The world’s richest man is finally opening up about his complicated love life.

Warren Buffett, whose shrewd investing has swelled his Berkshire Hathaway assets to nearly $278 billion, reveals in a new biography that “the biggest mistake I ever made” was letting his late wife, Susie, walk out the door of their Omaha home.

Buffett, 78, who spent thousands of hours talking with author Alice Schroeder for her engrossing book “The Snowball,” admits he gave Susie plenty of reasons to leave.

One was Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post and Newsweek. Graham, a 59-year-old widow, was smitten with the investment genius, then 46. When not trotting around the country “on business,” they holed up at her Martha’s Vineyard mansion. Rather than hide her flirtation, Graham would toss her house key to Buffett at parties.

Schroeder writes that Susie “made it plain to several friends that she was furious and humiliated,” but sent Graham a letter granting her permission to date her husband. “Kay showed the letter to people as though it let her off the hook,” writes Schroeder.

When Buffett was at home, he spent most of his time in his study. Telling one of her friends he was an “iceberg,” Susie began a romance with her tennis coach, John McCabe. Then, in 1977, after falling in love with the arts scene in San Francisco, she informed Warren that she was buying a small apartment there. McCabe followed.

Meanwhile, Susie, expecting that Warren would fall apart without a woman to look after him, arranged for attractive blond Astrid Menks to cook and clean for him. She eventually moved into his house. Susie and Warren never divorced. After her death in 2004, he married Menks.

Buffett tells Schroeder that Susie’s departure “was preventable. It was definitely 95% my fault. … I just wasn’t attuned enough to her, and she’d always been perfectly attuned to me. She kept me together for a lot of years. … It shouldn’t have happened.”

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Lindsay Lohan wants Barak Obama to win. Barak wants to win. Which creates an issue because I think Barak would prefer that Lindsay support McCain. This weekend, Lindsay referred to Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, as a media obsessed whore. That’s just classy. It’s important to note that I would hit it with both Palin and Lohan.

However, a top source in the Barack Obama team tells me the actress ”is not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us.”
Given Lohan’s past problems, plus ongoing brushes with controversy, I’ve learned the campaign quietly told the actress ”thanks, but no thanks,” but in far more diplomatic terms.

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After having famously joked at her party’s convention, “You know what they say about the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick,” what sort of lipstick does Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin prefer?

The Insider spoke to Palin’s closest friends and found out, uncovering these five (more) things you may not know about her:

• She’s frugal. “Sarah gave me a thank-you card after I helped her with her lieutenant-governor race,” said her friend, Kristen Cole, who has known the Alaska governor since childhood. “She liked the card so much that she didn’t sign it so I could give it to someone else.”

• She’s a techie. Palin prefers texting to phone calls.

• She’s a rock fan. She named her son Trig Paxton Van Palin because it sounds like the band Van Halen. Says friend Judy Patrick, a former city council member who has known Palin for 12 years, “How cool was that to have a kid named Van Palin?”

• She’s adaptable. Palin used to wear Mary Kay lipstick, but she now prefers MAC.

• She’s a traditionalist. Palin is against waxing. Cole recalls: “I remember that one of her girls wanted to get her legs waxed, and Sarah said, ‘Are you kidding me? What’s wrong with a razor?’ ”

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I know, I know, it sounds like a joke right? Well, apparently it really isn’t a joke. Bill Richardson, the current Governor of New Mexico and mandated by term limits to step down in 2011 thinks that Val Kilmer would be the best choice as his replacement. Although they have only talked it about superficially, Richardson said, “I like the idea. Val Kilmer is a New Mexican, he was Batman. You know there have been successful actors going into politics. I don’t know how serious he is, but you know if he jumps in a race he’s got name ID, so it can’t be discounted.”Well, one thing is for sure, Val would make sure that fast food was subsidized for everyone. I think Val is in some kind of unwritten competition with me to see who can get the biggest. Goodness he has ballooned up nicely.

I’m trying to picture Val as a Governor. I know he does some charity work in New Mexico and involved with some animal rescue groups there. He really doesn’t have a film career anymore, but at the same time is a big enough star where he would bring some attention to the state. Plus, he could set up some kind of video system outside the Governor’s mansion and just play Top Secret and Real Genius on some kind of loop. Oh, and I’m sure Tom Cruise would be happy to come lend a hand and he and Katie will walk door to door telling people to vote for Val and offering a free stress test at the same time.

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THE REV. Jesse L. Jackson has checked into Northwestern Memorial Hospital reportedly with severe gastric distress and undergoing tests. Get well soon.

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Todd Palin, the husband of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was arrested and charged with DUI in 1986, according to CBN News columnist David Brody.

According to Brody’s report, Todd was 22-years-old and dating Sarah at the time of his arrest, which allegedly occurred in Dillingham, Alaska. There was no accident or injuries according to Brody.

Citing sources close to Sarah, Brody reported that Todd has been “forthcoming about the situation and has indicated that it was a lesson learned from when he was younger.”

Todd, 43, is s veteran oil-field worker and commercial fisherman. Sarah refers to her husband as the “The First Dude.”

The Palin’s announced their 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five-months pregnant in a statement to Reuters on Monday.

“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us,” the Palin’s said.

“Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support,” the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple’s privacy.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates,” the statement concluded.

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Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin’s high school sweetheart, and father of her unborn baby may not be ready for fatherhood just yet.

Bristol, the 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, is five-months pregnant.

Palin announced the pregnancy in a statement to Reuters on Monday. She also used the occasion to reveal Bristol and Levi’s marriage plans. She said, “Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.”

The New York Post reports that although Levi admits to being ‘in a relationship’ on his personal My Space page, the teen hockey player makes the candid revelation that he does not want to be a parent stating, “I don’t want kids.”

The teen also uses the site to talk openly about how he likes to spend his time. He boasts, “I’m a f - - -in’ redneck who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes. But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some s- - - and just f - - -in’ chillin’ I guess.”

He warns, “Ya f - - - with me I’ll kick [your] ass.”

McCain announced Palin as his running mate on Friday.

The 44-year-old, who is expected to be a grandmother by Christmas, will be the first woman nominated by the Republican Party to run on a national ticket.

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Ashley Judd and Jamie Fox

Chevy Chase and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

Ashley Judd and Alan Cumming

Matthew Modine

Dana Delany and Josh Lucas

Susan Sarandon and Dana Delany

Fran Drescher

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TEXAS oilman T. Boone Pickens, a leading advocate for alternative energy sources, told a tale out of school yesterday about Rudy Giuliani at an energy summit in Las Vegas. While acting as an adviser to Giuliani’s failed presidential campaign, Pickens recalled, he warned the candidate not to make promises he couldn’t keep about weaning the US off foreign oil. “I said, ‘Please do not get up and say you’re going to be energy independent because you can’t produce that,’ ” Pickens related. “That’s going to take time and a lot of planning to do. He said, ‘OK, OK, I got you.’ ” Two weeks later, Pickens said, Giuliani announced that he’d make the nation energy independent if he became president. “I [had] told him by the time you get to November of ‘08 you will be this deep in energy problems and it will be the No. 1 issue. I did get that right on the time. I didn’t get it right on Giuliani.”

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Those picture of George W Bush playing volleyball with the U.S. Women’s Beach Volleyball were too funny not to post. I think that is the happiest I have seen him since he became President!

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Apparently if you have sex with a politician or if you have sex with the person who is having sex with the politician you get hush money. Now, I’m not sure if you would get more than couple of Dairy Queen coupons if you are having sex with a local County Recorder, but if you have sex with a presidential candidate, then, well you are set.

In one of the most ridiculous things I have read in a long time, Fred Baron, who was the former finance chairman for Edwards gave several million dollars to Rielle Hunter and bought her a mansion in California just to keep her quiet. Baron said that Edwards never knew about the hush money. Uh huh. So, apparently Edwards was convinced she had won the lottery or something because she never really had any money and lived on the east coast. So, soon after the affair ended, she turns up in California flush with cash and a new place to live.

But wait, it gets better. Andrew Young who is the guy who decided to admit he was the father of Hunter’s baby also got relocated to California and got cash to keep quiet. Now, why was he keeping quiet? Because he had a baby with Hunter? Or maybe it was a payoff for saying the baby was his, because the first story doesn’t make any sense. If they were paying him to keep quiet about the affair, then there would have had to have been a whole bunch more people to be paid off. You think only Hunter and Edwards and Young knew about it? Maybe there is a whole subdivision out here somewhere that has everyone who knew about the affair. They have little get togethers with the next subdivision who is filled with people who had sex with members of Congress.

How does Edwards not see that his former mistress is living in California and then all of a sudden another former member of his campaign is also living in California and they are both stinking rich.

No one wants to involve themselves in hush money because that is how you go to jail. Did both of the recipients report the income? How did Baron document the expense? Where did the money come from? What was Baron going to get out of it and from whom? Did he get something?

I don’t understand why everyone continues to lie when a story breaks. It is all going to come out, so just tell the truth. It’s like they enjoy the bandage being slowly ripped off as it pulls hair and the scab right along with it. Oh, it also allows Elizabeth Edwards to add to her misery on a daily basis instead of just for a few days.

Oh, and did you hear this lovely rumor? When the diagnosis was made of Elizabeth Edwards, allegedly John Edwards wouldn’t let her discuss her alternatives with her doctor. Instead he made the treatment decisions for her, and chose to just let it eat away at her instead of aggressively fighting it when there was a chance. Rumor? Sure? Thinking of himself? Seems more likely now huh?

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A former presidential aide claims in a lawsuit that plot and marketing elements of the Kevin Costner and Kelsey Grammer movie “Swing Vote” were stolen from him.

Political commentator Bradley Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to President Bush for appointments and scheduling, said in the lawsuit filed Thursday that he gave a copyrighted screenplay entitled “Go November” to Grammer in 2006.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Long Island, claims Grammer agreed to develop the project and star as an incumbent Republican president but ended up portraying a similar role in “Swing Vote,” which was released Aug. 1.

A spokesman for Grammer and his production company, both named in the lawsuit, dismissed the claims as frivolous.

“I am not sure why Kelsey was even named in this suit,” spokesman Stan Rosenfield wrote in an e-mail. “He was an actor who signed on to the project AFTER the script was written.”

Blakeman’s lawsuit, however, claims the former “Cheers” and “Frasier” actor told him to consult a producer who later told him repeatedly that they were interviewing potential screenwriters and planned to go ahead with the project.

The lawsuit claims Blakeman’s screenplay shared a basic premise with “Swing Vote,” although it focused on an election hinging on multiple swing voters instead of one swing voter.

Blakeman claims “Swing Vote” incorporated other elements that he proposed, including: the timing of the film’s release, the use of real-life newscasters as actors playing themselves, the use of dirty tricks by both major political parties, marketing strategies and other plot points.

“Essentially, except for the character names and the relationship developed between the main characters played by defendant Kevin Costner and his daughter, the entire concept of ‘Swing Vote’ … was taken from the copyrighted work,” Blakeman’s lawsuit claims.

The Walt Disney Co. is named as a defendant in the suit, as is Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group Inc. and Disney division Touchstone Pictures, which distributed “Swing Vote.” Costner and the writers of “Swing Vote” also are among those named.

Spokeswomen for Disney and for distributor Treehouse Films said they hadn’t seen the lawsuit and wouldn’t comment. A spokesman for Costner, who helped finance the movie, said the “Dances with Wolves” and “Field of Dreams” actor was on vacation and couldn’t be reached.

Blakeman’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

Grammer was hospitalized in New York in late July after feeling faint, which Rosenfield said was possibly due to his heart medication. Grammer suffered a mild heart attack in late May.

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If Prince Charles spent less time nattering to rhododendrons and more chatting to the great unwashed, he might have known who Dita Von Teese was.

And he would have saved himself from the undignified pickle of accidentally booking an erotic dancer for his own son’s birthday bunfight in September.

The generously-eared royal met the gothic flasher at the toff-infested Cartier International Polo Tournament at the Guards Club in Windsor, London.

Charmed by her alabaster assets, he asked what she did for a living and Dita, 35, replied: “I’m a dancer.”

This vague job description failed to convey that her act involves giving a rhythmic biology lesson in a giant martini glass and doing the sort of things to a massive olive which are illegal in most countries.

Perhaps buoyed by the sun and Pimms and presuming her performance involved a cheeky Charleston, Chazza invited her to perform at Prince Harry’s 24th birthday.

Our man said: “Poor Charles was so embarrassed when he realised what he’d done. He genuinely had no idea about her raunchy stage act.

“She was stunned when he suggested the idea, explaining that his son loved a good dance.

“But he gnawed his fist to within an inch of its knuckle when his aides explained what sort of dancing she did for a living.”

We’re sure Prince Harry will forgive his old man when the burlesque performer toasts his big day with a giant glass of champagne garnished with her own breasties.

Talking of Harrys, Harry Potter star Emma Watson, 18, was at the posh party.

The saucy beggar spent the evening with her head cocked to one side while Prince William lookalike Francis Boulle poured oily words of seduction into her ear.

Later that night, young Francis entertained Emma by making unsavoury human organs from the balloons in the Chinawhite Tent.

Fortunately Charles didn’t see, or Harry’s bash would probably be adorned with penis-shaped decorations.

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Will Dan Quayle be putting on his dancing shoes? The former Vice President of the United States is “on the short list” of potential stars for the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars,” according to online sources.

While no official cast names have been announced, celebs rumored to be under consideration include socialite Kim Kardashian and former boy bander, Lance Bass. An official announcement will soon be made on “Good Morning America.”

Quayle served as Veep under the first George Bush, and is best remembered for incorrectly correcting a spelling bee contestant’s spelling of “potato” to “potatoe.”
Season 7 of “Dancing with the Stars” premieres September 22nd on ABC.

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AS much as the Bush family is going to hate “W.,” Oliver Stone’s biopic - which depicts the young Dubya boozing, brawling and getting locked up before he makes it to the White House - the Kennedy clan won’t like it, either.

The first teaser for the flick - being rushed into theaters 18 days before the presidential election - begins with George Thorogood’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.”
Josh Brolin, as the future commander in chief, is seen doing the bump with a hot blonde on top of a bar and then winning a drinking contest by guzzling beer through a funnel. He’s also seen being hauled into jail.

Bush’s dad, George H.W. Bush, portrayed by James Cromwell, slams his son’s bad behavior and failed business ventures, raging: “What are you cut out for? Partying? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? Who do you think you are, a Kennedy? You’re a Bush. Act like one!” Then father and son nearly come to blows as the elder threatens, “You want an ass whipping?” - to which Dubya taunts, “Try it, old man!”

In Stone’s version of history, an insider says, “It’s like the ‘Godfather’ story, [with] the outsider brother, Michael, who avenges his father and takes over the family business. This movie is about family. It’s about vengeance. And it’s a wild ride.”

Stone trivializes the US invasion of Iraq as the younger Bush’s personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein, who had thumbed his nose at Dubya’s dad. “And Brolin captures the Bush malapropisms beautifully,” the insider said. But the director also shows his marriage to Laura Bush (Elizabeth Banks) as “a touching love story.”
In a crucial scene, the Bush family tells Dubya he can’t run for Texas governor “because it’s Jeb’s turn.” He defies their wishes and runs successfully against Democratic superstar Ann Richards, serving at the same time his brother Jeb is Florida governor.

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