'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Suggestion
Katrina Posters
Hi,
I've got some Katrina-based posters up.
Thought you might like to look.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Annalee Newitz: You've Been 'Pwned' (AlterNet.org)
I just can't muster up enough paranoia to properly eliminate all those bill stubs and other documents with my personal data on them.
Editorial: Strange Priorities (nytimes.com)
"In coming weeks, the Internal Revenue Service plans to start siccing private debt collectors on people with up to $25,000 in unpaid income taxes - and laying off nearly half of the auditors who examine estate tax returns of the wealthiest taxpayers."
STEVEN GREENHOUSE and DAVID LEONHARDT: Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity
"The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. The drop has been especially notable, economists say, because productivity . . . has risen steadily over the same period."
Paul Krugman: King George's Crumbling Monarchy (The New York Times)
Paul Krugman responds to readers' comments on his August 21 column, "Tax Farmers, Mercenaries and Viceroys."
Beth Quinn: Vast majority of us now officially 'bitter and angry' (Times Herald-Record, Middletown, NY; Posted on smirkingchimp.com)
Who are these 35 percent of Americans who still approve of Bush's job performance? And why do they accuse us Bush critics of being "bitter and angry," as though our lack of complacency is some sort of character flaw?
Greg Palast: 'Hurricane expert threatened for pre-Katrina warnings' (smirkingchimp.com)
DON'T blame the Lady. Katrina killed no one in this town. In fact, Katrina missed the city completely, going wide to the east.
Chuck McCutcheon: Experts warn U.S. is coming apart at the seams (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.
Laurie Sullivan: Parents Send Kids Back To School With Cell Phones (news.yahoo.com)
It caught Gail McManus off guard the first time a cellular phone rang in her third-grade class at Iva Meairs Elementary School.
The ideas interview: Frank Kermode (guardian.co.uk)
Britain's foremost literary critic tells John Sutherland why the study of English lit needs to become a tough subject again.
Time to put an end to skinny-bashing (guardian.co.uk)
Mel Hudson: Over the holiday weekend, the report outlining the 'obesity timebomb' has loomed large (sorry) in the headlines, but the week before it was business as usual as regards the routine vilification of thin women.
Stephanie McMillan: Minimum security: Dear leaders (Cartoon)
The Wall St. Poet
Oh Pluto, My Pluto
When Abe Lincoln got popped, Walt Whitman was there to lead the mourning. Today, in this time of planet Pluto's own trial, someone else had to step forward to do the job...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
No new flags.
Mark Twain Prize
Neil Simon
Playwright Neil Simon, author of Broadway fare ranging from "Barefoot in the Park" to "Brighton Beach Memoirs," will receive this year's Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize as a uniquely American humorist.
Simon, also a prolific and award-winning screenwriter, will be honored on October 15 at a program featuring entertainers Jason Alexander, Richard Dreyfus, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper, Robert Redford, Paul Reiser, Mercedes Ruehl and Jonathan Silverman, a Kennedy Center statement released on Tuesday said.
The Kennedy Center celebration of American humor started in 1998 by honoring Richard Pryor. Other recipients are Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels and Steve Martin.
Neil Simon
Drops To All-Time Low
`Challenged' Books
The number of books threatened with removal from library shelves dropped last year to its lowest total on record, with 405 challenges reported to the American Library Association.
The ALA has been tracking efforts to pull texts since the early 1980s, when it helped found Banned Books Week as a celebration of free expression. The 25th annual "Banned Books" program takes place Sept. 23-30, as libraries and bookstores highlight works that have been removed or faced removal.
Challenges have gone up and down over the past few years, but overall have dropped by more than half since Banned Books Week was started. Judith Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, cited a couple of possible factors for the decline: Librarians are better prepared to organize community support on behalf of a book, and would-be censors are focusing more on online content.
The number of works actually pulled has also decreased over the past quarter century, from more than 200 in 1982, to at least 44 last year, including Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," the Nobel laureate's debut novel. The school board in Littleton, Colo., ordered the book removed, largely because of the story includes the rape of an 11-year-old girl by her father.
The most "challenged" book of 2005 was Robie Harris' "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health," a guide for middle school students. Others high on the list included such perennials as J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," Judy Blume's "Forever" and Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War," all cited for "sexual content" and inappropriate language.
`Challenged' Books
Renewed For 5th Season
Jimmy Kimmel
ABC has renewed its late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" for a fifth season, taking the show through 2008.
In addition, a one-hour primetime special titled "Jimmy Kimmel Live's All-Star Salute to Jimmy Kimmel Live!" is set to air at 10 p.m. September 13. The special will include show highlights from the past 3-1/2 years -- including celebrity guest appearances, music performances and comedy segments -- and will be taped in front of a studio audience. It also will feature surprise guest cameos.
During the 2005-06 season, "Kimmel" increased its overall audience by 6% (1.64 million vs. 1.55 million). The show, which debuted in January 2003, airs at 12:05 a.m.
Jimmy Kimmel
Best Guitar Solo
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb has the best guitar solo of all time, according to a new poll. It was chosen ahead of the opening riff from Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses.
Third was Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, while Eruption by Van Halen was fourth and Guns N' Roses' November Rain fifth.
Led Zeppelin classic Stairway to Heaven was in sixth place.
The rest of the top 10 featured Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, Aqualung by Jethro Tull, Hotel California by The Eagles and Child In Time by Deep Purple.
Pink Floyd
Protests Photos
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan and fellow stars marched silently Tuesday to Hong Kong's government headquarters, protesting against a gossip magazine that featured a cover photo of a pop singer changing backstage.
The celebrities, wearing black T-shirts, handed over a petition denouncing the photos that were secretly taken of Hong Kong pop singer Gillian Chung, part of the popular female duo Twins. The stars urged the government to tighten laws governing racy publications.
Chung was shown adjusting her bra backstage after a concert in Malaysia's Genting Highlands. It appeared on the cover of the current issue of Easy Finder weekly.
The photos have sparked a major backlash. Government regulators have received a deluge of complaints. Hong Kong's Obscene Articles Tribunal has classified the magazine issue "indecent," which could lead to prosecution. Chan and fellow stars attended a TV special protesting the photos Monday.
Jackie Chan
Tour Tickets Invalidated
Barbra Streisand
Organizers of Barbra Streisand's first U.S. tour in more than a decade warned on Tuesday that more than 1,000 tickets had been invalidated because they had been bought with stolen credit card information.
The invalidated tickets were purchased through Ticketmaster and have turned up for sale on various Internet resale sites. The tour's national promoter, Michael Cohl, and Streisand's manager, Martin Erlichman, warned that anyone holding those tickets would not be admitted to the performances.
"With the Streisand tour the unusually high number of incidents of fraud has prompted us to issue this specific warning," said Ticketmaster President Sean Moriarty.
Barbra Streisand
Investigates Leak
Microsoft
Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it was investigating how two in-house training videos made by British comedian Ricky Gervais, creator of "The Office" television series, appeared on two Web sites.
The videos, which popped up on YouTube and Google Video this month, were commissioned by Microsoft in 2004 as "a light-hearted way of getting our staff to think about the values they attach to working at Microsoft," a spokeswoman said.
By Tuesday the videos had been pulled off the online video-sharing site YouTube. It remained on Google Video and Microsoft declined to say if it had try to have it pulled from that site.
"These videos were produced for internal use and were never intended to be viewed by the public," said the company's spokeswoman. "We are actively working to investigate how and why they have appeared now," the spokeswoman said.
Microsoft
Tries To Withdraw Guilty Plea
Foxy Brown
Rapper Foxy Brown pleaded guilty on Monday to misdemeanor assault charges stemming from a fight with salon workers over a manicure. The plea deal, which spares her jail time, requires her to serve three years probation and take anger management classes, said Edison Alban, a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Minutes after the plea, Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, tried to return to the courtroom and withdraw it, claiming she had been rushed into the decision, Alban said. But the judge told her "the plea stands," the spokesman said.
Her sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 23.
Foxy Brown
Release Keyboardist
Black Crowes
The Black Crowes have "released" keyboardist Eddie Hawrysch due to unspecified "personal issues", the rock band's publicist said.
Hawrysch will be replaced by Rob Clores on the group's fall tour of North America, which begins on September 7 in Richmond, Vancouver, a statement said. Clores previously played with Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson on his solo outing.
Canadian-born Hawrysch joined the Black Crowes in 1991 and made his recording debut on their 1992 sophomore album The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.
Black Crowes
Cat Killer Caught Lying
Bill Frist
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist acknowledged Tuesday that he may not have met all the requirements needed to keep his medical license active - even though he gave paperwork to Tennessee officials indicating that he had.
The state of Tennessee requires its licensed physicians to complete 40 hours of continuing medical education every two years. Frist, a heart-lung surgeon who is considering a 2008 presidential run, submitted a license renewal with the Tennessee Health Department stating he has fulfilled that requirement.
A renewal application Frist filed with the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners in February of this year specifically mentions the continuing education requirement and bears his signature.
Bill Frist
The Next Generation
More Frists
As the leader of the Republican party in the US Senate and a possible presidential candidate, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee has a reputation for sober rectitude. The same cannot be said of his son Jonathan, a Vanderbilt University student who recently appeared on the internet wearing six cans of beer strapped to his belt.
Nor has Jonathan's brother Bryan done much to help his father's attempts to strike a reasonable note about US involvement in Iraq. "I was born an American by God's amazing grace," wrote Bryan Frist in an online profile. "Let's bomb some people."
Roll Call, the Washington insiders' newspaper published on Capitol Hill, recently reported that Jonathan Frist's Facebook entry declared him a member of the "Jonathan Frist appreciation for 'Waking Up White People' Group". It also mentioned a group where there were "No Jews allowed. Just kidding. No seriously".
More Frists
Learning to Walk Without Chains
Murat Kurnaz
Murat Kunaz may now be home. But the ex-Guantanamo prisoner, who arrived in Germany last Thursday following more than four-and-a-half years in isolation, has a long way to go before he re-adjusts to reality. Indeed, having not been allowed out of his cell without his feet chained together, Kunaz even had to relearn how to walk normally, his defense attorney says.
Kurnaz, now 24, touched down at the United States military base at Ramstein on Thursday evening following lengthy negotiations between Washington and the German government to secure his release. His lawyer Bernhard Docke said Kurnaz would first have to re-learn how to cope with reality. Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen with German residency, had never seen euro notes before and was surprised to learn that mobile phones now have cameras built into them. From the air base, Docke said, Kurnaz drove with his family to Bremen where he lived prior to his arrest. On the way, Kurnaz asked for them to stop the car so he could look at the stars -- which, because of the bright lights at Guantanamo, he hadn't seen in well over four years.
Kurnaz, who became known as the "Bremen Taliban" following his arrest in Pakistan in 2001, said the bright, neon light in his cell hadn't been turned off during the entire time he was held at the camp, his lawyer said in a press conference after his arrival in Germany.
Murat Kurnaz
Cruel & Unusual Punishment
Saddam
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is being made to watch his appearance in cult cartoon South Park while he is behind bars.
The deposed leader on trial in Iraq was featured in the movie spin-off as the lover of the devil. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut featured Hussein and Satan attempting to take over the world together.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said US Marines guarding the former dictator during his trial for genocide were making him watch the movie "repeatedly".
Saddam
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