Wisebrute — February 19, 2008 @ 3:34 am

We rly have a city called Cumberland?

alexonfire — February 19, 2008 @ 4:14 am

i like the US map from that episode of futurama… oyu know where kentucky is called ‘ucky and pennsylvania is penn republic…

elzarcothepale — February 19, 2008 @ 8:33 am

that’d be like convincing me how do do rocket science in order to save $00.50.

Error401 — February 19, 2008 @ 8:33 am

Awesome example of a pipe dream.

TaiyedMan — February 19, 2008 @ 10:24 am

What a retard this guy is. Look at Alaska… Thats definately not centered around Kodiak… Try Anchorage. And Seward?! Seward’s in the south as well! So glad this didnt happen…

RSIxidor — February 19, 2008 @ 10:45 am

Alamo’s a fucking city? (well, I’m sure it is somewhere in Texas). It sure as hell isn’t big enough to have a whole state centered around it.

Alamo, exas

deutschlandia — February 19, 2008 @ 11:13 am

For the record, the names don’t correspond to the cities — Kodiak is Anchorage, Seward is Fairbanks, Cumberland is Nashville, etc.

But thanks for proving that MCS commenters think Chicago is called Dearborn.

reboot — February 19, 2008 @ 11:23 am

Is everyone who thinks the names are supposed to be the cities, really that stupid?
The map makes sense. Most of our state borders are drawn along rivers and such, but most of our major cities are also along those same geographical features. So there are a lot of administrative inefficiency because the population center in on an administrative boundary.
Eg, Portland is right on the border between between Washington and Oregon with major suburbs on the other side of the border. Washington has no income tax and Oregon has no sales tax. So people can work where there is no income tax and shop where there is no sales tax and BOTH communities has less money to do things like maintain the bridges that make this arrangement possible.
Taxes are just one issue. Schools, law enforcement, emergency services would all be more uniform and efficient if the state borders were center around actual peak of population density. The big problem is that you have to redraw the map every couple of decades, but that’s something that could easily be programmed into a computer.
But like Error401 said, its a pipe dream. We can’t even get non-corrupt congressional district defined.

AlecDalek — February 19, 2008 @ 11:35 am

Hear that? It’s the world laughing at the USA. You guys can’t even get along with each other.

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 11:52 am

@Reboot. Check out ‘El Dorado’. It seems to be centred around what? Reno? Tahoe? Desert in any case. The agriculture for that proposed state is all up in Napa, and the obvious population centre is the Bay Area? It just seems random and arbitrary to me. And there don’t seem to be any large cities in Highhorn or Littleroot, compared to El Dorado
.
This sees more like the Oblast system to me, except without the larger, overarching administrative districts. I can think of a few geographically small countries where this has worked in lieu of, say, strong municipal governments, but I don’t really see how there would be that much of a difference in a large country in the States.
.
Then on the other hand, as Reboot pointed out, it would disrupt the economy a lot. Combining North Cali and Nevada would mean one would have to start gambling or one would have to stop. There’s no other way for Nevada to make money (save whores), and it would turn the quite-strong economy of the Bay Area on its feet, and probably add a lot of crime and public disorder to an area where that is a problem.
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All in all, pretty shitty idea.

wookie_x — February 19, 2008 @ 11:55 am

I guess Cochise would be centered right around Gallup, NM. I don’t understand why anyone would want to center a state around that town, but it makes me glad that this map didn’t go through.

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 11:56 am

Oh, and most of Georgia would be tacked onto Florida, with Florida’s big city’s being significantly farther south? Northern Florida is already worlds away, in every respect, from the big cities. What is the point of this?

deutschlandia — February 19, 2008 @ 12:13 pm

@AlecDalek: name me one country that gets on perfectly with itself. I’ll assume from your name that you’re British, probably English. Your imperial ventures in the neighboring isle of Ireland resulted in a vicious terrorist campaign (that ended only because of the good offices of the US!) — on your own island, Wales and Scotland are currently escaping the clutches of Queen and country.

The US isn’t perfect — not by a long shot — but at least we don’t have active and popular secessionist movements.

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 12:27 pm

Erm, there is still a small amount of terrorism in Ireland. While the US did negotiate a lot during the Clinton years and helped things quite a bit, Bush didn’t give a shit. Most of the progress has been made via Blaire (the only good thing he’s done), Paisley and Gery Adams, as well as the Republic of Ireland Government, which has petitioned for disarmament, promised a limited extradition treaty and so on.

Wales and Scotland aren’t breaking away from the crown. They both now have more direct control of legislation relating to civil law. The Parliament of Scotland has only formalized the micromanagement of a separate civil law system that has existed since time immemorial. And most Welsh didn’t bother to in the referendum.

Also, Scotland was never taken in colonial ventures. The Scottish Monarch, James VI, relocated to London out of preference after he achieved personal union. The personal union went on so long with only the War of Three Kingdoms/Civil Wars to offer resistance (for the record, the King tended to side with Scotland over the Parliamentary rebels for those: There was nothing of a republican movement in Scotland, for the most part), it was formalized into the first Act of Union.

But Alec isn’t British, he’s Canadian. And before you say ‘Quebec’, that’s been a marginal issue since the 90s, and never had popular support amongst the Francophones, who want autonomy but not independence.

But I think what Alec was referring to was the US ‘Culture Wars’ which has been a media buzzword since the invasion of Iraq.

tiki god — February 19, 2008 @ 12:32 pm

@Caio

Northern florida has Tallahassee, which happens to have Tiki

deutschlandia — February 19, 2008 @ 12:51 pm

@Caio: The “Culture Wars” are largely chimerical and have actually been a media buzzword since at least 1992, with Buchanan’s speech at the Republican Convention, although it can be traced back to Schlafly’s Eagle Forum in America, and Bismarck’s Kulturkampf in Germany.

It is a mistake — a common mistake, perhaps — to assume that vocal disagreements about political issues means that the US is coming apart at the seams. Those sorts of disagreements are endemic to all democracy.

Canadian unity is a joke, at any rate. Besides Quebec, there’s western alienation, the First Nations, and the Newfies. Do the Canucks want to have a civil discussion about multiculturalism? I didn’t think so.

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 1:21 pm

Well, I lived seven years in the Calgary, the Capitol of WESTERN ALIENATION, and I have to say, I never met one non-politician who actually felt alienated. It was just a phony bit of hype by the Reform Party, which no longer exists. Our current PM was a Reformer from the very riding I once lived in, and now that he actually has formed a government, he seems to have forgotten about the whole thing.
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The First Nations do feel quiet alienated, but I’ve never heard them petition for Independence, and a constant theme in First Nations rhetoric is that the Numbered Treaties (and many others), were signed directly with Queen Victoria (for the most part), which has all kinds of implications I wont get into. Point being, most Band Council would prefer to deal directly with the Federal Government and pride their increasing autonomy. Oh, yes, NWT has official native languages for government, and we underwent a significant constitutional change to establish Nunavut, another point of pride for the first nations. Ever been down to Indian Territory in Oklahoma?
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There are a few Newfies that want independence, but they voluntarily gave up their Independent status after only two years. We never asked for Newfoundland. Oh, and, of course, the vast majority of Newfies left to work, and the dudes up in Fort McMurray seem pretty content with Canada.
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A civil discussion about multiculturalism? Every party has run on a platform of multiculturalism for decades. In Calgary, capitol of Canadian conservatism, most politicians rarely bother to give speeches outside of Chinatown or the Punjabi district. Canada has the highest per-capita immigration rate in the world, and virtually any suggestion of limiting immigration from politicians raises a flurry of Godwin’s Law. We also have the Multicultural Act, meant to promote the development of foreign culture, passes by our most conservative PM in a hundred years.
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Canada = Highest immigration in the world. Legislated funding for promotion of cultural diversity. Virtually no limits on immigration. Virtually no desire to place further limits on immigration. Provincial Autonomy greater than anything you’d find in the states. Specific ministries which divide federal administration of the country based on cultural lines.
USA = Wall of shame. De facto monolingualism. Openly campaigning for restriction of immigration. Neighbourhoods which are predominantly black. “Melting pot” assimilation policies. Oh, also, “White Trees”

Yeah real multicultural there.
Yeah, USA world

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 1:31 pm

Wewh, that post tired me out. I’m going down to Montana to see if there’s an ‘equal but different’ White Tree I can take a rest under.

deutschlandia — February 19, 2008 @ 1:50 pm

“Specific ministries which divide federal administration of the country based on cultural lines.”

There’s your problem. The US may be contentious, but we’re committed to democracy. Each region is governed by its people, and that’s that. We don’t need federal organizations for hispanics or japanese or indians or what have you because when people choose to immigrate they choose to immerse themselves in the American experiment of a democracy of many races, many nations, and many regions.

Canada is just a grab-bag of leftover English colonies and conquests.

Paul_Is_Drunk — February 19, 2008 @ 1:54 pm

Wow, Alec. I used to respect your opinion, but give up on the American bashing. You’re like Diabeetus picking on Obama. It’s kind of funny at first, but eventually it just looks like you have an unnatural obsession.

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 2:30 pm

@douche: You are a retard.

By separate ministries, that means the federal civil service is divided along the lines of Atlantic/Quebec/West/North. That is to say, the Regions on a federal level are managed by PMs from those areas in ways which do not cause band-aid solutions. Plus our Provinces have more power than your States.

I think that it’s very interesting how you changed your entire position as soon as you thought you had some rhetorical strongpoint. Do you even know what multiculturalism means, or do you simply not have convictions beyond blind nationalism?

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 2:32 pm

Oh, and not to put to fine a point on it, but HAVE you been to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Because I didn’t see too many voluntary flag-waving patriots down there, singing that Billy Joel song.

reboot — February 19, 2008 @ 3:29 pm

“Check out ‘El Dorado’. It seems to be centred around what?”
SF Bay, obviously. There just no point to extending borders out over the ocean.
Nevada is an interesting example since the entire existence of its economy is based on exploiting the flaws that this type of redrawing of borders would eliminate. So if all of that money that is put into the casinos and hotels and it was instead spent in the local economy, would that be better? Honestly, I don’t know, its too complicated to determine from a back of the envelope estimate. But it is an interesting thing to consider.
BTW, I was born and raised in rural NV, so I’m not bashing the place in particular. All of that casino money indirectly paid for my college.

AlecDalek — February 19, 2008 @ 6:04 pm

You don’t have to be perfect yourself to laugh at others. Especially if those others are doomed.

diabeetus — February 19, 2008 @ 6:29 pm

>>24

So I last heard, Canada was going to split up into two parts. One Quebec and the other Canadia.

Hear that? It’s the world laughing at Canada. You guys can’t even get along with each other.

mistergreen — February 19, 2008 @ 7:13 pm

I think it’s centered on Counties not cities. Either way though Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw dunno why ask the Native Americans that one if you can find any) is the northern most city/county on the lower peninsula.

Cochise is a county in Arizona as well.

dekay46 — February 19, 2008 @ 7:37 pm

I like boobs.

deutschlandia — February 19, 2008 @ 8:30 pm

@ dekay46: touche

deutschlandia — February 19, 2008 @ 8:45 pm

@AlecDalek: The US is doomed? I’ll keep that in mind the next time I hear about dropping birth rates up north. Good luck being replaced with Chinese.

@Caio: unless Manitoba has its own military, I doubt the provinces have more powers than the States. The States are fully sovereign, the provinces are administrative details.

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 9:25 pm

@Douchelandia:

1) What are you talking about?

2) I’ve already wrote several tl;dr posts. If you really want to justify your metanarrative, Virgil, the burden of proof is on you.

3) Because this entire time you’ve been constructing this lovely mythos for your Country, involving people of all nations coming together to share a common dream and goal of democracy, I have dug up my ‘Best of Neil Diamond’ CD and played the track ‘America’ at least a couple dozen times, trying to find the answer to the question I’ve posed to you already: If you pride yourself on Canadian Meltingpot Multiculturalism as a type of shared and voluntary world-dream and a foundation for democracy, AND you condemn Canada for its treatment of the First Nations, then how do your own Natives fit into you little metanarrative, Virgil?

Caio — February 19, 2008 @ 9:28 pm

Er, sorry, “American Meltingpot multiculturalism. I’ll try to be more concise: If you criticize Canada for the treatment of the First Nations, why do you so strongly imply that the Natives of the US (or white Americans for that matter) share the same Democratic dreams and goals that you do?

All you’ve given me is a storybook tale, and I’m throwing information at you. Break the chains of your idealism and give me some research and ideological consistency please.

unknown — January 21, 2008 @ 3:42 am

Wikipedia has a bigger, original version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternator

vygramul — January 22, 2008 @ 2:03 am

I’m not sure it qualifies as propaganda. Normally, propaganda is associated with untruth. When’s the last time a government didn’t say a war would be over in just a couple of weeks/months? If anything, this is as true a statement about war any government anywhere has ever made.

Sticky — January 22, 2008 @ 4:37 pm

But don’t you have to look down the sights to get the most accurate shot?

Ha! I love wordgames.

mgear — January 20, 2008 @ 1:14 pm

Yes.

Give me petrol or give me death! =)

wontbecivil — January 20, 2008 @ 1:26 pm

How does having a dumb-ass for a Captain equate to me driving an H2?

mgear — January 20, 2008 @ 1:40 pm

It’s about oil rationing. I.e. the less we all use, the less “our men” die bringing it back to us.

But, isn’t this an ancient battle tactic? Starve your enemy till he’s either too weak to fight or runs out of ammo. What’s it called again? Camping? No, I think Siege.

If they wanna die for it, then I wanna pay for it! Soon as damn people stop dying is the day I’ll stop using gasoline!

RSIxidor — January 20, 2008 @ 1:49 pm

In the world of RTS, its called harassing.

Kolossos — January 20, 2008 @ 7:49 pm

In Starcraft it’s called killing the gatherers.

Gilly — January 21, 2008 @ 1:12 am

With me, it’s called I want my gas!

El_Chupachichis — June 20, 2008 @ 8:33 am

Of course, when this was printed (WWII, I expect), people knew the value of defending resources from an enemy.

Now, it’s “No Blood For Oil”.

Jimmed — January 20, 2008 @ 6:00 pm

I totally should never have quit.

Kolossos — January 20, 2008 @ 8:02 pm

Damn, that’s it, this advertisement just convinced me to start smoking (and therefore being awesome) even though I’m only 16. From now, every morning, I’m going to smoke 3 packs of cigarettes then two cigars. And when I’m 18 I add prostitutes to the morning retinue.

jasonp — January 20, 2008 @ 9:05 pm

mmm mmm mmm toasty!

casemods — January 25, 2008 @ 6:19 pm

Black and mild’s ftw.

Jimmed — January 29, 2008 @ 1:02 pm

@Kolossos:

You should never start shagging prostitutes. They’re an expensive addiction that are bad for your health, and have been attributed to lung cancer, infertility, and premature death.

*lights up a smoke*

Paul_Is_Drunk — January 20, 2008 @ 9:20 am

Not that I particularly like the French, but during the Napoleonic wars and before they had an awesome battle record.

Darthmalt — January 20, 2008 @ 1:49 pm

French Military History
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

Short version, The only time they win is when they are led by a Corsican (Napolean) or a Woman who hears voices in her head (Joan of Arc)

AlecDalek — January 20, 2008 @ 6:04 pm

Don’t forget surrender! Actually, the French have always had a strong military, but they have gone through periods of pacifism, and their corrupt government sold them out in WWII.

Goldfinger — January 20, 2008 @ 6:19 pm

Good thing tough. The germans already were sending the french soldiers home because they lacked room and supply for prisoners.

Caio — January 20, 2008 @ 9:52 pm

As a historian, the first primary source I hit is Albino Blacksheep. However, I am slightly dissapointed that such great and venerable scholars somehow overlooked the colonial wars, and virtually every war before the Napoleonic.

I mean the Frech, for most of their history, were surrounded to three sides by agressive world powers, and still managed to survive and run an overseas Empire on five continents: That only happens by winning wars.

I can’t see any reason why the US (surrounded by Canada and Mexico and almost Greenland, lost in Vietnam, lost in Nicoragua, lost in North Africa, fucked up in Afganestan, losing in Afganestan again, losing in Iraq) would have any reason to be insecure about France’s military (and cultural) record.
…
ferserious

batmanturbod — January 21, 2008 @ 1:42 pm

cheese eating surrender monkeys

nippletwister — January 21, 2008 @ 4:43 pm

The French have a truly awesome thousand-year record of military achievement. Which is something most bitch-ass, mass-murdering, pussy fart Americans will never bother to understand.
And in modern times, they have decided to try to be a little more reasonable than their bloodthirsty ancestors. Another thing that you corn eating bitch monkeys will never understand.

schulzbrianr — January 26, 2008 @ 11:02 am

Caio:
The US lost in Vietnam because the Government pulled out, and the troops were drafted.

No clue what being surrounded by Canada or Mexico (and almost Greenland?) has to do with anything, but, considering Mexico IS invading (with civilians), I guess you have a point. No clue about Nicoragua (or Nicaragua), or North Africa (is that where Patton stomped on Rommel? I saw a movie about that) and Afganestan (Afghanistan?) isn’t losing, same with Iraq. Read something more than http://www.moveon.org or whatever Democratic “shit on the military/Bush administration” site’s you frequent.

maxcw — January 20, 2008 @ 1:32 pm

The original is much nicer. I’d kill to own an original copy of this poster

http://www.shannenrossmiller.c.....ourCountry’sSakeTodayA.jpg

maxcw — January 20, 2008 @ 1:33 pm

you’ll have to copy paste that link.