June 11, 2004

Order of Service for State Funeral of Ronald Wilson Reagan

The National Cathedral has published the bulletin for today's funeral service.

Former US Senator John Danforth, an ordained Episcopal minister, will be officiating the service, which starts at 11:30 AM ET.

For those of you who will not be able to view the service on television, C-Span, MSNBC, CBS News, ABC News, and most likely most local television station websites will all stream the service live; many radio stations and radio station websites will do likewise.

C-SPAN 1: (RealPlayer | WMP 9/10)
CBS News
MSNBC/NBC News
CityPulse 24 Toronto
WRC-TV/DT Washington

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June 10, 2004

Monty Python's JRR Tolikien's Fellowship of the Ring

And now for something completely different...

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Jimmy Kimmel in hot water for Detroit remarks

Jimmy Kimmel's late night ABC show is not shown here in Atlanta. I get to watch it once in a while on WABC New York via satellite (I love my DirecTV system!). Atlanta residents couldn't have watched the show last night even if local affiliate WSB-TV weren't such sticks in the mud.

Kimmel got himself in hot water during halftime of the Pistons-Lakers NBA Finals game Tuesday night.

During an interview with ABC studio host (and Ann Arbor resident) Mike Tirico, Kimmel made an off the cuff remark about Detroit and riots.

Kimmel, when asked by ABC Sports commentator Mike Tirico who he was rooting for, replied, "Besides the fact I'm a Lakers fan, I realize they're going to burn the city of Detroit down if the Pistons win."
Tirico came to the city's defense, but Kimmel plowed on with the grace of a bull in a china shop, later jokingly offering an apology.
"What I said about Pistons fans during halftime was a joke, nothing more. If I offended anyone, I'm sorry," he said. "Clearly, over the past 10 years, we in L.A. have taken a commanding lead in post-game riots. If the Lakers win, I plan to overturn my own car."
Detroit residents haven't been placated by Kimmel's remarks, and ABC "punished" the comedian by yanking Wednesday's pre-taped edition of the late night show.

The show is back on tonight, albeit later than it's usual 12:05AM slot, following tonight's NBA Finals game.

Will there be more contrition from Kimmel? Tune in and find out...

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"Just an ol' sweet song..." Good night, Ray.

Ray Charles
1930-2004

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Jesse Jackson continues to vilify Reagan, though stats show true story

Even though black Americans prospered significantly under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, Rev. Jesse "The Gypsy" Jackson continues to spread the mantra of "Republican bad! Democrat good!"

"As he left office, a Lou Harris poll found nearly 80 percent of blacks considered his administration oppressive," CNN correspondent Adaora Udoji noted to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Tuesday night.

Jackson readily concurred, acknowledging that Reagan's relationship with blacks was "very hostile." In an earlier CNN interview Jackson observed, "Reagan believed in states' rights and Jefferson Davis, I believe in the Union and Abraham Lincoln."

Almost universally, and encouraged by the cheerleaders in the mainstream press, Reagan is excoriated as a pseudo-enemy of blacks and other minorities, when nothing could be further from the truth.

According to statistics gathered from a number of sources, including the 1990 US Census, black unemployment fell faster than white unemployment during the Reagan years.

Los Angeles radio host Larry Elder in a 1999 op-ed for the Ethnic News Watch. "Black teenage unemployment fell faster than did white teenage unemployment. And blacks started businesses at a rate faster than that of whites.

"In 1981," Elder continued, "the nation's poverty rate stood at 14 percent. It declined to 11.6 percent in 1988, Reagan's last year in office."

According to Census data, the median income of black households was $19,758 in 1990, up 84% from ten years prior. According to the AP, in the same ten year period, the median income of white households only increased 68%.

Other mainstream media sources, including the vaunted New York Times had to admit that poverty had lessened during the Reagan Administration -- which flies directly in the face of Jackson's claims this week.

In addition, high school graduation rates for black students increased, narrowing the education gap with white students.

All of this happened during the Reagan years; years when, according to Jesse Jackson and other professional peddlers of black victimhood (like the NAACP's Julian Bond, for example), black progress was turned back decades.

I talked about Julian Bond's predeliction for shoe leather yesterday. It seems that Jesse Jackson ought to join him in the "idiot statement" department.

Unfortunately, the members of the Soul Patrol, who thrive on keeping black Americans thinking they are victims of society; coupled with the useful idiots in the mainstream American press, won't let truths like this be heard other than by a miniscule number of Americans.

And after all, if CNN says that we've been victimized, then it must be true, right?

Yassuh. Right, boss. Anything you say.

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The press has to choke on it's own bile this week

(Courtesy Day By Day)

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Frist: Rename Pentagon, "Ronald Reagan Defense Building"

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is planning on introducing legislation shortly that would rename the Pentagon the "Ronald Reagan Defense Building," in memory of the late 40th President.

This is the latest in a batch of measures to honor Reagan.

The Tennessee Republican plans to attach an amendment to the next defense appropriations bill, NBC-TV's Washington affiliate reported Wednesday.
Frist hopes that the ensuing debate would help gauge reaction, both by officials and the public, to the plan.

Reagan is credited with the military's reconstruction and revitalization after being gutted under the Carter Administration.

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June 09, 2004

Julian Bond: Reagan years are "a time best forgotten"

NAACP head Julian Bond, who seems to have a habit of shoving his Florsheim's into his mouth, did it again this week, when talking about the late Ronald Reagan.

"For many Americans, this was a time best forgotten," said Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP and a longtime civil rights activist. "He was a polarizing figure in black America. He was hostile to the generally accepted remedies for discrimination. His appointments were of people as equally hostile. I can't think of any Reagan policy that African Americans would embrace."
Hmmmm.

Julian, how about programs geared toward small businesses that directly resulted in the largest increase in new black-owned businesses since the Renaissance? How about other tax programs that helped to move more black households into the middle class than anything else before or since?

Should I continue? You seem to like the taste of shoe leather...

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Project 21 members remember Ronaldus Maximus

A new release by Project 21 (of which I'm proudly a member of), highlights comments by several members on the passing of President Ronald Reagan.

• Ak'Bar Shabazz (Atlanta, Georgia): "We all mourn the passing of a great leader. As Americans, we bask in the freedoms that Reagan had the clarity of vision to secure. All future presidents will be measured by the great examples that he provided."

• James Coleman (Los Angeles, California): "I spent my youth as a leftist radical after becoming disillusioned with what I saw as the hesitant policies of the civil rights mainstream. Ronald Reagan convinced me that the conservative movement was my home. As for African-Americans, we can only hope that someday we all recognize the benefits we experienced and continue to experience from the Reagan legacy. Black businesses and businesses owned by women prospered greatly in the 80s. There is a national purpose that was solidified and set the basis for the optimism that sustains our youth and keeps our military vital in such dangerous times. Whether we realize it or not, Ronald Reagan set a philosophical tone that lasts to this day and may indeed sustain us through the hard times ahead."

• Donald Scoggins (Springfield, Virginia): "Through his determination and forward thinking, President Reagan paved the way that saw the destruction of communism abroad, as well as here at home. After decades of paralyzing government social programs, Reagan was instrumental in establishing a national climate that allowed for the elimination of welfare as we know it."

• Mychal Massie (Zion Hill, Pennsylvania): "Leaders such as the late President Reagan can only be fully appreciated in their passing. While they are admired and referenced in life, it is history that ultimately provides their legacy. I believe that history will reward Ronald Reagan with the honor he justly deserves. He reminded America that ours was a country to be proud of and that our way of life was the envy of the world. And this he did in a way few have before him and none have since him."

I have to echo Mychal Massie's comments.

Reagan will become more appreciated -- especially by many here at home -- now that he is gone, and a more objective eye can be cast on his work.

Reagan was the architect of the fiscal recovery of the 1980s, and helped to fuel the entrepreneurship that fueled the advances of the biotech, internet and real estate sectors that began during the latter years of the Reagan Administration and continued nearly to the end of the century.

Reagan, contrary to the whining that has gone on by pundits far and wide the past few days, was the architect and driving force that caused the fall of the Soviet Union.

And though many on the left get upset by Reagan's cuts of some social programs, the dollars saved from those cuts allowed the nation to recover from a recession that the Carter Administration left the nation in, and restored the adventurous spirit of all Americans.

Civil rights critics, then and now, go out of their way to claim that Reagan set civil rights for blacks back more than fifty years, yet cannot point to any one thing that he did -- outside of eliminating a number of social programs. Reagan put in place programs that allowed and encouraged entrepreneurial growth for all people, black, white and otherwise. Black businesses flourished in this country as a result of this, at an unprecedented rate.

After a decrease in black owned and operated businesses in the 60s and 70s, those businesses -- in all economic sectors -- began to grow at a rate that continues unabated to this day.

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June 08, 2004

Stepford Wives ad shows morphed nude Rice

A new ad for the upcoming remake of The Stepford Wives, due later this month, goes over the line.

The ad shows National Security Director Condoleezza Rice nude from the waist up, covering her breasts with her arms, and Hillary Clinton as a "Stepford" housewife baking cookies.

The pictures move across the screen very quickly, but they caught the eye of a Kansas City woman, who recorded the spot to make sure of what she was seeing.

Becky Reynolds said when she taped and watched the ad again, she "realized it was even worse" than what she'd suspected.

"It's just inappropriate, and it needs to be stopped," Reynolds said.

Reynolds says the less-than-perfect images in the advertisement for the new film will keep her out of the theater. Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice in 'Stepford Wives' ad Pat Gray, who works with Northstar Marketing Group, said the ad shows bad taste toward Rice and Clinton.

The motion picture's production company, Paramount, says they haven't received any complaints...yet.

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Rock has-been Morrissey: "Bush should have died, not Reagan"

The headline says it all.

The solo artist was on the last leg of his European tour in Dublin, when he announced -- to much cheering and applause -- the death of President Ronald Reagan. Then the singer said something downright offensive (to which he got even bigger cheers and applause from the crowd).

"Bush should have died, not Reagan..."
Maybe he's trying out for the new opening act for the Dixie Chicks.

Then again, there are quite a few moonbats in THIS country with the same view.

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G8 Summit: Leave it to the moonbat British press to paint Georgia as backward

St. Simons Island, GA is quiet this week; many of the locals having shipped out to parts unknown.

Nearby Sea Island is hosting leaders from across the world as a part of the G8 Summit.

Protesters and much of the press, alike are about 60 miles north of there in Savannah. But many protesters appear to have stayed home, which leaves the press taking pictures of each other.

Well, at least with one exception.

E Jane Dickson of the UK's Independent, apparently with nothing good to say, is having fun inventing negative spin on the gathering and the setting.

...it was announced a year ago that President Bush would be hosting the 2004 G8 Summit on Sea Island (Sea Island as in cotton, as in slaves)...

...around half the islands' residents have evacuated, scared silly by the double, and largely undifferentiated, threats of international terrorism and violent protest.

He has just heard a rumour that 2,000 body bags have been delivered to the clapboard Chamber of Commerce across the road from the bookstore. This intelligence is passed around like a joint at a fortysomething party, a delicious whiff of recreational danger. Five minutes later, one of the island's fire chiefs drops by, fresh from a briefing. It's not a rumour. The body bags are here, together with a refrigerated lorry to take away the corpses. "I liked it better when it was a rumour," says Larry.

See what I mean?

The entire Independent article reads like that, chock full of quotes and anecdotes, carefully crafted to make Georgia and Georgians look like backwoods hicks.

The article quickly glosses over the fact that St. Simons is a high-end resort community, and that many of the residents are not full-time residents. The article goes out of it's way to suggest that the community is "under siege" by the confab, when, if anything, it's under siege by reporters like Dickson, desperate for some kind of controversy or action to report on. All that's left is to either report on the sea turtles of the coastal beaches, or make stuff up.

Guess which one Dickson chose?

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Reagan on the $10? (Or the $20?) It could happen...

Democrats in Congress aren't happy with the notion, but Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is set to introduce a bill which would replace Alexander Hamilton's face with that of President Ronald Reagan on the ten dollar bill.

The decision as to who is on the face of money ultimately resides with the Secretary of the Treasury, but currently, Democrats on the Hill are opposed to the notion of their long-time political nemesis being on the ten-spot.

"Ronald Reagan did many things during his presidency that deserve to be remembered," says Todd Webster, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, "and Democrats and Republicans will discuss how best to honor his legacy."
Another proposal would put Reagan's face on half of the dimes minted in the nation from now on; the remaining half would continue to have President Franklin D. Roosevelt's visage.

After this week's ceremonies mourning Reagan's death, leaders of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project plan to begin lobbying Congress to make the Reagan ten dollar bill a reality.

UPDATE 2P ET: US Rep Dana Rohrbacher is also sponsoring a bill to replace Andrew Jackson's face with Reagan's on the $20. This is a measure that will probably get even wider support, as Jackson is more widely despised than 'co-founding father' Hamilton.

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Bubba heartbroken to be left off Reagan funeral speakers' list

From Drudge:

Controversy develops over Reagan funeral speakers...

'President Clinton really held out all hope the funeral would be a nonpartisan event, like Nixon's was,' a top Clinton source said on Tuesday morning. 'He's angry and disappointed neither he nor President Carter have been asked to speak, as of yet'...

The top source says Clinton has been critical that both Bush presidents will address the crowd gathered at National Cathedral.

Former President George H.W. Bush, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will join President Bush in eulogizing Ronald Reagan, Reagan's office announced. Presiding over the service will be former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, who is an ordained Episcopal priest. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the Rabbi Harold Kusher will give readings, while Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will sing.

Do you believe the audacity of this man?

What would he do: "I'm sorry Reagan's dead...Oh, by the way, buy my book! It's coming out next week at a bookstore near you!"

Of course, he'd follow it with a Nelson Muntz-like, "HA! Ha!"

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June 07, 2004

Bush NOT on Illinois election ballot

As of now, the name of George W. Bush will not be on the November ballot in Illinois.

The reason for this is that Illinois state law requires the names for the November ballot be submitted by the end of August -- a full week and a half ahead of the Republican National Convention, as scheduled this year.

The state legislators have been trying to work on a solution, but Illinois Democrats are doing their level best to forstall any opportunity to alleviate the dilemma.

Barring legislative action, a federal court may have to step in to force election officials in the state of Illinois to place President Bush's name on the November ballot.

Illinois has 21 electoral votes up for grabs this fall; in 2000, Al Gore won Illinois handily, 55% to 42%.

(Courtesy Wizbang)

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Black conservative in Netherlands Parliament challenges Islam head on

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Nigerian-born member of Parliament in the Netherlands, has strong views on Islam, much as many do in this country.

She was raised as a Muslim but has recently become agnostic. She has an incredible command of the Dutch langue and is a sharp debater. She abhors woolly, placating rhetoric, which is so typical of Dutch politics. According to a recent poll she ranks second among the most popular politicians in Holland. And her political star is still rising. Yet her political message stirs a lot of controversy, especially among Muslim radicals.

It was the criticism by the late Pim Fortuyn (the Dutch politician who was killed by an animal rights activists) of the impact of Islam on Dutch society which sharpened her awareness of the threat of Muslim radicalism. Fortuyn openly qualified the Islam as a backward religion and Ayaan Hirsi Ali shares this view. When she was still in the socialist party she wanted to put the issue high on the political agenda. But the party did not support her view, because it was afraid that it would play into Fortuyn's hands. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is especially critical of the lack of tolerance for dissenting opinions among Muslims, as well as their oppression of women.

According to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the emotions incited by her statements, especially among radical Muslims, underscores the state of the Islam. (Radical) Muslims are incapable of self-reflection. Consequently, any critical remark is perceived as an offense.

Ali, who would most certainly be considered conservative in this country, has her share of enemies, thanks to her views.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a member of Parliament, recently offered a guy a knife and invited him to stab her when he told her he hoped the "Mojahedin" would kill her due to her sharp and very public criticisms of Islam (he backed down).
She continues to receive death threats from those who oppose her views. More recently, she's had to resort to bodyguards and other protective measures, especially in light of the assassination of Fortuyn, along with continued overt and subtle threats to her life.
Hirsi Ali — who once wrote Islamic prophet Mohammed was a pervert for taking a 12-year-old girl as one of his wives — has frequently been the target of death threats.

The politician wrote in her latest column that she often received death threats by phone and in the mail, but this incident made the biggest impression on her.

Two years ago, she had to hide out in the US for months and these days she is accompanied by bodyguards when in public.

I sometimes wonder about the moonbats here and whether they'd resort to violence to maintain their stranglehold on the minds of black America, if they were ever faced with a substantial challenge to their mentality of collective victimhood.

(Courtesy Booker Rising)

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Leave it to Allah to come home and offer appropriate humor...

Allah's back!

After a hiatus, AllahPundit returns to the fold with....with.....well, you've just gotta see it for yourself....

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Ted Rall blames 9/11 on Ronald Reagan

When I thought moonbats like Rall couldn't go any lower, I get a look at his blog entry from yesterday.

How Sad...

...that Ronald Reagan didn't die in prison, where he belonged for starting an illegal, laughably unjustifiable war against Grenada under false pretenses (the "besieged" medical students later said they were nothing of the sort) and funneling arms to hostages during Iran-Contra.

Oh, and 9/11? That was his. Osama bin Laden and his fellow Afghan "freedom fighters" got their funding, and nasty weapons, from Reagan.

Anyway, I'm sure he's turning crispy brown right about now.

Is there any logical reason at all that any legitimate news agency is even contemplating putting or keeping this man (and I use the term loosely) on their payroll?

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Jesse Jackson: 'Right Wing Is Not That Popular'

Jesse Jackson spoke at the closing luncheon of the Take Back America conference in Washington last Friday, and continued his ongoing attack on conservatives.

"The right wing is not that popular. It is sustained by big money. We can have a poor campaign, a rich message, we can outwork [conservatives] because we have a higher sense of purpose, mission and need," Jackson told the crowd.
Jackson also took aim at the press, insisting that they were complicit in the Administration's plans -- ostensibly a bitch-fest due to the fact that he (Jackson) can't get as much television "face time" as he used to.
"One reason why America has been so slow to react [in opposition] to this war is because of misinformation and disinformation. Europeans have reacted with much greater reaction [opposing the war] because they have more options in the media. Our media gets in the bed with the military in wartime," Jackson told a reporter after his speech.

"The whole media got suckered into the [Bush administration's] disinformation campaign and therefore was disseminating misinformation," Jackson said.

"Their journalism is unabashedly political. The more people who see it for what it is worth, the more they look for a more fair, accurate, balanced reporting. There are facts and there is context and there is truth," Jackson said.

Jackson's speech became -- much as many others' at the confab, a stump speech for John Kerry and a bash-fest on President Bush.
"George Bush campaigned as a compassionate conservative, implying that he was less dismissive of civil rights and labor than [former president Ronald] Reagan was and more open than his father (former president George H. Bush). But [Bush] has been a closed-door conservative," Jackson said.

"We can do better than George Bush as president," he added to loud applause.

Jackson also addressed some of the liberal activists' disappointment about Sen. John F. Kerry's stance on the Iraq War.

"For us, the issue is not should be we be on Kerry's ticket -- put Kerry on our ticket, we need him as president," he said to applause. A petition circulating among the liberal activists at the event asked for signatures to pressure Kerry to "present a plan to withdraw from Iraq." Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, has been accused by some fellow Democrats of straddling the Iraq war issue.

Jackson's visceral hatred is so blatantly obvious in each of his speeches. Jackson attempts to get more face-time to make sure his own agenda stays in front of the American people. But on the whole, many people have seen Jackson for the charlatan that he is and has become.

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June 06, 2004

Leave it to Danny Glover to piss on the flowers at the funeral home

Danny Glover, still ticked off at conservatives for raining on his personal parade (i.e., Aristide's Haitiaan Adventure), has elevated the aforementioned mudslinging into the mainstream.

"We all know Reagan's legacy, from the Iran-Contra affair to the funding of the Nicaraguan military in which over 200,000 people died. The groundwork for the move steadily to the right happened with the Reagan administration. People want to elevate him to some mythic level; they have their own reason for doing that." -- actor Danny Glover, at an anti-war rally in Los Angeles.
This Blog is Full of Crap said it best.
Only a few actors can make the transition from acting to national politics without coming across as a jackass.

Reagan. Fred Thompson, and Arnold come to mind.

Danny doesn't. Maybe he's just still pissed over Paul Robeson or something.

Just damn, indeed.

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