|
|
|---|
Showing posts with label ronald reagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ronald reagan. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
As House Speaker for most of Ronald Reagan's two presidential terms, bombastic liberal spendaholic Tip O'Neill was one of the fiercest opponents of the entire Reagan agenda, fighting it tooth-and-nail for six years. He called Reagan a "cheerleader for selfishness" and even went so far as to personally attack him as "most ignorant man that has ever inhabited the White House".
Not one to be easily outwitted -but showing considerably more class and good humor- Reagan observed parallels between Yeltsin-esque Speaker O'Neill and the Pac-Man video game, as "a round thing that gobbles up money".
Yet despite the professional animosity, Ronald Reagan often said the two were "friends after 6pm"... and both plenty proud of their Celtic Irish heritage. In fact, today's Saint Patrick's Day Speaker's Luncheon is a tradition initially established by Reagan and O'Neill back in 1983...
Despite being fierce opponents during the day, the two grew to be friends.
One story goes how President Reagan would call Speaker O’Neill and say, “Hey Tip, is it 6 o’clock yet?” in which Speaker O’Neill would reply, “Why yes it is Mr. President.”
After the work day had ended, the two were known to have gone and shared a few drinks together at local DC establishments.
On March 17, 1983, Speaker Tip O’Neill, President Ronald Reagan and Minority Leader Bob Michel celebrated the first Speaker’s St. Patty’s Day luncheon after Reagan and O’Neill had suggested doing a luncheon together to celebrate their Irish heritage on St. Patrick’s Day.
Originally held in H-209 of the Capitol building, then the Speaker’s
office, the event has since moved to the Rayburn Room in the House side of the Capitol.
By Reagan's last Saint Patrick's Day in office -1988- Tip O'Neill had retired from the House of Representatives, so he headed over to Alexandria for a surprise visit to Pat Troy's Irish Pub...
And the Gipper was in fine form: after a cold brew and some corned-beef-and-cabbage, he takes the mike at 4:00... besides the jokes, be sure to note the allegedly "ignorant" Reagan's extensive knowledge of Irish history and culture:
"I'm very leery of ethnic jokes in my position-
the only ones I can tell are Irish!"
So may the road rise to meet ya...
A happy and blessed Saint Pat's
to all you lasses and laddies from the
half-Irish, all-Catholic Reaganite Republican
Adrienne's Corner has
St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer
-here-
Ronald Reagan, Saint Patrick's Day, St. Patrick's, St. Paddy's, Tip O'Neill, Speaker's Luncheon, Obama, Boehner, irish pub, pac man, Pat Troy, Proud to be Irish, Irish, Reagan, prayer xxx St. Paddy's, Speaker's Luncheon, Obama, Boehner, irish pub, pac man, Pat Troy, Proud to be Irish xxx Irish, Reagan, prayer
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Desperate Libyan Rebels Beg Dithering West to Assassinate Muammar Gaddafi
0 comments Posted by queen at 5:00 AM"...we are disappointed with the US
for not exercising leadership"
 |
| -Malta Times- |
The Libyan opposition -back on their heels as pro-Gaddafi forces consolidate fresh gains in what was rebel-controlled territory in the east- has been reduced to pleading for a targeted strike on Gaddafi's residential compound, ala Ronald Reagan 1986...
Seems they realize that in the unlikely event of Beijing and the Kremlin actually approving a UN NFZ, it's not going to have the desired effect on the outcome now... the rebels need a lot deeper intervention than that, but they're never going to get it:
Libya's revolutionary leadership is pressing western powers to assassinate Muammar Gaddafi and launch military strikes against his forces to protect rebel-held cities from the threat of bloody assault.
Mustafa Gheriani, spokesman for the revolutionary national council in its stronghold of Benghazi, said the appeal was to be made by a delegation meeting the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in Paris on Monday, as G8 foreign ministers gathered there to consider whether to back French and British calls for a no-fly zone over Libya.
"We are telling the west we want a no-fly zone, we want tactical strikes against those tanks and rockets that are being used against us and we want a strike against Gaddafi's compound," said Gheriani. "This is the message from our delegation in Europe."
Asked if that meant that the revolutionary council wanted the west to assassinate Gaddafi, Gheriani replied: "Why not? If he dies, nobody will shed a tear."
Alas, as the regime's tanks, artillery, and fighter jets make quick work of the rebels, the US has come out far less hawkish than the British and French... and they haven't gotten the already-useless NFZ proposal anywhere near a Security Council vote anyway:
On the other hand -although the rebel stronghold of Benghazi lies just 150 mi from the front lines now and appears militarily threatened- Gaddafi's forces would face a difficult type of urban warfare there and likely take significant casualties, something altogether different from their chasing disorganized and outgunned rebels across the desert.
Additionally -with pro-regime supply lines stretched- the Libyan opposition will be defending their own homes and families. Rebel morale is holding up from most accounts, with Radio Behghazi even broadcasting a special Libyan rebel-rap song to the soldiers at the front. They've got an experienced new commander who recently defected from the Libyan Army, too- reportedly he's bringing 8000 men and some heavy weapons with him.
But that doesn't mean they're not scared in Benghazi: all in Libya know the life expectancy of any enemy-of-Gaddafi-now-at-his-mercy can be measured in minutes. And the guy's as twisted a sadist as you could imagine: in 1984 the Brotherly Leader scheduled the "trial" of a peaceful political protester -a respected engineer- in a basketball arena filled with Libyan schoolchildren: instead of a trial, the gallows were unveiled and he was promptly hanged...Gaddafi watched back home on live TV.
Most expect a horrendously bloody fight followed by battlefield massacres/mass executions if Benghazi falls: think Rwanda and you'll have some idea of what to expect from this vengeful, soulless monster: recall that both Gaddafi and son Saif have been promising "rivers of blood" right from the start...
Al Jazeera's correspondent in the capital Tripoli said the (amnesty) offer will play on very anxious rebel forces who don't know how they will be able to put up a fight against Gaddafi's forces, given the overwhelming superiority of his military forces.
"There is an enormous degree of anxiety. It's an all or nothing game now," Anita McNaught said.
"If the rebels do not manage to hold out against Gaddafi and establish some kind of protective zone in the east of the country, it is almost certain in the wake of this there would be some dreadful purge of those who dared to raise their hands against the Gaddafi administration.
"People know that unless they are able to keep Tripoli at bay, that the alternative is almost too awful to contemplate. Those fears apply equally in Tripoli; they are just not expressed as openly as they are in the east."
 |
| -Reuters- |
So how has Obama's inaction -while the rebels he claimed to support are cut to ribbons- gone over in Benghazi?
Rebel spokesman Mustafa Gheriani says that Obama's empty rhetoric -which created huge false expectations- will be causing the west problems in the future:
...Libyans are also increasingly vocal in their criticism of Washington in particular for what is seen as a failure to back up rhetoric against the regime.
However, Gheriani said that if the west failed to offer practical help to the revolutionaries to free themselves from Gaddafi's rule it risked frustrated Libyans turning to religious extremists.
"The west is missing the point. The revolution was started because people were feeling despair from poverty, from oppression. Their last hope was freedom. If the west takes too long – where people say it's too little, too late – then people become a target for extremists who say the west doesn't care about them," he said.
"Most people in this country are moderates and extremists have not been able to penetrate them. But if they get to the point of disillusionment with the west there will be no going back."
And democracy advocates never had any real choice but fight, according to former Libyan minister Ali Errishi:
We are frustrated, the UN should live up to its moral and legal obligations, and do what is right, we are disappointed with the US for not exercising leadership.
People went out to demonstrate peacefully, they were then faced with bullets and with air bombardment. We had to defend ourselves. This fight has been imposed upon us.
The Libyan people made up their mind, it is either victory or death, the rest of the world should know, that there is no room for negations because the other side left no room for negotiations...
Gaddafi winning, no fly zone, nfz, Gaddafi will win,, assasinate Gaddafi, rebels, Benghazi, Ronald Reagan, Libya, mass exections, what will Gaddafi do to the rebels, Gaddafi revenge, quaddafi Muammar Gaddafi, xxx Gaddafi winning, Gaddafi will win,, assasinate Gaddafi, Ronald Reagan, mass exections, what will Gaddafi do to the rebels,
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Gipper's Greatest Hits: Reagan Crushes the Air Traffic Controllers' Union Like an Insect
0 comments Posted by queen at 3:00 AM"We cannot compare labor-management relations
in the private sector with government..."
In August 1981, President Ronald Reagan faced down an audacious countrywide air traffic controllers strike that threatened to paralyze the nation's transportation system.
But the walkout violated a regulation prohibiting government unions from striking, so declaring the situation a federal emergency -per 1947 Taft Hartley Act- the President held a press conference in the White House Rose Garden to issue an ultimatum...
they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."
Many thought he was bluffing at the time, but despite fear of a political backlash emanating from some of his cabinet on August 5 1981 Ronald Reagan made plain he was not bluffing by firing every last one of the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work.
The PATCO union was busted...
Friday, February 4, 2011
"a one-man battalion"
Ronald Reagan's well-sorted views regarding the USSR, communism, and the then-emerging Cold War were initially formed by his own personal experiences in the Hollywood labor strike in the Fall of 1946.
According to author Peter Schweizer's (Reagan's War) research of Soviet archives, the Hollywood strike's leader - pugnacious rabble-rouser Herb Sorrell- was directly funded by the American Communist Party and received operational help/strategy from Soviet agents.
Sorrell was head of the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU), and the goal was nothing less than (communist) control of the Hollywood film industry. He had said at the onset of the of the strike "There may be men hurt, there may be men killed before this is over"- and had brought in crews of goons, just in case things got rough as he was predicting... a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The Screen Actors' Guild had voted on whether to join the pickets, but a majority of actors decided not to honor the strike. Reagan's own employer at the time -Warner Brothers Studio- was determined to keep up to production schedule, and simply advised SAG actors crossing the picket line to sneak-onto the studio lot through a drainage pipe...
But that rubbed Ronald Reagan the wrong-way right from the start, as he saw having to 'sneak' as being intimidated by an unjust cause, one that fought with underhanded methods... and he didn't like it. Reagan told WB security "If I'm going to cross the picket line, I'm going to cross the picket line"- and did just that, marching right through the daunting union throng. The movie star soon emerged as the brave leader of the anti-strike, anti-communist movement in Hollywood.
But it wasn't long before Ronald Reagan received a phone call warning that if he continued to oppose the CSU strike, he would never be able to work in films again... as a union 'crew' would find him and "disfigure his face with acid." Reagan soon obtained a gun for the protection of himself and his family, which he kept packed in a holster or laying at arm's reach on his nightstand.
Communist sympathizers and useful idiots in Hollywood proceeded to denounce him as a "fraud", "stooge", and "fascist"... even old friends turned on him. Reagan's beautiful actress wife Jane Wyman later blamed the emerging political mission and the environment of fear that was created by these ruthless new union enemies for their divorce.
But when dust cleared, the strike had collapsed- and Reagan's leadership and courage had impressed even his most bitter opponents. In 1947 several actors, writers, and directors testified before the Un-American Activities Committee of the US Congress on communist influence in Hollywood. Both the Congress and press were extremely impressed with Reagan's poise and intelligence in testimony... it was clear to all the man had done his homework.
Later, in 1951 actor Sterling Hayden testified that the 1946 Hollywood strike had failed because the CSU had run into Reagan, who he described as a "one-man battalion". Obviously, those later caught off-guard by Reagan's prompt crushing of the air-traffic controllers' strike in 1981 hadn't studied the new President's record in dealing with these union types. And Ronald Reagan's heroic and often lonely fight against Communism became, and was to remain for 40 years, highly personal.
Later -when others in the US were seeking an accommodation with the USSR from the Eisenhower on-through the Carter Administrations- Reagan's belief in the American capitalist system told him that this was ill-advised: on-the-contrary if the USSR was forced to compete in a real all-out arms race with the US, their weaker economic system simply "couldn't keep up". Few agreed with this position at the time, and it was actually widely ridiculed. However, Reagan's lack of respect for the Soviet Union's centralized economy was 100% validated in his own time as President in the 1980s.
Naturally, such an unbending strategy for dealing with the USSR earned him criticism from all quarters of the press and academia as a "warmonger", and a trigger-happy, "self-assured bumpkin" with an "overly simplistic world view"... among other things.
But while most feared what they saw as invincible Soviet power, Ronald Reagan told them "The Russians aren't ten-feet-tall" and spoke of inherent weaknesses in the communist system that few others realized. This was a difficult position to take, but events later showed Reagan was right... typically, he displayed visionary leadership and unbounded political courage.
While campaigning for Barry Goldwater in 1964 -regarding appeasement of the USSR 'to avoid war'- Reagan declared: "There is only one guaranteed way you can have peace... and you can have it in the next second: surrender!". These unwavering views were often unappealing to a large chunk of the electorate... but here was a man who was sincere in his convictions above all else, and had little taste for political opportunism. Even Reagan's KGB file defined him with grudging respect as a "convicted anti-communist" and a "firm and unbending politician, for whom words and deeds are one in the same."
Once elected US President in 1980, Ronald Reagan's military buildup and confrontational approach with the USSR were still unpopular. With both double-digit inflation and unemployment inherited from the Carter administration, his own 1981 cabinet was highly divided on the issue of increased military spending and new weapons systems... but President Reagan held firm with plans to confront both militarily and economically what he came to dub the "Evil Empire". When most called the Warsaw-Pact nations of eastern Europe "Soviet satellites", he more accurately referred to them as "captive" states... he rejected political relativism and told it like it was.
Reagan's foreign opponents felt threatened by his influence long before he became President. KGB agents stationed in the US were told in the 1970's that someday, they may be called upon to "get rid of Reagan". There was also a stillborn mission by Cuban agents to nip this problem in the bud in the 1960's... and assassinate him. There were three known attempts on Ronald Reagan's life before deranged lunatic John Hinckley shot him in 1981.
As California Governor in the late 1960's, Reagan was well-known for his outspoken views on topics ranging from campus radicalism to Cuba and the Soviet Union. He became the number one opponent of Berkeley radicals, whom he didn't hesitate to call "brats" and "freaks" at press conferences and in his speeches.
In 1967, Secret Service agents fired upon two men lighting gasoline bombs next to Governor Reagan's mansion. Reagan's principled, patriotic stands soon earned him a spot on the hit-list of the Weather Underground... the group even kept a bullet with Reagan's name on it at their headquarters. These radicals were planning an armed, Marxist overthrow of the US Government, and they had contacts with the intelligence services of countries such as Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and North Vietnam. They had also collaborated with a Cuban agent on the 1968 plot (broken up by the FBI) to assassinate Reagan.
In the wake of his two-term presidency, it became apparent that Reagan's belief system, common-sense insights, principled leadership, and raw courage had won the expensive and dangerous Cold War without firing a shot... while simultaneously bringing this country eight of the best years' it's ever seen.
Considering that Obama's fawning hacks in the MSM have found it useful to hijack the Reagan legacy for their own purposes lately, let's call them on that a bit: Never mind the fact that their political agendas couldn't be more opposite... just how does our current "leadership" fit into this story of valour, honor, and principle?
Unlike Reagan's brave political stands, which had earned him at best lost friends and public condemnation -and at worst a divorce and death threats- serial prevaricator Barack Obama has a record of adopting pragmatic, self-serving platforms that get him the power and positions that serve his aspirations... first and foremost. This of course includes support of -and promotion by- the Democratic Chicago Machine- one of the most corrupt in the country, and with whom BHO made no waves: just "get along to get ahead".
And there was no shame in seeking the support of powerful -yet controversial- Leftist figures in Chicago politics to aid his career and perhaps garnish some "street cred": anti-American racist Reverend Wright, Nation of Islam nut Louis Farrakhan, and shady political mover/racketeer Tony Rezko, among others got him started... today, it's on to the the big-time with hyper-rich socialist market-manipulator George Soros.
Obama also received an early boost from former bomb tossing members of the very same Weather Underground that had planned a Marxist overthrow of the US Government... and attempted to put a hit out on Ronald Reagan for years. Unrepentant Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn (who had bombed numerous US Government buildings in the 1960's) actually hosted a meet-and-greet for Obama at their home in 1995... relevant due to the fact that a defiant Ayers insisted after the 9/11 Al Qaida terrorist attacks "I don't regret setting bombs."
 |
| Obama mentor Bill Ayers, 1968 |
During the 2008 presidential campaign , Obama distanced himself from all these controversial figures. Not too surprising, considering the ice-cold opportunism and lack of character this man has displayed throughout his political career- from thrown elections to gangster connections like Tony Rezko and the unsavory Giannoulis clan- whatever it takes. Obama will use anybody to get what he wants -typical narcissist- then treat them like yesterday's rubbish when they bring any heat or once the political value of the relationship has been depleted.
Obama had spoken during the 2008 campaign of reaching an accommodation with determined and aggressive foes of the United States, such as Iran and Syria, and has taken the same diplomatic tack since taking office. Sadly, this is exactly the kind of appeasement of an insatiable enemy that Reagan called for ceaseless vigilance against. What else can a militarily and economically weaker nation like Iran, Syria, or North Korea- or a terrorist organization like Al Qaida- do to get their way with us, except to attempt to scare a majority of our electorate with frightening brinkmanship? Such a situation cries-out for a true leader... opposite of we've got now.
What a contrast this scheming Leftist snake Obama provides to towering success and time-proven principles of Ronald Reagan. Regardless of the current JournaList narrative, Obama is plainly no Reagan... and his backers mostly no friends of the United States. It's truly difficult to fathom just how far we've fallen under this regime... the current occupant of the WH Oval Office is pretty much everything ole Dutch tried to warn us about:
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction; it's not something we pass along in our bloodstream. It must be fought-for, protected, and passed-along for them to do the same"
But today in America, constitutionally- aware patriots are standing-up and fighting, just like Ronald Reagan did in that 1946 Hollywood strike. And we will put this country back together, as we must: American liberty is not anyone's to take or give away... we owe it to future generations.
-God Bless Ronald Reagan for showing the way-
Happy Birthday, Mr President
____________________________________________
Governor Sarah Palin to speak at the Reagan Centennial
Saturday, January 29, 2011
REAGAN 100: Ronald Reagan's Famed Speech "A Time For Choosing"
0 comments Posted by queen at 3:00 AM
With Gov Sarah Palin set to deliver the keynote speech at the much-anticipated Reagan 100 celebration at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, CA, there is much interest in the theme chosen for the event: A Time for Choosing, the pro-Goldwater oratory that launched Ronald Reagan's political career on the 1964 TV program Rendevzous with Destiny... and raised $8M in the waning days of Barry Goldwater's campaign.
I here present the famed Reagan speech in it's entirety, courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA...
Additional Gipper's Greatest features -here-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
