AddieStan

If you've never had the joy of seeing the incomparable J. Scales perform, check out this video of J. performing her signature anthem, "Maybe She Thought," at the California Serafemme Festival. And Washingtonians can catch J. tomorrow night at Mocha Hut.

This has turned out to be one of the strangest Grammy Awards event your blogstress has ever seen. Has a former vice president of the United States -- and winner of a stolen presidential election -- ever before present a Grammy? Seeing Al Gore up there, standing next to Queen Latifah, presenting the "Best Rock Album" award to Red Hot Chili Peppers (once known for wearing nothing but a single tube sock, encasing an appendage a bit north of the foot, on stage) was one of those moments of absurdity that seem to be breaking out all over these days. While Mary J. Blige and Justin Timberlake had been given every reason to believe the evening was all about them -- they were relentlessly onstage -- the event turned out to be about the war. John Legend's song, "Coming Home," performed with the underappreciated Corinne Bailey Rae (who should have come away with one of the big awards for her extraordinary debut album) and the gifted John Mayer, seemed to set the stage f...

In a predictable eruption two days ago (predictable because he hadn't been on TV for a while, and you know he was looking for his moment), William A. Donohue , president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (for white, Catholic men), went after two feminist bloggers, Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister and Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon , calling them "vulgar, trash-talking bigots." (Edwards has rapped their knuckles but decided to keep them on as his net-roots folks, as reported here by Chris Cilizza of washingtonpost.com .) Your cybertrix suspects the comments of Mr. Donohue, that great defender of the faith, to be a bit of what the shrinks call "projection" -- that is, projecting one's own bad behavior onto others one perceives as threats (in this case, smart, liberal feminists). Many, including your blogstress, have used this 2004 appearance by Donohue (or " BDo **", as he's known on Pandagon ), on MSNBC's ...

Your blogstress is most distressed; she no longer rates as an A-list Catholic-basher now that the media's favorite anti-Semite, William A. Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, has discovered John Edwards ' recent hires, bloggers Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon , and Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister . From the AP via the Washington Post : "John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots," Donohue wrote in a statement. "He has no choice but to fire them immediately." You'll recall, mes amis , that your blogstress was once the fetching serpent-borne apple of Donohue's ire when she dared to suggest that the Bush administration made a smart move when the president nominated the very Catholic John Roberts to head the Supreme Court, which would allow them to lob the false charge of "anti-Catholicism" every time Roberts was challenged about his ...

At Real Clear Politics, Tom Bevan makes a case for keeping that cuddly Bush pander bear (may Tsongas rest in peace), the Office for Faith-Based Initiatives in a Democratic administration. Sorry. Not allowed. Please see Amendment #1, U.S. Constitution. Okay, so that talks about what Congress can do. But one would think that religious folks would care about adherence to the spirit of the law.

Actually, shouldn't they just call it "history month"? After all, since black people have been here since America began, shouldn't all American history be black history? After all, who built this place? Who planted and harvested and cooked and gave us our music? (Don't give me that line about country music. The banjo is an African instrument, bro.) Seems to me that would add up to history AND culture. But we're only made to know that, see that, one month in the year -- and the shortest month, at that.

Herewith, a translation from your blogstress of Sen. Joe Biden's comments about Sen. Barack Obama . (Note that the senator from Illinois is in contention for the Democratic presidential nomination, while the delusional senator from Delaware thinks the title, "President Biden," to be an actual possibility.) What Biden said: “[With Barack Obama], you got the first mainstream African-American [presidential candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” What Biden meant (blogstress interepretation in italics ): "[With Barack Obama], you got the first mainstream almost white African-American presidential candidate who is articulate talks like a white person and bright thinks like a white person and clean does not use Afro-Sheen and [is] a nice-looking guy because he looks like his white mama .

Your blogstress can't understand why the Bush administration is acting like it's news that the Taliban are planning a spring offensive. Of course they are. They have one every year. Everybody knows that. And the NATO chiefs, it seems, are none too keen about the idea of bumping up troop levels to try to head off the offensive.

What to say? The Godfather of Soul has left the planet . He changed the music. He brought honesty to pop music. He gave raw sex a raw soundtrack. Alongside Little Richard, he set the stage for every glam-rock, disco dude and out-there R&B act that ever came into existence. From George Clinton to Freddy Mercury, all must bow before that caped force of nature.

Proof of what your blogstress has been saying: We white folks are still in denial about our racial prejudice. Offenders of whom to be most wary: white liberals. Why? If in denial about our possession of this most fundamental of American traits, we can do more damage than all the Klansmen in Georgia. From the recent CNN/Opinion Research poll: Almost half of black respondents -- 49 percent -- said racism is a "very serious" problem, while 18 percent of whites shared that view. Forty-eight percent of whites and 35 percent of blacks chose the description "somewhat serious." Asked if they know someone they consider racist, 43 percent of whites and 48 percent of blacks said yes. But just 13 percent of whites and 12 percent of blacks consider themselves racially biased.

From the fabulous Frankie G. (your blogstress's partner in musical crimes), a.k.a. Frank Gilligan of Beltway Sewer Productions, comes word of this educational item, just in time for your holiday -- oh, pardonez-moi, mes amis , your cybertrix unintentionally there made war on somebody's sacred day -- Christmas , Hanukkah , Eid , Alban Arthuan , Saturnalia , etc. -- giving: Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed By Katharine DeBrecht This full-color illustrated book is a fun way for parents to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland. Reading Level: Ages 4-8 Hardcover, 54 pages. Full-color illustrat...

It came as no surprise to your blogstress when Mel Gibson , in the course of promoting his upcoming cinematic bloodfest, "Apocalypto," expressed sympathy for his fellow bigot, Michael Richards . What did surprise your cybertrix, however, was Gibson's demonstration of denial as to the nature of his own crime. One would have thought that some brilliant public-relations consultant would have drilled into the patron saint of the Catholic right the need to at least appear to take responsibility for whatever venom spews , via one's own brain, from one's own mouth. In an AP report , Gibson says he doesn't expect his celebrated rant to affect box office on the movie: The movie will stand on its own, regardless of any unfortunate experience I may have stumbled upon." Stumbled upon? As in, I was just weaving my inebriated self home when I stumbled upon a torrent of anti-Semitic taunts flowing out of my mouth at a Jewish police officer, upon whom I had also stu...

John Bolton , that most undiplomatic diplomat who has been serving as acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations since his recess appointment last year, stepped down today when it became apparent that there was no way in hell that he could win confirmation in the lame-duck Senate. Two men deserve special thanks for this outcome: Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), who lost his re-election bid, and Steve Clemons , author of The Washington Note . It was Clemons who brought turned the attention of denizens of the blogosphere to the perils of an Ambassador Bolton (who famously denied the exsistence of the United Nations)*, and who never dropped that ball. Chafee, whose committee vote made kept the Bolton nomination from reaching the Senate floor, deserves commendation for doing the right thing, even after his defeat by a Democrat. In fact, Chafee went so far to make that point that the outcome of the 2006 mid-term elections, as epitomized by his own loss, signaled the electorate's d...

While your blogstress has always had mixed feelings about the well-versed but not-always-stalwart Jane Harman (Calif.), who has served, lo, these last few years as the ranking Democratic member on the House intelligence committee, you cybertrix hardly knows what to make of the naming of Silvestre Reyes (TX) by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead the committee. The muckraking Laura Rozen , your Webwench's colleague on TAPPED (the Weblog of The American Prospect Online) details a meeting with Manuchar Ghorbanifar of Iran-Contra fame in which the new committee chairman joined the tainted Republican Curt Weldon (Penn.) for a discussion of God-knows-what. Pelosi's issue with Harman is reportedly that the Speaker's California colleague has not protested loudly enough against the Bush administration's assault on civil liberties. And your ecrivaine agrees, for the most part. On the other hand, Harman is smart and serious, and came across as impeccably credible in her outings...

It's as if the goddesses and their consorts were preventing your blogstress from issuing forth from the blogosphere, but all manner of confusion between the evil big-business domain-hocker Network Solutions, and another outfit which we'll call Hemp-Hed Hosting (not its real name) has led to your cybertrix's Weblog appearing only intermittently, between messages that declare the breakaway republic to be "under construction," or even better, to have an "expired" name. At Network Solutions, customer service comes in the form of condescending young men in an East Asian country whose "help" generally requires about four phone calls to achieve any result. Meanwhile, over at Hemp-Hed, very nice, very mellow American geeks chat you up, knowing exactly what the problem is, but forget to put in the order for the fix. So, it takes about four calls to achieve any result, but at least the calls tend to be amusing. Okay, well there's still the gig at ...

Your blogstress is pleased to announce that the New York Observer has at long last acknowledged the existence of your cybertrix -- something she knew those smart fellas over there would have to do sooner or later. In this week's column , Ron Rosenbaum chronicles the fracas kicked up by your Webwench's manly colleague on TAPPED, Charles Pierce , in his critique of the Michael Richards meltdown, whereupon he said things that pissed off the ladies of that Weblog ( Garance Franke-Ruta and yours truly). Your écrivaine regrets that she does come off as a bit humorless in the whole thing, but that's a small price to pay for having one's name turn up on the peach sheet.

Your blogstress seems to have kicked up a bit of dust with her assertion, on TAPPED (the Weblog of The American Prospect Online ), that nearly all white Americans are racially prejudiced. (No, your cybertrix does not count herself out of this equation.) It all began with a post by the very funny but somewhat sexist Charlie Pierce , who, commenting on the racist meltdown of "Seinfeld" alumn Michael Richards , asserted that the Seinfeld show always spouted prejudices but went on to compare the spouting of prejudice by the misogynist (and often funny) late comic Sam Kinison as preferable to that of the Seinfeld types, who suffered from some form of "maidenly vapors," according to Pierce. Oy vey, to quote a favorite editor of your net-tête 's. This did not amuse Garance Francke-Ruta , one of your Webwench's rare female colleagues at TAPPED, who took Pierce to task for his celebration of the misogynist Kinison, as well as the crappy "vapors" comment...

Maretta J. Short (second from left), the newly elected president of NOW-NJ, is the first African-American to hold the post. She is pictured here at the organization’s March Women Making History event, together with NOW activists Terry Fasano to her left and, to her right, Susan Waldman (holding grandson Joshua), Shirley Henderson and Barbara Foley. photo courtesy NOW-NJ Your blogstress just couldn’t be more tickled to learn that Maretta J. Short , your Webwench’s college friend and nearly lifelong compatriot in la causa , has been elected president of New Jersey’s state-level National Organization for Women (NOW) , which in the most densely populated state in the nation really means something. And she’s the first African-American to hold the post. Maretta, who was nominated from the floor of NOW’s state convention, comes to the organization’s top statewide leadership post from her role as chapter president of the Women of Color & Allies, NOW-NJ’s Essex County chapter. She tell...

Your blogstress would like to make the following announcement: she has never been demeaned by the distribution of family planning to her or anybody else. In fact, if you are giving out free condoms, she will gratefully accept them, as they're getting a bit pricey these days. The impetus for your Webwench's declaration is found in the following lede paragraph from a Washington Post article by the most attractive Christopher Lee : The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women." It's one thing, in an anti-choice administration, to choose a deputy assistant secretary for population affairs who opposes legalized abortion -- pretty awful, but intellectually consistent. But unless you believe affairs of population to be most beneficial in an expansive state,...

Rep. John Murtha sure wasn't my pick for House Majority Leader, especially after Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the ridiculous assertion that she was going to run the squeakiest-clean operation ever. But, crap, ya gotta love Murtha for having brought the word "crap" to public political discourse with the force of something hitting the proverbial fan. In his interview last night with MSNBC's Chris Matthews , Murtha used the scatalogical term some nine times, according to Matthews's count, when explaining the context for his deployment of the word as a description of the ethics rule changes proposed by his champion, the House speaker. While Murtha's loss to Maryland's Steny Hoyer may have deprived your blogstress and her devotees the sort of fodder derived from a veritable font of excrement, the present outcome likely saved the Democrats a whole lotta agita .