New scare from the GOP - The evil socialist metric system

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Published on July 2nd, 2009, 10:12 am
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John Feehery, A GOP lobbyist raises this scare now that "Norm Coleman finally threw in the towel against the one-time joke writer" (i.e. lost an election):

The metric system is the kind of thing that you can expect from the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority Democrats now have in the United States Senate.


Never mind that no one has proposed this and it's probably #1865 on Obama's todo list, it's a good whipping boy ever since Gerald Ford, (that notorious Democrat) signed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975.

Heaven forbid that the US would ever move to that left wing metric system - only moonbat socialists would ever do that
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Why then we wouldn't be entertained by Lockheed-Martin crashing the Mars orbiter
Religion is regarded by the common people as true; by the wise as false, and by politicians as useful." Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4 BCE - 65CE
July 2nd, 2009, 10:12 am
 
Sanjuro showed me that comment yesterday on Drudge. That was hilarious. These conservatives are going to have to do some major growing up before Americans ought to consider taking them seriously again.
July 2nd, 2009, 10:23 am
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SouthernFriedInfidel
 
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Does anyone honestly think Americans can do the math during the transition period well enough not kill themselves while driving?
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July 2nd, 2009, 10:27 am
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What math do they need to do while driving? A sign that says "speed limit 100 kph" would get as much attention as those that say "Speed limit 60 mph."

Which of course is "none."

BTW, I know my car can convert its information to decimal. I thought they all could.
July 2nd, 2009, 10:49 am
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I've spent my life doing it! If the UK, Canada, South Africa and Australia can do it then Americans surely can too. It's a bitch until you embrace it and stop converting. It doesn't take long before you know how fast 50/110kph is and whether 24C is a nice day. A cup is 250ml, a 300g steak is a good size etc.


But it's a political hot potato, there's no political upside and it provides a rallying point for the parochial, nationalist, conservative, protectionist movement so I just don't see anyone pushing it in the near future. All multi-nationals and exporters went metric years ago, 90% of cars in the US are metric.

So the US will limp along, disadvantaging their engineers and manufacturers, probably for another 25 years or more.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true; by the wise as false, and by politicians as useful." Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4 BCE - 65CE
July 2nd, 2009, 10:52 am
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A Person wrote:I've spent my life doing it!


You're a bit more educated then the typical American.
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July 2nd, 2009, 11:10 am
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What I was trying to say, it that it's the transition that's painful. Britain hasn't finished, they still use miles on roads and pounds for groceries. Canada has mostly converted, except that you have to deal with all the exports to the US and some grocery stores have converted back to quoting prices in pounds - $4.98/lb sounds better than $11.00/Kg - but they must weigh and sell in Kg, so trying to match the advertised price to the label is impossible.

50 years ago I was educated in metric and thought I would never have to deal with the arcane Imperial and obtuse American Customary units. Yet here I am still having to remember that 14.5 psig = 10e5 pascals, there are 2.2 pounds to the Kg, a BTU is the energy required to raise a pound mass of water one degree fahrenheit and is 1.06 Joules, etc. Not to mention just what a pint is.

I see so many mistakes being made - especially since Americans use units that are dimensionally inaccurate - conflating mass with force, force with pressure - even mass with power: a '1 ton air conditioner' - really, a short (American) ton of ice melting over a 24 hour period - why is that supposed to be more understandable than 3.5 KW!

I am convinced my grand-kids will still be dealing with the mess.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true; by the wise as false, and by politicians as useful." Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4 BCE - 65CE
July 2nd, 2009, 11:34 am
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Don't get me wrong, I fully agree.... and I think we'd survive even if it meant several individuals dieing from their inability to change.... but I remember back in High School there was a campaign changing all the signs in the U.S. to metric.... I remember teachers saying "By the time you're out of college we will all be on the Metric.".... which of course never happened... and those signs which did go up, got replaced....
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July 2nd, 2009, 3:55 pm
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If the US becomes a member of the world community again and realizes that there is value in trade and treating other countries as partners then it could resurface.

It is inevitable but the teabaggers would fight it by the inch and ounce. There are more important things to fight for right now.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true; by the wise as false, and by politicians as useful." Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4 BCE - 65CE
July 2nd, 2009, 4:36 pm
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