I guess neither of you get my point--Presidential elections based strictly on popular vote would ensure that Presidential candidates would only ever campaign in cities--and only the largest ones at that--so if you don't live in one of the nation's ten or so largest population centers, you would essentially have no representation in the executive branch.
Without weighted representation, rural states would have damn little legislative representation either. Maybe you think we ought to get rid of the Senate also?
Without rural areas having weighted representation in the executive & legislative branches, imagine what environmental and agricultural policies would be like.
What if eminent domain consistently favored the interests of cities over rural inhabitants? With a setup like that, do you suppose that the judiciary would give a rat's ass about small landowner's rights anywhere? What kind of chance would you give snail darters & other endangered species?
Call me wacky, but I sincerely believe that civil rights; the rights of political dissenters--and rights of minorities; whether they be political, ethnic, or otherwise--depend on the Bill or Rights--
& fundamentally, it is the Electoral College that puts the teeth in the Bill of Rights
.
FTA:
"Cities refine and process rural goods for urban and rural consumers. But if either cities or rural areas had to sustain themselves without the other, Wimberley says, few would bet on the cities.
"As long as cities exist, they will need rural resources - including the rural people and communities that help provide urban necessities," he said. "Clean air, water, food, fiber, forest products and minerals all have their sources in rural areas. Cities cannot stand alone; rural natural resources can. Cities must depend on rural resources.""
Now you know the rest of the story...about why the US Constitution is the greatest political document ever written. The Constitution creates the Electoral College--which ensures that rural areas & the people who live there will have strong political representation.
Call me wacky--but without the Electoral College, dissenters who want low taxes & limited government wouldn't stand a chance--and the Bill of Rights would long ago have ceased to be worth the paper its printed on.
That may be, but there is probably more cosmic debris in the galactic disc also. The GP poster is probably more correct than you realize. The end is near.
That reminds me of how Bill & Hill got into the White House in the first place--all the fucktards that voted for the paranoiac midget Ross Perot in '92 & '96.
Am I missing something here? The/. blurb says Talang has been dormant for centuries, which repeats what the article says, but the first link in the article says there have been confirmed eruptions as recently as 1968:
"Talang is a stratovolcano with 8 confirmed eruptions between 1833 and 1968. The volcano may have had a phreatic eruption in 1986 but the activity has not been confirmed. Most of the eruptions are moderate in size (VEI=2) and explosive. Eruptions in 1833, 1843, 1845, and 1876 were from flank vents. An eruption in 1967 and two different eruptions in 1968 were from radial fissures. The distance from the city of Padang to Talang is about 35 km. Image courtesy of the Landsat Pathfinder Project."
So tell me again why it's a big surprise that the satellite would be keeping an eye on this volcano?
We probably won't ever know the real reason why they are thinking of postponing this launch; unbelievable how many/.s accepted this piece of crap.
Really, am I the *only one* who remembers previous year's missions that have overlapped the holidays? What; you haven't heard that they have to 'dry dock the ISS every year? Heh.
Yhbt; hand.
Jails have many functions, but their primary function is to protect society from criminals. That is why the main identifying feature of jails is high solid walls with razor wire on top.
Further down the list is punishment and deterence. Rehabilitation is closer to the bottom.
Thanks--you know, before I submitted that article this morning, I thought the VLK seemed familiar. I even searched/.--thinking that/. was where I would have seem something about it--but my search came up w/nothing. My *original* post even said I was surprised that I couldn't find anything about the VLK on/.
"Without this compromise the United States would never have been created. States such as Rhode Island, Conneticut, New Hampshire, basically the smaller states would never have ratified the constitution without these provisions."
Absolutly correct. Without the Electoral College a voter in Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas (hell, most of the 'red' states outside of Texas & Florida) would hardly ever SEE a presidential candidate. Likewise rural voters in 'blue' states.
Fact is if your definition of 'dissenter' includes (conservative or liberal) folks who question authority & dislike big expensive, centralized gov't bureaucracies; you are more likely to find your dissenters out in the countryside where they can be (nearly) self-sufficient.
IMHO, without the Electoral College forcing candidate to pay attention to rural voters (& dissenters) the Bill of Rights probably would have disappeared a long time ago
"Read the whole article" indeed. It's an EDITORIAL
Then comes the real land mine. If someone does challenge a domestic spying program, this bill says FISC can "dismiss a challenge to the legality of an electronic surveillance program for any reason". Think about that: "any reason". Not "any legal reason", not "any rational reason", not "any reason related to national security". This simply means the court can throw out any complaint without a hearing just because it wants to.
Now THIS is SCAREY; from the web site of Senator Stevens:
"As President Pro Tempore, Stevens presides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President and is third in the line of succession for the Presidency, following the Vice President and the Speaker of the House."
Slashdot Mirror
Replying to two posters:
I guess neither of you get my point--Presidential elections based strictly on popular vote would ensure that Presidential candidates would only ever campaign in cities--and only the largest ones at that--so if you don't live in one of the nation's ten or so largest population centers, you would essentially have no representation in the executive branch.
Without weighted representation, rural states would have damn little legislative representation either. Maybe you think we ought to get rid of the Senate also?
Without rural areas having weighted representation in the executive & legislative branches, imagine what environmental and agricultural policies would be like.
What if eminent domain consistently favored the interests of cities over rural inhabitants? With a setup like that, do you suppose that the judiciary would give a rat's ass about small landowner's rights anywhere? What kind of chance would you give snail darters & other endangered species? Call me wacky, but I sincerely believe that civil rights; the rights of political dissenters--and rights of minorities; whether they be political, ethnic, or otherwise--depend on the Bill or Rights--
& fundamentally, it is the Electoral College that puts the teeth in the Bill of Rights
.
FTA: "Cities refine and process rural goods for urban and rural consumers. But if either cities or rural areas had to sustain themselves without the other, Wimberley says, few would bet on the cities.
"As long as cities exist, they will need rural resources - including the rural people and communities that help provide urban necessities," he said. "Clean air, water, food, fiber, forest products and minerals all have their sources in rural areas. Cities cannot stand alone; rural natural resources can. Cities must depend on rural resources.""
Now you know the rest of the story...about why the US Constitution is the greatest political document ever written. The Constitution creates the Electoral College--which ensures that rural areas & the people who live there will have strong political representation.
Call me wacky--but without the Electoral College, dissenters who want low taxes & limited government wouldn't stand a chance--and the Bill of Rights would long ago have ceased to be worth the paper its printed on.
That may be, but there is probably more cosmic debris in the galactic disc also. The GP poster is probably more correct than you realize. The end is near.
That reminds me of how Bill & Hill got into the White House in the first place--all the fucktards that voted for the paranoiac midget Ross Perot in '92 & '96.
Am I missing something here? The /. blurb says Talang has been dormant for centuries, which repeats what the article says, but the first link in the article says there have been confirmed eruptions as recently as 1968:
"Talang is a stratovolcano with 8 confirmed eruptions between 1833 and 1968. The volcano may have had a phreatic eruption in 1986 but the activity has not been confirmed. Most of the eruptions are moderate in size (VEI=2) and explosive. Eruptions in 1833, 1843, 1845, and 1876 were from flank vents. An eruption in 1967 and two different eruptions in 1968 were from radial fissures. The distance from the city of Padang to Talang is about 35 km. Image courtesy of the Landsat Pathfinder Project."
So tell me again why it's a big surprise that the satellite would be keeping an eye on this volcano?
We probably won't ever know the real reason why they are thinking of postponing this launch; unbelievable how many /.s accepted this piece of crap.
Really, am I the *only one* who remembers previous year's missions that have overlapped the holidays? What; you haven't heard that they have to 'dry dock the ISS every year? Heh.
Yhbt; hand.
A couple ounces of body fat in the right places would look good too.
Mod parent up.
Jails have many functions, but their primary function is to protect society from criminals. That is why the main identifying feature of jails is high solid walls with razor wire on top. Further down the list is punishment and deterence. Rehabilitation is closer to the bottom.
Thanks--you know, before I submitted that article this morning, I thought the VLK seemed familiar. I even searched /.--thinking that /. was where I would have seem something about it--but my search came up w/nothing. My *original* post even said I was surprised that I couldn't find anything about the VLK on /.
Live or Memorex...dupe...or memory loss?
IceFoot, Awsome--thank you!!
"Without this compromise the United States would never have been created. States such as Rhode Island, Conneticut, New Hampshire, basically the smaller states would never have ratified the constitution without these provisions."
Absolutly correct. Without the Electoral College a voter in Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas (hell, most of the 'red' states outside of Texas & Florida) would hardly ever SEE a presidential candidate. Likewise rural voters in 'blue' states.
Fact is if your definition of 'dissenter' includes (conservative or liberal) folks who question authority & dislike big expensive, centralized gov't bureaucracies; you are more likely to find your dissenters out in the countryside where they can be (nearly) self-sufficient.
IMHO, without the Electoral College forcing candidate to pay attention to rural voters (& dissenters) the Bill of Rights probably would have disappeared a long time ago
mod parent up!
"Read the whole article" indeed. It's an EDITORIAL
...please.
Then comes the real land mine. If someone does challenge a domestic spying program, this bill says FISC can "dismiss a challenge to the legality of an electronic surveillance program for any reason". Think about that: "any reason". Not "any legal reason", not "any rational reason", not "any reason related to national security". This simply means the court can throw out any complaint without a hearing just because it wants to.