Imus

A day after politicians and civil rights leaders chastised radio personality Don Imus for his offensive racial comments about Rutgers University women's basketball players, the team's coach turned the spotlight back on her players. At a campus news conference attended by her team, C. Vivian Stringer described the players yesterday as "the best this nation has to offer, and we are so very fortunate to have them at Rutgers University." "They are young ladies of class, distinction. They are articulate.

One and two half men in Sheen household Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen and his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen, are the parents of twin boys. Publicist Stan Rosenfield says the babies, Bob and Max, were born Saturday night in Los Angeles. Rosenfield says Mueller Sheen is "doing great" and the father is "ecstatic." Obama to visit Leno The White House says President Barack Obama will appear this week on Jay Leno's talk show. Obama will visit The Tonight Show With Jay Leno during his trip to Los Angeles on Thursday.

I am deeply saddened and angered by Mr. Imus' statements regarding the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team. These talented, articulate young women put forth a great deal of hard work and effort this past season to reach the nation's grandest stage - the NCAA title game. Throughout the year, these gifted young ladies set an example for the nation that through hard work and perseverance, you can accomplish anything if you believe. Without a doubt, this past season was my most rewarding in 36 years of coaching.

Al D'Amato is a jerk.(If I've offended anybody by that statement, I apologize.)Al D'Amato is a clown. He's a goof. He was voted the senator most likely to make a fool of himself.(If I've said anything that could in any way be considered offensive, I'm deeply sorry.)Usually, he's harmless. Usually, Big Al spends his time calling press conferences on the Capitol steps to announce that he's in love, like he and his main squeeze -- millionaire gossip columnist Claudia Cohen -- are another John and Yoko.

Cal Ripken Jr. had himself one hell of a day Monday, one that made him much, much larger than a Hall of Famer-elect and iconic figure of a city and franchise. Yes, he threw out the ceremoni al first pitch at the Orioles game, and yes, he made a huge commit ment to Major League Baseball's RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program on behalf of his family's charitable foundation, putting his money and name be hind something that, ideally, should bring baseball back from life support in areas like the neighborhoods west of Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor.

LOS ANGELES -- Bill Clinton got where he is by pretty much accepting the golden rules of American celebrity, beginning with ''There is no such thing as bad publicity,'' and ''As long as they spell your name right . . . ''So he got zinged a little the other night when a New York disc jockey named Don Imus, a man candidate Clinton had courted in the 1992 campaign, was invited to speak in the relatively polite society of the Radio and Television Correspondents Association....

This week, Time magazine put radio talk-show host Don Imus on the cover, OK, he's not a solo act. Imus is a cover boy along with six other cover guys and gals.As it turns out, he's right below comic-strip character Dilbert and to the right of TV talk show host Rosie O'Donnell. But the I-Man doesn't mention Dilbert and O'Donnell during a recent morning show.He only mentions his proximity to Secretary of State Madeline Albright, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, and golfing sensation Tiger Woods.

The air is so thick with irony and hypocrisy these days, it's hard to find oxygen to breathe. On the same day that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper declared the three white Duke University lacrosse team players innocent of the alleged rape of an African-American stripper, MSNBC canceled its simulcast of the Don Imus radio show for a racial slur against the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team. Two athletic teams - one mostly white male, one mostly black female.

WASHINGTON -- A couple of new studies about race and gender bias got me to thinking about an age-old question: Is it possible to think in a racist way without being consciously racist? How about sexist? Stephen Colbert indirectly raises such questions when he declares on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report that "I don't see race." Unless you are pitifully tone-deaf to irony, you can tell that Mr. Colbert is putting us on with his flip certainty. I don't care what race you are - asserting too casually that race isn't important is a risky invitation to be fooled by how differently the world looks to people of different races.