akin to accepting a cancer transplant

[never cry wolf]

“Taking the Republican nomination in Illinois for the U.S. Senate under the current circumstances would be akin to accepting a cancer transplant,” said Fitzgerald, the Republican senator whose decision to step down after six years left his seat in contention.

Excellent article on Obama today from the KC Star, some more:

When Obama Sr. headed to Harvard in the mid-1960s — and later returned to Kenya — he left behind Ann and a toddler. Before Barack was old enough to go to school, his mother had remarried, to an Indonesian oil manager.

They moved to Jakarta in 1964. Obama was barely four. But his memories of that time are stark and clear.

“You cannot live in Jakarta and not have it leave a lasting impression on you,” Obama said.

He remembers child paupers gathered along the streets, too tired and ill to beg. He recalls security guards in front of high-class houses tossing coins into the streets, laughing when the poor would dart into traffic, scrambling for the money.

the rest, nice background info---> http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/news/politics/9277225.htm?1c