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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
June 8, 2004
/ 19 Sivan, 5764
The virulent venom of frustrated rage
By
Wesley Pruden
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
The lot of the no-account eastcoast libsnob longhaired artsyfartsy slagpunk francophile comsymp is not a happy one. Not this week.
All of America and much of the world is celebrating the life of a man who actually changed the course of history, and, for once, for the better. But not quite everyone.
Ronald Reagan's body is not yet mouldering in the grave, and already the tattered remnants of the counterculture are crying tears of baffled frustration that the passage of only a little more than a decade has begun to confer universal recognition of greatness on the 40th president of the United States.
The subterranean Internet sites where embittered lefties gather to trade their venomous toxins are aglow with incendiary hatred. One prominent Internet pundit describes the Gipper as a "stupid lizard" and another, a best-selling author, says of him: "Killer, coward, con man — Ronald Reagan, goodbye and good riddance." Ted Rall, a syndicated cartoonist who only a month ago derided Pat Tillman as a "sap" and an "idiot" for giving up a pro football career and going to Afghanistan as a soldier, where he was killed, gloated over the Gipper's death: "I'm sure he's turning crispy brown right about now." A "gay activist" (and aspiring theologian) in Florida writes that Mr. Reagan will "spend eternity in hell" because he was "responsible for 500,000 American AIDS deaths and 10 million worldwide," which if true would have made the Gipper the studliest and busiest man in the bathhouse. (Ten million tricks is a lot of tricks, even for a Gipper.)
What turns these unworthies a shade of crispy brown is not that they think Ronald Reagan actually fits any of their purple descriptions, but that he transformed, and transformed irretrievably, the politics not only of his country, but of the world.
Margaret Thatcher got it right when she said more than a decade ago that Mr. Reagan's greatest accomplishment was that "he has achieved the most difficult of political tasks, changing attitudes and perceptions about what is possible."
A generation has risen almost to maturity that cannot remember that only yesterday the triumph of free men and women over the blight of communist tyranny was no sure thing. When Ronald Reagan came to office in 1981, the Soviet Union looked no worse than even money to win the Cold War. Powerful, reasonable voices were raised suggesting that the best the West could achieve was to make a subservient peace with the communists.
The 40th president is rightly remembered in tributes and praise for rebuilding both the economy and the nation's defenses, and doing both simultaneously. But before he could cut taxes, free the market or order a single bullet, bayonet or Pershing missile, he had to change calcified attitudes. In his diaries, he often said he moved forward with an initiative, sure of successful outcome, only after "I felt it in my gut." What he felt most in his gut was that America was what Lincoln said it was, with all its faults "the last best hope of mankind," that America was good and the Soviet Union was bad, and it was time to say so and act on it. This is the blunt assessment that the nation was waiting to hear, and if this caused heartburn in Paris or Bonn (Berlin was still red and half-dead) or Brussels, that was just too bad.
The man the chattering class regarded as bumbling, dumb and already moving into the outer suburbs of senility understood what the intellectuals of academe and the smart alecks of the media did not, that the bulging muscle of Soviet arms was all cattle and no hat, that Soviet economic might was a myth and the Russians were ripe to be taken down.
"He was right," the Economist observed the day after Mr. Reagan died. "By the year he left office the Russians had lost Eastern Europe; two years later they abandoned communism. ... A large part of the chin-stroking classes of America and Europe had thought the clumsy fellow's Cold War policy unnecessary and dangerous. When it worked, it became retrospectively obvious."
Not bad for an old guy moving through his eighth decade, the champion of small-town America values of freedom, faith and family, the man the remnants of the counterculture regard as hopelessly inferior in all the ways important to eastcoast libsnob slagpunk comsymps etc. Everything about the life and accomplishments of Ronald Reagan says to the embittered critics choking on his dust: "I may be slow, but I'm miles ahead of you."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. heads the Center for Security Policy. Comment by clicking here.
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© 2004, Creators Syndicate
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