The Official Sarah Palin Blog
Official Sarah Palin Blog Govenor Sarah Palin of Alaska did something here on Thursday that she did not do in her entire campaign as the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee: she stood behind a lectern and held a news conference. She was asked what had changed. “The campaign is over,” she said.
Granted, the question and answer session lasted only four minutes, and for only four questions. As she stood on a stage in a hotel overlooking Biscayne Bay, surrounded by 12 fellow governors, Ms. Palin was asked what message she hoped to get across.
“I’m trying to convey the message that Republican governors are a unique team,” said Ms. Palin, who said she was uninterested in discussing the campaign.
But Ms. Palin did allow herself a look back after the brief news conference ended, as she addressed a session of the Republican Governors Association and told them that she had managed to keep busy since their last conference.
“I had a baby, I did some traveling, I very briefly expanded my wardrobe, I made a few speeches, I met a few VIPS, including those who really impact society, like Tina Fey,” she said.
And yes, she spoke again of “Joe the Plumber,” the Ohio man who briefly dominated the McCain-Palin campaign and its talk about taxes.
Ms. Palin thanked the people who attended her rallies, including young women she hopes she has influenced.
Kanye West Busted
Kanye West has just been arrested at LAX for felony vandalism.
A still photographer was trying to take pics of Kanye at the American Airlines terminal. According to our guy on the scene, Kanye allegedly confronted the photog and smashed his camera to the ground.
Our photog then began videotaping the scene when Kanye’s assistant grabbed our camera — a struggle ensued and the assistant threw the video camera to the ground, breaking it.
- from TMZ
Jessica Alba’s ‘Shocking’ Ad for Declare Yourself
Jessica Alba, who appears in a in new bondage-inspired campaign for the voter group Declare Yourself, isn’t afraid to employ a little shock value for a cause she believes in.
“I think it is important for young people to be aware of the need we have in this country to get them more active politically,” says Alba. “People respond to things that are shocking.”The dramatic image “really resonates” with the issue of voting, according to the 27-year-old star. “If you don’t register and vote and make a difference, and hopefully change the bad things that are happening in our country, you are essentially just binding and muzzling yourself.”
- from People
Anne Hathaway’s ex admits to fraud
An Italian businessman who dated Hollywood star Anne Hathaway and did a deal with supermarket mogul Ron Burkle, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of fraud in which he lied about links to the Vatican.
Millionaire Raffaello Follieri, 30, admitted in U.S. District Court to a scheme in which he fraudulently obtained more than $2 million in a web of shell companies with phony consultancies.
Dressed in dark blue prison-issue pants and shirt over a white undershirt, Follieri answered “guilty” to each of 14 counts charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
Follieri was arrested on June 24 and accused of operating the scheme between 2005 and 2007 in which he led investors to believe that he had close connections with the Vatican that enabled him to buy the Catholic Church’s unwanted U.S. real estate properties at a discount.
Since his arrival in the United States in 2003, the native of Foggia, Italy, who was described by prosecutors as a con-man, forged a real-estate venture with California supermarket billionaire Burkle.
He dated Hathaway, star of “The Princess Diaries” and “The Devil Wears Prada” for four years until they split just before he was arrested in June.
Follieri’s attorney Flora Edwards told reporters outside the courthouse that one explanation for the fraud was that he “got side-tracked … perhaps to adopt a lifestyle that was not his, that he was not able to maintain.”
- from Reuters
Lindsay Lohan: ‘I’m Really Happy’
In Hollywood, a tattoo is worth a thousand words. So even though Lindsay Lohan remains coy about her relationship with deejay Samantha Ronson, their matching tattoos say it all.
“Samantha has a bunch of stars, so I got that,” Lohan, referring to a star tattoo on her hand, tells Marie Claire in their October issue. Then, pointing to a little heart, she says, “she got this.”
“I’m really happy,” Lohan says, suggesting that Ronson has been a positive force in her life. “She’s a great person. And she’s a great influence on people around her. But I think that anything that’s changed [in] my life is because of me. I’ve gone through it, and I’ve learned to deal with it and I’ve made the decision to move forward.”
- from People
Douchebag Ashton Kutcher’s New Role: High School Football Coach
Ashton Kutcher can now add “assistant coach” to his resumé just under actor, producer and renowned prankster.
The actor, 30, who played football at his high school in Iowa, is a new assistant coach for the freshman football team at L.A.’s Harvard-Westlake School.
Head of Athletics Audrius Bardzukas says that Kutcher, who is pals with head coach Scott Wood, didn’t benefit from having friends in high places. Like any other job candidate, he was interviewed.
“I asked him why he wanted to coach. He said he’s a dad, he has three daughters, and none of them are into sports. He loves football, and he said he’d always wanted to coach,” Barzdukas told PEOPLE.
- from People
One-nut douchebag Lance Armstrong return for ‘09 Tour de France
Lance Armstrong will end his retirement and hopes to compete in the 2009 Tour de France, according to a cycling journal report.
The 36-year-old seven-time Tour de France champion will compete in five road races with the Astana team in 2009, the cycling journal VeloNews reported on its Web site Monday, citing anonymous sources.Armstrong’s manager Mark Higgins did not immediately respond to a voice mail left by The Associated Press.
The move would reunite Armstrong with Johan Bruyneel, now the team director for Astana.
VeloNews reported Armstrong also will compete in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia and the Dauphine-Libere.
- from AP
Jennifer Aniston: ‘Things Couldn’t Be Better’
Jennifer Aniston is happily keeping busy these days, she tells PEOPLE.
“Things couldn’t be better,” the actress, who recently split from John Mayer, told PEOPLE at Sunday’s screening of her new film, Management, at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Busy, but it’s great.”
Asked where she finds her inner strength, Aniston, 39, told reporters, “Waking up everyday.”
Indeed, her Management director, Stephen Belber, said Aniston is naturally optimistic. “She has great strength, and I never heard her complain. Not once,” said Belber. “There was never a sign of, ‘Oh, poor Jen.’ She has a positive outlook on things. She is the most upbeat, thoughtful, sincere person.”
- from People
‘Heather Mills is a bitch who tricked me into spreading lies about Paul McCartney,’ claims her ex-Hollywood PR
Heather Mills’s former publicist has accused her of conducting a campaign of dirty tricks against Sir Paul McCartney during their bitter divorce.
Hollywood PR Michele Elyzabeth has launched a scathing attack on Miss Mills, saying the former model duped her into lying for her in their public battle and leaked false stories to blacken Sir Paul’s name.
During her explosive rant she refers to Miss Mills as a pathological liar, a witch, a bitch and a gold-digger who married the former Beatle for his money. She declared: ‘That witch tricked me into spreading lies about Paul. She’s a bitch.’
She claimed the self-styled charity campaigner had bugged Sir Paul’s private conversations in an attempt to rake up any dirt on the 66-year-old performer.
- from Dailymail
The top 10 things you didn’t see at the MTV Douchebag awards
Backstage notes from the 25th annual MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday.
1. After winning three Moonmen, including video of the year, Britney Spears got cold feet before she met the press. She peeked into the media room with personal assistants and camera crew in tow, then promptly turned around and left.
A few moments later, Chris Brown hurried in to take her place — prompting a round of disappointed “Awwwww!” from disappointed Britney-wannabe paparazzi (a reaction that seemed to miff Brown, who maybe didn’t understand that he wasn’t being booed personally.) Never fear, Britney returned after Brown; she said nothing and posed for just a few quick pictures as she juggled her trophies. After the show, host Russell Brand described the event as “the resurrection of Britney Spears. I saw stigmata.”
2. Impromptu “Best Dressed” MTV Awards were handed out on the red carpet — winners included Ne-Yo for his Louis Vuitton sunglasses and blogger Perez Hilton for his pale yellow plaid suit. The awards were a far cry from a Moonman, however. They were actually wind-up toys of a kiwi bird glued to a 99-cent store-quality plaque.
3. Video game “Rock Band 2″ set up shop at the end of the red carpet, where talent could get their riff on before entering the awards show. T-Pain played the game with the most gusto, taking turns on both the drum kit as well as the guitar on the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.”
4. Tokio Hotel’s gigantic four-by-four truck competed for space with, yes, the omnipresent blinged-out VMA elephant in the Paramount lot six hours before the show started. The truck was bigger — barely. Before the show, Tokio Hotel frontman Bill Kaulitz said that he hadn’t prepared any remarks because there was “no way we’re going to win … there is NO WAY we’re going to win.” And, in true VMA karma, the band won the Moonman for best new artist two hours later.
5. The show was filmed in Lot 16 at the 62-acre Paramount Studios; it’s the furthest from the main studio entrance on Melrose Avenue, so once talent did their red carpet duties, the limos drove them through the studio’s back lot to the stage. The non-famous were moved back in golf carts (ala the exit from Britney Spears and Russell Brand) or in shuttles — or hoofed it by their own power.