Delusional

(Newser) - In The Truman Show , Jim Carrey's life was nothing more than a reality TV program, with actors playing his friends and family and millions of viewers watching his every move. Those themes of surveillance and artificiality pervade the lives of a growing number of psychiatric patients—people who think they are always on camera, surrounded by performers, the New York Times reports. More »

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton had to dodge sniper fire when she landed at the start of a goodwill tour of Bosnia in 1996—at least that’s what the senator said last week. But after an archive CBS news video showed the then-first lady smiling and waving without a single bullet whizzing by, her campaign conceded that she “misspoke.” One aide admitted the situation “was not quite as dramatic" as Clinton put it. More »

(Newser) - Playgirl feels sorry for Eliot Spitzer, what with the public-opinion crucifixion and $1 million Hustler offer to call-girl “Kristen." He’s unemployed, and might face some stiff legal fees in the near future, so the girls are extending an offer on their blog: “How about making some loot back, by showing us what you saved for such a select few?” More »

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden threatened Europe today with "severe" retaliation over the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, the AP reports. The audio recording of bin Laden surfaced on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, though he made no mention of it, and a day before the Muslim world celebrates Muhammad's birthday. One expert said the voice appeared to be bin Laden's, but he noted that it had no reference points to show when it was recorded. More »

(Newser) - President Bush argued for continuing the Iraq war today on the fifth anniversary of its start, saying the "battle in Iraq is noble, it is necessary, and it is just." Outlining the horrors of Sadam’s regime, Bush thundered, “Because we acted, the world is better,” and called the initial campaign a “remarkable display of military effectiveness.” More »

(Newser) - On the fifth anniversary of launching the shock-and-awe assault that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, President Bush will make a major speech at the Pentagon today, CNN reports. In excerpts from the speech he acknowledges that "the fight in Iraq was faltering," but praises the progress in the last year. "The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around; it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror." More »

(Newser) - Heather Mills was an “inconsistent and inaccurate” witness in her divorce hearings with Paul McCartney, the case judge said today. He described the ex-Beatle’s ex as “less than candid” and “less than impressive,” but tempered his critique by noting that Mills is a “kindly individual” who showed “steely, yet courteous determination”  in representing herself in court, the Daily Telegraph reports. More »

(Newser) - The King of Pop is cooking up what one TV pundit calls "the biggest comeback since Lazarus," the Observer reports. After years of legal and financial woes and self-imposed exile, the Gloved One is forging new material and planning a possible concert tour, reportedly collaborating with pop culture icons like Will.i.am and American Idol creator Simon Fuller. More »

(Newser) - Detroit's beleaguered mayor says he'll stick around, even though the City Council voted today to to call for his resignation. A nonbinding resolution asking Kwame Kilpatrick to step down passed 7-1, the Detroit Free Press reports. "My reaction is, OK, now since it's over, it has no effect, it's not binding, let's get back to work," Kilpatrick said. More »

(Newser) - Opposition leaders in Zimbabwe are liable to have a tough time taking votes away from Robert Mugabe's party in next week's elections, the Times of London reports. They say voting lists have been packed with the names of dead and nonexistent people to allow Mugabe supporters to vote repeatedly and give him a huge majority. More »

(Newser) - Eliot Spitzer didn't patronize a pricey call girl ring just for the sex, Chris Smith writes in a  provocative New York post-mortem. What really attracted him was the covert op. The silver-spoon-fed Ivy Leaguer was always rebelling against being squeaky clean; as a young prosecutor, he got "hooked on the clandestine" while running stings on the Gambino crime family. More »

(Newser) - He may have strayed, but prostitutes? No way, say Manhattan wives who reflected on the Eliot Spitzer scandal this week with the New York Times . But "there is a trememdous tendency toward denial" among unsuspecting women, said Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake . “I’ve heard thousands of stories from women who got blindsided by a version of this." More »

(Newser) - Two Vermont towns have voted to arrest President Bush and Vice President Cheney if they ever set foot within their boundaries, the AP reports. The measures, which also call for the pair to be extradited to face trial for unspecified "crimes against the Constitution," passed after a public vote in Brattleboro and an emotional town meeting in Marlboro. More »

(Newser) - Prince Phillip—a “Nazi” who should be sent “back to Germany from where he comes”—headed a royal family plot to murder Princess Diana and his son, Dodi Al Fayed's father told the Diana inquest today. “You want to know his original name—It ends with Frankenstein,” Mohamed Al Fayed said of Phillip. More »

(Newser) - Dick Cheney yesterday defended the use of controversial interrogation techniques, crediting them with possibly “foiling an attack against the US," just as the director of the CIA was conceding to a congressional committee that waterboarding may be illegal. The VP defended the use of  “a tougher program for tougher customers,” including “high-value targets” like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of  9/11, in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, reports the New York Times. More »

(Newser) - President Bush’s latest State of the Union address was his worst yet, according to Fidel Castro, full of “demagoguery, lies, and a total lack of ethics.” Castro hasn’t shown himself since 2006 emergency surgery, but a scathing essay was published in his name in today’s Cuban papers, ripping Bush for everything from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the US' bulging deficit. More »

(Newser) - Naomi Campbell has found a new calling: political journalism. The phone-flinging supermodel interviewed Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for British GQ 's latest issue, reports the Guardian . When Campbell asked the president if he would ever pose topless à la Vladimir Putin, Chavez replied: "Why not? Touch my muscles?" More »

(Newser) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has absolved his own government—and everyone else—of culpability in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, telling "60 Minutes" that she alone was to blame for her death. "For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone—nobody else. Responsibility is hers," he said in an interview aired last night. More »