'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Amie K. Miller: Does Barbie Need a Man? (Greater Good; Posted on AlterNet.org)
Research shows that the children of gay and lesbian parents turn out just fine. But same-gendered parents still face some unique challenges.
Froma Harrop: Our Health 'System' Isn't 'Conservative' (creators.com)
Right-wingers, give it up! You're fighting a battle you shouldn't want to win. A country without universal coverage isn't conservative. It's primitive.
Jim Hightower: BUSH'S SILLY SUMMIT (jimhightower.com)
"It's important to set a tone and to lead," explained George W when he ran for president. "That's exactly what [I] do." Well… actually, George, you have not led. In fact, you've been inert - almost comatose - on maybe the biggest issue of our time: Global Warming.
BILL REAGAN: RABBLE WITHOUT A CAUSE: Stick It to 'Em: The Art of Political Cartoons (popmatters.com )
As the adage goes, no matter who you vote for, the government wins; each party offers ample fodder for both poignant exception to policies and amusing examination of principles.
Will Durst: Bush's "No Child Left Standing"
Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program wasn't "No child left behind" as much as it was "No child left standing."
Joel Stein: I'm going to hell (latimes.com)
Trying to spend a single meal heeding every biblical command ends in total failure.
Mark Morford: Wi-Fi, the death of us all (sfgate.com)
You are going to die. Wireless gizmos are devouring your brain, right now. Very sorry.
Lyndsey Winship: A big pair of shoes to fill (arts.guardian.co.uk)
Charlie Chaplin's grandson is carrying on the family tradition. But he doesn't see it that way.
MATT MAZUR: Paul Newman's Influential, Classic Performances in The Hustler and The Verdict (popmatters.com)
In an era of relatively reserved American cinema, when most actors would be concerned with their images as leading men, Newman was not afraid to experiment and go with his artistic impulses.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Much warmer - and the Santa Ana's are starting to blow.
Disturbed Over Corporate Censorship
Brian De Palma
Veteran Hollywood director Brian De Palma has lashed out at what he calls the censorship of his new film about Iraq and the chilling effect of corporate America on the war.
De Palma's film, "Redacted," is based on the true story of a group of U.S. soldiers who raped and killed a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered members of her family. It has stunned audiences for its shocking images and rattled American conservative commentators before its U.S. opening next month.
"I find it remarkable. 'Redacted' got redacted. I mean, how ironic," De Palma, who made his name directing violent films like "Scarface" and "The Untouchables," said in an interview. "I fought every way I could in order to stop those photographs from being redacted and I still lost."
De Palma, who has criticized Hollywood for not being willing to finance such independent films, said he was shocked at his own lack of editorial control.
"I can't even get the photographs out there, that was all surprising to me," he said. "What is going on here? These are war photographs. ... You see these and you go 'oh boy, this shouldn't be happening."'
Brian De Palma
Gotham Awards To Honor
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert will be honored at the 17th annual Gotham Awards for a career of championing independent cinema.
The 65-year-old film critic will receive the honor at the Nov. 27 event at Brooklyn's Steiner Studios. The Gotham Awards celebrate independent movies and films set in New York. An official announcement of the Ebert tribute was planned for Monday.
Ebert is only the second film critic to receive the Gotham Awards Tribute. In 1995, Gotham honored Pauline Kael.
Roger Ebert
Panties For Peace Protest
Burma
Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.
"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.
The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.
"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.
Burma
Rome Festival Honors
Sophia Loren
When the Rome film festival forgot to invite Sophia Loren for its first edition last year, she was said to be furious at the snub.
This year, Rome made good by giving Loren a lifetime achievement award and organizing a series of events to honor the half-century career of an actress who has been called Italy's best-known export after pasta.
Friday was "Loren Day" at the festival, with the actress answering questions from 700 fans and the screening of "Marriage Italian Style," one of her most famous films, kicking off a retrospective of her works.
Still glamorous at 73, Loren is regularly voted as one of the world's sexiest women and last year appeared in the Pirelli calendar which usually prefers top models a quarter of her age.
Sophia Loren
Full-Season Orders
"Private Practice" & "Big Bang"
Two freshman series, ABC's drama "Private Practice" and CBS' comedy "The Big Bang Theory," received full-season pickups Thursday.
ABC and CBS ordered nine additional episodes of each series, bringing the total for "Practice" and "Big Bang" to 22 episodes.
Additionally, CBS ordered nine additional episodes of the military drama "The Unit," which returned for a third season this fall with a 13-episode pickup.
"Private Practice" & "Big Bang"
CW Pulls The Plug
'Online Nation'
The trophy for the first cancellation of the new TV season goes to the CW network and its "Online Nation," pulled after four weeks.
The series that featured user-generated clips will be replaced in its Sunday night slot by repeats of the freshman sitcom "Aliens in America," the network said Thursday.
In its final airing last weekend, "Online Nation" drew fewer than 580,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"Online Nation" is the season's first official cancellation. Fox's low-rated reality show "Nashville," which debuted just before the start of the fall season, was pulled after two low-rated episodes. But Fox has said it may return to the schedule.
'Online Nation'
Cancels Tapings
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres' talk show was put on hold for a day because of her emotionally wrenching dog-adoption drama.
"It's been a long week and a tough week and we decided to take a long weekend and be back on Tuesday," said Laura Mandel, a spokeswoman for Telepictures Productions, which produces "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
DeGeneres was scheduled Thursday to tape shows to air Friday and Monday. Instead, the tapings were canceled and reruns featuring Jessica Alba and Queen Latifah will air on those days. A new show is planned Tuesday.
Ellen DeGeneres
Pleads Not Guilty
Sean Stewart
Rod Stewart's 27-year old son, Sean, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged assault on a couple outside a party in the Hollywood Hills.
He faces two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count each of throwing a substance at a vehicle and vandalism with more than $400 damage.
Stewart arrived at court 25 minutes late and was warned to be on time for his next hearing.
The couple, Tobalus and Ericka Stein, claim Stewart and others riding in a Rolls-Royce Phantom confronted them, then began punching and throwing bricks at them and their vehicle outside the April 22 party.
Sean Stewart
Norwegian Wouldn't
Amy Winehouse
Norwegian police briefly arrested and then fined British soul singer Amy Winehouse for possessing and using marijuana, a lawyer working with the police in Bergen said Friday.
"She spent a few hours in custody from Thursday evening to early Friday, she got a fine and then she was released," Lars Lothe told AFP.
Police arrested Winehouse with two others in a hotel bedroom in possession of seven grams (a quarter of an ounce) after acting on a tip-off, said Lothe.
Amy Winehouse
FBI Probes Vegas Warehouse
David Copperfield
David Copperfield has been contacted by law enforcement authorities and the FBI has conducted an investigation in Las Vegas, where the magician regularly performs, his lawyer and the FBI confirmed.
Copperfield has a warehouse in Las Vegas that he has dubbed the International Museum & Library of the Conjuring Arts. He apparently stores tricks and memorabilia from around the world at the warehouse.
"I can say that there was investigative activity yesterday and yesterday evening in Las Vegas," Seattle FBI Agent Robbie Burroughs said Thursday, without specifying where the activity took place or who was involved.
"The investigation is related to a Seattle case. The Seattle case is pending and that means we can't say anything about it," Burroughs said.
David Copperfield
Faces Drug Charges
Cameron Douglas
Michael Douglas' grown son, Cameron, has been ordered to stand trial on cocaine possession charges.
At a pretrial hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge Joseph Lodge upheld charges of felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of a hypodermic needle filed against Cameron Morrell Douglas, 28, and a companion, Christopher Lane, 30.
Lodge added a charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance for Douglas, based on the testimony of a Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Deputy.
Cameron Douglas
Now A Professor
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr, the co-founder and guitarist of 1980s icons The Smiths, is turning to academia as a visiting professor of music.
Marr, whose distinctive guitar style propelled hits by The Smiths including "How Soon Is Now," "Panic" and "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," has been appointed to teach undergraduates at Salford University.
The university in Manchester, northwest England, said Thursday that Marr would deliver a series of workshops and master classes to students in its popular music and recording course.
The Smiths, formed in Manchester in 1982 by Marr and singer Morrissey, have close ties to Salford, a working-class district of the city. They posed in front of the Salford Lads Club for the sleeve of their 1986 album, "The Queen Is Dead."
Johnny Marr
Nazi-Looted Cranach Paintings
Norton Simon Museum
A judge dismissed a challenge to the Norton Simon Museum of Art's ownership of two prized 16th-century paintings that had been seized looted by the Nazis.
Federal Judge John F. Walker did not give reasons for his decision Thursday, four days before a scheduled hearing on duelling lawsuits filed by the museum foundation and Marei von Saher of Greenwich, Conn., who had claimed she was the art's rightful owner.
The wood panels depict life-size Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and were painted by famed German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. They have hung in the museum in Pasadena since 1976. Museum founder Norton Simon bought them for $800,000 from an heir to the Russian aristocrats who the museum claimed were the original owners.
Von Saher's father-in-law bought the paintings at an auction in 1931 in Berlin. His gallery in Amsterdam was seized by Nazis in 1940, but the gallery owner's family was able to reclaim most of his collection after the Second World War.
Norton Simon Museum
Racist Scientist Returns To US
James Watson
A prominent American scientist who set off an international furor with remarks about intelligence levels among blacks canceled a book tour of Britain and returned home Friday, after his employer suspended his administrative duties.
James Watson, 79, is chancellor of the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Late Thursday, the lab's board said it had suspended Watson's administrative responsibilities pending further deliberation.
Watson, who shared a Nobel Prize in 1962 for DNA research, apologized on Thursday.
"I am mortified about what has happened," Watson said. "More importantly, I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said."
James Watson
Blocks Some Internet Traffic
Comcast
Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally.
The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users.
If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.
The principle of equal treatment of traffic, called "Net Neutrality" by proponents, is not enshrined in law but supported by some regulations. Most of the debate around the issue has centered on tentative plans, now postponed, by large Internet carriers to offer preferential treatment of traffic from certain content providers for a fee.
Comcast
Comcastic Payback
Mona Shaw
She was fined and got a suspended jail sentence, but Mona Shaw says she has no regrets about using a hammer to vent her frustration at a cable company.
Shaw, 75, and her husband, Don, say they had an appointment in August for a Comcast technician to come to their Bristow home to install the company's heavily advertised Triple Play phone, Internet and cable service.
The Shaws say no one came all day, and the technician who showed up two days later left without finishing the setup. Two days after that, Comcast cut off all their service.
At the Comcast office in Manassas later that day, they waited for a manager for two hours before being told the manager had left for the day, the Shaws say.
Shaw, a churchgoing secretary of the local AARP branch, returned the next Monday - with a hammer.
Mona Shaw
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