Weird that I am crying over the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. Does this mean I have a good heart, or I am just forgetting about
Mary Jo Kopechne?
Or is it the end of my life in a weird, round circle, I was born under Camelot- i am going to die now that Camelot is over?
My brain is going weird. I once got a phone call from my sister who was over the moon, she was walking down the street near Wall Street, and she saw JFK Jr. buying a hotdog from a street vendor. The ex's story about when he was a small boy his parents drove all night so their children could see JFK and Jackie. How my parents loved RFK, and the first time I ever saw my mother cry was the night RFK died, I heard her cry and sat in the bed with her for a bit.
I thought about volunteering on the Kennedy 84 campaign, but decided against it- feeling he had too much baggage, and the death of Mary Jo Kopechne just didn't make me comfortable.
With the previous post on Carl Sagan and Dust in the Wind, I know we are just specks of dust in a cosmic universe.
But-
Don't let it be forgot / That once there was a spot / For one brief shining moment / That was known as Camelot!
RIP Ted Kennedy. Peace to your wife and children.
ETA:There is one child left as of this writing from Joseph and Rose's marriage. Jean Kennedy Smith. William Kennedy Smith is her son. In 1991 he was aquitted of rape in a very high profile case.
Posts
17 comments:
Hi Susan,
Let’s dwell upon the positives.
We all live and go through various stages in our lives. Just think how fortunate you are in your lifetime to be a part of the unfolding legacy of Barack Obama and hopefully to be around for the excitement and wonders yet to come.
This is my take especially within the last month after the passing of four consisting of family and friends.
Hopefully the balance of today and tomorrow will be a better days.
Warmly,
Herb
VNSdepression.com
The Kennedys are a strange clan. The head of the family was a real SOB who decided to get her daughter lobotomized in order to cure her Nymphomania; plus all the ties he had with the Mafia...
Still, I guess their accomplishments outweigh their many many defects. If anything, they (JFK & RFK) did save us from Nuclear annihilation in the 1960s, so that's saying something!
But I don't think it was Camelot. It was a good attempt, though.
I was sad to hear the news, too. It certainly is an end of an era. I vividly recall when both JFK and RFK were killed. Like them or not, the Kennedys made important contributions to the country.
@Herb, it just seems weird there is just one Kennedy left and there goes that entire generation. Maybe the to torch is indeed passing from them to the Obamas.
My parents feel this death acutely. They thought JFK and especially RFK were the hopes and salvation for this country, and mom- she still has a Channel suit that was one exactly like Jackie had.
The wonderful thing about History is that we can live through it, and our children have more of it to learn than we did in school. (Curse you mom for not having studied Watergate in High School!).
@RPJ- I don't think Joseph Kennedy had ties with the Mob. He is the man that let American girls come out before Queen Elizabeth's father back in the day......
Maybe the only Camelot exists in books like the one by White, old Broadway Plays with Robert Goulet as the lead-a very large collection of poems by my beloved Tennyson..... and.... a place to go in the Middle East to buy used Camels. (One hump or two?)
@Sally-I was barely on the consiousness scale when JFK died. My only thoughts of RFK were it was the first time I ever saw my mother cry, and I was upset they cancelled Sesame Street for the funeral.
You hit the nail on the head- like them or not, they made very important contributions to US history during the last century. I cannot think of any other family off the top of my head that can claim that.
Herb; Do you make Money selling treatments for Diseases which aren't Diseases?
Herb; "The unfolding Legacy of President Barack Obama?"
President Obama's Legacy will be the utter Ruin of his own political party: which is under way as you read this. It is Splintering upon the rocks of his proposed Federalization of Everyone's Healthcare. In one Town Hall meeting after another the Representatives sent from Washington to try to sell this Disaster are being met with Strident, and Vocal opposition.
America, United for Once, is unequivocally Opposed to any more "Big Brother".
The only support this Fiasco will retain within 60 days, is that of the Financially Interested - both In and Out of Govt - and the Hard Left of American Politics.
The opposition party will sweep Both houses in 2010, due to President Obama's, 'Unfolding Legacy'.
D Bunker- play nice. I try to keep my politics off here- because I am so to the center both you and Herb will beat me up!
Once upon a time, in a grocery store, politics were being discussed in the check out line.
An 80 something lady who stood all of 4 foot nothing looked up to me and said, in a Very Thick Russian accent:
"Everyting is politics."
She would know, having tried to escape 'Big Brother' her whole life.
We're dust all right. In fact, I'm struggling with the insignificance of it all right now.
Proving that timing is everything, Ted's incident occurred the week that Americans were landing a man on the moon. The only other thing that you could do to overshadow that would have been to rob a bank on 9/11/2001.
Still, it ruined his '72 presidential aspirations, and I wonder how the country would be better if he and Bobby were elected instead of the felon we elected in '68 and the do-nothing we elected in '72.
@Bunky, the wisdom of a octogenarian, eh?
In the end, it's either politics or sex. Or kittehs. Guess which one i would pick.
@Anthony, voting for either man in 68 or 72 would have never given us a first cat. At least Ford gave us a first cat.
Hey, guys, lighten up! I still think the greatest first lady is Dolley Madison because of the ice cream!
Hi D Bunker,
Good guess on your part except for being wrong. I made my living and retirement at the time from producing products and selling in a now defunct industry in this country.
The “Federalization of Everyone's Healthcare”; wake up cause I don’t know where you’ve been.
The Medicare system in this country is a federal program, for which my spouse, I and a number of other Americans have paid into the system. Would also you like to know something interesting. It has worked very well for Joyce and me. It’s even given us pro-choice too. Then too there’s the Medicaid system, also a federal program in this country, although administered by the individual states that has covered the health care needs of those less fortunate than me and my spouse. That too has given individuals a reasonable degree of pro-choice. So what the hell is wrong with those working individuals who can’t afford the current health insurance to get coverage for their families in one fashion or another?
Then too folks like you had the same attitude and expressed the very same opinions during Roosevelt’s administration that he was going to socialize and ruin the country. Surprise, surprise…it didn’t happen!
Stop sucking up to all the fear mongering and alarmism that you’re being fed. The money we spent and could now save on extricating ourselves from Iraq (joke…while searching for weapons of mass destruction) would probably cover the additional costs of these health care reforms along with dumping HMO’s (managed profits and little to no care) but to name a few avenues to cover these reform health care programs.
“Big Brother” my a-s-s; this country needs more compassion for those who truly helped and contributed to the prosperity and building of this nation and not bail-outs for the arrogant fat-cat Wall Streeters, bankers, real-estate brokers, auto executives and insurance thieves who’ve connived, stolen and cheated the American worker, investing public and others.
We had 8 years of this fear mongering and alarmism crap that unfortunately too many bought into although not I. As a former and retired business executive and entrepreneur I know full well no one is perfect and certainly not politicians but Obama’s ideas and philosophy of taking care of our own sits well with me even if it costs me a few extra bucks. But then again, I have no idea how much you’ve amassed and whether you’re willing to share anything.
Who knows, maybe one day even you might need some help and hopefully it will be there for you and others.
Warmly,
Herb
VNSdepression.com
Hi Herb;
Medicare, Medicaid, & Social Security are Bankrupt. Social Security will Fail, out of existence by 2018.
America's current future Debt Obligation is over $9 Trillion Dollars. Foreign Nations are Balking at the idea of Buying anymore of our debt. Our own Govt is driving Our equity into Junk Bond status.
FDR prolonged the Depression with his Interference by at least 7 Years.
On Wall Street and Bailing out Bankers: I'm With You 100%. You Are Correct there.
But, Govt dispensed 'Compassion' is an Oxymoron. California's recent budget deal - the Direct Consequence of Govt Compassion which has the State $69 Billion in Debt - includes the Fingerprinting of Elderly and Disabled recipients of in home services (& their caregivers) as a Direct Consequence of an Ocean of Govt Compassion, ...... because there's SO MUCH Health Care Fraud going on, to CASH IN on that Compassion, that Medi-Weasels are stealing the system Blind.
And as to whether or not I'm willing to Share: let's define terms:
Sharing is a voluntary activity. Being Forced to Hand it over, is an Involuntary activity. In Real English, Not Utopian Bureaucratese,
If Any private Citizen, or Corporation set up and ran an Insurance Company the Same way our Federal Govt runs Medicare, & Soc Security, That Citizen would be Arrested and Slammed into Prison where they Durned Well Belong.
Govt Compassion in Texas put Johnson & Johnson over a Billion Dollar plus barrel from the State AG for allegedly Defrauding Texas of $436 Million Dollars of Texas State Medicaid Compassion. In Arkansas it put them over a $600 Million Dollar barrel. That's just for 1 drug. And that's just the economic damage to the States themselves, Not the Citizens. It doesn't even scratch the Surface of the Real cost.
My Mom uses Medicare, and it's less fun than having a Root Canal without novocaine by the time Govt Compassion nickel and deduction dimes her, out of everything they Forced out of her, her entire working life.
And on that Awful day, when our Constitution is Actually, Lawfully Amended, to enumerate Free Health Care as an Inalienable Right, we can all Bend over and Kiss our ---- Goodbye, because there is Not Now, and has Never Been, the Equity to Fund it in America.
The Federal Reserve has been cranking out Hundreds of Billions of Monopoly Money since 1913 to Pay for all that Equity Destroying Compassion. And the result is that Today's Dollar is worth about 4 Cents of a 1913 Dollar.
And while America slept, Govt Compassion Consumed/Destroyed the Other 96 Cents.
The only workable solution to our current distress is to get Govt completely Out of Everything it is Not Constitutionally Mandated to be involved in.
The FDA has Been Crippled, and Captured BY the industries it is empowered to regulate on behalf of the people, Not the Manufacturers and Providers.
I'll take my Constitution over Socialism, anytime, thank you. Because the Only thing Socialism has Ever produced, is Graves: hundreds of Millions of them.
This is Susan's home, and she's kind enough to allow me to comment here, SO, the Full Monte, with links, is at my place, for those who dare.
Warmly & With Respect
D Bunker
Arguing politics is one of the great American pasttimes. I'm also a centrist. Love the comment: "In the end, it's either politics or sex. Or kittens." I'd choose kittens, too (or puppies, for that matter).
@Bunker and Herb.
Play nice. You both raise some good points- for both points of view. And I thank you both for the best debate this blog has had. I will address your points I think in a piece later.
@Sally, yeah, we need a first kitten in the White House. Even the Queen just got a royal kitty. It took her 80 years though to see the light....
Hi Susan,
It took me sometime to find this blog but should “D Bunker” happen upon the blog I wanted to take a moment to share this link with him and others:
63% of Physicians Favor Public Option
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 -- The majority of physicians favor creating a new public insurance option that would operate alongside existing private plans, according to a survey published online in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/HealthPolicy/tb/15962
Obviously he and I have differences of opinion on the health care reform issues as I’ll still maintain my position that health care reform is necessary amongst many other issues and that all American citizens should have health coverage in one form or another.
I’ll also point out that contrary to his mother’s experiences my spouse and I have so far benefited from the Medicare program(s) with satisfaction and without difficulties.
If he’s so concerned about so called Medicare, Medicaid and social services waste maybe he ought to focus on the waste (rip offs) with Halliburton and other government contractors and suppliers and the needless drain Iraq has placed on our economy. I think social services waste is a pittance in comparison. We won’t even discuss the banks, real estate and financial industry debacles.
Warmly,
Herb
VNSdepression.com
Hi Herb;
If 63% of people thought that voting Themselves a Pay Reduction would be a Good Idea, would that make them the kind of genius You want working on yourself, and your wife?
What would those 63% say if you asked them when they became President Richard Nixon Partisans, with His go at Wage & Price controls?
Govt Wage & Price Controls were a disaster under President Nixon, trying them again under President Obama wont make them any less of a disaster.
Obamacare Will destroy the Private Insurers as employers jump to eliminate a huge part of the Private Insurance Plans they now offer their workers, and shove them off onto the Govt plan.
To actually extend Govt Health Care to 99% of America would cost us not $1 Trillion in the next 10 years, but $4 Trillion, and Govt salary caps will be an Inevitable concomitant of that $4 Trillion to "Hold Down Costs".
And just HOW did Haliburton get in here? (Hint: Govt contracts for Services)
Hi Herb;
Here's a contrasting Point of View to the NEJM, from Investors Business Daily, on just what kind of collapse a Govt takeover of America's Health Care System will precipitate, as it has occasioned everywhere else it's been effected.
45% of Doctors Would Consider Quitting.
"IBD/TIPP's finding that many doctors could leave the business suggests that such rationing could be more severe than even critics believe. Rationing is one of the drawbacks associated with government plans in countries such as Canada and the U.K. Stories about growing waiting lists for badly needed care, horror stories of care gone wrong, babies born on sidewalks, and even people dying as a result of care delayed or denied are rife."
Hi Herb;
AS Further Food For Thought on the NEJM numbers, this NEJM 2007 piece on:
The NEJM Sells Advertising
Advertising Policy -- The New England Journal Of Medicine
which, in and of itself, presents a Conflict of Interest contributing to a highly probable, Biasing of its 64% number.
A Decade Of Direct To Consumer Adverstising Of Prescription Drugs
And here's the NEJM again on the Money involved in advertising. It's a whale of an Amount, & Increase in just 9 years.
"Total spending on pharmaceutical promotion grew from $11.4 billion in 1996 to $29.9 billion in 2005. Although during that time spending on direct-to-consumer advertising increased by 330%, it made up only 14% of total promotional expenditures in 2005. Direct-to-consumer campaigns generally begin within a year after the approval of a product by the FDA. In the context of regulatory changes requiring legal review before issuing letters, the number of letters sent by the FDA to pharmaceutical manufacturers regarding violations of drug-advertising regulations fell from 142 in 1997 to only 21 in 2006."
You'll notice that concomitant With that Increase came a huge Drop in FDA interest in those promotions. Under Single Payer, the Drug Companies will be Cashing In, Big Time.
$29.9 Billion is $1.9 Billion MORE than the NIH handed out in Research Monies in 2008. So it's not as though the Waste in Social Services is an Insignificant amount.
Contrast that with the People being turned into Waste under Britain's NHS Govt Plan:
Britain's Government Run Health-Care System Under Fire
It's a Disaster in Britain. If we Let it happen Here, it will be the same Disaster here, as Drug Companies keep raking it in, and up their Advertising Outlay by another $20 or $30 Billion.
Post a Comment