Ronald Wilson Reagan
1911 - 2004

Certain figures in history, like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or Winston Churchill, were not simply titans among men, but came along at a particular point in history where their talents were most needed.

So it was with Reagan.

Reagan was like a bigger than life hero from one of his movies. He showed up when America, and yes, even the rest of the world, needed him most. Then he saved the day, rode off into the sunset, and left all of us with a debt of gratitude that we could never fully repay.

Godspeed Gipper. You will be missed...

(*** All of the Gipper's kids really came across well. Patti was poetic and her "goldfish story" was just great. Ron Jr. was funny and his last comments were touching. But, Michael Reagan's comments were my favorite. Throughout his remarks, he just radiated love and affection for his father. It was stirring to say the least...***)

Good evening. I'm Mike Reagan. You knew my father as governor, as president. But I knew him as dad. I want to tell you a little bit about my dad. A little bit about Cameron and Ashley's grandfather because not a whole lot is ever spoken about that side of Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan adopted me into his family 1945. I was a chosen one. I was the lucky one. And all of his years, he never mentioned that I was adopted either behind my back or in front of me. I was his son, Michael Edward Reagan.

When his families grew to be two families, he didn't walk away from the one to go to the other. But he became a father to both. To Patti and then Ronnie, but always to Maureen, my sister, and myself.

We looked forward to those Saturday mornings when he would pick us up, sitting on the curve on Beverly Glen as his car would turn the corner from Sunset Boulevard and we would get in and ride to his ranch and play games and he would always make sure it ended up a tie.

We would swim and we would ride horses or we'd just watch him cut firewood. We would be in awe of our father. As years went by and I became older and found a woman I would marry, Colleen, he sent me a letter about marriage and how important it was to be faithful to the woman you love with a P.S.: You'll never get in trouble if you say I love you at least once a day, and I'm sure he told Nancy every day "I love you" as I tell Colleen.

He also sent letters to his grandchildren. He wasn't able to be the grandfather that many of you are able to be because of the job that he had. And so he would write letters. He sent one letter to Cameron, said: "Cameron, some guy got $10,000 for my signature. Maybe this letter will help you pay for your college education. He signed it, Grandpa. P.S. Your grandpa is the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. He just signed his sign."

Those are the kinds of things my father did.

At the early onset of Alzheimer's disease, my father and I would tell each other we loved each other and we would give each other a hug. As the years went by and he could no longer verbalize my name, he recognized me as the man who hugged him. So when I would walk into the house, he would be there in his chair opening up his arms for that hug, hello, and the hug goodbye. It was a blessing truly brought on by God.

We had wonderful blessings of that nature. Wonderful, wonderful blessings that my father gave to me each and every day of my life.

I was so proud to have the Reagan name and to be Ronald Reagan's son. What a great honor. He gave me a lot of gifts as a child. Gave me a horse. Gave me a car. Gave me a lot of things. But there's a gift he gave me that I think is wonderful for every father to give every son.

Last Saturday, when my father opened his eyes for the last time, and visualized Nancy and gave her such a wonderful, wonderful gift.

When he closed his eyes, that's when I realized the gift that he gave to me, the gift that he was going to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He had, back in 1988 on a flight from Washington, D.C. to Point Mugu, told me about his love of God, his love of Christ as his Savior. I didn't know then what it all meant. But I certainly, certainly know now.

I can't think of a better gift for a father to give a son. And I hope to honor my father by giving my son Cameron and my daughter Ashley that very same gift he gave to me.

Knowing where he is this very moment, this very day, that he is in Heaven, and I can only promise my father this. Dad, when I go, I will go to Heaven, too. And you and I and my sister, Maureen, that went before us, we will dance with the heavenly host of angels before the presence of God. We will do it melanoma and Alzheimer's free. Thank you for letting me share my father, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

(***At first, when George H.W. Bush was speaking, I believed he was nervous because he was speaking too rapidly. That seemed a bit odd to me, since it's hard to believe that a former President would have that problem, even on an occasion like this one. Then, George Sr. started to choke up a little bit and I knew right then, it wasn't nervousness; it was his grief and emotion over losing not only his former boss, but a friend who he had lunch with once a week for 8 years. It was a fantastic eulogy and the thing about the nurse and the water, that just moved me...***)

When Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945, the New York Times wrote, "Men will thank God 100 years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House."

It will not take 100 years to thank God for Ronald Reagan. But why? Why was he so admired? Why was he so beloved?

He was beloved, first, because of what he was. Politics can be cruel, uncivil. Our friend was strong and gentle.

Once he called America hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent and fair. That was America and, yes, our friend.

And next, Ronald Reagan was beloved because of what he believed. He believed in America so he made it his shining city on a hill. He believed in freedom so he acted on behalf of its values and ideals. He believed in tomorrow so The Great Communicator became The Great Liberator.

He talked of winning one for the Gipper and as president, through his relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev, with us today, the Gipper and, yes, Mikhail Gorbachev won one for peace around the world.

If Ronald Reagan created a better world for many millions it was because of the world someone else created for him.

Nancy was there for him always. Her love for him provided much of his strength, and their love together transformed all of us as we've seen - renewed seeing again here in the last few days.

And one of the many memories we all have of both of them is the comfort they provided during our national tragedies.

Whether it was the families of the crew of the Challenger shuttle or the USS Stark or the Marines killed in Beirut, we will never forget those images of the president and first lady embracing them and embracing us during times of sorrow.

So, Nancy, I want to say this to you: Today, America embraces you. We open up our arms. We seek to comfort you, to tell you of our admiration for your courage and your selfless caring.

And to the Reagan kids - it's OK for me to say that at 80 - Michael, Ron, Patti, today all of our sympathy, all of our condolences to you all, and remember, too, your sister Maureen home safe now with her father.

As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life. I learned kindness; we all did. I also learned courage; the nation did.

Who can forget the horrible day in March 1981, he looked at the doctors in the emergency room and said, "I hope you're all Republicans."

And then I learned decency; the whole world did. Days after being shot, weak from wounds, he spilled water from a sink, and entering the hospital room aides saw him on his hands and knees wiping water from the floor. He worried that his nurse would get in trouble.

The good book says humility goes before honor, and our friend had both, and who could not cherish such a man?

And perhaps as important as anything, I learned a lot about humor, a lot about laughter. And, oh, how President Reagan loved a good story.

When asked, "How did your visit go with Bishop Tutu?" he replied, "So-so."

It was typical. It was wonderful.

And in leaving the White House, the very last day, he left in the yard outside the Oval Office door a little sign for the squirrels. He loved to feed those squirrels. And he left this sign that said, "Beware of the dog," and to no avail, because our dog Millie came in and beat the heck out of the squirrels.

But anyway, he also left me a note, at the top of which said, "Don't let the turkeys get you down."

Well, he certainly never let them get him down. And he fought hard for his beliefs. But he led from conviction, but never made an adversary into an enemy. He was never mean-spirited.

Reverend Billy Graham, who I refer to as the nation's pastor, is now hospitalized and regrets that he can't be here today. And I asked him for a Bible passage that might be appropriate. And he suggested this from Psalm 37: "The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps he has made firm. Though he stumble, he will not fall for the Lord upholds him with his hand."

And then this, too, from 37: "There is a future for the man of peace."

God bless you, Ronald Wilson Reagan and the nation you loved and led so well.

(*** Because Baroness Thatcher had a stroke a while back, her doctors asked her not to do public speaking engagements anymore. But, Margaret Thatcher taped a eulogy for the funeral and it was simply magnificent. I can't speak for anyone else, but I sincerely appreciate the beautiful and kind words Maggie had for the Gipper. If it's possible, my admiration for the Iron Lady, who is in my opinion the second greatest leader Europe has produced in the last century after Churchill, has increased. Here is what she had to say...***)

We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man. And I have lost a dear friend.

In his lifetime Ronald Reagan was such a cheerful and invigorating presence that it was easy to forget what daunting historic tasks he set himself. He sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism. These were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk.

Yet they were pursued with almost a lightness of spirit. For Ronald Reagan also embodied another great cause - what Arnold Bennett once called `the great cause of cheering us all up'. His politics had a freshness and optimism that won converts from every class and every nation - and ultimately from the very heart of the evil empire.

Yet his humour often had a purpose beyond humour. In the terrible hours after the attempt on his life, his easy jokes gave reassurance to an anxious world. They were evidence that in the aftermath of terror and in the midst of hysteria, one great heart at least remained sane and jocular. They were truly grace under pressure.

And perhaps they signified grace of a deeper kind. Ronnie himself certainly believed that he had been given back his life for a purpose. As he told a priest after his recovery `Whatever time I've got left now belongs to the Big Fella Upstairs'.

And surely it is hard to deny that Ronald Reagan's life was providential, when we look at what he achieved in the eight years that followed.

Others prophesied the decline of the West; he inspired America and its allies with renewed faith in their mission of freedom.

Others saw only limits to growth; he transformed a stagnant economy into an engine of opportunity.

Others hoped, at best, for an uneasy cohabitation with the Soviet Union; he won the Cold War - not only without firing a shot, but also by inviting enemies out of their fortress and turning them into friends.

I cannot imagine how any diplomat, or any dramatist, could improve on his words to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva summit: `Let me tell you why it is we distrust you.' Those words are candid and tough and they cannot have been easy to hear. But they are also a clear invitation to a new beginning and a new relationship that would be rooted in trust.

We live today in the world that Ronald Reagan began to reshape with those words. It is a very different world with different challenges and new dangers. All in all, however, it is one of greater freedom and prosperity, one more hopeful than the world he inherited on becoming president.

As Prime Minister, I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight of the most important years of all our lives. We talked regularly both before and after his presidency. And I have had time and cause to reflect on what made him a great president.

Ronald Reagan knew his own mind. He had firm principles - and, I believe, right ones. He expounded them clearly, he acted upon them decisively.

When the world threw problems at the White House, he was not baffled, or disorientated, or overwhelmed. He knew almost instinctively what to do.

When his aides were preparing option papers for his decision, they were able to cut out entire rafts of proposals that they knew `the Old Man' would never wear.

When his allies came under Soviet or domestic pressure, they could look confidently to Washington for firm leadership.

And when his enemies tested American resolve, they soon discovered that his resolve was firm and unyielding.

Yet his ideas, though clear, were never simplistic. He saw the many sides of truth.

Yes, he warned that the Soviet Union had an insatiable drive for military power and territorial expansion; but he also sensed it was being eaten away by systemic failures impossible to reform.

Yes, he did not shrink from denouncing Moscow's `evil empire'. But he realised that a man of goodwill might nonetheless emerge from within its dark corridors.

So the President resisted Soviet expansion and pressed down on Soviet weakness at every point until the day came when communism began to collapse beneath the combined weight of these pressures and its own failures. And when a man of goodwill did emerge from the ruins, President Reagan stepped forward to shake his hand and to offer sincere cooperation.

Nothing was more typical of Ronald Reagan than that large-hearted magnanimity - and nothing was more American.

Therein lies perhaps the final explanation of his achievements. Ronald Reagan carried the American people with him in his great endeavours because there was perfect sympathy between them. He and they loved America and what it stands for - freedom and opportunity for ordinary people.

As an actor in Hollywood's golden age, he helped to make the American dream live for millions all over the globe. His own life was a fulfilment of that dream. He never succumbed to the embarrassment some people feel about an honest expression of love of country.

He was able to say `God Bless America' with equal fervour in public and in private. And so he was able to call confidently upon his fellow-countrymen to make sacrifices for America - and to make sacrifices for those who looked to America for hope and rescue.

With the lever of American patriotism, he lifted up the world. And so today the world - in Prague, in Budapest, in Warsaw, in Sofia, in Bucharest, in Kiev and in Moscow itself - the world mourns the passing of the Great Liberator and echoes his prayer "God Bless America".

Ronald Reagan's life was rich not only in public achievement, but also in private happiness. Indeed, his public achievements were rooted in his private happiness. The great turning point of his life was his meeting and marriage with Nancy.

On that we have the plain testimony of a loving and grateful husband: `Nancy came along and saved my soul'. We share her grief today. But we also share her pride - and the grief and pride of Ronnie's children.

For the final years of his life, Ronnie's mind was clouded by illness. That cloud has now lifted. He is himself again - more himself than at any time on this earth. For we may be sure that the Big Fella Upstairs never forgets those who remember Him. And as the last journey of this faithful pilgrim took him beyond the sunset, and as heaven's morning broke, I like to think - in the words of Bunyan - that `all the trumpets sounded on the other side'.

We here still move in twilight. But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. We have his example. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God's children."

This week, the behavior of many people on the left has been not just boorish, but despicable and beneath contempt. Even though I'm very familiar with the "everything is politics" mentality of the left, I was surprised at how so many liberals just couldn't contain their hatred until the body was in the ground.

And I'm not talking so much about the left's petty complaints that the coverage of Reagan's death was "excessive" (although it was particularly crass & crude of Wonkette to describe it as "Gipperporn"), the neverending stream of attacks on Reagan & his policies, the Gipper being trashed in the comments section of John Kerry's official blog, or even Bill and Hillary Clinton both nodding off while they were sitting in the front row at the funeral....

No, I'm talking about the vast numbers of left-wingers who hurled the most vile and sickening epithets imaginable at Ronald Reagan, while his wife, children, and the rest of the nation were in mourning. I'm talking about people so lacking in basic, fundamental, human decency that they couldn't even wait until Reagan was buried to vent their spleen at him. Like the protestors who held up Reagan in Hell signs at the funeral today, there have been legions of left-wingers who just couldn't help but say things like this...

Last night, about 1:30 AM, I start having chest pains. Not severe pain, but pain right in the center of my chest nonetheless. And of course, when you have chest pain, those two dreaded words immediately pop into your head...

Heart attack.

So I asked myself: should I go to the hospital? The pain wasn't severe and there was nothing else wrong so I thought about it and then decided, "Nah, this is pretty light and hopefully it'll just go away by the time I get up". About 2:15 AM, I made it to sleep.

3:47 AM -- I wake up. The pain is worse and it's starting to radiate up into my jaw. I get up and grab a glass of water. This is not good. As I lay down, I can feel my heart beating like a triphammer. Now, I'm really on the bubble about going to the hospital. But, I'm incredibly tired, still not sure about which way I should go, and I slip off to sleep hoping it'll be better in the morning.

6:50 AM -- The phone rings and I don't pick it up. My philosophy is that if you're calling me before I normally get up on a week-day, I'm not answering unless somebody died or a bear just ripped your arm off and you need me to drive over and apply a tourniquet.

So as I wait for the answering machine to kick in, I can't help but notice that my chest still hurts. More. Again, not good. It's brother on the line. He has NEVER in his life called me at this time of day before. He sounds serious and although I'm still groggy, I catch the words "I just wanted to talk to you this morning, for some reason".

Suddenly, the plot of a dozen movies and odd news stories I've seen starts to flash through my mind. Someone gets a bad feeling about someone they know and they tell a friend or call and can't reach them then, next thing you know....

That was the clincher for me.

So now I had to decide whether to call an ambulance or drive myself to the hospital. I was inclined to drive, but I wasn't sure how bad the traffic would be this time of day. I could see myself getting stuck in traffic and then being hit full force with a heart attack. I've never had one before, but I remembered Richard Pryor talking about what it was like in his stand up routine...

"I was walking in the front yard and something said, ‘Don’t breathe no more'"

Can you imagine being hit with that while you're stuck in a traffic jam? I could just see the headline in the Charlotte Observer, "Famous Blogger Dies In Traffic". Ok, that's actually the sort of headline Glenn Reynolds would get. I'd probably get "Man Dies In Traffic" somewhere way in the back of the local section assuming it didn't get bumped by a story about sewage run-off or a fluff piece about charity work done by some guy on the Carolina Panther's practice squad.

In any case, I called work, filled up Patton's food and water bowls, and then called 911. Literally two minutes after I was off the phone, I heard sirens in the distance. I barely had time to slap a pillow & David Horrowitz's Destructive Generation in a bag before the ambulance & a firetruck arrived.

So, I walk over to the ambulance, get in and they slap those suction cups all over my chest, gave me an EKG, and...they told me I wasn't having a heart attack. Whewwww!

They speculated that the issue may have been a more extreme than normal gastric reflux problem and they gave me the option of going to the hospital or...well, all I needed to hear was that there was an "or" and I was ready to hop out of the ambulance. Then I cleaned up, headed to work, dealt with the chest pain all day, until after work when I could grab some antacids that pretty much fixed the problem.

However, because of this incident, among several other things, I have been completely exhausted all day long. So, this is the last post of the day and there won't be another RWN update until around 6:30 PM tomorrow. For now, I need to get some sleep, but I'll be back mañana...

Mrs. Reagan, members of the president's family, colleagues, distinguished guests, members of the diplomatic corps, fellow citizens, knowing that this moment would come has not made it any easier to see the honor guard and flag draped before us and to begin America's farewell to President Ronald Reagan.

He said goodbye to us in a letter that showed his great courage and love for America. Yet for his friends and his country, the parting comes only now. And in this national vigil of mourning, we show how much America loved this good man and how greatly we will miss him.

A harsh winter morning in 1985 brought the inaugural ceremony inside of this Rotunda. And standing in this place for the 50th presidential inauguration, Ronald Reagan spoke of a nation that was hopeful, big hearted, idealistic, daring, decent and fair.

That was how he saw America, and that was how America came to know him.

There was a kindness, simplicity and goodness of character that marked all of the years of his life.

When you mourn a man of 93, no one is left who remembers him as a child in his mother's arm. Ronald Wilson Reagan's life began in a time and a place so different from our own in a quiet town on the prairie on the 6th of February, 1911.

Nell and Jack Reagan would live long enough to see the kind of man they had raised, but they could never know all that destiny had in store for the boy they called Dutch.

And if they could witness this funeral in 2004, their son, taken to his rest with the full honors of the United States, they would be so proud of all he had done with the life they gave him and the things they taught him.

President Reagan once said, "I learned from my father the value of hard work and ambition and maybe a little something about telling a story."

That was the Ronald Reagan who confidently set out on his own from Dixon, Illinois, during the Great Depression, a man who would one day speak before families and crowds with such ease and self-command.

"From my mother," said President Reagan, "I learned the value of prayer. My mother told me that everything in life happened for a purpose. She said all things were part of God's plan, even the most disheartening setbacks. And, in the end, everything worked out for the best."

This was the Ronald Reagan who had faith, not just in his own gifts and his own future, but in the possibilities of every life. The cheerful spirit that carried him forward was more than a disposition; it was the optimism of a faithful soul who trusted in God's purposes and knew those purposes to be right and true.

He once said, "There's no question I am an idealist," which is another way of saying, "I am an American."

We usually associate that quality with youth, and yet one of the most idealistic men ever to become president was also the oldest. He excelled in professions that have left many others jaded and self-satisfied, and yet somehow remained untouched by the worst influences of fame or power.

If Ronald Reagan ever uttered a cynical or a cruel or a selfish word, the moment went unrecorded. Those who knew him in his youth and those who knew him a lifetime later all remember his largeness of spirit, his gentle instincts and a quiet rectitude that drew others to him.

Seen now at a distance, his strengths as a man and as a leader are only more impressive. It's the nature of the city of Washington that men and women arrive, leave their mark and go their way. Some figures who seemed quite large and important in their day are sometimes forgotten or remembered with ambivalence.

Yet nearly a generation after the often impatient debates of the Reagan years, what lingers from that time is almost all good. And this is because of the calm and kind man who stood at the center of events.

We think back with appreciation for the decency of our 40th president and respect for all that he achieved. After so much turmoil in the '60s and '70s, our nation had begun to lose confidence. And some were heard to say that the presidency might even be too big for one man. That phrase did not survive the 1980s.

For decades, American had waged a Cold War and few believed it could possibly end in our own lifetimes. The president was one of those few. And it was the vision and the will of Ronald Reagan that gave hope to the oppressed, shamed the oppressors and ended an evil empire.

More than any other influence, the Cold War was ended by the perseverance and courage of one man who answered falsehood with truth and overcame evil with good.

Ronald Reagan was more than a historic figure. He was a providential man who came along just when our nation and the world most needed him.

And believing as he did that there is a plan at work in each life, he accepted not only the great duties that came to him, but also the great trials that came near the end.

When he learned of his illness, his first thoughts were of Nancy.

And who else but Ronald Reagan could face his own decline and death with a final message of hope to his country, telling us that for America, there is always a bright dawn ahead?

Fellow Americans, here lies a graceful and a gallant man.

Nancy, none of us can take away the sadness you are feeling. I hope it is a comfort to know how much he means to us and how much you mean to us as well.

We honor your grace, your own courage and, above all, the great love that you gave to your husband.

When these days of ceremony are completed, the nation returns him to you for the final journey to the West.

And when he is laid to rest under the Pacific sky, we will be thinking of you as we commend to the Almighty the soul of his faithful servant, Ronald Wilson Reagan

If you examine Reagan as a young man, you can tell that he was an extraordinary man, even back then. Not only did he save 77 lives as a lifeguard, he was willing to pick up a gun to defend a woman in trouble...

"More than 70 years ago, as IowaChannel.com reports, long-time Iowa resident Melba King was a 22-year-old nursing student.

"The Reagans helped King when she lost her husband Harold in 1987," said the Iowa news outlet, "and now she will send Nancy Reagan a sympathy note."

This is just un.be.lievable...

"DAN Rather and Tom Brokaw work for different networks but agree one thing — coverage of Ronald Reagan's death has been excessive, they say.

"The last time I had to do it was with O.J. Simpson [during the 1994 car chase], and I had nothing to say after a certain period of time."

Note that Brokaw and Rather didn't come out and say the coverage was "excessive" in the middle of stories like Enron, "Bush Knew", the 9/11 hearings, Abu Ghraib, the DC sniper killings, Gary Condit & Chandra Levy, Baghdad Museum, looting in Iraq, Valerie Plame, the 16 words SOTU speech controversy, etc, etc, etc.

No, with those stories, they could go on endlessly from now until next year, exploring every aspect of them in nauseating detail, until there was nothing that hadn't been said a hundred times before, in a hundred different ways. In fact, Rather & Brokaw are men who have made a living beating dead horses down to nothing but flayed skin and powder and yet, after 4 days of covering Ronald Reagan's death they're ready "to spare coverage". Heck, they're so sick of covering Reagan that after consistently burying every bit of good news that might enable people to fully understand "the reality of Iraq," they're even interested in talking about that at long last.

But, you know what? I almost, almost, can't blame them because all of this must be horribly embarrassing for them in a way that most people can't comprehend. You see, not only did people like Brokaw, Rather, and the rest of the liberal intelligentsia in the 80s, think that Reagan was dumb as a stone, they thought he was a dangerous, old, crackpot.

Today, we hear people lauding Reagan for invading Grenada, slashing taxes, rebuilding the military, calling the Soviets an evil empire, the "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" line, & building SDI among other things. However, what most people don't realize, is that back in the eighties, the left in America overwhelmingly opposed doing all of those things. So just imagine what it must be like for people like Rather and Brokaw to see this sort of eruption of love, respect, & gratitude for a man they believed was an imbecile who was wrong about everything.

But don't worry about it Dan & Tom, you just have to cover the Gipper for two more days, then, for the most part, you can go back to spouting your normal pabulum for your declining audiences without having to talk about Ronald Wilson Reagan anymore...

Quite understandably, there are a number of proposals floating around right now to honor the Gipper. Mitch McConnell wants to have Reagan replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, Dana Rohrabacher wants Dutch on the $20, and there are proposals floating around to have the great communicator split time with FDR on the dime or replace JFK on the 50-cent piece. Rep. Ron Young, R-Painesville even introduced a resolution requesting that Congress add Ron Reagan to Mt. Rushmore.

Now, is the Gipper worthy of those sorts of honors? In my opinion, absolutely. Personally, I'd put Reagan in the #5 slot for US Presidents, only behind Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, & Madison.

That being said, I don't feel that in honoring Reagan, we should forsake other great Americans of times past. Many conservatives, myself included, detest FDR's domestic policies, but he did lead us through WW2. JFK was incredibly popular and Andrew Jackson and Alexander Hamilton were enormous figures in American history. And the Presidents on Mt. Rushmore -- Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln? These men DESERVE to have their own monument.

Now some of the other proposals like renaming the space-based missile-defense program or creating a "Ronald Reagan University," that's fine. And the already aptly named aircraft carrier "U.S.S. Ronald Reagan"? That's perfect for the Gipper.

But, in these days and times, when our mediocre public schools barely teach our kids history at all, we should celebrate these figures, not shunt them aside to make room for another hero. Furthermore, while I certainly can't speak for the Reagans, judging by what Nancy said last year when there was talk about replacing FDR with her husband on the dime, I strongly suspect this is how they'd feel about this subject as well.

Besides, whether Reagan's name shows up on a building or on our currency, as long as Americans understand the truth, that because of the Gipper things like this became possible, his memory will never die...

It has been a tough week all over because the Gipper passed away. But, at least somebody is still having a good time waiting to pounce when I try to make a move on his favorite toy...

What a wonderful day yesterday must have been for our friends in the anti-war movement!

First off, their beloved UN has now endorsed our efforts in Iraq 15-0! Huzzah for us! How did we ever get along with moral authority that has now been given to us by the backing of UN Security members like China, France, Russia, Germany, Chile, Benin, Angola, & Algeria?

But hey, they wanted UN approval, they wanted backing from the "international community," well now they have it. Yip skiddelly do-dah!

There was also another development that should ease the minds of anti-war simpletons whose had trouble coming up with a reason to oppose the war that didn't fit on a handy-dandy bumper sticker...

"Iraqi officials declared Tuesday that the interim government has assumed full control of the country's oil industry ahead of the June 30 handover of sovereignty from the U.S.-led occupation administration.

"Today the most important natural resource has been returned to Iraqis to serve all Iraqis," Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said. "I'm pleased to announce that full sovereignty and full control on oil industry has been handed over to the oil ministry today and to the new Iraqi government as of today."

Where are your "No blood for oil!" signs now chumps?

I wrote not one, but two columns in the build-up to the war explaining why it wasn't about oil. But, it didn't do any good because people who form their opinions based on little more than emotion and feelings are almost impervious to logic.

Heck, who knows? Maybe this won't faze them either. They'll probably still be shouting "blood for oil" & "it's another Vietnam" right up until the day the Iraqis have their elections and our forces have left the country. Then, it'll be, "There's no reason to give you Republicans credit for getting rid of Saddam and helping Iraq become a Democracy. We knew it would succeed all along. Everybody did!".

Feel free to jump on the bandwagon now fellas. Go ahead and admit that we were right to get rid of Saddam and that we are going to succeed in helping them towards Democracy. It'll just save you time down the road...

This isn't the typical RWN post, but I just felt like I had to comment, at least once, on what a great couple Ron & Nancy Reagan were.

I mean, just go down the page and take a look at the pictures of the two of them together. They just looked so thrilled to be with each other...and they were.

Just read what Reagan had to say about their marriage in an old "60 Minutes" interview...

"Nancy's power was the power of well, giving me a marriage that was like an adolescent's dream of what marriage should be. Clark Gable had some words once, when he said there is nothing more wonderful for a man than to know as he approaches his own doorstep that someone on the other side of that door is listening for the sound of his footsteps."

Reagan even wrote love letters to Nancy, so many that there were enough of them to fill a whole book. Here's just a little sample from one of them that'll give you an idea of how Ronald Reagan felt about his wife...

"You see I have this problem. I miss you when you first leave the room. I worry about you when you go out the front door. Now this isn't good for me since my transplant. (you into my heart 29 years ago next March.) Without you there would be no sun, no moon, no stars. With you they are all out at the same time."

It was obvious that Nancy felt the same way. You could tell just by the way she used to look up at him when he spoke back in the eighties, eyes wide-open and full of wonder, like she just couldn't believe how lucky she was to be standing right there beside him.

Then when the Gipper got Alzheimer's, Nancy stayed with him, looked after him the whole time, and that must have been just brutal. To be deeply in love with someone and watch them fade away a day at a time, slowly, cruelly, being robbed of every memory they ever had of their life, of their children, of you. To hang in there, to take care of your husband for 10 years under those circumstances, takes a lot of love and dedication.

Although Dutch, because of the Alzheimer's, hadn't been able to return his wife's affection like he used to, somehow, someway, he managed to do it one last time Saturday just before he passed away...

"And as Nancy Reagan publicly showed her heartbreak, details of her final private moment with the love of her life were revealed last night as one of deep sorrow and miraculous surprise.

"His last earthy look was at his wife, his next look was at the face of God," Michael Reagan told People."

One day, in a better place than this one, the two of them will be united again...

Like cockroaches pouring out of a dank pile of garbage, left-wingers from across the net have already started vomiting forth their attacks on Ronald Reagan. Legions of small, vulgar, people, degenerates that they are, could not even wait until the body was in the ground before launching the most grotesque invective their misshapen brains could come up with. Their numbers include...

Joe Davidson at MSNBC, Greg Palast, Christopher Hitchens at Slate, Ted Rall, Danny Glover, Bartcop, Daily Kos, numerous authors at CounterPunch & The Democratic Underground Forums, on & on & on...

It's also worth noting that these troglodytes were joined by Castro's Cuba, Muammar Gaddafi, & Daniel Ortega in trashing Reagan. But, the sort of crude & puerile boors who myopically view life through the twisted prism of their own politics are not likely to be bothered by that sort of thing. In fact, there is no point in asking whether these people are ashamed of their behavior or whether they have any sense of decency, because the answer is already painfully obvious.

It has become fashionable to point out how much many of these same people "hate Bush". But, after watching their gross & indecent attacks on Reagan so soon after his passing, it has become obvious that these people are actually wretched, crass, bile filled pigs who are simply so consumed by hatred that they can't help but let it spew out at every opportunity...

I've written a couple of articles (here & here) similar to this one by the incomparable Victor Davis Hanson comparing how war was treated in WW2 and how war is treated today.

But, I thought VDH did such a magnificent job explaining "What our generation might have said" after Normandy that I just had to post part of it. Enjoy...

John Kerry: Let me just say as a veteran—and one with some experience in military affairs—that you don’t just pull up to a beach and expect to trot into Europe. And I will add as well, as I have on previous occasions, that this was the worst planned American operation in our entire history. As is the custom in this hallowed nation, someone now, some person, has to, must, and should be held accountable for this mess. In my capacity as a leader in foreign affairs in the Senate, I have with all candor tried to tell this administration to slow down and get the League of Nations back into the peace process. But as I have repeatedly warned, when you unilaterally go off to invade some continent, this is what you get.

This administration talks grandly of the “Allies;” but as I have demonstrated on numerous occasions, what they are really talking about are just two countries on the beach with us, and as expected I have warned about just what we are seeing now, that those who die will be Americans and those who pay for it all will be us. As a humanitarian, of course, I agree that Hitler was a tyrant and has to go—but there are more subtle and sober ways to do just that than blindly landing on a stormy beach and sending Americans to their slaughter.

George Soros: Now after this mess maybe we can feel what the inferno of Hamburg was like a year ago. They’re about the same thing after all–only now they’re doing to us what we did to them.

Ted Koppel: Tonight I will read the names of the dead of the 101st Airborne, tomorrow the 82nd. Have patience with us. There really are thousands of American casualties—and this was just on the first day of what we know is more to come later this month. And while our leaders don’t wish to deal with it, we at ABC do—and think you do as well.

Moveon.org: Maybe now the American people will finally grow up when they see their children slaughtered on a French beach and huddled in hedgerows waiting to die. But what they don’t know is that thousands of poor conscripted Russians and eastern Europeans were innocent targets whom our boys killed on so-called D-Day. And does America want to deal with the five thousand French civilians who died in our secret bombing campaign before the invasion? Let those who said we’d be greeted with roses explain the charred bodies of women and children to the French public.

Noam Chomsky: It is well recognized that there is already a pipeline across the Channel. On good authority we know that petroleum is already flowing to this new captive European market. As leading scholars have pointed out, to understand the barbarism at Normandy one must learn about Standard Oil and British Petroleum—and the Rockefeller-Ford nexus.

Harper’s Magazine, June 1944:

—Our Canadian embedded reporter spends a year with the Waffen SS—why they fight and why we can’t do anything about them!

—The refugee Jews and how their intelligentsia diverted us from Japan—and are crafting a secret plan to turn Germany into a pastoral country.

—The werewolf movement to come!

NPR: Today we speak with Pierre Lang, a Normandy dairy farmer and once proud owner of four cows—until the morning of June 6.

Farmer Lang: “The Germans? They never blew up my cows! No—only you did that. Look at the craters, the burned barn, the dead animals. Who are the real Nazis?”

NPR: Perhaps you should ask Mr. Roosevelt that question, Mr. Lang.

The New York Times: The unfortunate slaughter of the last month and the present quagmire in the hedgerows are the unfortunate wages of a certain American arrogance— that we can always simply go where we wish, count on locals to admire us, and see the world in terms of black and white, of “good” Americans and “bad” Germans. As we saw last month, simplistic logic, leads to careless planning that in turn results in thousands of dead and wounded Americans on a stormy beach and the survivors huddled a few miles away in a hostile countryside that shows no desire to be “liberated.”

Read it all here.

Today, ironically, many people will tell that the fall of the Soviet Union was a forgone conclusion and that Reagan was just lucky to be around when it happened.

But in actuality, Reagan totally broke with the policies of the predecessors & his every move was opposed every step of the way by the American left & sometimes by even his compatriots on the right.

Here are a few quotes from Ann Coulter's book "Treason" that'll give you a little more perspective on how unrealistic many people thought Reagan's belief that he could bring down the evil empire actually was...

"(In 1976), (Henry) Kissenger proclaimed, "We cannot prevent the growth of Soviet power." -- P. 159

"Again in 1982, (US deputy secretary of state under Clinton) (Strobe) Talbott wearily proclaimed that it was "wishful thinking to predict that International Communism some day will either self-destruct or so exhaust itself in internecine conflict that other nations will no longer be threatened." -- P. 169

"A widely cited 1983 study conducted by thirty-five Soviet experts from Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and other elite institutions predicted, "The Soviet Union is going to remain a stable state, with a very stable, conservative, immobile government...We don't see any collapse or weakening of the Soviet system." -- P. 169

"The Soviet Union was certainly not behaving like a power in decline when Reagan entered the Oval Office. Soviet hegemony had been advancing steadily advancing for sixty years. More than a billion people lived under Communism. The USSR had nuclear weapons pointed at U.S. soil and outnumber the United States in conventional arms by ratio of about 3:1." -- P. 170

"The Soviets'relentless expansionism and prodigious military buildup, Nixon wrote (in his 1979 book "The Real War"), would force Americans to face "two cold realities for the first time in modern history" in the coming decade: "The first is that, if war were to come, we might lose. The second is that we might be defeated without war." -- P. 170

"Congressional Democrats repeatedly opposed funding anti-Communist rebels, they opposed Reagan's military build-up, they opposed building a shield to protect America from incoming missiles, they opposed putting missiles in Europe. As a rule, Democrats opposed anything opposed by (the) Soviet Union." -- Ann Coulter, P. 171

"(In 1980), The (New York) Times sneered at Reagan's "bluster, bravado, & refusal to recognize that America is no longer, if it ever was, king of the world". -- P. 180

"When an advance copy of Reagan's "Berlin Wall" ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!") speech was circulated, it was vehemently opposed by "virtually the entire foreign policy apparatus of the U.S. government," according to the draft's author, speechwriter Peter Robinson." -- P. 184

I think this quote from Coulter sums it up pretty well...

"Reagan took an approach to the Cold War dramatically different from any other US President. To wit, he thought we should win. This was a fresh concept. At the time, it was widely ridiculed as a dangerous alteration of US policy. Only after it worked was Reagan's dangerous foreign policy recast as merely a continuation of the policies of his predecessors." -- P. 158

It's not going to be "All Reagan -- All The Time" here at RWN this week, although there will most assuredly be more posts and daily news about the Gipper all the way through Friday. I'm just going to play it by ear and we'll see what happens.

One day after the death of Ronald Reagan, I can't help but think back to that quote by Flaubert,

"Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat our tunes to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity."

How do you explain the totality of Ronald Reagan to people who were too young to remember him, disinterested in politics, or even to those who just can't understand the depth of feeling that so many people in this country have for the man?

It's a difficult task, one that is perhaps beyond my abilities, but for Reagan's sake, I must make the attempt.

Certain figures in history, like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or Winston Churchill, were not simply titans among men, but came along at a particular point in history where their talents were most needed.

So it was with Reagan. (Cont)

"I hated him when he was President. Now I'm a 38 year-old man who can't stop crying. And that's the truth." -- Dean Esmay at Dean's World

"It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly ten years since Reagan left the public scene with his announcement that he had Alzheimers. He’s had such a profound impact on my life and has been the best President of my lifetime. The country was a mess when he tookover – interest rates in the low teens, inflation high and unemployment high – and when he left office the country had been transformed. I’ve missed him for the last decade or so and I’ll continue to miss him." -- Robert Prather from Insults Unpunished

"I didn’t vote for him (I was still a Democrat), but enjoyed (and enjoy) the benefits of his presidency and its after-effects. It’s a sad day, but he’s been released from his purgatory of Alzheimer’s disease. God rest your soul, Mister President." -- Baldilocks

"I don’t know what to say. I grew up with Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office. I remember the day in fourth grade, sitting at home after school, watching coverage of the Challenger disaster and seeing the president’s response. I remember seeing him behind that desk, telling us about an air strike launched against Libya. I remember him saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” I remember watching as the Soviet Union collapsed. I remember watching that wall come down. I remember thinking it was his work that allowed it to happen. I remember watching the 84 election on television and being giddy as I watched state after state blink blue in landslide victories. I remember how just listening to him made me feel good to be an American. That it was OK to be proud – that it was right. I remember thinking that he was winning so easily because other people felt the same way. I remember him." -- Zygote-Design

"The announcement of Reagan’s passing left me with a lump in my throat as well. Regardless of what others may say of him and his life, he was a man who embodied statesmanship when America needed it. I will miss him." -- D.C. Thornton

"Of President Reagan I can only say this: I loved him because he taught me to love my country. I don't mean he made me love the Laffer Curve or Peace Through Strength or the Idea that Reagan Beat Communism -- although these are things I all believe in, in one way or another. Ronald Reagan made be believe that you could believe in something at once both earthly and beyond yourself. He made me believe that the world need not be cynical and power mad, but could be decent and free. He made me believe in a political enterprise -- the American enterprise -- which could deliver that message to the world." -- Andrew at Pathetic Earthlings

"Maybe it's because I lost my father recently, but I have been quite upset by Reagan's passing today. He was a larger-then-life figure, and a personal hero not only to me but to countless other people. He was our last truly great president. He was the first president I really remember, and during my teenage years he exemplified everything that I currently love about America. I think that's one of the reasons that this has affected me so deeply—Reagan was America, and with his death it's as if a little piece of America died with him. He wouldn't agree with that sentiment, of course; he understood that the American experiment is bigger than any one man. But it's fair to say that the world is a drastically different and far better place because of Reagan's influence, wisdom, ideas, and steely resolve in the face of right and wrong." -- Lee from Right-Thinking From The Left Coast

"So much to say about this fine man but I’d rather keep my thoughts to myself. What I will say is that he brought a bright ray of hope to a very young girl who thought that there just may be no future for us. I will always be grateful to former President Ronald Reagan.

"What I’d really like to do is go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again."

He did that for me.

"I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

Many try to bring this country down, even some of our own countrymen. Many blame this country for everything, even some of our own countrymen. But this country will come out on top, this country is strong and this country will have many bright dawns ahead because of men like Reagan.

Rest In Peace, sir." -- Serenity from Serenity's Journal

"My family is from the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. They left that nation in order to come to America for a better life. They hated Communism almost as much as President Reagan. I remember when I was 7 years old, in 1984, attending a speech by President Reagan in NJ. I don’t remember any of the speech, or many images from that day, other than the view of the backs of people’s legs…….I do remember that my family was extremely proud to be there, to see a speech by President Reagan. Growing up I learned why. Conservatives and moderates in America weren’t the only people on Earth that truly loved Ronald Reagan. People who lived behind the Communist Iron Curtain also loved the man. He was hope and freedom personified. Words fail me at this point. All I can think of is: Rest in peace President Reagan." -- Reader Michael Dobric at The Corner

"I hope you will forgive this sentimental note. I have been greatly saddened by the death of President Reagan and felt the need to commemorate his passing by writing a few lines in his memory. Having grown up in communist Czechoslovakia, I have seen, first hand, the material and, more importantly, spiritual devastation that socialism brings. Generations of people in Eastern Europe were impoverished and their morality and sense of self-worth annihilated by a corrupt, inherently dishonest and tyrannical value system. Thanks to Reagan, people like me were set free at a young age. Untainted by socialism, we were allowed our most basic right – to pursue happiness in a place and manner of our choosing. But, it did not have to happen that way! Were the Soviet bloc allowed to continue in its miserable existence for another two decades, my generation would have morphed into that great-gray mass of people that the historians write off as 'lost.' It is not a hyperbole to say that Reagan gave us our freedom and for that I am eternally thankful." - from a Czech friend at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish

Since today is Ronald Reagan's 92nd birthday, I thought it would be a good time to remind people of what Reagan accomplished during his eight years in office. That shouldn't be necessary, but Reagan's critics continually harp upon the faults of his administration (increasing the debt, Iran Contra) & regularly attempt to distort his record in an attempt to deny him the credit he deserves.

To begin with, to fully appreciate what Reagan accomplished, you must consider the terrible condition America was in when he arrived. America's military was in sad shape, the economy was gripped in the most severe meltdown that America had experienced since the great depression, & Vietnam, Watergate, & four years of last century's worst President (Jimmy Carter), had led many Americans and much of the world to wonder if America had passed it's peak and was beginning to decline.

Ronald Reagan was responsible for changing all of that. Here are Reagan's biggest accomplishments...

Taxes: Reagan slashed taxes from a 70% top bracket in 1981 to 28% in 1986. That resulted in 20 million jobs being created between 1983 - 1989, a doubling of the amount of revenue going into government coffers, and a wave of prosperity that America rode from 1983 until 2001 with only a small pause at the end of the George Bush Sr.'s term.

Rebuilding America's Military: If you want to know why America is such a military powerhouse today, then you need look no further than Reagan. Reagan's funding increases and dedication to strengthening our military are what allowed us to be so successful in the Gulf War and beyond. If Reagan hadn't come along, our military capabilities would be only a shadow of what of they are today.

SDI: Reagan's much derided "Star Wars program" not only helped convince the Soviets that they couldn't compete with America, but the missile defense system we're going to have working (at least in a rudimentary form) possibly as early as 2004, is an outgrowth of the program Reagan promoted.

Defeating The Soviet Union: When Reagan came into office, détente was the policy of the day. Reagan abandoned détente and made no secret of the fact that considered the Soviet Union to be an, "evil empire." Instead of cooperating with the Soviets, Reagan forced them to try to keep up with America's massive military budget when they could barely feed their own people. Eventually Gorbachev, who was an avowed Communist, realized that the Soviets had no hope of keeping up with the US, and he started trying to implement reforms. Things soon spiraled out of his control and the death of the Soviet Union occurred withina few years. Had Reagan never been in office and had the policy of détente continued to the present day, the Soviet Union would probably still exist.

Rebuilding the Republican party: Just as Babe Ruth "saved" baseball after the, "Black Sox scandal", Ronald Reagan "saved" the Republican party after Nixon. Reagan's incredible popularity (1980: Reagan 489 electoral votes -- Carter 49 & 1984: Reagan 525 electoral votes -- Mondale 13) forever altered the way the public viewed the Republican Party and the way the GOP viewed itself. Had Reagan lost 1980 or 1984, it's doubtful that we'd see the GOP controlling both Congress and the Presidency today.

Those are what I consider to be Reagan's "big five accomplishments." Of course, Reagan is also fondly remembered for his patriotism & optimism, which you can get a feel for by reading the final paragraph of a letter Reagan wrote to the American people to announce that he had Alzheimer's Disease....

"In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."

Is it any wonder that so many Conservatives love & respect the Gipper?

This article was originally posted at RWN on Feb 6, 2003

10) The ultimate determinate in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas - a trial of spiritual resolve; the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideas to which we are dedicated.

9) I hope that when you're my age you'll be able to say, as I have been able to say: we lived in freedom, we lived lives that were a statement, not an apology.

8) Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.

7) I have seen the rise and fall of Nazi tyranny, the subsequent cold war and the nuclear nightmare that for fifty years haunted the dreams of children everywhere. During that time my generation defeated totalitarianism. As a result, your world is poised for better tomorrows. What will you do on your journey?

6) We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

5) You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

4) Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

3) And how stands (America) on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.

2) We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them -- this morning, as they prepared for their journey, and waved good-bye, and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God". (Speech about the Challenger disaster).

1) General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. (Speech at the Berlin Wall)

The text of Ronald Reagan's November, 1994 farewell letter to the American people after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease...

My Fellow Americans,

I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Upon learning this news, Nancy and I had to decide whether as private citizens we would keep this a private matter or whether we would make this news known in a public way.

In the past Nancy suffered from breast cancer and I had my cancer surgeries. We found through our open disclosures we were able to raise public awareness. We were happy that as a result many more people underwent testing.

They were treated in early stages and able to return to normal, healthy lives.

So now, we feel it is important to share it with you. In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it.

At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done. I will continue to share life’s journey with my beloved Nancy and my family. I plan to enjoy the great outdoors and stay in touch with my friends and supporters.

Unfortunately, as Alzheimer’s Disease progresses, the family often bears a heavy burden. I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience. When the time comes I am confident that with your help she will face it with faith and courage.

In closing let me thank you, the American people for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your President. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.

I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.

Sincerely,

Ronald Reagan

For those of you who are unaware, Ronald Reagan has passed away at his home in California.

To be honest, I don't really have the words to talk about this. When I heard the news, I could hardly stand up, I had trouble breathing. It felt like one of my parents died. I'm still so choked up, I'm having difficulty typing this.

But, I feel like I owe to the Gipper to do my best to send him off right. So, I'm going to spend the next couple days doing what I can to pay tribute to one of the greatest figures of the 20th century and a better man than I'll ever be.

Everything I write this week-end, will remain up on Monday, which will be entirely dedicated to Ronald Reagan's memory.

Godspeed Gipper, Godspeed.

***Update #1***: All these posts about Ronald Reagan were made this week-end and moved to Monday.