'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
JEANNINE AVERSA: Pelosi to fast-track minimum wage bill (Associated Press)
Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to fast-track efforts to boost the federal minimum wage and could seek to bring a bill directly to the House floor in January. The new Democrat-controlled 110th Congress convenes on Jan. 4 and Pelosi of California has made clear that raising the federal minimum wage is a top priority she wants the House to accomplish in its first 100 hours of legislative business.
Dubya's World (dubyasworld.com)
* 37 million people now live below the poverty line -- 12.9 million of those are children.
* The official poverty line is an income of $19,157/yr for a family of four.
* A single parent working full-time for minimum wage makes $10,712/yr.
* 3.9 million families had at least one member go hungry because they couldn't afford enough food.
* 1,600,000 jobs lost in the private sector since Dubya took office.
* 46.6 million people lack health coverage.
* 1.7 million VETERANS -- including some Iraq War Veterans -- have no health insurance.
* 750,000 Americans are homeless, 250,000 of them are Veterans
Are these the "Christian" moral values of the Republican Party?
Debra Eschmeyer: Corporations Control Your Dinner (National Family Farm Coalition; Posted on AlterNet.org)
When the food industry becomes a monopoly marketplace, it doesn't just affect the local farmer. It affects you. Lack of competition drives prices up and consumer choices down.
The million dollar kid (guardian.co.uk)
Instead of getting into debt, student Alex Tew had a brilliant idea - and made a fortune from it. Now, still only 22, the man behind the Million Dollar Homepage is trying to repeat the trick. He talks to Steve Boggan.
John Derbyshire: The Dream Palace of Educational Theorists (newenglishreview.org)
A child is a blank slate. Parents act on it, causing this, then teachers act on it, causing that, and - bingo! You have an adult. Education theorists actually believe this...
Blood and Gore (telegraph.co.uk)
Gore Vidal's rancour - towards Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and his many other adversaries - knows no bounds. but he insists he's not paranoid: 'I'm different in that I have enemies. Very real ones,' he tells John Preston.
Portrait of the artist: Willard White, opera singer (guardian.co.uk)
'Show me someone who hasn't suffered, and I'll show you a person without life'.
RICHARD ROEPER: Blame falls on parents for not making tarts take out the trash (suntimes.com)
Wow, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in the same car -- and yet there was still plenty of room in the back seat for talent.
Mrs. Betty Bowers' Dispatch from the Front Lines of America's War on Christmas (bettybowers.com)
Dear Soldiers for the Baby Jesus: Once again, pagan combatants, wielding verbal grenades made of non-specific cheer, are on a militant rampage to retake the Winter Solstice, a holiday invaded and occupied by Christians over 1,700 years ago.
Poster: What a Waste!
Reader Comment
Rudolph Display
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, with much lower-than-usual humidity.
The furrier cats are full of static electricity, and none too happy about it.
New 'Feud'
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," earlier this year held a "Green Screen Challenge," in which he implored fans to fill in the green background of a video of Colbert skewering an imaginary enemy with a lightsaber. His loyal Colbert Nation (and George Lucas) responded with a number of creative, animated scenarios.
The Decemberists, the critically acclaimed indie rock group fronted by Colin Meloy, recently announced a competition of their own. Their mtvU-sponsored "Reanimated the Decemberists" offered fans a chance to animate the green background to their new video for "O Valencia!"
On his show last week, Colbert claimed the Decemberists' contest was a blatant copycat. He then issued "Stephen Colbert's Second Green Screen Challenge," challenging his fans to edit their leader into the Decemberists' video using the same lightsaber footage. .
The Decemberists also upped the ante by proclaiming the first "Decemberists vs. Stephen Colbert Guitar Solo Challenge" and concluding, "Your move, Colbert."
Stephen Colbert
'He Comes in Peace'
Jimmy Carter
President Jimmy Carter is the subject of a documentary that will follow him across the United States as he promotes his latest tome.
"He Comes in Peace," from "The Silence of the Lambs"director Jonathan Demme, is being produced by Participant Prods., the socially conscious firm behind the hit Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
Demme and his crew will join Carter on his book tour for "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," which hit shelves November 14. At the same time, Carter, who has written more than 20 books, will speak about how to achieve peace in the Mideast and his lifelong philosophy of human compassion.
Jimmy Carter
Most Powerful Women
Hollywood
According to the Hollywood Reporter's 15th annual ranking, the most powerful woman in entertainment this year ia Amy Pascal, who heads Sony's film division and serves as co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment. She unseats Disney's Anne Sweeney, who held the top spot for two years. Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group and co-chair of media networks for the Walt Disney Co., ranked second this year.
Judy McGrath, MTV Networks chairman and chief executive, was No. 3 on the Women in Entertainment Power 100 list. She was followed by Paramount Pictures President Gail Berman and CBS Paramount Network Television Group President Nancy Tellem.
Rounding out the top 10 were Stacey Snider, co-chairman and CEO of DreamWorks SKG; Oprah Winfrey, chairman of Harpo Inc.; Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment; Dana Walden, president of 20th Century Fox Television; and Bonnie Hammer, president of USA Network and Sci Fi Channel.
Hollywood
'Dear Mr. Fantasy Concert'
Capaldi Benefit
Steve Winwood, Pete Townshend, Paul Weller and Bill Wyman are among those taking part in an all-star celebration of the late Jim Capaldi, a former member of Traffic.
The Dear Mr. Fantasy concert, named for one of Traffic's best-known albums, will celebrate the life and work of Capaldi, who died of cancer January 28, 2005, at the age of 60. The event will raise funds for the Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal, a charity in which Capaldi and his wife Anina were active.
Also confirmed to appear are Joe Walsh, former Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, Gary Moore, Simon Kirke, Dennis Locorriere, the Storys, Andy Newmark, Ray Cooper and keyboardist Paul "Wix" Wickens.
Capaldi Benefit
Internet Hoax Victim
Andy Rooney
Andy Rooney has never been shy about his opinions, but now he's being bedeviled by somebody else's words being circulated under his name.
The missive, which Rooney said had been passed along to him via e-mail several times, is a list of several anti-minority statements. One of the printable ones: "I have the right not to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird or tick me off."
Rooney is a frequent victim of statements falsely attributed to him and spread widely across the Net, along with George Carlin and Bill Gates, said Barbara Mikkelson, who runs a Web site devoted to tracking down urban myths and other scams.
Andy Rooney
Buying Spree
Bill Butler
A Texas bookstore owner bought a rare page of working lyrics for Beatle Paul McCartney's song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" for $192,000 at an auction of rock and pop memorabilia at Christie's on Monday.
Bill Butler also won the bidding for one of rock legend Jimi Hendrix's electric guitars -- a 1968 Fender Stratocaster -- for $168,000, the guitar's strap for $10,800 and a photograph of Hendrix and band members Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell framed by two topless blondes for $5,400.
Butler retired from the telecommunications industry before opening his rare and used book shop in Rosenberg, Texas, just outside Houston. He said he would display the guitar at his bookstore but would store the 1968 McCartney lyrics in a fireproof file cabinet.
Bill Butler
Cancels Appearance
Luciano Pavarotti
Opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti will not attend a concert on Wednesday that would have marked his first appearance since a cancer operation four months ago, prompting Italian media to speculate about his health.
Local organizers had said the 71-year-old Pavarotti had been billed to appear, although not sing, at a theater in Bergamo where he was to be given an award named after Gaetano Donizetti, the 19th century composer born in the northern Italian city.
Italian media speculated that his decision not to attend the Bergamo event, where several of his students will perform works by Donizetti, was due to continuing health problems.
Luciano Pavarotti
Little Black Dress Fetches $920,000
Audrey Hepburn
The iconic black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" sold for 410,000 pounds ($800,000) on Tuesday, around seven times its pre-sale estimate.
Including the premium paid to auctioneers Christie's, the total cost for the sleeveless, floor-length Givenchy cocktail gown rose to 467,200 pounds ($920,000).
The dress, one of three versions made for Hepburn for her role as socialite Holly Golightly in the classic romantic comedy, was being auctioned on behalf of the City of Joy Aid charity which helps underprivileged children in India.
According to Christie's, a second version of the dress remains in the Givenchy archives while a third is part of a collection of the Museum of Costume in Madrid.
Audrey Hepburn
Drops Lawsuit
Jackie Mason
Comedian Jackie Mason on Monday dropped a lawsuit in which he claimed the missionary group Jews for Jesus damaged him when it used his name and likeness in a pamphlet.
Mason appeared in federal court in Manhattan, where he accepted an apology from the group in return for dropping the lawsuit. Outside the court, Mason did a little spontaneous standup with reporters, but there was a serious tone to his wit.
"There's no such thing as a Jew for Jesus. It's like saying a black man is for the KKK," the 75-year-old Mason said. "You can't be a table and a chair. You're either a Jew or a gentile."
Jackie Mason
Presumptuous Pregnancy?
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy and former Spice Girl Melanie Brown may have dated earlier this year, but the actor-comedian is making it clear that he's not sure if he's the father of her unborn child.
Murphy, who stars in the upcoming "Dreamgirls" film, was recently asked if he was excited that Brown - known as Scary Spice when she was in the megahit group of the '90s - was pregnant. She has been photographed recently with an expanding belly.
"So are you happy with her because she's pregnant with your child?" asks the TV interviewer, apparently referring to Brown.
"Now you're being presumptuous because we're not together anymore," Murphy replies. "And I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir."
Eddie Murphy
Czech Town Buys Painter Schiele's Home
Egon Schiele
The Czech town of Cesky Krumlov has purchased the house where Austrian expressionist artist Egon Schiele lived and worked for part of his short and turbulent life, it said.
The town's development fund moved fast to buy the house where Schiele, a protege of Gustav Klimt, lived and worked in 1910 and 1911, after the asking price demanded by private owners for the rapidly disintegrating building fell to 3.9 million koruna (140,000 euros).
Cesky Krumlov's inhabitants did not take kindly to the fact that Schiele used local teenage girls as models for some of his nude paintings, and the artist was forced to leave the town in August 1911.
He died at the age of 28 in 1918 from the Spanish flu epidemic which was then sweeping Europe, just as exhibitions of his work were beginning to see some success.
Egon Schiele
First Recordings To Auction
Judy Garland
The first known recordings by Judy Garland -- made when she was just 12 years old and never heard in public -- are expected to fetch about $40,000 when they go up for auction next week.
The so-called "Lost Judy Recordings" consist of two March 1935 acetate discs created in a Hollywood recording studio when Judy Garland sang as her mother accompanied her on the piano.
They were discovered in material destined for the trash as a family cleared out a Beverly Hills home formerly lived in by Garland. The auctioneers said it was unclear whether the recordings were originals pressed that day or pressed later for Garland's personal library.
Judy Garland
'Rocky' Memorabilia Smithsonian-Bound
Sylvester Stallone
Rocky Balboa's boxing robe and gloves will share the same home as Dorothy's ruby red slippers, Abraham Lincoln's top hat and Thomas Edison's light bulb.
Actor and director Sylvester Stallone Tuesday donated memorabilia from his "Rocky" movies to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
The objects will be displayed starting Dec. 21 in the "Treasures of American History" exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum. The temporary exhibition features 150 well-known pieces from the Museum of American History while that building is closed for renovation.
Sylvester Stallone
Becoming Sunday-Only Comic
'FoxTrot'
Bill Amend will turn "FoxTrot" into a Sunday-only comic starting Dec. 31 in order to devote more time to other creative pursuits, Universal Press Syndicate announced today.
"After spending close to half of my life writing and drawing 'FoxTrot' cartoons, I think it's time I got out of the house and tried some new things," Amend said in a statement. "I love cartooning and I absolutely want to continue doing the strip, just not at the current all-consuming pace.
'FoxTrot'
NBC Universal To Launch TV Show
iVillage
NBC Universal said on Monday it plans to launch a new television show based on its iVillage Internet community for women over its Bravo cable network and its 10 network-owned TV stations.
"This is a real interactive, online and on-the-air television program that we are not going to judge by its ratings," NBC Universal Television Chief Executive Jeff Zucker told the Credit Suisse media and telecom conference in New York. He did not elaborate on the program's format.
iVillage
'The Successor'
Uri Geller
When the young Uri Geller packed his spoons and self-styled supernatural powers to seek fortune abroad, no one could have predicted he would return to his native Israel in triumph 35 years later as a reality TV star - no one, presumably, except Uri Geller.
The premise of Geller's new show, "The Successor" - which has received smash ratings here and started something of a paranormal fad - is that the psychic celebrity, now approaching his 60th birthday, has come home to choose an heir.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Geller attributed the show's success to Israel's Jewish mystical traditions. "People here have roots in positive mysticism carried through the centuries by the Kabbalah," he said, referring to the ancient mystical work that has won non-Jewish enthusiasts, most famously Madonna.
Uri Geller
Nielsen's Top-20
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 27-Dec. 3. 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. (1) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 24.01 million viewers.
2. (X) "NFL Postgame Show," Fox, 21.89 million viewers.
3. (12) "NCIS," CBS, 17.96 million viewers.
4. (8) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 17.92 million viewers.
5. (12) "Deal or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 17.70 million viewers.
6. (15) "House," Fox, 17.31 million viewers.
7. (6) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 17.13 million viewers.
8. (27) "The OT," Fox, 16.55 million viewers.
9. (9) "CSI: NY," CBS, 16.43 million viewers.
10. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 16.08 million viewers.
11. (20) "Survivor: Cook Islands," CBS, 15.64 million viewers.
12. (24) "Heroes," NBC, 15.56 million viewers.
13. (11) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 15.50 million viewers.
14. (7) "Sunday Night Football: Seattle at Denver," NBC, 15.42 million viewers.
15. (17) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 14.64 million viewers.
16. (12) "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.28 million viewers.
17. (17) "Cold Case," CBS, 14.11 million viewers.
18. (21) "ER," NBC, 13.36 million viewers.
19. (X) "BCS Selection Show," Fox, 13.35 million viewers.
20. (X) Movie: "The Polar Express" ABC, 13.21 million viewers.
Ratings
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