Good morning, all. Let's begin with news of a cat fight:
MADONNA is firing back at Boy George after the '80s pop star blasted her for cynically bilking her gay fans. George says Madonna's devotion to Kabbalah is the ultimate act of hypocrisy. "It's ironic that she's joined an organization that says homosexuality is a disease that can be cured and no one picks her up on it," George told the London Times. "After making all those millions of dollars out of gay people, pretending to kiss girls, pretending to be a lesbian! I think she's cynical."
But Madonna's rep, Liz Rosenberg, says George is the one being cynical. "There's not enough room on PAGE SIX to respond to Boy George's ridiculous accusations," she told our Jared Paul Stern, "much less list Madonna's long-standing passion, love, commitment and devotion to the gay community which has not changed for 20 years." .... (more blather at Page Six)
Now there's something you'd want on the old tombstone: "She had passion, love, commitment and devotion to the gay community."
Lord have mercy.
Jon Stewart could be forgiven if he arrived a little late to yesterday's taping of "The Daily Show." He was busy getting his wife, Tracey McShane, out of jail. The normally wisecracking comic looked understandably anxious as he waited while his handcuffed sweetheart spent close to five hours being booked for driving with a suspended license. McShane, 36, was driving through Central Park around 11 a.m. when she was pulled over for a moving violation, police confirmed to us. ... rest of story
This is what I would call a tenuous connection:
WASHINGTON - Some lawmakers who slam porn as a scourge to society got big bucks from corporations that profit from adult videos and phone sex, a watchdog group said yesterday. Among the biggest recipients of such campaign contributions were some of the best-known champions of moral values, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas), according to Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington. "This is about hypocrisy .... These are members of Congress who have taken a stand against pornography," the group's director, Melanie Sloan, said.
"If you're going to take a stand against this kind of thing, you have an obligation to know where the money is coming from."
The group's report, "Addicted to Porn," looked at lawmakers who accepted at least $10,000 from companies that profit from adult entertainment. Among well-known contributors who made millions of dollars from adult entertainment were Holiday Inn and Marriott, which cash in on in-room, pay-per-view entertainment; cable companies like Comcast, Time-Warner and Cox that air X-rated shows, and long-distance carriers like AT&T that profit from phone sex, the report said.
Several lawmakers did not immediately return calls but a spokeswoman for Lieberman - who got $16,200 from companies that had some involvement with porn, according to the report - said many of the corporations "produce a wide range of goods and services. A lot of them are good." source
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I'm sorry, but saying AT&T profits from porn because of phone sex, or Holiday Inn profits from porn because of in-room movies may be true, in a technical but miniscule sense, but porn is hardly these companies' raison d'etre. It's only slightly more logical than saying my local Kroger store profits from clothing sales because I put on a coat before driving to the grocery store.