HE REALLY DIDN'T SEE MANY THINGS HE LIKED! -- Just a Minute Radio for Tuesday 111108

Today we’re bidding adieu to the memory of Mr. Andy Rooney, who really didn’t want to go to war – but now that we’re in it “we want to win it,” he said.

Mr. Rooney was – well… curmudgeonly would be a polite way to put it. If Andy didn’t like something, he had no qualms about letting his readers or listeners know. He pleaded for a slot on the Army newspaper in Europe – the Stars & Stripes. He flew into Germany on a B-17 Bomber – with Walter Cronkite in another on the same mission.

He wrote for Arthur Godfrey – a really big name in radio and entertainment when TV was ‘growing up’ – he also wrote for Garry Moore and did quite a few essay’s for Harry Reasoner up until his untimely death from two packs a day. His obituary in the New York Times told me a lot of things I didn’t know. He was really one of a kind.

His ‘crankiness’ I contend was at least partially an act. He wondered why they put cotton in the top of pill bottles – and a host of other things he found objects of his complaints… like… why don’t they invent an anti-stupid pill. Or “I’d like to see them make a pill that made you cut down your desire for food and a lot of other things.”

Maybe he had as many ideas as Thomas Edison just didn’t have time to work ‘em all out.

In any case he was indeed one of a kind… a character not to be over looked – and he shall be missed. I don’t think we’ll see another.

Cordially, IN HIM

Jack Buttram

===========================================

“JUST A MINUTE”

HE REALLY DIDN’T SEE MANY THINGS HE LIKED!

Just a Minute: Honestly, I can’t really say I liked Andy Rooney. He made ‘cranky’ his middle name. He and Walter Cronkite were war correspondents in Europe flew into battle at the same time. I think he enjoyed being a curmudgeon – but it was mostly, I think, an act. It even got him suspended a couple of times. He wrote jokes for Arthur Godfrey – excellent essays for Harry Reasoner.

Why do I think it was an act? Because I’m a believer in God and the Bible – it’s what it claims to be. Look at Paul’s second letter to friends in Corinth. The old Apostle writes Christ -- had become ‘living letters’ of God’s Spirit – not written on stone, but on the “fleshy tables of the heart.” (II Corinthians 3:3) Sure it may be tossed aside and denied, still it’s real. God makes His presence known.

Mr. Rooney said he wrote ‘light pieces’ thus was “one of the least important producers” – and added -- “I just wish insignificance had more stature.” In his 1,097^th program – last one on “60 Minutes”, he said, “I’ve done a lot of complaining here -- but… I can’t complain about my life.”

One way or another -- we’ll miss you, Andy. <> I’m Jack Buttram (END)

Jebco Editorial Service

www.wmuu.com

E-mail n4zhk@arrl.net

======================================================================================

Delayed Audio Link

http://www.wmuu.com/blog/category/audio/just-a-minute/

=================================================================