Axe falls on Reagan tour guides 'for being too old'

[kskiska]

Elderly volunteers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library claim they have been arred from giving tours and welcoming visitors because they are too old - even though many are younger than the former president when he led the US

Nearly 30 of the volunteers learned of their fate in a letter telling them that they were being relieved of their duties. They were awarded "emeritus" status and handed glass globes and certificates signed by Nancy Reagan.

Administrators deny that age was a factor in dismissing the volunteers, who are devoted to President Reagan. He was buried in the grounds of the library in the Simi Valley north of Los Angeles after his death last year aged 93.

But many of those affected, the majority of whom are in their seventies, believe otherwise.

"It was just 'goodbye and don't come back'," said Norma Stafford, 75. "Basically all they said was that we were not needed any more. But as we went along we figured out that all of us were over 70 or had grey hair, some of us both.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/10/wreag10.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/10/10/ixportal.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. When are these fucking idiots gonna realize that Reagan started

screwing them in 1980, and that the republicans will never stop screwing them?

What does it take to get people to notice the 900 foot long 30 foot wide republican dildo in their asses?

I have a hard time with sympathy toward these people - for one thing, why volunteer to help out evil? For another thing, they should have enough intelligence to realize that this is merely year 25 of Reagan fucking them over.

[DRoseDARs]

12. When Zombie Reagan rises from the grave to show them the light...

...or eat their brains, whichever. :shrug:

[FVZA_Colonel]

16. Ahh Zombie Reagan, a politician who doesn't give you any bull.

You know where he stands, no matter what! Braaaaiiiinnnnssss...

[wtmusic]

2. Well, class, we've learned something today about Republican values...nt

[Lexingtonian]

3. I guess Reagandolatry is supposed to be for cool young kids

and not about the retired shoe salesmen and bald-at-30 accountant sorts and Estelle Getty lookalikes that roam that esteemed institution.

I used to drive the little highway past it occasionally. Always had fantasies of a really nice wall of wildfire coming down the valley and improving the esthetic appeal.

[GRLMGC]

5. I've been there

It's super lame, as would be expected. The Nixon one is sooo much better (strange as that may sound).

[Algorem]

4. Reagan woulda made a great tour guide,never knew where he was.

[brentspeak]

6. You're never too old to learn

that Reagan and Bush Republicans will never hesitate to stab you in the back.

[opihimoimoi]

7. Shameful RePubs...how can they sleep at night..? Those are PUB OLE TIMERS

they fired....

Indeed, they eat their own...

Shameful and so revealing...

[Erika]

8. Reagan dissed anyone who he saw as unproductive

but he was treated as royalty when he was unproductive. Stupid GOP two faced attitude.

[bluestateguy]

9. A lot of the LBJ Library guides are old too

In fact, I'd say most of them are over 60, and some are over 70.

[NYC Liberal]

10. Ah, the smell of IRONY in the morning...

As I recall, Ronald Reagan was our OLDEST president, ever.

Now they are giving people the boot at his library....for being old.

Irony...or hypocrisy?

[Erika]

11. Reagan destroyed our neediest

He redid the social fabric, and the needy were tossed onto the streets. My big thing is the fact that Reagan had his every need take care of, while he brought policies that threw people out in the street with the same condition. He hurt this country more than most realize, but he did it with a smile and a sense of displaced optimism. The majority of Americans bought into it.

[symbolman]

13. The Reagan Memorial Trustees

suddenly realised that there were some elders that Reagan had "missed" with his programs to eliminate social programs to the older folks in the 80's and rectified the situation..

Now they are "FREE" to go home and eat cat food and starve with bloated prostates with the other elders that Reagan had somehow overlooked while starving more people than Stalin..

It's kind of like a "retroactive" abortion, which is what the right wing really believes in.. they must be brought to term, wringed of all taxes possible and then starved or sent to die in useless wars to enrich the rich.

[daleo]

14. A joke, modified from the Russian.

A young conservative came home to find his lovely young conservative wife in bed with another man, a very, very old man.

"It's bad enough you are cheating on me, but I can't believe you would prefer this old goat to me!", he exclaimed in horror.

"But he knew Reagan!", she said in self-defense.

The Soviets used to tell one like this about the cult of Lenin.

[rppper]

15. you know they all voted for the gipper too......

i mean really, who else would volunteer to work there....

don't take it too hard you old coots...just the gipper fucking you from the grave...now go home, sit in your rocker, eat some more ketchup-vegetable, and wait to die, like ronnie-poo wanted you to do all along...don't worry 'bout the ranch, we have this lively group of college republicans to help us with the tour now, as well as some welfare mothers to help clean the place.....

[Karla Marx]

17. Tee Hee

I love it when rethugs eat their own. Poetic justice.

[Piperay]

18. Practical wise it seems stupid

to get rid of the seniors they are the ones who volunteer for most things. Volunteers at hospitals and museums are usually seniors because they are the ones who have time to do that kind of thing. Younger people are usually too busy with school, work, family and career building to be able to volunteer for stuff whether they want to or not.

[salin]

19. "Firing" volunteers... just how does that work?

Don't show up again to volunteer or we will get a restraining order? How odd.

[NVMojo]

20. WTF???

[no_hypocrisy]

21. Guess they can't sue on age discrimination if they were volunteers.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

22. How ironic. What's next?

The volunteers at the * library will be fired because they're too stupid?

Then again, the tour of *'s library will only go from the minibar to the outhouse.

[doxieone]

23. Last year I was there, and the most rude guy I encountered...

was an 90 year old geezer in the front area of the library - before you actually get into the exhibit areas.

I took a photo of the area, and he absolutely crucified me (verbally) for that.

He's one of the things I will always remember about that place. Plus the fact that in the gift shop there was a stack of Dennis Miller books.

They had photos of the presidents, and the one they picked for Clinton had to be one of the worst ones they could have found.