From ajd@oit.itd.umich.edu Tue May  3 14:48:22 PDT 1994

Wrong-headed and paranoid in life, inconvenient in death, Richard
Nixon kicked off 'round nine-thirty on a Friday night.

At the newspaper, they had to the front page thrice -- the first 
makeover because of an art dept. error, the second when Gorazde was
bumped off to make room for the dead guy, costing a few thousand
in press re-tooling.  Not since the BATF played with matches in Waco
had the newsroom been so jazzed.  The teevee was tuned to CNN, the
interminable pro hockey playoffs were blessedly ignored, and the
Dalai Lama (passing through town) had to fight for column inches with 
his moral opposite.

Statesmen from around the world and former politicans from the US
shipped their paeans to the wire services with amazing speed.  Ed
Muskie and cohorts chimed in with brief eulogies which were respectful,
if not expressive of admiration.  Yeltzin's remarks were nice and
polite; his was the only statement from a Russian leader I've seen
and most of the old Soviet honchos Nixon dealt with are dead now.

Incongruous with the thirty-word essays most provided was the
extravagantly overwritten memoriam attributed to Ronald Reagan.  
The old fuck can't even remember authorizing massive violations of
constitutional writ, but we are expected to believe that he 
recalls enough Blake to 'write' an ode in prose that's embarassing 
in the volume of syllables it uses to celebrate the only leader of 
the Executive Branch of the United States whose administration was 
more heavily indicted than his own.

Come to think of it, perhaps that's why Mr. R. was fond of him.
I suspect Peggy Noonan made a deposit on another house this weekend.

Devotions and praise continue to cascade over the wire, and you'll
be hearing about the dead old man for days to come.  Our local
Sunday paper gave just tribute to his fondness for athletics in the
sports section.

AjD
-- 
                            ajd@oit.itd.umich.edu
"he wrote beautifully of things which were neither wholesome nor inspiring."