tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post8952322515128933386..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: He was a crookBadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-69850695833879354992011-02-07T23:26:26.044-08:002011-02-07T23:26:26.044-08:00Jim, yeah, I remember when Reagan started the taxe...Jim, yeah, I remember when Reagan started the taxes on the grad school stipends. He also started taxing the Pell Grants, which he also slashed drastically. As a poor penguin from the wrong side of the tracks I qualified for the full grant. My first year in the Pell Grant program, not only did it pay for all of my tuition and books, but there was a tiny bit left over for a meal at McDonald's! By the time Reagan finished cutting the program, you could maybe buy a couple of textbooks with the proceeds of the grant, but you certainly weren't going to pay even in-state tuition at a state university -- I had to borrow money under the SLP (Slavery Lifetime Plan, since student loan debt is non-dischargable via bankruptcy and 15% of your wages will be garnished for life by your lender if you can't make payments) to do that. <br /><br />Nunya, Poppy wasn't much of a fan of Ronald Reagan. By all accounts they had a somewhat frosty relationship, Poppy felt Reagan was a Neanderthal, and Reagan felt Poppy was a preppy asshole. <br /><br />Bukko: Oh my. Far, far better than anything I've written on Reagan. Thank you!<br /><br />Jazz, you have to put Reagan in his time. Remember, we were coming off an era when liberalism dominated American politics, if he had put forward the current Republican agenda it would have gone down in flames. It took thirty years of Reaganism to get us to where we are today. From everything I've studied about the man, he would have agreed completely with the current Republican agenda -- with the single exception that he would have put a genial face on it to convince us all that hammering ourselves over the head with yet more failed policies was the right thing to do. I think he would have been quite upset with the strident rhetoric coming from Republicans today... but evil with a genial face on it is still evil, yo.<br /><br />-- Badtux the Rememberin' PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-31133243307395059602011-02-07T20:45:41.464-08:002011-02-07T20:45:41.464-08:00The current batch, with their weeping and ranting ...<i>The current batch, with their weeping and ranting and dour visages, don't understand that it's not enough to push the policies of Reagan -- you have to push them with an aw-shucks smile. </i><br /><br />Actually, they don't push the policies of Reagan, who raised taxes 11 times during his 8 years, gave amnesty to illegal aliens, strongly believed in nuclear disarmament, dramatically grew the size of the federal government, armed Iran, and fertilized and enabled the gestation Al Qeada and he Taliban.<br /><br />The current Rethug party would have no place for either him or Goldwater.<br /><br />Reagan became president because he offered morning in America. A fucking lie, but it got him elected.<br /><br />I can't understand how or why anyone is stupid enough to vote for the current batch of rethugs.<br /><br />But they now run the house, and could well take over the senate next year.<br /><br />WASF,<br />JzBJazzbumpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07337490817307473659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-91317345302850665502011-02-07T17:22:44.041-08:002011-02-07T17:22:44.041-08:00I don't know whether you're a regular read...I don't know whether you're a regular reader of The Rude Pundit, <a href="http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2004/06/dead-president-this-is-not-going-to-be.html" rel="nofollow">but the bile-dripping obituary he wrote for Realzheimergan in 2004 is as vicous as anything Hunter ever did, except with more facty bits.</a>Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-44211144430445645412011-02-07T13:10:48.482-08:002011-02-07T13:10:48.482-08:00I agree with Nunya that he was the choice when GHW...I agree with Nunya that he was the choice when GHW wasn't popular enough with the 'thugs then, and that it was always a "Bush"-CIA-Big Business show (h/t Eisenhower).<br /><br />How does this description differ from that appropriate for Ken Lay (and Cheney when he finally gives up the ghost - and all the rest of the rats)?<br /><br />Not much.<br /><br />Hunter was a god.<br /><br />Thanks for the remembrance.<br /><br /><i>Either way, an orgy of greed and duplicity was sure to follow any public hint that Nixon might have somehow faked his own death or been cryogenically transferred to fascist Chinese interests on the Central Asian Mainland.<br /><br />It would also play into the hands of those millions of self-stigmatized patriots like me who believe these things already.<br /><br />. . . He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency. Nobody trusted him - except maybe the Stalinist Chinese, and honest historians will remember him mainly as a rat </i>Cirzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07070125217972397204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-40943778623251670352011-02-07T10:02:57.309-08:002011-02-07T10:02:57.309-08:00Fabulous post. The only thing I might quibble wit...Fabulous post. The only thing I might quibble with is that I'm convinced that Reagan had lots of help from Poppy and Poppy's moneyed constituents. I suppose you did cover that by using the term "puppet." though.nunyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08833886980442919570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-79898741549827025082011-02-07T09:58:29.707-08:002011-02-07T09:58:29.707-08:00I have always wondered about the canonization of R...I have always wondered about the canonization of Reagan. I was in grad school then and as an RA my stipend was tax free, it was calculated that way so at the end of the year you had enough for bed/board/books and maybe one movie then ended with $0. He changed it so we paid tax. That was a fun year, lucky I had some savings.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18344788134893554213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-3057118125165821442011-02-07T08:23:38.393-08:002011-02-07T08:23:38.393-08:00Jerry, the current crop are idiots. Reagan merely ...Jerry, the current crop are idiots. Reagan merely *played* an idiot on the big screen (well, after Hinckley shot him he was never the same, my speculation is that the blood loss between the time he was shot and the time he got transfused at the hospital caused permanent brain damage there which was later covered up by the "Alzheimer's"). Reagan knew that the American people will buy any amount of bitter pills if you offer it with a smile and patriotic rhetoric. The current batch, with their weeping and ranting and dour visages, don't understand that it's not enough to push the <i>policies</i> of Reagan -- you have to push them with an aw-shucks <i>smile</i>. <br /><br />Reagan got his start as a salesman, first for his own B-actor services to Hollywood, then for General Electric, one of the most corrupt companies in the country at the time (indicted by the JFK administration for price-fixing of electrical goods). Reagan knew how to sell. The current batch of Republicans, on the other hand, don't survive extended contact with the general public. They're just too <i>icky</i>, like Oompa Loompa Boehner and his boner, which makes you want to just go "ick!" upon extended exposure to the slimeball. <br /><br />- Badtux the Sales PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-91570445275149711312011-02-07T07:42:08.507-08:002011-02-07T07:42:08.507-08:00"Too bad I'm not half the writer that Doc...<i>"Too bad I'm not half the writer that Doc was..."</i><br /><br />You do a damn good job, Badtux. It's why you're one of my daily reads. Well, that, and gratuitous cat pix. LOLrandompawseshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12530108342884988224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-32896484617884165712011-02-06T21:09:32.390-08:002011-02-06T21:09:32.390-08:00It would appear that republicans are continuing to...It would appear that republicans are continuing to live up to Reagan's image. The current crop are not any better.Jerry Critterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01870618647449723147noreply@blogger.com