Spears’ father gets a raise – sort of

Merry Christmas, everybody!

That, at least, is what Britney Spears’ father should be saying to those in the Los Angeles Superior Court who gave him a hefty raise.

Jamie Spears was assigned the task of handling his troubled daughter’s affairs in February. For his efforts, Spears had been receiving a cool $10,000 a month.

But Court Commissioner Reva Goetz increased that amount to approximately $16,000 per month and agreed to give him back pay, which amounted to an additional $51,000 payout.

But that wasn’t all. The 27-year-old pop singer’s dad was granted an additional $1,200 a month to maintain an office – which Spears justified as necessary for getting his daughter’s career going again.

Hard to say what effect this all has had, but Britney’s new album “Circus” debuted at No.1 on the Billboard charts. That, though, might just cement dad’s rather comfortable position as caretaker of the golden goose.

“Is it any wonder that Britney feels like Jamie’s personal trained monkey?” said Los Angeles Times blogger Elizabeth Snead. “No way she’s ever getting out of this circus. She’ll be singing and dancing for Daddy until he’s in the grave.”

Call it Christmas fatigue

Who knew Christmas could put you in the hospital? That’s where DJ Samantha Ronson, Lindsay Lohan’s pal, was briefly on Saturday night. After a gig with Adam 12 and Benji Madden, Ronson stopped off at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. On Sunday, writing on her MySpace blog, Ronson said she “was just pretty exhausted from traveling and working too much to buy Chanukah gifts and my Jewish mother was worried about me.”

Hey, Bello, meet HBO

Maria Bello, 41, who made barely a splash while replacing Rachel Weisz in the latest “Mummy” movie, has signed to star in a new series for HBO. Written by Gary Lennon (“The Shield”), the one-hour drama will feature Bello as a recently widowed mother of three who is forced into a life of crime to make ends meet.

K-Fed likes the leggy ones

USAToday.com reports that Kevin Federline, 30, Britney Spears’ ex, is dating former college volleyball star Victoria Prince, 26, who is almost six feet tall.

Can you spell h-o-o-k-u-p?

Madonna’s been more in the news lately than she has been for the past decade. The 50-year-old singer is divorcing her husband, Guy Ritchie. She’s been involved with New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. And now comes word that she’s been spotted in the company of Brazilian model Jesus Luz. The London Sun says that from the moment they met on a photo shoot in Rio de Janeiro, the pair “struggled to keep their hands off each other.”

The birthday bunch

Singer Tony Martin is 95. Actor Dick Miller is 80. Actress Hanna Schygulla is 65. Actor Gary Sandy is 63. Singer Jimmy Buffett is 62. Country singer Barbara Mandrell is 60. Actress Sissy Spacek is 59. Actress CCH Pounder is 56. Singer Annie Lennox is 54. Singer Shane MacGowan (The Popes) is 51. Rock musician Noel Hogan (The Cranberries) is 37. Singer Dido is 37. Rock singer Mac Powell (Third Day) is 36. Country singer Alecia Elliott is 26.