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General discussion

How big is Texas. . .

Feb 16, 2004 5:06AM PST

El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas.

King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island.

Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles, Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles

Discussion is locked

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Re:How big is Texas. . .
Feb 16, 2004 5:18AM PST

A Texan is bragging to a Jew about the size of his ranch. He proudly says, "If I get in my car at six in the morning and drive ALL DAY, by the time the sun goes down I still haven't reached the other end of my ranch!"

The Jew nodds his head in understanding and says wistfully, "I once had a car like that...."

Happy

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It is a little smaller than Idaho, or Colorado, or Montana. . .
Feb 16, 2004 5:46AM PST

if we could iron out all the wrinkles where the Rockies, and Bitterroot ranges run through. Wink

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You forgot another one ...
Feb 16, 2004 8:04AM PST

IIRC the distance from El Paso to Texarkana is about the same as the distance from Texarkana to the East Coast.

My Texas History class (7th or 8th grade, while living in Lubbock) was a long time ago, but I remember they made a big deal about that kind of stuff.

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A friend from Alaska...
Feb 16, 2004 10:09AM PST

told me that when it was admitted as a state, Texas was sooo p.o.'d that they weren't the biggest state anymore. Alaska offered to be divided in half, but that just would have made Texas the third largest state.

dw

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That idea was mentioned to 'Mr Sam'
Feb 16, 2004 9:23PM PST

(Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the house) and he replied:

Well, we'll just get a few of our buddies together and throw a party in Alaska. When we are done chopping ice for our drinks, y'all will be the size of Rhode Island.

Bo

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Big enough to split into 5 states, gain 8 senators...
Feb 16, 2004 1:49PM PST

...and every new state still be bigger than any of the New England states. Maybe not such a bad idea. Sure would tip the power scales in Washington DC.

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Gerrymandered Borders...
Feb 16, 2004 5:35PM PST
Sure would tip the power scales in Washington DC. - James Denison

In what way? Are you assuming that each state would become a Republican dominated state? Maybe if they gerrymandered the borders of each new state, it could happen. Otherwise, splitting Texas into 8 separate states might just lead to 4 new Republican and 4 new Democratic dominated states...
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Assumptions can take a lot of different forms
Feb 16, 2004 8:31PM PST

Funny, I didn't see where James indicated anything about Republican vs Democratic, conservative vs liberal, or any other idealogica views.

What I read indicated he thought the New England states had too much influence. Since he mentioned each section of Texas would be bigger than any of the New England states, I made the assumption that he thought that those states had too much influence for their population and (at least his view) their actual importance to the union.

If I had to guess, I agree I'd expect overall for James to support Republican candidates over Democratic in idealogy.

But his post seemed to be about regional power, not necessarily left/right idealogy.

So who's making assumptions?

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Yep, Regional impact.
Feb 16, 2004 11:09PM PST

I could see it making a difference in laws about gun control, abortion, moral issues, and trade policies, without there being much difference on whether the person elected was Dem or Repub.