August 26, 2009
Remembering Ted Kennedy
Robert Scheer in The Nation:
Unable to move with his brothers' intellectual alacrity, sometimes plodding in impromptu expression but smooth and skillful while reading from a script, the youngest Kennedy made up for his shortcomings early in his Senate career by resolutely working the substance of issues. His principled determination, plus his capacity to truly care about the real-world outcomes of legislation for ordinary people rather than its impact on his or anyone else's election, became his signature qualities as a lawmaker. But for those same reasons, he also wanted legislation passed, and his ability to work with the opposition, as he did three years ago with John McCain on immigration reform, now grants him a legacy as one of the nation's great senators.
Oddly enough, for one born into such immense familial expectations, he was a surprisingly accessible and down-to-earth politician in the eyes of most journalists who covered him. I think of him as always authentic and never oily. As opposed to most politicians, the offstage Ted Kennedy was the more appealing one.
Although he excelled as an orator, never more so than delivering the speech that Bob Shrum crafted for him at the 1980 Democratic Convention but which was informed by Kennedy's own deeply felt passion, it was in his less choreographed moments that he was at his best.
Posted by Robin Varghese at 05:42 PM | Permalink
Comments
Everyone should read the apology for the 40 year war on cancer today August 27, 2009 in the NY Times by Gina Kolata and Lawrence Altman, M.D. at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/health/28brain.html?hp.
Suppose any other area of society had the failure rate of cancer: suppose over half a million victims died each year from buildings collapsing or kitchen fires or bus wrecks or food poisoning or passengers falling through the floor of airplanes or from ship wrecks, ..., wouldn't these authors be indignant and demand government action to prevent future deaths? But cancer is different. Some surgeons, like the one who worked on Edward Kennedy, make many thousands of dollars and claim "success", without defining what "success" is, yet not one iota of proof is provided proving that the life of Mr. Kennedy was extended a single second as a result of that quack surgery for which many thousands of dollars were paid. If anyone else in society were engaged in such medical fraud, they would be prosecuted for medical quackery and fraud; only because "everyone is doing it" does it become "acceptable medical practice". In other words, when virtually every licensed medical doctor in the U.S. is engaged in medical quackery it is "o.k." by the corrupt authorities. It is difficult to find polite words in the English Language to describe this cesspool. Perhaps the articulate Stanley Fish could provide some aid to describe this unconscionable conduct by those evidently without any conscience. It is quite obvious that the cancer generals of the war on cancer not only do not know what they are doing and after squandering multi billions of public and private dollars for nearly 40 years, not only can't they tell us what cancer is, they cannot even tell us how to treat and prevent it either. By what standard is this "success"? Is not this patent, clear, dismal FAILURE?
Isn't it time the cancer generals were not only fired, but prosecuted for scientific misconduct, fraud, medical quackery and crimes against humanity?
Edward Kennedy was one of their supporters. He had virtually unlimited money to buy any cancer treatment the world had to offer. Yet he is now gone only 14 months after the quack treatment at Duke University which was falsely announced as "success" in a press conference following the quack operation. Not a single iota of proof can be provided proving his life was extended a single second as a result of anything the cancer generals authorized be done in his behalf. Is not this patent medical quackery? Why is it not being prosecuted. Obviously Mr. Kennedy himself was fooled and dupted by these charletons and snake oil salesmen of which they falsely accuse others, but are guilty of themselves. Obviously Mr. Kennedy and his cronies in the U.S. Congress voted for failure all those years. It is time to admit and acknowledge this gross fraud being perpetuated on the American Public for what it is; the biggest scam in the world today. Everyone involved in this scam must be fired and prosecuted for scientific misconduct, medical fraud, medical quackery and crimes against humanity.
Hardin Jones, Ph.D., the late professor of medical physics at UC Berkeley, proved that those victims who were not "treated" with the orthodox cancer treatments of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation lived up to 4 times longer than those who were so treated! Any claims to the contrary are a result of false statistics, the area professor Jones was an expert in. The best way to tell a lie is with statistics as Mark Twain stated over a century ago: "There are lies, damn lies and statistics."
Posted by: Winfield J. Abbe | Aug 27, 2009 10:05:11 PM
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