Open Thread -- Update Later Today

[filkertom]

I've got a lot to do this morning, and I'll try to have the update by mid-afternoon. Meantime, go wild.

P.S.: The moratorium I declared regarding Reagan, i.e., speak no ill of the dead, is hereby lifted. The news media have been lying about him, er, left and right. Anybody who wants to vent, go for it.

Comments

Not really venting...

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

I think the media will lionize any recently deceased President, no matter what warts he has. Doubly so with another sitting Republican President - a President whose father was Reagan's Vice President, to boot.

Re: Not really venting...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

There's lionizing, and there's lying. "Infoshaman", an Atrios (http://atrios.blogspot.com/) commenter, caught Neal Conan on NPR with this quote:

Growing up in the little town America of Dixon, Illinois, during the Great Depression, Ronald Reagan was interested in sports and acting.

He then pointed out that Reagan was 18 years old when the stock market crashed in 1929. But to point that out would smash the myth of "growing up in the Great Depression".

And I have already heard too damn much bullshit about what a "nice guy" he was. This is the man who, before he was even elected Governor of California, said that hungry people in America "were dieting". The man who tried to cut funding for environmental programs because "80% of air pollution is caused by trees". The man who tried to cut funding to school lunches, declaring ketchup to be a vegetable. The man who laid a wreath at the grave of SS officers in Bitburg. The man who didn't even say "AIDS" until 1987.

As mentioned earlier, I could go on for days. I think we all could. Short form, we are going to hear more lies and bullshit about what a great President Reagan was over the next week, and the next six months, than I think any of us on this side of the aisle can stomach. They're glossing over history, and then telling us to get over it.

Phuque That.

The Love Child of Clive Barker and McFarlane Toys

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

So there's this exchange in one of the comment threads at Atrios. Based on a current CNN.com poll -- "Who was the greatest President?" And woot said "Why wasn't Pierce mentioned?" And Holden Caulfield replied, "Do you mean this guy?" with a picture link to Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland in M*A*S*H.

Then came the reply, "No, I meant this guy (http://www.cantinamediterraneo.it/immagini/galleste/pierced.jpg)."

Re: Not really venting...

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

And how many people are mentioning that Reagan also trained and armed Bin Laden, and gave support to Saddam? Or was best buds with Noriega while starting the "War On Drugs"?

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Not venting, my comments on in my LJ, but I thought you'd appreciate this article by Christopher Hitchens, who claims to be a liberal, but is one of the most anti-Democrat commentators I can think of. In this case, he vents his spleen on Reagan.

He actually said THIS...

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

"What would this country be without this great land of ours?"

.... Huh?

Re: Not really venting...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

A lovely summation of the man in cartoon form (http://cagle.slate.msn.com/working/040607/kirk.jpg).

Maybe I'm showing my age...

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Ee-yeeccchh! That was not an image I needed to see just before lunch.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

'Saproblem? I think the subject line was plenty of warning. :) Next time I'll mention David Cronenberg and Anna Nicole Smith. If that doesn't keep you from clicking, nothing will.

In honor of RR's North American Tour

[ericcoleman]

Really though, only three dates? Geeeze, let's make a 50 date tour and sell merch ... but seriously ...

And I hope that you die and your death will come soon
I’ll follow your casket through the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered into your death bed
Then I’ll stand over your grave till I’m sure that you’re dead - Masters of War - Bob Dylan