Veteran US Senator Edward Kennedy, the brother of former President John F Kennedy, has died at 77, after a long battle with a brain tumour.

He became a Democratic Massachusetts senator in 1962, replacing his brother when he resigned to become president, and was re-elected seven times.

Senator Kennedy was a dominant force in US politics for almost 50 years.

President Barack Obama, of whom he was an active supporter, said he was "heartbroken" to hear of his death.

"An important chapter in our history has come to an end," he said. "Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time."

Senator Kennedy has championed issues like education and healthcare, central to Mr Obama's first term.

 In 2006, Time magazine named him as one of America's "Ten Best Senators" saying that he had "amassed a titanic record of legislation affecting the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in the country".

The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says Senator Kennedy, known affectionately as Teddy, will be remembered as one of the most effective and popular legislators in American history.

Our correspondent says he was also skilled at forging alliances across party lines: pushing an education initiative with President George W Bush, and immigration reform with Republican John McCain.

But he was a fierce critic of the Bush administration, in particular over Iraq and the prisoner abuse scandal.

He will also be remembered as a staunch supporter of Irish Republicanism - at one time calling for British troops to leave Ulster - although he was later involved in the peace process leading to the Good Friday Agreement.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said the Kennedy family and the Senate had "together lost our patriarch".

"The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die," he said.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Senator Kennedy would be "mourned not just in America but in every continent".

"Even facing illness and death, he never stopped fighting for the causes which were his life's work. I am proud to have counted him as a friend."

'Joyous light'

The Kennedy family announced his death in a brief statement in the early hours of Wednesday.

 "Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the statement said.

"We've lost the irreplaceable centre of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever."

Edward Kennedy was the only one of four brothers to die a natural death.

His brother Joseph was killed in an air crash in World War II, and both President John F Kennedy and presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy were assassinated in the 1960s.

He was widely expected to be the next Kennedy in the White House, but he was never able to fully overcome the scandal caused in 1969, when he drove a car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick near his home, killing his female passenger.

The incident helped derail his only presidential bid, more than a decade later.

But he remained active in politics right up until his death, famously endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination during a tight race with Hillary Clinton last year.

At his death, he was the third longest serving senator in US history.

Last week, he asked the Massachusetts governor to change state law to allow a speedy succession when his Senate seat became vacant.

Analysts suggest that Senator Kennedy feared a lengthy gap could deny Democrats a crucial vote on Mr Obama's flagship health reform.

His death comes weeks after that of his older sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, on 11 August.

US MEDIA REACTION TO TED KENNEDY'S DEATH

Kennedy was at the center of the most important issues facing the nation for decades, and he did much to help shape them. A defender of the poor and politically disadvantaged, he set the standard for his party on health care, education, civil rights, campaign-finance reform and labor law
 Joe Holley writes in The Washington Post  on Ted Kennedy's political importance   

He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.
New York Times journalist John M Broder  describes the Kennedy effect.   

Seared in my memory: When I interned at the Heritage Foundation, I would pop into Mass at Saint Joseph's on the Hill. And I would almost always find myself sitting near Ted Kennedy. He's responsible for things that are deeply offensive to my conscience and diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Catholic faith, and he probably led some people astray by his example. But our faith also teaches that we are all sinners and that there is redemption. He had some incredibly good forces in his life, not least among them his sister, Eunice, who just died. I pray for the repose of his soul. R.I.P. Senator Kennedy.
Kathryn Lean Lopez  blogs her tribute   at the National Review.

Elected first in 1962, the 77-year-old Massachusetts liberal was rooted in the civil rights and Great Society battles of that decade, but his enduring strength was an ability to renew himself through his mastery of issues and the changing personalities of the Senate. Nowhere was this clearer than in Kennedy's early support of Barack Obama in 2008, when the young Illinois Democrat needed to establish himself against more veteran rivals for the White House. Kennedy not only campaigned for Obama but, at risk to his own health, opened the Democratic National Convention a year ago in Denver and returned to Washington repeatedly last winter to cast needed votes to move the new president's economic recovery agenda.
David Rogers in Politico  highlights the veteran senator's lasting political importance.   

In many ways, he was the last man standing, straddling a mythic family mantle of fame and a vaunted career of political service, all the while wearing the crown of Camelot decades after its heyday...the senator's death brought to a close a storied political era - of assassinations, Jackie O, Palm Beach, Chappaquiddick - and a lifetime of both tragedy and public service.
Andrea Billup writes in the The Washington Times that  'Camelot' fades with Kennedy passing   

In losing Kennedy, Obama loses a key Senate dealmaker at a crucial moment in legislative negotiations over the health care bill. Though an icon of Democratic liberalism, Kennedy was known to colleagues as a jovial pragmatist, whose many friendships with colleagues across the political and ideological spectrum made him one of the Senate's most influential players.

Kathy Kiely in USA Today examines   the impact of Ted Kennedy's death on healthcare reform.   

BBC News: Senator Edward Kennedy dies at 77

Umro Edvard Kenedi

Jedan od najuticajnijih senatora iz Demokratske partije i brat pokojnog američkog predsednika Džona Kenedija, Edvard Kenedi, preminuo noćas u 77. godini. Zbog borbe za reformu zdravstva i obrazovanja, građanska prava i mir, nosio nadimak "Demokratski lav".

Senator Edvard M. Kenedi, jedan od vodećih članova Demokratske partije, umro je u 77. godini, saopštili su jutros članovi njegove porodice. Edvard "Ted" Kenedi, preminuo je sinoć u porodičnom letnjikovcu na Kejp Kodu.

Kenedi se poslednjih godinu dana borio protiv malignog tumora na mozgu, ali je gotovo do kraja ostao aktivan u politici. Snažno je podržao aktuelnog predsednika Baraka Obamu u predizbornoj kampanji.

Kendi je rođen 1932. godine u Bostonu. Pune 43 godine bio je predstavnik Masačusetsa u Senatu, u koji je izbaran 1962. godine, nakon što je njegov brat Džon upraznio to mesto postavši predsednik SAD. Od tada je za senatora biran sedam puta.

Vatreni demokrata, pravnik, Harvardski diplomac, iz porodice sa jakim političkim pedigreom, Edvard Kenedi bio je u senci braće Džona i Roberta do 1968. godine kada je ubijen Robert tokom kampanje za predsedničke izbore.

Jedno vreme je i sam imao predsedničkih ambicija, ali u Demokratskoj partiji nikada nije imao dovoljno podrške za ulazak u izbornu trku. Umesto pohoda na Belu kuću, Edvard Kenedi se posvetio lavovskoj borbi za reforme u zdravstvu i obrazovanju, građanska i radnička prava i mir, i otud i dobio nadimak "Demokratski lav".

Važio je za istaknutog predstavnika liberalne politike, bio je trn u oku konzervativaca, ali i odličan pregovarač u kongresnim nagodbama. Uporni protivnik američkih intervencija u Vijetnamu i Iraku, osuđivao je politiku i Niksona i Džordža Buša.

Mediji ocenjuju da će odlazak "Demokratskog lava" označiti zalazak čuvene političke dinastije i zadati udarac demokratama u trenutku kada se predsednik Obama sprema za reformu zdravstva, čiji je pobornik sam Kenedi bio.

Edvard Kenedi se ženio dva puta i ima troje dece, iz prvog braka.

Izvor: RTS: Umro Edvard Kenedi

Edvard Kenedi izgubio bitku s rakom mozga
Umro najuticajniji senator SAD dvadesetog veka
Autor: J. Stojković | Foto:AFP | 27.08.2009. - 08:21

Edvard Kenedi (77), senator iz Masačusetsa, poslednji pripadnik političke dinastije najuticajnijih senatora u istoriji SAD, preminuo je u utorak uveče u svom domu na poluostrvu Kejp nakon duge borbe sa rakom mozga. Najmlađi brat Džona Kenedija, američkog predsednika ubijenog 1963, bio je decenijama neformalni vođa liberalne struje Demokratske partije.


U Senat je prvi put izabran 1962, a funkciju je obavljao za vreme mandata čak deset predsednika - među njima i svog brata Džona - i za to vreme ostavio iza sebe veliki broj zakona na polju zdravstvene zaštite, građanskih prava, obrazovanja i imigracije. Edvard Kenedi se 1980. godine kandidovao za demokratsku nominaciju za predsednika SAD i doživeo poraz od Džimija Kartera. Više od četvrt veka kasnije podržao je senatora Baraka Obamu u presudnom trenutku kampanje za izbor predstavnika demokrata na predsedničkim izborima, otvoreno poredeći mladog Obamu sa svojim pokojnim bratom Džonom Kenedijem.
"Značajno poglavlje naše istorije je završeno. Naša zemlja je izgubila velikog vođu koji je podigao baklju svoje poginule braće i postao najveći senator našeg doba", istakao je u pisanoj izjavi Obama, koji se s porodicom odmara na ostrvu Martaz vinjard.
Za Martaz vinjard Edvarda Kenedija je vezivala tragedija koja se desila u noći između 18. i 19. jula 1969, kada je vozeći automobil, najverovatnije u pijanom stanju, sleteo s mosta u jezero na malom ostrvu Čapakvidik, koje se nalazi odmah pored Martaz vinjarda. Meri Džo Kopečni (28), saradnica u kampanji njegovog brata Roberta Kenedija, pronađena je mrtva na zadnjem sedištu potonulog automobila deset sati kasnije. Taj događaj bio je po mnogima još jedna potvrda priče o "prokletstvu Kenedijevih".
Edvardu Kenediju je postavljena dijagnoza raka mozga u maju 2008. godine. Podvrgnut je operaciji, a zatim hemoterapiji i zračenju, ali je izostanak senatora sa sahrane njegove sestre Junis Kenedi Šrajver, 11. avgusta, bio znak da ni njemu nije ostalo mnogo vremena. Po zakonu, Kenedijev naslednik će biti izabran na specijalnim izborima. U svom poslednjem javnom nastupu Kenedi je apelovao na državne zvaničnike da ovlaste demokratskog guvernera Divala Patrika da postavi privremenog zamenika.
Edvard Kenedi je jedini od četvorice braće Kenedi koji je umro prirodnom smrću. Njegov najstariji brat Džozef poginuo je kada mu se u Drugom svetskom ratu srušio avion. Predsednik Džon Kenedi je ubijen u Dalasu 1963. godine, a Robert Kenedi, senator države Njujork, ubijen je iz vatrenog oružja za vreme predsedničke kampanje u Los Anđelesu 1968.
Nakon nesreće na ostrvu Čapakvidik, Kenedi je stekao imidž alkoholičara i ženskaroša, tragične ličnosti koju je stalno proganjao strah da nije dorastao svojoj braći. Neumereno se gojio, pa je tokom 80-ih i 90-ih godina prošlog veka ismevan u stripovima i karikaturama kao oličenje državnog rasipništva i dekadencije.



Tragedije dece Kenedijevih
1984: Dejvid Kenedi, jedno od jedanaestoro dece Roberta Kenedija, umro je sa 28 godina pošto se predozirao kokainom i drugim drogama.
1997: Majkl Kenedi, takođe Robertov sin, poginuo je na skijanju u Aspenu, udarivši u drvo.
1999: Džon Kenedi Mlađi, sin ubijenog predsednika SAD, poginuo je sa suprugom i svastikom kada se njihov mali avion srušio u Atlantski okean u blizini ostrva Martaz vinjard.

Izvor: Blic

U bostonskoj Biblioteci i Muzeju Džona F. Kenedija
Više od 20.000 ljudi odalo poštu Edvardu Kenediju
Autor: Beta | Foto:Reuters | 28.08.2009. - 17:52

Više od 20.000 ljudi odalo je poštu preminulom Edvardu Kenediju u bostonskoj Biblioteci i Muzeju Džona F. Kenedija, gde je izložen kovčeg s njegovim telom.


Amerikanci poštu Kenediju, koji je preminuo u utorak uveče nakon jednogodišnje borbe sa rakom mozga, odaju od juče. Broj ožalošćenih koji su želeli da iskažu svoje poštovanje čoveku koji ih je u Senatu predstavljao skoro pola veka bio je toliki da je radno vreme Biblioteke juče moralo da bude produženo do dva sata posle ponoći.
Sahrana Edvarda Kenedija, na kojoj se očekuje prisustvo svih još živih predsednika SAD, biće obavljena u subotu na Nacionalnom groblju Arlington, kod Vašingtona. Na istom groblju sahranjena su i njegova braća Džon, ubijen 1963. godine, i Robert Kenedi, ubijen tokom predsedničke kampanje 1968. godine.
Večeras će u Biblioteci biti održana privatna komemoracija kojoj će prisustvovati članovi porodice i najbliži prijatelji. Predviđeno je da potpredsednik SAD Džozef Bajden bude jedan od govornika. Kako se očekuje, predsednik SAD Barak Obama govoriće na pogrebnoj misi koja će biti održana sutra u jednoj crkvi u Bostonu.
U grupi od 100 uglednih ličnosti koje će odati poslednju poštu senatoru Kenediju neposredno pre sahrane, biće i 44 sadašnja i 10 bivših senatora.

Izvor: Blic

 opako djubre je bio taj kenedi i veliki neprijatelj srpskog naroda . i u americi je prilichno nepopularan , cesto su ga nazivali senator -ubica zbog "incidenta"  kad je u pijanom stanju izazvao saobracajnu nesrecu u kojoj se udavila njegova "devojka" . posle toga je mirno napustio scenu nesrece i nikom nije prijavio nishta . mocni advokati njegove porodice su sve zatashkali ,izvukao se sa 2 meseca zatvora uslovno ... 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappaquiddick_incident


---------------------------------------------

    An Honest Summary of Ted Kennedy’s Disgraceful Life

The following is an e-mail from an anonymous patriot that is meant to counter all the liberal attempts to white-wash Ted Kennedy’s disgraceful betrayal of America and his equally shameful personal life. Feel free to send this article to all your friends. –Editor’s Note.

As soon as his cancer was detected, I noticed the immediate attempt at the “canonization” of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media. They are saying what a “great American” he is. I say, let’s get a couple things clear and not twist the facts to change the real history:

1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops! The man can’t count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).

3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his “education” NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!

4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia , he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver’s license was never revoked.. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!

5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a “state secret” until in the 1980’s when the report was unsealed.. Didn’t hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?
Kennedy Mary Jo Kopechne Chappaquiddick

6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur’s keys to his Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and sank into Poucha Pond.

7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew – that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead, Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. Kopechne was able to stay alive for a while breathing a bubble of air inside the car.

One source notes “A diver was sent down and discovered Kopechne’s body at around 8:45 am. The diver, John Farrar, later testified at the inquest that Kopechne’s body was pressed up in the car in the spot where an air bubble would have formed. He interpreted this to mean that Kopechne had survived for a while after the initial accident in the air bubble, and concluded that: ‘Had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident occurring, and was able, as I was the following morning, to be at the victim’s side within twenty-five minutes of receiving the call, in such event there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.’ ”

The Kennedy family began “calling in favors”, ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn’t call police because he was in a state of shock.

It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident, Kennedy’s “political enemies” have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.

Kopechne’s family received a small pay out from the Kennedy’s insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy’s family paid their attorney’s bills… a “token of friendship”?

8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as the “standard-bearer for liberalism”. In his very first Senate roll, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.

9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration, up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he was the standard bearer for the nation in matters of “what’s right”.

10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than “great American”. “A blond in every pond” should be his motto.

Let’s not allow the spin doctors to make this disgraceful drunk and whore of anti-American special interests a hero. It’s shameful that more people don’t know what his real legacy is.

Pa toga ima po Srbiji na svakom cosku 

a i u hrvatskoj...

   Čitava je familija jedna veeelika,sočna (i mračna) priča.Počelo je (,a to se zna i bez kopanja po sajtovima teorija zavere) sa Patrikom za koga tvrde da se obogatio krijumčarenjem preko dokova  i tom lovom,preko tamošnjih žutih (demokrata) uveo familiju u politiku (čak,postoji priča da je svog demokratskog protiv-kandidata,nekog Italijana,skrljao na lokalu tako što je platio drugom Italijanu,nekom obućaru istog prezimena koje je nosio i prvi,da se kandiduje na izborima i tako glavnom rivalu pocepao glasove na pola)...Patrik je za potomke bio mila majka.Do čega su dogurali u vreme J.F.K-a - znamo svi .
   Zato - putuj Edvarde i nadam se da ćeš vrištati kroz čitavu večnost,baš kao u sledećoj pesmi The Pogues-a :

     
Down in The Ground Where The Dead Men Go
    

    Hello boys I’ve been away on a bit of a holiday
To the land where the rivers freely flow
And the cattle roam on the wild callagh
Walking home three parts pissed
I fell and rolled in the morning mist
I fell and tumbled in the hungry grass
That tells the tale of a terrible past
I screamed and rolled and dreamt I fell
Down in the depths of a freezing hell
[? ? ? ]
[? ? ? ]
[? ? ? ]
Gonna wrap me up and take me away
Four million people starved to death
Could smell the curse on their dying breath
Where no one ever wants to go

Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go

To hell which is circular all around
Down in the belly of the big cold ground
The moving shadows were everywhere
The very trees seemed to bend and stare
I remembered the dunes on a sligo shore
Ran and screamed ’til I could run no more
Over the hill and across the moor
I ran in the house and slammed the door
Just what the hell’s that over there
A putrefying corpse sitting in that chair
One place I don’t want to go

Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go

Been drunk as a skunk since I’ve been home
From bar to bar like a ghost I roamed
I can’t forget those things I saw
Been down with the devil in the dalling [? ]
One place I don’t want to go

Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go
Down in the ground where the dead men go

Posthumno objavljeni memoari senatora Masačusetsa
Edvard Kenedi: Verujem da je Osvald ubio mog brata
Autor: Blic online | Foto:AFP | 03.09.2009. - 23:28

U posthumno objavljenim memoarima senatora Edvarda Kenedija "Pravi kompas" otkriveno je za koga je on verovao da je ubio njegovog brata Džona Ficdžeralda, piše "Skaj Njuz".


Senator Masačusetsa je napisao da je od početka i kasnije prihvatao zvanične rezultate istrage ubistva Džona Kenedija. Edvard Kenedi je istakao da je imao kompletan izveštaj komisije koja je istraživala atentat u Dalasu 22. novembra 1963. godine i zaključila da je za ubistvo njegovog brata kriv Li Harvi Osvald. Poslednji pripadnik političke dinastije najuticajnijih senatora u istoriji Sjedinjenih Američkih Država je rekao da je bio ubeđen da je komisija donela ispravan zaključak i da je "bio i ostao zadovoljan" time.
Kenedi je u memoarima opisao i svoju bitku sa rakom i "samouništavajući" problem sa alkoholom, koji je postao veoma težak nakon ubistva njegovog brata Roberta 1968.
Edvard Kenedi bio je maltene svakog dana na meti javnosti, nakon saobraćajne nesreće u kojoj je poginula mlada žena, stoji u memoarima od 532 strane. Meri Džo Kepekn udavila se nakon što je vozilo kojim je upravljao Kenedi sletelo sa mosta na udaljenom ostrvu Čapakvidik u Masačusetsu.  Senator, koji je preminuo u 77. godini života od tumora na mozgu, pobegao je nakon te saobraćajne nesreće koja se dogodila 1969. godine. Kajući se, Kenedi je ovaj svoj potez u memoarima opisao kao "neoprostiv".
Mlada žena pronađena je mrtva na stražnjem sedištu automobila deset časova kasnije, a Kenedi, koji je tada imao 37 godina, dobio je uslovnu kaznu za napuštanje mesta nesreće. On je napisao da je bio uplašen, da je doneo pogrešnu odluku i da je živeo sa krivicom više od 40 godina.
"Ta noć na ostrvu Čapakvidik završila je strašnom tragedijom koja me progoni svakog dana mog života", napisao je Kenedi.
"Pravi kompas" biće objavljen 14. septembra.

Izvor: Blic

Обожавам ове њу ејџ глупости...крив сам али ето,сваки дан се кајем и патим четрдесет година,а скотови ми пребацују.