As the upper crust retires to their gated communities so they don't have to mingle <sigh>
Foxfyre wrote:But Mesquite, where is this missing middle class? I can look out from my office window and see block after block of quite nice but not ostentacious middle class home. I can look across the river and see mile after square mile of nice but not ostentacious middle class homes.
Do you have some sort of reading disability? Where did I say there is a missing middle class in the US? If you have a problem remembering what you are responding to, try using the quote feature.
I was responding to your insinuation that any sort of progressive tax system is equivalent to communism. :wink:
Well I've been accused of being many things, but a member of the 'upper crust' is certainly not one of them.
Mesquite writes:
Quote:I was responding to your insinuation that any sort of progressive tax system is equivalent to communism.
I insinuated no such thing. I said that communism presumes to dictate the maximum amount a person can earn/own/have whatever. That has nothing to do with a progressive tax code.
(I do favor a some kind of flat tax system however with everybody paying the same percentage.)
Foxfyre wrote:Mesquite writes:
Quote:I was responding to your insinuation that any sort of progressive tax system is equivalent to communism.
I insinuated no such thing. I said that communism presumes to dictate the maximum amount a person can earn/own/have whatever. That has nothing to do with a progressive tax code.
Of course it does, depending on the degree of progressivity.
IMPOSSIBLE TO HATE LYING CROOK REAGAN Jun 7 2004
By Christopher Hitchens
FOR the past decade, Ronald Reagan couldn't remember the American people.
But there was no chance of their forgetting him.
His critics wrote him off as a ham actor and a repeater of other people's lines. And long before he left office there were rumours about his mental capacity.
But it was the left-leaning professor Walter Dean Burnham who analysed Reagan's secret.
He was impossible to hate. Liberals and intellectuals had hated Richard Nixon, who was politically more to the centre.
But they couldn't hate Reagan. And Reagan didn't attract hatred because he didn't radiate it.
He appeared to be at peace with the world, and with himself.
At points, Reagan appeared to be worryingly unworried about things like nuclear war, and gave the impression he was in personal touch with the Almighty.
But he met Napoleon's great criterion for success. He was lucky. Many American presidents had made ringing denunciations of the Berlin Wall, starting with John Kennedy.
But Reagan made his appeal to Mikhail Gorbachev, who was probably already half-convinced.
The Wall didn't fall until Reagan had gone back to California but by then the Cold War had been wound up.
Reagan was wrong about a lot of things, and dishonest, too.
He took years to change his mind about South Africa.
He claimed to have fought in the Second World War and even to have taken part in the liberation of the Nazi death camps.
His best lines were stolen from Hollywood movies. He owned more horses than books.
He allowed a loopy Marine named Oliver North to run a secret government and an illegal operation out of the White House basement.
He traded arms for hostages with the mullahs in Tehran, and then lied about it.
He diverted the profits of that operation to an illegal war in Nicaragua, and then lied about that, too.
He wondered aloud about Biblical prophecies of the end of the world, and Armageddon.
But his legacy was to have postponed Armageddon, almost without meaning to.
-Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair
Government wants tough rules on asylum
Author Levy wins women's fiction prize
Boys trafficked to UAE as cameljockeys
More debt relief sought for poor nations
Jewish World Review June 7, 2004 /18 Sivan, 5764
Cal Thomas
Ronald Reagan's Wonderful Life
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | He lingered too long for his own good, but not long enough for his beloved Nancy and the many others who loved and admired him.
He was hated for precisely the same reasons he was loved. He had convictions and made those without them look weak.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was a colossus of the 20th century. Bobby Kennedy's brother, Ted, said RFK saw wrong and tried to right it. Ronald Reagan saw the evil of communism and did not try to contain or oppose it. He aimed to defeat it, and did, at least the Soviet brand. Millions breathe free today because of him. It is altogether fitting that the Berlin Wall stands no longer as a monument to slavery but in its deconstructed state as a testimony to freedom at his library in Simi Valley, Calif.
Freedom was what Reagan was about. He had seen too many people and governments that would limit human freedom to have anything but the highest regard for individual liberty as a God-given right.
Reagan was consistently kind, even to his political adversaries, unlike many in the partisan smack-downs of today. He knew who he was before he came to office; he did not need the office to complete him. It was a perfect fit, especially following the Jimmy Carter years during which some historians argued that the office of the presidency, like America, had seen its best days.
Reagan was an eternal optimistic, and his optimism was catching. His leadership style was about optimism. If people are confident a leader knows where he is going, they are more likely to follow him.
He proved he was right about the big things. Faced with editorial denunciations at home and massive demonstrations in Europe against his plan to put missiles there to offset a Soviet threat, Reagan went ahead and did it anyway. The Soviets could not keep pace with the buildup or Reagan's proposed missile defense system (derided by critics as "Star Wars"). When those critics could not bring themselves to admit they were wrong, they unpersuasively claimed the Soviet Union fell under its own weight. More accurately, Reagan pushed it onto "the ash heap of history," with the able assistance of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II.
Critics were apoplectic when he cut taxes. They complained about deficits that never seemed to bother them when they were driving up the deficit with profligate spending and ever-higher taxes. He cut them anyway and ignited two decades of prosperity, which continues today.
What Reagan did more than anything else - and it will be his lasting legacy - is replace despair with hope. Most people, even his detractors, felt a glow from being in his presence. He was the kindest, most gracious president I have met, and I have met them all since JFK. In his presence you felt he was interested in you and not himself. He was a good man.
Mistakes? He made a few, but then again, too few to mention. He was the right man in the right job at the right time. The world is different because Ronald Reagan came our way.
Following the assassination attempt in 1981, Reagan said he felt G-d had spared him for a purpose, and he intended to devote the rest of his life in dedication to his G-d and to that purpose.
He has now - as he noted in his eulogy for the Challenger astronauts who died in 1986, a quote from John Gillespie Magee - "slipped the surly bonds of earth . . . put out (his) hand and touched the face of God."
Reagan used to say that America's greatest days are ahead of it. Now it can be said, so are his.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas1.asp
What about Reagan's record on civil rights? What do you make of his opening the 1980 campaign by declaring his support for states rights in Philadelphia Mississippi, a town whose only claim to fame is the murder of three civil rights activists in 1964? There's a reason the Republican Party hasn't been able to win more than 10-15 percent of the black vote since 1964, despite the widespread social conservatism of many black voters. Reagan's legacy is one of indifference or outright hostility toward African-Americans, a hostility signaled by his naked appeals to white Southern voters using racial coded messages. Imagine if George Bush opened the 2004 campaign by leading a rally against gay marriage in Laramie. No one would have to think hard about what kind of message he was sending to gay voters."
email I read that was worth passing along - eb
It's simply amazing that you believe stuff like that Edgar. Did you read any of the links I posted up there? Several were to tributes to Ronald Reagan from black Americans who have no problem with his record on civil rights.
Ronald Reagan (1911 - )
Education and Occupations:
Education:
Graduated from Eureka College in Illinois, 1932. Was active in sports and drama.
Occupations:
Worked as a radio sports announcer, 1932-1937.
Contracted actor with Warner Brothers, 1937-1952. Appeared in about 50 films.
President of the Screen Actors Guild.
Public Relations Speaker for General Electric, Co., 1958-1966.
Governor of California, 1966-1974.
Terms of Presidency:
1st term: 1981-1984
2nd Term: 1985-1988
Political party: Republican
Foreign affairs and the economy were the main issues of the 1980 election. Reagan attacked the SALT treaty with Russia, the treaty returning the canal to Panama, and Carter's use of human rights in foreign affairs, advocating a strong national defense and toughness towards the Soviet Union. Domestically, Reagan promised to cut government spending (except on defense) as well as taxes, a combination that his would-be running mate George Bush called "voodoo economics." Also, Reagan opposed legal abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Reagan's major political opponents were:
Jimmy Carter (Democrat)
John B. Anderson (Independent)
Ed Clark (Libertarian)
Vice President: George Bush (both terms)
Major domestic happenings of the Reagan administration:
Ronald Reagan becomes 40th President of the U.S., January 20, 1981.
Reagan survives assassination attempt (1981): in March, a crazed John W. Hinckley Jr. Made an attempt on the Presidents' life, wounding him as well as his press secretary, a Secret Service Officer, and a policeman. The President's courage throughout this ordeal raised his approval ratings.
Part One of the Reagan Economic Plan (1981): Reagan asks Congress to cut federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid, the food stamp program, welfare, and school meals (ketchup a vegetable?). Congress endorsed most of Reagan's requests.
Economic Recovery Tax Act (1981): cut tax costs for corporations and the affluent in the attempts of causing a "trickle down" effect; the corporations would save money, invest it, and the money would trickle down to the middle-class and eventually the poor. The tax cuts, which totaled $750 billion over five years and a 25% reduction in personal income taxes, were the largest tax cuts ever in American history, and didn't balance the budget like Reagan hoped.
Economic recession, unemployment at 8 percent (1981): due to declining inflation and the falling of the GNP by 5%, unemployment rates hit their highest in six years, and the nation was on the verge of a full-blown recession.
Prime Rate of Interest at 14 Percent (1982): by lowering its rate for bank loans from its record high of 21.5%, the Federal Reserve Board made it easier to borrow money.
Unemployment at 10.1 Percent (1982): the highest since 1940, this percentage was composed mostly of adult male blue-collar workers, with African Americans being hit the hardest.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 renewed (1982): despite the opposition of Reagan's civil rights' chief in the Justice Department. Many African-Americans alleged that the Reagan administration wasn't doing enough to protect civil rights.
Prime Rate of Interest at 10.5 Percent (1983): making borrowing money even easier.
Equal Rights Amendment dies unratified (1983): originally proposed in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification, and surprisingly opposed by feminists, the ERA would have guaranteed equal opportunity employment regardless of sex. But, its' time ran up, and the ERA died.
Unemployment rates fall to 7.1 percent; interest rates fall (1984): significantly lower than it was in 1982, unemployment was beginning to stabilize at a low rate, while interest rates still fell, along with inflation, bringing the nation out of recession.
Ronald Reagan begins second presidential term (1985)
Tax Reform Act (1986): lowered personal income taxes and eliminated around six million poor people from the tax rolls, appeasing both supply-side conservatives and liberals.
Republicans lose control of Senate (1986): the result of the people's unrest with the Iran-Contra scandal.
One day drop of 508 points in the stock market (1987): worse than the 1929 crash, stocks plummeted 508 points in one day, October 19. This time, government rules and regulations kept the economy from entering a depression on the level of the one in the 30s.
"Understanding AIDS" Mailed to 107 million households (1988): created under the leadership of Surgeon General Dr. C Everett Koop, the pamphlet educated Americans on AIDS, telling how it was transmitted sexually, that heterosexuals can contract it too, and that it was 100% lethal. The pamphlet also stressed safe sex.
Major foreign affairs events of the Reagan administration:
U.S. Steps up role in El Salvador (1981): this poor Central American country was in the grips of a civil war, with poor revolutionaries fighting the American-supported military regime, whose "death squads" killed thousands of dissidents, including American missionaries. Seeing the revolutionaries as a Communist threat that could result in another Soviet-allied port, Reagan decided that beefing up the funds to the regime would win the war faster. Congress decided to increase funds.
INF Talks Begin (1981): talks between U.S. and Soviet officials to limit the presence of intermediate-range nuclear forces in Europe. The Soviets had SS-20 missiles aimed at Western Europe, and the U.S. had cruise missiles and Pershig-IIs aimed at Russia.
U.S.Troops ordered to Lebanon (1982): following a PLO shelling from Lebanon in 1981, Israel bombs supposed PLO bases outside of Lebanon, killing many civilians. Israel then annexes the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory. In 1982, Israel invades Lebanon, seizing the capital of Beirut in the midst of a Lebanese civil war. Lebanon asks for aid from Syria, and the Israelis are fighting the Syrians, the Lebanese regime, and the Lebanese rebels, making refugees out of one million civilians. To promote peace, Reagan orders U.S. marines to Lebanon. Unsure of what to do, the marines get embroiled in the war.
U.S. aid to Contras in Nicaragua revealed (1982): in Nicaragua, the Sandanista rebels, lead by Daniel Ortega, overthrew the Somoza dictatorship. After buying weapons from the Soviets and asking Cubans to work in their hospitals, schools, and army, the Sandanistas appeared to be a Soviet client. In 1981 the CIA begins the training, arming, and direction of more than ten thousand counterrevolutionaries, or contras, most of whom supported the Somoza regime. From CIA bases in Honduras and Costa Rica, the contras raided Nicaragua, killing innocents and destroying oil refineries.
Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) announced (1983): Star Wars? What is this, an attempt to get kids interested in national defense? Actually, Reagan, believing the more arms we had the better negotiations with Russia would go, authorized the development of many new weapons, including the MX missile, the B-1 bomber, and an anti-missile defense system from outer space, or the Star Wars project.
Terrorist kill U.S. Marines in Lebanon (1983): in October, terrorist bombs go off in a marines barracks, killing 240 marines.
Invasion of Grenada (1983): after a pro-Cuban leftist regime takes power in the Caribbean island of Grenada, Reagan decides to overthrow it.
U.S. Marines leave Lebanon (1984): realizing defeat after the terrorist bombing, Reagan pulls the remaining marines out of the Lebanese war.
CIA mines Nicaraguan harbors (1984): destroying numerous merchant ships. The World Court decides that the Nicaraguan government has the right to sue the U.S. for damages. At the same time, Congress votes to stop aiding the Contras militarily, but decides to send "humanitarian" aid. The U.S. also lined up its allies, including Saudi Arabia, Panama, and Korea to fund the Contras. In 1985, Reagan placed an economic embargo on Nicaragua.
Reagan Doctrine announced (1985): the open support of anti-Communist regimes fighting Soviets or Soviet-backed governments. This justified U.S. aid to Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Angola, and Ethiopia. This was all in the best interests of the U.S.
Gorbachev comes to power in Soviet Union (1985): following the removal of Khrushchev, the Soviet Union was led by a trifecta of men. The one with the most modern ideas, Mikhal Gorbachev, eventually became the top Soviet leader. Realizing that cutting back on military expenditures would help revitalize other aspects of the Russian economy, Gorbachev started talks with Reagan to reduce arms. He also downsized the Soviet army.
U.S. economic embargo against Nicaragua (1985): since military aid to the Contras wasn't enough, Reagan hoped that a full crippling of the Sandanista economy might win the undeclared war.
U.S. bombers attack Libya (1986): a crusading Islamic nation out to make a point, Libya supported the terrorist bombing of a U.S. marine barracks in Lebanon that killed 240. To punish Libya for supporting terrorism, the U.S. openly bombed them.
Iran-Contra Scandal breaks (1986): during a time when the U.S. was prohibited from sending arms to the Contras, the government improvises. The U.S., thanks to the idea of John M. Poindexter, Oliver North, and CIA Director William Casey, sold arms to Iran and diverted the profits to the Contras so that they could purchase weapons. At this time, the U.S. was condemning Iran as a terrorist nation for it's support of the Shiite Muslims in Lebanon (who had U.S. hostages), urging it's allies to not trade with them. The scandal made Reagan look bad. Really bad. And stupid too, because he acted oblivious to the entire thing.
U.S. begins attempt to oust Manuel Noriega from Panama (1987): a General that was on the CIA payroll and helped train the Contras, Noriega was also one of the biggest drug lords in Central America, cutting deals with cocaine producers and laundering drug money in Panamanian banks. When the American people gained knowledge of this, Washington attempted to overthrow Noriega. They wouldn't be successful until 1989.
Washington Summit Meeting (1987): between Gorbachev and Reagan. The two agreed to eliminate their medium-range missiles.
U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement (1988): put Reagan's preaching of private enterprise into practice, allowing trade between the U.S. and Canada without any tariffs.
Agreement on Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan (1988): part of the downsizing of his army, Gorbachev withdraws troops from Afghanistan, and presses Vietnam and Cuba to withdraw from Cambodia and Angola, respectively.
Moscow Summit Meeting (1988): again between Reagan and Gorbachev. This time, the two agreed on a treaty regarding intermediate- and short-range missile, as well as the establishment of a Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers in Moscow and Washington to reduce the risk of an accidental nuclear missile firing.
INF Treaty Signed (1988): the U.S. and the Soviets agree to remove intermediate range missiles from eastern Europe.
U.S. warship downs Iranian airliner (1988): thanks to an overeager captain, a U.S. warship outfitted with new technology downs an Iranian commercial airliner, killing hundreds of Iranian civilians.
The major conflict of the Reagan administration was foreign affairs. With the adoption of a policy promoting the blatant nonrecognition of sovereign governments that might side with the Soviets or Cuba, Reagan dumped billions of dollars into the support of the Contras and various other governments. This didn't even appear necessary, because America was on the verge of an unprecedented peace with the Soviets. In the Middle East, Reagan pointlessly sent troops to Lebanon, only to have them beaten by terrorists, causing uneasy relations with Libya and Iran.
Major social happenings of the Reagan administration:
AIDS first observed in the U.S. (1981): the ultimate effects of the HIV virus, AIDS attacked the victims' immune system, making him/her succeptable to other infections or cancer. Originally labeled as a disease that attacked only homosexual men, the publics' view towards AIDS changed as heterosexuals, professional athletes, and others developed the virus. By 1988, about 57,000 were reported to be infected. This put a halt to the sexual revolution, and the promotion of safe sex and abstinence became big.
More than half of all women over 20 working (1983): unlike in the 70s, women are less discriminated against in businesses. Despite the fact that the ERA died unratified, women still won mobility in jobs.
Names Project started in San Francisco (1987): in remembrance of AIDS victims, loved ones made quilt patches dedicated to the victims. Pretty soon the project would become national.
Major inventions and technological advances made during the Reagan administration.
Challenger Explosion (1986): due to a bad O-ring, the boosters on this rocket went into the oxygen and hydrogen tanks, causing an explosion one minute into its' takeoff. The Seven passengers died, including Christa McAuliffe, the first "teacher in space." NASA halted further launches until the O-rings were refashioned.
Voyager II sends back photos of Uranus (1986): these photos expose 4 more rings and 10 moons that astronomers hadn't discovered.
Interactive Compact Disc (1986): invented by American Richard Bruno, this CD was able to store information and images, not just music. This would lead to CD-ROMs.
Stealth Bomber (1988): this year the U.S. released information on this once top-secret project, a bomber jet plane whose design and technology made it virtually invisible to all forms of radar.
Thanks to Sam Merenbloom for
There will always be a few black Americans who like Republicans, because black Americans are not cookie cutter people, but real human beings. That said, the statistics don't lie: Most black Americans do not like or trust Republicans.
Many blacks distrust Republicans purely because of the liberal media who paints Republicans as racist bigots. The fact is almost all the great strides in civil rights were passed under Republican presidents or by Republicans in Congress. This doesn't get reported to the average black American who is told that only the Democrats care about them.
Educated black people by and large know better and say so.
Ooh, an argument about race!
(pulls up a chair and gets comfortable)
President Reagan fuelled the spirit of America.
His smile, his optimism, his total belief in the ultimate triumph of democracy and freedom, and his willingness to act on that belief, helped end the Cold War and usher in a new and brighter phase of history. --US Secretary of State Colin Powell
And Secretary of State Colin Powell, who served as Reagan's national security adviser, said he was inspired by his former boss' vision, and the "ability ... never to waiver from it."
"He knew that he, in his person and the way he projected that optimism, was projecting an image not just of Ronald Reagan but an image of all Americans and of America to the rest of the world," Powell said.
Black Americans are not cookie cutter people, but real human beings. They are not pliant, stupid creations of liberal brainwashing. They know from experience that the cowardly liberals have often forfeited their lives for racial justice, while the Republicans have turned their back on them. To say they are unable to see things for themselves is to fall into the old Jim Crow mindset that still seethes along under the surface among too many Republicans.
Respectfully disagree Edgar. You'll have to have more than your opinion to convince me that all my history books are wrong. I was one of the activists during the racially charged 60's and remember very clearly who was and who wasn't in favor of civil rights.
Edgar,
Your long post ignored a few important posts about the Reagan budget.
Yes,its true that the deficit ballooned while Reagan was president,but it was not entirely his fault.
Its a FACT that Reagan RAISED taxes 13 different times,but part of that was that Tip Oneil and the dems in congress had promised to cut spending.They didnt,so the more they got,the more they spent.
You cant lay the blame entirely on Reagan.
Why is it wrong that he opposed abortion? He didnt try to stop it,he was just opposed to it.
"Gorbachev comes to power in Soviet Union (1985): following the removal of Khrushchev, the Soviet Union was led by a trifecta of men. The one with the most modern ideas, Mikhal Gorbachev, eventually became the top Soviet leader. "
This is only partially true.This makes it sound like the USSR was ruled by a three man council,when in fact the 2 soviet leaders before Gorbachev died in office,after a short time.Gorbachev was selected after the death of Konstantin Chernenko,who succeeded Yuri Andropov.Both of whom died in office.
So,the quote I posted,from your post,is intentionally misleading.
"They know from experience that the cowardly liberals have often forfeited their lives for racial justice, while the Republicans have turned their back on them."
This is also untrue.EVERY piece of Civil rights legislation that has passed has done so with overwhelming Republican support.
For you to make the claim the the republicans dont care,and have turned their backs,is untrue and purposly distorting the truth.
I am hoping you just didnt know the truth.I hate to think you intentionally lied.
Then you will have to back me up on this one, because it was the liberals who put themselves out there in support of the black race's fight for racial justice, while conservatives, whether Republican or Democrat (the faction of Democrats who were like Republicans on this became Republicans) resisted every way they knew how.
I have told the truth. The only time Republicans have supported any legislation beneficial to Black Americans is when the tide of public opinion could not be denied.
