Arnold Schwarzenegger

It was billed as a "shocking tell-all" and a "world exclusive," but the National Enquirer's March 26 cover story landed with a thud. TMZ, Page Six and other major players in celebrity gossip ignored the article in which a masseur claimed John Travolta offered money for sex. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article used the term "masseuse"; it should have said "masseur. " Five weeks after the issue left the checkout aisle, a DUI attorney from Pasadena put the anonymous masseur's tawdry tale in a lawsuit and it became an overnight pop culture sensation, topping Google News, trending on Twitter and meriting a segment on "Good Morning America.

Re "GOP, take down that small tent," Opinion, May 6 I witnessed a most surreal moment in 2006 as a staffer on former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign. At the California Republican Party convention, there was a debate about whether to withdraw the GOP's endorsement of this sitting Republican governor. My mother's voice rang loudly in my ears - "Don't cut your nose off to spite your face" - as I listened to some party leaders argue that they would rather surrender the veto pen than tolerate the appointment of a Democrat as chief of staff.

The text of the speech Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention: * Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. What a greeting! What a greeting! Wow. This is like winning an Oscar -- as if I would know. Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called "True Lies" -- and that's what the Democrats should have called their convention.

SACRAMENTO - Surely it was just a casual throwaway line. Regardless, Gov. Jerry Brown deserves to have it thrown back at him. There are too many things that rub wrong - even rankle - about the governor scolding the Legislature to "man up" and cut state services. First, unlike when Brown was governor the first time in the '70s, the Legislature today is 28% female. (Back then, 8% tops.) Are the women of the Legislature supposed to man up too? Just a throwaway thought. Second, there seems to be something inappropriate about proclaiming that it's manly to cut services for the politically weak: poor welfare moms striving to become self-sufficient and old disabled people who need help at home so they can avoid costly nursing homes.

Somewhere along the campaign trail, someone gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a word of advice: plastics. He evidently was listening. High on the new governor's to-do list is a pledge to resolve this raging issue: Should builders be allowed to use plastic pipes to deliver water to new homes? Schwarzenegger is embracing plastic construction piping, sharing the view of his building-industry patrons that plastic should be permitted as a less-expensive alternative to copper.

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday urged Republicans running for president to do more to encourage investment in renewable energy, and pledged to be a "cheerleader" for the issue. The former California governor was honored in Washington on Monday night as the "renewable energy leader of the decade" by the American Council on Renewable Energy. Speaking at the group's 10th anniversary dinner, he said the United States had lost its way when it came to investing in developing new sources of energy.

Arnold Schwarzenegger still wears a symbol of his seven-year Sacramento adventure — it's hard to miss the heavy ring on his right hand that bears the California flag — but the 63-year-old private citizen said he now yearns for his old Hollywood firepower. "I can step very comfortably into the entertainment world and do an action movie with the same violence that I've always done," Schwarzenegger said in an interview this week. "I can have the same amount of heads coming off — and any other body parts — and as far as that goes, I don't blink.

Arnold Schwarzenegger released two new ads Monday. One was produced by the actor's pro-recall committee, named Total Recall after one of his movies. It is the pro-recall committee's first ad. The 30-second spot does not mention Schwarzenegger except in fine print at its conclusion. Both ads are running statewide.

By Newt Gingrich's telling, President Obama is a secular socialist running the most radical administration in U.S. history - a weakling abroad and a threat to the religious freedom of pious Christians at home. Gingrich's portrayal of Obama is a staple of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. On Thursday, the former House speaker distilled his case in a blistering string of accusations that opened his day of campaigning in Mississippi, where bashing Obama is catnip to Republicans.

Robert Easton, a character actor whose command of a vast array of foreign and American regional accents led to a flourishing second career as a dialect coach to Hollywood stars such as Charlton Heston and Anne Hathaway, has died. He was 81. Often called the Henry Higgins of Hollywood, he died of natural causes Friday at his home in Toluca Lake, said his daughter, Heather Woodruff Perry. A consummate phoneticist like Higgins, the exacting speech tutor in the musical "My Fair Lady," Easton taught Forest Whitaker the African inflections of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Ben Kingsley the gruff tones of a New York mobster.

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday urged Republicans running for president to do more to encourage investment in renewable energy, and pledged to be a "cheerleader" for the issue. The former California governor was honored in Washington on Monday night as the "renewable energy leader of the decade" by the American Council on Renewable Energy. Speaking at the group's 10th anniversary dinner, he said the United States had lost its way when it came to investing in developing new sources of energy.

Herman Cain and Arnold Schwarzenegger don't have a lot in common, but there is this: Both were hit with allegations of serious sexual impropriety in the midst of their campaigns for high office. Voters forgave Schwarzenegger, who was easily elected governor in 2003. The same could still happen to Cain, but that might be more likely if the GOP presidential contender borrowed a page from Schwarzenegger's crisis-PR script. In the weeks before the California gubernatorial election, The Times published a series of stories airing allegations from at least 16 women who said they had been inappropriately touched or sexually humiliated by Schwarzenegger over the course of 30 years.

Governors will have to notify prosecutors before acting on requests to commute prison terms under a measure that Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Monday. The bill was created in response to a decision by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, on his last day in office, to reduce the sentence for the son of a political ally. Prosecutors will have a chance to notify an offender's victims and their families under the new law, so they have time to provide input to the governor before a prison sentence is changed.

It saddens and pains me to say it, but the granddaddy of all Halloween theme park events has gotten tired, old and complacent. After 39 years, Halloween Haunt at Knott's Berry Farm looks like a creaky, middle-aged zombie that's lost its will to rise from the grave every night. > Halloween Haunt 2011 preview: Mazes | Shows | Photos I'm not sure whether to blame the malaise on contemptuous familiarity, increased competition or just a slow night on an opening weekend, but the Buena Park theme park that set the bar for haunted attraction excellence has become overrun with interchangeable mazes full of indistinguishable monsters.

Things look a little rough for Arnold Schwarzenegger right now. But as tarnished politicians (think Eliot Spitzer), businessmen (Michael Milken) and Hollywood stars (Robert Downey Jr.) have proved, it is possible to resuscitate one's image with purposeful hard work. And there might be no better avenue for Schwarzenegger than to go back to his roots and invest his celebrity, powers of persuasion and vast array of connections in a grand public project that would educate, entertain, boost the economy and properly enshrine Los Angeles' rightful place in the development of a world-renowned industry: the International Fitness Museum.

Evening news' big break Viewership is up at "CBS Evening News" since Scott Pelley took over as anchor in early June. Then again, the same can be said for his rivals. Pelley's third-place newscast reached an average of 5.55 million viewers during his first five weeks in the anchor chair, an increase of 7% over the same five weeks in 2010 when Katie Couric was the anchor, the Nielsen Co. said. During the same time, Brian Williams' "Nightly News" on NBC averaged 7.88 million people each night, and ABC's "World News" with Diane Sawyer had 7.12 million, Nielsen said.