‹ A Coast Guard that guards everyone else’s coast •
Charley Reese’s columns have been a staple at Antiwar.com since the early days. Back in the 90’s, we carried Charley’s columns from the Orlando Sentinel where he wrote and edited for 30 years.
Since 2001, we have featured his insightful columns regularly. Charley has had some medical problems and has decided to go into full retirement. We wish him well.
This weekend we feature his farewell column. Of course, we will continue to offer his past columns on his archive page. For those who have asked for contact information for Charley, we only have this address: Charley Reese, P.O. Box 2446, Orlando, FL 32802.
Goodbye Charley.
Charlie, I’ve enjoyed reading your columns over the past couple of years. I’m sorry to hear that you won’t be writing them any longer. Hopefully you are able to deal with your health problems successfully. Best wishes.
Seconded!
Charlie is the master of the 300 word format.
Always poinient, and frequently brilliant.
I wish he only the very best in his situation,
and regard him most highly as a true patriot,
and a thinking man’s man.
The concise and concentrated commonsense of Charlie Reese is an art form in itself.
I’m going to miss Charlie. He’s been one of my favorite columnists for the past several years. I hope he has many happy years ahead of him. He’s a great guy!
Dang, dang, dang. Long have I enjoyed Reese’s no-crapola columns. Who can forget his last column for the Orlando Sentinel, in which he told his critics to “go to hell”? He was a Democrat, but why he belonged to that or any party is beyond me. What a loss to clear, blunt, thinking and writing.
Here’s to a long and reasonably healthy retirement.
Thanks Charley, for your columns. You’ve done much for all of us.
I wish the best for you and your family.
Scott
I will miss your articles here, on Lew Rockwell and in my local paper, thanks for all the great work. Good luck and good health.
Peace!
I have always relished Charley’s columns as a light read and a needed antidote to the ambient insanity that is politics. As one can well imagine, my views diverge rather considerably from his own, but, at risk of seeming effusive, his undiminished respect for fact, rationality, and basic morality never failed to impress me. At a time where patriotism- and, by extension, morality- are equated with a blind deference to the State, Charley is a living reassurance that decency and a sense of what liberty really means are not altogether dead in the late American republic. His laconic prose and straightforward manner gave his writing a sense of authenticity that few writers can hope to mimic. May you enjoy a long, prosperous, and happy retirement, Charley, and may the neocons finally receive their cosmic comeuppance ;).
Dear Mr. Reese
I have enjoyed your articles very much, I wish you a happy and healthy retirement. Iwill miss your articles very much, good night and good luck, all the best from down under.
Charley, you’re the gutsiest columnist around and I hate to see you hanging it up. You still write with the best of them. If you’ve lost a little on your fastball, I haven’t noticed. I’ve read your column for 35 years and used to buy the Orlando “slantinel” to get it in the pre-Internet days. I would never buy that crummy “Reese-less” paper today. I always said you were a Southernized Joe Sobran, another great one. Best of luck to you from another native Georgian.
I’ve been an avid reader of Charley’s columns ever since moving to central Florida 13 years ago. He was a lush tropical island of sanity in the sea of liberal toxic waste that was (and still is) what Marshall Miller called the “Slantinel.” Make no mistake, he didn’t retire from the rag — he was for all intents and purposes fired for his views. Perhaps it’s poetic justice that the Slantinel, like the rest of the MSM (print division), is now in death-spiral mode as it bleeds red ink like a man shot in the femoral artery.
Dear Charlie,
We all hope you enjoy every sunrise and savor every sunset. May the middle part of your days be filled with the joy of life. You saw the world, inside and out. Now you can see yourself in the mirror of your own past life.
Cheers to your well-earned retirement. We will all miss you.
Elaine
Culture of Life News
Dear Mr. Charley Reese,
Thank you for your columns. Our local newspaper had just discovered your articles, thanks to internet, and was quoting you rather often. I, just as countless others around the world including the staff at our local newspaper, will miss your clear, concise, informative writing.
Good bye and good luck.
Charlie:
Even though I promote early retirement, as a means of reducing global warming, I wish you weren’t retiring. I always looked forward to your columns, and was awed by how you consistently and concisely, cut through the crap and got to the heart of the matter.
Thank you Antiwar.com for giving me the opportunity, to discover and enjoy, the common sense writings of Charlie Reese.
Ramsay
Green Retirement Planning
Good luck and God Bless in the time you have left Charlie. I have always enjoyed your no nonsense columns.
When I first discovered Charlie Reese on LRC I started to think of him as a latter day H.L.Mencken, a man who can mix journalism with the kind of earthy humor which bespeaks humility and common sense. It would be nice to think that a new generation of Menckens and Reeses was waiting in the wings, and it is always permissable to hope. But, as his last article hints, there is a kind of non-repeatablity when it comes to style…like the irrevocable replacement of stacato Underwood typwriters by the silent padding of PC keyboards. Well,Charlie might have wound up writing writing *on* a PC…but what he wrote was always the antithesis *of* PC!
There is indeed a change in medium underway. The last of such consequence in the “West” was not the arrival of printing from the Chinese, but the change from Roll to Codex in the Fourth Century AD, which took almost to the present to unfold. Sorrily, not knowing the first, most are quite ignorant of some of the consequences of the second, especially the psychological, and very subtly but concretely manifested even here, as one, just to mention one small aspect, scrolls down the page.
We do indeed live in “The Vinyard of the Text” to quote a title by Ivan Illich…who I consider much more reliable that McCluhan on the subject of media.
Both have something to say, both are not its most profound or deepest statement, since both were also ignorant of the change wrought in the Fourth Century AD, which had less to do with “text” than what “text” manifested and was used for.
Here and there Derrida touches on the matter, keyed especially around his clear understanding of “orality” in Plato, but he too without knowing or understanding the revolution in the Fourth Century save very incidentally.
But this is not a topic to be lightly treated in a few words.
Best of luck to Charlie! I will miss his honesty and his ability to see dog doodoo and not call it chocolate mousse. Not to mention his sense of humor. His column was always a first read.
He will be missed.
Reese was a true Media hero in terms of speaking the truth and setting straight all the Media liars and shills. He called out the phoney politicians and used sarcasm and common sense to put down their self serving and harmful schemes. He was always on the side of the Middle Class and promoted what was good for this country.
The antithesis of a Charley Reese is a Tim Russert. I will miss Charley Reese because he told the truth. I do not miss Tim Russert because he told lies for money.
God Bless Charley Reese.
Godspeed, Mr. Reese. You’ll be missed sorely.
Gonna miss you, Charlie ! Thank you for years of great insight and interesting reading ! One of my fav journalists ever ! Best wishes from San Blas, Mexico !
I’ve been reading Charley’s columns for the past few years, here at AntiWar.com and LewRockwell.com, and have found his writing style concise, straightforward, and expressive. You will be greatly missed and your writings cherished.
God bless!
R.
Mr. Reese,
I can’t say that I’ve been a frequent reader, but I have seen your columns from time to time when they were spotlighted on antiwar.com, but now I I feel compelled to dig through the archives. Thank you for all your insights and humor. Your last column is truly a treasure and the ideas in it will hopefully outlast us all.
Take care and God bless.
RM
The worst part about Charlie not writing anymore is the fact that he will never be replaced as another poster has said.All you have now are presstitutes who would sell their kids to get invited to the latest DC party. Charlie was the end of an era that will never be replaced
I feel as if a personal friend has passed away. The straight talk from Charley was always on target. There is one less shining light in an otherwise dark world. Goodbye, Charley.
Without fail, I always read Charlie’s colune first and then, after reading the opinions of others, I nearly always read his column a second time. I doubt wheter any future generations will ever read another writer with his talent and ability of simply cutting through the silly political crap that passes as journalism and telling things exactly as they are. Charlie, please do us a huge favor and write a special guest column from time to time.
Oh Charley, I will miss your no-nonsense views and salty wisdom. Rest well and rest assured that your voice has made a difference and spoken truth to power. You will be terribly missed and never forgotten.
I hope Charley reads all these heart felt messages. When I think about how America should be in terms of its moral compass and sticking to the founding father principles I think of Charley Reese.
Hi Charlie,
I’m sure sad to see you retire. I was born in Orlando and followed your columns regularly in the Orlando Sentinel starting in the early sixties, while I was in college.
Your insights taught me not to see politics through rose colored glasses, but rather to “question authority” at all times, rather than being “duped” by all the political hacks b/s!
You taught me to be an independent thinker - My own man as it were! THANKS!
Best wishes and enjoy your retirement!
Regards,
George
Best wishes to you Mr. Reese. You will be missed.
Charley Reese’s columns will be greatly missed . His unorthodox style and a willingness to dig deeper and offer original input and even take personal sacrifice for it is truelly admirable in today’s climate of globalism and propaganda journalism. His work on the issues froom America to the Balkans to the middle east opened my eyes to many issues but it also indicted all the other journalists for their unprofessional conduct that that has made so much death and destruction in all of those regions as well as America today
Thank you Charlie. You will be missed.
I’ve been reading Charley’s columns since sept 2001, here at AntiWar.com and LewRockwell.com. His articles introduced to the great values the forefathers of AMERICA “USA” - Had envisioned - The real meaning of freedom, government, religion, Charley’s human touch was everywhere in his articles - Even Palestine, Palestinians, were included in his wide visual fields!
HE SURE WAS NOT A NARROW-MINDED AMERICAN - People like him made America likable as a country & people!
He was not afraid…. and not a sycophant never wrote to please a special intrest group
He is a real patriot WHO LOVES HIS COUNTRY - USA - and made everything possible to make its people respected “and lovable”!
Alistair Cooke from the BBC wrote about America as an outsider to the outside world, yet Charley wrote about America too; but as an insider addressing his countrymen - And was telling them the truth!
If there is more than happiness, I would’ve wished it to Charley Reese!
Charley Reese has done heroic work for many years. He has carried the lamp of truth where few writers dare.
He is one of the few pundits who doesn’t stick his finger up in the wind before he takes a position.
And his writing is courageous as it comes. He took a lot of heat for his honesty on the Middle East. But he never flinched.
He probably has far more fans across this land than he will ever know. I got a phone call a few weeks ago from an uncle who lives in West Virginia. Even though my uncle has (had?) been a Bush supporter, he said that Charley’s piece on the need to distrust politicians perfectly expressed his own views.
If we had more columnists like Charley Reese, it would not be so easy for so many politicians to get away with so many damn lies.
So long Charley, I’ll miss your sense of humor for the years to come.
Mr Reese is a courageous and forthright person whose articles I have enjoyed reading for a number of years. His columns on the Middle East are especially worthy of admiration. Much as one might regret not reading his columns, I wish him a most peaceful retirement.
Mr. Reese.
I grew to love your columns and I already miss em.
Stay true, stay strong, these are dark times indeed and we’re by no means out of the hell hole. It is exactly because of this that Charley should take the time out to focus on his personal life.
Dear Charley, no one says it the way you do. Thank you for all the wonderful reads. Your never failed to put things in their proper perspective, simply and succinctly. You’ll be sorely missed, but I wish you a happy and healthy retirement!
Your columns were always brave and insiteful and true, Charley. I’m gonna miss you. Be healthy and happy and stick around this old planet for a long time to come, OK?
Your columns always told it like it really was - as honest as they come. Charley you deserve the medal of honor for your courage in facing what I am sure has been a torrent of opposition especially on the Middle East. Thank you, and may you enjoy a prosperous, healthy, and happy retirement.
P.S. Is there any chance you might drop in with a guest column once in a while? Anti-war.com will not be the same for me.
Armed with a clear mind, brutal honesty and the art to write with razors, he cut through all the obfuscation straight to the heart. Not before true understanding you can say it clear. Not before you spilled all your sweat you can make it seem effortless. Charley Reese excelled on all fronts and would not, probably could not stand for anything less.
Charley, I’ve read you’re columns since living in central Florida in the mid 70s. After moving away, I rediscovered them on LRC and Antiwar.com. When I saw you had a new posting, yours was always one of the first read. Your clear way of writing is so refreshing and will be missed.
Would to God we had someone to fill your shoes. In the meantime, I hope you’ll write a guest column from time to time.
God bless you and may He give you many more years.
LTC JR
US Army
Charlie: I gonna miss you, man. You mostly reminded me of a kindly uncle who would always lecture me against the evils of sin, but do so in a way that made me felt fortunate for his presence and gratitude for his counsel. I feel it was the misfortunate of America that more of its sons and daughters did not know you, and those who did didn’t pay greater heed to you advice. Best wishes and good luck in your new endeavor of leisure.
in the short time i have read mr reese’s columns, they have become something to rely on. i will miss his terse insight. congratulations on your retirement, mr reese.
Best. Columnist. Ever. Will be sorely missed.
Sad Day. Charlie–I have never missed reading your columns the very first thing. I will miss you
Good luck in your retirement, Charlie. You’ll be greatly missed by a lot of people who prefer to read straight writing. There were times when you were the only writer calling the shots on Israel without blarney.
From the Florida panhandle. Loved your columns for years and years, often discussing them with friends. Your too young to be so sick, keep eating vegetables and see if it can help. Wishing you the best.