ARSONISTS SET FIRE To Life Size Ronald Reagan Statue At A California Sports Park.

[Segami]

Arsonists set fire to a life size Ronald Reagan statue at a California sports park. Interestingly, only the Reagan statue was damaged.


According to The Press-Enterprise:

The life-size statue of Ronald Reagan, at his namesake sports park in Temecula, was damaged by vandals in an apparent arson fire, authorities said Friday, Sept. 20.

The bronze likeness of the 40th president was blackened by the blaze.“It’s an insult to the president as well as to the community,” said Perry Peters, founder of the nonprofit Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park, which donated the statue to the city.

A park worker discovered the damage about 7 a.m., said Sgt. Terry Jones of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Jones said there was unrecognizable burned debris near the base of the statue. Inscribed granite tiles from the decorative wall behind it had fallen to the ground, apparently due to the heat from the fire. The landscaping and lighting were also damaged.

Jones said they don’t know who started the blaze or why.

http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/temecula/temecula-headlines-index/20130920-temecula-reagan-statue-damaged-in-apparent-arson.ece

- Maybe this was a symbolic political attack on the Republican Founding Father of trickle down income inequality? Could it be that the attack on the statue was motivated by politics? It is delicious irony that after House Republicans voted to deny healthcare to tens of millions of Americans and cut off food assistance for an additional 3.8 million people, Ronnie goes up in flames. People aren’t stupid. They see what the Republican Party is doing. Many of those who are among the have nots in Republican Party’s two Americas have had enough.



Ronald Reagan has taken on a god like status within the GOP since his death, and Republicans have honored his legacy by adopting an ideological cruelty that the former president could not have imagined. The fire could have been the work of apolitical firebugs, but the karma is unmistakable. Republicans are pushing people too far, and pretty soon they aren’t going to take it anymore.




http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/23/serfs-rebelling-ronald-reagan-statue-torched-california.html

[Th1onein]

1. How is cleaning up the neighborhood of unsightly trash considered arson?

Just sayin'.

[DontTreadOnMe]

4. Exactly +1

lol

[Skink]

10. when Napalm is used

[NuclearDem]

13. When it's a jar.

Oops, wrong setup.

[Iggo]

2. Kids.

[Rex]

3. Must of been a college prank.

Right Rush? A harmless prank.

[hunter]

5. That poor metal would be much happier as plumbing fixtures.

I know it would.

[HangOnKids]

6. Steely Dan's For Uptight GOP Palin Wannabes?

That kind of plumbing fixture?

[hunter]

58. Steampunk.

[gopiscrap]

14. Got that right

[jmowreader]

7. These guys just weren't trying very hard

A couple of guys with a pickup truck and two 18-volt Sawzalls could have removed this atrocity quickly and permanently.

And what's this shit about Reagan not being able to imagine the ideological cruelty? You might want to check into what he did to the mental health system in this country, or what he did about AIDS.

[longship]

38. Sawzalls! Thread winner. nt

[hunter]

59. Thermite boots.

Better YouTube.

[KamaAina]

8. The new Burning Man?

[LeftofObama]

9. I wish I could take credit.

Unfortunately I live 2500 miles away.

[LondonReign2]

11. Arsonists? I'd consider them Artists

[kestrel91316]

12. Those aren't arsonists. They're patriots.

[Th1onein]

15. People are GETTING FED UP!

[Fawke Em]

43. More like FIRED up!

[Robb]

16. Is he using the shovel to bury AIDS dead or the middle class?

God, I hated that man.

[MineralMan]

17. Really? DUers are praising this?

Reagan was a shit. Torching a statue of him, though, is not a particularly good way to say so. And for DU to be praising it does nothing to advance any cause.

Embarrassing, it seems to me. Not a good idea at all.

Maybe someone can tell me how this helps.

[hunter]

18. Maybe they'll have to build a cage around him...

... that would be appropriate.

[MineralMan]

19. So, you think this is appropriate activism?

Really? I'm sorry, but I can't see it. That asshole was Governor when I lived in California. Then he got elected President twice. I never saw anything he did that was worth a shit. But, I'm not going to set fire to a statue of any President. All that does is fan the flames, which burn high enough already.

Yet another violent act in a violent world. I can't support any such thing. Not now. Not ever.

[hunter]

21. No.

It'd be preferable if he simply disappeared in the night, preferably moved by civic officials for his own safety.

I'm more of a funny hat or photo sort of "vandal."

No permanent harm.

[Enthusiast]

63. Iran-Contra was treason.

Saint Ronnie should have been removed from office, instead he is venerated. History is a distortion. I'm only pointing this out.

[delta17]

34. Yep.

Not only that, people here were just outraged about a stunt involving a bull and a rodeo clown dressed as President Obama. That was stupid and immature, and so is this.

[Agony]

37. they are "Freedom Fighters"

to use reagan-speak to describe terrorists...

blowback sucks

[Raine]

42. I totally agree. I hate and dispise Raygun but

I find this kind of thing counter-productive, pointless and makes those who don't like Raygun look like idiots.

[Fawke Em]

45. No, but it's really no different than this stunt:

[Th1onein]

74. I agree.

[Egalitarian Thug]

54. Gee, I'm shocked at your response.

[madrchsod]

57. ya kind`a sad...

there was a reason my dad and his friends called him a "big dumb mik". he could charm the ladies but other than that he really did`t have an original thought in his head.

[Democracyinkind]

67. I consider the arsonists the moral equivalent of our founding fathers. nt

[Downtown Hound]

69. American colonists once tore down a statue of King George III

in New York shortly after the revolution started. Just sayin'. Acts like these have a long history, and whether or not they're praised or condemned often depends on the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I think modern day America is way more oppressed by the current Republican Party than the colonists ever were under Great Britian, so that's why I'm praising this act.

[NuclearDem]

20. Go out and win one for the Crisper.

[jsr]

22. Statues are stupid

[LiberalElite]

26. especially this one n/t

[hatrack]

41. Why does the statue have a shovel?

To symbolize all the shit he and his worshipers believed in and voted for?

We're the ones cleaning up the mess, not him. A more appropriate statue would have had him squatting, a Shining Conservative City on a Hill emerging from his wrinkled, Ben-Gay smelling ass.

[struggle4progress]

23. A counter-productive stunt

I spent much of the 80s trying to get folk to oppose his nasty little "low-intensity conflicts" and other ugliness from conservatives of that era

But Reagan's dead, and stupid stuff like this won't help organize our side -- although it does sometimes mobilize our opponents

[hunter]

40. Statues like this are political.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firdos_Square_statue_destruction

[struggle4progress]

46. Burning stuff to make a statement encourage more of the same, not all of which will you like

[hunter]

50. Gahndi and Martin Luther King are dead.

Jesus was crucified.

Worse than that?

I respect religious leaders, mostly.

Venal politicians who'd say anything for a blow job, not so much.

[lpbk2713]

24. If I was there I would have pissed on it ... from a safe distance.

Just to show what a good citizen I am of course.

[JaneyVee]

25. Why is Ronald Reagan at a sports park anyway??

[jmowreader]

39. So the kids know what a loser looks like, of course

[Rider3]

27. Finally got what he deserved.

[adirondacker]

28. I would support installing another statue...

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

29. No need for this

Ronnie's already burning in hell.

Seriously, no need for it. I don't need to hear assholes like Grover, Brent Bozo, and Raygun's idiot son Michael crying about it on FAUX for weeks.

[FSogol]

31. The money they raise to fix it wil be a few less bucks to the Cruz Campaign.

[struggle4progress]

47. Don't be too sure of that

[Scootaloo]

32. Well, that'll be weeks of time Fox isn't devoting to more important mind-warps

[FreakinDJ]

30. Burning in Hell for what he did to the Working Class

How apprapo

[deutsey]

65. Yeah, there should be an eternal flame burning around the statue

Now that would be a fitting memorial for him.

[Scootaloo]

33. For those posters so concerned about the statue's well-being... it's a statue

I'm sure it's just fine

[NuclearDem]

35. A single fire that didn't even destroy the statue.

Frankly, if a little property damage is a way for people to get back at the bastard for the millions of graves filled by Iraqi mustard gas, the rape and murder Contra squads, and AIDS while that rat was in office, I say fucking go for it.

[Scootaloo]

36. And for those complaining about money spent for repairs...

The money was already wasted on commissioning and installing the thing. Wanna save money? Take it down, sell the bronze for piping, the tiling for pavers, and plant a nice tree there instead. Maybe a black locust, if they really want to symbolize Saint Ronnie's legacy to the community

[RetroLounge]

44. Too bad a bunch of good dems weren't nearby to piss on it

RL

[FreakinDJ]

62. I wouldn't piss on that man if his face was on fire

[Wounded Bear]

48. After Reagan left office...

Repubs went on an active campaign to name at least one building or park, or erect a statue to him in every county in the US.

There's plenty more where this one came from. Nobody will miss one statue out of thousands.

Yeah, yeah, it was vandalism and it doesn't help anybody, except those who get paid to repair/replace it. So maybe it's a new jobs program.

[tritsofme]

49. Is this guy for real? My money is on punk kids, not some profound political statement.

[liberal N proud]

51. I don't condone arson, but it couldn't happen to a better figure.

Too bad it didn't melt it.

[mwrguy]

52. LOL

Good for them.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

53. Well he set fire to the middle class.

[nadinbrzezinski]

55. Of note, this is Temecula CA, as red as it gets

The core of Daryll Issa's district.

Wow, just wow

[madrchsod]

56. i drive by a statue of reagan on his horse many times each day.

i`m going to have my family name chiseled on a brick right next to the statue...

[Lancero]

60. Sad that so many support and applaud this...

Especially since you all would be fuming, calling for blood, if someone decided to burn a statue of a democrat president.

Aren't we supposed to be better then Republicans? We like to think we are, but really actions like this and support of these actions prove that we are no better.

[Segami]

66. We are better!!

You make it sound that because many here voice their distain for Ronnie Ray-Gun, somehow, they should be held accountable for the actions of some vandals who torched his statue.


...Really?

[Lancero]

72. Post 1...

It's replies, 3, 5, it's replies, 7, it's replies, 8, 9...

I'm going to stop their since these posts set the tone for this thread.

This topic reads just like a racist right-wing site topic about Trayvon Martin, or about anything else they get into a circle jerk over.

[Iggo]

68. Welcome to DU.

[Downtown Hound]

70. Sorry, but we're still better

The statue was an inanimate object. Republicans hurt real people.

[Lancero]

71. Republicans...

Started somewhere as well.

[Cha]

61. And, yet raygun in his "god-like" gop status couldn't have gotten

through the repub primary in 2012. That took a special kind of sociopathic, narcissistic bloodsucker.

[malaise]

64. When your media find it delightful that statues of other world leaders were bombed

and when your own government helps drag down statues of other world leaders, you give your own people ideas about what to do with national scumbags.

Ah well.

[kentauros]

73. Bronze getting a little blackened isn't "damage".

Would they consider pigeons shitting on it "damage" too?

These arsonists were idiots, though only because they didn't bother to look up the melting point of bronze (950 °C (1,742 °F)). If they had, then they wouldn't have attempted trying to damage it by fire. Unless they used thermite as has already been suggested