Rick has posted pictures from his family's April vacation to New York on their new Flickr site. I'm adding the link on the sidebar of this blog. Their collection of 511 pictures has not been edited and includes professional and amateur photography. At some point, I plan to go through and tag my favorites, but not tonight.

Another Republican politician gets kudos from this liberal Democrat. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee has issued the following statement regarding the ad I wrote about yesterday which attacks Michelle Obama.

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After the Republican National Committee damaged our campaign with their infamous 'Call Me' ad -- which we immediately denounced -- we have strongly encouraged the national party and state parties to absolutely refrain from getting involved in negative personal campaigning, and we have asked the state party to remove their You Tube ad from their Web site. Republicans will be in much better shape if we spend our time focused on issues like reducing federal spending, lowering the cost of health care and creating a coherent energy policy.

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Thank you, Mr. Corker!

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Upstaging all the election news today is the story regarding Senator Ted Kennedy's diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor. Accolades for this very liberal Democrat have poured from both sides of the aisle. McCain said:

I have described Ted Kennedy as the last lion in the Senate, and I have held that view because he remains the single most effective member of the Senate.

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Senator Robert Byrd of WV, the only senator with more seniority than Kennedy, broke down and sobbed while trying to express his sadness, quite moving. Most everybody gives Kennedy credit for helping the disadvantaged in our country by serving as the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

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Speaking of the disadvantaged, I was reminded of another Republican President's words today: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Washington, D.C., 1953

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See, Rick, I can find things to admire in Republican politicians!