How can you ever really *know* though? With paper ballots, no matter how transparent the process is, there will always be room for fraud. In my opinion, decentralization is the only answer for voting.
... and I don't really care. I live off in the suburbs with a relatively large lot, so someone would either have to be trespassing to break in or they'd have to be hovering overhead to use my internet. Plus I log into the router and make sure noone is using it who shouldn't be using it.
What is the sudden obsession with "upgrading" our current voting systems
Hmmm, apparently you live in a cabin in Montana. Remember 2000, where all those incompetent Democrats proved they couldn't vote properly and their was a big brouhaha?:)
Well that's life. Either they'll have to create more housing somehow (high-rises, probably) or prices will go up and up. As for traffic, yeah it's a toughy and commuter rail is a good option, but try to get people to use it. People don't realize that when they try to escape the city by moving out into the suburbs, the rest of the city follows.
The reason housing is so expensive is because the government doesn't let developers build enough of it (among other reasons). There are zoning laws, density restrictions, etc. etc. If you let developers build more housing, the demand for it wouldn't be so high and the prices would go down.
I agree, I hope to be getting my real estate license next year. Even when this industry was "hot" it wasn't that great. I mean let's be truthful with ourselves.
It's like anything else on Slashdot, it's been common practice by the Democrat majority for years but is suddenly outrageous because Republicans now run the show.
About 10 years ago I remember seeing the "crab" districts drawn up by Democrats to make sure the black vote in the House of Representatives. They were like a 10 miles wide and hundreds of miles long, spreading out in crablike formations. Gerrymandering is hardly new, except to the uneducated Slashdot poster (which is the norm, unfortunately).
You know, the tinfoil hatters who will now claim that we never landed on the moon and this is an attempt by Bush to steal the next election and distract us from Iraq.
Well freight rail is much different than passenger rail. For one thing, freight handles weight like you wouldn't believe... I'm not sure you'd want a freight train carrying God knows what zooming by your neighborhood at 300 MPH. For one thing it would sound like an earthquake, and local communities are already annoyed with freight railroads as it is (many localities passed ordinances that prohibited trains from blowing their safety whistles [yeah it's dumb]).
Well... some historical perspective is needed. What people don't realize is that railroads (and especially passenger rail) used to be viewed the way that people view... say, Microsoft today. Greedy, monopolistic, etc. etc. Roads were first built as kind of a socialist response to these "greedy" companies (same with suburbs actually). As a matter of fact, the interstates were built from funds from a railroads tax that was imposed during world war 2. You have to realize is that back then, that would be the equivalent of taxing Microsoft to fund Linux development let's say.
The railroads tax is now gone and freight roads are now very profitable (and almost completely unsubsidized) but they still have to pay the road tax (this was going to be dropped in the new energy bill).
As for gas taxes, well, I believe that gas taxes pay for about 40% of roads and car fees and taxes pay 20%. That leaves a 40% subsidation rate, and I agree that that should be covered with a gas tax and many states are looking to raise their gas taxes.
This is why the anti-tax movement in the US is a good thing, IMO. With the general funds being squeezed down at some point wasteful subsized things like road construction will habe to be funded at some point by "user fees" (gas taxes).
Here in America we don't have high speed trains because we have super-high-tech high speed trains that fly called jetliners. WOW!
There is somewhat of a market for regional intercity travel, especially in dense corridors such as the northeast. But unfortunately Amtrak is forced to pay for lines that don't make a profit.
An advantage of passenger rail that I can see is comfort (diner cars, etc.) and being able to view scenery. But that isn't Amtrak, Amtrak wants to be an airline on wheels, which is silly IMO.
I don't consider gas taxes to be subsidies, personally. You may, but that is a very fair way to pay for roads. What is unfair is that freight rail companies have to pay taxes on their deisel fuel which is used to pay for roads. This was meant to change as per the energy bill (which included too much pork to pass).
Slashdot Mirror
That pretty much sums up the (low) level of debate here.
Time to adjust your tin-foil hat there, boy.
How can you ever really *know* though? With paper ballots, no matter how transparent the process is, there will always be room for fraud. In my opinion, decentralization is the only answer for voting.
"We shall tax and tax, and spend and spend, and elect and elect." - Harry Lloyd Hopkins (FDR cabinet member)
Obviously a consumer can make a copy of a CD for his own use in the United States... they wouldn't even sell CD-R's if you couldn't.
... so how long will it be before Sun files for bankruptzy?
... and I don't really care. I live off in the suburbs with a relatively large lot, so someone would either have to be trespassing to break in or they'd have to be hovering overhead to use my internet. Plus I log into the router and make sure noone is using it who shouldn't be using it.
Hmmm, apparently you live in a cabin in Montana. Remember 2000, where all those incompetent Democrats proved they couldn't vote properly and their was a big brouhaha? :)
And how very ... commonwealth slavish... of you. (I assume)
Why in the name of all that is holy would the US care what Britons, Canadians, and Aussies think of us?
... besides their own incompetence.
Well that's life. Either they'll have to create more housing somehow (high-rises, probably) or prices will go up and up. As for traffic, yeah it's a toughy and commuter rail is a good option, but try to get people to use it. People don't realize that when they try to escape the city by moving out into the suburbs, the rest of the city follows.
The reason housing is so expensive is because the government doesn't let developers build enough of it (among other reasons). There are zoning laws, density restrictions, etc. etc. If you let developers build more housing, the demand for it wouldn't be so high and the prices would go down.
Ummmm, offtopic? Besides the US infrastructure is built up quite a bit.
I agree, I hope to be getting my real estate license next year. Even when this industry was "hot" it wasn't that great. I mean let's be truthful with ourselves.
It's like anything else on Slashdot, it's been common practice by the Democrat majority for years but is suddenly outrageous because Republicans now run the show.
/.
Welcome to
About 10 years ago I remember seeing the "crab" districts drawn up by Democrats to make sure the black vote in the House of Representatives. They were like a 10 miles wide and hundreds of miles long, spreading out in crablike formations. Gerrymandering is hardly new, except to the uneducated Slashdot poster (which is the norm, unfortunately).
Read my .sig and choke on it, whiner.
You know, the tinfoil hatters who will now claim that we never landed on the moon and this is an attempt by Bush to steal the next election and distract us from Iraq.
Albany to Boston? I'd just drive... comfortable, convenient. I can also get off the highway and take the scenic route if I get bored.
People who drive cars are Luddites? Apparently you know nothing about cars then. Heh.
Well freight rail is much different than passenger rail. For one thing, freight handles weight like you wouldn't believe... I'm not sure you'd want a freight train carrying God knows what zooming by your neighborhood at 300 MPH. For one thing it would sound like an earthquake, and local communities are already annoyed with freight railroads as it is (many localities passed ordinances that prohibited trains from blowing their safety whistles [yeah it's dumb]).
Well... some historical perspective is needed. What people don't realize is that railroads (and especially passenger rail) used to be viewed the way that people view ... say, Microsoft today. Greedy, monopolistic, etc. etc. Roads were first built as kind of a socialist response to these "greedy" companies (same with suburbs actually). As a matter of fact, the interstates were built from funds from a railroads tax that was imposed during world war 2. You have to realize is that back then, that would be the equivalent of taxing Microsoft to fund Linux development let's say.
The railroads tax is now gone and freight roads are now very profitable (and almost completely unsubsidized) but they still have to pay the road tax (this was going to be dropped in the new energy bill).
As for gas taxes, well, I believe that gas taxes pay for about 40% of roads and car fees and taxes pay 20%. That leaves a 40% subsidation rate, and I agree that that should be covered with a gas tax and many states are looking to raise their gas taxes.
This is why the anti-tax movement in the US is a good thing, IMO. With the general funds being squeezed down at some point wasteful subsized things like road construction will habe to be funded at some point by "user fees" (gas taxes).
Here in America we don't have high speed trains because we have super-high-tech high speed trains that fly called jetliners. WOW!
There is somewhat of a market for regional intercity travel, especially in dense corridors such as the northeast. But unfortunately Amtrak is forced to pay for lines that don't make a profit.
An advantage of passenger rail that I can see is comfort (diner cars, etc.) and being able to view scenery. But that isn't Amtrak, Amtrak wants to be an airline on wheels, which is silly IMO.
I don't consider gas taxes to be subsidies, personally. You may, but that is a very fair way to pay for roads. What is unfair is that freight rail companies have to pay taxes on their deisel fuel which is used to pay for roads. This was meant to change as per the energy bill (which included too much pork to pass).