[lit-ideas] Re: Planet Reagan
- From: "josey" <wells001@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 23:48:28 -0700
hi everyone
generally I don't contribute to the learned here. But Since Mr. Reagan has
passed I'd like to send my condolences. Is everyone braced! Listen to me
Carefully. I worked in the Air Traffic control Tower at Palomar Airport in
Carlsbad California okay. I had been there two months and the union decided
to strike, Well Mr. Reagan fired all of us. three weeks later a PSA jet
plunged into San Diego killing every one on board. wait, im not thru.
I was told one should not strike the federal gov--was the excuse--but never
the less--I was out of a JOB!
I furthered my education to San Diego state University. I sought and gain
employment at the student employment office. Reagan then submitted his cuts
across the board. The board of regents agreed and I was let go.
Next Mr. Reagan and his pristine wife started the Drug program--you know
where they do autopsy's on you before you die. Well I was drug free thank
goodness--but I witnessed hundreds of people being fired because they smoked
Weed
were they bad people? they did a good job. they managed to earn the
company money. but when =please excuse me + tested. Now dammit, Tested!!!!
they were fired! its okay because people like that don't deserve to work.
well people lost houses , lost every thing cuz of a idealism some
knucklehead Name Reagan and his wife felt was okay to impose. Now before you
bash me---
think of the people who have been Killed under the veil of WMD!
where was I? , oh, I remember Gov brown, slashing peoples jobs because of
Reagan's Bull****. You know--CUTS ACROSS THE BOARD!!!--Lots of Tenured
Professors Loss their Jobs. Lots of Seniority people Lost their Jobs
when Reagan was shot I was sad .I never wish ill on anyone--nor would it be
proper to see anyone hurt on earth--but, wait--did any of you people feel
anything when Gov Wallace was shot? well Wallace was a *****How about Larry
Flint?
Oh Flint he was a ******Oh they were Different! after all Reagan was a
President..
Joseph Wells
----- Original Message -----
From: <JulieReneB@xxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2004 5:53 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Planet Reagan
> I'd be interested in reactions to this assessment.
>
> Julie Krueger
>
> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/060704A.shtml
>
> Planet Reagan
> By William Rivers Pitt
> t r u t h o u t | Perspective
> Monday 07 June 2004
> Buffalo Bill's
> defunct
> who used to
> ride a watersmooth-silver
> stallion
> and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
> Jesus
> he was a handsome man
> and what i want to know is
> how do you like your blueeyed boy
> Mister Death
>
> - e.e. cummings, "Buffalo Bill's Defunct"
>
> Ronald Reagan is dead now, and everyone is being nice to him. In every
> aspect, this is appropriate. He was a husband and a father, a beloved
member of
> a family, and he will be missed by those he was close to. His death was
long,
> slow and agonizing because of the Alzheimer's Disease which ruined him,
one
> drop of lucidity at a time. My grandmother died ten years ago almost to
the day
> because of this disease, and this disease took ten years to do its dirty,
> filthy, wretched work on her.
> The dignity and candor of Reagan's farewell letter to the American
people
> was as magnificent a departure from public life as any that has been seen
in
> our history, but the ugly truth of his illness was that he lived on, and
on,
> and on. His family and friends watched as he faded from the world of the
real,
> as the simple dignity afforded to all life collapsed like loose sand
behind
> his ever more vacant eyes. Only those who have seen Alzheimer's Disease
invade a
> mind can know the truth of this. It is a cursed way to die.
> In this mourning space, however, there must be room made for the
truth.
> Writer Edward Abbey once said, "The sneakiest form of literary subtlety,
in a
> corrupt society, is to speak the plain truth. The critics will not
understand
> you; the public will not believe you; your fellow writers will shake their
> heads."
> 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?
> The answer lies in the reality of the corrupt society Abbey spoke of.
Our
> corruption is the absolute triumph of image over reality, of flash over
> substance, of the pervasive need within most Americans to believe in a
happy-face
> version of the nation they call home, and to spurn the reality of our
estate as
> unpatriotic. Ronald Reagan was, and will always be, the undisputed
> heavyweight champion of salesmen in this regard.
> Reagan was able, by virtue of his towering talents in this arena, to
sell
> to the American people a flood of poisonous policies. He made Americans
feel
> good about acting against their own best interests. He sold the American
> people a lemon, and they drive it to this day as if it was a Cadillac. It
isn't the
> lies that kill us, but the myths, and Ronald Reagan was the greatest
> myth-maker we are ever likely to see.
> Mainstream media journalism today is a shameful joke because of
Reagan's
> deregulation policies. Once upon a time, the Fairness Doctrine ensured
that
> the information we receive - information vital to the ability of the
people to
> govern in the manner intended - came from a wide variety of sources and
> perspectives. Reagan's policies annihilated the Fairness Doctrine, opening
the door
> for a few mega-corporations to gather journalism unto themselves. Today,
> Reagan's old bosses at General Electric own three of the most-watched news
channels.
> This company profits from every war we fight, but somehow is trusted to
tell
> the truths of war. Thus, the myths are sold to us.
> The deregulation policies of Ronald Reagan did not just deliver
> journalism to these massive corporations, but handed virtually every facet
of our lives
> into the hands of this privileged few. 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. Our leaders are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the corporations that
were made
> all-powerful by Reagan's deregulation craze. The Savings and Loan scandal
of
> Reagan's time, which cost the American people hundreds of billions of
dollars,
> is but one example of Reagan's decision that the foxes would be fine
guards
> in the henhouse.
> Ronald Reagan believed in small government, despite the fact that he
grew
> government massively during his time. Social programs which protected the
> weakest of our citizens were gutted by Reagan's policies, delivering
millions
> into despair. Reagan was able to do this by caricaturing the "welfare
queen," who
> punched out babies by the barnload, who drove the flashy car bought with
your
> tax dollars, who refused to work because she didn't have to. This was a
> vicious, racist lie, one result of which was the decimation of a
generation by
> crack cocaine. The urban poor were left to rot because Ronald Reagan
believed in
> 'self-sufficiency.'
> Because Ronald Reagan could not be bothered to fund research into 'gay
> cancer,' the AIDS virus was allowed to carve out a comfortable home in
America.
> The aftershocks from this callous disregard for people whose homosexuality
was
> deemed evil by religious conservatives cannot be overstated. Beyond the
> graves of those who died from a disease which was allowed to burn
unchecked, there
> are generations of Americans today living with the subconscious idea that
sex
> equals death.
> The veneer of honor and respect painted across the legacy of Ronald
> Reagan is itself a myth of biblical proportions. The coverage proffered
today of
> the Reagan legacy seldom mentions impropriety until the Iran/Contra
scandal
> appears on the administration timeline. This sin of omission is vast. By
the end
> of his term in office, some 138 Reagan administration officials had been
> convicted, indicted or investigated for misconduct and/or criminal
activities.
> Some of the names on this disgraceful roll-call: Oliver North, John
> Poindexter, Richard Secord, Casper Weinberger, Elliott Abrams, Robert C.
McFarlane,
> Michael Deaver, E. Bob Wallach, James Watt, Alan D. Fiers, Clair George,
> Duane R. Clarridge, Anne Gorscuh Burford, Rita Lavelle, Richard Allen,
Richard
> Beggs, Guy Flake, Louis Glutfrida, Edwin Gray, Max Hugel, Carlos Campbell,
John
> Fedders, Arthur Hayes, J. Lynn Helms, Marjory Mecklenburg, Robert Nimmo,
J.
> William Petro, Thomas C. Reed, Emanuel Savas, Charles Wick. Many of these
names
> are lost to history, but more than a few of them are still with us today,
> 'rehabilitated' by the administration of George W. Bush.
> Ronald Reagan actively supported the regimes of the worst people ever
to
> walk the earth. Names like Marcos, Duarte, Rios Mont and Duvalier reek of
> blood and corruption, yet were embraced by the Reagan administration with
> passionate intensity. The ground of many nations is salted with the bones
of those
> murdered by brutal rulers who called Reagan a friend. Who can forget his
support
> of those in South Africa who believed apartheid was the proper way to run
a
> civilized society?
> One dictator in particular looms large across our landscape. Saddam
> Hussein was a creation of Ronald Reagan. The Reagan administration
supported the
> Hussein regime despite his incredible record of atrocity. The Reagan
> administration gave Hussein intelligence information which helped the
Iraqi military use
> their chemical weapons on the battlefield against Iran to great effect.
The
> deadly bacterial agents sent to Iraq during the Reagan administration are
a
> laundry list of horrors.
> The Reagan administration sent an emissary named Donald Rumsfeld to
Iraq
> to shake Saddam Hussein's hand and assure him that, despite public
American
> condemnation of the use of those chemical weapons, the Reagan
administration
> still considered him a welcome friend and ally. This happened while the
Reagan
> administration was selling weapons to Iran, a nation notorious for its
support
> of international terrorism, in secret and in violation of scores of laws.
> Another name on Ronald Reagan's roll call is that of Osama bin Laden.
The
> Reagan administration believed it a bully idea to organize an army of
Islamic
> fundamentalists in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. bin Laden became
> the spiritual leader of this action. Throughout the entirety of Reagan's
term,
> bin Laden and his people were armed, funded and trained by the United
States.
> Reagan helped teach Osama bin Laden the lesson he lives by today, that it
is
> possible to bring a superpower to its knees. bin Laden believes this
because he
> has done it once before, thanks to the dedicated help of Ronald Reagan.
> In 1998, two American embassies in Africa were blasted into rubble by
> Osama bin Laden, who used the Semtex sent to Afghanistan by the Reagan
> administration to do the job. In 2001, Osama bin Laden thrust a dagger
into the heart of
> the United States, using men who became skilled at the art of terrorism
with
> the help of Ronald Reagan. Today, there are 827 American soldiers and over
> 10,000 civilians who have died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, a
war that
> came to be because Reagan helped manufacture both Saddam Hussein and Osama
> bin Laden.
> How much of this can be truthfully laid at the feet of Ronald Reagan?
It
> depends on who you ask. Those who worship Reagan see him as the man in
charge,
> the man who defeated Soviet communism, the man whose vision and charisma
made
> Americans feel good about themselves after Vietnam and the malaise of the
> 1970s. Those who despise Reagan see him as nothing more than a pitch-man
for
> corporate raiders, the man who allowed greed to become a virtue, the man
who
> smiled vapidly while allowing his officials to run the government for him.
> In the final analysis, however, the legacy of Ronald Reagan - whether
he
> had an active hand in its formulation, or was merely along for the ride -
is
> beyond dispute. His famous question, "Are you better off now than you were
four
> years ago?" is easy to answer. We are not better off than we were four
years
> ago, or eight years ago, or twelve, or twenty. We are a badly damaged
state,
> ruled today by a man who subsists off Reagan's most corrosive final gift
to us
> all: It is the image that matters, and be damned to the truth.
>
>
> William Rivers Pitt is the senior editor and lead writer for t r u t h
o
> u t. He is a New York Times and international bestselling author of two
books
> - 'War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know' and 'The Greatest
> Sedition is Silence.'
> -------
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
> digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
>
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
