ScottFromWyoming wrote: That was columnist Mary Schmich being read by Baz Luhrmann. Mary said she had never been called on to give a commencement speech but if she had, that was what she'd have said.

Ando wrote: That was Baz Luhrmann.

ecorunner wrote: Would you call yourself open-minded?

From the song, words verbatim from speech, sentences reordered: "Disarmament with mutual honor and confidence is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences not with arms but with intellect and decent purpose. Another war could utterly destroy this civilization, which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years. We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex." Dwight D. Eisenhower (1961) - last televised address to the nation. Ah yes, Dwight Eisenhower, that pansy liberal who mandated the development of the space program, helped start the end of legalized discrimination in the U.S. by up-holding the Constitution, oh, and the commander of D-Day, the end of the Korean War, the solidification of NATO and countless other intelligent and wise policies and initiatives. He wasn't perfect, but to suggest his own words about how the world should try to be are weak or "pie-in-the-sky" is niave and uniformed at best, and, at worst, a sign of the ultimate "brain washing" of the U.S. population by the military industrial complex. Learn something about the U.S.: https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/farewell.htm https://obits.com/ike.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_eisenhower#Wartime_commander As a final note, Eisenhower (who was never personally involved in combat and who refused the Medal of Honor on the grounds that it required service in the face of enemy fire ), was prepared to take full responsiblity for a failed Normandy invasion: "It was never a certainty that Overlord would succeed. The tenuousness surrounding the entire decision including the timing and the location of the Normandy invasion might be summarized by a short speech that Eisenhower himself wrote, in advance, in case he might need it. In it, he took full responsibility for catastrophic failure, should that be the final result. Thankfully, on D-Day, the BBC broadcast a brief speech by Eisenhower about the successful landings. The never-used second speech was found much later, in a shirt pocket, by an aide. It read: "Our landings have failed and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone." "

"Always wear sunscreen", or something like that. Urban Legend had it that it came from a Vonnegut graduation speech, but no...

I like this, nice and easy. This almost reminds me of that one song that everyone and their cousins played for graduation, where that guy is just talking for a long time. Anyone remember what song I'm talking about?

mojoman wrote: Anyone, including you, who is against the philosophy of this song is not a thinker for the good of the entire world, but is basically believes in a self-important, get rich, screw everyone else in the process approach. We can not keep living our luxurious lives, accumulating piles of material crap, while animals and plants are becoming rarer and rarer everyday, and we as capitalists cannot expect everyone else in the world to follow along with our pursuit of wealth and power in the world. We must find a more common ground of sustainability within our selves and globally, what makes us truely happy, and what is good for humankind. Its not the United States versus the rest of the world, as many of our fellow conservative minded people believe. As soon as we accept that we are part of a larger entity, the more we can accept our place in the world. Your philosophy does not speak to me, and I surely hope, not to most of the world. If so, God have mercy on us.

mojoman wrote: That said, it wasn't Saddam Hussein who attacked us. We've overrun two nations so far, with a third and fourth in our gunsights. You, a realist, believe what you see on TV. You, a realist, do not understand reality. The reality is that our administration had to have a pretext to go after and secure 13.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, and 9/11 provided it. We are ruled by giant corporations, that constantly distort our democratic system to meet their needs. I don't like to be preached to by uninformed people. Wake up.

It's interesting to hear Seeger doing Eisenhower's farewell speech as part of a musical piece, but since he was around for that broadcast I'm willing to bet some parts of that speech still resonate very strongly for him. As for calling the observations unoriginal, I think Eisenhower could be said to know some trenchant things about war, politics, and human nature given his experiences.

mojoman wrote: I agree and I would add that statements like "we have more medicine but less wellness" have a distorted (at best) view of history. I sure as hell wouldn't want to undergo the medicine of even 100 years ago when the life expectancy was, what, 48?