President Reagan posing with Bette Davis at the Kennedy Center Honors for Lifetime Achievement at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. 12/6/1987

I remember in 1981 when I heard the song “Bette Davis Eyes” sung by Kim Carnes,and I personally did not like the song, but it got played over and over. In fact, it spent 9 weeks as a #1 song on U.S.Billboard Hot 100, and was Billboard’s number one single of 1981.  The song won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The song was also a number one hit is 31 countries. Bette Davis admitted to being a fan of the song and approached Carnes and the songwriters to thank them for making her “a part of modern times.”

That just proves that the music I do not like will probably go on to be the music that everyone else in the world loves. I have never figured out what is so special about Bette Davis eyes. You can look at the picture above and figure it out yourself.

Music video by Kim Carnes performing Bette Davis Eyes.

In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever.  He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.

Free Elections are loved by the people

The hard evidence of totalitarian rule has caused in mankind an uprising of the intellect and will. Whether it is the growth of the new schools of economics in America or England or the appearance of the so-called new philosophers in France, there is one unifying thread running through the intellectual work of these groups — rejection of the arbitrary power of the state, the refusal to subordinate the rights of the individual to the superstate, the realization that collectivism stifles all the best human impulses.

Since the exodus from Egypt, historians have written of those who sacrificed and struggled for freedom — the stand at Thermopylae, the revolt of Spartacus, the storming of the Bastille, the Warsaw uprising in World War II. More recently we’ve seen evidence of this same human impulse in one of the developing nations in Central America. For months and months the world news media covered the fighting in El Salvador. Day after day we were treated to stories and film slanted toward the brave freedom-fighters battling oppressive government forces in behalf of the silent, suffering people of that tortured country.

And then one day those silent, suffering people were offered a chance to vote, to choose the kind of government they wanted. Suddenly the freedom-fighters in the hills were exposed for what they really are — Cuban-backed guerrillas who want power for themselves, and their backers, not democracy for the people. They threatened death to any who voted, and destroyed hundreds of buses and trucks to keep the people from getting to the polling places. But on election day, the people of El Salvador, an unprecedented 1.4 million of them, braved ambush and gunfire, and trudged for miles to vote for freedom.

They stood for hours in the hot sun waiting for their turn to vote. Members of our Congress who went there as observers told me of a women who was wounded by rifle fire on the way to the polls, who refused to leave the line to have her wound treated until after she had voted. A grandmother, who had been told by the guerrillas she would be killed when she returned from the polls, and she told the guerrillas, “You can kill me, you can kill my family, kill my neighbors, but you can’t kill us all.” The real freedom-fighters of El Salvador turned out to be the people of that country — the young, the old, the in-between.

Strange, but in my own country there’s been little if any news coverage of that war since the election. Now, perhaps they’ll say it’s — well, because there are newer struggles now.

On distant islands in the South Atlantic young men are fighting for Britain. And, yes, voices have been raised protesting their sacrifice for lumps of rock and earth so far away. But those young men aren’t fighting for mere real estate. They fight for a cause — for the belief that armed aggression must not be allowed to succeed, and the people must participate in the decisions of government — [applause] — the decisions of government under the rule of law. If there had been firmer support for that principle some 45 years ago, perhaps our generation wouldn’t have suffered the bloodletting of World War II.

In the Middle East now the guns sound once more, this time in Lebanon, a country that for too long has had to endure the tragedy of civil war, terrorism, and foreign intervention and occupation. The fighting in Lebanon on the part of all parties must stop, and Israel should bring its forces home. But this is not enough. We must all work to stamp out the scourge of terrorism that in the Middle East makes war an ever-present threat.

But beyond the troublespots lies a deeper, more positive pattern. Around the world today, the democratic revolution is gathering new strength. In India a critical test has been passed with the peaceful change of governing political parties. In Africa, Nigeria is moving into remarkable and unmistakable ways to build and strengthen its democratic institutions. In the Caribbean and Central America, 16 of 24 countries have freely elected governments. And in the United Nations, 8 of the 10 developing nations which have joined that body in the past 5 years are democracies.

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Little known presidential facts:

1. President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the only president to serve in both WWI and WWII.^h
2. Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994) was the first president to visit all 50 states and the first to visit China. He is the only president to resign.^j

U.S. President Ronald Reagan assassination attempt.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard that President Reagan had been shot. I had just got out of a freshman class at college and turned on my car. The radio immediately went into a news story saying that President Reagan had been shot.

Today, some more details came out about that day 30 years ago:

AP – ** FILE ** In this March 30, 1981 file photo, President Reagan waves, then looks up before being shoved …

WASHINGTON – A Secret Service audiotape 30 years old sheds light on the chaotic aftermath of Ronald Reagan’s shooting when neither the president nor his guardians realized he’d been shot, and an agent’s snap decision to get him to a hospital might have saved his life.

“Let’s hustle,” agent Jerry Parr is heard barking as Reagan’s limousine suddenly changed course, the sight of the president’s blood signaling there was more wrong with him than a bruised rib or two, as everyone thought right after the March 30, 1981, attack. The car, which had been spiriting Reagan back to the security of the White House after the spray of gunfire, sped to George Washington University Hospital instead. Reagan lost about half his blood and came closer to death that day than Americans realized for years later.

The Secret Service released the tape Friday in response to a public-records request from Del Wilber, a Washington Post reporter whose book, “Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan,” comes out next week.

Just over 10 minutes, the tape captures the urgent, confused yet coolly methodical radio communications among agents on the scene and the Secret Service command post, starting when the president and his entourage walked out of the Washington Hilton while John Hinckley Jr., with a pistol, stood waiting.

Hinckley opened fire, wounding press secretary James Brady in the head, police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back of the neck and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen before his last bullet ricocheted off the limousine, grazing Reagan’s rib and lodging in his lung. As has been known, Reagan and his protectors at first thought he’d merely hurt his ribs from being shoved into the vehicle by Parr.

At 2:27 p.m., 19 seconds into the tape, agent Ray Shaddick radios: “Advise, we’ve had shots fired. Shots fired. There are some injuries, uh, lay one on.”

Sixteen seconds later, Parr radios assurance about a president whose Secret Service code name was drawn from the Westerns he loved: “Rawhide is OK. Follow-up. Rawhide is OK.”

“You wanna go to the hospital or back to the White House?” Shaddick asks.

“We’re going right. we’re going to Crown,” Parr says, using a code word for the White House.

“Back to the White House,” Shaddick repeats. “Rawhide is OK.”

Twenty-four seconds later, a voice asserts again: “Rawhide’s alright.”

But 25 seconds after that, the plan abruptly changes: “We want to go to the emergency room of George Washington.”

Nowhere in the tape does anyone state that the president is hurt.

Inside the car, however, as participants have told it, Reagan was worsening. Parr had quickly checked Reagan as they sped away and finding nothing terribly amiss, preferred the safety and medical facilities of the White House to an unsecured hospital. And when Reagan found blood in his mouth, the president told his men he must have cut his lip. But Reagan was becoming more ashen, complained of trouble breathing and the bleeding did not appear to be from a mere cut. Parr ordered the diversion to the hospital.

“Go to George Washington fast,” agent Drew Unrue is heard saying, at 01:57 minutes into the tape.

“Get an ambulance,” Parr tells the command post, known as Horsepower. “I mean get the, um, stretcher out there.” He wants the hospital to be ready to wheel the president in.

“We’ve made the call,” Horsepower replies.

“Let’s hustle,” Parr says.

Sirens are heard, and a voice confirms that authorities have captured a suspect. Hinckley was piled on and arrested at the scene.

Less than four minutes after Reagan left the Hilton, the car carrying the stricken president arrives at the hospital. Moments later, “Rainbow” — Nancy Reagan — is on her way.

Reagan had suffered extensive internal bleeding, but his gunshot wound was not discovered until doctors examined him. As it turned out, he did not enter on a stretcher but got out of the car, walked in with the help of agents and began to collapse before those around him picked him up and carried him to the emergency room. Doctors were able to stabilize his blood pressure in short order before removing the bullet in surgery.

Reagan’s wisecracks at the hospital that day testified to his resilience while masking the gravity of the struggle to save him. “Honey, I forgot to duck,” he told his wife. He told his doctors he hoped they were all Republicans, prompting this comeback from the liberal who led the trauma team, Dr. Joseph Giordano: “Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans.” Reagan was in the hospital for nearly two weeks; recovery took months, but did not prevent a robust presidency.

Brady was permanently disabled, which did not inhibit him from becoming an advocate for gun control. Delahanty was sent into retirement with enduring pain. McCarthy, who had turned himself into a human target, standing with his arms up and legs spread between Reagan and the gunman, recovered. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been confined at a psychiatric hospital, granted increasing time outside in recent years.

The Palace of Westminster more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament is situated on the banks of the Thames in Westminster London. It is the home of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It began life as a royal residence in 1042 under Edward the Confessor. The current mock gothic building design was result of a national competition. The plan of the building was the work of Charles Barry, with the gothic details designed by Augustus Pugin. The building has approximately 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, and 3 km of passageways.

I heard Peyton Hillis will be giving autographs on Sunday from 1pm to 3pm at Dillards at Park Plaze in Little Rock. Peyton was on 103.7 the buzz today and he said he hopes to go another 4 or 5 years in the NFL. He always gives 100% on every play and he hates to go out of bounds when he can still get another yard.  That is tough on a body. I wish him well. I remember seeing him play against Bryant. Also a friend in Conway told me that Peyton used to be in his Sunday School class in the 7th grade and Peyton beat him arm wrestling even then.

In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever.  He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.

Sir Winston Churchill refused to accept the inevitability of war or even that it was imminent. He said, “I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here today while time remains is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries.”
Well, this is precisely our mission today: to preserve freedom as well as peace. It may not be easy to see; but I believe we live now at a turning point.In an ironic sense Karl Marx was right. We are witnessing today a great revolutionary crisis, a crisis where the demands of the economic order are conflicting directly with those of the political order. But the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West, but in the home of Marxist-Leninism, the Soviet Union. It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history by denying human freedom and human dignity to its citizens. It also is in deep economic difficulty. The rate of growth in the national product has been steadily declining since the fifties and is less than half of what it was then.
The dimensions of this failure are astounding: A country which employs one-fifth of its population in agriculture is unable to feed its own people. Were it not for the private sector, the tiny private sector tolerated in Soviet agriculture, the country might be on the brink of famine. These private plots occupy a bare 3 percent of the arable land but account for nearly one-quarter of Soviet farm output and nearly one-third of meat products and vegetables. Overcentralized, with little or no incentives, year after year the Soviet system pours its best resource into the making of instruments of destruction. The constant shrinkage of economic growth combined with the growth of military production is putting a heavy strain on the Soviet people. What we see here is a political structure that no longer corresponds to its economic base, a society where productive forces are hampered by political ones.
The decay of the Soviet experiment should come as no surprise to us. Wherever the comparisons have been made between free and closed societies — West Germany and East Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, Malaysia and Vietnam — it is the democratic countries what are prosperous and responsive to the needs of their people. And one of the simple but overwhelming facts of our time is this: Of all the millions of refugees we’ve seen in the modern world, their flight is always away from, not toward the Communist world. Today on the NATO line, our military forces face east to prevent a possible invasion. On the other side of the line, the Soviet forces also face east to prevent their people from leaving.

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Little known presidential facts:

1. The term “O.K.” derives from President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) who was known as “Old Kinderhook” because he was raised in Kinderhook, New York. “O.K.” clubs were created to support Van Buren’s campaigns.^k
2. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) is the only president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms. He was the 22nd and 24th president.^j