Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

An Announcement from Steve

. . . on my return to regular blogging (after I catch up on surfing). Here’s why:

Discussions - 11 Comments

Steve: congratulations! In the same period in which you wrote a (good) fat book, I wrote three op-eds, a short book review, and a short chapter for a book on Coolidge, and I consider this my most productive year yet! And I also had no time to blog. Well done on the trees....is it possible that the first will get a disease and die?

You video announcing the publication of The Age of Reagan II brought tears to my eyes, not because I've been waiting for it all these years, but because of your choice of whisky: Laphroaig, if I'm not mistaken. Without doubt one of the finest single-malts one can buy. Up here in the Great White North it sells for about $75 per bottle, which gives a whole new meaning to "No Left Turns" as most left turns in Canada are financed by ever higher taxes on things like whisky. Be warned, sir, if we ever meet there will be more than one bottle of whisky involved.

I saw the video on Power Line and had to come by, say hello and congratulations.

David Poling

aka Uncle Guido

Cas:

Right you are--Laphroaig! The only single malt I drink---and a LOT of it, too. Neat drams on me if you get to the DC area during the school year, or California in the summer. (Grilled pig thrown in on the side out west.)

Loved your announcement, but... not such tough duty up there in Cambria. How in the world did you get any work done with that view?

Steve:

Only if we drink out of balloon- or rock-glasses (not meaning to be presumptive, but up here a rock-glass is a wide mouthed short drinking glass), shot-glasses are a waste. I like balloons best because the esters and aldehydes are allowed to evaporate over a wide surface area and as they rise they are concentrated at the smaller mouth of the glass. The esters and aldehydes should be allowed to trip the light fantastic in the sinus passages to prepare the palate for the joy that is to come. One of the great pleasures I’ve found in scotch is its aroma, a little malt, a little fruit, all tied together in a bouquet of wild flowers. Shot glasses are for tequila, vodka, and their putative near substitute Lysol and water (it is a brave man who drinks his Lysol neat). Mind you, I’ve been told old 78's when broken up and boiled make a better drink than Lysol and water, which in my mind would put the elixir right up there with tequila and some of your cheaper vodkas. Here's to you good health, sir!

It is very foggy and cool most summer mornings. (Hence the scotch.)

I presume the joke regarding the redwood trees was, at least, about the paper that will be used to publish the books.

Surely you must've thought of Reagan saying this, though, as you planted them:

"I think, too, that we've got to recognize that where the preservation of a natural resource like the redwoods is concerned, that there is a common sense limit. I mean, if you've looked at a hundred thousand acres or so of trees - you know, a tree is a tree, how many more do you need to look at?"

So, why plant two more?

Ha! I thought Craig might get the joke, but predictably without deriving any humor from it. Turns out, according to Lou Cannon's biography, Governor Reagan set aside more acres of redwood forest than any other California governor in history (as well as cancelling the Eel River Dam and the trans-Sierra highway--both projects Pat Brown had set in motion), but all Reagan is remembered for his his "seen one seen them all" joke--further proof that words count for more than deed with some people.

I've actually planted six redwoods on my property out here over the last 10 years, but a couple didn't make it. Since my motto is "better redwoods than deadwoods," I keep planting more.

Steve, I got the joke, but let's just say that it tickled my funny bone in the same way that a (canned) laugh in a typical "Friends" episode might. Your "better redwoods than deadwoods" joke was MUCH funnier. I actually had an audible chuckle on that one.

I'm willing to concede that Reagan's redwoods remark was of no consequence; he should be evaluated for his deeds far more than his words, but still, I think his environmental record was a mixed bag, at best. But maybe it was better than this guy.

I thought the Redwoods were a Bohemian Grove refrence.

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