John McCain Illness

[Bill Greenwood]

I was sorry to read the news about John McCain'S brain tumor of a particularly aggressive type., Im on the opposite side of most issues, but I hope he recovers from the intensive surgery and is cured by it. This is more what I feel emotionally, than just what I think intellectually.
And I have two friends who are fighting this disease that takes so many, and I do a small part for an aviation group that raises funds to fight brain cancer in children. They have had a lot of success in bout 10 years funding research that really has made meaningful turnaround in survival rates for very ill kids. One thing they have found is the tumors can be more than one type and need a custom mix of drugs to target it.
If anyone doesn't know, McCain a Navy pilot, was shot down, badly injured on ejection, and held POW in N Vietnam for 6 years. He endured beatings by the captors and those injuries still partially cripple him. The Vietnam War was awful and the tortue of POWs by the north is inexcusable and sullies their record of being a dedicated and persistent people fighting for their country against the most powerful opponent in the world, after they had already defeated the French. Our ally, S Vietnam also abused POWs.. As for as I know, no one in N Vietnam was ever held accountable for POW abuse, nor has apologized for it. We have good relations with Nam now and some pows have even visited, I think McCain has himself, dont think I could be so forgiving. I was in the Air Force at that time, but not in Nam.
I have a a soft spot for McCain, he is very right wing, but has some integrity, and while tough, seems to not be as just plain mean as some are.
The U S is not blameless, but on the issue of prisoner treatment we, along with England, Canada, etc. have been better than most.
We are not supposed to have relgion on the forum so Ill just say lets wish him a recovery.

[jstro]

A ton of respect for McCain. Even though we disagree on some things, he is one of the few real statesmen in DC and seems to be an honorable man and dedicated to serving the interests of the American people.