RONALD WILSON REAGAN
Born: February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois
Died: June 5, 2004, in Los Angeles, California
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Such is the second year of Reagan’s passing; I never revered and loved a president as I did Reagan. I understood his faults and his shortcomings and held him above nevertheless.
There will, as far as I am concerned, never be another American President as beloved.
God Bless you, Ronald Reagan.
BZ
It was a good day.
First: Karl Rove was exonerated Tuesday:
Top presidential aide Karl Rove will not be indicted in the CIA leak case, according to Rove’s lawyer. Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald had questioned Rove about his role in the public revelation that Valerie Plame had been an undercover CIA agent.
Rove’s lawyer says Fitzgerald has formally told him that Rove will not be charged. Already under indictment is former White House aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff.
The news, which came in a letter to Rove’s attorney, lifts a cloud from over the White House. It should also allow Rove to focus on the Republican Party’s efforts to maintain its congressional majority in the November elections.
Chuckie Schumer is pissed and demands the prosecutor to justify his decision to not burn Rove. Sorry Chuckie; no second “perp walk” for Karlie. Howard Dean said:
“He doesn’t belong in the White House. If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago,” said Dean, the Democratic Party chairman, speaking Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show. “So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it’s not very good news for America.”
Second: President Bush visited Iraq and proffered a stirring speech:
Bush foiled the press (the temerity!) and jetted into Iraq directly from Camp David, making his second visit to Baghdad since the 2003 invasion on Tuesday, days after U.S. forces killed al Qaeda’s chief in Iraq.
“Good to see you,” Iraq’s new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Bush as they shook hands in one of Saddam Hussein’s old palaces. “Thanks for having me,” Bush replied.
From the Green Zone in Baghdad, President Bush spoke in front of the troops. In part, he said:
I have come today to personally show our nation’s commitment to a free Iraq. My message to the Iraqi people is this: seize the moment; seize this opportunity to develop a government of and by and for the people. And I also have a message to the Iraqi people that when America gives a commitment, America will keep its commitment.
I told you earlier we were laying the foundation of peace for generations to come, and we are, because we go with confidence knowing that liberty is the desire of every soul. When Iraq succeeds, reformers and people who desire to live in a free society will see such a hopeful example, and they’ll begin to demand the same rights and the same conditions and the same hopeful society.
And that’s why I tell you what you’re doing is historic in nature. People will look back at this period and wonder whether or not America was true to its beginnings; whether we strongly believed in the universality of freedom and whether we were willing to act on it. Certainly we acted in our own self-interest right after September the 11th; and now we act not only in our own self-interests, but in the interests of men, women and children in the broader Middle East, no matter what their religion, no matter where they were born, no matter how they speak.
This is a moment — this is a time where the world can turn one way or the other, where the world can be a better place or a more dangerous place. And the United States of America and citizens such as yourself are dedicated to making sure that the world we leave behind is a better place for all.
It is such an honor to be here. It is such an honor to be with you. May God bless you all, may God bless your work, may God bless your families, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.
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This is finally, President Bush, “just what the doctor ordered.”
Keep it up.
BZ
P.S.
Once again Blogger will not allow photographs to be included.
“Three Muslims committed suicide at the Guantanamo Bay prison and now, more than ever, this is a clear indication that Gitmo needs to be completely shut down and all those present set free.”
Only this scenario would please the American Left and others around the globe.
I do not believe this is prudent for any number of reasons, not the least of which is mindset and philosophy, a factor that, once again, liberals fail to take into account.
A bit of background; from The Economist:
THREE suicides at the weekend among inmates at Guantánamo Bay have brought renewed calls for the closure of the already widely-condemned American prison. Set up at an American naval base in Cuba in January 2002, the camp contains some 460 terrorist suspects, many of whom have been held for more than four years without charge. Lawyers for the prisoners called the suicides an act of desperation.
That from this British-based magazine to which I subscribe, amongst other left-leaning publications — in order to see and read “how the other half lives.”
A US military professional recently indicated that these suicides are a form of cogent and planned asymmetrical war against the United States, insofar as they realized their deaths would confound the plans of our nation and bring Gitmo further into a negative light in terms of its proposed eradication by those who have no concept of the War Against Islamists; why otherwise would three separate persons commit suicide and leave alleged “suicide notes” on the same day at roughly the same time?
In addition, all persons know that Muslims simply do not commit suicide. That is what we are told, yes? No? What about the downing of EgyptAir Flight 990 on 10-31-1999 in which the Muslim co-pilot deliberately drove the massive Boeing 767 into the ocean?
Two years afterward the U.S. and Egyptian governments are still quarreling over the cause—a clash that grows out of cultural division, not factual uncertainty. A look at the flight data from a pilot’s perspective, with the help of simulations of the accident, points to what the Egyptians must already know: the crash was caused not by any mechanical failure but by a pilot’s intentional act.
And yet that apparently matters not. The DEM are portraying the event as three poor, disaffected and oppressed Muslims simply becoming depressed by their horrific conditions and taking the proverbial “easy way out.” From the Associated Press:
Three Guantanamo Bay detainees hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes, the commander of the detention center said, bringing further condemnation of the isolated camp where hundreds of men have been held for years without charge.
No charges? These individuals are ENEMY COMBATANTS. Pure and simple. Question for those history-challenged amongst us:
When American and allied forces were captured and forced into German prison camps, were they proffered, individually, with trials so they could provide exculpatory evidence as to their guilt or innocence in the war effort? Or were they simply warehoused under conditions infinitely worse than those experienced by Gitmo detainees? And what about American and allied troops and the conditions they endured at the hands of the Japanese? U.S. prisoners of war held by the Empire of Japan, 1941-1945, died at a rate exceeding 37% while in captivity. On the other hand, U.S. prisoners of war held captive by Nazi Germany died at a rate of less than 2% while held by the Germans.
How we, sadly, seem to ignore history.
Or, how about the conditions experienced by Gitmo detainees as opposed to the as-yet unconvicted military personnel detained in the Haditha events? These military persons are kept in shackles under conditions much more oppressive than those of persons in Gitmo.
These detainees knew precisely what they were doing and committed their deaths in the same fashion as Homicide Bombers. They too will be facing their virgin ration in the next life.
This was a wonderful PR move. And don’t think that “they” don’t have a grasp of our civilisation though we clearly don’t have a grasp of theirs.
These persons are not weak and they are not victims. They are strong-willed and they are single-minded and they are willing to sacrifice their bodies to what they perceive as the overall common good for their struggle. It is about Islam and it is about overcoming the unwashed and the infidels and the corrupt who do not believe in the teachings of Mohammad.
In the meantime we continue to compare and contrast Militant Islamists with our own sense of fair play, logic and common sense.
We do this because we are, simply, stupid.
Bottom line? Three Islamists dead?
Fabulous.
We need more dead Militant Islamists.
BZ
How does this happen?
I am now a Slithering Reptile in the TTLB Ecosystem — two levels above a Flippery Fish of just yesterday.
Thanks to those who appear to be reading me in a drive-by fashion.
This is now, most definitely, the highest I’ve yet ranked in the TTLB Ecosystem.
Thanks, once again, to all those who visit and read!
BZ
P.S.
I find this most charming and complimentary, and I am grateful that, despite my frequent and periodic recent absences, you are still continuing to read my blog. Thank you one and all for that honor.
Here are the rankings from TTLB:
Higher Beings
Mortal Humans
Playful Primates
Large Mammals
Marauding Marsupials
Adorable Rodents
Flappy Birds
Slithering Reptiles
Crawly Amphibians
Flippery Fish
Slimy Molluscs
Lowly Insects
Crunchy Crustaceans
Wiggly Worms
Multicellular Microorganisms
Insignificant Microbes
Dee, who pens the wonderful Little Miss Chatterbox blog, had a post on Sunday that asked: what sitcom character would you be when you grow up? — taken from ABFreedom’s blog.
She offered three: 1) Sydney Bristow from the series Alias. 2) Elaine from Seinfeld. 3) Jackie from That 70s Show.
I thought about that for a moment and came up with my first three. But instead of limiting myself to sitcoms, I cheated and expanded the venue to TV in general (but not movies — that would be a geometrically different level — perhaps to be visited later?).
Here are my three:
1. Captain James Tiberius Kirk from the original Star Trek series:
Low tech, campy, but strikingly original for its time, Star Trek and specifically Captain Kirk embodied, for me, the quintessential Leader Who Didn’t Mind Changing The Game. As was later revealed, Kirk reprogrammed the computer in his academy during the “no-win” Kobayashi Maru scenario so that he could win. That was most certainly “out of the box” thinking. Brash, bold, with pointed sideburns and “normal” musculature — that is to say, no six-pack abs and massive biceps — Kirk always seemed to “get the girl” and extract himself and his ship from any number of perilous predicaments. Physical when necessary, able to make the tough decisions whilst keeping in mind the greater good — Jim Kirk is where I would be first.
2. James T. West from the original Wild, Wild West:
Gosh. Another James T. And Robert Conrad was and is one tough, short cookie. Once again, in the mid-60s, another TV show offered a high-risk/high-gain hero whose brash take on life placed him in frequent danger — which he managed to extract himself from at the last moment. Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon was the perfect sidekick for West. And I shall never forget West’s most perfect foil: Michael Dunn as Dr. Miguelito Loveless! Ah. They simply don’t make series like this anymore. Say what you will, the Wild Wild West movie plainly sucked. Will Smith is a nice guy but he ain’t no James West!
3. Hoss Cartwright from Bonanza:
I identified with Hoss for a few, ahem, reasons. First, I was just a little “chunky” and “large” back when — and I found myself in the role of “second” or “partner” for a few of my friends. Hoss somehow managed to keep his great power in check and mostly remained in the background; he was shy, reticent, gentle, honorable and most importantly, humble. Alas; you pissed him off to your considerable regret.
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Such are my choices.
Yours?
BZ