Limbaugh says tests show no ailments

Honolulu — Conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh said Friday tests showed nothing was wrong with his heart after he was hospitalized with chest pains.

Limbaugh, 58, was released from The Queen’s Medical Center two days after he was rushed there during a vacation. Doctors said he did not have a heart attack or heart disease.

“The pain was real, and they don’t know what caused it,” Limbaugh said, adding his best guess was he had a spasm in an artery.

Limbaugh couldn’t resist a few political comments during his short news conference at the Honolulu hospital.

One appeared to be aimed at health care reform, when he said he got the best health treatment in the world “right here in the United States of America.”

“I don’t think there’s one thing wrong with the American health care system,” Limbaugh said. “I got no special treatment other than what anybody else that would have called 911 and had been brought in with the same kinds of symptoms.”

Griffin makes another vulgar quip on CNN

New York — For the second straight year, comedian Kathy Griffin ushered in the new year by saying something vulgar on CNN.

During the network’s live New Year’s Eve broadcast from Times Square, Griffin was joking with co-host Anderson Cooper about how to pronounce the first name of “balloon boy” Falcon Heene when she mumbled something that sounded a little like “Falcon” and a lot like the F-word.

Cooper hung his head, shook it and said “You’re terrible,” before resuming his banter.

The network said in a statement Friday that it “regrets that profanity was used during our New Year’s Eve coverage.”

During the same show a year ago, Griffin gleefully shouted at a heckler in the crowd and made a joke implying that the man performed gay sex acts for a living.

In a statement released by her publicist Friday, Griffin made light of the “balloon boy” joke: “Like every other serious reporter covering the now infamous balloon boy hoax, I struggled to pronounce his name ‘Falcon’ correctly and have gotten a kick out of how many ways I’ve heard it pronounced by other serious reporters. Just add me to that list and happy new year!”

Hero pilot leads 2010 Rose Parade

Pasadena, Calif. — After a run of celebrity grand marshals, a real American hero led the Rose Parade on Friday.

Onlookers stood and cheered as Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III rode down Colorado Boulevard in a vintage 1928 Pierce Arrow with his wife, Lorrie, and two daughters as part of the annual armada of flower-draped floats, marching bands and prancing horses.

Sullenberger said he did not hesitate when asked to serve as grand marshal because his family has watched the parade when he was growing up in Texas.

“It’s really an American institution, a celebration of American values,” he said after the parade. “I think people see those in me, and I’m glad.”

Parade-goer Hilda Roy held a hand-painted, fluorescent sign that read, “We (heart) you Sully!” She waved and screamed the name of the man who landed a stricken jetliner on New York’s Hudson River and was thrilled when Sullenberger waved back.