The Economist pays a grand tribute to Bärbel Bohley, artist and toppler of the Berlin Wall, who died on September 11th, aged 65. “Born in the ruins of Berlin in 1945, her early life was shaped by the post-war division of her country into western (soon West) Germany, and a Soviet-occupied zone that claimed to be the ‘German Democratic Republic’. But in the end it was not the bullying communists...

The Top 10 signs that there is trouble at Fox News…via David Letterman:

Moments matter. That’s the first of many lessons we are likely to derive from the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi this past September 22. If allegations made by local law enforcement officials are correct, Clementi’s tragic death followed the filming and webcasting of a sexual encounter involving Clementi and another person in a college dorm room. It’s alleged that two Rutgers students,...

Some Like It Not by Tom Watson Tony Curtis would have made a terrific Rahm Emanuel. I can see him as a tortured, angry chief of staff in a tense fin de siècle drama of rising shadows in a White House under siege. Just as easily, I can picture Curtis joyfully elbowing his way through a comical role as Emanuel the Picaresque, jabbing lefty bloggers with glee and keeping his much more serious boss on time and...

Via John Gruber but it’s absolutely everywhere on the internets right now! How long it will stay is anyone’s guess. Watch… From RebelliousPixels.com: This is a re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed using dozens of classic Walt Disney cartoons from the 1930s to 1960s. Donald’s life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling...

As he morphed from Bernie Schwartz, a Depression kid of my generation who believed in the immigrant dream and lived it, Tony Curtis, who died this week, never lost the exuberance that came from growing up in a time when everything seemed possible because life couldn’t possibly get worse. Unlike most of us, who counted on our brains to escape Bronx squalor, Bernie was also blessed with a pretty face and...

Independent political blogger Nancy Hanks of The Hankster and NYC Independence Party chief organizer Cathy Stewart will host a New York City breakfast of coffee, bagels and political conversation – and a preview of raw video footage of Performing the World attendees answering the question: What does democracy mean to you? …in your life, in your city, your country, in the world? Video will be used in...

The woman is a Goddess of Music

It’s fair to say that most of Europe looks askance at America’s newest Tea Party – and this article from France’s Liberation by Didier Péron does nothing to dispel that impression. Focusing on what is now a somewhat famed photo of Tea Party darling Christine O’Donnell’s facial expression after winning the Republican Senate primary, Péron likens her to a sitcom comedian...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Did Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert strengthen his argument about illegal immigrants and immigration reform by testifying before Congress in his comedic character? Or did he undermine it and insult Congress? The debate rages on with most outrage coming from conservatives. Colbert testified in his Bill O’Reilly parody persona, saying things such as: “I don’t want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want...

Is President Obama, like so many political shooting stars of hope from the past, destined to fade from the scene as quickly as he emerged? According to Financial Times Deutschland columnist Ines Zottl, “Obama is through – completely finished.” Citing some seldom-heard in English Germany prose, for the Financial Times Deutschland, Ines Zottl writes in part: “A star burns out, and the...

It is stressful out there…particularly at the office. Sometimes tempers are frayed — and sometimes they’re lost:

On the SNL premiere last night* and Sunday Morning this morning, she was booted from Sesame Street because she’s too hot for some parents. She’s got the cut scene — “Come on Elmo don’t you want to play?” — on her YouTube channel. Three million views and counting. Said Sesame Street: “Sesame Street has always been written on two levels, for the child and adult. We...

Cash’s cover of the song, considered by many to be his epitaph, showed up at #96 on the German singles chart this month… I’ve always been moved by the video, shot in his Hendersonville, TN, home and featuring footage from the closed House of Cash Museum. Archival footage includes Cash riding a steam train in Zebulon, Georgia (not too far from where I now live), as Abe Cross in the 1971 movie,...

I love researching and studying legendary entertainers, particularly those before my time. One of those who was virtually gone from the scene by the time I was in elementary school was comedian Eddy Cantor, a huge vaudeville star, who also made some early sound musicals — several of them with pioneering color — in the late 20s and 30s. He later became a radio star and early TV star until he had...

Senator John McCain’s flip-flopping on issues he has championed in the past, most notably immigration reform, has not been missed by U.S. Latinos or the nations of Latin America. In this article from El Tiempo of Colombia, columnist Sergio Munoz Bata lambasts John McCain for his ‘betrayal’ of Latinos for reasons of ‘blatant electioneering.’ For El Tiempo, Sergio Munoz Bata writes...

Friends and family say I have a wonderful sense of humor. Alas, I found none in watching the opening episode of NBC’s new comedy “Outsourced” Thursday night. Normally I find amusement in cultural divides and the plight of the human condition. This 30-minute disaster is insensitive to the millions of Americans who lost their jobs because of large corporations outsourcing their labor forces. The cultural...

I love cartoons and cartoonists. Perhaps because I always wanted to be one and the only thing I can do from my efforts as a kid is a half baked version of Woody Woodpecker (I tried Donald Duck but there was a rumbling sound which I am told was Walt Disney rolling over in his grave — or trying to get out of the freezer..). But I also walk the walk: I have been subscriber to Mad Magazine since the late 50s....

The nation’s fourth-largest home lender halts evictions of homeowners in 23 states this week. Seems like someone forgot to actually read the paperwork! In a related story, no one on the face of the earth has ever read an entire software licensing agreement before initialing. Ethicists and theologians speculate if engaging in the forced practice of initialing is actually immoral. Particularly when people...

As the Tea Party movement continues to pick up steam nationwide, one perceived weak link in the general election is Delaware, where Christine O’Donnell has gotten some unwelcome coverage about her claims to have once dabbled in witchcraft — but, even worse, that she used campaign funds from another campaign in a questionable way. She is enmeshed in a controvery over her use of funds from her previous...

When Americans badly needed a few laughs during the Great Depression, a cowboy comic named Will Rogers became a huge star–and influential public figure–by tweaking politicians and announcing, “I don’t belong to any organized party, I’m a Democrat.” Now that Democrats and their independent ilk are even more disorganized and disheartened, here comes another comic calling for...

In the battle that ensued the day after September 11, 2001, did the people of the Western World lose something essential about themselves? Claus Hecking of Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland writes that due to a largely conjured-up fear of terror, ‘we are dismantling the foundations of our liberal society.’ For the Financial Times Deutschland, Claus Hecking writes in part: In the United...

Since it has now come out that Tea Party heroine and Delaware’s new GOP Senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell once said that she had dabbled into witchcraft, after an exhausting search we offer this to her as her 2010 election campaign song: And perhaps the Pennsylvania GOP and Tea Party admirers will use this song (some of the lyrics certainly seem to fit): UPDATE: A reader suggested I add...

Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.