Tuesday, June 15, 2004
The world according to Ronnie Raygun
Conservatives have been whitewashing Reagan's legacy for years in an effort to canonize him as the guiding saint of their movement. Here are some choice quotes to clear the nostalgia-blurred glasses:
President Rios Montt [is] a man of great personal integrity and
commitment who wants to improve the quality of life for all
Guatemalans, and [is] getting a 'bum rap' on human rights." --
Reagan, '82, speaking about Rios Montt, former dictator of Guatemala.
During his reign, approximately 70,000 peasants and political
dissidents were killed by the Guatemalan government.
"They have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own
country..."
Reagan, '85, praising the government of P.W. Botha in South Africa,
during the height of Apartheid.
"They are the moral equivalent of America's founding fathers." --
Reagan, '85, referring to the brutal Contra rebels in Nicaragua,
who indiscriminately attacked civilians.
"...an example to the world of the ideals we hold most dear, the
ideals of freedom and independence." -- Reagan, '85, praising the
Afghan Mujahaddin.
These "freedom fighters" included prominent leaders of Al Qaeda,
such as Osama Bin Laden, as well as many of the leaders for the
Taliban.
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." - Reagan '81
"A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?" - Reagan
'66, opposing expansion of Redwood National Park
"Many beach-goers prefer to be crowded together. Buying more beaches
that people won't go to because they prefer to be crowded together
on one beach is a ridiculous waste of our natural resources and our
taxes." -- Reagan, on California's coastline.
"I have flown twice over Mt St Helens out on our west coast. I'm
not a scientist and I don't know the figures, but I have a suspicion
that that one little mountain has probably released more sulphur
dioxide into the atmosphere of the world than has been released in
the last ten years of automobile driving or things of that kind
that people are so concerned about." -- Reagan, '80. At its peak,
Mt. St. Helens released 1/40th as much sulfur dioxide as cars do
every day.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. The U.S. Geological
Survey has told me that the proven potential for oil in Alaska alone
is greater than the proven reserves in Saudi Arabia." -- Reagan,
'80. Saudi Arabia's oil reserves are approximately 17 times those
of Alaska.
"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored
under a desk." -- Reagan, '80. (In fact, a single nuclear power
plant can produce up to 22,000 cubic feet of of radioactive waste
per year.)
"There is today in the United States as much forest as there was
when Washington was at Valley Forge." -- Reagan, '83. According to
the US Forest Service, only 30% of the U.S. forest lands that existed
in 1775 still existed in 1983.
"Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?" -- Reagan, '80
"They turned out the lights. That tells me I can't talk anymore."
-- Reagan, '85, dodging reporters questions.
"I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care
of itself."
-- Reagan, during the latter years of his administration.
"The problem is the deficit is -- or should I say -- wait a minute,
the spending, I should say, of gross national product, forgive me
-- the spending is roughly 23 to 24 per cent. So that it is in --
it what is increasing while the revenues are staying proportionately
the same and what would be the proper amount they should, that we
should be taking from the private sector." -- Reagan, on the economy.
"The poverty rate has begun to decline, but it is still going up."
-- Reagan, on the poor.
"He wrote in Braille to tell me that if cutting his pension would
help get this country back on its feet, he'd like to have me cut
his pension." -- Reagan, '81, in reference to a supposed blind
person who wrote him a letter.
After reporter inqueries, no such letter was ever shown to have
existed.
"Now we are trying to get unemployment to go up and I think we're
going to succeed" -- Reagan, '82.
"Even though there may be some misguided critics of what we're
trying to do, I think we're on the wrong path." -- Reagan, '87
"Facts are stupid things.." -- Reagan, '88
"We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in education
and the decline in profit over recent years." -- Reagan, '83
"...a faceless mass, waiting for handouts." -- Reagan, '65, describing
Medicaid recipients.
"Because Vietnam was not a declared war, the veterans are not even
eligible for the G. I. Bill of Rights with respect to education or
anything." -- Reagan, '80
"Today a newcomer to the state is automatically eligible for our
many aid programs the moment he crosses the border." -- Reagan,
'66. In fact, immigrants to California had to wait five years before
becoming eligible for benefits. Reagan later acknowledged his error,
but repeated the same thing nine months later.
"Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal.." -- Reagan, '76
"It would be a user fee..." -- Reagan, '82, explaining how a five
cent a gallon tax on gasoline isn't actually a tax.
"Taxes should hurt. I just mailed my own tax return last night and
I am prepared to say `ouch!' as loud as anyone." -- Reagan, '70,
after approving California's largest tax increase in history.
Reporters soon pointed out that Reagan didn't pay a cent on state
taxes that year. For all his talk about shrinking government,
California's state budget more than doubled under his governorship,
from $4.6 billion to $10.2 billion.
"I have a smiling fellow at the end of the table who tells me what
we do." -- Reagan, '81, on how budget decisions are made.
"I never knew anything above Cs." -- Reagan, '81, describing his
academic record.
"I know all the bad things that happened in that war. I was in
uniform for four years myself." -- Reagan, '85, justifying laying
a wreath at a nazi cemetary in Bitburg. Reagan spent WWII in
Hollywood, making films.
"They haven't been there. I have." Reagan, '85, justifying his
policies on Nicaragua. Ronald Reagan had never visited Nicaragua.
"They've done away with those committees. That shows the success
of what the Soviets were able to do in this country." -- Reagan,
'87, defending McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities
Committee.
"In England, if a criminal carried a gun, even though he didn't use
it, he was not tried for burglary or theft or whatever he was doing.
He was tried for first degree murder and hung if he was found guilty"
-- Reagan, '82. Later admitted by White House Spokesman Larry Speakes
to be untrue.
""I never wear (makeup). I didn't wear it when I was in pictures."
-- Reagan, '84. This statement is promptly disputed the next day
by G.E. Theater makeup man Howard Smith, "Death Valley Days" makeup
man Del Acevedo, and debate panelist James Weighart, as well as
Mayor Edward Bergin, recalling a recent presidential visit to
Connecticut.
"80 percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys and auto exhaust
pipes, but from plants and trees." -- Reagan, '79
"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed
legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in
five minutes." -- Reagan, '84
"I've been told that in the Russian language there isn't even a
word for freedom." -- Reagan, '85. The word, btw, is svoboda.
"I cannot recall anything whatsoever.... My answer therefore and
the simple truth is, 'I don't remember, period'" -- Reagan, Feb.
'87, denying knowledge of the Iran-Contra "arms for hostages" deal.
"Mr. President, why don't we openly support those 7,000 guerillas
that are in rebellion rather than giving aid through covert activity?"
"Well, because we want to keep on obeying the laws of our country,
which we are now obeying."
"Doesn't the United States want that government replaced?"
"No, because that would be a violation of the law." - Reagan, ''87.
At the time of the press conference, the U.S. was giving the
indiscriminately murderous Contra guerillas covert aid, in direct
violation of the law.
Reagan's lie was so obvious that members of the press corps laughed
loudly and openly at his statements.
"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms
for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's
true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not." -- Reagan,
Mar. '87
"If the question comes up at the Tower Board meeting, you might
want to say that you were surprised." -- Reagan, '87, accidentally
reading the notes for his stage directions aloud which told him to
act surprised should the issue of arms-for-hostages come up.
"You sonofabitch, you broke my rib." - Reagan, '81 to the Secret
Service agent who pushed him into his car. Reagan later realized
that he was shot and that the agent had possibly saved his life.
"Hollywood has no blacklist." -- Reagan, '60. FBI records have since
shown that this was a lie, and that Reagan personally informed on
several actors, later shown to be innocent, destroying their careers
in the process.
"I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964." -- Reagan,
'66, on how he would have opposed the legislation that came out of
the civil rights movement.
"Jefferson Davis is a hero of mine." -- Reagan, in a speech he gave
to a crowd in Atlanta, GA.
"...humiliating to the South..." -- Reagan, '80, describing the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, arguably the primary legislative victory
for blacks during the Civil Rights movement.
"I believe in states' rights..." --Reagan, '80, in a speech in
Philadelphia, MS, a town famous for the murder of three civil rights
workers in '64. "States rights" is used in the South as a code word
indicating support of Jim Crow laws.
"A small minority of beatniks, radicals, and filthy speech advocates
...
brought such shame to a great university." -- Reagan, '66, complaining
about student protests against Vietnam on the Berkeley campus.
"If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with." --
Reagan, '69, prior to having national guard soldiers break up a
peaceful protest on the UC Berkeley campus. The protesters were
teargassed and fired upon with buckshot, killing one protester and
wounding at least 128 others.
"... a tragic illness." -- Reagan, '67, desribing homosexuality.
When two of his aides were found to be gay that year, he asked for
their resignations.
"Maybe the Lord brought down this plague [because] illicit sex is
against the Ten Commandments." - Reagan, '89. Reagan didn't even
mention AIDS until 1987, by which time it had spread into the
heterosexual population and over 25,000 Americans had died.
"What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of
it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times,
and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless
who are homeless, you might say, by choice" - Reagan, '84.
"For the first time ever, everything is in place for the battle of
Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. It can't be too long
now. Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained upon the
enemies of God's people. That must mean that they will be destroyed
by nuclear weapons." -- Reagan, '71
"We're not building missiles to fight a war. We're building missiles
to preserve the peace." -- Reagan, '84, justifying adding additional
nuclear weapons to an arsenal already capable of destroying the
world many times over.
"There have been times in the past when people thought the end of
the world was coming, and so forth, but never anything like this."
-- Reagan, '83
"We may be the generation that sees Armageddon." -- Reagan, '85
"It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in
the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put
parking strips on it, and be home by Christmas" -- Reagan, '65
elaterium@aol.com (Mark Steven Brooks/Elaterium Music)
Conservatives have been whitewashing Reagan's legacy for years in an effort to canonize him as the guiding saint of their movement. Here are some choice quotes to clear the nostalgia-blurred glasses:
President Rios Montt [is] a man of great personal integrity and
commitment who wants to improve the quality of life for all
Guatemalans, and [is] getting a 'bum rap' on human rights." --
Reagan, '82, speaking about Rios Montt, former dictator of Guatemala.
During his reign, approximately 70,000 peasants and political
dissidents were killed by the Guatemalan government.
"They have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own
country..."
Reagan, '85, praising the government of P.W. Botha in South Africa,
during the height of Apartheid.
"They are the moral equivalent of America's founding fathers." --
Reagan, '85, referring to the brutal Contra rebels in Nicaragua,
who indiscriminately attacked civilians.
"...an example to the world of the ideals we hold most dear, the
ideals of freedom and independence." -- Reagan, '85, praising the
Afghan Mujahaddin.
These "freedom fighters" included prominent leaders of Al Qaeda,
such as Osama Bin Laden, as well as many of the leaders for the
Taliban.
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." - Reagan '81
"A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?" - Reagan
'66, opposing expansion of Redwood National Park
"Many beach-goers prefer to be crowded together. Buying more beaches
that people won't go to because they prefer to be crowded together
on one beach is a ridiculous waste of our natural resources and our
taxes." -- Reagan, on California's coastline.
"I have flown twice over Mt St Helens out on our west coast. I'm
not a scientist and I don't know the figures, but I have a suspicion
that that one little mountain has probably released more sulphur
dioxide into the atmosphere of the world than has been released in
the last ten years of automobile driving or things of that kind
that people are so concerned about." -- Reagan, '80. At its peak,
Mt. St. Helens released 1/40th as much sulfur dioxide as cars do
every day.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. The U.S. Geological
Survey has told me that the proven potential for oil in Alaska alone
is greater than the proven reserves in Saudi Arabia." -- Reagan,
'80. Saudi Arabia's oil reserves are approximately 17 times those
of Alaska.
"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored
under a desk." -- Reagan, '80. (In fact, a single nuclear power
plant can produce up to 22,000 cubic feet of of radioactive waste
per year.)
"There is today in the United States as much forest as there was
when Washington was at Valley Forge." -- Reagan, '83. According to
the US Forest Service, only 30% of the U.S. forest lands that existed
in 1775 still existed in 1983.
"Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?" -- Reagan, '80
"They turned out the lights. That tells me I can't talk anymore."
-- Reagan, '85, dodging reporters questions.
"I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care
of itself."
-- Reagan, during the latter years of his administration.
"The problem is the deficit is -- or should I say -- wait a minute,
the spending, I should say, of gross national product, forgive me
-- the spending is roughly 23 to 24 per cent. So that it is in --
it what is increasing while the revenues are staying proportionately
the same and what would be the proper amount they should, that we
should be taking from the private sector." -- Reagan, on the economy.
"The poverty rate has begun to decline, but it is still going up."
-- Reagan, on the poor.
"He wrote in Braille to tell me that if cutting his pension would
help get this country back on its feet, he'd like to have me cut
his pension." -- Reagan, '81, in reference to a supposed blind
person who wrote him a letter.
After reporter inqueries, no such letter was ever shown to have
existed.
"Now we are trying to get unemployment to go up and I think we're
going to succeed" -- Reagan, '82.
"Even though there may be some misguided critics of what we're
trying to do, I think we're on the wrong path." -- Reagan, '87
"Facts are stupid things.." -- Reagan, '88
"We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in education
and the decline in profit over recent years." -- Reagan, '83
"...a faceless mass, waiting for handouts." -- Reagan, '65, describing
Medicaid recipients.
"Because Vietnam was not a declared war, the veterans are not even
eligible for the G. I. Bill of Rights with respect to education or
anything." -- Reagan, '80
"Today a newcomer to the state is automatically eligible for our
many aid programs the moment he crosses the border." -- Reagan,
'66. In fact, immigrants to California had to wait five years before
becoming eligible for benefits. Reagan later acknowledged his error,
but repeated the same thing nine months later.
"Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal.." -- Reagan, '76
"It would be a user fee..." -- Reagan, '82, explaining how a five
cent a gallon tax on gasoline isn't actually a tax.
"Taxes should hurt. I just mailed my own tax return last night and
I am prepared to say `ouch!' as loud as anyone." -- Reagan, '70,
after approving California's largest tax increase in history.
Reporters soon pointed out that Reagan didn't pay a cent on state
taxes that year. For all his talk about shrinking government,
California's state budget more than doubled under his governorship,
from $4.6 billion to $10.2 billion.
"I have a smiling fellow at the end of the table who tells me what
we do." -- Reagan, '81, on how budget decisions are made.
"I never knew anything above Cs." -- Reagan, '81, describing his
academic record.
"I know all the bad things that happened in that war. I was in
uniform for four years myself." -- Reagan, '85, justifying laying
a wreath at a nazi cemetary in Bitburg. Reagan spent WWII in
Hollywood, making films.
"They haven't been there. I have." Reagan, '85, justifying his
policies on Nicaragua. Ronald Reagan had never visited Nicaragua.
"They've done away with those committees. That shows the success
of what the Soviets were able to do in this country." -- Reagan,
'87, defending McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities
Committee.
"In England, if a criminal carried a gun, even though he didn't use
it, he was not tried for burglary or theft or whatever he was doing.
He was tried for first degree murder and hung if he was found guilty"
-- Reagan, '82. Later admitted by White House Spokesman Larry Speakes
to be untrue.
""I never wear (makeup). I didn't wear it when I was in pictures."
-- Reagan, '84. This statement is promptly disputed the next day
by G.E. Theater makeup man Howard Smith, "Death Valley Days" makeup
man Del Acevedo, and debate panelist James Weighart, as well as
Mayor Edward Bergin, recalling a recent presidential visit to
Connecticut.
"80 percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys and auto exhaust
pipes, but from plants and trees." -- Reagan, '79
"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed
legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in
five minutes." -- Reagan, '84
"I've been told that in the Russian language there isn't even a
word for freedom." -- Reagan, '85. The word, btw, is svoboda.
"I cannot recall anything whatsoever.... My answer therefore and
the simple truth is, 'I don't remember, period'" -- Reagan, Feb.
'87, denying knowledge of the Iran-Contra "arms for hostages" deal.
"Mr. President, why don't we openly support those 7,000 guerillas
that are in rebellion rather than giving aid through covert activity?"
"Well, because we want to keep on obeying the laws of our country,
which we are now obeying."
"Doesn't the United States want that government replaced?"
"No, because that would be a violation of the law." - Reagan, ''87.
At the time of the press conference, the U.S. was giving the
indiscriminately murderous Contra guerillas covert aid, in direct
violation of the law.
Reagan's lie was so obvious that members of the press corps laughed
loudly and openly at his statements.
"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms
for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's
true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not." -- Reagan,
Mar. '87
"If the question comes up at the Tower Board meeting, you might
want to say that you were surprised." -- Reagan, '87, accidentally
reading the notes for his stage directions aloud which told him to
act surprised should the issue of arms-for-hostages come up.
"You sonofabitch, you broke my rib." - Reagan, '81 to the Secret
Service agent who pushed him into his car. Reagan later realized
that he was shot and that the agent had possibly saved his life.
"Hollywood has no blacklist." -- Reagan, '60. FBI records have since
shown that this was a lie, and that Reagan personally informed on
several actors, later shown to be innocent, destroying their careers
in the process.
"I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964." -- Reagan,
'66, on how he would have opposed the legislation that came out of
the civil rights movement.
"Jefferson Davis is a hero of mine." -- Reagan, in a speech he gave
to a crowd in Atlanta, GA.
"...humiliating to the South..." -- Reagan, '80, describing the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, arguably the primary legislative victory
for blacks during the Civil Rights movement.
"I believe in states' rights..." --Reagan, '80, in a speech in
Philadelphia, MS, a town famous for the murder of three civil rights
workers in '64. "States rights" is used in the South as a code word
indicating support of Jim Crow laws.
"A small minority of beatniks, radicals, and filthy speech advocates
...
brought such shame to a great university." -- Reagan, '66, complaining
about student protests against Vietnam on the Berkeley campus.
"If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with." --
Reagan, '69, prior to having national guard soldiers break up a
peaceful protest on the UC Berkeley campus. The protesters were
teargassed and fired upon with buckshot, killing one protester and
wounding at least 128 others.
"... a tragic illness." -- Reagan, '67, desribing homosexuality.
When two of his aides were found to be gay that year, he asked for
their resignations.
"Maybe the Lord brought down this plague [because] illicit sex is
against the Ten Commandments." - Reagan, '89. Reagan didn't even
mention AIDS until 1987, by which time it had spread into the
heterosexual population and over 25,000 Americans had died.
"What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of
it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times,
and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless
who are homeless, you might say, by choice" - Reagan, '84.
"For the first time ever, everything is in place for the battle of
Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. It can't be too long
now. Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained upon the
enemies of God's people. That must mean that they will be destroyed
by nuclear weapons." -- Reagan, '71
"We're not building missiles to fight a war. We're building missiles
to preserve the peace." -- Reagan, '84, justifying adding additional
nuclear weapons to an arsenal already capable of destroying the
world many times over.
"There have been times in the past when people thought the end of
the world was coming, and so forth, but never anything like this."
-- Reagan, '83
"We may be the generation that sees Armageddon." -- Reagan, '85
"It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in
the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put
parking strips on it, and be home by Christmas" -- Reagan, '65
elaterium@aol.com (Mark Steven Brooks/Elaterium Music)
Monday, June 07, 2004
Ronald Reagan, 1911--2004
You put a cheery, media-friendly face on neanderthal conservatism.
You put a cheery, media-friendly face on neanderthal conservatism.
You trailblazed the path for George W Bush.
Compassionate conservatism. What crap.
Here's a song for your demon spawn:
Masters of War
Bob Dylan
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
