| Seinfeld’s Kramer Ruins Career With Racial Insults (UPDATED)
There's an old line: "When I told people I wanted to be a comedian, everyone laughed at me. Today, I'm a comedian, and no one's laughing at me now!" Was that written for Seinfeld's "Kramer," Michael Richards? Richards, a veteran comic actor, sketch comedian and longtime cutting-edge comedian unleashed racial-epithet crammed rant onstage at The Laugh Factory, sparking a firestorm that will most certain downsize — if not virtually destroy — his career. Yes, he'll still have his Seinfeld residuals. But so much for product endorsements, major Hollywood parts or a new TV show. He is now damaged goods. The story was broken via a video posted on Harvey Levin's great show biz news site TMZ.com: Michael Richards exploded in anger as he performed at a famous L.A.
Religion Book Notes
The sound of publishers' envelopes and boxes dropping onto the office floor is a steady reminder that there is no end to the writing of books, including books about religion. So many words; so little time to ingest and savor. But I do my best to skim and sometimes even to peruse. In a time of increased fascination with matters political, it is hardly surprising that books on religion and politics command immediate attention. Jacques Berlinerblau, a professor of Jewish studies at Georgetown University, couldn't be more timely with his wittily titled warning to presidential wannabes, Thumpin' It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today's Presidential Politics. The message here is that Oval Office hopefuls, all of whom are prone to quoting from the Good Book to support their positions, need to be more careful about those slippery, contradictory, and sometimes even nonexistent passages from the Bible.
Cowboys' QB Romo enjoying his star power
The inquisitor was Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman. His questions were irrelevant, bordering on the absurd, and gave the news conference the feel of a Saturday night outside some high-society Manhattan nightclub.
Basically, Newman fit right in. Romo's 12-minute news conference was part Sports Reporters, part E! Television, and the lines between the two became increasingly blurred as things progressed.
The day's primary topic was the focus of the Cowboys' most important player for the franchise's most important game in more than a decade, Sunday's playoff game against the Giants.
Romo, as you may have heard, spent his bye weekend with pop star Jessica Simpson in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with celebrity gossip Web site photos to prove it.
When former coach Bill Parcells, who elevated Romo last season from mostly anonymous backup to starter, departed the Cowboys for yet another short-lived "retirement," he left behind a to-do and to-don't list.
The asylum alternatives: proposals for reform
Measures to deal with human rights abuses and persecution in countries of origin are vital. We must recognise that it is not Britain or Europe, but poor countries, which receive the vast majority of the world's displaced people, and that they need concrete assistance." Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow, Chair, All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees 'Pragmatically, asylum policy cannot be too far ahead of the public's attitudes. However, the current balance between control and integration, emphasizing the former at the expense of the latter, is counter-productive. In reality, very many applicants will in any case stay, and this should be accepted. Energy and resources spent on locating and expelling unsuccessful applicants, for example, or on selective incarceration, could be better used improving applicants' social and economic integration: eg.
LAS VEGAS STOP: Clinton pitch hits home Democratic hopeful goes door ...
Gilberto Santana, left, and his wife, Elizabeth, talk with Hillary Clinton in their home Thursday in Las Vegas. Clinton was joined on her walk through the neighborhood by state Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, second from right, and her daughter, Chelsea.
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