Loose Cannon

What kind of continuing legal education classes has defense attorney William Cannon been taking? Maybe one called, "Throw Anything at Witnesses if Your Client is Ira Einhorn. " That's exactly what Mr. Cannon did Wednesday as he defended Einhorn in the murder of Holly Maddux. Several prosecution witnesses were describing bruises and other marks they had seen on Ms. Maddux, Einhorn's former girfriend, before she disappeared in 1977. It was the kind of devastating testimony that would have made TV's Bobby Donnell go back to The Practice and sweat over how to salvage his case.

RICK SANTORUM's recent comments calling into question the president's religious convictions as phony, pronouncing that education should be out of the realm of all government, calling birth control an excuse for lascivious activity and deeming amniocentesis as a means to identify disabled children so we can cull them from the population show what we here have always known: Santorum is a one-trick pony who wants to be Preacher-in-Chief. Even Republicans are distraught at this loose cannon and that he may win this thing.

Accused killer Donald Capers thought he had beaten the first of four murder cases yesterday. Jurors announced "not guilty" when they were asked to render a verdict. Capers, 22, and his family and friends were elated. Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson was stunned. After a few minutes, jurors were asked about the specific degrees of murder. They then revealed that they were acquitting Capers only of first-degree, not second-degree murder. They found him guilty of that charge.

Some people say he wants to be king, others say he'd rather be kingmaker. But maybe there's a third option. Maybe what Ross Perot really wants is to be Ed Sullivan. There he was, playing the role of emcee, summoning each political bigwig to the podium. And when speaking time was up, the no-fuss fella was back in the limelight again, motoring across that stage with his brisk little stride, his elbows pumping, a steely grin spreading toward his ample earlobes, and always with a few choice words to show how he was just aiming to please: "Well nyow, folks," he'd say, "wun't thyt a gryt speech?"

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a potential Republican presidential candidate, warned Monday that conservatives should be wary of the libertarian strain of thought in the tea party movement. Santorum was responding to a question about Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, who last week said he disagreed with the idea that the federal government should have a right to bar private businesses, such as restaurants, from discriminating on the basis of race, as it did in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "I don't think the libertarians have it right when it comes to what the Constitution is all about . . . or when it comes to our history," Santorum said at the Pennsylvania Press Club.

When he reteamed with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci to make Casino in 1995, Martin Scorsese found himself in competition with his past achievements. His incomparably sardonic assessment of the mob in 1990's GoodFellas was rightly regarded as one of his best films. If he didn't match that movie in Casino, Scorsese gave us a dazzling look at the point where money and greed meet sex and need in the Las Vegas of the '70s. De Niro's Sam Rothstein demonstrates such a flair for numbers while running a sports book that the mob chooses him to take control of its operation in Las Vegas.

On stage, Van Morrison has always been a loose cannon. He's given shows like the one at New York's Palladium in 1979, where he mumbled angrily through four or five numbers, then stormed off, leaving the backup singer to sing "Moondance. " On the other hand, he's given shows like the one at New York's Beacon in '84, where his exploratory phrasing carried such spontaneity and wonder that each number threatened to spiral the audience closer and closer to heaven. Too bad the latter show wasn't recorded for posterity.

Four days after a Montgomery County jury convicted him of sexual assault, Claude LaCombe had his bail revoked yesterday after colleagues of the former Norristown police officer described him as a "loose cannon" who commonly "mistreated" members of the community. LaCombe, who had been free on $55,000 bail, was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs after Montgomery County Judge William R. Carpenter ruled that the 29-year-old posed a significant danger to the community. Assistant District Attorney Risa V. Ferman asked that his bail be revoked or increased on Thursday, immediately after the jury announced its verdict.

HARRISBURG - Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a potential Republican presidential candidate, warned Monday that conservatives should be wary of the libertarian strain of thought in the tea party movement. Santorum was responding to a question about Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, who last week said he disagreed with the idea that the federal government should have a right to bar private businesses, such as restaurants, from discriminating on the basis of race, as it did in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "I don't think the libertarians have it right when it comes to what the Constitution is all about . . . or when it comes to our history," Santorum said at the Pennsylvania Press Club.

HARRISBURG - Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a potential Republican presidential candidate, warned Monday that conservatives should be wary of the libertarian strain of thought in the "tea party" movement. Santorum was responding to a question about Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, who last week said the federal government had no right to bar private businesses, such as restaurants, from discriminating on the basis of race, as it did in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "I don't think the libertarians have it right when it comes to what the constitution is all about . . . or when it comes to our history," Santorum said at the Pennsylvania Press Club.

RICK SANTORUM's recent comments calling into question the president's religious convictions as phony, pronouncing that education should be out of the realm of all government, calling birth control an excuse for lascivious activity and deeming amniocentesis as a means to identify disabled children so we can cull them from the population show what we here have always known: Santorum is a one-trick pony who wants to be Preacher-in-Chief. Even Republicans are distraught at this loose cannon and that he may win this thing.

How to put this politely? Though frequently riotous, Get Him to the Greek , the Forgetting Sarah Marshall spin-off with Russell Brand and Jonah Hill reprising their characters as shaggy British rocker Aldous Snow and his fawning fan, is Hamburger Helper with more helper than hamburger. This time, the supporting players are the stars. Yet even while these secondary figures don't fully rise to leading-man dimensions, the film succeeds as a music-industry satire, a very naughty version of Almost Famous . This time, the fanboy does not write the legend of the rocker but restores him to former glory.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a potential Republican presidential candidate, warned Monday that conservatives should be wary of the libertarian strain of thought in the tea party movement. Santorum was responding to a question about Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, who last week said he disagreed with the idea that the federal government should have a right to bar private businesses, such as restaurants, from discriminating on the basis of race, as it did in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "I don't think the libertarians have it right when it comes to what the Constitution is all about . . . or when it comes to our history," Santorum said at the Pennsylvania Press Club.

HARRISBURG - Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a potential Republican presidential candidate, warned Monday that conservatives should be wary of the libertarian strain of thought in the tea party movement. Santorum was responding to a question about Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, who last week said he disagreed with the idea that the federal government should have a right to bar private businesses, such as restaurants, from discriminating on the basis of race, as it did in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "I don't think the libertarians have it right when it comes to what the Constitution is all about . . . or when it comes to our history," Santorum said at the Pennsylvania Press Club.

HARRISBURG - Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a potential Republican presidential candidate, warned Monday that conservatives should be wary of the libertarian strain of thought in the "tea party" movement. Santorum was responding to a question about Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, who last week said the federal government had no right to bar private businesses, such as restaurants, from discriminating on the basis of race, as it did in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "I don't think the libertarians have it right when it comes to what the constitution is all about . . . or when it comes to our history," Santorum said at the Pennsylvania Press Club.

THE FIRST REVIEW the Flyers received about Steve Downie was not good. This was in the spring of 2005, prior to an Ontario Hockey League playoff game between Downie's Windsor Spitfires and former NHL coach Craig Hartsburg's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, before Hartsburg's team pushed ahead to a three games to none lead. "I'm talking to Hartsy before the game and I asked, 'What's this Downie all about?' " Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren recalled yesterday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J. "And he said, 'He's a [bleeping]

And you thought college football had all the moves and hard-driving action. In Drumline, set in the fiercely competitive world of university marching bands, executing precision maneuvers and music is far more challenging than running a 99-yard return. This lively variation on the unkillable theme of the individualist who learns the value of team play stars Nick Cannon as Devon, a Harlem hip-hop drummer recruited to join the Atlanta A&T University marching band. Cannon, the genial star of his own show on Nickelodeon, has to be the least threatening teen rebel since the Fresh Prince stormed Bel Air. (And Will Smith was the nicest defiant one since Ricky Nelson told Ozzie and Harriet he'd rather practice guitar in the garage than come in for family dinner.

What kind of continuing legal education classes has defense attorney William Cannon been taking? Maybe one called, "Throw Anything at Witnesses if Your Client is Ira Einhorn. " That's exactly what Mr. Cannon did Wednesday as he defended Einhorn in the murder of Holly Maddux. Several prosecution witnesses were describing bruises and other marks they had seen on Ms. Maddux, Einhorn's former girfriend, before she disappeared in 1977. It was the kind of devastating testimony that would have made TV's Bobby Donnell go back to The Practice and sweat over how to salvage his case.

Talk about a political consultant's nightmare. First, there's the politician: freshman state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Bethlehem, described by her chief of staff as a "hot blonde" and depicted recently in an Allentown newspaper as given to booze and graphic sex talk. Then there's the reaction: She decided to run radio ads denouncing the story, which only drew further attention. Now there's the e-mail: a private exchange between Philadelphia Democratic consultant Ken Snyder and Philadelphia Democratic state Sen. Vince Fumo that makes her sound like a commodity and that ends up being made public.

When he reteamed with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci to make Casino in 1995, Martin Scorsese found himself in competition with his past achievements. His incomparably sardonic assessment of the mob in 1990's GoodFellas was rightly regarded as one of his best films. If he didn't match that movie in Casino, Scorsese gave us a dazzling look at the point where money and greed meet sex and need in the Las Vegas of the '70s. De Niro's Sam Rothstein demonstrates such a flair for numbers while running a sports book that the mob chooses him to take control of its operation in Las Vegas.