I can't remember where I read this, but apparently roads in Europe are better built because the contractor who built the road is the one that has to go back and fix it if it falls into disrepair. I think they have a twenty to thirty year warranty.

I imagine we'd have to amend the bankruptcy code again here if we wanted to do something like that. Here, the road's maintenance reverts to the public entity and the contractor walks away with cash and no strings attached.

One of the major problems with the roads in Houston is cable. New expensive concrete road would be laid out at much pain in the ass to the public, and then it'd be torn up again because some fly-by-night ethernet company wanted to lay cable. Someone tried to amend the law to say that cable companies had to put the roads back in the condition they were in when they tore them up, but I don't see evidence of that.

For those keeping track at home, last weekend equipment showed up to tear apart the brand new road at the corner of my block. I don't know what they fucked up when they built it over the summer, but this was not the same crew that wooed me for nine months in 2004.

Widening the street for the onslaught of male visitors beating a path to your door. According to my Houston Lack of Zoning News Monthly, March edition.

We could do that, and it's been discussed, and bids are routinely put in reflecting such a warranty. And then they lose.

In the parts of Europe that do this, the bids are all priced to cover that warranty period, so the upfront cost for a mile of road is much higher. Drawback is, you're then stuck with that company for repairs, and, if they truly built a shoddy road, they're not really the ones you want to depend on for repair.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

This is the funniest sentence you've ever posted!

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Republicans have been pointing and yelling at vote fraud for years. Historically, the proven cases have not been R's, but D's. Heck, in this last election, D's have come up with lots of scenarios which could be explained by fraud, but all of the actually-proven cases seem to be of D's. For an R to speak too loudly about vote fraud is to invoke the "you're denying us the vote" mantra. I would argue that we need pre-registration, state-supplied photo ID's at the polls, and no absentee ballots at all - but we're not gonna go there, because that would infringe on peoples' right to vote in other names, I guess.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I'm almost as ill-educated on the history of American voting fraud as I am about the economic and political histories of Brazil, Laos and Burma, but let me just observe that this post gave me no small amount of reassurance that the heavens, at least, are in their proper alignment.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

The things that you say we need don't do anything to address the problems described in Hitchens' article.

I don't have a problem with legitimate measures to prevent vote fraud. But I'm also not convinced that there is a big problem with people showing up pretending to be someone else. Hey, persuade me. And absentee ballots clearly have a risk of fraud to them, but they also are important for ensuring that people can vote.

Too often Republicans support measures purportedly aimed at vote fraud because they will also make it more difficult to vote, and because the populations whose vote is thereby suppressed most tend to vote for Democrats.

And from where I'm sitting the magnitude of the potential problems Hitchens describes vastly exceeds the sorts of problems you're talking about.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

dude! you're on a roll! this is your funniest!

Wear loose sweaters or even a mid-warmth coat to work each AM, and they'll get done and leave quickly.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

My partner poll watched for Bush at an inner city Youngstown polling place. Suffice to say while Ty raises issues to try and make the Reps feel ashamed of 10000 or so votes, you guys should be ashamed of almost all yours.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

What do you mean?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Hmm. Hank....

Hank. Hank Chinaski! You're the Republican, correct? I knew it!

Suffice to say that you're the North Star of this board, Hank. Thanks for providing us with your unwavering light.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

And you wonder why you guys do so poorly with minority voters.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Minorities are still allowed to vote?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Up to the point the Republicans pass the "Voting Rights and Freedom for All True American Patriotic Families Who Support Our Troops" Act.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

MoveOn people stood NEXT to the booths to HELP people figure out the ballots. My partner asked the guy in charge if that wasn't, you know, wrong- but they were allowed to continue.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Thanks for the providing such a comprehensive study to support your sweeping conclusions.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

You think we need to start standing there at the booths telling them how to vote?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Ummm sorry Sidd- You need to be tall enough to see over the average voter's shoulders to work the poll. Maybe you'd like to hand out info in the parking lot?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I am ashamed of those votes, Hank. I'm sure many of those folks went down to the polling place to vote for Bush, and were tricked by MoveOn.

I'm not saying it was right, but come on. That's a different order of magnitude of problem from what Hitchens describes. And it's a problem of enforcing the laws as written.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

If he had to ask, why was he poll-watching?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

You use this story from your partner to support the conclusion that "Ty raises issues to try and make the Reps feel ashamed of 10000 or so votes, you guys should be ashamed of almost all yours"???

And you throw a hissy-fit when someone suggests that maybe Darwin coulda been onto something?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Wow!!! Hank called me short again!!!

That is just sooooo funny!!!!


Hank, you are a retard. But such comebacks!

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I'm sure most of them would have voted for JFK w/o the help. and most of the ones who would have voted for W w/o the help might have been a mistake, but it doesn't strike you as somewhat Saddamish that you put people to watch how poor black people voted so you could help them vote "right?"

point is there will be machine involved in 2008, and across the country there will be mistake- I assume those mistakes were unintentional- the above was intentional. yes you should be bothered that the party of protecting the people does this- or maybe I made it up/

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Thurgreed just PM'd me and threatened me if I don't delete my post. Now you quoted it! I'll delete mine if you delete yours.
Remember- No karate at the polling place if someone is voting Rep!

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I don't get it? I met you once and I remember you being my height and I am six feet tall. Do I have a fualty memory.

I represented the Republican Party in Santa Clara county at the office of the registrar. Everyone was sure I was going to see all sorts of nefarious stuff. If there was some fraud going on it was some pretty sophisticated stuff. You guys may know this but it was news to me (and maybe they only do this in Santa Clara). One third of the votes were absentee votes. The signature of every single absentee vote, was compared to the signature the person made when they registered. They had every registered voter in Santa Clara county's signature in the computer and the worker would scan the signature with an electronic pen and scan signature of the absentee ballot. They had a bunch of experts there to determine if one was a forgery if one looked suspicious. When the voting was done they did the same thing with the signatures people made when they signed the book when they voting at the polls. The ballot was touch screen, so we hired some Sun Micorsystems guy to make sure that was kosher (but even if it wasn't I don't see how the vote could then square with the signature check in the end). Needless to say he said he was very impresses with their computer system.

Damn HYbrids!
 

Yours?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

No. Not least because I see a big difference between a Ba'athist election --state-sponsored and with only one party, etc. -- and having a MoveOn guy at the poll in Cleveland. MoveOn is neither the government not even allowed to coordinate with a political party.

But your equation of MoveOn with Saddam Hussein is, sadly, par for the course. We need a new Godwin's Law, I guess.

If you were to read what Hitchens wrote, you might have trouble glibly assuming it was all unintentional. Try reading it. And remember that he hated Kerry and voted for Bush.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I forget:

Was California a battleground state?

Santa Clara- average income is?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Whoa, whoa, Spanky. Hank was just beginning to like you.

But cut his legs out from under him like this? Now it looks like he'll have to go all la cosa nostra on your ass. I for one shall miss you. [ *sniff*]

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I answered everything but the Sidd stuff- if Sidd is 6 foot he's a short 6 foot cuz he has a bigass chip on his shoulders about sumthin. If a 6 foot tall guy has short man desease, well I don't know what to think.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I wasn't extrapolating. I was just saying what I witnessed. Obviousy Santa Clara does not constitute a legitimate test sample for the country. California was not a battleground state but we did have an Assembly race that came down to 200 votes. A california assemblyman represents 400,000 people. When the Republican lost everyone looked to me to come up with some fraud charges but I had to admit the voting was perfect. I was not too popular that night.

P.S. I believe the average income is six figures.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

You're cool with people looking over the shoulder of voters and pointing to where they should vote? cool. I think it is insulting to those people, and extremely Orwellian in the 1984 sense.

That the people in Youngstown HAD a choice actually makes it worse than Iraq Ty, you'd agree if you were being honest- but of course you can't be. Regards.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Sushsushsush, Spanky ....


Repeat after me: "My personal experience does not permit extrapolation. However, Hank's secondhand account of a single partner's experience in Ohio permits extrapolation to conclude that Democrats should be ashamed of almost all of their votes in the 2004 election."

There. See, wasn't that easy? Welcome to the Politics Board!

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

when a Dem wins where this is true, we can also be sure the average IQ is 2 figures. Hank's Law

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Yes, but Hank is a veritable mountain of a man.

With a degree in "SCIENCE."

S_A_M

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

you do realize spanky is Notme, right?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

The "Penske!" Deflection is no longer available, eh? In any event, no. I've been told that he's not.

Regardless, several of us are waiting to hear the explanation for why, as you say, Hank, Democrats have reason to be ashamed of almost all of our votes in the 2004 elections.

You can choose to find additional support beyond your single anecdote which you found so unacceptable coming from others, you can choose to step back from it, or you can choose to step forward, embrace this bit of pure, unadulterated horseshit with both arms, and its smell oozes back into your pores.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Hank can't think of a better comeback than "ooh, I bet you're short."