“New York Post” on The Daily Caller

James Franco’s tired James Dean act got an NYU professor booted from the school last year — after the teacher dared to give the overhyped Hollywood hunk a “D” for blowing off class, a lawsuit charges. (more)

New York Post staffers have been told to preserve any documents that may relate to phone hacking or payoffs to officials, as News Corp. prepares for a probe into its U.K. operations to reach across the Atlantic. (more)

Ryan Phillippe says he wants to bow out of the harsh glare of acting and Los Angeles. “I think I’m going to end my acting career. I’m so introverted. I’m ready to be behind the scenes. I’m 36, but I’ve been doing this for 20 years.” (more)

Telling off New York Post reporters and insulting them professionally, inebriated actress Kim Cattrall echoed her sassy “Sex and the City” character, Samantha Jones after the premiere of her new movie, “Meet Monica Velour.” (more)

Unlike much of the male population, Mary Perry Hudson has no interest in pop sensation daughter Katy Perry’s cleavage. (more)

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNBC Thursday evening that he’s “absolutely” open to running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. (more)

Her fellow parents have described “Tiger Mother” Amy Chua’s child-rearing methods as “beyond extreme” and abusive, but Chua’s daughter Sophia is thankful for certain aspects of her strict upbringing. (more)

Stephen Baldwin publicly apologized to Sean Hannity Thursday for sending angry, threatening messages to the Fox News television host two weeks prior. (more)

NPR recently ran a two-part series on media bias. The reports, by David Folkenflik, were quite good, with a couple major flaws. Folkenflik ignored the question of who gets hired by the major media and why. Isn’t it time to do a nuts-and-bolts investigation of who gets brought on to the Washington Post, New York Times, CBS, et al, and who does not? Answering that question may answer why the media has lost its capacity to report fairly, not to mention delight, compel, and surprise — characteristics that, idiotic pronouncements about “objectivity” aside, are part of what makes good journalism. (more)

Faulkner, Hemingway and Fitzgerald may be widely acknowledged as America’s preeminent literary talents, but none of them have gotten down with The Situation in a hot tub. This is where Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi enters the equation. (more)

1.) Washington’s Funniest Celebrity tries new routine on ‘This Week’ — White House economic advisor and stand-up comic Austan Goolsbee told some really bad jokes yesterday on “This Week,” alleges David Frum. “I don’t see why anybody’s talking about playing chicken with the…with the debt ceiling.” Goolsbee said yesterday. Also: “If we hit the debt ceiling, that’s…essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history” and that it would “be the first default in history caused purely by insanity.” While the aforementioned superlative is debatable, the rest of Goolsbee’s claim is not. As David Frum points out, Goolsbee is jousting with windmills: Two weeks after the election, Rep. John Boehner said, “Whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part.” More likely, writes Frum, is that Obama is playing chicken not with debt, but with Americans’ confidence. That’s not funny at all. (more)

1.) Will Paul Ryan’s ‘Road Map’ remain trapped in the glovebox? — The ‘Road Map’ that Rep. Paul Ryan devised when he saw that America was lost in the fiscal woods has received plenty of kudos over the years. Now that Republicans control the house, the bigger question is, Will anybody use it? “Passing the Road Map as part of the House budget would likely go nowhere in the Senate and would undoubtedly draw the president’s veto even if it made it to his desk,” writes The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward. “But it would be a conscious decision by Republicans to do more than say no to Obama’s plan, moving beyond mere opposition to advocating a vision of their own.” Reps John Boehner and Eric Cantor refused to comment when TheDC asked about the Road Map’s role in restoring America’s fiscal sensibilities. Doug Mainwaring, a Maryland Tea Party activist, was less reserved: “If the Republican leadership doesn’t get behind Mr. Ryan and actively promote the Road Map, I predict that Tea Partiers will be looking for a new crop of congressmen in 2012.” (more)

Life may be about to get happier. (more)

1.) Joe Biden doesn’t know how to feel about Wikileaks, chooses to feel everything — As the human face of the Obama Administration–we will never forget his honesty during the great swine flue crisis of 2010–Vice Pres. Joe Biden can be expected to accidentally tell something resembling the truth whenever he appears alone in public. Occasionally, Biden feels torn apart by his dual roles as National Billy the Largemouth Bass (singing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”) and his desire to be treated like a grownup human being. Wikileaks has only exacerbated his angst. Last Thursday, Biden told Andrea Mitchell on the air that “leaked cables created no substantive damage — only embarrassment,” and “nothing that I’m aware of that goes to the essence of the relationship that would allow another nation to say: ‘They lied to me, we don’t trust them, they really are not dealing fairly with us.’” A day later, Biden taped an interview with David Gregory for Meet the Press in which he told the MSNBC host, “[Assange] has made it more difficult for us to conduct our business with our allies and our friends,” and “In my meetings — you know I meet with most of these world leaders — there is a desire to meet with me alone, rather than have staff in the room: It makes things more cumbersome — so it has done damage.” Can you now show us on the doll where Hillary Clinton touched you, Joe? You are not going to get in trouble! (more)

Humanity: an imperfect creation searching for salvation, seeking atonement, or simply the result of biology. Whatever we are also defines who we are today and the next stop on our common journey. Throughout history, the struggle for equality and human rights has been plagued by malice and corruption. Occasional examples of character emerge to inspire us all. Homer’s Hector was moral and good. He was a warrior. Unlike most characters in ancient Greek tales, he was a devoted husband and father. Hector honored his father, King Priam of Troy, simply by demonstrating restraint and profound loyalty. The courage and triumph of Moses, Cinque — the slave who led a mutiny aboard the Amistad — Nelson Mandela, Stephen Biko, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the uncommon valor of our Armed Forces, especially those who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, figure prominently into the American identity and our concept of human rights. (more)

A suspected war criminal who allegedly played a key role in the slaughter of 40,000 civilians in Sri Lanka has landed a cushy job at the United Nations — with full diplomatic immunity. (more)

Since last Monday’s New York gubernatorial debate, I’ve been disappointed to read that a few reporters said I was using “cheat sheets” during the debate. The New York Post said my remarks were “ghostwritten.” Former Mayor Ed Koch said my lines were written by my campaign advisor, “Roger What’s-his-name.” Sadly, these comments are both sexist and untrue. (more)

This week in “Countdown” taught us that Keith Olbermann is brilliant and everyone else — women, religious people, Rupert Murdoch — is vile and/or stupid. (more)

While Annette Bening’s publicist calls “ridiculous” rumors her marriage with Warren Beatty is in trouble, some longtime friends of the couple say they are concerned. (more)

Dear American Taxpayer, (more)