Entertainment Meets Politics

• Earlier this week in an interview with the BBC, actor Donald Sutherland, star of "Commander in Chief" television program criticized the Bush administration by saying,the president and his associates "will destroy our lives." The 70 year old actor choked back tears as he harshly condemned the administration for its indifference toward the families of the soldiers of the war in Iraq, its handling of the disaster in the Gulf Coast region. "They were inept . . . they were insulting . . . They do not care about Iraqi people. They do not care about the families of dead soldiers. They only care about profit."

• Some of the president's strongest supporters have expressed their disgust with Americans who denounce President Bush from foreign venues. Many Bush devotees expressed disdain for those politicians and entertainers who become so frustrated with the Bush administration's shabby performance that they are brought to tears when commenting on its lapses. Increasingly comments lambasting GWB and company are generally not reported by the media of this country, thus making it necessary to comment from outside of the US to insure opposing points of view are reported accurately.

• Tonight SaturdayNightLive will once again feature the musical stylings of Ashlee Simpson. You remember Ashlee had a "Memorex Moment" during her last appearance on the program. Be sure to tune in to see if history will repeat.

• Those rumors of the demise of Ashlee's sister's marriage to Nick Lachey are totally untrue...according to Joe Simpson father of Jessica and Ashlee Simpson. His declarations have not stopped the gambling sites on the Internet from making odds that the gossip is true.

• Tony Danza has weighed in on the Tom Cruise-Brooke Shields controversy. Danza has called Cruise out by saying, "Here's a guy out there lecturing people about drugs, but out of wedlock births don't seem to bother him." Danza says Cruise will not be a guest on his television talk show. I'm not clear on how the two actions are related, but I support Danza for having the chutzpah to be critical of Cruise who is, after John Travolta, the ultimate poster boy in Hollywierd for L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology philosophy.

• Speaking of Cruise... When he was married to second wife Nicole Kidman, I thought it was a well documented fact he can not make babies. While married Kidman and Cruise adopted two children who are now age 10 and 12. Is Scientology responsible for improving his virility? Geez! I hope Nicole isn't too broken up about the fact he's having a baby with Katie Holmes.

• Paris Hilton is not the sexiest woman alive. According to the publishers of Esquire Magazine 23 year old actress Jessica Biel is Sexiest Woman Alive for 2005. The magazine also picks a woman for three older age brackets: the Chinese actress Gong Li, 39; the 47-year-old Sharon Stone; and Rene Russo, 51. Last year's winner of the title was Angelina Jolie. Esquire editor-in-chief David Grange says,"It's easy to appreciate womanhood without any consideration of age. Youth isn't the automatic turn-on it used to be."

• Singer Boy George, aka George O'Dowd, was arraigned on drug charges early this morning in New York City. His lawyer, Lou Freeman says, "It was a small amount of drugs. Freeman told the New York Post for Saturday editions "He does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house. A man who has something to hide does not call police."

• Robert Blake, the 72-year-old former star of the "Baretta" television series, who was acquitted earlier this year of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, told a civil damages trial on Thursday that he loved her, never harmed her and even tried to get her to see the errors of her ways. Blake has a five year old daughter from the marriage to Bakley.

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Something to Make You Lift Up Your Head and Shout Arrrrrgh!!!

The death toll, and the number of injuries reported continues to rise in South Asia where a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck near the Pakistan-India border early today.

The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site the quake hit at 8:50 a.m. local time and had a magnitude of 7.6. It was centered about 60 miles northeast of Islamabad in the forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir.

Chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said, "The damage and casualties could be massive and it is a national tragedy. "This is the worst earthquake in recent times."

The quake brought down a 10-story apartment building in Islamabad and dozens of people were feared trapped in the rubble. Rescuers pulled out at least 20 injured people. According to an employee some residents were Westerners.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said the quake was felt at Bagram, the main American base in Afghanistan, but he had no reports of damage at bases around the country.

Maj. Richard McNorton, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said there were no reports of quake-related injuries among the more than 18,000 American forces in Afghanistan.

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