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She went out with a bang, and it's left her Bronx family fuming. Glatha Byrd's final send-off was "apocalyptic" -- as the hearse carrying her body exploded and caught fire on the Major Deegan Expressway, says family lawyer James Franzetti. The family has filed suit in Bronx Supreme Court over the May 13, 2008, incident, accusing the Griffin Peters Funeral Home of causing some of Byrd's relatives "severe and serious" injuries. Valerie Davis, wife of the Harlem funeral home's owner, Keith Davis, called the suit "ridiculous." She said she had heard the relatives, who are also related to her...

In recent years it has become commonplace to turn funerals into casual canonizations. “Bob is in a better place,” we’re told, which, if taken literally, can only mean Heaven, as neither Hell nor Purgatory are better places than earth. Never mind the fact that Bob wasn‘t very generous with his time or money, drank too much, rarely read Catholic books or listened to Catholic radio, and in his retirement, watched baseball and football games most of the day, to the detriment of his marriage. He did, however, get to Mass every Sunday, prayed a few times during the week,...

CHICAGO – The funeral of a Chicago teen who was beaten to death on his way home from school drew civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan on Saturday, both calling for an end to youth violence. Farrakhan said he came to the funeral because he was "deeply pained" by the death of 16-year-old honor roll student Derrion Albert. The boy was walking to a bus stop after school when a group of teens attacked him during a street fight late last month. "Naturally, we wonder why such a beautiful life? Such a...

The city of Boston spent $431,000 on overtime costs to deploy 629 police officers, 48 firefighters, and a raft of other workers for the funeral of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, according to information released to the Globe yesterday under a public records request. City officials said a federal grant for “urban areas security’’ would cover $400,000 of the cost. According to the city’s tabulation, Boston spent $359,714 on 629 police officers, $36,748 on 48 firefighters, $29,572 on 55 public health and emergency medical workers, $4,350 on 27 transportation workers, and $1,293 on six public works employees. The city workers were...

Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, retired Roman Catholic Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas, has denounced the "scandal" of Ted Kennedy’s funeral. He wrote, "There was so much wrong with the funeral liturgy celebrated in Boston . . . for Senator Edward Moore Kennedy that I hardly know where to begin."He added, "Aside from the impropriety of such a grandiose celebration for one of the country’s most notorious dissident Catholics, the ‘celebration’ was filled with liturgical errors and transgressions against the General Instruction of the Roman Missal which governs every celebration of the Church’s liturgy."Bishop Gracida concluded, "It is not unreasonable to...

Jefferson County Sheriff defends soldier's funeral procession JEFFERSON COUNTY — The Jefferson County sheriff has offered a stern response to a woman complaining she was inconvenienced by a procession accompanying a soldier's casket. ... Boyer is a Vietnam veteran. He said Thursday he didn't intend for the e-mail to be widely released. -------------------------------------- The original email was sent to Sheriff Glenn Boyer on Thursday, August 27. Below is the citizen's email followed by Sheriff Boyer's response. I tried to call you earlier this morning, but was unable to obtain your extension from the voice mail system as I was not...

2:32 PM 9/8/2009 — It’s been a week since the Dead Kennedy Show aired on TV; and, since Father Venditti has already dealt with the canonical and spiritual aspects of the whole thing, your PP would like to reflect a little on what it might mean in the whole spectrum of the development of Catholicism in the United States. As distastefull and scandalous as we all know the Dead Kennedy Show was, it has, inadvertently, betrayed some rather encouraging signs. As little as thirty years ago, the outrage that exploded among ordinary Catholics in the wake of the Show would...

"To call a spade a spade," a phrase whose origin can be traced back to Plutarch, is defined by Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable as to be "outspoken, blunt, even to the point of rudeness." The question of when Catholics should be outspoken, in this sense, has arisen over the heated reactions to the funeral of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.   A number of commentators took issue with the funeral, specifically over the participation of Sean Cardinal O'Malley of Boston and Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, retired, from Washington, D.C., who read from the letter written by Kennedy to...

It could have, should have and indeed was predicted that the death of Senator Kennedy would be exploited by the left for political gains in the health care debate. Little did we know that they would exploit his own grandson to exploit his own death. The indecency of the left truly knows no bounds, ladies and gentlemen. I give you the poor lad too young to know any better: *-*Video available at website*-* Yes, that really happened. Gateway Pundit and Hot Air are following the story closely with details of the left saying it's ok to pray for nationalized medicine...

<p>Getty image removed by ModNewer wife dressed in black behind older model dressed in white.</p>

What these sleazebags won't do to pass national health care! Dems today pushed for Obamacare at Teddy Kennedy's funeral. And, they used a child as a prop. They politicized Ted Kennedy's funeral just as they politicized Wellstone's -- before the body was even cold. They even booed Tom DeLay and then-Gov. Jesse Ventura for the horrible crime of paying their respects. This is shameful conduct by shameless people.

Unbelievable. I watched it three times and still cannot believe what I saw and heard. Roll the tape: [VIDEO AT SITE] These people are shameless. Absolutely shameless. You would think that after the Paul Wellstone memorial went so far off the tracks that they would have learned. Seems that isn't so. Rush said last week that the services for Uncle Teddy would be a spectacle to behold because the Democrats cannot help themselves. Once again, Rush was right. As Allah at Hot Air said: Enter this poor little boy, charged with politicizing a prayer because the gutless pols around him...

(Father) "Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, released this statement concerning Senator Kennedy. "We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him, let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event." He adds that while Senator Kennedy called himself Catholic, like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden, they are actually wolves in sheep's clothing. "They do not hold to the teaching of the church....

Edward Kennedy Funeral Mass - Prayers Of The Faithful (YouTube)

BOSTON – President Barack Obama led the nation Saturday in mourning and remembering "the greatest legislator of our time," celebrating the indelible impact of Edward M. Kennedy as a senator for nearly a half-century and leader of America's most famous family during tragedy and triumph. Delivering an emotional, simple eulogy for Kennedy that capped a two-hour Roman Catholic funeral Mass, Obama employed humor, his own experiences and timeless anecdotes to memorialize the senator, who died Tuesday at 77 after battling brain cancer for more than a year. The country may have viewed him as "heir to a weighty legacy," Obama...

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) – President Barack Obama, three former presidents and the nation's elite gathered Saturday at a grand Catholic funeral for Edward Kennedy, America's legendary political patriarch. A who's who of the country's movers and shakers, including much of the US Congress, crammed into the pews of the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a historic church in Boston. Obama was to deliver the eulogy at the Mass, after which Kennedy's flag-draped coffin was to be flown to Washington for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, alongside his assassinated elder brothers John and Robert. Earlier, Kennedy's widow, Vicki, fought...

Senator Kennedy was also a strong, influential advocate for the environment, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy industry reform.

Gag, watching the Kennedy funeral I think I just saw Mark Foley in the audience. Anyone else notice? I think I've seen enough.

Saturday's grandiose Catholic funeral for Senator Ted Kennedy has the potential to be a scandal that will make Notre Dame's Obama Day a walk in the park. With all four living former Presidents in attendance and an address from President Barack Obama, the funeral is set to be a royal crowning, right inside a Catholic Church, of a man who betrayed the most fundamental moral teachings of the faith. What example will this give to Catholics and the rest of the world looking in? It will surely belie the Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life and sexuality. "Surely," they...

Some people might be wondering -- especially in light of the death of Ted Kennedy. My understanding has always been that every baptized Catholic, with few exceptions, has the right to a Catholic burial. But, of course, there are nuances and gray areas. And exceptions can often be a matter of personal opinion or prudential judgment. Zenit, as fate would have it, posted this primer from Canon Law just a few days ago: The Church is usually generous toward the deceased, within limits. First, we must distinguish between offering a funeral Mass and celebrating a Mass whose intention is the...

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.

Janie Holsey told a funeral home employee that the man in the casket was not her husband. "That's how they look when they die," a funeral home employee told the grieving widow, according to the Daily News. “How they look when they die” is a completely different person in the case of 80-year-old Kenneth “Tex” Roberts at the James L. Hawkins Funeral Home at 1640 Federal St. Monday, reports the Daily News’ Kitty Caparella. Despite Roberts’ wife’s disturbing proclamation, the funeral service went on the next day, with more than 200 mourners passing by a casket containing an unknown man...

SPOKANE, Wash. -- When Donald Ross's sister passed, more than 100 people attended her funeral mass in Spokane. The burial was scheduled for a nearby cemetery, but Ross and his family only made it a quarter of a mile when flashing lights forced them to the side of the road. "Harold, his (my husband's) brother, said, 'You pulled us out of a funeral procession,'" said wife Shirley Ross. But the deputy kept them there, writing up five citations because the driver and the passengers were not wearing a seat belts. And the sheriff's department says he had every right. "We're...

Mrs. Ozella McHargue of St. John, Ind. Was a lady with real holiday spirit, even after her spirit had left her body. When she passed away, she treated her family and guests to a holly Jolly funeral. McHargue came up with the idea after being diagnosed with cancer. She said she didn’t want depressing organ music at her funeral - she wanted songs like “Silver Bells” and “Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer.” She got her wish. The funeral home was decked with holly, wreaths, mistletoe, poinsettias and a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments from friends and family. McHargue was placed...

Walter Cronkite's family has released details on his funeral service tomorrow at 2pmET at St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan. The service will be a traditional burial service from the Book of Common Prayer with the Rev. William McD. Tully presiding. Music will be performed by St. Bartholomew's Choir. The music was chosen in cooperation with the family and will include a jazz band's rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In" during the final procession. Speakers will include Andy Rooney, Sanford Socolow, Mike Ashford and Bill Harbach followed by a final tribute from son Chip Cronkite. St. Bartholomew's is the...

Funeral date set for oldest manPage last updated at 18:44 GMT, Tuesday, 21 July 2009 19:44 UK A public funeral with military honours will be held for Henry Allingham, who was the world's oldest man before his death at the weekend at the age of 113. Mr Allingham, one of the last surviving World War I servicemen, died at a care home for blind ex-service personnel in Ovingdean, near Brighton, on Saturday. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915, later transferring to the RAF. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said his funeral would take place at St Nicholas...

If you want a dose of inspiration as well as confidence in America, watch this 12 minute film clip. It is moving and beautiful. It shows a 30 mile car procession from the small airport at Peachtree City, Georgia to a funeral home in McDonough, Georgia. Killed in action the week before, the body of Staff Sergeant First Class John C. Beale was returned to Falcon Field in Peachtree City, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, on June 11, 2009. The Henry County Police Department escorted the procession to the funeral home in McDonough, Georgia. A simple notice in local papers...

Michael Jackson's family is locked in a stubborn battle over what to do with the King of Pop's remains — a dispute that highlights decades of feuding. In 2002, Jackson completed a will leaving his estate to his children and granting custody of the kids — Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and “Blanket,” 7 — to his mother. But it appears Jackson did not stipulate his wishes for the disposition of his remains. In accordance with California law, if Jackson did not provide clear, specific directions for burial, control over his remains would go to his next of kin...

Enough! You got two for the price of one if you attended Michael Jackson's spectacular dog-and-pony show yesterday -- a memorial as dignified as a Vegas lounge-lizard act combined with the entertainment value of a carnival freak show. How soon one forgets, given the opportunity to participate in this mass hysteria. From the accolades, prayers and cries of grief, you'd think you were witnessing the death of a saint, not an accused serial pedophile who hated the skin in which he lived.

The major US TV networks have announced that the Michael Jackson funeral will be extended into a complete weekly series, to be shown simultaneously on all channels. Said producer Aaron J. Scupper, "The Jackson funeral was a phenomenal TV event, and we are tremendously thrilled and excited at the opportunity to build it into a series, delivering the funeral to a public which cannot get enough of Jackson family grief."

Here is complete video, all 177 minutes of it, of the funeral service held today, July 7, 2009, for Pop Legend Michael Jackson. The service was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Jackson was found dead at his rented home on June 25, 2009. . . . . . (Watch Video)

EXCLUSIVE: $25 Charge To Attend Michael Jackson Memorial Posted on Jul 02, 2009 @ 03:15PM Fans who wish to attend Michael Jackson's star-studded memorial service at Staples Center will have to shell out $25 to sit in the stands, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively. Family, friends and VIPS will have seats on the main floor for The Tuesday, July 7th Staples service, first reported by RadarOnline.com, while the general public will be plucking down $25 to sit in the stands. The memorial service will feel like a concert production featuring guest speakers, a lot of music and video screens inside and...

So Michael Jackson's body was going to be returned to his ranch at Neverland, where it would lie in state in a glass coffin for his helplessly grieving fans to say their goodbyes. It would be borne there in a white 'fairyland' horse-drawn coach as sobbing crowds line the route. Then would come the bad-taste funeral to end all bad-taste funerals, an orgy of saccharine camp with yet more artificially whipped-up sentiment.

Poll question: "The media coverage of Michael Jackson's death and funeral is..." A Daily Poll

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A U.S. drone attacked militants in Pakistan in Tuesday, killing at least 45 of them, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Tom Selleck, Jane Seymour, Lucy Liu, and hundreds of other friends and family members turned out to say goodbye to David Carradine at his funeral in Los Angeles Saturday evening. Held in a chapel on the grounds of Forest Lawn Cemetery, guests arrived all manner of dress, including kilts, Native American headdresses, leather fringe jackets, sandals and multi-colored cowboy boots. Even a group of Hell's Angels was there to bid goodbye to the actor, who was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok on June 4. [Snip] A white hearse containing Carradine's casket arrived at the cemetery around...

Hundreds are expected to turn out this morning under tight security for the funeral service for George Tiller, the Kansas physician specializing in late term abortions who was gunned down in the vestibule of his Lutheran church where he was working as an usher Sunday. The suspect in his death, Scott Roeder, a 51-year-old man with dire financial problems who authorities say flirted with a number of militia-style protests against the government before becoming fixated on the abortion issue, has been charged in Tiller's death.

ELCA Congregation Grieves after Member Shot in Church 09-127-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The funeral for Dr. George Tiller will be June 6 at College Hill United Methodist Church, Wichita, Kan. Tiller was shot and killed May 31 while serving as an usher for Sunday worship at nearby Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was a member. Tiller was 67. The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Tiller's family requested College Hill because it offers more available seating than Reformation. "All the different stages and symptoms of grief are happening here," said the Rev. Lowell R. Michelson, senior pastor for Reformation, a...

North Korean Defectors Puzzled, Moved by Roh Funeral By Kurt Achin Seoul 29 May 2009 South Korea's emotional farewell to former President Roh Moo-hyun brought much of the country together - including Koreans who were not born in the South. For North Koreans who have defected to South Korea, the outpouring of public emotion brought back memories of an earlier life - and reminders of how different their new life is. North Koreans who have begun a new life in the South were alongside their fellow Koreans in Friday's tearful mass gathering in Seoul. About 15,000 North Koreans now live...

In the hierarchy of human misfortune, nothing comes close to the tragedy of mothers and fathers attending the funerals of their children. As a Christian I understand that death is the beginning of eternal life in the presence of God, but as much as I try to reconcile faith and fact I still cannot accept a death that occurs out of sequential order. In the past few months I have listened to homilies delivered by sincere, loving and compassionate ministers of God, but still I ache--my heart has a void at its center.

More Fitna in Cyberspace: Mihdar vs al-Maqdisi Brynjar Lia February 7th, 2009 | AQ in Iraq, Jihadi media Is another chapter in the history of cyber-jihadi infighting about to be written these days? The latest controversy is a series of attacks by the webforum Madad al-Suyuf on Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, perhaps the most influential salafi-jihadi clerics alive. That the cyber-Jihadis quarrel with one another should come as no surprise. Despite calls for unity and brotherly counseling, jihadi writers frequently fight it out in the open. In fact, inter-jihadi quarrels seem to have become more common and less ‘brotherly’ in tone...

AT the Church of God in Gray Court, South Carolina, Nicole Marie-Loretta Leonard has joined the funeral procession. She enacts a funeral danced in front of the service, waves a wand over the coffin, opens it and hits the deceased man on the head with a wand. By way of finale she throws the flowers from the casket at the bereaved family. She drives off in a burgundy Toyota with North Carolina plates. Police respond and pull Nicole Marie-Loretta Leonard over. She admits it all. It, says she, “felt it was the right thing to do at the time.”

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A funeral director accused of leaving a woman's body to decay in a parked hearse after her relatives failed to pay the bill was arrested on a felony charge of abusing a corpse, police said Wednesday. Watson and Sons Funeral Home embalmed the remains of Edna Kathleen Woods, 52, after she died of natural causes in November 2007, said Gadsden police Sgt. Jeff Wright. Relatives wanted the body cremated but failed to sign the necessary paperwork or pay owner Harold Watson Sr., he said. After storing the corpse at his funeral home for more than a year,...

The Broward Sheriff's Office reports that 18-year-old Johnny Silfrain jumped into a black hearse parked outside a West Park church Wednesday morning and drove off. He was shot in the leg and eventually arrested when he drove back to the church. It appears he took the vehicle to retrieve his Bible from home. Family members say Silfrain had been agitated for days before attending the funeral. Relatives say they called Hallandale Beach police for help Tuesday night, but the officers said Silfrain didn't pose an immediate danger.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2008 – Starting early next year, the Army will allow full military funeral honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia for all soldiers killed in action. Full military honors include a caisson, band, colors team and an escort platoon in addition to the standard honors of a firing party, bugler and chaplain. In the past, the caisson was available only for officers killed in action because of limited availability, Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, said. The cemetery has two caissons, or horse-drawn vehicles, which now will be available for officers and enlisted soldiers killed in action on...

When Obama's grandmother died the press never inquired about his attendance at the funeral or a later memorial service. But I dug and found some pieces that said he would not attend the funeral, but would attend a memorial service in December. I've not seen any mention of an Obama visit to Hawaii in December. So, did/will he attend the funeral or memorial service? If not, why not? This is the woman that raised him for God's sake!

The recent boom in cosmetic procedures has raised the bar for many of us when it comes to appearance. And, it turns out, the dead are no exception. As the population has become increasingly sophisticated about procedures to enhance their appearance, so have their requests, morticians say, for smoothing lines, plumping lips and even boosting sagging parts for that last big special occasion — their funeral. “People used to say, just throw me in a pine box and bury me in the back yard,” says Mark Duffey, president and CEO of Everest Funeral, a national funeral planning and concierge service....

A memorial ceremony for Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg took place Tuesday afternoon in Kfar Chabad, Israel. (Photo: Tamar Runyan) Thousands of people are reciting Psalms in Kfar Chabad, Israel, where the memorial service has just begun for Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, the directors of the Chabad-Lubavitch center in Mumbai, Israel, attacked by terrorists last week. Their burial will take place afterwards at Jerusalem's Mount of Olives cemetery. A delegation of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries from around the world flew in for the ceremony. Rabbi Naftali Lipskar, from the Chabad-Lubavitch Youth Organization, mourned the victims as members of the extended...

The family and friends of Col. John Walker Ripley said their final goodbyes during a moving funeral ceremony on November 7, 2008 at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland. He was laid rest with full military honors in a ceremony that left most attendees either teary eyed or speechless. Among the honorary pall bearers was Lt. Col. Le Ba Binh who fought with Col. Ripley in Vietnam and actually witnessed the destruction of the Dong Ha bridge; the 30th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Carl E. Mundy; Lt. Gen. Sir Henry Beverly of the British Royal Marines, a...

With moist eyes, young midshipmen and hardened old warriors alike, stood at attention yesterday as the casket of Vietnam War hero retired Marine Col. John Walter Ripley was taken from the Naval Academy Chapel. One old comrade, who stood with Col. Ripley against a large Communist force on Easter Sunday 1972, flew in from California for the funeral Mass and final commendation. "Col. Ripley worked as my adviser for two years," retired Vietnamese Marine Corps Lt. Col. Le Ba Binh said through a translator during an interview. "He was a genuine guy, very nice, very well spoken. It hit me...