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Nancy Reagan Is Dead. Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

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The_Reagans_waving_from_the_limousine_during_the_Inaugural_Parade_1981Of course, my sympathies go to the Reagan family on the death of their matriarch, Nancy. But as the national media gears up for another round of fawning eulogies and bullshit mythologizing, I’m reminded of the post I wrote 12 years ago on the death of her husband.

HA was less than a month old at the time, and I had very few readers. Which is a shame, because looking back on it, this was a damn good post. So I’m repeating it below:

I was never a Ronald Reagan supporter, and the benefit of hindsight has not mellowed my opinion of his Presidency. I remain confident that the judgment of history will more closely resemble mine than that of the fawning revisionists who, like the man they endlessly eulogize, seem prone to confusing his movie roles with the role he played in public life.

Thus I never thought Reagan’s death would touch my life so personally, until both PBS stations chose to preempt their morning children’s programming to show coverage of his memorial service.

Some things should stay inviolate: The Bill of Rights… my grandmother’s pinwheel cookie recipe… a seven-year-old’s morning routine.

Even on 9-11 and the days that followed, with the nation transfixed by the tragedy of those terrible attacks, our PBS affiliates wisely shielded our children from the horror, sticking to their familiar schedule of Sagwa and Dragon Tales and other god-awful-boring but thankfully commercial-free fare. Well the rest of us watched and re-watched the clips of planes flying into buildings and towers collapsing like some recurring, national nightmare, my daughter could obliviously munch her Cheerios as she watched for the umpteenth time as Arthur triumphed over his personal nightmare that he forgot his pants.

But not this morning. No, instead of watching Clifford once again help Emily Elizabeth make amends with that bitch Jenna, we found ourselves viewing a flag-draped coffin while somber announcers struggled to pretend that the death of the body of a 93-year-old man was somehow more tragic than the Alzheimer’s disease that years ago robbed him of his mind.

I watched for a few moments, imagining an enormous red dog rampaging through the National Cathedral, crushing dignitaries as he tossed the withered body of a dead president high into the air, like some rawhide chew toy.

But my cartoon fantasy was quickly interrupted by reality. Not the reality of a national media who buys and sells the spin that Ronald Reagan was a great leader simply because he happened to preside over the culmination of the Soviet Union’s decades-long collapse. No, it was the reality of a disgruntled seven-year-old, clearly suspicious that I had somehow conspired with PBS executives to rob her of her precious kid shows.

I slipped a tape into the VCR, and the image of a procession of mourners was quickly replaced by that of dancing cartoon cutlery, which struck me as no less illusory, no less scripted than the caricature of national grief that danced in unison across six local broadcast channels.

Of course I have sympathy for Reagan’s family and friends who watched a terrible disease slowly squeeze the humanity from his once vital body; and I hope these ceremonies can bring them closure.

But their grief is not my grief. And it certainly shouldn’t have been imposed on a seven-year-old girl who asked little from the world that morning, but a bowl of Cheerios and a brief diversion of talking dogs and dragons, before trudging off to a hard day of first grade.

As parents, we often try to protect our children from the realities of our adult world… a world where towers crumble and planes fall from the sky and the most powerful nation in history can crush another in retribution, on the whims of a single, ordinary man.

Yes, even presidents are ordinary men (some, more ordinary than others.) For all the eulogizing of our week-long national shiva, I think my daughter summed up Reagan’s legacy best, when staring briefly at his flag-draped coffin she eloquently pointed out: “There’s a dead person in there.”

Ronald Reagan is dead. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Same goes for Nancy.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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How does money influence U.S. elections?

Nightly Show: Planning a plantation wedding.

Obama debunks GOP “alternate reality” on economy.

The 2016 Clown Slugfest:

Hillary Clinton’s Lena Dunham strategy.

Jon Connor and Keke Palmer: “Fresh Water for Flint”.

Mental Floss: 26 facts about the science of friendship.

White House: West Wing Week.

Seth Meyers: A close look at a Texas abortion case.

Thom and Farron Cousins: How can an entire party reject the reality of climate change?

Sam Seder: MI officials call for Gov. Rick Snyder to resign over Flint water disaster.

Super Tuesday!

Thom: The Good, the Bad & the Very, Very Coadunately Ugly!

Nightly Show: Keep it 100%–Black History Month edition.

David Pakman: Clanence Thomas speaks for first time in a decade.

Farron Cousins: Court agrees…Bill-O-The-Clown is a horrible person.

Does giving up privacy keep us safe from terrorism?

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

March 4 Open Thread

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Three cheers for new upgrades for bikes on 2nd Ave. I still think people pretending to be confused about what the bike symbol on the stop light means when the last round came out were pretty awful. So I can’t wait for further dipshitatude.

Still, I hardly ever use 2nd. I see a lot more people on it than it used to have. Still, even though I’ve seen it, used it, and written about it, in a part of my mind, it’s still a 1 way, unprotected thing that drivers don’t use. I know this is wrong, but it still prevents some use from me. Also, I’m walking more than biking nowadays, but that’s neither here nor there.

This Open Thread is more rambling and half-formed than usual. Talk about whatever.

March 2 Open Thread!

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It’s obviously not huge news (I heard it on KUOW yesterday morning, but I don’t see it on their website, and there isn’t anything more current than the link below in a Google Search) but I’m surprised there isn’t more coverage of the legislature’s plan to kick McCleary down the road. Or, more formally: to start a task force.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there’s even a tiny amount of forward motion. But the decision was 2012. The contempt was 2014. It’s 2016 now. We’re past task force time.

Super Tuesday Discussion Thread

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There will be lots of election results coming in today. Here is a thread to discuss ’em. Note that this is NOT an open thread. If you want to engage in baby talk, poo flinging, or non-election discussions, kindly take it to the previous thread.

Unfortunately, I have an afternoon and evening packed with non-blogging stuff, so I’ll update this post when I can.

Here are the poll closing times tonight:

  • 4:00pm PST: Georgia, Vermont, Virginia
  • 5:00pm PST: Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, most of Texas
  • 5:30pm PST: Arkansas
  • 6:00pm PST: A bit of W. Texas

And here are the Caucus starting times tonight:

  • 11:00am PST: American Samoa (D)
  • 5:00pm PST: Minnesota (D & R)
  • 6:00pm PST: Colorado (D)
  • 9:00pm PST: Alaska (R)

6:45: Don’t forget American Samoa…where Clinton won four delegates.

6:48: Clueless Mr. Drumpf: “I don’t know if Hillary will be allowed to run!” What…did Hillary start a scam “university” or something?

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join tonight for a Super Tuesday election watching party at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm, but feel free to join us before that for the election returns.



Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. The Long Beach, Tri-Cities and West Seattle chapters also meet tonight. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets. And next Monday, the Yakima and South Bellevue chapters meet.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including twenty in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.

HA Bible Study: Genesis 9:20-25

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Genesis 9:20-25
Noah farmed the land and was the first to plant a vineyard. One day he got drunk and was lying naked in his tent. Ham entered the tent and saw him naked, then went back outside and told his brothers. Shem and Japheth put a robe over their shoulders and walked backwards into the tent. Without looking at their father, they placed it over his body.

When Noah woke up and learned what his youngest son had done, he said, “I now put a curse on Canaan! He will be the lowest slave of his brothers.”

Discuss.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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What are basic human rights?

How is this a thing? Whitewashing.

Jimmy Dore: Bizarre Don Quixote lie & why Richard Dreyfus was stunned

Thom: Why are Republicans so vexed over Gitmo?

The 2016 Clown Show:

Minute Physics: How do we know what air is like on other planets?

What is a rigged economy?

Obama is still trying to close Gitmo.

Seth Meyers: A closer look at Bernie Sander’s “Democratic Socalism”.

The Church for people who are “Spiritual, but not religious”.

Obstruction of Justice:

Seattle police release video of Che Taylor shooting.

Nikki & Dan Savage do politics.

Stephen’s wish list for Hillary.

John Oliver: Abortion laws.

For those who need help getting to the polls….

A moment with Triumph The Insult Comic Dog.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Open Thread 2-26

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I am not a dog owner, but I know a fair number of HA readers are. So, you really should have been picking up after your dog any way, but now there’s going to be more enforcement of that and of off-leash areas. I’m of 2 minds. On the one hand, there is a lot of dog shit in the parks. Like a lot, a lot. It’s gross. On the other hand, I’m not sure a more enforcement approach is all that great in general.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join us tonight for an evening of politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm.




Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. On Wednesday, the Burien chapter and the state’s newest chapter, the North Spokane chapter, meets. Finally, the Kent and Woodinville chapters meet on Thursday.

There are 177 chapters of Living Liberally, including twenty in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.

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