News, Etc.

One of the world's most beautiful cars is up for auction today in California. It was once owned by the late British actress Diana Dors.

More about this stunning car is here.
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Is a White House appointment in Vicki Kennedy's future?

The Health Care Mess

If Ted Kennedy were alive today, he would support this mess of a health care bill, according to his widow Vicki:

-- Insurance protections like the ones Ted fought for his entire life would become law.

-- Thirty million Americans who do not have coverage would finally be able to afford it. Ninety-four percent of Americans would be insured. Americans would finally be able to live without fear that a single illness could send them into financial ruin.

-- Insurance companies would no longer be able to deny people the coverage they need because of a preexisting illness or condition. They would not be able to drop coverage when people get sick. And there would be a limit on how much they can force Americans to pay out of their own pockets when they do get sick.

-- Small-business owners would no longer have to fear being forced to lay off workers or shut their doors because of exorbitant insurance rates. Medicare would be strengthened for the millions of seniors who count on it.

-- And by eliminating waste and inefficiency in our health-care system, this bill would bring down the deficit over time.

The mandate to have insurance is a disaster, however, and the GOP will use that to great effect in next year's elections.

Although the president and Congress won't pay a bit of attention to this editorial, really and truly health care "reform" needs to be ditched and should have been all along in favor of fixing the goddamned economy.

The editorial's belief the estate tax should be lowered is frankly insane. The reason for the estate tax is to prevent a hereditary aristocracy.

Miscellaneous Articles

Roman Polanski was granted bail, but there is no chance of him running away:

The court said Polanski could stay at his chalet in the Swiss Alps. He would be monitored by an electronic tag.

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Germany restores a record to Gretel Bergmann some 73 years later.

She's still alive at 95 years of age.
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In an appearance of Oprah Winfrey's program, Vicki Kennedy describes her late husband Ted's cancer ordeal:

She also told Winfrey about how her husband kept working on his book after his diagnosis and even was calling colleagues in the Senate to talk about strategy to push through legislation as he was traveling to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. to undergo brain surgery.

"It was an inspiration, really, to watch how Teddy grappled with such a grave diagnosis and always looked forward with hope," she said.

After watching a clip of her husband's speech at the Democratic National Convention, Kennedy said her husband, despite being told initially that he had just a few months to live, was determined to survive long enough to see Obama sworn in as president.

"He was in training to be there in January," she said. "He was exercising every single day to be strong enough to be there," and even calculated how many steps he would have to take that day.

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I have been on Keystone Canyon Trail a few times. It is a good workout.

I have taken pictures of this area, too:

link
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Not Dead Yet's Stephen Drake takes a look at bioethicist Art Caplan's take on the case of Ron Houben, who was said to have been PVS, but lo and behold, he wasn't.
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More Kennedy

It appears that despite the big age difference between the two, Ted and Vicki Kennedy were a good match.

Lord knows he needed some stability after all of the tragedies in his life, a few of them self-inflicted.

I wonder if Vicki will eventually embark on a political career of her own though right now she appears uninterested. She's just slightly older than I am.

Ted Kennedy

has just come out of surgery. Doctors say the surgery was "successful":




Article:

Surgeons on Monday performed brain surgery on Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at Duke University Medical Center, and his doctor said the procedure to treat his cancerous brain tumor “was successful and accomplished our goals.”

The 76-year-old senator now faces chemotherapy and radiation to treat the malignant glioma, a lethal type of brain tumor.

Dr. Allan Friedman said Kennedy was awake during the 3½-hour procedure, and should experience no permanent neurological effects from the surgery.

Following the surgery, Kennedy told his wife, Vicki, he felt like a "million bucks."

Who Would Take Kennedy's Senate Seat?

If by chance Ted Kennedy cannot finish out his Senate term, which expires in 2012, who would be the person to take over the seat?

Kennedy himself is said to favor his second wife, Vicki, 54, a Washington attorney who founded an organization, Common Sense About Kids and Guns. In a way she would be an odd choice because she has kept a low profile in the sixteen years she has been married to Kennedy. On the other hand, she is from a well-known Louisiana political family, the Reggies, who knew and were friends with the Kennedy family for decades.

I hope nothing happens to force Ted Kennedy out of his job, but we will have to wait and see about this.

Aside from a brief period (1961-1963), a Kennedy has held that Senate seat since 1953.

Ted Kennedy

was released from Massachusetts General Hospital today.

The prognosis is uncertain for Kennedy, who looked good considering the diagnosis. A number of people were on hand to cheer him and wish him well. His beloved Portuguese water dogs were there to greet him.

This kind of sums everything up:

A summary of Kennedy's achievements in the Senate, compiled by his staff, is 50 single-spaced pages long. "That's the trimmed-down version," an aide said recently.
Kennedy is the only one of the four brothers to live through middle age. His three brothers all died prematurely: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., killed in 1944 on a World War II bombing mission; John F. Kennedy, assassinated in Dallas in 1963; and Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in Los Angeles in 1968.

Political success and personal tragedy have marked the story of one of the nation's most famous families. Three other nephews died tragically - John F. Kennedy Jr. in a plane crash, Michael Kennedy in a skiing accident, and David Kennedy from a drug overdose. Two of Edward Kennedy's children, Edward Jr. and Kara, are cancer survivors.

Kennedy has suffered through his own misfortune and failure. In 1964, he suffered a broken back in a small plane crash in Western Massachusetts that resulted in the death of the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides. In 1969, Mary Jo Kopechne drowned when a car driven by Kennedy went off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, and Kennedy left the scene.

Because there is no cure for a malignant brain tumor, it will be very tough sailing for him.

Vicki Kennedy (bio) wrote an e-mail to well-wishers, saying the family was thrown a "curve ball" with the diagnosis.

This video is about Kennedy's tumor:



In 2006 Time named him as one of the ten best U.S. senators.

No doubt he'll be remembered as one of the best in American history.

Update: Ted Sorensen talked to Chris Matthews about Ted:




Here is a video clip from the Boston Globe showing Ted Kennedy and wife Vicki leaving the hospital this morning. Their dogs, Splash and Sunny, were there.