Update: this photo is dated from 2006, and could not possibly show Palin’s daughter pregnant with Trig given his age.

Update 2: Bristol Palin, 17, is five months pregnant now. It is impossible for this story to be true at all and our apologies to their family for spreading it. Bristol was possibly pregnant in one of the photos below, but not with Trig.

One of the most interesting parts of political campaigns are the secrets that inevitably leak out. Yet more often than not, they’re not all that interesting – just interesting given the person’s position in society. But recent republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – who’s very nomination shocked plenty of people – appears to have been keeping quite the secret of her own the last several months.

Not a Bill Clinton/ Monica Lewinsky level of scandal. Palin’s (alleged) secret is a much more private, familial matter, and her motivations could be argued as either self-centered or altruistic, depending on your point of view.

Palin, the Governor of Alaska, supposedly gave birth to her son Trig Paxson Van Palin in late April. However there is a detailed timeline on the website Daily Kos that indicates that it is unlikely (to the point of nearly impossible) that Palin gave birth to Trig, and that he is actually the son of her 16-year-old daughter Bristol.

Palin didn’t announce that she was pregnant until she was 7 months along. Her entire staff was completely shocked. Palin is 44 and has given birth to four children – women tend to show earlier and more obviously the more children they have, and the later in life they are. The exact opposite happened here.

I’m going to quote a few highlights from the article, but what really makes it clear that this story is probably true is the entirety of the evidence. I thought it seemed too sensational to be real (and certainly to go undiscovered) but once I finished reading every single point, I’m pretty convinced.

On Friday, April 18th, 2008, Sarah and her husband Todd were in Dallas, Texas for a Republican Governor’s Convention. They had been in town for three days already, but Sarah had yet to give her keynote speaker address on energy policy. Then early Friday morning at 4:00am, Sarah began leaking amniotic fluid. Instead of checking into a hospital, she instead made a call to her doctor, and delivered the keynote speech.

“I was not going to miss that speech,” she says.

She rushed so quickly from the podium afterwards that Texas Gov. Rick Perry nervously asked if she was about to deliver the baby then.

The oddities only grow from here on, as instead of rushing to a Dallas medical facility that could treat a mother who’s amniotic fluid has been draining for hours on end (made even more crucial due to the fact that this is occurring a full month prematurely), Sarah & Todd instead opted to… Fly all the way back from Texas to Alaska. A dangerous choice, as with each pregnancy (once again, in this case after four previous), a mother’s window of labor to delivery grows shorter and shorter.

Aboard Alaska Airlines, the flight lasted for eight hours, with an additional landing in Seattle. The majority of commercial airlines require mothers seven months pregnant to provide a doctor’s letter to fly, but Sarah did not inform the airline of her condition. Alaska Airlines is one of the few airlines that do not require such a notice, despite the possibility of an emergency landings being required in such scenarios. That said, no one on board noticed that Sarah was going into labor.

Eight months pregnant. A 6.2 pound fetus. No one notices a visible trace. By the third trimester, a perfectly fit woman not wearing anything less than a space suit should be easily spotted as pregnant. Not in Sarah’s case.

The plane then made a landing in Anchorage, Alaska. Does Sarah then visit a medical facility that can accommodate a premature birth in Alaska’s most equipped city? No. She drives 45 minutes away, to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, right outside the small village she used to govern as Mayor, Wasilla. Trig Palin is then delivered one month premature, Friday night. Sarah returned to work after three days.

Her sixteen year-old daughter was.

Checking with the Anchorage High School that Bristol Palin attended, reporters were given word that her family had taken Bristol out of school due to contracting infectious mononucleosis. The amount of time Bristol was absent shifts from five to eight months.

Mono can last anywhere from two weeks to three months, but an eight month infection is a freak oddity. Yet it remains a common excuse given by girls in private & Catholic schools around the nation when pregnancy comes into play. Not the first time, not the last time.

[From the Daily Kos]

The article is very detailed and gives a chronological timeline that really makes you wonder how Palin could possibly be pregnant. It also makes you wonder how in the world she thought she could get away with something like this as a public figure. And as much as anything, it makes you wonder why the family made this decision, and if it had to do with what was best for Bristol or what was best for Sarah Palin’s career.

A lot of people are saying this isn’t that big deal, doesn’t matter, and won’t change people’s opinion of Sarah Palin. I agree that a pregnant teenager is a private family issue, and if the family had handled it differently that’d be one thing. But hearing someone is an outright liar about something this important is pretty upsetting. I know it happens, and it’s certainly not the greatest political lie of all time. But that doesn’t mean we should accept it.

Politicians aren’t perfect, and neither are their children. Who I really feel most sorry for are Bristol and Trig. They’re going to be under a lot of scrutiny. People make mistakes, and teenagers make a lot of them. Rarely is something like this so public, and I really hope the Palin’s choose to place a greater emphasis on what is better for their children/grandchildren than what’s best for their political image.

Note by Celebitchy: The baby in question has Down’s syndrome, and a lot of people are saying that points to an older mother. Of course Downs is more common with older mothers, but 80% babies with Downs are born to women under 35 due to the fact that more women under 35 have babies.

There are two pictures below of Palin’s daughter from the time she would have been pregnant - when she was out of school for 8 months for “mono.” I know this is a very sensational story, as Jaybird mentioned, but the evidence is compelling. The John Edwards story was ignored by the major news outlets until it became impossible to ignore. This is the potential Vice President of the United States and this type of story is incredibly newsworthy. Palin never looked pregnant (update: not true - see below) - her daughter did and dropped out of school, and the circumstances surrounding Palin’s pregnancy and birth are suspect to say the least.

The first picture is Palin six months into her pregnancy at the National Governor’s Association at the White House. Second picture is from February 28th, and the third is from March 3rd. The fourth photo is of Palin supposedly seven months pregnant after her official announcement. The fifth photo is Palin’s daughter Bristol in late 2007, and the sixth one is from the Anchorage Daily News published on March 9th.

Update: It’s entirely possible these are all a series of strange coincidences and that the baby is indeed Sarah Palin’s and not her daughters. If all these details are true - even if Palin just decided to fly 8 hours after her water broke, then drive another 45 minutes before giving birth - you can see how someone could come up with this conspiracy theory. Here are two photos of Palin looking very pregnant along with a link to the header caption which shows that the photo was taken in 2006 when Bristol could not possibly have been pregnant with Trig. [Thanks Scott F!]

Update 2: (same text as top update on page) Bristol Palin, 17, is five months pregnant now. It is impossible for this story to be true at all and our apologies to their family for spreading it. Bristol was possibly pregnant in one of the photos below, but not with Trig.

Bristol Palin is shown holding Trig in a photo taken at the the announcement of Sarah Palin as the VP candidate on 8/28/08. Credit: Emily from Dayton, Ohio, found on Wikipedia

Who would have thought that Spencer Pratt would be a big fan of anything done by Heidi Montag? The delusional and narcissism-riddled Pratt claims that Montag’s newest video is so good that he works out to it. I think he’s probably using that more liberal definition of “working out” that guys often do. And if that’s the definition, then a lot of guys are working out to Heidi, but not because she’s got any talent – or anything other than an exceptionally large jaw.

Surprise! Spencer Pratt is a huge fan of Heidi Montag’s new ’80s-inspired music video, “Overdosin.’”

“What do you think I work out to every day? I know the whole thing by heart!” he told Usmagazine.com at the Pepsi 500 Running Wide Open Party in Hollywood on Wednesday.

“I wanted to do something fun with aerobics,” Montag explained of the video, in which she plays an aerobics instructor and dances around in lycra, legwarmers and a sweatband.

No wonder Pratt’s a fan: the song “is about when you fall in love with someone,” Montag told Ryan Seacrest. “[It’s] about how I feel about Spencer and my relationship.”

[From Us Weekly]

All that “exercising” really is taking up a good deal of Spencer and Heidi’s time. Though the pair are huge McCain fans (you could argue that they’re his only young celebrity endorsements) Spencer said that he and Heidi just won’t have enough time to go to the convention. You can’t really blame them, they’ve got a pretty packed schedule. What with all the working out and posing for cheesy photos with horses and babies and…. wait… this all sounds really familiar. I bet one of them runs for office within the next four years. The republicans keep claiming they need some youth. And it doesn’t seem like they winning any points with Sarah Palin. Heidi Montag’s probably the next best bet.

Here’s Heidi and Spencer at thePepsi 500 Running Wide Open at Avalon in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Photographer: Faye Sadou. Images thanks to WENN.

Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet tour opened Saturday night in Cardiff Wales. The 50 year-old pop legend put on a two hour performance that included video montages featuring Kanye West, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. The night was based on four themes: “Pimp”, “Old School”, “Gypsy” and “Rave,” and the pint-sized powerhouse wore multiple pants-less outfits designed by Givenchy, Stella McCartney and Miu Miu, with some American Apparel tube socks thrown in for the sporty look.

Not one to pass up a chance to stir up publicity-seeking controversy, one of the videos playing in the background featured photos of “bad” things like war, global warming, Hitler - and John McCain. McCain’s Presidential rival, Democratic candidate Barack Obama, was included on the “good” video of humanitarian leaders:

Amid a four-act show at Cardiff’s packed Millennium Stadium, a video interlude carried images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Zimbabwe’s authoritarian President Robert Mugabe — and U.S. Senator John McCain. Another sequence, shown later, pictured slain Beatle John Lennon, followed by climate activist Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and finally McCain’s Democratic rival Barack Obama.

[AP as found on PopEater]

Didn’t Madonna already do this in her “American Life” video? At least she’s not hanging herself on a cross or making fun of the church this time around. Blasphemy is so 1989, yet she threw some into her Confessions tour for lack of imagination.

McCain has responded to Madonna’s diss in the humorless, offended way she surely hoped he would. He’s been smearing Obama with attack ads, and yet he’s pointing out that Madonna is doing the same thing to him.

“The comparisons are outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive all at the same time,” Bounds said in a statement reported by Fox News.

“It clearly shows that when it comes to supporting Barack Obama, his fellow worldwide celebrities refuse to consider any smear or attack off limits.”

[From News.Yahoo.com]

This is the guy who has an ad calling Obama elitist but who can’t name how many houses he has and thinks that you’re only rich once you make your first $5 million. (link leads to video.) He also keeps repeating that Obama is going to raise taxes, which just isn’t true for 95% of Americans. If you make less than $227,000 a year you’ll save money under Obama’s plan.

He’s right though that douches like Madonna, Ludacris and Roseanne aren’t helping Obama by dissing the Republicans. They’re just giving McCain more fodder to accuse Obama of being elitist and backed by celebrities.

Madonna might had plenty of publicity ahead of her tour for her non-affair with A-Rod and her brother’s “unauthorized” biography, but it wasn’t enough to fill the seats. Only 40,000 out of 70,000 available tickets were sold to the venue. At £150 /$276 USD, they weren’t exactly affordable for a lot of people. Concert-goers said she put on a great show, though.

Here’s the video in question from Saturday set to “Get Stupid,” thanks to user MadonnaWyat on YouTube:

Photos are of Madonna’s opening night in Cardiff on 8/23/08. Credit: Daniel Deme / WENN

Jon Voight has responded to Roseanne Barr’s rant on his support of John McCain by personally attacking her back. Those ad hominem arguments from both sides are just so persuasive. Voight’s first line of defense was to bring attention to Barr’s supposed lie about her childhood history of abuse - even though his own son has publicly accused him of emotional abuse against his late ex wife and he would do well to avoid that subject. At least Voight knows how to use punctuation and line breaks, although his reasoning is about on par with Barr’s:

Answer to Roseanne Barr’s Rant:
We can never be surprised at what vile evil comes from the mouth of a confessed victim of child abuse at the hands of her own parents.

Her parents responded to the accusations by going on the air and stating she is a psychopathic liar and her sister agreed.

Her defaming of our National Anthem in 1990 gave us insight into who she is and what she is capable of saying and doing.

My allegiance to Senator McCain becomes stronger with any assault that tries to deter my loyalty to him.

I can only pray that good people see her for what she is (sick of mind)

[From Jon Voight’s written response to Roseanne Barr on Extratv]

This argument reminds me of Rosie’s feud with Donald Trump - they were just insulting each other back and forth and seemed to forget what it was they were arguing about in the first place. It’s lame when people just start attacking each other and it makes them both look petty. (Here’s my favorite guide for addressing arguments as outlined by Karl Sagan in his book Demon Haunted World. Scroll down to the common fallacies of logic and rhetoric, that’s the best part.)

Barr has blogged that she wasn’t really attacking Voight’s estranged daughter, UN ambassador Angelina Jolie, for her unwillingness to endorse a candidate, she was attacking the media’s representation of Jolie and Pitt. OIC what you were doing there, Barr, that’s so clever. *eyeroll* Barr called Voight’s daughter and her husband his “evil spawn” and “vacuous” and criticized their careers, their donations to charity and the impact their lifestyle has on the environment. It’s all ok according to Barr, because she sort-of took it back by blaming someone else for her opinion:

i do not know brangelina

and do not mean to personally impugn them as they might be good people in the flesh, but the media’s images of them are smelly and vile, and I must always attack the media’s representation of what is good or cool, because those who inhabit the media world of glamour and entertainment and fashion and gossip are horrid people who have no talent of any kind, and yet think of themselves as tastemakers. taste my sandy buttcrack, tmz, and perez!

[From RoseanneWorld.com, emphasis added]

TMZ titled their post about this, using a reference from Shaq’s rap about Kobe Bryant, “Roseanne To TMZ: Tell Me How My Ass Tastes!”

One talent many people who inhabit the media world have that Roseanne lacks is the ability to compose a coherent sentence. Voight wins in that department, even if his logic skills are just as poor.

Please don’t let either of these clowns keep you from researching the candidates and voting for the person you think would make the best President. It’s about the issues and who would take the country in the direction you support, not about two celebrities’ half-baked opinions.

Heidi Montag. Ew. Spencer Pratt. Double ew. I really don’t even need to write the rest of this story. I can pretty much just mix up the following words in a semi-coherent jumble and it’ll apply to absolutely anything Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt ever do: horses, over-exposed, fashion, beaches, John McCain, photo op, reality television, cheesy grin, narcissism, pimping, self-centered, sex tape, entitlement, video, chiclet teeth, handbags, undeserved, flowing hair, guns, designer, money, attention whores, feuds, faux, gross, bad music. That’s really all you need to write about Heidi and Spencer.

And today in empty Speidi news, the pair say they want to adopt, a la Brangelina. And they’re a little frustrated that John McCain isn’t thinking about them as much as they’d like, but everything considered they’re being pretty gracious about the snub.

Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag may have called off their engagement, but the reality-star lovebirds are still talking babies. They’re looking to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for inspiration. “I think I’d rather adopt than have kids,” Pratt said when I caught up with the two this morning. “There are so many kids that need homes.” A few minutes later, Pratt, 25, clarified that he doesn’t just want to adopt. “I wanna do both,” he explained. “We’ll pull an Angelina and Brad and have a whole clan.”

Montag, 21, cooed, “We’d be so lucky to have a clan like that.” And yes, that clan could include a child from Africa… “I used to want to be a missionary [in Africa],” Montag says. “That’s something I’ve always really wanted to do. Go to the U.N. for World Hunger and really, you know, not just go there for a safari, but go there to actually help.”

Although they’re not attending the Republican National Convention next month, they’re still hoping to do some campaigning for John McCain before Election Day. And speaking of McCain, whatever happened to their much-publicized plan—with the help of the presidential hopeful’s team—to visit the troops in Iraq?

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Pratt says. “I think they’re so focused on the campaign, they kinda lost the momentum.”

[From E! News]

F’ing John McCain losing his momentum. What a jerk. Focusing on trying to become the next president of the United States instead of helping some Q-list reality “stars” (and I use that word as loosely as possible) fly to Iraq on the taxpayer’s dime wearing specially made (and adorably matching) faux-combat suits. Okay I realize they didn’t say that. But it was implied.

Heidi also talked to E! about her new single “Overdosing” and how it’s just about being in love with Spencer and overdosing on all the happiness. And then little bubblegum hearts floated out of Montag’s mouth when she hiccuped on all the love flowing through her. Seriously I can’t take any more of this nauseating crap. But I will let you listen to the song. Because music shouldn’t be punished.

Here’s Heidi and Spencer leaving STK restaurant after having dinner with their families on August 9th. Images thanks to WENN.

Note by Celebitchy: If all this wasn’t enough from these two, and I reached the saturation point for them months ago, they’re planning to get married on live TV.

I smell a celebrity feud brewing. Roseanne Barr has written a pretty scathing diatribe on her website about Angelina Jolie’s refusal to name a Presidential candidate she supports. Despite the fact that Barr was advocating for Hillary Clinton to land the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, she’s blasting Jolie for refusing to support Obama now that he’s the presumptive nominee. This long-winded post on Barr’s website lacks line breaks, punctuation and common sense. It seems to be in response to Angelin’s estranged father, Jon Voight’s op ed piece in the Washington Times calling Obama “militant” and questioning his fitness for the job:

jon voight

is a frightened little girl in a pink ballet tutu, who acts like Obama just wandered in from the rain forest with a bone thru his nose and a communist pamphlet in his loincloth. The neocons who own jon voight and make him dance on the chabad telethons are the worst most elitist people on earth. glen beck and jon voight are their bitches… both of them are used tampons who must be flushed down the toilet immediately! jon voight your evil spawn angelina jolie and her vacuous hubby brad pitt make about forty million dollars a year in violent psychopathic movies and give away three of it to starving children trying to look as if they give a crap about humanity as they spit out more dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more. (just sayin’).
Also miss jolie says she likes mccain too and hasn’t decided who to endorse….huh? Aren’t you supposed to be somewhat enlightened, or do you not know that the african daughter you hold in every picture had parents who suffered and died because of the republican party’s worldwide economic assault on africa over the last few decades since reagan? whaaaa…??????!!!! (for that matter, the thai and vietnamese sons you are photo’d with weekly too!!!? who’s pictures you sell to raise money to help the poor? Their families are victims of America’s right wing military incursions too. Mccain wants to continue with the idea of war for profit…the americans are over that thinking now! They have drugged our troops and lower classes into supporting their oil business atrocities for long enough. We want to save not lose our souls thank you. Now go back to making your movies about women who love to handle big guns that shoot hundreds of people to death. Ps….it might be good for your asian and african children’s self esteem to know you support a brown man for the leader of the free world.)

[From Rosanne’s official blog via US Weekly]

I’m liberal and I agree with her general points and hear where she’s coming from, but such emotional, over-the-top attacks do nothing for our cause. People are welcome to support whomever they want to for President. That doesn’t mean they have personal failings no matter how much I disagree with their reasoning. Barr will get some publicity for this, but she sounds like an idiot. There are many people who think the war is incredibly wrong and a horrible atrocity, but they’ll also listen to people who disagree and give reasoned arguments. When you make such heated statements you just cause the other side to respond in kind and make yourself an easier target.

Jolie could possibly support McCain for President, but she may not ever admit it. McCain will save her a lot of money in taxes, while people who make less than $112k will save much more under Obama’s plan. Obama’s plan will give 90% of Americans a tax break that McCain’s plan won’t, but still McCain has the nerve to repeat that Obama is raising taxes. He is - for the people who are making over six figures and can presumably afford it.

This is a case of yet another celebrity making an emotional argument for Obama over McCain and hurling insults at someone else in the process. Obama would do well to continue to keep celebrities at arm’s length in his campaign.

Roseanne Barr is shown at the TV Land Awards on 6/8/08. Credit: Fame

You really can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Or in this case, Brooke Hogan. Which looks like an old dog. Last month Brooke very stupidly said that she didn’t think women should be president because we deal with PMS and all sorts of emotions. So basically her thought was, “I’m dumb and I’m a woman, therefore all women must be dumb.” Due to the aforementioned stupidity, it never occurred to Brooke that her idiocy – while not unique to her – is not representative f the entire female gender.

Now Brooke’s decided it’s a good idea to open her obscenely wide mouth again and yap about her deep political thoughts. Quick summary: the aforementioned “I’m dumb and I’m ____, so all people who are ____ must also be dumb” formula still applies.

We’re starting to think that perhaps Brooke Hogan should steer clear of expressing her political opinions. The 20-year-old recently caused a media stir when she wrote on her MySpace blog that she thought it was “crazy” for Hillary Clinton to run for president as women “deal a lot with emotions and menopause and PMS.” In a posting this week, Brooke wrote that most people only vote because “it’s cool” and (like herself) have no real idea what’s going on in and around the White House.

“Only 54 percent of eligible american voters cast their ballots!!!!!! Half of them are only voting cause its ‘cool’ to vote for so and so…they aren’t even up to date on information,” Brooke wrote. “I’M personally not up to date on the facts, so I don’t wanna make a stupid choice for our country. I WANT to vote but only when I know exactly whats going on. More ppl should think like that. Paris Hilton said ‘yaaaay go vote cause its cool and hott!!!!’ …SHE WASN’T EVEN REGISTERED.”

[From Fox News’ Pop Tarts]

Anytime you make Paris Hilton look intelligent by comparison, it’s time to consider having your mouth stapled shut. And I offer my stapling services to you Brooke Hogan, free of charge. Just you, me, and my grandpa’s old rusty Swingline he’s had since before the war.

How about encouraging people to get up to date on the facts? I don’t know one single person who votes because it’s “cool.” She makes it sound like peer pressure to smoke pot. “Everyone’s voting for Obama.. if you were cool like us, you’d do it too.” What the hell? Brooke Hogan is so mind-numbingly stupid that I honestly don’t even know where to begin to attack here statement. So I’ll leave it at this.

Brooke Hogan, you are stupid. You at least seem to know this. But sadly you are too stupid to understand that your level of stupidity is not normal. You are uniquely stupid. This is the only unique thing about you. Just because you are too dumb to do something and instead decide to abstain from it does not mean that is good advice for most other people. They are able to learn. Even pretty stupid people are able to learn more than you. You should focus on more important things. Things the rest of us do automatically. Breathing in and out. I don’t believe you’re smart enough to be able to do this automatic function on your own. Don’t try to multitask. Just focus on mastering the most basic tasks in life, and try to find some happiness in those little accomplishments.

Here’s Brooke on her way into the CW11 studios in New York on July 11th. Isn’t she just the spitting image of her father in drag? Images thanks to Bauer Griffin.

Angelina Jolie is being sought by both the Obama and McCain campaigns for an endorsement. The 33 year-old actress and unmarried mother of six says that she’s waiting to reserve judgment on who she’ll vote for and is considering both candidates. When each candidate states their position on the refugee crisis and international justice issue Angelina might be able to make up her mind:

It may seem as if most entertainment industry figures are aligning with Barack Obama and just a few with John McCain, but there are still a handful of famous names who are still on the fence. And both campaigns are well aware of one star who stands out among the undecideds: Angelina Jolie.

Both campaigns have reached out to her, apparently to court her support. But in a statement to Variety provided by political adviser Trevor Neilson, Jolie says that she is waiting to make up her mind.

“I have not decided on a candidate,” Jolie says, “I am waiting to see the commitments they will make on issues like international justice, refugees and how to address the needs of children in crisis around the world.”

Unlike many other celebrity endorsements, Jolie’s carries the weight and influence of her extensive humanitarian work around the world, as the goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Her statement was an indication that she would be open to choosing a candidate.

[From Variety’s Wilshire & Washington via Huffington Post]

Many of you have said that you don’t really care who a celebrity endorses and are going to make up your own mind based on the candidates’ positions on issues that matter to you. Angelina is such a polarizing celebrity despite her charity work that you would think that candidates wouldn’t actively ask for her support. Variety reminds us about Angelina’s op ed piece in the Washington Post, “Staying To Help,” in which she talked about the plight of the 2 million refugees in Iraq and called on the candidates “to announce a comprehensive refugee plan with a specific timeline and budget as part of their Iraq strategy.”

Obama has outlined a phased Iraq withdrawal that does include a provision for “preventing humanitarian crisis” and mentions refugees and international justice specifically. His campaign website says he will provide $2 billion to go to refugee support and that he “will form an international working group to address this crisis.” He also says that he will ensure that those who commit war crimes and genocide will be held accountable.

McCain says we should stay in Iraq until Al Quaeda is defeated and the Iraqi government is “capable of governing itself and safeguarding its people.” He focuses in his policy outline on success in the war and ensuring that US troops stay in Iraq until the government is self-sufficient. There is no mention of the plight of refugees or displaced people on his website, but he does claim that violence and deaths have been reduced there under the counterinsurgency strategy he advocated. He is quoted as saying that staying in Iraq for 100 or “even a million” more years “would be fine” with him, and he didn’t think the American people would have a problem with it.

Staying in Iraq costs $720 million a day by some estimates. It seems the US would have a lot more money and resources to help the Iraqis as well as to partially address the dire economic situation at home if they would withdraw from Iraq under Senator Obama’s plan. That’s my opinion of course, and Angelina seems to believe that too. She said at the Clinton Global Initiative in September, 2007 that an appeal by UNICEF she was advocating at the time would be able to educate 150,000 children at the cost of “eight hours of current spending in Iraq.” I can’t see her backing McCain and the war that never ends.

Somehow both these candidates want Angelina Jolie to announce her opinion and support them. I would have liked to hear her say she’s staying out of it rather than that she’s reserving judgment. Maybe Angelina has already made up her mind, and thinks that if she plays it like she’s waiting both candidates will be pressured into coming up with comprehensive strategies for helping displaced people in Iraq and the surrounding countries. Her father Jon Voight supports McCain and wrote an op-ed piece criticizing Obama, but it’s not likely Angelina is influenced much by her dad’s opinion considering that she hasn’t seen him in years.

Angelina Jolie is shown in photos from the Sudan that appeared in Newsweek in March, 2007

Never ever do I want to give Paris Hilton credit for anything. Ever. But today I have to. The heirhead managed to retaliate against John McCain’s stupid ad in a way that was both humorous and classy. At least for a Hilton. Paris’ mom Kathy went apeshit on McCain for mocking her daughter. And that’s understandable – any good mother would be peeved. But Paris is a grown woman, and actually did a pretty good job in her retaliation – even if it was conceived and written by someone else.

Paris Hilton has thrown her hat into the US presidential race, declaring her desire to campaign against “that wrinkly white-haired guy” and threatening to paint the White House pink if elected. The blond socialite responded to Republican candidate John McCain’s controversial use of her image in a campaign television spot last week with a satirical ad of her own posted on the website Funnyordie.com.

In the ad, the 27-year-old appears reclining on a sun lounger beside a swimming pool, dressed only in a skimpy leopard-print bathing costume. “Hey America, I’m Paris Hilton and I’m a celebrity too,” Hilton declares breezily. “Only I’m not from the olden days and I’m not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot! But then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I’m running for president. So thanks for the endorsement white-haired dude, and I want America to know I’m, like, totally ready to lead.”

Hilton then offers an alternative US energy strategy, suggesting that she plans to combine elements from McCain and Democratic rival Barack Obama’s policy platforms. “We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars. … Energy crisis solved, I’ll see you at the debates, bitches!” Hilton then signs off by declaring that she is now mulling her choices for vice-president. “I’m thinking Rihanna,” she said, referring to the singer-songwriter.

“I’ll see you at the White House,” Hilton adds. “Oh, and I might paint it pink. Bye!”

[From Yahoo! News]

Hilton’s acting is generally a bit stiff and uncomfortable – pretty much what you’d expect. Yet she pulls off the harder lines much better than the funny, lighter ones. When she talks about oil drilling, you’d almost think she’s a decent actress. And if you’re me, you’re really surprised that she was able to read such big words. I don’t delude myself into thinking that Paris understood them, and she probably had them sounded out phonetically on big cue cards nearby. But I’m impressed, nonetheless.

The brains behind Hilton’s advert were Funnyordie.com contributors Adam McKay and Chris Henchy, who pitched the idea of filming the spot to Hilton.

“She got it that the McCain thing was a low blow,” McKay told AFP. “And she felt she didn’t want to return it with angry fire, and that this was the best way to respond. It’s a playful jab.”

Henchy and McKay both believe Hilton is more intelligent than her tabloid persona lets on.

“She’s a lot smarter than people give her credit for,” Henchy said.

[From Yahoo! News]

Chris Henchy is Brooke Shield’s husband. And I’m praying to God that he’s just being kind. He’s married to one of the smartest actresses out there. I seriously doubt he was duped into thinking Paris Hilton has two IQ points to rub together. But obviously he’s not going to go around and say, “Hey, this celebrity who was nice enough to mock herself for our website is a total moron!” I don’t think. Either way, it’s a pretty funny response to McCain’s ridiculous advertisement, which was a lame attempt at humor. It’s kind of pathetic when the response is so much better than the original ad.

Paris HIlton is shown at the launch of her footwear collection on 7/29/08 at Macys in Las Vegas. Credit: Chris Connor / WENN

Gwyneth Paltrow is featured in a new video for VoteFromAbroad.org, an organization that helps US citizens abroad quickly register for absentee ballots by filling out an online form, printing it out, and sending it to their

Vote From Abroad was created by Democrats Abroad, and they do encourage people to vote for Obama briefly at the end of the video. You are of course welcome to vote for whomever you chose after getting your absentee ballot.

Paltrow speaks in the video along with many other Americans living overseas about how simple and quick it is to get an absentee ballot. You just fill out where you last voted, your old address and current address, and can even register to vote if it’s your first time. I even got married and have a new name since the last time I registered and this was easily explained on the form. The form is automatically created for you and you just mail it in. I’ve sent my absentee ballot request in and look forward to voting for the president again this year. I’ll be paying taxes for the rest of my life, I may as well get to vote.

I’m happy to be able to vote this year and I’m a Democrat and have a lot of hope for Obama, but I just have to say that Paltrow looks smug as anything here. She was starting to grow on me with her new hair and those S&M heels she was wearing a couple months ago, but I wish she would come down to earth. “I’m voting from London” indeed. Props for doing the PSA though, she’s helping get the word out how easy it is to vote. So if you’re a US citizen studying or living abroad or just traveling at that time please make sure to get your absentee ballot.