That will never happen due to "winner takes all" laws in the States. For example, if you have 5 electors, and manage to get 2 of them third party, all it takes is for the other 3 to agree on a candidate for that guy to win all 5.

In states like Florida and Ohio that have a large number of electors, the winner takes all laws is what keeps the two parties in power.

The only way to cure it is to do away with the electoral college and go solely with the popular vote. I believe the reasons for the existence of the college, namely the problems of large distances to travel and no mass communication systems, have been solved.

The buying and selling of human organs is a very, very bad idea. May as well grow humans for the body bank if we are going to go down this route. And just like you have theft of other sold goods how long would it take before organ theft became the new wave of crime?

Yes that Citizens United. How that decision became popularized as "corporations are evil because the system is corrupt" I can't figure. Protection of First Amendment freedoms is good, full stop.

What makes it evil is it equated money with speech as well as said corporations are entitled to the same rights as people in a much stronger stance than any other decision. By allowing anonymous donations to political campaigns, there is no saying where the money actually came from be it local or from a foreign nation seeking to upset our political arena.

Who said I am prohibiting patent licensing? I am prohibiting the use of tax dollars AND patent licensing for the same research. Why should the tax payer fund something they are going to privatize?

Fine then... If this is the way it is supposed to work then there is no further reason to subsidize the university with tax dollars since they have the ability to develop these valuable patent portfolios. The knife should work both ways. Either they fund research using their patent portfolio or tax dollars but not both.

I use a dumb phone too because I need a phone, not a computer in my pocket. Besides, the dumb phone is far, far, far cheaper and much more reliable. I get a week on a charge. Try that with a smart phone.

Heh... I was just trying to explain the cab drivers in those cities... Hadn't thought of the PD.... That explains a lot. The PD is pissed because they were beaten and left naked with garden hoses up their asses in that alley...

They are showing total cost of employment with what they post but the public is too busy trying to justify their hatred of government employees they read at as only salary then think that the travel and benefits are paid on top of what is shown.

I don't have to worry too much in my position about tax payer backlash. Even with the benefits I get added in I qualify for food stamps!

support (verb): The act of charging for fixes to the code you didn't do testing on... It is a win-win for both sides...lol

There are no UFOs / alien abductions / meteors in the civilized places of New York City, or Los Angelas.

And that's because the last time they tried to land in both New York and Los Angeles they were found in an alley naked and beaten with a garden hose up their ass and their spacecraft stripped on cinder blocks. So much for "civilized places"....

Disclaimer: I am a state employee whose salary is publicly posted...

That out of the way, most if not all those salaries posted are very, very misleading. It is gross salary+travel+incentives+any other state money that employee has received including payments made for health coverage and retirement. It doesn't include any deductions such as taxes, co-payments for health and retirement, garnishments, etc...

If the job is shit to begin with, no amount of incentive will keep employees very long. Burn-out is one of the biggest problems in employment with the most "productive" individuals getting abused to the point where they either leave or have health issues related to burn-out like heart attacks.

So salary is a very little part of the equation to keeping employees. Treating them like people instead of expensive commodities to be disposed of is another.

I rewarded my daughter for tidying her room. At no point was a contract, written or otherwise, created.

Actually, there was the moment you agreed to pay her for her cleaning services. Verbal, but still a contract.

That was a fluke just lie the Virginia / West Virginia split at the same time. It was allowed to deny the South manufacturing and resources during the lead up to the insurrection known as the Civil War. I doubt a state could pull it off today just like I doubt they could pull off a succession from the union.