President Reagan, TKE, dies (Formerly Great Greek Dies AND President and TKE threads)

[Pike1483]

May God Grant President Reagan Eternal Peace and Rest. What a great loss for the American People and The World.

My Condolences and Prayers to Nancy, his family, America, and all his Teke Brothers. What a great man, what a great greek

Reagan: Awesome American, Awesome Republican

[SurfinDBeach]

Reagan, from what can be observed (his glowing optimism and spirit) is most definitely reflective of the TEKE SPIRIT...

The Teke spirit is bold, and is reflected in both the declaration of principles, the "opportunity out of defeat" speech, and of course, our ritual, which means very much to us...

There is a line created by one of the founders - that Tekes are to be of "Sterling Character and Staunch Uprightedness"...

Certainly, Frater Reagan was BOTH...




Th*s m*y i* b*...

[Rudey]

Originally posted by cutiepatootie
Yes both Nixon and Reagan library are both open to the public, but i just heard on local So Cal. news that Reagans library will be closed for the next 7 days as his coffin lies there at the library before going to DC.

The ceremonies there begin Monday with the body on view to the public for 2 days.

-Rudey

[gogoaphi]

Ronald Reagan is the first President I voted for in 1984 when I was finally of age to vote. I was very sad on the day he left office, grief-stricken when he wrote his letter to the nation that he had alzheimers, and now I am heart-broken that he is gone. I had a chance to visit the Reagan Presidential Library last year in Simi Valley. If you have never been, you should take the opportunity to go any time you are in Southern CA. You will be inspired. So many great memories are contained there and now he will rest in peace there as well. Farewell to a man that touched America's heart like few ever have or will in the future!

In the bonds of Fraternity.

[sigtau305]

Ronald Reagan will be missed. RIP.

[shadokat]

May we all remember and rejoice in President Reagan's legacy. While I was only 6 when he was elected, he is the one president that remains in my memory as a great man in my lifetime. Godspeed, Dutch. You make us all proud to be Americans!

[angelove]

I still get tears in my eyes when I realize that he's gone. You Tekes were lucky to have him as one of your brothers, and the world was lucky to have him as a leader.

[mrblonde]

He represented the best men America propagates. He will be sorely missed by all.

[Tom Earp]

While many do not know it, LXA And TKE have been somewhat close for many Years.

Our Houses are next door to each other in Indy, and there was almost a merger back when.

I have know many TEKEs over the years and have total Respect for Them and any Brother of TKE!

While I made fun of Him I still had respect for Him and Voted for Him, in jest on a site,One Thing That Impressed Me The most was a TV Correspondent was the Comparison Between He and Harry Truman.
Different times or were They.

One LXA, One TKE! Paradox some where in this!

[rosejoy]

Very sad indeed...I remember in like second or third grade we had a mock election and i voted for him over Carter just because I thought he looked like a nice man.

I saw a story on MSN about how he was a pen pal and actually dear friend of an inner city boy. They wrote back and forth over the course of seven years. Reagan had him to the WH on several occasions and even went to the boy's house for dinner. He sent the boy presents and even talked with him on the phone. It was really a touching story and showed a lot about Reagan's true character.

We so seldom hear of all the wonderful things people do until they are gone. He will be missed.

[JonoBN41]

I didn't know Reagan was Greek until my nephew (a TKE) gave me the book "Dutch" for Christmas a few years ago, and told me. I'm glad I have that book now.

Yes, sometimes there is a close affiliation between Tau Kappa Epsilon and Lambda Chi Alpha.

He will be missed as much as we are lucky to have known him.

Jono

(sorry about the quote below - that's always there)

[Tom Earp]

While watching Air Force One Bringing The President back to Washington DC. , what he would be thinking with all of the Pomp and Circumstance.

Yes I do know that He and Nancy laid out His Death Burial Plans, I just wonder if He is laying there and thinking about the cost to the American People.

He was basically a Man Of The People.

May He Rest In Peace!

God Bless, TKE Brother Ronald Reagan, A Fine American, President, and a Greek Member!

[DGMarie]

A critical look at Reagan's legacy

By Mark Weisbrot. Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington
Published June 8, 2004

Ronald Reagan was a man who fought for what he believed in, and he changed the world more than probably any American in the 20th Century. He changed not only the conservative movement, the GOP, his country and the world--but also his opponents, known as liberals. As a result of his achievements, the typical liberal member of Congress today sits to the right of President Richard Nixon on a number of economic issues, including tax policy.

"The Great Communicator," as he was called, was capable of charming millions of Americans with his soothing, grandfatherly demeanor. In 1984 there were polls indicating that most of those who voted to re-elect him disagreed with him on the issues. In short, the "Reagan revolution" would probably never have happened without his unrivaled leadership skills.

His death has unleashed a torrent of commentary on the significance of this revolution, and so it is important to set the record straight. His economic policies were mostly a failure. Partly, this was because he had promised something arithmetically impossible: to increase military spending, cut taxes and balance the budget. He kept the first two promises, delivering the largest peacetime military buildup in American history and cutting taxes massively, mostly for upper-income households.

But budget deficits soared to record heights. The national debt doubled, as a percentage of the economy, before Reagan's successors were able to bring it under control. This "military Keynesianism" did pull the economy out of the 1982 recession, but the 1980s still chalked up the slowest growth of any decade in the post-World War II era. And income was redistributed to the wealthy as never before: During the 1980s, most of the country's income gains went to the top 1 or 2 percent of households.

Reagan also helped redistribute American income and wealth with a bold assault on American labor. In 1981 he summarily fired 12,000 air-traffic controllers who had gone on strike for better working conditions.

This ushered in a new and dark era of labor relations, with employers now free to "permanently replace" striking workers. The median real wage failed to grow during the decade of the 1980s.

The Reagan revolution caused even more economic damage internationally, for example by changing policy at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Thus began the era of "structural adjustment"--a set of economic policies that has become so discredited worldwide that the IMF and World Bank no longer use the term. The 1980s became "the lost decade" for Latin America, the region most affected by Washington's foreign economic policy. Income per person actually shrank for the decade, a rare historical event, and the region has yet to come close to its pre-1980s growth rates.

Reagan is often credited with having caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, but this is doubtful. He did use the Cold War as a pretext for other interventions, including funding and support for horrific violence against the civilian population of Central America. In 1999 the United Nations determined that the massacres of tens of thousands of Guatemalans constituted "genocide." These massacres--often involving grotesque torture--reached their peak under the rule of Reagan's ally, the Guatemalan Gen. Rios Montt.

Tens of thousands of Salvadorans were also murdered during Reagan's presidency by death squads affiliated with the U.S.-funded Salvadoran military.

But it was Reagan's efforts to overthrow the government--democratically elected in 1984--of underdeveloped Nicaragua that almost brought down his presidency. Congress cut off aid to Reagan's proxy army, the contras, as a result of pressure from Americans who were disgusted by the contras' tactics of murdering unarmed teachers and health-care workers.

The Reagan administration continued to run the war from the basement of the White House and paid for part of it with the proceeds of illegal arms sales to Iran. Hence the Iran-contra affair, in which Reagan escaped prosecution because his subordinates claimed that he had no knowledge of their crimes.

The Reagan revolution continues today: The "war on terror" has replaced the Cold War as pretext for intervention abroad, including the disastrous war in Iraq. Tax cuts for the rich and huge increases in military spending have revived the era of giant budget deficits. As The Great Communicator used to say, "There they go again."

Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune

[CASIGKAP]

Funerals are not for the deceased. They are for the living as a way to get closure. Yes he was a man of the people but the people now want to remember him with a dignifies ceremony. I believe they want to send him off with the grace & dignity that he so rightly deserved.

[texas*princess]

I def. agree CASigKap!