Towleroad Guide to the Tube #328

DO NOT PASS GO: Brave New Films says send Karl Rove to jail.

PICKLE: Watch Grandpa John demonstrate the power of Christianity by electrocuting a pickle in a sling. Seriously.

ELIZABETH DOLE: Was Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person" on Wednesday for her attempt to add Jesse Helms to the Hyde-Lantos AIDS bill.

DAVID REMNICK: The editor of The New Yorker talks to Charlie Rose about the controversial Obama cover.

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Olbermann Slams Bush, the Iraq War, and His Golf Sacrifice Lies

In one of his most searing "Special Comments" in recent memory, Keith Olbermann takes apart Bush's interview with Politico in which he said that he had sacrificed playing golf for the war in Iraq.

That statement turns out to be a lie, and Olbermann exposes it, noting, as many bloggers pointed out yesterday, that Bush was playing golf a good two months after he claims he had stopped playing.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Keith Olbermann on McCain and John Hagee

Finally, the MSM is getting on McCain about John Hagee and McCain's pastors. Thank you, Keith Olbermann.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Anger and Apologies in Geraldine Ferraro's Wake

Keith Olbermann made a rare, searing attack on a Democrat last night, criticizing the Clinton campaign's handling of the Geraldine Ferraro comments. Below, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo on Ferraro's spin. And CNN's Jack Cafferty on Ferraro, before she stepped down yesterday.

Clinton apologized for Ferraro's comments last night in a speech to the National Newspaper Publishers Association: "I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee."

Clinton also apologized for remarks made by her husband after the South Carolina primary regarding Jesse Jackson's win in that state: "I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive," Hillary Clinton said. "We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama. Anyone who has followed my husband's public life or my public life know very well where we have stood and what we have stood for and who we have stood with. Once one of us has the nomination there will be a great effort to unify the Democratic party and we will do so, because, remember I have a lot of supporters who have voted for me in very large numbers and I would expect them to support Senator Obama if he were the nominee."

Finally, she apologized for the government's response after Hurricane Katrina: "I've said it publicly, and I say it privately: I apologize, and I am embarrassed that our government so mistreated our fellow citizens ... It was a national disgrace."

Clinton Apologizes to Black Voters [ap]

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The Question Wasn't Even a Hardball

This clip proves nothing about what Obama's accomplishments have been or haven't been. It only proves that you better prepare when you're called in to discuss your candidate.

Notice the all-around amusement (including the studio laughter at 1:35) as Chris Matthews goes for the jugular. Even Olbermann is amused by the exchange. Wow. That was uncomfortable, and something Kirk Watson will probably be reliving in his nightmares for quite a while.

UPDATE: Kirk Watson remembers some accomplishments...

(via tpm)

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News: Kelly Rowland, Sundance, Vermont, Johnny Weir, Florent

L.A. Times columnist asks why The Kite Runner, and its controversial boy-rape scene wasn't included in the GLAAD awards. Maybe because sexual orientation had nothing to do with it.

Channing Tatum recruited for GI Joe film: "The 27-year-old modern-turned-actor will play Duke, a field commander and second-in-command of the G.I. Joe Team after Hawk. Other actors signed on: Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaj (Lost) as Heavy Duty, Rachel Nichols (Alias) as Shana ‘Scarlett’ O’Hara and Marlon Wayans as Ripcord. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock From the Sun) is also in negotiations to join the project."

Randy Lovely promoted to editor of The Arizona Republic, making him the nation's only openly gay editor of a major U.S. newspaper: "Lovely says he has never hidden his sexual preference, but is not among the most outspoken gay rights activists. 'There are many others who are much more involved. I support them, but I am not on the leadership,' he says of his NLGJA membership. 'I have not had to be anything other than what I am. I can't be the one to tell anyone they have to be out. But it is not something I am afraid of.'"

New York meatpacking staple Florent, which I did a long photo piece on two years ago, may be closing...

Johnny Weir ties with Evan Lysacek at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships but Lysacek wins for skating better in the free skate: "First place, second place, last place, I'm just happy with the way I skated. I was so nervous, and it's fantastic vindication to know I came back and didn't completely fall apart. I feel like a winner."

Keith Olbermann would trade personal success for a decent president: "I think this has been a disastrous presidential administration. I would have given what I have, in terms of broadcasting success in the nature of this newscast, I would have easily said…if I were given the choice of this or some responsible presidency in the last four years or eight years? I would have taken a responsible presidency."

Gay ordained Presbyterian minister Brian Webb-Mitchell shares tips for gay parents in new book: "I wrote the book because there was nothing out there that was pro-gay, pro-child, pro-family and pro-Christian. The books that dealt with gay parenting and Christianity were not very pro-Christian. If anything, they steered people toward the United Church of Christ and away from Catholic and Evangelical churches."

Adrian Grenier brings along his own little entourage.

New board game created by son of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Sebelius set inside a prison is called "Don't Drop the Soap": "Fight your way through 6 different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole. Escape prison riots in The Yard, slip glass into a mob boss' lasagna in the Cafeteria, steal painkillers from the nurse's desk in the Infirmary." And whatever you do, avoid those gays in the shower room!

"Pro-family" conservatives in Arkansas launch drive to stop unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents. Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee: "Anyone who tells you that this initiated act is only about gay adoption is not telling you the whole story. Anyone who will tell you, though, that gay adoption has nothing to do with this act wouldn’t be telling you the whole story, either."

Sundance Film Festival winners announced...

Work: Kelly Rowland is proud as a peacock at G-A-Y.

Gay Miller Brewing executive Vic Milford shot and killed in Milwaukee robbery: "'At this time, this is a company grieving the tragic loss of one of its dearest employees,' [a Miller spokesman] said, in a statement. 'The immediate impact of this loss is being felt most by the family and friends of Vic Milford. And out of respect for the Milford family, we believe our attention is best served by caring for those most affected by this horrible tragedy.' Milford, a citizen of South Africa, had lived in Milwaukee since taking the Miller Brewing job in February 2005, Green said, and previously worked for SABMiller since 2002. Milford is survived his parents, who are residents of Zimbabwe, a sister in Australia and a man described as Milford's life partner, who lives in South Africa, according to a Miller statement."

Carol Channing is a robber magnet!

Gay Vermont legislator Jason Lorber moonlights as a stand-up comic: "When I first came here, people said 'You're the first comedian to come to the Statehouse.' I say 'I'm the first PROFESSIONAL comedian to come to the Statehouse'...Politics is about changing society and trying to make the world a better place. And performing makes me feel so alive. I love the creative aspect of it...Growing up, I never pictured myself being with a gay guy. Now, I've come to realize that I could never be happy being with a straight guy."

L.A. Times columnist: FOX News host John Gibson should lose his platform over Heath Ledger remarks.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #217

NYE 2008: Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin ring in the new year from Times Square and a visit to Key West.

MEREDITH VIEIRA TAKES ON HILLARY: On a 01/02 Today show appearance, Meredith Vieira grills Clinton on her foreign policy experience.

KEITH OLBERMANN: Takes Rudy Giuliani to task for 9/11 fear-mongering.

CELINE DION: She and her legs opened France's Stars de l'Annee 2007 show.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #208

BARACK OBAMA: His latest Iowa spot.

KEITH OLBERMANN: On Iran and the NIE. Is Bush a liar or just stupid?

GAY LIONS: Two felines tag team each other. (via slog)

SEX AND THE CITY TRAILER: Something to get you excited, or not.

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Rosie O'Donnell Loses MSNBC Show, Cries for Clinton

Rosie O'Donnell, whose tendency to spew forth unedited has garnered her as much fame as it has trouble, now says that recent reports of a chat show gig on MSNBC have been ruined because she opened her mouth to soon. She writes, on her blog:

"msnbc / one hour / live / following keith olbermann / we were close to a deal / almost done / i let it slip in / miami / causing panic on the studio end / well / what can u do / 2day there is no deal / poof / my career as a / pundit is over / b4 it began / just as well / i figure / everything happens for a reason / bashert - as we say // and on we go"

That's a shame. We would have definitely tuned in. Rosie made an appearance at the New York Comedy Festival Tuesday night, Page Six reports, in which she told the audience that Bill Clinton had sent her a card after she "slammed" him at a comedy performance at the Mohegan Sun Casino Hotel following the Lewinsky affair.

Said O'Donnell at the casino show: "He disgusts me. And I know I'm not supposed to say this because I'm a good Democrat, but I didn't want to [talk] to him because he lied to me when he said, 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman,' and then put the scarlet-letter [bleep]-job on her for the rest of her life . . . I still hate you!"

Rosie told the comedy fest audience she called the phone number attached to the note and talked to the former pres: "My knees got weak. I was like, 'Can I [bleep] you?' No, I didn't say it, but I felt it - I was like, 'Whoa! Whoa!' And he said, 'I was at your show the other night, and I was sorry that you didn't come over and say hello to me. And I know that you're still harboring some hard feelings. And I said, 'You know, listen, here's the deal, dude. I've been disappointed by men my whole life. I loved JFK, my mother loved JFK, and you were the JFK to me. And you let me down, man. You killed me and that hurt me a lot, and when you hurt me, I don't know, I didn't expect that out of you and I thought you could do better for your wife, for the country and just in general."

Rosie told the audience that Clinton's response had her in tears: "He goes, 'I'm sorry for all the men who ever hurt you, I'm sorry that I hurt you. Everything you've said to me, I've said to myself, and I hope one day you can forgive me, and I hope I can forgive me.'"

the show that never was [rosie]
WHEN BILL MADE ROSIE WEEP [page six]

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #194

KEITH OLBERMANN: A recent eviscerating special comment on waterboarding.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Introduces Nancy Pelosi at the Glamour Women of the Year awards.

THE POLITICS OF PARSING: John Edwards unleashes attack video on Clinton positions. Clinton: "I wasn't at my best the other night. We've had a bunch of debates and I wouldn't rank that up in my very top list. But I've answered probably, I don't know, more than 5,000 questions over the last 10 months and I have been very clear about where I stand and what I want to do for the country."

VICTORIA BECKHAM: Promo for her appearance on Ugly Betty this Thursday.

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News: Peru Meteor, Katherine Heigl, Grey Gardens, Brett Somers

Katherine Heigl's fiancé may one day repeat the words of Princess Diana: "There were three of us in that marriage."

Aussie Olympian Ian Thorpe cleared of doping charges leveled on him in May 2006. Investigator: "The evidence available does not indicate the use of performance-enhancing substances by Mr Thorpe. He has no case to answer."

Diamondback Prison in Oklahoma accused of hiring "homosexual predators" as prison guards.

Animated NYC subway map showing the construction of subway lines in sequential order.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann hospitalized following emergency appendectomy: "Mr. Olbermann’s appendix apparently ruptured Wednesday, but he wrote it off as a stomach ailment and soldiered on. Though still feeling ill, he nonetheless reported for work Thursday night, when he anchored MSNBC’s analysis of President Bush’s prime-time address on the war in Iraq. It wasn’t until Friday afternoon that he decided it was time to seek medical attention, according to an MSNBC spokeswoman." Get well, sir.

CASTING ABOUT: Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange to star in film version of Grey Gardens for HBO films. Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire in negotiations to play Brothers.

Match Game regular Brett Somers dies at 83 after battle with stomach and colon cancer.

New York Times to end paid content service "TimesSelect" at midnight Tuesday: "The Times said the project had met expectations, drawing 227,000 paying subscribers — out of 787,000 over all — and generating about $10 million a year in revenue. 'But our projections for growth on that paid subscriber base were low, compared to the growth of online advertising,' said Vivian L. Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of the site, NYTimes.com. What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue."

Meteor that struck Peru on Saturday causes mysterious illness among villagers: "Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a 'strange odor,' local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP. Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said. Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache. 'Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned,' he said." More...

Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic lashes out at lenient sentence given to UK gay bashers who attacked her friend in July 2006: "I am really horrified and disgusted that, in particular, the one person who instigated this attack did not get sent to jail. She seems like a true menace and someone who is quite capable of doing this type of thing again. I was really shocked when I found out what had happened."

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #170

KEITH OLBERMANN: His special comment on 9/11 and Bush's promotions for those who sell the lies.

JAKE SHEARS: The charming Scissor Sisters frontman has a chat with vlogger Curt.

BRITNEY BOMB: Carson Daly reacts to the VMA performance of "Gimme More".

THE CAFFERTY FILE: What does it mean if most Americans believe the Constitution establishes a Christian nation?

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #166

MORAL HIGH GROUND: New spot from the DCCC. Pretty much explains itself.

JOHN MCCAIN: Video of part of his appearance at New Hampshire's Concord High School where he calls a student a "little jerk".

KEITH OLBERMANN: Special comment on President Bush's recent "surprise" trip to Iraq and his lies.

READY FOR CHANGE: New spot from Hillary Clinton running in New Hampshire.

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News: Heath Ledger, King Lear, Thailand, Jodie Foster, Beefeater

New York magazine talks to Keith Olbermann, who believes Elizabeth Edwards should be our next president.

As the historic Hawthorne School of Art risks death by development, artists are fighting for their way of life in Provincetown: "Generations of artists flocked there each summer to study with Hawthorne and the artists who later taught in his hilltop barn, including the influential modernist painter Hans Hofmann. Illustrator Norman Rockwell and abstract expressionists Franz Kline and Lee Krasner were among those shaped by lessons in the blazing light of the dunes."

Condom Nations: Some interesting findings from a recent Durex Global Sex Survey.

Nicole Kidman reveals to Vanity Fair that she miscarried Tom Cruise's baby when she was 23: "From the minute Tom and I were married, I wanted to have babies. And we lost a baby early on, so that was really very traumatic. And that's when it came that we would adopt Bella. There's a complicated background to that, given that I never speak much about many things. One day maybe that story will be told. My mother has an adopted sister, so it's been part of our family, and I knew it would probably play out somewhere in mine. I didn't think it would happen so early, but it did."

Ian McKellen brings his naked, buff King Lear to New York.

"Gay war" reportedly erupts in Pattaya, Thailand over sex trade: "Police arrested two young men after one bar was set ablaze and another was completely ransacked in the Thailand resort of Pattaya. Foreigners including British tourists fled the area, 100 miles east of Bangkok."

The oldest photograph ever taken of Tokyo, Japan.

Brokeback break-up: Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams find they can quit each other.

AmericaBlog's John Aravosis recently went visiting his family in Greece, and shot some fascinating footage of destruction from the recent fires that burned for miles and miles, threatening ancient ruins and creating smoke plumes that coule be seen from space.

Karl Rove advised Bush against picking Cheney as VP, new book reports: "The Washington Post reported Monday that in the book -- 'Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush' -- journalist Robert Draper reveals that Bush was intent on picking Cheney as his running mate, despite his warnings against it. 'Selecting Daddy's top foreign-policy guru ran counter to message. It was worse than a safe pick -- it was needy,' Draper quotes Rove as saying. Once he took office, the president 'saw no harm in giving his VP unprecedented run of the place,' Draper wrote."

22-year-old Indian man confesses to murder of gay partner and partner's grandmother: "Arun Prasad Dora, a resident of Dhenkal town and a Master's student at an institute in the city, told the police he killed his friend Debabrata Pani, 22, for forcing him into a homosexual relationship for the past one year. On Monday night Debabrata, who lived in the staff quarters of Orissa University Of Agriculture Technology (OUAT), tried to force Arun to sleep with him when Debabrata's parents were away. 'The youth protested and in a sudden rage stabbed Debabrata to death,' Inspector-in-charge of Khandagiri police station, S.P. Satpathy told IANS. Arun also killed Debabrata's grandmother, Suna Pani, 78, as she witnessed Debabrata's murder, Satpathy said."

First female Beefeater takes her spot at the Tower of London.

50 marchers wrap up Atlanta Black Gay Pride weekend with march from the King Center to the state Capitol: "People are here, and they are proud of who they are. It gives us a chance to show people what's happening with us."

Jodie Foster declines to respond to OUT magazine treatment on closeted celebrities to Entertainment Weekly: "Over the next two hours, there's only one subject that she firmly swats away. A recent Out magazine cover featured two models holding up pictures of her and Anderson Cooper's faces in front of their own, under the headline 'The Glass Closet: Why the Stars Won't Come Out and Play.' When asked if she has any response, Foster says, 'Was that the one with the Popsicle sticks?' Her thin lips tighten into a calm half smile of reproach: 'No, I have no response.'"

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News: Camilla Parker-Bowles, Reggae, Whale, Keith Olbermann

The Rev. D. James Kennedy, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, which hosted the "Love Won Out" "ex-gay" conference in 2006, has retired.

Japanese "eco-tourists" hoping to catch glimpse of majestic whale in its natural habitat instead witness whale's slaughter at the hands of fishermen.

Camilla Parker-Bowles says she won't attend memorial service marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana this week.

Keith Olbermann names Mike McConnell, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh the "World's Worst" in network debut.

Janice Dickinson's models just can't stop getting naked.

Ron Paul on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell': "If a heterosexual or homosexual sins, that to me is the category of dealing with their own soul. Since we cannot have only perfect people going in the military I want to separate the two because I don't want to know the heterosexual flaws, nor the homosexual flaws and that's why I got in some trouble with some of the civil libertarians because I don't have any problem with Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Because I don't think that, for the practicality of running a military, I'd just as soon not know every serious thing that any heterosexual or homosexual did, and those flaws have to do with all our flaws because each and everyone one of us has those imperfections."

Gays in Polish media distance themselves from recently-published list of homophobic politicians: "[This] is a private initiative of the authors, reflects private opinions of the authors and their friends, and by no means represents an opinion of sexual minorities’ organisations or gay people in general. We do not accept placing names of politicians known for their actions for rights of sexual minorities close to those whose homophobia is apparent."

Great White Shark under observation in pen off coast of Malibu.

Whistleblowers on contractor fraud in Iraq face stiff penalties: "If you do it, you will be destroyed."

Florida Rep. Bob Allen to appear in court today on blowjob charges: "Judge Oscar Hotusing will decide whether the evidence presented in the case constitutes a crime. Police say in a Titusville park restroom July 11, Allen agreed to pay $20 to perform oral sex on an undercover officer, a charge the seven-year lawmaker has vehemently denied. Whether Allen testifies in the 2:30 p.m. hearing depends on what the state attorney's office presents, said Greg Eisenmenger, one of his attorneys."

Reggae Carifest goes on despite protests from GLAAD.

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News: Hurricane Dean, Keith Olbermann, Survivor, Faye Dunaway

Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota named most gay-friendly school.

Hurricane Dean makes landfall on Mexican coast as Category 5 monster storm: "The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it was the first Category 5 storm to make landfall in the Atlantic Basin since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Dean was still packing sustained winds of 165 miles per hour (268 kph), with gust of up to 200 mph when it came ashore, but was expected to weaken as it passed over the Yucatan Peninsula."

Cast of Survivor: China includes 22-year-old gay Mormon Todd Herzog who says he is prepared to "gather wood and sh*t."

Faye Dunaway orders poultry by the pound at Koo Koo Roo: "She ordered chicken and broccoli to go, and then she sat at a table with her food container. She pulled a tiny scale out of her purse and . . . proceeded to pull the chicken meat off the bones and weigh it. She piled the bones and skin on a napkin. She carefully weighed the chicken meat and broccoli, and the broccoli was a little short, so she went to the counter and asked for more."

Despite "huge" LGBT population, teens in the Bronx live on the down low or face harassment: "LGBT youth say that Bronx schools are particularly tough environments. 'I'm considered, like, a dyke in my school,' said 15-year old Angel S., who has knife scars on her right knee from a fight. A boy 'pushed me down a flight of stairs because I liked his girlfriend.'"

Officials knew Minneapolis bridge was in danger of collapse: "Internal MnDOT documents reviewed by the Star Tribune reveal that last year bridge officials talked openly about the possibility of the bridge collapsing -- and worried that it might have to be condemned. The documents provide the first look inside MnDOT's decision-making process as engineers weighed benefits and risks, wrestling with options to prevent what they believed was a remote but real possibility of the eight-lane freeway bridge failing."

Arjan interviews Danish dance duo Junior Senior.

Testing the water: Countdown with Keith Olbermann to get tryout on NBC prior to this Sunday's Eagles/Steelers game.

It's Corny Collins time!

Gary Steinsmith, gay activist in South Florida, dies at 50.

Amy Winehouse leaves rehab again.

Chilean gay activists cry foul over sodomy conviction: "On Aug. 10, a panel of judges in Antofagasta, Region II, found a 47-year-old laborer guilty of sodomizing a 17-year-old male. Because the accused had no previous criminal record, the court sentenced him to 41 days in jail – far less than the 541-day jail term prosecutors had recommended. The case began when police discovered the two having sex in a pickup truck. Although the young man in question – just 12 days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the incident – testified that the sex was consensual, prosecutors nevertheless pursued the case, arguing that the accused 'corrupted the child’s sexual morality.' The ruling – the first sodomy conviction to be issued in Region II since the country’s criminal law procedures were overhauled in 2001 – was not well received by the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Freedom (MOVILH), Chile’s leading gay rights organization...Chile’s Criminal Code is biased against homosexuals, MOVILH claims. One problem is a major discrepancy regarding the legal age of sexual consent: 14, for heterosexuals, 18 for homosexuals. MOVILH describes the difference as 'arbitrary, unjust and hypocritical.'"

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Intelligent Design: We Are All Made of Sims?

Oxford professor says there is a 20% chance that we are all living in a computer simulation.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #157

HILLARY CLINTON: Heckler at the College Democrats of America convention at the University of South Carolina is overpowered by supporters.

CELEBUMESS: Keith Olbermann and Michael Musto discuss Lohan and Spears. (source: virtual matter)

FOX ATTACKS: The latest in Brave New Films' coverage of the fair and balanced news network. This time, Bloggers.

SICKO: Michael Moore and 9/11 rescue workers make an appearance on The Tonight Show

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Keith Olbermann Special Comment: Bush's Scapegoats

Another brilliant commentary from Mr. Olbermann:

"It is one of the great, dark, evil lessons of history that a country, a government, a military machine can screw up a war seven ways to Sunday; it can get thousands of its people killed; it can risk the safety of its own citizens; it can destroy the fabric of its nation; but as long as it can identify a scapegoat, it can regain, or even gain, power...A scapegoat, sir, might be forgivable, if you had not just happened to choose a prospective presidential nominee from the opposition party."

Olbermann's anger here is inspired by a letter written to Senator Hillary Clinton after she "asked the Pentagon to detail how it is planning for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq." according to the Associated Press.

The AP reports: "Eric Edelman, the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy, offered a sharply-worded response, saying such discussions boost the enemy. 'Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.'"

Clinton fired back with another letter to Secretary of Defense Gates.

Wrote Clinton: "I request that you describe whether Under Secretary Edelman's letter accurately characterizes your views as Secretary of Defense...Rather than offer to brief the congressional oversight committees on this critical issue, Under Secretary Edelman – writing on your behalf – instead claims that congressional oversight emboldens our enemies," Clinton wrote. "Under Secretary Edelman has his priorities backward. Open and honest debate and congressional oversight strengthens our nation and supports our military. His suggestion to the contrary is outrageous and dangerous." (full letter here)

In related news, Think Progress reports on a new Congressional Research Service report that says the Iraq war has cost $450 billion to date: "Further, if Congress approves the Bush administration’s latest supplemental funding request, the total cost of the war will exceed $550 billion by October 1 of this year — fully ten times greater than the Bush administration naively predicted in February 2003."

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #152

KEITH OLBERMANN: Has a little chat with Michael Moore.

JUDGE JUDY: What is a booty bump? (source: virtual matter)

COLTON FORD: The porn actor-turned-singer has a new single out, "The Way You Love Me".

HELEN THOMAS vs. BUSH: Broken record.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #151

MICHAEL MOORE: Part Two of Blitzer's Sicko interview with Michael Moore. Part One here.

SLIMMING: Check out how an owl reacts to a Jack-in-the-Box.

INTESTINAL RUMBLINGS: Keith Olbermann comments on Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" about a terrorist attack this summer. (source: virtual matter)

URETHRAL RUMBLINGS: Bear Grylls demonstrates how to survive in the Kimberly, in Australia's outback. From the lastest Man vs. Wild.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #142

HARDBALL: A discussion about civil unions and bigots.

AKON: Assaults a fan for tossing something at him onstage. Police seek kid to determine if there was any criminal offense.

POLITICS and TERROR: Keith Olbermann on the recent terror warnings.

CONYERS-JEFFERSON: FOX News confuses Congressman John Conyers for indicted Congressman Bill Jefferson.

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Keith Olbermann: The Government Has Failed Us on Iraq

Olbermann hammers the Dems and Bush in one of his sharpest commentaries to date.

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CBS Asks General John Batiste to Leave Over VoteVets Ad

Yesterday I posted an ad created by VoteVets Action Fund featuring General John Batiste condemning the deaf ear President Bush has turned to his commanders on the ground. CBS has reportedly asked Batiste, who works for them as a consultant, to leave the network for speaking out against Bush.

Batiste, according to Keith Olbermann, describes himself as a "die-hard" Republican.

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Keith Olbermann Slams Anderson Cooper's Silence on Sexuality

Anderson Cooper isn't just feeling the heat from the gay community about his decision to keep his sexuality off the table for discussion. If Out magazine's "Glass Closet" cover story wasn't enough for the CNN anchor, Michael Jensen of AfterElton makes note of a New York magazine profile this week on MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann. Olbermann, citing a Men's Journal article in which Anderson refuses to discuss his sexuality, calls foul on Anderson's non-disclosure.

Olbermann: "Don’t tell me you don’t want to talk about personal life when you wrote a book about your father’s death and your brother’s death. You can’t move this big mass of personal stuff out for public display, then people ask questions and you say, 'Oh, no, I didn’t say there was going to be any questions.' It’s the same thing as the Bush administration saying, 'We’re going to war, but you really aren’t allowed to know why'...Don’t tell me you can’t talk about your personal life and then, when they send you overseas and you do a report that consists of your voice-over and pictures of you in a custom-made, blue-to-match-your-eyes bulletproof vest, looking somberly at these scenes of human devastation—like a tourist—and that’s your report. Your shtick is your personal life."

New York's writer called Olbermann's amplified attack on Anderson "too big a gun for too small a target" but the topic seems to be more on the wind these days than ever. Yesterday, Radar Online published a timeline of Coop's non-statements on the subject, saying "references to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper's homosexuality has reached a level of saturation that would make even Clay Aiken squeal: 'Come out, already!'"

Cooper, whose CNN contract has reportedly been renewed to the tune of $50 million, has thus far had no comment.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann takes on Anderson Cooper [after elton]
Limbaugh for Lefties [new york magazine]
Anderson Cooper's Gay Timeline [radar online]
Out Spots Anderson Cooper in the Glass Closet [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

Towleroad Guide to the Tube: #106

HOMOPHOBIC ARMY RECRUITER: CBS coverage of the email sent by an army recruiter I posted about yesterday. SLDN has called for her dismissal.

KEITH OLBERMANN: Responds to Tom Delay comparing liberals to Hitler.

PLANET EARTH: If you have an HDTV and you're not recording this eleven-part series, you're really missing something special.

LARA LOGAN: Disputes c