RONALD REAGAN SUCKED

There, I've said it. You can take your Patriot Act and shove it.

For me, the final straw was suspension of US mail today in honor of Reagan's death. All of this past week's hoopla is a crashing reminder of how dangerously in love this country was with the guy, and how much they apparently still are.

Even my ex loved him. I'll never forget the day his voter registration arrived in the mail. I stared at him in disbelief after I glanced at the back of his card and saw he was registered as a Republican. I yelled at him, "Why, Dear Lord, Why?!!"

His reply: "I liked Reagan. He was funny"

He was funny alright, but some of us never laughed.

Reagan was a great politician, and a brilliant manipulator, but he was a horrible president. He was worse than Bush Sr., and arguably more damaging than W. He drove this country into debt. He almost got us and a buncha other countries blown up real good. He did absolutely nothing about AIDS.

He played up the kind grandfather act, but I'd like to think he was more the hardass as imagined on Robert Smigel's genuinely funny X-Presidents cartoons for Saturday Night Live.

Reagan fooled a lot of people into thinking he was more than a B-actor who bought his way into politics. He still reminds me of my sixth grade teacher, Sister Marguerite. She was also a master manipulator: a sick, selfish, ridiculously deluded woman who would psychology torture her students and then magically make everything OK by baking them cookies. In seventh grade, most of my classmates remembered her fondly, which irritated me to no end.

Ah, it's no use ranting about the man. His Alzheimer's-ridden soul has the right to rest in peace, but remember, he was no saint, just a personality who played the greatest role of his life--not on a movie set, but as leader of the free world.

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Finally saw City of God last night. Goddamn, why didn't I see this in a theater? Sets a new bar for story technique and DV cinematography. Not one of "the best films you will ever see" (as Ebert gushed), but certainly one like few others you've seen.