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Showing posts from February, 2007

Al Gore, James Brown, Dixie Chicks, John Legend

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

Who's the trash-talker?
Bill Donohue on Jews and anal sex

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 &

Lament of a B-List Basher

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

Back to reality

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.

Happy Black History Month

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.

Biden: What I really meant is....

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 .