|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 06/07/2004 : 13:17:31
|
“I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”
quote:
The truth is straightforward: Virtually every significant problem facing the American people today can be traced back to the policies and people that came from the Reagan administration. It is a laundry list of ills, woes and disasters that has all of us, once again, staring apocalypse in the eye.
How can this be? The television says Ronald Reagan was one of the most beloved Presidents of the 20th century. He won two national elections, the second by a margin so overwhelming that all future landslides will be judged by the high-water mark he achieved against Walter Mondale. How can a man so universally respected have played a hand in the evils which corrupt our days?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/060704A.shtml
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
|
|
|
Robb
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
 Posted - 06/07/2004 : 14:30:45 [Permalink]
|
Wow, Sounds like more of a rant to me. Obviously, Pitt does not like Reagan or his policies and makes it sound that Reagan was behind the 911 plot and that he alone equipped Saddam with his chemical weapons.
quote:
The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat are all tainted because Reagan battered down every environmental regulation he came across so corporations could improve their bottom line
Doesn't congress have something to do with these regulations? The old “republicans want children to die” rhetoric. Pitt can write anything he wants but I think a classier thing to do would be to wait to post this until Reagan is buried.
|
 |
|
|
Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2004 : 16:05:20 [Permalink]
|
His point with the article is, that image is considered more important than reality.. and that we have Reagan to thank for that.
He may be right....
How many people think that Saddam is responsible for 9/11? Alot. Why? The efforts of the current administration to project this image. |
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
|
|
|
|
Renae
SFN Regular
543 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2004 : 17:32:06 [Permalink]
|
Wow. I'm floored someone had the courage to write something less-than-glowing about Reagan.
I think it was hard to dislike Reagan as a person--or perhaps more accurately, as an image. But I don't think it's wise to vote for people based on their personality; any good salesman (or politician or actor) can charm us into liking them long enough to get what they want from us.
|
|
|
|
gezzam
SFN Regular
Australia
751 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 00:02:19 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Renae
Wow. I'm floored someone had the courage to write something less-than-glowing about Reagan.
I think it was hard to dislike Reagan as a person--or perhaps more accurately, as an image. But I don't think it's wise to vote for people based on their personality; any good salesman (or politician or actor) can charm us into liking them long enough to get what they want from us.
Unfortunatly a lot of people do vote that way |
Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.
Al Franken |
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 00:46:59 [Permalink]
|
Pitt actually wrote one of the milder articles that I've read; certainly a lot calmer than anything I might have come up with. And he kept to the facts without a lot of extra blather.
Not that any extra blather was needed; Reagan's administration was almost as corrupt as our current one, and history will speak for itself, as always, even though Bush locked up Reagan's records as soon as the bastard took office. I'd like to see those records.
If I have the agenda right, the corpse of honor will soon be hauled across the country, why I don't know. I do hope everybody remembers that it's almost summer, the weather is warm, and it won't be long before 'Dutch' becomes an embarrassment. Again.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 06:01:45 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by filthy
<snip>
Not that any extra blather was needed; Reagan's administration was almost as corrupt as our current one, and history will speak for itself, as always,<snip>
Methinks you have too much faith in the writers of history. |
-Chaloobi
|
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 07:08:03 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by chaloobi
quote:
Originally posted by filthy
<snip>
Not that any extra blather was needed; Reagan's administration was almost as corrupt as our current one, and history will speak for itself, as always,<snip>
Methinks you have too much faith in the writers of history.
Not in my lifetime nor yours perhaps, but someday researchers will tell the story as it went down and unlike most history lessons, it won't be so dull and dry that the kids will fall asleep in class. For now, it is enough to know that he's gone and he ain't comin' back.
The scociopath Bush and the party faithful seem to think that he's the reencarnation of Reagan, but he's not even a patch on ol' Dutch. Y'see, for as big a sleezebag as Reagan was, he was a sleezbag with style. I might even go so far as to say, "class," although that makes me choke a bit.
I could never really work up a good, solid hate for Reagan, even when, due to his policies, my disability was severly cut at a very bad time. He actually came across as a hell of a nice guy, even though he was anything but and the only people that didn't know it were those who soon found it out, and the brain-dead.
But whaddaya think; do ya reckon Mr. Death is enjoying his brand-new boy with the stoned grin and empty eyes?
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
Robb
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 07:53:15 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by filthy
for as big a sleezebag as Reagan was, he was a sleezbag with style.
If President Reagan was so bad for this country, why were his approval ratings so high?
|
|
|
|
Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
|
|
Robb
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 08:20:26 [Permalink]
|
At the end of his presidency, after all was said and done, he did have the highest approval rating since FDR, even with the 3% margin of error.
quote:
Reagan finished strong with a December 1988 Gallup poll recording a 63% approval rating. But given the 3% margin of error, this statistic is not appreciably different than the final ratings of Eisenhower (59%) or Kennedy (58%). Polls showed FDR with a 66% favorable tally at the time of his death.
In this article it says that his likability ratings were some of the lowest ever. Likeability is not the same as approval. People must have liked his policies if they didn't like him personally.
|
| Edited by - Robb on 06/08/2004 08:38:25 |
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 08:45:33 [Permalink]
|
quote:
If President Reagan was so bad for this country, why were his approval ratings so high?
In a post following this quote, you have pretty much answered the question. To all too many people, a personal likeability is exactly the reason they will select a candidate; qualifications and intelligence be damned. And, as we all really, really hate to wrong, they'll stick to the myth and suck on it like a lamprey.
With myself and others, who prefer fact over myth, his ratings were through the floor.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
Robb
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 08:58:49 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by filthy
quote:
In a post following this quote, you have pretty much answered the question. To all too many people, a personal likeability is exactly the reason they will select a candidate; qualifications and intelligence be damned. And, as we all really, really hate to wrong, they'll stick to the myth and suck on it like a lamprey.
With myself and others, who prefer fact over myth, his ratings were through the floor.
He won both elections overwhelmingly even with a low likeabilty rating. I don't think his likeability was why he was elected twice and had a very high approval rating at the end of his presidency. It must have been his policies that people approved of.
What is a Lamprey?
|
|
|
|
Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 11:34:32 [Permalink]
|
quote:
What is a Lamprey?
A bloodsucking parasite.
http://www.fisheries.vims.edu/lamprey.htm
Really a neat critter, if your into the horrific.
This site says they are native to lake ontario (as well as the north Atlantic)..... but I'm not 100% sure that is accurate. I seem to recall that they may have been let into the great lakes sometime in the 1800's. |
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
|
|
|
|
Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 11:46:44 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Robb
quote:
Originally posted by filthy
for as big a sleezebag as Reagan was, he was a sleezbag with style.
If President Reagan was so bad for this country, why were his approval ratings so high?
Actually, this is addressed in today's piece by Paul Krugman in the NY Times (today being June 8, 2004). He actually notes a number of Regan myths, the biggest being that Regan was this great tax-cutter. The reality is that after seeing what a bad idea his huge cuts were, he went about raising taxes for years in an attempt to clean up the mess. More is also found at Bob Somerby's wonderful site www.dailyhowler.com.
Lastly, some conservative commentators still think the guy walks on water, to wit today's piece by syndicated columnist Cal Thomas (www.calthomas.com has links to his stuff).
(Edited because I don't know what day it is.) |
| Edited by - Cuneiformist on 06/08/2004 12:06:06 |
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 11:53:08 [Permalink]
|
I remember the Reagan years quite well; everybody loved him. They loved him through the Lebonan disaster, the Grenada bullshit, Iran/Contra (impeachable), and even when a good number of his administration were investigated, some indited, and some 28, if I'm not mistaken, convicted of felonies. Reagan was called the Teflon President because while much was going to hell around him, nothing would stick to him. Pretty amazing, when you think about it.
The sea lamprey has indeed established booming populations in the Great Lakes. They are a real problem to the lake trout fisheries. Some years back, they figured out how to cut their numbers somewhat. Lamprays spawn in clear streams and rivers feeding the lakes, so they poison off the lavral stage of the animal. I don't recall what chemical is used, but it is said to work only on lamprey larvae.
Of course, there is no way they can get them all, so lamprays are here for the duration. A pity there is not some commercial market for them as there is for the similar hagfish.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
 |
|
Topic Locked
