The Truffle

I'll be vacationing at the Jersey shore with Le Sweetie through Labor Day weekend. Nothing like an extended holiday weekend.

Dave Navarro's dual careers as musician and reality TV star have stalled. So how can he make money? The choices are: a. Host some Time-Life "Alternative Nation: Rock of the '90s" infomercial. b. Go to technical college and train for an exciting new career as a medical assistant. c. Become night manager at the local Hot Topic. d. Do porn. Navarro, needless to say, went with d. Alas, interested fans will be sad to know that Navarro will be directing, not acting. Dave Navarro will direct his first porn film, ‘Broken’, for Teravision, the adult film production company owned by porn star Tera Patrick and her husband, ex-Oz star Evan Seinfeld. The film stars teen porn star Sasha Grey, David explains: “What happens is, the film breaks fantasy and goes back into reality and you’re actually on the set, so my interaction is mainly me giving Sasha direction. If anything, there’s definitely an artistic flair and sensibility throughout the picture that might at times appear s...

Senator Whatshisname from Idaho Whom Nobody Thought About Before used to be in a vocal group with Senators Trent Lott, John Ashcroft, and Jim Jeffords. They called themselves (what else?) the Singing Senators, and they wowed music fans at Branson, Missouri and the Republican National Convention. They performed alongside the Oak Ridge Boys and wore really goofy suits. Alas, political and professional differences tore the group apart: Ashcroft got kicked upstairs to an Attorney General post; Jeffords left the party; Lott lost his majority leader job; and Larry Craig is the latest inductee to the Official GOP Do-As-I-Say-Not-As-I-Do Club. My friend says this is all great Behind the Music material. I agree; if VH1's having a slow week, an hour-long special on the story of Jim, Larry, John, and Trent would be worth exploring. As it turns out, Pitchfork music scribe Amy Phillips penned just such an article in her student-journalist days. Maybe she could write an update for Pitchf...

I so love this band. A DVD with videos and stuff is in the works, but until then, I'll content myself with assorted findings on YouTube.

While Michael Vick and DMX have become the poster boys for pit bull abuse, today's generation of marginalized canines seeks a voice. Enter Budgie and Basil, the front-pets for Caninus. Above is a photo of the band, looking very grindcore. Someone should let the band know about the Michael Vick chew toy. Budgie and Basil would probably approve. Meanwhile, check out the band's MySpace page here.

Last year, Blogactive's Michael Rogers began making the rounds of radio talk shows with stories of GOP closet cases. Specifically, Idaho Senator Larry Craig. Speaking for myself, I've never liked the idea of outing famous people. But then again, I'm a straight chick and basically a sensitive soul. Most of the time, I hate seeing people embarrassed. The operative term here is "most of the time." Every once in a while, you get, say, a seriously repressed, homophobic wingnut who's so far in the wardrobe closet that he's practically on his way to Narnia. You know, the sort of self-hater who actively campaigns for politicians who think he's going to hell. And then, there are wingnuts who make it ridiculously easy for people to embarrass them by starring in porno flicks with titles like "Donkey Dick." Despite all my reservations about outing, I can only react to this news about Senator Craig with a sigh and a roll of the eyes. For one ...

Wouldn't it be funny if he were shot out of a cannon, like his namesake on the Muppets? It's too bad there's nobody in the Bush administration nicknamed Beaker.

The Biggest Loser in American History loses yet another one of his cronies, and he's mad at the mean Democrats for saying mean things about his buddy. Who'll be the next Bush flunky to jump ship? Condi, perhaps? Barney the Scottish terrier?

So Senator Warner is now saying that the troops should come home. Earth to Congress! Earth to Congress! If you feel so strongly that you're right and the president is wrong, let me introduce you to a neat concept: Filibuster-proof majority. The donkeys have a very, very slim majority. However, if enough Congresscritters in both parities listen America's obvious majority and buy a clue, they could demonstrate bipartisanship at its very best. And America would thank them for it. Come on, guys. Enough spending bills without timetables. Stop giving Bushco what it wants and start giving the American people what they want.

Last month, things looked great for Joe Bruno as the Eliot Mess began to unfold. Now, it's Bruno's turn to be embarrassed. Somebody has made a nasty, threatening phone call to Governor Spitzer's dad. The message (via Gothamist ) is as follows: This is a message for Bernard Spitzer. You will be subpoenaed to testify in front of the Senate committee on investigation on your shady campaign loans. You will be compelled by the Senate sergeant at arms, if you resist, you will be arrested and brought to Albany - and there's not a goddamn thing your phony, psycho piece of s--- son can do about it. Bernie, your phony loans are about to catch up with you. You will be forced to tell the truth. The fact that your son is a pathological liar will be known to all. The call was traced the apartment of GOP consultant Roger Stone. Not only has Stone denied making the call, but but he says he's the victim of a conspiracy. Stone suggested that a "voice tape" may have b...

Even a loony America-hater reality-based community member like yours truly admits that there are some differences between the Situation FUBAR of forty years ago (i.e., Vietnam) and the FUBAR of today. Not that the wingnutosphere will acknowledge this. It's 1967 all over again, and they're the righteous squares in the buzz cuts, wagging their fingers at the hippies eating mushrooms and painting peace signs on their faces. Buncha Communists, those kids. I mean, really, it's obvious they're still trying to fight a war that was basically lost in 1975. And they're sore that America lost. It still smarts for them, and they hide their wounded pride while shedding crocodile tears for the Vietnamese. ("When the US left and Saigon fell, the nation became a brutal dictatorship." Gee, Einstein, like the ones the US supported in Latin America during the Cold War? That talking point has been done to death.) Anyway, back to the hippies. I don't know why p...

Dog lovers who are barking mad over dogfighting can now purchase... the Michael Vick Dog Chew Toy ! What could be more fun than watching your dog maul this thing? It's certainly more entertaining than the usual rawhide and squeaky toys. And there's even a doggie mascot! Is it different you ask? You bet it is! Vick's Dog Chew Toy is made of state of the art "dog" material. The Vick's Toy Doll is so strong and flexible, it will challenge every breed. Especially The Pit Bull. Could a Mitt Romney dog chew toy be next? Maybe someone could suggest it.

Please, please, please, PLEASE tell me this is a joke. Everyone’s favorite white-trash daddy has finally landed an acting gig. Kevin Federline will be a guest star on the CW series One Tree Hill. Reports say that Kevin is excited to be a part of the show but will only agree to filming if his shooting schedule is in accordance with his custody arrangements. Shooting begins this week in North Carolina. If I were you K-Fed, I would “agree” to whatever shooting schedule they give you. Because let’s face it, you probably aren’t going to have producers throwing mounds of acting jobs at you on a daily basis. Unless of course it’s a script for a white-trash-rags-to-riches-to-divorce movie, then you’ll be the number one choice. Seriously Kev, I do respect you for wanting to spend time with your kids…it’s more than can be said for a lot of stars. Funny, I didn't know One Tree Hill was still on the air.

Deb has sad news to share. There are still some people who a. think it's unpatriotic to say mean things about Bush and b. believe that liberals are meanies who hate America and blame our country for everything that's wrong. Really, aren't people sick of that by now? I mean, even I recognize that America isn't responsible for thunderstorms and Pete Doherty. Deb, it seems, is also sick and tired of this mostly discredited meme. Excuse me? I'm a liberal because I care about people, not things and I certainly don't wallow in angst and self-pity trying to reassess my perspective because I'm scared. Methinks some of these stragglers need to buy a calendar.

...I so want the Britney/K-Fed custody battle to begin. Sooner rather than later. Perhaps it'll be the climax of the Great Britney Meltdown and after it's done, she'll just go home to Louisiana and retire from performing. (What am I saying? She's been retired since about 2004.) Please, let it happen.

I don't know what's scarier-- these album covers or the fact that someone compiled them all on one Web site. Why is it that these gospel records all have such godawful album sleeves? That said, the Millie Jackson album cover looks pretty funny, and I suspect she meant it as a joke.

Le Sweetie and I am off to Boston for a couple of days to visit my brother. Yay!

Note to Xavier University: Thank you for booking Ann Coulter. Campus progressives at Xavier will love you for it. Don't believe me? Guess what People for the American Way sent me? On September 6, Ann Coulter will be speaking at Xavier University in Ohio. You can help turn her hatemongering against her, and the rest of the Far Right. Here's how. People For is teaming up with state groups like ProgressOhio and Equality Ohio to raise support for the progressive student groups at Xavier that fight for the American values -- equality, diversity, social justice -- Coulter routinely attacks. Since Coulter's speaking fee of $20,000+ equals about $5 per Xavier student, we are asking progressives to chip in $5 to support groups like Xavier's Gay-Straight Alliance, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity and Earthcare. As Ann Coulter is speaking, People For, our Ohio partners, fellows from our affiliate People For the American Way Foundation's Young People For program ...

It's a Deutchland-themed prog blog for today! First, Ash Ra Tempel: Next, Popul Vuh: And finally, Can!

Faux News cancelled its Colbert-ripoff show. In a memo to senior producers this afternoon, FNC's SVP of programming, Bill Shine announced the network "will not continue the Half Hour News Hour beyond its current 15 episode run." Shine did leave the door open, however: "we are considering ways to retool the show for future scheduling needs." The TV news satire show which airs Sunday nights, stars faux anchors Kurt McNally, played by Kurt Long, and Jennifer Lange, played by Jennifer Robertson. More proof that wingnuts just can't do funny. HuffPo breaks it down in more detail. The problem is that Joel Surnow, who created both Half Hour and Jack Bauer, thought he could deliver the right wing's answer to The Daily Show and carve a niche in the market for conservative humor. Only he forgot some important parts, among them, obviously, the Comedy part. Dennis Miller couldn't go on the show and be a comedian; he had to be a commentator. And commentators aren...

Sure, they're fierce-looking, but they're so cuuuuuute! A set of rare Persian leopard triplets was presented Tuesday at the Budapest Zoo. The cubs - a male and two females - were born at the zoo on June 19 and were doing well, said zoo spokesman Zoltan Hanga. The Persian leopard - Panthera pardus saxicolor - is the largest of the leopard subspecies and is native to Western Asian countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Armenia. It is endangered; fewer than 2,000 are thought to survive in the wild. A further 74 live in zoos. The cubs born in Hungary - sisters Bella and Bara and brother Bahar - are part of a breeding program of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. Their parents - father Nadir and mother Cezi - arrived at the Budapest Zoo in mid-2003. Their first offspring, Asszir was born June 6, 2005, and is now at the Jerusalem Zoo. The three cubs will stay in Budapest for about a year, when they will be transferred to other zoos around the world. Human twins, triplets or ...

Via Badtux , we find the US government honoring its selfless troops... by standing by while soldiers' parents ransack their retirement funds to care for their badly wounded children. Say, wingnuts, in all your whining about mean moonbats, did it ever occur to you that America's soldiers are being treated like shit? You're obviously too cowardly to enlist to fight, but the least you could do is show some outrage over soldiers lying in rat-infested VA hospitals and military families going bankrupt to support them. And don't say that it's "socialism." "Socialism" is your excuse whenever you don't want to contribute to America's basic infrastructure by paying the taxes everyone else pays. You don't even know that it means, and you sound like spoiled children when you whine about the money coming out of your paycheck. The cops keeping you safe have to eat. So do the military families--what, do you think they ate magnetic yellow rib...

Because if Rudy's personal life is red meat to those who pontificate on 2008, then believe me, they're going to salivate when the Newtster enters the race. He hasn't announced and he already has a detractor. So the writer of "Gingrich thumps the senator on Fox" (Aug. 6, Letters) praises Newt Gingrich as a dynamic speaker worthy of public support while condemning Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. While I usually say a public figure's private life is none of our business, Gingrich is an exception. This man left one of his wives on her sickbed so he could marry his mistress. Anyone who would be so cruel to another human being doesn't deserve our respect. KEITH ENSMINGER Merced Oh yeah, and Gingrich has admitted to fooling around on his wife while he was trying to nail Clinton. But never mind that. Newt has declared that candidates' personal lives should be off limits. Gee, dude, why don't you just wear a big placard that reads, "I'm Running, And...

A few weeks ago, Le Sweetie and I visited the Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's beautiful collection of medieval art. Nestled in Fort Tryon Park, near the northern tip of Manhattan, the Cloisters is alternately sunny and strange. Outside are people lounging on the grass and walking their dogs. Inside is the closest thing Manhattan will ever have to a medieval castle, complete with illustrated prayer books and the famous Unicorn Tapestries. To Brooke Astor, the Met was one of New York City's "crown jewels," and she dearly loved the city's cultural landmarks. But her philanthropy wasn't limited to museums or zoos. Nor was she satisfied writing checks and attending charity balls. She famously proclaimed, "Money is like manure, it should be spread around." She took a personal interest in every project funded by the Vincent Astor Foundation. It could be in the middle of the scuzziest neighborhood in the city, the most drug-infested bloc...

I really hope they can save those poor miners.

Guess who said this in 1994 interview? Q: Do you think the U.S., or U.N. forces, should have moved into Baghdad? A: No. Q: Why not? A: Because if we'd gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn't have been anybody else with us. There would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq. Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you could very easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off: part of it, the Syrians would like to have to the west, part of it -- eastern Iraq -- the Iranians would like to claim, they fought over it for eight years. In the north you've got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey. I...

Which Republican's withdrawing? Oh yeah--the Thompson whose first name isn't Fred. He came in sixth in the Iowa straw poll. Considering Yosemite Mitt only got 31 percent, you have to wonder how bad Thompson did. Ah, who could forget how an embarrassed Thompson had to retract his statement that employers should be able to fire gays? ( Recap here. ) Good times.

All those moths of bending over backwards, with a zeal and determination that would baffle the most advanced yoga practitioner, and Yosemite Mitt still can't cut it in Iowa.

Hint: his first name rhymes with "loot." Quick, someone do something about this America hater! Newt Gingrich has seen the future of the Republican Party, and it is in France. The former House speaker and leader of the Republicans' 1994 "Contract with America" has been hitting the talk show and Internet circuit with this message: Republicans will retain the White House in 2008 only if they copy conservative Nicolas Sarkozy's victory strategy in France — circumventing the traditional media, running as agents of bold change and cornering Democrats as protectors of the status quo. Sigh. Someone give the Newtster a calendar. Hint: it's not 1994, and America got about 12 or so years of the Republicans' "bold change." Your party is now the protector of the status quo, Newt. You had your chance and you blew it. People have been listening to the GOP candidates' positions on assorted issues. Ron Paul notwithstanding, the vast majority offe...

From today's Newsday editorial on the great Subway Debacle of two days ago: The MTA should have learned by now that chanting "Rain, Rain Go Away" isn't a plan.

There's a press conference on the progress of the Utah mine rescue. Same old thing--they're still trying to rescue the miners. I hope they're okay.

... Rudy Giuliani . I'm glad he and Biden are in different parties, actually. The possibility of a Biden/Giuliani ticket is too horrifying to think about. With worries over global warming, we don't need the combined hot air from those two.

One of the great overlooked rock bands of the late '60s and early '70s: Family. Here's their signature song, "The Weaver's Answer."

Giuliani's daughter is an Obama supporter. Considering he wasn't exactly there for them when he was canoodling with the current Mrs. Rudy, it's no surprise that they are not tripping over themselves to campaign for him. Personally, I'd be amused if one of Yosemite Mitt's kids was revealed to be a closet Fred Thompson supporter.

The MTA is clueless. Man, if you need a place to vent or learn the full story behind mass transit horror stories, check out Gothamist. The MTA admitted that the service was not acceptable on many accounts, from the flooding to the fact that the MTA's website was overwhelmed. Then there's also the fact that the MTA was urging people not to take the subways and opt for a bus instead, only for buses to be (A) few and far between and (B) crowded as anything. They forgot to mention "(C) fucking slow." Don't the people at the MTA feel really stupid when they say shit like this? MTA CEO Lee Sander said, "We really are sorry about the inconvenience that New Yorkers had to deal with. In terms of how it happened, we had three inches of rain in an hour. The system is designed to handle 1.5 inches." This isn't quite as appalling as last year's 9-day Queens blackout--you know, the one where Con Ed lied about the number of places without power--but it still in...

I wasn't there, but I know there's been a lot of clacking about the white males at Yearly Kos. I also know there was discussion about diversity at the convention. But people are forgetting something: The guy behind the convention, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, is a Latino. Born in El Salvador, I believe. That is all. PS: I wanna go to next year's convention! I wanna! I wanna!

Years ago (IIRC, in the early 1990s) I was walking to the subway as part of the usual morning commute. Out of nowhere, the city was battered with rain, which lasted about 5-10 minutes. The sudden onslaught was too much for NYC's poor nineteenth century water pumps, and as a result, the subway systems were conked out of commission for the rest of the morning. There was flooding here, there were delays there, there were long lines for buses and frustrated commuters trying in vain to get cabs. I seem to remember getting to work some time after 10 AM. The local press all noted the rather ancient water pumping systems in New York. It was all rather unnerving to think that 5-10 minutes of rain was all it took to tangle up NYC's mass transit system. Surely, it was time for an upgrade...yes? Well, there have been one of two other instances where heavy rain flooded subways and made the morning commute something akin to an obstacle course. And still, there have been no solid step...

I am reminded of how much I missed blogging. Needless to say, summer, being the time of year that it is, manages to draw even the most devoted blogger away from the keyboard at least for a time. So it was with yours truly, who spent a fun extended weekend with Le Sweetie and friends in the Poconos. We went to a water park and splashed around. We went rowing and canoeing. We biked and swam. We even indulged in some retail therapy at an outlet mall. And, of course, we went to the town of Jim Thorpe, one of those cute little picturesque tourist towns often found in tourist enclaves. When I wasn't on vacation, I was a. working on a freelance writing assignment or b. working on a freelance proofreading assignment. I have been mentally counting the money I've earned ever since. All this has left me with little blog time...until now. And yes, it's good to be back.