'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Weekly Review
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW
November 5, 2002
Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech about the
Chechen hostage debacle and declared that Russia will attack
terrorists wherever they may be ("I stress, wherever they
may be located"), suggesting that the Bush Doctrine, which
disregards traditional principles of national sovereignty,
has become the new international norm.
Billboards went up in
Moscow quoting Putin's remark that "We could not save
everyone. Forgive us." Russian TV stations were playing war
movies, flags were flying at half mast, and most people
seemed to be supportive of the government's decision to use
a deadly gas to save the hostages even though it killed 120
of them.
Russia's press ministry was already applying the
Bush Doctrine domestically in a new assault on the media
(websites were shut down, newspapers were raided), and a
bill passed the lower house of parliament giving the
government even more authority to ban any reporting deemed a
hindrance to the war on terrorism.
The United States
Department of Justice defended its use of secret evidence in
a case against a Muslim charity accused of giving money to
terrorists but acknowledged that the use of secret evidence
should be avoided in a free society whenever possible.
A
federal appeals court heard arguments about the detention of
Yasser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen who as an "enemy
combatant" has been denied counsel, a hearing, or any
outside contact; Hamdi's lawyer argued that the detention is
unconstitutional.
Several old men were released from the
Guantanamo prisoner-of-war camp; one said he was 95 years
old, another that he was 105. They complained that they were
kept in their eight-foot-by-eight-foot cells 24 hours a day,
and that they received only two 15-minute exercise breaks
per week.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared that
the military's nine regional commanders may no longer be
called "commander in chief" of their areas, thus reserving
the title exclusively for the president.
Vandals attacked
four girls' schools in Kabul, Afghanistan, firing rockets at
two and setting fires at the others. A note was tacked to a
tree near one of the schools urging Afghans to rise up
against the American occupiers: "We call on all the
countrymen to save their clean sisters and daughters from
this infidel net." One newspaper said that these attacks
were a "hint" of a "lingering split" among the Afghan people.
Continued at www.harpers.org/weekly-review
-- Roger D. Hodge
Reader Comment
from Tim H
Ski season is coming early this year.
There still may be a drought in the High Country, but record early-season snowfall on Vail Mountain means skiers and snowboarders - those who can wait
to ride chairlifts - will hit the local hill Nov. 16, a week ahead of schedule.
The slopes weren't originally scheduled to open until Nov. 23. But several days in a row of winter storms dropped more snow on Vail Mountain as of the
beginning of November than anyone can remember.
"This is the most snow that we have seen on Vail Mountain as of Nov. 1
in the ski area's 40-year history, according to our records," says Bill
Jensen, chief operating officer of Vail Mountain.
~~ Tim H
Thanks, Tim
Another Pie Chart
from Rob
I'm really enjoying this graph thing :)
R
Turtle rescue, rehab and rehoming
Thanks, Rob!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Very foggy morning gave way to a lovely sunny day.
Voted at the rec center in the neighborhood park. Was glad to find old-fashioned push-peg voting, as opposed to
touch-screens.
Have the PTA book sale tomorrow & Thursday. Should be interesting - it usually is.
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS has the 36th Annual Country Music Academny Awards'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Julianne Moore and Blind Boys of Alabama.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers are Peri Gilpin, Joey Fatone, and Melissa Etheridge.
NBC has a fresh 'Ed', a fresh 'West Wing', and then a fresh 'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are Dennis Miller, 6-year-old quintuplets, and Nick Carter.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan are Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Dennis Haysbert, and Spoon.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Julianna Margulies and Tori Amos.
ABC offers a fresh 'My Wife & Kids', a fresh 'George Lopez', followed by a fresh 'The Bachelor', and wraps the evening with '20/20', where Barbara Walters will interview Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne.
The WB has a fresh 'Dawson's Creek' and a fresh 'Birds Of Prey'.
Faux has a fresh 'Bernie Mac', then a fresh 'Cedric The Entertainer', and then a fresh 'Fastlane'.
UPN offers a fresh 'Enterprise' and a fresh 'Twilight Zone'.
TCM has 'Casablanca'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Big Dog Watch Continues - Part 1
Bill Clinton In Washington
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton remembers the Middle East peace process at a memorial for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, November 5, 2002.
In 1995, Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli minutes after attending a festive peace rally.
Photo by William Philpott
#32
Mattel's Nimbus 2000
That Vibrating Broom
Mattel has stopped making its best-selling Harry Potter vibrating broomstick, but the toy company says its decision is not based on the plaything's popularity as a pre-teen sex toy.
As reported in September, Mattel's Nimbus 2000 drew raves from kids but horrified parents who found their teenage daughters riding the buzzing $19.99 broomsticks. Time Out New York
even rated the Nimbus along with bona fide vibrators in its Sex Issue. But a Mattel rep claims, "It's not because of the stories. It's just not a continued product in our 2002 line."
Strange considering the Harry Potter franchise is stronger than ever.
That Vibrating Broom
Oil Thirst Behind Bush Policies
Gore Vidal
Controversial U.S. author Gore Vidal said Tuesday resident Bush organized last year's invasion of Afghanistan to gain control of nearby oil and natural gas resources rather than to fight terror.
"We know what they want. They want Caspian oil," the outspoken writer told Reuters in a telephone interview from Rome. "Every important player in the administration is from the oil and gas business, mostly Texas."
Vidal, 77, who has written a series of historical novels as well as numerous books and essays critical of U.S. policies, argued that the invasion of Afghanistan had little to do
with hunting al Qaeda, the radical Muslim network blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We conquered Afghanistan in order to put in a pipeline," Vidal said. "We captured Afghanistan because that is the gateway to Caspian Sea oil."
Vidal, one of contemporary America's harshest critics, was also scathing about the U.S. media, accusing them of misinformation that he said would contribute to apathy at the polls in Tuesday's mid-term elections.
"The same people own the media that own the White House that own the Congress that own the oil fields," he said. "They all work together to give a false view of the world to the American people," he said.
Gore Vidal
Uffizi Gallery
Prince Charles
Prince Charles looks up at Sandro Botticelli's painting "Madonna del Magnificat" at the Uffizi gallery in Florence on the first day of his official four-day visit to Italy November 4, 2002.
Photo by Paolo Cocco
To Debut on Broadway
Eddie Izzard
British comedian Eddie Izzard will make his Broadway debut next March in "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg," Peter Nichols' dark comedy about a handicapped child and the strain she puts on her parents' marriage.
The play, first seen on Broadway in 1968, will be produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company at its American Airlines Theatre. Preview performances begin March 14, with an opening date to be set. "Joe Egg" will run through May 25.
Izzard's co-star will be Victoria Hamilton, who played the role with him in a London production earlier this year.
Eddie Izzard
Discusses Election Show
Jon Stewart
To ready himself for election night coverage, CBS News anchor Dan Rather has been studying the issues for weeks. To prepare for his completely made-up election-night coverage,
comedian Jon Stewart jokes that he starts to drink a few hours before the polls close.
Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," presents a special edition of the show in honor of elections. Stewart says that just like "The Daily Show," the "Indecision 02"
special doesn't use any reporters to gets its news.
"We have actually no news gathering capabilities, so ... it's sort of like writing an interactive video," Stewart explains. "We write to what we imagine will be the themes of the night."
Jon Stewart
Big Dog Watch Continues - Part 2
Thanks, Tim!
Hospital News
Clarence Clemons
Bruce Springsteen's Wednesday concert in Austin has been postponed because his sax player, Clarence Clemons, underwent surgery for a detached retina.
The status of other performances on the tour, including its next scheduled stop, on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, isn't yet known.
E-Street's Clemons underwent surgery after Monday night's show in Houston, said Harris Cohen, spokesman for Shore Fire Media in New York City, Springsteen's representative.
"The surgery was successful," Cohen said, adding he was not aware of 60-year-old Clemons having any previous eye trouble. The surgery was done in Houston, Cohen said.
He declined to release details on the hospital or which eye was involved.
Clarence Clemons
www.brucespringsteen.net
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Wishes He Had Acted Sooner
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg risked everything to help end the Vietnam War.
By leaking sections of the Pentagon Papers -- a top-secret history of U.S. government decisionmaking about the war -- in 1971 to members of Congress, The New York Times and other newspapers, the dean of
whistle-blowers threw away a distinguished career, including top-secret clearances that allowed access to classified national security documents.
Secrets, Ellsberg's memoir, is a real-life political thriller that cogently traces the nation's failed policy in Vietnam. It also maps Ellsberg's evolution from a behind-the-scenes participant in those
policies to a peace activist who studied Gandhi and Thoreau. Ellsberg, a former Marine, Rand Corporation analyst and Defense and State departments employee who went on patrols in Viet Cong territory in
the early 1960s, understood what five presidential administrations didn't: Vietnam was a war that couldn't be won.
When Ellsberg read the Pentagon Papers in 1969, he realized that Vietnam ''was no more a 'civil war' after 1955 or 1960 than it had been during the U.S-supported French attempt at colonial reconquest.
It was a war of foreign aggression. American aggression.''
Fascinating details emerge, such as how the papers were smuggled out of Ellsberg's office and how others, including his teenage son Robert, copied the 7,000-page Defense Department-commissioned report
in an era without modern duplication technology. Ellsberg eluded a two-week FBI manhunt before surrendering.
For more, Daniel Ellsberg
Delhi, India
Coconut Monkeys
Ein indischer Künstler schnitzt am Sonntag in Delhi eine Affenskulptur aus der Schale einer Kokosnuss.
Photo by B. Mathur
Orchestral Incarnation
Queen
A selection of some of the most memorable anthems of rock supergroup Queen and its iconic singer Freddie Mercury have found orchestral incarnation as the Queen Symphony.
"We Will Rock You," "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We are the Champions" are among 13 songs taken by rising British composer Tolga Kashif as inspirations for his orchestral and choral work.
"In seeking to reinvent rather than purely orchestrate it, I have found that Queen's music inherently contains the language of the modern classical genre," he said in sleeve notes to the EMI compact disc of the symphony.
"I think Queen's music will always be remembered because it become part of the human consciousness. You only need to hear two notes," Kashif added in a statement.
Throughout the six movements, the unmistakable themes recur, sometimes crystal clear and sometimes just a whisper.
Queen
Treats Fox to Victory
'Simpsons'
The Halloween episode of "The Simpsons" scared up nearly 17 million viewers Sunday, powering Fox's all-comedy lineup to a nightly ratings victory in all key demographics.
"King of the Hill" and "Malcolm in the Middle" also performed well for Fox, while NBC's "American Dreams" fortified its standing as a rookie hit with its best scores in four weeks.
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the 8 p.m. "Simpsons" towered over its competition in adults 18-49 (8.2 rating/19 share), adults 18-34 (8.8/24), adults 25-54 (6.8/15), teens (10.2/30),
and total viewers (16.7 million) -- its largest overall audience since March 2001.
Fox also saw "King of the Hill," airing in the post-"Simpsons" 8:30 slot after toiling at 7:30 for several years, deliver its best ratings (preliminary 13 million viewers, 6.3/14 in adults 18-49) since
May 1998 and win by 3 shares in 18-49 over "American Dreams" and by 5 shares over ABC's made-for-TV movie "Home Alone 4."
ABC was second on the night in both adults 18-49 (preliminary 4.1/10) and total viewers (12.2 million), although "Home Alone 4" didn't really pop. The sequel to the popular theatrical franchise
won its two-hour slot in kids (6.2/21) and was second in total viewers (12.6 million).
NBC's "American Dreams" (preliminary 4.6/11 in adults 18-49, 12.3 million viewers) delivered its best ratings since Oct. 6, placing second in the 8 p.m. hour in key demos. It also did well at 9
with "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (4.8/10 in adults 18-49) and 10 o'clock's "Boomtown" (3.7/9 in adults 18-49), which retained 77% of its "CI" lead-in and was up week-to-week.
Sunday continues to be a struggle for CBS, which ran fourth among the broadcast networks in all key measures. The network premiere of James Bond picture "The World Is Not Enough" averaged roughly
10 million viewers and a 3.4/8 in adults 18-49 from 8:30 to 11.
'Simpsons'
Signs Deal to Pitch Chryslers
Celine Dion
Like Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion has sold millions of records and headlined in Las Vegas. Now she's following Ol' Blue Eyes in another respect: pitching cars for Chrysler.
DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler's arm said on Tuesday that Dion would become the new voice of the Chrysler brand, lending her image to a variety of advertising over a number of years.
The 34-year-old Canadian singer, whose Vegas show opening in March already commands the highest ticket prices in town, had done commercials for Chrysler's Canadian division 14 years
ago. Chrysler executives approached her earlier this year about promoting the company, and Dion said she readily agreed.
Neither Dion nor Chrysler would disclose the terms of her deal with the company.
Chrysler executives said the first television ads featuring Dion or her music would appear in January.
Celine Dion
Not If But When?
ABC - CNN Merger
Cost-savings are at the heart of the prospective merger of CNN and ABC News -- and could render the House that Roone Built unrecognizable.
ABC alone will be looking to save $100 million.
These numbers take into account ABC concessions to union reps in the case of layoffs.
Other cost reductions would come from moving production to CNN facilities and reducing the overlap of talent.
However, while CNN has been plugging its potential access to top-shelf talent at ABC News, most pundits are skeptical that Peter Jennings or Ted Koppel can easily be made available
to the round-the-clock newsie. Star anchors have extremely restrictive clauses in their contracts about the venues and duration of their appearances.
Were the two news operations to merge, top ABC News talent might even decide to jump ship rather than take on extra duties at CNN.
ABC - CNN Merger
BartCop TV!
Eyes Pooh Rights in 2004
Walt Disney Co.
Walt Disney Co. enlisted the heirs of Winnie the Pooh's creators on Monday to wrest legal control of the honey loving bear in 2004, sparking a battle in a nearly 20-year
fight over commercial rights.
The chief loser would be Stephen Slesinger Inc. (SSI), the company whose suit could cost the media giant up to $200 million by one Disney calculation.
But a lawyer for Slesinger said her clients would block any attempt to strip them of their rights to the cuddly bear created by British writer A.A. Milne in the 1920s.
A Disney spokesman told reporters in a conference call that the development had no bearing on the lawsuit by Slesinger, which acquired U.S. rights to Pooh from author Milne in
the 1930s and later leased them to Disney. It claims Disney has shortchanged it on royalties, which Disney denies.
Disney said that a Milne granddaughter, Clare Milne, and Minette Hunt, granddaughter of illustrator E.H. Shepard, had taken advantage of changes in U.S. copyright law to reclaim
the rights for Pooh merchandise, of which Disney is estimated to sell some $1 billion per year.
"She is recapturing her rights from SSI and she is regranting them to the Walt Disney Co.," said Disney spokesman John Spelich. "As of November 2004, we will have the worldwide
merchandise rights to Winnie the Pooh characters, or motion pictures."
Walt Disney Co.
Kickboxing
'Beautiful Boxer'
Asanee Suwan, right, a 22-year-old professional kickboxer, right, poses with Parinya Charoenphol, a former kickboxer, left, who had a sex change, at a news conference
Monday, Nov. 4, 2002, to announce that he will play her in a new movie. The movie, to be called 'Beautiful Boxer,'' will chronicle Parinya's career as a successful
transvestite boxer who finally leaves the ring after undergoing a sex-change. Filming will begin in Feb. 2003.
Photo by Sakchai Lalit
Most Eligible Bachelor
Prince Harry
He's still in high school, but Prince Harry has been named Britain's hottest date by the society magazine Tatler.
The 18-year-old prince, third in line to the throne, topped the magazine's annual list of eligible bachelors, released Tuesday.
"Harry has come of age this year, and he has a naughty but nice element to him. He's irreverent, mischievous and terrific looking," said the magazine's editor, Geordie Greig.
In second place on the list was 79-year-old artist Lucian Freud, whom the magazine praised for his "youthful genius."
Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow, who is frequently in London, topped the women's list, followed by 21-year-old royal Lady Gabriella Windsor and model Sophie Dahl.
Prince Harry
Outpatient Treatment
Robert Stack
Actor Robert Stack is undergoing radiation treatment for prostate cancer.
The 83-year-old, who gained fame as crimebuster Eliot Ness on the '60s TV series "The Untouchables" and as host of the reality show "Unsolved Mysteries," is
receiving outpatient treatment, said his publicist, Jerry Pam.
"He's fine," Pam said Monday, adding that Stack is part of "a club" of men who've been diagnosed with the disease, including Pam himself and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Robert Stack
'Prone to Bitter Outbursts'
Rosie O'Donnell
Queen of Nice? Try the head-spinning demon in "The Exorcist." That's how staff at Rosie O'Donnell's former magazine, "Rosie," described their ex-boss in a Vanity Fair article due out on Friday.
"Rosie" staff told the magazine that the star, dubbed "The Queen of Nice" by Newsweek magazine in 1996, had "Exorcist qualities" that surfaced when publisher Gruner & Jahr USA challenged her over the magazine's editorial direction.
Vanity Fair contributing editor Judith Newman wrote that a "shouting and spitting" O'Donnell denied in an interview with her that she was being abusive and justified her angry outbursts as necessary
for her art. "Of course I'm angry," O'Donnell told Newman. "Rage is the foundation of comedy."
"Rosie" staff and editors told Vanity Fair that O'Donnell was prone to child-like tantrums that could be frightening and humiliating for the targets of her rage.
In one incident, O'Donnell accused a staff member of lying, and told the woman, a breast cancer survivor: "And you know what happens to liars? They get cancer." O'Donnell denied the accusation.
Rosie O'Donnell
End of Its Science Gathering Mission
Galileo
NASA's aging spacecraft Galileo made a final flyby of Jupiter's moon Amalthea and was in standby mode Tuesday, marking the end of the science-gathering portion of its 13-year mission.
"It gathered data past the point of passing Amalthea," said Guy Webster, a spokesman at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. No other details of the flyby were available.
The intense radiation near Jupiter had been expected to cause glitches that would force Galileo into "safe mode" - meaning the spacecraft could not transmit any information.
In safe mode, spacecraft close down nonessential activities for their own protection until orders are received from mission controllers.
The spacecraft had entered standby mode on previous flybys of Jupiter. In each case, controllers were able to restore normal operations by transmitting new commands.
Galileo was put on a course to pass within 99 miles of Amalthea at 1:19 a.m. EST Monday. An hour later it was to have passed within 44,500 miles of Jupiter, the
mission's closest approach to the giant planet.
The spacecraft has made more than 30 flybys of Jovian moons, but never Amalthea.
For a lot more, Galileo
http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/
Thousands Mourn Slain Rapper
Jam Master Jay
Thousands of people, some wearing unlaced Adidas sneakers and booming the music of Run-DMC, poured into a Queens neighborhood on Tuesday to pay their last respects to DJ Jam Master Jay,
whose point-blank gunshot murder last week stunned the hip hop world.
Hip hop stars Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Queen Latifah joined members of Jam Master Jay's group, the groundbreaking Run-DMC, family and neighbors at the funeral in Allen AME Cathedral to mourn the slain DJ.
Fans were shocked at the violent death of the 37-year-old Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell and who was known for being a friendly family man, a devoted neighborhood
citizen and for preaching a positive message in contrast to the more violent aspects of hip-hip culture.
Providing the beats and scratches behind the rappers Run (Joseph Simmons), and DMC (Darryl McDaniels), Mizell and the group helped propel hip hop to a mainstream and global phenomenon
from its roots within inner city New York.
Run-DMC was the first rap group to score gold and platinum albums, the first to have a video on MTV and the first to be featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
About 2,000 people squeezed into the cathedral for the funeral service, some waiting up to several hours on the chilly fall morning. A few hundred fans and neighbors stood in
front of the cathedral during the service to catch a glimpse of the procession.
Jam Master Jay
In Memory
Jonathan Harris
Actor Jonathan Harris, who with great relish and more than a bit of ham played the bumbling villain Dr. Zachary Smith on the 1960s TV cult hit "Lost in Space," has died at age 87 at a suburban Los Angeles hospital, associates said Tuesday.
Harris, who died Sunday of a blood clot, was a veteran of hundreds of films and TV shows, ranging from the "Twilight Zone" and "Bewitched" television series to films "A Bug's Life" and "Toy Story 2" in which he was the voice of Manny, the Preying Mantis, in the former and the Fixer in the latter.
But as far as television fans were concerned, Harris' greatest role was in the CBS series "Lost in Space," a futuristic takeoff of the "Swiss Family Robinson" saga which ran from 1965 to 1968 and is still being shown on cable channels as a cult favorite.
He played the cowardly but lovable villain Dr. Zachary Smith, whose sabotage of a spaceship sent an innocent family and himself lost in space. Harris's character became famed for both his double-dealing and phrase-making, including "Oh the pain, the pain," "You Neanderthal ninnies" and "You bubble-headed booby."
Born Jonathan Charasuchin on Nov. 6, 1914, Harris grew up in the Bronx and graduated from Fordham University with a degree in pharmacology. But the lure of show business proved strong, and Harris joined a Long Island repertory company, where he performed in a number of productions before landing roles on Broadway, including one in 1946 with Paul Muni and Marlon Brando in "Follow the Flag."
In the 1950s, Harris guest-starred in dozens of TV productions, including "Lights Out" and "Studio One" and after "Lost in Space" went off the air, Harris continued to appear in films and TV.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Gertrude, one son and two granddaughters.
Jonathan Harris
Jordan
Camel
Ein Läufer bereitet sich am Montag auf das Wüsten-Rennen in Jordanien vor. Trotz des schwelenden Irak-Konfliktes nehmen hunderte Athleten verschiedener Nationen an dem dreitägigen Rennen über 168 Kilometer teil.
Die Läufer starten in Petra. Zielort des Rennens ist Wadi Rum.
Photo by Ali Jarekji
'The Osbournes'
Fairly freshly updated ~ 'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
#30
'Walk On'
