Wrinkle Power In The New Millennium

The new millennium is here and contrary to our expectations, a lot of folks in the spotlight seem to be sporting wrinkles.

In Mobile, Alabama, last week, one man in the headlines was actually named Wrinkle - Bailey Moore Wrinkle, to be precise. The 71-year-old from McKenzie, Tennessee - along with 28 other veterans - was met with cheers and flowers by the crowds that gathered to watch the vets sail into the harbor after a transatlantic journey the Coast Guard had warned was too dangerous to continue.

The ship was only slightly younger than the sailors - having been part of the D-Day invasion in World War II - but it got a hearty reception, despite an impossible-to-hide coating of rust.

In Washington, where fights abound over the nominations to the new cabinet, the undeniably wrinkly, blast-from-the-past, Nixon era nominee, 68-year-old Donald Rumsfeld, had nothing but smooth sailing as the Senate held hearings on his selection as Secretary of Defense for the new Bush administration.

Guess it's pretty hard to spring any embarrassing secrets on a guy who's been around so long, he knows all the darkest moments of the grandfathers of the Senators now charged with determining whether he's up to doing a job he's already done once before.

AP Would Socks the Cat fare a little better in the soon-to-be former First Family if he were a bit older?

Would Socks face potential abandonment - just because he doesn't like Buddy the Dog - if he could brag of being on his eighth or ninth life?

I don't think so.

While the White House says Socks' fate hasn't yet been decided, some observers believe he'll be evicted from the official soon-to-be former First Family and given to longtime Clinton secretary Betty Currie.

Currie, best known for having been stuck with a lot of unwanted secrets and questions during the Monica Lewinsky era, is in the same position as most Clinton staffers right now: evaluating her employment options.

With her reputation for always taking the high road and choosing the right behavior, we know there's one place she won't wind up: Temptation Island.

The salacious reality show is looking for people who are experts at inappropriate behavior.

Currie doesn't have a prayer.

But Socks might have a chance. A cat who knows how to catch rats is always welcome on reality TV.

Maybe he coulset off a bidding war between Temptation and
Survivor.

AP There are no wrinkles on Michael Jackson, but other Jackson Five members may be able to fill the gap.

According to Jermaine Jackson, they even plan to tour.

Michael's wrinkles will have to be a special effect but perhaps some of his siblings will be able to provide the real thing.

Just being old isn't enough to win the race.

Some guys get it and some guys don't.

Buddy Ebsen, the 92-year-old actor whose career highlights include The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones, and being cut due to illness from the cast of the Wizard of Oz, is out with a novel.

It's his first. Buddy is selling the book on his Web site, BuddyEbsen.com, which is stocked with all kinds of goodies, including an audio clip greeting visitors with his trademark "Welllll, doggies!"

Considerably younger, but still no spring chicken, is New York City's controversial mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who was hotly pursued by book publishers only months ago.

Publishers who were prepared to shell out major millions for Rudy's story as told by Rudy didn't love it when he dropped out of the Senate race ultimately won by Hillary Clinton.

But they were still willing to hang in there, if he'd tell the story of his marriages, loves, battle with prostate cancer, and numerous other personal details that have yet to come out.

But that isn't the story the mayor wants to tell, according to The New York Post.

Rudy reportedly has his heart set on writing a book focusing on what he sees as his triumphs as mayor.

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!

You'll never get a Hillary-sized book contract that way.

By Francie Grace © MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved