Since there is now a thread to talk about the implications of this election, and since I don’t want this thread to end up being a debate about whether Ted Kennedy should be interned, interred , or otherwise buried in any particular cemetery, I’ve asked the mods to close this thread.
Anybody not OK with that?
All that Arlington has is “technical” requirements, right. It certainly does not take into account exactly why an individual chose to serve in the military. There are loads of heroes buried there who were only in the service because they had no other choice.
It seems apparent that you have a personal distaste for Teddy Kennedy, surely there are other politically connected folks who are there because of their post-military life, or those who are interred there so as to be close to relatives who were more heroic in their exploits. They don’t cause any blemish to anyone else that lies there and they could not. Why stop at political ill will or dilletanteism, or whatever you consider Kennedy guilty of- surely amongst the rows of crosses lie a few uncaught rapists and other assorted evil people. They do not hurt the memory of the rest of the people who fought and died for the honor.
I don’t pretend to understand what a plot in Arlington means to someone in the military, but it seems safe to guess that their neighbors are the least of their concerns.
Yeah, he IS eligible, I said as much, but his entry hinges on this guideline, and I quote from Arlington’s website, "(e) Persons who have held any of the following positions, provided their last period of active duty (other than for training) as a member of the Armed Forces terminated honorably:
(1) An elective office of the United States Government.
Yes he qualifies. Technically. Look at what all of us “regular people” have to do to get in:
Anyway…again, I’m sorry I said anything, but since I said something, now I feel the compulsion to defend why I believe what I do.
Ouch! And I have a degree in English, too. Fortunately, since I was a mediocre student, my rich and politically connected parents paid for me to be re-instated into my Ivy-League school!
To err is human.
Huckabee? Are you fucking kidding me? I’m a Romney man all the way. Keep that fucking fundie Pub and his molester children away from me! I’ve got magical underpants to wear and golden plates to view!
You cannot dismiss this election as a case of more Republicans turning out to vote.
Only 11.4% of registered MA voters are Republicans. More than 3 times that many are Democrats, at 37.1%
51.2% are registered as Independents. This is the number that the Democratic party needs to be concerned about. The Republican candidate won, but it wasn’t the 11.4% of registered voters in that party that elected him.
A lot of people who self-identify as “independent” these days are right wingers who don’t want to identify as Republican, so don’t get misled into thinking “independent” = “moderate.” It’s just as likely to me “teabagger.”
It matters to the families of people that made genuine sacrifices of their lives that carry on the tradition of their memories. You know, those things in your head, not stored on memory sticks?
I’m sorry John. Honestly. I wasn’t trying to derail this thread. I shouldn’t have said what I did in here, but once I did, well, you know…the whole self-defense arguing thing kicks in, and ah, well…yeah. Sorry again.
Really? Maybe you can answer me something, is it true what they say that he was carved from a single block of frozen mayonnaise?
Whipped like the family peeg.
Under normal circumstances all she had to do was fall off a ladder and strike earth.
You’re right, I apologize. Good logic, there. I suppose I just jumped all over the “Boy, I bet Ted Kennedy is spinning in his Arlington grave over this” WRT the election and kinda…overran it.
Sorry guys. But my beliefs are those which I carry, I cannot help them.
The self-ID’d “Indies” that I know in Boston are mostly progressive. But they are more and more fed up with what they perceive to be corruption at the state level in Mass, and which they (rightly) connect to the fact that it’s pretty easy to get elected as a Dem in Mass, and it’s pretty easy to stay in office if you’re a Dem, and that leads to string-pulling and waste.
The only Brown voters I’ve actually been able to talk to make that a big part of their choice- Brown owes fewer favors, has the air of a winner, and seems to genuinely care. That. with the added bonus of sending a sweet FU to the state Democrats, was enough for them.
I don’t give a tin fuck what they think. It’s not their business.
Sorry, talking to John Smith through a golden plate right now, can’t answer, brb…
Well, I hope they enjoy dying in the gutter without health care, since they just voted against their one and only chance to ever get it.
They already have it though, right?
Not every hill is worth dying on. Mass is fucked up in many ways, and this could still turn out to be a worthwhile decision for them, if only for the fact that it breaks the stranglehold that Democrats have on that state.
Thanks. That made my day. 
Just in case it wasn’t clear, I think Huckabee is a loon, but damn if he does not seem like a sweet guy.
Really? Arlington is interesting, and considered hallowed ground by many, from the day of its inception until right now, and also the irony of where it is located/how it was founded.
So, do you just view it as another mound of dirt for wormfood? I mean, I see where you’re coming from in one way…that the dead are overly made up by morticians, laid to rest in overly protective (???) and allegedly waterproofed coffins, etc when I am of a mind that a person’s remains should just be simply returned as organic matter into the Earth in a simple box without embalming.
But to me, the honor, tradition and the execution of those things (however you define them, I suppose) are on full display at Arlington and to me they mean something, and that something is sacrifice, and while many others are surely buried there that share a lack thereof with Senator Ted Kennedy, it doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be some kind of process for determining whom is interred there. And there’s the issue of limited real estate in that area of DC, too.
Anyway, I don’t know why I can’t stop spouting about this. I guess we’ll all agree to disagree. Sorry again to the OP. I just can’t help myself.
No worries, I’ve been editing all morning and that’s just one of my little pet peeves. Sorry for the snark!
returns from religious experience while wearing magical underpants
Aw, shucks. Try the veal, tip your waitress, yadda…