I BET YOU MISSED IT
On the celebration of Ronald Reagan's 100th anniversary of his birth, it was pointed out that he raised taxes 8 times as President, he totally missed the impending collapse of the USSR, his son indicated he was already suffering from Alzheimer's while in his presidency, Nancy Regan actually ran the country with some strange ideas from astrology leading her on, he deregulated watchdog laws on big industry and with the additioal deregulation of George W. Bush were major causes for the economic collapse of the 2000-2008 period, there was much more internal strife in the Reagan family than we knew previously, and not much reported about Reagan's years of philandering with Hollywood starlets in and out of his marriage.
The right-wing extremists in the media love to throw around threats of impending strict Islamic law. And they always like to point to Saudi Arabia [George Bush's close pals] and other nations where there truly is a strict Islamic code of laws. But little is said about the majority of Islmaic naitons where there is no such law in force [Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Indonesia, Oman, Kuwait, Turkey, and most others].
Federal income taxes in relation to the GNP is today lower than anytime since 1950.
The men who blew up the Twin Towers were mostly related to Saudi Arabia. As I've reported here, George W. Bush grounded ALL planes after 9-11 except to allow Saudi citizens to fly out of the country. And George Bush I still sits on Saudi corporate boards of directors. George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, illegally supplied Nazi Germany with Saudi oil during World War II. The closeness between the Saudi family and the Bush family greatly impacts developments in the Middle East. One of the reasons that Bush was so intent on invading Iraq was because Saddam was a threat to Saudi Arabia. In far too many ways, the Bush family has been more loyal to Saudia Arabia than the U.S.
Amid all the hoopla by Republicans about cutting taxes and cutting the deficit, the upcoming proposals by the Republicans is only a few billion dollars, lots of money but not in comparison to the deficit. All the big talk always seems to disappear when the Republicans have to actually do something. Cutting the budget expenditures is very difficult, nevertheless I hope Congress does so in major ways. We cannot continue with current deficits. But the cutting only on the fringes is now what the GOP proposes because they do not want to anger any of their constituents. The last election cycle was filled with hot air that has now gone up in smoke. There is one exception: the Republicans and some Democrats will see to it that their corporate supporters will come out on the favored side of the budget and tax breaks.
I'm fascinated with all the comments about what is happening in Egypt now and what will happen in the future. Americans are ignorant about things related to the Middle East. They have been sold a load of garbage since 2001 and before. We Americans like to think that we are so pure that peoples all over the world will follow our suggestions, and if they do not we will brandish our weaponry. Most Americans do not realize that we have so screwed things up in the Middle East that most people there now see the United States as the enemy. Not only the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt want the U.S. out of Egyptian affairs. If we bothered to educate ourselves about the history and current developments in that region, we wouldn't act so clumsily and stupidly. In this regard, commentators from both the right and the left act as irresponsibly as Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. Our actions and plans in the Middle East should not be a political partisan issue. If we do not get up to speed on learning from the past, we are more and more a doomed nation in impacting world developments. Ignorance is not only not an excuse, it is a death sentence for American influence in the Middle East.
