quote of the day

"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."

– walter wellesley "red" smith

live-streaming tsunami coverage

hawaii's kgmb live:

UPDATE 6:08 pm cst – from the pacific tsunami warning center:

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The tsunami warning issued for the U.S. state of Hawaii following a massive earthquake in Chile has been lifted, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said on Saturday.

The warning center said on its website that based on all available data, there is no longer a destructive tsunami threat to the state. It also said some coastal areas in Hawaii may still experience sea level changes or strong currents lasting for several more hours."

do you see what i see?

an unfortunate promo photo for "the child" – a musical retelling of the birth of jesus christ told from joseph's point of view – which premiers this christmas the fireside dinner theatre in fort atkinson, wisconsin:

upside down...better or worse?

mocking those in need

a brief anecdote in rep. louise slaughter's comments at thursday's health care summit has gotten lots of reaction:

I think it would be really a good thing for us today, while we're here in this room together, to really think about what's absolutely important here. Not nitpick over little pieces of this and that, but think about all the people out there every single day, the number of people, excess deaths, because they have no health insurance.

I even have one constituent -- you will not believe this, and I know you won't, but it's true -- her sister died. This poor woman had no denture. She wore her dead sister's teeth, which of course were uncomfortable and did not fit.

Do you ever believe that in America that that's where we would be?

here's the reaction from some in the conservative media:

rush limbaugh:

You know I'm getting so many people -- this Louise Slaughter comment on the dentures? I'm getting so many people -- this is big. I mean, that gets a one-time mention for a laugh, but there are people out there that think this is huge because it's so stupid. I mean, for example, well, what's wrong with using a dead person's teeth? Aren't the Democrats big into recycling? Save the planet? And so what? So if you don't have any teeth, so what? What's applesauce for? Isn't that why they make applesauce?

glen beck:

I am wearing George Washington's dentures right now. I'm wearing his teeth right now. I just like wearing dead people's teeth. But in America -- I'm sorry, I didn't know that that was -- I've read the Constitution before. I didn't see that you had a right to teeth. The environmentalists should be all over Slaughter. 'How dare you say that?' My gosh, they're just recycling. They're just reusing.

laura ingraham:

One Democrat was trying to outdo the next on the sob story about how rotten our health care system is. Louise Slaughter won the Olympics of sob stories by saying one of her constituents had to wear her sister's dentures. OK? It got so bad with the health care system. You had Harry Reid on the cleft palate with his -- I mean, the whole thing was ridiculous.

hi-larious, no?

my neighbor knocks on my door and is in need – i would try to help. let's hope, when i'm in need, my neighbor is not a limbaugh, beck, or ingraham follower.

if we can't close that gap...

obama wrapping up the 7+ hours of health care "debate."

the circle of life...and death

paul krugman says the debate over health care reform seems to be ending much like it started, with dems offering "moderate plans that draw heavily on past republican ideas," and republicans responding with "slander and misdirection." what's the take-away?

What I took away was the arrogance that the success of things like the death-panel smear has obviously engendered in Republican politicians. At this point they obviously believe that they can blandly make utterly misleading assertions, saying things that can be easily refuted, and pay no price. And they may well be right.

but the dems hold the final card, says krugman: they can, and should, enact comprehensive reform without the republicans.

dead in the water

i'm talking paterson, not sea world.

UPDATE 2/26/10 – "it's done."

with or without you

greg sargent thinks obama wrapped up today's health care summit with a fairly clear statement meant not only to rally democrats, but to clue republicans in to a simple fact: we're moving forward.

obama, summing up:

"I’d like Republicans to do a little soul searching to find out if there are some things that you’d be willling to embrace that get to this core problem of 30 million people without health insurance, and dealing seriously with the pre-existing conditions issue. I don’t know frankly whether we can close that gap.

And if we can’t close that gap, then I suspect Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner are going to have a lot of arguments about procedures in Congress about moving forward."

quote of the day

“I think having a celebrity as an advocate is a very good idea. But I don’t think [Sarah Palin] is the right person to do that given that there’s a cloud over her in terms of her credibility.”

– bruce fletcher
CEO of the national association for the developmentally disabled

snake oil harry

harold ford received a rather unpleasant reception wednesday night when he spoke to the new york chapter of the stonewall democrats, one of the largest gay political organizations in the state. in 2004 ford voted for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, but now says his positions have evolved, and pledged to to fight for marriage equality should he run against new york senator kirstin gillibrand.

quote of the day

"I don't know where the claim comes that we are less safe [under President Obama]. The point is made that well, we don't waterboard anymore or use extreme interrogation techniques. Most of those extreme interrogation techniques and waterboarding were done away within the Bush administration. And they've been made officially done away within in this current administration.

The issue about sending people to military commissions... In eight years the military commissions have put three people on trial. Two of them served relatively short sentences and are free, one guy is in jail. Meanwhile, the federal courts system has put dozens of terrorists in jail and they're fully capable of doing it.

My bottom-line answer is that the nation is still at risk, terrorists are out there, they're trying to get through, but to suggest that somehow we have become much less safer because of the actions of [this] administration I don't think are born out by the facts."

– gen. colin powell
responding to comments made by
former vice president dick cheney

tomorrow never knows

newly discovered photos from a 1968 beatles photo shoot include this shot, staged somewhere along the river thames in london. the photo was taken a full 12 years before mark david chapman would stop lennon outside new york's dakota apartments under the guise of asking for an autograph, but of the four beatles, lennon was the first to go. and if you look closely, the wire-rim spectacles lying next to lennon's head are eerie precursor to this:

quote of the day

"Ironically, because of people like Sarah Palin, the country has become so stupid that we need the word 'retarded' to describe what is going on in America."

– bill maher

somewhere along the way

the valley drive-in theatre in santa maria, california. january-ish, 2010.

quote of the day

"Personally I'm a free man or I'm a dead man. And I got news – in 2010 we ain't callin' you out, we're throwin' you out. That's the good news folks, we can do it before it gets to guns, right?

Our founders brought the guns when they showed up at Lexington and Concord. Regular folks – farmboys, doctors, merchant men. They said, "You ain't takin our suff.' They stood up to the most powerful army in the world and they bought our freedom, literally, with their blood.

We don't have to do that. Yet.

I believe personally we're at a crossroads, we have one last opportunity. I believe 2010 is it. And we can do it with our vote. And we can get new faces in, whether it's my face or not.

I pray to god I see new faces. Cause if we don't see new faces, I'm cleanin' my guns and gettin' ready for the big show."

– richard behney
indiana republican senatorial candidate

like a loaf of french bread

1. family guy episode features a character with down syndrome. at one point, the character says, "my dad's an accountant, and my mom's the former governor of alaska." the episode ends with this basic message: people with down syndrome are just like everyone else.

2. sarah palin calls it "another kick in the gut," adds “this world is full of cruel, cold-hearted people who would do such a thing,” and posts a lengthy response from daughter bristol on facebook.

beat.

3. andrea fay friedman, the actress who did the voice-over for the family guy episode, not only has down syndrome, she thinks the palins need to "get a grip."

My name is Andrea Fay Friedman. I was born with Down syndrome. I played the role of Ellen on the "Extra Large Medium" episode of Family Guy that was broadcast on Valentine's day. Although they gave me red hair on the show, I am really a blonde. I also wore a red wig for my role in " Smudge" but I was a blonde in "Life Goes On". I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line "I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska" was very funny. I think the word is "sarcasm".

In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes.

bam. andrea friedman ftw.

here's the "offending episode" in full:

the country rebukes a bully (or two)

america to cheneys: you're wrong - read 'em their rights.

The internals [of a new CNN poll] ...show that the public is overwhelmingly rejecting the latest argument from the Cheney wing of the GOP.

The poll finds that a big majority, 65%, supports the decision to Mirandize the Christmas bomb plotter. But it gets better. The public also thinks all terror suspects should be Mirandized as a matter of policy...

brotherly love

even alec baldwin must think his brother stephen is a dick, right?

priorities people, priorities

seriously, what's more important here?

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has ended its 80-year-old foster-care program in the District rather than license same-sex couples, the first fallout from a bitter debate over the city's move to legalize same-sex marriage.

piss off the catholic archdiocese and they'll take stuff away from the kids. then again – catholic archdiocese, kids – maybe that's a good thing.

it's good to have friends

a friend of mine sent me this lovely birthday greeting.

quote of the day

"I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East -- you're as good as dead."

– elton john
in a new interview with parade

absence makes the heart grow...?

there's a nasty stomach flu going around mountain view, california...

and the oscar (hopefully) goes to...

i've now seen nearly every acadamy award best picture nominee (still up and the blind side to go.) i'm hoping once i do we can have a great discussion of who should win.

making the men mad

and probably some women, too. on the cover of the most recent new york magazine ...one of the best things about mad men:

it's a dog's life show

olympics schmolympics: live coverage of the 134th annual westminster dog show begins tonight at 8 pm eastern on usa & cnbc.

last year's best in show, stump, takes a breather.

confession of a war criminal

andrew sullivan reports that during an interview with abc new's jonathan karl sunday morning, former vice president dick cheney confessed to a war crime which has no statute of limitations and for which the penalty under law is either death or life in prison.

These are not my opinions and they are not hyperbole. They are legal facts. Either this country is governed by the rule of law or it isn't. Cheney's clear admission of his central role in authorizing waterboarding and the clear evidence that such waterboarding did indeed take place means that prosecution must proceed.

the most poignant story of the day

this did me in. completely did me in.

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. - A 72-year old man died Sunday morning after he was swept out into the ocean while trying to rescue his dog off a Lincoln City-area beach.

Oregon State Police troopers say at about 9 a.m. the man was walking on the beach with his dog when he reportedly threw a stick into the water for his dog to retrieve. Witnesses say the dog got caught by a wave and was pulled toward the surf and the victim went to help his dog. Another wave hit the victim and pulled him away from the beach.

A witness attempted to save the victim but was unable to get him back to the beach.

North Lincoln Fire & Rescue arrived and a rescue swimmer reached the victim, bringing him back to shore where they started CPR. The man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The man's dog was able to get back to shore and survived.

the knack's fieger dead at 57

doug fieger, lead singer and guitarist for the knack, died this morning. he had been battling both brain and lung cancer since 2004.

"Everybody knows they're going sooner or later. I don't know any better than anyone else when I'm going. I've had 10 great lives. And I expect to have some more. I don't feel cheated in any way, shape or form."

the knack's "my sharona" topped the billboard charts for 6 weeks in a row, and was the number 1 song of 1979.

connecting to a random stranger now

one of the most bizarre experiences i've ever had on the internet. unsettling, funny, a little disturbing, and slightly devastating.

don't ask questions. just do it.

(hat tip daily dish)

for my valentine

because i'm a big, stupid sap. here are two songs for my valentine.

old john screws up plumber's life

joe the plumber has gone rogue:

“John McCain is no public servant. I don’t owe him shit. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it. McCain was trying to use me. I happened to be the face of middle Americans. It was a ploy.”

joe's no longer supporting sarah palin, and he even has some kind words to say about barack obama.

tweet of the day

we are the (auto-tuned) world

give money to help haiti. right here.

now watch this embarrassing video. can you tell who is really singing (jennifer hudson, streisand, pink) and whose auto-tune dial is turned up to 11? remember when people used to sing with their own, live, human voice?

oh and one more thing. jamie foxx is a douchbag.

it's called "grasping at straws"

allowing gays to serve openly in the u.s. military would endanger the troops by offending the people of the muslim countries where we are fighting.

quote of the day

i mean. how could it not be?

"We're talking about taking the penis of one man, and putting it into the rectum of another man, and wiggling it around in excrement, and you have to think. I'm not sure. Would I allow that to be done to me? All of us — that could happen to you — Would you like that happen to you? Is that normal? Is that something that we want to portray as the same as the one-flesh union between a man and a woman?"

– new hampshire gop representative nancy elliott
in debate over new hampshire's marriage equality law

the outing of an active practitioner

it's not every day the american family association can make me laugh out loud.

it's every other day. and today was one of those other days. in a onenewsnow opinion piece, guest columnist matt barber argues the judge in the prop 8 trial needs to recuse himself because, well... here's barber's first sentence:

Last weekend the San Francisco Chronicle "outed" Proposition 8 Judge Vaughn Walker as an active practitioner of the homosexual lifestyle.

an active practitioner! ru-roh! it sounds almost... clinical, don't you think?

barber is making some major assumptions by suggesting 65-year-old judge vaughn walker is an active practitioner. are we sure the good judge is actually gettin' any nowadays? do we have eye-witness accounts? shouldn't we at least ask before jumping to conclusions like that?

what if he's a non-active practitioner? does that change things? what if he doesn't need practice? at 65 i bet judge walker knows pretty well what he's doing, which tab goes into which slot.

there's another problem in that first sentence: judge walker has been an open gay man for some time, so the chronicle article didn't "out" him (in quotes - "out"..."out") it just made his sexual orientation more public. truth be told, judge walker is probably just the kind of homosexual barber and the afa would normally, er, tolerate: one who, as the chronicle so blithely puts it, "has never taken pains to disguise - or advertise - his orientation." (advertise like some people do – blogging about it all the time.) in fact walker, appointed by president george h.w. bush in 1989, has in the past shown a fairly conservative bent.

while we're on the subject, wouldn't walker also have to recuse himself if he were an active practitioner of the heterosexual lifestyle? will the heterosexual members of the supreme court have to recuse themselves when the case comes before them? (no worries, judge thomas – one drunken night at holy cross college all those years ago does not count!)

a breathtaking act of staggering hypocrisy

republicans love medicare. no, they really, really do.

seventy-five percent want you to serve

a new washington post-abc news poll shows three-quarters of americans support openly gay people serving in the u.s. military.

like a recent quinnipiac poll, the breakdown into demographic groups here seems most interesting. seniors (69%) are less likely than young adults (81%) to support a repeal of dadt, an example of shifting attitudes among the generations. even more important:

Knowing a gay person makes a big difference: Among those who say they have a gay friend or family member, 81 percent support allowing gay people to serve openly, compared with 66 percent who say they do not know someone who is gay.

got something to tell your mom, or your brother, or your best friend?

don't scan me, bro

am i nuts, or have we now gone way overboard?

Saying that body scanners violate Islamic law, Muslim-American groups are supporting a “fatwa” – a religious ruling – that forbids Muslims from going through the scanners at airports.

The Fiqh Council of North America – a body of Islamic scholars that includes some from Michigan – issued a fatwa this week that says going through the airport scanners would violate Islamic rules on modesty.

keep in mind, a fatwa doesn't mean what you probably think it does. and passengers who don’t want to use the scanners are being offered the option of a pat down by a security guard – which muslim groups are urging members to opt for.

still, is it crazy to think this just goes too far?

2,752 men, women and children

september 11, 2001 like you've never seen it.

i know you are, but what am i?

americans don't mind homosexuals, but they like gays and lesbians better:

In [a new CBS News/ New York Times] poll, 59 percent say they now support allowing "homosexuals" to serve in the U.S. military, including 34 percent who say they strongly favor that.

But the numbers differ when the question is changed to whether Americans support "gay men and lesbians" serving in the military. When the question is asked that way, 70 percent of Americans say they support gay men and lesbians serving in the military.

(hat tip laurin)

a white supremacist dick, ctd.

john mayer promises to never use the n-word again.

"i've never married an ed before."

kitty lambert and her long-time partner cheryl head to the city clerk's office in buffalo, new york to demonstrate how denying same-sex couples the right to wed protects the sanctity of marriage.

"i have not taken a position on that."

a texas tea party candidate has one too many cups of crazy.

Radio host Glenn Beck, saying he was responding to e-mails he got from listeners, asked [Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra] Medina in a national interview this morning whether she believed the U.S. government was involved in the September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

“I don’t have all of the evidence there Glenn so I’m not in a place, I have not been out publicly questioning that,” Medina said. “I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard, there are some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there, so I have not taken a position on that.”

beck ended the interview with, "well, i think i can write her off the list." apparently some conspiracy theories are just too crazy for him.

somewhere along the way

the big sur coastline. halfway to san francisco, california. january 2010.

fast-forward idol: dreaded group night

peecrust's über-dramatic opening voice-over: "during the first day in hollywood, 85 idol dreams came to a crashing halt. and now, it's the dreaded group night."

dreaded? really?

rocker mom: "whatever we're gonna do, we're gonna make it creative and different." oh good.

we watch them forming groups. the mavericks. the dreamers. the river city ramblers. the losers. the neapolitans are two black people, two white people, and a strawberry person. fun!

coming up, "incredible auditions you don't want to miss." that, and big mike yelling "push!" into his cell phone (his wife is having a baby.)

i need a snack. anyone ever had an it's-it?

f-fwd.

um. dear american idol. you can't afford to book separate rooms for these people to rehearse in? what a stupid, ugly mess, throwing them all into one big room to fight it out for space. really, really stupid. and not entertaining.

there's big mike. there's the wife on the i-phone. "push!"

it's 3:20 a.m. rocker mom's being pushy, which is a change for her. she's usually just loud and overbearing. the music director calls her out. girl #2 rolls her eyes at her. i roll my eyes at girl #2.

shouldn't more be happening in between these commercials?

f-fwd.

rocker mom is having a melt-down. remind me to never work with this crazy beyatch. oh yeah, she's going home soon.

mike got pulled away because his wife is crowning. over the internet. quite seriously, he's listening to his wife have a baby over his cell phone. so he can be on american idol. i'm sorry, something is effed up there. excuses for missing your child's birth: honey, i'm in afghanistan. acceptable. honey, i'm on american idol. not.

three girls singing in their head. not so much. ed puts them all through. musta been better in the room.

team awesome. meh. and we don't know their "fate" until after the break. i don't really care.

ohhh...more rocker mom drama comin' up too. goody.

f-fwd.

awesome results not so awesome: autism goes home. that sucks. i-phone dad makes it through and thus will miss even more of his child's first days.

neapolitan. singing bad romance, acapulco. the next group says nea-p stole their idea. to sing bad romance, acapulco. here come the second group. singing it better. with better moves. they should all go through. ellen says it was "surreal."

destiny's wild makes it. the next group makes it. just put everyone through! or...

uh-oh. here come the losers. tori kelly sounds good. (so does tari kelly.) maddie penrose wears green glasses, and doesn't sound so hot. mark and kimberley don't sound so good either. the big guy with the glasses cries: "this was a dream. and i was really hoping it would come true. but maybe in another life." yah. maybe.

f-fwd.

some dame quits in the middle of hollywood week. right before her group is to perform. aaaand, they all sort of lose it. no one knows the words. did girlfriend sing everything?

okay, sorry. i needed some peanut butter and jelly toast.

i have to say something. i know this is different, american idol. but as we watch these people cry and sob and whine because they have so much inside them they were hoping to be able to share with people, and because they were on tv two, three times, and because they went to an audition and were called back and eventually got told no... this happens to actors in new york on a daily basis. sometimes two times a day. it happens to actors in chicago, and l.a, and milwaukee, and cleveland too.

not to me, of course. i quit. :)

ladies the gentlemen, the dreamers. "we need to just not go like this the whole time" says a dreamer, step-touching back and forth. "that's gonna look ignorant." yes. ignorant. ignoramus. first of all, they chose a horrible, horrible song. and then they sang it really, really badly. still, three of them get through, including the awful, evil, annoying, rocker mom. i'm sorry, she's a mom, and her child is probably adorable. but she is just...ick.

now i know what peecrust meant by the "dreaded" group night.

tweet of the day

h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e-s

rachel maddow calls out those stimulus-bashing republicans wielding big checks for projects in their districts. big checks made possible by, uh, the stimulus.

in case you were wondering

this is the gayest blog you know. proof:

even military families support a repeal

a new quinnipiac poll of more than 2,500 americans show a vast majority – 66% – think the military's don't ask, don't tell is discriminatory. 57% would like to see it repealed.

when those numbers are broken down into every possible demographic group, only two oppose a repeal: republicans and evangelical christians.

a true, obligatory homosexual

if only my dad had loved me more, been more affectionate, more warm, more supportive.

this is one of the messages from cbs reports: the homosexuals, a 1967 special hosted by 60 minutes' mike wallace. i was four. these messages were broadcast into my living room. messages to my parents, my friends, my family, and me.

"Most Americans are repelled by the mere notion of homosexuality. A CBS News survey shows that 2 out of 3 Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear – 1 out of 10 says hatred.

A vast majority believe that homosexuality is an illness, only 10% say it is a crime. And yet – and here's the paradox – a majority of Americans favor legal punishment, even for homosexual acts performed in private, between consenting adults.

The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground.

The fact that somebody is homosexual – a true obligatory homosexual – automatically rules out the possibility that he will remain happy for long."

the 45-minute special is well worth watching. if only for old time's sake.


(hat tip the advocate)

a white supremacist dick

john mayer's playboy interview is gettin' lotsa buzz on the twitter. not sure, but maybe this is why:

PLAYBOY: If you didn’t know you, would you think you’re a douche bag?

MAYER: It depends on what I picked up. My two biggest hits are “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and “Daughters.” If you think those songs are pandering, then you’ll think I’m a douche bag. It’s like I come on very strong. I am a very…I’m just very. V-E-R-Y. And if you can’t handle very, then I’m a douche bag. But I think the world needs a little very. That’s why black people love me.

PLAYBOY: Because you’re very?

MAYER: Someone asked me the other day, “What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?” And by the way, it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’"

PLAYBOY: It is true; a lot of rappers love you. You recorded with Common and Kanye West, played live with Jay-Z.

MAYER: What is being black? It’s making the most of your life, not taking a single moment for granted. Taking something that’s seen as a struggle and making it work for you, or you’ll die inside. Not to say that my struggle is like the collective struggle of black America. But maybe my struggle is similar to one black dude’s.

PLAYBOY: Do black women throw themselves at you?

MAYER: I don’t think I open myself to it. My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a fuckin’ David Duke cock. I’m going to start dating separately from my dick.

the little wisconsin earthquake

yup. on tuesday night a 3.8 magnitude earthquake shook folks from elgin, illinois to union grove, wisconsin. i hope my dad's lunchboxes are all still on their shelves.(and there hundreds more.)

tweet of the day

fast-forward idol: holly ellenwood

did you notice i skipped last week completely? ya. me neither.

"performing on the most high-profile stage in the world," peecrust says. really? really? what about this one? or this one? or even this one? dipstick. ellen degeneres (ed) shows up dressed like...me.

allison has to perform first because any minute now her grandmother is gonna forget who she is. "great natural talent," says randy (as opposed to unnatural talent.) skiiboski is back, and ed sums it up: "sexy and scary, it's a fine line." ski gets axed, but needs to hear again that he really wasn't good.

f-fwd.

andrew. dude sings paula abdul's "straight up" unplugged and it's good. not-so-newbie: "that was genius." well. on the not-so scale, yah. my country girl vanessa is nervous. woah, way too nervous. why is she singing this song? horrible. poor kid didn't make it. and i just said "poor kid didn't make it." i liked that little hick.

the big italian goombah gets, what...whacked. janell wheeler, however, has a sexy rasp that gets her through. then... lots of crash and burn. rocker mom gets through and says this is gonna change her whole family's life. until she goes home tomorrow.

f-fwd.

day two. simon says, don't forget the words. beatboxer jay stone gets dissed! lilly scott is duffy-light and i'm kinda tired of these kinds of singers. not-so says she did her own thing, but she actually did duffy's thing. and madeleine peyroux's thing.

big mike's wife's water broke. he's gonna sing enya's "orinoco flow " in her honor.

down syndrome girl is coming up.

f-fwd.

cancer survivor justin and shaggy-hair-tim are up. both, i think, are stinky. but i can also tell how nervous they are, and it makes me nervous just watching, and i know that in a million, gazillion years i would never not be too nervous to do what they're doing. so. props to 'em. still, they both blew. shaggy moves on.

of course we need to be reminded about maddy curtis' down syndrome brothers. maddy picks a terrible song, and i find myself wishing i didn't know about her brothers.

shirtless guy is coming up. will he be shirtless again? one can only hope. wait. why isn't he playing this bluesy song sans shirt? think how much more entertaining...

ohhh... maddy heads home. pecs mcgee goes on.

f-fwd.

didi. singing "terrified," written by not-so. brave. it looks painful, at times, but they like it. not sure i do. crystal bowersox (love that name) plays guitar and sings "natural woman" and rocks. she needs some crest ultimate white strips, but she rocks. and hey, she just got a new tattoo.

both didi and bowersox go on.

tomorrow: swing choir dancing!

will this make graham crackers?

how does lindsey feel about this?

The South Carolina Republican Party announced Monday that it’s uniting with tea party groups in the state to share resources, coordinate messaging and push the GOP in a more conservative direction.

i want my, i want my...my what?

mtv is no longer, well, mtv. the network has (finally) dropped "music television" from it's logo.

For the first time in the network's 29-year history, MTV has decided to give the channel's iconic logo a face-lift.

"The people who watch it today, they don't refer to MTV as music television. They don't have the same emotional connection that, say, the people who are writing about [the logo change] do," MTV's head of marketing Tina Exarhos said.

so, what does the M stand for then?

betty white is hot

and now there's a facebook campaign for her to host saturday night live.

gibbs pwns palin

white house press secretary robert gibbs gives sarah palin a hand:

press: are you going to get a haircut at all?

beatle: i had one yesterday.

46 years ago this month the beatles arrived to thousands of frenzied fans at new york's jfk airport. what followed was a landmark two weeks in the united states that included their legendary february 9th appearance on the ed sullivan show.

long before their grey gardens days, albert and david maysles documented the beatles' trip. we've all seen footage of band performing on the sullivan show, but the film's intro includes the band's arrival, their first u.s. press conference, and a few unguarded moments in the hotel room:



buy the maysles brother's film here: the beatles - the first u.s. visit.

where will dan choi shower?

gay military rights advocate lt. dan choi has been called back into active duty.

UPDATE 12:32 pm pst – or, not so much.

shower the people you love

in my email box this morning, a dire warning from the american family association:

Obama's new military: Gays showering with straights
Tell Congress not to overturn ban on homosexuals in the military

February 8, 2010

Dear Friend,

Gays showering with straights? Absolutely.

If President Obama, congressional Democrats, and homosexual activists get their wish, your son or daughter may be forced to share military showers and barracks with active and open homosexuals who may very well view them with sexual interest.

Talk about creating a hostile work environment for people who practice normative sexuality!

where exactly are the perverts showering now?

the season's biggest snub

roger ebert says there is one major "criminal omission" from this year's list of oscar nominees.

quote of the day II

"Congressman Tancredo went on TV and he was the [Tea Party Convention's] first opening speaker and he said, 'People who could not even spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House whose name is Barack Hussein Obama.'

And then he went on to say that people at the convention should have to pass literacy tests in order to be able to vote in this country, which is the same thing that happened in the 50's to prevent African Americans from voting.

It's innate racism and I think it's why young people are turned off by this movement. And I'm sorry, but revolutions start with young people, not with 65-year-old people talking about literacy tests and people who can't say the word 'vote' in English."

– meghan mccain

when fate hands you a lemmon

born in an elevator, his father the president of a doughnut company, he once said, "I won't quit until I get run over by a truck, a producer or a critic."

jack lemmon died in 2001. he would have been 85 today.

no "reset button" on health care reform

in a brief, pre-super bowl interview yesterday, president obama announced he was hoping to hold a televised, bi-partisan summit on health care reform, which sent republicans scrambling for a way out, and caused some democrats and progressives to worry the president was heading back to the drawing board, starting from scratch.

not so, say hhs secretary kathleen sebelius:

Sebelius said on Monday that President Obama is willing to "add various elements" to health care legislation suggested by Republican lawmakers during an upcoming bipartisan meeting on the topic. But he won't change the entire plan and he is "absolutely not" hitting the reset button on the legislative process, the former Kansas governor insisted.

"I think he sees this as a step to actually accelerating the process forward. He wants to move forward. He wants a bill at his desk and he sees this as kind of closing the loop and let's go."

is paterson getting spitzerized, ctd.

not yet. and rumors he's planning to resign are "entirely fabricated."

quote of the day

"It's a simple matter of common sense, sound public policy, and a concern for public health. Whatever we think we should do to curtail injection drug use are the same sorts of things we should pursue to curtail homosexual conduct."

– bryan fischer
director of issue analysis
for the american family association

quote of the day

"Being brave in the battlefield has nothing to do with how you go to the bathroom or how you have sex. If you volunteer to serve this great country we should welcome you, not push you away because of some arcane attitude about sex.

We’re in a war. We’ve got guys deployed for 8 years in Afghanistan, almost 7 years in Iraq. And somebody says, 'I want to serve this country,' and [John] McCain wants to say, 'If you’re homosexual, you can’t serve.' It’s wrong. We need these kind of people. We need all of them."

– colonel david hunt
fox news military analyst

28 minutes on 54th & broadway

how do you get oprah, jay, and dave into the same room for half an hour or so without anyone noticing?

The spot was shot last Tuesday afternoon, under the strictest of secrecy which involved both Mr. Leno and Ms. Winfrey flying in surreptitiously to New York, and arriving incognito at the theater, while Mr. Letterman was in the midst of taping his show for that night. It also involved Jay wearing a disguise: hooded sweatshirt, glasses and faux mustache. If you happened to be on Broadway between 53rd and 54th street last Tuesday about 4:15, you might have seen a man fitting that description slip into the theater by a small entrance under the marquee.

is paterson getting spitzerized?

is new york governor david paterson going to resign tomorrow?

palin's cheat sheet: the telepalmter

andrew sullivan dishes on palin's palm scribbles.

snl: what you missed

the only really funny thing on saturday night live last night. and i do mean really funny. almost worth slogging through the rest of the show.

wack-job wingnuts crazy cage-match, ctd!

on saturday, dave weigel reported on an andrew breitbart/joe farah mini-debate that happened away from the microphones at the tea party convention:

NASHVILLE — During WorldNetDaily Editor-in-Chief Joseph Farah’s Friday night dinner speech, which spent around 10 of its forty minutes on questions about Barack Obama’s citizenship, Andrew Brietbart was among the conservatives in back of the room grumbling audibly about what he was hearing.

After he introduced the evening’s closing entertainment — a film titled “Generation Zero” — Breitbart walked outside to the convention hall. There, I heard Breitbart criticizing Farah, and briefly talked to him about it before I noticed that WorldNetDaily’s Chelsea Schilling was already talking to him, holding up a voice recorder. I backed up to allow her to continue her interview, which consisted of questions on why Breitbart didn’t think Obama’s citizenship was a legitimate issue.

now weigel's actually posted audio of the breitbart/farah birther conversation.

find the 60-year-old jewish woman...

a photo taken at the recording session for the new version of we are the world, to benefit haiti.

(and she's 67 years old, to be exact.)

the most exciting 12 minutes of the game

for some of us, the best part of super bowl sunday is the halftime show. billboard collects 10 of the best, including mccartney, the stones, 2004's wardrobe malfunction, and this springsteen barnburner from last year.

like anyone with a fifth grade education

sarah palin, who used her tea party speech to criticize president barack obama for, among other things, using a teleprompter, was apparently reading her answers off her hand.

the attack dogs that did not bark

frank rich says it's time to smoke the bigots out of the closet.

the d.c. blizzard of 2010 1918!

(hat tip gawker / shorpy)

wack-job wingnuts crazy cage-match!

the best story yet to come out of the national tea bag party convention. andrew breitbart, the brains money behind faux-acorn-pimp james o'keefe takes on worldnetdaily editor-in-chief joseph farah over his birther fantasies.

(hat tip the daily dish)

quote of the day

"And then, something really odd happened, mostly because I think that we do not have a civics literacy test before people can vote in this country. People who could not even spell the word “vote,” or say it in English, put a committed socialist idealogue in the White House, name is Barack Hussein Obama."

– former congressman tom tancredo
addressing the national tea party convention

prior to the voting rights act in 1964 literacy and civics voting tests were used to prevent african americans from voting.

job losses: bush v. obama

job losses from december 2007 to january 2010. red is bush, blue is obama.

(hat tip tpm)

quote of the day

"I began to understand, even in grammar school, that somehow I was profoundly different.

No one comes up to you and tells you you're African American, or Jewish American, or Irish American. You discover your gay by yourself. And I was going to the public library and looking for 'What is homosexuality?' and what are it's origins and how is it described.

Well it was all horrific. It was apocalyptic, it was a curse.

I accepted all those messages of shame, and messages of hate, messages of ignorance. But you realize it's intrinsic. It's who and what you are. And so you deny this thing.

But what happens is it comes out. And it comes out in dark places. You begin to believe that it is shameful because your acting, for me, in shameful ways. I mean, where am I having sex? I'm having sex in back alleys of abandoned synagogues, I'm having sex in rest stops.

The fact is my straight friends were picking up their girlfriends in bars and at parties and doing it wherever. I didn't have that opportunity – to do it in public ways that were healthy, that were safe, and that were accepted. And so by doing it in secret, closeted ways, I believe it is unhealthy for the psychology, it is unhealthy for the being, and it is unhealthy for the soul."

– jim mcgreevy
former governor of new jersey

a swift rebuttal: a problem in the ear

in the last several days, big machine records ceo scott borchetta has felt the need to explain taylor swift's grammy performance:

"This is not 'American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance.

We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn't able to hear everything in the mix. That's just part of live TV... You're going to have difficulties on occasion.

Maybe she's not the best technical singer. But she's probably the best emotional singer because everybody else who gets up there and is technically perfect, people don't seem to want more of it... She's an extraordinary songwriter and her vocal performances are getting better. Everybody is not perfect on any given day."

i'll say one thing for swift's vocals on grammy night: at least she wasn't auto-tuned.

quote of the day

"All that's changed in the last two weeks is that our party has gone from having the largest Senate majority in a generation to the second largest Senate majority in a generation. And we've got to remember that.

There was apparently a headline after the Massachusetts election; the Village Voice announced that Republicans win a 41-59 majority. It's worth thinking about. We still have to lead."

– barack obama
addressing senate democrats

what an embarrassment, ctd.

john mccain, yesterday:

My opinion is shaped by the view of the leaders of the military. The reason why I supported the policy to start with is because General Colin Powell, who was then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the one that strongly recommended we adopt this policy in the Clinton administration. I have not heard General Powell or any of the other military leaders reverse their position.

whoops.

limbaugh does bin laden's bidding

do we really think osama bin laden cares about climate change? or was he manipulating people like rush limbaugh? (who's smarter, do you think...?)

limbaugh used bin laden's recent statement on climate change to compare him to wisconsin's russ feingold. catch the cute "osama-obama" mix up too:

it's the primary, stupid

josh marshall on mccain's pathetic flip on don't ask:

I thought that after 2008 we wouldn't get more chances to see McCain betraying all the principles and positions he claims to stand for. But the primary challenge in Arizona seems to be providing many more opportunities.

powell gets behind gates, mullen

colin powell supports ending don't ask, don't tell.

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” General Powell said in a statement issued by his office. He added: “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”

"it comes down to integrity"

joint chiefs of staff chairman admiral mike mullen, testifying at a senate hearing today:

"Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at this issue I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.

For me personally it comes down to integrity - theirs as individuals and ours as an institution. I also believe that the great young men and women of our military can and would accommodate such a change. I never underestimate their ability to adapt."

what an embarrassment.

john mccain continues to look foolish.

what is this guy thinking?

colbert grills ford.

my new guilty pleasure

two parts b-52's, one part talking heads, a little knack, and a dash of tom tom club equals the ting tings.

more ting tings here.

it's time to ask about don't ask, ctd.

tuesday's congressional hearing on the military's don't ask, don't tell – the first such hearings in 17 years – could reveal some mildly good news, and some chicken-shit bad news. first:

[Defense Secretary Robert M.] Gates and Admiral [Mike] Mullen will unveil the Pentagon’s initial plans for carrying out a repeal, which requires an act of Congress. Gay rights leaders say they expect Mr. Gates to announce in the interim that the Defense Department will not take action to discharge service members whose sexual orientation is revealed by third parties or jilted partners, one of the most onerous aspects of the law.

so you're gay cousin in the air force won't be discharged if his pissy ex-boyfriend rats him out, as long as your cousin doesn't talk about it himself. and that was the good news. the bad?

Republicans are already signaling that they are not eager to take up the issue. “In the middle of two wars and in the middle of this giant security threat,” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC, “why would we want to get into this debate?”

it's just never a good time for republicans, is it mr. boehner?

the silver lining? the pentagon knows, and polling shows – it's largely a generational problem:

Although Pentagon officials were of the view that the younger rank and file did not care much about serving with openly gay service members, Gen. James T. Conway, the commandant of the Marine Corps, had major reservations.

Polls now show that a majority of Americans support openly gay service... A 2008 census by The Military Times of predominantly Republican and largely older subscribers found that 58 percent opposed to efforts to repeal the policy; in 2006, a poll by Zogby International of 545 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that three-quarters were comfortable around gay service members.