I must differ with you Dr. Kooky aka Zach. Little Mike Royko humor, you should read him sometime, Zach, he's great. Anyway, the disease didn't cripple Reagan by any means in any of his terms. You yourself said the disease only USUALLY affects people WITHIN 20 years of death. I find it hard to believe the man was senile and removed from his job because 1) the disease dosen't work that fast right off and 2) there is a lot of documentation out there proving the contrary. Memos, letters, and various other writings published in the former President's own hands clearly show that not only was he in control of his mental functions, he was running the show at the White House. Not to mention the fact he negotiated constantly with the younger Gorbachev and even the Russians said he was on his game during the talks. Being old doesn't disqualify you from office, Zach. I rather like the idea of an older more experienced statesman at the helm as opposed to a mental teenager in a hill billy's body calling the shots. Face it, my liberal friends old Dutch will go down in history, rightfully so, as the FDR of the Republican party and one of the greatest Presidents of the 20th century. Welcome home Zach, you and me will need to hit the bars back in the old G-burg sometime.

Alas, I have arrived back on US soil today, this also happens to be the anual representative day of my birth and let me tell you, it is strange to be back. I fear I have missed out on most of the discussion fun but it does bug me that after ten years of being all but forgotten Regan is now being cannonized. Why didn't anyone give a damn when the man was still alive? Such strange social customs we have. I also wanted to point out that from a strictly medical perspective everyone likes to say that Reagan suffered a crippling disease for the last 10 years of his life, as if it suddenly happened as soon as he was out of office. First of all Alzhiemers ususally begins to take effect on an individual up to 20 years before death. The truth which no one seems to be willing to accept is that Reagan was in the grips of the disease well before he was out of office and was one of the main reasons why he was so withdrawn from major decisions and dependent of his staff especially in his second term he was 70years old for god sake! This does not mean he was a bad person and as a figurehead he was very effective at galvanising many Americans but let us not bestow a golden crown upon an empty chair now when it has been empty long before just because it provides good polical capital for a party trying to bulster its ratings by waving a picture of its prototypic icon that no longer resembles the human being which it is modeled after.

No, i didn't get to see any of the funeral on tv. John and Liz went down to Washington for it though. Haven't heard from them how that went. They left at 9PM thursday and had to be back noon friday for work. They invited me, but since i am human, i need sleep (unlike john and liz apparantly.) Had job interview today. Miserable failure.

Drew, I think an EAF on the legacy of Regan is a great idea. We must do that. First show of the term. I just realized the other day, it will be all you me and Sean fall term. No Dan. No Emily. Interesting.

Rachel, thank you for the kind words, but i don't think there is any real wilderness to escape to around here without driving and Derrick is laid up at the moment.... which is bad because im supposed to go for a walk in the woods with Laura tomorrow... and to Chinatown in Manhattan with Drew (Fernandez).... i think at the same time... if only i had a memory...

So grad school gets paid for... by who? And how shall i initiate the process of asking them to pay? Are there books in the library about such things? Will the books include how to convince your parents that it is a worthwhile endevor?

P.S. "Super Size Me" is a good movie. Good for laughs and education both. i reccomend.

I just got done watching the Reagan funeral, a truely somber and significant event. I hope you all got to watch at least parts of it. The country bid farewell to a great man and President. He did great things for all of us Americans, and I am sad to see him go. I was even more sad to see his wife Nancy say goodbye to him. However, I am glad he's finally free from that awful disease which ravaged his mind for the last ten years. Pete, how about we do a EAF special next year on the legacy of Ronald Reagan? It's controversial and I assure you we'll be getting calls with the stuff I'll say about him and how great he was. Switching topics I'm just reading, running, and working out here in Kankakee. I take the LSAT on Monday (fingers crossed). I will do my best. What are all of you up to

I am a stubborn old codger in mind and soul, no question about that. I make facetious comments to inflame debate amongst my colleauges. However, in my own defense I must say two things. I always include a snippet of truth in each of my extreme comments so when the debate does hit I can easily slide into a rational debate. For example, in my defense of Reagan I said commie bastards in reference to wonder guys like Leonid Brehzniv of the USSR and the army of th Sandinistas in Nicaragua, who both tried to make this world their personal playground. As for the the intransigience of my conservative mind I have this to say. People should not always leave arguments with their entire perspectives on life changed. For the example, I believe in the American dream. If a radical hippie of deates with me by saying I'm chasing after nothing but a corporate logo fueled by the sweatshops of the third world I say I disagree. The American dream is every American family's pursuit of happiness and economic security. It comes with the heavy responsibility to EARN IT YOURSELF. Also, the free market provides the safest outlet for the dream's fulfillment because only there can an individual have a chance to reep what he or she has sown. Yes these are old tricks barked by an even older dog, but I beieve in them strongly. I respect the opinion of those who disagree with me, but I still oppose them. Debates like ours form the bond of compromise which is the root of all demorcratic government and that my friends is why I relish the struggle so much

Drew, I disagree with you, but that isn't what annoys me. A well-thought-out opinion in opposition is worthy of respect. However, the words you use are empty and provoking (commie bastards, hippies always against the American Dream, empires of evil out to destroy everything holy, etc ...). It's frustrating, because you generalize and stereotype at every turn, without listening to the people who disagree. You don't want your mind to be changed, and so it isn't.

Pete, so sorry to hear about the things going on out there. I suppose it doesn't help to note the lower gas prices here in the midwest (thank goodness for ethanol bringing down prices). I wish the best for your family and your situation this summer. As for grad school, well, most schools offer wonderful stipends or teaching/research assistantships. I've been told repeatedly that you shouldn't go to grad school if you have to pay anything for it, because a good school that wants you should offer you what you need to cover the cost. Hope that idea can cheer you up a bit ... it means that grad school isn't totally nixed out. (Dealing with the parental opinions on the matter, of course, are a different thing.) In any case, take some refuge in the wild when you can this summer, and try to make use of things that you learned in the woods last woods. Who knows what will happen?

To My Friends,
Firstly, I don't give a hoot if the voting of the bill takes place after Bush is crowned Pope Magnus the Dork, there will be no draft. If a draft act were passed the Republicans would be branded as the bringers of another Vietnam and they could kiss their majorities goodbye at midterms. If Kerry is elected, and there is strong indication that he will be at this point, he would be committing career suicide as being the Democratic-Vietnam era leader who okayed a draft bill. In addition, a fillibuster, table motion, or veto will effectively kill this bill before it sets a foot out the door. So don't pack your bags for Iraq yet folks. Pete, it sounds like you are going through some rough times now and I hope you get through them. Feel free to get in touch with me by letter or email if you ever need to talk. On a bright note I wish to point out that my Dad went to grad school an orphan and he worked successfully to get to masters degrees. It can be done Pete, you have it in you. Rachel, I realize you may get annoyed with my position but you all must give the man some credit. Even his worst foes are begrudging him a little bit of credit at the hour of his burial. His defense planning caused the USSR to become invovled in a costly arms race which predicated the downfall of the tyrannical communist regime there. He helped to keep Poland's Solidarity movement alive with money and communications. His tax cuts helped to restimultate the market economy which eventually brought us out of our recessions. Yes, he did draw up a huge defecit and he also oversaw a scandal in Iran Contra. However, he did one thing Slick Willy didn't he looked us in the eye and told us he made a mistake by lying. I do not think Reagan was great because he was superhuman or because I feel sorry that he had a mind crippling disease. I think Reagan was great because he was a good man who did his best in every situation, even the worst. And he did it by staying positive and by never backing down. We can all learn a thing or two from Dutch

THE BRICKS OF CHANGE

I dropped Emily off in her camper in the barn by the cows and free-range chickens and drove the five hours to my parents' house in NJ. All the flags at half mast were not for the 60'th anniversary of D-day. They were for Reagan.... A president of strong words... a polarizing charachter who i still feel rather ambivalent about. Dead from Altzheimers, a disease where death is a mixed blessing that transforms a man from walking dead to living memory... Dead and the world moves on with everything different than it was.
I flipped back and forth between the conservative and liberal talk radio stations as i headed south towards New York. All sides right. All sides wrong. A dead man. An "issue." When you've been living in the woods for ten weeks, you find it hard to reassume your position in a world of 6 billion or even a country of three hundred grand. Even the life of one man who sat atop the throne of a public's eye is too much to comprehend.

Connecticut: $2.40 Regular and rising

Upon arriving home, i had a discussion with my parents where i learned that, first, i don't have a job. My dad's business is a mess. He had been working 7 days a week before the heart attack to try to keep it alive... then the inevitable happened. So now he has few jobs lined up... certainly not enough to keep me busy. So i'm unemployed. Second, they probably don't have enough money to send me to grad school, and they don't really want me to go at all.
Life can change quickly in half an hour or less. I went to sleep last night in wonder at that sentence.

This morning, i called every want ad for a carpenter in two newspapers. Got one response. He'll call back tomorrow apparantly. Next, i had two or three shouting matches with my mother over ridiculously unimportant things. Only my mother can accomplish this. I don't think i've so much as raised my voice in three months or more. Unleashed my anger and edginess on the scalding green basketball court in the park, the honkeys and wetbacks defeating the spooks two games to none (don't ask me why the teams were orgainzed by race. they probably shouldn't be, but they usually are).

My trumpet is in storage under Post and i'm trying to build up my left hand to sing bass lines

I don't want to be drafted into the military. I would rather go to jail. I hit Christina's link, read the whole article, thought. It could happen. As long as it's after the election, i don't doubt it could happen. I hit the link on that article, read, and thought. Corn farmer Percy Schmeiser lost his case in the Canadian Supreme Court against the Monsanto corporation. This is a case worth looking into, Drew. Suffice it to say, this decision will change the world we live in drastically. I bet it did not make a single newspaper in the United States.

There is so much... so much... it overwhealms me more than i can express. Every issue is more complex than i can ever understand, and i am beginning to realize that i chose my battles and my sides on the basis of emotion. So does Drew. So do Sean and Dan. So does President Bush. So do all of you. We don't understand anything. We pick a side, then defend it using the "facts" garnered from others who Feel the same way we do, and so have gathered information with the express purpose of proving that their emotions are more "right" than someone else's.
I float.

I don't know what i am going to do tomorrow.

Christina, i seem to vaguely remember an email about our server being down for a while or somesuch thing. unfortunately, i don't remember for how long, so i guess we'll all just have to wait & see. in other news, i worked up a nice sweat today out pulling weeds... :)

Good God, Drew. Your rhetoric drives me up the wall.

That's the thing Drew, The Bill is going to be voted on convieniently right after the elections. great how politics works isn't it?

I assure you that no one here is getting drafted. G.W. doesn't want to dig an even deeper hole for himself before the next election. DUTCH IS DEAD! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! A true Cold Warrior is dead. But he did give those commie bastards what fore and America is finally starting to own up to his greatness. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." The Soviet Union is an "empire of evil." These are the things we took from the lifeguard from Illinois. He taught us to be confident in ourselves again after that boob Carter nearly let the hippies put the nail in the coffin of the American dream. Not only did Ronnie reinvigorate the American dream he showed us that it was no sin to embrace it throw good old fashioned traditions and elbow grease. So long, Dutch, this fellow Illinoisian will miss you and how you used to drive the liberals crazy with your great vision and stunning popularity. Have fun this summer you guy

Holy Shit guys. we could all be drafted.

http://www.thestranger.com/2004-06-03/feature.html