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June 7, 2004
“RayGun"
Joins 21 Million African Dead
By Steven J.
Ybarra, JD/HispanicVista.com
Ronald “RayGun,"
“Ronnie,” former reactionary
President of the United States is dead.
Today I listened to the news on the radio
and watched the news stories - all of
which talked about what a great guy he
was.
I remember the first
time I ran into him here in Sacramento,
California. We, the liberal
lawyers, were trying to put a stop to the
use of the short handled hoe – but
to no avail at that point because of his
Industry backers. I lived in
Riverside County then and was one of two
Chicanos working in the legal industry.
Ernie Lopez, who was with the Riverside
County Public Defender, and I, with
Riverside County Legal Services, were the
only legal voices – we were the only
two who did the legal work for the 45,000
poor Spanish surnamed residents in the
county. It was tough work.
Then in 1972 I saw
more evidence of the true colors of his
regime. I remember being called to
a meeting to discuss how RayGun was
closing down mental health facilities and
what the effect was going to be. Soon
after he took this heartless action, men
and women with severe mental problems
began wandering the streets of Riverside.
We would come to know them in future
years as simply “the homeless.”
As far as I am concerned, he was a
ruthless, self-centered individual, who
cared little, if anything, for those who
were weak or those who could not defend
themselves.
RayGun was also
vicious when it came to welfare. He
had no time to deal with those who were
considered to be unfortunate. He
simply cut them off. He knew that
by the time the lawsuits would be
successful in restoring benefits he would
be out of office and on his way to
another job.
RayGun was a liar
who liked making up stories and factoids
that supported his positions. Remember
the welfare Cadillac story? He made
this up so people would believe that all
recipients were out there driving
Cadillac’s while the rest of us
worked. I remember calling him on
it at a news conference. Soon
everybody did, and then the story went
away.
He was so corrupt
that he had more members of his
Presidential administration put in prison
than President US Grant. When he
became president he lied to us about Iran
Contra. He lied to us about the
Iraqi situation and he lied to us about
the economy. His economic theories
(pulled out of his pants) put us into the
worst debt ever. Fortunately for us
a Republican was elected after him and
had to bear the brunt of his lies.
I was in American
Samoa when AIDS hit. In American
Samoa we dumped all the blood in the
blood banks, just like the Cubans did,
because we had a public health doctor who
understood what the threat was. RayGun
did not support similar proactive steps
in the United States. He could have
ordered the dumping of all the Red Cross
blood and reduced the spread of the
epidemic. I understand that his
reactionary fascist thought process would
not allow him to admit his homophobia,
but to kill an entire continent is
unforgivable.
Because he hated all
references related to homosexuality he
was absolute opposed to doing anything
that would have stopped the disease cold
in the 1980’s. When I heard the news
of his death, I wondered if he was going
to be welcomed in the nether region by
the 21 million Africans who died from
AIDS because he would do nothing when he
was President to stop it.
Simply put given the
way he treated the mentally ill, it is
poetic justice that RayGun died of
Alzheimer’s disease.
__________________________________________
©Steven J. Ybarra
JD,
SJYbarra@aol.com
This
article is copyright by Steven J. Ybarra
JD, originally published in www.Hispanicvista.com
but permission is granted for reprint in
print, email, blog, or web media if this
entire credit paragraph is attached.
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