Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004
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Yikes!!!! Would describe my first reaction to seeing this tribute to Ronald Reagan. From the African American perspective, Reagan was hardly a president I could hardly get behind and support. It was only fitting that his memorial was held in Simi-valley CA.- you know the place where 12 jurors acquitted the group of L.A. police officers from the brutal beatings that were taped in the Rodney King case.
Yes I know he's not responsible for this but he does represent what we like to call the "Good o'l Boys network". This was something that before the dot.com boom never really existed in the IT world, and is what made it so attractive to me and why I became a DBA. Computer nerd's don't care what race, sexual orientation or religion you are, all we want to know is can you do the work. 🙂
I'm going to have to agree with some of the other members who have posted replies- Politics and religion really has no place here. Maybe in SQLMag but not here.......The true source for DBA's and developers.
Keep up the good work SQLservercentral.com!!!
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Talk about stereotyping.
Reagan's father was a staunch anti-racist and his mother was an evangelical Christian, together they informed Pres. Reagan's opinion. Ronald Reagan began life as a New Deal Democrat and he despised racism (at the time, the "racist" party was the Democrats) and two of its perputuators, Federal welfare and a domineering Federal Government. To be against such programs at a Federal level doesn't mean one doesn't support them at the State/local level (where they truely belong). This is why his program was called the New Federalism. The Federal Govt was never architected to get involved in all the things it now is, so opposition to certain programs from Libertareans and Fiscal Conservatives is normally from that aspect and not the racist one.
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On the historical side of things, let's remember that while in office Reagan (who was the oldest American to ever be sworn into office on his second term) was shot just after 3 months into his 1st term of presidency by Hinkley (the weird insane dude who had a thing for Jodi Foster) and survived two colon cancer surgeries. The timeline of his presidency between 1981 and 1989 shows:
- Reagan's economic package, which included cuts in social programs, taxes, and increased defense spending was overwhelmingly supported by both political parties. In his second year in office the nation sunk into the worst recession since the Great Depression. Reagan Reagan vowed to "stay the course," rejecting advice to raise taxes or cut defense. His economic policy (which later did come at a cost of a record annual deficit exasperated by a trade deficit and a ballooning national debt) was a nexus for the healthy economy that followed President Clinton into office.
- Reagan's domestic policy allowed the passage of the largest tax cut in U.S. history, won the battle for a Social Security reform bill designed to ensure the long-term solvency of the system, oversaw the passage of immigration reform legislation, and expanded the Medicare program to protect the elderly and disabled against "catastrophic" health costs. Reagan was not popular with some minority groups, particularly blacks, many of whom did not benefit from the economic prosperity. In 1986, over 30 percent of the black population had an income below the official poverty level.
- A Soviet fighter downed Korean Air Lines flight (KAL 007), killing all 269 people aboard, including 61 Americans. Reagan denounced it as a "crime against humanity".
- A suicide truck bomber crashed into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 members of the peacekeeping force.
- U.S. troops invaded Grenada to oust Marxists who had overthrown the government, and to protect U.S. medical students on the Caribbean island.
- TWA Flight 847 from Athens was hijacked by terrorists. The pilot was forced to fly to Beirut, where hijackers beat and killed a Navy diver. The plane was flown to Algiers, then back to Beirut again. Most passengers were released; 39 were held captive in Lebanon . Reagan vows that the U.S. will never give in to terrorists' demands (this was key to the Iran-Contra scandal). The remaining hostages were freed after 17 days.
- Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev held a "fireside" summit in Geneva. The leaders disagreed on the Strategic Defense Initiative but pledge to meet again and seek a 50% cut in nuclear arms.
- The U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff, killing all on board -- six astronauts and teacher Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian to go into space.
- Reagan orderd air strikes against Libya in retaliation for the bombing of a West Berlin disco in which two U.S. servicemen were killed and more than 200 people were injured.
- Reagan admited sending some defensive weapons and spare parts to Iran but denies it was part of an arms-for-American-hostages deal. National Security Adviser John Poindexter resigned and national security aide Col. Oliver North was fired in the widening Iran-Contra affair. In a press conference, Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that $10-$30 million of profits from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran had been diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras.
- The Tower Commission report on Iran-Contra concluded that Reagan's passive management style allowed his staff to mislead him about the trade of arms to Iran for hostages held in Lebanon and to pursue a secret war against the Nicaraguan government.
- June 12, 1987 - In a speech at Berlin's Brandenberg Gate, Reagan demands Gorbachev "tear down this wall." On December 1987, In a Washington summit, Reagan and Gorbachev signed Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty to eliminate 4% of the superpowers' nuclear arsenals. It was the first U.S.-Soviet treaty to provide for destruction of nuclear weapons and to provide for on-site monitoring of the destruction.
- On April 14, 1988, the Soviet Union agreed to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
A month before the election of his successor, President Bush Sr., Reagan looked back on his eight years in office: "I am the same man I was when I came to Washington," he said, "I believe the same things I believed when I came to Washington, and I think those beliefs have been vindicated by the success of the policies to which we hold fast." About his foreign policy, he said, "At every point on the map that the Soviets have applied pressure, we've done all we can to apply pressure against them." He went on "And now we are seeing a sight many believed they would never see in our lifetime: the receding of the tide of totalitarianism."
To that I owe him thanks and gratitude as an American...
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Well, I don't know about getting "my juices flowing," but, as it happens, I just had my *last* cup of coffee and changed the *15th* diaper in as many hours (I've got a screaming 7 week old that I just passed off to my wife...luckily, our 3 year old is at grandma's for the night...).
I still like to blush, tho!
Take care,
Paul
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Oh well Dale, you just got me involved in this evil thread
However, Frank Kaliz and others made it great because they have such a great sense of humor.
tststs, what a misspelling: It is Frank Kalis
Now then, I don't want to say all the things which there might be to say with respect to this thread. Just one thing:
Please Andy, Brian and Steve think more than twice, before you publish such articles. I respect this being an american based site, but it hosts definitely a global community and such articles and the inevitably abuse or controverse opinions thereafter will not reflect good credit on your site as a whole. There are definitely more adequate places to publish such stuff. Or was Reagan a SQL Server user in disguise
EOD for me.
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
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Ha! Ha! PaulR! Did I call that one or not?
Just starting my first cup of java myself. I need it. Long weekend after attending a SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services class. That was very cool! If you haven't looked into it yet, see this thread:http://www.sqlservercentral.com/forums/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=61&messageid=118726&post=true
Frank!!!!!! Long time, no see!!!!! I'm sure you just changed your *15th* diaper as well. Sorry about the misspelling. My bad! Out of practice since I haven't caught up with you in a while.
Take care!
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Yea, you called it, Dale! Now that I've gotten some sleep since then (albeit, not much), and I've had *my* first cup, I can get back to some real work...reading threads, of course!
Interesting thread you mentioned. I posted some feedback questions for you (and others), so take a look.
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Try http://www.counterpunch.org/descoto06092004.html, or http://www.counterpunch.org/fons06082004.html for some balance against the Reagan as Great World Leader mass media message. Forget the pride stuff, lets face facts.
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Oh, I will go much farther. Including this article on this site is incompetent and irresponsible in the extreme. A site is either political, or it's not. In an intensely polarized country, we should be glad for places of common ground (like this site before the article in question) rather than introducing divisive political crap.
In this world, I let nothing pass. You say Rocket Ronnie was a good man, then I MUST respond that, no, he was a disgusting, contemptible piece of right-wing garbage. If you don't want that, then keep politics off this site.
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"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?" - Thomas Jefferson in a letter to William Stephens Smith, Nov. 13, 1787.
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere." Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Abigail Adams, 1787.
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Steve,
It's your site but the only post that could have generated more flame would be a "do you think you a DBA should take a gun to work to deal with wayward project managers?"
I wouldn't wish Altzheimers on my worst enemy and Ronald Reagan wasn't my enemy.
History will judge us all, but in its time not ours.
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Let us not forget it was Ronald Reagan who said,
"Communism only works in Heaven where they don't need it, or hell where they already got it."
Let us not forget Redmond is in Washington State and not one of the former Soviet States!
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Reagan was a great president and a great statesman. Any comments to the contrary show your stupidity.
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"he was a disgusting, contemptible piece of right-wing garbage"
You are an idiot!
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