Reagan’s Legacy

While the so-called liberal press caps a week of servile eulogizing of former President Ronald Reagan, I thought it might be useful to point readers toward one of the few counterpoints in this orgy of Gipper nostalgia. New York Newsday ran the following op-ed piece yesterday: Urban suffering grew under Reagan

Reagan is often lauded as “the great communicator,” but he used his rhetorical skills to stigmatize poor people, which laid the groundwork for slashing the social safety net – despite the fact that Reagan’s own family had been rescued by New Deal anti-poverty programs during the Depression.
During his stump speeches, Reagan often told the story of a so-called welfare queen in Chicago who drove a Cadillac and had ripped off $150,000 from the government using 80 aliases, 30 addresses, a dozen Social Security cards and four fictional dead husbands. Reagan dutifully promised to roll back welfare. Journalists searched for this welfare cheat and discovered that she didn’t exist. Nevertheless, he kept using the anecdote.

The full article by Peter Dreier, director of the urban and environmental policy program at Occidental College, is well worth reading.

Memorial Day 2004

Taps
Day is done,
gone the sun,
From the hills,
from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.

There is no official set of lyrics for Taps; the above is the first verse of the most frequently cited version.

Readings
Jorie Graham’s poem of remembrance, Soldatenfriedhof, in today’s New York Times.
The American Battle Monuments Commission page of American War Dead.
To find out about war dead in Iraq, visit Lunaville.org’s Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.
The Washington Post has a moving lead editorial today: Memorial Day.
For an unromantic view of “The Good War” from one of its infantrymen, read Paul Fussell’s Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War .

A Spy in the Temple

Theological Spelunking
On Tuesday past I went down the rabbit hole with silvertide, Laura, Jim and Liz on the Apostasy Tour of the soon-to-be-dedicated Manhattan Temple of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You can see Bill’s blog for the in-depth report, Part One of which he’s already posted. It is, as always, fascinating to follow Bill as he unpacks Mormon theology and sociology. I was just there for the hot chicks.