[Liberator]

Today is Ronald Reagan's 93rd birthday.  I ask you to say a prayer for him, Mrs. Nancy and their family when you can, as we know he is suffering from advanced Alzheimer's Disease, and as such is living the final years of his life with nearly no memory of his wife, family, friends, or life.


For those too young to remember or too busy sticking you heads in the sand, Ronald Reagan was President of the United States during the decade of the 1980s.  He led the free world to victory over the Soviet during the Cold War which ended in that decade.

RR Info

[HotSnoJ]

Poor guy (the illnesses and all).


*starts singing some song about sadness*

[Stryke 9]

He's the guy a full third of the country's named over for some strange reason.

As a symbol, he's still loathsome and forever will be. As a person, sure, poor guy. At least he has something to remember if he ever could, as opposed to most people in life...

[mikhael]

I feel sorry for the guy, but not that sorry. His policies on medical coverage and research led directly to my grandmother dying of advanced Alzheimer's disease. His fate is, in my opinion, poetic justice.

For the record: Reagan didn't lead our country to victory in the Cold War. He was the lucky guy that was there when the Cold War ended.

[Ace]

Originally posted by mikhael
I feel sorry for the guy, but not that sorry. His policies on medical coverage and research led directly to my grandmother dying of advanced Alzheimer's disease. His fate is, in my opinion, poetic justice.

For the record: Reagan didn't lead our country to victory in the Cold War. He was the lucky guy that was there when the Cold War ended.

Thanks for beating me to both of these points, especially the poetic justice due to his health care policies part.

I do think it is terrible for this to happen to any person, but I think it is just as terrible to attribute greatness to someone whose actions do not deserve it.

[Liberator]

There is info on the linked site as well as in the public record that would indicate otherwise.  

Why is it people hate for the USA to have a strong leader?

 I don't want this to turn into a politics thread I just thought it might be a nice change to celebrate the birthday of a great man, kind of like celebrating Washington's or Lincoln's birthday.

[karajorma]

Actually I'm quite glad he got Alzheimer's. The US would have banned research into stem cells if it wasn't for him.

[Flipside]

If I recall, once he got Alzheimers, half of Capitol Hill suddenly had a reversal of opinion on stem cell. Didn't the same thing happen about Lesbians being able to adopt when a senator found out his daughter was gay or something?

Anyway, I feel sorry for the man, but I don't consider him a strong leader, any more than I consider Bush a strong leader, that's what's so scary, I don't measure strength by the ability to kick someone half your sizes teeth in

Anyway, I'll respect your wishes to try and keep this non-political, and just say, Happy Birthday Ronnie

[HotSnoJ]

Ronnie?

Happer Birthday Gipper!

[Carl]

*21 turret solute* stand tall, all you regannauts.

[mikhael]

How old were you lot when Reagan was actually president? I remember his entire presidency clearly. I'd say he wasn't our worst president ever, but he wasn't the best either. Under the Reagan administration, we saw the worst rape of the American citizenry of any president before or since--with one exception. Bush Jr has done a remarkably good job at treating the American worker like a prison ***** and he's only had half the time Reagan had.

[Flipside]

I remember the whole of the Reagan Years, but then I remember all of the Thatcher years as well, no matter how hard I try to forget, hell when I was born, there were still 2 prime ministers to go before Thatcher arrived!
I think it's been mentioned by his own aides that RR was more interested in what was going on in other countries than America.

[Black Wolf]

http://www.rotten.com/library/history/political-scandal/iran-contra/

While I'm loathe to believe everything I read on the net, this seems pretty ligit, and the Rotten.com library has a history of being accurate... if it is... well, only in America, right?

[Grey Wolf]

Isn't the Cold War usually considered to have ended at the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was during the Bush I presidency, not Reagan? And wasn't the actual reason for the fall of the Soviet Union massive economic problems and a failed coup?

Given that, I'm not quite sure how you can say Reagan ended the cold war.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
http://www.rotten.com/library/history/political-scandal/iran-contra/

While I'm loathe to believe everything I read on the net, this seems pretty ligit, and the Rotten.com library has a history of being accurate... if it is... well, only in America, right?

I haven't read the totality of that, Black Wolf, but if its an article that shows that Bush and Reagan tacitly allowed for the US to funnel aid to known terrorists, yes, its accurate. I remember the coverage when it happened. I especially remember Ollie's fake ass tears before congress and Reagan's "I do not recall" over and over.

[HotSnoJ]

Originally posted by Grey Wolf 2009
Isn't the Cold War usually considered to have ended at the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was during the Bush I presidency, not Reagan? And wasn't the actual reason for the fall of the Soviet Union massive economic problems and a failed coup?

Given that, I'm not quite sure how you can say Reagan ended the cold war.

Well it was Reagon's policies such as SDI, tax cuts, and research into advanced weaponry (sp?) that bankrupted the USSR that lead to their fall in '91. Not to mention that capitalism is way better then communism/socialism (sp?).

As for the sponsership of terrorists (the linked to article), if I remember correctly they weren't against us at that time, openly anyway.

[Shiva Archon]

Really trying hard not to delve into the Gipper's politics or defend his brilliant economic policy...

So I'll just say Happy Birthday!

[Stryke 9]

Which makes funding terrorism so much better.


And Russia didn't need any help bankrupting itself. If you bothered to take even a passing look at Soviet history, the kleptocrats running the place were so incompetent the whole thing had basically fallen apart years before it became official anyway. If anything, Reagan and his ilk helped gouge huge holes in the American economy playing nuclear brinkmanship with what was essentially a third-world country the entire time.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Shiva Archon
Really trying hard not to delve into the Gipper's politics or defend his brilliant economic policy...

You mean the economic policy where the middle class got raped in favor of big corporate royalty? The same economic policy that lets people like Microsoft and Monsanto and all the other huge conglomerates control pretty much every aspect of your consumer life? The same economic policy that made the divide between the rich and the poor grow by over 2500% in eight years? Yeah. Brilliant.

Next you'll be telling us that giving arms and training to Osama Bin Laden and chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein was a GOOD IDEA.

[Liberator]

It wasn't, but the main problem with humanity has always been that we are very short-sighted.

Answer this question for me though:  Are you better off than your parents were at your age?  Probably.  Will you be better off than you're parents when you're their age?  Probably.

The problem isn't that the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, the problem is bleeding hearts who are perfectly willing to become sycophants to the bloody politicians who promise to do good and take care of the poor and down-trodden and then do nothing after the election.  

The problem are the louts who would just as soon take a check from my tax money as opposed to getting a real job.  

The problem is nobody takes responsibility for their actions anymore, the "It's not my fault..." syndrome is sweeping the industrialized world and leaving nothing but ruin in it's wake.  

The problem is that certain parties and persons in this world believe that everyone should be "equal"[/b], the problem is they want the over acheivers to meet the rest of us down at the bottom instead of encouraging everyone else to meet the over-acheivers on top.

Is it unfair that Bill Gates has nearly a quarter of a trillion in assets?  Sure, but I don't begrudge him that.  He got it because he is a good buisnessman.

Is it unfair that I don't have as nice a car as some people I know?  Sure, but again it's not their fault that I don't, nor is it their responsibility to see to it that I have a nice car.  I need to earn it.

Is it fair that most of us don't have GFs with movie star looks?  No, but guess what Life ain't fair.  

The only fair thing life can do is let you wake up every morning, beyond that it's up to you.  You make your life what it will be, nobody else.  Not me, not your boss, not the guy in the car behind and certainly not some bloody, vote-whore politician in Washington D.C.  Only you.