Politics

[RDU Irish]

so the town of 16,000 we used to live in has a big construction project underway. In order to pass the maintenance of a main road from the state to the city, the state first has to upgrade the road to its highest level - in this case a six lane monstrosity where the four lane was plenty adequate before. Millions spent on a future liability, but hey, it will be brand new and won't need major repairs for quite a while and the city gets a few bucks per year for using their plows instead of the state's. The town is growing slowly but it will be 30 years before it doubles in size, even then four lanes would have been just fine.

 

[Cackalacky]

so the town of 16,000 we used to live in has a big construction project underway. In order to pass the maintenance of a main road from the state to the city, the state first has to upgrade the road to its highest level - in this case a six lane monstrosity where the four lane was plenty adequate before. Millions spent on a future liability, but hey, it will be brand new and won't need major repairs for quite a while and the city gets a few bucks per year for using their plows instead of the state's. The town is growing slowly but it will be 30 years before it doubles in size, even then four lanes would have been just fine.

I am not sure by what you mean as four lanes would be just fine....is that your opinion or is it based on some report. I am not trying to come at you just curious.

The service level of roads are classified by the volume of traffic they can handle among others. The justification for a new road and its eventual size has to meet many criteria in order to accommodate a future projected volume of traffic. The city may have just opted for that size of road to have the best level of service now to account for any planned future growth. A traffic study would have analyzed the projected growth versus the service level and provided recommendations to the city, however a road with a Service Level of A (the best) can go to a poor service level (C-F) fairly quickly depending on what is already present and population growth and development if they aren't careful.

The following section pertains to only North American highway LOS standards as in the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) and AASHTO Geometric Design of Highways and Streets ("Green Book"), using letters A through F, with A being the best and F being the worst.

A: free flow. Traffic flows at or above the posted speed limit and motorists have complete mobility between lanes. The average spacing between vehicles is about 550 ft(167 m) or 27 car lengths. Motorists have a high level of physical and psychological comfort. The effects of incidents or point breakdowns are easily absorbed. LOS A generally occurs late at night in urban areas and frequently in rural areas.

B: reasonably free flow. LOS A speeds are maintained, maneuverability within the traffic stream is slightly restricted. The lowest average vehicle spacing is about 330 ft(100 m) or 16 car lengths. Motorists still have a high level of physical and psychological comfort.

C: stable flow, at or near free flow. Ability to maneuver through lanes is noticeably restricted and lane changes require more driver awareness. Minimum vehicle spacing is about 220 ft(67 m) or 11 car lengths. Most experienced drivers are comfortable, roads remain safely below but efficiently close to capacity, and posted speed is maintained. Minor incidents may still have no effect but localized service will have noticeable effects and traffic delays will form behind the incident. This is the target LOS for some urban and most rural highways.

D: approaching unstable flow. Speeds slightly decrease as traffic volume slightly increase. Freedom to maneuver within the traffic stream is much more limited and driver comfort levels decrease. Vehicles are spaced about 160 ft(50m) or 8 car lengths. Minor incidents are expected to create delays. Examples are a busy shopping corridor in the middle of a weekday, or a functional urban highway during commuting hours. It is a common goal for urban streets during peak hours, as attaining LOS C would require prohibitive cost and societal impact in bypass roads and lane additions.

E: unstable flow, operating at capacity. Flow becomes irregular and speed varies rapidly because there are virtually no usable gaps to maneuver in the traffic stream and speeds rarely reach the posted limit. Vehicle spacing is about 6 car lengths, but speeds are still at or above 50 mi/h(80 km/h). Any disruption to traffic flow, such as merging ramp traffic or lane changes, will create a shock wave affecting traffic upstream. Any incident will create serious delays. Drivers' level of comfort become poor.[1] This is a common standard in larger urban areas, where some roadway congestion is inevitable.

F: forced or breakdown flow. Every vehicle moves in lockstep with the vehicle in front of it, with frequent slowing required. Travel time cannot be predicted, with generally more demand than capacity. A road in a constant traffic jam is at this LOS, because LOS is an average or typical service rather than a constant state. For example, a highway might be at LOS D for the AM peak hour, but have traffic consistent with LOS C some days, LOS E or F others, and come to a halt once every few weeks.

 

[IrishLax]

Also, I'd be remiss not to add this little note on infrastructure to a "politics" thread...

ASCE estimated in 2013 the total cost to restore American infrastructure to "good" condition at $3.6 trillion.

The cost of the Iraq War cost $2.2 trillion including associated fringe benefits, and could cost up to $6 trillion when all is said and done.

So... can we "not afford" to fix our infrastructure? Or is it that we're spending the money that could be used on it elsewhere?

 

[IrishLax]

U.S. 'disturbed' by Iranian leader's criticism after deal

 

[phgreek]

Also, I'd be remiss not to add this little note on infrastructure to a "politics" thread...

ASCE estimated in 2013 the total cost to restore American infrastructure to "good" condition at $3.6 trillion.

The cost of the Iraq War cost $2.2 trillion including associated fringe benefits, and could cost up to $6 trillion when all is said and done.

So... can we "not afford" to fix our infrastructure? Or is it that we're spending the money that could be used on it elsewhere?

Neither...if it is good for someone, somewhere, we spare no expense. You allude to some sort of budget constraint in our march to Utopia...get real.

Would we have spent on infrastructure to the degree we will have spent on Iraq. I don't believe so. War/Peacetime reconstruction seems to have no budget constraint...it is assumed to be in our collective national interest once we decide to "pull the trigger". Where infrastructure seems to have the pork connotation because the locus of the benefit is small...ie bridges get built or repaired in a place, and if they aren't in my place, its not as good an investment as my bridge. I think that will always cause infrastructure to be like most things political...entangled and slow to progress.

IMHO...Infrastructure is one of the few things the Federal Government should be keenly aware of, and manage. I like the concept of investing in infrastructure as it seems closer to my understanding of the role of government than things like ACA. I think States need to do their own prioritization, and then the Federal Government further prioritize based on national interest and safety, and get going with something of a pace that has us catching up in ten years. JMHO.

 

[connor_in]

Anyone seeing ESPN's Stephen A Smith getting torn apart on twitter?

 

[ACamp1900]

Over politics??

 

[woolybug25]

Anyone seeing ESPN's Stephen A Smith getting torn apart on twitter?

He's right on. Sad that people can't see when they become the things they hate. That's how I see the #blacklivesmatter folks. They hate racism so much that they became racists themselves.

Where is all the noise about #BlackLivesMatter when black folks are killing black folks?

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 21, 2015

There's nothing wrong when a presidential candidate says "All lives Matter"!

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 21, 2015

I'm a black man. Of course I know #BlackLivesMatter. You can't boo a presidential candidate just b/c he says "all lives matter".

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 21, 2015



Read more: ESPN Analyst Stephen A. Smith Tweets All Lives Matter | The Daily Caller

 

[connor_in]

He's right on. Sad that people can't see when they become the things they hate. That's how I see the #blacklivesmatter folks. They hate racism so much that they became racists themselves.

Yeah...those are HIS tweets...should see the ones coming back at him in reply...OUCH

 

[IrishLax]

Oh the irony that for once he said something relatively responsible and is being hounded for it out of context...

 

[ACamp1900]

Oh the irony that for once he said something relatively responsible and is being hounded for it out of context...

Exactly what I thought

 

[NDgradstudent]

I am continuing a discussion about immigration and/or England from the 2016 Presidential Horse Race thread:

Not to mention, the always appreciated tilt of racism is ever present: ie - non anglo-saxon countries are lessor men. K, got it.

Did I say that? Is saying D-I football players are better at football than D-III players the same as saying that D-III players are lesser men? Our Bill of Rights is based upon the English Bill of Rights. Most of our early law came from English common law. Our political tradition is based largely upon the thought of English political and legal theorists, such as Locke and Blackstone. It is striking, is it not, that none of the countries I mentioned (India, South Africa, Australia, Canada, as well as the U.K. itself and our own country) neither elected a fascist leader nor fell under communist control during the 20th century? This cannot be said of Italy, Russia, Greece, Germany, Austria, and Spain (Franco was more of a highly dubious character than a fascist), among others. It seems unlikely to me that this was entirely an accident.

You've got to be kidding. England did nothing but exploit and subjugate every country it colonized, including the United States. A large part of the political unrest in the world is the direct result of European colonization, particular that of England. You should ask a few Irishmen, or Native Americans, or Black South Africans how much they appreciate the exploitation and often genocide comitted by the English. The troubles in the North of Ireland are the direct result of the colonization instituted by England. Much of the trouble in the Middle East today is the direct result of artificial boundaries drawn by England, boundaries that did not recognize ethnic tribal lands.

Britain did exploit and subjugate most of the countries it colonized, but it is not true that this is all that it did. In many cases, it left in place institutions that made a big difference in the direction of the country.

Any freedom or prosperity enjoyed by the native inhabitants of these countries was the result of driving the English out.

Haiti has been free of French control since 1804. Barbados has been free of British control since 1966.

Would you rather live in Haiti or Barbados?

 

[phgreek]

Exactly what I thought

His following is exactly who he cultivated it to be...

If you live your life by getting ratings playing to folks, you can't just show up one day with your own opinion that uses sound logic...what a dumbass.

 

[Circa]

Most of the poll was taken pre-McCain comments but damn a double digit lead for Trump?
Poll: Trump opens a double-digit lead (pre-McCain) | OnPolitics

There are many southern republicans whom would love a Reagan do over and this fame that goes with it. People are so damn simple.

 

[GoIrish41]

Also, I'd be remiss not to add this little note on infrastructure to a "politics" thread...

ASCE estimated in 2013 the total cost to restore American infrastructure to "good" condition at $3.6 trillion.

The cost of the Iraq War cost $2.2 trillion including associated fringe benefits, and could cost up to $6 trillion when all is said and done.

So... can we "not afford" to fix our infrastructure? Or is it that we're spending the money that could be used on it elsewhere?

It would put a lot of people to work and get the economy humming.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

It would put a lot of people to work and get the economy humming.

lol

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

What is your plan to fix our aging infrastructure?

The Federalist in me says let the feds handle the federal highways and let the states handle their own issues as they see fit.

 

[dshans]

Horses....

Interesting notion. Could work on many levels.

While roads and bridges would still be a neccesity that would require engineers, planners, environmentalists, geologists, anthropologists, material suppliers, inspectors of said materials, contractors, labor, heavy machinery, manufacturers and suppliers of said machinery, reflective paint suppliers, machines to apply the paint and personnel to operate said machines, inspectors, inspectors, inspectors and beauraucrats, beauraucrats, and more beauraucrats, etc.

Job creation. Job security.

And think of all the economic stimulation created by a renewed need for horses and the resultant revenue strams.

Livestock breeders. Horse farms/pastures/meadows/organic native plants. Farms to provide supplemental foodstock. Manure in the production stream. Horsehide (when the inevitable happens ... no slaughter or "harvesting") for clothing and furniture, hooves for gelatin and glue, etc.

And just think how much less wear and tear there would be on the roadbeds and bridges! And fewer harmful emissions ... except for the effects of burping and pooping. Though there must be methods for capture and reuse.



Apologies for the purposeful run-on sentence. I'm "in a mood." It's my birthday (well, WAS my birthday --- the calendar was notched another click).

Hell, I'm just having a little fun. I do have serious thoughts, opinions and suggestions; but I felt the need for a little levity.

dshans ... currently homeless (a bit of the old "technicality) since I sold my home of 32 years and left my 37 year "hometown" of Minneapolis. I'm now imposing on my older brother and his wife in their camp/cabin on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondaks in NY.

There is a loosey-goosey game plan to wind up somewhere in FL within the next six months.

We shall see. I may or may not keep you mooks posted.

GO IRISH!
FUCK MICHIGAN!
FUCK USC!
FUCK 'EM ALL!

 

[GoIrish41]

Interesting notion. Could work on many levels.

While roads and bridges would still be a neccesity that would require engineers, planners, environmentalists, geologists, anthropologists, material suppliers, inspectors of said materials, contractors, labor, heavy machinery, manufacturers and suppliers of said machinery, reflective paint suppliers, machines to apply the paint and personnel to operate said machines, inspectors, inspectors, inspectors and beauraucrats, beauraucrats, and more beauraucrats, etc.

Job creation. Job security.

And think of all the economic stimulation created by a renewed need for horses and the resultant revenue strams.

Livestock breeders. Horse farms/pastures/meadows/organic native plants. Farms to provide supplemental foodstock. Manure in the production stream. Horsehide (when the inevitable happens ... no slaughter or "harvesting") for clothing and furniture, hooves for gelatin and glue, etc.

And just think how much less wear and tear there would be on the roadbeds and bridges! And fewer harmful emissions ... except for the effects of burping and pooping. Though there must be methods for capture and reuse.



Apologies for the purposeful run-on sentence. I'm "in a mood." It's my birthday (well, WAS my birthday --- the calendar was notched another click).

Hell, I'm just having a little fun. I do have serious thoughts, opinions and suggestions; but I felt the need for a little levity.

dshans ... currently homeless (a bit of the old "technicality) since I sold my home of 32 years and left my 37 year "hometown" of Minneapolis. I'm now imposing on my older brother and his wife in their camp/cabin on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondaks in NY.

There is a loosey-goosey game plan to wind up somewhere in FL within the next six months.

We shall see. I may or may not keep you mooks posted.

GO IRISH!
FUCK MICHIGAN!
FUCK USC!
FUCK 'EM ALL!

Happy birthday and good luck with your move.

 

[phgreek]

Interesting notion. Could work on many levels.

While roads and bridges would still be a neccesity that would require engineers, planners, environmentalists, geologists, anthropologists, material suppliers, inspectors of said materials, contractors, labor, heavy machinery, manufacturers and suppliers of said machinery, reflective paint suppliers, machines to apply the paint and personnel to operate said machines, inspectors, inspectors, inspectors and beauraucrats, beauraucrats, and more beauraucrats, etc.

Job creation. Job security.

And think of all the economic stimulation created by a renewed need for horses and the resultant revenue strams.

Livestock breeders. Horse farms/pastures/meadows/organic native plants. Farms to provide supplemental foodstock. Manure in the production stream. Horsehide (when the inevitable happens ... no slaughter or "harvesting") for clothing and furniture, hooves for gelatin and glue, etc.

And just think how much less wear and tear there would be on the roadbeds and bridges! And fewer harmful emissions ... except for the effects of burping and pooping. Though there must be methods for capture and reuse.



Apologies for the purposeful run-on sentence. I'm "in a mood." It's my birthday (well, WAS my birthday --- the calendar was notched another click).

Hell, I'm just having a little fun. I do have serious thoughts, opinions and suggestions; but I felt the need for a little levity.

dshans ... currently homeless (a bit of the old "technicality) since I sold my home of 32 years and left my 37 year "hometown" of Minneapolis. I'm now imposing on my older brother and his wife in their camp/cabin on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondaks in NY.

There is a loosey-goosey game plan to wind up somewhere in FL within the next six months.

We shall see. I may or may not keep you mooks posted.

GO IRISH!
FUCK MICHIGAN!
FUCK USC!
FUCK 'EM ALL!

Florida seems to be really nice. My dad lives 9 months out of the year near Venice. He likes it. I must admit, outside some trips to my dad's, my limited experience in Florida has been a business trip to Panama City, a couple trips to Disney, and a Rugby Tournament in college which led to a Shamrock "freckle" on my hip, and THE hangover all others are compared to.

FWIW, I really liked Panama City...but apparently it has turned into "New Daytona Beach" for spring break...

There are far worse places on earth than where you are right now...just sayin.

If it is warmth you seek, consider St. George UT. Still pretty cheap, near Vegas and Mesquite, Warm and Dry. It is more reasonably priced than similar AZ retirement communities, and 50 miles from a complete weather change...ie 50 miles away and you experience the four seasons if you get to missing snow...but you won't exactly be surrounded by ND people...

Good Luck.

Edit: Oh yea...Horses. Maybe more of those would be better, although I grew up in PA...I've seen some brutal carriage pile-ups in Amish country.

 

[IrishLax]

At some point can we talk about this minimum wage hike craze? Specifically, fast food workers demanding $15/hour and Seattle's minimum wage hike that many cities have or are contemplating mirroring?

 

[IrishSteelhead]

At some point can we talk about this minimum wage hike craze? Specifically, fast food workers demanding $15/hour and Seattle's minimum wage hike that many cities have or are contemplating mirroring?

Sounds legit. A 16 year old that runs the drive through of a Dairy Queen makes the same as a first year teacher, entry level mechanic, independent plumber, etc.

 

[pkt77242]

At some point can we talk about this minimum wage hike craze? Specifically, fast food workers demanding $15/hour and Seattle's minimum wage hike that many cities have or are contemplating mirroring?

I am not a fan of a national minimum wage of $15, as I think something around $11-12 makes more sense. Now I have no problems with very expensive cities (New York City, San Francisco, etc.) having a minimum wage of $15 as that can make sense but a national minimum wage that high doesn't as it costs significantly more to live in San Fran then Memphis, Tennessee.

 

[zelezo vlk]

I am not a fan of a national minimum wage of $15, as I think something around $11-12 makes more sense. Now I have no problems with very expensive cities (New York City, San Francisco, etc.) having a minimum wage of $15 as that can make sense but a national minimum wage that high doesn't as it costs significantly more to live in San Fran then Memphis, Tennessee.

Then why the big jump to 11/12? Federal minimum wage is $7.25 right now.

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[GoIrish41]

Then why the big jump to 11/12? Federal minimum wage is $7.25 right now.

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Because 7.25 is criminally low.

 

[Cackalacky]

Then why the big jump to 11/12? Federal minimum wage is $7.25 right now.

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That is basically the poverty level income for a family of 2. $15900.00/year

 

[woolybug25]

Here's my thing with a national minimum wage. We live in one of the biggest and dynamically unique countries in the world. I think it's naive to believe that the minimum wage should be the same for a cattle prod in Idaho as it is for a single mother in the Bronx. Every region of the country is different in cost of living, economic activity and availabile public services.

Wages should be handled on a state level. Plain and simple.

 

[irishff1014]

Because 7.25 is criminally low.

No one can live on that kinda pay check unless they live in their parents basement with no bills.

 

[GoIrish41]

Here's my thing with a national minimum wage. We live in one of the biggest and dynamically unique countries in the world. I think it's naive to believe that the minimum wage should be the same for a cattle prod in Idaho as it is for a single mother in the Bronx. Every region of the country is different in cost of living, economic activity and availabile public services.

Wages should be handled on a state level. Plain and simple.

I understand the logic but have serious questions about how that would be executed. I would not want to be a fast food worker in a southern red state if this happens. Wages would become a race to the bottom to be the state that has the cheapest workforce to attract more businesses. Alabama can become The new Korea.

 

[irishff1014]

Here's my thing with a national minimum wage. We live in one of the biggest and dynamically unique countries in the world. I think it's naive to believe that the minimum wage should be the same for a cattle prod in Idaho as it is for a single mother in the Bronx. Every region of the country is different in cost of living, economic activity and availabile public services.

Wages should be handled on a state level. Plain and simple.

I understand the theory that you are going with. However that means that the SKILLED positions deserve a hike with that theory.