The Truffle

Lots of people love to bitch about (liberal) celebrities talking about politics. When are they going say something about Chuck Norris's loopy Huckabee endorsement? I'm curious.

Methinks Ruben Bolling is on to something. Via Jolly Roger.

Okay, this news, if true, is way funny. But still, if I were a gay male escort (which I'm not, being neither gay, nor male, nor an escort), I'd have my standards. And they wouldn't include this guy: Okay, I am really hoping this is not true. Because I hate the thought of anyone being desperate enough to accept him as a client. No. It can't be true. The Trentster is leaving to make money as a lobbyist. Or go on Faux News. Or spend more time with his family. Something innocuous like that. You can't convince me otherwise. Lalalalalalala I can't hear you.

And to prove it, here's the Emotions, singing "Best of My Love." I saw these ladies on a PBS special a few years ago, and yes, they can still hit the high notes! Their Stax material is also great.

Mr. 9/11 and Mr. H-E-Double Hockey Sticks have wiped the brown off their noses long enough to exchange personal attacks. No, they're not accusing each other of being faux conservatives. It's better than that. The bulk of the battle stemmed from Romney's decision on Friday to call for the resignation of Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman -- 20 months after he appointed her. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, learned that Tuttman had released without bail a convicted killer, who has since been charged with killing a married couple in Washington state. Romney defended his decision Saturday, saying that Tuttman had "showed an inexplicable lack of good judgment," and that, despite her "record of being a law and order prosecutor," her poor judgment requires her to step down. Giuliani, who was also in New Hampshire, told The Associated Press on Saturday, "the governor is going to have to explain his appointment and the judge is ...

After work, I go to the local YMCA for the obligatory calorie-burning. This is fun. I have to find a locker first. This is not so fun. Why? Because of people who don't bring locks to the locker room, that's why. The YMCA after work is a madhouse, and nothing invokes the chorus of "They're Coming To Take Away Haa Haaaaa!" quite like opening a locker door and finding someone's stuff in there. Come on, you dimwits. Get. A. Lock. For. Your. Stuff. You are lucky most of your fellow gym goers are nice people who won't steal anything. Seriously, it's a pain in the ass and totally unfair to other people looking for empty lockers. The YMCA people advise everyone to get locks. Locks are your friends. Dig? In other news, the subway had signal problems, so I had to take the bus home and then walk. This is not my lucky day.

What's up with all these recently re-elected Republicans suddenly up and resigning without bothering to finish their terms? Denny Hastert wouldn't deign to simply retire in 2008. That was silly enough. But now Trent Lott, who just won another term last year, is resigning at the end of 2007. There were rumors circa 2005 that he would retire, but he chose to run again. Not that I'm sorry to see yet another GOP slimebag leave Capitol Hill, but it sounds like a huge waste of time and money. Actually, it reminds me of professional loser Tom DeLay, who stayed on the GOP ballot until they couldn't get rid of him. Word has it that Lott wants to make money in the private sector. Could a Singing Senators reunion be in the works? Larry Craig is probably going to have a lot of time on his hands after 2008. In other news, is it just me? Or is Bush holding Middle East peace talks kind of like Nicole Ritchie hosting a cooking show?

Newsday's op-ed section sucks, and a look at their regular op-ed columnists shows why. Mondays, there's faux libertarian Raymond J. Keating. Tuesdays and Thursdays, there's wingnut welfare recipient James Pinkerton, spouting all kinds of tired talking points and wrongheaded silliness. What kind of silliness, you ask? Well, Pinkerton's gone all New Agey on his readership and tried channeling Carl Von Clausewitz , with predictably hilarious results. Ironically, my biggest single point about war was actually a point about peace: winning the peace. As I wrote, "war is a continuation of politics by other means." That is, if Country A can't get Country B to do what it wants through diplomacy, well, then, Country A might have to attack. War may or may not be just or glorious; that's not my concern. I am practical-minded, albeit maybe a little cold-blooded. Unfortunately, Bush has not pursued this policy of "war is a continuation of politics by othe...

The next time the Democrats have a debate, could they stop attacking Hillary and start attacking the Republicans and their crappy policies? Please? Pretty please?

(Via Mockingbird's Medley .)

For starters, Hollywood is not a hotbed of wealthy liberals. But still, look Rudy's new movie-star friends! Robert Duvall? Gary Sinise? Here’s the dirty little secret — Hollywood isn’t really liberal. As a community it has strong and large conservative strains, particularly at the top of the business side where all the strings get pulled (see: Murdoch, Rupert). Not to mention Ben Stein, Dennis Miller, Bruce Willis (who these days denies he's a Republican), and Bo Derek. The reason Hollywood conservatives like to bitch about being persecuted is because victimology is part of the whole right-wing shtick, not because Joel Surnow actually suffers for his political beliefs. I mean, does anyone think that The 1/2 Hour News Hour was anything other than a wingnut welfare operation? I've wondered if Michael Medved was another wingnut welfare recipient myself. Speaking of wingnuts, what'll they say about this? Truthdig tips its hat this week to South African Archbishop Desm...

...for no recess appointments. From Sen. Harry Reid: The Senate will be coming in for pro-forma sessions during the Thanksgiving holiday to prevent recess appointments. My hope is that this will prompt the President to see that it is our mutual interests for the nominations process to get back on track. While an election year looms, significant progress can still be made on nominations. I am committed to making that progress if the President will meet me half way. But that progress can’t be made if the President seeks controversial recess appointments and fails to make Democratic appointments to important commissions. As Democratic leader, I recommend nominees to the President for many important commissions like the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These independent agencies are required by law to have Democratic representation. As a result, the President has a statutory obliga...

One of my hobbies is doll collecting. Granted, it's a somewhat sporadic hobby, but I've always had a fondness for dolls. I bought this Japanese doll in San Francisco's Japantown.

Jeopardy question: "Is there any candidate more vacant than Mitt Romney"? (Asked by my brother last night.)

Julie Driscoll fronting Brian Auger and the Trinity, singing Richie Havens' "Indian Rope Man," one of my favorite Driscoll/Auger tunes. Driscoll married pianist Keith Tippett and is now an avant-jazz chanteuse who performs as Julie Tippetts. Here she's rockin' the short cut and singing like a true blue-eyed soul queen, not unlike Annie Lennox about 15 years later. Speaking of blue-eyed soul queens, here's the late, great Dusty Springfield. Recommended to all: Dusty in Memphis. One R&B-loving British gal and a crack R&B session team. Good stuff. Oh, and dig Dusty's sleeves.

Three cheers for Sens. Dodd and Leahy. The forthcoming FISA bill will not, repeat NOT, include retroactive immunity for telecoms. The New York Times has more. Senator Schumer voted to strip telecom immunity out of the bill. It's not enough to make up for his pro-Mukasey vote, but at least this time he voted on the side of the angels.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-SD, with two South Dakota Sioux. Following my post the other day, I've been thinking more about what centrism is and isn't. And when I do, I find myself thinking about strangely silent GOP centrists, both in and out of office. What do they make of the cesspool their party has become? And then I remember that if they really were concerned, they would've spoken up years ago. So forget them. Instead, let's turn our attention to one of those Bush-enabling Blue Dogs, Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota. She supports that stupid Federal Marriage Amendment. She voted to give Bushco more power under FISA, she voted to make the Patriot Act permanent, and she voted for that horrible Military Commissions Act. She's the kind of Democrat that progressives hate, not because she's a moderate, but because she supports laws and policies that are anything but moderate. And, like too many moderates, she involves hersel...

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, featuring Teddy Pendegrass. The song in question is "Wake Up Everybody." Man, we could use more songs like this.

Dennis Kucinich, fighter though he is, is better off remaining in the House. In fact, I think it would be a good idea to give him a nice, high-profile position in the house. Like maybe majority leader or even House Speaker. It's a long shot, not unlike his campaign. But I can dream, yes?

...and a corrupt Republican gets thrown out on his ass. Kentucky's scandal-plagued governor, Ernie Fletcher, was trounced by Democrat Steve Beshear. Fletcher got 41% of the vote. OUCH! I imagine the folks over at Ditch Mitch are happy as a pig in slop today. They have an interesting finding on the election results: Beshear doing EXTREMELY well so far in western Kentucky, which is arguably the state’s most socially conservative region. Gay-baiting didn’t work here, it appears. Troubling sign for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) next year?

Why is he playing Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" on his show? I'm confused.

Somewhere a wingnut's head is exploding. Riding a ratings wave from “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” a program that takes strong issue with the Bush administration, MSNBC is increasingly seeking to showcase its nighttime lineup as a welcome haven for viewers of a similar mind. Lest there be any doubt that the cable channel believes there is ratings gold in shows that criticize the administration with the same vigor with which Fox News’s hosts often champion it, two NBC executives acknowledged yesterday that they were talking to Rosie O’Donnell about a prime-time show on MSNBC. During the nine months she spent on “The View” before departing abruptly last spring, Ms. O’Donnell raised viewership notably. She did so while lamenting the unabated casualties of the Iraq war and advocating the right to gay marriage, among other positions. Note the operative phrase: "Raised viewership notably." Even though Rosie probably hurt Bitsy Hasselback's feelings a few times. Say, if ...

American progressives flinch at the words "centrism" and "centrist." Seriously, who can blame them? Centrism conjures up images of Liberdems displaying their naked butt cheeks to Fox News "analysts," screaming "THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?!?" Centrism is generally agreed to be a lousy strategy, unless you're one of those lame-ass consultants paid according to how many elections you lose for the Democratic party. But is it really? Does "centrist" have to be synonymous with "right-wing Bush brown-noser"? Is centrism really the problem? Or is the definition of centrism the problem? Does "Blue Dog" absolutely have to equal "Bush Dog"? I don't believe so. Over at the Great Orange Inferno , there's mad respect for moderate and even conservative Democrats like Jim Webb and John Murtha. Webb was a fracking Reagan staffer , remember? But progressive activists respect his tough stance aga...

From Kick! comes this Signe Wilkinson cartoon.

In view of his recent blogging about healthcare, I'm dedicating this blog post to Badtux. Here's 1970s cult band National Health on "The Old Grey Whistle Test."

A Kossack reports that the preznit's approval rating has finally dipped below the 50 percent mark in America's last red-state holdout, Utah. Bush Derangement Syndrome in Mormon country! Run for your lives! And dig that shade of dull gray in Cheney's home state, too. Meanwhile, one useless wingnut responded to John Cole's recent party switcheroo by posting Cole's personal information at his blog. Shades of Graeme Frost and family. How long do you suppose it'll be before Stalkin' Malkin schleps off to West Virginia to manufacture controversies about Mr. Cole? "Is that the only trick Rightards know?" asks FDL's TRex. The answer, alas, is yes. Malkin, after all, ran off stomping her feet when the grownups challenged her to a debate and so humiliated herself that she made Newsweek's Conventional Wisdom Watch. Really, the best response to these right-wing assclowns is a simple "Grow the fuck up."

For years, John Cole has been a lone voice in--well, not the wilderness, but rather a messy backyard of broken toys, smeared baby food, and poopy diapers. (That's the best analogy of the wingnutosphere I could come up with.) A Republican who had no use for the movement conservatives or the Coulter Republicans, and whose disgust became more apparent with each post. Then again, he always sounded more like a center-right kinda guy than Kool-Aid-guzzling movement conservative. Not anymore. For one thing, Cole is no longer a Republican. In fact, he's changed his voter registration to Democrat. The wingnutosphere will snarl, but it's clear that Cole didn't leave the GOP. The GOP left him. He joins John Eisenhower and Lincoln Chafee among those ex-Republicans who came to realize that the party had no room for them or anyone else with a grip on the real world. Welcome aboard, dude.

Li'l George Bush is really mad at the mean Democrats in Congress. Especially the ones who don't support the Iraq War and don't like Mukasey's stance on torture. So he stormed off to a wingnut think tank where people will listen to him without laughing in his face. His latest tantrum is all too predictable. Note how he congratulates the think tank's president for his 30-year tenure: "No such thing as term limits here." Gee, ain't that cute? The whole speech is more blah blah blah designed to cheer up a bunch of hysterically clueless think tankers. But really, Li'l George shoots himself in the foot: In the 1920s, the world ignored the words of Hitler, as he explained his intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany, take revenge on Europe, and eradicate the Jews -- and the world paid a terrible price. His Nazi regime killed millions in the gas chambers, and set the world aflame in war, before it was finally defeated at a terrible cost in...