xtcian

you know.. Reagan was bad... I never thought Bush2 could be worse but alas... k

Why should tax deductions be given for independent film investment? Is what artists do so much more valuable than the rest of us that they should get special treatment?

That Jonathan guy is hilarious.

Awesome post, Ian. When Reagan won, I remember mom being really scared, honestly scared. Dad came home from voting and hung his head, I think it was sorta late and Reagan had already eaten up most of the East Coast or something. Both of them blanched when they saw the landslide. I remember it clearly.

I kept hearing over the weekend how RR was a great statesman and all I could think of was the old quote:

A statesman is a dead politician. Lord knows we need more statesmen.

ian - Reagan was "mean-spirited"??-- let's cut the drama, that's the first I ever heard that adjective used to describe the man.

Since you mentioned abortion, except for rape victims (who aren't the ones usually fighting for this "right"), women do have control over their uterus - they don't magically appear in there. Don't act like having the right to kill their own babies is the greatest liberty of them all.

As a registered Independent, I find I am still more in line with democrat-type thinking because abortion isn't the biggest "political" issue out there. Try not to be so insensitive to a president who died from a horrible disease, I am sure it's much worse than a kidney stone.

Democrats seem to have done a better job of handling the country, yet for some reason they are also the ones who perform sexual release on the nearest Intern, or have a mistress or two or three. At least Nancy didn't have to put up with that crap.

I can hear steph's knee jerking from here. Allow me this cheap shot: "...women do have control over their uterus - they don't magically appear in there..." -- women appearing inside their own uteruses?

Here's my eulogy: F*ck Ronald Reagan.

it's nice to know the Williams' stick together. At least I don't cower away with my opinion because I am afraid Ian's siblings will hate me (more?) if I don't stay in line with Ian's thinking. I like Ian a lot but I do disagree with him. And since you made this personal to me, I doubt it was Reagan who made him feel "Very, very alone" in the 80's. It's a shame that those who disagree with Ian will be bashed by his siblings. Perfectly natural, but a shame.

And I think "they" is the "babies magically appearing".

I won't be watching all the Reagan burial etc 'cause I get tired of the media frenzy like the rest of us.

>>I can hear steph's knee jerking from here.

Her knee wasn't jerking. She actually seems to think about the issues. And she's right - babies don't magically appear in our uteri. So give her a little break, just a little one. "F*ck Ronald Reagan" is just as knee-jerk.

- Another Dem

Believe me, Kent's dislike of RR has nothing to do with me. I'm fairly sure he has his reasons.

Steph, your dissenting opinion is always valuable to me. Keep 'em coming, and don't worry about the sibs.

I never thought I'd have occasion to repeat this silly poem, but it seems to have arrived.

A rare example of my writing style at age 12 reveals how I felt about Reagan then...and my feelings have if anything done the opposite of improve towards him in the intervening 22 years:

"Ronald Reagan
may be better than Begin,
but I think he's a jerk
'cause his policies don't work!"

Annie, circa 1982

Mean spirited? No, Reagan wasn't exactly that. He was more like the affable grandfather who loved to smile as he fondled the grandchildren, and who gave them plenty of candy to keep them quiet, never even thinking about the harm he might be doing. Boy did he love to smile.

Most things wrong with america can be traced to Ronald Reagan. The empowerment of saddam Hussein, the influence of the Religious Right, the yuppies encouraged to give up any pretense of caring about poverty, the war against the environment, against women, against gays--it was all Reagan, smiling away and giving us folksy anecdotes to comfort us within the inferno.

To me, the worst part was that he never became aware enough to be confronted with all the harm he did.

May he get exactly what he deserves.

It's not that Ian's siblings will bash and hate those who disagree with him. God knows I've disagreed with Ian, and done so on these very comments. What Kent is opposing, Steph, is your politics, not your comments about Ian. And, once again, I have to say that just because we don't know of Reagan screwing an intern doesn't make him a good president. Reagan was a rotten president. I should be able to kill unborn fetuses in my body. Those are my thoughts for the day. Oh, and Steph, exactly why would you mock Ian's feeling "very, very alone" in the 80's? Why would you attack Ian because Kent said something personal? Seems like there is a lot of knee-jerking go on around here.

P.S. if you really want to debate abortion rights, let me know. I'm game.

Michelle - no need to debate abortion with me, your choice is pretty clear. You're right, I shouldn't have made a stab at Ian for Kent's retort. That's something I wanted to say before and I didn't because I had wanted to voice my opinion without "attacking" too much. However, Kent didn't debate my politics. Crappy Reaganomics, foreign policies, and civil rights were never mentioned. He might have been a "bad" president but I don't think he was a monster. I made the intern comparision because at least he appeared to have something good about him.

Steph, I agree with Ian that your comments are a great addition to this blog-- always honest and out there, and they provide a nice balance to the lefties (myself included) that check in here. No one hates you.

I disagree that the Williams sibs "stick together. They have different voices and different minds. Just because they were raised in a liberal household doesn't make them "knee-jerk" liberals.

Here's the sad thing about Reagan: He was unqualified, mostly by intellect and wisdom, to be the leader of the strongest nation in the world. He was a pretty good actor, and that fooled a lot of people because he read his lines well. Any press conference where he was on his own put him right in Dubya territory. It was obvious that he couldn't talk and couldn't think without a script. He was attractive, had a great Hollywood smile, and his speeches, well delivered, were more like what we all heard in the movies, instead of the stiff, awkwardly read pronouncements we heard from the usual presidents, however profound their thinking. As a result, he was called the "great communicator," when actually he was just an adequate thespian. His politics were not as bad as Dubya's, but his IQ was right up (or down) there, and (like Dubya) his policies were shaped by those around him. The trouble is, our Bush has even more evil, despicable, deluded, self-serving, and miserable human beings around him than Reagan did.

But the point is, I don't confuse Reagan's personable, smiling presence with real leadership. And I don't think the fact that he died from a tragic condition reason enough to withhold criticism. There are people all over the country, the world, dying of Alzheimer's (one of my kind, beautiful, gifted aunts died of Alzheimer's) and most of those unfortunates will not have benefitted from expensive round-the-clock TLC... (You can't tell me that Nancy personally changed his diapers). He was among the fortunate (rich) folks whose passing is eased with resources not available to the rest of us. I cannot revere him for the way he died.

And I do not respect, laud, or grieve for him. Iran Contra alone would prevent that. The fact that we haven't had a real statesman-leader in the white house, or even running, for a very long time... that does grieve me.

But that's another rant . . .

>>What Kent is opposing, Steph, is your politics

Just from an impartial observer, Kent's reaction to Steph seemed unthoughtout and an attempt to belittle her. He admitted himself he was taking a 'cheap shot' by taking her fetus quote out of context and pretending not to know what she was saying, in order to make her look stupid. She, on the other hand, was making a cogent point, even if you or I disagree with it.

Yeah, Reagan sucks. Sorry, sucked. F*ck him.

You won't find anyone who is willing to say worse things about Ian than his siblings. Mostly we attack each other for saying things that are incredibly short sighted. We'll also attack you for doing the same.

That, and we've all had a gaggle of abortions, hell, my ex used them for birth control without any kind of remorse. It's like getting a tooth pulled, unless of course you have to do it in a back alley with a hanger and some clorox douche. So, unless you've let your passions get away from you and you've found yourself confronted with life-f*cking ramifications for something you did as a silly 16 year old, it's tough to take you seriously.

I was impressed with "mom", even grateful, for her maturity and explaining her position but not after what her darling boy said. Sorry Ian I am done with your blog...FOREVER..... please stop the cheering. Have a nice life y'all. OR F*CKING life, Sean. By the way, I wasn't going after people who have had abortions, I was saying don't tell me I don't have control over my uterus.

Steph, I don't really understand your deciding to veto the blog, but if it's important to you, go for it. But I have to point out that Sean is not the only inflammatory person writing here. You first had to point out that Reagan's disease was "worse than a kidney stone" and then also made the jab about Ian's sadness during the 80's. Yes, maybe Kent was belittling you by making fun of your grammar, but you were belittling Ian in both of your posts and HE is the one encouraging you to ignore us and keep writing. Us folks on the left have our panties in a bunch these days, and for good reason, so it makes us inflammatory, but you must understand the tone of your own words before condemning anyone else.

>>So, unless you've let your passions get away from you and you've found yourself confronted with life-f*cking ramifications for something you did as a silly 16 year old, it's tough to take you seriously.

How do you know she hasn't been?

We are not supposed to legislate in order to help us through our individual mistakes. What if I was in favor of acquiting 16-year-olds of murder because they may have made mistakes in the heat of passion that f***ed up their lives? I am pro-choice, but I am not pro-the way Steph is being treated for expressing a perfectly logical point of view.

There are people who believe that a fetus has rights, too. You may disagree with them, fine. But don't condescend, cuss 'em out or tell them they don't have the right to state their opinions because they haven't gotten knocked up as a teenager. Don't act like you can't take them "seriously." Maybe they believe killing a fetus is a life-altering decision for that fetus, just as giving birth at 16 is life-altering. Other people have rights to their opinions without being treated like f***s***.

I enjoy the blog a lot and all of the collected writings of your very talented family. I also want to know if there are certain things we lurkers/readers shouldn't say, or maybe if we're not close with all of you we should keep out of it. I don't want to step into the muck, but I do enjoy reading and occasionally commenting, when an entry is written that provokes debate and thought. I think you're all great people, but I just thought this reaction went a tiny bit overboard.

I remember when my great-grandmother "Granny" Burgin died. Here was a lady we all watched wring a chicken or two's neck. She had a long life, full of embattlements in and out of family, but she remained generally beloved (especially in the kitchen) despite being more than somewhat roughed around the edges by raging and ranging Alzheimer's. The point is that whilst at her funeral wake, I recalled for my grandmother (O-too, long story) a Granny anecdote that made her laugh so hard I'm pretty sure she pissed her pants. She's one of like seven or eight sibs, and some of them just didn't see the humor or the timing of the outburst---respect for the dead and all that. Anyway, I remember people arguing in the funeral home and one of my hornery uncles telling me not to be a wiseass at the funeral ceremony the next day.

My cousins and I saved the funny stories till well after the funeral. The juvenile giggle rush and potential family friction didn't suit the occasion. Later those same adult siblings fought embarassingly over inheritance items. They were still forestalling any happy endings regarding Granny.

That all seemed foolish then and so's this harangue about Ronny, not Granny. Let him go peacefully. Alas, his legacy painfully remains. He left us no happy endings, save maybe better coordinated research and efforts with Alzheimer''s.

Public debate tit-for-tat about abortion can get awful ugly, fr*g*ing declaw!

Congratulations Ian, you touched a hot button. When will Alex P.Keaton's TV ghost post his rebuttals?

Steph, don't leave! Just tell Sean he's an asshole!

I was being flippant with you Steph, and you probably don't deserve it. I am pro-choice, and don't really want to debate it with anyone.

As for mean-spirited, no, in person, one on one, I doubt he was a mean man. But he was President of the United States and did NOT consider the consequences of his actions.

Reagan set up secret arms sales to Iran at a point where they were an embargoed enemy of the US, in order to use the profits to give to the Nicaraguan Contras, who were a bunch of thugs responsible for the murders of peasants in Nicaragua. This was in DIRECT violation of an act of Congress prohibiting aid.

If your husband was hauled away, tortured, and then killed, and Reagan was ultimately responsible, you might consider him mean-spirited.

Holy Sh*t! First of all I'm about as close to the TV ghost of Alex P. Keaton as we're going to get today, so let me offer a short comment. I was a brainwashed preppy conservative who LOVED Ronald Reagan. I did not agree with many of his policies once I was old enough to understand, but I thought he was the best "spokesmodel" a country could ask for during the cold war. In reference to todays blog entries. This is just how I want my Williamses, wild, inspired, and naked honest. Maybe wild, naked and honest. O.K., I got it. Mom, Jordana, Michelle, and Tessa, wild and naked with Ian, Kent, Sean, Steve, and Dad, honest and out of town. Love y'all

Yeah, Steph, I'm an asshole. If you're gonna boycott the blog because I'm an asshole, you're probably boycotting the wrong blog. Which, in a way, makes sense.

Yeah, I know that people who think fetuses have rights are entitled to their opinion. I just think they're stupid. I've never had an abortion myself, and I was seriously messed up about the ones I've been involved with, but, y'know, that's my choice. I think people who think I don't have a right to make the decision for myself are dumb, and I don't have any respect for that. Of course, I also don't read the other comments very carefully, so maybe that's not what anyone's saying.

But Ian's cool! I'm the asshole, throw a drink on me at a party or something. I suck that I think thinking certain things makes you dumb, but that's how it goes.

"I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born." -Ronald Reagan, one of the greatest American Presidents of the 20th Century

Yeesh...what happened over here?

Anybody want a bite of my Snickers?

Carla, I'll bite your Snickers anytime.

Excuse me, y'all, in case a dead horse is being beaten (if anyone's still reading this five days later) but I do feel compelled to change gears from my earlier entry and weigh in on the controversy that has taken place here...I am struck, re-reading the exchanges, by the fact that the snide, sarcastic tone of many of the entries was initially established (quite unapologetically) by Steph herself (e.g. " let's cut the drama," "Don't act like having the right to kill their own babies is the greatest liberty of them all," and last but not least, "Try not to be so insensitive to a president who died from a horrible disease, I am sure it's much worse than a kidney stone")

And yet, this kind of aggressive sarcasm is the very thing she objects to so vehemently in the reponses to her first statement, which she practically land-mined with potshots--at Ian particularly, at women who have fetuses "magically appear" (you can't tell me THAT'S not sarcastic) in their wombs, at the Democrats and finally, tiredly, again at Bill Clinton AGAIN for his well-known, a-gain, sexual indiscretion. As if that could actually stand in comparison to something as nefarious as Iran-Contra.

Michelle has said the same thing in a more diplomatic way, however I wonder why people who feel free to use such inflammatory rhetoric to their own ends then feel abused if they are not treated with kid gloves in return. Mom Williams has also shown admirable diplomacy (which goes right along with her wisdom), but I don't think Sean or Kent or anybody was "over the line" in their responses to Steph's initial statements, which are among the most mocking, sarcastic, and UNserious of the bunch.