Michael Reagan

I am somewhat mystified -- and dismayed -- by the spectacle of a lot of so-called conservatives who weren't around in the 1980s dropping Ronald Reagan's name to promote themselves while they go about slandering Newt Gingrich who, like my dad, was there in the '80s and '90s and also helped him elect more Republicans than anyone else in recent memory.

It's long been an unfortunate characteristic of too many Republicans to engage in internecine warfare -- standing in a circle as they fire volleys at each other. The current fashion of the day is to take aim and fire at one of the GOP's most storied and valuable members, doing Obama's work towards destroying Newt Gingrich in advance of the 2012 presidential election.

The hordes of so-called "protesters" now polluting the streets of several U.S. cities, including New York, are sending confused messages about their grievances.

The unemployed among them complain that the jobs available to them are beneath them. I guess that cancels out the old concept of starting in the mailroom and advancing step-by-step to the boardroom. It used to be the norm that one started at the bottom and worked their way up. This bunch seems to be living under the delusion that simply by virtue of having been born they are entitled to immediate arrival at the boardroom level with appropriate compensation.

According to a shocking news report, California legislators have enacted legislation that gives the state the dubious distinction of being the first state in the nation to require public schools to include the contributions of gays and lesbians in their social studies curriculum.

We can be certain that one result of this ill-advised move will subject kids to a form of what CIA spooks call "blow back" -- an inevitable result of a specific action.

When I was a youngster I was teased and bullied for being an adopted child. In view of my personal experiences, should we add the contributions of adoptees to the legislation? How about adding the contributions of skinny kids, or kids with red hair, or extra-long legs or eyeglasses?

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is getting away with murder because the president of the United States refuses to take action when that's exactly what is called for.

Gadhafi is thumbing his nose at the alleged leader of the Free World, leaving the crazed dictator free to slaughter his own people in a frantic effort to save his dictatorship.

When a would-be assassin shot my Dad, President Ronald Reagan, nobody questioned the fact that the shooter was certifiably nuts. Authorities recognized that fact and put him in a mental institution as his obvious disturbed mental state demanded.

Now we have another attempted killing of a public official, Arizona's widely admired Rep. Gabby Giffords, and just about everybody recognizes the fact that the shooter, one Jared Loughner, is crazy as a loon.

If we had a president in the White House who understood that we are at war with a crazed faction of Islam, and was willing to act on that belief, there would be no question about how we should deal with people who give aid and comfort to the enemy -- they'd be tried for treason and when found guilty stood up before a firing squad.

Julian Assange and his fellow conspirator Pvt. Bradley Manning allegedly betrayed the United States, gave aid and comfort to the terrorists who seek to destroy the United States, and if found guilty they deserve nothing less than death sentences for their unspeakable crimes.

The late psychic Edgar Cayce was famed for predicting that in the not-too-distant future the entire state of California would collapse into the Pacific Ocean and disappear beneath the sea.

That may be a questionable forecast, but the collapse of the Golden State into a sea of debt is already upon us, and if we don't act now to begin to reclaim California it will soon be too late to save it from disappearing under a mountain of IOUs that cannot be repaid.