I just returned from an afternoon at a place that many readers of the site, including (and especially?) its two principle bloggers consider practically sacred.  With Dr. Nigel Ashford, the distinguished British political scientist honored by Dame Margaret Thatcher, I had a tour of the Reagan Ranch.

Kudos to the folks of the Young America’s Foundation for taking such good care of this site and for treating us well on the tour.

While the ranch sits on a large and beautiful piece of land, the house itself is quite small, only 1,800 square feet.  The Gipper himself was not extravagant.  He built the fences around the property and even built the front porch.  He cleared brush and took care of the horses.  In short, when he was out there, he liked to work with his hands.

The house had a Western/Southwestern theme, with paintings of Western landscape and American memorabilia.  I particularly enjoyed a chair whose cushions were covered in a needlepoint image of a Minuteman with the year 1776.

Of the many stories our tour guide shared with us, this one best (in my mind at least) described Ronald Reagan the man.  Before going riding with his beloved Nancy, he always insisted on tacking her horse. He would never let the staff do it. When her horse was ready, he rang the bell below to signal that it was time for her to join him.  

Even as president, he insisted on performing this task himself.  As valuable as then was his time, he had to go out of his way for Nancy. No wonder he was such a great leader. He knew how to appreciate the things that really matter, knew how lucky he was to have found a woman who loved him the way she did.

UPDATE: As per Sonicfrog’s comment, I provide a picture of the Suburu Brat below the jump.  (more…)

In the court of public opinion, advocates of traditional marriage scored a huge victory over advocates of gay marriage last week, perhaps their biggest public relations victory since the adolescent temper tantrums following the passage last fall of California’s Proposition 8.

While many of our readers (and most of our critics) surely disagree with Carrie Prejean’s belief that “marriage should be between a man and a woman,” few will accuse her of engaging in ad hominem attacks on those putting forward a different point of view.  At that same time she was making her case with poise, the man who had asked the question which prompted her to state that belief before a national audience, was making his with rancor.

Immediately, after the pageant, Perez Hilton chose to slur her as a “bitch” in a video for his blog.  He continued this line of attack in various television appearances.  While she remained unapologetic in hers appearances, showing no bitterness than her answer had cost her the Miss USA crown, not attacking the judge whose vote cost her that crown.

She made her case calmly and with a smile.  He preferred innuendo to argument.  She came across better than he did.

In the future, those who promote gay marriage in the various visual media should take a page from Miss Prejean’s book and make their case clearly, calmly and without criticizing their adversaries.  In our current culture, looking good and sounding good matters as much as what you say.

If you don’t believe me, just ask President McCain about how his Administration plans to tackle the economic downturn and international crises.

If you want to know why Michael Barone belongs on the Olympus of punditry, read his latest, a column on the alacrity of many on the left, including leading Democrats, to prosecute Bush Admin officials:

It’s tough trying to please people who crave vengeance almost as much as Madame Defarge, the unsparing French revolutionary in Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities.” That’s what Barack Obama found out last week — and will find out next week and for weeks to come unless he settles once and for all that he will follow the practice of all his predecessors and not prosecute decision-makers in the previous administration.

The Madame Defarges of the Democratic left want to see the guillotine flash down and heads roll. Specifically, they want to see the prosecution or impeachment of officials who approved enhanced interrogation techniques — torture, in their view.

That sage columnist goes on to outline the details of the past week, with the President releasing the Bush Administration memos considering using enhanced interrogation techniques against terrorists as a means to learning their targets and so preventing future attacks.

First, the President said he opposed prosecuting the officials who wrote these memoranda, then changed his mind and said maybe they would be, then he changed his mind again and said, no, they wouldn’t be.  Seems he realized he couldn’t appease some of his fellow Democrats out for blood, including the disremembering Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  She wants to see heads roll.

Barone wonders why Madame Pelosi and her colleagues are so angry: (more…)

It looks like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s warning is coming to pass.  No, not about the curse of some poetic cat or mysterious opera fan, but about “an ‘exodus of talent’ from Britain as taxes skyrocket.”

Oscar-winning actor Sir Michael Caine “has threatened to quit his native Britain if the government implements another tax rise“:

The government has taken tax up to 50 per cent and if it goes up to 51, I will be back in America. I will not pay the government more than I get. No way, ever. They’ve reached their limit with me, and that’s what will happen to a lot of people. We’ve got three and a half million layabouts laying about on benefits, I’m 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them. Let’s get everybody back to work so we can save a couple of billion and cut tax, not sticking it on.

Michael Caine?  A conservative?  He sure sounds like one.  With taxes going up, how many more of my favorite actors might start coming out politically?

Caine will be arriving in an America where the President has pledged to increase taxes on the wealthy.  So, it looks like Cain will have a pretty costly welcome here.  Our government may be taking less than would the Brits, but, well, should he choose to live out here in California, he’ll be forking out just as much as he would in the UK, thanks, in large part to his fellow screen star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Caine should probably check out Texas.

Maybe there’ll be a part for him in the film version of Atlas Shrugged.  The British Atlases are beginning to move their shoulders.

Where will people go when the Democrats are forced to raise taxes to pay for their spending binge?

UPDATE: Glenn has more about Caine’s comments on leaving Britain, adding “That’s how it will be here, too, it the current crowd gets its way. All in the name of equality!”

Welcome Instapundit Readers!!

We here at GayPatriot never tire of showing how many leading of the national gay organizations show greater loyalty to the Democratic Party and its candidates than they do to gay people and our issues.  This goes back at least to 1996, when the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) refused to rescind its endorsement for then-President Clinton when he, in the dead of night, signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Look at how Charles Kaiser (just after the 2:30 mark) tries to excuse Clinton for signing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT), the ban on gays serving openly in the military.  He blames a Republican instead.  Nor does this activist and author have a problem with the Democratic candidates’ position on gay marriage (this was during the run-up to the 2008 Democratic primaries).  And see how Endora-winning blogress Tammy Bruce takes him to task:

This gay activist, like the heads of the gay organizations, give Democratic leaders a pass for taking the same stands for which they would excoriate Republicans.

It seems celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has learned a thing or two from them.  Everyone who owns a computer or television set knows by now how he insulted Carrie Prejean, Miss California, calling her response “awful,” “the worst in pageant history” when, during the final round of this year’s Miss USA pageant, she said she believed “marriage should be between a man and a woman.”  Incidentally, she holds the same position on marriage as does the President of the United States.

Shouldn’t he then call the Democrat’s stand an “awful” position?

Of course not.  That (D) after Obama’s name renders him immune from criticism for taking the same stands which might earn a tongue-slapping for a Republican (or Republican-appearing pageant contestant).

From Jehuda on the Rhetorican, we learn that “Perez Hilton is giving Obama a pass for his anti-gay marriage stance.” (more…)