Elizabeth Edwards Loses Battle With Cancer
Dec 7, 2010 Political
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of one time Senator and two times presidential candidate John Edwards, died today after a long battle with cancer. Edwards was 61.
I, of course, did not know her personally but she seemed to be a sensible woman who dedicated her life to various causes. She endured quite a bit and her husband’s infidelity was pain on top of pain. She deserved better than that.
I send my heartfelt sympathies to her family, particularly her children, who must now deal with the grief of their loss. It is tough any time a loved one dies but it is particularly tough at this time of year.
May God bless those who she left behind.
Tags: cancer, death, Elizabeth Edwards, sympathy
Boston Globe Is Right, Kennedy Should Resign
Aug 24, 2009 Political
Jeff Jacoby has a great article up at the Boston Globe indicating that Ted Kennedy should resign his seat in the Senate.
Kennedy is asking the Massachusetts legislature to pass a bill that allows the Governor to appoint Senators should their seats become vacant. This is very convenient since Kennedy’s seat will be vacant when he eventually succumbs to his terminal brain cancer.
However, Kennedy is the reason that the Governor cannot appoint successors. When Romney, a Republican, was Governor and John Kerry was running for the presidency Ted Kennedy asked the legislature to pass a bill requiring a special election in the event of a Senate vacancy. He did this to prevent Romney from being able to appoint a Republican to the seat, should Kerry have won. Ted Kennedy was instrumental in having the rules changed from what he now wants them to be.
You see, there is now a Democrat in the State House and Kennedy is using this lame excuse of saying people of Massachusetts deserve to have two votes in the Senate and the delay of a special election will keep them from having just that.
Too fricking bad.
Kennedy was not worried about having two votes when he asked for the law to be changed last time. He was only concerned about keeping the seat in the hands of the Democrats. I understand the partisan politics but let’s not pretend that this is all about having two votes for the state because it is not.
As Jacoby points out, Kennedy has missed all but a handful of Senate votes this year so Massachusetts does not have two votes even with the seat occupied.
Jacoby goes on to point out that if Kennedy is really concerned about the two votes he should resign so that he can be replaced and put the second vote back in the Senate.
For well over a year, Massachusetts has not had the “two voices . . . and two votes in the Senate’’ that Kennedy says its voters are entitled to. Sickness has kept him away from Capitol Hill for most of the last 15 months. He has missed all but a handful of the 270 roll-calls taken in the Senate so far this year. Through no fault of his own, he is unable to carry out the job he was reelected to in 2006. As a matter of integrity, he should bow out and allow his constituents to choose a replacement. Boston Globe
The problem with this thinking is that Jacoby indicates that Kennedy should step down “as a matter of integrity.”
Ted Kennedy had NO integrity. If he did he would not try to push for changes to the law that circumvent the democratic process of allowing the people to put a person in office. If Kennedy had integrity he would have resigned after his diagnosis and an election would have already taken place.
Kennedy has a career that is nothing but a lack of integrity.
Of course this would be a moot point if the Constitution had not been changed. Senators were appointed by state legislatures until the Constitution was amended.
That was a mistake.
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Tags: cancer, integrity, resign, ted kennedy
Schmuck’s Disease
May 4, 2009 Political
Well, Arlen Specter, the former Pennsylvania Democrat turned Republican turned Democrat, also known as Mr. Convenience, issued his latest bit of stupidity, when he proclaimed to Bob Schieffer, in an interview, that Jack Kemp might not have died if it were not for the Republican Party and their agenda. Mr. Specter said, ” If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today. And that research has saved many lives, including mine.”
What an asinine statement- I know, I am a cancer survivor also, and the cancer I had is particularly deadly- malignant Melanoma- so I am intimately aware of the limits of cancer research, but dementia must have set in in Arlie’s brain, if he believes that government could have done more and done it more efficiently. Some cancer responds to treatment, some does not, an unfortunate fact.
Government does NOTHING well, except create little entitlement monkeys who believe they are essential to the running of the government. Proof of this statement is Arlie himself, who believes that he is so essential to government that switching parties will have no effect on his position.
Judging from his outrageous statement, he has been standing way too close to Joey Biden and his mouth. This might be amusing except that these are the people that someone actually elected to office. Don’t look at me- I wouldn’t have elected them to clean my toilet.
I used to flinch when Bush would get words and statements wrong- even though it was amusing, it was so bad- but this- this misspeaking phenomenon is endemic with this whole liberal party. Just think what this box of fools will look like when and if Al Franken comes to the Senate- oh the laughs we’ll have, watching the rest of the Senate, which has an ego the size of Alaska, try to rein in someone as foul as Al.
Add to that Arlie and Teddy (I got away with murder) Kennedy, and there’s a three ring circus right there. Is Arlie going to blame Teddy’s death on the Republicans also, rather than the liters of scotch he has consumed in a drunken stupor that has lasted at least since he allowed Mary Jo to drown? It’s truly a wonder his cancer wasn’t pickled. What about Senator Byrd, the “reformed” white supremacist- when he dies, is that part of a Republican plot? Come on Arlie Boy, get real, or is that just not possible in your world?
Let’s get a few things straight here- everybody dies- that’s just a fact.
The government never makes things better- that’s just a fact.
And Arlen Specter, along with several of his cronies, has dementia. It is very obvious that there is no “there” there, when you speak of Arlen Specter’s mind.
That’s probably just how the Barama wants them- brainless.
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Tony Snow Dies of Cancer
Tony Snow, former White House Press Secretary and political commentator died early this morning after a long fight with cancer. He was 53. Snow was described as a pleasant man to work with by friend and adversary alike.
He is survived by his wife Jill Ellen Walker, whom he married in 1987; their son, Robbie; and daughters, Kendall and Kristi.
The Big Dog family extends its prayers to the Snow family. May God have mercy on Tony’s soul and may be now have peace and comfort.
Source:
Fox
Kennedy is Ill but Still a Politician
May 20, 2008 Opinion, Political
Having said that, I imagine that this might be how things played out over the weekend. Senator Kennedy had a seizure and an ambulance was called. He had another seizure in route to the hospital. He was briefly at a small hospital before being airlifted to Mass General, a very good hospital. They ran some tests and did a CAT scan of his head. It was at this time they discovered his tumor. The doctors informed him that he had a tumor and they needed to do more tests to grade it and see how far along it was.
Dr.: Senator, do you want us to release any of this information?
Kennedy: How long will it take to do the tests you want to do?
Dr.: The tests can be accomplished in a few hours and we should have results back no later than Tuesday.
Kennedy: Tuesday huh. Let’s not say anything right now except that you are running tests. You see, Clinton is going to trounce Obama in Kentucky but he will win in Oregon.
Dr.: Everyone already knows that. It is all they talk about on the news but what does it have to do with your condition.
Kennedy: Its like this. I wait until Tuesday afternoon or so to disclose that I have a tumor. That bombshell will dominate the news and overshadow Clinton’s big win. All they will talk about is me. Then, since Oregon is three hours behind their polls will close when it is around 10pm in the East and most folks will be in bed so Wednesday will be all about Obama.
Dr.: I am not particularly comfortable playing politics with your health.
Kennedy: Now look here. This is my health information and I say it cannot be released until Tuesday and if it is released any earlier I will take you for a ride in my car, if you know what I mean. It is all about politics and I intend to take the thunder away from Clinton and help little Barack Osama, er, Obama er Osama Obama out.
Dr.: Sigh
Ted Kennedy has been a politician most of his life and it is all he knows. In all seriousness though, he is very sick and the limited information we are getting does not seem particularly encouraging. Some say he has a chance to live about three more years and others say, given his age and the assumption that it is inoperable, he has about a year.
I have no love for the man and cannot stand his politics. I feel he has been bad for America despite the accolades he is getting from everyone. However, he is a human being and I would not be so uncaring as to show joy over his illness like the liberals do every time Dick Cheney goes to the hospital. They hold gleeful death watches and hope this time it is for real. I cannot do that no matter how much I dislike the man.
My prayers are with him and his family. I pray he recovers but my experience tells me that is not likely and that he does not have much longer to be here. I would suggest that he resign from the Senate and enjoy life with his family doing the things he likes to do and die happy and with dignity. I am sure he will consider that but not before he helps Barry defeat Hillary.