Rock the Vote -- By: Daniel Foster

Rock the Vote -- By: Daniel Foster: "

From Jim over at the Campaign Spot:

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Re: The Waiting. . . -- By: Rich Lowry

Re: The Waiting. . . -- By: Rich Lowry: "

Dan, you obviously haven't been paying attention: Obamacare is a deficit-cutting reduction measure.

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Misleading Points -- By: Ramesh Ponnuru

Misleading Points -- By: Ramesh Ponnuru: "

Talking Points Memo, living up to its name, is providing the White House’s talking points on health care. Obamacare is to be voted on amid a final orgy of misinformation.

Talking point: The plan gives Americans, rather than government or health insurers, more control over their health insurance.

Reality: While you may want to go without insurance—especially once the government is done remaking it—the government will make you fork over cash to the insurance companies. If you want to buy a cheap catastrophic policy, the government will tell the insurance companies not to offer you one.

Talking point: The bill lets you keep your doctor and your insurance plan.

Reality: Unless you’re on Medicare Advantage, or your plan doesn’t meet the new regulatory standards, or the new law induces your employer to drop your coverage.

Talking point: The bill “brings down costs for everyone.”

Reality: Unless you’re young and healthy, or a taxpayer.

Talking point: The disagreement between the parties concerns whether there should be “more or less oversight of the insurance companies.”

Reality: If the bill merely stepped up oversight of the insurance companies, it would have passed with overwhelming bipartisan support a year ago.

Talking point: The bill “protects Medicare for America’s seniors.”

Reality: The bill cuts Medicare by hundreds of billions of dollars, and some of those cuts will even occur.

Talking point: The bill will give tens of millions of Americans the same insurance choices as members of Congress.

Reality: Members of Congress are in a much less regulated system.

Talking point: The CBO says that the bill will reduce the deficit by $1 trillion over the next two decades.

Reality: CBO says that projections into the second decade are meaningless, and that even its first-decade projections include savings that it was ordered to assume will take place.

Talking point: Under the bill, small businesses will not have to choose between “hiring and health care.”

Reality: You might find yourself unable to get either a job or insurance from a small business because of this bill's mandates.

Talking point: “The American people deserve an up-or-down vote.”

Reality: Except in the House.

Talking point: The plan’s components are popular—for example, its provision that people can keep what they have.

Reality: Which means that when described fully and accurately, it’s not popular. As everyone knows.

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The Waiting Is the Hardest Part -- By: Daniel Foster

The Waiting Is the Hardest Part -- By: Daniel Foster: "The word around Washington is that there is no CBO score of the reconciliation package because the Democrats can't find a way to make the bill reduce the deficit by the legally required $1 billion through 2014.

“They were less than expected” said Rep. Gene Green (D., Texas) of early, unofficial CBO scores.

In a bill that, by the Democrats' own lights, will cost nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, a lousy billion spread out over four years doesn't sound like much. But consider that reconciliation is designed for deficit-cutting, and nearly all of the House's differences with the Senate bill -- the donut hole, the expansion of the Cornhusker Kickback to all 50 states, bigger subsidies -- are in the direction of increased spending. Moreover, the delay and watering-down of the Cadillac tax will be scored as a revenue-decreasing measure, further putting the Democrats in the hole.

It is almost as if the reconciliation process were ill-suited for something like Obamacare.

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Blind Items: I Guess, You Guess

Blind Items: I Guess, You Guess: "

This Blind sounds a little like a Cinderella story, only come to Hollywood. This pair of sisters each grew up with the same dream: to be famous. It worked out for one more than the other thanks to this B/C lister’s ambitious tricks. We hear a part was once offered to her sister, that helped give our star her big break. Although she was young, she beat her sister to the call back and charmed the executives and convinced them to take her instead. She’s now a much bigger star than her sister! Not Annalynne McCord. (BuzzFoto)

Haylie Duff and that shady shyster Hilary Duff?! Haylie will get her time in the spotlight soon when they need a real beauty for the remake of National Velvet.

We thought that the premise of the Celebrity Apprentice was to help raise money for charities by having the contestants perform business- like tasks. We were wrong. The premise is actually to serve as a platform for has-beens to quarrel in the hopes that it gains them the five minutes of camera time they desperately seek. At least that’s the way one of this season’s contestants is playing it. Desperate for a comeback, he is determined to be the most talked-about celeb on the show. He will be, too, if the producers choose to air an incident where he steals something of value from another contestant. He planned on hocking it at a pawn shop to gain more money for his team, but the producers put a kibosh on that at the last second. So now he’s decided to antagonize one person each week until one of them reaches the breaking point and takes a swing at him. (Blind Gossip)

This could be any of the dudes. Seriously. But I'll throw all my cards on Rod Blagojebitch, because....well....for obvious reasons.

This B+/A- all movie actor is mostly known for his pot smoking. Recently though he has begun to experiment with harder stuff and even PCP. The first time he tried PCP which was about six weeks ago he knocked out all the windows to his house with his hands. His hands were a bloody mess and he required lots of stitches. As he was running through his house knocking out the glass he kept saying, 'I have to get the bugs out of the house.' ( Not James Franco) (CDAN)

Matthew McConaughey? But I don't think he's on PCP, I think there's really bugs in his house. Like scabies and shit.

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Angelina Jolie: Shiloh Bonding Time!

Angelina Jolie: Shiloh Bonding Time!: "

Angelina Jolie gets in some bonding time with a few of her kids — Maddox, Shiloh and Zahara (not pictured) — on the set of her new film, The Tourist, in Venice, Italy on Tuesday (March 16).

Angie and Shiloh were seen holding hands. What a cute mother-daughter pair!

Earlier, it was reported that Angie helped set up a school for girls in Afghanistan, featuring eight classrooms, four administration buildings, a well and eight latrines. The school can accommodate up to 800 girls in two shifts!

10+ pictures inside of Angelina Jolie’s bonding time with Shiloh…

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Alex Pettyfer: Shirtless with Tyler Shields!

Alex Pettyfer: Shirtless with Tyler Shields!: "

British hunk Alex Pettyfer goes shirtless in a new photo shoot with celeb shutterbug Tyler Shields.

The screenshot is from a newly released video called “A Day in the Life of Tyler Shields”

“This is just a random day of shooting with a few people,” Tyler described. “[It's] not too crazy of a day but fun nonetheless. This was an amazing day and hopefully I will do another one of these soon!”

This video also features Alessandra Torresani, Leven Rambin, Lydia Hearst, Haley Ramm, Robert Fiely and Thomas Dekker.

Alex Pettyfer: Shirtless with Tyler Shields!

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Kate Winslet & Sam Mendes split: what went wrong?

Kate Winslet & Sam Mendes split: what went wrong?: "

I hadn’t checked the British tabloids this morning, temporarily forgetting that there was a big, juicy split amongst a popular and prominent British couple - Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes. The UK tabloids are all over the split, trying to out-do each other with stories about “the signs” that Kate and Sam were over each other, and how they were never going to make it. Many seem to point to Sam and Kate finally working together as director and actress in Revolutionary Road as the catalyst for their marriage implosion. People has a run down of some of the newspapers/tabloids:

As news broke of Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes’s amicable split Monday, the couple was thousands of miles apart.

The distance underscored what the pair said Monday through their lawyers – “that they separated earlier this year.” The Oscar-winning actress was with friends and her children in Mexico (where the U.K newspaper The Sun pictured her recreating the arms-out Titanic pose on an inflatable dinghy). Mendes, 44, was reportedly with friends in New England.

They were seen in public together at the Wimbledon tennis tournament in the summer of 2009. Then last week, he was back in England visiting the National Theatre where he was in the audience of London Assurance, a source confirms.

Winslet was noticeably solo at this year’s series of award ceremonies, including the BAFTAs in London and the Oscars in L.A. Her red carpet appearances were in stark contrast to the previous award season when the couple was ubiquitous on the red carpets and, she, on the winners’ podiums.

In fact, during her 2009 Golden Globe victory best actress for her role in Mendes’s Revolutionary Road, Winslet called him “babe,” and enthusiastically thanked him. She said at the time, “[I] loved every second of working with you and it’s made me love you more.”

Now the British papers are abuzz that it was during the filming of Revolutionary Road that strains in their marriage began. The film happens to be about a couple in a disintegrating marriage.

Perhaps Mendes unwittingly gave a clue to the downside of living and working together when that same January, he told The Daily Telegraph it was “exhilarating” working with his wife, but, “I tend to cut off at the end of the day and watch a baseball game or something. I don’t like to bring work home. Kate is the opposite. So I just had to change my ways because it’s what she needed and my goal was to get the best performance I possibly could out of her and if she needed to talk about it, then that was my job, too.”

[From People]

I’m left with the impression that they broke up because Kate wouldn’t shut up. Is this fair? No. Is it true? Maybe. The Daily Mail did an in-depth report about the split, and they had some different quotes about the breakup:

A friend of 34-year-old Miss Winslet said she now plans to divorce Mendes, who is ten years her senior, saying: ‘That’s it, it is final.’

A source close to Mendes explained the break-up by saying: ‘He became bored working on his latest theatrical project, and he took that boredom home with him. And that led to the spark being taken out of their marriage.’

Mendes and Miss Winslet, both Academy Award winners, were seen as one of the movie world’s golden couples. The actress had taken the last 12 months off work following her Oscar success in The Reader, supposedly to spend time with her family. But the pair had not been seen in public together since an appearance at Wimbledon last summer and Miss Winslet had claimed Mendes was at home ‘babysitting’ when she attended the Baftas and Oscars alone.

The couple are keen to avoid an unseemly court battle of the custody of their child and their estimated £30million joint fortune.

The friend added: ‘Kate is devastated. She thought their marriage was for ever and now she has two children from two marriages and both are not living with their fathers.’

A source close to the couple added last night: ‘Things were extremely rough to say the least recently. Things went downhill after Revolutionary Road.’

[From The Daily Mail]

So, they split because Sam was a bored, grumpy bastard? You know what? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I think there’s a lot more to this split than what is being discussed publicly. I don’t buy the whole “well, they worked on a movie about a bad marriage, so that’s why they split” explanation. I’m betting one or both of them has someone else.

The Frisky is running a piece about who Kate should date now. The candidates: Leo (obviously), Jeremy Renner (bad fit, in my opinion), Jake Gyllenhaal (too young, I think), Ryan Gosling (same, too young, but he would be game), Jennifer Aniston (ugh, Kate could do so much better), Idris Elba (YES!!!) and George Clooney (DOUBLE YES, he should be so lucky) amongst others.

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Afternoon Crumbs

Afternoon Crumbs: "

Bulgerace dressed like the bell boy/dildo polisher/pillow fluffer at Tokio Hotel - Just Jared

Paquita La Del Barrio needs a chankla to the mouth - Towleroad



This is the second time this year I've seen Posh in flats! Shall we pour one out for stilettos? - Hollywood Tuna

Kate Winslet is on a boat......without Leonardo DiCaprio - The Superficial

Jerry Hall's precious date is giving me fever (site NSFW) - Drunken Stepfather

Sam Worthington's in Details magazine looking like if Pacey from Dawson's Creek hit puberty - Lainey Gossip

Hopefully, Heidi Montag melts into a puddle of silicone from the bright lights and sun exposure - Egotastic!

Jennifer Aniston's got that fresh 'just rolled around in bed with my pillow boyfriend' hair - Popsugar

Gis Bundchen's nipples 15 ways - Cityrag

St. Angie is still dressed like a floppy penis with fat foreskin - I'm Not Obsessed

Why is Eugene Levy's son asking for Ceiling Eyes' autograph? - Hollywood Rag

From the brain of Katie Price: edible lipstick for the prostitot in your life - Holy Moly!

Summit obviously got into Kristen Stewart's stash and smoked the wrong shit - ICYDK

Because Elin's 'Ah Iz Sorree' diamond ring isn't going to pay for itself, Tiger Woods has announced his return to golf - Celebitchy

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Jude Law Talks 'Repo Men' with Regis & Kelly

Jude Law Talks 'Repo Men' with Regis & Kelly: "

Jude Law snaps a photo with a fan before heading inside to ABC Studios in New York City on Tuesday (March 16) to appear on Live With Regis & Kelly.

The 37-year-old actor chatted about his newest film, Repo Men, which hits theaters this Friday (March 19)!

Repo Men has also gotten the graphic novel treatment in a motion comic - check it out at Apple’s trailers site to see what to expect from the film!

If you missed the trailer when it came out late last year, check it out below! Be aware that there are some scary moments and it may not be suitable for children…

Repo Men Trailer

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Tiger Woods announces that he’ll play at the Masters next month

Tiger Woods announces that he’ll play at the Masters next month: "

Well, that was a short break, wasn’t it? Tiger Woods just announced that he’ll be playing at the Masters golf tournament next month. He released a very self-pitying (in my opinion) statement about how “Although I’m returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life.” Translation: “I want to change the subject and get out of the house because Elin keeps screaming at me over the multitude of whores I have having crazy unprotected Ambien sex with.” Here’s more:

Tiger Woods just released a statement saying that he will be playing at the Masters next month.

“The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with great respect,” Tiger said in a statement. “After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta.

“The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it’s been a while since I last played.

“I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy and I am continuing my treatment,” the statement read. “Although I’m returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life.”

“When I finally got into a position to think about competitive golf again, it became apparent to me that the Masters would be the earliest I could play.”

Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, Billy Payne, told TMZ, “We support Tiger’s decision to return to competitive golf beginning at this year’s Masters Tournament. Additionally, we support and encourage his stated commitment to continue the significant work required to rebuild his personal and professional life.”

Are you surprised Tiger’s already back to golf?

[From OK! Magazine]

I’ve always said that the golf industry needs Tiger so much more than he needs it, so it’s no surprise that Tiger is being welcomed back to the sporting world with open arms. My prediction: Tiger will be up to hundreds of millions of dollars in endorsement deals and contracts within one year. That is, unless he eats on the golf course. Which could happen, I guess. One thing is for sure - this will be the most watched Masters tournament in history. Blech.

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Sam Worthington grunts his way through a Details cover profile

Sam Worthington grunts his way through a Details cover profile: "

I’ve never really been a fan of Sam Worthington. There was like a split second last year when I thought he could be a Gerard Butler-esque contender on my top ten “Hot Man Buffet For the Ages” but it died a swift death when I actually read a few interviews with him. The man is dumb as a box of hair. And as for his looks… well, he’s attractive in some ways (CB certainly thinks so), but he’s a lot smaller than you realize. He’s, like, barely taller than Ryan Seacrest. But CB thinks he’s hot and Lainey thinks he’s hot, so maybe there’s something wrong with me.

Anyway, Sam is the cover boy for the April Details Magazine (full piece here), all to promote his role in the upcoming Clash of the Titans. Now, maybe it’s because I’m so jaded about this dude that I can actually see through the exceptionally bad writing over at Details, but this is not a dude with anything of significance to say. And hand him off to a bad interviewer, and you have to slog through 1000 words before you even get to one full quote from Worthington. Here are some of the highlights, from what I could understand of this drivel and assorted grunts:

On why he comes across like an idiot: Talking about himself, laying himself bare for some notepad-wielding stranger, speaking his mind only to see “the stupid things I say” come boomeranging back at him in 12-point type—he hates it. “I’m still a very boisterous young man,” he says, in his bristly Aussie accent. “And I swear a bit more than I should. So I’m learning to temper it, you know?”

He likes to work: “I hate downtime. This is the first time I’ve had time off. I hate it.”

His childhood: “I’m not a great fan of people who say they put a sheet up in the backyard when they were 7 and entertained all the neighbors,” he says. “When I was 7, I thought I was a f-cking fire truck. Growing up, you tended to just go through school to get out… then figure out what you want to do in this big ball of mud.”

So how did the Fire Truck grow up to be an actor? A dreadlocked Worthington tagged along with a girlfriend, an aspiring actress, to her audition at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. For “moral support,” he says, he auditioned alongside her. He got in; she didn’t—and promptly dumped him.

James Cameron on Worthington: “It’s hard to find a guy who works for women and for men,” Cameron says. “With a lot of actors, women love them, but they don’t inspire men. I needed someone who could lead men into battle.” Worthington, he says, “was the one who went full Shakespeare.” They met, they clicked. “He impressed me as a tough guy,” Cameron says. “He had a flintiness about him.”

Why Sam doesn‘t like the word “art”: “Artistry has a kind of weird connotation,” he says, “because you can sound like you’re going straight up your f-cking ass if you say that.”

Living in hotels: “I like room service,” he admits. “They put a chocolate on my pillow. It’s kinda cool.”

What? “Most people could say, ‘I want to be on magazine covers. I want to have enough money to buy a house,’” he says. For Worthington, however, the goal isn’t nearly so tangible. “If it was tangible,” he says, “hopefully I wouldn’t be doing it, to be honest.”

On fame: “If you start walking around in a red chinchilla, thinking you’re better than everybody,” Worthington says, “you’re going to look like a dickhead.”

Is he a diva? “Well, I demand a lot,” he says, then backtracks, not wanting to position himself as some kind of diva. “I demand excellence in myself. I’m up front and quite outspoken, but I’ll give you everything.”

[From Details]

Ugh. I mean, I get it. The guy doesn’t want to wax on and on about “the craft” or his “method”. And I applaud that, truly. I get tired of reading interviews with actors when they won’t shut up about their craft. But, it just seems like Sam doesn’t have much to say beyond that. He’s just a working actor, happy to have a job, but not really experiencing anything beyond the work. He just doesn’t have anything to say. The majority of the article is quotes from other people talking about his “simplicity” (which is code for “stupid”) and his rugged-ness (which is code for “he’s straight”).

Details photos of Sam courtesy of Details online.

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Kate Bosworth & Alex Skarsgard: Doughboys Delicious

Kate Bosworth & Alex Skarsgard: Doughboys Delicious: "

Kate Bosworth and her rumored boyfriend, True Blood hunk Alexander Skarsgard, have lunch with friends at Doughboys Cafe & Bakery Restaurant in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon (March 15).

Kate, who was seen wrapping her arms around Alex, took a bit of sweetness home with her — a slice of red velvet cake!

And good news for all of your vampire fans! True Blood kicks off its third season on Sunday, June 13. Errriiiiicccc!

More pics at X17!

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Tiger Woods Returns To Golf at The Masters

Tiger Woods Returns To Golf at The Masters: "

Tiger Woods will make his official return to golf April 8 at The Masters.

“The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with great respect,” the 34-year-old golfer said in a statement (via USA Today).

“After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta. The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it’s been a while since I last played.”

“I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy and I am continuing my treatment,” Tiger continued. “Although I’m returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life.”

“When I finally got into a position to think about competitive golf again, it became apparent to me that The Masters would be the earliest I could play.”

"

Gwen Stefani Covers 'InStyle' April 2010

Gwen Stefani Covers 'InStyle' April 2010: "

Gwen Stefani is brilliant blue in Stella McCartney on the April 2010 cover of InStyle.

The 40-year-old No Doubt frontman shared why she got into designing a fashion line. Gwen said, “I wanted so badly to have a backup plan for when I’m not performing anymore. Let’s be realistic: it’s not going to be like this forever. So I wanted to continue having something creative to do. I don’t have a strong sense of self-worth unless I’m doing something. I was a different person before I started to write. When I realized I could be a songwriter and that people would listen—that was when I started feeling good in my life.”

At the cover shoot, Gwen also shared, “One of my favorite things to do is NOT go shopping. Like today, I asked my stylist Andrea Lieberman [and her girls to] to pick some stuff out for me so I can shop at the photo shoot. They do the edits and then I edit that. I feel really guilty about it. It’s very luxurious. It’s one of the perks of the job. [But] it’s not a job, is it? It’s my life. (laughs)”

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