Mondak

User Name

Regardless of your willingness to worship Yeshua or not, you CAN do so here if you want. That is what matters. The ability of a free people to express their ideas is the point. . . not whether you misread what I wrote about being sent to Siberia. I am sure that if the Ukraine were still a communist country, they could find somewhere to send people that they did not agree with even if it were not in the Soviet Union any more.

You being willing to give up your essential liberty for a little bit of safety only makes you a good cow. . . or maybe good at following others into a boxcar or an oven. It can happen. Those who want to control the ones who they rule have a vested interest in making things "bearable" and not much beyond that.

Draw your own conclusions, but try to do so through fact. Reagan's convictions were developed at an early point in his career and he stuck to them. How about a quote from October 1964:



Thinking long term about what is truely important may help you to deal with your anger and stop being a child. My hope is that the free exchange of information and ideas can help to save you and many like you from your own anger, ignorance and yourself in general.

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All truth passes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed
Second, it is violently opposed and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860)

filtherton

I'm sure the lazy poor are all shedding a single tear.

Mondak

While a lot of what you said is apocryphal (scripts, handlers, etc.), I feel a stong connection to Reagan and would like to take the time to respond even if the flame-bait is not deserving.

As SAG President, Reagan opposed blacklists. He felt that the threat offered by communism was not the idea but the tactics. From an article that Reagan wrote in 1951 called "How do you fight communism?":



In 1947 he was brought before congress to testfy in front of the Un-American Activities Committee of the US Congress ( funny how years have passed and the same reactionary jerks are still our congressmen . . . ) Reagan:



In 1951 he also commented on McCarthy's tactics:

interesting that some of this can apply to things like the "Patriot Act" today. Another example of how transcendent a man he really was.

Check out the dates from those quotes. This is not something he came up with right before he ran for President. Your jab at his sickness and proposing that he was nothing more than an actor his whole life could not be further from the truth. He had deep seeded convictions that he stuck to until his task was complete.

Perhaps you don't like him because he was a polarizing figure. Take some time today as a memorial to a leader of our nation to examine which of your beliefs come from fact and which ones come from what your peers or the media told you about him. Maybe you can see beyond what you have been told to believe is black or white and see some value in a man that certainly believed in America and all of us who make up this country.

As a side note, maybe this is the very reason I identify with him so much. People tend to love me or hate me - that simple. Reagan was the same way. While I operate on a far smaller scale than trying to defeat communism, his ability to see his vision through is something that I can only hope to emmulate.

__________________
All truth passes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed
Second, it is violently opposed and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860)

hammer4all

Well, RIP, but as User Name said, he was responsible for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of deaths in his terrorist war against Nicaragua.

Here is his Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan

phredgreen

Okay people... this is your official last warning. discussion is one thing. petty squabbles are another. if you want to continue discourse, go right ahead. namecalling and vindictive back-and-forth arguments will get this thread closed. keep it civil.

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My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
- Thomas Paine

Arroe

how about this thread goes back on track as a thread to remember a man who died, not a politician, but a leader, an actor, a husband, a father.

Asuka{eve}

I give a moment of silence.

bundy

i have no opinion on Reagan, the politician.

i'm sure he had his good and bad points; and i'm sure that some of his decisions as President of the USA both harmed countless people, and benefitted others.

as someone who grew up during his tenure, far, far away from the good ole USA, my only impression of Reagan was a funny voiced face on the TV... oh, and i seem to remember Carl Sagon 'commenting' on the 'Star Wars' idea.

What i do care about, however, is that he was afflicted with Alzheimers.

i certainly hope that with his death comes further publicising of this disease and prompts people to donate generously to Alzheimers research foundations.

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Ohayo!!!

Stompy

It's unfortunate that he died and all, but I really hope that this isn't all I hear about for the next few days. The media becomes VERY irritating in these situations.. hovering over the story for DAYS as if there's some kind of follow up when really the information that's being said today (and will be said tomorrow and the day after) is no different than the first time they reported it.

The man was 93 and had Alzheimer's, so it's not like this comes as a surprise.

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I love lamp.

Cynthetiq

regardless of your political affiliations, wheter you thought he did good or bad, he set the stage for where we are today.

RIP.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Superbelt

He was a great Roosevelt Democrat back in the day when he opposed Blacklistings and McCarthy wasn't he?

I don't think he held those views when he did a 180 on political philosophy later in life though.

I think this is a good reason to listen to his wife though. She is calling for more stem cell research. A good goal and a good legacy for Ronald to leave behind if she can manage to persuade the right people.
Let's hope she does.

Kadath

Time to eat a plate of ketchup in rememberance. See you around, Mr. President. You were in charge for some heavy shit, and we got through it.

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it's quiet in here

Locobot

What do you expect when this is linked from the politics board?

Are we not supposed to mention that Reagan saddled my generation with insurmountable debt? Or that he squandered our resources on an arms race of ludicris proportions (how many times over do we need to be able to eradicate all human life on the planet?)? Or that he thought ketchup was a vegetable? Or that he began and poured money into the Star Wars program (still 0% success rate!)? Or that he laid a wreath on a Nazi memorial? Or that he didn't know Hawaii was a state?

BTW it's not "apocryphal" to say he was handled during his entire presidency, every appearance, it's a fact. I've heard from people that saw him during his state government days without the handlers and scripts, that he would utter embarassing howler after howler.

also BTW I wasn't jabbing him for his illness, it's a truely sad way to go, having the mind unravel like that. Maybe Nancy will be able to convince the Evangelicals in power now that stem-cell research isn't "killing babies" before we lose another technological advance.

absorbentishe

A great man brought down by alzheimers(SP?) No matter what any one says about him, I hold him in the highest regards. He shaped the world, brought peace between super powers, and was a genuine human, and a true American. He has shaped me as well into many of the beliefs I have.

Sparhawk

I threw one back today for the Commander-In-Chief. RIP

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"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

StormBerlin

Those of you who are badmouthing Regan: he deserves respect because he was a President of the United States, regardless of what your opinion is of him. So shut up and give the man the respect he deserves for being the President.

I for one, am going to miss him, I was born during the Regan Administration. He was a great guy, a good president, a wonderful husband and father. May he rest in peace.

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"if anal sex could get a girl pregnant i'd be tits deep in child support" Arcane

Mondak

In addition to the fact that you don't know what you are talking about Locobot, you could have brought any of this up weeks, months or even years ago if you felt so stong about it. You also had the option of waiting a week (or in your case a few hours or at least until his body was cold) to voice your "opinions".

Instead you are just trying piss people off and be disrespectful by shoveling out more smack with no back up. Have fun with that.

Maybe in the future try to look at others feelings on loss or at least be informed on the things you are trying to start fights on.

__________________
All truth passes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed
Second, it is violently opposed and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860)

MaGlC_MaN

that sux

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Bye.

phredgreen

the thread is closed. you people need to pick your battles better. this is not the time or the place to be disuccing points that were brought up in this thread.

__________________
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
- Thomas Paine

analog

No one really addressed this, which is the only reason i'm leaving it up here...

I usually am of this type of opinion, especially when the subject lead a very mediocre existence... but when I DO make a remark about it, I usually provide substance or solid evidence that my bitching is deserved. I didn't really see anything like that here, except for some people randomly pulling stories (not numbers, not facts, but stories) out of their asses about what they think they remembered happening.

I'm not huge on the guy, but have something to back it up when you drop your balls on the thread from now on please.