America dares to dream - we prefer half-truths

Hi Friends,

I was just as skeptical as the next guy that Barrack Obama could actually do it.

Despite polls that showed him miles ahead, there was always the niggling feeling that race would be such an overriding factor and that somehow, when the white voter ( who forms the majority) faced the ballot paper alone behind the curtain, his deep-seated prejudices would resurface and the 44th POTUS (President of the US) would be white and not black.

However, America has confirmed to me that it is truly a Land of Opportunity- a country where dreams do come true.

America is by no means a perfect nation- the poor sometimes cannot afford basic healthcare whilst the rich live in their own world of yachts and private jets.

Critics will continue to say that its politics is too divisive and that it takes too long and requires too much money to find her elected leaders; but Obama’s election shows to the world the real meaning of democracy.

In the Land of the Free, anyone can be at the pinnacle. So long as he (or she) is able to infect others with his ideas and enthusiasm. Able to galvanize ordinary folks and convince them that change is not to be feared but is inevitable and to be grasped by the horns.

I am happy for America but have mixed feelings about my Singapore.

We are told (and many believe) that Singapore is not ready to accept a minority-race Prime Minister. That deep inside each one of us dwells a racist who cannot see beyond the colour of the skin.

We are told (and many believe) that Singapore is not ready for change. That the status quo is best. That deep inside each of us dwells an apathetic and contented citizen too lazy to consider better ways of doing things and to break out from our comfort zones.

But the late David Saul Marshall, a Jew, was Singapore’s first Chief Minister.

And Barrack Obama, an African-American who had the audacity to dream and hope, has become the next President of the United States.

Whilst we continue to believe half-truths.

Cheers,

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan

No “Kiss & tell” for ex-Mrs. Reagan (Jane Wyman)

Hi Friends,

Not many of us know that President Reagan (40th US President 1981-89) was a divorcee and even less know that his first wife was an Academy Award winner named Jane Wyman.

Reagan was a strong American president and his attractive persona makes Bush (both father and son) appear like wall-paper. He was a natural orator who was especially famous for his “Evil empire” pronouncement of the Soviet Union and was justified in being credited with the break-up of the Communist bloc and the subsequent collapse of the Berlin Wall.

The main reason why Reagan’s first marriage remains private must be that his first wife Jane Wyman decided that “it's bad taste to talk about ex-husbands and ex-wives” and refused to cash-in by writing a “kiss and tell” book of her marriage to a President of the USA.

There are still people of principle in the world and money still cannot buy everything!

Cheers

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan



Actress, ex-wife of Reagan
Won Academy Award for role in 'Johnny Belinda,' starred in TV's 'Falcon Crest'

September 11, 2007

BY BOB THOMAS
LOS ANGELES -- Jane Wyman won an Oscar for her role as a deaf rape victim in the film ''Johnny Belinda,'' and she'll probably be best remembered for her portrayal of a power-mad winery owner in TV's ''Falcon Crest.''

But her greatest distinction may have been refusing to kiss and tell about her love life, most especially her marriage to future President Ronald Reagan.

Ms. Wyman died Monday at her Palm Springs home, son Michael Reagan said. Ms. Wyman's age was listed as 93 in several reference books, however other sources, including the official family Web site, say she was 90.

''I have lost a loving mother, my children Cameron and Ashley have lost a loving grandmother, my wife Colleen has lost a loving friend she called Mom, and Hollywood has lost the classiest lady to ever grace the silver screen,'' Reagan said in a statement.

Ms. Wyman's film career started in the 1930s and stretched from the ''Gold Diggers of 1937'' to 1969's ''How to Commit Marriage,'' co-starring Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason. From 1981 to 1990 she played Angela Channing, a Napa Valley vintner who maintained her grip with a steely will on CBS' ''Falcon Crest.''

Her marriage in 1940 to fellow Warner Bros. contract player Ronald Reagan was celebrated in the fan magazines as one of Hollywood's ideal unions. While he was in uniform during World War II, her career ascended, signaled by her 1946 Oscar nomination for ''The Yearling.''

She and Reagan divorced in 1948, the year she won an Oscar for ''Johnny Belinda.'' Reagan reportedly cracked to a friend: ''Maybe I should name Johnny Belinda as co-respondent.''

'Not because I'm bitter'

After Reagan became governor of California and then president of the United States, Ms. Wyman kept a decorous silence about her ex-husband, who had married actress Nancy Davis.

In a 1968 newspaper interview, Ms. Wyman explained the reason:
''It's not because I'm bitter or because I don't agree with him politically. I've always been a registered Republican. But it's bad taste to talk about ex-husbands and ex-wives, that's all. Also, I don't know a damn thing about politics.''

A few days after Reagan died on June 5, 2004, Ms. Wyman broke her silence, saying: ''America has lost a great president and a great, kind and gentle man.''

Warner Bros. signed Ms. Wyman to a long-term contract in 1936. In 1937, Ms. Wyman married a wealthy manufacturer of children's clothes, Myron Futterman, in New Orleans. The marriage was reported as her second, but an earlier marriage was never confirmed. She divorced him in November 1938, declaring she wanted children and he didn't.

The actress became entranced by Reagan and romance ensued.

They were married on Jan. 26, 1940. The following year she gave birth to a daughter, Maureen. They later adopted a son, Michael. They also had a daughter who was born several months premature in June 1947 and died a day later.

In Reagan's autobiography An American Life, the index shows only one mention of Ms. Wyman, and it runs for only two sentences.

Their daughter Maureen died in August 2001 after a battle with cancer.
In 1952 Ms. Wyman married Fred Karger, a studio music director. They divorced, later remarried and divorced the second time in 1965.

AP