Is Anyone Surprised?

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RayThom
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Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by RayThom »

George Bush, 41st President, Dies at 94
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/us/p ... -dies.html
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Lord Jim
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Lord Jim »

Not surprising, but still sad to see such a class act pass from the scene... :(

We're losing so many of them, and not replacing them with many new ones...


With his family wealth and connections he could easily have gone the bone spurs route, but he chose a different path:
While several presidents have had aircraft carriers named in their honor, only George Herbert Walker Bush knows what it's like to fight off of one.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush was a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

Upon graduation six months later, he enlisted in the Navy Reserve and began flight training. The following June, just before his 19th birthday, he received his wings and commission as an ensign, making him the Navy's youngest pilot.

Bush was assigned to fly the TBM Avenger as a member of torpedo squadron VT-51. In the spring of 1944, the squadron was assigned to the carrier San Jacinto, which headed to the Pacific as part of Task Force 58. There, Bush took part in operations over several islands: Wake, Marcus and the Marianas.

During one mission that June, Bush had to make a forced water landing. He and the other two crew members were rescued by a U.S. destroyer, but the plane was lost. The next month, Bush and another pilot sunk a small cargo ship.

On Sept. 2, 1944, Bush's plane and three others from VT-51 attacked installations on the Japanese island of Chichi Jima.

"The flak was very heavy," he told the U.S. Naval Institute in an interview for its "Americans at War" series. "You could just see it and hear it almost around you."

Bush's plane was hit and caught fire, but he was still able to drop his bombs successfully before heading back out to sea.

"It was when I saw the flame along the wing there that I said, 'I better get out of here,' " he said during the interview. "I told the crewmen to get out. I dove out onto the wing. I hit my head on the tail, a glancing blow, and bleeding like a stuck pig."

Bush and one of his crew were able to bail out of the plane, but the other man's parachute failed to open. The third crew member went down with the plane.

"I dropped into the ocean, and I swam over and got into this life raft," Bush continued. "I was sick to my stomach. I was scared. If somebody didn't pick me up, I would have been captured and killed. They were very brutal on Chichi Jima."

Bush floated in the Pacific on his life raft for four hours, with U.S. planes circling overhead, until the U.S. lifeguard submarine Finback rescued him. He spent a month on the Finback, during which he helped rescue other downed pilots.

Upon returning to the San Jacinto, Bush saw action in the Philippines before returning to Guam, where his squadron, which had suffered heavy losses, was replaced.

Bush ended up flying 58 combat missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the Chichi Jima raid. He also earned three Air Medals.

"People talk about, 'Wow, you're a hero.' Well there's nothing heroic about getting shot down," he said. "And I wondered why was I spared when two friends in the plane with me were killed. I don't know the answer."
https://pilotonline.com/news/military/a ... 15254.html
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Burning Petard
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Burning Petard »

Headline in WaPo this morning: "The two-syllable word that summed up George H.W. Bush — in the best way."

We could compare Bush 41 with POTUS 45, but it wouldn't be prudent.

On the other hand we could contrast.

POTUS 45 has no history of varsity athletics in college. Bush 41 played first base (the only position where it is an advantage to be a lefty with possible exception of pitcher. Southpaw pitchers are generally considered to all be crazy) on the Yale baseball team where he was also captain.

snailgate.

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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

There was, and is, so much to disagree with GHWB on: Willie Horton, his attitude to gun control, his acceptance of all things Reagan for starters. But it never occurred to me to doubt that he and even his erstwhile boss (when he was VP) ever had anything but America's and the world's interests at heart. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time or even worth commenting on, but we could sure use a little of that now.

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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

Re my note above: I had forgotten that GHWB renounced his membership of NRA after Ruby Ridge and Waco (Waco of course happened after his presidency in the first year of Clinton) because even he thought that those guys were idiots.

I also think that his restraint after Desert Storm (leaving Saddam Hussein intact in Baghdad) was the right decision. Plenty of people blame the aftermath (9/11, ISIS) on that decision but I think it was coming due to events in train long before that; and had the coalition deposed him - which was well beyond the mandate of freeing Kuwait - the resulting chaos in the Arab world would have been sooner and perhaps even deadlier.

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Econoline
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Econoline »

Whatever else you may say about him...

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liberty
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by liberty »

Where are the celebrations? Remember the wimp and coward. He is now dead why are you not happy? He was shot down three times in WW II but he was still a coward to liberals because he didn’t obey them instead of his boss.

And Ruby Ridge, what was wrong with Randy Weaver all he wanted was to opt out of the general American culture and raise his kids in the mountains. But that was enough for the liberal, deep state, federal governments to make him a target and kill his son and wife.

And the NRA, in the US today if you don’t have an organization to protect your rights you don’t have rights. We need the NRA to protect our second amendment rights even though I don’t agree with everything they do.
Last edited by liberty on Sun Dec 02, 2018 7:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
I expected to be placed in an air force combat position such as security police, forward air control, pararescue or E.O.D. I would have liked dog handler. I had heard about the dog Nemo and was highly impressed. “SFB” is sad I didn’t end up in E.O.D.

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Joe Guy
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Joe Guy »

liberty wrote:And Rugby Ridge, what was wrong with Randy Weaver all he wanted was to opt out of the general American culture and raise his kids in the mountains. But that was enough for the liberal, deep state....
I will never forget Rugby Ridge.....

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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Lord Jim »

I will never forget Rugby Ridge.....
It's tough to forget...

It happened right after the Bowling Green Massacre...

it never occurred to me to doubt that he and even his erstwhile boss (when he was VP) ever had anything but America's and the world's interests at heart.
I'm old enough to remember a time when no matter how much you might disagree with a President on policy, or how wrongheaded or foolish you might think him to be, you never doubted that...

You could just assume it, and take it for granted...

Good times...
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Burning Petard »

"I'm old enough to remember a time when no matter how much you might disagree with a President on policy, or how wrongheaded or foolish you might think him to be, you never doubted that...

You could just assume it, and take it for granted...

Good times..."

Amen Brother.

Snailgate.

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RayThom
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Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by RayThom »

liberty wrote:... And Rugby Ridge, what was wrong with Randy Weaver all he wanted was to opt out of the general American culture and raise his kids in the mountains...
And who can ever forget the scrum at Rugby Ridge, it seemed to go on forever.
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Econoline »

From Limericking:
    • On George Bush’s passing, there came
      Both critical words and acclaim,
      But many agreed
      That he was indeed
      The very best prez of that name.
People who are wrong are just as sure they're right as people who are right. The only difference is, they're wrong.
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Lord Jim
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Lord Jim »

I've got the funeral service on, and I have to say that somebody did a good job on the seating arrangements...

They put Trump out on the very end of the row next to Melania, so none of the former Presidents or First Ladies has to have the miserable task of having to make conversation or exchange pleasantries with him...
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RayThom
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Is Anyone Surprised?

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Lord Dampnut dissed the entire row of exes except for his arch-nemeses, Barack and Michelle, and that looked painful for everyone. Just as well, I'm sure the Orange One would rather be anywhere than at this funeral. Way too many bipartisan Republicans make him uncomfortable.

We should thank the Bush family that they insisted the fat ass won't be speaking. That would have turned into a conceit filled Trump rally.

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RayThom
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Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by RayThom »

Protocol, or a final snub?

Did anyone catch the shared, outside, wide-angle camera broadcast view of the cathedral service about ten minutes prior to the casket coming out through the main doors? It showed Lord Dampnut and 'Melanie' ditching the service at the far right doorway -- no one else, just 45 and his handler.

Maybe it was the Bushes wish that he exit quickly -- wouldn't that be something? -- but I couldn't help but feel it was at the Cheeto's request that he hightail it out of there.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.
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Lord Jim
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Lord Jim »

One of the things I've been struck by in the coverage this week are all the anecdotes about 41 that I've read and heard that show what a modest, down-to-earth guy he was...(despite a public persona that was frequently portrayed in the press as aloof and detached)

My favorite story was one I heard told about a time when he was President, dining at one of his favorite restaurants...

One of the waiters came up to him and reminded him that the last time he was there he had told him he would have him sent a pair of Presidential cuff links, and that he hadn't received them...

Bush felt so bad about forgetting to get that done that he took off the cuff links he was wearing at the time and gave them to the guy...

One of his speech writers said that he would frequently take lines out of speeches that had been written for him if he thought they sounded too much like he was bragging about himself...

(Wow...Imagine that...A President who actually had to be cajoled into saying good things about himself...Talk about being The Anti-Trump...)

It frequently seems to be the case that the folks with the most substantive accomplishments to talk about are the least inclined to toot their own horn, while those with the least to brag about sound like a 60 piece brass band...
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by Burning Petard »

I did not watch or listen to the funeral service today. Actually, at 1100 this morning I was at a local funeral for someone else.

But, now late in the day, I was reading coverage in WaPo, online version, and I see this headline:

"All the presidents at the Bush funeral service together recited this core prayer. Except one."

Then the text of the story indicated they were referring to a joint reading by the congregation, of "The Apostles' Creed" which the text, as well as the headline, called a prayer. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine which president did not read the Apostles' Creed, even though the words were printed in the program he held rolled in his hand.

HUH? This creed together in a service is an public declaration of 'I believe' certain theological holdings to be factually true. This joint reading nowhere indicates it is addressed to a divine being, prime cause, or God.

How does it become a PRAYER? The author of the story is identified as a staff writer specializing in religious topics. Is this an indication of WaPo's anti-bias policy that a writer should be ignorant of the basic vocabulary of their field, so they will not report with favoritisms?

snailgate.

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RayThom
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Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by RayThom »

sg, no argument from me... I don't see a prayer, only a confirmation of faith.

However, here's what Wikipedia has to say about the Apostles Creed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed

What does the Apostles Creed mean?
The Apostles Creed is a document of the early Church outlining core Christian beliefs. ... However, times change, and after carefully reading several theologians and Christian contemplatives on what the deeper meaning and teachings of the Creed are, I've gladly come to know it as a very rich spiritual document.
If you Google "Apostles Creed" I see more than half of the entries refer to it as a prayer.
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“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.” 

liberty
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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by liberty »

This hypocrisy make me sick the only good republican is a dead republican to you guys and you are just too damn big a hypocrites to admit it. The only difference between you people and the CBS executive who said that she was glad that so many country music fan were killed in Vegas is she said what you believe . Now come on now give voice to your hate. Come on now let s hear some hate. Come on you fucking haters.
I expected to be placed in an air force combat position such as security police, forward air control, pararescue or E.O.D. I would have liked dog handler. I had heard about the dog Nemo and was highly impressed. “SFB” is sad I didn’t end up in E.O.D.

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Re: Is Anyone Surprised?

Post by dales »

Lib must have gotten an extra heaping helping of those "Tennessee Cornflakes" :lol:

Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


yrs,
rubato

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