Just wondering. obama is going to the funeral of Mandella but wouldn't go to the funeral of Margaret Thatcher. Hum???

Racist..:)

I would not have sent my worst enemy to Thatcher's funeral....

Learn how to spell Mandela's name before you smear him. He was slightly more of a towering figure than that sour bitch who drooled all over Reagan.

Thatcher is no Mandela. More than ninety heads of state are expected to attend, as well as many other international diplomats and officials. By the way, Bush is alaso attending. Maybe he can bring along Cheney so Dick can explain to everyone how he voted against placing economic sanctions on the apartheid regime because he believed Mandela was a terrorist.

Wrong Reagan didn't put sanctions on South Africa because he was anti communist and the apartheid regime was pro-capitalism. I despise people who consider Reagan racist because of the controversy with South Africa at the time.

In any case Margaret Thatcher is a love/hate kind of political leader. It's either one or the other. So it's not a surprise to me Obama didn't attend her funeral, especially when his political ideology is so different from hers. Mandela is universally loved, but he did have a shady past there's no denying that. He made mistakes as a young man but was a good leader during his time as President. However his rainbow nation as of right now is in trouble. South Africa has regressed since the nineties and I despise the current President Jacob Zuma

He was a terrorist, and approved several bombings that killed and maimed innocent people, including children. The western media made him into a saint and a martyr.


http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/

How can anyone admire a person like him?

http://www.southafricaproject.info/remembering_the_church_street_bombing.html

^^^^^^^^^^

innocents were killed in vietnam, both iraq wars and afghanistan

so what exactly is your point

I think you are well aware of what my point is. In case you are not, they were terrorist attacks, targeting civilians. Read up on them and others he was behind.

There are statues of people like Captain John Mason who led massacres of Pequots in which English colonizers killed approximately 600 people, mostly women, children and old men.

Many early US presidents owned slaves and were dedicated white supremacists. Throughout the South there are monuments to revered leaders who started the bloodiest war the US has ever fought because they wished to continue enslaving people. In the Midwest there are schools and parks named after generals who slaughtered Indians, including non-combatants. In Miami, people like Luis Posada Carilles still walk free despite involvement in bombing attacks on Cuban airliners and night clubs.

And Mandela's a terrorist?

It's amazing to me that many of the same people who like to take inspiration from such quotes as "don't tread on me" or "give me liberty or give me death" and other pro-resistance sayings suddenly get cold feet when the person who's resisting happens to be black. Apartheid was a crime against humanity and one which Mandela and freedom loving people of every background had every right to resist. If someone tries to tell me that I can't vote, can't live freely in my own country, and that me and mine can be beaten or shot down in the street at another's whim you better believe I will fight back.

If someone as far to the right as Newt Gingrich can see this you wonder why some other conservatives can't.

The rebels at Lexington and Concord were "terrorists" in the eyes of King George III. Bottom line is Mandela was one of the greatest men in history, but the Fox news crowd isn't having any of it.

After all their hero, and maybe the worst president ever....Ronald Reagan supported apartheid.

Sorry, but Cheney certainly called Mandela a terrorist. Fortunately, Reagans veto against sanctions against Botha's cruel regime of apartheid was overriden. Overwhelming support of both parties demanded sanctions after Botha responded to protests against apartheid with martial law (talk about terrorism). reagan gave a radio address to the nation in 1985 claiming segregation didn't exist in South Africa and that the giovernment was working to help the oppressed blacks. Desmond Tutu called Reagan out on these lies, saying that the administration's response to South Africa was "immoral, unchristian and unamerican." At the time there was worldwide condemnation about apartheid.

Who cares about whether Reagan was racist or not, the unmistakable fact is that he didn't give a rat's ass about the victims of apartheid. And if he was concerned about Communism, well, history proved him wrong. While the ANC was willing to accept help from anywhere they could, whether it was free enterprise or communist nations, the new government was forged, based on principles of equality, democracy, liberty, and free enterprise.

Except that Reagan was a racist. He began his campaign for president in Mississippi where the civil rights leaders were murdered shile he complained about fictitious welfare queens. If he was not a racist in his heart, he sure hid it well.

And he was a lousy president also.

Except that you are wrong DT and you're allowing your political biases to get in the way of objectivity. I think it's ludicrous but you can call him a lousy President just as I think Obama is a lousy President. But racism is where I personally draw the line, the man showed no tendencies of hatred or bias against blacks. To argue so is foolish and you know it

Mandela was a good man who ended apartheid in South Africa and wanted the best for his people, white and black. I firmly believe that. But I also believe he made some mistakes in his past. Such as aligning himself and becoming a member of the communist party and co founded Umkhonto we Sizwe which sponsored and committed acts of sabotage against the government.

The government was white controlled and racist, does that make it right? In my opinion there's no clear answer, but it's debatable all the same. Were the founding fathers correct in doing what they did? We can look back now and say "of course!" but it was also a different time period, different rules, weapons and tactics.

All in all I'm glad as everyone should be that Apartheid is no more. However South Africa currently is not doing well and they have problems in every area that need addressing. I still say Jacob Zuma doesn't deserve to lick the dirt of Mandela's soles.

All you liberals want to paint Reagan as some pro-apartheid, racist conservative. My response to that? Dig a little deeper and get over your damn political prejudice. Reagan wasn't perfect, no President is, but if you look at what his key objective was: getting rid of communism it explains his reasoning. Mandela and the ANC had communist ties, and Mandela had a shady past. Who can blame him? I believe Reagan was a product of his time in the sense he grew up in a particular era and he was ignorant of the situation in South Africa not racist.

Should he have been better informed and fully against apartheid? Absolutely. Does that make him a racist? Not at all.

And i suppose your think that Winston Churchill is also a terrorist,,

We are not in old times, we have news crews all over the world, so we know of any kilings that go on. People are bringing up Indians vs Europeons, how well Reagan was liked, and it has nothing to do with Mandela. He was evil, he ordered bombings of civilians, he allowed atrocities to occur as president. He let White people be killed at record pace after he took over, and United States and United Nations stood by and let it happen. He also did nt liberate South Africa, he was freed due to pressure from same United States and same United Nations that followed freeing him form prison and putting him into power by standing by during his reign. What someone did 200 years ago, or what statue is up in some southern town has nothing to do with the glorification of a terrorist thug like Mandela.

If people are told over and over 30 years from now that Osama Bin Laden was a good guy, does he become a saint too?

Welfare queens are not fictious, and if he had started campaigning in another state you would still hate him.

The one Reagan invented was... the one with the cadillac and the "young bucks." Total fiction. total lie.

Reagan's veto of trade sanctions against apartheid South Africa says it all.

Mandela was a great patriot. As great as George Washington (who also took up arms) and as Jesus Christ for forgiving his enemies.

No it does not DT and stop saying so. You want to criticize Reagan? Fine. You want to paint him as something he's not? Don't you dare do that. It's just as bad as saying Obamas a Muslim. It's not true just as Reagan being racist is not true.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

for the google search crowd

I am assuming most people here didn't watch the Mandella memorial but did you hear about the fake "signer?" Some guy took to the stage and as everyone spoke, including our President, he stood behind them supposedly doing sign language. Only it wasn't sign language at all. It was just fake gestures. Thing is they say he was there for 4 hours and nobody noticed. I don't know sign language but looking at clips AND now knowing he's a fake, it did seem like a lot of the same gestures....all with a straight face. I don't know the full story on this guy but am wondering why someone would do that.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/20...morial/3987539/


TIS

I have to tell you, I laughed pretty hard, but it really isn't a laughing matter. Did the guy have security clearance and just was faking the signing? Or was he just some random guy who jumped up on stage? Where the hell was the Secret Service????

You're right. I wonder too. Did he go thru any security? It's funny how he kept a straight face moving his hands all around BUT the fact that he got away with it AND up close to world leaders is troubling.


TIS

TIS

yeah read about the bootleg sign language guy....

poor taste

I read that too about the fake signer. It's terrible...but i hate to say a little funny too because the guy was just making the signs up as went along. Not even close to any real signs.

Spelling Mandella with the extra L makes him sound like an ITALIAN!!

They id'd the fake signer....Thami Jantjie. He looked so serious too.

Apperantly this guy is a real interprator and was paid to be there to sign, but according to him hes been recently struggling with schizophrenia and had an some type of "episoide" on stage where he was hallucinating.