About 800 National Guard soldiers will head to the U.S. border with Mexico next week. They're the first of roughly six-thousand troops who will help the Border Patrol stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the border.

Paul Gleason, 67, best known for playing the disgruntled high school principal in "The Breakfast Club," died Saturday at a Burbank hospital of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer linked to asbestos. Gleason studied under the famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio beginning in the mid-1960s and appeared in more than 60 movies, including "Die Hard, "Trading Places," "Johnny Be Good," and "Fort Apache the Bronx." He reprised his Principal Vernon role in the 2001 spoof "Not Another Teen Movie." Further down on his resume were parts in "Private Duty Nurses," "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor," "Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence," and "Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love."

Joining Rox Pop, TBogg, and Pharyngula, here's the American Idle Friday Random Ten:

1. Rock n' Roll Suicide - Seu Jorge
2. Watching the Detectives - Elvis Costello
3. Voices - Split Enz
4. Fight The Youth - Fishbone
5. Two Hearts - The Jayhawks
6. Don't Ever Think You're Different - A House
7. The Sun And The Rain - Madness
8. Nightswimming - R.E.M.
9. Blue Skies - Willie Nelson
10. Whiner's Bio - Mates of State

Myths of The Da Vinci Code

Frankie Thomas, who gained fame in the 1950s for his starring role in the TV children's show "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet," has died at the age of 85. Thomas acted on Broadway in the early 1930s, then ventured to Hollywood, where he appeared in such films as "A Dog of Flanders," "Boys Town" and "The Major and the Minor," as well as four Nancy Drew movies. In 1950, producers passed on Jack Lemmon, and Thomas won the title role of Tom Corbett, a Space Academy cadet who was training to become a member of the elite Solar Guard, 400 years in the future. The show spawned popular phrases including "Blast your jets" and "Don't fuse your tubes." At his request, Thomas was buried in his "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" costume.

For the second time in eight months, President Bush has worn a blue tie to a gathering of the White Guys in Red Ties Club, further eroding the support of his base.

Joining Rox Pop, TBogg, and Pharyngula, (while Gisleson speaks into the microphone) here's the American Idle Friday Random Ten:

1. Fairy Tale of New York - The Pogues
2. Memphis - Cry Cry Cry
3. A Summer Song - Chad & Jeremy
4. Kick In The Eye - Bauhaus
5. Home - His Name Is Alive
6. Search And Destroy - Iggy & the Stooges
7. Mack The Knife - Bobby Darin
8. Lemon Meringue - Fishbone
9. I'm Like A Bird - Nelly Furtado
10. Revolution 1 - The Beatles