If your idea is to generate long threads with lost of posts, then yes you are onto something.  If your idea is to get beyond long threads with lots of posts which consists of choirs screaming at one another, as you preach to your own, and have things go nowhere, then you might want look for ways to reformulate.

I wonder if that would of happened though.  Revolution that is.  The Japanese were facing pretty dark times already without a shred of unres... it was obvious they couldn't win, people were already starving and there was little to no unrest, and the Japanese people were still seemingly willing to fight for the empeoer who screewd them.

  Japan just didn't have the same indivdualistic bent the west has... it's something to consider in eastern "non colonial" states.

It plays a huge part in the chinese economy actually.

I think this thread did better than "If I wanted America to fail" it invites people to give and defend their opinions, and although we temporarily got derailed by WWII discussion, we have at least remained civil and provided rational discussion on methods of governance and historical pieces.

The biography of Hirohito i re-read recently cited it as a huge concern of the regime, so i don't doubt that it was entirely unfounded. The Japanese had a significant enough Marxist underground, just one that had been effectively cowed by the police state, and was later allowed to peacably express itself under the Americans (more moderate socialism which has remained a force in Japanese politics), but it was there. Much of it was founded on intellectual objection to the state's literal interpretation of the whole "Hirohito is descended from the Sun Goddess" thing.

This thread remained civil, much to my dismay, much prefer the screamfests.

Also, thanks for the compliment Rocketpig, though I did have my own bises of course, which is largely needed as far as critera goes.

For the worst presidents, I pretty much had one of two criteria that must of been met. 1) Handled a disaster worse then most other presidents would of/exacerbated a huge crisis. (Buchanon/Pierce/Hoover.) 2) Have done something that would get you convicted at the Hague. (Jackson/Roosevelt.) No matter how much good someone does, it's hard for me to overlook human rights violations of such a magnitude.

For the bets presidents it was basically "Handled things better then most presidents would"/"Made some extraordinary choice that made the country better.

Which is why there is no 5. After those, four... I think the best presidents afterwords were "Caretaker" presidents.

Though Roosevelt no doubt being one was in large part due to personal preference. Him being closest actually to where i'd stand ideally politically. (right now i tend to lean more libertarian if only because i think everything needs to be torn down and rebuilt and modernized.)

Well that and the fact that, like I said... he's widely considered one of the greatest presidents ever, is on mount Rushmore... and didn't have a giant war or other crisis to sway public opinion. '

His popularity is all based on policy, making him at worst the best "peacetime" president. I mean, apparently we actually almost went to war with Germany, in a VERY real way, but that was something that he and his people, and the German government kept hidden up until like... the 1980's when some documents were found.

You won't get any arguments from me. I've adored Teddy for at least ten years now. I'm absolutely fascinated with the man.

You should read Caleb Carr's novel The Alienist. TR has a medium-sized role as the new police commissioner of New York. Good book. It's fiction but it's a good whodunit.

I also quite liked your list and your reasoning Kasz.

I am reading that as, "My inner impulse is the same as someone who trolls" for some reason.

i only really know about after world war 2
so i'll one each

BEST

Kennedy
-For his handling of Cuban missile crisis
-His stance on Vietnam (he wanted to leave by 1965, but was assassinated)

notable mentions: Clinton, Reagan?

WORST

Bush
-going to war with 2 countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) proved to be very expensive and damaging to the economy
-these war proved to be unwinnable, so a waste of time
-tax cuts for rich and allowing big business to do as it likes, lead to recession in 2007/8 (global economic mess)

notable mentions: Nixon, Johnson