The passing of Senator Edward Kennedy launched a nation currently battling turmoil and calamity from within deeper into the abyss of insanity.

A fervent fighter for equality, Kennedy fought tirelessly for the right to equality in healthcare for every American, a battle that was waged until his dying day. But like any true hero that undertakes a life-altering mission, the true work is never finished, even after leaving this mortal coil.

In the Democrats move to keep hope alive in their effort to enact “true” change in the United States by proverbially chin checking the thieving, villainous, middlemen and women that head our insidious health insurance companies, several reasonably sound people have been named to assume Senator Kennedy's vacated seat.  One being Harvard professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr., among the available options.  Ogletree is also Henry Louis Gates and represented him during his “racial profiling” arrest and incident.

A professor of Law, Ogletree has emerged as one of the leading choices in a rapidly narrowing field of likely stand-in's for the late senator, a staggering fact considering that speculators were certain longtime Kennedy compatriot Paul Kirk was “guaranteed' the position.

Whoever fills Kennedy's seat has a vital role in the healthcare debate that has been the bane of lawmakers nationwide for much of the summer.

Democrats in the Senate are counting on whoever is chosen to provide the necessary vote to pass much needed healthcare-reform.