Rick Santorum pink bowling ball, Presidential candidate Rick Santorum (get the latest news on Santorum) is fending off criticism after reportedly telling a young man not to use a pink bowling ball (what did he say?). The warning came during a campaign stop at a bowling alley in Wisconsin where Santorum was hoping to throw a few strikes and turn a few votes, but critics say his words constitute a homophobic gutter ball In one corner: cultural warrior Rick Santorum, shaming a fellow bowler for appearing to consider using a pink—pink!—bowling ball. And in the other corner, deeply unlikeable creep Mitt Romney, laughing as he recalls a story about his father, the former president of the American Motors Corporation, shutting down a factory, resulting in the loss of “thousands” of jobs, according to The Detroit News. Whose joke is the most offensive? Now, a battle to the death—of humor!
Santorum’s Joke “You’re not gonna use the pink ball,” Santorum said to a young gentleman in a Wisconsin bowling alley yesterday. “We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera.”
Romney’s Joke Yesterday Romney told the following story about his father during a telephone town hall: “One of (the) most humorous stories, I think, relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors. They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin.
“Now, later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign.
“Now, I recall at one parade where he was going down the streets, he was led by a band, and they had a high school band that was leading each of the candidates, and his band did not know how to play the Michigan fight song . . . they only knew how to play the Wisconsin fight song, so every time they would start playing ‘On, Wisconsin,’ my dad’s political people would jump up and down and try to get them to stop because they didn’t want people in Michigan to be reminded that my dad had moved production to Wisconsin.”
Analysis Romney’s joke drones on for longer, and is ultimately more callous because he’s laughing at the expense of a specific, non-theoretical population of angry, unemployed workers. On the other hand, Santorum’s joke was broader and directed at a much larger (though ambiguous) group of people—could be lovers of pink, the gay community, Victoria’s Secret models, etc.—and is likely to offend more people, just in terms of pure numbers. Santorum rudely implies that choosing a pink ball is something embarrassing, i.e., something that should not be done on camera. That said, Mitt Romney is just such an asshole.
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, whose campaign has included extensive anti-gay rhetoric, stopped a boy from using a pink bowling ball at a Wisconsin bowling ally on Wednesday (28 March).
'You’re not gonna use the pink ball. We're not gonna let you do that. Not on camera,' Santorum told the boy. 'Friends don’t let friends use pink balls.'
Santorum's comments were quickly tweeted by Reuters reporter Sam Youngman.
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT advocacy group and political lobbying organization in the US, blasted Santorum for his actions.
'This is another example of Rick Santorum intentionally making ignorant statements that have a real impact on LGBT people,' said HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz. 'Whether he’s comparing our marriages to inanimate objects, saying our children would be better off with a parent in prison as opposed to two loving same-sex parents, or calling open military service a ‘tragic social experiment;’ he’s proven that he thinks LGBT people are second-class citizens not worthy of dignity or respect.'
'In this case,' Sainz added, 'he’s advancing tired gender norms by implying a boy should be ashamed or embarrassed to use a certain color bowling ball.'
HRC notes that in addition to his frequent and vitriolic remarks about issues like marriage equality or LGBT families, Santorum consistently voted against workplace protections while serving in the US Senate, and was an early and vocal supporter of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act.
'Kids have enough to worry about,' Sainz said. 'They don’t need Rick Santorum telling them that using a pink bowling ball is a bad thing.'
If you’re Rick Santorum, making a crack about a pink bowling ball is sure to draw some unwanted attention.
Sure enough, after making such a comment to a young man at a bowling alley here on Wednesday, that is exactly what happened.
During a campaign stop with a group of young Republicans, Mr. Santorum took about 20 minutes for a round of bowling. As one of the young men reached for a pink ball — one that some of the women used — Mr. Santorum ribbed him.
“You’re not gonna use the pink ball,” Mr. Santorum said. “We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera.” The remark was posted to Twitter by a Reuters reporter and soon ricocheted around the Web.
It didn’t take long for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, to pounce. It issued a statement on Wednesday calling Mr. Santorum’s remark “ignorant.”
Matt Pruitt Bigfoot fine, Sasquatch sleuth Matt Pruitt recently found out that binoculars and a video camera aren't the only necessities for a successful Bigfoot hunt. He was fined $525 by Arkansas state rangers (what is Bigfoot often referred to as in Arkansas?) for leading a Bigfoot expedition without the proper paperwork (what does Pruitt say about the fine on his blog?). When Bigfoot hunter Matt Pruitt led an expedition through the Arkansas woods in search of legendary woodland apes, all he bagged was a lousy government fine. According to The Republic, The National Parks Service cited the leader of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization for not having a permit when he took 31 Sasquatch seekers to sites along Arkansas' Buffalo National River last month. Any expedition that charges a fee requires a permit from the federal government, and Pruitt had charged participants $300 to $500 apiece to participate in the hunt. Rangers cited Pruitt for engaging in a business without a permit or written agreement, and fined him $525. Pruitt said it was an innocent mistake and that he paid his fine last week. Even with the fine, the numbers suggest he raked in between $9,000 and $15,000 in profit. [Americans More Likely than Canadians to Believe in Bigfoot]
The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization hosts 20 four-day hunting expeditions each year. The BFRO's mission is "to resolve the mystery surrounding the Bigfoot phenomenon, that is, to derive conclusive documentation of the species' existence," according to its website.
The group has yet to kill or find the remains of an actual Bigfoot, but bits and pieces of "physical evidence" are obtained during most hunting expeditions, from footprints to scat to "shining eyes" seen in night camera footage.
A man who led tour groups on a hunt for Bigfoot met up with the long arm of the law instead, and got fined for doing business on federal lands without a permit. Matt Pruitt was leading a group expedition for The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization at the Buffalo National River Park in Arkansas in February when he and his group of 31 people were stopped by two park rangers. Pruitt was slapped with a hefty $525 fine for a lack of a commercial use permit.
The organization typically charges as much as $500 to go along on searches for the mythical creature in various locations across North America. That's between the group and the gullible -- unless they're conducting their hunt on federal land. “He was given money by people to lead them on an expedition,” Karen Bradford, chief ranger at Buffalo National River Park, told FoxNews.com. “When you complete any sort of transaction you become a concessionaire and need the proper permit.” Pruitt conceded in a posting on his blog that he didn't do enough research on rules and regulations. “After scouting that location and having been very impressed with the area, I decided to conduct the expedition there. I immediately scoured their website to see if I needed any specific permits or passes to conduct such an effort there,” Pruitt wrote. “I assumed that I had fully acquainted myself with the necessary information related to the usage rules and regulations of the park. I was wrong, and I paid for that mistake.” Pruitt paid the fine online Friday according to local reports in Arkansas. "It was a fairly innocent mistake,” Pruitt said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “At first they were very concerned that we were filming, that we were trying to get away with commercial filming without a permit. Once those concerns were satiated, there were other concerns." The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization often films expeditions as part of the Animal Planet Series, "Finding Bigfoot." Pruitt’s expedition at Buffalo National River Park was not being filmed. Despite being fined for lack of a permit, it would have been likely that Pruitt would not have been able to obtain one. “It’s highly unlikely that he would have gotten a permit if he applied for one," Bradford said. "It’s not normal practice to issue them for expeditions to find Bigfoot."
The hunt for Bigfoot hit another snafu. In addition to, you know, not finding the woodland creature, the leader of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has been hit by a fine from the National Parks Service. Matt Pruitt was leading groups in Arkansas’ Buffalo National River last month, charging Sasquatch seekers $300 to $500 to participate in the Bigfoot expedition. Unfortunately, Pruit did not obtain the appropriate permits. The National Parks Service requires any organization leading a for-profit expedition to get a permit. They have fined Pruitt $525. According to the report on Yahoo.com, “The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization hosts 20 four-day hunting expeditions each year. The BFRO’s mission is ‘to resolve the mystery surrounding the Bigfoot phenomenon, that is, to derive conclusive documentation of the species’ existence,’ according to its website.” And while they didn’t find Bigfoot, don’t feel too bad for Pruitt. It’s expected that he still cleared $9,000 to $15,000 in profit. Hopefully he gives some back to Bigfoot habitat enhancement at Buffalo National River.
Taliban in drag, The lenths to which Taliban soldiers are willing to go to in order to sneak into U.S. military bases include dressing as women, American commanders say Seven Taliban members wearing dresses and headscarves were arrested and displayed to media in Laghman province, east of Kabul , this week .AFGHAN security forces have paraded Taliban militants dressed as women in front of media to show the lengths the insurgents will go to to attack Allied forces. The militants in drag were among seven men arrested in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghan yesterday intelligence officials said. Tensions in Afghanistan have increased noticeably in recent weeks since Staff Sergeant Robert Bales allegedly killed eight Afghan adults and nine children after wandering off a US military base in southern Afghanistan. The disguises show how militants are using increasingly desperate tactics in the war, including the use of children as lookouts and suicide bombers.Reports emerged from Afghanistan this week that a child suicide bomber was responsible for the attack on Australian Aid worker David Savage. Mr Savage, 49, a former Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer and peacekeeper, is in Germany in a serious but stable condition after the attack on Tuesday. The protection of Australian aid workers in Afghanistan will be reviewed after an AusAID adviser was injured in a suicide bombing attack, Defence Minister Stephen Smith says.
The attacks happened near the main Australian base as he returned from a community meeting in the Chora Valley, north of Tarin Kowt. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed three NATO soldiers and injured an Afghan National Army soldier.
A Taliban spokesman said the attack was in direct retaliation for the murder of 17 Afghan civilians by US Staff Sergeant Robert Bales two weeks ago, Fairfax reported.
Mr Smith said it was unclear whether a child was responsible for the suicide bombing or if the attack was in retaliation for Bales' attack.
Mr Savage was under force protection provided by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at the time of the attack.
An automatic review of the arrangements would be undertaken, Mr Smith said.
The defence minister said there would be an exhaustive assessment of the attack to examine if Mr Savage was targeted by the suicide bomber. The use of children in such matters was "absolutely contemptible", Mr Smith said.
"We've seen in the past Taliban using children of very early ages to engage in such activities and we treat that with nothing but contempt."
The murder spree by Bales was a setback, which coalition forces were still working through, the defence minister said.
Bales was charged with 17 premeditated murders as well as six counts of assault and attempted murder in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province.
The killings - mostly of women and children - are believed to be the deadliest war crime by a NATO soldier during the decade-long conflict and have tested an already tense relationship between Washington and Kabul.
Mr Savage was treated at Tarin Kowt initially before he was transferred to the medical facility at Kandahar for more advanced treatment and then on to Germany.
Insurgents raided the home of a soldier from the Afghan National Army, beat and tied up two male relatives and murdered four female relatives in Barabat-Jaba village, Kunar province, April 25.
Reports from the area state that the women, a wife, mother, sister and 4-year-old daughter of the ANA soldier, were shot to death in their home by the insurgents who were looking for the soldier because they believed he was passing information to Coalition Forces.
Unable to locate the soldier, the insurgents killed the women in the house and tied up and beat the males.
The ANA Soldier has returned home from his duty-station in Kandahar after hearing about his murdered family.
Captured Taliban fighters are paraded in front of the media after being caught dressed in drag in an attempt to infiltrate coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Local police yesterday arrested seven men dressed in women’s clothing in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul.
The disguises show the lengths Taliban rebels are prepared to go to gain access to British and US forces.
The arrests came as it emerged US military commanders have assigned “guardian angels” to watch over troops while they sleep as part of increased security measures to protect troops from rogue attacks.Tensions have increased in the wake of the killings of nine innocent Afghan civilians, who were allegedly gunned down by US Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.
The spike in attacks, which also included the deaths of two US advisers in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior who were shot at point-blank range, followed the accidental burning of Korans last month.
The added protection has been introduced in recent weeks as part of a directive by Marine General John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan.
Guardian angels will watch over troops as they sleep, when they exercise and go about their daily life.
Other measures implemented include allowing some Americans to carry weapons in several Afghan ministries and rearranging their offices so their desks face the door.
Gen Allen said: "We have taken steps necessary on our side to protect ourselves with respect to, in fact, sleeping arrangements, internal defences associated with those small bases in which we operate.”
turpie olivia newton john, It was the swinging 60s and a teenage Olivia Newton-John was just another wannabe singer with stars in her eyes when she met a clean shaven TV host called Ian Turpie. “He was Olivia’s first big love,” remembers a Turpie family friend, who says a 21-year-old Ian was instantly smitten with the pretty blonde singer, who was just 16 when they met on the set of Time For Terry. “Olivia was a gorgeous girl with a sweet voice, and as soon as she and Ian sang together there was amazing chemistry – he was bowled over by her and she fell hard for him.” The young sweethearts captured the attention of the nation, but according to friends, Olivia’s mum Irene was the quintessential “stage mum” who had big plans for her daughter. “As soon as the romance started getting really serious she whisked Olivia off to London, leaving a broken-hearted Ian behind,” explains another family friend. Olivia was soon on a path to stardom, while Ian, who went on to become an Aussie TV game show legend affectionately known as Turps, met another beautiful blonde, Jan.
English-born pop singer, raised in Australia, who charted with over two dozen hits between the early 1970s and mid-80s. Beginning with a series of easy-listening, often countrified songs such as "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" and "Have You Never Been Mellow?", Newton-John broadened her range with her appearance in the hit film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Grease" in 1978. As the demure 50s teen turned sultry rocker, she gave a likable if…
A memorial concert is expected to be held for Australian entertainer Ian "Turps" Turpie who died on Sunday.
The 68-year-old - most famously known for his stint as host of the game show The New Price is Right - died peacefully surrounded by his family following a year-long battle with cancer.
Turpie's last official public performance was in March last year as compere of The Go!! Show Gold reunion concert at Melbourne's Palais Theatre.
Mario Maiolo, producer of the reunion tour, says a memorial concert is expected to be held for Turpie, who was scheduled to perform at another upcoming Go!! Show reunion event in Sydney in May, according to News Ltd newspapers.
Maiolo told The Australian the memorial concert would likely be held in Melbourne.
The Go!! Show hit television screens in 1964 and became the must-watch music show for the teenagers of the day.
The show which was hosted by Turpie featured names such as Olivia Newton-John, Johnny Young and Normie Rowe.
Turpie is survived by his wife of 44 years Jan and children Michelle, Sacha and Joshua and grandchildren.
"He adored his family, friends, co-workers and fans over the past 50+ years," a statement from the Turpie family said.
veteran filmmaker Schoendoerffer, Pierre Schoendoerffer, who has died aged 83, was one of the few directors of war films who had actually lived out the adventures of his soldier heroes. The American film-makers William Wellman, Sam Fuller and Oliver Stone did so, but no other director explored the same subject as single-mindedly and doggedly as Schoendoerffer. His experiences of combat as a military cameraman and as a prisoner of war during the conflict in Indochina marked his output, most directly La 317̬me Section (The 317th Platoon, 1965), about a doomed French unit; Le Crabe-Tambour (The Drummer Crab, 1977), about French officers involved in the fall of the French empire after the second world war; his Oscar-winning television documentary La Section Anderson (The Anderson Platoon, 1967), which followed the lives of US soldiers in Vietnam; and Di̻n Bi̻n Ph̼ (1992), about a US war correspondent covering the climactic battle between the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. Through these films, which offered Schoendoerffer a means of catharsis, he never really left Vietnam Рand it never left him. He was born in Chamali̬res, central France, into a French-Alsatian Protestant family. Attracted to an adventurous life from a young age, he became a mariner at 19. He worked on a Swedish cargo ship, then joined the merchant navy, sailing the Baltic and the North Sea for two years. His favourite writer was Joseph Conrad, whose novel Typhoon Schoendoerffer spent three years adapting for the screen in the 1990s, although no finance was found.
After military service, he decided to become a film-maker. In 1951 he volunteered to become a cameraman for the French army in Saigon. A few years later, he shot a great deal of the long siege of Diên Biên Phú, but after the French defeat he destroyed his camera and films, hiding six one-minute reels before he was taken to a Viet Minh re-education camp. These were later used by Roman Karmen, a Soviet documentary maker, in his propaganda film Vietnam (1955), seen from the Viet Minh's perspective.
On his release from the camp, Schoendoerffer became a war reporter and photographer in South Vietnam. In 1958 his friend the novelist Joseph Kessel asked him to direct his script for an adventure film, La Passe du Diable (The Devil's Pass). Co-directed by Jacques Dupont, it was the first film shot by the cinematographer Raoul Coutard, the darling of the French new wave, who was to photograph almost all Schoendoerffer's movies. Filmed in colour and CinemaScope over eight months in Afghanistan, using local non-actors, it was nominated for the Golden Bear in Berlin.
Schoendoerffer then adapted and updated two novels by Pierre Loti, the French author of exotic romances: Ramuntcho, whose hero becomes a prisoner of war in Indochina, and Pêcheur d'Islande (Island Fishermen), set off the coast of Brittany. Both were made in 1959.
L'Honneur d'un Capitaine (The Captain's Honour, 1982) examined that other French colonial war of the 20th century, Algeria. It deals with the widow (Nicole Garcia, one of the few women in Schoendoerffer's world) of a French captain (Perrin) whose reputation has been besmirched because of his war record.
There was a 10-year gap before Schoendoerffer made another film, but Diên Biên Phú continued where he had left off. Based on a book by Howard R Simpson, an American correspondent in Indochina, it is a searing view of a lost cause but is slightly undermined by some of the dialogue and the casting of Donald Pleasence as Simpson.
• Pierre Schoendoerffer, film director, born 5 May 1928; died 14 March 2012
Oscar-winning French filmmaker, novelist and war correspondent Pierre Schoendoerffer, a renowned chronicler of conflict, especially in Vietnam, has died aged 83.
According to a statement from his family, the writer and film director died in the early hours of Wednesday at the Percy military hospital outside Paris.
A founding member of the Cesars, the French equivalent of the Oscars, Schoendoerffer launched his career with the French military film service during the country's war in Indochina, following a brief stint as a merchant sailor.
In both novels and films, Schoendoerffer returned again and again to the conflict in Indochina, where he was held for four months as a prisoner of war and which was the subject of his best-known works, "Le Crabe-Tambour" (The Drummer Crab) and "La 317e Section" (The 317th Platoon).
President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Schoendoerffer as a "legend" who helped the French "better understand our collective history".
"France will miss this man -- an aristocrat in his heart and soul -- whose life was inspired by heroes like Joseph Conrad and Jack London, who shaped his imagination," Sarkozy said.
Born in 1928 in the central French town of Chamalieres, Schoendoerffer was inspired to a life of adventure by writers such as Conrad and French adventurer and author Joseph Kessel, whose work on Afghanistan, "La Passe du Diable" (The Devil's Pass), he filmed in 1956.
After 18 months as a sailor in the Baltic Sea, Schoendoerffer arrived aged 19 in French Indochina, the colony comprising present-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos where French forces were fighting the independence-seeking Viet Minh.
Taken on as a cameraman by the French military's film service, he filmed the war's climactic battle, the 1954 defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu, and was afterward held as a prisoner of war for four months.
Schoendoerffer left the military following the war but remained in Vietnam to work as a reporter for French and US publications including Paris Match, Time and Life.
Returning to France in 1955, he set himself up as a roaming correspondent, writer and filmmaker, returning many times to Vietnam and covering conflicts such as the Algerian War.
His experiences during the Indochina War would mark "Le Crabe-Tambour", which won three Cesars in 1977 and "La 317e Section", based on his own novel and winner of best screenplay at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.
He went back to Vietnam for his 1967 Oscar-winning documentary, "The Anderson Platoon", which looked at the lives of a platoon of US soldiers fighting in the country.
He returned to the conflict again in 1991 with the film "Dien Bien Phu", about a US war correspondent covering the fateful battle.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon praised Schoendoerffer as "a great witness of our times" in a statement, saying "his images always went beyond the events."
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand hailed him as a writer and filmmaker "haunted by war and its consequences on our humanity."
"He was a man of honour who believed in loyalty to his family and to his country," Mitterrand said in a statement.
Historian Benedicte Cheron said Schoendoerffer had shed much-needed light on difficult periods of French military history.
"He was a filmmaker and not a historian... but his work helped establish in the national imagination one period that was largely unknown, in the case of Indochina, and another that was difficult and traumatic, as in the case of the Algerian War," she said.
"His representation of war, of wartime heroism and of the tragedy of war, touched on the universal."
Schoendoerffer had three children, including filmmaker Frederic Schoendoerffer.
Pierre Schoendoerffer, the French filmmaker whose work was strongly influenced by his French military service in Indochina from 1951-54, died March 14 in a Paris hospital. Schoendoerffer, who was wounded in the French Indochina War and later captured and held prisoner for four months by the Vietminh after the disastrous Battle of Dien Bien Phu, was 83. He is pictured above left, after his release.
Schoendoerffer wrote a novel, The 317th Platoon, about the French war, which he made into a film in 1965 that he wrote and directed. He is perhaps best known in this country for the 1967 documentary, The Anderson Platoon, a close-up, in-the-field look at U.S. Army Lt. Joe Anderson and his men slogging it out in the field in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. First shown on French TV, then on CBS-TV, the documentary played in theaters in this country and received the 1968 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
His other main film was 1992′s Dien Bien Phu, a critically acclaimed, fictionalized look at the battle that was filmed in Vietnam (although not at the actual site of the battle) and featured the travails of an American war correspondent. The $30-million epic, which used 10,000 Vietnamese soldiers as extras, was the first non-Asia movie to be made about the Indochina War in Vietnam.
Top 10 fattest cities - Searching for the 'fattest city' in America? Look no further than McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, which is home to the largest percentage of obese people in the country, according to a new study. The other nine metropolitan areas that make the 'fattest' list are as follows: Nos. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,5, 4, 3, and 2. The results are in and all bets are off - - Sin City weighs in as the metropolis with the most pounds. Las Vegas has been named the fattest city in the U.S. in Men's Fitness' "9th Annual Fattest and Fittest Cities in America Report." San Antonio comes in at #2, up ten spots from 2006, while Miami put on a few pounds to move to #3, followed by Mesa, AZ, and Los Angeles. On the other side of the scale, Albuquerque ranks as the fittest city in America, followed by Seattle, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, and Tucson.
To compile the report, Men's Fitness spent months pouring over data that make real people fit or fat, including how much residents are excising, how healthfully they eat, how much they use gym memberships, how much junk food they consume, and how much time they spend sitting in traffic. Men's Fitness also talks to mayors and city parks departments to learn about local exercise venues, programs designed to get citizens off their couches and moving, and civic leadership. Las Vegas residents can thank the high number of fast-food restaurants - more than any other city on the survey (except Cleveland), and extremely inactive residents. Seven out of ten residents of Las Vegas are so sedentary that doctors say they're putting their health at risk.The complete list of the "Fattest and Fittest Cities in America" appears in the March issue of Men's Fitness, on-sale nationwide today.
Celebrity deaths March 2012 - In Memoriam of Notable March deaths, In March we lost many beloved figures, including a veteran-turned-filmmaker and Olivia Newton John's first love. Read about those who passed away in March.
Adrienne Rich
Died March 27 (b. 1929)
Poet Adrienne Rich was among the most acclaimed and influential writers of the feminist movement. She published two dozen volumes of poetry as well as non-fiction.
Ron Erhardt
Died March 21 (b. 1931)
Ron Erhardt was on the coaching team of Bill Parcells for the champion New York Giants. Previously, Erhardt was the head coach of the New England Patriots and a winning athletic director.
Mel Parnell
Died March 20 (b. 1922)
Mel Parnell was one of the best ever left-handed pitchers for the Boston Red Sox. He had a long career at Boston, as a player and a voice.
Sanford McDonnell
Died March 19 (b. 1922)
Engineer Sanford N. McDonnell led the McDonnell Douglas Corp., which his uncle founded, into the future. McDonnell also led a famous youth organization.
Margaret Whitlam
Died March 17 (b. 1919)
Margaret Whitlam was the trailblazing wife of former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. She was an outspoken advocate, social worker and champion swimmer.
Pierre Schoendoerffer
Died March 14 (b. 1928)
Filmmaker Pierre Schoendoerffer won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature for "The Anderson Platoon," which followed American soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Karl Roy
Died March 13 (b. 1968)
Karl Roy was a progressive rocker from the Philippines. He led several rock bands, including P.O.T. and Kapatid
Michael Hossack
Died March 12 (b. 1946)
Michael Hossack played drums for The Doobie Brothers. He rejoined the band for benefit concerts in 1987 to great success.
Ian Turpie
Died March 11 (b. 1943)
Ian Turpie was a familiar face on Australian TV. He hosted many game shows and acted for TV and film.
Jean Giraud
Died March 10 (b. 1938)
Jean Giraud was an influential comics artist. He was known beyond genres and beyond his native country, especially for "Blueberry."
Bugs Henderson
Died March 8 (b. 1943)
Bugs Henderson was an iconic blues guitarist who played with Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Ted Nugent, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters.
Robert Sherman
Died March 5 (b. 1925)
Robert B. Sherman was half of the great Sherman Brothers songwriting team. "The Jungle Book" and "Mary Poppins" are among the brothers' filmography.
Steve Bridges
Died March 3 (b. 1963)
Comedian Steve Bridges did uncanny impressions (watch videos) of everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Homer Simpson.
Ralph McQuarrie
Died March 3 (b. 1929)
Illustrator Ralph McQuarrie designed many sci-fi greats, including Darth Vader, Chewbacca and R2-D2 of "Star Wars.” He won an Academy Award for another classic.
Ronnie Montrose
Died March 3 (b. 1947)
Legendary guitarist Ronnie Montrose played with Van Morrison, Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Boz Scaggs, the Neville Brothers and the Edgar Winter Group.
Van Barfoot
Died March 2 (b. 1919)
U.S. Army Col. Van T. Barfoot received the military's highest decoration for his World War II service. His patriotism became national news in 2009.
James Wilson
Died March 2 (b. 1931)
Social scientist James Q. Wilson was the "father of community policing." He co-authored the broken windows theory that revolutionized law enforcement.
Andrew Breitbart
Died March 1 (b. 1969)
Andrew Breitbart was a conservative activist who ran several influential websites, contributed to The Washington Times and researched for Arianna Huffington .
Lucio Dalla
March 1 (b. 1943)
Lucio Dalla was a popular singer-songwriter and clarinetist who worked with Italian icons. He composed "Caruso," popularized by Luciano Pavarotti
Mega Millions - Your $640-million Mega Millions guide, With a record-setting $640 million jackpot, it seems that everyone is out to win Mega Millions. Here's everything you need to know about winning.
Anne Hathaway 500 calories - Anne Hathaway reportedly eating only 500 calories per day, Actress Anne Hathaway is reportedly on an extreme diet of only 500 calories per day to prepare for a role in an upcoming movie. Hathaway needs to lose a lot of weight in a short time, reports say.
Thanks to her healthy diet and exercise regimen, vegetarian actress Anne Hathaway has always appeared slim and fit onscreen, but her latest role is calling for a new look all together.
Hathaway is currently shooting the part of Fantine in the big screen adaptation of “Les Miserables.” And in order to realistically appear as a consumptive prostitute, the film’s producers have asked her to slim down even more — and to do it fast.
The Daily Mirror reports that Hathaway is on a 500 calorie-per-day diet so that she can drop the extra weight — “a stone-and-a-half,” or about 20 pounds — within her allotted two-to-three week window.
According to the site, “Anne is playing a destitute factory worker-come-lady of the night. Unfortunately, she only has 15 to 20 days to lose as much weight as possible…Producers have assigned her a personal trainer and she is literally eating nothing more than a couple of apples a day, and some protein — mainly in the form of a shake.”
The Daily Mirror does note that Hathaway is working with a doctor to make sure she remains healthy on her crash diet.
And the actress is no stranger to sacrificing food for roles. Last year, when she was filming her role as Catwoman in “The Dark Knight Rises,” she joked that she was living on “kale and dust” to fit into her costume.
