'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanksgiving and Friday
Erin Hart
Feast on Talk with Erin Hart
Thanksgiving Thursday (22 November), and Friday (23 November), filling in for Jay Marvin on
Boulder's Progressive Talk AM760.net
from 6am - 10am MST (8am - noon EST / 7am - 11am CST / 5am - 9am PST).
Will a few hundred thousand in Iowa decide the nominees for the Democrats?
Is Hillary regaining ground? Obama and Edwards are running neck and neck.
And what does that mean to the rest of us?
The Republicans are in disarray--Rudy is dealing with Bernie-gate--look for
Judith Regan to drop more bombshells--he may need more than 9-1-1, a verb
and a noun in a sentence (thanks Joe Biden!) to save him. Mike Huckabee is
funny, but he doesn't believe in evolution or other principles of scientific
fact.
Has the war dropped in your priorities? Are the Dems fighting hard enough
or are Congressional and Constitutional realities making it tough?
Or with housing drops and health insurance rises, is it again the "economy,
stupid"? Where and what are your political priorities?
Immigration is a topic we cannot pass up at a Thanksgiving feast. Pause to
be grateful while we are passing the gravy.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jim Hightower: "RUDY GEE" (jimhightower.com)
Let's take a peek into the head of "Rudy G" - G, as in, "Gee, how messed up is this guy?"
SUSAN ESTRICH: The Fires Within (creators.com)
There are days when I feel like an old woman. My body hurts and my spirit sags. All the things I do to try to make myself look and feel young and full of energy leave me feeling exhausted and spent. Some days, and I am writing this from New England, Š
JOHN BANVILLE: CRIMINAL ODES (bookforum.com)
The tumultuous decades between the wars saw the birth and development of a new genre-pulp fiction-that sought in the gritty seams of American life a fresh moral code, one that made sense for hard times and harder people.
Will Durst: George Bush is a Junkie
I'm not kidding, people, the President of the United States has twisted into a veto addict.
'I couldn't be cool if I tried' (guardian.co.uk)
Alan Carr's critics say he's Middle England's new pet camp comic - but his fans love the gentle innocence of his observational wit. Patrick Barkham hears how growing up as the gay son of a tough football manager trained his winning sense of humour.
How film-maker David almost got himself Lynched (guardian.co.uk)
Sebastian Frenzel on Hollywood's oddest film-maker, who has recorded a rock album, launched his own brand of organic coffee, and broadcasts a daily weather forecast on his website.
Luaine Lee: Joe Mantegna steps in to save the day for 'Criminal Minds' (McClatchy-Tribune News Service; Posted on Popmatters.com)
"Criminal Minds" has been plumbing the depths of the depraved with glowing success almost since it began airing on CBS. When the show's star, Mandy Patinkin, decided to leave midseason there was panic among the high command.
Jon Bream: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings take vintage soul to the mainstream (Star Tribune (Minneapolis); Posted on Popmatters.com)
Denzel. Oprah. Amy. The way Sharon Jones tosses around these names, you'd think she's a big star. Actually, if her connections with Washington, Winfrey and Winehouse work out, the 51-year-old singer finally will be a big star.
Perfume is wasted on dogs. The only smell they're keen on is eau de toilette from the local park (guardian.co.uk)
In my experience, a dog's absolute favourite perfume is excrement. Try bottling some of that, suggests Michele Hanson.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Good Deeds (athensnews.com)
* Faith Ringgold, whose "Tar Beach" became a Caldecott Honor Book in 1991, was born in 1930 and grew up during the Great Depression. One day, she and a friend walked home together after school, and when they arrived at the friend's home, the friend looked at some stuff on the street and said, "That's my doll! These are my things!" Why were her things on the street and not in her home? She and her family had just been evicted. However, the story does have a happy ending. Ms. Ringgold says, "Neighbors took them in. That's what we did in those days; we took care of our friends. We didn't leave them homeless in the street."
Purple Gene was third:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Fog didn't burn off til late afternoon.
Neil Diamond Reveals Inspiration
`Sweet Caroline'
Neil Diamond held onto the secret for decades, but he has finally revealed that President Kennedy's daughter was the inspiration for his smash hit "Sweet Caroline."
"I've never discussed it with anybody before - intentionally," the 66-year-old singer-songwriter told The Associated Press on Monday during a break from recording. "I thought maybe I would tell it to Caroline when I met her someday."
He got his chance last week when he performed the song via satellite at Caroline Kennedy's 50th birthday party.
Diamond was a "young, broke songwriter" when a photo of the president's daughter in a news magazine caught his eye.
"It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony," Diamond recalled. "It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there."
`Sweet Caroline'
Hosts Fundraiser for Kucinich
Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt will host a fundraising event benefiting the presidential campaign of Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, tonight at Hustler-LFP headquarters in Los Angeles.
According to a Flynt spokesperson, the party is the first time Flynt has hosted a political fundraiser, though he is politically active and has attended many similar events in the past.
Flynt, Hustler-LFP founder and longtime Kucinich supporter, said, "I support Dennis Kucinich because not only have I been a friend of his for 40 years, but I believe he offers an essential, viable and exciting option to the candidates that are more popular at the moment."
Flynt with his wife and the host committee are throwing the fundraiser. The list of committee members includes several mainstream personalities including Woody Harrelson, Ed Norton, Sean and Robin Wright Penn, Frances Fisher, Stephen and Kristen Stills, Melissa and Tammy Etheridge and Esai Morales, among others.
Larry Flynt
Writer's Truce
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor says striking TV and film writers will briefly put down their picket signs when an AIDS benefit performance is held next month on the Paramount Pictures lot.
Taylor and James Earl Jones are slated to perform A.R. Gurney's play "Love Letters" on Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day. The goal of the one-night performance is to raise $1 million for The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
The 75-year-old actress said she wouldn't cross picket lines if they were still up around the Paramount lot.
Taylor said she asked the writers union for a "one-night dispensation" so she and her guests could enter the studio with a clear conscience.
"The Writers Guild of America has shown great humanity, empathy and courage by allowing our little evening to move forward," Taylor said in a statement.
Elizabeth Taylor
USO Replies To Sweeps Stunt
Bill O'Really
Bill O'Reilly should support the USO if he wants to help U.S. troops fighting abroad, the charity organization said in a curt letter to the Fox "News" Channel commentator propagandist.
The missive came a day after O'Reilly complained the charity organization was not sending enough celebrities to entertain troops in Afghanistan.
Speaking from Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, O'Reilly told the AP that he's disappointed the USO "doesn't put anybody out there (in Afghanistan). As far as I know, the only famous people in the past year were (country music singer) Toby Keith and me."
The USO said it has sent seven entertainment tours to Afghanistan in 2007, after 12 tours - including one with O'Reilly nemesis Al Franken - went to the war-torn country in 2006.
Bill O'Really
Oscar Lawsuit
Mary Pickford
A judge has ruled that a lawsuit aimed at stopping the public sale of two Oscars given to Mary Pickford should be tried in Los Angeles County.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences claims it has the right to buy the statuettes and one owned by Charles "Buddy" Rogers, who was married to Pickford, for $10 each.
But Kim Boyer, the niece of Rogers' second wife and one of three heirs in possession of the Oscars, said she only wants to sell one Oscar, and it isn't subject to academy bylaws that require it be offered cheaply to the academy.
Boyer claims Pickford won her first Oscar before the bylaws were put in place. The academy, however, says Pickford signed an agreement after she won her second Oscar that made both subject to the bylaws.
Mary Pickford
Says Finger OK
Jimmy Page
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page says a broken finger on his left hand is healing well and he is confident of performing in a reunion concert on December 10, rescheduled from November to give him time to recover after a fall.
The British band, which has sold around 300 million albums, plans to perform one track for the first time at the gig, 27 years after they split, the silver-haired 63-year-old says.
"I suppose something like a Zeppelin reunion wouldn't be right without a bit of drama," Page told Reuters in an interview, referring to the recent accident.
Page said he would resume rehearsals this week.
Jimmy Page
Hospital News
Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen was being treated in a Manhattan hospital Tuesday for a kidney infection.
The 21-year-old actress checked into the hospital Monday night, her publicist, Nicole Caruso, said in an e-mail Tuesday to The Associated Press. She didn't identify where Olsen was admitted.
"She has a kidney infection," Caruso said. "She is resting comfortably and will be released in the next day or so."
Mary-Kate Olsen
Sue Showtime
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Monday sued Showtime Networks over the name of the television series "Californication," which is also the name of the band's 1999 album and a single on it.
The lawsuit alleges unfair competition, dilution of the value of the name and unjust enrichment, claiming the title is "inherently distinctive, famous ... and immediately associated in the mind of the consumer" with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
"Californication is the signature CD, video and song of the band's career, and for some TV show to come along and steal our identity is not right," the band's lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, said in a statement.
The show features a character named "Dani California," which is also the title of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song released in 2006, the lawsuit noted.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Lawmakers Oppose Crackdown
Cable TV
The head of the Federal Communications Commission faced mounting opposition on Tuesday that threatened to derail his proposal to open the door for tougher regulation of cable television operators
FCC commissioners and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have serious reservations about statistics in an upcoming agency report that could be used by agency Chairman Kevin Martin (R-Rupert's Fluffer) to justify a regulatory crackdown on the cable industry.
The report has met resistance from Martin's fellow Republican FCC commissioners, Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate, since it was circulated by Martin earlier this month. On Tuesday, sources familiar with the report said the two Democrats on the five-member commission also had concerns about a key figure contained in it.
The report is expected to come up for a vote at a November 27 FCC meeting. It finds U.S. cable subscription levels have exceeded 70 percent where service is available, passing a threshold that would give the agency more authority over companies such as Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc.
Cable TV
Wins Spears Video Lawsuit
Louis Vuitton
Luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton has won a lawsuit that alleged a Britney Spears music video violated counterfeiting laws by showcasing a pink Vuitton-upholstered dashboard.
A Paris civil court ordered Sony BMG and MTV Online to stop broadcasting or marketing the video for "Do Something" in any form and fined them 80,000 euros ($117,000) apiece, a spokeswoman for Paris-based Louis Vuitton said Monday. The ruling was handed down last week.
In the opening scenes of the video, Spears appears in the driver's seat of a hot pink Hummer floating on make-believe clouds. One shot shows fingers drumming on a dashboard covered with what looks like Vuitton's "Cherry Blossoms" design: dark pink blossoms on a pale pink, weblike background, embossed with the "LV" logo.
The court did not find Spears herself guilty but ruled that Sony BMG and MTV Online were guilty of violating counterfeiting laws. The ruling said the video constituted an "attack" on Louis Vuitton's brands and its luxury image, the spokeswoman said.
Louis Vuitton
Spilling Beans
Scotty McClellan
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames resident Bush and Vice President Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative.
In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.
"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."
Scotty McClellan
Imprisoned China Journalist Wins Prize
Li Changqing
Imprisoned Chinese journalist Li Changqing has been awarded the World Association of Newspapers' annual press freedom prize, the Paris-based organization said Tuesday.
The award marks the second straight year an imprisoned Chinese journalist has won the Golden Pen of Freedom - underscoring China's continuing harsh press restrictions despite the flourishing economy and rapid social change.
Li, a former newspaper editor, was sentenced last year to three years in prison for "spreading false and alarmist information." His arrest followed an inquiry into a graft-busting bureaucrat that Li promoted in his writings who was later sentenced to life in prison on bribery and embezzlement charges.
Li was first charged with subversion, but when that failed to stick, prosecutors brought new accusations alleging he leaked information about a dengue fever outbreak to an overseas Web site. China generally regards information about disease outbreaks as a state secret.
Li Changqing
Romulus & Remus' Cave
Lupercale
Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.
Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary is buried 52 feet inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome, the archaeologists said at a news conference.
Ancient texts say the grotto known as the "Lupercale"- from "lupa," Latin for she-wolf - was near the palace of Augustus, Rome's first emperor, who was said to have restored it, and was decorated with a white eagle.
That symbol of the Roman Empire was found atop the sanctuary's vault, which lies just below the ruins of the palace built by Augustus, said Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the Palatine and the nearby Roman Forum.
Lupercale
Prime Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 12-18. 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) "Dancing with the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 21.81 million viewers.
2. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 21.37 million viewers.
3. (3) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 19.61 million viewers.
4. (6) "Dancing with the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 17.59 million viewers.
5. (6) "NCIS," CBS, 17.39 million viewers.
6. (5) "House," Fox, 16.95 million viewers.
7. (11) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 15.73 million viewers.
8. (8) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 15.46 million viewers.
9. (12) "Survivor: China," CBS, 14.68 million viewers.
10. (16) "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.63 million viewers.
11. (8) "NBC Sunday Night Football," NBC, 14.47 million viewers.
12. (8) "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.41 million viewers.
13. (18) "Cold Case," CBS, 14.12 million viewers.
13. (13) "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 14.12 million viewers.
15. (14) "Samantha Who?" ABC, 13.70 million viewers.
16. (14) "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.13 million viewers.
17. (24) "Shark," CBS, 12.65 million viewers.
18. (22) "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," NBC, 12.48 million viewers.
19. (22) "Amazing Race 12," CBS, 11.86 million viewers.
20. (X) "American Music Awards," ABC, 11.81 million viewers.
Ratings
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