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| quote: | Originally posted by Yoepus
My thoughts on this thread:
1) The argument about showing Regan's funeral - a person who is remembered as a public servant - to the public is ridicilous. |
Agreed.
| quote: | 2) The argument about showing servicemen's funerals is as equally ridicilous. I have seen at least two "flag-drapped" funerals of Houston-men who had died in service of their country in Iraq on the local TV.
Those that argue that these funerals have some negative effect and are therefore censored by the government, how do you respond to that? TV broadcast of the funerals of Texan serviceman by Texan media - probably some of the most right-wing media you can find in the nation.
It is not the "right" that is censoring these funerals, it is the left. Do you see similar funerals on your local stations in California and New York?
Military funerals are not censored. I am sure if the family wishes the media will not be there, they will try and respect. This is not the case however. I have never heard of a case where the family has asked the media to leave and they were still there. Same goes for the funeral of Regan - if the Regans would have wished it not to have been televised, it wouldn't have been.
So if we want to start playing politics.. you might want to question your assumptions further. |
What assumption? There is a mandate from the DOD NOT to release pictures from Dover AFB - that's not Left or Right media at work - that's our government.
If they showed a funeral service in Texas - fine. I'm sure it was done with full consent of the family in a highly respectable manner.
The question remains, however, why does this Administration feel it necessary to censure something that has never been censured before?
And should we really be upset with the press or the public outcry with the release of these photos, given this Administration's propensity for secrecy?
| quote: | 3) Regan did help bring down the fall of the soviet union. True the Soviet Union would have fallen sooner or later, but because of Regan it fell sooner. For all we know the whole empire could have lasted twenty even fifty more years without him. Regan put the pressure on the soviet union - He was the first president to put the financial and moral pressure on the Union, which lead to its demise.
He termed them "evil empire" - this phrasing did much to help the uprising in Eastern Europe. Regan operated against common western European sympathies at the time and helped increase funding of Radio free Europe, and helped arm the uprising - actions all his predeccsors refused to do in hopes of not angering the Russians.
DJ_Irish, you will hear many of the Eastern Europeans leaders who lead the uprising sing great praise of Regan. I've heard one such leader in an interview who said that without Regan the revolutions would have gone no where. |
I've heard certain Leftist arguments about the fall of Communism being well on it's way without the help of Reagan. A coupla Leftist commentators even went so far as to say that Reagan only elongated the fall of Soviet Communism.
I think my thoughts on the matter are that Communism was no doubt failing, and it's days were certainly numbered. To me, Reagan likely had a role in it's downfall - hell if Gorbechov himself states that Reagan contributed to the downfall of Communism, I'd have to agree with him. Honestly, that's about all I have on that particular topic.
The funeral procession on Friday was pretty interesting and moving. I thought the two eulogies from Reagan's daughter and adopted son couldn't have been any different, but they both spoke from their hearts and I simply can't fault them for that. The most moving moment for me personally was, of course, Nancy's final goodbye to her husband, weeping and hugging the coffin as her children came up to comfort her. I don't shed tears too often, but that moment sincerely moved me. I can't even begin to imagine how terribly difficult these last few years have been on Nancy with her husband suffering from Alzheimer's. Everyone seems to want to cherish and remember Ronald's politics above everything else. I simply cannot raise his politics above the love he and his wife shared. To me that was his greatest strength.
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Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...
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so yeah, perhaps even for him 
