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ITTY BITTY BITS: Rangel drama; Kobe's pinky; Haskins dies; 'Moist' Timberlake; Daddy Yankee vs. Fat Joe; MiJac dating Pam Anderson?
*House Republican leaders are demanding that embattled Rep. Charles Rangel D-N.Y be removed from his post as chairman of a tax-writing committee while an ethics panel reviews his personal finances, reports AP. Tuesday's GOP thrust came as Rangel's advisers acknowledged he will pay back federal, state, and city taxes for unreported rent collected on a vacation home. Rangel, ironically, has oversight of the nation's tax code, and has been in Congress for nearly four decades. The congressman will soon file amended tax returns paying "modest" back taxes owed for the last several years.
*Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has decided not to have surgery on his pinky finger so that he's free to participate in pre-season training. The injury occurred in February, but Bryant opted to avoid surgery in order to finish the NBA season and to go to the Olympics with the U.S. team. After winning a gold medal in Beijing it was expected that the NBA's Most Valuable Player would deal with the injury before the start of the new season. "I have always felt that I can still focus and play at a high level even through various injuries," Bryant told his own Web site (http://wwww.kb24.com) on Tuesday. "That's really just part of the game. When the doctors told me recovery from a procedure could be 12 weeks, I just decided now was not the time to have surgery.
*College basketball pioneer Don Haskins, the coach whose story was depicted in the film "Glory Road," died Sunday at the age of 78, according to the Associated Press. The Hall of Fame coach is credited with helping break color barriers in college sports in 1966 when he used five black starters to win a national basketball title for Texas Western. Disney's "Glory Road" starred Josh Lucas as Haskins and Derek Luke as one of his players on the 1966 squad. Dr. Dwayne Aboud, Haskins' physician, told reporters Sunday that Haskins had been suffering from congestive heart failure and died at home about 4:30 p.m. He was surrounded by friends and relatives, Aboud said.
*Director Barry Sonnenfeld is once again looking at singer Justin Timberlake as the possible lead star of his upcoming dark comedy "Moist" reports MTV News. Based on the novel by Mark Haskell Smith, the story follows a morgue attendant named Bob who comes across a severed arm with an erotic tattoo of a woman he falls for. In the course of trying to find out who she is, Bob ends up becoming Roberto, a kingpin of the Los Angeles Mexican mafia -- ultimately replacing the man who the severed arm belonged to in the first place. Timberlake agreed to do the film four years ago, but the project fell through due to financing issues. The director is actively talking to studios once again about the project and JT may still be involved, reports Dark Horizons.
*Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee, a supporter of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, has fired back at Barack Obama backer Fat Joe for calling him a sellout. "McCain is the kind of man whose promises you can actually believe in. I'll support him till the end," Daddy told The Post's Sandra Guzman from his home in Puerto Rico. "I don't care who I piss off. This is about my ideals, not about making friends." As previously reported, fellow Fat Joe called Daddy Yankee "disgusting," "a sellout" and "ignorant on the issues." Joe added: "If he debates me about politics, he will never talk another word about a politician for the rest of his life."
*Pamela Anderson says she is not currently dating Michael Jackson as the rumor mill is suggesting. "He just wants me to be in a video," she said on Wednesday's "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" when asked about their recent meeting. "My life is so interesting. My life is a blur." Ellen responded: "So seriously, have you been hanging out with him?" Anderson replied cryptically: "It happens ... skin cancer and Vicodin. I don’t know ... I have a lot of interesting friends."
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