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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Slow road to recovery for Japan

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Japanese officials said workers reconnected power lines to all six reactor units at the radiation-leaking nuclear plant today, a small sign of improvement. Japan has been trying to get the overheated complex under control for the past week.
Elevated radiation levels have been found in ocean water near the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, as well as in some foods like spinach and raw milk. Experts say the contamination holds no risk for American consumers (looking at you, sushi lovers) and only a minor risk for people living near the site.
The human and economic toll resulting from chain reaction of events in Northern Japan is still being determined. The national Police Agency estimates the current death toll to be in the neighborhood of 9,100, while nearly 13,800 remain missing after the earthquake/tsunami. Virginia teacher Taylor Anderson is believed to be the first American victim of the tsunami, found dead in the city of Ishinomaki. Plus, the devastation continues to affect the Japanese economy, as automaker giants Toyota and Honda each extended their shutdowns.
Meanwhile, shocking videos of the diaster, slowly trickling on to the Internet, continue to provide a glimpse into the scale of the tragedy and Mother Nature’s strength. Hollywood couldn't have dreamed up this footage

I said I would be careful of the coverage of the earthquake and tsunami but these videos show and awesome, terrible power of both and what they did in their wake.  They make me shutter to think what the Japanese people felt and went through.  I am in awe of the people and their fortitude and their courage.  God bless the Country of Japan and the civilians of the country. 




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Inside Fukushima nuclear plant

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We’re finally a look inside the Fukushima nuclear facility nearly two weeks after a deadly earthquake and tsunami decimated northeast Japan.
Japan's nuclear safety agency said today three workers were directly exposed to dangerous toxins after their feet came into contact with radioactive water. They were laying electric cables at the time. Two of those workers were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency/Reuters
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency/Reuters
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency/Reuters
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency/Reuters

Top lawmakers' father Stephen Fitzgerald to lead State Patrol

MARY SPICUZZA | mspicuzza@madison.com |  | Posted: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 8:00 pm
Steve Fitzgerald, the father of the top two Republican lawmakers in state government, will lead the Wisconsin State Patrol, Gov. Scott Walker's administration announced Tuesday.
Fitzgerald beat out five other candidates for the appointment, which carries an annual salary of $105,678. He is scheduled to start Monday.
Fitzgerald said his sons, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, had nothing to do with him getting the job. "I have my own focus and my own agenda and they have theirs," Fitzgerald said.
His new position leading the 638-member State Patrol deepens the growing power of the Fitzgerald family. His two sons began their new leadership roles in January after sweeping victories in the November elections gave Republicans control of the Senate and Assembly.
Scott Fitzgerald said he wasn't consulted "in any way" about his dad's application and didn't ask to be. "Frankly, this doesn't change anything for me," he said. "I'm still going to drive the speed limit and buckle up, same as I've always done."
But the Democratic Party of Wisconsin questioned whether cronyism played a role in the decision and accused Walker of showing preferential treatment to friends in the past.
"We question whether best practices were followed," party spokesman Graeme Zielinski said. "There's just a lot of power concentrated with very few people."
In the announcement, new Department of Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb, a former Republican lawmaker, praised Steve Fitzgerald for his "outstanding credentials and broad range of experiences that make him uniquely qualified to lead" the patrol.
Fitzgerald, 68, started out as a Chicago police officer before becoming police chief in Hustisford in 1974. He was Dodge County sheriff from 1989 to 2002, when he was appointed U.S. marshal for western Wisconsin. After that term expired last year, he again ran for Dodge County sheriff but lost in the primary.
"Fitzgerald has a long history of honorably serving Wisconsin residents as sheriff and U.S. marshal, which will continue when he assumes this new law enforcement leadership position," Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said.
Steve Fitzgerald said his interview, which included a meeting with Walker and Gottlieb, focused on his law enforcement background, the state's budget problems and what he could do to help the patrol work with other law enforcement agencies to avoid duplicating services.



Koch Industries: ‘Carbon Dioxide Is Not A Pollutant’

By Brad Johnson on Mar 18th, 2011 at 10:10 am 
John Hinderaker, who works for a firm employed by Koch Industries, argues that efforts to regulate the greenhouse pollution of the petrochemical giant are wrong because “carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.” “Climate change is not caused by pollution; history proves that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does not control worldwide temperatures,” Hinderaker wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, it is a natural substance that is essential to life on earth.” On Thursday, Koch Industries promoted Hinderaker’s radical denial of basic climate science on its Twitter feed and Facebook page:
“Let me address the argument that carbon dioxide is benign because we exhale it,” Rep. Jay Inslee explained this week when Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) parroted the same line as Hinderaker about the greenhouse gas. “That’s about as good an argument as saying a tsunami isn’t dangerous because we drink water.”
Scientists have been warning about greenhouse pollution from the burning of fossil fuels since the 19th century. In 2010, NASA scientists put the final nail in the coffin of Hinderaker’s zombie myth, with the Science paper “Atmospheric CO2: Principal Control Knob Governing Earth’s Temperature,” which explained “carbon dioxide is the single most important climate-relevant greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere.”
Unfortunately, neither Hinderaker, Koch Industries, nor their political allies are interested in factual evidence. All they seem to care about are the profits and power their pollution brings.

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Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor dies

Academy Award-winning actress succumbs to heart failure at age 79


updated 3/23/2011 1:53:06 PM ET
Elizabeth Taylor, the violet-eyed film goddess whose sultry screen persona, stormy personal life and enduring fame and glamour made her one of the last of the old-fashioned movie stars and a template for the modern celebrity, died Wednesday at age 79. 
She was surrounded by her four children when she died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she had been hospitalized for about six weeks, said publicist Sally Morrison.
"My Mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love," her son, Michael Wilding, said in a statement.
"We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it. Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts."
"We have just lost a Hollywood giant," said Elton John, a longtime friend of Taylor. "More importantly, we have lost an incredible human being."
Video: Elizabeth Taylor: Star of a lifetime (on this page) Taylor was the most blessed and cursed of actresses, the toughest and the most vulnerable. She had extraordinary grace, wealth and voluptuous beauty, and won three Academy Awards, including a special one for her humanitarian work.
For all the ferocity of her screen roles and the turmoil of her life, Taylor was remembered by "Virginia Woolf" director Mike Nichols for her gentler, life-affirming side.
"The shock of Elizabeth was not only her beauty. It was her generosity. Her giant laugh. Her vitality, whether tackling a complex scene on film or where we would all have dinner until dawn," Nichols said in a statement. "She is singular and indelible on film and in our hearts."
Taylor was the most loyal of friends and a defender of gays in Hollywood when AIDS was still a stigma in the industry and beyond. But she was afflicted by ill health, failed romances (eight marriages, seven husbands) and personal tragedy.
"I think I'm becoming fatalistic," she said in 1989. "Too much has happened in my life for me not to be fatalistic."
Her more than 50 movies included unforgettable portraits of innocence and of decadence, from the children's classic "National Velvet" and the sentimental family comedy "Father of the Bride" to Oscar-winning transgressions in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Butterfield 8." The historical epic "Cleopatra" is among Hollywood's greatest on-screen fiascos and a landmark of off-screen monkey business, the meeting ground of Taylor and Richard Burton, the "Brangelina" of their day.
She played enough bawdy women on film for critic Pauline Kael to deem her "Chaucerian Beverly Hills."
That sauciness was part of her real life, too.
"She had a sense of humor that was so bawdy, even I was saying, 'really? That came out of your mouth?'" Whoopi Goldberg said on ABC's "The View," recalling how Taylor gave her advice about her own Hollywood career. "She was just a magnificent woman. She was a great broad and a good friend."
But her defining role, one that lasted long past her moviemaking days, was "Elizabeth Taylor," ever marrying and divorcing, in and out of hospitals, gaining and losing weight, standing by Michael Jackson, Rock Hudson and other troubled friends, acquiring a jewelry collection that seemed to rival Tiffany's.
From child star to screen siren She was a child star who grew up and aged before an adoring, appalled and fascinated public. She arrived in Hollywood when the studio system tightly controlled an actor's life and image, had more marriages than any publicist could explain away and lasted long enough to no longer require explanation. She was the industry's great survivor, and among the first to reach that special category of celebrity — famous for being famous, for whom her work was inseparable from the gossip around it.
Story: Elizabeth Taylor was prolific as a bride The London-born actress was a star at age 12, a bride and a divorcee at 18, a superstar at 19 and a widow at 26. She was a screen sweetheart and martyr later reviled for stealing Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds, then for dumping Fisher to bed Burton, a relationship of epic passion and turbulence, lasting through two marriages and countless attempted reconciliations.
She was also forgiven. Reynolds would acknowledge voting for Taylor when she was nominated for "Butterfield 8" and decades later co-starred with her old rival in "These Old Broads," co-written by Carrie Fisher, the daughter of Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
Interactive: Elizabeth Taylor's life and career (on this page) Taylor's ailments wore down the grudges. She underwent at least 20 major operations and she nearly died from a bout with pneumonia in 1990. In 1994 and 1995, she had both hip joints replaced, and in February 1997, she underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. In 1983, she acknowledged a 35-year addiction to sleeping pills and pain killers. Taylor was treated for alcohol and drug abuse problems at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Her troubles bonded her to her peers and the public, and deepened her compassion. Her advocacy for AIDS research and for other causes earned her a special Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1993.
As she accepted it, to a long ovation, she declared, "I call upon you to draw from the depths of your being — to prove that we are a human race, to prove that our love outweighs our need to hate, that our compassion is more compelling than our need to blame."
The American Foundation for AIDS Research, for which Taylor was a longtime advocate, noted in a statement that she was "among the first to speak out on behalf of people living with HIV when others reacted with fear and often outright hostility."
"She leaves a monumental legacy that has improved and extended millions of lives and will enrich countless more for generations to come," the group said.
The dark-haired Taylor made an unforgettable impression in Hollywood with "National Velvet," the 1945 film in which the 12-year-old belle rode a steeplechase horse to victory in the Grand National.
Critic James Agee wrote of her: "Ever since I first saw the child ... I have been choked with the peculiar sort of adoration I might have felt if we were in the same grade of primary school."
"National Velvet," her fifth film, also marked the beginning of Taylor's long string of health issues. During production, she fell off a horse. The resulting back injury continued to haunt her.
Taylor matured into a ravishing beauty in "Father of the Bride," in 1950, and into a respected performer and femme fatale the following year in "A Place in the Sun," based on the Theodore Dreiser novel "An American Tragedy." The movie co-starred her close friend Montgomery Clift as the ambitious young man who drowns his working-class girlfriend to be with the socialite Taylor. In real life, too, men all but committed murder in pursuit of her.
'God knows, I'm me' Through the rest of the 1950s and into the 1960s, she and Marilyn Monroe were Hollywood's great sex symbols, both striving for appreciation beyond their physical beauty, both caught up in personal dramas filmmakers could only wish they had imagined. That Taylor lasted, and Monroe died young, was a matter of luck and strength; Taylor lived as she pleased and allowed no one to define her but herself.
"I don't entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I'm me. God knows, I'm me," Taylor said around the time she turned 50.
She had a remarkable and exhausting personal and professional life. Her marriage to Michael Todd ended tragically when the producer died in a plane crash in 1958. She took up with Fisher, married him, then left him for Burton. Meanwhile, she received several Academy Award nominations and two Oscars.
She was a box-office star cast in numerous "prestige" films, from "Raintree County" with Clift to "Giant," an epic co-starring her friends Hudson and James Dean. Nominations came from a pair of movies adapted from work by Tennessee Williams: "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Suddenly, Last Summer." In "Butterfield 8," released in 1960, she starred with Fisher as a doomed girl-about-town. Taylor never cared much for the film, but her performance at the Oscars wowed the world.
Sympathy for Taylor's widowhood had turned to scorn when she took up with Fisher, who had supposedly been consoling her over the death of Todd. But before the 1961 ceremony, she was hospitalized from a nearly fatal bout with pneumonia and Taylor underwent a tracheotomy. The scar was bandaged when she appeared at the Oscars to accept her best actress trophy for "Butterfield 8."
To a standing ovation, she hobbled to the stage. "I don't really know how to express my great gratitude," she said in an emotional speech. "I guess I will just have to thank you with all my heart." It was one of the most dramatic moments in Academy Awards history.

"Hell, I even voted for her," Reynolds later said. 
Greater drama awaited: "Cleopatra." Taylor met Burton while playing the title role in the 1963 epic, in which the brooding, womanizing Welsh actor co-starred as Mark Antony. Their chemistry was not immediate. Taylor found him boorish; Burton mocked her physique. But the love scenes on film continued away from the set and a scandal for the ages was born. Headlines shouted and screamed. Paparazzi snapped and swooned. Their romance created such a sensation that the Vatican denounced the happenings as the "caprices of adult children."
The film so exceeded its budget that the producers lost money even though "Cleopatra" was a box-office hit and won four Academy awards. (With its $44 million budget adjusted for inflation, "Cleopatra" remains the most expensive movie ever made.) Taylor's salary per film topped $1 million. "Liz and Dick" became a couple on a first name basis with millions who had never met them.
They were a prolific acting team, even if most of the movies aged no better than their relationship: "The VIPs" (1963), "The Sandpiper" (1965), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966), "The Taming of the Shrew" (1967), "The Comedians" (1967), "Dr. Faustus" (1967), "Boom!" (1968), "Under Milk Wood" (1971) and "Hammersmith Is Out" (1972).
Art imitating life Art most effectively imitated life in the adaptation of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" — in which Taylor and Burton played mates who fought viciously and drank heavily. She took the best actress Oscar for her performance as the venomous Martha in "Virginia Woolf" and again stole the awards show, this time by not showing up at the ceremony. She refused to thank the academy upon learning of her victory and chastised voters for not honoring Burton.
Taylor and Burton divorced in 1974, married again in 1975 and divorced again in 1976.
Slideshow: Elizabeth Taylor: Legend (on this page) "We fight a great deal," Burton once said, "and we watch the people around us who don't quite know how to behave during these storms. We don't fight when we are alone."
In 1982, Taylor and Burton appeared in a touring production of the Noel Coward play "Private Lives," in which they starred as a divorced couple who meet on their respective honeymoons. They remained close at the time of Burton's death, in 1984.
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London on Feb. 27, 1932, the daughter of Francis Taylor, an art dealer, and the former Sara Sothern, an American stage actress. At age 3, with extensive ballet training already behind her, Taylor danced for British princesses Elizabeth (the future queen) and Margaret Rose at London's Hippodrome. At age 4, she was given a wild field horse that she learned to ride expertly.
At the onset of World War II, the Taylors came to the United States. Francis Taylor opened a gallery in Beverly Hills and, in 1942, his daughter made her screen debut with a bit part in the comedy "There's One Born Every Minute."
Her big break came soon thereafter. While serving as an air-raid warden with MGM producer Sam Marx, Taylor's father learned that the studio was struggling to find an English girl to play opposite Roddy McDowall in "Lassie Come Home." Taylor's screen test for the film won her both the part and a long-term contract. She grew up quickly after that.
Still in school at 16, she would dash from the classroom to the movie set where she played passionate love scenes with Robert Taylor in "Conspirator."
"I have the emotions of a child in the body of a woman," she once said. "I was rushed into womanhood for the movies. It caused me long moments of unhappiness and doubt."
Soon after her screen presence was established, she began a series of very public romances. Early loves included socialite Bill Pawley, home run slugger Ralph Kiner and football star Glenn Davis.
Then, a roll call of husbands:
  • She married Conrad Hilton Jr., son of the hotel magnate, in May 1950 at age 18. The marriage ended in divorce that December.
  • When she married British actor Michael Wilding in February 1952, he was 39 to her 19. They had two sons, Michael Jr. and Christopher Edward. That marriage lasted 4 years.
  • She married cigar-chomping movie producer Michael Todd, also 20 years her senior, in 1957. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Francis. Todd was killed in a plane crash in 1958.
  • The best man at the Taylor-Todd wedding was Fisher. He left his wife Debbie Reynolds to marry Taylor in 1959. She converted to Judaism before the wedding.
  • Taylor and Fisher moved to London, where she was making "Cleopatra." She met Burton, who also was married. That union produced her fourth child, Maria.
  • After her second marriage to Burton ended, she married John Warner, a former secretary of the Navy, in December 1976. Warner was elected a U.S. senator from Virginia in 1978. They divorced in 1982.
  • In October 1991, she married Larry Fortensky, a truck driver and construction worker she met while both were undergoing treatment at the Betty Ford Center in 1988. He was 20 years her junior. The wedding, held at the ranch of Michael Jackson, was a media circus that included the din of helicopter blades, a journalist who parachuted to a spot near the couple and a gossip columnist as official scribe.
But in August 1995, she and Fortensky announced a trial separation; she filed for divorce six months later and the split became final in 1997.
"I was taught by my parents that if you fall in love, if you want to have a love affair, you get married," she once remarked. "I guess I'm very old-fashioned."
Vast charitable work Her philanthropic interests included assistance for the Israeli War Victims Fund, the Variety Clubs International and the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
She received the Legion of Honor, France's most prestigious award, in 1987, for her efforts to support AIDS research. In May 2000, Queen Elizabeth II made Taylor a dame — the female equivalent of a knight — for her services to the entertainment industry and to charity.
Elizabeth Taylor: Actress, icon and mom In 1993, she won a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute; in 1999, an institute survey of screen legends ranked her No. 7 among actresses.
During much of her later career, Taylor's waistline, various diets, diet books and tangled romances were the butt of jokes by Joan Rivers and others. John Belushi mocked her on "Saturday Night Live," dressing up in drag and choking on a piece of chicken.
"It's a wonder I didn't explode," Taylor wrote of her 60-pound weight gain — and successful loss — in the 1988 book "Elizabeth Takes Off on Self-Esteem and Self-Image."

She was an iconic star, but her screen roles became increasingly rare in the 1980s and beyond. She appeared in several television movies, including "Poker Alice" and "Sweet Bird of Youth," and entered the Stone Age as Pearl Slaghoople in the movie version of "The Flintstones." She had a brief role on the popular soap opera "General Hospital."
Taylor was the subject of numerous unauthorized biographies and herself worked on a handful of books, including "Elizabeth Taylor: An Informal Memoir" and "Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry." In tune with the media to the end, she kept in touch through her Twitter account.
"I like the connection with fans and people who have been supportive of me," Taylor told Kim Kardashian in a 2011 interview for Harper's Bazaar. "And I love the idea of real feedback and a two-way street, which is very, very modern. But sometimes I think we know too much about our idols and that spoils the dream."
Survivors include her daughters Maria Burton-Carson and Liza Todd-Tivey, sons Christopher and Michael Wilding, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A private family funeral is planned later this week.

Mourning Elizabeth Taylor: Hollywood Greats React to Death of Hollywood's Greatest


Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday from congestive heart failure at the age of 79, and fans around the world are paying tribute to the late actress. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer reports.

WATCH: Fans pay tribute to Taylor in Hollywood 

Elizabeth Taylor UPPA/ZUMAPress.com
You don't become an icon of the silver screen without leaving a lasting impact on those you've touched.
Elizabeth Taylor, who passed away at age 79 early this morning after a battle with congestive heart failure, was no exception—and friends, colleagues and fans of the acting legend, from Elton John to Larry King to the Kardashians, have stepped up to pay tribute to the late star:
PHOTOS: Remembering Elizabeth Taylor, 1932-2011
Debbie Reynolds: "It was a long productive career and she was the most glamorous and sexual star of our generation. No one else could equal Elizabeth's beauty and sexuality. Women liked her and men adored her and her love for her children is enduring. She was a symbol of stardom. Her legacy will last."
Elton John: "We have just lost a Hollywood giant; more importantly, we have lost an incredible human being."
John Travolta: "Elizabeth was the definition of greatness on all fronts. I loved her. She will be incredibly missed."
Barbra Streisand: "It's the end of an era. It wasn't just her beauty or her stardom. It was her humanitarianism. She put a face on HIV/AIDS. She was funny. She was generous. She made her life count."
Joan Collins: "I am so terribly sad about the death of Elizabeth Taylor. Although everyone here in Hollywood knew that her end was near we are all shocked. She was the last of the true Hollywood icons, a great beauty, a great actress and continually fascinating to the world throughout her tumultuous life and career. There will never be another star who will come close to her luminosity and generosity, particularly in her fight against AIDS. She will be missed."
Barry Manilow: "Elizabeth was the last great movie star. And a great human being. What I'll always remember about Elizabeth was her laugh. She would walk into a room looking like a princess and suddenly there would be this cackle that filled the room that would crack us all up. I'm so glad to have known her. It's a very sad day for me."
Liza Minnelli: "She was a true star, because she not only had beauty and notoriety; Elizabeth Taylor had talent. As a friend she was always, always there for me. I'll miss her for the rest of my life, but I was so lucky to have known her."
Tito Jackson: "Elizabeth Taylor was in impactful person in this industry and on society as a whole. I specifically admire her charitable efforts including bringing early awareness to HIV/AIDS. Most memorable is her steadfast loyalty and unwavering friendship to my late brother Michael Jackson. Liz provided a sense of relief and comfort to my brother at various difficult times in his life, and I appreciate that, may she rest in peace."
Larry King: "Elizabeth Taylor was a great friend, a great star and one gutsy woman. She was so special. You won't see the likes of her again…"
Steve Martin: "I met Elizabeth Taylor several times. She was witty and self-deprecating, which I found surprising and delightful. She loved to laugh."
Victoria Beckham: "The world has lost a truly iconic beauty, inside and out. Elizabeth Taylor will be deeply missed. X vb."
Kathy Griffin: "RIP Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Tremendous talent, beauty & humanity. Her legacy w/ #AIDS patients & @amfAR lives on."
Zooey Deschanel: "RIP elizabeth taylor, a great actress and a great beauty, who's formidable contributions to both film and charity will always be remembered."
Joan Rivers: "Sad to hear of Elizabeth Taylor's death. She was the 1st major celebrity to join me in the fight against AIDS when it wasn't a popular cause."
Denise Richards: "@DameElizabeth Rest in peace Elizabeth Taylor. Thoughts and prayers to your family and loved ones. You will be missed."
Marlee Matlin: "So VERY shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Dame Elizabeth Taylor. A true Hollywood legend and humanitarian and friend. RIP."
Kylie Minogue: "RIP Dame Elizabeth Taylor…Like a pure white diamond you'll shine on and on and on."
Sharon Stone: "She was an illuminator. She put human faces on issues. With her soft voice coming from that tiny frame, she held forth the giant purpose of the true meaning of love; that we are all equally vulnerable. With one simple movement, pulling her ever famous jewels from that beautiful face, she opened the hearts of the world not just to the condition of HIV/AIDS as she had intended but ultimately to human rights as a whole. She stood in her grace and candor and simply said the truth; that we are one, a world that must understand and accept itself. The world will not be the same without Dame Elizabeth Taylor, the world is becoming as she envisioned it; freer, and therefore she is not gone."
Kim Kardashian. Elizabeth Taylor Harpers Bazaar; Camerique/Getty Images
Kim Kardashian: "I am so saddened about the passing of Elizabeth Taylor! She will always be my idol!"
Khloé Kardashian Odom: "RIP to the glamour goddess Elizabeth Taylor. Thank you for sharing your life with us. Thank you for the memories."
Kourtney Kardashian: "A legendary woman has left us today. The world will not be the same without her beauty, glamour, generosity and gift of giving."
Paris Hilton: "So sad to hear about Elizabeth Taylor. She was so beautiful, such an inspiration and an icon. She was an amazing humanitarian and brought smiles to everyone around the world. She was always so sweet to me and I will really miss her. I've always loved this picture of her and [first husband Nicky Hilton]. They were such a stunning couple."
Mickey Rooney: "Our loss in the motion picture business with Elizabeth Taylor's passing is momentous. She was a lady who gave of herself to everyone. I know I consider it a great personal loss."
Andrea Bocelli: "I am profoundly saddened by the death of Hollywood's last great star of the '50s and '60s, a woman of extraordinary talent and hypnotic eyes. I will always hold her in my heart, proud of having earned the privilege of her applause at my concerts in America."
LaToya Jackson: "Liz Taylor was an amazing woman and screen legend. She was an incredible friend to my brother, at his side through some of his most difficult times and of course loved by his children and our family. She will live on in our hearts forever, my prayers go out to her family."
Martin Landau: "It's a terrible loss. A unique talent and a singularly spectacular individual."
Anthony Geary: "Elizabeth was more than a great star, she was an amazing human being. Her world famous physical beauty paled in comparison to the beauty that radiated from her heart and soul. She had great humor, didn't take herself too seriously, and had the most wonderful bawdy laugh. She was a fierce and loyal friend and tireless advocate...I was fortunate enough to call her my friend and every moment I spent in her company was unforgettable. I loved her very much. The world is a little darker, a little colder, a little less beautiful without her."
Kristi Yamaguchi: "RIP Elizabeth Taylor."
Gilles Marini: "R.I.P. to beautiful, timeless Liz Taylor. I Had to chance to meet her in a restaurant in L.A. What a charisma. God bless."
Adam Shankman: "Elizabeth taylor! Rest in peace sweet angel. No star has ever illuminated the world quite like you. You were the first to champion those suffering with AIDS publicly. Today, the world loses, but heaven just became very very glamorous. We will miss you terribly."
Kate Walsh: "Elizabeth Taylor, rest in peace. What an extraordinary woman. JUST talking about 'furious love' yesterday. Xxxxxx."
Stephen Fry: "RIP Dame Elizabeth Taylor, surely the last of a breed…"
Kirstie Alley: "Elizabeth…thank u for the lessons u taught me about life…suffering and Joy…you are the BRIGHTEST STAR in the universe. Eternal love."
Dita Von Teese: "My biggest 'I can't believe this is happening' moment. Rest in peace, Divine Liz."
Melissa Gilbert: "Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Idol, activist, Mother, beauty with an enormous heart. You will be missed everyday."
Melissa Joan Hart: "We have lost an amazing talent and beautiful soul! RIP Elizabeth Taylor."
Serena Williams: "Elizabeth Taylor. Grace style, elegance, legend. You had Beauty the world has ever seen. No words can describe the loss of you."
Lisa Rinna: "Rest in peace beautiful Elizabeth!"
LeAnn Rimes: "RIP Elizabeth Taylor. It's so amazing how someone has left such a legacy that will forever live on. I am really, truly saddened this morning."
Alyssa Milano: "Rest in peace, Elizabeth Taylor. You are a prism & will live on through all the good you did while you were with us."
Nia Vardalos: "RIP Elizabeth Taylor: thank you for your talent, AIDS fundraising, and fabulousness. There is nothing like a Dame."
Isaiah Mustafa: "RIP Elizabeth Taylor. One of the loveliest ladies in film history."
Busy Philipps: "Sad to wake up to the news of Elizabeth Taylor passing away. What an incredible life…"
LeVar Burton: "Elizabeth Taylor was a class act, a real movie star and a genuine human being!!! God Bless her…RIP."
Brian Baumgartner: "Rest. In. Peace. Elizabeth Taylor."
Bethenny Frankel: "such a sad when a legend like Elizabeth Taylor pass away.fitting that it's gloomy&rainy in ny.A place of sadness."
Joy Behar: "Elizabeth Taylor was truly one of the greats. She'll certainly be missed."
Adrianne Curry: "Goodbye, Liz Taylor…one of the most beautiful faces to have ever lived…and one of the most symmetrical."
GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios: "Today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community lost an extraordinary ally in the movement for full equality. At a time when so many living with HIV/AIDS were invisible, Dame Taylor fearlessly raised her voice to speak out against injustice. Dame Taylor was an icon not only in Hollywood, but in the LGBT community where she worked to ensure that everyone was treated with the respect and dignity we all deserve."
amfAR: "The board of trustees and staff of amfAR mourn the passing of our beloved Founding International Chairman, Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Dame Elizabeth was without doubt one of the most inspirational figures in the fight against AIDS…Dame Elizabeth's compassion, radiance, and generosity of spirit will be greatly missed by us all. She leaves a monumental legacy that has improved and extended millions of lives and will enrich countless more for generations to come."




VIDEO: Elizabeth Taylor talked to E! at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival


Anti-gay church plans to picket Taylor's funeral

Westboro Baptist Church threatened, but didn't protest at Ledger's burial

By Natalie Finn
E!online
updated 3/24/2011 9:37:49 AM ET

Westboro Baptist Church is at it again.

Much as it threatened to do at the funerals of Heath Ledger and Natasha Richardson, the small Kansas church — which has notoriously picketed the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers as part of a crusade against homosexuality — is directing its rhetoric at Hollywood in threatening to protest at Elizabeth Taylor's funeral.
"No RIP Elizabeth Taylor who spent her life in adultery and enabling proud f-gs. They cuss her in hell today. #Westboro will picket funeral!" tweeted Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro Baptist Church pastor Fred Phelps.
Though if the past is any guide...
They may be all (hate) talk. Despite threats, the group were apparently no-shows at Richardson's funeral, and Ledger's funeral in Australia was a private ceremony.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 earlier this month that the Westboro congregation was protected by the First Amendment — if not standards of human decency — when it protested at the funeral of a Marine who had died in Iraq, with some people wielding signs that read "God Hates F-gs" and "America Is Doomed."
The soldier's father sued the congregation for sizable damages and won, but the appeals process ultimately led to the high court.
"Fred Phelps and his vitriolic anti-gay followers are simply trying to exploit their so-called 'faith' by spreading messages of hate at a time when Americans are grieving the loss of an extraordinary woman, actress and advocate," GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios tells E! News.
"Overwhelmingly, communities of faith are beginning to embrace lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender congregants and sending messages that promote equality for all. GLAAD is urging media to share Elizabeth Taylor's legacy with stories of hope and acceptance, and which highlight her life's work to create a world in which everyone is respected and valued for who they are."
Taylor, who died Wednesday at 79 after being in ill health for some time, was a tireless advocate for AIDS awareness and research and is revered by the gay community for her support and philanthropy.
"It's impossible to underestimate Elizabeth Taylor's impact on the fight against AIDS from the very beginning," said Craig E. Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles. "We're simply devastated by her loss."
Story: Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor dies "Today, we've lost one of the boldest advocates our community has seen," he added, "but her tremendous impact lives with us."
The two-time Oscar winner cofounded the American Foundation of AIDS Research, or amFAR, which also paid its respects to its late "Founding International Chairman" Wednesday.
"Dame Elizabeth's compassion, radiance, and generosity of spirit will be greatly missed by us all," the organization said in a statement. "She leaves a monumental legacy that has improved and extended millions of lives and will enrich countless more for generations to come."
But while there will surely be a memorial in Hollywood to commemorate the iconic star, the issue of where she'll be laid to rest isn't exactly set in stone. In recent years, Taylor had said that she wanted to be buried next to two-time husband Richard Burton in Wales.
Wherever the grand dame can rest in peace, we're all for it

School cuts raise doubts among some GOP voters

They worry that the cuts will undermine the quality of their local districts

 
By DAN SEWELL, DINESH RAMDE
The Associated Press
updated 2 hours 58 minutes ago 2011-03-24T19:51:00
Barb Feest wishes she could take back her vote for Wisconsin governor.

The suburban Milwaukee woman cast her ballot for Republican Scott Walker in November. But she could only shake her head recently as she listened at a public forum to how Walker's proposed budget cuts could affect schools.
"He's trying to balance the budget on the backs of teachers," Feest said. "It took so long to get our schools where they are, and they're going to cut it down in, what, two years? It's not right."
Almost five months after the election, Feest and some other Republican voters are having doubts about their choices at the ballot box. Although they consider themselves fiscal conservatives, many of the same people who put Walker and other GOP leaders into office are now having second thoughts, largely because the cuts they are seeking could put the quality of their cherished local schools at risk.
To ease a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit, Walker has sought to eliminate collective-bargaining rights for most public employees, including teachers — a move that has stirred an intense national debate about union rights and drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol.
But that's not Walker's only school-related proposal. His two-year spending plan includes an 8 percent cut in aid to schools — about $835 million. And he wants to require districts to reduce their property-tax authority by an average of $550 per pupil — a move that makes it more difficult for schools to compensate for the lost money.
The forum drew about 100 people, and about half, including Feest, came to find out how bad the cuts would be and express their support for teachers. The others who spoke supported Walker's proposals, and some even suggested the governor seek more teacher concessions such as raising the minimum retirement age above 55.

High school math teacher Ronn Blaha, 41, said he felt like a "punch-drunk boxer," taking one hit after another from the community because Walker had completely vilified the entire teaching profession.
"I voted for him because I wanted some restraint on frivolous spending," Blaha told The Associated Press, adding that he now regrets his vote. "I did not anticipate that he considered education a frivolity."
Walker isn't the only governor proposing education cuts.
Under the budget offered by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, state aid to K-12 schools would actually increase, but overall funding would drop because of allocation changes and loss of stimulus dollars. Individual districts will learn more in days to come.
Even longtime Republican voters are worried about the consequences of education cuts. And some are asking whether the quest for a balanced budget justifies gutting top schools that took decades to create.
"It all concerns me," said Donna Leslie, a West Chester, Ohio, mother whose youngest child is a senior in high school. "There are cuts that need to be made, but I don't think we're going about it in the right way."
She declined to say whether she voted for Kasich but said she supported a proposal on the same ballot to levy a tax for the Lakota school district in the southwestern corner of the state. She says the tax was voted down because "the tea party was just raging."
Some acknowledge that classroom cuts are inevitable, and many of them are looking for alternatives to expose their children to music and art. Others are confident that school officials will find ways to absorb the cuts without letting education suffer.
Leslie expects school funding to continue declining and anti-tax attitudes to make it more difficult to pass school-related tax increases.
To be sure, some Republicans say their governors are doing exactly what they were elected to do.
Jane Peavler, co-chairwoman of the Brookfield district's Parent Leadership Council, voted for Walker in November and continues to support him. In an email to the AP, she said the governor showed "great courage" in proposing his budget, and said she was confident that schools would find ways to adapt without letting education suffer.
In Mason, Ohio, John Meyer has been an active critic of school administrators. He thinks schools can cut costs without hurting the quality of education.

"There's that great concern and fear, that if we don't pay these exorbitant salaries, somewhere it's going to affect our children's education. I don't believe that's necessarily true," said Meyer, whose two children attended local schools and are now in college.
He said school employee benefits and the regular pay raises that administrators and teachers with extra education receive are beyond what can be afforded in the district of nearly 11,000 students.
Wisconsin's cuts affect every district, including wealthy Waukesha County's Elmbrook schools, which face a $4.2 million budget shortfall in part because of declining enrollments and a hampered ability to raise money through property taxes.
To compensate, the district may have to lay off some teachers and ask the remaining ones to teach an additional class period, Superintendent Matt Gibson said.
It may also have to cut art and music classes, and average class sizes might creep upward, he added.
Those outcomes are acceptable to Andrea Boll, who has three kids in the Elmbrook district. The 51-year-old said as long as the core curriculum in subjects such as math and science remained strong, parents could help pay extra for extra-curricular sports and music programs.
However, some parents said severe budget cuts could have long-term effects that are impossible to predict.
Andy Vrakas, 47, who has children in the fourth and sixth grades, said good schools do more than help students — they also raise property values and attract employers who know employees will be willing to relocate to those areas.
Vrakas, an independent who has voted for Republican governors in the past but not for Walker, said he might even home-school his kids if certain programs get cut or scaled back.
"Long-term, if test scores decline and the reputation declines, people might be sorry," he said.

Congresswoman coping with injury's implications


Astronaut husband says Giffords has 'good chance' of attending Florida launch


By Alan Boyle Science editor
msnbc.com msnbc.com
updated 2 hours 32 minutes ago

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is doing “remarkably well” in her recovery from the brain injury she suffered in a shooting in January, her astronaut husband said Thursday, but she is only now absorbing the implications of the experience.
Mark Kelly, the commander for next month's flight of the shuttle Endeavour, told reporters during a NASA news conference that there was a "pretty good chance" Giffords would attend the launch, now set for April 19.
Giffords wants to attend the launch but is awaiting final approval from her doctors, Kelly said.
"She's starting to process some of the tragedy that we all went through in January ... she's going through that as we speak," Kelly said. "Despite that, she remains in a very good mood."
Giffords is undergoing treatment at a Houston rehabilitation center, but also gets briefings from her staff, keeps up with what's going on in Congress, and receives visitors for short periods of time, Kelly said. "I see her every morning before I go to work, and when I come home from work at the end of my day," he said.
NASA set up Thursday's news conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston to give reporters an opportunity to meet with the crew for next month's mission, known as STS-134. The mission is notable on several counts: It will mark Endeavour's final flight before its retirement, as well as the second-last mission of the space shuttle program. The main objective is to deliver a $1.5 million physics experiment known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station.
But it was Kelly's family connection that attracted the most interest on Thursday. Anticipating that angle, Kelly bowed out of the traditional pre-launch interviews with small groups of reporters, and fended off most questions about his personal situation.

"I'd like you to respect the fact that this is about STS-134, and it's not about my wife's recovery," he told reporters. Questions about Giffords should be directed to the congresswoman's office, and not to NASA, he said.
Despite that disclaimer, questions about Giffords' condition — and the potential impact on Kelly's space mission — loomed over the news conference. Kelly as well as his crewmates wore turquoise "Gabby" wristbands as they discussed the upcoming flight.
Kelly said he was able to make a clear separation between his on-the-job preparations for Endeavour's launch and the time he has been spending with Giffords. He observed that many other husbands and wives have had to go on with their careers while caring for an injured spouse.
"I've given this mission everything that I would have if the events in January had not happened," he insisted.

Giffords, an Arizona Democrat who has played a prominent role in congressional space policy, was shot in the head during a gathering with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8. Six people were killed in the shooting; 13 others, including Giffords, were wounded.
The suspected gunman, 22-year-old college dropout Jared Loughner, was apprehended immediately after the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in federal court.
Earlier this month, Giffords' doctors told journalists that the congresswoman's ability to walk and talk is improving. They said she did not remember the shooting, but was told about it by her husband.
Kelly's twin brother, Scott Kelly, is a NASA astronaut who returned to Earth from a months-long stint on the International Space Station last week. Giffords' spokesman, C.J. Karamargin, said "the congresswoman was beaming" when Scott Kelly visited her last Friday.

NATO agrees to enforce no-fly zone over Libya

As Gadhafi's forces continue attack, coalition aims to stop flow of weapons, mercenaries



msnbc.com news services updated 2 minutes ago
After days of hard bargaining among its members, NATO agreed late Thursday to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya — but not other military operations there. 
The agreement, announced in Brussels by the alliance's secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, will allow the United States to hand over command and control of part of the international operation, as it has been eager to do. But it appeared that some NATO members balked at supervising attacks on targets on the ground.
"At this moment there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation," Fogh Rasmussen said. "But we are considering whether NATO should take on the broader responsibility in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution, but that decision has not been reached yet."
Fogh Rasmussen said the NATO operation would proceed in parallel with the bombing campaign carried out by coalition aircraft.
"At this moment there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation," Fogh Rasmussen said. "But we are considering whether NATO should take on that broader responsibility in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution, but that decision has not been made yet."
Earlier, Turkey said NATO members had settled four days of wrangling over the command and aims of the campaign, which would be transferred from the United States to the Western military alliance within one or two days.
Ankara had pressed for NATO to have sole control of Libya operations, but had attached conditions, saying it did not want to see it conducting offensive operations that could harm civilians or to be in charge of enforcing a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone while coalition planes are bombing Libyan forces.

President Barack Obama's spokesman expressed confidence that the United States will be able to hand over control of the Libyan military operation within days.
"We are still operating under that timeline, that it will be days, not weeks," spokesman Jay Carney said. Discussions are ongoing within NATO and "we feel very confident that it will happen soon," he said.
The U.N. Secretary-General said representatives of Moammar Gadhafi's government and the Libyan opposition will attend an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday.
The meeting is part of an effort to reach a cease-fire and political solution in Libya.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Thursday there is no evidence that Libyan officials have instituted a cease-fire as they claim. He says his special envoy has warned Gadhafi government officials that the 15-member council is "prepared to take additional measures" if they do not respect U.N. resolutions calling for a cease-fire.
Fighting in Misrata Earlier, Western air strikes destroyed government tanks outside rebel-held Misrata, but other tanks inside the city were not hit, a resident said, underlining the difficulty of the U.N.-backed military mission to protect civilians.
Libya's government said it was in full control of Misrata, Libya's third city with a population of at least 300,000 people. Only a hardcore of rebels were holding out in the city, which is around 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli.
"These people are al-Qaida affiliates, they are prepared to die, they want to die, because death for them is happiness, is paradise. They know they are going to die," Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said.
But an opposition spokesman said by telephone that rebels were still fighting there, and had killed 30 snipers who had been picking off civilians from rooftops in the town. Government warships had left the port.
"There were clashes today and our fighters managed to find a way to reach the snipers on rooftops and killed 30 of them," rebel spokesman Abdulbasset Abu Mzereiq said by telephone.
Western forces, having taken out Libyan air defenses, moved deeper into Libya on Thursday in search of other strategic targets.
Gaddafi's tanks rolled back into Misrata under the cover of darkness and shelled the area near the hospital, which was also under fire from government snipers, residents and rebels said.

"The situation is very serious," a doctor in the western town said by telephone before the line was cut off.
A resident said around 6,000 workers and family members from Egypt and other African countries were stuck in the port.
Advance on Ajdabiyah Libyan rebels trying to advance on Ajdabiyah came under intermittent shelling on Thursday from forces loyal to Gaddafi holding out in the strategic eastern town.
There appeared to be efforts to negotiate a deal to end the standoff in Ajdabiyah, but details were unclear and conflicting.
"They (Gaddafi's forces) want to surrender, but they want guarantees," said Mohamed Awad, speaking from a military training camp in Benghazi, who said he heard the word from rebels returning from Ajdabiyah.
"They sent someone this evening and I think in 24 hours Ajdabiyah will be in complete rebel control."
But another rebel, Ramadan Haddad, said the rebels had made an overture that was rejected.
"Today a group of tribal chiefs went to them (Gaddafi's forces in Ajdabiyah) and said they would guarantee safe passage for them from Ajdabiyah. The captain there said: 'Either we die fighting or you (rebels) surrender.'"
Neither account could be confirmed.
Other rebel fighters said they had sent emissaries into Ajdabiyah to try to persuade Gaddafi's forces, now facing air strikes from Western warplanes, to give up.
"The day before yesterday, we sent an old man to talk to them to get them to surrender. They said they would take their weapons with them. We said no, leave them. So the talks failed," said Khalil Fakhri, a rebel fighter. "We then sent another old man in the evening, and he didn't return."
Fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns mounted on trucks were gathered on the main road leading to Ajdabiyah in greater numbers than on Wednesday.

At one rebel position, incoming missiles and other ordnance struck every few minutes.
Rebels had attached European Union and French flags to one truck, in a show of support for Western states that have been launching airstrikes on Gaddafi's forces as part of a U.N.-approved mission to protect Libyan civilians.
The flags fluttered in the strong desert wind.
In a signal of the lingering disarray in the rebel ranks, some fighters gave different accounts of their plans.
Some said they were waiting for French or other Western warplanes to strike again before advancing. Other rebels said they were waiting for their fighters in Ajdabiyah to finish off Gaddafi's. Others said they were awaiting orders from Benghazi, the rebels' de facto capital to the east.
Reports from the frontline said Gaddafi's forces were guarding the main gate to Ajdabiyah with six tanks.
"They are waving a white flag. But they are still firing on us. It is a ruse," said Ali Misrati, a rebel fighter. "The plan is to take that entrance. We have a group ahead hitting it with rockets. We will wait for them to have an effect before going in. There is another group going in by the desert road."
One man who was leaving Ajdabiyah in a car with his family of 10 said there was no water or power in the town.
"The bombing is random. Everyone has left. On the eastern gate, the western gate, the southern gate there are Gaddafi's forces. There are revolutionaries in the town and there is fighting going on right now," he said.
Strike against air base French fighter jets struck an air base deep inside Libya and downed one of Gadhafi's planes Thursday, and NATO ships patrolled the coast to block the flow of arms and mercenaries. Other coalition bombers struck artillery, arms depots and parked helicopters, officials said Thursday.
Libyan state television on Thursday showed blackened and mangled bodies that it said were victims of airstrikes in Tripoli, the capital. Rebels have accused Gadhafi's forces of taking bodies from the morgue and pretending they are civilian casualties.
The French strikes overnight hit a base about 155 miles south of the Libyan coastline, French military spokesman Thierry Burkhard told reporters in Paris on Thursday without elaborating on the target or possible damage.

A French fighter jet reported attacking and destroying a Libyan plane believed to be a military trainer aircraft, a U.S. official said, providing the information about the event Thursday on condition of anonymity because it has not been publicly announced by the French government.
The French Rafale fighter helping enforce a no-fly zone over Libya destroyed what was identified as a Libyan G-2/Galeb, which is a trainer aircraft, near the coastal city of Misrata.
In Tripoli, Libyan deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said that the "military compound at Juffra" was among the targets hit before dawn. Juffra is one of at least two air bases deep in Libya's interior, on main routes that lead from neighboring countries in the Sahara region that have been suppliers of arms and fighters for the Gadhafi.
NATO warships began patrolling Wednesday off Libya's Mediterranean coast in an effort the blockade's commander described as "closing the main front door" to weapons and mercenaries for Gadhafi.
The U.N. Security Council authorized the embargo and no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians after Gadhafi launched attacks against anti-government protesters who wanted him to leave after 42 years in power.