TWID - Mother's Day Edition

This Week in Death brings you: Notes from around the pool! We already stuck our toe in and the water is perfect... So come on in as we take you from the shallow to the deep end, and catch you up on all the news you need to know to be an educated death pool competitor.

Mother's nurture you, so in their honor, we start this week with- Health!

Tammy Faye is Half-Bakked; Matter of Time
Tammy Faye Bakker, the disgraced televangelist whose reputations was rehabilitated, has penned a goodbye letter to her fans in which she says doctors have stopped treating her cancer. "The doctors have stopped trying to treat the cancer and so now it's up to God and my faith. And that's enough! But please continue to pray for the pain and sick stomach."
http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSN0927384020070509

Surprisingly, no Chapter Titled "Prepare a Death Pool Notice"
At age 90, actor Kirk Douglas has written his ninth, and he swears, final book. Featuring chapters like "Thinking About Death," "Dealing With Death," "Almost Dying," "Reading Obituaries" and "Sunset," the book is called, "Let's Face it."
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2007-05-08T110647Z_01_N07379441_RTRIDST_0_LIFESTYLE-DOUGLAS-COL.XML

Diego, It Wasn't Us, We Promise You Have Been in our 'Health' Section Only
Argentine football hero Diego Maradona has vowed to get healthy after a stint in hospital suffering from alcohol-induced hepatitis. In a live televised interview, he also vowed to find out who spread the rumour that he had died while he was in treatment.
http://itn.co.uk/news/41a4547649f2026ef504b9c49fac365e.html

Huanging On: What is the Secret of the Ju's Longevity?
The Chinese government on Wednesday denied media reports that Vice Premier Huang Ju, one of the nine most powerful men in the Communist Party hierarchy, had died. "It is our understanding that news regarding comrade Huang Ju's death is totally unfounded," an official with the cabinet spokesman's office said by telephone.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/05/09/china_denies_vice_premier_has_died/

Look Who Knows so Much. It just so Happens that Your Friend here is only Mostly Dead.
I believe Castro's masterminding his own slow fade. Of course Castro, a politician without parallel in recent history, may be dead already. Or not. In any case, we may not know when he actually does pass. Castro is likely using his death to his advantage: his final political gambit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-braudy/is-fidel-castro-mastermin_b_47896.html

And then there was death...

Mendel Claims he Ordered a Zima, not Emphysema
Former U.S. Rep. Mendel J. Davis, who represented South Carolina's 1st District for nearly a decade during the 1970s, died Sunday. He was 64.Davis, the last Democrat to win the district that covers much of the coast, died of complications from emphysema.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/67980.html

You're Right James Prince, it is Real Sad
Former two-division world champion Diego "Chico" Corrales, who lived as hard as he fought, died in a motorcycle crash Monday night in Las Vegas. "He crashed on a motorcycle. It don't look like he made it through this," manager James Prince told ESPN.com as he was arriving on the scene. "He's dead. It's real sad."
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2863505

Harrington Scared to Death; Takes Final Curtis-y
Curtis Harrington, who dived under his seat while watching his first horror film as a child, then went on to be a filmmaker known for his elegant, edgy cinematic forays into the macabre, died on Sunday at his home in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles. He was 80.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/movies/10harrington.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin

Comonna Wanna Layou to Rest
King Malietoa Tanumafili II, one of the world's longest reigning monarchs, has died at a hospital in Samoa. He was 94. Malietoa Tanumafili had sat on the Samoan throne since the country gained independence from New Zealand in 1962.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/samoan-monarch-dies-at-94/2007/05/13/1178994992661.html

Prostate Cancer killed Yahweh who Killed the Angel of Death... Chad Gadya, Chad Gaaaaadya
Former cult leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh, who was linked to nearly two dozen gruesome killings in the 1980s and said to have ordered victims' ears cut off as proof they were killed, has died. Yahweh, who had been fighting prostate cancer, died in his sleep Monday night, attorney Jayne Weintraub said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/08/america/NA-GEN-US-Obit-Yahweh-Ben-Yahweh.php

That's all for TWID. "Because living is good, and dying... not as good"

The Commissioner's Council