A Response to John

I tend to not respond to most of the comments in the main blog section and tend to keep my responses in the comments. That said, this comment requires a full response:

You are a brainwashed sorry little parrot.

Ah, the beginning of a great intellectual argument. Real geniuses begin debates by belittling their opponent.

If you honestly believe that central America is "More stable than it has ever been", you are either a paid gop lier, or a delusionist.

No sir, you must not understand that I am a Neocon. My money comes from the zionist lobby. Come on, any "progressive" knows that. I'm a paid zionist "lier".

I have lived and travelled extensively throughout Central America for the past 30 years, and you SIR have no clue what you are talking about. I cannot count with my fingers the # of relatives I lost throghout Reagans reign. DIRECTLY caused by Reagans policies.

I am sorry that you lost family members, and without knowing your country of origin, I can't respond to you on this issue. However, the leadership of your country and the population I would tend to think had much more of an effect than did Reagan.

Today Central America is worse off than ever. We have become a tool of Imperialism. Americans are losing jobs to Central American slaves who work for less than prisoners in the US FEDERAL penitentiaries.

The use of worse than ever in Central America is a very subjective thing. I don't hear of too many ongoing civil wars in CA. That is at least a better thing than raging wars, is it not?

What empire currently rules over CA? Is it America or is it capitalism? My guess is that you are not a capitalist.

I am probably wasting my breath...........I dont know you and you are probably so convinced of your own position that you will not learn from others. The atrocities of thr Reagan administration directly affected myself and my family. You have NO IDEA of the SATANIC acts committed in the name of ANTI_COMMUNISM. In fact much of what you have been told of COMMUNISM is a lie.

OK, let's look at where communism has been attempted. The former Soviet Union resulted in tens of millions of dead citizens. China, again millions dead. Cambodia, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea...Need I say more? Do people who live in communist countries have civil rights? I've read much of communism and it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Reagan was not fighting communists in Central America, he was fighting guerilla nationalists that were lumped together and branded communist. In the end we wanted C.A. for ourselves to exploit. The reality is we didn't care if they called themselves "Communist", as long as WE controlled them.

What's this "we" shit, amigo? Were not the Sandinista's communist? Are Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro not communists? Explain to me what type of "control" the US has over any CA nation. By the way, Hitler was a nationalist.

Reagan was a fascist. He labeled all his enemies as "THEM". When in fact they were diverse, from farmers to doctors..........from commies to nationalists.

Wrong, Reagan was a conservative, which in your vernacular is synonymous with fascist, I guess. The enemies are "them". They may have been diverse, as many conservatives and libertarians are. Any other nation is going to have diversity.

Think man.............think.

OK, I'll try it. After careful consideration, I think you are completely wrong on every issue you've laid out in you screed.

Dont just buy into the mindless drivel that you heard on fox and friends. Realize that the world is not just black and white.

I don't even watch FOX. You see, most conservatives read alot. I'll let you in on a little secret, Karl Rove e-mails me my talking points every morning before 7:00 AM. If my computer is down, he sends them via carrier pigeon. It's not the fasted method as I live 300 miles from DC, but it's important that I write everything as Lord Rove wishes it to be written. I further understand that the world is "nuanced", John Kerry told me that.

Reagan will continue to get the credit for the" fall of communism", However it is just plain ignorant to believe that his policies were the MAIN reason. Why dont you actually examine what his policies were and the numerous effects they had. And after that why dont you come visit us here in Panama...............and then I'll give creedance to your "OPINIONS"

Reagan deserves alot of the credit in concert with Pope John Paul II and Gorbachev. Reagan knew the the communist way of government was doomed and only survived because of raw power used by dictatorial rulers. Honecker, Stalin and Ceaucescu are a great example of iconic communist leaders who've been judged by history as brutally oppressive tyrants.

As for coming to Panama, I don't see that happening soon as I tend to vacation in different parts of the world. I imagine things are sufficiently better than they were in the 80's since you're connected to the Internet and have a computer. Plus you have that nice, balboa-generating canal that the evil America built in Imperialist fashion and Jimmy Carter turned over to you for nothing.

The Human Development Index lists CA nations as either high or medium human development. As a matter of fact, Panama ranks in the upper 50%, just below Russia and better than Brazil, Venezuela and the emerging Thailand.

The State Dept. says of Panama:

The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was susceptible to corruption and outside influence, including manipulation by other branches of government.

It sounds as though the problems of Panama are not caused by the US, but by internal corruption.

With wireless internet access and a free press, I'd say that things are better.

As for you agreeing with, reading or giving creedance to my opinions, I couldn't care less.