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Video @ link. A tourist was savagely beaten, stomped and spit on by a gang of over a dozen youths at the entrance to the Washington Hilton Hotel around 1 a.m. on July 14, according to Washington, D.C. police who released hotel surveillance video showing the brutal unprovoked attack. The Hilton–located about twelve blocks north of the White House at 1919 Connecticut Avenue and T Street, NW–is a key part of official Washington, playing host to presidents, foreign dignitaries, business and political gatherings including the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. It is also where President Ronald Reagan was shot...

Well, that time has come for me. I’m leaving FR. However, I do not consider this an “opus”, as I am NOT going to use it to rehash old slights or arguments, or to give my personal opinion of what “should be done around here”. As has been so often pointed out, this is Jim Robinson’s site, and he runs it as he sees fit. Rather, all I’m going to do here is give a general reason for my departure, and say a hearty-but-sad “GOODBYE!” to all the folks here who have enriched my life in the past four years....

If you only remember one thing about him, it’s this: Bob Hope has made more people laugh than anyone in human history. He’s the only comedian to have been, over the years, the Number One star in radio, in film, and then television, at a time when each of those media was at its highpoint. The Road pictures with Bing Crosby were the highest-grossing series in movie history till James Bond came along, his six decades with NBC hold the record for the longest contract in showbusiness, and his TV specials for the network remain among the most-watched programmes of...

I was going to write about the media’s manipulation of the facts with regard to the progress of the coalition’s mission in Iraq but then something really important came to pass. Something happened that created a moment for which we should stop, lament and pay some respect for certainly the respect is warranted. Hopefully, we can learn something from it, too. The other column can wait. Legendary comedian Bob Hope passed away late Sunday night at his home in Toluca Lake, California just outside Hollywood, a town that was built as much by him as anyone. He passed away just...

<p>Radio and TV outlets began playing Bob Hope's theme song early yesterday, as soon as news of his death became known. "Thanks for the Memories" is undoubtedly the headline of choice today for tributes to Hope, who was born in England and who died the most honored American entertainer in modern history. Still, it's worth remembering that Bob Hope's legacy is about a lot more than memories -- at least the kind suggested in those innocently romantic lyrics about lazy afternoons and the way we danced together.</p>

<p>Comedy legend Bob Hope, an American icon who traveled around the world entertaining troops and boosting their morale, died Sunday night at his home in California, just a few months after the world lauded him on his 100th birthday.</p> <p>"Today, America lost a great citizen," President Bush said. "Bob Hope made us laugh, and he lifted our spirits. Bob Hope served our nation when he went to battlefields to entertain thousands of troops from different generations."</p>

Bob Hope London, July 26, 1943 When the time for recognition of service to the nation in wartime comes to be considered , Bob Hope should be high on the list. This man drives himself and is driven. It is impossible to see how he can do so much, can cover so much ground, can work so hard, and can be so effective. He works month after month at a pace that would kill most people. Moving about the country in camps, airfields, billets, supply depots, and hospitals, you hear one thing consistently. Bob Hope is coming, or Bob Hope...

AMVETS Remembers 'Ambassador of Entertainment to America's Armed Forces' 7/28/03 5:13:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Francesca DiMarco or Richard Flanagan, 301-459-9600, both of AMVETS WASHINGTON, July 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "He really was one of us," said AMVETS National Commander W.G. "Bill" Kilgore of Bob Hope, on learning of the legendary entertainer's death yesterday at 100. The AMVETS leader went on to praise Hope for "his countless contributions to the morale of our men and women in uniform." Commenting on Hope, who always found time in his storied career to entertain the troops, Kilgore said, "He was...

THANK YOU BOB HOPE for all of our memories. Especially mine.Bob Hope, I will never forget you, because you touched my life at times that turned out to be some of my most important memories I have. As a young boy while growing up in Chicago's Little Italy, we had a city wide art contest, that offered the finalists a chance to be awarded our prize on stage at the downtown, Chicago Theater. It wasn't an everyday opportunity to get a chance to go to the grand old palace, where you got to watch the biggest movies of the day,...

Bob Hope: 1903-200307/28/2003By PHILIP WUNTCH / The Dallas Morning News Bob Hope, the vaudeville jokester turned pop-culture giant whose ski-slope profile cast a wry shadow over the 20th century and into the 21st, died late Sunday night, just two months after his 100th birthday. He died late Sunday of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, with his family at his bedside, longtime publicist Ward Grant told the Associated Press on Monday. From vaudeville venues to wartime USO stages, from big-screen Road tales opposite Bing Crosby to small-screen holiday specials opposite Brooke Shields, he kept America chuckling for nearly...

If you wonder why I'm here in Vietnam- well, Humphrey bumper stickers are a lot harder to get off than I thought. I liked the weather this morning. I took a brisk walk. It made me feel so good, tomorrow I may try it outside. At first I thought the Japanese people knew me when we arrived, but then someone explained that hissing is a national custom. And the Japanese people are so polite. I'm not used to all this bowing. I've been here five days and I haven't seen anyone's face yet. By the way the war's going doesn't...

<p>So many memories Bob Hope gave us. And in so many ways. The scrapbook of his life is nearly a one-man history of show business.On the road with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour to such exotic movie locales as Zanzibar and Bali, where men were boys, women wore sarongs and a ditty and a quip equaled a good time. On tour, lifting the spirits of the troops during World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and Desert Storm. For the 50th anniversary of World War II, he recalled the experience of performing for the injured in hospital wards: "The soldiers laughed and we yelled — to cover up the lumps constantly gathering in our throats." On those guilty-pleasure holiday TV specials that you could always count on arriving each year like toys under the Christmas tree. For more than 40 years, he appeared in silly skits, surrounded by the demi-celeb likes of Brooke Shields, Loni Anderson, Elke Sommer and sports stars. One the Academy Awards ceremony, where the 18-time host or co-host was always ready with a joke about never winning an Oscar for one of his own performances. Like this zinger from 1968: "Welcome to the Academy Awards, or, as it's known at my house, Passover."</p>

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