'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Evan Thomas: How Bush Blew It (Newsweek)
Bureaucratic timidity. Bad phone lines. And a failure of imagination. Why the government was so slow to respond to catastrophe.
Josh Marshall: Bush tore down the FEMA that Clinton built up (hillnews.com)
Of all the sad tales of cronyism and ineptitude emerging out of the Katrina catastrophe, probably none is more telling than the history of FEMA under the oversight and management of President Bush.
Stephen Thompson: Al Franken Interview (progressive.org)
Q: Getting elected is one thing, but governing is another. You haven't had to be gentle when you're talking about Senators on the show. Do you think that the things you've said will come back to haunt you?
Franken: No, one thing I've noticed about politics is that these guys have pretty thick hides. I know a number of Republican Senators, and have had no problem socializing with them. Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, John McCain. I've talked to ten or fifteen Republican Senators in the past, and I've even gotten along with people like Rick Santorum. I've never told one of them to go fuck himself, like the Vice President did with [Patrick] Leahy.
Harmon Leon: Headbanging for Jesus! Infiltrator gets booked on a Christian talk show
It's always been a dream of mine to get booked on a Christian talk show posing as a guy who fronts a Christian speed-metal band. Thank Jesus -- my prayers are answered.
A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore
To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush: On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?
ROGER EBERT: A GREAT MOVIE: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
The implications of "Crimes and Misdemeanors" are bleak and hopeless. The evil are rewarded, the blameless are punished, and the rabbi goes blind.
Another Rant
Avery Ant
The Wall Street Poet
The Buck Stops Somewhere Else
As the screwups in the wake of Katrina become ever clearer, those responsible maneuver to avoid the political fallout...
©2005
**********
For more satirical verse:
www.wallstreetpoet.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny & cooler than seasonal.
Wasn't affected by the power outage, directly, but...
We live a couple of miles from some refineries, and they were affected. Too much pressure built up in the stacks & they had to burn off a lot more stuff than normal. A lot more.
Saw thick, black smoke billowing up into the sky on my way to pick the boys up from school, but didn't know what was burning.
The cloud of crud was headed this way but the wind changed & most of it went west instead of south.
Have updated the Emmy page with a complete list of winners from Sunday night's Creative Arts Awards.
Jerry Lewis Honored
Emmy Creative Arts Awards
Jerry Lewis was honored Sunday with the television academy's prestigious Governors Award for his decades of work on behalf of charity.
He received the tribute at the Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Awards, which recognize technical and other achievements for the 2004-05 television season. The ceremony preceded next week's main Emmy awards.
In accepting his award, he said he wanted to correct the idea that his years of service have been selfless.
"I am probably the most selfish man you will ever meet in your life. No one gets the satisfaction or the joy that I get out of seeing kids realize there is hope," Lewis told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium.
Emmy Creative Arts Awards
Shocked By Downing Street Memo
Mick Jagger
Rolling Stones superstar Mick Jagger said he was "shocked" by British Prime Minister Tony Blair's attitude toward Iraq and doubts whether the legendary rock and roll band will one day perform in Baghdad.
At the time of the Iraq invasion, "I was ambivalent; getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a gift for humanity and I thought that there was a coherent plan to put Iraq back on its feet," he said in an interview with 'El Pais Semanal' magazine on Sunday.
But the sextagenarian rock legend referred to a Downing Street memorandum in July 2002, saying it "shocked me to know that Blair already knew that the weapons of mass destruction were simply an excuse and that there was nothing planned for the day after" the invasion.
Jagger also denounced the US-led military coalition in Iraq for conducting what he described as a war to defend a regime which does not seem very concerned about the rights of women and minorities.
Mick Jagger
Symbol Of Unity In Divided Town
Bruce Lee
The ethnically divided Bosnian city of Mostar has agreed to erect a new symbol of unity -- a statue of kung fu legend Bruce Lee, worshipped by Muslims, Serbs and Croats.
A group of enthusiasts came up with the idea of honoring the childhood hero of the city's ethnic groups in 2003, on the 30th anniversary of his death. They launched the project, found donors and waited a year for the city's approval.
The statue, cast in bronze and showing the martial arts master in a typical fighting pose, will be designed by a local sculptor and put up in central Mostar.
Bruce Lee
Getting Lifetime Award
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black, who enchanted generations as the curly haired moppet singing "The Good Ship Lollipop" in the 1934 movie "Bright Eyes," will be honored by the Screen Actors Guild with its prestigious Life Achievement Award.
Black, 77, will be presented the award during the 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 29. The Life Achievement Award is presented annually to an actor who fosters the "finest ideals of the acting profession."
Shirley Temple
Short-Term Memory
Ahnold
Veteran Arnold watchers say the California governor's announced veto of his state's historic same-sex marriage bill is an affront to the memory of his most enthusiastic early supporters: the gay sugar daddies of the international bodybuilding circuit.
"Arnold has had a long association with rich gay men," according to Wendy Leigh, author of $chwarzenegger: An Unauthorized Biography. "When he moved to England [around the time of his first Mr. Universe title in 1967], John Dixey, a British businessman and well-known aficionado of muscle boys, was very, very kind to Arnold. You have to understand, before Arnold came on the scene, it was common currency that bodybuilders were less than macho-it was absolutely given and accepted that they supported themselves by catering to the tastes of wealthy gay men."
Paul Barresi, an L.A.-based private investigator who claims P.I. Anthony Pellicano hired him before the 2002 election to "look into" any compromising relationships the then-prospective candidate still had in the demimonde, said he was "shocked that Arnold would turn his back on the very people who were obviously so helpful to him. In fact, Arnold even met his wife, Maria [Shriver], though his friendship with a gay member of Maria's family."
For the rest, Ahnold
Blames Ellen DeGeneres For Hurricane Katrina
Marion 'Pat' Robertson
Pat Robertson on Sunday said that Hurricane Katrina was God's way of expressing its anger at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for its selection of Ellen Degeneres to host this year's Emmy Awards. "By choosing an avowed lesbian for this national event, these Hollywood elites have clearly invited God's wrath," Robertson said on "The 700 Club" on Sunday. "Is it any surprise that the Almighty chose to strike at Miss Degeneres' hometown?"
Robertson also noted that the last time Degeneres hosted the Emmys, in 2001, the September 11 terrorism attacks took place shortly before the ceremony.
"This is the second time in a row that God has invoked a disaster shortly before lesbian Ellen Degeneres hosted the Emmy Awards," Robertson explained to his approximately one million viewers. "America is waiting for her to apologize for the death and destruction that her sexual deviance has brought onto this great nation."
There's more - Marion 'Pat' Robertson
Baby News
Alice Richmond
Tina Fey, co-anchor of Weekend Update, the fake news desk of "SNL," gave birth Saturday in New York to a daughter, Alice Richmond, an NBC spokesman said Monday.
"Safe, home, happy, thrilled to death," said Marc Liepis, a spokesman for the sketch comedy show. The baby weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces, he said.
Fey, 35, and her husband, Jeff Richmond, were married in 2001. Fey has been head writer at "SNL" for five years; Richmond is a composer for the show.
Alice Richmond
Hosting TV Program
James Rubin
James Rubin, a former U.S. State Department spokesman under President Clinton, is to anchor a new international news program on Sky Television, the British broadcaster said Monday.
The hour-long program, "World News Tonight," will air every weekday evening at 8 p.m., a Sky statement said. It will debut in October, but a date has not been decided, said Sky publicist Stella Tooth.
James Rubin
W.Va. Wants to Name Road
Hank Williams
Call it a return to the "Lost Highway." The state Senate on Sunday resurrected an effort to rename a stretch of Route 16 in Fayette County the " Hank Williams Sr. Memorial Road."
Williams, an Alabama native revered as the "godfather of country music," is believed to have died in his sleep on that road on New Years Day 1953 while being driven to an appearance. Some local residents have proposed building a museum in the area.
Hank Williams
Speak Out Against Reality Shows
TV Viewers
In the eyes of viewers, reality television is not only a misnamed genre. It's a format wearing out its welcome.
Four out of five Americans say they think too many reality shows are on the air, according to an AP-TV Guide poll. Only 4 percent of respondents said there were not enough.
Few people believe there's much reality in reality TV: a total of 82 percent said the shows are either "totally made up" or "mostly distorted."
TV Viewers
Resumes Talks With 6 Ad Agencies
U.S. Army
The same six agencies who vied for last year's U.S. Army account, in a review which was never completed, have returned questionnaires for this year's $200 million review, sources said.
Responses were due Sept. 8. The agencies include Publicis' Leo Burnett, the incumbent; Omnicom's BBDO; IPG's McCann Erickson; and WPP's Grey, Ogilvy & Mather and Young & Rubicam. This time, the Army is looking for more direct marketing, and the direct arms of each contender will likely play leading roles in the pitches, sources said. A decision is expected in December.
U.S. Army
Draft Sting, Carpenter For New CD
t.A.T.u.
Russian pop duo t.A.T.u., better known for their faux lesbianism than for their music, have enlisted such unlikely collaborators as Sting and the Carpenters' Richard Carpenter for their new album.
The 12-track set "Dangerous and Moving," due October 11 via Interscope, finds Sting playing bass on "Friend or Foe" and Carpenter arranging and conducting the string parts on "Gomenasai."
"Our first video was about to love between two girls," said member Lena Katina. "We do not pretend to be lesbians -- we've never said we were. Julia (Volkova) just had a baby and currently has a girlfriend, and we've both always had boyfriends. We share a special bond."
t.A.T.u.
Adds Two Comics
'Saturday Night Live'
Two new faces are joining NBC's "Saturday Night Live" when it kicks off its 31st season October 1.
Bill Hader and Andy Samberg have been tapped as "featured players" on the late-night sketch-comedy show from creator/executive producer Lorne Michaels.
They join returning cast members Fred Armisen, Rachel Dratch, Will Forte, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Finesse Mitchell, Chris Parnell, Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz, Kenan Thompson and featured player Jason Sudeikis.
Head writer and "Weekend Update" co-anchor Tina Fey and cast member Maya Rudolph are scheduled to go on maternity leave at some point, with both slated to return later in the season.
'Saturday Night Live'
Wins Fight Over Domain Name
Bill Cosby
A U.N. panel awarded to comedian Bill Cosby on Monday an Internet domain name based on the Fat Albert cartoon character he created in the 1960s.
Arbitrators for the World Intellectual Property Organization ordered the transfer of fatalbert.org to Cosby, who had complained it was being used in bad faith to divert visitors to a commercial search engine and a Web site selling sexually explicit products.
Sterling Davenport of Loretto, Tenn., who had registered the domain name, did not respond to Cosby's complaint, arbitrator John Kidd said. Nonetheless, Kidd said, "the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the domain name."
Bill Cosby
British Office Compiles List
Odd Names
Horatio Hornblower is an odd name, but consider his siblings: Azubia, Constantia, Jecoliah, Jedidah, Jerusha and Erastus. Rene Jackaman, archive assistant at Cornwall County Record Office, found all those names after coming across a real-life namesake of C.S. Forester's fictional naval hero in county census records.
Inspired by that discovery, staff and researchers at the Cornwall Record Office compiled a list of more than 1,000 unusual names found in censuses as well as in births, deaths and marriage records going back as far as the 16th century.
Other discoveries included Boadicea Basher, Philadelphia Bunnyface, Faithful Cock, Susan Booze, Elizabeth Disco, Edward Evil, Fozzitt Bonds, Truth Bullock, Charity Chilly, Gentle Fudge, Obedience Ginger and Offspring Gurney.
Odd Names
In Memory
Henryk Tomaszewski
Henryk Tomaszewski, a Polish graphic artist known for creating posters rich in metaphoric imagery, has died at 91, a friend said Monday.
Tomaszewski, whose works are found in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and other leading museums, died in his home Sunday afternoon after being bedridden for the last five years, said Mieczyslaw Wasilewski, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
Tomaszewski's characteristic use of letters as art forms earned him fame in Poland and abroad. His most famous posters include one for a 1957 Henry Moore sculpture exhibition and a 1989 poster for the anti-communist Solidarity labour union.
Tomaszewski was born June 10, 1914 in Warsaw. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and taught there from 1952 to 1985. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the so-called Polish poster school, a movement that used satire and symbolism to turn posters - often advertisements for theatre, films or art exhibitions - into an art form of its own.
Henryk Tomaszewski
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