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For the second time today, an interview with The New York Times has exposed what appears to be a decades-old instance of celebrity homophobia. First, in a TimesTalks discussion, John Cameron Mitchell revealed how David Letterman refused to shake his hand after a performance of Hedwig and Angry Inch more than 15 years ago. Now, playwright Larry Kramer is charging Barbara Streisand with saying she finds gay sex “distasteful.” Kramer has been trying to get his play The Normal Heart made into a movie since it first appeared Off-Broadway in 1985. The story of one activist’s fight during the rise...

This weekend's Kennedy Center Honors marked the last time President Bush and first lady Laura Bush sat alongside the honorees as they watched the tributes unfold on the stage of the institution's opera house last night. Roger Daltrey, who was feted along with a fellow member of the rock group the Who, said the award "means so much." The outgoing president hosted not only one of his wife's favorite musicians - it was the first time a first lady took the stage in the event's 31-year history - but also one of his biggest Hollywood detractors. *snip* This year's honorees...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Singer-actress Barbra Streisand, who performs for Barack Obama at a Hollywood fundraiser next week, will herself be feted in the U.S. capital later this year for her contributions to American culture and the arts. Streisand joins actor Morgan Freeman, dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp, country music singer George Jones and rockers Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the Who as the 2008 recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, organizers said on Tuesday. honourees for the 31st annual awards will be saluted on December 7 during a gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington,...

Babs turns 64 years old today

Hollywood celebrities and prominent corporate executives have poured thousands of dollars into the campaign of former Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) to knock off Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Screenwriter and producer Norman Lear, director Rob Reiner, actress and singer Barbara Streisand and musician Don Henley have written checks to Lampson, according to politicalmoneyline.com, a website that tracks campaign contributions. Reiner and Streisand kicked in $1,000, and Lear and Henley sent Lampson $4,200. While Democrats have courted Hollywood stars in recent years, the moguls’ money has usually flowed to presidential candidates, the national party or the congressional fundraising committees. As a rule,...

BARBRA STREISAND is sick of advertisments for anti-impotence drugs, deeming them "morally questionnable". The singer and actress claims Hollywood films hardly ever shape our moral attitudes, unlike commercials for CIALIS, which improves a man's ability to function for up to 36 hours. She moans, "I resent this thing about Hollywood and moral values. What movies are out now that have questionable moral values? "You know what I think has questionable moral values? The Cialis commercials."

Streisand's Election Version of 'People' Fri Jun 25, 4:02 AM ET By The Associated Press Barbra Streisand sang a special 2004 election version of her hit "People" at a Thursday night fund-raising concert for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites). Here are the lyrics: People I mean G-O-People Who'd believe there's such people in the world Bush sees a Lotta Condoleeza They're dividing the planet's oil According to Richard "Poil" And they're all just trainees Of Cheney's Now Rumsfeld We must get rid of Rumsfeld He's the spookiest person in the world As for Powell He's neither...

LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of pieces of memorabilia from Barbra Streisand’s career will be auctioned off June 5, with proceeds going to charities that the Streisand Foundation supports. ...[snip] The auction, dubbed “Her Name is Barbra,” will feature famous items that trace the career of the singer and actress from the early 1960s to today, ...

Barbra Streisand Heads Back to the Big Screen By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - She may have given up singing in public, but Barbra Streisand (news) hasn't bowed out of the limelight altogether. The 61-year-old performer is heading back to movie screens for the first time in eight years to play Ben Stiller (news)'s mom in a sequel to the hit comedy "Meet the Parents." A spokesman for Universal Pictures said Friday Streisand is in final negotiations for the role. The sequel, "Meet the Fockers," is set to go into production April 5 with Jay Roach back as director....

A lot of people were skeptical when Mr. Barbra Streisand, James Brolin, won the starring role in the CBS miniseries "The Reagans." His wife today confirmed their suspicions of a hatchet job. On her TV show this afternoon Oprah Winfrey asked Babs about the oddball casting. "How is that for you, Miss Democrat?" A smirking Streisand responded to titters, "I said as long as they tell the truth about Ronald Reagan, I have no problem." Considering her history of distorting the truth to suit her partisan agenda, expect Hollywood to be even more inaccurate than usual on this "biography."...

Regardless of what you think about Grey Davis, we should all be able to agree that we must now stop this attempted hijacking of the democratic process. Impeaching Clinton ...Florida and the 2000 election ... Redistricting in Texas ... now California... What makes the Right Wing think they can just bully and buy their way into power? If we allow this recall to win, we will be setting a dangerous precedent. In this unfair process, a candidate receiving just 30% of the vote could beat Davis, even if the governor receives 49%. Our governor was elected fair and square just...

... [T]ongues are wagging that Barbra Streisand has gone under the knife after years of being vocal about resisting re-dos to her face. The National Enquirer produced a picture of Streisand, 61, wearing a black scarf over her face as she walked out of a Beverly Hills clinic. She reportedly had an adjustment to her jaw line July 30.

Recently, I decided to go back through my website and reread some of the statements I have written and links to articles I have posted. 2003 has been such a tumultuous year already ... Now we have the publicized revelations that the Bush administration exaggerated evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and falsely implied that there were strong connections between al Qaeda and Iraq. Looking back, however, it is clear that these facts were known even before the war... but the media did not emphasize the story until it was already too late. For example, on March 26th we...

I have reflected a great deal over the years about the need for dialogue and unity among various minority and progressive communities. The presidential primary process is underway, and this is the time when the candidates within the Democratic party work to differentiate themselves from one other. It is important, however, to keep in mind that the end goal for all of us is to elect a Democratic president who will work to provide a decent education for the most underprivileged children, pass tax cuts for the lower and middle classes rather than the wealthy, protect the environment and a...

STREISAND WATCHES HER PENNIES Barbra Streisand dined at Arnie Morton's in BevHills with hubby James Brolin, and when the $180 bill came, the diva whipped out a crumpled, 1-year-old $100 discount coupon — then took a calculator from her purse and figured a 15 percent tip only on the $80 she had to cough up! That's right, folks — Ms. MultiMillionaire left a lousy $12 tip for the poor schleps who waited on her!