The states which people are leaving

I'm glad people are leaving California. Leave more room at the beach for me!

Wonder who's the last one to turn out the lights in Michigan.

I would that thought the collapse of the manufacturing sectors in the states mentioned, had more than a little to do with the overall global economic situation? I really don't think you can blame particular state governments for that. And it hasn't only been in the US, plenty of this where I live & in other "developed" countries, too.

apart from a brief stay in the state of disillusionment, i've lived my entire life in the state of confusion, and doubt i'll ever leave

There, there, possum.

I believe Florida is also losing population, for the first time since WWII. And they're staunch Republicans.

According to the news this morning, Hawaii is losing population for the first time in a decade. The economy is being blamed. People move to the mainland to find work; ain't no jobs here if the touristindustry is suffering.

So, my question is, if everybody's leaving California and Hawaii etc. etc., where the hell's the place where all the jobs are at? Where's everyone moving to?

You just moved. And celebrated an anniversary of your 21rst birthday.

So: don't get too curious!

Hopefully not Colorado or Wyoming. I'd like to move there in a few years and I would hate it if it got more crowded. I'd be forced up to Alaska or something (which is also a possibility).

China

That makes good sense, msolga. We've exported so many jobs to there.

just leave your heroin at home

China executes Briton said to be mentally ill
Kin: Man convicted of smuggling after 30-minute trial was lured into crime

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was arrested in 2007 for carrying a suitcase with almost 9 pounds of heroin into China.

updated 7:27 a.m. ET, Tues., Dec . 29, 2009
URUMQI, China - China brushed aside international appeals Tuesday and executed a British drug smuggler who relatives say was mentally unstable and unwittingly lured into crime.

Britain's prime minister quickly criticized the execution " China's first of a European citizen in nearly 60 years.

"I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms, and am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted. I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

The press office of the Xinjiang region where Shaikh had been held confirmed the execution in a faxed statement.

Pop song for world peace
Shaikh, 53, first learned he was about to be executed Monday from his visiting cousins, who made a last-minute plea for his life. They say he was mentally unstable and was lured to China from a life on the street in Poland by men playing on his dreams to record a pop song for world peace.

Brown had spoken personally to China's prime minister about his case. Foreign Secretary David Miliband also condemned the execution and said there were unanswered questions about the trial.

"I also deeply regret the fact that our specific concerns about the individual in this case were not taken into consideration ... These included mental health issues, and inadequate professional interpretation during the trial," Miliband said in a statement.

China defended the case and criticized Brown's comments, saying drug smuggling was a serious crime.

"We express our strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the British accusation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news conference.

Jiang said she hoped the case did not harm bilateral relations, and called on London not to create any "obstacles" to better ties.

9 pounds of heroin
Shaikh was arrested in 2007 for carrying a suitcase with almost 9 pounds of heroin into China on a flight from Tajikistan. He told Chinese officials he didn't know about the drugs and that the suitcase wasn't his, according to Reprieve, a London-based prisoner advocacy group that is helping with his case.

He was convicted in 2008 after a half-hour trial.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted China's Supreme Court as saying Tuesday that although officials from the British Embassy and a British aid organization called for a mental health examination for Shaikh, "the documents they provided could not prove he had a mental disorder nor did members of his family have a history of mental disease."

"There is no reason to cast doubt on Akmal Shaikh's mental status," the Supreme Court was quoted as saying.

Xinhua said Shaikh was put to death by lethal injection. China, which executes more people than any other country, is increasingly doing so by lethal injection, although some death sentences are still carried out by a shot in the head.

'Sad indictment'
The Beijing-based lawyer for Shaikh's death sentence review, Zhang Qingsong, said Tuesday he never got to meet with Shaikh despite asking the judge and the detention center for access. He said China's highest court never evaluated Shaikh's mental status.

According to Reprieve, the last European executed in China was Antonio Riva, an Italian pilot who was shot by a firing squad in 1951 after being convicted of involvement in what China said was a plot to assassinate Mao Zedong and other high-ranking communist officials.

"The death of Akmal Shaikh is a sad indictment of today's world, and particularly of China's legal system. ... We at Reprieve are sickened by what we have seen during our work on this case," said Sally Rowen, legal director of Reprieve's death penalty team.

Reprieve issued a statement from Shaikh's family members saying they expressed "their grief at the Chinese decision to refuse mercy."

A major problem with California is the system that allows the people to pass binding propositions. I think these are usually the result of campaigns run by demagogues and are usually damaging to the state long-term. For instance, it is nearly impossible to raise needed taxes because a relatively small minority, made up of Republicans, in the legislature can block a tax initiative. Real estate values are distorted because of a proposition. Etc.

I'd view that as the one saving grace which the place has. Moreover, all anybody ever has to do to defeat any such proposition is convince 50.1% of the people to vote against it.