Politics: Rep Tom Lantos

Rep. Tom Lantos' photo from Raw Story

is dead. The esophageal cancer that hit him last month tore right through his system.

Rep. Lantos was 80 years old at the time of his death, and had served 13 terms in Congress. A Hungarian Jew, Tom Lantos survived the Holocaust in part thanks to the good offices of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg; and in large part thanks to his own toughness, tenacity, courage, and intelligence.

Casa de Los Gatos didn't always like Rep. Lantos. We felt he beat the Communist drum a bit too hard, that while secular and liberal, he was not necessarily or always a progressive (despite being a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus). And we're still mildly cheesed off about his initial support for the Iraq war of occupation. But he was a good man (as he proved by changing his position on the Iraq war once facts began coming to light), and we regret that he died untimely, especially as he had just assumed the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a position for which he felt he had been preparing all his life, and for which he is better suited than many of the idiots with whom he has served.

For Tom Lantos, then, in memoriam:

Fear no more the heat o'the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Casa de Los Gatos is an atheist household, so no platitudes about his being in a better place. But at least he is at peace, and in no more pain.

Raw Story has further details.

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