This'n'That; April Twenty-Fourth #3; A Final Note:

Same Book; Dust Cover Paragraph:
    I would be remiss if I didn't quote the entire paragraph on the back of the dustcover of one of my personal favorites--Ronald Reagan in Private:
    "When we arrived at the old presidential guesthouse in Lisbon where we would psend two nights, the drapes were drawn, but we could hear the muffled sounds of a demostration taking place across the street from our residence.  Reagan and I were upstairs together and he was eager to catch a glimpse of the protesters.  We tried to open the thick, floor-length curtains but they had been pinned shut by the Secret Service.  Suddenly Reagan spied a door leading to a small balcony overlooking the demonstration.
"Let's go out there," he suggested.
I was floored.  "You can't go our there," I said.  "The Secret Service would go crazy."
Reagan grinned at me.  "Watch me." he said, and opened the door and stepped onto the rooftop deck.  Shirtless, he leanded over the short wall to gaze below at the hundreds of shouting protesters demonstrating against him in the streets.
I entreated him to come back into the room.  "They might see you."
"So What?" shrugged Reagan.
    Fortunately, none of the Lisbon demonstrators looked up or they would have glimpsed the bare-chested president of the United States surveying them!
    This was the Ronald Reagan I got to know in my four years as his executive assistant in his second term.  When he was visible--whether it was in meetings in the Oval Office or in the cabinet room, events in the Rose Garden, at press conferences and speeches in front of the nation or on the other side of the world--he was bigger than life as the president of the United States.  He looked, spoke and breathed the part.  But when you were alone with him, he was the nicest, most regular guy in the world.
--From Ronald Reagan in Private
That's the final word--maybe--from me on the subject!
Til Nex'Time....
http://product.half.ebay.com/Ronald-Reagan-In-Private-A-Memoir-Of-My-Years-In-The-White-House-by-Jim-Kuhn-2004-Hardcover/30885586&tg=info

This'n'That; April Twenty-Fourth #2; Finally, I'm FINISHED!!

A Book I've Been Reading For Months!
    I've finally completed "Ronald Reagan in Private," by Jim Kuhn.  Mr Kuhn was President Reagan's "Executive Assistant to the President" during "Ronaldus-Magnus'" second-term.  Prior to that, he was Mr Reagan's personal assistant and the White House 'advance man' for official trips.

    Anyone who knows me personally, can not doubt the highest esteem I have for Ronald Reagan; secondarily for his grasp of economic and tax issues, but primarily for the lofty perch on which he placed the office of the President of the United States.  This book is one of the best 'reads' I've found on President Reagan's two-terms in office.  Mr Kuhn not writes about the activities you and I know, but such things as:

President Reagan being responsible for a child's pet fish;
[(This occurred during a Reagan-Gorbachev meeting in Geneva, Switzerland) Mr Kuhn writes:  Reagan had been faithfully feeding the fish belonging to the son of the Aga Kahn, but later than afternoon he suddenly noticed that one of them was, clearly, quite dead.   It was floating belly up at the top of the boy's fish tank.  The president felt terrible about it.  I wondered what we were going to do and then decided that we would replace the fish.  I asked two of our advance team to go out and purchase two fish (one for backup) of the same size and breed.  We got the replacement fish but, unfortunately, our advance guys had told enough people about the dead fish, so the story got out that the president had killed the little boy's fish.  The president left the boy an apologetic note.  "I don't know what could have happened," the note said.  He told the boy he'd replaced the fishe woth two other fish.  "I hope this is all right."  He signed the note: "Your friend, Ronald Reagan."] 

President Reagan speaking to Soviet college students;
[(This occurred on one of the Reagan's visits to Moscow; President Reagan making a scheduled speech to students at Moscow State University, with a follow-on Q&A period)  Mr Kuhn writes:  He (President Reagan) did a question-and-answer session with the students, telling them that he looked forward to a day when there would be no more nuclear weapons in the world.  One student asked him if youth had changed since he was a student.  Reagan smiled, recalling the day when he was California governer when "I could start a riot just by going to a campus."  But all that has changed, he told the Moscow State students, "and I could be looking out at any American student body as well as I'm looking out here and would not be able to tell the difference between you."  That was, in my mind one of the most symbolic events of President Reagan's extraordinary eight years in office.  The aging cold war warrior, entering the twilignt of his presidency, sahring his thoughts and wisdom with young people in a country he had once considered the font of all evil in the world.] 

President Reagan's ease with--and without--his 'perks-of-power;'
[This occurred late in President Reagan's second-term, as he played off a remark made by LBJ when told 'his helicopter was ready;' President Johnson told the sailor "Son, they're all my helicopters."  Mr Kuhn writes:  "Which one is ours?" I asked someone as we walked with President Reagan.  Overhearing me, Reagan turned to me with a wicked grin.  "Jim, they're all my helicopters."  We all burst out laughing, including the president.  We knew he didn't meant it-in face, that was the joke. [....] That was Reagan.  Don't take the perks of power too seriously-they are ephemeral and fleeting.  As his remarkable eight-year tenure wound down, he didn't regret losing those benefits-or the job itself.]
    With the book finally finished, with 'well tabbed' important--at least to me--passages; it will now go to the 'Ronaldus-Magnus' Wing of my personal library.  I think everyone should have a WELL READ copy in their libraries; you should get yours!!
http://product.half.ebay.com/Ronald-Reagan-In-Private-A-Memoir-Of-My-Years-In-The-White-House-by-Jim-Kuhn-2004-Hardcover/30885586&tg=info
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; January Seventeenth #1;Commonalities/Compromises

Comparisons Easy To Make; Verify
    More than just occasionally, I start on one project and get easily sidetracked.  We are planning to move from the God-forsaken State of New York; from the God-forsaken, crime-ridden; miscreant-infested City of Rochester.  To that end, it's my self-determined responsibility to begin packing the non-essentials even though the move--if it actually comes to pass--won't happen until late spring, early summer.
    The current project is to pack my 'conservative' publications, be they hard-bound books or magazines.  I managed to get about one-half a kitty litter tub packed (I've found the 35++ pound 'Tidy Cats' litter containers work really well for this) when I ran across a book on "Ronaldus-Magnus;" my political; legislative; 'public figure' hero!!  Before I realized it, I had consumed 128 of 271 pages of RONALD REAGAN IN PRIVATE; 'A Memoir of My Years in the White House' by Jim Kuhn!!
    As is the norm with most A-D-Ders, I began to side-track into 'blog-mode;' "there has to be a blog entry in here, somewhere!!"  And in my fuzzy little mind, I think I've found that entry.  Check this out:
The aforementioned book starts with Mr Kuhn's work on various political campaigns, on into Mr Reagan's first presidential campagn of 1976.  There are many facts; much information of that 'early' era of national politics; comparisons of Mr Reagan to the democRAT 'flavor of the day;' like Jimmuh Cahtah, Robert Byrd (W.Va), Michael Dukakis (Ma), Geraldine Ferraro (NY), John Glenn (Oh), et al.
    As with many--if not most--DINOs, I've become so disenchanted with "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist," as to do my utmost to aid him.... in his political destruction!! To that end, I'll undertake the easily constructed comparisons of our current ruler to the aforementioned Cahtah as well as contrasts with "Ronaldus-Magnus."  In the coming comparisons and contrasts, I'll try to remember to give you page and paragraph of any quotes and facts.
"Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist"--in agreement with the 'national decline' narrative--on September 30, 2011, said:
*"The way I think about it is, you know, this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and, you know, we didn't have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades.  We need to get back on track." 
Mr Reagan (speaking at the New York City launch of his 1980 presidential nomination campaign):
**"I don't agree that our nation must resign itself to inevitable decline, yielding its proud position to other hands,  I am totally unwilling to see this country fail in its obligation to itself and to the other free people of the world."
    Then-President Cahtah--during his failed re-election campaign--said:
***....Reagan was a divisive, trigger-happy cowboy who would lead America into numerous, unnecessary armed conflicts.  During a speech in Chicago, Cahtah said:
"Americans will be separated, black from white, Jew from Christian, North from South, rural from urban."
As hindsight tells us, none of this ever happened; Mr Cahtah  was only spouting the democRATic (future owe-bamacRATic) divisive, derisive lines from their 'Keeping the White House' playbook.
    To create the illusion of improving unemployment numbers, "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" resorted to 'creative accounting' to reduce the U-3 rate from 10.1% at his immaculation to the fabricated 8.5% current rate. 
****In August 2011, "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" proposed seven new regulations that would cost American businesses one-billion-dollars, EACH.  This is added to the $38 Billion in annual regulatory expenses and the $100 Billion in annual compliance costs!!
Mister Reagan--while speaking to union steelworkers during the 1980 campaign--responded to the question-'could he restore the lost jobs':
*****"You bet.  I think we've got a policy in our government for the last few years that is hostile.  It considers business--instead of part of the community--as an adversary.  It's time we got government off the back of industry."
******During the second presidential debate (Cleveland Convention Center Music Hall, October 28, 1980) Jimmuh Cahtah continued his on-going distortions of Mr Reagan's proposals, i.e., Mr Reagan's cutting Medicare.  "Ronaldus-Magnus" issued the now-famous line:
" There you go, again."
# Each had their 'wrap-up' statements:
    President Cahtah: "I think to close out this discussion, it would be better to put into context what we're talking about.  I had a discussion with my daughter Amy [then 12], the other day, before I came here, to ask her what the most important issue was.  She said she thought nuclear weaponry--and the control of nuclear arms."
    Mr Reagan:  ".....I think when you make that decision [the vote was the following Tuesday] it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?  Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago?  Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago?  Is America respected throughout the world as it was?  Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we are as strong as we were four years ago?...." 
    Prior to his presidency, "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" was little more than an ineffectual, two-bit federal politican with 143 days' experience.  Before that, he was a--again a two-bit--community agitator on Chicago's Southside while 'part-timing' as a law school lecturer.  The "Clown Prince" has never worked for a paycheck that wasn't funded by the state or federal governments.   After his immaculation, the "Clown Prince's" ego went into hyper-inflation; the chips-on-his-shoulder grew exponentially to monumental proportions!!    ##  The presidency didn't change Ronald Reagan.  He didn't let the office intimidate him, nor did he permit it to affect his ego.  He was totally unaffected by the power of the office.
    ### EDITORIAL: obama and America's Decline; Washington Times; November 9, 2010: "....Always ready to underrection our country abroad, the president concluded that the upside to this relative decline in America's fortunes is that "This will keep America on its toes.  America is going to have to compete."  Mr obama ignores the fact that it was American invention, innovation and competative spirit that gave the country its economic pre-eminence in the first place.  Rather than lecturing American to get in the game, he would do better to reverse the anti-business climate he has helped foster...."
    ####During his first inaugural address--January 20, 1981--President Reagan noted democRATs had lost faith in the american people, elling them there was a 'malaise' in the United States, that America had to resign itself to a slow, relentless decline in its power, its wealth, its prestige. 
"We have every right to dream heroic dreams.  Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heros, they just don't know where to look." 
[A bit of a side-bar to the thoughts and actions of presidents:  After the president and former presidents Nixon, Ford and Cahtah attended Anwar Sadat's funeral on October 10, 1981, both former presidents Ford and Cahtah were flying back to the United States aboard one of the presidential aircraft.  As is the norm, the dignitaries pose for individual photos with the staff of the aircraft.  Mistah Cahtah was particularly hostile toward the staff and the whole photo opportunity; he had demanded that they be photographed in groups of four, while Mister Ford posed individually. 
The author--Jim Kuhn--lamented to President Ford that Kuhn had 'really screwed this up for President Carter.'
"No you didn't, young man," Ford said warmly.  "That worked fine."  He grinned at me as if he were confiding a secret.  "I've always said," he told me, "that you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit."  With that he shook his head.  President Ford made me feel human again.]
    While 'boning' the republicRATs on compromises to avert an unnecessary government shut-down in April, 2011 "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" had this to say:
#####"This is an agreement to investment in our country's future while making the largest spending cut in our history.  Like any compromise this required everyone to give ground on issues that were important to them.  I certainly did.  Some of the cuts we agreed to will be painful--programs that people rely on will be cut back; needed infrastructure projects will be delayed.  And I would not have made these cuts in better circumstances."
###### In June 1982, battles over the federal budget raged.  President Reagan's critics argued that if he would consent to cuts in the defense buildup, there would be more money for domestic spending.  But Reagan was determined to stick to his guns, so to speak.  He believed that only by demonstrating to the Soviets our detyermination to build up our military could we drive them to the bargaining table.  Then, and only then, could the two countries negotiate a reduction in nuclear arms and an end to mutual assured destruction (MAD) which had both counties aiming nuclear weapons at each other as some kind of bizarre deterrence from using them.

    This exercise in 'comparative analytics' could go on forever; there's never been a more verbose president than "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist," while "Ronaldus-Magnus" was a man of as few words as necessary; a man of fierce determination and dedication to the Constitution; to the United States; uncompromising in his principles!!  President Reagan was as good for the country in his era as the "Clown Prince" is bad for the country in the current era.

    The time has come for the GOP to coalesce behind the candidate most able to defeat the "Clown Prince;" coalescence to the point of having current candidates as members of the incoming president's cabinet.  While each current candidate has his individual flaws; each must take great care not to allow their egos and demands for power to get in the way of the betterment of the country as a whole; betterment of the citizenry in particular.  We've--for the past three years--experienced the detrimental effects of a complete lack of experience coupled with a massive ego!!
    Study each candidate very carefully.  Seek both the pros and cons of each candidate's positions on the most pressing issues.  Do a 'pros and cons' chart of each candidate to determine those with the most favorable positions; the fewest unfavorable positions (to you).  Even if one has to "hold-his-nose" it is far better to vote against the Soros candidate (the "Clown Prince"), by voting for the 'less-than-perfect' GOP candidate (much like conservatives did in 2008!)!!!
Til Nex'Time....
* http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/30/obama-calls-america-soft-offers-to-whip-nation-into-shape/
** Ronald Reagan In Private; Jim Kuhn; p 40.
***ibid. p 62.
**** http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary-mainmenu-43/8820-obamas-seven-new-regulations-would-cost-us-economy-billions
***** Ronald Reagan In Private; Jim Kuhn; p 65.
******  http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/debates/history/1980/index.shtml
# http://www.juntosociety.com/pres_debates/carterreagan.html
## Ronald Reagan In Private; Jim Kuhn; p 81.
###  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/9/obama-and-americas-decline/
#### Ronald Reagan In Private; Jim Kuhn; p 85.
Side-bar: ibid. p 98.
##### http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/09/news/la-pn-government-shutdown-averted-20110410
###### Ronald Reagan In Private; Jim Kuhn; p 99-100.