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SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Author Terry McMillan has filed for divorce from the man who inspired the 1996 novel "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," which chronicled the romantic adventures of a 40-something woman who falls for a guy half her age. In papers filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court, McMillan, 53, says she decided to end her 6 1/2-year marriage to Jonathan Plummer, 30, after learning he is gay. The revelation led her to conclude Plummer married only to get his U.S. citizenship, she said. McMillan met Plummer at a Jamaican resort a decade ago.

      HOME     The Japan Times Printer Friendly Articles THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF The Red emperor's new clothesLatest study on Mao exposes the true scale of his oppression By KEVIN RAFFERTY MAO, THE UNKNOWN STORY, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. Jonathan Cape, 2005, 814 pp., £25 (cloth). It is savagely ironic that just when China is viciously attacking Japan for trying to rewrite its history, here is a book that claims that the whole official history of the revered founding father of Communist China is a myth written to cover up the evil of a monster....

June 14, 2005An end to the party lineA physician lauds the decision -- and the prospect of more private careDAVID GRATZER I've often wondered about what ran through Jacques Chaoulli's mind when he addressed the Supreme Court of Canada. Standing there, in front of the justices, sharing the room with numerous lawyers, most opposed to his position.I've met him once before. Some years ago, I was invited to a dinner that he attended. My host told me a bit about Chaoulli before the evening -- that he was passionate about changing Canada's health care system. It would prove to...

Cage the monsters Thursday, April 14th, 2005 Once again, with the same savage thrust that it always has, youth gang violence has erupted in murder and assault. On a Bronx subway platform, a 17-year-old student from DeWitt Clinton High School was murdered by a group of knuckleheads. That much is clear: the boy is dead; the murderers were knuckleheads. At this point, however, we cannot so easily assume that these young men, who used machetes to express their barbaric limitations, are the victims of poverty, single-parent households, drink and drugs. All of those things might be in there somewhere, but...

Does anyone out there remember Piels beer?  Bob McAllister’s Wonderama or Quisp cereal?  How about Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” nature show and K-Tel records?  Surely, a few of you remember some, if not all, of these once-popular and everyday elements that were once considered by most as indisputable props of Americana. But do you remember the senator from Vermont, Jim Jeffords?

Editor's Notes: Disengagement's architect David Horovitz, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 25, 2004 I don't know what motivated Eival Gilady, until recently the head of the IDF's Strategic Planning Division, to readily answer almost every question I asked him when we found ourselves seated side-by-side at a Foreign Ministry lunch for visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Wednesday. As a rule, Gilady barely speaks to the media. But over the salmon and avocado, on through the steak, and into the fruit and chocolate dessert, answer he did. And since Brig.-Gen. Gilady is the man who, well over two years ago,...

Magazine casts sex scandal spellWed December 01, 2004 04:36 AM ET By Peter Graff LONDON (Reuters) - A 175-year-old, right-wing political journal may not sound all that sexy. But an irresistible romantic mojo is bubbling away at one august publication, causing havoc in the Houses of Parliament. In a country where adultery and politics sometimes seem to go together like fish and chips, everyone is wondering, what on earth is so sexy about The Spectator? For those who have lost track of the bedroom antics of the political elite, The Spectator is the magazine at the centre of no...

The latest electoral vote projection from Slate, a known bunch of liberal, whiners, has Bush routing Kerry 348-190. Check the map.

Draft Dodgers Monument Ditched After Outcry Sunday, October 03, 2004 Plans for a bronze monument honoring American draft dodgers in Nelson, British Columbia, have been scrapped. The mayor of Nelson, who initially said his town was the right place for the "Our Way Home" festival and statue, has changed his tune. "We don't want to do controversial monuments in the city of Nelson, that's the bottom line. If this does not have wide community support, then we don't want to create controversy within the city," Mayor Dave Elliott told FOX News. The monument might have avoided conflict if it were...

  Censoring a voice of reason His critics say he is vulgar -- but Jeff Fillion's real 'crime' was that he dared skewer Quebec's sacred cows   Frederick Tetu National Post Thursday, July 22, 2004 QUEBEC CITY - If it were only a question of good taste versus bad taste -- to be resolved on the basis of the half-dozen or so excerpts plucked from Jeff Fillion's program and circulated in the national press -- then the question of whether the CRTC was right to close down Quebec City's CHOI radio station would appear to be justified.But there is...

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com Forget fluff, focus on jihad Thursday, July 15th, 2004 The constant discussion of John Kerry and John Edwards in superficial, gossip-column terms may result in their soon being called John & John or J & J, but it will not change something that we have to keep our eyes on, here and abroad. The Islamic extremists bent on waging holy war will not disappear. They are intent on destroying secular governments and turning the clock back to a time when the worshipers of Allah ran what was then considered the world. One can...

    STOP HARPER!JOIN Sarah McLachlan, Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace), Sum 41, Avril Lavigne, Treble Charger, Sarah Harmer, Sarah Polley and other prominent Canadian artists in opposing Stephen Harper. As a prominent artist we need your name on this statement of concern!  Canada is sleepwalking into the election of Prime Minister George Bush! He is a Conservative Culture Killer and we need your help to stop Stephen Harper NOW! Anyone interested in canadian culture, should read the Globe and Mail article: Tories set to bring CRTC duties in-house - 21st June 2004 "I also don't think this is...

Jun. 19, 2004. 01:00 AM Filmmaker Michael Moore Moore warns of swing to the rightHarper would `like this to be 51st State'Filmmaker hopes his movie sways vote PETER HOWELLMOVIE CRITIC Firebrand filmmaker Michael Moore hopes his controversial new work Fahrenheit 9/11 will help stop Conservative Leader Stephen Harper from becoming Prime Minister, along with throwing U.S. President George W. Bush out of office.Moore came to Toronto last night for the Canadian premiere of his Palme d'Or-winning film, which opens in theatres June 25 and which scorches the Bush administration for its handling of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the U.S.-led wars...

« Rock On | Main Jun 09 Fat Cats and Slim Canaries Wed 01:54 PM Sitting at “D—All Things Digital” listening to former Dean campaign consultant Joe Trippi talk – whine, really – about how no one in the party was listening to him, to his message, to his tech guys, you could glimpse a look of quiet satisfaction pass across Republican organizer Ralph Reed’s face. You could almost the feathers drift softly to the ground at Reed’s feet as the cat swallowed the canary. Gulp! There go the swing voters! Trippi’s complaint – that Democrats within the established parts...

French move the goalposts in attempt to halt plunge in wine salesPlan to create Gallic premier league in 'appellation' system shakeup may not be enough to match success of New World brands Jon Henley in Paris Saturday May 1, 2004The Guardian France's winemakers are planning to create a premier league of wines as part of revolutionary changes designed to haul the country's most emblematic industry out of its deepest crisis in nearly 150 years. As consumption of French wines plummets at home and abroad, radical reforms are being proposed to the trademark "AOC" - appellation d'origine controlée - system on...

Inquiry and Analysis Series - No. 171 April 20, 2004 No.171 Reactions in the Arab Media to 'The Passion of the Christ'By: Aluma Dankowitz* Mel Gibson's film 'The Passion of the Christ,' now being screened in the Arab world, has become a hit among the Arab public, and among some Arab leaders. For example, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat called it "moving and historical," [1] and Lebanese President Emil Lahoud praised it as "an objective production … that relied on the scriptures of the New Testament." [2] From an Islamic point of view, the film presents two fundamental problems:...

Washington, April 9, 2004. A hush fell over the city as George W. Bush today became the first president of the United States ever to be removed from office by impeachment. Meeting late into the night, the Senate unanimously voted to convict Bush following a trial on his bill of impeachment from the House. Moments after being sworn in as the 44th president, Dick Cheney said that disgraced former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice would be turned over to the Hague for trial in the International Court of Justice as a war criminal. Cheney said Washington would "firmly resist" international...

Morocco has always prided itself on being the liberal face of Islam, but that was before the men in beards took control of the big city slums. And before the suicide bombing in Madrid. Andrew Hussey reports from Casablanca on the country's slide towards fundamentalism Sunday April 4, 2004 The Observer The early evening drinkers in the Don Quichotte bar, a lowlife den near the docks of Casablanca, are a fairly relaxed bunch. Even the prostitutes are friendly and unhurried, settling in a group at the end of the bar where they smoke and chat among themselves. Although Morocco, a...

  Guns needed for defence judge: Government officials ordered to award firearms licence to suicidal alcoholic   Gordon Kent The Edmonton Journal Tuesday, March 16, 2004 EDMONTON - Ordinary Canadians need guns to defend themselves from wild animals or from "homicidal rapists or robbers," says an Alberta judge who ordered government officials to grant a firearms licence to a woman they thought was a suicidal alcoholic.People living in "the coniferous forests of rural Canada" are sometimes killed by bears and cougars if they don't have guns to protect themselves, provincial court Judge Don Demetrick said in a written judgment...

<p>One man was killed and another wounded Tuesday afternoon when a shooting between two groups of men sent sun worshippers diving for cover at San Francisco's crowded Ocean Beach.</p> <p>Witnesses described how the two groups -- who police believe are gangs from Daly City and Oakland -- clashed in the beach's parking lot along the Great Highway at 3 p.m. Those in the larger group of five or six men pulled out a knife and a screwdriver, and then a gun, to attack the smaller group of three men.</p>