For Memorial Day (and for “Stinky,” our TM pal Flatus’ beloved Yi Kumcho, of course)
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113 Responses to Going Home [VIDEO]
Now on The Trail
We honor Trail Mix “veteran” Flatus for his loss. Nothing but love to you pal, nothing but love.
Songwriters: PRYDE, JIMMY / DVORAK, ANTONIN
Flatus, to you and your family, my sincere sympathy for the loss of your dear Stinky…your wonderful relationship with her has always shined through here…
Craig,
Well done sir.
Craig…
wow!… that was so beautiful it made me cry.
Flatus
Even when one knows it is coming it hurts, You and your family are in my thoughts on this day.
Peace to you and yours.
Jack
Flatus
If there is anything we (I) could do don’t hesitate to say
You are in my heart
Flatus…
My most sincere condolences and deepest sympathies on the loss of Stinky your beloved.
I’ll keep you in and Stinky in my prayers tonight.
For me this time of year is more about connecting with my past than any war hero. Tomorrow is decoration day at Bowers Chapel cemetary. When I was a child we would go out Sunday morning with my grandmother and place flowers on my grandfathers grave. there I would meet cousins,( old men and women) on my Grandfathers side of the family, for that is where that side of my fathers family were buried. I would hear stories and look at graves going back to before the civil war. Then next week we would go to Mission ridge where my Grandmothers family were all buried. where my father , mother and one brother are now buried. Again I got to listen to all the old stories and connect with my past in a way most folks now a days never get to.
It maybe why I have a love for history, it tends to be personal.
Jack
aww shit.
Flatus dear, I’m so very sorry, its little comfort but please know my thoughts are with you my friend. I can’t begin to imagine such a loss.
What a community this place is. Craig you have created something special here.
Jack
Indeed.
Jack,
Let me echo your sentiments. This community is unique and I feel privileged to be a part of it.
Through good times and bad, this is the trail I want to travel.
When I was much younger, I spoke to thousands of school children , about “the thinning of the herd” . At that time, to be part of the herd that was neither young or old , I was still sure I could kill the bear.
To be just bear food. Is a jarring experience.
And see the bear eat friends.
I don’t like being old.
Like a tube of toothpaste, I’m rolled-up right next to the cap.
Flatus ,
We all love you, and you know that .
I installed the seat frames. and the dashboards in the rail road raft.
I am shooting for FIBArk.
First
In
Boating
on the Arkansas.
In Salida, it’s the peak of the season.
“America’s Oldest and Boldest White Water Festival”
http://fibark.net
The railroad follows the river below Salida. 26 miles down stream is the real prize. In this contest. The track drops like a rock from Salida, to the west Royal Gorge. 45 miles.
We’re gonna rent the railroad raft to movie people. Filming the race in the river.
June 14 -17 , 2012.
Condolences, Flatus. With you at her side, I’m sure she had as good of a life as anyone could.
My garden 5 years ago.
Peggy Chapman’s Garden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLAFeNPu8vU
a comment from youtube:
Once you fall in love with someone, you begin from that very moment sharing strong emotional bonds with that person. But when that bond is broken, the damage is catastrophic. Your mind may register the loss and begin a healing process right away without you knowing. But your heart.. your muscles.. every fiber of who you are rejects the loss. And to those of you reading this, i say embrace the pain. Your mind heals but doesn’t replace. Once you love someone, you never stop loving them.
dawningfawn 3 days ago 27
Flatus,
I’ve never understood (and think about it often) how we, as human beings, endure the pain we have to endure in our life time. I hope you and your family are finding a way to make it through this, but I know everything’s different now, and for that I don’t have words to express the depth of my sorrow.
Love to you and yours — and happiness for the wonderful life you and Stinky shared. I know it out weighed the pain you are feeling now.
Chloe
Sunday Sublime.
For our dear friend Flatus and his wife Stinky.
You have exemplified love like this, and shared it with us. All of us are richer for it.
jace
One for Memorial Day.
Digging out something red to wear. Pentecost Sunday.
Flatus,
I am sorry for your loss!
I hope you have family close by. I found that it can help a lot.
My heart goes out to you and my thoughts are with you.
Dearest Flatus. Your sorrow is ours just as you and Stinky are ours in thoughts and prayers. May you find comfort in knowing we love you.
We can have all the pretty music that is inspirational, but all religions are not so inspirational in their acts thru-out history:
Im as happy as a priest in boys town reading the prosecutors name in this religious trial: Patrick BLESSINGTON….aint that grand.!
“At the Catholic sex abuse trial, it was good day to feel like throwing up.
On the witness stand Thursday, an amiable and smiling Monsignor William J. Lynn tried to defend the indefensible, by explaining away the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s criminal conduct of the past fifty years. It’s hard to justify how the church could repeatedly offer up its own innocent children as a regular sacrifice to the unbridled lusts of rampaging predator priests, but Lynn gave it a try, with predictable results.
But that wasn’t the only sickening sight in Courtroom 304. Over at the prosecution table, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington was a study in fire-breathing indignation, as he pummeled the hapless monsignor for more than four hours, without showing any mercy, or common sense.
Who would want to see Mike Tyson in his prime whaling away on the Pillsbury doughboy? No wonder jurors often looked away as the bloodsport went on unabated, without anyone in Lynn’s corner tossing in the towel, or the judge calling the bout.”
http://www.priestabusetrial.com/
Tony,
No, I haven’t been playing hooky. Just not all that interested in this 2012 blue team, red team game that goes on forever and ever with no-one scoring…
This game is going to be like all the others…played on the 50 yard line…game is played in Chicago, on a muddy field….nothing but MUD and GREED going on….so im not watching…..
Loved another appearance from Captain Nemo (like the little cap in my head) Tony, lets let her keep her name…let her think that she is the captain……oh and for you cappy…its sunday….apple for my hoss…..
Im known for saying around here that when (not if) the end of organized religion comes about…it will be the end of most terrorism (was David the first) and wars….it will also be the end to (most) suffering of rape of little (specially boys) children no?
Ex-Philly D.A. Compares Catholic Church Officials to Nazis, CBS Reporter Says Nothing
If there were any doubt about the vitriol and hysteria of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office against the Catholic Church, former D.A. Lynne Abraham left little question when she likened Catholic Church officials to Nazis. In a CBS News report this morning, correspondent Elaine Quijano questioned Abraham about Msgr. William Lynn’s appearance on the stand yesterday in the high-profile criminal abuse trial in Philadelphia. Msgr. Lynn had correctly testified in his defense that …
http://www.themediareport.com/
I’ll vote for the first politician that puts them on jail…and taxes organized religions.
Like I said…..All religions are guilty of deaths, and abuse:
“The first shock came when Mordechai Jungreis learned that his mentally disabled teenage son was being molested in a Jewish ritual bathhouse in Brooklyn. The second came after Mr. Jungreis complained, and the man accused of the abuse was arrested.
Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg Telephone Line
Recorded messages calling for an end to child sex abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community.
For Ultra-Orthodox in Abuse Cases, Prosecutor Has Different Rules
Old friends started walking stonily past him and his family on the streets of Williamsburg. Their landlord kicked them out of their apartment. Anonymous messages filled their answering machine, cursing Mr. Jungreis for turning in a fellow Jew. And, he said, the mother of a child in a wheelchair confronted Mr. Jungreis’s mother-in-law, saying the same man had molested her son, and she “did not report this crime, so why did your son-in-law have to?”
By cooperating with the police, and speaking out about his son’s abuse, Mr. Jungreis, 38, found himself at the painful forefront of an issue roiling his insular Hasidic community. There have been glimmers of change as a small number of ultra-Orthodox Jews, taking on longstanding religious and cultural norms, have begun to report child sexual abuse accusations against members of their own communities. But those who come forward often encounter intense intimidation from their neighbors and from rabbinical authorities, aimed at pressuring them to drop their cases.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyregion/ultra-orthodox-jews-shun-their-own-for-reporting-child-sexual-abuse.html
Half time over…..back to the Mud throwing…will be back later with a cpl of more examples of all the good that religion does for our young…..be right back, have to go to a baptizing and mind controlling ritual…..have to get them in the fold while they are young…..U know…free will and all that jazz……
Little evil would be done in the world if evil never could be done in the name of good.
later
Dear Flatus,
Stinky’s death saddens me. Through your tales of travels, adventures, and tribulations, I got to feel as if I knew Stinky, as if she were a pal. I think all of the Trail Hands and Lurkers feel that way, too. Thank you for introducing her to us. She was and remains a blessing to us all.
Stinky, you, and your family are in our prayers.
Solar,
So True!
Oh, Flatus…I’m so sorry. Your relationship with Stinky is so special…a beacon of light to us all. My heart goes out to you, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
My thoughts and prayers are with you, Flatus--
Dear Flatus- Know that you are loved & supported. Just no other words now.
http://craigcrawford.com/2012/05/26/going-home-video/#comment-290050
Solar,
I understand its the back and forth of the two parties rhetoric, the tennis match of presidential politics..I’m always interested but this one has to take the record for the most boring..There is “No Hope And Change” this time around, just more of the same maybe worse..
Was very nice to see Chloe and if she will stay around sometimes she can call herself whatever she wants..Rain finally comes to Florida with this tropical storm, lovely…
Hillary’s No
by Taylor Marsh
Dear friends,
First, a report. This morning Toots and I went to the funeral home where we washed Stinky’s remains. After we had dried her, I massaged her with her favorite skin cream until she regained the luster and skin tone that she had weeks ago. Then we dressed her in the traditional Korean gown that she had kept for decades for this occasion. To my eyes, she was radiant. The photos I took to send to family in Korea don’t do her justice.
Second, rather than leave her in the room all by herself, we covered her with the Korean flag. Why, you ask. Indeed, she had been an American citizen since 1967. So, here’s why. She was born in 1936 to a family in a country colonized by an enemy. Koreans of her generation were and are soldiers for their country. In their hearts that fighting spirit never ebbs.
Third, let me make this transition. As one who has had the privilege of serving in both the Army and the Air Force of our great country for a career, it is my duty and honor to salute my fellows who gave their lives in service.
Three years ago when we hosted our granddaughter Taejeong in ESL courses at USC, we took her and our newly adopted daughter, Jeannie, to Arlington Cemetery. They, along with the sea of other visitors, marveled at the breadth, the scope of graves that covered the hillsides of the old plantation.
I explained to our children that these were just a small fraction of the soldiers who had given their lives in the service of their country, often to save others in distant lands such as Korea.
And, I told them at some point in the future Stinky and I will be sharing a grave in the field that they were overlooking.
Tuesday, Yi Kumcho, my wife of half a century, will be cremated. Her ashes will be kept safely at home until it’s my turn. Then Toots will take us both to Arlington where we’ll be together for so long as people remember why Arlington was consecrated.
So, thank you friends for your gracious, moving condolences. They mean more than you can imagine.
Stinky’s husband and family
Flatus, Thank you so much for sharing with us. It is truly an honor.
Flatus…
thanks for writing Stinky’s real name. You once slipped and wrote it. I told you it was a beautiful name. It’s still a beautiful name… most fitting for an obvious beautiful person.
Flatus,
You touch me! As one who has lost many loved ones, well, your amazing! Stinky will be missed but your love and care is a beautiful thing in and of its self..
Flatus- Such love, its beautiful. Thank you.
Flatus,
Thank you for sharing. Such wonderful comments from you and your friends on this blog.
EXCLUSIVE: Florida Telling Hundreds Of Eligible Citizens That They Are Ineligible To Vote
By Judd Legum
Flatus…best wishes and fond memories…
Flate….anytime you feel like it, drive on down and we’ll get us a budweiser…..just go to the end of Bohicket and call…I’d come up there but I can’t afford the gas.
we’ve got a bed or two and are lizard-spit from the beach.
Flatus, so sorry for your loss. Thanks for telling us some details of her life and times.
God bless you in your grief.
Memorial Day. I just read my old hometown news from the area I worked in in Indiana before I retired ten years ago.
A Vietnam veteran I worked with, joked with, argued football with…passed away at age 63 of that goddam brain cancer.
He had hellish stories of those swift boats he fought on in the Delta rivers of Vietnam. I could never top him…man, that was horribly dangerous duty to pull.
Not social friends with this work buddy was I, so I lost touch with him ten years ago. It’s still very sad. His name was Joe Hardenbrook, 1948-2012.
Flatus
I am in awe of your strength,dignity and kindness
Dear Flatus,
I just read your post from yesterday. Seldom have I been so moved. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Today let me say, that I salute you sir, not only for your service but for your abiding humanity as well.
Job well done! God bless you and your family.
jace
I am thinking that something special is in order for today.
On this day thirty-five years ago Cheryl became my wife.
My God, but we were young. That funny ol’ dog that is life has taken some strange twists and turns in the intervening years, but the one constant has been Cheryl. I thought she was amazing the first time I met her, and I was right, she was and remains to this day, simply amazing. I’m blessed.
Jace
Lucky you and Cheryl too
I only recently met the amazing person for me and when you know — you know! All the little details are irrelevant.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/27/alan-simpson-republicans_n_1549604.html
I’m guessing that Al won’t be speaking at the Republican Convention.
KGC,
Thank you. Glad you found that amazing person.
Why the GOP loves debt
Memorial Day pisses me off. Coming from a military family and hearing these mealy mouthed politicians going on about the brave fallen blah blah when you know they wouldn’t go anywhere near a battlefield in a million years is disgusting.
The dead are brave men and women who have done their duty according to the oaths they swore. The politicians are the creeps who sent them there to die for political gain.
Reince Pribus as a horrifying example
Best line of the week, from Jamie’s link above.
Gotta’ love it.
“Hiring the GOP to get rid of your debt problem is like hiring the GOP to get rid of your bin Laden problem. It has never worked before and it won’t work now.”
Our effort to honor our WWII vets and the Victims has taken another turn. The DC correspondent for the Ohio paper Plain Dealer wrote an article recently about the Rom Hashoah ceremony at the Capitol. One of her readers, Louis Chulick, contacted her stating that he also liberated a camp and asked for help finding the name. She contacted me -- thanks to Jamie’s marvelous website- and I put him in touch with Tom Manthey, my father’s friend and fellow soldier who was at the camp with my Da. Amazingly enough, Tom and Louis realized they were at the same camp. This is all makes sense as they were all in the 301st, (Dad & Tom -Headquarters Company and Louis B Company) and moved together- Dad remembers opening the gate- the gate was opened when B Company arrived. Think of the odds, unbelievable- I’d say whatever power you choose God, the Universe etc. wants to see this resolved. Anyways, the Army was notified- and they are sticking to their guns. Louis remembers the date as the 17th of March which would place them 70 miles from Ludwigshafen. So another round of research required. The reporter wrote an article in Saturday’s paper. Oddly , they refer to a camp which is included in the 94th records for which another Unit was recognized for liberating. This camp is 136 km east of Ludwigshafen- Am wondering about this other camp now. How could another Unit get recognition if the 94th spearheaded the Drive to the Rhine and we in all these years did the Army Center not mention that they did have records of the 94th being there? Here’s the article- am hoping someone high up might see how clearly ludicrous this has become as we now have 3 witnesses.
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/05/northeast_ohio_world_war_ii_ve.html
Oldsea,
Excellent article. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Flatus
Yi Kumcho rests in your love until you can rest by her side. Thank you for sharing your love story.
Oldsea, neat article. We need to do that blog radio interv with your Dad, let’s work out a time soon
Yes , it was a good article and am grateful to Sabrina. For me magnifies the the problem with the Army. Wouldn’t a true historian, without political agenda, given the new info say “fabulous, a new location 70 miles west, a new Company to research!” as opposed to defending his position?
Craig-Thanks. Nan & Pop arriving here tomorrow and will stay for 5-6 days.
Human Beings: Slowly boiling brainless frogs
It’s the modern age alright. I tried looking up phone numbers of old friends I worked with to talk about our departed buddy Joe (brain cancer, died Friday) , and not one answered their phone, but who does answer a number from basically a stranger? It’s my fault for losing contact with people over the years.
In 8 days we will have the Wisconsin Recall Election for Governor Scott Walker, his Lt. Governor and State Senate Districts 13, 21, 23 and 29.
Will the Democrats have the guts to get out and vote in the Recall Election or will it be a repeat of 2010? We will know in 8 or 9 days and have an idea of the direction of the 2012 election.
Because of Democratic voter apathy in 2010, Republicans picked up 680 seats in state legislatures and the GOP gained majorities in 14 state house chambers. The GOP now have unified control — meaning both chambers — of 26 state legislatures.
That control was a particularly bad sign for Democrats as went into the results of the redistricting processes. The GOP has been effective in gerrymandering districts in many of these states not to mention their new voter suppression laws. This could eventually lead to the GOP actually expanding its majority in 2012.
When Democrats don’t vote, Democrats can’t win. They can not depend on Independents to save their bacon if they don’t make the effort first.
Wisconsin Governor Recall Election -- Walker vs. Barrett
I’m currently reading Kevin Starr’s “Embattled Dreams -- California In War and Peace 1940-1950″
This is a remarkable series of books and this particular book is a good reminder of just how racist the “Progressive” party was originally in a way that passed Jim Crow laws and contributed to war with Japan.
Just as Republicans were once Liberal and Democrats were once States Rights Conservatives, you can’t depend on labels for identity.
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY BANKSTERS!
ADD ‘BANKSTERS’ FOR ‘BRITISH’…
This song is a perfect rallying-cry for the people of Wisconsin and the USA. The rich and privileged, were the British in this story and today they are the Banksters! Substitute Banksters for British and this is our theme song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=50_iRIcxsz0
Ok, I’m not technically proficient…How the heck can I embed a video here….? The link is to The Battle of New Orleans…a must watch for Memorial Day!
dix, i’ll insert a v after the http and see what happens
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=50_iRIcxsz0
dix, we’ll try again this time by clicking share, copying their reduced url and then put the v after http
Thanks PatD!
truly the blind leading the blind, dix. but you’re very welcome. tony held my luddite hand many posts ago and led me thru the intricacies of successful youtube links. and so i pass it on to the next generation. go with the force , young jedi.
Obama Finds Campaigning Rules Clock
By PETER BAKER
mustang will sally forth this weekend as it never has before.
I’m not real good with birthdays and grief and stuff like that….pretty old to start trying to fake it…must be a streak of narcissmissm……
the dude abides, as will my friend Flatus.
because flatus’s amps go to fucking TWELVE.
Know what I mean?
who is on first….
Who walks without ever picking up a stone….
Who lives without videos of lost lofts…..
Who survives without scars?
—r. sturgeon
The fraud has to fill his campaign chest some way, Tony.
His rival could be having a super secret fundraiser for archbishops in a boy brothel.
Or, the secret fundraiser could be with the men who post bail bond and find lawyers for men who kill gays. Or, he could be having an F.R. tete a tete with rush, oreilly, coulter, malkin, beck, savage, noonan, drudge, hannity, krauthammer, kristol, murdoch, moriarty, blofeld, doom, and vader.
You left out “Shit-head”.
and “Blitzen-krieg”…..
http://craigcrawford.com/2012/05/26/going-home-video/#comment-290100
Good Morning all,
Pat, good job! Really enjoy your video posts!
Dixie, you too! Thanks for your posts…
http://craigcrawford.com/2012/05/26/going-home-video/#comment-290111
X,
Yes, the President and Romney have to raise money money, so sad this is what were stuck with.. Everything is about money, not principle or beliefs..
First Amendment Takes Another Hit
by Taylor Marsh
and here’s to you, mr. robinson. a bit of hyperbole or a whole lot of truthiness?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/romneys-distortions-about-obama-do-us-a-disservice/2012/05/28/gJQA9JuTxU_story.html?hpid=z2
tony, take a bow yourself. without your patient translation of the how-to, my youtube voices would be silenced. others may think otherwise as a taste for my schlocky choices is questionable.
The continuous campaign was a fact of life for some time.
Citizens United has enshrined it in law.
Those who would seek public office have little choice but to raise money day in and day out. Representing the voters is merely an afterthought if it is thought of at all.
Flatus…I am so sorry for the loss of Stinky. I know your memories and love will fill the huge hole in our hearts…what a wonderful love you have experienced.
Breaking: Tronald Dump is not fanning flames.
Even the media is bored with Mittens. I don’t know how they will sustain his nonsense for the next 5 months.
I believe he will be defeated handily
Memorial Day weekend car sales were up 20%, gas prices are down (although not in California -)the housing market is showing signs of a comeback…now we need that jobs recovery.
The largest loss of jobs recently has been in the public sector and many programs and services have been lost. I think we have lost ground in the fight for single payer and we need to get that back
dump looks like somebody who should be playing the banjo on the edge of a porch somewhere near the chattahoochee……
either that or Donald E. Neuman…..
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/05/29/gop_nominee_mitt_romney_poses_fears_of_backlash_among_utahs_mormons/?page=full
sorry for exceeding the boundary, craig. hope it doesn’t mess up the blog.
As if I needed another book on my “to be read” shelf
But this excerpt, by Josh Brown at the Reformed Broker, from
has me eyeing Craigs Amazon link.
For more info about “Unbroken”
If your tuna glows in the dark, you may want to reconsider eating it. Fuikishima radiation shows up in fish.
The cable news audience has peaked Jack Shafer, Reuters
Syria oy vey
And I can’t figure out what happened in the Egyptian elections
From Jamie’s article.
Using my 3rd grade math skills, 10 time nothing is still nothing.
But it sounds scary, Wow they found radiation to be 10 times normal, scary scary.
Jack
The news reports on the electric tuna have all concluded with …”it is still safe to eat”
These are the same people who think bpa in can liners is ok because it is such a small amount ..except if everything you eat comes from a can or a bottle not so good
no tuna
As noted in the article kindly linked by Tony, Chris Hayesis having trouble with the words we commonly use for the dead service people, because those words seem to lend some justification to our elective wars.
I have had this trouble for a long time, too, and I am resolved in the future to refer to those fallen since the end of the draft as our public employees. As our employees, fallen in the performance of their duties, they deserve our respect. Those words may lend some justification to the other public employees, which is a good thing for everyone but people who hate government.
Jack… a friend gave Rick a copy of Laura Hillenbrand’s “Unbroken” this past Xmas. He says it’s the best book he’s read since college. The copy sits on the pile of my “to read” books.
NEW THREAD