The King of Pop had a fan in the White House.

President Barack Obama described himself as a longtime follower of Michael Jackson, the legendary performer who died June 25 at age 50.

“I grew up on his music - still have all his stuff on my iPod,” Obama said in an AP interview Thursday, adding that Jackson “will go down in history as one of our greatest entertainers.”

At the time of his death, the pop icon was preparing a series of comeback concerts to overcome years of sexual scandal and financial calamity - a troubled history the president acknowledged without naming specifics.

“I think that his brilliance as a performer also was paired with a tragic and, in many ways, sad personal life,” Obama said.

He expressed pleasure that the public is celebrating Jackson for his talents, instead of dwelling on his personal tragedies.

“I’m glad to see that he is being remembered primarily for the great joy that he brought to a lot of people through his extraordinary gifts as an entertainer.”

The president said he didn’t see any controversy in the fact that he did not issue a formal public statement upon Jackson’s death, and said he was unaware of any dissatisfaction in the black community with his response.

“I know a lot of people in the black community,” Obama said. “I haven’t heard that.”

Obama added that Thursday’s interview was the first time he had been asked about Jackson’s death.

(source)

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There is a whole lot of Michael Jackson. It’s crazy. I could really write about it all day and never touch the same topic twice. The problem is that this will be going on for a few months and if I write five posts daily on Michael everyone will be sick of it when actual real news comes along and not the figments of the imagination of tabloid editors.

So, with that in mind I wanted to find other juice to discuss and it was either how the Academy is going to screw over the one part of the show everyone likes by not having a Best Song category every year or we could talk about John Edwards and how he gets more pathetic by the second. The Oscars decided that songs were being given awards based on how well they sold and not by how they contributed to the movie and so from now on when voters vote if no song receives a high enough score, the Academy just won’t include the award that year. Huh?

The reason some people watch the show is to see the actual singer perform the song that goes with the movie. There is usually some great drama about it also. I have no idea what the Academy is thinking, but they are getting more and more f**ked up.

Speaking of f**ked up, one of John Edwards’ aides and the other choice for father of the baby, Andrew Young just signed a book deal with a publisher. According to the NY Daily News, Andrew tells a lot. He says that John and Rielle Hunter made a sex tape and then left it in a box where Andrew found it. Andrew also says that John & Rielle wanted to get married when Elizabeth died and even discussed what music to play at the wedding. I know, I know. This is some good stuff and just throws even more on to the how disgusting is Edwards pile.

On the political side, the book says that Edwards and Kerry disliked each other and that until Edwards affair became public knowledge that he was going to be the VP candidate of Obama or Attorney General.

(source)

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Bill and Hillary Clinton are thinking about trading up to a bigger house.

It’s not that Madame Secretary and the former President dislike their place in Chappaqua. But the former First Couple aren’t immune to this buyer’s market.

“Yeah, they’ve been looking around,” a close Clinton pal tells us. “There are huge opportunities now. There are some really massive estates that are incredibly cheap. Plus, it’s a fun way to spend a weekend.”

The last time the Clintons house-hunted, their Brown Harris broker, Kathy Sloane, visited 91 houses in seven counties before they found a place. Sloane declined to comment on whether they’re shopping again. But friends think that this time, the couple wants to stay in Westchester County.

“Westchester is a key battleground in any statewide election,” says another pal. “If Hillary were to leave Westchester, it would be like announcing she’s not going to run again.”

Insiders scoff at speculation that the Clintons are interested in upstate Woodstock. But the ex-President is fond of the town, especially because his Grammy-winning Arkansas buddy, Levon Helm, lives there. The last time the ex-Prez was passing through, we hear, he called up the former Band drummer, but apparently someone at Levon’s studio thought it was a prank.

P.S.: Bill ought to stop by one of the Midnight Ramble performances in Levon’s beautiful barn recording studio, where his sidemen have included Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, John Hiatt and Ricky Skaggs.

(source)

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LARRY Summers, President Obama’s chief economic adviser who conked out in public at two high-profile events earlier this year, did it again, our sources said. Summers nodded off at an economic summit in February and at a meeting with credit card industry officials in the White House in April. Photos of him dozing so embarrassed Obama, he quipped at the White House Correspondents dinner, “Larry Summers needs his sleep.” Now, our insider reports, “Larry fell asleep last week during a private meeting with the president. Thank God, no reporters were there.” A rep for the White House declined to comment.

(source)

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Prince Harry, the fun-loving British royal, is coming to New York for a whirlwind 36-hour tour sure to get tongues wagging and girls swooning.

The recently single royal has made headlines for his raucous exploits and romantic liaisons, but this will be a more somber visit.
He will visit Ground Zero and meet 9/11 families and wounded veterans.

He will be joined by Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in a visit to the nonprofit Harlem Children’s Zone before playing in the Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic on Governors Island.

(source)

• PRINCE HARRY BUILDS SOUTH AFRICA HOMES
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Today, for the first time ever, Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined daytime host Martha Stewart in-studio for a special taping of “THE MARTHA STEWART SHOW.” The hour long episode, which is slated to air Wednesday, May 13th (syndicated, check local listings), is dedicated to what has been called the greatest city in the world – New York City.

In front of an audience filled with those who keep the bustling city running, from street vendors to taxi drivers to doormen, Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped Martha prepare oatmeal raisin cookies. Martha was also joined in studio by: documentary filmmaker and writer, Ric Burns; the winner of this year’s street vendor competition, Calexico; and garden designer Lynden B. Miller who has turned some of New York’s public gardens into a special green oasis. Viewers will also enjoy a performance by underground subway string band, Ebony Hillbillies. Plus, studio audience members will enjoy a gift presented by Broadway’s own Mary Poppins!

(source)

• Martha Says Size Does Matter on New Edition of “The Martha Stewart Show”
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A “friend” of Vice President Joseph Biden’s daughter, Ashley, is attempting to hawk a videotape that he claims shows her snorting cocaine at a house party this month in Delaware.

The anonymous male acquaintance of Ashley took the video, said Thomas Dunlap, a lawyer representing the seller.

Dunlap and a man claiming to be a lawyer showed The Post about 90 seconds of 43-minute tape, saying it was legally obtained and that Ashley was aware she was being filmed. The Post refused to pay for the video.

The video, which the shooter initially hoped to sell for $2 million before scaling back his price to $400,000, shows a 20-something woman with light skin and long brown hair taking a red straw from her mouth, bending over a desk, inserting the straw into her nostril and snorting lines of white powder.

She then stands up and begins talking with other people in the room. A young man looks on from behind her, facing the camera. The lawyers said he was Ashley’s boyfriend of a few years.

The camera follows the woman from a few feet away, focusing on her as she moves around the room. It appears not to be concealed. At one point she shouts, “Shut the f— up!”

The woman appears to resemble Ashley Biden, 27, a social worker for a Delaware child-welfare agency and a visible presence during her father’s campaign for the White House.

The dialogue is difficult to discern, but the woman makes repeated references to the drugs, said the lawyers, who said they viewed the tape about 15 times.

“At one point she pretty much complains that the line isn’t big enough,” said the second lawyer, who declined to identify himself. “And she talks about her dad.”

Biden has been an outspoken crusader against drugs, coining the term “drug czar” in 1982 while campaigning for a more forceful “war on drugs.”

The lawyers declined to name the person who shot the video, but said he knew Ashley well and had attended other parties with her at which there were illegal drugs.

(source)

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If TV talk shows have become a battleground where hosts and newsmakers duke it out, Jay Leno and President Barack Obama didn’t get the message.

“Mr. President, I must say this has been one of the best nights of my life,” a beaming Leno announced at the end of Obama’s visit Thursday to the “Tonight” show.

Leno queried Obama about difficult issues - including AIG’s executive bonuses and criticism of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner - but with minor exception allowed the president to answer without challenge.

It was a sharp contrast to the recent high drama of CNBC host Jim Cramer’s painful woodshed appearance on Jon Stewart’s show or David Letterman’s roasting of John McCain during the presidential campaign.

Of course, a sitting U.S. president is a different animal, and Obama was the first to visit “Tonight.” (He’d already appeared twice as a candidate.)

“I’m excited, I’m honored to introduce my next guest, the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama,” Leno said as his studio band played “Hail to the Chief.”

Obama might have sensed from the outset it would not be a grueling exercise. Leno asked if it was fair to be “judged so quickly” after less than two months in office.

“I welcome the challenge,” Obama said. “In Washington, it’s a little bit like `American Idol,’ but everybody is Simon Cowell. Everybody’s got an opinion.”

The tone turned serious when the economic crisis was the topic, but Leno wasn’t going to make the president sweat.

Obama had appeared “angry” and “stunned” about the AIG bonuses, Leno observed.

“Stunned is the word,” Obama replied, then launched into a lengthy, wonkish description of how the insurance giant foundered and why the company bonuses symbolize the larger issue of Wall Street’s “attitude of entitlement.”

If Leno had a bone to pick, it was with federal efforts to tax the AIG bonuses out of existence.

“If the government decides they don’t like a guy, all of a sudden, `Hey, we’re gonna tax you,’” the talk show host said.

He did tweak Obama at one point, after bringing up criticisms of Geithner. As Obama defended the treasury secretary for taking the right steps against a host of problems, Leno joked, “I love that it’s all his problem.”

But the biggest dig was against Leno’s own network.

“A lot of people were surprised that the president came to NBC. You’d think by this time he’d be tired of big companies on the brink of disaster with a bunch of overpaid executives,” Leno said during his monologue.

It was a far different atmosphere when CNBC “Mad Money” host Cramer appeared on Stewart’s “The Daily Show” earlier this month and the Comedy Central host railed at him for putting entertainment above journalism. Last year, Letterman gave McCain a tough time after the GOP presidential contender canceled a “Late Show” appearance.

The White House scheduled the “Tonight” appearance as part of a broader outreach to promote Obama’s agenda - one that’s already had him on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” this week and includes a “60 Minutes” interview airing Sunday, plus a prime-time news conference Tuesday.

On “Tonight,” Obama had enough running room on to display his comedic chops as Leno delved into what he called “some personal things” with the president.

Leno pressed him on when daughters Malia and Sasha would get their pet dog.

“This is Washington. That was a campaign promise,” Obama replied to the pet question, drawing audience laughter. “No, no, no, no, no, I’m teasing. The dog will be there shortly.”

“How cool is it to fly in Air Force One?” a dazzled Leno asked at one point.

The 35-minute presidential interview was the only one on the show, which ended with a performance by Garth Brooks - and with Leno warmly applauding Obama.

It may be tough times in Washington for Obama, but not on Leno’s “Tonight.”

(source)

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Haiti Goodwill Ambassador, Wyclef Jean arrived in Port au Prince yesterday with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former U.S. President Bill Clinton in an effort to bring worldwide awareness to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti, which has been hit by a series of devastating storms over the past year, desperately needs help after more than 800 people died and over 1 million people were left homeless or in desperate need of recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Jean, who is from Haiti and has lead in efforts to help rebuild, educate, and create jobs with his Yéle Haiti foundation was invited to accompany the former President and Secretary-General tour the region. “I was honored to show my support when they asked me to join them on this important humanitarian trip which also gave them the opportunity to experience the beauty underneath the devastation my country and its people have had to face. It’s crucial for me to do all I can to raise awareness and help Haiti get through this tough time.”

While in the country, they visited a Yéle sponsored feeding program at a school in Cité Soleil and an education leadership program in Turgeau, met with President René Preval and senior government officials, and a walking tour of Sonapi Industrial Park. Before the three headed off on a plane back to the US, Jean attended a press conference where Clinton and Ban summarized their trip and discussed the Hope II US trade deal which gives Haiti direct access to US markets for apparel without duty; a bill that Jean lobbied for extensively before it was passed.

Also invited on the trip were renowned physician Paul Farmer, who works extensively in the region, Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank Frank McKenna, and several other business leaders.

(source)

• Matt Damon, Wyclef Jean visit Haiti city in ruins
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Holy hornet’s nest, Batman! The New Mexico governor’s mansion?

Fresh from the inauguration, actor Val Kilmer is pondering running for governor in 2010, when Democrat Bill Richardson’s second term ends.

“I’m just looking for ways to be contributive,” Kilmer told The Associated Press on Thursday. “And if that ends up being where I can make a substantial contribution, then I’ll run.”

But there’s no decision yet.

“It’s really day to day,” he said over tea at a local restaurant.

Kilmer, 49, grew up in Los Angeles but has called New Mexico home for more than two decades. He’s currently registered as a Democrat and said he cast a ballot for Barack Obama from Bulgaria, where he was filming.

A Kilmer candidacy could throw a monkey wrench into the well-oiled Democratic machine of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who’s already running for the job.

Kilmer’s screen credits include Batman in “Batman Forever” in 1995, brash fighter pilot Lt. Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in the 1986 hit “Top Gun,” and rock icon Jim Morrison in the 1991 Oliver Stone film, “The Doors.”

Kilmer said if he ran it wouldn’t have to be a conventional campaign. While the actor decides, he’s getting out and about and has been listening to people - something he says he’s pretty good at.

“What I do for a living is listen,” he said, making a bold prediction: “If I run, I’m going to be the next governor.”

(source)

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Prince Harry and his girlfriend of five years Chelsy Davy have split say sources. “This is the third time they have broken up,” says one palace source. “But it’s for good this time. Both think it’s for the best. There’s no hard feelings. They split about 10 days ago. It wasn’t over other girls or
infidelity.”

According to Britain’s Daily Mail it was Davy who did the dumping. Sources tell the paper that she was no longer willing to “put up with his lifestyle” and “time spent apart.” The British heir, 24, began training last week to become an Army Air Corps helicopter pilot; Davy, 23, is a post-graduate student at Leeds University.

The split came as a shock to royal watchers because the couple had vacationed together just three weeks ago on the island of Mauritius.

(source)

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Senator Ted Kennedy — who is battling brain cancer — collapsed after suffering a seizure at a luncheon honoring President Barack Obama Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

Paramedics rushed to the Capitol building, where the lunch was held shortly after Obama’s swearing-in ceremony, and took Kennedy away on a stretcher. ABC News reports that the senator’s seizures lasted several minutes, and continued as he was being taken out.

Dr. Edward Aulisi, Chairman of Neurosurgery at Washington Hospital Center, released a statement to Entertainment Tonight blaming the fall on fatigue.

“Senator Edward Kennedy experienced a seizure today while attending a luncheon for President Barack Obama in the U.S. Capitol. After testing, we believe the incident was brought on by simple fatigue. Senator Kennedy is awake, talking with family and friends and feeling well. He will remain at the Washington Hospital Center overnight for observation, and will be released in the morning,” his doctor said.

Obama was not in the room at the time, but he spoke a few words after returning.

“First of all, I know that while I was out of the room, concern was expressed about Teddy,” Obama said. “He was there when the Voting Rights Act passed. And, along with [Representative] John Lewis, was a warrior for justice.

“And so I would be lying to you if I did not say that right now a part of me is with him. And I think that’s true for all of us,” Obama added. “This is a joyous time, but it’s also a sobering time. And my prayers are with him and his family and [his wife] Vicki.”

Senators John Kerry, Christopher Dodd and Orrin Hatch walked with Kennedy down to the ambulance.

“He was starting to do okay by the time he got wheeled into the ambulance,” Hatch told ABC News. “He was [conscious], he was speaking.”

(source)

• Ted Kennedy’s Operation a Success
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Michelle Obama celebrated her husband Barack Obama’s Inauguration in a dazzling white Jason Wu gown.

Michelle donned a $3,510 dress made from the 26-year-old Taiwan-born designer for a November interview with Barbara Walters. The Journal reports Wu’s evening wear sells for $3,000 to $6,000.

What’s in a dress?

Michelle’s choice is “a balancing act between being a queen and a commoner,” Carl Sferrazza Anthony, a historian who’s written about first ladies, told The Dallas Morning News. “The inaugural gown is a metaphor for the first lady role.”

He added: “They reflect around the world an image of our country.”

Earlier today, Michelle stepped out in a gold sheath and matching jacket from Cuban-born designer Isabel Toledo for Barack’s swearing-in ceremony. To stay warm in the 30-degree weather, she paired her outfit with olive green gloves from one of her fave shops, J. Crew.

(Her daughters also wore threads from the chain shop to their dad’s Inauguration. Malia chose a royal blue jacket, while Sasha bundled-up in a pale pink coat.)

Meanwhile, the president hit the town in a custom tuxedo made by Chicago-based designer Hart Schaffner Marx . (The brand’s suits typically retail at Nordstrom for about $895.) Obama hasn’t purchased a tux in 15 years, it’s been reported.

Barack and Michelle are expected to hop between the 10 official balls scheduled for tonight. They’ll share a first dance to Beyonce’s performance of Etta James’ “At Last” at the Neighborhood Ball.

But after tonight’s glitz and glamour, it’s down to business.

The new president called America “in the midst of crisis” between the economy woes and war in his speech from the Capitol this afternoon — but promised action.

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real,” he said in front of a crowd of thousands, including celebs Oprah Winfrey and Anne Hathaway. “They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.”

(source)

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President-elect Barack Obama admits that he’s a bit nervous about his first day on the job.

“I’m sure I’ll have trouble sleeping the night before,” Obama tells Katie Couric, in one of his last interviews before becoming President of the United States, for a CBS News primetime special.

He adds: “[There] has been so much work on the front end that I feel Jan. 21 is not going to feel that different from Jan. 19. But having said that, I think when you’re sitting in the Oval Office, you’re very clear that these decisions count. The magnitude of it is humbling.’

In addition to the tough road ahead, what else is he nervous about at the outdoor swearing-in ceremony?

The temperature: “I get cold very easily,” Obama jokes. “So making sure I’ve got my long underwear [just] in case.”

He plans to enlist the help of family during the transition, including his wife’s mother, Marian Robinson, who will be moving into the White House with the Obama clan.

“[We] get along great,” he says of his mother-in-law. “In fact, she defends me when Michelle is too hard on me. So I want her there. She’s an ally. She can be a little bit of a buffer if I screw up.”

The special, Change and Challenge: The Inauguration of Barack Obama, will air Jan. 20 at 9 p.m. EST on CBS. It will include interviews with civil rights leaders and friends of Obama. Couric will anchor the hour-long show from the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., which is where the Commander-in-Chief’s Ball is set to take place.

(source)

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The Heroes starlet, Hayden Panettiere was spotted at Dream Bigger Studios to record a message for President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday evening.

Hayden Panettiere joined the likes of Ashlee Simpson and Sean “Diddy” Combs in a video montage being produced by Ashton Kutcher, as Hollywood readies to congratulate Obama as part of his inauguration festivities.

Hayden Panettiere Leaving Dream Bigger Studios

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• Hayden Panettiere shows off her ink.
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