And another reason to love David Bowie.

While the Federal Government has more than its share of bad moments, this morning we had the rare opportunity to see all three branches at their worst.

The Legislative branch, once again showing an incredible ability to do nothing and get paid for it, struck down the bill to overhaul the immigration system. The bill, while flawed, had the support of Ted Kennedy and President Bush, who are basically polar opposites (except for their love for the bottle). It's disheartening to see this complete inability of Congress to find a compromise on this matter - especially given the amount of time, money, and vocal strength spent on it.

Meanwhile, over in the Judicial branch, Scalithomas and Co. continued their string of recent victories for conservatives, striking down race placement in public schools and allowing companies to set minimum prices on products.

Read more...

Frau Merkel on the cover of conservative Polish weekly Wprost, suckling everyone's favorite prime minister/president identical duo, those adorable Kaczynski twins. Machocha means stepmother.

Wprost ("directly") editor-in-chief Stanislaw Janecki sums it up pretty well:

RE-UPPED as of 6/27

Here is a look ahead at 2007... not everything that is coming out, just everything that might actually be worth your $12. These are the movies that you can expect people to be talking about, critics to be putting on their year-end lists NEXT January, and Cosmodrome to be regretting having missed. I'll continually update the list throughout the year, as release dates get changed and as new things pop up.

Photo taken from the excellent new Shepard Fairey exhibition in DUMBO.

Stew is the mastermind behind Passing Strange, the new musical type theater experience at the Public Theater. I call it a musical type theater experience because it isn't a rock show, and it isn't a musical. It's something else entirely, and it's kept afloat by this artist's genuine talent and radical vision for combining theater, storytelling, and song.

This is one of his songs. It's called Black Men Ski. It isn't in Passing Strange, but it sums up his sensibility and sense of humor. I love it. Behold.

If you live anywhere near Brooklyn and write a blog, chances are you went to the Mermaid Parade to shoot some really great photos of some really freaky people.

In the words of a wise friend, this year was the shark-jumped Mermaid Parade. Hordes of smelly youngsters looking for a view of some chubby bare chested females, without any of the charm of what the event's organizers call New York City's largest art parade. In my opinion, the Mermaid Parade has become a stand-in for the sleeze the city used to be known for, something like a last gasp of the porny grit that's been erased from a sanitized Times Square. And I mean that as more of an observation, I think, than a criticism.

GOP Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson has scored the support of an important demographic: his ex-girlfriends. Ordinarily this might be a minor victory, but Thompson's list of former paramours reads like a "Women of the Republican Party" calendar.

Ex-No. 1: Country singer Lorrie Morgan called Fred, "every woman's fantasy." Morgan thinks Thompson has a great chance of cornering the women's vote because, "He’s a soft, safe place to be and that could be Fred’s ticket. Women love a soft place to lay and a strong pair of hands to hold us.”

[On a side note, I'm starting to understand every day, a little more, why the women of the USA aren't supporting Hillary.]

Ex-No. 2: 1st Wife Sarah Knestrick. Knestrick married Thompson at 17 and divorced him 26 years later. I believe this is called a "Starter Wife." Ms. Knestrick holds no grudge though, as she intends to campaign for him.

Ex-No. 3: Georgette Mosbacher, who seems like one heinous bitch; she's the author of "Feminine Force," and co-chairman of McCain's 2000 Presidential campaign. Ms. Mosbacher likes Fred's ability to appeal to “traditional women who will like the Southern gentleman in him."

More Fred Exes

Ann Coulter, known for being on the top of everyone’s “Who I’d Like to Hate Fuck” list and for totally lurving What's Happening? reruns, says more words that make people’s mouth’s O with surprise. (‘Oh no she di-in’t! That girl is one crazy bitch!’)

First, she makes fun of people who don’t have wholesome, American, WASP-y names like she does:
“No, but I do think someone named B. Hussein Obama should avoid using hijack and religion in the same sentence.“

Isn’t Barry an American enough name for you, Ann?

Then, she makes the tenuous connection that an expensive haircut is grounds for assassination:
"If I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.”
It’s too bad your cheaply layered and highlighted hair will get more expensive to maintain once you get your Mexican hairstylist shipped back to whatever country it was she came from.

Best part abut that last bit is that when Coulter was on Hardball, she gets a call from Elizabeth “Live Strong” Edwards calling her out on her low-balling of political discussion. Ho, shit! Get the Jell-O pit ready, this is gonna get nasty.

I can’t wait to see what she says next!

[Ed. Note: The picture used was found during a Google Image Search for “Ann Coulter”. More searching could have been done, but we feel it gets the job done.]