ALTERMAN: READING REAGAN

[dArKeR]

I was not a fan of Ronald Reagan.  And his death at the ripe old age of 93 does not change that.  Perhaps he was a nice man, perhaps not.  His children had some harsh words for him as a father and his former associates, like Michael Deaver, were often shocked at how little personal connection he seemed to feel to them once their professional relationships ended.  I never met the man and as citizen of the nation he helped transform and a historian of those events, it doesn’t really matter to me whether he was a nice guy, a good father, a good friend or anything else, save how those qualities affected his public achievements and accomplishments.  These, of course, were myriad.  Reagan was unarguably a public figure of enormous import, no question about it.  As Todd Gitlin observes here, Reagan was a “great man,” but that is not same thing as saying that he was a good man.

I wrote this four years ago, and while if I had written it in the aftermath of the man’s death, I would have been a bit gentler about him personally—and so I don’t recommend you’re reading it if you find yourself in a state of raw emotion over Reagan’s demise— nothing about it is any less true today than it was four years ago.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

My 2 personal closest personal experiences with Reagan;
1. Say him come to DeAnza sport field in 1984? I am a hobby photographer. I personally saw and took pictures of people being push away and not allowed inside the field gate by Santa Clara County Sheriffs. These people had missiles painted on their t-shirts, small cardboard signs... I saw people try to enter by themselves. There was not shouting or disorderly conduct. Vaguely I believe there was a 15 year lawsuit running about this illegal act. (In conclusion, the people were NOT any threat and were not shouting or causing a disruption and were trying to enter public property. I have pics stored at my Dads house, if he didn't toss them while I was overseas.)

2. Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, through the entire plant, all behind closed doors, restricted areas not open to the public, put up pro Reagan signs, with his picture and slogans. They weren't official election posters but they were Vote for Reagan signs.

3. LMSC made a pro Reagan video which every employee had to watch with their project group. With government contracts you always have to have a charge number to use as you do tasks so that the correct contract is billed. But there are allowances for going to the bathroom, a drink, make a personal phone call... but it must be less than 15 minutes. If less than 15 than you don't have to change charge numbers (you continue billing to your current task/contract.) So LMSC made this pro Reagan, Vote for Reagan video that every employee HAD to watch. But the video was made to be 14 minutes and 30 seconds so that the United States of America tax payers paid their millions of dollars for the employees to watch the video. I am sure this was illegal. Not only against some kind of election laws but I'm 100% sure this was a type of Government accounting/billing FRAUD. Surely punishable by prison time and not just a fine. I can depose this happened at the Sunnyvale plant and I'll bet it happened at all the Lockheed plants so there are about 100,000 witnesses. It's just the Whore Media who never reported it to you.

A. I was arround LMSC long enough to know that 40% to 50% of the employees were Democrats in political idealology. They all believe in a strong America but within reason not to bankrupt the nation and/or killing innocent people in foreign countries. All the people I knew believed in fair and honest political election systems. What LMSC Corporate leaders did was well past 'Fair and Balanced'. It was immoral and illegal.

In my opinion, Reagan brought America real government/corporate corruption. Reagan brought America Elitism Corporate stealing from the Middle and Lower sectors of American society.