(no subject)

[icarus]

Reagan's death is being used as a distraction from the latest in Iraq.

An Iraqui car-bomb killed 9 people today, including three soldiers, injuring 30.

This is what we should be watching. We are not children, "Ooo! Look! Pretty sparkly thing!"

Comments

[vichka.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I've been looking for covered up news, but had no luck.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had to dig in Yahoo news. They're going to keep this Reagan fanfare going for the next five days (and beyond if they can). Reagan wrecked the economy in the 80's, put the country deep into debt, destroyed the environment, oversaw the delightful Iran-Contra deal, put millions out of work, closed homeless shelters and mental institutions putting the mentally ill out on the street.

He was awful. He was 90, had Alzheimer's, led a long full life, and there is nothing surprising about his being dead.

Icarus

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

Whew.

I was getting worried that all my Americans would be all cut up about his death.

He scared us shitless on this side of the Atlantic.

Just don't let there be "Ron Dies" headlines in the papers....

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

No. Not even the Republicans are cut up about it. Reagan's had Alzheimer's for a while and people have been waiting for that other shoe to fall (while making jokes about not being able to tell the difference from when he was in office).

The timing is just convenient for an election campaign, to distract people from the bad news about Iraq.

The Republican party is pulling on every positive 'war' heartstring they can. Visiting France on the anniversary of D-Day, running stories about the congressional medal of honour given to Reagan (by the previous George Bush). Showing pictures of WWII and these former popular Republican presidents -- since younger GW's popularity is slipping.

There's a note of desperation in it.

Icarus

[tarnationawaits.livejournal.com]

At least the biggest headline isn't J. Lo's wedding in all the papers (as it is on some here in NY), but seriously. You're totally right.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Good lord. I've missed all the J. Lo stuff. But I've never forgotten what she didn't wear to the Oscars a few years ago.

Icarus

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Iraq update. As for the other... if I have to hear one more glossy, revisionist eulogy to Raygun I'm going to projectile vomit.

Oh, and according to Bush, our invasion of Iraq somehow parallels the D Day landing. Sure it does.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Parallels. Eee-yeah. Let's see:

D-Day: Victory.
Iraq: FUBAR'd mess.

D-Day: Eventual result of Japan's pre-emptive strike on Pearl Harbor.
Iraq: Eventual result of our pre-emptive strike on Iraq. (At "terrorism"? "WMDs"? Um...)

D-Day: Cooperative Allied effort.
Iraq: US action protested throughout the world. Not even South Korea wants to send troops.

D-Day: Victory.
Iraq: Not only FUBAR'd, but we're losing our asses over there.

My favourite moment was when Bush said that the war on terror included "installing governments" that "will not look like the US government, but will look like the US government."

Hey, if we're going to be knocking over governments and installing our own, it's good to at least let them know we're coming.

Icarus

[oac-blog.livejournal.com]

amusingly enough, my response to the news of reagan's death was "couldn't have happened to a nicer guy"
i'm not sure i'll ever get over being a kid and watching him get reelected on tv and having nightmares for two weeks b/c i just KNEW he was going to kill us all with some botched star wars missile deployment.

guh.

and iraq is just horrifyingly frightening to me. i can't believe we did this.

[xenoface.livejournal.com]

I agree. the same goes for my own country. There are all these distractions when what we should be watching are the politicians, as the vote countings are still going on.

After one month and a few weeks, the counting's still not finished... and we're not, in the least, supposed to get suspicious.

hmm ...

-sam

ps: sorry! for you are on my flist and i have not been able to read your posts and comment on them! (was reading them earlier... mmm... *grins*) My internet connection hates me.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

By the way, it's fine. I get swamped sometimes and never catch up on comments, so I expect it's the same for other people.

Icarus