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| Posted By: Dionysus Posted On: Jun 11, 2004 Views: 343 | The Reagan years Well, ol' Ronnie's proving a popular topic here, so to add further to the swan song of that old bastard, let's list a few facts freshly plucked from the anarchic corn fields of Legionsville USA. Some Americans do tend to have a rose tinted view of old Ronnie and easily forget about the darker side of this US equivalent to our own evil witch of the West: Margaret Thatcher. Here's a few facts to ponder... KILLING PEOPLE - The Reagan administration insisted on recognising the deposed Khmer Rouge government in exile at the UN, mostly because it was the pro-Soviet Vietnamese that had done the deposing. This recognition helped maintain a civil war in which many Cambodians were killed and many thousands of landmines were laid. In Central America Reagan supporting the "contra" rebels in Nicaragua, and backing for the Guatemalan government which - during the Reagan era - may have killed more than 100,000 Mayan Indians. Reagan described the contras as being like America's "founding fathers" and Guatemala's hard man, Rios Montt, as "a man of great personal integrity". Over the Atlantic and down a bit, and we have Reagan welcoming Jonas Savimbi of the Unita organisation to the White House and speaking of his murderous outfit in Angola winning "a victory that electrifies the world and brings great sympathy and assistance from other nations to those struggling for freedom". Actually what Savimbi was doing was prolonging a civil war in which the UN estimates that 300,000 children died directly or indirectly during the Reagan years, and Angola was covered in landmines. Human Rights Watch reports that Unita's indiscriminate use of landmines, caused there to be more than 15,000 amputees in the country by 1988, ranking the country alongside Afghanistan and Cambodia in the league of blown-off limbs. In Afghanistan, Reagan's administration responded to the Soviet presence by arming and organising religious zealots to harass and defeat them. When the Soviets withdrew, the Americans lost interest. The Afghans were left with the zealots and the landmines. Then there was Iraq. This time it was more complicated, because of the war with Iran. The Soviet Union had resumed arms shipments to Saddam Hussein in 1981, sending in 1,200 military advisers and planning to sell him SS12 missiles with a range of 800km, despite his persecution of Iraq's communists. Reagan responded by sending out Donald Rumsfeld, his special Middle East envoy, by taking Iraq off the list of states declared by the state department to be sponsoring terrorism - despite the presence in Baghdad of Abu Nidal - and by selling Saddam 60 Hughes helicopters that could be adapted for anti-tank use. In East Timor, human rights groups said Reagan's administration remains morally responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of East Timorese, because it backed Indonesia's brutal occupation of their country. "The world must not forget that, under his leadership, America helped the Indonesian military commit genocide in East Timor," Jose Luis Oliveira, who heads the country's leading rights organisation, Yayasan HAK, said. So, Ronnie's death should be but a moment of sheer irrelevance to any educated person who knows what he stood for. Like Thatcher, he corrupted his own countries' spirit. He made America selfish, individualistic, insular, greedy, non-compassionate and artificial in its promotion of profit before human need. Plus he was responsible, like the current ape president for the deaths of thousands of innocents. F U C K W I T...ECONOMICS - Here's how Ronnie screwed the poor folk under the guise of a benevolent leader with a silly goofy Hollywood charisma. There was a fundamental flaw at the heart of Reagonomics, namely the idea - epitomised by the famous Laffer Curve - that tax cuts would pay for themselves via greater incentives. The truth was that the supply side doctrine was a crude and intellectually shabby attempt to justify tax cuts for the rich. For those with incomes above $250,000 (£135,879) a year, taxes as a percentage of income came down from 48.6% to 38.9% between 1980 and 1984. The way in which certain tax exemptions were removed actually led to a rise in the proportion of income paid in tax by the lowest income groups. In most of the eulogies for Reagan this week, all those cuts in government expenditure on food stamps, school lunches, welfare Medicaid and subsidised housing have been forgotten. The great economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, put it in a nutshell when he said there was something strange about a doctrine holding that the rich would work harder if they had more money and the poor would if they had less. Toodle pip Dio p.s. (1) (ATF) Nothing I say is 'below me' the very fact that I'm saying it defines it as a virtue. (2) (Wiseguyly) Karma - it's a metaphysical myth that doesn't exist, (just like fairies). But if there was such a thing as karma, I would be validated in my comments and wishes for the slow and painful death of Margaret Thatcher for the misery and suffering she caused to the working classes of South Yorkshire during the 1980's miner's strikes. From a karma point of view, Thatcher is heading towards a 6 month period of slow ebola virus contraction and agony followed by a severe syphillitic infestation whilst being forced to watch necrophylliacs have arse sex with the cadaver of her recently deceased husband. No THAT, would be karma in operation. (3) (Legion) "Prelude to what?" .... the christianized weak and stupid democratic world that we now inhabit can only be a prelude to something greater. Society must become weak and stupid for a stronger more vibrant order to overthrow it like a beast tearing away at the flesh of its doomed prey... doomed I tell ya! |
| Posted By: legion Posted On: Jun 11, 2004 Views: 334 | RE: The Reagan years Yes well, for the new world order humanity has to first survive long enough to evolve before we kill ourselves. Nuclear weapons are simply not compatable with constant war, and therefore at odds with Murkin Imperialism still using second generation military tactics against terrorist who have no armies or countries. Their military is enormous and so arse backwards in spite of all the fancy technology I half expect them to line up single file in some open field and wait for the 'evildoers' to arrive like the armies of the olden days. Ronnie is also singlehandedly responsible for the 'homeless' problem in Murka today as well, after he slashed welfare and closed all the mental hospitals in the 80's. Before that, you hardly ever saw a homeless person on the streets of Murka, seldom if ever heard anything about them in the press, but NOW they seem to be everywhere. Millions live on the streets so Ronnies rich pals could get alot richer. His legacy? A total and complete arsehole. I was happy when he got Alzheimers after slashing the funding for Alzheimers research when he was in office. That, was karma if ever there was such a thing. Good riddance to a parasitic scumbag who caused nothing but grief and hardship for most people while he was here. I take comfort in the though that he found out the truth when he died and discovered to his horror that there was no afterlife and he had been a fool all along, and spent his life believing in fairy tales for children. More karma. Hate Murka? No, I would do the same happy dance if the Queen croaked, but I do not worship 'Leaders' as father figure deities the way most people do. |
| Posted By: Dio Posted On: Jun 11, 2004 Views: 327 | British Monarchy YOU said what about the Queen? You, you, you...... ROTTER! |
| Posted By: legion Posted On: Jun 11, 2004 Views: 320 | RE: The Reagan years this is interesting: "Pentagon Memo Legitimizing Torture March 6, 2003 The Wall Street Journal has released the text of the now-infamous March 6, 2003 Defense Department memo regarding legal liability for torture. The conclusions reached advised President Bush and Pentagon officials that prohibitions against torture do not apply to the "war on terrorism." The file is available here in .pdf format." Well, how do you like that? The United States is currently the most dangerous country on the planet threatening the very survival of our species with their craven stupidity. I wonder if smart people will take over before we exterminate ourselves? "there was music in the cafes at night, and revolution in the air" - Bob Dylan |
| Posted By: atf Posted On: Jun 11, 2004 Views: 311 | RE: The Reagan years I'll not prolong this but hehehe...I gotta tell you: "Tax cuts for the rich"?? What, pray tell, are you lefties prattling about? As I argued with many on the left in the past, the "tax cuts" are simply restoration -- in part -- of money stolen by the government/mafia. These funds were "taken (stolen)" because the man or woman "earned" this wealth?! iow, as von Mises had so often noted (amoung others: Friedman, Smith), this wealth was hijacked by the accumulated powers that be to be "given to the masses according to their needs from those according to their ability to pay", but who is to say what is "fair"? What is "just"? The government should be out of the business of confiscation of 'earned' wealth & tax the "idle wealth" (non-'earned' funds) and place duties and such on foreign trade. That was the way we did it in the formative years of the US and it worked just fine until the "tax & spenders" came along. It'll be a cold day in hell before the 'one worlders' & Kerrys advocate an equitable 'tax' system (i.e., elimination of the income tax & implement a federal sales tax) because the 'yuppies' & 'elites' would get nailed on all their large purchases and the 'working poor' and 'cheapskates' (like me hehehe) could save like crazy! It'll never happen. The rich get richer & the poor get poorer. Doesn't have to be that way, but some folks have it forced down their throats (China, Cuba, Vietnam) and some vote away their rights and wealth (UK, USA, Canada) and like an O.J. Simpson Jury without a clue, they live life thinking everythings just hunky dorey... Or, they turn to a 'saviour' like Karl Marx or Mao. As I say, think O.J. Jury ("I don't know nothin' 'bout that DNA..." OJ Juror) then think "these are the 'masses' who will be our revolutionaries & our salvation." Yeah, tell me another one, Johnny C... atf, trust no man |
| Posted By: legion Posted On: Jun 12, 2004 Views: 291 | RE: The Reagan years In Canaduh we prefer a peaceful, compassionate society that makes sure people have shelter and enough to eat. If the government is going to steal my money, then I'd rather they spend it on a new power station to provide a city with electricity or somthing rather than a new billions dollar battleship for the navy. What good does that do? It's a useless waste of resources. But yes, it is theft, and gubbmint is really nothing more than a criminal gang writ large just like Rothbard says. In fact, they operate exactly like the Mafia - they run a 'shakedown' operation (steal our money) - and a 'protection' racket (pigs, military - Police-States need lots and lots of Police) They even took over gambling. But if it's a question of where I want my money to go, I vote for no more war. |
| Posted By: Rough Posted On: Jun 12, 2004 Views: 284 | 152.1 BILLION That's the figure I just read for the mind boggling deficit Uncle Ronnie left for me and my kith and kin! Unbelievable...that's A LOT of tanks and missiles. And to think, for the first 200 years we didn't owe anyone a cent..countries actually owed us money! DIO/ROUGH 2004 |
| Posted By: legion Posted On: Jun 13, 2004 Views: 273 | RE: The Reagan years here is a great article that traces 50 years worth of gubbermint plunder, rape, lies, and murder. The truth is out there. http://www.lewrockwell.com/jarvis/jarvis67.html Ruling class fun and games |
| Posted By: JSK Posted On: Jun 16, 2004 Views: 244 | RE: The Reagan years Dio and you other non believers ... you see the reason we know Saddam and his hoard has WMD and other BS that kills is because ... well... we helped them obtain them!!!! And since the 80's watched other nations do the same. JSK |