I think this is agreat idea.......
 

Duh, thats what makes govt so great. It provides all kinds of services while paying loads of people to provide them! Win-fucking-win!

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

It's worth remembering that Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, created the National Park Service as well. Republicans can be credited for civil rights, in the form of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment, the origin of the environmental movement, and giving women the vote, where the Republican party favored the vote for women well before the Democratic party did.

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

You guys do get it! I don't know why I was blind so long. Must have been the MSM misleading me.

I'm sorry I doubted all y'all.

Comments
 

If only their sentiments could translate to a stitch of ability/experience in self-governing...

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

Indeed. And the Democrats pushed through the Second Amendment (with the rest of the Bill of Rights). Oh, the sweet irony!

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

I'm glad someone understands my sense of humor.

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

Nice package.

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

One summer, working construction, I got hit with a board. I avoided boards the rest of the summer, but that doesn't mean I didn't realize it was a board. It just meant I didn't like getting hit with a board.

and balt is your kindred spirit in humor? you'll be everyone's favorite sock in no time, yes sir!

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

Kind of you to notice.

Have you ever wondered why more Superheroes don't seem properly and obviously endowed?

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

If you were working construction and avoided boards, I'm guessing you weren't everyone's favorite by the time you went back to school. Did you hang out in the trailer all day long, or just wander off the site and catch ball games?

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

Not real. It's a flight suit.

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

You can't prove this.

Texas
 

When counties are too small you bunch them together. When they are too big then you divide them up by city. But you try and follow the lines as much as possible. Then you go by geography. Obviously there are always subjective calls, and some flipping of a coin. And these calls will have partisan ramification. That is unavoidable. But you want to reduce the amount decisions based on partisanship as much as possible.

When the judges do it they don't even look at how many Dems are where or Repubs are where. They use other criterea. Therefore the partisans calls are minimized.

The point is that having retired judges do it is much better than having the politicians do it. When the politicians do it the only thing they care about is protecting their seats.

When judges do it the voters benefit. When the legislature does it people get screwed.

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

I should have said moving boards. I waited till they were tacked down then I would move in. Think of your interaction with black people and you'll get the idea.

Texas
 

Judges drew the maps in Texas in 2001. Their basis: the maps drawn in 1991 by Democrats. Judges try to preserve the status quo as much as possible.

Texas
 

It sounds like a great story, but it's not refuting the study I linked to. Drawing boundaries may be bad, and may create problems, but one problem it appears not to be the principle source of is increased polarization.

But let's assume we can come up with geographical boundaries that work on the one person/one vote princple. Where does that leave you? With equally competitive elections? More competitive elections? Less competitive elections? Unless it's the middle of those three, what precisely is the benefit other than some overarching "rationality"?

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

Nixon also imposed wage and price controls. RINO!

Nowadays they wouldn't let him into the meetings.

S_A_M

California Death Penalty
 

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

He also proposed at one point offering a smallish, but by no means insignificant, "national wage" to all people in place of any assistance programs.

Grover Norquist would shoot him for such heresy today.

I think Nixon was right, and those trying to starve the beast today are fucking up in their approach. We shouldn't be figuring out ways to fuck the needy out of all social safety nets... We should be figuring out how to give money directly to them, and fire the "government class" which profits from administration of such programs.

Help the poor - kill a bureaucrat. There's no reason killing the govt should be synonymous with screwing over the poor. The message from the GOP should be "We intend to help people who need help, and we intend to do get the money to do so by dismantling the byzantine govt systems that steal from the poor by redistributing 90% of every dollar into their own swollen benefits packages."

I'd be much happier to pay a "National Wage" to a bureaucrat for doing nothing than pay him generous benefits for pretending to be productive all year and wasting trees.

California Death Penalty
 

Well. I suppose this is the cue for each of the LA FBers to PM Spanky asking if he has any spare weaponry, such that Spanky could laugh and post said queries.

Texas
 

I don't necessarily see that as a partisan move. Once people get used to the lines they should stay the same as much as possible.

California Death Penalty
 

My sister is a therapist and sometimes works with Gang kids. I passed a long letter from her (and a bunch of letters from former gang members saying how tookies influence got them to stop "banging") to the Governator. I really think she thought she could change his mind. We share the same last name and she also was under the delusion that, because of my work, that name meant something.

She is really going to be upset. I am also sure she will be there tonight holding a candle.

California Death Penalty
 

Most of the reports I've heard and read about him have to do with his reform since he's been on death row: the children's books, the anti-gang advocacy, his writings, ect. I've heard some discussion on the murder that he is going to be executed for, but it's unclear to me how much dispute there is on whether or not he committed the crime. My understanding is that he's always maintained his innocence, but he's also an admitted former gang member and the founder of the Crips. It sort of stretches my credulity that he didn't do Bad Things before he reformed.

Was request for clemency mainly on the grounds that he sounds like not only a reformed person, but a good person who is an actual asset to the community, or was it based on flaws/new facts in the murder trial?

And in a general sense, which has more weight/should have more weight? I don't, for the most part, object to the death penalty, if the trail is fair. But this guy seems like he's, on the balance, better for the world alive and as an activist, than dead at the hands of the State of California. It seems sad to me that the good he could do for the world in getting kids out of gangs is not worth, to the state of California, the debt he owes for the murder he was convicted of.

I think this is agreat idea.......
 

California Death Penalty
 

If she holds a candle for this cretin, she's an idiot.

I'll be lighting a candle tonight for the memories of Albert Owens, Thsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang and Yee Chen Lin.

California Death Penalty
 

I just can't get excited either way by the death penatly. Yes - it would definitely suck if innocent people are getting killed. But with DNA evidence now, I don't think that many innocent people are getting the needle (before anyone freaks out I have read all the stuff to the contrary) but I just don't buy it is bad as Sheck says it is.

In addition, I think it makes some sense that putting them out of their misery is actually a favor to them.

In any event, in my opinion, whether or not these monsters die or spend a lifetime in prison is not as important an issue as healthcare etc. There are many more important issues to get excited about.

California Death Penalty
 

This sock intrigues me. All signs point to him dying tonight. You are quite the ambitious sort to create a sock for a single day's use. Well done. Maybe tomorrow you can create and post under a "December 13, 2005" sock.

California Death Penalty
 

It's not dtb, given the commas are pretty screwed up.

Then again, maybe it's German for "The, Tookie The".

California Death Penalty
 

Turns out he's pardoned at the last minute. Bush does it, and then he brings in Snoop Dogg as a liason to young people. Later, after I'm convicted for some things I've been doing the last few months when I've been posting less, we share a cell for awhile. He really is reformed.

California Death Penalty
 

quote:
Originally posted by notcasesensitive
This sock intrigues me. All signs point to him dying tonight. You are quite the ambitious sort to create a sock for a single day's use. Well done. Maybe tomorrow you can create and post under a "December 13, 2005" sock.


ncs- get a job. It creeps me out when a sock posts to itself.

California Death Penalty
 

Damnit, you're going to blow all your ccredibility with this one...

California Death Penalty
 

I agree. Even more pathetic is when a poster uses a sock to set up a post by the primary to another person. A clear sign that someone has too much time on his/her hands. Maybe not as clear a sign as setting up a single-day-use sock, but in the ballpark for sure.


ETA: Post number 6000, baby! Woo hoo.

Requests for clemency are en vogue this week
 

To wit, the reporter who wants to swap clemency for a serial killer in exchange for favorable coverage of the governor of Texas. Oh, and coincidence, coincidence, the confession would happen on the air.

California Death Penalty
 

For once, and so far that I've seen - only once - Jesse jackson had something insightful and quite rational to say in favor of keeping this cat alive:

Keeping him alive sets a standard for other death row inmates to follow to avoid getting the needle. Almost everybody is capable of redemption and some contribution to society, and giving the condemned a shot at commutation if they can do something extraordinary, like this guy supposedly has, is a deal worth offering.

I might be staunchly in favor of the death penalty, provided there was transparancy about what really occurs, and people actually watched executions and still supported it. When they televise it live for the public, and people still support it overwhelmingly, I'll support it. Seems kinda silly so many who don't know wtf they're talking about have such a hard on for the death penalty, and are so sure its the most just thing going...

California Death Penalty
 

Around 12:01 EST?



I'll probably be rubbing one out so I can fall asleep. The wife's out of town...

Texas
 

Instead of appointing a bunch of guys who are supposed to be beyond reproach to do this job, they should change the system entirely. Here's my scheme:

Anyone can submit a redistricting plan. Of all the plans that produce congressional districts within certain (mathematically defined) population limits, the one with the shortest aggregate borders is the one used for the next ten years.

If Schwarzenegger really wanted reform, this is what he'd do. The system cannot possibly be gamed to protect incumbents, and it is guaranteed to mix things up by producing entirely new districts every ten years.

California Death Penalty
 

The fact that you sit in a position of authority and make these pronouncements is unfair, I think. We know you have access to IP address information and when you acuse people of socking it seems like you maybe know what you're talking about. Like Clinton when he said he had solved the North Korea nuke problem.

It's especially pernicious when you yourself are compromised and at fault. Like Clinton with the China/Missile secret/NK nukes issue.

California Death Penalty
 

Hank, when something is totally obvious, the coyly cute references don't work anymore.

Or something funnier to that effect. It's been a long-ass day.

California Death Penalty
 

Most posters have some kind of natural boundaries that keep them from posting shit that no one would rationally believe. It's something like the ropes that keep a hot air balloon tethered to the ground.

Most posters, as I say, keep those strands pretty well tied. But when they come loose? Oh, boy. It can be an astonishing sight, watching them giddy and free from the constraints of rationality. Sometimes these ropes come untied slowly and deliberately, but others (such as those recently deceased among us) decide to dynamite those fuckers, all to increase one's rapid ascent.

Unfortunately, after that initial burst of intoxicating freedom, asphixiation seems to result, followed by aimless drifting and an unpleasant thud of a landing on the distant horizon.

Still, there's something fascinating about watching those rope strands whipping around the stakes as liftoff approaches. This was good work.

Texas
 

This is not a bad idea. Although I betcha they could come up with a computer program that would create the districts with the shortest aggregate borders.