Nothing of interest; just mindless links to bikes Birmingham City Football Club and useless junk

Blogs I read
Titch
Fat Buddha
Nick's Rants
El Mayor
Archives

 
Morning pop pickers

Looks like another wonderful day in terms of the weather. I'm off to Donington Park on the yellow whale to catch up with some of the sportsbiker bunch. Some to watch and others to chew the fat with. I must remember to keep my speed down on the A roads.

Sam and I took little Georgie to my Dad's house for a barbeque. Always nice to spend some time with family, getting pissed. Pat (Dad's wife) told me that Dad has suffered from a series of mini strokes. Typical of my Dad not to have told me but I do hope he's going to get advice on this. Dad likes to leave any ailment run its course rather than bother the doctor. That's fine with a sore throat or cold but not with something as serious as this. Pat took my Dad to Turkey for a few weeks. They've got a place out there. The plan is to get my Dad to finally retire and live out there in the winters. It's a really beautiful place and my Dad loves the people out there.

Dad should have retired years ago. He's one of a dying breed. Left school, got an apprenticeship and has worked his way up. From a sparky, to foreman, to director. But he hates being behind a desk. He's in his 60's and still insists on getting into work when The Royal Show or the Town and Country Festival are on. Work have tried to help him get used to the idea of retirement by giving him as much holiday as he wants, but I think he's too afraid to stop working. When Grandad stopped working, Alzheimer's set in. I think Dad is worried he'll go the same way.

That links in to the death of Reagan. It seems that death has given hima rewrite of history. No longer a bumbling old fool who almost triggered off WWII and caused untold suffering in the Middle East and Central America, he's now painted as the man who ended the Cold War.

What scares me is when you have the likes of Colon [sic] Powell, Secretary of State expressly comparing President Bush to Ronald Reagan Friday morning, telling NBC "Today Show" host Katie Couric, "I think there is a similarity." Hell yeah. Both waiting for a few shilling to be put in the meter.

Of course, Maggie couldn't wait to say a few words.

In his lifetime, Ronald Reagan was such a cheerful and invigorating presence that it was easy to forget what daunting historic tasks he set himself. He sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world and to free the slaves of communism. These were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk.

Yet they were pursued with almost a lightness of spirit. Oh good, always nice to know he saw the funny side of things.

Reagan's policies and successes or failures remain controversial in many areas including:

Many of Reagan's supporters credit him with winning the Cold War. Others believe that the collapse of communism in 1989 was a result of internal failures much more than American policy.

There is disagreement over how much Reagan's policies contributed both to the severe recession that took place in 1982, and the strong expansion that began late in his first term and ran throughout his second term.

The combined tax cuts and military spending increases of his first term led to enormous deficit spending and a dramatic increase in the national debt. The debt increased by approximately 450% between when Reagan took office and when his successor, George H. W. Bush, left office.

It is generally agreed that Reagan substantially weakened environmental protection.
Reagan's tactics in the "war on drugs" emphasized imprisonment while slashing funding for addiction treatment. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the USA's prison population. Critics charged that the policies did little to actually reduce the availability of drugs or crime on the street while resulting in a great financial and human cost for American society.

Reagan supported missile defense, hoping to make the US invulnerable to attack by the Soviet Union. Many of his critics felt that the goal was unattainable in practical terms, and that the attempt would be likely to increase the Arms Race, as well as being extremely expensive.

Despite his frequent pronouncements that he advocated smaller and less intrusive government, Federal spending and bureaucracy increased in size during his administration; his increases in military and "drug war" spending were far larger than his cuts in social spending.

Reagan's most infamous foreign policy decision was in illegally financing a civil war of the Contra guerrillas against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The civil war claimed over 15,000 lives, according to former CIA agent David MacMichael. Reagan's determination to continue support for the Contras despite opposition in Congress led to the worst scandal of his presidency, the Iran-Contra Affair.

Reagan was regarded by some critics as indifferent to the needs of poor and minority citizens.

Although considered personally honest by most Americans, there were multiple scandals of bribery, corruption, and influence peddling involving Reagan's aides and subordinates, resulting in some 30 members of his administration spending time in prison.

When Thatcher goes, I reckon we'll get some short people to sing and dance and re-enact a scene from the Wizard of Oz. Anyone know where I can hire some winged moneys?

posted by kwacky at 8:50 am