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John McCain Has Died

Yesterday John McCain's family announced he would not seek further medical treatment for cancer. Today he passed away.

I will mostly remember him for his ill-advised, ill-fated choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. I still shudder to think of the consequences to the country had he been elected and died during his presidency. Somehow the country has sunk to Palin's level anyway with Donald Trump, but that's not McCain's fault.

R.I.P. John McCain.

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    Only here, so far, have I seen reference to Palin. (5.00 / 4) (#5)
    by oculus on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 08:32:11 PM EST
    His death is reminding me of visiting the prison in which he and his comrades were imprisoned in Hanoi.  Although his imprisoners offered to release him at one point, he refused unless all were released.

    did you miss the NYT editorial board? (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 12:18:18 AM EST
    The NY Times

    No campaign decision drew more criticism than his ill-considered selection of a running mate in Sarah Palin, whom he hardly knew and who went so far as to charge Mr. Obama with "palling around with terrorists."

    They also called out his hypocrisy for attacking Obama during his presidential campaign after having criticized Bush for doing the same:

    Mr. McCain's decision against demanding an eye for an eye when Mr. Bush and his henchmen savaged him and his family in the South Carolina primary campaign, one of the most vicious and depressing in modern times, earned him further credit. Yet he lost it all, and then some, when he deployed the same tactics against Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign. Having stood up at one point to a woman who called Mr. Obama an untrustworthy "Arab" -- Mr. McCain seized her microphone and said: "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen" -- he then allowed his own campaign, and himself, to descend to the same debased level, portraying Mr. Obama as a shadowy, untrustworthy and even unpatriotic figure.


    Parent
    Obviously not. I read obits and (none / 0) (#26)
    by oculus on Mon Aug 27, 2018 at 01:13:31 PM EST
    articles in NYT, Guardian, and WaPo

    Parent
    The fact Trump will (5.00 / 4) (#6)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 09:09:05 PM EST
    Be the only public figure who will not have anything to say or at least any thing good makes it seem in a way bigger than the death of one guy.

    It sort of spot lights not just sorry shameful thing that is president but the whole party.

    Feels like more has died than one guy.

    Yes (none / 0) (#7)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 10:34:25 PM EST
    As a former Navy man, (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Chuck0 on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 10:42:06 PM EST
    I salute him.

    the true McCain obit (5.00 / 4) (#9)
    by leap on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 11:50:36 PM EST
    You won't read this in Big Media...it's too LONG! Right. Also contains too much truth. He was just a bog-standard Rethug, who had the media twisted around his faux mavericky MO.

    But he possessed a fundamental streak of human decency which could occasionally transcend his Republican politics, and I never doubted his love of country.

    There will be time enough for an honest assessment of McCain's legacy in the months and years to come. For now, let's please not denigrate the man on the occasion of his passing.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    "I never doubted his love of country." (none / 0) (#21)
    by Erehwon on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 08:51:27 PM EST
    Donald, I agree with you so much ... but it's pretty much hagiographic to claim that love of country for the person who selected the likes of Sarah Palin as his VP, paving the way to the current monstrosity in the White House. That's a strange kind of love of country indeed!

    Parent
    His vote against repeal of ACA (none / 0) (#23)
    by Coral on Mon Aug 27, 2018 at 10:04:54 AM EST
    Is one of the things he did that I will remember with gratitude. Several members of my family depend on ACA.

    Parent
    Something else not getting enough (none / 0) (#24)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Aug 27, 2018 at 10:16:23 AM EST
    Attention IMO is that he was basically the father of "the dossier".

    It might never have seen the light of day without McCain.

    And you have to appreciate the ultimate "last word" of saying stay away from my funeral.

    Schumer and Mitch have already gotten together today to force ALL flags be flown at half staff.
    What a stupid small desperate thing for a president to do.

    I have a feeling this week of McCain is going to also end up being a very big week in Trumpland.

    Mccain would love that.

    Parent

    One of his last actions (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by CST on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 11:50:58 AM EST
    As senator was to save healthcare for millions of Americans.

    I've almost always disagreed with him politically, but I never doubted that he was a true believer in American Democracy.   In this era, that's a lot more than I can say for many of his colleagues.

    I have mixed feelings about that (none / 0) (#30)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Aug 29, 2018 at 11:47:10 PM EST
    After all the stress of worrying about my son being uninsurable, I was up all night that night. Ambien wouldn't even touch my terror. That was all unnecessary and I was hardly the only person unable to sleep that night.

    I think flags should be at half mast, and if a person has some serious issues with McCain that's fine too.

    He was a war hero sure, but we are hardly the only military family with a special needs child and a recent combat veteran living a borderline terrorized existence. He was not a great man, just better than most Conservatives right now. Very low bar.

    He wasn't nothing, but he wasn't all that either.

    And no human being in this country with pre-existing conditions should be daily terrorized.

    Parent

    I certainly (5.00 / 1) (#36)
    by CST on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 12:10:42 PM EST
    Can't disagree with any of that.

    These days I'll take my allies where I can get them, but I don't begrudge anyone that demands more.

    Parent

    I have decided to take Armando's advice (none / 0) (#73)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 02, 2018 at 09:15:47 AM EST
    And will refrain from dissecting John McCain's good works until after the midterms.

    Parent
    I "believe" (5.00 / 1) (#74)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 02, 2018 at 11:24:07 AM EST
    The week and even more the weekend, with its saturation coverage, is moving the needle

    Polls in the next week will be......

    Parent

    Sen. Cindy McCain (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Towanda on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 10:26:53 PM EST
    The gov will appoint the widow to fill out the term, according to some sources.  

    Whomever it is, watch for it to happen fast -- as I worried when Mitch McConnell set the SCOTUS hearings on Kavanagh for a couple of weeks from now.  I figured that McConnell must have known that McCain's end was near (just because the family announced only a few days ago that the cancer treatment would end does not mean that's when it was discontinued, which could have been a while ago), and that an appointee would come to DC in time to give the GOP its two-vote margin again.

    When was the last appointment of a widow, a rather outdated practice, to fill out a term in Congress?


    The Hells Angels (5.00 / 1) (#43)
    by fishcamp on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 08:01:28 AM EST
    I used to know all wanted their Harley's crushed into a cube and buried at the foot of their graves.  Maybe I'll do that with my bonefish skiff.

    Thank you fishcamp (none / 0) (#45)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:38:32 AM EST
    For providing my husband with some guy time during our trip. He said he really enjoyed his alone time with you. The whole trip was a struggle for him to find some quiet time. The rest of us just don't do quiet time.

    Parent
    106 (5.00 / 2) (#44)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:03:16 AM EST
    May we all be doing as well as Roberta McCain at 106.

    Whatever I get I'm good with (none / 0) (#46)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:42:27 AM EST
    Just as long as Henry Kissinger doesn't touch my casket

    Parent
    On funerals (5.00 / 2) (#47)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 11:18:10 AM EST
    Aretha managed 3 costume changes

    I like that too.

    Parent

    I noticed Henry Kissinger... (none / 0) (#48)
    by desertswine on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 02:26:33 PM EST
    walking up (with a little help) to McCain's casket and all I could thing was - "MEIN FUEHRER, I CAN WALK!"

    Parent
    Did this need an explanation? (5.00 / 4) (#67)
    by desertswine on Sat Sep 01, 2018 at 01:31:13 AM EST
    I noticed Kissinger in the gallery sitting in a wheelchair at the McCain observance at the Capitol.  A few minutes later, there he was making his way walking towards the McCain casket.  Since Kissinger always, for me, bore a resemblance to Dr. Strangelove, it reminded me of the scene near the end of the movie where he got up, took a step or two, and shouted "Mein Feuhrer, I can walk!"  

    Kissinger, I believe, is scheduled to speak at the McCain funeral service; a good reason to miss it.

    C'mon linea, the movie's a classic.

    Parent

    Impossible (5.00 / 2) (#69)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Sep 01, 2018 at 07:13:54 AM EST
    It's white and black

    Parent
    Henry Kissinger (none / 0) (#51)
    by linea on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 09:56:03 PM EST
    I believe this is a reference to `Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.'

    To me, it seemed a trite mostly uninteresting film. I saw this when I was 13 years old and the only emotional part was when Slim Pickens guiding the B-52 Stratofortress to his secondary target and gave his life to deliver the bomb. It made me cry. Other that the scenes with Slim Pickens (not sure who he is exactly) it's not worth watching. It's also a white-and-black film.

    Parent

    What a perfectly (5.00 / 2) (#52)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:00:08 PM EST
    Idiotic comment.

    Perfection.

    Parent

    This is why you rarely (5.00 / 6) (#61)
    by jondee on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 11:36:06 PM EST
    hear about any respected thirteen-year-old film critics or historians.

    Parent
    You didn't cry (5.00 / 3) (#62)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 11:38:35 PM EST
    When Slim Pickens sacrificed himself?

    Parent
    I guess I was distracted (5.00 / 5) (#64)
    by jondee on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 11:58:07 PM EST
    by the fact that an atomic bomb was being dropped on thousands of people and missed the poignancy of the Pickens character's sacrifice. Plus it was in black and white.


    Parent
    If you had received an "American public (5.00 / 2) (#72)
    by vml68 on Sat Sep 01, 2018 at 08:18:57 PM EST
    community High School education", you would have known that the movie was actually in white and black ;-)!

    Parent
    One of my favorite (5.00 / 2) (#75)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 03, 2018 at 11:10:39 AM EST
    White and black movies is on TCM right now.

    THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

    John Garfield & Lana Turner

    Parent

    Two of my favorite actors (5.00 / 1) (#76)
    by jondee on Mon Sep 03, 2018 at 12:51:16 PM EST
    that Lana Turner had trouble written all over her and not necessarily in a bad way.

    Too bad Garfield was red-baited to death by assholis americanus in the fifties.

    Parent

    WTF? (1.00 / 1) (#55)
    by linea on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:10:35 PM EST
    Either this is a reference to Dr Strangelove:
    by desertswine on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 02:26:33 PM EST
    walking up (with a little help) to McCain's casket and all I could thing was - "MEIN FUEHRER, I CAN WALK!"

    Or what? Frequent poster desertswine is a racist anti-Semite accusing a Jewish person of being a Nazi? You're an idiot.

    Parent

    It was a reference to yet another (none / 0) (#56)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:20:00 PM EST
    Breath takingly stupid comment.

    From you.

    Btw
    Let me help you out with the bail bonds, what the post and Peters comments were intended to make you understand and what you are clearly to stupid to understand is that elimination of cash bail will result in more languishing.  Not less.

    hope this helps

    Parent

    Sorry (none / 0) (#57)
    by linea on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:50:35 PM EST
    I disagree with your uninformed opinion.

    THE ELIMINATION OF CASH BAIL
    ... is a good thing that I wholeheartedly support.

    Parent

    Actually (none / 0) (#58)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:53:24 PM EST
    That was Jeralyns and Peters opinion.  At least as I understood it.  Just trying to help you understand it.

    Unlike you I do not imagine myself informed enough on the subject to argue with them.

    Parent

    That's (none / 0) (#68)
    by linea on Sat Sep 01, 2018 at 02:56:22 AM EST

    That's a `breathtakingly stupid comment` not `breath takingly' stupid.

    It was a reference to yet another (#56)
    by CaptHowdy
    Breath takingly stupid comment.
    From you.

    Btw
    Let me help you out with the bail bonds, what the post and Peters comments were intended to make you understand and what you are clearly to stupid to understand is that elimination of cash bail will result in more languishing.  Not less.

    hope this helps

    Thank you for clarifying Peter's position that the `elimination of cash bail will result in more languishing.' I'm sure he appreciates your clarification.

    Also, I'm `too stupid to understand' not `to stupid.'

    Have you considered remedial English courses?

    Parent

    oh my, (5.00 / 6) (#63)
    by leap on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 11:52:02 PM EST
    you poor dear.

    Parent
    The very definition (none / 0) (#1)
    by Repack Rider on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 07:59:52 PM EST
    ...of mixed feelings.

    On occasion he showed flashes of patriotism, and I applaud him for those.

    All I know (none / 0) (#53)
    by linea on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:02:36 PM EST
    Is `bomb Iran' to the tune of. Sorry, must be my American public community High School education.

    Parent
    Slavering idiots (none / 0) (#54)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 10:07:06 PM EST
    Do well in well in American public community high schools.

    Parent
    WTF! (2.00 / 1) (#59)
    by linea on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 11:03:51 PM EST
    Fine. You have repeatedly posted on this thread that I'm an idiot. Maybe give it a rest?

    Slavering idiots (none / 0) (#54)
    by CaptHowdy
    Do well in well in American public community high schools

    What's your point? You're not a `slavering idiot' because... you went to school in Japan? WTF? You post unintelligible jibberish. And I realize you don't actually know what `slavering' means. I'm sorry that I'm well-traveled and well-educated and that you are so petty that you feel threatened by me and lash out and attack me.

    Parent

    I am so (5.00 / 1) (#60)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 11:29:05 PM EST
    Threatened by you.

    Parent
    Sage advice: (5.00 / 3) (#71)
    by leap on Sat Sep 01, 2018 at 03:59:56 PM EST
    "Never argue with idiots. They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."

    Parent
    I can't tell if this is serious (5.00 / 4) (#70)
    by Yman on Sat Sep 01, 2018 at 08:48:11 AM EST
    You post unintelligible jibberish. And I realize you don't actually know what `slavering' means. I'm sorry that I'm well-traveled and well-educated and that you are so petty that you feel threatened by me and lash out and attack me.

    It just makes me want to cry ...

    ... with laughter.

    Hey - as an aside - who's that orange man that's always on TV telling people how smart and well-educated he is?

    Parent

    Love that he said (none / 0) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 08:09:42 PM EST
    He did not want Trump at his funeral

    Apparently. the entire McCain (none / 0) (#3)
    by caseyOR on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 08:18:30 PM EST
    family hates Trump. And who can blame them?

    Parent
    That's like the ultimate shade (none / 0) (#4)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Aug 25, 2018 at 08:23:19 PM EST
    Don't show up at my funeral.

    Parent
    The ghoulish glee (none / 0) (#13)
    by jondee on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 01:10:12 PM EST
    and bile being vented at McCain by the good Christian folk at the pro-Trump sites really has to be seen to be believed.

    You'd think they were celebrating the killing of Bin Laden.

    It's pretty amazing (none / 0) (#19)
    by Yman on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 06:06:46 PM EST
    I was never a McCain fan and disagreed with him on virtually every issue, but these people are disgusting.  They're not only dragging out the old conspiracy theories, but the comments on the news articles is nauseating.

    Parent
    Senator Schumer (none / 0) (#14)
    by KeysDan on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 02:38:03 PM EST
    plans to offer a resolution to re-name the senate office building for John McCain, now named after Senator Richard Russell, Jr., who served in the senate from 1933 until his death in 1971.

    The late Senator Russell (D. GA) was a racial segregationist, and Dixiecrat, and was a co-author of the Southern Manifesto with Strom Thurmond.

     Originally a mentor of Lyndon Johnson, there was a falling out over civil rights legislation. Russell was a long-term chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

      Senator Robert C. Byrd (D. WVA) was an advocate of naming the senate office building after Russell, apparently, despite his record on race, because the courtly southern senator was considered the "senator's senator."   The only opposing senator was Phil Hart (D.MI) who felt the senate should await "history's estimate."  

    I feel the same way that Sen. Hart did (5.00 / 2) (#15)
    by Peter G on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 04:06:56 PM EST
    Public buildings, airports, boulevards, etc., should not be renamed too hastily after the recently departed, no matter how widely celebrated they may have been. There should probably be a decade or so let pass, to allow history to settle a bit and make its claims on reputation.

    Parent
    I (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by FlJoe on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 05:00:19 PM EST
    remember when they renamed the Kennedy Space Center after his death, fair enough, but they also decided to rename Cape Canaveral itself. Thankfully after about ten years it was changed back to the name it was given centuries ago.

    Parent
    Agreed. (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by KeysDan on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 05:31:28 PM EST
    Probably enough time has passed for history to estimate the wisdom of naming the senate office building after Senator Russell.  Russell's genteel demeanor not withstanding, it may not be a loss to history to have his name removed from this beautiful and prominent federal building, sort of in the sentiment of placing confederate monuments in the backroom of a museum.  Unsure if Senator McCain is the one for new naming rights, but pretty sure, such a move is premature.

    Removing Senator Russell's name from the building would present a dilemna for Georgia's two Republican senators (Isakson and Perdue), who would very likely encounter resistance. The many military bases in the state are still credited to Russell.  If a renaming becomes the case,  I can see a situation similar to Washington National Airport, naming it Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport---which was already named after a  US president.

    Parent

    Always waiting five or ten years after death (none / 0) (#16)
    by CoralGables on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 04:52:46 PM EST
    for any public entity such as a road, building, airport, park, etc. sounds reasonable. Short of that doesn't give enough time for any possible sludge to rise to the surface. And any naming while people are still alive is just sucking up.

    Parent
    Actually would be interested to hear (none / 0) (#20)
    by Peter G on Sun Aug 26, 2018 at 06:22:02 PM EST
    on this subject from our two professional historians (ok, one recently retired, Towanda; and the other, hoping-soon-to-be certified, Donald From Hawaii).

    Parent
    And then there's Burbank Airport in L.A. (none / 0) (#28)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Aug 28, 2018 at 06:08:42 AM EST
    Since it first opened in 1930, that airport has had a virtual identity crisis with one name after another:
    • United Airport (1930-1934);
    • Union Air Terminal (1934-1940);
    • Lockheed Air Terminal (1940-1967);
    • Hollywood-Burbank Airport (1967-1978);
    • Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (1978-2003);
    • Bob Hope Airport (since 2003, still legal name), and
    • Hollywood Burbank Airport (since 2016, branding name WITHOUT the hyphen of the similar earlier name).

    When comedian Bob Hope died in 2003, the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena -- which have jointly owned the airport after purchasing it outright from the Lockheed Corp. in 1978, after Lockheed proposed to close it and sell off the real estate -- rushed to officially rename the airport after him. This seemed like a good idea at the time, since the name "Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport" doesn't exactly roll off one's tongue.

    But by removing the cities' names from the airport, it created no small amount of confusion for travelers and believe it or not, passenger numbers at the airport actually suffered as a result. (Or so Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority officials claimed; I actually think it was the 2008 Great Recession which caused that to happen.) So everyone got together and appointed a commission to study the issue and $500,000 later, the commission settled on the old name of Hollywood Burbank Airport. Needless to say, the Hope family was none too pleased.

    Not that any of this ever mattered to L.A. locals, who've been stubbornly calling the facility "Burbank Airport" for over 80 years. It's the second busiest commercial airport in the L.A. area after LAX.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Congressional Republicans ignored that and renamed Washington National Airport after him over his family's strong objections. After that, the floodgates were open, and nowadays we don't even have to wait for them to be dead anymore before acting.

    Houston's George H.W. Bush International Airport, Anchorage's Ted Stevens International Airport, and San Jose's Norman Mineta International Airport were all renamed for guys who are -- or in Stevens' case, were -- still very much alive. In the case of the latter two facilities, Stevens was still serving as Alaska's senator and Mineta was Dubya's Secretary of Transportation when they were renamed.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    What do we owe a dead man? (none / 0) (#25)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Aug 27, 2018 at 10:42:50 AM EST

    Despite all these months to think and talk about his life, though, there are basically only two McCain obituaries: Fawning Apotheosis, and Contrarian Reaction to Fawning Apotheosis. But we can use these two types of memorial to coordinate an insightful understanding of McCain's life and what his death means to America. Our reactions to these McCain obits (beyond the reactions to his death) also say a lot about what the country he loved so much looked like the day he left it. Bottom line: McCain sucked--a lot--but right now America sucks a whole lot more. Until his "friends" step up and rid our leadership of Trumpism, their ostentatious, overwrought, self-satisfied obits about the selfless patriotism of Senator John McCain should make us all ill.

    worth a read



    Are the Interventionists Now Leaderless? (none / 0) (#29)
    by RickyJim on Tue Aug 28, 2018 at 08:45:35 AM EST
    And the cause he championed, compulsive intervention in foreign quarrels to face down dictators and bring democrats to power, appears to be a cause whose time has passed.
    Link

    I am very disappointed (none / 0) (#31)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 07:47:28 AM EST
    We are at Thursday and nothing much has happened so far this week.

    That said, I guess if you really wanted to twist the shiv a little, it would probably be best to drop it at 6 pm Friday

    Sorry (none / 0) (#32)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 07:48:31 AM EST
    Intended for the open

    Parent
    I actually just realised (none / 0) (#49)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 04:22:06 PM EST
    That since the election is on the 6th, NEXT week is actually the last week before the "60 day window" before the election.

    But there is still time.  The grand jury meets on Friday.


    Parent

    ACTIVE MEASURES (none / 0) (#33)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 07:56:54 AM EST
    John McCain Sounds the Alarm on Trump and Russia in New Documentary `Active Measures'
    Watch an exclusive clip of the late Arizona senator from the new documentary `Active Measures,' about Trump and Putin.

    Active Measures, a new documentary from director Jack Bryan, would be timely even without the presence of John McCain. And yet the senator, who died of brain cancer less than a week before this film's August 31st release, adds an additional dose of relevance and urgency to its central thesis: that President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are far more intertwined than you know.

    "The fact that there was an attack on the fundamental--the absolute fundamental--a free and fair election, should alarm all of us," McCain says in the exclusive clip below. He's referring to the reports from August of 2016 that Russian hackers were targeting voter registration databases in states like Arizona.

    "This really spooked officials in the White House," Michael Isikoff, the chief investigative correspondent at Yahoo News, adds. "And that's the moment, I think, that the enormity of the Russian influence campaign really started to hit home



    I couldn't get that clip to play (none / 0) (#34)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 08:04:38 AM EST
    Watching this (none / 0) (#35)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 12:06:25 PM EST
    All I can think of is how awsum it would be to be able to plan your own funeral complete with all appropriate FUs

    Does that make me a bad person?

    There are a lot of FUs I would like.


    Plan it :) (none / 0) (#37)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 05:21:58 PM EST
    Oh trust me (none / 0) (#38)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 05:37:30 PM EST
    I could plan one helluva funeral.  The cool part is knowing it will be executed.  I doubt mine instructions would be.

    That said, I have left instructions.  Cremation.  No funeral.  No preacher.  No praying.

    Maybe tell some jokes over drinks.

    And I don't care what happens to the ashes.  Cat box is fine.

    Parent

    No celebration of your life? (none / 0) (#39)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 06:39:42 PM EST
    You overcame so much, seems wrong not to.

    I'm not a big fan of traditional funerals.

    It was actually one of my father's very very old friends who was gay who introduced me to life celebrations about 25 yrs ago. And I worked for the company who catered the one he did for his mother. It was really wonderful. The people I worked for put me in charge of it because I don't really like walking through a door with preconceived notions. They had never heard of such a thing, where to begin? I did not realize I was about to meet up with one of my father's old friends until he walked in.

    Parent

    Meh (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 07:43:56 PM EST
    I will have celebrated my life enough by then.  Afterwards I honestly don't give a sh!t.  

    I know my family well enough to know if there is a "thing" it will have praying.

    No.

    Im done.  Just get on with whatever you were doing.

    Parent

    The most interesting memorial/funeral (none / 0) (#41)
    by Peter G on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 08:21:59 PM EST
    I ever attended was for my gay "uncle" (mother's first cousin), who lived in NYC. In attendance were about 40% family and about 60% his friends, of the closeted professionals gay male culture that was just a little too old to change their lives when gay liberation struck in 1969 (being 40ish then). WWII veterans who had kept their heads down then and ever since. Music was played, and favorite stories were recounted. Anyway, the family side -- who would have accepted or even embraced them, knowing my family -- didn't know those men, including my uncle's longtime partner, at all. But they knew us, so to speak, because my uncle had talked about us with them a lot, apparently. That was the day I met Walter Naegle, Bayard Rustin's partner.

    Parent
    Okay. (none / 0) (#50)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Aug 31, 2018 at 05:53:47 PM EST
    I am going to say the same thing I have said to Fishcamp and that is y'all need to write a book! You all have the most interesting stories and met the most interesting people as you have traveled along in life.

    Parent
    Sounds like we have (none / 0) (#42)
    by Chuck0 on Thu Aug 30, 2018 at 08:28:39 PM EST
    the same plan. There is a budget for bourbon. I did ask that my ashes or at least some of them go to Ocean Beach in San Diego. Living in OB was the best part of my life

    Parent
    Diction, not grammar ... (none / 0) (#77)
    by Erehwon on Mon Sep 03, 2018 at 02:34:05 PM EST
    In English, "I do not imagine myself informed enough" does not mean "too uninformed." And movies are in "back and white," not "white and black."

    Any American "public community high school" may not teach excellent grammar, but diction is another story!

    the comment you are replying to (none / 0) (#78)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Sep 20, 2018 at 07:10:25 PM EST
    has been deleted

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