Values - Democratic Style

We liberals and progressives and leftists have our own noble principles, our own beautiful abstract words. We should take our stand on them. Fairness is a liberal value. Equality is a liberal value. Education is a liberal value. Honesty in government, public service for modest remuneration, safeguarding public resources and the land--these are all values we share. Liberty is a liberal value, trusting people to make their own decisions, letting people speak their minds even if their views are unpopular. So is social solidarity, the belief that we should share the nation's enormous wealth so that everyone can live decently. The truth is, most of the good things about this country have been fought for by liberals (indeed, by leftists and, dare one say it, Communists)--women's rights, civil liberties, the end of legal segregation, freedom of religion, the social safety net, unions, workers' rights, consumer protection, international cooperation, resistance to corporate domination--and resisted by conservatives.

If conservatives had carried the day, blacks would still be in the back of the bus, women would be barefoot and pregnant, medical care would be on a cash-only basis, there'd be mouse feet in your breakfast cereal and workers would still be sleeping next to their machines.

Apple CEO Jobs Says Has Cancer Surgery

Apple CEO Jobs Says Has Cancer Surgery
By Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs has had successful surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, the company's co-founder told employees in a company-wide e-mail on Sunday that was made available to Reuters.

"This weekend I underwent a successful surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from my pancreas," Jobs wrote in the e-mail. "I had a very rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which represents about 1 percent of the total cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed each year, and can be cured by surgical removal if diagnosed in time (mine was)."

He added that he "will not require any chemotherapy or radiation treatments."

Jobs wrote that he will recuperate during the month of August and expects to return to Cupertino, California-based Apple in September. He is also chief executive of animated film studio Pixar .

Jobs said that, in his absence, Tim Cook, head of worldwide sales and operations, will run the day-to-day operations of Apple, maker of the Macintosh computer and iPod portable digital music players.

Jobs also wrote that the far more common kind of pancreatic cancer "is called adenocarcinoma, which is currently not curable and usually carries a life expectancy of around one year after diagnosis."

"I mention this because when one hears 'pancreatic cancer' (or Googles it), one immediately encounters this far more common and deadly form, which, thank God, is not what I had," Jobs wrote.

The charismatic Jobs, who returned in 1997 to the company he founded after being ousted years before, has been credited by analysts and investors for reviving its fortunes, turning out a spate of successful products such as the two versions of the iMac computer and the iPod.

After Jobs returned to the company, he slashed the number of product lines and pushed Apple to focus again on innovative industrial design and tight integration of its hardware and software.