Saturday, June 05, 2004
OUR FORTIETH PRESIDENT, Ronald Wilson Reagan, has passed away. The eloquence of professional politicians, statesmen, and pundits will overshadow any words I place here.
Ronald Reagan was my Commander-in-Chief for eight inspiring years. His vision of America and the world renewed my commitment to serving my country after several previous years of soul-searching.
He courageously faced the Soviet Union and orchestrated its peaceful demise through the restoration and enhancement of our military strength.
His unwavering belief in the conservative libertarian principles of smaller government, lower taxes, and individual freedom gave me hope that our country would rediscover and return to the principles of our Founding Fathers.
Even though millions of us never had the opportunity to meet him or see him personally, we sensed in him a respect for our traditions, our heritage, our values, and for us.
For me, his legacy won’t be one of political expediency or one who sought power for the sake of power. I will always remember him as a remarkable gentleman of principle and belief, who became our President at a time when our country and the world needed him most, and he met the challenges of those times with iron determination, gentle humor, grace, humility, and optimism.
His work is done on this earth, and his Creator has embraced him with open arms.
God Speed, Ronald Reagan!
Ronald Reagan was my Commander-in-Chief for eight inspiring years. His vision of America and the world renewed my commitment to serving my country after several previous years of soul-searching.
He courageously faced the Soviet Union and orchestrated its peaceful demise through the restoration and enhancement of our military strength.
His unwavering belief in the conservative libertarian principles of smaller government, lower taxes, and individual freedom gave me hope that our country would rediscover and return to the principles of our Founding Fathers.
Even though millions of us never had the opportunity to meet him or see him personally, we sensed in him a respect for our traditions, our heritage, our values, and for us.
For me, his legacy won’t be one of political expediency or one who sought power for the sake of power. I will always remember him as a remarkable gentleman of principle and belief, who became our President at a time when our country and the world needed him most, and he met the challenges of those times with iron determination, gentle humor, grace, humility, and optimism.
His work is done on this earth, and his Creator has embraced him with open arms.
God Speed, Ronald Reagan!
Thursday, June 03, 2004
“FRANCE TO REMEMBER D-DAY BY SHOOTING DOWN PRIVATE PILOTS?
French officials have said they will shoot down private pilots who stray
into restricted airspace during this weekend's 60th anniversary D-Day
events in Normandy, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday. At least 16
heads of state and 1 million visitors are expected to attend the
ceremonies. The region will be protected by an array of radar
installations, AWACs aircraft on patrol, remote-controlled drones, two
squadrons of Mirage 2000 fighters, lots of anti-aircraft missiles, 50
military helicopters, 9,000 troops, 10,000 police, at least two aircraft
carriers offshore, plus an unknown number of submarines.” AvWeb.
Let me be the first to say, as a private pilot, that if other private pilots wish to overfly the Normandy beaches, there are almost 360 other days (weather permitting) that they should be able to satisfy this urge. Having said that, I’ve been reflecting recently on France’s attitude on the world situation.
A report from a TV journalist last night said that he’d encountered none of the animosity toward Americans visiting France that he’d come to expect. While the majority of French persons with whom he had contact felt that American diplomacy was a shambles and that George W. Bush was a unilateralist, feelings toward Americans in general were warm, especially on the 60th anniversary of the invasion which liberated France from the Nazis and eventually crushed the Nazi domination of Europe.
How kind of them! How condescending of them! How forgetful of them!!
George W. Bush a unilateralist? That’s rich, coming from any Frenchman!
Stephen Ambrose’s book, “D-Day June 6th, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II” documents how Charles DeGaulle refused to cooperate with the Supreme Allied Expeditionary Forces commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the eve of D-day. Eisenhower had asked DeGaulle to read a speech that would be broadcast to Occupied France about the invasion. DeGaulle refused, on the grounds that as the sole representative of the government-in-exile, only he would determine what was to be said to the French people.
After the war, France was initially a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the NATO alliance to defend all of Europe from the very real and immediate threat of a Soviet invasion. In fact, NATO headquarters was initially in France. But France developed and tested it’s own nuclear weapons, and withdrew from NATO, developing it’s own nuclear airborne and submarine strike forces independent of NATO, forcing NATO to move its headquarters to Belgium, and its bases out of France.
If anybody on the international scene has acted unilaterally, it historically has been France. France asked for no UN mandate when it attempted to brutally crush independence movements in Algeria, Morocco, or Vietnam. Long after the other imperial nations of the 19th century had granted independence to their former colonies, France kept penal colonies in the Caribbean. France unilaterally rejected US requests to overfly French airspace when the US retaliated against Muammar Khadafi for a Libyan-backed terrorist attack. When earlier this year, Khadafi reached a settlement with the US and other governments for Pan Am 103, France alone would not agree and wanted a separate settlement.
Unilateral?
C’est la France!!
French officials have said they will shoot down private pilots who stray
into restricted airspace during this weekend's 60th anniversary D-Day
events in Normandy, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday. At least 16
heads of state and 1 million visitors are expected to attend the
ceremonies. The region will be protected by an array of radar
installations, AWACs aircraft on patrol, remote-controlled drones, two
squadrons of Mirage 2000 fighters, lots of anti-aircraft missiles, 50
military helicopters, 9,000 troops, 10,000 police, at least two aircraft
carriers offshore, plus an unknown number of submarines.” AvWeb.
Let me be the first to say, as a private pilot, that if other private pilots wish to overfly the Normandy beaches, there are almost 360 other days (weather permitting) that they should be able to satisfy this urge. Having said that, I’ve been reflecting recently on France’s attitude on the world situation.
A report from a TV journalist last night said that he’d encountered none of the animosity toward Americans visiting France that he’d come to expect. While the majority of French persons with whom he had contact felt that American diplomacy was a shambles and that George W. Bush was a unilateralist, feelings toward Americans in general were warm, especially on the 60th anniversary of the invasion which liberated France from the Nazis and eventually crushed the Nazi domination of Europe.
How kind of them! How condescending of them! How forgetful of them!!
George W. Bush a unilateralist? That’s rich, coming from any Frenchman!
Stephen Ambrose’s book, “D-Day June 6th, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II” documents how Charles DeGaulle refused to cooperate with the Supreme Allied Expeditionary Forces commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the eve of D-day. Eisenhower had asked DeGaulle to read a speech that would be broadcast to Occupied France about the invasion. DeGaulle refused, on the grounds that as the sole representative of the government-in-exile, only he would determine what was to be said to the French people.
After the war, France was initially a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the NATO alliance to defend all of Europe from the very real and immediate threat of a Soviet invasion. In fact, NATO headquarters was initially in France. But France developed and tested it’s own nuclear weapons, and withdrew from NATO, developing it’s own nuclear airborne and submarine strike forces independent of NATO, forcing NATO to move its headquarters to Belgium, and its bases out of France.
If anybody on the international scene has acted unilaterally, it historically has been France. France asked for no UN mandate when it attempted to brutally crush independence movements in Algeria, Morocco, or Vietnam. Long after the other imperial nations of the 19th century had granted independence to their former colonies, France kept penal colonies in the Caribbean. France unilaterally rejected US requests to overfly French airspace when the US retaliated against Muammar Khadafi for a Libyan-backed terrorist attack. When earlier this year, Khadafi reached a settlement with the US and other governments for Pan Am 103, France alone would not agree and wanted a separate settlement.
Unilateral?
C’est la France!!
