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Tony Montana posted:Are there really guns like loving everywhere? People walk around with handguns and poo poo? That can't be real. Laws about what you can carry and how you can carry it vary by place. The only place I've been where I've seen dudes walking around with holstered pistols was in the southwest. quote:How does having no healthcare as a national service reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress? I think "great country" is meant more idealistically - it's a stand-in for sentiments like we're great because we try to do good in the world, we're great because God favors us, we're great because we stand up for Liberty and the ideals of the Founding Fathers, etc. An example of what I mean is that if someone asked your question but with a different premise, like "How does having legal abortions reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress?", someone who doesn't have a link between the ideas of 'Christian laws' and 'great country' wouldn't be able to answer directly. They'd have to dispute the premise. quote:Do you cringe when people stand up and say poo poo like 'the greatest country on earth!!'? Do you find it unbearably arrogant and self-absorbed? I'm inclined to tacitly agree with them. Whether it's awkward or not depends on the setting -- if I come across Very Patriotic Talk randomly in public, I tend to think the speaker is selling something. But it's fine with me if I'm, say, in a bar watching a game and someone is so moved by the grace and skill of our athletes (and alcohol) as to praise America. I can see how foreigners might find it distasteful to talk about, though. quote:How do you perceive the rest of the world sees you? I hope they think we're generous people who like to help others in need, or that we're people who like adventure, or people who strive for a good life. I'm sure there are lots of ugly American stereotypes, though - that we're unsophisticated, obsessed with money and/or religion, prone to violence, fat, arrogant, etc. quote:Where else have you been in the world? (this is a direct question to whoever answers my questions) I grew up in Washington DC, I currently live on the West Coast, and I've been most everywhere in the continental US except some of the midwest. Internationally I've been to Japan and South Korea, as well as Canada and Mexico. quote:What is great about being American? The country's huge, with a great variety of very different places. There's room to accommodate a vast number of ways of living and a political system that, at least in aspiration, can establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare of all of them. Also it's pretty great that our founding documents are actually documents and that reading and arguing about what they mean is a part of our culture. quote:What was the last meal you had? In detail please Two English muffins with butter and lingonberry jam. Some water to drink.
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Feb 3, 2017 07:31
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Tiggum posted:So what's the deal with voting on issues? What sort of stuff do you vote on? Who determines what goes to a public vote, and how is it decided? What sort of power do those votes carry (like, are they absolutely binding or more like opinion polls?) How often do you vote on that kind of stuff? Issues can go to ballot by legislative referral (the state legislature punts it to the people) or, in some states, by ballot initiative. Ballot initiatives are when John Q. Citizen gets an idea and gathers a fuckton of signatures of other state residents who all agree that "there oughtta be a law". If enough signatures are gathered, then it goes on the general ballot. In some states, citizens can also put measures to repeal legislation on the ballot by a similar process, which gets called a veto referendum. They're the law of the land if they pass. (The idea that a referendum could be non-binding shocked me when I read about Brexit, in a "what? that's a way things can be?" kind of way.) In my current state, Oregon, these were the ballot measures in last year's election: quote:Measure 94 was rejected. It would have repealed the mandatory judicial retirement age, which was set at 75 years old. There are city, county, state, and federal elections. As an example of the kinds of officials we elect in them, last year in Portland we voted for the mayor and two city councilors. I couldn't find a record of the county election online, but we elected people like water commissioners and judges. In Oregon, we elected the Governor, Oregon Secretary of State, a Senator, a State Treasurer, and the state Attorney General. We elected someone in the federal election, too, as you know. In terms of how they were covered, the Portland mayor's race attracted citywide attention because there were a lot of candidates and the previous mayor was not well-liked. We also heard about the governor and Senate races, at least a little. The local offices and "minor" state positions usually aren't covered at all, which is how things can happen like conservative voting blocs taking over local school boards. In places with low populations, a few thousand people being extraordinarily motivated to go vote, and vote a particular way, can make a big difference. Then those school boards start endorsing their candidates for state education boards, and even people who are moderate might start to think "Oh, this guy's endorsed by all of these school boards, so he must be OK. Not like the lunatic in my local area!". In terms of deciding how to vote, there is a "voter's guide" put out by the county board of elections. It has statements from all of the candidates for all of the races, as well as information on the ballot initiatives. I imagine most places have something similar. Some people read it, other people vote based on party affiliation or some other arbitrary factor.
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Feb 22, 2017 07:16
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Tiggum posted:What's a water commissioner, and how are they like a judge? Water and sewer utilities are publicly owned. They administer those utilities, but I really have no idea what that entails on a day to day basis. Water business stuff, I guess? quote:So you directly elect the heads of your government departments? That's not true of the federal government though, right? In Oregon, there's an office called "Secretary of State" which runs a lot of government departments. That office maintains public archives, oversees public spending, handles legal functions relating to corporations, and runs the state elections board. It's not like the federal Secretary of State, which handles foreign affairs and is appointed by the President like the rest of the federal government. (I had to look up what the Oregon SoS's role specifically was.) Each state's bureaucracy is totally different, though - Oregon doesn't have a Lieutenant Governor, while many other states do, for instance. We also don't elect every department head directly -- We The People are fine with government cronies running, say, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, but when it comes to things like state treasurer, we want more control. I don't know whether that's true everywhere, but I suspect it is. quote:This was state senate? I assume that federal senate elections get more coverage? State senate is covered a little, but most candidates are still unknowns to the general public. US Senate, it depends on the political circumstances - if an incumbent isn't running for re-election or is facing a serious challenge, it's news. If the incumbent's popular and the opposition party is running whoever drew the short straw, it doesn't get much coverage at all.
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Feb 22, 2017 10:32
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Tiggum posted:Is there any kind of standardisation to this, or does each state make up their own rules? Like, in Oregon you elect a water commissioner, but in another state that role may be filled by someone appointed by the governor or selected by committee or whatever? Each state makes their own rules. They mirror the federal system in the Constitution to some degree with three branches of government, separation of powers, etc. But hypothetically there could be a state with a constitution such that there could be a quasi-dictatorial governor. Typically the lieutenant governor has a role in the state legislature and establish/oversee task forces. The only common thread, so far as I know, is that the lieutenant governor is first in line to succeed the governor if some kind of misfortune happens to him. In some states the lieutenant governor is an active force in politics, while in others all they need to do is read the paper and see if the governor's dead.
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Feb 22, 2017 19:35
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Turdsdown Tom posted:I just talked about this on the radio not too long ago. I think it's hilarious that New Hampshire businesses can get away with legally advertising their shop as being located "in tax-free New Hampshire" on Massachusetts radio stations. But hey, I mean, if it saves me a hundred bucks or so in tax when I go buy a TV or something, I'm all for it Some businesses in WA state won't charge you sales tax if you show an Oregon ID. (Oregon has no sales tax and I assume those businesses would rather take the tax hit themselves rather than lose a sale.)
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Feb 22, 2017 19:37
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Shbobdb posted:Rural/Southern "politeness" is absolutely insufferable. In the Bronx if someone is talking my ear off about nothing they are pulling a big dick move. If my grandfather wants to talk my ear off, that's his prerogative, he's earned it. Same goes for my boss. When some stranger talks to me about random poo poo I don't give a gently caress about while circumventing the point with "politeness" they are suggesting that my time is something that they have a right to and can waste. It's the rudest thing loving possible but if I ask them to get to the point, then I'm the loving monster. Bless your heart.
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Feb 28, 2017 10:47
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Grandmother of Five posted:Thanks again to people who have taken the time to answer questions btw. I went to public school in a very wealthy county in a liberal east coast state. I recall sex ed was first at the end of elementary school and then again in middle school, so that'd be the late 1980s/early 1990s in my case. There were opt-out forms for your parents if they objected, but I don't remember anyone taking that option. My hazy memory has it that it was one class period per day for a week. Abstinence was presented as a method that would certainly avoid all of the potential misery of getting an STD or having a baby. But we also learned about a wide variety of other forms of contraception. I don't remember LGBT stuff being discussed outside of the context of HIV, which was a big deal at the time.
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Mar 26, 2017 20:16
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Grandmother of Five posted:Is that an experience that the others of you living in the US recognize? That people are divided socially along political lines? How strict is that, like, do you have barely any, or no close friends at all who doesn't share your party affiliation? Do you pretty much know the political affiliation of all your friends and family members? I feel comfortable talking about politics with close friends, even though we don't agree on everything. I don't like to talk about politics with strangers. In my experience, most people who've brought up politics to me shortly after meeting me have been either fanatics of one stripe or another or boors. I know the affiliation of my family, sure. I could take a guess at most of my friends. I don't think whether or not someone voted is any of my business and I don't think anything less of people who decide not to vote.
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Apr 25, 2017 16:30
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 18:01 |
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married but discreet posted:Perhaps a stupid question, but I recently got my PhD and am moving to Austin to work as an evolutionary biologist at UTA. Is my occupation something I should better not mention to potential landlords and generic americans if asked what I do? What about outside of Austin? Will I be Hills Have Eyed there? You'll be fine. Most Americans, especially in cities, respect science. The only landlord scenario that I could imagine where your profession might cause friction is something like if you were proposing to rent a Jesus freak's basement. Otherwise, most landlords are capitalists and will be happy to take your rent money even if they are creationists.
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May 18, 2017 03:09
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