The Truffle

Tony Snow is back at work after surgery for cancer. Best of luck to the guy. He now says he's going to take this opportunity to educate the public about living with cancer. Maybe he could quit that icky White House job and become a spokesman for a cancer organization? C'mon Tony, use your powers for good! Jon Corzine has left the hospital and apologized for not wearing a seat belt. It's okay, dude. We forgive you. Just consider yourself lucky to be alive.

Le Sweetie and I listened to George Tenet as he tried to explain himself last night on 60 Minutes . He was angry, he was strident, he was disillusioned and felt betrayed by Bushco. One can only imagine his silent rage as George Bush hung the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck. How ever did he resist take that medal and whack the Preznit over the head with it? Moreover how did the interviewer, Scott Pelley, manage to sit through Tenet's blustering without rolling his eyes? Read the transcript and you will wonder the same thing. Tenet can't explain explain why the CIA never told the FBI about two of the 9/11 hijackers. He can't offer a credible excuse for why he didn't go straight to the president when he knew a terrorist attack was imminent. He can, however, come up with a new, politically correct term for torture: "enhanced interrogation techniques." No wonder his former colleagues are pissed. Tenet joins Colin "I'm soooo ashame...

Bush's AIDS czar has resigned after disclosing that he used an escort service. Ho hum. Yaawwwwwn. A GOP scandal. Booorrrrring. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all. On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the "Pamela Martin and Associates" escort service "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." Tobias, who is married, said there had been "no sex," and that recently he had been using another service "with Central Americans" to provide massages. The feds have accused the escort service in question of being a call girl operation. Admit it. You're surprised by this, right? Tobias' private cell number was among thousands of numbers listed in the telephone records provided to ABC News by Jeane Palfrey, the woman dubbed the "D.C. Madam," who is facing the federal charges. In an interview to be broadcast on "20/20" next Friday, Palfrey says she intends to call T...

Yes, it's a long-overdue prog blog. Are Electric Light Orchestra truly prog? Uh...they somehow ended up on Supernatural Fairy Tales with their cover of "Roll Over Beethoven." Here's ELO performing "Telephone Line." PS: If you like ELO, check out their parent band, The Move. Omnibus, their '60s singles collection, is a good starting point, followed by Shazam and the newly remastered version of their final album, Message from the Country.

There's a commercial on Boomerang, the old-school toon channel, for another season of Pokemon. "New trainers! New Pokemon!" Say WHAT? When was the last time anyone bought Pokemon cards? 1996? And this show is STILL on the air? Man, it has managed to outlive even those lousy "Dragonball" series. They're probably still cranking out "Pokemon" because it's unbelievably easy to produce: Ash and his friends visit a town named after a color. They want to earn a badge. Team Rocket tries to ruin their plans. They throw a lot of balls and sick some Pokemon on Team Rocket. Team Rocket loses. Ash and company win. The end. At least I hope they've really, really, finally pulled the plug on "Ed, Edd, and Eddy."

How is this possible, you ask? Well, it's pretty easy when you can't tell the difference between parody and real news. (Via Dave Neiwert. )

Of course, they just HAD to pre-empt Countdown with Keith Olbermann for the great Dem Q&A session last night. Before then, I had completely forgotten that so many people were running for president! And everyone came out a winner. Yes, each candidate, whether first- or second- or third-tier, deserves some sort form of recognition for his or her performance that night. Most calculating candidate: La Hill. Man, she knows how to say all the right things in front of the cameras. Except one. Nobody's heard her say, "My vote for the war was a mistake." And nobody's heard her say, "Here's how we can exit Iraq." Most atypical performance by a blabbermouth: Joe Biden. Yes, the politician who has single-handedly contributed the most to global warming with his hot air managed to keep his bloviating in check that night...more or less. Most disappointing: John Edwards. C'mon, where's that inner fire? He could've been more forceful when ta...

Another reason why GOPers should drop the "Democrats R teh EVIL!!1!!!1!" crap.

Yes, this year, Hollywood has found yet another beloved character to mutate into something unrecognizable. And so, this August, they're bringing us a live action film version of Underdog . Instead of humble, lovable Shoeshine Boy, we have a lovable hound who gets superpowers in a lab accident. Instead of "Never fear, Underdog is here," we have "One Nature, Under Dog." Oh yeah, and Sweet Polly Purebread is a cocker spaniel, not a reporter. No, of course the idea has nothing to do with the cartoon. Yes, I loved the cartoon. Yes, I'll be looking forward to seeing other movies this summer. Coming soon: the live-action Tennessee Tuxedo, starring a lovable penguin and walrus in a zoo. C'mon, you know some genius thinks this is a good idea.

Duran Duran-loving Dwanollah has written the ideal primer for today's girls: Twenty Things Every Girl Can Learn from Britney Spears . Yes, it seems the pop star-turned-trainwreck has a lot of lessons to teach those teenage girls who are now, no doubt, kicking themselves for buying her records back in 2000. ("I thought she was the prettiest pop princess ever. I was eight years old. Someone please KILL ME NOW!") She’s not just America’s Sweet Pop Princess... or even America’s Former Sweet Pop Princess. Rather, she’s a shining, golden example to us all about what people, especially teenaged girls, need to learn as they grow to adulthood. Spend a little time looking at Britney’s life and choices, and suddenly, a whole lot of things become clearer, and pivotal life lessons – especially for young women – become more obvious. Like, smack-you-upside-the-head obvious. Thought-provoking and recommended. Seriously.

Via Atrios, we find Harry Reid's spokesman responding to Darth Cheney's latest outburst: Vice President Cheney should be the last person to lecture anyone on how leaders should make decisions. Leaders should make decisions based on facts and reality, two words that seem to be foreign to the Vice President. This is the same guy who said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that we would be greeted as liberators. And it's the same guy who continues to assert that Saddam Hussein had links to al Qaeda long after our own intelligence agency conclusively refuted this notion. To suggest he lacks credibility would be an understatement. The Vice President's and others' attacks on those who disagree with their failed policies are signs of desperation. They are lashing out because they know the days are numbered for their failed strategy and that the American people and a bipartisan majority are determined to force this Administration to change course in Iraq. See, guys?...

Danica McKellar (of Wonder Years fame) chose to branch out in college, majoring in math at UCLA. While she was there, she helped her professor write a paper that was published in an academic journal. As a result, she and her co-authors had a mathematical theorum named after them. Now, she's written a book for middle-school girls, titled Math Doesn't Suck. It'll be published in August, right before the new school year. It's very cool to see a well-known actress encourage young girls to learn and love mathematics. Go Danica!

I went shoe shopping yesterday. This is always so much fun. Except not really. First, I've got wide feet with high arches. For some weird reason, most shoe stores sell only medium width. Luckily for me, there are a couple of decent shoe stores--Nine West and Easy Spirit--that sell in wide. There used to be Parade of Shoes, but that store ceased to exist, having been assimilated by Payless of Borg. I hate high heels. I never wear them. I tried when I was about seventeen. Ow ow OW! My poor toes! That's enough of heels for me. And I've seen too many women wobbling as they try to keep their balance wearing what look like nails attached to leather. (Whoops! Did I insult your precious Manolos? Sorry.) Anyway, the shoe du jour is the Croc . I confess I've made a point of avoiding Crocs as much as I can. For one thing, they're the most unfortunate-looking shoes since Uggs. For a long time, they've been on my list of fashionable footwear that I won'...

I've read some crazy, nonsensical, and just plain rock-stupid commentary on the Virginia Tech tragedy. This, however, tops them all. I can just imagine what was going through the minds of the Sunday Times' editors when they chose to publish this tripe. "Let's see--the news media has spilled lots and lots of ink on this story. They've examined American gun laws. They've interviewed his professors and classmates. They've discussed his mental state. They've aired his demented video. They've even promised to stop airing the demented video. We need a new angle here, people. We've heard his classmates and ex-professors. We need a new angle. Say--let's frame this as a gender issue! He was a man in a feminized culture! Yeah! That's new!" Ahem. Let's try to manage the difficult task of reading this thing without spewing one's beverage all over the keyboard, shall we? The author is Sarah Baxter, and the article is t...

ScottEVill notes that late Friday is always the time Bush picks to unleash unfortunate news, circumvent Congress, or generally behave like the slimeball he is. What's coming up for next Friday? Scott has an idea. Sister Nancy is horrified to discover cosmetics for men. Nancy, hon, menfolk have been doing that for years. Michael Jackson had eyeliner tattooed on his face back in the 1980s. Where were you when this freakazoid was trying to perfect the art of self-emasculation? You wonder why men aren't manly men anymore? It goes back to Michael Jackson. Come to think of it, who championed the Jackson 5 back when Michael was still black? Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, and Motown. Who did Jackson do his best to resemble? Diana Ross. There's a conspiracy here, and it's got something to do with Miss Ross and Motown. I'm sure that girly-voice himself, Smokey Robinson, also has something to do with it. Remind me to tell you about my other theory, involving Barney t...

I know today is Earth Day. I never do anything spectacular for Earth Day. Why? Well, I already try to pitch in where I can to help the environment. I take public transportation. I try not to leave too many lights on. I recycle my newspapers and magazines and tin cans and plastic containers. I even sometimes buy shower gel and soap from the Body Shop. I just do it because it seems like the right thing to do. Besides, I kinda like the idea of all that newspaper ending up back on the newstands somewhere. Going green is cool. Promoting green policies is cool. But I have a problem with just one day out of the year being set aside for it. For the same reason, I've got a problem with Women's and Black History Months. We don't even have an Earth Month or an Earth Week. Just an Earth Day. That sounds pretty screwy to me.

Well, Greek Independence Day. Actually, Greek Independence Day was last Sunday, but due to circumstances beyond anyone's control (i.e., that nor'easter), there were no festivities and no parade. Now, the neighborhood is awash in blue and white, and Fifth Avenue had a big, fun parade, complete with a marching band playing "Louie Louie." Of course, NYC has been rewarded for its week of wet weather with a cloudless, sunny weekend. Le Sweetie and I hung out in Central Park, drank Gatorades, and had fun. Neither of us has Greek ancestry, but it was a great day no matter where your ancestors came from. Life was good. Happy Independence Day to Greeks everywhere!

Here it is. Something more frightening than a twenty-four hour slasher-movie marathon. Ladies and gents, it's Lawrence Welk as a hippie. Think that's trippin'? Who thought the Velvet Underground would be creating the ideal champagne music? Somewhere, Nico and Sterling Morrison are spinning in their graves.

It's the Carpenters at their melodramatic, soul-baring best, performing "Superstar." RIP Karen.

Before Gonzo's testimony, Le Sweetie and I imagined him practicing his answers in advance with his family, trying to keep his stories straight. Yet it wasn't enough to save his testimony or his reputation. One can only imagine why... Gonzo kidlet: "Daddy, why do you have to keep saying, 'I don't know' and 'I don't remember'?" Gonzo: "Because this is a very important hearing. Now you're going to pretend you're Senator Schumer." Gonzo kidlet: "Yo! I'm tawkin' ta you, Alberto!" Gonzo: "Sweetie, Senator Schumer doesn't talk like that." Gonzo kidlet: "You said he was from Brooklyn, Daddy." Gonzo (sighing): "Okay, pretend you're Senator Leahy instead." Gonzo kidlet: "Go fuck yourself, Gonzales!" Gonzo (gasps): "WHERE did you learn to talk like that?" Gonzo kidlet: "Senators say 'fuck' all the time!" Gonzo: "Not senators. Only vice...

Michael Medved used to be fun, back when he was co-writing those Golden Turkey Award titles and cataloguing all things bad and cinematic. Then he went all bonkers and became a wingnut and started talking about gay subtext in kiddie movies. And now? With the Virginia Tech tragedy, he has has added his name to the ever-growing list of right-wingers making pathetically stupid statements. Quick, someone 'splain to Mikey that Cho Seung-Hui was not a terrorist. A sick, disturbed murderer, yes, but not a terrorist. Just like a cartoon penguin is not a deviant gay homosexual, a socially isolated psycho-killer is not the same thing as a terrorist. There's a bright side to all this, however. At least Medved doesn't hate the victims, like so many of his fellow righties do.

In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association published the fourth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Good little book editor that I am, I remember when at least two psychology books I was working on had to get a big do-over because of DSM-IV. Boy, was that fun. Especially changing the index. Hopefully, when the APA gets around to the DSM-V, some new mental disorders will be added. I'd like to suggest one for consideration: McCain's Disease. Now, I admit that I have no formal training in psychology or psychiatry. Heck, I don't even have a graduate degree. Nonetheless, we live in a country where it's ridiculously easy to set up shop as a therapist. Just ask those two chicks who wrote The Courage to Heal . Besides, as Bill Frist has proven, it's very easy to make a conclusive diagnosis just by watching someone on a TV screen. Therefore, I suggest that the APA consider McCain's Disease to be a legitimate psychological di...

Once upon a time, Mark Pickerel was the drummer for the Screaming Trees. He bailed out of the band some time circa 1990. Today, he's a solo singer-songwriter who writes and plays amazing countrified country-rock. He just released his solo debut, Snake on the Radio, on Bloodshot Records , the best record label most people haven't heard of. Mr. Pickerel's homepage is here, and his MySpace page is here. Holly Ramos is a singer/songwriter who opened for Jesse Malin last night at the Mercury Lounge. I have to say, I liked Ms. Ramos and her solo-acoustic-guitar spot more than Mr. Malin's epic-rock set. The fact that she's got one lovely singing voice has a lot to do with it. Her album, Racehorse , is not out yet, alas. She does have a Web site, however. It has all the details on her music and forthcoming live dates. Like Mr. Pickerel, Ms. Ramos has a MySpace page. Two great performers who make great music. Just doing my part to get the word out 'bout them...

The details about Cho Seung-Hui are still coming out. You can argue all you want about gun laws and privacy laws and how to handle troubled students. Here's a question that sticks in my head: Where were this guy's parents? Were they ever notified that their son was a stalker who needed mental help? How did they react when a campus police officer said their son was "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization, and presents an imminent danger to self or others"? What--if anything--did they do to help him? I can only imagine the grief and horror they must feel right now. I don't care who or what Ismail Ax is. I just suspect that there's a missing piece to this puzzle that nobody has bothered to pick up yet.

On the plus side, the right-wing talking point about "personal freedom" has been revealed as the empty rhetoric it truly is. On the minus side...well, women who need a medical procedure to save their lives are going to be up the fucking creek. George Bush's new, conservative Supreme Court delivered a victory to anti-abortion activists yesterday when it upheld the so-called Partial Birth Abortion Act, which outlaws a specific, relatively rare procedure usually carried out on pregnant women reaching the end of the second trimester. The issue has been mired in controversy for years, with anti-abortion activists arguing that the operation, which involves crushing the foetus's head, is unspeakably barbaric while their opponents say it can, in certain circumstances, be the least traumatic way of ending a pregnancy and causing least damage to the health of the mother. Six courts have ruled that the 2003 federal law banning the procedure was unconstitutional because it did n...

I mailed my taxes to the IRS and Albany only last week, and already the checks cleared the bank. Nice to see my payments were processed quickly. Glad that's over with for one year.

So, I was walking home today. There's a burger/souvlaki stand where I used to pop in for lunch on occasion. It has been shut down by the NYC Department of Health. I used to eat there. I don't even want to THINK about why it was shut down. Otherwise, I'd lose my appetite.

Following Blue Gal's tribute to Judy Collins, I'm posting this clip of Brit-folk legends Steeleye Span, fronted by the extraordinary Maddy Prior.

Warning: This post is not, I repeat, NOT for the squeamish. I've written before about the unmistakable slashy subtext of the Bush administration. Don't pretend you haven't noticed it. It's so blatantly obvious that there's even a site, Current Affairs filled with...no, this is not a joke...slash fan fiction featuring British, American, and Australian politicians. What can I say? There's slash fiction for everything else. It was just a matter of time before some people thought of combining slashfic and political commentary. And I guess some people got tired of Photoshopping Republicans' faces onto Brokeback Mountain movie posters. Now, they are mining current events for fictional inspiration: In light of the recent discussions about the U.S. attorneys that were recently fired, has anyone else been inspired by the idea that they served "at the pleasure of the president"? Or, given Jon Stewart's comments on the Daily Show tonight, is it j...

Via Bring It On , I've discovered a cool new online resource courtesy of WaPo. The Congress Votes Database compiles how our senators and congresscritters have voted on every issue since 1991. Meanwhile, our attorney general, the Great Gonzo insists he has nothing to hide. He also says he's sorry about the honest mistakes that were made. Yeah, sure, dude. We believe ya. Jeez, can ANYONE in the Bush administration, past or present, stay out of trouble? If it's not Gonzo, it's Paul Wolfowitz, now head of the world bank, who helped his girlfriend get a promotion. From Reuters : Staff and development activists accuse Wolfowitz of breaking bank rules by helping to arrange a high-paying promotion for his girlfriend and bank employee Shaha Riza. They argue the moral authority of the poverty-fighting institution has been left in tatters, especially its authority to make countries who receive aid accountable for the money, an issue that has been a priority for Wolfowitz,...

There is a nasty, nasty nor'easter outside that has already cost me an umbrella. I am getting quite fed up with this 40-degree weather. I feel quite silly wearing my winter coat IN APRIL. I want it to be SPRING, for God's sake. Yeah, I know...April showers bring May flowers...blah blah blah blah. You know what? After this month of crappy weather, there had better be a LOT of flowers come next month.

It turns out that the last-ever episode of Ed, Edd, and Eddy will air on April 27. I'm quite stunned at the news. It seemed that this series would never end. Meanwhile, cool shows like The Powerpuff Girls and Johnny Bravo have long since fallen by the wayside. Sense that doesn't make. Anyway, I'd love to see Brak get a new series, but who knows if that'll happen. I think they'll move Metalocalypse to 2 PM before that happens. Maybe they'll also can The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, which started out funny and is now just gross. Meanwhile, I'm going to check out that Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie at some point. I'm more excited about this than I ever was about Serentiy. I know that sounds weird, but it's true.

Via Ang we find the global-warming answer to OTB. Question: if we all drown under waves of melted icecaps, who's going to collect the winnings? Mahablog weighs in on the Duke case, the Kathy Sierra case, and the Don Imus case in one fell swoop, and does so eloquently. Let me go off on a tangent here: I believe that in rape and sexual abuse cases, the names of the accused and the accuser should be withheld from the public. It's not just the Duke case, which was clearly full of holes from the start. I'm reminded of the Tawana Brawley fiasco, since I grew up just 30 miles north of Brawley's hometown. I remember when Al Sharpton and his cohorts, C. Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox, libeled a state prosecutor, accusing him of raping the girl. Of course, as a grand jury found, the rape never happened. The prosecutor sued Sharpton et al. for libel and won (he is now an assistant state attorney general). This man spent years trying to live down being called a rapist. ...

As a DailyKos regular, I'm quite dismayed at Kos's dismissive dismissive comments about Kathy Sierra. The feminist section of the blogosphere has already weighed in here. I'll just add that, much as I respect what Kos has done as a blogger and activist, he's plain wrong. Kos has the sort of thick skin that comes from years of military duty, political activisim, and years of blogging. Is he sexist? Look, everyone is sexist in one way or another. Kos has no perspective when he says, "Look, I get hate mail all the time and I don't freak out! You just have to roll with the punches!" He is a political blogger. Kathy Sierra is a tech blogger. He spent three years in the Army and no doubt spent a lot of that time learning to use assorted firearms. Kathy Sierra is a former game developer. He is desensitized to hostility and hate mail. Kathy Sierra isn't. I've been following the Kathy Sierra story, waiting for the details to unfold. She does...

Start planning your vacations NOW, people. The Hard Rock Cafe's opening its own amusement park in Myrtle Beach! I've already let Le Sweetie know that THIS is going to be our next vacation destination. It's even going to have Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin theme park rides. Below is a preliminary drawing of the soon-to-be-built Led Zeppelin roller coaster. Trouble is, Le Sweetie only likes roller coasters when he's not actually riding them. So I'll be taking this Zeppelin Stairway-to-Heaven coaster by myself. Maybe this new Hard Rock Park will have some tamer rides.

One of my favorite authors, ever since I read Player Piano for a ninth-grade book report and the teacher asked me if I thought the book was too difficult. When I think about my own death, I don't console myself with the idea that my descendants and my books and all that will live on. Anybody with any sense knows that the whole solar system will go up like a celluloid collar by-and-by. I honestly believe, though, that we are wrong to think that moments go away, never to be seen again. This moment and every moment lasts forever. From "Reflections on My Own Death," originally published in Rotarian Magazine (1972); republished in Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons (1976). God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.

As it turns out, I'm not the only prog blogger on the internets. anonyMoses has managed to unearth some prog vids by Yes, ELP, Fripp, and Dead Can Dance. Yes, thanks to YouTube, all kinds of weird, obscure prog vids are popping up on the internets. First up, the Moody Blues doing "Nights in White Satin." (Is it me, or do about three-fifths of the band look kind of bored in this clip?) Next up: the original Soft Machine lineup with Kevin Ayers: And finally, one of my most favorite artists doing one of my most favorite songs based on one of my most favorite books. It's Kate Bush singing "Wuthering Heights."

The latest Carnival of the Liberals is up, hosted by Little Miss Know It All. They picked one of my posts for inclusion, so I am way happy about that. I checked out the posts by my fellow carnival acts, and I found some simple wisdom in this post on immigration. I'm looking forward to reading the other posts as well.

I'm rather surprised that it took a snarky "nappy-haired ho" crack to finally land Mr. Imus in hot water. Countless media outlets have repeated all of his bigoted remarks about people of assorted religions, races, and sexual orientations. The bottom line is this: Don Imus makes his living by insulting people. My younger brother listens to Imus regularly and assures me, the non-Imus follower, that it is part of his schtick. Why is he in trouble now? Here is my theory: People are tired of the Don Imuses of the world. That's why they're calling Imus on his ugly remarks and deciding that Ann Coulter has overstayed her welcome. After a while, nastiness for the sake of nastiness stops being edgy and provocative. Instead, it becomes offensive and tiresome. It's not that Imus and Coulter have become any more or less offensive and nasty than they were before. It's that the American public finally said, "Enough already!" After all, Amercans have ...

Via my buddy Badtux comes the story of yet another stupid waste of government resources. Yes, there's an actual Florida town where six-year-old girls are arrested for throwing temper tantrums. Arrested. For temper tantrums. For Badtux, this another example of grownups who can't handle kids. I have absolutely no respect for adults who cannot handle a six year old child without calling the cops. None. This is a complete and utter failure in training. A child seeking attention has been rewarded for misbehavior with a *lot* of attention, and thus will misbehave more in the future. This is the dumbest, stupidest, most ignorant thing I've ever heard of.... For me, it's more than that. It's an obscene waste of everyone's time. Not as obscene as Al D'Amato and his missus getting free healthcare, but still pretty ludicrous. It is not law enforcement's job to provide discipline in kindergarten. It's the job of the principal, the teachers, and the teachi...

Remember yesterday's article on socialism for rich Long Islanders? Turns out there are a lot of Long Islanders who are NOT rich and are NOT happy about this. Newsday follows up with more. "It's outrageous," said Harold Berkowitz, 83, a retired insurance salesman in Plainview. "It's a legal way to steal from my pocket. " He was among dozens of furious Long Island residents who contacted Newsday yesterday by phone and e-mail. Nassau Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said she was unaware of the practice of giving benefits to members of the county's Board of Assessors, Assessment Review Commission and Civil Service Commission. She planned to review it. "Such a costly benefit should not be used, in my estimation, as a perk for those serving on various boards," Jacobs said. Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman urged the legislature to review its policy on how long a person must work in the county before being entitled to lifetim...

Today's Newsday has a cover story on part-time community board members on Long Island who get free health benefits, paid for by taxpayers. Now, what do you call this? Say it with me: Socialized medicine. The full story, in all its obscene detail, is here. Katuria D'Amato, wife of former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, gets free family health insurance as a member of the part-time Hempstead Zoning Board of Appeals. Patrick E. Byrne Jr., an anti-tax activist from Lake Grove, gets his benefits as vice chairman of the board of Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corp. And Kings Point Mayor Michael Kalnick, a partner in his own Manhattan law firm, gets his health benefits fully funded by serving as chairman of the board of the Water Authority of Great Neck North. All across Long Island, at least 100 members of various appointed boards are given health insurance - usually at no cost to them - even though they work just part time, in some cases only a few hours a month. Many also are eligible fo...

It seems that Tom DeLay (or, rather, one of his stand-ins) is suddenly interested in blogospheric civility. So much so that they're opening a discussion about it. In the meantime, a poll on Tommy Boy's blog finds that 78 percent of those surveyed think Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria will increase terrorism. Whatta surprise. Meanwhile, Team DeLay is awfully quiet on the subject of Nick Lampson. Wonder why that is. Oh yeah, and DeLay's book, I Retreated, Then Surrendered, is #2,600 on Amazon's list. Newt Gingrich , meanwhile, thinks Gonzales should step down. ``I think the country, in fact, would be much better served to have a new team at the Justice Department, across the board,'' Gingrich said. ``I cannot imagine how he is going to be effective for the rest of this administration.... They're going to be involved in endless hearings.'' Nevertheless, Gingrich did praise Gonzales' fluency in English: "It's nice to see he doesn...

Figures Rudy is against universal health care. He's really trying to position himself as Mr. Free-Market Conservative here. It's kind of sad. “I don’t like mandates,” Giuliani says. “I don’t like mandating health care. I don’t like it because it erodes what makes health care work in this country — the free market, the profit motive...." I know this guy never cared to listen to anyone's advice when he was mayor, but someone should explain to him why free markets and health care don't mix so well. Things like HMOs and Big Pharma and all that. I'll go out on a limb and offer my own opinion here: People's health care is just too important to leave in the hands of the free market. The free market can't handle it and this blathering about free markets is why health care in this country is in a state of crisis. "A mandate takes choice away from people. We’ve got to let people make choices. We’ve got to let them take the risk–do they want to be cov...

It's the Soft Boys, circa 1980, performing "Only the Stones Remain." By the way, Robyn Hitchcock put on a great show at South by Southwest this year.

Found on a New York City subway while going home: Nonetheless, the point is valid. Some things shouldn't be done in a New York minute--like proofreading ads for typos.

( Note: For more details about Blog Against Theocracy, click here . ) Theocracy. The very term makes me shudder. Life in a world where religion is law would be incredibly boring. Not just oppressive or brutal or misogynist or unpleasant. Boring. Then again, maybe I'm basing this on my own churchgoing experiences as a kid. Like most kids, I went to church because my parents said so. They weren't religious, but they wanted my brother and me to be exposed to spiritual life. As long as we were tucked away in Sunday School, we had fun. I don't remember learning much in Sunday School. But I do remember coloring in Bible coloring books. And I remember singing fun religious songs, with such lyrics of spiritual devotion as... Give me wax on my board, keep me surfing for the Lord Give me wax on my board, I pray Give me wax on my board, keep me surfing for the Lord Keep me surfing 'til the break of day (Yes, that's a real lyric.) But the church services themselves? ...

There's the Idiot-in-Charge, who's been compared to Alfred E. Neuman by La Hill and assorted fictional simians by just about everyone else. There's Cheney, whose demeanor and hunting antics suggest a dyspeptic Elmer Fudd. And now Mitt Romney, is talking about his adventures hunting "varmints" as he tries to win the gun lobby's support. Varmints? Uh, right. Mitt, pretending to be Yosemite Sam isn't gonna work. His comments in New Hampshire this week that he had been a hunter "pretty much all my life" drew scorn from critics after his staff said Wednesday that he had been on only two hunting trips - on his cousins' ranch in Idaho as a 15-year-old, and last year, when as a 58-year-old he hunted quail in Georgia with supporters of the Republican Governors Association. "Ah'm the hootenist, tootenist, shootenist gun-totin' gunslinger in the NRA. Okay, ya idgit galoot from Massy-choosits, let's see you with a gun! An' y...

I know, I know. The 2008 campaign is getting predictable. Among the GOP candidates, there are enough flip flops to fill a beach. On the Democratic side, you have La Hill and Obama trying to out-fundraise each other. Already, everyone knows what to expect. Maybe they should just hold the elections in January 2008 and be done with it. In case you fear your options are limited, here are some other candidates to consider. Yes, in every political campaign, there are a few lesser-known parties, wacky outsiders, and general no-names whom nobody hears about until you see their names in the voting booth. Well, already we've got an election that looks to be very different from elections past, so why not level the playing field? Here are some candidates running for president and other assorted elected offices. From Vermont, home of Howard Dean and America's first socialist senator comes Cris Ericson of the National Marijuana Party. I'm not sure what the lady's running fo...

Anyone who thinks Sanjaya Malakar can't sing should listen to Paula Abdul's old songs. I remember Paula's pop music career. She couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with wheels. Without all those elaborately choreographed videos of hers, she would've had no career. In fact, there are plenty of people with no vocal ability who somehow managed to get record contracts. Britney Spears. Jessica and Ashlee Simpson. Nick Lachey. What makes Sanjaya any different? Easy: he's not relying on prerecorded tracks and he's not lip syncing. Really, Paula, Simon, and Randy are part of that very music industry juggernaut that has been passing over worthy artists in favor of the above-named no-talents. It's hilarious that they're so puzzled about this guy. Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast is rooting for Sanjaya. After reading her post, hopefully you will root for him, too. On an unrelated note, there's only one thing more shocking about Keith Richards'...

Following McCain's fact-finding trip to Iraq (snorfle) comes news that he's hired a brand-new finance co-chair, Fred Malek. A finance chair needs to know how to count, and clearly, McCain's new hire knows how to do that. How do I know this? Because he used to count Jews for Richard Nixon, that's how. And counting Jews was one of Malek's more innocuous activities.

Among other things, the sufferer begins to see and hear things that he wants to see and hear. When actual events don't fit his fantasy, he simply pretends that they are not there and did not happen. Case in point: The disease's namesake and his latest attempt to put a positive spin on Situation FUBAR. This time he's weighing in on the Iraqi shopping experience . A bunch of Iraqis, naturally, think he's nuts. Jolly Roger sums everything up.

By now, it's clear Bush's GOP base is shrinking faster than an ice cube in a pot of boiling water. Turning up the stove temperature is Victor Gold, a former speechwriter and GOP insider. He once wrote a book called Libberwocky: What Liberals Say and What They Really Mean. He has co-written books with Daddy Bush and Lynne Cheney. I bet he even managed to keep food down while working with the latter. He's the kind of person the wingnutosphere would be proud to include among their own...if he didn't just write a book that dissed Dear Leader. Anyway, the book in question is called Invasion of the Party Snatchers: How the Holy Rollers and the Neocons Destroyed the GOP. Folks, this is what a really disillusioned Republican looks like. For all the Rove-built facade of his being a "strong" chief executive, George W. Bush has been, by comparison to even hapless Jimmy Carter, the weakest, most out of touch president in modern times. Think Dan Quayle in cowboy b...

While the Bushbots are trying to rap and carrying on imaginary conversations with Martians, Alanis Morrisette has a new song. It is a cover of "My Humps." Yes. You read that correctly. Alanis Morrisette is singing "My Humps." This is the video.