Judy Chu,First Chinese-American Woman Elected to Congress

Judy Chu, who launched her political career on a local school board, won a special election to succeed longtime ally Hilda Solis, now U.S. Labor secretary.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-judy-chu16-2009jul16,0,2984735.story

Robert McNamara Dead at 93

McNamara was the archetype of a new wave of management specialists on the rise in Washington during the 1960s. He surrounded himself with a bevy of analysts who became known as his "whiz kids," and they played a prominent role in drafting the classified "Pentagon Papers," an exhaustive history of the U.S. entry into Vietnam that McNamara secretly commissioned in 1967.

Brimming with self-confidence, McNamara transformed the Defense Department into the giant military and civilian fiefdom it remains today. Among his creations were the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Supply Agency, the predecessor of the massive Defense Logistics Agency.

But it was Vietnam that defined him, from his assertive oversight of the first contingents of Green Beret advisors sent by the Kennedy administration to South Vietnam in 1961, to his backstage qualms that led Lyndon Johnson to replace him as Defense Secretary.

When anti-war opponent Sen. Wayne Morse (D-Ore.) cracked in 1965 that the Vietnam conflict had become "McNamara's War"--a sardonic take on the 1940s Bing Crosby tune, "McNamara's Band"--the Defense Secretary unblinkingly took the line as a compliment. "I don't mind it being called McNamara's War," he told a reporter. "In fact, I'm proud to be associated with it."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/06/robert-mcnamara-dead_n_226043.html

Mahinur Ozdemir: First Belgium MP to Don the Hijab

I will not take off my Hijab for the elections or for parliament. I wore the Hijab when I was working for Schaerbeek Municipal Council and I will carry on wearing it even in parliament,” commented Mahinur Ozdemir, the first Muslim veiled Belgium MP, on those opposing her headscarf under the parliamentary ceil.
The following is a profile feature on Ozdemir, the 26-year-old Belgian veiled MP, just before taking the oath of the regional Belgium parliament.
Belgian MP With Hijab

Brussels, Asharq Al-Awsat- When I met Mahinur Ozdimer in one of the biggest shopping malls in Brussels just one day before the Belgium elections that took place on June 7, I noticed that she was the only female candidate wearing Hijab as the candidates handed out leaflets and met and spoke with voters.

I asked Mahinur “Aren’t you worried about the reaction you’ll get from Belgian voters because you wear Hijab?” Ozdemir, a Belgium citizen of a Turkish descent, answered, “I will not take off my Hijab for the elections or for parliament. I wore the Hijab when I was working for Schaerbeek Municipal Council and I will carry on wearing it even in parliament.”
Despite the pressure she is subjected to because she continues to wear the Hijab, Mahinur always says that “efficiency alone is what matters, not the Hijab.”
A Matter of Mind or Body
Ozdimer assures: “efficiency alone is what matters, not the Hijab.”
Mahinur is the first parliamentarian to wear Hijab, but there is a problem; Belgian law does not allow MPs to wear headscarves in parliament. The issue has begun to raise controversy among members of Arab and Muslim communities and amongst the Belgians themselves.

MP Suad Razzouk from Belgium’s Socialist Party said, “Ozdemir will face two options: resign if she does not take off the Hijab, or give up her seat in parliament.”

Ahmed Mohsen, a member of the Green Party, said “I will work towards changing the current status as the right-wing, liberals and socialist parties caused the banning of Hijab in 95 per cent of Belgian schools with only five schools allowing it.”

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1246346000241&pagename=Zone-English-Euro_Muslims%2FEMELayout

Michael Jackson Final Days Human Skeleton

The autopsy performed on Michael Jackson revealed the personal abuse of his tortured existence.

The King of Pop's emaciated corpse was covered with needle marks, scars and his once lush head was nearly hairless - his skull covered with "peach fuzz".

His strenuous dance workouts preparing for his upcoming concert series coupled with training with Hulk Lou Ferrigno and the contents of his stomach contained only partially dissolved pulls, left the one-time bantam weight a excruciatingly-thin 100 pounds.

"He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out, and he had been eating nothing but pills when he died," a family insider told the tab.

"Injection marks all over his body and the disfigurement caused by years of plastic surgery show he'd been in terminal decline for some years."

Four fresh injections wounds were around the heart, reportedly from attempts to jumpstart Jacko's ticker with adrenaline.

Three had penetrated, damaging his heart wall, while a fourth struck his ribs, the tab reported.

Jackson also sustained broken ribs while CPR was administered during his final moments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/28/michael-jackson-couldnt-s_n_221942.html
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/jacko_autopsy_shocker/celebrity/66889
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196009/Im-better-dead-Im-How-Michael-Jackson-predicted-death-months-ago.html

Ed McMahon Dead at 86 "062209"

Walter Cronkite Gravely Sick

Kansas doctor George Tiller Assassination by a Religious Fanatic

Kansas doctor George Tiller is seen in a framegrab from undated video
Center for Reproductive Rights Deeply Saddened by Murder of Dr. George Tiller

NEW YORK, May 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights issued a statement following the shooting of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Dr. Tiller was murdered entering his church in Wichita, Kansas. As one of the few physicians in the country who provides abortions later in pregnancy, Dr. Tiller has been the target of anti-choice movement for over two decades. Recently, the Center for Reproductive Rights represented two-thousand of Dr. Tiller's patients when a citizen-impaneled grand jury unsuccessfully attempted to subpoena their medical records. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights issued this statement:

"I am deeply saddened by the tragic news of Dr. Tiller's murder. Dr. Tiller has long been a stalwart and fearless defender of women's fundamental health and rights, providing abortions despite decades of relentless and vicious attacks on his clinic, family and private life. His death is a devastating loss to the reproductive rights movement and to women across this country. We send our condolences to his family and friends."

In August 2008, the Center for Reproductive Rights nominated Dr. Tiller for the Netherlands government's annual Human Rights Tulip award for individuals who have shown exceptional moral courage in protecting and promoting the rights of his or her fellow citizens. Here is an excerpt from the nomination letter:

Dr. Tiller, like other physicians who provide abortions in the U.S., is forced to work under circumstances far more dangerous and difficult than other healthcare providers. There is a long history of violations to physicians' physical security -- including murder, attempted murder, and assault and battery -- without adequate protection from the state. Physicians providing abortions increasingly are faced with other forms of violence and harassment, including destruction of personal property, smear campaigns, intimidation of family members, and stalking.

The government has failed to take adequate measures to protect Dr. Tiller. Federal and state laws are inadequate to deter many forms of violence and harassment directed at him and his family, and enforcement of protective laws that do exist has waned in recent years. Further, the state and federal government have passed legislation targeting abortion providers like Dr. Tiller with threats of criminal penalties and other sanctions that are not imposed on providers of comparable medical services. State laws in Kansas are specifically designed to impose additional burdens on abortion providers, with an explicit view towards shutting down Dr. Tiller's clinic. Finally, state actors have allowed private groups to turn state mechanisms like the court system into a tool of harassment against Dr. Tiller.
The late-term abortion provider is shot at his church in Wichita, Kan. A suspect is arrested near Kansas City, police say. Tiller had been a victim of violence in the past.In 1986, his clinic was bombed. In 1991, it was blockaded for six weeks. In 1993, he was shot in both arms. In March, Kansas prosecutors tried him on charges of breaking an abortion law; he was acquitted. In May, vandals cut wires to security cameras and made holes in the roof of Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Care Services, a fortified single-story building where abortion foes keep daily vigil.

Until Sunday, when a gunman shot Tiller to death in the foyer of his church, the doctor had always overcome the daunting legal and physical challenges of his work, terminating pregnancies of women and girls who were in the 22nd week of gestation or beyond. But where supporters of legal abortion saw a savior, opponents saw a heartless killer.

Tiller was working as an usher at Reformation Lutheran Church and his wife, Jeanne, was in the choir when he was gunned down about 10 a.m.

Slain Kansas abortion provider's clinic to close June 09, 2009

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-tiller1-2009jun01,0,6936645.story?track=rss
http://www.dr-tiller.com/
http://www.kansas.com/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090609/ap_on_re_us/us_abortion_shooting