Romney: 47% of Americans are losers, don't care about 'em

[MadImmortalMan]

You keep states like Texas and North Carolina / Louisiana despite their troubling issues because Tex Mex and BBQ are awesome and a society has to have some culture, it can't all be dollars and cents.

If you had to pick just one state to keep solely for the BBQ, which one would it be...

[Razgovory]

Then let them really ride on that "ruggeded individualism".

They'll get rich exporting oil to us, most likely.

Currently they get rich having the Feds pay stuff for them.  Driving down a federal highway in big 30K truck they wrote off as farm equipment, I'm tired of their asses.  If they want to become an oil state fine.  Course they'll have to buy that federal land the oil is on.  At fair market vaule.  After all, "There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch".  Ain't that the individualist's slogan?

[Razgovory]

You keep states like Texas and North Carolina / Louisiana despite their troubling issues because Tex Mex and BBQ are awesome and a society has to have some culture, it can't all be dollars and cents.

If you had to pick just one state to keep solely for the BBQ, which one would it be...

Missouri.  Duh.

[MadImmortalMan]

Missouri.  Duh.

KC is definitely one of the obvious choices. I don't know though. I think if I were going to pick one place it would be Austin.

[FunkMonk]

Then let them really ride on that "ruggeded individualism".

They'll get rich exporting oil to us, most likely.

Currently they get rich having the Feds pay stuff for them.  Driving down a federal highway in big 30K truck they wrote off as farm equipment, I'm tired of their asses.  If they want to become an oil state fine.  Course they'll have to buy that federal land the oil is on.  At fair market vaule.  After all, "There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch".  Ain't that the individualist's slogan?

Actually iirc Texas owns the public land the oil is in. Part of deal when we got annexed into the union.

[Razgovory]

I think Texas actually is a Donor state.

[OttoVonBismarck]

These states are populated with douchebags:

New Jersey
Illinois
Washington

You forgot Oregon, and either Vermont or New  Hampshire, depending on your political leanings.

I'm politically opposed to most of New England, but it was spared my wrath by and large because I think the New England countryside is pleasant and they have a lot of picturesque seaside towns. Plus Boston can be a fun city to visit.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Fourthly, unless the Sopranos was actually a product of New Jersey I'd say you owe Hollywood for that.

It was shot mostly in New Jersey, and without New Jersey there wouldn't be any plot material.

Except for the Italian mafia in, you know, New York City. I don't think a series about them would be materially different than the Italian mafia in New Jersey.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Basically you wipe out all the douchebag states, wipe out a lot of the poor Southern states, then wipe out the states that are too boring to matter.

You keep states like Texas and North Carolina / Louisiana despite their troubling issues because Tex Mex and BBQ are awesome and a society has to have some culture, it can't all be dollars and cents. That's why New Jersey and its population of relatively high income (but highly taxed) people gets kicked out. New Jersey contributes absolutely nothing to the United States in term of culture, and its people are abominations. Their governor looks like he might actually try to eat the rest of the country if not checked.

I think we could do with out Texas culture.  Also if we are getting rid of states that drag on the economy lets take out Montana, and Wyoming.  They are big drags on the economy.  In fact most of the big rural states need to go.

I think you're looking at it the wrong way, if there is any state I regret cutting it's North Dakota. Those big rural states are mostly Federal projects with much of the land being federally owned and very few people there. However, it's a lot of land, and there is some tangible benefit to keeping that land around. For example we're finding large natural gas and oil deposits in North Dakota...I wouldn't be so quick to get rid of the big empty western states. The dirt-poor southern states are much more egregious because they have far more people and thus far more po folk waiting for hand outs. Montana may not contribute much but in absolute terms the peoples of Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas are so few that they don't really cost us much either.

[garbon]

That's an odd list. I'm guessing it you were trying to be funny, but I guess I'm not getting the joke.

Apparently according to his later post, OvB conflates "don't matter" and "I personally dislike".

[OttoVonBismarck]

The whole issue of donor vs recipient states isn't really entirely valid. A lot of the big empty states aren't recipient states because they are especially poor per capita, and the money they receive isn't a disproportionate pay out of welfare benefits or things like that. Instead it's more related to the fact many of those states are largely under Federal land management. The Federal government doesn't have to keep all that land, and most likely you could find private buyers in those states if you just wanted to sell it off. It's not really accurate to label some of those states as "sucking from the teat" because much of the "disproportionate benefit" they receive is in the form of dollars being spent on Federal land management--land that the residents of those States only derive minor benefit from in most cases. Basically the Federal government keeps that land for its own purposes, so it's not a fair cop for anti-Staters to bitch about the costs of managing the land.

[OttoVonBismarck]

That's an odd list. I'm guessing it you were trying to be funny, but I guess I'm not getting the joke.

Apparently according to his later post, OvB conflates "don't matter" and "I personally dislike".

Not so much conflates as equates.

[garbon]

That's an odd list. I'm guessing it you were trying to be funny, but I guess I'm not getting the joke.

Apparently according to his later post, OvB conflates "don't matter" and "I personally dislike".

Not so much conflates as equates.

That's an even odder world view.  Just because one doesn't like something, doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

[DGuller]

I don't like the present day GOP, but unfortunately it matters quite a bit.  I don't like getting explosive diarrhea, but when I do get it, it certainly matters for at least a few frantic moments.

[Phillip V]

Obama's post-convention bump has disappeared.

Rasmussen Tracking: Romney +2
Gallup Tracking: Obama +1

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150743/Obama-Romney.aspx