Literotica Cemetary

[JennyOmanHill]

Police quiz wife of boxer Gatti

http://www.canadastarboxing.com/images/fighters/Arturo-Gatti0402-0503c.jpg

Brazilian police have questioned the wife of a former world boxing champion, Arturo Gatti, after he was found dead in a hotel in north-eastern Brazil.

The Canadian's body was discovered on Saturday at a holiday resort where he had gone with his wife and son.

Authorities say Gatti, 37, may have been strangled with the strap of a handbag and had a mark on his head.

He was IBF super-featherweight champion in 1995 and WBC light-welterweight champion in 2004, and retired in 2007.

His three-fight series with Micky Ward in 2002 and 2003 established him as one of the world's most exciting fighters.

Gatti had been on holiday in the Porto de Galinhas resort with his Brazilian wife, Amanda Rodrigues, and their one-year-old son.

Police said there were inconsistencies in Ms Rodrigues' statement but that she denied any involvement in her husband's death.

Gatti's body was reportedly found in the couple's holiday apartment.

However, police remain unsure how Ms Rodrigues stayed in the apartment for around 10 hours - with the couple's one-year-old son - without noticing that her husband was dead.

Detectives are also investigating reports that the couple had been arguing before returning to their room on Friday evening and that Gatti had been drunk.

The couple are said to have rented the apartment for a month in order to have a "second honeymoon" but only arrived on Friday, reports the BBC's Gary Duffy, in Sao Paulo.

Gatti's career spanned 49 fights and he won 40 of them, 31 by knockout.

He first fought Micky Ward in May 2002 and the pair traded devastating blows for 10 rounds before Ward earned the split decision from the judges.

The rematch was just as brutal, with Gatti knocking Ward down in the third round with a big right. Ward not only recovered from the blow, which broke Gatti's hand, but managed to go the distance. This time, Gatti earned a unanimous decision.

Gatti and Ward had their decider at Boardwalk Hall in June 2003, Ward knocked Gatti to the floor in the sixth round, but despite fighting with his right hand broken again, Gatti managed to win the decision.

Ward and Gatti became close friends toward the end of their careers.

Ward commented: "There was a real bond between us. It's why hearing this, hearing what happened to Arturo is like a piece of you is gone, because we shared so much of everything in the ring. We were friends, close friends."

Gatti eventually retired two years ago following a seventh-round knockout defeat by Alfonso Gomez.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Maestro, Wife Die in Suicide Clinic

LONDON (July 14) -- British maestro Edward Downes, who conducted the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Opera but struggled in recent years as his hearing and sight failed, has died with his wife at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. He was 85 and she was 74.

The couple's children said Tuesday that the couple died "peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing" on Friday at a Zurich clinic run by the group Dignitas.

"After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems," said a statement from the couple's son and daughter, Caractacus and Boudicca.

The statement said Downes, who became Sir Edward when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, had become almost blind and increasingly deaf. His wife, a former dancer, choreographer and television producer, had devoted years to working as his assistant. British newspapers reported that she had been diagnosed with cancer. Dignitas founder Ludwig A. Minelli said he could not confirm the deaths due to confidentiality rules.

Downes' manager, Jonathan Groves, said he was shocked by the couple's deaths, but called their decision "typically brave and courageous."

The deaths are the latest in a series of high-profile cases that have spurred calls for a legal change in Britain, where assisted suicide and euthanasia are banned.

Despite the law, British courts have been reluctant in recent years to convict people who help loved ones travel to clinics abroad to end their lives.

London's Metropolitan Police force said it had been notified of the deaths, and was investigating.

Born in 1924 in Birmingham, central England, Edward Downes studied at Birmingham University, the Royal College of Music and under German conductor Hermann Scherchen. In 1952 he joined London's Royal Opera House as a junior staffer. Hs first job was prompting soprano Maria Callas. He made his debut as a conductor with the company the following year and went on to become associate music director. Throughout his life he retained close ties to the Royal Opera, conducting 49 different operas there over more than 50 years. He also had a decades-long association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, where he became principal conductor and later conductor emeritus.

In the 1970s he became music director of the Australian Opera, conducting the first performance at the Sydney Opera House in 1973. He also worked with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and ensembles around the world.

The couple is survived by their children, who said their parents "both lived life to the full and considered themselves to be extremely lucky to have lived such rewarding lives, both professionally and personally.

 

[StrangeSuzy]

Pillsbury Heir dead at 71.

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and complications from repeated pokes to the tummy.

He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin.

Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess
Twinkies and Captain Crunch.

The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes, he died with only a few Grands in the refrigeratored section.

Despite being a little flaky at times, he still, as a crusty old man, was considered a roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife, Play Dough; two children John Dough and Jane Dough; plus they had one in the oven.

He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

 

[KindaKinky]

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and complications from repeated pokes to the tummy.

He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin.

Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess
Twinkies and Captain Crunch.

The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes, he died with only a few Grands in the refrigeratored section.

Despite being a little flaky at times, he still, as a crusty old man, was considered a roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife, Play Dough; two children John Dough and Jane Dough; plus they had one in the oven.

He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

That was silly. But a much needed laugh.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

R.I.P. Dash Snow (1981-2009)

The art world lost one of its most gifted young artists in Dash Snow. On the night of Monday July 13th, the 27-year-old Snow was found dead from an apparent drug overdose at the Lafayette House hotel in Lower Manhattan. A graffiti writer, collage artist and photographer, Dash Snow personified the equally chaotic and creative energy of the New York City Downtown scene.

Notorious for his devil-may-care attitude and his love of the fast life Snow was revered in art circles for his raw depictions of the world around him. Under the alias "Sacer" he helped found the IRAK graffiti crew and his tags, "throw-ups" and "pieces" were ubiquitous fixtures on the streets of New York. A seminal artist in the truest sense of the word, Snow's collage work was often composed of newspaper clippings and his own dried semen. Snow's original photography, like that of his friend and fellow Downtown icon Ryan McGinley, documented the often romanticized lifestyle of their peer group. Filled with emotion, beauty, and of course, debauchery his Polaroids were snapshots of a subculture where barriers of class, sexual orientation and race were broken down for the greater good of partying.

A 2007 New York Magazine profile helped to position him as one of the most promising young artists on the scene and shed light on the enigmatic Snow's family background. It was discovered that Snow came from a wealthy family and that his grandmother was world renowned art collector and philanthropist Christophe De Menil. In the piece, Snow downplayed the privilege into which he was born and spoke of his estrangement from his family. However, it would be his grandmother who would contact the New York Times to confirm the rumors of his demise.

His death came as a shock to many who believed that he'd finally won his battle with addiction and turned over a new leaf. His grandmother noted that he'd been in rehab as recently as March and his friends recall him pushing his beloved, almost two-year-old daughter, Secret, around the city in a stroller. His daughter was the love of his life and no doubt one of the strongest incentives to get clean. Sadly, his addictions were too powerful a foe. Though his death is a tragedy his artistic contributions have immortalized

 

[JennyOmanHill]

News Icon Walter Cronkite Dies at 92

http://whatiknow.freedomblogging.com/files/2008/11/cronkite.jpg

NEW YORK (July 17) -- Walter Cronkite, the premier TV anchorman of the networks' golden age who reported a tumultuous time with reassuring authority and came to be called "the most trusted man in America," died Friday. He was 92.

Cronkite's longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler, said Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. at his Manhattan home surrounded by family. She said the cause of death was cerebral vascular disease.

Cronkite was the face of the "CBS Evening News" from 1962 to 1981, when stories ranged from the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to racial and anti-war riots, Watergate and the Iranian hostage crisis.

It was Cronkite who read the bulletins coming from Dallas when Kennedy was shot Nov. 22, 1963, interrupting a live CBS-TV broadcast of the soap opera "As the World Turns."

Cronkite was the broadcaster to whom the title "anchorman" was first applied, and he came so identified in that role that eventually his own name became the term for the job in other languages. (Swedish anchors are known as Kronkiters; In Holland, they are Cronkiters.)

His 1968 editorial declaring the United States was "mired in stalemate" in Vietnam was seen by some as a turning point in U.S. opinion of the war. He also helped broker the 1977 invitation that took Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem, the breakthrough to Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

He followed the 1960s space race with open fascination, anchoring marathon broadcasts of major flights from the first suborbital shot to the first moon landing, exclaiming, "Look at those pictures, wow!" as Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon's surface in 1969. In 1998, for CNN, he went back to Cape Canaveral to cover John Glenn's return to space after 36 years.

He had been scheduled to speak last January for the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., but ill health prevented his appearance.

A former wire service reporter and war correspondent, he valued accuracy, objectivity and understated compassion. He expressed liberal views in more recent writings but said he had always aimed to be fair and professional in his judgments on the air.

Off camera, his stamina and admittedly demanding ways brought him the nickname "Old Ironpants." But to viewers, he was "Uncle Walter," with his jowls and grainy baritone, his warm, direct expression and his trim mustache.
When he summed up the news each evening by stating, "And THAT's the way it is," millions agreed.

Two polls pronounced Cronkite the "most trusted man in America": a 1972 "trust index" survey in which he finished No. 1, about 15 points higher than leading politicians, and a 1974 survey in which people chose him as the most trusted television newscaster.

Like fellow Midwesterner Johnny Carson, Cronkite seemed to embody the nation's mainstream. When he broke down as he announced Kennedy's death, removing his glasses and fighting back tears, the times seemed to break down with him.

And when Cronkite took sides, he helped shape the times. After the 1968 Tet offensive, he visited Vietnam and wrote and narrated a "speculative, personal" report advocating negotiations leading to the withdrawal of American troops.

In the fall of 1972, responding to reports in The Washington Post, Cronkite aired a two-part series on Watergate that helped ensure national attention to the then-emerging scandal.

"When the news is bad, Walter hurts," the late CBS president Fred Friendly once said. "When the news embarrasses America, Walter is embarrassed. When the news is humorous, Walter smiles with understanding."

 

[blueyz22]

This thread has been way too busy the last few weeks!!!!!

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Famed Author Frank McCourt Dies at 78

NEW YORK (July 19) – Frank McCourt, the beloved raconteur and former public school teacher who enjoyed post-retirement fame as the author of "Angela's Ashes," the Pulitzer Prize-winning "epic of woe" about his impoverished Irish childhood, died Sunday of cancer.

McCourt, who was 78, had been gravely ill with meningitis and recently was treated for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. He died at a Manhattan hospice, his brother Malachy McCourt said.

Until his mid-60s, Frank McCourt was known primarily around New York as a creative writing teacher and as a local character — the kind who might turn up in a New York novel — singing songs and telling stories with his younger brother Malachy and otherwise joining the crowds at the White Horse Tavern and other literary hangouts.

But there was always a book or two being formed in his mind, and the world would learn his name, and story, in 1996, after a friend helped him get an agent and his then-unfinished manuscript was quickly signed by Scribner. With a first printing of just 25,000, "Angela's Ashes" was an instant favorite with critics and readers and perhaps the ultimate case of the non-celebrity memoir, the extraordinary life of an ordinary man.

The book has been published in 25 languages and 30 countries.

McCourt, a native of New York, was good company in the classroom and at the bar, but few had such a burden to unload. His parents were so poor that they returned to their native Ireland when he was little and settled in the slums of Limerick. Simply surviving his childhood was a tale; McCourt's father was an alcoholic who drank up the little money his family had. Three of McCourt's seven siblings died, and he nearly perished from typhoid fever.

The book was a long Irish wake, "an epic of woe," McCourt called it, finding laughter and lyricism in life's very worst. Although some in Ireland complained that McCourt had revealed too much (and revealed a little too well), "Angela's Ashes" became a million seller, won the Pulitzer and was made into a movie of the same name, starring Emily Watson as the title character, McCourt's mother.

After "Angela's Ashes," McCourt continued his story, to strong but diminished sales and reviews, in "'Tis," which told of his return to New York in the 1940s, and in "Teacher Man." McCourt also wrote a children's story, "Angela and the Baby Jesus," released in 2007.

More than 10 million copies of his books have been sold in North America alone, said Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Inc.

"We have been privileged to publish his books, which have touched, and will continue to touch, millions of readers in myriad positive and meaningful ways," Simon & Schuster president Carolyn Reidy said in a statement.
McCourt was married twice and had a daughter, Maggie McCourt, from his first marriage.

His brother Malachy McCourt is an actor, commentator and singer who wrote two memoirs and, in 2006, ran for New York governor as the Green Party candidate. At least one of his former students, Susan Gilman, became a writer.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Gordon Waller of Chart-Topping Duo Peter and Gordon Dies at 64

http://img.skitch.com/20080604-j77wax5hg68stsa62u1j96iigu.preview.jpg

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Gordon Waller, who teamed with Peter Asher to form the pop duo Peter and Gordon, the British Invasion act that scored a No. 1 hit with “A World Without Love,” has died. He was 64.

Waller died July 17 in Norwich, Connecticut, after suffering cardiac arrest, according to the group’s Web site and the Associated Press. He lived in Ledyard, Connecticut.

“A World Without Love” topped U.K. and American pop charts in 1964 after the John Lennon-Paul McCartney composition was given to the duo by McCartney, who was dating Asher’s sister Jane at the time. The Beatles connection gave them access to other Lennon-McCartney songs unrecorded by the Fab Four.

“Peter and Gordon were significant talents in their own right,” according to the All Music Guide, “a sort of Everly Brothers-style duo for the British Invasion that faintly prefigured the folk-rock of the mid-’60s.”

Waller “played such a significant role in my life that losing him is hard to comprehend, let alone to tolerate,” Asher said in a statement posted on the Web site. The duo, which split in 1968, had reunited and was scheduled to play four shows in the U.S. later this year.

“He was not only my musical partner but played a key role in my conversion from only a snooty jazz fan to a true rock and roll believer as well,” said Asher, who went on to produce artists such as James Taylor. “Without Gordon, I would never have begun my career in the music business in the first place.”

Waller was born in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and attended Westminster School in London, where he met Asher. Their hits included the whimsical “Lady Godiva” (1966).

After the duo disbanded, Waller appeared in productions of the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” In the 1980s and 1990s, Waller ran a music publishing business in the U.S., according to the Guardian newspaper.

He is survived by his second wife, Jen, whom he married in 2008, and two daughters from a 22-year first marriage, according the Guardian.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Giants Owner Sue Burns Dies at 58

SAN FRANCISCO (July 19) -- Sue Burns knew everybody at the ballpark - players, coaches, scouts, ushers and security guards - and they all knew her, a friendly fixture dressed in orange with her front-row seat.
Burns, a part owner of the San Francisco Giants and devoted philanthropist who was close with home run king Barry Bonds, died on Sunday. She was 58.

Burns died of complications from lung cancer, former managing partner Peter Magowan said. She was diagnosed with the disease July 10 and missed Jonathan Sanchez's no-hitter for the Giants that night - a rare absence from the ballpark. Burns attended a game against San Diego the previous day.
Magowan said in a phone interview that Burns had recently complained of sciatic pain in her legs and an MRI soon after revealed the cancer had spread throughout her body.

"All of baseball mourns the passing of Sue Burns,'' commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. ``She and her late husband, Harmon, along with Peter Magowan and the other Giants' investors saved baseball in San Francisco in 1992. Sue was a great baseball fan and loved her Giants. She was a wonderful person who was beloved for all of her good works in the community. She will be missed.''

Giants players and coaches had their annual picnic with Burns at her suburban Atherton home on July 8. Always in orange, she was easy to spot in the lower-box seats near San Francisco's dugout.

``I have a pain in my heart,'' Dusty Baker said from Cincinnati after his team beat Milwaukee 5-3. ``What a great person. She and Harmon were as kind and conscientious people as I've ever seen. They were always thoughtful. They were owners but didn't seem like owners. They made everybody feel like family. They genuinely had love for people, the players and their families. It made for a wonderful situation.''

Burns often followed the team on the road and regularly went to spring training in Arizona. The Giants estimated that she attended at least 1,000 games over the last decade.

San Francisco held a pregame prayer for Burns before Sunday's game.

The Giants didn't detail Burns' stake in the team but said she was the club's largest shareholder. However, she was never the controlling owner of the franchise.

``She embodied the spirit of the organization,'' team president Larry Baer said. ``She was an unbelievable rock of the organization. She embraced all parts of the organization - players, the front-office staff, concession workers, ushers, security. All of those people were in Sue's gigantic, wonderful web of Giants relationships. She felt she lived a very special and blessed life with her family and friends. There was a fullness and richness we all strive to achieve.''

Burns' husband, Harmon, an original investor in the franchise, died of heart failure in 2006 at age 61. His wife replaced him on the Giants' executive committee, Magowan said.

The Burns family was largely responsible for keeping the Giants in the Bay Area in 1992 rather than relocating to Florida. Bonds arrived the following year and went on to become baseball's career home run leader when he broke Hank Aaron's record in August 2007.

The couple also were integral in building the team's 10-year-old waterfront ballpark at China Basin.

Burns was born Aug. 9, 1950, in Anchorage, Alaska. A former math teacher who met her husband while they both worked at the Pentagon, is survived by two daughters, Tori Burns and Trina Dean, son-in-law Rob Dean, and two granddaughters, Madison and Mackenzie.

 

[Beco]

Fred Travalena dies at 66; master impressionist and singer

Fred Travalena dies at 66; master impressionist and singer
Los Angeles Times

By Dennis McLellan
June 30, 2009

Fred Travalena, the master impressionist and singer whose broad repertoire of voices ranged from Jack Nicholson to Sammy Davis Jr. to Bugs Bunny, has died. He was 66.

Travalena, who began treatment for an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2002 and saw the disease return last July after going into remission in 2003, died Sunday at his home in Encino, according to his publicist, Roger Neal. Travalena also was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003 but had been in complete remission since then.

 

[Chainzz]

Kimo Leopoldo , alive ....

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Former Olympian Dies in Car Accident

http://www.nationalspeedskatingmuseum.org/images/skaters/Rudolph001.jpg

BOULDER, Wyo. (July 20) -- Three-time Olympic speedskater Ed Rudolph has died in a car accident in western Wyoming.

The Wyoming State Patrol says that 68-year-old Rudolph and his wife, Gwen, were killed Sunday afternoon when the driver of a GMC Suburban swerved to avoid a deer and collided with Rudolph's 2005 Acura.

Fifty-two-year-old Daniel Wahlen, the Suburban driver, and 47-year-old Dani Elenga, a passenger, also died. All four lived in Colorado Springs.

Rudolph was on the 1960, 1964 and 1968 U.S. Olympic teams. He went on to become a developer in Colorado Springs and volunteered to help build the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

E. Lynn Harris Dies

E. Lynn Harris, the best-selling author of novels that addressed questions of identity and sexuality among black men, has died, his publicist told The Associated Press. He was 54.

According to his official biography at his Web site, Mr. Harris was born in Flint, Mich. and raised in Little Rock, Ark. At the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, he was the school’s first black male Razorbacks cheerleader and was a lifelong fan of the team. He sold computers for a living until he self-published his first novel, “Invisible Life,” in 1991; it was picked up by Anchor Books in 1994, spawning a prolific writing career spanning ten more novels, from “Just As I Am” in 1994, to “Basketball Jones,” published in January, as well as a 2004 memoir, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.”

In a review of Mr. Harris’s 2006 novel “I Say a Little Prayer” in The New York Times Book Review, Troy Patterson wrote that Mr. Harris “has helped bring taboo topics — like closeted black men indulging their sexuality ‘on the down low’ — into mainstream conversation.” From his debut with “Invisible Life”, Mr. Patterson wrote that Mr. Harris offered a writing style that “was smoothly paced, and the prose occasionally opened up on Fitzgerald-lite moments of sparkling sentiment.”

In a statement, Alison Rich, the executive director of publicity for Doubleday, which published Mr. Harris’s novels, said: “We at Doubleday are deeply shocked and saddened to learn of E. Lynn Harris’ death at too young an age. His pioneering novels and powerful memoir about the black gay experience touched and inspired millions of lives, and he was a gifted storyteller whose books brought delight and encouragement to readers everywhere. Lynn was a warm and generous person, beloved by friends, fans, and booksellers alike, and we mourn his passing.”

 

[JennyOmanHill]

'You Can't Do That on Television' Star Dies

Canadian actor Les Lye, known to millions of North Americans in their 20's and 30's as the omnipresent adult on 'You Can't Do That on Television,' has died at 84. According to his CTV obituary, the veteran comic passed away on Tuesday. The cause is unknown.

The Ottawa native was enjoying a successful career in radio when in 1979 he joined the then-local kid's variety show, where he played an assortment of adult roles opposite a cast of kids (including Alanis Morissette). One of his most repeated characters was Barth, the gross proprietor of Barth's Burgery.
When 'YCDTOTV' moved over to Nickelodeon in the early 1980's, Lye became a household name. That is, if your home included children.

Lye appeared in every episode of every season he was in the cast, up until leaving the show in 1990. The show may be best known for it's signature sliming whenever someone said "I Don't Know."

Besides Barth, other memorable characters created by Lye were:
-- Ross Ewich, a studio director whose name rhymes with "raw sewage."
-- El Capitano, a firing squad captain hired to shoot the kids, but instead ends up getting shot.
-- Snake Eyes, a horrible bus driver.
-- Senator Lance Prevert, a drunken politician.

With fellow comic Bill Luxton, Lye co-created the comedy duo Uncle Will and Floyd, which appeared on Canadian TV for more than 20 years.

Lye is survived by his wife Johnni and three children.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ask not for whom the Taco Bell tolls ... it tolls for thee

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.dailyfinance.com/media/2009/07/taco-bell-chihuahua.jpg

In a marketing category crowded with creepy plastic Burger Kings, endlessly cheery Ronald McDonalds and spelling-disabled Chik-Fil-A cows, it's sometimes hard to remember what true fast-food royalty once looked like. It's been a long time since the late Dave Thomas and Clara Peller trod the boards. But Gidget, the gentle-yet-firm Taco Bell Chihuahua, was the real thing: the commercial face of the brand who inspired not just hunger, but joy; not just commerce, but compassion.

Although Gidget's softly accented voice was provided by Argentine actor Carlos Alazraqui, her eyes were what sold the goods. Somehow, looking into those big, brown pools of sympathy, viewers knew she wouldn't sell them a bum burrito or a chintzy chalupa. Like any good pitchman (or pitchwoman, or pitchdog), she put herself on the line, using her unspoken integrity to capture the hearts and inspire the trust of a generation of fast-food consumers.

And, ultimately, Gidget was well rewarded for her efforts. As humans, we may look askance at her short 15 years upon the earth; however, it is worth remembering that in dog years, she was a centenarian who lived a good, long life. Gidget died this morning, having spent her last days basking in the lazy warmth of a southern California sun, according to her trainer, Sue Chipperton.

Although Gidget's Taco Bell gig ended in 2000, she continued to enjoy a successful Hollywood career, appearing as Bruiser's mom in Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde. But for millions of Taco Bell fans, she will always be the ambitious canine who led a fast food revolution to capture our hearts -- and stomachs.

Te queremos, Gidget. Rest in peace.

 

[clutch1]

Former UFC star Kim "Kimo" Leopoldo reportedly dead at 41

by Jon Wiener
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Tuesday, July 21st 2009, 10:02 AM
Former UFC star Kim "Kimo" Leopoldo is reportedly dead from complications from a heart attack at the age of 41.

Leopoldo, beloved as one of UFC's pioneering fighters since his MMA debut in UFC 3 in 1994, fought for over 12 years in UFC until retiring after Extreme Wars 5-Battlegrounds in 2006.

Leopoldo battled drug problems throughout his fighting career, including testing positive for anabolic steroids at the end of his career and a charge for possession of a controlled substance in Long Beach, Calif. in 2009.

Leopoldo, known almost exclusively as Kimo in UFC circles, was renowned for his toughness, exotic tatoos, and often bizarre religious displays, most memorably when he carried a lifesize cross into the ring in his UFC 3 bout against Hall of Fame legend Royce Gracie.

No other details of his death are immediately available.

http://images.chron.com/blogs/fighting/kimo.jpg

That's surprising.
But not really.
Ya know what I mean.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ex-Champ Vernon Forrest Shot, Killed

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sTDJPzoi0A0/SEeAV0eE_8I/AAAAAAAAAIg/svBQGVwjxKU/s200/vernon_forrest.jpg

ATLANTA (AP) -- Police say former boxing champion Vernon Forrest has been shot and killed in an apparent robbery.

Atlanta Police Sgt. Lisa Keyes said in an e-mail Sunday that Forrest may have been robbed and was shot "multiple times in the back" Saturday night in Atlanta.

Keyes says there are no suspects.

"Vernon was one of the few decent people in boxing," promoter Gary Shaw said Sunday.

"I mean really decent. He cared about mentally challenged adults. He cared about kids. I just can't believe it."

Mark Guilbeau, an investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office, said an autopsy is planned for Sunday.

Forrest, a native of Augusta, Ga., who lived in Atlanta, was a member of the 1992 Olympic team. He was also a former WBC super welterweight champion.

"He was one of the most gracious and charitable fighters in boxing and he will be missed by the entire boxing community and all of his friends at HBO," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg told The Associated Press.

Greenburg helped put on eight of Forrest's fights

"It is time for the needless loss of life to end," Greenburg said. "Maybe Vernon's lasting legacy will be for Americans everywhere to rise up and end this kind of senseless violence."

Forrest worked to provide housing for the mentally challenged through his involvement in the Destiny's Child group home.

Forrest, 38, took two wins over Sugar Shane Mosley in 2002. On Sept. 13, 2008, Forrest reclaimed his WBC 154-pound title by beating Sergio Mora.

The win over Mora was Forrest's last fight. He suffered a rib injury while training for an April fight against Jason LeHoullier. That fight was canceled, and Forrest had to vacate his title.

There were tentative plans for a title fight against Sergio Martinez, perhaps in October, according to Shaw. Plans for an August fight against Martinez were pushed back by Forrest's rib injury.

Forrest, who had a 41-3 career record with 29 knockouts, is the third prominent boxer to die this month.

 

[Igor_1066]

Merce Cunningham

Renowned Choreographer Merce Cunningham Dies at 90

By Sarah Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 27, 2009 11:40 AM


Merce Cunningham, the avant-garde choreographer whose unorthodox approaches and discoveries throughout a six-decade career made him one of the most important artists of the 20th century, influencing filmmakers and directors as well as choreographers worldwide, died Sunday night, the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation said. He was 90.

No cause of death was reported.

With his Merce Cunningham Dance Company, founded in New York in 1953, Mr. Cunningham collaborated with composer John Cage (with whom he also had a romantic partnership) and painters Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and other major figures in the modern art world. He created a body of work that looks like none other -- plotless, spacious and often leisurely paced works, characterized by the clarity, calm and coolness of the dancing. He also developed an elegant and rigorous dance technique based on ballet's pulled-up stretchiness, the weightedness he absorbed from Martha Graham, with whom he danced before striking out on his own, and his own ways of twisting, folding and releasing the body.

But his achievement is not limited to style, subject matter, quantity of works (nearly 200) or even the extraordinary longevity of his world-renowned troupe in a field known for spotty funding and wavering public support. Mr. Cunningham also invented radical working methods that exploded the mold and produced new ways of moving.

Simply put, Mr. Cunningham expanded what is possible in dance.

From his earliest works to his last, Mr. Cunningham flouted convention, embracing the unknown and the unpredictable. For example, in "eyeSpace" (2006), the audience was loaned pre-loaded iPods and encouraged to shuffle the specially commissioned musical selections at will.

Even toward the end of his life, when he was physically frail, crippled by arthritis, and his cloud of white hair had thinned to a mist, Mr. Cunningham was a fierce modernist. His commitment to contemporary music led him in his last years to creative partnerships with the wildly popular British art-rock band Radiohead and the minimalist Icelandic band Sigur Ros, both of whom performed live at the premiere of "Split Sides" in 2003.

Where other choreographers looked to music and their own imagination for inspiration, Mr. Cunningham favored the creative strategies of a physicist, a Vegas high roller and a techno-whiz.

He split the atomic unity of music and dance. No longer were the steps dependent on a beat; in Mr. Cunningham's works, the dancing and the music were utterly independent of each other, existing side by side "in space and time," that is, performed in the same spot for a set number of minutes, but coming together essentially as strangers. He also introduced "chance operations," rolling dice to determine the sequence of dance sections. To make this work, he had to refine and extend his dance technique, coming up with ways to link movements that wouldn't ordinarily be possible side by side. The unnaturalness that resulted was a hallmark of his style, and only the most highly trained and capable dancers could make it look serene and effortless. Cunningham dancers were esteemed as among the best in the world of professional dance.

In some of Mr. Cunningham's works, even decisions about the ordering of sets, costumes and lighting were made by rolling dice or flipping a coin. This was the case in "Split Sides" (2003), a two-part production for which two sets of everything (lighting designs, costumes, etc.) were created and which came first was determined with great fanfare through dice-rolling in front of the audience just before the curtain went up.

Mr. Cunningham also brought cutting-edge technology into dance, in the 1960s pioneering the use of the camera to capture dance in multimedia collages. In the late 1980s he helped develop a software program, originally called LifeForms, that generates movements and step combinations. He began using it in the creation of his dances in 1991.

Of his use of the camera, Cunningham said at a 1996 festival of his films in Paris, "It interested me at once because it's something that is particular to our time." This line of thinking led him to use contemporary music almost exclusively, as well as to post Web casts of rehearsals from his studio. Beginning this year, his company's Web site featured "Mondays with Merce," including interviews with Mr. Cunningham.

Age did not slow Mr. Cunningham's drive for innovation. He explored motion-capture technology in "Biped," which he created in 1999 at the age of 80.

LifeForms, one of his dancers once said, "reconstituted" Mr. Cunningham's notions of the body's coordination. It further complicated Mr. Cunningham's choreography, allowing him to see new possibilities for the independent movement of the torso, head, arms and legs. Typically, however, Mr. Cunningham did not publicly reveal what method he used in creating his choreography, whether it was the computer or a toss of a coin or the I Ching, another of his favored strategies.

All of these means, he said, enabled him to move the performance beyond his own self-expression.

"Some people seem to think that it is inhuman and mechanistic to toss pennies in creating a dance instead of chewing the nails or beating the head against a wall or thumbing through old notebooks for ideas," Mr. Cunningham said. "But the feeling I have when I compose in this way is that I am in touch with a natural resource far greater than my own personal inventiveness could ever be, much more universally human than the particular habits of my own practice."

On his groundbreaking severing of dance's reliance on music, Cunningham had this to say after a 2006 performance at the Kennedy Center: "We happen to use the same amount of time but we cut it up differently. . . . I'd rather that we solve [the use of time] in some unknown way."

Mr. Cunningham's works changed what a performance could be, questioning nearly every aspect. Typically, his dances had no central focus -- groups or soloists might perform simultaneously in various spots around the stage, facing the wings or the backdrop as often as the audience. There was frequently neither structure nor climax, but rather, a mix of impulses and dynamics, much as a Jackson Pollock canvas captured dripped paint rather than ordered brushstrokes. Yet the dancers did not improvise. Mr. Cunningham was known to work out his choreography meticulously in sections that could run seamlessly together whatever their order. To get that seamlessness, chance operations were used in advance of the performance, and the dancers rehearsed the result to a silent counting system in their heads.

While Mr. Cunningham made his greatest mark as a choreographer, it was as a dancer that he first won acclaim. Mercier Philip Cunningham was born April 16, 1919, in Centralia, Wash. He began dancing as a child, learning tap and vaudeville-style routines at a local school. He attended George Washington University for one year, dropping out to resume dance and theater studies in Seattle, where he first met John Cage, whose composition classes he attended.

Mr. Cunningham was an unusually gifted dancer, slim and tall with a long neck that added to his striking physical grace. He had a high, light jump, and once airborne, he seemed to float. Carolyn Brown, a founding member of his company and his frequent dance partner, described his dancing as "a strange, disturbing mixture of Greek god, panther and madman."

In 1939, after watching him in a series of classes she taught in Oakland, Calif., Martha Graham took him into her company.

Mr. Cunningham was only the second man to join Ms. Graham's company; she created roles for him in "El Penitente," "Letter to the World" and "Appalachian Spring," her most famous work, in which Cunningham originated the role of the Preacher. While dancing for Ms. Graham, Mr. Cunningham also took ballet lessons at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet.

Between these two footings -- Graham's grounded, muscular technique and Balanchine's neoclassic style of ballet with its streamlined, aerial quality -- Mr. Cunningham's own technique would later emerge as a bridge. He would eventually create works for such companies as New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Boston Ballet, and other ballet companies have performed existing Cunningham works (as did Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project).

This cross-discipline effort started as early as 1947, when Mr. Cunningham created "The Seasons," with music by Cage, for Ballet Society, a precursor to Balanchine's New York City Ballet. City Ballet performed "The Seasons" in its inaugural season, with Mr. Cunningham as a guest dancer. He would occasionally use Balanchine dancers in other works, and taught at the School of American Ballet until 1951.

By 1941, the preeminent dance critic Edwin Denby had singled out Mr. Cunningham as "one of the finest dancers in America." But Mr. Cunningham's focus had already begun to shift to dance-making. A year later, he presented his own choreography at Bennington College in Vermont, with music by Cage, launching a series of collaborations that grew into a lifelong artistic and romantic partnership. It was with a 1944 piece called "Root of an Unfocus" that their revolution began: the idea that music and dance needn't be entwined but could exist separately, with nothing in common besides duration. Mr. Cunningham left Graham's troupe the next year.

Mr. Cunningham used chance operations for the first time in a 1951 piece, "Sixteen Dances for Soloist and a Company of Three," in which the sections were ordered by a coin toss, as well as the duration of each section, the dance phrases and their directions in space. This became an ongoing method of composition.

Also around this time, Mr. Cunningham and Cage began summer teaching posts at Black Mountain College in Black Mountain, N.C., a meeting place for many artists of the day and a fertile laboratory for experimentation. It was here that the choreographer and composer emerged as leaders of the avant garde. It was also here that in 1953 Mr. Cunningham formed his own troupe. (Paul Taylor, later a major choreographer in his own right, was a founding member.) In its early years, the company toured in a Volkswagen bus with Cage at the wheel.

A decade later, the company embarked on a world tour that lasted six months and won the artists high recognition. Their reputation cemented, they enjoyed annual New York seasons and national and international touring thereafter. In those early years, however, their work could elicit violent reactions. With "Winterbranch" (1964), Cunningham created a succes de scandale; with its aggressively loud and abrasive score by LaMonte Young and glaring lighting by Rauschenberg, it provoked an audience uproar. Even after Mr. Cunningham won reverence as an elder statesman and tireless innovator, he continued to divide audiences, some seeing his work as pretentious or coldly cerebral, and others as surprising and revelatory.

Mr. Cunningham and Cage shared an interest in Zen Buddhism, and Mr. Cunningham found choreographic inspiration in many of its principles -- especially the belief that everything is constantly transforming. His use of chance operations, he said, was a way to get his ego out of the way and bring the randomness of life to the stage. And he rejected the idea of dance "representing" or imitating anything in life; his dances had no meaning beyond themselves. "What is seen is what is," he said.

Mr. Cunningham's collaborators included Roy Lichtenstein, Isamu Noguchi, Nam June Paik and Frank Stella. Warhol created large helium-filled Mylar pillows that drifted around onstage for "RainForest" (1968). Rauschenberg was the company's resident designer from 1954-1964; Johns was at one time an artistic adviser. Cage was the Cunningham company's music director until his death in 1992. Mr. Cunningham also commissioned scores from such composers as Brian Eno and Morton Feldman. He worked with filmmaker Charles Atlas on numerous dances for video, and with other filmmakers on film versions of his dances and documentaries about his creative process.

Despite the collaborative method -- or because of it -- so many of Mr. Cunningham's works are notable for their sense of wholeness, as if the elements were all part of a plan rather than created separately. In "Summerspace," for instance, the choreography suggests birds in flight or the skittering of insects on a hot, still afternoon; Rauschenberg's pointillist decor evoked sun-dappled fields; Feldman's score was delicate and meditative. The key to this method was Mr. Cunningham's solid taste in like-minded artistic partners.

In 2007, Mr. Cunningham worked for the last time with Rauschenberg, who died the next year. The resulting work, "XOVER," was dominated by a towering detail of Rauschenberg's painting "Plank," which combines a bicycle, broken barriers and a large section of sewer pipe. Together the images evoked freedom and a tunnel to somewhere else -- given the context, the afterlife, perhaps. Two scores by Cage were also used, performed live and simultaneously. This reunion of three like minds resulted in a deeply moving work, remarkable for Mr. Cunningham's soaring, large-scale choreography, with the dancers in white, calling to mind Rauschenberg's all-white paintings of the 1960s as well as angels or the openness of eternity.

As much as he treasured the notion of unpredictability, he had his predictable side. In his 80s, he still came to the studio every day, accompanied the company on every tour, watched performances from the wings and created a new piece just about every year. Even in his last years, when arthritis required him to use a wheelchair, he showed up at the studio regularly. His 2009 work, "Nearly Ninety," premiered on his 90th birthday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Also that year it was announced that the future of Mr. Cunningham's art would not be left up to chance: After his death, his company would embark on a two-year world tour and then fold.

Mr. Cunningham has collaborated on two books: "Changes: Notes on Choreography," with Frances Starr, and "The Dancer and the Dance," with Jacqueline Lesschaeve.

An animal lover, in 2002 Mr. Cunningham published "Other Animals: Drawings and Journals by Merce Cunningham."

Among his many awards, Mr. Cunningham received a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors, as well as Britain's Laurence Olivier Award and France's Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Former Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson Dead at 68

http://www.blogcdn.com/nfl.fanhouse.com/media/2009/07/eagles-johnson-footba_kim.jpg

The Philadelphia Eagles announced that longtime defensive coordinator Jim Johnson lost his fight with skin cancer and died Tuesday afternoon at the age of 68. Johnson was the Eagles defensive coordinator for 10 years under coach Andy Reid, stepping aside officially just last week when it was announced that Sean McDermott would take over the position.

"For ten years, Jim Johnson was an exceptional coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, but more importantly, he was an outstanding human being," Eagles chairman Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement released by the team. "Jim epitomized the traits of what a great coach should be -- a teacher, a leader and a winner. He positively touched the lives of so many people in and out of the Eagles organization. It was easy to feel close to him. We will miss him greatly."

Johnson was an NFL assistant for a total of 22 years, spending time on the staffs of the Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks prior to joining the Eagles, where he became known as one of the top defensive minds in the game and one of the best defensive coordinators of all time. According to the press release announcing his death, Johnson's defenses ranked second in the NFL in sacks, third-down efficiency and red zone touchdown percentage and fourth in average points allowed per game from 2000-08.

Under Johnson, 10 different Eagles defensive players made a combined total of 26 Pro Bowls, led by former safety Brian Dawkins' seven. During his 10-year tenure, the Eagles made seven playoff appearances, five NFC Championship Game appearances and one Super Bowl.

Jim Johnson began coaching as the head coach at Missouri Southern from 1967-68 and went on to coach at Drake and Indiana. From 1977-83 he was Notre Dame's defensive coordinator.

As a player, he was an all-conference quarterback at the University of Missouri and played two professional seasons (1963-64) as a tight end for Buffalo.

He is survived by his wife, Vicky, his two children, Scott and Michelle, and four grandchildren.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ex-Angels pitcher Luis Quintana dies in Florida at age 57

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former California Angels relief pitcher Luis Quintana has died in Florida.

Palm Beach County sheriff's officials said in a statement that Quintana, 57, died of natural causes. He was found in his car Monday after it crashed.

Quintana appeared in 22 games for the Angels in 1974 and '75, posting a 2-3 record and a 5.03 ERA.

A native of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, his family plans to take his body back to that island for burial.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Luxury-loving Rev. Ike is dead at 74

Frederick Eikerenkoetter, better known as Rev. Ike, died Tuesday at 74 in a Los Angeles hospital from complications from a stroke.

The Rev. Frederick Eikerenkoetter, known as Rev. Ike to a legion of followers here and across the nation to whom he preached the blessings of prosperity while making millions from their donations, has died. He was 74.

A family spokesman said he died Tuesday in a Los Angeles hospital, two years after he suffered astroke from which he never recovered.

Rev. Ike's ministry reached its peak in the mid-1970s, when his sermons were carried on 1,770 radio stations to an audience estimated at 2.5 million.

He also preached his philosophy of self-empowerment on television and the Internet, in books and magazines, and on audiotapes and videotapes.

From the stage of the former Loews movie theater on 175th St. in Washington Heights, which he restored and transformed into his United Church Science of Living Institute, Rev. Ike would tell thousands of parishioners "this is the do-it-yourself church. The only savior in this philosophy is God in you."

He then would exhort the believers to "close your eyes and see green ... money up to your armpits, a roomful of money, and there you are, just tossing around in it like a swimming pool."

As payback for spiritual inspiration, Rev. Ike asked for cash donations from the faithful - preferably in bills not coins. "Change makes your minister nervous in the service," he would say.

Critics called Rev. Ike a con man, saying the only point of his ministry was getting rich from the donations.

They noted that he made a show of sumptuous clothes, jewelry, posh residences and exotic cars. "My garages runneth over," he would boast.

But his supporters said Rev. Ike's love of luxury had roots both in the traditions of African-American evangelism and the philosophies of mind over matter.

Rev. Ike was born in Ridgeland, S.C., to a father who was a Baptist minister and a mother who taught elementary school. They divorced when he was 5.

At 14, he became an assistant pastor for his father's congregation. He briefly preached in Boston before coming to New York.

He leaves his wife, Eula, and son, Xavier Frederick.

 

[HB1965]

Sir Bobby Robson, English Soccer Legend, Dies at 76

NY Times July 31, 2009

LONDON — No matter where in the world you mention the name Bobby Robson, the response is the same: a man of soccer. A man who lived 50 adult years for the game and through the game.

A man, above all else, whose passion never tired and was never defeated by culture, language or ultimately by the insidious impact of money on the sport.

Sir Bobby Robson died in the early hours of Friday in his native Durham, in northern England. He was 76, he fought five different cancers since 1991, and even last weekend, even in a wheelchair, he was on a soccer pitch in Newcastle.

Some of the great players, his players, formed a guard of honor as he was wheeled on. They thrilled him by re-enacting the 1990 World Cup semifinal, which the England side he managed lost on penalty kicks to the West German team of Franz Beckenbauer.

Each of the players still able to kick a ball played last Saturday for as long as they were able. The match was to raise yet more money for Robson’s last great venture, his foundation for a cancer research center to trial new drugs on patients in his home city.

To that end, his life’s full circle had turned from playing the game as a coal miner’s son to managing world renowned players in England, the Netherlands, Portugal, Canada, Spain.

He was raised in a terraced coal miner’s cottage and left school at 15. Until soccer intervened, he was destined to follow his father down the local pit, as an electrician. “My father Philip,” he would say on introducing his parent to anybody he met. “A wonderful man, he only ever missed one shift in 51 years down the pit.” And Philip would settle into the background as people either fawned upon his son, or in his time as England team manager from 1982 to 1990, would seek to tear down his authority.

It was ever thus. From Fulham, the London club where Bobby Robson started as a professional player in 1950, to Ipswich, then Eindhoven, Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona and finally to take over Newcastle, the team his father loved, Robson was single minded, combative, dedicated.

“I saw Frank Sinatra sing when he was nearly 80,” Robson once said. “And I thought it was the best thing I witnessed in my life. It depends who you are and where you are.” His treatment of players is legion. He took the Brazilians Romario and Ronaldo when they were in their teens and far from their culture, in Eindhoven and Barcelona. He dealt with boys and men, with turbulent personalities and meek players.

Often he could barely pronounce, or remember, their names. He often mispronounced Josep Guardiola, now a successor of his as coach to Barcelona, as Gladioli.

But the guiding ethics of his life were hard work and love of the game.

I still have the original text he wrote for a speech at a coaches’ conference in 1977. He was then the team manager at Ipswich Town, a small club he raised to a bigger one in England.

His subject was “The period of Apprenticeship and selection of Professional Material.”

“What do I look for in a young player?” he wrote. “The same things that I look for in a player who might set me back more than one hundred thousand pounds in the transfer market.

“He must have pace, control, understanding and dash. He must be enthusiastic, brave, courageous and dedicated. He must have a certain amount of technique, although that can be added as he matures. If these raw materials are evident, you have something to work from and you have a good chance of producing a professional player.” The script then cautioned: “The qualities are developed during the apprenticeship years by sheer hard graft.” He was to spend the rest of his days nurturing boys from varying walks of life, and from different nationalities, though homesickness and alienation into developing the most precious thing they possess: talent.

I recall a day in Poland where his father had gone along to see an England game, and Bobby asked his guest to take the old man out of the hall, buy him a beer, make sure he does not see the bear baiting of the England manager by the English press.

I recall another day, when Robson was coach to a World XI chosen to play for a Unicef match against the then world champion Germany in Munich. Players arrived by the hour from the far corners of the world. He couldn’t pronounce or remember their names, but he knew their faces, and their talents.

Within one training session he had somehow gelled those disparate players into a team that played a coherent 4-4-2 formation. Each of them called him “Mister,” all played a charity match as if it were the World Cup final. And each of them to this day can remember that training session, that communication, that fun day.

Underlying it was the cause, and underlying Robson’s last cause, his cancer charity was what brought the German and English players of 1990 back to Robson’s boyhood stamping ground, Newcastle United. He had worked through his recurrent bouts of cancer — in the mouth, the lungs, the brain — with humor and fortitude and, his single most evident trait, sheer determination.

The million pounds raised by his charity in its first few months astounded him. It should not have.

People responded to the man he was, the enthusiasm he imparted. “Its difficult to compare achievements, and this is different to football,” he said of the cancer trust in February. “We are talking about saving lives, not winning matches.

“But this is up there with anything I have achieved in the game. Football makes a huge difference to people, but what the people here at this research center are doing is more important.

“Soccer is about beating your opponent, this is about beating death. I have met unforgettable people, and this has been a great year.”

 

[HB1965]

World mourns Corazon Aquino

Sidney Morning Herald
Mynardo Macaraig in Manila
August 3, 2009

THE President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, will cut short a visit to the US to attend the funeral of Corazon Aquino, who overthrew the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Mrs Aquino died of cardiac arrest on Saturday, aged 76, after a battle of more than a year with cancer.

Thousands of mourners have paid their respects, lining up to file past her coffin in silent tribute.

Mrs Aquino led millions of Filipinos in protests against Marcos in the ‘‘People Power’’ revolt of 1986, before taking over as president.

World figures, led by the US President, Barack Obama, paid tribute to Mrs Aquino as ‘‘an inspiration’’. Dr Arroyo has declared 10 days of mourning for the woman she described as a ‘‘national treasure’’.

Mrs Aquino was to be buried on Wednesday after a family-led ceremony; she had asked not to be given a state funeral, the presidential palace said. Schools across the country are to close for the day.

She will be laid to rest beside her husband, Benigno ‘‘Ninoy’’ Aquino, who was assassinated in 1983 after he flew back to the Philippines from US exile for a meeting with Marcos.

Thousands of people queued yesterday to see Mrs Aquino lying in state at a Catholic school in Manila, many of them wearing yellow clothing or the yellow ribbons that became the symbol of her popular revolt. Her coffin, draped in the national colours, accompanied by a military honour guard, arrived in a solemn ceremony on Saturday. Weeping family members and close friends showered the coffin with yellow confetti.

In Manila’s Makati financial district, huge posters of Mrs Aquino went up, while neighbours left flowers and lit candles outside the family home. Special Masses were held across the country.

Tributes came in from around the world for the woman who served as president from 1986 to 1992, during which time she restored democratic institutions and survived several coup attempts by the military.

Mr Obama said he was ‘‘deeply saddened’’ by Mrs Aquino’s death, adding that ‘‘her courage, determination, and moral leadership are an inspiration to us all and exemplify the best in the Filipino nation’’.

The Pope remembered Mrs Aquino as a ‘‘woman of deep and unwavering faith’’, while Imelda Marcos, wife of Ferdinand, said her family joined the nation in mourning and prayer.


http://www.smh.com.au/world/world-mourns-corazon-aquino-20090802-e5ui.html

 

[Igor_1066]

The Revernd Ike is gone.

'Frederick Eikerenkoetter, better known as Rev. Ike, died Tuesday at 74 in a Los Angeles hospital from complications from a stroke.

The Rev. Frederick Eikerenkoetter, known as Rev. Ike to a legion of followers here and across the nation to whom he preached the blessings of prosperity while making millions from their donations, has died. He was 74.

A family spokesman said he died Tuesday in a Los Angeles hospital, two years after he suffered astroke from which he never recovered.

Rev. Ike's ministry reached its peak in the mid-1970s, when his sermons were carried on 1,770 radio stations to an audience estimated at 2.5 million.

He also preached his philosophy of self-empowerment on television and the Internet, in books and magazines, and on audiotapes and videotapes.

From the stage of the former Loews movie theater on 175th St. in Washington Heights, which he restored and transformed into his United Church Science of Living Institute, Rev. Ike would tell thousands of parishioners "this is the do-it-yourself church. The only savior in this philosophy is God in you."

He then would exhort the believers to "close your eyes and see green ... money up to your armpits, a roomful of money, and there you are, just tossing around in it like a swimming pool."

As payback for spiritual inspiration, Rev. Ike asked for cash donations from the faithful - preferably in bills not coins. "Change makes your minister nervous in the service," he would say.

Critics called Rev. Ike a con man, saying the only point of his ministry was getting rich from the donations.

They noted that he made a show of sumptuous clothes, jewelry, posh residences and exotic cars. "My garages runneth over," he would boast.

But his supporters said Rev. Ike's love of luxury had roots both in the traditions of African-American evangelism and the philosophies of mind over matter.

Rev. Ike was born in Ridgeland, S.C., to a father who was a Baptist minister and a mother who taught elementary school. They divorced when he was 5.

At 14, he became an assistant pastor for his father's congregation. He briefly preached in Boston before coming to New York.

He leaves his wife, Eula, and son, Xavier Frederick.'