The outspoken director, actor and political activist Sean Penn is no stranger to controversy. Now, however, he's insulted the rectal cancer folks. At least, that's the conventional wisdom. But what did Penn actually say? In response to CBS reporter Lara Logan's question on how Penn felt about criticism of celebrities in Haiti, Penn replied, "Do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer, yeah... But I'm not going to spend a lot of energy on it." ...
Diet may play a part in ovarian cancer survival rates. Hey, Los Angeles Times, if you're going to use "may," the most powerful weasel word ever invented, you don't have to settle for the humble vegetable. The sky's the limit! Butter-pecan ice cream may prevent cancer. A Maui vacation may keep cancer from spreading. Daily massages may prevent recurrence. Especially free massages, given by reluctant relatives. ...
I remember Sea World trainer Dawn Brancheau. Years ago I saw her perform with the killer whales she loved. On Wednesday one of them, a large male named Tilikum, killed her. A seven-minute tourist video shows Brancheau interacting with the whale up until just seconds before the attack. An autopsy revealed Brancheau died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning. When I heard the trainer had wanted to work with Shamu since her first trip to Sea World at the age of 9, I realized I'd heard that story before. Brancheau was the woman I'd made my way downstage to see after the show. ...
"Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country." That sentence was uttered by actor Jason Robards playing Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee in what is arguably the best performance of his career in "All the President's Men," one of the 100 greatest films of all time, according to the American Film Institute. Oh, the glory days of newspapers! What with Quinn Bradlee, son of Bradlee and columnist Sally Quinn, in the news (as reported by my Politics Daily colleague Annie Groer here and here) and last ...
Clothes look good on thin bodies. But thin bodies naked? Not so much. Naked full bodies is another matter. Or near-naked, a la actress Christina Hendricks in a corset on the cover of New York Magazine. Hendricks, a breakout star of AMC's hit show "Mad Men," is undeniably beautiful. She's also a different body type than we're used to seeing in the glamor factories of Los Angeles and New York. But then "Mad Men" is a period drama, set half a century ago. It may be relevant that most fashion designers are gay men. Thin women look more male than their voluptuous counterparts in the general ...
In Farsi her name means "voice." Almost instantaneously, screengrabs of 26-year-old student Neda Agha-Soltan, shot through the heart on June 20, 2009, by the Iranian regime's hired guns, became the face of a movement. So powerful was the 40-second video of Neda dying before our eyes, the regime tried to denounce it as a fake. When that didn't work, they blamed Neda's death on unarmed protesters and the CIA. ...
My time-space continuum warped when I heard that Dennis Kucinich had talked to tea partiers and found common ground. After the Democratic defeat in Massachusetts last month, Kucinich said, "There's nothing liberal about the bailouts. There's nothing liberal about standing by and watching banks use public money to get their executive bonuses. There's nothing liberal about giving insurance companies carte blanche to charge anything they want for health care...Since when did that become liberal?" A lot of citizens who once stumped for Obama – for change and hope, they thought – feel ...
Vanna White, the pleasant letter-turner on the game show Wheel of Fortune, was wildly popular in the mid-1980s. Some surmised that Vanna's appeal stemmed not from her blondness, but rather her blandness. Viewers saw either a girl next door or an irresistible, slightly dangerous hottie, depending on what they wanted to see. So my suggestion for 2012 presidential candidate is: Bruuuuuuce! Yes, Mr. Springsteen. The singer. Well, why not? ...
There's a civil war going on among Democrats in the so-called heartland. Here in the Midwest, Democrats agree on most things. We were thrilled to usher in the first African-American president. We are largely pro-choice, we're OK with gay marriage, and we hate Rush Limbaugh with the passion of 10,000 suns. But when it comes to the health care reform bills working their way through Congress, Democrats fall into two distinct camps. ...
The only mystery left on the John Edwards story is why everyone is still talking about it. Looks like a cat-bites-toy tale to me.After months of public denials, John Edwards has finally admitted he's the father of Rielle Hunter's 22-month-old baby girl. Yes, Edwards proved less trustworthy than his John-Boy looks suggested, but I thought Washington was used to that. I feel sorry for John. He's ripped right out of the pages of a Shakespearean tragedy. The word "scandal" will forever be attached to his name. My advice to him is to devote the rest of his life to obscurity and philanthropy. ...