This day in Chicago Catholic League history . . .

[ignazio]

Thirty-four years ago, on this day, Leo HS alum, Tim McCarthy, threw himself into the line of fire when the Greatest President of Our Age was targeted by an assassin's bullet.

How the hell he's not in the Chicago Catholic League Hall of Fame is a mystery.

 

[LakeCtyNewt]

Wow that's great stuff. And couldn't agree more. Athletes and movie stars aren't heroes - this guy was and still is.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

That was my 13th birthday and my mom let me stay home from school...

 

[Dr. Mirakle]

All these years and I never knew he was a Leo alum. God put him there for a reason. To protect the greatest President of my lifetime. Thank you for your courage Mr. McCarthy.

Newt:

There was a time when athletes and movie stars were heroes and enlisted in the service and did other courageous things. But those people are all gone now. US athletes now are out of touch with the common folks and Hollywood is filled with USA haters. Shameful.

 

[LakeCtyNewt]

Doc

Couldn't agree with you more. The "watch me" generation is in full effect which makes what this guy did all the more impressive.

To give your life so others may be safe in theirs is the ultimate sacrifice.

 

[MWittman]

Originally posted by Dr. Mirakle:

But those people are all gone now. US athletes now are out of touch with the common folks and Hollywood is filled with USA haters. Shameful.

Dr.:

Below are listed the Hollywood stars who put their careers aside and enlisted for WWII, some of whom joined immediately after Pearl Harbor.

WWII: Clark Gable, Jason Robards (Pearl Harbor survivor), James Stewart, Kirk Douglas, Mel Brooks, Lenny Bruce, Alec Guinness, David Niven (stormed Normandy), Tony Bennett, Tyrone Power, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin (wounded at Iwo Jima), Lorne Greene, DiMaggio, Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliot, Dirk Bogarde, Harry Andrews, Richard Todd (dropped in on D-Day and seized the critical Pegasus Bridge), Charles Durning, Neville Brand, Paul Newman, Rod Steiger, Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Robert Montgomery (PT boat commander), James Arness (wounded at Anzio), Gene Autry, Sterling Hayden (OSS operative in Yugoslavia) and Rod Serling, Lee Powell (KIA on Tinian Island), Harold Russell and Wayne Morris to name a few. Even the quirky director, Edward D. Wood Jr., served......................

The above enlisted and served, many in combat, some wounded. Of them, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stands above them all: He volunteered to led countless missions as a commander of a amphibious craft and later a line commander of amphibious craft as a Beach Jumper fleet in Special Operations. He earned the British DSC and an American Silver Star.

Below are listed the Hollywood actors who enlisted after September 11th.

















It's not quite as long as the WWII list.

 

[DeanOfSelection]

Honey, I forgot to duck.
-- Comment made by Ronald Reagan to his wife, Nancy Reagan, when she arrived at the hospital following the assassination attempt (March 30, 1981)

 

[Dr. Mirakle]

MWittman:

Excellent post. There are a lot of people on that list. To add a couple more, MLB catcher Hank Gowdy's career spanned from 1910 through 1930. He was the first MLB player to enlist for WWI and had quite a distinguished career seeing lots of action as part of the famed "Rainbow Division." But he wasn't finished. Also, as unbelievable as it sounds, when World War II broke out, Gowdy sought to serve his country again and at age 53 was commissioned a Major in the United States Army. He again served with distinction and became, for some time, the Chief Athletic Officer at Fort Benning, Georgia. To this day, the baseball diamond at Fort Benning, where soldiers enjoy playing the National Pastime, is called "Hank Gowdy Field."

I visited Fort Benning last February.

HOF catcher Yogi Berra served in WWII. Yogi Berra's on-field accomplishments are well known. Yet often overlooked is his service during the deadly combat of World War II. As 19-year-old Second Class Seaman Lawrence P. Berra, he played a significant part in one of the war's most important campaigns, the Normandy Invasion (better known as D-Day). Yogi was one of a six-man crew on a Navy rocket boat, firing machine guns and launching rockets at the German defenses at Omaha Beach. He was fired upon, but was not hit, and later received several commendations for his bravery.

Newt:

It is a shame how our culture changed in the 60s when this all became political. You can't blame kids entirely these days. They know what they are taught in our schools and what they see in Hollywood. Now they are taught that we are the bad guys. There are some people out there who have actually said and continue to say that we were responsible for what happened on 9/11 and that it's our fault. It's shameful what some in my generation have done.

Look at Clint Eastwood's movie, "American Sniper." Thirty years ago that movie probably would have won the oscar for best picture hands down. Now? It didn't have a chance with today's rotten Hollywood culture.

 

[DeanOfSelection]

Don't forget Warren Spahn at the Battle of the Bulge

 

[morgs81]

Ted Williams - three years of service during WWII while in his mid-twenties.

 

[PowerI66]

Mr. Unbreakable himself, Louis Zamperini

 

[DeanOfSelection]

Williams also missed pretty much all of 52 and 53 as well with the Korean War

 

[Dr. Mirakle]

As far as the NFL goes over 1,000 NFL personnel served in WWII. A few names...recently deceased Chuck Bednarik. Then there are Marv Levy, Lou Groza, Gino Marchetti, Marion Motley, Ernie Nevers, Clarence (Ace) Parker, Art Donovan, Pete Rozelle, Andy Robustelli, Tex Schram, Otto Graham, Bud Grant, George Halas, Norm Van Brocklin and Tom Landry, to name a few.

 

[ignazio]

George Halas served as an ensign in the Navy . . . during World War I.

Twenty three years later, he served in the Navy for 4 years under Admiral Nimitz in World War II.

 

[MTC Diaspora]

Witty, thanks for the great list of celeb vets of WWII, but don't forget Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated soldiers of WWII, winning every medal for valor the army had.

 

[Dr. Mirakle]

Originally posted by MTC Diaspora:

Witty, thanks for the great list of celeb vets of WWII, but don't forget Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated soldiers of WWII, winning every medal for valor the army had.

I was going to put Audie Murphy in here but the fact is, his film career started AFTER the war. He played himself in the autobiographical, "To Hell and Back" in 1955.

So, he wasn't a celebrity who went off to the war. He became one after. But still a hero.

 

[MC63]

I see your blithering nonsense about that bufoon Reagan and I'm tempted to reply. However, I know you'll cherry pick here and there and continue a long line of nonsense posts. Suffice it to say that Reagan's trickle down pollicies led to the decimation of the American middle class as it was once known.

I am intrigued, however, by your "USA haters" comment. Whom, specifically, do you include, here?

(BTW, you'll notice that John Wayne's name didn't appear on any list of celebrtities who entered the Armed Forces. Like Dick Cheney and Ted Nugent, he weaseled his way out of the draft while singing praises about America and freedom. What a load.)

 

[Dr. Mirakle]

Originally posted by MC63:
I see your blithering nonsense about that bufoon Reagan and I'm tempted to reply. However, I know you'll cherry pick here and there and continue a long line of nonsense posts. Suffice it to say that Reagan's trickle down pollicies led to the decimation of the American middle class as it was once known.

I am intrigued, however, by your "USA haters" comment. Whom, specifically, do you include, here?

(BTW, you'll notice that John Wayne's name didn't appear on any list of celebrtities who entered the Armed Forces. Like Dick Cheney and Ted Nugent, he weaseled his way out of the draft while singing praises about America and freedom. What a load.)

OK it's time for one of you guys to fess up here. Which one of you left the manhole cover off the sewer and allowed this scum to crawl out? Who did it?

Honestly, you have nothing else to do in life so you feel like you must come here and attempt to pick a fight? Really? What a sad existence and life you lead. Sorry, you are NOT going to suck me into an argument, especially a political one. I am not going to say another word to you in this thread. The thread will remain up in honor of the man pictured in the first post and you will have to read it over and over and over and over and....




This post was edited on 4/2 10:11 PM by Dr. Mirakle

 

[MC63]

There's a lot to honor hiom for. Let's not forget that he aided Central American thugs who butchered (yes - butchered) nuns, doctors, nurse, teachers and other aid workers. The, of course, he allowed the AIDS crisis to turn into an epidemic.

Helluva guy.

 

[ignazio]

I win Dean.

 

[CaravanMan]

Also, don't forget he:

-Cut taxes for the rich and increased them for the middle class
-Tripled the national debt
-Spent billions funding islamist mujahidin freedom fighters in prepping for a war with the soviets
-Created unemployment issues
-Gave amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants
-Attacked unions and the middle class
-Raided the social security trust fund

...seemed like a nice guy though.

 

[MTC Diaspora]

Originally posted by CaravanMan:
Also, don't forget he:

-Cut taxes for the rich and increased them for the middle class
-Tripled the national debt
-Spent billions funding islamist mujahidin freedom fighters in prepping for a war with the soviets
-Created unemployment issues
-Gave amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants
-Attacked unions and the middle class
-Raided the social security trust fund

...seemed like a nice guy though.

Actually,



Reagan's tax cuts were 25% across the board, and resulted in a higher proportion of taxes paid by the wealthy in the ensuing years, as expected, since the previous across-the-borad tax cuts in the 20s and the Kennedy tax cuts of the 60s had exactly the same effect, that is, greater tax payments by the rich. As stated in a Joint Economic Committee report of April 1996: "Between 1981 and 1988, the income tax burden of the middle class declined from 57.5 percent in 1981 to 48.7 percent in 1988. This 8.8 percentage point decline in middle class tax burden is entirely accounted for by the increase borne by the top one percent." Tax payments to the federal government nearly doubled during the Reagan years due to the roaring economy; the deficits were caused by the greedy, spendthrift congress, controlled by Democrats. As the late, great journalist David Brinkley said at the time, give congress 50 cents, they'll spend a buck. You may recall that Reagan agreed to increase taxes during his tenure in exchange for spending cuts. The Democrats, of course, never delivered on the promised cuts. Approved the shipment of stinger missles (and other support) to the Afghan resistance to shoot down marauding Russian gunships that were being used to slaughter innocent villagers. Seemed like a good thing to do at the time, and it had bipartisan support in congress. Funny how a Democrat congressman by the name of Charlie Wilson, who spearheaded the effort to arm the Afghans, got credit for the success in Afghanistan, but now that we have Al Qaeda and other extremist Islamists attacking the West, it's now a failure and all Reagan's fault. Reagan indeed "created unemployment issues" if you mean that unemployment shrank after his tax policies were inplemented. The unemployment rate at the end of Reagan's second term was 5.4%, at the time considered "full employment." Under Simpson-Mazzoli, granted amnesty to millions of illegals, a bad idea then, and a much bigger, and worse, idea now. I don't know what you mean when you say Reagan "attacked unions and the middle class." Reagan was at one time president of a union. Perhaps you are refering to one of his first acts as president, which was to fire the air traffic controllers who were engaged in an illegal strike. Is that what you mean? I remember that time, and I recall that Reagan's actions were widely supported by the public. By the way, FDR opposed public sector unions, at least for federal employees, and opposed any right to strike by public employees. So, did FDR attack unions? Since 1939, federal law has required that surplus funds from social security tax receipts be used to purchase treasury bonds. In effect, government is borrowing money from itself. I don't like it, and apparently you don't either. But that is not Reagan's fault. Yeah, he was a nice guy.

 

[ignazio]

I'll let a former high school football player from Illinois speak for himself.

We said something shocking: taxes ought to be reduced, not raised. We cut the tax rates for the working folks of America. And what do you know, the top 5 percent of earners are paying a higher percentage of the total tax revenue at the lower rates than they ever had before, and millions of earners at the bottom of the scale have been freed from paying any income tax at all. Together we pulled out of a tailspin and created 17½ million good jobs. That's more than a quarter of a million new jobs a month - every month - for 68 consecutive months. America is working again. New homes are being built, new car sales reached record highs, exports are starting to climb and factory capacity is approaching maximum use.
You know, I've noticed they don't call it Reaganomics anymore.

 

[Dr. Mirakle]

As long as we were talking about celebrities who participated in WWII let's add Ronald Reagan to that list. Reagan was already enjoying a successful movie career. Lieutenant Reagan was ordered to active duty on 19 April 1942. Due to eyesight difficulties, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas. Oh yeah, he also eventually became the Commander in Chief as well. Pretty important position. But you can look all of that stuff up.

These people seethe over Reagan because they know how well he did as President and how wildly popular he was. They lived in the 80s and deep down they know how good things were economically, especially for the middle class. They keep trying to tell the lies hoping that eventually it will become the truth. But facts are stubborn things. They enjoyed the economy of the 80s just like we did but they will never admit it.

I was in my 20s in the 1980s and in the mid and late 80s there were a TON of good career jobs out there. I remember telling my wife several times "I can quit my job now and find five more just as good tomorrow" and it was true. They were out there in abundance. Try and find a twenty-something who can say that now. And you want to know something, these guys know that was true too and it continued for a time after Reagan left office.

Right now the US labor participation rate is at its lowest point since...wait for it...Jimmy Carter in 1978. Just another fact I thought I'd throw out there. Nothing political about it, just a fact. I suppose that's Reagan's fault. Yes the unemployment rate you show of 5.4% WAS the unemployment rate during a point of the Reagan years and was considered full employment. The real unemployment rate now is upwards of 11% not the 5.5% the bought and paid for Department of Labor is trying to tell you. Don't believe me, look it up.

The most important thing in the economy is your economy. Under the current leadership median household income has fallen by, in some cases, as much as $5,000 per year. A study by the Cato Institute think tank, on 8 of the 10 key economic variables examined, the American economy performed better during the Reagan years than during the pre- and post-Reagan years. Real median family income grew by $4,000 during the Reagan period after experiencing no growth in the pre-Reagan years. Interest rates, inflation, and unemployment fell faster under Reagan than they did immediately before or after his presidency. The inflation rate, 13.5% in 1980, fell to 4.1% in 1988.

The hero in the first post pictured is Tim McCarthy as Iggy stated. Let's not lose sight of that.






This post was edited on 4/4 10:32 PM by Dr. Mirakle

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