EXCERPT
Chapter One
THE WIND HAD FALLEN on the high ridge. Dark clouds drifted above, making bands of shadow march across the earth. The morning was quiet and the land seemed empty as the two men rode at the head of a narrow column, a jagun of a hundred young warriors. The Mongols could have been alone for a thousand miles, with just creaking leather and snorting ponies to break the stillness. When they halted to listen, it was as if silence rolled back in over the dusty ground.
Tsubodai was a general to the Great Khan, and it showed in the way he held himself. His armor of iron scales over leather was well worn, with holes and rust in many places. His helmet was marked where it had saved his life more than once. All his equipment was battered, but the man himself remained as hard and unforgiving as the winter earth. In three years of raiding the north, he had lost only one minor skirmish and returned the following day to destroy the tribe before word could spread. He had mastered his trade in a land that seemed to grow colder with each mile into the wastes. He had no maps for his journey, just rumors of distant cities built on rivers frozen so solid that oxen could be roasted on the ice.
At his right shoulder rode Jochi, the eldest son of the khan himself. Barely seventeen, he was yet a warrior who might inherit the nation and perhaps command even Tsubodai in war. Jochi wore a similar set of greased leather and iron, as well as the saddle packs and weapons all the warriors carried. Tsubodai knew without asking that Jochi would have his ration of dried blood and milk, needing only water to make a nourishing broth. The land did not forgive those who took survival lightly, and both men had learned the lessons of winter.
Jochi sensed the scrutiny and his dark eyes flickered up, always guarded. He had spent more time with the young general than he ever had with his father, but old habits were hard to break. It was difficult for him to trust, though his respect for Tsubodai knew no limit. The general of the Young Wolves had a feel for war, though he denied it. Tsubodai believed in scouts, training, tactics, and archery above all else, but the men who followed him saw only that he won, no matter what the odds. As others could fashion a sword or a saddle, Tsubodai fashioned armies, and Jochi knew he was privileged to learn at his side. He wondered if his brother Chagatai had fared as well in the east. It was easy to daydream as he rode the hills, imagining his brothers and father struck dumb at the sight of how Jochi had grown and become strong.
"What is the most important item in your packs?" Tsubodai said suddenly.
Jochi raised his eyes to the brooding sky for an instant. Tsubodai delighted in testing him.
"Meat, General. Without meat, I cannot fight."
"Not your bow?" Tsubodai said. "Without a bow, what are you?"
"Nothing, General, but without meat, I am too weak to use the bow."
Tsubodai grunted at hearing his own words repeated. "When the meat is all gone, how long can you live off blood and milk?"
"Sixteen days at most, with three remounts to share the wounds." Jochi did not have to think. He had been drilled in the answers ever since he and Tsubodai had ridden with ten thousand men from the shadow of the Chin emperor's city.
"How far could you travel in such a time?" Tsubodai said.
Jochi shrugged. "Sixteen hundred miles with fresh remounts. Half again as far if I slept and ate in the saddle."
Tsubodai saw that the young man was hardly concentrating, and his eyes glinted as he changed tack.
"What is wrong with the ridge ahead?" he snapped.
Jochi raised his head, startled. "I . . ."
"Quickly! Men are looking to you for a decision. Lives wait on your word."
Jochi swallowed, but in Tsubodai he had learned from a master.
"The sun is behind us, so we will be visible for miles as we reach the crest." Tsubodai began to nod, but Jochi went on. "The ground is dusty. If we cross the high point of the ridge at any speed, we will raise a cloud into the air."
"That is good, Jochi," Tsubodai said. As he spoke, he dug in his heels and rode hard at the crest ahead. As Jochi had predicted, the hundred riders released a mist of reddish grit that billowed above their heads. Someone would surely see and report their position.
Tsubodai did not pause as he reached the ridge. Digging in his heels, he sent his mare over, the rear legs skittering on loose stones. Jochi matched him and then took a sharp breath of dust that made him cough into his hand. Tsubodai had come to a halt fifty paces beyond the ridge, where the broken ground began to dip to the valley. Without orders, his men formed a wide double rank around him, like a bow drawn on the ground. They were long familiar with the firebrand of a general who had been placed over them.
Tsubodai stared into the distance, frowning. The surrounding hills enclosed a flat plain through which a river ran, swollen with spring rain. Along its banks, a slow-moving column trotted, bright with flags and banners. In other circumstances, it would have been a sight to take the breath, and even as his stomach clenched, Jochi felt a touch of admiration. Ten, perhaps eleven thousand Russian knights rode together, house colors in gold and red streaming back over their heads. Almost as many followed them in a baggage train of carts and remounts, women, boys, and servants. The sun chose that moment to break through the dark clouds in a great beam that lit the valley. The knights shone.
Their horses were massive, shaggy animals, almost twice the weight of the Mongol ponies. Even the men who rode them were a strange breed to Jochi's eyes. They sat like they were made of stone, solid and heavy in metal cloth from their cheeks to their knees. Only their blue eyes and hands were unprotected. The armored knights had come prepared for battle, carrying long spears like lances, but tipped in steel. They rode with the weapons upright, the butts held in leather cups close behind the stirrups. Jochi could see axes and swords hanging down from waist belts, and every man rode with a leaf-shaped shield hooked to his saddle. The pennants streamed back over their heads and they looked very fine in the bands of gold and shadow.
"They must see us," Jochi murmured, glancing at the plume of dust above his head.
The general heard him speak and turned in the saddle. "They are not men of the plains, Jochi. They are half blind over such a distance. Are you afraid? They are so large, these knights. I would be afraid."
For an instant, Jochi glowered. From his father, it would have been mockery. Yet Tsubodai spoke with a light in his eyes. The general was still in his twenties, young to command so many. Tsubodai was not afraid, though. Jochi knew the general cared nothing for the massive warhorses or the men who rode them. Instead, he placed his faith in the speed and arrows of his Young Wolves.
The jagun was made up of ten arbans, each commanded by an officer. By Tsubodai's order, only those ten men wore heavy armor. The rest had only leather tunics under padded deels. Jochi knew Genghis preferred the heavy charge to the light, but Tsubodai's men seemed to survive. They could hit and gallop faster than the ponderous Russian warriors, and there was no fear in their ranks. Like Tsubodai, they looked hungrily down the slope at the column and waited to be seen.
"You know your father sent a rider to bring me home?" Tsubodai said.
Jochi nodded. "All the men know."
"I had hoped to go further north than this, but I am your father's man. He speaks and I obey, do you understand?"
Jochi stared at the young general, forgetting for a moment the knights who rode in the valley below.
"Of course," he said, his face showing nothing.
Tsubodai glanced back at him, amused. "I hope you do, Jochi. He is a man to follow, your father. I wonder how he will respond when he sees how well you have grown."
For a moment, anger twisted Jochi's face before he smoothed his features and took a deep breath. Tsubodai had been more like a father than his own in many ways, but he did not forget the man's true loyalty. At an order from Genghis, Tsubodai would kill him. As he looked at the young general, he thought there would be some regret, but not enough to hold the blow.
"He will need loyal men, Tsubodai," Jochi said. "My father would not call us back to build or rest. He will have found some new land to tear to pieces. Like the wolf, he is always hungry, even to the point of bursting his own stomach."
Tsubodai frowned to hear the khan described in such a way. In three years, he had seen no affection when Jochi spoke of his father, though sometimes there was a wistfulness that showed less and less as the seasons passed. Genghis had sent away a boy, but a man would return to him, Tsubodai had made certain of that. For all his bitterness, Jochi was a cool head in battle and the men looked on him with pride. He would do.
"I have another question for you, Jochi," Tsubodai said.
Jochi smiled for an instant. "You always have, General," he replied.
"We have drawn these iron knights after us for hundreds of miles, exhausting their horses. We have captured their scouts and put them to the question, though I do not know of this 'Jerusalem' they seek, or who this 'white Christ' is." Tsubodai shrugged. "Perhaps I will meet him one day over the length of my sword, but the world is large and I am but one man."
As he spoke, he watched the armored knights and the trailing baggage lines behind them, waiting to be seen.
"My question, Jochi, is this. These knights are nothing to me. Your father has called me back and I could ride now, while the ponies are fat with summer grass. Why then are we here, waiting for the challenge?"
Jochi's eyes were cold as he replied.
"My father would say it is what we do, that there is no better way for a man to spend his years than at war with enemies. He might also say you enjoy it, General, and that is all the reason you need."
Tsubodai's gaze did not waver.
"Perhaps he would say that, but you hide behind his words. Why are we here, Jochi? We do not want their big horses, even for meat. Why will I risk the lives of warriors to smash the column you see?"
Jochi shrugged irritably. "If it is not that, I do not know."
"For you, Jochi," Tsubodai said seriously. "When you return to your father, you will have seen all forms of battle, in all seasons. You and I have captured towns and raided cities, ridden desert and forests so thick we could hardly cut our way through. Genghis will find no weakness in you." Tsubodai smiled briefly at Jochi's stony expression. "I will be proud when men say you learned your skill under Tsubodai the Valiant."
Jochi had to grin at hearing the nickname from Tsubodai himself. There were no secrets in the camps.
"There it is," Tsubodai muttered, pointing to a distant messenger racing to the head of the Russian column. "We have an enemy who leads from the front, a very brave man."
Jochi could imagine the sudden dismay among the knights as they looked into the bowl of hills and saw the Mongol warriors.
Tsubodai grunted softly as an entire rank peeled off the column and began trotting up the slopes, the long spears ready. He showed his teeth as the gap began to narrow. They were charging uphill, in their arrogance. He longed to teach them their error.
"Do you have your paitze, Jochi? Show it to me."
Jochi reached behind him to where his bow holder was strapped to the saddle. He lifted a flap in the stiff leather and pulled out a plaque of solid gold, stamped with a wolf's head in profile. At twenty ounces, it was heavy, but small enough for him to grip in his hand.
Tsubodai ignored the men rising doggedly up the hill to face the eldest son of Genghis.
"You have that and the right to command a thousand by my hand, Jochi. Those who command a jagun have one of mere silver, like this." Tsubodai held up a larger block of the whitish metal. "The difference is that the silver paitze is given to a man elected by the officers of each arban below him."
"I know this," Jochi said.
Tsubodai glanced back at the knights laboring closer. "The officers of this jagun have asked to have you lead them, Jochi. I had no part in it." He held out the silver paitze and Jochi took it joyfully, passing back the plaque of gold.
Tsubodai was solemn and deliberately formal, but his eyes were bright. "When you return to your father, Jochi, you will have known all ranks and positions." The general gestured, cutting the air with his hand. "On the right, the left, and the center." He looked over the heads of the straining knights cantering up the hill, seeing a flicker of movement on a crag in the distance. Tsubodai nodded sharply.
"It is time. You know what you have to do, Jochi. Command is yours." Without another word, Tsubodai clapped the younger man on the shoulder and rode back over the ridge, leaving the jagun of riders in the care of one suddenly nervous leader.
Jochi could feel the combined stares of the hundred men on his back as he struggled to hide his pleasure. Each arban of ten elected one man to lead them, then those men elected one of their number to lead the hundred in war. To be so chosen was an honor. A voice in his mind whispered that they only honored his father, but he crushed it, refusing to doubt. He had earned the right and confidence swelled in him.
"Bow lines!" Jochi called. He gripped his reins tightly to hide his tension as the men formed a wider line so that every bow could bear. Jochi glanced over his shoulder, but Tsubodai had truly gone, leaving him alone. The men still watched and he forced the cold face, knowing they would remember his calm. As they raised their bows, he held up a clenched fist, waiting while his heart thumped painfully in his chest.
At four hundred paces, Jochi dropped his arm and the first flight of arrows whipped into the air. It was too far and those that reached the knights splintered on their shields, now held high and forward, so that almost the entire man was protected. The long shields showed their purpose as a second flight struck the ranks without a single rider going down.
The powerful horses were not fast, but still the gap closed and Jochi only watched. At two hundred paces, he raised his fist once more and another hundred arrows waited on creaking strings. At such a distance, he did not know if the knights' armor would save them. Nothing ever had.
"Shoot like you have never owned a bow," he shouted. The men around him grinned and the arrows snapped out. Jochi winced instinctively at shafts that went clear over the enemy heads, as if loosed by panicking fools. Only a few struck, and of those, still fewer brought a horse or man down. They could hear the thunder of the charge now and saw the front ranks begin to lower their spears in anticipation.
Facing them, Jochi smothered his fear in a sudden bloom of rage. He wanted nothing more than to draw his sword and kick his mount down the slope at the enemy. Shaking with frustration, he gave a different order.
"Retreat over the ridge," Jochi shouted. He wrenched at his reins and his horse jerked into a run. His jagun shouted incoherently, turning in chaos after their general. Behind him, he heard guttural voices yelling in triumph and acid rose in his throat, though whether it was from fear or anger, he did not know.
Friday, March 27, 2009
PROFESSOR SUSPENDED FOR HANGING BANKERS REMARK
A university professor who is organising a protest at next week's G20 summit was suspended from his job after warning bankers could be "hanging from lampposts", a spokesman said Friday.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
OBAMA INAUGURATION ANNOTATED
ANNOTATED INAUGURAL SPEECH.
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
Following is the transcript of President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
PRESIDENT BARACK Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation...
(APPLAUSE)
... as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.
The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.
OUR COLLECTIVE WHAT? FAILURE?? I FAILED HOW?? I FAILED TO MAKE HARD CHOICES??? I WAS SUPPORED TO PREPARE THE NATION FOR A NEW AGE, AND FAILED??
Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
OH. AND I FAILED TO MAKE THESE HARD CHOICES, PREFERING TO LOSE JOBS, SHATTER BUSINESSES, LET SCHOOLS FAIL, SQUANDER ENERGY AND STRENGTHEN OUR ADVERSARIES. I FAILED, AND CONTRIBUTED TO THREATS TO OUR PLANET. PARDON ME. I'M NOT USUALLY THIN SKINNED, BUT DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY THAT OUR BADLY WAKENED ECONOMY IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF OUR COLLECTIVE FAILURE. SOME COLLECTIVE FAILURE TO MAKE HARD CHOICES. SOMEHOW,.... WAIT A MINUTE. OH I GEET IT.IT SOUNDS GOOD.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.
MY CONFIDENCE ISN'T SAPPED ACROSS OUR LAND. AGAIN WITH YOU TELLING ME HOW I FEEL? I HAVE NO IDEA IF THE NEXT GENERATION MUST LOWER ITS SIGHTS. I HOPE NOT. BUT I DON'T HAVE A CLUE. ITS' ONE THEORY. THAT OUR SIGHTS WERE PERMANENTLY TOO HIGH AFTER WORLD WAR II, AFTER THE GREAT DEPRESSION ENDED AND IT LOOKED LIKE THE AMERICAN DREAM WAS POSSIBLE, A PERMANENTLY PROSPEROUS NATION, WITH A LIGHTER DRUDGERY LOAD FOR ALL. COITENLY ONE THEORY IS THAT SUCH HIGH HOPES ARE SILLY. ALL HOPE AND NO REALITY.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met.\
THEY WILL BE MET. SURE HOPE SO. HAVE MY DOUBTS.
(APPLAUSE)
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
WHAT??? WHEN DID I CHOSE FEAR, CONFLICT AND DISCORD. WAS THAT THE CHOICE WE MADE IN NOVEMBER. FEAR VS HOPE, UNITY OVER DISCORD?? AND UNITY BEAT DISCORD. HOPE BEAT FEAR. ALTHOUGH TO BE HONEST NEARLY FIFTY PERCENT OF US VOTED FOR CONFLICT, DISCORD AND FEAR.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.
SURE. AN END TO FALSE PROMISES AND POLITICAL STRANGULATION. I HAVE HEARD THAT BEFORE. PROCLAIM AN END TO BUSINESS AS USUAL, AND THEN FACE THE FACTS.
WE HAVE COME TO PROCLAIM AN END TO THE PETTY GRIEVANCES AND FALSE PROMISES ETC ETC. YEAH YEAH, SURE KID. AND PIGS CAN FLY. NO REALLY, THEY CAN. IN FACT, A WHOLE FLOCK OF 'EM JUST FLEW OVER.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.
RIGHT. JUST LAST WEEK I SET, NO WAIT A MINUTE. THE TIME HAS COME TODAY, NOT, LIKE FIFTY YEARS AGO. OR DURING THE CIVIL WAR. ABE LINCOLN WAS SO VERY CHILDISH. LUCKY NOW, WE CAN GROW UP FINALLY. NOT LIKE WINSTON CHURCHILL OR ARISTOTLE, THOSE CHILDISH LITTLE INFANTILE UN GROWN UP TYKES. PSHAW. NO SIR. TIME TO GROW UP.
The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
YEAH, I REALLY FEEL SORRY FOR DUTCH PEOPLE, OR THOSE MEAN SPIRITED FRENCH AND ENGLISH GUYS WHO DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANY GOD GIVEN PROMISE THAT ALL ARE EQUAL. ALL ARE EQUAL. SURE, BUT SOME ARE EQUALLER THAN OTHERS. DESERVE A CHANCE TO PURSUE THEIR FULL MEASURE OF HAPPINESS. GOD I HATE THOSE RUMANIANS AND CHINESE WHO NEVER GIVE ANYONE A CHANCE TO BE HAPPY. THOSE AWFUL TURKS AND JAPANESE, WHO HAVE NO GRASP OF OUR NOBLE IDEA, PASSED ON FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.
It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.
OH THAT PATH. THE ONE CHOSEN BY FINS AND TURKS AND ALBANIANS AND ITALIANS. THOSE HORRIBLE CHILDISH PEOPLE WHO PREFER LEISURE OVER WORK AND SEEK ONLY THE PLEASURES OF RICHES AND FAME. NO SIR. WE WORK HARD TO MAKE OUR NATION GREAT. NOBODY ELSE DOES THAT.
Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
BULL FUCKING CRAP ON A STICK. RATHER.... I MEAN, THE NON DOERS THE ONES WHO DON'T MAKE THINGS, THE ONES WHO DON'T TAKE RISKS, THOSE SHITTY PEOPLE, WELL THEY ARE NOT AMERICANS. THEY ARE NOT LIVING A LIFE WORTH LIVING. THE LONG RUGGED PATH TOWARDS PROSPERITY AND FREEDOM... THAT HAS BEEN THE WORK OF THE WONDERFUL RISK TAKERS AND DOERS AND MAKERS OF THINGS. NOT LLIKE THOSE FILTHY LAZY ITALIANS WHO DON'T DO ALL THAT WONDERFUL STUFF TO TREAD THE WEARY WAY UP THE LONG RUGGED PATH TOWARDS PROSPERITY AND FREEDOM. AMERICA, WE DO THAT, NOBODY ELSE DOES. WE ARE SO GREAT.
AND HERE COMES THE REAL BULLSHIT.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
FOR US?? BULLSHIT. THE ENDURE THE LASH
AND THE WHIP
AND PLOWED THE HARD EARTH
AND TOILED IN SWEATSHOPS
AND SETTLED THE WEST
AND PACKED UP THEIR FEW WORLDLY POSSESSIONS AND TRAVELED ACR4SSS OCEANS
FOR US
FOR US.
For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.
A WHOLE FLOCK OF 'EM FLEW OVER THAT TIME. PIGS. FLYING PIGS.
They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
NO THEY DIDN'T.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.
STANDING PAT?? I DIDN'T STAND PAT. I DIDN PROTECT NARROW INTERESTS. I DIDNT PUT OFF UNPLEASANT DECISIONS. WHEN DID I DO THAT. WHO IN THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. WHAT ARE YOU SAYING. IT DOESN'T MEAN A GODDAMNED THING.
But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed.
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.
The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.
We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.
We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality...
(APPLAUSE)
... and lower its costs.
AND HARNESS THE FLYING PIGS. DON'T FORGET THEM. A RAW SOURCE OF ENERGY.
We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.
All this we can do. All this we will do.
APPLAUSE SIGN.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.
SURE KID. SURE. FREE MEN AND WOMEN. NOT THE SHACKLED MEN AND WOMEN ON FOREIGN SHORES WHO DON'T HAVE OUR CONSTITUTIION, OUR BRAVE ANCESTORS, OUR ENERGY AND INVENTIVENESS AND.. OH FUCK YOU.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.
YES THEY DO. THE GROUND HAS NOT SHIFTED BENEATH ANYONE. NO LONGER APPLY. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN. LAST NOVEMBER WHEN WE VOTED AGAINST FEAR AND DISCORD.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.
RIGHT. AND WE DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER. NOBODY DOES.
Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.
SURE. JUST A SMALL MATTER OF MEASURING WHETHER IT WORKS OR NOT. NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE. GREAT IDEAS FROM A GREAT MIND.
And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.
But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.
THAT;'S A BIG JUMP FROM THE MARKET SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL AND A NATION RULED BY GREEDY PEOPLE WHO FAVOR ONLY THE PROSPEROUS. QUITE A JUMP. THIS SPEECH IS WOBBLING BADLY. INTO FOOLISH LLIES.
The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
(APPLAUSE)
OR ARE IT?
BUT HERE COMES THE WORST PART. THE CHOICE BETWEEN MY SAFETY AND MY IDEALS?? SAFETY FIRST. I GOT KIDS, PETS, INVESTMENTS AND A VERY STRONG LOVE OF LIFE. DON'T YOU JEOPARDIZE MY LIFE FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH OR DUE PROCESS. DUE PROCESS SET THE DECAPITATOR O.J. BACK ON THE STREETS.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
LINCOLN SUSPENDED HABEUS CORPUS IN THE CIVIL WAR. ARGUE ALL YOU WANT. I REJECT IDEALS OVER SAFETY. AND SO WOULD ANY SANE PERSON. MAYBE THERE' S SOME ROOM FOR ARGUMENT. BUT SORRY, YOUR FRIENDS ALL LAUGHED BEHIND YOUR BACK WITH IRONIC AND COMIC DISAPPROVAL WHEN THEY HEARD YOU EXPOUSE IDEALS OVER SAFETY. IT'S LAUGHABLE.
Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.
EXPANDED BY THE BLOOD OF GENERATIONS. OR SOMETHING,.
Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.
SAFETY OR EXPEDIENCE.
APLAUSE.
And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born:
AND MY BROTHER IS IN JAIL FOR POSSESSION, AND I WON'T GO HIS BAIL BECAUSE I AM A NARROW MINDED FUCK...
know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.
AND READY TO PUT OUR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS. WELL, MOST OF US FEEL THAT WAY. ER, DON'T WE?
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.
I AM A MAN OF NO CONVICTIONS.
They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. AND PUTTING CIVIL RIGHTS BEFORE PERSONAL SAFETY.
We are the keepers of this legacy, guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We'll begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard- earned peace in Afghanistan.
LEAVE IRAQ TO ITS PEOPLE. THEY CHOSE SADAM HUSSEIN. THAT';S HOW THEY ARE.
With old friends and former foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet.
We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense.
WHAT WAY OF LIFE. USING THREE QUARTERS OF THE WORLD'S RESOURCES TO COOL OUR HOMES AND HAVE WIDE SCREEN TV'S..
And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."
I COITENLY HOPE SO. BECAUSE JUST MAYBE THOSE GUYS ARE DESPERATE AND CRAZY.
(APPLAUSE)
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
YOU AND YOUR HERITAGE. WE AIN'T WEEK LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES. NO SIR. WE ARE STRONG. THANK GOD WE HAVE A HERITAGE OF STRENGTH, NOT WEAKNESS. I FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE COUNTRIES FOUNDED ON WEAKNESS.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.
THAT'S REALLY NOT SO GOOD WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
HURRAY FOR US.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.
To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
NO. YOUR PEOPLE ARE JUST ALL MESSED UP.
To those...
(APPLAUSE)
WOW. A MOMENT OF ZEN.
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
OR, WAIT, CLING TO POWER THROUGH CORRUPTION, SILENCING DISSENT, WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY. YOU MEAN LIKE THE MAFIA, OR CHINA OR IRAN, OR, OR. THIS PLACE?
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.
NO WE DON'T.
And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
RELATIVE PLENTY. WHAT DOE S THAT MEAN. AND, NO WE ARE NOT GIVING UP OUR COMFORTS TO SAVE THE WORLD.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.
WHISPER THROUGH THE AGES. THE DEAD CRY OUT FOR REVENGE. FOR PATRIOTISM. FOR A NEW INFLANGEMENT OF THE THE PERIOUS BOONDANGLES THAT PERSIST TO UNARREST THE FUTURITY OF TODAYS GREATNESS.
We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.
OH SHIT. NOT PUBLIC SERVICE. I WORK HARD FOR THE MONEY.
And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
NO.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.
RIGHT NO MORE NARROW EVADING OF UNPLEASANT CHOICES. NO MORE EASY NARROW DISLOYAL LAZY SHIT. TIME TO DO FOR YOU COUNTRY, NOT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOURSELF OF WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU.
It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.
It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
THIS IS THE WORST THING I EVER HEARD.
Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.
These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.
What is demanded then is a return to these truths.
NO MORE BEING DISLOYAL OR UNPATRIOTIC, OR INTOLEERANT, UNFAIR, OR LAZY OR DISHONEST OR COWARDLY. TIME TO RETURN TO HONESTY AND HARD WORK, RETURN. GIVE UP YOU LAZY DISHONEST COWARDLY WAYS.
What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.
we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, WHAT DUTIES DO I HAVE TO THE WORLD OR MY COUNTRY. AND WHAT DUTIES TO MYSELF HAVE I FAILED TO ADDRESS. A NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY, A RECOGNITION THAT WE HAVE DUTIES TO OURSELVES.
A NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY??? A RECOGNITION THAT WE HAVE DUTIES TO OURSELVES?? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? WHAT DUTIES TO THE NATION HAVE I SHIRKED BEFORE THIS NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY??
JUST TELL ME THAT. GIVE ME ONE GOOD EXAMPLE. WHAT DUTIES DO I HAVE TO THE WORLD OR MY COUNTRY. AND WHAT DUTIES TO MYSELF HAVE I FAILED TO ADDRESS. WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
WHAT. DUTIES TO MYSELF, MY COUNTRY AND THE WORLD.THAT I HAVE SHIRKED UNTIL THIS NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY?? THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE.
This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
GOD?! I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD. I DON'T TAKE MY MARCHING ORDERS FROM GOD TO SHAPE AN UNCERTAIN DESTINY. THAT IS NOT THE SOURCE OF OUR CONFIDENCE. YOU JUST WANTED TO SAY HIGH SOUNDING PHRASES, LIKE
THIS IS THE PRICE AND PROMISE OF CITIZENSHIP.
THIS IS THE SOURCE OF OUR CONFIDENCE.
SHAPE AN UNCERTAIN DESTINY.
LOWER YOUR STANDARDS. THIS IS PURE CRAP.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
NOT THE BLACK THING. LOOK. I NEVER PARTICIPATED IN NOT SERVING BLACKS AT RESTAURANTS. THAT WAS A SOUTHERN AMERICAN THING. DON'T PIN THAT ON ME. AND WHO CARES IF YOU'RE BLACK. I CARE THAT YOU CAN STAND UP THERE AND LIE.
(APPLAUSE)
So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.
MUSIC UP...
In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.
The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.
At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."
WHILE HALF THE NATION FLED TO CANADA, FIGURING BRITAIN COULDN'T BE THAT BAD. WHO CARES.
America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Thank you. God bless you.
(APPLAUSE)
And God bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
AND I'M SORRY FOR ALL THE CRAP I JUST SAID. THEY MADE ME DO IT.
AND I'M NOT FUNNY. I'M JUST VERY PISSED OFF AT THIS CRAP.
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
Following is the transcript of President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
PRESIDENT BARACK Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation...
(APPLAUSE)
... as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.
The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.
OUR COLLECTIVE WHAT? FAILURE?? I FAILED HOW?? I FAILED TO MAKE HARD CHOICES??? I WAS SUPPORED TO PREPARE THE NATION FOR A NEW AGE, AND FAILED??
Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
OH. AND I FAILED TO MAKE THESE HARD CHOICES, PREFERING TO LOSE JOBS, SHATTER BUSINESSES, LET SCHOOLS FAIL, SQUANDER ENERGY AND STRENGTHEN OUR ADVERSARIES. I FAILED, AND CONTRIBUTED TO THREATS TO OUR PLANET. PARDON ME. I'M NOT USUALLY THIN SKINNED, BUT DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY THAT OUR BADLY WAKENED ECONOMY IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF OUR COLLECTIVE FAILURE. SOME COLLECTIVE FAILURE TO MAKE HARD CHOICES. SOMEHOW,.... WAIT A MINUTE. OH I GEET IT.IT SOUNDS GOOD.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.
MY CONFIDENCE ISN'T SAPPED ACROSS OUR LAND. AGAIN WITH YOU TELLING ME HOW I FEEL? I HAVE NO IDEA IF THE NEXT GENERATION MUST LOWER ITS SIGHTS. I HOPE NOT. BUT I DON'T HAVE A CLUE. ITS' ONE THEORY. THAT OUR SIGHTS WERE PERMANENTLY TOO HIGH AFTER WORLD WAR II, AFTER THE GREAT DEPRESSION ENDED AND IT LOOKED LIKE THE AMERICAN DREAM WAS POSSIBLE, A PERMANENTLY PROSPEROUS NATION, WITH A LIGHTER DRUDGERY LOAD FOR ALL. COITENLY ONE THEORY IS THAT SUCH HIGH HOPES ARE SILLY. ALL HOPE AND NO REALITY.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met.\
THEY WILL BE MET. SURE HOPE SO. HAVE MY DOUBTS.
(APPLAUSE)
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
WHAT??? WHEN DID I CHOSE FEAR, CONFLICT AND DISCORD. WAS THAT THE CHOICE WE MADE IN NOVEMBER. FEAR VS HOPE, UNITY OVER DISCORD?? AND UNITY BEAT DISCORD. HOPE BEAT FEAR. ALTHOUGH TO BE HONEST NEARLY FIFTY PERCENT OF US VOTED FOR CONFLICT, DISCORD AND FEAR.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.
SURE. AN END TO FALSE PROMISES AND POLITICAL STRANGULATION. I HAVE HEARD THAT BEFORE. PROCLAIM AN END TO BUSINESS AS USUAL, AND THEN FACE THE FACTS.
WE HAVE COME TO PROCLAIM AN END TO THE PETTY GRIEVANCES AND FALSE PROMISES ETC ETC. YEAH YEAH, SURE KID. AND PIGS CAN FLY. NO REALLY, THEY CAN. IN FACT, A WHOLE FLOCK OF 'EM JUST FLEW OVER.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.
RIGHT. JUST LAST WEEK I SET, NO WAIT A MINUTE. THE TIME HAS COME TODAY, NOT, LIKE FIFTY YEARS AGO. OR DURING THE CIVIL WAR. ABE LINCOLN WAS SO VERY CHILDISH. LUCKY NOW, WE CAN GROW UP FINALLY. NOT LIKE WINSTON CHURCHILL OR ARISTOTLE, THOSE CHILDISH LITTLE INFANTILE UN GROWN UP TYKES. PSHAW. NO SIR. TIME TO GROW UP.
The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
YEAH, I REALLY FEEL SORRY FOR DUTCH PEOPLE, OR THOSE MEAN SPIRITED FRENCH AND ENGLISH GUYS WHO DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANY GOD GIVEN PROMISE THAT ALL ARE EQUAL. ALL ARE EQUAL. SURE, BUT SOME ARE EQUALLER THAN OTHERS. DESERVE A CHANCE TO PURSUE THEIR FULL MEASURE OF HAPPINESS. GOD I HATE THOSE RUMANIANS AND CHINESE WHO NEVER GIVE ANYONE A CHANCE TO BE HAPPY. THOSE AWFUL TURKS AND JAPANESE, WHO HAVE NO GRASP OF OUR NOBLE IDEA, PASSED ON FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.
It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.
OH THAT PATH. THE ONE CHOSEN BY FINS AND TURKS AND ALBANIANS AND ITALIANS. THOSE HORRIBLE CHILDISH PEOPLE WHO PREFER LEISURE OVER WORK AND SEEK ONLY THE PLEASURES OF RICHES AND FAME. NO SIR. WE WORK HARD TO MAKE OUR NATION GREAT. NOBODY ELSE DOES THAT.
Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
BULL FUCKING CRAP ON A STICK. RATHER.... I MEAN, THE NON DOERS THE ONES WHO DON'T MAKE THINGS, THE ONES WHO DON'T TAKE RISKS, THOSE SHITTY PEOPLE, WELL THEY ARE NOT AMERICANS. THEY ARE NOT LIVING A LIFE WORTH LIVING. THE LONG RUGGED PATH TOWARDS PROSPERITY AND FREEDOM... THAT HAS BEEN THE WORK OF THE WONDERFUL RISK TAKERS AND DOERS AND MAKERS OF THINGS. NOT LLIKE THOSE FILTHY LAZY ITALIANS WHO DON'T DO ALL THAT WONDERFUL STUFF TO TREAD THE WEARY WAY UP THE LONG RUGGED PATH TOWARDS PROSPERITY AND FREEDOM. AMERICA, WE DO THAT, NOBODY ELSE DOES. WE ARE SO GREAT.
AND HERE COMES THE REAL BULLSHIT.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
FOR US?? BULLSHIT. THE ENDURE THE LASH
AND THE WHIP
AND PLOWED THE HARD EARTH
AND TOILED IN SWEATSHOPS
AND SETTLED THE WEST
AND PACKED UP THEIR FEW WORLDLY POSSESSIONS AND TRAVELED ACR4SSS OCEANS
FOR US
FOR US.
For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.
A WHOLE FLOCK OF 'EM FLEW OVER THAT TIME. PIGS. FLYING PIGS.
They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
NO THEY DIDN'T.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.
STANDING PAT?? I DIDN'T STAND PAT. I DIDN PROTECT NARROW INTERESTS. I DIDNT PUT OFF UNPLEASANT DECISIONS. WHEN DID I DO THAT. WHO IN THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. WHAT ARE YOU SAYING. IT DOESN'T MEAN A GODDAMNED THING.
But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed.
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.
The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.
We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.
We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality...
(APPLAUSE)
... and lower its costs.
AND HARNESS THE FLYING PIGS. DON'T FORGET THEM. A RAW SOURCE OF ENERGY.
We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.
All this we can do. All this we will do.
APPLAUSE SIGN.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.
SURE KID. SURE. FREE MEN AND WOMEN. NOT THE SHACKLED MEN AND WOMEN ON FOREIGN SHORES WHO DON'T HAVE OUR CONSTITUTIION, OUR BRAVE ANCESTORS, OUR ENERGY AND INVENTIVENESS AND.. OH FUCK YOU.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.
YES THEY DO. THE GROUND HAS NOT SHIFTED BENEATH ANYONE. NO LONGER APPLY. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN. LAST NOVEMBER WHEN WE VOTED AGAINST FEAR AND DISCORD.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.
RIGHT. AND WE DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER. NOBODY DOES.
Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.
SURE. JUST A SMALL MATTER OF MEASURING WHETHER IT WORKS OR NOT. NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE. GREAT IDEAS FROM A GREAT MIND.
And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.
But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.
THAT;'S A BIG JUMP FROM THE MARKET SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL AND A NATION RULED BY GREEDY PEOPLE WHO FAVOR ONLY THE PROSPEROUS. QUITE A JUMP. THIS SPEECH IS WOBBLING BADLY. INTO FOOLISH LLIES.
The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
(APPLAUSE)
OR ARE IT?
BUT HERE COMES THE WORST PART. THE CHOICE BETWEEN MY SAFETY AND MY IDEALS?? SAFETY FIRST. I GOT KIDS, PETS, INVESTMENTS AND A VERY STRONG LOVE OF LIFE. DON'T YOU JEOPARDIZE MY LIFE FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH OR DUE PROCESS. DUE PROCESS SET THE DECAPITATOR O.J. BACK ON THE STREETS.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
LINCOLN SUSPENDED HABEUS CORPUS IN THE CIVIL WAR. ARGUE ALL YOU WANT. I REJECT IDEALS OVER SAFETY. AND SO WOULD ANY SANE PERSON. MAYBE THERE' S SOME ROOM FOR ARGUMENT. BUT SORRY, YOUR FRIENDS ALL LAUGHED BEHIND YOUR BACK WITH IRONIC AND COMIC DISAPPROVAL WHEN THEY HEARD YOU EXPOUSE IDEALS OVER SAFETY. IT'S LAUGHABLE.
Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.
EXPANDED BY THE BLOOD OF GENERATIONS. OR SOMETHING,.
Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.
SAFETY OR EXPEDIENCE.
APLAUSE.
And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born:
AND MY BROTHER IS IN JAIL FOR POSSESSION, AND I WON'T GO HIS BAIL BECAUSE I AM A NARROW MINDED FUCK...
know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.
AND READY TO PUT OUR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS. WELL, MOST OF US FEEL THAT WAY. ER, DON'T WE?
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.
I AM A MAN OF NO CONVICTIONS.
They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. AND PUTTING CIVIL RIGHTS BEFORE PERSONAL SAFETY.
We are the keepers of this legacy, guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We'll begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard- earned peace in Afghanistan.
LEAVE IRAQ TO ITS PEOPLE. THEY CHOSE SADAM HUSSEIN. THAT';S HOW THEY ARE.
With old friends and former foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet.
We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense.
WHAT WAY OF LIFE. USING THREE QUARTERS OF THE WORLD'S RESOURCES TO COOL OUR HOMES AND HAVE WIDE SCREEN TV'S..
And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."
I COITENLY HOPE SO. BECAUSE JUST MAYBE THOSE GUYS ARE DESPERATE AND CRAZY.
(APPLAUSE)
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
YOU AND YOUR HERITAGE. WE AIN'T WEEK LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES. NO SIR. WE ARE STRONG. THANK GOD WE HAVE A HERITAGE OF STRENGTH, NOT WEAKNESS. I FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE COUNTRIES FOUNDED ON WEAKNESS.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.
THAT'S REALLY NOT SO GOOD WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
HURRAY FOR US.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.
To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
NO. YOUR PEOPLE ARE JUST ALL MESSED UP.
To those...
(APPLAUSE)
WOW. A MOMENT OF ZEN.
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
OR, WAIT, CLING TO POWER THROUGH CORRUPTION, SILENCING DISSENT, WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY. YOU MEAN LIKE THE MAFIA, OR CHINA OR IRAN, OR, OR. THIS PLACE?
(APPLAUSE)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.
NO WE DON'T.
And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
RELATIVE PLENTY. WHAT DOE S THAT MEAN. AND, NO WE ARE NOT GIVING UP OUR COMFORTS TO SAVE THE WORLD.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.
WHISPER THROUGH THE AGES. THE DEAD CRY OUT FOR REVENGE. FOR PATRIOTISM. FOR A NEW INFLANGEMENT OF THE THE PERIOUS BOONDANGLES THAT PERSIST TO UNARREST THE FUTURITY OF TODAYS GREATNESS.
We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.
OH SHIT. NOT PUBLIC SERVICE. I WORK HARD FOR THE MONEY.
And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
NO.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.
RIGHT NO MORE NARROW EVADING OF UNPLEASANT CHOICES. NO MORE EASY NARROW DISLOYAL LAZY SHIT. TIME TO DO FOR YOU COUNTRY, NOT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOURSELF OF WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU.
It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.
It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
THIS IS THE WORST THING I EVER HEARD.
Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.
These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.
What is demanded then is a return to these truths.
NO MORE BEING DISLOYAL OR UNPATRIOTIC, OR INTOLEERANT, UNFAIR, OR LAZY OR DISHONEST OR COWARDLY. TIME TO RETURN TO HONESTY AND HARD WORK, RETURN. GIVE UP YOU LAZY DISHONEST COWARDLY WAYS.
What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.
we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, WHAT DUTIES DO I HAVE TO THE WORLD OR MY COUNTRY. AND WHAT DUTIES TO MYSELF HAVE I FAILED TO ADDRESS. A NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY, A RECOGNITION THAT WE HAVE DUTIES TO OURSELVES.
A NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY??? A RECOGNITION THAT WE HAVE DUTIES TO OURSELVES?? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? WHAT DUTIES TO THE NATION HAVE I SHIRKED BEFORE THIS NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY??
JUST TELL ME THAT. GIVE ME ONE GOOD EXAMPLE. WHAT DUTIES DO I HAVE TO THE WORLD OR MY COUNTRY. AND WHAT DUTIES TO MYSELF HAVE I FAILED TO ADDRESS. WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
WHAT. DUTIES TO MYSELF, MY COUNTRY AND THE WORLD.THAT I HAVE SHIRKED UNTIL THIS NEW ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY?? THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE.
This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
GOD?! I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD. I DON'T TAKE MY MARCHING ORDERS FROM GOD TO SHAPE AN UNCERTAIN DESTINY. THAT IS NOT THE SOURCE OF OUR CONFIDENCE. YOU JUST WANTED TO SAY HIGH SOUNDING PHRASES, LIKE
THIS IS THE PRICE AND PROMISE OF CITIZENSHIP.
THIS IS THE SOURCE OF OUR CONFIDENCE.
SHAPE AN UNCERTAIN DESTINY.
LOWER YOUR STANDARDS. THIS IS PURE CRAP.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
NOT THE BLACK THING. LOOK. I NEVER PARTICIPATED IN NOT SERVING BLACKS AT RESTAURANTS. THAT WAS A SOUTHERN AMERICAN THING. DON'T PIN THAT ON ME. AND WHO CARES IF YOU'RE BLACK. I CARE THAT YOU CAN STAND UP THERE AND LIE.
(APPLAUSE)
So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.
MUSIC UP...
In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.
The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.
At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."
WHILE HALF THE NATION FLED TO CANADA, FIGURING BRITAIN COULDN'T BE THAT BAD. WHO CARES.
America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Thank you. God bless you.
(APPLAUSE)
And God bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
AND I'M SORRY FOR ALL THE CRAP I JUST SAID. THEY MADE ME DO IT.
AND I'M NOT FUNNY. I'M JUST VERY PISSED OFF AT THIS CRAP.
FAKED 9/11 AIRPLANE
http://www.911hoax.com/gBoeingButter.asp?intPage=8&PageNum=8
http://www.911hoax.com/Table_Contents.asp
Even more bizarre is that when UA 175, a Boeing 767-222, collides with
the South Tower it actually enters it. Why doesn’t the cockpit, any
part of the wings, an engine or the fuselage break away after its
collision with the steel building at an estimated 500 mph? THINK CRASH
TEST DUMMIES.
Page 32, Chapter Two of FEMA's report shows part of UA 175's fuselage on WTC 5. FEMA's report also says that UA 175 struck between the 78th and 84th floors. These pieces of the fuselage survived the fireball (without showing any signs of having been burned.) They exited WTC 2 without being seen on any video. They travel in the air and then land on the top of WTC 5.
CLICK ON THIS...
http://www.911hoax.com/gBoeingButter.asp?intPage=8&PageNum=8
OR THIS;
http://killtown.911review.org/2nd-hit.html
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL FOOTAGE SHOWN ON SEPTEMBER 11TH. THERE ARE MANY AMATEUR FAKES, BUT THIS IS THE ONE THEY SHOWED ON THE VERY DAY. IT IS A FAKE. THAT DOESN'T PROVE ANYTHING WITH CERTAINTY. BUT IT IS COMPELLING.
TWIN TOWERS' INDESTRUCTIBLE DESIGN
It is simply too incredible to believe. For one thing, as mentioned previously the pieces are all silver and United Airlines had a grey and dark blue fleet.
MORE URL'S;
http://www.911hoax.com/911Blogger_Pentanium_Wings.html
DOUBLETALK
DOUBLETALK
"I don't believe that anybody is above the law," he told ABC News a week ago. "On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.
We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals, We will fight terrorism in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals. ---- Barrack Obama
It is a matter of life and death, a road either
to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry
which can on no account be neglected.
---SUN TZU, ON THE ART OF WAR,
"I don't believe that anybody is above the law," he told ABC News a week ago. "On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.
We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals, We will fight terrorism in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals. ---- Barrack Obama
It is a matter of life and death, a road either
to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry
which can on no account be neglected.
---SUN TZU, ON THE ART OF WAR,
GOLD
Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange retreated from 4-week high and dropped slightly on Friday as investors took profits ahead of weekend after a surprising surge in the previous session. Silver continued to gain and platinum ended lower.
Monday, March 23, 2009
OBAMA SMIRKING
In the middle of decrying the misdeeds of the financial firm AIG, President Obama cracked a joke. "Excuse me," he said Monday, after coughing into the microphone. "I am choked up with anger here." There were laughs all around the East Room of the White House .
FAKE 9/11 VIDEOS??
http://www.911hoax.com/gBoeingButter.asp?intPage=8&PageNum=8
http://www.911hoax.com/Table_Contents.asp
Even more bizarre is that when UA 175, a Boeing 767-222, collides with
the South Tower it actually enters it. Why doesn’t the cockpit, any
part of the wings, an engine or the fuselage break away after its
collision with the steel building at an estimated 500 mph? THINK CRASH
TEST DUMMIES.
Page 32, Chapter Two of FEMA's report shows part of UA 175's fuselage on WTC 5. FEMA's report also says that UA 175 struck between the 78th and 84th floors. These pieces of the fuselage survived the fireball (without showing any signs of having been burned.) They exited WTC 2 without being seen on any video. They travel in the air and then land on the top of WTC 5.
CLICK ON THIS...
http://www.911hoax.com/gBoeingButter.asp?intPage=8&PageNum=8
OR THIS;
http://killtown.911review.org/2nd-hit.html
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL FOOTAGE SHOWN ON SEPTEMBER 11TH. THERE ARE MANY AMATEUR FAKES, BUT THIS IS THE ONE THEY SHOWED ON THE VERY DAY. IT IS A FAKE. THAT DOESN'T PROVE ANYTHING WITH CERTAINTY. BUT IT IS COMPELLING.
TWIN TOWERS' INDESTRUCTIBLE DESIGN
It is simply too incredible to believe. For one thing, as mentioned previously the pieces are all silver and United Airlines had a grey and dark blue fleet.
MORE URL'S;
http://www.911hoax.com/911Blogger_Pentanium_Wings.html
Woody Allen
Tails of Manhattan
by Woody Allen March 30, 2009
Fraud;
Ponzi Schemes;
Investments
Two weeks ago, Abe Moscowitz dropped dea of a heart attack and was reincarnated as lobster. Trapped off the coast of Maine, he wa shipped to Manhattan and dumped into a tank at posh Upper East Side seafood restaurant. In th tank there were several other lobsters, one of whom recognized him. “Abe, is tha you?” the creature asked, his antennae perking up
“Who’s that? Who’s talking to me?” Moscowitz said, still dazed by the mystical slam-bang postmortem that had transmogrified him into a crustacean.
“It’s me, Moe Silverman,” the other lobster said.
“O.M.G.!” Moscowitz piped, recognizing the voice of an old gin-rummy colleague. “What’s going on?”
“We’re reborn,” Moe explained. “As a couple of two-pounders.”
“Lobsters? This is how I wind up after leading a just life? In a tank on Third Avenue?”
“The Lord works in strange ways,” Moe Silverman explained. “Take Phil Pinchuck. The man keeled over with an aneurysm, he’s now a hamster. All day, running at the stupid wheel. For years he was a Yale professor. My point is he’s gotten to like the wheel. He pedals and pedals, running nowhere, but he smiles.”
Moscowitz did not like his new condition at all. Why should a decent citizen like himself, a dentist, a mensch who deserved to relive life as a soaring eagle or ensconced in the lap of some sexy socialite getting his fur stroked, come back ignominiously as an entrée on a menu? It was his cruel fate to be delicious, to turn up as Today’s Special, along with a baked potato and dessert. This led to a discussion by the two lobsters of the mysteries of existence, of religion, and how capricious the universe was, when someone like Sol Drazin, a schlemiel they knew from the catering business, came back after a fatal stroke as a stud horse impregnating cute little thoroughbred fillies for high fees. Feeling sorry for himself and angry, Moscowitz swam about, unable to buy into Silverman’s Buddha-like resignation over the prospect of being served thermidor.
At that moment, who walked into the restaurant and sits down at a nearby table but Bernie Madoff. If Moscowitz had been bitter and agitated before, now he gasped as his tail started churning the water like an Evinrude.
“I don’t believe this,” he said, pressing his little black peepers to the glass walls. “That goniff who should be doing time, chopping rocks, making license plates, somehow slipped out of his apartment confinement and he’s treating himself to a shore dinner.”
“Clock the ice on his immortal beloved,” Moe observed, scanning Mrs. M.’s rings and bracelets.
Moscowitz fought back his acid reflux, a condition that had followed him from his former life. “He’s the reason I’m here,” he said, riled to a fever pitch.
“Tell me about it,” Moe Silverman said. “I played golf with the man in Florida, which incidentally he’ll move the ball with his foot if you’re not watching.”
from the issue
cartoon bank
e-mail this
“Each month I got a statement from him,” Moscowitz ranted. “I knew such numbers looked too good to be kosher, and when I joked to him how it sounded like a Ponzi scheme he choked on his kugel. I had to do the Heimlich maneuver. Finally, after all that high living, it comes out he was a fraud and my net worth was bupkes. P.S., I had a myocardial infarction that registered at the oceanography lab in Tokyo.”
“With me he played it coy,” Silverman said, instinctively frisking his carapace for a Xanax. “He told me at first he had no room for another investor. The more he put me off, the more I wanted in. I had him to dinner, and because he liked Rosalee’s blintzes he promised me the next opening would be mine. The day I found out he could handle my account I was so thrilled I cut my wife’s head out of our wedding photo and put his in. When I learned I was broke, I committed suicide by jumping off the roof of our golf club in Palm Beach. I had to wait half an hour to jump, I was twelfth in line.”
At this moment, the captain escorted Madoff to the lobster tank, where the unctuous sharpie analyzed the assorted saltwater candidates for potential succulence and pointed to Moscowitz and Silverman. An obliging smile played on the captain’s face as he summoned a waiter to extract the pair from the tank.
“This is the last straw!” Moscowitz cried, bracing himself for the consummate outrage. “To swindle me out of my life’s savings and then to nosh me in butter sauce! What kind of universe is this?”
Moscowitz and Silverman, their ire reaching cosmic dimensions, rocked the tank to and fro until it toppled off its table, smashing its glass walls and flooding the hexagonal-tile floor. Heads turned as the alarmed captain looked on in stunned disbelief. Bent on vengeance, the two lobsters scuttled swiftly after Madoff. They reached his table in an instant, and Silverman went for his ankle. Moscowitz, summoning the strength of a madman, leaped from the floor and with one giant pincer took firm hold of Madoff’s nose. Screaming with pain, the gray-haired con artist hopped from the chair as Silverman strangled his instep with both claws. Patrons could not believe their eyes as they recognized Madoff, and began to cheer the lobsters.
“This is for the widows and charities!” yelled Moscowitz. “Thanks to you, Hatikvah Hospital is now a skating rink!”
Madoff, unable to free himself from the two Atlantic denizens, bolted from the restaurant and fled yelping into traffic. When Moscowitz tightened his viselike grip on his septum and Silverman tore through his shoe, they persuaded the oily scammer to plead guilty and apologize for his monumental hustle.
By the end of the day, Madoff was in Lenox Hill Hospital, awash in welts and abrasions. The two renegade main courses, their rage slaked, had just enough strength left to flop away into the cold, deep waters of Sheepshead Bay, where, if I’m not mistaken, Moscowitz lives to this day with Yetta Belkin, whom he recognized from shopping at Fairway. In life she had always resembled a flounder, and after her fatal plane crash she came back as one. ♦
by Woody Allen March 30, 2009
Fraud;
Ponzi Schemes;
Investments
Two weeks ago, Abe Moscowitz dropped dea of a heart attack and was reincarnated as lobster. Trapped off the coast of Maine, he wa shipped to Manhattan and dumped into a tank at posh Upper East Side seafood restaurant. In th tank there were several other lobsters, one of whom recognized him. “Abe, is tha you?” the creature asked, his antennae perking up
“Who’s that? Who’s talking to me?” Moscowitz said, still dazed by the mystical slam-bang postmortem that had transmogrified him into a crustacean.
“It’s me, Moe Silverman,” the other lobster said.
“O.M.G.!” Moscowitz piped, recognizing the voice of an old gin-rummy colleague. “What’s going on?”
“We’re reborn,” Moe explained. “As a couple of two-pounders.”
“Lobsters? This is how I wind up after leading a just life? In a tank on Third Avenue?”
“The Lord works in strange ways,” Moe Silverman explained. “Take Phil Pinchuck. The man keeled over with an aneurysm, he’s now a hamster. All day, running at the stupid wheel. For years he was a Yale professor. My point is he’s gotten to like the wheel. He pedals and pedals, running nowhere, but he smiles.”
Moscowitz did not like his new condition at all. Why should a decent citizen like himself, a dentist, a mensch who deserved to relive life as a soaring eagle or ensconced in the lap of some sexy socialite getting his fur stroked, come back ignominiously as an entrée on a menu? It was his cruel fate to be delicious, to turn up as Today’s Special, along with a baked potato and dessert. This led to a discussion by the two lobsters of the mysteries of existence, of religion, and how capricious the universe was, when someone like Sol Drazin, a schlemiel they knew from the catering business, came back after a fatal stroke as a stud horse impregnating cute little thoroughbred fillies for high fees. Feeling sorry for himself and angry, Moscowitz swam about, unable to buy into Silverman’s Buddha-like resignation over the prospect of being served thermidor.
At that moment, who walked into the restaurant and sits down at a nearby table but Bernie Madoff. If Moscowitz had been bitter and agitated before, now he gasped as his tail started churning the water like an Evinrude.
“I don’t believe this,” he said, pressing his little black peepers to the glass walls. “That goniff who should be doing time, chopping rocks, making license plates, somehow slipped out of his apartment confinement and he’s treating himself to a shore dinner.”
“Clock the ice on his immortal beloved,” Moe observed, scanning Mrs. M.’s rings and bracelets.
Moscowitz fought back his acid reflux, a condition that had followed him from his former life. “He’s the reason I’m here,” he said, riled to a fever pitch.
“Tell me about it,” Moe Silverman said. “I played golf with the man in Florida, which incidentally he’ll move the ball with his foot if you’re not watching.”
from the issue
cartoon bank
e-mail this
“Each month I got a statement from him,” Moscowitz ranted. “I knew such numbers looked too good to be kosher, and when I joked to him how it sounded like a Ponzi scheme he choked on his kugel. I had to do the Heimlich maneuver. Finally, after all that high living, it comes out he was a fraud and my net worth was bupkes. P.S., I had a myocardial infarction that registered at the oceanography lab in Tokyo.”
“With me he played it coy,” Silverman said, instinctively frisking his carapace for a Xanax. “He told me at first he had no room for another investor. The more he put me off, the more I wanted in. I had him to dinner, and because he liked Rosalee’s blintzes he promised me the next opening would be mine. The day I found out he could handle my account I was so thrilled I cut my wife’s head out of our wedding photo and put his in. When I learned I was broke, I committed suicide by jumping off the roof of our golf club in Palm Beach. I had to wait half an hour to jump, I was twelfth in line.”
At this moment, the captain escorted Madoff to the lobster tank, where the unctuous sharpie analyzed the assorted saltwater candidates for potential succulence and pointed to Moscowitz and Silverman. An obliging smile played on the captain’s face as he summoned a waiter to extract the pair from the tank.
“This is the last straw!” Moscowitz cried, bracing himself for the consummate outrage. “To swindle me out of my life’s savings and then to nosh me in butter sauce! What kind of universe is this?”
Moscowitz and Silverman, their ire reaching cosmic dimensions, rocked the tank to and fro until it toppled off its table, smashing its glass walls and flooding the hexagonal-tile floor. Heads turned as the alarmed captain looked on in stunned disbelief. Bent on vengeance, the two lobsters scuttled swiftly after Madoff. They reached his table in an instant, and Silverman went for his ankle. Moscowitz, summoning the strength of a madman, leaped from the floor and with one giant pincer took firm hold of Madoff’s nose. Screaming with pain, the gray-haired con artist hopped from the chair as Silverman strangled his instep with both claws. Patrons could not believe their eyes as they recognized Madoff, and began to cheer the lobsters.
“This is for the widows and charities!” yelled Moscowitz. “Thanks to you, Hatikvah Hospital is now a skating rink!”
Madoff, unable to free himself from the two Atlantic denizens, bolted from the restaurant and fled yelping into traffic. When Moscowitz tightened his viselike grip on his septum and Silverman tore through his shoe, they persuaded the oily scammer to plead guilty and apologize for his monumental hustle.
By the end of the day, Madoff was in Lenox Hill Hospital, awash in welts and abrasions. The two renegade main courses, their rage slaked, had just enough strength left to flop away into the cold, deep waters of Sheepshead Bay, where, if I’m not mistaken, Moscowitz lives to this day with Yetta Belkin, whom he recognized from shopping at Fairway. In life she had always resembled a flounder, and after her fatal plane crash she came back as one. ♦
EUROPEAN CONSERVATISM
Continental Drift
by James Surowiecki March 30, 2009
In American politics, “Europe” i usually a code word for “bi government.” So in the midst of global recession, with the U.S. an China shelling out trillions in fisca stimulus, you might expect tha European governments would b spending furiously, too. Far from it While the U.S. is devoting almos six per cent of its G.D.P. to fisca stimulus, France and Germany ar spending a barely noticeable twenty-six billion euros and fifty billio euros, respectively. Whereas th U.S. hopes that the upcoming G2 summit will lead to a globa stimulus package, Europea policymakers have been warnin against the dangers of “cras Keynesianism.” The U.S. Federa Reserve has been flooding ou economy with money, but th European Central Bank has cut interest rates slowly and reluctantly. Far fro wild-eyed leftists, Europeans are looking downright conservative
Europe’s response has earned it plenty of criticism, with pundits arguing that its politicians are oblivious of the seriousness of the crisis. There may be some truth in this charge, but Europe’s caution also reflects important differences between its economy and ours, as well as a profoundly different attitude toward things like inflation and debt. If European and American policymakers seem, in their public statements, to be dealing with two very different financial crises, it’s because, in some sense, they are.
To begin with, the biggest European countries, which have the most influence on policy, have not been crushed by this recession. In countries like Ireland and Spain, where huge housing bubbles burst, the devastation has been immense. But in Germany, where there was no bubble, fewer people are struggling with debt or watching their wealth go up in smoke. To be sure, Germany’s economy, which is heavily dependent on exports, is not in good shape; it looks set to shrink more this year than the U.S. economy. But the unemployment rate in Germany has risen much less than it has here. Indeed, in most of Europe job losses have been less severe, in part because unemployment was already quite high. The U.S. unemployment rate has risen nearly three percentage points since January, 2008. Europe’s is up barely one per cent.
In addition, since most European countries have an elaborate social safety net, a recession has a less dramatic impact on people’s daily lives. In the U.S., unemployment insurance pays relatively little and runs out relatively quickly, so losing a job usually means a precipitous decline in income. In European countries, unemployment benefits are typically substantial and long-lasting. This is not entirely a plus—it probably makes unemployment higher than it otherwise would be—but in hard times it keeps money in people’s pockets. (And paying for it means that European government spending automatically rises quite a bit during recessions.) Furthermore, universal health care enables Europeans to see a doctor even if they’re out of work.
None of this means that Europeans are indifferent to recessions or unemployment. But it does reduce the pressure to get their economies moving again at any cost. Furthermore, there seems to be an underlying difference in psychology. Americans talk a good game about the need for balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility, but we’ve proved ourselves happy to borrow trillions in order to maintain our life styles. And, while Americans hate inflation, they love economic growth more: the Federal Reserve’s mission is not just to fight inflation but also to maximize employment. Europe runs a much tighter ship: if an E.U. member has a deficit of greater than three per cent of G.D.P., it’s subject to disciplinary action. And the European Central Bank has only one mandate: keep inflation low.
from the issue
cartoon bank
e-mail this
European economic policy seems to reflect the conviction that inflation, not stagnation, is the greatest threat to an economy. If the episode that haunts the U.S. is the Great Depression, in Europe, where the Germans have been dominant in shaping economic policy, the defining historical moment is the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany, when prices rose more than seventy-five billion per cent in just one year, 1923, and, in the words of Walter Benjamin, “trust, calm, and health” vanished. The legacy of that episode lives on not just in German policymakers’ inflation phobia but also in their sense that there is something fundamentally distasteful about debt. For Germany, fiscal rectitude even in the face of a crisis is not just economically sensible but morally correct.
There’s a price to be paid for hostility toward fiscal stimulus and easy money: Europe and, arguably, the world will take longer to recover. But European policymakers seem willing to weather this outcome in exchange for stability. They’re also probably counting on the fact that, even as they sit tight, their economies will get a boost from the American and Chinese stimulus packages. The thing about government spending is that it “leaks”: a good chunk of our stimulus package will buy other countries’ goods. So Europeans can avoid getting too deeply into debt and still reap some of the benefits of our borrowing. This is unfair: in effect, Europe is refusing to carry its share of the global economic burden and is piggybacking on us. But it’s hard to see how things could have turned out otherwise. The U.S. economy, much more than Europe’s, is like the proverbial shark: if it doesn’t keep moving forward, it dies (or at least creates a lot of misery). In some sense, we need economic growth more than Europe does. It’s not surprising that we’re going to be the ones who end up paying for it.
by James Surowiecki March 30, 2009
In American politics, “Europe” i usually a code word for “bi government.” So in the midst of global recession, with the U.S. an China shelling out trillions in fisca stimulus, you might expect tha European governments would b spending furiously, too. Far from it While the U.S. is devoting almos six per cent of its G.D.P. to fisca stimulus, France and Germany ar spending a barely noticeable twenty-six billion euros and fifty billio euros, respectively. Whereas th U.S. hopes that the upcoming G2 summit will lead to a globa stimulus package, Europea policymakers have been warnin against the dangers of “cras Keynesianism.” The U.S. Federa Reserve has been flooding ou economy with money, but th European Central Bank has cut interest rates slowly and reluctantly. Far fro wild-eyed leftists, Europeans are looking downright conservative
Europe’s response has earned it plenty of criticism, with pundits arguing that its politicians are oblivious of the seriousness of the crisis. There may be some truth in this charge, but Europe’s caution also reflects important differences between its economy and ours, as well as a profoundly different attitude toward things like inflation and debt. If European and American policymakers seem, in their public statements, to be dealing with two very different financial crises, it’s because, in some sense, they are.
To begin with, the biggest European countries, which have the most influence on policy, have not been crushed by this recession. In countries like Ireland and Spain, where huge housing bubbles burst, the devastation has been immense. But in Germany, where there was no bubble, fewer people are struggling with debt or watching their wealth go up in smoke. To be sure, Germany’s economy, which is heavily dependent on exports, is not in good shape; it looks set to shrink more this year than the U.S. economy. But the unemployment rate in Germany has risen much less than it has here. Indeed, in most of Europe job losses have been less severe, in part because unemployment was already quite high. The U.S. unemployment rate has risen nearly three percentage points since January, 2008. Europe’s is up barely one per cent.
In addition, since most European countries have an elaborate social safety net, a recession has a less dramatic impact on people’s daily lives. In the U.S., unemployment insurance pays relatively little and runs out relatively quickly, so losing a job usually means a precipitous decline in income. In European countries, unemployment benefits are typically substantial and long-lasting. This is not entirely a plus—it probably makes unemployment higher than it otherwise would be—but in hard times it keeps money in people’s pockets. (And paying for it means that European government spending automatically rises quite a bit during recessions.) Furthermore, universal health care enables Europeans to see a doctor even if they’re out of work.
None of this means that Europeans are indifferent to recessions or unemployment. But it does reduce the pressure to get their economies moving again at any cost. Furthermore, there seems to be an underlying difference in psychology. Americans talk a good game about the need for balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility, but we’ve proved ourselves happy to borrow trillions in order to maintain our life styles. And, while Americans hate inflation, they love economic growth more: the Federal Reserve’s mission is not just to fight inflation but also to maximize employment. Europe runs a much tighter ship: if an E.U. member has a deficit of greater than three per cent of G.D.P., it’s subject to disciplinary action. And the European Central Bank has only one mandate: keep inflation low.
from the issue
cartoon bank
e-mail this
European economic policy seems to reflect the conviction that inflation, not stagnation, is the greatest threat to an economy. If the episode that haunts the U.S. is the Great Depression, in Europe, where the Germans have been dominant in shaping economic policy, the defining historical moment is the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany, when prices rose more than seventy-five billion per cent in just one year, 1923, and, in the words of Walter Benjamin, “trust, calm, and health” vanished. The legacy of that episode lives on not just in German policymakers’ inflation phobia but also in their sense that there is something fundamentally distasteful about debt. For Germany, fiscal rectitude even in the face of a crisis is not just economically sensible but morally correct.
There’s a price to be paid for hostility toward fiscal stimulus and easy money: Europe and, arguably, the world will take longer to recover. But European policymakers seem willing to weather this outcome in exchange for stability. They’re also probably counting on the fact that, even as they sit tight, their economies will get a boost from the American and Chinese stimulus packages. The thing about government spending is that it “leaks”: a good chunk of our stimulus package will buy other countries’ goods. So Europeans can avoid getting too deeply into debt and still reap some of the benefits of our borrowing. This is unfair: in effect, Europe is refusing to carry its share of the global economic burden and is piggybacking on us. But it’s hard to see how things could have turned out otherwise. The U.S. economy, much more than Europe’s, is like the proverbial shark: if it doesn’t keep moving forward, it dies (or at least creates a lot of misery). In some sense, we need economic growth more than Europe does. It’s not surprising that we’re going to be the ones who end up paying for it.
Venezuela's Chavez calls Obama "ignoramus"SESTSW
Venezuela's Chavez calls Obama "ignoramus"
Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:24pm EDT
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama was at best an "ignoramus" for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America.
"He goes and accuses me of exporting terrorism: the least I can say is that he's a poor ignoramus; he should read and study a little to understand reality," said Chavez, who heads a group of left-wing Latin American leaders opposed to the U.S. influence in the region.
Chavez said Obama's comments had made him change his mind about sending a new ambassador to Washington, after he withdrew the previous envoy in a dispute last year with the Bush administration in which he also expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.
"When I saw Obama saying what he said, I put the decision back in the drawer; let's wait and see," Chavez said on his weekly television show, adding he had wanted to send a new ambassador to improve relations with the United States after the departure of George W. Bush as president.
In a January interview with Spanish-language U.S. network Univision, Obama said Chavez had hindered progress in Latin America, accusing him of exporting terrorist activities and supporting Colombian guerrillas.
"My, what ignorance; the real obstacle to development in Latin America has been the empire that you today preside over," said Chavez, who is a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy.
In the 20th century the United States supported several armed movements and coups in Latin America. Chavez says Washington had a hand in a short-lived putsch against him in 2002, which was initially welcomed by U.S. officials.
Chavez and Obama will both attend the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago next month. It is not known whether they will meet.
Most of OPEC nation Venezuela's export income comes from oil it sells to the United States, but Chavez has built stronger ties with countries like China in an attempt to reduce dependence on his northern neighbor.
Chavez expelled its U.S. ambassador in September in a dispute over U.S. activities in his ally Bolivia, which also expelled its U.S. ambassador. Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa this year kicked out a mid-ranking U.S. diplomat.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:24pm EDT
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama was at best an "ignoramus" for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America.
"He goes and accuses me of exporting terrorism: the least I can say is that he's a poor ignoramus; he should read and study a little to understand reality," said Chavez, who heads a group of left-wing Latin American leaders opposed to the U.S. influence in the region.
Chavez said Obama's comments had made him change his mind about sending a new ambassador to Washington, after he withdrew the previous envoy in a dispute last year with the Bush administration in which he also expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.
"When I saw Obama saying what he said, I put the decision back in the drawer; let's wait and see," Chavez said on his weekly television show, adding he had wanted to send a new ambassador to improve relations with the United States after the departure of George W. Bush as president.
In a January interview with Spanish-language U.S. network Univision, Obama said Chavez had hindered progress in Latin America, accusing him of exporting terrorist activities and supporting Colombian guerrillas.
"My, what ignorance; the real obstacle to development in Latin America has been the empire that you today preside over," said Chavez, who is a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy.
In the 20th century the United States supported several armed movements and coups in Latin America. Chavez says Washington had a hand in a short-lived putsch against him in 2002, which was initially welcomed by U.S. officials.
Chavez and Obama will both attend the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago next month. It is not known whether they will meet.
Most of OPEC nation Venezuela's export income comes from oil it sells to the United States, but Chavez has built stronger ties with countries like China in an attempt to reduce dependence on his northern neighbor.
Chavez expelled its U.S. ambassador in September in a dispute over U.S. activities in his ally Bolivia, which also expelled its U.S. ambassador. Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa this year kicked out a mid-ranking U.S. diplomat.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Eric Walsh)
YOGI BERRA SAYINGS.
"This is like deja vu all over again."
• "You can observe a lot just by watching."
• "He must have made that before he died." -- Referring to a Steve McQueen movie.
• "I want to thank you for making this day necessary." -- On Yogi Berra Appreciation Day in St. Louis in 1947.
• "I'd find the fellow who lost it, and, if he was poor, I'd return it." -- When asked what he would do if he found a million dollars.
• "Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?"
• "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
• "I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early."
• "If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
• "If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."
• "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."
• "Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."
• "It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
• "Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting."
• "A nickel isn't worth a dime today."
• "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."
• "It gets late early out there." -- Referring to the bad sun conditions in left field at the stadium.
• "Glen Cove." -- Referring to Glenn Close on a movie review television show.
• Once, Yogi's wife Carmen asked, "Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New York. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?" Yogi replied, "Surprise me."
• "Do you mean now?" -- When asked for the time.
• "I take a two hour nap, from one o'clock to four."
• "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
• "You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."
• "90% of the putts that are short don't go in."
• "I made a wrong mistake."
• "Texas has a lot of electrical votes." -- During an election campaign, after George Bush stated that Texas was important to the election.
• "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." -- After being told he looked cool.
• "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
• "Yeah, but we're making great time!" -- In reply to "Hey Yogi, I think we're lost."
• "If the fans don't come out to the ball park, you can't stop them."
• "Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel."
• "It's never happened in the World Series competition, and it still hasn't."
• "How long have you known me, Jack? And you still don't know how to spell my name." -- Upon receiving a check from Jack Buck made out to "bearer."
• "I'd say he's done more than that." -- When asked if first baseman Don Mattingly had exceeded expectations for the current season.
• "The other teams could make trouble for us if they win."
• "He can run anytime he wants. I'm giving him the red light." -- On the acquisition of fleet Ricky Henderson.
• "I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat, and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?"
• "It ain't the heat; it's the humility."
• "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."
• "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."
• "I didn't really say everything I said."
• "You can observe a lot just by watching."
• "He must have made that before he died." -- Referring to a Steve McQueen movie.
• "I want to thank you for making this day necessary." -- On Yogi Berra Appreciation Day in St. Louis in 1947.
• "I'd find the fellow who lost it, and, if he was poor, I'd return it." -- When asked what he would do if he found a million dollars.
• "Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?"
• "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
• "I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early."
• "If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
• "If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."
• "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."
• "Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."
• "It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
• "Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting."
• "A nickel isn't worth a dime today."
• "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."
• "It gets late early out there." -- Referring to the bad sun conditions in left field at the stadium.
• "Glen Cove." -- Referring to Glenn Close on a movie review television show.
• Once, Yogi's wife Carmen asked, "Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New York. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?" Yogi replied, "Surprise me."
• "Do you mean now?" -- When asked for the time.
• "I take a two hour nap, from one o'clock to four."
• "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
• "You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."
• "90% of the putts that are short don't go in."
• "I made a wrong mistake."
• "Texas has a lot of electrical votes." -- During an election campaign, after George Bush stated that Texas was important to the election.
• "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." -- After being told he looked cool.
• "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
• "Yeah, but we're making great time!" -- In reply to "Hey Yogi, I think we're lost."
• "If the fans don't come out to the ball park, you can't stop them."
• "Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel."
• "It's never happened in the World Series competition, and it still hasn't."
• "How long have you known me, Jack? And you still don't know how to spell my name." -- Upon receiving a check from Jack Buck made out to "bearer."
• "I'd say he's done more than that." -- When asked if first baseman Don Mattingly had exceeded expectations for the current season.
• "The other teams could make trouble for us if they win."
• "He can run anytime he wants. I'm giving him the red light." -- On the acquisition of fleet Ricky Henderson.
• "I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat, and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?"
• "It ain't the heat; it's the humility."
• "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."
• "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."
• "I didn't really say everything I said."
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AFFORDIBLE $210 "PRE OWNED". (very reliable).(NO TAX).AT $210 MAKES A GREAT GIFT FOR STUDENTS, TRAVELLERS. YOURSELF. CAN WRITE NOTATIONS. BUT NOT PUBLISH EXCERPTS. LAWYERS ARE STILL TRYING TO FREE THAT UP, AS FAIR USE. DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP.
NEW, HOWEVER IS OVERPRICED AT $360, (NO TAX WHICH SAVES ABOUT TWENTY FIVE BUCKS).
Sunday, March 22, 2009
YOGI BERRA SAYINGS; If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
"This is like deja vu all over again."
• "You can observe a lot just by watching."
• "I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early."
• "If the fans don't come out to the ball park, you can't stop them."
• "Yeah, but we're making great time!" -- In reply to "Hey Yogi, I think we're lost."
• "He can run anytime he wants. I'm giving him the red light." -- On the acquisition of fleet Ricky Henderson.
"Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?"
• "He must have made that before he died." -- Referring to a Steve McQueen movie.
• "I want to thank you for making this day necessary." -- On Yogi Berra Appreciation Day in St. Louis in 1947.
• "I'd find the fellow who lost it, and, if he was poor, I'd return it." -- When asked what he would do if he found a million dollars.
• "If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
• "If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."
• "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."
• "Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."
• "It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
• "A nickel isn't worth a dime today."
• "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."
"
• "Do you mean now?" -- When asked for the time.
•
• "You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."
• "90% of the putts that are short don't go in."
• "I made a wrong mistake."
• "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." -- After being told he looked cool.
• "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
• "It's never happened in the World Series competition, and it still hasn't."
• "I'd say he's done more than that." -- When asked if first baseman Don Mattingly had exceeded expectations for the current season.
• "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."
• "I didn't really say everything I said."
LIVONIA, NY—Mere hours after watching Rob Reiner's classic 1987 film The Princess Bride with his children, area father William Loomis badly botched some of the most familiar lines from the movie, sources reported Monday. "My friend Laura came over and my dad greeted her at the door by saying, 'Hello. I am Diego Montoya. You killed my father. Now you will die,'" said Loomis' 17-year-old daughter Erica. "Then at dinner he started waving his wine glass and yelling, 'irreconcilable!' over and over again in this sort of Elmer Fudd voice. That's not even the right speech impediment." Loomis has a history of bungling well-known cultural references, most notably in 1985 when he spent all summer asking family members, "Where's the meat
"This is like deja vu all over again."
• "You can observe a lot just by watching."
• "I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early."
• "If the fans don't come out to the ball park, you can't stop them."
• "Yeah, but we're making great time!" -- In reply to "Hey Yogi, I think we're lost."
• "He can run anytime he wants. I'm giving him the red light." -- On the acquisition of fleet Ricky Henderson.
"Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?"
• "He must have made that before he died." -- Referring to a Steve McQueen movie.
• "I want to thank you for making this day necessary." -- On Yogi Berra Appreciation Day in St. Louis in 1947.
• "I'd find the fellow who lost it, and, if he was poor, I'd return it." -- When asked what he would do if he found a million dollars.
• "If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
• "If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."
• "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."
• "Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."
• "It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
• "A nickel isn't worth a dime today."
• "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."
"
• "Do you mean now?" -- When asked for the time.
•
• "You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."
• "90% of the putts that are short don't go in."
• "I made a wrong mistake."
• "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." -- After being told he looked cool.
• "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."
• "It's never happened in the World Series competition, and it still hasn't."
• "I'd say he's done more than that." -- When asked if first baseman Don Mattingly had exceeded expectations for the current season.
• "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."
• "I didn't really say everything I said."
LIVONIA, NY—Mere hours after watching Rob Reiner's classic 1987 film The Princess Bride with his children, area father William Loomis badly botched some of the most familiar lines from the movie, sources reported Monday. "My friend Laura came over and my dad greeted her at the door by saying, 'Hello. I am Diego Montoya. You killed my father. Now you will die,'" said Loomis' 17-year-old daughter Erica. "Then at dinner he started waving his wine glass and yelling, 'irreconcilable!' over and over again in this sort of Elmer Fudd voice. That's not even the right speech impediment." Loomis has a history of bungling well-known cultural references, most notably in 1985 when he spent all summer asking family members, "Where's the meat
FIRST CHAPTERS. CHECK OUT THIS SITE.
Cut and paste this url.into Google.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/first-index.html
It is a treasure of first chapters nobody should be without. Just cut and paste into a search engine. It's effortless. And the site itself is not available at the New York Times website. You have to get it through this hidden code. Why do they hide it? Because now, I won't have to buy this book. I tried it and it works. Just take a second and copy the url into google. You will be amazed at this hidden treasure.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/first-index.html
It is a treasure of first chapters nobody should be without. Just cut and paste into a search engine. It's effortless. And the site itself is not available at the New York Times website. You have to get it through this hidden code. Why do they hide it? Because now, I won't have to buy this book. I tried it and it works. Just take a second and copy the url into google. You will be amazed at this hidden treasure.
Fulfilling Ronald Reagan's Vision for America
The City on a Hill
Fulfilling Ronald Reagan's Vision for America
By MICHAEL REAGAN with JIM DENNEY
Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers
THE NEW AMERICAN MILLENNIUM
"THE WORLD
IS QUIET TODAY,
MR. PRESIDENT"
We raised a banner of bold colors--no pale pastels. We proclaimed a dream of an America that would be a Shining City on a Hill.
Ronald Reagan
Acceptance Speech
Republican National Convention
Dallas, Texas, August 23, 1984
I keep remembering all those magazine photo essays of past presidents. There's always that one shot of the president standing in the Oval Office, silhouetted against the window. He's always alone, and the picture is always taken from behind. And the caption invariably quotes the president as saying that this is the loneliest job in the world or some such thing. Well, I never felt that way. I enjoyed it. I haven't been lonely one minute.
Ronald Reagan
Farewell to the White House staff
January 18, 1989
After eight years as the leader of the Free World, Ronald Reagan was ready to go home. Unlike his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, who had aged visibly in a mere four years in the White House, Ronald Reagan seemed unchanged, and even invigorated, at the end of his two terms in office. He not only loved the job of being president, he had succeeded in the job, confounding his critics and excelling even the wildest expectations of his friends and supporters. But at noon on January 20, 1989, it would be over--and that was fine with him. He was ready to return to California and resume his private life as Ronald Reagan, citizen.
At a little before 10:00 A.M., "Rawhide" (his Secret Service code name) stepped into the Oval Office for the last time. He stood cowboy-straight and cowboy-tall, impeccably dressed in a black suit and striped tie. Also in the Oval Office with him were his personal assistant Jim Kuhn, press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, personal secretary Kathy Osborne, and a White House photographer. The photographer hung around the edges of the office, trying to blend into the ivory-white walls as his camera clicked off the waning seconds of the Reagan presidency.
Ronald Reagan paused in the center of the carpet that bore the seal of his presidential authority, and he took in his surroundings. The office looked naked and unfamiliar to the outgoing president, having been cleared of all his photos, mementos, and other personal effects. Even his large, comfortable executive chair was gone, replaced by a worn secretary's chair that had been moved in from another office. The desktop was bare of everything but a single telephone.
The president sat down at the desk, picked up the phone, and asked the White House operator to place a call for him. It was the last phone call he would make from the Oval Office. Typically for Ronald Reagan, this call was to give a personal word of comfort. Sue Piland, the daughter of the president's longtime friend and aide, Lyn Nofziger, was dying of cancer, and after trying unsuccessfully to reach Sue at the hospital, he called Lyn's wife, Bonnie, and talked with her for about ten minutes. As he was on the phone, chief of staff Ken Duberstein came into the office, along with national security advisor Colin Powell.
After Ronald Reagan said his good-byes to Bonnie Nofziger and hung up the phone, he leaned back and chatted with his aides who had gathered around him. He talked about his favorite room in the White House residence, the Yellow Room, and mentioned the note he had left in the desk drawer for George Bush on a notepad with the printed heading, DON'T LET THE TURKEYS GET YOU DOWN. Someone suggested that the president carve his initials in the Oval Office desk. A chuckle went around the group, and they all felt the bittersweetness of the moment.
Ken Duberstein stepped forward and briefed the president on the schedule for his last day in office--where he was to stand during the inauguration ceremony, when he would board the helicopter that would take him to Andrews Air Force Base for his final flight on Air Force One, when he would give his speech to the well-wishers at Los Angeles International Airport. As Duberstein finished his briefing, the president reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a plain white, plastic-coated card, like an unmarked credit card.
"Well, I guess I won't be needing this anymore," he said, holding the card out in General Powell's direction. "Whom do I give it to?"
It was the nuclear authentication code card that Ronald Reagan had carried throughout his presidency. That thin plastic wafer, when inserted into a black leather briefcase carried by a military aide, had the power to unleash Armageddon upon the world.
"Just hold on to it, sir," said Jim Kuhn. "You're still the commander in chief. You can turn it in after Mr. Bush is sworn in as president."
Ronald Reagan nodded and placed the card back in his pocket.
Then Colin Powell stepped forward and gave the president the most succinct national security breefing of Ronald Reagan's entire presidency. "The world is quiet today, Mr. President," said Powell.
The photographer snapped a few more pictures, including some group shots with the staff clustered around their boss, who was still seated at his desk. After the pictures, Jim Kuhn said, "It's time, Mr. President."
Ronald Reagan stood and faced the door that led through the Rose Garden to the car that waited to take him to the Capitol for the inauguration of his successor. Kuhn opened the door and moved aside. The president stepped forward--then paused at the threshold for one last glance at the room that had been his workplace and sanctuary for eight years. He paused for a few seconds, thinking his private thoughts. His aides waited in silence.
Then Ronald Reagan turned and stepped out of the White House and into history.
PERIL AND OPPORTUNITY
We are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.
We have every right to dream heroic dreams.
Ronald Reagan First Inaugural Address January 20, 1981
Ronald Reagan is my father.
As his presidency was drawing to a close, I was three thousand miles from Washington, D.C., having just started my new job as a news coanchor on Radio KSDO in San Diego. So I witnessed this transition in my father's life the same way everyone else in America did: I watched it on television.
The Monday morning before Friday's inauguration--my first day on the job, right in the middle of the news broadcast--Dad called me from the White House. He told my radio audience and me how much he was looking forward to coming home to California. He closed with the words, "Nancy sends her love, and please give our love to Colleen and the children."
"You take care, Dad," I said in return. "Love you."
"Well ... love you."
A few days earlier, on January 11, he had gone on television and radio and given his last speech as president. In that farewell address, delivered live from the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan summed up his two terms in these words:
It's been quite a journey this decade, and we held together through some stormy seas. And at the end, together, we are reaching our destination.
The fact is, from Grenada to the Washington and Moscow summits, from the recession of 1981 to 1982, to the expansion that began in late 1982 and continues to this day, we've made a difference. The way I see it, there were two great triumphs, two things that I'm proudest of. One is the economic recovery, in which the people of America created--and filled--nineteen million new jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale. America is respected again in the world and looked to for leadership.... Once you begin a great movement, there's no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world....
Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: We the People. We the People tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. We the People are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which We the People tell the government what it is allowed to do. We the People are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years.
But back in the 1960s, when I began, it seemed to me that we'd begun reversing the order of things--that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom. I went into politics, in part, to put up my hand and say, "Stop!" I was a citizen politician, and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do. I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts....
The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "Shining City upon a Hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim.... He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the Shining City all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.
And how stands the City on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that: After two hundred 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.
We've done our part. And as I walk off into the City streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back: My friends, we did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the City stronger, we made the City freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad; not bad at all....
Eight years earlier, Ronald Reagan had defeated Jimmy Carter with a politically devastating question: "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" And on Election Day 1980, with inflation nearing 13 percent, with the prime rate hovering at more than 15 percent, and with unemployment topping 7 percent, Americans knew the answer to that question. The Carter years were America's darkest days since the Great Depression. Cans on supermarket shelves were topped with ten layers of price stickers, because food prices leapfrogged every few days. Economic growth had stalled, median family income was falling, and the Keynesian economic theories that had produced this crisis couldn't find any solution.
By the end of Ronald Reagan's two terms in office, inflation was tamed to a mere 4.4 percent, the prime rate stood at 9.32 percent, and unemployment was down to 5.5 percent. He presided over the greatest peacetime economic expansion in American history--a time in which nearly every economic indicator demonstrated unparalleled economic health and vigor. The economy grew by a third. The gross national product nearly doubled. Except for a brief, but scary, crash in 1987, the stock market roared through the 1980s. The Dow-Jones industrial average stood at 2235.36 on January 20, 1989--up from 960.68 the day Ronald Reagan took office.
Clearly, my father had made a difference. The Shining City he left in the hands of his successor was a more prosperous, secure, and happy City by far than the one he had inherited from Jimmy Carter. The incoming president, George Bush, had a golden opportunity to consolidate the achievements and public confidence passed down from Ronald Reagan--but Bush got in the way of his own success. Instead of building on that foundation, George Bush distanced himself from the Reagan legacy.
Though communism collapsed on his watch, Mr. Bush was a mere observer of events already set in motion by Ronald Reagan. By pledging to be "the education president" and "the environment president," he signaled his intent to reverse Ronald Reagan's efforts to shrink government spending and regulation. And, as everyone knows, he betrayed his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. Bush's one great achievement in office was Operation Desert Storm; all else is mere footnote.
My first inkling that George Bush intended to break faith with the Reagan revolution was his constant use of the campaign slogan "A kinder, gentler America." It nagged at me. I wondered, Kinder than what? Gentler than whom? Kinder and gentler than Ronald Reagan? Impossible! Preposterous! Unfortunately, that's exactly what George Bush meant. After eight years as Ronald Reagan's understudy, he never truly grasped what the Reagan revolution was about. In the 1980 campaign primaries, Bush--then my father's nearest Republican rival--called Ronald Reagan's supply-side theory "voodoo economics." Eight years of Ronald Reagan in the White House proved that supply-side Reaganomics was not voodoo--it was miraculous. Bush was there; he watched it happen. He saw that while Ronald Reagan cut top marginal tax rates from 70 percent in 1981 to 28 percent in 1986, overall tax revenues rose from $599 billion in 1981 to nearly a trillion dollars in 1990.
Why did George Bush decide in 1990 that you and I were undertaxed? Because he didn't believe in Reaganomics. He was still thinking, That's a lot of voodoo. He supported a massive tax hike because he thought higher taxes would close the gap in the deficit by $100 billion. In the end, the Bush tax hike didn't close the federal deficit at all--but it did contribute to a lot of middle-class family budget deficits. Worse, it produced the recession that tragically hurt American businesses and families, corroded Bush's lead in the polls, and gave Bill Clinton his winning campaign issue. If George Bush hadn't been so eager to distance himself from the Reagan legacy, he almost certainly would have been a two-term president.
To make matters worse, Mr. Bush also betrayed the defense agenda of Ronald Reagan. Immediately after using America's Reagan-restored military might against Iraq in Desert Storm, he proceeded to slash defense spending, supposedly in response to a reduced threat from the former Soviet Union following the collapse of communism. Bush's cuts in defense spending were coupled with massive increases in domestic social spending. The domestic budget--which had consumed 15.3 percent of the gross national product (GNP) under Jimmy Carter, and which Ronald Reagan had cut to 13.0 percent of the GNP--swelled to 15.8 percent (worse than Carter's) under George Bush. That was what George Bush meant when he announced a "kinder, gentler" America.
Domestic spending rose faster under Bush than under other so-called big spenders such as Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter. In his first two years, Bush launched dozens of new spending programs while increasing many existing programs--$34 billion for housing and related programs, $5.5 billion for agricultural programs, $4.7 billion for the Department of Education, $2.5 billion for the Department of Energy, and on and on. Whereas Ronald Reagan had tried to abolish the education and energy departments, Bush enlarged their budgets and their bureaucratic power over our lives.
In 1994, the Republican Party, stormed the halls of Congress, armed with the Contract with America--a Reaganesque agenda that included the balanced budget amendment, the line-item veto, anticrime legislation, welfare reform, pro-family tax cuts and education reform, a restored national defense, raising the senior citizen's earning limit, regulatory rollbacks, commonsense legal reform, and congressional term limits. Grassroots America read the Contract and threw a party! At last, the Republicans were the party of Ronald Reagan once more!
But then came the election of 1996. At the Republican National Convention in San Diego, it was as if the Contract with America never existed! The agenda that took the Congress by storm was suddenly no longer even whispered about among Republicans. Believe it or not, if you wanted to hear about the Contract with America, you had to go to the Democratic Convention! There, in Chicago, Bill Clinton cited achievement after achievement during his first term--and virtually every one of those achievements was a provision of the Republican Contract with America! It was ludicrous! Bill Clinton ran on the Contract with America--and the Republicans ran away from it!
During the 1996 primary campaign, every Republican candidate, from Bob Dole to Bob Dornan, tried to position himself as the heir to Ronald Reagan. Yet out of the entire 1996 campaign cycle, only one candidate emerged who truly ran a Reaganesque campaign--the Democratic incumbent, Bill Clinton! Here was Bill Clinton, committed to dismantling everything Ronald Reagan stood for--yet he shamelessly modeled his campaign after the campaign style of Ronald Wilson Reagan.
If Ronald Reagan's Shining City fell into disrepair in the hands of George Bush, it is becoming a slum in the hands of Bill Clinton. By the end of Clinton's second term, it could well be a ghost town. We are experiencing the highest tax rates and slowest growth of any economy since the Carter administration. America is broke. Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt. Our military has been hollowed out, and our national sovereignty has been surrendered to the United Nations. Our education standards and our children's test scores have fallen into the red zone. Teen drug use doubled in the first four years of Bill Clinton's presidency. The terror of crime keeps law-abiding citizens locked behind bars in their own homes.
Our society is approaching a meltdown--an economic meltdown, a cultural meltdown, and a moral and spiritual meltdown. We are poised at a moment of great peril and of great opportunity for American society. Are we witnessing the end or the rebirth of America? Ours is the generation that will answer that question.
THE BLUEPRINT TO RENEW SOCIETY
A growing economy and support from family and community offer our best chance for a society where compassion is a way of life.
Ronald Reagan
Second Inaugural Address
January 21, 1985
On June 18, 1996, Congressman George Radanovich (R-California) gave a talk before the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., in which he laid out a vision for American society that he called "The Blueprint to Renew Society." As he spoke, he presented a simple, easy-to-grasp picture of what is fundamentally wrong with American government today--and how to fix it. Radanovich, president of the freshman class of the 104th Congress, pictured our society today as, quite simply, a chair.
What's wrong with the chair in Figure 1.1? Obviously, it is wobbly, unstable, and unbalanced. It can't support weight. It is doomed to fail. The leg labeled Government is much longer than the other legs, labeled Family, Religious-Civic, and Business. This chair represents the fact that our society is unhealthy and unbalanced because it is dominated by the federal government, while the other pillars that support our society--family, business, and religious-civic--have become stunted.
A healthy society is a balanced society, built on four sturdy legs, each leg bearing an equal share of the load. See Figure 1.2.
So how do we accomplish this vision for our society? Clearly, we have to saw off some of the leg that is too big--government. And we have to lengthen the legs that are too short. The roles of each of these pillars of American society have to be realigned:
* Family. The federal government's paternalistic intrusions into the American family must be halted, and families must be empowered (through sensible tax and education policies) to take complete charge of the raising of their children. Parental rights must be restored and respected. Neighborhoods and schools must be made safe from crime and drugs.
* Religious-Civic. The role of helping the poor and needy must be removed from the gray cubicles of the federal bureaucracy and restored to the caring, compassionate sanctuaries and shelters of our religious and civic organizations. We must commit ourselves, regardless of our political persuasion and religious convictions, to stop demonizing one another. We must work together and solve the problems of poverty, illiteracy, racism, teen pregnancy, AIDS, and abortion.
* Business. Both large and small businesses in America must be relieved of regulatory and tax burdens so that more jobs and individual opportunities can be created. Government must learn to work with business instead of against it, and our leading edge in technology and scientific research must remain a high national priority.
* Government. We must maintain our national sovereignty and restore our military strength. Domestically, we must not only balance the budget but also run surplus budgets so that we can begin to level the mountain of debt we have accumulated. We must work together to save Social Security and Medicare for future generations.
"The result," says Congressman Radanovich, "is a positive vision of what America should be, based on a new foundation: a society of four equal institutions--family, religious-civic, business, and government--to provide freedom, security, and prosperity to the American people."
From the Reagan era to the present day, one of the biggest roadblocks to shrinking the government has been fear: the fear that a downsized federal government will leave a vacuum in our society. The fear that if government gets out of the welfare business, the poor and needy will have nowhere to turn for help. The fear that businesses, state and local governments, religious and civic institutions, and families either can't or won't step up to the plate and shoulder their responsibilities. We have to allay these fears and meet these concerns. We have to make sure that the American people understand the enormous benefits that come with greater freedom and smaller government. We have to empower the nongovernmental sectors of our society to handle the job the government will no longer do (and has never done well). As Congressman Radanovich concludes, "The American people will not allow us to redefine the role of government unless they are assured the other
institutions in this country will assume their rightful roles."
JUST AROUND THE CORNER
And how stands the City on this winter night?
Ronald Reagan
Farewell Address
The Oval Office, January 19, 1989
There is a clear contrast between what America is and what America could become, as the Radanovich chair model makes clear. Another way to illustrate this concept is with the image Ronald Reagan spoke of so often in his political career--the image of the City on a Hill. America today is not the Shining City that Ronald Reagan envisioned--"a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace." Here, at the brink of a new millennium, America looks more like a vast concrete fortress on a hill, surrounded by three squalid little slums, populated by bickering, contentious factions. The massive concrete fortress is the federal government--huge and imposing, bureaucratic and impersonal, cold and forbidding, demanding and intimidating.
The glowering gray fortress of the federal government is proof of Ronald Reagan's warning, "Man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts." The ponderous, hyperimmense Washington bureaucracy represents force and control, not freedom. And the three slums that huddle at the feet of the fortress? They are the family neighborhood, the religious and civic sector, the business district--and they are pitiful and shrunken in size and influence. As the gray fortress of government has expanded, these three other sectors have been forced to retreat. And the people who live in this place are at war with one another over who will receive the meager benefits dispensed from the fortress.
That is not Ronald Reagan's vision for America. His Shining City on a Hill is a beautiful, well-planned city divided into four equal, mutually supportive districts:
* The Neighborhood, where the American family lives free and grows strong.
* The Corner of Faith and Charity, where the religious and civic institutions of our City live out their beliefs and carry on their compassionate work.
* Main Street, bustling and prosperous, where the business and industry of the City are freely conducted; where the opportunities for individual success and achievement are truly limitless.
* The City Square, where the City's public servants govern according to the will of "We the People."
That is the Shining City in all its glory--a golden and joyous City; a beacon to all who seek freedom; a place of opportunity and compassion, of vital schools and safe streets; a place where people keep and enjoy the fruit of their labors--but also look out for the needs of their neighbors. This book is the blueprint for that City.
We don't have to live out our lives in the shadow of the gray concrete fortress. We can create a New America--the Shining City Ronald Reagan envisioned--and we can pass that City on to our children and to our children's children. In the pages that follow, we will look at this Shining City through the eyes of Ronald Reagan and hear it described in his words. We will see how, by joining together to build this City, we can meet the challenges and solve the problems of today and tomorrow.
We know that the principles and ideals presented in this book will work in the future because they have already been tried and proved in the past. Most Americans look back on the Reagan 1980s as a time of great hope, optimism, opportunity, and growth. It was the Great American Decade. It was a good beginning--but somewhere along the way, during the Bush-Clinton 1990s, America got derailed. The hope faded, opportunity receded, the economy stalled. Our proud, flag-waving optimism soured to cynicism: "All politicians are scoundrels--so why not elect the scoundrel who promises us the most goodies from the public treasury?" We don't have to settle for that. America can be America again.
You may think because my name is Reagan and I'm writing about Ronald Reagan's vision for America that this book only presents a glowing, one-sided assessment of Ronald Reagan's presidency and views. But if you've listened to my radio show or read my previous books, On the Outside Looking In and Making Waves, then you know I've disagreed with Ronald Reagan before, and I'll do so a time or two in this book as well. And that's okay. The fact that I don't agree with everything he said and did in no way diminishes the respect I have for my father or the awe in which I hold his accomplishments.
When you get to the end of this book, I think you will find that you have just read one of the most honest assessments of President Ronald Reagan ever written. As a son, I have admired this man--and I have struggled with him. I have watched him up close and from a distance. I believe this experience has given me a unique perception of who Ronald Reagan is, what he believed, what he achieved, and what his vision for America's future truly is. And my experience as a political observer over the nation's airwaves has given me the ability to apply that vision to the realities of the fast-approaching new millennium.
Near the end of his presidency, before an audience in San Diego, California, Ronald Reagan said, "I hope that someday your children and grandchildren will tell of the time that a certain president came to town at the end of a long journey and asked their parents and grandparents to join him in setting America on the course to the new millennium, and that a century of peace, prosperity, opportunity, and hope had followed." I share the hope of Ronald Reagan--a hope for a new America in a new millennium. I'm sure you share that hope as well.
So let me be your guide to the broad, beautiful streets of Ronald Reagan's America, his City on a Hill. Let's visit the Family Neighborhood together. Let's stop at the corner of Faith and Charity to be inspired and to lend a hand to neighbors in need. Let's stroll through the shops and marketplaces on Main Street. And let's amble down to the City Square and talk things over with the men and women who serve us in the halls of government. Together, let's rediscover our Shining City and recapture her greatness. If we can restore this vision of America and make it real again, our greatest days, our shining new millennium, may be just around the corner.
Fulfilling Ronald Reagan's Vision for America
By MICHAEL REAGAN with JIM DENNEY
Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers
THE NEW AMERICAN MILLENNIUM
"THE WORLD
IS QUIET TODAY,
MR. PRESIDENT"
We raised a banner of bold colors--no pale pastels. We proclaimed a dream of an America that would be a Shining City on a Hill.
Ronald Reagan
Acceptance Speech
Republican National Convention
Dallas, Texas, August 23, 1984
I keep remembering all those magazine photo essays of past presidents. There's always that one shot of the president standing in the Oval Office, silhouetted against the window. He's always alone, and the picture is always taken from behind. And the caption invariably quotes the president as saying that this is the loneliest job in the world or some such thing. Well, I never felt that way. I enjoyed it. I haven't been lonely one minute.
Ronald Reagan
Farewell to the White House staff
January 18, 1989
After eight years as the leader of the Free World, Ronald Reagan was ready to go home. Unlike his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, who had aged visibly in a mere four years in the White House, Ronald Reagan seemed unchanged, and even invigorated, at the end of his two terms in office. He not only loved the job of being president, he had succeeded in the job, confounding his critics and excelling even the wildest expectations of his friends and supporters. But at noon on January 20, 1989, it would be over--and that was fine with him. He was ready to return to California and resume his private life as Ronald Reagan, citizen.
At a little before 10:00 A.M., "Rawhide" (his Secret Service code name) stepped into the Oval Office for the last time. He stood cowboy-straight and cowboy-tall, impeccably dressed in a black suit and striped tie. Also in the Oval Office with him were his personal assistant Jim Kuhn, press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, personal secretary Kathy Osborne, and a White House photographer. The photographer hung around the edges of the office, trying to blend into the ivory-white walls as his camera clicked off the waning seconds of the Reagan presidency.
Ronald Reagan paused in the center of the carpet that bore the seal of his presidential authority, and he took in his surroundings. The office looked naked and unfamiliar to the outgoing president, having been cleared of all his photos, mementos, and other personal effects. Even his large, comfortable executive chair was gone, replaced by a worn secretary's chair that had been moved in from another office. The desktop was bare of everything but a single telephone.
The president sat down at the desk, picked up the phone, and asked the White House operator to place a call for him. It was the last phone call he would make from the Oval Office. Typically for Ronald Reagan, this call was to give a personal word of comfort. Sue Piland, the daughter of the president's longtime friend and aide, Lyn Nofziger, was dying of cancer, and after trying unsuccessfully to reach Sue at the hospital, he called Lyn's wife, Bonnie, and talked with her for about ten minutes. As he was on the phone, chief of staff Ken Duberstein came into the office, along with national security advisor Colin Powell.
After Ronald Reagan said his good-byes to Bonnie Nofziger and hung up the phone, he leaned back and chatted with his aides who had gathered around him. He talked about his favorite room in the White House residence, the Yellow Room, and mentioned the note he had left in the desk drawer for George Bush on a notepad with the printed heading, DON'T LET THE TURKEYS GET YOU DOWN. Someone suggested that the president carve his initials in the Oval Office desk. A chuckle went around the group, and they all felt the bittersweetness of the moment.
Ken Duberstein stepped forward and briefed the president on the schedule for his last day in office--where he was to stand during the inauguration ceremony, when he would board the helicopter that would take him to Andrews Air Force Base for his final flight on Air Force One, when he would give his speech to the well-wishers at Los Angeles International Airport. As Duberstein finished his briefing, the president reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a plain white, plastic-coated card, like an unmarked credit card.
"Well, I guess I won't be needing this anymore," he said, holding the card out in General Powell's direction. "Whom do I give it to?"
It was the nuclear authentication code card that Ronald Reagan had carried throughout his presidency. That thin plastic wafer, when inserted into a black leather briefcase carried by a military aide, had the power to unleash Armageddon upon the world.
"Just hold on to it, sir," said Jim Kuhn. "You're still the commander in chief. You can turn it in after Mr. Bush is sworn in as president."
Ronald Reagan nodded and placed the card back in his pocket.
Then Colin Powell stepped forward and gave the president the most succinct national security breefing of Ronald Reagan's entire presidency. "The world is quiet today, Mr. President," said Powell.
The photographer snapped a few more pictures, including some group shots with the staff clustered around their boss, who was still seated at his desk. After the pictures, Jim Kuhn said, "It's time, Mr. President."
Ronald Reagan stood and faced the door that led through the Rose Garden to the car that waited to take him to the Capitol for the inauguration of his successor. Kuhn opened the door and moved aside. The president stepped forward--then paused at the threshold for one last glance at the room that had been his workplace and sanctuary for eight years. He paused for a few seconds, thinking his private thoughts. His aides waited in silence.
Then Ronald Reagan turned and stepped out of the White House and into history.
PERIL AND OPPORTUNITY
We are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.
We have every right to dream heroic dreams.
Ronald Reagan First Inaugural Address January 20, 1981
Ronald Reagan is my father.
As his presidency was drawing to a close, I was three thousand miles from Washington, D.C., having just started my new job as a news coanchor on Radio KSDO in San Diego. So I witnessed this transition in my father's life the same way everyone else in America did: I watched it on television.
The Monday morning before Friday's inauguration--my first day on the job, right in the middle of the news broadcast--Dad called me from the White House. He told my radio audience and me how much he was looking forward to coming home to California. He closed with the words, "Nancy sends her love, and please give our love to Colleen and the children."
"You take care, Dad," I said in return. "Love you."
"Well ... love you."
A few days earlier, on January 11, he had gone on television and radio and given his last speech as president. In that farewell address, delivered live from the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan summed up his two terms in these words:
It's been quite a journey this decade, and we held together through some stormy seas. And at the end, together, we are reaching our destination.
The fact is, from Grenada to the Washington and Moscow summits, from the recession of 1981 to 1982, to the expansion that began in late 1982 and continues to this day, we've made a difference. The way I see it, there were two great triumphs, two things that I'm proudest of. One is the economic recovery, in which the people of America created--and filled--nineteen million new jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale. America is respected again in the world and looked to for leadership.... Once you begin a great movement, there's no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world....
Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: We the People. We the People tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. We the People are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which We the People tell the government what it is allowed to do. We the People are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years.
But back in the 1960s, when I began, it seemed to me that we'd begun reversing the order of things--that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom. I went into politics, in part, to put up my hand and say, "Stop!" I was a citizen politician, and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do. I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts....
The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "Shining City upon a Hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim.... He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the Shining City all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.
And how stands the City on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that: After two hundred 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.
We've done our part. And as I walk off into the City streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back: My friends, we did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the City stronger, we made the City freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad; not bad at all....
Eight years earlier, Ronald Reagan had defeated Jimmy Carter with a politically devastating question: "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" And on Election Day 1980, with inflation nearing 13 percent, with the prime rate hovering at more than 15 percent, and with unemployment topping 7 percent, Americans knew the answer to that question. The Carter years were America's darkest days since the Great Depression. Cans on supermarket shelves were topped with ten layers of price stickers, because food prices leapfrogged every few days. Economic growth had stalled, median family income was falling, and the Keynesian economic theories that had produced this crisis couldn't find any solution.
By the end of Ronald Reagan's two terms in office, inflation was tamed to a mere 4.4 percent, the prime rate stood at 9.32 percent, and unemployment was down to 5.5 percent. He presided over the greatest peacetime economic expansion in American history--a time in which nearly every economic indicator demonstrated unparalleled economic health and vigor. The economy grew by a third. The gross national product nearly doubled. Except for a brief, but scary, crash in 1987, the stock market roared through the 1980s. The Dow-Jones industrial average stood at 2235.36 on January 20, 1989--up from 960.68 the day Ronald Reagan took office.
Clearly, my father had made a difference. The Shining City he left in the hands of his successor was a more prosperous, secure, and happy City by far than the one he had inherited from Jimmy Carter. The incoming president, George Bush, had a golden opportunity to consolidate the achievements and public confidence passed down from Ronald Reagan--but Bush got in the way of his own success. Instead of building on that foundation, George Bush distanced himself from the Reagan legacy.
Though communism collapsed on his watch, Mr. Bush was a mere observer of events already set in motion by Ronald Reagan. By pledging to be "the education president" and "the environment president," he signaled his intent to reverse Ronald Reagan's efforts to shrink government spending and regulation. And, as everyone knows, he betrayed his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. Bush's one great achievement in office was Operation Desert Storm; all else is mere footnote.
My first inkling that George Bush intended to break faith with the Reagan revolution was his constant use of the campaign slogan "A kinder, gentler America." It nagged at me. I wondered, Kinder than what? Gentler than whom? Kinder and gentler than Ronald Reagan? Impossible! Preposterous! Unfortunately, that's exactly what George Bush meant. After eight years as Ronald Reagan's understudy, he never truly grasped what the Reagan revolution was about. In the 1980 campaign primaries, Bush--then my father's nearest Republican rival--called Ronald Reagan's supply-side theory "voodoo economics." Eight years of Ronald Reagan in the White House proved that supply-side Reaganomics was not voodoo--it was miraculous. Bush was there; he watched it happen. He saw that while Ronald Reagan cut top marginal tax rates from 70 percent in 1981 to 28 percent in 1986, overall tax revenues rose from $599 billion in 1981 to nearly a trillion dollars in 1990.
Why did George Bush decide in 1990 that you and I were undertaxed? Because he didn't believe in Reaganomics. He was still thinking, That's a lot of voodoo. He supported a massive tax hike because he thought higher taxes would close the gap in the deficit by $100 billion. In the end, the Bush tax hike didn't close the federal deficit at all--but it did contribute to a lot of middle-class family budget deficits. Worse, it produced the recession that tragically hurt American businesses and families, corroded Bush's lead in the polls, and gave Bill Clinton his winning campaign issue. If George Bush hadn't been so eager to distance himself from the Reagan legacy, he almost certainly would have been a two-term president.
To make matters worse, Mr. Bush also betrayed the defense agenda of Ronald Reagan. Immediately after using America's Reagan-restored military might against Iraq in Desert Storm, he proceeded to slash defense spending, supposedly in response to a reduced threat from the former Soviet Union following the collapse of communism. Bush's cuts in defense spending were coupled with massive increases in domestic social spending. The domestic budget--which had consumed 15.3 percent of the gross national product (GNP) under Jimmy Carter, and which Ronald Reagan had cut to 13.0 percent of the GNP--swelled to 15.8 percent (worse than Carter's) under George Bush. That was what George Bush meant when he announced a "kinder, gentler" America.
Domestic spending rose faster under Bush than under other so-called big spenders such as Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter. In his first two years, Bush launched dozens of new spending programs while increasing many existing programs--$34 billion for housing and related programs, $5.5 billion for agricultural programs, $4.7 billion for the Department of Education, $2.5 billion for the Department of Energy, and on and on. Whereas Ronald Reagan had tried to abolish the education and energy departments, Bush enlarged their budgets and their bureaucratic power over our lives.
In 1994, the Republican Party, stormed the halls of Congress, armed with the Contract with America--a Reaganesque agenda that included the balanced budget amendment, the line-item veto, anticrime legislation, welfare reform, pro-family tax cuts and education reform, a restored national defense, raising the senior citizen's earning limit, regulatory rollbacks, commonsense legal reform, and congressional term limits. Grassroots America read the Contract and threw a party! At last, the Republicans were the party of Ronald Reagan once more!
But then came the election of 1996. At the Republican National Convention in San Diego, it was as if the Contract with America never existed! The agenda that took the Congress by storm was suddenly no longer even whispered about among Republicans. Believe it or not, if you wanted to hear about the Contract with America, you had to go to the Democratic Convention! There, in Chicago, Bill Clinton cited achievement after achievement during his first term--and virtually every one of those achievements was a provision of the Republican Contract with America! It was ludicrous! Bill Clinton ran on the Contract with America--and the Republicans ran away from it!
During the 1996 primary campaign, every Republican candidate, from Bob Dole to Bob Dornan, tried to position himself as the heir to Ronald Reagan. Yet out of the entire 1996 campaign cycle, only one candidate emerged who truly ran a Reaganesque campaign--the Democratic incumbent, Bill Clinton! Here was Bill Clinton, committed to dismantling everything Ronald Reagan stood for--yet he shamelessly modeled his campaign after the campaign style of Ronald Wilson Reagan.
If Ronald Reagan's Shining City fell into disrepair in the hands of George Bush, it is becoming a slum in the hands of Bill Clinton. By the end of Clinton's second term, it could well be a ghost town. We are experiencing the highest tax rates and slowest growth of any economy since the Carter administration. America is broke. Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt. Our military has been hollowed out, and our national sovereignty has been surrendered to the United Nations. Our education standards and our children's test scores have fallen into the red zone. Teen drug use doubled in the first four years of Bill Clinton's presidency. The terror of crime keeps law-abiding citizens locked behind bars in their own homes.
Our society is approaching a meltdown--an economic meltdown, a cultural meltdown, and a moral and spiritual meltdown. We are poised at a moment of great peril and of great opportunity for American society. Are we witnessing the end or the rebirth of America? Ours is the generation that will answer that question.
THE BLUEPRINT TO RENEW SOCIETY
A growing economy and support from family and community offer our best chance for a society where compassion is a way of life.
Ronald Reagan
Second Inaugural Address
January 21, 1985
On June 18, 1996, Congressman George Radanovich (R-California) gave a talk before the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., in which he laid out a vision for American society that he called "The Blueprint to Renew Society." As he spoke, he presented a simple, easy-to-grasp picture of what is fundamentally wrong with American government today--and how to fix it. Radanovich, president of the freshman class of the 104th Congress, pictured our society today as, quite simply, a chair.
What's wrong with the chair in Figure 1.1? Obviously, it is wobbly, unstable, and unbalanced. It can't support weight. It is doomed to fail. The leg labeled Government is much longer than the other legs, labeled Family, Religious-Civic, and Business. This chair represents the fact that our society is unhealthy and unbalanced because it is dominated by the federal government, while the other pillars that support our society--family, business, and religious-civic--have become stunted.
A healthy society is a balanced society, built on four sturdy legs, each leg bearing an equal share of the load. See Figure 1.2.
So how do we accomplish this vision for our society? Clearly, we have to saw off some of the leg that is too big--government. And we have to lengthen the legs that are too short. The roles of each of these pillars of American society have to be realigned:
* Family. The federal government's paternalistic intrusions into the American family must be halted, and families must be empowered (through sensible tax and education policies) to take complete charge of the raising of their children. Parental rights must be restored and respected. Neighborhoods and schools must be made safe from crime and drugs.
* Religious-Civic. The role of helping the poor and needy must be removed from the gray cubicles of the federal bureaucracy and restored to the caring, compassionate sanctuaries and shelters of our religious and civic organizations. We must commit ourselves, regardless of our political persuasion and religious convictions, to stop demonizing one another. We must work together and solve the problems of poverty, illiteracy, racism, teen pregnancy, AIDS, and abortion.
* Business. Both large and small businesses in America must be relieved of regulatory and tax burdens so that more jobs and individual opportunities can be created. Government must learn to work with business instead of against it, and our leading edge in technology and scientific research must remain a high national priority.
* Government. We must maintain our national sovereignty and restore our military strength. Domestically, we must not only balance the budget but also run surplus budgets so that we can begin to level the mountain of debt we have accumulated. We must work together to save Social Security and Medicare for future generations.
"The result," says Congressman Radanovich, "is a positive vision of what America should be, based on a new foundation: a society of four equal institutions--family, religious-civic, business, and government--to provide freedom, security, and prosperity to the American people."
From the Reagan era to the present day, one of the biggest roadblocks to shrinking the government has been fear: the fear that a downsized federal government will leave a vacuum in our society. The fear that if government gets out of the welfare business, the poor and needy will have nowhere to turn for help. The fear that businesses, state and local governments, religious and civic institutions, and families either can't or won't step up to the plate and shoulder their responsibilities. We have to allay these fears and meet these concerns. We have to make sure that the American people understand the enormous benefits that come with greater freedom and smaller government. We have to empower the nongovernmental sectors of our society to handle the job the government will no longer do (and has never done well). As Congressman Radanovich concludes, "The American people will not allow us to redefine the role of government unless they are assured the other
institutions in this country will assume their rightful roles."
JUST AROUND THE CORNER
And how stands the City on this winter night?
Ronald Reagan
Farewell Address
The Oval Office, January 19, 1989
There is a clear contrast between what America is and what America could become, as the Radanovich chair model makes clear. Another way to illustrate this concept is with the image Ronald Reagan spoke of so often in his political career--the image of the City on a Hill. America today is not the Shining City that Ronald Reagan envisioned--"a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace." Here, at the brink of a new millennium, America looks more like a vast concrete fortress on a hill, surrounded by three squalid little slums, populated by bickering, contentious factions. The massive concrete fortress is the federal government--huge and imposing, bureaucratic and impersonal, cold and forbidding, demanding and intimidating.
The glowering gray fortress of the federal government is proof of Ronald Reagan's warning, "Man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts." The ponderous, hyperimmense Washington bureaucracy represents force and control, not freedom. And the three slums that huddle at the feet of the fortress? They are the family neighborhood, the religious and civic sector, the business district--and they are pitiful and shrunken in size and influence. As the gray fortress of government has expanded, these three other sectors have been forced to retreat. And the people who live in this place are at war with one another over who will receive the meager benefits dispensed from the fortress.
That is not Ronald Reagan's vision for America. His Shining City on a Hill is a beautiful, well-planned city divided into four equal, mutually supportive districts:
* The Neighborhood, where the American family lives free and grows strong.
* The Corner of Faith and Charity, where the religious and civic institutions of our City live out their beliefs and carry on their compassionate work.
* Main Street, bustling and prosperous, where the business and industry of the City are freely conducted; where the opportunities for individual success and achievement are truly limitless.
* The City Square, where the City's public servants govern according to the will of "We the People."
That is the Shining City in all its glory--a golden and joyous City; a beacon to all who seek freedom; a place of opportunity and compassion, of vital schools and safe streets; a place where people keep and enjoy the fruit of their labors--but also look out for the needs of their neighbors. This book is the blueprint for that City.
We don't have to live out our lives in the shadow of the gray concrete fortress. We can create a New America--the Shining City Ronald Reagan envisioned--and we can pass that City on to our children and to our children's children. In the pages that follow, we will look at this Shining City through the eyes of Ronald Reagan and hear it described in his words. We will see how, by joining together to build this City, we can meet the challenges and solve the problems of today and tomorrow.
We know that the principles and ideals presented in this book will work in the future because they have already been tried and proved in the past. Most Americans look back on the Reagan 1980s as a time of great hope, optimism, opportunity, and growth. It was the Great American Decade. It was a good beginning--but somewhere along the way, during the Bush-Clinton 1990s, America got derailed. The hope faded, opportunity receded, the economy stalled. Our proud, flag-waving optimism soured to cynicism: "All politicians are scoundrels--so why not elect the scoundrel who promises us the most goodies from the public treasury?" We don't have to settle for that. America can be America again.
You may think because my name is Reagan and I'm writing about Ronald Reagan's vision for America that this book only presents a glowing, one-sided assessment of Ronald Reagan's presidency and views. But if you've listened to my radio show or read my previous books, On the Outside Looking In and Making Waves, then you know I've disagreed with Ronald Reagan before, and I'll do so a time or two in this book as well. And that's okay. The fact that I don't agree with everything he said and did in no way diminishes the respect I have for my father or the awe in which I hold his accomplishments.
When you get to the end of this book, I think you will find that you have just read one of the most honest assessments of President Ronald Reagan ever written. As a son, I have admired this man--and I have struggled with him. I have watched him up close and from a distance. I believe this experience has given me a unique perception of who Ronald Reagan is, what he believed, what he achieved, and what his vision for America's future truly is. And my experience as a political observer over the nation's airwaves has given me the ability to apply that vision to the realities of the fast-approaching new millennium.
Near the end of his presidency, before an audience in San Diego, California, Ronald Reagan said, "I hope that someday your children and grandchildren will tell of the time that a certain president came to town at the end of a long journey and asked their parents and grandparents to join him in setting America on the course to the new millennium, and that a century of peace, prosperity, opportunity, and hope had followed." I share the hope of Ronald Reagan--a hope for a new America in a new millennium. I'm sure you share that hope as well.
So let me be your guide to the broad, beautiful streets of Ronald Reagan's America, his City on a Hill. Let's visit the Family Neighborhood together. Let's stop at the corner of Faith and Charity to be inspired and to lend a hand to neighbors in need. Let's stroll through the shops and marketplaces on Main Street. And let's amble down to the City Square and talk things over with the men and women who serve us in the halls of government. Together, let's rediscover our Shining City and recapture her greatness. If we can restore this vision of America and make it real again, our greatest days, our shining new millennium, may be just around the corner.
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