I know there have been a few diaries today A B C regarding Tom Lantos, including the FP story by McJoan, but they seemed to have scrolled-off all too soon, and I thought Mr. Lantos was significant enough, that I wanted to post another diary - not for me, for him, for us...
More...
To provide more beyond the standard AP biographical...
Tom Lantos seemed to me to be a rare politician, the type that is ever more rare and which Americans would do well to note and encourage in our democracy (just my humble opinion). By this, I mean a man of great integrity, principled, stead-fast, possessed of humility, holder of noble values that nurture healthy societies - just to name a few...and certainly, I am not saying I agree with all of his political statements or positions,
I'm not going to write much more, and have to run off shortly, but again, wanted to provide a bit more visibility on the man.
Pacem
Various points from JTA
"We lose a voice for human rights, which was in his
case unique," Elie Wiesel, the novelist whose own
writings have become icons of Holocaust remembrance,
told JTA. "He spoke always against oppression,
against persecution, against racism."
Lantos "blazed a trail in the United States Congress
fighting for education, health care, human rights,
and Israel," said JCPA, the public-policy umbrella
body for several influential national Jewish
organizations, the synagogue movements and more than
100 local Jewish communities.
In 2003 he would found the House's Human Rights
Caucus.
"He has been a valiant voice demanding more action
against the Darfur genocide and at the same time a
valiant leader in the fight to stop the scourge of
HIV/AIDS from devastating the developing world," AJWS
President Ruth Messinger told JTA from Uganda, where
she was touring AIDS relief projects.
Lantos was not afraid to take on his allies. (snip)
broke with pro-Israel orthodoxy by offering to meet
with the Islamic Republic's leaders.
------ Requiescat in pace, Rep. Lantos, res firma mitescere nescit -----------