Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Jerry Comes Home To Rest

It's official! Jerry Ford's funeral has lasted longer than his presidency! Not really, but between dragging his carcass all over California, then dragging it all over Washington DC, and finally dragging it back here to Grand Rapids it has become the definition of interminable. Plant th carcass already and let's move on.
There was some concern on my part that the whole process might interfere with my homeward journey from work today. Jerry was due to touch down at his namesake airport at 2:45pm, then begin another journey to his final resting place. Unfortunately, the path he was to take was also my route home, and since I work by the airport, I was sure I would run into a blockade. You see, there was law enforcement placed at every on-ramp and overpass that stood between the airport and the Gerald Ford freeway. Every emergency access was blocked on the highway, in case, God forbid, Jerry should have to share the highway with common folk, or worse, terrorists should strike and make him deader than he already is.
But it appears the late Mr. Ford was late, so I was able to squeak by before they closed the highway down, and as I traveled, at every viaduct there were at least five to ten people standing in the cold to wait for Jerry's final motorcade to roll by one more time. The thing was, most of the people I saw didn't seem to have been old enough to have been born when Jerry was president (except the mullet headed guy in Cascade township with his flag stuck in the fence that separates his land from the highway), and seeing how mediocre Ford was as president, I can't see them having any affinity for the fellow.
I blame it on media hype. Even now as I type this, I hear news helicopters hovering overhead. For something as mundane as a funeral for someone as mundane as Ford, it sure has generated a lot of media coverage. I'll just be glad when it's all over.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's odd isn't it? How we revere someone more after they're dead than we ever did when they were alive. Take James Brown, for instance. I love James Brown, but in all the coverage of his death and resulting memorial all we heard about was his great "contributions" to society. And don't get me wrong, I'm not downplaying anything he accomplished, but nobody seems to remember his stint in prison for leading police on a high speed chase and threatening bystanders with firearms while under the influence of PCP.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't honor our past presidents, but just like I said when Reagan died, we should at least look at their life honestly instead of through the rose-colored glasses that our media puts on its coverage.

I'm just sayin'...

Anonymous said...

James Brown was a misogynist fuckwitted woman beater bastard.

Scannon you crack me up..."deader then he already is".

Enough already.

Peacechick Mary said...

When I saw your heading, I knew this was going to be good. Too bad we don't have interviews to know who those people standing out there were and where they store their brains for the winter. Good by to Jer and on with life.

Anonymous said...

I can't understand why anyone would want to hang out in the weather (winter or summer) just to see a President go by. Go to see 'im when he's lying in state for Pete's sake.

sumo said...

I watched a little on TV just enough to get tired of it. Although it was scaled waaaaay down from what (just say no Nancy) did for her Ronnie. Such an adorable funeral it was. I rather imagine when the Nancy goes it will have to be a big deal too. She soooo gets on my nerves.

Anonymous said...

"Not really, but between dragging his carcass all over California, then dragging it all over Washington DC, and finally dragging it back here to Grand Rapids it has become the definition of interminable. Plant th carcass already and let's move on."

Bwahahaha! Thanks for the laugh -- I needed one today! :)

Frederick said...

All this talk about his Presidency, and barely nothing about Vietnam.

Graeme said...

when i was driving to work yesterday I absent mindedly thought all the flags at half-staff were for Saddam

Anonymous said...

as usual -- they are deflecting the 'real news' with this pretend shit...

time to get 'real' about the wars going on - including the ones right here in our inner cities...

Snave said...

At least this funeral should be shorter than Reagan's. I didn't think that one would EVER end.

Another nice thing about Ford is that I doubt there will be a fairly large number of nutcases clamoring for Ford to be depicted on a U.S. coin, or his face placed on Mount Rushmore, or for there to be a government building named after him in every county in the country.

There is an empty tomb underneath the capital dome in D.C. that was originally intended for George Washington, but he declined and chose to be interred at his home in Mount Vernon. I have been waiting for the Reaganuts to come out of the woodwork and suggest that Reagan's body be placed in that tomb.

How could so many people worship someone as much as they blindly do Ronald Reagan?