I'm just saying I can understand why people stop voting when the game is rigged so well that less than 1% of elections matter whether they vote or not (and that was for a state rep position- nothing national).

Sure- some people will play against overwhelming odds- or vote when it rarely matters. But I hope you can see how many just say, "Screw it- I'm going to sleep in, go on vacation, just work over time, stop beating my head against the wall because of some tiny chance that it might make some tiny difference".

Voter turnout is higher when it matters.

I vote. But I can easily understand how disillusioned (and effectively disenfranchised) voters stop voting.

It's clear to most of us when our vote matters (turnout rises) and when it doesn't (low turnout).

In my district- I've had ONE vote in 17 years that mattered. The rest came down just the way the gerrymandering predicted.
I either voted with a 60/40 or higher majority or with a 40/60 or lower minority.

In the one vote, the race was by 31 votes. It was contested and maybe if it had been 30, it might have been contested longer. And turnout was high because it was clear the challenger might unseat the incumbent (and did.. barely).

Perhaps if we had term limits ...

But really modern computers can predict the outcomes from districts fro years at a time.

Silver and Wang predicted almost all of the elections for the last two cycles before the vote.

If it is clear which way the vote is before we go to the polls (and it almost always is) then why go vote?

But you'll be able to get almost a whole book on one little tape.

When we get to VR5, then the tech will be ready.

Cloning introduces hundreds of mutations. Many clones die because of those mutations so it is likely that non fatal mutations would affect performance as well.

Exactly.

We can't competently confirm actual guild and have repeatedly pardoned people on death row as well has evidence that some people executed may have been executed.

Sure-- keeping an innocent person in prison for life is horrific. But killing an innocent person was a big thing the founding fathers were clearly trying to avoid.

My thought is some energy that would have reflected back into space is captured and emitted as heat that can't escape as easily.

It's small now but I don't know how significant a factor it could become if solar became ubiquitous.

actively collecting cats and making sure all cats get fixed would have a greater reduction of bird deaths by orders of magnitude.
cats kill BILLIONS of birds a year in the united states alone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

So perhaps each power plant could fund an animal patrol officers in large cities they serve.

Two years ago my neighbor woke me up because the gas line broke where it entered my house. Quarter inch think steel pipe. 70 years of flexing with the climate. Could have been a huge explosion when I turned off the fluorescent light (apparently that could have caused a spark. fyi!).

And there have been some large neighborhood scale explosions over the last few years (I notice them now on the news after my incident).

The problem with gas is the same with nuclear is not the same with solar.

an aging solar power solution will simply fail to work.

an aging gas or nuclear solution (with designs in place- not the new designs) can fail spectacularly.

If they use the new smaller nuke designs which automatically fail quietly in combination with solar, it might work.

A problem with solar and nuke- is heat pollution. You are taking energy from one area and moving it to another area. The amounts are small compared to the larger climate- but .1degrees is small but can be the difference between water boiling or freezing. There are some signs that wind is having slight effects on climate too. It's extracting energy and moving it elsewhere. That seems similar to a tall forest growing in the same location tho.

I know. And Nuclear is in second place for the amount of land rendered uninhabitable too!

Coal wins that, rendering multiple cities uninhabitable and with multiple Chernobyl sized areas rendered uninhabitable by coal seam fires plus ongoing smoke pollution covering huge areas.

Nuke plants- great in theory.
Nuke plants + Human Operators- an accident waiting to happen. The current average appears to be one major accident per decade.

We need to use smaller nukes with modern designs. And we need to back those up with a few reactors which will consume their waste and reduce it to much smaller quantities.

But when anyone solves the battery problem- nukes are dead dead dead and alternative energy of all kinds makes much more sense.

Actually, parts of california (san diego) are classified as semi arid.

To your comment-

http://extras.mnginteractive.c...

It's been pretty wet since 1600. But it was pretty dry before that.

Humans don't really think on a time scale of 500 year cycles. You can have an entire civilization rise and fall during a 500 year period.

You mean the heritage of beating blacks with an inch and a quarter thick stick and then making the blacks that survive quote scripture that praises the white for beating them them? No.
You mean the heritage where judges and ministers said that blacks were ordained by god to be slaves? Again, No.

Dickenson festivals in waistcoats- sure.

Knights on shining armor at the renfest- sure.

White/asian/black/latino pride is merging so much faster than when I was growing up. But it still has a long way to go.

As far as sexual fetish pride- you show me a person whose rabidly against a particular fetish- I'll bet you dollars to donuts that person wants to or already is practicing that fetish. Be it Haggard, or The Faye's, or Republican officials, etc. etc. etc.

Let go of your hatred. Live your own life. Pass on the good things about your heritage to your children.

Mod this up! Wish I could give a post 5 points!

Awesome anecdote about Ron McNair. What courage he showed!

And what about the police behavior in his story! If only they all acted like that!

It's a problem in the U.S. and a part of it is the historical segregation and discrimination which reduced opportunities for black u.s. citizens. Some segments of black society here developed unproductive attitudes in response to decades of hopelessness and unfairness.

Likewise, unequal enforcement of drug laws disenfranchised many young blacks (a white arrested gets a fine and is let go- a black arrested gets a year in jail and a record- still happens- was happening in ferguson). A white girl arrested- gets her parents called while the black girls are told "trash goes in back" and arrested- same group of girls treated dramatically different.

Looking at london,
https://answers.yahoo.com/ques...
It's completely different. Fair treatment by the police, mixed race neighborhoods (less white flight), most positive attitudes.
Much more just "british citizens who have dark brown skin" and who still retain some of their national heritage from wherever they came from.

TL;DR: (as you say) While not uniquely american, the OP was clueless and I agree completely with your position.

There is a point where you need to confront and disincent certain behaviors. We have massive evidence that racism can get out of hand and result fairly quickly in beatings, death, enslavement, riots, mass murder, civil breakdown- and massive loss of potential for the targets of racism..

We already had the debate on racism and racism "lost". While the government has to tolerate and protect racist free speech, all kinds of other private organizations and businesses do not.

By kicking out the frat charter, you send a clear message that civilized society won't tolerate such behavior and being racist will have negative consequences. Plus you take away some of the financial assets racists would have had.

It's tough. I'm racist myself. Racism is insidious the way it creeps in around the edges. It destroys people's lives and harms society.