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Jerry Reed, the country and western star who was also world famous for his role in the 'Smokey and the Bandit' films, has died. He was 71. Reuters reports that Reed passed away on Monday from complications arising from emphysema. Known as 'The Guitar Man', Grammy winner Reed made his first record aged 18 and went on to release over 40 albums. Reed wrote for Johnny Cash and Brenda Lee and two of his early songs, 'US Male' and 'Guitar Man', were recorded by Elvis Presley with Reed playing on the studio versions.

“Remembering Edna” (Isaiah 43:1-3a, 25; Psalm 25:6-7; Hebrews 10:12-23; Luke 23:33-34a, 39-46; 24:1-8)It’s funny, sometimes, what we remember--and what we don’t remember. Oftentimes that’s the case with how we remember someone who has just died. Because the events leading up to that person’s death are so recent and so vivid, that may be what we tend to focus on. Or we think about that person only as they were in their last few months or their last couple of years. But really, there’s a whole lifetime of memories of that person we can be thinking about. Take our dear friend...

In a dirty and dusty clay home in ancient Judea, the wizened old man worked over the swollen body of the girl. She had committed that gravest of sins in the Jewish culture of her time: She was unmarried and pregnant, and had left her hometown months ago to avoid bringing shame on her family. Now, she desperately hoped this old man could bring about an even greater transgression, aborting the child within her. "I think we have it," the old man muttered. "Now, we'll just …" Suddenly he gasped. "What is it?" asked the elderly woman who aided him....

After declaring that resolving the issue of abortion “is above my pay grade,” presidential contender Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) elaborated on the nuances of the topic. “Should a moment of incautious sexual indulgence be penalized by a life sentence of responsibility for the welfare of an unwanted child?” Obama asked. “I think this is too harsh a punishment, especially when we have the medical means to rectify the situation.” “There are also contractual considerations we ought not to ignore,” he continued. “A woman who goes in for an abortion has been promised that her pregnancy will be terminated. Just because...

The global financial crisis is set to get worse, with a large US bank likely to collapse in the next few months, a former IMF chief economist has warned. Kenneth Rogoff's comments came as shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sank on a report that the home lenders would, in effect, be nationalised. Despite hopes that the US economy had turned the corner, Mr Rogoff claimed it was "not out of the woods". "I would even go further to say 'the worst is to come'," he said. "We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the...

Comedian Bernie Mac died at Northwestern Memorial hospital early Saturday morning, according to Sun-Times Columnist, Stella Foster. He was 50. Though the cause of death has not been confirmed, Mac had been hospitalized recently for pneumonia. Foster said that she received calls early Saturday morning from a close friend of the Mac family, confirming the reports of Mac's death. On Friday, a spokeswoman for the actor, whose real name is, Bernard McCullough, said that he had been responding well to treatment for the illness. Mac made waves last month with off-color jokes during a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack...

Barack Obama may be only eight points ahead of John McCain in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, but he's creaming McCain in the number of pictures and stories published in The Post in the past two months. ....

Six years ago last week, a bomb went off in the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria at Hebrew University's Mt. Scopus campus. Seven students were murdered. The attack was the work of a Hamas cell from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The Silwan cell was one of the most prolific and murderous cells Israel has seen. In addition to the massacre at Hebrew University, its four members carried out the massacre at Moment Café in Jerusalem in which 12 were murdered; the Sheffield billiards club bombing in Rishon Lezion, which left 16 dead; and the bombing of railroad tracks in Lod. The...

CAMP VICTORY — Coalition forces once named the predominantly Sunni area in central Iraq, consisting of the cities of Yusuifiyah, Mahmudiyah, Iskandariyah and Latifiyah, the “Triangle of Death.” The troop surge initiated in 2007 neutralized much of the area enabling Iraqi Security Forces to take a leading role in the securing the region. An uprising there in March raised concerns and directed attention to the Iraqi Security Forces operating in that area; Coalition forces feared the ISF would struggle to maintain rule of law in the communities. “We got word that special group members were going to be coming down...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A bicyclist was killed early Thursday morning after being struck by a car on the Outer Loop near the I-65 interchange. Police said the driver of a Honda Accord appears to have been following a tractor-trailer headed westbound in the left lane. The driver apparently tried to go around the truck by switching to the right lane, which is where the bicyclist was traveling. The cyclist died at the scene. Detectives are trying to determine who's to blame. "Heavy traffic. If it's true that the person was following too close, that's another contributing factor that can cause...

My great uncle was captured in the Philippines by the Japanese during World War II, and died during the Bataan Death March. As far as I remember, I cannot recall anyone in my family saying that he was awarded the Purple Heart. If he was never awarded the Purple Heart, would he be eligible? If he did get it, how can I find out?

Loremo AG revises the look of its high MPG vehicle.’ - Loremo AG’s highly efficient Loremo LS and Loremo GT have been profiled several occasions time on DailyTech. When discussions started to brew about the vehicles, the topic quickly turned to fuel economy and then to their styling. There was no mistaking the bodywork for something other than futuristic with its low-slung profile, glass roof, and long, aerodynamic tail. With Loremo coming closer to providing a road going version of its vehicle, it made changes to the vehicle exterior to make it more feasible for production.

With some exceptions, an increasingly hard line across the Muslim world “CAN a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam?” When Egypt’s grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, pondered that dilemma in an article published last year, many of his co-religionists were shocked that the question could even be asked. And they were even more scandalised by his conclusion. The answer, he wrote, was yes, they can, in the light of three verses in the Koran: first, “Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion”; second, “Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve”; and,...

Southern states execute two killers HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Texas executed a man Wednesday who was convicted of killing a woman and her child, while Mississippi put to death a man who took part in the fatal beating of another man. Derrick Sonnier shook his head "no" when asked if he had any final statements. he was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal dose was administered. Sonnier was convicted of murdering Melody Flowers, 27, and her 2-year-old son, Patrick, in their Houston apartment in 1991. Flowers was raped, stabbed, strangled and beaten with a hammer until...

Great Song. I think I could have written the lyrics more suitable to me though .

A Canadian woman says she plans to release a giant lobster after she paid $1,000 to rescue the crustacean from a fish market. Laura-Leah Shaw forked over $1,000 to purchase the 22-pound lobster, dubbed Big Dee-Dee, from the Big Fish seafood market in Shediac, New Brunswick, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Sunday. The report said two unnamed Ontario groups contributed $1,000 each to rescue the animal, which is thought to be 100 years old. Big Fish was auctioning Dee Dee off for an opening price of $1,000, the Broadcasting Corp. said. Denis Breau, owner of the fish market, said at...

I am sitting with my dad as I write this. That's mostly what I do these days. Just sit. With my ever-swelling feet propped up and some (mercilessly) decaffeinated (because of the pregnancy) beverage at my side. Dad is still staying in my mom's guest house and Mom and I rigged up a wireless doorbell so that he can ring us if he needs us during the night. Usually he needs us at least a few times. She and I joked that we'll already be used to getting up several times each night so when the baby is born sleeplessness...

NEW YORK - A woman who died unnoticed on a hospital floor in an upsetting scene recorded by security cameras was killed by blood clots caused by a long period of physical inactivity, according to the city's medical examiner. Esmin Green, 49, had been sitting in a waiting room at the city-owned Kings County Hospital Center for nearly 24 hours when she collapsed from her chair and slowly died on June 19. She lay on the floor at the Brooklyn hospital for an hour before a nurse finally checked her pulse.

5. John F. Kennedy, Jr.- July 16, 1999 Jfk2 John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the 35th president, died along with his wife Carolyn Bessette when their plane crashed into the Atlantic en route to Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy was piloting his Pipier Saratoga II HP on a dark and hazy night when the crash occurred. It is believed that Kennedy, who had not yet been qualified for instrument flight rules conditions, was likely disoriented by the conditions.

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX Atlanta) – A Clayton County man was behind bars Sunday, accused of killing his own daughter. Police said the father was angry because he felt his daughter was disgracing the family. Investigators said 54-year-old Chaudhry Rashad was so outraged at his daughter, Sandela Kanwal, and her plans for divorce that he killed her after a heated argument at the family's home. Investigators said Rashad confessed to strangling the 25-year-old woman.

Saturday, July 05, 2008 By LOU BRANCACCIO, Columbian editor “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” William Edwards Deming, the guy largely credited with improving production during World War II, had this somewhat sarcastic comment about change. Hey, it’s no big deal if you don’t want to change. Dead isn’t a bad alternative. Well, wait just one second. Most of us aren’t all that enamored with this dead option. So we change. In the 1940s, it was critical to produce war materiel in a much more efficient way. The changes Deming suggested were very important to the...

Ah yes, the compassionate agents of Hope and Change. "The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. And today is my favorite Fourth of July ever, because the United States got an AWESOME [emphasis in original] birthday present: Jesse Helms finally died." More . . .

Vitamin D can help people live longer says study By Graham Tibbetts Last Updated: 1:34AM BST 24/06/2008 People with normal levels of vitamin D in their body are more likely to live longer than those with a deficiency, researchers have discovered. People with normal levels of vitamin D in their body are more likely to live longer than those with a deficiency, researchers have discovered. The vitamin, produced when the skin is exposed to sunlight, helps the body absorb calcium and is considered important for bone health. A team in Austria has found that it can also have an impact...

If the truth be told (and I’m about to tell you the truth based on an encounter I had last year), the late great Tim Russert scared the established politicos to death. Amidst the accolades coming from the Republican and Democratic leaders following his heart attack on Friday, the fact is that Russert was the toughest interrogator in the media. He was a modern-day Howard Cosell (without the bravado), and for the top brass, he was too intimidating. Ever wonder why Russert was never asked to be the moderator of the presidential debates? I wondered the same question, and luckily,...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A couple accused of tying their 13-year-old son to a tree for two nights to punish him for disobedience has been charged with murder in his death, authorities said Friday. Brice Brian McMillan, 41, of Macclesfield, told a deputy that the child was being disobedient and was forced to sleep outside Tuesday while tied to a tree, the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office said. The teenager was released Wednesday morning but again tied up that night for bad behavior, authorities said. The boy was left tied to the tree until the following afternoon when his stepmother found him...

by Steven Ertelt Bristol, England (LifeNews.com) -- A new report indicates a teenager died just one week after having a legal abortion -- providing more evidence that legal abortions are not safe for women. Manon Jones, an 18-year-old student from Caernarfon, Gwynedd experienced heavy bleeding after the abortion and eventually died. After the abortion, Jones felt light-headed over subsequent days and began experiencing abnormal bleeding. She then became what is believed to be the fourteenth woman to have died after using the dangerous abortion drug

It is not surprising that most people in Christendom believe that they have an immortal soul residing within them and that “it will never die” – which is the meaning of the term “immortal.” This is a longstanding “tradition” in most church bodies; Roman Catholic, Protestantism, Baptist, Methodists, Lutherans, Evangelicals, etc. Jesus started His Church with inspired men setting it up and teaching its beliefs. But nowhere did they teach that man has an immortal soul residing within one’s body. As time progressed, un-inspired men introduced the pagan idea of an “entity” residing within one’s body that will never die,...

Funerals in America are often elaborate events. There will rarely be hired wailers anymore, as there were in past cultures. A different set of rituals has replaced much of the reality of death, with its sharp interference in the normal lives of relatives and neighbors. The deceased are no longer kept in the family home until burial but are whisked away, disinfected and embellished, and then exposed at a reception in their honor in the parlor of the funeral home. This is called a wake. As mentioned earlier, one advertisement suggested, "You just die, we do the rest." Skillful morticians...

A prominent anti-gun campaigner has been stabbed to death at a flat in West Yorkshire. The body of Pat Regan, 53, was discovered at the property on Marlborough Grange in the Hyde Park area of Leeds on Sunday. Mrs Regan, a mother-of-six, started campaigning against gun crime after her son Danny was shot dead in 2002. A 20-year-old man, a family member, has been arrested. Police said post-mortem tests would take place later. Mrs Regan's son Danny, 25, became involved in criminality and was shot at his then home in Haydock, near St Helens, Merseyside. His killer has not been...

China earthquake death toll rises to 68,977 www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-31 16:06:55 Print Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in China's major earthquake increased by 119 to 68,977 as of Saturday noon, the Information Office of the State Council said. Another 367,854 people were counted as injured and 17,974 listed as missing in the 8.0-magnitude quake that jolted southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12. A total of 45.55 million people were affected by quake, of whom 15.15 million were relocated, according to the office. Hospitals had treated 89,818 injured survivors as of Saturday noon, of...

For almost 60 years, Dianne Odell lived inside a 7-foot-long metal tube, unable to breathe outside it but determined not to let it destroy her spirit. Odell, 61, died Wednesday when a power failure shut off electricity to the tube and stopped the pump drawing air into her lungs.

By the time she was found, her body had become stiff with rigor mortus. (Charleston, West Virginia)—According to the AP report, West Virginia resident, Val Thomas' heart stopped last Saturday morning, and by the time she was found, her body had become stiff with rigor mortus. (Photo: AP)Paramedics were able to revive her, but only after an estimated 15 minutes without oxygen or a pulse—she was rushed to an area hospital. During procedures to lower her body temperature, Val's heart stopped two more times.The Thomas family was told by doctors that Val had only a 10 percent chance of...

A Letter from Iraq - Chaplain Garland Mason: Subject: Chaplain Mason’s brother, Cpl Chris Mason KIA 28 Nov 2006, and our men and women who have Fallen in battle. Date: 24 May 2008.The following letter was read at a "Memorial Wreath Laying" in memory of Cpl Chris Mason 24 May 2008. It was later read aloud by Senator Jeff Sessions (R) Alabama, during the Memorial Day service at the National Cemetery in Mobile 26 May 2008. The Senator felt the letter reflects the type of men and women who fight for our freedom.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would first like to thank all...

Obama mistaken on name of Nazi death campBy CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Barack Obama campaign said Tuesday the candidate mistakenly referred to the wrong Nazi death camp when relating the story of a great uncle who helped liberate the camps in World War II. The Democratic presidential candidate said the story is accurate except that the camp was Buchenwald, not Auschwitz. "Senator Obama's family is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II — especially the fact that his great uncle was a part of...

"The best aphrodisiac is loving your partner".One man's search for the enhanced sexual performance and desire that only an aphrodisiac can give, ended with death instead of desire. Now NY health officials are warning residents to refrain from an illegal aphrodisiac made from--toad venom? What won't humans do for love and sex? The alert went out Friday after New York City's poison control center received a report from an area hospital that a 35-year-old man had died earlier this month after ingesting a small chunk of the hard, brown substance. The product is sold at sex shops and neighborhood stores...

The Republican Party is dead. That’s what the smart people say. The “brand” has lost its meaning. I don’t know if the party is dead, but I do know it has lost its soul. It has abandoned its traditions and principles, and America seems to be just about done with it. Ironically, those who want to save it are the ones who have killed it. When Arnold Schwarzenegger says he wants to chart the course of the Republican Party, you might as well turn off the lights and go out of business. The Republican Party has lost its purpose by...

A poll conducted by Knowledge Networks found that 66 percent of the 1,100 people responding favored legalizing assisted suicide. The most popular candidates for the procedure according to an open-ended question on the poll were an annoying spouse (23 percent), insane boss (16 percent), nosy neighbor (11 percent), the driver who cut me off (5 percent), unspecified others (11 percent).

Myanmar cyclone death toll will hit 200,000, say British By Graeme Jenkins in Rangoon Last Updated: 12:05AM BST 16/05/2008 British officials have said that the number of dead and missing after the Burmese cyclone is expected to rise to more than 200,000. There are more calls for the secret military regime in Burma to allow aid workers into the country, following the deadly cyclone. The Foreign Office said British officials were working on the basis that 217,000 people had died or were unaccounted for. The figure, which a spokesman said was based on new United Nations estimates, is approaching the...

VIENNA, May 14, 2008 (AFP) - An Austrian man has confessed to hacking his wife, daughter, parents and father-in-law to death with an axe, leaving the bodies strewn at locations throughout the country, police said Wednesday. The bodies of the 39-year-old man's family were discovered in Vienna, Linz and Ansfelden after he turned himself in to the police in the early hours of Wednesday, Vienna police said in a statement. His 42-year-old wife and his seven-year-old daughter were found in their flat in the well-to-do area of Hietzing in the Austrian capital, where the man was believed to have killed...

Abortion is back in the news yet, understandably, many women still find it difficult to talk about. Here Lucy Cavendish – who has been through it twice – offers a candid view Virtually every woman I know of my generation has had an abortion. The problem is that no one talks about it. It is hidden away as if it were a dirty secret. This week, however, every time I've opened a newspaper or turned on the radio, abortion has been the topic du jour. First, Conservative MP Nadine Dorries called for the legal limit for terminations to be...

It wasn't the dinosaurs' fault the asteroid hit them. Okay, let's back up a bit. I am alluding to an hypothesis, first advanced by Luis Alvarez and son, that a large asteroid hit the earth, causing the mass die-off of dinosaur and many other species, at what we used to call "the K-T boundary" (the end of the Cretaceous geological period) about 65 million years ago. This was proposed in 1980, and given apparent confirmation by the discovery of traces of a huge impact crater in the Yucatan around 1990. It then quickly became Al-Gorey "settled science" - before being...

Pat Tillman's mother spoke with Action News Anchor Robbie Timmons today, while on a book tour for "Boots On The Ground By Dusk."

THE death toll in cyclone-ravaged Burma could hit 500,000 – more than TWICE the total killed by the Boxing Day Tsunami. Last night’s warning came as it emerged that 17 Britons, including ex-pats and backpackers, were still missing. Sources said 200,000 people were already dead or dying. But the figure could rise to HALF A MILLION through disease and hunger if the nation’s hardline army rulers continue to block aid for the devastated lowlands of the Irrawaddy Delta. That would dwarf the 230,000 deaths across South East Asia in the 2004 catastrophe. Nyo Ohn Myint, of exiled opposition party The...

"This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper," wrote T.S. Eliot in the closing couplet of "The Hollow Men." ................ Some saw it as the whimper of a man facing the executioner's ax. Others say Eliot was referring to the middle-aged protagonist of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," who had "measured out my life with coffee spoons" and soon would "wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled." Recent reports suggest God has another end in store for us. .......... More arresting is that the white population is shrinking not only in relative but...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A deadly virus has spread rapidly in eastern China, killing at least 21 children and infecting nearly 3,000, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

Amsterdam, Netherlands (LifeNews.com) -- The official number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands is on the rise, but not all cases of killing patients are included. The official report mentions only three cases involving physicians who didn't follow the proper protocols when killing the patient. The ANP news service indicated the number of euthanasia cases rose to 2,120 last year from 1,923 in 2006.

Even though they thought their faith would heal their daughter, two Wisconsin parents now face criminal charges in the child's death. Eleven-year-old Kara Neumann from untreated diabetes on Easter Sunday. Dale and Leilani Neumann are both charged with second-degree reckless homicide. The family lives in Weston, southeast of Wausau. "By Saturday you have a child that is not eating, is not drinking, is really not moving, not walking, and isn't able to speak -- and I think any combination of one of all of those symptoms would have alerted any other parents to seek medical attention," Marathon County District Attorney...

DALLAS — The skeletal remains of a 93-year-old woman may have remained on a couch in her living room for months while other people continued living in the house, authorities said. Neighbors reported seeing cars come and go from the home as recently as this week before police, doing a welfare check at the request of a neighbor, found a body inside Monday.

Lawyers Argue Muhammad Had Mitigating Factors Jurors might not have sentenced convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad to death if they had known that he was abused as a child, that he has brain damage and that there were conflicting witness accounts to some of the shootings, Muhammad's appeals lawyers argued in court papers this week.

Gary Phillip Andorfer, 49, of Tempe, Arizona died April 22, 2008. Gary was a good man, husband, and father.Gary's dream was to own a store to provide good religious literature to Valley Catholics . He opened Catholic Books and Gifts in Tempe. A few years later, I met Gary at a rosary prayer meeting, where Gary asked me to design a website for him so that he could sell Baptism and First Communion apparel online. Thus CatholicChildrensCompany.com, my first e-commerce website project, was born. Gary became my friend over the years, and we prayed for Gary when he told us...