In an interview with the Today Show, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said the sentence — for illegal entry and an unspecified "grave crime" — was "harsher than expected." And it may mean that Ling and Lee are the first Americans ever to enter North Korea's notoriously horrific prison system. However, some say that the sentencing is actually the first step towards the journalists' release.

Former South Korean foreign minister Han Seung-soo says, "now that they are sentenced, we can think and talk about making arrangements for their release. It is ironic but with the sentencing we now have something more tangible to negotiate about." Richardson agrees, saying that, "in previous instances in which I was involved in negotiating releases, you couldn't even start until the legal process had ended."

In fact, the twelve-year sentence may not be the actual amount of time North Korea expects the women to serve, but rather a message to the West. North Korea expert Andrei Lankov says, ""The verdict does not mean much, since they will get released. Unfortunately, right now the North Koreans want to keep tensions high, so it will take many months and perhaps a year or more before the Pyongyang authorities will decide that it's time to make some friendly gesture to Washington."

South Korean lawmaker Hong Jung-wook says, "the sentence can be seen as an indication that North Korea is now expecting a very prominent envoy to come for the negotiations over their release." This envoy could be Richardson himself, who has negotiated with North Korea before, or it could be Al Gore, head of the journalists' employer, Current TV. But Richardson told the Today Show that "talk of an envoy is premature because what first has to happen is a framework for negotiations on a potential humanitarian release." He said the US will seek a "political pardon" for the journalists. In return, North Korea may demand that an envoy visit and discuss its nuclear program. Or the government may want humanitarian aid, such as food.

In the meantime, Andrei Lankov says Ling and Lee "are very unlikely to be sent to a real prison, since there they would learn too much about things outsiders are not supposed to know. I am pretty sure that the authorities will keep them in relative comfort, in conditions far better than the average prison, but still perhaps tough for the average American." The two have become the latest in a long list of foreigners North Korea has seized over the years. Kidnap victims include a 13-year-old Japanese girl named Megumi Yokota, a South Korean businessman whom the North continues to hold as a rebuke to South Korea, and a famous South Korean film producer, Shin Sang-ok. Shin eventually escaped, but not before being forced to make a socialist version of Godzilla.

American Journalists Convicted In North Korea [Today, via MSNBC]
Reporters Get 12-Year Terms In N. Korea [CNN]
N. Korea Convicts 2 U.S. Journalists [Washington Post]
North Korea Jails US journalists [BBC News]
North Korea Sentences U.S. Journalists [Wall Street Journal]
N. Korea Sentences 2 U.S. Journalists To 12 Years Of Hard Labor [New York Times]
Why North Korea's Jailing of U.S. Journalists Isn't Shocking [Time]

• Kim Kardashian is ticked Us used a picture of her alongside a story about Forever 21's just-launched plus-size line. "I love my curves, but curvy and plus-sized are two very different things," Kardashian protested. [PerezHilton]

• Kanye West's shoot with Amber Rose, the buzzcut model he was frequently seen with at the fall/winter collections, was not a campaign for his Louis Vuitton sneakers, after all. The Cut offers their take: "So to answer the question we all asked when we first saw these images, no, Louis Vuitton is not out of its mind. We're still not sure what the shots are for. We're guessing some kind of urban magazine like Giant." Because an urban magazine would be the only venue low-class enough to value shots of Amber Rose's ass? Oh, I forgot myself for a minute there! Obviously when someone with Iekeliene Stange's complexion goes entirely nude for six pages in Velvet, that's fashion. When a woman of color does it, that's crass and tacky. But of potential interest to urban readers. [The Cut]
• In some real Louis Vuitton news, tomorrow, for Earth Day, the company will donate 15% of all its US online sales to The Climate Project, Al Gore's non-profit. [WWD]
• Speaking of campaigns, Alexander Wang says he won't be doing one, because his lookbooks are so beautiful already. Is that canny or what? Lookbooks get picked up by blogs like this one nowadays; and what's more you can pay the creative team — model, photographer, stylist, art director, etc — relatively little to shoot a "lookbook" as compared with the cost if one were to call it a "campaign." [Style.com]
• Nicole Richie modeled for the lookbook for her line of costume jewelry, House of Harlow 1960. Of course she did: the whole point is to sell the stuff by associating it with her image. [Fabsugar]
• Tracey Ullman added Donna Karan and Miuccia Prada to her compendium of impersonations on her show this week. [WWD]
• Barbara Hulanicki, the legendary designer and illustrator of 1960s London, has descriptions but no pictures of her line for Topshop, which goes on sale on April 27. There will be shoulderpads, chiffon, grey suede, bloomers, and leopard print. Crazy like a fox? [UK Elle]
• Wait, Fashionista's got the lookbook! Definitely foxy. [Fashionista]
• Jefferson Hack, the founder of Dazed & Confused and Another Magazine — and erstwhile boyfriend of one Kate Moss — says things we wish other magazine editors would think, like, "Our readers' love of fashion shouldn't exclude an interest in the world around them." One of his favorite selections from the new Another Magazine photography book? The spread where Moss was shot at the back of the Hollywood sign. Reminisces Hack, "And then she climbed up and hung off the back of the 'O,' in this long McQueen dress. The dress is kind of metallic, but it's shredded, too, and to me, that image works as a symbol of a shredded optimism. A shredding of values. The Iraq war had just started when we ran that photo, and the Patriot Act was going through, and there was that whole ramping up of Bush's, you know, anti-democratic leadership. We were referencing those events in more direct ways in the rest of the magazine — in interviews and so on — but we also echoed it in some of the fashion imagery. And so for me, you know, that image encapsulates that moment." [Style.com]
• Meanwhile in London, Ms. Moss scooped up a beauty industry award for her fragrance, Velvet Hour. [News.uk.msn]
• American Apparel has a new argument about why it should get to talk about Woody Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi Previn in defending a lawsuit about using the film-maker's image in its advertising without authorization: because they talk about the company amongst themselves, sometimes! I think this is the moment on Law and Order where one lawyer says, "She opened the door," and the other one says, "Spousal privilege!" and then the judge calls them into the chambers. [Racked]
• Burberry's same-store sales fell slightly less than expected in the second half; it was partly because the weakening of the pound made their offerings more attractive. [WSJ]
• Coach's profit fell 29.3% in the third quarter. [Crain's]
• Fancy yourself a Sean John men's wear model? The company's doing an online search for its fall campaign. [WWD]
• And John Varvatos and Island Records are holding a battle of the bands. [WWD]

• Barack Obama will officially resign his Senate seat on Sunday, one day before Congress reconvenes for its lame duck session. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has 60 days to appoint a successor to serve until a special election in 2010, but hasn't signaled who he's leaning towards. [Washington Post]
• In the meantime, Obama might go to Georgia to stump for Jim Martin in his run-off race to bump Saxby Chambliss from Max Cleland's old Senate seat. [Huffington Post]
• He's also not sure he likes any of the dudes he hasn't admitted he's considering to be Secretary of State so he's considering... Hillary Clinton. This might or might not be more serious consideration than he gave to the idea of her being his VP. [NY Times]

• The GOP, too, is unsure of things, like whether to kick convicted, corrupt Senator Ted Stevens out of the Republican conference and/or the Senate. All hail the idiocracy! [The Hill]
• Al Gore is sure of one thing: he isn't going to the White House in an Obama Administration. [CNN]
• And it seems increasingly sure that Connecticut Senator Joe "Turncoat" Lieberman will keep his committee chairmanship because no one wants to be mean to Cotton-Eye Joe. [Huffington Post]
• The Bush Administration is pretty sure that it's going to veto the Democrats' auto-industry bailout bill, but Senator Chris Dodd is pretty sure it won't pass anyway. [Washington Post, NY Times]
• Rahm Emanuel definitely knows he's sorry for his dad's remarks about Arabs. [Politico]
• Sarah Palin gave a press conference today and managed to take 4 whole big-girl questions and not actually say a word. So I'm pretty sure nothing's really changed. [Daily Beast]

• For those of you who don't recognize the people Obama is embracing, that's Debbie Dingell to the left and Senator Carl Levin to the right. They were two of the four Michiganders who led the fight to get Michigan's full delegate seated at the convention. [Kalamazoo Gazette]
• Which is a roundabout way of illustrating that Democrats are all kissing and making up and coming to the fold and John McCain may be feeling lonely without the ladies he was expecting to come over. [LA Times]
• Except for with Joe Lieberman, he's really pissing the Dems off. He might speak at the Republican convention, by the way, a la Zell Miller. [HuffPo]
• Obama confirmed the month-long rumors today that Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton's former campaign manager, will be joining his campaign. That's gonna be interesting. [Fox News]
• Gore endorsing Obama? Prolly gonna be less exciting unless he shows up with pictures of Manbearpig. Why won't anyone take him serially? [Washington Post]

• In more interesting news, many people are using the web to learn things about the candidates! You know, like, instead of just getting it from the news. [Washington Post]
• Unfortunately, John McCain is not one of those people. He doesn't even know what his own climate change bill is about. [Gristmill]
• And he didn't use it to find out that he was about to hold a fundraiser with a guy who suggested rape victims "lie back and enjoy it" if it's inevitable. Of course, everyone else did. [CNN]

• Oh yeah, and Florida too. Wonder if Giuliani has any of those $9.11 donations left to inject into the old guy's campaign coffers? [AP]
  
• Hillary wins Florida too but feminists don't believe in beauty contests...or...um. [Wash Post]
  
• An alternative way to bask in the success of the troop surge this eve, if you have HBO. [Wash Post]
  
• The question isn't whether Gore wants to endorse Obama, but whether he "has the self-control" not to. [NY Mag]
  
• The question isn't whether Carter doesn't find Obama "titillating", but...titillating, really Jim? [WSJ]
  
• Two-month-old in China becomes World's youngest political prisoner! [NYT]
  
• Lynn Spears and her prodigal spawn: like something out of the Redneck Bible! [US Weekly]
  
• Could an individual be more deserving of riches than Corey Delaney? [Reuters]

• Maybe the "wealthy financiers" who stand to collect $500 from the Senate's version of the stimulus package... [Wash Post]
• No one made all those poor people sign up for those risky subprime mortgages...but. [Wash Post]
• Kenya this week: Luos mobbed the streets and looted stores in Kisumu in retaliation for the 19 Luos who died in a house fire set by Kikyu in response to a bus fire set by Luo. "It seems that what started out last month as a political crisis has increasingly turned into a violent ethnic one." [NY Times]
• "Where in the world has one ever seen a nation that erects memorials to immortalize its own shame? Only the Germans had the bravery and the humility..." [IHT]

Gore's win marks the second in a change of strategy for the Peace Prize people whereby they stop taking "peace" so goddamn literally and focus on people who are trying to create change that may actually be possible, like getting Americans to buy slightly more expensive light bulbs. But will it mark the end of all the obnoxious dudes I know still trying to convince me that climate change is not happening as a result of greenhouse gases; Gore's got it all wrong, etc.? Also, will it actually get people to start changing their light bulbs? And if those light bulbs save so much energy can't the country just make a law and ban the old ones already? Would that really lead us any further down the slippery slope towards totalitarianism?

Gore, UN Body Win Nobel Peace Prize [Washington Post]

• Oprah's golden retriever Gracie died in May after an unfortunate choking incident and still Oprah is talking about it, only now she's putting that Oprah-branded spin on it saying that Gracie's death was really a hidden message that she needed to slow down and take more time to appreciate her own life. Seriously, we don't even have a response to this. [USA Today]
  
• Oh yes: That's what's missing in the EU — machismo! [BBC]
  
• Memo to People magazine: Please do not ever ever put that Jenny McCarthy eats nachos as an item under the tag "breaking news". Ever. [People.com]
  
• Not shocking: Republicans don't want to pull out (from Iraq). But they don't want to give a Plan B either. Draw your own conclusions from this heavy-handed metaphor. [CNN]

• The Island of Britain, scientists have discovered, was created over 200,000 years ago by massive flooding. We think that's just past the timeline for which Al Gore can drop one of his global warming "I told you so!'s." [BBC]
• President Bush has called for the establishment of a new panel to review new safety precautions for imported foods. He says this is totally not all about China. Even a novice in Bush-speak knows that "no" always means "yes," so sorry, China, Bushie has it in for you! [CNN]
• Anyone else skeptical that North Korea seems to be volunteering for nuclear disarmament a little too easily? [NYT]
• Breaking news! Hootie and the Blowfish have delayed the start of their summer tour! Wait a second — Hootie and the Blowfish are still around? How the fuck is that possible? [USA Today]
• 1 U.S. casualty identified. [DoD]

• The Eva Longoria nupti-news continues: Ryan Seacrest wept and everyone got huffy (heh) when Teri Hatcher showed up mugging for cameras in a dress tailored to look exactly like the bridesmaid dress. Um, if succeeding at undermining someone requires wearing a bridesmaid dress when you don't have to we would normally call it a Pyrric Victory but it was Eva Longoria, so, go Teri! [Gatecrasher]
  
• Madonna demands eye contact during interviews. We can't wait to see the contract her lawyers drew up for sex! [Huffington Post]
  
• Aw. Sean Preston is only three years old and already he is carrying mommy's cigarettes like a good boy. Baby knows it's hard to fit everything in mommy's bikini bottoms! [The Sun]
  
• New word we just made up: Fauxbriety. It's what guylined Ashlee Simpson boychick Pete Wentz is into when he's not practicing sobriety. [Rush & Molloy]
  
• Brandon Davis should maybe look into it! [Page Six]

• Live Earth-athon: The Police kiss Al Gore's ass, Kanye kisses Sting's ass, Alicia Keys kisses Keith Richards' ass, everyone gets along! [Rush & Molloy]
• A Senator showed up on the DC Madam's list but he's from Louisiana so it doesn't actually count. [Washington Post]
• Jamie Lee Curtis: I have a terrorist's mind. [Huffington Post]
• Memo to Jamie Lee: Then please do something about this. [TMZ]

• Al "I'm The Man Who Was Elected President, But Whatever I'm A Movie Star Now" Gore has "fallen out of love" with politics, he says. And thus will not be running for president... again. If this is true, what a drama queen! If this isn't true, what an even bigger drama queen! Simmer down, Al! (And if you need some help with that, we're sure your son has some pills that could help.) [CNN]
  
• We [heart] brave kittens. Especially when they're better swimmers than we'll ever be. [ABCNews]
  
• The list of that D.C. madam's hooker-hiring politicians goes public! God, this is going to be more entertaining to watch than an America's Next Top Model. [The Smoking Gun]
  
• Taking "til death do us part" to a whole other level, a Welsh couple commit joint suicide after finding out that the husband had only a few weeks to live. In their suicide notes, they said they knew they could not live without one another. Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro: You guys are jokes. [Daily Mail UK]

• Our mother always told us that swimming pools were scary places. And just now had we mustered up the strength to buy our first-ever bathing suit in attempt to get over our fears. Then we read this. Bathing suit: Now in a drawer forever. [ABCNews]
• MTV has ordered a 4th season of Laguna Beach. What's that sound? Oh yes, our souls shattering. [Star]
• Good news for Russia: You're all over the runways! Bad news for Russia: It's looking more and more like you poison your own kind. [NYT]
• DailyCandy-ites rejoice: Sex and the City: The Movie is going to happen, at last. [E!]
• 6 U.S. casualties identified. [DoD]

• Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre, the "architect of fashion" (and favorite designer of Oprah Winfrey) died yesterday at the age of 62 from a brain hemorrhage. In addition to designing his own eponymous label, he created scandal by being [gasp!] an Italian overseeing Dior, from 1989-1996. Nonsensical statement from John Galliano surely TK. [IHT]
  
• Who will be Ferre's successor? You know the Italians: They're always soooo clear cut and undramatic about these fashion house leadership questions.. [WSJ]
  
• Oscar de la Renta is creating a line of baubles for his beloved ladies who lunch. The jewelry line will run under the kinda-gross name "O Oscar." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Gisele Bundchen: The highest paid-model of the year! Which proves, dears, that you don't have to be a flagrant cokehead and/or a 14-year old Slovenian girl to make a buck in this industry. [Vogue UK]
  
• Wal-Mart continues its ill-fated foray into fashion by ditching its employees' signature blue vest for a more "preppy" uniform. Memo to Wal-Mart: Maybe whenever you have an "instinct" about fashion, you should go ahead and do the opposite. [ABC News]

• Oh Posh, stop it with the lying: You don't eat. It's ok. We know. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Apparently if you are a WASP, it is offensive to be called one. [WWD, 3rd item]
• Pregnant women need not apply for modeling gigs at Calvin Klein. [WWD, 1st item]
• And yet according to Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld, Cladia Schiffer is more beautiful today than she was during her supermodel heydey because she got married and had babies. [Vogue UK]
• If we didn't love Al Gore and, y'know, the environment or whatever, we would actually have hurled all over ourselves reading this: Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Carine Roitfeld, Marghertia Missoni, and other vaguely conscience-y fashion types are designing limited edition t-shirts to benefit Gore's The Climate Project. [Vogue UK]

• Happy 21st birthday Mary Kate and Ashley! Yup, as of today, the Olsen twins are legally able to imbibe both Red Bull and vodka. Now go throw up an extra-special birthday dinner girls — you deserve it! [Olsen Twins 21st Birthday Countdown]
  
• Everyone — rulers out! A new study says that math skills can be determined by the ratio of the ring finger to index finger. We tried to calculate our own ratio, but... we're so bad at math we couldn't. [ScienceNow]
  
• Random public service announcement: Grapes and raisins cause kidney failure in dogs. And yes, we checked. [TheKnot.com]
  
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Internet, was given England's highest honor, the Order of Merit, by Queen Elizabeth today. Wait a second. Rewind. Didn't Al Gore invent the Internet??? [BBC]
  
• While touring Australia, the Dalai Lama met with Bindi Irwin, the 9-year old daughter of the late Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin. What, is an audience with The Pope next? [CNN]
  
• Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert died last night at the age of 89. We learned more about science from him during our television-viewing days during the mid-80's than we ever did in school. [CNN]

• We may not know much about science, but we do know that fossils are cool. [NYT]
• K-Fed's rep denies that the ex-Mr. Spears has impregnated the woman he left for Britney, Shar Jackson, yet again. [E!]
• Jake Gyllenhaal? On Broadway? This fall? The gays will go crazy! [People.com]
• Two U.S. casulaties identified today. [DoD]

We're simply thrilled that coke-snorting Oxycontin munchin' emailing overdosing (but NOT like Marilyn Monroe, differently, ok?) wayward starlet Lindsay Lohan is finally getting some help. And we hope that when the day comes that we finally kick our smack habit, Al Gore is there for us too. Expect this ex-presidential candidate mentoring to become a trend for vice-ridden young Hollywood, with Nicole Richie entrusting her exoskeleton to Micheal Dukakis, while Britney gets tough love and a nice pair of flannel underpants from John Kerry.

Lindsay's audition for rehab cry-for-help- email after the jump, in all it's mind-boggling glory.

Subject: The way of the future-Howard Hughes once said. I am willing to release a politically/morally correct, fully adequite letter to the press if any of you are willing to help. Simply to state my oppinions on how our society should be educated on for the better of our country.

Our people. Also because I have such an impact on our younger generations, as well as generations older than me. Which we all know and can obviously see. People are just mean. I am going to proceed with putting LR to court if need be for what she's done to me. Its my life. I want to live it.

People cannot lie and think that it is okay to continue on having done so. Simply because they will do it again to someone else, and that is not alright with me. I have had many ups and downs, as do we all.

But to make false accusations to one girl is unjust in my oppinion. Having said this, I am willing to do anything I need to get my life the way it should be and the way I work for it to be.. And have thus far in my career. Let's sue the tabloids for saying the things they say. Defamation of character. Amongst other illegal accusations, I will repeat this over and over to make my point. I am not fully aware of what these, again, accusations are, but I am fully and eagerly prepared to learn them. Have harvey and all lawyers help me please.

If he is willing. Al Gore will help me he came up to me last night and said he would be very happy to have a conversation with me. If he is willing to help me, let's find out. Hilary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Evan metroplis, and John Daur who works with them would be willing, if we just ask. If we just ASK. I'd really like to fix things and refuse to stop on any account for these unintelligent, vulgar people who like to hurt other people.

Not just me, but everyone. I'm willing to hold a press conference and I will do anything necessary to do so. In putting an end to 'these people' trying to put an end to me and belittle me as well as try to be the demise of me after all I've gone through and done at such a young and tender age in a womans life. Its enough already, I've had enough and I am going to be the one to make a change.

For all of my fellow actors, friends, people I admire and for those I've lost in the recent days, years, months. I do believe the focus in the world has misplaced and directed in the wrong directions and I am willing to be the one to help change that and use my celebrity status to move the focalpoint /(s) of the press to the real issues that we have going on as we speak.

Anyone that is willing to help and has a family member or friend, even co-worker that is in a position to be involved in any way, shape or form, please contact me, Jenni Muro, Leslie Sloane, Michael Heller, Jason Sloane, Jason Weinberg as soon as you can or are willing. Just ask them, it doesn't hurt to ask.

So let's start now, rather than waste time. Do you agree? Because I'm doing it either way. The way of the future. Thank you for your time.

Your Entertainer, Lindsay Lohan