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They've lived together for 42 years and share a bedroom, but the people who produce "Sesame Street" made it clear on Thursday: Bert and Ernie are not gay. Nor are they heterosexual. They just are. "Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. "Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics, they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation," Sesame Workshop said in a statement posted on Facebook. ...

This idea isn't going to make a big splash with Rubber Duckie. An online campaign to pressure the producers of "Sesame Street" into having lovable roommates Bert and Ernie get married is gathering steam. Getting hitched would change things for Ernie, who has long sang about how his bath toy, Rubber Duckie, "was the one." More than 700 people have signed on to the petition, posted at change.org. "We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful," reads the petition for the muppet merger. "It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Will the Children’s Television Workshop give way to same-sex puppet love? An online campaign is calling for the producers of TV’s “Sesame Street” to allow characters Bert and Ernie to get married in an attempt to “put an end to the bullying and suicides of LGBT youth”, according to the group’s Facebook page. The petition letter adds that “[w]e are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful by allowing Bert & Ernie to marry”, suggesting that the show “even add a transgender character to the show…in a tasteful way”.

"If we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today," President Obama said in his State of the Union address last week. "More businesses would certainly have closed. More homes would have surely been lost." These words remind me of that old "Sesame Street" skit -- the one where Ernie has a banana in his ear. He tells Bert that it's there to keep alligators away. "Ernie!" replies the ever-annoyed Bert. "There are no alligators on Sesame Street!" "Right," Ernie says. "Works pretty good, doesn't it, Bert?" Obama can always scare people...

WWE Hall of Famer 'Big Cat' Ernie Ladd passed away after a three year battle with cancer at the age of 68. Before entering the squared circle, Ladd was a player for the San Diego Chargers in NFL and won the American Football League title with the Chargers in 1963. He later joined Houston Oilers and then Kansas City Chiefs before moving to wrestling. Ladd debuted for the WWWF in 1968, managed by The Grand Wizard and had feuds with Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund and Andre The Giant. Upon leaving the WWF he joined Bill Watts in the mid-South and...

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Gov. Ernie Fletcher, criminally charged with rewarding political supporters with protected state jobs, cannot be tried while in office, a judge said Friday as he rejected the governor's motion to throw out the charges. Special Judge David E. Melcher's ruling creates a legal limbo for Kentucky's first Republican governor in three decades as he seeks a second term next year. Fletcher can't be convicted, but he can't clear his name, either. "It just creates a continuing cloud," said Jack Richardson, chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. "You're running for re-election as an indicted governor, and the...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The real risk in noodling, which involves sticking your arm into a catfish nesting hole and yanking out whatever swallows your fist, is not in getting caught doing it out of season, but in reaching too far into the hole and getting snagged by spiny fins. Just consider the case of Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky. A year ago, after being accused of illegally forcing Democrats out of state Civil Service jobs and giving the jobs to political loyalists, Mr. Fletcher, a Republican, dismissed the charges as little worse than noodling in March. (Noodling is legal only...

Bert and Ernie Packing Heat on Sesame Street BROCKTON, Mass. (AP) — Brockton High School has banned T-shirts with Sesame Street characters. But these are no regular pictures of Bert and Ernies. On some, Oscar the Grouch emerges from his garbage can, wielding a 9 mm handgun. On others, Bert and Ernie are standing in a gang posture, armed with automatic weapons. "We were amazed," said the school's principal, Susan Szachowicz. "You focus on the Sesame Street character. But the more we looked at it, the more we saw the things in it, the guns, the gang stuff." There have...

t is a bit of irony that Ernie Garven,who died last week at his Florida home, wrote the unforgettable Hamm's beer advertising jingle, "From the land of sky blue wa-a-aters.

Just breaking on CNN

Red Planet 911: Mars Rover Hotline Set Up By Leonard David, Senior Space Writer posted: 12:30 pm ET, 29 December 2003 BOULDER, Colorado -- Think of it as the Mars equivalent of an emergency 911 call for help. Operators of NASA's Mars rovers have established a backup remote site in the event of a natural disaster, malfunctioning ground equipment, or even a terrorist attack to maintain critical contact with space vehicles as they near the red planet. The central location for handling the Mars rovers -- Spirit and Opportunity -- is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California....

While contemplating my discomfort over the Ontario election, I came across Steve Martinovich's following statement: "Unfortunately for conservatives, Eves seems less than willing to carry on this revolution of tax cuts, fiscal responsibility and business friendly policies which have fostered economic growth and job creation. [...] Should I reward someone who seems to be abandoning the policies of Harris or should I help hand McGuinty victory by staying home. Does it matter?" I know the feeling. Ann Coulter once remarked about swing voters: "I like to refer to them as the idiot voters because they don't have set philosophical principles....

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HIV-Positive Muppet Coming to Sesame Street (CNSNews.com) - An HIV-positive Muppet is coming to Sesame Street, an adviser to the children's program said. Wire reports said Joel Schneider, the vice president and senior adviser to the Sesame Street Workshop, made the announcement Thursday at the 14th International AIDS Conference now underway in Barcelona, Spain. According to those reports, the HIV-positive Muppet will first appear on the South African version of Sesame Street, a program called "Takalani Sesame," in September. The character will be female, but other details, such as the name and color, are still being worked out. "This character...