The Truffle

It's early 1970s German R&B/prog outfit Frumpy, fronted by the incredible Inga Rumpf. Ms. Rumpf has had a nice, long career as a band frontwoman and a solo artist but remains unknown, alas, in the US. Seriously, it's weird being one of six people in the US who've heard of her. Her more recent output is R&B rather than prog. And I love R&B, so...

Yes, President Obama isn't perfect. Yes, he should just close Gitmo already. Yes, it would be great if he'd act on his campaign promise of more transparency in government. But c'mon, people, he's not another George W. Bush. A quick comparison of their administrations will show this. Criticize the guy, sure, but let's not pretend it's still 2005, hear?

...here's William Shatner's interpretation of the Harry Chapin classic "Taxi." How did this clip go unnoticed for so long?

"Loony left" and "moonbat" are now synonyms for "proven right all along."

Sarah Palin's latest quest to find something to stand for has led her to call herself a feminist and talk about "mama grizzlies." Why feminists don't simply laugh their asses off is beyond me. Oh, I know why--it's because somehow Palin's new schtick has earned her a Newsweek cover story, which means that Very Serious Media People are supposed to take it seriously. Jezebel , at least, is having fun Photoshopping said Newsweek cover. Let's leave aside the part about Palin making Wasilla's rape victims pay for their rape kits. And her stand on abortion. (Here, I should emphasize that I believe it's possible to be a feminist and oppose abortion. It would be really cool, however, if Feminists for Life and their ilk would push contraception, work to make adoption easier, and promote responsible, realistic sex education. It would also be helpful if they'd admit that the days of botched abortions are not an era any woman would want to revisit....

Seriously, I have finally found one of those bands that's really, truly unlistenable. Besides Nickelback, of course. The band in question is Brokencyde (it's supposed to be pronounced "broke inside"). The only people who know about this band are commenting on how terrible they are. They're not even lovably bad like Final Placement . For one thing, there probably will never be an online petition to get Brokencyde to play SXSW. Click if you dare.

GWB's daughter, Barbara, supports health care reform AND is glad the health care bill was passed. Something tells me Chris Wallace won't invite her back any time soon. I have a mental image of Wallace screeching, "Get me Liz Cheney next time!"

The Kentucky Senate race is looking to be fuuuuuuuun. Now, Rand Paul is complaining about liberals . Yes, according to him, liberals are displaying "intolerance." Just for once, I'm going to dispense some advice to one of these people: Stop whining. Mr. Paul, you were on the Rachel Maddow Show and Ms. Maddow gave you an opportunity to explain yourself. You dodged her questions, and it was really cringe-worthy. If you can't handle it, go back to eye surgery.

From Balloon Juice , a story involving a teabagger trying to free another teabagger from jail and conduct a citizens' arrest. Actually, Commander Guy has the whole, complete story. Oh yeah, and the perpetrator of this wingnut jail break informed law enforcement in advance. I guess it's more exciting than standing around with misspelled signs.

They use "socialist" and "Communist" as euphemisms for "uppity Negro."

Mudhoney, "Good Enough."

"After the last eight years, it’s good to have a president that knows what a library is." That's Sir Paul McCartney, after accepting a prize from President Obama. All of a sudden, the wingnutosphere remembered that insulting the president (specifically, the one before Obama) is ANTI-AMEHRIKIN! This is very amusing, given that right wingers have been trying to forget GWB even existed since, I dunno, 2007. They even kept him away from the 2008 Republican convention. After all, Bush-bashing had become a universal past-time, indulged in by everyone from comedy writers to Mayans . Now, all of a sudden, in a sudden rush of 2003-style faux outrage, right-wing politicians and pundits are mad at McCartney. John Boehner whined to Human Events about it (and lots of commenters joined in the whining). Human Events reporter Connie Hair tried to buff GWB's scholarly credentials by pointing out his Harvard MBA (thank heaven for legacy admissions, eh, Connie?). It's re...