teke184

I think you have to balance the good and the bad --- and in that case, Reagan comes way out in front. People bitched about his support of the Contras --- except that, and this seems to be forgotten, they were the PEOPLE'S CHOICE TO LEAD THE COUNTRY. They did win the election --- much to Carter's chagrin. He did a lot to effectively kill the USSR. People seem to like giving Gorbachev credit for that when Mikhail definitely did not want that to happen. He was good about AIDS. That part of his legacy I've never gotten. He was the first to treat AIDS patients with legal protection offered handicapped people. He had money in the budget for AIDS research every year startign in 1984. His not saying the word "AIDS" is a huge red herring, because his actions spoke far stronger. He showed PATCO that you can't put your money over nat'l safety. -=Mike The problem is that everyone looks at AIDS with their blinders on and forget that for the first few years it was "What the fuck is that and how do you get it?" instead of what we know today. That's why it used to be called GRID (Gay Related Immuno-Deficiency).

I'd have moved JFK down further if I felt I could have. The problem is that most liberals think JFK stands for Jesus Fucking Khrist... John F. Kerry included. On top of that, who else could I really have moved in front of him besides Truman? I refuse to put Wilson above him if only because the year 1918 was such a clusterfuck due to his singleminded idealism. (Idealism, while well-meaning, often fails because it is impractical in the REAL world) I'd have put Nixon higher except that Watergate overshadows all the good that he did. Taft would be a hard sell, too, because he's such an overlooked president. As for the top three, it's hard to really pick one. FDR gets the nod because he put into effect major institutions that are still used today, such as Social Security, in addition to winning a war that looked unwinnable at the time. (I'm a student of World War II history and have been instructed by lecturers from Britain's Sandhurst Military Academy, as well as doing research on it at the British National Archives, so I'd say I have a decent grasp of the war.) Reagan ending the Cold War and putting the economy into overdrive put him ahead of TR. TR is a great president but was not a tested war-time president like FDR or Reagan. Frankly, this is one of those topics that NO ONE will fully agree on, but outside of the top three choices no one seems to have any objections to these rankings. I'm a little surprised that no one wanted me to put LBJ higher, though.

Well, Morrissey said he wished Bush died instead of Reagan. The audience cheered. Thank God fans of shitty music are such utter shitheads politically, too. -=Mike Where/when was this? If you think Morrissey's music is shitty, well then you suck. A lot. His Dublin show this week. And he sucks. Hard. -=Mike Boo-urns to you. Morrissey Is God.... ....should be here any minute to tell you why Morrissey is really good. But I don't want to turn this into a music discussion, so I will just point out that Ronald Reagan was a damn good president. Where would you guys rank him among the presidents of the twentieth century? Presidents of the 20th Century- *William McKinley Teddy Roosevelt William H. Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard M. Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan *GHW Bush *Clinton *GW Bush I'm disqualifying George HW Bush, Clinton, and George W Bush from these rankings because they're all too recent. IMHO, it takes probably 20 years minimum to rate a president's legacy. I'm also disqualifying William McKinley because he barely made it into the 1900s before being killed and succeeded by Teddy Roosevelt. Rankings from worst to first- 15. Warren G. Harding - The only thing his administration is known for are the various scandals perpetrated by his underlings such as Teapot Dome. Died in office of a heart attack. 14. Gerald Ford- He pardoned Nixon and was generally seen as incompetent. Only president never voted into office as a presidential or vice-presidental candidate. 13. Herbert Hoover- Very smart man who had the misfortune to be in office as the Great Depression hit. Was unable to do anything to stop or slow the downslide, partially due to people in Congress obstructing his efforts. A scapegoat for the Depression. 12. Jimmy Carter- Encouraged peace between Israel and Egypt, although those efforts ended up getting Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat killed. However, the economy was spiraling out of control with double-digit inflation and unemployment, and there were also foreign affairs nightmares like the 1980 Olympic boycott due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as well as the fall of the Shah of Iran and the subsequent Iranian hostage crisis. 11. Lyndon B. Johnson- The combination of the Vietnam War and the Great Society programs destroyed the morale of the country and nearly bankrupted it. His positives were the Civil Rights bills, which only made it through Congress due to predecessor JFK's assassination. 10. Richard Nixon- Excellent strides in foreign policy, especially by establishing relations with mainland China and thawing relations with the Russians. His lack of control of the Committee to RE-Elect the President (CREEP) members and his subsequent coverup of their break-in at the Watergate Hotel made him the first president in history to resign, which staved off the humiliation of being the first president to be successfully removed from office. 9. Cal Coolidge- Placeholder between the scandals of Warren Harding and the Great Depression under Herbert Hoover. Mainly known for being someone who was great at the art of doing nothing, which lead to the nation's prosperity. 8. William H. Taft- Heir apparent to the Republican party after Teddy Roosevelt stepped away from the presidency. However, TR was unhappy with Taft's policies and ran against him in 1912, giving the election to Woodrow Wilson. Always wanted to be on the Supreme Court instead of president, but his wife pussy-whipped him into accepting the nomination. His administration is responsible for many anti-trust suits in addition to Constitutional amendments for direct election of senators and the collection of a Federal Income Tax. His term as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under President Harding was the highlight of his life and he blocked out his memories of being president. 7.Woodrow Wilson- Kept the nation neutral in World War I until a German diplomatic telegram (Zimmerman Telegram) was intercepted, showing that Germany would offer the Southwestern portion of the US to Mexico in exchange for declaring war. Good wartime president. Also pushed through important labor laws, such as outlawing child labor. His serious drawbacks were all in the negotiation of the Treaty of Versaiies, which ended World War I. He had his "twelve points" that he wanted the peace to abide by, but most were sacrificed to save one particular point, which was the formation of the League Of Nations. Also, because Wilson stacked the US negotiating team with Democrats, the Republican majority in the Senate was able to block ratification of the treaty, which forced the US to form a separate peace with Germany. 6. Harry S Truman- Made the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II. Authorized the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe. Made the US a charter member of the UN and a permanent member of the security committee. Came to South Korea's aid in the Korean War yet kept the war limited by not involving the Russians or Chinese. 5. John F. Kennedy- Very charismatic and was able to unify many behind him despite winning the 1960 election by a slim margin and under quiet accusations of voter fraud in Illinois and Texas. Stared down the USSR in the Cuban Missile Crisis. On the minus side, he half-assed the Bay of Pigs invasion, which lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Many of the reforms he wanted to put into place did not happen under him due to his death in late 1963. 4. Dwight D. Eisenhower- Eight years of relative tranquility to the nation, although Eisenhower worked much harder than people thought at the time. He seemed like a do-nothing president until his papers were released and showed how hard he worked to ensure that tranquility. Brought the Korean War to an end, although not a peace treaty. (War still technically exists between the North and South to this day.) 3. Teddy Roosevelt- Made huge advances in Government mediation of labor disputes. Enforced the long-ignored Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up several large railroads. (Sidenote- Curiously enough, one of the first things the Sherman Act was used for was to break up labor unions, which was NOT its intent) Under his lead, the US constructed the Panama Canal, a project which had been a massive failure for the French previously. On the minus side, he had to incite Panama to revolt against Colombia in order to do this. (Panama was a territory of Colombia at that time) 2. Ronald Reagan- Turned probably the worst economy since the Great Depression into the best period of economic growth on record. Amended the Federal Income Tax laws to remove many deductions as well as exempting the poor from the tax. His Cold War policies caused the USSR to bankrupt itself and collapse in the late 80s. Also reached several important treaties with USSR Premier Gorbachev. On the negative side, members of his administration negotiated complicated arms deals with Iran and used the proceeds to fund the Contras (anti-Communist forces in Nicaragua, fighting the Sandinistas). The extent of Reagan's knowledge of these deals is not known, but he survived the scandal to leave office as the most popular president in recorded history. In addition to all of the above, former cabinet member Alexander Haig recently revealed how Reagan secured the release of the Iranian hostages... Reagan told Iran that they had until the day of his inauguration to release them or he would use force. They released them on the day of his inauguration, which was seen for many years as a slap at Jimmy Carter instead of an acknowledgement of what Reagan would do to Iran. 1. Franklin D. Roosevelt- Pushed massive changes into effect in this country including Social Security. Provided the Allies with support up until Pearl Harbor, at which point he lead the nation into war and proved successful, although he died shortly before it ended. Unprecedented four-term president.

"You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to have your stomach punched by him. *points to other cop* You have the right to have your balls stomped by me." - Cop "I'll waive my rights" - Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher

Actually, that's part of it. My reason for not doing shoots lately is that I "lost my smile" around the time of the RF fiasco and, since I moved into a house just after that, I'd had other things on my mind as well. I still have shoots that I haven't reviewed, but I haven't felt into it enough to bother.

Considering Greyhound's horrible security procedures, it wouldn't surprise me Well, they certainly aren't going to threaten Amtrak. 1. Almost no one rides trains cross-country anymore 2. They're more likely to crash on their own than probably any other form of mass transportation

I'm surprised that no one has claimed that Southwest Airlines is behind everything considering they're the only airline to consistantly make money. A couple more years of multi-billion dollar losses for the industry and they'll be one of the only airlines left.

6 weeks

I'm not sure if the WWE will be banned from the country, but past precedent shows that Bradshaw will be banned from the country. One of the Hart brothers (Bruce Hart or Smith Hart, I think) was doing weird shit to get heat during a German tour in the 70s or 80s and got deported for coming out in a Nazi uniform and doing the Heil salute.

Double Jeopardy is the reason he has life instead of death. His sentence was commuted to life in prison when the death penalty was abolished, so they can't change it back to death even though he deserves to die a horrible, slow, painful, agonizing death.

Changed. BTW- You know, you CAN change that yourself by using the Edit function. Back to the topic though, it's a good thing that this is coming out. My dad loved that show, so I'll get him to spring for the DVDs then "borrow" them.

OK, knock this crap off. If anyone actually has anything to say about the late President Reagan, take it to the other thread. This thread is closed immediately because it's just a bitch session about the fact that it's a duplicate thread.

Well, just like WW II, the world is oblivious to how bad the problem is. The few who took Hitler seriously early on were ignored, also. -=Mike And just like World War II, the League of Nations / UN sit around with their collective thumbs up their asses until forced into action.

He overlooks all the people killing each other in places like Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, etc. because those are wars, revolutions, etc. and therefore not "crime". I don't see him doing exposes about how you can buy a gatling gun with no ID for cash in the streets of Colombia...

Guys on Death Row are less likely than those in the general prison population to kill other prisoners, guards, etc. because they're confined to solitary cells 23 hours of the day. Outside of that, the death penalty is more of a lubricant for the legal system. A guy facing a certain death penalty conviction is far more likely to plea-bargain himself into life in prison. That not only saves the court the time and expense of a trial but also cuts down on possible appeals, as the prisoner is not sentenced to death and the only grounds for appeal they really have is that their attorney was either incompetent or did not bargain in good faith (got them life when he could have gotten them significantly less time).

RIP, Frater Reagan. Another good Teke joins the Chapter Eternal.

I'd say a decade may be harsh depending on the character and the method of death involved. Five years may be more appropriate, especially if they died in a way that can be explained somewhat logically. Baron Zemo II being only unconscious instead of dead after an induced stroke/anurysm/whatever is a good one, as it no one apparently checked to see that he was actually dead. That's more plausible than Kingpin being stabbed to death then coming back a few months later or Galactus being erase from existance with the Ultimate Nullifier. (The continuity problems in that are that the Nullifier is supposed to erase their FULL existance from history, which means that the asassain Morg, a former herald of Galactus, never received his Power Cosmic from Galactus and, thus, never would have been in a position to kill him.) Other characters, though, need to stay dead. Norman Osborne is one of those who should have stayed dead instead of being brought back after 25 years as a deus-ex-machina explanation to the shitty Spiderman storylines of the past few years. Part of what made the original Green Goblin's legacy so powerful is that Norman stayed dead even if Harry Osborne, Bart Hamilton, and the Hobgoblins ripped off his schtick. Hell, Goblin was a mid-level Spidey villain until killing Gwen Stacy and being killed in turn while fighting Spidey put him over the top. He was below Dr. Octopus, Kingpin, etc. in the Spidey villains pantheon until that time. I don't know if Kraven ever came back, but his spot in Spidey history went up considerably due to the Kraven's Last Hunt storyline in which he went totally nuts and ended up killing himself. If they brought back someone that was obviously dead like him, it shits on the character's legacy.

Are you aware of the whole situation regarding that? He wasn't asked if he thought it was ironic blah blah blah, a guy in a Hanoi John shirt told him to leave. If someone was that blatant to me, I'd do the same, even with the press watching. I would too but Kerry is running for President. He has to ignore the guy. It's things like that that led to Dean's undoing in the primaries. Kerry isn't the most likable guy and he needs to avoid coming off like an asshole at all costs even in situations like this. Mad Dog hit it on the head. This guy being a dick is no excuse for Kerry doing something completely un-Presidential in public. Most other candidates in that situation would have ignored the guy or come back with a flip remark. I'm already referring to Kerry as "Senator McGovern" because I think that this campaign is going to get laughably bad by the end. I mean, Bush is having one of the worst runs of luck for a re-election year on record, right up there with Jimmy Carter and the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1980, and Kerry hasn't been able to do anything with it. Once things turn around for Bush sometime in the next few months (internationalizing the effort in Iraq, finding Bin Ladin or other top Al Qaeda leaders, oil prices drop dramatically after the Summer driving season ends, etc.), Kerry's going to be up shit creek because he'll have lost golden opportunities.

I'm just wishing that the unnamed coach would have said which four SEC schools he was willing to play. Vanderbilt's a given, not because of the school's academic standards but the fact that they're not competitive in football and are an on-again / off-again mid-level power in basketball. SEC programs violations or accusations in the last 20 years: 1.Kentucky (basketball in late 80s / early 90s, football under Hal Mumme in late 90s) 2. Alabama (at least 2 major football violations in 90s and 2000s, including charges of paying coaches to steer players towards the program) 3. Auburn (Pretty much the same thing as Alabama, in addition to major violations in their basketball program in recent years) 4. Florida (Major football violation in 1984 that made them vacate the SEC title, major basketball violation around 1988) 5. Arkansas (about 1/2 of football team has been in legal trouble in recent years) 6. LSU (1 major basketball violation circa 1997, 1 minor football violation circa 1999) 7. Tennessee (Nothing proven, but football violations were reported in late 90s) 8. Georgia (Major violations in basketball under Jim Harrick) 9. Mississippi State (Recent violations in football program) 10. Vanderbilt (LB Jamie Winborne and DB Jimmy Williams, both now with the SF 49ers, were each suspended for two games each circa 2000 for receiving "improper benefits", which was a credit management seminar.) I know of no violations for South Carolina or Ole Miss offhand, although I half-remember some Ole Miss football violations about 10 years ago. My team, LSU, has exactly one major violation that I know of in 20 years. That case involved local basketball player Lester Earl, who extorted the school for various benefits including scholarships for his bes friend and older brother. When he quit the team and transferred to Kansas arounc 1997, he sold out LSU assistant coach Johnny Jones in order to regain a lost year of eligibility.

I know that Kerry has a one-fingered response to people that ask about the irony of him spending Memorial Day at the Vietnam War Memorial considering that he threw his medals over the White House fence when he got back from the war. That's KIND OF related to his stance of Freedom of Speech I guess...

No wonder I only pick up TPBs for X-Men issues no later than the mid-90s... I quit reading around the time that the Legacy Virus killed both Illyana Rasputin and Multiple Man and they must have done over 4 restarts since then, not including the Age Of Apocalypse. What I find so funny is that the books so fucked up by the Onslaught storyline, such as The Avengers, didn't end up nearly as FUBAR as the books that "survived" the storyline such as X-Men and Spiderman.

The X-Files movie is what killed the series. That movie was an unwatchable POS that changed the course of the series. It took stuff that had been built up to for five seasons and threw it down the toilet (OK... you've got bees that can spread smallpox... and now their STING WILL TURN PEOPLE INTO ALIENS? WHATTHEF@CK?!?) Once the series had to absorb some of these changes (losing the traditional Black Ooze aliens to those... things, losing the Well Manicured Man as one of the members of the conspiracy, etc.), it started hurting badly. I couldn't sit through most of the sixth season when this was going on, but started coming back around the seventh season when they pulled their heads out of their asses temporarily. (The episode with magician Ricky Jay as well as the one with the extraordinarily lucky guy were really good) Losing David Duchovny to bad movies around the eighth season was the death knell, but the series started the downward spiral years before.

Ozzie and Harriet went for 14 seasons. The other shows I can think of that would be in the category "longest running" are MASH and All In The Family, both of which went about 10 years, which The Simpsons passed around the time I quit caring.

Who gives a shit though? We should let them live because it's cheaper? Getting rid of murderers and making sure they won't have a chance to kill again is money well spent if you ask me. The world is simply a better place without some people in it. Such as that guy that beheaded those kids. How could you even argue that people like that don't deserve to die a horrible (and painful) death? I believe in the death penalty as being reserved for the true scum of society who not only kill, but do so in exceptionally bad ways (killing kids, cops, major mutilation, kidnapping / ransom / murder, etc.). I also believe in life in prison as long as life means LIFE. In my state, Louisiana, that is the case. When life means life and the people involved are incredibly guilty beyond a doubt, they should get death if they go to trial or get life if they see they're in a no-win situation and want to plea out. In my area, there are two cases that typify my point of view. In the first, Officer Betty Smothers, the mother of football player Warrick Dunn (Florida State, Tampa Bay Bucs, Atlanta Falcons), was gunned down while pulling an off-duty assignment escorting a grocery store manager to make a night deposit. The men who killed her were, IIRC, captured on video and were tied to the crime through a lot of physical evidence. They went to trial and were sentenced to death. In the second, a teacher from my school was beaten to death and dropped in a field nearly two parishes away covered in only a school blanket. They couldn't even identify the body until Spring Break ended and he didn't show up to teach class on Monday morning. In this case, there was also a lot of physical evidence to tie them to the crime but, due to a combination of the family's reluctance to suffer through a trial (the teacher was gay and they didn't want to see his name dragged through the mud in a VERY public trial) and the DA threatening to drop the case for lack of funding, they were able to get the guys off with life in prison. Sidenote- The DA fiddle-fucking around was a blantant play for the influential parents of the school involved to get them more funding for a case they knew meant a lot to them. I hope the fuckers burn in hell for even threatening to drop the case) Getting back to the point, life in prison was an acceptable alternative to the death penalty because it saved the expense and heartache of a trial in which the defendants were going to be found guilty. Because the defendants knew they were going down and they'd get the death penalty, they plead out to life in prison as an acceptable alternative. Even if a state doesn't use the death penalty, they should keep it around as something to hold over defendants who are sure they're going to jail. If they know they're not facing the death penalty, they don't see a reason to plead out to life in prison and will use every trick in the book to stick it to everyone, be it to set up appeals down the road or twist the knife in the hearts of the victims' families.

This is going to be a huge joke for years because the guy in question is actually a UFC fighter. On the next UFC show... Tito Ortiz vs. RICHARD SIMMONS~!