Bush orders U.S. flags flown at half-staff to honor Bob Hope

[Nambe]

Associated Press

President Bush joined the nation in mourning the death of Bob Hope on Monday and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on all federal buildings, naval vessels and U.S. posts around the world the day of his burial. ---

[GayboyBilly]

1. I guess the tin man...

Has a little heart after all.

[dmr]

2. Saddened by Bob's death

I have always been a fan. His movies make me laugh every time.

Lowering the flags is a nice tribute, Bob Hope meant a lot to our servicemen when he brought his show to them.

[Runesong]

3. Not to prolong this Bob Hope bashing stuff..

But what exactly is the criteria for deciding who is worth flying your flag at half mast?

We are losing several bright young people a day in Iraq who are considered merely a statistic, but 100 year old comedian whose only contribution to any war effort was telling jokes a grabbing girls asses on stage, rates a half-mast order by the president?

[DagmarK]

4. You are right!~ The flag should be at 1/2 mast consistently!

Until our troops are safe.

[LauraK]

5. Another photo op! A deserter honors Hollywood....

while real soldiers die in his quagmire.

[greenwow]

8. Exactly

Why should a guy that encouraged those killers in several wars be honored? Is it worse to be a killer or to entertain thousands of them?

[demdave]

9. Don't you have some returning soldiers to spit on

Go do it and leave Bob Hope alone. Get a soul.

[robbedvoter]

12. Woa! Spitting on returning soldiers is a GOP job - cutting

schools, veteran benefits and others. Me tinks you should stick to the kitch entertainment section.

[Muddleoftheroad]

19. Killers?

You mean like the killers he entertained during WWII?

Give me a break. It's the right thing to do to honor a man who gave so much to this nation. He was there for the soldiers and sailors and airmen and women anytime he was needed -- under ANY president.

[joshcryer]

23. Surely our own military men are also worthy of the same respect.

I disagree with the above poster about 'killers' but I agree with the sentiment in this thread that the flag should be flown half mast every time one of our men dies.

[Muddleoftheroad]

26. That would be all the time

Even in peacetime, soldiers and sailors die. When you have a couple million people in those jobs, that happens. I am all for honoring our military, I just think that is over-the-top.

[FlaGranny]

18. Listen, Bob Hope

had more courage in his little finger than * could muster in a lifetime. Hope was at the front lines every Christmas there was a war. He entertained and made the soldiers laugh. Sometimes those same soldiers got killed the next day. Hope didn't send those kids there. He just made sure they forgot their misery for a couple of short hours. He deserves praise for that - even if he did make money from land deals.

[gratuitous]

6. Awfully magnanimous gesture

For someone who wasn't born in the U.S.

[Darth_Kitten]

7. He was a US citizen.

:)

[tlb]

16. Off topic but

I love that Sniper Kitty :)

[0007]

10. Bob Hope was great in movies

When this dogface saw him or tried to see, ya couldn't hear nor see much. All the commands came (Army, Air Force, Marines officers and what not) - It was kinda like the tax break for the rich, if ya get the drift.

After 53 years and I'm still bitching. I hate war and people that start 'em.

junior only dresses like a human being!

[FredScuttle]

11. Can't say that I object....

Bob Hope, love him or not, was an icon of American popular entertainment he last century. This has to be expected.

My only gripe is that Junior should have done the right thing and lowered his pants to his ankles when Buddy Hackett died.

[LisaM]

13. Bob Hope gave a lot of California acreage to the National Parks System....

He bought a ton of land cheap in the early days. I believe he donated (at the behest of some group) approximately 30 million acres to be national land, never to be developed.

For that reason alone, I honor him.

[wellstone_democrat]

17. Not according to several groups

One man yesterday detailed the entire fight over land and Hope's fight against those who didn't want development---I'm not an enviro follower so you should search but, it was actually pretty damning.

[zekeson]

21. Gotta Agree, Wellstone Democrat

Thought I had heard something on this squabble. Wish I had soemthing that I could donate to the National Parks Service for a mere 27 Million:

http://www.ahmansonland.com/openspace.html
--snip--

History
The private-to-public open space land transfer associated with the Ahmanson Ranch is the product of a complex history. The original 1986 proposal to develop the Ahmanson Ranch included plans to donate the western half of the Ranch (including Las Virgenes Canyon) to the public as parkland. That same year a golf resort community was proposed for Jordan Ranch, two canyons to the west, by a development group associated with the property's owner, entertainer Bob Hope.

In 1992, climaxing a long effort to preserve Palo Comado Canyon and China Flat from development, Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk initiated a plan to combine some of the unique elements of the proposed Jordan Ranch development into the Ahmanson Ranch development plans. VanderKolk further proposed that the undeveloped Jordan Ranch along with other designated unimproved open space lands totaling almost 10,000 acres, be acquired by or dedicated to the public as a condition of allowing the Ahmanson Ranch development to proceed.

In a decision that followed the outlines of VanderKolk's proposal, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the Ahmanson Ranch project in December 1992. Five months later, with the development of Jordan Ranch no longer feasible, Hope culminated years of discussions and negotiations with state and federal parks agencies by selling Jordan Ranch and Liberty Canyon to the National Park Service for $27 million.

[Democat]

14. I don't have a problem with this

Bob Hope was an American icon.

[DS1]

15. That's so fucking weak!

FUCK YOU BUSH!

[noonwitch]

20. Finally, a Bush policy I can agree with!

They are few and far between.

[Trek234]

22. How odd

He didn't order flags flown at half staff when the New York city council member was killed the other day.

Maybe because he was black.

[dwillison]

24. Maybe because nobody knew who he was outside

city hall.

[Trek234]

25. Yea that's right

No one knew who he was outside city hall after it was broadcast for constant hours on national news.

I would say any elected official in the United States being ASSASINATED is grounds for the flag being at half staff over the natural death of a celebrity. But maybe that's just me.

[dwillison]

27. What Chris Rock said about Tupac and Biggie applies here:

MLK, Malcolm X, JFK were ASSASINATED, Tupac, Biggie and this guy got shot.

[Trek234]

30. Chris Rock...

Give me a break. I don't give a damn what Chris Rock says. What, is he the spokesperson for brothers now? I'm sure there is some racism to your post, but I'm not sure I see it...

The NYC counclemember was killed based on POLITICAL MOTIVES. Now, let's check the dictionary

as·sas·si·nate ( P ) To murder a person by surprise attack, as for political reasons.

Hmmmmmmm... I guess this was an assassination, wasn't it?

[dwillison]

31. The killer had said that the incumbent had offered him $45.000

to drop out of the race. There was bad blood between the two apparently. They certainly knew one another. Political/personal, nobody knows.

[Muddleoftheroad]

32. Status

You have to have more status than just an assemblyman to earn the flags being flown at half staff. He seems like he was a cool guy, but not in the same category.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

28. Moynihan, either.

Maybe because he was a Democrat.

[dwillison]

29. The flags weren't lowered to half-staff in NY state when Moynihan

died?