Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 10, 2011

Election 2012: Posturing, Posing and Press Releases:

The Huffington Post reports that IN Republican Gov MITCH DANIELS is still hesitating over whether or not to jump into the 2012 White House race. The problem? Whispers surrounding his marriage to his wife, CHERI.
Back in 1993, Cheri Daniels left her husband --and their four daughters-- to marry another man in California. She returned a few years later, reconciled with her husband, and the two were remarried in 1997.
It could be nothing, but that won't stop the Washington press brigade from digging into the story. Also, Daniels was arrested and jailed back in 1971 on drug charges while attending Princeton University. (Pacelli)

Along the Primary trail:

Former House speaker NEWT GINGRICH will (finally!) announce his presidential candidacy Wednesday on Facebook and Twitter. After that, he'll sit down with SEAN HANNITY for an extended interview on Fox News.
Gingrich tweeted yesterday, "Be sure to watch Hannity this Wednesday at 9 pm ET /8 pm CT. I will be on to talk about my run for President of the United States." (Pacelli)

Our diminishing natural resources:

Good news in the fight to save the rain forest, as a long-contentious issue was finally addressed: Girl Scout cookies.
Most Girl Scout cookies as made with palm oil, and the large-scale palm oil production contributes to wiping out vast areas of rain forest.
So who brought this to worldwide attention? Two Girl Scouts, of course! RHIANNON TOMTISHEN and MADISON VORVA, from Michigan, who recently partnered with Change.org to put pressure on Girl Scouts USA CEO KATHY CLONINGER to change the recipe.
Editor's note: Fighting the good fight takes its toll, however. At their last troop meeting, the two girls found their craft workstations mysteriously shut down and their upcoming badge ceremony postponed for "scheduling purposes." Welcome to the big time, kids. (Maiman)

Seven couple married less than a month from Star magazine:
--ALI LANDRY and MARIO LOPEZ: she dumped him after two weeks after he confessed he "messed around" with a girl at his bachelor party.
--DENNIS HOPPER and MICHELLE PHILLIPS: divorced after eight days with Dennis claiming he woke up after being so stoned and didn't recognize his wife.
--BRITNEY SPEARS and JASON ALEXANDER: divorced, or annulled, after 55 hours. The couple tied the knot in Vegas after partying together.
--RUDOLPH VALENTINO and JEAN ACKER: she said regretted the impulsive marriage and locked him out of their honeymoon suite in the hotel, never consummating the union.
--EDDIE MURPHY and TRACEY EDMONDS: married in Bora Bora and split after two weeks. Their marriage wasn't considered legal in the US.
--ZSA ZSA GABOR and FELIPE de ALBA: their marriage lasted one day.
--CATHERINE OXENBERG and ROBERT EVANS: she left him after nine days when he wanted to consummate their marriage. (Myers)

Collegiate capers:

A University of Chicago student is lobbying for an academic conference about “Jersey Shore.”
Student DAVID SHOWALTER is fund raising so the school can host a one-day conference for students and academics about the MTV reality show, says Gawker.com: "The conference will be the first of its kind, and should be of interest to scholars in the fields of media and cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, race, ethnicity, and gender studies, and the social sciences,” David says.
Some of his discussion topic ideas:
--What, exactly, is 'The Guido'?
--Gender roles, gender performance and normativity, or, “Why do the guys cook and the girls fight?"
--Celebrity and the illusion of "reality."
--GTL as a practice of the self and way of life.
--Shore house politics: tribalism, ostracism, and violence.
--Fetish and metonymy, or, THE SITUATION as man/abdominals.
--Textual/characterological analysis of SNOOKI's novel, A Shore Thing. (Bartha)