Here's an interesting quote from The Virginian-Pilot's story about the christening of the USS Ronald Reagan:

``It's pretty ironic I'm here,'' Chief Warrant Officer 2 Earl McGallagher said ``He starved my family and my little girl.''

McGallagher, the Reagan's personnel director, said he was a laborer in Mobile, Ala., in 1982 when Reagan led the charge against some union rules. The result, he said, was an influx of non-union iron workers and a subsequent decrease in his hourly pay.

``My daughter was four months old. I joined the Navy out of sheer desperation,'' McGallagher said.

McGallagher does add that joining the service was one of the best decisions he ever made. It still sounds as if he's a tad bitter, though. Do you blame him?