George H.W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, dies at 94

[fraurosena]

Just now, smittykins said:

I've always wondered what happens to service animals after they lose their human.  A lady in my church lost an eye to retinoblastoma as a child and later lost the sight in her remaining eye(and eventually her life)to a different form of cancer, and I wondered about her guide dog.

If they're still old enough to 'serve', then they are (to put it bluntly) recycled and put to use somewhere else. Like I said, they are more or less treated as a commodity, not a pet or family member. Which is so disheartening and saddening to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a service dog helping a human. But I hate the thought of them first and foremost being considered as a service asset, and hardly as a sentient individual with their own set of emotions. Sully is missing his hooman, and to make matters worse, will also be taken away to strangers. How unsettling that must be for him. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

33 minutes ago, smittykins said:

I've always wondered what happens to service animals after they lose their human.  A lady in my church lost an eye to retinoblastoma as a child and later lost the sight in her remaining eye(and eventually her life)to a different form of cancer, and I wondered about her guide dog.

It depends on what group placed the dog. I had a neighbor who had a seeing-eye dog. After the neighbor died unexpectedly during a routine medical procedure, the neighbor's daughter asked the group if she could adopt the dog. They told her that they had to test the dog with someone else. When she (the dog) didn't do well with someone else, the group let my neighbor's daughter adopt her.

[47of74]

I see fuckhead isn't supposed to be speaking at the funeral;

Quote

Former President George W. Bush will be among those eulogizing his late father, former President George H.W. Bush, during a funeral Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral, CNN reported Monday.

President Trump, meanwhile, will not speak during the funeral, according to CNN, and will instead make a condolence call to the Bush family on Tuesday. Though he won't speak at the funeral, Trump will be in attendance along with first lady Melania Trump.

In addition to George W. Bush, those expected to eulogize George H.W. Bush on Wednesday include former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Bush biographer Jon Meacham, CNN reported.

The 41st president died on Friday at the age of 94. Funeral services will be held throughout the week for Bush, whose remains will fly to Washington, D.C., on Monday from Texas.

I sure hope the Bush family has made plans for several someones to intercept said fuckhead and guide him back to his seat should he suddenly get up during the funeral and make his way towards the lectern to deliver some off the cuff eulogy.

[Palimpsest]

13 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

If they're still old enough to 'serve', then they are (to put it bluntly) recycled and put to use somewhere else. Like I said, they are more or less treated as a commodity, not a pet or family member. Which is so disheartening and saddening to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a service dog helping a human. But I hate the thought of them first and foremost being considered as a service asset, and hardly as a sentient individual with their own set of emotions. Sully is missing his hooman, and to make matters worse, will also be taken away to strangers. How unsettling that must be for him. 

 

Yes.  They are highly and expensively trained working dogs and are treated as a valuable and rare commodity.  They are also usually dogs who both enjoy and need to work.

Apparently Sully will be going to work at Walter Reed Medical Center.  He'll be assigned a single handler who will look after him, but he will undoubtedly be a lot of help to many  injured veterans.   He won't be mistreated and an active working life will probably be good for him.

Different Service Dog organisations have different rules about re-homing and retiring the dogs they trained.  If the dogs are young enough, then they can be re-matched with another person and continue to work until they retire.  Usually retired dogs are kept as pets by the family.  If not, there are actually long waiting lists of people wanting to adopt retired service dogs as pets.

I think we sometimes get too sentimental about dogs.  I have adopted dogs who have bounced from rescue to home, back to rescue then new home, a couple of times.  This happened to my Little Guy.  He didn't do well back in the kennel after being a home, but settled right in here quickly with me as yet another new owner.  However, if I were to die I think he would go happily off with anyone who treated him well and offered him cheese.  I don't kid myself that he would mourn me for very long.  He's a resilient little guy 

[GreyhoundFan]

11 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

I see fuckhead isn't supposed to be speaking at the funeral;

I sure hope the Bush family has made plans for several someones to intercept said fuckhead and guide him back to his seat should he suddenly get up during the funeral and make his way towards the lectern to deliver some off the cuff eulogy.

They need to put Gorilla Glue in his seat so he can't get up once he's been seated. They also need to have a real microphone and a Dumpy microphone. The Dumpy version wouldn't be connected, so nobody would have to hear him.

[47of74]

They need to put Gorilla Glue in his seat so he can't get up once he's been seated. They also need to have a real microphone and a Dumpy microphone. The Dumpy version wouldn't be connected, so nobody would have to hear him.

They need to put him and his wife in a back corner of the Cathedral away from the action and at no point swing a camera in his direction. That will piss him off more than anything not being the center of any action.

[onekidanddone]

15 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

They need to put Gorilla Glue in his seat so he can't get up once he's been seated. They also need to have a real microphone and a Dumpy microphone. The Dumpy version wouldn't be connected, so nobody would have to hear him.

I fear he will sit there arms crossed, looking sullen and even fidgeting like the orange shit stain he is. Even worse he might wander off.  Good that he won't speak in public, but he would be disappointed and furious because attendees won't be a bunch of BTs ready to adore him. 

I shudder to think what he will say in the phone call.

[fraurosena]

5 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Usually retired dogs are kept as pets by the family.  If not, there are actually long waiting lists of people wanting to adopt retired service dogs as pets.

Ah, this makes me feel much better. 

I'm aware that service dogs love to 'work'. It's pretty amazing to see. A onetime colleague of mine was slowly losing his sight and at one point the time came for the need of a guide dog. Otto was a wonderful lab, whom I got to know rather well, as my colleague's office was only two doors down from mine. He usually stayed with his person, but he would be allowed 'time off' for half an hour in the morning and afternoon and he would come visiting. He was young and playful and boisterous. But as soon as his person called and put him in his harness, he transformed into 'work mode', and you could see he enjoyed that just as much as play time.

And yes, I agree with you that dogs are pretty resilient and live in the 'now' (Finn's recent blindness and the way he is coping has thoroughly underlined that), but it's the fact that in this case, a still grieving dog is taken off somewhere unknown to him that I find a little jarring. Call me sentimental, but yeah, that tugs at my heartstrings a little. Thankfully, he'll be going to a good place and has the chance to live a happy life. And good to know that at some point in his life he'll be able to retire with a forever family.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

They need to put him and his wife in a back corner of the Cathedral away from the action and at no point swing a camera in his direction. That will piss him off more than anything not being the center of any action.

I just had a better idea. They should send him to a different church. It's not like he actually goes to church or knows and DC-based buildings other than the White House and his tacky-ass hotel. If they set up a bunch of dummy (heh) cameras and hire some people to fill the pews, he wouldn't know the difference.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[apple1]

9 hours ago, Howl said:

This picture of 41's service dog tore my heart out. 

 

Mine, too. So very touching.

[Audrey2]

5 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

This, my friends, is class. It's why so many on both sides of the aisle (including us here at Free Jinger) are mourning President Bush. While we may not have agreed with his policies and politics (okay, to my Dad and I, he was the Bush and his son, the shrub), I think he was a good (but not perfect) human being, who tried to do what he thought was right, and he deeply loved his wife and family. I have a lot of respect for him in this tweet.

[onekidanddone]

8 hours ago, 47of74 said:

They need to put him and his wife in a back corner of the Cathedral away from the action and at no point swing a camera in his direction. That will piss him off more than anything not being the center of any action.

 

Up in one of the towers would be a good place, or the basement maybe

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Audrey2 said:

 (okay, to my Dad and I, he was the Bush and his son, the shrub)

Yeah my dad called Shrub a dope not too long ago.  Meaning he thinks the younger Bush is a dumbass fuckstick but is too polite to actually come right out and say that.  

[fraurosena]

 

[47of74]

 

Helping carry the casket - that’s one job I wouldn’t want. I’ve done it a couple times and was always worried going up or down stairs that I’d lose my grip.

[fraurosena]

27 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

 

Helping carry the casket - that’s one job I wouldn’t want. I’ve done it a couple times and was always worried going up or down stairs that I’d lose my grip.

 

My youngest had a job a couple of years ago as a 'professional' casket carrier at funerals. He had special training in how to carry the casket without mishaps: up and down stairs, manoeuvring tight turns and spaces, how to get the casket in and out of the car, and how to lower the casket without tilting it.

It isn't an easy thing to do without that training, so I can understand how it would be quite daunting for someone to do as a family member or friend.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Bush family seeks to steer clear of anti-Trump sentiment at 41st president’s funeral"

Spoiler

The family of former president George H.W. Bush has planned a state funeral that will steer clear of the kind of anti-Trump sentiment evident at the recent funeral of Sen. John McCain, according to people familiar with the funeral planning.

The Bush family contacted the White House this past summer to say that President Trump would be welcome at the funeral, scheduled Wednesday at Washington National Cathedral, and to assure him that the focus would be on Bush’s life rather than their disagreements, one former administration official said.

The truce with Trump allows the Bush family, and the nation, to honor the legacy of a president who guided the United States through the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the breakup of the Soviet Union without becoming mired in today’s toxic politics. Trump in turn has been effusive in his praise of Bush since his death Friday, and paid respects Monday night at the U.S. Capitol, where the 41st president is lying in state.

But the detente also comes after Trump’s long history of insulting and taunting the Bush family — calling his 2016 primary opponent “low-energy” Jeb Bush, saying the 9/11 attacks were partly due to President George W. Bush’s failure to keep the nation safe, and mocking George H.W. Bush’s signature “thousand points of light” volunteerism program. And it comes as Trump has fully taken control of the Republican Party, leading a bare-knuckle rejection of the traditional GOP establishment that the Bush family represented and helped build.

One person close to the funeral planning said the Bush family’s overtures to Trump were at least partly pragmatic. Trump has the final say over important funeral details, this person said, including providing Air Force One to carry the former president’s remains from Texas to Washington on Monday for the funeral and back to Texas on Thursday for another service and burial.

While Trump will not deliver a eulogy, he will be seated in the front row alongside former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Bush’s son, former president George W. Bush, will deliver a eulogy.

Neither he nor the other eulogists — former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, former senator Alan K. Simpson, and presidential historian and Bush biographer Jon Meacham — are expected to focus on the stark differences between the genteel and patrician Bush and the bombastic Trump.

“If you have a sensitivity for human feelings, you just don’t get into that,” Simpson said in an interview Monday. “It’s not what a funeral is for.”

Another Bush confidant said, “The comparisons are presenting themselves; we are not heightening them,” according to a person familiar with the funeral preparations.

A third person, who like others close to the preparations spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said the tone of Wednesday’s funeral will reflect the sense of propriety of Bush, who “wouldn’t want anyone there to feel uncomfortable, including the incumbent president.”

“It’s interesting, though, that praising the Bushes or McCain risks sounding critical of Trump even when Trump’s in no way part of the thinking,” the third person said.

Three current and former administration officials said there had been deep frustration in the White House over the anti-Trump tone of the Sept. 1 funeral for McCain, which Trump did not attend. One senior administration official said Trump’s reaction to the criticism was “almost paralyzing for a week,” and officials have been assured that Bush’s funeral would be different.

One official said first lady Melania Trump, who represented the White House at former first lady Barbara Bush’s funeral in April, was struck by the Bush family’s graciousness toward her, which she conveyed to the president, who did not attend that funeral.

Two White House officials said Trump has had little interest in forging a better relationship with the Bush family, particularly in the first year of his presidency. He regularly said that his political supporters wanted a sea change from the Bush family.

But one former senior administration official said “there is no particular animosity at all toward the elder Bush.”

The Trump White House has accommodated all the Bush family’s requests for the state funeral, including providing Air Force One and permitting the Bush family to stay at Blair House, the official guesthouse across the street from the White House, said a person familiar with the planning.

The former president’s remains will be transported from the Capitol to Washington National Cathedral in Northwest Washington in a motorcade that will follow a route passing directly in front of the White House.

At the service, two of Bush’s granddaughters, Ashley Bush and Lauren Bush, will give readings, according to the source. They are both daughters of Bush’s son Neil Bush.

The eulogists all knew the 41st president for many years.

Mulroney was Canada’s prime minister from 1984 to 1993 and helped negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Bush. He also gave eulogies at the funerals of President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Reagan.

Meacham, who wrote “Destiny and Power,” a 2015 biography of Bush, also delivered a eulogy at Barbara Bush’s funeral. “In hours of war and of peace, of tumult and of calm, the Bushes governed in a spirit of congeniality, of civility, and of grace,” Meacham said. “. . . Barbara and George Bush put country above party, the common good above political gain, and service to others above the settling of scores.”

Simpson said he met Bush in 1962, when his father, Milward Simpson, was elected to the U.S. Senate and took over the Senate office of Bush’s father, Prescott Bush, who was retiring from the Senate.

Then, he said, when his father retired after one term, he sold his house in Washington to a recently elected congressman from Texas — George H.W. Bush.

“It was a handshake deal, no Realtors, no attorneys, nobody present,” Simpson said. “Dad remembered meeting him, and he said, ‘We have a nice house; you have children,’ and they said, ‘Just what we want.’ ”

Simpson said he and Bush worked together on much legislation over the next few decades.

“We got a lot done,” he said. “It was all about friendship and doing something for the country, not for the party.”

Simpson said he was asked by the Bush family several years ago if he would be willing to deliver a eulogy.

“This was years ago when George was failing. They said, ‘Al, we want you to be part of the service.’ Then, of course, George recovered beautifully, and I put the harps back in the closet,” he said.

“I knew that on some unknown day I’d be asked to do this,” he said. “It’s a great honor, and I’m fully ready to go.”

 

[fraurosena]

The presidunce is going to be seated in the front row? With Obama and the Clintons? 

Deer Rufus.

 

[47of74]

If my mailman Uncle was still working he’d have a day off tomorrow.

[47of74]

And who can forget...

[fraurosena]

You guys know I'm not one to quickly comment on someone's appearance, but... sweet Rufus! Why is Melanie so heavily made up? It's as if she's going out clubbing or something, instead of paying her respects to a former president. I find it incredibly inappropriate for such a solemn occasion as this.

 

[Audrey2]

This gave me another bad case of leaky eye. While I didn't use agree with Bob Dole's politics, I admire his war service and his character. I also really enjoyed his book. The video in the link is really powerful, too. After watching this video, I fear another state funeral in the not-too-distant future.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/95-bob-dole-stands-wheelchair-084254947.html

Former US Sen. Bob Dole, who's 95-years-old, on Tuesday stood up from his wheelchair in the US Capitol Rotunda to salute the casket of former President George H.W. Bush.

[Bethella]

3 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

This gave me another bad case of leaky eye. While I didn't use agree with Bob Dole's politics, I admire his war service and his character. I also really enjoyed his book. The video in the link is really powerful, too. After watching this video, I fear another state funeral in the not-too-distant future.

I have a lot of respect for his dedication, particularly to other veterans. This is an article from this summer about how he still greets veterans at the WWII memorial. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/bob-doles-final-mission/2018/06/18/93962908-6fff-11e8-afd5-778aca903bbe_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.aba6879dff43

[formergothardite]

I'm really surprised they didn't stick the Carters as a buffer between Trump and the Obamas. Trump seems to be barely keeping nice. I'm not sure I could be as polite as the Obamas are being.