Messages

Forgive me if somebody has already suggested this, but have you pitched TMO 'Whatever happened to Ronald Reagan' yet, Gordon?

Also, forgive me for poor taste.  If anything is offensive, it is jokes like the above - not a mouth foaming condemnation of his actions and beliefs.

I have been particularly stunned by comments such as 'he won the Cold War without firing a shot'.  Which either demonstrates the ignorance of the commentator or lays bare the value system that allows plenty of brown people (and other people to,o, just so long as their not our sort)to be killed without bothering to count.

I mean, yes, he didn't literally fire a shot.  But his decisions as President killed a hell of a lot of people.

Rorschach - you're not saying don't criticize the dead, are you?  

The problem is Reagan's legacy, and the legacy of many other important historical figures, affects the way the world is today, and the paths that we take in the future.  So it is absolutely imperetive that we do look at historical figures (mostly dead) through critical (and this doesn't mean negative) eyes.

With Reagan - you will all be given the good side over the next few days.  But his bad side?  Well, he did cut taxes, he did cut social programmes, but this did nothing for the national debt - it reached levels that had never been apprached in US history.  He was a fervent anti-communist, but don't let this make you think he was a friend of freedom.  Left-leaning governments across the developed world were ruthlessly crushed on his watch.  His government made friends with Islamic fundamentalists to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, his government played off Iran and Iraq.  He joked about taking foreign policy tips from Rambo...

His ending of the Cold War worked, but he couldn't have known that it would - except through the astrologers he received counsel from.  It was dangerous brinkmanship.  And while we see freedom in Eastern Europe, in Russia, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the death rates reached levels that equalled that of the heights of Stalin's purge.  The cost of a revolution in society... well...  Now, are the people of Russia significantly more free?  Well, they can travel, true, if they have the cash.  But how much of the restrictions of freedom in the USSR rested on the state of seige under which a significantly inferior USSR existed.  Can the people of Russia really choose their own government now?

I'm not an apologist for the USSR, but is Reagan's time in office should have shown us anything, it is that the enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend.  Saddam, the Taliban, Noriega et al. might have been avoided if he had understood that lesson.  Of course, he might not have cared, in which case our judgement of Reagan is forced upon us.

Now I'm not into retribution, so I couldn't agree with that - and anyhow, what good does it/did it do?  What's more important is that what unsavoury acts, crimes and connections are exposed and publicised (and I'm not just speaking of Reagan here) so that people can act to make sure that injustices are not perpetuated.

A case in point regarding Reagan: in America he is being fondly remembered by conservative Republicans as a champion of 'small government'.  This is a man who inflated the budget deficit to unprecedented levels.  Are the conservatives stupid, or cynical myth-makers?

Quick, buy up the original pages of B.L.A.I.R. 1 now while the price is low.

Just a shame that were now due a slew of very complimentary obituaries and reminisces.  I'll wager ther'll be barely a mention of all those Latin American deaths on his hands.  

Sorry, angry even though he's dead, could go on, but won't - I'll spare you that,

Bartlett.

I remember thinking, 'I don't understand this, and the art is weird, so therefore there must be something deep and meaningful going on.  If only I can work out what it is...'

Time for a back prog re-appraisal, I think.

Bartlett

On that thought - how do the lovely Rebellion hardcovers sell in Europe?  Jamie, can you answer this?  Are you allowed to tell us which have been shifting, and which haven't?

Bartlett

I think her sci-fi 'vampirism' mutation 'mutated' into mythic vampirism somewhere along the way, giving her immortality.  Then it went Euro-Sci-Fi with that...

It's the picture that is above.  And above.

A bit of a Venezualan coup then...

It's no use.  I've already tried to install myself as leader of a military junta, but the Trout came back.

I'd love to see that!

Bartlett, who hates anyone who makes him feel sorry for Edwina Currie.

How many panels did Darily Star Dredd have each installment?

These three panel chunks of story don't seem to be working.  Is it a lost craft?

I don't know what to do. How do I read this? It's the wrong shape!