2004 election maps....

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by mmp121
Doc M,

Where did you get those images from? Is there a higher resolution one (especially of the US by county map)? I know CNN has each state's county by county, but I prefer yours that shows the entire US by county.

I got the state map off one of the news sites, I believe MSNBC, Time or Newsweek. The county map off one of the wire services. These things spread across the net almost instantly, so who knows where the original sources were?

Dr. Mordrid

[Helevitia]

Here is all of the info you will ever need or want to know about every state, county, measure, etc...

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/president/

[Joel]

Now with the Republican mandate it will be interesting to see if they will live up to their ultimate claim of being for smaller, less intrustive, especially into our personal lives, government, which is one of the reasons why more Republicans than Democrats tend to favor the Libertarians as an alternative choice. Personally that seems alittle bit backwards but it is a fact.

Joel

[KvHagedorn]

The problem with Republicans is they are for less intrusion into CORPORATE lives, especially when it comes to screwing the little guy.. and that includes in particular the small businessman, which ironically they say they are trying to help.

[Dr Mordrid]

Which Republicans are you talking about? There are at least 4 factions I'm aware of.

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

I voted for Bush because of the values side of things.. the Democrats are absolutely out of hand there. Not only that, but they don't know WHAT they stand for.. they are as phony as a three dollar bill. You know it for sure when you hear Demwit pundits talking about how they should portray themselves to appeal to voters so they can get power. They don't believe in ANYTHING! They just want a high-paying job with benefits and prestige.

The ordinary people of this country were and are faced with this for a choice: Either vote for the rich ivy-league guy who wants to tax you more and utterly mismanage it, or vote for the rich ivy-league guy who wants to give tax breaks to multinational corporations that will fire you in favor of some Indian because you want to make a halfway decent living, and then make it extremely difficult to compete as a small businessman when faced with the huge budgets of these same multinational corporations. But wait! there are jobs out there! You can work as a serf for Wal-Mart for minimum wage for 40 hours and then off the clock for 20 more! And if you want to unionize in the face of this sort of crap (which is supposed to be illegal), you are a friggin communist!

I want to start a party that is socially conservative and economically semi-socialist. By semi-socialist I mean using common sense measures to stop letting giant corporations run roughshod over the ordinary guy. And the ordinary guy i'm talking about is more in the vein of a white guy in the South or Midwest who makes less than he should for working hard 40+ hours a week. Industry should be rewarded, especially when it's an individual trying to run or start a small business. Small business loans should be granted on merit, not given preference if you are black and/or female as they are now.

Trickle down economics works, but it only works if you squeeze the top a bit. I want to privatize the redistribution of wealth with a fairness ratio like they have (or used to have) in Japan, where the CEO of a company is not allowed to make more than 20 times what the lowliest janitor makes in total compensation (including expense accounts).

I want to close loopholes in the tax code that allow individuals to incorporate themselves in order to gain tax advantages (like John Edwards did.)

I really hate seeing people of no real worth to this society getting paid out of all proportion to what they deserve. Why should Michael Jordan get an eight-figure payday for making a thirty second commercial while ten ordinary people have to work their entire lives to make that much? I would tax that bastard 90% for that, and put such windfall taxes toward investments in our future as a society, such as education. I don't want to do this to even the moderately wealthy, just the RIDICULOUSLY wealthy (say, if you make more than a million dollars a year.) I'm not going to talk about this as class warfare, I'm talking about basic decency enforced from the people who are elected to govern this country, not for the benefit of their rich buddies or the lobbyists who bribe them, but for the people who elected them.

Oh, and lobbyists? I would impale them all on pikes and let them die a slow death lining the capitol mall.

[Dr Mordrid]

I agree with some of what you said and disagree with other parts, but comment that we should impale lobbyists on spikes along the Capitol Mall just warms my heart to no end.

I would, however, suggest that a few select trial lawyers be added to the mix

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian R.]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
I agree with some of what you said and disagree with other parts, but comment that we should impale lobbyists on spikes along the Capitol Mall just warms my heart to no end.

I would, however, suggest that a few select trial lawyers be added to the mix

Dr. Mordrid

Except of course the NRA lobbyists whom you worship.

[Dr Mordrid]

I'd actually prefer that Y street be turned into a parking lot as far as corporate lobbyists go. DC's Y street is where most lobbyists have their offices.

The NRA isn't a corporate lobby. They're basically a gun club that represents a group of people and their specific interests, not unlike Greenpeace, The Sierra Club or any other citizens group that weilds influence for its members.

The reason the NRA has this much power isn't financial as with the corporate types. They have power because a LOT of people agree with the NRA point of view and will express that view in the ballot box.

While the NRA only has 4 million adult members (and about another million youth affiliate members) other gun and hunting groups account for another 42 million who look to the NRA for policy guidance. A significant number of the NRA's membership are also police officers.

Compare this total of 46 million to the 28 million membership of the AARP (American Association of Retired People) and you get an idea of what kind of electoral force they can be. Party makes no difference.

FYI the darling of the Left, Howard Dean, has an "A" rating from the NRA and was endorsed by them 8 times when he's run in Vermont. There were other reasons why a lot of people opposed Dean for President, but gun policy wasn't an issue for gun rights advocates.

Bill Clinton believes that advocating gun control cost Democrats 20 of the 52 House seats they lost in the 1994 Congressional elections that ended 40 years of Democratic control. On the PBS Charlie Rose Show he said this about the defeat of Al Gore in 2000:

"The NRA beat him in Arkansas. If I had known how big the NRA problem was, could I have gone down there and spent three days calling people on the phone and hollering people in and talking to them and turned it? Probably. I think the NRA had enough votes in New Hampshire, Arkansas, maybe in Tennessee and in Missouri to beat us. And they nearly whipped us in two or three other places."

Also; by election day 2004 the NRA had sent out 15 million pieces of mail to both men and women. FYI 1 in 3 US women owns at least one gun.

Women; hear them roar, in numbers too big to ignore

Yes; women are now the fastest growing group among gun owners and NRA members.

Dr. Mordrid

[G400SG16mb]

what do people do with all these weapons

[Technoid]

They have em as "Genital enhancers"

and as "teddybears suplement" so that they can sleep well at night.

and lastly they also seems to be used as "Argument enhancers"

[Brian R.]

The gun/ammunition manufacturers control NRA. If you think they are looking out for you, you are wrong. You and the rest of the gun-lovers are just along for the ride. Sure, you exert a political force, but only because you have the same interests as the gun manufacturers do. Keeping gun availablity where it is.

The NRA lobbyists have never supported a position that would hurt the revenue of the gun manufacturers. You as a gun-lover just happen to have the same interests as the gun manufactures. That is why you support them, you and the other gun-lovers.

And likening them to Greenpeace and the Sierra club is ridiculous. Apples and oranges. Greenpeace and the Sierra club almost always support anti-corporation legislation. There are so few similarities, it is silly.

Saying the NRA is a gun club is identical to saying the tobacco lobby is a farmer's club. They have an "Association" in their name - so what? It's where they get the majority of their money that counts, from the gun/ammunition manufacturers.

Go ahead, prove me wrong. Give me one example of legislation that the NRA has backed wholeheartedly that seriously hurt the profits of the gun/ammunition manufacturers, or wasn't a stopgap to prevent further damaging legislation to the gun manufacturers.