Art Smith July 12th, 2008
Former GW Bush White House Spokesman, conservative political pundit, newspaper columnist and talk show host, Tony Snow, has died of cancer at 53.
Snow also served in the GHW Bush White House as a speech writer and Deputy Assistant of Media Affairs.
Tony will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
Sphere: Related ContentArt Smith July 4th, 2008
Former Senator Jesse Helms, Republican from North Carolina, passed away today at 86. He joins Thomas Jefferson and John Adams as great Americans who left this life on Independence Day.
Helms held significant roles in Congress over the years, and helped move policy to the right during his tenure.
Anything else I can say has already been well written by Sister Toldjah. She also has a number of good links.
Sphere: Related ContentArt Smith June 14th, 2008
In the midst of all the activity yesterday, I failed to acknowledge the passing of Tim Russert. He had a sudden heart attach at work Friday.
I have watched Tim over the years, and although I sometimes through he pursued issues that were not relevant, he was a man of integrity, he was always courteous to his guests and always sought the truth. He will be missed by me and a nation that did look to him to help keep our politicians honest, and no one will likely ever replace him.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
Update: Added link to WSJ story.
Sphere: Related ContentArt Smith May 4th, 2008
Des Moines local news personality Michelle Parker, 52, died today. The cause of death has been stated to be heart failure, but I expect we will hear more in the next few days.
Michelle worked at KCCI-TV, the number 1 news station here in Des Moines, for 29 years. She covered a variety of news beats, and earned the respect and love of Central Iowans as well as her coworkers and peers. She was a trusted voice, and I would say most people in Des Moines considered her to be a friend.
It was extremely touching to see the members of KCCI’s staff respond to this tragic event, and my heart goes out to them.
Michelle leaves behind a sister.
Update: Michelle was remembered as being extremely compassionate and generous, always positive and upbeat. Also, Friday she and Kortney Kintzer of KCCI won an a first place AP award in “general reporting” for a story they had done about a soldier returning from Iraq last yerar. Her last story is being aired tonight (Sunday) night at the end of the newscast.
Update 2: Added photo and links to KCCI page about Michelle.
Sphere: Related ContentArt Smith April 6th, 2008
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter), who starred in The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Soylent Green, The Planet Of The Apes (and most of its sequels), Earthquake, and scores of other films, died Saturday at the age of 84.
Heston was an excellent actor. The Ten Commandments was en epic film, more a credit to DeMille than to Heston, but a great
performance on his part nonetheless. A few years later, Ben Hur brought him his only Oscar. He also directed a few films and wrote Antony and Cleopatra.
Heston was also well know for his conservative views and caused an uproar in liberal Hollywood when he became President of the NRA in 1998. He was a Democrat early in life, but changed party affiliation in the 60’s and was quoted as saying: “”My politics haven’t changed — it was the Democratic Party that changed.”
According to the LA Times story on his death, positions and awards included:
Besides serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild, he also was chairman of the American Film Institute, head of President Reagan’s Task Force on the Arts and Humanities, and involved in several charities. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the Council on the Arts, the executive body controlling grants made by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In addition to his Oscar, Heston received numerous U.S. and international awards and honors, among them the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2003, he was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.
Hat Tip: Memeorandum.
Sphere: Related ContentArt Smith February 27th, 2008
A man of conservative principles passed on last night.
Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. He was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “He might have been working on a column,” Mr. Buckley said.
Mr. Buckley’s winningly capricious personality, replete with ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare with an anteater’s, hosted one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine National Review.
Many people around the country mourn his passing. Memeorandum has a great deal of links to those speaking words of kindness about him and sadness over his loss. He will be missed.
Sphere: Related ContentArt Smith December 28th, 2007
I was not surprised but I was not expecting to start my day like this. Pakistan is going to be a mess. Obviously, Bhutto was the target, and the others are collateral, but I didn’t want to minimize all of the lives lost in this action.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan —Fox News- Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a homicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally.Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she was entering her vehicle, and then the bomber blew himself up, FOX News has confirmed.The former prime minister died in Rawalpindi General Hospital, where she had been rushed to surgery. She was 54.”At 6:16 p.m. she expired,” said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto’s party who was at the hospital.Her supporters at the hospital began chanting “Dog, Musharraf, dog,” referring to Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf.
I’m way too sensitive, and access to the "global community" is difficult for me because it hurts to hear about death. 21 people. Lives, families, futures devastated. On top of that, a person that was in a position to help unify and build a country torn apart over the years is dead in the mess. Who will follow and fill in the gap she will leave?
Nothing was left to chance by the attackers on this one, either. Shot and blown-up. As I write this, I’m hearing on the radio that Al Qaeda is claiming responsibility. Fred Thompson speculated their involvement about 15 minutes prior to this announcement (he’s being interviewed on WHO Radio this morning on Jan Mickelson’s show).
I’m afraid this is going to lead to public uproar in Pakistan. Musharraf has already put the country’s security forces on alert, and I bet it’s only a matter of hours or days before we suspend the Pakistani constitution again. My friend Bithead says he thinks that Musharraf is not behind the attack (I would agree) and that Musharraf did not want this (to which I’m not sure I agree). Regardless, stability is shot for a while, which is Al Qaeda’s goal, and drastic action will be required to manage the country. I don’t think suspending the constitution is the answer, but I also don’t know enough about the culture and situation to say I know the answer. However, a conciliatory attitude by the Pakistani president could help.
Worse yet will be the risk of the US being dragged into this affair. I pray we can maintain an advisory role as the Pakistani government recovers. Let us all pray for these people.
Fox News has substantial coverage at their web site, as does Memeorandum. Thanks to Bitsblog for the initial story content from Fox News. Others blogging include Michelle Malkin, Jules Crittenden, as well as Stomp Swampers Sister Toldjah and Blue Crab Blvd.
Update:
Via Memeorandum:
CNN Political Ticker:
Presidential candidates react to Bhutto
2nd Update:
CNN reports that no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack that killed Bhutto. - 12/27/07 23:00.
Sphere: Related ContentArt Smith November 10th, 2007
Norman Mailer passed away of acute renal failure early Saturday morning at the age of 84. He is well know as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, as well as having been a journalist, script-writer, and essayist. Much of his writing was left-leaning, and he tended to take an anti-establishment position, but regardless he deserves respect for this: he served in WWII with honor, and wanted to be part of the first wave of invasion troops to go to Europe… he was however sent to the South Pacific theatre instead. Some of writings, such as “The Naked and the Dead”, were drawn from that experience. Mailer was also a supporter of U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
There is quite a bit more to be said about this man, whether you liked him or not, and here are some places to read more about him: Wikipedia article, AP Obituatry, Pagasos Article.
(Photo: Bob Daemmrich/Corbis)
