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Friday, June 25, 2004
In a desperate attempt to find our old friend.....I offer this as a submission to search engines everywhere....in the hope he someday does a search on his name:
Don Salvatore IS... The Yeti!
The Yeti preparing for a game while a member of the Optimo Parrots, circa:1972
Brahma and The Yeti discuss the affairs of the day at Parrot Park.....otherwise known as, P.S.193 in Brooklyn, N.Y.- 1973
Yeti: Contact the Brahma A.S.A.P.
"Captain Leland.....bullet...HERE...!"
Kasha has been trying to contact you via your sister.....with no luck. We await personal contact!
Friday, June 11, 2004
Revisionist's History
Collective amnesia
EDITOR: It is appropriate that as America commences a mourning period for Ronald Reagan, it should also embrace a bout of collective amnesia so that we as a nation can forget the truly seminal events of Reagan's service in public office.
Let's begin by forgetting that during his two terms as governor of California, he presided over the beginning of the dismantling of the California university and state college systems, once a model for the world. Let's forget as well his handling of the People's Park bloodshed in Berkeley in the late 1960s and that, under the banner of lowering taxes, Reagan emptied state mental hospitals, which marked the beginning of the homeless crisis in California.
As president, let's forget the 241 Marines that Reagan sent to Lebanon in 1983 and who were immediately blown to smithereens while they slept at a Beirut airport. Or the Iran-Contra affair where the United States held hands with drug dealers, gun runners and death squad thugs so his administration could wage a secret war in Latin America in defiance of Congress and in violation of the Constitution.
Perhaps Reagan's most profound legacy to the nation, however, is the one that we as Americans are living with now and which we cannot forget, for it was on his watch that the United States cozied up to Saddam Hussein and supplied him with the very weapons of mass destruction, the presumed existence of which our current president has used to justify the ongoing carnage in Iraq.
JOHN WAGNER, Occidental
A fitting tribute for Reagan
Editor -- Although I was not a fan of Ronald Reagan's record -- i.e. record budget deficits, Iran-Contra, lack of action on AIDS, homelessness, S&L debacle, installation of the ideologue Antonin Scalia to the U.S. Supreme Court -- the man was president and should be honored.
That said, instead of the tsunami of naming additional buildings or airports after the man, a more fitting tribute would be to pursue embryonic stem-cell research in an effort to cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, etc. Unfortunately, this is not possible with the Bush administration, which allows its governmental policy on science and medicine to be dictated by the religious right.
GARY C. CRAMER
San Francisco
Editor -- Reasons to be thankful to Ronald Reagan: The Iran-Contra affair, Saddam Hussein, who we considered a great ally against Iran while we were at the same time selling arms to Iran; Osama bin Laden and his band of Islamic fundamentalists created to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan; and great public servants one and all, such as Eliot Abrams, Oliver North, John Poindexter, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Secord, Caspar Weinberger, and many more who were so great that the morally bankrupt Bush administration has hired them again.
I could go on and on, but I will close by saying that most of the mess in which we are now enmeshed is a direct result of the policies of Reagan. But you know, even so I'd take Nixon and maybe even Reagan over George W. Bush any day.
GAIL HENIGMAN
San Francisco
~*~ Those three letters were pretty inclusive of many of my thoughts. In the interest of equal coverage, we present the next entries:
Editor -- Reading the predictable cheap-shots and back-handed comments directed at Ronald Reagan Monday and Tuesday by churlish letter-writers to The Chronicle, I am struck by the contrast between his style -- upbeat, optimistic, engaging and warm -- and theirs: downbeat, pessimistic, embittered and scornful. Now, which style is most always associated with success?
STAN DeVAUGHN
Editor -- President Reagan made mistakes, but on balance he was a Mount Rushmore-quality president.
DENNIS A. CAVAGNARO
Oakland
Los Altos
~*~ Mt. Rushmore??? Yow. Well....I'll admit his chisled good looks would be an attractive addition, aesthetically speaking. And he displayed the collective intellegence of ALL those other faces carved into that mountain. Not the actual faces of course....but the carvings themselves. Mount friggin' RUSHMORE?
Y'know....I think a place named Mount RUSH-more should display the likenesses of John Beluschi, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Hoffmann and Hunter Thompson. I'd like to try photoshopping that....but it doubt I'd achieve the desired results.
Now...there's plenty of people with fond memories of Reagan. I think many of those relate to his "gradfatherly" aura. I'll bet like Bush Jr, many of the same people with fond memories were negativelty affected by Reagan policies. It's a pretty sure bet, ay? We're practically reliving a re-run of those same policies. Preferential tax treatment for the few ultra-rich at the expense of the National debt. Low interest rates creating a world of re-financing to drive the stock market while the majority of jobs created are low-paying and service oriented. Would you like fries with that?
I would like to share with you a little insider's view....albeit third part info...of Reagans entry on the political stage. Our good friend....who shall remain nameless for security purposes....has a bus-driving brother who still lives in L.A. Back in the mid 60s, it was his job to drive the Reagan campaign bus on swings through the state. A bus driver is one of those annonymous service people who blend in with the suroundings. As such, those folks are often privvy to their employer's private conversations. So....I've been told.....that there was a consortium of hollywood folk supporting...even in some cases convincing....Reagan to run got CA Gov. One of the main people behind Reagan's run....was.....believe it or not.....none other than the political genius....Andy Devine! Folks....I kid you not. We can thank the man who played a stumble-bum, comic-relief sidekick...as well as host of "Andy's Gang" (pluck your magic twanger, Froggy!)....for influencing history to such a degree that we now all fear for our lives (at least a little bit) whenever we leave the house. So.... Now you know.....the REST of the story...! ........ good-DA-a-aY.
