Posting Towards Gomorrah

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Maybe 1st time around, do it keeping exisgting precincts whole.

There is an actual problem with not having minority representation this way, but I guess we would see how it panned out.

You could tell the computers to generate the shortest possible boundaries while maintaining x percentage of districts with y percentage minority representation, I suppose, as a bottom limit.

I think using an entirely mathematical solution is a good way to remove politics, and ensure that things keep changing every so often.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I am anti-gerrymandering. I think the best way to resolve the problem would be to assign supercomputers every ten years (based on the most recent census data) to redistrict to a map generated with the shortest possible district boundaries (i.e., the most compact possible districts), keeping precincts together. I'm pretty sure this would have the refreshing effect of radically changing districts every ten years, keeping everyone on their toes.

We had a perfectly good solution to the problem on the ballot that you voted against. Yes, there were arguments against it, but in the real world practice always trumps theory. There are many states (including Iowa) that use the exact system that was proposed on our ballot and their legislators are much less partisan. In the last election, of their five congressional districts, three were competitive. Out of our fifty two, none were. So there is no question that the system proposed on the ballot would have made the system in this state better and less partisan. Maybe the proposed system wasn't perfect, but in politics, only an idiot waits for the perfect solution. if you wait for perfect solutions nothing would get passed and nothing would ever change (and we would have never had a Constitution). The only appropriate question is would the solution at hand make the system better. There is no question that the proposed system would have. It worked for other states and there is no reason to think it wouldn't work here. The problem could have been fixed, but the Unions went into overdrive pumping out their disinformation and propaganda because they like the partisan system. You bought into their B.S. (and helped keep our system more partisan) making your gripes about partisanship really pathetic.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
There was this guy on the commuter bus I used to take all the time who was always carrying libertarian tracts from small publishing houses and offering to lend people his copy of the National Review. He find people to talk to about politics, which was irritating only because the bus was usually dead quiet.

Anyhoo, I started talking to him at the station once, and somehow we started talking about education policy. He said that he'd spent a lot of time over the years on the issue at the state level and had finally given up in disgust. He said that to accomplish anything, you needed to make curriculum changes and you needed to get the teachers unions to go along. But the Republicans wouldn't spend the money to change the curriculum (new books cost money) and the Democrats wouldn't agree to tell the teachers unions to get bent. Both sides preferred to do nothing and blame the other side.

Sounds about right to me.

Hmmmm, interesting. In all of the places I have lived, including NYC, DC, Chicago, LA and Seattle, the municipality controlled the education money, much of which was related to local property taxes and all of the municipalities were controlled by the Dems....


There are a lot of Rs in SF? No wonder Slave moved there.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Spanky
It comforts me to no end that you nullify the influence of your own vote. I wish more people with your political persuasion did the same (however, thankfully, many of you did in 2000 giving us GWB in the White House).

He lives in Illinois Spanky. Once he's dead (I hope not for like 50 years Wonk) the Dems will get him voting straight party line again.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
I find this kind of creepy, and I don't think it's just because I almost never (but not never) vote R. It seems like an example of total partisan bullshit.

More like common sensical self preservation.

The only program of Spanky's I would sign on to more holehartedly would have to involve Serbian chiquitas.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by taxwonk
I frequently write in whoever I think would do the best job for the office. I don't harbor any illusion that my single writ-in vote will actually have an effect on the current broken, corrupt, morally bankrupt circus that we call our political sphere. But at least I get to feel good about having exercised my franchise with a sense of principle.

This is sad, but understandable given that you hale from an area which is oppresively controlled by brutal political thugs right down there with Hitler, Stalin, Hussien and the Kims.....

I wonder if Uday and Qusay ever look up from hell, bitter at their fate so young in life while Bill and Ritchie Daley continue to reap the sinful spoils of their dad's dictatorship.....

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Hmmmm, interesting. In all of the places I have lived, including NYC, DC, Chicago, LA and Seattle, the municipality controlled the education money, much of which was related to local property taxes and all of the municipalities were controlled by the Dems....


There are a lot of Rs in SF? No wonder Slave moved there.

San Francisco has the lowest percentage of Republicans of any county in the state. It is around twelve percent. People think that in the next five years Green party registration will over take Republicans.

Pretty amazing considering that Casper Weinberger respresented San Francisco in the California Assembly.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Spanky
We had a perfectly good solution to the problem on the ballot that you voted against.

I didn't vote against it, jackass.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I didn't vote against it, jackass.

At the time you said you did. We had quite an extensive argument about it.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Hmmmm, interesting. In all of the places I have lived, including NYC, DC, Chicago, LA and Seattle, the municipality controlled the education money, much of which was related to local property taxes and all of the municipalities were controlled by the Dems....


There are a lot of Rs in SF? No wonder Slave moved there.

He was talking about the state legislature in Sacramento, but you need a super-majority to get a lot of things done there.

This guy was more libertarian than Barry Goldwater's really libertarian nephew, but he was willing to agree to spending hikes as part of a package deal.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
He lives in Illinois Spanky. Once he's dead (I hope not for like 50 years Wonk) the Dems will get him voting straight party line again.

2. Notwithstanding my actual voting in Seattle, I think they still register a vote for me in Chicago as a D.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Spanky
At the time you said you did. We had quite an extensive argument about it.

I'm sure we argued about it, but I'm equally sure I never said I voted against it.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
If you mean for local office, I will remind you once again, even if elected I will not relocate to Chicago.

Well, given your passion for necrophilia, I can't think of anyone who'd make a better coroner. Of course, I'd imagine a city like Detroit has its own special charms in that regard.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
He was talking about the state legislature in Sacramento, but you need a super-majority to get a lot of things done there.

This guy was more libertarian than Barry Goldwater's really libertarian nephew, but he was willing to agree to spending hikes as part of a package deal.

Ty, look at that this way, I pay about $5K in local taxes (property) that go in part to education. Per my earlier post, this coming school year I will pay almost $30K for private education because the public system in Seattle is toxic. In 4 years my estimated non-inflation adjusted tab will be $65K. This is all for elementary school.

Applying simple math, do you think I would be willing to pay a few thousand more a year in taxes for public education that worked?

Sheeeyit, in 2010 you could up my tax bill to $35K and I would still have savings left over for a bottle of a Dom a day.....

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Ty, look at that this way, I pay about $5K in local taxes (property) that go in part to education. Per my earlier post, this coming school year I will pay almost $30K for private education because the public system in Seattle is toxic. In 4 years my estimated non-inflation adjusted tab will be $65K. This is all for elementary school.

Applying simple math, do you think I would be willing to pay a few thousand more a year in taxes for public education that worked?

Yes, and so would I. And I'd be happy to stick it to the teachers unions. Too bad we don't run things.