Happy Birthday, President Reagan-

[casm]

Screw asteroids. I'll kick your ass at centipede.

Sounds like a challenge. I'll take you up on that Two bits of trivia:

- I have a MAME cabinet, and my personal best on Centipede is over 250,000.

- Centipede was the first arcade game designed by a woman. Dona Bailey co-wrote it in conjunction with Ed Logg, who was responsible for the Gauntlet series amongst others.

Abso-fucking-lutely, my friend.

As someone who is technically an EU national (and that means not a 'European' - I'm Irish, and not the happy homologation of 25 separate member nations that Brussels would like us to believe we are), it really saddens me to see how short the memory of people on both sides of the Atlantic is as regards why we're not all crawling blindly through a glow-in-the-dark wasteland right now.

Reagan never wanted nuclear conflict at a time when the Soviets (and I'm very deliberately avoiding the use of the term 'Russians' here) had some seriously itchy trigger fingers. The world owes the man a tremendous debt of gratitude for avoiding all-out annihilation while having cojones big enough to face up to the reality of the situation.

As I said before... Without him having been in power when he was, and without Margaret Thatcher backing him up at the same time, the world would be a far, far worse place now than any of us are capable of conceiving of.

Late edit: I remember standing to one side of Checkpoint Charlie in mid-1983 at all of nine years old, looking at the wall, and being both blown away at the concept of freedom running along such a thin (though intimidating) line while scared of that being all that stood between Us and Them. A little over six years later, I was sitting on top of that wall knocking chunks out of it with people I'd never met, whose langauge I didn't speak, and half of whose country I'd never spent more than a couple of weeks in. I've never seen anyone so relieved and hopeful in my life, and while this was absolutely something that Germany achieved, it couldn't have been imagined happening without Reagan having stood up against the most insidious threat to humanity seen in the nearly 45 years since the end of the Second World War.

What a guy, and what a great President.

 

[r/c-pilot]

WOW ...... is this laying it on the line or what?

The lady who wrote this letter is Pam Foster of Pamela Foster and Associates in Atlanta . She's been in business since 1980 doing interior design and home planning. She recently wrote a letter to a family member serving in Iraq ....... Read it!


"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001 ?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from our nation 's ca p itol and in a field in Pennsylvania ?

Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?

Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Kora n when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.


In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care .

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and ---- you guessed it - - I don't care ! ! ! ! !

If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your e-mail friends. Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!

If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete button.

Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great country.

I am not deleting this, I am sending it on, but only after

I add:


--"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem."

-- Ronald Reagan
< SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">

I have another quote that I would like to add AND.......
I hope you forward this such as I have.


"If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God,
then we will be a nation gone under."

also by... Ronald Reagan :us:

 

[IXNAYXJ]

WOW ...... is this laying it on the line or what?

The lady who wrote this letter is Pam Foster of Pamela Foster and Associates in Atlanta . She's been in business since 1980 doing interior design and home planning. She recently wrote a letter to a family member serving in Iraq ....... Read it!


....Blah, blah, blah....

I am not deleting this, I am sending it on, but only after

I have another quote that I would like to add AND.......
I hope you forward this such as I have.

"If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God,
then we will be a nation gone under."

also by... Ronald Reagan :us:

Wow, dude. You really need to start fact-checking your e-mails before you post them on here.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/foster.asp

Anyway, back to Ronald Reagan.

Here's one of my personal favorite quotes:

How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

I remember standing to one side of Checkpoint Charlie in mid-1983 at all of nine years old, looking at the wall, and being both blown away at the concept of freedom running along such a thin (though intimidating) line while scared of that being all that stood between Us and Them. A little over six years later, I was sitting on top of that wall knocking chunks out of it with people I'd never met, whose langauge I didn't speak, and half of whose country I'd never spent more than a couple of weeks in. I've never seen anyone so relieved and hopeful in my life, and while this was absolutely something that Germany achieved, it couldn't have been imagined happening without Reagan having stood up against the most insidious threat to humanity seen in the nearly 45 years since the end of the Second World War.

What a guy, and what a great President.

I was living in Germany during the 10th anneversary of the wall coming down. It was pretty cool, but I'm not sure if I can stand to hear "Wind of Change" by the Scoripions EVER again.

-----Matt-----

 

[r/c-pilot]

dude.....:worship:

 

[Glenn B]

I was living in Germany during the 10th anneversary of the wall coming down. It was pretty cool, but I'm not sure if I can stand to hear "Wind of Change" by the Scoripions EVER again.

-----Matt-----

I left West Berlin a short 11 days before the wall came down(I do remember the protests very well, though.). I went back later as a civilian, and that city was not the same. Trabbies and Skodas everywhere, spewing their fumes. East Germans demanding the exact same things that the West Germans had.... and they wanted it *now*, it was bizzare.

 

[flexjay87]

if Mr. Reagan was President, would the middleast be so out of control? i doubt it, he was in charge when the Iran hostages were released and remember what he did to Mohamar Kahdafi, ( i probably butchered the spelling of his name, i don't care) yeah he bombed the crap out of his compound, and oh yeah, he told Russia to kiss off, and germany to "tear down that wall" !! just to name a few.....

 

[casm]

I was living in Germany during the 10th anneversary of the wall coming down. It was pretty cool, but I'm not sure if I can stand to hear "Wind of Change" by the Scoripions EVER again.

Dude. It wasn't a lot better before the 10th anniversary - that song got insidious amounts of airplay EVERY-F***ING-WHERE in Europe for God only knows how long about six seconds after it came out. Appreciate the sentiment, folks, but please find something *decent* to play in commemoration.

I still hate the Scorpions to this day because of it, even it wasn't necessarily entirely their fault. And yeah, I'll admit to them having had songs I liked I before it came out. What can I say; I was young and naive...

if Mr. Reagan was President, would the middleast be so out of control?

Hard to say. I understand where you're going with this, but hindsight is always 20/20 - more so when we're playing 'what if?'.

i doubt it, he was in charge when the Iran hostages were released and remember what he did to Mohamar Kahdafi, ( i probably butchered the spelling of his name, i don't care) yeah he bombed the crap out of his compound,

Close - he sent the Marines in to take care of the Tehran hostage issue, and Khaddafi got a nice, friendly airstrike on Tripoli for having the audacity to poke us with sticks. The former was the failure of the Carter administration to act; the latter was making it very clear that while tin-pot dictators could bang their pots as loudly as they may care, we'd really prefer it if they didn't overstep their bounds in that regard.

and oh yeah, he told Russia to kiss off, and germany to "tear down that wall" !! just to name a few.....

Also close on both fronts - the correct quote was, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" He had the backbone to go directly after those largely puppeting the government of the DDR, and call them on it. Two years later, it was gone. The full text of the speech is here.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

...Trabbies and Skodas everywhere...

I've driven a Trabbi. Seriously. uke:

There's still a lot of resentment between the East and the West (mainly Westerners against "Ossies"). I had the chance to live in both West D-land and the "former DDR." Even ten years later, there was a marked difference. That experience shaped my political leanings hugely, to the extent that if you haven't lived in a socialist country (former or not) you just might not understand.

-----Matt-----