Mike Watt

The ever thoughtful Mike Watt (the Minutemen, fIREHOSE) has an all-too-brief interview with Scott Thill at AlterNet, weighing in on Dante as a creative influence, the hopeful state of today's youth and the media's collective swoon over Ronald Reagan's passing:

Yeah, the Big Revision. Both Boon and I were very conscious of Reagan's handiwork; in fact, he's opened the doors for some of the clowns we've got in there now. It's just cronyism, which is what I remember most about the Reagan era. No one is talking about how Rumsfeld was chilling on Saddam's couch back in 1983, selling him the WMDs we're so worried about. Or the Contras and drugs-for-money, Ollie North and his secret government. Everyone wanted smaller government, but ended up with bigger deficits and breaches of the Constitution. If you want a fairy tale without too many complications, turn on the TV. But I know I won't be fooled; I was there when it all happened.