June 18, 2006

DON'T EXPECT EURO TO DISPLACE THE DOLLAR

Dear John: What are the chances of the euro replacing the U.S. dollar as the world's oil currency? This was recently proposed by Iran. Could the euro become the sweetheart...

SHILL TO HACK; CELEBRATED LIB STRATEGIST HAS SHADY MARKET PAST

Jerome Armstrong, the political strategist who followed a famous Internet fundraising effort for Howard Dean in 2004 with a book on "people-powered politics," has a sordid past as a shill...

$ILLY CLIPS RECEIVING BIG HITS

Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe can buy a lot of Diet Coke and Mentos with $15,000. That's how much the producing duo behind the "Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment Video"...

BUNDLED BIG-CABLE SEA KEEPS GUPPY NETWORKS ALIVE

For those who think a switch from bundled packages to à la carte programming won't kill off small cable channels, think again. Revenue at the top 10 cable networks has...

BILL GATES 2.0 - SOFTWARE ICON NOW MR. SOFTY NEXT CHAPTER TAKES CHARITY HUGE

Over the last decade, day in and day out, Bill Gates has donated more than $100,000 an hour to charity. Now he wants to get serious. The world's richest man,...

BEHIND THE BIDS FOR UNIVISION

The bidding for Univision, the country's No. 1 Spanish-language media conglomerate, with $2 billion in revenue, is getting a little caliente as it nears its conclusion. But it's the action...

EISNER QUERIES IRK PAT

TELEVISION preacher Pat Robertson was a little irked after being challenged by Michael Eisner, the former Disney boss-turned-talk show host, on several topics, including whether or not Jewish people go...

THE DON'T MISS LIST

DOCUMENTARY CHENEY: THE MOVIE ON 9/11, Vice President Dick Cheney ordered U.S. fighter planes to shoot down any commercial airliner still in the air above America. CIA Director George Tenet...

HOT & BOTHERED - THE IRASCIBLE, IRRESISTIBLE MEN OF 'RESCUE ME'

TV Week SUNDAY & W OMEN have a weakness for firefighter Tommy Gavin, the reluctant hero of FX's "Rescue Me." Played with a sullen irascibility by creator and writer Denis...

GET OFF THE ROAD IF JETER'S DRIVING

TV's greatest absurdities are now delivered in waves, and, often, on many levels. Last Sunday, we were watching the A's-Yankees game on the YES network when, over the course of...

WAR ON TERROR ELUDES NETWORK

WHEN it comes to network TV, the war is missing in action. And don't ask which war. You know what I'm talking about - the War on Terror, the one...

REEL GOOD - LINDA STASI PREVIEWS THIS WEEK'S BEST MOVIES

THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951) Sunday,12:30 a.m.,TCM An uptight missionary in Africa (Katharine Hepburn), whose brother has just died, must flee to escape the German Kaiser's gunboat. The only way out...

GOOD VARMA FROM INDIA

THE name Ram Gopal Varma probably doesn't ring a bell, but this will change if Grady Hendrix, co-founder of the in- your-face New York Asian Film Festival, has his way....

WORLD OF DIVERSITY AT ITALY'S OLYMPIAD

THERE were 149 teams at the Chess Olympiad that ended in Turin, Italy, representing nations, colonies, commonwealths, principalities and a sultanates. But there were also teams representing players from across...

HOT LIST - WHAT WE'RE OBSESSED WITH THIS WEEK

"Ramadi Night Live" Inspired by the brilliant "SNL" sketch "Lazy Sunday," Staff Sergeants Matt Wright and Josh Dobbs created "Lazy Ramadi" in Iraq from footage shot during their year-long stint...

THE BIG LEAP - AFTER 20 YEARS, JULIO BOCCA EXITS, STAGE LEFT

JULIO Bocca's been one of the American Ballet Theater's biggest stars since joining the troupe at 19. Two decades later, he's retiring after dancing "Manon" with his long-time partner Alessandra...

ARRESTING IMAGES - CLARK'S STARTS BUSTED FOR 'WASSUP ROCKERS'

MEET the kinder, gentler Larry Clark. Sure, his "Wassup Rockers" contains shots of teen flesh - most notably barechested boys in boxers - but the lurid violence, sex and nudity...

A REAL BUSY BODY - TYRESE HAS HIS THUMB IN EVERY PIE IMAGINABLE

SINGER, model, actor and entrepreneur Tyrese is a master multitasker. When he's not on set for movies like this Friday's "Waist Deep," he's laying tracks in the studio or running...

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS - FINDING TROUBLE ON "THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO"

WHEN director Michael Winterbottom set out to portray detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, he figured it would be more convincing if the actors actually experienced "stress positions" -...

THIS WEEK'S CDS

NELLY FURTADO "Loose" (four stars) Geffen NELLY Furtado wanted a lot from her third album, "Loose." But mostly she desired a disc that wouldn't tank like her good, but underappreciated,...

HEAR THIS

IN CONCERT * At the Garden: No fooling, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers take the stage on Tuesday. The Boss (Bruce Springsteen) and the Seeger Sessions Band play Thursday. Country...

POOCH PAGES - CHECK OUT THESE EIGHT DOGGONE GOOD READS

SUMMERTIME . . . and the readin' is easy - because the hot book topic is pets. John Grogan's best-selling "Marley & Me" isn't the only noteworthy book out there...

SUDDENLY FEELING POWERFUL? SOUNDS LIKE 'CLICK ALMIGHTY'

OK, so one day a schlub wakes up and finds he can extert dominion over everything he surveys. Well, if it's not Adam (the first man, not Sandler) on the...

REGULAR GUYS ROCK - THE SAM ROBERTS BAND GETS STREET STYLE - SO CAN DAD!; SPEAKING OF SAM ...

SAM Roberts is struggling to find some peace and quiet as he walks around a Days Inn parking lot in Arlington, Va., where mind-boggling John Deer mowers are loudly parading...

TEARS FOR FALLEN L.I. FIREMAN

A Long Island volunteer firefighter killed when he fell from a roof into a tangle of electrical wires was recalled yesterday as a "blue-collar guy" and "family man." Babylon truck...

FDNY HONOR FOR FATHER'S DAY HEROES

The FDNY honored three fallen firefighters with a new rig yesterday as their loved ones marked the five-year anniversary of a fatal Father's Day blaze in Queens that claimed the...

I BLAME POLS IN MY SON'S DEATH ; DAD'S ANGUISH AT GROUND ZERO RALLY

The emotional father of a 9/11 cop yesterday begged the government to take health problems among rescue workers more seriously, describing how his own son developed terrible breathing problems and...

NEVER SAW HIM; STAB VICTIM TELLS OF FIEND'S AMBUSH

The last victim of the rampaging ripper's terrifying spree of Manhattan knife attacks said she never saw it coming. "He did not say anything to me. I just suddenly felt...

B'KLYN POLS IN 'RACE' WAR

One of the political season's most-watched contest is the battle for a congressional seat in central Brooklyn that has exploded into a racially charged feud over the presence of the...

COPS BEAT ME UP: QNS.TEEN

A Queens teen is charging he was beaten up and arrested by cops in a case of racial profiling turned violent. "I was grabbed, choked, beaten, kicked, punched, stomped [and]...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

THE BRONX *** Cops were looking for the public's help in finding a 19-year-old girl who disappeared early yesterday from her Concourse Village apartment. Gabriella de la Cruz (above), who...

LOCKED-UP RIPPER SUSPECT: I JUST 'WHACKED' THEM

Talk about a whack job. Alleged serial stabber Kenny Alexis said yesterday that he doesn't like the word "stabbing." "I don't call it that. I call it whacking. I whacked...

CLIFF DAD: I TRIED TO SAVE WIFE

The Staten Island man charged with aiding his wife's suicide bid by leaving the emotionally unstable woman in the family's minivan on Bear Mountain claimed he tried to save his...

MOB-BUSTER MOM TO QUIT AFTER NEAR-HIT BY 'TIPSTER'

Fearless G-mom Angela Clemente - beaten senseless during a clandestine meeting with a phony tipster in Brooklyn - says she's quitting her obsessive probe of a feds-and-mobsters case because she...

DIRTY DOCS' DODGE; 90%+ BEAT SEX RAPS

A small fraction of the New York doctors who allegedly grope, fondle and sexually abuse hundreds of patients get slapped with any discipline, The Post has found. The state Office...

MIKE'S UGLY RX; BLOOMY PRESIDENCY = NANNY-STATE AMERICA

MAYOR Bloomberg may have been joshing last weekend when he hinted of a possible bid for president. By Friday, he was again denying it - though he says he sends...

'HE KILLED ME TOO'; MOM OF 'BOUNCER' VICTIMS LASHES OUT

Just weeks after burying one son, Beatrice Cuadros stood beside another who lay paralyzed - both of them shot outside a Chelsea nightclub. "He killed me, too, that night," the...

FDNY SETS SAIL; SPENDING $30M FOR 2 ANTI-TERROR BOATS

The Fire Department is spending $30 million of Homeland Security funding to build two state-of-the-art fast-response boats, equipped for the age of terror - complete with triage units, nuclear and...

BATTLING S.I. COUPLE IN HOSTAGE DRAMA

A Staten Island couple with a long history of alleged crimes - often against each other - were the center of a massive hostage standoff yesterday. Retired cop Christopher Azrak,...

BUBBA: 'MR. HILL' OK BY ME

Bill Clinton is prepared to embrace the prospect of becoming the first "first gentleman" - even to the point of knowing exactly what he'd do should his wife become commander...

PATAKI CHEERLEADS AT IOWA GOP CONVENTION

Gov. Pataki joined a group of Republicans considered presidential hopefuls in Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday, courting activists and predicting GOP success in the November elections despite the party's diminishing support...

CHOKED G-MOM: I'M SET TO QUIT

Fearless G-mom Angela Clemente - beaten senseless during a clandestine meeting with a phony tipster in Brooklyn - says she's quitting her obsessive probe of a feds-and-mobsters case because she...

QAEDA PLOTTED TO GAS N.Y. SUBWAYS

Terrorists with plans to release deadly gas in New York City subways aborted their mission just 45 days before their target date - not because of a law-enforcement victory, but...

ID MIX-UP IN DORRIAN BRO'S CASE

A lineup discrepancy could help clear bartender Jimmy Dorrian, who was arraigned last night on a felony assault charges. Dorrian, 30, was picked out of a lineup by Chris McKinley,...

'JERSEY BOY' TONY WINNER: IT'S FOR MY DAD

John Lloyd Young was sitting in his seat at Radio City last Sunday, waiting, hoping to hear his name called as the Tony Award winner for Best Actor in a...

SHELVED LIBRARIAN SUES POSH ACADEMY

A librarian at exclusive Trinity School says the upscale prep academy threw the book at him after he was falsely accused of dissing a teacher. David Murphy, associate librarian at...

HAUNTED FAMILY SUES OVER COPTER CRASH

Every time 7-year-old Leonardo Cajamarca hears a low-flying plane or helicopter, he grabs his mother's hand and tries to pull her out of their Brooklyn apartment building. "Leonardo screams, 'Mommy,...

TERM-LIMITED POLS PUTTING BIG $$ PINCH ON LOBBYISTS

SOME term-limited City Council members are fund-raising at such a furious pace that lobbyists are actually squawking that they're getting squeezed. "I have never seen it this frenetic," said one...

DOPEY LAW FREES WORST DRUG THUGS

Dozens of hard-core dope dealers who asked for early release under drug-law reform are back on the streets, says Manhattan's top narcotics prosecutor, who is set to put out a...

W'BURG SOAR POINT; ANGER ON PLAN FOR 28 TOWERS

A proposal to bring 28 soaring towers to north Williamsburg is the latest in a line of high-density projects supersizing the neighborhood's skyline - and it has fed-up residents shaking...

STREETWISE WAR VS. STRAY TRUCKS

Big rigs illegally rumbling off their routes and onto quiet residential streets may soon be caught on tape and slapped with fines if a pilot program testing new technology this...

CLARK GABLE AUCTION DUE

King of Hollywood Clark Gable, one of Tinseltown's first and enduring sex symbols, is hardly gone with the wind 45 years after his death - more than 90 lots from...

BLAINE'S HIGH AND DRY - HANGS OUT ON BRIDGE

Rehabilitated and 30 pounds heavier since emerging from a 2,000-gallon tank outside Lincoln Center six weeks ago, David Blaine was hanging from the suspension wires of the Brooklyn Bridge last...

HAUNTED 'COPTER' FAMILY

Every time 7-year-old Leonardo Cajamarca hears a low-flying plane or helicopter, he grabs his mother's hand and tries to pull her out of their Brooklyn apartment building. "Leonardo screams, 'Mommy,...

SO NOW YOU'RE 64, OLD BOY - B'DAY BOY PAUL NOT LIVING LYRIC

The man who made his generation wonder what life would be like at 64 isn't living quite as he imagined it. Paul McCartney, who reached that age today, is in...

PREPPY 'SMEAR' - AXED SCHOOL STAFFER SUES

Watch what you say at exclusive Trinity School - even if you insist you didn't say it. The associate librarian at the 300-year-old Upper West Side institution is learning the...

BABES OF B'KLYN - 'HOODS & HOTTIES IN CALENDAR

A bevy of Brooklyn beauties is heating up a pinup calendar touting the borough. "Each month features a girl-nextdoor photographed at a traditional site in her specific Brooklyn neighborhood," said...

REVENGE OF THE BENSONS - KRIS (HR!) TAMES METS WITH ANNA IN HOUSE

ORIOLES 4 METS 2 Did anybody have any idea Kris Benson was good with the wood? Benson earned a measure of revenge last night on the mound and at the...

ELIAS AND HAVLAT COULD BE PACKAGE DEAL

SO HERE are the most pertinent immediate questions to arise in the wake of reports out of the Czech Republic that impending free agent Patrik Elias has hired lifelong best...

OH, BROTHER! JERED'S GOOD

WITH Father's Day upon us, we thought it would be nice to have a major-league family affair for this week's column. Here are some players you should seriously consider picking...

JETS COULD FIND 'GOLD AT CENTER

Pete Kendall started as a rookie with the Seahawks 11 years ago, so he has an idea of what Nick Mangold and D'Brickashaw Ferguson are going through now with the...

WILLIAMS BACK ON TRACK; NETS NOTICE

There undoubtedly will be offers to play again. Lateral quickness remains a major issue, but the shot is there, the up-and-down ability is there, the knowledge is there. Just the...

BRIT PICKING ; EXPECT TIGER TO ROAR SOON

New flash: Tiger Woods watches the last two rounds of the U.S. Open on television. What does it mean? Woods' flame-out of historic proportions should be a blip on the...

TOUGH HOLE FOR OPENERS

Forget the 640-yard par 5, a hole so long it should have its own area code. Forget the two holes that play as a par 5 for Winged Foot members...

PITIFUL YANKS PITCH & MOAN ; CHACON, BULLPEN BLOW SEVEN-RUN LEAD TO NATS

Nationals 11Yankees 9 WASHINGTON - Is there anybody left out there who believes the Yankees need a bat instead of an arm? If you do, you didn't watch the Yankees...

NO-CRIME 'STACK' DIDN'T DESERVE TIME

MIAMI - How in appropriate; here it is Shawn Kemp Day, er, Father's Day. Meanwhile, your father's NBA is rapidly disappearing in the rearview mirror. Back then, in the No...

MARBURY-ING HATCHET ; STEPH SAYS HE PASSED TEST, 'LOVES LARRY'

Stephon Marbury said of the lame-duck Knicks coach, "I love Larry Brown, period." Of course, Marbury will love it when it's official Brown is not coming back. But yesterday Marbury...

TAKE D'TOUR ENJOYS RIDE

Despite dumping Cornelio Velasquez in the post parade then breaking slowly from the gate, Take D'Tour went up to set the pace then drew off to win the 38th running...

PITIFUL YANKS PITCH & MOAN; CHACON, BULLPEN BLOW SEVEN-RUN LEAD TO NATS

Nationals 11Yankees 9 WASHINGTON - Is there anybody left out there who believes the Yankees need a bat instead of an arm? If you do, you didn't watch the Yankees...

AILING FLOYD FINALLY LANDS ON DL

MET NOTES Last night was the 10th straight game Cliff Floyd missed. Right before first pitch, the Mets finally placed him on the disabled list. For Floyd, who limped through...

THAT'S SMALL, FOLKS, FOR '05 SURPRISE

YANKEE NOTES WASHINGTON - From savior to sayonara. That's the path Aaron Small traveled in less than a year with the Yankees, for whom he went 10-0 last season to...

WORK WITH MATTINGLY HAS A-ROD ON UPSWING

WASHINGTON - Did an early-morning session with hitting coach Don Mattingly lift Alex Rodriguez out of a dreadful slump? That remains to be seen, but for one day, A-Rod didn't...

LEFTY: CLEVELAND ROCKS

NOTEBOOK If Phil Mickelson wins the U.S. Open today, one of the first people he'll call out as a help to his success will be Roger Cleveland, the Callaway club...

4 IN HUNT TO SNAP EURO SLUMP

At the U.S. Open, that circle of gold stars on the European Union flag reads like a big zero, at least since 1970. The trans-Atlantic visitors will try to end...

NO. 18 A REAL HELL HOLE

Some say the game was named "golf" because all the other four-letter words were already taken. Such was the attitude of so many of the leaders who walked off the...

SPOTLIGHT WILL BE TEST FOR FERRIE

THE more you watch Kenny Ferrie play, the more you can't help but like him. The burly Englishman with the scruffy goatee has an everyman's demeanor about him. From the...

AMAZIN' EXPRESS HITS A SLOW ZONE

MAYBE this is what happens when you build a 91/2-game lead by mid-June. Maybe you fall asleep at the wheel for a little while. After so much success as road...

BULLS WIN THEIR WAY OUT OF CELLAR

Red Bulls 2Galaxy 1 After blowing their sixth lead in 10 games last Saturday, coach Mo Johnston pleaded with his last-place Red Bulls all week to show some fight, some...

A GAME OF HITS & MRS.

We know who wears the bra and panties in the Benson house. In fact, we know who wears nothing at all. Anna Benson, wife of Oriole starter and former Met...

EBC BRINGS STARS TO RUCKER

Twenty-six years ago, your game was who you were. A little smack talk between two fledgling Harlem-based rap groups, Disco Four, led by Gregory Marius (Greg G), and Crash Crew,...

MATT'S A MICHIGAN MONSTER

This time last year, Matt Kenseth looked confused. But not nearly as confused as his fans and the media. This was a driver whose consistency easily won him the Cup...

NOW'S TIME FOR YOU TO BE BASS MASTER

YESTERDAY'S opening of the fresh water bass season in New York is a reminder that this popular as pect of fishing can be found throughout the state from its northernmost...

WHEN IT ALL STOPS WORKING

IF YOU go to Google and you type in the following phrase, "Willie Mays falling down in the outfield," you get 33,700 hits. That's no joke. It wasn't a joke...

RIGHT WHERE HE'S MEANT TO BE

BY NOW the red numbers had disappeared, all of them, possibly for good, probably forever. Scott Stricker had gotten himself as high as twounder par for about 15 minutes, but...

MICKEL-SLAM - PHIL ON CUSP OF THIRD STRAIGHT MAJOR WIN

From outside the ropes yesterday at jampacked Winged Foot, Rick Smith followed every shot he could see Phil Mickelson hit. And, as the afternoon wore on, Smith found his heart...

MONTY NOT ABOUT TO FAN FLAMES

The Dread Scot bit his tongue, desperate not to give the fans any reminders. But the bud he'd like to nip is threatening to bloom. If Colin Montgomerie, 43 next...

REYES DESERVES AN ALL-STAR START

ALL it takes is a push of the button on the computer or the push of a pen on the All-Star ballot. Mets fans need to get it in gear...

ANNA'S BACK AT SHEA

We know who wears the bra and panties in the Benson house. In fact, we know who wears nothing at all. Anna Benson, the wife of Baltimore Orioles starter and...

RIVALRY HAS YET TO GAIN PHIL SPEED

THE absence of Tiger Woods on the weekend of a major golf championship has created a void that's strange, if not unsettling. Thanks to rounds of 76-76, Woods missed the...

KRIS (HR!) TAMES METS WITH ANNA IN HOUSE

ORIOLES 4 METS 2 Kris Benson proved quite handy with the stick last night - at the expense of Pedro Martinez. Not only did Benson outpitch his former Mets teammate,...

PITCH & MOAN - THAT'S SMALL, FOLKS, FOR SURPRISE HERO OF '05

YANKEE NOTES WASHINGTON D.C. - From savior to sayonara. That's the path Aaron Small traveled in less than a year with the Yankees, for whom he went 10-0 last season...

METS DON'T WAIT - FIRST-INNING SUCCESS KEY TO LATEST RUN

The Mets must've been sluggish Friday night. It took them until the second inning to score. Friday, one of the most amazing streaks in baseball ended. The Mets had scored...

DAD'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT - GMS PUTTING LESSONS FROM POP TO GOOD USE

BASEBALL is a game of fathers and sons, on the field and in the front office. General managers learned some of life's most valuable lessons from their fathers, lessons they...

FLOPS TO TOPS - WILPONS DESERVE CREDIT FOR METS' RESURGENCE

IT'S EASY to be a Mets fan now, as easy as it's been in years and years and years. They headed into the weekend a week and a half ahead...

DEAL OR NO DEAL? ZITO, WILLIS MAY BE TOO EXPENSIVE TO MOVE

BARRY Zito is available. No he isn't. The same goes for Dontrelle Willis. Ask executives and scouts about whether Zito and/or Willis will be moved and be prepared for the...

LAST-PLACE RED BULLS NEED NASTINESS

The Red Bulls are the riddle of MLS. They'd taken seven leads in their first 10 games, but blew six of them. They came into last night's tilt with L.A....

DAD'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT - BELTRAN FAMILY PLAN INCLUDES ADOPTION

Carlos Beltran isn't a father yet. He has no children, just his wife and his parents and siblings. Beltran, though, is aiming to be a dad and begin a family...

U.S. BEATS ODDS, REFS TO STAY IN HUNT

After getting shellacked 3-0 in their World Cup opener and sitting next-to-last in the 32country tournament, questions abounded whether the U.S. players would show up. The answer was a resounding...