~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL
The passing of Walter Cronkite resulted in lots of solemn eulogies in TeeVee-land, and I have to say that woman I saw one afternoon on CNN exclaiming that he “wasn’t just a newsreader” made me chortle…she obviously thought SHE wasn’t a newsreader and spoke with some authority on the matter as she conversed with somebody who was reminiscing about Cronkite’s tremendous experience. What a joke! This young chippy chit-chatted her way through the “news” as if she were doing an infomercial…
Cronkite, of course, was the man everyone watched during the moon landing back in 1969. And, I’m also old enough to remember his reporting on the Kennedy assassination (and Dan Rather, who was local in Dallas back then.) By accident, while noodling around the web during the moon landing anniversary, I came across the website of the Cronkite School New Media Academy | The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication which is at Arizona State University.
It produced Aaron Brown, among others. But who knows if it is really living up to the expectations espoused in the “Welcome” message. For example, the connection to ABC news doesn’t exactly inspire. And where do really good journalism students go lately even IF they do get a decent education in journalism? (And that’s a big IF, to assume any really good journalists are coming out of journalism schools these days.) Do they go MSBNC? CNN? NBC? FOX? etc., etc.
Don’t think so…
***
Signs of the times… From the Los Angeles Times:
More bodies go unclaimed as families can’t afford funeral costs
According to the story, “The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones.”
The victims of homicide and suspicious deaths are being cremated at taxpayer expense because people can’t afford services, so are leaving bodies of loved ones unclaimed.
And the L.A. county is so much busier that they are no longer accepting bodies from the coroner. That office is now contracting private crematories to handle the load.
Apparently the situation in L.A. isn’t unique:
Coroners and funeral directors around the country say they are seeing the same trend as cash-strapped families cope with funeral costs. Just claiming a body from the L.A. County coroner costs $200. Once a body is claimed, private cremations usually run close to $1,000, Smith said. Funeral homes charge an average of $7,300 to transport and bury a body in a simple grave, according to the National Funeral Home Directors Assn.
…Can’t even rest in peace these days…
THE PAST WEEK
*By KenoshaMarge
*VOTING IN LOCKSTEP IS NOW A GOOD THING? (Not According to SOME Democrats in Congress…)
Chicago Suburb Hosts Hizb ut-Tahrir Conference; Organization Aims to Re-Establish an International Islamic State (Caliphate), Supports Jihad
The Past Week: July 12-18, 2009 (Energy-Saving Porch Project; “Full Plates Full Lives” Food Campaign; JFK, Jr.)
Filed under: Current Politics | Tagged: 1969 moon landing, Aaron Brown, Arizona State University Cronkite School of New Media Academy--The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, CNN, cremation, FOX, Full Plates Full Lives, funeral costs, Hizb ut-Tahrir, JFK Jr., jihad, journalism, Los Angeles County coroner, mainstream media, mass communication, MSNBC, National Funeral Home Directors Association, NBC, private cremations, the Caliphate, the economy, unclaimed bodies, Walter Cronkite |
InsightAnalytical -- Watching Our World 
I cannot imagine the pain it must cause the families who cannot afford to claim the bodies of a loved one. Poverty is an affliction from birth to grave. Hopefully not beyond.
Memories, both good and bad are the best memorial you can offer to those you care about in my opinion. As you long as you are not forgotten you are not truly dead.
Which means that Atilla still lives? Maybe I need to rethink that idea.
IA, I never did care much for Walter Cronkite. He always impressed me as someone who thought he was on a higher plane than the rest of the citizenry. He always left me with the feeling that we should all be thankful that he allowed us to share his thoughts. I always thought he was a shallow individual who was all talk and no substance. According to his large following I’m sure I am in the minority with this thinking.
Not being able to bury a loved one must be one of the most heart-breaking things that could happen to a person. Thank goodness many churches step in to help out when this happens.
At least Cronkite actually did real field reporting! He certainly wasn’t “tailored” and packaged like today’s “newsreaders”!!
I remember an interview he did on the NYC aircraft carrier museum during Bushco, bemoaning the state of journalism.
I have no idea why he agreed to lend his name to any school unless he needed the cash in his old age…which is quite possible. He never made the money the current crowd makes…
I respected Cronkite, which is more than I can say for many/most of the asshats posing as journalists today. (Jeremy Scahill is about the only one that comes to mind as the real deal.)
We were a Huntley-Brinkley household so while Cronkite was holding forth on CBS, we were watching NBC. Of course that was back in the day when both networks still had some integrity.