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President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy at US Senator Edward M. Kennedy's funeral Mass on Saturday, a White House official has told the Globe. Kennedy's funeral will be held at a time yet to be determined Saturday morning at The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Mission Hill section of Boston. Commonly known as the Mission Church, the 1,450-seat basilica on Tremont Street was built in the 1870s. Kennedy prayed there in 2003 while his daughter, Kara, was being treated for lung cancer.

Taken from The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine by Eusebius Pamphilus: Chapter XXX.—That he marked out before a Covetous Man the Measure of a Grave, and so put him to Shame. On one occasion he thus personally addressed one of his courtiers: “How far, my friend, are we to carry our inordinate desires?” Then drawing the dimensions of a human figure with a lance which he happened to have in his hand, he continued: “Though thou couldst obtain the whole wealth of this world, yea, the whole world itself, thou wilt carry with thee at last no more than...

You were right, Ted Kennedy Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 9:39 am By Briggs One day in 1973, in his squeaky, pickled-vocal-chords baritone Ted Kennedy filled the Senate chamber with these words: “Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?” His intent was rhetorical, because the answer was, and always has been, obvious: of course there are two classes, low and high. And no other modern politician took advantage of this fact more than did the mighty “lion of the senate.” Here...

Cardinal Mahony calls Kennedy a champion of the powerless August 26, 2009 Cardinal Roger Mahony issued a statement today calling the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) a champion of "the voiceless, the powerless and the most needy of our citizens." Mahony recalled how the two worked together after the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act was introduced in 2007. Kennedy "was keenly aware of the plight of immigrant peoples in our nation and was an advocate for their rights and their full inclusion into the culture and economy of our country." Mahony was one of several prominent California figures to issue...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Senator Edward Kennedy's death marks the twilight of one of America's most fabled political families, with no heirs to the Kennedy name poised to emerge with the same mix of gravitas, ambition and celebrity. Kennedy, 77, one of the most effective lawmakers in U.S. history and the brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, died late on Tuesday after battling brain cancer.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee last year, today praised Senator Edward M. Kennedy's willingness to work with Republicans on issues facing the country. "Ted Kennedy had this unique way of doing hand-to-hand combat on the floor of the Senate," McCain said on CNN. "And as soon as we stopped our speechmaking, he'd come over and put his arm around you and make everybody appreciate that we had our differences, politically, but personally we could be friends and work together as colleagues and friends for the good of the country." "Probably the most overrated aspect of the...

Senator Ted Kennedy has died.

Earlier this week, ABC, CBS and NBC all noted the tenth anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. That Kennedy was an “icon” according to CBS’s Harry Smith, and “the Prince of Camelot” to ABC’s Chris Cuomo, a former cousin-in-law. Today marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, killed July 18, 1969 after leaving a party with Senator Edward Kennedy. That night, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge, and left the scene with Kopechne still in the submerged vehicle; he did not call the police until the following morning. Over the course of...

Here is video of the speech Sen. Ted Kennedy made to try and rehabilitate himself following the death of Mary Jo Kopechne on Chappaquiddick Island after he drove her off a bridge in his car, leaving her to drown on July 19, 1969. Tomorrow will be 40 years since it happened. In this video, he says he finds his own behavior "indefensible" in waiting for hours to call authorities after getting out of the car himself, but leaving Kopechne in the car. Obviously, the entire speech was his attempt to indirectly defend himself. Below is a summary of "The Chappaquiddick...

Senator Edward Kennedy is a murderer. He should not be celebrated as an elder statesmen who has done wonderful things for our country (Go back and see some of his landmark bills and what they have done to this country). July 18, 1969 should be remembered for the loss of life to Mary Jo Kopechne. Mary Jo was what was called a “Boiler Room Girl” for working in, well, boiler room conditions on Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. She was part speech writer, part secretary, but from all accounts a nice girl who believed in Robert Kennedy and his causes...

Just past midnight on Saturday, July 19, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy drove his black Oldsmobile sedan off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard, just off Cape Cod. The Senator escaped a watery death, but a passenger in his car, twenty-eight-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not.

Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect Barack Obama, according to Democratic officials. Craig is intimately familiar with the president-elect’s record because he played the role of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in debate preparations. The officials said Obama has settled on Craig but were not sure when the appointment would be announced. The choice gives the president-elect both experience and loyalty. During the primaries, Craig was an early Clinton alumni defector to Obama. Columnist Robert D. Novak reported back in the winter of 2007 that...

While Michelle Obama may be the featured speaker at the first night of the party’s convention, she will have some new high-profile Democrats as warm-up acts. The program on Monday evening was intended to pay tribute to the Kennedys, with Senator Edward M. Kennedy set to appear in a videotaped message. But senior campaign aides confirmed that Mr. Kennedy is planning to be on stage in person, making his biggest public appearance since he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. It is sure to be a night steeped in high emotion for Mr. Kennedy, a large assembly of his...

BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor Tuesday in what could be the grim final chapter in a life marked by exhilarating triumph and shattering tragedy. Some experts gave the liberal lion less than a year to live. Doctors discovered the tumor after the 76-year-old senator and sole surviving son of America's most storied political family suffered a seizure over the weekend. The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962, and came as a shock to a family all too accustomed to sudden, calamitous news. "Ted...

NEW YORK – Sen. Edward Kennedy has held preliminary discussions with publishers about writing a book on his career, an adviser to the senator told The Associated Press on Saturday. Kennedy, whose books in recent years include a policy work and a children's story, has retained Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Barnett. Barnett's many literary clients include former President Clinton, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. “After many years of being requested to do so, and after writing several other books in recent years, Sen. Kennedy has decided to consider the possibility of writing a book...

Once upon a time, Ted Kennedy could count on his daily dose of veneration. The right wing hated the Massachusetts Democrat, but progressives honored him as a defender of old-school liberalism. In a remarkable turnaround, liberals are now heaping scorn on the 73-year-old senator. Young audiences boo at his name, and the leftish "Daily Show" on Comedy Central makes fun of him. The source of unhappiness is Kennedy's efforts to kill an offshore wind farm on Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind was to be the first such project in the United States and a source of pride to environmentally minded New...

Sen. Edward Kennedy's "hate crimes" plan – feared by Christian leaders as a way to censor biblical condemnations of homosexuality – has been proposed as an amendment to a defense spending bill, a maneuver opponents are calling "shameless" and "manipulative." The Kennedy plan, which earlier was introduced as separate legislation, would classify gender and sexual orientation as specially protected classes of people under federal law. Opponents say it would require law enforcement personnel to become "thought police" to determine whether a crime already addressed by existing law could be prosecuted under an enhanced standard of "hate crime." The White House...

In Congress, rich keep getting richerFINANCIAL DISCLOSURE ONLY HINTS AT WHAT MEMBERS ARE WORTH By Jim Abrams Associated Press Article Launched: 06/15/2007 01:30:57 AM PDT WASHINGTON - The political fortunes of new congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid soared last year, and financial disclosure forms revealed Thursday they're also doing well in personal money matters. New House Speaker Pelosi, through her investor husband, holds stocks and property worth well into the millions. Senate Majority Leader Reid, a gold miner's son, reported property around his hometown of Searchlight, Nev., as well as investments valued at several million dollars. They are...

When the immigration reform bill stalled in the Senate yesterday, President Bush may have been the most disappointed, having lost a chance at adding a signature domestic achievement to his legacy. Whether there will be a chance to salvage the effort is unclear — and so is the impact of all this on the presidential race. John McCain couldn't have been happy seeing the bill he co-sponsored hung up, maybe never to be resurrected. Throughout debates and testy campaign exchanges with his GOP rivals, McCain never wavered in his support for this particular reform. When party activists cried "amnesty," McCain...

As the Senate is mulling the details of a compromise immigration bill hammered together by the odd couple of Sens. Edward Kennedy and Jon Kyl, and as members of Congress hear from their constituents over the Memorial Day recess, it may be worthwhile to put the issue in historical context. For most of our history, the United States had no restrictions on immigration at all. I am told that my Canadian-born grandfather was a "nickel immigrant": He took the five-cent ferry from Windsor, Ontario, north to Detroit roundabout 1896. This situation resulted from America's strong demand for labor, coupled with...