Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Shock Doctrine, U.S.A. (New York Times)
Madison, Wis., is looking a lot like Baghdad in 2003, with government officials exploiting fiscal crises for fun and profit.
Froma Harrop: "Michele Bachmann, Let's Make A Deal" (Creators Sundicate)
I'll make a deal with you, Michele Bachmann. We taxpayers don't have to subsidize breast pumps in return for not subsidizing your business. From 1995 to 2006, the Bachmann family glommed $251,000 off the farm program, according to the Environmental Working Group. Fiscal conservatives call these government handouts by their rightful name, corporate welfare. Are we getting through to you, Michele?
Jake Tapper: Political Punch (blogs.abcnews.com/)
President Obama has instructed the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which has since 1996 allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex partnerships legally recognized in other states.
THEODORE ROSS: Out of Work, Out of Time (New York Times)
Why does being out of a job leave you with so little time for the kids?
Jim Hightower: SURPRISE: GUESS WHO WANTS GUN CONTROL?
Let's take a little trip to Irony, Arizona.
Deborah Orr: When weight becomes a class issue (Guardian)
Broadly, the rich are too thin and the poor are too fat.
20 Questions: Kim Edwards (PopMatters)
'Labyrinth walker' and award winning author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about allowing oneself to head out into uncertain territory -- be it in the middle of a lake or the middle of a story -- and see where the journey takes you. Her latest, The Lake of Dreams published in January.
"The Age of Auden: Postwar Poetry and the American Scene" by Aidan Wasley: A review by Troy Jollimore
By the time of his death in 1973, at age 66, the poet Wystan Hugh Auden had been an American citizen for almost three decades. Born in Britain in 1907, the onetime schoolteacher was already well on his way to establishing himself as one of the 20th century's leading poets when in 1939 he emigrated to the United States. It is not surprising, then, that at his passing it was American poets who felt most keenly that they had lost a master craftsman and an elder statesman. He had adopted their country as his own, and it had adopted him.
Jason Felch: Getting at the truth of 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' (Los Angeles Times)
Thierry Guetta, the Oscar-nominated documentary's subject, says it's '100% real.' Public records support his biography, but questions persist about Banksy's role.
Green Gartside: The brainiest man in pop (apart from Brian Eno) (Guardian)
Scritti Politti introduced critical theory to the top 10. Now frontman Green Gartside is too sensitive to listen to pop - or finish his songs. Andrew Harrison meets him.
David Bruce: "The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 3" (Lulu)
Purchase a print copy of "The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 3" with 15% off with coupon code IDES305. Offer ends March 15.
David Bruce: "The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 3" (Lulu)
Free pdf download.
David Bruce has 40 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $40 you can buy 10,000 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Rain. Lots and lots of rain.
Seeing as how there's no Oscar contest this year, if you'd like to 'register' your guesses, send 'em to me and I'll post 'em on Sunday's page.
Cut off time is tonight (Saturday) 10pm (pst).
Industry Tried To Get Doc Disqualified
"Gasland"
The natural gas industry has spent months attacking the documentary "Gasland" as a deeply flawed piece of propaganda. After it was nominated for an Oscar, an industry-sponsored PR group asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to reconsider the film's eligibility.
The reply: Let Oscar voters have their say.
"Gasland" is up for best documentary at Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. Director Josh Fox's dark portrayal of greedy energy companies, sickened homeowners and oblivious regulators has stirred heated debate among the various stakeholders in a natural gas boom that is sweeping parts of the U.S. The film has galvanized anti-drilling activists while drawing complaints about its accuracy and objectivity.
Fox, a 38-year-old New York City theater director, took an interest in drilling after a gas company approached him in 2008 about leasing his family's wooded 20-acre spread in Milanville, near the Delaware River in northeastern Pennsylvania, where he has lived off-and-on since childhood.
Camera in hand, he went on a cross-country tour of places where large-scale drilling is already under way, interviewing residents who say they were sickened by nearby drilling operations and aiming his lens at diseased livestock and flammable tap water that he also blames on gas industry malfeasance.
"Gasland"
Archive Preserved
Alan Turing
Papers relating to codebreaker and computer pioneer Alan Turing will go to a British museum after the National Heritage Memorial Fund stepped in to help buy them for the nation.
The government-backed fund said Friday it had donated more than 200,000 pounds ($320,000) to a campaign to stop the notes and scientific papers from going to a private buyer.
An online campaign to keep them in Britain raised 28,500 pounds from members of the public, and computer firm Google contributed $100,000.
The papers will go to the Bletchley Park Museum northwest of London, which commemorates the famous World War II codebreaking center.
One of the founders of modern computing, Turing worked at Bletchley Park, and helped crack Nazi Germany's secret codes by creating the "Turing bombe," a forerunner of modern computers, to help reveal the settings for the Nazi's Enigma machine.
Alan Turing
Leaving CNN Show
Kathleen Parker
CNN's prime-time talk show "Parker/Spitzer" is no more with the departure of Kathleen Parker. Her partner, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, will remain in the time slot in a new show called "In the Arena," working with E.D. Hill, Will Cain and others.
CNN described Parker's exit as a mutual decision. The show that matched the liberal former governor and conservative syndicated columnist debuted last fall and started slowly in the ratings.
Parker said that she wanted to concentrate on her writing and that "with the show moving in a new direction, it was time to move on."
Kathleen Parker
Woman With An Opinion
Geena Davis
Oscar winner Geena Davis hit out at Hollywood stereotyping as she joined stars, royalty and politicians at the launch of the UN's new super agency for women.
Davis, fellow Academy winner Nicole Kidman and Spain's Princess Cristina demanded greater efforts for equality as they on Thursday welcomed the creation of UN Women.
Davis, who won an Oscar in 2004 for her role in "The Accidental Tourist" and played the role of the US president in the television series "Commander in Chief" has set up her own institute to bolster the number of women in the media and entertainment.
"Gender stereotypes remain deeply entrenched in today's entertainment and there has been no significant progress over the last 20 years," she complained at the gala at the UN headquarters.
"Our research shows that from 2006 to 2009 not one female character was depicted in family films in the field of science, as a business leader, in the law profession or in politics."
Geena Davis
Medical Exam Ordered
Etta James
A Southern California judge has ordered an independent medical evaluation of ailing Etta James after her son's attorney contended that the "At Last" blues singer could be in "very serious danger" under the care of a live-in doctor.
The 72-year-old James suffers from dementia, leukemia, kidney problems and other ailments. Her son's attorney, James E. Deering Jr., said at a Thursday court hearing that Dr. Elaine James, who is not related to the singer, put feeding tubes into James' stomach at home - a procedure that should have been performed in a hospital, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
Deering compared the singer's situation to that of Michael Jackson, who died while under the care of a live-in physician. Dr. Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
A report by a confidential investigator that was released to attorneys Thursday raises "significant questions" about whether Etta James is receiving proper medical treatment at her home in the Woodcrest area of Riverside County. Superior Court Judge Thomas Cahraman ordered a court-appointed attorney representing the singer's interests to arrange for independent physicians to examine the singer and review her medical charts.
Etta James
Encouraged Perjury
Roger Ailes
Fox News chairman Roger Ailes told a former publishing executive to lie to federal investigators who vetted now-disgraced ex-New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik for a Cabinet post in 2004, according to court documents cited in a news report Friday.
The New York Times reported that former lawyers for Judith Regan - a one-time publishing powerhouse who worked for a unit of Fox parent News Corp. before a nasty public split - said in sworn statements that Ailes and Regan had a taped conversation about what she'd say about Kerik. Regan had previously said a senior News Corp. executive advised her to lie and withhold information about the now-imprisoned Kerik.
But News Corp. said Regan had provided the company with a letter saying Ailes "did not intend to influence her with respect to a government investigation." In 2008, News Corp. and Regan settled a $100 million lawsuit in which she accused unnamed executives at the New York-based media empire of urging her to dissemble in the federal background probe into Kerik, with whom she'd an affair.
"The matter is closed," the company said in a statement.
Roger Ailes
Chimp Abater
Julian Assange
George W. Bush said Friday he will not visit Denver this weekend as planned because WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was invited to attend one of the same events as the former president.
Bush planned to be at a Young Presidents' Organization "Global Leadership Summit" Saturday but backed out when he learned Assange was invited, Bush spokesman David Sherzer said.
It was unlikely that Assange would have attended in person. The Denver Post reported he appeared at the conference Friday by video link.
YPO is an international network of chief executives under age 45. The summit, held in a different location each year, is designed to bring together CEOs and entrepreneurs for a two-day event on leadership in the age of globalization.
Julian Assange
May Mock Cookbook Author
Jerry Seinfeld
A New York City judge has thrown out a lawsuit in which a cookbook author accused Jerry Seinfeld of hurting her reputation by mocking her on television.
The judge said it was clear the comedian was joking when he called author Missy Chase Lapine a "wacko" on the "Late Show with David Letterman" in 2007.
In a ruling filed Friday, Justice Marcy Friedman says Seinfeld also has a constitutional right to express his opinion.
Seinfeld ridiculed the lawsuit on Letterman, saying Lapine was accusing his wife of "vegetable plagiarism."
Jerry Seinfeld
Civil Trial
Phil Spector
An attorney for Phil Spector says the record producer won't be transported from prison to testify that he is entitled to recoup part of a $1 million retainer paid to attorney Robert Shapiro.
Lawyer Michael Dempsey says California prison officials told him they won't take the "Wall of Sound" producer to a Los Angeles courtroom for a civil trial scheduled to begin March 7.
Spector sued Shapiro in December 2007, claiming the former member of O.J. Simpson's defense team took advantage of him after he was arrested in 2003 for shooting a woman at his mansion.
Shapiro's attorneys want to directly cross-examine Spector.
Dempsey says the jury will have to rely on a videotaped deposition instead.
Phil Spector
Dior Suspends
John Galliano
Famed fashion house Christian Dior SA suspended creative director John Galliano on Friday after he was detained and accused of an anti-Semitic insult - a bombshell development just days before the catwalks in Paris heat up for fashion week.
The designer vigorously denied wrongdoing and said the suspension was way out of proportion to the cafe dispute, according to his lawyer.
Dior said in a statement it suspended Galliano pending an investigation into an incident in a Paris restaurant on Thursday night.
Paris prosecutors said a couple in the restaurant accused Galliano of making anti-Semitic insults. A police official said Galliano also exchanged slaps with the couple.
John Galliano
Conservative Family Values In Action
Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer has tied the knot for the fourth time in a familiar place.
The "Cheers" and "Frasier" star married 29-year-old flight attendant Kayte Walsh on Friday at Broadway's Longacre Theatre - the same place where the actor had been headlining "La Cage aux Folles" with Douglas Hodge until earlier this month.
Stan Rosenfield, a Grammer representative, called the event "a private ceremony for family and friends." A reception followed at the Plaza Hotel.
The actor's divorce from his third wife, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Camille Grammer, became final earlier this month. They had been married for 13 years and have two young children.
Kelsey Grammer
Hidden Papers Revealed To Israeli Court
Franz Kafka
Writings by Franz Kafka and his friend Max Brod which have been hidden away for decades have been brought to light at an Israeli court and could reveal more on the life of one of the 20th century's greatest authors.
The long-awaited inventory, obtained by Reuters, details contents of safes in Tel Aviv and Zurich. It was submitted on Thursday to a family court in Tel Aviv where a legal battle is being waged over ownership of Max Brod's estate.
Kafka's "The Trial," "The Castle" and "Amerika" were published after his death when Brod, his close friend and biographer, ignored the writer's dying wish to burn all unpublished work.
In 1939 Brod fled the Nazis, taking the last train out of Prague with a suitcase of Kafka papers under his arm. After his death his estate was passed to his secretary Esther Hoffe, who placed some of the archive in Tel Aviv and Zurich safes.
The fight for ownership is a tortuous legal battle inevitably described as Kafkaesque. On the one side stands Israel's National Library, on the other the daughters of Esther Hoffe, rumored to have had a romantic relationship with Brod.
Franz Kafka
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