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PoliGAF 2013 |OT1| Never mind, Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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T

Tim-E

Member
The right's spin machine is really impressive. The fact that they've convinced millions that the founding fathers were a bunch of Christians who wanted to build a nation on one religion's specific ideals is incredible. It's also depressing, but I digress.
 
T

Tim-E

Member
It's why I'll never factor them out completely. Their message can be 100% bullshit, but they are so much better at unifying and sticking to it than Democrats could ever dream of.
 
T

Tim-E

Member
Holy shit.

During the madness a white haired lady occupied the organic cotton couch near the fluorescent HD TV. She sipped an organic home brew of green tea as she flipped channels between NPR and C-SPAN. At the same time her eyes gazed at an Al Jazeera stream on her MacBook while she gripped her iPhone, as to not miss any important text vibrations. Yet through this haze of electronic acrobatics, the lady gave off an aura of tranquility
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wtf :lol :
I love it.
 
R

RDreamer

Member
B-Dubs said:
Holy shit, that's good stuff :lol

We should be sure to bold the fiction tags so people don't get the wrong idea (or add them to the title of the entry).
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The very first line, which he may have edited after you posted this, should be good. It says: (Start scene of non-erotic political fan fiction.)

I suppose bolding that might help, but whatever.

I love it. It's a really unique style.
 
T

Tim-E

Member
RDreamer said:
The very first line, which he may have edited after you posted this, should be good. It says: (Start scene of non-erotic political fan fiction.)

I love it. It's a really unique style.
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Yep. It's funny and he uses the format to draw attention to the third party issue in the US.
 
C

Carpe Libertatem

Member
Dax01 said:
And what else is stupid about the Senate:
A. California: 2 Senators
B. Wyoming: 2 Senators
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That isn't particularly stupid, but you're half right. This is what's stupid about the United States Senate:

Wyoming: 2 Senate seats, 1 U.S. Rep
District of Columbia: 0 Senate seats, 1 non-voting, basically powerless U.S. Rep

This is even more ridiculous when you realize that D.C. has about 70,000 more people living in it than Wyoming. D.C. will never be given statehood, though, because it means 2 Democratic Senators and a Democratic House Member (even though Wyoming is basically the Republican of that).
 
E

el retorno

Member
Carpe Libertatem said:
That isn't particularly stupid, but you're half right. This is what's stupid about the United States Senate:

Wyoming: 2 Senate seats, 1 U.S. Rep
District of Columbia: 0 Senate seats, 1 non-voting, basically powerless U.S. Rep

This is even more ridiculous when you realize that D.C. has about 70,000 more people living in it than Wyoming. D.C. will never be given statehood, though, because it means 2 Democratic Senators and a Democratic House Member (even though Wyoming is basically the Republican of that).
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Its ridiculous now. Less so in what I imagine the founders intended for dc.though we do need to change that.
 
A

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
B-Dubs said:
I've got plenty of news, they're actually planning on rolling out hydrogen cars in 2015 or so and they've got a deal with Norway and parts of the EU to set up refueling stations, what I was hoping was for a review from someone who had used one. Guess I can use the Top Gear review, I was planning on linking to it anyway.
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Wasn't that car like $150,000? Fuel cell cars would have to probably be half that before they make sense to sell to the general public, especially since you still need to pay to refuel at hydrogen refilling stations.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Al-ibn Kermit said:
Wasn't that car like $150,000? Fuel cell cars would have to probably be half that before they make sense to sell to the general public, especially since you still need to pay to refuel at hydrogen refilling stations.
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It was just a fuel cell in a regular ass sedan. I need to look up the segment it was on later, I think they mention the price. I remember them saying at that point the problem was lack of refueling stations and the cost of making the hydrogen.
 
A

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
B-Dubs said:
It was just a fuel cell in a regular ass sedan. I need to look up the segment it was on later, I think they mention the price. I remember them saying at that point the problem was lack of refueling stations and the cost of making the hydrogen.
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Hyundai is making a fuel cell version of the Tucson SUV which they say is going to cost about $50,000 vs $20,000 for the regular gas one. Hydrogen cars are in a weird place because a regular EV or plug-in hybrid can just be recharged at home while the hydrogen car is restricted to using refill stations which there are only a limited number of.

And you also still have to pay for gas which might vary a little in price based on seasonal supply & demand. These cars are exciting and forward-looking but it looks it'll be another decade before their short and long-term costs are less than gasoline cars or EVs.
 
S

speculawyer

Member
B-Dubs said:
I've got plenty of news, they're actually planning on rolling out hydrogen cars in 2015 or so and they've got a deal with Norway and parts of the EU to set up refueling stations, what I was hoping was for a review from someone who had used one. Guess I can use the Top Gear review, I was planning on linking to it anyway.
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Dude. Don't get me started on fuel cell cars. I wish them well and hope the prove me dead wrong. But as far as I can tell, they are a dead end. Electric is the way to go. Fuel cell cars are MUCH better than electrics in that they have better range and can be refueled quickly. But the negatives do not outweigh those positives. There is no good clean/cheap source of hyrogen, there is no hydrogen distribution infrastructure, hydrogen is very difficult to store, and fuel cells are expensive.

Anything you can do with a fuel cell car can be done MUCH better with plug-in hydrogen car like the Chevy Volt. The Volt handles 90% of typical driving on electricity and the rest is handled with gasoline which is still cheap and gas engines are cheap.

Norway is being good by exploring all the oil alternatives. But Norway's electric cars are the way to go.

And I own a Norwegian electric car. :) (from a company that went bankrupt . . . D'oh! but EVs and PHEVs are still the way to go.)
 
S

speculawyer

Member
Al-ibn Kermit said:
Hyundai is making a fuel cell version of the Tucson SUV which they say is going to cost about $50,000 vs $20,000 for the regular gas one. Hydrogen cars are in a weird place because a regular EV or plug-in hybrid can just be recharged at home while the hydrogen car is restricted to using refill stations which there are only a limited number of.
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Exactly. The plug-in hybrids do pretty much everything the fuel cell cars do except cheaper.
 
S

speculawyer

Member
Dax01 said:
Anything outside of Politico that confirms that?

And what else is stupid about the Senate:
A. California: 2 Senators
B. Wyoming: 2 Senators
Click to expand...

I think we should abolish the senate and replace it with just a house and give them staggered 4 year terms WITH NO DISTRICTING (all seats are at large with proportional representation.) We don't need 2 legislative branches. And the Senate is ridiculously undemocratic.


That would be Democracy 2.0. But it won't happen because the parties in power like the rules as is because it gives them power.
 
Z

zero shift

Banned
speculawyer said:
I think we should abolish the senate and replace it with just a house and give them staggered 4 year terms WITH NO DISTRICTING (all seats are at large with proportional representation.) We don't need 2 legislative branches. And the Senate is ridiculously undemocratic.


That would be Democracy 2.0. But it won't happen because the parties in power like the rules as is because it gives them power.
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The amount of things that would have passed during Obamas House is scary. The Senate really is a hassle in the system.
 
R

Rocket Scientist

Member
Districting is bullshit. Politicians don't need to listen to constituents at all and if they do, they just listen to the people who will give them the majority. Accountability is a farce. Every state should proportionally distribute seats.
 
N

Nert

Member
Most parliamentary systems are better than the mess we have in terms of fairness *and* governing effectiveness.
 
R

Rocket Scientist

Member
It's sad how the media hasn't spent a significant amount of time asking ''Is it fair if one party gets less votes, but more seats?'' They love asking loaded questions, but only about bullshit that doesn't matter.
 
A

Aaron Strife

Banned
Can i just say, about this time four years ago I seem to remember every white person in America swearing up and down, with 100% certainty that Obama would be assassinated before his first term was over. From conservatives who were hoping it would happen (secretly or otherwise) to liberals who were genuinely concerned for the president's safety.

Funny that. Looks like we were ready for a black president after all!
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
Aaron Strife said:
Can i just say, about this time four years ago I seem to remember every white person in America swearing up and down, with 100% certainty that Obama would be assassinated before his first term was over. From conservatives who were hoping it would happen (secretly or otherwise) to liberals who were genuinely concerned for the president's safety.

Funny that. Looks like we were ready for a black president after all!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_threats_against_Barack_Obama

Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart, two men with strong white supremacist beliefs, allegedly planned a murder spree of 88 African Americans in Tennessee, many of whom were to be young students at an unidentified, predominantly black school. They allegedly planned to end the spree by driving their vehicle toward Barack Obama as fast as they could and shooting at him from the windows.[19][20] The two men were arrested on October 22, 2008, after they bragged to their friends about firing shots at a church in Brownsville, Tennessee.[19][21] Schlesselman and Cowart were in possession of several guns during their arrest, and they allegedly told police they intended to rob a firearms dealer and other stores to secure more weapons for the attack.[22
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That was before he was even President.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Dax01 said:
Anything outside of Politico that confirms that?

And what else is stupid about the Senate:
A. California: 2 Senators
B. Wyoming: 2 Senators
Click to expand...
The idea behind the Senate, beyond John Jay being a boss, is that it represents America as a union of states, while the House represents citizens of those states as they are distributed. This is also why the senate ratifies treaties and approves appointments. Technically speaking, everything we do nationally is actually through that layer of state territory and governance, hence processes like the electoral college.

Granted, since the 14th Amendment and various events in the past century the importance of states as sovereign entities has waned but it still exists to some degree. They're just more firmly subordinate to the union as a whole.

Not necessarily to say that this is always ideal, but it's important to fully understand what we have now before considering changes.
 
T

The Librarian

Banned
Hitokage said:
The idea behind the Senate, beyond John Jay being a boss, is that it represents America as a union of states, while the House represents citizens of those states as they are distributed. This is also why the senate ratifies treaties and approves appointments. Technically speaking, everything we do nationally is actually through that layer of state territory and governance, hence processes like the electoral college.

Granted, since the 14th Amendment and various events in the past century the importance of states as sovereign entities has waned but it still exists to some degree. They're just more firmly subordinate to the union as a whole.

Not necessarily to say that this is always ideal, but it's important to fully understand what we have now before considering changes.
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I know why we have the Senate, it's just gotten to the point where I don't think we need it.
Gotchaye said:
Yeah, there are rural voters in California, but Senate elections are statewide winner-take-all, so if a state only has the average proportion of rural voters (~30%), it may be hard for them to get representation. To the extent that some urban/rural issue is very salient in politics, the Senators from California are going to tend to be on the urban side.

Edit: And we do see this. There aren't many obvious urban/rural divides, but it turns out to be the case that lots of social issues split something like this way. Hence "land don't vote". So more rural states tend to be more Republican. Of course I'd kind of prefer that Republicans have less representation, but to the extent that we do want the Senate to represent rural voters, it does a reasonable job by inflating the number of Republicans. (checking some numbers) Actually the most rural states don't tend to elect particularly Republican Senators, so fuck if I know what's going on.
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Well, countries with parliaments don't seem to have a problem with urban/rural divide, or not so much so that rural is ignored.
Carpe Libertatem said:
That isn't particularly stupid, but you're half right.
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I know why the Senate is constructed the way it is, I just think it's stupid that California has the same number of Senators as Wyoming.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Dax01 said:
I know why we have the Senate, it's just gotten to the point where I don't think we need it.
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Well, fixing gerrymandering in the House and the filibuster in the Senate would alleviate a ton of legislative problems, but until then you can't gerrymander senate seats so it still has some use.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
Dax01 said:
I know why we have the Senate, it's just gotten to the point where I don't think we need it.
Click to expand...

Yup.

Growing up in the only state with a unicameral, it's tons better than what the other states are doing and what we have at the national level. I mean seriously Alaska, you don't have enough people to have a two house legislature. Give it up already.
 
H

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
Hitokage said:
Well, fixing gerrymandering in the House and the filibuster in the Senate would alleviate a ton of legislative problems, but until then you can't gerrymander senate seats so it still has some use.
Click to expand...

Watch that be the next Republican move, districting senators.
 
T

The Librarian

Banned
Hitokage said:
Well, fixing gerrymandering in the House and the filibuster in the Senate would alleviate a ton of legislative problems, but until then you can't gerrymander senate seats so it still has some use.
Click to expand...

That would make it better, but I still think Congress would be more efficient and productive with only one chamber.
 
T

Tim-E

Member
Remember those people who said that the only way Obama could win reelection is to drop Biden from the ticket and make Hillary his VP? lol
 
G

gcubed

Member
I'm going to be an android nerd... Is it easy to get the blog on google currents? I use that to read all of my political blogs on my commute to work
 
R

Rocket Scientist

Member
gcubed said:
What! Is usable now and I love it, I use it every morning for maximum backpats. They could invest in some optimization since it still stutters but it's great on a tablet
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The should seriously consider renaming it Google Backpats lol.

Edit: and I only use it on my phone which means that I see headlines constantly being cut off etc.

Edit 2: wow does anyone use an app called Congress by the sunlight foundation? It looks crazy good judging by the screen shots.
 
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