dayman

Did he not just crush the national democratic party?

LOL a quick google search shows the National Park Service is in charge of that thing (obvious in retrospect)...short of personally repelling an alien invasion there will be no more additions.

Reagan's life basically built him to be one of the greatest speakers in modern politics and so he was. Had multiple classics from the 60s-80s.

LOL not really I'm not overly anti-Scott Walker and I've never even been near the mid-west save one internship summer in Chicago which means little... it was a strong affirmation of his accomplishments w/ correcting budget crisis quickly for what it is worth. I'm sure you know exactly what I was referring to if you look at the text I quoted...at that assumes he applies that nation wide.

LOL there's the narrative nation wide for the board to trumpet?

Quiet down now that doesn't mesh with his extreme socialist domineering reputation that he clearly deserves.

NBC news calling Walker winner

So how long until Hitler ends up in here?

I love speeches. I'll post a few over time. The one phrase that always come to mind quickly (although perhaps not "political" necessarily): Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

What time will we know the official results?

I suddenly feel the urge for a bubble bath and white wine.

Oh...I see...sorry to engage you on this subject. Hard to keep track of everybody sometimes but I remember now.

That's definitely something that helps and a good point.

You just misunderstand what I'm saying. Never said it was inline with his speech (although it is consistent with portions of the speech emphasized and IMO the general thrust of that speech). The point is he's been diplomatic to the point that he is doing things without an overbearing outrage from other nations...and thus he can do it more easily. Assuming for the sake of argument that it was all totally inconsistent with anything he has ever said to international leaders...that would only strengthen my argument b/c the point is not that he's keeping his word it's that his words have had an effect on him not catching as much **** from the international community. It's called success in foreign relations when you balance relationships while still doing whatever you want. As for multi-lateral cooperation IDK if you just didn't read my post or what I specifically said when he can and cited nuclear nonproliferation and economic sanctions as primary areas where he's been a leader in multi-lateral cooperation. And the idea that the international community is afraid to criticize Obama b/c of being called racist is pretty retarded IMO.

The entire point I'm talking about with my post that caused you to start getting into it is pointing to drug crime (non-violent crime) as an overwhelming portion of our ridiculous prison rates. You point out that even if we cut it in half it would still be high, agreed...but cutting it in half would be a damn good start. And it is known that violent crime is primarily intraracial. If ou are suggesting that our melting pot is partly to blame as well...that's fine but it doesn't discount any of the damningly obvious indictments against the war on drugs at least as I see it. If that is your intention then clarify. If that is not your intention and you are just saying "ya but we're diverse too so more people are going to go to jail" then that's fine but it doesn't really address the subject. And in any event you're not really very specific about the reasons you think a more heterogeneous population causes more crime ... I'm not saying I disagree I'm just saying it is a separate issue. I do think the more heterogeneous population causes us problems other countries face to a much lower extent...most directly in education...and then education has a direct impact of wealth which flows directly into crime. So if that's the link you are suggesting I'm not opposing you. But it doesn't remotely discount the analysis in that article which (to me anyway) lays out a fairly damning indictment of our drug policy and it's effect on our prison crisis.

Well I'm talking about international opposition. It's not surprise that with less international outrage we'll have less domestic outrage.

I'll get busted for this but a large part has to do with the level of communication he has with Western leaders and friendly Eastern leaders...his reputation for multi-lateral cooperation whenever possible ( nuclear issues...economic sanctions...etc)..and (here's where it gets controversial) his Nobel speech outlining his basic philosophy that while controversial was relatively well received by most western leaders and was relatively honest (getting up and speaking about the necessity of war at a noble peace presentation lol) He's been a successful diplomat in that sense.

LMFAO. Anyway we're decimating al-Qaeda. And I know it isn't a laughing matter but: “Initially, four people were killed, but when the militants reached the spot, another strike occurred that killed many more, raising the death toll to 16,” the source said. can't help but chuckle I mean I wouldn't flock to the scene of the crime if I were militant supporters...run al-Qaeda...run away. It's also a bit disturbing military successes like this cause people on the board to be snarky at the President. But it's not surprising.

LOL what? Make yourself more clear sir.

That presents problems for our country in a number of ways...but since most crime is intra-racial why bring it up as an issue that even comes close to what is suggested above?

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2110514,00.html?iid=redirect-fareed_zakaria The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. That's not just many more than in most other developed countries but seven to 10 times as many. Japan has 63 per 100,000, Germany has 90, France has 96, South Korea has 97, and Britain--with a rate among the highest--has 153. We here in America make up 5% of the world's population but we make up 25% of the [world's] jailed prisoners. This wide gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world is relatively recent. In 1980 the U.S.'s prison population was about 150 per 100,000 adults. It has more than quadrupled since then. So something has happened in the past 30 years to push millions of Americans into prison. That something, of course, is the war on drugs. Drug convictions went from 15 inmates per 100,000 adults in 1980 to 148 in 1996, an almost tenfold increase. More than half of America's federal inmates today are in prison on drug convictions. In 2009 alone, 1.66 million Americans were arrested on drug charges, more than were arrested on assault or larceny charges. And 4 of 5 of those arrests were simply for possession. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons vs. $5.7 billion on the UC system and state colleges. Since 1980, California has built one college campus and 21 prisons. A college student costs the state $8,667 per year; a prisoner costs it $45,006 a year.

No doubt that it is a problem and it will be our biggest threat if we don't do something to get deficits under control long term ... but if we don't improve our workforce through education then we'll never have a shot at the kind of long-term economic success that will make paying the debt off quite easy. If you ask a lot of those same kids in college about a job like that they'll roll their eyes then graduate and wait tables or work in sales w/ a base of 30K and incentives that max out at $45 (which they never reach)...benefits + 50K in a stable industry as a skilled worker sounds pretty good after the fact....not to mention no debt! In any event the growing trend is linking R&D right next to those jobs. If we can improve higher education there will be more of those skilled-labor jobs anyway...but we can't reform education without looking at where our money goes (and doesn't go) and then doing something about it (SS/Medicare/Military I'm looking at you). http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_budget_detail http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258 http://www.cbpp.org/images/cms//PolicyBasic_WhereOurTaxDollarsGo-f1_rev4-2-12.jpg (let's give that extra half-penny on our dollar to space program, let's grow the education/transportation portion of the pie and scale down defense and hopefully SS/Healthcare over time)

It seems fairly obvious in my opinion the general recipe for preserving American competitiveness involves a immediate investments (in terms of money and political capital) in education, tax reform, the formation (today) of a long-term fiscal balancing act that is sustainable as well as a long term energy policy that will sustain us (which includes transpiration development). All obvious points, but how to implement? These are the discussions that should dominate our news cycle (not abortion, gay marriage, race, political strategy, etc). To me though, nothing trumps the value we have to offer as people. Real education reform (being the hardest of all to actually accomplish) seems to be the primary issue that we must address now to preserve our future as the obvious truth is we can't look anywhere but in the mirror if we are honest with ourselves...STEM (science, tech, engineering, mathematics) are all of primary importance that goes w/ out saying. We must address the broken Congress (as of yesterday) if we stand any chance to remotely prioritize our true objectives. Take time now to consider your own behavior (as I have my own) in what little way it effects this systemic barrier to moving in the right direction and fight to demand better from our officials and move us in what seems to be the obvious direction we have to go. This paragraph is not meant to be a divide on political affiliation...anyone w/ a brain knows both sides are equal opportunity destroyers. (It is 2Am and I don't have to wake up until 11AM tomorrow so I'm kind of drunk now...I say that b/c most of the time I get preachy and feel a bit awkward about drunk posts the next day even if I don't at the time) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64XCksP_jJE

Well on the federal level that's true but here it seems criminal reform has real traction in NY

Please explain good sir. To me it the article is summed up right here: “This simple and fair change will help us redirect significant resources to the most serious criminals and crime problems,” Mr. Vance said. “And, frankly, it’s the right thing to do.” I will admit though I do agree here: Noting the 25-gram threshold for Mr. Cuomo’s proposal, he said, “That’s a lot of pot, my friend.”