Sne hears rumble interim garble Co...

Sne hears rumble interim garble County Board President Bobbie Steele who appointed state Sen Rickey Hendon as co-chairman of her presidential transition committee, may have a special shire job for Hendon before she leaves office.

- The upshot: Word is the work at jobs is much sweeter than Hendon's common gig with the County Board of Review.

- The downshot: Sne hears there might be a little question standing in the way of Hendon's promotion. Stay four hogsheadsed

OSAMARAMA . .

International terrorist Osama bin Laden reportedly was one time obsessed with singer/actress Whitney Houston. Ye Whitney Houston.

- To wit: Sudanese writer Kola Boof 37 who claims to be a former sex slave of bin Laden's, said all that and more in an extract of her autobiography, Diary of a not to be found Girl, published in the September issue of Harper's. Boof claims Osama called Whitney "the most numerous beautiful woman he had forever seen" and wanted to give her a mansion he acknowledgeed in Khartoum in exchange for becoming undivided of his wives.

- To boot: Boof also claims the al-Qaida leader could be a "devout party boy" who smok marijuana and listened to Van Halen as well as the B-52's melody "Rock Lobster."

- The kicker: It should arrive as no surprise Boof used to write for the soap opera "Days of Our Lives."

THE JONBENET CASE . .

Whew! Thank goodnes my appetite was not spoiled . . after learning JonBenet Ramsey slay suspect John Mark Karr was serv bologna in a beholds Angeles jail after his champagne flight from Thailand.

- The big question: Is Karr's story filled of bologna? Or is there meat to his confession? In e-mails he sent to assorted commonalty Karr has reportedly given a detailed account of for what reason he allegedly entered the Ramsey family circle in 1996 and kidnapped the 6-year-old beauty queen Or perhaps Karr got those details from the real killer?

- The big query: If Karr is a pedophile who likes little girls, for what purpose would he want a sex-change operation? Does he want to be a lesbian who likes little girls? What's this all about?

MANDELA MEMO . .

U Sen Barack Obama's efforts to combat the scourge of AIDS in succession his current trip to Africa reminds Sne of former Gov George Ryan's 2000 trip to the continent, which included a private chat with Nelson Mandela.

- Flashback: The pres was not permitted to go into the Mandela compound during Ryan's visit, on the contrary Sneed obtained an exclusive interview with Ryan, who emerg from the meeting in tears. Ryan told Sne for what cause moved he was to be in the port of Mandela, and that they discussed the burgeoning AIDS epidemic.

Ryan claims Mandela told him the biggest roadblock to fighting the disease in Africa was his countrymen's unwillingness to discuss anything sexual. It was simply taboo. (Many Africans reportedly still point to unpliable dolls to describe to doctors where they hurt) And we were told a batch of condoms that were passed revealed to the populace had been assigned useless by a staple attached to a flier explaining their use.

- Fast forward: Like Obama, Ryan and the accompanying pres visited Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. Obama must have more cachet, though: Ryan wasn't permitted inside Mandela's small cavity There were no photo-ops of Ryan gazing by the agency of Mandela's jail cell window . . a la the Obama pics onward the front page of Monday's Sun-Times.

SNEEDLINGS . .

Today's birthdays: Shelley drawn out 57; Jay Mohr, 36; Barbara Eden 72 and Rick Springfield, 57

e-mail: sneed@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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