'TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated!
Dick Eats Bush
The Last Rant!
Avery Ant
Reader Comment
Phone Banking
I was very interested in Ed's message because he is always knowledgeable. I also have been phone banking for our Educator's Association and the position that was given to me to tell people were twofold:
Remember what happened when Arnold broke his promise to Education and didn't return the money when promised? Also, we urge you all to vote yes on 1D.
It takes me about 25 seconds per call so I get the message out quickly. I thought that was hand selected for me because I am a Republican in a field of Democrats. I quickly found that this was the message CTA has given our area to focus upon. Interesting?
~ Marian
Thanks, Marian!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Moberg: Unions Are Out in Force for the November Elections (The Nation. Posted on AlterNet.org)
Despite the AFL-CIO split following the 2004 election, labor unions are gearing up for the November elections like never before.
Don Hazen: How to Stop the November Elections from Being Stolen (AlterNet.org)
Progressive Democrats are saying "we need to get people to the polls in large numbers, win big, and protect the vote counting to make sure that the congressional elections are not stolen on November 7th."
George Lakoff: Bush 'Staying the Course' Right Over a Cliff (AlterNet.org)
War on Iraq: What the president is discovering is that it's not so easy to make us forget his position on Iraq: The laws of language are hard to defy.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Bursting Bubble Blues (The New York Times)
Here are the five stages of housing grief: 1. Housing bubble? What housing bubble? "A national severe price distortion [in housing] seems most unlikely in the United States." (Alan Greenspan, October 2004) ... 5. Insert expletive here. We've now reached stage 4. Will we move on to stage 5?
Pop culture (guardian.co.uk)
Aspirin increases the risk of heart disease and strokes. Paracetamol overdose is among the most common causes of liver transplants. We read about people being addicted to ibuprofen. So should we all be cutting down on painkillers? Lucy Atkins reports.
'I need another 40 years' (theaustralian.news.com.au)
"Everything overlaps, I race from one thing to doing another. And why am I still that way after all these years?" Clives James wishes he had an answer...
Felice Prager: Careers That Begin With a P (irascibleprofessor.com)
Mike the Plumber helped me unclog my water heater last week. When Mike replaced our old water heater in 2001, he explained that routine maintenance would extend our water heater's life up to ten years. This amounted to attaching a hose to the bottom of the water heater and letting the water drain down our driveway for 30 seconds a month. Neither my husband nor I routinely maintained the water heater, so when Mike had to poke a wire into the clog of sediment, and the wet sediment sprayed all over him, I felt a little guilty.
Sara Goudarzi: Vampires a Mathematical Impossibility, Scientist Says (news.yahoo.com)
Efthimiou's debunking logic: On Jan 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600. A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on.
Jack Dee, comedian: 'The best advice anyone ever gave me was don't run with scissors' (guardian.co.uk)
Who would you most like to work with?
Woody Allen has always been a hero of mine, although I'd draw the line at a sex scene with him.
Purple Gene Reviews
'The Last King of Scotland'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast and cool.
Had about 100 Trick-Or-Treaters - about half as many as last year.
Whatever will we do with that left over chocolate? Heh.
Reader Tip
Nova M Radio
A Phoenix company, co-owned by a Phoenix physician/radio host, has launched a liberal talk-radio network to compete with the financially troubled Air America.
Nova M Radio, owned by Dr. Michael Newcomb and some of the founders of Air America, began broadcasting Monday in Phoenix on radio station KPHX-AM (1480) and in Little Rock, Ark.
In April, Newcomb, along with investors Sheldon and Anita Drobny, leased KPHX to run the entire radio operation. Sheldon, a Democratic Party fund-raiser, and his wife had been original investors in Air America.
Nova M tried to buy Air America but the deal fell through, Newcomb said.
Despite Air America's red ink, Newcomb believes there still is a demand for liberal programming as an alternative to conservative talk-radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh.
Nova M Radio
Thanks, Michelle!
Joins Jimmy Carter Building Homes
Brad Pitt
Hollywood star Brad Pitt has joined former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to help volunteers from a Christian charity build homes for the poor in western India, the organization said.
Pitt, who is in India with partner Angelina Jolie for a film shoot, dropped by the tourist town of Lonavla on Monday to briefly lend a hand to thousands of volunteers from Habitat for Humanity.
Each year since 1984 Carter and his wife Rosalynn have spent a week building homes for the organization around the world and promoting its work. This week they were also joined by former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh among others.
Brad Pitt
`07Nominees
Rock Hall of Fame
Van Halen is trying to make their biggest "jump" yet - into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with potential 2007 classmates such as R.E.M., Chic, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
All are among the nine nominees for enshrinement in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. A panel of 500 industry experts will select five to be inducted at the annual ceremony, to be held March 12 in New York City.
Other nominees include Patti Smith, the punk rock poet who recently presided over the closing of New York's legendary CBGB nightclub; British invader the Dave Clark Five; Phil Spector favorites the Ronettes; soul singer Joe Tex; and the Stooges, early home of Iggy Pop.
Rock Hall of Fame
Performing At Nobel Concert
Yusuf Islam
The former Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, will be among the performers at this year's Nobel Peace Prize Concert, promoters said.
The Oslo concert honors each year's Nobel Peace laureates, which for 2006 are Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank he founded to help people rise above poverty with small loans to start businesses.
The concerts are always held Dec. 11, the day after the year's Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony. This year's concert will be hosted by Sharon Stone and Anjelica Huston.
Islam, who changed his name when he converted to Islam in the late 1970s, will join performers such as Lionel Richie, Rihanna, British pop band Simply Red, Wynonna, Renee Fleming and Paulina Rubio.
Yusuf Islam
Activist Arrested For Halloween Stunt
Tom Connolly
The lawyer who divulged resident Bush's drunken-driving arrest days before the 2000 election was arrested Tuesday after he was spotted on a highway overpass wearing an Osama bin Laden Halloween costume and holding a toy gun.
Tom Connolly, 49, was charged with criminal threatening, a misdemeanor, and was released after posting $500 bail. He said he intends to plead not guilty.
"There was a First Amendment this morning when I woke up. I don't know how it evaporated with the dawn," Connolly, an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor in 1998, told reporters after his release.
Connolly also was carrying a sign that said "I love TABOR," a reference to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the Maine ballot, but at least one person who saw it thought it said "I love the Taliban."
Tom Connolly
NBC Calls In
Tom Brokaw
Former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw will join his successor, Brian Williams, and senior political analyst Tim Russert on November 7 for NBC News' coverage of the midterm elections.
Williams will anchor the telecast, with help from Brokaw and Russert, from NBC's Rockefeller Plaza headquarters. The coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET with "Nightly News," which the network said will be updated live for each feed. There will be hourly updates starting at 8 p.m. ET, followed by a 10-11 p.m. ET "Decision 2006" special and a 10-11 p.m. PT edition for the West Coast.
Cable news sibling MSNBC will have coverage all day beginning at 9 a.m., with Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough anchoring with Williams, Russert, David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell. A live edition of "Hardball" on election eve will begin at 7 p.m. and be offered to NBC affiliates. Olbermann and Matthews will begin coverage on MSNBC at 6 p.m. ET and go through the night, with a number of other NBC Uni journalists helping out.
Tom Brokaw
Retiring After 50 Years
Bob Barker
Bob Barker is heading toward his last showcase, his final "Come on down." The silver-haired daytime-TV icon is retiring in June, he told The Associated Press Tuesday.
Barker began his national television career in 1956 as the host of "Truth or Consequences." He first appeared on "Price" on Sept. 4, 1972 and has been the face of the show ever since.
To kick off his retirement, Barker said he will "sit down for maybe a couple of weeks and find out what it feels like to be bored." Then he plans to spend time working with animal-rights causes, including his own DJ&T Foundation, founded in memory of his late wife, Dorothy Jo, and mother, Matilda.
Bob Barker
Suspects Surrender Over Notebook
Hank Williams
Two people accused of stealing a Hank Williams notebook believed to be worth $250,000 surrendered to police, even though one of the suspects claims to have legitimately obtained the item, officials said.
Stephen M. Shutts, 42, and Francine Boykin, 50, were each charged Monday with felony theft before being released on $2,500 bond.
Shutts, co-owner of the traveling Honky Tonk Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Roadshow, said in earlier interviews that he had purchased the notebook for an undisclosed amount this summer after being contacted about it, purportedly by Boykin, last November.
According to an arrest warrant, Boykin, who previously worked on a cleaning crew at Sony/ATV Music Publishing in Nashville before being fired after she was implicated in some thefts from the office, admitted taking the notebook from Sony/ATV, although Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron said she claims to have found the item in the trash.
Hank Williams
English Channel Launching In November
Al-Jazeera
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television announced Tuesday that it would launch its long-awaited English language channel Al-Jazeera International on Nov. 15.
Al-Jazeera International is billed as the first global English-language news network headquartered in the Middle East. Its executives have promised to cover the news from a different perspective, and reverse the information flow from the developing world to the West.
The launch was originally scheduled for early 2006 but was repeatedly postponed due to technical problems and licensing issues. It was unclear whether Al-Jazeera would be available on all major satellite providers.
Al-Jazeera
Celebrates 20 Years
AFI Film Festival
In a city where people leave to see movies - and see and be seen - at film festivals around the world, the American Film Institute is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its own festival.
Beginning Wednesday night with the premiere of "Bobby," writer-director Emilio Estevez's fictional take on the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, and running through Nov. 12, AFI Fest will feature 149 films from 47 countries.
And it will reflect on its history - which goes back 35 years, if you really want to get technical. The American Film Institute took over FILMEX, one of the first film festivals in the country and the first in Los Angeles, in 1987. Several commemorative events are planned, including a 24-hour movie marathon for charity.
FILMEX (or the Los Angeles Film International Festival) was formed by partners Gary Essert and Gary Abrahams with a love of films in mind - especially foreign and art movies - and with a desire to share them with as many people as possible. Early world premieres included "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Annie Hall." But it was also known for some outlandishness: In 1978, for example, the festival featured 200 films and it ran for 25 days. Both Essert and Abrahams died of AIDS in 1992.
AFI Film Festival
Profiteering
Lebanon War
Israel's recent war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas has sent cannabis prices sky high in the Jewish state.
Boosted security on the Lebanon frontier brought a drastic reduction in drug smuggling, with the cost of cannabis in Israel up eight-fold, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Smoking and selling cannabis are illegal in Israel. Trafficking from Egypt has also been curbed by Israeli patrols aimed at preventing Palestinians from smuggling in arms.
Lebanon War
Wants Off $chwarzenegger Film
Alec Baldwin
Actor Alec Baldwin wants to be removed as narrator of an Arnold $chwarzenegger documentary called "Running with Arnold," saying filmmakers went too far by including images of Nazi rallies.
Baldwin wrote in a posting on The Huffington Post Web site that he agreed to narrate the documentary about the actor-turned-governor's political rise based on a reading of the script. He said that when he saw the film as he recorded the tracks he was "somewhat dismayed by some of the images."
"The filmmakers hammer $chwarzenegger over his private behavior and his record as governor," Baldwin wrote, noting he is not a supporter of the governor. "But $chwarzenegger deserves to be treated fairly and the film's images of Nazi rallies were over the line."
Baldwin, who could not be reached for comment Monday, wrote that he asked that his voice be removed and said he returned payment. He also had his attorney issue a cease-and-desist demand against the filmmakers.
Alec Baldwin
97 Burgers In 8 Minutes!
Takeru Kobayashi
Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi won his third straight Krystal hamburger-eating contest, setting a new world record in the process. Kobayashi ate 97 of the small, square hamburgers in eight minutes on Saturday.
That beat the previous record of 69 burgers, which he set at the first Krystal contest in 2004.
Joey Chestnut of San Jose, California, came in second place Saturday by eating 91 hamburgers, and Pat Bertoletti of Chicago ate 76.
Takeru Kobayashi
Negative Rules
Political Ads
Negative ads are the coin of the realm in politics. With one week left in the campaign, voters will continue to be bombarded on television, in the mail and over the phone as political strategists make their closing arguments to a shrinking pool of those who haven't made up their minds.
Under the terms of a 2002 campaign finance law, these messages are independent expenditures that the parties can undertake only if they do not coordinate with the candidates they are seeking to help. This type of spending by the parties on congressional campaigns is 54 percent higher than it was for the same period in the 2004 campaign season, according to data compiled by the Federal Election Commission.
At this point, Republicans have spent $87.5 million to oppose candidates and Democrats have spent $72.6 million. But the edge on negativity, according to independent analyses of the ads, goes to the GOP.
An analysis by the Annenberg Public Policy Center's nonpartisan FactCheck.org concluded that negative ads aired by the NRCC had a "pronounced tendency to be petty and personal."
Political Ads
Loonking For Buyer
Air America
Air America Radio is talking to several parties about a possible sale and is hopeful of reaching a deal before Thanksgiving, a lawyer for the liberal talk radio network told a bankruptcy hearing Tuesday.
Tracy Klestadt told the court that the privately-held company was in discussions with seven different parties about a sale and was "very hopeful" of reaching a deal by Nov. 22, saying there was a "significant amount of interest."
The network, which went on the air with much fanfare two years ago, filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 13 after discussions with one of its creditors reached an impasse.
Air America
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Oct. 23-29. 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. (2) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 21.24 million viewers.
2. (22) "NFL National Post Game," CBS, 20.83 million viewers.
3. (4) "Dancing with the Stars," ABC, 20.70 million viewers.
4. (6) "Dancing with the Stars Results," ABC, 20.02 million viewers.
5. (5) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 17.83 million viewers.
6. (7) "CSI: NY," CBS, 17.42 million viewers.
7. (7) "NBC Sunday Night Football: Dallas at Carolina," NBC, 17.33 million viewers.
8. (10) "Lost," ABC, 17.09 million viewers.
9. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 16.83 million viewers.
10. (9) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 16.77 million viewers.
11. (17) "60 Minutes," CBS, 16.55 million viewers.
12. (X) " World Series Game 5: Detroit vs. St. Louis," Fox, 16.28 million viewers.
13. (X) "World Series Game 4: Detroit vs. St. Louis," Fox, 16.11 million viewers.
14. (15) "Deal or No Deal," (Monday), NBC, 15.83 million viewers.
15. (25) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 15.63 million viewers.
16. (X) "World Series Game 3: Detroit vs. St. Louis," Fox, 15.58 million viewers.
17. (11) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 15.03 million viewers.
18. (26) "Heroes," NBC, 14.45 million viewers.
19. (15) "Cold Case," CBS, 14.16 million viewers.
20. (12) "Without a Trace," CBS, 13.37 million viewers.
Ratings
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