Is John Kerry changing parties?

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Well, to be fair Massachussetts is about the size of large Iowa farm...so just outside the Top 10 is not bad.

I think he's saying (mostly correctly) that labor unions aren't among the top 10 special interest groups in MA. Teachers Unions have some clout, Police & Fire ones do at the city level, but they're really not big or necessary to convince people to vote Democratic. There are too many small fiefdoms and too much provincialism to ever cede the initiative to a national organization.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

The rural portions of the state and the horribly run campaign by the Democratic candidate contributed to a temporary brain-fart on the part of a very slim majority of the population.

You bet your ass we'll be rectifying that ASAP.

4.4 million of the 6.5 million people in MA live in "Greater Boston" (depending on how you define it). Scott Brown's base was actually the South and the North Shore in addition to CMass. Western Mass, the most rural part of the state, actually voted for Coakley - File:Massachusetts Senatorial Special Election Results by Municipality, 2010.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You are correct that that race has little bearing on any attempt to unseat an incumbent like Kerry.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Well, to be fair Massachussetts is about the size of large Iowa farm...so just outside the Top 10 is not bad.

Not talking total numbers, just talking % of people in the state.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

4.4 million of the 6.5 million people in MA live in "Greater Boston" (depending on how you define it). Scott Brown's base was actually the South and the North Shore in addition to CMass. Western Mass, the most rural part of the state, actually voted for Coakley - File:Massachusetts Senatorial Special Election Results by Municipality, 2010.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You are correct that that race has little bearing on any attempt to unseat an incumbent like Kerry.

Oh that's right. I'd forgotten how it broke down. Central Mass=Western Mass to me. It's all the same.

South Shore is our own little redneck-secret, you know that. North Shore...they're alright, they just went a little overboard on the "leave us to fend for ourselves" theme.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If you can't go through $10 million without any bizarre spending (i.e. buying an indy league baseball team in North Dakota) then you aren't trying. Hell, you're consciously trying not to spend on that amount to get it to last.

LOL

I think our lifestyles might differ somewhat, I grew up skint - I don't consciously try not to spend money ... thats my natural state of being, you have to pry money out of my hands

[molson]

Originally Posted by SteveBollea

"Don't work actually change the tax laws, just voluntarily donate more tax money!"

This sentence doesn't make any sense.

[JediKooter]

I am of the opinion that it is no ones business (excluding illegal activity) what other people do with their money. If someone makes a billion dollars a year, it is their money and they can do whatever they want with it. If they choose to give some to charity, fine. If they choose to keep it all to themselves, that's fine too.

[molson]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I am of the opinion that it is no ones business (excluding illegal activity) what other people do with their money. If someone makes a billion dollars a year, it is their money and they can do whatever they want with it. If they choose to give some to charity, fine. If they choose to keep it all to themselves, that's fine too.

But taxes are everyone's business, literally.

By definition, having any opinion on any tax (for or against) is having an opinion on what someone else should do with their money.

So I think it's a little problematic to have an incredibly strong opinion about what other people do with their money, but then claim it's nobody's business what you do with your own.

[JediKooter]

Wasn't talking about taxes...even though this thread is about taxes.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I did cover taxes when I said "Excluding illegal activity", since it is illegal to not pay your taxes.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Oh that's right. I'd forgotten how it broke down. Central Mass=Western Mass to me. It's all the same.

South Shore is our own little redneck-secret, you know that. North Shore...they're alright, they just went a little overboard on the "leave us to fend for ourselves" theme.

Only reason I know CMass/WMass differences is the time spent at UMass... if you want to condescend to the rest of the state, I'm with you. There's the Rt 2 corridor out to Acton, the MetroWest until you get to Framingham and maybe the Rt 109 corridor down to Medfield. Other than that, there are maybe 3 towns in the state I'd live in - Amherst/Hadley and Duxbury. North Shore is eerily similar to the South Shore - ok enough on the ocean - tourists going to the beach, the remnants of the fishing industry and their kids that think they're tougher than they are, but head inland and its gets horrible. Methuen/Lawrence/Haverhill are the equivalent of Fall River/Tauntun/Attleboro. Even some of the supposedly nicer towns like Beverly/Salem/Marshfield/Weymouth are trashy.

[molson]

Fitchburg FTW!

OK, that's it.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by molson

Fitchburg FTW!

OK, that's it.

You're not going to defend Leominster and Gardner while you're at it? It's really the extra half-hour into Boston that kills those for me. I can drive an hour round-trip to hang out with friends or go out for the night, but a full hour each way is pushing it. And I like Boston a little more as an entertainment hub than Worcester.

[molson]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

You're not going to defend Leominster and Gardner while you're at it? It's really the extra half-hour into Boston that kills those for me. I can drive an hour round-trip to hang out with friends or go out for the night, but a full hour each way is pushing it. And I like Boston a little more as an entertainment hub than Worcester.

The worst is that commuter train. It's about an hour and forty-five minutes from Fitchburg to North Station. And it smells funny. Alewife is pretty convenient though.

Fitchburg and Worcester are "entertainment hubs" in the sense that it was pretty entertaining to drink beer in the woods there back in the day.

[Young Drachma]

Makes the pick of Lieberman all the more appropriate then, I guess.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Well, to be fair Massachussetts is about the size of large Iowa farm...so just outside the Top 10 is not bad.

I laughed.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Only reason I know CMass/WMass differences is the time spent at UMass... if you want to condescend to the rest of the state, I'm with you. There's the Rt 2 corridor out to Acton, the MetroWest until you get to Framingham and maybe the Rt 109 corridor down to Medfield. Other than that, there are maybe 3 towns in the state I'd live in - Amherst/Hadley and Duxbury. North Shore is eerily similar to the South Shore - ok enough on the ocean - tourists going to the beach, the remnants of the fishing industry and their kids that think they're tougher than they are, but head inland and its gets horrible. Methuen/Lawrence/Haverhill are the equivalent of Fall River/Tauntun/Attleboro. Even some of the supposedly nicer towns like Beverly/Salem/Marshfield/Weymouth are trashy.

This

I'm just lucky enough to have grown up and spent all my time in the nice parts of the state.

Methuen and Lawrence are wretched. Don't even get me started on the 24-7 crack-den that is Lowell. Ugh.

Salem's okay in the touristy type parts of town (from what I remember. Been awhile). Weymouth is a pit.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by molson

The worst is that commuter train. It's about an hour and forty-five minutes from Fitchburg to North Station. And it smells funny. Alewife is pretty convenient though.

Fitchburg and Worcester are "entertainment hubs" in the sense that it was pretty entertaining to drink beer in the woods there back in the day.

Worcester as an entertainment hub is so dead. It's depressing. I remember once I drove my sister to some rap concert out there when she was in HS. I needed to kill some time, but even that shopping mall thing by the Centrum was closed at like 8pm. I ended up sitting in some restauraunt for like 2 hours and in my car for an hour.

That town is so run-down. It's kinda sad actually.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by molson

The worst is that commuter train. It's about an hour and forty-five minutes from Fitchburg to North Station. And it smells funny. Alewife is pretty convenient though.

Fitchburg and Worcester are "entertainment hubs" in the sense that it was pretty entertaining to drink beer in the woods there back in the day.

Worcester as an entertainment hub is so dead. It's depressing. I remember once I drove my sister to some rap concert out there when she was in HS. I needed to kill some time, but even that shopping mall thing by the Centrum was closed at like 8pm. I ended up sitting in some restauraunt for like 2 hours and in my car for an hour.

That town is so run-down. It's kinda sad actually.