Wednesday, June 09, 2004

President Ronald Reagan's Last Trip to the Capitol

- You know, we had a scare on Capitol Hill earlier today.

So I heard! What happened?

- All of a sudden the police told us to evacuate -- they pointed the way and said just keep running! And we did, though everyone was eerily calm, like we were expecting it. Then, when the all-clear sounded, people nearly panicked as they ran back -- nobody wanted to lose their place on the sidewalk or in viewing line! By then I was very thirsty, so I left; the weather is terribly hot and humid

Really? On the radio they said a plane had nipped into the restricted airspace. Since we didn't hear anything about the pilot being arrested, everyone figures it must have been some dignitary with diplomatic immunity.

- I hope he chokes! Probably just wanted to get a kick out of seeing us panic.

You are unforgiving and self-centered. Not like you at all.

- I'm the one who had to do the running! It meant I had to watch Reagan's procession on television today, with Dan Rather giving the commentary. He war rattling off funerals of presidents left and right! I never thought that he knew so much history.

Maybe he's paying more attention to his research assistants. He has one or two new ones.

- How do you know that?

One of them got "anthraxed" after opening a letter post-9/11. It was in the news. I think she died, taking the hit meant for him.

- Whoa! Did that turn Rather into a Republican? You know, originally only CBS was going to carry the full, uninterrupted, procession from four to eight pm. The other networks planned to stick pretty much to their normal programming. They changed their minds fast as the number of viewers dropped close to zero, so they joined the bandwagon. Do we have Dan to thank for that?

I don't know. I gave up on most network TV news long ago, when I started attending the same events they did and saw how bad a job they did. Their reporters were so proud, judgmental, and self-centered that they couldn't believe their own judgment might ever be at fault -- and Fox had better-quality pics anyway.

- I heard the planes from the flyover, too! That was cool!

It was more than that. I saw from the TV which way some of the planes were heading after they turned near the Washington Monument. My house is just about due north of there so I went to the windows; less than a minute later seven fighter jets come roaring over my house. They were fully equipped - missiles plus external fuel tanks. I never saw that on military flyovers before; the jets are usually stripped for that sleek, elegant look.

- So they're still worried about airliners.

Yes. Those jets had the range and armament to shoot down anything in the skies from Boston to Key Biscayne.

- Four years ago, the liberals would have had conniptions at the sight of "armed" military jets flying over a parade. Now, nobody even thinks of objecting. We're a different people now, aren't we?

No comments: