dcthornton.com

The nation’s 40th President ended his journey with Alzheimer’s Disease that led him into the sunset of his life today. He was 93.

An online memorial has been set up by the Reagan Presedential Library.

When Reagan was president, I was too young to vote, but I was fired up with misplaced hatred toward him. I used to believe the hype, and even stirred up a fuss when I wrote a pro-Mondale op-ed for my high school paper which viciously attacked President Reagan.

As I grew older, I came to respect his leadership and his achievements, even though I didn’t agree with them at the time. Also, I came around to regret that I wrote such a vicious screed.

When he announced to the world a decade ago that he was afflicted with Alzheimer’s, my respect gave way to appreciation for what he did as president, and deepest sympathies for his being stricken with an illness that I wouldn’t dare wish upon my worst enemy.

The announcement of Reagan’s passing left me with a lump in my throat as well. Regardless of what others may say of him and his life, he was a man who embodied statesmanship when America needed it.

I will miss him.

Obviously, it is no longer the elected Board of Supervisors that does, but the anti-religous (but pro-goddess) ACLU:

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday ended an emotional debate over the symbolism of the tiny gold cross on the county seal by deciding to remove it rather than defend it against a threatened ACLU lawsuit.

Advised by county attorneys that the cross might not withstand a court challenge, the Board of Supervisors voted to seek a compromise with the ACLU – perhaps by replacing the cross with images of a Spanish mission and Native Americans. […]

“Where does it all end?” lamented Supervisor Don Knabe, who said that changing the county seal would be tantamount to “rewriting history” in a region shaped by Catholic missionaries. “I do not think we should capitulate. As the largest county in America, if we roll over, what’s next?”

But other supervisors indicated that they wanted to avoid a potentially costly court fight, which Gloria Molina predicted, “We are going to lose.”

The cross – along with a cow, a tuna fish, a Spanish galleon, the Hollywood Bowl and the Goddess Pomona cradling an armful of fruit – has adorned the county seal since 1957. The American Civil Liberties Union argued that the official insignia, which appears on everything from county vehicles and meeting rooms to employee badges and telephone books, was unconstitutional because it reflects “an impermissible endorsement of Christianity by the county government” and is a violation of the 1st Amendment.

In a May 19 letter, ACLU attorneys warned the Board of Supervisors to remove the cross or face a lawsuit.

“We realize this is not the most important civil liberties issue in our society,” Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU’s Southern California chapter, said Tuesday in an interview. “But it does make some people feel unwelcome. And we feel the county seal should be welcoming.”

Yes, I’m sure that a tiny, non-offensive cross symbolizing the missions built by Junipero Serra which helped established the region would offend a vampire or two…

Which makes me wonder if the ACLU lawyers who got L.A. County to roll over are capable of looking at themselves in a mirror – and finding a soul?

But they didn’t gripe about the front-and-center presence of pagan goddess Pomona possibly making some people feel unwelcome, mind you.

As a former Angeleno, I’m disgusted. The supervisors who caved in to the threat of frivolous lawsuits are nothing but P.C. cowards (Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe excepted), and deserve to be thrown out of office.

(links via Arguing With Signposts)