Happier days at first
Indiana officials constructing the Ronald Reagan Parkway have run into trouble. Or out of money.
The Indianapolis Star reports the highway [one of um, several] has been in development almost two decades, but local governments haven’t yet figured out how to pay for it. But in the spirit of Star Wars [sorry, SDI], they have gone ahead anyway.
One unpopular option being considered would be tax increment financing [TIF], a classic Reagan era dodge. TIFs claim a territory and capture all growth in property tax revenue that come out of it. The theory is that the object at the center of the TIF has sparked all local magic and should rake off the proceeds. But this beggars other local taxing bodies, like the school district who objects to the proposed Reagan one.
After You!
In Newsweek Michael Isikoff has some new information on access to the Clinton White House papers, but wanders off into myth and misinformation on how the law, the Clintons and the Bushs came to this point.
The one thing Isikoff has is Archives documents showing that Clinton’s wishes on withholding documents are, shall we say, thorough.
No doubt the Clinton’s are interested in controlling their image and access to their papers, but this article’s brush with the state of the law on public access doesn’t help explain much.
Unlike what Isikoff says, the 1978 Presidential Records Act favored release and disclosure. The prolonged and extensive review by ex and current Presidents and their effective veto power on release is the creation of George W. Bush. Isikoff does say that Bush is under challenge in Federal Court in a convoluted wording, but his piece understates what a departure from existing law Bush made.
The Clintons are not a unique case, they are just the most recent battle over access to the record. And their interests allign with the Bush’s more than either party will acknowledge.
Isikoff’s mistaken summary of the state of law is at the bottom of his story:
“(Under the 1978 Presidential Records Act, the former president and the current president get to review White House records before they are disclosed. Either one can veto a release.) Ben Yarrow, a spokesman for Bill Clinton, says the former president was referring “in general” to a controversial 2001 Bush executive order—recently overturned, in part, by a federal judge—that authorized more extensive layers of review from both current and former presidents before papers are released. (Hillary’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.)”
Vicente Fox’s “I’m not your father’s ex-Mexican President” campaign has suffered new blows as a statue of the former Coca Cola cowboy was torn down in Veracruz hours after it was installed.
The book tour, the memorializing, the looming Presidential Library opening, all fly in the face of the fact that his National Action Party has always been a minority taste, his own Presidential victory not withstanding.
SO LONG, SUCKERS!
Taizhou
It’s Party Congress time in China, so time to look at President Hu Jintao and the roots of his raising. Return with us once more to Taizhou!
Al Jazeera found not a lot, although so far the town has avoided building a museumized version of his house.
Less so with Deng Xiaoping 
and Mao Zedong.
It all ended well at the Party Congress:
“ Hu Jintao mentions “democracy” more than 60 times in landmark report“
The Republican field continues to try on Ronald Reagan’s clothes, and carry his pen, while denouncing usurpers who are not worthy of the mantel.
But do they want the entire Reagan package? How ’bout the space aliens part?
“Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?”
9/21/87 United Nations*
Some remember. 
*Extra Bonus fun in this speech: Eight years after Iraq invaded Iran, Reagan gives the aggressor [that Saddam guy] a rhetorical pass and calls on Iran to accept the UN’s terms for a cease fire or face “enforcement measures.” Why They Hate Us: The Middle Years
Happier days at first
