A Michael Brown moment

Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die.

Everyone wants to be considered Reagan-like, but no one want to actually be Reagan-like. Why not?

"Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good." - Thomas Sowell, (Is Reality Optional? 1993.)

I was referring to Republicans who want to be elected or reelected, not liberals like yourself.

To Quote Reagan: "It is not that liberals are ignorant; it's that they know so much that isn't so."

"Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good." - Thomas Sowell, (Is Reality Optional? 1993.)

Reagan, said Gorbachev, 73, was "an extraordinary political leader" who decided "to be a peacemaker" at just the right moment -- the moment when Gorbachev had come to power in Moscow. He, too, wanted to be a peacemaker, so "our interests coincided."

Reagan's greatness has already been decided by those whose opinions actually matter.

As for personal debts, I can only suggest that one who borrows should be expected to pay back their loans.  That is a lesson most children learn by the time they've left kindergarten. 

"KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD" - Emil Faber

So you would have rather continued the national embarassment of Jimmy Carter's inflation, recession and foreign policy ineptitude?

I love that this turned into a Reagan debate.

 On the answering system topic. Something tells me that programing your call waiting system to play speeches or music is not a costly technology. How is this a story?

What's next: "Every Republican staffer is reported to have a stapler at their desk"?

How does Reagan qualify as a jackass when he was actually correct in his assertion regarding trees?  Logic dictates that those who errantly chastized him would be the ones wearing the donkey suit.  Those who knew Reagan best will openly admit he often reduced things to basic terms.  They will also maintain that it wasn't out of ignorance, but out of his humility and genuine common touch.  Princeton University sponsired a panel discussion on Reagan's legacy following his death which in part addressed this dichotomy, attributing this plainspoken manner to Reagan's great credit rather than his discredit.  

As far as student loans, I piled up a sizeable amount of them in going to college and law school from 1980-1987 (a.k.a. the Reagan years). I was and continue to be grateful that my government offered me an opportunity to fund my educational aspirations. I paid my loans back over the course of a decade. I never griped because I made a conscious decision to invest in education as a means to future prosperity.  Looking back, I'd say the fact that I wasn't given my higher education outright made me appreciate it all the more.     

I've learned in life that those who expect things to be given to them live in a state of perpetual disappointment.   

That said, it's a sad commentary on the NJGOP when the most inspirational thing they've done in recent memory is upgrade their phone system.

by not understanding it or leaving out facts?? Reagan is to blame to deficit spending, more college debt, and aid to the Saudis? What about the Democrats, who controlled the House of Reps. during the entire Reagan presidency (and the Senate for part of it). Not one revenue or appropriation bill even gets considered without the House of Reps. (and its majority leadership). Why aren't they to blame? Carter didn't sell out US interests? How 'bout the Panama Canal? Education shouldn't have distinctions between haves and have-nots? A worthy ideal, I'll agree. I assume then that you favor school choice and elementary and secondary school vouchers for poor kids (similar to your support for grants/scholarships/loans for college kids)??

Public school is not free --  people have paid and continue to pay rather significant property taxes to fund their schools, not to mention helping more disadvantaged communities such as Newark (whose board of ed "lost" $50 million) under the Abbott formula.     

As for interest rates, if you cut them for students who have already graduated, you may not have the funds available to increase Pell type grants for those most needy who are yet to enter college.  Other than the one for the travesty in Iraq, there's no blank check waiting to be written these days.  It's a question of priorities in a world of finite resources.  Moreover, if you look at what Congress is currently working on in terms of educational funding reform, you have proposed reductions in both federal loan guantees (99% down to 97%) and loan subsidies ($15 billion or so dollars through 2012) to make up for the cost of the interest rate cuts.  The lenders are already complaining about this and have threatened to increase fees and cut services. 

The bottom line is that reforming costs for higher education requires a comprehensive approach, not simply a rate cut.  Unfortunately, in Washington both parties tend to rush to push through legislation that is inadequate but makes for a good sound bite.     

"KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD" - Emil Faber

The Panama Canel was the last remaining piece of an American imperialistic turn of the 19th Century philosophy, where the US used all means necessary to "oversee" the business of South America. Carter realized that the continued strife would not be good for US intrests in South America, which are far more complicated than the Canal. Ever since that relations between South American nations and the US have been better (for the most part) That is until George Bush alienated all of the world.

You've proven that even when Wally writes a complete non-story about a telephone answering system and people somehow find a way to argue about school funding, a member of this board will take it upon himself to morph into Marshall Mcluhan and offer commentary on the efficacy of non-linear discourse on an internet chat board. Awesome!

"KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD" - Emil Faber