On his blog today, NYT columnist Paul Krugman opens a post with, "I don't usually bother looking at the Washington Post." Good call! For this "sin," Krugman ends up reading WaPo buffoon Dana Milbank, and promptly tears him apart. [NYT]

Mark Madoff, the 46-year-old son of Bernie Madoff, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment this morning in an apparent suicide. Earlier this week, Mark (left) and his brother Andrew were sued by the trustee handling Bernie's victims' claims. [NYP]

Actress Carrie Fisher was asked about her old friend John Travolta in a recent interview. The former Princess Leia tells the Advocate that she thinks the male spa frequenter can come out of the closet now, because no one cares.

Have family coming over for the holidays and in need some offbeat art to liven up those bare white walls? Well, today we're giving away two sets of quirky prints, which you can win simply by entering a caption contest.

Bravo, the second-gayest place on earth (after Liza Minnelli's boudoir), is reportedly reconsidering airing a "gay housewives" show to compete with Logo's The A-List. Bravo's gay mascot Andy Cohen sorta denied it, but we're still holding out hope.

Hedge fund mogul and art hoarder Adam Sender dropped $422,500 at auction on the handwritten lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Times They Are a-Changing," more than $100K over the estimate. He still can't buy back his youth. [Image via Getty]

The body count from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's weeklong bear hunt has reached 441, and there are still two days to go. The DEP says "human interaction complaints" have dropped after previous hunts. Whoa, really? [NBCNewYork]

Of the Wikileaks cache of diplomatic cables, one of the most potentially salacious is about the entertainment at a party thrown by DynCorp, a U.S. contractor training Afghan police, in April 2009. A 17-year-old boy was hired to dance.

Barring some extraordinary legislative feat, a repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" appears to be dead, finally. "Moderate" Republicans didn't get their ever-shifting demands met before Harry Reid brought it for a vote today, and it lost.

Watch out, England and Israel: It appears as though our most notorious American grifter, Sarah Palin, is heading your way in the new year. At the very least, lock up your good jewelry.

In your sunny Thursday media column: Howard Stern returns to Sirius, the NYT social media editor disappears, Brenda Starr dies, errors galore, and more!

Westboro Baptist Church, the always charming demagoguery that regularly protests military funerals and "whorish" starlets, plans to picket Elizabeth Edwards' funeral. Jesus wept. [via]

Christina Aguilera says she fell prey to a nefarious computer hacker. Blake Lively and Ryan Gosling seem to be dating. Michael Lohan makes a video of himself getting Botox, because, why not? Thursday gossip has a complicated relationship with fame.

After intense wrangling, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist yesterday grabbed enough support from the state's Clemency Board to posthumously pardon The Doors' Jim Morrison for allegedly whipping out his "magnificent member" during a 1969 Miami concert/riot. Justice has been served.

A nationwide shortage of key execution drug sodium thiopental has put several death row cases on hold this year. Documents show that California prison officials obtained some from Arizona, making them very happy: "You guys in AZ are life savers."

And another weird New York institution bites the dust: The Off-Track Betting Corporation, the state-owned horse betting business, has finally closed after years of threatening to do so. Fifty parlors were shut down and 1,000 people were laid off.

Operation Payback is facing a little payback of its own. First Twitter closed the pro-Wikileaks hacker movement's account. And now we hear the Feds are shutting down some online discussion of Operation Payback attacks.

[Crowds flocked to the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park today to memorialize the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death. Image via Getty]

[Human product placement Kim Kardashian contorts herself into the most commercially viable position at the debut of her new watch line. Images via Getty.]

A "law enforcement source" tells the LA Times the gun of a man who committed suicide does appear to be the one that killed publicist Ronni Chasen. (Which is the opposite of what they said earlier.) Press conference later today.