Walter Cronkite 1916-2009

[slotperfect 7]

And that's the way it is . . . July 17th, 2009.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533660,00.html

Arrive Safely

John

[mnealtx 0]

RIP, Mr. Cronkite.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[NickDG 23]

For my parents it was Ed Murrow, for me it was Uncle Walter, for you guys it's who? Hannity, Beck . . . ?

It's fitting he died on the 40th Anniversary of the first moon landing, his most famous broadcast besides the time he came right out and said the Vietnam war was lost and changed the course of history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_sWmD6NvMY

NickD

[Beerlight 0]

Quote

For my parents it was Ed Murrow, for me it was Uncle Walter, for you guys it's who? Hannity, Beck . . . ?

It's fitting he died on the 40th Anniversary of the first moon landing, his most famous broadcast besides the time he came right out and said the Vietnam war was lost and changed the course of history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_sWmD6NvMY

NickD

I'll be damned...you're right Nick.. He'll be missed!

[RonD1120 62]

Quote

And that's the way it is . . . July 17th, 2009.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533660,00.html

I remember Walter Cronkite all the way back to the Sunday program "You were there" with Mike Douglas. He was part of my first stage years. However, my strongest memory of Mr. Cronkite is his news coverage of the 1968 Tet Offensive. His liberal bias portrayed the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong as a superior force and was a paramount influence in vilifying the American military. The U.S. and its allies were victorious in every battle during Tet yet Cronkite portrayed us as inferior. Good by and good riddance to the liberal icon.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[NickDG 23]

Ron, I think you're a bit older than me but we are both the same generation to be sure . . .

I often wonder how it happens that two people growing up in the same country, at the same time, with the same backdrop of world history and the same current events, can wind up seeing things so differently. Was it our teachers, our parents, did we actually choose it or were we somehow predisposed to it?

In the end I think we make our own world. The reason I know this is because so many people over the years have asked me, "What planet are you living on?"

The horrifying parts of both my liberalism and your conservatism is our skewed ideas of right and wrong, and our mixing of truth and ideology. I mean we can't both be right, but I do see ways we both could be wrong. I envy you in a way because living in a black and white world (America right or wrong) seems like it would be somewhat comforting. But I see the world as more complicated than that and I've resigned myself to dying without ever knowing the truth of things. And I'm convinced that's how it's supposed to be. When we both get to heaven you'll walk right in and be happy as a clam. I'll be the guy holding up the line demanding to know, "What the fuck was that all about?"

It's possible you served in the military like I did. And it was our generation that carried the brunt of the Vietnam War. When my four years in the Marines was over in the mid-70s I landed at an airport in California and you know who was there to meet me? Not my family and friends, Not protesters either. It was worse, it was absolutely nobody. I was like the guy in that current TV spot where the returning soldier sees no one as he walks around a deserted city. The people I did see not only acted like I wasn't there they purposely looked away. But I didn't start squirting tears. I understood and I got over it. I picked up my seabag, walked out the door, and got on with things.

Our military actions are a matter of public policy, and public policy is set by - wait for it - we the people. And this modern idea of treating our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines like sacred cows is very worrisome to me. It's like we have a cart and a horse but we can't figure out which one goes first.

Do you honestly think it was Uncle Walter who changed the minds of the American people on the war? The majority of the people were already against the war when he said what he did. Everyone I served with, besides the most brain-dead, knew the war in Vietnam was at worst un-winnable, and at best a stalemate we could have continued on with indefinity. But fifty eight thousand American lives lost in Vietnam was enough for me. Did we waste those people? No, because, when you get right down to it Soldiers fight for the same thing in every war. They fight to keep themselves, and the guy next to them alive. And the old saying is wrong, there are atheists in foxholes, but what there isn't, is politicians.

Since we are on the way to SC I'll add this. You pick up the Bible and find truth in it. So much so you include Bible quotes in your sig line. That's cool, it's a book full of very witty stuff. But I can pick up Melville's Moby Dick and find the same truths. But I'm not going to base my entire existence on a fictional white whale.

Two important men died recently. Walter Cronkite and Robert McNamara. One man was a seeker of truth and the other was an asshole with American blood on his hands. Do you know which was which? You can learn foreign policy from John Wayne movies, or you can base it on something real. We have that choice in America. And that's the one and only truth of things . . .

NickD

[RonD1120 62]

Quote

Ron, I think you're a bit older than me but we are both the same generation to be sure . . .

I often wonder how it happens that two people growing up in the same country, at the same time, with the same backdrop of world history and the same current events, can wind up seeing things so differently. Was it our teachers, our parents, did we actually choose it or were we somehow predisposed to it?

In the end I think we make our own world. The reason I know this is because so many people over the years have asked me, "What planet are you living on?"

The horrifying parts of both my liberalism and your conservatism is our skewed ideas of right and wrong, and our mixing of truth and ideology. I mean we can't both be right, but I do see ways we both could be wrong. I envy you in a way because living in a black and white world (America right or wrong) seems like it would be somewhat comforting. But I see the world as more complicated than that and I've resigned myself to dying without ever knowing the truth of things. And I'm convinced that's how it's supposed to be. When we both get to heaven you'll walk right in and be happy as a clam. I'll be the guy holding up the line demanding to know, "What the fuck was that all about?"

It's possible you served in the military like I did. And it was our generation that carried the brunt of the Vietnam War. When my four years in the Marines was over in the mid-70s I landed at an airport in California and you know who was there to meet me? Not my family and friends, Not protesters either. It was worse, it was absolutely nobody. I was like the guy in that current TV spot where the returning soldier sees no one as he walks around a deserted city. The people I did see not only acted like I wasn't there they purposely looked away. But I didn't start squirting tears. I understood and I got over it. I picked up my seabag, walked out the door, and got on with things.

Our military actions are a matter of public policy, and public policy is set by - wait for it - we the people. And this modern idea of treating our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines like sacred cows is very worrisome to me. It's like we have a cart and a horse but we can't figure out which one goes first.

Do you honestly think it was Uncle Walter who changed the minds of the American people on the war? The majority of the people were already against the war when he said what he did. Everyone I served with, besides the most brain-dead, knew the war in Vietnam was at worst un-winnable, and at best a stalemate we could have continued on with indefinity. But fifty eight thousand American lives lost in Vietnam was enough for me. Did we waste those people? No, because, when you get right down to it Soldiers fight for the same thing in every war. They fight to keep themselves, and the guy next to them alive. And the old saying is wrong, there are atheists in foxholes, but what there isn't, is politicians.

Since we are on the way to SC I'll add this. You pick up the Bible and find truth in it. So much so you include Bible quotes in your sig line. That's cool, it's a book full of very witty stuff. But I can pick up Melville's Moby Dick and find the same truths. But I'm not going to base my entire existence on a fictional white whale.

Two important men died recently. Walter Cronkite and Robert McNamara. One man was a seeker of truth and the other was an asshole with American blood on his hands. Do you know which was which? You can learn foreign policy from John Wayne movies, or you can base it on something real. We have that choice in America. And that's the one and only truth of things . . .

NickD

Thank you for your thoughtful, honest and heartfelt response. Thank you for your service to our country and...

Welcome Home!

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[JerryBaumchen 1,468]

Hi Nick,

Well put. I think there is a newspaper somewhere looking for you.

I was in & out before Vietnam but I watched a lot of younger guys head that way. I really felt sorry for them.

JerryBaumchen

[PLFKING 4]

So true.

And you would think that people are smart enough to learn from history's lessons, but it seems each new generation of politicians think they know better than the hundreds of generations before them.

You can't win a guerilla war on the guerilla's home field.


Don

"When in doubt I whip it out,
I got me a rock-and-roll band.
It's a free-for-all."

[Andy9o8 2]

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Good by and good riddance to the liberal icon.

I suggest you examine your attitude for undue hard-heartedness. I didn't like Jerry Falwell's ideology or methods, but I didn't rejoice at his death.

[RonD1120 62]

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I suggest you examine your attitude for undue hard-heartedness.

I am a recovering alcoholic/addict with 26 years sobriety. I live in a world of gut level rigorous honesty to support my mental health.

Please explain justifiable hard-heartedness so I understand the parameters. You should take your reply to SC.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

Quote

I suggest you examine your attitude for undue hard-heartedness.

I am a recovering alcoholic/addict with 26 years sobriety. I live in a world of gut level rigorous honesty to support my mental health.

Please explain justifiable hard-heartedness so I understand the parameters. You should take your reply to SC.

You're evading my point. You were seeming to rejoice in the death of another, due to his ideology. As for the proper forum, the triggering political comment was yours, sir.