HOT GOSSIP: Owen Wilson Suicide Attempt?

Actor Owen Wilson was taken to a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., Sunday, according to a story Drudge Report linked to on Sunday. According to the report, Wilson was transported to St. John’s Hospital. Citing sources, The National Enquirer and Star magazine said the star of “Wedding Crashers” and “Starsky & Hutch” had cut his left wrist and taken an undetermined amount of pills. He was found by a family member who called for help. Santa Monica police confirmed only that the actor had been taken to a hospital, TMZ.com reported. “On Sunday Aug. 26. 2007 at 12:10 pm officers […]

SWIFTBOATING 2008: Here Comes The (Somewhat) Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, Again

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Several individuals and groups are organized in vocal opposition to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations, including: *StopHerNow.com: This is both a Web site and an independent expenditure group dedicated to “rescuing America from the radical ideas of Hillary Clinton.” It includes cartoons called “The Hillary Show,” a “Jetsons”-like satire that portrays Clinton as a mean talk show host. The group is run and funded by Richard Collins in Dallas. Republican consultant Arthur Finkelstein founded the site and now is an adviser.   *Citizens United: This conservative organization is releasing a film this fall about Clinton that “aims to […]

Dunkin’ Donuts To Go Zero Trans Fats By Mid-Oct.

BOSTON — Dunkin’ Donuts, the food-on-the-go chain whose name celebrates a treat that’s symbolic of unhealthy eating, is trying to refresh its image by largely eliminating trans fat across its menu, Homer Simpson be damned. Dunkin’ planned to announce Monday that it has developed an alternative cooking oil and reformulated more than 50 menu items — doughnuts included. The Canton, Mass.-based chain says its menu will be “zero grams trans fat” by Oct. 15 across its 5,400 U.S. restaurants in 34 states. [via THE O.C. REGISTER]

BEAT THE PRESS: Myers Calls Inky Reporter A ‘Retard’

NEW YORK The Philadelphia Phillies blew another game Saturday, and the chief goat, relief pitcher Brett Myers, then took it out on a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter. Myers had previously earned notoriety for being arrested for allegedly hitting his wife in public last year, leaving her with a bruised face. She later dropped the charges.After giving up two home runs in the ninth innings, Myers got into a shouting match last night with a reporter, Sam Carchidi, and had to be restrained. The two men started pointing and cursing at each other and Myers stood up as if to hit or […]

THE WAR ON ERROR: Seven-Year-Old Detained At Philly International For Suspicion Of Terrorism

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND — For seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal, the holiday to Florida was a dream trip to reward him for doing well at school. But he was left in tears after he was stopped repeatedly at airports on suspicion of being a terrorist. The security alerts were triggered because Javaid shares his name with a Pakistani man deported from the US, prompting staff at three airports to question his family about his identity.The family even missed their flight home from the U.S. after officials cancelled their tickets in the confusion. The ordeal began in Manchester when Naushaba Nadeem, a doctor, and […]

SPORTO: Baseball Kills Birds

TUCSON, Ariz. — Randy Johnson does have a killer fastball. During the seventh inning of the Diamondbacks’ split-squad 10-6 victory against the Giants on Saturday [March 24, 2001], the NL Cy Young winner hit and killed a dove flying in front of home plate. Johnson’s pitch to the Giants’ Calvin Murray was about three-fourths of the way to home plate when it struck the bird. The bird flew over catcher Rod Barajas’ head and landed a few feet from the plate amid a sea of feathers. “I’m sitting there waiting for it, and I’m expecting to catch the thing, and […]

Hillary Repeats GOP’s Pro-Surge Meme — ‘It’s Working’

“We’ve begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Al Anbar province, it’s working.” –Hillary Clinton’s Remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Missouri RELATED: The humanitarian disaster in Iraq is being compounded by a mass exodus of their medical staff fleeing chronic violence and lawlessness. A report by Oxfam International shows the lack of doctors and nurses is fracturing a health system on the brink of collapse. The research revealed that many hospitals, and medical teaching facilities in Baghdad have lost up to 80 per cent of their teaching staff. The lack […]

FBI Reverses Policy, Allows Dopers To Become G-Men

The FBI recently announced it is changing its policy of not hiring people with a history of marijuana or other illegal drug use because the policy disqualifies so many people the agency cannot fill needed positions. Asking job applicants about past drug use during polygraph tests was “tripping people up” said Mark S. Zaid, a defense lawyer who works on FBI employment disputes. According to Zaid, in an interview in the August 7, Washington Post, the FBI realized that their drug policy was causing them to “lose too many good people.” Despite 30 years of “Just Say No” rhetoric and […]

A WHISTLEBLOWER IN IRAQ: The Deadest Man Alive

FORBES: For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods. There were times, huddled on the floor in solitary confinement with that head-banging music blaring dawn to dusk and interrogators yelling the same questions over and over, that Vance began to wish he had just kept his mouth shut. He had thought he was doing a good and noble thing when he started telling the FBI about the guns and the land mines and the rocket-launchers – all […]

MILESTONE: The Young Ones At 25

BY CITIZEN MOM It took a good five years after its debut on BBC2 for “The Young Ones” to make it all the way across the pond, to where a kid in Philly could finally watch. And even then, it was work — these were the days before the city had cable, necessitating a VCR deal with the kid who sat next to me in homeroom and got MTV at his house in Lafayette Hill. But dammit, I’d been reading about the British comedy series for years in the import Smash Hits magazines I bought on South Street, and it […]

WORTH REPEATING: Tarring The Baby

BY ALFRED LUBRANO INQUIRER COLUMNIST When you’re a white person in America saying, “The black guy did it,” you are screaming “Fire!” in the cineplex. You are conjuring night fears of the Other, and stoking cell-level hatred that metastasizes. And if you’re a silly little twit like Lindsay Lohan, you’re lamely trying to deflect culpability for your own dangerously bizarre behavior. Last month in California, the troubled 21-year-old actress commandeered a car with three passengers inside and chased after her assistant, who had moments earlier quit working for Lohan. When the cops tried to sort it out, Lohan was sputtering […]