Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 12, 2011

13

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, March 12, 2011 


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HAIL Hamilton My Turn

The Real Reagan Legacy: Part IV

Views by some of the his peers and associates

 
Having been forced 
to endure a week celebrating 
the 100th 
anniversary of President 
Reagan’s birth and listening to 
conservatives tripping over themselves 
trying to outdo each other’s recollections 
of the “The Gipper” was almost more 
than I could bear. What is all but forgotten 
by these neocon revisionists are the 
views expressed at the time by some of 
his contemporary peers and associates -- 
loyal admirers and critics alike. I thought 
it would be a fitting conclusion of this 
series to hear what some of these people 
had to say about him:

 Jim Cannon (an aide to Howard 
Baker) reported that Reagan’s underlings 
told him stories about how inattentive 
and inept the President was.... “They 
said he wouldn’t come to work -- all he 
wanted to do was watch movies and television 
at the residence.” 

 Lee Hamilton (Representative from 
Indiana) in an interview with Haynes 
Johnson, told him: “Reagan’s only contribution 
[to the subject of the MX missile] 
throughout the entire hour and a 
half was to interrupt somewhere at midpoint 
to tell us he’d watched a movie 

the night before, and he gave us the plot 
from WarGames, the movie. That was 
his only contribution.” 

 Columnist Richard Cohen said, “This 
President treated is by both the press and 
foreign leaders as if he were a child.... It 
is major news when he honors a political 
or economic discussion with a germane 
remark and not an anecdote about his 
Hollywood days.”

 President Mitterrand of France Canadian 
Prime Minister Trudeau about 
Reagan: “What planet is he living on?”

 Author Mark Hertsgaard, wrote 
that “During Mr. Reagan’s trip to Europe... 
members of the traveling press 
corps watched him doze off many times 
-- during speeches by French President 
Francois Mitterrand and Italian President 
Alessandro Pertini, as well as during 
a one-on-one audience with the Pope 
-- that they privately christened the trip 
‘The Big Sleep.’”

 David Nyhan, Boston Globe columnist 
wrote: “He demonstrated for all to 
see how far you can go in this life with a 
smile, a shoeshine and the nerve to put 
your own spin on the facts.”

 

 Reagan’s good friend, British Prime 
Minister Margaret Thatcher, “Poor 
dear, there’s nothing between his ears.”

 Columnist David Broder, “The task 
of watering the arid desert between Reagan’s 
ears is a challenging one for his 
aides.”

 Actress and Author Patti Davis 
(formerly Patricia Ann Reagan) talking 
about her father, “He has the ability to 
make statements that are so far outside 
the parameters of logic that they leave 
you speechless.”

 Larry Speakes (Reagan’s former press 
secretary) describing what it was like 
preparing the President for a press conference: 
“...like reinventing the wheel.”

 Public Interest Author Mark Green, 
“This loathing for government, this eagerness 
to prove that any program to 
aid the disadvantaged is nothing but a 
boondoggle and a money gobbler, leads 
him to contrive statistics and stories with 
unmatched vigor.”

 Former President Jimmy Carter 
observed, “”President Reagan doesn’t 
always check the facts before he makes 
statements, and the press accepts this as 
kind of amusing.”

 James David Barber, presidential 
scholar, “Ronald Reagan is the first 
modern President whose contempt 
for the facts is treated as a charming 
idiosyncrasy.”

 British Journalist and Broadcaster 
Simon Hoggart: “His errors glide past 
unchallenged. At one point... he alleged 
that almost half the population gets a 
free meal from the government each 
day. No one told him he was crazy. The 
general message of the American press is 
that, yes, while it is perfectly true that the 
emperor has no clothes, nudity is actually 
very acceptable this year.”

 Reagan’s macabre and farcical sense 
of humor: As a sound check prior to a 
speech while running for reelection in 
1984, Reagan made the following joke 
(later leaked) to a radio technician: “My 
fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you 
today that I’ve signed legislation that will 
outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing 
in five minutes.”

 And there we have.....Ronald Reagan


STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

GIVE ME YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE

Oh no; it’s already election time 
again. Help, I’m just not ready for 
it. Republican candidates are already 
testing the waters - (frankly I would 
not be too upset if they all fell in) and 
we are about to be bombarded with 
their endless campaigns. Campaigns 
for what? Why would anyone want 
to be President or Governor during 
these impossible times? Meg Whitman spent something 
like $180,000,000 of her own money in an attempt to 
be elected, when she had never before even taken the 
trouble to vote.

I just finished reading a pretty terrific book called 
the ‘imperfectionists’ (the title isn’t capitalized), written 
by Tom Rachman. The second chapter of the book 
describes a fictional formerly famous writer talking 
about the silliness of her own life. Basically, she describes 
her life as being an attempt to say to the world, “‘SHUT 
UP AND LISTEN TO ME”. I had thought about using 
that statement as the title of this article but, alas, I lacked 
the courage. You might have thought I was serious; but 
that’s the dilemma. I do want the world to shut up and 
listen to me - despite the fact that I know I have little to 
say and really don’t even believe I know what I’m talking 
about. Still I want the world to listen to me but perhaps 
not listen too closely or do any fact-checking.

Seriously, what am I doing writing this thing at three 
o’clock in the morning when I have to be at work in just 
a few hours? And, not only this one time, this is my 
172nd article, and each time I write I am not certain 
that I have anything to say. So why don’t I just shut up, 
get out of the way and let the world go on its merry 
way to destruction? I kind of don’t know the answer 
to the question but it’s the kind need that is discussed 
in the book. The character in the book states, “Here is 
a fact: nothing in all civilization has been as productive 
as ludicrous ambition. Whatever its ills, nothing has 
created more. Cathedrals, sonatas, encyclopedias: love 
of God was not behind them, nor love of life. But the 
love of man to be worshipped by man.”

The love of man to be worshipped by man. What 
does that mean? Later, the character declares, “I say that 
ambition is absurd, and yet I remain in its thrall. It’s like 
being a slave all your life, then learning one day that you 
never had a master, and returning to work all the same… 
I know all this but I can’t get it through my head.”

I too know all this, but can’t really get it out of my 
head. Like the character in the book I feel like my life 
has been inadequately realized. I should have done 
more, achieved more. Perhaps if I had tried harder, 
or was more talented I could have swindled mortality 
and lived eternally. No, I don’t believe that-it’s just that 
I wish I had accomplished more. Still, I have not given 
up. These little articles, surprisingly, have touched some 
people and in a way have opened me to new experiences.

Really, I have been touched by the knowledgeable 
staff at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in North 
Hollywood. The clerk, after some conversation, actually 
went to the shelves, picked out the book, and said “Read 
this!” My wife was a witness. This little incident is one 
of the reasons that I grieve at the closing of Bookstores. 
The opportunity to discuss books with people who 
care about them is one of the great joys of my life. The 
holding of the book in my hands somehow weds me to 
other readers and to the loving effort that the author put 
into his or her creation. I do not want Bookstores to 
disappear and I want the world to pay attention to me 
and to keep Bookstores alive. 

People - please buy and read books! And while you are 
at it, please take the time to know and appreciate other 
people. It is all connected and I fear we are all going to 
lose ourselves in the vast ephemera of cyberspace. One 
of the great and unanswerable cosmological questions 
for me is, “How do you get something from nothing?” 
Perhaps the answer is ambition and motivation and need. 
Mankind has expressed the craving for an enlightened 
civilization through the creation and existence of 
books. Books, for better or worse, have been vital in 
the construction of what we are, and what we are should 
not be lost. Does this make any sense? You and I have 
great needs to affect the world, even though we know, 
deep down, that the world will indifferently go on its 
way without us. 

Two hundred and fifty years ago (1763) Samuel 
Johnson described this need as follows:

There lurks in every human heart 

a desire of distinction 

which inclines every man 

first to hope 

and then to believe 

that nature has given him

something peculiar to himself. 

 

 Best of luck to all the candidates - win or lose - we 
understand.

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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN


HOWARD Hays

 As I See It

Muslim Radicalization

Alive And Well 

I didn’t have to prepare 
an itinerary for an out-
of-state guest last week; 
from recollections of 
his last visit, he knew 
just what he wanted 
to do his first night in 
town. So - we enjoyed a set of great jazz 
at Cafe 322 (Harry Smallenburg Jazz 
Nonet), then walked down the street to 
join the crowd at The Buccaneer.

Everyone there was having a good 
time, but in overhearing snippets of 
conversations I sensed an undercurrent 
of concerns; whether family problems, 
boyfriend/girlfriend issues, employment 
anxieties, prospects for the Lakers in the 
playoffs, etc.

I realized most columns such as mine are 
inclined to simply bring further worries 
to readers who already have enough of 
their own. For this reason, I decided this 
week to instead mention a few things to 
feel good about.

1. State pension funds are in fine shape.

Funds are stable and have recovered 
nicely, along with Wall Street, from the 
recession. Alarms to the contrary have 
come from those funded by the likes of 
the Koch Brothers, using gimmicks like 
pegging anticipated returns to the lowest 
T-bill rate rather than more typical 
investments, or taking a fund’s liabilities, 
the amount it expects to pay to enrollees 
over their lifetimes, and showing it as a 
percentage of a state’s budget for a single 
year.

Some might feel good to know few are 
getting rich off their pensions. According 
to AFSCME, the average public pension 
is $19,500 yearly - and for many it’s in 
lieu of, rather than in addition to, Social 
Security. 1,600 California state retirees 
are pulling in pensions exceeding $100k 
yearly, but that’s less than 1% of the total. 
The average CalPERS pension is $25,000 
- with no Social Security to supplement 
it.

Where there are problems, we know the 
cause. In New Jersey, with one of the 
country’s weakest funds, the problem 
goes back twenty years to financing 
tax cuts for the rich by cutting state 
contributions to the pension fund. (States 
contribute about a quarter of a fund’s 
income, with the rest from employee 
contributions and investment). Now, 
after pushing through another billion 
in tax cuts for the wealthiest, Gov. 
Chris Christie (R) refuses to make his 
state’s contribution to the fund (less 
than 2% of the state’s budget) unless 
workers agree to a tax hike and a cut 
in benefits.

In Wisconsin, site of the current capital 
showdown, the pension fund remained 
strong with 99.7% of liabilities funded 
(the GAO regards 80% as a good mark of 
stability). There again, the problem isn’t 
with the fund but with a new governor, 
Scott Walker (R), ramming through tax 
cuts for the wealthiest and expecting to 
pay for it by raiding workers’ retirements.

2. There’s no problem with Social 
Security.

According to Robert Reich, former 
trustee of the Social Security trust fund, 
until last year Social Security was taking 
in more than it was paying out, with 
the surplus loaned to the government. 
Collecting on those loans, Social 
Security would remain fully solvent for 
another 26 years. The situation after 26 
years is easy enough to prepare for.

Back in 1983, a formula was devised 
where 90% of the nation’s wages would 
be taxed for Social Security. A ceiling 
under which annual wages would be 
taxed was established, to be adjusted for 
inflation. Today that ceiling stands at 
$106,800, above which income is exempt 
from Social Security taxes.

The problem lies in growing income 
inequality. In 1983, the richest 1% had 
less than 12% of the nation’s income; 
today it’s more than 20%, so more income 
is above the ceiling, exempt from taxes. 
Only 84% of the nation’s income is now 
beneath the $106,800 ceiling. Raising it 
to $180,000 would again subject 90% of 
income to Social Security taxes.

No cuts in benefits. No increase in the 
retirement age. No problem.

3. Cuts can be avoided.

There’s concern about cuts in services 
for those most in need. Rather than 
accepting them, we can look at trade-
offs. A list of the costs of at-risk 
programs, alongside ways to cover them, 
was recently prepared by Donna Cooper 
of the Center for American Progress, 
including:

$11.2 billion for early childhood 
programs instead of $11.5 billion in cuts 
to millionaires’ estate taxes.

$8.9 billion for low-income housing 
instead of $8.9 billion in mortgage 
interest deductions for vacation homes.

$4.1 billion for job training for 
unemployed and (cont. page 17)

One of the primary characteristics of 
the Left is their denial of reality. If they 
dislike a fact or piece of evidence, they 
simply deny that it is a fact. Likewise, if 
they feel that something should be true, 
they just say it is and form policy around 
their wishful thinking. It is on just such 
a basis, that the left claims the hearings 
on Islamic radicalization being held 
by Representative Pete King are racist, 
prejudicial to Muslims and will lead to 
hate crimes against Muslims. Nothing 
could be further from the truth.

Consider the following hard facts. (1) 
Recent analysis of terrorism statistics 
released by our own Justice Department 
showed that more than 80% of all 
convictions tied to terrorism since 9/11 
involved defendants motivated by a 
radical Islamic agenda. (2) Low end 
estimates of the number of Muslims 
worldwide that believe in Jihad against 
the west are in the 20% range. On a 
world Muslim population of 1 billion, 
that’s 200 million people who believe in 
terrorism.

These statistics alone prove that Muslim 
militancy in the U.S. is responsible for a 
disproportionate share of the terrorism 
crimes and that, worldwide, there is an 
even bigger problem with the affect of 
Islamic radicalization. This in no way 
implies that all American Muslims are 
terrorists or want to be terrorists. I will 
be the first to state that the vast majority 
of Muslims in the U.S., and in the 
world for that matter, are peace-loving 
individuals who want the same for their 
kids as I do for mine.

But another reality is also present. 
As many news reports have made 
abundantly clear, the peace-loving 
Muslims in the world are intimidated 
into silence by the radical minority. This 
isn’t to blame them; when threatened 
with death or worse if you speak out, 
most people will remain quiet. But 
doesn’t this also mean that any efforts 
we make to identify the intimidators and 
stop the radicalization process would be 
a benefit to Muslims? The Congressional 
hearings are on the “radicalization 
process” not on Muslims or even Islam. 
If Representative King can help figure 
out why a disproportionately greater 
percentage of U.S. Muslims are turning 
to violence, isn’t he doing Muslims who 
want to live in a peaceful country a favor?

Instead, groups like the Council on 
American-
Islamic 
Relations and the 
Muslim American 
Society claim that by 
focusing on Muslims, 
Congress is painting a 
negative stereotype of 
Muslims. If that is the 
criteria to be used, 
then why didn’t we hear any complaints 
when Congress held hearings on the 
Italian mob, black and white prison 
gangs, white racists, and Hispanic 
drug cartels? The evidence is pretty 
clear that Congress has simply pursued 
investigations where the facts warranted 
investigation. The sad fact is that we 
do have black and white prison gangs, 
we do have white racist groups, we do 
have Italian mobsters and Hispanic drug 
lords. We also have an Islamic terrorist 
problem. You have to be willingly 
oblivious to the truth not to see that there 
is an attempt to radicalize American 
Muslims. Should there ever be an effort 
to radicalize Scandinavian Lutherans, 
I’ll be the first to call for Congressional 
investigations of that effort. 

What’s so ironic in all this is the 
fact that the very efforts to arouse 
Muslim Americans in anger against 
these hearings is itself an attempt at 
radicalization. Most Muslim Americans 
would be very happy if the terrorists that 
are trying to infiltrate their Mosques 
and neighborhoods were identified and 
stopped. The racist and inciting agents 
here are the self-appointed Muslim 
groups, like the Council on American-
Islamic Relations, not Representative 
King or the U.S. Congress.

In point of fact, at the recent trial of the 
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and 
Development, an FBI expert testified 
that the Council on American-Islamic 
Relations was a front for Hamas, and 
that they, together with the Islamic 
Society of North America were listed as 
unindicted co-conspirators in terrorist 
funding efforts.

 We live in a difficult and dangerous 
world, which of course the world has 
always been. History is resplendent with 
examples of various groups, movements, 
and sometimes whole cultures that were 
warped by hatred and pursuit of evil. I 
won’t deny that the Spanish Inquisition 
(a Christian thing) (cont. page 17)

GREG Welborn


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