the REAL ronald reagan

[liberalitch]

Okay so the conservative herd made such a stink that CBS changed their programing......
They complained that the reagans were protrayed as insensitive to AIDs victims among other things that they SAY are not true.

so let's make a list of the things that we know ARE true that prove that the reagans were (are) worse than any TV movie can make them look.
I'll go first:

By the time Reagan said the word AIDs in a speech, 25,000 americans were already dead.

[stopthegop]

1. the AIDS problem snuck up on everyone

blaming Reagan is unrealistic...no person or group resonded in the most effective possible manner...

[Rainbowreflect]

3. Sorry, I don't agree.

Reagan did nothing to help slow the spead of AIDS or to help those with AIDS. Of course it is not his fault that it started, but the major blame is on him for nothing being done by the government for so long.

[liberalitch]

6. No one person is to blame for that....

but I can blame him for keeping help, education and treatment from many.... Globally.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Just out of curiousity,

how old are you and have you ever read, "And the Band Played on?"

[roughsatori]

16. You are wrong, There were people who responded

I marched in protests of Reagan and his refusal to acknowledge or fund those scientists and activists who DID respond and develop plans and methodologies. When some members here and Wes Clark were voting for Reagan I was writing letters and organizing. The Republican party as a whole obfuscated and refused to deal with AIDs . Reagan was the President, he and his administration clearly thought that AIDs was a problem for an expendable part of society. Many Democrats felt the same at first, that is why the initial impetus for change came from scientists, counselors and activists--NOT elected officials.

How any one could have ever voted for Reagan and have a clear conscious is beyond me. Clark's voting for Reagan 2 times puts him in the off-limits category for me--it would be a betrayal of the dead to vote for anyone who supported Reagan. When I see some of our gay members with Clark avatars it infuriates me. One gay DUer wrote: "Who cares if someone voted for Reagan 20 years ago?" I would think that the family members of those who died in part because of the US Government's refusal (under Reagan) to take action, would care. As would those of us who saw people die painfully and more quickly then needed to be due to the government not providing medications for its Citizens. You are indulging in the revisionist history that the infotainment "news" promotes regarding the hideous President Reagon.

[Say_What]

17. Critic Blasts Reagan for Inaction on AIDS --March 1987 article

<clips>

Waxman, chairman of the House subcommittee on health and the environment, joined a growing chorus of critis, which includes public health officials as well as politicians, who say Reagan´s reluctance to speak openly about AIDS is preventing an all-out public assault against the disease.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome already has affected more than 33, 000 Americans and has been reported in 99 countries.

"In the long run, the Reagan administration will not be remembered for the tax bill, `Star Wars´ or maybe even the Iran-contra issue," Waxman said at an international meeting on the socio-economic impact of AIDS on health care systems, sponsored by Project Hope. "I think the administration will be remembered for its continued and stubborn refusal to deal with AIDS."

Although administration officials have recommended widespread counseling and testing for the AIDS virus, they have not provided the hundreds of milions of dollars that such programs would cost, nor have they provided any money to educate people about how to protect themselves from the disease, Waxman siad.

<http://www.house.gov/waxman/issues/health/issues_health_HIV_news_Regan_inaction_3_27_87.htm>

[grannylib]

2. He thought trees caused air pollution

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rasputin1952]

5. However,...

the systematic destruction of the forests, will increase carbon pollution that manmade processes have had a heavy hand in. Since carbon is taken in by the trees, cutting them down, will have an impact on the amount of carbon in the air. Many years ago, the Germans, quite rightly, called the forests the "lungs of the earth".

Photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide, and the end result is the tree putting water and oxygen into the atmosphere. Not a bad trade off for carbon based life forms. Without land based, and especially sea based photosynthesis, life would be dramatically different here on earth. Since these 'polluting causing trees' have been under onslaught by clear cutting, the absorbtion of carbons has decreased signifigantly, and much to no ones surprise, it is having an impact on the earth.

In any case, I seriously doubt that Reagan got a quick course in ecological conservation. More likely, someone told him this, and it sounded good to him. the rest of the world gave a collective sigh, as they now knew that it was 'business as usual' for polluters of all kinds.

:nopity: for Reagans foolishness at making his statement about trees causing pollution.

on edit: Woops! didn't realize the previous was deleted so quickly, oh well.

[rasputin1952]

7. Ketchup...

or catsup if you prefer, is a vegetable.

I better go out and check my ketchup plants, it is supposed to freeze tonight.

:crazy:

[rusty charly]

9. as my dear friend Lea DeLaria said:

isn't it ironic that the man who declared ketchup a vegetable, has now become one?

[Champion Jack]

10. HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good one

[rasputin1952]

19. LOL, very good...

It also seems that the vegetable bin is where most of the GOP candidates are found!

:bounce:

[lefty_mcduff]

11. Yeah - the Reagan we will NEVER SEE on TV

"Reagan’s presidency coincided with the emergence of the AIDS epidemic. Reagan’s response to this epidemic was halting and ineffective. In the critical years of 1984 and 1985, according to his White House physician Dr. John Hutton, Reagan thought of AIDS as though “it was measles and would go away.” What changed Reagan’s view was the death in October 1985 of his friend Rock Hudson.

Reagan went to Dr. Hutton and questioned him about the disease. Hutton gave a lengthy explanation. “I always thought the world would end in a flash, but this is worse,“ Reagan said. Even with his new knowledge, Reagan was slow to join the battle against AIDS. He did not mention AIDS in public again until Feb. 1986, when he announced that a major report on AIDS would be prepared, saying, ”We’re going to focus on prevention.“ Reagan’s surgeon general C. Everett released the report in Oct. 1986, and described his remedy: ”One, abstinence; two, monogamy; three; condoms.“







http://www.issues2000.org/Celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Health_Care.htm

[Loonman]

12. The Bonzo President

http://www.quickchange.com/reagan/index.html

[Zorra]

13. From Bartcop.com

Ronald Reagans Record

http://www.bartcop.com/reagans-records.htm

[BringEmOn]

14. The bombing begins in five minutes

Ronald Reagan joked over a live radio microphone, "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."

[corarose]

15. Iran Contra

That's one for starters.

[Say_What]

18. Censorship of mass media - Murder and mayhem in Central America

<clips>

Spin Control Through Censorship

The Pentagon Manages the News

...The policy had its roots not only in the Pentagon's successful efforts to control the flow of information during the invasions of Panama and Grenada, but in the sophisticated techniques of spin control developed by the Reagan and Bush administrations, techniques whose finest flowering was in the 1988 election campaign. The key principle used by both Reagan and Bush is that if you can control where and when journalists (particularly TV journalists) can report, you can control the imagery and its emotional impact on the public. Michael Deaver, Ronald Reagan's minister of photo opportunities, marveled at the Pentagon's media mastery: "If you were going to hire a public relations firm to do the media relations for an international event, it couldn't be done any better than this is being done."

http://www.fair.org/extra/best-of-extra/gulf-war-pentagon.html


"Basic civil liberties including the right to life, liberty and the freedom of personal and political expression, suffered a drastic setback in 1981. In more than a dozen regional nations, even the most fundamental rights -- life and the inviolability of the person -- were transgressed by the government-condoned practice of harassing, torturing and murdering political opponents of those in power ... These reverses can be linked to policies adopted by the Reagan administration ... has allied the U.S. with the most violent regimes in the hemispere. He has sanctioned atrocities and human rights abuses by providing those governments with essentially unconditioned U.S. support."
Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 1982
*****

"We have never interfered in the internal government of a country and have no intention of doing so, never have had any thought of that kind."
Ronald Reagan, 1982

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media/MediaCensorship.html

[Lindacooks]

20. He lied about the woman in the cadillac

picking up a welfare check.

[SemperEadem]

21. Jeez--their own son said the same thing about his dad and AIDS on VH-1

one of those "Flashback 80's" programs they did earlier in the year... Ron, Jr.'s face was onscreen when he blasted his father about his non-existant record on AIDS...

I was sufficiently impressed that a) he would go on camera and say that and b) that VH-1 didn't cut it out of the segment.

[BringEmOn]

22. Reagan at Bitburg

Reagan laid a wreath for the SS soldiers at Bitburg.

[supercrash]

23. Here are some...

Iran/Contra
Huge deficits
October surprise
sleeping at meetings
arming rebels
Running cola

[kskiska]

24. He attended his son Michael's graduation

shook his hand, and asked his name.
He did the same with a staff member who worked in the West Wing.

WhenMichael, as a teenager, asked if he could live with his dad and recent wife Nancy, he was told they didn't have room.

He never even saw Michael's baby till he was 3 years old.