Elizabeth Taylor - World-of-Newave.info http://answers.world-of-newave.info/elizabeth-taylor.htm Latest news and articles about Elizabeth Taylor en-us Copyright (c)2004-2008.§/Newave SARL. All rights reserved. webmaster@world-of-newave.com (Webmaster) Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:11:17 GMT Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:11:17 GMT Newave Lisa XML Engine v1.0 - http://www.world-of-newave.info/about.htm 60 http://www.world-of-newave.info/images/wi8831.gif World-of-Newave.info - Knowledge and Informational Database http://www.world-of-newave.info/ 88 31 {EUROPE > NEWS AND MEDIA} - QE2 runs aground on final voyage http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/qe2-runs-aground-on-final-voyage-20081161512.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/qe2-runs-aground-on-final-voyage-20081161512.htm Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:55:20 GMT It was hardly the most regal moment in the QE2's glittering career when the supreme luxury ocean liner ran into a sandbank off Southampton this morning on its final voyage before metamorphosing into a floating hotel in Dubai.But the embarrassment was merely fleeting as the ship, which has carried royalty and Hollywood stars, as well as millions of less famous passengers, docked just 25 minutes late at the port, where the Duke of Edinburgh led the farewell ceremonies.A Cunard spokesman said the ship had been pulled off the sandbank. "No one on board has been injured. A lot of people will have been in bed when it happened and not have noticed."The QE2's final departure from British shores will be accompanied by solemnity as well as pomp and ceremony. To mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the first world war, a Tiger Moth plane dropped 1m poppies on the 70,000-tonne liner, which served as a hospital ship during the 1982 Falklands war.After a two-minute silence, Prince Philip met long-serving staff as well as the former captains of HMSs Ardent, Antelope and Coventry, ships that were lost in the Falklands campaign. He will also stand on the aft decks of QE2 to watch a fly-past by a Harrier jet. A small flotilla is expected to accompany the ship as it leaves Southampton for its final voyage to Dubai.Passengers snapped up tickets, with the highest-priced berths going for more than £28,000. The trip was sold out almost instantly. The QE2 will reach Dubai on November 26 and be handed over to the firm Nakheel - part of the Dubai World company and the creator of the Palm Jumeirah, the world's largest man-made island.The QE2 will be extensively refurbished over the next few months before docking permanently at a specially constructed berth on the island. The revamped vessel will have a heritage museum displaying artefacts from the ship and from maritime history.Since it was launched by the Queen on the Clyde in 1967, the QE2 has carried more than 2.5 million passengers. The longest-serving ship in the history of the Cunard line, it has broken records both for speed and endurance. After 40 years and 5.5m miles, however, keeping it at sea for much longer would have been too costly.With the Queen Mary 2 now the Cunard flagship, and with other vessels due to join the company's fleet, Cunard announced last year that the QE2 would be sold to Dubai World for around £50m.Over its 40-year career, the QE2's passengers have included most of the crowned heads of Europe, politicians such as Lady Thatcher and Nelson Mandela, the astronaut Buzz Aldrin and the explorer Sir John Blashford-Snell. British stars have included the singer Vera Lynn, most of the Beatles, individually, Mick Jagger and David Bowie. The Hollywood actors Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope and Paul Newman have also sailed on the QE2.Dubai's hot, dry climate should help to preserve the ship in the long term.CruisesTransportDubaiguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Guardian.Co.Uk QE2 runs aground on final voyage {new window}   Www.Guardian.Co.Uk - It was hardly the most regal moment in the QE2's glittering career when the supreme luxury ocean liner ran into a sandbank off Southampton this morning on its final voyage before metamorphosing into a floating hotel in Dubai.But the embarrassment was merely fleeting as the ship, which has carried royalty and Hollywood stars, as well as millions of less famous passengers, docked just 25 minutes late at the port, where the Duke of Edinburgh led the farewell ceremonies.A Cunard spokesman said the ship had been pulled off the sandbank. "No one on board has been injured. A lot of people will have been in bed when it happened and not have noticed."The QE2's final departure from British shores will be accompanied by solemnity as well as pomp and ceremony. To mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the first world war, a Tiger Moth plane dropped 1m poppies on the 70,000-tonne liner, which served as a hospital ship during the 1982 Falklands war.After a two-minute silence, Prince Philip met long-serving staff as well as the former captains of HMSs Ardent, Antelope and Coventry, ships that were lost in the Falklands campaign. He will also stand on the aft decks of QE2 to watch a fly-past by a Harrier jet. A small flotilla is expected to accompany the ship as it leaves Southampton for its final voyage to Dubai.Passengers snapped up tickets, with the highest-priced berths going for more than £28,000. The trip was sold out almost instantly. The QE2 will reach Dubai on November 26 and be handed over to the firm Nakheel - part of the Dubai World company and the creator of the Palm Jumeirah, the world's largest man-made island.The QE2 will be extensively refurbished over the next few months before docking permanently at a specially constructed berth on the island. The revamped vessel will have a heritage museum displaying artefacts from the ship and from maritime history.Since it was launched by the Queen on the Clyde in 1967, the QE2 has carried more than 2.5 million passengers. The longest-serving ship in the history of the Cunard line, it has broken records both for speed and endurance. After 40 years and 5.5m miles, however, keeping it at sea for much longer would have been too costly.With the Queen Mary 2 now the Cunard flagship, and with other vessels due to join the company's fleet, Cunard announced last year that the QE2 would be sold to Dubai World for around £50m.Over its 40-year career, the QE2's passengers have included most of the crowned heads of Europe, politicians such as Lady Thatcher and Nelson Mandela, the astronaut Buzz Aldrin and the explorer Sir John Blashford-Snell. British stars have included the singer Vera Lynn, most of the Beatles, individually, Mick Jagger and David Bowie. The Hollywood actors Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope and Paul Newman have also sailed on the QE2.Dubai's hot, dry climate should help to preserve the ship in the long term.CruisesTransportDubaiguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
QE2 runs aground on final voyage | Travel | guardian.co.uk {...} Luxury cruise liner rescued from sandbank off Southampton ahead of farewell ceremony {...}
Published: November 11, 2008, 10:55 am - Indexed: November 11, 2008, 1:07 pm - Page Size: 78KB
Category: Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media

]]> Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media {ALTERNATIVE > ODD NEWS} - Queen Elizabeth Plans To Grow Fruits At Her Scottish Estate (AHN) http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/alternative/odd-news/queen-elizabeth-plans-to-grow-fruits-at-her-scottish-20081125625.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/alternative/odd-news/queen-elizabeth-plans-to-grow-fruits-at-her-scottish-20081125625.htm Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:11:45 GMT (AHN) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth plans to grow fruit at Balmoral, her Scottish estate, in order to combat rising food costs. - Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:05:50 GMT Allheadlinenews.Com Queen Elizabeth Plans To Grow Fruits At Her Scottish Estate (AHN) {new window}   Www.Allheadlinenews.Com - (AHN) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth plans to grow fruit at Balmoral, her Scottish estate, in order to combat rising food costs. - Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:05:50 GMT
Queen Elizabeth Plans To Grow Fruits At Her Scottish Estate | AHN | November 18, 2008 {...} Queen Elizabeth Plans To Grow Fruits At Her Scottish Estate | November 18, 2008 {...}
Indexed: November 18, 2008, 10:11 am - Page Size: 13KB
Category: News > Alternative > Odd News

]]> News > Alternative > Odd News {LITERATURE > RSS FEEDS} - Reaser Confirms Ex Is Dead http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/reaser-confirms-ex-is-dead-20081166110.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/reaser-confirms-ex-is-dead-20081166110.htm Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT Elizabeth Reaser, who stars in CBS' hour-long dramedy The Ex List, told a group of reporters that the low-rated show is indeed canceled, though the network has only said it is pulling the series from its schedule. Scifi.Com Reaser Confirms Ex Is Dead {new window}   Www.Scifi.Com - Elizabeth Reaser, who stars in CBS' hour-long dramedy The Ex List, told a group of reporters that the low-rated show is indeed canceled, though the network has only said it is pulling the series from its schedule.
Published: November 12, 2008, 5:00 am - Indexed: November 12, 2008, 8:55 am - Page Size: 40KB
Category: Arts > Literature > Genres > Science Fiction > RSS Feeds

]]> Arts > Literature > Genres > Science Fiction > RSS Feeds {EUROPE > NEWS AND MEDIA} - My years with Roald. Felicity Dahl talks to Elizabeth Day http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/my-years-with-roald-felicity-dahl-talks-to-elizabeth-2008114129.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/my-years-with-roald-felicity-dahl-talks-to-elizabeth-2008114129.htm Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:04:57 GMT Roald Dahl's writing hut is just as he left it. Tucked away at the end of the garden, it looks like a dilapidated shed, its paint peeling and faded, its tiny windows dusty with disuse. Inside, the mossy green wing-back armchair in which he wrote nearly all his books takes up most of the space. A drawing by Dahl's son Theo is pinned to the wall, the corners brown and furled. A low table is dotted with objects - a brass ornament in the shape of a Spitfire, a metallic ball made from crushed sweet wrappers. There is a mug filled with sharpened pencils and a yellow, lined pad of A4.The shed is freezing cold. An electric heater, perilously rigged up to the ceiling with string, has not been turned on since Dahl's death 18 years ago from leukaemia. But there is a different sort of chilliness here too. Everything is in place, exactly as it should be, except the person who made it so.Felicity, Dahl's widow, does not like to come in here. She refuses to have her photograph taken inside and finds it difficult to spend time surrounded by her late husband's possessions. When I ask her what life is like without him, she answers with a brutal matter-of-factness: 'It's hell.' Her voice wobbles and she starts to cry. 'Anyway...' she says, flapping her hands in front of her face. The tears disappear. A small, embarrassed smile takes their place. 'As he says in Danny [Dahl's 1975 book Danny, the Champion of the World], you have to be a sparky parent. Well, he was a sparky man. To everyone.'People feel they know Roald Dahl. Most of us have read his books and had our childhoods shaped by his fantastical mind and macabre sense of humour. Dahl's vision was one of boundless possibility and unfettered imagination; a world where witches had no toes, where giant peaches could float like zeppelins and where friendly giants subsisted on a revolting diet of snozzcumbers.Sixty-five years after the publication of his first story, The Gremlins, Dahl's books continue to sell at a rate of one million a year. An updated version of his childhood autobiography, Boy, has just been published and several of his other books have been made into films, including Matilda, The Witches and James and the Giant Peach. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prompted two movie adaptations, the most recent directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Wes Anderson is currently filming an animated Fantastic Mr Fox.Children still pitch up unexpectedly at his Buckinghamshire home, Gipsy House in Great Missenden, where Felicity, 69, lives. 'It's just awful because they look over the gate and say, "Roald Dahl lives here doesn't he?" And I say, "Well he did." "Oh, has he moved?" And I have to say, "No, he died" and it shatters them.'It is not just children who are intrigued by the Dahl legacy. The December issue of British Vogue carries a series of eccentric photographs featuring Tim Burton and his wife Helena Bonham-Carter in locations and costumes inspired by Dahl. In September, a biography by American journalist Jennet Conant, The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring, caused a stir by suggesting that Dahl spent much of the Second World War as an RAF attache in the States, sleeping with wealthy beauties in order to pass on titbits of intelligence gleaned from pillow talk. Dahl's meticulously filed reports had never been published and their intimate revelations raised eyebrows on both sides of the Atlantic.'Yes, my God!' says Felicity, shrieking with pleasure when I mention the book. 'The sexiest seducer in Washington! But of course it was true. He was wildly attractive and handsome, in his RAF uniform, speaking English, a fighter pilot - completely seductive. And he was charming and intelligent. A lot of women fell for him.'Felicity, known to her friends and family as Liccy (pronounced Lissy), rarely gives interviews. The requests come in a steady stream, but remembering is an emotive business and she is extremely busy running the Roald Dahl Foundation, a grant-giving charity that aims to help children in the areas of literacy, neurology and haematology. The foundation is about to launch a series of free concerts at Kings Place in London, featuring orchestral versions of Dahl's stories.Today, however, she has agreed to speak in order to publicise the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize, to be awarded on Thursday to this year's most humorous children's book. The prize, organised by the charity Booktrust, is being judged by a panel that includes Michael Rosen, the Children's Laureate, and Dahl's granddaughter, model Sophie Dahl.'People often ask me, "Did he tell lots of jokes?"' says Felicity. 'No. It is in his writing, in his descriptions of things. It was a hidden, subversive humour, not a comedian telling jokes.'Children were his friends, that's what kept him going. The fact that they loved his stories and would then go on to read Biggles and everything else - that, to him, was a miracle. He said, "I feel a bit like a pop star."'She says he would have been horrified by the erosion of children's imaginations by computer games. 'I think [computer] games are absolutely appalling. A child is never left on their own with nothing, so that they have to create their world. The Game Boys and that ghastly stuff have come in and they are absolutely like this...' She does an impression of a goggle-eyed teen staring at a hand-held screen. 'Roald would have had a fit at that.'We meet in Gipsy House, an oversized cottage with low ceilings and yellow- and rose-painted rooms. There are photographs of Dahl everywhere and framed illustrations by Quentin Blake hang on the walls. When Tim Burton came to research Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he burst into tears on the lawn. 'People have strong reactions to this house,' Felicity says.Part of the reason for Dahl's enduring popularity, says his widow, is that he never spoke down to children: 'They were equals.' This, she thinks, was because he never lost his own sense of childish wonderment. He was 67 when Felicity married him (there was a 21-year age gap and she was his second wife, after his first marriage to American actress Patricia Neal), but she says he remained filled with imaginative exuberance. He would produce pink milk for breakfast or make jelly with hundreds and thousands suspended in the gelatine.'He would make the most mundane thing seem fantastic because he would reinterpret it.' On a trip to Zurich to meet Dahl's European literary agent, they caught a funicular railway and noticed that each time the train stopped at a certain platform, the driver would get out, put his hand up into a ceiling beam and pull out a part-smoked cigar. 'He lit it, had two puffs, put it back and got back into the train to drive down again,' says Felicity. 'All day he did this - up and down. When we got back to the city, Roald bought the most expensive Monte Cristo cigar. We went back up the funicular. At the platform, he took the old stubby cigar out and put the new one up in the beam. Then we went back to the hotel. He didn't wait to see the driver's reaction. That's the sort of guy he was. He was always looking to help people and just make their day a little more interesting, because most people's days were very dull.'But he could be cantankerous. His granddaughter Sophie once described him as 'a very difficult man - very strong, very dominant... sort of roaring round the house with these very loud opinions'. Does Felicity recognise this portrayal? 'Um...' she lapses into silence for several seconds. 'I don't remember him roaring round, I must say. But, yes, if one of the children was doing something bad, he would roar at them, but with good reason. Also, there were moments he was so ill, and what people forgot was that he was in constant pain from his back injury from the war, and when you're in constant pain you can get ratty. I would describe it as ratty rather than roaring.'He used to get grumpy when he was finishing a book and I remember saying, "But you should be so pleased you're reaching the end!" And he used to say, "You don't understand - it's the fear of never writing another one."'Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, South Wales, to Norwegian parents. His childhood was punctuated by tragedy. When he was four, his older sister died of appendicitis. His father Harald never got over his daughter's death and died a month later of pneumonia. Roald was sent to boarding school at Repton, an experience he remembered in Boy as 'days of horrors'. After school, he joined Shell and was posted to East Africa. At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the RAF. His first mission took him into the heart of enemy territory and he was forced to crash land in the Libyan desert, an episode that left him with a fractured skull and the chronic back injury that plagued him for the rest of his life. He was eventually sent home as an invalid but transferred to Washington as an air attache in 1942.He married Patricia Neal in 1953 and had five children - Tessa, Theo, Ophelia, Lucy and Olivia, who died of measles encephalitis aged seven. Her death was 'catastrophic' says Felicity. 'It was like his father - sort of repeat history.' There were other challenges too. Theo was left brain damaged when, at four months, his pram was hit by a New York cab. Then, in 1965, Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant with Lucy. She was left paralysed and unable to speak. Dahl nursed her back to health. Throughout it all, he carried on writing, producing a formidable body of work comprising 16 children's books, two volumes of autobiography and several short story collections, including Tales of the UnexpectedBy the 1970s, Neal was able to walk and talk again, but the marriage was in trouble. While Neal was filming a Maxim coffee commercial, the Dahls were introduced to set designer Felicity Crosland, a divorcee with three young daughters. Soon afterwards, Felicity and Roald began an 11-year affair. When Neal found out, she was devastated, particularly as her own children had known about their father's relationship and tacitly condoned it. Ophelia Dahl, who was 14 when her parents divorced in 1983, said in later years that 'all of us realised that he had found the love of his life with Liccy and there's always a sense of relief when that happens'.But the immediate fall-out was, says Felicity, 'dreadful because we never thought we could get married, we thought we'd keep it secret. No divorce in the world is happy and I think a husband falling for a younger woman must be the worst of all'.Did she feel guilty? 'Yes and no. It was a particularly difficult situation because Pat had a stroke and was not well. I don't know how he managed to bring up these children, run a house, do the school runs and write this major volume of work. He was so worn out, so needing to be looked after which of course Pat couldn't do. So there was terrible pain about that. 'It's a very difficult thing. It's tough on everybody.'Although the tensions of the past have dissipated, it proved especially tough on Felicity: in 1990, her 27-year-old daughter Lorina died of a brain tumour. A few months later, she lost her husband too.'When Lorina got ill, he was, he was...' She trails off. 'Shock does terrible things to you, physically and chemically. Like Roald's mother, I lost a daughter and a husband within months of each other.'Now, however, the extended family rubs along happily. The children and grandchildren split their time between Felicity in Great Missenden and Neal in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. 'We're absolutely all very close, including Pat. 'Looking back on the seven happily married years she spent with Dahl, it was, Felicity feels, worth the emotional cost: 'I don't think anybody who met him wasn't taken aback by his whole presence. He was a spectacularly handsome figure; friendly, you know, very welcoming.'Even at the end, Dahl was still trying to make people's days a little less dull. Felicity recalls that as he lay dying at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, he noticed that the nurses were being forced to wear their own clothes as an experiment to see whether patients responded better to them. 'He said, "What a ridiculous idea. How can you possibly afford to use your own clothes on the wages you get?"'Felicity was sent to Marks & Spencer to buy cardigans, jumpers and trousers. 'I came out with bulging bags. He laid them all out and when the nurses came in he said, "Now choose whatever colour you want." That was a man who was dying, he was so ill and yet he still wanted to spread a funny idea to make them laugh and yet to give them a present, give them a treat. Treats were his big thing.'When we walk outside to Dahl's writing hut, Felicity takes me down a garden path. She stops as the path dips downwards and points to a shiny chunk of bright green jade cut into the stone. She tells me a child from Australia sent him the jade after hearing Dahl on the radio. 'One evening, we were doing our usual tour round the garden and he said, "Do you notice anything different?" I looked up and he said, "Why do you always look up?" So I looked down and there he'd made this little hole in the path and put the piece of jade in with its green side up.' She sighs. 'You know, those are the things in life that matter.'It is a tale that encapsulates much of what makes Dahl's legacy so lasting: his ability to see things from a child's perspective and to transform the ordinary into something unexpectedly enchanting. It was about remembering to look down when all the other adults were looking up.The winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize will be announced on Thursday. For more information, go to: booktrust.org.uk or roalddahlfoundation.orgInspired by Dahl: Fan's recollectionsQuentin Blake Has illustrated all of Dahl's books'We first worked together on The Enormous Crocodile. Our collaboration was like a double act in the music hall. Sometimes you're the straight man and sometimes you're the funny man. Occasionally there were things which were very good to draw and I could actually expand the situation. But there were other bits where the writing was so funny that you just wanted to hold back.'Michael Rosen Current Children's Laureate'In every one of the books, he's on the side of the child. He's thinking all the time about children's desires but he also creates characters that allow children to experience their conflicted feelings about adults. So in The Witches [the 1990 film version of which starred Anjelica Huston, above] the grandmother is the character the boy can bestow all his love on while the witches are the ones he can be angry about. I once met Roald Dahl with my oldest son, and he beckoned Joe over and said: 'What's that growing on your father's face. It's a great disgusting growth and it's probably got yesterday's breakfast in it,' and he went off on a great Twitsian monologue.' Marina WarnerWriter and academic'I still remember some of the plot twists in his adult fiction for their amazing ingenuity. The BFG is my favourite of his children's books. It takes a lot of the horrendous scenes about child-eating and breathes humour into them.' Alan YentobBBC creative director'Whether you are a child or a parent, there are very few writers who make you laugh out loud as consistently as Roald Dahl. There was much of the child in him and in the rather Proustian relish he had for experiences such as eating chocolate.'Dara O'BriainComedian and TV presenter'I got Charlie and The Chocolate Factory [Gene Wilder played Willy Wonka in the film version, above] for my ninth or 10th birthday. I loved details like the prince who made his whole palace out of chocolate, and the Oompa Loompa song was four pages long! And Dahl never let the moral get in the way of the macabre.'Roald Dahlguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Guardian.Co.Uk My years with Roald. Felicity Dahl talks to Elizabeth Day {new window}   Www.Guardian.Co.Uk - Roald Dahl's writing hut is just as he left it. Tucked away at the end of the garden, it looks like a dilapidated shed, its paint peeling and faded, its tiny windows dusty with disuse. Inside, the mossy green wing-back armchair in which he wrote nearly all his books takes up most of the space. A drawing by Dahl's son Theo is pinned to the wall, the corners brown and furled. A low table is dotted with objects - a brass ornament in the shape of a Spitfire, a metallic ball made from crushed sweet wrappers. There is a mug filled with sharpened pencils and a yellow, lined pad of A4.The shed is freezing cold. An electric heater, perilously rigged up to the ceiling with string, has not been turned on since Dahl's death 18 years ago from leukaemia. But there is a different sort of chilliness here too. Everything is in place, exactly as it should be, except the person who made it so.Felicity, Dahl's widow, does not like to come in here. She refuses to have her photograph taken inside and finds it difficult to spend time surrounded by her late husband's possessions. When I ask her what life is like without him, she answers with a brutal matter-of-factness: 'It's hell.' Her voice wobbles and she starts to cry. 'Anyway...' she says, flapping her hands in front of her face. The tears disappear. A small, embarrassed smile takes their place. 'As he says in Danny [Dahl's 1975 book Danny, the Champion of the World], you have to be a sparky parent. Well, he was a sparky man. To everyone.'People feel they know Roald Dahl. Most of us have read his books and had our childhoods shaped by his fantastical mind and macabre sense of humour. Dahl's vision was one of boundless possibility and unfettered imagination; a world where witches had no toes, where giant peaches could float like zeppelins and where friendly giants subsisted on a revolting diet of snozzcumbers.Sixty-five years after the publication of his first story, The Gremlins, Dahl's books continue to sell at a rate of one million a year. An updated version of his childhood autobiography, Boy, has just been published and several of his other books have been made into films, including Matilda, The Witches and James and the Giant Peach. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prompted two movie adaptations, the most recent directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Wes Anderson is currently filming an animated Fantastic Mr Fox.Children still pitch up unexpectedly at his Buckinghamshire home, Gipsy House in Great Missenden, where Felicity, 69, lives. 'It's just awful because they look over the gate and say, "Roald Dahl lives here doesn't he?" And I say, "Well he did." "Oh, has he moved?" And I have to say, "No, he died" and it shatters them.'It is not just children who are intrigued by the Dahl legacy. The December issue of British Vogue carries a series of eccentric photographs featuring Tim Burton and his wife Helena Bonham-Carter in locations and costumes inspired by Dahl. In September, a biography by American journalist Jennet Conant, The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring, caused a stir by suggesting that Dahl spent much of the Second World War as an RAF attache in the States, sleeping with wealthy beauties in order to pass on titbits of intelligence gleaned from pillow talk. Dahl's meticulously filed reports had never been published and their intimate revelations raised eyebrows on both sides of the Atlantic.'Yes, my God!' says Felicity, shrieking with pleasure when I mention the book. 'The sexiest seducer in Washington! But of course it was true. He was wildly attractive and handsome, in his RAF uniform, speaking English, a fighter pilot - completely seductive. And he was charming and intelligent. A lot of women fell for him.'Felicity, known to her friends and family as Liccy (pronounced Lissy), rarely gives interviews. The requests come in a steady stream, but remembering is an emotive business and she is extremely busy running the Roald Dahl Foundation, a grant-giving charity that aims to help children in the areas of literacy, neurology and haematology. The foundation is about to launch a series of free concerts at Kings Place in London, featuring orchestral versions of Dahl's stories.Today, however, she has agreed to speak in order to publicise the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize, to be awarded on Thursday to this year's most humorous children's book. The prize, organised by the charity Booktrust, is being judged by a panel that includes Michael Rosen, the Children's Laureate, and Dahl's granddaughter, model Sophie Dahl.'People often ask me, "Did he tell lots of jokes?"' says Felicity. 'No. It is in his writing, in his descriptions of things. It was a hidden, subversive humour, not a comedian telling jokes.'Children were his friends, that's what kept him going. The fact that they loved his stories and would then go on to read Biggles and everything else - that, to him, was a miracle. He said, "I feel a bit like a pop star."'She says he would have been horrified by the erosion of children's imaginations by computer games. 'I think [computer] games are absolutely appalling. A child is never left on their own with nothing, so that they have to create their world. The Game Boys and that ghastly stuff have come in and they are absolutely like this...' She does an impression of a goggle-eyed teen staring at a hand-held screen. 'Roald would have had a fit at that.'We meet in Gipsy House, an oversized cottage with low ceilings and yellow- and rose-painted rooms. There are photographs of Dahl everywhere and framed illustrations by Quentin Blake hang on the walls. When Tim Burton came to research Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he burst into tears on the lawn. 'People have strong reactions to this house,' Felicity says.Part of the reason for Dahl's enduring popularity, says his widow, is that he never spoke down to children: 'They were equals.' This, she thinks, was because he never lost his own sense of childish wonderment. He was 67 when Felicity married him (there was a 21-year age gap and she was his second wife, after his first marriage to American actress Patricia Neal), but she says he remained filled with imaginative exuberance. He would produce pink milk for breakfast or make jelly with hundreds and thousands suspended in the gelatine.'He would make the most mundane thing seem fantastic because he would reinterpret it.' On a trip to Zurich to meet Dahl's European literary agent, they caught a funicular railway and noticed that each time the train stopped at a certain platform, the driver would get out, put his hand up into a ceiling beam and pull out a part-smoked cigar. 'He lit it, had two puffs, put it back and got back into the train to drive down again,' says Felicity. 'All day he did this - up and down. When we got back to the city, Roald bought the most expensive Monte Cristo cigar. We went back up the funicular. At the platform, he took the old stubby cigar out and put the new one up in the beam. Then we went back to the hotel. He didn't wait to see the driver's reaction. That's the sort of guy he was. He was always looking to help people and just make their day a little more interesting, because most people's days were very dull.'But he could be cantankerous. His granddaughter Sophie once described him as 'a very difficult man - very strong, very dominant... sort of roaring round the house with these very loud opinions'. Does Felicity recognise this portrayal? 'Um...' she lapses into silence for several seconds. 'I don't remember him roaring round, I must say. But, yes, if one of the children was doing something bad, he would roar at them, but with good reason. Also, there were moments he was so ill, and what people forgot was that he was in constant pain from his back injury from the war, and when you're in constant pain you can get ratty. I would describe it as ratty rather than roaring.'He used to get grumpy when he was finishing a book and I remember saying, "But you should be so pleased you're reaching the end!" And he used to say, "You don't understand - it's the fear of never writing another one."'Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, South Wales, to Norwegian parents. His childhood was punctuated by tragedy. When he was four, his older sister died of appendicitis. His father Harald never got over his daughter's death and died a month later of pneumonia. Roald was sent to boarding school at Repton, an experience he remembered in Boy as 'days of horrors'. After school, he joined Shell and was posted to East Africa. At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the RAF. His first mission took him into the heart of enemy territory and he was forced to crash land in the Libyan desert, an episode that left him with a fractured skull and the chronic back injury that plagued him for the rest of his life. He was eventually sent home as an invalid but transferred to Washington as an air attache in 1942.He married Patricia Neal in 1953 and had five children - Tessa, Theo, Ophelia, Lucy and Olivia, who died of measles encephalitis aged seven. Her death was 'catastrophic' says Felicity. 'It was like his father - sort of repeat history.' There were other challenges too. Theo was left brain damaged when, at four months, his pram was hit by a New York cab. Then, in 1965, Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant with Lucy. She was left paralysed and unable to speak. Dahl nursed her back to health. Throughout it all, he carried on writing, producing a formidable body of work comprising 16 children's books, two volumes of autobiography and several short story collections, including Tales of the UnexpectedBy the 1970s, Neal was able to walk and talk again, but the marriage was in trouble. While Neal was filming a Maxim coffee commercial, the Dahls were introduced to set designer Felicity Crosland, a divorcee with three young daughters. Soon afterwards, Felicity and Roald began an 11-year affair. When Neal found out, she was devastated, particularly as her own children had known about their father's relationship and tacitly condoned it. Ophelia Dahl, who was 14 when her parents divorced in 1983, said in later years that 'all of us realised that he had found the love of his life with Liccy and there's always a sense of relief when that happens'.But the immediate fall-out was, says Felicity, 'dreadful because we never thought we could get married, we thought we'd keep it secret. No divorce in the world is happy and I think a husband falling for a younger woman must be the worst of all'.Did she feel guilty? 'Yes and no. It was a particularly difficult situation because Pat had a stroke and was not well. I don't know how he managed to bring up these children, run a house, do the school runs and write this major volume of work. He was so worn out, so needing to be looked after which of course Pat couldn't do. So there was terrible pain about that. 'It's a very difficult thing. It's tough on everybody.'Although the tensions of the past have dissipated, it proved especially tough on Felicity: in 1990, her 27-year-old daughter Lorina died of a brain tumour. A few months later, she lost her husband too.'When Lorina got ill, he was, he was...' She trails off. 'Shock does terrible things to you, physically and chemically. Like Roald's mother, I lost a daughter and a husband within months of each other.'Now, however, the extended family rubs along happily. The children and grandchildren split their time between Felicity in Great Missenden and Neal in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. 'We're absolutely all very close, including Pat. 'Looking back on the seven happily married years she spent with Dahl, it was, Felicity feels, worth the emotional cost: 'I don't think anybody who met him wasn't taken aback by his whole presence. He was a spectacularly handsome figure; friendly, you know, very welcoming.'Even at the end, Dahl was still trying to make people's days a little less dull. Felicity recalls that as he lay dying at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, he noticed that the nurses were being forced to wear their own clothes as an experiment to see whether patients responded better to them. 'He said, "What a ridiculous idea. How can you possibly afford to use your own clothes on the wages you get?"'Felicity was sent to Marks & Spencer to buy cardigans, jumpers and trousers. 'I came out with bulging bags. He laid them all out and when the nurses came in he said, "Now choose whatever colour you want." That was a man who was dying, he was so ill and yet he still wanted to spread a funny idea to make them laugh and yet to give them a present, give them a treat. Treats were his big thing.'When we walk outside to Dahl's writing hut, Felicity takes me down a garden path. She stops as the path dips downwards and points to a shiny chunk of bright green jade cut into the stone. She tells me a child from Australia sent him the jade after hearing Dahl on the radio. 'One evening, we were doing our usual tour round the garden and he said, "Do you notice anything different?" I looked up and he said, "Why do you always look up?" So I looked down and there he'd made this little hole in the path and put the piece of jade in with its green side up.' She sighs. 'You know, those are the things in life that matter.'It is a tale that encapsulates much of what makes Dahl's legacy so lasting: his ability to see things from a child's perspective and to transform the ordinary into something unexpectedly enchanting. It was about remembering to look down when all the other adults were looking up.The winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize will be announced on Thursday. For more information, go to: booktrust.org.uk or roalddahlfoundation.orgInspired by Dahl: Fan's recollectionsQuentin Blake Has illustrated all of Dahl's books'We first worked together on The Enormous Crocodile. Our collaboration was like a double act in the music hall. Sometimes you're the straight man and sometimes you're the funny man. Occasionally there were things which were very good to draw and I could actually expand the situation. But there were other bits where the writing was so funny that you just wanted to hold back.'Michael Rosen Current Children's Laureate'In every one of the books, he's on the side of the child. He's thinking all the time about children's desires but he also creates characters that allow children to experience their conflicted feelings about adults. So in The Witches [the 1990 film version of which starred Anjelica Huston, above] the grandmother is the character the boy can bestow all his love on while the witches are the ones he can be angry about. I once met Roald Dahl with my oldest son, and he beckoned Joe over and said: 'What's that growing on your father's face. It's a great disgusting growth and it's probably got yesterday's breakfast in it,' and he went off on a great Twitsian monologue.' Marina WarnerWriter and academic'I still remember some of the plot twists in his adult fiction for their amazing ingenuity. The BFG is my favourite of his children's books. It takes a lot of the horrendous scenes about child-eating and breathes humour into them.' Alan YentobBBC creative director'Whether you are a child or a parent, there are very few writers who make you laugh out loud as consistently as Roald Dahl. There was much of the child in him and in the rather Proustian relish he had for experiences such as eating chocolate.'Dara O'BriainComedian and TV presenter'I got Charlie and The Chocolate Factory [Gene Wilder played Willy Wonka in the film version, above] for my ninth or 10th birthday. I loved details like the prince who made his whole palace out of chocolate, and the Oompa Loompa song was four pages long! And Dahl never let the moral get in the way of the macabre.'Roald Dahlguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
My years with Roald. Felicity Dahl talks to Elizabeth Day | Books | The Observer {...} Felicity Dahl recalls her late husband Roald's seductive charms, his impish generosity - and his habit of having pink milk for breakfast {...}
Published: November 9, 2008, 12:04 am - Indexed: November 9, 2008, 10:07 am - Page Size: 88KB
Category: Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media

]]> Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media {NORTH AMERICA > RENTALS} - Mission Schools-Priced low for good family to take care of nice house (fremont / union city / newark) $2195 4bd http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/rentals/mission-schools-priced-low-for-good-family-to-take-20081155210.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/rentals/mission-schools-priced-low-for-good-family-to-take-20081155210.htm Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:01:09 GMT Beautiful 4 bedroom 2 bath, 2 car garage, 1600 square feet house minutes from Fremont Bart and Central Park (Lake Elizabeth). Elementary school: Gomes Junior high: Hopkins High school: Mission San Jose * Located on a quiet court * Remodeled kitchen: lots of cabinets (updated oven, refrigerator, & dishwasher) * Wood flooring in Family room, Kitchen and one of the 4 bedrooms * Central air conditioner * Large backyard with many fruit trees * Large patio area and deck area * Nice residential neighborhood * Excellent public school * Very bright open floorplan with multiple sunroofs * Washer and Dryer included * 2 Car Garage with Auto Door Opener and lots of cabinets. Pictures will come soon. Price per month: $2,195.00 (we are charging below market rate to find people who can take good care of the house) Cleaning/Security Deposit: $2,195.00 (refundable) Available: December 25, 2008 - 1 year lease No pets Contact: Helena(510) 468-1908 or acct3230@yahoo.com Sfbay.Craigslist.Org Mission Schools-Priced low for good family to take care of nice house (fremont / union city / newark) $2195 4bd {new window}   Sfbay.Craigslist.Org - Beautiful 4 bedroom 2 bath, 2 car garage, 1600 square feet house minutes from Fremont Bart and Central Park (Lake Elizabeth). Elementary school: Gomes Junior high: Hopkins High school: Mission San Jose * Located on a quiet court * Remodeled kitchen: lots of cabinets (updated oven, refrigerator, & dishwasher) * Wood flooring in Family room, Kitchen and one of the 4 bedrooms * Central air conditioner * Large backyard with many fruit trees * Large patio area and deck area * Nice residential neighborhood * Excellent public school * Very bright open floorplan with multiple sunroofs * Washer and Dryer included * 2 Car Garage with Auto Door Opener and lots of cabinets. Pictures will come soon. Price per month: $2,195.00 (we are charging below market rate to find people who can take good care of the house) Cleaning/Security Deposit: $2,195.00 (refundable) Available: December 25, 2008 - 1 year lease No pets Contact: Helena(510) 468-1908 or acct3230@yahoo.com
Mission Schools-Priced low for good family to take care of nice house {...}
Published: November 8, 2008, 7:01 am - Indexed: November 8, 2008, 9:15 am - Page Size: 5KB
Category: Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate > Rentals

]]> Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate > Rentals {ENTERTAINMENT > PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA} - Being Bush http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/entertainment/publications-and-media/being-bush-20081174914.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/entertainment/publications-and-media/being-bush-20081174914.htm Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:57:30 GMT Elizabeth Banks on capturing America's first lady in W. News.Bbc.Co.Uk Being Bush {new window}   News.Bbc.Co.Uk - Elizabeth Banks on capturing America's first lady in W.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | First lady reveals naked ambition {...} W co-stars Elizabeth Banks and Toby Jones on bringing the last eight years of US leadership to the big screen in Oliver Stone's Bush biopic. {...}
Published: November 7, 2008, 2:57 pm - Indexed: November 8, 2008, 10:54 am - Page Size: 51KB
Category: Arts > Entertainment > Publications and Media

]]> Arts > Entertainment > Publications and Media {NORTH AMERICA > NEWS AND MEDIA} - Elizabeth Dole Loses Bid For Second Senate Term (AHN) http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/michigan/news-and-media/elizabeth-dole-loses-bid-for-second-senate-term-2008117229.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/michigan/news-and-media/elizabeth-dole-loses-bid-for-second-senate-term-2008117229.htm Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:48:13 GMT (AHN) - Republicans lost a Senate seat they've held for more than three decades Tuesday night when Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan won against Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) in North Carolina. - Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:15:40 GMT Allheadlinenews.Com Elizabeth Dole Loses Bid For Second Senate Term (AHN) {new window}   Www.Allheadlinenews.Com - (AHN) - Republicans lost a Senate seat they've held for more than three decades Tuesday night when Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan won against Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) in North Carolina. - Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:15:40 GMT
Elizabeth Dole Loses Bid For Second Senate Term | AHN | November 5, 2008 {...} Elizabeth Dole Loses Bid For Second Senate Term | November 5, 2008 {...}
Indexed: November 5, 2008, 9:48 am - Page Size: 11KB
Category: Regional > North America > United States > Michigan > News and Media

]]> Regional > North America > United States > Michigan > News and Media {ISSUES > BIAS AND BALANCE} - Charlotte Observer left out relevant fact in criticizing VoteVets.org's Dole ad http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/charlotte-observer-left-out-relevant-fact-in-criticizing-2008119185.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/charlotte-observer-left-out-relevant-fact-in-criticizing-2008119185.htm Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:39:26 GMT In a November 1 article about the "five most egregious political ads" that ran in North Carolina this campaign cycle, The Charlotte Observer ranked as third worst a VoteVets.org ad accusing Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) of voting against funding body armor for U.S. troops. The Observer wrote that "[n]either of the two pieces of legislation that VoteVets.org cites mentions body armor" and further stated of one of the amendments: "The vote was for $1 billion for unspecified equipment, but body armor was not mentioned in the bill or on the floor." The ad cited Dole's votes against an amendment offered in April 2003 by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and one offered in October 2003 by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) to two separate bills. But while Landrieu did not mention "body armor" on the floor in the context of her amendment (though she did mention "helmets"), Dodd repeatedly referenced "body armor" on the Senate floor in explaining his amendment, which would have designated $322 million from a supplemental appropriations bill specifically "to provide safety equipment through the Rapid Fielding Initiative and the Iraqi Battlefield Clearance Program." In criticizing the ad, the Observer did not note Dodd's floor statement. The VoteVets.org ad asserts that Dole "voted against giving our troops" body armor. As evidence, the ad cites Dole's votes against two separate amendments: an April 2, 2003, vote on Landrieu's amendment, which would have added a little more than $1 billion to an appropriations bill for the procurement of "National Guard and Reserve Equipment," and an October 2, 2003, vote on Dodd's amendment. Dodd's amendment to a fiscal year 2004 emergency supplemental appropriations bill (S. 1689) would have designated $322 million from the bill specifically to fund "safety equipment," in addition to the $300 million the Senate Appropriations Committee had already attached to the supplemental appropriations bill in an earmark to its committee report. The Observer article noted that Dole "supported a budget bill that provided $300 million that could have been used for body armor," but did not explain that one of the two votes VoteVets.org cited was Dole's vote against Dodd's proposal to designate an additional $322 million from the same supplemental appropriations bill to fund "safety equipment." As Media Matters for America noted, Dodd repeatedly said in his October 2, 2003, floor statement that his bill was intended to provide funding that could be used for equipment such as "body armor." From Dodd's statement: DODD: According to the U.S. Army, the President's supplemental bill falls short of over $200 million for critical gear for our soldiers slated to rotate in Iraq and Afghanistan in the months ahead. This amendment was designed specifically to see to it that those U.S. troops coming into Iraq, into a theater of war, would receive important equipment they need to perform their missions effectively. This equipment includes important high-tech body armor, bullet-proof helmets, special water packs to keep soldiers hydrated, and other survival gear. [...] DODD: Now, in response to the Army's request, the committee added $300 million to the present supplemental request which could be used for either this additional equipment or the clearance of weapons and mines still lingering on Iraqi battlefields. It says it right here, in the Congressional Record, dated October 1, 2003, when the Supplemental Appropriations bill's accompanying report was printed. On page S12222, there is a chart detailing expenditures in the Army Operations and Maintenance account. $300 million is to be allocated for "SAPI body armor/Rapid Fielding Initiative or battlefield cleanup.'' But the Army says it needs an additional $420 million just to handle the Iraqi battlefield clearance. As the pending legislation stands now, there is still not enough money in the bill to do both, and both items -- more safety equipment and Iraqi battlefield clearance -- are top Army priorities. I think we need to address both of these issues. For those reasons, I have asked my colleagues to support this amendment to allocate an additional $322 million for the critical equipment of our troops and adequate resources for battlefield clearance to fully meet the Army's current requirements. [...] DODD: I mentioned earlier the kind of equipment. I will come back and just identify this for my colleagues. Again, this is not my assessment. This is the U.S. Army saying what they need. They need adequate provisions for clean water, additional high-tech backpacks, advanced combat helmets and body armor, additional radios, machine gun sights and tripods, M-16 ammunition, high-tech GPS compass equipment, additional desert boots, sun and wind dust goggles and gloves, grappling hooks, door ramming kits, sniper rifles, binoculars, and special night vision goggles. From the November 1 Charlotte Observer article: North Carolina has long been home to offensive negative advertising in campaigns. Jesse Helms' "white hands" ad against Harvey Gantt in 1990 and Jim Hunt's Central American death squads ad against Helms in 1984 have been among the nation's worst. This year is no exception. Here are our five most egregious political ads of the campaign, including one from the presidential race. [...] 3. VoteVets.org ran an ad against Elizabeth Dole, saying she voted against funding body armor for U.S. troops in Iraq. An Army reservist says "The difference is life and death" and said "Senator Elizabeth Dole voted against giving our troops this." This is offensive as well as false, playing on fears about our soldiers' lives and deaths with made-up assertions. There was never such a vote. Neither of the two pieces of legislation that VoteVets.org cites mentions body armor. The Pentagon said at the time that it already had adequate money for body armor and that it was buying all there was to be had. The vote was for $1 billion for unspecified equipment, but body armor was not mentioned in the bill or on the floor. Separately, Dole supported a budget bill that provided $300 million that could have been used for body armor. Mediamatters.Org Charlotte Observer left out relevant fact in criticizing VoteVets.org's Dole ad {new window}   Mediamatters.Org - In a November 1 article about the "five most egregious political ads" that ran in North Carolina this campaign cycle, The Charlotte Observer ranked as third worst a VoteVets.org ad accusing Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) of voting against funding body armor for U.S. troops. The Observer wrote that "[n]either of the two pieces of legislation that VoteVets.org cites mentions body armor" and further stated of one of the amendments: "The vote was for $1 billion for unspecified equipment, but body armor was not mentioned in the bill or on the floor." The ad cited Dole's votes against an amendment offered in April 2003 by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and one offered in October 2003 by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) to two separate bills. But while Landrieu did not mention "body armor" on the floor in the context of her amendment (though she did mention "helmets"), Dodd repeatedly referenced "body armor" on the Senate floor in explaining his amendment, which would have designated $322 million from a supplemental appropriations bill specifically "to provide safety equipment through the Rapid Fielding Initiative and the Iraqi Battlefield Clearance Program." In criticizing the ad, the Observer did not note Dodd's floor statement. The VoteVets.org ad asserts that Dole "voted against giving our troops" body armor. As evidence, the ad cites Dole's votes against two separate amendments: an April 2, 2003, vote on Landrieu's amendment, which would have added a little more than $1 billion to an appropriations bill for the procurement of "National Guard and Reserve Equipment," and an October 2, 2003, vote on Dodd's amendment. Dodd's amendment to a fiscal year 2004 emergency supplemental appropriations bill (S. 1689) would have designated $322 million from the bill specifically to fund "safety equipment," in addition to the $300 million the Senate Appropriations Committee had already attached to the supplemental appropriations bill in an earmark to its committee report. The Observer article noted that Dole "supported a budget bill that provided $300 million that could have been used for body armor," but did not explain that one of the two votes VoteVets.org cited was Dole's vote against Dodd's proposal to designate an additional $322 million from the same supplemental appropriations bill to fund "safety equipment." As Media Matters for America noted, Dodd repeatedly said in his October 2, 2003, floor statement that his bill was intended to provide funding that could be used for equipment such as "body armor." From Dodd's statement: DODD: According to the U.S. Army, the President's supplemental bill falls short of over $200 million for critical gear for our soldiers slated to rotate in Iraq and Afghanistan in the months ahead. This amendment was designed specifically to see to it that those U.S. troops coming into Iraq, into a theater of war, would receive important equipment they need to perform their missions effectively. This equipment includes important high-tech body armor, bullet-proof helmets, special water packs to keep soldiers hydrated, and other survival gear. [...] DODD: Now, in response to the Army's request, the committee added $300 million to the present supplemental request which could be used for either this additional equipment or the clearance of weapons and mines still lingering on Iraqi battlefields. It says it right here, in the Congressional Record, dated October 1, 2003, when the Supplemental Appropriations bill's accompanying report was printed. On page S12222, there is a chart detailing expenditures in the Army Operations and Maintenance account. $300 million is to be allocated for "SAPI body armor/Rapid Fielding Initiative or battlefield cleanup.'' But the Army says it needs an additional $420 million just to handle the Iraqi battlefield clearance. As the pending legislation stands now, there is still not enough money in the bill to do both, and both items -- more safety equipment and Iraqi battlefield clearance -- are top Army priorities. I think we need to address both of these issues. For those reasons, I have asked my colleagues to support this amendment to allocate an additional $322 million for the critical equipment of our troops and adequate resources for battlefield clearance to fully meet the Army's current requirements. [...] DODD: I mentioned earlier the kind of equipment. I will come back and just identify this for my colleagues. Again, this is not my assessment. This is the U.S. Army saying what they need. They need adequate provisions for clean water, additional high-tech backpacks, advanced combat helmets and body armor, additional radios, machine gun sights and tripods, M-16 ammunition, high-tech GPS compass equipment, additional desert boots, sun and wind dust goggles and gloves, grappling hooks, door ramming kits, sniper rifles, binoculars, and special night vision goggles. From the November 1 Charlotte Observer article: North Carolina has long been home to offensive negative advertising in campaigns. Jesse Helms' "white hands" ad against Harvey Gantt in 1990 and Jim Hunt's Central American death squads ad against Helms in 1984 have been among the nation's worst. This year is no exception. Here are our five most egregious political ads of the campaign, including one from the presidential race. [...] 3. VoteVets.org ran an ad against Elizabeth Dole, saying she voted against funding body armor for U.S. troops in Iraq. An Army reservist says "The difference is life and death" and said "Senator Elizabeth Dole voted against giving our troops this." This is offensive as well as false, playing on fears about our soldiers' lives and deaths with made-up assertions. There was never such a vote. Neither of the two pieces of legislation that VoteVets.org cites mentions body armor. The Pentagon said at the time that it already had adequate money for body armor and that it was buying all there was to be had. The vote was for $1 billion for unspecified equipment, but body armor was not mentioned in the bill or on the floor. Separately, Dole supported a budget bill that provided $300 million that could have been used for body armor.
Media Matters - Charlotte Observer left out relevant fact in criticizing VoteVets.org's Dole ad {...} Criticizing a VoteVets.org ad that accused Sen. Elizabeth Dole of voting against funding body armor for U.S. troops, The Charlotte Observer wrote that "[n]either of the two pieces of legislation that VoteVets.org cites mentions body armor" and said with respect to one of the amendments cited in the ad: "The vote was for $1 billion for unspecified equipment, but body armor was not mentioned in the bill or on the floor." However, the Observer did not note that Sen. Chris Dodd repeatedly referenced "body armor" on the Senate floor while discussing the other amendment cited in the ad. {...}
Published: November 4, 2008, 9:39 pm - Indexed: November 5, 2008, 9:58 am - Page Size: 20KB
Category: Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance

]]> Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance {ISSUES > BIAS AND BALANCE} - CNN failed to note Dole "Godless" ad's voiceover controversy http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/cnn-failed-to-note-dole-godless-ad-s-voiceover-controversy-2008119089.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/cnn-failed-to-note-dole-godless-ad-s-voiceover-controversy-2008119089.htm Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:44:06 GMT A November 3 CNN Newsroom report on Sen. Elizabeth Dole's (R-NC) "Godless" ad, in which Dole accused Democratic opponent Kay Hagan of taking money from "a leader of the Godless America PAC" at "a secret fundraiser," failed to present the part of the ad that included a woman's voice saying, "There is no God" while a picture of Hagan appeared onscreen. A Raleigh, North Carolina, News & Observer fact check stated that the ad may lead viewers to believe "that the unidentified female voice at the end of the ad is Hagan's." While anchor Kyra Phillips and CNN correspondent Joe Johns noted that Hagan was filing a defamation lawsuit over the ad, neither reported that in her notice of intent to sue, Hagan asserted: "The voiceover, clearly presented to appear to be Plaintiff's [Hagan's], was an intentional attempt by Defendants [Dole and her election committee] to deceive the citizens of North Carolina and malign the Plaintiff and subject her to contempt. Plaintiff has never made such a statement. Despite knowing this, Defendants purposely made it appear that she did." By contrast, several media outlets reporting on Dole's ad and Hagen's suit mentioned that the ad included an unidentified woman saying, "There is no God," while Hagan's picture is onscreen. From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the November 3 edition of CNN Newsroom: [begin video clip] JOHNS: It's been called despicable, a sign of desperation. ANNOUNCER [video clip]: A leader of the Godless Americans PAC recently held a secret fundraiser in Kay Hagan's honor. JOHNS: With time running out in her tough re-election bid, Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole went up with a sledgehammer of a television ad against her Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, an ad tailor-made to put religious conservatives, always a force in North Carolina, on red alert. ANNOUNCER [video clip]: Godless Americans and Kay Hagan. She hid from cameras, took godless money. What did Hagan promise in return? JOHNS: Hagan is screaming foul and says she is filing a lawsuit, claiming damage to her reputation. HAGAN: I don't have a relationship with this group. I've never even heard of it until Elizabeth Dole put a press release out about it. Never heard of it. JOHNS: So what's the truth of it? Keeping them honest, let's start with the facts. It's true that Hagan attended a fundraiser on her behalf, at the Boston home of a guy named Woody Kaplan, who is a member of the board of advisers of a group called the Godless Americans Political Action Committee. But the fundraiser was not sponsored by the Godless Americans PAC. Rather, it was sponsored by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, and something called the Secure our Senate Majority Host Committee. According to Hagan's disclosure forms, Kaplan, in his own name, has donated a total of $2,300. Hagan says she has received no money from the Godless Americans PAC itself. Her campaign says the fundraiser was not secret, and she wasn't hiding from the camera. OK, so the ad stretches the facts a little, but is it despicable? STUART ROTHENBERG [Rothenberg Political Report]: I think this is actually standard political theatre. JOHNS: And there's a money trail. ROTHENBERG: You go to a fundraiser, take a check, you're going to have to answer for that. Doesn't mean she can't answer, but it's not such a crazy issue to bring up for the Republicans. JOHNS: Hagan has come out strong. She and others see a larger problem with the ad. It implies she's anti-Christian, even though she says she's a Sunday school teacher and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. HAGAN: I want people to know who I am. I am a strong Christian and I believe in my faith. And I am appalled that Elizabeth Dole would stoop this low. JOHNS: Democrats have a lot riding on this race. Getting to a filibuster-proof majority could depend on it. ROTHENBERG: Senator Dole's state is crucial because she's one of the nine seats that the Democrats need to get 60. If they can take her out, they still have a chance to get to 60. If she wins, it's an awful hard fight for them. [end video clip] PHILLIPS: Well, Hagan is now suing Dole for defamation and libel. Joining me from Chicago with his insight on this nasty Senate battle, CNN political contributor David Brody. It always gets nasty in politics. He's also the Christian Broadcasting Network senior national correspondent. So I'm curious, what do you think of the ad - Dole's ad? BRODY: Well, I mean, I think by all accounts, most people would say it's pretty over the top. I mean, look, anytime you start to, you know, in essence condemn someone else's, you know, faith walk, if you will, I mean, then you're going into real dangerous and uncharted territory. You know, I have to say, Kyra, it reminds me a little bit, though, of the broader issue going on in this country between Democrats and Republicans and the faith issue. Because Democrats have been trying for a long time to kind of break down that wall that separated them a little bit on the faith issue between them and voters, their party and voters. But now, all of a sudden, Republicans are a little bit on the defensive when it comes to faith, because the Democrats have obviously made inroads in this area, especially in the South, running a lot of pro-life Democrats and a lot of pro-faith Democrats, if you will. And that has put the Republicans back on their heels quite a bit, Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. So at the end of the day, how important is religion to a person's vote? BRODY: Well, I think it's very important. I mean, if you look at surveys across this country, you can look at 75, 80 percent of folks talk about their belief in God, but I think it goes beyond that, Kyra. I think what we're talking about here is this emotional connection, you know, if you will, between a candidate and voters. What do I mean by that? What I'm saying here is that, you know, when you talk about faith, when you talk about God and values, you really are able to connect with voters at that emotional level. Because, let's face it, most folks, though policy is important, they do have to have this emotional connection with the candidate. Look at what's happening with Barack Obama and what he's been able to do with his faith outreach team. That has really helped him a lot in the last year or so. Mediamatters.Org CNN failed to note Dole "Godless" ad's voiceover controversy {new window}   Mediamatters.Org - A November 3 CNN Newsroom report on Sen. Elizabeth Dole's (R-NC) "Godless" ad, in which Dole accused Democratic opponent Kay Hagan of taking money from "a leader of the Godless America PAC" at "a secret fundraiser," failed to present the part of the ad that included a woman's voice saying, "There is no God" while a picture of Hagan appeared onscreen. A Raleigh, North Carolina, News & Observer fact check stated that the ad may lead viewers to believe "that the unidentified female voice at the end of the ad is Hagan's." While anchor Kyra Phillips and CNN correspondent Joe Johns noted that Hagan was filing a defamation lawsuit over the ad, neither reported that in her notice of intent to sue, Hagan asserted: "The voiceover, clearly presented to appear to be Plaintiff's [Hagan's], was an intentional attempt by Defendants [Dole and her election committee] to deceive the citizens of North Carolina and malign the Plaintiff and subject her to contempt. Plaintiff has never made such a statement. Despite knowing this, Defendants purposely made it appear that she did." By contrast, several media outlets reporting on Dole's ad and Hagen's suit mentioned that the ad included an unidentified woman saying, "There is no God," while Hagan's picture is onscreen. From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the November 3 edition of CNN Newsroom: [begin video clip] JOHNS: It's been called despicable, a sign of desperation. ANNOUNCER [video clip]: A leader of the Godless Americans PAC recently held a secret fundraiser in Kay Hagan's honor. JOHNS: With time running out in her tough re-election bid, Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole went up with a sledgehammer of a television ad against her Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, an ad tailor-made to put religious conservatives, always a force in North Carolina, on red alert. ANNOUNCER [video clip]: Godless Americans and Kay Hagan. She hid from cameras, took godless money. What did Hagan promise in return? JOHNS: Hagan is screaming foul and says she is filing a lawsuit, claiming damage to her reputation. HAGAN: I don't have a relationship with this group. I've never even heard of it until Elizabeth Dole put a press release out about it. Never heard of it. JOHNS: So what's the truth of it? Keeping them honest, let's start with the facts. It's true that Hagan attended a fundraiser on her behalf, at the Boston home of a guy named Woody Kaplan, who is a member of the board of advisers of a group called the Godless Americans Political Action Committee. But the fundraiser was not sponsored by the Godless Americans PAC. Rather, it was sponsored by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, and something called the Secure our Senate Majority Host Committee. According to Hagan's disclosure forms, Kaplan, in his own name, has donated a total of $2,300. Hagan says she has received no money from the Godless Americans PAC itself. Her campaign says the fundraiser was not secret, and she wasn't hiding from the camera. OK, so the ad stretches the facts a little, but is it despicable? STUART ROTHENBERG [Rothenberg Political Report]: I think this is actually standard political theatre. JOHNS: And there's a money trail. ROTHENBERG: You go to a fundraiser, take a check, you're going to have to answer for that. Doesn't mean she can't answer, but it's not such a crazy issue to bring up for the Republicans. JOHNS: Hagan has come out strong. She and others see a larger problem with the ad. It implies she's anti-Christian, even though she says she's a Sunday school teacher and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. HAGAN: I want people to know who I am. I am a strong Christian and I believe in my faith. And I am appalled that Elizabeth Dole would stoop this low. JOHNS: Democrats have a lot riding on this race. Getting to a filibuster-proof majority could depend on it. ROTHENBERG: Senator Dole's state is crucial because she's one of the nine seats that the Democrats need to get 60. If they can take her out, they still have a chance to get to 60. If she wins, it's an awful hard fight for them. [end video clip] PHILLIPS: Well, Hagan is now suing Dole for defamation and libel. Joining me from Chicago with his insight on this nasty Senate battle, CNN political contributor David Brody. It always gets nasty in politics. He's also the Christian Broadcasting Network senior national correspondent. So I'm curious, what do you think of the ad - Dole's ad? BRODY: Well, I mean, I think by all accounts, most people would say it's pretty over the top. I mean, look, anytime you start to, you know, in essence condemn someone else's, you know, faith walk, if you will, I mean, then you're going into real dangerous and uncharted territory. You know, I have to say, Kyra, it reminds me a little bit, though, of the broader issue going on in this country between Democrats and Republicans and the faith issue. Because Democrats have been trying for a long time to kind of break down that wall that separated them a little bit on the faith issue between them and voters, their party and voters. But now, all of a sudden, Republicans are a little bit on the defensive when it comes to faith, because the Democrats have obviously made inroads in this area, especially in the South, running a lot of pro-life Democrats and a lot of pro-faith Democrats, if you will. And that has put the Republicans back on their heels quite a bit, Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. So at the end of the day, how important is religion to a person's vote? BRODY: Well, I think it's very important. I mean, if you look at surveys across this country, you can look at 75, 80 percent of folks talk about their belief in God, but I think it goes beyond that, Kyra. I think what we're talking about here is this emotional connection, you know, if you will, between a candidate and voters. What do I mean by that? What I'm saying here is that, you know, when you talk about faith, when you talk about God and values, you really are able to connect with voters at that emotional level. Because, let's face it, most folks, though policy is important, they do have to have this emotional connection with the candidate. Look at what's happening with Barack Obama and what he's been able to do with his faith outreach team. That has really helped him a lot in the last year or so.
Media Matters - CNN failed to note Dole "Godless" ad's voiceover controversy {...} CNN anchor Kyra Phillips presented a report by correspondent Joe Johns on an ad in which Sen. Elizabeth Dole accused Democratic opponent Kay Hagan of taking money from "a leader of the Godless America PAC" at "a secret fundraiser" and that included a woman's voice saying, "There is no God," while a picture of Hagan appeared onscreen. But while Johns and Phillips noted that Hagan has indicated an intention to file a defamation lawsuit, they did not note that in accusing Dole of defamation, Hagan cites the ad's false suggestion that the voice is Hagan's. {...}
Published: November 4, 2008, 2:44 am - Indexed: November 4, 2008, 12:21 pm - Page Size: 22KB
Category: Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance

]]> Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance {INTERNET > W} - Sick and (Re-)Tired http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/on-the-web/weblogs/personal/w/sick-and-re-tired-2008115482.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/on-the-web/weblogs/personal/w/sick-and-re-tired-2008115482.htm Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:24:17 GMT So, I've been sick. Not deathly, gasping my last breath, 'I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth!' sick, maybe. But still -- sick. I've spent much of the past ten days coughing up bits of things that may or may not have been attached to my internal organs. And someone evidently replaced my sinus fluid with some sort of napalm-'n'-molasses mixture, to see if I would notice. Trust me, I noticed. Shove a bean up it and blow, Folgers. "You might think that the universe would take pity on a guy like me in his hour of weakness, when all I wanted was twenty hours of sleep a night and some sort of honker Hoover to schlurp the phlegm right out of my face." Anyway, I'm better now. But it was a tough week and a half or so. You might think that the universe would take pity on a guy like me in his hour of weakness, when all I wanted was twenty hours of sleep a night and some sort of honker Hoover to schlurp the phlegm right out of my face. Yep, you might think karma would cut me a break for once. You might think that. But then you'd be an idiot. Instead, I found myself last Friday morning -- at the very height of my infirmary -- standing in the driveway in the midst of a steady downpour, hacking and sniffling and contemplating the very, very flat left rear tire on my car. I was heavily medicated, had pressing work at the office and had already put on my 'out in public pants'. Still, the sight of that soggy saggy deflated rubber doughnut led me to strongly consider giving the world the big fat finger and crawling back into bed. But no. That's just what karma would want, the little bitch. Instead, I got in the car and drove to a tire repair shop down the street. And things were all downhill from there. I have this theory, you see. In the long and storied history of mankind, I contend that there has never -- ever been such a thing as a 'repairable tire'. I've personally flattened a few, busted a bunch, punctured a passel, and deflated a dozen or more. Not one of those holey wheels was deemed patchable. And neither was this one. The resident tire care triage expert broke the bad news -- as usual: Tire Guy: Sir? I'm sorry. We couldn't save your tire. Me: Ah. I see. Tire Guy: We can sell you a new one, of course. Me: Well, of course you can. Tire Guy: Let's see... looks like the only tire we have in your wheelbase is the Blingerator here. Me: The Blingerator? Tire Guy: Yeah, it's great. Platinum-belted radials. Gem-encrusted treads. And the inner bladder is gold-plated. Me: But... you can't even see it. Tire Guy: True. But you know it's there. Me: Peachy. I assume this thing is outlandishly expensive, then. Tire Guy: Oh, you know it. Way more than those 'peasant tires' on your ride right now. Me: Fine. Look, how about we just call in one of those ghetto tires, anyway? I like to match. Tire Guy: Whatever you want, buddy. I'll order one for you, and it'll be here before you know it. Me: Good. Because I've got an important meeting this afternoon. Tire Guy: Oh, no problem. I'll check the computer now. Just so long as it's not back ordered. Me: Okay. Tire Guy: Uh-oh. Me: Yes? Tire Guy: It's back-ordered. You won't see it before August. Me: Nice. Aren't there any other models you can get? Tire Guy: Oh, sure. I can think of three others that'd fit your car. Lemme see here. Me: Great, thanks. Tire Guy: Hmmm. Back-ordered. Me: *sigh* Tire Guy: Back-ordered. Me: Of course. Tire Guy: Hey, then there's this one. Me: Back-ordered? Tire Guy: Nah. 'Recalled due to spontaneous explosions'. Me: Really? That's it? Tire Guy: Also? It's back-ordered. Me: Naturally. The Blingerator it is, then. Tire Guy: Wonderful. I'll just need the deed to your house, one of your kidneys and the rights to your first-born child. Nice doin' business with you. An hour later, I snuffled my way back the car, poorer in mood, wallet, and probably health. But I did have a fancy new tire, I did make it to work, and I did sit through that big, important, interminable, excruciatingly boring meeting. Yip. Fricking. Pee. The next time karma comes around, remind me to smack it around with a gold-plated bladder. Kick me while you're down, will ya? Wherethehellwasi.Com Sick and (Re-)Tired {new window}   Www.Wherethehellwasi.Com - So, I've been sick. Not deathly, gasping my last breath, 'I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth!' sick, maybe. But still -- sick. I've spent much of the past ten days coughing up bits of things that may or may not have been attached to my internal organs. And someone evidently replaced my sinus fluid with some sort of napalm-'n'-molasses mixture, to see if I would notice. Trust me, I noticed. Shove a bean up it and blow, Folgers. "You might think that the universe would take pity on a guy like me in his hour of weakness, when all I wanted was twenty hours of sleep a night and some sort of honker Hoover to schlurp the phlegm right out of my face." Anyway, I'm better now. But it was a tough week and a half or so. You might think that the universe would take pity on a guy like me in his hour of weakness, when all I wanted was twenty hours of sleep a night and some sort of honker Hoover to schlurp the phlegm right out of my face. Yep, you might think karma would cut me a break for once. You might think that. But then you'd be an idiot. Instead, I found myself last Friday morning -- at the very height of my infirmary -- standing in the driveway in the midst of a steady downpour, hacking and sniffling and contemplating the very, very flat left rear tire on my car. I was heavily medicated, had pressing work at the office and had already put on my 'out in public pants'. Still, the sight of that soggy saggy deflated rubber doughnut led me to strongly consider giving the world the big fat finger and crawling back into bed. But no. That's just what karma would want, the little bitch. Instead, I got in the car and drove to a tire repair shop down the street. And things were all downhill from there. I have this theory, you see. In the long and storied history of mankind, I contend that there has never -- ever been such a thing as a 'repairable tire'. I've personally flattened a few, busted a bunch, punctured a passel, and deflated a dozen or more. Not one of those holey wheels was deemed patchable. And neither was this one. The resident tire care triage expert broke the bad news -- as usual: Tire Guy: Sir? I'm sorry. We couldn't save your tire. Me: Ah. I see. Tire Guy: We can sell you a new one, of course. Me: Well, of course you can. Tire Guy: Let's see... looks like the only tire we have in your wheelbase is the Blingerator here. Me: The Blingerator? Tire Guy: Yeah, it's great. Platinum-belted radials. Gem-encrusted treads. And the inner bladder is gold-plated. Me: But... you can't even see it. Tire Guy: True. But you know it's there. Me: Peachy. I assume this thing is outlandishly expensive, then. Tire Guy: Oh, you know it. Way more than those 'peasant tires' on your ride right now. Me: Fine. Look, how about we just call in one of those ghetto tires, anyway? I like to match. Tire Guy: Whatever you want, buddy. I'll order one for you, and it'll be here before you know it. Me: Good. Because I've got an important meeting this afternoon. Tire Guy: Oh, no problem. I'll check the computer now. Just so long as it's not back ordered. Me: Okay. Tire Guy: Uh-oh. Me: Yes? Tire Guy: It's back-ordered. You won't see it before August. Me: Nice. Aren't there any other models you can get? Tire Guy: Oh, sure. I can think of three others that'd fit your car. Lemme see here. Me: Great, thanks. Tire Guy: Hmmm. Back-ordered. Me: *sigh* Tire Guy: Back-ordered. Me: Of course. Tire Guy: Hey, then there's this one. Me: Back-ordered? Tire Guy: Nah. 'Recalled due to spontaneous explosions'. Me: Really? That's it? Tire Guy: Also? It's back-ordered. Me: Naturally. The Blingerator it is, then. Tire Guy: Wonderful. I'll just need the deed to your house, one of your kidneys and the rights to your first-born child. Nice doin' business with you. An hour later, I snuffled my way back the car, poorer in mood, wallet, and probably health. But I did have a fancy new tire, I did make it to work, and I did sit through that big, important, interminable, excruciatingly boring meeting. Yip. Fricking. Pee. The next time karma comes around, remind me to smack it around with a gold-plated bladder. Kick me while you're down, will ya?
Sick and (Re-)Tired [Where the Hell Was I?] {...} Life, from a comic perspective. Original articles, humor, & funny stories daily from an aspiring Boston standup comedian. {...}
Indexed: November 1, 2008, 11:24 am - Page Size: 59KB
Category: Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Personal > W

]]> Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Personal > W