Why Michael Savage is a Savage

NEW YORK (AP) — Radio talk show host Michael Savage, who described 99 percent of children with autism as brats, said Monday he was trying to "boldly awaken" parents to his view that many people are being wrongly diagnosed.

Some parents of autistic children have called for Savage's firing after he described autism as a racket last week. "In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out," Savage said on his radio program last Wednesday.

Savage offered no apology in a message posted Monday on his Web site. He said greedy doctors and drug companies were creating a "national panic" by overdiagnosing autism, a mental disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate.

For more visit the Associated Press.

The Wendy Williams, Omarosa Smackdown!!!!!

Reality TV villain Omarosa sparred with talk show host Wendy Williams on Monday in a spat that at one point turned physical.

She appeared on Fox's "The Wendy Williams Show" to promote her upcoming book but instead spent more time trading insults with the radio personality-turned-talk show host. "I wanted to throw her off the set," Williams later told The Associated Press.

Can you say WWF - Why Women Fight?!? Catch the video under the hood.

The altercation started when Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth first walked onto the daytime talk show and said she was displeased with Williams' introduction of her and would not be disrespected. Things got uglier when Williams grabbed Omarosa's book cover to hold it up to the camera, and Omarosa snatched it back out of Williams' hand.

"Omarosa wished her career was my career," Williams told the AP. "Omarosa is a delusional, D-list, pathetic woman."

The yanking gave way to Omarosa attacking Williams' appearance, asking the talk show host whether she had had a nose job and suggesting she shouldn't wear wigs.

But Williams didn't stay silent throughout the heated interview. She called Omarosa "a typical angry black woman" and suggested cosmetic injections could fix her
wrinkles.

For more, visit the Associated Press.

Nelson Mandela Parties Like It's His 90th Birthday

QUNU, South Africa (AP) — Some came in exquisitely beaded traditional skins, others wore T-shirts emblazoned with his name, and Nelson Mandela welcomed all to the festive tent outside his home Saturday for the formal celebration of the anti-apartheid icon's 90th birthday.

Hundreds of guests stood and cheered and a Xhosa choir sang "Here is our hope!" at the entrance of Mandela — walking in with his successor as South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, and African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma. Mandela, wearing an intricately patterned shirt in shades of brown, stopped to personally greet a few of the 500 honored guests as he made his way to the head table.

For more information, visit the Associated Press.

Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela!

QUNU, South Africa (AP) — Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday Friday by calling on the wealthy to share with the poor and wishing that he had been able to spend more time with his family during the long anti-apartheid struggle.

In an interview at his home in rural southeastern South Africa, the icon was asked if he had a message for the world.

"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said.

Sitting with his wife Graca Machel in a lounge of the large home he built in Qunu, Mandela said he was fortunate to have reached 90, but the poor are unlikely to live that long because "poverty has gripped our people."

At one point, a granddaughter brought a bowl of flowers into the room and gave Mandela a birthday kiss. He was asked if he wished he had had more time with his family during a life spent fighting apartheid and then leading South Africa.

"I am sure for many people that is their wish," he said. "I also have that wish that I spent more time (with my family). But I don't regret it."

For more, visit the Associated Press.

McCain Addresses The NAACP

CINCINNATI (AP) — John McCain told the NAACP and some skeptical black voters Wednesday that he will expand education opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to attend private school.

The likely Republican presidential nominee addressed the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

In greeting the group, McCain praised Democrat Barack Obama's historic campaign, but said the Illinois senator is wrong to oppose school vouchers for students in failing public schools. It is time, McCain said, to use vouchers and other tools like merit pay for teachers to break from conventional thinking on educational policy.


"Whatever the outcome in November," McCain told the crowd Wednesday, "Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing, for himself and for his country, and I thank him for it. ... Don't tell him I said this, but he is an impressive fellow in many ways."

During a question-and-answer session, McCain also sought to assuage a frustrated Head Start teacher who complained that her salary from the federal program simply isn't enough.

The woman, wearing a union T-shirt, said she was making $17,000 a year and cannot afford housing, gas, food, or health care for her children. "We cannot continue this way," she said.

For more, visit the Associated Press.