Teddy's Surgery

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While the rest of us are bustling about our busy lives today, Senator Ted Kennedy will be on a surgeon's table for some six hours responding to the surgeon's questions as he undergoes a process meant to remove the tumor from his brain.

The surgeons and oncologists at Duke University face a daunting task. And our hopes and good wishes and prayers go out to Senator Kennedy, his family, and his medical team.

There is nothing about cancer that is easy. It is a dragon that shadows your days and nights from the first diagnosis. It it the great equalizer, knowing no boundary between rich and poor, young and old, black and white. But the quality of care may not be so egalitarian.

Senator Kennedy will have the finest of care, Duke's reputation is outstanding. As Senator John Edwards has noted about his wife, Elizabeth, his family have the best of care for her, too, where she receives medical care.

The network anchors recently announced they will be hosting a telethon to raise funds for cancer causes.

While the Bush Administration has cut cancer research over the past seven years.

A statement from Senator Kennedy says he is looking forward to getting through his treatment process so he can get back to the Senate and to doing everything he can for the election of Barack Obama.

You can't separate who you vote for from the everyday realities of your life. Right now, some Clinton supporters threaten to vote for the Republican if she doesn't get the nomination. I ask you, how can you vote for the party that takes away medical research; fights and obstructs against stem-cell research; stonewalls scientific reports when it can't edit and distort them into fitting their selfish policies; tears down education advancements; pours trillions of dollars into a botched and corrupt war of choice in Iraq....

Anyone tells you it doesn't matter who gets elected is lying.

It is a matter of life and death.

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UPDATE: Senator Kennedy's surgery completed in 3-1/2 hours. The surgeon, called a thought leader in the field of surgery on malignant gliomas, said the procedure today was "successful and accomplished our goals."