News: Senators Do the Darnedest Things, The Jackson 3 & A New Zealand Travesty

In honor of Bruno's opening today, check out this love him/hate him piece from the New York Daily News. "Show me someone who's really offended by [the character] Bruno and I'll show you a highly self-righteous person," says psychiatrist Mark Goulston.

President Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. (Pictured: Obama being greeted by Bishop James Harvey.) Despite their differences (to put it mildly) on abortion and stem cell research (and don't forget the gays), Obama thanked the Pope for receiving him and said, "It's a great honor."

Senator Roland Burris, controversially appointed by then-Governor Rod Blagojevich to fill a vacancy in the Illinois Senate created by the election of President Barack Obama, will reportedly not seek a full term in 2010.

Senator John Ensign (R-NV) has admitted that his parents (they're alive???) paid his mistress's family nearly $100,000 "out of concern." Concern for their son's career and reputation? The money was allegedly not taken from campaign funds.

Senator John Kerry has announced his support for Massachusetts A.G. Martha Coakley's federal lawsuit challenging DOMA.

Convicted American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Iee were supposed to be sent to a prison labor camp in North Korea, but rumor has it they're at a guest house while officials seek talks with the U.S.

Gay Panic on Holiday: In New Zealand, 32-year-old Hungarian tourist Ferdinand Ambach beat 69-year-old Ronald Brown to death with a banjo and then rammed the instrument down his throat. He's just been found guilty...of manslaughter.

The ladies who Tweet.

Naked!—an exhibition of art that exposes "sundry flesh"—opened last night and runs through September 19 at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York. "Naked is not nude nor 'naturalist'—it is altogether more intriguing, predicating perhaps a state of desire, whether narcissistic or voyeuristic, that sense of being naked as an active, self-conscious state of heightened awareness if not arousal." The show features contributions from Jack Pierson (work pictured), Andy Warhol, David LaChapelle, Charles Hovland and many others. (Site is art, not porn, but is still probably NSFW.)

The Amateur Gourmet's singing, dancing tribute to...cooking fish.

In males, sexuality can be determined by birth order. The more older brothers he has, the more likely he is to be gay. Wait, I think I saw this movie—wasn't it pre-condom?

Michael Jackson's dermatologist may or may not be the father of his children, but he doesn't want them turning into "the next version of the Jackson 3."

Singapore will keep homosexuality illegal. But don't worry—they won't prosecute you for it.

According to Levi Johnston, Sarah Palin resigned for one reason only—greed. Palin's spokesman Meghan Stapleton fires back: "It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills." Oh, snap. But if Levi's working on a piece of fiction, Sarah's Barbara Cartland.

Was Ernest Hemingway a failed KGB spy?

Sarah Palin's Fish Story

Shockingly, one of they key reasons Sarah Palin gave for quitting as Alaska's governor—that "insane" ethics suits were costing the state millions—probably isn't even true.

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #505

CONGRATULATIONS, SENATOR: Al Franken is good enough, smart enough and doggone it people elected him.

"SOMETHING I SAID?": David Letterman's Palin sayonara.

WAIST DEEP (AND SUPER SHALLOW): Maddow hooks Palin.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD: A New Zealand safety billboard bleeds support.

News: Striking Poses, Roasting Rivers & Unhappy Day Campers

Via Out.com: London's National Portrait Gallery opens "Gay Icons," an exhibit filled with celebrated people "who may or may not be gay themselves" from all fields. Joe Dallesandro (pictured above), k.d. lang, Quentin Crisp and Andy Warhol are among the icons chosen by Waheed Alli, Alan Hollinghurst, Elton John, Jackie Kay, Billie Jean King, Ian McKellen, Chris Smith, Ben Summerskill, Sandi Toksvig and Sarah Waters. The show runs through October 18.

The Jonas Brothers are quitting music? Seems like this might be a ruse to buy a magazine. In this case, Time Out New York's July 9—15 issue. Which happens to have four unique collector's-edition covers of the Jonases shot by Dan Hallman.

Sarah Palin might not be running for president so much as for kingmaker. But if she did decide to run for president, despite turning off the left and the middle, she's got 7 in 10 Republicans willing to vote for her—even after abruptly quitting as governor of Alaska.

Outfest kicks off tomorrow, and Greg In Hollywood recommends the romantic comedy Make the Yuletide Gay.

UnXXXciting: Porn actress Savanna Samson is dispirited by the lack of good scripts lately. Cheer up, at least every year is the year of the woman in that genre and every role is meaty.

Kim Jong Il showed up at a tribute to his late father looking like he is about to join him at any moment.

Mug Shotz: Laverne & Shirley star Eddie Mekka ("Carmine"), 57,  bagged for DUI. It's a bad week for '70s sitcom-star sobriety.

Scenes from a Mall: Footage shot in 1990 at various Los Angeles malls sped up and set to music. More interesting that it sounds.

Popular Tyler Perry actor gets outed by an ex. Fans and haters react at Media Takeout.

In the wake of his wake, Michael Jackson's catalogue continues to moonwalk out of stores. (And 82% of the sales were physical albums.)

Kathy Griffin will host a roast of Joan Rivers. "I will be roasting Joan with more gentleness and tenderness than her latest chemical peel."

Oscar Mayer—yes, that one—has died at 95.

Over 60 kids from the Creative Steps Day Camp were kicked out of The Valley Swim Club because they were black. When the black children arrived (they'd paid nearly $2,000 to join) and entered the pool, the white children got out, said one of the parents. "I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" reported Dymire Baylor, one of the children asked to leave. Pool attendants reportedly admitted minorities are not allowed at the club, and in a statement, the president of the club said, "There was a concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion...and the atmosphere of the club." P.S. This happened in 2009.

Palin: "If I Die, I Die. So Be It."

In interviews with CNN and Good Morning America, Sarah Palin said she didn't think her resignation would be "such a darn big deal." 

It bears mentioning that she would only do the interviews if they were filmed while she was fishing, an obvious choice to show herself as a man of the people who just happens to be a woman. (In the CNN clip she rather bluntly calls the setting "unpretentious." Telling us you're not being pretentious is not the best way to be perceived as unpretentious.)

Palin pointed to "frivolous lawsuits," "absolutely ridiculous ethics charges" and "a new political bloodsport" making it impossible for her to lead her state. The Clintons and Obamas might have something to say about the relative thickness of her skin.

Her decision, she claims, was not made lightly, but was "a long and deliberative internal process."

"I'm certainly not a quitter, I'm a fighter," she said. But she acknowledges that politically speaking, "If I die, I die. So be it."

Asked whether she's out of politics for good, she allows, "I can't see me being totally out of public service because that is within me, that is the way I'm wired...All options are gonna keep on continuing to be on the table as they have been for me my entire life. I'm not gonna close any door that may be open for me out there. So all options are on the table."

The more she talks, two things come to mind: First, it would seem that both she and Governor Mark Sanford (who was just censured)  might want to consider that silence is golden. Second, those betting on the two most likely explanations for her departure—impending scandal or seriously misguided instincts on how to launch a presidential bid—should consider pulling some of their money from the first scenario and betting it on the second.

After the jump, blogger and Palin critic Shannyn Moore on Countdown regarding Palin's threat to sue over rumors of a scandal...

News: The P Word, Mrs. Furley, A Daytime Outing & "The" Funeral

A sandstorm that's injured many and stymied travel in Iraq may actually be the largest in modern history—it's even visible from space.

Perez Hilton is The Advocate's latest coverboy. The print edition was put to bed prior to his will.i.am "faggot" incident, but the online version of Benoit Denizet-Lewis's article contains updates, such as this nugget: "I thought about calling him the n word, but I thought the f word was even worse. I was so filled with hate at that moment because I was hated on so much, and I reacted in the worst way possible." The article is certainly no puff piece, but it takes the Perez phenomenon seriously.

According to records, Sarah Palin called Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani and Charlie Crist in the weeks before shocking everyone—even her own father-in-law—by announcing she was up and quitting.

Jackie O...Oh, Oh, Oh! Did President Kennedy's wife have an affair with his Attorney General brother, Bobby?

Too Much Time at the Regal Beagle: Three's Company alum Joyce DeWitt ("Janet"), 60, busted for DUI. Mug shot completes transformation into "Mr. Furley."

Margaret Cho's Web site gets a makeover.

Looks like today's the day on The Young & the Restless that "Phillip," played by openly gay (and openly hot) actor Thom Bierdz, comes out of the closet.

Michael Jackson's memorial in L.A. today (following last night's private service and an early-morning internment at the secretive Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills) is set to feature performances by Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah and Stevie Wonder, with appearances by Martin Luther King III, Brooke Shields and a host of others, including Shaheen Jafargholi...an adorable Britain's Got Talent contestant who's about 12 and fits the profile. Not going? Debbie Rowe, who doesn't want her attendance to "be an unnecessary distraction to an event that should focus exclusively on Michael's legacy."

The oddest photo of Michael Jackson ever to be published.

Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat is the surprise screening at Philadelphia's QFest on Sunday, July 19, at 7 p.m. The film continues the series' theme of sexual deception and stars Rebekah Kochan, Mink Stole, Leslie Jordan and six openly gay actors in lead roles. (Cast and crew pictured at left.)

Could the Boies-Olson Prop 8 lawsuit judge be gay? If so...does it matter?

Veteran actress Penny Fuller is perhaps best known for her turn as Eve Harrington on Broadway in Applause, but she was also in the original 1963 production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. She will join cast members of Ground UP Productions' intimate, Off Broadway revival of Barefoot in the Park after the Saturday, July 11, 8 p.m. show for a "Barefoot Flashback." If you've never attended this kind of thing with original stars, I always find them to be highly entertaining. Tickets are $25.