'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: Social Security Crib Sheet
Here are some things to know: 1. The system is not going broke. For now, it takes in $180 billion or so each year more than it pays out - even though we have only 3 workers for every retiree (down from 41 when the system was launched).
KARA PLATONI: Berkeley blogger Markos Moulitsas wants nothing less than to reinvent party politics.
If you followed the 2004 election season only on television, you missed out on lots of the good stuff. This was the year the Internet erupted as the outlet for political discourse, and a surprisingly large number of memorable moments came out of the rolling conversation found on the Berkeley-based Weblog Daily Kos.
Joan Entmacher and Nancy Duff Campbell: A True Safety Net
Social Security is the foundation of women's economic security in retirement - without it, half of older women would be poor.
Bill Hicks: Comedian
When did mediocrity and banality become a good image for your children? I want my children to listen to people who fucking rocked. I don't care if they died in puddles of their own vomit. I want someone who plays from his fucking heart.
Interview: Eve Ensler on "good" bodies and bad politics
It's hard not to admire a woman who looks you straight in the eye and says with a beatific smile, "I love the word 'vagina.'"
V-Day: Until the Violence Stops
Cartoons by Millard Draudt
Cartoon Strip: Dykes to Watch Out For
Urge your Senator to stand with the Representatives and contest the vote.
Purple Gene Reviews
Gretchen Wilson & 'Redneck Woman'
Purple Genes' review of Gretchen Wilson on "60 Minutes" News Magazine (CBS):
I was in Nashville about a year ago at a Bar & Grill called "3rd and Lindsley". I was there because my favorite singer/songwriter in the world, Jeffrey Steele, was playing. This is a beer bar with bad chili beans and beautiful women and, because Steele was playing, there were people from the music industry hanging out. I noticed this guy with a big white cowboy hat on who looked familiar. It was John Rich who used to be the lead singer for a band called "Lonestar". Well I went up and introduced myself and I said, "What's goin' on?" He said that his buddy "Big Kenny" and himself had started a new band called "Big & Rich" and they were coming out with a song called "Save a Horse - Ride a Cowboy". Hee Haw.....then he said that he'd been working with this bar tender babe who he'd gotten a record deal for named Gretchen Wilson...and that their first single was called "Redneck Woman"!!!!! I said, "That sounds like some good shit!" He said, "No! this is here is gonna be killer shit!"...........
Well a year later and 3 million CDs of "Redneck Woman" sold, "60 Minutes" news magazine sent Ed Bradley out to Nashville to interview Gretchen Wilson - the "Redneck Woman". What a refreshing face on the music scene. Not since Loretta Lynns' "Coal Miners Daughter" has there been such a shot of "REAL" in country music. All the big recording contracts were going to hollywood model babes like Faith Hill and SHeDAISY! Now we get a sassy sexy hillbilly bar babe...that can really sing....and strut.
Ed asks Gretchen how she broke into the music business. She tells about her childhood moving from trailer park to trailer park and her alcoholic single mom and tending bar at "Big O's" in Southern Illinois and being tough and moving to Nashville and tending bars and singing here and there and finally being approached by ........John Rich! John said something like, "Hey honey, I like your voice! I know a few people in the record industry and.........." Gretchen swatted him away like so many wanna be's hitting on her......well John Rich was persistant and he did know people in the record industry....and he got Gretchen to write this little story about her upbringing called "Redneck Woman" and then brought it to the record company and...........godammit......"Redneck Woman is a National Phenomenom....I think she's got a great voice and a cute ass and sassy lips...and I'm happy that she made it!!!!!
And by the way......."Fuck You Toby Keith"
Purple Gene gives Gretchen Wilson 10 ice cold Buds out of 10 for being a breath of fresh air in a stinky stupid and stale time in Country Music!!!!!
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but very windy.
Dear old Dad & the Babe are visiting in Arizona.
Picture Shown on Giant NY Billboard
Bush Monkey
A portrait of resident Bush using monkeys to form his image that was banished from a New York art show last week amid charges of censorship was projected on a giant billboard in Manhattan on Tuesday.
"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created the stir last week at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show.
Animal Magazine, a quarterly arts publication that had organized the month-long show, said anonymous donors had paid for the picture to be posted on a giant digital billboard over the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, used by thousands of commuters traveling between Manhattan and New Jersey.
The original picture will be auctioned on eBay, with part of the proceeds donated to parents of U.S. soldiers wishing to supply their sons and daughters with body armor in Iraq.
Bush Monkey
New Season Pushed Back
Dave Chappelle
Work on the hugely anticipated new season of Dave Chappelle's sketch show is behind schedule due to its 31-year-old ringleader's illness and lack of new material from his writing staff, according to the New York Post.
The new season was supposed to premiere Feb. 16. It will now begin airing sometime in late April or May, per the Post.
Chappelle has reportedly been laid up with a nasty flu bug, adding to delays brought on by the lack of written material so far for season three. The Emmy-nominated comedy is currently on hiatus for the holidays and will resume production in January.
Last week, Paramount pushed back the season 2 DVD release--which had been slated to hit stores Feb. 8 to coincide with the new TV season--presumably due to the production slowdown. No new release date for the DVD has been set yet.
Dave Chappelle
Switch Awards Site in Show of Solidarity
Directors Guild
The Directors Guild of America has moved the location of its annual awards in solidarity with workers at the Century Plaza Hotel who are engaged in contentious contract talks with management at the Century City venue.
The guild's 57th annual awards will take place at the Beverly Hilton. The originally scheduled date of Jan. 29 remains the same. Feature nominees will be announced Jan. 6.
Citing similar concerns, the Producers Guild of America last week moved its Jan. 22 awards ceremony from the Century Plaza to Culver Studios. The Writers Guild of America also is looking at other venues because its Feb. 19 show is still set for the Century Plaza. The hotel workers union and management at nine luxury hotels have sparred over salary, health care and other contract provisions.
Directors Guild
Washington Post Buys
Slate
Washington Post Co. on Tuesday said it would buy Microsoft Corp.'s online magazine Slate, whose mix of politics, news and culture has built a loyal following but failed to yield significant profits.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Slate accounts for only a tiny portion of Microsoft's overall business. Microsoft put Slate on the block in July.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive since 2000, has spearheaded a move to spin off businesses that are not part of the company's core software development operations.
Slate
Start Blood Drive
Penn & Teller
Magicians Penn & Teller have conjured up a second annual blood drive they've tagged "Dreaming of a Red Christmas."
The pair will donate two tickets to their show at the Rio hotel and casino to anyone who donates blood through Jan. 1, they told a news conference this week at United Blood Services in Las Vegas.
"We know that the holidays are a hard time for UBS and blood (supplies) are low, so we thought it was the least we could," said Penn Jillette, speaking for silent partner Penn.
"You donate blood, you save a life and you get to see our stupid show," Jillette joked.
Penn & Teller
Guest Appearance at Met
Dame Edna
Possums, beware. Dame Edna Everage, one of Australia's most exotic imports, will make a guest appearance in the Metropolitan Opera's New Year's Eve gala performance of Rossini's comic opera "Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)."
Known for her purple hair and oversized rhinestone eyeglasses, Dame Edna (aka impersonator Barry Humphries) will appear in Act II and sing during the "music lesson scene" in which the beautiful Rosina (Katarina Karneus) and Count Almaviva (Matthew Polenzani) are found in a lovers' tryst, it was announced Monday.
Dame Edna
Honors Journalists Devoted to Freedom
Reporters Without Borders
Algerian journalist Hafnaoui Ghoul, Chinese editor Liu Xiaobo and Mexican newspaper Zeta won prizes from a media rights group on Tuesday rewarding devotion to press freedoms.
Each of the winners will receive 2,500 euros ($3,347) from Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which gives the awards to highlight the threat to press freedom and freedom of information.
Ghoul, who is also a human rights activist, won the prize for journalists who show devotion to media freedoms through their work, by taking a stand or by their attitude.
Reporters Without Borders
Hospital Update
Dick Clark
TV personality-producer Dick Clark will spend Christmas, and perhaps New Year's Eve, in a hospital where he's recovering from a mild stroke, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Clark, who suffered the stroke Dec. 6, is out of the intensive care unit and "doing some rehab," said publicist Paul Shefrin.
He will remain hospitalized through Christmas, and will be watching his annual New Year's Eve television special either from his hospital bed or at home in Malibu, Shefrin said.
Dick Clark
Jenny Craig Ads
Kirstie Alley
"Fat Actress" star Kirstie Alley has signed a deal to appear in ads for the Jenny Craig weight-management program.
Alley, who has said she wants to lose the weight that prompted her new Showtime series, will star in Jenny Craig Inc.'s 2005 advertising campaign. The TV commercials will begin airing Jan. 10, the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company announced Monday. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
The commercials will follow Alley's progress. The Emmy-winning actress, who starred in television's "Cheers" and "Veronica's Closet," will also keep a weekly blog on the company's Web site.
Kirstie Alley
Faces U.S. Pressure Over Chess Champ Fischer
Iceland
Iceland is under U.S. pressure to drop plans to offer a home to fugitive former chess champion Bobby Fischer, who is wanted for breaking sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992, officials said Monday.
Icelandic officials said last week they had invited Fischer to live on the North Atlantic island, where he won a classic victory against Russian Boris Spassky in 1972. The idea has not found favor in the United States.
Reykjavik made its offer to Fischer after Icelandic chess fans persuaded him to write to their government requesting residency.
Iceland
Real-Life Hotel Rwanda Innkeeper
Paul Rusesabagina
Paul Rusesabagina still has sleepless nights. And when he does nod off, he still has nightmares.
Witnessing wholesale slaughter and narrowly eluding death remains fresh for the hotel manager who saved 1,268 people during Rwanda's genocide a decade ago. For a long time, he was bitter. Somehow, though, the movie Hotel Rwanda has helped him allay some of that pain - which stemmed from the world ignoring the hellish situation.
"Whenever I talk about the genocide, whenever I will see the movie, I see it as if it was happening yesterday, or today in the morning," says Rusesabagina, 50, who now runs a heavy-duty transport business in Zambia.
For a lot more, Paul Rusesabagina
Sued For Plagiarism
The Da Vinci Code
A New Zealand author is embroiled in a plagiarism row over Dan Brown's blockbuster hit, the religious thriller The Da Vinci Code, and has launched legal action against the novel's publishers.
Nelson-born Michael Baigent and American writing partner Richard Leigh are suing Random House Group in Britain, claiming damages that could run to millions of dollars.
Baigent and Leigh, whose own 1982 work Holy Blood, Holy Grail caused such religious outrage when it was published that it sparked death threats, say Brown has lifted large tracts of their research without permission.
Their lawsuit claims at least £150,000 damages for breach of copyright, saying a "substantial" amount of their work has been used and asking that copies of The Da Vinci Code be destroyed.
The Da Vinci Code
Download Site Closed
SuprNova
SuprNova.org, one of the Internet's most popular sites for finding links to download pirated movies, has been taken offline by its creator amid a legal crackdown by Hollywood's copyright cops.
Slovenia-based SuprNova offered thousands of special files that enabled users to download movies, TV shows, music and other content using the BitTorrent file-transfer network.
SuprNova's creator, who goes by the name Sloncek, took the site down over the weekend, citing the increased legal pressure on those hosting torrent files. In addition to MPAA's civil lawsuits in the United States and Britain, criminal charges were filed in France, the Netherlands and Finland.
SuprNova
Marijuana Farm Board Game
'The Grow-Op Game'
The hot new Christmas gift in Canada this year is a board game that lets players run their own "B.C. Bud" marijuana farm.
Creators of "The Grow-Op Game" say the $39.95 "educational board game" highlights the perils of the marijuana business and cautions would-be growers.
Players roll the dice, move around the board, renting properties, buying lights and equipment, planting and harvesting crops. Moving in an opposite direction on the cylinder shaped board is the "GrowBuster." He lands on the unsuspecting player's property, rips out the plants and sends the player directly to jail.
'The Grow-Op Game'
The New 'Craiggers'
Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson doesn't fit the mold of the typical late-night talk show host -- and doesn't plan to be.
Ferguson doesn't yet know exactly where he's going to take "The Late Late Show," the CBS gig he'll start in mid-January. But there's one thing the former standup comedian -- best known to American audiences as the boss on "The Drew Carey Show" -- knows for certain: It isn't all about the laughs. There's the comedic portion at the opening of the show, but that's not the sum of what Ferguson's looking for in a talk show. Ferguson says he considers "The Late Show" as a conversation with his guests.
The Scottish-born Ferguson has spent a career going his own way. Even with seven years on an American sitcom, Ferguson's last 10 years have been so much more than that.
For the rest, Craig Ferguson
Unlikely Stories
2004
Every year, thousands of news stories get overlooked, lost in the welter of major international events.
Here, then, is a selection of some of those "offbeat" stories which offered an insight into human nature in 2004:
ZHENGZHOU, China: A Chinese couple raised their only child for 13 years in the belief it was a girl, until a visit to the local hospital alerted them to the fact that he was really a boy with underdeveloped sexual organs. They did not realize anything was wrong until they were baffled by a "reaction in the lower half of his body" whenever he watched pretty women on TV. Doctors concluded he was suffering from a rare disease causing sexual organs to be somewhat hidden from view and performed a successful three-hour operation to correct the problem.
RATCHABURI, Thailand: A group of Thai Buddhist monks were arrested and defrocked after holding a spate of rowdy drug and alcohol parties. Villagers complained about their wild behaviour and drug-taking at the local temple. Five of the saffron-robed monks tested positive for amphetamine pills and a sixth was blind drunk.
COSENZA, Italy: A driverless railway engine thundered nearly 200 kilometres (120 miles) through southern Italy at 80 kilometres (50 miles) an hour before staff managed to derail it. The driver had set the locomotive in motion, leaned out to see if the line ahead was clear, then slipped and fell from his cabin. Another railway worker tried to jump aboard and stop it but failed and the train gathered speed until it was finally switched to a track with a long incline and it smashed through buffers at a disused station before finally coming to a halt.
For a bunch more, 2004
A Week of Protests Planned
Inauguration
Groups targeting resident Bush's economic agenda, the legitimacy of his election and the war in Iraq plan a week of events to counter his inauguration Jan. 20.
Inauguration week will feature rallies, marches and demonstrations with the focus on peaceful, family-friendly gatherings, said organizer Shahid Buttar. Hundreds of groups throughout the country will participate, Buttar said, including Mobilization for Global Justice and the Committee to ReDefeat the President, a PAC that sees Bush's presidency as illegitimately won.
The groups have received permits for parks around the city, Buttar said, but they are still waiting for clearance to march along the Inaugural Parade route. More details will be released once all permits have been secured, said David Lytel, founder of Redefeat Bush.
Inauguration Protests
Inauguration
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 13-19. 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, 22.3 million viewers.
2. (3) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 20.5 million viewers.
3. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 19.5 million viewers.
4. (12) "60 Minutes," CBS, 18.6 million viewers.
5. (12) "The Apprentice 2," NBC, 16.9 million viewers.
6. (9) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 16.2 million viewers.
7. (4) "Without a Trace," CBS, 16.2 million viewers.
8. (7) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 15.9 million viewers.
9. (14) "CSI: NY," CBS, 15.6 million viewers.
10. (10) "Cold Case," CBS, 14.8 million viewers.
11. (15) "NCIS," CBS, 14.6 million viewers.
12. (8) "NFL Monday Night Football: Kansas City at Tennessee," ABC, 13.8 million viewers.
13. (X) "CSI: Thursday Special," CBS, 13.6 million viewers.
14. (25) "Boston Legal," ABC, 12.7 million viewers.
15. (21) "The West Wing," NBC, 12.5 million viewers.
16. (10) "Lost," ABC, 11.6 million viewers.
17. (27) "CBS Sunday Movie: Fallen Angel," CBS, 11.5 million viewers.
18. (33) "According to Jim," ABC, 11.3 million viewers.
19. (17) "Law & Order," NBC, 11.3 million viewers.
20. (X) "George Lopez: Special," ABC, 11.2 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Son Seals
Blues singer-guitarist Son Seals, one of the most distinctive voices to emerge in the genre during the 1970s, died Monday in Chicago of complications from diabetes. He was 62.
Seals helped establish Chicago-based Alligator Records as the era's premier blues label with a run of albums featuring his tough songs, brooding vocals and spikey guitar work. He won three W.C. Handy Blues Awards, and received a Grammy Award nomination in 1980 for his work on the live compilation "Blues Deluxe."
Born in Osceola, Ark., Seals learned guitar from his father, a former minstrel show performer and juke joint operator. He initially established himself professionally as a drummer, working with guitarist Earl Hooker and appearing behind Albert King on the 1968 Stax album "Live Wire/Blues Power."
Seals moved to Chicago in 1971 and began fronting his own groups on the city's South Side. Signed to Alligator, he made an immediate impression with his impassioned 1973 debut "The Son Seals Blues Band." After the release of its 1977 sequel "Midnight Son," the New York Times called Seals "the most exciting young blues guitarist and singer in years."
Seals had a tempestuous relationship with Alligator and its founder-owner Bruce Iglauer, who also managed him; he departed the label in the mid-'80s, but returned to the fold in the '90s. His last album "Lettin' Go" was cut for Telarc in 2000.
He toured widely, despite the loss of a leg to diabetes. Late in his career he opened several shows for the jam band Phish, who covered his song "Funky Bitch."
Seals is survived by his sister Katherine Sims and 14 children.
Son Seals
