Global
If journalism is history's first draft, the death of Ronald Reagan
has caused a step-up in the mass production of falsified history.
It's mourning in America.
The main technique is omission. People who suffered from the Reagan presidency have no media standing today. It's not cool to mention victims of his policies in, for example, Central America.
President Reagan lauded and subsidized the contra guerrillas -- extolling them as "freedom fighters" while they terrorized the population in Nicaragua, killing thousands of civilians. And he proudly funneled large-scale support to governments aligned with death squads murdering thousands more in Guatemala and El Salvador.
It's mourning in America.
The main technique is omission. People who suffered from the Reagan presidency have no media standing today. It's not cool to mention victims of his policies in, for example, Central America.
President Reagan lauded and subsidized the contra guerrillas -- extolling them as "freedom fighters" while they terrorized the population in Nicaragua, killing thousands of civilians. And he proudly funneled large-scale support to governments aligned with death squads murdering thousands more in Guatemala and El Salvador.
I appreciated Your series about cannabis / hemp, especially, "Hemp - It's
Growing!" (June 1, 2004). It is one reason I support Ohio Congressman
Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic Presidential nominee. Kucinich put in
writing on His website, if elected President He will decriminalize
cannabis and regulate it similar to alcohol. It stands to reason, if
citizens may have and grow cannabis with THC that farmers would be
allowed to grow hemp with out THC.
My main concerns on the cannabis / hemp issue are Biblical, where We presently have a powerful nation, caging humans for using what God said was good on literally the very 1st page of the Bible. Cannabis / hemp, a plant, known as kaneh bosm, before the King James version, is good and should not be exterminated.
Truthfully,
Stan White
My main concerns on the cannabis / hemp issue are Biblical, where We presently have a powerful nation, caging humans for using what God said was good on literally the very 1st page of the Bible. Cannabis / hemp, a plant, known as kaneh bosm, before the King James version, is good and should not be exterminated.
Truthfully,
Stan White
No greater nonsense will accompany Ronald Reagan to his grave than the idea
that he brought down the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War.
Among the many causes of Soviet collapse two words stand out, and they aren't Ronald Reagan.
They are rock and radiation.
The GOP military's 1980s attempt to "spend the Soviets into oblivion" certainly feathered the nests of the defense contractors who contributed to Reagan's campaigns here, and who still fatten George W. Bush. Lockheed-Martin, Halliburton and an unholy host of GOP insiders have scored billions in profits from Iran-Contra to Star Wars to Desert Storm to Iraq.
But these were not the people who brought down the Kremlin. If anything, they prolonged Soviet rule with the unifying threat of apocalyptic attack.
No, it was rock & roll that wrecked the USSR. From the late 1960s on, the steady beat of the Beatles and Motown, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, shattered Stalinism at its stodgy core.
Among the many causes of Soviet collapse two words stand out, and they aren't Ronald Reagan.
They are rock and radiation.
The GOP military's 1980s attempt to "spend the Soviets into oblivion" certainly feathered the nests of the defense contractors who contributed to Reagan's campaigns here, and who still fatten George W. Bush. Lockheed-Martin, Halliburton and an unholy host of GOP insiders have scored billions in profits from Iran-Contra to Star Wars to Desert Storm to Iraq.
But these were not the people who brought down the Kremlin. If anything, they prolonged Soviet rule with the unifying threat of apocalyptic attack.
No, it was rock & roll that wrecked the USSR. From the late 1960s on, the steady beat of the Beatles and Motown, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, shattered Stalinism at its stodgy core.
AUSTIN, Texas -- When, in future, you find yourself wondering, "Whatever happened to the Constitution?" you will want to go back and look at June 8, 2004. That was the day the attorney general of the United States -- a.k.a. "the nation's top law enforcement officer" -- refused to provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with his department's memos concerning torture.
In order to justify torture, these memos declare that the president is bound by neither U.S. law nor international treaties. We have put ourselves on the same moral level as Saddam Hussein, the only difference being quantity. Quite literally, the president may as well wear a crown -- forget that "no man is above the law" jazz. We used to talk about "the imperial presidency" under Nixon, but this is the real thing.
In order to justify torture, these memos declare that the president is bound by neither U.S. law nor international treaties. We have put ourselves on the same moral level as Saddam Hussein, the only difference being quantity. Quite literally, the president may as well wear a crown -- forget that "no man is above the law" jazz. We used to talk about "the imperial presidency" under Nixon, but this is the real thing.
Nixon thought Reagan was "strange" and, so he told the secret tape recorder in the Oval Office in 1972, "just an uncomfortable man to be around." The late president certainly was a very weird human being, not at all like the fellow being hailed this week as the man who gave America back its sense of confidence and destiny after the Carter years.
The ceremonial schedule for Reagan's corpse the week after his death had it lying "in repose" for several days. What else was it supposed to be doing? Anyway, Reagan always followed his script, and even if he had come to in the presidential library in Simi Valley, he would have stayed with his allotted role and lain doggo.
The ceremonial schedule for Reagan's corpse the week after his death had it lying "in repose" for several days. What else was it supposed to be doing? Anyway, Reagan always followed his script, and even if he had come to in the presidential library in Simi Valley, he would have stayed with his allotted role and lain doggo.
Last month, over 800 people asked their Senators to prevent the U.S. Department of Energy from shirking its responsibilities for cleaning up its nuclear waste sites. The Department of Energy wants to cover the sites with cement and abandon the nuclear waste in aging, leaking tanks, turning nuclear waste sites that should be cleaned up into radioactive waste dumps.
Now we've started an online petition that will be sent to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner asking them to drop this proposal because it would threaten our water with severe contamination and hamper radioactive cleanup throughout the country.
Please take a moment to sign this online petition and make sure nuclear waste is properly cleaned up. Then, ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.
To take action, click on this link: pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=181&id4=OHFreep
Background
Now we've started an online petition that will be sent to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner asking them to drop this proposal because it would threaten our water with severe contamination and hamper radioactive cleanup throughout the country.
Please take a moment to sign this online petition and make sure nuclear waste is properly cleaned up. Then, ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.
To take action, click on this link: pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=181&id4=OHFreep
Background
AUSTIN, Texas -- As Lily Tomlin observed, "No matter how cynical you get, it's impossible to keep up." But as Con Ed used to say, dig we must. Courtesy of David Sirota at the americanprogress.org website, we find the following matches between word and deed:
Just before Memorial Day, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi said, "Our active military respond better to Republicans" because of "the tremendous support that President Bush has provided for our military and our veterans." The same day, the White House announced plans for massive cuts in veterans' health care for 2006.
Last January, Bush praised veterans during a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The same day, 164,000 veterans were told the White House was "immediately cutting off their access to the VA health care system."
My favorite in this category was the short-lived plan to charge soldiers wounded in Iraq for their meals when they got to American military hospitals. The plan mercifully died a-borning after it hit the newspapers.
Just before Memorial Day, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi said, "Our active military respond better to Republicans" because of "the tremendous support that President Bush has provided for our military and our veterans." The same day, the White House announced plans for massive cuts in veterans' health care for 2006.
Last January, Bush praised veterans during a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The same day, 164,000 veterans were told the White House was "immediately cutting off their access to the VA health care system."
My favorite in this category was the short-lived plan to charge soldiers wounded in Iraq for their meals when they got to American military hospitals. The plan mercifully died a-borning after it hit the newspapers.