StaunchUSA readers I need your help. A new and exciting documentary is in the works on the great Burning Man Festival and a generous donation on your part would be much appreciated.

Everything is safe and secure!

Thanks again…

www.boysofburningman.com

From their website:

We are capturing the radical self-expression of the gay experience at Burning Man. Follow 4 friends to the desert and be a part of the experience at http://www.boysofburningman.com/.

With any donation made to the production of our documentary we will mail you a set of our Burning Man Worry Dolls along with some cool "Boys of Burning Man" schwag. You will also receive an invitation to our screening party in New York City scheduled for December 2010.

Burning Man is about self expression, love, life, and everything between. We plan to capture it all. As a group we are all very passionate about this production and excited to share a genuine documentation of the experience with you.

We have some events in the city coming around to raise awareness of this project as well support from our community. We will keep you updated and look forward for you support.

We will be shooting Boys of Burning Man 2010 from August 28 to September 5 at the Nevada Black Rock Desert. The Directors include Patrick Frost, Yianni Garcia, Sandy Fernandez and Keith Tapper. Our documentary will aim at capturing the gay experience at Burning Man like it has never been documented before. The gay culture at Burning Man has been growing in recent years more than ever before, with thousands of people coming together in gay villages and camps across the playa.

In order to make our documentary the absolute success we know it can be – we need your support. You can donate here. Your support will help make this documentary a reality and bring life to a unique and genuine representation of the Burning Man experience.

Good luck finding 72 virgins in this joint.

In one of the wackier ideas to come from the debates surrounding the mosque near Ground Zero, a cable-TV host says he wants to erect a gay bar for Muslims near the proposed house of worship.

“It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world,” Greg Gutfeld, of Fox News’ “Red Eye,” wrote on his blog.

“I hope that the mosque owners will be as open to the bar as I am to the new mosque.”

Reps for the Islamic center, proposed for Park Place, said on Twitter, “We’re open to dialog [sic], just not shenanigans.”

Thanks NY Post.

Peter LaBarbera, the president of the local anti-gay group Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality ( AFTAH ) , wants controversial right-wing pundit Ann Coulter to reconsider her appearance at HOMOCON 2010, a Sept. 25 event in New York City organized by the gay conservative group GOProud, according to the AFTAH website.

LaBarbera said, “As a fan of Ann Coulter, it pains me to see her cave in to political correctness and lend credibility to the phony homosexual ‘conservatives’ over at GOProud. Worse, Coulter is sending a dangerous message to young Americans that homosexuality is OK.”

Regarding the HOMOCON appearance, Coulter said, “I’m thrilled to be giving a speech to a room full of gay conservatives, because according to every single liberal I’ve ever met, such people don’t even exist! Who’s next on my speaking tour? Conservative unicorns? ( And don’t kid yourself—they’re out there. I get letters from them all the time. ) ,” according to GOProud.org.

Its website also states that “GOProud is committed to a traditional conservative agenda that emphasizes limited government, individual liberty, free markets and a confident foreign policy. GOProud promotes our traditional conservative agenda by influencing politics and policy at the federal level.”

Thanks Windy City Media Group.

As President Obama sinks in the polls, Democrats and liberal pundits inevitably are searching for a scapegoat. The most likely victim appears to be gaffe-prone Vice President Joe Biden, who has become the focus of speculation that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just might replace him on the 2012 Democratic ticket.

Former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, his state’s first African-American governor, touched off the controversy. Writing at Politico.com last week, Mr. Wilder argued that Mr. Biden’s tenure has been undistinguished and chock full of “too many YouTube moments.” He charged that Mr. Biden “has continued to undermine what little confidence the public may have had in him.”

By way of contrast, Mr. Wilder says that Hillary Clinton has excelled in her role. “Clinton has been nothing but a team player who has earned good marks since being asked to serve as secretary of state.” Having Mrs. Clinton join the 2012 ticket, he said, would revive the Democratic Party and reestablish the party’s working-class voters who found her appealing during the 2012 primaries against Mr. Obama.

Pundits jumped on Mr. Wilder’s comments and expressed near-universal approval. On his syndicated national show, Chris Matthews of MSNBC assembled a panel to discuss the Wilder intervention. Howard Fineman of Newsweek, a longtime Hillary watcher, said Mrs. Clinton would accept a place on the 2012 ticket “in a second.” John Heilemann, a reporter New York magazine, said the major obstacle would be to “figure out a way for Biden to slide aside happily” and suggested that Mr. Biden replace Mrs. Clinton as Secretary of State.

Along the way, Mr. Heilemann outlined why President Obama just might want to have a steadier hand at his side for his re-election campaign: “The Republican attack on Obama is going to revolve around ‘too liberal,’ but also ‘too incompetent.’ . . . They’re going to say, ‘Look, you hired this guy. He was too young for this job. He didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t have the experience, and look what’s happened.’”

Hmmm. Sounds a lot like the campaign Mrs. Clinton ran against Barack Obama in 2008, complete with that infamous commercial asking voters who they wanted in the White House when a 3 a.m. crisis call came in.

Thanks Wall Street Journal.

Sharon Stone almost pulled a ‘Basic Instinct’ – as she nearly flashed a star-studded audience when an insect flew up her dress.

The screen star was hosting a charity auction in Southampton, New York, when the bug shot inside her white mini-dress.

And she frantically tried to remove it as guests like Alec Baldwin looked on.

An onlooker revealed: ‘She shrieked, ‘Oh, my God, I think a bug just flew up my dress! What an awkward moment for the bug.”[She] started to wiggle to let the bug fly free.’For some in the front row, she nearly repeated her infamous ‘Basic Instinct’ moment.’The 52-year-old screen star, who famously flashed her private parts as bisexual killer Catherine Tramell in 1992 hit movie Basic Instinct, was playing the auctioneer at the Watermill Center Benefit in Southampton on Saturday night.Other guests included Anne Hearst, Nicole Miller, and Allison and Chip Brady.The event raised $1.4 million for the arts centre in the posh Hamptons resort of New York. Thanks M&G

For the second time, Cheyenne Jackson has been cast in a key role on “Glee.” And he says he’s really looking forward to making his first appearance on the show.

This week Mr. Jackson, the Broadway star-turned-nearly-ubiquitous-television presence, closed a deal to play a recurring role on the second season of “Glee,” the hit Fox musical comedy that has drawn stage actors including Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel into its orbit.

In a telephone interview on Tuesday night, Mr. Jackson recalled how he, too, was supposed to be part of the freshman class of “Glee” — only to be felled by a horrible case of the flu.

He said he had finished the Broadway run of “Xanadu” and had not yet started on “Finian’s Rainbow” when he was approached by the “Glee” co-creator Ryan Murphy to play a part on the program’s first season. He was supposed to play Dakota Stanley, a crazed choreographer that the McKinley High School glee club tries to steal away from their rival squad, Vocal Adrenaline.

But right before Mr. Jackson was to begin filming he came down with a 103-degree fever and could not go to work, he said, and the role was recast with the actor Whit Hertford.

“I sat in my hotel room for two days in L.A.,” Mr. Jackson said, “just getting better and feeling sorry for myself and watching $22 movies in my room. It was terrible.”

In his new role on “Glee,” which he is to begin filming on Friday, Mr. Jackson is sworn to semisecrecy. “All I’m allowed to say is that I’m going to be the coach of Vocal Adrenaline,” he said.

Fans of the show will recall that position was held by Ms. Menzel’s character, Shelby Corcoran, who quit the job at the end of Season 1. Mr. Jackson said that Ms. Menzel would return for Season 2 but was not allowed to reveal anymore.

Asked how many episodes of “Glee” he would appear in, Mr. Jackson replied, “More than one, less than 22.”

He was able to confirm that he would also continue to appear on the NBC comedy “30 Rock” as the innocently Canadian sketch comedian Danny Baker.

But when asked about his work on the new season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Mr. Jackson had to clam up again.

“All you have to do is Google it,” he said. “There were a hundred photographers that day with me and Wanda Sykes. I think it’s pretty obvious what we’re doing on there.”

Speaking more generally about the experience, in a way that hopefully won’t upset Larry David, Mr. Jackson said: “I didn’t realize that there literally was no script for ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Literally not one word written down.”

He added: “They say: ‘You’re playing this kind of character, here’s your name. You got it?” I said, ‘Are we going to rehearse?’ They said, “No, we shoot the rehearsal. And: action.’ But that’s the first rule of improv: You say yes. Especially to Wanda Sykes.”

Thanks NY Times.

THE BIOLOGICAL father of Madonna’s adopted daughter has begged the superstar to allow him to see a photograph of her.

James Kambewa, 26, who works as a waiter in South Africa, wanted to see the photographs of five year old Mercy who he has never met. Mercy’s mother died during childbirth aged 14.

Now Kambewa has made a public plea for the singer to forward him pictures of Mercy and he plans on being reunited with his biological child one day.

Kambewa told the ‘Daily Mail’, “I would appreciate if Madonna could send me pictures of how she looks like now as I don’t get any pleasure of being with her.

“It’s emotionally painful for me as a father. I’m very happy that Madonna is taking care of her. But as a parent, from the moment I heard that she was still alive, I wanted to meet her and I’m hopeful that I’ll meet her one day.”

According to Kambewa he was unaware that Mercy was still alive and thought she had died with her mother, until his friend revealed to him that she was alive and being brought up in an orphanage.

Madonna and Mercy were pictured yesterday on (August on the set of ‘W.E’ a film, which she will be directing in London.

Thanks The Voice. UK.

France’s First Lady Carla Bruni always struck us as ever-ready for her closeup, but apparently that’s not the case when it comes to acting. Some pretty hilarious reports are coming out of Paris where the stunning wife of Nicolas Sarkozy is doing a bit part as a museum curator in Woody Allen’s new film, “Midnight in Paris.”

According to London’s Mail Online website, Bruni required at least 35 takes to film a dialogue-free scene that required her to simply walk in and out of a grocery store clutching a baguette.

An onlooker quoted in the story says Bruni sacre-blew it because she was “struggling to avoid looking directly into the camera, which didn’t impress Woody Allen.” The source added: “The baguette scene could not have been simpler, but Carla wanted to make it a big one.” If she gave Allen a big headache instead, the director downplayed it. He reportedly “was very careful to show a lot of respect” to Bruni, “especially since she was surrounded by bodyguards.”

Allen was “particularly low-key” when Sarkozy himself showed up to check out his wife’s performance. According to the Mail, “he did not look particularly enthused by Carla’s acting.”

Thanks NY Daily News.

She passed up Oscar-winning roles and is now playing a talking cat. Should life have worked out differently for Bette Midler?

In theory, promoting a film like Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore should be the easiest thing in the world. You just have to pitch up, tell everyone that it’s a fun family film, and then go home. You could, if you felt that starring in a film about some talking animals had somehow compromised your artistic credibility, simply admit that your children wanted you to be in it. That’s what Chris O’Donnell said, and nobody thinks any less of him.

What you don’t do, though, is follow Bette Midler’s lead. Midler, who plays the eponymous Kitty Galore character, seems to be intent on promoting Cats And Dogs 2 by listing all the other disastrous career choices she’s ever made in her life. In an interview with Metro this week, she waded through them one by one, saying: “There was Sister Act, which was written for me, but I said: ‘My fans don’t want to see me in a wimple’ … I also didn’t do Misery and Kathy Bates won an Oscar for it.”

In addition, Midler also reportedly rejected Chicago – she was rumoured to have been offered any role she liked – which went on to win six Oscars. And these are just the roles that she turned down. Presumably, she didn’t have enough breath to list all the horrible projects that she did make, like The Women and Nicole Kidman’s remake of The Stepford Wives and The First Wives Club, not to mention her toe-curling sub-Nanny sitcom Bette a decade ago.

 But Midler’s honesty does raise an interesting question – what if she hadn’t turned down those roles? Would the films still have gone on to enjoy huge success, or would her involvement have put people off?

Obviously we’ll never know for sure, but Bette’s larger than life persona and vocal ability do seem tailor-made for films like Sister Act and Chicago. Misery, though, is a different beast entirely. You could spend days, maybe even years, trying to form a mental image of Midler done up in Kathy Bates’s dowdy Annie Wilkes outfit, mallet in hand, and never fully picture it.

Even if she had taken up the offers of Sister Act and Chicago, success would not have been guaranteed. Sister Act was Whoopi Goldberg’s last big film before she lapsed into the same funk of voicing funny animals in cartoons that Bette Midler finds herself in now. And Catherine Zeta-Jones may have won an Oscar for Chicago, but have you seen The Rebound? Don’t worry, neither has anyone else.

So maybe Bette Midler should just accept her lot. Everyone makes mistakes, and she hasn’t made nearly as many as other stars. Even the most cursory glance through notstarring.com should tell her that. Geena Davis turned down Jodie Foster’s role in Taxi Driver. Happy Go Lucky’s Sally Hawkins turned down Kate Winslet’s role in Titanic. Brooke Shields turned down Basic Instinct, A Fish Called Wanda and Scarface. And Debra Winger? She turned down American Gigolo, Arthur, Blue Velvet, Ed Wood, Ghost, Indecent Proposal, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Sleepless in Seattle. However bad she feels about her lot, Bette’s still got some way to go before she notches up a portfolio of missed opportunities that vast. Plus, don’t forget she’s in a film about a funny talking cat at the moment, and you’re not – so who are you to judge?

Thanks Guardian UK.

On Friday Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the peaceful resolution of competing sovereignty claims to the South China Sea is a U.S. “national interest.” “The U.S. supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all claimants for resolving the various territorial disputes without coercion,” she said in Hanoi during a regional security conference, the Asean Regional Forum. “We oppose the use or threat of force by any claimant.”

Beijing quickly reacted. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi characterized Clinton’s comments as “an attack on China,” and in a sense he was right. China has claimed virtually all that body of water as its own. By doing so, Beijing has said it has sovereignty over the continental shelves of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam. Most of China’s claims there are baseless, and some are ludicrous. That is perhaps why the Chinese have resorted to force to grab islands and islets from other claimants. China seized the western Paracels from Vietnam in 1974 and Mischief Reef from the Philippines in 1995.

Beijing opted for the softer approach by signing a multi-nation code of conduct in 2002. It was seen as largely succeeding in its recent efforts to gain control by preventing other claimants from banding together. China had shrewdly maintained a policy of participating in only bilateral negotiations so that it could use its heft to maximum advantage.

Yet it was nonetheless meeting resistance from nations in the region–especially Vietnam–and so it changed tack recently. When Jeffrey Bader, the top Asia official at the National Security Council, and James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state, traveled to Beijing in March, Chinese officials for the first time said the South China Sea was one of their country’s “core interests” and that they would brook no American interference there.

Beijing has tried to paint Clinton’s words as the U.S. inserting itself into the region, but that could not be further from the truth. Up until now, Washington has been largely oblivious to Chinese attempts to make the South China Sea a “Chinese lake.” It ignored Beijing’s seizure of territory and even did little to protect ExxonMobil ( XOM – news – people ) when China, in 2008, tried to intimidate the company from entering into an exploration deal with PetroVietnam, the state energy company, in the South China Sea. In adjacent areas it has done virtually nothing to prevent China’s navy from harassing Japanese warships, as it did most recently in April, and to stop Chinese submarines from regularly violating Japanese waters, which they have been doing for most of this decade.

In short, America looked like it was acceding to Chinese demands for control over the South China Sea. Beijing had overplayed its hand in recent months, however, and nations in the region were looking to oppose the Chinese. Nonetheless, all of them were seeking safety in numbers, with none wanting to aggravate Beijing by leading from the front.

Thanks Forbes.

An Ohio county has given up on replacing the frequently stolen signs for a rural thoroughfare named “Wildman Road.” Greene County Engineer Robert Geyer in southwest Ohio explains that the signs vanish too quickly, probably to decorate bedrooms, garages and dorm rooms. He said the unusually named road is “out in the boonies,” making the signs easy to swipe.

Neighboring Montgomery County also has had a problem with signs disappearing from streets with interesting or amusing names, such as “Stoner Drive.” But County Engineer Joseph Litvin said his office has adapted by putting replacement signs on much higher posts, making them tougher to reach.

Thanks My Way.

Oregon State Police have taken the unusual step of issuing a missing cat alert for a feline that caused a car crash, escaped from a smashed SUV and vanished. Southern Oregon University student Brittany Spady rolled her Ford Explorer on U.S. 26 east of Banks on Monday night after her long-haired tortoiseshell cat Calysta crawled between the brake and gas pedals. Spady said she took her eyes off the road to try and stop the cat.

She said the cat refuses to travel in a carrier. Spady was headed home from Ashland and was just two miles from her parents’ house when her vehicle went into a ditch, rolled and hit a tree.

The cat bolted, vanishing into nearby forest.

State Police spokesman Lt. Gregg Hastings said the family has been out looking for the missing cat – and he wanted to help.

Thanks My Way.