Swanky Hotels Kiss Gideons Goodbye

And lawyer drops first masseur

(NEWSER) - The plot thickens in massage-gate : A masseur now claims that John Travolta was banned from the swank Peninsula Hotel in New York for bad behavior, the New York Daily News reports. His alleged habit of pulling off his towel, grinding on the table, and raising his butt on massage tables precipitated the 3-year ban. “Travolta would always request a man for his massage, but after a while no one would take him because of his inappropriate behavior,” says former Peninsula masseur Michael Caputo. More»

Big room, brilliant view, fawning staff ... you name it

(NEWSER) - What's $1,000 a night, when you can keep out the riff-raff, eat high on the hog, and get tickets to American Idol? That's the thinking these days at smaller chi chi hotels, where ultra-luxurious grand-a-night rooms are becoming more common, the Wall Street Journal reports. So just how do they pamper the 1% while 99-ers are lumping it at the Holiday Inn?

• Big room, gorgeous view, and fawning 24-hour staff are givens—as are spas and top restaurants with short waiting lists.

Sex columnist sparks walk-out by Christians at journalism convention

(NEWSER) - Dan Savage apologized yesterday for referring to Christians who walked out on his speech as "pansy ass," but stood by the Bible-bashing comments that sparked the walkout to begin with. "We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people," Savage said during a keynote at the National High School Journalism Convention, according to Gawker . He described the Bible as a "radically pro-slavery document," that was chock full of passages that modern readers ignore. When students walked out Savage said, "It's funny to someone who is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible how pansy-ass people react when you push back." More»

Brazilian dies after Good Friday accident

(AP) - A Brazilian actor playing Judas who accidentally hanged himself during a scene in "The Passion of Christ" has died. A hospital in Brazil's Sao Paulo state confirms on its website the death of 27-year-old Tiago Klimeck. An autopsy is being performed today following his death the previous day. The actor had been in a coma since the accident on Good Friday earlier this month in the city of Itarare. More»

How the Jews triumphed against a majority religion

(NEWSER) - Looks like the Jews were once the other worshipers of Yahweh. According to archeological evidence, Samaritans had a dazzling shrine and the Jews only a so-so Temple of Jerusalem about 2,500 years ago, Der Spiegel reports. What's more, the Bible once described Moses as telling his people to travel to Mount Gerizim—where the Samaritan shrine stood. Many centuries later, however, the Samaritans are largely edited out and struggling in a tiny religious community in Israel. More»