Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Presidential Metrics: Lincoln Chafee and le Système International

posted by takyon on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the 2016-lbs-in-a-ton dept.

hemocyanin writes:

The most recent candidate under the DNC banner is Lincoln Chafee who interestingly, besides being the lone Republican (he switched parties) to vote against the Iraq war, is vehemently pro-metric system. I remember when I was a kid, the freeway signs for distance and speed were printed in both English and metric. Converting all those signs from miles to km (again) would cost money, but then, using the English measurement system costs money too, forever -- according to a random guy I googled up without putting any real effort into it because I'm not that interested in proving myself wrong (Paul Naughtin), somewhere between six billion and a trillion. There are without a doubt, critics who might call that somewhat of a wide margin but as one witty commenter noted: "It is probably impossible to give an upper bound on that, however I can give you a lower bound: 500 Million Dollars for the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter by NASA".

Now, I'm neither a firm GOP nor DNC voter... but I'm tempted.

takyon: Former Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee joins a number of other candidates seeking a 2016 U.S. presidential nomination.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Presidential Metrics: Lincoln Chafee and le Système International | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 67 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by mechanicjay on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:57PM

    by mechanicjay (7) <mechanicjayNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:57PM (#192892) Homepage Journal

    From my view the biggest issues facing this country are in no particular order:

    • Corporate/Govt. collusion at the highest levels
    • Crumbling infrastructure
    • Public Education in a dead spin
    • Accelerated widening of the weath gap
    • unchecked military spending

    I'd personally place "metric system conversion" somewhere far down the list, past things like "ease up on regulations for people importing a vehicle for personal use" and "stop minting pennies". I scanned through the pdf talking about how much this costs the US and I just don't agree with the base assumptions posed in the paper. So while, I'm sure there are some efficiencies to be gained, it's a difficult number to quantify.

    Seems to me that Mr. Chafee has some odd priorities if this is what he's harping on. Next candidate please!

    --
    My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:25PM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:25PM (#192934) Journal

    If his stance on Snowden (he should be allowed to come home) is any indication, he's probably not bad on the issues you mentioned. He's also anti-drone. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/03/chafee-running-president-calls-snowden-allowed-home/ [firstlook.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @08:33PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @08:33PM (#192993)

      When I saw his announcement the other day, I looked him up.
      Lincoln Chafee on the issues [ballotpedia.org]
      His position on guns surprised me.
      His position on weed is authoritarian and out of touch.

      For comparison, here's Bernie Sanders. [ballotpedia.org]

      -- gewg_