Smith and wife renew vows

Las Vegas — Silent Bob has spoken up and said “I do” — for the second time.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith, who often casts himself as the verbally challenged stoner in his raunchy comedies, renewed his wedding vows Monday in a surprise ceremony arranged by his wife as a 34th birthday present.

The first time Smith married his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, was in April 1999.

The writer-director broke the news about his remarriage to fans Wednesday on his Web site ViewAskew.com.

“What do you give the man who has everything? For his birthday? You give him a wedding. That’s right — I’m getting married. Again. To the same chick. In Vegas,” Smith wrote.

Arab-Americans criticize song

Dearborn, Mich. — Charlie Daniels, the man who wrote and sang “This Ain’t No Rag, It’s a Flag,” is drawing heat from Arab-Americans who say it refers to a derogatory term used against them.

Daniels, 67, is scheduled to perform Saturday in Dearborn, the center of southeastern Michigan’s 300,000-member Arab-American community.

After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Daniels wrote and recorded the song, which became a country hit.

It begins: “This ain’t no rag, it’s a flag and we don’t wear it on our heads. It’s a symbol of the land where the good guys live. Are you listening to what I said?”

“Ragheads” is a slur used against Arabs, Muslims and others who wear turbans or cover their heads.

Daniels says the song is not directed at Arabs and Muslims.

“It’s not anti-Arab or anti-anything,” he said Wednesday. “The only thing it’s ‘anti’ is the people who bombed us on 9-11.”

Villians return to ‘Doctor Who’

London — The Daleks, metallic enemies of sci-fi hero Doctor Who, have lived to fight another day.

The British Broadcasting Corp. announced Wednesday that it had resolved a dispute with the estate of the Daleks’ creator that had threatened to keep the tinny villains out of a new series of the popular sci-fi program.

“Doctor Who” ran on the BBC between 1963 and 1996, building up a huge following among generations of British children.

In the original series, his most feared opponents were the Daleks, metal assassins on wheels whose vocabulary consisted of the command “Exterminate.”

Bono sings at Buffett funeral

Omaha, Neb. — Bono sang at a private funeral for Susan Buffett, wife of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The lead singer of U2 flew into Omaha Sunday night and left shortly after Monday’s service at Countryside Community Church. She and Bono had shared a concern for AIDS awareness and prevention.

Buffett, 72, died of a stroke last Thursday while she and her husband were visiting friends in Cody, Wyo.