RIP

[Kobi]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Russell Means spent a lifetime as a modern American Indian warrior. He railed against broken treaties, fought for the return of stolen land and even took up arms against the federal government.

A onetime leader of the American Indian Movement, he called national attention to the plight of impoverished tribes and often lamented the waning of Indian culture. After leaving the movement in the 1980s, the handsome, braided activist was still a cultural presence, appearing in several movies.

Means, who died Monday from throat cancer at age 72, helped lead the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee - a bloody confrontation that raised America's awareness about the struggles of Indians and gave rise to a wider protest movement that lasted for the rest of the decade.

Before AIM, there were few national advocates for American Indians. Means was one of the first to emerge. He sought to restore Indians' pride in their culture and to challenge a government that had paid little attention to tribes in generations. He was also one of the first to urge sports teams to do away with Indian names and mascots.

Means said his most important accomplishment was the proposal for the Republic of Lakotah, a plan to carve out a sovereign Indian nation inside the United States. He took the idea all the way to the United Nations, even though it was ignored by tribal governments closer to home, including his own Oglala Sioux leaders, with whom he often clashed.

His activism extended to tribes beyond the United States. In the mid-1980s, Means traveled to Nicaragua to support indigenous Miskito Indians who were fighting the Sandinista government.

With his rugged good looks and long, dark braids, he also was known for a handful of Hollywood roles, most notably in the 1992 movie "The Last of the Mohicans," in which he portrayed Chingachgook alongside Daniel Day-Lewis' Hawkeye.

He also appeared in the 1994 film "Natural Born Killers," voiced Chief Powhatan in the 1995 animated film "Pocahontas" and guest starred in 2004 on the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Means also ran unsuccessfully for the Libertarian nomination for president in 1988 and briefly served as a vice presidential candidate in 1984 on the ticket of Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.

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[Kobi]

AMHERST, N.Y. (AP) -- Paul Kurtz, who founded an international center devoted to debunking psychics and UFOs and promoting science and reason over what he viewed as religious myths, has died. He was 86.

A prolific author and organizer, Kurtz also founded the not-for-profit Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and Council for Secular Humanism, as well as the secular humanist magazine Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer magazine, which takes on such topics as alien sightings, paranormal claims and homeopathic remedies. Most recently, he formed the Institute for Science and Human Values.

"He was without question a remarkable visionary and the scope of his accomplishments is truly staggering," said Nathan Bupp, who was mentored by Kurtz before going on to work for him, currently at the ISHV. "His lasting legacy will be as a builder of institutions and a purveyor of ideas. ... He had an intense interest in the power of ideas and how ideas came to permeate and influence the culture at large."

A compilation of Kurtz essays published by Bupp in June describes Kurtz's theory of eupraxsophy, which he first envisioned in 1988 as a secular moral alternative to religion that met some of the social needs served by religions without the supernaturalism or authoritarianism of traditional faiths.

At a January UNESCO conference in Paris, Kurtz spoke on "neo-humanism" and the positives of unbelief. Kurtz wasn't anti-religious, Bupp said, but nonreligious.

"Neo-humanists do not believe in God, yet they wish to do good. But if this moral outlook is to prevail, then neo-humanisms need to concentrate on improving the things of this world rather than simply combating the illusions of supernaturalism," Kurtz said at the conference.

A World War II veteran, Kurtz fought in the Battle of the Bulge and served in a unit that liberated the Dachau concentration camp, according to a biography provided by the Center for Inquiry. He earned a doctorate in philosophy at Columbia University in 1952 and taught philosophy at several colleges, arriving at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1965 and remaining there until his retirement from teaching in 1991.

All the while, he was active in the humanist movement. He served from 1967-1978 as editor of The Humanist, published by the American Humanist Association. He joined the board of directors of the International Humanist and Ethical Union in 1969 and served as co-chairman of that organization from 1986 to 1994. He founded what would become the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry in 1976 and Council for Secular Humanism in 1980.

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Have to admit, I have no clue who this man was but the obit has me curious to learn more about his beliefs.

[Kobi]

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Major Harris, a former member of the "Philadelphia sound" soul group the Delfonics and singer of the 1975 hit "Love Won't Let Me Wait," has died in Richmond. He was 65.

Harris made the rounds with several music groups in the 1960s, including the Charmers, Frankie Lymo n's Teenagers and Nat Turner's Rebellion.

He then joined the Delfonics in the early 1970s, replacing Randy Cain in the group known for their hits "La-La (Means I Love You)" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)."

Harris left the group in 1974 to pursue a solo career. He recorded a string of R&B singles, including "Love Won't Let Me Wait," which peaked at No. 5 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified as a gold record by the Recording Industry Association of America. The song was covered by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams in 1994 and again by Luther Vandross on his 1988 album "Any Love."

Harris last performed in 2011 at a reunion show with some of the members of the Delfonics, Thomas said.

[Kobi]

Lucille Bliss, the voice of Smurfette and several other iconic cartoon characters, died last week at the age of 96 from natural causes. Katy Perry played Smurfette in the feature film, but Bliss was the original blue-hued babe.

According to her obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Bliss went to Los Angeles as a young woman trying to break into show business. She borrowed $50 from a friend to make the trip. She auditioned for the role of cruel stepsister Anastasia in Disney's "Cinderella." Six months later, she got the role. Years later, she recalled hearing the good news. "I almost dropped the phone. I was delirious. That is the way it all began."

And it never really stopped. All told, Bliss worked in movies and television for more than 60 years. In addition to her work on the long-running "The Smurfs," Bliss provided the voice of Elroy Jetson on "The Jetsons" and Crusader Rabbit, star of one of TV's first successful animated programs. Other notable credits, according to IMDb, include a small part in "101 Dalmatians," the role of Mrs. Fitzgibbons in "The Secret of NIMH," and turns in the hit anime series "Avatar: The Last Airbender."

Bliss also did non-animation work. She had a one-episode role in the Don Johnson TV series "Nash Bridges" and she hosted "The Happy Birthday To You Show" in San Francisco during the 1950s, according to Animation World Network.

In an interview with Emmy TV Legends, Bliss spoke about her connection to Smurfette. "She had a lot of animation and a lot of personality. And she was lovable and she was a little feisty at times, too. And she loved animals… She felt so real to me because I created her voice. I could feel her emotions. It may sound strange, but it’s true."

[Kobi]

DETROIT (AP) — Early in her husband's political career, Helen Milliken dutifully played the role of unassuming, supportive spouse. But she evolved into an outspoken advocate of women's rights, the environment and other issues close to her heart during her record 14 years as Michigan's first lady.

Milliken campaigned vigorously for abortion rights and the ill-fated Equal Rights Amendment, which stated equality of rights "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

She drew the wrath of the outdoor advertising industry shortly after her husband, Republican William Milliken, became governor in 1969, when she criticized highway billboards as unsightly clutter. And at her urging, her husband hiked the Pigeon River State Forest while governor and later decided to limit oil and gas development in the scenic forest.

It was the couple's daughter, Elaine, a lawyer and feminist, who died of cancer in 1993, who influenced her mother to take a stand for women's equality. Helen Milliken served as national co-chair of ERAmerica and was a delegate to the International Women's Year conference in Houston. Her other board memberships included the Women's Resource Center and the Michigan Land Use Institute.

Even into her 80s, she remained active in community affairs and as an environmentalist. Milliken helped organize a foreign policy lecture series at Northwest Michigan College and took a course on the life of Mozart.

Milliken co-founded ArtrainUSA, an art museum housed in rail cars that visited more than 850 communities across the U.S. since 1971.

She told The Associated Press in 2006 about her concerns that many younger women were shying away from political activism and the "feminist" label.

"They don't know their history," she said at the time. "Young women take so much for granted now."

Feminism, she said, had "been redefined and misinterpreted" by conservatives as wild-eyed radicalism.

"Nobody ever saw anybody burn a bra; they're too expensive," she said. "But the myth has survived. There have been excesses, but the goal has always remained the same: equal opportunity for women."

___

[Kobi]

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Former Sen. Warren B. Rudman, who co-authored a ground-breaking budget balancing law, championed ethics and led a commission that predicted the danger of homeland terrorist attacks before 9/11, has died. He was 82.

The feisty New Hampshire Republican went to the Senate in 1981 with a reputation as a tough prosecutor, and was called on by Senate leaders, and later by presidents of both parties, to tackle tough assignments.

He is perhaps most well-known from his Senate years as co-sponsor of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget-cutting law. He left the Senate in 1993, frustrated that the law never reached its potential because Congress, President Ronald Reagan and the President George H.W. Bush played politics instead of insisting on spending.

In 2001, before the 9/11 attacks, he co-authored a report on national security with former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart that said a major terrorist attack on American soil was likely within 25 years.

The report went into a dustbin in the White House. It was revived after the Sept. 11 attacks, and one suggestion, forming a Homeland Security Department, was adopted. Six years later, Rudman said the sprawling department wasn't functioning well and the country would be hit again.

A former New Hampshire attorney general, Rudman was named chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee in 1985, a sensitive job that many colleagues avoided.

Throughout his Senate career, Rudman was cited for his work on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, where he supported a strong national defense but opposed expensive, high-tech weaponry.

The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act was approved in 1985. It was designed to end federal deficits by 1991 and required automatic spending cuts if annual deficit targets were missed.

Congress rolled back the timetable each year, and the 1991 budget that was supposed to be balanced carried the second-highest deficit in history. In 1995, 10 years after the law went on the books, Rudman lamented what could have been.

"Had we stuck to that plan, had the Congress not failed to follow it through - in fact, had presidents not failed to follow through - we would not be where we are today," Rudman said.

He said balancing the budget would require making wealthy retirees pay more of their medical costs, slowing the growth of discretionary spending, cutting waste in some agencies and eliminating unnecessary agencies.

He continued the fight after leaving the Senate. He and former Democratic Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts founded the Concord Coalition, which campaigns for a balanced budget.

During the biggest scandal of the Reagan years, Rudman, an outspoken member of the Senate's Iran-Contra Committee, said key administration officials had showed "pervasive dishonesty" and disdain for the law by selling weapons to Nicaraguan rebels.

During the 1987 hearings, he lectured Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the operation's key figure, about helping to hide the sale from Congress for fear it would have been rejected.

"Rudman also served on the committee that investigated the "Keating Five," senators with ties to the savings and loan debacle in 1991. The committee found California Democrat Alan Cranston had improperly aided former savings and loan executive Charles Keating Jr. When Cranston said he only did what others did, Rudman called the defense "arrogant, unrepentant, and a smear on this institution."

As a private citizen after leaving office he also led or was a member of investigative teams or federal commissions that looked into:

- An $11 billion accounting failure scandal at Fannie Mae, the mortgage company.

- Allegations that major dealers on the Nasdaq stock market colluded to fix prices.

- Violence between Israel and Palestinians.

- Ailments affecting veterans of the first Gulf War. The panel drew criticism from veterans' groups by concluding that stress was the most likely cause of some illnesses suffered by thousands of veterans, not exposure to chemical warfare or smoke and dust from depleted uranium ammunition.

In a 1996 memoir, Rudman wrote of behind-the-scenes drama involving two high-profile Supreme Court nominees.

He confessed that he voted to confirm Clarence Thomas to preserve his ability to influence the appointment of federal judges and to get federal money for his home state.

"It isn 't a vote I'm proud of, but it's a textbook example of how our system works," Rudman wrote in "Combat: Twelve Years in the U.S. Senate." He said he didn't think Thomas was "even close to being" the best candidate for the job.

Thomas won confirmation in 1991 by a 52-48 vote after a showdown hearing with former colleague Anita Hill, who accused him of sexual harassment.

"If my vote had been the deciding one, I would have voted against Thomas, no matter what the consequences," he wrote. "But once it was clear that he would be confirmed, I made a political decision."

He said that partly because he hadn't opposed Thomas, he was able to get the first President Bush to nominate three candidates for federal judgeships.

In the book, Rudman also wrote of another Supreme Court nomination that was much closer to his heart, that of his long-time friend and former deputy in the state attorney general's office, David Souter.

He wrote that the very private Soute r appeared ready to walk away from the nomination before confirmation hearings because he was being portrayed in news stories as a wierdo or possible gay because he was 50, single and lived in a little farmhouse crammed with books.

"Finally, I grabbed his shoulders," Rudman wrote. "'David, I know what you're going through,' I declared. 'It's outrageous what they're doing to you. But it's your destiny to serve on the Supreme Court. I've believed in that for a long time. Don't let them get to you.'"

After five hours of emotional conversation, Souter decided to push on.

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Always liked this guy. Have a thing for ethics and people who espouse them.

[Kobi]

Art Ginsburg, the delightfully dorky television chef known as Mr. Food, died at his home in Weston, Fla., Wednesday following a struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81.

Ginsburg - who enticed viewers for decades with a can-do focus on easy weeknight cooking and the tagline "Ooh! It's so good!" - was diagnosed just over a year ago. The cancer had gone into remission following early treatments and surgery, but returned earlier this month.

Ginsburg had an unlikely formula for success in this era of reality cooking shows, flashy chefs and artisanal foods. With a pleasantly goofy, grandfatherly manner and a willingness to embrace processed foods, Ginsburg endeared himself to millions of home cooks via 90-second segments syndicated to 125 local television stations around the country.

And though he published 52 Mr. Food-related cookbooks, selling more than 8 million copies, he was little known to the nation's foodies and mostly ignored by the glossy magazines. That was the way he liked it.

"They're on the Food Network. They're getting a lot of national publicity. And they're getting big money," he said of fellow food celebrities during a 2010 interview with The Associated Press. "I was always the hometown guy. I don't want to be the super celebrity. When you need bodyguards, that's not my deal."

Ginsburg grew up in the meat business, and eventually started his own catering company. He made his television debut in 1975 in upstate New York on a local morning program. His Mr. Food vignettes were syndicated in nine television markets by 1980. His popularity peaked in 2007, when he was appearing on 168 stations.

He also was generous with the enviably broad reach of his culinary pulpit, frequently inviting up-and-coming celebrities to do guest appearances with him.

"Art Ginsberg was a warm, gregarious man who knew food is more about love and sharing than a fancy ingredient list," said Rachael Ray, who Ginsburg invited on air long before she was a huge celebrity. "He was a supportive and loyal friend and I'll miss his smile and warm hugs. This Thanksgiving I'm thankful I knew him."

In recent years, Ginsburg eased his involvement in the day-to-day operations of the company he founded, Ginsburg Enterprises Incorporated, which produces the television segments and oversees his many other ventures, including a line of housewares. The company also produced television segments that did not star Ginsburg, billing them as the "Mr. Food Test Kitchen." It plans to continue producing and syndicating those segments.