The Political Geography of the USA

[kelpdiver 2]

what's worse than the beast you known?

the one you don't.

[Andy9o8 2]

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what's worse than the beast you known?

the one you don't.

A fair comment in the abstract; but in reality we do know the beast. It exists in all the other Western democracies.

[kelpdiver 2]

I don't see parliamentary democracies as being all that great.

[mnealtx 0]

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I hate the entire concept of the Electoral College; I always have.
To me, there's something fundamentally un-democratic, to the point of being immoral, about a candidate for office being able to lose the popular vote and still win the election. Also remember that in the case of a tie in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives elects the President. In other words, whichever party happens to be in the majority in the House, that's the party whose candidate becomes president, regardless of the outcome of the general election.
The Electoral College is an arcane, archaic, obsolete relic of days gone by when the landed gentry didn't really trust the commoners with so noble and crucial a task as electing a President by direct ballot. It's a dinosaur that has no legitimate place in modern-day society, and should be relegated to the archives of history.

Nice rant - however, since we are still a representative republic, it's a moot point until/unless there is an amendment that changes it.

I can pretty much guarantee that it would be an epic fight getting 3/4 of the states to pass an amendment that basically discounts their votes in a Presidential election.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Andy9o8 2]

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Nice rant

Yeah, and I'm not even drunk.

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however, since we are still a representative republic, it's a moot point until/unless there is an amendment that changes it.

Well, all the democracies are basically representative republics, more or less; but that's a point of semantics. But yes, it would require amending the Constitution.

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I can pretty much guarantee that it would be an epic fight getting 3/4 of the states to pass an amendment....

Yes, amendments are pretty hard to pass due to that.

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.... that basically discounts their votes in a Presidential election.

I, personally, would argue that it more readily guarantees their votes not being discounted. And thus the debate would be on.

[skydyvr 0]

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Washington doesn't have either New York nor LA nor Chicago in that state, therefore any opinions you have are just the ignorant ramblings of another 'podunk' from nowhere......

LA has the nastiest air in the US. Cheyenne, Wyoming has the cleanest. Now who's the podunk.

. . =(_8^(1)

[Samurai136 0]

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Unfair because a candidate can receive the majority of popular votes and still lose, look at 2000.

Another example? In Super Bowl XL, the Seahawks led the Steelers in most staistical categories: 1) total yards; 2) passing was dominant; 3) turnovers; 4) Time of Possession; 5) First downs. That's not fair when a team that the stats showed kicked the other team's ass lost. The Steelers were outplayed that game.

But the score was Seahawks 10, Steelers 21. A fairly convincing score. The rule has always been that the team that scores the most points win.

In presidential elections, the rule has always been that the candidate with the most electoral votes wins. Popular vote is like first downs or total yards - it doesn't matter in the end.

It's fair when everyone knows the rules, okay? If my goal is to get the most yards for my team, and I do it, I may not have won the game.

Baseball is a better comparison to the electoral college.

The idea of competition brings us back to baseball, where the playoffs are creating a typically exciting October. Can you imagine the champion team being determined by a 63-inning supergame instead of seven nine-inning games?

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[Amazon 7]

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LA has the nastiest air in the US

Eau Contrare... Been to Houston in the last 10 years.. the Bush Environmental plan is working there. Every time I have been there my eyes burned.. and that does not happen when I go to LA

Let me add a Link before yall get all high and mighty again...prove it ... prove it.. prove it.. waaaa waaaa weaaaa

http://www.cleanhouston.org/air/index.htm

Houston’s air quality has long suffered. Much of the city’s air pollution problem is due to its proximity to the ship channel industries which compose the largest petrochemical complex in the nation- comprising over 60 percent of the country’s petrochemical industry. In 2000, an analysis of the city’s air revealed that industry had been consistently underreporting its emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)- precursors to ozone- by a factor of 3 to 10 times. Ground-level ozone, also known as smog, is Houston’s most prevalent air pollution problem. In fact, Houston rivals Los Angeles as the country’s smoggiest city. There is, however, a major difference in the sources of the cities’ air pollution. The majority of Los Angeles’ smog creating emissions comes from its vehicles, while only about a quarter of our smog forming pollution emanates from automobile tailpipes. The industries along the ship channel contribute overwhelmingly to Houston’s air pollution problem.

This year again, we lead the nation as the city with the most severe ozone problem. We have racked up the titles for the highest single measurement of ozone pollution in the country, the most days exceeding the 1-hr ozone standard, and the third most days exceeding the 8-hr standard. In April a professor at Texas A&M found that Houston’s ozone concentration during the summer was often two to three times higher than the government standard.




sheesh

[mnealtx 0]

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In 2000, an analysis

Yup..it's all Bush's fault, damn him!!

waaa waaa waaa was 100% this time...

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Amazon 7]

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Yup..it's all Bush's fault, damn him!!

Hey.. its a result of his policies as Governor... they could protect the environment.. but they choose not too.

[lawrocket 3]

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Yup..it's all Bush's fault, damn him!!

Hey.. its a result of his policies as Governor... they could protect the environment.. but they choose not too.

Actually, Air Quality standards are controlled by the Feds. Back when Dubya was gov, Clinton controlled the Feds, including the FDA. Dubya did have authority over the TCEQ. But, Clinton didn't have Dubya drawn and quartered.

Blaming Dubya for Houston air makes as much sense as blaming Dukakis for Boston Harbor...

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[mnealtx 0]

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Yup..it's all Bush's fault, damn him!!

Hey.. its a result of his policies as Governor... they could protect the environment.. but they choose not too.

Judging by this info from the American Lung Association, maybe you should be sniping at Gray Davis:

Rank
Smog: Particles:
The most polluted cities
1 Los Angeles (CA) 1 Los Angeles (CA)
2 Visalia-Porterville (CA) 2 Visalia-Porterville (CA)
3 Bakersfield (CA) 3 Bakersfield (CA)
4 Fresno (CA) 4 Fresno (CA)
5 Houston (TX) 5 Pittsburgh (PA)
6 Merced (CA) 6 Detroit (MI)
7 Sacramento (CA) 7 Atlanta (GA)
8 Hanford (CA) 8 Cleveland (OH)
9 Knoxville (TN) 9 Hanford (CA)
10 Dallas – Fort Worth (TX) 10 Birmingham (AL)
11 Wash.(DC), Baltimore (MD) 11 Cincinnati (OH)
12 Philadelphia (PA) 12 Knoxville (TN)
13 New York (NY) 13 Weirton (WV)
14 Charlotte (NC) 14 Chicago (IL)
15 Cleveland (OH) 15 Canton (OH)
16 Greensboro (NC) 16 Charleston (WV)
17 Pittsburgh (PA) 17 Modesto (CA)
18 Phoenix (AZ) 18 New York (NY)
19 San Diego (CA) 19 Merced (CA)
20 Modesto (CA) 20 St Louis (MO)

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Amazon 7]

http://www.txpeer.org/Bush/


BZZZZT Wrong answer



After five years in office, Gov. Bush's mantra for governing, "Let Texans run Texas", more correctly should have been stated as "Let Texas Industry run Texas." His administration's environmental policies have consistently catered to the interests of industrial moguls, big landowners and large contributors, particularly at the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, the state environmental agency.



Under George W. Bush's leadership, Texas ranks number one in a many categories of pollution and environmental degradation. For example, Texas is:


#1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemicals
#1 in Toxic Chemical releases into the Air
#1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal
#1 in counties listed in top 20 of Emitting Cancer Causing Chemicals
#1 in Total Number of Hazardous Waste Incinerators
#1 in Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints
#1 in production of Cancer causing Benzene & Vinyl Chloride
#1 Largest Sludge Dump in Country
Texas air quality has worsened significantly under Gov. Bush's administration. The Houston-Galveston area has had eight of the top ten ozone (smog) peaks in the nation, far surpassing Los Angeles. But as concern over the health and environmental consequences rise, the governor's policy has been only to fight the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's attempts to impose stricter air quality protections.

When confronted with the option of enforcing regulations or bypassing them, Gov. Bush has consistently chosen the latter. After research showed that 1,000 unregulated, "grandfathered" industrial plants accounted for a huge proportion of Texas air pollution, Bush opposed legislation that would force the companies to clean up and instead cut a back room deal to install a "voluntary" program. The heads of these companies include some of the Governor's largest campaign contributors.

The Governor intervened to ask the federal government to let the state handle planning to protect endangered species, then supported legislation and other actions to allow development and other threats to the species to continue, so far indefinitely.

Under Bush's watch Texas has deregulated many aspects of its environmental policy, including policies governing wastewater discharges, pesticides, air pollution and even certain types of nuclear waste.

Industry consultants and boardmembers of polluting companies have been appointed to run Texas key regulating agencies. As a result, state environmental regulators have become largely ineffective, with inadequate resources or direction to enforce even the regulations still on the books. Texas environmental agency inspectors are now actually required as agency policy give notice of compliance inspections one to two weeks in advance. Texas PEER frankly fears for the nation's environmental well being if Gov. Bush's agenda rises to the federal government level. Governor Bush has said, "What Texans can dream, Texans can do." Clearly, Gov. Bush never dreamed of cleaning up Texas' environment.

[lawrocket 3]

Under George W. Bush's leadership, Texas ranks number one in a many categories of pollution and environmental degradation. For example, Texas is:

#1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemicals (Hmmm. Think refineries have much to do with that?)
#1 in Toxic Chemical releases into the Air (w) My ex g/f lived in La Porte - by refineries. They have drills for toxic gas emissions, because refineries are loaded with them; 2) What about Hawaii and sulphur emissions?)
#1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal (Again, no surprise - they probably lead in deep wells, as well)
#1 in counties listed in top 20 of Emitting Cancer Causing Chemicals (Hmmm. They lead in refining - the shocker of shockers)
#1 in Total Number of Hazardous Waste Incinerators (And they produce the most toxic waste)
#1 in Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints (#1 in industries likely to cause it)
#1 in production of Cancer causing Benzene & Vinyl Chloride (Benzene comes from petroleum; A form of vinyl chloride probably is used by you to water your lawn. Texas produces it)
#1 Largest Sludge Dump in Country (And the $1 slude producer)

Comparable stats?
California is:
#1 in human respiratory emissions of carbon dioxide
#1 in volume of raw sewage produced
#1 in use of toxic chlorine to treat human wastes
#1 in dumping of sewage product into oceans.

texas is also probably:
#1 in industrial oil accidents
#1 in deaths caused by petrochemicals

Pennsylvania also used to produce more acid rain than any place else. Then the steel mills closed. Problem solved. I guess Bush should have put those refineries out of business.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Amazon 7]

So basically rather than addressing the problems with any meaningful legislation.. or any cleanup..they do what the oil companies want to.. voluntarily which is next to nothing.. because its...Good for Business.

http://www.txpeer.org/Bush/Privileged_Class.html
Polluter immunity legislation represented a high legislative priority of many of Governor Bush's close supporters in the oil, natural gas, chemical, electronics, electric utility, manufacturing and factory farming industries. Corporate interests represented by groups lobbying for audit privilege legislation contributed more than $4 million to Bush's two gubernatorial campaigns -- more than 20 percent of his pre-presidential fundraising total.(3) (See part three of "The Privileged Class," forthcoming.)


The people who get sick and die from it.. .. no problem.( well you could get them for clients I guess... again.. good for your business)

Oops thats right they have immunity so they cant be sued it appears.

[kelpdiver 2]

It's worth noting that Hanford, Porterville, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Merced are basically the same place in the San Joaquin Valley, all getting the bad air blown in from LA, plus historically a lot of bad air from burning rice fields (hopefully no longer done).

[lawrocket 3]

You have failed to answer this: "Why did the Clinton Administration let Bush get away with it?" Those are FEDERAL standards that the states are held to. FEDERAL! YPes, FEDERAL.

Did I say those are FEDERAL standards. Which means that the FEDS enforce and penalize.

By the way, did you kow that the FEDERAL Clean Air Act of 1990 is the main legislation (yeah, passed through by Bush, Sr. - another oil company lackey).

So, what did Clinton do to clean the air? OR was he another Croney? He took shit from some governor? The same governor whose daddy's ass was whupped (Bush, Sr. got SERVED!) by Clinton?

It's Bush's fault. DUBYA DUBYA!

JEan, are you trolling? Be honest, here.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[lawrocket 3]

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Hanford, Porterville, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Merced are basically the same place in the San Joaquin Valley,

No, we ain't. Madera stays pretty clean. Fresno is usually the worst, along with Merced and sometimes Tulare. We are in the same valley, but with different topography.

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all getting the bad air blown in from LA

No, the Grapevine prevents that. All of our bad air is merely held in by the valley. We make it, but can't get rid of it.

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plus historically a lot of bad air from burning rice fields (hopefully no longer done).

No, not rice fields. Ha! We dont grow that here. And, the practice is banned, at least temporarily.

Our biggest air problem is particulates - smoke and dust. we are an irrigated desert. Dusty. And plenty of smoke. Lots of trucking and farm equipment. And burning. It gets in our air and doesn't blow away. We don't even get Santa Ana's here.

Our air problems are due mainly to topography. Some to human activity.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Amazon 7]

AS I am sure you can find there were numerous DOJ proceedings against Texas companies for polluting.

Funny thing is after Bush came into office that all seemed to go away.

http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/documents/NSR_final.pdf

With stuff as good as this I dont need to troll

[Amazon 7]

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Judging by this info from the American Lung Association, maybe you should be sniping at Gray Davis:

Rank
Smog: Particles:
The most polluted cities

So.. its your position that particulates are more of a pollutant tthan VOC... you know the stuff that is causes cancer far more than particulates.

Oh and Mike... just what is that company you work for again???

They wouldnt have a dog in this hunt now would they

[rehmwa 2]

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JEan, are you trolling? Be honest, here.

Jeanne is always trolling. It's kind of cute.

For a girl.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[mnealtx 0]

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Judging by this info from the American Lung Association, maybe you should be sniping at Gray Davis:

Rank
Smog: Particles:
The most polluted cities

So.. its your position that particulates are more of a pollutant tthan VOC... you know the stuff that is causes cancer far more than particulates.

Oh and Mike... just what is that company you work for again???

They wouldnt have a dog in this hunt now would they

Not my position at all... seems to be the ALA thinks it's a problem, though.

Now Jeanne...why would a communications company have anything to do with air pollution in California? I'm not even sure they have an office there...

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[skydyvr 0]

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LA has the nastiest air in the US

Eau Contrare... Been to Houston in the last 10 years.. the Bush Environmental plan is working there. Every time I have been there my eyes burned.. and that does not happen when I go to LA

The American Lung Association would be at odds with your claims about Houston. It's not even in the top 25:

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/121/114322

. . =(_8^(1)

[DaVinci 0]

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Even the dumb asses in the red states are now getting a chance to see what Bush and Co are doing to the country..

So any Republican is a dumbass?

Wow always a pleasure to see someone so balanced express themselves so well.

[Amazon 7]

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So any Republican is a dumbass?

Wow always a pleasure to see someone so balanced express themselves so well

Eau Contrare.... not at all.. I even have friends who are moderate Republicans....its a chore to have them as friends .. but oh well...

I am referring to the DUMB ASSES that think its a good thing to be DUMB AS DIRT AND PROUD OF IT..

I am referring to the DUMB ASSES who think that because they are WHITE americans they are OWED their birthright to make a six figure income even IF they dropped out of high school

I am referring to the DUMB ASSES who cant be bothered to read ( especially the ones who cant even read at an eighth grade level) and form an opinion other than to get their politics fed to them from the pulpit of their church every week on Sunday morning...


I formed my opinion of these DUMB ASSES very easily at a young age... I have a LARGE percentage of these idiots in my very large southern exteneded family.... you know.. those former Dixiecrats.... who FLOCKED to the Republican party... the Ultra right wing...... I can hook you up with some of them if you want.. they have cool rallys every weekend out in the woods.