Number 40, 1911-2004

I was watching an WNBA game when the network broke in to announce the death of Ronald Reagan. On this day of historical awareness, it does seem appropriate we'd get a famous death. The anniversary of D-day is this weekend, and that has all the cable channels running WWII programming. There is a real chance at a triple crown winner in horse-racing, something that hasn't happened since before Reagan was president.

The years of the Reagan presidency saw me from kindergarten through to Jr. High. Impressionable years for a politically aware child like I was raised to be. Being the good democrats that we were, we witnessed the sinking of two hopefuls; including a president I had impressed upon at a very early age. Including the largest electoral-vote majority ever enjoyed by a winning candidate, though we resided in the one state that went blue in that election.

Now the eulogizing begins. When Nixon died suddenly he was a great power, a person who made a positive impression on the world. This continues our long tradition of not publicly speaking ill of the dead. Just as Nixon got us out of Vietnam, Reagan arguably set up the Soviet Union to fall as it did under H. W. Bush and relieve the world of the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction. Since Reagan hadn't been accused as Nixon had, there will be less history to dance around.

I'm fairly sure that this event will cause the Belmont to be dedicated to the memory of Ronald Reagan. I'm still not sure why he rated an airport, considering he fired all the Air Traffic Controllers while president. And so it continues.