So President Obama has decided not to attend the funeral of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Is this notable? I would say so.
A man’s character is defined by his actions, which stem from the condition of his heart. This is easy to understand and while not all agree on the definition of good or bad, everyone knows that what flows out of a person depends on the well inside being drawn upon.
An example. A man co-owns a large company with a partner he doesn’t really get along with. This partner has been there much longer than he, 30 plus years to his 7. This 30+ year partner is passionate about the company and has had an enormous impact on its direction. While not all agree with his strategy, the man’s high intellect and good cheer endeared him to many.
This long-standing co-owner dies unexpectedly, shocking everyone and leaving a huge hole with his passing. Funeral plans are made and people scurry about to make arrangements to attend. The co owner with just seven years under his belt however, will not be there.
Why? Was it because the two differed over how to run the company? Were fundamental principles disagreed on so much that the paying of respects just could not be done?
More than likely yes, but good Lord, WHY NOT GO? Such a small gesture it would be with such huge dividends.
It seems really petty on the outset, doesn’t it? A man who can’t bring himself to rise above differences to attend a funeral of a long time employee because of philosophical differences? What kind of leader is that? Especially one that rides such a high horse while preaching civility and complaining about how divided our society has become.
Small and petty come to mind.
“A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. Luke 6:45
Yup.
Freedom Through Empowerment 
This President has been the master of divisiveness. Encouraging black against white, poor against rich, the public against police, socialists against capitalists, doctors against patients, aliens against citizens and worst yet, anti-constitutionalism against the rule of law.
He said he would change the culture of this country and he has done that, to the everlasting detriment of a once great nation.
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So true Al and what a disgrace that so many people just cannot see this and have bought in to the garbage that anyone criticizing Mr. O is racist. This country is in trouble, serious trouble.
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He promotes division wherever he can. I was trying your example story except I changed it: The worker who dies is not an employee but a co-worker on equal footing. The “boss” has no authority over the co worker but both serve in the same endeavor…This is maybe a truer scenario and makes the one passing the funeral so much more of an ass.
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He does indeed promote division madblog. I used to think it was unintentional but now I don’t think so. All the more easier to harness power among such chaos. I truly wonder how history will view this time period. It’s the beginning of the end of something, that’s for sure.
I like your scenario too. I had thought I stressed they were co owners but I like your verbiage better. Truly an ass at heart. 😉
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Trish, this is not a light thing here. Somebody (if not himself) has acted despicably in advising skipping this man’s funeral.
The position of any member in the court demands attention; for God’s sake he should even attend the death of Kagan as it were. This is about being human, civil, decent.
But the prez should go if not for himself, but for ‘we the people.’ He was justice of the Supreme court of the UNITED STATES; this was not a man who adjudicated parking tickets for God’s sake
I’m thinking other world leaders are shaking their heads at the clenched fists of an American leader. It is pathetic if I can say, maybe even disgusting.
In a strange way, o-bama has made this death about himself Nice work mr prez..
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Ha, our Narcissist in Chief making something all about himself? Say it isn’t so ColorStorm!
“This about being human, civil, decent…” you say. Ah, it is to you and me and most others ColorStorm but not to this President. What a contemptible political hack we have the helm eh? And yes, plenty of shaken heads and clenched fists from other world leaders, I’m sure. Great observations there CS.
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Yeah, tis a sad day all round.
And I’m sure you know my remark about he who ‘adjudicated a parking ticket’ is certainly no less of deserving respect; just highlighting Scalia as you know.
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Oh, I didn’t take it as a disrespect CS, what you say is true and points out very well the absurdity of not attending Scalia’s funeral. Like you said, we the people deserve that representation from our Prez. I’m quite used to being disappointed by the man by now though so no sting, just numbness.
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😉 😉
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Well this is simply shocking beyond belief. I like what ColorStorm said about clinched fists. How very true. There are standards of decorum even among enemies. At least there used to be. We must look like morons the the rest of the world.
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So true Wally on there having been standards of decorum among enemies. We do like morons I’m sure! I guess we are for having elected this man not once but twice! I did not play a role in that however and I suspect you didn’t either. 😉
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No..I did not Lol.
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There are many who have different opinions as to why this president skipped Justice Scalia’s funeral. Some or all may be true or close to the truth. I think he has a tee time and doesn’t want to miss the chance to set the all time record for how many times a sitting president played golf.
We are still a great nation despite the idiocy of this president. We are going to have free elections in a very short while and the incumbent will step down voluntarily and pass the governing of this nation on to a person elected by the people.
Hopefully the next president will “undo” most or all of the harmful work done by his predecessor. The United States will again be the leader of the free world. If not, “get armed get trained and protect yourself and your loved ones!”
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What’s sad Dennis is it is not out of the question your suggestion that the President skipped the funeral to play golf.
I like your optimism for our future, I’ll grasp on to that!
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Of course he missed it because he wanted to play golf. The Scalia family had the effrontery to schedule the funeral at a time that was inconvenient for King Putt. The Scalias are obviously a bunch of racists.
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Ahhh, but I had not thought of the racial aspect there Bluebird. But of course!
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I’m sorry, but it’s just a funeral and Obama has a right to choose whether or not he wishes to attend. Personally, I don’t attend funerals for anyone. I’ve only ever been to one funeral and that’s all it took for me to discover how much of a waste of time and effort (and money) a funeral really is. On the one hand, you can say that a funeral is a way of paying tribute to the person and the life they lived while they were alive. On the other hand, if you truly believe in the concept of life after death, then the person isn’t really dead and so attending a funeral would simply be paying tribute to the person’s actions in this one miniscule portion of his/her eternal life.
And really, what if Obama decided he would rather pay tribute to Scalia in private? You don’t know about it and yet you’re still criticizing Obama publicly.
There are a lot of things I would say Obama has shown poor judgment on, but skipping a funeral really isn’t one of them. It’s just a funeral and the person we knew as Antonin Scalia is still very much alive, just not on this Earth. I’m sure if we could ask him his opinion on this, he’d probably be in such a Heaven-inspired happy-smiley mood that he’d toss out a casual, “So?” and encourage all of us to not make a big deal over what amounts to a trivial matter. I mean, do you think there are people sitting in Heaven right now, watching us while saying, “Just wait until that person crosses over; I am so giving them an earful over skipping my funeral?” Of course not. So what makes any of us still here on Earth think that we have to be angry for them when they’re not even the least bit upset themselves? It’s just our human side, our capacity for anger that brings this kind of reaction out of us.
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@Gabr
While your defense may be appreciated, your reasoning is not so much.
This is a world stage, a world stage, with a man of Scalia’s caliper, and the United States lost a good man. If the prez wants to ‘mourn’ in private, so be it, but there is this thing called decorum, which was already mentioned here a few times, and it would behoove the prez to show a little.
Politics aside, for God’s sake even the Lord himself appeared at the grave of Lazarus and partook of weeping…………….hellooooooooooo?
If you do not attend funerals that is your prerogative, but you are speaking of apples and oranges here. Much can be said for your decision there, but for your sake I will not, just to end with, The Honorable Antonin Scalia deserved better in death.
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I appreciate your perspective Gabriel but I believe it’s in err. Does the President have the right to skip the funeral? Well, yes of course but is it the right thing to do? He is the leader of world’s largest superpower that just lost one of it’s major players and it’s expected by most that he would attend. As CS and Wally have said, proper decorum demands it. He knows this yet deliberately chooses to become the first sitting American President in history not to attend the funeral of a Supreme Court Justice.
We all have to do things at times we don’t much want to do and this is especially true for leaders. What an outstanding example of civility and reaching across the aisle it would have been for the President to attend the funeral of someone he disagreed with so much politically. If he’s not going to put his own words in to action the least he can do is stop preaching down to us about it.
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Hey everybody, what if this were a Republican President and he/she skipped a Supreme Court Justices’ funeral? How much rancor would the main stream press and every democrat heap on the President? We know the answer to that! It would be the lead story in every newspaper magazine and T V show for days if not weeks.
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True that Dennis and I would have the same words for him too. It’s about common decency, not politics.
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A statesman would respect protocol and recognize the historic significance. Barack Obama is not a statesman. He’s a two-bit community organizer who got to live in a big house and feel important for awhile.
I know two words that fully explain why Obama won’t be a grown up and attend the funeral. They’re the two words that best capture the significance of Justice Antonin Scalia’s legacy: “Constitutional Originalism.” Those two words are the absolute polar opposite of the petty words “Barack Obama.”
I’ve never had occasion to quote Shakespeare before, but it fits:
334 days and counting.
– Jeff
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I should clarify: The quote from Macbeth fits Obama.
This one fits Justice Scalia:
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Amen to that.
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Indeed Jeff, well said. Cool & appropriate Shakespeare quote too, it really sums things up well!
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333 now….;)
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Pingback: My Article Read (2-21-2016) – My Daily Musing
Many thanks! 😉
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Incredible!
I started blogging this month, and it is a pleasure that I came across your blog.
It has inspired me to start my third article.
Thank you:)
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I am so sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier as for some reason it went in my spam folder. Thanks for the kind words and happy blogging!
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