Posted on 06/09/2004 12:39:42 PM PDT by spycatcher
WASHINGTON -- An amendment proposed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist would change the name of the Pentagon to "The Ronald Reagan Defense Building."
Frist said he would offer the amendment to a defense spending bill.
The amendment will be debated over the next couple of weeks when the bill goes back to the Senate floor.
Frist's office said he wanted to offer the idea to gauge reaction. However, it is not known how much Frist will support the bill.
Pentagon may get Reagan's moniker
WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist wants to rename the Pentagon after the late President Ronald Reagan.
He introduced an amendment to the Senate version of the $400 billion defense authorization bill for 2005 to call the World War II-era building the "Ronald Reagan National Defense Building."
The Pentagon is named for its architecture. It has five sides and boasts with five floors above ground.
Frist also wants to call the Missile Defense Agency -- formerly the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, and before that the Strategic Defense Initiative Office -- the Ronald Reagan Missile Defense Agency.
Reagan was a champion of the early, expensive and since-abandoned space-based missile defense program popularly known as "Star Wars." President George Bush expects to order the deployment of the first 10 ground-based missile interceptor system in December.
The system is a test bed but is designed to have limited capability against a nuclear ballistic missile launch from North Korea at the United States. The Pentagon budget calls for $10 billion to be spent on missile defenses in 2005.
OK, no, I'm sorry. Let's not go nuts here, people.
I agree- the Republican Party is dangerously close to outdoing the Paul Wellstone crowd.
There is plenty of time for memorials and monuments.
I heard someone not to long ago call it "The five sided puzzle box".
this is nuts. and it shows how shallow the "leaders" of our party in the Senate are. somebody from the white house better call this idiot, fast.
Hmmm....this may be going a bit too far, I think. Reagan deserves much recognition, but this is over the top, IMO.
If we're going to rename the Pentagon, let's name it for a military hero or something.
I'm sure some fitting memorial gesture will be found for Ronald Reagan.
Why not just rename the whole country. United States is uninspired and characterless for a name of a country. Name it Reagania.
Which Senator was it who suggested yesterday that the Reagan National Airport name be changed to "National Airport?"
I agree. President Reagan isn't even buried yet and Senators are introducing amendments to name buildings after him. There will be plenty of time to honor this great man, so let's just take care of business for now Senator.
DAMN, people!
Can't you at least wait UNTIL HE'S BURIED?
Ok, I feel better now.
A little.
Im all for putting Reagan on the half dollar but much beyond that just cheapens the memory of the man.
This is crazy. Of all the things Frist should be focusing on, this is not one of them. Frist is doing this now that everyone is emotionally focused on Reagan and thinks it would be hard for the other side to fight against. This is cowardly. It's the Pentagon FCOL and it will always be the Pentagon.
The 'John Rffen Kerry Defense Building'.
Naw - keep it as it is :)
You obviously did not watch the Wellstone pep rally if you think any of this compares to that travesty. Guess you realize that what you have said is part of the RAT talking point papers? What does that tell the rest of us?
I agree.
Perfect! A homonym of "ray-gun" is just perfect!
Can you imagine the protestations by Kennedy and Hitlery?
Oh man, that is funny!
I like Reagan as much as the next Freeper, but I oppose this idea.
I hope this little amendment doesn't tie-up the Defense Bill....
Bad idea. Let's not stampede helter-skelter into tackiness.
I don't know, what does that tell you?
So far today I have read posts suggesting that:
Reagan's face be put on Mt Rushmore
Regan's face be placed on the $10 bill
The Pentagon be renamed "Ronald Reagan Defense Building"
Do you not think this is going a bit overboard?
Amen! We won't reach that stage till the Reagan kids storm the microphone on Friday and start screaming, "We will win! We will win!"
Maybe Mrs. Reagan will begin the resounding "boos" lofted towards and Democrat who actually has the gall to try to honor President Reagan.
It sounds ridiculous, but that's the sort of thing that happened at Wellstone-apalooza.
"The 'John Rffen Kerry Defense Building'.
Naw - keep it as it is :)"
Choosing the proper memorial venue or venues for President Reagan should be done after considerable thinking, in my opinion.
We've heard all sorts of ideas already, from his face on the dime or the $10 bill or adding his face to Mt. Rushmore.
Such a memorial to this man should be carefully considered and not leapt into, I think. Why remove the existing face from from the $10 bill, or the dime, for that matter?
There are better memorials to be had.
Regards, Ivan
If it was anyone, my guess would be not Senator, but Congressman Jim Moran. Reagan National is in his district and being a true-blue DemocRAT nutcase, he absolutely loathes the fact that it was named after Reagan. To this day, he refuses to call it anything but "National Airport"
Oh, and Moran's my congresscritter. sigh....
Reaganon?
I don't know about you, but I like my Pentagon NEUTRAL. :-)
They've named the Washington airport Reagan Int'l. One of the largest government office buildings in DC is named after him, not to mention the newest aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy. Nuff's enough already ...
But, it is silly none-the-less.
Penta-Ron
PentaRon?
Better: Donald Rumsfeld National Defense Building
Class act, you are. And I'd bet you were never in the Navy. At least not our Navy.
They ahve a mini-pentagon a Ft.Bragg/Pope in NC. Would they change it, too?
Damn, beat me by 11 seconds! (Are you on steroids?)
I agree wholeheartedly.
LQ
SO9
Not so's you'd notice....
Did anyone else notice the description of SDI as "since-abandoned?"
Is this accurate? I thought DOD was still conducting periodic tests of interceptors, as part of the long-term SDI.
Let's stick with the ten dollar bill. Too much historical significance to "The Pentagon"
But sticking his name and mug on an existing building, or currency, or even Mount Rushmore....would not strike him as an "honor," if the nation forgets the principals and goals he espoused. We really need to take heed from his televised farewell to the nation from January 21st, 1989:
"I've been asked if I have any regrets. Well, I do.The deficit is one. I've been talking a great deal about that lately, but tonight isn't for arguments, and I'm going to hold my tongue. But an observation: I've had my share of victories in the Congress, but what few people noticed is that I never won anything you didn't win for me. They never saw my troops, they never saw Reagan's regiments, the American people. You won ev ery battle with every call you made and letter you wrote demanding action. Well, action is still needed. If we're to finish the job. Reagan's regiments will have to become the Bush brigades. Soon he'll be the chief, and he'll need you every bit as much as I did.
Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in Presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past 8 years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.
An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid- sixties.
But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.
So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important--why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, 4 years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, `we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.' Well, let's help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.
And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.
And that's about all I have to say tonight, except for one thing. The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the `shining city upon a hill.' The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.
And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.
We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for 8 years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all."
Correction ... make that Reagan National airport.
This sort of thing is exactly what President Reagan would _NOT_ have wanted.
This is political posturing on the part of too many of these political hacks to look like they are aware of Ronald Reagan's ideas and it is all too obvious they are not.
The monuments are not as important to the memory of Reagan than carrying on his work.
That is up to us, the politicians cannot and will not do it.
Dumb, stupid, off-the-wall, crazy, overkill...
Enough already - there's a Reagan National Airport less than 5 miles from the Pentagon, there is a HUGE government building accross the river in DC (Reagan building which is larger than the Pentagon). The large number of items listed that people want named for RWR is out of control and will/is becoming a laughing stock. Let'd rename Washington, DC - Reaganville!!!!
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