'TBH Politoons'
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The Black Flag
Marty,
This is a website of a radical in the land of flyin' saucers...he updates when he feels like it.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Garrison Keillor: A Foul Tragedy --Democrats fled in the face of danger (inthesetimes.com)
We Democrats are at our worst when we try to emulate Republicans as we did in signing onto the "war" on drugs that has ruined so many young lives.
Dean Kuipers: The End of Arnie's Days (LA CityBeat. Posted on Alternet.org)
Longtime Los Angeles politico Jackie Goldberg discusses Schwarzenegger's suicide strategy for Election Day and the corporate takeover of California.
Don Hazen: Editorial: Making Wal-Mart Change Its Ways (AlterNet)
In Round II in the battle to make Wal-Mart honest, progressive media gets into the act with a unique editorial collaboration.
HARVEY A. SILVERGLATE: FREEDOM WATCH -- Give Alito a chance (bostonphoenix.com)
Within hours of President Bush's nomination of Third US Circuit Court of Appeals judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to a seat on the Supreme Court, conservatives, liberals, and the media began spouting all-too-predictable bromides - as though prepared for a long-awaited, theatrical, pre-scripted WWF smackdown. Yet even a cursory look at Alito's record on the bench suggests that he deserves a more serious vetting than our polarized political culture cares to acknowledge.
JOHN W. DEAN: A Cheney-Libby Conspiracy, Or Worse? Reading Between the Lines of the Libby Indictment (writ.news.findlaw.com)
In my last column, I tried to deflate expectations a bit about the likely consequences of the work of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald; to bring them down to the realistic level at which he was likely to proceed. I warned, for instance, that there might not be any indictments, and Fitzgerald might close up shop as the last days of the grand jury's term elapsed. And I was certain he would only indict if he had a patently clear case.
Today - Virgin Megastore - Hollywood & Highland - 6pm
Meet Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho returns to the concert stage with a "killer" one-woman show that has taken audiences by storm. Filmed live at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C., Assassin features a fresh dose of Margaret's ground-breaking and controversial brand of humor. Taking aim at the Bush administration and the religious right, she pulls no punches in her assault on the "ever devolving" state of the union. The result is an unforgettable performance featuring Margaret at her raw, irreverent and hilarious best.
Meet Margaret Cho today at the Virgin Megastore (Hollywood & Highland) at 6pm.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
BLACK PEARL AND PEANUTS
Overweight? Binge eating? For quick relief read this veteran's true tale!
Purple Gene Reviews
'Category 7: The End of the World'
Purple Gene's review of the made for TV CBS Sunday Spectacular Doomsday thriller….."Category 7: The End of the World" (2005)
Directed by Dick Lowry:
All you cynical liberals…prick up your ears!!! George Bush finally made a great appointment……After Katrina, when Bush uttered the famous epithet "Great job Brownie!!"…..about Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, and his handling (or mishandling) of the disaster…..I guess nobody heard….George replaced Brownie with Gina!!!!!!! That's right ….Gina Gershon is the new head of FEMA…..Gina with the sexiest upper lip in Hollywood….Gina the babe in "Bound" (1996)…Gina the sadistic purveyor in "Demonlover" (2002)…Gina the lesbian rock and roll slut in "Prey for Rock and Roll" (2003) is now the head of FEMA in the Sunday night ABC doomsday drama "Category 7: the End of the World"!!!! As bad as it sounds, she could probably do a better job than whoever is handling it in real life!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still overcast, no rain.
Added a new flag - Afghanistan
Suspended for Promoting Sirius Move
Howard Stern
Howard Stern got a one-day suspension Monday after heavily promoting his move to satellite radio. "We expect him back on Wednesday," said Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for Infinity Broadcasting, which carries Stern's syndicated show in more than 20 markets.
She wouldn't call Stern's absence a suspension and declined to comment further. Listeners will hear a compilation of Stern's best shows on Tuesday, she said.
But Stern's spokesman Matt Traub called it was a paid suspension.
"This is an act of desperation by men who are losing their once-in-a-lifetime franchise," Traub said Monday.
Howard Stern
Movie Tells of Send-Off
Hunter S. Thompson
Fans of Hunter S. Thompson will get an inside view of his elaborate memorial service in a film directed by Wayne Ewing.
"When I Die" will be shown Saturday at the Starz Denver International Film Festival. The hour-long movie depicts the creation of the 15-story tower that was used to blast Thompson's ashes into the sky at a closed memorial service on his Woody Creek property in August.
Ewing, who directed 2003's "Breakfast With Hunter," also shows the planning and governmental approvals that organizers needed in order to honor Thompson's wishes for his send-off.
Hunter S. Thompson
Zeppelin, Conductor Share Swedish Prize
2006 Polar Music Prize
The surviving members of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin have been invited to the land of ice and snow to collect Sweden's most prestigious music award and a check for 1 million kronor (€104,290; US$123,180).
The British band and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev on Monday were named winners of the 2006 Polar Music Prize. The award was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, manager of Swedish pop group ABBA, through a donation to The Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Gergiev has confirmed that he will attend the ceremony, and Page, Jones and Plant were also expected to come to Stockholm to collect the award, organizers said.
2006 Polar Music Prize
Mitch Albom Tapped For 'Nightline' Finale
Ted Koppel
For his last "Nightline" on November 22, ABC's Ted Koppel won't take a comprehensive look back at his career, but will instead feature an interview with "Tuesdays With Morrie" author Mitch Albom talking about one of Koppel's favorite interview subjects, Morrie Schwartz.
"Nightline" executive producer Tom Bettag said Friday that there wouldn't be a collection of Koppel's "greatest hits" during that last show. Instead, it will be an interview with Albom interspersed with clips from interviews Koppel did with the college professor in 1995, when Schwartz was dying of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
"It's Ted and Mitch talking about what Morrie taught them and intercut with the best of Morrie," Bettag said. The interview was done several months ago; it's still not clear how long Koppel's final "Nightline" will last.
Ted Koppel
Hosting MSGOP Weekend News Show
Chung & Povich
Connie Chung and Maury Povich will be united on-screen for a weekend news show produced by the co-creator of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," MSGOP said Monday.
Chung, the former CBS newswoman, has been inactive since CNN pulled the plug on her prime-time news show in 2003. Her husband is in the eighth year as host of the syndicated daily talk show "Maury."
Lizz Winstead is the executive producer. She is the former head writer for "The Daily Show" in the pre- Jon Stewart days and was the host of Air America's "Unfiltered."
Chung & Povich
Root-Searching Tour
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma began what he called a root-searching tour with concerts in Taiwan and his father's hometown in China and played J.S. Bach - one of the first composers the cellist learned to play.
Ma, whose 50th birthday was last month, said he began learning cello at the age of 4 with his father in Paris by playing Bach's suites. The family later moved to New York.
After two concerts in Taiwan Sunday and Monday, Ma is to play in Hong Kong, Shanghai and his father's hometown of Ningbo in eastern China.
Yo-Yo Ma
Drops Sister As Publicist
Tom Cruise
Superstar Tom Cruise has dropped his sister as his movie publicist and hired a top Hollywood flak after coming under intense media fire for publicly mixing his religious views with his movie-making.
Cruise, 43, announced Monday that his sister Lee Anne DeVette would hand over publicity for him and his production company to veteran spokesman to the stars Paul Bloch, following a tough summer in which his image took a beating.
DeVette will now exclusively oversee Cruise's soon-to-expand involvement in charitable causes, notably those linked to the Church of Scientology of which Cruise is a devout member.
Tom Cruise
Shuts Down
Grokster
Grokster Ltd., a leading developer of Internet file-sharing software popular for stealing songs and movies online, agreed Monday to shut down operations to settle a landmark piracy case filed by Hollywood and the music industry, The Associated Press has learned.
The surprise settlement permanently bans Grokster from participating directly or indirectly in the theft of copyrighted files and requires the company to stop giving away its software, according to people familiar with the agreement. They spoke on condition of anonymity because settlement details were to be disclosed to a federal judge later in the day in Los Angeles.
Grokster's Web site was changed to display a message that its file-sharing service was illegal and no longer available. "There are legal services for downloading music and movies," the message said. "This service is not one of them."
Grokster
NBC, CBS Offering - 99 Cents
Shows On Demand
NBC and CBS unveiled separate plans on Monday to make some of their hottest prime-time shows available for viewers to watch at their leisure -- without commercials -- for 99 cents an episode, throwing open the door to "on-demand" television.
The back-to-back announcements from NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., and Viacom Inc.-owned CBS, came weeks after Walt Disney Co.'s ABC began offering commercial-free Internet downloads of its biggest hits, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," for $1.99 a piece.
Shows On Demand
NBC To Acquire Controlling Stake
Paxson
NBC Universal on Monday said it paid $25 million for an 18-month option to buy a controlling stake in Paxson Communications Corp., a move that could give the television giant control over a network of 60 stations.
The option gives NBC the right to buy out Paxson's chief executive, Bud Paxson, who holds a 63 percent voting stake in the company. Bud Paxson also said he was stepping down as chairman and chief executive of the company he founded as a network aimed at so-called family friendly programming in 1991.
The deal addresses a four-year battle between the two companies, that stemmed from NBC's $415 million purchase of a Paxson stake in 1999. At that time, televisions stations were believed to be beachfront property as U.S. regulators were considering a loosening of ownership caps on television station ownership.
Paxson
Leaving Hollywood Christmas Parade
Johnny Grant
Johnny Grant says this will be his last season as executive producer of the Hollywood Christmas Parade.
The man dubbed the honorary mayor of Hollywood ran the Hollywood Boulevard parade from 1978 to 1998. He helped round up celebrities and marching bands and arranged for movie studios to sponsor floats.
He left the job for five years to pursue other activities but the parade faltered. Last year, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce asked Grant to return.
Johnny Grant
Radio Host Held in Wife's Death
James Keown
A Missouri radio talk show host was arrested on murder charges Monday for allegedly poisoning his wife by spiking her Gatorade with a chemical found in antifreeze.
Prosecutors said James Keown, 31, began poisoning his wife when the couple moved to Massachusetts in January 2004, after he lied to her about being accepted to Harvard Business School.
Keown was arrested at the radio station where he worked in Jefferson City, Mo. He later made a court appearance via video and said he would not fight efforts to return him to Massachusetts.
For a lot more, James Keown
Confronts Commoner Culture Shock
Princess Sayako
Her Imperial Highness Princess Sayako of Japan, scion of one of the world's oldest monarchies, will marry her commoner fiancé on November 15, becoming plain Mrs Sayako Kuroda.
Marriage to Yoshiki Kuroda, a Tokyo urban planner, means the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko must leave the sequestered environment of the Imperial family for a new life as a housewife.
No daughter of an emperor has married out since 1960 and Japan's tabloid media are watching closely for clues as to how the reserved 36-year-old princess, a keen birdwatcher and student of traditional Japanese dance, will cope with the transition.
For more - Princess Sayako
Hypocrisy In The News
All Saints Episcopal Church
The Internal Revenue Service has warned a prominent liberal church that it could lose it's tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon a guest preacher gave on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, according to church officials.
The Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church to support either resident Bush or John Kerry, but he was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts.
The IRS warned the church in June that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy because such organizations are prohibited from intervening in political campaigns and elections.
All Saints Episcopal Church
In Memory
Sheree North
Actress Sheree North has died in Los Angeles from surgical complications. She was 72.
North's career spanned theater, cinema and television. Early on, she was groomed as a platinum blond bombshell to substitute for the unreliable Marilyn Monroe. She did, in fact, replace Monroe in the 1955 film "How to Be Very, Very Popular."
In her later years, North appeared on many TV shows, including "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Seinfeld," where she had a recurring role as Kramer's mother, Babs.
North is survived by her husband, two daughters and a grandchild.
Sheree North
In Memory
John Fowles
British novelist John Fowles, author of "The French Lieutenant's Woman" and "The Magus," has died at the age of 79, his publisher said on Monday.
Fowles, a novelist for more than 40 years, won international acclaim with publication in 1969 of The French Lieutenant's Woman, a vivid Victorian pastiche that was later turned into a critically acclaimed film with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons.
Fowles worked as a teacher before turning to writing full-time. His first novel in 1963 was "The Collector" about a young butterfly collector who kidnaps a young woman.
John Fowles
In Memory
John E. Rice
John E. Rice, who starred with his twin in campy real estate infomercials, a game show and sitcom, died Saturday as he was about to undergo surgery for a broken leg. He was 53.
At 2 feet 10 inches tall, the brothers became millionaires doing infomercials, acting in film and on television and giving motivational speeches.
In their infomercials, they dressed alike in outfits that changed frequently, selling get-rich-quick real estate strategies. They played on their status, offering "twin DVDs" as a free gift for attending seminars. They named their motivational company "Think Big."
The brothers appeared on numerous national television programs and had their own real estate show called "Television Home Hunt." They hosted "That Quiz Show" in 1982 and played landlords in the short-lived 1981 television series "Foul Play." They also appeared for 15 years in commercials for Hulett pest control, dressing up as insects, horses, big-game hunters and Elvis.
John E. Rice
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