Gov. Howard Dean, Chairman of the National Democratic Party, will be the keynote speaker at a breakfast at the Sheraton in Birmingham, BJCC East Ballroom, Thursday, May 24 at 7:30 a.m., according to Joe Turnham, Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.

It’s a $50 per person affair, and you can R.S.V.P. at this address: democrats.org/page/contribute/ALBreakfast or contact Jen Gonçalves at 202.863.8195 or email Goncalvesj@dnc.org.

He will also attend a luncheon sponsored by a group of Birmingham Democrats, including Bill Baxley and Doug Jones, Thursday, May 24, at noon at The Home of Thomas E. Baddley, 4504 Old Brook Way.

Sponsorships are $10,000, hosting is $5,000 and to attend, a contribution of $1,000 is required.

R.S.V.P. contact Kristin Oblander (404) 873-3600 or oblanderk@dnc.org or follow this link: democrats.org/page/contribute/AlabamaLuncheon

American leaders across the political spectrum are eulogizing the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, albeit with some criticism of his tendency to lash out at his adversaries.

But lost in this desire not to speak ill of the dead is the troubling story of Falwell’s secret financial dealings with South Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon and how Moon’s mysterious money bailed out Falwell’s Liberty University.

For the full story of Falwell’s Faustian bargain, go to the independent ConsortiumNews.Com.

Paris Hilton smokes a joint

Just as poor, skinny Paris Hilton is on the verge of doing a little jail time for driving while here license was suspended and failure to appear in court for DUI, pictures have surfaced of her smoking pot backstage at last month’s Coachella music festival, according to the London Daily Mail.

Paris attended the festival with a group of friends weeks before her court hearing, but clearly wasn’t concerned about keeping out of trouble in advance of the case.

Hilton now faces a 45-day jail term for for driving while her licence was suspended, although it is doubtful that with her money, she will actually have to do the time.

Hilton has appealed to California Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger for a pardon in an online petition. The online Free Paris Hilton petition has gathered more than 25,000 signatures.

But unfortunately for the reality TV bimbo, a rival campaign, Jail Paris Hilton, is twice as popular, with more than 60,000 supporters.

As I have written in the past, I interviewed Paris Hilton and partied with her at the Girl’s Gone Wild Mardi Gras party on a Bourbon Street balcony in New Orleans while working for People magazine in 2003. She wasn’t quite so famous then, just a few months before her reality show “A Simple Life” went on the air.

And as far as I was concerned, she didn’t seem particularly bright either.

As I’m drinking my coffee this morning and posting this, I’m wondering why I bother to write anything about her at all. She’s just another rich bimbo who is famous for being famous. Who cares, really?

But hey, part of the job of a blog is to spoof the tabloid press. When there’s a photo, run with it, right?

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and built the religious right into a destructive political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said, according to the AP. He was 73, and obviously didn’t live to see Jesus come back as he often said he would.

Falwell, a televangelist who helped elect Ronald Reagan president in 1980 in a major setback for the seperation of church and state in the United States, probably did more to set back Enlightenment thought than any American since Cotton Mather.