Saturday, May 24, 2014

Gay Marriage Map Update Re: Pennsylvania

And the map got bluer.



Courtesy of Wikipedia we get a new map of gay marriage in the United States.  With the addition of Pennsylvania, we're up to 19* states, plus the District of Columbia, that currently or will recognize same-sex marriage.  *Illinois won't become official until June 1.

I think we'll just categorize those striped states as being bi-marriage states.  They kinda swing both ways.

So what does this mean?

Adding Pennsylvania, and including Illinois, at least 137,000,000 people in the United States live (or will live) in a place where gay marriage is legal.

Gay marriage states account for 191 Representatives (including the delegates) in the U.S. House and 38 Senators in the U.S. Senate.

Percentage wise, that's about 43.5% of the U.S. population and the U.S. House; and 38% of the U.S. Senate.

Broken down by party...U.S. House: 133 Democrats, 58 Republicans. U.S. Senate: 32 Democrats, 4 Republicans, 2 Independents.

Those 19* states account for 231 Electoral Votes. *Including Illinois.

In terms of regions of the U.S:

New England became the first region to legalize gay marriage.  The Mid-Atlantic region has become the second.  With Pennsylvania making it official, the Northeast is now fully pro-marriage equality.

The Midwest will add it's 3rd state with Illinois.  Still 9 to go there.

The Pacific West has 4. (Only Alaska is left)

The Mountain West just has New Mexico.

When using the Census Bureau's designation of the South, there are 3 states* (Delaware, Maryland, & D.C.) that have legalized gay marriage.

What would happen if those bi-marriage states (specifically the red & gold ones) decided to swing to pro-gay marriage?

The number of pro-marriage states would expand to 28 or 56%! (MAJORITY)

The population living in states that are pro-marriage would be about 209,000,000 or about 65%! (MAJORITY)

The number of U.S. House Reps would be 271 or 66%! (MAJORITY)  (Broken down by party it would be 159 Democrats and 130 Republicans)

The number of U.S. Senators would be 56 or 56%! (MAJORITY)  (Broken down by party it would be 38 Democrats and 16 Republicans)

The number of pro-marriage electoral votes would be 347! (You only need 270 to be president)

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Dogglegangers

A government proposes a budget.  It could be federal, state, or local.  The question, could you tell if the government is a conservative or liberal/progressive government just by its budget?

That's the question I propose.  A budget has been handed down somewhere and based on the winners and losers in the budget, can you tell the ideology of the government?

Winners:
Defense
Medical Research
Infrastructure
Mining Companies

In Between:
High Income Earners
Private Sector

Losers:
Foreign Aid
Families
Senior Citizens
Education
Health
Public Service
Unemployed
Young People
University Students
Disabled
Low Income Earners
Public Broadcasting
Environment

If you're curious about the budget in question you visit here, here, here, and here.