On 3/23/2015 1:17 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:57:17 -0400, wrote:

That is the problem with the two party system. If you don't fit into
their category exactly, you are out.
Johnson could run as a democrat in New Mexico or Montana but he
wouldn't stand a chance on either coast ... in either party.
He is too liberal for the republicans and to conservative for the
democrats.

It leaves people like me who are socially liberal and fiscally
conservative with no place to go.

===

Exactly right. As far as I'm concerned both of the major parties are
controlled by loonies.



It has become increasingly difficult for me to remain optimistic about
this country. Never felt this way before. We have a totally
dysfunctional government. Half the world hates us. Long term allies
are abandoning us. Russia is reigniting the cold war.
Over a dozen countries harbor ISIS or ISIS affiliates who want to kill
us. The number of people on means-tested welfare is at an all time
high. Unemployment numbers are skewed to appear to be improving but
anyone actively searching the job market knows differently.

This reminds me of the Carter years "malaise" but for different reasons
and I think it's worse.

Americans simply don't feel good about their country anymore. We need
some fresh, strong leadership to deliver the country out of this
psychological depression. Need someone to raise spirits, deliver some
realistic reasons to be proud again and let that optimism fuel the way
to a real recovery, international respect and leadership.

On 3/23/2015 2:37 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/23/2015 1:17 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:57:17 -0400, wrote:

That is the problem with the two party system. If you don't fit into
their category exactly, you are out.
Johnson could run as a democrat in New Mexico or Montana but he
wouldn't stand a chance on either coast ... in either party.
He is too liberal for the republicans and to conservative for the
democrats.

It leaves people like me who are socially liberal and fiscally
conservative with no place to go.

===

Exactly right. As far as I'm concerned both of the major parties are
controlled by loonies.



It has become increasingly difficult for me to remain optimistic about
this country. Never felt this way before. We have a totally
dysfunctional government. Half the world hates us. Long term allies
are abandoning us. Russia is reigniting the cold war.
Over a dozen countries harbor ISIS or ISIS affiliates who want to kill
us. The number of people on means-tested welfare is at an all time
high. Unemployment numbers are skewed to appear to be improving but
anyone actively searching the job market knows differently.

This reminds me of the Carter years "malaise" but for different reasons
and I think it's worse.

Americans simply don't feel good about their country anymore. We need
some fresh, strong leadership to deliver the country out of this
psychological depression. Need someone to raise spirits, deliver some
realistic reasons to be proud again and let that optimism fuel the way
to a real recovery, international respect and leadership.


Do you think things will change for the better once the current
administration is put out to pasture?

--

Respectfully submitted by Justan

Laugh of the day from Krause

"I'm not to blame anymore for the atmosphere in here.
I've been "born again" as a nice guy."

On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 14:48:10 -0400, Justan Olphart wrote:

On 3/23/2015 2:37 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/23/2015 1:17 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:57:17 -0400, wrote:

That is the problem with the two party system. If you don't fit into
their category exactly, you are out.
Johnson could run as a democrat in New Mexico or Montana but he
wouldn't stand a chance on either coast ... in either party.
He is too liberal for the republicans and to conservative for the
democrats.

It leaves people like me who are socially liberal and fiscally
conservative with no place to go.

===

Exactly right. As far as I'm concerned both of the major parties are
controlled by loonies.



It has become increasingly difficult for me to remain optimistic about
this country. Never felt this way before. We have a totally
dysfunctional government. Half the world hates us. Long term allies
are abandoning us. Russia is reigniting the cold war.
Over a dozen countries harbor ISIS or ISIS affiliates who want to kill
us. The number of people on means-tested welfare is at an all time
high. Unemployment numbers are skewed to appear to be improving but
anyone actively searching the job market knows differently.

This reminds me of the Carter years "malaise" but for different reasons
and I think it's worse.

Americans simply don't feel good about their country anymore. We need
some fresh, strong leadership to deliver the country out of this
psychological depression. Need someone to raise spirits, deliver some
realistic reasons to be proud again and let that optimism fuel the way
to a real recovery, international respect and leadership.


Do you think things will change for the better once the current
administration is put out to pasture?

I don't think they could get much worse. I have to agree with Luddite on this. It's
depressing as hell.
--

Guns don't cause problems.
Gun owner behavior causes problems.

On 3/23/2015 2:48 PM, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 3/23/2015 2:37 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/23/2015 1:17 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:57:17 -0400, wrote:

That is the problem with the two party system. If you don't fit into
their category exactly, you are out.
Johnson could run as a democrat in New Mexico or Montana but he
wouldn't stand a chance on either coast ... in either party.
He is too liberal for the republicans and to conservative for the
democrats.

It leaves people like me who are socially liberal and fiscally
conservative with no place to go.

===

Exactly right. As far as I'm concerned both of the major parties are
controlled by loonies.



It has become increasingly difficult for me to remain optimistic about
this country. Never felt this way before. We have a totally
dysfunctional government. Half the world hates us. Long term allies
are abandoning us. Russia is reigniting the cold war.
Over a dozen countries harbor ISIS or ISIS affiliates who want to kill
us. The number of people on means-tested welfare is at an all time
high. Unemployment numbers are skewed to appear to be improving but
anyone actively searching the job market knows differently.

This reminds me of the Carter years "malaise" but for different reasons
and I think it's worse.

Americans simply don't feel good about their country anymore. We need
some fresh, strong leadership to deliver the country out of this
psychological depression. Need someone to raise spirits, deliver some
realistic reasons to be proud again and let that optimism fuel the way
to a real recovery, international respect and leadership.


Do you think things will change for the better once the current
administration is put out to pasture?


All depends on who is the replacement. I don't see Hillary as having
what it takes. She'll be too busy ducking answers to questions and
asking why we don't simply respect the fact that she's the first woman
president.

On 3/23/15 5:20 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:02:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



All depends on who is the replacement. I don't see Hillary as having
what it takes. She'll be too busy ducking answers to questions and
asking why we don't simply respect the fact that she's the first woman
president.


If this was not such a corrupt government and so many scams going on,
I would suggest a 20 cent hike in the gasoline tax that went for
absolutely NOTHING BUT fixing roads and bridges.
The thing that prevents me form being serious about it, is how badly
the government is in spending money like this on what they were
supposed to be collecting it for.
In states like Florida, it would actually go into the roads but up
north, where they really need infrastructure improvements, the money
gets siphoned off into totally unrelated programs.
That is why Florida only has around 2% of their bridges in trouble and
that is up in the double digits in California, New York and the North
East states.


Wrong. The reason is that Florida doesn't have a freeze-thaw cycle that
lasts half the year, it seems, as the northeast states do. *That* and
the salt are the killers of road infrastructure.

--
Proud to be a Liberal.

On 3/23/2015 8:29 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:38:20 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 3/23/15 5:20 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:02:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



All depends on who is the replacement. I don't see Hillary as having
what it takes. She'll be too busy ducking answers to questions and
asking why we don't simply respect the fact that she's the first woman
president.


If this was not such a corrupt government and so many scams going on,
I would suggest a 20 cent hike in the gasoline tax that went for
absolutely NOTHING BUT fixing roads and bridges.
The thing that prevents me form being serious about it, is how badly
the government is in spending money like this on what they were
supposed to be collecting it for.
In states like Florida, it would actually go into the roads but up
north, where they really need infrastructure improvements, the money
gets siphoned off into totally unrelated programs.
That is why Florida only has around 2% of their bridges in trouble and
that is up in the double digits in California, New York and the North
East states.


Wrong. The reason is that Florida doesn't have a freeze-thaw cycle that
lasts half the year, it seems, as the northeast states do. *That* and
the salt are the killers of road infrastructure.

There is plenty of salt here. Most of the bridges go over salt water.
Freeze thaw can be an issue but not if the road is properly
engineered.
Usually frost heaves are when they did a quicky patch last time.
Water gets under the patch and blows it out when it freezes.

It is still undeniable that the places with the biggest road and
bridge problems have diverted road building money to other things like
trains people won't ride or simply to patch other holes in their
budget instead of patching holes in the bridge.



I doubt very much that the bridges in Florida are subjected to the
amount of salt corrosion that the bridges up here are subjected to.
Down there you get plenty of rain that rinses any salt spray that wind
might deposit on them. Up here the salting starts with the first
freezing sleet or snow and continues all winter. It's only swept up
in the spring.

My neighbor has a very large front yard. It used to be a big hay field
but over the years he's been mowing it, weeding it and developing a nice
looking lawn. Each spring however there are huge boulders "growing" in
the lawn that weren't there the previous fall. Some are
huge... weighing over 1200lbs. I know that because I help him dig them
out with the back hoe on my tractor and then try to pick them up with
the bucket. It's rated to lift 1200 lbs. Some I couldn't pick up and
had to push them off into the woods.

They aren't "growing". When the ground freezes each winter they are
slowly pushed upward until they break the surface and continue to "grow"
each winter until we dig them out.

On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 21:17:39 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 3/23/2015 8:29 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:38:20 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 3/23/15 5:20 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:02:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



All depends on who is the replacement. I don't see Hillary as having
what it takes. She'll be too busy ducking answers to questions and
asking why we don't simply respect the fact that she's the first woman
president.


If this was not such a corrupt government and so many scams going on,
I would suggest a 20 cent hike in the gasoline tax that went for
absolutely NOTHING BUT fixing roads and bridges.
The thing that prevents me form being serious about it, is how badly
the government is in spending money like this on what they were
supposed to be collecting it for.
In states like Florida, it would actually go into the roads but up
north, where they really need infrastructure improvements, the money
gets siphoned off into totally unrelated programs.
That is why Florida only has around 2% of their bridges in trouble and
that is up in the double digits in California, New York and the North
East states.


Wrong. The reason is that Florida doesn't have a freeze-thaw cycle that
lasts half the year, it seems, as the northeast states do. *That* and
the salt are the killers of road infrastructure.

There is plenty of salt here. Most of the bridges go over salt water.
Freeze thaw can be an issue but not if the road is properly
engineered.
Usually frost heaves are when they did a quicky patch last time.
Water gets under the patch and blows it out when it freezes.

It is still undeniable that the places with the biggest road and
bridge problems have diverted road building money to other things like
trains people won't ride or simply to patch other holes in their
budget instead of patching holes in the bridge.



I doubt very much that the bridges in Florida are subjected to the
amount of salt corrosion that the bridges up here are subjected to.
Down there you get plenty of rain that rinses any salt spray that wind
might deposit on them. Up here the salting starts with the first
freezing sleet or snow and continues all winter. It's only swept up
in the spring.

They sweep the roads to get the salt mix up? Down here it washes off with the rain or
melting snow, but I've never seen it swept.
--

Guns don't cause problems.
Gun owner behavior causes problems.

On 3/24/2015 6:52 AM, John H. wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 21:17:39 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 3/23/2015 8:29 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:38:20 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 3/23/15 5:20 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:02:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



All depends on who is the replacement. I don't see Hillary as having
what it takes. She'll be too busy ducking answers to questions and
asking why we don't simply respect the fact that she's the first woman
president.


If this was not such a corrupt government and so many scams going on,
I would suggest a 20 cent hike in the gasoline tax that went for
absolutely NOTHING BUT fixing roads and bridges.
The thing that prevents me form being serious about it, is how badly
the government is in spending money like this on what they were
supposed to be collecting it for.
In states like Florida, it would actually go into the roads but up
north, where they really need infrastructure improvements, the money
gets siphoned off into totally unrelated programs.
That is why Florida only has around 2% of their bridges in trouble and
that is up in the double digits in California, New York and the North
East states.


Wrong. The reason is that Florida doesn't have a freeze-thaw cycle that
lasts half the year, it seems, as the northeast states do. *That* and
the salt are the killers of road infrastructure.

There is plenty of salt here. Most of the bridges go over salt water.
Freeze thaw can be an issue but not if the road is properly
engineered.
Usually frost heaves are when they did a quicky patch last time.
Water gets under the patch and blows it out when it freezes.

It is still undeniable that the places with the biggest road and
bridge problems have diverted road building money to other things like
trains people won't ride or simply to patch other holes in their
budget instead of patching holes in the bridge.



I doubt very much that the bridges in Florida are subjected to the
amount of salt corrosion that the bridges up here are subjected to.
Down there you get plenty of rain that rinses any salt spray that wind
might deposit on them. Up here the salting starts with the first
freezing sleet or snow and continues all winter. It's only swept up
in the spring.

They sweep the roads to get the salt mix up? Down here it washes off with the rain or
melting snow, but I've never seen it swept.


I am sure much of it washes away into storm drains but every spring the
town and state highway departments are out with the big street sweepers,
picking up what is left. It's recycled and used again.
In areas where you get a lot of snow the first thing that is done in a
storm is treating the roadways, overpasses and bridges with treated
sand. Bridges and overpasses are important because they will freeze
before the roadways. Then, as it snows the mess is plowed to the side
and the treated sand is applied again. This will happen many times
during a major storm and the sand and salt in the plowed snow piles
stays there until there's a major melt. We still have 3 4 foot snow
banks on all the roads up here from the storms we had in January and
February. The corrosive sand and salt mixture just sits there for weeks
and months.

I think Greg forgets that I spent three winters living in Florida where
there were many bridges and overpasses. I never saw sand blasting and
repainting of any of them. I am sure it happens from time to time but
not to the extent that you see in the northeast. During the summer
months there are crews out constantly sand blasting and repainting the
bridge and overpass structures.

On 3/23/2015 9:17 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/23/2015 8:29 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:38:20 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 3/23/15 5:20 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:02:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



All depends on who is the replacement. I don't see Hillary as having
what it takes. She'll be too busy ducking answers to questions and
asking why we don't simply respect the fact that she's the first woman
president.


If this was not such a corrupt government and so many scams going on,
I would suggest a 20 cent hike in the gasoline tax that went for
absolutely NOTHING BUT fixing roads and bridges.
The thing that prevents me form being serious about it, is how badly
the government is in spending money like this on what they were
supposed to be collecting it for.
In states like Florida, it would actually go into the roads but up
north, where they really need infrastructure improvements, the money
gets siphoned off into totally unrelated programs.
That is why Florida only has around 2% of their bridges in trouble and
that is up in the double digits in California, New York and the North
East states.


Wrong. The reason is that Florida doesn't have a freeze-thaw cycle that
lasts half the year, it seems, as the northeast states do. *That* and
the salt are the killers of road infrastructure.

There is plenty of salt here. Most of the bridges go over salt water.
Freeze thaw can be an issue but not if the road is properly
engineered.
Usually frost heaves are when they did a quicky patch last time.
Water gets under the patch and blows it out when it freezes.

It is still undeniable that the places with the biggest road and
bridge problems have diverted road building money to other things like
trains people won't ride or simply to patch other holes in their
budget instead of patching holes in the bridge.



I doubt very much that the bridges in Florida are subjected to the
amount of salt corrosion that the bridges up here are subjected to.
Down there you get plenty of rain that rinses any salt spray that wind
might deposit on them. Up here the salting starts with the first
freezing sleet or snow and continues all winter. It's only swept up
in the spring.

My neighbor has a very large front yard. It used to be a big hay field
but over the years he's been mowing it, weeding it and developing a nice
looking lawn. Each spring however there are huge boulders "growing" in
the lawn that weren't there the previous fall. Some are
huge... weighing over 1200lbs. I know that because I help him dig them
out with the back hoe on my tractor and then try to pick them up with
the bucket. It's rated to lift 1200 lbs. Some I couldn't pick up and
had to push them off into the woods.

They aren't "growing". When the ground freezes each winter they are
slowly pushed upward until they break the surface and continue to "grow"
each winter until we dig them out.

Ask any car dealer or mechanic if he wants to work on a car from Boston,
or Baton rouge...

wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 21:17:39 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

I doubt very much that the bridges in Florida are subjected to the
amount of salt corrosion that the bridges up here are subjected to.
Down there you get plenty of rain that rinses any salt spray that wind
might deposit on them. Up here the salting starts with the first
freezing sleet or snow and continues all winter. It's only swept up
in the spring.

The rain is on top of the bridge and the salt is on the bottom. We
also have a dry season for several months a year when the wind is
blowing hard and it just does not rain.
The water temperature makes a big difference too,.
I suppose the real answer would be, how much money makes it to road
and bridge maintenance (per mile and per bridge foot). I bet we win.
If you really have that much more of a harsh environment, you should
be spending more money than we do.

We have salt, etc. we also have crap roads. Lots of potholes, and some of
the highest taxes in the country. We also have a highway trust fund with
probably in excess of a $billion in IOU's from the general fund. Now they
want to raise taxes to fix roads. A couple years ago we passed an
proposition to only spend highway dollars on roads, unless we are in a
fiscal crises. We are always in a fiscal crises, we have by far the most
people on welfare. And this is a Democrat run and controlled state!