It simply isn't. The radical right Tea Party is splintering from the less radical GOP already, and that fracture is picking up steam with each passing election.

The demographics of our country are changing, and they all favor US. Soon, there will be more persons of color than whites. Soon, the republican base -- older conservatives -- will simply be dead. There aren't many more election cycles left for them.

Women and LGBTQ, minorities and immigrants, the entire damn 99%, are being held down by draconian Republican values and policies. I'm visualizing the Republican Party trying to stuff their fingers and toes into the leaks in their political, obstructionist dam. They're doing this with jerrymandering, dirty money and fearmongering. But they're simply delaying the inevitable.

When the dam breaks, and mark my words, it IS breaking, there will be a sweeping flood of liberalism and progressivism across the land.

Republicans aren't sustainable. If we can win the presidency in 2016, there will not be another republican president for decades -- or until they abandon their policies of intolerance and inequality.

This is not whining about DU, but merely an observation. It seems that many posts which shouldn't be hidden are, and those that should be, aren't. There is now a thread in DU about a poster proclaiming to enter into the jury service predisposed to let the post stand, regardless of the content.

I wonder, is the rash of questionable jury decisions a symptom of backlash against the system itself? Is it a result of malfeasance from nefarious posters serving on juries and intentionally disrupting the system?

Now that hidden posts have a meaningful consequence, suspension from DU for up to 90 days while the hides drop off, it seems that the system is an invitation for trolls to, well, troll. There are some opinionated and extremely prolific posters here. Many of them are sitting at 4 hides right now, for posts that should never have been hidden.

I suspect that there are posters alert-stalking these opinionated and prolific members of DU, so that every single mildly controversial post is alerted on. Some of these posters are posting hundreds, if not thousands, of posts over the course of 90 days. Statistically, it's going to be pretty easy for an alert-stalking disruptor to gag someone using frivolous alerts.

Again, I'm not whining about DU or the jury system -- I'm making observations about the system's current design.

I'll be productive and offer a solution: I say why not limit alerting privileges to one alert per poster per day, with a failed (0-7 to leave it) alert causing one's alerting privileges to be revoked for a week. I think that would cut down on the frivolous alerts and alert stalking.

I think we are all in agreement that using unmanned drones is better than using manned aircraft, which is better than using boots on the ground. It would be better if we weren't involved militarily, in any way shape or form, but Bush got us into this mess. Bush broke Iraq and left Obama holding the broken mess.

POTUS is a reasonable, logical and ethical man. I don't think he will get us committed or over extended, like the Chimp did.

Executives make more than they should, while workers make less.

1. All companies should be forced to link the minimum and maximum wages it pays. Mandate by law that the maximum wage cannot exceed 25 times the minimum wage that a company pays. For example, if the highest paid employee of a company makes 1m per year, the lowest paid employee cannot make less than 40k per year. If the executive feels his contribution worthy of 2m per year, that's fine, but that raises the base pay to 80k. CEOs are unable to responsibly pay their employees. It's been proven time and time again. Now it's time to force what they had the chance to do voluntarily. Michael Duke of a Walmart gets paid 35 million dollars a year. His associates would be making 1.4m/ year (or, *gasp* he may have to take a pay-cut).

2. Enact a living wage for all Americans tied to inflation and standard of living so that no one gets left behind again.

It's time we amend the constitution to require a balanced budget, with a restriction that limits military / defense spending to 5% of the budget or less and a provision that firmly and permanently shifts the tax burden from the middle class to the wealthiest Americans by raising the highest tax rate to 90%.

I've seen George Clooney's name thrown around as a potential presidential candidate and a gubernatorial candidate for CA. There are some who see his political leanings as qualification enough, while others seem to suggest he just isn't experienced enough to be qualified.

I think Clooney could be for us, the progressive left, what Reagan was for the radical right. Clooney is liberal and progressive. He is intelligent and articulate. He is charismatic and compassionate. Clooney possesses the traits to both get elected and to cement progressive liberal values in mainstream America.

Electing Clooney would be the nail in the coffin for conservative Republican presidential hopes for the next 16-20 years. And in 16-20 years, the conservative Republicans will be extinct in any real numbers. Demographics in America are changing. Conservatism in it's current form isn't sustainable.

The republican base is primarily older and white. Pretty soon, they'll be an insignificant minority of voters -- though they'll still wield disproportionate economic power.

I would like to see him run in the primaries to see just how well he does.

I cannot believe the controversy associated with this. How many children are neglected every day? Abandoned by parents? Is this "narcing out" so awful because the subject of his report was a single mother?

Well, I'm going to tell on myself too. I have called the police more than once when I've seen a parent leave their young child or children in a parked car, unattended, outside of a business. I understand that sometimes life gets hard, but I would rather meddle and be able to sleep at night, than turn a blind eye and have to deal with a dead kid who I could have saved.

I applaud our DUers who choose to get involved, no matter how unpopular that choice may be.

I didn't expect to cause such a ruckus. I just would have appreciated a NSFW tag. As difficult as it is for some to comprehend, based upon the responses in the various threads, it is possible to both be allowed to browse the internet from time to time at work, AND to have a fairly restrictive and vindictive IT department.

A NSFW tag when posting nudity would be considerate.

One American soldier is worth more than every Taliban fighter in Guantanamo, no matter the circumstance of his capture. 5 was a BARGAIN.

All of these hypocrites are showing their racist hatred of the President, and their two-faced, fair-weather support for our soldiers.