It was Guy Fawkes versus L. Rob Hubbard yesterday on Beacon Street. More than 100 people were outside Boston’s branch of The Church of Scientology yesterday, protesting the practices of the church, Boston NOW reported. Led by the Anti-Scientologist internet group Anonymous, word was spread about numerous protests worldwide through You Tube, message boards, and e-mail. Anonymous had previously announced that February 10th would be a day of mass protest of all Scientology churches......

Hillary Clinton has a strong chance of becoming president, if it weren't for the continued momentum of Barack Obama. However, no matter how much hope and Oprah Obama ladles on the land, Clinton will always have one strong advantage--former president Bill Clinton. Is that entirely fair? Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy, who knows a thing or two about political dynasties, says no. Kennedy hasn't bestowed his endorsement on anyone, but he has, according to Jonathan Alter......

Republican presidential candidate and Internet sensation Ron Paul doesn't need Oprah. He doesn't need connections to the hot-shot politicians. He just needs a blimp. Ron Paul's supporters are sending up a blimp for an East Coast tour from North Carolina, through DC and New York, to Boston. According to the flight plan on the Ron Paul Blimp site, the balloon will launch Wednesday in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and then travels north, flying over......

Oprah Winfrey was in Manchester, New Hampshire, last night as part of her very public endorsement of presidential candidate Barack Obama, and 8,500 people showed up to hear her. The Herald sent Jessica Heslam and Mike Underwood up there. They interviewed several people who seemed to be more swayed by the celebrity endorsement than by Barack Obama's record. One woman said, "Just because Oprah believes in him, maybe there's more to him." While that surely......

Oprah and Obama Sunday, December 9 Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH Doors at 6:00 pm, rally at 7:30 pm You can knock, but you might not get in. Waiting List As the presidential race heats up, Barack Obama isn't messing around. He's already been to Boston several times and paid extra-special attention to New Hampshire, but now he's uncorking his secret weapon--Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey will be with Obama in South Carolina Sunday morning, and then......

--Screenwriters, get your pens. A boy finagled his way into becoming an exchange student at the all-female Wellesley College. Ready … set … go! [Boston Globe] --Barack Obama and his supporters didn't let the weather stop their gathering at the Park Plaza Castle. He joked that "the name of my cousin, Dick Cheney, will not be on the ballot.” Now when's Oprah coming? [WCVB, Harvard Crimson] --Dr. Ruth was in town. Laurel Sweet describes her......

Taking a cue from New Hampshire and just about every other state, Governor Deval Patrick has signed a bill that sets the Massachusetts presidential primary on Tuesday, February 5. The date change sets the state's primary on "Super Tuesday" so we're not lagging behind all the other cool states who always got to vote first (take that, Connecticut!). Massachusetts residents will no longer feel defeated voting after the know-it-all pundits are already calling the Democrat......

--Paul F. Ware Jr., the special prosecutor looking into the Big Dig has cost the state $1 million so far. Maybe, if the AG's office actually gets around to getting some money out of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, they can foot the bill. [Boston Globe] --More gratuitous limos and tour buses in New Hampshire! Oprah's coming to town to campaign for Obama! She'll be in Manchester, NH, on December 9. [WBZ] --The Worcester Telegram & Gazette gets......

--A mischief-maker stirred up some trouble at the local Wal-Mart. Elaine Imbrogna bought a camcorder whose box had been opened, but she bought it anyway. When she started using the camera, a tape was already inside. She found that the camcorder, instead of being broken, worked all too well. When she hit rewind, she saw footage of a penis. We've discussed what happens when you incur the wrath of Oprah this week, but we'd like......

Update: Schneider has just resigned as Provincetown's administrative director of tourism. No matter how good of a fiction writer you are, you don't want to lie to or about Oprah Winfrey because the wrath of Oprah will bite you in the ass. Bill Schneider, an author and P-Town's administrative director of tourism, might be feeling that wrath soon after he got caught lying that his book was picked by Oprah's book club. Schneider really threw......

Perez Hilton will be at Mansion with Lady Sovereign tonight at 9:00 pm. The event is sponsored by going.com and is free. Blogger of celebrities / celebrity blogger Perez Hilton must know how to work it. Newsweek is talking about his Oprah-like power when it comes to picking music, and he has boodles of visitors to his site. His specialties are brutal disses, not safe for work photos, and scribbling on stock and/or paparazzi photos.......

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr., will read from Finding Oprah’s Roots: Finding Your Own, at Harvard Book Store at 6:30 pm. Dave Eggers, Valentino Achak Deng, and Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, will discuss What Is the What at Memorial Church in Harvard Yard at 6:30 pm. It's a big night tonight when it comes to intellectual gatherings. We simply couldn't decide which event to attend......

Before the book clubs, car giveaways, and Bob Greene, Bostonist didn't really mind Oprah and her show. Then Ms. Winfrey began her path to spiritual bliss and started her magazine, and now she is a guru of anything having to do with females. So, she’s now pairing up with her own set of “gurus” and is hosting the O You! event this Saturday at the Boston Convention Center. For a measely(!) $95 resgistration fee, you......

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbqs and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it that made that makes the -ists ponder? Phillyist is concerned that the war on Trans fats could affect it's beloved cheese steak sandwiches, something for which we should all be concerned.......

We -ists are an eclectic bunch, but there's a couple of things we all love: famous people, social causes, and wacky local facts. Join us as we starf**k, get virtuous, and learn across the -ist network! Austinist starts us off right by filling the famous person quota by interviewing Lewis Black, covers the social cause with a non-profit car sharing company, and gives us more wacky local facts than we can handle with Austin by......

While the real baseball season hasn’t even started yet, all Sox fans have been eyeing new Yankee Johnny Damon ever since that first press conference with his long locks chopped off for Steinbrenner’s organization. There hasn’t been much to comment on since Damon just recently returned to the lineup after sitting out since March 10th with a shoulder injury. (Not that it wasn’t a bit fun to see the replay of him missing that first......