Ronald Reagan was fired!

Everywhere we turn the Republican cry is, "Government is Bad".
 {The GOP extremist war on America and the money pumped propaganda machine actually have some believing it.}

Not one of our elected Republican officials will stand up and tell them, that the Government I am elected to serve is yours.  Indeed, as described in our Constitution, government exists to promote the general welfare of the country, serve our people, and ensure the freedom we have fought to enjoy since the founding of our United States of America. It is ours -- yours and mine. Government furnishes strength, fairness, opportunity, and protection. It is a shield in a dangerous world, it provides protection here at home, and it enforces rules to guide us in going about the communities in which we live.

Several years ago former President Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood movie star who turned from making "B" grade movies to become a regular host on a program sponsored by General Electric. But in 1962 GE fired Ronald Reagan, and this action set him on a course to be elected President of our country.

'The Gipper" got in trouble because he made statements calling the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) an example of "big government," and he criticized the operation as a wasteful and costly government program without merit. Ronald Reagan was correct in calling the Tennessee Valley Authority a large government program, as the TVA was established in 1933 under the New Deal of the Roosevelt Democrat Administration. Without merit it was NOT.

Name a private business that could conceivably have accomplished what the TVA did. The TVA provided for navigation, flood control, electricity generation, transmission lines, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development for a poor but potentially rich region of the United States. This extensive program benefitted citizens of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, small portions of Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia -- and by extension, a whole nation.

The government created jobs with the building of dams that generated hydroelectric power providing electric power transmission lines, economic stimulus and help for farmers in getting their worn-out land back into the production of agricultural commodities. The revival of agriculture brought profits back into an impoverished area, a much-needed miracle in itself.

Low cost electricity with the power-producing facilities drew industries to the region producing desperately needed jobs, payrolls, and hope during the great depression. All of this was accomplished through resources of the federal government; none too soon, for the great World War II was looming. As it turned out, America soon needed aluminum to build planes and other instruments of war.

The electricity from this huge Democrat-sponsored government project provided Alcoa (a private company) the huge amounts of electricity needed for aluminum enrichment. This new production provided the needed aluminum so our government could protect us and ensure our freedom.

Getting back to Reagan, however... How did all of this play into RR's election to the Presidentcy of the United States?

In 1962, when the feisty Reagan criticized TVA as a wasteful government enterprise, General Electric fired him from being their spokesman because TVA just happened to be a big customer of expensive GE-made turbines for electric power generation.   Ouch, you bit the hand that fed the hand that fed you!

The same political spotlight that would shine on President Barack Obama as he addressed the Democrat National Convention in 2004, shone on Ronald Reagan in 1964 when he addressed the Republican National Convention that nominated Barry Goldwater. Reagan was a smashing hit with his attack against "big government," and entranced conservative Republicans made him their new political hero.

Two years later, in 1966, Ronald Reagan, former the movie star and TV host spokesman, was elected Governor of California. Barry Goldwater lost the election in 1964, but a different kind of star was born. The Republican party threw their support behind their new hero, Reagan, and in 1980 he was elected President of the United States.

Ever since, the Republicans have bashed their own government on behalf of big corporations. Their motive -- the elimination of protections offered by regulations and watchdogs of the federal government shatters the constitutionally provided safety of the American people. Government oversight would be lost if the Republican Party had their way.

Corporate profits and greed lie behind every "Hate-Government" spokesperson.
It's decidedly NOT government that is bad; it's what the "hate government "people have shown they can DO with our government that's dangerous. The voices incessantly accusing our government of killing jobs, wasting revenue, making citizens dependent, coddling illegals, taking away our freedoms, etc. rise from one source, the Tea Party Movement. unfortuIncreasingly, they control the Republican Party. We have witnessed how their extremist leaders when elected to our government prove how badly they would govern if we make the mistake of letting them get elected.

Bulletin...    3 die of rare brain infection from amoeba in water

ATLANTA (AP) — Two children and a young man have died this summer from a brain-eating amoeba that lives in water, health officials say.

The illness is extremely rare.    U.S. cases — almost all of them deaths — have been reported since the amoeba was identified in the early 1960s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (more government)

There goes that "Government" again:
ABC News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the second late-stage melanoma drug this year, adding the drug to the treatment arsenal for patients with one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.
The drug, known as Zelboraf, could offer hope for patients with metastatic melanoma that cannot be removed with surgery, experts said.   Zelboraf, which was reviewed under the FDA's priority review program, received advanced approval after a single international study published in June 2011 showed that patients who took drug lived longer.

FDA  ( U.S. Food and Drug Administration ) NEWS RELEASE    For Immediate Release: Aug. 17, 2011FDA approves Zelboraf and companion diagnostic test for late-stage skin cancer Second melanoma drug approved this year that improves overall survival