by Hector Diego
by The Station Agent
This was originally posted on Ice Station Tango on Sunday, May 06, 2007. It's more true now than ever.ll the Reagan-licking going on at the Republican debate last week has stirred up quite a backlash. The Gipper qualifies as someone I would rather have as President than, say, the current Commander Guy, but the inflation of the Reagan myth has got to stop.
We can start with the admission he made about Iran-Contra. While it's nice to see someone admit they did something wrong, this is pretty pathetic.
Rachel Maddow asks if the Republicans have "a Reagan problem":
Was Reagan as great as conservatives have made him out to be? Hardly. The campaign to get him on the dime or Mount Rushmore have a mountain of real history to overcome.
In 1998, after Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, David Corn of The Nation wrote an article called "66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport".
An excerpt:
The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.
Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, "homeless by choice," Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, "constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Nancy's astrologer.
Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig "in control," silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, "mistakes were made."
(more)
After Reagan's death Steve Gilliard responded to the fawning over Reagan by the national media by looking at the long term effects of the Reagan Administration on American life.
Gilliard wrote:
We need to ask what hath Reagan wrought. His economic policies crippled this country, preventing the kind of long term structural changes which are still needed. How long will American businesses have to foot the bill for health insurance? How long will unequal funding for schools exist? How long will the right of women to control their bodies be subject to restrictions? This is the real, domestic legacy of Ronald Reagan. His breaking of the PATCO strike began the road to anti-Union policies across business. Once, businesses wanted labor peace, after Reagan, strike breaking was permitted, hell encouraged.
Reagan began the road of crippling America's ability to care for Americans. Now we have this failed trickle down economic policy pushed by yet another President. One that leaves Americans in record debt and record bankruptcies. Instead of tax rates which fairly distribute the burden of funding America, the rich have been encouraged to avoid their fair share. Ronald Reagan began the bankrupting of America and the creation of a super wealthy CEO class, one where their great grandchildren will never have to work, an aristocracy of trustifarians. Under Reagan hypocracy and selfishness became the rule of the road. Not just in public life, where his staff routinely lied, eventually leading to Iran-Contra.
(more)
For more Reagan debunking (major h/t to Neil Rogers'
News Archive):
In 2003, Richard Blow wrote, "
Reagan Revised" about the uproar that greeted CBS's planned miniseries on the Reagans.
VIDEO: Perhaps the most impressive argument against Ronald Reagan comes from this NOFX gem, fronted by Eric Melvin, called, "Reagan Sucks".
by Hector Diego
John Lennon did not have a high opinion of "Eight Days A Week". When I was a kid I really loved it, but now I see his point. This was the kind of song he was referring to when he said he and Paul would sit down in an afternoon and write themselves another swimming pool.
If I've had enough caffeine, you could find me tapping my foot to "Eight Day's A Week". Like right now.
by Hector Diego
OK folks, just indulge me for one more post about Tim Tebow. I promise, this one's the last (for now).
"While Tebow realizes the Heisman can change a person's image forever, he confessed prior to the ceremony on Saturday night [after he won the award last year] that he wants to be known 20 or 30 years from now more for the kind of person he is."
A sportscaster from one of the big networks last night said something I wish I had said, but all I can do is report it. He said that Tebow was part gridiron guru, part Gandhi.
by Hector Diego
Moses, Urban Meyer
John the Baptist, Chris Leak
The Messiah, Tim Tebow
by The Station Agent
about a football team that made the grade...
by Hector Diego
The Sooner's mascot--just look at their helmet--is a paper clip.
Florida Gators 24, Oklahoma Sooners 14.
by The Station Agent
I like the way Howard Dean almost says that he's going to make some money now at the end of this clip. You go get yours, Howie. Just don't get indicted, it would be a crushing blow to my fragile psyche.
Here's a little A Tribe Called Quest for Dr. Dean.
by Hector Diego
"'Rocket 88' is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951 (accounts differ). It is claimed by some, including Phillips — later to become owner of Sun Records, and pioneer rock and roll record producer — to be the 'first rock and roll song'. The original version of the 12-bar blues song was credited to 'Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats', but that band did not actually exist. The song was put together by Ike Turner and his band in rehearsals at the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and recorded by Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Jackie Brenston (1930-1979), who was a saxophonist with Turner, also sang the vocal on "Rocket 88", a hymn of praise to the joys of the Oldsmobile 'Rocket 88', which had recently been introduced. Although Brenston was given writing credit rather than Turner, it is now agreed Brenston's contribution was overstated for financial reasons."
by Hector Diego
"The selection of girls is probably a little bit better out there in Gainesville."
--Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Keenan Clayton
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