The Outsiders

Dirty Dancing

Ghost

To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar

After battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year and a half Patrick Swayze died peacefully, surrounded by family. 
Swayze started his career as a Broadway dancer.  His first major film role was in The Outsiders in 1983 and he appeared in almost 50 films and television series episodes in a successful career that spanned 30 years.
Some more of his many memorable films were  Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar.  Handsome, physically graceful, able to play tough guy, sexy leading man, heartbreaking apparition, or drag queen, Swayze was a versatile and talented actor.  He brought decency and dignity to everything he did.
Even after being diagnosed with cancer, Swayze continued acting.  He completed an entire season of a new televisions series, The Beast, which aired on A&E in January, 2009.  The series was cancelled after the first season due to Swayze’s failing health. 
To quote a line that Sam said to Molly in Ghost:  “It’s amazing Molly.  The love inside, you take it with you.  See ya”.
You made us laugh and cry, made our hearts throb and broke our hearts.  You will be missed, Patrick Swayze.

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DJ AM

DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, was one of six passengers on board a private jet plane that crashed in South Carolina on September 20, 2008. Goldstein and drummer Travis Baker were the only two to survive the crash, although both were badly burned.
Goldstein was found, dead,  alone in his apartment in New York City on Friday, August 28th.  There were no signs of foul play, but drug paraphernalia was found.  It has been rumored his death may have been the result of a drug overdose.

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Senator Ted Kennedy

Massachusetts Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, known as the  “Lion of the Senate”,  will be laid to rest this evening at Arlington National Cemetery near both of his slain brothers, Robert Kennedy and John Kennedy.  His flag draped coffin was first taken to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library where an estimated 45,000 people filed past.  Many of Senator Kennedy’s friends, colleagues and family members spoke of their memories and affection for him.
Kennedy was a champion of the people and fought hard in matters of civil rights, equal rights and dignity for all people.  Sen. Chris Dodd, one of Kennedy’s close friends and colleagues summed the man up in this way:  “The issue was people in the shadows, people who don’t have lawyers and lobbyists, people who don’t have advocates”.  Dodd said “you could never have a better advocate than Ted Kennedy”.  He said, “When he was in your corner, he was in it forever”.
With the death of his two older brothers Ted Kennedy became the family patriarch and was there for the entire family in times of happiness and in time of sorrow.  His nephew, former US. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II told of the advice his uncle gave him.  “He was telling me, never, ever, ever, ever, give up.  You stay in the race.  And if people don’t have health care, you stay in the race.  If people don’t have adequate housing, you stay in the race.  If people aren’t being treated properly, you stay in the race”.  And that is exactly what Senator Ted Kennedy did.  His place in the senate and in the lives of Americans will be very hard to fill.  He was one of the last of a dying breed of politicians who truly cared about his country and the people in it.
Senator Kennedy’s funeral Mass will be at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help beginning at 10:30 a.m.  President Obama will deliver the eulogy.  Following the Mass he will be taken to his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery.
Yes, the Lion sleeps tonight and millions mourn his passing.

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Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Eunice Kennedy Shriver died this morning surrounded by her five children, their spouses and her 19 grandchildren.  The exact cause of her death has not been reported.
In 1962, Ms Shriver started a day camp in her back yard for children with intellectual disabilities.  Camp Shriver, as it was called, was the beginning of the Special Olympics.  Today, over 2.5 million athletes in more than 180 countries are involved in the Special Olympics.
The portrait above was painted by David Lenz, who is the father of a son with Down’s Syndrome.  In addition to Shriver, it includes five Special Olympic athletes and Best Buddy participants. According to the artist the portrait depicts the movement, aided by Shriver, from the dark attitudes concerning people with disabilities, to “the light of acceptance, the light of understanding, the light of community”.
In addition to her children and grandchildren, Ms Shriver is survived by her husband of 56 years, Robert Sargent Shriver, who, among other accomplishments, was the first director of the Peace Corps.  Her passing leaves Jean Kennedy Smith, 81, and Ted Kennedy, age 77, as the only surviving children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.

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Walter Cronkite, the world’s most respected newsman, has died at the age of 92.  Cronkite is a true legend.  A real icon.  A man of integrity, accuracy and fairness in his reporting.  A man who deserved, and won, the respect of millions around the world. At one time a man who was called “the most trusted man in America.
Cronkite began his career in news as a teenage copy boy at the Houston Post while, at the same time, being a delivery boy for the paper.  He wrote in his biography, “As far as I know, there were no other journalists delivering the morning paper with their own compositions inside”.
Although he had been a news reporter since 1936 he is best remembered as the CBS Evening News anchorman from 1962 until he retired from broadcast news in 1981 at age 65. And just as he ended every broadcast by saying, “And that’s the way it is” and then giving the date, he ended his on-air farewell statement with, “And that’s the way it is:  Friday March 6, 1981”.
Cronkite was the first reporter to break the news of the assassination of President John Kennedy and remained our eyes and ears throughout the three days of coverage.  He was enthusiastic in his coverage of our space program, and he was credited with bringing a wide range of reporting on the Watergate scandal to the American public, ultimately causing the resignation of President Nixon.
Cronkite rarely injected his own opinions in his broadcasts saying, “I am a news presenter..” “I feel no compulsion to be a pundit”.  However, on the rare occasion when he did pronounce judgment the impact was big.  After visiting Vietnam in 1968, he did a special broadcast on the war.  He called it a stalemate and said there needed to be a negotiated peace.  In effect, saying the war was un-winnable.  Lyndon Johnson, who was president at the time, is quoted as saying, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost America”.
Cronkite continued to broadcast as a special correspondent and as a speaker and lecturer into the 21st century.  After retiring as a television anchorman he spoke his mind on many subjects, including his condemnation of George Bush’s 2003 Iraqi invasion, Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition, and what he called “unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel”.
He was a humble man, perplexed by his immense popularity, who saw himself as an old-fashioned newsman.  Although Walter Cronkite is a man deserving of all the media frenzy recently afforded Michael Jackson, Walter Cronkite is a man who would not have wanted it.  “And that’s the way it is:”  July 17, 2009

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Just when I thought there could be no more outrageous news in the Michael Jackson saga along comes House Resolution 600.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with it (really,who has time to pay attention to what our government is up to when there are so many other important matters going on) it is a bill that has been introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) which would officially honor Michael Jackson.
After sternly stating that the Constitution provides that a person is innocent until proven guilty (possibly a reference to Congressman Peter King’s comments about Jackson being a “pervert” and “lowlife”) she paid tribute to the Jackson family by proclaiming “all America appreciates and thanks you for Michael Jackson’s life”.  Oh bother.  I’m an American and it has never occurred to me to thank the Jackson family and now I’m feeling a little ashamed. Or maybe astounded.
Later in her speech, or tribute, or whatever, she held up a framed copy of what she declared was Resolution 600.  She summed up the essence of this absurd resolution by saying it “claims Michael Jackson as an American Legend, musical icon, world humanitarian, someone who will be honored forever and forever and forever and forever and forever (Yes.  5 forevers.  I do not exaggerate)”.
For anyone interested in reading the entire, ridiculous, resolution just do a web search for “Resolution 600” and you will find sites that have the whole thing.  It’s long, so grab a cup of coffee or a beer or huge glass of your favorite malt liquor and settle in for some fantastic reading(and by fantastic I mean something not in the realm of any reality) .
President Obama, when questioned in regard to his thoughts about Jackson, said that he would be remembered as a great entertainer and music icon but “there were aspects of his life that were sad and tragic”.
I found another quote attributed to our president which, I will have to admit, is unverified. He allegedly said “You know, this is part of American culture.  Michael Jackson, like Elvis, like Sinatra, when somebody who captivated the imagination of the country for that long passes away, people pay attention.  And I assume at some point people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons”.
As I said I can’t verify President Obama actually said spoke those words, but if he didn’t, he should have.

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A “private” funeral service was held this morning at Forest Lawn Cemetery for the family and close friends of Michael Jackson.  After an approximate half hour service Jackson’s gold casket was loaded back into the hearse and driven 11 miles to the Staples Center where the rest of the memorial will be taking place, causing major freeways to be shut down at the peak morning rush hour and surface streets to be closed to commuters.
I just read an article on an AP news site with this headline: “Jackson’s public memorial takes a spiritual turn”. The opening paragraph said the public memorial “struck a tone more spiritual than spectacular Tuesday, opening with a church choir serenading his golden casket”. Serenading his casket.  Hey, now! How is that for spiritual!?  The only other “spiritual” references I came across were that Pastor Lucious W. Smith gave the invocation (not unusual for a man of the cloth to officiate at a funeral), Lionel Richie “gave a gospel-infused (a what?) performance in front of a shaft of light evoking a cross”, and to round out the spiritual theme the Rev. Al Sharpton’s name was included as being among “those who saluted Jackson”.
Coverage of Jackson’s death has gone on almost non-stop since it hit the news early on June 25, is still going on 13 days later and, if the media can find a way (and they will) to milk another few days out of it, who knows how much longer we will be expected to pay tribute.  In comparison, on November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy, a United States president was killed by an assassin and the media coverage continued until he was buried on November 25th.
So who will be paying for this extravaganza? Will the Jackson family be chipping in to help defray some of the cost? Will AEG, the huge concert promoter, who, by the way, owns Stapley Center, be contributing any financial help?  How about the thousands of fans who won the tickets through a lottery drawing?  Might have been a smart idea to have the lottery, but require winners to pay $50 for the honor of attending this tribute to their idol.  Some of them were willing to pay a lot more than that for a ticket to his “comeback” tour.  And thousands who did purchase tickets for $125 say they would rather keep the tickets as a souvenir than get a refund.
Well, none of the above will be paying a dime. So who will?   It’s you!! You hard working, tax-paying citizens of Los Angeles, a city that is already up to its ear lobes in debt.  The cost is estimated at $3.8 million and going up.  Who knows what the final tab will be.
There is a city councilman by the name of Dennis Zine who appears to be keeping his head when all about him are losing theirs.  He is speaking out about the cost of this “tribute” to a city that is facing a $530m budget deficit.  “If the Jackson family’s gonna’ spend $25,000 on a gold casket I would think that AEG and the Jackson family could help defray the costs”, Zine said.  He went on to say of AEG, “They were going to do the tour.  They’re talking about marketing the rehearsal.  AEG is going to, one way or another, make a lot of money’”.  Citizens of LA should be paying tribute to him Councilman Zine.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, is asking fans to give a tax-deductible donation to the city to help cover the cost.  Good luck with that, your honor.
And the beat goes on.  And the beat goes on.

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Perhaps Debbie Rowe could pull petals off a daisy to make this most important decision.
Rowe, in a phone conversation with NBCLA’s Chuck Henry, stated that she definitely wants custody of the two children she bore for Michael Jackson.  Later, there was an on air phone call from Rowe’s attorney, Eric George, saying that contrary to what she said in the conversation with Henry she was, as yet, undecided.
Her attorney won a postponement of the guardianship hearing which was to take place on July 13.  The hearing has been delayed for at least a week, which will, of course, drag out the final decision of who will be given the guardianship of the three young Jackson children.  As if there wasn’t already enough turmoil in their lives.
According to Henry, after Rowe and Jackson were divorced, Rowe surrendered her parental rights but appealed that decision after Jackson was arrested in 2003 on charges of child molestation.  That would seem to indicate that she may have been concerned about the safety of the children, but evidently she didn’t seek permanent custody of them.  Also, according to Henry, Rowe and Jackson settled out of court in 2006.  Part of the agreement allowed Rowe visitation rights.  She admits that she has seen little of the children over the years.
What will be the fate of these children?  Being separated, with the two oldest going to a woman who they don’t really know?  Even though Rowe states she would be “willing” to take Blanket, too, there would be little chance of that happening.
In his will, Jackson requested his mother be given custody of all three children if she was still alive at the time of his death,  In the event she was deceased, he wanted long-time friend Diana Ross, age 65, to be their legal guardian.  While Katherine appears to be a devoted, loving grandmother and someone the children have spent much time with, her age, 79, raises the question as to how long will she be alive and able to care for them and what happens if that changes?

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Karl Malden may best be remembered as the much loved “Lt. Mike Stone” in the 1972 television series The Streets of San Francisco with Michael Douglas as his partner “Inspector Steve Keller”. Or maybe for the American Express “Don’t Leave Home Without It” commercials.  Or for that wonderful, glorious, if-you’re-gonna’-have-a-nose-have-a-nose, nose.
But this legendary actor’s career spanned more than seven decades.  His career began on Broadway in 1937.  Malden met famous director Elia Kazan in the late 1940s.  He worked with Kazan in two movies,  A Streetcar Named Desire, in 1951, and On the Waterfront in ,1954.  Both Movies starred Marlon Brando.  Brando won the Best Actor Award and Malden Best Supporting Actor in Streetcar.
Malden’s acting abilities allowed him to play many diverse roles.  He was in several westerns, war movies and comedies.  He was in a third film with Marlon Brando in 1961 as the character “Sherriff Dad Longworth” in One Eyed Jacks.  Malden’s last role was on the first season of The West Wing in which he played a Catholic priest.  Malden’s scene called for the use of a bible.  He used the same bible as the one he used as “Father Barry” in On The Waterfront.
Malden died in his sleep at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday according to his manager, Bud Ross.  Ross was unable to say what the exact cause of death was.  He did say, “It could be a combination of things.  He was 97 years old”
Malden is survived by his daughters Mila and Cara, his sons-in-law, three grandchildren, four great grandchildren and his beloved wife Mona who he married in 1938.  They had one of the longest successful marriages in Hollywood history.

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