The ugly side of Ronald Reagan

<snip>
An unabashed arch-conservative, Reagan offered enthusiastic support for the apartheid regime in South Africa.

He feted the Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi in the White House, hailing him as "an anti-communist freedom fighter". The same Savimbi, whose ceaseless rebel uprising would claim 300,000 lives during the Reagan years, turned his country into one of the most heavily mined territories on earth and earned the moniker "the artificial limb of the world".

Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, "our man in Zaire", was welcomed twice in Washington, acclaimed as a "voice of good sense and good will", and lavished with millions of dollars in bilateral aid to prop up what was then one of the most corrupt regimes on earth.

Reagan’s presidency, in the guise of combating communism, caused widespread strife in Africa.
<snip>

http://www.eastandard.net/intelligence/intel20060419.htm

I didn't know he had a beautiful side.

Granted the man was a good looking guy at one time. But that was when Bedtime for Bonzo was in theaters...

of the 40s and 50s, he was actually very plain-looking. Compared to the major-league, Gable, Wayne, Cooper, Stewart, Peck or Grant, Reagan was just plain ugly.

Google her name and see what Mr. Christian did to her!

I rank him as one of the worse presidents in history.

budget deficits alone which were created by an extraordinarily regressive tax scheme wherein the wealthiest of the wealthy added trillions of dollars to their wealth, compliments of the US Treasury.

--------------------------RONALD REAGAN RECORDS AS FIRST---------------------------
(1900-1989)

(Peggy Noonan pay attention)

1.First to turn America into a DEBTOR nation
2. First to increase DEBT faster than growth of national income in eight years
3. First to increase DEBT faster than growth of gdp over eight years
4. First to double the deficit in just eigh t years
5. First to “almost”: triple the national DEBT in just eight years
6. First to increase SPENDING by 80%--over 8 years.
7. First to SPEND more in eight years than was spent in prior 50 years.
8. First to have “real” INTEREST RATES of 8% after averaging 1% over 35 years.
9. First to keep PRIME INTEREST RATES at 20%.
10.First to over value the dollar to the yen at rate of 262 yen to 1 dollar.
11.First to have served as Governor and increase STATE SPENDING by 112%
12.First to have HOME LOAN INTEREST RATES as high as 16%
13. First to CUT TAXES by 60% for his rich pals
14. First to allow the SAVINGS AND LOAN INDUSTRY to be raided after signing a deregulatory bill and proclaiming “I think we have hit the jackpot”. Come and get it the vaults are unguarded.
15. First to deal with TERRORISTS
16. First to send an AUTOGRAPHED BIBLE to a man he called “The Satan of Terrorists”.
17. First to have an ADMIRAL plead the Fifth Amendment.
18. First to have a stealing, lying, gutless wife abusing MARINE LT. COLONEL plead the Fifth Amendment.
19. First to have a “sitting” CABINET MEMBER INDICTED
20. First to have an ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE INDICTED.
21. First to have an ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE SENT TO PRISON.
22. First to have over 100 MEMBERS OF AN ADMINISTRATION CHARGED WITH CRIMES..
23. First to have more members of his administration charged with crimes than CUMULATIVE TOTAL OF ALL OTHER PRESIDENTS in the twentieth century
24. First to set a record for the LARGEST ONE DAY PERCENTAGE DECLINE in the DOW in history. 10-19-87
25. First to have over $10,000,000 INCREASE IN WEALTH from serving for 8 years as president.
26. First to testify ”under oath” 130 times that ”I DON’T REMEMBER” .
27. First to have an Admiral with a photographic memory testify 128 times “ I DON’T REMEMBER”.
28. First to undergo BRAIN SURGERY a few months after leaving office. No pain no gain.
29. First to, repeatedly, FALSIFY HIS WIFE’S AGE. As tho anyone cared.
30. First to promote his religious faith and never have an ACTIVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP.
31. First to never use the term JESUS CHRIST in speeches.
32. First to seek GUIDANCE FROM THE STARS not from God
33. First to have had a SHOTGUN WEDDING.
34. First to have worked as a SHILL in Las Vegas.
35. First to call a Stealing, Lying, Psychotic, wife abusing Marine a “LIAR.
36. First to have been OPENLY ALIENATED from his children.
37. First To have served with ALZHIMERS
38. First to have UNEMPLOYMENT AT 10.8% since great depression.
39. First to attack a small unprotected nation with 88,000 inhabitants and 10,000 bb guns then PROCLAIM -“America stands tall again”— “we have whipped the Vietnam Syndrome”-we have defeated communism”. Gosh! What if we had whipped Cyprus?.
40. #1-in FARM FORECLOSURES
41. #1-In BANK FAILURES
42. #1-In SAVINGS AND LOAN FAILURES
43. #1-In Percent increase in PERSONAL BANKRUPTCIES
44. #1-In recorded MISSTATEMENTS
45. #1-In never having a single press conference in which he did not make at least one or more INCORRECT STATEMENTS.
46. #1-In needing a staff person standby during press conferences to tell the press “WHAT HE REALLY MEANT”.
47. #1-In having SERVICEMEN KILLED during peacetime.
48. #1-In largest DROP IN POPULARITY in one week.
49. #1-In being first to HONOR NAZI STORM TROOPERS by calling them” Innocent Victims”
50. #1-In being first to be labeled “BRAIN DEAD AFFABLE DUNCE’ by this writer.
51. First to lie-over and over-to reporters “I DO NOT DYE MY HAIR my barber uses a special shampoo”
52. First to have a wife who ”forced” him to WEAR THREE SUITS in one day
53. First to boast “Not bad for a DUMB GUY who worked only 20 hours per week”.
54. First to have his wife sit nearby and WHISPER ANSWERS to questions
55. First to FALL ASLEEP while the Pope spoke
56. First to invite the Pope to visit the White House and “BRING THE WIFE AND KIDS”
57. First to have his press secretary remove him from the microphone because he could not answer questions. Then, as the reporter
yelled out “answer my question” he replied “MY HANDLERS WON’T LET ME SPEAK”. Quick get the white coat.
58. First 20th Century president to have historians RATE HIM BELOW every president of the 20th except for Richard Nixon. 1994 Poll.
59. First to give us a First Lady with a past reputation for giving the BEST BJ in Hollywood.
60. First to suggest his eldest son undergo PSYCHIATRIC examination
61. First to have been voted in British polls (twice) as the ”MOST FEARED LEADER IN THE WORLD” sic em Rambo.


62. First to serve as Governor on a ”conservative” platform and INCREASE SPENDING BY 112%.
63. First Governor TO INCREASE personal income taxes by 60%, tax increase on cigarettes by 200%, state tax collections by 152%.
64. First to have a Special Assistant say on national TV “sometimes you had to HIT HIM ON THE HEAD with a 2 x 4 to get his attention”
65. First to have his official biographer state on national TV ‘After he was shot in 1981he GOT SLOWER AND SLOWER EACH YEAR. His speech got slower. He deliberated more and he hesitated more when he spoke. He lost his physical quickness and would not make decisions on the spot. It was a very, very slow and steady mental and physical decline”.
66. First to have a POPULARITY RATING OF ONLY 35% after his first two years in office.
67. First president to have been DIVORCED
68. First president to have the Geriatrics Department of a major
university study his behavior and conclude that AFTER THREE YEARS IN OFFICE HE HAD ALZHIMERS.

------------------------------------ THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE-------------------------------------------
Clarence Swinney—Burlington NC.—cwswinney@netzero.net

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Nice column by Cynthia Parker in the Atlanta Constitution
Click on link:

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/2004/061304.html

<snip>
George W. Bush is the natural heir to the fairy-tale presidency. Like Reagan, Bush came into office with little grasp of federal policies, little understanding of the wider world and little patience for complexity. Like Reagan, Bush uses charm and a sunny disposition to mask the harshness of his hard-right politics. Like Reagan, Bush holds a handful of core beliefs that are never shaken by adverse evidence.

Indeed, Bush holds fast to two of Reagan's most dangerous beliefs -- that the social safety net is dangerous and must be destroyed, and that American exceptionalism gives the United States moral authority to do what it pleases. Over a decade or so, the nation was able to repair much of the damage done by Reagan's adherence to those notions. It may take longer -- much longer -- to undo the damage wrought by Bush.

Like so many staunch Goldwater Republicans, Reagan despised the nation's social safety net. But he was unable to dismantle it. So he attacked it indirectly, initiating tax cuts so sweeping that they would have eventually bankrupted the treasury and forced the government to turn its back on the New Deal. That is the heart and soul of Reaganomics.

Fortunately, Bill Clinton pushed tax increases and spending cuts that stemmed the tide of red ink that Reaganomics created and restored fiscal integrity to federal spending. Indeed, the government ran a surplus, guaranteeing the solvency of Social Security and Medicare
<snip>



And welcome to DU! :toast:

with Reagan's than with his father's. He brought back the Reagan hardliners.:grr:

Thanks, dtotire! And welcome to DU!:hi:

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

I love your new avatar!
:loveya:

that he's going to be speaking at the Democratic Convention!:D

was horrific.

This country is still in the dark of the true nature of the Contra War.

http://www.trinicenter.com/modules.php?name=AvantGo&file=print&sid=696

A Nicaraguan Priest Remembers the CIA's Contra War
Date: Wednesday, June 09 @ 22:16:16 AST
Topic: Victim


Reagan was the Butcher of My People

By Fr. MIQUEL D'ESCOTO
as told to Democracy Now!


Editors' Note: Fr. Miguel D'Escoto is a Catholic priest in Managua, Nicaragua. He was Nicaragua's Foreign Minister under the Sandinista government of the 1980s, when the US was arming and supporting the Contra death squads. Ronald Reagan said of the Contras: "They are our brothers, these freedom fighters and we owe them our help. They are the moral equal of our founding fathers." The following text is drawn from an interview with Fr. D'Escoto on the national radio/TV show Democracy Now!

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA

First of all, let me start out by saying that, of course, Reagan is now dead. And I, for one, would like to say only nice things about him. I'm not insensitive to the feelings of many U.S. people mourning President Reagan, but as I pray that God in his infinite mercy and goodness forgives him for having been the butcher of my people, for having been responsible for the deaths of some 50,000 Nicaraguans, we cannot, we should not, ever forget the crimes he committed in the name of what he falsely labeled "freedom and democracy."

More perhaps than any other U.S. President, Reagan convinced many around the world that the U.S. is a fraud, a big lie. Not only was it not democratic, but, in fact, the greatest enemy of the right of self-determination of peoples. Reagan was known as the "great communicator" and I believe that that is true only if one believes that to be a great communicator means to be a good liar. That he was for sure. He could proclaim the biggest lies without even as much as blinking an eyelash. Hearing him talk about how we were supposedly persecuting Jews and burning down non-existent synagogues, I was led to believe really, that Reagan was possessed by demons. Frankly, I do believe Reagan at that time as much as Bush today was indeed possessed by the demons of manifest destiny.

Of course, as I say this, I'm quite aware that to the people of the Project for a New American Century, that is counted as a big loss. Because of Reagan and his spiritual heir George W. Bush, the world today is far less safe and secure than it has ever been. Reagan in fact was an international outlaw. He came to the Presidency of the United States shortly after Somoza, a Dictator that the U.S. had imposed over Nicaragua for practically half a century; had been deposed by Nicaraguan Nationalists under the leadership of the Sandinista Liberation Front. To Reagan, Nicaragua had to be re-conquered. He blamed Carter for having lost Nicaragua, as if Nicaragua ever belonged to anyone else other than the Nicaraguan people. That was then the beginning of this war that Reagan invented, and mounted and financed and directed: the Contra War. About which he continually lied to the People, helping the United States people to be the most ignorant people around the world. I said ignorant, I don't say not intelligent. But the most ignorant people around the world about what the United States does abroad.

People don't even begin to see -- if they did, they would rebel. And so, he lied to the people, as Bush lies to the people today and as they push on, thinking that the United States is above every law, human or divine. And we took the United States, Reagan's United States, his government to court, the World Court. I was Foreign Minister at that time here in Nicaragua. I was responsible for that. And the United States government received the harshest sentence, the harshest condemnation ever in the history of world justice. In spite of the fact that the United States since the early 1920's has been proclaiming to the world that one of the proofs of its moral superiority as compared to other countries around the world is the fact that it abides by the international law and was obedient to the world court when the United States was brought to the world court in Nicaragua and received the condemnation that the United States failed to heed the sentence and they till owe Nicaragua by now must be between 20,000 and $30,000 million at the time when we left government that the damages caused by that Reagan war was over $17 billion, and this, according to very moderate estimators of damage, people from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, people from Howard University and from Oxford and from the University of Paris basically this is the team that was pulled together to estimate the damage. The United States was ordered to pay for the damage. Bush never even wanted to talk to me about it. I said, "Well, let's have a meeting so that you comply with your sentence of the court." He said to me in two different letters that there was nothing to talk about.

So, Reagan did damage to Nicaragua beyond the imaginations of the people who are hearing me now. The ripple effects of that criminal murderous intervention in my country will go on for 50 years or more.

Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated radio/TV program broadcast on more than 220 stations. www.democracynow.org

Many American people have no knowledge of the atrocities of the Contra War, or are in denial about them. Your post should be read in all the schools and the information therein not allowed to melt into historical obscurity.

nt