People in the News: Stewart/Colbert '08? Ain't gonna happen

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Those people wearing "Stewart/Colbert '08" T-shirts can stop hoping. Comedy Central's fake news stars have no intention of making a run for the White House.

Jon Stewart said the T-shirts promoting him and Stephen Colbert "are a real sign of how sad people are" with the state of affairs in the country.

"Nothing says, 'I am ashamed of you, my government,' more than 'Stewart/Colbert '08,' " Stewart told an audience Sunday at the New Yorker Festival. He was interviewed by New Yorker editor David Remnick.

Stewart scoffed at suggestions that some people actually get their news from "The Daily Show."

"There's no way you could get the news from us," he said. "I've seen the show. It couldn't happen."

Actor Jack Palance is auctioning off the contents of his home in Drums, Pa. -- more than 3,000 items collected from around the world.

The three-day auction starts Thursday, and items going on the block range from the screen legend's old straw hat to an 1878 Steinway & Sons grand piano.

"People can spend $5 or $50,000 at this auction," said Phil Eagle, an antiques appraiser who traveled from California to sort and catalog the items to be sold.

Palance, the son of a coal miner and a native of Lattimer Mines, Pa., collected most of the items during trips around the world making movies.

The 150-acre Holly-Brooke Farm, 85 miles northwest of Philadelphia, was a retreat for the actor and his family. It is not known what will happen to the site.

Argentine actress Mia Maestro, who played a lethal spy on TV's "Alias," is lending her fame to fight a real killer.

She is trying to raise awareness about Chagas disease, which infects about 12 million people in Central and South America. Chagas disease can cause high fever, swelling, enlargement of the spleen, liver and lymph nodes, and inflammation of the heart. Most people infected do not get sick, but the disease can be fatal.

It is little known in the U.S., where about 100,000 residents have been infected.

Maestro, 28, attended Saturday's screening of the documentary "Chagas: A Hidden Affliction," which opened the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.

P-I staff and news services

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