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It was Dreaded Don Imus, whose scowl might have been due to the salty tongue lodged inside. "I've come for you, Imus," said Big Bill. "Nobody calls one of my staffers a 'sniveling little weenie' and gets away with it." Dreaded Don flashed a Jack Palance smirk from his chair by the stove. "I wouldn't push too far, Billy Boy," he said. Big Bill cupped his hand by the six-gun at his side. "Billy Boy, yourself," he challenged. "And I'm not a 'fat sissy,' either. You're dead wrong about that!" -snip- "We were friends once," Big Bill said, glaring at...

Goodbye to Dan Rather. He was a good man and served CBS for 44 years with distinction. Television is a tough business. When it's time to go, you go . And if you don't go the way they want you to, they get very upset. They tell the world you weren't a very good anchorman to start with and you stuttered a lot. Also, you weren't very sincere on the air. CBS, like other television networks, has a tremendous public relations staff. It's bigger than the news staff. The job of the PR department is to portray the network in...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Months beyond what was to be a three-week deathwatch, US humorist Art Buchwald is frustrated: rather than passing away quickly as his doctors predicted, he has to start shaving again, rewrite his will, and change his funeral plans. And get a new cellphone. But Buchwald, the Washington Post columnist who was diagnosed with fatal kidney disease early this year, said Tuesday in the paper that his unexpectedly long-lived last weeks haven't been so bad -- his doctor has now prescribed a holiday to Martha's Vineyard, the Massachusetts island resort. "I never realized dying was so much fun,"...

The Talk Shows Sunday, May 14th, 2006 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Laura Bush; author Mary Cheney; columnist Art Buchwald.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Former House speaker Newt Gingrich. FACE THE NATION (CBS): White House national-security adviser Stephen Hadley; Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. THIS WEEK (ABC): First lady Laura Bush; Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Joe Biden, D-Del.; actress Reese Witherspoon. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Hadley; former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; Abdul-Illah al-Khatib, Jordanian foreign minister.

WASHINGTON - Columnist Art Buchwald is dying and enjoying every minute of it. Death was expected within weeks of his decision to reject blood-cleansing treatments that could prolong his life, yet he lives on. Neither Buchwald nor his doctors know why, he says. But it doesn't matter. The Pulitzer Prize-winning political satirist says he's not afraid of death, isn't depressed and is, in fact, having the time of his life. He spends his days writing columns from his room at a local hospice and reminiscing with friends from all stages of his storied life who visit daily. "It's a great...

Ordinarily, people don't talk about death. Yet it's very much a part of our lives. I'm in a hospice and seem to have a lot of time to talk about it. My friends and I discuss what death is and where we're supposed to go after it happens. People constantly ask me if there is an afterlife. It's a good chance for me to philosophize. I tell them, "If I knew I would tell you." This does not mean that everyone knows more than I do on the subject, including priests (Christian and Hindu), rabbis and imams. I haven't made...

The Talk Shows Sunday, March 12th, 2006 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.; Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Mike Pence, R-Ind.; opera singer Placido Domingo.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. George Allen, R-Va., and Joseph Biden, D-Del.; retired Marine Gen. Bernard Trainor and Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for The New York Times. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis.; political satirist Art Buchwald. LATE EDITION (CNN) : U.S. Ambassador to Iraq...

MILTON, Mass. Renowned columnist Art Buchwald has refused dialysis, and it's only a matter of time, maybe a short time, before he dies. For a man awaiting The Reaper, he's in unusually fine fettle. I spent two days by his side to find Buchwald doesn't see himself as courageous, nor does he feel shored up by supernatural spiritual strength. To fade away naturally is the decision he made when faced with the alternative of being hooked up to a dialysis machine three times a week, for five hours at a stretch for the rest of his life. He said, "I...