Bookmarking the Paranoid Style

The Huffington Post has the latest on the website Glenn Beck has just strategically launched only days after his Washington D.C. rally. Included in the article is this excerpt from the site:

"Too many times we see mainstream media outlets distorting facts to fit rigid agendas," he wrote on The Blaze. "Not that you've ever heard me complain about the media before. Okay, maybe once or twice. But there comes a time when you have to stop complaining and do something. And so we decided to hire some actual journalists to launch a new website."

Beck Rally Pre-Show

Alternet has an account of the "Restoring Honor" rally pre-event. An event steeped in religion and politics:

Divine Destiny was a three-hour mix of gospel music and patriotic songs from an “all-star” choir of local singers and dancers, inspirational exhortations for people and churches to do good work in their communities, and speeches by Religious Right figures about America’s need to repent for the nation’s sins and turn back to God.

Included in the line-up?

Miles McPherson is a former professional football player and current pastor of the Rock Church, a San Diego megachurch that was active in the campaign to pass Prop. 8 and strip gay couples in California of the right to marry.

Shock Jocking Our Politics

The New Republic has a piece by Alexander Zaitchik that reminds us what Beck is really up to with his "Restoring Honor" rally:

“It’s hard for people who never worked in FM radio during the 1980s to really understand how deep publicity-hunger runs in Beck’s blood,” says Kelly, a radio veteran who worked with and against Beck in two markets. “Morning radio DJ’s were the Navy Seals of getting your name out there and keeping it out there. It was all about finding the biggest stage to promote yourself and your shows. Take away the high rhetoric, and Saturday is just a masterful lesson in the art of the publicity stunt. Old DJ’s like me can only stand in awe.”

"The Waterworld of White Self Pity"

Slate gives us Christopher Hitchens' view of Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington D.C. this past weekend. Slate's accompanying video bolsters Hitchens' observation that like the rally, Beck supporters are vague and undirected:

Until recently, the tendency has been to think of this rather than to speak of it—or to speak of it very delicately, lest the hard-won ideal of diversity be imperiled. But nobody with any feeling for the zeitgeist can avoid noticing the symptoms of white unease and the additionally uneasy forms that its expression is beginning to take.

More Lost History Found in the Theater

From the NY Times:

For almost three decades beginning in 1936, many African-American travelers relied on a booklet to help them decide where they could comfortably eat, sleep, buy gas, find a tailor or beauty parlor, shop on a honeymoon to Niagara Falls, or go out at night. In addition to hotels, the guide often pointed them to “tourist homes,” privates residences made available by their African-American owners. Mr. Ramsey has written a play, “The Green Book,” about just such a home, in Jefferson City, Mo., where a black military officer and his wife and a Jewish Holocaust survivor all spend the night just before W. E. B. DuBois is scheduled to deliver a speech in town. The play will inaugurate a staged-reading series on Sept. 15 at the restored Lincoln Theater in Washington, itself once a fixture of that city’s “black Broadway” on U Street.

The Kansas Kochtopus

A long investigative piece about the tea-party funders, the Koch brothers of Koch Industries (headquartered in Wichita, KS) is in the New Yorker: The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.

Oh, and David H. Koch is a big-time philanthropist and arts enthusiast.

One Man's Garbage

From the London Guardian:

Bids are also being invited for Lennon's toilet from Tittenhurst Park, his Berkshire home between 1969 and 1972.

Lennon told a builder, John Hancock, to keep the porcelain lavatory and "use it as a plant pot" after he had installed a new one. It was stored in a shed at Hancock's home for 40 years until he died recently. The toilet is estimated to fetch £750 to £1,000.

The auction organiser, Stephen Bailey, said: "The toilet might be worth something, and it might not, but it is certainly one of the more unusual items we've sold."

Fighting for the Word

Author Stacy Schiff and NY Times columnist discuss Sarah Palin, Grizzlies and Feminism:

The issue is no longer first-rate intellect, or first-rate temperament, but first-rate opportunity. Which is where the Mama Grizzly business really falls down. An actual grizzly mom is a single mom. She lends a whole new definition to full-time homemaker. If Dad shows up it’s probably to eat the kids. What Mama Grizzly wouldn’t believe in school lunches, health insurance and quality childcare? Who’s going to look after the kids while she’s off hunting? It’s really, really clever to put this powerful vocabulary — pit bulls and grizzlies — in the service of disempowering people. Kind of like death panels in reverse.

When thinking about whether or not Sarah Palin is a feminist, my answer is "no." And I'm irritated that I might have to explain that.

Taylor Mac

After wading through the Prop 8 Trial transcripts, feeling the need to cut to the chase of the issues, which means, feeling the need for some Taylor Mac.
The Revolution Will Not Be Masculinized

Weimar New York | MySpace Video

The Hurrican Katrina Comedy Festival

A show I wish I could see at the New York International Fringe Festival:

Briskly directed by Dann Fink on a frugal set of chairs that transform into rooftops, the play’s title is not a complete misnomer. It takes inspiration from an aborted 2006 plan by the New Orleans mayor to mark the first anniversary of Katrina with a comedy hour.

Fox Hearts Republicans

Fox News and Republican Party Make it Official

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Facebook, The Novel

In the NY Times, an article on the first novel inspired by and using the lexicon of Facebook:

Which is to say “My Darklyng” offers a brilliant commentary on how fictional teenagers are on Facebook. Their stylized, mannered projections of self are as invented as any in a novel.

It is, in short, a brilliant stroke to use Facebook for novel writing, because in general Facebook feeds on fiction; it consumes it, and spits it out in every direction.

A Passion for Getting it Right

A piece about the conflicted history the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany. If you guessed it has to do with Hitler, you would be right.

What's more, Stückl's staging depicts Jesus' Jerusalem as an oppressed, occupied city, and Pontius Pilate is now the first person, not the last, to demand that he be silenced. Stephan Burkart plays Pilate with a sardonic, Nazified swagger that would be perfect for "Inglourious Basterds," and it's easy to remember that this Bavarian village is only a couple of hours away from the Dachau concentration camp: a Golgotha on German soil. Oberammergau may be remote, but it's profoundly in touch, keeping the faith in surprising new ways.

Shakespeare American Style

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival simply rocks. Read about their new American history project, inspired by who else? Shakespeare!

The United States History Cycle. Shortly before he took over in 2007, the festival’s artistic director, Bill Rauch, announced a 10-year plan to commission 37 new plays — a nod to the number in Shakespeare’s canon — about critical moments in American history. Up to 15 will get full productions at the festival; others, it is hoped, will be produced elsewhere.

In an interview Mr. Rauch said he was inspired by the role that Shakespeare, through his history plays, filled in helping his fellow citizens confront the major political questions of their day. “He lived in an age of anxiety about who would replace the childless monarch Elizabeth,” Mr. Rauch said. “He dramatized stories from his country’s past to study the transfer of power and to entertain and move and provoke people, and that got me thinking about our own country’s

history.”

The Question of Standing

Another article and some other points of view on the ruling of "standing" in the Prop 8 case. From the Orange County register:

Some advocates of gay marriage won't be satisfied if same-sex couples are allowed to marry in California because of the technical issue of standing. They want a Supreme Court precedent on a national level. And that's what the two high-powered attorneys challenging Prop. 8, Ted Olson and David Boies, were after when they entered the fray.

"The standing issue is just a distraction from the main issue," said Douglas NeJaime, who specializes in law and sexuality at Loyola Law School. "What the Olson-Boies team really wants is a decision on the merits."

So instead of first asking the appeals court to throw out the appeal on the basis of standing before arguing the merits, Olson and Bois could choose to argue the case on merits and standing simultaneously, NeJaime said.

But Katherine Darmer, a Chapman Law School professor, thinks Olson and Bois would be content to win the case on the issue of standing.

"I suspect they would take a standing victory and go with it," said Darmer, a Prop. 8 opponent who's legal committee chairwoman of the Orange County Equality Coalition. "I also think it would be far less risky than going all the way to the Supreme Court on the merits. This is a safer route to equality for the largest state in the U.S., which will impact not just the country, but the globe."

The Performance of Gay Marriage in the Polling

Public Policy Polling has a new entry about their polling on gay marriage:

Most Americans still think same sex marriage should be illegal...but they think it will be legal within a generation.

Our newest national survey finds 57% of Americans think it should be illegal while 33% think it should be legal and 11% have no opinion. Republicans are pretty universal in thinking it should be illegal, 81/12, while Democrats only narrowly favor it 47/40. Independents array slightly against it by a 48/41 margin.

Lots more data in the piece.

Gay Marriage in the Heartland

Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan on his The Daily Dish blog for this item from the Carroll County, Iowa Prairie Advocate:

Donald Fair and Warren “Butch” Dollinger were united in marriage on July 23, 2010 at the chapel in the VA Hospital in Iowa City, IA. The ceremony was performed by Pastor John McKinstry of the First Christian Church of Coralville, IA. A World War II veteran stood up for the couple. The couple are both Navy veterans of the Vietnam Wr. The couple are surrounded and supported by family and friends. They have been together 40 years and wanted to honor their love for each other by pledging to be “together till death do they part.”

The couple are proud to be gay and happy to be able to marry and solidate their love for each other.

The couple will reside at their home at 8732 South Hummel St., Savanna, Illinois 61074.

Don and Butch are my inspiration for a long day of work ahead on the "Prop 8 On Trial" play.

Dr. Laura All N-Words and Miscegenation

Adam Serwer in The American Prospect writes:

In actuality, it's the rest of her rant that drips with racial animus. To recap: Dr. Laura immediately dismisses her caller's problems, uses a racist joke to prove her non-racism, insists that black people voted for Obama over nothing but racial solidarity (as if pre-Obama, African Americans never voted for Democrats), strongly resents the fact that "black guys" can use the "N-word" but she can't, and declares that "If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry outside of your race." Dr. Laura isn't known for her sensitivity, but this is an impressive display of raw racial resentment.

Levi on Campaign Trail

Levi Johnston, after his announcement that he will run for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, visits the Jimmy Kimmel show.

I want to congratulate you on is the torment you have – it’s like there’s this huge bear and you’re this little mouse, just pecking away at the bear’s feet. And the bear would like nothing more than to swat you and crush you and literally kill you, but you will not be killed.

Inside Prop 8 Baseball

There are a lot of complicated legal issues within the Prop 8 case. The Bay Area Reporter unpacks the bag of issues and scenarios:

Foremost among the lawyerly wrangling is whether the backers of Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban against same-sex marriage, have standing to bring forth an appeal of Chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling striking down the ballot initiative. In a stinging rebuke to Prop 8's supporters, Walker found that they had failed to "advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license."

The attorneys for Protectmarriage.com, the group behind the Prop 8 campaign, have already notified the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals they intend to appeal Walker's decision. Yet there is some question as to whether they can indeed carry the fight to the appellate level.

Polling Gay Marriage

Results of a new CNN poll on gay marriage have been released:

Nearly half of all Americans think the Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll.

Mid-term Election Gay Marriage Bait

In a pretty clear attempt to get individual congressmen on the record on gay marriage, Rep. Lamar Smith has sponsored a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives disapproving of Judge Walker's ruling on the Prop 8 case. Co-sponsors include Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Peter Hoekstra, and Missouri's own Todd Akin. In other words, the usual suspects. The disapproving language of the bill is not available online yet. To keep track of this legislation, you can follow it here.

A feature on the Gao brothers from the LA Times:

Their weapons are brushes; their battlefields are canvases. And here in China, where political dissent often leads to prosecution, the works of avant-garde artists can sometimes appear as threatening as a mass protest.

Enter the Gao brothers, Qiang and Zhen, soft-spoken siblings who have long used startling images of Mao Tse-tung as a focal point for their sculptures, paintings and performance pieces.

The brothers' work will be at the Kemper Museum of Art in Kansas City starting September 17.

Levi Johnston's New Goal

First, mayor of Wasilla, next - vice presidential candidate?

From the Huffington Post: Levi confirms he is running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and he's ready to talk about his plans. On his intention to run for his hometown's highest office, he says "It's for real. I'm going to go there and do what I can. Obviously that's where I grew up and that's my home. It's always going to be home to me. [My son] Tripp's going to grow up there and I want to change a few things."

Real-Life Drama

Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal takes Elie Wiesel to task for shutting down Deb Margolin's play Imagining Madoff:

Why on earth did Mr. Wiesel, of all people, threaten to drop the big one on Ms. Margolin and Theater J? Not only is he prominent and admired, but he is also a celebrated human-rights advocate who has famously declared that "indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil." Yet he has proved himself utterly indifferent to the rights of a serious artist and a well-regarded theater company to make art as they see fit, merely because their art portrays him in a way he doesn't like. I wouldn't go so far as to call that hypocritical—not quite—but I have no doubt that it's unworthy of a great man who ought to know better.

For background on the case, the New York Times covered the story of Ms. Margolin's play and the controversy.

Exuberant Incoherence

From the foreword to Jacob Weisberg's new book, Palinisms, The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Sarah Palin:

So far as I can tell, Sarah Palin has four core beliefs:1. Things go better with God. 2. Yay, Alaska! 3. Let's drill that sucker. 4. Curse you, political establishment.

Weisberg was also the chronicler of "Bushisms" from George W. Bush.

Olson Schools Fox News on the Constitution

David Boies Schools Tony Perkins

God Bless the Queen

Queen Latifah uses overturning of Prop 8 to come out.

Take That, Bigotry

From Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post:

The 14th Amendment is a mighty sword, and U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker used it Wednesday to slice and shred all the specious arguments -- and I mean all of them -- that are used to deny full marriage rights to gay and lesbian Americans. Bigotry has suffered a grievous blow.

C-Span Fail

You just have to read the description of Al Franken presiding over the Senate yesterday to wonder - HOW DID C-SPAN NOT GET THIS ON CAMERA? From The Hill:

Franken, who was presiding over the chamber from the dais, gesticulated and made faces while McConnell explained his opposition to Kagan, according to witnesses.

The television cameras broadcasting the speech on C-SPAN remained fixed on McConnell, missing Franken’s antics from the Senate president’s chair.

The Electoral Politics of Prop 8

Nate Silver on the politics of Prop 8 in the 2010 and 2012 elections:

My best guess is that the Tea Party will largely continue to shirk the issue, but that the Republican Establishment will be fairly happy to engage it. The real battle, however, may come in 2012, when the Supreme Court could be about ready to take up the case. The leading indicator may be the reactions of the major Presidential hopefuls. For instance, will Sarah Palin produce a tweet or Facebook post containing the the phrases "activist judge" or "judicial activism" within the next 24 hours? It may depend on which type of conservatives -- the tea-partiers, or the movement conservatives of the Republican Establishment -- that she ultimately wants to affiliate herself with.

And in the LA Times, an analysis of the role Prop 8 will play in 2010 California politics.

The Bard, Black Bras and Black Top

A review of the Drilling Company's production of Julius Caesar, performed in a parking lot.

And in Los Angeles, a 1970's punk rock version of The Taming of the Shrew presented by the Actor's Gang.

Race Bait of the Day

Anti-Gay Marriage Rhetoric?

National Organization for Marriage protest and counter-protest in Providence, RI:

Real Painful Reality TV

Dahlia Lithwick's must-read review of Bravo's The Real Housewives of Washington D.C.

And a Megan McCain/Michaele Salahi love-fest interview on The Daily Beast.

The show premieres tonight on Bravo - 8pm Central time.

Another Obama First

From The Raw Story:

The United States, 65 years after a mushroom cloud rose over Hiroshima, will for the first time send an envoy this Friday to commemorate the bombing that rang in the nuclear age.

Prop 8 Overturned, A Compendium

UPDATED:

The Best Worst Prop 8 Reactions courtesy of Talking Points Memo.

Maggie Gallagher on with CNN's Anderson Cooper:


Does it matter that Judge Walker is gay. Andrew Sullivan's blog takes it on.
When law goes viral.

NY Times editorial this morning.

And on the other side, Maggie Gallagher's editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle. (Maggie Gallagher heads up the National Organization of Marriage.

The LA Times devotes an entire page online to coverage of Prop 8.

A reader on Andrew Sullivan's blog points out this fun fact:

The Prop 8 case now makes three consecutive judicial opinions holding that laws prohibiting same-sex marriages have no rational basis. Interestingly, all three were authored by judges who were nominated or appointed by Republicans.

NPR had this feature this morning discussing the impact on Democracts, specifically President Obama.

Dahlia Lithwick interviewed by Rachel Maddow:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Will be posting a host of links to a variety of articles, analyses, and opinions on today's historic overturning of California's Proposition 8.

From Good, a timeline of Prop 8.

The video evidence released by Judge Walker.

American Prospect brings us Adam Serwer's Prop 8: Shame in Perpetuity.

The San Jose Mercury News has extensive coverage including a slide show of post-ruling celebrations and press conferences.

You can totally geek out and read the entire ruling here.

A somewhat sobering analysis from the New York Times on the future of Prop 8 as it makes its way to the Supreme Court.

In Salon, Linda Hirshman puts the ruling and its fate into historical perspective.

The National Organizaton of Marriage (NOM) goes after Judge Walker's personal life.

Dahlia Lithwick on Slate calls it a "brilliant decision."

And Rachel Maddow interviews Boies and Olson:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Brace(d) for the Race-Baiting

Slate magazine discusses the upcoming race-baiting expected this fall during the 2010 mid-term elections.

As Rachel Maddow discussed on David Letterman last night - race-baiting works.



And from Maddow's blog this morning, a story about a a shooting game at a Catholic carnival involving a cardboard black man holding a document that says "Health Bill."

Prop 8 Decision Condensed

A handy guide to the Prop 8 Trial and where it's at minutes before the ruling comes down.

Bad Soap Opera

Well, apparently there will be no Levi Johnston/Bristol Palin wedding. The Zeitgeist is sad about this news since their nuptials would have made such good political theater - especially given Sarah Palin's disapproval of the match. From the NY Times:

“The final straw was him flying to Hollywood for what he told me was to see some hunting show but come to find out it was that music video mocking my family,” said Ms. Palin, who has a son, Tripp, with the 20-year-old Mr. Johnston. “He’s just obsessed with the limelight and I got played.”

We all keep getting played, Bristol.

Prop 8 Decision Coming Tomorrow!

Judge Walker will hand down his decision on Perry v. Schwarzenegger (Prop 8 case) tomorrow.

Now, I can finish the play.

Hip Hop Nation

From Mediaite: Rumors swirl that Wyclef Jean will run for president of Haiti.



If you want recent eyewitness and expert update on conditions in Haiti following the earthquake, I invite you to geek out on Partners in Health's Dr. Paul Farmer and his July testimony to the Congressional Black Caucus.

Not Like Ban on Inter-racial Marriage. Worse.

Zeitgeist favorite Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic on the analogy (or not) between interracial marriage and gay marriage

Much worse, the comparison with interracial marriage actually understates the evil of reserving marriage rights for certain classes of people. Banning interracial marriage meant that most black people could not marry outside of their race. This was morally indefensible, but very different than a total exclusion of gays from the institution of marriage. Throughout much of America, gays are effectively banned from marrying, not simply certain types of people, but any another compatible partner period. Unlike heterosexual blacks in 1960, the ban gays suffer under is unconditional and total and effectively offers one word for an entire sector of Americans--Die. For evading that ban means virtual--if not literal--suicide.

McSweeney's takes on Freud...and Mad Men.

GaGa Goes Down on Arizona Immigration Politics

This strikes me as a pretty tepid political statement, but since it's Lady Gaga, it's getting a lot of attention. Her message - boycotting Arizona won't mean squat - spurring her fans to protest Arizona's immigration law is more effective. That also seems open to debate.

To Your Tax Shelters

Colbert's take on the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Destined to be a classic.

The Word - Ownership Society

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Time-Out for American Alphabet

Have been on hiatus as I was working to open American Alphabet, a show for the 2010 Kansas City Fringe Festival. Sometimes the Zeitgeist is written about; sometimes it is performed. Check here for performance updates and the reviews.

Hogwash and Vilificaton

Feeling several days behind the "national conversation on race" that the media has been conducting, as I am working on a performance about race issues in America , so I will post the latest and what I think are the more interesting articles and editorials on the Shirley Sherrod smearing/firing/apologizing. But first, the video of Roger Spooner - the farmers at the center of Sherrod's NAACP speech:



Also worth a look - Melissa Harris Lacewell on MSNBC framing the story as the "vilification of black women for sport and political gain."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From Eugene Robinson in this mornings Washington Post:

After the Shirley Sherrod episode, there's no longer any need to mince words: A cynical right-wing propaganda machine is peddling the poisonous fiction that when African Americans or other minorities reach positions of power, they seek some kind of revenge against whites.

Willie Nelson weighs in on The Huffington Post about Sherrod's advocacy for family farming, as does Andy Borowitz with his headline:

USDA Offers Sherrod Authority Over Farmville

And finally, Rachel Maddow's report on the flip-flopping of Fox News on the Sherrod story:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

BP Arts Sponsorship Protest Hits Texas

From the Durango Herald:

Vandals took out their anger at BP on the Durango Arts Center's canvas awning sometime last week, but the misguided protest is going to hurt the struggling nonprofit, its director said Monday.

DAC Executive Director Sheri Rochford Figgs said she'll have to replace the entire awning, which faces East Second Avenue and is decorated with the names of "significant" donors, except for, now, BP.

First Lady Advocacy of the Arts

A Washington Post article on Michelle Obama's relationship to the arts and the arts programming at the White House:

After a year and a half of an Obama White House, which has included more than 50 cultural events, this student workshop epitomizes the first lady's approach to the arts. Her philosophy is defined by an emphasis on education and access for those who are often locked out.

Reading the Supreme Court Tea Leaves

The NY Times discusses the recent ruling on a Christian student group and what it says or doesn't say about how the Court might rule on gay marriage:

Lawyers for couples challenging California’s ban on same-sex marriage wasted no time in offering the judge hearing their case a translation of Justice Ginsburg’s sentence.

“The Supreme Court definitively held that sexual orientation is not merely behavioral, but rather, that gay and lesbian individuals are an identifiable class,” Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. wrote the next day to Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the Federal District Court in San Francisco.

Ben Folds' Tribute to Levi Johnston

From Mediaite:

The chorus actually borrows directly from Johnston’s now-defunct MySpace page that became popular after Sarah Palin was announced as the GOP VP nominee. This is a pretty classic hook – but it makes it even better that it came from Levi himself:

I’m a fuckin’ redneck, I like to hang out with the boys
Play some hockey, do some fishing, and kill some moose.
I like to shoot the shit and do some chillin’, I guess.
Ya fuck with me and I’ll kick your ass.

Well, now the proposed reality show has a theme song…

Expanding the Political Lexicon, One Tweet at a Time

Juan Cole's must-read on the Palin-Shakespeare-Twitter kerfuffle:

There are many things wrong with the original tweet. “Refudiate” is, of course, not a word, and a case could be made for making Ms. Palin pay her parents back for all the money they spent on her education.

The phrase ‘stab you in the heart as it does ours’ should be ‘stab you in the heart as it does us’– she has incorrectly switched from a direct object of the transitive verb ‘to stab’ to a possessive modifying heart; in the first parallel phrase, ‘heart’ was the the object of a preposition.

The further errors in the tweet have to do with substance. A tiny fringe cult destroyed the Twin Towers in New York, not Islam in general (a religion of 1.5 billion human beings which could well be the religion of 3 billion human beings by mid-century). A monument to Usama Bin Laden or al-Qaeda would be in poor taste. A mosque, built anywhere in the United States, is not.

The #shakesplain hashtag on Twitter is hours of entertainment and you can play along!

Time's Joe Klein weighs in on the benign AND evil aspects of Palin's latest 140-character misstep:

Palin poses a potential gold-rush of neo-Americanoid language.

Little Green Footballs points out Palin used "refudiate" in an interview with Sean Hannity last week. It comes at the end around 2:35 in the clip.



The Guardian has an article and puts out a challenge to readers to coin their own new words. The comments below the article are worth the read including this:

Palindrone = the meaningless noise that comes out of Sarah Palin's stupid face.

How Brad Pitt Does Good

From GOOD, what Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation is getting right in New Orleans:

Before the foundation trained local contractors, no one in New Orleans knew how to pour the pervious concrete that absorbs rainwater. Training one contractor to do this for one house would be prohibitively expensive; MIR essentially shouldered this start-up cost. Throughout the project, the foundation has introduced new material streams, reduced the costs of learning to use them, and pioneered the path through a permitting office that had never seen any of this before. And it has evolved building schemes that use fewer resources and cut the cost of obtaining them by buying in bulk.

Happy Birthday Hunter S. Thompson

From Thompson's book Kingdom of Fear:

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world-a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us... No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we'll kill you.

Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party

Playwrights take on culture wars taking place in the halls of American high schools:

From fourth grade to high school, at school board meetings and in state assemblies, temperatures are rising over censorship, control, religion and education. The battle over who teaches what, and how, has become one of the fiercest arenas of the culture wars.

The Lack of Passion in Defense of Mel Gibson

From the NY Times, Frank Rich's positive take on the Mel Gibson debacle:

Six years ago he was not merely an A-list movie star with a penchant for drinking and boorish behavior but also a powerful and canonized figure in the political and cultural pantheon of American conservatism. That he has reached rock bottom tells us nothing new about Gibson. He was the same talented, nasty, bigoted blowhard then that he is today. But his fall says a lot about the changes in our country over the past six years. We shouldn’t take those changes for granted. We should take stock — and celebrate. They are good news.

All Black Panthers, All the Time

From Media Matters: Six Fox News shows have discussed the phony New Black Panthers scandal during a total of 95 segments since Megyn Kelly's June 30 interview hyping the unsubstantiated allegations of right-wing activist J. Christian Adams. In all, these Fox shows have devoted more than eight hours of airtime to discussing the New Black Panthers.
Dave Wiegel, guest-blogging at The Alantic's The Daily Dish sums it up:

This isn't journalism. No one cares what the NBPP thinks about anything. This is minstrelsy, with a fringe moron set up like a bowling pin for Hannity to knock down. And that's the role the NBPP plays on Fox, frequently.

As Fox pits black commentator against black commentator, with blonde Megyn Kelly in between, it's worth a look back at Jon Stewart's view of Ms. Kelly.

Anchor Management

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The Russian Bono

A NY Times Saturday profile on Russian rocker-activist Yuri Shevchuk:

These days, at 53, Mr. Shevchuk remains a guttural voice of defiance, just as he was when he began dodging Soviet censors by holding secret concerts in apartments throughout Russia in the early 1980s. But now he rails against Vladimir V. Putin’s government in his packed shows and openly scorns other musicians he accuses of selling out.

In Plain Sight

From The Daily Beast, Ted Haggard's male escort discusses sleeping with clergy:

What I also discovered is that there are usually plenty of clues to be found when someone is doing something on the sly, whether it’s sleeping with male escorts or stealing from their church’s coffers. But people don’t want to know that about their religious leaders. Many want to turn a blind eye, even when the truth is staring them right in the face. When I attended Haggard's New Life Church after the scandal broke, I was amazed to see all the explicitly homoerotic statues and paintings -- sculptures of nude, muscular men all over the place. I also noticed that all the people on stage where Ted would preach were young men -- not a female in sight. I was later told that Ted picked out all the art work and the final decision as to who was on stage lay with him.

Rotten to the Core

A must-read piece on the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten in the The Independent.