Of the highest order.

I hope that she can go on for many years with this cancer, and that it doesn't prevent them both from living out their dreams.

She has young children, and a husband who is at the brink of a possible presidency, and she has to be frightened AND furious about the blasted timing of it all.

P.S. Oh, HopefulCynic, hon, in contrast with Elizabeth Edwards, you're so very much NOT a class act. But even then, those of us who are so inclined are praying for you, because every single spiteful, evil, pseudo-religious anti-abortion troll will need all the help he/she can get on judgement day. It's called compassion. Look it up.

is that being in the cockpit, you were privy to all the developments regarding what was happening.

I'd be interested to find out, during the 24 hour period, exactly how many times the flight crew made an announcement to inform the poor passengers as to the specific status of what was happening?

Part of the fury of being an airline passenger is the lack of information. It's the fact that planes abort landings, or abort takeoffs, go back to the gate, circle around, or divert, or just sit and sit and sit and go nowhere...and NO ONE tells the passengers anything. We just sit there, stuck, at the mercy of the pilot and crew, and they just won't tell us diddley.

If airline crew were informative and sympathetic, the majority of passengers would be far less peeved.

And Patrick, I wouldn't wish airline payback on anyone!! Especially you!! I'm still a fan, even if some people think you're the Marie Antoinette of the airline industry ;-)

Sorry, LW. It's too late.

...should go read the amazing essay "The Median Isn't The Message," by Stephen Jay Gould.

http://cancerguide.org/median_not_msg.html

People outlive the medical mandarin's most dire predictions all the time.

I have a friend with incurable, "terminal" cancer who has been alive for nine years. His cancer metastasized to his bones three years ago, and he's still going strong. He has some tired and more pain-filled days, but he works in his garden, and still has a wicked sense of humor, and his mind is sharp as ever.

My mother was told she would die in six months of lung cancer. She lived three more years after that, and enjoyed decent quality of life too -- she went on a cruise, visited friends and family, and generally had a great time till her last weeks.

The fact is, you can't predict whether Elizabeth Edwards will survive until the primary, or she might be going along fine well into or past a second term for "President" Edwards.

She can assume she's going to die soon, retreat to her house, gather her children around her, take to her bed, and wait for death.

Or she can go on living as she would without cancer, making accommodations for her health when necessary.

I don't think she and her husband are callous or clueless. If things deteriorate rapidly for her, and it looks like she doesn't have a lot of time, she seems like the type of person who would shift her focus, and dedicate her remaining time to quality time with her family.

But she's not at that point, and she may not be at that point for a long time.

Don't count her out.

what else do we expect?

Hey, someone tell CBS to get Katie Couric to interview Camille Paglia, and we get a veritable

Incompetence Two-fer!!

He who must not be named, Lord Voldemort... (It's also clear, from the incessant irrelevant posting of this person on every single thread, that "No name" also has "no life" alas.)

But seriously, despite my utter distaste for his job and his politics, Snow deserves our best wishes as far as his health is concerned.

I think "No Name Given" is talking about the medical use of a certain "herb," if you get my drift.

Clearly, "No Name" is partaking far too much of the thing whose ban is being protested...

Joan wrote:

It's not that Salon hasn't made mistakes over the years -- we have -- but we hold ourselves to a high standard about running corrections...

Assuming that at Salon, you hold yourselves to a high standard, why haven't we seen a correction regarding the Debra Dickerson article claiming that Barack Obama was behind the NY Post article, and accusing him of orchestrating some sort of covert smear campaign against Al Sharpton?

An article that was compounded by your blog referencing Dickerson's article as if it were fact.

It seems that this whole Obama/Sharpton fracas was manufacturered gossip from the NY Post, made more credible by Dickerson's unencumbered-by-fact opinion piece quoting it as if it were true (and by assigning blame to Obama), and then your linking to that.

Why didn't Salon step up and do the right thing and correct this major misstep, instead of pouring gas on the flames?