Muhammad Ali, The Greatest. RIP.

When Doves Cry. RIP. #Prince.

Eulogy For Kentucky's Governor/Senator, Wendell Ford. RIP.

Time Magazine's Person Of The Year: Ebola Workers.

well deserved honor.

We Mourn The Passing Of Phil, The Younger Of the Velvety Voiced Kentucky Born Everly Brothers."Bye, Bye, Love. Hello, Emptiness"! RIP.

Did You Miss POTUS Barack Obama's Eulogy To Nelson "Madiba" Mandela? Well, Not Anymore! Watch It Here.

You can watch this: Or this:

Mandiba, The Great One!

some people have chosen to vilify #mandiba, even in death. permit me to observe, that your opinion of him matters not, but if it did it is based on the notion that your thoughts about him depends on "whose ox is" in your judgment "being gored".

if you supported the evil #appatheid, which enslaved folks in THEIR OWN COUNTRY for having "the wrong skin color", then go on and vilify him. if not, and you loathed the evil, then join the rest of us civilized folks and celebrate the great one, mandiba.

We Mourn The Profound Loss Of Nelson "Madiba" Mandela. He Was 95. May His Soul Rest In Very Perfect Peace. Amen.

Helen Thomas, Veteran TV Journalist Dies At 92. R. I. P.

WARNING: GRAPHIC Photo Of Dead Trayvon Martin Killed By George Zimmerman. Rest In Peace.

Read more here.

Memorial Service Set In LexingtonFor Kentucky Native And Bruce Lee's "Enter The Dragon" Star, Jim Kelly. R.I.P. , Jim.

Memorial to be held for Paris native and actor Jim Kelly

A memorial will be held in Lexington Saturday for Millersburg native Jim Kelly, a 1970s black action hero who starred in several movies including Melinda, Three the Hard Way and Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee.

Kelly was also a part of the movie Undercover Brother and was a guest at comic book conventions throughout the country.

The public memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Historic Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church, 540 West Maxwell Street. Kelly's daughter, Sabrena Kelly-Lewis, and the church will host the memorial service.
"This memorial will be a celebration of his life and will pay tribute to him. This service will also pay tribute to his mother, Arnita Taylor, who died two years ago," said Kelly-Lewis.
Kelly, 67, died of cancer at his San Diego home. Kelly's death came as a surprise because he kept his illness from his family. Kelly thought he could overcome cancer.
"He was a very private person. He was very self-conscious when it came to his body. He treated his body like a temple and didn't drink, smoke, or do drugs," Kelly-Lewis said.

Family in Kentucky and surrounding states are expected to be at the memorial service.
Kelly's remains were cremated, so this memorial service will take the place of the funeral.
There will not be a service in San Diego; however, Kelly's ashes will remain with his wife, Marcia Kelly, who lived with Kelly in San Diego.

We Congratulate The Former Kelli Stice, Now Kelli Brooks, On Becoming Principal At W. R. Mcneill Elementary School. A Great Choice.

Brooks named principal at McNeill Elementary

Six years ago, Kelli Brooks, a first-grade teacher at McNeill Elementary School, set a goal to become principal someday.
"I had stellar examples of leadership all around me," she said. "In the classroom with students, sitting back watching them, I wanted to be able to reach out even more."

Brooks achieved her goal today when she was named principal of McNeill. She will begin her responsibilities July 1, replacing current principal Marsha Ingram, who is retiring.

"I appreciate the confidence you've put in me," Brooks told the school's principal selection committee. "For 16 years, I've worked in the best school. I truly believe that. We're a great school, but we're going to be amazing. But I need help from all of you."

She said she's thrilled to be named principal at McNeill, where she did her student teaching 18 years ago and has been a faculty member for 16 years. "I've never wanted to be anywhere else," she said.

Brooks said she loves the sense of school pride, community involvement and the commitment to excellence at McNeill.

"I just want us to build on that excellence and get parents more involved," she said.

She has a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, a master's degree and a Rank 1 in educational administration, all from Western Kentucky University. She was named the 2006 Kentucky elementary school teacher of the year.

Ingram said there's no doubt in her mind that Brooks will do an outstanding job as principal.

"I could not be any more happy than I am today," Ingram said. "She already knows the students. She's an outstanding teacher. She was elementary school teacher of the year. She gets along with everyone. I can retire happy now, knowing that my babies are in good hands."

Rebecca Simpson, a parent representative on the principal selection committee, said Brooks met or exceeded all of the criteria the committee had for the position. Simpson was excited to offer Brooks the opportunity because she has enthusiasm and achieves excellence in everything she does.

"She's been an exceptional teacher in this school," Simpson said. "She's demonstrated the ability to be a communicator."

Bowling Green Independent Schools Superintendent Joe Tinius said Brooks is a great fit as principal because she's visible in the school, has a strong knowledge of elementary curriculum, is a good communicator and has demonstrated a strong commitment to McNeill for 16 years.

"I think Mrs. Brooks has all the qualities of an outstanding principal. ... I believe she will look after the children of McNeill as she does her own child," Tinius said.

He introduced Brooks to the students during a morning assembly at the school.

"I know I've got very big shoes to fill because hasn't Miss Ingram been a wonderful principal?" Brooks told students. "I need your help to make McNeill the best school in the world."

We Congratulate Our Marvelous Louisville Cardinals Basketball Team On Being Crowned The 2013 NCAA Mens' Champions. Way To Go, Guys!

Want More Pictures? Check This Out.

We Join Others In Mourning The Passing Of Britain's "Iron Lady", Margaret Thatcher. RIP.

Margaret Thatcher, Who Remade Britain, Dies at 87

 

“It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother, Baroness Thatcher, died peacefully following a stroke this morning,” a statement from her spokesman, Tim Bell, said. She had been in poor health for months, and suffered from dementia.

Mrs. Thatcher was the first woman to become prime minister of Britain and the first to lead a major Western power in modern times. Hard-driving and hardheaded, she led her Conservative Party to three straight election victories and held office for 11 years — May 1979 to November 1990 — longer than any other British politician in the 20th century.

Queen Elizabeth IIand Prime Minister David Cameronoffered tributes to what Mr. Cameron called “a great leader, a great prime minister, a great Briton.” Mr. Cameron cut short a visit to Continental Europe to return to Britain.

Buckingham Palace said the queen was “sad to hear the news” and would be sending a private message of sympathy to the family.

A statement from the White House said that “the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend.”

The tough economic medicine Mrs. Thatcher administered to a country sickened by inflation, budget deficits and industrial unrest brought her wide swings in popularity, culminating with a revolt among her own cabinet ministers in her final year and her shout of “No! No! No!” in the House of Commons to any further integration with Europe.

But by the time she left office, the principles known as Thatcherism — the belief that economic freedom and individual liberty are interdependent, that personal responsibility and hard work are the only ways to national prosperity, and that the free-market democracies must stand firm against aggression — had won many disciples. Even some of her strongest critics accorded her a grudging respect.

At home, Mrs. Thatcher’s political successes were decisive. She broke the power of the labor unions and forced the Labour Party to abandon its commitment to nationalized industry, redefine the role of the welfare state and accept the importance of the free market.

Abroad, she won new esteem for a country that had been in decline since its costly victory in World War II. After leaving office, she was honored as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. But during her first years in power, even many Tories feared that her election might prove a terrible mistake.

In October 1980, 17 months into her first term, Mrs. Thatcher faced disaster. More businesses were failing and more people were out of work than at any time since the Great Depression. Racial and class tensions smoldered so ominously that even close advisers worried that her push to stanch inflation, sell off nationalized industry and deregulate the economy was devastating the poor, undermining the middle class and courting chaos.

At the Conservative Party conference that month, the moderates grumbled that they were being led by a free-market ideologue oblivious to life on the street and the exigencies of realpolitik. With electoral defeat staring them in the face, cabinet members warned, now was surely a time for compromise.

To Mrs. Thatcher, they could not be more wrong. “I am not a consensus politician,” she had often declared. “I am a conviction politician.”

In an address to the party, she played on the title of Christopher Fry’s popular play “The Lady’s Not for Burning” in insisting that she would press forward with her policies. “Turn if you like,” she told the faltering assembly. “The lady’s not for turning.”

Today, The Africa And The World Mourn The Sad Passing Of A Great Man Of Honor And Integrity, And A Literary Giant, Who Warned That In Africa "Things Fall Apart", Professor Cinua Achebe. Rest In Peace, Brother.

Read all about  Chinua Achebe.

ED KOCH, FORMER THREE TERM NEW YORK CITY MAYOR, HAS DIED. R. I. P. .

IT IS WITH PROFOUND SADNESS THAT I MOURN UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE DEAN, J. BLAINE HUDSON. REST IN PEACE, BROTHER.

J. Blaine Hudson career highlights

• Earned doctorate from University of Kentucky in 1981.
• Started working at University of Louisville in 1974 and joined its department of Pan-African Studies in 1998.
• Directed department’s Pan-African Studies Institute for Teachers and served as department chair and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences before being appointed college dean in 2004.
• Published numerous articles and book chapters on African-American history and two books on the Underground Railroad.
• Chaired Kentucky African American Heritage Commission and Kentucky State Advisory Committee to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
• Recipient of 2002 Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Award.
• Co-author, with Mervin Aubespin and Kenneth Clay, of “Two Centuries of Black
Louisville: A Photographic History,” 2011.

J. Blaine Hudson, who once occupied the dean’s office at the University of Louisville’s College of Arts and Sciences as a student protester and later led the college as dean for more than eight years, died Saturday, according to the school and A.D. Porter & Sons Funeral Home. He was 63.

During his career, Hudson chronicled the history of African Americans in Louisville, served on boards and commissions across the state and worked to solve the problem of gun violence in Louisville.

“He has been an intellectual jewel,” Merv Aubespin, a longtime friend of Hudson who co-authored a book on black history in Louisville with him, said in an interview Friday.

He said Hudson’s work was groundbreaking. “The areas that he studied, as far as African-American history, hadn’t been studied that much before he did,” Aubespin said.

Hudson, who was named acting dean in 2004 and was appointed to the post full time the following year, took a leave of absence in August, telling colleagues in an email that he had serious health problems and had undergone “cranial surgery.”

At the time, he said, “Prognosis is good; all marbles are still there.”

Hudson, however, stopped taking visitors and phone calls and communicated infrequently by email after that. The exact nature and severity of his illness remained a mystery to even his close friends.

The university announced last month that Hudson would step down as dean at the end of December.

John P. Ferré, an associate dean for faculty affairs, has been acting dean.

“Blaine has been a mentor to me, a dyed-in-the-wool historian who cared for the advancement of social justice and the arts and sciences,” Ferré said in a statement.

“Social justice and arts and sciences, of course, were much the same in his mind. Everyone — no matter what color, gender, sexual orientation, or political leaning — counted equally for Blaine. I loved that about him,” Ferré said.

On Saturday night, U of L spokesman Mark Hebert confirmed Hudson’s death and university President James Ramsey issued a statement recalling Hudson’s accomplishments.

“Blaine’s many years and contributions as a faculty member, department chair and dean has had, and will continue to have, a lasting impact on generations of U of L students,” he said.

“Blaine was a visionary and leader in the academy and the community. He will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family,” Ramsey said.

Raoul Cunningham, a civil rights activist, said Hudson had a huge impact on Louisville, starting with his time as an activist on campus in the 1960s and leading up to his time leading the College of Arts and Sciences.

In 1969, Hudson was arrested and expelled after occupying the same dean’s office he would later hold. He and other protesters demanded more black faculty, African-American representation on the board of trustees and the creation of a Pan-African Studies Department.

He was later allowed to re-enroll but lost credits for the semester in which he was expelled.

“As a member of the faculty and more specifically as dean, he had an impact on not only the university but the community as a whole,” Cunningham said.

Hudson taught history and Pan-African studies classes for years while holding various administrative posts. He was Pan-African Studies Department chairman from 1998 to 2003 and was an associate dean from 1999 to 2004.

Hudson, a lifelong Louisville resident, received his doctorate in higher education administration at the University of Kentucky and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from U of L.

Hudson was active in the community, working to teach others outside the university setting about black history and working to combat violence in western Louisville.

Mayor Greg Fischer said in an interview he chose Hudson earlier this year to chair his Louisville Violence Prevention Work Group because he knew the city and racial dynamics that often play into the violence.

“He came of age in the time of (the Rev.) Martin Luther King Jr. He not only studied the history, he lived the history as well,” Fischer said.

He called Hudson “a Renaissance man.”

Hudson has been chair of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission and founded a program called the Saturday Academy, an enrichment program to teach people about African-American history and world history from an African-American perspective.

He led the effort to create a “Freedom Park” on U of L’s campus in an effort to counterbalance the Confederate statue erected near the campus in 1895.

“He leaves an incredible legacy of activism, teaching, scholarship, community service, leadership and integrity on and off the University of Louisville campus in many capacities,” Hudson’s family said in the obituary.

Hudson’s publications include the 2011 book “Two Centuries of Black Louisville: A Photographic History,” with Kenneth Clay and Aubespin, a retired Courier-Journal associate editor.

Aubespin said that he and Clay began work on the book five years before it was published and found themselves relying so much on Hudson and his knowledge that a year into their work on it, they asked him to be a co-author.

“We were driving him nuts,” Aubespin said. “One day, I suggested to him ... that he join us. He said, ‘I’d be delighted.’ ”

The obituary said only that “the family will gather to commemorate his love” but gives no information about a funeral or memorial service.

It asks that expressions of sympathy be made with contributions to U of L’s Pan African Studies Department.

WE SAY "ALOHA" AS WE BID A VERY GOOD MAN AND PUBLIC SERVANT, SENATOR DANIEL INUOYE, ADIEUS. REST IN PERFECT PEACE, SIR.

READ MORE HERE.

AT 11:11 ON 11/11 I PAUSE TO REMEMBER THOSE WHO GAVE "THE LAST MEASURE OF DEVOTION" TO THEIR COUNTRY AND COUNTRY FOLK, AND TO THOSE WHO STILL SERVE. HAPPY VETERANS DAY, AMERICA.

WE MOURN THE PASSING AWAY OF MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN. R. I. P.