The Puzzle Of Black Republicans

by Adolph L. Reed, Jr. - December 18th, 2012 - New York Times

When Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina announced on Monday that she would name Representative Tim Scott to the Senate, it seemed like another milestone for African-Americans. Mr. Scott will complete the term of Senator Jim DeMint, who is leaving to run Heritage Foundation. He will be the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction; the first black Republican senator since 1979, when Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts retired; and, indeed, only the seventh African-American ever to serve in the chamber.

But this “first black” rhetoric tends to interpret African-American political successes — including that of President Obama — as part of a morality play that dramatizes “how far we have come.” It obscures the fact that modern black Republicans have been more tokens than signs of progress.

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This is the usual smear job on Republicans. The writer takes the position that Republicans were not sincere when they supported civil rights, ignoring that Republicans were the founders of the abolition movement and have remained committed to equality without regard to skin color to this day. Democrats smear Republicans with their insistence that unless Republicans adopt the liberal policies preferred by the black community, they are still racists.

Any blacks who dare believe in the prinicples of individual freedom and conservative values are also smeared, as "Uncle Toms", out of touch with the values they are supposed to prefer, based on the opinion of Democrats about what they should believe.

I don't believe that Tim Scott was appointed to this position because he was black. However I accurately predicted that his appointment would not get any credit among the liberal black community, or among Democrats. They will simply use the appointment to regrugitate their standard smears of Republicans and blacks who dare to be conservative. However their positions are merely the usual Alinsky lies of the left.

They believe; Republicans are racist. Blacks in the Republican Party are tokens.

Both Democrat positions are so out of touch with reality that they leave Repubicans flabbergasted. As a result they fail to denouce them as lies. That is the real mistake. Allowing these smears to go unanswered.

Conservatives Must Learn The Dark Arts Of Image Manipulation

- by J.R. Dunn - November 28th, 2012 - American Thinker

Okay, we've had the End of the Republic, the degenerate electorate thesis, and the ritual beating of Mitt Romney. I hope everybody has had their catharsis, because it's time to get serious.

It's typical in an election lost by the right [that] every last factor is poked at, examined, and raked over the coals except for the single most important element, always and forever overlooked: conservatism itself.

I contend that much of the problem with current right-of-center electoral efforts involves conservatism as currently practiced. This has nothing to do with conservative principles, or any public preference for moderation in politics. It has to do with how conservatism is expressed, and can be summed up as conservatism's failure to sell itself.

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I really need to read more by J.R. Dunn. No one writes an article this insightful without there being more to him that is worth knowing. For quite some time I have been furious with the conservative movement for its failure to defend any of our leaders who the left has attacked. We have acted for decades as if we are unwilling to fight. One leader after another has been left to defend themselves from vicious attacks with no help from fellow conservatives. Even worse, as noted in the article by Mr. Dunn, many of our fellow conservatives take great glee in joining the attack and helping to ridiclue those the left has targetted for destruction. Dunn mentions the evisceration of Goldwater, but the same can be said of Nixon, Reagan, Quayle, Dole, Bush 1 and 2, McCain after he got the nomination, Palin and Romney.

Any act, no matter how trivial, is turned into a mocking and vicious characterization that smears the candidate. As my favorite example, how many remember that Quayle questioned the spelling of the word that was given to him as being wrong during the event. He was still denounced as a dunce for not being positive it was wrong. But that was not the way it was portrayed. It was portrayed as if he did not have a clue. It was false and derogatory, but NOT A SINGLE CONSERVATIVE CAME TO HIS DEFENSE. No one came to the defense of Sarah Palin either. She was smeared with lies that were ignorant they were so false. Yet most conservatives stood aside and expected her to respond alone. Some joined in the smearing.

The article by Dunn is spot on. Conservatives are losing, perhaps have lost, because they are not willing to accept this is a serious war for the soul of a nation. Our enemies, and they are most assuredly ENEMIES, are willing to fight dirty and lie to caricature conservatives. If we are to ever have a chance at victory, we must start to fight by the rules that our enemy has chosen. Alinsky is an evil technique. However pretending that we cannot respond in kind because we are better is stupid. Especially stupid when we lose again and again.

If we don't believe that freedom is worth fighting for by whatever rules are necessary to win, then we shall most assuredly become slaves to a tyranny that is worse than most can imagine. That may be the problem. Good people have a hard time visualizing just how evil tyranny can become.

We’re Heading For Economic Dictatorship

by Janet Daley - November 17th, 2012 - London Telegraph

The whole of the West is falling into the economic black hole of permanent no-growth.

Forget about that dead parrot of a question – should we join the eurozone? The eurozone has officially joined us in a newly emerging international organisation: we are all now members of the Permanent No-growth Club. And the United States has just re-elected a president who seems determined to sign up too. No government in what used to be called “the free world” seems prepared to take the steps that can stop this inexorable decline. They are all busily telling their electorates that austerity is for other people (France), or that the piddling attempts they have made at it will solve the problem (Britain), or that taxing “the rich” will make it unnecessary for government to cut back its own spending (America).

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Statism is inevitable. Government "regulated" economic activity will assure that the future is even worse than the recent past. Since the entire world will no longer have the engine of the United States to fuel productivity advances that even the socialists of Europe benefitted from, everyone is about to crumble into the chaos of Greece. Riots will become the norm as government goons protest the inability to gouge enough tax dollars to fund the style of living that was previously the norm.

The famous quote from Margaret Thatcher is about to become the reality of the world. Socialism fails when you run out of other people's money. Wealth creation will cease. Redistribution of a constantly shrinking pie will be hell on earth.

What Explains The Partisan Divide Between Urban And Non-Urban Areas

by Mark Hendrickson - November 15th, 2012 - Forbes

One obvious explanation for the overwhelming Democratic majorities in big cities is the Curley effect with the corresponding concentration of Democratic constituencies like welfare recipients and unions, but there is more to it than that. The Curley effect has turned once-vibrant cities into economic basket cases, but what, then, can explain the perennial dominance of Democrats in such thriving, prosperous cities as Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco? Why do affluent, white-collar, highly educated citizens in these cities tend to be liberal and vote Democratic?

Sociologists could have a field day with this question, but the explanation could be something as simple as the fact that people who live in cities are relatively insulated from how difficult and challenging it can be to produce the food, energy, equipment, devices, etc., that comprise the affluence that urbanites enjoy. In their urban cocoons, city-dwellers take for granted the abundance and availability of the economic goods that they consume. For instance, many well-to-do, educated urbanites see no downside to supporting stricter regulations and higher taxes on energy producers, because to them, energy is something that is always there at the flip of a switch (except during the occasional hurricane, as some New Yorkers recently discovered). Life in the city for affluent Americans creates the illusion that all they have to do is demand something and—presto! — it will be there when they want it.

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Men have long been divided into those that take, those that exist and those that produce. America was a unique nation that for the first time, restricted the takers and glorified the producers. It ignored the existers because when we first started this nation, existers had little option. Life was so tough not many of them survived. However for the producers to be on top has rarely been the state of mankind. Today, we are returning to the natural order of mankind. Slavery. And as has long been the cause of that problem, the takers will be on top and the producers will be the slaves. Unfortunately, that means the producers will have little incentive to produce, and the poverty will be rampant as a result. Nothing new there.

Carny Nation

The Democrats have built themselves a pyramid scheme of Babel and it's fools, suckers and marks all the way down, Popular culture, the media and politics becomes one

by Daniel Greenfield - November 11th, 2012 - Canada Free Press

Come right in and step right up. See the bright lights and the oddities of nature. Inside, folks, for the low price of twenty-two trillion dollars, you can see Binders of Women, Team Big Bird and entire reams of green windmills and fields full of bayonets and horses. Here lies become the truth and everything is full of sugar. And the highlight of the show will be Barack, the Exotic Prince from the Wilds of Indonesia and Kenya, with a special appearance by Oprah and a hologram of JFK. Here in the Carnival of Fools, the party never stops and no one ever has to pay the bill.

“There’s a sucker born every minute,” a famous connoisseur of them once said. And suckers are big business. Very big business indeed. But don’t feel too sorry for the sucker. The sucker is a creature composed of ignorance and greed. He believes in his own specialness. He believes that he can fool other people into giving him their money, when actually he is the one being fleeced. The mark is an aspiring scammer who is too dumb to realize that nothing in life is free and the scam is on him.

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You cannot allow the socialist extremists to brain wash your children for generation after generation without there being a price to pay when their ability to think has been so corrupted they rationalize like idiots. That is where we are. America has become a nation of idiots, marks, who think that "other people's money" is their's for the taking if they simply vote for the right con artist. The master of con artists is the Magic Marxist Messiah. The suckers cannot get enough. Even those who reject the con have stepped aside and let him run his con on a nation in which they are trapped. So they did not vote because they were deluded into thinking that the cop who is trying to arrest the con man and put him out of business is as evil as the con man himself. That makes them idiots as well because they too will have to pay off the debts the con man leaves behind. At a minimum.

It could be worse because another problem exists in this particular scam. The end of the scam is not just when the metaphorical sun comes up. The end of the scam can also end with a different kind of sun. A real sun (of a sort) that does not just shine light on the scam. That sun is called nuclear bombs. It is all too likely that the wake up call America will get will be when the nuclear bombs start to slaugther the marks using the horrible heat and light that our enemies so enjoy.

Where We Go From Here

by Selwyn Duke - November 7th, 2012 - American Thinker

I have never been so unhappy to be right. I've long said that Barack Obama would win re-election, and two weeks ago I stated as much in print. In making this prediction, I was almost alone among traditionalist pundits, with some, such as Dick Morris (Mr. Batting Zero), actually forecasting a Mitt Romney landslide. And, no, I'm not pointing this out to numb despair with some perverse kind of gloating, like a man consumed in flames looking to suck on an ice cube. It's because of why I knew that Romney would lose: America is lost. And there is something to be found, but not unless good people understand what truly lies ahead.

America is heading toward a dark winter.

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Interesting article. There are some excellent points here. I plan to expand my thoughts about the recent loss when I am not so tired, but I wanted to get the article posted here as a place holder for further discussion. It is certainly a great starting point...

Racial Divide Worse Under Obama

by Star Parker - November 5th, 2012 - Townhall.com

If Barack Obama’s election has had little or no impact on improving racial politics or changing the sense that blacks must be viewed as a special political class, what exactly, practically, has it meant?

Rather than making things better, it has really made matters worse.

From the perspective of Democrat voting blacks, the implications of a black president was not a more racially just America. It was about assuming there would be a man in the White House more prepared to sign off on special political treatment for blacks. To the extent this has not happened, there has been dissatisfaction.

From the perspective of conservatives, tensions have increased because criticism of Obama’s big government liberalism has been spun as racially motivated.

The Obama presidency has not ushered in a new era of racial tranquility because, despite all the hype, it’s not what it has been about.

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I am reminded of a comment made by a local black leader a couple of years back. "Whites have to get used to us getting what we want. With Barack Obama President, it is our turn on top."

That attitude is totally consistent with Star Parker's article. Blacks are not ready to end affirmative action, they want it increased. They demand even greater pressure be exerted to give blacks "equality". By that they mean equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity.

They do not care that despite blacks being only 12.5% of the national population, they have 18% of all federal jobs. They do not care if that is fair or not. Like Obama, what they see as their fair share is half the federal jobs, because they are half the population of Washington, D.C.

Black are outraged that they only have 16% of the NFL coaching jobs for the same reason. That it exceeds their share of the population is again, to them, irrelevant. On this issue, one player insisted that since 70% of the players are black making them the majority, ALL the coaches should be black. Black players should not have to take orders from a white man.

Colin Powell can give all the explanations he wants, his support for Barack Obama is based purely on the color of his skin. Martin Luther King would be turning over in his grave, assuming he really meant what whites thought he meant when he asked for equality of opportunity in a society that looked not to the color of a person's skin but the content of their character. Blacks today demand everything be based on skin color. Character be damned.

Racist Rant By Obama's 2009 Inauguration Preacher

by Ben Shaprio - October 31st, 2012 - Breitbart

[Dr. Joseph] Lowery blasted blacks who didn’t bother showing up to the polls for Obama in 2008. “I don't know what kind of a nigger wouldn't vote with a black man running. All that he did with the stimulus was genius. Nobody intelligent would risk this country with Romney."

He also said that when he was younger, he thought all white people were going to hell. Then he “mellowed and just said most of them were.” Now, the Reporter said, Lowery said he’s back to his original view. All white people are going to hell.

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Barack Obama's new preacher, the one he started relying on after Jeremiah Wright exploded with his "God Damn America" rant, is just as racist as his old preacher.

Race Cards

by Thomas Sowell - October 10th, 2012 Tonwhall.com

If you are sick and tired of seeing politicians and others playing the race card, or if you are just disgusted with the grossly dishonest way racial issues in general are portrayed, then you should get a copy of Ann Coulter's new book, "Mugged." Its subtitle is: "Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama."

Few things are as rare as an honest book about race. This is one of the very few, and one of the very best.

Many people will learn for the first time from Ann Coulter's book how a drunken hoodlum and ex-convict, who tried to attack the police, was turned into a victim and a martyr by the media, simply by editing a videotape and broadcasting that edited version, over and over, across the nation.

They will learn how a jury -- which saw the whole unedited videotape and acquitted the police officers of wrongdoing -- was portrayed as racist, setting off riots that killed innocent people who had nothing to do with the Rodney King episode.

Meanwhile, the people whose slick editing set off this chain of events received a Pulitzer Prize.

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Did you know that Rodney King's attacks against the police were edited out of the video? Did you know that the courts refused permission for other news outlets to use the unedited video so the truth could not come out?

Truth. It has disappeared from much of the public dialog because the press in America has become corrupted.

There Went The Boom

by Jonah Goldberg - October 3rd, 2012 - National Review

Romney simply dominated and deflated Obama. This was the first time millions of people ever heard Mitt Romney make a case for himself at any length. Most Americans didn’t watch the GOP debates. The ratings for Romney’s convention speech were sub-par and he never really talked about policy anyway at the convention. But tonight Romney brilliantly dismantled the straw man Obama has been running against for months.

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Mitt Romney is a powerful personality, a decent man, a brilliant strategist, and an extremely hard worker. He has shown to be the alpha leader in every group of people he has ever been involved with for any significant time. He wears well too.

This was a good night for America. A lot of people came out of tonight believing that we really do have a chance of saving our nation for our children.

8 Ways Blacks Perpetuate Racism And The Only Way to Thwart It

by Walter Hudson - July 17th, 2012 - PJ Media

It shouldn’t matter that I, an author with the audacity to select such a title, am black. The arguments presented should stand or fall on their objective merit. Nevertheless, I declare my racial identity at the outset to defuse any prejudice readers may bring regarding the motivation behind this piece. Indeed, it is in part because I am black that the following must be said.

All things considered, blacks and the civil rights culture surrounding them are the most open and prolific purveyors of racism in America. This is an ironic travesty which spits upon the graves of history’s abolitionists and offends all who are committed to a dream of equality under the law and goodwill among men.

Surely, such a claim is provocative. Unfortunately, it is also demonstrable.


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As recently noted by Thomas Sowell, riots by American blacks are common and growing more common every day. Under Barack Obama, racism by blacks has increased significantly. You don't hear about it because the liberal media ignore the race of the rioters. The demands for economic parity irregardless of fairness have become more vitriolic and demanding. This article has an explanation for this phenomenon that appears well reasoned. One example that struck me is the authors issue number 4, "Loose Accusations of Racism." Mr. Hudson concludes "When prejudice, bigotry, and racism are used interchangeably, it is evidence that the discussion is not honest."

His careful definition of these words and examples of how they are being misused is a welcome addition to the discussion on the riots that are growing in frequency, driven by black racism. Just as I never thought that socialism's many failures would ever lead the American population to consider it a rational way to govern, the fact that 12.5% of the American population, those who are black, would seriously consider violence and a race war as the method to secure greater economic parity has certainly surprised me.

The election of Barack Obama has made it clear that half our nation has bought into the delusion of socialism. In the same way the black flash mobs have made it clear that a majority of blacks are ready to take what they want by rioting. Since there has never been any pushback against previous black riots, such as after Rodney King, it has become seared into the black culture that riots work. With that reality why wouldn't they use riots to get what they want? The Attorney General, Eric Holder, has made it clear he will not allow any prosecution of blacks who commit violence.

The evil of Affirmative Action was always inherent in its corrupt pretense that unequal treatment of citizens would somehow lead to justice. Such logic was never sound. The consequences of this injustice is growing more obvious by the day, yet there seems to be nothing that will convince the adherents of Affirmative Action that it must end. Perhaps these riots, or a race war, will change their minds. But I would not bet on it.

If half our nation can accept the delusion that socialism can be made to work, it appears to me our nation has abandoned common sense. Certainly both socialism and affirmative action require an acceptance of logic I find inconceivable.

How ObamaCare Increases Income Inequality

by Merrill Matthews - June 22nd, 2012 - Forbes

Income inequality appears to be growing in the United States. And while President Obama didn’t initiate the trend, his health care legislation will dramatically exacerbate it.

While Obama, along with most Democrats, the Occupy Wall Street hooligans, and many in the mainstream media, claim that taxing the rich will fix the income inequality problem, a closer look reveals that the trend is likely overstated, and, when total compensation is considered, may not be happening at all.

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Excellent article that explains how greater levels of divorce, more people choosing to live together but filing for taxes separately, a larger population of older retirees, and a growing bias in the percentage of income from benefits rather than income (caused by government mandates like ObamaCare and RomneyCare)... have all conspired to create the impression of a change in income inequality that is not true.

As someone once noted, statistics don't lie, but the peole who use them do. All that has changed is how goverment measures income and what it calls a family.

Detroit: The Moral Of The Story

by Kevin D. Williamson - June 8th, 2012 - National Review

The Left’s answer to the deficit: raise taxes to protect spending. The Left’s answer to the weak economy: raise taxes to enable new spending. The Left’s answer to the looming sovereign-debt crisis: raise taxes to pay off old spending. For the Left, every deficit is a revenue-side problem, not a spending-side problem, and the solution to every economic problem is more spending, necessitating more taxes. The problem with that way of looking at things is called Detroit, which looks to be running out of money in about one week. Detroit is what liberalism’s end-game looks like.

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There is something truly bizarre about a parasitic entity that cannot refrain from killing its host. The left and unions have each reached this bizarre attitude.

That is the reality of unions and liberals in America today. They have become so focused on gouging as much as they can from the organizations they see as their enemy, the business or governments they work for, they have become blinded to the consequence of their success destroying the organization that gives them a job. More money. More benefits. Greater security. This simplistic focus has allowed them to replace any responsible concern for the limits of their demands with a belief that rage at the limits is a reasonable response.

This has become the attitude of liberals with regard to the enemy they see providing "entitlements" as well. That enemy is society - which owes them more money, more benefits and greater security. Ever more money. Ever more benefits. Ever more security. That is their only focus. Any suggestion of limits are met with rage. They do not want to hear about limits. They do not want to believe there are limits.

Greed and envy have convinced them that until their lives are as pampered as the very rich, they are being cheated. It is the reason they see business owners, and even society itself, as their enemies when anyone dares tell them there are limits. They respond to this suggestion with rage and riots. There are NO LIMITS.

The lesson of the Tea Party movement? Many people understand that this reality is collapsing a great nation. There are limits. Liberals do not want to hear this. Instead of believing the Tea Party movement has recognized there is a serious problem with reality, the liberals simply rage at the people who accept this reality. They are hated and denigrated and cursed. When you believe you are moral and your enemy is evil, it is impossible to concede anything.

God Bless Ronald Reagan

This is the eight anniversary of the death of my greatest American hero. No one else from the 20th Century even comes close.

A sadness for me is that though he changed my life I never voted for him. That I was not able to recognize his greatness earlier will forever be my loss. I was a democrat at the time he was first elected. However the vicious attacks on this man during the 1980 campaign did start my rejection of that party's politics of hate.

By 1984 I had read Ayn Rand's book 'Atlas Shrugged' and Friedrich Hayek's book 'The Road to Serfdom'... plus numerous other writings on socialism. As a result I had abandoned supporting the democrat party. However old habits die hard and I could not bring myself to vote for Reagan's re-election even though I thought he was the best candidate. I was still thinking through my personal political beliefs. I had not made the decision on how evil socialism was that has guided me since. I sat out the election.

However the more I read about this decent and honorable man the more I decided, his patriotism and love of America was the type of person I wanted to be. He was not just opposed to socialism but was in favor of so many good things. He knew what he believed in. He could tell you why. He was inspiring. In 1986 I joined the Republican party ... because of him.

The following is an article I wrote on the first anniversary of his death.

(In 2005) I got up at 5:15 on June 5th and logged on to my favorite web site to see what they had to say about the anniversary of Ronald Reagan's death. There were several laudatory articles about Reagan. As I read them my eyes started to mist up. One of the articles linked to one blogger's personal remembrances of the funeral of 2004. It is a great read and you can find it here. (There are also some great links to pictures of Ronald Reagan on the site.)

After wiping away a few tears, I went looking for my own pictures of the event. In 2004 I lived in Culver City, California and was thus close to the events that we all watched on TV. Looking at the pictures brought back the memories. When Reagan died, the first thing that I did was go to the funeral home in Santa Monica where he was taken. It was only a few blocks from the campaign headquarters where I had spent 3 months of my life the previous year working for Arnold Schwarzenegger. I knew the area well.

With a large crowd of people I simply stood across the street and watched not sure exactly what to do. I talked briefly with a couple of people I knew from the campaign who had also come by. Shortly someone brought some flowers and placed them by a fountain in the yard of the funeral home.




Gates Funeral Home In Santa Monica


I wanted to do something so I left and went back home to get an American Flag that I had. I bought some flowers from the florist in Fox Hills Mall and returned to place them both beside the fountain. There were already several flowers and flags when I returned to add mine. When Nancy Reagan came to pay her respects at the funeral home on Sunday, the fountain was surrounded by a sea of flowers and flags. It gave me comfort to know that mine was among them.


One Of These Is My Flag, Can't Tell Which



Nancy Reagan Views The Spontaneous Memorial At The Funeral Home

I knew I had to go to view this great man. It was a necessity not an option. So on Monday June 7th of 2004, I got up early, ate breakfast, dressed as if I as going to church, and prepared to leave for Simi Valley. While I was doing this I watched Nancy Reagan and the family on TV as they were allowed a special viewing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I headed out the door as they were leaving the Presidential Library where Regan lay in repose.

Driving north on the San Diego Freeway I headed through the Sepulveda pass. Halfway up I saw a group of motorcycles leading a cavalcade of cars coming down the hill. I grabbed my camera as I realized it was Nancy Reagan returning from the Library in Simi Valley. I clicked a picture of the car going by on the opposite side of the freeway that seemed to be the one in the center of the group. Sorry it is a little blurry but I didn't have time to focus.



Nancy Reagan Motorcade Returning From the Library


I continued on up the Freeway and turned west on President Ronald Reagan Freeway (how appropriate) to head to Moorpark College. That is where we were told by TV announcements we would have to park to take a bus to the Library. There was a long line of cars waiting to exit the Freeway at the college off ramp. Then there was a long drive up the hill to park. It was bumper to bumper traffic the entire way and took almost 2 hours. I finally found a space in one of several parking lots at the college. The space I found was in a lower level lot.



Heading Up The Hill To Park At Moorpark College


When I arrived there were no signs that said what to do next, but as I looked around, I saw people going up some stairs. Following them, I found the end of a huge line that snaked around the upper parking lot. I joined in.



Still In Line After 2 Hours More


The line was really great. Everyone around me was talking about Reagan, their memories of him, their love for this man. We quickly became like a fraternity. Because the line circled back we could talk to people passing by going the other way as well as those around us. We exchanged stories about where we were from and why we were there. There was one couple that had flown in from Ohio, just for Ronald Reagan. The whole time it was respectful and quiet but quite emotional. Talking passed the time and after a couple of hours we got to the guest books.



Signing The Guest Book - Looking Back At The Huge Line Behind


The line then moved on to the security check point for screening to get on the bus .


The Second Line For Security Screening


It was when I took a picture of the buses (that happened to have some secret service people in the picture) that I found out they did not like pictures being taken. I was informed in no uncertain terms that no pictures were allowed. I had two cameras so when they demanded my camera I gave them the one that I had not started using. I had dropped the one I was using in my coat pocket. I am not sure why but like most Americans I guess I resent authority a little so I still have the pictures. I was careful to be discreet with the camera from then on.



Security Calls For Me To Stop

On the bus ride over to the Library, I was interviewed on a local radio station about why I had come. I never got to hear the interview but a friend told me that I made the show as he heard me on the radio. I wish I could remember what I said. All I know is that it was heartfelt at the time.



Arriving At The Library After My Radio Interview


While I was standing in line at the Library, I was praying. People behind me waited patiently until I stopped without asking me to move forward, even though I had allowed a large gap to open up in front of me. I cannot express how moved I was by the dignity of the entire event and how unlike most crowd scenes that day was. It will forever stand as a monument to how good people can be in certain circumstances.

I remember hearing on the news later that they had to extend the viewing at the Library. After the public viewing ended they had a special viewing for all the police who were kept busy monitoring the events around the state and could not get to the public viewing. There were so many who came that they had to extend the period for several hours as they came from all over the state, driving all night in many cases.


Ronald Reagan's Statue


The picture above is not one I took, but it does show the purple flowers where I hid my camera before I was screened by security a second time. They were still taking cameras and I did not have another spare to surrender. I dropped my camera discreetly in the planter so I would not lose it.

The following are pictures I downloaded off the Internet showing the area of the viewing where I could not use my camera.



Casket From Above


Arnold And Maria



Ronald Reagan - Lying In Repose

Upon leaving the viewing area I had to hang around for a while before no one was looking so I could retrieve my camera from the planter. I then got on the bus to return to the college. I found my car and headed home. As I left I was amazed at the huge line of cars still waiting on the expressway to get to the college to park. All night people kept coming. It never let up for two days.



As I Leave The Line Going In Is Still Huge

That entire week was a very emotional and moving experience. After attending the memorial at the Presidential library, I spent much of the rest of the week watching the events in Washington DC. The outpouring of love, honor and respect was genuine and sincere. I miss Ronald Reagan. I still cannot say goodbye, even though I know I must. I just cannot find the words to say what I feel.



So long Mr. President

However nothing can explain this man better than his own words. These words are from his monument.



I Know In My Heart That Man Is Good, That What Is Right Will Always Eventually Triumph And There Is Purpose And Worth To Each And Every Life - Ronald Reagan

God bless you Ronald Reagan. You were a great man. You did not just change the world for the better, you changed people for the better. Goodbye ... for now.