Voices, Funnies, and In Memoriam

— -- The "Star Wars" queen is now on a new mission, working with Finca a microfinance organization that delivers life-changing loans to the world's poorest women.

Natalie Portman: If a woman can't tell her child, "I can feed you tomorrow, I can pay for your school," then where do they go? What do they do? What do they choose?

It's really trying to reach the poorest of the poor and offering banking services to them, in that they have the access to get capital for loans. They can get insurance. They can get access to things that we don't even question having access to

You meet these women who are younger than I am, who are 20, 22, who have four kids. And they used to have to work in a factory because that was the only job available in town, for minimum wage, in horrible conditions, and be away from their children all day. And then they're able to get a loan and start their own business out of their own house and be with their children, and make more money than they were before, and spend time with their families. And it really, it changes the whole system.

A roundup of the late-night comics.

David Letterman: Anybody see the debate? It was really weird, that John Edwards -- after his rebuttal -- he demanded 2 minutes for conditioner.

Jay Leno: Actually Joe Biden was there. He was good. And in fact Joe's popularity has gone from one percent to two percent last week to three percent today. Do you realize at this rate he could win the nomination by the year 2032?

Bill Maher: Former CIA Director George Tenet has a book, a new book, where he says that there was no serious debate within the administration about going into Iraq. It's apparently very hard on Dick Cheney. They asked Dick Cheney today if he was going to read the book. He said, "Well, I never anything, read anything he wrote before. Why should I start now?"

(shows video of debate)

Jay Leno: Now Senator Clinton, let's talk about your voting record. I understand that for five weeks in a row you voted to keep Sanjaya on American Idol.

Sen. Clinton: I take responsibility for my vote. It was a sincere vote based on the information available to me.

Jay Leno: Anyone else vote for Sanjaya?

Gov. Richardson: No.

Sen. Dodd: No.

Rep. Kucinich: No.

Sen. Biden: Yes.

Jon Stewart: This week, Congress will send a bill which provides the President with all the money that he has asked to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more. The President's reaction to the news was typical.

President Bush: I'll veto it.

Stephen Colbert: Election day is only 19 months away and I hate to say it, but there doesn't seem to be a clear cut winner yet. Come on media, it's your job to preemptively anoint someone so we all know who to give our money to.

Mstislav Rostropovich, 80 -- Legendary cellist and conductor who was one of the greatest string players of the 20th century; he performed at the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Jack Valenti, 85 -- Film industry lobbyist and former White House aide who shaped the film industry with his creation of the film ratings system.

"I think that movies are the quintessential 20th, 21st century art form."

Boris Yeltsin, 76 -- Former Russian president who presided over the collapse of Communism and was the first freely elected leader of Russia.

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., 68

David Halberstam, 73 -- Journalist and author who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War coverage and later wrote 15 bestsellers.

"In 1962, I became the first full-time paid correspondent for an American newspaper in Vietnam."

THIS WEEK, THE PENTAGON RELEASED THE NAMES OF 25 SOLDIERS AND MARINES KILLED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

Army SGT Alexander Van Aalten, 21, of Monterey, Tenn.
Marine LCpl Jeffery A Bishop, 23, of Dickson, Tenn.
Army CWO Dwayne L Moore, 31, of Williamsburg, Va.

Army PFC Michael J Slater, 19, of Scott Depot, W.Va.
Army CPL Wade J Oglesby, 27, of Grand Junction, Colo.
Army CPL Michael M Rojas, 21, of Fresno, Calif.
Army PFC Christopher M North, 21, of Sarasota, Fla.
Army SGT William W Bushnell, 24, of Jasper, Ariz.
Army SSG Marlon B Harper, 34, of Baltimore, Md.
Army CPL Ray M Bevel, 22, of Andrews, Texas
Army PFC Jeffrey A Avery, 19, of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Army SSG Steven R Tudor, 36, of Dunmore, Pa.
Marine LCpl Dale G Peterson, 20, of Redmond, Ore.
Army 1LT Kevin J Gaspers, 26, of Hastings, Neb.
Army SSG Kenneth E Locker Jr, 28, of Wakefield, Neb.
Army SSG William C Moore, 27, of Benson, N.C.
Army SGT Randell T Marshall, 22, of Fitzgerald, Ga.
Army SGT Brice A Pearson, 32, of Phoenix, Ariz.
Army SGT Michael L Vaughan, 20, of Otis, Ore.
Army SPC Jerry R King, 19, of Browersville, Ga.
Army SPC Michael J Rodriguez, 20, of Sanford, N.C.
Army PFC Garrett C Knoll, 23, of Bad Axe, Mich.
Army SPC Jeremy E Maresh, 24, of Jim Thorpe, Pa.
Marine Cpl Willie P Celestine Jr, 21, of Lafayette, La.
Marine LCpl Adam E Loggins, 27, of Athens, Ala.