Gerald Ford RIP

Same was true of Red Smith's obit of Jack Dempsey, I believe. Smith had written it years earlier, and I think the updater wasn't even identified.

 

D_B is reporting that George Washington just died.

 

D_B is reporting that William, Duke of Normandy, has invaded England. Another report, that the duke has already defeated King Harold in battle and is now referring to himself as "the Conqueror," has yet to be confirmed. Veteran correspondent spnited is on the scene and will file an update as soon as possible.

 

That's where I recognize Boom's penchant for proper spelling and grammar.... the Magna Carta....

 

Great headline for Mr. Smith: J.Y. Smith, 74; Raised Standards for Post Obituaries

 

A small but notable omission: NY Times obit, Wash Post obit and every other Ford obit/retrospective I've read, heard or seen has omitted Ford's support of Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor that resulted in the death of about 1/3 of the people of East Timor. The Ford administration and Kissinger knew what was going on and did nothing to dissuade Suharto. It was done by US-trained troops with US planes and weapons.

I know, nobody in the USA gives a fuck about places with funny names, but Indonesia's the 4th most populous country in the world, right after the US and ahead of Brazil, and it's in the news these days as Islamic militants are gaining ground in southeast Asia. Liberal media, my ass. Ford dropped the ball when he could have stopped or at least mitigated a monstrous event, one of the most infamous times in the history of that region, and our "liberal media" don't even mention it in their coverage of the Ford years. NPR, that bastion of Trotskyism, had an hour-long special on Ford's presidency that did not mention the Indonesia/East Timor event.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/27/1638254

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/EastTimor.asp

http://www.yale.edu/gsp/east_timor/

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1220

 

Geez Ford was mediocre at everything, including football awareness