Fairy tales and myths, origin myths, right of passage myths, heroic myths ought to be taken seriously. However, they should not be taken seriously as literal descriptions of reality. They are not science. They are myths, and should be understood as such. The fundamentalist who misinterprets his or her mythology as literal, and disputes science as being in conflict denigrates his or her mythology and religion. The person who disregards myths completely and is unwilling to even consider the truths they hold because they are not scientific and literal descriptions of reality is similarly in the wrong. The mythos of religion and the logos of science are fundamentally different and must be understood different. Science doesn't nullify mythos (though it can be used to understand aspects of it), but neither does mythos nullify science. Each has its sphere.

Were Bush honest, which we of course know he isn't, he would have said that he thought it best to allow people of the current generations to keep their tax monies and thus not pay for the government services they receive...so that the bill (with interest) could be levied without representation on future generations.

Unless balanced by equivalent cuts to government services, a tax cut is just a larger tax increase for future taxpayers. What about this do "conservatives" not understand?

And that is not to even touch Bush's weird understanding of time if he thinks the tax cuts primarily came after 9/11. I guess causality and linear time are other concepts "conservatives" don't understand.

<<Yeah, indeed his middle name is "Hussein," not "Hussain," but by making that mistake I was able to correct it and turn one mention of it into two!>>

Leave it to Elephantman to endorse a tactic patently based on bigotry. So what if his name is "Hussein"? What is wrong with it? It sounds foreign? So. I would like to think the American people are better than anti-American "conservative" thugs like you, and I would bet they are. Go ahead, openly be a bigot. It suits you and you fellows who believe everything your propaganda ministers (Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, et cetera) tell you to do so. You will just show once again just why parties like the No Nothing Party don't last long.

Jeez! Is there any low you won't fall to? I could see you campaigning for Douglas or Bell in 1860 by going around whispering,"Abraham...sounds Jewish, doesn't it?"

Reagan left us saddled with debt and deficits as far as the eye could see due to his irrational economic policies (which had the basic form of: Step 1 cut taxes, Step 2 vastly increase spending on the military, Step 3 ?, Step 4 massive budget surpluses and vibrant economy). We do have to admit that he was man enough to raise taxes a bit to cover at least some of the shortfall, and that is something the current crop of "conservatives" will never be honest or honorable enough to do. He undermined American confidence in its ability to do things as a whole, through concerted action organized by the government - this notion is not that of socialism, but of democratic civilization. He undermined American education, putting in power luddites who did not accept evolution or other basic tenants of modern science. He engaged in unconstitutional and illegal activities in the Contra scandals, directly contravening Congressional legislation. He ran a corrupt administration, with many of his underlings being convicted of crimes and serving prison time. He funded and provoked wars in Central and South America that killed hundreds of thousands in order to fight a Soviet threat that was wildly overestimated (The Soviet Union would have fallen in the 1970's had the price of oil not spiked high enough to keep their economy going). He killed investment into alternative energy technology, leaving us more beholden to foreign oil, and in the predicament we find ourselves now in. He eliminated many regulations that kept greed in check in corporate America, opening the public up once again to their rapaciousness, and leading to such debacles as the S&L bailout by public funds (ever notice that when "conservative" ideology does not survive contact with reality, it is the public that must pay the price?). He declared ketchup to be a vegetable. He contributed to the partisan divide in this country that has so harmed us today. The thing about Reagan is that he was not a great president, nor even a good one. The truth is that his ultimate influence, though transformative, has been largely corrosive to the country. He appears great because he looked the part, was a good actor, and had minions who have spent the last twenty years acting as boosters for him, turning a man into a tin god to whom "conservatives" must bow down - a myth that defies the reality of what was (and has been used to motivate the incredible mess that Bush is going to leave us). The boosters have been so successful that mention of Reagan seems to rob his worshipers of all faculty of reason - if Reagan is mentioned as the originator of an idea, it must be good, they think. The interesting thing is that he left office tainted by Iran-Contra, and with an approval rating far lower than Clinton's - a man who, though far from perfect, did a lot to clean up Reagan's mess.

No, Reagan was not a good president. Many have merely been made believe he was. It is perhaps the Right's greatest propaganda victory - he is their Lenin.

And Brightstar, are you capable of anything other than trollish, histrionic nonsense? Don't you have a Ron Paul worship service you could go to? You lower the value of any board you post to. Even when you have something to say, you couch it in such inflammatory, over-the-top language that no one listens to you. And where do you get off attacking Democrats for being corporate lackeys while praising Reagan, a man who believed all corporations knew best, and were to be deferred to in all ways on all things? Things like that make me think you really cannot be serious about what you say, but are merely parodying a typical "conservative" rightist.