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This is where life imitates ... what exactly? What began two years ago with a quirky jump-pass in a college football game has evolved into this extraordinarily surreal life: communicating with heads of state, preaching to prisoners and, yes, circumcising children in a Third World country. All in one offseason. Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy in December, the first sophomore to do so. In the six months since, the Florida Gators' iconic 20-year-old quarterback has traveled more than 15,000 miles to be honored by 15 organizations in nine states. A devout Christian, he has spread the gospel all over...

NEW YORK - Norman Mailer, the pugnacious prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as "The Naked and the Dead" and "The Executioner's Song," has died at the age of 84. Mailer died Saturday of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital, J. Michael Lennon, the author's literary executor and biographer, said. "He was a great American voice," said a tearful Joan Didion, author of "The Year of Magical Thinking" and other works, struggling for words upon learning of Mailer's death. From his classic debut novel to such masterworks...

Mormon church helps public discover ancestors PLEASANTON ? Getting to know your ancestors now might come in handy when you meet them in the afterlife. This is part of the philosophy behind the popularity of genealogy with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "We believe that family is eternal, and it continues beyond the grave," said Nickie White, one of several regular volunteers at the Pleasanton Family History Center. The center, located adjacent to the Pleasanton church, is open to the public four days a week. The service is free, and volunteers are on hand to help with...

Seattle's median home price in January was the lowest it has been in a year, according to statistics released Wednesday. The median price of $379,990 was down from $420,000 in December, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. A seasonal decline is consistent with recent years, but Seattle's January median home price also was lower than King County's median -- a first since at least 2001. King County's median home price in January was up 8 percent from a year earlier, while the median for all 19 counties in the Northwest MLS was up 10.6 percent. "That's odd," Bob Melvey,...

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will return for his 17th season, Favre told the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., on Friday. "I am so excited about coming back," he told the newspaper. "We have a good nucleus of young players. We were 8-8 last year and that's encouraging.

Barack Obama visited New Hampshire, wowed the Democrats there and jumped up more than 20 points in the polls to a tie with Hillary Clinton, all of which means he could be in for it. “Where’s the beef?” more and more people will ask and already are asking, even including Gary Hart, the most famous political target of that withering inquiry. In 1984, when he was trying to wrest the Democratic nomination for president away from Walter Mondale, Hart talked endlessly about the need for new ideas, even though it was not apparent he had any. Mondale noticed as much,...

It happens to everyone who loves movies: You're in a conversation at a bar, or at a wedding, or online, and someone begins rhapsodizing about one of their favorite movies and you can't help but say, "Uh, that movie sucks. It's totally overrated." How two perfectly well-balanced individuals can have such drastically different views of the same film is one of the great wonders of being a film fanatic. It happens to us at Premiere all the time, enough so that sometimes we find ourselves questioning who we work with (boy, did it get ugly here when Love, Actually came...

Will the Broncos get an early Christmas present from Santa Claus Indiana?, QB Jay Cutler You can imagine what the sports media storm is like here in Colorado right now after the lackluster performance by the Denver Broncos offense last night in their 19 - 10 loss vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. An interesting fact about the Broncos first round draft choice from earlier this year, QB Jay Cutler is from Santa Claus, Indiana. 6 Jay Cutler, Quarterback Height: 6' 3" Weight: 233 lbs. College: Vanderbilt Born: in Santa Claus, Ind. Acquired: Draft #1 (11th overall), 2006 Pro Year: R...

THIS WEEK Top-ranked and unbeaten Ohio State returns home this week to conclude the regular season against second-ranked and unbeaten Michigan. This will be the second time this year that Buckeyes have been involved in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 clash. Ohio State was No. 1 and Texas No. 2 when the two teams met in Austin Sept. 9 in a game won 24-7 by coach Jim Tressel's Buckeyes. On the line this week are both undisputed possession of the Big Ten title and a spot in the Bowl Championship Series title game on Jan. 8, 2007. This week's...

If the Democratic National Convention failed to produce a bounce for John Kerry, the same cannot be said of Illinois State Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic Party’s candidate for United States Senator from Illinois. While this rising star in the Democratic Party spouted some conservative themes during his speech, the rhetoric may be deceptive. While Obama spoke of individual responsibility – such as stating that the government cannot teach kids to read, parents must – his ideology and voting record is quite different. Obama is very liberal. Among his campaign contributors are George Soros, People for the American Way, pro-abortion...

AUBURN, Ala., Oct. 14 — It can be a merciless existence in the Southeastern Conference, with a team’s schedule stacked with Top 25 opponents and fierce crowds of up to 107,000 people screaming from start to finish at a visiting squad. Given all that, it was not exactly surprising that No. 2 Florida, trying to stay in the national championship hunt, was finally taken down by the SEC gantlet here Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Gators were surrounded by a howling crowd of 87,541, which revved up the Auburn defense in the second half as the No. 11 Tigers...

"It is hereby declared to be the public policy of the city of New York to limit to no more than eight consecutive years the time elected officials can serve as mayor … so that elected representatives are ‘citizen representatives' who are responsive to the needs of the people and are not career politicians." — Section 1137 of the New York City Charter "Experience is the parent of wisdom," Alexander Hamilton wrote in 1788 while arguing against the temptation of term limits upon the presidency. The New Yorker, whose gravesite is within two blocks of Ground Zero, could have articulated...

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Rudy Rising His 9/11 legacy and 2008 prospects. By Deroy Murdock America’s still-vivid memories of that miserable morning five Septembers ago may be brightened by recollections of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s focused, confident performance on 9/11. The ongoing goodwill his leadership generated may explain why he outpaces his potential rivals for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Recent polls show Giuliani waxing on the right, regardless of any misgivings conservative GOP voters may have with him on abortion, gay rights, or gun control. Among 432 registered Republicans and pro-GOP independents who CNN and Opinion Research Corp. surveyed from August...

As far as I am concerned, the happiest days of the year began Saturday night with Notre Dame’s first game, down in Atlanta, against Georgia Tech. I just love to watch Notre Dame play football — hate when they lose. But win or lose, the next 12 weekends (I think there is an open date) are going to have a purpose and a center. I have a nephew, Joseph (Joe), who is just back from the Philippines, and in few months on his way to Indonesia — he works for the State Department. At the Sunday afternoon dinner (a family...

With the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaching, I thought it would be a good idea to check up on Rudy Giuliani. He is the last remaining political action figure from that tragedy, having left office at the top of his game, before anything like the Iraq war could tarnish him. After years of private-sector buck-raking, the mayor is back in campaign mode, traveling across the country to help Republican candidates and thinking about running for president. But is he ready for the brutality of a presidential race? This would be the week for him to practice savaging Democrats....

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Well-connected public figures report that they have been told recently by Rudolph Giuliani that, as of now, he intends to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. The former mayor of New York was on top of last month's national Gallup poll measuring presidential preferences by registered Republicans, with 29 percent. Sen. John McCain's 24 percent was second, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich third at 8 percent. National polls all year have shown Giuliani running either first or second to McCain, with the rest of the presidential possibilities far behind. Former New York City Mayor...

Scene queen Lindsay Lohan wants to entertain the troops in Iraq à la Marilyn Monroe - together with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I've been trying to go to Iraq with Hillary Clinton for so long - Hillary was trying to work it out, but it seemed too dangerous," spouts the freckle-faced "Freaky Friday" star in an off-the-wall interview in the upcoming edition of Elle magazine. "I wanted to do what Marilyn Monroe did, when she went and just set up a stage and did a concert for the troops all by herself. It's so amazing seeing that one woman just...

Yes, yes, yes, Michelle Wie should have the chance. That isn't the issue. As Jack Nicklaus was just saying: If you've got the game -- man, woman or child -- come on down and give it a shot for the U.S. Open. In the end, this isn't about the rights of the kid, but the responsibilities of the grown-ups to protect a prodigy for the long run. That she has the talent to make the cut in the U.S. Open sectional qualifier on Monday in Summit, N.J., isn't so much the concern than is if the ramifications of success and...

April 19, 2006 -- BLUE BELL, Pa. - Rudy Giuliani took a few swipes at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday while campaigning for a Republican senator. In a speech on behalf of Sen. Rick Santorum, Giuliani recalled that for most of his mayoralty, there was one Republican and one Democratic senator representing New York. MO< "[For] one year, I had Hillary," he mock-complained, drawing laughter. After a pause, he continued: "There's that book that just came out . . . [it] points out that one thing that Hillary and I do have in common: We're both Yankee fans. I became...

NEW YORK -- As the 25th anniversary of the attempted assassination of the late President Ronald W. Reagan approaches, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani remembers that day vividly. "The morning of March 30, 1981, the White House had a breakfast with the president," Giuliani tells me. He was awaiting Senate confirmation as associate attorney general. Reagan gave newly appointed officials "a talk about our role, and the importance of the administration, and the opportunity to change things," Giuliani says. The president eventually shifted from national affairs to the national pastime. He discussed players he admired and reminisced about...

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is the most popular politician in the United States, according to a national poll this week testing support for potential candidates in the 2008 presidential race. The survey of some 1,900 voters by the Quinnipiac Polling Institute asked respondents to rate several nationally known politicians on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher numbers reflecting higher regard. Giuliani topped the list, with an average score of 63.5 percent, followed by Democratic Senator Barack Obama, seen as one of his party's rising stars. Obama scored 59.9. In third place was maverick veteran Republican...

***** Any conservative who knows anything about Rudy Giuliani's social views knows he is not the man to lead the party in 2008, or ever. The press isn't acknowledging Giuliani's stance on these issues in its attempt to give liberal GOP candidates like Giuliani and Sen. John McCain a free ride. We need someone to lead the GOP on the major social issues of our day, in addition to fighting the War on Terror and keeping our economy on the right track.......Giuliani's socially liberal agenda would be, as Sager quotes in his NY Post column, "utterly unacceptable." Name Redacted Manhattan...

Political pundits have long discounted former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential prospects, claiming that his particular brand of tough-talking, socially moderate conservatism would never play south of the Mason-Dixon Line. But Rudy has never been one to listen to conventional wisdom, and lately at least, he has been turning up the heat in southern conservative political circles. In just the last week, he endorsed Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry for re-election and met with Evangelicals in Florida. Most impressively, he actually outpaced U.S. Senator John McCain in a just-released Georgia poll, garnering the support of 28 percent of...

MEXICO CITY - Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra will play for Mexico at the World Baseball Classic in March. Garciaparra, a native of Whittier, California, qualifies because of his Mexican parents, Mexican baseball league president Alejandro Hute said in a newspaper interview Saturday. Garciaparra, 32, played for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs before signing with Los Angeles.

Mariah Carey's "Don't Forget About Us" rose to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart, putting her in a tie with Elvis Presley for second place among artists with the most No. 1 singles in the rock era. Carey and Presley have 17 No. 1 hits, second only to the Beatles, who had 20.

Douglas Brinkley massages clinton numbers, ego + legacy at (clinton-was-an-utter-failure-containment-scheme-team) revisionist confab C-SPAN historians find no clinton "greatness" irrespective of moral-authority deficit   by Mia T, 11.10.05 Speaking on the opening day of a three-day conference at Hofstra University examining his presidency, Clinton challenged a statement by noted historian Douglas Brinkley, who opined that Clinton would be deemed a great president were it not for his impeachment. Bill Clinton, at Long Island conference, calls impeachment `egregious abuse' of Constitution FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press Writer clinton's ranking will likely get worse over time. Economic issues fade in importance over time....

(1010 WINS) (WASHINGTON) Rudolph Giuliani plans to return to politics, he said Wednesday, but argued it's too early to say if that will be for the 2008 presidential campaign. ``I think I'll return to politics,'' said Giuliani during a speech to credit card companies. Giuliani, dubbed ``America's Mayor,'' after his performance as New York City mayor during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has spent the years since working as a highly paid corporate executive and public speaker. The first question from audience members at a the gathering concerned his possible return to public office. Asked if he had any...

Robert N. Going, who volunteered at Ground Zero for several months following 9/11, believes that what the Gulf Coast needs is another Rudy Giuliani: All hell broke loose [in New York on 9/11]. They had emergency plans and equipment, but those got wiped out, too. What did it take, one maybe two seconds for him to improvise? By giving orders, he created order out of chaos. One just can't imagine the NYPD driving past thousands of dehydrating people and giving them no help, no information, no instructions, no water. How hard would it be for SOMEONE to tell the dispatchers...

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Thursday that he has not ruled out running for governor or president, but he offered no specifics on what his political future might hold. "I haven't ruled it out and I haven't ruled it in," a relaxed-looking Giuliani said Thursday at a news conference to announce a venture with a big Texas law firm. "I don't know the answer to that until the future." Giuliani, whose political stock soared as he led New York through the horror of the Sept. 11, 2001, assault on the World Trade Center, is a leader in national polls for...

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was so ill in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl that a teammate had to call a play in the huddle, center Hank Fraley said. "He fought to the end," Fraley told Comcast SportsNet on Monday. "He gave it his all. He was almost puking in the huddle. One play had to be called by (wideout) Freddie Mitchell because Donovan was mumbling because he was almost puking." Offensive lineman Jon Runyan also echoed Fraley's comments in the same interview aired on two local radio stations on Tuesday after the Comcast report. McNabb...

It looked like Donovan McNabb saved his jitters for the Super Bowl. McNabb spent the week telling jokes, being loose and insisting that he felt no pressure leading the Philidelphia Eagles versus the New England Patriots.But the five time pro bowl QB had a shaky performance in the most important game of his career Sunday, a 24-21 loss to the Patriots. McNabb turned the ball over three times, including crucial interceptions in the first and fourth quarters.McNabb misfired on several passes early, held the ball too long in other instance and made several poor decisions. One of the best scramblers...

Can someone post updates of the game for those of us still at work? I have a K on SC. Thanks Admin relocate as necessary

LOS ANGELES - The mirror-like, curving steel walls of the Walt Disney Concert Hall may soon lose some of their luster. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is considering whether to sandblast portions of the walls to reduce glare that has been blamed for blinding drivers and increasing heat in neighboring buildings. "It does get really, really warm in the summer," said Susan Yokoyama, co-owner of a video store near the hall. "It's like sitting in a sauna." After receiving complaints from a nearby homeowners group, the county hired consultants to work with architect Frank Gehry before the hall's...

Michael Moore doesn't want to admit it, but he thinks Republicans are very good at what they do. "They're up at the crack of dawn trying to figure out what minority group they want to prevent from getting married today," he said. "On our side, we never see the crack of dawn, because we've been up all night." Moore spoke to a sold-out Carrier Dome crowd last night as a part of the 2004 Syracuse Symposium: Humor. The audience of 10,000, however, wasn't only expecting a good laugh. "He's more than just funny," said Eric Holtzwarth, assistant dean of The...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As the founder of the groundbreaking rap group Public Enemy, Chuck D blended music and politics in hits like the 1989 anthem "Fight the Power." Now he's "rapping" about politics on Air America Radio, a new and unabashedly liberal radio network. His show "Unfiltered," which began this month in five markets, teams the rapper with comedian Lizz Winstead and radio veteran Rachel Maddow in a three-hour format that promises to examine the state of U.S. politics and culture. The 43-year-old musician is promising to put his unique stamp on the show, using it to revitalize black...

NEW YORK — Three black SUVs roar up to the corner of 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, in the heart of Harlem. People walking by stop and look. The car doors fly open, and men in suits jump out. Something is happening, but no one is sure what. Then Bill Clinton pops out of the lead Suburban and walks into Starbucks. And everyone starts shrieking. "Mr. Clinton's on 125th Street!" "God bless you, sir. I'm glad to see you here." "He lost some weight." "You're the best president I ever had!" "I voted for you twice!" Clinton turns back....

Congrats to K. State, Big 12 Champs. They spanked the pompous overrated Sooners 35-7 tonight in the Big 12 Championship game. Meanwhile USC and LSU continued to roll with big wins(52-28 and 34-13(with 3 minutes left, respectively.) No way should OU be chosen by the BCS to play in the Sugar Bowl, the pollsters and computers should drop them hard to at least #3(Michigan is probably better, but they do have 2 losses.) What a fraud the BCS is, can anyone reasonable prove that OU is better than LSU and USC, both of who have dominated late in the season?...

Got their butts kicked by Virginia Tech(themselves recently exposed as overrated) 31-7. That should shut up for a few days the orange blowhard bandwagoning fullofthemselves thugimage rapcrap pullyourpantsup snoopyappiyap loudmouth elements of the Cane fans. OBTW, nice sore loser cheap shots by the Miami bench late in the game after the interception. Spare me the baloney about how this is the "new" "cleaned up" Miami. They sure looked like the heavily penalized, trash talking, thuggish, gang bums of old, mixing it up after practically every play in the final 4 minutes. Think I'm piling on? Watch media favorite Miami hardly...

Every one with the truth is banned at this waste of internet. HAH! Bunch of Republican butt kissers. Do you think that is where the truth is. I am proud to know what is right and to say it, not just kiss up to to Jim and the GOP. Your arrogance will be your downfall, just like Soddom and Gomorrha. I am outa here but good.

Title says it all. This is no surprise, just par for his defense in a big game. The offense can't and shouldn't have to do it all on a national championship-caliber team. Auburn could shut down Arkansas's offense, in AR, but UT couldn't at home. Yeah, yeah, big win(barely) for us against K-State(in Austin), which OSU just replicated. Wow, we are as good as OSU, bring on the Sears Trophy. Once again, the vaunted Carl Reese defense is being shredded. Rename them 'Reeses Pieces', because there is nothing solid about them. At least Mack Brown adjusted (so far) and brought...

Eagles 27, Skins 25 PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Eagles wouldn't let the Washington Redskins pull out another close victory. Patrick Ramsey overthrew Laveranues Coles on a 2-point conversion with 13 seconds left, and the Eagles beat the Redskins 27-25 on Sunday. Ramsey rallied Washington from an 11-point deficit in the final 3:10, connecting with Darnerien McCants on a 32-yard touchdown pass in the final seconds. But under pressure from Brandon Whiting, Ramsey hurried his throw to Coles in the corner of the end zone and the ball sailed over Coles' head. After John Hall's fourth field goal, a 53-yarder,...

CBS Says McNabb Tops 'Overrated' List CBS Says McNabb Tops 'Overrated' List Will the thought police force CBS off the air along with Rush Limbaugh? They'll try if they have any consistency at all, which, of course, they don't. An alert reader today sent us a most fascinating column written by CBS SportsLine.com senior writer Pete Prisco back on Sept. 18. McNabb was the choice as the most overrated player before his Stink at the Linc on Sunday. McNabb was awful in the Eagles' 31-10 loss to the Patriots, which dropped the Eagles to a surprising 0-2 heading into their...

That's it. I don't give a flying fig if Texas comes back(its 28-14 right now.) Fire the fickle folding fraud that is Mack Brown. Once again, he's couldn't prepare his team for the big game. Once again outcoached. Once again overhyped. Once again his team can't run. Once again his defense is shredded. Once again he ignored an offseason opportunity to replace his coaches who have used smoke and mirrors and early high rankings to fool the media into thinking his team would finally be better than what they are. Same ol' sham. Arkansas first truly exposed the fraud that...

Panel Delays Moose's PayMontgomery Seeks Details on Legal SettlementBy Matthew Mosk and Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, August 7, 2003; Page B01 Montgomery County is withholding former police chief Charles A. Moose's final paycheck while the county Ethics Commission seeks more details about a legal settlement he listed as income on his 2003 financial disclosure form, county officials said. Moose is asking to keep confidential the source and amount of the money he and his wife received before his resignation June 28. The payment was mentioned on forms made public by the commission last week. The forms do...

<p>Let me explain. Sure, I understand Elvis' historical significance. He came along at a time when popular music meant Patti Page and Perry Como, and his (then) new-fangled fusion of country and R&B effectively introduced what would become known as rock & roll to mainstream America. A lot of his early records are still exciting (thanks largely to the great sidemen he had playing with him). Props are due.</p>