Special Effects Legend Dies: 92

(CNN) — Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animation and special-effects master whose work influenced such directors as Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and George Lucas, has died, according to the Facebook page of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation.

Harryhausen was 92.

Funeral Procession for Chris Kyle, Texan National Hero

WACO (February 12, 2013)—The funeral procession for slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, which the Department of Public Safety says may be the longest in U.S. history, passed through Central Texas on Interstate 35 Tuesday morning on its way to the Texas State Cemetery where Kyle will be laid to rest.

Hundreds of residents lined the highway and packed highway overpasses to pay tribute to the slain war hero.

Aloha, Senator Daniel Inouye: Sept 7, 1924 – Dec 17, 2012

“I represented the people of Hawaii and this nation honestly and to the best of my ability. I think I did OK.”
-Senator Daniel Inouye

A little history about the recently deceased Democratic Senator when he was a United States Army badass:

As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, eventually drawing within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade into the fighting position, a German inside fired a rifle grenade that struck him on the right elbow, severing most of his arm and leaving his own primed grenade reflexively “clenched in a fist that suddenly didn’t belong to me anymore”.[10] Inouye’s horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. As the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. As the German aimed his rifle to finish him off, Inouye tossed the grenade off-hand into the bunker and destroyed it. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge. When he awoke to see the concerned men of his platoon hovering over him, his only comment before being carried away was to gruffly order them to return to their positions, since, as he pointed out, “nobody called off the war!”

Revisiting the 2009 Ganjgal Ambush

60 Minutes devoted their Sunday hour programming to honoring our soldiers. This included Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer providing his account of the September 9, 2009 ambush that left Afghan soldiers and 4 American soldiers dead: First Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgt. Edwin “Wayne” Johnson, Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick and Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James Layton

The rules of engagement that probably cost them their lives?

Lockerbie Bomber dies peaceably at home, age 60

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie Bomber convicted of killing 270 and diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2008, was released in August of 2009 under compassionate grounds (where’s the compassion toward the victims?) due to “a Scottish law that allows terminally ill prisoners to die at home. When he was freed, Mr. Megrahi was expected to live three months.”

Tears Of Joy

Kim Jung Il’s life: a soliloquy in lunacy and madness.

Often the sages admonish
Oh Death, be not so proud
A tender soul’s last wish
The welfare of others be allowed

Death unkind, strikes indiscriminate
History records with only a wretched few
Death comes not soon enough to elate
The drop of his miserable carcass in its tomb

Photo of the Day

..and Tissue-alert story of the day:

This was as close as Hero the dog had been to her old buddy Justin since they were photographed together in 2007. In that picture, they were snout-to-chest, a 23-year-old soldier cuddling a weeks-old stray puppy in Samarra, Iraq. But Wednesday, Hero could get no nearer than six feet, a grown dog snuffling above a grave at Arlington National Cemetery.

Smokin’ Joe Frazier- 67

“The world has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration. My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones.”Muhammad Ali

One of the finest boxing legends of the modern era has passed away:

Joe Frazier, 67, the former heavyweight boxing champion who was known for his fighting spirit, powerful punch and intense rivalry with Muhammad Ali, died Monday night in a hospice in Philadelphia. He had been suffering from liver cancer.

As a heavyweight in all senses of the word, Mr. Frazier was one of the best known champions of the latter decades of the 20th century.