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Rosie O'Donnell has confirmed that she and longtime girlfriend Kelli Carpenter are on the rocks. In a new interview with USA Today, she says, "We're a family. We will remain a family forever. And we are working on our issues." The 47-year-old O'Donnell -- who has been suggesting a split on her blog -- wouldn't confirm a National Enquirer report that Carpenter, 42, has moved out of their Nyack, NY, home and into Manhattan. (USA Today notes that Carpenter was not at the house during the interview.) Meet Rosie O'Donnell and other stars' surprise BFFs "We're a family, we remain...

"Anti-Jesus." "Anti-American." "Anti-democracy." That's not a conservative pundit blasting communism or socialism. It's filmmaker Michael Moore talking about the target of his latest film: capitalism. In "Capitalism: A Love Story," Moore takes aim at corporate America and Wall Street, for what he says amounts to robbing the American taxpayers and promoting a culture of greed. He profiles several stories of economic hardship, from the now familiar tale of a family forced out of their home by the mortgage crisis, to more shocking anecdotes about families who discover the corporations their deceased loved ones worked for made money off their employees'...

In the days of colonialism, they called Africa the dark continent. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brought her own version of darkness to her African tour. She was in Congo hosting a town meeting. One of the African questioners -- through a translator -- asked what "Mr. Clinton" thought of China's forays into African investments. "You want to know what my husband thinks? Bill Clinton is not the Secretary of State. I'll tell you what I think. I won't be channeling for my husband," Hilllary snapped. It was a waspish performance. Her body English needed no translation. She was more...

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A double murderer scheduled to be executed next month in Ohio said Tuesday he has not deliberately gained weight to rule out his death by lethal injection. Instead, Richard Cooey said in a death row interview that his execution cannot be carried out humanely under current state procedures because his veins are hard to reach. "Vein access was an issue even when I was back in the service," Cooey, 41, said in an hour-long interview with the Associated Press at the Ohio State Penitentiary. Cooey, 5-foot, 7 inches tall and 267 pounds, said he has gained perhaps...

I made a fun little video of a screaming anti-war protester yesterday. This woman originally says she's there to stop the war. But then continually says she's running out of food. Then she starts screaming.. and her blabbering rivals anything Ted Kennedy's ever said. "We are going hungry!!!!"

To this day, only one person truly knows what happened on a lonely Massachusetts bridge on the night of July 18, 1969. Sometime that evening, a car driven by US senator Ted Kennedy plunged into the icy water below. While the politician survived, his passenger, a 28-year-old aide, was not so lucky. Mary Jo Kopechne died on the road from Chappaquiddick that Friday night. In the ensuing scandal, the presidential hopes of the last of the Kennedy brothers were destroyed. Now the senator has signed a £4million deal to write his memoirs, due out in 2010, raising hopes he is...

New Zealand Denies Immigration to U.K. Wife Because She's Too Fat Saturday, November 17, 2007 NEW YORK — New Zealand immigration officials are keeping a U.K. wife from joining her husband "down under" because they say she is too fat, the Daily Mail reports. Click here to read the full report in the Daily Mail. British citizens Rowan Trezise, 33, and Richie Trezise, 35, are living apart as she tries desperately to shed the pounds needed to comply with New Zealand guidelines that immigrants maintain a healthy BMI, or body mass index. BMI is a weight-height ratio that estimates percentage...

Whatever you made of the Chancellor’s various sleights of hand on Tuesday, lurking beneath his Budget plans was one inescapable fact. The hungry maw of the NHS is swallowing more and more resources, at the expense of virtually everything else. The defence budget is at its lowest since 1930, despite our dwindling troops being dotted across three continents. Prison overcrowding is at such record levels that Jack Straw will have to release even more inmates early in a few weeks’ time. But the health service marches relentlessly on, having hoovered up two thirds of the increase in public spending in...

In light of recent accusations against Al Gore that he’s not doing enough to “walk the walk”, PETA has a suggestion that could help with that issue: Go vegetarian. The animal right’s group recently sent a letter to the former Vice President encouraging him to drop meat and help curb emissions generated by the livestock industry. From the release, “The effect that our meat addiction is having on the climate is truly staggering. In fact, in its recent report “Livestock’s Long Shadow—Environmental Issues and Options,” the United Nations determined that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all...

Being unhappy. Being happy. Friends who eat like a horse and never put on weight. Childhood admonishments to think of the starving in Africa. These are some of the reasons the overweight give to explain their size because they are too ashamed to admit they simply eat too much, according to a study. Researchers found there is such a stigma attached to being overweight that over-eaters are desperate to find something - or someone - else to blame. The findings mirror comments by Hamish Meldrum, the head of the British Medical Association, who said patients were increasingly seeking weight-loss pills...

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH Al Gore’s youngest daughter, Sarah, doesn’t do the red carpet much — but the UCSF medical student recently walked down a different colored aisle, after bringing a cute Chinese American businessman home to mum and dad. Sarah met Bill Lee, a 36-year-old businessman, while visiting Los Angeles, and it must’ve been love at first sight because news of their engagement was a flutter ‘round the magical month of June. Meanwhile, Bill’s sibs and cousins will suffer future family get-togethers trying to top his foray into the new court.

Al Gore III agrees to enter a nine-month drug treatment program after pleading guilty to prescription drug and marijuana possession charges in Orange County. LAGUNA NIGUEL -- The son of former Vice President Al Gore pleaded guilty today to felony and misdemeanor drug possession charges stemming from his arrest in Orange County after he was caught driving more than 100 mph in a Toyota Prius. Albert Arnold Gore III entered his plea to prescription drug and marijuana possession charges before Orange County Superior Court Judge Pamela Iles. Gore agreed to enter a nine-month drug treatment program, which he must complete...

Maybe Michael Moore isn't paranoid, because it sure seems like the government really is out to get him. The firebrand filmmaker says he has been served with a subpoena by the federal government for a trip to Cuba for his hit healthcare documentary, Sicko. The Treasury Department confirmed two months ago that it was probing Moore's visit to Cuba, during which he was accompanied by some ailing 9-11 rescue workers. Appearing Thursday on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Oscar winner said that he had just learned backstage that he had been served with an order compelling him to...

HAVANA - Michael Moore's new documentary film "SiCKO" has given Cuba's free health system its best publicity since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, a Cuban doctor who hosted the filmmaker's visit said on Monday. Moore took eight Americans sickened after volunteering for the September 11, 2001, rescue efforts for free treatment in Cuba in March in order to extol the Communist state's universal care in his film, which attacks the U.S. health system for being driven by profits and leaving millions uninsured. "SiCKO" has stirred heated debate in the United States since opening in June due to its scathing indictment of...

We were almost finished editing Citizen Black, our documentary on press baron and former Fairfax owner Conrad Black, convicted at the weekend of business fraud, when my husband and directing partner, Rick Caine, asked me: "What should we do next?" Having just made a film about a conservative, we wanted to rinse our palate and take a look at someone who shared our leftist ideals. Then it hit us: what about Michael Moore? We like his films, we like what he stands for and we loved his Oscar speech. He has long had a soft spot for us Canadians: as...

NEW YORK -- NBC's three-hour primetime "Live Earth" special, which included highlights from Saturday's global concerts, failed to generate much enthusiasm in the ratings. The estimated 2.7 million viewers was slightly under the 3 million viewers NBC has averaged on Saturday nights in the summer with repeats and the Stanley Cup hockey playoffs on what is already the least-popular night of television. It also performed below the Live 8 concert two years ago, according to preliminary estimates released Monday by Nielsen Media Research. The three-hour concert special from Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., drew a 0.9 rating/3 share in...

Live Earth has been branded a foul-mouthed flop. Organisers of the global music concert - punctuated by swearing from presenters and performers - had predicted massive viewing figures. But BBC's live afternoon television coverage attracted an average British audience of just 900,000. In the evening, when coverage switched from BBC2 to BBC1, the figure rose to just 2.7million. And the peak audience, which came when Madonna sang at Wembley, was a dismal 4.5million. Three times as many viewers saw the Princess Diana tribute on the same channel six days before. Two years ago, Live 8 drew a peak television audience...

July 6th, 2007 Friends, An employee who works at Capital BlueCross has sent us a confidential memo written and circulated by its Vice President of Corporate Communications, Barclay Fitzpatrick. His job, it seems, was to go and watch "Sicko," observe the audience's reaction, and then suggest a plan of action for how to deal with the movie. The memo, which I am releasing publicly in this email, is a fascinating look at how one health care company views "Sicko" -- and what it fears its larger impact will be on the public. The industry's only hope, the memo seems to...

No, I have not seen "Sicko." Nor do I intend to see Michael Moore's latest agitprop. Why would anyone seek health advice from this man? Would you go to Dr. Kevorkian to treat your depression? I don't think so. Would you see Jabba the Hut for diet tips? I don't think so. Would you ask Paris Hilton to explain the Pythagorean Theorem? I don't think so. So, explain to me, why is America turning to Michael Moore for health advice? Not only is he not the picture of health, he is also a congenital liar. Lying about America is what...

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Orange County prosecutors say they have until August first to decide whether to file charges against Al Gore's son following his arrest on suspicion of illegally possessing marijuana and prescription drugs. A sheriff's spokesman says Al Gore the Third was driving about 100 miles per hour on the San Diego Freeway early Wednesday when he was pulled over. Sheriff's deputies say they found a small amount of marijuana plus Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall, which is used for attention deficit disorder, in his Toyota Prius. Sheriff's officials say the 24-year-old Gore did not have a...

<p>LAGUNA NIGUEL – Al Gore's son was released from the Orange County Jail at 2 p.m. today, after a young man and woman posted his $20,000 bail in cash, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.</p> <p>"Some people were saying it was his sister, but I don't know if that's true," Amormino said.</p>

Brazil is in danger of losing its Live Earth concert this Saturday, after local authorities obtained a court injunction suspending the show over security concerns. Rio de Janeiro's famed Copacabana Beach had been scheduled to host the only free Live Earth concert on Saturday, joining other official shows in cities like London, Shanghai and Johannesburg. Lenny Kravitz, Macy Gray and Jorge Ben Jor are among the performers slated for the Copacabana show, which organizers had expected to attract about one million concertgoers. The Rio state prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday that it had obtained the injunction suspending the climate change...

PETA has a message for Michael Moore: You’re the Sicko. The animal-rights group is blasting the filmmaker as a hypocrite for criticizing the U.S. healthcare system in his new documentary, “Sicko,” because they say he’s in such poor health himself. “There’s an elephant in the room, and it is you,” PETA president Ingrid Newkirk wrote in a letter to Moore. Newkirk urged the rotund Moore to become a vegetarian, which many nutritionists say is a good way to lose weight, and visit PETA’s Web site GoVeg.com for veggie recipes. Writes Newkirk: “As they say at Nike (sorry!): ‘Just do it.”

It was about 6:30 p.m. when Helen Thomas, the first recognizable face of the evening, showed up to the red carpet for the premiere of Michael Moore’s new documentary, “SiCKO.” She looked stylish in a black pantsuit and a large double strand of pearls. Was she excited to attend? “I hope so,” she replied. “How do I get in?” She was understandably confused. The long line of photographers, reporters, TV crews and clumps of screaming, chanting protesters made it difficult for moviegoers like Thomas to figure out how to maneuver themselves into the Uptown Theater on Wednesday night in Cleveland...

Michael Moore thinks he has made an even-handed movie about health care that should appeal to the civic-mindedness and decency of all Americans. And now he's bracing for the hate mail. The gadfly director, who spoke to reporters at an unusual northern Michigan premiere for his documentary "SiCKO," said he expected the U.S. pharmaceutical and insurance industries to go on the offensive against his call for a sweeping overhaul that would give the United States a national health care system. "I am anticipating the onslaught of attack," Moore said. But he added: "My hope in this film was to reach...

Michael Moore's attorney said Monday that the filmmaker's criticism of the Bush administration may have prompted a federal investigation into his trip to Cuba for the upcoming health-care documentary, "Sicko." In a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, attorney David Boies noted that Moore has been a critic of President Bush in his books and films, which include 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a harsh indictment of White House actions regarding the Sept. 11 attacks. "For this reason, I am concerned that Mr. Moore has been selected for discriminatory treatment by your office,"

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Director Michael Moore says the U.S. health care system is driven by greed in his new documentary "SiCKO", and asks of Americans in general, "Where is our soul?" He also said he could go to jail for taking a group of volunteers suffering ill health after helping in the September 11, 2001 rescue efforts on an unauthorized trip to Cuba, where they received exemplary treatment at virtually no cost. The controversial film maker is back in Cannes, where he won the film festival's highest honor in 2004 with his anti-Bush polemic "Fahrenheit 9/11". In "SiCKO" he...

Al Gore has given his strongest indication to date that he is contemplating a new run for the White House. The former vice-president, who received more votes nationwide than George W Bush in the 2000 election, pointedly refused to rule himself out and said that circumstances could emerge that would make him challenge Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democrat nomination. Mr Gore, who won an Oscar earlier this year for his climate change film An Inconvenient Truth, told the New York Times Magazine that he would be a better candidate than he was seven years ago. He said he would...

If you’re Fred Thompson, you’ve got to be encouraged about jumping into the race. In the wake of Tuesday’s debate among Republican presidential candidates, it was the former Tennessee senator who topped the field in YouTube views — and he wasn’t even participating. Online intelligence firm New Media Strategies measured which candidate got the biggest YouTube bump from the May 15 debate in South Carolina. It also counted the number of viewers of Thompson’s video responding to Michael Moore, which was viewed online concurrently with the GOP debate. As of Wednesday afternoon, Thompson’s video, in which he suggests that Moore...

US filmmaker Michael Moore has challenged Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson for a debate over health care issues. Both of them have been taking a dig at each other ever since Thompson wrote in the National Review on May 2, an article on the Treasury Department's investigation into whether Moore violated the US trade embargo against Cuba by seeking free treatment for 9/11 responders there. Moore has now blasted Thompson in a letter over his fondness for Cuban-made Montecristo cigars. "While I will leave it up to the conservatives to debate your hypocrisy and the Treasury Department to determine whether...

Having mastered the 30-minute meal and daytime television, Rachael Ray is on to her next challenge -- childhood obesity. With help from former President Bill Clinton, the celebrity chef known for cutesy phrases and a fast, freewheeling cooking style this week is launching a charitable group that aims to help children eat healthier at home and in school. Ray says The Yum-o! Organization (the name is drawn from one of her signature phrases) will work with schools to improve cafeteria food, create scholarships, educate parents about healthy eating and help fund charitable groups that feed needy children. The school food...

The following release was posted Tuesday night to the web log of Senator James Inhofe: From behind the scenes on Capitol Hill: Former Vice President Al Gore, despite being given major preferential treatment, has violated the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee?s (EPW) hearing rules. Gore first demanded to be granted an unprecedented 30 minute opening statement to the Senate EPW Committee for Wednesday?s (March 21) global warming hearing scheduled for 2:30 pm ET. The GOP minority on the EPW committee agreed to the 30 minute opening statement. But then Gore demanded a waiver of the EPW committee?s 48 hour...

CARTHAGE, Tenn. - Al Gore has profited from zinc mining that has released millions of pounds of potentially toxic substances near his farmstead, but there is no evidence the mine has caused serious damage to the environment in the area or threatened the health of his neighbors. Two massive white mountains of leftover rock waste are evidence of three decades of mining that earned Gore more than $500,000 in royalty payments for the mineral rights to his property. New owners plan to start mining again later this year, after nearly four years of inactivity. In addition to bringing 250 much-needed...

Former vice-president and global warming guru Al Gore Jr. received more than $500,000 in royalties from the owners of zinc mines, according to a report on Tennessean.com. The mine owners held mineral leases on Gore's farm near Carthage, Tenn. Before being shut down in 2003, the mines emitted thousands of pounds of toxic substances. Reportedly, on several occasions, the water discharged from the mines into nearby rivers had levels of toxins above what was legal. Now the mines have a new owner and are scheduled to reopen later this year. State environmental officials, however, say that overall, the mine has...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Al Gore is garnering wide praise following his documentary's win at last night's Academy Awards -- even from White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. Asked in a press briefing Monday what he thought about Al Gore's documentary film, "An Inconvenient Truth," winning an Oscar, Snow said, "I'm happy for him," and mused, "It's good to have a second career."

Moss steals the show September 18, 2006 - 3:44PM Kate Moss sports the high-rise trend. Photo: Kevin Coombs Hot on the platform heels of New York Fashion Week's close on the weekend, London Fashion Week kicked off with a presentation of Topshop's Unique label on Sunday afternoon. Topshop - an inexpensive high-street chain much like Australia's Sportsgirl - showed a niche collection of edgier, more design-led pieces, reinforcing its place as a fashion-forward brand. But their thunder was stolen by the appearance of Kate Moss in a conspicuously high-waisted pair of jeans. Moss - who is regularly photographed wearing Topshop...

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore unveiled two new projects last night in Toronto: a documentary about the health insurance business called “Sicko” and film that chronicles the aftermath of the 2004 election, entitled “Slacker.” Moore showed clips from both films as part of a special two-hour presentation at the famed Elgin Theater. Larry Charles, director of the new comedy “Borat” and well-known from his work on the TV show “Seinfeld,” conducted the program that also consisted of a long, funny and intimate live interview with Moore.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - An obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, experts at an international conference warned Sunday. "This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world," Paul Zimmet, chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500 experts and health officials, said in a speech opening the weeklong International Congress on Obesity. "It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."

Former US Vice President, Al Gore arrives at the International Television festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 to talk about his award-winning American TV network 'Current TV'. (AP Photo/Ian Jacobs)

Howard Dean's collapse in the December of 2003 and January 2004 is obscured by the sound of his famous scream.  The scream disguised the real result of Iowa, which was a resounding rejection of the orange-capped Deanics, the Al Gore endorsement and the Rob Reiner election day campaigning.  Dean's oratorical excess on the night of his loss was so memorable that the rejection of the left by Iowa Democrats was quickly forgotten. The unlearned lesson of Iowa is that the left is deeply distrusted by the center, much more so than the right.  This is the story that is unfolding,...

In an exclusive appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing in full on ABC Sunday, former Vice President Al Gore said, "I can't imagine any circumstances in which case I would become a candidate again," declaring, "I've found other ways to serve [and] I'm enjoying them." So far, the long-time politician -- whose crusade to educate Americans on the effects of global warming is the subject of the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," released worldwide this weekend -- is content to spread his message at the theater and not on the campaign trail. "I have no plans plans to be...

Environmental activists from six states descended yesterday on the Nashville office of Al Gore in an ongoing campaign to convince the former vice president to use his position as an Apple board member to urge the electronics manufacturer to recycle its computers. The Computer TakeBack Campaign, a national coalition of environmental organizations, turned its attentions to Apple Computer after successfully getting HP and Dell to support producer take-back recycling of toxic discarded products carrying their brand names. According to the group's website, Apple electronic wastes contain dangerous toxic chemicals. "The iLife isn't quite as harmonious as it seems. Lurking underneath...

The Muslim-Danish cartoon controversy has provided an excellent teaching opportunity in which the West demonstrates to the Arab world how even insulting/silly/opportunistic/sycophantic speech is allowed expression in our world in the belief that Truth ultimately will prevail. Exhibit A: Al Gore. The former vice president spoke in Saudi Arabia recently at the 2006 Jeddah (not to be confused with Jihadist, though we're not sure why) Economic Forum, where he bashed the U.S. and made Kumbaya noises about all just-getting-along. Which is fine. We'd all like to just get along, but could the Saudis go first? Perhaps Gore, instead of slapping...

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Paramount‘s new specialty division has acquired worldwide rights to Participant Prods.‘ global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," featuring Al Gore . Helmed by Davis Guggenheim ("Deadwood," "The First Year"), the film, which had its world premiere at last month‘s Sundance Film Festival , weaves the science behind the issue of global warming with the former vice president‘s personal history and longtime commitment to communicating the pressing need to reverse the effects of global climate change. Paramount specialty division president John Lesher called the film "a visually mesmerizing and shocking look at the serious and dire state...

Jeddah. Former US Vice President Al Gore stated Iran’s regime presents threat to the whole world, AFP reports. “Iran is governed by corrupted politicians and religious leaders and presents a threat to the whole world’s future”, said Al Gore during Economic Forum in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. According to him corrupted Iranian government together with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israeli views are “a signal for the threat Tehran may pose”.

WARNING that the world will reach the "tipping point" toward an ecological catastrophe within the next 10 years, former US Vice President Al Gore urged international and local leaders to focus their efforts toward halting the phenomenon of global warming. Gore flew to Manila yesterday to address a group of several hundred political and business leaders as well as members of the diplomatic corps at the RCBC Plaza on Ayala Avenue in Makati City on the dangers of neglecting the environment. "We should be worried about threats like terrorism, but we should also be worried about other more important threats...

A crowd of nearly 500 in the Library Theater in Park City, Utah, stayed on through a standing ovation and into the question-and-answer session as Al Gore — one Kentucky reporter actually addressed him as "Mr. President," to laughs and cheers — restated his warnings about the "planetary emergency," global warming. Gore is the star of a documentary entered in the Sundance Film Festival, An Inconvenient Truth, and all the questions were for him. The director, Davis Guggenheim, stood quietly to his left; a bit farther away was the woman who made the film happen, Hollywood Democratic power player Laurie...

I heard the news reports and then on CBS this morning they had the couple on the Early Show. Looking at the parents, it’s easy to see where the baby got its weight. The parents are obese and the baby is starting off that way. Why should we celebrate this and give them all this TV coverage? All three will be a drain to our health care system for years to come.

Been here five years as of today. It's been great fun so far. Thought I'd post a vanity to give everyone an opportunity to mess with me in a centralized location for a change.

The NHS in east Suffolk has announced that it will no longer perform hip or knee replacements on people classed as “obese”. Never mind that the definition it uses for obesity — a body mass index of 30 or higher — is increasingly discredited, and that a much more reliable way of measuring healthy weight is waist-to-hip ratio. (It should be 0.9 or less in men, and 0.85 or less in women; you can check it on www.healthstatus.com/calculate/whr ). A greater objection to this denial of treatment to fatties on account of their self-inflicted fatness is: where on earth do...