Posted on 06/04/2016 1:21:27 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Ah hahahaha!!!
As a Christian, nobody has ever pressed me to change my name, it’s weird that islam does that.
Joe Bruno on Boxing – Muhammad Ali is Not a Hero.
| June 4, 2016 | Joe Bruno
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3436853/posts
The war wasn’t the problem, it was the 4-star clown and the administration running it. At times, the leadership was just rudderless. At other times, they seemed determined to lose. A lot of decisions at the top were a head-shaker.
It reminds me of the war in Iraq. Bush was good in his first term. When he turned progressive, his leadership became rudderless, the war got into a rut, and progress stopped.
It’s all about effective leadership. When we don’t have it, any well-meaning military action with good cause winds up going to crap. Lyndon Johnson and McNamara ran that war like they were smoking crack.
You’re not supposed to mention that Cassius Clay/Mo Ali was a draft dodger unlike the patriotic Joe Louis.
I agree. Jeez, I hate to come off like I’m dancing on somebody’s grave here but the media coverage of this is ridiculous. It’s like the over-the-top fawning that Steve Jobs got when he died. They kept that crap rolling for the better part of a year.
We’re supposed to think that Ali is Mr. Wonderful because he refused to go to Vietnam? As a veteran, I think he’s a punk. I’m not trying to talk like I’m some kind of bad warrior, I was on a Navy ship in a war zone and it shows on my service record. But at least I answered the call instead of finding an out. Ali deserves no respect. I’m sick of the “The Champ stood up for his principles always” garbage. No, he was easily led by people who hate this country, I WILL NOT respect that.
Every time I hear his name all I can think of is the Sonny Liston fight.
More or less agree with you but it was really a collage of stupid things and some arrogant, short-sighted people.
LBJ and MacNamara: idiots. Thought they were so smart and dealt with us as though we were Kleenex and just as expendable. No clue how the enemy thought and no consistent plan to win. Just a bunch of uneducated guesses.
So while the clowns at the top fumbled, the Soviets, Hanoi, and the Left pulled together a massive pro-enemy/anti-USA political movement that incorporated scores of separate political, protest, and labor union organizations and paralyzed our efforts at home. Most of their foot soldiers were just your average dimwit who didn’t want his own skin punctured or someone related to them and they were suddenly “anti war”. LBJ didn’t do anything to counter any of it.
Our own senior military leaders reacted slowly and unimaginatively to our difficulties with the enemy, the climate, and piss-poor logistics. The only real exception this was General Walt’s Combined Action Platoons (CAP) where young Marines lived with and help defend villages.
The worst failure in leadership was the constant rotation of experienced leaders. By the time a leader developed his own tactics and survival skills, he was moved to some headquarters unit or home if his year was up. The constant cycle of new and inexperienced leaders and troops caused repeating costly mistakes, over and over.
Nonetheless, we had good, solid people at least up to battalion level and we fought very well, day after day, night after night.
Like I said earlier, I will always be proud of us.
Years ago when it came out I read David Halberstam’s “The Best and the Brightest”, where he tried to explain how we got into the Vietnam War. Maybe it’s time to re-read it 40 years later. I probably will have a better take on it at 61 than I did at 20.
I was never a big fan of his, but he had talent, and it’s very sad to see him pass. He suffered from Parkinson’s for a long time, and I hope he has some peace now.
To disparage the man's gifts because of the times in which he lived and the choices he made in response, is shallow and ill-tempered. In an age when boxing was a heady and thriving sport, Ali was indeed "the Greatest."
My post said Ali was a good boxer who got rich on it and was unable to enjoy it in good health because of the nature of the sport itself. Saying that doesn't disparage the skills of the man at all.
A coal miner can be a great miner and still die of black lung. We're all mortal and something is going to take each of us. At times it can be traced to our occupation.
Dale Earnhardt
I love Jimi’s Star Spangled Banner,...especially the studio version.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.