'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Weekly Review
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW
December 23, 2003
A federal appeals court ordered resident Bush to release
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was arrested last year in
Chicago and has been held since then as an enemy combatant.
The court ruled that "the resident, acting alone, possesses
no inherent constitutional authority to detain American
citizens seized within the United States, away from the zone
of combat, as enemy combatants."
Nielsen Media Research said that
a reality TV show featuring Internet sex star and hotel
heiress Paris Hilton received better ratings than the Diane
Sawyer interview with resident Bush. In that interview, the
resident said that he saw no difference between his earlier
claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass
destruction and the more recent emphasis on weapons
programs. "So what's the difference? If he were to acquire
weapons, he would be the danger," Bush said. "I'm telling
you & I made the right decision for America because Saddam
Hussein used weapons of mass destruction, invaded Kuwait.
But the fact that he is not there is, means America's a more
secure country."
Continued at www.harpers.org/weekly-review
--Roger D. Hodge
A Day Late
Happy Festivus!
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still overcast.
Made a run by Costco. In years past, a visit there this time was looked forward to as much as a root canal.
Still no sour cream, but the parking lot was bearable, and the lines were reasonable.
Dear old Dad & the Babe are in AZ for the week.
BAGnews is on vacation til 5 January.
Seem to be coming down with the kid's cold. Wah.
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS begins the evening with '60 Minutes II', followed by a RERUN 'King Of Queens', then a
RERUN 'Becker', followed by '48 Hours'.
Dave is Pre-empted. (RERUNs all next week)
Craiggers is Pre-empted (RERUNs all next week)
NBC rolls out the movie 'It's A Wonderful Life', again.
Jay is Pre-empted.
Conan is Pre-empted
Carson Daly is Pre-empted (RERUNs all next week)
ABC opens the night with a RERUN 'My Wife & Kids', followed by a RERUN 'It's All Relative', then a RERUN 'George Lopez', followed by a
RERUN 'Married To The Kellys', then 'America's Funniest Home Videos'.
On a RERUN Jimmy Kimmel (from 10/27/03), are Pat O'Brien, L.A. Laker Derek Fisher, and Ima Robot, with guest co-host David Alan Grier. (RERUNs all next week)
The WB offers a RERUN 'Smallville', followed by another RERUN 'Smallville'.
Faux has the movie 'Anastacia'.
UPN has a RERUN 'Enterprise', followed by a RERUN 'Jake 2.0'.
A&E has 'Biography' (Santa Claus), 'American Justice', and another 'American Justice'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Hunter', followed by the movie '48 HRS', then the movie 'Smokey & The Bandit II'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Davies;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Kirkham, Lancashire;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Edinburgh;
[8pm] 'The Life Laundry' - Iswich;
[8:30pm] 'Escape to the Country' - Wolverhampton to Shropshire;
[9pm] 'My Hero' - Pregnant;
[9:40pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 7;
[10:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 8;
[11pm] 'The Life Laundry' - Iswich;
[11:30pm] 'Escape to the Country' - Wolverhampton to Shropshire;
[12am] 'Changing Rooms';
[12:30am] 'Changing Rooms' - St. Leonards;
[1am] 'When Changing Rooms Met Ground Force';
[2am] 'Ground Force' - Portmellon;
[2:30am] 'Ground Force' - Pitsea;
[3am] 'Changing Rooms' - Tenerife;
[3:30am] 'Changing Rooms' - St. Leonards;
[4am] 'When Changing Rooms Met Ground Force';
[5am] 'Ground Force' - Portmellon;
[5:30am] 'Ground Force' - Pitsea; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Queer Eye', 'The Restaurant', another 'The Restaurant', still another 'The Restaurantt', then yet another 'The Restaurant'.
Comedy Central has old 'Saturday Night Live''s all day, followed by the movie 'Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie'.
Jon Stewart is Pre-empted all week. (RERUNs all next week)
History is all 'Jesus of Nazareth' all night.
SciFi has 'Beyond Belief', another 'Beyond Belief', followed by the movie 'Highlander: Endgame', and then the movie 'Highlander 2'.
TCM:
[6am] 'The Three Godfathers' (1948);
[8am] 'A Christmas Carol' (1938);
[9:30am] 'Tenth Avenue Angel' (1948);
[11am] 'Meet John Doe' (1941);
[1:30pm] 'The Man Who Came To Dinner' (1941);
[3:30pm] 'Since You Went Away' (1944);
[6:30pm] 'Holiday Affair' (1950);
[8pm] 'Meet Me In St. Louis' (1944);
[10pm] 'Holiday Inn' (1942);
[12am] 'The Bishop's Wife' (1947);
[2am] 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek' (1944);
[4am] 'Love Finds Andy Hardy' (1938). (ALL TIMES EST)
A camel with Santa Clause hat, placed on the animal's head by his owner to attract foreign tourists, sits in front of the 4,500-year-old Pyramids at Giza, on the edge of the Egyptian capital Cairo, December 23, 2003. Egypt is a mainly Muslim country but, with a thriving tourist industry, many people join the seasonal festivities. Egypt has a large Christian minority, who celebrate Christmas on January 7.
Photo by Aladin Abdel Naby
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Pataki Pardons Posthumously
Lenny Bruce
Comedian Lenny Bruce was granted a posthumous pardon by Gov. George Pataki on Tuesday for a nearly 40-year-old obscenity conviction prompted by a foul-mouthed political commentary.
Pataki, a third-term Republican, called his decision to issue the first posthumous pardon in New York state history "a declaration of New York's commitment to upholding the First Amendment."
The campaign to win a pardon for the groundbreaking 1960s comedian was supported by his ex-wife and daughter, more than two dozen First Amendment lawyers and entertainers including Robin Williams, the Smothers Brothers and Penn and Teller.
During a November 1964 performance at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City's Greenwich Village, Bruce used more than 100 "obscene" words. Undercover police detectives attended the show, and later testified against Bruce. The charge was giving an obscene performance.
He was convicted following a six-month trial. Bruce mishandled his own appeal, and, beset by legal and financial problems, died of a drug overdose in 1966 with the conviction still on the books. He was 37.
While Bruce was considered a pariah by some in the '60s, he's generally viewed now as a performer who totally changed the stand-up comedy business.
Lenny Bruce
2003 Concert Earnings
The Boss Tops List
Bruce Springsteen was the boss of the concert business in 2003, raking in $115.9 million to rank second only to the Rolling Stones for the most money ever earned by a concert act in a year.
The Stones' $121.2 million earned in 1994 still stands as the record, Pollstar said. The Stones brought in $38.5 million this year, to rank 14th.
Pollstar hasn't finished its calculations yet, but Editor Gary Bongiovanni predicted 2003 will be the fourth record-setting year in a row with around $2.4 billion in concert business.
Celine Dion finished second to Springsteen, earning $80.5 million for a one-city, 145-date "tour": her residency at a Las Vegas casino.
"If you're wondering why Elton John is considering camping there for a while — that's why," Bongiovanni said. "You can make a lot of money and you don't have to travel."
The Boss Tops List
An image showing a union flag and a pair of unicorns is projected onto Buckingham Palace in London as part of the 'Brightening up London' campaign, December 23, 2003. The palace is officially due to be lit up from 1700 GMT on Christmas Eve after Britain's Queen Elizabeth II gave her permission after being impressed by Bob Geldof's 'Peace and Hope' message projected onto Wellington Arch in London at the beginning of December.
Photo by Toby Melville
Appearing in Kucinich Ads
Danny Glover
Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich will broadcast the first television commercials of his campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire next month, featuring actor Danny Glover.
Nine ads will start running in the two states and in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4. All have the theme "Fear ends, hope begins" and follow Kucinich's anti-war rhetoric.
In one ad appealing to young voters, Glover says: "If pre-emptive war continues to drive our foreign policy, if our volunteer troops are stretched thinner and thinner, you could be facing compulsory draft. All young Americans deserve a world without end — not a war without end."
Danny Glover
Van Cliburn, Funk Brothers, Ella Jenkins, Sonny Rollins, Doc Watson & Artie Shaw
Grammy Life Awards
Classical musician Van Cliburn, unsung Motown session players the Funk Brothers, folk singer Ella Jenkins, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, band leader Artie Shaw and folk/country guitarist Doc Watson will receive lifetime achievement Grammy Awards next year.
Additionally, jazz producer Orrin Keepnews, songwriting team Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and pianist and radio host Marian McPartland will be honored with trustees awards, which recognize contributions to the industry by non-performers.
The honorees will be acknowledged as part of the weeklong celebration leading up to the 46th annual Grammy Awards, which will be held Feb. 9 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Grammy Life Awards
'Five Days to Midnight' for Sci Fi
Quaid & Hutton
Randy Quaid has been tapped to star opposite Timothy Hutton in the upcoming Sci Fi Channel miniseries "Five Days to Midnight.
The five-hour event centers on a college professor (Hutton) who learns that he is about to be murdered and has five days to figure out who is trying to kill him. Quaid will play homicide detective Irwin Sikorski, who is enlisted by Hutton to aid his frantic search after he learns that Sikorski will be assigned to investigate his homicide in the not-so-distant future.
Quaid & Hutton
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Hosting Peabody Awards Ceremony
Katie Couric
Katie Couric, co-anchor of NBC's "Today" show, will host next year's George Foster Peabody Awards ceremony.
The 63rd annual awards ceremony will be held May 17 at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York.
The Peabody Awards, which are administered by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. Entry deadline for programs aired in 2003 is Jan. 15. Winners will be announced in April.
Katie Couric
www.peabody.uga.edu
Three newborn tiger pups are shown at the Shihu South China Tiger Breeding Base in Suzhou, China, Tuesday, Dec 23, 2003.
Photo by Wang Jiangzhong
Donate to Kids' Fund
Simon & Garfunkel
The recently reunited Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel announced another collaboration Tuesday: a joint $1 million donation to The Children's Health Fund.
The singers, who launched a reunion tour earlier this year, made a two-part donation. Half the money will go to CHF's national network for poor and homeless children; the other half will go to a pediatric preparedness program run by CHF at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
"Paul and Artie are American icons, and their actions today show that they are committed to improving the quality of life and opportunities for all of America's children," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the fund.
Simon & Garfunkel
Publisher Cancels Chinese Rights
'Living History'
The U.S. publisher of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoirs has withdrawn rights for the Chinese translation, citing the Chinese publisher's unwillingness to restore passages critical of the government.
Simon & Schuster had learned in September that Yilin Press, a Chinese government-backed publisher, removed references in "Living History" to the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, and altered Clinton's comments about human rights activist Harry Wu, who campaigns against abuses in the Chinese labor camps where he spent 19 years.
Simon & Schuster demanded an immediate reprinting of the complete, uncensored text. In response, Yilin sent an apologetic letter, saying the company had to rush the Chinese version to stores to compete with counterfeit versions sold by street peddlers.
But after three months of negotiations, Simon & Schuster decided to cancel the contract. Efforts by The Associated Press to reach Yilin on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Yilin's deputy editor in chief, Liu Feng, told The New York Times that the company was still reviewing the situation.
'Living History'
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Renewed
'Surviving Nugent'
VH1 has ordered a full season of "Surviving Nugent," a reality series that drops contestants into the wild world of rock legend Ted Nugent.
Encouraged by strong ratings for a two-hour special featuring Nugent, who also has been featured on other VH1 programs such as "Behind the Music," the cable channel ordered additional episodes to air next year.
Details on the series are not yet available, but "Surviving Nugent" is expected to be a hybrid of MTV's "The Osbournes," focusing on the unconventional lifestyle of a bad-boy rocker and his equally odd family, and "Survivor," which emphasizes outdoor competitions not for the faint at heart.
'Surviving Nugent'
South Korean anti-war protesters shout slogans during a rally against the dispatch of combat troops to Iraq, in Seoul on December 23, 2003. South Korea will deploy 3,000 troops to Iraq in late April to help reconstruct the war-torn country, Seoul officials said on December 23, 2003.
Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon
Out of Intensive Care
Ozzy Osbourne
Rocker Ozzy Osbourne has been moved out of intensive care as he recovers from the crash of an all-terrain vehicle two weeks ago, his family said Tuesday.
Osbourne, 55, fractured his collarbone, eight ribs and a neck vertebra when the 600-pound ATV flipped and landed on top of him at his estate in Buckinghamshire, southern England, on Dec. 8. He spent a week on a ventilator.
In a written statement, the Osbourne family said Ozzy had been moved from Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, west of London, to a private clinic.
Ozzy Osbourne
Disney to Argue Case in February
Pooh
A judge in the long-running lawsuit over merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh on Monday set a Feb. 24 date to hear arguments by Walt Disney Co. that its opponents stole documents.
Although the session is just another step in the 12-year-old legal battle, which is now being heard by California Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy, it is also the first major hearing in more than a year.
Stephen Slesinger Inc., the family firm that acquired rights to the honey-loving bear in 1930, denies it stole papers from Disney and says the company is making false accusations to divert attention from its own wrongdoing.
Disney has said hundreds of millions of dollars could be at stake in the dispute, although it denies the Slesingers' contention that it shortchanged the family on royalties.
Pooh
Shocked By Corgi Death
Queen Elizabeth II
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was said to be distraught after an English bull terrier owned by her daughter Princess Anne killed one of her beloved corgis, a best-selling newspaper said.
Elizabeth was said to be "absolutely devastated" over the death of Pharos after he was savaged by Dottie, according to the newspaper.
Just last year Anne, known as the Princess Royal, was fined after Dottie attacked two children in Windsor Great Park, in west London.
Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the alleged incident, which was said to have happened on Monday afternoon as the royal family gathered for Christmas at Sandringham in Norfolk, east England.
Queen Elizabeth II
In Memory
Les Tremayne
Les Tremayne, an English-born actor considered to have one of the best-known voices of radio's golden age, died Friday, his family said. He was 90.
Tremayne, who in 1995 was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, died at St. John's Health Center, his wife, Joan, said Monday.
Tremayne played the lead in radio series including "The Falcon," "The Adventures of the Thin Man" (as Nick Charles) and "One Man's Family." He starred in "First Nighter Program" from 1936 to 1943.
He also had an active television career from the late 1940s through the early 1990s, making guest appearances on shows such as "Perry Mason" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." He had recurring roles in series such as "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" and "Shazam!"
He also provided voices for several cartoon series, including "Mr. Magoo" and the 1986 "Jonny Quest."
Tremayne was born near London on April 16, 1913, to an American electrician-carpenter. His mother was an aspiring actress.
The family moved to Chicago when he was 4 and Tremayne grew up in tough parts of the city, his wife said.
While still in high school, Tremayne won his first radio role on the show "Night Court."
He moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s.
After the introduction of television, he appeared in the TV version of "One Man's Family" in 1949.
He also appeared in or provided voices for movies including "North by Northwest," "The Gallant Hours" and "Goldfinger."
Les Tremayne
In Memory
Wah Ming Chang
Wah Ming Chang, an Academy Award-winning animator and a Carmel Valley artist, died Monday. He was 86.
Chang worked as an artist for more than seven decades. He worked on three Walt Disney films and as a Hollywood costume designer and sculptor.
Born in Honolulu to two artists, Chang moved to San Francisco with his family in the early 1920s. In San Francisco, they managed the Ho Ho Tea Room, a hangout for bohemian artists. Artists and journalist Blanding Sloan, a regular customer, took an interest in the 6-year-old Chang after he discovered him sketching portraits on the back of his mother's menus.
By the age of 9, Chang had his own show at a downtown San Francisco art gallery. After his mother died, Chang moved with Sloan and his wife to their Hollywood home and started creating film sets for the Hollywood Bowl at the age of 16.
Chang met his wife, Glenella Taylor, while working with Sloan in Dallas on "The Calvacade of Texas," a show celebrating the Texas Centennial, in 1936. When a 21-year-old Chang started working for Anaheim-based Disney in 1939, he was the youngest member of Disney's Effects and Model Department.
Chang developed polio and lost the use of his legs shortly after starting at Disney but managed to recover after a 21-day hospitalization. He married Taylor in Texas in 1941 — California law at the time did not allow marriage between a Chinese and a Caucasian.
Some of his more notable works include a stop-motion animation production of "The Three Bears." Chang created wooden models of Pinocchio and Bambi so that Disney animators could study body movements. He also contributed to "Bozo the Clown," "Tom Thumb," "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and "The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao."
Chang designed costumes for the film "The King and I" starring Yul Brenner, created masks for "The Planet of the Apes" and made Elizabeth Taylor's headdress in "Cleopatra." He sculpted a series of heads to animate the first Pillsbury Doughboy and made creatures for the television series "The Outer Limits" and "Star Trek." It was his work on "The Time Machine" that earned him an Oscar for special effects.
Chang is survived by a half-sister, Lana Price of Carmel, and several nieces and nephews. His wife of nearly 60 years died in 1997.
Wah Ming Chang
Scientists at Texas A and M University have produced what they believe is the first cloned deer, the school said on December 22, 2003. Tests have confirmed that a fawn named Dewey born to a surrogate mother in May was a genetic duplicate of a male white-tailed deer from southern Texas whose skin samples were used in the cloning process, the school said. 'Dewey is developing normally for a fawn his age and appears healthy,' said Dr. Mark Westhusin, who was lead investigator on the project. Dewey is seen in this recent file photo.
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