Stories & Links 1009

(mlb.com)

Jim Thome Named AL Comeback Player of the Year

White Sox slugger Jim Thome is the American League recipient of the 2006 Major League Baseball Comeback Player of the Year Award presented by Viagra.

Thome led wire-to-wire in the voting to win the award, re-establishing himself as one of the game's elite by hitting 42 home runs and driving in 109.

• What if Robin Williams really was President?

Robin Williams says he'd never run for political office himself, but he does have a few Hollywood friends he'd like to see elected. Williams tells us, "Dennis Miller at one point wanted to run for office, may even, and I think an interesting idea. He's a bright man and very opinionated, but also he believes. And Al Franken, I think he is or was thinking of running for office in Minnesota, and after Jesse Ventura, why not. You've had a wrestler, now a comic and after that a porn star. The Italians did it."

• Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are planning a wedding for sometime in the first three weeks of November, before Thanksgiving. Finally, our long national nightmare is over.

• Cat Lovers Lining Up for No-Sneeze Kitties

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: October 6, 2006

A small California biotech company says it is ready to deliver the Holy Grail of the $35 billion pet industry: a hypoallergenic cat.

At the start of next year, the first kittens...which the company calls "lifestyle pets"...will go home to eager owners who have been carefully screened and have been on a waiting list for more than two years.

Since it announced the project in October 2004, the company (Allerca, of San Diego,) says it has received inquiries from people in 85 countries seeking to buy the cats. They are bred so that their glands do not produce the protein responsible for most human cat allergies.

Cats ordered now will take 12 to 15 months for delivery in the United States, 15 to 18 months in Europe. Cost: $4,000. And owners must pass Allerca's finicky screening tests...which include interviews for motivation and warmth. It's an approval process similar to adopting a child.

• Sea Lion Love. STUPID NEWS

• Study: Daily Show As Substantive As Real News (Indiana University)

A new study by Indiana University suggests the popular "fake news" program, which last week featured Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as a guest, is just as substantive as network news coverage.