Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, has succumbed to a not-public battle with cancer. He died this morning. The world just got a little less dinosaur-y.

Like it is the duty of liberal blogs on a rampage to defend against any attack — warranted or based on lies — against Barack Obama, it is the duty of the right-wing disinformation machine to shoot down any negative claim made against one of its own. So when news broke that Republican VP candidate and former beauty queen Sarah Palin had spent $35,000 of her own money to install a tanning bed in the Governor's Mansion in Juneau, and she quickly got stoned by the left for it, the conservative ideologues whipped up this brilliant counter-attack:

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Way to go, celebrity media! You forced Samantha Who? star Christina Applegate to come forward about her breast cancer struggle way ahead of when she wanted to go public. Which explains why she was on this morning's Good Morning America revealing that shortly after being diagnosed with cancer in one breast, and testing positive for the "breast cancer gene," she had a double mastectomy and removed both breasts. Over the next eight months, she'll have reconstructive surgery to give her "the best boobs in the nursing home."

Says fellow cancer survivor Robin Roberts, who interviewed Applegate (video here): "She wanted to dispel some false reporting that was out there. She wasn't really ready to go public yet. But there was some false reporting that was out that she was going to undergo chemotherapy, which she is not. There were other false reports saying that she was putting off chemotherapy to start a family, that she wanted to get pregnant. She does want to have a family one day, but that is not the reason she made her choice."

So who was out there ruining Applegate's life? Well, Star magazine for one.

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Capitalizing on the mass branding effort of those yellow rubber brands and his sexual intercourse with celebrities, super-athlete Lance Armstrong today debuts LiveStrong.com, the health/wellness site that's all about cashing in. This site is, of course, different from LiveStrong.org, the foundation set up to raise awareness about cancer and, um, Lance Armstrong. The dot-com/for-profit site, meanwhile, is a partnership with Demand Media, and greets visitors with everything from "why eating the fruits 3 times a week can help prevent the disease" to ways to "Get Fab Abs" through "a magic circle, plus other ways to strengthen your tummy with Pilates." The deal also means Armstrong is laying himself out there for endless product endorsements, including something called FRS ("Fight fatigue, Raises metabolism, Supports immune system), some sort of energy drink whose purchase will go toward funding Lance Armstrong, and his plight to turn a battle with cancer into a lucrative profiteering scheme.

So after all the chatter about what Katie Couric's big announcement on this morning's Today show would be, and the revelation that she and NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson would be announcing a joint one-hour cancer telethon, here's the big reveal. And yes, Katie's legs are on display.

So was it hard to get the competing networks to work together on this? Of course not!, says Katie: "It was wonderfully easy, really. I think the opportunity to do something for the greater good, to set aside our competitive differences, to raise money and awareness for something that affects all of us … I think everyone said, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"

The only question that needed sorting out, then, was which network's morning show would get to make the big announcement. Guess that decision was made from a ratings standpoint.

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"I've taken my cue from people here and from viewers, especially [cancer] survivors . . . who said, 'When it's time to literally flip your wig, you'll know,' " Roberts said. "I am not my hair," she said, quoting from the song by India.Arie. "I am the soul that lies within and that's it - no more wig. That's it." Roberts will auction her wig to raise money for a charity that helps "those who don't have insurance and can't afford this." [NYP]