Word From the Boss: Jimmy Swaggart said...

Word From the Boss: Jimmy Swaggart said in Baton Rouge, La., that God told him not to respond to the recent Cable News Network broadcast of 1987 photographs of the evangelist and a prostitute outside a motel room. “He said: ‘Do not defend yourself against anything,’ ” Swaggart said. The pictures were taken shortly before Swaggart, in February, 1988, confessed from the pulpit that he had sinned against God. Rival evangelist Marvin Gorman has tried unsuccessfully to have the pictures admitted as evidence in the upcoming trial of his $90-million defamation suit against Swaggart.

No Word From the Boss: Newly eligible bachelor Donald Trump says he asks women to take an AIDS test at his doctor’s office before he wines and dines them. “It’s one of the worst times in the history of the world to be dating,” said Trump, 45. Former girlfriend Marla Maples, 27, told Newsday she hopes Trump will return to her: “If a miracle happens and Donald finds God--I’m there.”

Joke’s on You: Two former White House press secretaries from different parties--Jody Powell and Sheila Tate--are going into business together. When Powell, former aide to Jimmy Carter, told his co-workers he was starting a new firm, several cried. When Tate, former press secretary to Nancy Reagan, heard this, she shouted to her staff: “Would anyone cry if I left?” Then she added: “They say it depends on where I was going.”

Shootout: A pair of sure-handed 13-year-olds shot their way to the top late last week in the National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, N.J. “I just aimed it and put backspin on it,” said Dawn Lancaster of Cumberland, Md., of her winning shot. The boys winner was Brian Shollenberger of Reading, Pa. The 77 competitors blew on their marbles for luck and lined up their shots like pool sharks.