Bits & Pieces

Trump’s hairdo in jeopardy

DETROIT–Will Donald Trump put his hair where his mouth is?

Trump and World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon will pick a wrestler to represent them in the ring April 1 at Wrestlemania 23 at Detroit’s Ford Field, The Detroit News reported last week.

If their pick is beaten in the “Battle of the Billionaires,” the loser will get his head shaved after the match, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.

WWE spokesman Gary Davis said the date of the event had prompted speculation that it was a hoax. But it’s not an April Fool’s Day joke, he said.

“If Trump loses, he shaves his head,” he said.

The announcement of the match was made on a WWE television program that aired over the weekend.

George W. Bush’s assholery continues

MOUNT VERNON, Va.–President Bush honored the 275th birthday of the nation’s first president on Monday, likening George Washington’s long struggle that gave birth to a nation to the war on global terrorism.

“Today, we’re fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life,” said Bush, standing in front of Washington’s home and above a mostly frozen Potomac River.

“And as we work to advance the cause of freedom around the world, we remember that the father of our country believed that the freedoms we secured in our revolution were not meant for Americans alone.”

Bush chose the national Presidents Day holiday to make his first visit as president to Mount Vernon. He and first lady Laura Bush helped lay a wreath at Washington’s tomb, then the president gave a speech from a platform on the bowling green lawn of the estate.

“I feel right at home here. After all, this is the home of the first George W. I thank President Washington for welcoming us today. He doesn’t look a day over 275 years old,” Bush said to laughter.

Washington was born on Feb. 22, 1732.

Free-floating sex party!

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil–The mere idea that U.S. soldiers on leave from Iraq see Rio’s carnival as a free-floating sex party has Brazilians outraged.

A report in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper that American soldiers are looking to Rio for rest and recreation–especially sex tourism–prompted many Brazilians to say that the gringos have it all wrong.

Despite all the jiggling, sweating flesh on display Saturday, Brazilians say the annual spectacle–which is expected to draw 700,000 revelers through Tuesday-isn’t all about sex. It is, they say, a celebration of the body, closer in the spirit to the Olympics than a strip bar.

If there were any U.S. soldiers in the crowds that mobbed downtown Rio on Saturday, dancing with the traditional Black Ball band, they were impossible to spot.

But for those looking for companionship at carnival, opportunities seemed to abound. “If they came here from Iraq they wouldn’t go back!” said Brian Simon, 43, an ex-Marine from New Jersey who was surrounded by barely-dressed women as he drank at an outdoor bar on Copacabana beach.

Brazilians say the nakedness at carnival is about sensuality, not just sex. Yes, sexual imagery abounds in the samba schools, and thousands of revelers dance skin-to-skin on the sidelines.

But nudity carries a different connotation in Brazil than in many other countries.

“Here, nakedness doesn’t only lead to sexuality, it leads you to aesthetic appreciation,” said Roberto Da Matta, a retired University of Notre Dame sociology professor and author of the book Carnivals, Rogues and Heroes: An Interpretation of the Brazilian Dilemma.

“A woman is dancing but it’s not pornographic,” he said. “It’s a collective experience of reconsidering bodies, like at the Olympic Games.”