Political columnist Robert Novak, a diehard conservative, pugilistic debater and proud owner of the "Prince of Darkness" monikor, died today at the age of 78. That's a convenient excuse to share Frank Zappa's 1986 appearance on CNN's Crossfire, a show co-hosted by Novak.

I first saw this clip a couple of years ago and was highly impressed by Zappa's ability to remain very calm and collected despite the fact that he was being personally attacked. While the other guys worked themselves into a frenzy, Zappa just made good sense.

The biggest threat to America today is not communism; it’s moving America towards a fascist theocracy and everything that has happened during the Reagan administration is steering us right down that pipe.

It's hard to believe Frank Zappa's been gone over 15 years now. Who's the Frank Zappa of today?

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Ted "Teeder" Kennedy was 83. He won five Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs during a Hall of Fame career in which he scored 231 goals and 329 assists for 560 points in 696 regular-season games, as well as 29 goals and 31 assists for 60 points in 78 playoff games.

Without a doubt, Teeder was one of the best Leafs of all-time.

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Les Paul was 94. He helped revolutionize popular music with his innovations on the guitar and in the recording studio. He is credited with developing one of the first solid-body electric guitars, which went on sale in 1952 and contributed to the birth of rock.

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Eunice Kennedy Shriver was 88. She was the sister of President Kennedy and a champion of the disabled who founded the Special Olympics.

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Mike Seeger was 75. He was a leading figure in the 20th century resurgence of American traditional music and a noted field collector of rural southern music.

You might know his brother Pete. Here's Mike Seeger performing "Walking Boss" in the Smithsonian Folkways Studio.

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John Hughes was 59. He was the director of iconic coming-of-age movies "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

If you're around my age, you really did come of age watching his flicks. Seriously, he was the guy in the 1980s. Here are my favourite John Hughes films, in order.

1. The Breakfast Club
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
3. Uncle Buck
4. Sixteen Candles
5. Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Here's a great scene from Uncle Buck featuring our very own John Candy.

And here's the trailer for the movie that defined a generation. No foolin', I'm still trying to grow my hair like Judd Nelson in this thing.

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Corazon Aquino was 76. She was the former Philippines president who swept away a dictator with a "people power" revolt and then sustained democracy by fighting off seven coup attempts in six years.

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Mark Leduc was 47. He was the Canadian boxer who earned a silver medal in the 139-lb light welterweight class at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and was one of the few athletes in his sport to come out as a homosexual.

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Frank McCourt was 78. He's the Pulitzer Prize-winning author best known as the author of Angela's Ashes.

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Walter Cronkite was 92. He covered the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, the Vietnam war and Watergate. He was an icon in broadcast journalism "and that's the way it is".

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