'TBH Politoons'
Jazz From Hills
Trimmed Bush and Hedges
But Untrue
Strangely Believable
Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist made a cameo appearance in the movie Shrek 2, where he played the royal dog and cat catcher of Far Far Away.
~Jeff Crook
Jeff Crook is the Ceci Connolly of the Left. ~ J. Howard Tuft
Strangely Believable but Untrue is now available online at the Untrue Fact of the Day web calendar. Help spread disinformation and misunderstanding by sharing this with your friends and enemies.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
J. Bennett Guess: SpongeBob receives 'unequivocal welcome' from United Church of Christ (United Church News)
CLEVELAND -- Joining the animated fray, the United Church of Christ today (Jan. 24) said that Jesus' message of extravagant welcome extends to all, including SpongeBob Squarepants - the cartoon character that has come under fire for allegedly holding hands with a starfish.
Margaret Cho: I Would Love to be White
I would love to be white. Not forever, but perhaps a weekend. Don't you ever get sick of being a minority? I mean, there is the whole pride thing that white people don't get to have, because you can be anything and be proud but you can't be white and proud because then you seem like you are in the Ku Klux Klan.
Paul Krugman: The Greenspan Succession
(Click on Columns, then on "The Greenspan Succession.)
Alan Greenspan is expected to retire next year. The Bush administration, because of its nature, will have a hard time finding a successor.
Robert Scheer: 1600 Pennsylvania Meets Madison Ave (AlterNet. Posted January 25, 2005.)
It takes a true demagogue to remorselessly cheapen the lovely word "freedom" by deploying it 27 times in a 21-minute speech.
Molly Ivins: 'From the day of our founding'
Unfortunately, the rest of the world is skeptical of Bush's benign intent, mostly because he invaded a country that not only hadn't done anything to us, but also was no threat to us. (There is a new line on the right that goes, "But everybody in the whole world was saying Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction." Actually, everybody wasn't. Hans Blix and the U.N. inspectors had been unable to find any, even though we claimed we knew exactly where they were and had pictures of them. Quite a few people were beginning to doubt the existence of WMD, and what "everybody in the world" was saying at the time we went to war was, "Give the inspectors more time." In retrospect, it was quite good advice, wasn't it?
Brett Wilbur: Health & Fitness: We Are Not Barbie
Talking about positive body image is good - really believing it is hard. (Monterey County Weekly)
When I was nine years old, and recuperating from a concussion after being thrown off a horse, I lay in bed and dreamed of Barbie. Pretty in Pink Barbie-I'd seen the commercials for weeks during Saturday morning cartoons. She was lovely, tan, slim, perky yet big-breasted, and adorned all in pink, of course.
ROGER EBERT: Introduction to "Great Movies II"
This is the second Great Movies book, but the titles in it are not the second team. I do not believe in rankings and lists, and refuse all invitations to reveal my "ten all-time favorite musicals," etc., on the grounds that such lists are meaningless and might well change between Tuesday and Thursday. I make only two exceptions to this policy: I compile an annual list of the year's best films, because it is graven in stone that movie critics must do so, and I participate every ten years in the Sight & Sound poll of the world's directors and critics.
James Randi Educational Foundation
Anysoldier.com
Michael's Poetry
'The Screw Deal'
How will the Bush tax and Social Security proposals, if they become law, be characterized in years to come?
Reader Suggestion
'Mortor'
Here's a funny animated gif
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gray and rainy.
Today is dear old Dad's 80th birthday!
Calls Fox a 'Propaganda Voice'
Ted Turner
Cable news pioneer Ted Turner used an appearance before a group of television executives to criticize the Fox network as a "propaganda voice" of the Bush administration and to compare Fox News Channel's popularity to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany before World War II.
Turner, 66, in a speech Tuesday before about 1,000 people at the National Association of Television Programming Executives targeted "gigantic companies whose agenda goes beyond broadcasting" for timidity in challenging the Bush White House.
"There's one network, Fox, that's a propaganda voice for them," Turner said. "It's certainly legal. But it does pose problems for our democracy when the news is 'dumbed-down.'"
During a wide-ranging hour-long question-and-answer session moderated by former CNN anchorman Bernard Shaw, Turner called it "not necessarily a bad thing" that Fox ratings top CNN and other cable news networks.
"Adolf Hitler was more popular in Germany in the early 30s than ... people that were running against him," Turner said in remarks videotaped by conference administrators. "So, just because you're bigger doesn't mean you're right."
Walks and Talks to His Own Beat
Gore Vidal
Novelist and social critic Gore Vidal walks slowly and with a limp after recent knee replacement surgery. "Turns out, according to the doctors, that I had been walking the wrong way for all of my life," he says.
At age 77, the writer known for his sharp wit and unsparing waspishness has given up living in Italy to spend most of the time at his home in the Hollywood Hills and continue his mission as a sort of national scold.
He once called himself "the gentleman bitch" of American letters and described himself as a man without qualities. "I am exactly as I appear. There is no warm, lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once you break the ice, you find cold water," the author of such bestsellers as "Lincoln," "Myra Breckinridge" and "Burr" once told an interviewer.
He said that he can foresee the war going so badly that resident Bush will be forced to resign or be driven from office. "I can't believe the speed with which the entire republic fell apart. The U.S. Bill of Rights fell apart with Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act," he said of post-9/11 America.
Gore Vidal
Helps Boost Liberal Talk Radio
Jerry Springer
Liberal talk radio shows are beginning to find a place in American broadcasting after years of dominance by Rush Limbaugh and his conservative cohorts.
Despite the fresh infusion of high-profile names into market - including Jerry Springer, whose program started last week on WCKY-AM - no liberal talk show host can yet claim the clout of Limbaugh, whose show is heard on nearly 600 stations and reaches an audience of about 20 million each week.
Taken together, however, talk radio is clearly on the rise.
There are 1,316 news-talk radio stations, compared with 1,197 a decade earlier and 360 at the end of 1990, according to Inside Radio. Only the country music format, on 2,019 stations, is more prevalent.
Jerry Springer
Spikes With Johnny Tribute
'Tonight Show'
"The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" scored near-record ratings Monday with its tribute to the man who made the show a national institution during his 30-year run as host.
"Tonight Show" delivered an 11.2 rating/26 share in Nielsen Media Research's top 56 "metered" markets, which represent about 70% of U.S. TV households, with an episode devoted to the legacy of Johnny Carson, who died Sunday at age 79.
The Carson tribute episode -- which featured Ed McMahon, who was Carson's longtime sidekick, and frequent Carson-era guests Don Rickles, Bob Newhart and Drew Carey as well as singer k.d. lang -- ranks fourth on the list of most-watched "Tonight Show" episodes since Leno took over host duty in May 1992.
The only Leno-era "Tonight Show" episodes to draw a larger audience were the May 20, 1993, edition that followed the "Cheers" finale, which brought in an 18.5 household rating; the May 25, 1992, premiere of Leno as host (13.8 household rating); and the May 14, 1998, episode that followed the "Seinfeld" finale (12.4 household rating).
'Tonight Show'
New Education Secretary Hates Mary Cheney
Margaret Spellings
The nation's new education secretary denounced PBS on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.
The not-yet-aired episode of Postcards From Buster shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont - a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.
A PBS spokeswoman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network has decided not to distribute the episode, called Sugartime!, to its 349 stations.
Margaret Spellings
Playing At Winnipeg Junos
Neil Young
Rocker Neil Young is making good on his promise to attend the Juno Awards in the Prairie city where he spent part of his childhood.
The famously reclusive Toronto-born singer confirmed Wednesday that he will perform at the April 3 show. He last attended a Juno ceremony in 1982 when he was inducted into the Music Hall of Fame.
Young went on to say a Winnipeg edition of the Junos was "long overdue," adding he'd only show his face at the ceremony if it was held in the Manitoba capital.
Typically held in Toronto, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences started taking the Junos on the road in 2002 with a jaunt to St. John's, Nfld. The awards have since been handed out in Ottawa and Edmonton. The 2006 festivities will be held in Halifax.
Neil Young
New Album/Tour
Robert Plant
Robert Plant will release his first album for Sanctuary, "Mighty Rearranger," on April 25 in the U.K. North American release plans are not yet finalized, according to a Sanctuary spokesperson.
In conjunction with his previously announced keynote address and performance at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 17, Plant has scheduled four additional dates in the area.
Robert Plant's tour dates:
Feb. 19: Bristol, England (Academy, w/ Massive Attack, the Coral, Portishead)
March 11: Tulsa, Okla. (Cain's Ballroom)
March 13: Oklahoma City (Bricktown Events Center)
March 14: Dallas (Gypsy Room)
March 17: Austin, Texas (South by Southwest Music Festival)
March 19: Biloxi, Miss. (Beau Rivage Casino)
Robert Plant
Baby News
Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray
J.K. Rowling, creator of the "Harry Potter" boy-wizard fantasy book series, has named her new baby daughter Mackenzie.
The 39-year-old British author gave birth to her third child at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Sunday. In a note posted Tuesday on her Web site, Rowling wrote:
"Her name is Mackenzie Murray (middle names Jean Rowling) and she is ridiculously beautiful, though I suppose I might be biased."
Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray
Morning Crew Suspended
WQHT
The host of a New York morning radio show and the rest of her on-air crew were suspended indefinitely Wednesday for airing a tasteless song parody that mocked victims of the catastrophic south Asia tsunami.
"What happened is morally and socially indefensible," said Rick Cummings, president of Emmis Radio, in announcing the disciplinary action. "All involved, myself included, are ashamed and deeply sorry. I know the members of the morning team are contrite. They know their actions here are inexcusable."
The song, a parody of the charity single "We Are the World," aired last Friday on Emmis station WQHT-FM, known locally as Hot 97. The station was subsequently flooded with thousands of angry phone calls demanding the firing of morning show host Tarsha Jones, known on air as Miss Jones.
The DJ offered an on-air apology, and the station initially announced that she and a half-dozen other members of the morning team would donate a week's salary to tsunami relief. The station, in a statement posted on its Web site, said management later decided "stronger action was necessary to demonstrate the severity of the situation."
WQHT
It should be noted, although this article doesn't, that Ms. Jones is not just a DJ - she is also the station's program director.
Bumper Sticker Offends Cop
Denver
A Denver police sergeant is under investigation for allegedly threatening to arrest a woman Monday for displaying on her truck a derogatory bumper sticker about resident Bush.
"He told her that this was a warning and that the next time he saw her truck, she was going to be arrested if she didn't remove the sticker," said Alinna Figueroa, 25, assistant manager of The UPS Store where the confrontation took place. "I couldn't believe it."
About 11 a.m., Shasta Bates, 26, was standing in the shopping center store in the 800 block of South Monaco Parkway when a man walked in and started arguing with her about a bumper sticker on the back of her truck that had "F--- Bush" in white letters on a black background.
The two argued for a few minutes, and then the man walked out of the store and stood behind Bates' truck. A few minutes later, the man flagged down police Sgt. Michael Karasek, who was patrolling the area.
For the whole story - Denver
Accused of Laundering Cash
Irving 'Irv Gotti' Lorenzo
The head of the hip-hop music label behind top-selling artists Ashanti and Ja Rule was charged on Wednesday with laundering more than $1 million in drug money through his record company, The Inc.
Music mogul Irving Lorenzo, known as Irv Gotti, his brother Christopher Lorenzo and six others faced money-laundering charges in Brooklyn federal court tied to what officials called a murderous drug ring.
Also named in the 21-count indictment was Kenneth McGriff, a childhood friend of Lorenzo's.
Lorenzo and his brother each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all changes, while McGriff could be sentenced to death, prosecutors said.
Irving 'Irv Gotti' Lorenzo
Second Columnist Got Money from Bush Administration
Maggie Gallagher
Following on the heels of the Armstrong Williams controversy, reports emerged last night that syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher received a $21,500 contract from the Bush administration to a promote the president's push to encourage marriage as a way of strengthening families.
"Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it?" Gallagher asked The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, who disclosed the arrangement. "I don't know. You tell me." She said her snafu was not really anything near the $240,000 deal with fellow conservative columnist Armstrong Williams.
Under her contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal, which ran through most of 2002, she was to draft a magazine article for a HHS, write brochures, and conduct a briefing for department officials.
She received an additional $20,000 from the Bush administration in 2002 and 2003, Kurtz reported, for writing a report titled "Can Government Strengthen Marriage?" for a private organization called the National Fatherhood Initiative.
Maggie Gallagher
Goes Home From Hospital
Dick Clark
"American Bandstand" icon Dick Clark returned to his beachfront home Wednesday, more than seven weeks after what was described as a minor stroke.
Clark, 75, was released from a Burbank hospital and will continue recuperating at his Malibu home, publicist Paul Shefrin said.
Shefrin wouldn't discuss the impact of the stroke.
Dick Clark
Found in Mexico
Ancient Remains
Scientists on Tuesday announced the discovery of the remains of 10 people, one dating back to 1,300 B.C., providing evidence of prehispanic cultures in Mexico City's sprawling Chapultepec Park.
The scientists said at a news conference that they uncovered eight bodies last year near the park's Chapultepec Castle. Two other bodies were discovered in separate places, one in 2000 and the other a few weeks ago, in the park's forest. It was unclear how they died.
Ancient Remains
Hawks Cellphone 'Moan Tones'
Jenna Jameson
Porn star Jenna Jameson is now hawking her "moan tones."
For $2.50 fans of the ubiquitous porno queen can choose from a variety of moans, grunts and lurid sexual noises all recorded by the blond bombshell.
If that's not enough, Jameson will talk dirty to you when you phones rings, in English or Spanish.
Jameson, who recently wrote a best-selling memoir, has launched the venture with Wicked Wireless, a mobile music and entertainment company.
U.S. users will have to wait to get Jameson on their phones as no mobile carriers in the United States have expressed any interest in carrying the service.
Jenna Jameson
Judge Rules Against
Wesley Snipes
Actor Wesley Snipes cannot use the federal courts to nullify an arrest warrant and stop state prosecutors from seeking his DNA in a paternity suit brought by a woman he says he never met, a judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska dismissed nearly all the claims by Snipes, saying he can pursue relief in state courts even for claims that actions taken against him violated his constitutional rights.
The judge said earlier court rulings make clear that a plaintiff "may not seek a reversal of a state action simply by recasting his complaint in the form of a civil rights action."
Snipes said in his lawsuit that he never met the woman and that she was a "mentally ill former crack addict" who had made wild claims involving celebrities such as Prince, Oprah Winfrey and former President Clinton.
Wesley Snipes
