From the New Republic’s latest cover story:

[A]ccording to Kerik’s former girlfriend, the book publisher Judith Regan, this friendship could come back to haunt Giuliani’s campaign. She told one of my tnr colleagues that Kerik and Giuliani would frequently discuss “sketchy” activities in her presence “as if I weren’t there.” Regan told my colleague that she would reveal the contents of the conversations in the event that Giuliani’s presidential campaign took off. (Of course, Regan has her own scandal-ridden past. But she also has enough p.r. acumen and notoriety to win an audience for her accusations.)

Bernie Kerik, Giuliani’s close longtime business and political partner, is likely to soon face charges for “several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping.”

Michael Moore yesterday held the first screening of his new film on the health care industry, Sicko, and there to see it were “grateful Sept. 11 ‘first responders,’ suffering lung problems or other ailments from their days at ground zero. In the film, Moore takes them to Cuba and tries to get them treated at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay – where, he contends, terror suspects were getting better medical care than the heroes of 9/11.”

Donna Smith, in from Denver with her husband, Larry, was in tears when she spoke. The film opens with their painful story: Plagued with health problems, they were forced to sell their home and move into the storage room of their daughter’s house because they couldn’t cope with health costs, even though they were insured.

“Health care is an embarrassment to our nation,” Donna told Moore. “You give dignity to every American in this film.”

Lost in all the publicity over Moore’s trip is the reason he went to Cuba in the first place.

He says he hadn’t intended to go, but then discovered the U.S. government was boasting of the excellent medical care it provides terror suspects detained at Guantanamo. So Moore decided that the 9/11 workers and a few other patients, all of whom had serious trouble paying for care at home, should have the same chance.

“Here the detainees were getting colonoscopies and nutrition counseling,” Moore told The Associated Press in an interview, “and these people at home were suffering. I said, ‘We gotta go and see if we can get these people the same treatment the government gives al-Qaida.’ It seemed the only fair thing to do.”

America will become less white:

Reluctantly, and I mean reluctantly, “Talking Points” is going to support this legislation. It’s the best we can get and does improve the situation. But make no mistake, it’s not fair. It drastically alters the United States of America. And there will be unintended consequences all over the place.

The new census report says America’s now one-third minority. And in four states — California, New Mexico, Texas, and Hawaii — whites are the minority. So with the infusion of as many as 20 to 30 million new citizens in the next 10 years, the landscape of America will absolutely change.

Watch it:

– Viet Dinh, a former senior Justice official under then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, on whether he would replace Paul McNulty as deputy to Alberto Gonzales. Padilla is currently charged with aiding Islamic extremists and is facing life in prison.