A Farrakhan Do Attitude has Louis Eyeing the Future

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan called Barack Obama the "hope of the entire world." Those are some big words to use. Farrakhan, once fearful that prostate cancer would take his life, is focused on a future with him in it.

But over the last year, Farrakhan has been regaining strength and slowly increasing his public appearances, giving lectures at the Nation's Mosque Maryam on Chicago's South Side, speaking in churches about unity and granting occasional interviews.

On Sunday, he appeared healthy and joked he's "a little on the pudgy side" at a robust 192 pounds. "People are wondering: 'Is he sick? How's he doing?"' he said. "I'm doing fine."

As recently as January, there were rumors circulating that Farrakhan was nearing death. One of the fundamental beliefs of the Nation of Islam is belief in the "mental" resurrection of the dead -- not in physical resurrection but mental resurrection. We suppose then that physical resurrections are left to ailing leaders in this world.

[News1130.com]

TWID Notes - Brunei National Day Edition

This Week in Death brings you: Notes from around the pool! We dive in for the 200 meter crawl event and 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.

No points were earned this week... a disappointing performance by El Esta Adead. On to the Health Notices...

Forget Health... Even Age Doesn't Affect Castro; Niece Says He is "Stupendous"
Fidel Castro's niece said Sunday he was recovering well from surgery and would likely be "very active" again in Cuba's government. "Fidel is stupendous," said Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of acting President Raul Castro. Fidel Castro, 80, has disappeared from view since temporarily ceding power to his younger brother, aside from occasional videotaped meetings with foreign visitors.
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y07/feb07/23e6.htm

Next Recovery Step, Piper to Pick a Peck of Pickled Peppers
Legend Rowdy Roddy Piper has been out of action since being diagnosed with cancer in November, but made his first RAW appearance in his hometown of Portland. Looking better than he has in ages, I might add. With tears in his eyes, he took in the thunderous standing ovation given by the fans.
http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=5232

Johnson Improves, Still not an Ambi-turner
South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson has left a Washington hospital and entered a private facility to continue rehabilitation. Part of Johnson's therapy has been to deal with weakness on his right side. Johnson will continue undergoing physical, occupational and speech therapy. Doctors say he's made "great progress" and that another test showed no evidence of the tangled arteries that triggered his brain hemorrhage in mid-December.
http://www.ktiv.com/News/index.php?ID=10366

Farrakhan to Say Farewell...to Nation of Islam, not Life
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is heading into what's billed as his final major address Sunday, and some Muslims are wondering whether the fiery orator - slowed by poor health - will try to repair old divisions between his movement and mainstream Islam.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5275220

And now: Death! In points-less form...

Britney's Hotness Officially Laid to Rest. Why do These Tears Come at Night?
Family and friends fear for health of pop superstar Britney Spears after she shaved off her own hair during a bizarre outing in Los Angeles on Friday. The singer and mother of two stunned fans and paparazzi photographers when she walked into a hairdressing salon in the city and asked a stylist to cut all her hair off.
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/02/18/fears_for_britney_spears_as_she_shaves_o

Prime Minister of Chad No Longer Hanging On
Chad's Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji died from a brain hemorrhage in Paris on Friday after he was flown there for urgent treatment following a heart attack. He was 56.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/02/23/chad.death.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Beer King Hops Off; Who is On Tap to Fill his Boots?
Alan D. Eames, a beer historian and author whose globe-trotting research into exotic brews and their origins earned him the nickname "The Beer King," has died. He was 59. "He used to say that beer is food, nourishing to the body and the soul."
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/02/16/ap3434415.html

"Now There's a Steal by Bird... Underneath to DJ... He Lays to Rest"
Dennis Johnson, the star NBA guard who was part of three championships and teamed with Larry Bird on one of the great postseason plays, died Thursday after collapsing at the end of his developmental team's practice. He was 52.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2775430

Death and Taxes... TWIT to Follow. We Remain...

The Commissioner's Council

TWID - Groundhog Edition

This Week in Death brings you: Notes from around the pool! We take you from the shallow to the deep end, and catch you up on all the news you need to know to be a Syms-like educated death pool competitor.

It's been a wild week in death. Goodbye Marcheline Bertrand, Sidney Sheldon, Gian Carlo Menotti. We hope Elton John writes a song about you. Your candle burned out long ago, their legend never did.

He is also Going to Start Rolling his Weed in Parchment Paper

Keith Richards has taken a health conscious move - he has started drinking organic vodka. The Rolling Stones rocker, who is renowned for his drink and drug use, was encouraged to go organic by bandmate Ronnie Wood's wife, Jo Wood.

http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowbizNews.asp?Code=WN266922W&headline=keiths_organic_tipple

Farrakhan Fare of Health

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has been released from a hospital and is expected to speak Feb. 25 in Detroit in what could be his last major public address.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/nation/16585477.htm

Fidel Healthy Enough to Play Field (The Joke is that Fidel and Field are Anagrams)

Cubans lined up Wednesday to buy official newspapers featuring photographs of a stronger-looking Fidel Castro, with the communist government eager to show he is recovering after a half-year out of power.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/31/news/CB-GEN-Cuba-Castro.php

Six-ty And Sick-Free!

Farrah Fawcett got an unbeatable gift for her 60th birthday: a clean bill of health. The actress, who revealed in October that she was fighting cancer, learned this week that she is cancer-free, spokesman Mike Pingel said Friday.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/16608877.htm

Happy Birthday to Sharon's Coma... And You Smell Like One Too

The family of Ariel Sharon has said it believes the former Israeli prime minister will emerge from his coma and return to health as its vigil by his hospital bed reached its first anniversary.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/family-keeps-hope-alive-at-sharons-bedside/2007/01/04/1167777216374.html

Finally, a Reason to Watch the Super Bowl

Sunday's pregame show will be for more than six hours, beginning at 10 a.m. with the traditional Road to the Super Bowl, a detailed highlight film of the 2006 season. Also scheduled is a report on Bill Walsh and his current health struggles.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/spotlight_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23962_5323217,00.html

It's a Shame No One Can Help him Commit Suicide

Kevorkian is 78 and reportedly suffers from a number of health ailments, including diabetes, hepatitis C, vertigo, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.

http://www.lifenews.com/bio1969.html

Long Live the King!

B.B. King's ill is gone. The 81-year-old bluesman was released from a Galveston, Texas hospital Saturday where he was admitted on Thursday for flu-like symptoms, including a low-grade fever. After a round of antibiotics, King was back to his old self and feeling fabulous, according to a spokeswoman for his management agency.

http://www.infoabouthollywood.com/view/news/2176/

And Now, a few notable, albeit point-less deaths

Ned Ryerson: "You Know Who Died? BING!"

Bing Devine, the St. Louis general manager who helped build Cardinals teams that won three National League pennants and two World Series in the 1960s, died Saturday. He was 90.

Who Knows seven? I know seven! Seven are the deaths in Death Pool...

Fondly,

The Commissioner's Council

TWID Notes! Volume 2

This Week in Death brings you: Notes from around the pool! We take you from the shallow to the deep end, and catch you up on all the news you need to know to be a Syms-like educated death pool competitor.

The Rumors of his Death have been Greatly Exaggerated: A TWID Update
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations says there is no truth to reports his nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, has died.
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20070105-122356-8351r

Farrakhan Farracan't Anymore
Minister Louis Farrakhan, who recently ceded leadership of the Nation of Islam to an executive board because of ill health, has undergone a 12-hour operation, the organization said Saturday.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/1/6/204433.shtml

Maybe Leo McGarry Should go Down and See how he is Doing
THE US intelligence community still believes Cuban leader Fidel Castro is terminally ill and has "months, not years" to live. Though a Spanish doctor visited Castro last month and denied he has cancer, Ross Feinstein, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said "The bottom line: He is terminally ill."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21023271-23109,00.html

Johnson Stiffens up: He should be Okay
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) underwent an angiogram this morning at George Washington University Hospital. Senator Johnson's overall medical condition has improved steadily over the past three weeks. The next phase of his recovery is expected to take several months and focus upon rehabilitation and physical therapy.
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6375.cfm?Id=0,53584

Seems the Martyrs Brigade may turn to Violence
Additionally, members of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades threatened to assassinate Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar and Interior Minister Saeed Seyam of Hamas.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Palestine/208135

Now That's HIP!
Former President George H.W. Bush, 82, has undergone successful right hip replacement surgery, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said Thursday.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/1/4/171539.shtml?s=ic

Bad News for Than Shwe's Internal Feng Shui
Reports have emerged from sources close to Singapore General Hospital that State Peace and Development Council leader senior general Than Shwe is receiving treatment for intestinal cancer.
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=8413

"Wind-driven Wildfire?" Sounds like Half of the Captain Planet Team Went too Far
Suzanne Somers' home was one of four destroyed by a wind-driven wildfire that swept through an exclusive seaside neighborhood of multimillion-dollar homes, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday. "My nature is to look at the glass half-full," Somers said in a statement Tuesday. "I truly believe we will learn something great from this experience." The 60-year-old actress and her husband, former game show host Alan Hamel, were out of town when the fire hit, and a Hamel spokesman said the home was a total loss.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/09/malibu.fire.ap/index.html

This Year's Rules Mean That This Isn't News
Barbaro is bouncing back again. The Kentucky Derby winner is spending hours in his protective sling, needed to deter sudden movement and make the colt comfortable as he fights back from his latest setback from laminitis.
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/sports/208292,122SPT5.article

And Two Non-Points Deaths to Report...

He will Never Again Ponti-ficate
Carlo Ponti, the prolific Italian producer of internationally acclaimed films such as ``Doctor Zhivago'' and ``Blowup'' and the longtime husband of Oscar-winning actress Sophia Loren, whom he discovered as a teenager in the 1950s and helped build into a star, has died. He was 94.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/16443997.htm

She Made the M in MILF stand for Monster
Actress Yvonne De Carlo, who starred in films opposite Clark Gable and Charlton Heston but won enduring fame as wife of a Frankenstein monster-like character in the TV series The Munsters, has died at age 84.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/16443997.htm

We hope you are enjoying TWID, hat tip "The Death Eaters," for contributing. Keep in touch with us!