Ananova: "Ringo Starr has described the Hyde Park memorial to Princess Diana as "a lot of crap". The £3.6 million fountain was opened in July by the Queen but was closed two weeks later after three visitors slipped and hurt themselves. It reopened last month but supervisors now manage the site and visitors are not allowed to walk in the fountain. Ringo, 64, told Newsweek: "I've had enough of the Royal Family. 'Bout time they went on holiday and stayed there."Lets see them do something good for Britain. Build a hospital. And that Diana memorial?. It's such a lot of crap. She deserved more than that, in my opinion."" Amen! We have been stunned at the silence of the "Royals" on Tony Blair's immoral, illegal war and its devastating impact on the UK. It's a war Diana would have condemned and fought against. Makes ya wonder if her death was a "preemptive strike?"

Jesse Ventura has always been a prima donna - how else could you willingly bill yourself as "Jesse the Body" and wrestle in outlandish constumes before millions?! But when the cameras came to town after Wellstone's death, they were not turned on him. In response, Ventura threw a tantrum over the rousing Democratic wake for Wellstone, then appointed a non-Dem, Dean Barkley to replace Wellstone. Not only that, he timed the announcement intentionally to conflict with the U.S. Senate debate between Mondale and Coleman. "To add to the three-ring-circus effect," the Pioneer Press reports, "a lawyer for Moore, the candidate of Ventura's Independence Party of Minnesota, was in court early Monday morning trying to stop the debate because he and Green Party candidate Ray Tricomo were excluded. A Ramsey County district court judge rejected Moore's request at 9:45 a.m." What's next? Dressing up in his Jesse the Bod gear for the next press conference?

The relationship between Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp has been brought to the stage in a small off-Broadway theater in Manhattan. The play, with the rather dubious double entendre title "Snatches" was written and directed by Laura Strausfeld, who extracted the dialogue from over 2,000 pages of phone transcripts of Lewinsky-Tripp conversations. "People are charmed by Monica," says Strausfeld."I think that she is uncensored, people always sympathise with a person like that." Linda "I have no life and hate everyone who has one" Tripp, is another story. She is portrayed as a "sneering snitch" who sells out her supposed "best friend." Alas, Tripp's energy seems to have set the stage for the present administration.

So what if it took them 135 years! Hey, they just take awhile to get the point in Virginia. Like, hey, the Confederacy lost the Civil War over a thing called slavery. That's okay, we're glad to welcome you to the Union.

"Now that the electoral process in the US has become a badly performed farce, the American people at least deserve a real actor in the White House. Martin Sheen is a natural to play the part, and has years of experience. The Republicans would get an actor who knows his stuff, and the rest of the nation would get the liberal president they voted for. In the end, isn’t that what everybody wanted?" Sounds like a good deal to us.

In New Jersey and Virginia, the presumptive Democratic candidates look like winners in the only two off-year elections for governor. It would be great to come out of 2001 with big wins in the Garden State and Virginia.

"To me, I'm an American, a Veteran, a Wife, a Mother, and a college graduate. I work, pay taxes, and try to enjoy the simple things in life with my family. I'm spiritual and a firm believer in taking personal responsibility for my life. I obey the law and teach my children to do the same. I help others in need because I believe giving means more than receiving, and if there's enough to go around anyway, why not share? I strive to be fair. One thing I hope I never am is self-righteous. I'm just like millions of others--a proud Democrat who loves my Country and its democratic principles. I am here to stay. I'm not going to forget, nor will I go away." Now that's the right spririt! Words from an Oregon reader.

In true Republican hypocrisy bravado, Little Ricky Lazio defended his shaking hands with Yasser Arafat. Nothing would be wrong with that, except that he had blasted Hillary for hugging Arafat's wife. Oh, Ricky, you are a piece of cake!

Heck, it's Labor Day. Let's lighten up. Sure, we could discuss Bush's dreadful fear of an actual debate. Of course he's more comfortable with Larry "softball" King. After all, with Larry, the Bush man might spend most of the time talking about the Texas Rangers, which might present a challenge to Gore to get a word in edgewise. But we won't go there, because it's a holiday and the barbecues are already firing up. Suffice it to say, we support the idea of moving Labor Day to the end of September. After all, let summer run its course. In an article on ABC.com, Bruce Wolf lays out the case for changing Labor Day to September 22. That would shorten the official campaign season, but it began months ago anyway.

Well, he may not be a Jerry Springer Want-to-be, anymore, but Geraldo Rivera as Mayor of New York? I don't think we could handle press conferences where every second question would be about the O.J. case. On the other hand, Geraldo says he's got the vote sewn up because he's half-Puerto Rican, half-Jewish. Of course, there would be one advantage to his running and winning. He could interview himself.