'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Fuels on the Hill (nytimes.com)
Why are politicians so eager to pin the blame for oil prices on speculators? Because it lets them believe that we don't have to adapt to a world of expensive gas.
David Flumenbaum: My Interview with Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys (huffingtonpost.com)
Adam talked to the Huffington Post about the release of his new film Gunnin' for that #1 Spot, the current state of the Free Tibet movement, Obama, and why Brooklyn should secede.
James Eldred: A Chat with Andrew Volpe, Ludo lead singer/guitarist (bullz-eye.com)
... we know how rabid a lot of fans get and how much they want to get involved, and we thought it would be fun. Let's do something with this song that would react with our fans and new people alike. How funny would it be to see everybody try to sing while brushing their teeth, and we went with it.
Rafer Guzmán: Warner Herzog describes his new nature documentary as 'a comedy' (Newsday)
The new documentary from the eccentric German director Werner Herzog, "Encounters at the End of the World," is not your typical nature film. Invited by the National Science Foundation to explore Antarctica, Herzog brought just one cameraman and a list of unusual questions. Can penguins go insane?
Alan Yentob: Herzog still follows the call of the wild (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Director Werner Herzog has chased his dreams for decades, he tells Alan Yentob that storytelling is all that matters.
The Narnia series: take it as read (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
A great children's book can be filmed well, but it can't match the pictures in a young reader's mind, says Nicolette Jones.
Amy Goodman: "George Carlin: A Funny Man in an Unfunny World"
Carlin gave voice to dissident perspectives that have been almost entirely blocked from mainstream media.
JERRY SEINFELD: Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder (nytimes.com)
THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about. I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes. We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: "I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they've had a crash. It improves your odds."
Susan Braudy: Jerry Seinfeld's Heart (huffingtonpost.com/)
Jerry Seinfeld has heart -- a totally unexpected commodity in his business or in any business for that matter. Read his essay on the passing of George Carlin.
Edith Hall: The many ages of Herodotus (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Herodotus as good neighbour, warmonger, narrative syncopator and the first great artist of Greek prose.
Allen Pierleoni: Back from the future: Robert Silverberg has guided sci-fi readers for 55 years (McClatchy Newspapers)
Science fiction writer Robert Silverberg was on the phone from his spacious home in the hills above Oakland, outlining his daily routine.
Ashley Adams: Hill Harper has a prescription for girls' self-esteem (Detroit Free Press)
Actor Hill Harper, who plays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the hit CBS crime investigation show "CSI: NY," is expanding his starring role to the book scene.
Michael Merschel: 'Up Till Now' is that rare, entertaining celebrity biography (The Dallas Morning News)
William Shatner is a man in a hurry. He has just signed an astounding 260 books in 25 minutes, leaving the assembled publicists slack-jawed with awe. Having agreed to an interview about his new autobiography, he is planted inside Jackie Collins' cavernous tour bus, the quietest available spot on the busy floor of the recent Book Expo America.
Vic in AK was first, and correct, writing:
Charlie responded:
Sally in northern Jersey where it's STILL gray and rainy said:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Coastal Eddy is back, bringing a lovely marine layer that keeps it on the cool side.
Al Jazeera's Inside USA Interview
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky, the renowned US academic, author and political activist, speaks to Avi Lewis on Al Jazeera's Inside USA.
Avi Lewis: I'd like to start by talking about the US presidential campaign. In writing about the last election in 2004, you called America's system a "fake democracy" in which the public is hardly more than an irrelevant onlooker, and you've been arguing in your work in the last year or so that the candidates this time around are considerably to the right of public opinion on all major issues.
So, the question is, do Americans have any legitimate hope of change this time around? And what is the difference in dynamic between America's presidential "cup" in 2008 compared to 2004 and 2000?
Noam Chomsky: There's some differences, and the differences are quite enlightening. I should say, however, that I'm expressing a very conventional thought - 80 per cent of the population thinks, if you read the words of the polls, that the government is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves not for the population [and] 95 per cent of the public thinks that the government ought to pay attention to public opinion but it doesn't.
Noam Chomsky
Watch part one of this episode of Inside USA
Watch part two of this episode of Inside USA
Headlining Festival of Politics
Annie Lennox
Pop star Annie Lennox is to headline this year's Festival of Politics.
The former Eurythmics singer will take centre stage at the Scottish Parliament on August 20 to discuss her involvement in the fight against HIV/Aids in Africa.
The announcement by Holyrood chiefs came as the musician gave her backing to the idea of independence - conditional on Scotland becoming an ecologically sound, nuclear-free country. Lennox, 53, said she believed her native Scotland could set a global example for what a small country could do.
Her public endorsement of independence makes her one of the most high-profile backers of the cause, which also boasts the support of 007 legend Sir Sean Connery.
Annie Lennox
New Family Tree
Birds
The largest study ever of bird genetics has uncovered some surprising facts about the avian evolutionary tree, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, including many that are bound to ruffle some feathers.
Falcons, for example, are not closely related to hawks and eagles, despite many similarities, while colorful hummingbirds, which flit around in the day, evolved from a drab-looking nocturnal bird called a nightjar.
And parrots and songbirds are closer cousins than once thought.
The findings challenge many assumptions about bird family relationships and suggest many biology textbooks and bird-watchers' field guides may need to be changed.
Birds
Networks Line Up
Leno
Don't pity Jay Leno.
The host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" is losing his home of 17 years in 2009, but Leno finds himself in an enviable position. Still packing the ratings punch that delivers the lion's share of NBC's estimated $300 million in annual late-night revenue, the 58-year-old comic is being wooed by a host of suitors. ABC, Fox, Sony and even CNN have been reported trying to lure Leno, and he won't come cheap: NBC pays him $27 million per year.
Little did the Peacock know back in 2004 when then-NBC Universal TV president Jeff Zucker guaranteed Conan O'Brien that he would take Leno's job five years later that the succession would turn late-night on its ear.
It's a situation unthinkable back in the 1992-93 season, when an earlier round of late-night wars deposited Leno in Johnny Carson's chair instead of David Letterman, whose "Late Show" on CBS has trailed the "Tonight" audience.
With Leno's future fast becoming the industry's favorite guessing game, The Hollywood Reporter weighs his options (in descending order of likelihood) and forecasts how each would impact late-night.
Leno
Life Jacket Sells For $68,500
Titanic
An unused life jacket from the doomed Titanic ship sold for $68,500 in New York on Wednesday, Christie's auction house said.
The cork-filled life preserver -- still largely intact, but stained and torn in parts -- was thought to have been found by farmer John James Dunbar on the Halifax shoreline after the passenger ship sank off Newfoundland in April, 1912.
Maritime specialist Gregg Dietrich said the jacket -- believed to be one of six remaining -- appeared to have been unused because the shoulder straps were still intact. Titanic passengers tended to have had their life preservers cut off to ease removal from their damaged skin.
Dietrich said that the cork filling the jackets was so heavy that many of the survivors and victims of Titanic were found to have broken their jaws on them when they hit the water after jumping from the ship.
Titanic
Restaurant Featured In 'Top Gun'
San Diego
The restaurant where Tom Cruise crooned to Kelly McGillis in the movie "Top Gun" has been gutted by a fire in San Diego.
A cook at Kansas City Barbecue says the blaze started Thursday in an open cooking pit and spread quickly to the rest of the restaurant's interior.
But no one was hurt and the fire was extinguished in about 20 minutes.
A sign in the restaurant notes that the 1986 movie's "sleazy bar scene" was filmed there.
San Diego
$5.8 Million Settlement
Steven Hatfill
A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department.
Steven Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.
Settlement documents were filed in federal court Friday. Both sides have agreed to the deal, according to the documents, and as soon as they are signed, the case will be dismissed.
The deal requires the Justice Department to pay $2.825 million up front and buy Hatfill a $3 million annuity that will pay him $150,000 each year for 20 years.
Steven Hatfill
Judge Halts Release Of Sex Tape
Verne Troyer
A 25-second snippet of video showing Verne Troyer and a former girlfriend having sex that was available online over the past couple of days is all the world will see of the tape - for now.
A federal judge on Friday granted a temporary restraining order requested by Troyer's attorneys that prevents porn distributors from taking orders for the full-length video, and prevents TMZ from broadcasting any more clips.
The celebrity Web site posted the short segment on its site on Wednesday; Troyer sued the site and porn distributors on Thursday for $20 million in damages.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez wrote that Troyer's motion "demonstrated that he will suffer irreparable harm to his reputation" if the tape is distributed. It barred further broadcasting of the tape, which Troyer's attorney, Tracy Rane, interpreted as meaning that TMZ has to remove the video from its site.
Verne Troyer
Prison Time For Burning Burning Man
Paul Addis
A San Francisco performance artist was sentenced Friday to as many as four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for the early torching last summer of the signature effigy of the counterculture Burning Man festival.
Paul Addis pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of injury to property stemming from the burning of the 40-foot icon on Aug. 28 - four days earlier than planned. He was ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution.
Burning Man organizers rebuilt the effigy in time for it to go up in flames in the ceremonial climax of the annual weekend festival in the northern Nevada desert.
In March, Addis pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts related to an alleged arson attempt at San Francisco's historic Grace Cathedral, according to the city prosecutor's office.
Paul Addis
Appeals For Naples Cleanup
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren is imploring people to clear the garbage off the streets of her beloved Naples.
Loren said that seeing footage of the streets of Naples and the surrounding Campania region littered by piles of trash moves her to tears.
Since December, Naples and its surrounding areas have been plagued by tons of garbage. Collectors stopped picking up the trash because dumps are full and residents have protested against new ones. Angry residents have also taken to burning rubbish, knocking over refuse bins and dumping bags of refuse in the countryside.
The government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi has passed a series of measures aimed at solving the crisis.
Sophia Loren
Pleads Guilty
Redmond O'Neal
Redmond O'Neal, the son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal, has pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and methamphetamine.
The 23-year-old O'Neal pleaded guilty Thursday in a Malibu court to the two felony counts and a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of drugs. As part of yet another plea deal, a second DUI charge was dismissed.
He was placed on three years' probation on the misdemeanor charge and fined about $1,700.
The district attorney's office says O'Neal also was ordered to remain in drug treatment until a hearing next month to determine if he can enter a drug-diversion program on the felony charges.
Redmond O'Neal
Big Pharma's Fear-Driven Shake Down
Tamiflu
Fears of bird flu are receding and sales of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu have slumped. Now its maker is offering a deal to U.S. employers: Pay an annual fee and reserve enough to protect every worker if a new super-flu strikes.
The plan announced Thursday comes as the federal government also begins a new effort to encourage many businesses to stockpile anti-flu drugs in case of a pandemic. Those private stockpiles would supplement a national stockpile that contains enough doses to treat only a fraction of the population.
But stockpiling is a big upfront investment for a threat that may never arrive - and requires replacing supplies whenever drug doses expire. Roche Holding AG says its new plan would remove some of those barriers for companies otherwise interested in Tamiflu.
The U.S. government, in an unusual move, congratulated Roche on the program and helped to publicize it.
Tamiflu
Foreigners Threaten
Afghan Snow Leopards
Afghanistan's snow leopards have barely survived three decades of war. But now the few remaining mountain leopards left in Afghanistan face another threat -- foreigners involved in rebuilding the war-torn country.
Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital. Foreigners have ready cash to buy the pelts as souvenirs and impoverished Afghans break poaching laws to supply them.
Tucked between souvenir stores on Chicken Street, Kabul's main tourist trap, several shops sell fur coats and pelts taken from many of Afghanistan's threatened and endangered animals.
Asked if it was easy to send the furs back home, one shopkeeper who did not want to be named said: "No problem! We hide the fur inside blankets and send it back to your country."
Afghan Snow Leopards
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