December 16, 2010 · 5:24 pm

Blake Edwards Obituary

Blake Edwards, the director of many fine films including on of my favorites, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” died today.  He was also Julie Andrews’ husband of 42 years and directed her in several films…

More:

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Blake Edwards, the director and writer known for clever dialogue, poignance and occasional belly-laugh sight gags in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “10” and the “Pink Panther” farces, is dead at age 88.

Edwards died from complications of pneumonia late Wednesday at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, said publicist Gene Schwam. Blake’s wife, Julie Andrews, and other family members were at his side. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks.

“He was the most unique man I have ever known-and he was my mate,” Andrews said in a statement Thursday. “He will be missed beyond words, and will forever be in my heart.”

Edwards had knee problems, had undergone unsuccessful procedures and was “pretty much confined to a wheelchair for the last year-and-a-half or two,” Schwam said. That may have contributed to his condition, he added.

At the time of his death, Edwards was working on two Broadway musicals, one based on the “Pink Panther” movies. The other, “Big Rosemary,” was to be an original comedy set during Prohibition, Schwam said.

“His heart was as big as his talent. He was an Academy Award winner in all respects,” said Schwam, who knew him for 40 years.

A third-generation filmmaker, Edwards was praised for evoking classic performances from Jack Lemmon, Audrey Hepburn, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Lee Remick and Andrews, his wife of 42 years.

Actor Robert Wagner credits Edwards with giving him some of the greatest opportunities of his career.

“There won’t be anybody passing by like him again. He was a genius,” Wagner said Thursday. “Personally, we were so very close friends and he was so kind to me throughout my entire life.”

via Blake Edwards Obituary: View Blake Edwards’s Obituary by Danville and Rockingham County.

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December 16, 2010 · 4:37 pm

Elizabeth Edwards: The link between who we are and who we could be | National | Independent Weekly

Great tribute from the Independent Weekly:

The day after she died, someone posted a newspaper article about Elizabeth Edwards on a progressive political blog and added this one-sentence introduction: “When all is said and done, she was one of us.”

Whatever “us” he had in mind, it seemed a perfect epitaph.

Was he thinking that she was a passionate advocate—and blogger—for social and economic justice? She was.

Was he thinking she was authentically, even brilliantly representative of the generation of Americans born after World War II? She was that, too.

Or he may have been thinking that the indomitable spirit with which she endured tragedy and continued to seek purpose in her life made her human in the fullest sense of the word. Because she was, millions of Americans—especially, but not exclusively, women—loved Elizabeth Edwards and mourned her passing last week.

It’s easy to see that Elizabeth and her husband, John Edwards, reached for the political heavens, and they came to grief. The Greeks would understand. But if this was hubris, surely it was more the gods’ fault than hers, or even his. After the death of their son, in a nation and world yearning for uplift, was it arrogant to think they were called to serve their country? Say instead that it was audacious and that Elizabeth’s efforts were, as the Edwards’ longtime friend Glenn Bergenfield said at her memorial service, never fueled by ego but rather by duty—and a sense that it was time someone of her generation tried for greatness.

 

MORE:   Elizabeth Edwards: The link between who we are and who we could be | National | Independent Weekly.

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December 16, 2010 · 4:33 pm

Winona Ryder On Mel Gibson, In GQ: ‘He’s Anti-Semitic And He’s Homophobic’ (PHOTOS)

From Huffingtonpost.com

This guy has some serious issues…

Winona Ryder, featured in the latest issue of GQ, talks about her long past in Hollywood — and her horrifying run-in with Mel Gibson. She claims that she knew of the star’s alleged intolerance far before anyone else.

“I remember, like, fifteen years ago, I was at one of those big Hollywood parties. And he was really drunk,” she recalls to the magazine. I was with my friend, who’s gay. He made a really horrible gay joke. And somehow it came up that I was Jewish. He said something about ‘oven dodgers,’ but I didn’t get it.

“I’d never heard that before,” Ryder continues. It was just this weird, weird moment. I was like, ‘He’s anti-Semitic and he’s homophobic.’ No one believed me!”

Since, Gibson has been derided for multiple racist diatribes, and is now suffering a very public anger meltdown.

via Winona Ryder On Mel Gibson, In GQ: ‘He’s Anti-Semitic And He’s Homophobic’ (PHOTOS).

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December 16, 2010 · 4:29 pm

AMERICAblog News: Broadband Prices Falling Everywhere but the U.S.

From Chris in Paris at Americablog:

Whatever happened to Democrats that fight for the middle class? We must be fools to support a party that supports this garbage.

A new study suggests that the United States could do better when it comes to home ISP prices. The Technology Policy Institute’s latest survey of the global high speed Internet market finds that US residential broadband subscription rates have “remained fairly stable” over the last three years, rising by just two percent.

That’s good, of course, since they didn’t go way up. But residential broadband prices have fallen in most other countries, the paper notes—in some instances by as much as 40 percent.

The survey also found that prices in the United States for “triple play” plans are some of the most expensive among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member nations.

As a reminder, we pay €35/month for a 100MB fiber optic connection that also includes unlimited phone calls around the world plus TV channels. Even with the lousy exchange rate (which makes makes many countries look closer to the US) it’s a deal. What a scam.

via AMERICAblog News.

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December 16, 2010 · 4:25 pm

Daily Kos: CONFIRMED: New Study Proves That Fox News Makes You Stupid

From Dailykos….

I really can’t believe anyone thinks Fox News is really news…

Yet another study has been released that proves that watching Fox News is detrimental to your intelligence. World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation.

So the more you watch, the less you know. Or to be precise, the more you think you know that is actually false.

This study corroborates a previous PIPA study that focused on the Iraq war with similar results. And there was an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that demonstrated the break with reality on the part of Fox viewers with regard to health care. The body of evidence that Fox News is nothing but a propaganda machine dedicated to lies is growing by the day.

In eight of the nine questions below, Fox News placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the question on TARP). That’s a pretty high batting average for journalistic fraud. Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that just aint so:

91% believe that the stimulus legislation lost jobs.

72% believe that the health reform law will increase the deficit.

72% believe that the economy is getting worse.

60% believe that climate change is not occurring.

49% believe that income taxes have gone up.

63% believe that the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts.

56% believe that Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout.

38% believe that most Republicans opposed TARP.

63% believe that Obama was not born in the US (or that it is unclear).

The conclusion is inescapable. Fox News is deliberately misinforming their viewers and they are doing it for a reason. Every issue above is one in which the Republican Party had a vested interest. They benefited from the ignorance that Fox News helped to proliferate. The results were apparent in the election last month as voters based their decisions on demonstrably false information fed to them by Fox News.

via Daily Kos: CONFIRMED: New Study Proves That Fox News Makes You Stupid.

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December 15, 2010 · 9:10 pm

Hoyer: Senate Has Votes Needed To Repeal DADT

I’m hopeful, but will believe it when I see it…

Lieberman and Collins are not exactly the most trustworthy folks in the Senate…

Still, this should happen.  The polls show almost 80% of American’s support repeal.  But that never matters to Republicans…

The Senate has enough votes to pass a standalone repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has been told by Senate counterparts, he said in an interview with HuffPost Wednesday evening after the House approved its own version of the bill.

Hoyer said that he’s been working closely with Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the leading reform advocates in the Senate, and that he suggested last week to Lieberman that the House move first.

“Senator Lieberman and Senator Collins determined that they would introduce a bill,” said Hoyer. “I called and talked to a number of people. I then called Senator Lieberman and said ‘Joe, my intent will be to talk to Congressman Murphy’ — who’s the sponsor of the amendment that was adopted in the defense bill — ‘and put this in as a free standing bill, because we can probably send it over to you more quickly than you can send to us.’ And he agreed and we introduced exactly the same bill that they have in the Senate.”

via Hoyer: Senate Has Votes Needed To Repeal DADT.

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December 15, 2010 · 7:01 pm

Mitch McConnell Fights Back Tears On Senate Floor (VIDEO)

Why does it seem that all the Republican “Leaders” are Crybabies?

All that macho postering, then the tears.  If nothing else, they are consistently inconsistent….

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a tearful sendoff to his GOP colleague Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire on the Senate floor Tuesday, becoming the second Republican leader this week to draw attention for exercising his tear ducts in a public appearance.

“Now to say that I tried to convince Judd to stay is an understatement,” McConnell said with a belabored smile that quickly transformed into a crescendo of emotion. “But he knew it was his time to move on, and to write the next chapter in his life. And while senators come and go all the time, I can’t help but note that when Judd walks out of this chamber, when he walks out of this chamber for the last time, he’ll leave an enormous void behind. So I’ll close, old friend and colleague, by saying that you’re certainly gonna be missed.”

McConnell’s bout of sniffling builds not only upon an appearance by John Boehner on CBS News’s “60 Minutes” last weekend, in which the future Speaker of the House discussed and displayed his renowned propensity for uncorking the optical floodgates, but also upon a previous incident in which the Senate Majority Leader let loose on the Senate floor.

Earlier this year, McConnell sobbed during a lengthy farewell address to his chief of staff, Kyle Simmons, who was leaving to start up a lobbying firm.

And late last month, McConnell was also reported to have “choked up” during a final floor speech by outgoing Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)

via Mitch McConnell Fights Back Tears On Senate Floor (VIDEO).

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December 15, 2010 · 11:38 am

Murder, They Wrote: The Year In Mysteries : NPR

I love to read mysteries and here are some recommendations from NPR.

However, they left out three of my favorites-more on them later…

If you click the link, you can see the other books the NPR writer recommends.

Okay, let’s acknowledge the big pink elephant (or giant red Swedish fish?) in the living room, and then we can get on with this salute to some of the other best mysteries and suspense novels of 2010. Stieg Larsson. It would be preposterous to offer a round-up of the year-in-crime-fiction without paying homage to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest and the international phenomenon of Larsson’s entire Millennium Series. (My local independent bookstore is doing a brisk business selling black rubber bracelets imprinted with the question: “What Would Lisbeth Do?”)  Maybe 2011 will bring us Lisbeth Salander fans some version of that rumored fourth installment floating around on Larsson’s companion’s computer. If not, it’s still been a thrill to witness the launch of one of the mystery and suspense canon’s groundbreaking series.

via Murder, They Wrote: The Year In Mysteries : NPR.

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December 15, 2010 · 11:26 am

What Progressives Don’t Understand About Obama – NYTimes.com

Thanks, to my friend Kirk, for forwarding this on to me.  This is very thought provoking to me…

Here is an excerpt and link to full article:

What the progressives forget is that black intellectuals have been called “paranoid,” “bitter,” “rowdy,” “angry,” “bullies,” and accused of tirades and diatribes for more than 100 years. Very few of them would have been given a grade above D from most of my teachers.

When these progressives refer to themselves as Mr. Obama’s base, all they see is themselves. They ignore polls showing steadfast support for the president among blacks and Latinos. And now they are whispering about a primary challenge against the president. Brilliant! The kind of suicidal gesture that destroyed Jimmy Carter — and a way to lose the black vote forever.

Unlike white progressives, blacks and Latinos are not used to getting it all. They know how it feels to be unemployed and unable to buy your children Christmas presents. They know when not to shout. The president, the coolest man in the room, who worked among the unemployed in Chicago, knows too.

via What Progressives Don’t Understand About Obama – NYTimes.com.

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December 14, 2010 · 11:23 am

Achilles heel of American education: inequality – KansasCity.com

Great article on Education….

The latest shocker came with the results of the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which showed students in Shanghai well ahead of the global pack. The study tested 15-year-olds from 65 Organzisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member nations in math, science and reading. (China wasn’t assessed as a whole, but Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao were separately.)

The United States ranked 24th, the middle of the pack. Cue the cliches …

“Fifty years later, our generation’s Sputnik moment is back,” declared President Barack Obama.

“Wow, I’m kind of stunned. I’m thinking Sputnik,” Chester E. Finn Jr., who served in Ronald Reagan’s education team, told The New York Times.

Faced with the new rankings, Britain, France, Germany and other nations announced plans to study and overhaul their educational systems. The U.S. pretty much shrugged. And some began searching for faults in the analysis.

Every time such figures are released, some Americans content themselves to do a little math. They subtract the inconvenient students. Take out underachieving minority students, they say, and we’re not doing so badly.

True, white and Asian students have vastly better graduation and achievement rates than African American and Hispanic students do. But if you want to know the biggest problem in the U.S. education system, it’s this: inequality.

Tucked into news stories about the testing was the finding that the highest achieving school systems in the world were the ones where social class tends not to predict student achievement. Think about that. In countries where students from all social and economic backgrounds are well represented among highest academic achievers, student achievement on the whole is higher.

Inequality is America’s Achilles heel. Class level still matters greatly when it comes to student achievement. No Child Left Behind has made that infinitely clear. I realize this is hardly rocket science. Turning it around will be.

via Achilles heel of American education: inequality – KansasCity.com.

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