Kids with Cancer

As a parent I pray to God that none of my five girls ever come down with cancer. Kids with cancer is one of the worst battles any parent can fight. You have to be the better emotionally controlled person to tell your child that all will be fine while you fight with the people that say that certain treatments are not covered and the bills mount up. It is a battle that you never want to fight and I pray that many of my readers never have to face. To have a child that is suffering from cancer is hard enough. When the bills for the treatments come in it is even harder.

A friend of mine is going to shave his head to support kids with cancer for a fourth year in a row. Greg Wies lives outside of the St. Louis, MO area and has a heart as big as the whole outdooors for kids with cancer. It is a noble cause. He is a good man in times when you question the honor of many.

If you care to donate to the cause then please like this post on your Facebook page first. Spread the word about these kids and the families that they have. Click on the child's picture above to donate to Greg's efforts to help out another parent of yet one more kid with cancer. As a parent I would sell my soul to save my child from cancer and I think that you would too. Help out another parent before you are in their shoes. If all you have is a dollar to donate then that is one dollar of hope that these kids didn't have before. Many small donations when combined together can and will make a difference.

I hope that this effort and post helps. Papamoka loves kids and hates to see even one sick.

Thank you,
Papamoka

Barack Obama’s Grandmother Passed Away

In some odd way I can picture Barack Obama talking with his Grandmother on her death bed last week and her telling him to get the hell out, you have a greater path to follow than watching an old woman take her last breath. That would be the Irsish or Scotch blood in her spirit. She did her best work and raised a fine young man that one day could actually be President of the United States of America. God bless her for that. She passed away today and I offer my humble condolences and heart felt prayers on her behalf. Madelyn Dunham was a class act, a woman of strong convictions, and a woman that knew her grandchild was destined for greatness.

Over at the Washington Post they have this on it and please click on the link to see the families statement…

By Shailagh Murray
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The day took a tragic turn for Sen. Barack Obama when his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died today.

Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Dunham died at home late last night in Hawaii, or roughly between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern. Obama learned of the news a little after 8 a.m. in Florida, where his campaign held a morning rally. - Washington Post

What I see as ironic and amazing is that the one person that molded Barack Obama as a young man to work harder than the rest of us, to logically fight for what is right will not see the election results of her pride and joy.

My heart goes out to the Obama family just as a regular person on the street. Having had many fond memories of my own grandmother. I’m sorry for your deep loss Senator Obama but I am thankful that she was the woman that made you the man you are today.

Say a prayer for Toot aka Madelyn Dunham tonight. What was once a gift to the makers of men is now a gift to God above.

Papamoka

Teddy Kennedy and Liberal Ideology

Picture courtesy of Stephan Savoia / AP

With the sad news that Senator Teddy Kennedy is ill, I offer my personal prayers to him, his wife, and his children. I personally don’t know what he will have to go through but I’m sure he will get the best care available. After all he is in and from the so called Mecca of medical science research state. Something he was instrumental in helping to create in the Bay State.

If there is a human medical condition that needed treatment then it was his liberal ideology that worked the government channels over the decades to get the groundwork started in research and eventual treatment. While others were working on bridges to nowhere he was working on the highways of advanced medical science projects here in Massachusetts. Something he spent a lifetime in public service for not just America but the world.

Over at MSNBC they have this on the Senators condition…

NBC News and news services
updated 4:27 p.m. ET, Tues., May. 20, 2008

BOSTON - A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics' most enduring figures.

The Massachusetts Democrat has a malignant glioma in the left parietal-lobe, according to doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, where Kennedy, 76, has been undergoing tests since Saturday after having a seizure at his Cape Cod home.

The usual course of treatment includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy, but Kennedy's treatment will be decided after more tests. - MSNBC

If you have been getting all your news on the Senators condition from television then hold that thought for a second and read on. Senator Kennedy is not dead! He isn’t in a coma or incoherent and out of touch with his faculties. Yes, he has a brain tumor but he’s probably had it for some time now and has been functioning pretty damn well for a 76 year old man. I give his beautiful wife Victoria the credit for his amazing health up to this point and she deserves a ton of credit for that. Behind every great man is a greater woman telling him to knock off the bad boy behavior. To his credit he listened to her. Love is grand like that and with her help he has accomplished so much more than he could have without her.

While I understand that the Senator is sick the fact remains that he is not dead! He has cancer and that is not a death sentence as much as it was even ten years ago. Yes he will have to slow down his schedule but he should have done that ten years ago. Kennedy’s, you can’t talk to them at any age to ever slow down and I’m sure Victoria has been telling him that fact for years and that he can’t be everywhere for everyone all the time. Have you ever known a Kennedy to not be there for anyone?

Back years ago Senator Kennedy helped my father when he was up against a wall of Pentagon double speak. Dad was a proud Veteran of WWII and Korea, a Purple Heart Veteran, a highly decorated man that wanted to just display his medals in a case to pass on to his sons. He had lost his medals in the course of raising seven children for service to his nation. Creating future taxpayers for his nation post war was a challenge and if you know how large families are, stuff just disappears. Everywhere and everyone in the military that Dad wrote to turned up with negative replies for help or no reply at all. At the insistence of his wife, my mother, he contacted Senator Kennedy and thought he would never see his medals ever again. Less than a month later Dad received a box in the mail from Senator Kennedy’s office with all of the medals and ribbons he received during all of his service time. That was the first time that I saw my father cry in front of me, the second was my mothers funeral.

My family lived on a truck driver industry paycheck and had no political influence and yet with this one simple act of kindness or desire to be a true public servant he won the hearts and minds of seven children that are now adults. Public service isn’t always about the big details, sometimes it just about touching one persons heart that wins a lifetime of support. We all feel compassion but Senator Kennedy is the Liberal Ideology of America.

Senator Kennedy will slow down during his treatment just as everyone else that has had cancer and the treatment that goes with it to survive it. Will he survive it? Only God knows that answer. Do I have hope for him? Yes I do! No matter what you see on the television about expected survival rates or prognosis on his chances I still come back to the fact that he is a Kennedy. Teddy Kennedy has never been someone afraid of any challenge in his life and this is just another hurdle to overcome. I wish him luck and prayers with this battle. By all means do not count him out of the political arena by a long shot, but do keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We all need those prayers in these difficult times.

Politically, as cold as it sounds, as Senator Kennedy must wind down the twilight of his years in the Senate and in his life, we must choose a standard bearer that will meet the gold standard example he has set in his lifetime of public service. In that thought process, look to Senator Kennedy to offer the wisdom he holds true to his heart. Who can carry the torch he held and propel his dreams, his brothers dreams, onto the next generation of Americans?

Get well Teddy, we love ya!

Papamoka

Syndicated to Bring It ON! and To the Center

Bush Colonoscopy Findings

Just a few things that might just show up on President Bush’s Colonoscopy…

The section of the Constitution that clearly defines the wording “Do as you damn well please. Washington was supposed to be a King!”

The secret location that Dick Cheney has been hiding in every time the rest of the nation has been in peril.

All of those old signs that used to be in the back window of cars that said “Baby on Board” that were replaced with "My Son is a Marine".

Dick Cheney’s gold watch from Haliburton along with fifteen other solid gold watches from Haliburton engraved with "We love Dick" since he took office.

Top secret plans to invade New Mexico that had to be scrapped when it was discovered by the CIA that they were actually a State. Nasty notes about Bill Richardson were deemed to confidential to repeat.

Global positioning marking systems to clarify where President Bush ass and his elbow are at all times. The units were found to be defective. Who'd of thunk that?

One set of drapes with Dick Cheney’s initials stitched in over the seal of the President.

450,000 imaginary troops that invaded Iraq and the war was won in under 90 days. “Mission Accomplished”. No banners dictating such were found on the cellular level.

Donald Rumsfeld’s real plan to invade Iraq with just ten troops armed with 450,000 X-Boxes.

368,922 beer bottle caps of a brew only made in Wyoming but with a Washington D.C. five cent deposit return printed on them. This finding was sent to the RNC for further anlaysis.

The missing fifth Dentist in that four out of five Dentist survey.

Last but not least 12 million guest workers luggage that just didn’t make it back home.

All kidding aside, I’m hoping that he will get a clean bill of health. If he has been able to stuff so much bull up our ass I’m sure that his own ass has more than enough room for lots more.

I wish this man no ill will and I hope and pray that our President comes through this procedure with flying colors. Colon Cancer is a serious issue in America and after you reach a certain age you should think about having this procedure done. Prevention of Colon Cancer is only done through the procedure our nations President is going to have done. I hope and pray that he can walk away from the procedure with a clean bill of health.

Papamoka

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Imus Gone but not Forgotten

Don Imus screwed up and he became the target of everything that is racism in America. He was an easy target. He was a nationally syndicated talk radio giant amongst a field of diverse opinions politically.

One man lead this charge to stone Imus without considering if the people he offended with his comments would or could forgive Don Imus. The Reverend Al Sharpton beat this horse to death and ended the livelihood of Don Imus and his family.

But, big old hairy butt, the Reverend Sharpton now speaks out of the other side of his face in saying that this was never about Don Imus but about the abuse of our nation’s airwaves. Come again with the comments demanding Don Imus being fired Reverend Sharpton?

The outstanding athletes of the Rutgers young womans basketball team have forgiven Don Imus. If they can find it in their hearts to forgive him then the issue should be closed as the good Lord tells us. Then again Al Sharpton still has a week or two worth of stones to toss at Don Imus and needs this event to carry on. Publicity for Al Sharpton is the game he plays and he can have it. People can see that the emperor is naked!

Don Imus is a wealthy man by ordinary standards and I hope and pray that he and his wife will be able to continue the Kids with Cancer ranch activities. Being a private charity I would hope that people will still donate to the fun that kids enjoy and labor at for a stay at the Imus ranch. This isn’t a venture for self promotion but an outreach to bring children hope. I would love to see the Imus people submit a list just with the number of kids that have benefited from the good work that Imus and his family do for sick kids. Then let’s compare it to what Al Sharpton has for a list. No comparison is needed. Imus wins out across the board. MSNBC who canned the I-Man has this little piece on the Imus family personal charity...

By DEBORAH BAKER
Associated Press
(Picture Courtesy of MSNBC)
Updated: 4:42 p.m. PT April 14, 2007

RIBERA, N.M. - Don Imus's banishment from the public airwaves also deprives him of a critical platform to raise money for the sprawling Imus Ranch, where children with cancer and other illnesses get a taste of the cowboy life.

Before he was fired last week for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos," Imus pointed to the northern New Mexico ranch to make his case that he is "a good person who said a bad thing."

With Imus out of a job, some wonder whether the pipeline to charity money will eventually dry up.

Snip

General Motors Corp. said Friday it would continue donating Chevrolet Suburbans for the ranch.
The Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey provides the doctors, nurses and "child life specialists" who attend every ranch session.

"While there is no excuse for these comments, we cannot overlook all of the good he has done for families of Bergen County and across the nation," the medical center said in a statement.

The nearly 4,000-acre ranch, at the foot of a mesa about 50 miles from Santa Fe, features a re-creation of the main street of a 19th-century Western town, a swimming pool, an indoor horse-riding arena, an outdoor rodeo arena, and barns.

Kids between 10 and 17 who have cancer or serious blood disorders, or who have lost siblings to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, spend seven days at the ranch in the summer, when Imus would broadcast from a studio there at no cost to their families. – MSNBC

Racism in America has to be addressed and I will never waiver on that fact. Pointing the finger and stoning someone out of existence is not the answer. Pointing the finger and asking someone to change is the answer. CBS Radio and MSNBC caved in to the hype and lost the message and their messenger at the same time. Corporate cowardice once more rears its ugly head. Then again, so have the many celebrities, news reporters and government servant friends of Don Imus chosen to shun him and distance themselves from him rather than defend his pleas for forgiveness.

America needs to focus on Americans and not on issues that will forever divide us if the messengers that are the supposed standard bearers speak for all of us. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do not speak for all of America. African Americans need to think that they are Americans first and heritage comes second. Nobody else in this nation is Irish American, Polish American, German American, Mexican American, Brazilian American, and the list goes on.



Be an American and be what you can be as an American. Saying that you are an African American is a proud thing to claim but it is a cop out. You are either an American or not and that is just one solution to ending the racism in our nation. I am an American! That is a statement that I would prefer to defend at any cost to my own personal well being. “I am an American!” Say it with pride and you are an American.

The only one holding any of us back as Americans and no matter what race or creed is ourselves.
If Don Imus has lost his voice in defense of his own personal ignorance in our nation then we all need to talk about racism amongst ourselves in order to wipe it out. It is within each and every single one of us to take the steps needed to end the idiocy that is racism and racist comments. We need to look within our own hearts and minds and toss out the stereotype mentality of our fathers, father. America is populated by so many cultures and so very diverse of people that we need to focus on the big picture that is our children’s future. We all need to take turns stirring the great melting pot that is America and be willing to be a part of the bounty that is the greatest experiment mankind has ever known. We all need to recognize that being an American is bigger intellectually and spiritually than where our ancestors came from. We can do this and be a better people and be the beacon of hope that our nation is known for around the world.

Papamoka

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Elizabeth Edwards, the Woman of the Century

Courage comes in many forms that some would call heroic and yet others would willingly argue the act portrayed was not courage but simple human emotion gone haywire. One can not explain why one man would toss himself onto the tracks of an inbound train to save a complete strangers life other than he just did what he felt was right. Then again in the same thought pattern you can never truly understand why the six Worcester, MA firefighters lost their lives trying to save what was thought to be homeless people supposedly still in the Cold Storage building fire not long ago. They were firefighters and that is what they do for their fellow man.

In both of the cases I’ve sited the individuals choose a road much higher and greater than the normal every day person would have. Self preservation would have been the normal attribute associated. In the case of the New York man diving to the rails to cover a fellow rider suffering a seizure there were many other people waiting for the same train and yet he alone let go of his children’s hands to save another’s persons life. The firefighters of Worcester knew the building was close to collapse and yet each of them knew there was still hope to save a life and walked into the heart and soul of Worcester’s history by paying the ultimate price as firefighters.

Elizabeth Edwards, with her second battle with cancer just on the horizon reminds me that some things in this life are bigger than oneself. She has the courage of her convictions and I could honestly picture her diving onto the tracks of an oncoming train or racing into a burning building if America’s future were at risk. Her personal and honest belief in her husband’s ability based on what he can do for America as President is that strong.

Ready for Another Tough Campaign
Her Cancer Back, Elizabeth Edwards Remains Open and Upbeat
By Lynne Duke and Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 23, 2007

Not once did the shadow of fear cross her face. Elizabeth Edwards stood before the nation, a graceful fighter steeled for personal tragedy again. The cancer is back and in her bones, a lung and possibly elsewhere. The news seemed worse than bad. Yet Edwards conveyed no hint of being hobbled by an incurable cancer. Self-pity was nowhere on the scene.

Snip

A staunch advocate for her husband’s campaign and his closest adviser, she made clear yesterday she wanted her husband to continue campaigning because “it’s unbelievably important that we get his election right. And in my view, there’s nobody who’s offering people in this country a more positive and delineated vision about where we can go than John.”

“Of course” John Edwards would have offered to suspend his campaign, says Chris Downey, the former wife of former Rep. Tom Downey, who befriended the Edwardses when they first came to Washington, “because he cherishes her. He cherishes his family. That’s what he would do. He would stop everything.”

But Downey and other friends say it would be Elizabeth’s way to insist that her husband campaign on.

“Quite frankly, I suspect she was the one to say, ‘Don’t suspend the campaign.’ She is not a quitter,” said Debbie Dingell, a friend of Edwards. “She wouldn’t think of it. They are a total team. She’s sensitive to people, trends and political situations in a unique way. She is a very strong and a very decent woman.”

Edwards has long been the center of her husband’s world, the one whose advice he has always sought and for whom who he would practice his opening statements before a trial, said Bonnie Weyher, a friend from law school. She recalls a well-told story about Edwards having to make a split-second legal decision during a trial and looking to his wife in the gallery for her nod.

During the 2004 presidential race, Elizabeth Edwards almost always traveled with her husband, and aides knew she was the ultimate gatekeeper and her husband’s closest adviser. She sat in on every debate practice and “not as a cheerleader,” said one person involved in that campaign.“She was very well versed in all the issues and had no trouble telling him, ‘That was an awful answer,’ ” the source said. “He clearly relied on her heavily.” – The Washington Post

I’m finding that the more I hear of John and Elizabeth Edwards the more I believe that behind every great man is an even greater woman propping him up. I’m not saying that Mr. Edwards would be a lump of babbling political flesh without her support but she is the steel supports of his platform. She is the driving force of the Edwards campaign.

John Edwards first instinct upon hearing of her cancer was I’m sure to shut down his campaign for President and gather his family around the mother of his children to support her and be there for her during the toughest battle the human mind and body will ever face. That would be the simplest path to take and Elizabeth Edwards will never take that route and what more she will never allow the love of her life do so either.

John Edwards is facing an amazing and complex situation in his life and yet he has the greatest asset bar none that supports him for the greater good. His wife could have been selfish, self centered and cowering in the face of her Cancer and yet she is willing to go full steam ahead for him. I honestly admire them as a couple and my heart felt prayers are with them both through what will be a very difficult road to travel.

Elizabeth Edwards has redefined courage in a new way that defies logic until you really sit down and think about it. She alone has shown us all through her actions that even in the facing of ones own mortality you must still stand strong in support and defense of what you believe to be the best path for your nation. This my GTL friends is a very amazing woman and her husband has been blessed to be able to say that she is my friend, my best friend, and my wife.

God Bless you and your family Elizabeth Edwards. My personal best wishes for your own personal campaign against Cancer and with the political campaign of your husbands.

Papamoka

Cross Posted at The Gun Toting Liberal

Other people discussing this story…

Our good friend Steve Soto over at The Left Coaster has this to say… The best case scenario, given the fact that they saw a need for a press conference and cancelled an event earlier today is that Edwards sees a need to put the campaign on a hiatus in the coming weeks and months while they deal with whatever medical challenge she now faces. The worst case scenario is that she is facing a setback and, well, the campaign then becomes an afterthought.

Say your prayers tonight for the Edwards family.

Our good friend Joe Gandelman over at The Moderate Voice has this to say… John Edwards’ dramatic press conference announcing that his wife Elizabeth’s dreaded breast cancer had returned, but that the couple decided he should press on with the campaign anyway, truly seemed the real thing. It was a moment in Presidential campaign 2008 — which actually begun about a milli-second after the calender changed to 2007 — that transcended politics.

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