Tony Snow....Dies at 53...

[Henry Hawk]

I'm very sadden by this news........He was a great icon for conservative journalism.......He had a great deal of class, charm and humor....probably my favorite OVERALL news guys.......He was did radio, anchored TV, wrote a regular column, a speech writer, press secretary..and a commentator......he has been battling cancer since 2005........was a man of great faith....married and had three kids.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,381250,00.html

[me]

I heard that this morning too.   

[Henry Hawk]

These NUTJOBS are at it again...


Westboro Baptist Church Plans Tony Snow Funeral Protest
http://www.westborobaptistchurch.com/written/fliers/20080713_tony-snow-in-hell.pdf

[Locutus]

Yup!  I saw that in the news over the weekend. 

[Locutus]

I think we need to ship 'em all of to a deserted island somewhere so they'll be happy.

[me]

I hadn't heard that.  I agree about the deserted island.   

[Sandy Eggo]

Yeah, how about Antarctica?

[me]

Yeah, how about Antarctica?

Thats an even better idea....

[bevis]

what'd antarctica ever do to anyone?  the penguins deserve better than that.

[me]

what'd antarctica ever do to anyone?  the penguins deserve better than that.

Guess the moon is the only place left.....

[Sandy Eggo]

True Bevis. Then I vote for a really rough neighborhood somewhere

[me]

In Remembrance of Tony Snow

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:31 PM

By: Arnaud de Borchgrave    

It was the best decision in my 62 years of professional life as a journalist. I was the Washington Times' editor in chief and looking for a new editorial page editor. Tony Snow was the first and last recommended name I interviewed. The year was 1987.

Tony was 32 years old. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner the same day in a secluded beach location, away from the rumor mill.

I was bowled over. His keen intellect, erudition, knowledge, kindness, and charm left no doubt he was a nonpareil. His writing skills were obvious from the Detroit News clips I had already read. His philosophy for editorial writing: If your gut tells you something's fishy, trust your gut.

For mechanical reasons, the Times editorial pages in those days had a noon close, which meant we would miss afternoon and evening news, a handicap we overcame by pitching our chosen subjects as far forward as possible. Tony and I met at 8 a.m. daily before he met with his editorial writers. Glasnost and Perestroika had been launched by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Conservative gurus argued this was yet another Soviet detente trick and warned us not to fall for Communist snare and delusion.

Tony could see, and I concurred, that what Gorbachev had started could only lead to the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire or to Gorbachev's downfall. It did both. And Tony's early wisdom prevailed.

Always of good humor, Tony exuded humanity and compassion, as he broke through traditional teachings seeking truth and the word of life, of a better life for mankind. It is very rare when the friendship of an exemplary human being hoists you to a higher plane. Such a man was Tony. An exceptionally talented human being. A lovely man in all respects. I seldom cry upon the death of a friend of long standing. For Tony, I wept unashamedly.

We both resigned our respective positions in 1991. The new post-Cold War era led me to believe my job was done and new times required fresh eyes and ears to focus on our unfinished domestic agenda.

Tony could see his future in the exploding electronic media. He became a shooting star there, too.

His level of inspired insight was his gift to millions of listeners and viewers. And his passing at such a young age with a future still full of promise, leaving Jill and three fabulous children behind, leads me to question the Almighty's judgment in letting Tony lose his battle against cancer. And this despite the prayers of millions of admirers.
http://www.newsmax.com/borchgrave/Remembering_Tony_Snow/2008/07/15/113093.html

[Henry Hawk]

This is an outstanding testimony from Tony Snow, President Bush's Press Secretary, and his fight with cancer. 
Commentator and broadcaster Tony Snow announced that he had colon cancer in 2005. Following surgery and chemo-therapy, Snow joined the Bush Administration in April, 2006, as press secretary.  Unfortunately, on March 23, 2007, Snow, 51, a husband and father of three,
announced that the cancer had recurred, with tumors found in his abdomen, leading to surgery in April, followed by more chemotherapy.
Snow went back to work in the White House Briefing Room on May 3, but has resigned since, 'for economic reasons,' and to pursue 'other interests.' 

It needs little intro . . . it speaks for itself.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Blessings arrive in unexpected packages,
- in my case, cancer. 
Those of us with potentially fatal diseases
- and there are millions in America today -
find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality
while trying to fathom God's will. 
Although it would be the height of presumption
to declare with confidence 'What It All Means,'
Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.   

The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time
trying to answer the 'why' questions:
Why me?
Why must people suffer?
Why can't someone else get sick?
We can't answer such things,
and the questions themselves
often are designed more to express our anguish
       than to solicit an answer.     

I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. 
It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. 
Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly,
great and stunning truths began to take shape. 
Our maladies define a central feature of our existence:
We are fallen.
We are imperfect.
       Our bodies give out.       

But, despite this, - or because of it, -
God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. 
We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end,
but we get to choose how to use the interval
between now
        and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.       

Second, we need to get past the anxiety. 
The mere thought of dying
can send adrenaline flooding through your system. 
A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. 
Your heart thumps; your head swims.
You think of nothingness and swoon. 
You fear partings;
you worry about the impact on family and friends.
     You fidget and get nowhere.     

To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death,
but into life - and that the journey continues
after we have finished our days on this earth. 
We accept this on faith,
but that faith is nourished by a conviction
that stirs even within many non-believing hearts
- an institution that the gift of life, once given,
cannot be taken away. 
Those who have been stricken
enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight
with their might, main, and faith
to live fully, richly, exuberantly
- no matter how their days may be numbered. 

Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. 
God relishes surprise. 
We want lives of simple, predictable ease,
- smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, -
but God likes to go off-road. 
He provokes us with twists and turns.   
He places us in predicaments
that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension
- and yet don't.   
By His love and grace, we persevere. 
The challenges that make our hearts leap
and stomachs churn
invariably strengthen our faith
and grant measures of wisdom and joy
we would not experience otherwise. 

'You Have Been Called'. 
Picture yourself in a hospital bed. 
The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. 
A doctor stands at your feet,
a loved one holds your hand at the side. 
'It's cancer,' the healer announces.   

The natural reaction is to turn to God
and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa.
'Dear God, make it all go away.
Make everything simpler.' 
But another voice whispers: 'You have been called.'   
Your quandary has drawn you closer to God,
closer to those you love,
closer to the issues that matter,
- and has dragged into insignificance
the banal concerns
        that occupy our 'normal time.'     

There's another kind of response,
although usually short-lived,
an inexplicable shudder of excitement
as if a clarifying moment of calamity
   has swept away everything trivial and tiny,
   and placed before us
              the challenge of important questions.         

The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
things change. 
You discover that Christianity
is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. 
Faith may be the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen. 
But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. 
The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks,
     reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. 
Think of Paul, traipsing through the known world
and comtemplating trips
to what must have seemed the antipodes (Spain),
shaking the dust from his sandals,
worrying not about the morrow,
    but only about the moment.     

There's nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue,
- for it is through selflessness and service
that God wrings from our bodies and spirits
the most we ever could give,
the most we ever could offer,
      and the most we ever could do.     

Finally, we can let love change everything.
When Jesus was faced with the prospect of cruicifixion,
he grieved not for himself,
but for us. 
He cried for Jerusalem before entering the Holy City. 
From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness,
and begged for forgiveness on our behalf.     

We get repeated chances
to learn that life is not about us,
that we acquired purpose and satisfaction
  by sharing in God's love for others.   
   Sickness gets us part way there.   
It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. 
But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. 
A minister friend of mine observes
that people suffering grave afflictions
often acquire the faith of two people,
while loved ones accept the burden
          of two peoples' worries and fears.           

'Learning How to Live'. 
Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God's arms,
not with resignation, but with peace and hope. 
In so doing, they have taught us not how to die,
but how to live. 
They have emulated Christ
     by transmitting the power and authority of live.     

I sat by my best friend's bedside a few years ago
as a wasting cancer took him away. 
He kept at his table a worn Bible
and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. 
A shattering grief disabled his family,
many of his old friends, and at least one priest. 
Here was an humble and very good guy,
someone who apologized when he winced with pain
  because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. 
He restrained his equanimity and good humor
literally until his last conscious moment. 
'I'm going to try to beat [this cancer],'
he told me several months before he died.
'But if I don't, I'll see you on the other side.'

His gift was to remind everyone around him
that even though God doesn't promise us tomorrow,
he does promise us eternity
- filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, -
and that one can, in the throes of sickness,
point the rest of us toward timeless truths
    that will help us weather future storms.     

Through such trials, God bids us to choose:
Do we believe, or do we not?   
Will we be bold enough to love,
daring enough to serve,
humble enough to submit,
and strong enough
to acknowledge our limitations? 
Can we surrender our concern
in things that don't matter
so that we might devote our remaining days
   to things that do?   
   
When our faith flags, He throws reminders in our way. 
Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. 
They change things,
and those of us
who have been on the receiving end
of their petitions and intercessions
know it. 
It is hard to describe,
but there are times
when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,
and you feel a surge of the Spirit. 
Somehow you just know:
Others have chosen,
when talking to the Author of all creation,
to lift us up,
- to speak of us!     

This is love of a very special order.
But so is the ability to sit back
and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. 
The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid,
every happiness more luminious and intense. 
We may not know how our contest with sickness will end,
but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.     

What is man that Thou are mindful of him?   
We don't know much, but we know this: 
No matter where we are,
no matter what we do,
no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects,
each and every one of us who believe each and every day,
lies in the same safe and impregnable place,
in the hollow of God's hand.'

T. Snow