Dobbs' new book, published this week.
Lou Dobbs
Adoption News?
Madonna
Madonna has adopted a 1-year-old Malawian boy whose mother died a month after childbirth, the baby's father claimed Tuesday, saying he was happy his son was escaping poverty.
Malawian government officials said last week the pop star planned to adopt a Malawian boy while she is in the impoverished African nation visiting projects she funds for AIDS orphans. However, they declined to comment on Yohame Banda's claim that his son David had been adopted by the singer.
Madonna has made no public comment since her arrival. Her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said in a statement last week that the star was on a private visit working on projects for children, and dismissed statements from Malawian government officials that she and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, planned to adopt a boy.
"I am the father of David, who has been adopted," Banda, 32, told The Associated Press Tuesday. "I am very very happy because as you can see there is poverty in this village and I know he will be very well looked after in America."
Madonna
Cancels Paris Concerts
Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa, the acclaimed Japanese conductor, has pulled out of two Paris concerts next month because of ill health, organizers of the events said.
Both were to have had Ozawa, 71, leading France's National Orchestra at the prestigious Theatre des Champs-Elysees.
The organizers did not give details on Ozawa's health problems, but in January this year he was forced to cancel all of his 2006 performances with the Vienna State Opera, and was hospitalized with bronchitis.
Seiji Ozawa
Murder Trial Delayed Again
Phil Spector
Legendary pop music producer Phil Spector's trial for the murder of a B-movie star has been delayed again until March next year, court officials said.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler agreed to a request from Spector's defence team to delay the case again in order to give them additional time to complete scientific and forensic tests.
Spector has changed lawyers several times, and earlier replaced high-profile attorney Robert Shapiro, part of the defence team that secured the 1995 acquittal of O.J. Simpson.
Phil Spector
Redemption Tour 2006
Mel 'Sugar Tits' Gibson
Mel Gibson calls his anti-Semitic rant following his arrest for drunk driving in July "the stupid ramblings of a drunkard."
In an interview with Diane Sawyer set to air on "Good Morning America" on Thursday and Friday, Gibson says that though staying sober is a struggle, he has not had a drink in 65 days.
The 50-year-old actor-director says he knows there are some in Hollywood who will refuse to work with him because of those statements.
"I feel sad because they've obviously been hurt and frightened and offended enough to feel that they have to do that," he says. "Um, and it's their choice. There's nothing I can do about that."
Mel 'Sugar Tits' Gibson
Sues Ex-Fiance Over Media Rights
Runaway Bride
Jennifer Wilbanks vanished from her home in Duluth, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, days before she was to marry John Mason in April, 2005, sparking a police hunt that only ended when she turned up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Now she is arguing that Mason failed to turn over her share of the payment, according to a filing on September 13 before the superior court of Gwinnett, Georgia.
The filing says Mason was "willful and malicious" and demands $250,000 as her share of the money and the same amount in punitive damages as compensation for his "bad faith." It also describes him as "stubbornly litigious."
Runaway Bride
Wins Out In Michigan
Evolution
The State Board of Education on Tuesday approved public school curriculum guidelines that support the teaching of evolution in science classes - but not intelligent design.
Intelligent design instruction could be left for other classes in Michigan schools, but it doesn't belong in science class, according to the unanimously adopted guidelines.
Evolution
Fetches Record Price At Auction
Claudius Ptolemy's Atlas
The first atlas ever printed became the most expensive ever sold at auction after it was bought on Tuesday in London for 2.1 million pounds, auction house Sotheby's said.
The 1477 edition of Claudius Ptolemy's landmark atlas was bought by dealer Bernard Shapero on behalf of a private dealer.
The 2,136,000-pound price-tag dwarfed the previous record auction price of 1,464,000 pounds, paid for the "Doria Atlas" sold at Sotheby's in October 2005, the auctioneer said.
Claudius Ptolemy's Atlas
Silence In Court Shattered
Fart Humor
A suspect was slammed in the cells after he broke wind in a British court then burst out laughing about it.
Joseph Wildy let rip and refused to apologise after he had a fit of the giggles with his co-defendants on Tuesday.
However, magistrate Simon Bridge, sitting in Blackpool, on the northwest coast of England, was not amused by his interruption. He found Wildy in contempt of court and ordered him to be locked up.
After cooling off in the cells, Wildy returned to court 90 minutes later and apologised to Bridge.
Fart Humor
Costs Michigan County $40K
Typo
Ottawa County will pay about $40,000 to correct an embarrassing typo on its Nov. 7 election ballot: The "L" was left out of "public."
A total of 170,000 ballots will have to be reprinted.
The mistake appeared in the text of a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban some types of affirmative action.
The word "public" was misspelled one of the six times it appears, county Clerk Daniel C. Krueger said Tuesday. Five or six people in his office had proofread the ballot, but it was an election clerk who found the mistake early last week.
Typo
U.S. Prisons Terrorize Inmates
Dogs
Dogs are allowed to terrify and even bite unruly prisoners who refuse to leave their cells in five U.S. states, a human rights group said on Tuesday, comparing the policy to abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said it was unaware of any other nation where such a practice exists, describing it as a well-kept secret and drawing similarities to U.S. soldiers terrorizing Iraqi prisoners with dogs.
If prisoners refuse to leave their cells when ordered in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah, officers may bring a dog to the cell "to terrify the prisoner into compliance," the 20-page report said.
The report comes at a time when the United States has 2.2 million people behind bars -- about a quarter of all the world's prisoners. The rate of people going into U.S. jails and prisons has quadrupled in 25 years, swelled by get-tough policies enacted in the 1980s and 1990s, and the jail population has risen by 500,000 in the last 10 years alone.
Dogs
Native Alaskan Village Forced To Move
Shishmaref
The Inupiaq of Shishmaref have lived in this island village for generations, but with the waters rising all around and ever fierce storms blasting the settlement, they are being forced to move far away from the seas they have always depended upon.
The Alaskan village's plight is a stark example of the dramatic effects of global warming as it challenges an entire community's way of life.
Battering waves have destroyed boats, fish reserves and storage buildings once well away from the water's threat, said an official overseeing the village's move. A house collapsed and about 20 households had to move away from the shore.
Shishmaref
In Memory
Ed Benedict
Ed Benedict, a legendary animator who put life, love and laughter in TV cartoon characters like Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw, has died at the age of 94.
Benedict, who worked at MGM, Universal and other studios on short, theatrical cartoons, joined Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera soon after the pair launched their groundbreaking Hanna-Barbera TV animation studio in the late 1950s. Among his many designs for them were the characters for their first series, 1957's "The Ruff & Reddy Show."
For "The Flintstones," the story of a "modern Stone Age family," Benedict not only designed the hapless cavemen Fred and Barney, but also their long-suffering wives, Wilma and Betty, and the show's clever array of Stone Age houses and gadgets, including the characters' foot-powered cars.
Before joining Hanna-Barbera, Benedict worked for another cartoon legend, Tex Avery, at both Universal and MGM studios. At MGM, where Hanna and Barbera also worked, he was the lead layout artist and designer on "Deputy Droopy" and other popular theatrical shorts.
He also worked with "Woody Woodpecker" creator Walter Lantz on several shorts, including "The Dizzy Dwarf" and "Unpopular Mechanic."
Benedict, who was preceded in death by his wife, Alice, had requested that his ashes be scattered over California's Carmel Bay.
Ed Benedict
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