Reagan Without Tears

I was brought up never to speak ill of the recently departed. The joke became: you wait until they're in the ground. Well, Ray-Gun's under Simi soil, so now, after a week of one-sided reporting on his service to the country, it's time for a bit more balanced look at the man and his work.

Here are some writers who are not afraid to tell it like it was:

Yahoo! News - Reagan Without Tears: Lets not forget what the Gipper did to America

More from Peter Young

More from Peter Young, from an email he sent me on 25 August 2001:

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Dear Malcolm,

I've read quite a bit more of your work since my last message. The whole story is amazing, almost surreal. If I hadn't lived through the time and didn't know it was all true, I'd say it was unbelievable. Perhaps that's because we live in a very different world now.

I spent the summer of 1967, between my second and third years at Harvard Law, clerking for a Santa Barbara law firm and lived in I.V. Joel Honey already had earned notoriety. The underground newspaper in I.V. ran several stories on him, and I think I even wrote one of them. John Maybury, its editor, who had been a freshman reporter when I was editor of El Guahco in 1964-65, told me a lot about Honey's vicious acts. I'm not surprised Honey graduated from the anti-drug squad to what I would term Santa Barbara's equivalent of a red squad.

Further reading also refreshed my memory of the UCSB connections of people I met after their UCSB days. Tom Tosdal worked with me on the Pentagon Papers case, in which I was cocounsel for Tony Russo with Len Weinglass, and I met Phyllis Bennis through the National Lawyers Guild; she did quite a bit of work on some of our cases in the 1970's. I once knew but had forgotten they had gone to UCSB, although I never knew of their role in the events you chronicle.

Anyway, thanks once again for posting an invaluable historical record.

Best,

Peter

Ron Martin & The Campus Deli

Ron Martin, who used to own the Campus Deli, is looking for any pictures any of us might have of the Deli. If you have any or just want to get in touch with Ron, you can email him by clicking on the subject header of this blog item or clicking "comment" at the end of this message.

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Malcolm,

I just rec'd your book on the Isla Vista Riots. Thank you for writing it.

I lived in Isla Vista during all the riots and owned a business called the Campus Deli. You may recall it. It was more or less across the street from the bank.

I also lived, in my Aunt's beach house on DelPlaya, with an extrodinary surfer by the name of Harold C Spear, otherwise know as "Tex". Tex had polio when he was a kid and was quite the surfer. I still see Tex from time to time. He is now Dr. Tex Spear and lives in Hawaii. If you want his email address, I would be gland to send it to you.

I have lost all my photo's of the Deli. Would you have any?

I well remember the CS gas. Not long after I grew my hair to my belt, along with everyone else, I moved to Alaska. Now I am back in my much loved Canada. Life was very different after the riots. Things got real quiet. Our spirit was broken. My hair is not so long anymore but it's still long in my heart.

Best,

Ronald Martin
President,
Danatec Educational Services Ltd.
www.danatec.com

NPR : Zinni: U.S. Failed to Plan Iraq War Aftermath

Thirty Four Years Later... Here we are. Zinni lays it out exactly:

NPR : Zinni: U.S. Failed to Plan Iraq War Aftermath