Bridgehead Regained? 
A ten-foot bronze Ronald Reagan statue somehow incorporating the Berlin Wall may overcome setbacks which would stop lesser metal, and be erected at America’s London embassy.
The proposed statue was rejected last year on the grounds Reagan had not been dead long enough, and/or because it was “lacking gravitas.” One account has the statue’s failings being structural:
“The original sculpture depicts Reagan leaning on a pedestal, but [statue fabricator] Walker said this design was rejected for the British statue because the pose would be seen as weak in that part of the world.“
 Alfred the Leaner 
How these obstacles can be bypassed is unclear, but Westminster reportedly will ponder the question again. This urge to create facts on the ground is endemic in the fabled Westminster Council, where the Tories came to grief in the nineties for selling off public housing as a means of driving out Labour voters. One Conservative Council Member committed suicide during the “homes for votes” investigation, and another paid 12 million Pounds as punishment.
The statue scheme is another effort to shape the battlefield, plunking Reagan in front of the US Embassy during its final days in Grovesnor Square, allowing the statue to then land at the new South London Embassy site as a package deal.
Sadly no representation of the proposed statue is available, but let’s take the leaping stallions 
at the College Station Bush Library’s Berlin Wall, and in our minds eye substitute a spry, youthful Ronald Reagan. 
Calling Card 
Bush biographer Bill Minutaglio takes to Newsweek’s never too rich and too thin pages to update us on the former president’s goings on, and he appears to have a rather open schedule.   “Bush has always been friendly,” Minutaglio comments, and the Ex is going out of his way to show it.
The local college kid who sold many Bush neighbors “Welcome Home George & Laura” signs found himself besieged by Bush phone calls, and a 14 year-old commanded 90 minutes of Bush’s time for a frank exchange of ideas.
Things are more mixed further from Preston Hollow. Bush got a big welcome when he first returned to Midland as ex-president. Even a Bush minion was amazed:
“They turned out 30,000 people here,” says his longtime Texas accountant, Bob McCleskey. “And that’s without giving out food and beer.“
But an effort by a hometown state legislator to congratulate Bush on his torture achievements was stopped by
heroic state representative Lon Burman.
Terrible Two 
From Florida, where infectious optimism rises from the fever swamps, comes word of a disturbance in the force.
What happens when two New Reagans® lock in deadly embrace?
Identifying New Reagans® is a perilous course, disappointment a constant danger. The Sunshine State already boasted one New Reagan® in Governor “Orange” Charlie Crist, but now a younger, cuter, New Reagan® threatens his rise to greatness.
Pretty boy former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio is a New Reagan® too! And happily, it’s a life sentence, possibly beyond.
“Rubio, like Reagan, will do wonders for the nation for years to come“
Others aren’t so sure. Florida Senate President Ken Pruitt has worked with both men, and his Crist man-crush is strong.
“He is Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan all wrapped up in one. I really love this man. His can-do, it’s-always-morning-in-America attitude is an inspiration to every citizen in our great state … Speaker Rubio, I love him, too. He’s a little tougher to love.“
Fifth on their list, but somehow on top thanks to use of revered “countdown” format.
Wall Eyed 
“In a world where more and more borders are being opened up – to trade, to travel, to movement of peoples, to cultural exchanges – it is tragic to see walls still being erected,â€
In a development sure to irritate both Ronald Reagan’s traditional American fan base and Israel’s, Pope Benedict drew comparisons to Reagan’s immortal Berlin Wall speech during his visit to the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Pope called for Palestinian statehood, and denounced Israel’s “anti-Fascist protective rampart” in classically vague Papal pronouncements. The Holy Father said walls “do not last forever†and “can be taken down.â€
In Vatican terms, almost a declarative statement!
Perhaps Israel needs to work up a variation on another Reagan infrastructure declaration:
“We bought it. We paid for it. It’s ours. And we’re gonna keep it“
