Of course Reagan was being an idiot SOB as the equipment was already installed and paid for.

But regarding the issue at large, Carter started an incentive program which created a market for a solar industry (this is all water heating, not photovoltaics) and Reagan killed that in 1986. Not just killing the industry, but making investment much less attractive in 2005 when ultra-liberal George Bush brought back solar/renewable energy tax credits.

Reagan had more important things to spend on, like Star Wars.

Reagan tearing down those panels is a perfect symbol of the anti-intellectualism that has become the core of the GOP.

They weren't even advanced technology, they were for heating water. Solar hot water was all the rage in the 1890s.

I'd say Reagan was thinking whatever people think when they do a coal roll - just being spiteful I guess, but I expect it was a favor for the fossil fuel industry - likely in response to an explicit request.

Oh, and Obama put solar back on the White House. Bush had installed some at the property, but not on the main building.

Instead of token gestures, Reagan was more worried about reviving the economy and responding to the threat from the the country that was Bernie's wet dream and honeymoon spot. He over achieved on both counts. The solar water heaters didn't do so well but I guess you can't win them all.

They worked a lot better than SDI, and as a side benefit they didn't increase the chance of nuclear armageddon.

You can't argue that Reagan didn't care about token gestures when discussing a token gesture that he actually did.

Also, Reagan delayed the break up of the Soviet Union.

I liked when Reagan invaded Grenada just days after the marine barracks bombing tragedy in Beirut. Testes so large, very much sperm count.

Yeah, that was pretty BS bravado and unnecessary, but Grenada was probably the least bad part of Reagan foreign policy and probably left Grenada better off than when he found it.

Iran-Contra, funding of the Contras in general, should definitely have had him in prison though. There was only one person who ever saw any jail time in that scandal. It was a guy in Texas who stole a sign for a street named after John Poindexter and tried to hold it ransom for $30M - the amount of money in the arms deal in question.

Reading about the invasion of Grenada on Wikipedia, I still don't understand whatsoever: why did we do it?

There are hints at the reasons like "Reagan was scared of the airport they built" and "they'd just had a coup" but lots of countries have coups and airports that we don't invade. I suspect it circles around to communism or something but the article doesn't really explain.

Pretty sure it was to distract attention from our marine barracks that just got blown up with a large loss of life. Needed to reestablish Murika#1!

I always thought the rescue of the american students and their families was a big factor in the decision.

thinkingface.emoji

Ostensibly. US influence in the country was certainly a reason too. It wasn't as simple as anti-leftists though. The country had been leftist for a while and a coup caused instability for an already unpopular government.

Grenadans, and not just the elite class, to this day celebrate Thanksgiving Day as the day of the US invasion.

Based on the rest of US policy in the Caribbean and Central America though, I think it's fair to chalk up any success to luck.

SDI worked perfectly.

These polls are absolutely ****ing incredible. The born in Kenya one is similar. A full quarter of the country is living in a post-reality world.

It really feels like economic and demographic factors are creating two completely different countries. In big cities, America is vibrant, exciting, and full of people living the American Dream. In rural America, people literally deny reality to numb the collective pain of depression, economic and otherwise, and the effects of a gene pool that gives them no chance in today's economy. And while I enjoy pointing and laughing at times, I truly have no clue how to turn it around.

As a way to spend lots and lots of money with little visible results it did! As a viable missile defense system not as much.

I thought Grenada was invaded so Clint could make one last war movie?

Well there's a lot of factors in play here, but I think the main motivation to keep 1000 US Citizens safe in a chaotic situations was perfectly reasonable. They didn't jump in to take out a leftist coup. They jumped in after a the military coup of the leftist coup. It wasn't some simple leftist rebuttal.

One of my former colleagues was special forces pararescue in Grenada and gave a talk on what a cluster**** it was.

This gives an idea: http://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/12/wo...n-grenada.html

As the star I guess. He made Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers .

In the immediate aftermath there was quite a bit about how poorly prepared the invasion was and one thing I remember was they were saying the military were using cartoonish maps from tourist brochures.

Reagan inherited the Carter military from the 70's, so things weren't too organized his first couple years. But he fixed it by the end of the 80's as evidenced by the Gulf War.

Carter increased military spending. The Vietnam war is what ****ed up the US Military. Drafting people to fight a ****ed up war of atrocities on a bunch of peasants who no thinking person could consider any threat to the US was catastrophically demoralizing.

Bush 2 inherited a military that had actually undergone cuts, but thanks to having very few people who had participated in epically tragic foreign policy and a public which had more or less recovered from it, the military was quite sound before W started ****ing it up again.

There will once again be a generation of devastated vets who have no ****ing clue what they sacrificed for.

lol reagan slappies

The first Gulf war was exactly what any American army in modern times could have done to any third world army. Bomb the **** out of it. Kuwait was free (not really), but the secret of "winning" the Gulf War was in not even having defeat of Hussein as an objective.

Gulf War II was just as winnable except the objective of winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis by killing them was impossible and incredibly stupid.

NM, both wars were winners. These people aren't dumb. Iraq War I was a winner because Kuwaiti oil flowed and Bechtel got paid. Iraq War II is a winner because Halliburton got paid.