September 1, 2009

Ted Kennedy dead, age 77

POLITICS - Senator Edward Moore Kennedy died last Tuesday, more than a year after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Like his brothers JFK and Bobby Kennedy, Ted Kennedy was a giant in American politics, and the only one of the three brothers who wasn't killed by an assassin's bullet.

"He was given a gift of time that his brothers were not. And he used that time to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow," said President Barack Obama during the eulogy, who also described Ted Kennedy as "a veritable force of nature" and the "baby of the family who became its patriarch, the restless dreamer who became its rock."

Overshadowed by his brothers deaths (John F. Kennedy was the nation's 35th president when he was assassinated in 1963 and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was killed five years later as he campaigned for the presidency) Ted Kennedy avoided the seat of the president (although he did attempt it in 1980 but failed in the primaries against Jimmy Carter), becoming instead a powerful figure in the United States senate, serving in the senate for 46 years (the third longest serving senator in American history).

Ted Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, including immigration, cancer research, free health care for children, ending apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS/HIV funding, civil rights, education and volunteering.

"My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it." - Ted Kennedy during JFK's 1963 eulogy.

"For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." - Ted Kennedy conceding defeat to Jimmy Carter in 1980.

"I won’t yield to anyone about guns in our society. I know enough about it." - Ted Kennedy debating against Mitt Romney in the Senate, 1994.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments containing links will be marked as spam and not approved. We moderate every comment. If you want to advertise on this blog it is $30 per link.

Affordable Website Design & SEO

Looking for a quality professional website designer? Why not go where the smart money is?! Toronto Website Design and Toronto SEO. Get free SEO advice from people who really know the business.

Featured Posts

The Sarcasm Symbol
Ever had some confusion online or with your cellphone when someone fails to catch the sarcasm? Well now with the SarcMark you can ge...
Behold, the Scorpion Hydrogen Supercar
CARS - To the right is the future of supercars... it is a hydrogen supercar called the Scorpion. The Scorpion from Ronn Motors in Texas is t...
Documents show Stephen Harper misusing public funds
CANADA - According to 950+ pages of documents obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act the Privy Coun...
Pink's Rosie the Riveter
ENTERTAINMENT - What I like about this video is how it meshes different social movements like feminism, veganism, anti-capitalism...
California's Dustbowl
ENVIRONMENT - The photo on the right is a farm in California that has been put up for sale. Its just one of thousands of farms that are n...
Is Steampunk the New Goth???
GOTHIC - Watch out what you see on the subway late at night because while in 2001 you might have seen some pretty freakish goths, by 20...
Do you have enough Ice Water in your diet?
HEALTH - A Calorie (large C) is a measurement of the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a litre of water (1 kg's worth) ...
North Korean timeline towards Inevitable War
POLITICS - The following is timeline of events that have occurred on the Korean Peninsula. 1945 - Japan surrenders to the United States a...
Judgment Day is Tomorrow, so sayeth Cult
RELIGION - According to a cult based in California, Judgement Day is tomorrow (May 21st 2011) and Jesus Christ will return to the Earth a...
Sex in Space Forbidden
SEX/TECHNOLOGY - Sex in outer space is a big no-no according to NASA. Not for professional astronauts at least, but the growing numb...

Popular Posts / Last 30 Days