USS Ronald Reagan Commissioning Tomorrow

wessman writes "Being an employee at Northrop Grumman's Newport News shipyard, I cannot help but be proud to see one of our products commissioned by the U.S. Navy, especially considering how long it takes to build a $5 billion Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. And I'm sure the other 18,000 workers here feel the same way. The ship is being commissioned Saturday, July 12 at the Norfolk naval base. It is obviously the most technically advanced carrier in the fleet, taking the term "hardware" to new levels. Pick a local story. From the Hampton Roads Daily Press: Anchors Aweigh, Changes Abound Aboard Carrier, Some Wanted CVN-76 Named after Daredevil Flier, 20,000 Expected for Reagan's Rite, USS Constellation Retiring Too Soon?. From the Virginia Pilot: The Carrier Reagan - Ahead of Its Class, Carrier Construction is All in the Family, Former President's Son Michael Reagan Excited about Commissioning."

Comments

Re:WTF?

[GMontag]

Still upset about that defeat of Communism? Time to move on.

Re:WTF?

[Aadain2001]

First of all, he didn't end the Cold War. Russia defeated themselves with their crappy domestic programs and lacking infastructure. The people had no food, no water, and no heat. It was only a matter of time before they collapsed. All Reagan did was kill MORE civilians by not allowed the Russian government to drop all the military posturing, thus taking even more the little money they had away from the people and putting it into the military (gee, sound a little familiar?). He the the chance to end the war YEARS earlier, without the massive loss of the life that occured because of starvation of freezing, but he had to have his Star Wars program, which the Russian government viewed as a threat (and rightly so). So, in the end, Reagan just prolonged the conflict, caused more civilians to die, and increased our debt. This is why I agree with the parent that he was one of the worst presidents ever. But I'm one of the few INFORMED citizens it seems, so I'm in the minority on that view. Sad this is is that Bush had learned from Reagan, and his daddy, and is trying very hard to repeat the dog and poney show. So far, it's been working since the population doesn't want to be informed for fear of learning that they are wrong.

Re:Stop with the flamebait political posts, michae

[JLyle]

I know that most of the Slashdot audience probably agrees politically with Michael, but it's pretty clear to me that this whole goddamn story is just an excuse for people to make snide jokes about Ronald Reagan. I don't care whether you like Reagan or not (I didn't particularly), but when did Slashdot get into the business of just posting Republican-baiting stories?

Don't have any points to mod this up, so all I can do is say "Ditto". And, as an aside, I wouldn't be so sure that most of the Slashdot audience agrees politically with Michael.

Re:Rude

[vi-rocks]

But, Mr Reagan was an exceptionally decent human being, who cared deeply about the welfare of his nation, and for 8 years did the best he knew how to make this world a better place.

Cough .. choke ... please tell me this in intended to be modded as funny. You are talking about the man the gave the "Evil Empire" speech. Listen, you want to make the world a better place to live, then stop building 5 Billion dollar mega war machines.

Re:Not dead yet

[eggplant]

We are witnessing a revival of fascism in the United States.

When living individuals are "worshiped" as Reagan and George (the First) are by GOP legislators through the renaming of existing airports ("Houston Intercontinental" became "Bush International," and "Washington National" became "Reagan National") that is fascism. GOP legislators are saying (and we are allowing them to use our money and voices to say) that Reagan and Bush are more important than the previous namesakes, George Washington and Sam Houston.

The Republicans are going for name recognition, whitewashing the memories of mediocre (Bush) or even corrupt and anti-American (Reagan: Iran-Contra) administrations, in the hopes of drawing more support from soft-headed fools, who will see these names displayed in prominent places (and printed upon millions of airline tickets) and vote Republican because they want to be on the "winning team."

This aircraft carrier and its sister ship under construction, the "George H.W. Bush," are just two more examples of this.