Susan Graham,Ted Kennedy
August 29, 2009
Susan Graham,Ted Kennedy:The gray sky, rain, a sea of umbrellas, tolling bells and the ancient stones of the Boston basilica. Televised coverage Saturday of the funeral mass for Ted Kennedy was somber, stirring and deeply moving.
I can’t explain this except by the weather, perhaps, but the opening images as mourners waited at Our lady of Perpetual Help Basilica for the coffin of Senator kennedy to arrive seemed very British somehow. Maybe it involved all the gray and black suits, dresses, coats and umrellas. our all the persent politicians and former heads of state moving with such solemnity.
But even the rain drops on the lenses of the cameras somehow seemed right. Maybe I’m thinking metphorically, as in, even the heavens wept.
The Catholic funeral liturgy has its own sort of somber majesty, but the musical performances of Yo-Yo Ma, Placido Domingo and Susan Graham seemed to elevate the their moments onstage to the ethereal.
I am not going to make this a long post; I feel emotionally spent from watching the Friday and Saturday services, and I want to watch and post on the burial later. The words Saturday of Ted Kennedy Jr. alone as he described his father helping him up a snow-covered hill shortly after he lost a leg as an adolescent to bone cancer were overwhleming.
But I do want to highlight one aspect of the TV coverage of the funeral mass — the presence of John King on CNN.
I broke my pledge Saturday to watch only C-SPAN. As I waited for the mass to begin, I started surfing all the coverage and I came upon King, host of CNN’s “State of the Union” show, standing in the rain outside the church reporting on the scene in the old neighborhood at the foot of the basilica. What I saw kept me glued to the news network.
King and the CNN cameras (which appeared to be those of Boston’s fine news station WCVB-TV) caught the first glimpses of the funeral motorcade as it came up a hill toward the basilica on a street lined by old rowhouses that could have been in almost any working or middle class neighborhood in Baltimore.
It was a powerful tableau that grounded the larger-than-life Washington image of Kennedy in the brickand mortar reality of the people in Boston whom he served.
“As the hearse made it’s way up the hill, ” King reported that he could hear applause and some cheering from people on the street.
“… There was a woman holding a child out the window to see,” he said.
King’s words provided a great bit of detail that the cameras didn’t. But more important than anything he said was that fact that King was there in the rain reporting a small part of this large story.
King was the star of CNN’s widely-praised and highly-rated election coverage last fall — infact, he was the star of all the coverage on all the channels and networks. He is now the host of the most thorough and wide-ranging Sunday morning show on network or cable TV, “State of the Union.” He does not have to be standing in the rain outside the church.
more info:http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/08/ted_kennedy_coverage_funeral_m.html
Kiki Kennedy,Ted Kennedy
August 29, 2009
Kiki Kennedy,Ted Kennedy:CAROLINE KENNEDY, NIECE OF SENATOR KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Vice president and all of the speakers tonight for the gifts of Teddy that you have given to all of us. Thank you, Vicki, for loving him with all your heart for so many years, bringing him so much happiness.
To Kara, Teddy, Patrick, Kiki, Kara and Caroline, you’re making him so proud, bringing him so much joy. To Gene, I know you’ve lost your soul mate, because you and Teddy lit each others’ lives for your whole entire lives. And all your nieces and nephews are here to help you as best we can.
Welcome to this library that Teddy built and brought to life with his spirit and dedication to public service. As many of you know, over the last few years, or really, for most of my semi-adult life — one of my part-time jobs has been introducing Teddy to crowds of people who already knew him incredibly well.
Ted Kennedy Jr
August 29, 2009
Ted Kennedy Jr. has saluted his fallen father as his greatest source of love and encouragement through tough times.
The younger Kennedy, who lost a leg from cancer at the age of 12, stood before hundreds of mourners Saturday to memoralize Sen. Edward Kennedy at a funeral Mass in Boston. Kennedy’s son said, “Although it hasn’t been easy at times to live with this name, I’ve never been more proud of it than I am today.
Ted Kennedy Jr. has saluted his fallen father as his greatest source of love and encouragement through tough times.
The younger Kennedy, who lost a leg from cancer at the age of 12, stood before hundreds of mourners Saturday to memoralize Sen. Edward Kennedy at a funeral Mass in Boston. Kennedy’s son said, “Although it hasn’t been easy at times to live with this name, I’ve never been more proud of it than I am today.
for more info:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hk8kwy3dZab9P3tZAfR9Ep5XNVuQD9ACLD9O0
Joan Bennett Kennedy
August 26, 2009
Joan Bennett Kennedy:Ted Kennedy was the youngest of Joe and Rose Kennedy’s nine children.
He grew up in Hyannisport, Mass., and loved spending time by the water.
He attended Milton Academy before going on to Harvard University.
In Harvard’s 1955 football game against Yale, Ted caught his team’s only touchdown pass.
He eventually went on to earn a law degree from the University of Virginia and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1959.
One year earlier, he married Joan Bennett, and the two had three children over the next decade: Kara, Teddy Junior and Patrick.
He and Joan later divorced in 1982, but the two both remained close to their children over the years.
Ted Kennedy Quotes|Edward Kennedy Quotes
August 26, 2009
Edward Kennedy Quotes | Ted Kennedy | Edward Kennedy | Edward Ted Kennedy | Kennedy
Ted Kennedy Quotes|Edward Kennedy Quotes:For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.
Addressing Democratic National Convention, August 1980.
My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.
Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy, June 1968.
With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.
Endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, January 2008.
The more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side. . . .
In short, I hope for an America where neither “fundamentalist” nor “humanist” will be a dirty word, but a fair description of the different ways in which people of good will look at life and into their own souls.
I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt or religious belief.
I hope for an America where the power of faith will always burn brightly, but where no modern inquisition of any kind will ever light the fires of fear, coercion, or angry division.
I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity.
Speech on “Truth and Tolerance in America,” Oct. 3, 1983, Lynchburg, Va.
Although my doctors informed me that I suffered a cerebral concussion, as well as shock, I do not seek to escape responsibility for my actions by placing the blame either on the physical and emotional trauma brought on by the accident, or on anyone else. I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately. . . .
It has been seven years since my first election to the Senate. You and I share many memories — some of them have been glorious, some have been very sad. The opportunity to work with you and serve Massachusetts has made my life worthwhile.
for more details: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-naw-ted-kennedy-quotes26-2009aug26,0,3918428.story
Patrick Kennedy,Kara Kennedy
August 26, 2009
Patrick Kennedy,Kara Kennedy:Chief Executive Patrick Kennedy said, “A swing in the year-on-year run of sporting results, a normal occupational hazard for bookmakers, has driven a reduction in our operating profit in the period but we’re happy with the strong underlying performance.”
Basic earnings per share fell 23% to 63.4 cents. Operating profit fell 26% to €33.5 million. The total amount staked rose 8% to €1.15 billion. It announced a 5% increase in the interim dividend to 19.5 cents, citing “confidence” in the underlying performance.
Kennedy Brothers,Kennedy
August 26, 2009
Kennedy Brothers,Kennedy:Edward Moore Kennedy, the last of the Kennedy brothers who profoundly reshaped American politics over the past half-century, died shortly before midnight Tuesday at his home in Hyannisport, Mass.
He was one of history’s most towering senators, a skilled lawmaker who crafted scores of statutes that helped how children learn, how doctors treat the sick and how workers are paid and protected.
He was the Henry Clay of the 20th Century. He got the job done,” said Thomas Whelan, associate professor of social science at Boston University, citing the “Great Compromiser” of the mid-19th Century.
He was 77 years old and had been battling brain cancer for more than a year.
Kennedy’s life was in many ways the story of American politics over two generations.
He was the youngest child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, last in line behind brothers groomed for the presidency. He lacked the polished charm of his brother John, who won the presidency in 1960, or the grit and fire of brother Bobby, who pursued the White House in 1968.
He virtually inherited John’s Senate seat upon turning 30 in 1962, and he rose fast. His first Senate speech announced his passionate support of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and he was instrumental in pushing an overhaul of immigration law through the chamber a year later.
When Robert was assassinated in 1968, Ted became the heir to the family legacy. In January 1969, he upset veteran Sen. Russell Long of Louisiana to become majority whip, the Senate’s second-ranking position.
The close vote was a statement by the party’s liberal wing that Kennedy, who’d opposed the Vietnam War since 1967, was its undisputed leader and the frontrunner to challenge Richard Nixon for the presidency in 1972.
That scenario was shattered shortly after midnight on July 19, 1969, when the car he was driving sailed off a bridge and sank in a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Former Robert Kennedy campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne died in the accident. Edward Kennedy did not report the incident for nine hours, and six days later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene. He got a two-month suspended sentence, the minimum penalty, and went on national television to explain the series of events.
His true punishment was the damage to his career. In an era when the “silent majority” was holding “decency rallies” protesting the erosion of moral values in American life, Kennedy was a vivid symbol to many of all that had gone wrong.
There was a sense he always got special treatment, and Chappaquiddick was part of that,” said Michael Franc, vice president for government relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group. “Conservatives have this sense that he’s always held to a different standard.
At the same time, Kennedy was quietly building a reputation in the Senate as someone who made the system work, negotiating, often successfully, with the Nixon administration on key domestic initiatives.
for more details:http://www.mcclatchydc.com/100/story/74347.html?storylink=omni_popular
Ronnie Spector
August 26, 2009
Caroline Kennedy | Ted Kennedy | Edward Kennedy | Jackie Kennedy | John | John Kennedy
Ronnie Spector:The “original bad girl of rock and roll” from the Ronettes.
In a music industry where an artist’s life expectancy is often measured by their fleeting time in the spotlight, Ronnie Spector‘s influence truly precedes her: it’s evident and immediate from the second that unforgettable drum intro to the Ronettes’ 1963 smash “Be My Baby” kicks in, and she hasn’t even started singing yet. No matter who you are, what you’ve heard before or what you will hear in the future, there’s little that can compare to hearing “Be My Baby” for the first—or even the millionth—time. Ask artists as varied as the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, the New York Dolls, the Ramones or even Billy Joel, whose “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” was written for her.
But don’t just stop there, look to Beach Boy Brian Wilson, who was so taken with “Be My Baby” that he penned the nearly-as-great “Don’t Worry Baby” in response to it. Even Madonna once famously stated, “I want to look the way Ronnie Spector sounds.”
Spector didn’t just shift the musical landscape, she shook it up with earthquake intensity, defining careers right and left with “Be My Baby,” “The Best Part of Breaking Up,” “Baby I Love You,” “He Did It” and unforgettable renditions of Christmas classics like ‘Frosty The Snowman.”
To quote the lady’s website, because we couldn’t say it better ourselves: “Only a few artists in history have been capable of defining an entire era in pop music. Ronnie Spector is one of those artists: the embodiment of the heart, soul and passion of female rock ‘n’ roll in the 1960s. And to this day, no one has ever surpassed Ronnie’s powerful trademark vocals, her gutsy attitude, or her innocent but knowing sexuality.”
The truth, plain and simple. From her slit skirts to her sensual voice, there’s never been anything ordinary about her. Born Veronica Bennett to a white father and half-Cherokee half-black mother, Spector grew up in Spanish Harlem during the heart of the doo-wop era. Her earliest influence and lifelong idol, Frankie Lyman, lived just blocks away, and Spector would often go out of her way to pass his house on 165th Street. Cutting her teeth at the Apollo Theater’s infamous amateur nights, she formed the Ronettes with sister Estelle and cousin Nedra while still in her teens. After a stint at the Peppermint Lounge, they were soon performing at DJ Murray the K’s notorious Brooklyn Fox rock ‘n’ roll package shows.
Signed to the Colpix label, their first records included standouts like the aforementioned “He Did It” and “You Bet I Would,” written by Jackie DeShannon and Carole King respectively. In 1963 the Ronettes hooked up with The Tycoon of Teen himself, Phil Spector, resulting in the worldwide smash “Be My Baby,” followed by a tour of England with the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds as opening acts. The next few years found them turning in a hysteria-inducing performance on the Tami TNT Show and taking front and center on the legendary Phil Spector‘s Christmas Album.
In 1966 the Beatles personally requested the Ronettes to open for them on their final tour, then signed Ronnie to their Apple imprint in 1970 for the George Harrison-penned single “Try Some, Buy Some,” where she was backed by two-thirds of the Fab Four.
Inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, Ronnie has remained a rocker to the very core, often commenting on the lack of passion in modern music. Her latest release, the tellingly titled (and excellent) Last Of The Rock Stars, features a smattering of friends and fans who range from veterans Keith Richards and Patti Smith to young Cincinnati garage rockers the Greenhornes. Never forgetting where she came from, it contains a great version of the tin-pan alley ballad-cum-R&B hit made famous by Frankie Lyman, “Out In The Cold Again.”
Caroline Kennedy..Victoria Reggie Kennedy
August 26, 2009
Caroline Kennedy..Victoria Reggie Kennedy: He is the last of the Kennedy brothers who rode across the national stage to shape American leadership in the 20th Century. Now Ted Kennedy is dead, at 77.
Edward Moore Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate, was the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, and New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated in 1968. A fourth son, Joseph Kennedy Jr., anointed as the family’s chosen envoy to the political world, died during World War II.
They were Joe Kennedy’s sons, tethered to pride in power and money, and they were Rose Kennedy’s sons, brought up to respect church and public service. Ted Kennedy, after a youth of fast cars and carousing, became a passionate and serious defender of the have-nots. For his fervent commitment to his brothers’ agenda — civil rights, educational improvement, health care reform — they called him The Lion of the Senate.
for more details: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/obama-on-ted-kennedy-an-important-chapter-in-our-history-has-come-to-an-end.html
Robert Kennedy
August 26, 2009
Robert Kennedy:Joseph Kennedy, the millionaire businessman and one-time ambassador to Great Britain, and his wife, Rose, had nine children. Three became senators and one a president.
Joseph Kennedy died in 1969 at age 81 and Rose died in 1995 at 104.
Their children:
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY JR., 1915-1944
A Navy pilot, died when an explosives-laden bomber he was piloting on a secret World War II mission exploded. Awarded the Navy Cross and the Air Medal.
JOHN F. KENNEDY, 1917-1963
A U.S. senator from Massachusetts before he was elected the 35th president of the United States in 1960. Assassinated in Dallas, 1963. Married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953.
ROSEMARY KENNEDY, 1918-2005
Institutionalized through most of her life because of mental disability and a failed lobotomy.
KATHLEEN KENNEDY, 1920-1948
Married to William John Robert Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington. Died in a plane crash; her husband had been killed in World War II.
EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER, 1921-2009
Founder of the Special Olympics. Married to R. Sargent Shriver Jr., former Peace Corps director and unsuccessful candidate for president in 1976 and vice president in 1972.
PATRICIA KENNEDY LAWFORD, 1924-2006
Married and divorced from actor Peter Lawford.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, 1925-1968
Former U.S. attorney general, a U.S. senator from New York and a presidential candidate in 1968. Assassinated in Los Angeles, 1968. Married in 1950 to Ethel Skakel. They had 11 children.
JEAN KENNEDY SMITH, 1928-
Served five years as ambassador to Ireland in the Clinton administration. Married Stephen Edward Smith in 1956; he died in 1990.
EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY, 1932-2009
U.S. senator from Massachusetts since 1962. Married Virginia Joan Bennett 1958; divorced 1983. Married Victoria Reggie in 1992.
source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iUA18_e1CUwRG8o_XglTcnWW7JzwD9AAGA680
