PRESIDENT REAGAN 'TOUCHED' ME

Ronald Reagan

I want to always remember a President of the United States that I both admired and respected greatly.

During the time that Ronald Reagan was President of the United States there were many who thought him a simple man who was 'out to lunch' most of the time. Folks called him thick as a brick and out of touch with what was important in this country. The names called were not just reserved for him but spilled out onto his wife, Nancy. To many, President Reagan was an object of ridicule. Ronald Reagan was 'President of the United States' but many wanted to believe that he was not 'President of ALL of America'. That Ronald Reagan was just interested in that part of America he saw.

Long before Ronald Reagan died MOI would tell folks that when the time came for him to leave us, there would be a massive outpouring of love for him. MOI was right.

It is possible that MOI has been far more fortunate than most. In life I have had the opportunity to make contact with folks I reached out to. Ronald Reagan was one of these.

My long time companion died of AIDS. In 2014, it is hard to remember just how horrid it was to be known as a victim of AIDS. When John and MOI were told that John was going to die of AIDS, we did not hide that fact. John asked what we should do. MOI told him that we had an obligation to be open and honest, not to hide his illness. We told one and all.  It was important to know who one's true friends were.

Ronald Reagan was one of the folks we shared with. Moi wrote to President Reagan.  Can just see heads shaking and tongues clucking at the cheek of the old geezer.  Who writes to the President?  More important, who gets a reply? A personal touch?

Truth be told, the old geezer had met Ronald Reagan on several occasions.  True, they were fund raisers and there were loads of other folks in the room as well.  The old geezer was not a close personal friend to Mr. Reagan, but close enough to be on a list somewhere as one who he had met and had got support from.

In short order, a lovely letter came back from. The President was at his home in California and the letter was written from there. What touched my most was that he wrote that both he and Nancy was sad to hear that John was sick and going to die. That John was in their prayers and they sent their best wishes . Ronald Reagan took the time to remember.  Took the time to write a personal letter, one that John was over the moon to have received.

During the course of John's illness there were two more letters received.  One day a large envelope arrived from 'The White House'.  Inside was a beautiful photograph of the President and Mrs. Reagan, taken at Camp David.  The President and Mrs. Reagan wrote some lovely comments on the photograph and both signed.

Many in America want to believe that at a time when President Reagan could have done much for AIDS, he did nothing. That is not true. President Reagan did what he thought was right. He made sure that folks with AIDS received Social Security. He did many things that many will never remember. I will always remember that efforts to write to and draw attention to AIDS were always well received at the Reagan White House. At a time in my life, when I was very down, President Ronald Reagan and his wife reached out to and made me realize that not only John and myself mattered but were a part of the American family.

I rather think that President Reagan saw the best of America and never lost sight of that.

Many years later, AIDS is still here, folks are still getting infected and many will die. There will always be some who believe that no one cares.  That America let them down.  I am not one of those people.

Life is a very personal experience.  My feelings for President Reagan are not political, they are deeply personal.  Thoughts in recent days of John made me remember what was felt of Ronald Reagan and how kind he and his wife had been to us.

MEMORIAL DAY 2012

Who we are, what we are, what we hope to be, is all owed to the few who gave their all to keep us free.  To allow this country to grow.

Their sacrifice allowed the country to 'be a more perfect union'.

The old geezer has mates who died in war.  Mostly from Vietnam.  They were so very young.  I will remember Dan and Ski this weekend.

DIAMOND JUBILEE - QUEEN ELIZABETH II

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

GAY SOLDIERS - WHO CARES?

If you ask me, and no one did, most of what is being said these past few days about the 'DADT' policy of the US Military expiring is so much tosh.

Military members have got married, some have flung open the closet door so hard it has broke off and others have gone on YOUTUBE to ring up Dad and proclaim their formerly hidden sexuality.  Some members of the media are even calling the newly 'open' gay service members heroes.  Fancy that...

Who really cares, save the very politically active members of the Lavender Elite, who never will be truly happy until they have outed every gay person in America and made sure that one and all have had GAY shoved into their faces multiple times?

Call me the product of my generation, but it never was a burning issue with me.

Many of the Lavender Elite do not remember Barry Goldwater.  I do and I remember what he had to say on the subject of gays in the military long before recent events unfolded.

The year was 1994 and Mr. Goldwater had this to say to Washington Post;

“At 85, after a life in politics spanning five decades (he retired from the Senate in 1987), Mr. Conservative has found himself an unlikely new career: as a gay rights activist. [snip] This month he signed on as honorary co-chairman of a drive to pass a federal law preventing job discrimination against homosexuals. The effort, dubbed Americans Against Discrimination, is being spearheaded by the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the influential gay lobbying organization. “The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they’re gay,” Goldwater asserts. “You don’t have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that’s what brings me into it.””

“The first time this came up was with the question, should there be gays in the military?” Goldwater says. “Having spent 37 years of my life in the military as a reservist, and never having met a gay in all of that time, and never having even talked about it in all those years, I just thought, why the hell shouldn’t they serve? They’re American citizens. As long as they’re not doing things that are harmful to anyone else. … So I came out for it.”

After more than 50 years in the military and politics, I am still amazed to see how upset people can get over nothing. Lifting the ban on gays in the military isn’t exactly nothing, but it’s pretty damned close

Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar. They’ll still be serving long after we’re all dead and buried. That should not surprise anyone.

But most Americans should be shocked to know that while the country’s economy is going down the tubes, the military has wasted half a billion dollars over the past decade chasing down gays and running them out of the armed services. It’s no great secret that military studies have proved again and again that there’s no valid reason for keeping the ban on gays.

When you get down to it, no American able to serve should be allowed, much less given an excuse, not to serve his or her country. We need all our talent.

The Lavender Elite will no doubt laugh this off.  Barry Goldwater was Republican and round the bend.  Truth be told, Barry Goldwater was a public servant most of life, along with having served in military with honour.  He ran for president.  I rather like to think he also spoke true on many subjects, way ahead of his time in many ways.

The real heroes are the countless men and women who risked much in order to answer the call to arms in our country's hour of need.  WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the current conflicts in the Middle East.  These brave men and women served their country and then went home and got on with their lives.  They added another label to that tin, pushing GAY further down the list of contents.

What a lot of time was wasted on a matter that truly did not matter...

MEMORIAL DAY 2011

Thank You, for your service.