Year: 2006

The 38th president of the United States died tonight in Los Angeles.

“My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age,” Mrs. Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband’s office in Rancho Mirage. “His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country.”

Ford outlived Reagan and ended up being the oldest living president.

President Bush released the following statement:

Laura and I are greatly saddened by the passing of former President Gerald R. Ford.

President Ford was a great American who gave many years of dedicated service to our country. On Aug. 9, 1974, after a long career in the House of Representatives and service as vice president, he assumed the presidency in an hour of national turmoil and division. With his quiet integrity, commonsense and kind instincts, President Ford helped heal our land and restore public confidence in the presidency.

The American people will always admire Gerald Ford’s devotion to duty, his personal character and the honorable conduct of his administration. We mourn the loss of such a leader, and our 38th president will always have a special place in our nation’s memory. On behalf of all Americans, Laura and I offer our deepest sympathies to Betty Ford and all of President Ford’s family. Our thoughts and prayers will be with them in the hours and days ahead.

His official White House Bio is here. Wikipedia has:

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the 38th (1974–1977) President of the United States. Ford also served as the 40th (1973–1974) Vice President. He was the first person appointed to the Vice-Presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, and upon succession to the presidency became the first (and to date, only) president in U.S. history to fill that office without having been elected either President or Vice-President. He was also the longest-lived United States president ever, having surpassed Ronald Reagan’s record on November 12, 2006.

Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He was originally named Leslie Lynch King, Jr., after his biological father. His parents divorced when he was less than a year old, and when his mother remarried, he was given the name of his step-father, Gerald Rudolff Ford. He later changed the spelling of the middle name. Ford obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a football star. He went on to obtain a law degree from Yale University before serving in the United States Navy during World War II. Returning from the war a confirmed “internationalist”, Republican Ford defeated the incumbent in the party primary and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1948, representing the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. He was elected House Minority Leader in 1963 and served in the House until 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Ford was appointed Vice President of the United States at the height of the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to Richard Nixon’s resignation.

The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, the execution of the Helsinki Accords, and the continuing specter of inflation and recession. Faced with an overwhelmingly Democratic majority in Congress, the administration was hampered in its ability to pass major legislation, and Ford’s vetoes were frequently overridden. Ford was criticized by many for granting a pre-emptive pardon to Nixon, and was subsequently defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.

Here’s some important dates in Ford’s life.

MSNBC has a picture portrait.

MORE: AP | New York Times | MSNBC | ABC News | CBS News | WaPo | Michelle Malkin | Joe Gandelman | The Political Pitbull | BBC |

Peace.

Peter Boyle dies at 71.

Are we about to witness the demise of our beloved penny? There are advocates who claim we could free up 1 billion dollars in economic resources if we were to get rid of the coin.

Why else would a U.S. Senator show up at the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association?

If you’re over 35 years of age, you probably know this insignia.

Around since 1939, The Civil Defense logo was retired yesterday.

Did I wake up on the wrong planet today? According to the Washington Times, Democrats plan to CUT TAXES (yes, cut them) rather than raise taxes as expected.

Included in their “Six for ’06” platform that they say helped them win majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats promised to: “Make college tuition deductible from taxes, permanently.”

Their tax cut promise is neither an election-year gimmick, Democrats say, nor a reversal in their long-standing opposition to Mr. Bush’s tax cuts.

“Democrats have made it clear that the middle class will be our priority and making college more affordable is a key concern of working families,” said incoming House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat.

Oh, OK, I see. If the Dems say their tax cuts are not an election-year gimmick, you can bet they are an election year gimmick.

Apparently not. Iran supplies Iraqi militias, says ABC News.

Remember the solemn pledge delivered by Democrats leading up to the mid-term elections to implement ALL of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission?

Nevermind.

Democratic leaders have decided for now against implementing the one measure that would affect them most directly: a wholesale reorganization of Congress to improve oversight and funding of the nation’s intelligence agencies. Instead, Democratic leaders may create a panel to look at the issue and produce recommendations, according to congressional aides and lawmakers.

Because plans for implementing the commission’s recommendations are still fluid, Democratic officials would not speak for the record. But aides on the House and Senate appropriations, armed services and intelligence committees confirmed this week that a reorganization of Congress would not be part of the package of homeland-security changes up for passage in the “first 100 hours” of the Democratic Congress.

Members of the bipartisan commission aren’t happy.

“Of all our recommendations, strengthening congressional oversight may be among the most difficult and important,” the panel wrote. “So long as oversight is governed by current congressional rules and resolutions, we believe the American people will not get the security they want and need.”

To be fair, the Republicans didn’t want to enact this recommendation either. But Democrats made a point of pledging to enact all of the recommendations. Their refusal to do so means it’s politics as usual in Washington.

As of today, President Bush says U.S. troops will stay in Iraq unless it’s government asks us to leave.

“I know there’s a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there’s going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq,” Mr. Bush said during a joint news conference in Amman with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, referring to the final report by the Iraq Study Group that is expected next week. “We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done so long as the government wants us there.”

Hmmm…does this mean that if the Iraqi government asked us to leave, as early as tomorrow, we’d go with no questions asked? What about completing the mission? Do we have the same mission as the Iraqis? 

And about the formation of that great new democracy in the middle east? It’s still the goal, but this much is clear. The U.S. won’t keep troops in the country until its brand of democracy is established. That idea has proven itself to be nothing more than a huge political hot potato. For now, it seems that talk is off the table.