Thanks for posting them.
> Great photos, snugs. I especially love the shades. :)
That was from Tony's trip with the President and the PM of Japan to Elvis Presley's home at Graceland.
Mr. President, Tony,
I know this really fabulous accountant..............
My first exposure to Tony was when he would sub for Rush occasionally. I've said this before, but Tony's voice could calm and center me regardless of what kind of day I was having. I used to wish he had his own show, and a few years later, he did... and since last year I had 6 full months between jobs, I had the chance to not only listen to his show, but to make wonderful cyber-FRiends in the process. And Tony would actually join in our conversations! The SNOW-Flake thread was the most fun on the forum... next to the Dose of course and now the Levin thread.
I've prayed for Tony during his cancer and never stopped... just as I pray each day for President Bush. For our President, it seems each day he needs our prayers more than the last.
Tony and W are alike in many ways... their devotion to family and appreciation for doing what's right, for example.
Kipling's poem fits both of them to a tee.
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
While the rest of the world is falling down around us, the words of these two precious men calm and center us, just as Tony's voice did for me several years ago.
God bless you, George W. Bush
God bless you, Tony Snow
from an American who appreciates you both beyond measure.