That sounds like a lot of work. How does Jessica do all of that, and stay so fit and beautiful? Oh yeah, she has a team of footservants to help her. Why couldn't "She has a team of footservants to help her" at least make it to third or fourth on her list of how she pleases Nick?

With or without a staff of handmaidens and an army of fluffers, though, Jessica knows how to keep the passion burning! According to the article, the couple likes to take bubble baths, drink wine and listen to jazz!

Funny, my friend also used to say, "Having a husband is fine, as long as I don't have to take bubble baths, drink wine and listen to jazz."

America has spoken!
Avoidants, gleeful morbids, park haters, bubble bath boozers ... This culture war is really starting to make my head spin! Thank God some choices in this great country of ours still boil down to black and white.

Take, for example, last week's results on "American Idol." As I mentioned in my last column, there are three extremely talented contestants on "American Idol" this year, all of whom happen to be black women. The other contestants range from just OK to cringe-inducingly bad. This past week, when Ryan Seacrest announced the three contestants who received the least number of votes, most viewers assumed that Diana DiGarmo and John Stevens, two white teenagers who should be practicing their box steps in show choir instead of paining the nation with their clumsy karaoke routines, would surely land in the bottom heap.

Not so, America! Instead, La Toya London, Fantasia Barrino and Jennifer Hudson, all of whom were praised to high heaven for their fantastic performances, were in the bottom three. The judges were asked what they thought of the results. They expressed disappointment, but reminded us that, after all, this is a democracy.

Others talked about a conspiracy.

Um, racism isn't really a conspiracy. It's pretty much out in the open. This is a racist country. Most people in this country are racists. Every single black person in this country knows it. Can't you just take their word for it? Even if you don't personally see evidence of racism in this country, can't you trust those who are in the position to see it, those who are telling you, day after day, that it's there?

Or do you not trust them?

Personally, despite my disappointment that Fantasia, the only true star in the group, was voted in the bottom three and might not win, this vote seems like a good opportunity for us to see the "conspiracy" that's right in front of our faces and always has been.

You say you want a revolution
"We felt that doing nothing, at a time of repressive violence, is itself a form of violence." -- Naomi Jaffe, a member of the militant revolutionary group The Weather Underground.

This Tuesday night, those preoccupied with racism and the war in Iraq absolutely won't want to miss the Oscar-nominated documentary "The Weather Underground" on PBS (10 p.m. ET, Tuesday -- check local listings). After years of nonviolent protests that many felt had done little to change things, a group of radicals known as the Weather Underground emerged in the '70s and waged a war on the U.S. government and its policies. Through old film footage, photographs, FBI documents and interviews with the group's leaders today, the film tells the story of the group's battles on the streets of Chicago, its plots to bomb targets across the country, and its success in breaking Timothy Leary out of jail. Whether their actions were courageous or ill-considered or some combination of the two, the film paints a provocative, complicated picture of the role of radical movements at a time when violence not sanctioned by the government is widely disdained.

"To me it was a question of what had to be done to stop the much greater violence that was going on," offers David Gilbert, who was a member of the Weather Underground and is still serving a life sentence for his role in a violent holdup. While outspoken critics of the group abound, "The Weather Underground" offers a balanced look at a time in history that, unfortunately, feels more familiar than ever.

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