New York, June 26-July 4, 2006 – We were astounded to hear that Vice President Dick Cheney would be in New York City to officially close Gay Pride month, and so we ran over to the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Friday to catch his speech. But it turned out that we were misinformed; George Bush’s elusive right-hand man was there to speak at a $1,000 per-plate fundraiser for New Jersey congressman Scott Garrett. Cheney delighted his audience with a tirade against The New York Times for reporting on a government program which tracks terrorists’ financial records. The Times seems to have turned its back on Cheney’s visit – we have not seen a story on this fundraiser in the newspaper as of July 5.

Apparently the right wing had no issues with Sarah Ferguson’s latest expose, code-named Little Red’s Summer Adventure. The Duchess of York was unchallenged at a Manhattan book signing.

It’s easy to make fun of the super-rich trying to outdo one another with over-the-top materialism, but we were kind of speechless last Monday at a Sheraton hotel when Warren Buffett gave away billions of dollars to charity in an attempt to one-up Bill and Melinda Gates.

While those rich folks spent their Independence Day holiday nibbling caviar, we hit the exclusive beach resort of Coney Island, where we took in the elegant annual hot-dog eating competition. Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi, the Lance Armstrong of hot-dog eating with six straight wins, set a record by devouring 54 hot-dogs in 12 minutes.