Ronald Reagan - R.I.P.

[Serenity]

I've been avoiding TV all week. I did not want to listen to hours and hours of Reagan media frenzy. I did sit down to watch the funeral for a couple of hours and found myself sucked in to the event. I'm not a Pomp & Circumstance person but, I confess, I did shed some tears watching the Reagans huddle around Ron's casket. I want Amazing Grace on Babpipes at my funeral too. Those highly disciplined military guys didn't falter or screw up once....amazing...I can't be a few minutes without being itchy and scratchy.

[Serenity]

Quotes by Ronald Reagan:

Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.

In America, our origins matter less than our destination, and that is what democracy is all about.

A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other.

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.

[haggis]

Barfle, I meant to comment earlier on your trek through the rotunda. Did you get one of the cards?

I watched the procession and memorial at the Library and thought at the time the Ronnie would have loved the whole thing!

Reagan was an unabashed admirer of the military and that admiration was apparent by the number of military pomp and circumstance involved in the whole process, including the choir and the choice of music, “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

[barfle]

Originally posted by Haggis:
Barfle, I meant to comment earlier on your trek through the rotunda. Did you get one of the cards?

Yes, in fact we both got one (my wife and I). After we got home, I turned on CSPAN and watched the crowds file past for about another half hour (two guard changes - I wanted to see just how they were rotating the positions). Then on Friday I watched them remove the casket from the Capitol, the events at the National Cathedral, and the procession and loading at Andrews.

I missed the landing at Pt. Mugu, but caught most of the procession and the ceremonies at the Reagan library.

My wife's cousin, who had been a high school history teacher came to visit on Sunday - he missed the whole thing, but we did have some very interesting discussions about the various Presidents we've known.

I'll try to post a scan of the card in the next couple of days.

[Haggis@wk]

IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TOMORROW...

...that Ronald Reagan, standing at the Brandenburg Gate, issued his challenge to Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" The line was written by Peter Robinson.

Robinson recalls that the State Department, the National Security Council and the President's chief of staff all thought the line was too provocative and wanted it removed from the speech. That conflict was emblematic; the truth was that the foreign policy establishment thought Reagan's whole policy of trying to win the Cold War was too provocative.

America's effort to resist Communist imperialism was bipartisan for the first 25 years following World War II. But after the 1960s, the Republicans were on their own, much as they are today in the war against Islamic terrorism.

In the later years of the Cold War, it was not unusual for the Democrats to actively side with the Communists, as in Latin America through the Boland Amendment and in Western Europe through the nuclear freeze movement.

It hard to remember that Jimmy Carter, as well as much of the elite Left, expected the Soviet Union to exists for centuries and preached at us that we had to balance our security with them in order to survive.

[Haggis@wk]

Britain Holds Tribute to President Ronald Reagan

As Fourth of July celebrations get under way across the United States, London will hold its own tribute to America's 40th President, Ronald Reagan, with the unveiling of a bronze statue outside the American embassy in Grosvenor Square.

Former president Reagan will stand alongside other celebrated US heads of state such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower and was considered important enough for Westminster City Council to break its rule specifying that ten years must pass after a subject's death before they can be immortalized in statue form.

I visited the park in 2009 and posted some of the photos here and here

There is also a 9/11 memorial in the park http://www.pbase.com/jimhogue/image/122824371

I'll make sure I re-visit the park in 2012

[Shapley]

If I get back over that way, I'll be sure to lay a wreath on the statue.