News

I suppose it's time to get rid of all the reading/language arts teachers in the country since the test scores aren't up to snuff.
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The tabloids have it right: Apparently actor Dennis Hopper, 73, is dying of prostate cancer and is too ill to give a deposition in his divorce case.

He reportedly weighs "barely" 100 pounds.
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Midge Costanza, former Carter aide, has died of cancer at the age of 77:

Former White House aide Margaret "Midge" Costanza, 77, died today at Scripps Memorial Hospital following a long battle with cancer. Costanza made history in 1976 when President Jimmy Carter appointed her as assistant to the president, the first woman to occupy a senior position on the White House staff.



An outspoken champion of women’s rights and gay rights, Costanza has lived in San Diego for the past 20 years. Also an adjunct professor at San Diego State University in the political science, communication and women’s studies departments, she established the Midge Constanza Institute at SDSU to inspire young people to become active in political and social causes.

Stupid Crooner Department

Andy Williams, 81, always a Republican even when he was friends with Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, has really gone off the deep end about President Obama. He called him a "socialist" and is upset about the people he associates with.

I will say this much about the president, though, and that he doesn't go around supporting murdering ex-spouses like Andy did.

Here is the Telegraph article.

Williams still admired the Kennedys and was fond of Ted as well as Bobby and Ethel.

The article is a couple of months old, but now that it is that time of year, and Williams, like the late Bing Crosby, was closely associated with the holidays.

He and Claudine used to have special Christmas programs as part of his popular variety show in the 1960s.

As the World Turns IV.

Thanks to a huge public outcry, Paris Hilton is being hauled back into court.

The judge ain't happy, to say the least.
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Edwin R. Hall ain't going anywhere.
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As the World Turns.

The rich ARE different.

But we've known celebrities get their own brand of "justice" at least since the infamous Claudine Longet got off with a slap on the wrist after she murdered her boyfriend, pro skier Spider Sabich back in 1976.

Unfortunately, Paris will still be in the headlines. After all, she hasn't killed anybody yet, unlike Claudine, who is basically a pariah and has never again surfaced publicly after the trial. (Fun fact: She married her defense attorney in 1985 after he ditched his own family for her. He is still alive today, and they both continue to live in Aspen, Colorado.)

Edit: Paris Hilton agreed to wear an ankle bracelet at home for the next 40 days, according to a press conference. Some "medical problem" played a role in this change. She wasn't released but "reassigned" to her home.
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As the World Turns.

Northwest tire magnate Les Schwab, 89, has died. He had been in poor health in recent months.

He bought a dilapidated tire store in 1952 and ended up with a chain of over 400 stores throughout the West generating over a billion a year in sales.

Schwab was the personification of Prineville, Oregon.
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Have Paul and Heather arrived at a truce?
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Keith Denies

he snorted his dad.

It was a lame attempt at an analogy or something.

Prince Harry (right) displays some of the fancy footwork necessary to be a dutiful soldier. (IKON/MATRIXPHOTOS via News of the World)

Prince Harry

gets some basic training as he prepares to go to Iraq:

FIGHTING drunk Prince Harry exploded into booze-fuelled rage on Saturday after being caught on a secret date.

Our astonishing pictures show the paralytic prince crashing onto his backside as a minder tries to manhandle him into his car.

Other photographs show how, seconds earlier, Harry ran amok, attacking one snapper and yelling at him to "F*** off" as he sneaked out of a London club following a night out with very close friend Natalie Pinkham.

The 22-year-old prince — due to head to Iraq for a six-month tour with his unit in weeks — was furious that he'd been spotted meeting former TV presenter Natalie, 29, while girlfriend Chelsy Davy is away on her gap year.

The two had spent the night canoodling on the dance floor of Boujis, with Harry caressing the beauty whose boobs he once famously groped on another wild night out in London nearly four years ago.

One fellow clubber revealed yesterday: "He and Natalie were dancing very close and his hands were everywhere."

Presidential Notes II.

Expect a lot more punches being thrown during the primary campaign.
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Money talks and bullshit walks, as politicians still try to court celebrities rather than give a shit about union support and support of other large groups.

It's not so much whether celebrities should be involved in politics, it's a question of whether they actually care about issues or they want to pump up their egos by cozying up to politicians.
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John Edwards attempts to sell to New Hampshire voters the novel idea he is one candidate who has substance.
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Senator Dodd can do without this endorsement.
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Presidential Notes.

The media obsess over an idiot mogul's opinions of the Clintons, but they don't ask why Chickenshit Obama didn't feel it necessary to court a major union in this country--AFSCME--or voters of the fastest-growing state in this country via television but thinks it is more goddamned important to brownnose a bunch of rich celebrities who don't know their asses from a hole in the ground about politics.

Screw the egomaniac and his Hollywood supporters and the horses they rode in on.

Speaking of the Audacity of Hype, this November article doesn't paint too pretty a picture of him.

As long as there is a Clinton "scandal," no matter how bogus, Howard Kurtz will never be out of a job.

Smith Watch.

For fun, Findlaw has some links to some of Anna Nicole Smith's legal documents.

After all, her legal problems helped put her in the spotlight.

One contribution she made to popular culture is she gave the lie to the notion marriage should be a happily-ever-after arrangement rather than some cold-blooded act.

What she did by marrying Marshall was do what a lot of young women desiring to latch onto wealthy men do, only she married somebody even older than the average sugar daddy. She married a sugar great-granddaddy.

Right now on Larry King Live, Prince Von Anhalt said both of the guys claiming to be the daddy are "full of shit." He also said he wasn't in love with her because he was and is in love with his wife. You can go to bed with somebody and say you're in love with the person, but it's "bullshit," in his opinion.

I'm surprised he's allowed to say that on the air.