Iraq Gotcha Down? Tell It to Tony!

SNOW PROBLEM Tony

• Toe-to-toe with Tony: Tony Snow does battle (loses) with another reporter after formerly pro-war Republican Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon calls the Iraq debacle "absurd," "immoral," and "criminal." Bush himself says he'll respond ... eh, in a month or so.

• Ghost of the Ripper?: Police in the UK pursue a serial killer who is murdering at a rate unseen since Jack the Ripper—five prostitutes have turned up dead in 11 days near Ipswich.

• Ahmet Ertegun gravely ill: The 83-year-old co-founder of Atlantic Records and architect of the careers of Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin, Abba, and many others is in a coma after a serious fall. He was also portrayed by Curtis Armstrong (aka Booger) in the film Ray.

• Lady Soys: Huffington Post points to an editorial by Jim Rutz that argues soy products feminize young boys, shrink their penises, and cause "sexual confusion and homosexuality."

• Getting to the bottom of gossip: Was Sylvester Stallone the Deep Throat in the classic Richard Gere-gerbil urban myth, or is this all a really desperate publicity ploy for the new Rocky flick?

• Two views of Alec Baldwin: Page Six has him engaged in a "screaming match with an angry pedestrian at Broadway and 96th Street." Meanwhile, Rush & Molloy has him recounting his favorite album of all time: "I want to think of something really sensitive and painful and beautiful ... 'Tapestry,' by Carole King."