Ex-President Ronald Reagan dies aged 93!!

Garry I agree with you but stop with the HAHAHAHAHA! thing it makes you sound (sic) like Evil Lord Chuckles the silly piggy off Dave tha Barbarian and I’m sure you are not clinically insane. Yet.

The amount of deaths attributed to Communists regimes throughout the world dwarfs anything the US ever did…just look at the Soviet Gulags..the purges of Stalin..Mao’s cultural revolution..not to mention the Khmere Rouge in Cambodia…Castro’s prisons..my brother-in law knows about them…

The US has done ifs fair share of exterminating… but the fact remains that it wasn’t communism that killed those that perished. It was one persons interpretation of a political system that gave them the power to do such things. Communism is no more to blame for what Stalin did than the Church is guilty of what the KKK do in the name
of jesus. Or the good christians photographed in the Smithsonian Institute having a picnic viewing the mutilated corpses of black people in their sunday best.

Face it Communism was an interesting academic novelty that could not translate to the real world, even the Chinese realized this and are modifying it as we speak..to much sucess…look at Cuba, and North Korea for a snap-shot of what Communism does to a nation….

Hahahahaha… it is not communism that does that, but the isolation imposed by the US. Cuba is the way it is because the US makes it that way. If you are going to argue that the US is not to blame and the policies of the US have had no effect then why not drop the sanctions?

Rememeber GarryB, the West never built walls to fence in their citizens nor do I see floridians jumping in rafts to escape to Cuba

No, US citizens are not kept in cages… only foreign fighters get that priviledge.

Face it, and admit it YOU ARE WRONG, making fun of Reagan makes you look childish and niave…..History has proven Reagan was right!

I always thought the Spitting Image puppet was more convincing than the real thing. Raygun was a moron… history has already recorded that.

I also spoke off the record with many Soviets and they were all hoping the communist sytem would go away!!!

And I have seen an interview of a US economist that was sent to Russia to help them after the end of the cold war and he was dissappointed at the response of the west. He said at a time when they needed help from the west to avoid economic collapse the west ignored them and that is the main reason the russian mafia became so powerful. Of course the Russian Mafia is largely made up of former communist leaders… the only ones with the power and influence to make even more money by taking control of formerly government controlled companies and resources.
The result was that Russia went through rather more pain than necessary and in effect was punnished for chosing democracy, while china continued to enjoy a good economy with its most favoured trading nation status. If it was really about communism it makes you kinda wonder why china is so well treated and is still regarded better in the US than Russia. Perhaps it was never about communism at all?

Ronald Reagan stood against the darkness of communism. He won the fight for freedom and brought down what he rightly termed the “Evil Empire.”

What a load of ********. How did the collapse of communism effect in any way the freedom of the US? The freedom to have a mafia controlled enemy with nuclear weapons every bit as good a the ones the americans make? And this so called evil empire… surely China, North Korea, Cuba and a few other countries still exist. With the national security measures taken in the US it actually looks more like the SU than ever before.

The example you give about the Mujhdgadin is valid, but we can easily say, that England and the US by allying with Stalin purpetuated Communism…

You could equally have said that you still put up with China currently being a COMMUNIST country, why couldn’t you put up with the Soviet Union being the same? I can understand not wanting to deal with Stalin and not trusting him but all the trillions and trillions that have been wasted over the years because neither side could be bothered understanding the other side is rediculous.

Although I do agree that it’s impossible to implement in the real work.

It actually goes into practise to an extent during wartime in the west, and no it would not be impossible to impliment… if ants can do it so can we if we fully understood it.

June 12, 1987 in front of the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall, President Reagan stated: “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall ! !”

And the great prophet GarryB said unto the US “either charge those people at Guantanimo or set them free”. It will happen to and by not tying myself to demanding it be done now, when it does happen I can claim victory and all will praise me for getting those held in Guantanimo released. Blah blah blah…

He was a moron that couldn’t out act his simian costars, and he was an idiot president with the blind belief of a Mullah. His Starwar ideas were rediculous and would have started WWIII… something he actually saw as winnable… which probably made him the most dangerous President the US ever had.

So few of us will be remembered at all….given that, some cynical and ignorant responses are quite understandable. He who respects understands respect. No one asked that you have to agree, but simply respect the admirations of others for one they saw as beholding the epitome of human spirit of optimism for the common good of mankind.

Well said my friend

So few of us will be remembered at all….given that, some cynical and ignorant responses are quite understandable. He who respects understands respect. No one asked that you have to agree, but simply respect the admirations of others for one they saw as beholding the epitome of human spirit of optimism for the common good of mankind.

June 12, 1987 in front of the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall, President Reagan stated: “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall ! !”

Reagan Quotes

Reagan Quotes Pt. 2

The “Evil Empire” Speech of March 8, 1983

Has he risen yet?;)

Flood.™

Hand 87-5

I agree with you 100% on PAPER Communism sounds like a great idea, but it is impossible to impliment in the real world!! that is precisley the problem…Capiltalism has its faults for sure, but the bottom line is, most people will work hard to provide for themselves and their families..there is a degree of greed in that, because they won’t work as hard for someone elses family…But if every person in a nation is working as hard and efficiently as possible to provide the best possible life for their families, then the nation as a whole will benefit as well…In the US there is a popular saying,
“A Rising Tide lifts all Boats”
Accepting this concept and understanding it is at the crux of all the debates between Liberals and conservatives..and to a lesser degree between US democracy and European democracy.
TTP

There’s no difference between US and European democracy. What is important is the social system, but conservative parties should also be able to agree on the fact that social measures are necessairy.

Hand 87-5

I agree with you 100% on PAPER Communism sounds like a great idea, but it is impossible to impliment in the real world!!

I disagree- even on paper, Communism is flawed. Although I do agree that it’s impossible to implement in the real work.

Arthur,
I spent alot of time between 1988 and 1990 in Russia, as I flew US Inspectors overseeing the INF treaty with Russia..We actually flew on USAF jets with Soviet navigators and radio operators!! At 35,000 ft we talked candidly and openly..The Soviet Nav was in his mid 50’s and I was a 26 Year old Aircraft Commander (Captain) He was amazed how young I was and how the US allowed us to fly around the world in my C-141…I remember I had a car magazine and He was fascinated with an ad about joining the Army…He didn’t realize the US didn’t draft soldiers any more..I showed him pictures of my Corvette, and my new home I just bought….He told me It would take a lifetime of saving in the USSR to purchase the Corvette alone. He smiled at me and said, “Your country, its the right way”
Unfortunarely I haven’t been back, but like you, I read alot and travel extensively…I’m sure some Russians wish for the old Soviet days, and prosperity doesn’t occur overnight…..The example you give about the Mujhdgadin is valid, but we can easily say, that England and the US by allying with Stalin purpetuated Communism…We’re not all fortune tellers…..just trying to do the best we can.
Arthur plese go to the F-16 picture thread, and look up my post about the “Boyd” book, you would find this book highly interesting
Later, TTP

Hand 87-5

I agree with you 100% on PAPER Communism sounds like a great idea, but it is impossible to impliment in the real world!! that is precisley the problem…Capiltalism has its faults for sure, but the bottom line is, most people will work hard to provide for themselves and their families..there is a degree of greed in that, because they won’t work as hard for someone elses family…But if every person in a nation is working as hard and efficiently as possible to provide the best possible life for their families, then the nation as a whole will benefit as well…In the US there is a popular saying,
“A Rising Tide lifts all Boats”
Accepting this concept and understanding it is at the crux of all the debates between Liberals and conservatives..and to a lesser degree between US democracy and European democracy.
TTP

Pluto,

….because we don’t want to.
is that too hard to understand?

Why? Because we don’t NEED to leave the country to travel…..

I don’t want to sound pompous and arrogant, but travelling involves a lot more than just changing the scenery from mountains to deserts to beaches to jungles. Even more than changing the scenery from Tornados to Floggers to F-15s.

It’s the different people, with different languages, habits, cultures that makes travel so much more than just plain sightseeing. I absolutely agree that the US offers one of the most varying sceneries of any country around the world (although Russia certainly comes close, and China probably has even more different landscapes), but touring across the US just in no way compares to what i consider travel. And it most definately didn’t teach me even one percent of what i learned from travelling through other countries with probably less to see – i definately don’t recommend the Romanian Banate for sightseeing, that’s for sure!

I’m speaking for myself here, but i’m pretty sure my experiences as a travellin person have helped shape my views on the world. Conclude from that what you wish.

TTP,

PS I spent alot of time in Russia in 1988 and was amazed at what I saw. I also spoke off the record with many Soviets and they were all hoping the communist sytem would go away!!!

Ya ne znal ty govorish po-russki. Have you been back ever since, and spoken to many ordinary former-Soviets how they look back on it now? It’s funny though. Everyone now is praising Ronnie Raygun for alledgedly ending Communism in the Soviet Union, but exactly how democratic do you guys think that Putin is?

Besides, the one action the Reagan administration did which seriously hamper the social structure of the Soviet Union was the one that backfired with a blast on 9/11/2001. Yeah, let’s fund those Mujaheddeen freedom fighters in Afghanistan… I can really recommend watching Rambo III for those who want to get a taste of 1980s American conservative thought 😀

Rik Dupre died the same day. That made me feel sad. Mind you, he wasn’t a politician.

Shame that Americans couldn’t have been persuaded to have remained at home and out of a few South American countries (and elsewhere) in the 60s and 70s then…Would have saved the massacre of thousands of innocent people quilty of nothing but being hungry and disenfranchised.
Still, the same would also count against the Soviet states too – but that sort of behaviour was expected from ‘commies’, not from our friends from the west…

Flood™

Or Palestinians in Rafah?

Or doesn’t the USA’s buddy Israel count as part of “The West”?

Actually, if the freedom of movement is such a big deal who can explain why only 1 in 5 Americans have a passport and that GWB had only left the country once (to Mexico, I believe) in his first 50-something years.

Mind you, they do say that “travel broadens the mind” 😀

I forgot the rest…

The point is we ARE free to go and do what we want. Most Americans just simply are perfectly happy with being where they are, in America, and see less need to travel.

Things are so beautiful here, we do not want to leave. We don’t live in a land whose miserable and oppressive conditions compel us to leave the borders at any given chance…hehe….

Actually, if the freedom of movement is such a big deal who can explain why only 1 in 5 Americans have a passport and that GWB had only left the country once (to Mexico, I believe) in his first 50-something years.

Mind you, they do say that “travel broadens the mind” 😀

….because we don’t want to.
is that too hard to understand?

Why? Because we don’t NEED to leave the country to travel. You have to keep that in mind, my European friends. I have left the country twice–to go to the west indies in 88, and to Cancun for my honeymoon in 02.

there’s not too much reason to leave my own state: Some of the greatest beaches in the world on the coast, great smokey mountains in the west, and everything in between. You can hop on a chartered boat off the coast and within a few hours, your in the gulf stream, catching Tuna, mahi and whaoo.

Florida is only a 12 hour car drive to the South, D.C. is 4-5 hours north, NYC is only 8 or 9 hours away. That’s just the EAST coast. Hawaii is also on the “no passport required” list of tropical paradises along with the Us virgin islands, florida, and many parts of the Texas coast. Inland, we have the rockies, sierra nevada and the appalachians, the grand canyon, yellowstone, and all the national parks included within. And if that’s not enough, Alaska is also a state, and there’s plenty to do in alaska.

Americans have much less reason to leave the country than Europeans do.

I find it funny that people have noticed GWB hasn’t spent too much time out of the country, and made a big deal about it. why is that an issue? Are you insinuating that becasue he prefers to stay here, he is less “cultured”? He doesn’t like to spend time in DC, preferring instead to stay home on his texas Ranch when he can. I hate not being home. Maybe Europeans don’t get it as much because they typically have smaller properties and homes.

Europeans also take more vacation time off than Americans, someof it government mandated, I believe. For most of us, every weekend is a vacation.

I see, so the internment of the Japanese-Americans doesn’t count? Oh wait, those weren’t walls, they were fences. :rolleyes:

Or Palestinians in Rafah?

Or doesn’t the USA’s buddy Israel count as part of “The West”?

Actually, if the freedom of movement is such a big deal who can explain why only 1 in 5 Americans have a passport and that GWB had only left the country once (to Mexico, I believe) in his first 50-something years.

Mind you, they do say that “travel broadens the mind” 😀

Commentary by Terri Lukach – Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2004 — Even in the post-Sept. 11 era, in which the possibility of a spontaneous act of terrorism is never far from our thoughts, it is hard for anyone who had not lived through the height of the Cold War to imagine what a strain communism and the specter of mutually assured destruction added to daily life.

Even more than the idea of a breakdown in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that could lead to a first strike, and thus nuclear annihilation, was the complete lack of hope that the situation would ever be different. I clearly remember the certainty with which I believed I would not live to see the day when communism collapsed or the Soviet Union did not exist, and neither would my children. It was the primary reason I became involved in politics, and thought the work the most important one could do.

Fortunately for the nation and the world, Ronald Reagan had the vision to see what few, if any, others could discern: the total bankruptcy of the communist system, how close it actually was to collapsing, and what was required to push it over the edge. In achieving his goal of relegating communism to “the ash heap of history,” Ronald Reagan not only removed the specter of the unthinkable from our lives and our futures, but gave us a gift of inestimable value: the gift of hope.

Hope was Ronald Reagan’s secret weapon. He gave it to the young and the old, to the worn-out and the weary, to the disenfranchised and the disillusioned. He gave it to the people of our country and of every country, to leaders and little people and everyone in between. And by restoring the hope of all Americans, he restored the greatness of America, because hope is the foundation of freedom.

On June 5, 2004, a great and gallant leader passed from our midst, and the whole world is diminished by his loss. At annual gatherings of Reagan staff, the president used to remind us that we came to Washington not to have a job, but to do a job. Each of us tried to live up to the confidence he placed in us, and to the responsibility he laid on our shoulders. One thing is for certain: he lived up to his. As he said in his farewell address to the nation, “We weren’t just marking time. We made a difference.”

An old hymn based on a passage from the Apostle Paul has a stanza that reads:

“We have run the race,
We have won the fight,
We have stood against the darkness of the night,
We have won the race
And seen God’s face,
And built a kingdom of love.”

Ronald Reagan stood against the darkness of communism. He won the fight for freedom and brought down what he rightly termed the “Evil Empire.” He won the race and, by now, has met God face to face. As for a kingdom of love, well, we’ve seen a glimpse of that this week from coast to coast. May he rest in peace.

(Terri Lukach is speechwriter for the secretary of defense and a former staff assistant to President Reagan for public liaison.)

Time to set aside our differences and indulge in a group hug :rolleyes:

Rememeber GarryB, the West never built walls to fence in their citizens…

I see, so the internment of the Japanese-Americans doesn’t count? Oh wait, those weren’t walls, they were fences. :rolleyes:

Face it, and admit it YOU ARE WRONG, making fun of Reagan makes you look childish and niave…..

Hey hey! Chill, man!
If he really was so great then he shall rise again on the third day…;)

Flood™

GarryB,

The amount of deaths attributed to Communists regimes throughout the world dwarfs anything the US ever did…just look at the Soviet Gulags..the purges of Stalin..Mao’s cultural revolution..not to mention the Khmere Rouge in Cambodia…Castro’s prisons..my brother-in law knows about them…Face it Communism was an interesting academic novelty that could not translate to the real world, even the Chinese realized this and are modifying it as we speak..to much sucess…look at Cuba, and North Korea for a snap-shot of what Communism does to a nation….Rememeber GarryB, the West never built walls to fence in their citizens nor do I see floridians jumping in rafts to escape to Cuba
Face it, and admit it YOU ARE WRONG, making fun of Reagan makes you look childish and niave…..History has proven Reagan was right!
TTP
PS I spent alot of time in Russia in 1988 and was amazed at what I saw. I also spoke off the record with many Soviets and they were all hoping the communist sytem would go away!!!
TTP

TTP,

Communism made millions of death : that’s a fact, nobody can deny that. (Even if some can deny that holocaust never existed :rolleyes: )
You’re definitely right about that.
I still consider that communism is a great concept which implementation was a terrible fiasco.

When you write “History has proven Reagan was right!” , I guess you’re a bit optimistic. I would prefer something like :”History didn’t prove he was wrong yet”.
I mean : I don’t think that radical liberalism , free market and global economy is a much better system on the long run. But only times knows ….