'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Weekly Review
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW
November 25, 2003
Resident George W. Bush traveled to Great Britain, along
with 650 companions, including five personal chefs, but was
unable to move freely in the country because of massive
protests.
The Pentagon was
planning to launch a 24-hour satellite television channel
based in Baghdad to make it easier to circumvent the news
media "filter" that Bush Administration officials believe is
misleading the public by emphasizing bad news about the
occupation of Iraq.
Richard Perle, a Pentagon
adviser and one of the architects of the conquest of Iraq,
admitted to an audience in London that the invasion was
illegal: "I think in this case international law stood in
the way of doing the right thing."
Continued at www.harpers.org/weekly-review
--Roger D. Hodge
Quick Link
from Alex
from Mark
Doofus in Chief
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & brisk - well, by local standards where 65° (F) is considered downright cold.
The local CBS O & O (KCBS) has banished Martha Stewart to the overnight shift, and while it's not good for her numbers, the time fits my schedule just right. Last night Conan O'Brien was the guest. Tonight, it's Bill Cosby.
The recently 'fixed' girl kittens are busy flossing their teeth on their stitches - ewwww.
Need to have the Thanksgiving dinner on the table by 11:30am. Oh well, that gives me the whole afternoon to do the dishes...
Special Radio alert - TMBG (They Might Be Giants) are the guests with Terry Gross on NPRs 'Fresh Air' today.
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS begins the last night of November Sweeps with a FRESH 'Survivor: Pearl Islands', followed by a FRESH 'King Of Queens', then a FRESH
'Becker', followed by a RERUN 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', in place of the recently cancelled Michael Jackson 'special'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave is Mike Myers. (RERUNs all next week)
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers is Mandy Moore and New Jersey Net Jason Kidd.
NBC starts the night again with 'Queer Eye', followed by 'Law & Order' (likely to be a RERUN), followed by a RERUN 'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Madonna, bra man Jason Dahmer, and Nelly Furtado.
On a RERUN Conan are Zach Braff, Billy Connelly, and Brian Setzer Orchestra. (FRESH next week)
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Dhani Jones, Don King, and Deftones.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH 'My Wife & Kids', followed by a FRESH 'It's All Relative', then a FRESH 'special' - 'Trista & Ryan's Wedding', followed by a
FRESH 'Extreme Makeover'.
On a RERUN Jimmy Kimmel are Bryan Cranston, 4-year-old football expert Jason Kilbert, and Blink 182, with guest co-host Travis Barker. (FRESH next week)
The WB offers the movie 'Josie & The Pussycats'.
Faux has a FRESH 'That 70s Show', followed by a FRESH 'Stan Hooper', then a FRESH 'The O.C.'.
UPN has a FRESH 'Enterprise', followed by a FRESH 'special' - 'The Stone Cold Truth'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (Bernie Marcus & Arthur Blank, founders of Home Depot), another 'American Justice', and still another 'American Justice'.
AMC offers the movie 'Mr. Mom', followed by the movie 'Scent Of A Woman', then the movie 'Legal Eagles'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Kitching;
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - Putney;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Peckham;
[8pm] 'Homefront in the Garden' - Wired;
[8:30pm] 'Homefront in the Garden' - Upper Norwood;
[9pm] 'My Hero' - Parents;
[9:40pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[10:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 7;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Jerry Hall, Sylvia Kristel;
[12am] 'My Hero' - Parents;
[12:40am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[1:20am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 7;
[2am] 'Homefront in the Garden' - Wired;
[2:30am] 'Homefront in the Garden' - Upper Norwood;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Jerry Hall, Sylvia Kristel;
[4am] 'My Hero' - ;
[4:40am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[5:20am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 7; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'West Wing', 'Cirque du Soleil: Dralion', 'Cirque du Soleil: Nouvelle Experience', and 'West Wing'.
On a RERUN Jon Stewart, it's TBA. (FRESH next week)
History has 'Black Sheep Squadron', 'Modern Marvels', more 'Modern Marvels', and still more 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi has 'Beyond Belief', the movie 'Wing Commander', and 'Battlestar Galactica'.
TCM -
[6am] 'North By Northwest' (1959);
[8:30am] 'All Fall Down' (1962);
[10:30am] 'The Best Man' (1964);
[12:30pm] 'Ship of Fools' (1965);
[3:15pm] 'Cool Hand Luke' (1967);
[5:30pm] 'The Hawaiians' (1970);
[8pm] 'Dead Poets Society' (1989);
[10:30pm] 'The Age of Innocence' (1993);
[1am] 'The Remains of the Day' (1993); and
[3:30am] 'The Sacrifice' (1986) [AKA: 'Offret'] . (ALL TIMES EST)
In recognition of World AIDS Day, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey talks to former U.S. President Bill Clinton in his Harlem office in New York on Oct. 10, 2003, about the AIDS epidemic in Africa and the powerful impact Alan Paton's 'Cry, The Beloved Country' - the most recent Oprah's Book Club selection - has had on his life. 'The Oprah Winfrey Show: The Trip Of A Lifetime' airs Monday, Dec. 1, 2003.
Photo by George Burns
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Comedy Central To Air Special
Richard Pryor
You can expect Richard Pryor's hourlong Comedy Central special to be irreverent.
The 62-year-old entertainer, who has multiple sclerosis, is hosting "Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet," and he's invited a few friends, including Dave Chappelle, Margaret Cho, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and George Lopez.
"It's not a B.S. didn't-he-USED-to-be-great tribute. It's a funny (expletive) show. I may have MS, but I ain't dead yet, (expletive)," Pryor said in a statement Tuesday.
Comedy Central features the special Sunday night (10 p.m. ET). Hosted by Pryor, it features clips of his concert appearances, recordings and diary excerpts as well as his comic pals.
Richard Pryor
www.comedycentral.com
Wants Statue of Liberty Opened To The Public
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese offered his moviemaking talent Tuesday to a campaign to reopen the Statue of Liberty to the public.
The Gangs of New York director will produce and narrate a television documentary on Lady Liberty to air in January, as part of an effort to raise money for new security measures. The federal government has spent millions on upgrades, but about $5 million US in work is necessary before visitors can climb the 46-metre statue.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument, a 23-hectare island in New York Harbour, was closed to the public immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The island was reopened in December 2001, after airport-type metal detectors were installed to screen visitors boarding the ferry from lower Manhattan. The statue itself has remained closed.
Martin Scorsese
Honorary Santa Tracker
Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr will be the honorary Santa tracker as the North American Air Defense Command follows his progress Christmas Eve on a Web site and on a toll-free phone number for children.
NORAD, based at Peterson Air Force Base, is responsible for the air defense of North America. Tracking Santa has been a tradition at NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command, for more than 45 years.
Ringo Starr
www.noradsanta.com
Makes Speech Without Ventilator
Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve appeared before a New York audience and proudly pointed out what was missing: the ventilator he's had to use since the horseback riding accident that left him paralyzed.
"To breathe normally, to be able to smell ... anything that makes you feel more normal is psychologically so important," Reeve told the crowd at Monday night's annual benefit for his Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.
In February, Reeve became the third person in the United States to undergo a surgical procedure called diaphragm pacing, which involves threading tiny wires through small incisions in the diaphragm. The wires connect the electrodes to a control box outside the body. The device allows him to breathe without a ventilator for hours at a time.
Christopher Reeve
This year's official White House Christmas card released here on November 25, 2005, was designed by artist Barbara Ernst Prey of Oyster Bay, New York, and depicts the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. The design is a watercolor painting of the fireplace and decorated mantle of the Diplomatic Reception Room during the holidays. U.S. resident Bush and Mrs. Bush selected a Psalm and a message of peace for the message inside: 'You have granted me life and living kindness; and your care has preserved my spirit. Job 10:13 May you celebrate the joys of faith, family and friendship this holiday season and always. 2003' On November 28, over 1.5 million Christmas cards bearing a Crawford, Texas postmark will be mailed to friends and family of resident and Mrs. Bush, as well as foreign dignitaries.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May Write For S.F. Chronicle
Sean Penn
Sean Penn, who made a controversial visit to Iraq last winter, is considering going back, and this time publishing his accounts of life in the war-torn country for the San Francisco Chronicle, the paper's editor Phil Bronstein said on Tuesday.
Bronstein said the arrangement with Penn remains informal, since he has not yet decided if and when to return to Iraq. Penn sparked controversy last winter when he traveled to Iraq to speak out against the planned U.S. war to topple Saddam Hussein.
But if he were to return, he would probably stay away from the most violent scenes and focus on everyday life, said Bronstein, who described Penn's earlier dispatches from Iraq "as short vignettes that caught moments in people's lives and what they were doing -- kind of like a reporter's notebook."
Sean Penn
Had No Agenda, Producers Say
'The Reagans'
The producers of the upcoming Showtime film "The Reagans," which was too hot to handle for CBS, on Monday rejected assertions that they brought an ideological bias to the controversial project.
"When we go about making a movie, we have no political agenda," executive producer Craig Zadan said during a conference call with reporters. "We have a filmmaking agenda about finding stories that we find interesting and finding characters that are complex."
Amid mounting protests from conservatives, CBS dumped the show from its schedule earlier this month without airing it, claiming that it was unbalanced.
Showtime will air "The Reagans" on Sunday, minus a line of dialogue suggesting Reagan believed AIDS patients deserved their disease.
'The Reagans'
Knocks PBS Over Interview
Michael Wolff
A media critic said Tuesday that PBS "took a dive" in refusing to air an interview he gave about his book mocking media moguls.
Shermaze Ingram, a spokeswoman for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," said the interview was abandoned because it was not balanced.
That shouldn't have been a surprise, said Michael Wolff, the New York magazine media columnist and author or "Autumn of the Moguls."
PBS was aware that he's opinionated about top media executives, and it's not his job to be balanced, he said.
Michael Wolff
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
'Queer Eye' Soundtrack Album
'What's That Sound'
New songs from Elton John and British electronica duo Basement Jaxx will appear on the soundtrack to the hit TV reality series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
The album, dubbed "What's That Sound," will be released Feb. 10 via Capitol. It will be led by the show's theme song, "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)," penned by Widelife.
The John song is tentatively titled "Run for Love," while the Basement Jaxx tune is "Good Luck." Other tracks include a previously unreleased Chemical Brothers remix of the new Kylie Minogue single "Slow," Jamelia's U.K. hit "Superstar" and a track mixing music from Fischerspooner and Billy Squier. Tracks from Liz Phair and In-Grid will also be featured.
'What's That Sound'
Jones Soda Co. founder and CEO Peter van Stolk shows off bottles of his seasonal Turkey and Gravy Soda, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003, in Seattle. The producers of the Thanksgiving-themed beverage at Jones Soda are surprised by the demand for the drink. They sold out all 6,000 bottles online within about two hours last week.
Photo by Elaine Thompson
Recovering After Heart Surgery
Meat Loaf
Rock star Meat Loaf underwent heart surgery in a London hospital after being diagnosed with a condition that causes an irregular heartbeat, his record label said Tuesday.
He had a catheter ablation — a procedure in which tissue is removed to restore a normal heartbeat — on Friday at the Wellington Hospital in St. John's Wood, London, and left on Saturday, his U.K. record label Mercury said.
The 52-year-old star collapsed Nov. 17 as he performed at London's Wembley Arena and was taken to Northwick Park Hospital to recover from exhaustion due to a prolonged viral infection. Subsequent tests showed he had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition which causes an irregular heartbeat and can lead to dizziness and fainting, his record label said.
Meat Loaf
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
MSNBC Cancels
'Buchanan & Press'
Former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan has lost his regular perch on MSNBC.
The news network said Tuesday that it was canceling the political talk show, "Buchanan & Press," which paired two CNN "Crossfire" alumni in Buchanan and Bill Press.
Legal correspondent Dan Abrams' "The Abrams Report" will move from prime time to fill the 6 p.m. Eastern slot that "Buchanan & Press" occupied. Abrams' show will repeat at 9 p.m. until a replacement is found early next year.
'Buchanan & Press'
24-Hour News Digital Channel
ABC
Walt Disney Co.'s ABC television network and affiliates are planning a joint 24-hour news digital television channel heavy on local programming, a report said on Tuesday.
Local television stations have been given new broadcast spectrum for the move to high definition television.
The new space on the airwaves gives each station room for a number of high-definition and lower-quality digital channels, and so stations and networks are working furiously to decide how to use the new resource, which is more than they need for transmitting their main signals.
ABC
Small Film Companies Sue
Screener Ban
Small movie production companies sued the Motion Picture Association of America Monday to try to force an end to a partial ban by Hollywood studios on sending special video copies to awards groups.
More than a dozen companies joined in the lawsuit against the movie studios' trade group in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, saying the partial ban will "chill the financing of independent films" by limiting the awards they can receive.
The lawsuit sought at least $25 million in damages and asked the court to find that the MPAA was conspiring to monopolize the film industry, restricting trade through unlawful and unreasonable agreements with its governing members.
Screener Ban
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Case Settled
Dewey Decimal Hotel
A library-themed New York City hotel whose floors are divided based on the Dewey Decimal system has agreed to acknowledge in its advertising that a nonprofit library cooperative owns the system.
The Dewey Decimal Classification has been used to track books for 120 years, and the OCLC Online Computer Library Center in Ohio has owned the system's trademark since 1988.
OCLC sued the hotel in September after finding the hotel used the system to divide the building, with each floor dedicated to one of Dewey's 10 classifications. For instance, the eighth floor is divided into subjects embracing literature, the 800 category of the system.
Dewey Decimal Hotel
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
www.libraryhotel.com
Grace Barrett loads a tray of biscotti on a rack at Enrico's Biscotti Bakery in Pittsburgh, Monday, Nov. 24, 2003. A recent survey shows low-carb diets have not made major incursions into the profits at artisan bakeries.
Photo by Gene J. Puskar
Republican Family Values In Action
Glen Campbell
Entertainer Glen Campbell was arrested at his Phoenix home Monday on suspicion of drunken driving and aggravated assault after slamming his car into another vehicle and fleeing the scene, then kicking a police sergeant who was questioning him, authorities said.
Campbell, a Grammy-Award-winning singer whose storied career includes 27 Top-10 hits, was being held late Monday on felony charges including extreme DUI and aggravated assault on a police officer.
Phoenix police Sgt. Bill Niles said he was forced to restrain the combative entertainer's arms and legs after Campbell raised his knee and struck Niles on his right thigh during questioning at a police substation. Campbell, 67, also attempted to kick another officer after striking Niles, but the officer dodged the blow and was unharmed, Niles said.
"He just didn't want to sit down. He was having mood swings and ended up taking his knee and raising it to me and hit me above the knee area," Niles said. "There was a lot of (Campbell saying) 'do you know who I am', a lot of profanities. He didn't think he should be treated like a common criminal because of who he was. He went from calm and cooperative to becoming very loud."
For all the gory details, Glen Campbell
Apologizes After Arrest
Glen Campbell
Singer Glen Campbell apologized Tuesday after his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, hit and run, and assaulting a police officer.
"Yesterday I was arrested and put in jail. Even at my age, I learned a valuable lesson," Campbell said in a statement read to The Associated Press by a spokesman. "I apologize to my wife, my family, my friends and my fans."
Glen Campbell
$ Greases The Skids, Again
Congressional 'Compromise'
A congressional compromise on how much of the TV viewing public a media company may reach sets the limit at 39 percent, a seemingly random number that is not random at all.
It means two media giants won't have to sell any of their stations.
Viacom Inc., owner of CBS and UPN, owns stations reaching 39 percent of viewers. And News Corp., owner of Fox, has stations reaching 37 percent. Both faced the possibility of being forced to sell some of their stations.
Viacom and News Corp. are major political players in Washington. They spent a combined $5.5 million on lobbying between Jan. 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, and $2.3 million on campaign contributions for the 2002 and 2004 elections.
Bush has received more in campaign donations from the broadcast industry than any other federal candidate since Jan. 1. He took in $153,300 — more than 10 percent of the industry's $1.2 million in donations, said the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.
Congressional 'Compromise'
What's In A Name?
Corleone, Sicily
What comes to mind when you hear the word Corleone?
If you said Mafia, some people in the Sicilian town think that may be part of the problem and not the solution.
Local lawyer Antonio Di Lorenzo began a signature drive on Tuesday to change the name of the hill town south of Palermo made famous by "The Godfather" books and films of the 1970s.
Corleone was made famous in the celluloid world by Don Vito Corleone, played at different ages by Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. But it is the real-life birthplace of a number of top Mafia bosses whose ruthless bloodletting make the film look tame by comparison.
Corleone, Sicily
Getting Married
Tori Spelling
Tori Spelling, whose "Beverly Hills, 90210" character got married at the end of the show's 10-year run, is tying the knot in real life.
Spelling, 30, and actor-writer Charlie Shanian, 34, plan to wed next summer, her publicist, Cece Yorke, said Monday.
The couple met on stage last year in the Los Angeles production of the romantic comedy "Maybe, Baby It's You," which Shanian co-wrote. The play featured the two actors in 11 vignettes about couples in search of love.
Tori Spelling
Republican Family Values In Action
Neil Bush
Neil Bush, younger brother of resident Bush, detailed lucrative business deals and admitted to engaging in sex romps with women in Asia in a deposition taken in March as part of his divorce from now ex-wife Sharon Bush.
According to legal documents disclosed on Tuesday, Sharon Bush's lawyers questioned Neil Bush closely about the deals, especially a contract with Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a firm backed by Jiang Mianheng, the son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, that would pay him $2 million in stock over five years.
Bush was involved in a business controversy in the late 1980s when he was director of Denver, Colorado-based Silverado Savings & Loan, which collapsed at a cost to taxpayers of $1 billion.
The Bush divorce, completed in April after 23 years of marriage, was prompted in part by Bush's relationship with another woman. He admitted in the deposition that he previously had sex with several other women while on trips to Thailand and Hong Kong at least five years ago.
The women, he said, simply knocked on the door of his hotel room, entered and had sex with him. He said he did not know if they were prostitutes because they never asked for money and he did not pay them.
For a lot more, pull on your boots - Neil Bush
Old School Blocks Out Name
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson has suffered a fresh blow to his image following his arrest on child abuse charges when his old school covered up his name on an auditorium following complaints from parents.
Officials at the Los Angeles school, which christened the Michael Jackson auditorium in 1989, covered over the letters with plywood and painted over the wood, leaving only the word "auditorium," school officials said.
Officials Gardner Street Elementary School in Hollywood that Jackson once attended briefly and the local school board took the dramatic measure after requests from angry parents.
For now, the only hint of Jackson's legacy is a small plaque with his name that is mounted on the southwest side of the school. There were no plans to remove the plaque that reads: Michael Jackson Auditorium, Dedicated October 11, 1989.
Michael Jackson
In Memory
Margaret Singer
Psychologist Margaret Singer, an expert on brainwashing and cults, died Sunday. She was 82.
Singer began studying brainwashing in the 1950s at Walter Reed Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., where she interviewed U.S. soldiers taken prisoner during the Korean War.
Singer testified in the 1976 bank robbery trial of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst, who was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She interviewed more than 3,000 cult members, assisted in more than 200 court cases, and was a leading authority on schizophrenia and family therapy.
Singer was the author of "Cults in Our Midst," a 1995 study on cults that she revised earlier this year with analysis of the connection between cults and terrorism.
Margaret Singer
A Santa Catalina Island fox pup dashes into the wilderness after being released Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003, on Santa Catalina Island, Calif. The Catalina Island Conservancy released 10 captive-bred pups from one breeding season in an effort to reestablish the subspecies.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian
'The Osbournes'
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