Croc

Huh? And how exactly do you measure effort? How many foreign languages do you speak fluently? I'd love to know the answer to that one. Kowtowing? Who's "kowtowing"? I see very limited efforts at accomodation, but almost no "kowtowing." Maybe you do not know the meaning of the word? Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) kow⋅tow    /ˈkaʊˈtaʊ, -ˌtaʊ, ˈkoʊ-/ [kou-tou, -tou, koh-] –verb (used without object) 1. to act in an obsequious manner; show servile deference. So you're really telling me that there are "enablers" (to what, exactly? Enabling people to not have to learn English to survive for a day in America?) showing "servile deference" to non-English speakers? Really? Servile deference? Is that your final answer? Thanks for the lovely bedtime story. Sounds like your ancestors were just wonderful Horatio Algers! That said...when do non-English speakers expect Americans to learn their language to comunicate with them? I've never met a non-English speaker who didn't feel embarrassed and ashamed when it occurred that he/she and I could not communicate well. How would you feel if you tried to say something to people every day, and 1 out of 10 just gave you a blank stare in return? You wouldn't feel frustrated and inferior? Really? Try to think outside your bubble sometimes.

+1 Props for the Sim City reference. You've gotten in some good one-liners here today

Dude, he's President of the USA, not Lord of the Universe. He couldn't possibly have all the answers on everything, and just like every field, there are false starts. Remember when electric vehicles were the wave of the future back in the early 1990s with the EV-1? False start. Remember when cars were going to parallel park themselves by simply swivelling their wheels and driving into a spot sideways? False start. Remember LaserDisk? False start. Betamax? False start. Do I need to continue? He did not reneg on any promise. He did not backtrack on any campaign goal. He simply reiterated what he said in the 3rd presidential debate: that he has his goals he wants to do, and he is not willing to comment on any which may get cut due to the national budget, which he won't be seeing until January 2009. That kind of thinking is prudent. You know, making a decision on what makes the cut when he has all the information, like the actual budget, instead of spouting off beforehand what will or will not be postponed.

No, what's unpatriotic is to stand on a soapbox for tolerance in many cases, but exclude other instances involving already disadvantaged minority populations. You think those Mexican-Americans are having one big party being in a country where the vast majority of everything is in English and they can't read a damn thing? Anything treating different groups of people as different classes of citizens is unpatriotic if you've ever even just skimmed over the Constitution.

+1

Does that argument extend to dyslexics? That's a portion of the population that, depending on the severity and degree of it, has real problems comprehending written text. Are they less of Americans, and therefore shouldn't be allowed to vote? What about blind people? Would you balk at a Braille ballot? Get over yourself.

Well haven't we all learned to question Wall Street's collective judgment over the past few months?

YES IT IS!! And it looks like Measure R did as well in LA County. .5% in sales tax now goes to transportation, and LA County sales tax is now 8.75%. It was nice to see decisive support in the end--the San Gabriel Valley and East LA were against it because the initial projects were all for the Westside...well where is the infrastructure deficit located?

No kidding. Transportation infrastructure is my field. And unlike many other fields with their issues, there is a real consensus on the gas tax.

Everytime you buy groceries, you drive to the store. You use the roads. Even if you walk, you're using road infrastructure: the sidewalk. But if you walk, you never pay the gas tax. So tell me how California is punishing its farmers so unfairly, and why they haven't revolted. I'd be fascinated to know. Uh, no. I get it, you don't like taxes of any kind. But you're not offering any alternatives. "Come out of the general fund" OK cool...but from where is the money coming INTO the general fund? Also, infrastructure needs steady maintenance, or else we have Minneapolis all over again. Wouldn't putting infrastructure as an adjustible line-item in the budget leave it more vulnerable to funding irregularities than it already is now?

Eh. Loved how they suddenly went from Upper 4th down to Flower, and in the next scene were in Brentwood.

Then enlighten me, please. Worked quite well as long as the tax kept being raised to keep up with inflation. Worked well until 1981. No, I'm advocating for a percentage-based tax instead of a flat tax. Can't disagree there, but where will the money come from? Until you can identify a reliable, alternate source of funds, the gas tax is it. Really? It seems to me that it came about as a way for drivers to pay for the cost of roads. If the gas tax were to go away, what would you propose in its place? Drivers use roads, contributing to wear and tear. This needs to be paid for.

So what are you saying, we should just stop funding transportation infrastructure because things may cost more? That's ridiculous. Sure, trickle-down occurs. But with gas low again (who wants to take bets on how long this will last?), and the prices of goods not dropping, what's the deal? As I already said, CA has a percentage component to its gas tax, and the world didn't end. Prices on basic items haven't skyrocketed, and in fact, my grande iced coffee at Starbucks is cheaper in LA than it is in Indianapolis! I know this happened back in 2007, but it's important that we don't forget what happens when necessary repairs aren't made because the gas tax hasn't kept up with inflation: Is saving $0.13 on that cheeseburger REALLY worth it?

Voted last week, but today is going to be nervewracking until I can ascertain that everything is as it should be. Then it will be a massive bender. Oh the joys of having no class on Wednesday...

We don't say that at our chapter. But seriously...transportation infrastructure is my field. Thankfully CA is the only state that has a percentage component to the gas tax. It still needs to go all percentage, though...it just doesn't fund anything these days.

I hope Prop 8 fails, but it is going to be VERY close, unfortunately. I hope you're voting for Prop 1A and Measure R, empowah. LA really needs both of those to go through, badly, despite what some in SGV have been saying. Yes, the Westside will be the primary beneficiary in the beginning, but continued revenue from R will help better link east AND west in the years to come.

The best option would be to convert the flat gas tax to a percentage-based gas tax, similar to a sales tax. This would solve two problems: 1) the diminished value of a flat gas tax (the gas tax bought a hell of a lot more in 1965 than in 2005) due to inflation and 2) the need to raise the gas tax to combat inflation-driven diminished buying power. A percentage-based tax would never need to be adjusted to the CPI as its revenue would be based on the fluctuating value of fuel. If you're referring to a truck in the sense of diesel truck traffic, the gas tax is different for commercial vehicles. If you're referring to the average construction worker, or someone else who tends to require pickup trucks, vans and SUVs for their job, then your argument is weak as nothing would stop them from getting a hybrid truck. Hell, give them a tax deduction to encourage a switch to a hybrid truck and I'd be fine with that.

How is the gas tax a separate issue? When the primary source of revenue for transportation infrastructure lies squarely with the gas tax (by a very large margin), there is but one issue.

Gas tax revenue is nearly the sole revenue source for transportation infrastructure repairs. Small portions are allocated toward improving public transit and freight movement, but the vast majority goes to road infrastructure. This money cannot be used for anything else, as the gas tax was implemented so motorists paid approximately proportionally to the amount of miles of roads they used. Now, with increased MPG, this is no longer the rule, but the basic principle generally holds true: drive more, pay more in gas taxes.

Until another DEDICATED source of transportation infrastructure revenue is GUARANTEED, the only real, viable option is to raise the gas tax. I can't put a price on a single life, let alone multiple lives, so closing the massive funding gap that began in 1981 with Ronald Reagan is of utmost importance; we can't have another bridge collapse due to deferred maintenance resulting from a lack of funding. We cannot afford to play catch up with our nation's infrastructure any longer.

I am so sick of the non-stop political coverage we've had for an entire year now...I can't wait for the day I can turn on cable news again and hear about something OTHER than the race to the White House. Just going out on a limb here, but doesn't it seem logical that the rest of the world didn't stop a year ago, and that there are many important international stories that should have been covered but weren't?

Yes, yes, and quite a bit, actually. I've never come across this ridiculous stereotype. The closest thing I can think of is that some British accents make people sound "smart," but that's certainly not all of them, and most certainly isn't implying that they ARE smarter or better-educated or anything. Unless you're confusing TV/pop culture with aatbloke, which is totally understandable.

How the hell do you figure that? That's one "stereotype" I've never heard.

Don't feel bad about it...think instead of the single mom working 2 jobs who can't afford to wait in line all day long and forgo her day's wage. The more people vote in absentia, the shorter the lines will be for everyone else.

*Prays for a Nissan-Renault deal to go through*