To paraphrase John Cleese, "John McCain is no more. He's bereft of life, gone to join the choir invisible. This is an ex-Senator."

I've known McCain since I was 14 and he spoke at my middle school graduation. I later worked on his first Senate campaign, before I was able to vote. When he got elected, my schoolmate -------- was invited to a gathering at Goldwater's house near Tatum & Lincoln. Since McCain was taking Barry's seat, he handed him the key to a heretofore file cabinet with the admonishment, "Don't fuck it up."

While he did fuck it up a few times (Keating 5, &c), I will admire him most for his dogged reverence of wild areas, especially in Arizona. He led bans on helicopters and light aircraft from flying below the rim of the Grand Canyon's South Rim. He fought for the preservation of the areas around Sedona and Cottonwood. And he helped block commercial developments on Indian land along the South Rim.

McCain inherited a spirit of cooperation with opponents like Mo Udall, Dennis Decincini, Carl Hayden and others.

I won't go into the war stories or any of that. The media have more pics than I could ever share. Just my personal experiences with a cat who deserved a few more years on this mortal globe.

John McCain's life was not perfect. But I thin St. Peter looked at the back of the line and said, "Hey brah, can you wait a few hours? I've got a dog up here who wants his testicles back."

And if you can't laugh a little at that, you're a loser.