From his Senate web page:

Statement from The Kennedy Family
August 26, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”

A review of Kennedy’s legacy below the fold.
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Editors Note – This is reposted from RangerUp (with permission) and was written by Lex McMahon, son of Ed McMahon, pictured below receiving his father’s flag

How does a son say goodbye to his father? While this is a profoundly painful question to ponder, in this instance, the answer is really very simple – by honoring my father’s request to be buried and celebrated as a great Marine.

To Ed’s millions of fans around the world, he was an entertainment icon who’s brilliant and colorful career spanned some 70 years and included work as a bingo caller in a traveling carnival – yes, that’s right, Ed spoke Carnie.  Ed also worked in radio, theater, movies, and of course television.  Ed was the quintessential pitchman – selling everything from the famous Morris Metric Slicer to Budweiser Beer and even some of Mr. Carson’s jokes that didn’t always work as planned.  In Ed’s words: “jokesters joke, actors act, entertainers entertain”.  Ed was a consummate entertainer.

However, those who knew Ed best knew that while he loved being an entertainer, he truly loved being a Marine.

Ed’s Marine Corps career began during World War II and lasted 23 years.  At the end of it all, Ed was promoted to Colonel – he considered this to be one of the greatest accomplishments of his life; amazing when you consider the body of his work.

Over the years, Ed told me that he wanted to be remembered as: “a good entertainer, but a great Marine!” Considering Ed was an entertainment giant, this speaks volumes in regards to his love of the Marine Corps, with its inherent brotherhood and Corps values of respect, honor, and integrity – the defining elements of Ed’s character. Read the rest of this entry »

Johnny Carson, shakes hands with the show’s announcer Ed McMahon during Carson’s final taping of The Tonight Show on May 22, 1992. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

NYTimes:

June 24, 2009
Ed McMahon, America’s Top Second Banana, Dies

By RICHARD SEVERO
Ed McMahon, who for nearly 30 years was Johnny Carson’s affable second banana on “The Tonight Show,” introducing it with his ringing trademark call, “Heeeere’s Johnny!,” died early Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 86.

His publicist, Howard Bragman, told NBC that Mr. McMahon died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center surrounded by his family. Mr. Bragman did not give a cause of death, saying only that Mr. McMahon had a “multitude of health problems the last few months.”

A person close to Mr. McMahon, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to release information, said Mr. McMahon had bone cancer, among other ailments, The Associated Press reported. In February he had been hospitalized with pneumonia, Mr. Bragman told CNN.

With his broad, genial, regular-guy features, Mr. McMahon had the face of someone you would buy a used car from. Indeed, for decades he was one of television’s most ubiquitous pitchmen, selling everything from boats to beer. He also took a few acting roles and in later years was the host of the television talent show “Star Search” and wrote some popular books, includinghis memoirs.

But it was in the role of the faithful Tonto to Carson’s wry Lone Ranger that Mr. McMahon made his sideman’s mark. After he rolled out his introduction like a red carpet for the boss, and after Carson delivered his nightly monologue, Mr. McMahon, in jacket and tie, would take his seat on the couch beside the host’s desk, chat and banter with Carson a bit before the guests came on and almost invariably guffaw at his jokes, even when he was the butt of them. When the guests did arrive, he would slide over to make room and rarely interrupt.

6 years, 2 wars, and 85 combat missions serving in the Marine Corp. That was part of Ed McMahon’s 86 year history, as well.

It’s the passing of a generation, folks.

Andrea Shea King did an interview with him November 30, 2007. Worth a listen to.

The rest of the NYTimes piece, by Richard Severo:

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THE LIE

At his meeting with bipartisan leaders of Congress, Obama said he would make his stimulus proposal available on the Internet, with a Google-like search function to show each proposed project or program, by congressional district, according to three people who attended.

THE REALITY

In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp.

“[I] don’t know, ‘cause they haven’t seen the bill either,” Boehner said. “The American people have a right to know what’s in this bill,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) told HUMAN EVENTS after the press conference. “Every member of Congress — Republicans and Democrats — voted to post this bill on the internet for 48 hours, 48 hours ago. We’ll see if the Democrats keep their word.”

For some completely unknown reason (I just can’t possibly imagine) MSNBC has not followed up on its own article by asking Democrats what happened to the 48hr online review?

So, who DOES know what’s in the bill that Congress is going to approve? Congress doesn’t. Lobbyists do

Photo courtesy of John Phelps, Chance’s father, of Running Iron Studios in Dubois, Wyoming, who used Chance as the model for his WWII memorial.

Missy alerted me to the story of Marine Lieutenant Colonel Strobl’s escort of the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps to be an HBO movie, airing in February and starring Kevin Beacon. Phelps was killed in action on April 9, 2004 in Iraq and buried April 17th in Dubois, Wyoming. Read the moving account if you have not yet done so.

Thanks Missy.

Yesterday, I received an email from CJ, going over the proper etiquette and ceremonial symbolism behind the folding of the American flag that drapes military coffins (apparently, the symbolism/recitation for each of the 13 folds wasn’t originally attached to the ceremonial 13-step folding; but it has become part of the time-honored tradition worth preserving):
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Women look at Iraqi soldiers on a patrol on the outskirts of Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad November 23, 2008.
REUTERS/Atef Hassan

October saw U.S. combat-related deaths in Iraq at 8; November saw the number drop down to 6 combat-related deaths.

The difference between 8 and 6 are rather insignificant; and these numbers might go up and down again. But what is important is whether or not there’s a consistent pattern, trending in a positive direction here. And I do think we are on the right path.

Monday in Baghdad saw 30 more civilians killed as there are still elements within Iraq who wish to reignite sectarian violence and derail the democratization of Iraq:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Blasts at Baghdad’s police academy and in the northern city of Mosul killed 30 people and wounded dozens more on Monday, hours after a roadside bomb wounded a senior Iraqi official, police said.

Violence has fallen sharply over the past year as successive security crackdowns dealt insurgent groups a heavy blow, but officials say militants are now concentrating their efforts on attention-grabbing attacks ahead of elections next year.

The attacks were likely aimed at reigniting sectarian bloodshed between minority Sunni Arabs who dominated Iraq under ex-dictator Saddam Hussein and Shi’ites who are now in control.

296 Iraqis died from violence last month; in October it was 238. Part of the rise in violence was related to the attempt by those who were not happy with the SOFA.

What’s ironic here, is that those opposed to any agreement to keep U.S. forces in Iraq, who want the U.S. and Coalition Forces out of Iraq NOW, are probably prolonging our presence there. You want us out of Iraq as soon as possible? Solution: Cease with the violence and sabotage of the budding Iraqi government.

Iraqi soldiers carry coffins bearing remains of fellow Iraqi soldiers during a ceremony at the Iraq-Iran Shalamcha Border Crossing, in southern Iraq November 30, 2008.
REUTERS/Atef Hassan

And in related news….

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Tim Russert of NBC News dropped dead today of an apparent heart attack at the age of 58.

Russert was the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday program as well as the moderator of NBC sponsored debates with 2008 Presidential candidates.

Whatever you want to say about the liberal media, or Tim Russert’s performance in that environment, his passing is a sad milestone and he will be missed.

I recall particularly his interview with Barack Hussein Obama where Obama says “There’s not much difference between my position on Iraq and George Bush’s:”

Tim Russert’s “Straight Talk” will be missed!

Whoa… bolt from the blue from the NY Post

By CHARLES HURT

June 13, 2008 —

Tim Russert, NBC journalist and political heavyweight host of “Meet the Press,” has died after collapsing at NBC’s Washington news bureau, a source said. He was 58 years old.

Russert, who rose from the inside world of politics where he was former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s press secretary and one-time chief of staff to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was able to successfully cross over to political journalism and rise to become one of its leading lights.

Michael Monsoor, a Navy Seal, sacrificed his life for his buddies on Sept 29th. Just like Marine Corps Sgt Rafael Peralta before him he jumped on a grenade to save the lives of the other Navy Seals in his snipers nest:

A Navy SEAL sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade Iraqi insurgents tossed into their sniper hideout, fellow members of the elite force said.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret.

“He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it,” said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. “He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs’ lives, and we owe him.”

Monsoor, a 25-year-old gunner, was killed in the explosion in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. He was only the second SEAL to die in Iraq since the war began.

[...]Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them.

Monsoor’s funeral was held Thursday at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. He has also been submitted for an award for his actions the day he died.

Blackfive has more on this great man:

SEAL Team THREE deployed to Iraq last Spring and within a month of arriving, Mike had already distinguished himself. As one of the platoon machine gunners, Mike made quite an impression on the battlefield. On May 9, 2006 a teammate was shot in the legs, immobile, and exposed. Suppressing enemy fire with his M60, Mike fought his way to his wounded comrade’s position and dragged him out of the line of fire while maintaining constant pressure on enemy insurgents with his weapon. That action earned him a Silver Star… in the first month of his first deployment.

Fast forward to the final weeks of that deployment and Mike along with two fellow SEALs were occupying an overwatch position on a rooftop in the Mulab district of Ramadi which is basically the most dangerous neighborhood of the most dangerous city in Iraq. A hidden enemy managed to toss a grenade onto the rooftop near the three SEALs, and Mike without hesitation warned his comrades verbally before placing himself in a position to block the lethal blast of the grenade from killing his teammates. One of the SEALs he saved said that Mike’s countenance was completely calm and he showed no fear only resolve. No short timer’s disease infecting this man, he had only a couple of weeks remaining in the deployment and he did not flinch at the moment of truth.

Froggy and others are calling for Michael to be awarded the Medal of Honor, which I fully endorse. I would also like to see Peralta be awarded this honor. The History Channel is doing a special on Peralta soon, but these two men need to be recognized by our Country with our highest award.

Other’s Blogging:

• Blue Crab Boulevard
• Gateway Pundit
• Riehl World View
• The Steel Deal

Sports Illustrated is putting on it Sportsman of the Year award. If you believe that Pat Tillman should be No. 1 then please click on the link and vote.

Tim Layden of SI gives a few reasons why he should be Number 1.

“Ask yourself, what is a sportsman? I submit that a sportsman is someone who plays games for the joy of playing them and nothing more. Not for fame. Not for money. He plays because in the games he finds a primal happiness. I didn’t know Pat Tillman well, but I knew him a little and I talked to people about him. By this definition, he was the ultimate sportsman for this or any other year.

As a high school football player, he once kept re-entering a blowout until the coaching staff hid his helmet so that he could play no more. He didn’t want to humiliate anybody, he just wanted to keep playing. He came to Arizona State as a far-too-small strong safety and before two-a-days were finished in his freshman year the upperclassman had nicknamed him “Hit Man” because of the way he threw his body around.

When I interviewed him at the end of the his senior season, he was loathe to talk about his athletic or academic honors because he’d feared he’d become complacent. When I asked Snyder back then if Tillman could play in the NFL, he said, “When teams ask me, I say, ‘If you don’t want him on your team, don’t draft him, because he won’t let you cut him.’”

When the St. Louis Rams offered him a huge raise, he turned it down to stay in Phoenix because it wasn’t about the money. When he felt a stirring in his soul to go fight wars, he left football because football was no longer enough. It was just a sport.

People play sports for all of the wrong reasons. Little children play because their parents foolishly imagine themselves freed from paying for college because their little boy or girl will win a scholarship. Grown children play because they foolishly imagine themselves fabulously wealthy, hosting a televised tour of the their mansion. Even those who hit the sports lottery drain the joy from the games, playing only for fringe benefits. There’s precious little joy in any of this.

Pat Tillman played football because he loved it with a child’s passion. As a kid, he used to climb slender trees in windstorms and sway on the breeze. He played football the same way and when he found something more important, he moved on. That’s a sportsman. That’s my Sportsman of the Year. And he would probably hate that, too.”

Thanks to Blackfive for bringing this up.

I heard about this incident this morning on the way to work and got choked up. This Marine, a Mexican Immigrant who loved his new country so much he signed up to fight for it, placed his body on top of a grenade to save his buddies.

FALLUJAH, Iraq — Sgt. Rafael Peralta built a reputation as a man who always put his Marines’ interests ahead of his own.

He showed that again, when he made the ultimate sacrifice of his life Tuesday, by shielding his fellow Marines from a grenade blast.

“It’s stuff you hear about in boot camp, about World War II and Tarawa Marines who won the Medal of Honor,” said Lance Cpl. Rob Rogers, 22, of Tallahassee, Fla., one of Peralta’s platoon mates in 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.

Peralta, 25, as platoon scout, wasn’t even assigned to the assault team that entered the insurgent safe house in northern Fallujah, Marines said. Despite an assignment that would have allowed him to avoid such dangerous duty, he regularly asked squad leaders if he could join their assault teams, they said.

One of the first Marines to enter the house, Peralta was wounded in the face by rifle fire from a room near the entry door, said Lance Cpl. Adam Morrison, 20, of Tacoma, who was in the house when Peralta was first wounded.

Moments later, an insurgent rolled a fragmentation grenade into the area where a wounded Peralta and the other Marines were seeking cover.

As Morrison and another Marine scrambled to escape the blast, pounding against a locked door, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it into his body, Morrison said. While one Marine was badly wounded by shrapnel from the blast, the Marines said they believe more lives would have been lost if not for Peralta’s selfless act.

“He saved half my fire team,” said Cpl. Brannon Dyer, 27, of Blairsville, Ga.

The Marines said such a sacrifice would be perfectly in character for Peralta, a Mexico native who lived in San Diego and gained U.S. citizenship after joining the Marines.

“He’d stand up for his Marines to an insane point,” Rogers said.

Rogers and others remembered Peralta as a squared-away Marine, so meticulous about uniform standards that he sent his camouflage uniform to be pressed while training in Kuwait before entering Iraq.

But mostly they remembered acts of selflessness: offering career advice, giving a buddy a ride home from the bar, teaching salsa dance steps in the barracks.

While Alpha Company was still gathering information, and a formal finding on Peralta’s death is likely months away, not a single Marine in Alpha Company doubted the account of Peralta’s act of sacrifice.

“I believe it,” said Alpha’s commander, Capt. Lee Johnson. “He was that kind of Marine.”

I have so many mixed feelings right now. I’m proud of his bravery, he didn’t hesitate to die so that his buddies might live. Then there are the feelings of anger towards the terrorists who caused this, to the left wing idiots who think they know about life while drinking there Vente Cappuccino…and could care less about this Marine. I will raise a toast to Sgt. Rafael Peralta tonight.

UPDATE – 12/5/04

Above is a picture of this true hero plus the below information from Lance Cpl. T. J. Kaemmerer, a combat correspondent:

“You’re still here, don’t forget that. Tell your kids, your grandkids, what Sgt. Peralta did for you and the other Marines today,” said Cpl. Richard A. Mason, to a group of Marines after a fierce firefight in the battle-scarred city of Fallujah.

I am attached to Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, for Operation Al Fajr. My job is to tell the stories of the heroic actions and daily realities faced by Mason and the rest of Co. A, 1/3, during Operation Al Fajr. The most telling story of that operation was the heroics of Sgt. Rafael Peralta.

I normally have to interview Marines to get the full story, but on Nov. 15 I witnessed for myself Peralta’s selfless act of heroism, the likes of which generations of Marines have heard about, but so few have actually experienced.

With the batteries to my camera dead, I decided to leave it behind and live up to the ethos that “every Marine is a rifleman” by volunteering to help clear the buildings that lined the streets of Fallujah.

I was the third man in a six-man group, or what Marines refer to as a “stack.” Two stacks of Marines were used to clear a house. Moving quickly from the third house to the fourth, our order in the stack changed. I found Peralta in my spot, so I fell in behind him as we moved toward the house.

Peralta was a platoon scout, which meant he could have stayed back in safety while the squads of 1st Platoon went into the danger-filled streets, but he was constantly asking to help out. I learned by speaking with Peralta and other Marines the night before that he frequently put his safety, reputation and career on the line for the needs and morale of the junior Marines around him.

When we reached the fourth house, we breached the gate and swiftly approached the building. The first Marine in the stack kicked in the front door, revealing another locked door to the front and another to the right.

Kicking in the doors simultaneously, one stack filed swiftly into the room to the front as the other group of Marines darted off to the right.

After successfully clearing the front rooms in the house, we met up to clear the back room of the house.

Two Marines stacked to the left of the door as Peralta, rifle in hand, tested the handle. I watched from the middle, slightly off to the right of the room as the handle turned with ease.

Peralta threw open the door and was met by gunfire from three insurgents.

Peralta was hit several times in his upper torso and face at point-blank range by the fully automatic 7.62 mm weapons employed by the three terrorists.

Mortally wounded, he jumped into the already cleared adjoining room, giving the rest of us a clear line of fire through the doorway to the rear of the house.

We opened fire, adding the bangs of our M-16A2 service rifles and the deafening, rolling cracks of a Squad Automatic Weapon to the already nerve-racking sound of the AKs.

I saw four Marines firing from the adjoining room when a yellow, foreign-made, oval-shaped grenade bounced into the room and rolled to a stop close to Peralta’s wrecked body.

In his last fleeting moments of consciousness, Peralta reached out and pulled the grenade into his body.

The four Marines scrambled to the corners of the room as the majority of the blast was absorbed by Peralta’s now lifeless mass. His selflessness left the four Marines with only minor injuries from smaller fragments of the grenade.

During the fight, a fire was sparked in the rear of the house, and the flames grew.

The Marine in charge of the squad ordered us to evacuate the injured Marines from the house, regroup and return to finish the fight and retrieve Peralta’s body.

We quickly ran for shelter, three or four houses up the street, to a house that had already been cleared and was occupied by the squad’s platoon.

The ingrained code that Marines have of never leaving a man behind drove the next few moments. Within seconds, we headed back to the house, not knowing what we may encounter, yet ready for another round.

I don’t remember walking back down the street or through the gate in front of the house. When we walked through the door the second time, I prayed that we wouldn’t lose another brother.

We entered the house and met no resistance. We couldn’t clear the rest of the house because the fire had grown immensely, and the danger of the enemy’s weapons cache exploding in the house was increasing by the second.

Most of us provided security while Peralta’s body was removed from the house.

We carried him back to our rally point and upon returning were told that other Marines who went to support us encountered and killed the three insurgents from inside the house.

Throughout Operation Al Fajr, we were constantly told by our leadership that we were making history, but even if the history books never mention this battle and Peralta’s heroism, I’m sure that Nov. 15, 2004 and Peralta’s sacrifice will never be forgotten by the Marines who were there.

Chris Matthews, that idiot talking head over at MSNBC, said yesterday about the terrorists we fought in Fallujah “a rival, I mean they’re not bad guys especially, just people who just disagree with us”….this just amazes me, the complete idiocy of this waste of human sperm. These are the same terrorists blowing up families, chopping off heads of civilians, and the complete disregard for any human life and they just disagree with us?

Tell that to the family of Margaret Hassan, the school teacher who was brutally tortured and then slaughtered by these same guys, they ain’t so bad are they Chris Matthews? This women who was known for her 30 years of work in Iraq, distributing medicine, food and supplies to Iraqis suffering under the sanctions of the 1990s.

British officials say they believe Hassan was a blindfolded woman seen being shot in the head by a hooded militant on a video obtained but not aired by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera. She would be the first foreign woman to die in the wave of kidnappings in Iraq. No group has claimed responsibility.

On Sunday, Marines found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman on a street in Fallujah during the U.S. assault on the insurgent stronghold. The body, clothed in what appeared to be a purple, velour dress, was wrapped in a blanket, with a blood-soaked black cloth nearby. As of Tuesday night, the U.S. command said the body had not been identified.

These are the reasons that none of these mothereffers should ever see the light of day…they need to be all lined up and shot. Torturing this poor women for what? WHAT? And we should treat them as enemy soldiers under the Geneva Convention. Last I remember the convention applies to countries that signed the document and the two countries must have standing armies with uniforms….the Iraqi military is at our side, the terrorists are not. Since when are terrorists soldiers? They are lower then dogs.

Finally there is this written by a student of Mrs. Hassan

She was my English teacher

In the memory of my teacher and a fellow aid worker colleague Mrs. M. Hassan

Mrs. Hassan was my English teacher in The British Council in Baghdad in Al-Wazirya district, I remember her years ago with her Irish accent telling me it’s not Important how many words I must learn but the pronunciation of the words I already knew must be perfected.

Mrs. Hassan speak s perfect Arabic and she has a heart of gold, she’s been killed by (men in pajamas), turn Iraq upside down and find them.

The Marines will find them, and when they do they shall die.