The Truffle

You know, debate fatigue is setting in--especially on the Democratic side. They're just not as pander-prone as their GOP counterparts. Anyhow, tonight, the Dems are debating at Drexel. Like Ted Koppel, Brian Williams seems unable to change his facial expression as he speaks. Barack is asked about his pledge to be more aggressive against La Hill. It's kinda weird that Barack would accuse her of sounding Republican, given his current chumminess with "ex-gay" Donnie McClurkin. Barack is not sounding too inspiring or eloquent. What are these "sharp contrasts" he speaks of? C'mon, dude, what's going on here? I've liked what he's said in the past--definitely. And he's got points about La Hill. La Hill rebuts: "I don't think the Republicans got the message that I'm voting with them." She noted the last GOP debate, which was all "Hillary Hillary Hillary" instead of "Reagan Reagan Reagan." Truth ...

Courtesy of Ann Telnaes.

Take Li'l Ricky Santorum . A press conference was held at 1:30 this afternoon at the Philadelphia Inquirer to announce that it has added former Sen. Rick Santorum to its stable of columnists.... The story in the paper today includes: "Talking about the threat of Islamic terrorism is now Santorum's main occupation, though the Republican sounds laid-back these days. He is pitching a movie idea to Hollywood and laughed off speculation about a political comeback in Pennsylvania." The article explains that he has talked with "Hollywood producer Steve McEveety, who produced the Mel Gibson megahits 'Braveheart' and 'The Passion of the Christ,' on a movie idea that, naturally, has a terrorism element." Yo. Ricky. If Horrorwitz and Pipes won't speak up about MEK, perhaps you should. Right, Ricky? Erm...Ricky? ***cue sound of chirping crickets*** David Sirota notes the irony of a city paper in a Dem-leaning city hiring a disgraced wingnut as ...

Mr. Horowitz and the rest of the maroons behind Islamofascism Awareness Week should be asking a few questions of their right-wing compadres, Daniel Pipes. Specifically, his defense of MEK, a Marxist-Islamofascist terror group. Alternet has more. Alas, it turns out Pipes isn't the only rightie who's enamored of these goons. Can you say "yet another example of right-wing projection"?

Shit, won't the fundies ever quit whining about evolution? Now, they're making a documentary called Expelled! No Intelligence Allowed and are trying to gather horror stories about mean people who believe in evolution. Sheesh! Note to all religious fundies: There is a place where your children can read about deities shaping the world to their little hearts' content. It's called...get ready for it... Sunday school. I bet there are a lot of very nice church ladies who believe in intelligent design and would love a chance to teach it to America's youth.

There's just no nice way to put it. Steve Bates has this bon mot from Texas GOP congresscritter Joe Barton on SCHIP. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. He's talking about SCHIP. WTF? What is it that makes Texas Republicans act like utter assholes? Something in the water down there? Is there some evil wizard who's got all them under a spell? Not only are GOP congresscritters mean and nasty, but they're utterly clueless as well. That, or they hate their jobs and they want to lose next year so they can go home and make lots of money in the private sector. "Lipstick on a pig." Feh.

Now that Rudy has switched allegiance to the Red Sox, what's next? Will Yosemite Mitt try to one-up "America's Mayor" by showing up at Yankee Stadium for opening day 2008?

From Newsday comes the story of Hafiz Sahin, a Turkish immigrant who chased off a convenience store robber by waving an ax at him. Ms. Safin is petite and slightly built. She wears the traditional Muslim headscarf. In short, she might seem to fit the stereotype of a docile Muslim woman who's seen and not heard. Guess again. Kevin Klein, 49, a family friend who also works at the store, said he was not surprised at Sahin's gumption. "I've seen her roughhouse with a friend," he said. "I knew she was tough." I hate violence, but I gotta love this story. You go, girl!

Have the Senate Dems on the Judiciary Committee come to their senses and realized that, like, torture isn't cool? I know, I know; I've been disappointed before, too. And yes, I call my senators and tell them to vote no on these Bush-kowtowing schmucks. Of course, my senators are Schumer and Clinton, who are pretty liberal. (However, WTF was La Hill thinking when she voted for Kyl-Liberman?) It's those milquetoast Lieberman wannabes who are frustrating. The ones who don't "get" that Bush and company are a. bad people, b. bad for America, and c. NOT friends of the Democrats. The Dianne Feinsteins and Ben Nelsons, in other words. I'm sick of these idiots. Don't get me started on "principled" Republicans who cower at the sight of the Chimp. What part of "country before party" don't these morons understand? As usual, it's up to the Democrats to be big meanies and ask Michael Mukasey the big, big questions about whether he...

Lynne Spears, mother of Britney, is writing a parenting book. Religious publisher Thomas Nelson said it will publish "Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World," by Lynne Spears. Nelson spokesman Curt Harding said the book, to be out next spring, will be about Lynne Spears' raising three children and will have a religious element. There's a religious element to teenage girls dressing in push-up bras for soft-core photos in rock magazines? Who knew? From the comments section (blame the commenter for the caps/typos): PARENTING BOOK?? AND HER OWN CHILD IS BUCK WILD, BABY PLEASE!!! THAT BOOK IS A DAY LATE, IF SHE WAS ANY KIND OF MOTHER BRIT WOUDLNT BE SO OUT OF CONTROL THATS THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND What kind of dolt thought this was a good idea? Answer: the same kinds of people who think Broadway belters like Ethel Merman were tailor-made for disco.

There I was, trying to get this month's horrible Radar cover out of my mind, when Andrew Sullivan alerted his readership to the latest intersection of hardcore porn and stomach-turning bad taste. Make sure you have an empty stomach when you click this link. Jee-zus. What's next? "Debbie Does Darfur"?

It's Family, fronted by the inimitable Roger Chapman. One of those bands that really shoulda been more famous.

When it seems that life has become like a giant, stinky swamp of depression and bad news, never fear. There's always something to smile about. The Ethel Merman Disco Album is now out on CD.

Well, this is wild. In a rare shift in party affiliation, the entire membership of the all-Republican governing body in Lyndhurst will switch from Republican to Democrat tomorrow. Nearly 60% of Lyndhurst’s Republican County Committee will become Democrats too. The party realignment, first reported in PoliticsNJ.com last summer, is far greater in scope than speculated. It represents, perhaps, the most massive shift in Party affiliation of elected and Party officials in a single community in one day. “It’s safe to say something like this certainly doesn’t happen in politics everyday,” said Lyndhurst Mayor Richard DiLascio. Lyndhurst has long been considered a swing town in general elections over the last twenty years. Not anymore, it isn't.

Below, France's pre-eminent ye-ye girl, and a talented songwriter to boot. Yes, it's Francoise Hardy, singing "Ce Petit Couer."

Sad news from the Nation of Wingnutia. Jonah Goldberg's oft-ridiculed and still-unpublished manifesto on liberal fascism has been pushed back yet again --to January 8, 2008. Notes Roger Ailes : It now comes out on Elvis Presley's birthdate, (and will probably die on the toilet much soon than did the King). Ha! Obviously, Mommy's money is keeping Doughy Pantload afloat financially and he feels no need to rush this thing. Durig the course of the book's publication, he's been especially creative with subtitles, throwing in names like Hegel, Hillary Clinton, Mussolini, and Whole Foods. Wait a sec. WHOLE FOODS?!?!? Anyway, this week the working title for the book is: Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. Awwwwwwww. Why can't he stick Hillary's name in there, like he did in the first place? Or at least throw in Barack Obama. I mean, Obama's middle name is Hussein, after all. Which mea...

Via The Crone Speaks comes news of the kazillionth retiring Republican. From NYT : Representative David L. Hobson, a nine-term Republican from Ohio, announced Sunday that he plans to retire. He is the 12th member of his party in the House to do so since the beginning of the year. “I wanted to go out on top,” said Mr. Hobson, 71. "Go out on top"? Is this code for "get out of town before another GOP sex scandal hits the papers"? Sorry for making assumptions. I guess I've just got a dirty mind.

Now, it's Larry Craig complaining about Mitt. "He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again," Craig told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview taped Sunday set to air later this week on the "Today" show. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, called Craig's behavior "disgraceful" and urged the senator to resign when news of the arrest broke in August. Craig was Romney's Senate liaison before resigning from the campaign. Romney spokesman Kevin Madden defended the presidential candidate's response. "Gov. Romney simply believes that a public office is a public trust," Madden said. "He believes when a public official enters a guilty plea, they have broken that public trust and should step aside for the sake of their constituents." At least Craig didn't resign, change his mind, and storm over to the Romney campaign headquarters demanding his old job back. This has been another install...

And check his facts while he's at it. Pat Buchanan was spitting nails over President Gore's Nobel Peace Prize win. (Per Badtux , that's what I'm going to start calling the guy.) Specifically, he ranted about "Swedish socialists" trying to gain political points. Or something. There's just one problem. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Norway, not Sweden. The committee that awards the prize is appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Oops.

Oh my. "The folks don't have a say-so anymore. They're being force-fed—music, yeah, but every other darn thing too. I supported George W. I'm not exactly a liberal. But I know how that Texas thing works, who those oil folks are and what they wanted in Iraq... I'm a born-again Christian too, but the longer I live, the more afraid I get of some of these religious groups that have so much influence on the Republicans and want to tell us how to live our lives.... "This is America. We're proud. We're not afraid of a bunch of terrorists. But this government is all about terror alerts and scaring us at airports. We're changing the Constitution out of fear. We spend all our time looking up each other's dresses. Fear's the only issue the Republican Party has. Vote for them, or the terrorists will win. That's not what Reagan was about. I hate to think about our soldiers over in Iraq fighting for a country that's slipping away." Via E Plu...

I used to have a really pretty template, until NuBlogger decided that it hated the template and I had to replace it. With this. This dull-as-dishwater template. I've been looking into new templates. Preferably nice, clear, attractive, un-sucky templates. I don't want a template with a picture of a celebrity. I don't want something really overdone. I just want a new pretty template. Anyone know of templates that can be used with NuBlogger? Anyone?

Michelle Malkin has replied to Ezra Klein's debate challenge with squirming and nervous laughter, as the wingnuts' anti-Frost family crusade has been utterly discredited. Ms. Malkin really needs to let go of her obsession. She's hurting her movement by exposing its hypocrisy and general unpleasantness. If this keeps up, they'll start to distance themselves and disavow any association with her. Just like the wingnuts who were shocked--SHOCKED!!!!--that Ann Coulter called John Edwards a faggot. I'm sure that would hurt her feelings and make her cry. But wait. It's gotten worse. Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize. All that's missing is mass suicide in the Fox News building. A sampling of snit fits. Chris Smith of Bexley, Ohio Al Gore? Nobel Peace Prize? Wow, that really degrades my image of that prize. Why not give it to Michael Moore while we're at it? How sad. Mr. Smith is clearly at a loss for words. Isn't he also supposed to mention Cin...

And the answer is a big fat no.

It's 1972, and Purp is somewhere in Asia, performing "Highway Star."

Awwwwww. Poor widdle wingnuts, upset over a 12-year-old kid. There's not a lot that can be said over the Graeme Frost witch hunt that hasn't been said before--and in great detail--by dozens of other bloggers. Like here. And here. And here. And especially here. But it really shows how threatened they are now that they realize how unpopular, ineffective, and simply wrong they and their ideas really are. I mean, really. What a bunch of sad bullies, crying about a tween who dares to talk about how the fact that--gasp!--SCHIP helps people! They don't like that, so the Malkinites and Freepers have gone into total Snidely Whiplash mode on the poor kid and his family. At this point, the Frost family should contact the police about a restraining order against Stalkin' Malkin and the mouth-breather brigade. Anyway, it's a good thing that the liberal end of the blogosphere is saner than these fruitcakes. Otherwise, someone might, say find the personal information...

Is it me, or is Chris Matthews the Mitt Romney of the punditocracy? Since when has Tweety been a gung-ho Bushco critic? I'm curious. Chris Matthews had barely finished praising his colleagues at the 10th anniversary party for his “Hardball” show Thursday night in Washington, D.C. when his remarks turned political and pointed, even suggesting that the Bush administration had "finally been caught in their criminality." In front of an audience that included such notables as Alan Greenspan, Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, Matthews began his remarks by declaring that he wanted to "make some news" and he certainly didn't disappoint. After praising the drafters of the First Amendment for allowing him to make a living, he outlined what he said was the fundamental difference between the Bush and Clinton administrations. The Clinton camp, he said, never put pressure on his bosses to silence him. “Not so this crowd,” he added, explaining that Bush White H...

Ladies and gentlemen... Starbuck's new Britney-themed drink: the Mess-o-cino. Speaking of Britney, it seems her new video for "Gimme More" isn't much better than her VMA performance. From People , one of the few magazines to continuously kiss her butt, comes a collection of negative reviews. Which in turn, leads to this assessment from my favorite entertainment mag, Entertainment Weekly . The moral of the story is, if you're going to build an entire video around a stripper pole, then you better work said pole like a nine-to-five. Drop it like it's hot. Throw a leg up over your head. Hire one of the elegant ladies of HBO's G-String Divas, and have her teach you that daring move where you hang upside down by your legs and spin with reckless abandon. Alas, in the case of "Gimme More," I've seen sexier pole work during an afternoon of fly-fishing.

Well, I finally brought the whole album today. As Temple Stark helpfully notes, I could've bought the thing on iTunes. Someday, when I get off my lazy butt and upgrade to DSL/cable, I will be able to download whole albums relatively quickly. And someday, I'll be able to go without album covers, credits, and neat album packaging. Until then, I still have a soft spot for CDs. Especially considering how many records are really obscure and hard to find and probably nowhere to be found online. That said, I still download MP3 files from iTunes and my personal favorite download site: eMusic. eMusic offers downloads from independent labels only. And, of course, the selection is phenomenal. Classic soul? British folk? Old school punk? New indie bands? They're all on eMusic. Meanwhile the majors continue their descent into obsolescence. Glen Gamboa notes that Feist and Ingrid Michaelson found exposure via TV commercials for iPods and Old Navy, respectively. Twenty ...

This morning, I turned on the TV, and both MTV and VH1 were playing the same Nickelback song at the same time. It's that godawful new song about wanting to be a rock star, and it consists of a bunch of random people all mouthing the words to the song (with a few actual rock stars like Kid Rock deigning to appear). This is not the first time both channels have played this video at the same time. The question is: WHY? Can't they play more of that fun Feist video, "1234"? It's a good song and a really colorful yet simple video. It's featured in a bunch of iPod commercials. If iPod starts using Nickelback in its ads, I'm going to take my iPod and throw it out the window, I swear. Anyway, I went to Borders to get the new Feist album and it appears to be sold out. Sigh.

It had to happen. The same week that Larry Craig announces that he is not in fact resigning, a Republican group takes on one of the GOP's most obvious flip-floppers. I'm talking, of course, about Yosemite Mitt. Yes, the party's most unintentionally hilarious candidate is now the subject of a TV ad placed by the GOP's leading masochists gay and lesbian advocacy group, the Log Cabin Republicans. I knew that these guys existed, but wondered where they were hiding during this election cycle. (For the curious: no, Larry Craig is not a member.) Anyway, the ad can be accessed via the NY Times linky and features clips of Mitt talking like a total liberal. Wow. I wondered when the LCR's would finally snap. Especially considering Mitt's, uh, confusing views on gay rights. Basically, he was always a flip-flopper, even when he was governor. He promised the Massachusetts LCR's that he'd uphold the state court's ruling that upheld gay marriage. Then ...

This is the fifth Senate Republican to retire. After seven years of rubber-stamping every crappy decision Bush has ever made, it must be burnout city for Republicans in Congress. 2008 can't come soon enough.

They're now naming asteroids after gay people.

Yes, he's brought Jews and Muslims together. From the Daily News : Jewish groups lined up with Arab and Muslim organizations yesterday to hammer Sen. John McCain for calling the U.S. a "Christian nation" that should have a Christian President. McCain's remarks were "disappointing and disturbing to say the least," said Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League. He called on the Arizona Republican to retract them. "Absolutely nothing in the Constitution establishes that the U.S. is a Christian nation," Foxman said, "nor is it accurate to say that this nation was founded on Christian principles." Naturally, Joe Lieberman defends the guy. And meanwhile, James Zogby (head of the Arab-American Institute) has the best quote about McCain: "Cheney without of the nuance." OUCH!!!

I love it when any band can make major label executives squirm. More here. Radiohead has now officially announced this new self-released album, 'In Rainbows' which will be available on October 10. Initially, the album will only be available as an electronic download through the Web site InRainbows.com. Later, it will be pressed and made available as a massive and expensive (£40, or $81.18) box set that includes three copies of the album: one on vinyl, one on CD and the previously available all-digital version. Believe it or not, Radiohead is asking fans to name their own price for the downloadable version. Pre-order the album for an October 10th download and at checkout you are asked to enter whatever price you feel is appropriate. Seriously. Wanna pay a penny? Then do it. Wanna throw a little more cash at the band? Donate $10 or $20 -- it's up to you. Over at Velvet Rope, plenty of posters are pretty psyched not only about the album but the marketing/distribution aspect....

Seeing the Forest addresses pissed-off Dems(and there are lots of those out there--including yours truly): Lots of people are really upset that the House and Senate voted to censure MoveOn. Me, too. There is a LOT of talk about "quitting the party" to "send a message." There is a problem with that thinking. Ralph Nader ran in 2000 to "send a message" to "the Democrats." It didn't send a message and got maybe half a million Iraqis killed. Maybe more. The reason it did not "send a message" was that the Democratic Party is not a top-down organization. It is a bottom-up organization. IT IS US. You don't "send a message" to yourself, you ACT. The way to act on this is to show up at party meetings, vote, run for office and take over the party. It is also to fund outside organizations like Commonweal Institute so they can reach the public, create popular understanding and appreciation of, and demand for, progressive values a...