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LOS ANGELES - A crazed stalker with a fatal attraction to Michael Douglas terrorized his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, threatening to "cut her to bits" or blow her up "so pieces of her head look like President Kennedy's," according to bombshell court testimony yesterday. Douglas and his movie-star wife took the stand to reveal terrifying details from phone calls and letters they said were written by aspiring psychologist Dawnette Knight, 32. In a case that seems almost ripped from the script of Douglas' chilling 1987 film "Fatal Attraction," Knight allegedly took up her poisoned pen because she was infatuated with the...

hey are pretty.Pretty and soothing.Soothing and smooth.Smooth and light.Light and watery.The eight designs for a memorial at ground zero, gleaming with hanging candles and translucent tubes and reflecting pools and the smiling faces of those killed on 9/11, aim to transcend. And they succeed.They transcend terror. They have the banality of no evil. They represent the triumph of atmosphere over atrocity, mood over meaning. The designs are more concerned with the play of light on water than the play of darkness on life.They have taken the heaviest event in modern American history and made the lightest memorials.As I walked around...

WASHINGTON — We knew they were good. We didn't know they were this good. With a spectacular triple bank shot, Karl Rove and George Bush, the Butcher Cassidy and Sundance Kid of politics, blew away Trent Lott, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.Only a week ago, it looked as though Trent Lott could survive, and if he didn't, Don Nickles or Mitch McConnell might step up. But then Mr. Bush authorized the first executive action of his presidency, a stealth assassination of Mr. Lott. How could the president not finish him off, when the hapless Mississippi senator not only supported Strom...

Catherine Zeta-Jones and husband Michael Douglas have decided to send their children to school in Bermuda.It had earlier been reported that Swansea-born Catherine wanted them to attend the private Llandovery College in west Wales, but the couple have announced that two-year-old Dylan and their new baby, due in April, will be educated on the Caribbean island where Michael has family. “We have a house in Bermuda, Michael’s mother is Bermudan and our children will be schooled there,” said Catherine. “When we arrive we have an instant family and friends. It’s a very close-knit world and extremely private. Dylan loves it...

WASHINGTON — On TV this weekend, George Bush tells the story of George and the bush. "George stares down at the empty robe, then picks it up, looking puzzled," the former president says. "Mary's eyes peer out of a large, flowering bush. George starts to toss the robe, then reconsiders, eyeing the robe slyly.""It's a Wonderful Life" was on NBC, and the visually impaired could tune in to a version in which Bush père charmingly narrated the action, including the scene where Donna Reed loses her bathrobe and jumps into a hydrangea bush so Jimmy Stewart can't see her.Poppy Bush...

NEW YORK -- Actor Christopher Reeve knows how to get to fellow celebrities. As consultant to the upcoming PBS series Freedom, he wanted well-known actors to provide voices for characters from American history. But if he went through managers, publicists or agents, Reeve knew he'd get some brush-offs. So he wrote to the celebrities themselves. He assembled an impressive list: Jennifer Aniston, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams and many others. Reeve, 50, wanted to participate because his half brother, a teacher in rural Vermont, had such trouble...

WASHINGTON — The Boy Emperor picked up the morning paper and, stunned, dropped his Juicy Juice box with the little straw attached. "Oh, man," he wailed. "North Korea's got nukes. Sheriff Musharraf was helping them. Al Qaeda's blowing stuff up again. The Pentagon's speculating that the sniper might really be Qaeda decoy teams trying to distract the law while they plan a bio-blitzkrieg or a dirty bomb attack on the capital. Tenet's broken out in hives about the next 9/11. Powell spends all his time kissing up to the Frenchies. Saddam's ranting about a river of American blood. Jebbie's in...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SAT OCT 19, 2002 11:42:34 ET XXXXX DOWD: BUSH 'BOY EMPEROR' NY TIMES op-ed queen Maureen Dowd is planning to rip President Bush like she has never ripped before in a dispatch set for Sunday publication, sources close to the columnist tell DRUDGE. Dowd, courting controversy, declares: "The Boy Emperor picked up the morning paper and, stunned, dropped his Juicy Juice box with the little straw attached. 'Oh, man,' he wailed. 'North Korea's got nukes... 'Get me Condi!' the boy yelled. 'And a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.'" Dowd refers to Bush as a "boy"...

God bless those Brits. Despite spending most of their time fretting over whether Tony sniffs George's ass too much or whether Tony gives it to Cherie too much or whether Charles or Wills will be the next Queen of England, they still have time to focus on the absurd. According to the BBC, a British bookmaker is giving 6-1 to odds that actor Michael Douglas will one day become President of the United States. You see Michael, like most self-important, self-deluded, self-gratifying, liberal Hollywood types, fancies himself more than a guy who makes a living kissing Glenn Close's breasts on...

WASHINGTON — I was dubious at first. But now I think Dick Cheney has it right. Making the case for going to war in the Middle East to veterans on Monday, the vice president said that "our goal would be . . . a government that is democratic and pluralistic, a nation where the human rights of every ethnic and religious group are recognized and protected."O.K., I'm on board. Let's declare war on Saudi Arabia! Let's do "regime change" in a kingdom that gives medieval a bad name.By overthrowing the Saudi monarchy, the Cheney-Rummy-Condi-Wolfy-Perle-W. contingent could realize its dream of...

WASHINGTON — I don't know enough about what the president is up to on Iraq. But I know too much about what the president is up to on a run. "It's interesting that my times have become faster right after the war began," Mr. Bush tells Runner's World in an exclusive interview. "They were pretty fast all along, but since the war began I've been running with a little more intensity. It helps me to clear my mind."So the bad news is: we haven't caught Osama. The good news is: W.'s times have improved."Usually I run six days a week,"...

The bets are on that Catherine Zeta Jones will one day by the First Lady of the United States. A bookmaker in her native south Wales is giving odds that the 32-year-old Hollywood actress will eventually swap her luxury LA home for the White House. The gamble is that her husband, actor and film producer Michael Douglas, 57, will turn his part-time involvement in politics into a full-time commitment. Observers believe that if he joined the Democrats he would lead the opposition party's campaign for the presidency and would be popular enough to win America's top job. Michael Douglas...

WASHINGTON — Oedipus, Shmoedipus. Why cite a Greek hero when we can cite the president's favorite British hero?In "Goldmember," Austin Powers has "Earn Daddy's Respect" on his To Do list. So the teary but still groovy spy confronts his prodigal father, played by Michael Caine."Got an issue?" Daddy breezily responds. "Here's a tissue."Tissue issues between the two Bush presidents spilled into public view on Thursday when that most faithful family retainer, Brent Scowcroft, wrote a jaw-dropping op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal headlined "Don't Attack Saddam."Mr. Scowcroft gave the back of his hand to conservatives' strenuous attempts to link...

WASHINGTON — One could hear the exhale of relief from the conservative multitudes — and the "Ruffles and Flourishes" playing in the gladdened hearts of Republican graybeards. For Cheney, Mighty Cheney was advancing to the bat.A question mark had been quivering over the White House. There had been a frenzy of speculation and an outpouring of analysis among the capital cognoscenti.Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution was teetering on the brink of observing that the Bush presidency was "teetering on the brink." Ibid., Norman Ornstein.So Republicans were thrilled to hear the vice president tell a worshipful crowd of white, wealthy...

Catherine Zeta Jones was today unveiled as the new face of cosmetics firm Elizabeth Arden.The Welsh actress laughed and joked with staff at London's Selfridges store as she launched a new fragrance after signing a four-year contract.Ron Rolleston, executive vice president of marketing at Elizabeth Arden, said: "We are thrilled that Catherine will be the beautiful new face of Elizabeth Arden."The 32-year-old Hollywood actress, who starred in the Oscar-winning film Traffic, recently talked about having more children with her film star husband Michael Douglas. The couple already have a son, Dylan.She said: "I'd like to try next year because Dylan...