Moore responds to charge over his go-vote campaign

Moore responds to chargeover his go-vote campaign
LANSING, Mich. -- Michael Moore shot back at Republicans on Wednesday after they requested that the filmmaker be prosecuted for offering underwear and food to college students in exchange for their promise to vote.
"It's ironic that Republicans have no problem with allowing assault weapons out on our streets, yet they don't want to put clean underwear in the hands of our slacker youth," Moore said. "The Republicans seem more interested in locking me up for trying to encourage people to participate in our democracy than locking up bin Laden for his attacks on our democracy."
The Michigan GOP asked four county prosecutors Tuesday to file charges against Moore, citing an election law provision that prohibits a person from contracting with another for something of value in exchange for agreeing to vote.
As of Wednesday evening, no prosecutions had been announced.
Moore is touring the country and imploring "slackers" who usually don't vote to head to the polls this year, saying they could make the difference in the presidential race.
During each program, habitual nonvoters are invited on stage to pledge to vote. First-time student voters are offered gag prizes such as clean underwear.
Star of Hemingway moviehas read little of his work
NEW YORK -- Apparently, "The Sun Also Rises" isn't required reading at the Bada Bing.
James Gandolfini is set to play Ernest Hemingway in a movie, but the "Sopranos" capo admits he's largely unacquainted with the Nobel Prize-winner's work.
"I've read almost no Hemingway," Gandolfini told the New York Daily News at a fund-raiser for Finca Vigia, Hemingway's former home in Cuba.
Gandolfini got through New Jersey's Park Ridge High School and Rutgers University without reading even "The Old Man and the Sea" (Saddam Hussein's favorite novella) but doesn't feel it disqualifies him for the role.
"I wanted to read the script without knowing a lot about Hemingway," said the actor. "So I would see from that point of view -- not the point of view of a Hemingway scholar."
Gandolfini went on to suggest that today's authors wouldn't be fit to make Papa a daiquiri, much less run the bulls in Pamplona with him.
"I don't know a lot of writers now who would go to a war just so they could write about it," he said. "He was a different breed. I don't know if it was that time or we are just slightly weaker."
Restraining order to keep stalker away from Gibson
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Mel Gibson obtained a three-year restraining order Wednesday against a homeless man who allegedly showed up at his estate and the chapel he attends, demanding they pray together.
Zack Sinclair, 34, has pleaded innocent to six misdemeanor counts that include trespassing and disorderly conduct, district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
He remained in jail Wednesday without bail pending hearing Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge Linda Lefkowitz extended the temporary restraining order during a brief hearing.
The order, originally issued a day after Sinclair's Sept. 20 arrest, bars him from coming within 100 yards of Gibson, his wife or their seven children, their home, Gibson's work, the children's school and the chapel. He also cannot contact the actor.
Gibson's attorney, Jeffery McFarland, declined to comment.
Today's birthdays
Singer Al Martino is 77. Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is 73. Former National Security Council aide Oliver North is 61. Rock musician Kevin Godley (10cc) is 59. Country singer Kieran Kane is 55. Singer John Mellencamp is 53. Rock musician Ricky Phillips is 53. Actress Christopher Norris is 51. Rock musician Tico Torres (Bon Jovi) is 51. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is 49. Gospel singer Michael W. Smith is 47. Rock musician Charlie Marinkovich (Iron Butterfly) is 45. Actress Judy Landers is 43. Country singer Dale Watson is 42. Rock singer-musician Thom Yorke (Radiohead) is 36. Rock musician-dancer Leeroy Thornhill is 35. Actress Nicole Ari Parker is 34.