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The rebellious First Lady of California was walking out of Peet's Coffee in Santa Monica when a vigilant parking enforcement officer noticed her meter had expired. The officer pulled out his rusty, trusty "auto-cite" device to ticket the vehicle, when suddenly one of Maria's security dudes ran up to him, flashed something at the officer and did some fast talking.

In the end, the officer backed off without writing a ticket. Maria then got in her SUV, took off her glasses and began eating her muffin as the expired meter continued blinking.

Oh, and there's this .... she drove off without securing her seat belt.

A Santa Monica police official tells TMZ writing a parking ticket is "discretionary." He also said if Maria was on official business she'd be exempt from parking laws, provided she had a placard on the dash. We saw no placard and -- last we checked -- eating a muffin is not official business.

UPDATE: A Santa Monica police official now tells TMZ the parking enforcement officer was about to write the ticket when a man walked up to the officer and said he was a member of the CHP Dignitary Protection Unit. The CHP guy then said he understood the officer had a job to do but the dignitary would be gone in less than 5 minutes. At that point the parking enforcement officer backed off, but issued a warning.

As for Maria then getting in the SUV, eating a muffin and driving off without her seat belt, the parking official says his officer didn't see that.

We contacted the CHP -- they have no comment on the situation.

The good news: It was a rental.

We're told Sean wrecked the Bentley on Sunset Blvd., near Boa Steakhouse. It happened at around 3 PM PT. He was renting the expensive ride from Beverly Hills Rent-A-Car for $2,500 a day.

The rental place tells us they don't sell coverage on high end vehicles ... so it looks like Sean may be in the hole anyway.

UPDATE: A rep for Sean tells us he was a passengerin the car and a female was driving at the time. We're told she lost control and hit the curb.

It's all over a program featured in the festival called "City to City" -- which honors Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary by spotlighting 10 Israeli films.

Fonda, Glover and Ensler have decided to boycott the festival and signed their name to a letter sent to festival officials -- a letter that claims Tel Aviv was built on "thousands of destroyed Palestinian villages" and that the program "ignores the suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants."

Now, Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is blasting the the actors -- and everyone else who signed the letter -- claiming "Whoever would sign on to a campaign like this would support the complete destruction of Israel."

Hier -- who's won two Academy Awards for documentaries -- added, "People who support letters like this are people who do not support a two-state solution. By calling into question the legitimacy of Tel Aviv, they are supporting a one-state solution, which means the destruction of the State of Israel."

"I applaud the organizers of the festival for celebrating on the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv. If every city in the Middle East would be as culturally diverse, as open to freedom of expression as Tel Aviv is, then peace would long have come to the Middle East."

West absorbed himself in a freestyle rap Wednesday night in NYC, going off on TMZ for the "confrontation" at LAX where he smashed our camera light to the ground and his bodyguard broke a still camera last year. Kanye has been charged with criminal battery, vandalism and grand theft.

During his show he sang: "Who doesn't think it's illegal, TMZ? And I have to pay $100,000 to the photographer that said I broke his arm, but I was just breaking your f**king camera, I wasn't tryin' do you no harm."

It's gonna be a rough season of filming -- "Real Housewife of Atlanta" Kim Zolciak is saying NeNe Leakes got a hold of her throat not once, but twice during their now infamous confrontation.

We just got off the phone with Zolciak, who supplied some unknown details about the widely reported throwdown between her and her co-star. Kim says Bravo suggested the two meet up that day to hammer out their issues -- but instead of working anything out, Kim just got choked out.

Zolciak also says she lost her breath for a minute and a half as NeNe choked her ... the first time. Moments later, according to Kim, NeNe went for the neck again -- and producers had to step in to safely escort Kim to her car. That's when Kim filed a police report.

Taking one for the team, Kim says she didn't file a restraining order so filming of the show could continue. She tells us "Violence is unacceptable, this has definitely changed my life. I wish NeNe would be humble enough to apologize."

A rep for Subway tells us we have the bong wrong idea -- saying it's just an unfortunate coincidence, adding the Fresh Buzz site has been around for 3 years.

By the way, Phelps says when he gets the munchies, he goes for the meatball sub with jalapeno -- no word if he likes it toasted.

Mexican pop superstar Paulina Rubio's Miami home was broken into this weekend -- and the alleged burglar only took two very important things ... her house keys and a remote control to her front gate.

According to the official police report, cops "noticed doors to the home wide open ... and footprints within the home" at around 9:30 Saturday night. The report says Rubio was out of town at the time.

The docs say cops couldn't tell if anything was actually stolen from the residence, but were later told the keys and remote control were missing.

All you pornography addicts can rest easy -- Larry Flynt is doing just fine.

TMZ has learned that dire reports circling the web about the Hustler king's trip to the hospital last night were a tad exaggerated. According to Flynt's people, he had some minor stomach problems and went to his doctor for a quick "in and out" checkup.

You can't say you didn't see this coming -- Michael Jackson has already postponed his first four London concerts ... and the finger pointing has already begun.

Jacko's first show has been pushed back 5 days to July 13 and the other 3 were postponed until March of 2010. On the record, concert promoters are saying it's because they need more time to set up the complex stage -- but that's not what we heard.

Sources close to the situation tell us Jacko is pushing back the dates because he's physically unable to get through an entire show.

If that's too rich for your blood and you want to skip the hotel, a limited number of tickets are selling for $250, $500, $750, and $1000 (again, per person).

Our source at the Wynn tells us that ticket-only seating cannot exceed 1% of total ticket sales. That means in the 1500-seat Encore theater, only 10-15 tickets will be available without hotel fees.

FYI ... the world record for the number of people stuffed into a phone booth is 22.

Sources tell TMZ an apartment belonging to "30 Rock" star Tracy Morgan caught fire early this morning ... and the source of the fire was a bunch of fish.

We're told the fire started after a light bulb in one of Tracy's fish tanks busted, which ignited the blaze. ALL OF THE FISH SURVIVED!

The fire did extensive damage. We're told Tracy was home at the time but, like the fish, he wasn't injured. FDNY responded three minutes after getting the call at 8:34 AM.

TMZ has learned Mariska Hargitay's suffered a partially collapsed lung over the Xmas holiday and it collapsed again today.

Her rep only would confirm that a partially collapsed lung has sidelined the actress.

We're told she has been readmitted to the hospital but will not miss any episodes. We do not know her condition.

Hargitay was sledding in the Hamptons around New Year's Eve but we're now told the cause of the lung problem is unknown.

A hugely expensive bracelet on loan to Winona Ryder has gone missing in Spain, but it's Winona who feels like the victim.

Here's the lowdown. Winona was in Madrid Sunday for a Marie Claire event. Marie Claire had given Winona a Bulgari bracelet and a ring to wear, worth $125,000. She also got a dress, shoes and some other stuff to wear to the shindig.

After Winona left Madrid, the bracelet and ring turned up missing. There's a report in a French magazine saying Winona claimed she went to the front desk at the hotel and gave the jewelry to the front desk, but the surveillance cam doesn't show her doing that. The intimation -- Winona stole the bling.

In fact, we know what happened. The morning after the event, around 6:00 AM, Winona checked out of the hotel. No one from Marie Claire was around to collect the stuff, so she left everything in her hotel room.

Our sources confirm the bracelet and ring did indeed turn up missing -- the dress and other stuff weren't taken. We're told Winona never said she had taken the jewels to the front desk, and whoever planted the story may be covering up for someone who had access to the room after she left.

Tina, meet Sarah. Sarah, this is Tina.

Here's what we know about Sarah Palin's scheduled appearance on "Saturday Night Live" tomorrow night. The wannabe VP will appear aside her doppelgänger, Tina Fey, in a sketch -- but so far, it hasn't been written yet.

Although people are speculating host Josh Brolin would appear with Palin as George W. Bush, as of now....no W-themed sketch planned.

Turns out the lady who incubated Ricky Martin's babies is a serial surrogate -- but that doesn't mean she'll squirt 'em out for just anybody.

Sources tell TMZ the 26-year-old mother works for an agency that hooks up surrogates, and Ricky's bambinos are her third surrogate (and second set of twins) -- but she says her womb isn't open to Britney Spears or Michael Jackson. Wonder why ...

We're told before the birth, the two only met a couple of times, and contact with Mr. Loca was mostly through phone and email.

According to law enforcement sources, things got violent around Atlanta's Club Dream when patrons heard that members of the private security team were double charging people to get into the VIP area -- where stars like Usher, Diddy and Nelly were partying.

Cops say pushing and shoving broke out, and as the masses were being thrown outside, that's when a shot rang out. A security guard was treated for a shot in the arm, but has already been released from the hospital.